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 Wed, 18 May 2005 23:58:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 222
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Octothorpe (Digest Reprints from 1988 and 1995)
Re: AT&T Licensed the Transistor For Free (AES)
Re: Foreign Exchange (FX) Lines Still in Use? (Steven Lichter)
Re: Sprint Has a Surprise For "Wireless Web Access" (Steven Lichter)
Re: Sprint Has a Surprise For "Wireless Web Access" (Steve Sobol)
Re: AT&T - Cingular - Alltel; They Broke MY Contract (Steve Sobol)
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: Patrick Townson <ptownson@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Octothorpe (Digest Reprints from 1988 and 1995)
Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 21:53:45 -0500
We have recently had some casual discussion here about the '#'
character and our admittedly informal agreement from 1995 to refer
to it as 'pound'. But someone wrote here a couple days ago saying
'pound' as not correct; that is a British currency word. I went back
to our archives and checked through the articles on same; I am still
at a loss about what the '#' symbol should be called. Maybe by
re-reading these 1988 and 1995 articles from the Digest you can
reach some decision. If so, then please tell me.
To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu
Subject: Octothorpe source
Date: 19 Nov 88 15:25:08 PST (Sat)
From: ucla-an!bongo!julian@ee.UCLA.EDU (julian macassey)
I am looking for an authoritative reference for the term
OCTOTHORPE.
An octothorpe is an # , which is what is usually referred to as
"the pound sign" or "the hash mark", sometimes as "the number
symbol". I know the correct term is octothorpe, I have seen references
to it in some Bell docs, I have even seen a news clipping years ago
that mentioned it.
My problem is that every now and again, some smart Alec asks me
where it comes from. I have even been accused of making it up. No
dictionary I have seen has ever given me a definition. Yes I have
looked it up in the 24 Volume Oxford English Dictionary. I have
checked the encyc Brit and alleged Telecommunications Dictionaries.
I do know that Octo means eight and Thorpe means beam. So the word
has some roots.
There is a good term paper here for someone.
Yours Julian Macassey
Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo voice (213) 653-4495
To: comp-dcom-telecom@ncar.ucar.edu
From: aem@ibiza.Miami.Edu (a.e.mossberg)
Subject: Re: Octothorpe source
Date: 21 Nov 88 14:52:27 GMT
In <telecom-v08i0183m06@vector.UUCP>, <ucla-an!bongo!julian@ee.UCLA.EDU>
wrote:
> An octothorpe is an # , which is what is usually referred to
> as "the pound sign" or "the hash mark", sometimes as "the number
> symbol". I know the correct term is octothorpe, I have seen
> references to it in some Bell docs, I have even seen a news
> clipping years ago that mentioned it.
Indeed, that's the same place I learned the term, but usually have to
revert to 'number sign' or 'pound sign'.
> My problem is that every now and again, some smart Alec asks
> me where it comes from. I have even been accused of making it
> up. No dictionary I have seen has ever given me a definition.
Yep, same here. I've never been able to find it in a dictionary, nor
have I been able to find the original reference from where I learned
it. I was beginning to think I made it up in some frenzied
nightmare. Perhaps Bell invented it, and then changed their collective
mind.
aem
a.e.mossberg - aem@mthvax.miami.edu - aem@mthvax.span (3.91)
Man is here for the sake of other men. - Albert Einstein
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 88 09:19:28 PST
From: HECTOR MYERSTON <MYERSTON@KL.SRI.COM>
Subject: Octothorpe source
To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu
Cc: myerston@KL.SRI.COM
All my Bell System references call # The Number Sign (or Pound).
The only times I see it called an Octothrope is in Northern Telecom Inc
publications talking about Digipulse Dialing, "their name" for DTMF.
The Japanese routinely call it a "Sharp". Obscure to me, logical
to the musically inclined.
+HECTOR+
To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu
From: westmark!dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson)
Subject: Re: Octothorpe source
Date: 24 Nov 88 00:52:41 GMT
In article <telecom-v08i0183m06@vector.UUCP>,(julian macassey) writes:
> I am looking for an authoritative reference for the term
> OCTOTHORPE.
> I do know that Octo means eight and Thorpe means beam. So the
> word has some roots.
# #
# #
#######
# #
#######
# #
# #
Can't you see the eight beams here?
Dave Levenson
Westmark, Inc. The Man in the Mooney
Warren, NJ USA
{rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
TELECOM Digest Tue, 29 Nov 88 0:23:56 EST Volume 8 : Issue 187
Today's Topics:
Octothorpe
re: Octothorpe source
Re: Octothorpe source
Cordless Phone Recommendations
Re: Building your own phone projects
off-hook indicator
Converting T1 from #5 ESS to Analog
[Moderator's note: It has been a crazy couple of weeks. Jon Solomon has
experimented diligently with various versions of sendmail in an effort to
see to it that each of you receive one copy -- and one copy only -- of
the Digest. Our mailing list was so large the bu-cs send mail apparatus
belched everytime I logged on. We broke the large list down into many
smaller parts. Then, the sun.arpa > sun.com gateway apparently was out
of service for awhile. At least, we audited some copies going to Portal
and found they had sat in the gateway que for two days at a time.
Some machines are still disconnected from the net as a result of the
worm experience, and the end result of all this has been -- I'm almost
ashamed to say -- extremely poor and unreliable delivery of the Digest
since issue 180 until now. We received conflicting reports of delivery
on some issues (like 186), with Mailer-Daemon assuring us the copies had
NOT been delivered, only to remail them and find some of you got THREE
copies, etc. For any of you where FTP can be used to aquire missing
issues, please use that method. FTP bu-cs.bu.edu and ls telecom-archives.
Then look at the file called telecom-recent. If you cannot FTP, then
let me know, and as time permits I will retransmit individual copies.
We -- jsol and I -- keep thinking this long nightmare is almost over. A
special program has been written to transmit the Digest beginning with
this issue we hope will do the job. Patrick Townson]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: 8b@cup.portal.com
To: telecom-request@xx.lcs.mit.edu
Subject: Octothorpe
Date: Sat, 26-Nov-88 09:52:20 PST
But...a # doesn't have eight beams...only 4...two really if you define
beam as being horizontal...just call it a pound sign...
which, I suppose, refers to some typewriter which have the British pound
sign over the 3...I just call it the number sign...I've also heard
it referred to as a ticktacktoe...
8b@cup.portal.com
From: minow%thundr.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Repent! Godot is coming soon!
Repent!)
Date: 28 Nov 88 14:17
To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu, MINOW%thundr.DEC@decwrl.dec.com
Subject: re: Octothorpe source
According to legend, "octothorpe" is a name that the Bell people made
up for the # on the telephone keypad. I suspect that they couldn't
agree as to whether it was a "pound sign", "sharp", or "number sign"
and eventually compromised (making everyone equally miserable).
Martin Minow
minow%thundr.dec@decwrl.dec.com
[Moderator's question: I am wondering if our correspondent is related to
Newton Minow, well known FCC executive. Just curious. P. Townson]
To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu
From: Henry Troup <bnr-fos!bnr-public!hwt>
Subject: Re: Octothorpe source
Date: 22 Nov 88 15:57:48 GMT
In article <telecom-v08i0183m06@vector.UUCP>
ucla-an!bongo!julian@ee.UCLA.EDU (julian macassey) writes:
> I am looking for an authoritative reference for the term
> OCTOTHORPE.
> Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo voice (213) 653-4495
I believe AT&T named the little beastie. Anyone at AT&T wanted to
claim responsibility?
Henry Troup utgpu!bnr-vpa!bnr-fos!hwt%bnr-public | BNR is not
Bell-Northern Reseach hwt@bnr (BITNET/NETNORTH) | responsible for
Ottawa, Canada (613) 765-2337 (Voice) | my opinions
From telecom@bu-cs.BU.EDU Thu Dec 1 21:43:21 1988
Received: by bu-cs.BU.EDU (4.0/4.7)
id AA07601; Thu, 1 Dec 88 21:43:21 EST
Message-Id: <8812020243.AA07601@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 88 21:05:28 EST
From: The Moderator <Telecom-REQUEST@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Reply-To: TELECOM@bu-cs.BU.EDU
Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #190
To: TELECOM@bu-cs.bu.edu
TELECOM Digest Thu, 1 Dec 88 21:05:28 EST Volume 8 : Issue 190
Today's Topics:
All You Ever Wanted To Know About Octothorpes
[Moderator's Note: This is a just-for-fun special issue of the Digest
with a random sampling of the mail received pertaining to your favorite
touch-pad key and mine, the lowly octothorpe, or #. As is our custom,
we have even provided a rebuttal message from someone who says the #
is not known as an octothorpe at all....
Now can we get this out of our systems once and for all please? Let's
call it quits on the subject of #, by whatever name. P. Townson]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: larryl@nvuxr.UUCP (L Lang)
Subject: Re: Octothorpe source
Date: 22 Nov 88 15:36:53 GMT
Organization: Bell Communications Research
Lines: 24
In article <telecom-v08i0183m06@vector.UUCP>,
ucla-an!bongo!julian@ee.UCLA.EDU (julian macassey) writes:
> I am looking for an authoritative reference for the term
> OCTOTHORPE.
> An octothorpe is an # , which is what is usually referred to
> as "the pound sign" or "the hash mark", sometimes as "the number
> symbol". I know the correct term is octothorpe, I have seen
> ...
> I do know that Octo means eight and Thorpe means beam. So the
> word has some roots.
> ...
> Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo voice (213) 653-4495
When I count "thorpes" (the beams or lines),
I only see four, two vertical and two horizontal.
Perhaps it should be called the QUADROTHORPE.
And does that make the * a TRITHORPE?
Cheers,
Larry Lang
To: comp-dcom-telecom@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
From: desnoyer@Apple.COM (Peter Desnoyers)
Subject: Re: Octothorpe source
Date: 30 Nov 88 23:20:40 GMT
Just to provide another point of view:
from CCITT recommendation E.161 (Arrangement of Figures, Letters and
Symbols of Telephones and other Devices that can be used for Gaining
Access to a Telephone Network) as revised for the Blue Book:
3.2.2 Symbols
...
[drawings, with angle between horiz. and vert. strokes, length of
strokes, and length of protruding nubbies labelled alpha, b, and a
respectively]
in Europe alpha = 90 degrees with a/b = 0.08 (looks funny to a
N.A.ican)
in North America alpha = 80 deg. with a/b = 0.18
...
The symbol will be known as the square or the most commonly used
equivalent term in other languages.*
*... alternate term (e.g. "number sign") may be necessary...
I suppose it's useful to have a translatable term. That approach
worked for "star", but it seems to have failed here. Does anyone refer
to '#' as a "square"? Anywhere? Enquiring minds want to know...
Peter Desnoyers
To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edurom: erik@Morgan.COM (Erik T. Mueller)
Subject: Re: Octothorpe source
Date: 1 Dec 88 19:28:06 GMT
The term "octothorpe" appears in issues of the journal -Telesis- from
the mid to late 1970's published by Bell Northern Research. (Sorry,
I don't have the actual issue numbers handy right now...) I don't know
its origin, but vaguely recall reading somewhere that it was a
Canadian telephony term. As far as I know, the term is/was never used
by AT&T.
-Erik
To: comp-dcom-telecom@decwrl.dec.com
From: avsd!childers (Richard Childers)
Subject: Re: Octothorpe source
Date: 25 Nov 88 21:25:03 GMT
In article <telecom-v08i0183m06@vector.UUCP>
ucla-an!bongo!julian@ee.UCLA.EDU (julian macassey) writes:
> I am looking for an authoritative reference for the term
> OCTOTHORPE. ... ( An octothorpe is an # ... )
Well, this isn't authoritative, it's intuitive, but I _think_ it refers
to the symbol as used on a complex organ's key, for a particular mode.
> Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo voice (213) 653-4495
-- richard
* Any excuse will serve a tyrant. -- Aesop
*
*
*
* ..{amdahl|decwrl|octopus|pyramid|ucbvax}!avsd.UUCP!childers@tycho
*
* AMPEX Corporation - Audio-Visual Systems Division, R & D
*
To: comp-dcom-telecom
From: seeger@beach.cis.ufl.edu (F. L. Charles Seeger III)
Subject: Re: Octothorpe source
Date: 1 Dec 88 15:42:09 GMT
In article <telecom-v08i0184m06@vector.UUCP> MYERSTON@KL.SRI.COM (HECTOR
MYERSTON) writes:
| All my Bell System references call # The Number Sign (or Pound).
|The only times I see it called an Octothrope is in Northern Telecom Inc
|publications talking about Digipulse Dialing, "their name" for DTMF.
| The Japanese routinely call it a "Sharp". Obscure to me, logical
|to the musically inclined.
I usually refer to as "sharp", but may change to octothorpe -- I sometimes
like to tilt at windmills. What are the names of the other ASCII special
symbols? For instance, "&" is an ampersand and "*" an asterisk. Are
there any fancy (preferrably single word) names for the others? I.e names
not of the form "* [sign|mark|symbol]". Does anyone have a reference on
these things, probably a typography reference?
The terms that I use, about which I'm fairly confident:
~ tilde
() [left|right|open|close] parenthesis
[] [left|right|open|close] bracket
{} [left|right|open|close] brace
<> [left|right|open|close] carat
^ circumflex
_ underscore
. period
, comma
; semi-colon
: colon
What about the following: ? ! @ $ % / \ | + = - ` ' "
If I get responses by Email, I'll summarize in a couple of weeks.
Also, feel free to suggest a more appropriate newsgroup.
--
Charles Seeger 216 Larsen Hall
Electrical Engineering University of Florida
seeger@iec.ufl.edu Gainesville, FL 32611
[Moderator's inane comment: PUH-LEASE! write direct to Charlie on this; not
to me. I do not give an iota what those things are called! And now, here is
that rebuttal message...]
To: comp-dcom-telecom@rutgers.edu
From: ron@ron.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie)
Subject: Re: Octothorpe
Date: 1 Dec 88 22:15:50 GMT
Nope, # is called pound because it is used as a symbol for
pounds (weight). I really expect the brits would put the
Pound Sterling where the $ is on a typewriter keyboards.
-Ron
[And there you have it. All the questions you were embarrassed to ask your
Mother Company all nicely summarized for you by the Octothorpe Digest people
in simple, easy to read format you would not be reluctant to share with your
own children when they are old enough to ask the name of that 'funny looking
key below the nine.'
In issue 191, distributed early Friday morning, news of the increase in
network access fees which took effect 12-1-88, and the correspondending
decrease in rates by AT&T, Sprint, and MCI.]
End of TELECOM Digest
*********************
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Then, after several years, in 1995,
someone (Ralph Carlsen) who apparently was a little 'behind in his
reading' submitted a rebuttal regards the '#' debate that I had
_thought_ was settled several years before. Here is the letter from
Ralph Carlsen:
From: carlsen@hotair.att.com (Ralph Carlsen)
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 16:21:55 -0500
Subject: Octothorpe (The Answer)
Pat,
The following explains where "octothorpe" really came from. I
am sending this to you because, as you will see, there are very few
people who could know this story. The reason I am writing at this
time is because I volunteered for the AT&T Lay Off package after 34
years of service at Bell Labs so I may not be around much longer.
During the past year I have enjoyed reading your news group, and I
have used your archives a couple of times (once to get "octothorpe").
Your comments and notes on the postings suggest you and I would agree
on lots of things related to our telecom industry.
Ralph Carlsen
THE REAL SOURCE OF THE WORD "OCTOTHORPE"
First, where did the symbols * and # come from? In about 1961
when DTMF dials were still in development, two Bell Labs guys in data
communications engineering (Link Rice and Jack Soderberg) toured the
USA talking to people who were thinking about telephone access to
computers. They asked about possible applications, and what symbols
should be used on two keys that would be used exclusively for data
applications. The primary result was that the symbols should be
something available on all standard typewriter keyboards. The * and #
were selected as a result of this study, and people did not expect to
use those keys for voice services. The Bell System in those days did
not look internationally to see if this was a good choice for foreign
countries.
Then in the early 1960s Bell Labs developed the 101 ESS which
was the first stored program controlled switching system (it was a
PBX). One of the first installations was at the Mayo Clinic. This
PBX had lots of modern features (Call Forwarding, Speed Calling,
Directed Call Pickup, etc.), some of which were activated by using the
# sign. A Bell Labs supervisor DON MACPHERSON went to the Mayo Clinic
just before cut over to train the doctors and staff on how to use the
new features on this state of the art switching system. During one of
his lectures he felt the need to come up with a word to describe the #
symbol. Don also liked to add humor to his work. His thought process
which took place while at the Mayo Clinic doing lectures was as follows:
- There are eight points on the symbol so "OCTO" should be part
of the name.
- We need a few more letters or another syllable to make a
noun, so what should that be? (Don MacPherson at this point in his
life was active in a group that was trying to get JIM THORPE's Olympic
medals returned from Sweden) The phrase THORPE would be unique, and
people would not suspect he was making the word up if he called it an
"OCTOTHORPE".
So Don Macpherson began using the term Octothorpe to describe
the # symbol in his lectures. When he returned to Bell Labs in
Holmdel NJ, he told us what he had done, and began using the term
Octothorpe in memos and letters. The term was picked up by other Bell
Labs people and used mostly for the fun of it. Some of the documents
which used the term Octothorpe found their way to Bell Operating
Companies and other public places. Over the years, Don and I have
enjoyed seeing the term Octothorpe appear in documents from many
different sources.
Don MacPherson retired about eight years ago, and I will be
retiring in about six weeks.
Ralph Carlsen
These are, of course, my remembrances and are not any official statement
of AT&T or the subsequent 3 companies.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's 1995 Note: Thank you very much for sharing. This
is indeed an interesting report. Do you think you could get Don MacPherson
to join us here among the Digest readership? PAT]
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Should we do this with the '#' sign
again ten or twelve years from now? Probably ... PAT]
------------------------------
From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu>
Subject: Re: AT&T Licensed the Transistor For Free
Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 19:49:06 -0700
Organization: Stanford University
In article <telecom24.221.10@telecom-digest.org>,
Tony P. <kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net> wrote:
>> I presume other Bell Labs patents were also available free; indeed, I
>> never knew of AT&T making money from licensing its many inventions.
>> It appears patents were more for freedom of use than profit. IBM
>> adopted a similar policy in the 1950s. Both did so from anti-trust
>> settlements.
> Hmmm ... among other things they pretty much gave away:
> LASER/MASER
> Fiber Optics
Just for the historical record (no patent rants, not in this msg anyway):
* Ammonia maser -- absolute first ever "maser/laser" type device, but
pretty much of zero practical use -- was invented and operated by
Townes at Columbia around 1951-1954. Patent may have been assigned to
Bell Labs, don't recall, but its licensing value would have been
minimal at best.
* Microwave solid-state maser -- the first maser device which really
had some practical uses, and which also stimulated much subsequent
laser development -- was invented by Bloembergen at Harvard in 1956.
He also got a really good patent on it, which very likely could have
been read, justifiably, to cover many later laser devices; but neither
Bloembergen nor Harvard were in the patent exploitation business in
those early days.
* Patent battle between BTL/Townes and Gould over the laser I've
referred to in another post -- and of course _the_ first (ruby) laser
(which really broke open the whole field) actually came from Maiman at
Hughes, and had very little connection with anything that had happened
or was happening at Bell.
* The really crucial breakthrough in fiber optics, for telecomm apps
anyway, was the development of the methods for fabricating truly
low-loss fibers that are still used today, and that was at Corning,
not Bell, around 1972. Also, diode lasers, the other crucial
component, came almost simultaneously from Lincoln Labs, GE Research
Labs, and IBM Res Labs in 1962.
(Not to say that BTL didn't eventually do an immense amount of
research and make many contributions in both lasers and fiber optic
telecomm.)
------------------------------
From: Steven Lichter <shlichter@diespammers.com>
Reply-To: Die@spammers.com
Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co.
Subject: Re: Foreign Exchange (FX) Lines Still in Use?
Date: Thu, 19 May 2005 02:21:21 GMT
With all the calling plans there are most people have so much L/D
time, why would you need an Fx?
Years ago on my old Apple II BBS I had a line into it that was local
to users calling into it from San Bernardino, it was forwarded to my
BBS line. I was not that costly, before deregulation, it was a flat
fee. I did away with it after a few years since most of the users
were just using the regular number.
One day I might even put it back up, still have in on the old
computer.
Aw the old days before The Internet and Spam, and a regulated utility
before Joe's Screen door and Telephone Co.
--
The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today?
(c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co.
------------------------------
From: Steven Lichter <shlichter@diespammers.com>
Reply-To: Die@spammers.com
Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co.
Subject: Re: Sprint Has a Surprise For "Wireless Web Access"
Date: Thu, 19 May 2005 02:24:10 GMT
billemery wrote:
> Used my trusty Nokia as a modem the other day to see if it worked and
> called my ISP's dialup access number for folks on the road or whatever
> and found that Sprint had charged me .40 a minute for "wireless web
> access". What a rip !!! Gonna change to t-mobile or someone (anyone)
> else. Don't like surprises.
I used mine a couple of time and did not get charged, but then I have
PCS Vision, so that would be included in the contract.
Sounds like years ago with Pacific Telephone told me I could not use
my voice line with a modem, I said show me where it said I could not,
end of threat.
--
The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today?
(c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co.
------------------------------
From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: Sprint Has a Surprise For "Wireless Web Access"
Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 20:25:39 -0700
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com
billemery wrote:
> Used my trusty Nokia as a modem the other day to see if it worked and
> called my ISP's dialup access number for folks on the road or whatever
> and found that Sprint had charged me .40 a minute for "wireless web
> access". What a rip !!! Gonna change to t-mobile or someone (anyone)
> else. Don't like surprises.
Um...
This has never been a secret with Sprint; in fact, if you look in the
user manual for any recent phone it will *say* there are charges. It's
in the manual for my Samsung VGA-1000...
The only per-minute charges are for the old 14.4Kbps slow wireless web
access. PCS Vision is billed either flat-rate or per kilobyte
transferred depending on which Vision package you have.
JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638)
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
"The wisdom of a fool won't set you free"
--New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"
------------------------------
From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: AT&T - Cingular - Alltel; They Broke MY Contract!
Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 20:23:35 -0700
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com
Joseph wrote:
> You may *think* that this is true of all the major carriers, but the
> reality is that for mobile service cingular does not require a
> contract if you bring your own equipment and do not opt into any
> special promotions. The other major mobile carriers, T-Mobile, Sprint
> PCS, Nextel, etc. do not "give you a break" and will require a minimum
> contract.
Sprint will not require a contract for postpaid service if you pay $10
per month over and above the normal plan fees. You can even switch
from being in contract to doing the $10 per month (but you will have
to pay the $150 early term fee for that privilege). Of course, they
don't charge you extra for month-to-month if you've fulfilled your
contractual obligation.
Back when my wife got her Sprint phone in late 2000, their in-store
local coverage map didn't indicate that our neighborhood was covered
-- which is odd, because they have a tower a mile or so from our house
-- so we went month-to-month for a couple months until we were
satisfied that coverage was what we needed, after which we signed a
contract and eliminated the $10 fee.
JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638)
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
"The wisdom of a fool won't set you free"
--New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"
------------------------------
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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #222
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