Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: fmsystm!macy@cwjcc.ins.cwru.edu Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Modem Leapfrog to Avoid Toll Charges Message-ID: <5441@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 21 Mar 90 13:27:39 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: F M Systems Inc. Medina, Ohio USA Lines: 67 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 191, Message 1 of 10 In article <5268@accuvax.nwu.edu> >X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 179, Message 9 of 12 >In article <4984@accuvax.nwu.edu> MHS108@psuvm.psu.edu (Mark Solsman) writes: >>Is it illegal to have two modems tied up to each other so that a person could >>call the one modem and bounce to another (3d) modem to avoid toll charges? >I set one of these up once. Trying to dial into our office switch and >out again over an FX line didn't work because of degradation of the >signal, so I hooked two modems back to back and created a >"digipeater"! Well, I do this routinely in several different ways: First: Ncoast, my news feed and system I act as "fill in" sysop for, is located in Cleveland. I am in Medina 15 miles and an intra-lata toll call away. I call from home into our office system (fmsystm) in Medina and call out on another modem, using one of our Cleveland FX's at nite in order to access ncoast directly. Defintiely legal. Second: I can call our office PBX's Medina DISA line and use it to tandem thru the PBX to the Cleveland lines, too. We have a bit of transmission degradation this way, but since I am supposed to know about these things, I installed a two wire voice repeater on the DISA line to solve this. We also have an Akron line, and my wife uses this all the time to call her parents in Akron. (Saves me major bucks, too!) Third: We get a lot of calls from Akron. There is an exchange (Sharon Center) that overlaps local calling areas with Medina and Akron. We set up a Remote Call Forward line in Sharon Center targeting our Medina number and use it often. We even got the telco to set it up to allow more that one call at a time (not often done). Also quite legal. Result: we only need one FX for outbound calling to Akron, all our incoming call from Akron come in on our local Medina trunks via the Sharon RCF. I see no difference between two modems strapped back to back and the use of a PBX with DISA. Patrick, our moderator, commented that he thought the economics of such arrangments are marginal. I disagree, these arrangments work well for us, and by checking our SMDR records, we know they save us much money. It should be noted that all the lines involved are flat rate local lines...measured (per minute) local lines might impact the economics. We have set up similar arrangments for customers with metered Ohil Bell lines, with postive results. Note: in telephone terminology metered and measured lines are not the same. Measured: billed for usage by time. Metered: billed by call regardless of duration. In Ohio Bell its $0.09/call Flat: billed at a flat rate (per month) with no additional charge for usage. We have all three types in Ohio, depending on who the local telco is, and what type of line you get. Lots of fun! Macy M. Hallock, Jr. macy@NCoast.ORG uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy F M Systems, Inc. {uunet!backbone}!cwjcc.cwru.edu!ncoast!fmsystm!macy 150 Highland Drive Voice: +1 216 723-3000 Ext 251 Fax: +1 216 723-3223 Medina, Ohio 44256 USA Cleveland:273-3000 Akron:239-4994 (Dial 251 at tone) (Please note that our system name is "fmsystm" with no "e", .NOT. "fmsystem")