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TELECOM Digest     Thu, 10 Nov 2005 15:12:00 EST    Volume 24 : Issue 512

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    NASA Telescope Gets Image of Young Stars (Associated Press News Wire)
    European Space Agency Lauches Venus Probe (Melissa Eddy)
    Telephone History Enquiry: Earliest Pre-Pay Calls (John R. Covert)
    "Soft Dial Tone" on Unused Lines (Lisa Hancock)
    Yahoo! Drops Bid For AOL Stake (USTelecom dailyLead)
    Cellular-News for Thursday 10th November 2005 (Cellular-News)
    Dutch Trial SMS Disaster Alert System (Joseph)
    Re: Verizon Reduces Prices for Phone Service (Bruce K.)
    Re: Verizon Reduces Prices for Phone Service (Lisa Hancock)
    Re: Phishers Lure Google Users With Bogus Google Cash Prizes (S Lichter)
    Re: Good News, Linux Users! A Worm Just for You (ellis@no.spam)
    Re: NN0 Central Office Codes (Fred Goldstein)

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: Associated Press News Wire <ap@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: NASA Telescope Gets Image of Young Stars
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 22:26:00 -0600


A dazzling photo taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows
colossal pillars of cool gas and dust, giving scientists an intimate
look at the star-forming process.

The image released Wednesday shows the columns stretching out like
fingers similar to an iconic photo taken of the Eagle Nebula by the
Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. While the Hubble visible-light image
was dubbed "Pillars of Creation," NASA describes the Spitzer infrared
image as "cosmic mountains of creation."

The image reflects a region in space known as W5, in the constellation
Cassiopeia 7,000 light years away, which is dominated by a single
massive star.

The largest pillars -- formed by radiation and winds from hot, massive
stars -- contain hundreds of newborn stars.

"We believe that the star clusters lighting up the tips of the pillars
are essentially the offspring of the region's single, massive star,"
Lori Allen of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said in
a statement.

Spitzer was able to spy the stars being born inside the pillars
because of its infrared capability. A visible light telescope would
see the same region as dark columns outlined by specks of light.

Scientists believe the pillars eventually become dense enough to give
rise to a second generation of stars, which may in turn, trigger
successive generations.


On the Net:

Spitzer Space Telescope: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. 

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.

For additional news headlines from Associated Press, please go to:
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html

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

From: Melissa Eddy <ap@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: European Space Agency Launches Venus Probe
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 22:29:27 -0600


By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press Writer

A European spacecraft left Earth orbit Wednesday on a five-month, 220
million-mile journey to Venus, an exploratory mission that could help
spur a new space race.

The European Space Agency said the unmanned Venus Express lifted off
from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and mission control in
Darmstadt activated the probe's instruments and immediately picked up
a signal to hearty applause in the observation room.

The Europeans then received another signal -- a congratulatory note
from the Pasadena, Calif.,-based Planetary Society, which had
monitored the launch from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.

The $260 million spacecraft will take 163 days to get to Earth's
nearest planetary neighbor, where it will drop into orbit and explore
the hot, dense atmosphere of Venus.

"The mission is an outstanding success," Gaele Winters, director of
ESA's operations in Darmstadt, told reporters. "We had a perfect
launch, the instruments are switched on, the solar panels are
deployed, everything is working."

The Venus mission is the latest sign that competition in space is
heating up even as NASA is reassessing its own exploration plans.

NASA is cutting some of its programs to focus resources on developing
a replacement for the space shuttle.

The space shuttle Columbia tragedy in 2003 caused NASA to ground its
fleet for more than two years. Flights resumed in July with the
Discovery, but the dangerous loss of a chunk of its insulation during
launch has put future missions on hold until at least May, and
possibly even next summer. NASA plans 18 more shuttle flights to the
international space station and possibly one to the Hubble Space
Telescope before the fleet is retired in 2010.

"NASA has really dominated in planetary science and missions for the
last 40 years," having seen off the challenge from the former Soviet
Union, said Spas Baradash of the Swedish Institute of Space
Physics. "But now Europe is catching up."

Last month, two Chinese astronauts spent five days in orbit last month
on that country's second manned mission.

Japan and India also are ramping up their programs, and despite close
cooperation between scientists and agencies, "maybe we are witnessing
the beginning of a new space race," said Baradash, who worked on the
instruments aboard Venus Express.

David Southwood, ESA's scientific director, said the Venus mission
"once again illustrates Europe's determination to explore the
different bodies in our solar system."

European scientists plan to apply next month for funding for new ESA
missions to Mars and the moon.

Venus Express follows ESA's successful Mars Express, launched in
2003. It is Europe's first mission to Venus, which is sometimes
visible at sunrise or sunset along the horizon.

The Venus mission aims to explore the planet's atmosphere,
concentrating on its greenhouse effect and the hurricane force winds
that constantly encircle it at high altitudes.

There have been roughly 20 U.S. and Soviet missions to Venus since the
1960s, the last being NASA's Magellan, which completed more than
15,000 orbits between 1990 and 1994. Using radar, Magellan mapped
virtually its entire surface, revealing towering volcanoes, gigantic
rifts and crisp-edged craters.

The Venus Express' seven instruments, including a special camera as
well as a spectrometer to measure temperatures and analyze the
atmosphere, will try to determine whether the planet's volcanoes are
active. It also will examine how a world so similar to Earth could
have evolved so differently.

"Venus is still a big mystery," said Gerhard Schwehm, head of
planetary missions at ESA.

In the next three days, mission controllers will continue testing the
probe's instruments. It is expected to reach Venus in April, when it
will slow down to enter the planet's orbit. It will begin the initial
stages of gathering data in June.

"We hope to see the first results in early July," said Schwehm, adding
that the probe will remain active for more than a year.

Venus and Earth are alike in that they share similar mass and
density. Both have inner cores of rock and are believed to have been
formed at roughly the same time.

However, they have vastly different atmospheres, with Venus' composed
almost entirely of carbon dioxide and very little water vapor. It also
has the hottest surface of all the planets in the solar system.

Associated Press Writer Stephen Graham contributed to this report from
Berlin.

On the Net:
http://www.esa.int

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

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.

More Associated Press reports available at:
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html

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

Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 09:38:54 EST
From: John R. Covert <nospamtd@covert.org>
Subject: Telephone History Enquiry: Earliest Pre-Pay Calls


Telephone History Buffs:

I'm looking for information on early pre-pay systems that did not
require special telephones.  To be relevant to my search, the pre-pay
system would need to:

1. Have been implemented before 1987.
2. Have documentation that we could find today.
3. Not require special telephone stations.

An example of a system which might meet these requirements would be a
company which would provide telephone calls for me on the basis of my
depositing money into an account with them; I would then call their
telephone number and they would then extend calls for me only until
that credit was used up; terminating the call when the there was no
more money, and requiring me to replenish my account before further
calls could be made.

Yes, this is common today with the plethora of pre-pay calling cards.
I'm looking for the first instance of such a thing, even if fully
manual in terms of operation.  To be relevant, it must have been in
use (and verifiably so) prior to 1987.

My search of the archives so far has not returned anything; we weren't
talking about such things in the early 1980s.  Back then we thought
that the introduction by the Bell System of the first dial-it-yourself
calling card system in early 1982 was cool (ref my own article in the
digest 21 Jan 1982 1035).  Prepay doesn't seem to have been needed
back then since almost anyone could get the pay-when-the-bill-comes
type of calling card.  People must have been more obvious, or more of
the cost of fraud was built into the cost we all paid for calls.  And
resellers of telephone service were few and far between.

Regards/john

TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  For those readers who may have missed
the issue of the Digest from almost 24 years ago -- January 21, 1982 --
the pertinent message from John Covert, another long time, charter
subscriber to this Digest, is excerpted here. Prior to using '@' as
the middle character in our email addresses and using a domain suffix
such as '.org' or '.com' we simply concluded with the site name. _Do
not_ use the address shown below to reach Mr. Covert now.  PAT]


  Date: 21 Jan 1982 1035-EST
  From: John R. Covert <RSX-DEV at DEC-MARLBORO>
  Subject: Dial-it-yourself telephone Calling Card service

  I was using the new Dial-it-yourself credit card service on our
  Denver FX last night.  It is really well done.  In a previous
  message I described the operation of the service.  That demon-
  stration was before the service was put into actual use.

  When your call goes into TSPS, you will hear a new tone, which
  is the DTMF "#" key immediately followed by a very brief and
  fading dial tone.  During the pre-service demonstration, you
  then got a recorded voice asking you to enter your Calling
  Card number.  It seems that in actual implementation, that
  message does not occur.  You have to simply know that if you
  hear the new tone to enter your card.  If you don't, or if
  you dial "0", you will go to an operator.

  If you want to call the number to which the credit card is
  issued, you need dial only the last four digits of the credit
  card.  This is the reason RAOs beginning with "0" will appear
  on calling cards beginning with "6" now.

  If there is no answer, or after the person you call hangs up,
  you may dial a "#", and you will be told, "You may dial another
  number now."  At this point you may dial either 0+Number or 
  just Number with the same result.  1+Number is illegal.  Likewise,
  you may dial 01+ overseas number, but not 011+ overseas number.

  In no case do you get an actual operator through this procedure,
  although I have heard that there may be a change to the procedure
  to allow you to dial you calling card and still get an operator
  for person-to-person calls.  Surprising, though.  They'd like to
  make person-to-person go away.  This may have been a false story.

  The rates for using this will, like all phone rates, be regulated by
  state authorities for instate use and by the FCC for interstate use.
  In a few states, Bell has already filed special credit card rates.
  For example, in Massachusetts, you get the DDD rate for credit card
  calls (regardless of whether it is operator keyed or dialed yourself)
  but you pay a $0.45 credit card billing charge.  From messages in this
  digest, I presume that North Carolina has done the same thing.  Other
  states may have as well.

  In a previous message to this digest, I explained that I have a copy
  of an "illustrative" tariff which shows a significant re-vamping of
  charges for INTERstate calls.  In this tariff, there is a service
  called "Customer Dialed Calling Card, Station" which is the DDD
  rate plus $0.50.  The next line lists "Operator-Station" as the
  DDD rate plus mileage-based service charges.  The final line lists
  "Operator-Person-to-Person" as the DDD rate plus $3.00.

  This tariff is not yet approved.  It seems unfair for me to have
  to pay more to use my calling card simply because some pay-phone
  at some airport in some small town doesn't have Touch-Tone.  The
  instate tariffs I have seen so far seem to take that into account;
  the "illustrative" tariff for interstate calls doesn't.

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


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A quarter-century ago, Mr. Covert was
an active participant in this Digest.    PAT]

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: "Soft Dial Tone" on Uuused lines
Date: 10 Nov 2005 06:56:47 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Some other posters mentioned that an unused land phone line may still
offer dial tone to provide for emergency 911 service.  Is this a
recent offering?

The phone boxes within my apt have a forest of wires, it appears about
six pairs.  It's been a while since I tested them, but other than the
ones I use the lines are dead.  They may not be physically connected
within the master jct box outside.

Cell phones purchased at a flea market have that capability, I believe
that was mandated by law a few years ago.  I keep such a phone in my
car glove box (with an power adapter) in case of emergency since I
don't carry my real cell with me that often.

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

Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 12:39:51 EST
From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: Yahoo! Drops Bid For AOL Stake


USTelecom dailyLead
November 10, 2005
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/xPfgatagCxclqFaevF

		TODAY'S HEADLINES
	
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Yahoo! drops bid for AOL stake
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Analysis: RIM settlement looks likely
* Calix acquires OSI
* Marriage of music, mobile phones off to rocky start in U.S.
* Cisco, NTT report earnings
USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT
* Telecom Crash Course -- The must-have book for telecom professionals
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
* Intel bullish on WiMAX
* Nortel teams with partners on IPTV solution
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* Bush nominates Tate for FCC; backs new term for Copps
* House lawmakers move forward on telecom bill
EDITOR'S NOTE
* The dailyLead will not be published Friday

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

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

Subject: Cellular-News for Thursday 10th November 2005
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 07:51:02 -0600
From: Cellular-News <dailydigest@cellular-news-mail.com>


Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com

US Messaging Market Set for Rapid Growth - report
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14765.php

Wireless messaging revenue in the USA increased by 106% in 2004 and is
expected to continue to grow strongly over the next five years from
its current low base, according to a new report published by
Analysys. In 2004, wireless data accounted for jus...

Verizon Wireless Stops Information Theft - Again
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14764.php

Verizon Wireless has filed suit and obtained an immediate injunction
against a Florida-based private investigative agency and its
affiliates to stop their attempts to fraudulently obtain confidential
information about Verizon Wireless customers. The ...

USA Networks Set Adult Content Control Rules
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14763.php

The USA's Wireless Association, in partnership with leading carriers,
has unveiled a set of voluntary guidelines to proactively provide
tools and controls to manage wireless content offered by the carriers
or available via Internet-enabled wireless d...

Five New Phones from Samsung
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14762.php

Samsung is launching five new mobile phones for the European
market. The average thickness of the newly unveiled phones are under
15mm and offer the latest multimedia features, such as music playback
capability, megapixel camera and Bluetooth connect...

Wireless Operators Not Doing Enough to Sell Mobile Data
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14761.php

Pyramid Research says that it estimates that 42% of the roughly 1.05bn
new mobile subscribers over the next five years will come from the
BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China. According to a
recent study, 20% to 50% of mobile subscribers ...

Econet Granted Leave to Seek Arbitration in Legal Battle
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14760.php

Nigeria's Econet Wireless has been granted court permission to launch
two additional arbitration applications against two other shareholders
in Vee Mobile Networks of Nigeria for their failure to buy and sell
shares in the company without following l...

Record GSM Subscriber Additions in India
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14759.php

India's COAI has again reported a record subscriber growth of more
than 2 million subscribers during the month of October'05 ? the
highest subscriber additions (2.11 million) since inception of
service. The cumulative GSM subscriber base grew to 52....

New Billing Contract in the Cayman Islands
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14758.php

Cerillion Technologies has announced a new contract to supply
caymanone with a complete CRM and billing solution for their telecom
network in the Cayman Islands. Cerillion will deliver a complete
turnkey solution, implementing the Revenue Manager, CR...

FOCUS: Russian police raids fail to cut illegal handset imports
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14757.php

[Premium] The raids against illegal imports of mobile handsets
undertaken by the Russian police and the Federal Customs Service in
August have failed to make the market transparent and cut illegal
handset imports, industry representatives said adding that the ...

Ukraine's UMC mobile subscriber base up to 11.49 mln Oct 30 
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14756.php

The total subscriber base of Ukraine's Mobile Communications, or UMC,
Ukraine'slargest mobile phone operator, rose 5.3% on the month to
11.490 million subscribers as of October 31, UMC said. ...

Caudwell Group Invites Offers For Caudwell Holdings
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14755.php

Caudwell Group said Wednesday that it decided to invite offers for
100% of Caudwell Holdings Limited and has decided to delay any final
decision in respect of the proposed sale of Caudwell Communications,
the fixed line telephony business of the Caud...

INTERVIEW:Qualcomm President -Royalty Model Aids Competition
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14754.php

[Premium] The licensing model at the heart of a European Union
investigation into Qualcomm Inc.'s royalty payments stimulates rather
than stifles competition in the mobile handset market, according to
Steve Altman, the company's president. ...

Judge To Review RIM-NTP Settlement
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14753.php

he ongoing patent dispute between Research In Motion Ltd. and NTP
Inc. took another turn Wednesday, when a federal judge said he would
review the disputed $450 million settlement between the companies. ...

China's Huawei also gets VimpelCom's offer on URS deal
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14752.php

China's telecommunications equipment producer Huawei has received an
offer from Russia's second-largest mobile operator
VimpelCom, which would help the Russian mobile operator enter the
Ukrainian market by purchasing Ukrainian Radiosystems mobile o...

Number of Mobile Users Almost Doubles in Uzbekistan This Year
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14751.php

The number of mobile telecommunication subscribers almost doubled in
Uzbekistan since January 1 to over 1 million users as of now,
Uzbektelecom, Uzbekistan's national telecommunications company, said
Wednesday. ...

Deutsche Telekom Swings To Profit, But Outlook Weighs
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14750.php

Deutsche Telecom AG, Europe's largest phone company, said Wednesday it
swung to a profit after adding large numbers of wireless customers in
the U.S. ...

TeliaSonera Continues Integrating Mobile, IP Telephony
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14749.php

Swedish telecommunications company TeliaSonera AB Wednesday said it
continues with the initiatives in integrating fixed and mobile
telephony and will now conduct a technical trial of the Unlicensed
Mobile Access technology which permits the use of on...

Taiwan Chunghwa Telecom Lowers Call Costs
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14748.php

Chunghwa Telecom Co. said Wednesday it will cut the fees it charges
for mobile-to-fixed line services by an average of 7% effective
Dec. 1, a move it doesn't expect to affect revenue much. ...

Ericsson, TeliaSonera In Joint Trial Of UMA
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14747.php

Swedish telecommunications equipment maker Telefon AB LM Ericsson
Wednesday said that together with Nordic operator TeliaSonera AB it
will conduct a joint trial of Mobile@Home, Ericsson's solution for
Unlicensed Mobile Access, or UMA, which permits t...

SK Telecom To Invest In Vietnam Wireless Joint Venture
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14746.php

SK Telecom Co. said Wednesday it plans to invest up to $280 million in
a wireless joint venture that offers mobile services in Vietnam. ...

Swisscom Confirms Talks With Eircom
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14745.php

Swiss telecommunications company Swisscom AG Wednesday confirmed it
was in talks with Eircom Group PLC about a potential takeover. ...

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

From: Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Dutch Trial SMS Disaster Alert System
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:13:43 -0800
Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com


By Julie Clothier for CNN

Using text messaging to warn people they are in danger is quick and
easy, says the Dutch government.

(CNN) -- The Dutch government is testing a mobile phone danger alert
system that sends text messages to people who could be affected by
natural disasters or terrorist attacks.

The system, called Cell Broadcast, uses GSM technology to identify
cell phone users in a particular area.

If a disaster occurs, a message is sent to all phones in the area,
warning of the danger.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/11/09/dutch.disaster.warning/index.html

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

From: Bruce K. <bruceaknospam@optonline.net>
Subject: Re: Verizon Reduces Prices for Phone Service
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 07:18:24 -0500
Organization: Optimum Online


Called Verizon Wednesday. Rep told me I was the first customer to make
request to her.  She then reduced my bill by $15.00.

Bruce


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Verizon is not (thank God!) SBC but I
do suggest you make certain the credit is permanent and that it
'sticks' in the computer system.  PAT]

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Verizon Reduces Prices for Phone Service
Date: 10 Nov 2005 09:52:14 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Lena wrote:

> (Heck, my bank was advertising free online billpaying for the past six
> months, and the website still indicated it cost $6.95 per month until
> I emailed them about the discrepancy).

Sadly, these ad discrepancies are a big part of the world we live in
today.  Companies are so big and far flung that often the right-hand
doesn't know what the left-hand is doing.

Further, many of the ad campaigns are run by extra aggressive
marketing and advertising units which are not in touch with the rest
of the company, indeed, often are not even part of the company but
just a hired consultant.  Try calling one of the promotional 800
numbers and tell them you have two-party service or a 'local battery
line' and if you can still ger DSL and they'll say "sure you can,
that's not a problem".  They're just a bunch of boiler room serfs
under heavy pressure to sign up as many names as possible.  This isn't
just the phone companies, but big banks, department stores, even
hospitals.

> Verizon won't entice me back until they drastically drop the cost of
> their unlimited local calling, included caller id and call waiting, and
> add a very low rate long distance plan.  I just don't use enough LD to
> pay a fixed amount per month for unlimited LD calls.

Everybody's situation is different.

For myself, I found it cost effective to switch to unlimited LD.  The
reason was that while I make extremely few traditional "long distance"
calls, I make a lot of local toll calls.  Local toll rates are high as
is unlimited regional local service (which is what I had before).
Upgrading to unlimited national LD from regional LD is only a few
bucks more.

In the old days of the Bell System short distance toll calls were very
cheap, only a few cents per minute.  But after divesture every toll
call, whether 10 miles or 1,000 miles away became the same rate.  For
myself, I was paying EIGHT times as much for my LD calling.  So much
for divesture saving us ordinary consumers money.

I think the new era phone companies new most subscribers area of
interest was regional toll calls, not 1,000 long distance.  Thus, it
was profitable for them to lower the price of 3,000 mile calls while
steeply increasing 10 mile calls.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: ... Two questions you may wish to ask
> the rep on a subsequent phone call: (1) is this new rate a
> promotional thing for new/returning subscribers only and if so (2)
> how many months is it good for? Is any contract required, and if so,
> for how long?

Very good and important questions to ask.  A common practice today is
to have promotional plans to lock you in, than later discretely
steeply jack up the cost of service.  Most consumers will be lazy and
do nothing and keep the service.  Another practice, esp in long
distance, was to discontinue a plan and revert to higher a la carte
pricing.  A third practice was to add a service charge on top of
actual usage charges.  I avoided many LD plans that add a $5/month
service charge since that $5 far outweighed any savings from the plan.

I will note that my Verizon LD plan has been fixed and trouble free
since I got it.  Having unlimited service does make it more pleasant
to chat on the phone without worrying about the meter running or
wasting calls to someone's machine and playing phone tag.

> regarding a 'tie-in' to DSL service where you must take the one to get
> the other

My LD plan has no tie-in to DSL.  However, getting DSL does have
tie-ins to other services.  One must be careful ordering DSL, although
users I've spoken to are very happy with it.  I'll probably go that
way when I get a new computer than can handle the speed.

> not at all very politic but interesting none the less: telco is
> _supposed to be_ a common carrier utility operated at cost. Did the
> operating costs suddenly make it feasable to offer this 'reduced
> rate' now; if it was feasable earlier, _why wasn't it offered
> earlier_?

It has been fairly recent that the local telcos have been allowed to
offer their own long distance service and bundle it with other
offerings.

Many parts of telephone service are no longer offered as "common
carrier" status, that is, they have been deregulated.  I think
nowadays basically the local dial-tone line is all that's left of
common carrier regulated status, everything else is optional and
unregulated.  The phone co can thus introduce or withdraw services and
pricing as it sees fit.  I pay a single phone bill to Verizon, but on
the fine print (literally) of the bill are a variety of Verizon
subsidiary companies offering various services to me, all bundled
together.

If I fail to pay my phone bill, Verizon can shut off instantly any of
the optional services.  However, it must follow PUC procedures for
protecting local service.  The bill includes a complex matrix of
charge and payment allocation.

That's really only the fair to go nowadays since the competition has
the ability to market as it chooses, so the local Baby Bell should be
able to do the same.

Those who advocated free market competition in telephone service had a
false idea that prices would be the lowest possible.  That is not how
it works in other businesses.  Every business has some high profit
items and low-profit items for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes it's
more profitable for a business to charge a high markup and sell low
volume.

The sad fact is that our telephone companies, once proudly quite staid
and proper, are now as slippery as the guy in the loud plaid jacket at
the used-car lot down the street.  In the old days, when Ernestine
quoted you $4.65 for local service, that is what it cost you.  Today
the quotes are meaningless with all the extra "FCC Line Cost", "Deaf
Relay Service", "911 Fee", "Porta number fee", "Help the Martian
settlers fee", etc.

I know others steadfastly maintain long distance rates are lower on
account of competition.  However I maintain it is technology.  Cheap
switchgear and fibre channels are a world of difference to what AT&T
had to do to offer long distance 30 years ago.  Rates were dropping
long before divesture came along.  Further, many toll call services,
such as collect and pay phone, have gone up dramatically.  Remember
that the same technology that allows you to buy a computer for $500
that once not long ago cost $10,000 applies to telco equipment as
well.

[public replies please]

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

From: Steven Lichter <shlichter@diespammers.com>
Reply-To: Die@spammers.com
Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc.  (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co.
Subject: Re: Phishers Lure Google Users With Bogus Google Cash Prizes
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:55:27 GMT


Jay Wrolstad wrote:

> Jay Wrolstad, newsfactor.com

> An online scam offering the lure of free money through a bogus Google
> Web site has been uncovered by security company Websense, which
> reported that the site was shut down about 30 hours after it was first
> discovered on Monday.

> The phishing attack employed a page that closely resembled the real
> Google home page, with a banner message claiming "You won $400.00!"

> Users were instructed to collect their prize money by transferring it
> to a credit card. To do so, they were asked to provide their account
> numbers.  They also were asked to provide their home addresses and
> phone numbers.

> After the sensitive personal information was collected, users were
> redirected to Google's legitimate Web site. The phishing site was
> hosted in the U.S., Websense said.

> Direct Approach

> "This is a little different than other phishing attacks in that it
> attempted to entice people into divulging their credentials and using
> the Google name, as opposed to attacks that target banks or e-commerce
> sites," said Dan Hubbard, senior director of security research at
> Websense.

> This particular phishing site did host other attacks targeting
> financial institutions, he added, noting that the approach taken by
> these criminals was fairly rudimentary when compared with attacks that
> use a Trojan horse or log a user's keystrokes.

> Attacks on the Rise

> And the Google mimicry reflects a disturbing trend. A recent Gartner
> survey showed that phishing attacks grew at double-digit rates last
> year in the U.S. 

> In the 12 months ending in May 2005, some 73 million U.S. Internet
> users said they received an average of more than 50 phishing e-mails
> in the prior year; some users reported a dozen or more daily. 

> And an estimated 2.4 million online consumers report losing money
> directly because of the phishing attacks. Of these, approximately 1.2
> million consumers lost $929 million during the year preceding the
> survey, Gartner reported.

> "The standard security rules apply in protecting yourself from a
> phishing attack," said Hubbard. "Don't click on links in e-mail
> messages, type in the address of a bank yourself, run the latest
> antivirus software, and obtain the latest security patches."

> "And," Hubbard noted, "you can assume that anyone offering you some
> sum of money on the net is most likely just a crook."

> Copyright 2005 NewsFactor Network, 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.

I think when these people are cought, they should just shoot them
right on the spot, after a few public shootings then they will all get
the idea!!!!

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

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

From: ellis@no.spam
Subject: Re: Good News, Linux Users! A Worm Just for You
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 01:51:47 -0000
Organization: S.P.C.A.A.


In article <telecom24.508.3@telecom-digest.org>, Nancy Weil
<idg@telecom-digest.org> wrote:

> Linux users should update antivirus software 

No, Linux users should intall the PHP updates that fix the XML-RPC
problem.

http://www.spinics.net/linux/

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

Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2005 22:59:10 -0500
From: Fred Goldstein <SeeSigForEmail@wn6.wn.net>
Subject: Re: NN0 Central Office Codes


On Wed, 9 Nov 2005 19:24:39 UTC, wollman@khavrinen.csail.mit.edu 
(Garrett Wollman) wrote,

>> If there was ever an Allston CO, it was gone many years ago.

> I don't think so.  It's located on the short diagonal street behind
> the gas station at the corner of Western and Harvard.  Now it's
> probably just a remote wirecenter on the Brighton CO.

That would probably be Spurr St., behind the Gulf.  City on-line tax
records show the entire triangular mini-block to belong to Cumberland
Farms (which runs Gulf stations), while Harvard owns the other side of
the street. No land nearby appear to belong to Verizon (under any of
its names).  It is possible, though, that they have a hut there,
something that is not classified as a wire center, on rented land.
(The LERG shows no switches in Allston.)  They might, for instance,
have a Digital Loop Carrier.  But the nearby Soldiers Field Park
apartment complex, while in North Allston, has Harvard extensions
(617-498).  

Nearby buildings on Western also have Cambridge numbers.  Perhaps it's
a Cambridge DLC, though being so close to the Cambridge-Ware St. CO,
I'd be a little surprised they'd use one.  Also it would be right on
the rate center boundary, a strange place for a DLC.  In any case, all
of Verizon's Brighton prefix codes are homed on the Brighton (Wirt
St.) switch.

> (When I lived in Brighton, I also had an ASPinwall (617-277) number
> and Brookline ZIP code.  This did not result in lower insurance rates;
> the insurance companies have maps that show where the town line lies
>  -- as do the city and town parking offices.  The other important
> Brookline exchange you didn't mention was BEAcon (617-232).)

Funny; when I moved my car registration to Massachusetts in 1978, I
gave my "Brookline 02146" postal address for my Brighton apartment,
and got the Brookline rate.  It was all on ZIP code; different Boston
ZIPs got different rates, almost always higher than anyplace else in
the state.  I wonder if they changed that rule.  Thanks for pointing
out BEAcon; I knew I was forgetting at least one.

>> The 617-931 choke exchange is listed in the LERG to the Cambridge 02T
>> tandem, a DMS-200.  It's one of two tandems in VZ's 210 Bent St. CO
>> (the other is a 5E; a 4E next door, at 250, has been
>> decommissioned).  If MIT still gets its dial tone from VZ, it comes
>> out of Bent St.

> MIT has its own 5ESS and has for a long time (it was one of the first
> 5E's sold to a non-telco customer).  There's a project on now to
> figure out what to do about it before it comes up for renewal next in
> a few years' time.

Yes, the MIT 5E was installed as a PBX, when there were not a lot of
alternatives for that range (basically just the DMS-100, which as a
PBX was called an SL-100 at the time).  It must be about 20 years old.
The 5E is still technically a current product, though MIT's may be an
obsolete variant.  Still, newer stuff is a LOT cheaper to buy AND
operate -- smaller, less power consumption, easier, lower software
fees.  What can touch the 5E's end user friendliness is an interesting
question, though. For all of its benefits, though, the 5E can't touch
the old Dorm Line Strowgers for the hands-on experience. ;-)
  
Fred Goldstein    k1io  fgoldstein "at" ionary.com
  ionary Consulting       http://www.ionary.com/

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


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