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TELECOM Digest Wed, 7 Dec 2005 15:42:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 552 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Phony Email Tricks Ebay Investigators (Robert McMillan) FTC Study on Masking and Filtering to Stop Spammers (Thomas Claburn) Interview With a Spammer (Tom Spring) Amp'd Dials Down Music Prices (Eric Friedebach) For RIM: Careful What You Ask For (Eric Friedebach) Hypothetical SxS Question (Lisa Hancock) Cellular-News for Wednesday 7th December 2005 (Cellular-News) Cisco Chief: Video Will Boost Internet Traffic (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Using Two ADSL Internet Connections Simultaneously (GlowingBlueMist) Re: Using Two ADSL Internet Connections Simultaneously (jonfklein@gmail) Re: Using Two ADSL Internet Connections Simultaneously (Gordon Burditt) Re: Don't Call It Spyware (John Levine) Re: FTC Do Not Call List (Lisa Hancock) Re: Default COCOT Behavior (Ed Greenberg) Re: Communications History (Rik) Re: Communications History (Lisa Hancock) Re: Communications History (Scott Dorsey) Re: Communications History (Jim Stewart) 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: Robert McMillan <idg@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Phony Email Tricks Ebay Investigators Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 00:44:29 -0600 Robert McMillan, IDG News Service A sophisticated phishing attack has proven so successful, it has tricked eBay's own fraud investigations team into endorsing it as legitimate, according to an independent security consultant who reported the attack to eBay. In late November, Richi Jennings received a fraudulent e-mail message containing the subject line "Christmas is Coming on ebay.co.uk." Offering him "great tips for successful Christmas selling," the message directed him to the Web site ebaychristmas.net, which then asked Jennings to enter his eBay user name and password, as well as the name and password for his e-mail account. Jennings reported the site to eBay on November 25, and four days later he got a note back from the company's investigations team claiming that the e-mail message was, in fact, "an official e-mail message sent to you on behalf of e-Bay." Jennings was dumfounded. He immediately wrote back to eBay pointing out that the Web site being used was clearly fraudulent, but his e-mail went unanswered. eBay Changes Tune On Monday, an eBay spokesperson confirmed that the e-mail message was indeed part of a fraud, but she could not explain why it had initially been identified as legitimate. "I don't know the answer to that," said spokesperson Amanda Pires. "I'm assuming right now it was just an error." From their initial response, it appeared that eBay's investigators did not take his concerns seriously, Jennings said. "They never actually used the word idiot, but I felt like they were calling me an idiot," he said. He believes that the e-mail message in question bore such a close resemblance to a legitimate eBay message that the company's investigators were simply tricked by the scam. Pires said that eBay had, in fact, been working to take down the phishing site since November 8, weeks before Jennings even contacted the company. Both Jennings and eBay agreed that the phony Web site has been set up in such a way that it is extremely difficult to shut it down. The Web site's server software is being hosted on a variety of different PCs that appear to have been taken over by malicious "bot" software. Whenever eBay succeeds in getting one of these servers shut down, a new one pops up to take its place, Pires said. "This is one of the cleverest [phishing attacks] I've seen in a while," Jennings said. Antifraud Efforts EBay has also been trying to shut down the Web site by working with the Internet registrar that was used to acquire the ebaychristmas.net domain, Pires said. Despite these efforts, however, the site has remained operational. That registrar, which does business under the name Joker.com, has the power to shut down the scam Web site, Jennings said. "If they were taking their responsibilities seriously, the site would have been shut down weeks ago," he said. Joker.com did not respond to e-mail requests to comment for this report. EBay's gaffe shows how hard it has become to keep track of fraudsters, said Rich Miller, an analyst with Internet services vendor Netcraft. Netcraft, which offers a free antiphishing toolbar of its own, classified more than 8,000 phishing sites in the month of November, Miller said. "It's very had to keep straight what is legitimate and what's not," he said. As for Richi Jennings, though he doesn't have high regard for eBay's investigators, he's willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. It's possible, he said, that the company was simply overwhelmed with questions about a legitimate e-mail message that closely resembled the scam, and then made the mistake of assuming he was writing about the same thing. "Hopefully this was a false negative in a sea of correct answers," Jennings said. Copyright 2005 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, PC World Communications, Inc. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Thomas Claburn Subject: FTC Study on Masking and Filtering to Stop Spammers Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 00:54:09 -0600 By Thomas Claburn Security Pipeline Tue Nov 29, 9:00 AM ET Trickery and technology both play key roles in managing spam, according to a study released yesterday by the Federal Trade Commission. The agency looked at three aspects of spamming and efforts to control it: the automated harvesting of E-mail addresses on public areas of the Internet; using E-mail address masking to reduce address harvesting; and the effectiveness of spam filtering by Internet Service Providers. To conduct its five-week study, the FTC established 50 test E-mail accounts at each of three separate ISPs; two used spam filters and one didn't. It also posted 50 E-mail addresses on various Web sites, chat rooms, message boards, USENET groups, and blogs. Sure enough, spammers harvested many of those addresses and spammed them. However, addresses posted in chat rooms, message boards, USENET groups, and blogs proved less likely to be harvested than those on general Web sites. The FTC noted that some chat room operators took active steps to prevent E-mail address harvesting from online areas under their supervision. E-mail address harvesting qualifies as an aggravated violation of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM). The study concluded that E-mail address masking is an effective way to reduce spam. During the course of the study, unmasked E-mail addresses received over 6,400 spam messages, while only one spam message reached masked E-mail addresses. Also known as "munging," masking is the long-standing practice of altering an E-mail address so that it's readable by people but improperly formatted for machines, such as "tclaburn at cmp dot com." However, the effectiveness of address masking is not foolproof, particularly if a simple masking method (such as the one above) is used. The FTC observed that at least one harvesting program appeared to be able to capture masked addresses and translate them into a useable form by converting the words "at" and "dot" into their respective symbols. While the FTC concludes address masking is an effective tactic to prevent spam, some Internet users argue the practice diminishes the Internet's functionality for the sake of personal gain. The study also underscores the utility of ISP-based filtering. After five weeks, E-mail accounts at the ISP with no filter received 8,885 spam messages. The accounts at the ISPs that filtered received 1,208 spam messages (over 86% blocked) and 422 spam messages (over 95% blocked) respectively. The FTC did not disclose the makers of the two spam filters used in the study. But it did note that the difference between the two ISPs' block rates is not necessarily a reflection of superior technology because the study does not address whether the filtering resulted in any false positives (legitimate messages mistaken for spam). An FTC spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. Copyright 2005 CMP Media LLC. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, CMP Media, LLC. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Tom Spring <pcworld@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Interview With a Spammer Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 00:50:15 -0600 Meet Average-Joe Spammer Tom Spring, PC World Tip of the MonthWatch Out for Holiday-Related Scams. Phishers love the holiday season because they view the boost in online shopping as an opportunity: The security firm AppRiver reports that spam volumes nearly double over the holidays. Be particularly on guard for e-mail messages that purport to come from your credit card company or your favorite online merchant. It's tough being an average-Joe spammer these days. Divorced and in his 40s, Mike has two kids to help support, a skyrocketing home heating bill, and a mortgage. And spamming just isn't paying the bills like it used to. In the heyday of his spamming career, from 1997 to 2000, profiting from sending out unsolicited bulk e-mail was easy, Mike says. On an average month he made $40,000 pelting millions of inboxes with spam. Now, he complains, spam filters have become too effective and block most of his e-mail. Also, he adds, spamming for a living has become increasingly risky, as evidenced by recent arrests of--and fines imposed on-spammers. He himself is currently being sued by a large ISP for using illegal methods for sending spam, he says. "Spamming becomes a little more unprofitable and a little more high-risk every day," says Mike, who agreed to be interviewed on condition that his real name be withheld. "I don't know why I still do it." In fact, spam is no longer Mike's sole, or even principal, source of income. He now works in construction by day and devotes only 20 hours a week at night to spam. And because of the lawsuit, Mike has changed the nature of his activities. He makes $500 a week by selling lists of IP addresses for compromised computers, sometimes called zombie PCs -- systems that have been hijacked by a hacker so that they can be used to send spam. The people who own these computers (which can be in homes or businesses) have no idea their PCs are being used for such purposes. By routing junk e-mail through these PCs, spammers can hide their identity and can also save money on the bandwidth required to send large volumes of e-mail. Mike either buys the lists of compromised PCs from hackers and fellow spammers, or he gets them free from sites run by spammers, such as the Russian-based FreeProxy.RU. Once he gets a list, he checks the validity and quality of the addresses, weeding out those that don't respond or that have been put on spam blacklists. He then sells the "cleaned" lists of zombie PCs to other spammers. Mike is one of the thousands of spammers in the world who make up the majority of junk e-mail purveyors. "There are only a few dozen spammers worldwide that are making 90 percent of the spam profits," he says. "The rest of the bulk e-mailers are people like me." After I found Mike through a Web site where spammers meet and share tips, he agreed to a phone interview. Here is an edited transcript of that conversation. Interview With a Spammer Q: Don't you think what you do is wrong? A: I don't care what people think. If nobody was really interested in spam and never bought anything that was advertised to them, spam would go away. But people are interested in spam. As long as people buy things advertised in spam then people like me will send bulk e-mail. Are we really that different from so-called legitimate bulk e-mailers? I don't think there is a whole lot of difference. Q: Why don't you send bulk e-mail legally? The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act [the federal law regulating unsolicited bulk e-mail] allows you to. A: You are correct. CAN-SPAM created a lot of opportunity for spammers. However, playing by the rules is too risky, and it's bad for business. Here is what I mean. The only way spammers can sneak by an ISP's anti-spam filter these days is by tricking spam filters. The techniques to trick anti-spam filters are illegal, according to CAN-SPAM -- not to mention a growing number of state anti-spam laws. To get past spam filters you can't play by the rules. Those illegal spammers who try to go legit are finding themselves in court for violating different anti-spam laws. CAN-SPAM was great because there was one law to abide by for sending bulk e-mail. Now ISPs and states are coming after us. If you want to be sure you don't end up in a court, don't let them find you. Q: Are anti-spam laws and better filters working to stop spammers? A: Yes. Today big ISPs block e-mail from suspicious sources. They filter out spam based on e-mail addresses, words, links in the e-mail, pictures, or anything. For people like me it's just not worth it anymore. However, this forces a lot of spammers to send more spam. In the old days you could earn, say, $1000 by sending out 20,000 spam messages. Today, to earn $1000, you have to send out 2 million spam messages or more. The better filters get, the more determined we will get. It's not as if spammers really want to break the law. It's just that we are looking for any edge possible to get past the filter. Right now we are targeting smaller ISPs that don't have a lot to spend on good spam filters. Q: So why spam, if it's getting riskier and less profitable? A: Good question. For me, it's what I know how to do. And I just would hate to give up. It's like admitting defeat. But I am planning on quitting this spring. Q: How did you make money when you were actually sending out spam? A: For me it was mortgage and debt consolidation leads. For every person that called a mortgage broker based on my e-mail I would earn between $22 and $26. Dating sites would pay me $2 for every trial membership I brought them, and $15 for anyone who joined. Q: What does the future of spam look like for average-Joe spammers? A: Not good. The capital investment in computers and software required to make it worth the risk is enormous. A lot of people younger than me are spamming. But for a lot of people like myself, it's no longer easy money. We are throwing in the towel. Q: So you are seeing a changing of the spam guard, so to speak? A: Here is the deal. Spammers make money through advertising. And spammers today are diverse. They work with adware; they control botnets of computers; they are virus writers. Today's spammers don't just want to sell you Viagra; they want to trick you to into handing over your credit card number, or infect your system and turn it into a zombie. Q: Will spam ever go away? A: Spam will never go away. Filters may get better and more spammers may get arrested, but there will always be spammers. We adapt. I don't know what the next great spamming technique will be. But I can promise you spammers are working on it right now. As I said before, so long as people click on spam and buy things advertised in their inboxes, spam will exist. Copyright 2005 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, PC World Communications, Inc. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Eric Friedebach <friedebach@yahoo.com> Subject: Amp'd Dials Down Music Prices Date: 7 Dec 2005 09:10:32 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com by Peter Kafka, 12.06.05, Forbes.com NEW YORK - How much does a digital song cost? At Apple Computer's store, a single goes for 99 cents. But buy the same tunes via Sprint Nextel's over-the-air download service through your mobile phone, and it will cost $2.50. Both the wireless carrier and the music companies with which it works say that customers will pay a $1.50 premium for the opportunity to buy a song any time they want it, without being tethered to a computer. But executives at new wireless phone service Amp'd Mobile, aimed at young customers with insatiable appetites for digital content, argue that logic is flawed. When Amp'd launches on Dec. 15, the carrier will sell over-the-air downloads for 99 cents. http://www.forbes.com/technology/wireless/2005/12/07/music-downloads-ampd-cx_pk_1206musicampd.html Eric Friedebach /Jaywalking in Dallas/ ------------------------------ From: Eric Friedebach <friedebach@yahoo.com> Subject: For RIM: Careful What You Ask For Date: 7 Dec 2005 09:17:23 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Tomas Kellner, 12.06.05, Forbes.com NEW YORK - Last November, the federal government injected itself in the protracted BlackBerry court fight, where NTP is suing BlackBerry's maker, Research In Motion, over patent infringement. The feds filed a "statement of interest" with the court, saying the U.S. government is a major BlackBerry user, and the court should refrain from issuing any injunction that would shut government BlackBerries down. The government went on to say that it was "assessing" the extent to which "the public interest would be impaired by the award of any injunctive relief" to NTP. "This is nearly unprecedented," says professor Mark A. Lemley, director of Stanford's Program in Law Science and Technology. "I can't think of another case in which they have weighed in unsolicited on whether a court should grant a particular injunction," which is a great weapon for plaintiffs in patent litigation, shutting down defendants' product or even the entire business, and forcing them into settlement talks. http://www.forbes.com/2005/12/05/rimm-federal-lawsuit-cz_tk_1206rimm.html Eric Friedebach /Jaywalking in Dallas/ ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Hypothetical SxS Question Date: 7 Dec 2005 10:40:16 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com This question is purely speculative only, not for real use. Suppose we wanted to install a PABX using step-by-step gear in a condo complex. We need 250 stations. My question regards the most efficient station number assignments. One person says the stations ought to have a four digit number that corresponds to the apartment number. There are 19 buildings with 10-15 units per building. So unit #103 would get phone number 0103 and unit #1513 would be phone 1513. While the above is easier to remember, wouldn't that be a waste of SxS terminals and require more switch units without any gain in efficiency? Isn't a four digit code inherently more complex than a three digit in an SxS environment? I think the phone ought to be numbered strictly sequentially, starting from 111 and going upward. The Bell System history talks about "graded multiples" to more efficiently use trunks and switchgear in central offices, but I don't think that would apply in this application. Now if we wanted to implement the above using modern technology, would only a PC be required with appropriate software and cards? I guess we'd need capacity for about five conversations at once. P.S. (For real). We had in-house maintenance staff which had three Nextel "push to talk" walkie talkie cell phones -- two guys and the manager. The maintainence staff was let go and replaced by outside contractor. The phones were surplus. They had to pay $600 to get out of the contract (stll cheaper than the 18 months left ). The homeowners were annoyed at that. Some were annoyed at the termination of the inhouse staff, but not very much. Thanks. Public replies please. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The problem as I see it with matching apartment number to intercom number is a security issue. Do you really want to let strangers know that the tenant in apartment 103 (0103) or the tenant in apartment 1513 (1513) is or is not at home? With the Bell System 'Interphone' (or the competitor's 'Enterphone') arrangement, the intercom numbers were used randomly for more security. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News for Wednesday 7th December 2005 Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 07:46:15 -0600 From: Cellular-News <dailydigest@cellular-news-mail.com> Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com [[ 3G ]] Cingular 3G Launch Presents Data Revenue Opportunity http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15126.php Cingular Wireless launched its third-generation wireless network in select markets Tuesday, bringing with it the opportunity to derive additional revenue from data services. ... [[ Financial ]] Russia's largest mobile operator MTS bids for Turkey's Telsim http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15124.php Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) has filed a bid for Turkey's second-largest mobile operator Telsim, a spokesperson for MTS told Prime-Tass late Monday. ... Orascom CEO Interested In TIM Hellas Via Weather Fund http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15125.php Orascom Telecom Holding Chief Executive Naguib Sawiris is exploring the possibility of bidding for Greek wireless operator TIM Hellas, a spokesman for Sawiris' telecommuncations unit said Tuesday. ... Minister says Russia's MTS may get control over MTS Belarus http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15127.php Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) may get a controlling stake in its Belarus affiliate, MTS Belarus, in 2007, Belarus' Communications Minister Vladimir Goncharenko told a news conference Tuesday. ... More Cash for MVNO Vendor http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15139.php Visage Mobile, which provides MVNO platforms, says that it has closed US$30 million in series D funding led by Nomura International, bringing its total capital raised to more than US$80 million. All of its previous investors participated in the D rou... [[ Messaging ]] Celcom Boosts its Messaging and Prepaid Capacity http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15136.php LogicaCMG says that it has deployed a major mobile messaging and mobile payments upgrade with Malaysia's Celcom, serving over 5 million prepaid subscribers. The contract valued at approximately over US$16 million includes the deployment of LogicaCMG'... [[ Network Contracts ]] UPDATE: Ericsson Wins 'largest Ever' Network Deal From U.K.'s 3 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15123.php Ericsson AB said Tuesday it has won an exclusive contract to run the network and IT infrastructure of Hutchison Whampoa's third-generation U.K. operator, 3. ... T-Mobile Signs Single Clearing House Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15132.php BSG Clearing Solutions, a provider of clearing and settlement solutions, has announced the signing of a framing agreement with T-Mobile International for international roaming clearing services. The agreement allows all European affiliates of T-Mobil... [[ Network Operators ]] Russia's VimpelCom to launch Beeline brand in Ukraine next year http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15128.php Russia's second-largest mobile operator VimpelCom plans to offer mobile services under the Beeline brand in Ukraine hrough its local subsidiary in five to six months, VimpelCom's CEO Alexander Izosimov told Prime-Tass Tuesday. ... CDMA Coverage in the Arctic Wilderness http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15131.php Alaska Communications Systems has extended its CDMA network to an area of the North Slope oil fields in Alaska. Two new CDMA cell sites were turned up late last month in Deadhorse and Kuparuk, on the North Slope. The footprint covers Deadhorse, Prudh... [[ Personnel ]] Australia's Telstra Says Doug Campbell To Retire http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15122.php Telstra Corp. said Tuesday that Doug Campbell will retire as head of its CountryWide rural services division later this month. ... New Boss for Hutch 3G Ireland http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15134.php Hutchison 3G Ireland 3 has announced the appointment of Robert Finnegan as managing director for 3 Ireland. Finnegan will report directly to 3 UK and Ireland CEO, Bob Fuller. Most recently, Finnegan was CEO of Sentrio Technologies, a hosted mobile re... [[ Regulatory ]] Russia's Reiman says VimpelCom "has best chance" for Far East license http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15130.php Russia's second-largest mobile operator VimpelCom "has the best chance" to get GSM licenses for regions in Russia's Far East Federal District, as it filed its application earlier than other companies, Russian IT and Telecommunications Minister Leon... [[ Reports ]] O2 Tops Mobile Phone Retailer Survey http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15137.php O2 and Phones 4u rank highest in satisfying customers with their mobile phone retail experience, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 UK Mobile Phone Retailer Study. The study measures customer satisfaction with the seven leading mobile ph... Young Consumers Are The First 'Technology Everywhere' Generation http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15140.php Young consumers are using more technology at a younger age to connect with more people than ever before, according to a survey of more than 5,000 US and Canadian online youth between the ages of 12 and 21 by Forrester Research. For example, 87% of 15... [[ Statistics ]] Russia's Sibirtelecom mobile user base up to 1.8 mln Dec 1 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15129.php The mobile subscriber base of Russian telecommunications company Sibirtelecom and its subsidiaries rose 86% since the beginning of the year to 1.834 million people as of December 1, the company said Tuesday. ... Two Million Customers for Jordanian Operator http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15135.php Jordan's Fastlink has announced that the number of its customers has risen to 2 million with the advent of the year end, reaching the targeted number for 2005, a year that has witnessed fierce competition in the telecommunications market in Jordan. T... [[ Technology ]] Vodafone Group Launches Global Mobile TV From Dec http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15121.php Vodafone Group Plc Tuesday announced the launch of its global Mobile TV channels featuring a mix of world TV brands, pan-European sports coverage and entertainment and documentary programmes. ... France Telecom Signs Chinese R&D Agreement http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15133.php China's ZTE and France Telecom has signed an agreement for joint research and development, initially focusing on applying the Linux operating system for 3G smartphone handsets, with the development of a particularly innovative client interface. The a... Vodafone Selects Integrated Location Solution http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15138.php Openwave Systems says that NEC is integrating the company's Location Manager into NEC's Network Assisted Location Information Solutions. Vodafone K.K. in Japan is the first customer to select the combined solution. Openwave and NEC's location solutio... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 12:03:18 EST From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com> Subject: Cisco Chief: Video Will Boost Internet Traffic USTelecom dailyLead December 7, 2005 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/zDcsatagCzsTnRJVQV TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Cisco chief: Video will boost Internet traffic BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * BellSouth announces IPTV trial * RCN buys Con Ed Communications * SunRocket offers new VoIP plan * Comcast, TWC mull family-friendly tiers * Gartner advises companies to halt "mission-critical BlackBerry deployments" USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Telecom Crash Course -- The must-have book for telecom professionals TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Cingular launches 3G network * Nortel to help build WiMAX network in Canadian province * Mobile Web quality improves * Yahoo! is on the line with new phone service REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Dutch government halves KPN stake Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/zDcsatagCzsTnRJVQV ------------------------------ From: GlowingBlueMist <nobody@invalid.com> Subject: Re: Using Two ADSL Internet Connections Simultaneously Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 01:15:17 -0600 Organization: Octanews <jonfklein@gmail.com> wrote in message news:telecom24.550.3@telecom-digest.org: > Here is the problem, > I have two telephone lines. I want to make both of these lines ADSL > connections to the internet and use these connections to provide > internet access to several wireless laptop computers. A maximum of > about 20 laptops would be connected to the system at once. I would > like the laptops to be able to use both lines simultaneously so that I > don't have one line overloaded and one underloaded (ie: I want to > balance the traffic on the lines at any given time). > Anyone have any suggestions on how to set up something like this? > -Jonathan There are many routers on the market that do exactly what you are describing. Try a quick Google search using "load balancing router" and check out what turns up. Caution -- Many routers allow two WAN ports be connected like you want but in actuality they are only configured to use one or the other for traffic and switch to the other one when the link in use fails. Read the reviews and check online user manuals to verify the router you pick does load balancing as well as failure mode switching. You might check out the D-Link DI-604 router for example. I have seen it go for around for $35 bucks on www.streetprices.com. Here is the link to D-link model DI-604 http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=62&sec=0 From there you can read the manual or other information about the product. ------------------------------ From: jonfklein@gmail.com Subject: Re: Using Two ADSL Internet Connections Simultaneously Date: 7 Dec 2005 09:44:50 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I know nothing about setting up a server, so please pardon my ignorance. Is there any reason why it needs to be a linux server? Could it be Windows? Where can I get further information about setting up a server and modifying the route tables? William Warren wrote: > jonfklein@gmail.com wrote: >> Here is the problem, >> I have two telephone lines. I want to make both of these lines ADSL >> connections to the internet and use these connections to provide >> internet access to several wireless laptop computers. A maximum of >> about 20 laptops would be connected to the system at once. I would >> like the laptops to be able to use both lines simultaneously so that I >> don't have one line overloaded and one underloaded (ie: I want to >> balance the traffic on the lines at any given time). >> Anyone have any suggestions on how to set up something like this? >> -Jonathan > Obtain a Linux server, connect each DSL line to a separate Ethernet > card, and modify its route table to give equal weight to each line. > You'll need a third card for your wireless AP or other LAN connections. > Best of luck. > William ------------------------------ From: gordonb.sn0lt@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) Subject: Re: Using Two ADSL Internet Connections Simultaneously Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 19:56:47 -0000 > I have two telephone lines. I want to make both of these lines ADSL > connections to the internet and use these connections to provide > internet access to several wireless laptop computers. A maximum of > about 20 laptops would be connected to the system at once. I would > like the laptops to be able to use both lines simultaneously so that I > don't have one line overloaded and one underloaded (ie: I want to > balance the traffic on the lines at any given time). Are the lines connected to the same provider? Are they willing to bond the lines together on their end? (This may cost extra, or you may get the voice equivalent of a blank stare from the customer service representative in India.) You may be able to distribute outgoing traffic evenly between the two lines, but you have no control over how the incoming traffic is distributed unless you make arrangements with your ISP. There are drivers in FreeBSD (and probably Linux as well) which permit distributing traffic over several lines which presumably have the same destination. In FreeBSD, this is the netgraph driver with the one2many module. The rest of the system pretends the two lines are one interface. This works best if the other end is also doing the same thing (and I suspect Cisco routers at the ISP can do it). You would use a FreeBSD or Linux machine as your router with multiple network cards (two for the two lines, one for internal net, perhaps one for wireless). It is possible (especially if the lines are from different providers) that each DSL line will not accept outgoing packets except for those with "from" IP addresses assigned to the DSL lines. In other words, packets going out DSL line A have to be from netblock A, and the replies will probably be routed down DSL line A. Similarly for DSL line B. (ISPs do this to prevent untraceable spoofed flooding. If you flood, it's at least traceable to a specific box at the ISP. You might still be able to spoof your neighbor if he's on the same box.) Once you start a TCP connection, the IP address must be from either netblock A or B and traffic must go out the corresponding line for the duration of the connection. Do you intend to accept incoming connections from the outside? (Mostly, this means servers, but some peer-to-peer and FTP issues are involved also). Then you need an arrangement with your ISP to fail over (and you want load balancing also) from line A to B and vice versa routing for the public IPs of your servers. > Anyone have any suggestions on how to set up something like this? To do a good job, you need help from your ISP. To do a really good job, especially if the lines are from different ISPs, you need to talk BGP on both of them. For what you are doing, this is a bit like using nuclear weapons to solve a mosquito problem. Gordon L. Burditt ------------------------------ Date: 7 Dec 2005 17:47:53 -0000 From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> Subject: Re: Don't Call It Spyware Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA In article <telecom24.550.2@telecom-digest.org> you write: > Three years ago the company was considered a parasite and a scourge. > Today it's a rising star -- selling virtually the same product. How a > pop-up pariah won the adware wars. There's some statements in this article which I know are wrong, like the claim that they finance the Anti-Spyware Coalition. I'm an ASC member and I can assure you that Gator/Claria has never tried to show their face, and would have been turned down if they asked, like many other adware companies already have. This makes me somewhat sceptical of the whole article. Also, I've met Annalee and she is a good writer but she is not the most skeptical person I've ever met. Claria has been pretty good at dealing with their legal challenges, and their PR is great (it even fooled Esther Dyson), but people in the industry are under no illusions about what they do. Regards, John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: FTC Do Not Call List Date: 7 Dec 2005 10:47:08 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com There are three huge loopholes in this program and they're taking full advantage. Telemarketers are scum. They can't bear not to use their high speed auto dialers and cheap phone lines. Answering machine picks up and they leave a message. Human picks up and they switch a human on. One is non-profits. They are aggressively calling for donations for ambulances to zoos. Two is political. They very aggressive call around election times. Third is "prior relationship". Because of the loose definition, practically any business can claim a "prior business relationship" through some sort of loose affiliation with another business. If you have a bank account, your bank can sell your name to "affiliates". Supermarket discount cards, pharmacy registration, etc. Other businesses simply lie. I've gotten several calls starting off "we think we've done work for you a few years ago". In my case I know they're lying since I live in an apartment and could never have used their services. They bank on the fact that most of us have lives and won't bother to file a formal complaint with the authorities and even if we do the authorities won't do much about it. Anyone care to defend telemarketers or the people who make the equipment they use? [public replies please ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 22:35:53 -0800 From: Ed Greenberg <ed@edgreenberg.com> Subject: Re: Default COCOT Behavior > I have an interest in telephony, and to further it, I recently bought > a COCOT for personal use to play around with. <snip> > Another interesting behavior I've noticed is that while you're dialing > a number, but before you deposit any money, it beeps out the DTMF for > the number to be dialed extremely slowly over the line. If you don't > deposit any money by the time the number is about to be completely > dialed, it will hang up. After you deposit the money, it will pick up > again and dial the number quickly. Does anyone have any explanations > for why it would do this? The circuit board inside is described as an > "Elcotel Series 5," if anyone is curious. This is called trickle dialing. The phone relies on the line for power, so it's gone off hook to get voltage while it's interacting with you. The digits are being dialed in order to keep the dialtone from timing out. This also keeps the phone from ringing in while you are off hook. > Despite all the oddities, having your own pay phone sure is fun. Did you get software, so you can reprogram it to do what you want it to do? </edg> ------------------------------ From: Rik <hrasmussen@nc.rr.com> Subject: Re: Communications History Date: 7 Dec 2005 03:48:59 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Similarly, in the 1970's long distance phone calls were being sent via satellites using sub-carriers on frequencies in the "shortwave" range. These subcarriers were modulated with ssb. I connected an output of my satellite receiver to my shortwave receiver and tuned in many telephone circuits. The audio was very clear and there was no fading as was common on over the air shortwave. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Communications History Date: 7 Dec 2005 06:27:16 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Dave Marthouse wrote: > The only way to bridge the oceans was hf radio. It's interesting to > note that anyone with a shortwave radio could listen to all the > international point-to-point phone traffic. One of the Bell Labs history "A History of Engineering & Science in the Bell System" series covered overseas radio transmission in detail. Most larger libraries have these and it's worth checking out. I'm not sure which volume of the series covers overseas calls. They used a combination of long wave and short wave transmissions, using whichever happened to afford the best signal when the call was made. I sensed that engineers had to babysit every call adjusting the signals as necessary. They had to manually consider a variety of electronic and atmospheric conditions. The ability of equipment to "lock on" was limited in the early days. I believe later on they did use an elementary form of encryption to protect privacy. Not enough to guard against a determined listener but enough so that a casual listener couldn't understand. While radio transmission technology grew sharply during WW II I don't think much was applied to overseas radio calls. Instead the emphasis was on designing, building, and laying the overseas Atlantic cable. Made a world of difference when that went into service. I don't know much about overseas Pacific telephone lines, where the distances are so much greater. There was a British company, "Cable & Wireless" that had telegraph service. The company maintained relay stations on little islands with some people and equipment. Very expensive. I'm curious as to when Hawaii got radio-telephone service to the mainland US and then cable service. ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: Communications History Date: 7 Dec 2005 10:18:29 -0500 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) Dave Marthouse <dmart@pure.net> wrote: > I am a bit of a communications history buff. I've been doing a little > research about telecom in the days before transoceanic phone service > before cables and satellites. The only way to bridge the oceans was > hf radio. It's interesting to note that anyone with a shortwave radio > could listen to all the international point-to-point phone traffic. I > am going to assume that a form of independent sideband was used with a > maximum of two or four circuits going to a specific country. Ssb is > very easy to receive even with a standard shortwave radio of the day > as long as it had a bfo to demodulate and recover the signals. I > would like to know if any form of primitive encryption was used to > make the circuits a bit more secure. It must have been very easy to > literally monitor all the international traffic to and from a given > nation. Anyone who can shed light on this subject would be > appreciated to help scratch my historical itch. For the most part, radiotelephone links didn't go SSB until the early 1960s, and there were still AM links hanging on well into the eighties here and there in the South Pacific. No encryption. No more than current ship-to-shore HF radiotelephone traffic uses today. That's why the Communications Act of 1934 made divulging communications to a third party illegal. scott "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 10:19:55 -0800 From: Jim Stewart <jstewart@jkmicro.com> Reply-To: jstewart@jkmicro.com Organization: http://www.jkmicro.com Subject: Re: Communications History Dave Marthouse <dmart@pure.net> wrote: > I am a bit of a communications history buff. I've been doing a little > research about telecom in the days before transoceanic phone service > before cables and satellites. The only way to bridge the oceans was > hf radio. It's interesting to note that anyone with a shortwave radio > could listen to all the international point-to-point phone traffic. I > am going to assume that a form of independent sideband was used with a > maximum of two or four circuits going to a specific country. Ssb is > very easy to receive even with a standard shortwave radio of the day > as long as it had a bfo to demodulate and recover the signals. I > would like to know if any form of primitive encryption was used to > make the circuits a bit more secure. It must have been very easy to > literally monitor all the international traffic to and from a given > nation. Anyone who can shed light on this subject would be > appreciated to help scratch my historical itch. My copy of "Principles of Electricity applied to Telephone and Telegraph Work" published by AT&T in 1953 shows block diagrams of the LD-T2 and LD-R1 HF transmitter and receiver pair. There is no encryption of any kind. Furthermore, the block diagram of the TD-2 microwave system is devoid of any encryption. Granted, picking off a single voice channel would not be trivial, but it wouldn't be impossible either. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. 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