TELECOM TALK
Phone Firms May Have a Few Y2K Hang-Ups
By JUBE SHIVER JR.
WASHINGTON--Wall Street has declared its computers up to snuff. The airline
industry says all systems are go. But with less than 250 days before Jan. 1,
there is growing concern that telephone users could be affected by the year 2000
computer problem.
The Y2K bug will hit during what is traditionally one of the heaviest calling
periods of the year. An industry group set up by the Federal Communications
Commission warned recently that because of the potential dialing glitches
stemming from the calendar change, placing the traditional New Year's phone call
may not be a good idea.
"Try to place important phone calls, particularly those overseas, before or
after New Year's Day," urged the Network Reliability and Interoperability
Council, in a March report that says such caution could help avert calling
delays.
The good news, the council says, is that 90% of local telephone switches in the
U.S. are expected to be ready for 2000 by Dec. 31.
But because the phone network spans the globe, some foreign carriers and smaller
U.S. carriers may not have the resources to attack computer bugs as aggressively
as the biggest U.S. phone companies have. (Fijii for example? ROTFLMAO)
The council even rates the year 2000 preparedness of North American phone
companies slightly lower than that of European firms, saying nearly half of
small and medium-sized carriers in the U.S. "reported not having formal
processes for managing the year 2000."
"It is very possible that there will be billing errors introduced," said Tome
Nolle, a former computer programmer who heads the Voorhees, N.J.-based industry
consulting firm CIMI Corp. "There will be cases where some billing system
mistakenly records a call that lasts for 24 years and records a bill of $175
million."
Even experts who downplay the possibility of phone snafus say the industry will
have to be vigilant over the next year to keep the phone system operating
smoothly.
"We are very confident that there won't be any service-affecting disruptions,"
said Paul Hart, vice president of technical dispute resolution at the U.S.
Telephone Assn. "But every change you make in the network has an option to
create unforeseen problems."
Hart said he has cautioned FCC officials about imposing new mandates on the
industry requiring network upgrades, out of fear that the additional work may
slow the industry's efforts to prepare for 2000.
The so-called year 2000 computer bug relates to the shorthand most computers use
to express the month, day and year of an event. While the shorthand is simple
and economical, the downside is that by using only the last two digits to
express the year, "1900" may be indistinguishable from "2000."
Several underlying support systems for the telephone network rely on
date-sensitive computer operations. Customer bills, for instance, are based on
calls placed during specific dates and times; phone network maintenance is done
at specific intervals.
AT&T Corp. spokesman David Johnson said his company and BellSouth Corp. recently
completed a successful series of tests indicating that domestic calls will
continue to go through next year without a hitch.
But even if New Year's Day turns out to be uneventful, some experts predict the
industry may have to be on the lookout for months to come because of other date
anomalies. Feb. 29, 2000, for instance, does not follow the usual leap year
convention of the Georgian Calendar.
"There is going to be a need for ongoing testing," said Martha Silver, a
spokeswoman for the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small
Telecommunications Companies.
Copyright 1999 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved
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