TELECOM Digest     Mon, 5 Dec 2005 00:17:00 EST    Volume 24 : Issue 548

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Theaters Agree to Help Visually, Aurally Handicapped Users (Mike Gormley)
    Engineered Blankets Reach Disaster Victims (Bruce Smith)
    Madison Avene Faces Google Fears (Eric Auchard)
    Comcast Plans 6% Rate Hike / Increase Comes as Phone Firms (Monty Solomon)
    The Globe's Future in WiFi (Monty Solomon)
    Re: Who Owns the Music? (DevilsPGD)
    Re: Voicepulse Owns Your Number (DevilsPGD)
    Re: Sprint PCS Handset Updates (Steve Sobol)
    Re: Satellite GPS Can Locate Wireless Phones Within 15 Feet (ptownson)

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: Michael Gormley  <ap@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Theaters Agree to Help Visually, Aurally Handicapped People at Movies
Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 21:41:36 -0600


By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press Writer

Did you catch the new movie that everyone's talking about at school
and at work?

If you're visually or hearing impaired, there's a good chance you couldn't.
But that's slowly changing.

Nationwide, more than 150 movie theaters have added special systems to help
the deaf, hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired, according to the
nonprofit National Center for Accessible Media.

Most of those theaters are in major cities that made the move voluntarily,
but states are now putting pressure on theater chains to spread the
technology much farther or risk discrimination lawsuits.

In New Jersey, four movie theater chains agreed under pressure last year to
install deaf-captioning technology in theaters statewide. The attorney
general filed a discrimination complaint against a fifth chain that didn't
go along.

A similar deal being announced in New York on Monday involves eight national
theater chains. The chains agreed to implement technology to help the
visually and hearing impaired enjoy movies in 140 theaters across the New
York state - up from about a dozen now.

"Movies are an important part of popular culture," said New York Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer. "Every adult and child should be able to enjoy a film
with family and friends, especially during the holiday season."

Like those in the New Jersey agreement, the New York theaters will add Rear
Window captioning, in which hearing disabled customers can use an acrylic
panel to read captioning projected from the back of the theater.

They also will provide listening devices more compatible with hearing aids;
most headsets used now for the disabled only amplify a movie's soundtrack.

Thirty-eight of the New York theaters will provide on-screen captioning of
some movies and headsets that offer descriptive narration of films under the
deal.

Representatives of Loews Entertainment Cineplex, AMC Entertainment and Regal
Entertainment Group, three of the largest chains, didn't immediately respond
to requests for comment. Email and phone messages left Friday were not
returned by the others. In addition to Loews, AMC and Regal, the deal was
agreed to by Carmike Cinemas, Clearview Cinemas, Dipson Theatres, National
Amusements and Zurich Cinemas.

The American Foundation for the Blind said the measures are good for
everyone involved - by making theaters accessible, more customers will come.

"It's not only seeing it, it's understanding it," said Joseph Gordon of Self
Help for Hard of Hearing People in New York City. He said people with even
moderate hearing difficulties have trouble distinguishing between words like
"tomato" and "potato."

"I think it's an extremely isolating factor," Gordon said. He said 2 million
New Yorkers have hearing difficulties.

Spitzer, who is running for governor in 2006, said he started negotiating
with the theater chains after receiving complaints from disabled New
Yorkers.

The complaints appeared to show potential violations of state and federal
laws against discrimination against disabled people, said Dennis Parker,
chief of the attorney general's Civil Rights Bureau.

"It's not just being able to see a movie," Parker said. "It's the social
situations ... the talk around the water cooler, and kids' conversations
about movie openings."

On the Net:

New York attorney general: http://www.oag.state.ny.us

National Center for Accessible Media:
http://ncam.wgbh.org/mopix/nowshowing.html

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 more Associated Press headlines go to:
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/TDNewsradio.html

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

From: Bruce Smith <ap@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Engineered Blankets Reach Disaster Victims
Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 21:43:55 -0600


By BRUCE SMITH, Associated Press Writer

A lightweight, non-woven blanket engineered by a South Carolina
company is keeping disaster victims dry and warm from the Gulf Coast
to the mountains of Pakistan to the tsunami-ravaged areas of Southeast
Asia.

The blanket developed by the Polymer Group Inc. is warmer than
traditional blankets woven of cotton or wool. One side is soft and
provides comfort next to the body; the other has a backing to provide
a barrier from moisture, dirt and debris.

Unlike other blankets, the "All Day, Every Day" blanket sheds water so
it dries more quickly and needs less water to clean, an important
feature in disaster areas.

"These people are typically out of their homes and are sitting on the
ground in an open environment," said Cliff Bridges, a spokesman for
the company's Chicopee division, which makes the blankets. "The last
thing you want to do is wrap yourself in a product that is going to
hold water because water is probably the biggest vector of bacteria
and fungus, which can cause disease."

Polymer Group is among the world's largest manufacturers of non-woven
materials used in everything from baby wipes to packaging materials.

It had about $850 million in sales last year, operates 21 plants in 10
countries and employs 3,200, according to the corporate Web site.

Polymer Group was developing a blanket for emergency medical use when
Church World Service asked whether the company could develop a
covering that could be used in disasters in tropical areas.

Polymer worked for several months with Church World Service, a relief
ministry of 36 denominations, said Rick Augsburger, the agency's
deputy director.

"We feel what we have come up with is an extremely useful and
versatile blanket that provides great comfort to people who have lost
everything," he said.

Over six decades, the agency has shipped millions of blankets to
disaster areas worldwide where a simple blanket is important.

"It's protection," Augsburger said. "It's heat and warmth, and it's
also a comfort."

Because Polymer's blanket is about a third the weight of a traditional
wool blanket, relief agencies can ship more for the same cost.

The company was working on that blanket about the time of last year's
massive tsunami, and thousands were shipped to Southeast Asia and
again to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. The new coverings
were distributed to people evacuated to the Astrodome in Houston.

The Polymer Group itself has donated tens of thousands of the
blankets, which are not for sale to the general public.

"We're at the point now where we're trying to produce as much of this
as we can," said James Schaeffer, the company's chief executive
officer. "We would have donated more to Pakistan, but we didn't have
more on hand. We shipped most to the tsunami and Katrina."

The company is developing a new blanket with a thin coating of
aluminum applied to the backing.

The coating reflects the sun's ultraviolet rays, keeping disaster
victims cooler in warm weather. Earthquake victims on a cold mountain
side can reverse the blanket so the coating acts as an insulator,
retaining body heat. A disposable heating pad can be used for more
warmth, Bridges said.

Those blankets are not yet available, but next year Polymer will
unveil them at trade shows in the United States and Europe. The
company has not announced a price.

Schaeffer said the company is planning how many of the blankets it
will produce next year. If next year is like this one, the demand will
be high.

"It's been an unprecedented year of need," Bridges said.


On the Net:

Polymer Group Inc.: http://www.polymergroupinc.com/
Church World Service: http://www.churchworldservice.org/

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.

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

From: Eric Auchard <reuters@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Madison Avenue Faces Google Fears
Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 21:45:11 -0600


By Eric Auchard

Google Inc.'s search for revenue beyond its wildly popular pay-per-
click advertising system has everyone from publishers to phone
companies unnerved by the seemingly endless scope of the Web leader's
ambitions.

Nowhere is this more closely felt than Madison Avenue, where the
advertising industry sees Google encroaching on turf ad agencies and
media buyers have considered their own for much of the past century.

Seeking to diversify its revenue base, Google has begun offering
advertisers a set of free marketing analysis tools to help customers
boost how much they spend on text ads carried by Google.com or
affiliated sites. It is selling ads in print publications and expected
to move into branded, graphical ads.

These moves, which some see as competing with systems offered by
independent companies and ad agencies themselves, has provoked
grumbling among many in the advertising industry.

"There is an inherent conflict of interest there," said Brian
McAndrews, chief executive of aQuantive Inc., a company that is both a
big buyer and reseller of Google advertising but also a rival supplier
of ad measurement tools.

"Am I going to use Google to measure my search results on Microsoft
and Yahoo? Am I going to use Google to measure my advertising results
on ESPN?"  McAndrews asked rhetorically during the Reuters Media and
Advertising Summit on Thursday.

The company is the top independent supplier of ad-buying tools
advertisers use to buy online ads on Google's ad network as well as
Yahoo, Ask Jeeves and other networks.

Wall Street analysts estimate that about 5 percent of the $10 billion
spent on online ads runs through aQuantive's system.

"From a consumer perspective, Google is all good," Merrill Lynch
analyst Lauren Rich Fine said in a recent note to clients. "However,
Google is starting to attract negative publicity (tied to) its foray
into other mediums."

His argument that Google's encroachment into other businesses,  including
the large advertising agencies, drove Google shares down 4.7 percent
last Monday, its biggest percentage loss in a year.

The stock has since recovered most of its losses, closing at $417.70
on Friday, but the debate over Google's power to transform whole
industries only continues to grow.

GOOGLE GOBBLES GROWTH

The success of Google's keyword search system among advertisers has in
just a few years spawned a niche industry known as search engine
optimization (SEO) made up of tech-savvy marketers who help companies
find ways to insure their Web sites feature at the top of Google
searches and ads.

"Google needs this ecosystem," New York-based Susquehanna Financial
analyst Marianne Wolk said of the web if ad agencies, marketing
support firms and other industry organizations that help advertisers
make use of Google ads.

David Verklin, chief executive of Carat Americas, the largest
independent media services company in North America, with $6 billion
in customer billings, said Google has the power to create new
businesses, but also tear them down.

IProspect, a unit of Carat, is one of the search marketers who have
prospered on the back of Google's success. Companies like Motorola
Inc. pay iProspect to target ads tied to 300 words associated with
Motorola wireless products, he said.

Verklin complains Google has begun charging marketing firms like his
own $50,000 a month to use Google's ad buying system.

"We're going to try and convince (Google) we think that's a bad idea,"
Verklin said. "I don't want to have to use one tool to manage Google
and my own tool to manage Yahoo and Ask Jeeves and everyone else," he
said of conflicts between ad systems.

Advertisers are spooked by the idea of relying entirely on Google to
deliver their ads and want independent ways to shop around for the
best price and the greatest exposure, he said.

Google hears the growing drumbeat of criticism. Executives say they
must do a better job of clarifying their aims.

"When the business was just about ads it was pretty straightforward,"
Marc Leibowitz, Google's director of strategic partnerships, said in a
recent interview.

"There's this notion that Google has a grand master devious plan" to
put ad agencies and publishers out of business, Leibowitz
said. "Nothing could be further from the truth. "We see ourselves in a
symbiotic relationship with them." (For other news from the Reuters
Media and Advertising Summit, please double-click on:
http://today.reuters.com/summit/SummitInfo.aspx?name=MediaSummit
05&pid=500 )

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

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

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

Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 22:23:11 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Comcast Plans 6% Rate Hike / Increase Comes as Phone Firms


Increase comes as phone firms prepare to enter cable market

By Keith Reed, Globe Staff  

It's that time of year again: Cable rates are going up.

Comcast Corp., the nation's biggest cable television provider, is
planning a 6 percent increase, raising the average cost of its most
popular package, the $45 expanded basic tier, by about $2.70 a month.
The change will take effect Jan. 1.

A spokeswoman yesterday said the final rate for Comcast's 1.5 million
customers in Massachusetts has not yet been set.

The increase is no surprise; cable bill increases in winter are as
common as children writing letters to Santa Claus. But this year, it
could carry more significance because cable companies are staring down
the barrel of their biggest potential competition in years from phone
companies such as Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc.

Those firms are on the verge of rolling out video services that will
compete with the cable firm's offerings. The competition could trigger
a price war, if not change the pricing model entirely.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/12/03/comcast_plans_6_rate_hike/

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

Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 22:32:50 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: The Globe's Future in WiFi


THE OMBUDSMAN

By Richard Chacn, Globe Ombudsman

I ARRIVED at South Station Wednesday morning near the end of the rush
hour commute. I took a seat in the main concourse, opened my laptop
computer, and within moments saw a small part of the Globe's future.

My computer, which is equipped with a wireless antenna, grabbed on to 
a signal inside the cavernous room that led to a page full of 
information about South Station -- its train schedules, restaurants, 
history, and comments from other people who pass through the building.

The website, which works only inside the station, was created and
sponsored by the Globe; it is one of several high-tech projects
intended to demonstrate that even as the newspaper loses circulation,
it is searching hard for ways to hold on to readers.

We've all heard the apocalyptic predictions: Newspapers are dinosaurs,
destined to be lost eventually to the speed and technological breadth
of the Internet.

Some readers have asked about the Globe's online efforts. Here is a
quick look beyond the tar pit at how the newspaper is trying to keep
up with the times.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/12/04/=
the_globes_future_in_wifi/

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

From: DevilsPGD <spam_narf_spam@crazyhat.net>
Subject: Re: Who Owns the Music?
Date: Sun, 04 Dec 2005 20:27:53 -0700
Organization: Disorganized


In message <telecom24.546.7@telecom-digest.org> Steven Lichter
<shlichter@diespammers.com> wrote:

> Common sense should tell you that if you sell/give away the CD you
> should delete any copies you have of it.  That is the same rule for
> computer software, you have the right to make a copy but once you no
> longer own the original, you have to delete any copies you have for
> backup.

Common sense may tell you that, but in my jurisdiction you'd be very
wrong.

Of course, common sense would tell you that when I burn my own singing
to a CDR, I shouldn't have to pay the music industry.

Since I do one, I do the other without any moral or ethical objection.

Before posting legal advice please take the time to investigate where
the person asking the question is located since their jurisdiction may
have vastly different rules then yours.

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

From: DevilsPGD <spam_narf_spam@crazyhat.net>
Subject: Re: Voicepulse Owns Your Number
Date: Sun, 04 Dec 2005 20:27:53 -0700
Organization: Disorganized


In message <telecom24.540.8@telecom-digest.org> sethb@panix.com (Seth
Breidbart) wrote:

> In article <telecom24.531.7@telecom-digest.org>, Fred Atkinson
> <fatkinson@mishmash.com> wrote:

>> I've sent Voicepulse notice that I expect them to release my number.
>> They say they will not.  In fact, they called me just a few minutes
>> ago and said that the porting request from Carolina Net would be
>> declined.

>> I'm looking for recourse and I'm not interested in hearing that there
>> is no recourse.  Can anyone here make some suggestions as to most
>> effective avenue to pursue?

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

From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: Sprint PCS Handset Updates
Date: Sun, 04 Dec 2005 15:40:14 -0800
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com


> Calling Sprint PCS customer service (* 2) I heard a recording telling
> me to wait for an update to the handset, a Samsung APH-620/VGA-1000.
> That took about a minute before I was in queue for a human.

> Any idea what that was?

Yes, an update to the Preferred Roaming List, which specifies which
networks the phone is allowed to use. Always includes the carrier's
own networks, and includes roaming networks selected by the carriers -
usually the networks run by companies with which your carrier has the
most favorable roaming agreements.

This is a CDMA thing. So you'll have PRLs on Verizon, Sprint,
Alltel/Western Wireless and US Cellular phones, as well as phones from
a few smaller CDMA carriers, GSM uses a different system to identify
where the phone is allowed to be used.

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: ptownson@telecom-digest.org
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST
Subject: Re: Satellite GPS Can Locate Wireless Phones Within 15 Feet


About six years ago in this Digest, Arthur Ross responded to Bud
Couch discussing Satellite GPS and its use with wireless phones and
E-911 service.  Can I please get an update now at the end of 2005
and how this technology might be put to use with the dilemma VOIP
service finds itself in; locating the person and place of trouble?
 
PAT

   Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1999 15:35:04 -0700
   From: Arthur Ross <a.ross@ieee.org>
   Subject: Re: Satellite GPS Can Locate Wireless Phones Within 15 Feet

Bud Couch <Bud_Couch@adc.com> wrote:

> The FCC would never dare to mandate this "feature" -- the ability to
> track individual citizens without either their knowledge or consent.
> Both the legal and political outcry would be immediate and effective.
> Did someone of social and political naivete come up with this on their
> own, or was it a sub-rosa suggestion from the NSA or one of the other
> spook agencies? We'll probably never know, but it makes no difference;
> the techniques should not have been thought out by Lucent engineers,
> and the concept should have been quashed by Lucent management.

Sorry, that's EXACTLY what they have done. I personally believe that
there originally was no nefarious motive on the part of the FCC, but,
as Lauren pointed out elsewhere in that same issue of TD, there is
all sorts of potential for mis-use and abuse, both in real time and
after-the-fact -- "usage creep."

 From CFR 47 20.18, 10-1-98 Edition:

"(e) Phase II enhanced 911 services. As of October 1, 2001, licensees
subject to this section must provide to the disignated Public Safety
Answering Point the location of all 911 calls by longitude and latitude
such that the accuracy for all calls is 125 meters or less using a Root
Mean Square (RMS) methodology."

The full text of CFR 47, and other FCC documents and proceedings can be
found on the FCC website (http://www.fcc.gov).

Some recent remarks by the Chairman of the Wireless Bureau (also from FCC
website):

                            Remarks of Tom Sugrue
                  Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau
                      Federal Communications Commission
                          911 Critical Issues Forum
     Integrating Transportation, EMS and 9-1-1: A Vision for the Future
                            Alexandria, Virginia
                                May 21, 1999    

                          As prepared for delivery.

Thank you very much for your kind introduction.

I would especially like to thank you on behalf of Chairman Kennard. He
appreciated the invitation to join you today and regretted the fact
that other commitments kept him from being here. Moving forward on
public safety programs such as wireless E911 is one of the Chairman's
highest priorities.

Exactly two years ago today, on May 21, 1997, at a meeting very like
this one, the FCC joined NHTSA and Dr. Martinez to issue a call to
action for implementation of wireless enhanced 9-1-1. Emergencies
occur where there are people, not necessarily where there are phone
lines. Because wireless phones can travel wherever we do, wireless
9-1-1 has proved to be the greatest advancement in public access to
emergency services since the birth of 9-1-1 itself in 1968. Wireless
9-1-1 has saved countless lives and brought help to millions of people
over the years. But, as we recognized in our call to action, a great
deal of planning and work were needed to make wireless technology a
more effective component of the overall system of providing help in
emergencies.

For example, if you call 9-1-1 today on a wireless phone, the 9-1-1
dispatcher will not know where you are, where help is needed. You must
be able to describe your location, or at least where to begin looking,
before help can arrive. This can delay and vastly complicate the work
of emergency response teams. A week ago today, for instance, a man not
far from here in Fairfax was traveling only as far as from his home to
a nearby gas station on a riding lawn mower. It overturned in a ditch
and trapped him underneath.  He managed to use his cellular phone to
call 9-1-1, help eventually arrived, and he escaped without serious
major injury. But it took scores of police, aided by a helicopter,
almost an hour to find him. If the 9-1-1 dispatcher had known the
location of his phone, help could have arrived much faster, and that
help could have been, not scores of police, but a single officer.  And
not a fleet of vehicles and a helicopter, but one squad car and an
ambulance.

When we joined with NHTSA in 1997, we reported that 47 million
Americans had wireless phones and they made 59,000 emergency calls
each day. Today, the American desire for mobility and communication
has proved so powerful that the number of wireless phones has grown by
57% to over 74 million. And the use of those phones to seek emergency
help has grown even faster. In just those two years, the volume of
wireless 9-1-1 calls has increased by 66%, to over 98,000 calls every
day. Those calls are saving lives, bringing help to people in need,
and preventing crime. As we saw most recently and tragically in
Littleton, Colorado, the wireless phone has become for many Americans,
including our children, the lifeline to help in any emergency.

At the FCC, we have adopted a number of rules designed to improve
wireless 9-1-1 service. For example, our rules require that the
wireless carriers handle all 9-1-1 calls and route them to the 9-1-1
center designated by state and local public safety authorities. And
just last week, the FCC adopted rules requiring manufacturers to
modify analog cellular handsets to help improve 9-1-1 call completion,
allowing 9-1-1 calls to be handled by either cellular carrier. That
proceeding addressed the "dead zone" problem, in which callers may
find themselves unable to complete 911 calls because their preferred
cellular provider does not provide service in a particular geographic
area. The rules we adopted last week will help to improve this
situation by facilitating completion of 911 calls by the other
cellular carrier. This proceeding prompted much debate, and the
Commission -- working in concert with consumer groups, the public
safety community, the cellular industry, and handset manufacturers --
was able to craft a flexible policy which will improve wireless 911
call completion by requiring handset manufacturers to use any one of
three approved call completion modes, at their discretion.

In addition, in what is commonly referred to as Phase1 of our wireless
E911 rules, covered carriers are required, as of April 1 1998, to
provide automatic number identification (ANI) and cell site
information for 911 calls to PSAPS. In what is referred to as Phase II
of our rules, effective October 1, 2001 all covered carriers will be
required to identify the location of mobile units making 911 calls
within a radius of no more than 125 meters.

Unfortunately, Phase I deployment has been slow, and some difficult
issues have arisen as we prepare for Phase II. In addition to the
development of effective location technology, wireless E911 requires
funding mechanisms, upgrading of 9-1-1 equipment to understand and use
wireless location information, coordination with local telephone
carriers and their existing 9-1-1 databases, and the management of
emergency systems to make rapid and effective use of this information. 
Many technical, legal, and regulatory questions will need to be
resolved. To take one example, we need to be sure that our rules
permit the most effective technologies to be used to provide location
information, whether that technology resides in the wireless network,
the handset, or both. We should encourage our inventors and
entrepreneurs to surprise us once again with their innovations and
creativity in developing wireless location technology.

These efforts are only one aspect of the Commission's efforts to apply
wireless technology to public safety needs. The Commission will
conclude a proceeding this year which may allocate additional spectrum
to help meet the communications needs of emergency service
agencies. The Commission is also currently studying the Transportation
Department's request to establish an abbreviated three-digit dialing
code that would allow consumers to access intelligent transportation
systems nationwide. Wireless technology can also be used, under our
safety warning system rules adopted earlier this year, to alert
motorists to hazardous road and driving conditions. Jim Schlichting,
Deputy Chief of the Wireless Bureau, will be participating on a panel
following this session, and will provide more information on the range
of activities we are undertaking in this area.

The Commission will once again need to reach out to all the critical
parts of the community represented here today to turn the promise
wireless E911 into lifesaving reality. And we are working diligently
to do precisely that.  For example, we are planning to sponsor a forum
in the near future to examine the technical issues of wireless
automatic location information. We expect to pursue other efforts in
the very near term to seek input from the essential participants in
wireless E911 to resolve these issues.

With wireless E911 in place, calls can be routed to the right 9-1-1
center, which can then quickly dispatch the help that is needed, and
only the help that is needed, to exactly the right place. That is the
promise of wireless E911. But it will remain only a promise unless we
succeed in making wireless E911 an integrated part of public safety
programs.

NHTSA is to be complemented for taking a leadership role in promoting
such an integrated nationwide public safety system, with programs such
as its emergency medical services agenda for the future and its trials
of automatic crash notification systems.

These and other initiatives can improve the safety of our highways,
and indeed of our lives wherever we might be. We have made progress in
that direction since our call to action with NHTSA two years ago, but
far more remains to be done. By the time E911 Phase II is scheduled to
be implemented in 2001, there will be over 100 million wireless phones
in use in the United States. In just a few more years, it is likely
that there will be more wireless than wireline phones. We can expect
equally rapid growth in wireless 9-1-1 calls. This means that the
importance of adapting emergency services to wireless E911 will
continue to grow as well.

We at the FCC are resolved to continue working with NHTSA and NENA to
apply wireless technology to the improvement of public safety. In
particular, we recently invited Dr. Martinez to participate in a
Commission meeting next month dedicated to wireless issues, to help
ensure that the vital role of wireless in emergency services and
public safety is given the attention it deserves. To Dr. Martinez,
NENA and to all of you here, representing some of the many
organizations that must work together to realize this vision, we urge
you to continue the vital work of making America a better and safer
place.

Thank you for the opportunity to address you this morning.

 
   ******** End of Remarks by Tom Sugrue ********

   -- Dr. Arthur Ross
      2325 East Orangewood Avenue
      Phoenix, AZ 85020-4730
      Phone: 602-371-9708
      Fax  : 602-336-7074


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Can Dr. Ross or other readers update us
on this technology and how it might be used with VOIP if possible?   PAT]

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


TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm-
unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in
addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as
Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums.  It is
also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup
'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
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                        Email: editor@telecom-digest.org

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This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm-
unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and
published continuously since then.  Our archives are available for
your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list
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*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from                  *
*   Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate  *
*   800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting.         *
*   http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com                    *
*   Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing      *
*   views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc.                             *
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ICB Toll Free News.  Contact information is not sold, rented or leased.

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Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

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Visit http://www.mstm.okstate.edu and take the next step in your
career with a Master of Science in Telecommunications Management
(MSTM) degree from Oklahoma State University (OSU). This 35
credit-hour interdisciplinary program is designed to give you the
skills necessary to manage telecommunications networks, including
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The MSTM degree draws on the expertise of the OSU's College
of Business Administration; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the
College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. The program has
state-of-the-art lab facilities on the Stillwater and Tulsa campus
offering hands-on learning to enhance the program curriculum.  Classes
are available in Stillwater, Tulsa, or through distance learning.

Please contact Jay Boyington for additional information at
405-744-9000, mstm-osu@okstate.edu, or visit the MSTM web site at
http://www.mstm.okstate.edu

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Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as
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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing
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All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the
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and messages should not be considered any official expression by the
organization.

End of TELECOM Digest V24 #548
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