From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Apr 2 20:46:18 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i331kIF06764; Fri, 2 Apr 2004 20:46:18 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 20:46:18 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404030146.i331kIF06764@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #158 TELECOM Digest Fri, 2 Apr 2004 20:46:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 158 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Rate Hikes in Sheep's Clothing - Consumer Groups Rally (VOIP News) VoIP Letters to the Hill (VOIP News) Re: Vonage Apparently Now in Canada and Offering (VOIP News) Sununu Bill Allows Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP News) Bill Would Exempt Most VOIP From Regulation (VOIP News) VoIP Reaches Out, Wirelessly - Two Hot Net Technologies (VOIP News) Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business (Tony P.) Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business (Clarence Dold) Lawful Intercept (Marco Ponte) Stopping Nuisance Calls (Mark Crispin) VOIP News Question (Tom Lowe) Re: Norvergence Documentary (William Warren) Re: Western Union Clocks (Lawrence Jones) Vonage, Bad Experince, Really is Terrible, Maybe the Worst (G) Re: Buying Books on the Net (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) 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: VOIP News Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 11:27:42 -0500 nSubject: Rate Hikes in Sheep's Clothing - Consumer Groups Rally Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/41691 Consumer groups rally against 'fees' Written by Karl Bode As previously discussed, BellSouth recently added a "regulatory cost recovery" fee of $2.97 to customer DSL bills. Letters informing customers of the change caused a long discussion over the tactic in our BellSouth forum. The fee is not assessed by the government, and consumer groups argue it's simply a rate hike in sheep's clothing. The biggest problem is that the fee isn't included in the cost that these companies are advertising. Critics charge this allows the companies to advertise one rate, charge another, and then blame the government when you get angry. We've been changing our own price comparisons to reflect this. While just yesterday we praised SBC for their decision to offer higher speeds and lower their rates, the reality is those price reductions are simply being offset by new hidden fees. Surcharges ranging from $1.84 to $5.83 a month are being added to customer bills, depending on which of SBC's 13 states you live in. If you don't see the fee yet, you will when your contract comes up for renewal. The justification for the fee from both companies is that the Universal Service Fund, and other regulatory efforts are draining their coffers. "Given the dramatic way that it has increased in the last couple of years, we have found it necessary to break it out," says SBC spokesman Joe Izbrand to the Dallas Morning News. Consumer groups argue that the USF is simply part of the cost of doing business in the United States, and should be included in the overall price of service. "It's a price increase," bluntly notes Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America. [Comment: At least one VoIP company does this also. Vonage adds a "Regulatory Recovery Fee" of $1.50 per line to their monthly rate. It's not assessed by the government, and not included in the advertised price.] Full story at: http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/41691 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 11:52:55 -0500 Subject: VoIP Letters to the Hill Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Apr/1028225.htm] Late yesterday, nine small VoIP providers and the VON Coalition, of which AT&T is a member, sent a letter to key policymakers on the Hill and at the FCC urging them to avoid placing old telephone rules on this new service. Below is the letter delivered to the Senate. A separate letter was addressed to Reps. Joe Barton, John D. Dingell and Charles "Chip" Pickering. As you all know, the FCC is poised to rule on a petition deciding how much phone-to-phone VoIP providers will have to pay to access the Bell network. Full story (including text of letter) at: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Apr/1028225.htm ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 10:52:45 -0500 Subject: Re: Vonage Apparently Now in Canada Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Forwarded message: Date: 2 Apr 2004 05:41:30 -0000 From: John Levine To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [VoIP News] Vonage apparently now in Canada and offering Canadian numbers In-Reply-To: <5.06794476509094.114.978631258011@1.00006684993781> Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Strangely, in Ontario they do not show Toronto (Canada's largest city) or > any ratecenter close to Toronto That appears to be a mistake. If you go through the signup menu, it offers area code 647 numbers in Toronto. ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 15:36:22 -0500 Subject: Sununu Bill Allows Voice Over Internet Protocol Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.politicsnh.com/press_releases/2004/April/4_2voip.shtml SUNUNU BILL ALLOWS VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL TO GROW FREE FROM STATE AND FEDERAL REGULATION WASHINGTON, DC -- United States Senator John Sununu (R-NH) today (4/2) reviewed components of Senate legislation that encourages the growth of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) by clarifying its status as an information service and limiting state regulation of this innovative voice communication technology. Sununu, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, was joined by Congressman Chip Pickering (R-MS) at a press round-table in the Capitol on April 2 where they outlined provisions of the Senate and corresponding House legislation and took questions from the press. "Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) - technology that enables efficient, cost-effective delivery of voice communications over Internet broadband networks - is at a critical stage in its development, but its potential to serve consumers, business, and society is enormous," said Sununu. "Unfortunately, some interests would like to impose an outdated and stifling regulatory framework on this service, rather than allow VoIP to continue to expand freely." "Burdensome state and federal regulations could easily prevent VoIP from delivering on its promise of cost savings, versatility, and innovation for consumers. That is why I propose a clear, but limited federal role to enable future growth of this technology," Sununu continued. "Congress must establish federal authority in this area, provide direction for any action by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and preclude individual states and jurisdictions from regulating VoIP. This guidance, which my legislation provides, will help ensure a greater degree of market certainty, and more importantly, will help ensure that a misguided approach to VoIP does not develop." Key provisions in the bill will: Treat VoIP as an information service. Doing so will help establish a level playing field for all forms of data; Establish federal jurisdiction over VoIP applications. Allowing state and local jurisdictions to impose costly and unnecessary regulations on this technology will discourage investment and development; and Protect VoIP data from federal and state taxation. Imposing oppressive taxes on VoIP will serve only to block further emergence of this technology. On previous occasions, Sununu has addressed his concerns about the future of VoIP at a February 24, 2004 Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the issue and at the January 9, 2004 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada . ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 15:31:32 -0500 Subject: Bill Would Exempt Most VOIP From Regulation Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/04/02/HNvoipreg_1.html By Grant Gross, IDG News Service April 02, 2004 Most voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services would be exempt from state taxes and regulations and be treated by the U.S. government as a lightly regulated information service under legislation that U.S. Senator John Sununu plans to introduce by early next week. Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican, has drafted a bill that defining most VOIP services as information services, like most other Internet-related services, under congressional and U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations. The Sununu bill would exempt VOIP from most regulations governing traditional voice telecommunications, including federal law-enforcement wiretap regulations and access charges typically shared among telecom providers. Sununu and Representative Charles "Chip" Pickering Jr., a Mississippi Republican who plans to introduce a similar bill in the House, said the legislation is necessary to give clarity to VOIP vendors and customers, even though the FCC began a rule-making proceeding on VOIP in mid-February. FCC Chairman Michael Powell has also called for VOIP to be exempt from state regulations, but the legislation could help avoid the court battles that have followed other FCC telecommunications decisions, Sununu said. Full story at: http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/04/02/HNvoipreg_1.html ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 11:39:54 -0500 Subject: VoIP Reaches Out, Wirelessly - Two Hot Net Technologies Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/ZDM/wireless_voip_pcmag_040402.html VoIP Reaches Out, Wirelessly Two Hot Net Technologies Converge for New Mobile Phone Calls By Sebastian Rupley PC Magazine April 2 The talk at the VON (Voice On the Net) conference this week in Silicon Valley is not just about Voice over IP (VoIP) technology, but the coming convergence of Wi-Fi wireless LAN technology and VoIP services.That melding is already leading to the development of new products and services, with many more expected later this year. Full story at: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/ZDM/wireless_voip_pcmag_040402.html ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business Organization: ATCC Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 21:00:15 GMT In article , djones0315@hotmail.com says: > I would like to operate a profitable hot-spot (Wi-Fi) service for my > community. People would access my network for a $1 a day in our > communities cafe's and parks. I'm thinking to have about 8 hot > spots. How much would a hot spot cost to run? Also, how could I > collect payments? Is there a hot-spot management system out there? First think of the infrastructure. Yuo'd need some type of well equipped Wi-Fi router or two, and the access points associated with it. Then of course you'll need some form of security above and beyond basic WEP and not broadcasting the SSID. For that I'd suggest BlueSocket but it isn't in any way cheap. Equipment, I'd say is about $15K to $30K or so. Then there's the broadband connection -- anywhere from $100 to $1000 a month. ------------------------------ From: dold@Hot-SpotXW.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 14:50:28 UTC Organization: a2i network D. Jones wrote: > I would like to operate a profitable hot-spot (Wi-Fi) service for my > community. People would access my network for a $1 a day in our > communities cafe's and parks. I'm thinking to have about 8 hot > spots. How much would a hot spot cost to run? Also, how could I > collect payments? Is there a hot-spot management system out there? The first thing that comes to mind is to become a hotspot for an established carrier. That would relieve you of all of the bookkeeping. Al you would do is provide the spot[s]. http://www.boingo.com is one of them. There is a steady stream of this same question in the Usenet News Group alt.internet.wireless . A search of that newsgroup via Google lists 63 threads on the subject: http://makeashorterlink.com/?E16F62AE7 Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 ------------------------------ From: marco_ponte@yahoo.com (Marco Ponte) Subject: Lawful Intercept Date: 2 Apr 2004 05:46:54 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I'm writing a paper on Lawful Intercept in today's telecom ip based networks (access providers, internet providers, ...) I know about standards that describe different functionalities (e.g. the famous H1, H2 and H3 handover interfaces) Now, I'm wondering at what part of the network this interception best takes place : at the DSLAM, access routers, edge routers ... and what are reasons to implement one or the other. If possible, send replies by e-mail. Greetings. ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Stopping Nuisance Calls Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 10:00:34 -0800 Organization: University of Washington There is an option for stopping nuisance calls that hasn't been widely discussed. If your phone company has Do Not Disturb service, you can set up your DND schedule so that it is 24 hours/day. Consequently, nobody can call you unless they know a four-digit code that you decide upon. The disadvantage is that if you have a forwarding (e.g. to voice mail or a cell phone), DND will happily transfer to it. So prerecorded telemarketers will then leave their crap on your voice mail (or worse you cell phone). So be sure to cancel all forwardings first. There is an option which you can enable to allow callers who don't know the code to press "*" and give their name, and then you get to decide whether to take the call or not. Of course, this mainly works for people who have a very small number of legitimate callers and thus it scales to "whitelist" in this way. My phone line has been very peaceful since I went this route. My friends and family know my code and their calls go right through, but no more wrong numbers and no more damn telemarketers who think that the do-not-call law doesn't apply to them. What's more, it's not only more effective, but is also a lot cheaper than the No Solicitation, Security Screen, etc. services. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. ------------------------------ Subject: VOIP News Question Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 16:18:57 -0500 From: Tom Lowe No offense, but if the VOIP news is already in a mailing list of it's own, what's the point in posting it to this group as well? I love the news provided by them, but not enough to read it twice. I would encourage you to keep a list of relevant mailing lists that your subscribers may be interested in signing up for and send it out to the list every so often, or post it on your web site or something else, but don't duplicate stuff. Thanks for listening! Tom ------------------------------ From: William Warren Subject: Re: Norvergence Documentary Organization: Comcast Online Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 13:05:23 GMT Eric Claiborne wrote in message news:telecom23.157.6@telecom-digest.org: [snip] > Thank you very much for you work in these matters. On such a > sensitive issue of phone/data systems we have decided that a contract > with this company is not worth ANY risk. We started to get leary when > the answer to every question was "YES". That is usually the trademark > of a B.S. artist. With the information we read from you and other > sources, we cancelled our plans with them. [snip] > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That's my job here, Mr. Claiborne, to > collect facts and experiences our readers have with various telecom > companies, including Norvergence. I am glad our archives was useful > to you. http://telecom-digest.org PAT] Pat, QUICK! Hit them up for a sponsorship!! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That's very crass! If everyone who had ever benefitted from our archives had become a 'sponsor', I would be a very wealthy person. Not because I am so smart (I am not) but because of the collective wisdom to be found in this newsgroup. Anyway, I did not come up with the Norvergence information on my own; I just serve as a large humanoid filing cabinet for all that stuff. 'Tis very true, a lot of things have to be paid for around here, not the least of which is my own willingness to sit here anywhere from two to eight ot ten hours per day organizing the 'wisdom', dumping out the tons of spam and virus crap which comes through, and trying to arrange the rest of it in a reasonable way. I *did* mention to the Knox Nurseries that a sponsorship would be welcome, but the rest of it has to come from them. I generally however do not tie the two together; search our files, then pay for it. We used to say and believe when Usenet usership and traffic was about one tenth of what it is now that this was a PUBLIC network for USERS. I believe we should continue that policy. Do you remember when *I* (and many others) back in the 1980's used to say 'wait until the day comes when *everyone* is hooked up to the net.' ? Well, we are just about getting to that point. Instead of taking such a crass direction of making (or very strongly suggesting) that people who use our files then pay some set fee for doing so, (gee, are there any Internet sites which do that; have a cashier at the front door, etc?), I prefer just to leave it up the friends and supporters of this Digest to look out for its (and my) welfare. Those who want to do that either use a credit card to make a payment through PayPal at http://telecom-digest.org or else they mail a gift as they find approriate to Post Office Box 50, Independence, KS 67301 and recieve my thanks. PAT] ------------------------------ From: lawrence.jones@ugsplm.com Subject: Re: Western Union Clocks Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 21:13:01 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > My (Panasonic) doesn't make any changes until you cycle the > power. A couple of months ago my power was off for a time and when it > came back on it was totally confused. Finally I got the manual out > and discovered that was document ... except it seemed to me the power > going off and then coming back on at some later time *was* cycling the > power. My Panasonic sets the time when you power it *off*, not on. It seems to me that it actually said that in the manual, too. I suspect the reason is that the process can take a bit of time and they didn't want to keep you from doing whatever you were trying to do when you turned the VCR on, so they wait until you're no longer using it. -Larry Jones Years from now when I'm successful and happy, ... and he's in prison ... I hope I'm not too mature to gloat. -- Calvin ------------------------------ From: info414@yahoo.com (G) Subject: Vonage, Bad Experince, Really is Terrible, Maybe the Worst Date: 2 Apr 2004 10:18:36 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Vonage has some serious problems and here they are ! You phone does not work for ALL the following reasons, which cumulatively can amount to more than a few HOURS a week! 1. If power is out; 2. If cable is out; 3. Every once in awhile Vonage system is down; 4. If Vonage modem has a glitch; 5. If your cable has a glitch. If your phone loses dial tone you do not get it back unless you reboot the Vonage modem, which you do not know is out of order unless you check it. Once you reboot it, it takes two or three minutes, because Vonage only poles you one every few minutes, NOT ONCE EVERY FEW SECONDES, like any normal system would do. Voip is a great technology for campus wide utilization, but Vonage is going to go belly up fast with this application of the technology. Beware of saving a few dollars and losing a lot of business/friends with this technology. G [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But for those readers who have not experienced this series of disasters with their electricity, cable modem, etc and want to check out Vonage, I can give you an e-coupon good for a month of free service.(Whatever kind of service you decide is best, you get the second month of it for free with an e-coupon. Just write ptownson@telecom-digest.org and request it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 14:32:29 GMT From: joel@exc.com (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Re: Buying Books on the Net Organization: Excelsior Computer Services > The risk is that the merchant (or whoever ends up with the card > number) will use it again in the future without your permission. One The other risk is that someone will break into the merchant's database. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications 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. 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Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. If you donate at least fifty dollars per year we will send you our two-CD set of the entire Telecom Archives; this is every word published in this Digest since our beginning in 1981. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #158 ******************************