From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Nov 5 20:21:11 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id iA61LB802717; Fri, 5 Nov 2004 20:21:11 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 20:21:11 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200411060121.iA61LB802717@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 #533 TELECOM Digest Fri, 5 Nov 2004 20:21:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 533 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Anyone Use Skype on Win98? Seeking Advice (Moderator@yahoogroups.com) Re: What Happened to Channel 1? (Richie Kennedy) Re: Coffeyville Junior College and Channel 4. (Neal McLain) Re: Semiconductors | The End of Moore's Law? (Lisa Hancock) Re: New Electronic Check Law Sinks 'Float' (DevilsPGD) Verizon Wireless to Buy NextWave Spectrum (Lisa Minter) Re: Prepaid Question was Re: How to Make Right Call on Cell (Doug Faunt) Re: Last Laugh! was Re: Lever Voting Machines - What's Wrong? (McHarry) 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: Moderator@yahoogroups.com Subject: Anyone Use Skype on Win98? Seeking Advice Date: 5 Nov 2004 13:31:27 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com re: Skype telephony software - Win98 on a Pentium2 http://www.skype.com/ I am the moderator of a language learning group with some 600 participants. I have recommended that group members download Skype for use in language practice among themselves. I myself have only a Pentium 2, 550 MHZ, Compaq Presario 7478 (250 MB memory, 40 Gigabyte hard drive). Before trying to install Skype on my system, I would WELCOME hearing from others about their success or not -- or hearing any informed hearsay -- re: using Skype on a Win 98 system such as mine. I have found an older beta version of Skype: File name: SkypeSetup-beta.exe v 0.98.0.68 (Freeware). I've read that on Win98 systems, the video can sap so much of the system resources that the audio can suffer markedly. Apparently, the current version is: Version: 1.0.0.97. Release date: Oct 26, 2004 File name: SkypeSetup.exe -- for Win2000/XP. Before embarking on this journey, would WELCOME hearing from you ... your suggestions, caveat, questions, etc ... Any recommended alternative telephonie software that may be equal to Skype? Thanks so much in advance. Rob In addition to posting your response here, please also send it directly to me, at: FETModerators(TOBEREMOVEFIRST)@yahoo.com adonisinc@(NO-SPAM)yahoo.com (first remove the spam blockers in parentheses) ================ The Skype propa: Skype is a user friendly P2P software, that allows you to make free Internet telephone calls (VoIP) to any other Skype user, anywhere in the world. The sound quality is as good or even better than regular phones, and requires no additional equipment, besides a normal PC microphone or headset. The Skype interface is similar to popular instant messenger clients and allows you to create a profile, with optional picture, that will be displayed when you call other Skype users or receive incoming call. The program is very easy to use, and works with firewalls and NAT without any additional configuration changes. Basically, all you have to do is download, select a Skype username and you are ready to make or receive calls. Skype in a nutshell. Our software's quick and easy to get started with. Download, register, install, plug in your headset, speakers or USB phone and start calling your friends. The calls have excellent sound quality and are highly secure with end-to-end encryption. You don't even need to configure your firewall or router or any other networking gear. It just, you know, works. Bridging the gap. And it doesn't just work on Windows, like some other software you may know. Skype is also for Mac OS X, Linux and PDAs using Pocket PC, with a native look and feel for each platform. Talking, sending instant messages or even file transfers work between different platforms like a charm. Calling regular phone numbers. If there weren't enough ways for you to contact your friends, we have a little thing called SkypeOut. It let's you make calls to old-fashioned phone numbers all around the world. Landlines, mobile phones ... it works with almost all of them. SkypeOut is not free but it is pretty cheap, actually. You can read more about SkypeOut if you wish. ------------------------------ From: Richie Kennedy Subject: Re: What Happened to Channel 1? Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2004 00:05:13 -0000 Organization: route56.com Fred Goldstein wrote in news:telecom23.531.1@telecom-digest.org: > A few miles northwest of Independence, Moline County is one of those > unusual places with *no* off-air TV coverage (Grade B) at all. There is no "Moline County" in Kansas. I'm assuming you are referring to the town of Moline, in Elk County. Richie Kennedy route56@route56.com www.route56.com "There's always a stage and a beautiful babe to squeeze my lime..." [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am sorry I did not catch that error when the article was first published. Moline is a tiny little town in a very rural county of Kansas. Here in the eastern half of Kansas (which is where the people live, what there are of us), Elk County is *very* rural, even more so than my own Montgomery County. I think is is about as sparse, population-wise, as Chatauqua County which is next door to our county. I should have corrected Fred's reference when the article first came in. And no, they do not have *any* over the air television signals at all, other than a 'wisp' now and then from either Tulsa or Wichita. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Nov 2004 22:24:07 -0600 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: Coffeyville Junior College and Channel 4. PAT wrote: > Today, Thursday, I got a chance to speak to folks at CCC and > ask them about the television signal on Channel 4. The young > lady who answered the phone at 620-251-7700 said to me she had > only worked there a short time and knew nothing of it. She put > me through to a man who had worked there for about twenty years > and he said they had discontinued the 'station' (which was a > learning exercise or practice for students *more than ten years > ago*. He said "it was only licensed as a low-power station and > we had so much interference (which, under the terms of our FCC > license we had to accept) from the bigger station in Oklahoma > City, and our equipment got old and hard to maintain, so we > decided to abandon that part of our program. We have not been > on the air in years, but Oklahoma City still comes booming > through now like a local now and then." > I told him I believed they were still a licensee in FCC records > (Neil, am I correct on this? You said you looked it up)... It's still listed in TvRadioWorld at http://tinyurl.com/6k8j5 . Unfortunately, TvRadioWorld isn't up-to-date. The FCC database indicates that the license expired on 12/01/1998. http://tinyurl.com/3kpse > ... and he was surprised to hear that. I asked him about the > television station broadcasting in the 1950's doing weather all > the time. He said he started working at the college about 1981 > and he could not help with that, but he was *certain* it had not > been them ... If I understand this correctly, he was certain that the station had not been broadcasting in the 1950s. But he also stated that the station's equipment was "old and hard to maintain" (leading to the decision to discontinue operations) "more than ten years ago" -- i.e., before 1994. So I wonder when the station was broadcasting? Perhaps during the 60s and 70s? > He did agree, Neil, that the 'old station, when it was running, > more than a decade ago' was 310 watts. He suggested I should > speak to someone at the 'Dalton Defenders Museum' (which doubles > as the Coffeyville Historical Society). > A phone call to the historical society (a/k/a Dalton Defenders > Museum) did not produce much luck.... > So Neil, there is your half-answer. I realize not a very good > one. Well, perhaps it *does* answer the original question that started this thread: why doesn't Cable One use cable channel 4? If the station was operating during the 60s and 70s, when many cable TV systems were being built, this might explain why the original cable company in Independence didn't use cable channel 4. In which case, Cable One could probably start using it now. Still, there may be other reasons why Cable One might not want to use it even now. DTV is going to arrive eventually (by 2009 according to the latest rumor); consequently, Cable One might want avoid activating any more analog channels. Or maybe Stanley Cline's theory about traps [TD V23 #520] is correct after all. < http://tinyurl.com/4oy9k >. > I rather suspect the one time I got ghosting images and snow > with a very faint picture it must have been the OKC station > under good atmospheric conditions. Probably. And BTW, the station was K04EJ, not W04EJ. Given the recent thread about the K/W line, how could I have screwed that up? Neal McLain [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But did you know that back in the days when FCC was actually issuing 'licenses' for Citizen Band radio operation, *all* those licenses began with 'K' regardless of where they were located? What do they have now, for people who bother to tell them about a CB radio? I think it is first and last initials and one's zip code. In other words I would be 'PT67301' I think. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: Semiconductors | The End of Moore's Law? Date: 5 Nov 2004 14:11:50 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com zbang@radix.net (Carl Zwanzig) wrote > Reminds me of a railroad executive in the '50s. When asked what the > biggest problem the railroads faced, he said "Too many bankers > railroading." I'm not sure if that's true. Specifically to the railroads of the 1950s: they faced new competition from tax subsidized highways, waterways, and airports and the obligation to pay more taxes on their own properties. Further, they faced strict regulatory and labor laws on improving their own operations. As to 'bankers': All business requires capital. Unless you are personally very rich and have very rich friends, you must get your capital from the finance markets (bank loans, investors of stocks and bonds). If your business is floundering, your investors will get nervous about losing their investment and will naturally wonder if you are doing a good job. Depending on the nature of financing, they may have a legal right to muddle in the business. Stockholders can and do have proxy fights to kick out existing managements. Sometimes that is a good idea, sometimes not. Part of the challenge of running _any_ business is keeping the investors happy. It is not an easy task. Henry Ford (I) did it by being so rich he could buy out the other investors in Ford Motor Co. (although only after some nasty court battles). Most other corporations aren't so lucky. The flip side of that was that Ford had no one balancing him and as he got older, got more eccentric and tough to work with. Ford Motor Co. lost its leadership in the car industry and almost shut down because of the father's stubborness in his later years. His family forced him to give up control, in obviously a very emotional and difficult situation. In the 1950s IBM was poised for dramatic growth. The father, Thomas J. Watson Sr, was most uncomfortable about his son raising additional capital needed to expand the business, but he finally relented. Today it is said that investors are too short term oriented. I don't know the answer to that. I do wonder how the old Bell System would've developed if today's attitudes were in place. In the 1950s, Western Electric equipment was built for the long-haul and cost accordingly. I wonder if the investment community would've been as patient and accepting of the steady but modest return on investment of AT&T stock. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: New Electronic Check Law Sinks 'Float' Date: Thu, 04 Nov 2004 22:12:49 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com In message Isaiah Beard wrote: >> I use Visa for the opposite reason -- Lack of paper means I can >> reverse any charge at a whim, and it's up to the merchant to produce a >> signed paper or they'll eat the charges. > True, however, things like auto finance companies, mortgage companies, > student loan servicers, and courts where things like parking or > traffic tickets are owed have recourse of their own if a payment can't > be tracked. :) So, I'd much prefer to have proof of payment in those > cases than not. I have proof of payment -- A line on the statement showing they processed the payment, and (usually) a matching receipt. I keep any important receipt, although I do toss the day to day stuff. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is where when you use a credit > card to pay a bill you want to keep track of the authorization number > the merchant got when he sold you whatever. That happened to me once > with my good friends, Southwestern Bell. They told me they did not > get a payment, I said they did. They said "well you have to send us > proof or get cut off". I produced the sales authorization number they > had been given when they first took my card as payment, and told them > "there, you see you got paid. Now straighten it out with VISA who > authorized it, and here is a copy of my bill showing where you got > the money." They were most perturbed by that remark, but they agreed > they had gotten the money; they just did not know what they had done > with it or where they applied it, which was not my fault. PAT] Or, if they can't find it, reverse the charge, sit back and watch how fast they can find the payment. They will, of course, want their money immediately, but they can't penalize you for late payment or anything since they did pay you in the first place. And sometimes I park, in handicapped spaces, While handicapped people, make handicapped faces! -- Denis Leary ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 13:47:30 EST From: Lisa Minter Subject: November 5, 2004 - Verizon Wireless to Buy NextWave spectrum Starting today, and I believe every weekday hereafter I will be getting the daily columns from USTA (United States Telecom Association) which Patrick told me used to be known years ago as USITA (United States Independent Telephone Association). As these arrive, I will be posting them here, both with a URL link and a few text headlines. Lisa Minter ======================== Telecom dailyLead from USTA November 5, 2004 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=17360&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Verizon Wireless to buy NextWave spectrum BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * NTT plans huge FTTH expansion * Nokia embraces "clamshell" design * Verisign dials up VoIP * Charter Communications reports $3.29 billion loss USTA SPOTLIGHT * New in the Telecom Bookstore: USTA's VoIP & Packet Network Security Guide EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * BPL gets mixed reception in survey REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Telecom industry awaits FCC's VoIP ruling Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=17360&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Doug Faunt N6TQS +1-510-655-8604 Subject: Re: Prepaid Questions [was Re: How to Make Right Call On Cell] Date: 05 Nov 2004 19:29:52 -0500 Organization: at home, in Oakland, California Joseph writes: > Sorry about replying to my own post, but I just got a notice today > from Phoneshark about the JusTalk service. They have modified the way > plans work and rather than having the accounts expire afteer six > months and requiring that you add money by that time the accounts now > do not expire at the end of six months, but will go on indefinitely > though they require that you make at least *twenty* minutes of calls > per month. That's no bargain at all considering that per minute cost > is around 25 cents per minute. This was a good economical service to > have, but I can't recommend them any longer and would instead > recommend Beyond Wireless. This discussion has been most interesting. Unfortunately, no one but Verizon seems to provide prepaid service in 59801, Missoula, Montana, that works for somone who wants to actually spend some time on the 'phone, on long distance. If anyone has any hints for that particular service, we'd appreciate it. 73, doug ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: Last Laugh! was Re: Lever Voting Machines - What's Wrong? Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2004 01:14:15 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Lisa Hancock wrote: > I did call them back and asked if they were sure if the person was > registered and qualified to vote. At first the person insisted yes, > but then she said she'd check on it. She called me back and explained > that their list was based on people who had voted in the past but > hadn't voted lately -- it was NOT the official voter rolls. They get > the list from sitting at the polls and seeing who voted; they cannot > get access to the official list. Her boss just told her there would > be people on the list who might be deceased or had moved. With that I > let the issue go. I was annoyed that previous solicitors insisted > their list was official and accurate. In NC the list is public, as is the last few elections in which one voted. In my precinct people came by to vote with a printout of their information. The parties also had databases of the stuff that allowed them to mechanize canvassing. If somebody didn't like getting called, that was plugged in, and they would not be again. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They do that in Chicago, also. The > precinct captain (the go-fer in your neighborhood who works for the > alderman) has the duty of driving a van around to get all the old > people and take them to the polls and show them how to vote, etc. On > those phone calls you received, did they ask you to please vote a > straight Democratic ticket? In Chicago, the precinct captain would > tell the old people "all you have to do is pull lever 6" (or whichever > lever did the straight ticket thing). Then you can get back on the bus > and we will stop to get your ice cream (or beer or a pack of > cigarettes, whatever) on the way back to the nursing home. A few years ago two of us from opposing parties were standing around electioneering in Northern VA. We came up with a scheme to give each person who voted a schwag bag on the way out labeled "I voted" and to shake down the local businesses to set up on the the outgoing side to toss in freebies, coupons, etc. It would help get out the vote, but do we really want voters who are only there for the free crap? My limited experience in downstate Illinois was that both parties would arrange free rides for the faithful. I spent part of the day in '76 driving elderly black ladies to the polls. It was a lot of fun. They all dressed up as for church and were delighted to be squired to the polls by a (then) young white graduate student. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Regards your two final paragraphs, that is *exactly* how it works in Chicago also. The Precinct Captain has the job of renting a bus or limousine, going around to all the nursing homes in his area (there are several dozen such places in Chicago if you count them all; several hundred mostly elderly, mostly black, poor people are housed between them) and taking 'his people' to the polls on election day. Each resident gets a bag of goodies to eat on the way or coming back home, and it is hinted (though never actually stated) that the job of these elderly black voters is to return to office (or put in office) the 'proper' Democratic politicians. The people may be told "there are rumors your (nursing) home is going to be shut down for violations of the housing code, etc." Or better still, "candidate X is going to crack down on" (you name it; drugs, crime, etc) which at best is a campaign promise or at worst, a bald face lie. All the old church ladies know what is expected of them: *pull lever six*, or whatever was assigned to straight ticket voting) and they march off that church bus or whatever dressed in their Sunday finest, at the polling place to go in and do battle with the forces of evil (the wrong political party). When they get back on the church bus to go back to the nursing home their box of goodies is waiting there for them on their seat. That's how the Democratic 'machine' works in Chicago, and Mayor Daley II is proud of it, just as his father, Mayor Daley I was before him. It never occurs to the elderly poor black residents of the nursing homes and housing authority that the ten thousand prisoners in the Cook County Jail are mostly poor younger black guys; the children and grandchildren of the nursing home residents, and that Daley and his minions put them there. PAT] ------------------------------ 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. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #533 ******************************