From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Jun 22 15:34:40 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.3) id i5MJYeo12092; Tue, 22 Jun 2004 15:34:40 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 15:34:40 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200406221934.i5MJYeo12092@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 #301 TELECOM Digest Tue, 22 Jun 2004 15:35:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 301 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Verizon Begins Deploying Packet Switches to Provide Local (VOIP News) Skype Linux Beta (VOIP News) A New Kind of States' Rights (VOIP News) The Quest For the Rural Full Monty (VOIP News) Pulver.com CRTC Comments Now Online (VOIP News) The 411 on VoIP (VOIP News) VoIP - SIP Suggestions (PDA Enthusiastic) Technical Question About VOIP (R.J. Phipps) Re: Telus Prevents Residential Clients From Sending Email (jmeissen) Re: Telus Prevents Residential Clients From Sending Email (DevilsPGD) Re: Telus Prevents Residential Clients From Sending Email (Barry Margolin) Re: Telus Prevents Residential Clients From Sending Email (Robert Bonomi) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 12:08:04 -0400 Subject: Verizon Begins Deploying Packet Switches to Provide Local Service Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-22-2004/0002197838&EDATE= Installations in Six West Coast Communities Pave the Way for New Services and Greater Network Efficiencies Verizon Local Packet Switches Complement Previous Use of the Technology in Long-Distance Network NEW YORK, June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- In a first among major United States telecommunications companies, Verizon is deploying advanced packet-switching technology to serve local business and consumer lines. The program is under way in California and Washington state. The state-of-the-art technology will make Verizon's network more reliable, and the new switches pave the way for a broad array of new services for local businesses and consumers in the future. The new packet switches will replace existing technology known as circuit switches. Telecommunications switches are at the heart of Verizon's networks and direct voice traffic from the person making to the call to the person being called. Company technicians are currently installing packet-switching systems in five southern California communities: Temecula, Elsinore, Homeland, Baldwin Park and Azusa. Installation of a sixth packet switch is also under way in Mount Vernon, Wash. The six switches -- provided by Nortel Networks -- are expected to come on line later this year. Customers served by the new packet switches in California and Washington will continue to receive the same voice and data services at the same price, and customers will not be required to change equipment. "This is a major step forward in building our next-generation network," said Paul Lacouture, president of Verizon's Network Services Group. The new packet-switching systems - also known as softswitches -- are based on the same technology used to send data through the Internet. Until now, circuit-switching systems have been the standard for routing calls in telecom networks. Packet switch technology can be combined with innovative Internet service capabilities to provide a wide array of advanced services to customers in the future. For example, in the future, customers will be able to monitor their incoming and outgoing calls, keep a log of all calls, automatically route incoming calls to a cell phone or other locations, and manage all their calling and e-mail traffic on a personal computer. Today's announcement follows Verizon's launch in Keller, Texas, on May 19 of a program to build fiber-optic networks to connect homes and businesses to the network using a technology called fiber to the premises (FTTP). Verizon plans to deploy fiber systems to pass as many as 1 million homes and businesses this year. These two powerful new technologies are widely expected to provide even more advanced services that are far superior to those available from other telecommunications service providers, including cable TV networks. "We continue to transform our wireline network," Lacouture said. "Of course, we expect this transformed network to improve revenue growth for the company, but, also importantly, it will expand services for customers nationwide." Lacouture added that deployment of the new switches will change the way Verizon's network handles voice traffic. Today, a traditional voice call relies on a distinct circuit for the duration of the call or transmission. While that call is going on, that circuit cannot be used for anything else. In a packet-switching environment, the call is broken up into chunks -- or packets -- and transmitted over links that are also being used to transmit packets of data information such as Internet access, as well as many other calls. This sharing of the network for voice, data and video means the network can handle far more traffic. Verizon began deploying this advanced technology in its network in 1999, in the form of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gateways to connect local customers with some long-distance networks. In 2002, Verizon began installing packet switches in parts of the company's inter-city network. A year later, Verizon deployed softswitches in segments of the company's long-distance network to carry national calls using VoIP technology. A Dow 30 company, Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services, with approximately $68 billion in annual revenues. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world, as measured by directory titles and circulation. Verizon's international presence includes wireline and wireless communications operations and investments, primarily in the Americas and Europe. For more information, visit http://www.verizon.com. VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at http://www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases. SOURCE Verizon Communications Web Site: http://www.verizon.com Company News On Call: Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/618232.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: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 11:57:35 -0400 Subject: Skype Linux Beta Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3095591 Skype Linux Beta; Skype P2P Internet Telephony Now Available to Millions of Linux Users Worldwide LUXEMBOURG (BUSINESS WIRE) June 21, 2004 Skype Technologies S.A., the Global P2P Internet Telephony Company that offers consumers the ability to make free superior quality voice calls using their Internet connections, today launched the first beta version of Skype for Linux. The software can be downloaded for free and is available immediately for download at www.skype.com. "We've had strong demand for a Linux version of Skype since debuting the Skype beta 10 months ago," said Niklas Zennstrom, Skypes CEO and co-founder. Skype will continue to innovate by offering new quality telephony options, and listen to our users in setting priorities. Full press release at: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3095591 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 13:48:28 -0400 Subject: A New Kind of States' Rights Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://industryclick.com/magazinearticle.asp?magazineid=7&releaseid=12344&magazinearticleid=201021&siteid=3 by Donny Jackson Telephony, Jun 21, 2004 For more than a century, most telecom regulation has come from the states. That changed somewhat with the passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which granted the FCC greater powers. Still, states continued to play a key role in the voice-calling arena, particularly after the FCC released its Triennial Review Order last year. Key components of the TRO called for state commissions to oversee detailed studies of the telecom marketplace and determine where CLECs were impaired. The aggressive, nine-month timeline created mountains of work for state commission staff members, but the TRO represented a high watermark for state commissions' authority. It was short-lived. Today, state commissions' future role in regulating real-time voice calling is in doubt, and even its present role is in limbo. The future is in doubt because most believe voice over IP is the future of voice calling. For states, that's a problem, because the distributive networks used to carry VoIP calls cross state boundaries. With this in mind, most FCC commissioners have indicated they believe VoIP is inherently interstate, meaning it falls within the jurisdiction of the FCC, not the state commissions a sentiment echoed in two VoIP bills pending in Congress. Meanwhile, most carriers have told the FCC they do not want states to have any economic regulatory authority over VoIP. Full story at: http://industryclick.com/magazinearticle.asp?magazineid=7&releaseid=12344&magazinearticleid=201021&siteid=3 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 13:54:25 -0400 Subject: The Quest For the Rural Full Monty Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://industryclick.com/magazinearticle.asp?magazineid=7&releaseid=12344&magazinearticleid=201028&siteid=3 by Donny Jackson Telephony, Jun 21, 2004 Several telecom officials pine for the FCC to pre-empt states, and many more seek economic deregulation of VoIP providers. But one former FCC official working as a lawyer for a group of disparate rural carriers has asked his former employer to deregulate his clients completely including legacy networks. "We're asking for it all [to be deregulated]," said David Irwin, attorney for America's Rural Coalition, or ARC. I like to call it the full monty. Detailed in ARC's comments filed in the FCC's IP services proceeding, Irwin's deregulatory request is based on the presence of intermodal competition from various platforms wireless, cable, independent VoIP operators and broadband over power lines. In addition, ARC notes that usage minutes and access have diminished as a result of indirect competition from technologies such as e-mail and instant messaging. Full story at: http://industryclick.com/magazinearticle.asp?magazineid=7&releaseid=12344&magazinearticleid=201028&siteid=3 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 14:23:01 -0400 Subject: Pulver.com CRTC Comments Now Online Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com The comments that pulver.com filed last week with the CRTC (in Canada) are posted here: http://pulver.com/reports/pulverCRTC.pdf ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 14:47:46 -0400 Subject: The 411 on VoIP Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/34630.html By Leon Erlanger Most agree that a major transition to VoIP in the enterprise is inevitable, but in most companies it will probably be a gradual process of greenfield branch office rollouts, deploying IP where it brings the most benefit, replacing obsolete legacy equipment, and gradually upgrading the data network infrastructure. Ultimately, every enterprise will find its own unique path to VoIP. "Our branches had every type of phone system imaginable," says Stan Adams, SouthTrust's group vice president of voice and data. With 730 branches and 13,200 employees, SouthTrust, a regional bank based in Birmingham, Alabama, had been growing through acquisitions since 2000. "Dealing with all those maintenance programs was turning into a major management headache. We were about to upgrade all our branches to TIs and switched 100Mb anyway, so we decided to build a converged IP voice/data network that would let us manage all our voice and data services centrally from Birmingham." Now all of SouthTrust's sites are populated with IP-based phone handsets connected over the data network to a few Cisco CallManager IP PBX server clusters in Birmingham, which are in turn backed up by another CallManager cluster in Atlanta. "The CallManager clusters manage call setup, voice mail, and long distance for all our sites," Adams says. "The savings we've seen from centralized management are incredible. And now we can take advantage of cheaper high volume long distance rates and bypass long distance tolls on the branch WAN connections." Full story at: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/34630.html ------------------------------ From: support@mantragroup.com (PDA Enthusiastic) Subject: VoIP - SIP Suggestions Date: 22 Jun 2004 00:38:42 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello, We are looking to write a SMALL client for VoIP which uses SIP. I have started reading a lot about it lately and would like to learn and start implementing stack. Can you give me some pointers where I can understand the SIP (after I look at the RFC) and some code samples which are VERY easy to understand? How easy is it to write the code for SIP and where can I find any developers documentation (as in how I can start from connecting to server, what messages I have to send etc.). Is there any free server I can test the client with which runs on windows. Thanks a ton. As an offtrack, we are looking for some C programmer who has some PT to work on the SIP stack that we are planning to develop in C for one of the embedded projects. Thanks, Mike ------------------------------ From: R.J. Phipps Subject: Technical Question About VOIP in Greece Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 17:47:59 -0400 Pat, A question that I am not clear about is the use of ISDN. Is this supported? I understand the app would work well on 90k synchronous connection. Could it be pulled off with say 192k ISDN? I believe that this is the closes to the bandwidth required that we will get while in Greece. Thanks again, R.J. ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Telus Prevents Residential Clients From Sending Email Date: 21 Jun 2004 17:30:22 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , Digest Editor wrote: > Note: I was not referring to *receiving mail* either but sending > it. I do happen to have a shell at a few sites, but that is not > material. I am talking about using the existing mail programs at > those sites. Seated at my computer, (through typing of course) I > 'say' to my ISP Cableone.net "connect me to terraworld.net" and I > get connected. If I said "connect me to terraworld.net port 25" I am > not so sure they would do that. But I will take terraworld.net's > front door. The term "connect" is a bit ambiguous the way you're using it. Since you have a broadband connection you're always connected in the network sense. There is no "connecting" that happens prior to using a mail application. When you launch whatever program you intend to use, it "connects to" one or more ports on some remote system. > Now having connected to terraworld.net and properly logged > myself in, I then say to terraworld.net "I want to send/receive email" > and a handy-dandy little program comes up to let me do just that. Or > massis, or AOL or Compuserve or ... let me count them all. Now I could > see where an ISP might, if they chose, refuse to connect me to > someISPsomwhere port 25, but are you suggesting the ISP (in this case > it would be Telus I guess) sits there 'listening' all the time just so > it can block me in the event I do something 'port 25-like' on that > distant site, such as sending mail? "Oh, I heard him say 'port 25' to > that ISP in Kansas somewhere, so I am blocking him cause he may be a > spammer." Yes. But not to any specific site in this case. The destination address and port number are part of the packet header, and often examined for routing purposes. In this case if the destination is outside their network and the port is 25 they reject the packet. > This over-simplifies it a little, but I hope you understand > me now. And just as I can ask cableone.net to connect me to Terraworld > to use Terraworld's mail service (NOT a shell account, just Windows) > I can also go to Terraworld and ask for connection to CableOne then > use their Windows-based email service. With most mail applications you need to configure two mail hosts, one for receiving mail (typically using POP3 or IMAP), and another for sending email. While you can certainly have multiple mail accounts with different providers (and different hosts), typically you only configure a single host for handling all your outbound email. LookOut may be making the assumption now that those are the same, but that would be a dangerous assumption. Receiving and sending are independant. I don't know how M$ does it, since I try to avoid their stuff, but the Windows-based clients I've used lets me configure a host for outgoing mail, then, for each account, a host and protocol for dealing with the received mail for that account. AOL may be different. Since you use their proprietary interface you establish a "session", not unlike a VPN. I seriously doubt that their mail interface uses the standard protocols. In that case your outgoing mail probably wouldn't be going to port 25 on an AOL machine, so there would be no problem. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Telus Prevents Residential Clients From Sending Email Reply-To: bond-jamesbond@crazyhat.net Organization: EasyNews, UseNet made Easy! Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 22:08:02 GMT In message Barry Margolin wrote: > But the OP's complaint is that he's connected through Telus but wants > (for some reason he wasn't fully clear on) his email to *not* > originate from the Telus SMTP server. There are a number of good reasons, SPF being one of them. News: CIVIL SERVANT STAYS AWAKE ALL SHIFT LONG "Man, I've really got to cut back on the caffeine" he says. ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Telus Prevents Residential Clients From Sending Email Organization: Looking for work Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 21:11:08 -0400 In article , Nick Landsberg wrote: > As it turns out, my ISP (ATT-Worldnet), won't accept port 25 > connections unless they originate on their network. When I got > broadband (just last week) I kept my Worldnet account and phone lines > as a backup, just as Pat does. When I tried to access my worldnet > mail, send mail or read netnews over the broadband connection, I was > blocked. That's a separate issue. ISPs have to prevent their own servers from being used as open relays, so they only allow their customers to use them. Many ISPs now support SMTP authentication, and allow authenticated use from any address. This is useful when their customers are using public wireless access points (e.g. accessing the net from airports), since it's not easy for the users to know what to configure their SMTP server to in such environments. Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** ------------------------------ Organization: Robert Bonomi Consulting Subject: Re: Telus Prevents Residential Clients From Sending Email From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 14:33:14 +0000 In article , Robert Bonomi wrote: [[.. munch ..]] > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I just now tried this. I got onto Terra > World and used Outlook to send outgoing spam to myself *making a claim > that I was really at cableone*; Terraworld would not allow it. If I > went into Outlook and changed my default (which usually is cableone) > over to terraworld (in other words admitting to the recipient of the > mail who I really was) then terraworld would accept the mail. Earlier > I was using the mail client on Terraworld rather than my own client > (Outlook) which I guess got me confused, since I was using the mail > client on the ISP itself. When using *my mail client* (Outlook) then > Terraworld would not accept anything from me unless I was Terraworld. > When I shut down the dialup and went back to highspeed at cableone > then again using *my mail client* (Outlook) the same thing happened. > Cable One would only accept mail outbound from cableone and would > not accept my claim that I was using TerraWorld. > Using the mail clients on the ISPs (Terra or Cable) worked just fine, > but I apparently forgot that my own client (Outlook) goes to whoever or > whatever is controlling the computer at the moment, thus I approach > either ISP as a third-party intruder and that I was not trying to use > the mail clients on Terra or Cable but had introduced *my own mail > client* into the picture, and that unless my own mail client was auth- > orized i.e passwords and satisfactory parameters otherwise (per > whatever Terra or Cable individually demanded) I would not get > through. As long as I was on terraworld dial up and had my Outlook > parameters correct I could send mail out through terraworld. As long > as I was on CableOne high speed and had my Outlook parameters correct > I could send mail through CableOne. This is all clear as mud to me, > so I guess you are correct. PAT] Just for come clarification, there are about _four_ separate, but related issues involved in this kind of thing. 1) If the network operator runs separate mailservers for 'incoming' mail (i.e., mail _from_ the 'outside world') and 'outgoing' mail (from it's customers _to_ the outside world, it probably restricts access to the 'outgoing' server to IP addresses that _are_ on it's own network. 2) The 'inside' user at an ISP probably has to 'authenticate' himself to to that server, using the ID/password supplied by the ISP running the server. (makes tracking down spammers _really_ easy/simple ) 3) The network one is connected to may block 'port 25' access to 'foreign' servers, except from the 'official' mailservers for _that_ network. 4) (rare, and virtually *worthless*) the 'outgoing' mailserver may accept mail only if the _claimed_ sender domain matches the domain of the mail- server. If this is the -only- check for access, then all a spammer has to do is forge an address _in_the_mail-server's_domain_, and it will happily relay the mail. NOTE: *VIRTUALLY*EVERY* mail-server _will_ reject mail if -neither- the sender address or the recipient address are 'local' to the network on which the mail-server resides. (Otherwise _anybody_ -- including spammers -- could send mail through that system. This is the infamous 'open relay' issue.) So, you have to cope with 'which network you're directly connected to' (which may have required an id/password to access it), 'which mailserver you're trying to use' (by hostname and 'port'), 'which access-code is needed to access _that_ server' (which may, or *may*not* be the same as the id and password required to access the _network_ you're currently using, *AND*, last but not least, whether or not the network you are currently connected to "allows" contact to 'foreign' networks/servers on the port you use to contact that mailserver on a foreign network. Get _any_ of the above wrong, and the mail won't go out. Sometimes, even _reading_ your mail is a 'restricted-access' activity. On ATT/WorldNet, if you're _not_ on an att.com-owned IP address, you cannot access the regular POP server to _read_ mail. Although it works just fine if you *are* on an att.com address (one of their dial-ups, for example). (you _can_ get in, via an 'alternate port', with an SSL-encrypted connection; given that you have a mail client that supports POP-over-SSL.) ------------------------------ 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 #301 ******************************