---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <bd652fcdd5efa5cdf00234b375e99cff.squirrel@webmail.mishmash.com> Date: Mon, 7 May 2018 05:40:16 -0600 From: "Fred Atkinson" <fatkinson.remove-this@and-this-too.mishmash.com> Subject: Verizon doesn't care about Sprint and T-Mobile merger, says it'll win 5G race I have to say that Verizon Wireless has a captive market by their competitions' own making. Every time I have switched to another cellular carrier to save money, I always end up switching back because of different issues. One carrier's calls would only go through after I dialed it three or more times. After making repeated complaints with no resolution in sight, I switched back to Verizon Wireless. One carrier's phone unit kept squawking 'Voice command. Please enter a command!' for no apparent reason at times that proved embarrassing (the voice command function was disabled in the phone settings and they went through the settings with me and confirmed this). When I couldn't get them to do anything about it and asked to speak to a supervisor, the CSR told me that she would not 'let' me speak to a supervisor. So I ultimately called back and canceled switching back to Verizon. I cited this as my reason for canceling giving the name of the CSR who refused to let me speak to a supervisor as the ultimate reason I canceled. It is unacceptable to refuse to let a customer speak to a supervisor if they are not satisfied with the resolution or lack thereof. Another carrier's 411 service would hang up on me before giving the number. I needed that number and I retried a total of four more times yet it hung up every time just before giving the number. I never got the number. I was billed for five 411 calls and they refused to give me full credit for it. They did give me a small credit for it that was less than half of what the charges were. They told me that I would have to call their third party 411 provider to ask for full credit. But they would not provide me with a correct number to reach that third party's customer service. So I refused to pay it and changed back to Verizon. The carrier kept pestering me for months with phone calls and notices over the amount. I cited them my reason for not paying it and I stuck to my guns. After several months, they turned me out for collection. Their collection agency was more reasonable. When I wrote them and cited why I refused to pay, I never heard from them again. Verizon may be more expensive. But my overall experience with their network and their customer service has been mostly good. I no longer even consider switching to another carrier to save money because expecting good service from their competitors is an exercise in futility. It's a crying shame that their competitors cannot get it together. Fred ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20180504150754.GA11198@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 4 May 2018 11:07:54 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Verizon doesn't care about Sprint and T-Mobile merger, says it'll win 5G race "We frankly don't care," is Verizon's CEO Lowell McAdam's response to the recently announced plan for competitors Sprint and T-Mobile to merge. His comment came during an interview ahead of the carrier's annual shareholder's meeting, according to the Seattle Times. McAdam had been asked to comment on the impending arrival of a sizable new competitor, and added, "We don't have a point of view on whether it goes through or it doesn't." The T-Mobile and Sprint merger has been tried twice before. Neither time has resulted in success, but this time it seems both firms have agreed on terms and conditions. The new company will be called T-Mobile, and will be home to 126 million customers, or around 25 million fewer than U.S. market leader Verizon. T-Mobile CEO John Legere called it, "A larger, stronger competitor that will be a force for positive change." https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/verizon-lowell-mcdam-t-mobile-sprint-merger/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - You may trust me when I write that if Verizon says it doesn't matter, it matters a LOT. -bh -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <B8A3C48C-9915-40E0-9594-BEC4F0F97EA1@roscom.com> Date: Sat, 5 May 2018 18:12:29 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Google told us more about how that 'expiring emails' feature works Google told us more about how that 'expiring emails' feature works By Rachel Kraus Gmail's massive redesign includes a feature that has previously only been available on corporate email services, encryption-oriented programs like ProtonMail and Signal, and, well, Snapchat: disappearing messages. It's part of Gmail's new "confidential mode," which will supposedly give users an added layer of security when sending emails. This includes the ability to password protect emails, unsend messages, and prevent others from forwarding, printing, copying, or downloading messages. Disappearing messages come through the ability to set expiration dates for emails - which means they will "disappear" from inboxes after a specified amount of time. https://mashable.com/2018/04/27/new-gmail-expiring-emails-confidential-mode/ ------------------------------ Message-ID: <F6FC5929-CDC1-459A-82EB-0FBF99744385@roscom.com> Date: Sun, 6 May 2018 21:43:29 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Yes, It's Bad. Robocalls, and Their Scams, Are Surging. Yes, It's Bad. Robocalls, and Their Scams, Are Surging. The volume of automated phone calls has skyrocketed this year over last, according to a service that tracks them, and complaints have also risen sharply. Those pesky robocalls - at best annoying disturbances and at worst costly financial scams - are getting worse. In an age when cellphones have become extensions of our bodies, robocallers now follow people wherever they go, disrupting business meetings, church services and bedtime stories with their children. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/06/your-money/robocalls-rise-illegal.html ------------------------------ Message-ID: <7EBDE622-C622-4503-9AEE-7703D5BCF43E@roscom.com> Date: Mon, 7 May 2018 09:24:31 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: How Criminals Steal $37 Billion a Year from America's Elderly How Criminals Steal $37 Billion a Year from America's Elderly Telephone pitchers, online scammers and even family members target the most vulnerable among us. And it's about to get worse. By Nick Leiber Marjorie Jones trusted the man who called to tell her she'd won a sweepstakes prize, saying she could collect the winnings once she paid the taxes and fees. After she wired the first payment, he and other callers kept adding conditions to convince her to send more money. As the scheme progressed, Jones, who was legally blind and lived alone in a two-story house in Moss Bluff, Louisiana, depleted her savings, took out a reverse mortgage and cashed in a life insurance policy. She didn't tell her family, not even the sister who lived next door. Scammers often push victims to keep promised winnings a secret, says an investigator who helped unravel this sinister effort to exploit an 82-year-old woman. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-05-03/america-s-elderly-are-losing-37-billion-a-year-to-fraud ------------------------------ Message-ID: <C03F1BA0-D03E-4531-A5D6-B97F6F09D2CE@roscom.com> Date: Fri, 4 May 2018 00:21:57 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Sprint and T-Mobile C.E.O.s Are in Washington to Sell Their Merger. The carriers, whose 2014 merger attempt was blocked, will face scrutiny from three major agencies, including the Justice Department. >From the moment T-Mobile and Sprint announced their $26.5 billion merger on Sunday, the wireless carriers have positioned their proposed deal with an eye toward Washington. After all, regulators in the Obama administration blocked one of their previous efforts to combine. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/business/dealbook/sprint-tmobile-merger-regulatory-approval.html ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Tue, 08 May 2018