Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Rob Warnock Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Asking For the Right Thing (was: What Rate Applies?) Message-ID: <10186@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 27 Jul 90 13:28:13 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: Rob Warnock Organization: Silicon Graphics Inc., Mountain View, CA Lines: 116 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 522, Message 1 of 7 For some reason, the articles about rates for "phone as intercom" reminds me of a situation some 26 years ago... I was a freshman at Emory University in Atlanta, and a guy named Jeff Miller had interested a bunch of us in starting a campus radio station. It was to be an unlicensed carrier-current station; that is, the modulated R.F. would be fed into the 60 Hz A.C. power mains wires at a fairly low level, and only receivers in the same building (near the wires) could pick up the signal. [This is quite legal if you obey certain restrictions in "Part 15" of the FCC Rules and Regulations.] I was to be the "chief engineer" of the station. Because the step-down power transformers in each building have massive amounts of iron in them, they tend to do a pretty good job of blocking R.F., so we needed a way to get the signal into each building we wanted to serve (dorms, mostly). Some campus carrier-current stations generate R.F. in a central location, and then distribute it via coax cables to each building, where it's fed into the power lines behind the step-down transformers. We chose not to do that because of the very high cost of the coax and the installation of same. [We were on a *tiny* budget -- we built *everything*, including the transmitters, sound-proofed studios, studio consoles, fast-attack limiters, the works. What we didn't build we begged from area radio stations. "Give us your old, your tired, your junk!"] Also, we knew (from investigation) that the campus had been wired with plenty of pairs by Southern Bell, who had a "frame room" (in an area they rented from the University, behind the cafeteria) where all the wires went. The "frame room" was also where the PBX for the campus was located -- a kind of hybrid: about a dozen manual-operator plug-board stations for incoming calls [the operators were University employees], and some step-by-step gear for internal and outgoing calls. [They later went Centrex, long after I'd graduated.] So we figured we'd rent pairs from Southern Bell, and use them to distribute audio from the studio out to twelve small transmitters, one in each dorm. We thought we knew all the technical details: A.F. signals no more than +8 dBm (0 dBm preferred), D.C. less than 100 v. (48v. preferred), etc. So all we had to do was order them. Riiight... As it turned out, our first mistake was mentioning the word "radio" anywhere within a mile of a Southern Bell sales representative. "A radio station? Oh, you'll want AAA Grade or AA Grade lines, depending on whether you want us to equalize to 20 kHz or not. FM stations usually go with the AAA. Let's see, that's $6.00 per 1/4-mile (airline miles) per month for the AAA, and $5.00 for the AA. It's about 6 miles from your studio to the central office, and about the same back, so that'll be about 12 x 12 x 4 x 6 = $3456 per month for the AAA, or $2880 per month for the AA. We can get a more exact price for you after the installer works up the numbers. Which would you like?" After we came recovered from the first heart attacks of our young lives (almost ended them right there!), we thanked her very kindly [it usually was a "her", in those days], and said we'd call back, and started looking for some *HEELLLLP*! Another classmate, Bob Brown, then demonstrated to me to a skill which has served me in good stead ever since: How to "walk an organization" on the telephone. [Never mind that it was Southern Bell we were "walking", it still worked.] Others have mentioned it in Telecom: Each time you talk to anyone, very politely but firmly find out their name, their position, and their supervisor's name & posiition, and if possible do this *before* you give them too much detail about what you're asking for. Then don't hesitate to ask to speak to as soon as you experience any significant balking/waffling/evasion. Using this time-honored technique, we slowly walked up the organization of Southern Bell, getting the same story at each level ($thousands/month), but determined that there just *had* to be some way to rent a few of those idle pairs direct from the studio to the frame room to the dorms (none of this dead-heading out to the CO), and affordably, too. Finally we got an appointment to see a "Vice-President" [I forget of what] in person. And finally we struck paydirt (or at least a sympathetic ear). After listening to our whole long story [about as long as this message ;-} ], he gave us the following instructions: "Go back home and call up the New Service number, just as if you'd never done any of this before. Tell them you want to rent some 'E Grade or Message Grade pairs, for an intercom.' Give them the building and room numbers, and whatever you do, *don't* mention the word 'radio'. Those E Grade pairs will be routed directly through your frame room, without going off campus. The price will be $0.75 per 1/4-*wire*-mile, not airline mile, which will be a little longer, but at least you won't be paying deadhead to the CO. We don't guarantee any frequency response for E Grade, but with lines that short, it should be fine for carrier-current A.M., which isn't going to be super-high fidelity anyway. So go try it just the way I said, and it should work." So we did, and it did. Among the twleve pairs we totalled just under seven "wire-miles", and our bill was somewhere around $20 a month. So I learned several important things in college, even if there was never a class on them: (1) How to "walk an organization" on the phone, (2) To be careful what you ask for, you might get it, and (3) If it looks "reasonable", you probably have to ask for something "unreasonable" to get what you want. Next week's lessons: "17 Ways a Telephone Installer Can Miss the Special-Service Tags on Your Lines and Give the Pairs Away to Somebody's Telephone." "A Toolbelt, a Plaid Wool Shirt, and Blue Jeans: Your Badge to the Frame Room." And a bonus special, "How to Place a Service Call Against Telco Internal Cross-Connects Without Making Anyone Suspicious About How You Knew the Trouble Just So Happened to be Right *There*." Rob Warnock, MS-9U/510 rpw3@sgi.com rpw3@pei.com Silicon Graphics, Inc. (415)335-1673 Protocol Engines, Inc. 2011 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View, CA 94039-7311