<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> < > < The United Phreaker's Incorporated Proudly Presents > < > < Secret Phone Bypassing Stirs Row > < > < Is Underground Long Distance Network That Saves Millions `Illegal' > < > < By: Tomcat > < > < An Upi Production 1990 > < > <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Reprinted In File Form On March 27, 1990 Orignally Publised In Popular Electronics Electronics Hobbyists Handbook 1990 =============================================================================== Secret Phone Bypassing Stirs Row By: Mike Urlocker THE FINANCIAL POST An underground telecommunications network used by businesses to divert millions of dollars from Canadian telephone companies is flourishing, industry experts say. And apart from cutting their rates to compete, there is little the telephone companies can do to control it. (HAHA to Bell!! -Tomcat). "The telephone companies are scared to death," says Frank Koelsch, senior vice-president of Transition Group Inc., a Toronto-based market research firm. "There's lots of people doing it. It runs the gamut from small business to large corporations." Companies using the system, known as "Canada-Canada Bypass," use private lines and switches to route their domestic long-distance traffic through the U.S., where rates are lower. For example, a Vancouver-based company with operations in Windsor, Ont., could bypass the Canadian long-distance network by routing its traffic over private lines from Vancouver to a switch in Seattle, Wash. From there, the traffi is picked up by a U.S. long-distance carrier and piped across to Detroit. A third hop routes the calls back across the border to Windsor. Monopoly Carrier Similiar methods are used to route overseas calls through the U.S., bypassing Teleglobe Canada Inc., the monopoly overseas carrier. People familiar with the technique say a corperate telecommunications manager could rig such a system so it is invisible both to employees and the telephone companies. With U.S. long-distance rates about half what Canadian companies charge, substantial savings are reaped. The practice violates agreements between U.S. telephone companies and Telecom Canada, the association of nine regional monopoly telephone com- panies, as well as policy of the Canadian Radio-television & Telecommun- ications Commision. Companies that bypass risk having their phones disconnected. Nobody knows how extensive bypassing is. But Koelsch estimates 20% of the $12-billion-a-year Canadian long distance business is threatened. Telecom Canada and rival CNCP Telecommunications say bypass is im- possible to monitor but downplay the damage. "It's probably getting worse," says Frank Degenstein, former president of Telecom Canada. "[But] it's not that economical for companies to do it." The telephone companies say bypass is illegal but others disagree. Koelsch and George Harvey, president of CNCP, say that while bypass breaks the phone companies' agreements, it is not against the law. Further, Koelsch argues that attempts to stop bypass could be challenged as a non- tariff barrier under the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement. "They have perpetuated the myth that it's impossible and illegal," said Koelsch, who recommends bypass to reduce domestic long-distance bills. Alliance Disagrees The Canadian Business & Telecommunications Alliance, which represents 300 major telecommunication users, disagrees with Koelsch's analysis, saying the practice is illegal. To bypass the Canadian network, a Canadian company must lease private lines to the border. As a result, at least peripherally, a Canadian supplier is involved. Telephone companies, CNCP and a half-dozen resellers, small firms that lease bulk private lines from the carriers and resell them at a discount, offer lines to the U.S. That is permitted as long as the traffic is not rerouted back across the border into Canada. CNCP's Harvey says he "absolutely guarantees" CNCP does not let its lines be used for bypass. But, he adds, once lines are in the hands of resellers, "we have no way of checking." In a recent submission to the CRTC calling for increased regulation of resellers, British Columbia Telephone Co. said two Canadian resellers were bypassing the Canadian network. The firms were not named. Resellers, which deny the charge, usually sign agreements with their suppliers not to bypass the Canadian network. 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