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From: gauthier@ug.cs.dal.ca (Paul Gauthier)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Unitel (Canada) Fax Service
Message-ID: <14718@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 14 Nov 90 16:18:39 GMT
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Organization: Math, Stats & CS, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 823, Message 12 of 12


  A Canadian Company has recently begun to offer a special reduced
rate to fax users. The user pays only a small monthly fee ($10, I
think) and receives a little black box which attaches to their fax
machine. When the fax machine dials I presume this black box
intercepts the dial and calls a 1-800 number or somesuch and then
routes the call out from there.  The user recieves a big discount on
calls placed in this manner. MT&T (Bell Canada) offers a similar
service, but you have to pay for a special line which will place local
calls of any type, but will only allow fax calls to be place long
distance. 

Of course, when I read this in the paper I wondered how they detected
this. I called MT&T and asked what would happen if a voice call was
placed on such a line. They assured me it would be very quickly
disconnected. The person I spoke to also claimed that MT&T was
'listening' to the call and was actually sensing fax protocol and thus
deciding whether the call should be allowed to continue or not.

  Does anyone know if such services actually detect and interpret fax
protocol to decide whether to axe the call? The idea that first struck
me was using this service to get cheap rates for long distance modem
calls.  If all the hardware is listening for is something that
resembles a data call (carrier) then perhaps a modem would fool it.
Any thought?


PG

gauthier@ug.cs.dal.ca    tyrant@dalac.bitnet    tyrant@ac.dal.ca