textfiles/phreak/telstar.txt

..TELSTAR - Defined and Labeled


Sometime ago there was BRIEF mention of the "Telstar" telephone control
system.  Basicly I would like additional info on this product.  Is anyone
else selling them besides Jameco Electronics?  [In Belmont, CA]  Did the
project get scrapped, and then did Jameco picked up the stock?  Is this really a
good machine, and what can I expect out of it?  Is $99.95 a good price
for the unit?  [Cheaper anywhere else?]  Below is a copy of the information
that is present on the cover of Jameco's Spring 1985 flyer.  [#127]  I
have no contact with Jameco, or Western Electric Company which is claimed
to manufacture the device as per Jameco.  Any info outside of what's below,
or the answers to the my questions can be mailed to me.  I will summarize,
and post if interest warrants it.  [If not, I will mail copies of the
summation to those requesting it.]  My use for the Telstar system is for
home/personal use.  I would like an answering machine function of sorts.
I don't have any info outside of what's below.


  /---=[
 // Dave Shaver
<<  UUCP: {okstate|umn-cs|csu-cs}!isucs1!shaver    CSNET: shaver@iowa-state
 \\ [Iowa State University - Ames, IA]    These are my comments, no one else's.
  \---=[

[=--=]

This info included for the benefit of those interested, and that have not seen
Jameco's Flyer.  I have added comments in square brackets [like this] for
some of my additional questions.

[From the cover of Jameco's Spring Flyer {#127}]

Telstar (tm)
The call control system for you business or personal needs.
Your programmable, 24 hour a day telephone control system is here!

o Stores 30 calls for you.  Its friendly voice tells caller to leave their
  number, which is stored in Telstar's memory.  When you check in for
  messages, its voice reports the numbers that called, and time of call.

[Does this means that the machine answers the line with a pre-canned message,
 and accepts Touch-Tone digits, then saves them for later retrieval?]

o Easy to program.  Voice prompts provide step by step programming
  instructions.

o Remote access.  Call your Telstar call control system from any Touch-Tone 
  phone anywhere to receive messages and to use other features.

[These "messages" I would guess are the numbers gathered above from remote
 callers.  Does this unit have any form of a "standard" answering machine,
 or some comparable system?  {standard: Answer the line with a taped message,
 then start another tape and record the remote callers message.}]

o Voice synthesis.  Talks to you and callers via friendly, life-like voice
  synthesis.  It's clear, easy to understand.

[I have heard other "life-like voice synthesis" that's "clear and easy to
 understand."  Is this a "good" synthesis?  Understandable over long distance
 lines?]

o Call Screening.  Identify calls you want to receive.  System will announce
  only those calls you want to receive, and record all others.

[Can this option be turned on and off?  How many identifying numbers are 
 allowed?]

o Call forward announcement.  Lets you tell your callers where you can be 
  reached.  You can change the announcement as often as needed, even remotely.

[Is this option switchable with just the standard "record" option that excepts
 remote users numbers?  {or however that works}]

o Last number dialed.  Conveniently remembers last number dialed, especially 
  helpful when they are busy or unanswered.

o Security controlled access.  Through the use of a special code you prevent
  unauthorized access to the system.

[What's the length of this "security" code, and how is it used?  Do you call
 up the Telstar system, and when it asks for your number, enther the code?]

o 50 name directory for convenient dialing.  You can store 50 numbers and
  reach them easily by just dialing their names on your touch-Tone telephone 
  keypad.

o Built-in calendar.  Automatically logs the time and date of incoming calls.
  Tells you the time and date via voice synthesis.

o 2 button emergency calling.  Telstar provides fast, reliable two-button 
  dialing of medical, police, and fire numbers.

o Many other features.  There are additional conveniences that come with
  having Telstar, such as Intercom, Hold, Long Distance Restriction, and more.

[Any comments on any of these features?]

o Brand new in factory cartons.

[Please note: TELECOM is not to be used as an advertising medium. Any
blatantly commercial messages will not be posted to this list. --JSol]

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 15 Aug 85 20:20:54 edt
From: cbosgd.ATT!mark@seismo.CSS.GOV (Mark Horton)
Subject: Telstar call control system

The Telstar is not an AT&T product.  It almost was, but it flunked
the market tests at the last minute and was discontinued.  AT&T had
already manufactured lots of them, so they offered them to their
employees at a deep discount.  (They were originally to list for
around $200.)  I bought two - one to use and one for parts in case
the first one broke.  (It hasn't, I just took the second one out
of the box tonight - see below.)  So please understand that this is
not a commercial type message - the ones being offered to the public
are through liquidators and once the supply is gone, that's it.
Neither I nor AT&T care whether you buy one or not.  My box and
literature say "American Bell" on them.

The Telstar is a really neat gadget if you like gadgets.  It does
lots of different things, some well, some not so well.  The major
function is as an answering machine, but it's really not very good
at that.  It has no tape anywhere, everything is stored digitally
in RAM.  When someone calls you and leaves a message, all it stores
is the date and time of the call and it has them touch tone a phone
number in.  This works well if you recognize the number, but there
are times when a number just isn't enough.  If it's a residence, you
need to ask for a particular person.  Same for a business.  Someone
left a message on my Telstar the other day, and I called them back.
(The Telstar will dial the call for you, which is nice.)  It turned
out to be "Happy Valley Chicken Farms".  I explained to the person
answering the phone who I was and that someone at that number had
left a message for me to call that number, and I gave the time of
the call.  He had no idea who would have called.  Might even have
been a prank.  But it's embarrassing to return such calls if you
don't recognize the number.  The number of rings before it answers
can be set from 1 to 15.  When there are new messages, you are told
by a stuttered dial tone when you pick up the phone to place an
outgoing call.  (If you go for a few days without placing an outgoing
call, you won't find out about the message.)

The Telstar is a box the size of a Kleenix box.  It plugs into your
phone line *in series*, preferrably at the demarcation point between
the telco line and your private wiring.  All phones downstream from
it can use the features.  It has a speech synthesizer (it uses the TI
chip, as I understand it, the quality is quite good.)  It can use either
an RJ11C jack (the dual-jack Radio Shack wall outlets are handy) or an RJ31X.
There is a membrane keyboard with 30 keys, one for each letter plus some
duplicate functions (A-J doubles as 1-0, S-Z double as fire, police, medical,
home, id code, time, date, and name/dir.)  You can configure it from the
keyboard directly, and also talk to it from any touch tone phone in your
house, or from a remote phone.  It has a battery backup and a clock,
so power failures aren't a problem.  (When power shuts off, the relays
short the line back to the pre-telstar state.)

Another thing Telstar has is a name directory.  It holds up to 30 numbers,
you punch in the name in alpha and the number.  This is mainly useful to
avoid hunting for your address book; the dialing sequence is about as long
as dialing the number, so it's not useful for speed dialing.  You can call
home from a remote phone to ask it for a phone number.  You can key in the
name from a touch tone phone - it beeps as soon as you've keyed in enough
letters to uniquely identify the name from the set it knows.  One win of
the name directory is that if someone in the directory calls and leaves
a message, when it plays back it tells you the name of who called (it
spells it out, no attempt to pronounce it) instead of giving the number.

Telstar has a few other nifty features of lesser importance.  One is that
you program in three numbers for police, fire, and medical, and in 2
keystrokes you can dial them.  In an emergency, they are fast to dial.

You can put a call on hold (possibly to change phones) by hitting H #,
but only if the other caller called you.  (Not sure why the restriction.)

You can turn on "long distance restriction" which forbids long distance
numbers from being dialed.  (There is a system "password" which you have
to enter to change this.)

You can use the phone as an intercom by dialing, say, * I 4 # (think of #
as carriage return) and hanging up; the phone will ring in burst of 4
quick rings (or whatever number you dial) until it is answered remotely,
then you pick up.  You can encode different numbers, e.g. 2 means "dinner
time", 1 means "pick up an incoming call".

You can check messages, and have it repeat or call any number.  It also
remembers old messages (there are about 20 messages still on my Telstar,
going back to when I hooked it up last Christmas.)

You can put a "call forward announcement" which is like call forwarding
but the caller has to dial the new number himself.

You can turn on "call screening", where the telstar intercepts incoming
calls before your phone rings at all.  (You have to give a time at which
call screening turns off, so you can't leave it on by accident.)  It has
the user key in their phone number.  If it's in the name directory (and
optionally if you assign "special status" to one or more names, only for
special names) it will ring your phone, otherwise it just takes a message.
If you pick up for an outgoing call, it tells you it's on before you dial.

There is a "last number dialed" command to repeat it, but since you have
to type *LND# (listen to number) C, it doesn't save many keystokes, and
it only remembers one number.  (In general, you can type at any point
without waiting for messages to finish.)

Anyway, this is a nifty gizmo for people who like to play with gizmos.
Since I gathered people on this list would like to play with one, and
since I have a line that isn't doing anything for a couple weeks, I dug
out the spare Telstar and hooked it up.  Feel free to call, but I reserve
the right to turn it off if it starts to be a problem.  I will only leave
it connected for a week or two anyway.  The universal reaction I've gotten
from regular people who left a message on it is "Wow!  That's a really
neat answering machine you've got!"

The number is 614-868-4276.  You can do the usual "leaving a message"
thing (I won't call you back) if you like.  Or hit * to get into remote
mode.  The ID code is set to "1234".  It will prompt you for most things,
but a list of commands and general hints is useful.

It doesn't understand dial pulse, just DTMF.  In general, * gets its
attention for a command, "beep beep" is a prompt for you to type in
a command, and # is CR.  Possible commands include "ND#" (name directory),
"CM#" (check messages), "CT" (check time), "CFA#" (to check or change
the call forward announcement), 

I've put three names into the name directory: "me", "myself", and
"information", so you can see how it deals with the ambiguity.  They
aren't very interesting.

.Mark