From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Jun 18 16:25:13 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.3) id i5IKPDM26004; Fri, 18 Jun 2004 16:25:13 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 16:25:13 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200406182025.i5IKPDM26004@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 #296 TELECOM Digest Fri, 18 Jun 2004 16:25:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 296 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson NorVergence (Paul Dowdy) Norvergence Outage - Technical or Financial? (peter) Norvergence Working Here (Dan Pearlman) Re: Norvergence, etc ... (BarryB) Re: Disclaimer of Norvergence Message Recently (Alessandra Di Maggio) Re: Your Problems With Norvergence (Ken Lyle) EFFector 17.22: DirecTV to Narrow Anti-Piracy Campaign (Monty Solomon) U.S. Senate Panel Passes Satellite TV Measure (Monty Solomon) Wal-Mart Looks to Expand Radio Tagging (Monty Solomon) Wireless Networking (Josh Walrath) Re: Be Careful Quoting Scanner Messages (Charles B. Wilber) Dictaphone (Dan Lanciani) Re: Office Telephone System Recommendations (Jack Murphy) Re: Need Expert Legal and Medical Testimony for Lawsuit (T. Sean Weintz) Re: VoIP Over Power Line Set for Testing (Mike Donnelly) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: NorVergence Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 07:38:54 -0500 From: Paul Dowdy I am considering the NorVergence solution and would like to see if there has been any discussion in your site about the company. Sounds very good, but I am a bit worried about the company's stability. Regards, Paul Dowdy Director of IT TPSC Inc. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Welcome to our little digest, Paul. Yes, We do have some Norvergence discussion here from time to time such as today. I'm sorry to say the news today is not very favorable but you will have to decide what you think is best after reviewing all these messages and the others in our archives. PAT] ------------------------------ From: pccm2468@yahoo.com (peter) Subject: Norvergence Outage - Technical or Financial? Date: 18 Jun 2004 03:56:52 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi, Our T1 line went out on Tuesday night (June 15), so our phones and all internet services have been down since then. Today (June 18), all service is still down. We called Norvergence on Wednesday on their (973) number - their T1 lines were obviously out too. They told us that there was a technical problem, and every customer coast to coast was down, due to an "OC3 link going down". Stated that it should be back up by 7pm (June 16). It's now June 18, and our T1 lines are still down. So much for 99% uptime and redundant systems -- try 0% uptime (for the last 2.5 days) and no redundancy! Being a fairly small company, we can work around the phone problem with our redundant lines (at our cost). But having our T1 line down means services we provide that our customers rely on are down, and services that we use day to day are inaccessible. What I need to know is whether this problem is really a technical problem with Qwest as Norvergence are saying, or a financial problem where (for example) they can't pay their bill to Qwest. If it is purely technical, and they resolve it today, and prepare for similar problems in the future, then maybe we can continue to use their service. But it seems likely that there is more to this. Regards, Peter [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That's what we are hearing, Peter, that there is a bit more to this than Norvergence is saying. Read on for more details from readers. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Dan Pearlman Reply-To: DanielPearlman@Earthlink.net Subject: Norvergence Working Here Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 09:19:53 -0400 We have a Norvergence T1, LD and cell phones here in Miami. Our cell phones never went down but our LD and T1 did. They got it back up later that night. Qwest told me directly that they have recinded any remarks regarding NorV and that they are still partners with NorV and that it should not be a problem going forward. Let's hope, because outage = lost revenue. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Hmmm, now where I have I heard before about people making statements about Norvergence then wind up later making disclaimers, etc? At least I have no 'official statements' here in our archives from Qwest or I suppose they would be demanding I remove them also. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:48:52 -0400 From: BarryB Subject: Re: Norvergence, etc. This Tuesday June 15th Qwest disconnected all the Norvergence accounts: voice data toll free and internet for non payment: Norvergence owes Qwest $13,000,000 past due. All calls to customer service were told its a Qwest problem -- I have over 130 customers on Qwest and there hasn't been a glitch or hiccup in 2.5 years. -- I have heard there was a settlement and service was restored for another ten days ... This is an email I received from someone at QWEST regarding Norvergence: 1. Qwest turned them back on. They had to because, legally, they can't leave the customers with no carrier. I believe they have 2 weeks to pay or find a new backbone. 2. Rumor is they (Norvergence) may file bankruptcy today. ---- speak less - listen more | say less - do more ---- start less - finish more | correct less - prevent more ---- have less - be more | blame less - forgive more ---- The world's greatest opportunities always come disguised as a problem with no solution. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If Norvergence is into Qwest for thirteen million dollars I don't suppose a few more days will make any real difference. But regards your point number 1 above, Qwest was not leaving *its* customers with no carrier; *its* sole customer is Norvergence. It is Norvergence who left its customers hanging out to dry, wasn't it? And regards point 2 above, I am not going to say if/when that fine outstanding company may file for protection under bankruptcy. PAT] ------------------------------ From: shinecorp1@aol.com (Alessandra Di Maggio) Subject: Re: Disclaimer of Norvergence Message Recently Date: 18 Jun 2004 09:46:35 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I am a former employee of Norvergence. I was hired in late 2003 as an "Insider Sales Rep" and fired in early March of 2004 along with a few hundred other employess (all on the same day!). People, PLEASE LISTEN UP: THE COMPANY IS A FRAUD !! In the six months I worked there, I became very close friends with all the top head honchos -- Including Scott Bufton. Top management views Norvergence clients as "suckers"- These words were pronounced to me by Mr. Scott Bufton. Don't get me wrong ... I earned alot of money at Norvergence ... I was making $6,000- $7,000 a month and I have no anger towards them ... I am not angry that I was fired ... I am now working for a very reputable telecom company with an equal salary. I just want to warn clients about signing up with Norvergence. Customer service reps are comprised of ex-convicts. Norvergence has a relationship with the city of Newark to put these ex cons to work (in exchange for alot of fringe benefits). I will continue to post more "insider secrets" on Norvergence. Let's see if this one is allowed to get posted first. Best, M. New York City Blacklisted name never again mentioned here in Digest wrote in message news:: > Apparently something happened to Norvergence yesterday. People are > contacting me again. I do not know why, but I believe some is forwarding > emails to you under my e-mail address. > My problems with Norvergence are settled and I no longer want to be > involved. If there was a post, can you please remove it. I no longer > want current, past, or future postings posted. And I will clean out my > e-mail as well. > (Blacklisted Name) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Okay Steve, how about I just completely > blacklist your name from any further postings **under that name** from > TELECOM Digest? Some people are claiming Norvergence is completely shut > down; that at least certain of their contractors/vendors have cut them > off entirely, etc. Did you not get an auto-ack from me yesterday > saying that 'your message has been recieved and is being edited for > publication'? Why didn't you at that very time, at the speed of email > send me a disclaimer on the spot saying 'NOT MINE, DO NOT PUBLISH' so > I could have caught it before it was printed? PAT] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, Alessandra DiMaggio, here is an important way you, or others at Norvergence can help me. You can say whatever you want here, that's fine. **But** -- I do not EVER go back and remove things from the archives, so if you wind up getting sued by Norvergence or someone else and then later they buy you off if you promise to clean up your act (like they did poor Steve; they sued his pants off then after he got them over a barrel they agreed to drop the suit and pay him money as long as he got rid of all his published commentary.) He could not comply (obviously) with that demand; I do not know if he ever did get the largesse they promised him for keeping his mouth shut in the future or not. Norvergence even said they were going to sue me, but did not do so, and Steve's lawyer also made demand on me. So **think** before you send something for publication here, as faxing these lawyers back and forth is a bore to me, and quite expensive as well. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Ken Lyle Subject: Re: Your Problems With Norvergence Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 16:28:58 -0400 We got out of our contract. I can't go into specific details as to how over email. Our Lawyer is talking to other disgruntled customers, and said he can accept or decline anyone on a case by case basis. He's the person who got us out, thankfully. We couldn't have done it without him. 215-699-6000 Fred Horn I have a list of details that describe by date all of our experiences with Norvergence that I can supply to anyone who may need it. Ken 215-361-6999 X116 From: Blacklisted Name Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2004 8:07 PM To: TELECOM Digest Editor; Ken Lyle; keithmc27@netzero.com; Karen; Jeff Cohen; Dave Michaeli; Andy Grinstead; David O. Rodriguez Cc: Michael Bonnell Subject: Your Problems With Norvergence > I am forwarding this e-mail to a gentleman in Maryland who is working on > collecting everyone's experiences with Norvergence and presenting them to > the New Jersey State Attorney General and federal regulators for some > action. > Even if you have resolved your differences with Norvergence, I encourage > you to devote just a small portion of your time (less than 1 hour) to help > prevent what happened to you to happen to anyone else ever again. > I have devoted a lot of time to helping many of you with your Norvergence > issues. Let us help to prevent this from ever happening to some else ever > again. I am looking for nothing from Norvergence. I am just tired of seeing > them prey on small business owners like myself. > Help out a fellow business owner. > Blacklisted Name ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 18:25:40 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 17.22: DirecTV to Narrow Anti-Piracy Campaign EFFector Vol. 17, No. 22 June 16, 2004 donna@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 294th Issue of EFFector: * DirecTV to Narrow Anti-Piracy Campaign * Court Rules DirecTV Must Prove More than Possession * MiniLinks (13): Roasting the WIPO Broadcasting Treaty * Staff Calendar: 06.24.04 - Wendy Seltzer speaks at Supernova 2004, Santa Clara, CA * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/17/22.php ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 02:20:01 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: U.S. Senate Panel Passes Satellite TV Measure WASHINGTON, June 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a measure that would likely lead to raising the royalty rates satellite television services like EchoStar Communications Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) and DirecTV pay to carry some broadcast channels. In some markets where satellite providers do not offer a national television network affiliate or a local channel is not available, they import the signal from a big market like New York or Los Angeles, but have to pay a royalty. The measure calls for binding arbitration to adjust the fees the companies pay. The current rates have not changed in five years. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42031522 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 02:25:00 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Wal-Mart Looks to Expand Radio Tagging BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- Discount retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. today said it hopes to expand use of its electronic product tracking system to its top 300 suppliers by January 2006. The company this week told suppliers its plans for increasing the number of distribution centers and Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores using radio frequency identification tags to facilitate better tracking of inventory. Wal-Mart initiated the electronic tracking program in June 2003, and said its pilot test with eight suppliers at its Sanger, Texas distribution center has been progressing as planned since starting up in April. The tags, bearing an EPC symbol, are being placed on outer packaging and pallets, but will soon expand to larger merchandise and electronics, such as bicycles and lawnmowers, Wal-Mart said. The company says with the system it can more easily judge when inventories need to be replenished. Currently about 140 suppliers are working to implement the tracking system by January 2005, with 6 distribution centers and 250 stores live by June 2005 and 13 distribution centers and up to 600 stores live by October 2005. Wal-Mart said it plans to have the remaining 160 suppliers using the technology beginning in January 2006. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42021735 ------------------------------ From: Josh Walrath Subject: Wireless Networking Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 23:52:28 -0500 Organization: Newsfeeds.com http://www.newsfeeds.com 100,000+ UNCENSORED Newsgroups. Does anyone know of any good sites to read articles/papers/journals about wireless networking? I'm looking for real world performance of wireless a vs. b vs. g or what the latest and greatest types of wifi security that is out there. Any sites or articles you can point me to would be a great help ... Josh ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jun 2004 17:25:58 EDT From: Charles.B.Wilber@Dartmouth.EDU (Charles B. Wilber) Subject: Re: Quoting Scanner Messages I stand corrected. Excellent research by Mr. Bonomi. Just remember to check the statutes before you depend on them to protect you. They could change again and probably will. Charlie Wilber Dartmouth College > --- Robert Bonomi wrote: > Yes, *exactly*. > 47 USC 605 says it is unlawful to disclose content *UNLESS* permitted > by chapter 119 of title 18 USC. > --- end of quote --- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 04:56:39 EDT From: Dan Lanciani Subject: Dictaphone Anybody want a Dictaphone ("TIME-MASTER MODEL")? This was the old dictation machine that recorded on plastic belts. (I should be able to include some belts.) How about a Sears electro-mechanical adding machine? These are headed for the trash on Sunday... Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com ------------------------------ From: Jack Murphy Subject: Re: Office Telephone System Recommendations Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 02:35:44 GMT Mike McWhinney wrote: > Hello, > We are currently shopping around for a office telephone system. We do > not need anything fancy (we have 4 lines, 8-10 phones). We're looking > for something similar to the following: > Is there any phone system better than this for within the same budget > area (<$2000) We want a good phone system that is upgradeable/expand- > able while remaining cost effective. > Regards, > Mike McWhinney Hi Mike, We are in a similiar situation and have been looking hard at the BizFone System (http://www.bizfon.com/affordable.htm). It meets some of your mentioned requirements specifically upgradeable/expandable, and cost effective. We have not actually acquired this system yet, but due to the same reasons you mentioned we likely will go this route over the other choices available. Thanks, Jack Murphy Netsys-America, LLC http://www.netsys-direct.com ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Need Expert Legal and Medical Testimony for Lawsuit Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 13:20:25 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Paul Vader wrote: > writes: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not a telecom thing, but an interesting >> problem facing a man who needs help obtaining a personal injury >> lawsuit. Included here FYI and thoughts. PAT] >> I'm a poor widows son rummaging around in a rubbish pile in Southeast > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Ooh fun! That's a Masonic password, or at least a paraphrase of one. >> So mote it be. > And this is a Mormon one, if I remember my Sherlock Holmes. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So Paul, can you tell me a little more > about these Masonic and Mormon passwords; why they exist and what is > the meaning (of the passwords)? PAT] Actually, both are used in freemasonry. T. Sean Weintz - T. Sean Weintz - T. Sean Weintz - T. Sean Weintz May be copied freely without the express permission of T. Sean Weintz. T. Sean Weintz could care less. T. Sean Weintz does reserve all rights. T. Sean Weintz - T. Sean Weintz - T. Sean Weintz - T. Sean Weintz [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well you may know that Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormons back about 1827-30 was himself a rather highly placed Mason; I think maybe a 33rd degree Shriner-Mason. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 13:13:24 +0000 (GMT) From: Mike Donnelly Subject: Re: VoIP Over Power Line Set for Testing VOIP News wrote in news:telecom23.290.2@telecom-digest.org: > http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/105/8034 Horrible idea! What a monsterous source of pollution of the electromagnetic spectrum. Power lines are just not spectrum-friendly transmission lines for high speed data. Worst idea the White House and the FCC every pushed. Mike Donnelly ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #296 ******************************