TELECOM ACCESS STANDARDS NEWSLETTER NO. 108

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1998

CONTENTS
1. EXPERIMENTAL INTERNET SITE
2. VISUAL MESSAGE WAITING INDICATION
3. PTC 331: AMDT No. 4 - UPDATE TO CALL FORWARDING RELATED PARAMETERS
4. USE OF TELECOM'S VOICEBAND LEASED SERVICES
5. YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE
6. INTRODUCTION OF ADDITIONAL RINGING CADENCES
7. PTC 103: 1998 - CODE OF PRACTICE FOR RESIDENTIAL -TYPE CUSTOMER WIRING
8. PREMISES WIRING FOR NEW HOMES - NETWORK CONNECTION
9. CPE-BASED "PCS BUSINESSZONE" CELLULAR SERVICE TRIAL
10. TEST LABORATORY ADDITIONS AND CHANGES
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1. EXPERIMENTAL INTERNET SITE

As something of an "experiment within an experiment", I published our trial site address in the letterhead of newsletter No 107, with no additional comment or explanation. We have since recorded well over 300 hits, showing that many readers are quite observant.

By way of explanation, we will be publishing our information via the official Telecom Home Page in due course. However, this is currently very marketing-related and we have been anxious to preserve our "arm's length status" from Telecom's marketing interests.

Comments on our experimental site would be appreciated. We have kept it very much in the form of these Newsletters, with no "clipart" or other extraneous graphics. Our main aim has been to provide the information, not the gloss, and we are conscious of the fact that most busy people want the basic information without the need to wait for graphics and animated GIF's to download.

Those readers who have not yet accessed the site may be interested to learn that we have published the last 15 or so Newsletters (handy for anyone who wants to check up on a past issue), the Telepermit Overview and Application Forms, and even the full text of PTC 100, incorporating amendment No. 1 (released with Newsletter No. 107). There is also information on number lengths used in the Telecom network.

In time, we intend to expand the site to cover other issues and publications of general interest to the industry. The new edition of PTC 103 (see item 7 for more details) and information on premises wiring are expected to be added in the near future.

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2. VISUAL MESSAGE WAITING INDICATION

Further to the articles on VMWI and FSK signalling in Newsletters 105 and 106, initial testing has revealed that the multiple data message format signals sent by Telecom to indicate message waiting status can confuse some VMWI indicators originally supplied for the North American market. This comes about because Telecom's status signals also include the time and date information, which is not always done overseas. Some administrations send the VMWI information in single data message format and the indicators are set up accordingly.

The basic PTC 200 requirements proposed in Newsletter No. 195 have been confirmed by our testing programme, so these will now be incorporated into TNA 102 and PTC 200, with a warning that we are sending the information in multiple data message format and the requirement that indicators must operate correctly under these conditions.

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3. PTC 331: AMENDMENT No. 4 - UPDATE TO CALL FORWARDING RELATED PARAMETERS

Amendment No. 4 has been issued to registered holders of Specification PTC 331. This amendment clarifies the existing text and records some minor changes to the codings used in the call forwarding related signalling parameters supported by ISUP in ITU No. 7 signalling. Since the specification is held primarily by other carriers and not by those in the CPE industry, the amendment is not being published with this Newsletter. However, a brief explanation of the call forwarding signalling may be of interest to CPE suppliers, as its adoption by other carriers may result in some changes to the numbers delivered with the Caller Display service.

The support of call forwarding related signalling on the PTC 331 ISUP interface is optional and it is made available to other carriers on request. It provides additional information and control when call diversions take place. Currently most networks interconnected to Telecom do not support the exchange of call forwarding related signalling on the interface to Telecom. In future we expect more networks will opt to support this signalling. To assist carriers Telecom will shortly be releasing a "Guide to PTC 331 Support of Call Forwarding Signalling".

The use of call diversion or call forwarding is increasing, with calls sometimes passing from one network to another and even returning to the home network.

The number displayed to a called party who has Caller Display service when an incoming call has undergone forwarding may be either the true calling party number or the last diverting number, depending on how the call was routed through the networks concerned. The displayed number is that of the originating caller only if the call has been routed entirely within the Telecom NEAX 61E network and any other networks concerned have opted to activate the call forwarding signalling on their PTC 331 interface to Telecom. In these cases, the true calling party number is provided independent of the number of diversions that may have taken place.

However, if the call has traversed non-ISUP signalling or a non-Telecom network that has opted not to activate the call forwarding signalling, then the identity of the originating number will be lost and only the last diverting number will be delivered to Caller Display customers. The last diverting number is not always convenient, as the called party may wish to know where the call actually originated in order to contact the caller. The true originating number may also be needed for marketing purposes.

The ISUP signalling for Call Forwarding supplementary service dealt with in Amendment No. 4 provides for additional numbering information to be passed between networks, such that each network operator can have the ability to present the appropriate number(s) to its customers. Implementation of this service may lead to changes in number presentation for such services as call centres, in that the originating A number may replace the last diverting number in some cases. Suppliers are advised to be aware of this possibility.

Any holders of PTC 331 who have not yet received this Amendment are asked to contact Access Standards.

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4. USE OF TELECOM'S VOICEBAND LEASED SERVICES

A recent press article concerning a company offering to provide digital subscriber loop (DSL) services has brought to light a misconception about the use of Telecom's analogue leased circuit services. These are described in Telecom's List of Charges as "A1", "A2" and "A3" analogue data services.

On enquiry, it was found that the company concerned was planning to lease these voiceband services and connect terminal equipment operating at up to 80 kHz.

Suppliers are reminded that these services are provided for voiceband operation, using only the frequency range 300 - 3400 Hz. Only Telepermitted customer premises equipment may be connected to them and such Telepermitted equipment is to be used in accordance with the terms of its Telepermit grant.

Most such new circuits are provided at least in part by means of derived systems and these are inherently restricted to voiceband operation by the encoding process. While some are still likely to be provided via copper pairs, Telecom can give no undertaking that end-to-end copper circuits will continue to be provided. In fact, it is expected that even existing circuits will be converted at some time in the future.

It must be stressed that Telecom does not provide copper pairs for use as bearers by customer-owned derived circuit systems. Telecom is leasing the specific "service", not providing unrestricted access to the "copper'.

As a separate but related issue, it appears that some equipment suppliers have "extended" a Telepermit, originally granted for such applications as ISDN basic or primary rate, E1 2 Mbit/s service, etc, to other optional features of the equipment concerned. These features were not tested and, in fact, are not supported by Telecom's "A1", "A2" and "A3" leased circuit services. Equipment suppliers should note that any equipment sold or supplied for leased circuit operation should be Telepermitted for the particular application the customer intends to use it for.

Potential interference is another key issue. Telecom's cables are the bearers for a variety of transmission systems, each of which is designed to use a specific band of frequencies. These bands are selected such that interference between the different services is kept to an acceptable minimum. Knowing what is in use, we can up-grade the cable to a modern derived circuit system at any time without disruption of these services. Other unauthorised and undefined services connected by customer are not necessarily going to fit in with our up-grade plans.

Should customers connect other than voiceband equipment in those cases where any leased services are provided by copper pairs, their service may be disrupted without notice should Telecom convert the local cable network to broadband digital operation. There is also the risk that such services will disrupt or interfere with new Telecom services, such as ADSL. Again, interfering equipment would be disconnected without warning - especially if it is being used in breach of the contract terms for the particular Telecom service.

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5. YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE

Further to the article in Newsletter No. 107, I am pleased to report that some other suppliers have provided compliance statements for their equipment. Sharp Corporation of New Zealand Ltd has advised that none of their fax machines manufactured since 1991 be affected by the Y2K issue, even though they print out a 2-digit year figure. In their case, "00" represents Year 2000, "01" represents Year 2001, etc.

IBM have also provided a full list of their Telepermitted products and their current status. IBM New Zealand advises that any persons having questions or requiring further information about the Y2K status of their products should use the Internet to access:

http://www.software.ibm.com/year2000

IBM also have a "Year 2000 Readiness Report" on the Internet and this is kept up to date with developments concerning their products. The address is:

http://www.yr2k.raleigh.ibm.com

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6. INTRODUCTION OF ADDITIONAL RINGING CADENCES

The remaining DA-2 and DA-3 (Distinctive Alert) ringing cadences described in TNA 102 are expected to be introduced about April of next year. More information on the way these are expected to be used will be published in a future Newsletter.

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7. PTC 103: 1998 - CODE OF PRACTICE FOR RESIDENTIAL -TYPE CUSTOMER WIRING

Telecom's Code of Practice for telecommunications premises wiring dates back to 1987 and it pre-dates the introduction of 2-wiring and SOHO. To cover these new standards, the code has been completely revised and is being re-issued as PTC 103: 1998.

This new code is focused primarily around the new 2-wiring standard, but also covers SOHO as an acceptable option and incorporates the recent change which permits mixed 2-wire and 3-wire jackpoints. Full conversion to 2-wiring is recommended as the preferred course of action when adding jackpoints to existing 3-wire installations, but it is appreciated that many customers will be reluctant to change all the earlier 3-wire jackpoints where they have proved to be quite reliable and acceptable .

To encourage the use of the new Code of Practice by all persons involved in residential-type premises wiring (noting that many small businesses are also wired without cable terminals and multi-pair cables), this revised Code of Practice will be available at a price of $10 for the paper copy. It contains approximately 40 pages in A4 format. We are also planning to publish this document on our website, as mentioned in item 1. It can then be downloaded at no charge (other than the normal charges for using the internet and the cost of the printing).

From Telecom's viewpoint, the more people that read the Code, understand its requirements, and carry them out correctly, the greater the reliability of our customers' wiring installations and the better the service they will receive.

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8. PREMISES WIRING FOR NEW HOMES - NETWORK CONNECTION

Some contractors wiring new homes have been treating the Telecom ETP (External Test Point) as a "star point" by extending two or more cable runs outside the exterior wall of the house and leaving Telecom to common these runs within the ETP. This only results in numerous cable joints within the ETP, which we would prefer to avoid.

As explained in our more recent standard premises wiring instructions, packed with many retail jackpoints, we also need a clear warning notice to be placed on the cable tail to be connected to our ETP in any cases where the Blue-White pair has NOT used for the first-in line.

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9. CPE-BASED "PCS BUSINESSZONE" CELLULAR SERVICE TRIAL

Telecom is currently preparing to trial a Customer Premises Equipment-based version of "PCS BusinessZone" to complement the present network-based solution. The CPE-based version makes use of a privately-owned cellular base station, which provides a "cordless PABX", using variants of the IS 136 D-AMPS mobile telephone as the portable units. The system uses one or more standard Telecom cellular frequencies to provide a microcell for an individual business premises. The same mobile phones are used on the public network when they are out of range of the home base station, so there is no need for the users to have separate cordless, PHS or DECT telephones for use within their office premises.

Because the frequency bands used are the same as those for the public service, it is important that frequency allocations are carefully managed to avoid interference to or from public cellphone services. Similarly, interference to or from any other nearby "PCS Businesszone" services has to be avoided.

Another complication is that the entire AMPS frequency band is subject to 6-monthly re-allocation by Telecom in order to meet rapidly growing traffic demand. The frequency management processes used with these systems must therefore be such that they can ensure interference is avoided under such changing conditions. Frequency management will get quite complicated once the service is being provided by multiple vendors with differing types of system and it will be necessary for these new systems to operate under very strict conditions as to the actual frequencies and signal levels used.

Notwithstanding the grant of a Telepermit for a particular type of equipment - typically comprising a control system interfacing with a PABX, one or more antenna/base station units, and digital cellular handsets supporting the "Preferred Operating Frequency" feature to IS 136 - each installation will also be subject to contractual requirements specific to the particular location. These requirements will relate to a "site licence" created by Telecom, which is responsible for managing its part of the cellular spectrum. The installer will be required to maintain strict maximum signal levels both within and outside the intended coverage area.

Telecom is preparing suitable contractual terms to cover this trial. In addition, we have drawn up the Telepermit requirements, which are being published as PTC 263. This specification will initially be available as a "Draft for Public Comment" at a cost of $30, inclusive of GST and postage. Any readers wishing to purchase this specification should preferably fax an order to Access Standards. As is our usual practice, those purchasing the draft will be sent a copy of the final document free of charge as soon as it has been published.

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10. TEST LABORATORY ADDITIONS AND CHANGES

Telecom's Wellington Telepermit test laboratory for cellular and ISDN Layer 3 testing has now been re-located into the Central Telephone Exchange building. Both Wellington and Auckland Telepermit test facilities are now under the management of our Operations Division.

These laboratories provide ISDN CPE suppliers with two options for ISDN testing, but we still have only the one cellular test facility in Wellington. The Auckland details, as published in the Telepermit Overview, are unchanged.

Contact details for the Wellington laboratory (previously part of our Network Development Laboratory) are now as follows: -

Technical Evaluation & Models Laboratory
L3, Central Telephone Exchange Building
60 - 70 Featherston Street
P O BOX 293
WELLINGTON

Product categories tested:
Basic and Primary rate ISDN Layer TNA 134

Telephone: +64 4 495 1535
Fax: +64 4 473 9134

All types of Cellular terminal equipment

Telephone: +64 4 495 1574
Fax: +64 4 474 8022

Another change in address applies to AUSTEST Laboratories. Their new contact details are as follows:-

AUSTEST Laboratories
35 Alleyne Street
Chatswood
NSW 2064
AUSTRALIA

Product categories tested
All non-voice and some voice products
PTC 211 and PTC 212
Telephone +61 2 9882 6500
Fax: +61 2 9882 6600

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DOUG BURRUS
Manager
Access Standards

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