---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <barmar-82D30F.03360406052019@reader443.eternal-september.org> Date: 6 May 2019 03:36:04 -0400 From: "Barry Margolin" <barmar@alum.mit.edu> Subject: Re: You Can't Stop Robocalls. You Shouldn't Have To. In article <9c85c6a0-b029-4524-9e78-f03abebe7904@googlegroups.com>, HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> wrote: > > Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu wrote: > > > A few weeks ago I discovered the setting on my cellphone to not ring > > if the call is from someone not on my contact list. That's been a > > blessing. > > It is sad that so many people today now use a 'whitelist' to control > incoming calls. It can be harmful. > > I came upon someone in distress and lent them my cellphone to call for > help (their phone was dead). But since my phone wasn't on their > friend's 'whitelist', the call wasn't answered. Further, today, > people don't listen to messages, so leaving a message didn't help. A > cop came along and helped. My cellphone is not my primary phone, I practically never get real calls on it. I'm also not anyone's emergency contact, as far as I know (I have no spouse or kids). So I have no fear that my whitelist is going to cause me to miss an important call. I wouldn't use a setting like this on my landline. -- Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20190506154513.GA27187@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 6 May 2019 15:45:13 +0000 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Lawmakers hit speed dial on legislation to cut down on robocalls Lawmakers hit speed dial on legislation to cut down on robocalls - or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the hype Lawmakers, fed up with the seemingly constant barrage of nuisance and scam calls plaguing them, their families and their constituents, have launched a bipartisan broadside against robocalls. "I think that I'm like everybody else that has cellphones and is constantly, constantly interrupted by these nuisance calls," [a Republican Senator], told NBC News. Legislative efforts underway in both the House and the Senate would go further than past measures to crack down on a problem that has become significantly worse in recent years. The efforts would ramp up penalties for violations, put the onus on major cell service providers to do a better job of authenticating calls, and offer ways to block neighborhood "spoofers," where scammers trick a caller ID into believing that a call is coming from the recipient's area code. (Rest at https://kvoa.com/news/2019/05/06/lawmakers-hit-speed-dial-on-legislation-to-cut-down-on-robocalls/ ) ... and blah-blah-blah-your-civil-servants-are-on-the-job-blah-blah-blah. It starts earlier every time. It's only May of 2019, but fluff pieces like this one crowd the net more and more by the day. There is no way to quantify how deep the mire has gotten: going "further than past measures" is as vague a phrase as I've ever read anywhere. Why, I wonder, do we put up with this avalanche of excrement? Why is such frippery accepted as "news," of any sort, at any time? Sigh. I am getting old, and crotchety, and tired of seeing what used to be called "jouralism" perverted for no better purpose than selling soap. The press, it seems, is free not only to report the news, but also to pervert the constitutional protections it enjoys on behalf of the sellers of packaged goods, and also for the benefit of an arrogant group of sycophants who style themselves as leaders. Joseph Pulitzer is spinning in his grave. -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20190505163617.53106.qmail@submit.iecc.com> Date: 5 May 2019 16:36:17 -0400 From: "David B. Horvath, CCP" <dhorvath@cobs.com> Subject: I got one of those letters I still have POTS at home (long story). I got a letter from Verizon yesterday that they are upgrading their facilities and that I have to move to fiber. "This means that if you have not scheduled an appointment to transfer your services, your Verizon services will be suspended on or after June 17, 2019. THIS LETTER SERVES AS NOTICE OF SUSPENSION." www.verizon.com/fiberupgrade I'll be off Verizon by then... - David ***** Moderator's Note ***** The web site David's URL points to contains this paragraph: Your service will be migrated by our expert technician to our 100% fiber-optic network at NO charge to you. The pricing and features of your current voice service will not change. And, if you have High Speed Internet service, you can upgrade to Fios Internet at a special rate - just ask about this offer and our other Fios products when you schedule your installation appointment. ... which means that, although his voice service is still under tariff, David's data service is not. Of course, David's cost-per-byte is going to skyrocket RSN: he can "upgrade at a special rate," but will, inevitably, find himself shelling out more for every keystroke. His options for getting away from Verizon will be severely limited, since the ILEC doesn't have to share Fios with CLECs, and cell or satellite-based sevices cost more already. The part Verizon doesn't mention is that Fios is an unreliable technology when the power fails, since it requires local battery power to work when the power is out. David's phone is going to be returned to the days when Pa Kettle had his crank phone on the wall of the farmhouse, and local batteries to power it in the box at the bottom. It doesn't matter if he switches to a competitor of Verizon - the batteries are still there, no matter if they are in a cell phone or a pedestal. That, you may think, is not a big deal: we're all so used to battery-powered devices that the side-effects of that dependence have been forgotten. As ever, there ARE side-effects, and Verizon is, as ever, not mentioning them: David's insurance rates are going to rise. The National Fire Danger Rating for a neighborhood goes up when long-term power outages cause widespread telephone service failures: it's as inevitable as the smug looks on the faces of Verizon's executives the day after they get yet another rate increase. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Tue, 07 May 2019