From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Apr 29 18:30:04 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i3TMU4310112; Thu, 29 Apr 2004 18:30:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 18:30:04 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404292230.i3TMU4310112@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #215 TELECOM Digest Thu, 29 Apr 2004 18:30:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 215 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Comcast Reports First Quarter 2004 Results (Monty Solomon) Yahoo! Messenger on Verizon Wireless' Mobile IM Service (Monty Solomon) US House Panel Advances Satellite Legislation (Monty Solomon) Nextel Tests Flexible Plans in Some Markets (Monty Solomon) U.S. Cellular Reports Strong First Quarter Results (Monty Solomon) Re: VOIP Connectivity to Multi Line Key Phone Systems (Stanley Cline) Re: How VoIP Can Connect the Disabled (Justin Time) Re: Evading the National Do-Not-Call List (Frank@nospam.biz) Re: Evading the National Do-Not-Call List (Jim Haynes) WiFi Research in Europe: Will Europe Lead Way Compared to US (Bailey) Re: Honesty from Earthlink (Mail Ias) Re: Good News: Four Oakland Cited in First U.S. Spam Case (SELLCOM Tech) Mobile IP Networks (007) Re: IDT Uses Wi-Fi to Offer Cheaper Cell Service (Steven J Sobol) Re: TiVo Will Not Die (Method to Madness) "If I am Elected" (Dale Neiburg) Galaxy Internet Services VOIP (Fred Atkinson) Re: Packet8 (Clark W. Griswold, Jr.) Used Norstar M7310 Sets Worth Anything? (Tom Betz) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 09:03:14 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Comcast Reports First Quarter 2004 Results Cable Revenue Increased 9.8% to $4.6 Billion; High-Speed Internet Service Revenue Increased 41.9% to $698 Million Cable Operating Cash Flow Increased 21.0% to $1.7 Billion Cable Operating Income More than Doubled to $702 Million Consolidated Operating Income More than Doubled to $659 Million Generated Consolidated Free Cash Flow of Nearly $400 Million in the Quarter; On Track to Achieve $2 Billion of Free Cash Flow for Full Year 2004 PHILADELPHIA, April 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) today reported results for the quarter ended March 31, 2004. Comcast will discuss first quarter results on a conference call and webcast today at 8:30 AM Eastern Time. A live broadcast of the conference call will be available on the investor relations website at www.cmcsa.com and www.cmcsk.com . - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=41199029 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 09:06:13 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Yahoo! Messenger on Verizon Wireless' Mobile IM Service Customers Now Have Their Choice of Top Three IM Applications BEDMINSTER, N.J., April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless, the nation's leading wireless service provider, and Yahoo!, a leading global Internet company, today announced that Yahoo!(R) Messenger is now available on Verizon Wireless' Mobile IM service. Starting today, Verizon Wireless customers can use their wireless phones to access their pre-existing IM accounts with Yahoo! Messenger to send and receive instant messages. Using their Get It Now(R)- enabled handsets, IMers can stay in touch with friends and family with the nation's three most popular instant message applications, even when they are away from their computers. Verizon Wireless Mobile IM brings the familiar PC IM experience to mobile phones. Developed by Comverse, the full-color user interface lets customers: * View, refresh and manage Yahoo! Friends lists * Easily create messages using symbols and predictive text * Receive instant messages, even if the handset is closed * Remain logged in, without incurring airtime charges * Hold multiple IM conversations * Change availability status * Block unwanted messages * Get on-screen help - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=41202823 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 09:12:06 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: US House Panel Advances Satellite Legislation WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives panel on Wednesday approved a measure requiring EchoStar Communications Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) and DirecTV Group Inc. to put local broadcast channels they offer on a single satellite dish instead of two dishes within a year. EchoStar, the No. 2 provider, requires customers in 38 markets to have two dishes, citing capacity constraints. Local channels are split between the two dishes and broadcasters have complained that less popular channels are shunted to the second dish that some customers forgo. DirecTV, which is controlled by News Corp. (AUS:NCP), is also expected to use two dishes in some local markets when it rolls out service in more cities later this year. The bill would "help ensure that consumers where local-into-local is available have ready access to all the local broadcast stations in their market," said Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications which approved the measure by voice vote. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=41207229 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 09:14:30 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Nextel Tests Flexible Plans in Some Markets NEW YORK, April 28 (Reuters) - Nextel Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTL) said on Wednesday it has begun testing a more flexible way of charging for its mobile phone services with an aim to keep existing customers and attract new subscribers. Reston, Virginia-based Nextel is letting customers who talk for more time than allowed in their monthly service plans, automatically upgrade to a costlier plan with more minutes -- in a small number of markets, Nextel spokeswoman Audrey Schaefer said. This option means that talkative customers would pay a set amount extra if they go over the agreed minutes and avoid the unpredictability of expensive per-minute charges that kick in when subscribers talk for longer than expected. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=41208164 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 08:56:59 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: U.S. Cellular Reports Strong First Quarter Results CHICAGO, April 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- United States Cellular Corporation (Amex: USM) reported service revenues of $619.4 million for the first quarter of 2004, up 10% from $564.6 million in the comparable period a year ago. The company recorded operating income of $28.3 million during the quarter, an increase of $32.6 million from the first quarter of 2003, as restated. Operating expenses in 2003 included a $21.6 million loss, as restated, related to the then-pending exchange of U.S. Cellular's Florida and Georgia properties to AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. (NYSE:AWE) ("AT&T Wireless"). Net income and basic earnings per share were $9.2 million and $.11, respectively compared to a net loss and basic loss per share of $27.8 million and $.32, respectively, in the comparable period one year ago, as restated. In the first quarter of 2003, the company recorded the cumulative effect of an accounting change, net of tax, related to the implementation of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 143, "Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations," which reduced net income by $14.3 million. The company's operating results include, through February 17, 2004, the operations of the southern Texas markets that were sold to AT&T Wireless on February 18, 2004. The company's operating results include the previously mentioned Florida and Georgia properties' results for the entire first quarter of 2003, but exclude those properties' results for 2004. First Quarter Highlights -- Customers totaled 4,547,000, a 7% increase from 4,240,000 customers one year earlier and includes the addition of 18,000 customers in a market that was added to the company's consolidated operations as of January 1, 2004. Customers at March 31, 2004 do not include 76,000 customers divested in the sale of the southern Texas properties to AT&T Wireless. Excluding the impact of acquisitions and divestitures, the number of customers grew 12%. -- Net customer activations from distribution channels totaled 196,000 during the quarter, compared to 137,000 activations for the same quarter of 2003. -- For the quarter, the company recorded postpay churn of 1.3%, which is favorable to industry averages and the company's lowest quarterly postpay churn rate since it began tracking the measure. -- Average monthly retail service revenue per customer increased 7% year- over-year in the quarter to $40.26, compared to $37.68 in the same period a year ago. This comparison reflects U.S. Cellular's decision to include in retail service revenue those amounts billed to customers to recover the company's payments into the universal service fund. Previously, such billings were recorded in other revenues. This change is reflected in the company's revenues in both periods. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=41199900 ------------------------------ From: Stanley Cline Subject: Re: VOIP Connectivity to Multi Line Key Telephone Systems Organization: Myself, in Dunwoody/Sandy Springs/Atlanta, GA, USA :) Reply-To: sc1-news@roamer1.org Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 03:14:18 GMT On 27 Apr 2004 13:50:16 -0700, dave@ces-hawaii.com (agolfer) wrote: > I have a multi-line key telephone system in my office. It is not VOIP > compatible. Is there a way that I can use VOIP services from > providers like Vonage for voice/fax? From what I see on Vonage's As long as the key system can handle loop start lines, it shouldn't be a problem. Stanley Cline -- sc1 at roamer1 dot org -- http://www.roamer1.org/ "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might be a law against it by that time." -/usr/games/fortune [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And I have even seen cases where multi- line phones could handle ground start. Picture a typical six-button five line phone. The button on the far left is *usually* a 'hold' button, and spring loaded so it pops back up instantly upon being pressed. Often times with a red plastic button instead of the usual clear colored button. Now suppose you took the pair that usually controlled the hold function and sent that pair to ground, looping it through the button on the phone. Then when the person using the phone pressed that button (of neccessity, only momentarily) then you would send ground to the phone line, right? Or take a two-line, turn button phone. (I think Bell called them 2500-sets?) Two lines, one on each side of the turn button; but the button also has a *third* position, a momentary closure when it is pressed down and released, like a doorbell. Take that pair, which is normally blue/white and send it to ground, looped through the push- button position on the turn button switch. PAT ------------------------------ From: a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) Subject: Re: How VoIP Can Connect the Disabled Date: 29 Apr 2004 06:05:59 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com VOIP News wrote in message news:: > http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2004/tc20040428_4395_tc116.htm > Internet-based telephony holds great promise for allowing the blind > and deaf to communicate much better and become more productive > Don Barrett's phone is his best assistant at work. Barrett, who's > blind, has a phone that uses spoken voice to let him know who the > caller is or to read to him the messages people leave when he misses a > call. He can even use voice commands to tell his phone to find a > number in his electronic Rolodex. Here is a perfect example of the challenged leading the challenged and both falling into a ditch. I will admit, I am not visually challenged, well at least glasses correct my problems, and my phone "reads to me the messages people leave when I miss a call." Hello - It's called VOICE mail. Now, reading the name or number from the Caller-ID display, that does require a little more equipment, but it can still be picked off a traditional phone and processed through the computer. The same with the voice command dialer connected to "an electronic Rolodex." This isn't Buck Rogers and the 24 1/2 century stuff we're talking about here. This is pretty basic stuff that has been done for at least 10 to 15 years using a modem as a dialer or to pick off the CID. > None of these tasks are possible with a traditional phone, but Barrett > is ahead of the game. He's using a PC-based phone that runs on > voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) technology. With some extra > software, he can also hear his e-mail and voice mail from the > Internet. At his job as assistive-technology specialist at the > U.S. Education Dept., Barrett says the VoIP gear has greatly improved > his performance. "I can decide whether to take a call. For me, that's > huge." I think I installed my first text reader in the late '70's -- around 78 or 79. We fed text messages from the serial port of a terminal through a VOTRAX and had it speaking the words. The output was not great, monotone with no inflection and very tiring to listen to for any period of time - but it was text to speech being done in a commercial setting. We needed it for a blind person that had come to work for us, and being a computer company it was extremely easy for us to put something together using off-the-shelf components. I think it took us less than 2 weeks to get a prototype running and a simple "finished" product was done in 3 or 4 more. > While VoIP is creating quite a stir in the telecommuncations field > overall (see BW Online, 1/6/04, "Finally, 21st Century Phone > Service"), it's an especially promising technology for people with > disabilities. VoIP integrates the phone, voice mail, > audioconferencing, e-mail, instant messaging, and Web applications > like Microsoft Outlook on one secure, seamless network. Plus, workers > can use their PC, laptop, or handheld as a VoIP phone from virtually > anywhere, with the same phone number, which benefits telecommuters, > including those whose mobility is impaired and must work from home. For all the hype, and for the most part it is nothing but hype -- VoIP isn't doing anything new. The applications are not new, they are repackaged traditional voice circuit applications that have been around for years. People are missing the point about VoIP. VoIP does not change the way we use a telephone, it doesn't add any applications or earth shaking features that aren't currently present. What it does do, and exactly how well is open to debate, is provide a different transport mechnaism. Kind of like going from open pair cable to twisted pair. As they start to work out the bandwidth requirements, quality of service and other major issues with VoIP and VoATM, then maybe, just maybe we can consider it a change from copper to fiber -- but that's all it is, a change in the transport media. Oh, by the way (or OBTW), how does VoIP help a deaf person? Rodgers Platt > Full story at: > http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2004/tc20040428_4395_tc116.htm [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A deaf person? Well, a deaf person with a TTY machine could hook it up to the Vonage, couldn't he? Ah, but if the aurally different person (to be politically correct) had Vonage and a broadband connection, he would probably also have one of the various instant messengers (Yahoo, AOL, MSN) would he not? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Frank@nospam.biz Subject: Re: Evading the National Do-Not-Call List Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 06:38:50 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications Bob Hofkin wrote: > [PAT, Please remove my email address from the message. I have more than > enough spam as it is.] > An outfit called the National Consumer Council (NCC) placed a > prerecorded phone call to my home this morning. They were offering a > credit repar service. Two little problems: I am on the FTC's > do-no-call list, and there was no CLID information provided. > The IRS lists NCC as a public charity, so apparently the organization > is exempt from the do-not-call list restrictions. I gather that NCC's > contributors are a couple of credit repair companies that benefit from > referrals; nowhere on their web site (www.thencc.org) did I see any > solicitation for contributions from the general public. > The NCC phone rep was a little vague on the charitible services they > provide. He told me is was "advice." Curious readers may want to > contact the organization at 800-990-3990 to inquire further. > Bob > That's another fine message you've gotten us in. The best defense is a good offense. Although most Telco switch-based features are toys, SBC's Privacy Manager is worth its weight in gold, combined with Nortel's talking caller ID. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But SBC's chairman (or the flunky who speaks in his name) insists that ten zeros or an obviously bogus name is not an 'anonymous call'. 'Out of area' is not an anonymous call. Only if a caller deliberatly prepends *67 at the start of the dialing string is it an anonymous call, and why should a telemarketer go to the trouble of dialing *67 if their telepone system was rigged up to give false information to start with? ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Evading the National Do-Not-Call List Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 16:10:20 GMT I too got a call from that NCC slime. Right at the beginning it said they were exempt from do-not-call as a charity. I entered a complaint anyway. There was recently something in the paper or on the net about these supposedly non-profit debt consolidation services, and how they shift income from the nonprofit to their for-profit lending arm, and often end up charging the consumer a higher interest rate than he was paying already. I hope the FTC investigates this outfit. I could see, too, a need for finer tuning of the rules. Personally I'd ban all telephone soliciting; but if we have to allow charities then make a distinction between those who call soliciting donations and those who call to offer their "services". Also wish the online complaint form had a place for a comment, so I could comment that this one smells like a scam to me. jhhaynes at earthlink dot net [TELEOM Digest Editor's Note: One thing the credit counselors do not tell you is that while yes, they often times have the weight to get your creditors to reduce your payments, 'voluntary bankruptcy' or financial re-organization is only one step above straight bankruptcy and it winds up looking like hell on your credit report, which does say honestly, yes, the man pays his bills (not a total deadbeat), but in his own good time. You don't come out of the experience totally free and clear. PAT] ------------------------------ From: baileyw@uga.edu (Bailey) Subject: WiFi Research in Europe: Will Europe Lead the Way Compared to US? Date: 29 Apr 2004 10:29:54 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello All, I am leading a Wi Fi Zone and Cloud research project for Dr Scott Shamp at the University of Georgia at Athens in the US.  You may have heard of UGA; we have a 24 block free Wi Fi Cloud over downtown and the first location based services in that Cloud in the US. http://www.nmi.uga.edu provides an overview of the academic program. Here are some things I'm trying to understand in Europe. I would very much appreciate your input: * How much delay, if any, has typically occurred in approvals by European governments of Wi Fi implementation (indoors and outdoors) compared to the US? * More importantly, are Wi Fi providers in Europe looking at providing content such as city tour guides, games, etc as the European cellular network providers do? Are others in Europe? Europe leads the US substantially on applications and content for mobile phones. Will Europe do the same within Wi Fi? Will Japan? Thank you for any insight. Bailey ------------------------------ From: mailias@yahoo.com (Mail Ias) Subject: Re: Honesty from Earthlink Organization: Insight Broadband Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 17:57:21 GMT In article , Barry Margolin wrote: > In article , Edson C. Hendricks > wrote: >> Ed.H: All right, I can see you have no more answers. Thank you very >> much for your attention, although I must tell in closing that your >> explanation doesn't satisfy me, and I doubt it would satisfy >> practically any objective reader. > Let's say you're right, and they're deliberately not fixing the > opt-out mechanism. Did you really expect a customer support rep to > admit that they're blatantly lying to customers? More likely, they're > keeping it a secret from the CSRs as well. > Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu > Arlington, MA > *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** Let's consider that the original poster is wrong -- Earthlink really is trying to fix the problem, but can't so far. Do you really expect any CSR to be able to explain it to your satisfaction? What do you want? "we use SQL Server 2000 build 5915, and there's a bug with index headers on tables larger than 6,000,007 bytes, only when the first field of the table starts with the letter J". ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Good News: Four Oakland Cited in First U.S. Spam Case Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 18:43:43 GMT Joe Wineburgh posted on that vast internet thingie: > Other unwitting companies and agencies whose computers were used > include All of the aforementioned and deliberately not quoted were *all* running open relays or unsecured email servers in 2004??????? Let's just kinda hope that the prison population will be computer literate enough to give the spammers the same courtesy formerly reserved for child molesters and such like. Steve at SELLCOM http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Siemens, AT&T, Panasonic, Motorola Vtech 5.8Ghz; TMC ET4000 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Beamer, Watchguard! Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Mini-Splitter log splitter! If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz you owe it to yourself. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They may have very well had open relays on their sites. Many large corporations hold Usenet in such disdain anyway. Discourage reading it, certainly never take heed to anything talked about on the net, etc. Just go on doing their own thing. I cannot begin to tell you how many *huge* corporations (some of which were named) have been eaten alive on phone charges (some of which was fraud, all of which was careless administration of their phone systems. I am not trying to do 'sour grapes' here, but so many of them just will not listen or read the virtually free advice they can get in a place like this newsgroup, which is hardly unique on the net. PAT] ------------------------------ From: 007@sthilliers.com.au (007) Subject: Mobile IP Networks Date: 29 Apr 2004 01:55:08 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I need to investigate some solutions for a true mobile wireless networks and I'm looking for anyone's input. The situation is as follows: I need to design a network that will supporting IP traffic on a public bus transport system. Wireless terminals on each bus will communicate through a router onboard each bus (ie each bus is a mobile wireless LAN). At the bus depot there is a gateway for internet and telephony. The range of each LAN on each bus is limited to no more than 3km and there are no more than 10 busses within the network. What are some considerations for the planning, design and architecture of such a network? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: Steven J Sobol Subject: Re: IDT Uses Wi-Fi to Offer Cheaper Cell Service Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 16:38:31 -0500 VOIP News wrote: > http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2004-04-21-idt-wifi_x.htm > By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY > Believe it or not, 43% of U.S. consumers still don't have a cell phone, > many for budget reasons. > Now, long-distance company IDT is aiming at low- to moderate-income > holdouts with a new breed of inexpensive service that offers mobile > service but only in certain areas. It'll mostly affect the companies like Leap Wireless/Cricket, Metro PCS and Northcoast PCS that offer flat-rate monthly local cell calls for $30-40 per month. Northcoast PCS is in the Northeast. They initially launched in Cleveland and within a month of the launch, I picked up one of the first phones they'd ever sold. They're doing horribly, though. I don't know if they went under, as was rumored, but they sold a ton of spectrum to Verizon Wireless. MetroPCS and Cricket aren't in New York at all, and I'm not sure NCPCS is either. They were supposed to have been all over the Northeast -- they're owned by Cablevision, which is headquartered on Long Island -- but I don't see coverage anywhere other than Cleveland listed on northcoastpcs.com and, in fact, they have scaled down coverage a bit. JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, Apple Valley, CA PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net Domain Names, $9.95/yr, 24x7 service: http://DomainNames.JustThe.net/ "Someone once called me a sofa, but i didn't feel compelled to rush out and buy slip covers." -adam brower * Hiroshima '45, Chernobyl '86, Windows 98/2000/2003 ------------------------------ From: Method to Madness Subject: Re: TiVo Will Not Die Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 21:52:56 -0400 Tivo will eventually just disappear. Cable companies will upgrade and tweak their DVR services and that's pretty much it. I'm not sure or would know why some one would actually have cable TV service and get Tivo instead of just upgrading their cable box via a small price with the cable company. And when DVD recorder prices eventually drop more and more ... Monty Solomon wrote in message news:telecom23.212.4@telecom-digest.org... > Despite gloomy news reports, the Digital Video Recorder service will > eventually find its niche in the marketplace. > By Phillip Swann > Washington, DC (April 27) -- It's been a rough week for TiVo, the > Digital Video Recorder service. > The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press just published > lengthy features on how TiVo could be wiped out by DVR services > offered by cable TV operators. The New York Times last week wrote a > similar, albeit smaller, version of this story. And, TiVo's stock > continues to be suffocated by a combination of bad news and scary > scenarios. > http://www.tvpredictions.com/tivo042704.html ------------------------------ Subject: "If I am Elected" From: Dale Neiburg Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 15:06:25 -0400 In Telecom Digest, number 209, the editor opined, "Of course Bush has occassionally (?) been sometimes less than forthright in his statements and promises ..." But he isn't obligated to keep his campaign promises. Remember, they all began, "If I am elected ..." --Dale Neiburg [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: "If I am elected" ... But Dale, he *was* elected. And when listening to my radio and 'All Things Considered' and other propoganda produced by your employer (locally, KRPS 89.9 FM for southeast Kansas) I get the distinct impression that your employer looks rather askance at his antics sometimes also. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 13:13:16 PDT From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Galaxy Internet Services VOIP Reply-To: fatkinson@mishmash.com I've been using a VOIP residential service offering by Galaxy Internet. They are only twenty dollars per month for unlimited long distance within the 48 continental United States and some fair decent overseas rates (includes five cents per minute to Australia). They promised voice mail is coming *soon* and I had understood that voicemail was already a part of the service. I keep asking them for a commitment as to when the voicemail service is going to be available. So far, I've gotten no answer. I've even spoken to management and they won't commit. Also, they advertise music on hold. You upload a non-compressed .wav file and supposedly it works. It didn't. When I spoke to someone in customer service, he insisted that they are not yet offering that service. But, the music on hold is a very minor issue. So, I'm seriously considering changing providers as I have to have voice mail before I can begin to give out my number. Does anyone know anything about when Galaxy Internet (www.gis.net) will be ready with their voicemail service? Fred ------------------------------ From: Clark W. Griswold, Jr. <73115.1041@compuserve.com> Subject: Re: Packet8 Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 14:37:52 -0600 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Method to Madness wrote: > Do these type Internet phone services work with home alarm systems? It > would really suck if I had to keep Verizon or "regular" phone service > all because of my alarm system ... UGH! > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My understanding is any device which > can take a phone off hook and transmit something over it will work > with VOIP. You need to be very careful here and run some actual tests. Packet8 most definitely does not pass fax or modem calls. Their web site says they are working on it, but not today. I understand Vonage may handle fax calls, not sure about modem calls. Alarm systems are a whole ' nuther problem. If your alarm system uses a dry pair in the same bundle as your voice line, you may be OK. If your alarm system interrupts the voice line and places a call, you need to be careful where you splice in the VOIP box. Even then, it probably won't work as most dialup alarms are making a modem like connection. ------------------------------ From: Tom Betz Subject: Used Norstar M7310 Sets Worth Anything? Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 20:47:51 -0000 Organization: Anything We've just moved a commercial bakery into a new building with a new phone system, and while the (working, remarkably) DR-5 and voicemail systems and cabinets are so cocoa-encrusted as to be pretty much worthless, I have 9 or 10 M7310 sets in black (from the offices) that work. Am I right to estimate that they are probably worth about $50 each on the used market? |I always wanted to be someone,| Tom Betz, Generalist | |but now I think I should have | Want to send me email? | |been a wee bit more specific. | | ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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