TELECOM Digest     Fri, 17 Jun 2005 18:48:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 274

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Telecom Update (Canada) #486, June 17, 2005 (John Riddell)
    California AG Settles Norvergence Cases (Lisa Minter)
    Minnesota AG Settles With AT&T (Lisa Minter)
    Re: Your ISP as Net Watchdog (Danny Burstein)
    Re: Send Text Message to a Russian Cell Phone (Isaiah Beard)
    For a Brief Shining Moment: The Lorimer Brothers Invention (Lisa Minter)

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
Internet.  All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and
the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other
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included in the fair use quote.  By using -any name or email address-
included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article
herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the
email.

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Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be
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We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we
are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because
we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands
against crime.   Geoffrey Welsh

               ===========================

See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest.  

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

Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #486, June 17, 2005
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 15:13:42 -0400
From: John Riddell <jriddell@angustel.ca>


************************************************************
TELECOM UPDATE
************************************************************

published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group
http://www.angustel.ca

Number 486: June 17, 2005

Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous
financial support from:

** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com
** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/en/
** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca
** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/
** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca
** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/
** SPRINT CANADA: www.sprint.ca
** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/

************************************************************

IN THIS ISSUE:

** CRTC Okays Bell VoIP Tariff
** Telcos Apply to Appeal VoIP Winback Rules
** Feds Issue RFI for Dark Fibre
** BT Offers Fusion Phone
** Avaya, Nokia Trial Dual-Mode Handsets
** RIM Faces New Suit
** National Supercomputing Net Launched
** Consumer Guide to Local Phone Competition Posted
** Navigata Names New CEO
** Ericsson, Napster Plan Wireless Music Service
** CRTC Sets Scope of Local Forbearance Proceeding
** Allstream Wins Ruling on Edmonton LRT Lands
** CATA Forms Committee for Telecom Policy Submission
** Broadcasters Challenge Mobile TV Plans
** Research Centre Opened in Saint John
** Videotron, Unions Extend Contracts
** Telus Union Bans Overtime
** Nortel Intros Mobile Security
** Skype Offers Voicemail
** ORION Award Winners Named

CRTC OKAYS BELL VoIP TARIFF: The CRTC has given interim approval to
Bell Canada's proposed tariffs for its IP-based Digital Voice service,
effective June 14. The Commission says it will issue a Public Notice
in the near future to give parties an opportunity to comment on the
tariff (TN 6874).

** Unlimited calling within a province is $35/month;
   unlimited calling to Canada and the U.S. is $44/month. The
   previously announced Unlimited Canada plan is no longer
   available for new installations.

** The tariffs also include columns for "Minimum Rate" and
   "Maximum Rate," but the CRTC has allowed those rates to
   remain confidential.

** Equal access to competitors' long distance services,
   required by CRTC Telecom Decision 2005-28, is not
   included. (See Telecom Update #481)

www.crtc.gc.ca/8740/eng/2005/b2.htm

TELCOS APPLY TO APPEAL VoIP WINBACK RULES: On June 13, Bell Canada,
SaskTel, and Telus jointly asked the Federal Court for leave to appeal
the "winback rules" component of the CRTC's recent VoIP decision (see
Telecom Update #481). The telcos say the ban on calls to customers who
switch to other carriers violates their right to freedom of expression
under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

** Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco, EastLink, and the Canadian Cable
   Television Association have asked to be added to the
   application as respondents, so that they can file opposing
   arguments.

** Bell Canada says it plans to appeal the whole decision to
   Cabinet but has not announced timing.

FEDS ISSUE RFI FOR DARK FIBRE: The Department of Public Works has
issued a Request for Information "to inform Industry of its intention
to develop Shared Fibre Infrastructure" linking government facilities
in the Ottawa-Gatineau area, and requesting feedback on architecture,
technology, operation, and budgetary costs. The deadline for responses
is July 25.  See Solicitation EN716-050001/A at www.merx.com.

BT OFFERS FUSION PHONE: The UK's BT Group has launched BT Fusion, a
wireless phone that automatically switches between the public
cellphone network and a home wireless hub that transmits calls over a
BT broadband (DSL) connection. The Motorola-built phone uses Bluetooth
technology to detect and transmit to the home network hub.

** In a recent interview with Business Communications Review,
   the CEO of BT Wholesale, Paul Reynolds, said that BT plans
   to be "the first telco to switch off the PSTN," replacing
   it with an IP-MPLS backbone connected to all end locations
   by DSL.

AVAYA, NOKIA TRIAL DUAL-MODE HANDSETS: Customer trials are under way
for Nokia cellular phones equipped with Avaya software that enables
them to access corporate WLANs and utilize corporate PBX features.

RIM FACES NEW SUIT: A British court has allowed Research In Motion to
fast-track its legal challenge against a patent held by
Luxembourg-based Inpro Licensing Sarl. In December, Inpro filed suit
to halt BlackBerry sales by RIM's major German distributor, claiming
that BlackBerry infringes on Inpro's British patent.

NATIONAL SUPERCOMPUTING NET LAUNCHED: Two of Canada's most powerful
research computing nets are now connected by a dedicated lightpath,
the first step in creating a pan- Canadian High-Performance Computing
facility. The link, operated by CANARIE, connects SHARCNET in Southern
Ontario to WestGrid in B.C. and Alberta.

** Future plans call for optical connections to academic
   networks in Eastern Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada.

CONSUMER GUIDE TO LOCAL PHONE COMPETITION POSTED: The CRTC website now
provides a consumer guide to competition in the residential telephone
market. The guide does not deal with VoIP or with business phone
service.

www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/INFO_SHT/t1023.htm

NAVIGATA NAMES NEW CEO: James Pitt, formerly a VP for Group Telecom
and Shaw, has been named CEO of Navigata, a SaskTel subsidiary that
provides business telecom services in British Columbia, Alberta,
Ontario, and Quebec.

ERICSSON, NAPSTER PLAN WIRELESS MUSIC SERVICE: Ericsson and Napster
have formed a global alliance to offer "the first complete, fully
integrated digital music service" for cellular carriers. The service,
compatible with current handset models, is to be launched in Europe by
mid-2006.

CRTC SETS SCOPE OF LOCAL FORBEARANCE PROCEEDING: In Telecom Decision
2005-35, the CRTC announces which services offered by the incumbent
telcos will be included in the proceeding on local phone service
forbearance (see Telecom Update #479).

www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-35.htm

ALLSTREAM WINS RULING ON EDMONTON LRT LANDS: Resolving a 2003 dispute,
CRTC Telecom Decision 2005-36 rules that Edmonton's light rail transit
lands are an "other public place" under the Telecom Act, and directs
the City and Allstream to negotiate a cost-based fee for Allstream's
continued use of conduit in LRT tunnels.(see Telecom Update #393)

www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-36.htm

CATA FORMS COMMITTEE FOR TELECOM POLICY SUBMISSION: The Canadian
Advanced Technology Alliance has formed a TelecomACT Working Group to
develop a telecom industry submission to the Telecom Policy Review
(see Telecom Update #485).

www.cata.ca/Media_and_Events/Press_Releases/cata_pr06130501.html

BROADCASTERS CHALLENGE MOBILE TV PLANS: The Canadian Association of
Broadcasters has asked the CRTC to regulate mobile TV offerings by
Rogers, Bell, and Look under the Broadcasting Act. Rogers, which plans
to launch mobile TV within weeks, claims the service is exempt from
regulation under the New Media Exemption Act, adopted in 1999.

RESEARCH CENTRE OPENED IN SAINT JOHN: The Bell-Aliant SMB Innovation
Centre in Saint John, N.B., was launched June 13.  The centre will
develop IP-based applications for small and medium businesses.

VIDEOTRON, UNIONS EXTEND CONTRACTS: Videotron's unionized employees
have accepted an agreement to extend existing contracts to 2009, 2010,
and 2011, with 2.5%/year salary increases in the last three years.

TELUS UNION BANS OVERTIME: On June 16, the Telecommunications Workers
Union banned overtime by its members at Telus as a protest against the
telco's failure to engage in "real bargaining." (See Telecom Update
#480)

** The following day, Telus made several improvements to its
   offer of settlement, including increased pension plan and
   wage payments, creation of a Common Interest Forum for
   dialogue with union leaders, and a promise to reinvest
   savings from outsourcing.

NORTEL INTROS MOBILE SECURITY: Nortel Networks says its new Secure
Information Access and Secure Multimedia enables enterprises to
protect information and communications regardless of whether users are
outside or inside their offices.

SKYPE OFFERS VOICEMAIL: Skype, which provides free worldwide Internet
telephony, now offers a voicemail service for $23/year. The service
can also send voice messages to any Skype user.

ORION AWARD WINNERS NAMED: The Ontario Research and Innovation Optical
Network announced its first awards honouring research and education
network pioneers. The ORION

Award recipients were:

** Dr. Ross H. Paul, President of the University of Windsor
   and founding Chair of ORION.
** Andy Bjerring, President CANARIE.
** Robert Chambers and Eugene Siciunas of the University of
   Toronto, John Drake of McMaster University, and Roger Watt
   of the University of Waterloo.
** Joan McCalla, the Government of Ontario's Corporate Chief
   Strategist.
** Warren C. Jackson, retired advanced networking leader.
** Roger Taylor former executive director of ORION's
   predecessor, ONet Networking.

HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE

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COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2005 Angus
TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further
information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please
e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone 905-686-5050 ext 500.

The information and data included has been obtained from sources which
we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no
warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy,
completeness, or adequacy.  Opinions expressed are based on
interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If
expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a
competent professional should be obtained.

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

From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com>
Subject: California AG Settles Norevergence Cases
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 15:59:50 -0500


      California Settles with NorVergence Leasing Co.

California businesses will receive up to $2.6 million in financial
benefits under an agreement between Attorney General Bill Lockyer and
U.S.  Bancorp (USB), resolving a case connected to a consumer fraud
perpetrated by NorVergence, Inc., a bankrupt New Jersey-based
telecommunications company.

"NorVergence scammed nearly 1,000 California small businesses," said
Lockyer. "And when it went under, NorVergence left its victims on the hook
to pay thousands of dollars for nonexistent service and high-priced
equipment. This agreement with U.S. Bancorp provides a much-deserved remedy
to defrauded California companies."

Under the agreement approved by the San Diego County Superior Court,
USB subsidiary Lyon Financial Services (Lyon), Inc. will forego
collecting on potential rental contract obligations totaling
approximately $2.6 million. USB is one of the finance companies that
bought rental contracts from NorVergence.

Starting in 2002 until its bankruptcy in July 2004, NorVergence
defrauded small businesses across the country in marketing and selling
telecommunications services and equipment. NorVergence promised
victims multi-year savings of up to 30 percent on their phone,
cellular and Internet bills.

The savings would be produced, NorVergence told customers, by a
"Matrix" black box installed on businesses' premises that would allow
customers to integrate their telecommunications systems. The Matrix
services cost businesses between $500 and $2,000 a month under rental
contracts that typically lasted five-years. For fast cash, NorVergence
sold the contracts at a discount to about 40 finance companies,
including USB.

Contrary to NorVergence's representations, there was nothing special
about the Matrix black box. It was nothing more than standard routing
equipment that had no value without a connection to phone carriers'
networks. NorVergence had no means to guarantee the long-term savings
it promised because it had no long-term contracts with carriers.

NorVergence's victims totaled an estimated 11,000 nationwide,
including about 1,000 in California.

When NorVergence filed for bankruptcy, USB and other finance companies
that bought the rental contracts demanded that businesses continue
making payments under their five-year agreements, even though the
businesses were not receiving the promised services.

The contracts purported to require customers to pay in full even if
they received no services. Additionally, customers often found it
difficult to challenge charges because the contracts allowed the
finance companies to pursue collection lawsuits in venues far from
customers' locations. USB's venue of choice was its home state of
Minnesota, an extremely inconvenient forum for California businesses.

Under the settlement, customers will have the opportunity to bring
their contract current through January 31, 2005, and will have the
option of making such payments in installments. In return, USB will
forgive the balance of the contract obligations. If all California
customers accept, USB will forgive about $2.6 million in payments.

USB will mail to eligible customers a notice advising them of the
opportunity to participate in the settlement, with instructions on how
to participate.

As part of the settlement, USB has agreed to not enforce the provision
of the rental contracts that purportedly allows USB to choose the
venue to resolve disputes.

Copyright 2003-2005 ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.

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

From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com>
Subject: Minnesota AG Settles With AT&T
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 16:01:59 -0500


The state of Minnesota and AT&T have reached an agreement that
resolves the consumer protection lawsuit filed against the long
distance carrier.

            AT&T Billing
            . AT&T Settles Minnesota Suit
            . AT&T to Pay Missouri $50,000 for Improper Billing
            . AT&T Will Pay FCC $500,000
            . Judge Allows Florida Case to Proceed
            . Florida Orders Refunds
            . AT&T Agrees to Pay Refunds to New Yorkers
            . Class Action Charges AT&T Slammed Non-Customers
            . MA, NY Complaints
            . Minnesota Sues AT&T

The agreement settles the state's claim that AT&T erroneously billed
some 25,939 Minnesota citizens in 2004 for services never ordered or
provided. Under the terms of the settlement, AT&T has refunded or
credited Minnesotans who were wrongly billed and has agreed to provide
300-minute long distance calling cards to Minnesotans adversely
affected by its erroneous billing and to make a $200,000 payment to
the State.

The State's final settlement with AT&T specifically includes the
following:

  . AT&T agreed to credit and refund all Minnesotans incorrectly
assessed calling plan charges and to stop marketing to callers who had
been billed in error. Over 25,000 Minnesotans have received credits to
date for a total of $308,000. 

  . In addition, the 25,000-plus Minnesotans who received credits are
also eligible for a 300-minute calling card. Eligible citizens will
receive a letter in the mail detailing how to submit an application
for a calling card. The consumer calling card restitution has a retail
value of up to $780,000. 

   . AT&T will make a $200,000 payment to the State of Minnesota.  The
state's lawsuit was the result of an investigation that revealed that
over 25,000 Minnesotans were erroneously billed on their local phone
bill for long distance calling plan charges by AT&T beginning in
January 2004.

When the company started assessing a $3.95 monthly charge to its long
distance "Basic Rate Plan" customers, AT&T billed not only customers
on its "Basic Rate Plan" for the $3.95 and other associated fees, but
also an additional 25,939 Minnesotans who did not order services from
AT&T or who had other AT&T calling plans.

In addition, when those citizens called AT&T to inquire about the
charges, rather than helping consumers, AT&T placed Minnesotans on
hold for extensive periods of time, transferred them to customer
service representatives who tried to "hard sell" AT&T services, and,
in some cases, the company told consumers they would had to sign up
for an AT&T calling plan to get their money back or charges credited.

A letter is being sent to those Minnesotans who were incorrectly
billed by AT&T, directing those citizens how to receive their calling
card.  Eligible consumers will simply have to check a box on a claim
form, fill in the claim number found on the letter, sign and mail the
form back to the Minnesota Attorney General's Office by August 15,
2005, or send an email to the Office at phonecard.settlement@state.mn.us.
The email must include the customer's name, address, the reason for
requesting the calling card, and the claim number on the letter.

Copyright 2003-2005 ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc. 

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily. (Also see the far left column on the above page for
all the ConsumerAffairs.com recent stories.) 

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

From: Danny Burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
Subject: Re: Your ISP as Net Watchdog
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 19:37:32 UTC
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC


( snip of the latest gov't trial balloon about mandatory ISP logging )

With the very strong emphasis that I'm not speaking for any ISP with
which I'm connected:

The problem here is the clear and evident slippery slope.

To carry this to an extreme example:

	Office bathrooms with video cameras.
	
	If a bomb went off in the building, most
	(although not all) people would accept
	having Eliot Ness looking through the
	tapes to see if there's any footage of
	the person putting it together.

	The Big Problem is that everyone is well
	aware that once those cameras are around,
	it won't just be Mr. Ness having access
	to them after a bombing.

Same thing with ISP records.

Most (not all, of course) would agree to hand over material for use in
tracking (or stopping) Timothy McVeigh.

But everyone is well aware that once these records are available,
they'll be used for lots and lots of other things.

And not just gov't witch hunts. Throw in more or less routine crimes
(certainly of concern to the victims) and then move sideways to civil
litigation, divorces, etc.

_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
		     dannyb@panix.com 
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

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

From: Isaiah Beard <sacredpoet@sacredpoet.com>
Subject: Re: Send Text Message to a Russian Cell Phone
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 16:47:43 -0400
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


cronept wrote:

> Hi,

> I have a friend who is in Russia. I am in the states. She is using a
> GSM cell phone. I am wondering if I can send text message to her from
> the Internet? I tried AIM but I do not know how to send to a cellphone
> outside the US. Does anybody know any websites or any software can do
> that? Thanks alot. I appciate it. 

It would most likely depend on waht kind of cell phone you have.  If
you have a GSM phone, I would try +[country code] [number].  If a
CDMA, phone try 011 [country code] [number].

E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

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

From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com>
Subject: For a Brief Shining Moment: The Lorimer Brothers; Machine Telephony
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 12:10:57 -0500


For some special reading this weekend, I have selected -- not from our
own Archives -- but from _Telecom History_ in 1995, a story I thought 
you might be interested in. 

Lisa M.

         =======================================

For A Brief Shining Moment: The Lorimer Brothers and Machine Telephony
By Jean-Guy Rens
Published in Telecom History, 1995 - 1.

Before the separation of Northern Telecom (then Northern Electric)
from Western Electric following the Consent Decree between American
Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) and the Justice Department in 1956,
Canada was a technological wasteland from a telecommunications
standpoint. All innovation was imported from the U.S. by Canadian
companies that simply manufactured the new products under license.

But there was one notable exception: the Lorimer brothers'
commercially brief but technologically shining adventure with
switching at the turn of the century.

Following invention of the step-by-step switch by Almon B. Strowger in
1889, the U.S. telecommunications industry went into technological
overdrive.  Unfortunately, all the switching systems developed at that
time, including step-by-step, had one common drawback: they grew ever
more complex as the number of subscribers required ever more wires,
posing an insurmountable problem not only for manufacturers but above
all for system operators.

Callender the Pioneer

The most significant alternative to step-by-step came from Canada. The
first of the Canadian competitors, Romaine Callender, was closely
associated with Alexander Graham Bell. Callender taught music and
manufactured organs in Brantford, Ontario, and his main claim to fame
was having built an automatic organ player. Then he founded the
Callender Telephone Exchange Company, a modest undertaking which, at
the height of its activities, employed 14 people, among them two young
brothers, George William and James Hoyt Lorimer, from the nearby
village of St. George. Their father had died at an early age, and the
eldest brother, George, went to work as a telephone operator. Hoyt had
begun his law studies, but then became fascinated with the telephone
and convinced his older brother to get involved in research work under
Callender.

Between 1892 and 1896, Callender took out three series of patents. His
first two switches, tested in Brantford, were such complete failures
that he had to try and raise money in New York, where he opened a new
shop in the spring of 1894. The Lorimer brothers followed him there,
and work began again, under slightly more auspicious conditions. 

Notwithstanding Hoyt's frail health due to bouts of typhoid, the first
successful experiment took place in New York in January 1895 using a
wooden model known alternately as the Brantford Exchange or the
Callender Exchange. A dozen calls were put through automatically
which, for the time, was considered an amazing phenomenon.

The little team then returned to Brantford at the request of their
Canadian backers. It is not entirely clear why Callender gave up his
research activities, but he left Canada for England in July or August
1896 where he formed a company under the name Callender Rapid
Telephone Company, of which all trace has been lost. The Lorimer
brothers carried on his research work and, after considerable
financial difficulties, they opened their own company, Canadian
Machine Telephone, in Peterborough, Ontario, in March 1897. There they
produced the first commercial version of the Callender Exchange, which
was put into service by an independent telephone company in Troy,
Ohio, in 1897.

The system the Lorimers sold to the American company was so rudimentary 
that it still needed major development, and a workshop was set up in
nearby Piqua to handle the work. An experimental switching system
built in the Piqua shop was used as an internal switchboard in the
shop. The Lorimer brothers continued to work on their system, to the
point where it bore no further resemblance to the one developed by
their former boss Callender. By the end of 1899, a definitive
commercial model of the switchboard was finally ready.  Shortly after
this, the Lorimers enlarged their Piqua shop into a true production
facility, which they named the American Machine Telephone, and it was
this name they used in their international activities. They took out
their own patent in the U.S. in 1900 and the following year in Canada,
and launched a brisk marketing program for their new switches; too
brisk, perhaps, as the systems were never completely satisfactory.

The Lorimer Brothers Launch a Canadian Switching System

The "mechanical genius" of the Lorimer family, as the newspapers of
the time had christened him, was Hoyt. He died of typhoid fever on
November 6, 1901, at the age of 25, completely exhausted from
overwork. The youngest Lorimer brother, Egbert, then joined the
company, but the creative spark was lost, and there were no further
advances. And yet, the Lorimer brothers seem to have been effective
salesmen. They had a switching system with several hundred lines on
display for two months in Ottawa. The leading Canadian
telecommunications consultant at the time, engineer Francis Dagger,
made a report to the Toronto City Hall with a strong recommendation to
test the Lorimer technology:

"Those who have been privileged to see this system in operation and to
inspect the manufacturing plant at Piqua, Ohio, are forced to admit
that, as far as human intelligence is competent to pass judgment in
such matters, the problem of machine telephony is solved, and a
result, a new era is about to open in which the largest exchanges will
be able to give service at rates which, with manual systems, would
never have been possible."

It even appears that Canadian Machine Telephone moved its plant from
Peterborough to Toronto in hopes of winning a city contract for a
6,000-line switching system with the capacity to expand to 10,000
lines. But City Hall gave up its telephone service plans and the
Lorimer brothers had to fall back on small independent companies in
Ontario. In 1905, Lorimer switches went into operation in
Peterborough, where the Canadian manufacturing plant was located, and
in Brantford, home of the former Callender plant. By 1908, other
systems were installed in Burford, Saint George and Lindsay, all in
Ontario. But the biggest Lorimer switchboard ever installed, with 500
lines, appears to have been in Augusta, Georgia.

What Canadian Machine Telephone needed was a major client to act as a
technological showcase. When the Edmonton Telephone Department placed
an order with the Lorimers in 1906, the brothers thought their day had
finally come. But they were unable to produce a model to suit the
customer's requirements, and the cutover was delayed from month to
month. After waiting for two years, Edmonton turned to the Strowger
solution, depriving the Lorimer brothers of the chance to provide
service to the Alberta capital.  Automatic Electric got the contract
and installed a step-by-step switching system in two months
flat. Compared to the Strowger professionals, the Lorimer brothers
looked like rank amateurs.

The three reasons for Edmonton's initial choice are, however, of
interest: the cost of a Lorimer line was only $34, compared to $40 for
a Strowger line; the system took up only half as much space, and its
centralized technology seemed more simple and elegant than the
competitor, even if connection time was slightly longer.

Apart from these unpromising "sales", this Canadian technology met
with some successf overseas. The European rights were transferred to a
French concern that in May 1908 set up the Société Internationale de
l'Autocommutateur Lorimer, with European headquarters in the Galerie
Vivienne in Paris. France purchased two switching systems, Britain
another two, and Italy one. Despite all these efforts, the system was
not adopted by the Post, Telegraph and Telephone (PTT) organizations
in these countries, since it consistently failed to prove sufficiently
reliable. Also lacking was the polish that could only have been
provided by the type of powerful research team that produced the
Strowger system. To make things worse, Canadian Machine Telephone
never seemed to be able to deliver in any reasonable length of time,
as shown in the Edmonton example. The company finally declared
bankruptcy in 1923 and was placed in receivership. Bell acquired the
company two years later.

The Callender-Lorimer Technology

If the Lorimer brothers deserve mention in the history of
telecommunications, it is much more for their theoretical contribution
than for their business sense. Their principles have influenced the
entire process of electromechanical switch development, in particular
the AT&T systems. When that company went automatic, it adopted
technology derived from the Lorimer principles. International
switching specialist Robert J. Chapuis enthusiastically recounts this
little-known historical fact:

"Onto the vigorous and resilient sapling planted by the Lorimer
brothers, Western Electric engineers proceeded to graft the shoot that
would turn it into a healthy and productive fruit tree."

The great innovation of the Lorimer switch is in fact a Callender
concept, the principle of preselection. Instead of having as many
connection mechanisms as there are subscriber lines, the Callender
system is based on the principle that people do not all make calls at
the same time and thus use only a small percentage of connection
mechanisms. This results in the use of about 90% less mechanical
equipment. As well, the great challenge in the early days of automatic
switching was speed, so that customers would not have to wait too long
for a dial tone. Introduced by Callender in 1893, this innovation was
later adopted by all switch manufacturers, including Strowger.

More generally, the Callender-Lorimer system is based on the action of
a perpetually turning wheel. Contacts are established by stopping the
movement of the wheel at a place that corresponds to each number
dialled. Only one motion is needed to select a contact instead of two
as in the step-by-step system. The Lorimer switch was also entirely
modular, with panels containing 100 lines, making it simple to
increase the capacity of a system rather than replacing it as the
number of customers grew.

Instead of a dial, the Lorimer telephone set itself had a series of
levers, one each for units, tens, hundreds and thousands. All the
caller had to do was move each of the four levers to the desired
figure to make up the telephone number. This process was modelled on
systems like those used in railway signals or cash registers. Another
advantage was that the telephone set did not need batteries, since it
was powered by a central battery system.

One of the main criticisms of automatic exchanges was the fact that
subscribers were required to perform highly complex operations. This
was why it was important to design a telephone that would be as simple
as possible to operate. The Lorimer sets seemed to meet this
requirement.

Historical Impact of the Lorimer Research

The Lorimer technology was the last work in automatic switching at the
turn of the century. Observers at the time were quick to recognize
this Canadian contribution, and the American expert Kempster B. Miller
wrote in 1914:

"These young men, with no prior training and 'so they say' without
ever having seen the inside of a telephone exchange, invented and
developed the system in question and put it into operation. Knowing
something of their struggles and efforts to achieve their purpose, we
find their creation one of the most remarkable we have ever seen,
whatever the value of the system."

Further proof of this recognition is found in a 1925 opinion expressed
by Professor Fritz Lubberger, a German telephone switching specialist:

"In Canada towards 1900, the Lorimer brothers invented a system which,
although it has not been introduced anywhere, is of such richly
inventive design that even today any specialist in automatic systems
would benefit from studying it in detail."

But the most convincing proof of the value of the Lorimer brothers'
research came from AT&T. In 1903, the American giant bought the
Lorimer patent and decided to turn what had until then been just
another piece of laboratory equipment into a commercially viable
product. They put not one, but two research teams on the project,
which produced two of the most popular systems in the history of
electromechanical switching, the Panel and the Rotary. Both used the
Lorimer principle of one-step selection, and the Rotary switch also
used the principle of the permanently rotating motor (thus its name).

AT&T chose the Panel system and used in the majority of large
U.S. cities until the 1950s, when it began to be replaced by the
crossbar. It was never used outside the United States. The Rotary
system, on the other hand, won the approval of many European telephone
administrations, particularly in France. When ITT bought Western
Electric's International Division in 1925, it also inherited its
Rotary production lines. The principles of the Lorimer system thus
passed into international posterity, both in the U.S. and Europe, but
the Lorimers themselves won no posthumous fame until the very recent
rediscovery of their work by Robert Chapuis.

A legitimate question would be why the Lorimer brothers' switching
system sank into such total oblivion. Most telephone engineers have
never even heard of their technology. Chapuis has an interesting
suggestion:

"The reason for its posthumous eclipse is that most of the works
published on switching describe former or existing systems of
telecommunications manufacturing companies that were well established,
which ... was soon no longer the position of the Lorimer brothers'
company."

Whatever the true answer, it is still intriguing to note that Canada's
only technological contribution to the development of telecommunications 
before the contemporary period was in the field of electromechanical
switching.  Three-quarters of a century later, Northern Telecom was to
repeat this exploit with the DMS digital switch, although this time
with considerably more commercial success. Switches are the brains of
a network. They are the key to its development. The inescapable
conclusion, is that Canadians, separated as they are by such vast
distances, realized that the mastery of telecommunications was
essential to their survival as a society. And the switch, as the key
to the system, was also the key to this mastery and thus their
survival.

Excerpt from Chapter 8 of the - Birth of Northern Telecom and
technological progress, in particular sub-chapters:

The true inventor of Brantford
The Lorimer brothers launch a Canadian switch
Outline of Callender-Lorimer technology
The Lorimer brothers' work lives on

Copyright ScienceTech Communications Inc. Montreal, 1995-2005

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