For your convenience in reading: Subject lines are printed in RED and
Moderator replies when issued appear in BROWN.
Previous Issue (just one)
TD Extra News
For your convenience in reading: Subject lines are printed in RED and
Moderator replies when issued appear in BROWN.
Previous Issue (just one)
TD Extra News
TELECOM Digest Thu, 12 May 2005 18:20:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 210
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
SBC, Vonage Feud Over '911' Service (Jack Decker)
SBC to Offer E911 Access to VoIP Providers? Oh yea? I Want (Jack Decker)
Vonage Changes 911 to Opt-Out (Jack Decker)
Broadvoice Blames Problems on Telecom Carrier (Jack Decker)
AOL Jumps Into Free E-Mail Business (Monty Solomon)
MITC Starts SpotNet, Offering Low Cost Hotspot Services (dg@mitc.net)
Mass. AG Pulls a Spitzer Versus Spammers (Danny Burstein)
How is a Number Switched (AT&T to Vonage)? (Dennis G. Rears)
Setting up an Automated RSS Feed (TELECOM Digest Editor)
PRI Problems (was Re: 1A2 Help Requested) (Justa Lurker)
Web Phone (MarcoSoul@gmail.com)
Cegetel, Neuf to Merge (Telecom dailyLead from USTA)
Re: Will 911 Difficulties Derail VoIP? (AES)
Re: Will 911 Difficulties Derail VoIP? (Lisa Hancock)
Re: Will 911 Difficulties Derail VoIP? (lookemintheye)
Re: Any Free VoIP Internet-to-Telephone Calling Left? (suburbperson)
Re: Spyware ... Ugh! (jmeissen@aracnet.com)
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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jack Decker <jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request>
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 00:29:57 -0400
Subject: SBC, Vonage Feud Over '911' Service
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-COYC1115851648806.html
Technology Daily
By Chloe Albanesius
SBC Communications Wednesday unveiled an enhanced 911 service for
Internet telephony customers -- an offering that voice-over-Internet
protocol provider Vonage immediately characterized as half-baked.
Vonage requires its customers to request activation of its 911
service; in some cases, it directs those customers with activated 911
service who call for help to unmanned emergency facilities. This
policy has created controversy in several states due to recent
episodes in which customers in distress were either met with a
recorded message saying their phone did not provide 911 services or
were directed to the voice mail of local police administrative
offices.
SBC's service would provide VoIP providers such as Vonage with access
to its E911 database, allowing VoIP customers to reach a live operator
when dialing 911. But Vonage contended that SBC's offering would be
useless for the 40 percent of its customers who travel with their VoIP
service.
"SBC offered a fixed solution, which would only work for local phone
numbers," said Brooke Schulz, vice president of communications at
Vonage. "The problem is that the 911 network in this country ... only
knows and understands local phone numbers." If a Vonage customer with
a Washington, D.C. 202 area-code number traveled to New York, plugged
into the network and called 911, the 911 system would cancel out the
call because it is coming from a 202 number, Schulz said.
Full story at:
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-COYC1115851648806.html
How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home:
http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html
If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/
------------------------------
From: Jack Decker <jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request>
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 10:45:56 -0400
Subject: SBC to Offer E911 Access to VoIP Providers? Oh Yea? I Want
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=410
Oh Yea? I want these 12 questions answered first.
-Posted by Russell Shaw @ 4:19 am
Sorry, but I am still skeptical over the timing and scope of SBC's
announcement yesterday that, the company has plans that in the words
of my colleague Alorie Gilbert will help Internet phone companies
"offer more reliable 911 services for their subscribers."
While SBC says that the service will permit emergency dispatchers to
see the address and call-back numbers of VoIP callers at fixed
locations, that's just not enough.
It seems that the media are adapting a fawning attitude toward these
pronouncements on the part of Qwest, Verizon, BellSouth and SBC. They
are not asking the tough questions.
But I will. That's why you've come here.
Full story at:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=410
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, Vonage claims about 40 percent of
its customers travel with their adapters at hand. Still, that leaves
about 60 percent of its customers who should get along nicely with
this effort. If Vonage is typical of all VOIP, then having 60 percent
plus or minus of all customers 'cut over' to valid, working E-911
does sound like a good accomplishment. And even with my cell phone, I
know there are many places I could travel (obviously in 'roaming'
mode) where the 911 service would be flaky at best. So I don't know
what Russell Shaw is complaining about. 60 percent is a great start
if they can make it happen. And who knows ... in the next few years
maybe the local ISPs can be convinced to intercept 911 calls coming
over VOIP and instead of sending them where the adapter box says for
them to go, the local ISP (in the area you are traveling in) can
begin routing those calls to a local PSAP, which is still not the
best, but it would resolve the issue for another 90-95 percent of the
travelers (those who can speak up and explain themselves when the
local [substitute PSAP] answers the line. PAT]
------------------------------
From: Jack Decker <jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request>
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 10:49:36 -0400
Subject: Vonage Changes 911 to Opt-Out
http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/articles/2005/vonage-voip-911-opt-out.htm
By David Sims, TMCnet CRM Alert Columnist
Tired of state attorney generals threatening lawsuits over its 911
offerings, VoIP provider Vonage Holdings Corp. said it will change its
registration process to make 911 services an opt-out rather than an
opt-in option, according to wire service reports this morning.
Vonage chief executive Jeffrey Citron said the company would change
its registration procedures to the opt-out format "sometime this
summer," as part of an overall revamping of the company's 911 services
implementations.
Vonage is currently facing lawsuits from several states over both the
advertisment and implementation of its 911 services, which some states
claim are misleading. CEO Citron said Vonage's conversations with
the Texas attorney general led him to believe that changing 911 from
opt-in to opt-out was a way to make progress on resolving Texas's
issues with Vonage's publicity material and business practices.
Full story at:
http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/articles/2005/vonage-voip-911-opt-out.htm
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am not sure that is going to be an
improvement. At least now, (with opt-in) if a person takes the
messages he receives seriously and makes an effort to get 911 turned
on, as I did, he is going to have at least some working knowledge of
the limitations of the system. The hassle now are those people who
'just assume VOIP works like any other phone'. Most of the time, those
people know from nothing, all of a sudden have an emergency and dial
into 911, find it unavailable then the VOIP carrier catches hell for
it. At least VOIP can now respond, "We _told_ you and you agreed to
our terms."
The people who 'just assume' are still going to be around, but VOIP
really does leave itself open for a lawsuit when they begin to contend
(by making it an opt-out function) that VOIP is 'just like any other
phone', when in fact 911 will possibly be the critical distinction
why it is not. Now the dummies can truthfully say "you never told me".
I hope, for legal reasons, VOIP holds off on the conversion between
opt-in/opt-out until they have so throughly and completely tested it
under stressful conditions that they _know_ it will work for the
largest number of their customers. PAT]
------------------------------
From: Jack Decker <jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request>
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 00:38:43 -0400
Subject: Broadvoice Blames Problems on Telecom Carrier
http://voxilla.com/voxstory163.html
Business
By CAROLYN SCHUK
for VOXILLA.COM
Significant service outages that BroadVoice customers have been
experiencing for a week is the result of an unresolved 12 month
dispute with one of the provider's carriers, according to a letter
of apology to Broadvoice customers by company President & CEO David
Epstein.
The carrier, though not named by Epstein, is Bermuda-based Global
Crossing.
Beginning on May 6, about 7,000 BroadVoice customers lost all of their
inbound service and experienced interruptions to their outbound
service, the letter states.
The dispute involves the carrier's charges. "Even though BroadVoice
has received bills from the carrier that inflated charges due by over
44% and, in some cases, reflected rates that are 13 times the
contracted rate," says Epstein's letter, "BroadVoice has paid
100% of the undisputed charges."
[...]
Recent reports indicate that other Global Crossing customers,
including several VoIP providers, have complained about unusually high
charges from the company for international call termination and other
services.
Full story at:
http://voxilla.com/voxstory163.html
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 02:36:07 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: AOL Jumps Into Free E-Mail Business
By ANICK JESDANUN AP Internet Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Its subscription business in decline, America Online
Inc. is launching yet another product on the open Web: a free,
ad-supported e-mail service tied to its instant-messaging platform.
Users of AOL Instant Messenger will be able to send and receive mail
with "aim.com" addresses using their existing AIM screen names.
Initially, users will need the latest version of AIM software,
available as a "beta" test download for Windows computers beginning
Wednesday. Ultimately, they'll be able to send and receive mail from
any Web browser.
Each account comes with 2 gigabytes of storage _ comparable with
Google Inc.'s Gmail and more generous than the free offerings from
Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s Hotmail and even AOL's flagship
subscription service.
And unlike AOL's main accounts, which keep new messages for 27 days
and messages already read for up to a week unless users actively save
them, AIM mail never expires.
AIM mail will also incorporate a few features unique to AOL until now:
The ability to check whether AOL and AIM recipients have opened a
message and to delete an unopened message from the recipients' inbox
(This won't work with e-mail sent to users of other services).
The Web-based interface will also have drag-and-drop capabilities,
allowing users to sort mail without having to check multiple boxes and
hit a "move" button.
- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=49066326
------------------------------
From: dg@mitc.net
Subject: MITC Starts SpotNet, Offering Low Cost Hotspot Services
Date: 12 May 2005 03:22:23 -0700
SpotNet http://www.trans-it.biz offers standalone hotspot equipment
for public places like restaurants, hotels, marina's and cafe's,
offering them the possibility to charge for public wireless access by
using just their Paypal account. SpotNet does not require expensive
billing software or signup with third parties offering back office
services for hotspots, instead it fully relies on Paypal's web billing
system which is basically free.
------------------------------
From: Danny Burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
Subject: Mass. AG Pulls a Spitzer Versus Spammers
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 00:38:55 -0400
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC
(Mass.) Attorney General Tom Reilly today obtained an emergency court
order shutting down dozens of websites allegedly operated by a
sophisticated ring of Boston area 'spammers' who transmit millions of
unsolicited, deceptive e-mail messages to lure consumers into buying
unapproved drugs, pirated software, and pornography.
.....
Ag Reilly added, 'This type of spam is more than just an annoyance to
consumers. It poses a real danger to people who may be folled into
buying counterfeit version of precription drug or unwittingly open
e-mail links to sexually explicit websites.'
.....
According to AG Reilly's complaint, Kuvayev' scheme involves a
complicated web of Internet sites and domain names selling a variety of
illegal products including counterfeit drugs, pirated software,
pornography, mortgage loans, and phony designer watches. While the exact
number of e-mails the defendants have sent out is unknown, they are
likely reponsible for disseminating hundreds of millions of unsolicited
messages ...
rest at:
http://www.ago.state.ma.us/sp.cfm?pageid=986&id=1416
------------------------------
From: Dennis G. Rears <drears@runningpagespam.org.lga.highwinds-media.com>
Subject: How Is a Number Switched (AT&T to Vonage)?
Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 22:36:54 -0400
Organization: Optimum Online
I switched from my local phone service to Vonage in January. I am
completely happy with the service and have had no problem with it. I
was able to keep my number and the transfer took only 20 days. I
recommended the service to my dad and he switched. He had a lot of
problems with the number transfer.
He had AT&T for both local and long distance. I don't have the
exact dates so I will make them up. On day 22 of his service his
phone jacks went dead and he was informed via email that the
switchover of his phone number to Vonage had taken place. The problem
is/was that if anyone outside of Vonage called him, they would get the
message that the phone number was disconnected. Since I am on Vonage,
I was able to call him with his original phone number. The number was
(856) 23X-XXX. This persisted for 18 days. I suspect the problem is
not with Vonage but with the entity that manages the North American
databases. Can someone explain to me what the technical process is
for switching over and what may have happened?
Dennis
P.S. This is my first post to the Telecom digest in a decade. Hi
Pat, I'm glad that you are still moderating this forum. BTW, you
might remember me as drears@pica.spam.army.mil
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I sure do remember you, Dennis! While
you were around here before in the early/middle 1990's you started a
mailing list of your own on computer privacy. I remember helping you
get it started. (_BIG_ hug!) What have you been doing with yourself
since 1994-95? Whatever happened with your computer privacy mailing
list? And yes, I am still around, as thick-skinned as ever, maybe
even more radical than before. I know some of these guys will be
_so happy_ to see me die or otherwise retire; they'll be able to get
back to business as usual. In the meantime, yeah I am still here,
and please don't stay away for another decade (another big hug!) ...
But let's get on to your questions today: AT&T is not, never was a
_local_ telco or operating company. They got into the business of
local service doing like Prairie Stream, Gage, and several other
companies; they broker or lease all the equipment -- a UNI-P sort
of deal -- from whomever the 'carrier of record' is in your area. For
me here in southeast Kansas it is of course Southwestern Bell. So
when your father tried to 'port' his number over to Vonage, he had
to go through an extra step: He told AT&T (as a local carrier in this
instance) what he wanted; _they_ in turn had to tell the 'true' telco
in your area (SBC, I assume; they are gradually gobbling up the
entire world). In the Chinese telephone of him telling AT&T and AT&T
telling the local telco, I suspect someone 'misunderstod' what was
wanted. Assuming you were with a 'local carrier of record' all along,
that extra step of the UNI-P CLEC telling the ILEC what was wanted
was eliminated. Your father had it happen though.
You said 'his phone jacks went dead ...' (but apparently the telephone
adapter of Vonage continued to work). I suspect that your 'local ILEC
bozos of record' either accidentally on on purpose failed to send
(yet further) notice on this to the administrators of the records and
tables for the North American Numbering Plan. To all the telephone
central offices of the world, when they loaded the tables with the
revised information, father no longer existed because ILEC showed it
as a disconnect rather than a transfer. When telephone users attempted
to reach your father, _their_ central office looked in its tables and
and said he no longer existed. How did you find out the problem? You
may have tried from your bozo-co landline (if you still have one) and
got the not in service message, then you tried from your Vonage line
and got through just fine.
I had that happen to me once. I tried at my office (using our default
carrier, Illinois Bozo-co) to reach a number in a small town in
northern Wisconsin. I got intercepted repeatedly. Then I tried it
again, but dialing 10222 first (MCI) and got through okay. Ditto
Sprint. The lady I spoke to in the Wisconsin town told me that 'often
times my friends in the Chicago area cannot reach me'; she did not
know why. I chatted with one of Bozo's service reps; she said she
thought she knew the problem, but would have someone call me back a
bit later. In about 30 minutes, I got a call from a guy who works for
AT&T who was in Denver, CO. I told him about the various reps who had
been unwilling to listen to me or help. He said he knew about those
things (either missing table entries or typographical errors in the
tables which get sent out to all the central offices) and "they will
listen to me, they will do as I say; try again after about 2 AM
tomorrow morning when the new tables get downloaded; it will get
corrected." I did _not_ get up at 2 AM to test it (after all, I am no
longer a kid who lays awake all night to play with my [or other guy's]
phones), but when I did try it the next day, yes, it worked just fine,
on the various carriers as well as my default Illinois Bozo-Co.)
You said 'the problem persisted for 18 days' and I assume you mean
that after 18 days everyone could get through once again, regardless
of the bozo -- err -- carrier of record they chose to use. It
definitly sounds to me like an error when the tables got downloaded
(the night after your father was first notified that he had been
ported to Vonage.)
Vonage (all VOIP carriers actually) would be doing the world a big
favor by terminating an 800 number on their switch in their
office) which people could use to get into the 'Vonage system' (or
whichever VOIP) so people could make a call totally via Vonage to
test these things out as needed. Remember when cell phones had two
ways to reach 'roaming numbers'? You could try to dial direct into the
number and hope to get through _or_ you could dial a number in the
community where the person was roaming; the cellular switch assigned
the user a 'temporary local number' for that purpose. Maybe they
still do. Anyway Dennis, I hope this answered your question a little,
and please don't wait another decade before you write again. Your
freind, Patrick. PAT]
------------------------------
Subject: Setting up an Automated RSS Feed
Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 23:15:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Do any Digest readers know how to go about setting up an _automated_
RSS feed? I would make this Digest available using RSS if I knew
how to do it. If so, could you please email me? I will really
appreciate your help.
Patrick Townson
------------------------------
From: Justa Lurker <JustaLurker@att.net>
Subject: PRI Problems (was Re: 1A2 Help Requested)
Organization: AT&T Worldnet
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 01:03:30 GMT
>>> Our PRI between our two switches regularly goes down for anywhere from
>>> 30 seconds to 5 minutes. This seems to occur most between 8:30AM and
>>> 9:00AM and then again between 2:00PM and 2:30PM. Verizon claims they
>>> can't figure it out.
>> Clock slip?
> That's my gut feeling on it. I've tried explaining that to Verizon but
> it just falls on deaf ears.
Can you be more precise about what PRI "goes down" means ?
I guess that could be interpreted a lot of different ways.
When the trouble happens, are calls in progress affected, or do they
stay up while "new" calls in one direction or another are blocked ?
Have you monitored the PRI line at your end with a suitable analyzer
so you can see what is happening at the various layers (or does your
switch provide any detailed debugging trace) ?
For example, does something strange happen down at Layer 1 (physical
layer) when the problem occurs ... loss of pulses, loss of framing,
excessive bit errors, T-1 alarm conditions, whatever ? Do the ESF
Performance Monitoring history data show anything (I assume it is
running over a B8ZS ESF T-1 with some sort of PM functionality at each
end)? Is there a smart jack involved, and/or any LEDs to take a look
at?
Or is some trouble occurring at Layer 2 (link layer) with the LAPD
protocol causing the D-channel to appear 'down' ?
How about Layer 3 (network layer) ... are you seeing any incriminating
result codes during the failure ?
While the problem exists, does the Verizon switch busy out your lines
to incoming calls ? Surely their 5E or DMS or SC or GTD or whatever
must maintain (or they can selectively enable) some sort of event log
for your line.
Although I suppose a timing/sync problem with clock slippage **might**
be the culprit, it's funny that it only manifests itself twice a day
rather than constantly [for severe uncontrolled slips] or at
evenly-spaced intervals throughout the day & night [for less frequent
slips].
Of course, the toughest part is getting through to talk to someone at
Verizon who even has a clue what you're talking about. If you're
lucky enough to get to talk one-on-one with one of the switch techs or
craft or engineers who can log into a maintenance console and knows
what a PRI ISDN line really is, then usually you'll make some progress
getting it resolved in fairly short order.
Finally it may be worth checking with the folks in
comp.dcom.telecom.tech to see what they think/suggest about your
problem.
------------------------------
From: MarcoSoul@gmail.com
Subject: Web Phone
Date: 12 May 2005 09:32:51 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Hello. I have been trying to do some research on exactly how Companies
such as www.ingenio.com use technology to connect people on the phone
and charge them fees. Are there programs or frame works on the
internet that any of you heard about. I would like to know how I could
set up a similar system myself that would connect two people together
-- almost like a virtual total phone or a virtual party line.
I appologize if I don't make much sense.
Thank you.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have thought about that a couple
times myself; setting up on the Digest web pages a 'virtual phone
booth' where users could make calls to whoever. But I have never
gotten anywhere with that idea. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 13:08:01 EDT
From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA <usta@dailylead.com>
Subject: Cegetel, Neuf to Merge
Telecom dailyLead from USTA
May 12, 2005
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=21534&l=2017006
TODAY'S HEADLINES
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Cegetel, Neuf to merge
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Canada's Rogers buys Call-Net
* SBC to offer 911 service to VoIP providers
* Details of 21CN deals still emerging
* 3G U.S. adoption hinges on pricing, services
* Fiber glut remains for various reasons
USTA SPOTLIGHT
* Hear Telecom Crash Course author Steven Shepard at Telecom Engineering Conference @ SUPERCOMM
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
* RealNetworks enters mobile game arena
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* Alliance urges lawmakers to consider VoIP security in Telecom Act review
Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=21534&l=2017006
------------------------------
From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu>
Subject: Re: Will 911 Difficulties Derail VoIP?
Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 15:39:08 -0700
Organization: Stanford University
To recap a speculative post I made some time back, seems to me that at
least in those (quite widespread) situations where copper (or cable,
or fiber) connections to business and residential premises already
exist, or will continue to be created:
a) VOIP telephone service totally without 911 could be the norm.
b) All of the existing "hardwired connections" could continue to exist
(including copper pairs included in or installed with fiber or TV
cables), but would extend only to the telco (or cable, or fiber)
"central office" and not be expected to provide any telco service
beyond that point.
c) These would however provide the hard-wired connections not just for
"911" services (activated perhaps by "pushbuttons" or the equivalent
in the hardwired premises), but also for many other kinds of related
security services (fire alarms, home security systems, home control
systems, alarm bracelets for the elderly, "iPots", etc), provided by
vendors who would take over the wiring infrastructure, and very
possibly some or all of the CO facilities, from the telco. Utility
meter reading via these hardwired connections would be another
potential user -- not to mention DSL for those cases where cable,
fiber or wireless didn't provide the broadband services to a given
premises.
I appreciate there are many sunk costs, vested interests, and so on in
this whole infrastructure, so it may not be obvious how to get from
here to there; but if the vast majority of telephone traffic ended up
on VOIP, wouldn't this make some sense, and in fact, maybe be the way
in which you'd set up new green-field developments?
------------------------------
From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Will 911 Difficulties Derail VoIP?
Date: 11 May 2005 19:36:55 -0700
TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Lisa Hancock:
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well Lisa, since we are chatting about
> 'service reliability' and how important it is, what about when a place
> like California has an earthquake now and then, or now and then in New
> York City when an airplane crashes into a tall building and all the
> people get excited and stirred up and all everyone jumps on the phone
> at one time bringing the phone system to a screaming halt with all
> the dialtone missing and the switching capacity totally used up? Or,
> about every 14-15 years on average when a telco central office burns
> down, and there is no phone service at all for a few weeks or months,
I think you're making an "apples vs. oranges" comparison that isn't
valid.
First off, major diasters like you describe are very rare. And if
they do occur, I suspect VOIP lines will be just as jammed as
conventional phone lines. There are switching buildings housing
nothing but servers and data lines that are vulnerable to fires and
disaster just like phoneco offices.
Second and more importantly, service problems with the Internet are
much more common. Every so often some glitch causes havoc and makes
the newspapers. More frequently are localized problems and response
time troubles. Frequently I don't get an answer from an email and
then I learn my correspondent's company had server problems and
nothing went in and out.
Many people use cable TV lines for broadband service, and they
complain during certain times service gets slow, such as when kids
come home from school and bang away. How does VOIP fare in such
times?
------------------------------
From: lookemintheye <hloeser@calltower.com>
Subject: Re: Will 911 Difficulties Derail VoIP?
Date: 12 May 2005 10:25:52 -0700
Not all Service Providers are scrambling. The better business
oriented VOIP service providers are diligently maintaining phone
location databases that interface with their switches and provide
correct and normal location info to 911 dispatchers.
I am with CallTower, who is a 5 year old VOIP unified communications
company. We are oriented toward companies with 11 - 1000 employees and
in our agreement with our customers, is a clause to be initialed that
the customer must inform us if they move one of our Cisco phones to
other premises. And when our customers move office premises, we
update our location database and do it with pride and accuracy.
While our service product is designed to deliver Fortune 500 feature
sets to smaller businesses, and our high value product allows us to
incur the expense of accurately maintaining our 911 database, we would
welcome strong guidelines that require others to do the same. The
cost of inaccurate (or missing) 911 location info is not only
potentially life-threatening to VOIP users, it loads additional cost
onto the emergency response system.
Thanks for listening.
harris
Jack Decker wrote:
> http://voxilla.com/voxstory162.html
> Regulation
> By CAROLYN SCHUK
> for VOXILLA.COM
> In recent months, 911 has quickly become a VoIP industry hot button,
> and a major headache to service providers who have enjoyed a largely
> regulation-free business environment absolving them of the need to
> provide emergency calling services similar to those required of
> landline telephone providers.
> But the climate is rapidly changing and VoIP service providers are
> scrambling to find solutions to the 911 dilemna. And, with the threat
> of federal regulation requiring VoIP providers to quickly implement
> 911 service looming, some providers are saying they will be forced to
> severely limit their service markets. One major operator, AT&T, says
> it may have no choice but to pull the plug on current customers.
> A recent allegation that an infant in Florida died after her mother
> could not reach an emergency services operator through the family's
> Vonage service, and lawsuits against Vonage by state attorney generals
> in Connecticut, Michigan and Texas over the company's 911 limitations,
> have put a lot of heat on all US-based VoIP service providers.
> Adding to their new difficulties is a recent significant change in
> composition of the Federal Communications Commission. When led by
> former Chairman Michael Powell, the FCC maintained a hands-off
> approach to IP telephony. But in March, President Bush appointed the
> less VoIP-friendly Kevin Martin to replace Powell, and when the
> commission next meets on May 19th, it is poised, for the first time,
> to directly regulate VoIP by requiring providers in the US to offer
> emergency calling services through traditional 911 systems.
> The big problem for VoIP providers is that there is no easy 911
> solution.
> Full story at:
> http://voxilla.com/voxstory162.html
> How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home:
> http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html
> If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/
------------------------------
Reply-To: <suburbperson@hotmail.com>
From: <suburbperson@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Any Free VoIP Internet-to-Telephone Calling Left?
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 01:13:50 -0500
John R. Levine <johnl@iecc.com> wrote in message
news:d5uoq0$ntj$1@xuxa.iecc.com:
>> what I am after, is free PC to *TelePHONE* calling.
> I'd be surprised if you could find anything. Sending calls to the
> phone network costs real money, and the dot.com free money bubble
> is long over.
> There's plenty of services that will do outgoing calls pretty cheap,
> like 2 cpm. Skypeout is an obvious choice, although I've had voice
> quality problems with them.
> If you plan to make a whole lot of
> calls, one of the flat rate plans from a VoIP carrier like
> Broadvoice or Packet8 would probably be your best bet. > R's, John
Thanks, John
I figured it would be pretty unlikely to find anything decent that was
truly free for PC-to-telephone calling. Yet, the dot.com free money
bubble, I thought that had burst in 2000 or so. I'm surprised that
there was anything left in 2002 when I arrived into the world of VoIP
-- guess it was trickling off by then.
I think I'm going to try SkypeOut, Broadvoice and Packet8, and any
others that get mentioned later.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You might also look at Free World
Dialing (FWD) which not only has PC to PC free dialing all the time,
but I have found you can prefix the dialing string with *1 (the USA
country code) and make calls to toll free USA phones anywhere, plus
which now and again the FWD people give away 'holiday gifts' of
free calling anywhere in the USA or to certain countries. Add to that
the fact that you can easily get one-way incoming lines at no charge
to be attached to your FWD number. I have a couple of those in the
360-227 office (somewhere in Washington State) which ring through to
the FWD phones on one of my laptops. PAT]
------------------------------
From: jmeissen@aracnet.com
Subject: Re: Spyware ... Ugh!
Date: 12 May 2005 16:29:24 GMT
Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com
In article <telecom24.209.7@telecom-digest.org>, <bob@coolgroups.com>
wrote:
> Did they change the name of Hijack This to Alertspy or is Alertspy
> something else?
No. Although certain spyware will try to prevent you from finding it.
It is always available here:
http://www.merijn.org/
Or, as it says on that page," Can't reach this page from a CWS
infected computer? Try using http://216.180.233.162/~merijn/index.html."
I've found it to be invaluable. I've used it enough that I can now
recognize what doesn't belong without asking for help. But if you
haven't used it before, read the FAQ! And then visit the forums.
john-
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for that helpful tip on where to
find 'HiJack This'. I think it is really pathetic how so many viruses
these days as their first order of business when they land on your
computer is set about trying to prevent you from being able to reach
AdAware and/or Spybot, and now, apparently, HiJack This as well. A
virus got into my Windows 2000 one day which absolutely forbade me to
download the latest definitions file through Spybot. I had to load a
brand new copy of Spybot on another computer, then transfer it in to
the (combo) Win2000/Linux machine with all the new definitions
intact. The net, they say, is supposed to be so much fun for
everyone. How do people actually use it without getting attacked daily
from so many directions by malware? Oops, I almost forgot: Many
netters tell us 'there is no consensus on what constitutes malicious
behavior, and there is no way to stop it, and anyway no one (read this
as _my friends_) want anything different.' Sigh ... PAT]
------------------------------
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