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TELECOM Digest Mon, 11 Jul 2005 17:27:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 318 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Packet8 Firmware Causes Outage? (Tom Keating) EU Split Over Anti-Terror Phone Logging Rules (News Wire) Wired Collection Agency Gives Reader a Jolt (David Lazarus) Retail VOIP Use Doubles in Nine Months (Iain Thomson) Bell South Plans Number Changes in Florida (Jessie-Lynn Kerr) Re: Blogs Powerful Tools in Supreme Court Fight (Lisa Hancock) Re: Non-Bell ESS? (Lisa Hancock) Well, Duh .. Re: Mixing Blogging With Work Can Lead to Unemployment (mc) Re: Verizon VOIP Questions (Isaiah Beard) Re: Amid Crisis, Phones Jammed, But Text Messages Worked (Isaiah Beard) Last Laugh! Terrible Virus Threatens Us All (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: Tom Keating <keating@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Packet8 Firmware Causes Outage? Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2005 22:15:23 -0500 by Tom Keating I just received an email newsletter from Packet8 regarding firmware upgrades. Let me paste an excerpt: 8x8 is constantly working to improve the Packet8 service, and frequently pushes out new firmware to upgrade Packet8 communication devices (adapters, VideoPhones, and the Uniden UIP1868P). Sometimes these upgrades will take a few moments to upload the latest firmware. While this process occurs, your phone service will be unavailable. To avoid having the upgrade occur during an emergency, you can dial 012-0002 on your phone to reach the Packet8 upgrade server which will determine whether your device has the latest upgrade. If you need an upgrade, the voice prompt will advise you on what to do next. So let me get this straight. Packet8 upgrades their firmware "frequently" and during these "frequent" firmware upgrades, your Packet8 phone service will the unavailable/down? I'm not sure this is something a broadband VoIP provider wants to advertise in their email newsletter. Simply changing the word "frequently" to "occasionally" would at least "soften" the blow of knowing your Packet8 phone service will experience an outage during the firmware upgrade. But I keep tripping over this word "frequently". Or maybe I'm just "tripping"? You tell me. Am I just being nit-picky? Copyright 2005 Tom Keating's VOIP Blog 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. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Tom Keating. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: News Wire <newswire@telecom-digest.org> Subject: EU Split Over Anti-Terror Phone Data Logging Rules Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 10:13:44 -0500 The European Union is split over how to introduce a law requiring phone and Internet usage records to be stored to help fight terrorism in the wake of the London bombings, an EU official said on Monday. The executive European Commission is drafting a proposal to harmonize the rules for storing telephone, mobile and e-mail records across the 25-nation bloc, but EU president Britain is promoting a separate initiative on the same issue. The Commission's proposal could take up to three years because it would require the assent of the European Parliament, which is particularly sensitive to civil rights concerns and more open to lobbying by telecommunications companies. A quick deal among member governments would be open to less public scrutiny and compliance would only be policed nationally. The Commission says it is seeking to balance the imperatives of security and crime-fighting against privacy concerns over handing data to the police and the cost to telecoms companies of storing customer records. Britain, supported by Ireland, France and Sweden, has led calls for EU governments to agree new rules among themselves, excluding the Parliament and the Commission, as London fears the two EU institutions could slow down decision-making. "In the Commission's opinion they are not complementary initiatives," European Commission justice spokesman Friso Roscam-Abbing told a daily briefing, adding that the EU executive would launch its proposal in a few months. "We have to make a choice. The European Union has to choose the instrument it goes for." The four EU states proposed after the March 2004 Madrid bombings which killed 191 people that telecommunications data should be stored compulsorily for a minimum of one year. The Commission has recommended a period of six months to a year to reduce the storage cost for companies. EU interior ministers will discuss data retention at a special meeting on Wednesday called to speed up anti-terrorism cooperation after last Thursday's four bomb attacks on London's transport system, which killed at least 49 people. Neither proposal calls for the content of electronic communications to be recorded but investigators want to be able to trace numbers dialed, including unsuccessful calls, and Internet addresses accessed. 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. ------------------------------ From: David Lazarus <lazarus@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Wired Subscriber Gets a Jolt Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 14:40:08 -0500 Wired magazine, the bible of the tech set, may have its finger on the pulse of all that's cool. But the San Francisco publication has been using decidedly uncool tactics when it comes to getting some people to renew their subscriptions. San Francisco resident Bob McMillan discovered this after choosing to allow his longtime subscription to lapse late last year. "I like the magazine, " he told me. "I just didn't have time to read it anymore." First came the usual letters warning McMillan, 36, that his subscription was up and that he wouldn't get any more copies of Wired unless he ponied up some cash. Then Wired's correspondence took a different turn. In May, McMillan received a letter from North Shore Agency, a leading debt-collection firm. The letter, headed "Please Respond," said he owed $12 for his Wired subscription. "Our objective is to clear your bill quickly and fairly," it said. "Your payment will reinstate your subscription." A more assertive letter from North Shore, headed "Request for Payment," arrived last month. "You must realize that we want you to resolve your account in the amount of $12," it said. Then, the other day, a third North Shore letter arrived, headed "Account Status: Delinquent." "Your account appears as delinquent on our client's files," it warned. This professional collection agency continues collection activity on your debtor account." The letter added, ominously: "Respond to this letter or continued collection efforts may follow." McMillan had ignored the first two letters. Now, however, he's worried that Wired/North Shore will take some legal action that will decimate his credit rating. "I'm very angry," he said. "This isn't a real debt. It seems like they're just trying to trick me into renewing my subscription." Other subscribers Turns out McMillan isn't alone in feeling strong-armed by Wired. A Google search turns up others who say that they, too, allowed their subscriptions to expire and then received scary letters from North Shore. In each case, the erstwhile Wired readers were told that they had an "open balance" of $12 and that "this is an attempt to collect a debt." In each case as well, the recipients were told that paying the $12 would result in a renewed subscription. "Since when is letting a magazine subscription expire a debt?" one person asked online. "This guerrilla marketing technique is unethical in my book." Said another: "Talk about a low way to get subscribers. This is bottom- feeding. Magazines used to offer you incentives. Now they threaten to louse up your credit rating if you don't re-up, and NOW." So what does have Wired have to say? When I first contacted Joe Timko, the magazine's consumer marketing director, he acknowledged having received complaints from readers about being hassled by North Shore. "It's something we're investigating," he said. Timko insisted that it isn't Wired's policy to use a collection agency to muscle people into renewing their subscriptions. "We don't do that," he said. "Or at least that's not our intention." I asked a North Shore spokeswoman to comment on the matter. She never called back. Longstanding relationship In any case, Wired has been using North Shore for a number of years. I found some online gripes about the North Shore letters dating back to 2002 (and you can see one of the firm's letters for yourself at http://urbanideas.com/images/nsa.jpg ). I spoke with Timko again on Thursday. This time, he offered an explanation for what was happening: From time to time, Wired sends direct-mail solicitations to people offering discounted subscriptions. But if you read the fine print of these offers, they say Wired will assume you want to remain as a subscriber until you tell the magazine otherwise, and that you'll automatically be sent an invoice each year for another $12. This is common enough among newspapers. The Chronicle, for example, will keep sending out papers (and bills) until a subscription is canceled. But most magazines require readers to renew their subscriptions every one or two years. Timko said he checked his files and found that McMillan's subscription had an automatic-renewal clause. He suspects that most of the people who lodged online complaints were in a similar position. For his part, McMillan said, he couldn't recall being told about an automatic yearly renewal of his subscription. "I had no idea that was the case, " he said. Collection procedure Wired's Timko said the magazine typically sends out a half-dozen or so letters reminding people to send in their $12. Then North Shore is brought in for an additional three letters. The collection agency was intended solely to spook people into responding. Timko said North Shore wasn't authorized to take legal action against Wired readers. "We're not going to do that to people," he said. "This was just another effort to collect an unpaid subscription." Now, Timko said, Wired will rethink the whole thing. He said the magazine will reconsider the practice of automatic renewals and will no longer pass along readers' names to North Shore. In fact, he said Wired will likely end its relationship with North Shore. It's probably something we shouldn't have done," Timko said of using the collection agency to pressure readers. "It's not something we want to continue. " I arranged for McMillan and Timko to speak with one another. McMillan told me afterward that Timko apologized for the North Shore letters. McMillan said he was also offered a free subscription to Wired. "I turned it down," he said. "I still don't have time to read it. But in the back of my mind, I have to wonder what might happen the next time it runs out." David Lazarus' column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He also can be seen regularly on KTVU's "Mornings on 2." Send tips or feedback to dlazarus@sfchronicle.com. Copyright 2005 San Francisco Chronicle 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. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You know, that sounds like a hot idea! In real tiny print somewhere I should add a note saying "your continued sending of spam to this address means you agree to pay me a hundred dollars" then place it all with North Shore Agency. Maybe I could now and then collect a little extra cash on the way. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Iain Thomson <newswire@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Retail VOIP Use Doubles in Nine Months Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 14:41:47 -0500 by Iain Thomson VNUNet.com Use of retail VoIP services has more than doubled in the past nine months to nearly 11 million users worldwide, according to communications analysts Point Topic.? The company said that there are now 7.2 million users in Japan, and 2.1 million users in the US. The growth is based on figures from last summer which showed five million users worldwide. Software-based VoIP systems, such as Skype and VoiceGlo, add another 5.9 million users to the pool, according to Point Topic, although it admits that these are estimates.? Skype claims that 100 million people had downloaded its software by mid-April 2005, and that 35 million users have registered. But the Point Topic report claimed that "many people download the client and do not register, and many people who register never or rarely use Skype". "These users are contributing either zero or relatively little revenue to network providers, although interconnect payments are made when a call from a PC is terminated on the PSTN," said the analyst firm. France is the biggest customer in Europe, but since UK services only launched last month the numbers here are negligible. In most cases VoIP is used as a second phone line, but the report noted that Norwegian company Telio is having great success getting customers to abandon traditional phones altogether. To see more of VNUNet go to http://www.vnunet.com Copyright 2005 VNU Business Online Limited (UK) Copyright 2005 Forbes.com Inc. 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. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Forbes.com Inc. and VNU Business Online Ltd. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If you recall a few years ago when the 'dot com' thing was going on, and all sorts of claims were being made about how 'internet usage was doubling every nine months or so' it led up to a _masssive collapse_ not only for 'dot com' but for telecom and other industries as well. I wonder if that will happen with VOIP in the near future also? PAT] ------------------------------ From:Jessie-Lynne Kerr <newswire@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Bell South Plans Number Changes in Florida Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 14:43:05 -0500 Fast-growing northern St. Johns County will be moved from five phone exchanges into one. By JESSIE-LYNNE KERR, The Times-Union About 4,000 BellSouth telephone customers in northern St. Johns County west of the Intracoastal Waterway would have to change their numbers under a proposed realignment of boundaries in the fast-growing area. The boundary changes being sought would affect BellSouth customers in the St. Johns County, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra Beach, Jacksonville, Green Cove Springs and Julington exchanges. The Florida Public Service Commission must approve the change and has three public hearings planned to listen to comments. According to Marta Casas-Celaya, a BellSouth spokeswoman for BellSouth at corporate headquarters in Miami, the proposed change involves two moves. First, the telephone company plans to consolidate the Julington exchange, which has about 15,000 customers, with the St. Johns County exchange to create a larger one that would encompass most of northern St. Johns County. ThatThe change would not require the Julington exchange customers to change numbers. The second move would shift customers from the Ponte Vedra Beach exchange who are west of the Intracoastal Waterway into the St. Johns County exchange. Also, Jacksonville exchange customers located around the Bartram Plantation development, Green Cove Springs exchange customers east of the St. Johns River and north St. Augustine exchange customers also would be shifted into the exchange. They would have to change numbers but would be allowed to retain their old calling scope and rates for a period of two years, Casas-Celaya said. She did not know how many of the 4,000 customers who could face number changes were businesses that would have to have new stationery and business cards printed with new numbers. "What we are doing is consolidating five different exchanges into one," she said. "The growth in that area is such that people who are literally across the street from each other have different exchanges. We want to streamline that process and while we are at it, improve service." Todd Brown, a regulatory supervisor and consultant for the Public Service Commission, said BellSouth has not requested any change to the area code. At the public hearings, a BellSouth representative will make a presentation on the changes being sought and then people will have an opportunity to speak, Brown said. "Any change would be months away," he added. jessie-lynne.kerrjacksonville.com, (904) 359-4374 Copyright 2005 The Florida Times-Union Jacksonville.com, c/o The Florida Times-Union | Switchboard: (904) 359-4111 Street: 1 Riverside Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32202 | Mailing: P.O. Box 949, Jacksonville, FL 32231 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. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Florida Times-Union For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Blogs Powerful Tools in Supreme Court Fight Date: 11 Jul 2005 09:35:54 -0700 Donna Smith wrote: > Political groups preparing to battle over the first U.S. Supreme Court > nomination in 11 years have a powerful new tool -- Internet blogs -- > to spread information quickly and influence decision makers without > relying on traditional media. I question if blogs are really indeed such 'powerful tools'. > Web logs likely numbering in the dozens provide a way for the > thoughtful and the passionate to publish their views. Anyone can publish anything. But that isn't the point. What counts is who _reads_ those blogs. I really wonder if any _significant_ numbers of people actually read blogs. I suspect blog readership is more "preaching to the choir", that is, those reading them have already made up their minds one way or another and already passionate about the issue. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well Lisa, I dunno. There are a large number of netters who read blogs these days, via services like RSS which we use here http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html . Blogs are sort of like newspaper columnists, IMO. People read the ones they want and skip the ones they do not want. Some are more trustworthy than others. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Non-Bell ESS? Date: 11 Jul 2005 09:38:10 -0700 Tim@Backhome.org wrote: > Once the digital 5ESS came along, the regional Bells had already > aquired a preference for Nortel's DMS-100, mostly because it was > cheaper and would do an adequate job in all but the most intensive > urban environments (the 5ESS was definately better, but perhaps a > Lexius when a Ford would do. ;-) Wasn't that the one that failed in numerous exchanges all across the country as a result of a software bug? ------------------------------ From: mc <mc_no_spam@uga.edu> Subject: Well, Duh... Re: Mixing Blogging With Work Can Lead to Unemployment Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 10:46:19 -0400 Organization: Speed Factory http://www.speedfactory.net Reading a little farther in the news story: > "The whole blogging thing was so new back then, I never expected > anyone to find it and read it," said Burch, who was fired in May > 2004. "I wrote in the blog to let off steam, not stir things up, but > they viewed my e-mail signature as some kind of open invitation to > read those comments." Huh? She put a link in her e-mail signature but didn't want people to view it as an "open invitation to read" things that were published on the Web? This is *exactly* like the "Don't tell my boss about my cocaine habit" type of postings we would occasionally see in the early days of newsgroups. ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard <sacredpoet@sacredpoet.com> Subject: Re: Verizon VOIP Questions Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 10:49:19 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com snow wrote: > I subscribe to both Verizon local telephone and its DSL service. I was > on their website and read about VOIP broadband phone service. I am now > considering dropping the regular landline phone and trying out VOIP > service. Despite Verizon's announcements to the contrary, it appears that you still need to have your voice landline connected in order to continue having DSL. I discovered this after getting fed up with Comcast's lack of reliability in my area, and am in the middle of (very reluctantly) getting DSL put back in. You could, however, drop your voice service down to the absolute bare minimum. In my state (NJ), Verizon has a "low use message rate" tier that costs around $6.00 a month, and basically provides dial tone and nothing else. No calling features, no regional or national long distance, and only about 20 "message units" are included for outgoing local calls (a messuage unit is a local call lasting 5 minutes or less). It's about as low as you can get if you don't actually intend to make calls on taht line, and at the very least, you'll at least know you can use it to dial 911 if the power and/or broadband internet service fails. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard <sacredpoet@sacredpoet.com> Subject: Re: Amid Crisis, Phones Jammed, But Text Messages Worked Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 13:17:47 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Monty Solomon wrote: > After the World Trade Center attacks, landline phones > generally held up in New York, though there were some congestion > problems, while cellphone networks were clogged. Oh *really*? That's interesting. I remember on September 11, it was impossible to get a call through to my folks down south to make sure they weren't panicking, either on my cell phone or the landline. And I was a fair distance from ground zero, in New Jersey at the time. The landline network most certainly didn't hold up. It was only after an hour of constantly hitting redial that the folks were able to get through to my cell phone (and yes, they were panicking). And last summer during the big Northeast blackout, the local central office was providing dialtone, but any outgoing calls placed would get a busy signal, and incoming calls would be met with dead air. Turns out someone at Verizon did not properly hook up a portion of the wirecenter to backup power. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: Patrick Townson (via Nora Burch) <ptownson@cableone.net> Subject: Last Laugh! Dangerous Virus Date: Sat, 9 Jul 2005 23:09:27 -0500 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Another of the items from the 'annoy your friends' web site run by Nora Burch which was discussed here over the weekend. PAT] ==================================== ONCE YOU HAVE READ THIS PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL YOU KNOW. This is from World Corporate headquarters - so it's no joke. Very scary. Be careful -- Just when you thought you were safe, now we have the following to deal with ... please read, it definitely is a serious threat to our lives and health. This is an alert about a virus in the original sense of the word ... one that affects your mind, not your hard drive. There have been 666 confirmed cases of people attacked by the Klingerman Virus, a virus that arrives in your real mail box, not your e-mail in box. Someone has been mailing large purple and green paisley envelopes, seemingly at random, to people inside the US. On the front of the envelope in bold black letters is printed, "You May Already be a Winner!" from the "Publisher 's Clearinghouse Foundation." When the envelopes are opened, there is a piece of paper that starts "Dear (your name)". This paper carries what has come to be known as the Klingerman Virus, as public health officials state, this is a strain of virus they have not previously encountered. When asked for comment, Florida police Sergeant Stetson said, "We are working with the NAACP, ASPCA and the UPS, but have so far been unable to track down the origins of these letters. Ed McMahon's return addresses have all been different, and we are certain a remailing service is being used, making our jobs that much more difficult." Those who have come in contact with the Klingerman Virus have been hospitalized with severe dishpan hands. So far 100 of the victims have died. There is no legitimate Publisher's Clearinghouse Foundation mailing unsolicited gifts. If you receive an oversized envelope in the mail marked "You May Already Be Winner!." DO NOT open it. Place it in a radiation-proof container in a sealed vault in an underground bunker or Tupperware container and call the National Guard immediately. You are definitely not a winner. PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THE PLANET. Mrs. Sandra Dee, Social Work Secretary General Hospital Department of Social Work 203-688-2xxx<?xmlnamespace prefix = o ns = "urnschemas-microsoft-comofficeoffice" /> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A very close equivilent on the net these days are the multitudes of emails telling us we have already won X dollars since our home mortgage was approved at lower than ever interest rates. 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 #318 ****************************** | |