From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Jan 23 03:05:04 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i0N853n25508; Fri, 23 Jan 2004 03:05:04 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 03:05:04 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200401230805.i0N853n25508@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 #34 TELECOM Digest Fri, 23 Jan 2004 03:05:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 34 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson For Those in the Fast Lane, MSN Tries to Smooth the Way (Monty Solomon) The Electronic Verification Is in the Mail (Monty Solomon) Google Spawns Social Networking Service (Monty Solomon) Microsoft Quarterly Revenue Tops $10 Billion (Monty Solomon) Town Uses Website List to Shame Scofflaws (Monty Solomon) TI Technology Makes 802.11a/g Affordable for Consumers (Monty Solomon) One Phone Line and Multiple Extensions plus Vonage? (howard) Re: Habeas.com and Spam? (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Re: Phantom DSL Reprised (Gary Breuckman) Re: Wireless Home Networks (Gene S. Berkowitz) Re: Wireless Home Networks (sidd@situ.com) Norvergence (NorV) Information Confirmation Request (Dan Pham) Re: Is LD by the Minute Going the Way of the Dodo? (John David Galt) 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: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 00:32:05 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: For Those in the Fast Lane, MSN Tries to Smooth the Way By WILSON ROTHMAN THE assumption of many providers of high-speed Internet service today is that you are a power user; that is, you don't need any help. You manage your e-mail with a free service like Hotmail or Yahoo , or know how to set up a POP3 account in Outlook. You already have software to protect you from hackers, viruses and spyware. You have a working knowledge of Photoshop (or at least Photoshop Elements) and you share pictures with family members at Ofoto. Google is your research hub, you download movie trailers at QuickTime.com, and you may even subscribe to a streaming music service like Rhapsody. You're a Net veteran, and all you require of your service provider is an always-on connection to a fat Internet pipeline. If you don't feel all that savvy, AOL and MSN sympathize with you. They suggest that although you have graduated to broadband, you might still need the full online-service software package you used in your dial-up days. Both companies have introduced software-and-service packages known as "bring your own access" - geared mainly toward Windows users, and offered at a lower monthly fee than their dial-up plans -- to complement high-speed Internet access. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/22/technology/22stat.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 00:49:36 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: The Electronic Verification Is in the Mail By MARK GLASSMAN January 22, 2004 ENSURING the integrity of a Microsoft Word document can be tricky. Hackers and pranksters have made a hobby of exposing security flaws in the software, often altering what appear to be protected files. But a new service shores up security with an adage that is at once novel and old-fashioned: let the post office handle it. The Postal Service, Microsoft and a technology company called Authentidate have developed a system called Electronic Postmark for verifying that a document's content is the same as when a user saved it. The service, introduced in October, is in some ways more a notary public's stamp than a postmark, intended particularly for those affixing their electronic signatures to documents relayed online. After downloading a free add-on program, or plug-in, for Word, a user can purchase Electronic Postmarks and insert them into any Word document. The plug-in is compatible with Word XP and Word 2003. Once the document is signed, the Postmark locks it down, preventing further changes within Word. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/22/technology/circuits/22post.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 00:51:31 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Google Spawns Social Networking Service By Stefanie Olsen Staff Writer, CNET News.com Google tip-toed into the hot market of online social networks with the quiet launch of Orkut.com on Thursday. The search company, which is expected to go public this year, is flexing its power with its Internet fans by constantly offering new services, including comparison shopping and news search. Orkut could be the clearest signal that Google's aspirations don't end with search. http://news.com.com/2100-1026-5146006.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 22:31:12 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Microsoft Quarterly Revenue Tops $10 Billion Launch of Office 2003 and Strength in PC Market Fuels Demand for Desktop Software REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced record revenue of $10.15 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2003, a 19% increase over $8.54 billion in the prior year. Operating income for the second quarter was $1.48 billion, compared to $2.23 billion in the prior year. Net income and diluted earnings per share for the second quarter were $1.55 billion and $0.14 per share. These results include stock based compensation expense of $2.17 billion (after-tax) or $0.20 per share, of which $1.48 billion (after-tax) or $0.14 per share related to the completion of the employee Stock Option Transfer Program. For the previous year, net income and earnings per share for the second quarter were $1.87 billion and $0.17 per share, including stock based compensation expense of $709 million (after-tax) or $0.07 per share, a $282 million (after-tax) or $0.03 per share charge for investment impairments, a $126 million or $0.01 per share tax benefit from the reversal of previously accrued taxes, and $141 million (after-tax) or $0.01 per share legal charge related to the state antitrust and unfair competition class action lawsuits. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40276969 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 22:43:05 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Town Uses Website List to Shame Scofflaws By Mark Pothier, Globe Staff, 1/21/2004 Sabina Maziarz knew she would pay a penalty when a $400 check she wrote in November to the Sharon School Department bounced, but did not realize her name and address would be posted on the Internet for all to see. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/01/21/town_uses_website_list_to_shame_scofflaws/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think they should take care doing this. The Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (signed into law during President Carter's administration *flatly prohibits* the publication of debts. You are allowed to contact the person you claim is the debtor, but you are not permitted to contact any third parties for the purpose of collection. Skip tracers/bill collectors, for example when calling me to find out your whereabouts, can ask me how to locate you if I know, but they are *not* permitted to say WHY they want to contact me other than 'I have some personal business I need to speak with him about.' I am not permitted (if I were licensed in the practice of debt collection) to run a printed announcement that you owe me X dollars on account of a check that bounced for example. One exception later passed was based on a decision that social good takes precedence. For example, the landlord of an apartment building with a master utility meter (gas or water as an example) becomes late in paying his utility bill, and the gas service is scheduled for cut off. Its obviously not the tenants' fault, yet they might well suffer from the cutoff of utilities. So the utility companies *are* permitted to 'post a building' (make a public announcement of cutoff) to enable, under the law, tenants to withhold their rent money for the purpose of paying the money for rent directly to the utility company. I do not *think* there are any exceptions made for bounced checks to municipalities, etc. In any event, I would be leary of making a public posting of someone with a bounced check for collection purposes. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:50:10 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TI Technology Makes 802.11a/g Affordable for Consumers wONE(TM) Universal Router Technology Delivers Optimal Solution for Multimedia Home Networking DALLAS, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE:TXN) (TI) today unveiled wONE, a universal router software technology that delivers simultaneous 802.11g and 802.11a operation from a single chipset (CPU, MAC, baseband and RF). Until now, most dual-band routers and access points (APs) were too expensive for mass consumer adoption since they required two chipsets in order to maintain simultaneous operation. With TI's wONE software, manufacturers can offer dual-band routers at an affordable price to the consumer market, making universal connectivity of 802.11a, 802.11g and 802.11b in the home a reality. This all-in-one router solution offers extreme flexibility and versatility to protect the end-users' existing investments of 802.11b or 802.11g devices while technology-proofing future network applications using 802.11a. (See http://www.ti.com/wone .) Together with TI's 802.11 silicon solutions, wONE allows manufacturers to deliver the ideal router for multimedia home networking, telecommuters, small business offices and small location hotspots. For example, in a single household, the son can watch a streaming video from an 802.11a-enabled media center or personal video recorder (PVR), while the daughter uses an 802.11b PDA to instant message friends, and at the same time Mom or Dad is using an 802.11g embedded mini-PCI card in a laptop to check e-mails over the VPN. http://finance.lycos.com/qc/news/story.aspx?story=200401051700_PRN__DAM009A ------------------------------ From: cscapella@yahoo.com (howard) Subject: One phone line and multiple extensions + vonage? Date: 22 Jan 2004 19:05:59 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello everyone, I am about to start up a new office in which I plan on having about 4 phones, possibly more in the future. My question is: Is it possible to have only 1 phone line that can go to any extension and handle multiple incoming or outgoing calls simultaneously and integrate with Vonage? Obviously I want to reduce my local phone company expenses. Would I be using a phone system like the ATT 4-Line KSU-less phone system to tie it all together? Thanks for you help, Howard ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 03:31:04 GMT From: joel@exc.com (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Re: Habeas.com and Spam? Organization: Excelsior Computer Services > years.) I'm on Habeas' nearly unpaid advisory board and I can report > that the new management is well aware that their reputation is on the > line in the current spam blast. "on the line" is putting it mildly. I had never heard of Habeas until I started getting spam with their headers. Now my only connection with them is that I block allow anything with their headers. -Joel ------------------------------ From: Gary Breuckman Subject: Re: Phantom DSL Reprised Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 22:16:31 -0600 Organization: Puma's Lair - catbox.com In article , Nick Landsberg wrote: > Their web site also says that DSL not available for my phone number. > Finally call COVAD. Get a real person. "No sir, residential DSL is not > available from that CO." > Ears perk! ***RESIDENTIAL***(?) DSL! There's a difference between > residential DSL and business DSL, and it's the price they can charge for > it! > "Yes, sir. We can provide business DSL at $159.95 per month." > Out of my league, if I was running a business out of here, I might > consider it, but I'm not, so I thanked the person and hung up. > As I backtracked through the web pages I had visited, all of them had a > seemingly innucuous set of buttons, "business" vs. "residential." I > didn't try the experiment, but I suspect that if I clicked "business" it > would have shown that DSL was available, at a steep price. > So, it seems, the providers are hoarding the DSL circuits in my CO so > they can milk the businesses for $160 bucks a month before offering it > to residential customers (going rate about $30 per month). High speed > access through the cable company is about $50.00 per month. COVAD, at least here, offers business services only. The difference is that the business DSL is usually symmetric (SDSL) for example 768/768, as opposed to the typical telco residential DSL that might be 128/700 or 256/700. Also, the 'business DSL' usually has static IP addresses, perhaps a block of 8 (5 usable) at that price. The assumption (perhaps not always valid) is that a business wants to run a server or other needs (like PCANYWERE or VPN) where they need static IP's, and need higher outgoing speeds than the usual web-browsing residential user. COVAD also obtains a separate pair for the DSL, unlike the telco DSL which usually piggybacks on a voice circuit, which might help with the distance limitations. I'm not saying that justifies the higher price, but at least part of it, and explains it. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: > I think you should go ahead and press the button to order 'business DSL' > service, then when the first bill shows up tell them you really meant to > order residential service, and make them explain to you what makes > 'business DSL' different than any regular DSL service. PAT] Well, as I said there are differences. If I was the provider and you did that, I would say "fine, we'll call it residential for you. The price is the same, and you've already signed the 3-year contract ..." -- Gary Breuckman ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Wireless Home Networks Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 00:21:48 -0500 In article , joey@telussucks.info says: > Wednesday, January 21, 2004, 4:14:14 PM, editor wrote: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well my suggestion is that if you >> find out who they are that you send them an *unsigned, anonymous* >> email telling them about it. In fact if you can get into NetGear or >> Linksys you can probably send them email in their own names using >> their mail client. > That's a rather large assumption, Pat. Even if I find somebody's > unprotected network, and they've got sharing turned on and are mostly > unsecure, it's *HIGHLY* unlikely I'm going to be able to use their > mail client unless: > 1) They've installed some sort of Remote Desktop service, and > 2) Have not secured it with a username/password (and most of them > won't let you run them that way). > Only then will I be able to use THEIR mail client to do anything. No need to use their mail at all. If they've got file sharing on, they probably have a printer available. Just print a note letting them know ... Nothing scares the s**t out of people faster than when their equipment starts up on its own ... --Gene ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Wireless Home Networks From: sidd@situ.com () Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 02:03:39 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com In article , John Bartley wrote: > 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. May I suggest, instead of the above ... haul some cat5 ? ------------------------------ From: csx130mph@yahoo.com (Dan Pham) Subject: Norvergence (NorV) Information Confirmation Request Date: 22 Jan 2004 21:27:13 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I am hoping to confirm the following or to get the truth from individuals who have knowledge of it. I was recently told that Mr. Jim Smith, the Vice President of Sales for Norvergence, was fired on or about January 16, 2004. The supposed reason behind his termination was because it cost Norvergence millions of Dollars to hire and train many outside sales representatives; yet, their retention of these sales reps as employees was very low. They would usually resign or get terminated in a few months. Supposedly, Norvergence blamed Mr. Jim Smith for all of this turnover at the company. Can anyone confirm that Jim Smith was fired? If so, are the reasons above true? What is the retention percentage Norvergence has for it's outside sales reps? If Jim Smith was fired, who actually fired him? Who replaced him? Norvergence seems to have a reputation for being unreasonably strict on employees. Does it now want to be "kinder and gentler" to it's employees? ------------------------------ From: John David Galt Subject: Re: Is LD by the Minute Going the Way of the Dodo? Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 22:04:02 -0800 Organization: Diogenes the Cynic Hot-Tubbing Society Paul wrote: > Can anyone find a "gotcha" in the $20 plan? The small print in their TV ads says "voice only". Fax and modem calls aren't allowed under the plan. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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