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TELECOM Digest Fri, 15 Jul 2005 15:55:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 324
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Telecom Update #489, July 15, 2005 (Angus TeleManagement Group)
Texas to Reconsider Franchise Exemption (USTelecom dailyLead)
EPIC Alert 12.14 (Monty Solomon)
Apple's Pie in the Sky (Monty Solomon)
Technorati: A New Public Utility (Monty Solomon)
For a Fee, Some Blogs Boost Firms/Concern Raised on Disclosure (Solomon)
XM's Satellite Radio Network Could Get Drafted For Military (M. Solomon)
847 Area Code Problems (DevilsPGD)
Meaning of ABCD Bits in T-1 (Andrew Chalk)
Prepaid GSM With Roaming Allowed Available in US? (Marc Haber)
Can You Keep Same Land-Line Phone Number When You Move? (poboxdc@ix)
Re: Cellular Jamming? Think Again. (DevilsPGD)
Re: Some Businesses Say E-Bay Starting to Slip (SELLCOM Tech support)
Re: Who Really Controls Internet? (Scott Dorsey)
Re: Who Really Controls Internet? (Lisa Hancock)
Re: UN Panel Presents Four Internet Options (Garrett Wollman)
Re: Don't Let Data Theft Happen to You (John Smith)
Re: Don't Let Data Theft Happen to You (Julian Thomas)
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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 11:07:48 -0700
Subject: Telecom Update #489, July 15, 2005
From: Angus TeleManagement Group <ianangus@angustel.ca>
Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group <jriddell@angustel.ca>
************************************************************
TELECOM UPDATE
************************************************************
published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group
http://www.angustel.ca
Number 489: July 15, 2005
Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous
financial support from:
** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com
** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/en/
** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca
** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/
** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca
** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/
** SPRINT CANADA: www.sprint.ca
** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/
************************************************************
IN THIS ISSUE:
** Summer Schedule
** Telus Unilaterally Imposes New Work Rules
** Mitel IP-PBX Scales Up and Down
** New Supernet Agreements Signed
** Tentative Settlement in Entourage Strike
** Rogers Increases Online Protection
** Bell and Nortel Take Broadband to Chapleau
** Toronto, ITAC Set 3-1-1 Info Meeting
** Study Says VoIP Quality Lags
** Internet Registrar Reviews Governance
** Siemens, Airbus Plan in-Flight Cell Service
** Handsfree Phones Don't Improve Safety
** Ebbers Gets 25 Years
** Cogeco Net Income Rises
** Look Revenue Down, But Losses Cut
** Wireless Growth to Outstrip Wireline
** Correction Navigata
SUMMER SCHEDULE: The next issue of Telecom Update will be emailed to
subscribers and posted on our website on Friday, July 29.
TELUS UNILATERALLY IMPOSES NEW WORK RULES: Telus says that beginning
July 22 it will implement the terms of the contract it proposed to the
Telecommunications Workers Union on April 13, despite the union's
rejection of the proposal. TWU president Bruce Bell says that this
means, 'we have no choice but to escalate our job action.'
** Last week the Federal Minister of Labour offered to appoint a
special mediator to help resolve the Telus-TWU impasse. The
TWU agreed, but Telus rejected the proposal.
MITEL IP-PBX SCALES UP AND DOWN: Release 6 of 3300 ICP, Mitel's
flagship IP PBX, is said to be cost-effective from as few as 10 users
to as many as 1,400 in a single cluster. A networked system can
support 65,000 concurrent users.
NEW SUPERNET AGREEMENTS SIGNED: The government of Alberta says it has
reached new agreements with Bell Canada and Axia SuperNet focusing on
long-term operation of SuperNet, which now connects a majority of
schools, hospitals, libraries and government offices in the
province. The government has full rights to use the net, but Bell
Canada owns the fibre and wireless infrastructure.
** Bell and Axia have signed a new long-term IP Services
Agreement, and Bell has purchased five million Axia shares for
$2.00 each, bringing its stake in the company to 8.6%.
TENTATIVE SETTLEMENT IN ENTOURAGE STRIKE: Bell Canada and the
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union have reached a tentative
settlement of their contract dispute. Members of the CEP who work for
Bell's Entourage subsidiary in Ontario have been on strike since March
24; they are now voting on the proposed agreement.
ROGERS INCREASES ONLINE PROTECTION: Rogers Cable has introduced Rogers
Yahoo! Online Protection, including controls on spyware, viruses, and
pop-ups, and parental controls. The service is available to all Rogers
high-speed Internet customers at no additional charge.
BELL AND NORTEL TAKE BROADBAND TO CHAPLEAU: Bell Canada, Nortel, and
the Town of Chapleau have announced a joint initiative to research the
impact of broadband on rural and dispersed communities. Nortel will
contribute wireless mesh and VoIP technology and Bell will upgrade its
fiber network to the town. Project Chapleau will evaluate the
technology's impact on economic, healthcare, education and social
activity in the community.
** Chapleau is a town of about 3,000 people, about 320 kilometers
northeast of Sault Ste. Marie.
www.projectchapleau.sl.ca.
TORONTO, ITAC SET 3-1-1 INFO MEETING: The City of Toronto and the
Information Technology Association of Canada will hold an information
day for potential suppliers of 3-1-1 municipal information services,
on Monday, July 18.
www.itacontario.com/events/2005/05Jul18.htm
STUDY SAYS VOIP QUALITY LAGS: Keynote Systems, a U.S. research
company says that current commercial Internet telephone services are
"not yet up to the standards to which users are accustomed when using
standard 'plain old telephone service'." Researchers made 163,000
calls using six VoIP carriers; they report frequent dropped calls and
wide variations in voice quality.
INTERNET REGISTRAR REVIEWS GOVERNANCE: The Canadian Internet
Registration Authority is seeking public input on proposed revisions
to its corporate governance framework. See CIRA's website for details
and a response form.
www.cira.ca/en/Governance/intro.html
SIEMENS, AIRBUS PLAN IN-FLIGHT CELL SERVICE: A Siemens-Airbus joint
venture says that passengers with GSM cellphones will be able to make
and receive calls while traveling on Airbus A320 aircraft in Western
European routes, by the second half of 2006. Airbus will install
Siemens-made on-board base stations designed to prevent interference
with aircraft systems.
HANDSFREE PHONES DON'T IMPROVE SAFETY: An Australian study of actual
car accidents, to be published in The British Medical Journal next
week, has found that drivers using cellphones are four times as likely
to have a serious crash, and that using a handsfree device such as an
earphone or speakerphone does not reduce the risk at all.
EBBERS GETS 25 YEARS: Edmonton-born Bernie Ebbers has been sentenced
to 25 years in prison for his role in the multi-billion dollar
WorldCom accounting fraud. Lawyers for the 63-year-old "telecom
cowboy" say they will appeal.
COGECO NET INCOME RISES: Cogeco Cable reports net income of $8.2
million in the three months ended May 31, compared to $1.9 million in
the same period last year. The company began selling local telephone
service in June: it expects to have 7,000 to 8,000 telephone customers
in 2006.
LOOK REVENUE DOWN, BUT LOSSES CUT: Broadband wireless carrier Look
Communications reports third quarter revenue of $9.2 million, compared
to $10.3 million last year. It had a net loss of $2,1 million, an
improvement over the $3.2 million lost a year ago.
WIRELESS GROWTH TO OUTSTRIP WIRELINE: The Virginia- based
Telecommunications Industry Association says that the total telecom
market outside of the United States will grow 10.6% a year compounded
over the next four years, but wireline will grow only 1.9%. By 2008
there will be 1.9 billion non-U.S. wireless phones in service,
outnumbering wireline phones by 69%.
CORRECTION NAVIGATA: Last week's Telecom Update misidentified
Navigata's access-independent IP telephony service. The correct brand
name is "Webcall."
============================================================
HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE
E-MAIL: editors@angustel.ca
FAX: 905-686-2655
MAIL: TELECOM UPDATE
Angus TeleManagement Group
8 Old Kingston Road
Ajax, Ontario Canada L1T 2Z7
===========================================================
HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE)
TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two
formats available:
The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web late
Friday afternoon each week at www.angustel.ca
2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge.
To subscribe, send an e-mail message to:
join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com
To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send
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Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add
or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave
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We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail
addresses to any third party. For more information,
see www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html.
===========================================================
COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2005 Angus
TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further
information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please
e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone 905-686-5050 ext 500.
The information and data included has been obtained from sources which
we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no
warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy,
completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on
interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If
expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a
competent professional should be obtained.
============================================================
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 12:27:21 EDT
From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: Texas to Reconsider Franchise Exemption
USTelecom dailyLead
July 15, 2005
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23086&l=2017006
TODAY'S HEADLINES
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Texas to reconsider franchise exemption for telecoms
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Former Qwest CFO pleads guilty
* Bell Canada, Nortel partner for muni Wi-Fi network
* Technology industry supports DHS nominee
USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT
* Order Today! Newton's Telecom Dictionary -- 21st Edition
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
* Universal downloading software for handsets still needed
VOIP DOWNLOAD
* Study: VoIP still not as reliable as landline
* Cisco identifies security flaws in VoIP, other products
* VocalTec on shaky ground
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* Lawmakers ponder in-air cell phone use
* Senators seek to limit Patriot Act
Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23086&l=2017006
SmartBrief, Inc.
1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20005
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 22:13:22 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: EPIC Alert 12.14
========================================================================
E P I C A l e r t
========================================================================
Volume 12.14 July 14, 2005
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published by the
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
Washington, D.C.
http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_12.14.html
========================================================================
Table of Contents
========================================================================
[1] EPIC Urges FTC to Investigate Online Private Investigators
[2] Privacy Problems Remain at Homeland Security Even With Restructuring
[3] Banks, Sports Authority Target Anti-Telemarketing Laws
[4] Congressional Committees Consider Patriot Act Reauthorization
[5] Justice O'Connor Respected Privacy, Defended States' Rights
[6] News in Brief
[7] EPIC Bookstore: John Twelve Hawks's The Traveler
[8] Upcoming Conferences and Events
http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_12.14.html
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 00:18:55 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Apple's Pie in the Sky
By Bill Alpert
THE IPOD SHOWS WHY Apple Computer is a great company. With elegant
hardware and friendly software, Apple's portable player made a
profitable business out of digital music - a trick that had eluded
record labels and such erstwhile leaders as Sony, Microsoft, Real
Networks, and Napster.
Some Apple bulls argue that the shares could go 50% higher, noting how
Apple has held its turf against the "iPod killers" of Sony and the
digital-music schemes of Microsoft. Little noticed by these iPod
zealots, however, is a looming threat from overhead with a footprint
as large as the continent: Wireless phone companies are teaming up
with the music industry to make most mobile phones into music players.
In the last year, the iPod has become Apple's best-selling product,
bringing in a third of revenues for the Cupertino, Calif., firm. The
iPod "halo effect" has lit up interest in Apple's Macintosh computer
and Apple's stock. Since iPod's debut, Apple shares have risen from
under 7 bucks to a recent price of 39. That values the company at $32
billion, or about 43 times the last 12 months' earnings and three
times sales.
Handset numbers overwhelm the iPod's. While optimists think Apple
could sell 45 million iPods next year, mobile-phone makers will be
selling more than 750 million handsets.
All those handsets could weigh on the iPod's growth prospects -- and
Apple's premium stock valuation. Cellphone users won't need to lug
around a second gadget to have their music. By next year, a standard
feature in many new handsets will be the software, circuitry and data
storage for portable music. Handsets will be able to "side-load" songs
from a personal computer, like the iPod. But in addition, they will be
able to download music over-the-air, using the fast transmission
speeds of the third-generation wireless networks that cellular
carriers are now deploying around the country. The cellular firms are
upgrading to third-generation, or 3G, technology, in large part so
they can sell their voice customers stuff like music.
The wireless companies will start launching their music services in
the fall. They're not planning to match Apple's musical offering --
they want to marginalize it. Wireless technology will allow
interactivity and immediacy beyond what's possible with a tethered
product like the iPod. Convenience and impulsiveness pay: Cellphone
subscribers willingly spend two bucks for a six-second pop-song
ringtone, while spending only 99 cents for the full-track song at
Apple's iTunes Music Store. Ringtones are already a multi-billion
dollar business for cellular firms and for recording companies.
The record labels need the money. Compact-disc sales keep dropping.
Artists like Li'l Flip and Petey Pablo sell more ringtones than CDs.
Music companies like Sony-BMG and EMI have found the wireless carriers
easier to work with than Apple, and more profitable than
Wal-Mart. With the rollout of full-track music services in the next 12
months, the wireless phone could become the music industry's biggest
and most profitable distribution channel.
http://www.smartmoney.com/barrons/index.cfm?story=20050629
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 00:35:27 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Technorati: A New Public Utility
By Adam L. Penenberg
When former Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael K.
Powell watched television coverage of the London bombings last week,
he noticed that most of the significant pictures didn't originate from
professional photographers employed by news agencies. They came from
witnesses at the scene using cell phones and digital cameras to
document the tragedy.
"Journalists are trained not to be emotional, like a doctor doesn't
fall in love with his patients," Powell said. "But people experiencing
a tragedy can convey what actually happened while at the same time
express deep emotion and engage in spirited storytelling. A photo of
someone climbing up through train wreckage is extremely powerful. A
reporter rolling up to the scene behind a police line can rarely give
you that."
Before, blogging was largely fixated on the failure of mainstream
media. Now it has become a necessary supplement, and in some cases, a
substitute. But Powell takes this a step further. To him, London
showed that blogging has morphed into the art of raw, personalized
storytelling.
"You really felt as if you were there," Powell said of the blog posts
and Flickr photos he surveyed, "as opposed to watching CNN or reading
MSNBC.com, which are fine for the facts but stale and a bit removed."
Powell was far from the only one who turned to the blogosphere for
perspectives on the London terror attacks. David Sifry, founder of
Technorati, a real-time search engine for blog content, reports that
traffic to the site in the hours after the attacks was so heavy that
its servers had trouble handling the load, causing performance
problems.
The number of posts on blogs tracked by Technorati increased 30
percent, from about 850,000 a day in July to 1.2 million on the day of
the attacks. Nine of the 10 most popular search requests involved the
unfolding tragedy in London.
If you think about it, Technorati has become a public utility on a
global scale.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,68204,00.html
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:47:55 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: For a Fee, Some Blogs Boost Firms / Concerns Raised on Disclosure
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | June 26, 2005
Jeff Cutler has never purchased anything from Dot Flowers, but you
might think otherwise, reading the Hingham resident's blog.
"No more driving to the corner to buy flowers and hand-deliver
them," he wrote on his Web page. "Nope. Now I go online to places
like Dot Flowers.com and 1-800-Flowers. I like Dot a little better
just because of the personal touch."
Dot Flowers's ad agency paid Cutler $5 this spring to promote the
florist and put a link to its website on his blog, or online journal,
short for web log. Cutler, who does not disclose the payment on his
blog, is one of more than 2,000 bloggers whom marketer USWeb enlisted
to hawk products and services. That helped the nascent florist double
its sales in the first three months and shoot up near the top of
Google's search list, according to USWeb.
Yes, corporate America has discovered the blog and found that the
grass-roots medium for supposedly unadulterated opinions is also a
powerful marketing tool in a country where about 37 million Americans
read these online journals. Even the state of Pennsylvania has joined
in, offering free vacations to people who blog on its tourism site.
The blog, in many ways, is the perfect marketing tool: original,
personal, and cheap. It has grown popular as advertisers find it
harder to capture consumers' attention in a fragmented media market
that is making traditional television and newspaper advertising less
effective. But despite their foray into advertising, blogs remain an
unregulated forum.
With a growing number of businesses using blogs to help promote their
products, sometimes in ways that are not very transparent, it is
increasingly difficult to discern who or what is behind a blogger's
pitch, be it for a museum exhibit or flower company.
Concerns about disclosure have even reached the Federal Election
Commission, which is holding hearings this week, in part, to discuss
whether to require bloggers to disclose funds they receive from
political campaigns. Disclosure became an issue in South Dakota's US
Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune last year, when the
Thune campaign paid two political bloggers to scrutinize Daschle, who
was defeated. The compensation did not come to light until campaign
finance reports were filed.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/06/26/for_a_fee_some_blogs_boost_firms/
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, now we have readers here like
Ms. Hancock who tell us how traditional media is oh, so great and
internet news is likely to be so awful. But the _real_ concern, in my
opinion should be the internet writers -- or the 'mainstream media'
writers, for that matter -- should be those writers of any stripe,
internet or mainstream, who do not disclose the people who are paying
them. I think the readers here know me well enough to realize that I
clearly mark advertising messages as such: the far right hand column
on our web page is clearly marked 'support our advertisers' and the
various things from Google are clearly marked 'Google Ad-Sense'. When,
a few years ago, I had the ITU as a sponsor, I clearly disagreed with
what they and their good friends ICANN promoted regards the net and
they dropped me, which I told all of you. So some of us, at least, try
to run a clean operation, no matter how dismal the prospects for any
long term success. Some of us, within the limits or constraints of our
finances, health and other considerations attempt to use reliable
sources for our news items, to the dismay, perhaps, of those in the
mainstream media who wish it were not so, and to the utter contempt of
'netizens' who were around here before me and who wish I had never
taken on this task, since it interferes with 'their way of doing
things'. And to ICANN and others like them who sit on their fannies
all day holding their conferences in esoteric parts of the world and
seeming to bemoan the ills of the net while in fact ignoring the
floods of spam and scam drowning us out, all I can say is God Bless
you too. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:50:02 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: XM's Satellite Radio Network Could Get Drafted for Military Use
By Brian Bergstein, AP Technology Writer
BOSTON -- Customers of XM Satellite Radio Inc. aren't the only ones
who appreciate its digital quality and nationwide coverage. The U.S.
military might draft XM's service for homeland security purposes.
XM and Raytheon Co. have jointly built a communications system that
would use XM's satellites to relay information to soldiers and
emergency responders during a crisis.
The Mobile Enhanced Situational Awareness Network, known as MESA,
would get a dedicated channel on XM's satellites that would be
accessible only on devices given to emergency personnel. The receivers
would be the same as the portable ones available to consumers, with
slight modifications to make them more rugged.
The military often leases transmission space on commercial satellites,
but this collaboration between a massive defense contractor and a
fun-loving radio network -- XM's first two satellites were dubbed
"Rock" and "Roll," and its next two might be "Rhythm" and "Blues" --
is unusual.
It began last year when engineers with Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon
Co. were looking for an inexpensive system that would help emergency
responders and soldiers coordinate their actions after a natural
disaster or terrorist strike. Existing communications systems for such
scenarios can be bulky and expensive.
Commercial satellite radio receivers, in contrast, are lightweight,
battery-powered and cost as little as $99. Their digital transmissions
have enough bandwidth to carry maps and other imagery, which would be
displayed on portable computers that plug into the satellite
receivers. And the system can be programmed to relay information just
to specific devices if need be, so individual users can get messages
appropriate to their regions.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/06/26/xms_satellite_radio_network_could_get_drafted_for_military_use/
------------------------------
From: DevilsPGD <spamsucks@crazyhat.net>
Subject: 847 Area Code Problems
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 03:17:13 -0500
Organization: Disorganized
For the last 10-12 hours (July 14 @ 4:00pm CST onward) I've been
seeing fast busy signals dialing from land lines, and various "All
circuits are busy" and "Service unavailable" and other type messages
on cell phones on local calls (calls within the 847 area code)
I've been able to confirm that I can dial my toll free number (which
terminates to a 817 number), and that when I set my Vonage phone
(totally different area code) to ring for 10 seconds then forward to
847, it rings 10 seconds then goes back to a "All circuits are busy"
In some cases after dialing I can hear touchtone keys, approx 30ms and
very regular pattern (machine dialed, not human dialed)
Anybody else seeing similar?
------------------------------
From: Andrew Chalk <achalk@magnacartasoftware.com>
Subject: Meaning of ABCD bits in T-1
Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 17:28:32 GMT
Can anyone give me the "table" (or a URL to) of ABCD bit values in T1
signalling. Everywhere I Googled refers to these but none give the
meaning of each of the bit combinations. I'm particularly interested
in "off-hook/onhook" states.
Thanks!
------------------------------
From: Marc Haber <mh+usenetspam0339@zugschl.us>
Subject: Prepaid GSM With Roaming Allowed Available in the US?
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 14:20:20 +0200
Organization: private site, see http://www.zugschlus.de/ for details
Hi,
A friend of mine lives in the States, has two kids and bad credit
records. She wants (alone) to come visit Europe this fall, and wants
her kids to be able to call her in Europe by dialing a local US
number.
If the issue were the other way round, I'd come to the States with a
prepaid GSM SIM that has roaming enabled, and put that SIM into a
borrowed GSM phone over there.
She now tells me that prepaid GSM is almost a non-market in the US,
and that no prepaid GSM SIMs are available that allow international
roaming.
Is that true, or did she miss something? I'd appreciate any comments.
A GSM phone useable in the European GSM networks is available here, I
have a spare Nokia 6310. The issue is the prepaid SIM that allows a
phone located in Europe to be reachable with an American number.
Greetings,
--------------!! No courtesy copies, please !!----------
Marc Haber | " Questions are the | Mailadresse in Header
Mannheim, Germany | Beginning of Wisdom " |
http://www.zugschlus.de/
Nordisch by Nature | Lt. Worf, TNG "Rightful Heir" | Fon: *49 621 72739834
------------------------------
From: poboxdc@ix.netcom.com
Subject: Re: Can you Keep the Same Land-Line Phone-Number When You Move ?
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 13:35:22 -0400
Organization: http://newsguy.com
wylbur37 wrote:
> With cell-phones, I believe that when you switch carriers, you are
> entitled to retain the same number as long as the area code (such as
> 917) is not tied to any specific geographic region.
> But is this also true of land-line phones?
> For example, if you live in midtown Manhattan (New York City) where
> the area code is 212, and you move to upper Manhattan where the area
> code is also 212, can you keep the same number?
> Back in the old days, the exchange code (first 3 digits of the phone
> number) was tied to a certain neighborhood; and if you moved from one
> place to another, as long as the new place had that same exchange code
> available, you could retain the same phone number. Otherwise, you
> couldn't.
> Has the technology changed where exchange codes are no longer mapped
> to any particular neighborhood? If that's true, then I suppose you
> could indeed keep the same land-line phone number no matter how far
> away you moved as long as the new place had the same area code,
> correct?
They may allow you to keep the same number if the prefix, not area
code, are in the same switching area.
KM
------------------------------
From: DevilsPGD <spamsucks@crazyhat.net>
Subject: Re: Cellular Jamming? Think Again.
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 06:20:30 -0500
Organization: Disorganized
In message <telecom24.307.12@telecom-digest.org> mc <mc_no_spam@uga.edu>
wrote:
>>> Here I think there is a market for cell phone *detectors*. Cell
>>> phones transmit every few minutes even when you're not making or
>>> receiving a call, in order to keep the tower apprised of where they
>>> are. "Turn off your cell phone" could have more teeth if equipment
>>> were in use to detect cell phones that were still turned on.
>> How do you figure? My phone *never* gets turned off. Period. Not in
>> theatres, not in churches, not in other places of public assembly.
> You'd better turn it off on airplanes and near sensitive electronic
> equipment when told to. It transmits every few minutes even when you
> are not using it and it is not making noise, as long as it's turned
> on.
Actually no it doesn't -- My phone has an "airplane" mode which
completely disabled the send/receive functionality.
I discussed it with a flight attendant on my first flight with that
phone and it's not a problem.
------------------------------
From: SELLCOM Tech support <support@sellcom.com>
Subject: Re: Some Businesses Say E-Bay Starting to Slip
Organization: www.sellcom.com
Reply-To: support@sellcom.com
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 12:29:05 GMT
Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com> posted on that vast internet
thingie:
> SAN JOSE, Calif. - Jewelry dealer Michael Jansma used to be one of
> eBay Inc.'s biggest cheerleaders. The entrepreneur from Largo, Fla.,
> sells roughly $250,000 worth of baubles every month on the auction
> site. But the revenue Jansma gets from eBay has declined over the past
> year, and in January the company raised fees, denting his profits.
Anyone building a business on Ebay is building their house on sand.
Ebay can ignore a history of positive feedback, close your store and
account down at their whim and without cause and then all of a sudden
any advertising dollars you spent promoting with Ebay are wasted.
We were even buying their $299 a week front page ads.
Anyone who trusts Ebay needs to simply do some reading of the horror
stories out there.
Steve Winter SELLCOM
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Could you give us a little more
background on this, Steve? It would be interesting to read about
your personal experiences with EBay. PAT]
------------------------------
From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey)
Subject: Re: Who Really Controls Internet?
Date: 15 Jul 2005 09:21:19 -0400
Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000)
Andrew Kantor <usa-today@telecom-digest.org> wrote:
> What's important is that _he who controls the root nameservers
> controls the traffic on the Internet._ And right now that's the
> government of the U.S. of A. (Cue patriotic music.)
I think you'll be surprised how little the US government does control
the root nameservers, as well as how little ICANN controls them.
The root nameserver configuration is one of the last of the informal
things left over from the early days of the internet. I don't know
how long that will last, but I don't think passing it over to ICANN is
a good thing any more than allowing government control would be.
--scott
I liked the internet better when Mr. Postel ran it.
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So did I ... so did most people. But
then Postel passed away, and that greedy lawyer in Washington, DC
made up a bogus statement about Postel's intentions in the whole
matter. PAT]
------------------------------
From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Who Really Controls Internet?
Date: 15 Jul 2005 11:45:15 -0700
Andrew Kantor wrote:
> You may have heard that no one controls the Internet. That's sort of
> true for a couple of reasons. Most importantly, the Internet is a
> "network of networks," meaning that although it has its own backbone
> and connections, it also comprises lots of other networks --
> educational, corporate, government, and so on.
According to writer Dave Barry, the Internet is actually run by a 13
year old named Jason. Barry also notes that online services are so
anxious to sign you up they'll sneak into your house and do it while
you're asleep.
Seriously, one forgotten factor in "control" is the way people
_access_ the Internet. That is, who gets to set the standards for how
browsers will work. There must be shared standards so our PCs can
access web pages and the web designers know what stuff they can put
out.
What troubles me is that web designers allow a lot of sneaky stuff
that the average user doesn't know about. One of course is "cookies".
I tried disabling cookies and virtually no site will work at that
point without a lot of irritation.
Going deeper there are dangerous things like spyware and other
functions that allow a website to take control of your computer in bad
ways.
Why is there a provision for "pop-up" ads at all?
The real question is why do browser developers allow these things to
work in the first place? Accessing a web site should be strictly
"READ ONLY", with no executable commands that could access disk files
or memory on the user's home machine. In other words, a browser
should be able to read only the distant site only and not send
anything back to it.
If it is really necessary for browers to have high horsepower, they
should default to protective settings, and require a user to manually
override them to run certain applications. Only those specific
applications (such a company's in-house system) would have more power
or machine authority.
------------------------------
From: wollman@khavrinen.csail.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman)
Subject: Re: UN Panel Presents Four Internet Options
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 15:50:16 UTC
Organization: MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
In article <telecom24.323.2@telecom-digest.org>, Aoife White
<ap@telecom-digest.org> wrote:
> He stressed the sentiment dates back to the Geneva summit and was not
> meant as an attack on the United States or a direct response to the
> U.S. Department of Commerce statement two weeks ago that it intends
> to keep ultimate authority for authorizing changes to the list of
> Internet suffixes, such as ".com."
Of course, the US Department of Commerce has no such authority and
never has.
That authority has always resided in individual system administrators
who configure name servers for their sites or networks, and not in any
government agency.
Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every
wollman@csail.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own
Opinions not those | search for greater freedom.
of MIT or CSAIL. | - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I've had people tell me they thought
that '.com' was the government abbreviation for 'Commerce Department'.
PAT]
------------------------------
From: John Smith <user@example.net>
Subject: Re: Don't Let Data Theft Happen to You
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 16:03:47 GMT
Jim Rusling wrote:
> I would worry about the security of the wireless connection.
Well, I wouldn't worry about it. I would recognize the obvious
necessity of high-grade encryption for any and all financial
transactions, but I don't think "worrying" would be the right word to
use.
If you're determined to worry, consider this: In Paris, at least, you
have a substantially greater risk of having your card number
compromised by pickpockets than by packet sniffers.
------------------------------
From: Julian Thomas <blackhole@jt-mj.net>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 15:21:30 -0400
Subject: Re: Don't Let Data Theft Happen to You
In <20050715014812.D09EB14F10@massis.lcs.mit.edu>, on 07/14/05 at
09:48 PM, editor@telecom-digest.org typed:
> I would worry about the security of the wireless connection.
Hopefully (I have no info on this) they use some form of encryption,
just as ATM transactions are heavily encrypted to avoid problems with
wiretapping.
Julian Thomas: http://jt-mj.net
In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State!
Warpstock 2005: Hershey, Pa. October 6-9, 2005 - http://www.warpstock.org
One virus, two virii, three viriii, four viriv ...
(Rob Slade) - Nine virix (jt)
------------------------------
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