TELECOM ACCESS STANDARDS NEWSLETTER NO. 90 May 1996 CONTENTS 1. ALPHA-NUMERIC AND "LONG" NUMBERS 2. PTC 200 & TNA 102 3. HARVEST ELECTRONICS TELEPERMITS 4. CALLER DISPLAY FOR INTERNATIONAL CALLS 5. CALLER DISPLAY DEVICES 6. SEMINARS ON THE NEW BUILDING CABLING STANDARD 7. PRE-DIALLING AND INTER-DIGITAL TIME-OUTS 8. CORDLESS TELEPHONE SECURITY 9. CORDLESS TELEPHONE RADIO REQUIREMENTS 10. LONG RANGE CORDLESS PHONES RETURN TO MAIN INDEX 1. ALPHA-NUMERIC AND "LONG" NUMBERS By now readers will be aware of Telecom's advertising campaign to promote "0800 WordNumbers". It appears that there is now quite high customer recognition of the correct alpha allocations to digits and our only real concern is that there may be problems with the location of letters "Q" and "Z". We have sent out with our telephone accounts sheets of stick-on letters for customers to put on their keypads, but these will not be used by some customers. There are relatively few "absolutely non-standard" keypad layouts in service, but these are bound to give rise to some criticism and wrong numbers. Nevertheless, as their use grows, any letter location problems should be overcome. From the CPE supplier's viewpoint, this increased customer recognition of the letter locations will no doubt generate customer demand for the new standard keypad markings. Readers may have noticed that some advertisements show more than the usual 6 digits following the "0800" prefix. This is generally acceptable, as the Telecom network simply ignores any digits or letters after the full directory number or the first six of an "0800" number. However, there may be a problem if the calling party dials digits in addition to the actual directory number for any reason, and the called number uses an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. In such cases, it is possible for the call to be switched and answered before the caller has input the last digit or two. Such delayed dialling could lead to confusion if the last one or two digits clash with the IVR system commands. 2. PTC 200 & TNA 102 PTC 200 and TNA 102 are close to publication, but not quite ready. As mentioned in Newsletter No. 89, any actual changes in requirements have been covered either in these Newsletters or in drafts already issued. At this stage, the basic text is virtually settled and we are working on the integrated test schedule. While there is little change from the existing requirements published in PTC 202, 211, 212, etc, there is a timing problem for the testing laboratories. They will need to revise their test report formats to align with the new integrated version. A related issue is that we will require the testing laboratories to ensure that they will check out all aspects of a product which are relevant to PTC specification requirements. At present, there can be omissions with multi-function products unless the laboratory is testing to the various specifications individually. We are continuing to accept orders for the two specifications with our "Special Introductory Offer" through till the end of June. The introductory price for the pair is $170, complete with one of the white Telepermit binders we offered for sale in March/April last year at $15 each. If the binder is not required, the price for the two documents is $160. Where a reader is replacing the draft of PTC 202, Issue 2, the combined price will be reduced by the $90 they originally paid. All the above prices include GST and postage. The A4 binders we provide are large enough to fit the "Telepermit Overview" and several other PTC Specifications. These could include PTC 100 and PTC 101 when they are re-published. As such, readers will be able to "customise" a package of Telepermit documentation within the single binder. 3. HARVEST ELECTRONICS TELEPERMITS Issue 43 of the Telepermit Register shows two modem Telepermits granted to Harvest Electronics Ltd, which is one of our recognised Telepermit testing laboratories. Harvest have asked that I advise readers that this entry came about through a misunderstanding which arose with their Australian associates. The two Telepermits are to be transferred to the relevant importer and the amendment will be published in the next issue of the Register. 4. CALLER DISPLAY FOR INTERNATIONAL CALLS Further to the provisional PTC specification information published last year, it is now being arranged for the number displayed on international calls incoming via Telecom to be shown as "0000". It should be noted that this does not always occur, as many calls come into this country via other carriers. In Newsletter No. 82, I mentioned that the usual US market unit provides for only ten digits and that this limits their future use for international numbers. However, the timing for the introduction of international number Caller Display is expected to be some way off. This is partly due to the technical problems of ensuring that display restriction arrangements are correctly carried across two or more national and international networks. Because of the way international traffic is handled at transit points, the originating number and its restriction parameter are not always retained. Even more complicated are the legal problems due to the variations in the privacy laws of the countries involved. Rather than show international incoming calls as "number unknown or not available", it has been decided that the code "0000" will be used. This should be a more useful indication, especially where customers wish to give such calls some degree of priority. 5. CALLER DISPLAY DEVICES Access Standards is accepting applications for Caller Display devices based on the provisional PTC requirements published in July and December last year and it is pleasing to see such a lot of interest in these products. On the other hand, we are concerned that one supplier has offered a device for sale before the Telepermit has been granted. The supplier concerned has advised customers that his device will be ready for use as soon as the service is introduced, but he has missed some vital points. The service will not be available on all Telecom lines. Our most modern exchanges support the service, but the earlier ones do not. This means that customers buying these Caller Display units "prematurely" may not even be able to use them when the service is introduced. A second problem is that Caller Display devices need to be able to support three-wired telephones, of which there are well over a million in service. On both counts, some customers could have a legitimate claim that the product is not suitable for their intended purpose. 6. SEMINARS ON THE NEW BUILDING CABLING STANDARD As mentioned in Newsletter No. 89, AS/NZS 3080 is now available from Standards New Zealand and it is being formally launched at a series of seminars this month. Our Australian partners on the Joint Standards Working Group recently advised that there had been some criticism of the new standard in Australia. It was claimed that the standard "offers far too many options". This is only partially true. Certainly lots of options are included in ISO/IEC 11801, which forms the basis of AS/NZS 3080, but our version includes several additional "Z-series Appendices" to cover our preferred and/or local arrangements. Clause 6.1.2 clearly states that Cat 5 100 ? balanced cable or 62.5/125 µm multimode optical fibre cable are the preferred types. This is further reinforced in Appendix ZA for Australia and New Zealand. 7. PRE-DIALLING AND INTERDIGIT TIME-OUTS In Newsletter No. 89, I mentioned that the inter-digit timing of our public exchanges had been modified to give callers more latitude to pause during dialling. The purpose of the article was to advise Call Logger and Call Detail Recorder providers of the need to ensure that their time-out settings do not lead to a call being disregarded prematurely. For this reason, I quoted the maximum inter-digit timings that could apply. In reality, the timings are not all 10 seconds - the maximum time given to dial the first digit is actually up to 16 seconds, the time between the next eight digits is up to 11 seconds and the time between the final digits is up to 5 seconds. While these details are not usually going to be needed, they are quoted for completeness. In case readers gain the impression that the increased timings apply under all call conditions, I should explain that the timings are halved during heavy traffic conditions. As such they revert more or less to the original timings. This arrangement give callers the extra time latitude most of the day, but avoids excessive loading on common equipment during high traffic conditions. From most viewpoints, this is a good compromise. It has been pointed out that most PABX systems also have pre-dialling and inter-digit time-outs to make best use of registers and DTMF senders. In view of the increased time settings within the network, it is suggested that PABX suppliers also check their systems to confirm that there are no problems due to the increased network time-outs. 8. CORDLESS TELEPHONE SECURITY In the November Newsletter, the number of distinct security codes required for cordless telephones was increased from 256 to 1 000. Further research has indicated that overseas practice is to insist on far more codes as a means of avoiding fraudulent calling now that cordless telephones have proved so popular. For example, AUSTEL have required at least 9999 codes for some years. In view of this and the very large numbers of cordless telephones now going into service, we are increasing the minimum number of codes to 8 000. This will increase the security level, but not prevent the Telepermitting of cordless phones intended for the common Australia-New Zealand market. Modern cordless telephones generally use digital security coding. Typically, a 16-bit or 24-bit code is employed, giving 65 536 or 16.7 million codes respectively. As such, the increased code requirements should not penalise any suppliers to the local market. 9. CORDLESS TELEPHONE RADIO REQUIREMENTS Radio Operations group of the Ministry of Commerce have recently revised their documentation covering cordless telephones. RFS 29 has been the base document until recently. It has now been revised to exclude cordless telephones. As a result, its earlier title "Exemptions from Licensing for Restricted Radiation Radio Apparatus (including Cordless Telephones)" has now been shortened to "Restricted Radiation Radio Apparatus (Exemptions from Licensing)". RFS 30 has been published to deal specifically with cordless telephones. Its formal title is "Specification for Radio Apparatus: Cordless Telephones". Both documents are available for Radio Operations at a price of $9.00 each, inclusive of GST and postage. CT-1 and CT-2 cordless telephones are now covered by a General Licence under regulation 3 of the Radiocommunications (Radio) Regulations 1993. To meet regulatory requirements, suppliers of cordless telephones are to submit to Radio Operations group a Declaration of Conformity. This is to be based on a test report demonstrating that the product complies with RFS 30. RFS 30 now includes a frequency allocation for higher powered cordless telephones. However, these are limited to 1.0 W eirp for base stations and 0.5 W eirp for portable units - see item 12 below. These provide a range of 1 km or so and are intended primarily for rural applications where the risk of mutual interference should be relatively low. It is suggested that those readers who need to keep up-to-date with Radio Operations publications should apply for a copy of RFS 50. This lists all publications and is available free of charge. 10. LONG RANGE CORDLESS PHONES There have been intermittent advertisements over the past couple of months for "Long Range Cordless Phones". The various models offered claim ranges of 50 km or more. As a result, we have had enquiries as to their Telepermit status. At the time of writing this article, NO Telepermits have been granted and NO applications have been received for this class of product. In general terms, the maximum power output originally permitted by the Ministry of Commerce for licence exempt "restricted radiation devices" under the terms of RFS 29 gives a range of 100 m or so. Any claimed range significantly longer than this implies a much higher power output than conventional cordless phones and the newly provided for 1 W units. Long range cordless devices are NOT licence exempt. In other words, they must operate in a frequency band specified by the Ministry of Commerce and every user needs a separate licence to operate such a device. From Telecom's viewpoint, Telepermits will be granted IF such long range cordless phones have Ministry of Commerce approval and they comply with our relevant PTC specifications. However, users need to recognise that the greater range means that there is high risk of their conversations being overheard by inquisitive listeners with the same sort of equipment. DOUG BURRUS Manager Access Standards