TELECOM Digest     Tue, 15 Mar 2005 19:06:00 EST    Volume 24 : Issue 115

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Former WorldCom CEO Guilty on All Counts (Lisa Minter)
    Hacker Whose E-Mail Called Police Goes to Jail (Lisa Minter)
    Comcast and TiVo Announce Strategic Partnership (Monty Solomon)
    Business/Payroll Website Still Not Secured (Marcus Didius Falco)
    Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft (Marcus Didius Falco)
    Vodafone to Acquire TIW's Assets in Romania (Telecom dailyLead USTA)
    Re: Cell Phone Reception (Thomas A. Horsley)
    Re: Cell Phone Reception (LB@notmine.com)
    Re: Cell Phone Reception (Justin Time)
    Re: Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid (John Levine)
    Re: Offering USA (ASR- (Robert Bonomi)

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
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               ===========================

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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: 15 Mar 2005 13:44:56 -0800
From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@cableone.net>
Subject: Former WorldCom CEO Guilty on All Counts


Former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers Convicted

The verdict marked a colossal fall for Ebbers, who had turned a humble
Mississippi long-distance provider into a global telecommunications
power, swallowing up companies along the way and earning the nickname
"Telecom Cowboy."

A federal jury in Manhattan returned guilty verdicts on all nine
counts, including securities fraud, conspiracy and lying to
regulators; a decision that could send Ebbers, 63, to prison for the
rest of his life. Sentencing was set for June 13.

The former chief executive reddened deeply when the jury announced its
verdict after eight days of deliberations, and his wife, Kristie,
burst into tears in the courtroom's front row. Later, as his lawyer
spoke outside, promising an appeal, Ebbers and his wife nearly
toppled by the enormous crew of cameras and reporters camped outside
the federal courthouse; made their way to a nearby street,
hailed a cab and drove away.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales called the conviction a "triumph of
our legal system." He said the jury had recognized that the fraud
"extended from the middle management levels of this company all the
way to its top executive."

In a six-week trial, prosecutors painted Ebbers as obsessed with
keeping WorldCom stock high, and panicked about pressure he was
getting over $400 million in personal loans that were backed by
his own WorldCom shares.

From late 2000 to mid-2002, the government claimed, Ebbers intimidated
chief financial officer Scott Sullivan into covering up billions of
dollars in out-of-control expenses and recognizing improper revenue.

"He was WorldCom, and WorldCom was Ebbers," prosecutor William Johnson
told jurors. "He built the company. He ran it. Of course he directed
this fraud."

The defense claimed all along that the fraud was masterminded by
Sullivan, who testified as the star government witness that Ebbers
instructed him quarter after quarter to "hit our numbers"; meet
Wall Street expectations.

Ebbers himself took the witness stand at trial's end and flatly denied
any role in the fraud. He said he viewed his role at the company as a
visionary and cheerleader, was uncomfortable with accounting and left
it to Sullivan.

"He's never told me he made an (accounting) entry that wasn't right,"
Ebbers said of Sullivan. "If he had, we wouldn't be here today."

The largely blue-collar jury of seven women and five men considered
the case for eight days, an uncommonly long deliberation for
white-collar cases, but never showed signs of discord.

The jurors were ushered away from the courthouse without speaking to
the media, and Judge Barbara Jones instructed reporters not to badger
them.

Outside court, top defense lawyer Reid Weingarten said he was
"devastated" but predicted Ebbers "will ultimately be vindicated" on
appeal. He said he had no regrets about calling Ebbers to testify.

"I did not think Mr. Ebbers ever acted with criminal intent," he
said. "Obviously we're disappointed by the result, but the fight will
continue."

Legal experts said the appeal would be difficult. Weingarten said part
of the case would center on prosecutors' refusal to grant immunity to
three former WorldCom executives the defense wanted to call as
witnesses.

The nine criminal counts against Ebbers, securities fraud, conspiracy
and seven counts of making false filings to the Securities and
Exchange Commission carry up to 85 years in prison. He will be free on
bail until sentencing.

The conviction comes more than two years after an internal auditor
began asking questions about curious accounting at WorldCom, touching
off a scandal that eventually unearthed $11 billion in cooked
books.

With the entire telecom industry suffering a dot-com hangover,
the fraud was driven by soaring "line costs"; the fees WorldCom
paid to smaller local telephone carriers to use their networks. 

Besides Sullivan, three former WorldCom accounting officials who have
pleaded guilty in the case testified they were pressured to cover up
the expenses. Only Sullivan directly implicated Ebbers.

Ebbers still faces civil litigation, including from the company, which
backed up his $400 million in personal loans when Bank of America
demanded more and more collateral as the stock price fell.

The company struck a $750 million settlement with federal regulators
to repay aggrieved investors, a small sum compared to the tens of
billions of dollars of market capitalization that evaporated in the
scandal.

WorldCom, which was based in Clinton, Miss., since re-emerged as MCI
Inc., based in Ashburn, Va.

Twelve former directors of the company, plus some investment banks
that underwrote WorldCom securities and auditing firm Arthur Andersen,
also face a civil trial brought by angry investors. That trial is
scheduled to get under way later this month.

In winning a conviction against Ebbers, federal prosecutors in
Manhattan rang up another victory in a remarkable string of
white-collar prosecutions that began in the summer of 2002.

Martha Stewart, Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas and former
dot-com banking star Frank Quattrone were all found guilty during that
stretch, with the same prosecutor, David Anders, handling both
Quattrone and Ebbers. 

The prosecutors have also wrung guilty pleas from countless other
executives, including ImClone Systems Inc. founder Sam Waksal and five
other former WorldCom officials who agreed to cooperate against
Ebbers.

Sullivan and the three former WorldCom executives who have pleaded
guilty in the case still face sentencing. They hope to win lighter
prison terms or none at all by cooperating with the government against
Ebbers.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

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 . Hundreds of new articles daily.

*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the
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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
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For more information go to:
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------------------------------

Date: 14 Mar 2005 22:37:02 -0800
From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com>
Subject: Hacker Whose E-Mail Called Police Goes to Jail


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A Louisiana man who wrote malicious e-mails
that caused some computers to dial the 911 emergency number was
sentenced on Monday to six months in prison.

A U.S. federal judge sentenced David Jeansonne, 44, to the prison term
as well as six months home detention after he admitted sending e-mails
to about 20 subscribers of Microsoft's WebTV, a television Internet
service since renamed MSN TV.

Code embedded in the e-mail changed the subscriber's WebTV number to
dial 911 rather than WebTV. Police dispatched officers on at least 10
occasions because of the 2002 hoax, officials said.

Jeansonne pleaded guilty last month to two counts of intentionally
damaging computers and causing a public safety threat.

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 . Hundreds of 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, Reuters Limited.

For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 10:45:05 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Comcast and TiVo Announce Strategic Partnership


Multi-Year Agreement to Make the TiVo Service Available to 
Comcast Customers

PHILADELPHIA, and ALVISO, Calif., March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Comcast
(Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), the nation's leading provider of cable,
entertainment and communications products and services, and TiVo Inc.
(Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for
digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced that the companies
have reached an agreement to make the TiVo(R) service and advertising
capability widely available to Comcast customers in the majority of
its markets around the country.

Under the terms of the agreement, Comcast and TiVo will work together
to develop a version of the TiVo service that will be made available
on Comcast's current primary DVR platform. New software will be
developed by TiVo and will be incorporated into Comcast's existing
network platforms. The new service will be marketed with the TiVo
brand, and is expected to be available on Comcast's DVR products in a
majority of Comcast markets in mid-to-late 2006.

This long-term, non-exclusive partnership will provide millions of
Comcast customers with the opportunity to choose the TiVo service,
including TiVo's award-winning user interface and features like Season
Pass(TM) and WishList(TM), as an additional option. In addition, the
service will showcase TiVo's home networking, multimedia, and
broadband capabilities.


     - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=47664337

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 15:34:48 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <falco_marcus_didius@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Boston.com / Business / Payroll Website Still Not Secured

  
  ------ Forwarded Message
  From: Aaron Greenspan <>
  Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 11:08:34 -0500
  To: David Farber <t>
  Subject: [IP] more on Payroll website still not secured

Professor Farber,

A friend of mine forwarded me the post that went out to
interesting-people on the flaw I discovered at PayMaxx. While the
Globe article covers part of it, the real crux of the issue is
outlined in my white paper:

http://www.thinkcomputer.com/corporate/news/identitycrisis.pdf

Thanks,

Aaron

Aaron Greenspan
President & CEO
Think Computer Corporation

http://www.thinkcomputer.com

Payroll website still not secured

By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff  |  March 1, 2005

Boston software entrepreneur Aaron Greenspan, who revealed serious
security flaws in the website of Tennessee payroll company PayMaxx
Inc. last week, said yesterday that the site remains
insecure. Greenspan said that a computer hacker still could use the
site to obtain the Social Security numbers of hundreds of Americans.

Greenspan called the management of PayMaxx 'incompetent,' and urged
Congress to investigate the company. "They have no idea what they're
doing," he said.

Greenspan's company, Think Computer Corp., had its payrolls prepared
by PayMaxx, of Franklin, Tenn., until late last year. After ending
their relationship, Greenspan found that his name, address, Social
Security number, and other personal data were still available on the
PayMaxx website, which could be accessed by entering zeroes in the
site's login windows. Greenspan also found that he could obtain the
same information about other PayMaxx customers by typing random
numbers into the browser's address window. He estimated that up to
100,000 files could be accessed this way.

After being contacted by the Globe, PayMaxx shut down the insecure website
service. But yesterday, Greenspan said he found another way into the
system. This time, he demonstrated for the Globe how a data thief could
obtain the Social Security numbers of people listed in the PayMaxx system.

Greenspan said that PayMaxx apparently used workers' Social Security
numbers to identify them to the website software. But the company's method
made it easy to read those numbers by merely activating the 'view source'
feature found on all Web browsers.

A spokesperson for PayMaxx said that the company would shut down the
site entirely until questions about its security were resolved. The
spokesperson also said that there was no indication that anybody had
stolen personal data from the site.

Greenspan said he's contacted the office of US Senator Charles Schumer,
Democrat of New York. Schumer has called for legislation to limit
data-mining services that contribute to identity theft. Congressional
concern over the potential privacy threat erupted in February, when
mistakenly sold 140,000 files to criminals.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

NOTE: To read several hundred New York Times items on line here each
day with no login nor registration requirement, set your browser to
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html .    PAT]

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 15:33:59 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <falco_marcus_didius@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Los Angeles Times: Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-scam14mar14,0,2533939.story


Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft

By David Colker
Times Staff Writer

Executives at besieged information broker ChoicePoint Inc. have said they 
had no idea how vulnerable the company was to the identity thieves who 
recently tapped into personal data on 145,000 Americans, igniting a 
national furor over privacy.

Chairman Derek Smith told CNBC last week, for instance, that management 
"never realized the sophistication organized crime" would demonstrate in 
order to access ChoicePoint files.

But documents in a criminal case against a brother-and-sister team
that pulled a similar scam several years ago suggest that penetrating
ChoicePoint's defenses could take little more than a home computer, a
fax machine and a bottle of Wite-Out.

"This is an old-fashioned kind of thing," said Deputy Special Agent
Dale Pupillo of the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates cases of
credit card fraud and identity theft. Hackers capable of stealing data
electronically increasingly pose a threat, but "this was kind of
low-tech."

That worries consumer advocates and lawmakers. Several members of
Congress have proposed laws that would require data brokers to
establish effective security systems to keep the Social Security
numbers and other confidential data they gather and store out of the
hands of fraud artists.

ChoicePoint executives declined to be interviewed for this article but
issued a statement reiterating the company's view that recent data
thefts from ChoicePoint and rival information broker LexisNexis
provide "ample proof of the seriousness and sophistication of this
type of fraud."

Both ChoicePoint and LexisNexis, a unit of Reed Elsevier, have said
they will institute new policies to ensure that only government
agencies and legitimate businesses can gain access to their data,
which are used to verify employment applications, screen credit
applicants and investigate security risks.

But it might not be wise to trust the companies to police themselves,
said Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the advocacy
organization U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

"I question whether companies [that have been] so cavalier with
confidential consumer information will really change their attitude
without tough new laws and a lot of lawsuits," Mierzwinski said.

Court documents in the 2002 case of Bibiana and Adedayo Benson who
were convicted and sentenced to federal prison shed light on what it
took to steal data from ChoicePoint and open fraudulent credit card
and bank accounts in the names of unknowing victims.

The case, which led to at least $1 million in losses, attracted no
public attention at the time. Like the most recent security breach, it
involved con artists using simple and time-tested methods to hoodwink
the data broker.

According to the court records, Bibiana Benson applied for a
ChoicePoint account in the name of Christine Lorraine Burton on April
2, 2000.

To get the account, Benson needed two things: Burton's Social Security
number and a professional or business license. ChoicePoint requires a
copy of "business or professional licensing," according to its current
application form, because information obtained from its databases may
be used only for "business reasons."

Benson had the Social Security number. (The documents don't say how
she obtained it, but authorities say there was evidence her brother
was involved in identity theft before the ChoicePoint infiltration.)
The California real estate broker's license in Burton's name was a
fake. Benson faxed the license to ChoicePoint along with the
application form.

The real Christine Burton, who was living in a small town in Indiana,
told a Secret Service investigator that she had no real estate license
and never had resided in California, and the California Department of
Real Estate said there was no license on record in Burton's name.

But it's easy to fake a document such as a real estate license if it
only has to withstand scrutiny as a fax, forgery expert James Black
said.

"Piece of cake," said Black, who has testified in many forgery
cases. "All you need is a [valid] license form, Wite-Out and a copy
machine."

Investigators discovered the fake real estate license when they
searched Bibiana Benson's home, the court records show. There is no
indication in the records whether ChoicePoint attempted to check on
the authenticity of the license.

Benson who pleaded guilty in September 2002 to a felony count of
unlawful use of identification told an investigator after her arrest
that she was working with a ring of identity thieves.

She said ring members would give her names, often taken from building
mailboxes, and that she would then do the research using her online
account with ChoicePoint, securing the Social Security numbers and
other information needed to steal people's identities.

Ring members paid $45 to $65 per record, she said. ChoicePoint
accounts given to investigators showed she examined at least 7,000
personal data files in a two-year period.

Her brother Adedayo, who pleaded guilty to three felony counts, used
the information to establish fraudulent accounts.

The first step was to rent mailboxes at private mailbox companies in
the San Fernando Valley and Beverly Hills.

Then he would apply for credit cards in the name of consumers whose
data his sister had stolen, using the mailboxes as the return address,
the court records show.

"Once I took over the box," he told investigators after his arrest, "I
just called the bank and asked them to send me a credit card to the
mailbox number. I called several banks."

He would then use the card to buy expensive goods and take out cash
advances.

The court documents detail only a few of his purchases; one receipt
from Circuit City is for two laptop computers.

Another part of the scam was producing fake driver's licenses. One
that Adedayo Benson used, complete with his picture, was in the name
of Dale Patterson.

Investigators determined that the person whose identity was lifted for
the card was a woman whose full name was Dale Veronica Patterson.

Forgery expert Black said that obtaining fake driver's licenses was
one of the least challenging jobs for the fraud ring.

"We could go over to MacArthur Park," Black said, referring to the
Mid-Wilshire area park that has long had crime problems, "and come
back about an hour later with 10 fake licenses, with pictures.

"It's an old game."


If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at 
latimes.com/archives.


Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times


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 . Hundreds of new articles daily.

*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the
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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, Los Angeles Times. 

For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 12:23:03 EST
From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA <usta@dailylead.com>
Subject: Vodafone to Acquire TIW's Assets in Romania, Czech Republic


Telecom dailyLead from USTA
March 15, 2005
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20069&l=2017006

TODAY'S HEADLINES

NEWS OF THE DAY
* Vodafone to acquire TIW's assets in Romania, Czech Republic
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Comcast forms partnership with TiVo
* Virgin Mobile, Nokia unveil inexpensive phone for teen market
* BT offers Ethernet services outside of U.K.
* Malone, now on Cablevision board, has doubts about Voom
* Fox Sports to offer wireless highlights
USTA SPOTLIGHT 
* USTA/Deloitte Tax Summit@SUPERCOMM
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
* Inmarsat launches first of three birds
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* Still no sign of verdict in Ebbers trial

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20069&l=2017006

------------------------------

Subject: Re: Cell Phone Reception
From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley)
Organization: AT&T Worldnet
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 22:39:56 GMT


TELECOM Digest Editor queried:
> If there was a way to avoid that transmission charge (for example by
> somehow transferring the picture directly to my computer...

Go visit the forums over on http://www.howardforums.com/, the
phone hackers there have info on just about every model phone
(where to find cables that hook to your computer, what software
and drivers you need to extract info off the phone, etc).
I have an audiovox 8910 I extract pictures from all the time
using bitpm and a cable for a different model LG phone.

>>==>> The *Best* political site <URL:http://www.vote-smart.org/> >>==+
      email: Tom.Horsley@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL      |
<URL:http://home.att.net/~Tom.Horsley> Free Software and Politics <<==+

------------------------------

From: LB@notmine.com
Subject: Re: Cell Phone Reception
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 18:31:23 -0500
Organization: Optimum Online


Gene S. Berkowitz wrote:

> In article <telecom24.113.3@telecom-digest.org>, bumblebee4451@yahoo.com
> says:

>> I have been having problems with my cell phone (LG) dropping calls in
>> my home.  Seems like you talk for a few minutes and the call is
>> dropped.  Getting tired of this and thinking it was my phone, I went
>> to Verizon since I was near the end of my contract and got 2 new LG
>> 6100 camera phones (one for me and one for my son).  I paid over $200
>>  -- there is a rebate.

>> Well don't you know it the same thing happens with this phone.  I did
>> some testing and find that the signal bars are very weak in my area
>> (suburban), its not just my house ( a regular wood house) but
>> seemingly a few miles area the signal is weak.  I drove about a mile
>> east and the signal bars got stronger and then they got the strongest
>> a few miles a way.  The phone worked fine there.

>> So does this mean my area is in a dead zone?

>> What can be done?  How can Verizon put someone in a contract if it
>> knows that cell reception will be poor in there area?  Why doesn't
>> Verizon fix this so we all could get uniform service.  It seems a rip
>> off if I can't use my cell phone in my home.

> If you want uniform service, you'll have to allow cell towers in your
> neighborhood.  Everyone wants cell service, but NIMBY ...

> --Gene

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: On my personal cell phone, which is on
> Cingular Wireless, my latest contract is about to run out, and when
> I was downtown Friday, I went in the Cingular Wireless store and
> talked to the lady about getting a new phone in exchange for renewing
> my contract. There were several hangups, IMO: the newer phones are
> a bit smaller and (a) they would not work with my existing Cell Socket
> device; I use a Nokia 5165, which is an older phone, but it works
> quite well (and, it also works quite well when tied into my PBXtra
> through the Cell Socket) ... (b) the picture quality on the newer
> phones, while it has gotten better, _still_ has a way to go before the
> picture quality is as good as an inexpensive digital PC camera, and
> (c) the lady told me unlike Cingular Wireless text messages, to send
> a picture costs more money, around 40 cents per transmission. If there
> was a way to avoid that transmission charge (for example by somehow
> transferring the picture directly to my computer, then using my own
> email to move the picture around, I might be inclined to get a new
> phone and try it. PAT]

Pat,

How many pictures do you take?

Since I use a phone for talking first a little math showed me that
buying a hookup would not be economical for me.

LB


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ditto here; mainly I have a cell phone
to catch incoming calls (landline forwards on busy or no answer to
cell phone) and to call Jeff (the cab driver) to come fetch me to go
back home if I am out. I was sitting at Uncle Jack's (local restaurant
and watering hole) the other day when a young guy came in with a newer
style camera/picture phone. He showed me how it worked and emailed me
a picture of myself. I'm afraid my eyes and interests were bigger than 
my budget once again. It really would not be economical for me either, 
and only serve to raise my monthly bill a few dollars.  PAT]

------------------------------

From: Justin Time <a_user2000@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Cell Phone Reception
Date: 15 Mar 2005 05:22:08 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


TELECOM Digest Editor Noted in response to a question:

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: On my personal cell phone, which is on
> Cingular Wireless, my latest contract is about to run out, and when
> I was downtown Friday, I went in the Cingular Wireless store and
> talked to the lady about getting a new phone in exchange for renewing
> my contract. There were several hangups, IMO: the newer phones are
> a bit smaller and (a) they would not work with my existing Cell Socket
> device; I use a Nokia 5165, which is an older phone, but it works
> quite well (and, it also works quite well when tied into my PBXtra
> through the Cell Socket) ... (b) the picture quality on the newer
> phones, while it has gotten better, _still_ has a way to go before the
> picture quality is as good as an inexpensive digital PC camera, and
> (c) the lady told me unlike Cingular Wireless text messages, to send
> a picture costs more money, around 40 cents per transmission. If 
> there was a way to avoid that transmission charge (for example by somehow
> transferring the picture directly to my computer, then using my own
> email to move the picture around, I might be inclined to get a new
> phone and try it. PAT]

And what the lady in the Cingular store DIDN'T tell you was that all
the new phones are GSM.  While on the average the sound quality is
better with GSM (a poor analogy would be FM and AM radio) they will
not work in an analog service area.

The TDMA phone you are now carrying, the 5165, should have about 5 more
years of service life left -- assuming the phone itself doesn't die --
before they shut down the older TDMA networks.  As more people move to
GSM, the service on TDMA will become somewhat spotty (like  GSM was a
couple of years ago) and the few channels allocated will be busy, the
ability to make an analog roaming call in the event of an emergency can
be a mitigating factor.  

If you don't do a lot of traveling -- I know you take the cab, -- then
moving to GSM and its price plans may be a good move -- if the right
phone can be found.  If there is an old AT&T Wireless office near you,
stop in and see if they have any stock left.  The "Blue" phones are no
longer being ordered and are not offered for sale, but if you ask they
may trot one or two out of the stock in the back room.  Any they sell
and activate are ones that are not written off.

OBTW, Cingular calls the two networks "Blue" and "Orange."  Blue being
the AT&T equipment, Orange the Cingular.  The biggest problem they
have right now in this merger is getting the back offices merged.
Working for the government (and no, we're not here to help), we can
only order "Blue" as "Orange" isn't the name on the contract.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am sort of provincial these days; I 
only rarely get out of Independence, and then I go to Coffeyville or
perhaps Neodesha or Cherryvale. We _had_ an AT&T Wireless office here 
in town four years ago, then one day the same storefront (122 North Penn)
had a Cingular Wireless sign in front of it, but the same people were
working there. The manager said to me "about a week ago AT&T decided
to trade our agency to Cingular Wireless, and all the customers as
well."

At the time I migrated here from the Chicago area, I had an AT&T
Wireless phone, but AT&T has or had a policy that if their customer 
roamed out of range, AT&T would hold the customer on _their_ tower
as long as possible, even though the transmission got pretty
awful. They would only release the call to another tower (a competitor)
when they absolutely had to, and then to a Cell One system. I had a
Chicago area 630 number on my phone (also a 'blue' Nokia 5165) which 
was registered with AT&T. The phone said 'AT&T' on the LED when I was
in Chicago, St. Louis or Tulsa on the bus coming here, and it did all
the AT&T features. Once the bus got north of Tulsa the screen display
changed to say 'AT&T Extended Area'; I got handed off to Cellular One
(a company named 'Dobson Cell One' is big in this area), but according
to conversations I had on the phone with Mike Sandman, the connection
sounded pretty awful (as AT&T customer being handled by Dobson which I
would be here.)

I went by the AT&T (but now Cingular Wireless) dealer a few days after
I first migrated here and asked them to switch my phone over to 
Cingular. The lady said it could not be done. Yes, it is the same
phone (Nokia 5165) which she had a stack of sitting in her window,
but AT&T has some firmware installed which locks out anyone but themselves
and no programming is possible. She said she would give me the very
same 'blue phone' (Nokia 5165) but they could _not_ do anything with
the AT&T. AT&T confirmed the same thing, as did the other cellular
dealers in town (Radio Shack sells Alltel [which also goes through
Dobson here]), United States Cellular agreed, and do did Dobson Cell
One: "take whatever phone you like and get it turned on, but the AT&T
Wireless Phone can go in the garbage can when you give up using AT&T."

So I got the AT&T Wireless Nokia 5165 cut over to prepaid to use in 
emergencies and got a Wichita area 316 number installed on it. It
still refers to itself as 'AT&T Extended Area' (Wichita is too far
away to reach us directly, and Tulsa is too far south to reach us 
directly. I mostly use the Cingular Wireless Nokia 5165 since they
have cellular towers in town (one is five blocks away from me, at the
Presbyterian Church bell tower). They both work fine in my Cell Socket
so I guess I will just keep what I have and use it until it either 
falls apart or gets turned off totally. I know GSM is very popular
here, all the kids carrying cell phones have these newer (and
relatively small, and IMO flimsy) little things. PAT]

------------------------------

Date: 15 Mar 2005 05:13:27 -0000
From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
Subject: Re: Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA


> Power grids existed long before networked-computers came out.  Why
> would the grid be so vulnerable now?

See below.

> Shouldn't those critical networks be isolated from outside access
> altogether?

You'd think so.

> Secondly, they should be more worried about grid overloads from all
> the power source shifting done today.  The grids were not designed to
> handle that kind of loads and problems like the recent NYC-NE
> blackout will occur again.

Exactly.  The links between utilities were designed as backup, not the
primary source of power.  But that's what they've become, and they
haven't been reengineered to match.

R's,

John

------------------------------

From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
Subject: Re: Offering USA (ASR-
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 05:24:57 -0000
Organization: Widgets, Inc.


In article <telecom24.114.7@telecom-digest.org>, Phil Lall
<phillall@lycos.com> wrote:

> We have developed a domestic USA network that offers superb quality
> and reliability with aggressive pricing that is especially attractive
> for the carrier that does not want to deal with a sophisticated USA
> routing scheme and wants to send all of it's USA traffic to only one
> carrier.  INCLUDING Alaska and Hawaii.  Pricing for USA is:
>
>                    Onnet        $.0075
>                    Offnet        $.0129
>                    Flat-        1c
>
> Regards,

> Phil
> phillall@lycos.com

Can't/Won't  tell us who the company is.

Posting from a freemail account.

Prices "too good to be true".

<sniff>  <*SNIFF*>  is that eau d'NorVergance  he's wearing?

------------------------------


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