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TELECOM Digest     Fri, 7 Oct 2005 19:37:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 458

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Private Equity Firms May Tender Offer For NTL (USTelecom dailyLead)
    Telecom Update #500, October 7, 2005 (Angus TeleManagement Group)
    Re: Electric Powerlines to be Used For Broadband (Tony P.)
    Re: Electric Powerlines to be Used For Broadband (Lisa Hancock)
    Re: Electric Powerlines to be Used For Broadband (Paul Coxwell)
    Re: United States Says No! Internet is Ours! (Tony P.)
    Re: United States Says No! Internet is Ours! (John Levine)
    Re: United States Says No! Internet is Ours! (Steve Sobol)
    Re: United States Says No! Internet is Ours! (John McHarry)
    Re: Disaster Recovery in 1871 (Dan)
    Re: Life Beyond Earth (anon1@sci.sci)
    Re: 2L-4N, 3L-4N, 2L-5N Numbering (Paul Coxwell)
    Re: Motorola Bag phone (Dave Hunter)
    Re: Vonage and the 500 Minute Plan (Daniel AJ Sokolov)

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
Internet.  All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and
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See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest.  

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 12:51:20 EDT
From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: Private Equity Firms May Tender Offer For NTL


USTelecom dailyLead
October 7, 2005
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/vrBoatagCrluyVASAu

		TODAY'S HEADLINES
	
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Private equity firms may tender offer for NTL, Telewest
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Time Warner, Microsoft in Internet talks again
* Report: SBC to use AT&T brand
* Nortel's chief touts growth prospects in Asia
* Cable & Wireless shares plunge following revenue announcement
* Yahoo! chief outlines future, badmouths Google
* EarthLink plans mobile phone service
USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT
* Presented by HP: OpenCall Media Platform and Next Generation Voice
  Services
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
* IPTV's star on the rise, report says
VOIP DOWNLOAD
* XO joins Stealth's VoIP peering fabric
* AOL puts new focus on VoIP
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* Google hires lobbyist, opens D.C. office
EDITOR'S NOTE
* The dailyLead will not be published Monday

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/vrBoatagCrluyVASAu

Legal and Privacy information at
http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp

SmartBrief, Inc.
1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20005

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 11:34:19 -0700
Subject: Telecom Update #500, October 7, 2005
From: Angus TeleManagement Group <jriddell@angustel.ca>
Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group <jriddell@angustel.ca>


************************************************************
TELECOM UPDATE 
************************************************************
published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group 
http://www.angustel.ca

Number 500: October 7, 2005

Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous 
financial support from: 
** 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/
** NEC UNIFIED SOLUTIONS: www.necunifiedsolutions.com
** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions 
** VONAGE CANADA: www.vonage.ca

************************************************************

IN THIS ISSUE: 

** Ten Years of Telecom Update 
** Rogers Telecom Buys GT Fibre From Bell 
** Cellcos Oppose Early Number Portability 
** Rogers Signs 18,000 Phone Subscribers 
** Bell, Matthews Join for Business Applications 
** Wireless Revenues Jump 16%
** Emerson May Favor Local Deregulation 
** Starbucks and Bell Begin Wi-Fi Rollout 
** Bell Not Required to Collect Directory Bills 
** Aliant Wants Automatic Contract Renewals 
** Bell Seeks Higher Rural Business Rates 
** Meriton Acquires Mahi Networks 
** Telecom Ottawa Adds SONET, WDM 
** RFP Seeks Ontario Optical Net 
** Aliant Offers Flat-Rate Cellular LD 
** Cygnal Restructures Debt; CFO Quits 
** One Week to Telemanagement Live 

============================================================

TEN YEARS OF TELECOM UPDATE: Happy Birthday to us! This is issue
number 500 of Telecom Update. We launched it in September 1995 as an
experiment in electronic publishing, and it soon became the most
widely read telecommunications newsletter in Canada.
 
** Telecom Update is distributed free of charge, thanks to 
   generous support from our sponsors. All 500 issues are 
   available on line at www.angustel.ca, providing a unique 
   outline history of a decade of dramatic change.

ROGERS TELECOM BUYS GT FIBRE FROM BELL: Rogers Telecom (formerly
Call-Net) has paid $23.6 million to Bell Canada to purchase 7,700
route kilometres of fibre in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and
Quebec. The fibre was formerly owned by Group Telecom, which was
acquired by Bell in 2004. (See Telecom Update #435, 458, 480)

** Rogers has an option to buy more GT fibre in Ontario, 
   Quebec, and Newfoundland by the end of 2006. 

CELLCOS OPPOSE EARLY NUMBER PORTABILITY: Replying to a CRTC request
for ways to speed up wireless number portability, the Canadian
Wireless Telecommunications Association says that preparing alternate
scenarios would be costly and time-consuming, and that the original
plan to implement WNP nationally by September 2007 is "both aggressive
and reasonable." (See Telecom Update #497)

** The major cellcos agree, saying that an earlier target 
   date would create many technical problems and would be 
   unfair to consumers.

www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Letters/2005/lt050923.htm 

** The CRTC has received over two dozen comments from 
   consumers, all irate at waiting another two years for WNP.

www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8620/c12_200510934.htm#4b 

ROGERS SIGNS 18,000 PHONE SUBSCRIBERS: Rogers Communications says its
cable-based local phone service, launched on July 1, now has more than
18,000 subscribers. (See Telecom Update #488)

** Rogers expects to add between 600,000 and 650,000 wireless 
   subscribers in 2005, about a third more than its previous 
   forecast. Net 3Q additions: 213,000.

BELL, MATTHEWS JOIN FOR BUSINESS APPLICATIONS: Bell Canada and Wesley
Clover Corp. have jointly launched an Advanced Solutions Innovation
Centre in Kanata, Ontario, to develop IP-based business
applications. Wesley Clover, a holding company chaired by Terry
Matthews, owns Mitel Networks, March Networks, and NewHeights
Software.

WIRELESS REVENUES JUMP 16%: Statistics Canada says wireless telecom
revenues grew 16%, to $2.5 billion, in Q1 2005. Canada now has over 15
million wireless subscribers, a penetration rate of 47%. Wireless now
generates nearly one-third of total telecom revenues in Canada.

** Wireline revenue fell 1.2% to $5.6 billion, and wireline 
   network access lines fell by 1.2%, the thirteenth 
   consecutive quarterly decline. 

www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/051004/d051004a.htm

EMERSON MAY FAVOR LOCAL DEREGULATION: Interviewed by Bloomberg News
this week, Industry Minister David Emerson said that eliminating the
requirement for incumbent phone companies to get prior approval for
price changes could improve the industry's efficiency. However, a
spokesperson for the Minister later said he would not make any major
moves in telecom before receiving the Telecom Policy Review panel's
report.

STARBUCKS AND BELL BEGIN WI-FI ROLLOUT: Bell Canada and Starbucks say
they will begin offering Wi-Fi service in 140 Starbucks outlets in
Ontario this week, and will eventually deploy it in more than 400
stores across Canada.  Bell has subcontracted installation and
management of the networks to Ottawa-based Wi-Fi pioneer Boldstreet
Inc.

** Customers can have their Wi-Fi internet access billed to a 
   cellphone bill, or pay by credit card.

BELL NOT REQUIRED TO COLLECT DIRECTORY BILLS: Following an expedited
hearing on September 23 (see Telecom Update #498), the CRTC has ruled
that billing and collection for directory advertising is not a
telecommunications service, so Bell does not have to perform the
service for YP Corp. if it does not wish to.

www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-57.htm

ALIANT WANTS AUTOMATIC CONTRACT RENEWALS: In Tariff Notice 178, Aliant
Telecom asks the CRTC to approve a procedure for automatic renewal of
contracts for Centrex and other business local services, effective
October 31. Under the proposed rules, the telco must advise the
customer 60 days in advance of the renewal, and the customer will be
allowed to cancel up to 30 days after the renewal. Similar rules have
been previously approved for other telcos.

www.crtc.gc.ca/8740/eng/2005/a53/tn178.pdf
 
BELL SEEKS HIGHER RURAL BUSINESS RATES: Bell Canada Tariff Notices
6907 and 6908 propose increases of 8.5% to 9.9% in the monthly rates
for individual business lines and for Local Link service in the rural
and remote rate bands E, F, and G. Bell wants the CRTC to okay the
rate hikes in time for implementation on December 4.

** The increases would not apply to sub-bands E1, F1, F3 and 
   F5, which are part of larger exchanges.

www.crtc.gc.ca/8740/eng/2005/b2/tn6907.zip
www.crtc.gc.ca/8740/eng/2005/b2/tn6908.zip

MERITON ACQUIRES MAHI NETWORKS: Meriton Networks, an Ottawa-based
provider of high-speed optical networking systems, is buying New
Jersey-based Mahi Networks, which makes reconfigurable optical
add/drop multiplexers.

TELECOM OTTAWA ADDS SONET, WDM: Telecom Ottawa now offers SONET, WDM,
and storage extension services, using Ciena technology, as part of its
10-Gigabit Ethernet connectivity in the Ottawa region.

RFP SEEKS ONTARIO OPTICAL NET: CANARIE and ORANO have issued a joint
RFP for a next-generation network across southern Ontario with
possible extensions to Montreal, Albany, and New York City as well as
from Windsor to Chicago, as a basis for experiments with novel optical
architectures over the CA*net 4 and ORION networks.

www.canarie.ca/canet4/rfp8.html

ALIANT OFFERS FLAT-RATE CELLULAR LD: Aliant cellular customers can now
make unlimited long distance calls within Atlantic Canada for $20 per
month.

CYGNAL RESTRUCTURES DEBT; CFO QUITS: Cygnal Technologies has obtained
about $25 million in new financing to pay off bank debt and provide
working capital.

** CFO David Horsley has resigned; his interim replacement is 
   Michael Conway.

ONE WEEK TO TELEMANAGEMENT LIVE! Canada's premier business telecom and
networking event will be held October 17-19 at the Metro Toronto
Convention Centre, Canada's top conference and tradeshow
facility. Over 35 in-depth sessions will address the most important
challenges facing enterprise telecom and network managers in Canada
today.

** This year's program also features the announcement of the 
   first members of Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame, 
   at a gala celebration and dinner.

** Space is limited: register now at www.telemanagementlive.com

============================================================

HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE

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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 jriddell@angustel.ca.

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.

============================================================

------------------------------

From: Tony P. <kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net>
Subject: Re: Electric Powerlines to be Used For Broadband
Organization: ATCC
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 16:02:15 -0400


In article <telecom24.457.10@telecom-digest.org>,
BobGoudreau@notchur.biz says:

> [As always, please anonymize my email address.]
> 
> John Hines <jbhines@newsguy.com> wrote:

>> My understanding is there are two different electrical systems in the 
>> world, the 220v version the rest of the world uses, and the 110v the 
>> US uses. In the rest of the world, a fairly large number of residences 
>> are run off a single transformer, where in the USofA, a much smaller 
>> number are run. 

>> Multiply by millions and millions of these things all over the place, 
>> and it is easy to see why, even though it is being reported in the US 
>> media, the actual action is taking place in a foreign county, in the 
>> article, it was Japan.

> Nice theory, but a few seconds with Google would have saved you the
> trouble of expounding it.  In fact, there are MORE than two different
> electrical systems in the world; the existence of two chief voltage
> ranges (110ish vs. 220ish) is only one of the differentiators.  The
> other big one is the frequency of the AC (50 Hz vs. 60 Hz).  And there
> are several different physical connector standards (plugs and sockets)
> even to serve some of the same voltage/frequency combinations, though
> of course this does not affect things like transformer load.

> The US is hardly alone in using 110v at 60 Hz; so does most of the 
> rest of the western hemisphere.  Most of the eastern hemisphere uses 
> 220-240v, but one of the exceptions is in fact Japan, which uses 100v 
> (though part of the country runs at 60 Hz and the other part at 50 
> Hz).  So, any conclusions made on the faulty premise that Japan uses 
> 220v power must be discarded.

Interesting point about the 50/60 Hz in Japan. Maybe this is the
reason most computer power supplies can switch between not only
voltage but frequency.

------------------------------

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Electric Powerlines to be Used For Broadband
Date: 7 Oct 2005 13:06:19 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


John Stahl wrote:

> while the US power system has something like 4 or so end-users
> connected to the (last link) power transformer.

My old city rowhouse neighborhood (built 1948, gas heat, hot water,
cooking, clothes dryer) had about 70 houses off of one transformer.
My present complex (built 1970 and all electric) has one transformer
per building serving 14 units.

In the 1948 neighborhood, many homes were rewired from 60 amp to 100
amp service in the 1960s and 1970s.  Around 1980 the electric company
strung new cables.

I wonder how much the power company had to add to their neighborhood
distribution system to accomodate increased needs.  In 1948 home air
conditoners were rare, by the 1970s almost every house had at least
one large window unit (required 220 service).  (My family had an early
RCA window air conditioner from about 1950 that lasted for 30 years.
When it was running we couldn't use other appliances without blowing a
fuse).

Likewise, I wonder how much extra capacity was needed for telephone
service.  I believe everyone in the neighborhood had a phone in 1948,
but many had party lines.  Into the 1970s party lines were gone and
some families had two lines.  Into the 1990s multiple lines would be
common for computer/home fax/home business use.

(I would love to find any planning documents for the neighborhood.
Land was reserved for schools.  Streets were usually continuation of
the existing grid, but individual blocks were built by many different
developers, large and small.  I believe the city and private utilities
were ready in advance.  The new schools built with the neighborhood
did suffer from overcrowding from the baby boom.  Today the school
population is a lot lower than my day.

The power cables were mounted on the back wall of the wall houses near
the second story.  The telephone cable pipe (also redone around 1980
from lead to heavy rubber) was around the first floor.  Around 1990
cable TV came and was hung still lower.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2005 23:12:21 +0100
From: Paul Coxwell <paulcoxwell@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Electric Powerlines to be Used For Broadband


> agents.  (b) I personally have tried so-called 'wireless intercoms'
> between different locations nearby; sometimes they worked (although in
> a rather piss-poor way; other times not at all. I have no personal
> experience with (a) but have been told the connections are very
> 'noisy' many times, and (b) when they worked, they seemed to have a
> lot of 'hum' in the background. When they did not work (all I got
> was hum with no audible voice at all) I am told this was because the
> two intercom stations involved were on opposite 'legs' of the
> transfomer.  Can anyone explain this better to me?

Pat,

The standard electrical service to homes in the U.S. is a 3-wire system
which delivers both 120 and 240 volts.  The secondary on the pole
transformer provides 240V, but has a center tap which is grounded and
becomes the neutral to your house.  The two "hot" legs are thus each at
120 volts with respect to ground/neutral, but because these two legs are
at opposite ends of the winding they are 180 degrees out of phase and
thus you get 240V between them (used to feed your range, dryer, large
A/C unit, etc.)

The 120V outlets in your house are wired so that some are on one leg
of the supply, some on the other.  If you plug your intercom stations
into receptacles which are on opposite sides of the transformer, the
signal will be affected by the degree of coupling which exists between
the two sides.

If that same transformer feeds other nearby homes, then you may be
able to communicate between houses, but again the signal will be
affected by which side of the transformer you are connected to.  If
you got a poor signal from house to house, you may have found that it
would have improved if you'd plugged into a different outlet (on the
other leg).

John Hines wrote:

> My understanding is there are two different electrical systems in the
> world, the 220v version the rest of the world uses, and the 110v the
> US uses. In the rest of the world, a fairly large number of residences
> are run off a single transformer, where in the USofA, a much smaller
> number are run.

Yes, North America typically has single-phase transformers feeding
residential loads, each transformer providing power to a small number
of homes.

On this side of the Atlantic, the typical British system uses very
large 3-phase transformers, each providing power to a large number of
homes by way of a 3-phase 4-wire wye distribution network running at
240/415 volts.

Normal residential services are just tapped from the network as 2-wire
240V, houses being distributed between the phases as evenly as
possible, while commercial premises can take 3-phase 415V power from
the same transformer.  You can find smaller, single-phase pole
transformers serving a small group of houses in rural areas, but as
soon as you get anywhere with more than a couple of dozen homes
together you'll find the 3-phase 4-wire system in use.

In Continental Europe, it's quite normal to find 3-phase 4-wire
220/380-volt service to even quite small houses, In France they'll
even install 3-phase residential power that way with the main breaker
set for 15A maximum per phase!  Very strange.

Going back to Pat's wireless intercoms, you can find a similar
situation here in which you might not be able to get a good signal to
your next-door neighbors' house (different phase) but can to a house a
few doors away (same phase).

I remember a problem of this nature some years ago in which the owner
of a general store was trying to use a set of these intercoms to
communicate with his apartment above.  The signal was very noisy due
to the units being on different phases.  Fortunately, the store had a
3-phase supply and I was able to solve the problem by installing an
outlet for the intercom on the same phase as that used to feed the
apartment above.

> An electric wire can carry currents of different frequencies, so AC
> power current, DC power current as well audio frequency and radio
> frequency can be all carried on the same line.  For example, a RR line
> powered by AC has both the AC power (25 or 60 Hz) as well as the
> control signal (100 Hz and others) sharing the medium.  Some lines
> even have multiple power sources from a separate wire, such as DC via
> third rail.  There are "filters" (IIRC, "impedence bonds") that
> separate out the stuff.

The Victoria line of the London Underground (subway system), built in
the 1960s, was designed to run with automatic control right from the
start.  All the driver has to do is close the doors and push a pair of
"start" buttons when ready to leave the station, then the train runs
automatically, stopping and restarting at signals if necessary, and
coming to a stop at the next station.

The control is provided by safety codes modulated onto a 125Hz carrier
injected into the running rails, along with higher frequency signals
(up to about 20kHz) which control the actual application of power and
braking.

There's a good outline of the system on the "Tube Prune" website (go to
"Signalling Pages" then "Victoria Line ATO"):

http://www.trainweb.org/tubeprune

> I know that the third-rail seems like an awful way to transmit voice
> communications.  On the one occassion I had to see the CTA system in
> action, I called into the CTA main headquarters phone number (MOHawk
> 4-7200) and the operator switched me to a supervisor in one of the
> control towers several miles away for whom I had a question. The
> connection, frankly, was not all that good. Once I also called Grand
> Central Station in downtown Chicago to the Lost and Found; she
> switched me to the Lost and Found in Baltimore, OH, also via the
> trackside phone lines. That connection sounded pretty bad also. PAT]

These days the London Underground uses radio extensively, but for many
years it seems the only communication available was by a portable phone
kept in the cab.  A pair of bare wires a couple of inches apart run on
insulators along the tunnel walls.  These carry a low-voltage DC circuit
which serves a dual purpose.  By shorting the wires together a driver
can remotely open the breaker which feeds traction current to his
section of track.  He can then take his portable phone and clip it
across the wires to communicate with the control center.   Connecting
the phone trips the traction current off if that was not done already,
so clearly this was used only in emergencies.

The traction supply in the London system is interesting in itself,
being 630V DC arranged on TWO separate conductor rails (i.e. the
running rails are not used as the return).  You can see some pictures
of the layout on the link above.

-Paul.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for that good explanation. I
will tell you another example I found fascinating a few years ago.
I worked part time late evenings a couple nights per week for a 
department store in downtown Chicago. The building was closed at that
time of night except for me working in the one small office. When I
was ready to leave, I always had to turn the burglar alarm on and
put a wooden gate with wires on each end of it across the door to
the elevator after I boarded the elevator; i.e.  set the alarm,
within 15 seconds get on the elevator, insert the gate on the 
front of the elevator and leave the premises. One night it
malfuctioned; the alarm failed to 'set'; I had to call the alarm 
company to come out and correct it. The alarm company repairman came
out with tools and also with a headset. He clamped his headset onto 
the wires (which otherwise were not connected at the elevator without
the piece I put there upon leaving at night), he then diddled up some
code on the box I used to set the alarm, and presently was talking
over his headset to his office, wherever it was. I told him I thought
it was interesting that he was able to 'communicate by voice' over 
those wires which served as our burglar alarm system; he said it was
a routine thing whenever he went out to do repairs to systems like
ours around town. This alarm system came from the ADT Company, which
I think means 'American District Telegraph' or at least it did in the
olden days.   PAT]

------------------------------

From: Tony P. <kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net>
Subject: Re: United States Says No! Internet is Ours!
Organization: ATCC
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 07:16:17 -0400


In article <telecom24.456.6@telecom-digest.org>, george@m5p.com says...

> Kenneth P. Stox wrote:

>> Am I the only one who is ROFLMAO about this? There is nothing
>> preventing other nations and/or organizations from setting up their
>> own root servers. [...]

> Anybody who wants to can set up their own name servers, and they don't
> have to ever connect to the current root name servers.  But few people
> are inclined to do this.  Ninety-nine percent of users will simply
> configure their systems to use their ISP's name servers by virtue of
> doing nothing: DHCP, the same protocol by which they receive their IP
> address assignment, will also tell them the IP address(es) to use for
> domain name lookups.  Ninety-nine percent of ISPs will use the root
> name server hints which were packaged with their own name server setup
> packages, and guess where those hints will send domain name requests
> for the root zone?

Actually it's DNS that tells them. DHCP does nothing more than dish out 
an IP address and various routing information. 

> Various people have tried on more than one occasion to set up meaning-
> ful alternative root name servers.  None achieved wide acceptance, and
> no one I know of has even tried in the last five years.

I cache Cox's DNS servers on a box I own because quite frequently their 
DNS servers go belly up. 

------------------------------

Date: 7 Oct 2005 15:10:31 -0000
From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
Subject: Re: United States Says No! Internet is Ours!
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA


> Am I the only one who is ROFLMAO about this? There is nothing
> preventing other nations and/or organizations from setting up their
> own root servers. It amazes me how much press this issue has gotten
> recently.

Well, two things standing in the way are money and expertise.  Running
a real root server, as opposed to a toy one that only you and your
twelve best friends use, is a a significant operational challenge.  I
gather a typical root costs about a million bucks a year.

The other reason that nobody sets up new roots is that there is no
actual reason to do so.  For all that ICANN does a lousy job, the
roots work fine and nobody other than a few get rich quick artists and
foolish idealists want root domains other than the ones there already.

Of the new domains that have entered the roots in the past few years,
the only ones with enough registrations to be a financial success are
.INFO and .BIZ, cynical clones of .COM used almost entirely by people
whose information you don't want and with whom you do not want to do
business.  The .NAME domain, intended for personal domains, has a
modest number of registrants, largely in Europe, but I see them
loosening up their registration rules which tells me that they're
scrambling for registration dollars.  The rest, .MUSEUM, .AERO, .COOP,
and .PRO are failures used by almost nobody.  The three new ones
.JOBS, .TRAVEL, and .MOBI haven't been around long enough to fail, but
there's no reason to expect them to be any different.

R's,

John

------------------------------

From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: United States Says No! Internet is Ours!
Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2005 19:41:48 -0700
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com


Kenneth P. Stox wrote:

> Am I the only one who is ROFLMAO about this? There is nothing
> preventing other nations and/or organizations from setting up their
> own root servers

Except the fact that many Internet users' computers won't even
recognize them. Nameservers are hard-wired to look up TLDs and SLDs
using specific root servers, and for them to use other root servers
you're going to have to have a huge number of ISPs, etc., change
etheir NS configurations.

> It amazes me how much press this issue has gotten recently.

It shouldn't.


Steve Sobol, Professional Geek   888-480-4638   PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Company website: http://JustThe.net/
Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307

------------------------------

From: John McHarry <jmcharry@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: United States Says No! Internet is Ours!
Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2005 02:50:23 GMT
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net


On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 14:39:32 +0000, Kenneth P. Stox wrote:

> Am I the only one who is ROFLMAO about this? There is nothing
> preventing other nations and/or organizations from setting up their
> own root servers. It amazes me how much press this issue has gotten
> recently.

I think the problem with doing that is that the root servers hold a
database of top level domain servers. It doesn't change rapidly, but
it does change. Unless you could get a feed of the official file from
IANA, or a domain transfer (dump of the database) from one of the root
servers, you would slowly lose connectivity. If you did get either
sort of connectivity, I guess it wouldn't be that hard to to add or
subtract what you wanted from the official TLD list.

I think the real complaint is that IANA derives its authority from a
$0 contract with the US Department of Commerce, which, under certain
conditions, can veto changes in the database. ICANN and IETF are
probably also similarly tainted. Would we trust the British, or the
wily Canadians, with similar control over our vital infrastructure? I
think not.

We have had what are now called ITU-T and ITU-R for decades with
everyone being more or less comfortable. I see no particular harm in
an ITU-I, with the same bunch of propeller heads doing much the same
thing as they are doing now.

------------------------------

From: Dan <dan@nospam.com>
Subject: Re: Disaster Recovery in 1871
Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2005 10:37:22 -0500


On 10/6/2005 2:11 PM, Norm wrote:

> Nice item, thanks!  I've looked for something you posted a dozen years
> ago, that happened during the initial A- bomb testing, where they
> couldn't make phone calls and someone drove out and traced the
> telephone lines to the "central" office in a house and woke the
> operator.  Is that still around somewhere?  

> Thanks, 

> Norm

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The story goes like this ... in the
> early to middle 1960's I was employed as a telephone operator at the
> University of Chicago. I lived in an apartment hotel on East 56th
> Street, 56th and Hyde Park Blvd. to be precise. Another resident of
> the hotel was Mrs. Laura Fermi, widow of the late Enrico Fermi, of
> atomic bomb fame. Mrs. Fermi was a typical, 'well-to-do' widow. She,
> on various occassions 'invited' me, a Young Man to join her for dinner
> and cocktails at 'The Anchorage', the hotel's dining room and cocktail
> lounge. I almost always accepted her invitation. In those days, forty
> years ago, the Windermere Hotel (phone FAIrfax 4-6000) was not only a
> very good place for a Young Man to live, but the bar and restaurant
> was very 'cozy' also. Of course dinner and drinks were on her on-going
> always-open tab at the restaurant/bar/hotel. I understand now that
> maybe 20-25 years ago, UC bought the property and converted it into
> faculty housing. I understand the bar, restaurant, front lobby, etc
> have, like much of Hyde Park these days lost their luster, if in fact
> The Anchorage is even still open, which I sort of doubt. Anyway, this
> would have been in 1962-63 or thereabouts. Mrs. Fermi told me a very
> interesting story which I will relate to you. After I first related
> this here in the Digest, middle to late 1980's there were some readers
> who discredited it to varying degrees. The discredits ranged from
> polite attempts to set the record straight, to more crude replies
> about older ladies spending forty dollars (in 1960's money) to
> entertain and amuse a Young Man with food and drink for whatever
> reason, once or twice weekly.  Most readers did not discredit the
> account, nor me, nor Mrs. Fermi however. Certainly, as a telephone
> operator at a prestigious university, and a salary to match the
> cheap standards of UC (i.e. 'you should be glad to be allowed to
> work here, do not bother us asking for still more money') I certainly
> could not afford to eat/drink at The Anchorage, although I did live in 
> the building. The Hyde Park Coffee Shop up the street was more my
> speed. Anyway, Mrs. Fermi was good friends with Doctor and Mrs. Beadle,
> (in those days _he_ was president of UC) so it just seemed 'prudent'
> IMO, for this Young Man to do what was expected of him. 

> With this preamble in mind, Mrs. Fermi told me this acccount of the 
> closing days of World War II:

> "Enrico and several fellow employees in his lab were asked to go out
> to Alamagordo, NM, to monitor one of the test explosions. It was all
> very hush-hush, secrecy was still in effect and quite widely
> enforced. He took me along, and was to report to a certain place about
> forty miles out in the desert about 3 AM that day. We  checked into a
> motel outside Alamagordo, then drove out to the place where Encrico
> was to set up his observation equipment. As luck would have it, it
> started raining, a very hard drenching rain. We sat in the car and
> waited until the rain stopped, then he sat up his testing gear. The
> test explosion was to happen at 4 AM, but 4 AM came and went; no bomb
> test. 

> "Finally Enrico got to thinking it out and he said that maybe because
> of the heavy rain the test had been called off. He would need to check
> with the other scientists and see what was going on. He packed up all
> his equipment and we drove back toward Alamagordo. The only place that 
> was open at that time of night was the motel we were staying in, so he
> drove the car up and stopped next to the public phone in the parking
> lot.  He put a nickel in the phone and waited and waited and waited
> for an answer from the operator; which never happened. He finally
> slammed the phone down in disgust and said 'I am going to find out
> what is going on here.' We got back in the car, and starting from that
> payphone booth, he began driving slowly down the street, all the while
> stickihg his head out of the car window studying the overhead wires.
> We went down one street, then the wires turned another way and we
> started going down that street. I know why he put the nickle in the
> phone; all the scientists on this mission had agreed that if anything
> went wrong they would talk in code to each oher; him in Alamadordo,
> the other guys elsewhere. Anyway, driving down the street he suddenly
> saw what he was looking for; there was this one house and out of the
> sky from various directions came bunches of telephone wires; all the
> wires went in through a hole on the side of this lady's house. A bunch
> of wires as thick as your wrist; all came out of the sky from various
> directions and went into this house. 

> "It just looked like any regular house; but the front porch light was
> turned on, the front door was open but the screen door was latched. In
> the house itself sat a telephone switchboard, with bunches of lights
> blinking off and on. A radio was playing soft music in the background
> and there was a sofa nearby; stretched out on the sofa was a woman who
> was sound asleep.  

> "Enrico banged and pounded on the door for a couple minutes, then the
> lady must have woke up; she sat up sort of startled, looked over at
> Enrico by the door, then turned and looked at the switchboard all
> glowing with people waiting for service. She looked back at Enrico and
> literally jerked to her feet, stood up, walked over to the switchboard,
> sat down and began taking the calls as fast as she could. Enrico said
> to me as he got back in the car, let's go back to my observation
> point. And we drove out there right away; Enrico set up his test gear
> once again, and about eight or ten minutes after we got there, the
> test explosion went off. 

> "We found out later that all those guys had been trying to get in
> touch with one another since a few minutes after 4 AM, but the
> central swithboard for that area was going unanswered while this woman
> had her nap. I cannot blame her, really, yes, she should have been
> awake and alert, but given that she worked nights and had to sleep in
> the daytime, it was a 'mere' 115 degrees the day before, too hot to
> sleep during the day when she should have been, and then that night it
> rained, blessed cool air and she fell asleep. I doubt if on a typical
> night there were ever more than one or two calls through the board all
> night (there was a 'night bell' and a 'flashing light' which should
> have woken her up in those cases) but somehow they did not do so. 

> "I seriously doubt to this day that the lady knows the reason the
> atomic test explosion was delayed for an hour and fifteen minutes was
> because _she_ was asleep. Enrico said to me 'I am not going to tell on
> her and get her in trouble.' She looked to me like just a teenage girl
> anyway."

>  ----------------

> Now that was the story as told by Laura Fermi, eighteen years after it
> happened, and twenty-five years (my first relaying of it) after I
> heard it and now forty years (my second relaying of it.) Is it a true
> story or not?  Or was Mrs. Fermi a wee bit forgetful that night?  Or
> did I have too many shots of brandy or some other after-dinner liquor
> in me?      PAT] 

Why would she make up such a story?  What is interesting is 'what
would have happened if Fermi didn't get equipment deployed and
operational in time?'

Does anyone know if phone switch operators protested/picketed when 
auto-switches were being put is place?


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Indeed, in Chicago at least, there 
was a work stoppage by telephone operators over this very issue, in 
1954-55 in some of the non-automated (at that point in time) suburbs.
All that accomplished was to build the company's resolve to work 
harder and faster at getting those points automated as well. But Bell
did not lay off a _single worker_ (usually an operator) as a result 
of automation. They kept everyone around, and it was only through
attrition (people retiring, otherwise getting fired, etc and Bell
not hiring new workers) that things leveled off. There were a lot
of rumors in Chicago during the 1940's from operators saying that
'when the company is totally automated most of us wil be let go.'
That simply was not true and did not happen.  PAT]

------------------------------

From: anon1@sci.sci
Subject: Re: Life Beyond Earth
Date: Fri,  7 Oct 2005 10:41:48 -0700
Organization: UseNetServer.com


> Changes on the surface of the Jovian moons, by contrast, look far
> older, perhaps 100 million years or more.

It's my understanding that new cracks open on Europa almost daily, and
then the latest open crack extends continually for a major portion of
one orbital period around Jupiter. Thus at any time we choose, there
are changes on the surface of Europa less than a week old.

For more discussion on this topic, perhaps move to a more appropriate
newsgroup?  .

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2005 21:46:03 +0100
From: Paul Coxwell <paulcoxwell@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: Re: 2L-4N, 3L-4N, 2L-5N Numbering


> While this was going on, C&P Telephone converted the Washington DC
> area (including suburbs in Maryland and Virginia) from 2L-4D to
> 2L-5D.  An example that comes to mind: Bethesda's OLympic XXXX
> became OLympic 9-XXXX.

> That change really did create a mess in Washington, as contemporary
> commentators and cartoonists noted.  One memorable newspaper cartoon
> featured a telephone operator speaking with a customer, noting that
> "that number has been changed to (some NNX code)-OOU2."

The changes in numbering seem to have provided an outlet for humor in
many branches of the media at the time.

Near the beginning of the movie "Move Over Darling" (1963) there's a
wonderful scene in which Doris Day arrives back in America after being
marooned on a desert island for years.  She goes straight to a
coinphone on the dock, calls the operator and asks for a 2L-5N number
in Los Angeles.  There follows a wonderful exchange as the operator
corrects her by saying that's now a 7D number, she asks for that
number, the operator then says she can dial direct by first dialing
213 then the number etc.

I can't remember the title, but there was a British movie of the same
era which also made light of the changes here as direct long-distance
dialing was being implemented, introducing people to the pleasures of
dialing up to 10 digits in one go.  Somebody picks up phone, we see
him dial out about 15 or 16 digits, then hear him say "Operator?
Could you connect me with 25 please."

-Paul

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2005 17:48:13 -0300
From: Dave Hunter <dhunter@isn.net>
Subject: Re: Motorola Bag phone


Hi Steven:

Steven Lichter wrote:

> I have one of these.  Don't use it at all; it is not digital.

> Pretty good condition, no battery with it, just pugs in to lighter in a
> car.  It was on BellSouth Mobility, but with you try to use it it says
> it is not registered with Verizon.

> If someone wants to pay me to pack it up and ship it to them, let me
> know, I can send pictures if you like.

> The only good spammer is a dead one!!  Have you hunted one down today?
> (c) 2005  I Kill Spammers, Inc.  A Rot in Hell Co.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I certainly have the required power
> supply even though I do not have a car/cigarette lighter.  I wonder
> how it would work on Cingular Wireless here in Kansas?   PAT]

Probably way too late, but do you still have the bag phone, Steven?
I am looking for one for the museum display of cellphones ...

Dave

The Telephone on Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/phones.html

The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 08 Oct 2005 00:13:35 +0200
From: Daniel AJ Sokolov <sokolov@gmx.netnetnet.invalid>
Subject: Re: Vonage and the 500 Minute Plan


Am 07.10.2005 07:16 schrieb Henry Cabot Henhouse III:

> When I signed up with Vonage in December '03, I did the 500 minute
> plan, which was perfect.  I seem to recall that all local calls - in
> our case in Los Angeles within the 323 area code -- were included and
> did not eat up any of the 500 minutes.

> Last month was the first time we've ever exceeded 500 minutes -- most of 
> those for local 323 calls. I was charged for calls over and above my 500 
> minutes, the call detail shows local calls being billed at the 3.9c per 
> minute.

> I poked around the Vonage website and can't find any reference to
> local calls being included.  Does anyone know a site that may have the
> older Vonage website in storage?  An email to Customer Service
> resulted in a stock reply, pointing me to a bunch of faq's - none of
> which seem to answer my question.

Do you have the "Unlimited Local Plan" for 24.99? It includes unlimited
Local and Regional Calling plus 500 Long Distance minutes.

Take a look at this:
http://web.archive.org/web/20031201145749/http://vonage.com/

It is a snapshot from December 1st, 2003.

HTH

Daniel AJ


My e-mail-address is sokolov [at] gmx dot net

------------------------------


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