Re: "ISDN Tariff Trick" -Reply

[Doctor Who <drwho@l0pht.com>]

  On Thu, 31 Oct 1996, Fred R. Goldstein wrote:
  
  > Anyway, as I explained to him, there's nothing illegal about DOSBS.  The
  > Virginia tariff, which is probably illegal on its face and in any case
  > unenforceable, ostensibly allows BA to charge data rates for data calls
  > originated as voice.  That's as far as it goes.  The reality is that some
  > telcos are talking to some manufacturers (I have this on deep background,
  > if you get my drift) about selling them digital distortion circuitry to
  > mung up the bits, so that DOSBS won't work.  Of course neither will the
  > USR, Lucent or Rockwell 56k modems, so the opposition will be, uh, strong.
  
  Yes. One company Bell Atlantic is working with is Telco Systems of
  Norwood, Mass. I suggest you suggest your dissapproval with this to both
  Telco and Bell Atlantic. I wonder whether such detection and damage
  violates wiretapping laws.
  
   
  > NYNEX knows we use DOSBS here.  I told 'em so.  We sometimes order ISDN
  > lines with "1 voice 0 data" and attach Ascend or Gandalf routers or bridges.  
  > 
  > NYNEX has two main problems in their ISDN tariff.  One is that DOSBS is
  > *totally* unlimited, so there are "nailed" users.  They don't like that;
  > they might stick a threshold limit on ISDN "voice" calling.  Personally I
  > think it's a very reasonable idea, if in the 200 hour range.
  
  I don't agree. Until Nynex/Whatever offers a reasonable, reliable way to
  put a small server on the net, I will stay with my DOSBS. I would prefer
  to bypass the bastards completely, and will do so when I can.
  
  > Some folks have a problem with this, because they live under the assumption
  > that telco has what mediaevals called a "franchise" or "staple".  That's the
  > right to the revenue, no matter who does the work.  The Post Office's Private
  > Express statutes are a rare vestige of this; they can technically charge you
  > 32 cents for mailing a non-urgent letter via FedEx.  In the ham radio world,
  > there are a few anal-retentive types who think that you can't use a phone
  > patch from your car if your car is parked outside of the local calling area,
  > lest you be using the autopatch to deprive "the phone company" of their
  > toll revenue!  (Today, who's the phone company?)
  
  Yes, we've seen examples of this many times. The Ham-radio busy-body is
  making the hobby horrible. A friend got nasty notes accusing him of
  sending encrypted data over packet-radio, when in fact it was only
  compressed with an out-of-date compression algorithm (ARJ).
   
  I am getting frustrated with the paranoia and fear that accompanies DOSBS.
  I see advertisements for 56K modems coming to market next year, and this
  makes me consider dropping the ISDN line for those. Of course, like every
  other analog spped upgrade, it won't actually work until 6 months after it
  is put to market. And I'd still have to get my ISP to support it!
  
  --Dr. Who