
From telecom-request@delta.eecs.nwu.edu  Thu Sep 21 18:34:30 1995
by
1995
18:34:30 -0400
telecomlist-outbound; Thu, 21 Sep 1995 13:41:40 -0500
1995
13:41:37 -0500
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu


TELECOM Digest     Thu, 21 Sep 95 13:41:00 CDT    Volume 15 : Issue 396

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Unabomber Manifesto Available on Web (Danny Burstein)
    Call Center Magazine Article re 800/888 (Judith Oppenheimer)
    Conflict of Interest (Lowell Kim)
    Help Needed Increasing UTP Segments (Chris Gettings)
    New PCS Services in Hong Kong (jlbt@ix.netcom.com)
    ROLM ACD Users Wanted (Chris Kiser)
    Employment Opportunity: Senior DSP Software Engineers (Darin 
Okuyama)
    AT&T Credits (Steven Lichter)
    Re: Area Code Split Dates (Linc Madison)
    Re: Netscape Encryption Bug (Michael Shields)
    Re: Colorado Bill of Rights in a Competitive Market (Gerry Belanger)
    Re: Detailed Description of "Raw" Caller-ID Data Needed 
(rpadula@aol.com)
    Re: Split of Area Code 305 (and Others) (Pierre Thomson)
    Re: California: Outrageous Telephone Rates (Tom Crofford)
    Re: FCC Rules Against Carrier Kickbacks to ESPs (Tony Harminc)
    Correction Re: AT&T Phone Numbers (Fran Menzel)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
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----------------------------------------------------------------------



        ---------- Forwarded message ----------

Courtesy of Dwight Silverman at the {Houston Chronicle}, the manifesto
is on the WWW at
http://www.pathfinder.com/pathfinder/features/unabomber/manifesto.html


Elliott Parker                   Bitnet: 3ZLUFUR@CMUVM
List Owner, SEASIA-L and CARR-L  Internet: elliott.parker@cmich.edu
Department of Journalism         Less certain possibilities:
Central Michigan University         eparker@igc.apc.org
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 USA          CompuServe: 70701,520
Office tele: +1 517 774 3196        The WELL: eparker@well.com


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I was going to print it all here, but it
would have taken a lot of typing (I don't have a scanner). If someone
wants to send a copy, I will put it in the Telecom Archives for review.
After that brief flurry of activity here in Skokie a few weeks ago
when the FBI came to question all the old school teachers about the
mysterious Patrick Michael Unabomber, nothing further seems to have
happened here at least. I wonder if they have gone over to the towns 
to our west and interviewed old-timers in the Maine Township Schools. 
That's where he went to school; not over here in Niles Township.  PAT]

------------------------------



If you would like to receive a fax copy of the following article, email 
me
your name and fax number. 
 
 
CALL CENTER Magazine, September 1995 issue, page 22, articled titled 
"YOU
SHOULD BE WORRIED" 
 
Subhead: "We almost ran out of 800 numbers.  The changes made to
protect the supply have changed the face of the toll-free number
industry.  Here's what you need to know."
 

Judith Oppenheimer, President 
 
Interactive CallBrand(TM):  Strategic Leadership, Competitive 
Intelligence 
Producer@pipeline.com.    Ph: +1 800 The Expert.    Fax: +1 212 684-
2714. 
 
Interactive CallBrand (ICB) is a leading source of information and 
support
on 800 and related issues, representing user positions before the FCC,
State Department, Int'l. Telecommunications Union, and domestic industry
forums. 
 
ICB publishes inTELigence, the newsletter that separates fact from 
fiction.
Call or email for a sample issue, and subscription information. 


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ms. Oppenheimer sent me a copy of the 
article to my fax machine yesterday. It was an informative article and
well written. If you don't see the publication otherwise, you might want
to contact her and ask for a copy. In the meantime Judith, what's the
latest on this?  Can you give us any updates?    PAT]

------------------------------



I work full-time for a company that was recently purchased by Bell
Atlantic. My problem is that I also work for a long-distance telephone
company part-time. I have heard an ugly rumor that I will be forced to
give up my work with the long-distance company. The company that I
work for full-time has nothing to do with telephone service or
communications.  Anyone know about this?

------------------------------



The maximum length of an ethernet UTP segment is said to be 300 feet or 
100
meters.  Does anyone know of a low cost repeater or amplifier to allow 
more
than this length between the hub and the workstation?


Chris Gettings      
email: gettings@econnect.net 
http://www.econnect.net 

------------------------------



Hi,

I would like to know if anyone has any information on the upcoming PCS
service offerings in Hong Kong.

So far, I know that several PCS licenses were issued in November 1994,
but I would like to find out how long these licenses last and what are
the technical specifications of PCS in Honk Kong.

If you have any information or know of a source of information on
Cellular or PCS in Hong Kong or any other Asia Pacific country, please
reply by e-mail.

Thank you in advance for your help.


JLBT

------------------------------



Are there any Rolm ACD users here? I have been trying to see their WWW
page and keep getting an error message. I would like to correspond
with other users or employees of ROLM (especially Techs).  


Thanks,

Chris Kiser

------------------------------



Stanford Telecom, an industry leader in digital telecommunications,
currently has several openings for Senior DSP Software Engineers.
 
In these positions (use Job #INRB-2 when referring to these positions
in all correspondence), you will be responsible for designing, coding,
unit testing and integration testing of real-time embedded software.
You will support a commercial, wireless communication system.  The
positions require experience with DSP processors and knowledge of DSP
techniques and/or communication theory.  Both a BSCS/EE/Math or equiv-
alent with 5+ years of related experience and C programming expertise
is also required.  Experience in a UNIX development environment is a
plus.
 
Principals only please.
 
Please FAX your resume, including the Job # of interest, to:
(408)745-0318.  Or mail to:
 
    Stanford Telecom
    Dept. HR-AM
    P.O. Box 3733
    Sunnyvale, CA 94088
 
------------------------------



A few weeks ago I had posted about a problem I had getting credit for
long distance call that I had made using my modem and then getting cut
off. Our Moderator blasted me because he said I was just nickel and
diming them. Well after a few these this week working with several
AT&T Tech's out of their Denver center we found the problem. 

It seems that when you dial a call using their network in it a zero
lose/gain trunk; which means there is nothing to up the signal. Local
(PacBell) they have the local trunking set for .05db loss and it
appears that both of my phones are right at the limit. Normal voice
there is not a problem, but with the modem any noise as you all know
will cause problems. Since I have error correcting modems they will
try to keep connected. Since the phone lines are made for voice there
is not much that I can get done. I have complained about it and they
tell me to get data grade lines, that is just great except what
happens when I go into the regular network and call a system that just
has a voice line.  I guess in time it will all change since PacBell is
getting into the IP business and they will get a lot of complaints
unless they do fix the cable that is in trouble. I guess I'll just
live with it or move closer to the office so my loop is not as long.


The above are my ideas and have nothing to do with whoever my employer 
is.
SysOp Apple Elite II and OggNet Hub (909)359-5338 2400/14.4 24 hours,
Home of GBBS/LLUCE Support for the Apple II. 
slichte@cello.gina.calstate.edu

------------------------------



I was going through Steve Grandi's list of area code splits (FTP from
gemini.tuc.noao.edu, /pub/grandi/npa1995.txt) and thought I would add a
summary just listing the dates that area code splits become final.  This
list only includes geographic splits, not overlays, and it only includes
those splits for which both the initial effective date and the final
(end of permissive dialing) date have been announced.  Check Steve's
file for more details.

The splits are listed in order by the date of the END of permissive
dialing.

NEW OLD  START    FINAL   ST      Place/Comment
 -- ---  -----    -----   -- -------------------------------------------
334 205 01/15/95 05/13/95 AL Montgomery, Mobile, Dothan, Selma
360 206 01/15/95 08/20/95 WA Bellingham, Vancouver, Olympia
970 303 04/02/95 10/01/95 CO Ft. Collins, Grand Junction, Durango
520 602 03/19/95 10/21/95 AZ Tucson, Flagstaff, Yuma (all but Phoenix)
770 404 08/01/95 12/01/95 GA Marietta, Lawrenceville, Norcross

540 703 07/15/95 01/27/96 VA Roanoke, Blacksburg, Fredericksburg
423 615 09/11/95 02/26/96 TN Knoxville, Chattanooga
941 813 05/28/95 03/03/96 FL Sarasota, Bradenton, Ft. Myers, Lakeland
847 708 01/20/96 04/20/96 IL Evanston, Waukegan, Elgin          *NOTE 1*

864 803 12/03/95 05/01/96 SC Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson
352 904 12/03/95 05/20/96 FL Gainesville, Ocala, Leesburg
954 305 09/11/95 *NOTE 2* FL Ft. Lauderdale, Broward County     *NOTE 2*
541 503 11/05/95 06/30/96 OR Corvallis, Eugene, Medford, Klamath Falls
573 314 01/07/96 07/07/96 MO Jefferson City, Cape Girardeau, Hannibal

441 809 10/01/95 09/30/96    Bermuda
860 203 08/28/95 10/04/96 CT Hartford, Norwich, New London
250 604 10/19/96 06/01/97 BC Victoria, Nanaimo, Kamloops, Dawson Creek
562 310 02/01/97 08/01/97 CA Los Angeles area; details not finalized

NOTE 1: 630 is already in use for some wireless services, overlaying 
708.
708 will do a three-way split into 708/847/630 in two steps in 1996.
The second phase of the split is scheduled to begin 08/03/96, but the
final date has not been set.  708 will be southern suburbs, 847 northern
suburbs, and 630 western suburbs of Chicago.  Cellular numbers may not
necessarily move to the correct new area code.

NOTE 2: The end of permissive dialing for the 305/954 split will be in
three phases: pagers 04/13/96, landlines 06/01/96, cellular 01/01/97.
(The landline date was used for placing this split in the list.)

OVERLAYS:
NEW OLD  START   ST        Place/Comment
 -- --- -------- -- --------------------------------------------------
630 708 01/07/95 IL Chicago area; see NOTE 1 above; wireless only
281 713 03/01/95 TX Houston; wireless only
        03/01/96    all services, mandatory 10-digit local dialing
972 214 02/01/96 TX Dallas; mandatory 10-digit local from 08/01/96

The information above is just a reformatted presentation of Steve
Grandi's work; thanks, Steve, for keeping us up to date.


Linc Madison   *   San Francisco, California   *   LincMad@Netcom.com

------------------------------



In article <telecom15.392.3@eecs.nwu.edu>, John R Levine 
<johnl@iecc.com> 
wrote:

> According to published reports, Netscape's encryption software 
contains a
> very well known security bug.

It should be pointed out that this is not a bug, but a design flaw.
Netscape works as intended, but it doesn't use enough entropy to seed
the generator.  (Entropy is the formal measure of unpredictability.)

This attack has only been shown to work in the 40-bit version because
that's all the attackers had access to, but it has nothing to do with
the weakened RC4 and the commercial version is likely vulnerable too.

Those working with algorithms that depend on something being hard to
guess should read RFC 1750.

> This same bug occurred on Unix systems probably 20 years ago when 
someone
> had the bright idea to generate random passwords for their Unix users 
to
> prevent them from using common words and other known bad passwords.
> Unfortunately, the random number generator they used was so poor that 
there
> were only 4096 different passwords generated, which made it easy to 
find
> them all by enumeration.



                                          

This may not be true; it's a common sort of bug, but the more likely
number is 2^15 or 2^16 (just as 2^31 is a number often found on
today's 32-bit machines).  When 4096 is mentioned along with Unix
passwords, it almost always refers to the novel "salting" technique
that allows each encrypted password to have 4096 possible ciphertexts.
This makes precomputed dictionary attacks harder and makes it unlikely
that two users with the same password would know it from the
ciphertexts. 


Shields

------------------------------



E-mail to Steve bounced, so here is my followup.

Steve Howard (steveh@townhall.ci.breckenridge.co.us) wrote:

> I received the following letter last week from the Colorado Public
> Utilities Commission (IMHO, these people usually do a pretty good
> job!).

Steve,

You might suggest that consumers be guaranteed a line of sufficient
quality to use Faxs and Modems of at least 14.4.  So telco repair
cannot use the excuse, "We don't need to support modems".


Gerry Belanger, WA1HOZ    wa1hoz@a3bbak.nai.net
Newtown, CT                 g.belanger@ieee.org

------------------------------



sp@questor.org wanted to know:

> I am searching for a detailed description of the "raw" data received
> as Caller-ID info.  Specifically, what the various data bits mean and
> how they are decoded (stuff like "privacy", "long-distance", "message-
> waiting" and so on).

I know everybody will say "call Bellcore," but here's a solution that
may be as close as your local library.  Find the July 1994 issue of
{Electronics Now}.  This magazine used to be called {Radio Electronics}.  
They ran an article describing both the single and multiple data
message formats in this issue.

But, if you must run to Bellcore, the article's references were
TR-NWT-000030,  TR-NWT-000031, and TR-NWT-001188.

I'll go through one of your examples to get you started ...
 
Pretty data:
> %  TIME: 08-26 14:06
> %  CALLER NUMBER: 6810670

Raw data:
> %  80130108303832363134303803073638313036373051

80 - MDMF data to follow
13 - Total message length starting with next byte (hex)
01 - Date & Time parameter message to follow
08 - Parameter length
30 - ASCII 0
38 - ASCII 8
32 - ASCII 2
36 - ASCII 6  (your date 08-26)
31 - ASCII 1
34 - ASCII 4
30 - ASCII 0
38 - ASCII 8 (your time 14:08, also, end of date & time parameter)
03 - Number parameter (although the article says this should be 02)
07 - Parameter length
36 - ASCII 6
38 - ASCII 8
31 - ASCII 1
30 - ASCII 0
36 - ASCII 6
37 - ASCII 7
30 - ASCII 0 (your phone number 681-0670)
51 - checksum

Hope this was educational.

------------------------------



Toby Nixon <tnixon@microsoft.com> wrote:

> The North American Numbering Plan Administration has announced the
> impending split of the 305 NPA (South Florida). The following
> information is quoted from Bellcore letter IL-95/08-011, dated 23
> August 1995:

-- SNIP SNIP SNIP --

> [No time today to transcribe all the exchange codes; sorry!]

No need to.  I did it for you!

http://www1.mhv.net/~Bruderhof/npanxx.htm

has the NXX listings for all current and past splits since 1/95.
Mostly transcribed from Bellcore letters and LEC informational
publications, the info should be helpful to many in the industry.


Pierre Thomson     Telecom Manager
Rifton Enterprises email: mmommsen@mhv.net

------------------------------



jerald@wrs.com (Jerald Pendleton) wrote:

> I recently recieved a bill I incurred during a recent vacation.  I
> made several phone calls from my motel room to numbers within the
> state of california.  They charged me $9.13 for a four minute call
> (apparently four minutes is the minimum).

> I was billed through Pac-Bell by Communication Telesystems 
International 
> for this.  I have absolutely no intention of paying this bill.  Can
> anyone suggest grounds by which I can get this overturned at the PUC?
> The phone was blocked (we tried 102880).

I am currently contesting a billing from an ITA corporation for
'voicemail' that appeared on my Southwestern Bell bill.  SBC told me
they could refuse the billing, but that ITA would likely use a
collection agency to further pursue the billing.  I contacted ITA, and
they told me they were simply billing for a NY based corporation that
could only be reached via US Mail (I guess they don't have a phone,
fax machine, etc.).

I also refuse to pay for this, since I do not believe anyone in my
household knowingly contracted for this service.  I contacted my
Senator.  He is now in contact with the FCC.  Based on the convoluted
billing arrangements that can now exist, I don't know of any simpler
way to do this.  I'd sure like to know if someone has a better idea.


Tom Crofford   tomc@xeta.com   918-664-6876 fax

------------------------------



> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Very interesting, indeed!  Does this 
mean
> that those services operating under what has been called 'The Nevada 
Plan'
> are now illegal?  Is it now the case that all those dial-porns 
operating
> out of Netherland Antilles, Guyana and elsewhere are going to have to
> make it on their own without their kickbacks from AT&T and the other
> carriers? ...]

What seems to be missing in all this is that there are at least two
carriers involved in every international call.  The FCC can regulate
the US ones all it likes, but it obviously has no control over the
ones in other countries.  Non-US providers of dial-a-porn and such
will presumably continue to make suitable kickback deals with the
carrier that provides their incoming service.  The US caller will dial
as usual, the US carrier will do the settlements with the non-US
carrier as usual, and the non-US carrier will direct some of the money
to the service provider.

It seems implausible that the FCC would attempt to tell US carriers
that they may not connect to certain numbers outside the US based
either on the content of certain calls or on the (presumably 
confidential) 
billing arrangements between the non-US carriers and their subscribers.


Tony Harminc

------------------------------



A correction: the repair number for large system customers, who
typically have:

System 75
System 85
Definity
Dimension
Voice mail and other adjunct systems associated with the PBXs above

is 1-800-242-2121

I'm confident that the folks at 1-800-628-2888 will make a smooth
handoff for folks who might call them for large system repairs, but
this may cut out a bit of the thrashing.

Thanks for providing a number for toll fraud crisis intervention.  At
customer request, we recently added a new, more direct (fewer prompts)
number for this service: 1-800-643-2353.


Fran Menzel   fsm@mtbcsa.att.com 908-957-5615
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Global Business Communicatiosn Systems Security Core team

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #396
******************************

                                                                                                                      
