From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed May 5 18:29:23 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.3) id i45MTNj15763; Wed, 5 May 2004 18:29:23 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 5 May 2004 18:29:23 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200405052229.i45MTNj15763@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 #226 TELECOM Digest Wed, 5 May 2004 18:28:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 226 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson ITU Urges Caution on Pulver.com .tel Proposal (VOIP News) Verizon to Expand DSL Offerings With New, Higher-Speed Service (VOIP News) Nortel Notches Charter VoIP Deal (VOIP News) Canada's Phone Giants Face Internet Threat (VOIP News) A Broadband Broadside (VOIP News) Re: A Link of Interest to Ham Radio Operators (John Smith) Re: Does Modem Calls Work Over Vonage? (DevilsPGD) Re: How to Block Unknown Caller (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: Wed, 05 May 2004 07:58:01 -0400 Subject: ITU Urges Caution on Pulver.com .tel Proposal Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.cbronline.com/currentnews/6cc9896f426e913f80256e8b003a1f18 The International Telecommunications Union looks set to attempt to block Pulver.com Inc's attempt to have a new top-level internet domain approved that would map telephone numbers into the domain name system, for the second time. ITU secretary Yoshio Utsumi last week wrote to the Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers, urging caution before approving Pulver's .tel proposal, and any other domain that would use telephone numbers. Pulver, which provides a popular PC-to-PC voice over IP service called Free World Dialup, is proposing that ICANN approve .tel as a means to kickstart adoption of voice over IP services, letting people use regular telephone numbers online. Utsumi wrote in a letter to ICANN president Paul Twomey: "Any application for a new internet top level domain name that envisages interfacing with the global telephony addressing system merits careful consideration." The ITU is concerned because Pulver's .tel would use normal telephone numbers, which are administered by the ITU according to a numbering plan known as E.164. This plan ensures no two phone numbers in the world are the same. Full story at: http://www.cbronline.com/currentnews/6cc9896f426e913f80256e8b003a1f18 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/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VoIPnews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: VoIPnews-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 04 May 2004 21:39:45 -0400 Subject: Verizon to Expand DSL Offerings With New, Higher-Speed Service Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-04-2004/0002166780&EDATE= First-Quarter Record Sales of Verizon Online DSL Help Fuel DSL Industry Market-Share Growth NEW YORK, May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on momentum from a record DSL sales quarter, Verizon will spur its home broadband growth by offering an additional higher-speed DSL service to consumers this summer and by developing new service packages that include residential voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) services. "We've created one of the best overall values in broadband today, with content, speed, and great service at a very affordable price," said Judy Verses, senior vice president -- marketing for Verizon's Retail Markets Group. "Our sales growth shows that when consumers in the mass market think about broadband, more and more often they're choosing DSL for their high-speed connection. And we're not stopping now." Faster DSL speeds are coming this summer when Verizon Online plans to add a new, additional tier of consumer DSL service with a maximum connection speed of 3Mbps/768Kbps for qualified customers. In addition, when Verizon introduces its consumer VoIP service this quarter, the company will provide it to qualifying Verizon Online DSL customers at a discount. "Fifty-one percent of Verizon's residential customers have purchased local calling in combination with either Verizon long-distance or Verizon DSL, or both," said Verses. "Our ability to offer customers a compelling array of local, long-distance, wireless, broadband and video services is unmatched by our cable competitors. Expanding our DSL service will allow us to offer even more innovative packages that include services like voice over IP." Pricing for the higher-speed DSL service and VoIP package will be announced later. Verses said that, like all Verizon Online DSL offerings, pricing for these services will be highly competitive. This quarter Verizon Online will triple to 384Kbps the upstream speed of its basic DSL offering for qualifying customers. The price for this 1.5Mbps/384Kbps service will remain the same as the current 1.5Mbps/128Kbps service -- $34.95 a month for stand-alone service or $29.95 a month when purchased as part of a package of local and long-distance calling services. Verizon Helps Fuel DSL Market Share Growth A recent Pew Internet & American Life study shows that DSL now has a 42 percent share of the home broadband market, up from 28 percent in March 2003, and that more and more Internet-users are moving from dial-up to broadband. The study also shows that the number of DSL users at home has more than doubled since March 2003, while the number of home cable-modem users grew by less than one-quarter. Last week, Verizon announced record sales for its Verizon Online DSL business with the addition of 345,000 new high-speed Internet customers in the first quarter of 2004, representing a 46 percent year-over-year growth rate. The company now has 2.7 million DSL lines in service. Several Verizon Online initiatives during 2003 contributed to this growth. In May 2003, Verizon Online doubled the maximum connection speed of its entry-level DSL offering to 1.5Mbps/128Kbps while lowering the price of the up to 1.5Mbps service from $59.95 a month to $34.95 a month. At the same time, Verizon lowered the price of basic DSL service to $29.95 a month when purchased as part of a package of Verizon local and long-distance calling services. Also in May, Verizon launched its partnership with MSN and began offering its DSL customers the broadband-enabled content and services of MSN 8 at no additional charge. Today the MSN service has been upgraded to MSN Premium, which includes critical tools like firewalls, virus protection and parental controls. Customer satisfaction has improved. The company streamlined its do-it-yourself DSL installation kit, reducing the process to three steps and providing an online tutorial that takes customers through the process from start to finish. The company also continued to make improvements in service-provisioning and customer-care processes. In 2003 Verizon also made DSL service available to 10 million more lines. Aggressive deployment of DSL in remote terminals allowed Verizon to provide service to more households in communities where Verizon central offices are already provisioned with DSL. In 2004, the company plans to make 7 million more of its lines capable of delivering the service. A Dow 30 company, Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services, with approximately $68 billion in annual revenues. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world, as measured by directory titles and circulation. Verizon's international presence includes wireline and wireless communications operations and investments, primarily in the Americas and Europe. For more information, visit http://www.verizon.com. VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at http://www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases. DSL service generally is available to homes and offices located within approximately three miles of Verizon's local switching center or "central office." Some technical limitations may interfere with the ability of individual telephone lines to get DSL, even when the lines are within three miles of a DSL-equipped central office. Downstream and upstream speeds describing Verizon Online's services are maximum connection speeds between the customer's computer and Verizon's DSL equipment. Actual connection speeds may vary from the maximum speeds and may be lower than the advertised line rate. Throughput (download and upload) speeds will be lower than connection speeds and vary based on the telephone line's condition and distance from Verizon's central office, home or office wiring and the server or router speed of sites visited on the Internet, among other factors. The Pew Internet & American Life Project bears no responsibility for the interpretations presented or conclusions reached based on analysis of its data. SOURCE Verizon Web Site: http://www.verizon.com ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 04 May 2004 17:16:03 -0400 Subject: Nortel Notches Charter VoIP Deal Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3349291 By: Ron Miller Nortel Networks extended its relationship with cable provider Charter Communications this week in a new deal to provide softswitch equipment. The agreement announced Tuesday covers Charter's Midwest and Great Lakes operating divisions and builds on a December 2002 joint partnership between the two companies. [.....] Elaine Smiles, director of cable marketing at Nortel, says Charter is moving into new territory with this agreement. "What's unique is about this is Charter's intention to use SIP (session initiation protocol) to provide multimedia services to customers," Smiles said. Full story at: http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3349291 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Wed, 05 May 2004 02:42:59 -0400 Subject: Canada's Phone Giants Face Internet Threat Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/05/business/worldbusiness/05canada.html?ex=1084334400&en=76e6cfc68ee38c10&ei=5062 By BERNARD SIMON TORONTO, May 4 - For the first time since regulators opened Canada's telephone services to competition more than a decade ago, the giants of the industry are confronting a serious threat to their long-entrenched dominance. The threat comes chiefly from rivals offering the increasingly popular technology known as voice-over-Internet protocol, or VoIP. Their entry has ignited a vigorous debate over the future regulation of Canada's telecommunications services. The crux of the discussion is whether the upstarts in VoIP will be regulated at all, while the two closely regulated market behemoths clamor to be set free. The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, or C.R.T.C., which oversees the industry, recently began an extensive review of its policy toward Internet telephony. Full story at: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/05/business/worldbusiness/05canada.html?ex=1084334400&en=76e6cfc68ee38c10&ei=5062 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Wed, 05 May 2004 03:05:35 -0400 Subject: A Broadband Broadside Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2004/05/05/a_broadband_broadside/ As DSL gains on cable in providing Net services, Verizon launches its attack By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | May 5, 2004 After years of lagging cable broadband Internet services by a consistent 2 to 1 margin, telephone companies' broadband alternative has been zooming toward parity in gaining subscribers as high-speed Net service begins to achieve mainstream adoption. And yesterday, Verizon Communications Inc. unleashed a flurry of plans to make its digital subscriber line services even more competitive with Comcast Corp. and other cable giants. The Verizon moves reflect the key role that broadband services are playing as phone and cable giants compete to win and retain customers with service bundles incorporating phone, television, wireless, and high-speed Internet services. Over the next two months, many of Verizon's 2.7 million DSL subscribers will be notified that they can request a free service upgrade tripling their upstream Net access to 384 kilobits per second from 128 now, which makes transmitting computer files much faster and can improve connections for cheap voice-over-Internet services. Download speeds for the main Verizon DSL service, which costs $34.95 a month by itself or $29.95 combined with local and long-distance telephone, will remain capped at 1.5 megabits, and new customers will automatically get the new 384 kilobit service. This summer, Verizon will launch DSL with downstream connections at up to 3 megabits per second -- matching Comcast cable modems -- at a yet-to-be-revealed price. Judy Verses, a Verizon senior vice president for marketing, said the price for the 3-megabit DSL will be "very competitive" with cable companies such as Comcast, which charge $42.95 a month for broadband for subscribers also buying TV or phone service, and $57.95 for those taking cable modems as a stand-alone. And by year's end, Verses said, Verizon plans to: Upgrade 7 million more phone lines to support DSL, including millions in rural areas where Verizon will use new technology that extends DSL availability beyond the current limit, which is generally a zone within three miles of a Verizon switching station. Verizon added DSL coverage to 10 million phone lines last year to make the service available to over 80 percent of its phone customers. Offer a reduced-price voice-over-Internet service to compete with companies such as Vonage and BroadVoice and AT&T's new CallVantage service, which offer unlimited calls for $20 to $40 per month. And deploy so-called naked DSL, which enables people to get a DSL connection without also having to buy local phone service from Verizon, so they can use a VOIP phone connection instead of more expensive conventional local phone service. Full story at: http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2004/05/05/a_broadband_broadside/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Wed, 05 May 2004 03:14:38 -0400 Subject: AT&T Chief David Dorman, on Call of the Net Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2004/05/02/qa_att_chief_david_dorman_on_call_of_the_net/ Using Internet technologies to make phone calls got a huge endorsement last week when industry icon AT&T Corp. rolled out its 'voice over Internet protocol' service, called CallVantage in Greater Boston, offering unlimited local and long distance calls for $35 a month over a broadband Internet connection. AT&T chief executive David W. Dorman spoke with Globe telecommunications reporter Peter J. Howe. Q. Was there a 'Come here, Watson!' moment when you decided that voice over IP was finally a good enough technology to carry the AT&T brand? A. The epiphany for me came when Hossein Eslamblochi, our chief technology officer, and I were having dinner last fall. He said the ability to manage a stream of voice packets in a very elegant fashion and provide voice over IP in a very-high-quality way is quickly becoming a reality. My question was, if that's true, how quickly can we get there, and what are the impediments for a broadbased deployment? After looking at that for the next several days we concluded that, gosh, this is a moment in time that we just can't miss. Full story at: http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2004/05/02/qa_att_chief_david_dorman_on_call_of_the_net/ ------------------------------ From: John Smith Subject: Re: A Link of Interest to Ham Radio Operators Date: Tue, 04 May 2004 22:24:09 GMT Fred Atkinson wrote: > Yes, Godaddy is a little cheaper, but they don't provide you with an > email address. They don't provide you with server space or SMTP servers, but they certainly provide e-mail address forwarding from your owned domain name, including specific e-mail addresses and one "catch all" address, each of which can be forwarded to a different "real" e-mail address. I'm not sure how many you get, but I'm showing a capacity of 300 and I own three domain names, so it may be 100 addresses per name, or 300 per customer, I don't know. Apparently I could use all 300 on one domain, however. There's no extra charge for them, they're just automatically "there". ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Does Modem Calls Work Over Vonage? Organization: EasyNews, UseNet made Easy! Date: Wed, 05 May 2004 00:26:02 GMT In message <> spamguard@marky.com (Mark Rejhon) did ramble: > I am considering switching to Vonage Canada (which uses the same > system as Vonage USA, including the Fax port option, etc). Right > now, I use Primus TalkBroadband. > At the moment, I use Magma DSL (www.magma.ca), which is a high-uptime > business quality DSL provider in Ottawa that is only 17 milliseconds > ping away from the TalkBroadband VoIP gateway, from my home. I > successfully made a flawless 52Kbps modem connection over VoIP over > TalkBroadband (Yes, 52Kbps). > Because I am deaf, I require the ability to call modem and TDD phone > numbers, (including Relay Services that converts typed text into voice > and vice versa). > Does faxes or modem calls work over Vonage (without getting a second > modem phone line). Does Vonage use a lossless codec like Primus > TalkBroadband does? (i.e. reliability will only be limited by quality > of my ISP) Faxes are supported over Vonage ... Try dialing *99 first. In general, slower modem connections will work. Higher speed ones will sometimes work, but will rarely be stable for an extended period of time due to internet latency. Tired of telemarketers? This little script will get you off their list ... Are you wearing boxers or briefs? It's important, because boxers are the work of Satan, and I can't talk to you if you're a minion of Satan. Are you a minion of Satan? ------------------------------ From: Steven J Sobol Subject: Re: How to Block Unknown Caller Date: Tue, 04 May 2004 21:04:24 -0500 CharlesH wrote: > When my SBC landline phone is forwarded to my Verizon Wireless cell > phone, and SBC Privacy Manager needs to ask me how to deal with a > CID-blocked call (for example, the caller spoke their name), I get the > call from Privacy Manager on my cell phone, and it manages the call > per my instructions just as if I were on my landline phone. And SBC Privacy Manager sends a number on Caller ID, and as far as I know it's a unique number -- when I had the service, screened calls would always come from 216-830-something_or_other (I forget the number, but it was always the same). You can take advantage of that if your cellular handset supports different ringers for specific phone numbers. 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 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'. 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