From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Jan 21 00:02:49 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i0L52mj11563; Wed, 21 Jan 2004 00:02:49 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 00:02:49 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200401210502.i0L52mj11563@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 #29 TELECOM Digest Tue, 20 Jan 2004 23:59:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 29 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson PluggedIn: Digital Media on TV, Anywhere and Anytime (Monty Solomon) Motorola Reports Fourth-Quarter; Full-Year 2003 Financial (M Solomon) Microsoft Lightens Up on Teen's Mikerowesoft Site (Monty Solomon) America's Opinion of AOL (Rob) Fax And Friction (Eric Friedebach) The Qwest Spirit of Service Bye Bye Qwest (ahinsp1@hotmail.com) Re: Wireless Home Networks (John Bartley) Re: All-Zeros Numbers (Robert Weller) Re: Place Name for 610-388 (Stanley Cline) 800 Number Transfer (Yin) Re: Companies Tossing Aside Consumers' Freedoms (Nick Landsberg) Adding Invoicewatch.com (rjbabich) 411 - Directory Assistance Least Call Routing Whitepaper (Whitepaper) 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 is 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: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 16:51:20 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: PluggedIn: Digital Media on TV, Anywhere and Anytime By Ben Berkowitz LOS ANGELES, Jan 20 (Reuters) - It's as though every electronics company that knows anything about data and networking had the same idea: Build a box to connect the TV to a home network and pull digital audio and video off the PC. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas recently, conventioneers could not turn a corner without seeing a device -- wired or wireless, with a hard drive or without, audio only or audio and video -- to transport digital music, photos and videos to the home entertainment center. While the idea is not necessarily new, a combination of new and faster wireless technologies, lower costs for hard drives and other components and the growing popularity of digital media has combined to create a land rush in the category. And those rushing in to grab a piece of what could be very lucrative territory acknowledge that the new technology is daunting and must be made as user-friendly as possible. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40235457 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 16:52:18 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Motorola Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2003 Financial * Fourth-quarter sales of $8.0 billion, up 4 percent vs. the prior-year quarter, up 17 percent sequentially vs. the third quarter * Fourth-quarter GAAP earnings of $.20 per share vs. earnings of $.08 per share in the prior-year quarter * Fourth-quarter earnings, excluding special items, of $.17 per share vs. earnings of $.13 per share, excluding special items, in the prior-year quarter * Fourth-quarter positive operating cash flow of $0.9 billion * Ratio of debt to net debt plus equity improved to 0.3 percent from 19.6 percent in the prior-year quarter(1) * First-quarter 2004 guidance: - Sales: $6.4 to $6.8 billion - GAAP earnings per share: $.05 to $.07 per share SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Jan. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) today reported sales of $8.0 billion in the fourth quarter of 2003 and net earnings of $489 million, or $.20 per share, presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). This represents an increase in sales of 4 percent from $7.7 billion in the year-ago quarter, up 17 percent sequentially from the third quarter. Motorola reported GAAP net earnings in the year-ago quarter of $174 million, or $.08 per share. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40240333 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 16:36:24 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Microsoft Lightens up on Teen's Mikerowesoft Site (In U.S. dollars unless noted) TORONTO, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) indicated on Tuesday it might have overreacted to the Web site of Canadian teenager Mike Rowe who had added the word "soft" to his name and registered the address mikerowesoft.com. "We take our trademark seriously, but in this case maybe a little too seriously," Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler said. "We appreciate that Mike Rowe is a young entrepreneur who came up with a creative domain name, so we're currently in the process of resolving this matter in a way that will be fair to him and satisfy our obligations under trademark law," Desler said. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40237298 ------------------------------ From: rob51166@yahoo.com (Rob) Subject: America's Opinion of AOL Date: 20 Jan 2004 04:57:04 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com What's the general view of AOL in the US? I use them on their broadband package here in the UK and find them really good -- but expensive (GBP27.99 or USD50/month for broadband is not cheap, even in Europe, where things are generally more expensive than in the USA). However, they're often seen as something of a joke and as a simpleton's version of the internet as they use their own software, instead of using IE or NN. Hmm ... Just thought I'd ask! :-) Rob ------------------------------ From: friedebach@yahoo.com (Eric Friedebach) Subject: Fax And Friction Date: 20 Jan 2004 11:05:17 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Seth Lubove, 01.20.04, Forbes.com LOS ANGELES - Pity the hapless travel agent or car dealer whose fax advertisement happens to appear on a fax machine belonging to one Ben Livingston of Seattle, Wash. A self-described "small-claims warrior," Livingston has made a side business out of suing these companies and many more for the sin of sending him unsolicited fax ads, better known as junk faxes. "Rather than just hang up, recycle or delete, I've been filing small claims against these obnoxious marketers," Livingston declares on his Web site, which also offers an 11-chapter guide on how to turn tables on telemarketers, junk faxers and spammers. To further humiliate the businesses, Livingston posts all the court documents and letters he sends, in which he typically demands a standard $500 fine, or $1,500 if the fax was sent knowingly. In all, he says he's collected about $6,000 in three years. Now, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, Livingston and a small army of plaintiffs, attorneys and self-appointed activists have more license to go after businesses that send them junk faxes. In refusing during the week of January 12 to hear a case that claimed the 1991 federal ban on unsolicited faxes violates free-speech rights, the high court let stand a lower-court ruling involving a lawsuit filed by the state of Missouri against Fax.com. The suit accused Fax.com, once the largest fax blaster in the U.S., of illegally sending unsolicited ads to fax machines in the state. http://www.forbes.com/2004/01/20/cz_sl_0120faxes.html Eric Friedebach /Mars: northern Nevada without the legal brothels/ ------------------------------ From: ahinsp1@hotmail.com Subject: The Qwest Spirit of Service Bye Bye Qwest Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 03:27:27 GMT I recently moved to Phoenix, AZ. This is my first experience with Qwest, (formerly known as USWorst according to my sister in Oregon. Now I know where they got that name.) As I am only staying in this apartment temporarily until my house is ready (in 4 months or so). I decided to grit my teeth and suffer with dialup. From time to time I toyed with the idea of DSL, but Qwest DSL is a bad deal with only a 256K download provided in their basic service. Last week my speed dropped to 28K. After checking my system, downloading the latest modem drivers, etc., I decided to order DSL. Guess what? After 5 months of showing my line as qualifying for DSL, it is now shown as not qualifying. I suspected that my line had been multiplexed; this was confirmed by a call to Qwest tech support. The phone rep went through all of the blather about them not being required to provide 52k for modems, etc. I told him that I knew all about voice line tariffs but that I had 52K for 5 months and that they had made a change to the line that effectively cut my service in half while still charging me the same. He told me that they would try to see if they could get me a pair that was not multiplexed. I suppose that is more than they have to do. Unfortunately, I never heard from them again. Just got a flyer from Cox Cable in the mail today. My internet service will be up by 7pm tomorrow and my Qwest phone number will be ported to Cox by next Wed. Bye Bye Qwest. This is what Qwest gets for the "We don't care, we don't have to. We're the telephone company." attitude. The next time I see one of their ads spouting off about the Qwest "Spirit of Service" I am going to vomit. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Southwestern Bell (SBC) is just as bad. I dealt with them for a long time here in Independence, and listened to their lies and their stalls. They were getting around 50-60 dollars each month for DSL out of me *and* another 40 something for phone service. I finally decided to switch to our local phone company (Prairie Stream) since they offer the full package of features for $29 per month and include a hundred minutes of 'anywhere/anytime' long distance for free in the same package. Plus which, when you call them after one or two rings a *live person* answers to help you. SBC tried to claim I was 'not eligible' for porting my numbers to Prairie Stream since I had a freeze on my account. I got that removed after wading through voice mail hell and waiting ten minutes or so on hold. Prairie Stream then tried to convert my account, only to have SBC claim once again I was 'not eligible' for conversion since I had DSL on my line. Their oh-so-precious and perfect DSL. And if I wanted to keep that on my line (and they, in their arrogance could not see why I would not want to) therefore I had to stay with them until hell froze over. I told them to get their DSL out immediatly, and I got turned on by our local cable company, Cable One. (Although Coffeyville and a couple other towns here in our county have Cox.) And Cable One even gives me a discount since I already have their radio/television cable service. Cable One is going to start telephone service here in Independence rather soon also, but I sort of like Prairie Stream. Since I finally got free totally from Southwestern Bell, they have bombarded me on average once per week with all sorts of offers trying to induce me back, including a couple months of free DSL, phone service for $29 per month -- full service, unlimited features, fifty dollar VISA shopping cards, no installation fees, etc. You should watch and see what happens when Cox tries to port your phone number from Qwest. I'll bet anything Qwest -- in the old Bell tradition -- first tries to stall you, or claims they do not have to release your line, and then once you have been ported, they try to lure you back with all sorts of outrageous offers of free or reduced price service, and gift cards, etc. Good for you, getting that monkey off your back! PAT] ------------------------------ From: John Bartley Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 11:20:30 -0800 Subject: Re: Wireless Home Networks On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 15:37:34 -0500, Michael Quinn wrote: > The recent articles on DSL availabilty prompted me to check with > Verizon yet again to see if Verizon had at last made DSL available in > my neighborhood in Northern VA. I was pleasantly surprised to see > that they had, and with a little bit of searching discovered a > wireless hub and small wireless USB adaptors at buy.com on sale for > about $35 each. The wired versions -- either conventional NIC cards > using CAT 5 cable or the HPNA stle which use phone lines are both more > expensive and the former of course entails running and terminating > cables. Instead of HPNA, suggest looking at HomePlug http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20020815.html > Three colleagues, all more knowledgeable and opinionated than I, have > strongly warned against the more expedient wireless solution because > of security vulnerabilities. They are _good_ friends of yours. > I thought these things were range limited Part 15 devices, They are. Which means, nada, to anyone with a high gain directional anywhere near to LOS. I made a six mile hop once with a three story hotel wing blocking the direct LOS, so LOS ain't absolutely required. > I live on a cul-de-sac where someone "cruising for hot spots" would > be pretty conspicuous. 'Robert X. Cringely' made his work over a distance of seven miles, and did it with a Pringles can antenna, not the high-gain 802.11b antenna anyone can buy from HRO nowadays. http://www.pbs.org/cringely/about/ http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20010712.html http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20020207.html And, here, he documents a passive repeater which can be nailed up in a tree, anywhere within LOS. If a wardriver finds your network, this device, needing no power on the tree, retransmits your signal to wherever he is, giving him time to crack it at his leisure. In 24 hours (appx.), even a no-volume network sends enough traffic to be cracked, just from ID signals from the wireless access point (which I will call a 'WAP/hub' henceforth). http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20010628.html Oh, BTW, Utah students made 802.11b work at 82 miles. http://classes.weber.edu/wireless/Default.htm > Would appreciate any ideas or experiences, good or bad, that the > readership would be willing to share, either here in the Digest or > off net. 1. Make sure to change the network name from the default setting. 2. Turn on the highest level of security possible. 3. Turn the WAP/hub off every night and leave it off when not in use. 4. Manually generate the encryption keys. 5. Set up a VPN. > TD is a teriffic resource. Yep. John Bartley, K7AAY http://celdata.cjb.net ------------------------------ From: Robert Weller Subject: Re: All-Zeros Numbers Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 13:44:19 -0800 I have two friends with "quad zero" home phone numbers. One also has a cell phone number with 5 zeros, and his Airphone number has s-e-v-e-n zeros! Bob [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I cannot understand how someone would get seven zero numbers, even if the zeros were not consecutive (that is were in the area code and the rest of the number in various orders. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Stanley Cline Subject: Re: Place Name for 610-388 Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 22:57:22 UTC Organization: Roamer1 Communications - Dunwoody, GA, USA Reply-To: sc1-news@roamer1.org In article , Carl Moore wrote: > (via AT&T) to a phone on 610-388, which is along the Delaware border > (is local to Wilmington, Del.) and reaches up to a stretch of U.S. 1. > AT&T bill which includes that call has arrived, and it gives the place > name as Chadds Ford (do not recall seeing Chadds Ford in that context > before), but nanpa.com (and the old phone books for that area) give > 388 (which is a holdover from the 215 area) as Mendenhall. More than likely the person you called also has AT&T LD and the bill shows the city associated with the other end's billing address instead of the actual rate center name as defined by NANPA. Before I dropped AT&T LD a few years ago I noticed that calls to my parents in 706-866, who also had AT&T LD at the time, were listed on AT&T bills as "Ft Oglthrp GA" (which, oddly enough, is how "Fort Oglethorpe" was spelled by BellSouth on their local bill) instead of "Rossville GA" (which is the rate center name as defined by NANPA, etc.), but calls to customers of other LD carriers in 706-866 were listed as "Rossville GA". I also noticed differences in the way New Orleans was spelled ("New Orlens LA" vs. "Neworleans LA") on calls to a known AT&T LD customer vs. calls to cell phones and so on in New Orleans... I've seen a couple of small LD carriers show calls to my home POTS line as being to "Chamblee GA" and not "Atlanta NE GA" since they apparently don't know about Atlanta's rate center consolidation yet... ;) Stanley Cline -- sc1 at roamer1 dot org -- http://www.roamer1.org/ "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might be a law against it by that time." -/usr/games/fortune ------------------------------ From: yinhchew@yahoo.com (Yin) Subject: 800 Number Transfer Date: 19 Jan 2004 15:37:29 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi! I wonder if anyone of you might know about how to resolve this situation: We have a 800 number with a telecom company now. We are in the middle of transfering that over to another telecom company. This telecom company would not release it because of a billing dispute that is pending. It seems that we have to resolve it before this is done. However, they seems reluctant to give more help to resolve it and I feel that they are stalling for time. Is there any way to transfer the 800 number away so that at least this is secure? Thanks. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am not sure. I *think* when the telco *claims* you still owe them money that is the one exception to the rules on porting numbers. After all, if they cannnot get you to pay them when they have the number turned on and working, that is the one bit of arm-twisting they still have available to them. You really should consult with our resident 800 number portability/recovery expert, Judith Oppenheimer. If it can be done legally (porting a number when there is a delinquent balance due) Judith can handle it for you. Look at http://1800TheExpert.com and send her email from there. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Nick Landsberg Subject: Re: Companies Tossing Aside Consumers' Freedoms Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 03:32:32 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet See response below the article: Monty Solomon wrote: > By Dan Gillmor > Mercury News Technology Columnist > The digital revolution has been all about empowering people, to use > technology in ways that broaden our horizons and our freedom. So when > the tech industry began moving into consumer electronics, there were > reasons to expect great things. > The consumer electronics companies, by and large, have sold closed > boxes that deliberately limit customers' options. This is by > tradition, in part for simplicity and ease of use, but also to placate > an entertainment industry that tramples customers' rights in the name > of curbing copyright infringement. > I've been hoping that the tech industry will bring its better > traditions into the living room -- expanding customers' flexibility > and creativity, not curbing them. > At the giant Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January, > the evidence was mixed. While new technology is adding some useful > features to consumer electronics, tech companies -- by embracing > Hollywood-dictated restrictions on how digital content is used -- have > allied themselves with a greedy cartel at the expense of their own > customers. > http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/7739841.htm > http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/dan_gillmor/7739841.htm Agreed with almost all the points, but as I see how others use computers in general, I get the distinct feeling that they don't WANT to know what else it (that box on their desk) it can do, but are willing to accept the defaults that the manufacturer has shipped. For example, several acquaintances have computers (yep, windows of some ilk is the OS) and expensive high-res monitors, yet they have never reset their screen resolution from the default 800x600. Even after I have pointed it out, they then tell me that "web pages look funny" at the new (higher) resolution, so they go back to 800 X 600. This attitude will probably permeate down to any devices which the general populace uses. They will mostly use whatever settings the manufacturer has as defaults. Lemmings will be lemmings, and this is how Microsoft made its fortune. Give people more choice and they, by and large, will be more confused ... because the folks who purvey the products make it seem like it's a black art and if you change an option, then they can't support it, etc. Sort of sounds like alchemy, doesn't it? About time we took this out of the realm of alchemy into an engineering discipline. What does any of this have to do with telecom, anyway? :) "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious" - A. Bloch ------------------------------ Reply-To: From: rjbabich Subject: Adding Invoicewatch.com Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 15:07:57 -0700 I really liked your site and wanted to know if you would be so kind to list our news site on Telecom Billing, Invoicewatch.com, its a non-profit discussion site. Also, can you add telesoft.com? We are a Telemanagement vendor. We will add your site to our News and Research section on both sites. Thanks, Ron Babich Director of Business Development and Marketing Telesoft Corp. 3443 N. Central Ave. Suite 1800 Phoenix, AZ 85012 Voice: (800) 456-6061 Ext 1111 Fax: (602) 308-1300 Email:mailto:rjbabich@telesoft.com Web: http://www.telesoft.com/ ------------------------------ From: whitepaper@1800teledeal.com (411 Whitepaper) Subject: 411 - Directory Assistance Least Call Routing Whitepaper Date: 19 Jan 2004 20:22:03 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com NEWS RELEASE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS JANUARY 20, 2004 TeleDeal Inc. has released a 411 Whitepaper that all Corporate Telecom Users should have a copy of. The 411 Whitepaper can be found at: http://1800teledeal.com/pbx.pdf Via 411 Least Call Routing, 80% savings are possible on 411 Directory Assistance calls. An intro $.29/411 call rate is provided vs. $1.50 for many large RBOCs and $2.49 for IXCs such as Sprint and MCI. A Free Trial and convenient month to month terms are available. The $.29 rate includes toll-free 800# transport to the 411 Call Center. The 411 Call Centers are U.S. based based vs. lower quality offshore 411 Call Centers. 411 Whitepaper Summary: The 411 Whitepaper provides details on how a Telecom Manager or Telecom Consultant for a business can bypass costly 411 / NPA-555-1212 Live Operator Directory Assistance Services from Local and Long Distance Telephone Providers and Least Call Route (LCR) 411 calls to the lower priced and higher quality U.S. Directory Assistance Call Center. LCR is also known as Automatic Route Selection (ARS). Benefits: 80% typical savings with "ONE" Low Nationwide 411 Rate versus "MULTIPLE" Higher rates from numerous Telco providers. A state by state comparison of TeleDeal's intro 411 Rate ($.29) versus Local and Long Distance Provider 411 Rates is shown. Complete and simple PBX programming details are provided. Also noted are details about blocking Directory Assistance Call Completion(DACC)for even greater 411 savings. Directory Assistance is an "Eligble Service" under the federal E-Rate program for Schools & Libraries additional discounts of up to 90% could then apply to the $.29 411 rate. This Whitepaper can be obtained by sending an email to: whitepaper@1800teledeal.com or downloading a copy at: http://1800teledeal.com/pbx.pdf ------------------------------ 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. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-330-6774 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2003 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. If you donate at least fifty dollars per year we will send you our two-CD set of the entire Telecom Archives; this is every word published in this Digest since our beginning in 1981. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #29 *****************************