comp.dcom.telecom Google Group

Telecommunications digest. (Moderated)

Re: Asian satphone services [Telecom] According to this map from their web site, the Thuraya 3 satellite should provide excellent coverage all over southeast Asia, and Thuraya 2 some coverage as far east as Thailand. [link] R's, John

Point-to-point microwave links (was 1964 World's Fair) [Telecom] > I'd like to know - > > 1. What [point-to-point microwave] band(s) is/are available The two frequency bands most commonly used by AT&T Long Lines for terrestrial microwave transmission were: 4-GHz band (3.7-4.2 GHz) 6-GHz band (5.925-6.425 GHz) In a typical two-way link, different bands would be used in

Re: Auditing telephone bills [Telecom] last My company would not tolerate $600 usage charges in an assigned phone line except for well documented reasons. We have Centrex and we get a statement of calls (if over a few dollars); we must reimburse the company for personal calls. (As an aside, many of our calls go out over outward WATS lines, but we still are billed for the call time.)

Re: International 800 service [Telecom] < still such that virtually every country has its own 800 number space? If so, does one incur a monthly charge for every country every month regardless of traffic? We do international business and are thinking about pursuing such service but, if we have to provide a list of dozens of different

Asian satphone services [Telecom] While we are talking about satellite phone services, is there any currently available service working in the Thailand/Yunnan/Bangladesh area? I know they aren't allowed for use in Burma but I am curious if that is changing with the relief efforts there as well. Aside from Iridium and GlobalStar (whatever happened to GlobalStar?)

Re: Auditing telephone bills [Telecom] I understand what you're saying, but I think the phone bill has special status here. Ask those same managers to authorize a recurring charge (or an increase in an existing recurring charge) to improve service and they'll either find the time away from their philosophy session to discuss your suggestion or or they'll turn you down out of hand. Point out that what

Re: Setting up office phones [Telecom] It sounds to me like you don't need the splitters. Each phone needs to connect to both lines. Normally a single 4-wire modular cable carries both lines (one on the inner pair of wires and one on the outer). Make sure it actually has 4 wires. If you need to "split" a single wall socket so you can plug both phones into

Postwar telephone conversion resources? [Telecom] During WW II the Bell System devoted all its resources to the war effort. At the end of the war it faced a massive backlog in service orders. In addition, massive new commercial, residential, and industrial construction made it harder to get caught up. Many times new suburban developments (like Levittown PA) were served solely by

Slashdot - Call Someone Without Having To Talk To Them [TELECOM] [link] This is rather interesting, but why do I suspect it's just an invitation to large volumes of voice spam?

Setting up office phones [Telecom] Okay so every person that I have talked to, I have confused on this issue, so I'm asking for help. What I know; I have 2 phones, each capable of 2 lines, 2 phone numbers, and 2 splitters(L1/L2) What I need; I need my phone and my staff's phone to be able to pick up line 1 or line 2, also if I am on a call, I can put a caller on

International 800 service [Telecom] Hello, all. This may seem like a simpleton's question, but please indulge me. What is the state of "international" 800 service these days? Is it still such that virtually every country has its own 800 number space? If so, does one incur a monthly charge for every country every month regardless of traffic?

Re: Touch Tone at 1964 World's Fair [Telecom] In 1944 (during the war) the New York Times reported that IBM (among others) applied to the FCC for a microwave license so as to transmit data and television. I don't know whatever became of that, I don't think anything did. Data communication between information processing machines had begun in 1940 over telegraph lines for the army and

Re: Touch Tone at 1964 World's Fair [Telecom] WXTV Channel 41, which at the time still had its studio in a one-story garage behind a Main St. rowo of storefronts in Paterson, NJ, its city of license. The Univision affiliate has since moved to a bigger site in Secaucus. From the studio it went to a relay site on Garrett Mtn in nearby West Paterson, which overlooks Paterson and is what we call a "good

Re: 5E on Ebay. For real? Bogus? [Telecom] I don't know a damn thing about the hardware. But the website that goes with the address given as an email contact appears to be a company that's in the right line of work. [link] Of course, it *could* be somebody operating out of a one-room office who just cobbled together a snazzy website.

Re: 5E on Ebay. For real? Bogus? [Telecom] I agree, from what pictures are posted and a few seem to be the same, a lot of the frames are not there so it may not have been a complete switch. As I said it is strange to see on on eBay, but the company is a known equipment broker.

Re: 5E on Ebay. For real? Bogus? [Telecom] On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:28:58 -0400 (EDT), Steven Lichter For what purpose? Anything today is tons smaller and more effiicient than that. I was considering a bid of $12, but I was afraid I might win it :-) If you want to see some of the alternitive, start here [link]

Re: 5E on Ebay. For real? Bogus? [Telecom] There are plenty of companies that sell rebuild spare cards and the such for the 5ESS, plus I seem to remember talking to a manager for a small company in the Pacific Northwest that service contracts can be bought and anyone working on one of these will be very well trained by one of the schools or having been a Bell employee. I had training on them when

Re: 5E on Ebay. For real? Bogus? [Telecom] jsw wrote: It certainly looks legit. My guess is that it is from a CLEC that subsequently got out of the dialtone business or is now doing VoIP in a big way and doesn't need two Lucent 5E's anymore (they may have others they're still using). My vote is legit but not from a Bell (or former Bell) Telco.

Re: 5E on Ebay. For real? Bogus? [Telecom] "Steven Lichter" wrote Then again, maybe not. Obtaining one via Ebay, I'd think that they would be hard pressed to get any information or spare parts or software upgrades through legitimate channels. IIRC, they aren't very "user friendly". ;-)

Re: 5E on Ebay. For real? Bogus? [Telecom] jsw wrote: The switch sure looks like a small operating unit, so it is real, but that sure is a very different way to sell one. Over the years I have seen a few racks and a frame or 2. I'm sure a small company would like to get there hands on it.

info needed on 911 emergency call systems [Telecom] (uncertain this is the right forum for this. . .) I'm hoping to contact a few 911 emergency operators to learn the steps that occur when a call is received. In particular, how does an incoming cellphone call reporting an emergency (such as a car wreck) lead to a police officer being dispatched? I'm including such an operator in a novel I'm researching, and want to

5E on Ebay. For real? Bogus? [Telecom] There's been some local chatter about an Ebay auction for a #5 ESS switch. [link] One of our local recently-retired Ma Bell boys says it's bogus and presents some fairly convincing arguments. Any opinion from the gang here ??

Re: Touch Tone at 1964 World's Fair [telecom] > hops to get from the studio to transmitter, all from AT&T-Bell. Which station wasn't within direct sight (and less than a mile) of the Empire State Building? Channel 7, WABC was at 54th & 6th; Channel 4, WNBC was at 30 Rock. Plaza; Channel 2, WCBS was ... somewhere in the 40s or 50s (HQ was at 52nd & 6th, but not sure about TV master control);

Re: satellite phone [Telecom] The URL in that message should have been [link] .

Re: satellite phone [Telecom] Methinks you gentlemen are wringing your hands over nothing. This particular horse had left the barn long before most people had ever heard of al Qaeda on 9/11. As Dave Garland mentioned in an earlier posting, it was already well-publicized that the Russians had used this method to kill a Chechen leader years before. The target in

Re: satellite phone [Telecom] [ snip ] I'd betcha that in a hefty number of those situation the problem is that the "911 surcharge" [a] applied to cell phone customers, which was supposedly designated specifically to upgrade the PSAPs to "enhanced 911", simply went to general gov't coffers. [a] in quotes because while called a surcharge, it's really

Re: satellite phone [Telecom] On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:20:50 -0400 (EDT), klu...@panix.com (Scott It is not difficult, but designing building and deploying the equipment won't be cheap. Though if it gets mass produced and deployed widely that would drop the costs well into the commercially viable range. A big part of making a working sat-phone, or a plain old TDMA CDMA

Re: [telecom] Radio Shark "Realistic" open reel tape recorder I still have one - it was a rebranded Teac X3 and the last time I fired it up it was still functional (although the rubber Capstan is starting to show its age). I probably should retension the reel mechanisms to spec, but it has been about 25 years since I have done that sort of maintenance to tape

Re: Auditing telephone bills [Telecom] Both the large companies I worked for were pretty much the same as regards telephone bills. I finally realized that, although the numbers were huge, those approving payment of the bills had bigger fish to fry than worrying about the "phone bill"! It was only during times of extreme financial exigencies that anyone expressed outrage at the charges. Of course, once

Re: satellite phone [Telecom] I believe that other DoD agencies have revealed that the NSA can track satphones. These other agencies behaved in a manner that I would characterize as incredibly stupid. This has pissed the NSA off. Oh well, maybe we'll do better in the next war. --scott

Re: satellite phone [Telecom] With ground-based systems. Or with military satellite systems that are designed for listening in and locating signal sources intended for others. Yes. A lot of it can be done technically, but in the whole, it's generally a lot cheaper and more effective to pay someone off. Unfortunately our Federal friends who answer phones with numbers instead of names have

Re: satellite phone [Telecom] In article <5d7v74h7eg330a37cno97h9g3f7u7 f1...@4ax.com>, Why do you assume that the 'phone' satellites are the _only_ birds that can listen to the sat-phone transmission? Do you suppose that spy satellites *can* listen on those frequencies, and that they "just may" have directional facilities? You'd be surprised at how much 'location' information a single bird can

Re: satellite phone [Telecom] You're wrong. (Pause for ego to settle). The triangulation is done by military satellites, not the commercial ones that the satphones are in contact with. However, there's always the "equities" issue. "Equities" are what intelligence specialists think of when they give out information: it's how much you reveal by the questions you ask and the data you disclose.

Re: satellite phone [Telecom] Don't count on that. You know the positions of the satellites, and that's to locate a point on a known surface (of the earth). It seems to me that would reduce the possible location to two points, which will probably be far enough apart so that the wrong point could be ignored. Come to think of it, if those satellites are moving with respect to the

Re: satellite phone [Telecom] On Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:40:41 -0400 (EDT), John Levine wrote: Let's suppose I'm a terrorist, which I'm not. I get a Thuraya phone, which operates with two satellites. You can't triangulate with two satellites. How is the NSA going to track down the dangerous terrorist using just two satellites when the phone is connected to only one of

Re: Touch Tone at 1964 World's Fair [telecom] +--------------- +--------------- I think it does. That's why I said "*almost* all still are"... +--------------- +--------------- NOTA BENE: I didn't write that!! +--------------- +--------------- Maybe, but I continued to happily use my Trailblazer-Plus (T18SA) modems right up until the day I first got DSL.

Re: satellite phone [Telecom] This might be a good time to learn more about Thuraya, who provide GSM satellite service in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. They have roaming agreements with carriers all over the world, although none in the U.S. The phones are different from normal GSM phones, but if you put a SIM from a carrier with a roaming agreement into a Thuraya phone, it'll

Re: [telecom] Radio Shark "Realistic" open reel tape recorder I owned one of the famous Realistic brand open reel tape recorders. Fabrication was iffy, but with an abundant supply of paper clips and rubber bands I kept it in repair for ten years :-) Mark L. Smith [link] ----- Original Message ---- To: redac...@invalid.telecom.csail .mit.edu

Verizon's FIOS gets its NYC tv franchise [telecom] (from the Public Service Commission press release) "The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) today voted to grant a Certificate of Confirmation (Certificate) to Verizon New York Inc. (Verizon) for its franchise with the City of New York (New York, Bronx, Queens, Kings, and Richmond Counties)."

Interesting old advertisements [Telecom] I recently inspected a copy of the March 1922 issue of "The Century Magazine." I noted two interesting full-page advertisements: "Tel-U-Where" - "Information bureaus will find any advertised article." Contains a fascinating list of local telephone numbers in about 100 cities circa 1922. [link]

Re: Touch Tone at 1964 World's Fair [telecom] Interesting; I thought V.34 used a variable constellation subset to adjust bits/baud according to line quality. Anyway, I may have snipped too much. A longer quote: I assumed we were discussing the bandwidth requirements within a multiplexed carrier, not on a baseband T1 line. I still have a small pile of one of the last generation (WorldBlazer)

Plugboard at cold war UK defense site [Telecom] The BBC has an interesting story [1] on the UK's Burlington facility, built as a cold war bunker in 1957: Of particular interest to telecom historians is the large plugboard system, which by size may well be one of the largest intact installations left in the world. The BBC article claims that it was

Re: How to create a freeware cellphone telephone ringtone from an MP3 song? [Telecom] At Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:10:17 -0700, Tom wrote, Good advice in that note. I've used Audacity to create 25-second clips to use as ring tones on my Verizon LG phone. The missing part of the trick is how to get it onto the phone. These phones use the brew OS. You can buy USB cords for most cell phones. They probably don't sell

Auditing telephone bills [Re: PicturePhone at 1964 World's Fair] [Telecom] You're lucky they did at least that. We've had so many managers who didnj't even compare one month to the next. That is, say monthly bills ran $94, 104, 92, 100, 98, 102, then one bill was $402. You'd think a manager would question as to why it was so much different. (Heck, even my ill mother was able to see that

Re: Panel (was Re: Touch Tone at 1964 World's Fair) [Telecom] The meeting was at a Boeing facility between the two museums. But, we fared better at the Boeing Museum. Because Boeing hosted the meeting we had lunch one day in a private dining room at the museum follwed by 90 minutes to tour the museum. I had been there previously in any case.

Re: Touch Tone at 1964 World's Fair [telecom] And, it should serve only the Old Telephone Switchman's Retirement Home. ;-) I still have nightmares about being served by steppers with dial pulse orginination. ;-)

PicturePhone at 1964 World's Fair [Telecom] I was a specialist 5 (Spec5) in the Army returning (by ship) from the Army Depot in Pirmasens, Germany for two years of college at Oklahoma State Univ . just as the Fair opened. I was really "into" electronics in those days, having designed and built my own stereo amplifier from scratch, and a Heath kit VTVM as well. The

Re: Radio Shark and Laff-At-It (was Calling Features and LATAs) [Telecom] It was a dark and stormy night when tlvp wrote: I was always a partisan of Allied Radio's Knight Kit line. Built several of them, including a VTVM and a shortwave receiver. Later when I got into stereo I built Dynakits. Interestingly, those still have some cult status, a few years ago I sold a Dynakit (tube)

Re: [telecom] How to create a freeware cellphone ringtone from an MP3 song? Please pardon my long-winded answer. There are three parts to your question: 1. Get the "content" for your ringtone. You sound like you already have an mp3 you want to use, but if not, you can download mp3 or midi files from the internet, or "rip" something you like from a audio CD using free software like Express Rip which is available

Re: satellite phone [Telecom] There appear actually to be dozens of different satphone systems in Europe and the Mideast.... Inmarsat and Iridium are the only two ones with worldwide coverage but there are a bunch of other services that cover only limited areas. They may well also use proprietary data formats. --scott

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