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Message Digest 
Volume 28 : Issue 146 : "text" Format

Messages in this Issue:
  Re: Feature Groups A, B, C, and D 
  Re: ANI vs. Caller ID 
  Re: ANI vs. Caller ID 
  Re: ANI vs. Caller ID 
  Payphones Re: ANI vs. Caller ID 
  Re: Payphones Re: ANI vs. Caller ID 
  Re: ANI vs. Caller ID 
  Re: ANI vs. Caller ID 
  Re: ANI vs. Caller ID 
  Re: ANI in real time 
  Re: ANI vs. Caller ID 
  Re: ANI vs. Caller ID 
  Re: ANI vs. Caller ID 
  "recall" for some "Jitterbug" cell phones 
  Demonstration electromechanical switch 
  Re: ANI vs. Caller ID 
  Re: ANI in real time  (was: FTC builds case against         telemarketers)


====== 27 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ====== 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 journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are 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. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. 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, and other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 09:25:30 -0400 From: Fred Goldstein <fgoldstein.SeeSigSpambait@wn2.wn.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Feature Groups A, B, C, and D Message-ID: <20090529132347.0E38148073@mailout.easydns.com> Okay, let me clarify the terminology. The Feature Groups were the four basic types of IXC trunking arrangement created by the FCC's MTS/WATS decision of 1981, as adapted for divestiture. The purpose was to implement Equal Access and to let the LECs bill non-AT&T toll providers at a rate comparable to what AT&T paid under the earlier (separations & settlements) regime. The broader term is "switched access". These tariffs exist for both interstate and intrastate usage, with the latter usually more costly. So yes, it costs more (at least at wholesale) to call from St. Louis to El Dorado Springs, Missouri than to call from St. Louis to Shanghai, China. Feature Group A refers to a line side connection to a switch, when used for switched access. The 1987 "modem tax" canard was based on an FCC proposal to treat calls to ESPs (predecessors of ISPs) as FGA. Some ILECs still want to do this. Nowadays most FGA is ISDN PRI, not analog, but the tariff treatment is FGA. Many billing disputes center over whether a given call should be treated as "local" or "FGA". Feature Group B is a trunk-side connection accessed via 950-xxxx. This doesn't see much use nowadays but was useful before equal access was finished in the 1980s. Feature Group C refers to the pre-divestiture arrangements AT&T had. This was phased out when Equal Access was implemented and AT&T became FGD. Feature Group D is the standard method of IXC trunking, supporting equal access (101+xxxx and presubscription). Originally designed with inband (MF) tones which indeed did send ANI, it is now almost always done with Signaling System 7. While FGD is technically a tariff used for IXC trunks, similar basic technical arrangements (SS7) are used for end office trunks as well, both to the ILEC who owns the Access Tandem (where most FGD trunks go) and on the "meet point" trunks to other local carriers (CLEC and wireless) who subtend the access tandem. From my experience, the "calling party number" (CPN) delivered to the destination switch carries the ANI and the caller ID when the two are the same. When the caller ID differs from the ANI, the CPN carries the Caller ID and the ANI is put in a separate information element. Caller ID is *not* a billing number, and the calling party does have the ability to block it (*67), or set it to a value of its choice on some kinds of arrangement (like PRI). This is not fraudulent. CID is like the "from" field of email, what you call yourself, not authoritative. ANI cannot be blocked or changed by the caller, is authoritative, but not usually sent to the called party, unless the called party is an 800 number (in which case they own the billing). -- Fred Goldstein k1io fgoldstein "at" ionary.com ionary Consulting http://www.ionary.com/ +1 617 795 2701 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 May 2009 21:15:14 +0000 (UTC) From: danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: ANI vs. Caller ID Message-ID: <gvmut2$2a5$1@reader1.panix.com> In <de0e98d1-5cb2-4eb2-a1bb-3c1a681c7354@u10g2000vbd.googlegroups.com> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: >On May 28, 12:12 am, bon...@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) >wrote: >> There are many _legitimate_ reasons for businesses to send 'caller ID' >> info that is different from the actual line ID that the call is being >> placed from. >Could you elaborate on those reasons? Sure. You'll hear all about the Abused Women's Shelters stuff, but that's window dressing. A more valid real world situation is that a hospital, say, would set up their system so that the calls from pretty much anywhere in their facility,whether the admissions office or the fourth floor nursing station, or, for that matter, a patient's room... would all display the main number. -- _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ***** Moderator's Note ***** The problem with CLID from shelters for abused women is that their abusers are sometimes policemen or other public-sector employees who can get access to the restricted directories that show "non-published" numbers and the associated addresses. This is the same problem faced by operating company brass during strikes. Of course, cell phones might seem an obvious solution, but shelters are always run on very tight budgets, and can seldom afford to conduct business by cell phone: they have to help their refugees contact a wide variety of social-service agencies, doctors, lawyers, and, of course, friends and coworkers. Cell charges add up fast, so cellular phones are limited to unregistered units that can be used for 911 calls. As with top executives of the ILEC's, the issue is addressed by falsifying the address of the shelter in company records. Shelter employees are trained to recite a script if they have to call 911, which explains that they are calling from "a neighbor's house" and stresses the need to repeat the actual address several times. Although this change is usually accomplished through the sympathies of a cooperative woman in the immediate area and a carefully buried stretch of JK, there have been times when sympathetic telephone company employees were prevailed upon to "miswire" the drop or to "accidentally" connect the local pair to an internal line which could be used without charge. Bill Horne Temporary Moderator ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 May 2009 20:34:46 EDT From: Wesrock@aol.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: ANI vs. Caller ID Message-ID: <bb9.44408922.375087a6@aol.com> In a message dated 5/28/2009 3:03:29 PM Central Daylight Time, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: > Now that pay phones are rare and calls are cheap, many businesses > will let a stranger make a quick local call as a courtesy. Many > people will lend their cell phone to stranger, say at a train > station, to make a quick call. This sort of thing happens quite > frequently. The number of pay phones certainly has declined, but I am surprised as how many times I see them in use outside of convenience stores. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 May 2009 20:37:59 EDT From: Wesrock@aol.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: ANI vs. Caller ID Message-ID: <bfd.591862d1.37508867@aol.com> In a message dated 5/28/2009 3:27:36 PM Central Daylight Time, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: > ... also disagree that Caller ID is a "hard sell". IIRC, the price > of it has doubled in recent years ($3 to $6 per line) yet it remains > very popular. (I don't know actual subscriber base, but FWIW almost > everyone I know has it in both work and home and all cell phones > have it.) Indeed, some carriers offer it free as part of a package. Many non-Bell landline service providers throw in Caller ID as a freebie with their standard serice offering. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 09:41:58 -0700 (PDT) From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Payphones Re: ANI vs. Caller ID Message-ID: <3118d2d2-01fa-4aff-9475-d233d447fc9a@u10g2000vbd.googlegroups.com> On May 29, 12:25 pm, Wesr...@aol.com wrote: > The  number of pay phones certainly has declined, but I am surprised as how > many  times I see them in use outside of convenience stores. My local convenience had two of them but they have been removed. I was at a major railroad station and a couple of people were using pay phones. The acoustics are horrible; the booths were removed years ago. The pay phones are mounted flush on a masonry wall, no dividers between them, in a noisy area. I had to use such a phone some years ago and I could barely hear; that influenced me to go cellular. Today, though, many pay phones have volume control which is a big help. (The other day I made a quick local call from a pay phone in a store since my cellphone battery was dead.) Relating back to CLID, the instruction card on pay phones includes *67 to block the number. So if you want to hide your whereabouts when you call someone from a pay phone, they tell you how to do it. I wonder what today's revenue numbers are from baby bell provided pay phones, both cash for local calls, and credit call and collect revenues. ***** Moderator's Note ***** "Pubcom" revenues have been dropping for years, not only because of cellular competition, but also because of COCOT phones, which the owners of convenience stores find much more profitable than those provided by ILECs. Speaking of the need for rules enforecement, I've seen a lot of COCOT phones that demanded payment for calls to information or 800 numbers, which is, AFAIK, forbidden in this state. Bill Horne Temporary Moderator " Just do the dance that you've been shown with everyone you've even known: in the end there is one dance you'll do alone." -- Jackson Browne ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 11:41:29 -0700 From: Steven Lichter <diespammers@ikillspammers.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Payphones Re: ANI vs. Caller ID Message-ID: <u%VTl.17936$%54.13432@nlpi070.nbdc.sbc.com> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > On May 29, 12:25 pm, Wesr...@aol.com wrote: > >> The number of pay phones certainly has declined, but I am surprised as how >> many times I see them in use outside of convenience stores. > > My local convenience had two of them but they have been removed. > > I was at a major railroad station and a couple of people were using > pay phones. The acoustics are horrible; the booths were removed years > ago. The pay phones are mounted flush on a masonry wall, no dividers > between them, in a noisy area. I had to use such a phone some years > ago and I could barely hear; that influenced me to go cellular. > Today, though, many pay phones have volume control which is a big > help. (The other day I made a quick local call from a pay phone in a > store since my cellphone battery was dead.) > > Relating back to CLID, the instruction card on pay phones includes *67 > to block the number. So if you want to hide your whereabouts when you > call someone from a pay phone, they tell you how to do it. > > I wonder what today's revenue numbers are from baby bell provided pay > phones, both cash for local calls, and credit call and collect > revenues. > > ***** Moderator's Note ***** > > "Pubcom" revenues have been dropping for years, not only because of > cellular competition, but also because of COCOT phones, which the > owners of convenience stores find much more profitable than those > provided by ILECs. > > Speaking of the need for rules enforecement, I've seen a lot of COCOT > phones that demanded payment for calls to information or 800 numbers, > which is, AFAIK, forbidden in this state. > > Bill Horne > Temporary Moderator When my daughter was in high school; before wide celular use, she tried to call home from school using our PacificBell phone card, [but] it was a COCCT payhone on the school grounds: it would not let her, [so] she got some cash and made the call. I called the company and complained about it to both the school and the COCOT, [but that] did no good, [so I] went to the PUC: the next thing my daughter told me was the phone was gone, shotly after a PacificBell phone showed up. I don't know what the law was at the time. -- The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 11:28:57 -0700 From: Steven Lichter <diespammers@ikillspammers.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: ANI vs. Caller ID Message-ID: <JPVTl.17935$%54.8036@nlpi070.nbdc.sbc.com> Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > In a message dated 5/28/2009 3:03:29 PM Central Daylight Time, > hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: > >> Now that pay phones are rare and calls are cheap, many businesses >> will let a stranger make a quick local call as a courtesy. Many >> people will lend their cell phone to stranger, say at a train >> station, to make a quick call. This sort of thing happens quite >> frequently. > > The number of pay phones certainly has declined, but I am surprised as how > many times I see them in use outside of convenience stores. > > Wes Leatherock > wesrock@aol.com > wleathus@yahoo.com > Verizon seems to have a lot of contracts with companies like 7-11, Circle K, Albertsons, Ralph's (Kroger)for payphone, even out of their own service area. -- The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 22:36:19 -0500 From: John Mayson <john@mayson.us> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: ANI vs. Caller ID Message-ID: <6645152a0905292036p49177242k93332abdac867e79@mail.gmail.com> On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 1:28 PM, Steven Lichter <diespammers@ikillspammers.com> wrote: > Verizon seems to have a lot of contracts with companies like 7-11, Circle K, > Albertsons, Ralph's (Kroger)for payphone, even out of their own service > area. I can verify this. I forget exactly where, but I have seen Verizon payphones in Austin, deep inside SBC/at&t territory. And I don't mean Georgetown, former GTE Texas, current Verizon territory, in the city of Austin. John -- John Mayson <john@mayson.us> Austin, Texas, USA ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 15:07:43 -0500 From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: ANI vs. Caller ID Message-ID: <lr2dneg5QcwS3b3XnZ2dnUVZ_qednZ2d@posted.nuvoxcommunications> In article <bfd.591862d1.37508867@aol.com>, <Wesrock@aol.com> wrote: >In a message dated 5/28/2009 3:27:36 PM Central Daylight Time, >hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: > >> ... also disagree that Caller ID is a "hard sell". IIRC, the price >> of it has doubled in recent years ($3 to $6 per line) yet it remains >> very popular. (I don't know actual subscriber base, but FWIW almost >> everyone I know has it in both work and home and all cell phones >> have it.) Indeed, some carriers offer it free as part of a package. > > Many non-Bell landline service providers throw in Caller ID as a >freebie with their standard serice offering. And bump up the price of their 'standard service offering', whether or not you want CLID. <wry grin> I _like_ the option of a la carte pricing. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 May 2009 19:42:19 -0700 (PDT) From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: ANI in real time Message-ID: <177100be-c084-42e3-bdfe-aa8f22b78bb5@l32g2000vba.googlegroups.com> On May 28, 3:58 pm, John Mayson <j...@mayson.us> wrote: > This reminds me of an argument I have with my son from time to time.  His > teachers forbid citing Wikipedia, which is understandable.  But it's a > great source for learning the basics and background of a topic.  Also most > articles have a list of authoratative sources at the end.  I tell him he > can use Wikipedia to understand a new subject and find sources he can use, > but he stands by "teacher says I can't use Wikipedia" > I personally wouldn't stake my reputation on anything in Wikipedia, but > it's a good launch point. That's exactly what teachers told us about using a regular encyclopedia years ago--they didn't want us using a single source and basically copying the article for our reports. They wanted us to locate multiple books and dig stuff out of them. But as you say, the encyclopedia was certainly a good starting point to explain a topic and provide cross references. However, I will note that the old printed encyclopedias were more authoritative than Wikipedia is. On the other hand, Wiki has stuff on all sorts of trivial stuff that printed matter did not have. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 05:40:13 GMT From: "Tony Toews \[MVP\]" <ttoews@telusplanet.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: ANI vs. Caller ID Message-ID: <mvsu15hfmdq9j1db78h6mnacfhtq14e4ps@4ax.com> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >* Now that pay phones are rare and calls are cheap, many businesses >will let a stranger make a quick local call as a courtesy. Many >people will lend their cell phone to stranger, say at a train station, >to make a quick call. This sort of thing happens quite frequently. Then I'm trying to visit my brother at his new house in an unfamiliar city. I dial his number in with a wrong digit while I'm driving. (Yes, I know I shouldn't and I seldom use the phone while driving. I'm pretty sure I was at a red light. Does that satisfy you?) Call goes to voice mail and I realize it's not my brothers phone. So at the next red light I re-enter my brothers phone number. While I'm doing that the person at the wrong number phones me and ask if I called her. I'm thinking to myself "You just cost me $0.55 on my prepaid cell phone to prove you're an @#$%$ idiot." $0.30 per minute network useage and $0.35 long distance. I politely told her that I had called a wrong number and hung up. I do wish that cell phones had a slaml-the-handset noise feature though. Tony -- Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP Tony's Main MS Access pages - http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/ Granite Fleet Manager http://www.granitefleet.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 May 2009 20:04:42 -0700 (PDT) From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: ANI vs. Caller ID Message-ID: <85a4d668-24a8-4895-aa25-1a05c3f9f8f2@s21g2000vbb.googlegroups.com> On May 28, 4:27 pm, hanco...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > ***** Moderator's Note ***** > > Central Office design is an _extremely_ conservative > environment. Every software change is tested exhaustively, both for > its intended functionality and to reveal any unintended side-effects. That's very understandable. But on the other hand, we're not still using the inter-office protocols used by panel switches of the 1920s, or those of crossbar of the 1960s. The Bell System, while moving slowly, still evolved over time, as did other computer systems. I forgot to mention, in response to the 'sabotage' concern, that the old Bell System was a tightly closed environment. Pre-divesture business customers had very limited access to the interfaces between a C.O. and a customer switch. Today, as others describes, the customer will get a "super trunk" to connect to their own PBX, so they could send out whatever the heck they want. As we've seen many times in this newsgroup over the years, some customers accidently or intentionally abuse that connection priviledge. That needs to be addressed or the network reliability is at risk. To put it another way, if people can't trust their Caller ID boxes, they will stop paying for the service and the local companies will lose out on revenue. It's also bad public relations. Aside from technical improvements, IMHO we need better policy to control this sort of thing. In the old days the Bell System was Lord and Master of all. Who calls the shots for protocols and standards today? Who says what rules carriers must follow in determining whether they must accept a partner or must refuse a partner? Clearly with all of today's problems improvements are needed. Telephone service is NOT the same as a convenience store or gas station. It's not as if you don't like McDonald's you simply go across the street to Burger King. You can't do that with your telephone service. You can't see your hamburger, you can't see the kitchen as you can with fast food. With fast food there is some hope that the local health dept monitors the place and the FDA monitors the meat source. (It's not perfect but the occurence of foulups are very rare). > Changing ANI into CLID just isn't something Nortel or Lucent is going > to do. See above. As stated, the old network mgmt function of the Bell System is gone, and nothing has replaced it. Looks like we do need an external regulator to develop and enforce technical requirements to protect the public, just as the FDA inspects meat at the slaughterhouse. ***** Moderator's Note ***** While it's true that the Bell System evolved over time, IMNSHO the period of evolution could be measured only in glacial epochs, and that's too long an interval to be perceptable to mere mortals. The sabotage problem isn't academic: both IXC and CLEC companies have access to the SS7 network as peers, and that means that they also have the ability to set up calls that won't appear on ANI records at the originating switch. I suspect this is the reason that most IXC's hand off their calls at access tandems, which can keep separate records. Opinions? Bill Horne Temporary Moderator ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 14:52:13 +0000 (UTC) From: ranck@vt.edu To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: ANI vs. Caller ID Message-ID: <gvosqt$lf7$1@solaris.cc.vt.edu> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Changing ANI into CLID just isn't something Nortel or Lucent is going > to do. And, there is a legal issue to contend with. The rules governing CLID say that the calling party must be able to block their number from appearing. If you convert ANI to use as CLID you'd not be honoring that blocking. This is fine for 800 service and 911, where there is specific exception to the rules, but for regular home or even business non-800 service that would violate FCC regulations. I just wish they would crack down on the CLID spoofing that telemarketers do. I have no problem with, say, a hospital putting their general number on all outgoing calls, or any business for that matter, but calls with 000-000-0000 as their CLID should not go through. Blocking is fine, people can decide not to answer blocked calls, but intentionally bogus CLID should be stopped. Bill Ranck Blacksburg, Va. ***** Moderator's Note ***** Years ago, one telemarketeer appealed for help in this forum: he bluntly stated that his firm was in the business of hyping record sales, and that his employees called up the "request" lines of radio stations all over the country, to generate airplay for releases which he had been paid to promote. He wanted, of course, to know how to falsify CLID info, which radio stations had learned to depend on so as to keep their request lines from being used for unpaid advertising. I don't recall if he ever got a response, but the incident brings to my mind the slippery nature of "truth" when money is at stake. Bill Horne Temporary Moderator "I hate graveyards and old pawnshops for they always bring me tears - I can't forgive the way they rob me of my childhood souvenirs." - John Prine ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 15:12:43 -0400 From: danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: "recall" for some "Jitterbug" cell phones Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.64.0905291458320.22677@panix5.panix.com> "Jitterbug" is a line of cellular phones designed to provide simple and uncomplicated voice service for people who just want the basics. The phones have simple interfaces, large buttons, easy to read displays, etc. Pricing is a tad higher than others, but certainly in the ballpark for light usage. A week ago the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a "voluntary recall" in conjunction with Jitterbug and their phone supplier, Samsung, for a "911 service" problem. Quoting from the CPSC press release: 'Hazard: The recalled cell phones that are in a no-service area and display an "out of range, try again later" message could fail to connect to emergency 911.' (This only applies to a couple of specific models). The stories and writeups were a bit fuzzy. After all, if the phone is out of range, how could any recall, other than retrofitting a big antenna, help? I _thought_ I knew what they meant, and was able to get ahold of confirmatory info. Under FCC regulations, any cell phone (and associated system) that can reach a technologically compatable base station (same frequency set, same encoding), _must_ be allowed to make a "911" call. This applies whether or not the phone has a valid "account" on that system (or, for that matter, any account). What's been happening here is that in some areas the phones are getting a signal, but it's _not_ from one of Jitterbug's cellular partners. Hence the phone gives the owner that "no coverage" screen. In reality they "could", if allowed, make that 911 call. The recall is to reprogram the phones to make sure they understand this process. Once the phone is updated, if you're in an area that's got cellular coverage - but not from their partners, you'll be able to make that call to the 911 center. You won't, though, be able to reach your mother in law... http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09744.html _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 14:33:43 -0500 From: Michael Grigoni <michael.grigoni@cybertheque.org> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Demonstration electromechanical switch Message-ID: <4A203897.3000804@cybertheque.org> (Sorry, first e-mail omitted in the subject heading) I would appreciate suggestions for building or acquiring an electromechanical switch for demonstrating a small pulse dialing exchange. I do have a sort of 'teletrainer' made by our local chapter of Telephone Pioneers which works with pulse dialing, but it uses 1A electronic key system components. I would like the switch to handle perhaps a dozen extensions, and at least do intercom and reach FXO lines by dialing '9' using only 500 sets (or earlier). I have the schematic for the 701 and 711 PBX; these are somewhat overkill for this application. What smaller non-electronic systems were ever available? Should I consider a homebrew system using strowger relays or a small x-bar, glued together with perhaps silver-wire (more modern) relays? I have seen auction listings and catalogs of parts salvaged from SxS systems which seem to be quite steeply priced. Is this for some inflated collector's market? Your replies are much appreciated. Michael Grigoni Cybertheque Museum ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 14:45:45 -0500 From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: ANI vs. Caller ID Message-ID: <6ZKdna1KNKX0pr3XnZ2dnUVZ_sGdnZ2d@posted.nuvoxcommunications> In article <3959ee3c-37f1-4505-bea8-1ea8d1d9a4fe@f16g2000vbf.googlegroups.com>, <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote: >On May 28, 12:24 am, bon...@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) >wrote: >> |> With the right C.O. equipment, it is possible to capture the ANI >> |> data in the call set-up and pass *THAT* information via the CLID >> |> signalling to the end-user. >> |What I don't understand why this isn't done universally. >> >> The issue to _all_ such questions is always "money": it costs a bunch >> more to do things that way.  Caller-ID is a hard-enough sell, due to the >> prices that (particularly the former Baby Bells) charge, that the higher >> pricing to recover the extra cost of the extra gear would eliminate *most* >> of the customer base. > >Again, I am confused. [Moderator snip] > Isn't everything in a switch today done by software, not hardware? "Proven reliable" software is *extremely* expensive. For critical high-reliability items, the _testing_ regimen -- to _prove_ that it "does what it's supposed to, _all_ the time", can easily exceed 95% of the total development cost. > It's not like the old days where they had to wire in expensive > relays and electronic circuits in a trunking circuit to do a > function. Given that the software would be used in thousands of > switches the software cost would be amortized over a wide base. > Further, the ongoing confusion from spoofing and other troubles > undoubtedly is a headache for both the local and toll carriers. You're wrong. It's not a "problem" for the carriers, just for the _customers_. And the carriers are not in the business of making life simpler/easier/more- convenient for customers. They're in the business of making money. Making as much money as they can, while keeping the 'annoyance' level "just below" that which will run off customers. No need to reduce annoyances below that point, it doesn't affect their bottom line. > Accordingly, I don't understand why it would "cost a bunch more > money". [There is a lot of effort] involved, [including] the amount of testing required (the amount of dedicated 'lab' equipment to do that testing on, and the man-hours required), nor the difficulty of coordinating the capability across _all_ the (a) manu- facturers, (b) models, and (c) software versions of the existing central office infrastructure. *ALL* of which have to be tested separately, and in combination. > >I also disagree that Caller ID is a "hard sell". I don't know _anybody_ that shells out hard dollars for it. > IIRC, the price of it has doubled in recent years ($3 to $6 per > line), yet it remains very popular. $6/line with a base cost for dial-tone of around $17 (before taxes, which also run up the $6/line) is an over 33% increase in the cost of basic phone service. > (I don't know actual subscriber base, but FWIW almost everyone I > know has it in both work and home and all cell phones have it.) > Indeed, some carriers offer it free as part of a package. For *FREE*??? *snicker* It isn't free. It just _looks_ that way, because the extra cost of providing it is "bundled" into the base price that everybody pays, whether they want it or not. Look at the typical monthly cost for a cell-phone 'package' today, and compare it with a no-frills land-line, _or_ a basic service cell-phone from years ago, and you'll begin to have an idea of what you're actually paying for all those 'free' features -- WHETHER OR NOT you want/use them. Those who don't use those 'gee whiz' features are subsidizing those who do. Do you think _that_ is right? >> ***** Moderator's Note ***** >> >> The operating companies are _very_ reluctant to introduce _any_ >> non-standard feature or equipment. > > Sure, a "non-standard" feature. But it seems to me, given all the > problems of spoofing and misuse, that it ought to be a 'standard' > feature. Why? How does it benefit the switch _operator_? > Per above, I think the cost would be minimal. Do you have any idea how many separate functions are in a C.O. switch? What it takes to test *every*one* of them to make sure they still work properly, under _all_ conditions, after you make a change to some part of the system? *Even* *if* that change isn't "supposed" to affect this function, you have to test it to make sure that it _didn't_.` >> ANI info per se is NOT a substitute for CLID data, since the ANI >> might or might not match the CLID (as for forwarded calls), so it's >> not a reliable substiture for CLID. > > I don't understand the relevance of "forwarded calls". So, you don't know what you don't know. :) > If a call is forwarded, that is, Amy calls Ben and Ben calls Caz, it > seems to me that Ben's number should appear on Caz's box. I believe > that's how it work's now. As the forwarder, Ben is the caller and > responsible for the call, not Amy. If Amy calls Ben, and Ben's number is "call forwarded" to Caz's number, then the Caz's CLID shows _AMY_'s number. After all that *is* who is calling -- AND the number you should call back to reach the party who called you. (the whole point of "caller ID", originally) *BUT* the billing situation is different. *AMY* pays for the call to where Ben's number is located. And Ben pays for the cost of a call from his number location to Caz's. Now, _if_ the number Ben's phone is 'call forwarded' to is a toll-free number, Ben doesn't pay anything, instead the called party picks up the cost of the call from Ben's number. Amy however, is _still_ paying for the cost of the call from Amy to Ben. In the case of the toll-free number, they are paying for the call only from Ben to them, the ANI shows BEN's number, not Amy's. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 15:05:47 -0500 From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: ANI in real time (was: FTC builds case against telemarketers) Message-ID: <lr2dnek5QcyG3b3XnZ2dnUVZ_qednZ2d@posted.nuvoxcommunications> In article <gvlbig$13v$1@news.albasani.net>, Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote: >Robert Bonomi <bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com> wrote: >>Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote: >>>Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote: >>>>hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > >>>>>The following article from the Phila Inqr describes some outrageous >>>>>stuff pulled by telemarketers in violation of multiple laws and how >>>>>people fought back. This includes spoofing the caller ID. > >>>>>See: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/personal_finance/45231832.html > >>>>>Would anyone know if Call Trace (1157) works when a telemarketer >>>>>calls? That is, does Call Trace send the real ANI or the caller-ID to >>>>>the Call Trace Bureau. > >>>>Unfortunately, ANI doesn't make it to your switch. > >>>For the hell of it, I read the Wikipedia entry on ANI. >>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Number_Identification > >>>Wikipedia entries often drive me nuts due to their lack of citations, or >>>citations to secondary sources that themselves cite no primary sources. > >>>Take this quote, for instance: > >>> Privacy >>> >>> Because ANI is unrelated to caller ID, the caller's telephone >>> number and line type are captured by ANI equipment even if >>> caller ID blocking is activated. The destination telephone >>> company switching office can relay the originating telephone >>> number to ANI delivery services subscribers. Toll-free Inward >>> WATS number subscribers and large companies normally have access >>> to ANI information, either instantly via installed equipment, >>> or from a monthly billing statement. Residential subscribers can >>> obtain access to ANI information through third party companies >>> that charge for the service. > >>>On my home number, I can subscribe to a third-party service that will >>>provide me ANI instantly? I had no idea. Due to there being no source >>>provided, I still don't. > >>Would you believe "it depends"? <wry grin> > >>Some _facilities-based_ third-party dial-tone providers offer the option >>of real-time ANI delivered as CLID. You can't buy it separately, still >>getting dial-tone from your current preferred carrier. > >You mean if my carrier is a reseller? I mean you can't get 'real time ANI' (delivered as CLID or otherwise) from company 'A', and dial tone/incoming call handling from company 'B'. The _only_ source for ANI data is the phone company handling your incoming calls. And then only *IF* they offer it as a feature. >>I've got no vendor names at this time, but it _is_ available. > >To a residential subscriber or a single-line business subscriber? That >would be pretty neat. Yuppers. <grin> Makes for some "interesting" discussions, when you're shopping for a telecom provider. Probably 90+% of the sales reps don't know what ANI is, and assume you're talking about CLID. Of those who 'do', at least 90% will say 'we can't do that'. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom- munications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to Usenet, where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. 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