From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Jul 1 18:24:50 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.3) id i61MOod27787; Thu, 1 Jul 2004 18:24:50 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 18:24:50 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200407012224.i61MOod27787@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 #313 TELECOM Digest Thu, 1 Jul 2004 18:25:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 313 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Norvergence Financial Problems (Ann Marie C) Norvergence News: Employees Not Paid! (Alessandra Di Maggio) Re: Latest Norvergence News (Steven J Sobol) Online Directory for Curacao? (Marcus Jervis) Utility Cuts Short BPL Trial that was Target of Amateur (Neal McLain) Re: Inet Domain Name, Help (Brad Houser) Re: Pizza; Can I Tell a Cell or Pay Phone Call From CallerID Info? (Keith) Re: Internet Access With a 800 Number (Steven J Sobol) Re: WTB: Used Cell Phones (Joseph) Re: Internet Access With a 800 Number (John Hines) Re: Driver Distraction (and Not Just Cell Phone) (Carl Moore) Tune In, Turn On, Skype Out (VOIP News) "Reverse Calling" - a Feature I Wish More Providers Would Offer (VOIP News) 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: Ann Marie C Subject: Norvergence Financial Problems Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 16:36:32 -0400 I worked for Norvergence starting on June 1 through June 9 when I resigned. It seems that Norv is having financial problem because June 18 was paid day and all NorV checks BOUNCED. So far I have received no check or explanation what happen to my pay. Tomorrow July 2 is scheduled payday again; that means that NorV has to pay employees for 4 weeks. It seem like they have no money to pay employeee, so I figured that Qwest, Sprint, T-mobile would not be paid. NorV would will last to long, they are ripping customers off. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well AT&T and SBC both rip off customers also; very few telcos have their hands clean on this. But AT&T has been in business more than a century as has SBC and they are not closing down anytime soon at least. But remember the rule: First the payroll, then the utilities. Without meeting obligations to those two, you are out of businessm as I guess Norvrgence is starting to find out. PAT] ------------------------------ From: shinecorp1@aol.com (Alessandra Di Maggio) Subject: Norvergence News: Employees Not Paid ! Date: 1 Jul 2004 06:47:58 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello Everyone,. Check out this link: http://www.news12.com/NJ/topstories/article?id=112373# It is a television news report that talks about Norvergence not paying employees and bouncing checks to vendors and suppliers. I am sure glad I 'left' the company along with 500 others in March, 2004 ! BarryB wrote in message news:: > Greetings: > I was informed by Qwest that Norvergence agreed to pay > $8,000,000 today in past due invoices; If they don't pay Qwest will > disconnect all Norvergence T1 and long distance services PERMANENTLY > by the end of the week.. > There is another article today on News 12 NJ discussing > Norvergence paychecks bouncing, and laid off employees not getting > their final paychecks. > I assume the Salzano brothers have their exit plans in place. > Barry Bellin [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Was it the *current* payroll that was missed? I am told they still owe for the one from two week ago as well. I feel sorry for the poor guys who work there, since many guys live from one payday to the next, as I do with my social security disbility checks each month. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steven J Sobol Subject: Re: Latest Norvergence News Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 00:03:17 -0500 BarryB wrote: > Greetings: > I was informed by Qwest that Norvergence agreed to pay > $8,000,000 today in past due invoices; If they don't pay Qwest will > disconnect all Norvergence T1 and long distance > services PERMANENTLY by the end of the week.. Hm. I'd love to see the Norvergence shills spin this in a positive light. I don't think it's possible to do so, though. JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/ Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED) Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids. ------------------------------ From: Marcus Jervis Subject: Online Directory For Curacao? Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 05:08:37 +0000 Can anyone recommend an online directory of residential listings for Curacao? I've seen www.whitepages.an, but it isn't working at the moment. Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 06:52:31 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: Utility Cuts Short BPL Trial that was Target From ARRL, 6/28/2004: NEWINGTON, CT, Jun 28, 2004--Alliant Energy has called an early end to its broadband over power line (BPL) pilot project in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The "evaluation system" went live March 30, and plans were for it to remain active until August or September. Alliant shut it down June 25. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/06/28/2/?nc=1 ------------------------------ From: Brad Houser Subject: Re: Inet Domain Name, Help Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 13:25:07 -0700 Organization: Intel Corporation Ron Reaugh wrote in message news:telecom23.310.16@telecom-digest.org: > What exactly is a registerable Internet domain name and how does that > relate to subdomains? For instance if one owns or is renting > xyzabc.com then what exactly is jkl.xyzabc.com? I understand that the > jkl is known as a subdomain. But is the complete entity > jkl.xyzabc.com something that is independently registerable from > xzyabc.com? OR if one owns xyzabc.com then does one own automatically > all subdomains off xyzabc.com in Internet domain name space? I guess > the question boils down to whether '.' is a special and > non-registerable character below the TLD level and therefore the > registerable domain name is that entity in the right most portion of > the name including one and only one '.' which preceeds a valid TLD? Not exactly a telecom question, but as I understand it, and I may be wrong, you can choose to register subdomains if you want to. If you choose not to, you will need to provide your own DNS at your main domain server to map the traffic through to the correct IP address. If you register it, you can get the DNS servers on the internet to point to it. I think it is something you can wait and see depending on traffic, or if you don't want to be bothered with the overhead. Brad Houser ------------------------------ From: Keith Subject: Re: Pizza ... Can I Tell a Cell or Pay Phone Call From CallerID info? Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 16:32:47 -0400 TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Keith by writing in news:telecom23.310.9@telecom-digest.org: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The reason pizza delivery places got > along fine without caller ID for many years is the same reason police > got along fine without 911 for many years; they had to; there were no > other options. Comparing the need of local emergency responders to the need of the local pizza business with which I choose to do business with doesn't hold water. I would gladly give up my name, phone number, and location on a 911 call. Ordering a pizza, calling the local hardware store, or calling the guy down the street to see how much he wants for his used Mustang is an entirely different idea. I prefer that my calls be anonymous unless I choose to identify myself. And just because this wonderful technology has enabled the automatic violation of my privacy, doesn't mean this is "progress". The ABILITY to transfer whatever information is progress. Advancement in technology does not give a free pass to abuse that technology in whatever methods a company deems appropriate or profitable. > That, and the fact that telco essentially re-invented the phone > network in the late 1960's (with ESS, and its sophistication) which > was necessitated in large part by how severely they were getting > ripped off by an increasingly sophisticated public. I think I could seriously argue that the only people getting ripped off in the 60's through the present is the end user, ie the customer. The various telephone companies of the world have not created multibillion dollar enterprises by keeping prices as low as possible. Of the books I've read (Freeman, Welch, Van Bosse, Thompson, Noll, BSTJ's, etc) which talk about the migration to ESS, although they all mention "fraudalent use" as a contributing factor -- I think that they would hardly consider fraud the large part of the reason. SELLCOM Tech support wrote in message news:telecom23.310.10@telecom-digest.org: > cyberpizzaguy@hotmail.com (JV) posted on that vast internet thingie: > A good first step might be to not insist that your drivers be unarmed, > especially if you live in a concealed carry state. If the criminals > were not assured of easy unarmed marks, they might not have such a > preference for the pizza man. Amen. Keith [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Your one word response to Steve at Sellcom was very good **assuming the drivers have a lot of patience with customers who are otherwise disagreeable and cranky** and assuming the driver's are licensed and have had gun training. In response to your answer to my earlier note, I was not suggesting that pizza telephone clerks are equal to police and other emergency workers, but only that they share at least one problem in common: The general public is sometimes easily confused (at best) and sometimes (at worst) have more evil intentions in mind. You or I might be capable and willing to note that our house was on fire and without a lot of panic call the Fire Department and report same, then begin putting the fire out while waiting for their arrival. In Chicago, for example, during the 1970's -- prior to Caller ID and 911 -- it was not that uncommon for a call to come into Fire Department and a very nervous and upset person on the phone was screaming, "Help! Fire at 5702 Western Avenue!" then slamming down the phone and running off to safety without telling the firemen if it was 5702 *NORTH* Western or 5702 *SOUTH* Western, several miles apart. So the Fire Department would send firemen to each address (north and south) to leave nothing to chance; obviously one crew came back empty handed after a 'dry run'; maybe both crews would come back from a 'dry run' because it was not a citizen 'trying to be helpful' but a malicious and evil prank. The information you would 'gladly' give on a 911 call does not hold water, IMO either, since a large number of citizens are not as sophis- ticated as yourself. Anyway, we have had numerous discussions in this group over the years about whether or not one person has the 'right' to ring another's telephone and remain anonymous while doing do; some of us think no such right exists; it amounts to ringing a person's doorbell then covering up the person's peephole when he looks outside to see who is calling before answering the door. The fact that telco could do nothing about it for technical reasons for most a century has nothing to do with realities now days. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steven J Sobol Subject: Re: Internet Access With a 800 Number Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 00:02:09 -0500 TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Kevin : > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not only are robberies of pizza > delivery guys bad news; so is spam and virii. What would happen to > the amount of spam if every ISP started using 800 numbers on their > dialups and matching those logs with their other traffic logs, so > they could hammer on the !absolute! senders of that crap. After all > it came from YOUR account when YOU were on line to us, etc. The > person could, I suppose, insist he had not been at the computer at > that time, it must have been a virus-bot using my computer, etc. PAT] The only thing 800 numbers buy you is ANI and the ability to let customers call you from anywhere without incurring long distance charges. ANI is available without getting an 800 number if your dialup lines run off PRI circuits or T's. JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/ Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED) Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: WTB: Used Cell Phones Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 08:09:52 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.NONOcom On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 14:53:00 -0500, Jerome Haden wrote: > We also have a customer looking for GSM gspr triband chips - or used > phones to remove them from. Used "gspr" (sic) chips aren't worth anything as any information that's relevant goes away as soon as the mobile operator takes down the service associated with the SIM. You evidently don't know a whole lot about GSM technology if you're referring to "gspr triband chips." Triband is determined by what kind of handset you have and if the handset is capable of using more than one frequency band. *GPRS* is a function that the mobile operator sets up in their system for users. There is no GPRS chip. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - remove NONO from .NONOcom to reply ------------------------------ From: John Hines Subject: Re: Internet Access With a 800 Number Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 08:34:12 -0500 Organization: www.jhines.org Reply-To: john@jhines.org > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not only are robberies of pizza > delivery guys bad news; so is spam and virii. What would happen to > the amount of spam if every ISP started using 800 numbers on their > dialups and matching those logs with their other traffic logs, so > they could hammer on the !absolute! senders of that crap. Won't be but a drop in the bucket, compared to zombie machines on DSL or cable lines, that can send out HUGE volumes. > From http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/20040629-3945.html > After Comcast finally owned up to the massive amounts of spam > coming from their network, they decided to identify spammers and > zombie relays on their network and block port 25 traffic from those IP > addresses. Comcast's efforts are starting to pay off. They announced > the amount of spam from their network has dropped 35 percent since > they began port blocking and traffic estimates from SenderBase seem > to confirm the claims. Spam coming from Comcast subscribers who > were formerly on AT&T networks also seems to have decreased. > Kudos should go out to Comcast for helping put a dent into the spam > problem, but before they run around the web claiming they saved the > Internet from spam, they still have a long ways to go in cleaning up > their networks. SenderBase lists a handful of IP addresses that are > continually pumping out over one million emails a day, and many more > who are sending over 100,000 per day. Comcast attempts to notify > problem users before they begin blocking port 25 traffic and these > users may be caught in the middle of the process. Let's hope they > can speed up the process and stop the spam emanating from these IPs > soon. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 12:28:57 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Driver Distraction (and Not Just Cell Phone) Earlier this year, I wrote of a driver reaching down for gloves and (at the same time) drifting into my lane and causing minor sideswipe damage to the left side of a car I was driving. I have just come across a story dated 10 Oct. 2003 from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Although it's from Wisconsin, it's about an accident near South Bend, Indiana where a driver may have been using a laptop computer just before a sideswipe where one person was killed and 2 others (including the driver who was apparently using the laptop) critically injured. The accident apparently took place 9 Oct. (the previous day). The article also quotes a spokesman for AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety: "We've heard of people shucking corn and playing a guitar while driving." ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 11:48:10 -0400 Subject: Tune In, Turn On, Skype Out Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.techcentralstation.com/070104F.html Tune In, Turn On, Skype Out By Kevin Werbach Published 07/01/2004 TCS Somewhere between Sweden, Estonia, and London, a small band of software developers is fomenting a revolution. Their product, Skype, has been downloaded fifteen million times worldwide in less than a year, without any marketing budget. It is provoking consternation among government officials. And it has large incumbents worried. If that sounds like the profile of peer-to-peer (p2p) file-sharing programs like Napster and Kazaa, it should. Not only is Skype a product of the same team that launched Kazaa, the most popular p2p file-sharing application, Skype is a p2p tool itself. Only, with a twist. Instead of sharing files, Skype shares voices. It is a voice over IP application. And in mid-June, with no fanfare, it blew a hole in the Federal Communications Commission's halting efforts to micro-manage the transition to a VOIP world. Skype's great step forward is called SkypeOut. A Skype user can now call any telephone subscriber in more than a hundred countries. Fees throughout the US and most of Europe and Asia are .012 Euros per minute, or about 1.5 cents. And Skype is global. There is no difference between domestic and international service: a call to New York from Japan is the same price as one from Philadelphia. Calls to other Skype users still cost exactly zero. SkypeOut's low rates for global dialing are a boon for users. SkypeOut also shows how quickly a company can innovate when it leverages the open Internet data platform. There is perhaps no clearer proof that voice telephony, which generates hundreds of billions of dollars a year for carriers, will eventually be seen as a feature of the Internet, rather than the reverse. Yet, there's a catch. SkypeOut creates new fissures in the FCC's shaky VOIP regulatory edifice. Full story at: http://www.techcentralstation.com/070104F.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: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 00:05:41 -0400 Subject: "Reverse Calling" - a Feature I Wish More Providers Would Offer Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com I saw a mention tonight on another mailing list of a Canadian company called TalkNet. TalkNet has a fairly unique feature in their service area, that as far as I know is not offered by any of the commercial VoIP providers in the United States. It's described this way on their page at http://www.talknet.ca/resiline.asp "Reverse Calling is a unique feature whereby a caller who is not a subscriber to our service may place a call to a subscriber and not incur a long distance charge. The non-subscriber would call one of our local access numbers and then enter the telephone number of the TalkNet subscriber. Our TalkNet service then processes the call by calling the valid subscriber and connecting the two parties." And they have local access numbers covering most of the non-rural parts of Ontario (see the list at http://www.talknet.ca/accessnumbers.asp In fact, about the only larger city in Ontario that I notice seems to be missing is Thunder Bay, way up in the northwestern part of the province. About the only thing I know of that is an equivalent in the U.S. are the Telesthetic access numbers in Michigan (see http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Telesthetic ), but those don't work with any of the major commercial VoIP providers. I don't know why commercial VoIP providers don't just set aside one number in each ratecenter they serve, and use them as access numbers to get to their customers, in the same way that TalkNet uses their access numbers. Seems like it would be a worthwhile feature to me! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If you could avoid toll by calling a Vonage 'incoming port' number in your own community and then having the call relayed over Vonage (to name an example) network, then what would be the point of purchasing your own Vonage phone? If you want to call a Vonage customer, just dial their number. If you did not have broadband (to use a Vonage phone of your own) I can see where this might be helpful; but what would prevent people from dialing into their local 'port' for Vonage then dialing any number anywhere to save on tolls all over the world? 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. 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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 #313 ******************************