From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Jun 4 01:48:57 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.3) id i545mu215998; Fri, 4 Jun 2004 01:48:57 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 01:48:57 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200406040548.i545mu215998@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 #275 TELECOM Digest Fri, 4 Jun 2004 01:40:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 275 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Can Prints Lie? Yes, Man Finds to His Dismay (Monty Solomon) Re: Data Mining: Federal Efforts Cover a Wide Range of Uses (Monty Solomon) Just Like High-Definition TV, but With Higher Definition (Monty Solomon) GILC Alert v8i4 (Monty Solomon) Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company Owns Specific Prefix (J Kelly) Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company Owns Specific Prefix (R. Greenberg) Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company Owns Specific Prefix (Greg Monti) Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company Owns Specific Prefix (Justin Time) Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company Owns Specific Prefix (R Normandeau) Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company Owns Specific Prefix (Joseph) Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company Owns Specific Prefix (John Levine) Re: Spam on the Increase (David B. Horvath, CCP) Wireless Future (Mike) Re: Memories of Illinois Bell in Better Times (Jim Haynes) Re: WW II Britain-U.S. Telephone Links? (Dennis Ritchie) Hi All From a VOIP Reader (John Vo) Xten Launches Free NAT and Firewall Traversal Solution (VOIP News) Wireline Phone Service Isn't ALWAYS Best in Emergencies! (VOIP News) Stalemate in the Phone Fight (VOIP News) 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, 3 Jun 2004 19:29:06 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Can Prints Lie? Yes, Man Finds to His Dismay By BENJAMIN WEISER In front of the immigration judge, the tall, muscular man began to weep. No, he had patiently tried to explain, he was not Leo Rosario, a drug dealer and a prime candidate for deportation. He was telling the truth. He was Rene Ramon Sanchez, an auto-body worker and merengue singer from the Bronx who bore not even a passing resemblance to Mr. Rosario, a complete stranger 12 years his junior and a half-foot shorter. "Why don't you get his photo then?" Mr. Sanchez cried out in Spanish, pounding a fist into his palm. "And compare my fingerprints with his?" The judge, Alan L. Page, had been told the prints were the same. "The general rule is, the prints don't lie," Judge Page had said earlier. "If you got the same prints that Leo Rosario has, you're Leo Rosario. And there's nothing I can do about it." So Mr. Sanchez, in late 2000, was sent back for another week in a grim detention center in Lower Manhattan, severed from his family and livelihood, because his fingerprints had been mistakenly placed on the official record of another man. Remarkably, this was not the first time Mr. Sanchez had paid for that mistake. He had been arrested three times for Mr. Rosario's crimes, and ultimately spent a total of two months in custody and was threatened with deportation before the mistake was traced and resolved in 2002. Mr. Sanchez's ordeal, unearthed from court records and interviews, amounts to a strange, sometimes absurd odyssey through a criminal justice system that made a single error and then compounded it time and again by failing to correct it. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/31/nyregion/31IDEN.html?ex=1401336000&en=6fc3c22e435936e1&ei=5007 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 19:13:10 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Re: Data Mining: Federal Efforts Cover a Wide Range of Uses Excerpt from ACLU Online: June 3, 2004 ACLU QUESTIONS GOVERNMENT ON DATA SURVEILLANCE OF AMERICANS A new report released by the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) just last week revealed that at least four programs used by the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Department of Homeland Security may be accessing and analyzing private-sector databases in ways that approach the "data surveillance" of ordinary citizens. "We always knew that the Pentagon's 'Total Information Awareness' program was not the only data-surveillance program out there, but it now appears possible that such activities are even more widespread than we imagined," said Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Program. The GAO's investigation uncovered 199 government uses of the statistical analysis techniques known as data-mining, 54 of which use private-sector data. Such information could include any data held in corporate or other private hands, including credit-card records and Internet logs. The ACLU is conducting an immediate inquiry to find out whether these programs are indeed threatening, or whether their use of information is benign. For the full text of the ACLU's press release on the GAO report, click here: http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=15860&c=130 The GAO report isn't the only recent revelation related to the government's use of "data-mining" of U.S. citizens. On May 20th, the ACLU released documents containing disturbing new revelations about the MATRIX (the Multistate Anti-TeRrorism Information eXchange) database surveillance program, including the fact that it was under the direct managerial control of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and that Florida Governor Jeb Bush gave a personal briefing on the program to Vice President Dick Cheney. The MATRIX surveillance system combines information about individuals from government databases and private-sector data companies, and makes that data available for search by government officials to comb through the millions of files in a search for "anomalies" that may be indicative of terrorist or other criminal activity. To view the ACLU's White Paper, "The MATRIX: Total Information Awareness Reloaded," simply click on the link below: http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=15830&c=130 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 19:43:05 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Just Like High-Definition TV, but With Higher Definition WHAT'S NEXT By DOUGLAS HEINGARTNER HIGH-DEFINITION television may be only just beginning to catch on, but researchers at the Japanese national broadcaster NHK are already working on a successor. The format, called Ultra High Definition Video, or UHDV, has a resolution 16 times greater than plain-old HDTV, and its stated goal is to achieve a level of sensory immersion that approximates actually being there. At a picture size of 7,680 by 4,320 pixels -- that works out to 32 million pixels -- UHDV's resolution trounces even high-end digital still cameras. HDTV, by comparison, has about two million pixels, and normal TV about 200,000 (and only 480 lines of horizontal resolution versus 4,000 with UHDV). Add to that UHDV's beefed-up refresh rate of 60 frames per second (twice that of conventional video), projected onto a 450-inch diagonal screen with more than 20 channels of audio, and you've got an impressive home theater on your hands. Of course, UHDV's current dimensions make it impractical for most homes. The NHK researchers are investigating how to squeeze all those pixels onto smaller screens. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/03/technology/circuits/03next.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 18:42:19 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: GILC Alert v8i4 Welcome to the Global Internet Liberty Campaign Newsletter. Welcome to GILC Alert, the newsletter of the Global Internet Liberty Campaign. We are an international organization of groups working for cyber-liberties, who are determined to preserve civil liberties and human rights on the Internet. We hope you find this newsletter interesting, and we very much hope that you will avail yourselves of the action items in future issues. If you are a part of an organization that would be interested in joining GILC, please contact us at . If you are aware of threats to cyber-liberties that we may not know about, please contact the GILC members in your country, or contact GILC as a whole. Please feel free to redistribute this newsletter to appropriate forums. =============================================== Free expression [1] Jailed Vietnamese Net dissident on hunger strike [2] Controversial French digital economy bill in final phases [3] Shanghai cybercafe users face further restrictions [4] Net journalists detained in the Maldives [5] RIAA launches a further round of file-sharer lawsuits [6] Vietnam website blocking broader than previously thought [7] New Canadian copyright proposal might stifle Net speech [8] Google feature blocks many non-controversial websites [9] Japanese gov't plans crippling of digital TV [10] North Korean protestors start Internet radio service [11] New joint initiative to defend cyberliberties Privacy [12] European Union considers new data retention plan [13] Continued controversy over Google Gmail privacy flaws [14] Spyware problems may lead more U.S. legislation [15] Debate over U.S. spy-friendly Net tapping rules heats up [16] Microsoft belatedly releases several new security patches [17] Serious security flaw in vital Internet protocol system [18] Studies indicate Internet privacy awareness lags [19] U.S. Big Brother Awards for 2004 handed out [20] EFF Pioneer Awards winners announced http://www.gilc.org/alert/alert84.html http://www.hrea.org/lists/huridocs-tech/markup/msg01130.html ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company "Owns" Specific Prefix? Date: Thu, 03 Jun 2004 17:47:55 -0500 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@newsguy.com On 2 Jun 2004 23:14:19 -0700, tee_earls@hotmail.com (Tee) wrote: > Does anyone know how to determine from a area code / prefix which > cellular company owns it? I realize with number portability now, this > isn't 100% accurate, but I'm willing to take a chance. I'm > specifically looking for 850-637-xxxx. The best I can find is that > it's probably a cellular company in the Pensacola, FL area. > Any ideas? > Thanks. http://www.telcodata.us AT&T WIRELESS SERVICES, INC Pensalcola, FL ------------------------------ From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company "Owns" Specific Prefix? Date: 3 Jun 2004 19:16:44 -0400 Organization: Organized? Me? I use http://www.telcodata.us/telcodata/telco for such queries. For your exchange, it shows: 850-637 FL AT&T WIRELESS SERVICES, INC. 6010 PENSACOLA PNSCFLBLCM6 00/00/0000 Prefix Type: WIRELESS Switch Name: Switch Type: LATA: Pensacola FL (448) Tandem: Detailed Switch Info|CO Info (The cut/paste made a mess of the formatting. Several of these items are actually links to additional data.) Rich Greenberg N6LRT Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507 Eastern time zone. I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67 Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L ------------------------------ From: Greg Monti Subject: Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company "Owns" Specific Prefix? Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 22:25:35 -0400 It's AT&T Wireless Services. To find this, I went to http://www.areacode-info.com then clicked on the tab for Plans, then the submenu for Local Calling Areas. Another resource with similar data: http://www.telcodata.us/ Click on Lookup by Areacode/Exchange. You are right that local number portability is not reflected in either of these databases. Individual numbers can be ported to other companies. The carrier listed, in this case AT&T Wireless, is the "incumbent" or "historical" owner of that prefix. Greg Monti, New York, New York, USA gmonti@mindspring.com ------------------------------ From: a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) Subject: Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company "Owns" Specific Prefix? Date: 3 Jun 2004 13:03:22 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com 850-637 AS 6010 AT&T WIRELESS SERVICES, INC. PENSACOLA PNSCFLBLCM6 Rodgers Platt ------------------------------ From: rayta@msn.com (Ray Normandeau) Subject: Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company "Owns" Specific Prefix? Date: 3 Jun 2004 11:10:12 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com tee_earls@hotmail.com (Tee) wrote in message news:: > Does anyone know how to determine from a area code / prefix which > cellular company owns it? I realize with number portability now, this > isn't 100% accurate, but I'm willing to take a chance. I'm > specifically looking for 850-637-xxxx. The best I can find is that > it's probably a cellular company in the Pensacola, FL area. > Any ideas? > Thanks. According to: http://www.fonefinder.net/index.php It's AT&T WIRELESS SERVICES, INC. See https://www.onesuite.com/ Long distance at MAXIMUM 2.9 Cents Per Minute for USA calls and to Canada for 3.5CPM. If you don't use the 800# access, rate is even cheaper! It is basically a prepaid phone card but you can do away with the PIN for calls from home. Program it as a speed dial, you don't even have to remember their #. No monthly fee or minimum. There is a surchage for calls from payphones. If you use the promotion code "034720367" we both get some free miniutes. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company "Owns" Specific Prefix? Date: Thu, 03 Jun 2004 15:40:51 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.NONOcom http://telcodata.us is one. www.nanpa.com is another. 850-637 Pensacola, FL that NPA/prefix is assigned to AT&T Wireless remove NONO from .NONOcom to reply ------------------------------ Date: 4 Jun 2004 04:51:07 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: How to Tell Which Cellular Company "Owns" Specific Prefix? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Does anyone know how to determine from a area code / prefix which > cellular company owns it? I realize with number portability now, this > isn't 100% accurate, but I'm willing to take a chance. I'm > specifically looking for 850-637-xxxx. The best I can find is that > it's probably a cellular company in the Pensacola, FL area. NANPA has handy downloadable prefix files as plain text or Access MDB. To save you the trouble, 850-637 is AT&T Wireless (soon to be Cingular) in Pensacola. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 10:51:06 -0400 Subject: Re: Possible_SPAM Spam on the Increase From: David B. Horvath, CCP Please remove my email address; you can leave my *name* though. On Thu, 3 Jun 2004 09:26:51 EDT, our esteemed moderator wrote: > Have any of you noticed how, since around mid-May, the spam > traffic has gotten worse than usual? I have to wonder if they > are aiming for a nearly total-spam network? Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one with that problem! > The Spam Assassin point score is presently set for > three. It had been set for five; moving it down to > three sent a lot more to the spam box (where I only > check to see if I recognize the name before bashing it). My ISP has it set at 6.5 which catches most. Unfortunately, it also catches a lot of important email like TELECOM! I set up a rule that acts as an exception to "move 'possible_spam' to spam mailbox' just for TELECOM. The following is from the latest digest: > X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.61 (1.212.2.1-2003-12-09-exp) > on [DELETED] > Content analysis details: (13.3 points, 6.5 required) > pts rule name description > ---- ---------------------- ------------------------------------------ -------- > 0.3 NO_REAL_NAME From: does not include a real name > 0.1 OACYS_SINGLE BODY: A single consonant surrounded by whitespace, minus some of the obvious FP's > 0.1 LG_4C_2V_3C BODY: Gibberish found? > 1.0 J_CHICKENPOX_12 BODY: {1}Letter - punctuation - {2}Letter > 1.0 J_CHICKENPOX_27 BODY: {2}Letter - punctuation - {7}Letter > 1.0 J_CHICKENPOX_42 BODY: {4}Letter - punctuation - {2}Letter > 3.0 OACYS_DOT_OBFUSC BODY: Obfuscating text using .'s (i.e. p.orn) > 1.0 J_CHICKENPOX_81 BODY: {8}Letter - punctuation - {1}Letter > 0.0 LINES_OF_YELLING BODY: A WHOLE LINE OF YELLING DETECTED > 0.0 MAILTO_TO_REMOVE URI: Includes a 'remove' email address > 1.0 FVGT_u_DOM_START_NUM URI: FVGT - domain name starts with numbers > 1.0 FVGT_u_DOM_END_NUM URI: FVGT - domain name ends with numbers > 2.4 FVGT_u_BZ_TLD URI: FVGT - Contains a URL in the BZ, TC, US or WS top-level domain > 1.4 FVGT_u_BIZ_SITE URI: FVGT - contains a URL in the BIZ top- level domain Just thought you'd like to know. - David ------------------------------ From: yared22311@yahoo.com (Mike) Subject: Wireless Future Date: 3 Jun 2004 12:36:59 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Fairfax resident Michael Kelley expects to be able to connect to the Internet through completely portable and mobile broadband access in one to two years. http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20040602-094029-2609r.htm ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Memories of Illinois Bell in Better Times Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) Date: Thu, 03 Jun 2004 21:15:13 GMT In article , Lisa Hancock wrote: > TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: >> How does the old song phrase it? "Things to painful to remember, we simply >> Across the street and up a block from the c.o. was a Pixley >> and Ehlers Cafeteria. In the 1960's there were as many Pixley and Ehlers > Sounds just like the beloved Horn & Hardart restaurant chain in > Philadelphia and New York. They were noted for the popular At least the Philadelphia chain has been memorialized in music. There's the song "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" containing the line "... won't pay the rental on your humble flat, or dinner at the Automat ..." And then there is the P.D.Q. Bach composition, "Concerto for Horn and Hardart". I don't believe Pixley & Ehlers has been so honored. I once did a study of cafeterias, using the Yellow Pages back when libraries held a lot of phone books. Cafeterias are big in Texas, or at least they were, with Austin having probably nine of them, in several chains and independents. The only one I found in California was in Bakersfield, which is a lot like Texas (hot and has oil). Eventually I saw a statement in the business press by an official of a cafeteria chain, to the effect that in the South the cafeteria is viewed as a nice place to take the family after church on Sunday, but in the North it is viewed as a gathering place for derelicts. -- jhhaynes at earthlink dot net ------------------------------ From: Dennis Ritchie Subject: Re: WW II Britain-U.S. Telephone Links? Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 02:37:00 -0000 Organization: Bell Labs R. T. Wurth wrote in message news:telecom23.274.9@telecom-digest.org: > One radio circuit > was regularly used between Roosevelt and Churchill, and Bell Labs > developed an encryption system called "Green Hornet." The name > came about because the signals sounded like the theme song of the > like-named radio show. It was rather innovative. They broke the > voice into several frequency bands (ranges of tones), sampled the > level in each band, and encoded the levels as digits (decimal, I > think). > This is all from memory of old descriptions I've read, but I'm sure a > look in some IEEE (or some pre-merger IRE/AIEE) literature or an old > BSTJ comprehensive index for "Green Hornet" would have all the > details. A fairly complete account of this scheme (which was decidedly not open to the public or the GIs) is to be found at www.nsa.gov/publications/publi00019.cfm Wurth's memories seem correct. Search for SIGSALY under the www.nsa.gov home page. There are accounts (referenced in the above link) to the IEEE publication and other places. Dennis ------------------------------ From: John Vo Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 18:58:48 PDT Subject: Hi All From a VOIP News Reader Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com I am new to VOIP and new to this group. Hope to learn from you guys. Take care. John ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 03 Jun 2004 11:50:32 -0400 Subject: Xten Launches Free NAT and Firewall Traversal Solution Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-02-2004/0002186199&EDATE= Xten Launches Free NAT and Firewall Traversal Solution for Standards-based Voice and Video over IP. SANTA CLARA, CA, June 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Xten Networks, Inc. (OTCBB:XNWK) has announced today the release of XTunnels as a free NAT (Network Address Translation), Firewall and Private Proxy traversal solution for SIP endpoints. VoIP softphones and hard phones incorporating XTunnels can now receive voice and video calls across NAT-enabled firewalls without adjusting or modifying anything on the private network, as is the case with Xten softphones today. "Our industry needed a solution to this problem for the benefit of all who are interested in the rapid expansion of Voice and Video over IP," said Erik Lagerway, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Xten, "All Xten softphones support XTunnels, which allows Service Provider, Carrier and MSO customers, interested in deploying Xten softphones, to do so without the additional capital outlay of an expensive NAT traversal solution." A very significant obstacle standing in the way of mainstream deployment of Voice and Video over IP today concerns security issues at the edge of the network. Prior to Xten's XTunnels solution, companies wanting to deploy VoIP in a secure network interconnected to an open network (the Internet) had to contemplate using solutions such as SBCs (Session Border Controllers) to achieve this. SBCs sometimes fail to solve the problem in scenarios where reverse UDP mapping is not enabled or turned off, which is the case in most corporate firewalls. Another solution would be to replace the local user firewall, which is costly and cumbersome for the end user or corporate network IT manager. XTunnels is the only free solution that solves almost all of the NAT and Firewall traversal problems plaguing standards-based VoIP today. For more information visit http://www.XTunnels.org About Xten Networks, Inc. Xten is a provider of award-winning, high-quality, carrier-grade SIP- based VoIP software and softphones. Xten's goal is to be the primary choice in SIP-based client-side audio and video IP communications software for Telecoms, Cable Providers and Internet Telephony Service Providers. Those who are interested in Xten products should visit sales.xten.com On the Web: http://www.xten.com For more information, please contact: Mark Bruk, CEO 408.876.4346 ext 4 mark@xten.com SOURCE Xten Networks Inc. How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 03 Jun 2004 23:32:43 -0400 Subject: Wireline Phone Service Isn't ALWAYS Best in Emergencies! Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com The next time you hear some regulator or other uninformed person trying to get VoIP regulated out of existence because it doesn't yet support "enhanced" 911 or some such thing, you might want to send them a copy of this news from FastLine Mesh Networks, a wireless ISP in Louisiana and Texas. In some situations you really are better off with the new technologies rather than the old (especially if you have a good uninterruptable power supply). http://www.fastlineinternet.com/news.html June 2, 2004 A violent storm front swept across the Ark-La-Tex this morning, leaving a scene of devastation in it's wake. However, as a testimony to the advantages of wireless broadband -- not a single client was affected in Vivian, LA. According to Fastline representative Kenny Bain, "We had trees uprooted and power lines down, but none of our access points were affected. The lightning was so violent that it shook my house every time it struck!" Bain went on to say, "Of course, no one is immune to the effects of bad weather, but we faired much better than the telephone and cable companies did. There were poles that were snapped in two and wires all over the place in some parts of town." Many businesses reported no phone service and a few were still without electricity hours after the storms swept through. However, Fastline clients were able to use VoIP telephone service to send and receive calls as if nothing had happened. According to Bain, "This clearly demonstrates the advantages of the wireless mesh. Even if we would have lost our backbone connection in Vivian, we now have the option of pulling bandwidth from our sister network in Linden, Texas which is 21 miles away." The above text plus storm damage photos at: http://www.fastlineinternet.com/news.html Commentary (of sorts) on the above text here: http://www.newswireless.net/articles/040603-tornado.html Additional (slightly off-topic) comment: Many wireless Internet providers do not price their services competitively. This one, on the other hand, has just about the most reasonable pricing I've seen in a long time. If other wireless broadband companies would price their services in a similar manner, they'd have no shortage of customers AND the VoIP companies would have another way to get to customers in areas where neither cable broadband nor DSL are available. Check out the pricing here: http://www.fastlineinternet.com/services.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 04 Jun 2004 00:01:52 -0400 Subject: Stalemate in the Phone Fight Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2004/tc2004064_7347_tc024.htm By Catherine Yang Long-distance carriers' inability to strike a local-access deal with the Baby Bells could claim an unlikely victim: President Bush While most Americans were grilling hot dogs over Memorial Day weekend, the CEOs of the nation's largest phone companies were holed up at a hotel in Washington. Convened by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell, the chiefs of Verizon, SBC Corp., BellSouth Corp., and Qwest Communications faced off across the table with their counterparts from long-distance giants AT&T and MCI. Their task: to break a deadlock and reach agreements for the Baby Bells to lease their networks to the long-distance guys, which want to build out their own competitive local-calling business. After arduous negotiations, the group produced just one deal between the two weaker players of the bunch -- MCI and Qwest. "We're very disappointed that the Memorial Day weekend negotiations failed," says an AT&T spokesperson. "The only agreement that most of the Bell monopolies seemed interested in striking was one that increased prices substantially on consumers and small businesses immediately." The Bells may not agree with that characterization. But one thing's for sure: It's bad news for the Bush Administration, which during an already difficult election year had hoped to avoid getting sucked into one of the most intractable issues in telecom. The failure of the weekend phone summit seemed to dim the outlook for further agreements between the biggest Bells and the long-suffering long-distance carriers. TECH SOLUTIONS. The long-distance carriers have struggled for nearly a decade to make inroads in the local-calling market. Ironically, before it's all over, technology -- not regulators, negotiations, or court battles -- may be their best strategy for getting past the Baby Bells, as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologies gain momentum, experts say. Full story at: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2004/tc2004064_7347_tc024.htm ------------------------------ 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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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #275 ******************************