The following is from the UPI newswire services -


Telecommunications item of interest:


  Eavesdropping on cellular telephones

 By WENDY BENJAMINSON

  WASHINGTON (UPI) _ Cellular car telephones may look private, but electronics
experts say a new radio scanner can eavesdrop on supposedly confidential
cellular conversations from moving vehicles.

  "Very simply, as long as radio waves are being transmitted, we can listen in
on them," said Scott Schaefer, a Vienna, Va., electronics salesman.

  But some distributors of the car phones maintain their product is more secure
than a land-based telephone, and say it would cost thousands of dollars and the
expertise of a spy to listen in on conversations.

  "The only way someone can listen in on a conversation is through an absolute
mistake," said Brian Wolf, a cellular phone distributor in Montgomery County,
Md.  "It can only happen if the unit is not functioning properly.  No one can
patch in."

  During a recent interview, Schaefer tuned into a cellular phone conversation
taking place in Tyson's Corner, Va., a suburb of Washington.  Two men were
discussing when to set up a meeting.

  Schaefer said that he has eavesdropped on two businessmen closing a corporate
deal.  He also said that an associate heard what sounded like two people
arranging a drug deal.

  Bob Hanson, managing director of the Scanner Association of North America, a
Chicago-based radio club, said a using scanner is "more or less hit and miss"
method of eavesdropping.

  "It's hard to pinpoint a specific conversation," he added.  "But what you get
randomly is pretty good."

  Al Grimes, vice president of Washington-based Cellular One, called his phones
"more secure than a standard phone."

  "The person trying to listen in would have to know which of 32 channels to
tap into.  It's scientifically possible, but highly unlikely," Grimes said.

  Some phone distributors, such as Wolf, maintain a listening device would cost
$100,000.

  "I suppose if the Russians wanted to monitor a conversation, I'm sure they
could, but it's highly unlikely a normal citizen would spend the kind of money
necessary to do so."

  But Brian Wood, a spokesman for Bell Atlantic in New Jersey, said his company
would soon test-market a scrambling device that would prevent the scanners from
being able to pick up a cohesive conversation.

  "The government has expressed interest in this more than anyone else," he
said.  "Cellular customers should know that there's a slight possibility
someone would eventually put two and two together."

  Schaefer said the scanners, bulit by Indianapolis-based Regency Electronics,
are available from about $350.

  Hanson said people listening in on cellular phone conversations are
prohibited from using the information for personal gain by the Federal
Communication Commission.

  But FCC regulations do allow the scanners to listen to the conversations.

  Hanson said the FCC has not considered regulating the scanners because they
have legitimate professional uses for police, fire-rescue, and other government
agencies.

 _________

upi 06-09-85 11:33 aed


Washington

News Briefs
By United Press International


  WASHINGTON (UPI) _ Higher telephone bills since the Bell System breakup have
forced one of every five Americans over the age of 55 to cut back on calling or
cancel their phone service, a new survey shows.

  Of those who make less than $8,000 a year, 35 percent have had to cut down
substantially on their phone use, the American Association of Retired Persons
said Friday.

  More than two-thirds of the 1,504 people participating in the poll said phone
service was more important to them now than ever before, with 38 percent saying
they use the phone more than they did 10 to 15 years ago.

  "These findings tend to support our worst fears about the breakup of AT&T,"
said the association's executive director, Cyril Brickfield.  "Older people,
particularly those with low incomes, are having to curtail or even terminate
their phone service altogether because of increased costs.

  "It is important to remember that in a person's older years, the phone is a
necessity, not a convenience," Brickfield said.

  ------


Telecommunications item of interest.


   AT&T agrees.


  "Looking back, we took apart the world's largest company with considerable
class and with minimum impact on the public as we said we would," AT&T
spokesman Pic Wagner said.

  "It's very, very important to remember that despite considerable apprehension
before the breakup of the Bell System, the phones still work.  You still get a
dial tone.  The calls go through the network just as they did before.  The vast
majority of customers really have not suffered any service difficulties."

  He pointed out that "this whole thing is not something that we ever wanted."

  The $152 billion Bell System was split up under a settlement between AT&T and
the Justice Department, which believed the company was using the profits from
local phone service to suppress competition from other long-distance and
equipment companies.

  The settlement has led to sweeping deregulatory moves in the Federal
Communications Commission and dumped new problems on state public utility
commissions, which must grapple with a whole new breed of rate hike requests.

  "It's a headache figuring how to price local network services in the world of
competition," said Florida PUC chief Joe Cresse, who none- theless believes
that "in the long run it's going to be very beneficial to the American people."

  The Florida commission refused to let Southern Bell raise local phone rates
in 1984, but approved $26 million in state "access" charges and plans to let
the company charge 25 cents for directory assistance calls between Florida
cities.

  Assistance calls within states are now free, although AT&T charges 50 cents
for interstate number requests.

  Many other state commissions are being asked to grant access charges
mirroring the flat monthly interstate charges.	Michigan Bell is seeking one of
the lowest state surcharges, 26 cents a month.

  Under a December FCC order, the state commissions will also be required to
set up programs to ensure low-cost "lifeline" service to poor and elderly
customers.

  States that decide high rates are encouraging big business customers to build
their own phone systems to bypass the local network will be allowed to give
special business discounts and tack 35 cents onto a residential customer's
monthly bill to make up lost revenues.

  ___


  Rep.	Timothy Wirth, D-Colo., chairman of the House telecommunications
subcommittee who has fought against access charges and for preservation of
universal telephone service, says the biggest problem with divestiture has been
its "improper use as justification for rate increases."

  The Consumer Federation of America says local companies have asked for $10.9
billion and received $5.1 billion in rate hikes since divestiture was
announced, including $2 billion in 1984.

  The average phone bill went up 19 percent in 1984, from $11.80 to $14.09, and
the cost of installing a phone has gone up 26 percent, from $42.35 to $53.45.
Residential access charges, when combined with state access charges, will cause
bills to rise another $2 billion to $4 billion, the CFA says.

  "The breakup of Bell was supposed to produce benefits to consumers through
increased competition," said Sam Simon, president of the Telecommunications
Research and Action Center in Washington, D.C.

  "Instead, rate increases threaten the affordability of phones, and industry
developments threaten to weaken or eliminate competition, robbing consumers of
any benefits."

  In November, New York Telephone asked for a 16.3 percent increase, which
would raise the average phone bill from $25.52 to $29.67, saying it needs the
money because competition has cut into its equipment sales profits.

  In January, Ohio and California will get requests from other Bell companies
to hike basic residential rates 30 percent and more.

___


  Ohio Bell spokesman Tom Cotton said the hikes are needed because competition
is eroding the company's revenues, despite trimming the payroll by $5.5 million
through early retirement of 2,300 employees.

  "We also have a need to continue to modernize and introduce efficient
equipment," he said.  more

  _________
  [EOF]
