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Started by Moderator
Sun, 15 Sep 1985 18:27
TELECOM Digest V5 #36
Author: Moderator
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1985 18:27
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1985 18:27
141 lines
6316 bytes
6316 bytes
TELECOM Digest Sunday, September 15, 1985 2:27PM
Volume 5, Issue 36
Today's Topics:
Merlin system
700 numbers
2400 baud modems
[jfw%mit-ccc: Telco question]
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Date: Thu, 12 Sep 85 23:32 EDT
From: Frankston@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Pocket size cellular phone
I saw a brief mention of this two days ago in USA Today. It is British
but that is all I remember about it. The contrast is with the Motorola
8000 cellular which is small, but nowhere near pocket size.
Does anyone know about this British unit?
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From: ihnp4!a.reed@Berkeley
Date: 13 Sep 1985 11:07 EDT
Subject: Merlin system
From: Paul R. Johnson <PRJohnson@MIT-XX.ARPA>
... Radio Shack cost is about ... $300. ... AT&T ... Merlin
system: $2499! What accounts for the > 800% difference?
From: Keith F. Lynch <KFL@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Probably their high advertising budget.
They seem to have radio ads for the Merlin system
every ten minutes around the clock.
I happen to work for AT&T, but the following opinion is solely my own.
Comparing traditional multiline telephones with a programmable
communication system such as Merlin is rather like comparing a
traditional typewriter with a computer-based word-processing system.
The nominal functions are the same, but the higher-tech systems
permit a significantly higher level of productivity. For example, the
Merlin may be programmed to chime calls with a different melody
for each incoming line, so that one does not waste time attending to
calls intended for another worker. If you try to start a call while
all outside lines are busy, Merlin will chime you back when a line
becomes available, eliminating the time and distraction of having to
check periodically for the availability of a line. Etc etc etc etc:
my Merlin came with an 8-page list of 71 such capabilities and how to
program them in from my phone.
How much is additional productivity worth? A $3000 system will more
than pay for itself in 4 years if it saves the business $1000 per year.
Assuming 5 employees and 200 working days per year, that's $1 per
employee per day. Loaded cost being 2 to 3 times cash salary, this
corresponds to about 30 seconds per day for a professional employee, or
90 seconds per day for a clerical. Whether a system can can improve
productivity to that extent can only be calculated from within the
business.
Adam V. Reed (ihnp4!npois!adam)
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From: ima!johnl@bbncca
Date: Sun Sep 15 00:30:00 1985
Subject: 700 numbers
I gather that area code 700 has been given to the various long distance
carriers for services specific to them. Here is a short list of 700
numbers I know about. Anybody know of others?
-- All carriers
1-700-555-4141 Plays a recording identifying the carrier. Handy if
you think you`ve presubscribed and want to find out if your
local telco has set you up. Also handy for finding out who
some random 10XXX prefix connects you to.
-- SBS
1-700-369-1000 Connects you to DowPhone, a telephone stock quote and
news service. Separate subscription required, but the charges
go on your SBS bill.
-- AT&T
0-700-456-1000 Alliance Teleconferencing, which is touted in glossy
color ads as the best conference call system in the universe,
available in most areas. Here in Boston, it gets a recording
stating that Alliance service is not yet available in this area,
call an 800 number to get the conference operator, at higher cost.
I gather that the 700 number hooks you to a computer which lets you
set up your own conference calls. No idea why you have to dial 0
first, but you do. Sounds preferable to 3-way calling if you only
make occasional conference calls.
John Levine, ima!johnl or Levine@YALE.ARPA
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From: SMERESKI.WBST@Xerox.ARPA
Date: 12 Sep 85 10:42:37 EDT
Subject: 2400 baud modems
We have been given the task to recommend a 2400 baud modem for a particular
project. The project will eventually purchase (within a year) over 2,000
2400 baud modems to be used on an IBM PC compatible (i.e. an internal modem
would be preferable). We will control the modems used on both sides of the
connection. Chances are that whatever we recommend for this project will
become the defacto standard for our division and influence all purchases of
2400 baud modems. I would appreciate general comments on 2400 baud modems
and specific comments on the following items:
o What brands/models modems should we definitely consider.
o What brands/models modems should we definitely NOT consider.
o Is there any laboratory test data available on any of the 2400
baud modems.
/Dave
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Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1985 12:20 EDT
From: Jon Solomon <JSOL%BUCS20%bostonu.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
Subject: [jfw%mit-ccc: Telco question]
Date: Sunday, 15 September 1985 11:17-EDT
From: jfw%mit-ccc at bu-cs
To: jsol at mit-xx.ARPA
cc: jfw at mit-ccc
Re: Telco question
Is it still illegal for automatic advertising dialers not to hang up if you
hang up your phone? I just got one, and assuming that the DPU hasn't caved
in to the demands of advertising, I'd like to annoy NET with a complaint.
Who at NET would be the right ones to complain to?
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest
*********************
8-pages of features; ROLM pbx poop
Author: gnu
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1985 09:03
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1985 09:03
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2955 bytes
At Sun I worked with a brand new fancy ROLM phone system. It had a whole 60-page manual of features as well as a card that sits under the plastic in the phone, next to the buttons. I was the only person I knew there who knew how to do a conference call. Most people had serious trouble transferring a call to someone else. This was after 9 months of use! I haven't yet seen a phone system "full of features" that wasn't harder to use than a simple old fashioned phone system. It reminds me of a strange talk at Portland Usenix; an AT&T phone wizard (Brian Redman?) got up and talked about how neat his home phone system was and how many things you could do with it. It didn't come with online help either, and by the end of the talk I'd had far too many ##7*, #*65*#2, and 7*#88s to remember what good they were. If any. PS: There's a serious bug in this ROLM pbx, which was their latest and greatest as of about 9 months ago (3000?). When you dial a busy extension, it gives you a busy signal AND gives the extension a beep-tone superimposed on the call in progress. The usual effect is that the caller hangs up, hearing busy, while the person on the line flashes, trying to accept an incoming call. The result is usually confusion if not killing the conversation in progress. I reported this to our trouble desk, which reported it to ROLM, but it never got fixed. PPS: Sun has a 3-pbx system that covers 5 buildings, interconnected via fiber optic and microwave links. It was the most complex installation of this pbx at the time, and may still be. We were led to believe that it would all act like one big system. They lied. For example, you can't forward your phone to a phone connected to another physical PBX. PPPS: Their forwarding also leaves something to be desired. You can forward all-the-time or forward on busy-or-no-answer but you can't forward "busy" separately from "no answer". This means if you have an office and spend a lot of time in a lab, you can't leave your phone forwarded. If you're in the lab, it's fine, but if you're in your office making a call, it dumps incoming calls on the lab. The ROLM people I talked to didn't seem to see how this was a problem or why other phone systems would do it differently. I think IBM got a bum deal...
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