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TELECOM Digest Wed, 15 Jun 2005 17:02:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 269 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Front Lines Legal Report June 15, 2005 (Jonathan Marashlian) Jeff Pulver Has a Dream (Lisa Minter) Intermix Settles Lawsuit With New York AG Spitzer (Lisa Minter) AOL Users Most Likely to Make Zombie of Your Computer (Lisa Minter) Email to Former AT&T Phones Now Cingular (NOTvalid@XmasNYC.Info) BT Launches World's First Fixed Mobile Service (Telecom DailyLead USTA) Re: Schools Prohibit Personal E-mail Sites (Michael D. Sullivan) Re: Schools Prohibit Personal E-mail Sites (Charles Cryderman) Re: Cellular Phone Spam (Lisa Hancock) Re: Cellular Phone Spam (NOTvalid@XmasNYC.Info) Re: Please Explain LATA (Michael D. Sullivan) Re: Please Explain LATA (burris) Re: Please Explain LATA (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) Re: Please Explain LATA (Clark W. Griswold, Jr.) Re: Please Explain LATA (Joseph) Re: Please Explain LATA (Tim@backhome.org) Re: Please Explain LATA (Charles Cryderman) Re: DSL and Speakerphone Problems!? (Dave Grebe) Re: Cell Phone Rental in Europe (Joseph) Re: Cell Phone Rental in Europe (John Levine) Re: Companies Subvert Search Results to Squelch Criticism (Steve Sobol) Re: Recommendations for Good External Faxmodems? (Robert Bonomi) Re: Recommendations for Good External Faxmodems? (T. Sean Weintz) Last Laugh! Netter Wants to Help Me Get Rich! (Patrick Townson) 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: Jonathan Marashlian <jsm@thlglaw.com> Subject: The Front Lines - June 15, 2005 Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 16:06:44 -0400 Organization: The Helein Law Group http://www.thefrontlines-hlg.com/ The FRONT LINES http://www.thlglaw.com/ Advancing The Cause of Competition in the Telecommunications Industry NOTICE: REDUCED THIRD QUARTER 2005 UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND CONTRIBUTION FACTOR EFFECTIVE JULY 1st The Wireline Competition Bureau of the FCC announced that the Universal Service Fund contribution factor for the Third Quarter of 2005 will be 10.2%, nearly a full percentage decrease from the prior quarterly factor of 11.1%. The 10.2% contribution factor will become effective unless the FCC takes action in response to the proposed increase, which is not anticipated. Contributors are reminded that they may not mark up federal universal service line-item amounts above the contribution factor. Thus, contributors may not, during the third quarter of 2005, recover from end users through a federal universal service line item an amount that exceeds the interstate telecommunications charges on a customer's bill times 10.2%. FCC OPENS PROCEEDING TO EVALUATE ADMINISTRATION OF UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND PROGRAM, REDUCE FRAUD & ABUSE, AND IMPROVE COMPLIANCE On June 14, 2005, the Federal Communications Commission launched a broad inquiry into the management, administration and oversight of the Universal Service Fund. The FCC's goals are to improve the operation of the program for its beneficiaries and contributors and to enhance program integrity. Since 1997, the Universal Service Administrative Company ("USAC"), which administers the USF Program, has disbursed approximately $30.3 billion from the fund. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proceeding will provide an opportunity for the FCC to work with all USF stakeholders to learn from the experience of the past eight years and find new, constructive ways to both meet the needs of those who depend on the USF and protect the integrity of the program. In particular, the FCC is seeking comment in the following areas: * Managing the Program: The FCC is exploring ways to simplify and streamline the management of the program. In particular, the FCC tentatively concludes that a multi-year application process for telecommunications services for the E-rate and Rural Healthcare programs would simplify the process in a way that still guards against potential abuse. The FCC also seeks comment on, among other things, reducing or consolidating application forms and adopting deadlines and other criteria to provide certainty to program applicants. * Improving Oversight: The FCC seeks comment on the effectiveness of existing efforts to protect the fund against potential misuse. The FCC tentatively concludes that more aggressive debarment procedures are necessary to safeguard the fund and seeks comment on ways to improve the debarment rules. In addition, the FCC seeks comment on establishing independent audits for certain USF beneficiaries and contributors and seeks comment on what rules would help ensure that any audits are effective and fair. The FCC is also seeking comment on establishing rules for recovering USF monies that were not used in accordance with program rules. * Administrative Structure: The FCC is examining the effectiveness of the existing administrative structure and seeks comment on whether any rule changes are needed to ensure the USF is administered in an effective, competitively neutral way. * Performance Measures: The FCC is seeking comment on establishing performance measures to assess the effectiveness of the program Through the rulemaking process, the FCC will determine whether it needs to change any rules in order to manage and administer the USF more effectively while deterring waste, fraud and abuse. The Front Lines is a free publication of The Helein Law Group, LLLP, providing clients and interested parties with valuable information, news, and updates regarding regulatory and legal developments primarily impacting companies engaged in the competitive telecommunications industry. The Front Lines does not purport to offer legal advice nor does it establish a lawyer-client relationship with the reader. If you have questions about a particular article, general concerns, or wish to seek legal counsel regarding a specific regulatory or legal matter affecting your company, please contact our firm at 703-714-1313 or visit our website. The Helein Law Group, LLLP 8180 Greensboro Drive, Suite 700 McLean, Virginia 22102 ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com> Subject: VOIP Pioneer Aims For End of Regular Phone Networks Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 09:48:07 -0500 By Steven Scheer Jeff Pulver has a dream: That his invention a decade ago of making phone calls using the Internet will eventually be used by everyone and traditional phone networks and copper wires will be a thing of the past. "Whether that will happen in my lifetime is another story but my hope is to basically enable people to be free -- to have the freedom to define what their communications experience is," Pulver said in an interview with Reuters during a visit to Israel, which he calls the birthplace of commercial use of Internet phone calling. Pulver is a pioneer of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology and is a co-founder of fast growing VoIP provider, Vonage, as well as founder of a half-dozen other VoIP firms. Vonage has more than 700,000 subscribers and is adding 15,000 a week in the expectations of hitting 1 million by year end. A number of competitors -- as well as many cable companies and large telcommunication firms -- have sprouted up around the United States and around the world as Internet voice services have become cheaper than traditional phone offerings, while quality and reliability continue to improve. As a result, Pulver estimates there are some 9 million paying VoIP customers around the world -- 6 million of them in Asia -- and millions more with Skype, the Web site that allows for phone calls around the world for free to and from computers. "Skype is a major player," Pulver said. "So, if you look to the future there is an opportunity to grow big. The market can bear a few more Skypes." Pulver believes the industry is at a crossroads, with so much room for growth but a host of regulatory and financial issues confronting it. "The last 125 years the telephone industry has replicated and replicated but now, the DNA has changed," he said. "The challenge is regulation and how it is adopted by governments protecting (telecom) incumbents," Pulver said. "And, some companies are so focused on the bottom line that they can't look outside the box." Pulver said there is a huge market where a company like dominant phone company Bezeq Israel Telecom, for instance, could offer virtual Israeli phone numbers to its citizens living abroad using VoIP. The same could be said for any country, he said, adding another focus for VoIP would be to blend messaging offerings into intergrated devices. "It's up to the kids now in high school," Pulver said. "They need to look at the technology they are playing with and commercialise those." Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. 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/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. For a good combination of USA Today/United Press International news and BBC World Service Radio, check out http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internetnews.html ; never any login or registration requirements. ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yaho.com> Subject: Intermix Media Settles Lawsuit With Sptizer, NY Attorney General Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 09:51:42 -0500 Company settles 'spyware' lawsuit for $7.5 mln Intermix Media Inc. has agreed to pay the state of New York $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit charging it with bundling hidden "spyware" along with millions of programs it gave away for free, the company said on Tuesday. The company also said it would permanently discontinue distribution of its adware, redirect and tool bar programs, all of which Intermix noted it has previously stopped distributing. Intermix said it did not admit any wrongdoing or liability. Intermix shares rose $1.50, or 24.6 percent, to $7.60 in after-hours trading on Inet following the news. The settlement deal follows New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's April lawsuit charging that the company's practice of bundling hidden spyware violated state laws prohibiting false advertising and deceptive business practices. It also came as the company on Tuesday posted a fourth quarter net loss of $409,000 compared with a loss of $4.4 million a year ago. Revenue rose to $24.1 million from $14.4 million, boosted by gains at its Alena business unit and network segment. The results also reflected a gain of $6.3 million related to an investment in its newly-formed, majority-owned subsidiary MySpace Inc. and a $6.9 million reserve established in connection with Spitzer's lawsuit, Intermix said. Spitzer's office had sought to stop Los Angeles-based Intermix from secretly installing software on users' computers, make it return money it made from the process and pay a fine. These programs were secretly bundled with others designed to deliver pop-up advertising or steer Web traffic to an Intermix search engine, Spitzer charged in the lawsuit. Under terms of the settlement, Intermix agreed to pay $7.5 million to the state over three years. Since Spitzer's initial inquiry, Intermix also said it has created the position of chief privacy officer and worked with federal regulators to help protect Internet consumers. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. 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/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Also see http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html for daily reports from New York Times, Christian Science Monitor and NPR News. ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com> Subject: AOL Users Most Likely to Make Zombie of Your Computer Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 09:55:31 -0500 By Andy Sullivan Internet "zombie" attacks that attempt to knock computer systems offline are more likely to come from users of America Online than any other source, according to a report released by a security company on Tuesday. AOL and other large Internet service providers serve as launching pads for most "denial of service" attacks, according to Prolexic Technologies, which helps companies fend off such attacks. Other top sources of such attacks include T-Mobile's German-based service; Wanadoo, a French Internet provider; and Comcast Corp. Prolexic chief technology officer Barrett Lyon said the report could indicate that some Internet providers don't protect their customers as much as companies like EarthLink Inc. that don't show up on the list. "Their clients may be exposed differently or they may be doing a poor job of filtering certain things from their clients," Lyon said in an interview, referring to AOL and the other providers named in the report. But such figures only show that AOL has a much larger user base than other Internet providers who account for nearly as many attacks, spokesman Andrew Weinstein said. "This survey is a huge victory for our members. If they're three to four times less likely to be compromised than their peers that's not a bad thing," Weinstein said. AOL provides antivirus, anti-spyware and firewall services for its members, and those who are compromised probably haven't updated their software recently, he said. Denial-of-service attacks harness thousands of computers in a coordinated effort to knock Web sites or other computer systems offline through an unrelenting data blitz. Early DDoS attacks targeted the U.S. government or high-profile online vendors like eBay. Over the past year, criminals have used DDoS attacks to extort payments from online gambling operations, banks and other businesses, or to attack competitors. Cybercriminals use worms or viruses to secretly hijack unprotected computers to use in such attacks. Zombie networks also are used by spammers to cover their tracks. DDoS attacks are increasing in frequency from one or two a month to one or two a week as attackers constantly try different methods to take down their targets, Lyon said. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission last month asked Internet providers to disconnect their customers' computers if they find they have been compromised. Law enforcers in 25 other countries are also taking efforts to shut down such "zombie" networks. Though U.S.-based computers were responsible for the largest portion of DDoS traffic at 18 percent, countries like Hong Kong, Germany, Malaysia and the United Kingdom had higher percentages of infected computers, Prolexic said. Prolexic based its report on attacks it saw over the last six months. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. 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/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 12:45:53 EDT From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA <usta@dailylead.com> Subject: BT Launches World's First Fixed-Mobile Service Telecom dailyLead from USTA June 15, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=22352&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * BT launches world's first fixed-mobile service BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * MCI shareholder launches proxy fight * Yahoo! buys Internet telephony company * Verizon cuts DSL price by 33% * Sirius, Sprint strike mobile music deal * RBOCs seek data on GPONs USTA SPOTLIGHT * See USTA's Small Company Summit Presentations Online -- Free EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Napster goes wireless with Ericsson REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * FCC to review USF Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=22352&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: NOTvalid@XmasNYC.Info Subject: Email to Former AT&T Phones Now Cingular Date: 15 Jun 2005 09:30:05 -0700 AT&T: 10-digit-number@mobile.att.net formerly worked but no longer Cingular: 10-digit-number@mobile.mycingular.net may work for original Cingular customers. What is the current methods to send text msgs to former AT&T now Cingluar cell phone numbers? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think @mobile.mycingular.com (or .net) works for the AT&T displaced customers as well. PAT ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan <userid@camsul.example.invalid> Subject: Re: Schools Prohibit Personal E-mail Sites Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 05:31:13 GMT > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Here is a question for the collected > readership: _If_ Bell had not gotten divested, and was still in > charge of most everything relating to telecommunications, what would > the internet be like today? Would it all be run by 'the telephone > company'? Would we be getting all our attachments and peripherals from > the telephone company? I suggest that might be the case. What do the > rest of you think? PAT] The Internet wouldn't be run by the "telephone company." It would be a very limited linkup between universities and defense contractors who could afford to pay for the $1000+ per month 256k high-speed lines needed. The rest of us would still be using the Source, Compuserve, and BIX over dialup, using special utilities to minimize toll call time. Michael D. Sullivan Bethesda, MD (USA) (Replace "example.invalid" with "com" in my address.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: _You_ might be doing that, but I suspect I would be doing like I was around 20-25 years ago: I called into eecs.nwu.edu on my user account there, since it was a local call, then telnetted over to either bu.edu or lcs.mit.edu where I could work in peace. In those days, I was a Unix account collector. I had Unix accounts on several university systems, such as Northwestern, Boston University, Berkeley in California and a couple others. The only one that was local to me (in terms of the telco charges) was Northwestern University in Evanston, where I had an account on alpha.eecs.nwu.edu (which was also known as alpha.nwu.bitnet). After Bill Pfieffer started his rec.radio.broadcasting newsgroup using the University of Illinois at Chicago computers, he got for me an account on uics.edu as well, and I traded to him one of my accounts at Berkeley; a machine known these days as remarque.org but back then it was (something).berkeley.edu . I suspect I would get along okay. Admittedly I would not spend the _hours_ each day logged into massis I do now. I prefer (or did prefer, before my own brain got so scrambled up) to use a shell in my work -- preferably tc-shell or c-shell (I use tc-shell and emacs in putting this Digest together each day (along with various other scripts) and whenever I have reason to chat with an ISP, one of my first questions to them is 'if I place my account with you, can I have a shell to work with and use my scripts?' Their answer is always no, so that ends the discussion. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Schools Prohibit Personal E-mail Sites Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 12:00:14 -0400 From: Charles Cryderman <Charles.Cryderman@globalcrossing.com> The one thing I have noticed in this thread is that nobody has mentioned the fact that the reason could be e-mails with virus or Trojan Horses. My employer had no issue with employees checking outside e-mail accounts but has since blocked all outside access due to these problems. It is hard to believe that someone working for a communications company can be duped into opening these e-mails which infect the company's intranet, so what would you expect of a child? This could simply be nothing more then the schools trying to keep their network safe, as well as helping to remove a distraction that the kids don't need. Chip Cryderman [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is a very good point! PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Spam Date: 15 Jun 2005 10:22:34 -0700 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: 'The hole through which > spammers collect new addresses' is usually some technical employee (at > the email system in question) has cut a deal with some spammer to > provide them with new account names. Doesn't it bother people that employees are leaking confidential information that results in inconvenience and higher cost to customers? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Somehow I doubt that the miscreant employee tells his supervisor what he is doing in his spare time. Or hell, maybe it _is_ his supervisor who is doing it. And what do you mean about 'inconvenience and higher cost'? Any real man knows how to fix his computer to get rid of all that stuff and run faster than ever; either that or he just accepts his lot in life and calls it quits. After all, we cannot tell other sites how to do business. PAT] ------------------------------ From: NOTvalid@XmasNYC.Info Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Spam Date: 15 Jun 2005 09:03:23 -0700 I am tempted to try this test: Set up an email as a catch-all so that I get anything sent to '*@mydomain.Info". Then post a message on usenet with anyname@mydomain.Info and see if after the '*@mydomain.Info".gets harvested dictionary blasts are used. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You might very well, and certainly dictionary attacks are common enough, but it is far more likely, IMO, one or more spams within a few minutes of opening the account is more that likely a devious registrar employee who has a deal on the side of his own with some spammer operation. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan <userid@camsul.example.invalid> Subject: Re: Please Explain LATA Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 05:42:34 GMT pisicuta60634@yahoo.com wrote: > Can somebody tell me what LATA is? Local Access and Transportation Area. It's a term from the 1982 Modification of Final Judgment -- the consent decree breaking up AT&T -- that represented the "exchange area" for purposes of local telephone service. The LATA is the area within which a Bell local telephone company could transport calls. Anything beyond the LATA had to be handed off to an Interexchange Carrier, or IXC. Some LATAs were very large, and as a result, even though the intraLata traffic was deemed "local" for purposes of the MFJ and could be provided by the Bell LEC, it was actually divided up into multiple exchange areas for purposes of call rating. This led to "IntraLata toll" or "short-distance" calls that the Bell could handle even though they were considered toll calls, with a per-minute charge. Michael D. Sullivan Bethesda, MD (USA) (Replace "example.invalid" with "com" in my address.) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 05:57:24 -0400 From: burris <responder@comcast.net> Subject: Re: Please Explain LATA pisicuta60634@yahoo.com wrote: > Can somebody tell me what LATA is? > Thanks. This is the definition ... you can dig in from here ... http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/L/LATA.html ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Please Explain LATA Date: 15 Jun 2005 07:25:33 -0700 pisicuta60634@yahoo.com wrote: > Can somebody tell me what LATA is? It used to have more significance than it has now. If you are concerned about long distance telephone charges, keep in mind that today many local telephone companies (the Baby Bells) offer long distance service and long distance carriers carry local calls so the LATA is not as significant anymore. IMHO, what really matters is the overall rate plan for all toll calls (short distance and long distance) that you make. A very brief definition would the boundary between a local and long distance calling area. Calls within a LATA were handled by your local company (even if toll), calls between LATAs were handled by your long distance company. The front of your telephone directory should have a LATA map. However, there were numerous exceptions right fromt the start. As mentioned, long distance companies now carry local calls and local companies now carry long distance calls. LATAs may contain multiple area codes, or split up area codes. LATAs may span multiple states or be within a state. ------------------------------ From: Clark W. Griswold, Jr. <spamtrap100@comcast.net> Subject: Re: Please Explain LATA Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 20:42:27 -0600 pisicuta60634@yahoo.com wrote: > Can somebody tell me what LATA is? Local Access and Transport Area -- but you could have learned that from Google. This goes back to the days when Long Distance really meant something. As a part of the AT&T breakup oh so many years ago and the introduction of competitive long distance, the country was divided up into a bunch of small areas. The local operating company was permitted to handle calls within the LATA, but had to hand the call off to a long distance company for calls outside the LATA. Although LATAs had number similar to area codes, there was no correlation. In low density areas (like North Dakota), the LATA and area code covered the same territory. In high density areas an single area code could have manay LATAs. While LATAs almost certainly still exist on the books, the rules changed a few years ago to allow local operating companies into the long distance business. I'm not sure LATAs have any meaningful significance anymore. ------------------------------ From: Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Please Explain LATA Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 10:32:16 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 14 Jun 2005 14:38:42 -0700, pisicuta60634@yahoo.com wrote: > Can somebody tell me what LATA is? Local Access and Transport Area. Essentially the geographical area defining local telephone service. Generally LATAs have "local" interests in common for example the Portland, Oregon LATA carves out a section of northwest Oregon and southwest Washington state. The eastern Massachusetts LATA includes most of eastern Massachusetts from Worcester to Boston/Newberryport to Cape Cod. Washington state is devided into three LATAs western Washington excluding the southwestern portion, Portland-Vancouver LATA and eastern Washington east of the Cascade range. ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Please Explain LATA Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 10:47:16 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications Local Access Transport Area. They generally are within a state, but can cross state lines within a common area of interest. They were the areas where local phone companies could carry "local" long distance calls. The lines are pretty much blurred now, though. pisicuta60634@yahoo.com wrote: > Can somebody tell me what LATA is? > Thanks. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Please Explain LATA Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 16:21:46 -0400 From: Charles Cryderman <Charles.Cryderman@globalcrossing.com> pisicuta60634 inquired as to what LATA is. Well the simple answer is imaginary boundaries that were created to out line the local telephone company monopolies had exclusive control over. They were created after Judge Green broke apart AT&T into the long distance company and the Baby Bells. See: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/L/LATA.html Chip Cryderman ------------------------------ From: Dave Grebe <DGrebe@ix.netcom.com> Subject: Re: DSL and Speakerphone Problems!? Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 02:04:15 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Steven O. wrote: > Ever since I got DSL (from Verizon), I have been having problems with > the speakerphone service. I've tried two or three phones, and for > some reason, although I can hear people speaking when I try to use the > speakerphone on my regular phone, no one can hear me when I speak. > Has anyone else had similar problems with DSL service? <stuff deleted> Do you have a DSL filter in series with the speaker phone? My DSL kit came with several "Z-Blocker" DSL filters, you're supposed to put them in series with all the phones since some phones will interfere with DSL, and DSL will interfere with some phones. Dave Grebe ------------------------------ From: Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Cell Phone Rental in Europe Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 10:21:19 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 14 Jun 2005 13:02:13 -0700, Sandyman <mshawn@roadpost.com> wrote: > Try Roadpost http://www.roadpost.com . You can get a rental that > includes 30 flat rate minutes (no long distance charges!) for less > than $60 or $70 if I remember right, with their summer special. If > you get their Greece service, the incoming calls when you're in Greece > will be free. I think that phone will also work in Turkey. I've used > them, I was very happy. You say $60 or $70 per week is certainly no bargain when you can get a second-hand phone to *keep* for that kind of money and just buy a local prepaid account readily available in lots of local places. Also, you may not be aware, but it's likely that if you rent a phone in Greece the phone may work in Turkey if you're "renting" a post paid account. It's also likely even if you are you'll pay huge roaming costs outside the home country. Sure it will work, but at what cost? ------------------------------ Date: 15 Jun 2005 03:09:05 -0000 From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> Subject: Re: Cell Phone Rental in Europe Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Try Roadpost http://www.roadpost.com . You can get a rental that > includes 30 flat rate minutes (no long distance charges!) for less > than $60 or $70 if I remember right, with their summer special. Why would you want to pay $70 to rent a phone that you could buy and keep for under $50? I went and priced Greek prepaid SIMs. You can get them for E19.90 which includes E8 of airtime, which is about 25 local minutes. If you talk more than that, you can buy more airtime credit. > If you get their Greece service, the incoming calls when you're in > Greece will be free. I think that phone will also work in Turkey. All European countries use GSM 900/1800 phones, so a phone that works in one country will work in all of them. They all are caller pays, so as long as you have a SIM and phone number for the country you're in, incoming calls are always free to you, although rather pricey to the caller. R's, John ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net> Subject: Re: Companies Subvert Search Results to Squelch Criticism Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 20:21:18 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Barry Margolin wrote: >>> It's not illegal, but it's SEO gone bad. Companies such as Quixtar are >>> using Google-bombing, link farms and Web spam pages to place positive >>> sites in the top search results -- which pushes the negative ones >>> down. >> Yeah, and there may be no laws against it, but if it's done on a large >> enough basis you can bet they'll get sued. > On what grounds? Google has money and I'm sure they have hired competent, resourceful attorneys who could find something reasonable and make it stick. Something fraud-related, possibly, or they might be able to point to violations of their Terms of Service. > against frivilous lawsuits, which is what such a lawsuit (as manipulating > a search engine) would be. PAT] Oh, really? Creating fraudulent search engine results is not a valid reason for a lawsuit? JustThe.net - Steve Sobol / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Coming to you from Southern California's High Desert, where the temperatures are as high as the gas prices! / 888.480.4NET (4638) "Life's like an hourglass glued to the table" --Anna Nalick, "Breathe" ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Recommendations for Good External Faxmodems? Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 04:51:31 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article <telecom24.268.8@telecom-digest.org>, <colin@nospamamail.com> wrote: > Are there any good external faxmodems to be used for a VOIP connection > for under $35? "You can have it 'good', or you can have it 'cheap'. Pick one." Fax over VoIP is somewhat 'iffy' anyway. unless the VoIP provider expressly provides support for it. The audio characteristics are significantly different from voice conversation, ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz <strap@hanh-ct.org> Subject: Re: Recommendations for Good External Faxmodems? Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 12:11:43 -0400 colin@nospamamail.com wrote: > Are there any good external faxmodems to be used for a VOIP connection > for under $35? Under $35? No. ------------------------------ From: Dennis Adams <Adams327@aol.com> Reply-To: Dennis Adams <Adams327@aol.com> Subject: Last Laugh! Fw: You Can Make 30k in 30 Days Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 13:37:56 -0600 Hello there future business owner, Would you like at least $1500.00 to $3500.00 per day, just for returning phone calls? I do! If you have a telephone and can return calls you are fully qualified for this program. Give Us A Call At: 1 888 238 3164 Anytime, 24 hours/day. Sincerely, Dennis Adams [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Sounds like a great deal to me! I would love to make $1500-3500 per day in my business. Lord only knows I do not make that much from the cheats at Google with their Ad-Sense program; no where close. This sounds like such excitement and fun I am going to suggest to other readers here that they call you for more information. Of course, a lot of the guys are busy and on the road, so they may have to call you from pay phones, but you know the routine I imagine. Thanks for writing to tip me off to this great opportunity to make me rich. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #269 ****************************** | |