Conference weserv::dtn

Can anyone state the rationale for .0 here?

Can anyone state the demographics of the impact?  That is, how many people's
numbers are changing, and how many people's numbers are being preserved?
				/AHM/THX

    Since DTN 264-1154 exists, I guess that I will be one of the "few" to
    have his 4 digits change also.

The rationale is that Digital currently has all of the 884 numbers and only
part of the 881 numbers.

We are billed based on how many x000 groups we have assigned to us.  This
allows us to reduce that number to ten from the current fifteen or so.

In addition, we are billed by our Virtual Private Network providers based
on the number of DTN codes that have to be maintained.  This removes one
of those.

And there's one more factor:  This is not a DEC decision.  It's a New
England Telephone decision.  We no longer have a PBX of our own.  The
whole ballgame belongs to New England Telephone and they can run it as
they feel it is best for _their_ business.

/john

      <<< WECARE::DISK$USER02:[NOTES$LIBRARY]ZKO_SUGGESTION_BOX.NOTE;1 >>>
                        -< ZKO site general conference >-
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Note 477.7          Our phone numbers are going to change...              7 of 7
MILORD::BISHOP "The punishment that brought us peac" 26 lines   5-MAY-1997 08:41
                              -< An explanation >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I sent a somewhat caustic mail to CCS on Friday, and late in the
    afternoon, I received a call from Arthur Dean of Telecoms. He has given
    me an explanation that makes sense (at least to me).
    
    The SL100 at MKO that provides service to all of MKO, ZKO, NIO, NQO is
    made by Northern Telecom, as are all the handsets, and the wiring in
    the buildings has been done to meet Northern Telecom requirements.
    
    The SL100 has to interface with a public exchange also made by Northern
    Telecom (can't remember the model, sorry), and the nearest one is in
    Manchester. 881 numbers can't be connected directly to Manchester, but
    the 884 numbers already are. So we have to go with 884. (The 881
    numbers only work today because of the way they are routed through MKO).
    
    For ZKO to continue using 881 after MKO closes down, all the wiring and
    handsets would have to be replaced, costing an estimated $32 million.
    Frankly, while I don't like having to change my number, now I
    understand why it's happening, I'd prefer to take that hit and see the
    $32m being put to better uses (like salary continuation :-).
    
    I did comment to Arthur that a little more explanation in the
    announcement of WHY would have been good. Although I didn't think of it
    at the time of the conversation, later I got to thinking of mushrooms
    (which are kept in the dark and fed on 'manure' :-)
    
    - Richard.

That is certainly the most convoluted explanation of the situation I've ever
heard.

The wiring and sets that we have in ZKO would work with any phone system.

However, there is an actual portion of the Northern Telecom Switch that
_is_ located at ZKO.  This is known as an RLCM (Remote Line Concentrator
Module).  It, as well, as the RLCM located at Salem, must be connected
to the main module of the SL100 (or DMS100 in public network terms) in
order to operate.

Our conversion from PBX to Centrex requires the telephone company to
operate the main module as part of their own switching network.  As a
result, we will (according to the information Arthur provided to Richard)
be a subsidiary of the DMS100 in Manchester.  (I don't know what's happening
to the SL100 in Merrimack; assuming we sold it to New England Telephone they
could be putting it into some small town anywhere in the region to upgrade a
central office.)

The problem then remains that we own all of the 884 numbers, and it's easy
for them to be relocated to anywhere the telco sees fit.  (Hopefully they
will still be rated as Nashua numbers -- they were never rated as Merrimack
numbers even while Merrimack was operational.)

It is less easy (and simply not the way the phone company does things) for
part of the 881 numbers to be handled by the #5ESS in Nashua and part of
the numbers to be handled by the DMS100 in Manchester.  Partial exchanges
split across machines are easy to deal with in a PBX, where there is a
local telco office providing the DID trunks, but not in a Centrex, where
the numbers are actually _in_ the local telco office and there are no
DID trunks at all.

/john

>The wiring and sets that we have in ZKO would work with any phone system.

However, the "P-Sets" which most secretaries (and some other people) have
will only work with the Northern Telecom system.  There are a lot of them.

/john