From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Sep 7 16:53:31 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i87KrUv13005; Tue, 7 Sep 2004 16:53:31 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 16:53:31 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200409072053.i87KrUv13005@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 #420 TELECOM Digest Tue, 7 Sep 2004 16:53:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 420 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update (Canada) #447, September 7, 2004 (Angus TeleManagement) Ultra-Wideband-enabled miniPCI module (Monty Solomon) Ultra-Wideband 1394 Module (Monty Solomon) XM Radio Pulls PC Hardware Amid Piracy Concerns (Monty Solomon) Digital Music's Next Big Battle (Monty Solomon) Re: Spam Makes Up Half of All Emails in China - Expert (Rich Greenberg) Re: Spam Makes Up Half of All Emails in China - Expert (SELLCOM Tech) Re: Spam Makes Up Half of All Emails in China - Expert (Hudson Leighton) Re: HDTV Forum a Big Hit (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Congress Hangs Up on VoIP for 2004 (Lisa Hancock)) Re: Telephone Vocabulary -- "Straight Line" (Tom Lager) Re: The Soft Invasion (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: Show Me the Convention (Lisa Hancock) Re: Book Review: The Sinking of the Eastland (Dave Close) RCA Camden Plant - All Gone - Good or Bad? (Lisa Hancock)) 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: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:37:31 -0400 From: Angus TeleManagement Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #447, September 7, 2004 ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 447: September 7, 2004 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/en/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/ ** SPRINT CANADA: www.sprint.ca ** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/ ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Aliant and Unions Reach Tentative Agreement ** Rogers Considers Bid for Microcell ** Nortel Postpones Results... Again ** Wireless Fuels Telecom Revenue Growth ** Telus Says New Rules Won't Affect Microcell Bid ** Telus Files Tariffs for IP Centrex ** CMA Asks Cabinet to Stay Telemarketing Rules ** Telemarketer Opposes National Registry ** CRTC Deregulates Northern WAN Services ** Telus Wants CRTC to Reopen CDNA Proceeding ** Bell Adopts Treo Smartphone ** Wireless Age Joins in Disposable Cellphone Project ** Telebec Builds Fibre to Iles-de-la-Madelaine ** Sierra Wireless Reshuffles Executive Suite ** IP-Centrex Comes of Age ============================================================ ALIANT AND UNIONS REACH TENTATIVE AGREEMENT: Five days after a federal mediator restarted negotiations, Aliant and the Council of Atlantic Telecommunications Unions announced a tentative contract agreement. The unions will recommend acceptance to their 4,300 striking members, who will vote on Wednesday. ** The CRTC has received over 2,700 customer complaints about Aliant's service since the strike began in April. ROGERS CONSIDERS BID FOR MICROCELL: Rogers Communications and Rogers Wireless say they are "reviewing current wireless industry developments and consolidation activities," including the possibility of trying to buy shares or assets of Microcell Telecommunications. ** On Friday, Rogers Communications announced that it has agreed to help AT&T Wireless sell its 34% share of Rogers Wireless. Rogers will have the right to buy all the shares if the eventual selling price is $36/share or less. NORTEL POSTPONES RESULTS... AGAIN: Nortel Networks now says that it will file recent financial statements by the end of October, a month later than previously projected. Nortel has been working on its accounting restatement since July 2003; it has 650 employees plus outside consultants involved in the project. (See Telecom Update #445) WIRELESS FUELS TELECOM REVENUE GROWTH: Statistics Canada reports that in the first three months of 2004, total Canadian telecom revenues increased modestly (1.1%, to $8.3B), reversing three consecutive quarterly declines. Compared to the same quarter in 2003, wireless revenues grew 18.5% (to $2.2B) while wireline revenues fell 4.1% (to $5.8B), continuing the trends reported in 2002 and 2003 (see Telecom Update #379, 429). http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040901/d040901b.htm http://www.statcan.ca:8096/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=56-002-XIE TELUS SAYS NEW RULES WON'T AFFECT MICROCELL BID: Telus CFO Robert McFarlane says his company won't raise its bid for Microcell as a result of Ottawa's removal of the wireless spectrum cap. He says the decision was "largely anticipated and was factored into our valuation analysis." TELUS FILES TARIFFS FOR IP CENTREX: Telus has asked the CRTC to approve tariffs for IP-Evolution, described as similar to Telus's current Centrex service and to Bell Canada's Managed IP Telephony service, which received tariff approval in July. (See Telecom Update #442) Telus has also filed a tariff proposal that would allow Centrex customers to include IP-Evolution locals when determining which per-line rate applies. www.crtc.gc.ca/8740/eng/2004/t42/tn534.zip www.crtc.gc.ca/8740/eng/2004/t42/tn535.doc CMA ASKS CABINET TO STAY TELEMARKETING RULES: Supplementing the application to the CRTC we reported last week, the Canadian Marketing Association has asked Cabinet to halt implementation of the new telemarketing rules and to facilitate creation of a national do-not-call registry, through legislation or direction to the CRTC. (See Telecom Update #445) ** Various parties have filed comments with the CRTC on the CMA's request to stay the new rules and to create a national do-not-call list. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2004/8662/c131_200408543.htm TELEMARKETER OPPOSES NATIONAL REGISTRY: One telemarketing company, Beautyrock, opposes a national do-not-call registry. It has told the CRTC that "millions and millions of Canadian consumers like telemarketing," but also says that more than half of Canadian households would join a do-not-call list, reducing telemarketing revenues and jobs. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2004/8662/beautyrock/040901.doc ** Beautyrock has asked the Commission to change aspects of the new telemarketing rules that it says are confusing and irritating to consumers. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2004/8662/beautyrock/040826.doc CRTC DEREGULATES NORTHERN WAN SERVICES: The CRTC has forborne from regulating retail wide area network services in the territories of NorthernTel, Ontera, and Telebec. These telcos must file tariffs for the underlying Ethernet service components for competitors' use. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/dt2004-57.htm TELUS WANTS CRTC TO REOPEN CDNA PROCEEDING: Telus has asked the CRTC to "update and supplement" the record of the Competitor DNA proceeding before it reaches a decision. In particular, Telus wants electrical utilities to file information on where they offer dark fibre. Competitors say this will simply add more delay to a long-awaited ruling. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2004/8661/t66_200408791.htm BELL ADOPTS TREO SMARTPHONE: Bell Mobility is now selling a CDMA version of palmOne's Treo 600 Smartphone for $549-$699, depending on contract length. (See Telecom Update #446) WIRELESS AGE JOINS IN DISPOSABLE CELLPHONE PROJECT: Wireless Age, a Toronto-based cellular retailer and phonecard distributor, has invested about $9 million in Azonic Corp. of New York, which plans to develop a disposable analog cellphone. TELEBEC BUILDS FIBRE TO ILES-DE-LA-MADELAINE: Telebec has begun construction of a submarine fibre cable from the Gaspe Peninsula to the Iles-de-la-Madelaine, a $6 million project funded in part by the federal and provincial governments. SIERRA WIRELESS RESHUFFLES EXECUTIVE SUITE: Vancouver-based Sierra Wireless has named Jason Cohenour as COO, Jim Kirkpatrick as CTO, and Bill Dodson as Sr VP Operations. Andrew Harries, Sr VP Marketing, will soon resign. IP-CENTREX COMES OF AGE: A new generation of IP-based hosted communications services is challenging the role of PBXs in enterprise telecommunications. In this month's Telemanagement, John Riddell examines the pros and cons of IP-Centrex, and profiles offerings now available from Bell Canada, Telus, and OneConnect. Also in this issue: ** Designing Converged Networks for Manageability ** A Buyer's Guide to Broadband-IP Phone Services Telemanagement is available by subscription only. To become a Telemanagement subscriber -- including unlimited access to Telemanagement's extensive online content -- visit www.angustel.ca/teleman/tm-sub-online.html or call 800-263-4415 ext 500. ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-MAIL: editors@angustel.ca FAX: 905-686-2655 MAIL: TELECOM UPDATE Angus TeleManagement Group 8 Old Kingston Road Ajax, Ontario Canada L1T 2Z7 =========================================================== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE) TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two formats available: 1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web on the first business day of the week at www.angustel.ca 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave subject line and message area blank. We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail addresses to any third party. For more information, see www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html. =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2004 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone 905-686-5050 ext 500. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 08:51:14 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Ultra-Wideband-Enabled MiniPCI Module GlobalSun and Freescale Semiconductor bring Ultra-Wideband to miniPCI modules; Home entertainment and mobile devices now able to leverage UWB AUSTIN, Texas & TAIPEI, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 6, 2004--The development and availability of miniPCI modules is the next step needed in delivering Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology to the consumer market. This step was met today by Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. (NYSE:FSL) and GlobalSun Technology who collaborated on an Ultra-Wideband-enabled miniPCI module. This module is designed to allow users to leverage the wireless benefits of UWB for various video and data streaming applications, including flat panel displays and media servers, and enables rapid transfer of data using a portable hard drive. The module is expected to be sold by GlobalSun to leading consumer electronic manufacturers for immediate integration into wireless applications. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=43517704 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 08:52:26 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Ultra-Wideband 1394 Module Universal Scientific Industrial Co. and Freescale Semiconductor Bring Ultra-Wideband to Market AUSTIN, Texas & NAN TOU, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 6, 2004-- Industry's First UWB 1394 Module Enables High Speed, Wireless Streaming for Consumer Electronic Products Consumers soon will be able to leverage the wireless benefits of Ultra-Wideband (UWB) for various video and data streaming applications in home connectivity and wireless access applications. Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. (NYSE:FSL) and Universal Scientific Industrial Co., Ltd. (USI) have collaborated on an Ultra-Wideband-enabled 1394 module and are the first to leverage the wireless benefits of UWB and the IEEE(R) 1394 standard. The module is expected to be sold by USI to leading consumer electronic manufacturers for integration into wireless applications, such as wireless LCD televisions and home media servers. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=43517707 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 08:57:42 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: XM Radio Pulls PC Hardware Amid Piracy Concerns By Paul Festa Staff Writer, CNET News.com Owners of a controversial PC radio receiver are making a killing selling their units on eBay following the unit's discontinuation over music piracy concerns. Before being quietly discontinued this month, the XM PCR was one of several hardware devices sold by XM Satellite Radio to give its more than 2 million subscribers satellite radio reception. In conjunction with a third-party software title called TimeTrax, however, the PCR let listeners download songs to their personal computers. Since XM discontinued the PCR, units have fetched steep premiums on eBay. The device, which retailed for about $50, is getting bids of more than $350 in recent auctions, with sellers advertising the unit as "discontinued" and "rare." http://news.com.com/2100-1026-5330698.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 15:11:38 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Digital Music's Next Big Battle The arrival of software that lets you search for and record digital music off the airwaves could raise legal issues that will make the P2P skirmishes look quaint by comparison. By Eric Hellweg If you follow technology long enough, every once in awhile you'll get a jolt -- the sudden This Is Big realization -- when you see something new and grasp its potential to change the way you go about your life. I've received these jolts when first hearing of voice over IP (VoIP), when I first set up a home wireless network, and when I used Napster and Gnutella for the first time. Last week, I received another jolt. This time, the shock of realizing amazing promise came when I checked out a new piece of software called TimeTrax. Created by 35-year-old Canadian programmer Scott MacLean, TimeTrax allows subscribers of XM Radio's satellite radio service to record music off the radio, appending track title and artist information to each song. Fans of indie rock could, for example, cue their satellite radio receivers to an indie rock station, click on Record in the TimeTrax software, go to sleep, and wake up the next day with eight hours' worth of music by the likes of The Fiery Furnaces and Spoon. What's more, users can schedule the software to record a certain channel at a certain time, much the same way people can program a VCR or a TiVo to record a TV show while they're on vacation or at work. Right now the service only works with XM Radio on a device called the PCR, which the company sold so users could listen to satellite radio in their homes instead of just in their cars. Since TimeTrax came out, XM Radio discontinued the device, creating a lucrative market on eBay where the $49 retail units are selling for more than $350. MacLean says that the program has been downloaded about 7,000 times in the two weeks that it has been available. TimeTrax is on the forefront of what will likely be the music and technology industry's next world war: the recording of broadcast digital audio. "We're at the beginning of the next P2P," says Jim Griffin, CEO of Cherry Lane Digital, a music and technology consultancy. "Peer-to-peer is small by comparison." What has Griffin and others interested is the concept that when radios all broadcast digital music signals, programs such as TimeTrax will allow users to search for and capture songs similar to how they do it today with programs such as Kazaa. Instead of grabbing a song from someone's hard drive, users will pluck it from the air via a digital radio signal. It's a new situation, which in part is what makes TimeTrax such an interesting case. http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/09/wo_hellweg090704.asp ------------------------------ From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Spam Makes Up Half of All Emails in China - Expert Date: 7 Sep 2004 09:36:47 -0400 Organization: Organized? Me? In article , Geoffrey Welsh wrote: >> The term spam originally comes from "spiced ham" made by U.S. canned >> food giant Hormel Foods Corp. > Well, that really explains the connection well. It actually comes from a Monty Python sketch of a lunch counter where every dish was spam and something else, spam and eggs, spam and cheese etc, etc. 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: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Spam Makes Up Half of All Emails in China - Expert Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 16:49:48 GMT Geoffrey Welsh posted on that vast internet thingie: > You don't have to be an expert to blame China for being a part of the > spam problem Blame ISPs like level3.net, sprintlink.net, savvis.net etc. who are providing connectivity when they KNOW that spam businesses are hosted there. If a website in Bumbuck Iowa (apologies, had to pick a state) was being spamvertised and the ISP refused to cut them off would the bigger ISPs sigh and claim "oh we're just a wire" and continue to enable the spam websites? Now, US ISPs are being raped by spam pointing to Chinese websites and I don't believe it will stop until our government holds people like level3.net responsible. (I know great idea, more government!) ... BUT, we know that people like level3.net have no intention of cleaning up their act on their own so it is people like level3.net who DEMAND government intervention. Hold these trash ISPs in the USA responsible for what they knowingly import (after receiving notice) and watch the spam stop. It is the US ISPs who are providing the profit to the spammers. Hold the US enablers responsible! 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. Uniden 2line 5.8GHz cordless If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz you owe it to yourself. ------------------------------ From: hudsonl@skypoint.com (Hudson Leighton) Subject: Re: Spam Makes Up Half of All Emails in China - Expert Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:31:23 -0500 Organization: MRRP >> The term spam originally comes from "spiced ham" made by U.S. canned >> food giant Hormel Foods Corp. In Austin, MN where SPAM is made and there is a SPAM Museum, the locals wags refer to it as Spare Parts Animal Meat. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And even Hormel in their advertising has had much fun with the word 'SPAM', always involving huge truck loads of the stuff, and always deliberatly pronouncing the word *SPAM* with the camera focusing on the mouth of the speaker as (s)he speaks the word. As an example, a family is sitting down for dinner, and one of them is discussing the delicious casserole being served, and explains to the others, 'I made it using scrambled eggs, cheese and sliced pieces of *SPAM*' Someone says 'it sure was good, but its all gone; I want more!' The man who cooked the dinner casserole replies 'oh no problem if you want more.' He turns to face the family computer which is sitting nearby, claps his hands and orders it "More *SPAM*!" The computer magically turns into a semi-trailer truck from Hormel with the corporate logo on the side of it for Spam, opens its doors and dumps out several thousand cans of the stuff all over the table. Another ad has someone working at a computer who looks up at the camera, her face contorted with anger and hate as she snarls, "MORE SPAM!" and with her saying that in anger, the same semi-trailer truck comes crashing through the wall and totally buries the little computer in thousands of cans of Spam. Even locally its double meaning causes laughs. An ad in the local newspaper (Independence Reporter) last Tuesday (the grocery store coupon ads are always in the paper on Tuesday) invited us to stop in at Marvins (our grocery store) to 'sign up for the mailing list and get Spam.' At the Marvins store they explained that if you signed up for the mailing list to get coupons direct from Hormel Meat Company they would give you a free can of Spam (processed meat) for doing so. I did sign up, and true to their word, a week or two later came a coupon in the mail good for (one can of) *SPAM*, just redeem this at Marvins when you check out. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: HDTV Forum a Big Hit Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 06:34:53 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications Monty Solomon wrote: > The HDTV format has made great strides in the past year, participants > agreed, although noted that consumers need more education about the > format and all involved in delivering it-manufacturers, cable and > satellite providers, retailers, TV networks, local broadcasters, and > independent production companies-need to pull together to really make > HDTV succeed. They also have to understand there are only so many "Malibu Beautiful People" with lotsa bucks. When you can buy a beautiful Sony NTSC TV for $600, why pay 4 to 5 times as much for HDTV? Color television didn't go anywhere until the price differential was perhaps 1.5 to 1. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Jeff nor Lisa) Subject: Re: Congress Hangs Up on VoIP for 2004 Date: 7 Sep 2004 07:32:37 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Jack Decker wrote > By Roy Mark > Federal legislation to exempt Internet telephony from state > regulations and tariffs has all but failed in the 108th Congress, > ending an ambitious effort to carve out and protect Internet-related > issues from looming, and highly uncertain, telecom reform. > The idea was simple enough. Because IP-enabled networks are inherently > interstate in nature, they should fall solely under the jurisdiction > of the federal government and its appointed agent, the Federal > Communications Commission (FCC). To the subscriber, a telephone is a telephone. It doesn't matter to the subscriber who is carrying the signal, by what method the signal is being carried, or who mails out the bill. No single medium is more or less "inherently interstate in nature". At the present time telephone service is state regulated. All parties offering telephone service must meet the same regulatory obligations as all the other companies, otherwise exempt companies have a most unfair cost advantage. You can't have it both ways. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Telephone Vocabulary -- "Straight Line" From: lagertyourpanties@ptd.net (Tom Lager) Organization: Disorganized Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 15:37:20 GMT mcharryj@bellsouth.net (John McHarry) wrote in : >Carl Navarro wrote: > >> We used the term "straight line" in reference to the ringer. A >> straight line ringer would ring on frequencies of 16 2/3 to about 33 >> Hz, as opposed to a party line ringer that would only ring on the >> frequency it was tuned to. > >That would be an independent phone company. I don't think the Bells ever >used tuned ringers, except as an interim in companies they acquired. > >> For Central Offices, private line ring generator was either was either >> 20 or 30 Hz. Other frequencies were different, depending on whether >> the ring scheme was Harmonic or Decimonic. No, I don't remember what >> party was what, except that party 2 was 50Hz in Harmonic. I suppose I >> could look it up if it's important. > >There was also Synchromonic ringing. Seems to me there may have been >another, but it may have been a variation of one of the other schemes. > >My favorite was GURF ringing. You could have full selective ringing on >eight or ten party lines by putting half the ringers tip to ground and >the other half ring to ground. > >Four party ANI was also possible using diodes. Tip to ring, ring to >tip, tip to ground, and ring to ground. There may have been six party, >but I don't recall. Maybe there is a problem with that. > >If you want to go beyond that, or don't use frequency selective >ringing, there is coded ringing, or divided coded ringing, using tip >and ring groupings. > >Old magneto phones were mostly coded ringing, and you could ring other >parties on your line without going through "Central". There was an >alarm code that could be use to summon the neighbors if you had a fire >or something. > > In the days of ten-party lines my company used five frequencies, 20,30,42,54 and 66Hz grounded ringing to provide service. Toll identification was also unique. We used North Electric "Autollizer" equipment that had a punched paper tape output. Digits 0,1,2,4 and 7 were identified using a jumper run from the sleeve lead through a set of rings. It worked like this: 0+1=1 0+2=2 1+2=3 ....7+ 4=0. This was done for the four digits of the station number. Obviously there had to be multiple sets of ring fields if more than one NXX was in use in the particular C.O. The rings, which had coils of wire in them,picked up a pulse that ran from the sleeve lead through a diode connected to ground. When the party line customer wanted to make a toll call he/she dialed 1+ an identifier digit (0 - 9) which triggered the pulse. The register-sender in the toll ticketing equipment read the output of the ring field and set up billing for the proper customer. You always knew when someone hung up from a toll call since you could hear the crash of a bunch of relays dropping out followed by the tape punch running. ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: The Soft Invasion Date: 7 Sep 2004 18:43:47 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , Gary Breuckman wrote: >In article , "Dan Lanciani" > wrote: > >> Why exactly is it any more legal for companies to install unauthorized >> software on my machine than it is for a virus writer to do so? > >Usually, because they ask! > For an interesting analysis of one scenario, check out "Follow the Bouncing Malware" Parts I and II: http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?date=2004-07-23 http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?date=2004-08-23 I haven't had time to check for Part III yet, although I'm eager to see it. -- John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Jeff nor Lisa) Subject: Re: Show Me the Convention Date: 7 Sep 2004 07:18:39 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Monty Solomon wrote > By MICHAEL J. COPPS > Let's remember that American citizens own the public airwaves, not TV > executives. We give broadcasters the right to use these airwaves for > free in exchange for their agreement to broadcast in the public > interest. ... > What do we get in return for granting TV stations free use of our > airwaves? I get nervous when a govt official (such as this FCC Commissioner) reminds us of a wonderful gift from the govt (such as using public airwaves) and how the recipient "owes" something back. The problem is that everybody will have a very diverse idea of what exactly is "owed", and people will use it to push their traditional agenda. According to Oslin's Story of Telecommunications, the FCC wasn't very fair to Western Union over the years, forcing it to accept many burdens in the name of being "in the public interest". While not the only factor, it was a contributor toward the company's poor fiscal health in later years. The govt mandate to carry money-losing commuter and long distance passenger trains, as well as isolated locale freight service forced many railroads into bankruptcy. Taxpayers ended up paying far more to rescue such operations than if things were handled reasonably and rationally from the start. > Coverage of the 2000 > presidential election on the network evening news dropped by a third > compared to reporting on the 1996 election. In contrast to earlier years, the candidates and platforms were already decided. In the past, conventions were where the candidates and the platforms were hammered out by the delegates, both in public floor fights and in back room discussions. The conventions this year were merely a giant political commercial and funfest. In reality, other than tradition, there was no point to having them since the outcome was known in advance. Today the candidates are chosen by the results of primary elections. Do we want to go back to picking candidates in "smoke filled back rooms"? The television coverage this year--just the most important speeches-- was approrpriate under the circumstances. ------------------------------ From: dave@compata.com (Dave Close) Subject: Re: Book Review: The Sinking of the Eastland Date: 7 Sep 2004 00:03:20 -0700 Organization: Compata, Costa Mesa, California hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) writes: >I know a lot of people have gripes about our present day economic >situation. But on this Labor Day, we can look back and see how far >society overall has come in terms of working conditions and standard >of living. I've heard enough stories from my parents and grandparents >about how hard and dangerous working life was back in those days. ... >It was stylish in the 1960s to knock the big corporations (especially >the Bell System). But in hindsight many of the companies treated >their workers much better than workers are treated today in "lean and >mean" organizations when allowing for differences in the times. An interesting disconnect between those two paragraphs. In earlier times, it was helpful that employees had job security. If you quit, you would find it very difficult to find a different job. Today, most of us think nothing of changing jobs every few years or more often. We may stay at an unpleasant place a bit longer during a recession, but we'll jump at the first chance we get. As a result, most employers do treat their workers fairly well, as you note in the first paragraph. And there is little doubt that almost everyone is better off today than in 1915, or even 1960. >[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In 1915 at the time of the Eastland >disaster, there were no labor unions either. Maybe not at WE, but there certainly were labor unions at that time. And while they certainly helped worked workers back then, most workers don't seem to find them very helpful today. Membership has dropped to nearly nothing outside government agencies. -- Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "If I seem unduly clear to you, dave@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 you must have misunderstood dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu what I said." -- Alan Greenspan -- Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "Politics is the business of getting dave@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 power and privilege without dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu possessing merit." - P. J. O'Rourke ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Jeff nor Lisa) Subject: RCA Camden plant--all gone--good or bad? Date: 7 Sep 2004 11:46:34 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com We think of _electronics_ as being something 'new and exciting' with electronics companies to be modern and around for a long time. Not always true. We think of electronic communications as everywhere, and companies involved to be everywhere. Here's a blurb about one once very famous communications company now just a memory. RCA once had a huge manufacturing plant in Camden NJ and it is all gone. (Camden is an economically depressed town). Back around 1900 Elbridge Johnson began the Victor Talking Machine company and made records and phonographs (the Victrola). His business flourished and from a little machine grew a major industrial complex, complete with coal wharf, internal railroad, powerhouse, and various factory buildings. About 30,000 people worked in Camden, and thousands more elsewhere. In 1930 RCA (Radio Corporation of American, now independent of GE) bought out Victor and it became RCA Victor. Radio was a big business home receivers and commercial broadcasting equipment, and communication radios), later television. In the postwar era, defense business took over most of the business and consumer lines fell away. Around 1990 RCA was taken back by GE, and later parts sold to Lockheed. The modern consumer label belongs to Thomson in France and the old Victor/Nipper belongs to a German record company. One building at Camden, the famous Nipper Tower, is now an apt house. The others were demolished or used for other purposes. By modern standards, multi-story factory buildings of the 1920s, no matter how well constructed with conveyor systems, are obsolete. Indeed, RCA didn't expand in Camden after 1930, rather it built new factories in nearby suburbs and all over the country. It still seems like a waste to have a once busy factory complex now reduced to mostly rubble in a now desolate city. But I can't help but wonder if we've lost something valuable. when we've torn down such a factory complex and the base company no longer exists. Yes, the technology itself used at RCA is mostly all obsolete today, there is no market for inexpensive home phonographs, and audio/video equipment is far more sophisticated than anything RCA built in its heydey. But every company has a soul. Some are better than others; some are better off gone for good. Company souls outlast technology, be they vacuum tubes or high density ICs. Frankly I don't know enough about the various business lines to know how this affects the communication business. Is the music world better or worse off with the German company searching out the next Caruso and Elvis? Is the NBC TV network better or worse under big GE? Are everyday consumers buying a modest electronics unit better off with it being made overseas by a company that hides its name? Is the govt better served by huge Lockheed Martin serving it rather than a smaller RCA? P.S. RCA made a lot of telephone equipment, apparently for defense purposes (ie phones for ships, scrambler phones), and don't know how they competed with Western Electric in terms of markets, price, and quality. Some RCA phones appear to be exact copies of W/E units, I presume they were licensed. P.S.S. RCA made an attempt in computers; it scared the heck out of IBM because RCA had far more electronics skills than IBM did in the early 1950s. However, RCA did not have the customer support skills of IBM and eventually RCA--after losing big money-- sold its businss to Univac. RCA literature of the 1960s had a model of the atom on it (a dot with orbiting electrons swirls), a common image on high tech packages of that era. [public replies please] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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