From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Dec 11 15:45:56 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id iBBKjuS21662; Sat, 11 Dec 2004 15:45:56 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 15:45:56 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200412112045.iBBKjuS21662@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 #591 TELECOM Digest Sat, 11 Dec 2004 15:46:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 591 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Urban Legends Reference Pages: Celling (Marcus Didius Falco) SIM Saver Backup and Copy Unit for GSM Cell Phones (Marcus Didius Falco) Cellphones Aloft: The Inevitable is Closer (Marcus Didius Falco) OMA Compliant PoC Server (BB) Re: Unlimited Calling Plan to India (John Levine) Re: Unlimited Calling Plan to India (Gordon S. Hlavenka) The End of TV as We Know It (Monty Solomon) They've Got Your Number (Monty Solomon) Vonage Voice Quality Getting Worse? (John R. Levine) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 22:59:59 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Urban Legends Reference Pages: Politics (Celling Your Soul) http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp Claim: A directory of cell phone numbers will soon be published. Status: Multiple see below. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2004] A directory of cell phone numbers will soon be published for all consumers to have access to. This will open the doors for solicitors to call you on your cell phones, using up the precious minutes that we pay lots of money for. The Federal Trade Commission has set up a "do not call" list. It is called a cell phone registry. To be included on the "do not call" list, you must call from the number you wish to register. The number is 1-888-382-1222 or you can go to their website at www.donotcall.gov. ---------- Starting Jan 1, 2005, all cell phone numbers will be made public to telemarketing firms. So this means as of Jan 1, your cell phone may start ringing off the hook with telemarketers, but unlike your home phone, most plans pay for your incoming calls. These telemarketers will eat up your free minutes and end up costing money. According to the National Do Not Call List, you have until Dec 15, 2004 to get on the national "Do Not Call List" for cell phones. You can either call 1-888-382-1222 from the cell phone that you wish to have put on the "do not call list" or you can do it online at www.donotcall.gov . Registering only takes a minute, is in effect for 5 years. All of you will need to register before Dec 15. You may want to also do your own personal cell phones. Origins: As the use of cellular telephone technology has grown tremendously in the last several years, many consumers have given up maintaining traditional land-line phone service entirely. They prefer the convenient portability of cell phones, as well as the privacy: So far, cell phone numbers have generally been excluded from printed phone directories and directory assistance services, and protections have been put in place to restrict telemarketing calls to cell phones. Soon, however, some of the privacy that cell phones provide may be eroded. Six national wireless companies (AllTel, AT&T Wireless, Cingular, Nextel, Sprint PCS, and T-Mobile) have banded together and hired Qsent, Inc. to produce a Wireless 411 service. Their goal is to pool their listings to create a comprehensive directory of cell phone customer names and phone numbers that would be made available to directory assistance providers. (In most places, telephone users can call directory assistance at 411 [for local numbers] or by dialing an area code plus 555-1212 [for out-of-area numbers] and, by providing enough information to identify an individual phone customer [usually a full name and city of residence], obtain that customer's phone number. Many cell phone customers are opposed to the proposed Wireless 411 service for a number of reasons: * They prefer the privacy of knowing that their cell phone numbers are available only to those to whom they provide them. They don't want other people being able to obtain their cell phone numbers without their consent or knowledge. * They are concerned that their cell phone numbers will be sold to telemarketers (or other groups that might make undesirable use of those numbers). * They see one of the goals of the Wireless 411 service as a ploy to spread cell phone numbers to wider circles of friends and acquaintances, who will then place calls to cell phones and thereby force cell customers to pay for additional wireless minutes. The wireless companies behind the proposed Wireless 411 service contend that their service will be beneficial to cellular customers and that they have addressed those customers' major concerns: * The service would save money for the estimated five million customers who use only cellular phones and currently pay to have their cell phone numbers listed in phone directories. * The Wireless 411 service would be strictly "opt-in" that is, wireless customers will be included in the directory only if they specifically request to be added. The phone numbers of wireless customers who do nothing will not be included, those who choose to be listed can have their numbers removed from the directory if they change their minds, and there is no charge for requesting to be included or choosing not to be included. * The Wireless 411 information will not be included in printed phone directories, distributed in other printed form, made available via the Internet, or sold to telemarketers. It will be made available only to operator service centers performing the 411 directory assistance service. Nonetheless, many consumers don't trust the Wireless 411 consortium to uphold their promises, and although Qsent and its clients plan to make the Wireless 411 service available sometime in 2005, its implementation in that time frame is far from certain, as the wireless companies are still fighting proposed legislation which seeks to regulate wireless phone directories. So, although the gist of the message quoted at the head of this page is correct in alerting consumers to a proposed directory of cell phone numbers, it is misleading in stating that such a directory will "soon be published" (the word "published" implies making a printed directory available, which the wireless consortium maintains they will not do) and in directing readers to sign up with the The National Do Not Call Registry. The latter step will not keep wireless customer listings out of the proposed Wireless 411 database it will only add their phone numbers to a list of numbers off-limits to most telemarketers, a step which is premature (because the Wireless 411 directory has not yet been implemented) and largely unnecessary (because the Wireless 411 directory information is not supposed to be supplied to telemarketers, and because FCC regulations already in place block the bulk of telemarketing calls to cell phones). Adding one's cell phone number to the National Do Not Call Registry (even if currently unnecessary) won't likely have any adverse effect, but customers should be aware of exactly what that action will or will not accomplish. Some versions of the exhortation to cell phone users to add their names to the Do Not Call Registry erroneously state there is a 15 December 2004 deadline for getting listed. Says Lois Greisman, the Federal Trade Commission official who oversees the anti-telemarketing registry: "There is no deadline; there never has been a deadline to register." However, belief that there might be such a cut-off coupled with the e-mailed alerts themselves have served to multiply many times over the number of registrations. Since the initial wave of sign-ups following the 2003 launch of the list, registrations have come in at the rate of 200,000 new numbers a week. Yet in the final week of November 2004, nearly 1 million new subscribers were added, and in the first week of December 2004, that figure jumped to 2 million. At this point in time, 69 million phone numbers are contained in the registry. Additional information: Wireless 411 Service: Q&A = (Qsent) Privacy and the Wireless 411 Service (Qsent) Last updated: 10 December 2004 The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp Urban Legends Reference Pages copyright 1995-2004 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson This material may not be reproduced without permission. ---------- Sources: Dalton Jr., Richard J. "FCC Warns Telemarketers Against Calling Cell Phones." Contra Costa Times. 20 November 2003. Mayer, Caroline. "Bogus E-Mail Worries Users Of Cell Phones." The Washington Post. 10 December 2004 (p. E1). Stinnett, Chuck. "Wireless Phone Privacy." The [Henderson] Gleaner. 14 November 2004. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 22:00:12 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: SIM Saver Backup and Copy Unit for GSM Cell Phones I hesitate to send you this, since it is a commercial notice. However, it does address a common issue that I have seen people ask on some lists. I have no commercial relations with this site, except as a (non-paying) reader of his newsletter. There are related articles on the site, and the fellow also unlocks some GSM cell-phones. http://www.thetravelinsider.info/phones/simsaver.htm What is the biggest hassle if you lose or change your phone? Copying over -- or recreating -- all your contact information is the biggest hassle for most people. This ingenious and inexpensive SIM Saver Backup and copy device can save you much time and inconvenience. Web The Travel Insider Free Newsletter In addition to our feature articles, we offer you a free weekly newsletter with a mix of news and opinions on travel related topics. SIM Saver Backup and Copy Unit for GSM Cell Phones An easy and affordable way to backup and copy the information on your GSM phone's SIM card The compact SIM Saver is wonderfully easy to use -- simply press the B button to backup a SIM card and the R button to restore the information to a SIM card. You backup your computer data, don't you? Well, so too you should with your phone. And if you're changing wireless providers (eg from AT&T to T-mobile) you'll need to copy all your phone book data from one SIM to the other. Here's a very simple, easy, and inexpensive way to back up, copy, and transfer the phonebook data off your GSM mobile phone's SIM card. Description The SIM Saver Backup and Copy Unit is a very compact and lightweight device. It measures 1.75" x 1.25" x 0.5" and weighs 0.5 oz, including a short chain and key ring. Operating the unit couldn't be simpler -- there are two buttons, one for backing up SIMs and the other for restoring them. A single light indicates when the unit is reading to or from a SIM card. The unit is supplied complete with the three tiny mercury batteries it uses pre-installed, and has a simple short instruction card that clearly tells you how to use the unit. The unit has a full one year warranty. Functionality The SIM Saver unit is very easy to use. It has no need for an On/Off switch -- you simply insert a SIM card and then press the appropriate button. You almost don't need to read the instructions -- all you really need to know is graphically shown on the top of the unit. It shows you which way to put the SIM into the unit, and then the button next to the arrow pointing into the unit with the letter 'B' is to back up the data off the SIM and into the unit. To restore data from the unit's memory and onto a SIM card, you press the button next to the letter 'R' and the arrow pointing out from the unit. The LED lights up while the unit is copying the data between the SIM card and itself, and turns off when it is finished. This unit is vastly simpler to operate than the SIM Backup 500 unit we reviewed before. There is no need to bother about passwords or multiple commands or anything more complicated than the two buttons and one light. Backing up takes about 40 seconds to complete. Restoring takes about the same time as backing up. We use our unit primarily as a spare copy/backup of our main SIM card, holding all the phonebook data from the SIM card in the unit's memory, just in case we ever lose the phone or SIM card. This stored copy can also be useful if we damage the SIM card itself, or if we need to copy data from one SIM to another. Although the unit comes attached to a key ring by a short chain, we don't keep ours with our keys, but instead in our top desk drawer. The chances of ever needing to do an emergency copy/restore are very low! Compatible with all GSM phones and their SIM cards. The unit will work with any SIM card from any GSM phone, from anywhere in the world. This makes it particularly helpful when you have multiple SIMs -- a SIM for the US, perhaps several prepaid SIMs for elsewhere in the world, and a global roaming SIM as well. You can easily copy and transfer your phone book data between all the different SIM cards. Note that your phone must be a GSM phone, with a SIM card, for this unit to be able to help you. In the US, most phones supplied by AT&T, Cingular, and T-mobile are GSM and SIM based. Most phones supplied by other wireless companies are not. Helpful Hints I find I only use the unit once every few months, when I remember to update my backup copies of SIMs I have. And when I do need to use it, I often can't find the instruction sheet. So that I don't forget the instructions, I've taped a summary sheet of instructions to the back of the unit. You might want to consider doing the same thing. Because I have several SIM cards with different phone directories, I have labelled each SIM Saver with the name of the SIM card it has stored inside it. When you're adding phone numbers to your phone book, store the phone numbers in full international format. Don't store local numbers as only seven digit or ten digit numbers. That way, as you travel around the US, the phone will always correctly dial the phone numbers, and if you travel overseas, the phone will still know how to dial numbers. Full international format means you start off with the international access code (the plus sign +) then the country code, area code, and phone number. So to save a US phone number, eg (206)555-1212, you'd use this sequence +12065551212. The unit will only work if you have turned the PIN code off on your SIM, so be sure that you have done this before using it. Battery Life The three mercury watch size batteries have a life of at least two years and probably more, and when they are nearly flat, the device gives you a low battery warning (the LED flashes continuously). Cost The SIM Saver unit is inexpensive, and has a retail price of $19.95. We like them so much we've decided to sell this unit ourselves. Simply click the button below to purchase one or more (they make a great gift!) using Paypal and charging to your credit card or bank account. A single $2.50 shipping charge is added, no matter how many units you buy. We'll also include our special instruction summary sheet that you can tape to the bottom of the unit so you too won't be stuck if you can't find your instruction manual. And, if you do lose your instruction manual, you're welcome to ask us at any time and download an online PDF replacement copy. You'll get an invaluable accessory to simplify the management of your cell phone name and number directory, and you'll be supporting The Travel Insider at the same time. Summary This is an easy to understand and easy to use device that provides a clear and valuable benefit if you have a GSM SIM based cell phone. Recommended. Originally published 28 Sep 2004, last update 28 Sep 2004 You may freely reproduce or distribute this article for noncommercial purposes as long as you give credit to me as original writer. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 21:55:32 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Cellphones Aloft: The Inevitable is Closer http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/technology/10phone.html?oref=login http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/technology/10phone.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position= December 10, 2004 Cellphones Aloft: The Inevitable Is Closer By KEN BELSON and MICHELINE MAYNARD The day may finally be coming when you will be allowed to make calls on your own cellphone from an airliner. Trouble is, so will the passengers sitting on either side of you, and in front and in back of you, as well. Federal regulators plan next week to begin considering rules that would end the official ban on cellphone use on commercial flights. Technical challenges and safety questions remain. But if the ban is lifted, one of the last cocoons of relative social silence would disappear, forcing strangers to work out the rough etiquette of involuntary eavesdropping in a confined space. "For some people, the idea of being able to pick up their phone is going to be liberating; for some it's going to drive them crazy," said Addison Schonland, a travel industry consultant at the Innovation Analysis Group in La Jolla, Calif. "Can you imagine 200 people having a conversation at once? There's going to be a big market for noise-canceling headphones." The always-on-the-road business travelers may become the worst offenders, predicted Roger Entner, a telecommunications analyst with the Yankee Group and a frequent flier. "Businessmen will now compete with toddlers for the title of 'most annoying in the airplane,' " Mr. Entner said. It may be years before cellphones become widely used in the skies. To begin with, conventional cellphones, besides raising concerns about interfering with cockpit communications, typically do not work at altitudes above 10,000 feet or so. But some airlines have already begun their own tests of technology meant to make cellphone use feasible at 35,000 feet. They know that the seatback phones they now offer, costing $1.99 a minute or more, have never really caught on. The airlines also know that, while illegal, surreptitious cellphone use at lower altitudes is already common. Airline attendants have caught some passengers using cellphones in airplane lavatories, and others have been spotted huddled in their seats, whispering into their cupped hands. For that matter, the use of BlackBerry hand-held e-mail devices is also rampant, if sub rosa, despite their also being banned on airliners. Famously, some passengers' emergency use of cellphones played a significant role in the final minutes of the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 before it crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pa., on Sept. 11, 2001. A major federal effort to revisit the rules will begin next Wednesday at a Federal Communications Commission meeting, where the agency is expected to approve two measures. One, an order that is expected to be adopted, would try to introduce more price competition among phone companies to offer telephone and high-speed Internet services from the seatback and end-of-aisle phones that are now on many planes. The second measure will begin the regulatory process of considering whether there are technical solutions to some of the current obstacles to passengers' using their own mobile phones on planes. Safety will be a major consideration in any rule changes. The Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing, the nation's largest builder of airliners, both support the F.C.C.'s ban, arguing that cellphones can interfere with navigation systems. In fact, European newspapers widely reported that use of a cellphone contributed to the crash of a Crossair commuter plane in 2000. LX Flight 498, carrying 10 passengers and crew members, was bound for Dresden when it crashed outside Zurich minutes after it took off, killing all on board. Officially, the reason for the crash remains unknown. But news reports at the time said a passenger apparently took a cellphone call at the same time that the pilot engaged the autopilot controls. The plane subsequently went into a dive. Despite such questions, airlines have begun their own tests of whether cellphone use can be made feasible. A test last July by American Airlines, the nation's biggest, allowed the use of conventional cellphones to place and receive calls by way of a picocell -- a miniature cell tower the size of a pizza box. The system was installed by the wireless equipment maker Qualcomm inside the jet. The picocell linked to several antennas inside a cable that gathered signals from passengers' cellphones and sent them all to a small satellite dish, no bigger than a laptop computer, on top of the plane. From there, the calls were beamed to an orbiting satellite, which sent the calls back to special cell stations linked to phone networks on earth. "It's only a matter of time before we have cellphones on planes," said Scott Becker, senior vice president of Qualcomm's Wireless Systems division. "A lot of the airlines are more open to looking at it now, and people are getting used to using their phones everywhere." Many industry executives say the type of technology tested by American Airlines and Qualcomm is particularly promising because, by funneling all calls through a single communications path, it will be more feasible for the airlines and carriers to track and bill the calls. (The airlines assume they would charge an access fee beyond whatever the customer's own wireless carrier assesses.) The transmission system is also more efficient than using conventional cellular technology, which would require many in-flight phones to continually search for cell towers on the ground. And because calls will be beamed to satellites and then back to earth, passengers will be able to talk while flying over water and other areas where there are few cell towers below. Also, fliers would have the added advantage of being able to receive calls as well as make them. None of this will happen soon, though. Participants in the tests, as well as members of the committee appointed by the F.A.A. to study the various technologies, do not expect any resolution to the debate for at least another two years. A crucial assessment, by the United States Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, will not be completed until at least 2007. Others note that a technology already exists that could eventually enable passengers to call from the sky: Internet phone software that runs over high-speed data lines. So far, passengers on some non-United States airlines can pay to use high-speed Internet connections in flight through a service called Connexion by Boeing. In theory, once online with a laptop, a passenger could use Internet phone software and a headset to make calls. But so far, the Internet service is offered by only a handful of airlines like Lufthansa and JAL on a few long-haul flights, and Connexion by Boeing is not promoting the system as a way to make phone calls. Given the cash-short airline industry's need for income, though, many travel industry analysts say that -- whatever the regulatory and technical hurdles -- phone calls from the sky are inevitable. "They will be a revenue stream," predicted Terry Wiseman, publisher of Airfax.com, an online newsletter. "If the price is low, and if you can get billed directly through your carrier, people are going to use the phones." Which is what worries some frequent travelers. "The last thing I want is a bunch of jabbering business geeks," said Paul Saffo, a technology industry consultant who travels 200,000 miles a year on United Airlines and said that flying was his only escape from e-mail and phone calls. "The only quiet time I get is when I fly. It's my meditation time." It will be up to the airline industry, and its passengers, to work out the new terms of engagement, even if the results are as uneven as in other travel industries. Around metropolitan New York City, for example, the main commuter railroads allow unfettered use of cellphones -- to the annoyance of tens of thousands of nonchattering commuters a day -- but on many East Coast Amtrak trains there are typically one or more "quiet cars" where the phones are prohibited. Rich Salter, an in-flight electronics expert with the Salter Group, a consulting firm in Irvine, Calif., said there was already an airline industry proposal circulating that would restrict phone use to only certain portions of each flight. "Maybe the old 'No Smoking' sign could be used as a 'No Talking' sign," he said. Stephen Labaton, in Washington; Matt Richtel, in San Francisco; and Christopher Elliott, in Orlando, Fla., contributed reporting for this article. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, The New York Times Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: myaskingquestions@yahoo.com (BB) Subject: OMA Compliant PoC Server Date: 10 Dec 2004 20:29:32 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Does anyone know of a free/commercial OMA compliant "Push To Talk" server which can be used for testing a Push To Talk client? ------------------------------ Date: 11 Dec 2004 05:42:58 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Unlimited Calling Plan to India Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Iam looking for a unlimited international calling plan to India from > USA. I am spending hundreds of dollars every month. I doubt you'll find one, at least not for a price anyone could afford. A little poking around in Google finds lots of prepaid cards with rates under 8 cpm. What are you paying now? John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 23:37:52 -0600 From: Gordon S. Hlavenka Reply-To: nospam@crashelex.com Organization: Crash Electronics Subject: Re: Unlimited Calling Plan to India vijay.vishy@gmail.com wrote: > Iam looking for a unlimited international calling plan to India from > USA. I am spending hundreds of dollars every month. Ummm ... Get a Vonage TA, set it up with a number which is local to you, and ship it to whoever you're always calling in India? Or, get a VoIP account with a provider that has service in India, program it with a number local to India, and have them ship their TA to you in the US? Gordon S. Hlavenka http://www.crashelectronics.com "If we imagined he could _find_ the car, we could pretend it might be fixed." - Calvin ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 09:55:44 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: The End of TV as We Know It Sit back on the sofa and get ready for packetized, on-demand, digital broadcasts. By Frank Rose Wired Magazine Issue 12.12 December 2004 We live in the age of the digital packet. Documents, images, music, phone calls -- all get chopped up, propelled through networks, and reassembled at the other end according to Internet protocol. So why not TV? That's the question cable giants like Comcast and Time Warner and Baby Bells like SBC and Verizon have been asking. The concept has profound implications for television and the Internet. TV over Internet protocol -- IPTV -- will transform couch-cruising into an on-demand experience. For the Internet, it will mean broadband at speeds 10, 100, or even 1,000 times faster than today's DSL or cable. Online games would be startlingly realistic; the idea of channels would seem hopelessly archaic. Why not indeed? So far, the answer has been inertia. But competition is a powerful stimulus. For years, DirecTV and EchoStar have been adding subscribers far faster than cable, so cable companies want something satellite can't match. At the same time, voice over IP is enabling cable operators to poach phone customers from telcos. Combine VoIP, truly high-speed broadband, and totally on-demand TV - and you've got such a compelling proposition that the Bell companies figure the only way to survive is to do likewise. IPTV is not to be confused with television over the Internet. On the public Net, packets get delayed or lost entirely -- that's why Web video is so jerky and lo-res. But private networks like Comcast's are engineered, obviously, for reliable video delivery -- which means IPTV will look at least as good as TV coming from digital cable or satellite. It will be accompanied by another, equally critical change. Instead of broadcasting every channel continuously, service providers plan to transmit them only to subscribers who request them. In effect, every channel will be streamed on demand. This will free up huge amounts of bandwidth for hi-def TV and high-speed broadband. Add IP and you get interactive services like caller ID on your TV. And the system will be able to track viewing habits as effectively as Amazon tracks its customers, so ads will be targeted with scary precision. Put it all together and you've got television that's as intensely personalized as 20th-century broadcasting was generic. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.12/start.html?pg=7 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 10:05:27 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: They've Got Your Number Issue 12.12 - December 2004 Your text messages and address book, and a way to bug your calls. Why spam, scams, and viruses are coming soon to a phone near you. By Annalee Newitz It's a beautiful afternoon in Shepherd's Bush, a bustling neighborhood on the outskirts of London, and Adam Laurie is feeling peckish. Heading out of the office, he's about to pick up more than a sandwich. As he walks, he'll be probing every cell phone that comes within range of a hidden antenna he has connected to the laptop in his bag. We stroll past a park near the Tube station, then wander into a supermarket. Laurie contemplates which sort of crisps to buy while his laptop quietly scans the 2.4-GHz frequency range used by Bluetooth devices, probing the cell phones nestled in other shoppers' pockets and purses. Laurie, 42, the CSO of boutique security firm the Bunker, isn't going to mess with anyone's phone, although he could: With just a few tweaks to the scanning program his computer is running, Laurie could be crashing cell phones all around him, cutting a little swath of telecommunications destruction down the deli aisle. But today Laurie is just gathering data. We are counting how many phones he can hack using Bluetooth, a wireless protocol for syncing cell phones with headsets, computers, and other devices. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.12/phreakers.html The Great Cell Phone Robbery How security flaws in today's mobile phones could add up to tomorrow's perfect crime. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.12/phreakers.html?pg=3D4 ------------------------------ Date: 10 Dec 2004 21:30:40 -0500 From: John R Levine Subject: Vonage Voice Quality Getting Worse? I've had Vonage phone service for nearly two years, running over the T1 in my office. For the most part voice quality has been pretty good. Recently I've found it's often just plain lousy, distortions and dropouts bad enough that I switch to my cell phone which sounds better. It seems to be worse in the evening (eastern time). I looked at some local link statistics and the local connection doesn't seem to be particularly congested, and traceroutes show a path from my ISP through Sprint to the peering point where Vonage connects, with no big delays, Have other people had voice quality problems with Vonage? Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of The Internet for Dummies, Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Mayor "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I have had voice quality problems off an on over the nearly two years I have been a Vonage subscriber also. But I have always blamed it on traffic from other computers running here; I have one computer in particular 'weather station' which goes all the time (see it at http://weatherforecast.us.tf ) and people were telling me about every ten or fifteen seconds the Vonage audio wold drop out, as 'weather station' was sending out its JPG image via ftp to its host. Then I switched to the Motorola TA instead of the Cisco; Motorola came with a 'bypass' which allowed it to sit at the head of the line, and that cured many voice quality problems. But even so, now and then of late I have heard the same complaints once again, and I **assumed** it was still anotehr QoS issue on my end, but maybe that was not the case? 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 #591 ******************************