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# Re: FW: Accu-vote & digital phones

- To: support@gesn.com
- Subject: Re: FW: Accu-vote & digital phones
- From: Guy Lancaster <glanca@gesn.com>
- Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2001 15:16:49 -0800
- Organization: Global Election Systems Inc.
- References: <ONECJGKFFNIOEONKIJAICEDKCHAA.jmglobal@earthlink.net>

> As our polling sites keep changing their analog phone lines over to
> digital, our election workers are having more difficulty in transmitting
> the information from the accu-vote machines to the regional offices.
> Has Global made any enhancements to accommodate these changes in
> telecommunications?

No, we haven't made any enhancements and at this point we know of none that we could make. As far as I know, there are at least several different types of digital lines. Therefore we would require either a universal adaptor, separate adaptors for each type, a universal external modem, or separate modems for each type of digital line. Ian has done a little research in this area but I haven't heard of much success.

Unfortunately we don't have the latest discussion on this in our archives (July 1998) so I'll append the messages here.

Guy
---
Subject: Digital phone lines and Accuvotes
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 14:44:50 -0700
Tari Runyan wrote:

> Just a curious question... I know that most of the telephone technology
> is heading toward digital lines - many of our customers already have
> them -
> Is this going to phase out analog lines and thus force us to modify or
> change completely the way the Accuvotes communicate using analog lines
> now- and force us to accomodate the digital phone lines?
> Is anyone getting any grumbling ( besides me) from clients regarding the
> ability (currently the lack of ) to use digital phone lines?

Guy Lancaster wrote:

> Okay, here's my 2 bits on the subject. As far as I know, phone lines are
> inherently analog. By phone lines, I mean the lines running from the office
> to the local telephone switching station. They require repeaters to be
> installed about every 2 kilometers and with these they install low pass
> filters to cut high frequency noise that listeners find very annoying. The
> Accu-Vote, like personal computers, use modems to perform digital
> communications over these analog phone lines.

> So what do people mean by digital phone lines? They could mean any one of
> a multitude of options. ISDN, xDSL (including HDSL, SDSL, ADSL, and VDSL),
> ATM, and Frame Relay are all digital transmission protocols designed to
> carry both voice and data digitally. These are carried on STD (Standard
> Twisted Pair - i.e. normal phone lines), and coax and fiber optic cable.
> The combinations are enormous and at this point, there is no clear leader in
> any particular application area. All of these techologies require special
> black boxes on the local end of the line(s) to convert these protocols to
> something the customer can use. Which leads to what I am guessing people
> mean by digital lines...

> PBX (Private Branch Exchange) systems are phone systems installed in
> business environments to take a number of voice and data "channels" from the
> phone company and distribute them to the telephones and other equipment at
> the local site. These PBX's are accessed through RJ-11 or RJ-45 jacks
> installed in office walls, floors, and utility posts. Since the connectors
> may be the same as those used for "standard" phones, people often think of
> the jacks as "phone lines". However, you cannot just plug a standard phone
> into one of these jacks and have it work. That's because some of the wires
> in the connection are used to communicate with the PBX and without them, you
> don't get any services. Unfortunately each PBX defines its own protocols so
> you will not likely be able to plug in your neighbors PBX handset into your
> lines unless you share the same type.

> What this means is that the Accu-Votes telephone line port cannot be
> directly connected to one of the normal jacks in the office. Instead
> customers usually have to borrow a standard phone line (usually installed
> for a fax machine) or have one installed for Accu-Vote use. People would of
> course like to be able to just plug the Accu-Vote into one of their normal
> (PBX) jacks and have it work. This is what I interpret from the request for
> supporting digital phone lines.

> It would be very difficult (and expensive) to support this directly. What
> PBX systems would we support? How much additional hardware would be
> required? Are there pocket sized adaptors available that we could install
> in the Accu-Vote instead of a regular modem? I suspect that serious
> investigation of these questions would lead to the conclusion that it's not
> worth it. I could be wrong...

> In the Vancouver office we have a PBX that allows us to in plug an
> Accu-Vote and use it provided that you plug one of the office handsets into
> the telephone handset connector on the Accu-Vote. Then you use the handset
> to select an outside line and then the Accu-Vote dials normally.

> I suspect that other systems wouldn't support this. Ian has tried to use
> a special adaptor at the McKinney office in order to connect his computer
> modem but last I heard he had not been successful. However, such an adaptor
> would seem to be the logical answer and I'm sure that some telephone
> equipment manufacturers offer them for their PBX systems. I'm afraid that
> it will be up to the customer reps to talk to the customer's PBX supplier to
> check in to this. Just explain that you want to be able to connect a
> computer modem to an outside modem through their PBX. I would be keen to
> hear what you find.

"Ian S. Piper" wrote:

> Adapters:

> I have setup the SureLink Digital Telephone Adapter to gain access to outside
> lines from the MCKinney PBX system. This is how I currently access my Internet
> connection. Unfortunately, the adapter only supports auto-dial on about 50% of
> digital PBX systems. On the McKinney PBX, I have to let the computer dial its
> number (not that it is connected to a dial tone or anything), lift the handset,
> choose an outside line, and then dial the number manually. There is also a
> signal strength switch that must be set to an optimum position (1 thru 4) for
> your telephone system. The manual does list the auto-dial compatibility of
> numerous digital PBX systems and the signal strength switch recommended initial
> setting. Once everything is configured and tested, it works fine. But without
> an auto-dial compatibility, a poll worker would require special training to use
> it.

> It's not as simple an operation as you would want for a poll worker. I
> recommend still using an analog fax line at the precinct site. But if a fax
> line cannot be found, then this may be an alternate solution for you. The
> retail cost on these items will be 180.00 US each. No discounts are available
> for this item.

Ken Clark wrote:

> > Is anyone getting any grumbling ( besides me) from clients regarding the
> > ability (currently the lack of ) to use digital phone lines?
> > Tari

> Digital phone lines are very cool. Everyone is going to dedicated T1 lines
> for their telco systems. There are systems available from 3COM and Cisco
> systems that give you a bank of modems that can communicate directly with
> their T1. They would be extremely nice to work with, because there would
> not be all the cabling hastle that we currently have. They also integrate
> with TCP/IP protocols, which is how the the AccuVote 2.0 firmware
> communicates. This would mean, at the end of the day, two cables (T1 in and
> ethernet out) to handle 24 phone lines. The systems are very reliable.
> This is how you local ISP works.

> This is all fine and well, but:

> - The equipment is very expensive. In a perfect world, the big counties
> will already have the equipment, but since they usually use their lines
> mostly for voice communication, they probably won't. Very expensive means
> $500 per line.

> - You need a lot of network training to know how to set these systems up.

> The other route we can go, is to farm out the whole telephone thing to an
> ISP (who already has the equipment) and do everything over the internet.
> This will probably be the way things work in the long term. With the
> internet, what you have to start worrying about is security.

- Follow-Ups:
  - Accu-vote & digital phones
    - From: "Steve Knecht" <skglobal@earthlink.net>

- References:
  - FW: Accu-vote & digital phones
    - From: "John McLaurin" <jmglobal@earthlink.net>

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