From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Apr 29 14:30:56 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i3TIUup07666; Thu, 29 Apr 2004 14:30:56 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 14:30:56 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404291830.i3TIUup07666@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 #214 TELECOM Digest Thu, 29 Apr 2004 14:30:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 214 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Good News! Four Oakland Men Cited in First US Spam Case (Joe Wineburgh) Vonage Vs. AT&T (ilyaburshteyn) VOIP Help Only Getting One Way Audio Conversation (Scott) AT&T Launches VOIP Service (Mau) Packet8 (Method to Madness) Is Anyone Using MCI Business Complete Unlimited (Mail Ias) Powerful Gadgetry: Smart Phones (Mike) VoIP: To Tax or Not to Tax (VOIP News) Missouri Moves to Ban 'UnFees' - Part of Larger Backlash (VOIP News) How to Talk to the FCC (VOIP News) US Senate Panel Eyes Revamping Telecom Laws (VOIP News) April Share Day (TELECOM Digest Editor) 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: Joe Wineburgh Subject: Good News: Four Oakland Cited in First U.S. Spam Case Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 09:43:33 -0400 Not too far from Ralsky's home base ... #JOE http://www.freep.com/money/tech/spam29_20040429.htm Ford, Unisys computers had unwitting role BY MIKE WENDLAND FREE PRESS COLUMNIST Four Oakland County men have become the first people in the nation to face criminal charges of violating the new federal law against sending spam. The four are accused of secretly commandeering computers that forward e-mail for some of the nation's biggest corporations -- including Ford Motor Co. -- to send millions of junk messages advertising herbal supplements, diet patches and sexual enhancement pills and products. Other unwitting companies and agencies whose computers were used include Unisys Corp., Amoco Corp., the Administrative Office of the United States Courts and the U.S. Army Information Center, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Wednesday. The charges against the four were to be officially announced at a news conference by the Federal Trade Commission in Washington today. Christopher Chung, 30, and Mark Sadek, 27, both of West Bloomfield, were arraigned in federal court in Detroit on Wednesday. Two others, Daniel and James Lin, believed to be brothers and also from West Bloomfield, were being sought, federal officials said. The four are accused of forging return e-mail addresses on millions of unsolicited advertisements sent across the Internet, often through the use of what are known as open proxy servers, or systems that will relay e-mail from any point on the Internet, owned by unsuspecting businesses and government agencies. The use of proxy servers has long been a trick used by spammers -- who now account for about 60 percent of all e-mail -- to obscure their identity. "This has been a problem that's plagued the Net for years, and the fact that corporations and government agencies still have open mail servers is scandalous," said Tony Robinson, a security consultant for Pioneer Technology in Sterling Heights. "Somebody dropped the ball." The 21-page federal complaint alleges that the Oakland foursome also forged the "from" part of the header that appears at the top of a message, using fake names and bogus e-mail addresses, in violation of the federal CAN-SPAM Act that took effect Jan. 1. They were caught through a wide-ranging investigation that involved U.S. postal inspectors, investigators from the Federal Trade Commission, technology experts from Microsoft and America Online and a network of anti-spam activists stretching across the world. Terrence Berg, the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case, said the government's action shows that there are teeth in the new federal law. "This is just a start," Berg said. "There will be many more prosecutions like this. The government is determined to do something about the flood of spam that is polluting the Internet." Jim Feinberg, an attorney for Sadek, said he wasn't familiar with the details of the case beyond the complaint. He said Sadek earns his living as a valet for a car-parking company and lives with his parents in West Bloomfield. "He's just a hard-working young guy," Feinberg said. Chung and his attorney could not be reached Wednesday. Besides violating the anti-spam law, which is punishable by up to five years in prison, the four are also accused of mail fraud -- which carries a 20-year maximum sentence -- for selling an allegedly fraudulent skin patch for weight loss through junk e-mail. FTC investigators ordered the patch and had it analyzed. Dr. Michael Jensen, identified in the complaint as a Mayo Clinic nutritional expert, was asked to evaluate the claims and said the ingredients in the patch "would not achieve the weight loss as advertised." The group also sent spam advertising penis enlargement pills and Viagra. Unraveling the trail of spam took four months. Berg said that because of the use of proxy servers, trying to trace the spam back to the original sender was difficult. That's where investigators tapped the network of activists who maintain lists of the top spammers around the world and try to get them banned from Internet service providers. It's a cat-and-mouse game. A spammer often can send out millions of junk messages before being detected. But sometimes, anti-spam and security experts scam the spammers. That's what the complaint alleges against the Oakland County men. In Karlsruhe, Germany, an Internet security expert and activist named Anders Henke runs what he calls a "proxy pot," a system that simulates a mail proxy but doesn't actually forward mail. It sits on the Internet, looking vulnerable to the sophisticated scanning software used by spammers to sniff out open proxies. Starting in early January, the complaint says, Henke's proxy pot intercepted 5 million attempts from computer accounts linked to the Michigan men. Berg says other anti-spam activists in the United States assisted in the investigation, too. "There's some very capable and dedicated private citizens out there whose help proved invaluable to us," he said. Besides the criminal charges, the FTC is expected to take action in civil court seeking restraining orders against the men. A preliminary hearing for Sadek and Chung will be held May 18 in federal court in Detroit. They were freed on $10,000 unsecured bond after arraignment before Federal Magistrate Mona Majzoub. Contact MIKE WENDLAND at 313-222-8861 or mwendland@freepress.com. ------------------------------ From: i_burshteyn@yahoo.com (ilyaburshteyn) Subject: Vonage Vs. AT&T Date: 29 Apr 2004 08:22:34 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I am a current Vonage customer, and their services is great (I am very happy with it). I used to be an AT&T customer, and their service was acceptable, until you have a billing problem. First they raised the price of my DSL without warning after two years of service. After I canceled it, and tried to switch to other phone companies for phone, and DSL service, AT&T blocked transfers because, get this, according to them "I had DSL" on my line. When I called them, they said I had no DSL on my line, and they would allow transferring my phone service. I kept trying. Two months later, I got cable internet. I signed up with Vonage and tried to get my phone number transferred over to Vonage. AT&T refused saying "I had DSL" on my line. I gave up and kept my new number. As if all that isn't enough, when I canceled my DSL services AT&T said there was a "slight billing glitch" which resulted in an incorrect $217 disconnection fee ($200 fee + $17 tax, but that is probably not in AT&T's hands). I called AT&T and asked them to stop my automatic card pay; their customer service rep, assured me it was stopped. He instructed me to make a payment for my phone service only, and wait for the $217 to be credited to my account which he said would take 30 days. What a surprise, after I sent the phone service payment in, they charged my card anyway. I called them, and asked them to return my money since I had been billed for nearly $300 erroneously. It turns out AT&T can't issue credit-card refunds, how convenient for them. After three months of delays and promises, I closed my account and contacted my credit-cards' fraud protection unit. Fortunately American express was able to get in touch with AT&T and resolve the matter with a full refund to my account. In the time I spent trying to get MY money back from them, I contacted the BBB (Better Business Bureau) they told me that AT&T does not respond to their inquiries, and told me to continue trying to resolve this through AT&T's so called customer service. So let me say in conclusion, I will never use AT&T services for anything (I had cellular service from them it was garbage as well). Now, saying that made me feel better. Now to be fair I will editorialize a bit about my Vonage experience. For a person like myself Vonage offers a saving of about $300 annually. My bills for local phone service went from $55 to $28; those figures include all taxes and fees. What is bad about Vonage? There are occasional outages in service I have had their service for 8 months an there was one 7 hour stretch with no service, and a 5 day period with occasional outages. I admit, it tried my patience, but for the last 5 months it has been nearly perfect. The other negative is the lack of some familiar features. I can't get blocked numbers prevented from reaching me. That is the only one I really miss. What is good about Vonage? I can check my voicemail through an internet browser anywhere in the world, or in my case from across the Manhattan Bridge in my union square office. I get pages sent to my cell, when a voicemail is left for me. When I travel to places where I can get broadband, I bring my phone service with me, so no long-distance when I call people back in NYC. Really great voice quality, better then regular phone service. Customer service that actually follows up and makes sure everything is taken care of. Let me also say their international rates are great. Before I switched to Vonage I made a call to Cancun from my AT&T; phone the call lasted 5 minutes and cost me $18. After I hooked Vonage up to my phone-jacks, my wife called her vacationing parents in Cancun for a total of over 30 minutes spanning several days. All the calls to Mexico over Vonage service came out to less then $2 that is total for over 30 minutes (I believe their rate was around $0.06 per minute). I can say this, in some ways Vonage is not as convenient as the phone company in others it is far better. The technology is in its infancy, and it has already scared the big phone companies who got caught sleeping. As Vonage service improves and more features are added, they will become a major force in home phone service. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Vonage *already is* a major force in home phone service. All the telcos hate them, the same way they used to hate the first intrusion into their cash-cow, MCI back in the late 1960's. Now they are bos'm buddies with their 'traditional-style' competitors as they all join together in ganging up on the newest arrivals on the playing field. You know, Southwestern Bell pulled that same crap on me, claiming I could not be taken away from them (with my hundred dollar plus per month residential account)'because he has DSL on his account'. My response to them was 'you want to play for all or nothing? ... okay, then you get nothing.' They blinked and thought they could continue to bluff me, I mean, how dare this ignorant residential customer in Independence, KS tell *us* what he was going to do, etc? Now, a full year after no-Bell in my house and a dozen letters and attempted bribes from them to get me back, I really feel sorry for those of you who still have not broken away once and for all. I still have more Vonage 'second month free' e-coupons for anyone who wants to try them out. PAT] ------------------------------ From: sdgreymont@yahoo.com (Scott) Subject: VOIP Help Only Getting One Way Audio Conversation Date: 29 Apr 2004 08:54:01 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello to the experts. To start out with I don't know much about VOIP. We have a user who is connected to DSL through Frontier with a speedstream 5200 adsl modem. We are able to get out Axxess IP Phone Plus phone to show up on the network. The problem is that we are only getting one way communication. We can hear the end party perfectly, they just cannot hear us over this phone. We believe we have opened all the appropriate ports on the firewall to allow voice traffic through. We have tried using a packet sniffer, and unfortunately we don't see squat getting blocked from this user. All help is greatly appreciated. Please post back to this original string. Scott ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 23:38:01 -0400 From: Mau Subject: AT&T Launches VOIP Service [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Here is Johnny-Come-Lately with an important announcement for all of us. PAT] THE BOSTON GLOBE Tuesday, April 27, 2004 Page A1 Business AT&T JOINS INTERNET CALL MARKET ------------------------------- By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff The humble home telephone took a major step into the digital future yesterday as telecom icon AT&T Corp. rolled out a new $40-a-month unlimited Internet calling plan in the Boston area. Lending the Ma Bell brand and prestige to a market so far dominated by quirky start-ups, AT&T began selling its CallVantage service throughout the area inside Interstate 495. CallVantage is now available in 19 US metropolitan areas, with 80 more planned in coming months. While AT&T is the first big-name carrier to offer phone service via the Internet locally, other telecom giants are scrambling to offer similar plans. Verizon Communications Inc. is expected to roll out a comparable service locally within two months, and Comcast Corp. also is planning to move into Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP, phone service over the next year. Voice-Over-Internet service is available only in households that already pay for a separate, high-speed Internet connection, such as a telephone digital subscriber line or cable modem, that can cost $33 to $45 a month. But for those people who already have a high-speed connection, including nearly 30 percent of Massachusetts households, VOIP can offer a range of advanced services such as voice-mail messages played as sound files through an e-mail account; conference calls set up instantly from a contact list on a computer; and in AT&T's case, a "find me" service that rings up to five office and wireless numbers when a subscriber's phone number is called. "It's a great development from the consumer perspective to have another choice in service from a major carrier," said Will Stofega, a senior telecom analyst with International Data Corp. in Framingham. "AT&T is coming in with their brand name, their reputation, and a very serious commitment, and they have all the things that a real phone company has to offer, like customer service and a network that they control." Besides the potential for big savings, some early adopters of VOIP calling systems primarily people using the technology at work rather than at home rave about the enhanced features enabled by CallVantage-style systems. Jim Barry, chief technology officer of OneUnited Bank, which has operations in Boston, Miami, and Los Angeles, said being able to merge voice mail with e-mail, and forward voice messages just as easily as e-mail, has been a big help. CallVantage subscribers get a paperback-sized adapter to link their computer broadband modem to a normal phone. They can then make calls through the computer connection to any phone in the world. The calling service is limited, however, to the single phone connected to the computer. For people who already have a broadband connection, the AT&T service which it sells for $20 for the first six months would cost about $15 a month less than comparable unlimited local and long distance calling services from Comcast, MCI, and Verizon that also include voice mail. It's also $15 cheaper than AT&T's own One Rate USA plan, which works on conventional telephone lines. VOIP systems carry phone calls in the same format as e-mail and Web pages, which can make them far less expensive than conventional phone calls. Instead of creating two dedicated channels for talking and listening, as conventional phone service does, VOIP breaks conversation into tiny digital data packets that are zapped across the Net and reassembled in a fraction of a second to create continuous sound. Verizon, the biggest US phone company, will offer a VOIP service within the next two months, and "it will be extremely competitive in features and price," spokesman Jack Hoey said. Comcast spokeswoman Jennifer L. Khoury said the cable company's $44-a-month Comcast Connections Any Distance plan for television subscribers "is a competitive service that has met with overwhelming success here in New England." John S. Rego, chief financial officer of Vonage Holdings Corp., which is based in Edison, N.J., said, "We're happy to have AT&T come in. It validates the market for this technology." Among other special features, the AT&T CallVantage plan lets subscribers set up "Do not disturb" hours when they do not want to take calls except those from specially designated numbers and create online lists of dialed and received calls that subscribers can then click to call again. Subscribers can unplug the adapter and move it to another computer with a broadband connection anywhere in the US and receive calls at their home number. AT&T spokeswoman Deborah Jones said CallVantage will be expanded across the state and New England in coming months, though it is being marketed for now to residents of the metropolitan area inside I-495. Although people living on Cape Cod or in Worcester County could sign up for service now, they would get a phone number assigned to an area inside 495 that could be a toll call for neighbors calling them. CallVantage has several limitations. For example, subscribers cannot use it to call 411 directory assistance, to receive faxes, or to connect a home security system, and lose phone service during power failures. AT&T also reserves the right to cancel service for subscribers making more than 5,000 minutes of calls per month. Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com. Globe Newspaper Company ------------------------------ From: Method to Madness Subject: Packet8 Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 21:50:08 -0400 I was thinking of getting Packet8 for phone service with my house. $19/month is not a bad price at all when Vonage is more and Verizon certainly is a huge rip off. I really need to get out of the Verizon system, since they're just sucking us dry until cable companies eventually put them out of business for home phone service. Do these type Internet phone services work with home alarm systems? It would really suck if I had to keep Verizon or "regular" phone service all because of my alarm system ... UGH! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My understanding is any device which can take a phone off hook and transmit something over it will work with VOIP. And by the way, Vonage is now down to $14.99 per month for a 500 calls per month unlimited locations. My suggestion would be to use one of the e-coupons for Vonage (many guys give them away) to get one of the $14.99 / 500 calls per month package, wire your alarm through the Vonage and test it. Remember, you may have to adjust your dialing string on the alarm box. Run in parallel for two months or so so see how well your alarm and Vonage work together, then when you are satisfied dump your Verizon line entirely. Don't expect Verizon to be flexible enough to work along with you on any of this. That just won't happen. Out of curiosity. I tried my Vonage line with an old 1200/2400 baud modem and computer once. It worked okay. PAT] ------------------------------ From: mailias@yahoo.com (Mail Ias) Subject: Is Anyone Using MCI Business Complete Unlimited Organization: Insight Broadband Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 21:48:28 GMT I've been having conversations with an MCI rep about switching our business's local phone lines over to MCI. Part of the deal is their unlimited long distance calling. The first line is $59.95 and each additional line is $44.95 (you can also get regular lines without free LD for $24.95). This looks like a really good deal. It would definitely save us some money over our current setup. We don't have to get any new lines pulled in, they just take over billing, so the disruption should be minimal (cringe). I haven't seen the fine print but have been told that unlimited really means unlimited. I'd still read the fine print to be 100% sure. We're in SBC Ameritech's service area in IN. Someone from AT&T has called but I haven't talked to them yet. Also getting some quotes from a CLEC and pulling in a T1. Sounds pretty good but it doesn't have the unlimited LD feature. So, is this a pretty good plan? Are the others out there that you're aware of for businesses? Update: did some searching and found Talk America for $53.95 for the first line and $49.00 for each additional. That's a little bit higher than MCI's plan, but maybe close enough if other things balance out. ------------------------------ From: yared22311@yahoo.com (Mike) Subject: Powerful Gadgetry: Smart Phones Date: 29 Apr 2004 06:12:09 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Powerful gadgetry Call them smart phones, hybrid toys or convergence wonders, today's multipurpose devices pack the features of several once-unique technologies in one ever-shrinking package. Some gadgets might make James Bond sit up and take notice. http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20040428-100205-9900r.htm ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 20:08:08 -0400 Subject: VoIP: To Tax or Not to Tax Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5201671.html By Marguerite Reardon CNET News.com As the debate over Internet taxation heats up in Congress, legal experts are keeping one eye fixed firmly on Florida, where officials are poised to begin enforcing a little-known state law that could open the door to a wide range of new telecommunications taxes. For nearly two decades, Florida's Substitute Communications statute has gone relatively unnoticed and has not been widely enforced. But as the state looks for new sources of revenue, the law has emerged as an unexpected -- and controversial -- potential cash source. Using a broad interpretation of the statute, the state revenue office as soon as this summer could begin taxing voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers and businesses that use local area networks (LANs) to transmit voice calls. State lawmakers have until Friday to revise or postpone enforcement of the statute, at which point local officials said they will have no choice but to begin enforcing the law. "I do think this is a law of unintended consequences," said Dave Bruns, a spokesman for the State Revenue Department in Florida. "It was written before anyone outside of Silicon Valley had even thought of local area networks or VoIP. It's our responsibility to administer the tax policy. If the guidance we get from the legislature is to maintain the current course, we will enforce it to the best of our ability." Full story at: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5201671.html 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: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 22:55:03 -0400 Subject: Missouri Moves to Ban 'UnFees' - Part of Larger Backlash Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/43047 Written by Karl Bode The Missouri state Public Service Commission is considering banning all extra provider charges and fees not mandated by state or federal regulators, reports the Kansas City Star. The move is a response to the recent increase in so called "regulatory recovery" and other fees that appear frequently on landline and wireless -- and most recently -- on DSL bills. [Comment: And also on the bills of a few VoIP providers.] The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA), which represents some 43 state agencies, recently urged lawmakers to ban such "fees". "In the last few years, wireline and wireless carriers have concocted line item charges, fees, and surcharges, purporting to recover all manner of "regulatory," "administrative," or "government-mandated" costs, but which do nothing more than soak consumers for the carriers' ordinary operating costs," the group recently noted in a petition to the FCC (Word document). Full story (with links and comments) at: http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/43047 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 08:42:56 -0400 Subject: How to Talk to the FCC Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Here are a couple of must-read articles for those in the VoIP industry in the United States: How to Talk to the FCC So, you've been in business long enough to know what rules you like and what rules you don't. It's time to talk to the government. by Marlon Schafer Consultant and CEO, Odessa Office http://www.isp-planet.com/fixed_wireless/politics/2004/how_to_talk_to_the_fcc.html How I Talked to the FCC Here's how I made the connections that led to my first FCC meeting. by Marlon Schafer Consultant and CEO, Odessa Office http://www.isp-planet.com/fixed_wireless/politics/2004/how_i_met_the_fcc.html Here's a quote from the second article: "Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO). The people at the FCC keep saying, over and over again, if you don't talk to us we can't make life better for you. If you don't file comments when we ask questions, don't pick up the phone, don't stop in when you are in the area, shame on you. Others will do that (telco etc.) and they'll set the agenda. You have to come and talk to us." ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 10:50:02 -0400 Subject: US Senate Panel Eyes Revamping Telecom Laws Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.americasnetwork.com/americasnetwork/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=93597 WASHINGTON, April 27 (Reuters) - Two top U.S. telecommunications executives on Tuesday urged Congress to avoid regulating nascent Internet-based telephone service, as lawmakers contemplate whether to overhaul the 1996 law governing the industry. The Senate Commerce Committee began a series of hearings looking into how it could modernize the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which was aimed at promoting competition for consumers but has mostly provoked legal battles over the rules instead. While the dominant local phone companies have gobbled up large chunks of the long-distance telephone market, competitors have found it more difficult to enter the local telephone market because of limited access to consumers' homes. "I will introduce a bill later this year to reform telecommunications law so that our legal framework for the next decade is not in fundamental conflict with the goals upon which our telecom policy is originally based," said Sen. John McCain, the committee chairman and an Arizona Republican. Full story at: http://www.americasnetwork.com/americasnetwork/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=93597 ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Share Day For April Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 2:00:00 EST Instead of changing the Digest over to an advrtising supported forum, I have always elected to keep it as a user supported forum, and for the most part keep it spam and virus free. I am *only* able to do this because of financial support from readers here, and if you would rather not see these messages every month, then please pitch in and help now and then! Consider it sort of like public radio, which goes on for days at a time trying to raise money ... and maybe I should adopt the same system. Turn over the entire Digest once or twice a year to fund raising (entire issues, etc) and stop doing it when the budget for the year has been raised. But for now, I will stick with the present system of devoting a few messages at the end of each month to raising money for the Digest publication expenses. Out of 400-500 messages per month, in a spam, virus free environment, two or three (only) devoted to fund raising. You know who you are; please provide some help here financially. You can use Pay Pal to donate with a credit/debit card by going to our web site http://telecom-digest.org and at the bottom of the home page look for the PayPal 'donate' button. Or if you prefer, send a check or money order to Patrick Townson/TELECOM, Post Office Box 50, Independence, Kansas 67301-0050. The amount you send is entirely up to you. You know best how much you can afford and whether or not this Digest has any value for you. Thank you very much. Patrick Townson, Editor/Publisher TELECOM Digest ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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