From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Apr 14 14:41:14 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i3EIfEg23980; Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:41:14 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:41:14 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404141841.i3EIfEg23980@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 #186 TELECOM Digest Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:41:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 186 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson IceNet Launches A Voice Optimized VoIP Network (VOIP News) Cable Cadre Talks VOIP (VOIP News) Vonage Rings up Canadian VoIP Opportunity (VOIP News) VoIP Hack Plan Condemned (VOIP News) Nuvio Offers Partner Programs to ISP's (VOIP News) PIKA Technologies Announces VoIP-Enabled Voice Boards (VOIP News) Regulators Consider the Future of VoIP (VOIP News) Re: CRTC: VoIP is Just Phone Service (Jack Decker) Re: AOL Quietly Opens its Mail System to Outside World (Barry Margolin) Re: VoIP's Broadband Bottleneck (Rich Higgins) Re: Receiving Faxes via the Internet? (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Re: Receiving Faxes via the Internet? (Steven J Sobol) 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: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 23:47:54 -0400 Subject: IceNet Launches A Voice Optimized VoIP Network Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.commweb.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=18901253 IceNet Launches A Voice Optimized VoIP Network By William David Gardner Some still think VoIP is too unreliable for business customers. IceNet says that's hogwash; its VoIP for service providers is reliable enough that its service provider customers can offer 99.999 percent uptime. IceNet announced its voice carrier-grade fault tolerant VoIP network with redundant ATM backup. Its first customer is ISP airBand Communications. IceNet's president Steve Holden said the startup company -- it's a year-and-a-half old -- was built from the ground up to supply VoIP over a voice grade network. Full story at: http://www.commweb.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=18901253 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 23:51:54 -0400 Subject: Cable Cadre Talks VOIP Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=50916 Cable Cadre Talks VOIP U.S. cable companies are considering forming a consortium to jointly offer voice-over-IP services, a potential blow to phone companies and independent VOIP providers. NeuStar Inc. has held preliminary talks with cable representatives about providing a system to bridge VOIP calls between cable networks. The talks, still in the planning stages, have involved Comcast Corp., Cox Communications Inc., and Time Warner Cable, among others. If the U.S. companies form a consortium, they are likely to invite Canadian cable operators Shaw Communications Inc. and Rogers Cable Inc. to participate, in order to enable VOIP interconnections among cable networks throughout North America. Cable Television Laboratories Inc. (CableLabs), a nonprofit research and development consortium, is helping cable companies research the proposed initiative. Full story at: http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=50916 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This must be the thing the lady over at our CableOne office was telling me about last week when she said she thought Southwestern Bell would get 'really squashed' by the time the cableco got 'done with them'. It really does sound exciting, if they can make it work. PAT] ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 23:54:43 -0400 Subject: Vonage Rings up Canadian VoIP Opportunity Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&lid=1&sid=55298 4/13/2004 5:00:00 PM - The American firm makes a play for customers here through a partnership with Group Telecom. Executives discuss their customer expectations, marketing challenges and the CRTC ruling by Fawzia Sheikh Vonage, an American broadband services provider, has partnered with Group Telecom to launch a service in Canada at the same time the CRTC has said it will likely regulate voice over IP the same as other phone services. Full story at: http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&lid=1&sid=55298 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: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 23:58:58 -0400 Subject: VoIP Hack Plan Condemned Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://p2pnet.net/story/1209 p2pnet.net News:- ISPs, the Federal Communications Commission, equipment builders and broadband consumers are being set up to subsidize the FBI's surveillance state, says the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation). Its statement comes in response to an FBI demand that the FCC allow it to hack VoIP coms. The FBI and its wire-taps are already famous -- or infamous, depending on your point of view -- and "Last month, the FBI, along with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), filed a petition with the FCC to ask that the agency require ISPs to rewire networks and give the FBI the ability to tap packet-based voice communications," says a TechNewsWorld story here. "Experts tell TechNewsWorld that Internet-based telephone calls account for about 1 percent of all telephone calls made today." The FBI petition wants the government create a regulatory process under which new communications protocols, applications or services must be reviewed and approved by the FBI before they can be deployed, the story says, continuing: Full story at: http://p2pnet.net/story/1209 ------------------------------ From: VOIP Newa Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 12:30:22 -0400 Subject: Nuvio Offers Partner Programs to ISP's Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-13-2004/0002150608&EDATE= Broadband Providers Can Capitalize on VoIP Like Never Before KANSAS CITY, Mo., April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Nuvio today announced the industry's most comprehensive and cost-effective Private Label Partner (PLP) programs for broadband providers. Nuvio's programs allow ISP's to provide phone numbers in most of the country and phone service anywhere in the world. The partner programs allow broadband providers to immediately profit from offering residential and business VoIP services to their existing customer base. The announcement was made today at ISPCON, the definitive event for wired and wireless ISP's. "We've spent the time and resources to build out and operate a nationwide VoIP network making us a logical partner for broadband providers," said Jason Talley, Nuvio CEO. "ISP's realize that Nuvio offers a cost-effective solution by providing the infrastructure and the knowledgeable support staff to make ISP's profitable as VoIP providers. These programs offer an unbelievable opportunity for ISP's to bundle their services and realize significant profits from new revenue sources." [Comment: This press release registers higher than usual on my hype-o-meter, so I'm not posting the whole thing. If what you have read so far interest you, the entire press release is at the following URL:] http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-13-2004/0002150608&EDATE= ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 08:25:41 -0400 Subject: PIKA Technologies Announces VoIP-Enabled Voice Boards Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-14-2004/0002151070&EDATE= OTTAWA, Canada, April 14 /PRNewswire/ - The volume of VoIP news is on the rise; it is clear that the IP-centric world has arrived. PIKA Technologies, a developer of innovative computer plug-in voice boards and software, is proud to announce that VoIP capabilities will be delivered in PIKA MonteCarlo Software Developer Kit (SDK), Release 6.2, in June 2004. Using PIKA boards and software, application developers will be able to design cost-effective VoIP- enabled voice and fax solutions for their customers. PIKA MonteCarlo 6.2 will include VoIP-based DSP applications that enable VoIP capabilities on all MM-series digital- and analog-interface boards. It's important to point out the innovative architecture of PIKA boards, referred to as "All-on-Board" technology. All-on-Board allows developers to do voice, fax, conferencing, VoIP and data on any MM-series PIKA board. Developers control the combination of DSPs and the number of channels served by each application. If more DSP processing power is required, the developer can add DSP modules to the board without using up additional system slots. Release 6.2 will make it easier and more cost effective for application developers to incorporate VoIP into new or existing voice and fax solutions. "VoIP has been on the product roadmap of application development companies for some time. Now that the hype has faded way to customers paying for the capability, many developers will begin to design new applications or VoIP-enable existing applications," said Doug Petty, VP Technology, PIKA Technologies Inc. "Release 6.2 continues our promise to bring innovative features and functionality to the application developer community so that they can deliver next-generation solutions to their customers." PIKA MonteCarlo 6.2 will deliver the following enhancements: New DSP features: - VoIP - Dial pulse detection New digital features: - Clear channel (for external signaling stack compatibility) - ISDN hold and retrieve (1B channel transfer) - CAS R1 - New CAS modifiable country state machines New configuration, logging and diagnostics features: - Dynamically change the following T1/E1 interface parameters without stopping the application: framing, encoding, line build out, and protocol end for T1 and E1 line interfaces - Logging: - Improved log file parameter control (size, wrap, and more) - Layer 1 monitoring - System diagnostic information enhancements - Improved API parameter expansion Operating systems supported: - Windows 2000/XP/2003 - Red Hat 7.3 - SuSE Professional 9 PIKA Technologies continues to invest heavily in their technology offerings. As an example, the company is working on integration to Microsoft SpeechServer and Microsoft.Net. PIKA Technologies promises to continue to deliver the new features and functionality developers need to stay competitive. PIKA MonteCarlo SDK Release 6.2, currently in beta trials, is scheduled for availability in June 2004. Existing 6.1-based applications will run on 6.2 with a recompile only. For more information, visit http://www.pikatechnologies.com or call +1-613-591-1555. About PIKA Technologies PIKA Technologies designs and manufactures computer plug in voice cards and software that connect a computer system to both TDM- and IP-based networks to provide advanced voice services. For more than 16 years PIKA Technologies has been serving companies around the world that require voice cards to design sophisticated phone services for recording systems, voice services applications, and PC-PBX systems. The company has built a reputation for delivering innovative products and exceptional technical support by working closely with its customers. Headquartered in Ottawa, ON, Canada, the company has ranked in The Branham300, an authoritative ranking of successful Canadian high tech firms, for three consecutive years. Visit http://www.pikatechnologies.com or call +1-613-591-1555 for more information. (C) PIKA Technologies Inc., 2004. PIKA is a registered trademark of PIKA Technologies Inc. LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. SUSE is a registered trademark of SUSE LINUX AG. RED HAT is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. SOURCE Pika Technologies Inc. ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 11:11:23 -0400 Subject: Regulators Consider the Future of VoIP Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/communications/networks/0,39020427,39151529,00.htm Clive Gringras Olswang Whether or not new technologies like VoIP are viable will depend in part on the regulatory framework, which was discussed at a recent European conference. European regulators and network operators recently gathered in Brussels to consider the future regulation of voice over Internet Protocol -- VoIP. The hearing, held in March, focused on recommendations set out in a study prepared for the European Commission that was published earlier this year. Guidance from the Commission on how the new e-communications regulatory package should be applied to IP-based services is expected to follow. The regulatory treatment of these services will be key to the viability of these emerging new business models. Full story at: http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/communications/networks/0,39020427,39151529,00.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 23:45:45 -0400 From: Jack Decker Subject: Re: CRTC: VoIP is Just Phone Service Pat, please conceal my e-mail address as usual. On 13 Apr 2004 03:52:06 -0000, John Levine wrote: > Quoting John Covert in issue 182: >> Well, not exactly. My FWD phone also has a WA state (area code 360) >> number that any phone can call and also has a UK number (0870) which >> any phone can call. > Really? How did you set that up? > Pulver got the FCC to declare that FWD isn't taxable because it's not > real phones. If FWD phones really are dialable, this could get > interesting. John, the reason it may not be quite as interesting as you might think is that, with one exception, these gateway arrangements are set up by third parties that have no business relationship with Free World Dialup or Jeff Pulver. Basically these are people who have either offered to map a Direct Inward Dialed number to a Free World Dialup number, or have set up a gateway where you dial in, reach an auto-attendant or a dial tone, and can then dial a FWD number. Note that in at least one case they will also put calls through to IAXtel or SIPphone numbers, so it's not even something exclusive to Free World Dialup. These numbers don't change the basic nature of Free World Dialup -- for one thing, I doubt that all Free World Dialup users even know they exist, and of those who do know about them, certainly not everyone has requested one. But in any case, my understanding is that, again with one possible exception, these numbers aren't operated by Free World Dialup or Jeff Pulver. The interesting thing is that, as far as I know, so far these numbers are all free to use (except for any normal toll charges the PSTN caller might pay to that particular ratecenter). Don't ask me why; I guess whoever operates each of these gateways has their own reason for doing so (I believe I recall someone saying that in one case it was actually a way to get multiple test calls on VoIP switches, so their operation could be observed with actual, real world usage taking place). The exception I spoke of (and it's a big one) is a company called LibreTel, which on its home page says that it is "a pulver.com company." What is interesting about LibreTel is that they have gateway numbers in a bunch of Eastern seaboard ratecenters (see http://www.libretel.com/access.html ), but the last I heard they were set up to only consider Free World Dialup numbers lower than about 80000 as valid, and FWD went past that several months ago (they're now assigning six digit numbers). So if you have a newer FWD number, you probably can't receive calls through those numbers. Jeff Pulver has indicated that this problem will be fixed at some point, but at that time they may start charging for use of the gateways. If that happens, that may be when someone will cry "foul"! It's one thing if people unrelated to Free World Dialup are putting calls through from the PSTN -- there's not much that FWD can do about that -- but if "a pulver.com company" is doing it (and especially if they start charging for it), then as you say it could get interesting. For those who may wish to call a Free World Dialup user, here are a few additional URL's you may find interesting: http://www.freeworlddialup.com/advanced/peering_numbers (scroll down to "Third Party Inbound to FWD" at the bottom of the page) http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Telesthetic http://www.broadbandreports.com/speak/print/default;9179386 http://www.broadbandreports.com/speak/print/default;8610357 I don't want to include any direct references to the people who give out the Direct Inward Dial numbers in this message (I only know of one such person anyway, and he only has numbers in Michigan), because these messages go into the Digest archives and if the guy happens to discontinue his offer, I don't want him to have to keep replying to requests from Digest archive readers. But for probably at least a few more months you'll be able to see the information if you go to: http://www.broadbandreports.com/speak/print/default;8576286 Oh, and one other point I wanted to make about all these gateways - any or all of them could disappear at any time, since they are free services and (at least for now) have no binding agreements with users of their services (in this particular context). I guess that basically any private system can be connected to the PSTN at various points. I remember that back in the 1960's (and probably still today) the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad (then recently merged with the B&O railroad) had their own private phone system. The interesting thing was that by dialing various codes you could route your calls yourself(!) and you could get to C&O or B&O company switchboards in various parts of the country, where you could jump off onto the PSTN and make a local call. It worked in reverse, too - I once placed a call to the train depot in my home town by calling the C&O switchboard in Detroit. I'm not sure what the phone company thought about that, or if they even knew that it was taking place. ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: AOL Quietly Opens its Mail System to Outside World Organization: Looking for work Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 00:33:26 -0400 In article , Michael Muderick wrote: > I occasionally pickup my mail through an internet server such as > mail2web.com. > I get a message back: > Error : AOL email accounts are not POP3 or IMAP4 compatible. > You must have POP3 or IMAP4 compatible email account to use mail2web. > Is this because they haven't updated their auto-response to AOL mail > requests? It looks like it to me. If this message were due to an actual error that they encountered trying to access the AOL mail server, I doubt it would be so well customized. Since AOL users are likely to be computer-illiterate, it looks like they put in a special case for it so that they could generate a message that's relatively understandable. Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** Please don't copy me on replies. *** ------------------------------ From: rich.higgins@consultechcorp.com (Rich Higgins) Subject: Re: VoIP's Broadband Bottleneck Date: 14 Apr 2004 08:27:16 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Unfortunately, it sounds like you didn't receive a very complete reply to your very reasonable question. IP by its very nature is a resource sharing service with every endpoint competing with every other. Unless some mechanism is imposed to ensure quality of service all latency sensitive IP traffic (voice, streaming video, etc.) will, to some degree, be impacted by whatever else is happening on the network. This is why it's incorrect to say that you simply need more bandwidth (i.e. bigger pipe) into your home. The bigger pipe will statistically reduce the chances that a specific packet will be delayed or lost (due to jitter) but will not guarantee it. The cable operators, through CableLabs, have produced a set of specifications that address the need to provide a guarantee of quality of service for voice (today) and other real time applications (future). Until October of last year I was the principal corporate VoIP engineer for Time Warner Cable which is in the midst of a national residential VoIP rollout. With the PacketCable model, as long as you are on a call you are guaranteed bandwidth regardless of whatever else is happening on the cable. I can assure you I have been intimately involved with developing the specifications and implementing them in an operational network. I can assure you that the technology works and works well. Perhaps the question that you should ask next is when is your cable operator going to begin to offer voice services which comply with PacketCable? VOIP News wrote in message news:: > http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5184599.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed > By Ben Charny > CNET News.com > Broadband Net-phoning services pushing aggressive expansion plans are > discovering a harsh reality: Some residential Internet service > providers in the United States currently can't guarantee the bandwidth > required to handle calls effectively. > AT&T Vice President Kathy Martine said she learned that lesson the > hard way during recent trials of the company's CallVantage Net-phoning > plan, which it hopes to introduce in 100 markets this year. Some > customers' broadband connections just weren't good enough to provide > "AT&T-like" quality, she said. So the company was forced to help the > broadband providers fix their connections. > Now AT&T Labs is "doing a lot of statistical modeling and analysis on > that so we can, in fact, prove where the problems are in the future," > Martine said recently. "But the reality is, it's only as good as the > broadband connection to your home." > VoIP backers such as Cisco Systems insist that the industry has solved > problems that once plagued the technology. But those claims tacitly > assume the presence of high-quality broadband networks, something > industry insiders admit they don't always encounter when deploying > service in residential markets. > United States spoiled by Ma Bell > VoIP's quality problems aren't a big deal in Europe or Asia, where the > cost of traditional phone lines is so high that dialers are expected > to eagerly embrace VoIP in the home and put up with the lost calls and > dropped words. > But Americans are a different story. They've become used to the > century-old telephone networks, which operate so well that even during > power outages there may still be a dial tone. > Full story at: > http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5184599.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have discovered one thing about my > Vonage service which is a problem. Even though it usually does okay, I > get the dropped words problem whenever I am trying to run too many > jobs at once here. Left alone on the cable, Vonage seems to do very > well. But usually I am running my weather station > http://weatherforecast.n3.net or http://weatherforecast.us.tf and my > computer room live camera http://patricktownson.us.tf most of the > time. Both of these services take .jpg images and transfer them to my > California web site using FTP (under their alias 'n3.net' and 'us.tf' > names) every fifteen seconds or so. Often times also I am using a > secure form of telnet or rlogin to work on this Digest at MIT. > Whenever weather or the office cam decide it is time to do a transfer > via FTP I can count on the words on Vonage getting lost. I can set my > watch by it, every fifteen seconds or so. They are on other machines, > (the Windows 98 and Windows 95 computers) but still using the same > NetGear router and cable modem. I wish there was a way that Vonage > could take priority and slow down or automatically stop the other > jobs when it was talking. > I asked Mike Flood, general manager of Cable One here in Independence > about this. His answer was I need a 'bigger pipe', which of course he > said he could sell me. I now have what he termed 'half size' (or some > words like that) with 500 K and he said I should get a 'full size > pipe'. (More money of course). Does that make sense to anyone? I > guess the full size is twice the 500 K. PAT] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The reference above to Time-Warner's 'national VOIP rollout' may account for why the lady in the office here at our Independence CableOne place said she thought Bell would 'get squashed' by the time things were in place. That, and the fact that so many of the small VOIP outfits are working with each other on interchange arrangements and gateways between their networks. To slightly borrow and re-arrange a quote attributed to Samuel B. Morse, 'What hath Judge Green wrought?' PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 12:54:14 GMT From: joel@exc.com (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Re: Receiving Faxes via the Internet? Organization: Excelsior Computer Services > I'd like to get free of the hassles of maintaining an old-fashioned > fax machine. I can handle the occasional outgoing fax by connecting > my laptop to my office voice line temporarily; being open to incoming > faxes is more problematic. I've been very happy with maxemail. They do charge a nominal membership fee, but you also get OUTGOING faxes at roughly $0.05/page. Furthermore -- and this is why I chose maxemail over all the others -- you can send your fax in .pdf format (which means you can use any program to create it), and you can send it via e-mail. It's very convenient. In fact, maxemail is SO convenient that I can only think of one reason to own an actual fax machine: some lawyers don't want copies of documents floating around on the Internet. Other than that, in my experience, everything about maxemail is better than a fax machine. -Joel ------------------------------ From: Steven J Sobol Subject: Re: Receiving Faxes via the Internet? Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 00:41:52 -0500 Pat Townson wrote, >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: E-Fax (efax.com) is one such service >> and the cost is FREE. (You know your poor mouth moderator; would I >> have it any other way?) EFax gives you a number (*not* local unless >> you pay for that) and you get your incoming faxes as email. See the >> end of each issue of the Digest for the various free EFax numbers I >> have which point either here to the Digest mailbox or my personal >> mailbox. PAT] eFax works. FaxWave works too. All of the numbers are Northern Nevada numbers in area code 775, and the service is receive-only, but it is completely free. JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, Apple Valley, CA PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net Domain Names, $9.95/yr, 24x7 service: http://DomainNames.JustThe.net/ "someone once called me a sofa, but i didn't feel compelled to rush out and buy slip covers." -adam brower * Hiroshima '45, Chernobyl '86, Windows 98/2000/2003 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yeah, and with the low cost (free?) for long distance these days, who cares where the free fax number is located. PAT] ------------------------------ 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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