From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri May 21 15:13:39 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.3) id i4LJDdw14197; Fri, 21 May 2004 15:13:39 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 15:13:39 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200405211913.i4LJDdw14197@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 #252 TELECOM Digest Fri, 21 May 2004 15:13:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 252 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Online Trading of TV Episodes Grows (Monty Solomon) FCC Asked To Examine A la Carte Cable TV (Monty Solomon) Coming Soon: A Cellphone Directory (Monty Solomon) One Poor Test Result: Cheating Teachers (Monty Solomon) Re: Geico Sues Google, Overture Over Trademarks (Mark Crispin) Re: Geico Sues Google, Overture Over Trademarks (Daryl R Gibson) Re: Jeff Pulver Statement on New York Public Services Commission (Frank) Re: Phantom Cell Phone Call; What's Going On ...? (jdj) Re: Last Western Electric Conventional Equipment? (Tony P.) Vonage Vows to Fight New York Ruling (VOIP News) Wireless World: Bye-bye to Ma Bell? (VOIP News) Re: Bye, bye Ma Bell - Internet Phones Give Land Lines Run (Lisa Hancock) Does AT&T Still Carry TV Programs (Lisa Hancock) Live Real Time Directory Assistance Coming to Digest (Patrick Townson) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 23:19:23 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Online Trading of TV Episodes Grows By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY LOS ANGELES - Missed the final episode of Frasier or Friends? Many college kids aren't waiting for the reruns. They're downloading the shows instead. With millions of unauthorized media files being traded on the Internet, it's impossible to put an exact number on how many TV episodes are out there. But Jorge Gonzalez, who runs Zeropaid.com, a file-sharing guide, says he's seen "a big increase in the last six months for new sites that specialize in trading TV shows." The Simpsons, Friends, The Sopranos and other shows are readily available at both Kazaa, the world's most-used file-sharing program, and new sites like eDonkey, TVTorrents.com and Bucktv.net. BayTSP, a Silicon Valley company that tracks unauthorized Internet file trading, found nearly 20,000 files of popular TV shows like The Simpsons and Alias being offered for free on Wednesday. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2004-05-20-tv_x.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 23:27:23 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: FCC Asked To Examine A la Carte Cable TV Lawmakers Seek Feasibility Study By Frank Ahrens Washington Post Staff Writer Key members of the House Commerce Committee have asked the Federal Communications Commission for a detailed study on the feasibility of cable and satellite companies offering their subscribers the ability to pay for the individual channels they want. Most satellite and cable companies require their customers to subscribe to packages of channels, arguing the system allows them to maintain robust lineups at affordable rates. But a la carte pricing, which would allow subscribers to pick and choose the channels they want, has been gaining momentum among some lawmakers and consumer groups as costs have risen and concerns have grown over televised indecency. Several parents groups have complained that consumers should not have to pay for channels that air content they find offensive. In the letter sent Tuesday, Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Tex.) was joined by ranking member John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) in asking FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell to have his agency determine -- within six months -- whether a la carte pricing would be technologically and economically feasible. Powell has not publicly taken a position on the alternative pricing scheme. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40996-2004May19.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 10:19:35 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Coming Soon: A Cellphone Directory THE NATION Privacy advocates fear consumers will face a flood of unwanted calls and junk e-mail. By Jube Shiver Jr., Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON - After years of anonymity, the numbers of most of the nation's mobile phones will be compiled later this year in the first wireless directory. The database being assembled by the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Assn. is expected to include about 75% of the 163 million mobile phones in the United States, making looking up a wireless number as easy as dialing 411. The association is pitching the directory as a boon for real estate agents and other on-the-go professionals who want people to be able to find their mobile numbers. But privacy advocates, some members of Congress and even a major cellular carrier -- Verizon Wireless -- fear that mobile phones, once immune to telemarketers and e-mail spammers, could become as vulnerable as home telephone lines and computer in-boxes. http://www.latimes.com/la-fi-cellphones20may20,1,3236420.story ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 10:26:18 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: One Poor Test Result: Cheating Teachers THE NATION By Erika Hayasaki, Times Staff Writer One cheater whispered answers in students' ears as they took the exam. Another photocopied test booklets so students would know vocabulary words in advance. Another erased score sheets marked with the wrong answers and substituted correct ones. None of these violations involving California's standardized tests were committed by devious students: These sneaky offenders were teachers. Since a statewide testing program began five years ago, more than 200 California teachers have been investigated for allegedly helping students on state exams, and at least 75 of those cases have been proved, according to documents obtained by The Times. Most cases have led to reprimands and warnings that future scores will be monitored, but a few teachers have been fired or have resigned, say school administrators and union officials. Some educators say teacher cheating comes as no surprise, given increased anxiety surrounding state tests and the federal use of them under the No Child Left Behind law. While students may want to do well on those tests to please parents or avoid remedial classes, their regular report cards are more important. But principals pressure teachers to work on raising scores not just for bragging rights. The staff of a school with consistently bad results can be reassigned and federal funding can be withheld. http://www.latimes.com/la-me-cheat21may21,1,1915055.story ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: Geico Sues Google, Overture Over Trademarks Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 09:55:28 -0700 Organization: University of Washington On Thu, 20 May 2004, John David Galt wrote: > GEICO is widely hated by drivers because they have the habit of buying > radar guns for the police in any community one of their policyholders > lives in. But if you're one of that tiny minority who actually obey > most speed limits on boulevards, then go for it! There's another reason to hate GEICO. To find out why, all you have to do is be the innocent victim in a collision where the other driver has GEICO (try being stopped at a stop sign, and the other driver being drunk). "Chickenshit" doesn't even begin to describe what GEICO will put you through. As far as I am concerned, a driver insured by GEICO is uninsured. There's no "let the insurance handle it" -- go straight to a lawyer and sue. GEICO won't make a serious attempt of proper compensation until lawyers are involved. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. ------------------------------ From: Daryl R Gibson Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 08:09:48 -0600 Subject: Re: Geico Sues Google, Overture Over Trademarks On 21 May 2004 at 0:24, editor@telecom-digest.org wrote: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The weird thing to me is the company >> name (or acronym) is phonetically pronounced G-eye-co yet the little >> reptile mascot's name is pronounced 'g-ekk-o'? To the biologists >> among us: is there such a reptile as a gekko/g-eye-co? The little guy >> looks more like a baby frog to me. They have got some very clever >> commercials on TV-land in any event, all based on the "I have good >> news, I saved money" theme. PAT] The whole reason behind them using the gekko is for brand recognition. Some people hadn't heard about Geico, they didn't know how to pronounce it, so the early gekko commercials had the frustrated gekko taking phone calls from people, sometimes having been pulled out of the shower (complete with shower cap), saying "No...this is gekko, you want Geico." Geico is a fairly well-run insurance company, owned by Berkshire Hathaway (which is managed/largely owned by Warren Buffet.) Berkshire owns several insurance companies, as well as furniture stores, a vast gas transmission network, and Dairy Queen/Orange Julius. Having finally found a phone-related angle to this thread, I will bow out and go back to sleep. Daryl Gibson ------------------------------ From: Frank@nospam.biz Subject: Re: Jeff Pulver Statement on New York Public Services Commission Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 03:27:50 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The public servants do not like it when > some kind of dam appears which plugs up their constant flow of money > for their various petty projects. Did anyone ever notice how the more > 'peoples-republic-like' our major cities and more populous states > become, the more oppressive they also become on things like taxes and > government regulation in general? California is one good example, New > York and Chicago are two others. California is a geographically very large state. Most of the population is contained in well less than 50% of the physical area. Some of the relatively empty areas are desert, but there are extensive mountain and forest areas that are very rural. Of course, these folks views are drowned out by the socialists that run the place. ------------------------------ From: jdj Subject: Re: Phantom Cell Phone Call; What's Going On ...? Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 09:34:05 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com On Wed, 12 May 2004 14:44:16 -0700, zerge wrote: > This happened to me recently. Could anybody give a technical > explanation? Here's another weird: My Sprint phone rings once approx 30 minutes after the call to me was made. I was watching my phone while watching an impromptu airshow because I was expecting a call to come in within 5 minutes and it was a bit noisy. But the phone did nothing when they called, while I watched it, at 13:38. I checked it again at 13:50 and it still indicated nothing. At 14:20, the phone "rings" once then indicates a missed call at 13:38. That's some kind of latency ... ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Last Western Electric Conventional Equipment? Organization: ATCC Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 05:41:24 GMT In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com says: > Just out of curiosity, would anyone know when the last pieces of > traditional telephone equipment was manufactured new at Western > Electric? > Things such as the 500/554 basic rotary telephone set, the 2500/2554 > basic Touch Tone set, the basic Strowger switch unit, or a 3-slot pay > telephone? > I suspect reconditioned equipment of the above kept going on > for several years after the last truly new originals were built. Probably some of the TAM based stuff. They looked and felt a little cheap but were built every bit as rugged as their other gear. I've got a 1200 AT 1 TAM dialer that works fine and it's got to be at least 20 years old. ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 04:28:23 -0400 Subject: Vonage Vows to Fight New York Ruling Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-5217000.html By Ben Charny CNET News.com Net phone service provider Vonage has vowed to battle a recent ruling that classified it as a telephone company and thus subject to some of New York's regulations. "We're disappointed, we're concerned and we're incensed," a Vonage representative said Thursday. The ruling, which was made by the New York State Public Service Commission on Wednesday, starts the clock ticking on a 45-day deadline for Vonage to file for a state telephone license. The Vonage representative said that "obviously, (New York) didn't get the memo from Minnesota," where a federal judge ruled that state telephone regulations don't apply to Net phone service providers. Full story at: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-5217000.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: Fri, 21 May 2004 12:33:55 -0400 Subject: Wireless World: Bye-bye to Ma Bell? Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040521-125335-1453r By Gene J. Koprowski United Press International A weekly series by UPI examining emerging wireless telecommunications technologies and markets. CHICAGO, May 21 (UPI) -- Local phone companies may soon be relics of a bygone era, as quaint as an RCA Victrola phonograph or a Kodak "Brownie" camera. In the next five years, as technology start-ups begin offering wireless Internet telephone service commercially, look for consumers to chase low monthly telephone service prices, to be offered by developers located all over the United States and around the globe, futurists and technologists told United Press International. "Voice is the killer application that everyone has been looking for -- for years -- on the Internet," said Jonathan Lieberman, president and chief executive officer of ISN Telcom Inc. in Miami. An array of vendors, such as Motorola Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and a number of obscure Taiwanese companies, are planning to bring hybrid wireless phones to the mass-market -- and soon. The phones will work on both the regular wireless telephone network and over the Wireless Fidelity networks, connected to the Internet. "The potential for disrupting the sleepy monopolies of the Bell System is there," said Edward Cespedes, president of Voiceglo Inc., an Internet telephone service provider in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "With voice over Internet, all geography (for a phone provider) goes away." Full story at: http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040521-125335-1453r ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: Bye, bye Ma Bell - Internet Phones Give Land Lines Run for Money Date: 21 May 2004 11:19:35 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com VOIP News wrote: > But the phone rings and has a dial tone. It works, and has all the > reliability and functionality (of traditional phone service) with a > lower cost point. Of course it has a lower cost point -- it doesn't have to carry the regulatory burden that traditional land line telephone service must do. Not being that familiar with VOIP, I have no idea whether it will indeed be the wave of the future as some predict. But I do have enough gray hair to have seen many "wonderful technologies" come in with a bang than quietly disappear. Nuclear energy was once touted as being "too cheap to meter". I'd be more inclined to look into VOIP hype if there was a true apples to oranges comparison. How do costs stack up: 1) A recent post described VOIP quality as being "nearly" as good as land line. Well, call me back when you get the quality to be as good or _better_ than land line. 2) If the company's internal data lines can accomodate the full volume of telephone traffic, including peaks, at all times with 24/7 reliability? 3) If the VOIP had to support everyone in a city using it for local and long distance telecom--would the data lines, trunks, and routers be able to handle the peak volume load? Time and time again I've seen a new technology touted but could only handle laboratory loads and not real life loads. 4) If VOIP included all the taxes and fees landline charges. 5) If VOIP included the social requirements of regulated telephone service, such as the expense of filing tarrifs with the PUC (a big job in itself), and providing universal service to unprofitable and non-paying customers, and other public service obligations the regulated companies must meet. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But really, Lisa, why does traditional telephony have to carry the burden it does these days? Why shouldn't there be some telecom reform in 2004 which grossly eliminated about ninety percent of all the garbage sent through on telephone bills? PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Does AT&T Still Carry TV Programs Date: 21 May 2004 11:07:13 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com When the radio age took off, AT&T was a big part of it by providing high quality lines for the broadcast networks to send shows to different city affiliates. Much radio was done live in those days. After WW II, television began to grow at the same time AT&T deployed high capacity coaxial cable and microwave transmission media. They had much more bandwidth than pre-war carrier systems and could accomodate television signals. For years AT&T carried television programs from the networks to affiliates. In the early years of TV, much of that was live. Now that there are so many satellites, does AT&T still carry TV programs for the networks? I sense it is easier and cheaper to download them via satellite. Also, since virtually programs are pre-recorded, I sense that downloads are done in advance allowing for redos if there's a problem (something not possible when done in real-time). ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Real Time Directory Assistance Coming Soon to Digest Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 13:00:00 CDT I have recently completed an agreement with a major provider of Directory Assistance which will enable all readers here to get real time DA service from any of several telephone lines for the relatively low cost of 65 cents per call. It will work like this: From our web page http://telecom-digest.org you will go to the sign up area. You will list any phone number you want to sign up, or any of several numbers, actually, and you list the phone numbers you want to use. For example, your cellular phones, your landline phones, etc. Then you will list the credit card number you wish to use for payment. To then use the service, you will dial a certain toll free number which (a) notes the calling number for billing purposes *and* (b) patches you through to DA at the same time. You get billed call by call at 65 cents each, about once per month on your credit card. At the web site, there is also a place where you can monitor your useage and detirmine what your month bill will be. You also use that same place to change your credit card number as desired and other stuff. Then it is up to you to configure your cell phone or landline phone as desired to speed dial into the service. More details soon; and you can listen in to a sample DA call to see how it works at the sign up page. I hope this service proves very useful and inexpensive to users of Directory Assistance, especially those of you with large phone systems you administer and pay for. 65 cents for one or two inquiries is about the best rate I could get for you, but that still should save you some money. 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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