
From telecom-request@delta.eecs.nwu.edu  Wed May  3 13:01:14 1995
1995
13:01:14 -0400
telecomlist-outbound; Wed, 3 May 1995 09:27:39 -0500
1995
09:27:36 -0500
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu


TELECOM Digest     Wed, 3 May 95 09:26:00 CDT    Volume 15 : Issue 220

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    U.S. Federal Suggestion Box in Cyberspace (Donald E. Kimberlin)
    Re: Call Trace Foulup Followed OK Bomb (Lee Winson)
    Re: Call Trace Foulup Followed OK Bomb (Richard M. Weil)
    Re: Call Trace Foulup Followed OK Bomb (Butch Lcroan)
    Looking For a Home For Listserver (Christopher Zguris)
    Reach Out and Defibrillate Someone (Dave Leibold)
    Re: Open NNTP Servers Wanted by Reader (Art Walker)
    Any Way to Have Parents' Phone Calls Billed to *My* Phone? (Scott 
Brenner)
    SMR Frequencies (Manuel Maese)
    Need New Voice Board or Lines Amps! (72164.3302@compuserve.com)
    Re: Annoying Feature on Payphones Here (gnuz@rjones.oz.net)
    Re: Annoying Feature on Payphones Here (Steve Cogorno)
    Re: Annoying Feature on Payphones Here (stufroed@acs.eku.edu)
    Re: Annoying Feature on Payphones Here (John Nagle)
    Re: Annoying Calls: Can We Deal With Them? (John Lundgren)
    Re: New Country Code 380 For Ukraine (Shalom Septimus)

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



        During the two weeks from May 1 through May 14, the U.S.
federal government will have its first "National Electronic Open
Meeting," with the intention of it being a suggestion box in
cyberspace.  The program is supposed to be open for remarks or
suggstions from anyone to any U.S. federal branch.  Experts ffrom
various government departments are supposed to host five different
electronic fora, and a variety of access means will be provided.

        One of the accss means will be via computers at 362 libraries,
schools, offices and stores around the nation.  To find the location
nearest you, telephone (800) 881-6842.

        Kinko's Copy Centers will also provide computer access at 114
of its locations.  To find which Kinko's nearest you has access,
telephone (800) 254-6567.

        Persons with Internet access or gateway access via online
services like AOL, Prodigy, CompuServe, ATTMail, MCIMail or other
gatewayed services can send messages to info@meeting.fedworld.gov.

        And those with Web browsers can address 
http://meeting.fedworld.gov.

        Government officials say they want to hear what the public
wants and how it wants to interact with government officials in the
information age.  Messages received are to be analyzed and a report is
planned for later this year.

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



As to the false number reported by Nynex from a bomb threat --

Given the criticality of accuracy in this situation, any "call trace"
reports should obviously be checked very carefully before release to
police, then double checked.  All systems involved in this should be
thoroughly debugged and tested extensively.

The innocent party deserves to win the lawsuit big time.

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



Pat said in a recent issue that the man that was mistakenly arrested
for phoning in a bomb threat after the OK blast is suing the police
for misconduct and suing NYNEX "on the grounds that the company filed
a false report in the matter and did so 'with wanton disregard for the
accuracy of their report.' He says the president's apology is insuffi-
cient ... "
 
I heard yesterday that the phone company has offered to pay for this
young man's college education as compensation for the obvious mistake.

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



JohnWPan@aol.com wrote:

> Immediately in the wake of the Oklahoma bomb, a bomb threat was made,
> among many in the nation, to the Boston federal building.  The call
> was traced.  A young man was arrested.  Subsequently, however, NYNEX
> realized that the tracer interchanged two digits of the purported
> origin of the call. The president of NYNEX personally apologized to
> that unfortunate man, who was released after one day in jail.  The
> real perpetrator of the call was not found.  Source: CBS radio.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As a followup to this story, I am told
> now the person is suing law enforcement officials for false arrest and
> suing NYNEX on the grounds that the company filed a false report in 
the
> matter and did so 'with wanton disregard for the accuracy of their
> report.' He says the president's apology is insufficient, because of
> the abuse and rough treatment he alleges he received at the hands of 
law 
> enforcement officers during the time he was in custody, which would
> not have happened, he contends, had NYNEX properly supervised its
> employees who conducted the trace.  He further alleges that the law
> enforcement officers involved committed official misconduct and acted
> in bad faith by not further investigating the matter when NYNEX later
> produced a 'corrected' version of the report showing the telephone 
number
> originating the call in question, instead continuing to hold him in
> 'unnecessary custody' several additional hours to be vindictive.  PAT]

God Bless AMERICA!! The police state we live deserves that this man's
rights be upheld I wish him the best of luck in court. I know NYNEX
made a mistake and that is unfortunate but it is interesting that the
police tried to ignore they did anything wrong by keeping him in jail
even after NYBEX corrected the report?  Anyone ever seen " In the
name of the father " ? They were kept in jail for 15 years to coverup
for a police mistake. I doubt if justice we be done but I wish him
the best in his quest. The real question is what happened to the
responsible party ... nothing?


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Here in Cook County (Chicago) Illinois,
a judge can order you released from jail, or you can put up the needed
bond money to get out and the jail bureaucrats will still sit on thier
tails for up to 24-48 hours before taking any action. And the best part
is the person who comes to bail you out has to sit in the waiting area
all that time with cash or money order. They do it deliberatly, to let 
the arrested persons and their friends/families know they are just scum.
There is a class action suit against the Sheriff of Cook County now for
the atrocious condition of their computer system which seems to keep
spitting up the same old warrants over and over again. In the NYNEX case
the fellow contends his initial attempts to get the matter corrected
were rebuffed, met with scorn and the usual run-around, etc.  PAT]

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



Hello to all. I'm looking for a site to carry a mailing list that
deals with current events (CURRENT). Last week CURRENT was abruptly
shut down (we were using listproc-service donated by a university).
From the private email I've received from other list members, many
people are upset about the demise of CURRENT. The list was very
focused, with very little noise, and served as a forum for people all
over the globe to express different opinions on a wide variety of
topics. At this point, I don't know what to do. I've contacted several
other listowners, and Netcom (my other provider), but so far I've come
up empty. People want the list, and I'm more than happy to put in the
time dealing with the adminstrative side (as I've been doing), but I
need a site that has some sort of automated list software. Any help
would be appreciated by me and the other subscribers.


Christopher Zguris
czguris@mcimail.com    czguris@ix.netcom.com


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Chris originally wrote me and asked if
I knew of any sites where the mailing list could be operated. I checked
with the sysadmin here to see if it would be possible to take on still
one more here, but this machine is awfully overloaded at present. If
some other site could be of assistance, I'm sure Chris would like to
hear from you with your requirements, etc.    PAT]

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



An Associated Press report (carried in {The Toronto Star} 1 May 1995)
mentioned studies (by a surgeon from Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Miami
FL, and a heart pacemaker expert from the Mayo Clinic) that indicated
digital cellular phones could cause some "inhibition of the pacemaker 
function" in some test cases. Analog phones were tested, but the news 
report implies these did not cause any noticeable pacemaker problems.

There appeared to be no effects when the cell phones were in a normal
talking position (receiver to ear). The problems appeared to occur
when the cell phone antenna was close to the "pulse generator" of
the pacemaker, often installed in the collarbone area. Any interferences 
found in these tests were not reported to be harmful, however.


Fidonet : Dave Leibold 1:250/730
Internet: Dave.Leibold@superctl.tor250.org

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



In article <telecom15.218.1@eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Editor wrote:

> I told him I would post his note ... now it's lost. :(  His intention 
is
> to edit his .login file to 'setenv NNTP open.server.somewhere', and 
pull
> the news that way.  Any help will be appreciated.

Unfortunately, "open" NNTP servers are all but extinct.


Art Walker, Somewhere In Iowa      walker@mnscorp.com
alt.sex/alt.binaries.pictures.erotica/alt.sex.bestiality, etc.
At best, the regulars of these groups are failed phone sex customers...
                                                   - SPY, Jul/Aug 94, 
Page 85

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



I'd like to find out if there's a way to have the calls direct-dialed
from my parents' home phone billed to *my* home phone number.  Right
now, they're using my calling card number for selected calls.  But
they show up on my AT&T Universal bill. I'd rather have them on my
AT&T long distance bill (I get a separate bill from AT&T; my LEC
doesn't handle LD billing anymore).  I also want to avoid the ~$1
surcharge for using the calling card.

If you know a way to do this, please send some e-mail to me at
"sbrenner@attmail.com"


a T d H v A a N n K c S e

Scott D. Brenner    sbrenner@attmail.com

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



Hello all:

I'm interested in gathering information pertaining the frequencies
that are allocated for SMR (Specialized Mobile Radio, abroad called
TRS, Trunkated Radio System, or PAMR/PMR) in different countries.  The
areas I am most interested in are South and Central America and Asia
(all of it!) and Australia/New Zealand, although any information would
be greatly appreciated.

The idea is to pinpoint exactly at what range is SMR/TRS allocated or
is planned to be allocated.  800s MHz or 900s is a little to broad of
a range, so I want to find out if, for example, the governments of
Brazil, China or Australia have allocated SMR/TRS systems within
865-880 MHz or is it 815-825 MHz.

Speaking of those countries, those are part of some countries in which I
am more urgently interested than others.

If you have any information (or, hey, similar information regarding 
cellular
systems), or an idea of where exactly could I start looking, please e-
mail
me at mmaese@geotek.com

Thank you very much for your help!


Manolo Maese

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



Hi,

  I am using Dialogic Boards with an AMX/81, who's conference feature
is plagued by a drop in gain.

  I need one of the following from you if you have for sale:

   - 4 or 8 line NewVoice/c  Board(s); or
   - Copy of Parity's VOS software;
   - Someone who know's the C++ as well as Ram Research's DAX to
      help me program a .DLL for the MSI/C.

If you can help me, please do!!

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



> Any other central offices you know of set up to sense when a coin
> box is full and return that kind of message to the user?  As soon
> as that message is played out the phone goes 'click click' and the
> dial tone is restarted.  If they know the box is full, why not
> just come and empty it?

That happens in Seattle from time to time. And, I was told by a pal
who does nothing but maintain phones that they usually drive a route
hitting certain payphones for service, cleaning, emtpying, and the
like. They don't make a special run to empty one phone, since the cost
of having someone drive to a phone to empty it would cost more than
the cashbox contains. But if you complain loudly enough ...

It's possible that the phone has a faulty cash box sensor, or that
someone is making a lot of international phone calls from it, paying
with silver instead of plastic.

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



TELECOM Digest Editor said:

> about half the time it won't accept money. And this is another
> curious thing; readers can tell me if this exists in your community
> or not: when a payphone is full of money here, somehow it is noted
> in the central office because if you pick up the phone, get dial 
> tone and deposit your 25 cents, the money comes back out immediatly


                                                          

> and you get a recorded message saying 'sorry, this phone cannot
> accept coins right now, however you can place your call with a
> credit card, collect, third party, etc ..'. This is *not* due to

We don't get any messages like that in PacBell territory, but I have
had several phone refuse my coins because the collection box was full.
THe last time this happened, I called the operator and said "Hello
operator, I believe the coin box on this phone is full."  And she said
"What's your point?"  I could have smacked her.


Steve   cogorno@netcom.com

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



> I don't like a feature on the Bell payphones here in Skokie, and it
> seems to cause no end of confusion for many other people as well.
> It seems that when you call from a payphone in Skokie (708-673 and
> 708-674) after it rings two or three times, a recorded message comes
> on the line saying 'your party does not answer' and inviting you
> to leave a message 'for delivery at a later time' by pressing the
> keys on the phone, for an additional fee of course.

The ones I used in Washington DC offered that "Service" also.

> Now should the caller actually answer, then of course the recording
> cuts off immediatly and you proceed with your call, however there
> are lots of foreign speaking people in Skokie -- mostly from Russia
> or the Ukraine -- and not being all that familiar with the phone
> system anyway, they think they are hearing a recording saying that
> the number is not in service.

That happened when I first got my answering machine ... it basically
said the number and to leave a message.  One of my wife's relative's
kept calling from South America and hanging up. Unfortunately they
were of course charged for the call.

> credit card, collect, third party, etc ..'. This is *not* due to
> any overnight restrictions on payphones such as 'no coins after
> dark' in the War on Drugs, etc. When I have called repair to complain

I assume then in the areas where 'no coins after...' anyone using a 
payphone is assumed to be a buyer or seller?

> Any other central offices you know of set up to sense when a coin
> box is full and return that kind of message to the user?  As soon
> as that message is played out the phone goes 'click click' and the
> dial tone is restarted.  If they know the box is full, why not
> just come and empty it?

Is this Ameritech area?  They are implementing some sort of intelligent  
non operator asisted payphone monitoring network.

I guess they have some sort of cost/benefit analysis and refuse to empty 
it more often.

The only payphone I use lately is a Bellsouth phone and I call straight 
to home 30 miles away.  Its expensive.  But always takes quarters.

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



TELECOM Digest Editor <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> writes:

> Another source of annoyance with payphones here is how seldom they
> seem to have their coin boxes emptied. There is one payphone which
> is otherwise quite convenient when I need to use one, but I think
> about half the time it won't accept money. And this is another
> curious thing; readers can tell me if this exists in your community
> or not: when a payphone is full of money here, somehow it is noted
> in the central office because if you pick up the phone, get dial 
> tone and deposit your 25 cents, the money comes back out immediatly

      The COINS retrofit has been around for some years.  There's an
electronics module that replaces part of the coin mechanism and keeps
track of the phone's coin traffic.  This can be queried remotely.  The
info is used to schedule coin box servicing (your local telco seems to
be having problems with this) and to keep the coin-box service people
honest.


John Nagle

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



Randall Rathbun (randall@coyote.csusm.edu) wrote:

> What came as a surprise totally to us, was the response of our local
> telco when asked to remedy the situation. Here's what we're told
> (quoted) "We don't have a way to stop this ... we don't have a way of
> trapping ... you have to have a trap in place ... you have to have 
your
> security give us a signed statement ... you have to have a case number
> assigned to you from the county sheriff's department."

I'm not sure whether, by CA, you mean California or Canada.  But here
in Pac Bell CA, we got essentially the same reply, and it is a matter
of laws and can't be changed.

But the law also says that the advertiser must have a human on the line 
ask first if the person wants to hear the message.  A fully automated 
'Junk Dialer' is illegal.  That's why, on all the messages that I have 
received, the advertiser _never_ gives out a phone number os something 
traceable, but asks you to give _your_ number at the beep.

> In other words, it is just about impossible to even deal with this
> type of annoying or harassment call due to the complicated, extended
> and time-consuming legal procedures. The local telco representative
> added "We've had this thing happen to us, hopefully yours' will stop
> today" and they acknowledged that a carefully placed roving call would
> go through virtually impossible to stop.  They said they had to have
> two matches on the same number before they could initiate law
> enforcement activity in their offensive call bureau.

> A simple question comes to mind, don't roving calls only hit the
> number once and then move on?

> In other words, knowledgeable offensive callers can dial with almost
> complete impunity and automated dialers are "impossible" to stop.

In California, since CallerID is not yet legal, the offending number
would not be readily available.  But Pac Bell offers a service, for a
monthly fee, where a line can have the call trace added.  It allows
the person to dial a number, *something, that locks in the offending
number so that law enforcement agencies can access it.

> What particularly irks this writer, with extensive knowledge and
> experience of telecommunications, is that he and a local CO technician
> can trace and lock down these type of calls within 10-15 seconds after
> they come in. The local CO technician can even remotely login to other
> telco sites and trace the call and positively identify its source
> within a minute or at the most two. In other words, it IS possible to
> stop these types of calls.

But it's not legal, because of privacy issues.

> Why can't we do something about this growing problem? Have the telco
> carriers formulated new procedures to handle this growing problem? All
> the hardware is already in place to deal with this situation. With the
> advent of the computer autdialers and increasing mechanization during
> the 90's, this type of thing will only increase. Certainly abuse will
> only increase once people realize that nothing really will ever be
> done.

> Can't we stop this type of thing, rather than throw up our hands and
> say "oh well, there's nothing we can do about it"? Your comment is
> appreciated.

It's not a matter of technology, it's a matter of sociological lag.
The laws and prevailing attitudes haven't kept up with technology.

There was a law recently enacted that outlaws junk FAX advertising, so
maybe this will happen with phones.

The option of tracing obnoxious calls so that LEAs can access the
phone number seems like the best option in your case.  Maybe the
feature would only have to be added to a few of the lines, not all.


John Lundgren - Elec Tech - Info Tech Svcs   
Rancho Santiago Community College District   
17th St. at Bristol \ Santa Ana, CA 92706    
jlundgre@pop.rancho.cc.ca.us\jlundgre@kn.pacbell.com

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



In article <telecom15.214.6@eecs.nwu.edu>, Clive D.W. Feather
<clive@stdc.demon.co.uk> wrote:


> I compared my country codes list with my list of ISO recognised
> countries and territories. The shared uses of codes I found were:

> 672   Shared by 5 territories under Australian control

Specifically, which? My list has only Cocos/Keeling Is, (6722),
Norfolk Is. (6723) and Christmas Is. (6724). What are the other 2?  Or
are Cocos and Keeling two seperate territories, and I'm only missing
one?

> Oops, almost forgot. Apart from the 31 cases I listed before, there 
are
> eight territories with no international code that I know of:

>    Western Sahara

According to the Moroccan Consulate in New York, the Western Sahara is
dialable using the same code as Morocco (212) and city code 8.

Also you left out Easter Island (Chilean territory, but not apparently
covered under the Chilean code 56).

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If you are referring to the United 
States
> Trust Territory in the South Pacific Ocean as the 'minor outlying 
islands'
> you mention above, I think some of those have gone into 'area code' 
808
> which serves Hawaii and Midway Island. Also, I think the 'country 
code'
> for Guam is going to become an 'area code' in the near future, still
> serving Guam and perhaps nearby places.  PAT]

I haven't found any code for Wake Island, either. Is this in +1(808) 
as well?


J.Alan Septimus  V111G9BQ@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu 
septimus@acsu.buffalo.edu  

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #220
******************************

                                                
