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Ocean County Phone Punx Presents
OCPP03
August 26, 1997
Contents
Intro-Mohawk
Interview-Mohawk
Usenet Warning-Checkmate
AOLeet (editorial)-Mohawk
Beyond Hope-Mohawk
Extension/Tap-Checkmate
News-Mohawk
Bell Atlantic/Nynex Merger-Mohawk
Project Angel-Mohawk
Intro - Mohawk
Wow 2 months go by fast. They say most zines fold after the third
issue. Well this is it. Will this be the last issue? Of course not. The
OCPP is getting very popular and I would like to thank everyone who has
made that possible. Special thanks to our writers and to the people that
mail us. This issue will focus on the state of phreaking today and
technology that will have an impact on phreaking in the future.
Interview - Mohawk
A few months back while I was doing research on project angel I called
Lucent technologies to see if I can get some answers from them. Of course
they didn't know what I was talkin about so they transfered me all over the
place. I got to the zillionth menu and one of the options was report a
toll fraud. I got connected to the electronic toll fraud dividion and I
asked the guy about project angel, He had no clue what I was talkin about
but he was really cool. We talked for a half an hour. I figured I'd call
them back up and interview them. When I called again I got a different
person and he wasn't very friendly. In fact he was a dick. Sorry to
everyone who was waiting for this. It was suppose to be alot better but
here it is.
All text in () are my thoughts.
Jay>Lucent technologies toll fraud this is Jay.
Mohawk>Hi this is Bill from Eastern telecommunications Monthly newsletter,
and I was wondering If I can just ask you a few questions. It will only
take a few minutes.
J>ok.
M>How long have you been working for lucent?
J>who are you with?
M>Eastern telecommunications monthly.
J>ok, we're in the toll fraud group what kind of questions do you need to ask
M>I just wanted to get some background info on the ETF division and the
people that work there.
J>I think this is something I better clear with my coach first.
M>uh ok.
J>do you wanna call back?
M>when would you like me to call back?
J>tommorow afternoon.
M>this will only take 5 minutes.
J>It's not the time I'm worried about it's the information I'm giving away.
M>If you don't want to answer something than you don't have to.
J>I'll listen to the questions If I don't want to answer them I won't.
M>How long have you been working for Lucent?
J>Well Lucent has only been in existence for.. (obviously asshole)
M>AT&T
J>22 years
M>How long has there been an ETF division.
J>I've been in it for over 3 years, I would say about 5 to 6 years.
M>How did you get the job, what qualifications did you have?
J>PBX experience (don't get to detailed now)
M>Do you go through any special training?
J>Oh yeah. (well that clears everything up)
M>Do you guys go to seminars to learn new things?
J>Oh yeah. (notice a pattern)
M>How many other people work at the ETF division?
J>alot. (a billion is alot)
M>About how many cases do you handle a day?
J>Yeah this is gettin a little proprietary.
M>There's only a few more questions.
J>Well that's not the point. I don't know who you represent, I'm giving
out information that could be gettin to the wrong hands.(who the russians?)
M>How? It's really nothing that big.
J>How do I know you're not a hacker! (cuz I'm a phreaker)
M>How can a hacker use this?
J>He maybe giving it to Northern telecom, or to our competitors.
(News Flash-19 year old crushes Lucent and becomes the new CEO of NORTEL
by finding out how many how many cases of ETF they handle a day)
M>I didn't think it that much of a secret. We do reports alot on computer
crime and security..
J>Well I will tell you I, well I'm speaking biasly of course, I fell that
our systems are probably the easiest or most user friendly to secure, the
customers don't have to purchase any additional hardware to secure their
PBX, we can do it (did I ask you? No he's not brainwashed or anything)
M>you do it right from the computer
J>exactly
M>the other questions I was just gonna ask were how many cases do you handle
a day
J>it varies
M>What type of computer do you use?
J>I have a COMPAQ, I use the taranova software.
M>Do you ever catch anyone?
J>no, we just stop the fraud
M>what do you refer to these people as, I've already heard you say hackers.
J>Phreakers,scumbags (without us he wouldn't have a job but we're scumbags,
the funny thing is he probably has such a thing against phreakers/hackers
he'll have a heart attack in 2 years.
M>Do you have any repeat problems?
J>Once we do a security tune up it's done.
M>Do you think phreaking will stop, stay the same, get worse or better?
J>It'll get better, It already is gettin better.
M>Do you ever think you'll put an end to it?
J>I don't know if we'll ever put an end to it. There's always people out
there that are gullible. Our work force went down by 50% I think were doing
something right. (don't jump to conclusions now)
M>Are there any certain areas that have a big problem?
J>80% of our toll fraud comes from the 212/718 area code. New York city
M>Yeah I heard there was a convention up there i was gonna do a report on it.
J>They have conventions, newsletters, magazines, books.
M>Are there any other methods being developed to try and stop ETF?
J>Not that I know of.
M>What is the main problem that most people call you with?
J>Social engineering is still the number one way.
M>What is that? (as if I don't know)
J>That's when they call in and ask to be transferred out.
M>How do you stop that?
J>You don't.
M>That's my last question, thanks alot.
J>Bye.
What can we learn from our friend Jay?
Phreakers create jobs, they need us.
They know alot about what we do and how we do it.
They have special training and seminars to update them on the H/P scene.
They really, really hate us.
Their employees are brainwashed.
They leech info off of us but won't give us any info at all.
One thing that sux is that they probably all get along and they are always
willing to share new info when hackers/phreakers don't always get along
and aren't always willing to help one another.
(The next article was found in alt.phreaking. Checkmate copyed it and sent
it to me. I figured I'd print it in here because it is intresting. I am
not saying that I believe or disbelieve what they are saying. It is something
to think about though.)
Usenet warning - Checkmate
~~~ Excerpted from Usenet post: "Warning! Danger! All internet users!" ~~~
AT&T, Bell South, Sprint, MCI, have engaged in an illegal conspiracy.
They are hiding from the public their true involvement in possibly hundreds
of "front" Internet Service Provider and other telecommunication companies.
They have made audacious deals amongst themselves that you NEED to know
about. They have hundreds of cross-ownership links amongst each other and
their subsidiaries. AOL, and many others you thought were independent, are
all part of their plans.
By the year 2000 they expect to have you and 480 MILLION people caught
in their new "seamless" wireless system that will reveal your location and
record it in their databases whenever you use a phone or the Internet. With
their approximate $1 TRILLION DOLLARS IN ASSETS!!! they have created a
consortium for this purpose.CHECK IT OUT: http://uwcc.org
Eventually they plan to control virtually all sources by which you can
receive news and information! There are already deals or cross-ownership
ties with most major newspapers, this is why it isn't being reported.
There is much going on here that is very frightening. You think
56kbps speed is and pushing the barrier for standard household wiring? They
are withholding the truth! If they were not waiting for another
reason. RIGHT NOW YOU COULD GET 9-20 MEGABYTES PER SECOND!!!!! OVER
STANDARD HOME TELEPHONE LINES!!! Check out their ADSL "Forum":
http://www.adsl.com/index.html
Their plan, which has been developed with the military (ARPA/DARPA)
and intelligence agencies (FBI, etc.), is hidden by their use of "forums",
"alliances", "consortiums" and "industry associations", etc. Their goal is
to create a nation where all access to news and information is regulated
and filtered. one BIG company that cooperates with new MONITORING &
SURVEILLANCE laws quietly created by the government.
We have thousands of pages of their own documents which describe a
police type state within a few years.
The DoD (military) 1997 strategic assessment says: "Internal unrest
and extreme human rights violations can be expected." They conclude by
saying: "While most of the response will be from civilian authorities, the
military will become increasingly involved." WHAT IS GOING ON?!!!! THIS
IS THE USA THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!!! Check it out for yourself:
http://www.dtic.mil/defenselink/news/Feb97/b020497_bt053-97.html
For DARPA's plans in 1997:
http://www.arpa.mil/documents/testimony3_20_96.html
Why have our Special Forces, Rangers, SEALS, etc. been training at
night with explosives in at least 5 US cities (but only been reported in
those local papers!!??) for the suppression of domestic dissenters!!!!
Ft Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, 11/5/96 & 11/18/96, Charlotte Observer
3/5-6/97, etc.
We have a solution to stop this madness. BUT FIRST JOIN WITH OTHER
USERS FOR STRENGTH AND LEVERAGE. The Development Association for World
Networking, Inc. (DAWN) became aware of these plans while engaged in other
research about ISP's. We are organizing an Internet Users Group that will
help fight this, and locate for you an honest, locally based ISP, that
agrees to a code of conduct which includes clauses pertaining to: privacy,
civil rights, individual freedom, anti-snoop, U.S. Constitution, and the
Bill of Rights. WE MUST STOP THIS NOW!
Contact: dawn-membership@evcom.net
AOLeet (editorial) - Mohawk
What�s wrong with phreaking today? There are two main things that I
feel are wrong with phreaking. The first one, discriminating against Aol
users , is seen mostly on alt.phreaking and IRC. When ever I see this I ask
myself, what kind of racist crap is this. I hate racism more than anything.
However on the net we can�t see who�s who but we can see what ISP someone
is using. Most people who aren�t with AOL think that All Aolers are lamers
and don�t know anything. If they try to post something somewhere they are
usually flamed. This has got to stop. I�m not just saying this because I
am currently with AOL, I�m saying this because I feel that this type of
discrimination hurts phreaking. We have to stick together and help each
other out. I�m not saying that Aol doesn�t have it�s share of lamers. T
There are a ton of stupid lame warez doodz out there but that�s got to be
expected. Out of almost 10 million people there�s bound to be thousands of
lamers but it�s not reason to say everyone on AOL is stupid. If your
reading a newsgroup and you see some misguided person take the 5 seconds and
correct them. If you see some stupid lame ass postin crap just ignore them
and they will go away. The other thing I think is wrong is that we are too
concerned with who�s leet and who�s not. I say who cares. We put people on
pedestals for stupid reasons and wish we could be like them or we proclaim
to everyone how leet we are. I�m sorry to burst your bubble but
hacking/phreaking wasn�t a talent last time I checked. The reason these
people are good is because they put time in to what they do. Some of you
think you can read the jolly rodger cookbook, download AOHell and instant
31337. No. Some of these people have been in the scene for years and years
and dedicate a lot of time to learn as much as they can and stay on top of
things and help out the scene. However these people are not elite. There
is no such thing. Who gives a rat�s ass who can do what. Some people
deserve a lot of respect but there is no reason that we should worship them
or wish that we could be like them. Some of you need to stop and think
about what your doing. If you brag in a chat room somewhere how leet you
are, where is that gonna get you. You will probably never meet half these
people in real life anyway. You cannot pick up 99% of girls by telling them
what PBX you hacked. We all have the ability to make a difference weather
it be starting a conference, writing for a zine, or just helping some
newbie. Well I hope I helped someone.
Beyond Hope - Mohawk
This Augast the sequel to the 94 HOPE convention took place. The
following are a few news articles about it. In future issues we will try to
have some reports on what took place from people that were there.
With security personnel up from the CIA hometown in Langley, Virginia,
mixing with hackers up from basements across the country, the techno-
bacchanal Beyond HOPE highlighted the further evolution of computer jocks
into the mainstream - and into money. Now that security concerns and hacking
have yielded a booming industry ("tiger teams" of contractual crackers), it
should come as no surprise that this rowdy, packet-sniffing bunch has
learned to capitalize on its true talent: working the network. "Five years
ago, they were a fringe, the Net was this obscure thing used to hack phone
tech manuals," says security and cryptography expert Bruce Schneier, who
spoke at this weekend's conference, held in New York and sponsored by
hacking mag 2600. "Now there are companies whose life blood is the Net, like
Yahoo, Amazon.... And hackers are being 'outed,' getting hired for
penetration testing or starting companies." The three-day conference,
keynoted by MSNBC commentator Brock Meeks, proved that hacking is not a
lifestyle choice, but a community with its own rock stars (L0PHT), renegades
(Metro-card hacking Red Balaklava), martyrs (Bernie S., Phiber Optik), and
even patron saints (Cheshire Catalyst, Captain Crunch). While Steve Rambam
walked the audience through the method for acquiring a fake Social Security
card, the media-savvy Mudge, wearing a "Microshit" T-shirt, filled the group
in on Theo de Raadt's OpenBSD, a hacker-written operating system. With an
exploit script, an easy-to-use interface, and good name, "it will get
press," said L0PHT member Mudge. "Microsoft hates that, and that's why we
love it." But the real attraction was the bank of Unix terminals prepped for
public consumption - and corruption. And while the hacker movement is
gaining force, it's also gaining speed. This year, the conference boasted an
operational 10 Mbps local network, compared to the crawling 28.8 Kbps they
had in 1994. "If you have a machine on the network, expect to be hacked,"
said 2600 founder and conference organizer Emmanuel Goldstein, "because
that's what we're here for." The 1,000-person strong Beyond HOPE is among a
growing number of hacker conferences, including Black Hat and DEFCon IV,
both held in July in Las Vegas. The happy-camper HIP conference was held,
perhaps unwisely, simultaneously. HOPE attendee CyberJunkie hacked the HIP
conference homepage and riddled it with HOPE icons. Though there's clearly a
greater handshaking between law enforcement and the hacker community, Bernie
S. knows well that the amity has a ways to go. The co-organizer of the 2600
meeting, the boyish Bernie was sent to prison in May 1995 by the Secret
Service for publishing a list of the service's communications frequencies,
code names, and photos of agents in action (and picking their noses). The
case against him began to verge on the absurd when agents confused the
dental putty in his garage with plastic explosive. As the cause celebre of
the culture, Bernie S. typifies the resiliency of the group. "If you try to
squelch info, it won't get better," he said. "It'll mushroom." Though most
hackers subsist off freeware, the conference offered multiple opportunities
for conspicuous consumption. "Major Hacking" cookies were on sale at the
"Buy Our Shit" concession stand. A letter-bomb detector went for US$40
(used), and another table offered "I Love Your Computer" bumper stickers and
"Co-Ed Naked Hacking" T-shirts ("Finger Me for More Info"). For the more
serious consumer, Nadir sold hot hard drives and CD-ROM drives for $50 a
pop. Will he guarantee it works? "I'll guarantee I brought it here," he
answers. He's a student, and it's the first time he's tried selling hijacked
equipment, he says. "I just want to make people happy." Ritalin junkies may
have dominated by far, but the elder statesmen of the movement were there in
force. Phone phreak Cheshire Catalyst, the founder of 2600 precursor TAP
(Technical Assistance Program), started his newsletter in 1971 for "pay-
phone justice" - basically a primer on how to make phone calls on a penny.
Captain Crunch, a more grizzled veteran who served time, reminisced about
the time he prank-called Nixon in the White House. ("Sir, we have a crisis,"
he recalls saying. "What is the nature of crisis?" Nixon asked. "Sir, we're
out of toilet paper," Crunch answered, and hung up). But for those on the
outside, the line between allegiance and antagonism isn't always clear.
MSNBC commentator Brock Meeks called for hackers to "pump up the volume,"
and bemoaned the loss of elegant hacks like the hole-sniffing Satan or
Hacker X's coup stripping the Cyber Promotions server and posting it all
over news groups. "Twenty percent of government computers have been subject
to hacking attempts - that's a pretty low percentage." he said. "Get off
your asses and make that go up." Later, a black-clad attendee who requested
anonymity scoffed at Meeks' coaching. "It's so self-serving," he said. "He
just wants to write about it."
.c The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - When thousands of young, hip and rebellious computer hackers
- machines in tow - showed up for a three-day convention on practicing their
craft, there was one Golden Rule: ``If you hack someone else's machine,
please don't do anything bad.''
Just to make sure, organizers asked the telephone company to shut off
the main room's phone jacks, removing a tempting route for attendees to
freely hack into the outside world's computers.
Yet many of the techno-rebels at the Manhattan conference that ended
Sunday said there was nothing to fear: Good hackers don't crash computers.
Exposing flaws in high-tech security is more important than undermining it.
``Crashing the system should not be your objective. It had been in the
past. That's the playground bully,'' said a veteran hacker known in the
community only as Cheshire, sporting a big grin that tells you how he got
his code name.
``Now it's no longer cool. Anyone can crash a system. It's more clever
to find out how to make it NOT crash.''
Such protests are routinely overshadowed by negative press.
Technogeeks are accused of using their computer skills to post obscene
messages on Web sites, launch attacks on e-mail services and even destroy
computer files. Ever since the 1983 movie ``War Games'' depicted a boy
cracking the Pentagon's computers - nearly dragging the world into a nuclear
war - hacking has appealed to youngsters who may be too young to know when
they're flirting with law-breaking - or too cool to care.
Balancing a more positive message against hacker mischief was a main
challenge for organizers at the Hackers on Planet Earth conference.
When conference leaders showed, on an overhead screen, a Web site run
by a sister conference taking place at the same time in the Netherlands, the
presentation prompted laughter and applause from the audience.
It turned out the Web site had been broken into by hackers who altered
its description of conference events. ``All our computers were taken over by
agents of a hostile power...'' said the site's text, painting a fictional
takeover by aliens.
The dichotomy was evident inside the building's high-ceiling rooms,
which were snaked with black cables that linked rows of computers for
attendees to explore the limits of the internal network. Adorning the mostly
twenty-something attendees were so many nose-rings, tatoos and black T-
shirts that the place seemed more like a heavy-metal concert than a high-
tech conference.
After informing hackers that the phone jacks in the main room were
shut off - keeping them from hacking into the outside world - conference
organizer Pamela Finkel recalls the response: ``People said, `Where's the
basement?'''
Many hackers began as teen-agers who preferred riding the Internet to
riding their bicycles. They traversed the Web and shared computer codes with
like-minded jocks, enabling them to visit forbidden places like e-mail
data-bases. Some even changed what authority figures had created.
But after much negative press, hackers today like to think of
themselves as insanely curious explorers whose antics help point out
security holes in the World Wide Web and other systems. Anything less would
be to wrongly lump them with ``crackers'' - hackers who have strayed into
high-tech lawlessness.
``I kind of want to mock them in a way that's not morally wrong,''
said a 20-year-old hacker known as Rixoff, who also wanted to keep his
identity secret. Rixoff was describing why he wore a Nynex hard hat at the
conference when he doesn't work for the phone company, but it also described
his attitude toward hacking.
All this and more is understood by veterans like Cheshire, who
acknowledges he himself had crossed that line of temptation.
His eyes gleaming like liquid crystal behind a mop of prematurely
white hair, Cheshire admitted as much to the small crowd of kids that had
gathered about in a corner of the room.
``I just don't believe that a computer is unhackable,'' he said.
``It's just another machine.''
Extension/Tap - Checkmate
For all the paranoia junkies out there, here's an idea you might want
to try if you suspect your neighbors are spying on you. This is sort of
along the lines of RBCP's rants in a 2600 article... well just read it.
Where I live, the apartment complex has a flexible rubber "bag" which
holds all the splicing points between the trunk for my apartment building,
and the outside line. It's held together with several metal clips. If you
disconnect the clips you will find a large, messy bundle inside.
Using a tone generator on the splicing points(steal one from the
telco, it's a little orange box) and a lineman's phone on the trunk lines,
you'll be able to find which pairs in the trunk correlate to which pairs in
the splicing points. What I would do is log ANI on every number in that
box, then mark down the colors of the twisted pairs in the splicing point
that correlate to the positions, and numbers of the trunk lines.
Select which lines you want to tap. Find the related splicing point
pairs, and look for small metallic flat pieces on those cable pairs. Once
you find them, disconnect them. Secure the ends of one pair of telco
wire(or else single strand 22 AWG wire) onto one side of the metal pieces,
and attach another pair to the other side. Make sure they do not touch;
wrap them in tape . Then measure out the amount of wire from both pairs you
will need to run to your safe point/bedroom floor.
Connect the two pairs of wires to a DPDT switch, one pair will occupy
two terminals on one side of the switch. this is a basic "on off" circuit;
if it's on, they will be able to make a call. If it's off, they will get
NOTHING on their phone.
One pair will lead to the side which will go to the neighbor's
connection to the trunk and the other pair will go to the outside line. On
the pair going to the outside line, add two short lengths of wire (you can
connect these to the same poles that this pair is connected to on the
switch). Expose the ends of the wire.
You're done! Now to test it out. REMEMBER to ALWAYS leave the switch
ON unless you want to make a call! Connect your lineman phone or beigebox
to the two short lengths of wire. Pick up the phone. In this mode your
phone and switch is basically a parallel circuit with the neighbor's phone.
You basically have an extension of their line.
To listen in on neighbor, put your handset on "keypad off" mode or
whatever(depends on what model you have) and connect it to the short wires.
If someone's talking, you'll hear it. If not you have a dialtone.
If you get a dialtone, flick the switch to OFF, put the keypad back
on, and dial to your hearts content! This tap will be hard to find because
most linemen simply check the box to see if there's any extra pairs of
wires. They don't bother looking into the splicing point bag simply because
IT'S A BIG PAIN IN THE ASS. So you should be pretty safe that way. BUT BE
CAREFUL if you have this running to your apartment!
Alternatively, you can run these wires from a trunk line(in which
you�ll have to make all those connections on the BACK of the terminal board)
into the ground, and a short distance away to a safe bush.
News - Mohawk
The following are from Lucent's faxes to thier employees. I put them
here for those that don't care about the last two articles.
New Cell Phone Technology--Using technologies now in the late stages of
development, cellular phones will be able to provide services usually
associated with the television, the music center and the computer. Expect
to see phones with screens of sufficient size and clarity to be able to
watch full length movies, listen to high fidelity, order groceries and
connect to the Internet. To provide these services, however, portable phones
will have to be capable of receiving and sending much more information than
is presently possible. This is the chief significance behind last weeks
announcements that Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens and Alcatel are uniting to
promote a standard technology for these next generation phones. The mobile
phone industry describes this technology as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephone
Services). UMTS is not a standard in its own right but more a wish list of
what such a standard should contain. US manufacturers are convinced that
there will not be a single world standard for the foreseeable future and are
refusing to put all thier technology egs in one mobile basket. US groups,
such as Lucent, the world's largest telecom manufacturer, are developing
UMTS systems based on both GSM and CDMA. Lucent, parent of Bell Labs, The
world's most prestigous telecom research centres, carries out its GSM-UMTS
research in Swindon, U.k.
Fingerprint ID -- Fingerprint biometrics got a boost in May when Veridicom a
Lucent/US Venture partners startup, announced the development of a stamp
sized fingerprint reader. The reader-on-a-chip, which is smaller than
optical fingerprint readers, can be built into a computer keyboard or mouse,
allowing verified users to gain access to a PC or notebook. The system will
begin shipping this year for $300. Tom Rowley, Veridicom's CEO, says the
cost will eventually drop to as low as $100. We're beginning to see alot of
interest in fingerprint technology, especially with the prospect of building
scanners into a keyboard or mouse for remote network access, says Jackie
Fenn, Gartner group. Still, Fenn notes that since these features will add
several hundred dollars to the cost of desktop devices, she doesn't expect
widespread use of built in scanners until prices drop below $200. As those
prices fall, companies should expect to see the emergence of some type of
fingerprint-ID feature on high end notebooks next year, said Chris Byrnes,
Meta Group. With the Verdicom chip comes "the first technology for taking
fingerprint identification and building it into a PC," said Byrnes.
Bell Atlantic/Nynex Merger - Mohawk
Bell Atlantic and Nynex recently merged. What does this mean for
phreaks? It's hard to say for sure. Bell likes to genarilze things such as
test numbers, numbers for thier computers and other various things. So
maybe it will be easier for phreaks in the New York area to trade info with
phreaks in the northeast because the info will be simmilar.
The following is a news excerpt from the net.
The New Bell Atlantic Opens for Business
Company to Focus on Customers, Growth, Innovation
August 15, 1997
NEW YORK, -- The new Bell Atlantic (NYSE:BEL) opened for business today with
a commitment to growth, innovation, superior customer care and greater
consumer choice in local and global telecommunications.
The merger of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX became effective late yesterday,
following approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The
$25.6 billion merger brings together two companies with sustained
double-digit earnings growth, strong demand in their core businesses and
bright prospects for growth in new markets.
"Today marks the dawn of a dynamic company that has the market reach,
financial resources and customer focus to compete and win in the most
exciting industry in the world," said Bell Atlantic Chairman and CEO Raymond
W. Smith. "The new Bell Atlantic will better anticipate and respond to
market needs through product innovation and forward-thinking solutions. At
the same time, we will realize the cost efficiencies inherent in this merger
and attain greater overall growth in earnings and shareholder value than
either company could have achieved separately.
"Bell Atlantic has strengthened its position as a leader in the global
telecommunications marketplace. Our opportunities today range far beyond
our traditional regional borders. It will be my challenge as chairman and
CEO -- and Ivan's when he takes my place -- to make the most of them."
Ivan Seidenberg, the former NYNEX chairman who is now Bell Atlantic's vice
chairman, president and chief operating officer, said, "Now that the merger
is official, it's time to roll up our sleeves and begin delivering the
benefits to our customers and our investors. We will be a leader in the
global marketplace and we will remain firmly committed to the people in the
communities we have always served. We will always work to be our customers'
first choice -- no matter where they are -- for their communication and
information needs."Seidenberg will become chief executive officer of the new
company by August 1998 and chairman of the board upon Smith's retirement at
the end of 1998.
Smith and Seidenberg have scheduled a full day of activities on the
first day of the new Bell Atlantic,meeting with employees at various work
locations and unveiling the new Bell Atlantic logo at the company's world
headquarters at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in midtown Manhattan. Other
senior managers will participate in celebrations with the company's more
than 140,000 employees.
Relationship with Customers Is Key to Company's Success With
operations and investments in 20 countries as well as key markets in the
United States, the new Bell Atlantic is among the world's major providers of
wireline and wireless communications and information services.
Bell Atlantic subsidiaries serve 39 million telephone lines in 13
eastern states, from Maine to Virginia, and the District of Columbia. This
region includes nearly one-quarter of the U.S. population and is by almost
any measure the world's richest communications and information marketplace.
Located within the region are Wall Street, the nation's capital, the
nation's major media and the headquarters of one-third of the Fortune 500 as
well as hundreds of other corporations, universities, research centers and
other information-intensive industries. Major cities in the region include
New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Washington,
D.C.
From the Bell Atlanitc Homepage
Growth Opportunities Abound
The local market for communications services is growing at an
unprecedented rate as residential and business customers require more access
lines, advanced network and wireless services and higher bandwidth for data
transport. "The new Bell Atlantic serves the world's largest, most
sophisticated communications market," said Smith, "and demand for advanced
services across our region will continue to fuel robust growth in our core
business and new markets." Smith noted that Bell Atlantic already has more
ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) lines in service than any other
U.S. communications company. Seidenberg added, "Our combined market
presence, advanced network and highly skilled employees will help jump-start
our entry into new markets in our home territory, including long distance,
data connectivity, Internet access and video." Building on a year of success
in maintaining and improving service quality while meeting unprecedented
demand, Bell Atlantic will further intensify its focus on customer care. The
company expects to invest approximately $5 billion in 1997 to maintain
quality and add new capabilities to its U.S. wireline network.
"In a competitive telecommunications marketplace, we must win our customers
every day," said Seidenberg. "We make more than 100 million customer
contacts each year, and each one is an opportunity to show the people we
serve that we will do the job for them."
Bell Atlantic will offer in-region long distance service as soon as
possible. The company is well positioned to apply for approval to offer this
service, as demonstrated by the commitments to local competition made in the
merging companies' July 19 filing with the FCC.
In-region long distance is a $20 billion opportunity for the combined
company, with 45 percent of all long distance calls made within the 13
states and Washington, D.C., originating and terminating in its region. "We
aim to capture at least 25 percent of the long distance market in our region
over the next five years," Seidenberg added. Seidenberg also noted that Bell
Atlantic's domestic customers account for approximately 35 percent of all
U.S. international calls. "Because we serve the Eastern Seaboard, we are
extraordinarily well positioned to meet customers' needs for global
connectivity," he said. "The bottom line," Seidenberg said, "is that this
merger means a more competitive company -- and that's good news for our
customers, employees, shareowners and the communities we serve."
New Businesses, Global Opportunities
Bell Atlantic is also one of the world's largest investors in wireless
communications, international wireline telecommunications and information
services. Bell Atlantic and NYNEX have jointly operated a wireless
communications company since July 1995, which today will begin operating as
Bell Atlantic Mobile. Smith noted, "The success of Bell Atlantic Mobile is
an example of what the newly merged company can accomplish with a unified
strategy, single brand name and more efficient operating structure."
Bell Atlantic Mobile and PrimeCo Personal Communications, Bell Atlantic's
PCS partnership, have wireless operations in 14 of the top 20 markets,
covering the East Coast and areas in the South, Southwest and Midwest,
including Chicago. Bell Atlantic also oversees some of the world's
fastest-growing wireless businesses, including partnerships in Mexico,
Italy, the Czech and Slovak republics, Greece and Indonesia.
Bell Atlantic also has stakes in successful international wireline ventures,
including Telecom Corporation of New Zealand, Cable & Wireless
Communications, TelecomAsia and FLAG, the world's longest undersea fiber
optic cable. In addition, Bell Atlantic's Information Services Group is the
world's largest provider of directory information, publishing 600 Yellow
Pages editions and Big YellowSM, the leading on-line shopping directory.
Bell Atlantic also has major initiatives in Internet solutions and
electronic commerce.
The merger has caused a lot of confusion with the employees of Bell
Atlantic and Nynex. They have opened up a hotline in early 97 to help answer
some of thier questions. The hotline was so swamped with call that they
decided to make up a newsletter called "Transition" to bring them updates on
the merger and to answer some of thier frequently asked questions. Here
are some excerpts from the newsletter.
In the new Bell Atlantic there will be five operating groups.
The Telecommunicatins Group, The Network Group, The Global Wireless Group,
The Informaion Services Group, The International Telecommunications Group.
Q>When will we begin using the new company name in our dealings with
customers? Is there a new branding campaign planned?
A>At some point after the legal close of the merger, we will officially
launch the new company for our customers. This launch will include a
campaign to promote the Bell Atlantic name for customers in the former NYNEX
region. At the same time, customer service personnel in the former NYNEX
states will begin using the Bell Atlantic name in thier interaction with
custtomers. Employees will recieve advance notice of the campaign launch
date.
Q>Will there be common product and service brand names? For examples, NYNEX
offers Ringmate, while Bell Atlantic offers a similar product under the name
Identa Ring.
A>There is a plan to unify the product and service names once the new
company is launched. Employees from brand management and marketing
organizations in both companies currently are determining what those names
will be and when they will be introduced.
The rest of the questions are about stock options, pensions, and
beneifts and I doubt any of you care about that. If we get more issues of
Transition and any of it is intresting we will print it in future issues.
The New company:
40 million local phone lines
5.5 million wireless customers
covers 19 states and Washington DC
lagest local telephone comapny
second lagest phone provider under AT&T
Headquarters will move to New York City
Ranks 23rd on Fortunes magazines 500 largest US corparations
over 140,000 empolyees
Fixed wireless/project angel - Mohawk
special thanks to checkmate who brought this to my attention
This is the last part of this issue so if you don't want to read you're done reading. Technology just keeps moving faster and faster and we have to stay on top of it. I have provided every article I could find on it.
The following is various news releases and speaches off the net.
John R. Walter
President and Chief Operating Officer, AT&T
As prepared for delivery at the
NARUC Winter Meeting
Washington, D.C.
February 25, 1997
Of course, investing in the future means investing in brand new
technology --Technology that expands what you can do for customers, and
differentiates you from the competition.
And that brings me to the technology breakthrough in fixed wireless.
When I arrived at AT&T in November, one of the first company locations I
visited was a research lab in Redmond, Washington. And on that visit I was
introduced to a project that AT&T Labs people had been working on in great
secrecy since 1994.
It was code named project Angel. And now, Angel is going public. Angel
is a fixed wireless system so extraordinary that it gives us a clear option
to provide consumers with local service over our own loop facilities.
It's not a cellular system. It's not a mobile system. It's a totally
new type of radio communications system.
Angel uses proprietary high-speed digital processing technology that
sends or receives signals between the customer's home and a wireless base
station. I'm probably the wrong guy to tell you exactly how the technology
works. But I can certainly tell you what Angel will do for this industry and
its customers.
It is the first wireless system with all the reliability of copper
wires -- from sound quality to security.
But it is much more than a potential replacement for conventional phone
lines to the home.
Angel is a high-speed system that will eventually bring consumers the
equivalent of bandwidth on demand. This is the solution to the "last mile"
problem that has frustrated dreams of the Information Superhighway for 20
years.
Ever since the first fiber optic lines, the long-distance industry has
made enormous progress in transmitting more and more information at faster
and faster speeds. But when those streams of information hit the local
networks, they had to squeeze through that familiar bottleneck of narrow-
band, copper wired lines.
The potential cost of eliminating the bottleneck by running fiber to
the home was so staggering it cut off most discussions. Nobody wanted to
commit billions of dollars to provide capacity for advanced services with no
track record of customer demand.
But with Angel, AT&T Labs has created an affordable last-mile solution.
It has the potential capacity to deliver full-motion video conferencing and
high-speed data applications direct to your home, through the air.
It does this over a narrow slice of radio spectrum, only 10 megahertz.
And customers can go right on using their current equipment.
For customers, getting the power of Angel just requires the
installation of a square antenna on the home, about the size of a pizza box
-- a medium sized pizza box at that.
With a few simple connections inside, you're ready for Angel.
AT&T got ready for Angel with the new wireless licenses we acquired
over the last two years. Our licenses put us in position to cover better
than 90 percent of the United States with this technology.
We start beta testing it in the Chicago area this year. And I think
it's fair to say that residential communications will never be the same.
Initially we'll use Angel to provide two separate phone lines to each
customer and high-speed Internet access at 128 kilobits per second. That
adds up to Web access that's two or four times faster than the connections
commonly available to consumers now, depending on the modem they're using.
And, of course, Angel will connect your home phone directly to the AT&T
Wireless system.
Underlying all these new services is the quality breakthrough. Up until
now, there has always been a tradeoff of quality versus convenience when you
use a wireless phone.
But not after Angel. This technology guarantees the same quality,
reliability and security of AT&T's best wireline services.
People at AT&T who have been around this industry for a long time
equate this breakthrough with the invention of cellular service. It's
technology with clear and immediate benefits for customers.
Like all technological breakthroughs, this one will have to go through
cycles of refinement and testing before it can be broadly deployed.
We need to test it for consumer acceptance, to make sure the pricing
and features are right. That's what the beta testing in Chicago is all
about.
Fundamentally new technology like this doesn't appear in every market
overnight. But once it's deployed, Angel will provide customers with options
they've never had before.
And it represents the kind of technology investment the new Telecom law
was supposed to stimulate. Real competition in the local service market will
provide the incentive for the wide-spread application of Angel, and other
technological breakthroughs that this industry will certainly produce.
The customer benefits of the technology are another powerful argument
for regulators to see the process through. Nothing stimulates innovation
like a truly competitive market.
The announcement of Angel says more than I can about the exciting
future ahead for this industry.
It's such a dynamic industry that no one can predict exactly where it's
going. But we see a future where customers will look to one company to put
together the combination of services and technology that they need.
Many people still miss the convenience of the one-stop shopping offered
by the old Bell System. And I think customers will get that, but with the
benefits of real competitive choice and vastly expanded technology. They'll
have multiple companies making them one-stop offers.
There's an insatiable appetite around the world for communications. I
think the communications industry is primed to meet that appetite, and
create jobs, profits and social progress at the same time.
But competition is the lubricant for taking us into the 21st Century.
The members of NARUC are now center stage in making real competition happen.
You have the largely thankless job of getting the details right in each
state. We may not always agree with you. But speaking for myself, I will
never again take your jobs for granted.
In that spirit, I'd like to close with a thought from the journalist
Paul Magnusson who wrote: "Referees are seldom loved, but no professional
would play a game without one."
So on behalf of all the professionals at AT&T, thank you all very much.
In a news release, AT&T announced a replacement for Central Offices
[CO's]. They plan on using something called *fixed wireless*, which will
be described in detail below.
Blocks of 2,000 homes (or 4,000 individual phone lines) will be
grouped together, each group having one directionl antenna. The *physical*
connection between the HOMES and the ANTENNAS is *fiber optic* cable.
AT&T has stated that it's found a way to utilize the 10MHz band for all of
this system's communication, and has already licensed that band from the
FCC.
The CO's will be DSS [Digital Switching System] and will also be
fully outfitted with fiber optic cable. Acess speed for all lines is a
steady 128kbps.
Although this will be a significant improvement over multiplexed
copper and such, the *one main flaw* in this system is that it's susceptible
to RF interference. The point of the original post was to make this point.
Excuse the vagueness.
On a related note, AT&T plans to do a small-scale test of this system
in Chicago sometime in 1997.
Wired may 97
A Giant Crashes into the Local Loop
Remember how Washington's technocrats promised to open local telephone
markets to competition last year? Well, not much has happened.
At least, not until AT&T plowed into the market. In March, AT&T
announced a fixed wireless local-loop technology, codenamed Angel, that will
take long distance voice and data calls, convert them into digital
information, and send the data to local destinations via its wireless
network. Beta testing in Chicago is set for this summer, with a planned
nationwide rollout in 1998.
Angel not only bypasses the RBOCs, but AT&T reports it's cheap, too.
The estimated cost of building a wireless/wireline hybrid would be about
US$1,000 per customer, $500 less than wireline. "Angel saves AT&T a
significant amount of money, and it puts them on a faster track to enter the
market," says Mark Lowenstein of The Yankee Group.
And this should make the Bells and other local monopolies shudder. AT&T
is already the largest provider of wireless services in the US with 7
million cellular subscribers.
Add to that the $1.7 billion in PCS licenses it acquired last year, and
this telecom giant is roaring louder than ever.
Wired or Wireless: Whatever Turns You On
By MARK LANDLER
Technology, says the author and futurist Nicholas Negroponte, is forcing a
grand switch in the way Americans communicate. Things that used to flow
through wires -- like telephone conversations -- will soon be transmitted
via the airwaves.
And things that used to come via the airwaves -- like television signals -
- will be carried over wires. There is a switch going on, all right. But
these days, it seems to be going only one way: from wired to wireless.
Last Monday, Rupert Murdoch announced he would invest $1 billion in the
Echostar Communications Corp., a little-known company that beams crystal-
clear television pictures from satellites to 18-inch dishes clamped on
rooftops. Unlike other such services, his venture plans to carry local
television stations, which makes it the first genuine threat to cable TV.
The following day, AT&T took the wraps off a new technology it says will
allow it to offer local phone service by bypassing the sprawling wired
networks of Nynex and other Baby Bell companies. AT&T would connect your
home phone to its wireless network by mounting a transmitter the size of a
pizza box on the side of your house, in effect erasing the distinction
between a cellular phone and a regular phone.
It's enough to make one think wires are going the way of windmills -- and
that's a terrifying thought for cable and phone companies, which have dug up
the streets of just about every city, town and hamlet in America, laying in
copper wire and coaxial cable at a cost of more than $300 billion.
"This is like the race between the tortoise and the hare," said David J.
Roddy, the chief telecommunications economist at the consulting firm
Deloitte & Touche. "Wireless networks cost about a third of wired networks
and they can be built in a third of the time."
Even politicians and regulators are riding the airwaves. The Federal
Communications Commission has raised more than $23 billion by slicing up and
selling the nation's airwaves to new competitors like wireless phone
companies and satellite-television services. The Clinton administration has
budgeted $36 billion for auctions of wireless licenses.
Before Nynex and Time Warner trade their spades for radio towers, though,
they should take comfort in a few facts. Wires remain the best way to
transmit information in a reliable, high-quality way. Despite all the japes
about poor service, Nynex and other local phone companies routinely connect
99 percent of all phone calls on the first try. And the sound is excellent.
Moreover, many of the wireless wildcatters will find it tough to compete
with the wired companies, if only because they must build their antennas and
base stations from scratch, while the incumbents have already sunk most of
their investment into their networks.
"It would be foolhardy to put all your chips on red or black," said Reed
E. Hundt, the chairman of the FCC. "For example, I believe data is going to
be one of the biggest businesses of the future. And it will be delivered
mostly over wired networks."
Indeed, after an initial gust of enthusiasm about AT&T's announcement,
experts looked at it with a gimlet eye. Can AT&T's network of radio antennas
transmit thousands of calls simultaneously? Is is reliable enough to
complete 911 calls?
"AT&T has been rather sketchy about what this breakthrough actually is,"
said Scott Cleland, an analyst at the Schwab Washington Research Group, an
investment research firm.
The potential flaws in Murdoch's plan are mostly regulatory. He wants to
launch enough satellites to beam local stations to 75 percent of nation by
the end of 1998. The trouble is, under current law no satellite service can
beam local stations into regions where those stations can be received with
an antenna or by cable.
Murdoch stands a good chance of getting that rule struck down. But he
would still have to pay costly fees to the stations for the right to
retransmit their fare. And even then, his service might be poorly suited to
places like New York, where large apartment buildings offer precious few
places to hang an 18-inch dish.
Then there is interactive programming. Satellite services cannot offer
two-way communication -- allowing a viewer, for example, to order a movie by
pushing a button on a remote control keypad.
The war between wired and wireless isn't a zero sum game. While most of
the world's communications will still be carried over wires, wireless
technology is a good plan for developing nations, which have not yet dug up
their streets or strung millions of miles of wires. Roddy says it could be a
hit in Asia and Latin America.
Wireless is also a vehicle for entrepreneurs to indulge their wildest
fantasies. Motorola is building a global telephone network that completes
calls by bouncing them through a necklace of 66 satellites floating 55 miles
above the earth.
And the cellular tycoon Craig O. McCaw and his software counterpart Bill
Gates want to ring the globe with 840 satellites to transmit data at
lightning speeds. Just try that with wires.
Copyright 1997 The New York Times
AT&T Goes Local by Going Wireless
by Kristi Coale
The Federal Communications Commission said its interconnection rules,
currently in limbo, are still relevant despite a technology AT&T will use to
enter local phone markets more quickly.
"[AT&T's technology] does eliminate the need to buy unbundled loops,"
said an FCC spokesman. Unbundled loops are essential parts connecting
the home phone to the local phone company's central network.
The technology, announced Tuesday, consists of a radio transceiver box
- a personal base station - that will take voice and data transmissions from
a home phone, convert them to digital information and send that data across
AT&T's burgeoning Personal Communications System (PCS) wireless network,
bypassing most of the local telephone networks.
AT&T has been developing this technology in-house for three years. It
is now being tested in Chicago. The technology, fixed wireless, use a
combination of wireless technologies including spread spectrum to transmit
data at 128 kilobits per second across a small slice of the PCS spectrum. To
do this, AT&T acquired additional PCS capacity in the FCC auctions.
Still, the technology will not give AT&T an entire network of its own.
"It's a minor bypass of the interconnection agreements but it doesn't
ultimately allow them to avoid tying into the local exchange carrier's
network. There's a handoff from local subscriber to the local exchange
carrier no matter what," said the FCC spokesman.
Just how much that handoff will cost is still an issue to be hashed
out by the FCC or, more likely, state regulators. The FCC attempted to
set prices in its rules for opening local telephone networks issued last
August. But last October, a federal circuit court in St. Louis, Missouri,
ruled that the FCC overstepped its bounds by setting prices for resale or
purchase of parts of the local phone networks. The Supreme Court upheld the
stay and is currently hearing arguments on the merits of the rules.
Entry into the local phone market is a sticky issue for carriers such
as AT&T, MCI, and others because the local networks have been built and
are owned by the incumbent local carriers such as the Baby Bells and GTE.
The FCC and state egulators have fashioned two alternatives for new local
carriers to enter these markets quickly buy complete access from the
incumbent to resell, or buy access to part of the network to connect to its
own facilities.
A third alternative - building a new network from scratch - is not
seen as a realistic option, articularly when companies would have to put
their copper or fiber into the ground. But by tying home phones into a
wireless network, AT&T has provided itself with a cheaper way to use its own
network.
Building a wireline network costs at least US$1,500 per subscriber,
said Mark Lowenstein, vice president of wireless research for The Yankee
Group, a Boston-based research firm.
By contrast, building a fixed wireless network costs under $1,000 per
subscriber, he said.
Lowenstein said the development will definitely make local phone
competition interesting in the near term. AT&T is the biggest provider of
wireless services in the United States with 7 million subscribers, and it
has more capacity along its networks than other companies, he said.
"It saves them a significant amount of money ... it puts them on a
faster track to enter the market," Lowenstein said.
Following in AT&T's steps will be difficult, too. The Tecommunications
giant has filed patents for its techniques that increase the capacity of its
spectrum and optimize the data for transport over high-capacity fiber.
Nonetheless, the Bells are undaunted. They, too, are keen to this idea
of substituting wireless networks for the copper and fiber, mostly
because it saves them money. For example, a spokesman for Pacific Telesis
said the carrier is looking to use wireless to enter local phone markets in
Southern California that are currently served by GTE.
AT&T's breakthrough wireless technology new alternative
for local service
WASHINGTON -- AT&T today announced the invention of a revolutionary fixed
wireless technology to carry high-speed digital communications directly to
most households across the country at many times the capacity of traditional
copper wire.
This technology breakthrough will give AT&T an important new option
for competing to provide local service over its own facilities.
During the past two years, AT&T has acquired through FCC auctions the
licenses for the 10 MHz radio spectrum it needs to provide the new
technology to customers in more than 93 percent of the United States.
In remarks before the National Association of Regulatory Utility
Commissioners here, AT&T President John Walter said, "We are announcing the
creation of what we believe will be the communications medium for the 21st
century.
"This is the first major technology breakthrough for the new AT&T,
continuing the company's heritage of innovation and positioning AT&T as the
communications leader for the next century."
Developed jointly by AT&T Wireless Services and AT&T Labs, the new
technology is a fixed wireless system that can provide consumers high-
quality, secure wireless communications to and from their homes at speeds
many times faster than existing telephone lines. The fixed wireless system
will initially provide each household with two phone lines and the
capability for high-speed Internet access at 128 kilobits per second. The
technology includes sophisticated encryption capability to protect
consumers' privacy and prevent fraud.
Consumers will be able to use their existing touch-tone wired
telephones and keep their current phone numbers. The new technology will
give consumers the ability to use their wireless phones as extensions in
their homes at local service rates. They also can use the same wireless
phones for mobile service in areas served by AT&T's wireless network, paying
mobility rates.
The new system will connect a consumer's home to an AT&T digital
switching center via a neighborhood antenna mounted on a utility pole or
other structure. A single antenna will serve up to 2,000 homes. The only new
equipment required on the customer's house is a transceiver about the
size of a pizza box that can be mounted on the side or back of a house.
Engineers at AT&T Wireless Services began developing the new system in 1994;
the company will begin a beta test in metropolitan Chicago later this year.
AT&T Wireless Services is already manufacturing components for the system at
its facilities in Redmond, Wash.
For the new fixed wireless system, the company said it has filed
patents for techniques that greatly increase the capacity of a small slice
of the wireless radio spectrum (10MH) and make use of radio frequencies
multiple times in the same area. The techniques optimize fixed wireless
service and concentrate it for transport over high-capacity fiber optic
lines. The new fixed wireless technology is compatible with all of AT&T's
existing wireline and wireless networks.
"We are combining the high speeds, large capacities and top voice
quality that people have come to expect from fiber optics, but we're doing
it over radio waves," explained the system's lead developer Nick Kauser, who
is chief technology officer at AT&T Wireless Services and vice president of
AT&T Labs. "In effect, we've created a wireless fiber optic system --
something no one else has done."
Future uses of the new system may include faster data services and
full-motion videoconferencing.
Ocean County Phone Punx
Proud owners of the 732 NPA