About a year ago or so I came up with the idea of converting the
TELECOM Digest archives into the mailbox format. I shared this with PAT
who posted them to the TELECOM Digest website. Funny thing is I never got
around to reading them. Until now.
I participated in Georgia Tech's Cooperative Education (Co-op)
Program. I started working for AT&T in September 1987. I was 14
going on 15 when January 1, 1984 hit, the day that saw the breakup of
AT&T. I really didn't understand from a consumer standpoint what all
the fuss was about. Three-and-a-half years later when I was an AT&T
employee, I still didn't fully understand the magnitude of what had
happened.
It's all quite amusing to me now. I continually heard things from
fellow, long-time AT&T employees like, "Oh, they're going to reverse
the decision, you just watch!". Or "The government had no authority
to do this to us.". They really had the mentality that the breakup of
Ma Bell was only temporary. The government would eventually come to
its senses and order it back together. The "we're still a monopoly"
mentality was systemic throughout the corporation, which is what I
think lead to its demise (anyone else have any thoughts on this?).
I'm still in the 1981 archives. I cannot believe how pompous,
protective, and bloated the phone company was then. Telling customers
they couldn't have a business and a residential line in the same
dwelling. Sarcastic operators and billing employees. Charging
through the nose for a simple telephone. Calls to the next town over
being a toll call. Metered local calling. Amazing. I really see why
AT&T was broken up.
I worked with many AT&T 3B2 computers while at AT&T. I found the
announcement that there's a rumor of a 3Bx computer coming out, but
AT&T won't say to be amusing. A Bell Labs employee chimed in not
really confirming or denying it, but noting the government wouldn't
let AT&T sell computers to anyone anyway.
I've also noted that most (all?) of the contributors to the digest
worked in the following areas: Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, Chapel
Hill, Chicago, New Jersey or Boston. I understand why. Still, it
floors me the net was so limited.
The January 1982 announcement that AT&T would in fact be broken up
consisted of two postings with no apparent responses to either. Could
you imagine an annoucement of that magnitude today? Poor PAT would be
pulling 20 hour shifts just to process the flurry of postings and
replies. :-)
You can access the archives in many formats by visiting
http://www.telecom-digest.org/archives/back.issues/back-issues-MBOX-format/
(or)
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.dcom.telecom . Take some time to read
them. It's been very educational for me. In 2007 I no longer get my dial
tone from a "telephone company" and I don't give it a second thought if
I'm calling down the street, across the county/country, or to Canada, as
it's all part of my flat-rate package.
John Mayson <john@mayson.us>
Austin, Texas, USA
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Many of the Digest readers in those
days were more 'engineering and technical type' people than
today. And, in the 1981-85 files in the archives, I am not certain how
complete our files are. I have included everything I could find
there, but I strongly suspect there are a few messages missing for one
reason or another. PAT]
Path: telecom-digest.org!ptownson
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:39:28 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: iPhone Delivers Up to Eight Hours of Talk Time
Message-ID: <telecom26.172.3@telecom-digest.org>
Organization: TELECOM Digest
Sender: editor@telecom-digest.org
X-URL: http://telecom-digest.org/
X-Submissions-To: editor@telecom-digest.org
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 26, Issue 172, Message 3 of 15
Lines: 18
iPhone Delivers Up to Eight Hours of Talk Time
Now Features Durable Glass Top Surface
CUPERTINO, California-June 18, 2007-Apple today announced that iPhone
will deliver significantly longer battery life when it ships on June
29 than was originally estimated when iPhone was unveiled in
January. iPhone will feature up to 8 hours of talk time, 6 hours of
Internet use, 7 hours of video playback or 24 hours of audio
playback.* In addition, iPhone will feature up to 250 hours-more than
10 days-of standby time. Apple also announced that the entire top
surface of iPhone, including its stunning 3.5-inch display, has been
upgraded from plastic to optical-quality glass to achieve a superior
level of scratch resistance and optical clarity.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/06/18iphone.html
John Mayson (