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From: mingo@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Unitel (Canada) Fax Service
Message-ID: <68909@bu.edu.bu.edu>
Date: 17 Nov 90 05:59:52 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 828, Message 3 of 7


gauthier@ug.cs.dal.ca  writes:

>  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 ... 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.

        First of all, as an expatriate Nova Scotian, I assure you that
Bell Canada does *not* own Maratime Tel & Tel: they tried to take it
over in 1967, and Premier Stanfield passed a law restricting
shareholdings to 10%.
 
>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. 

        My modem has no trouble distinguishing voice from data calls:
the data calls feature constant frequency tones, and voice calls
feature changing frequencies.

>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?

        I expect it might.  It was my understanding that the black box
was intended solely to keep you from using the line for voice.
According to the Globe & Mail, the CRTC only permitted this class of
service if the fax calls could be segregated from voice.  Apparently,
this setup is not yet available in New Brunswick, because NB Tel has
yet to implement "audit features" to ensure compliance.