Q: reporting (or not) your hardware to the TELCO ?!]

[CMP.W...@r20.utexas.edu.uucp]

I don't recall seeing this message make the digests. was it rejected by the
moderator or did it not arrive?
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Date: Sat 21 Mar 87 04:53:52-CST
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.W...@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: Q: reporting (or not) your hardware to the TELCO ?!
To: tel...@R20.UTEXAS.EDU
In-Reply-To: Message of Fri 20 Mar 87 01:32:55-CST
Message-ID: <12288119033....@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>

Gary Wells <gary%percival%reed%tektroni...@RELAY.CS.NET> writes
in TELECOM Digest V6 #23 ...

> There are several methods used by the telco's for line testing. .....
> By knowing WHAT is hanging
> on the end of your cable, you can quickly tell the status of the pair AND the
> station. This is why the telco's fought so hard about registration. They
> really didn't care about the equipment, they just need to know what it
> "looks" like, for trouble isolation purposes.

HMMMM, it's been years now that I've taken the trouble to tell SWB about the
latest changes in equipment that I've connected at my end - mainly, because
it changes so often and because I'm under the impression that they don't really
care to know; or, at least, don't do anything with the information that I
give them about my latest set of hardware (besides, it often changes on
a daily basis; what with all these new modems, answering machines, phones and
other gadgets to test and play with :-)

Now, what I'd like to know is the following:

1) Can someone tell me what the phone company *SHOULD* be doing with the data
describing my hardware?

2) Is there something that I should *INSIST* that SWB do in response to me
reporting what I have connected?

3) Is there some way that I can test that they *ACTUALLY DID* what needed to
be done at their end?

4) Can not reporting my latest set of hardware lead to *DEGRADING* in line
quality somehow? for example, could this lead to degraded line quality
for data communications using a modem (especially at 2400 baud)? or to
another phenomenon, such as "not all connected phones ring during an
incoming call"?

I guess, what I really need is a pointer to a book which really all that I may
ever want to know about telephones and data-communications in a lingo I can
understand and make sense of (i.e. don't require the background and knowledge
of the lingo of a telecommunications engineer). Please, *DO* give pointers !!

---Werner
-------

[b...@acornrc.uucp.uucp]

About a year ago, I got to feeling guilty with all the equipment on my
one phone line (4 phones, answering machine, modem), and wondered whether
suddently things might stop ringing, so I dutifully wrote down all the RENs,
serial numbers, etc., and called up Pacific Bell.

The fellow who answered my call was rather surprised when I told him why I
was calling. He chuckled and replied that Pac Bell's equipment doesn't care
about what you've got on your line, so their people don't care either.

I never got to rattle off my list of RENs.

--
Bob Weissman
Internet: b...@acornrc.UUCP
UUCP: ...!{ ames | decwrl | oliveb | apple }!acornrc!bob
Arpanet: bob%acornr...@AMES.ARPA