From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Jul 27 16:20:44 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.3) id i6RKKiS23314; Tue, 27 Jul 2004 16:20:44 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 16:20:44 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200407272020.i6RKKiS23314@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 #353 TELECOM Digest Tue, 27 Jul 2004 16:21:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 353 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Avaya Unveils New Wireless IP Telephony Products (Monty Solomon) AT&T Wireless to Provide Wireless Priority Service (Monty Solomon) Cingular Customers Get Wireless E-Mail in New York Minute (M Solomon) Verizon Communications Report 6% Second-Quarter Revenue Growth (Solomon) Motorola's OFDM Field Tests and Research Prove Capability (M Solomon) Motorola Reports Second-Quarter 2004 Financial Results (Monty Solomon) Motorola and Apple Bring iTunes Music Player to Motorola (Monty Solomon) Motorola Makes Seamless Mobility Real (Monty Solomon) Re: Hot-Button Issue (Michael D. Sullivan) Re: 911, Only Simple 911 at Best (charlie3) Re: Area Code Unavailable For Vonage (Frank@Nospam.com) Re: Phone for Noisy Environment (Justin Time) Re: Phone for Noisy Environment (SELLCOM Tech support) Are NorVergence MATRIX Leases to be Voided? (David O. Rodriguez) Re: More on 1970s British Numbering (Paul Coxwell) Re: VOIP-Based IVR Broadcasting?? (bingoo) Will the FCC Let VOIP Flourish? (VOIP News) Will Internet Chat be Forced to Pay the Tax Man? (Jack Decker) Last Laugh! Re: Truth or Fiction? Osama Found Hanged (Linc Madison) 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: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 13:33:31 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Avaya Unveils New Wireless IP Telephony Products For Converged Avaya Unveils New Wireless IP Telephony Products For Converged Mobility Throughout - and Beyond - an Enterprise * New Voice-over-Wireless Gateway and Access Points Are Key Components of Converged Mobility Solution Delivering Seamless Communications Across Private WLANs and Public Cellular Networks * New Avaya Converged Mobility Products Drive Increased Security, Reliability and Voice Quality in Enterprise Wireless Communications BASKING RIDGE, N.J., July 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Avaya (NYSE:AV), a leading global provider of business communications software, systems and services, today unveiled new converged mobility products that help extend the key advantages of office communications to employees traveling throughout - and beyond - an enterprise. These products play a critical role in the converged Wi-Fi and cellular solution architecture Avaya is developing with Motorola and Proxim. Avaya's new products seamlessly extend IP telephony - a software-based technology that uses voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) to transmit voice over a data network - to wireless networks. The new products are designed to improve the delivery of IP applications and voice communications for a mobile workforce, driving enhanced productivity, new cost efficiencies and greater security in enterprise wireless communications. The new products -- the Avaya W310 WLAN Gateway and Avaya W110 WLAN Access Points -- incorporate co-developed technologies from Avaya and Proxim. The gateway and access points, along with Avaya's award-winning IP telephony software, Communication Manager, deliver a voice over wireless LAN (VoWLAN) solution that will support the Motorola CN620, a new dual-network Mobile Office Device announced today by Motorola. Avaya has been collaborating with Motorola and Proxim on the creation of an enterprise seamless mobility solution, which supports continuous communications to users across business wireless networks and public cellular networks. This enterprise seamless mobility solution helps organizations boost productivity by enabling employees to use the Motorola dual-network device to conduct wireless conversations that will not fade or drop as they move to various locations throughout a work campus, as well as away from their office building. Users of the enterprise mobility solution will also have seamless access to advanced IP capabilities, such as listening to e-mail, accessing corporate directories and overseeing multi-party teleconferences, as they move across a WLAN and onto public cellular networks. Seamless mobility can also drive greater cost-efficiency for enterprises through device consolidation and centralized management of an organization's WLAN infrastructure. For example, highly mobile employees who switch between office phones, cell phones or other devices for communications can now use one Motorola dual-network device to make VoIP-based calls as they travel within an enterprise or to an outside destination. The Avaya W310 Wireless LAN Gateway and W110 Access Points also let information technology (IT) administrators centrally manage and monitor an enterprise's wireless networking capabilities from one location, resulting in lower labor and administration costs. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42721747 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 13:37:01 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: AT&T Wireless to Provide Wireless Priority Service Service Helps National Security and Emergency Preparedness Personnel Communicate in Emergencies BASKING RIDGE, N.J., July 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AT&T Wireless announced today that it has signed a contract to provide Wireless Priority Service (WPS), which helps national security officials, emergency responders, and those in critical infrastructure industries communicate during times of emergency. WPS works by giving a limited number of government-authorized wireless phone users priority access to the wireless network. If wireless network capacity is strained during an emergency, the authorized users' emergency calls are the first to go through. In essence, these calls are moved to the "front of the line" so that they may be completed using the next available wireless channel. The National Communications System (NCS) oversees the WPS program. The NCS approves key personnel for WPS in accordance with criteria approved by the Federal Communications Commission. In order to take advantage of WPS, the government-authorized users simply dial *272 before placing a call. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42719964 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 13:40:40 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Cingular Customers Can Get Wireless E-Mail in a New York Minute Cingular's Xpress Mail(SM) With BlackBerry(R) Goes Retail; Locations in Metro NYC to Feature New Products for Mobile Professionals NEW YORK, July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The days of spending your daily commute staring out the train window, teeth grinding, worried about the e-mail piling up in your inbox are over. Now, thanks to Cingular Wireless, you can have instant access to your e-mail anytime - and getting the service is as simple as walking into any Cingular store in New York City. To meet demand from small businesses and mobile professionals, Cingular Wireless is now offering in retail stores its flagship wireless e-mail and phone offering, Xpress Mail(SM) with the BlackBerry 6280(TM) and BlackBerry 7280(TM) wireless handhelds. Because BlackBerry handhelds maintain a constant connection to Cingular's wireless network, customers don't have to "dial up" to get their e-mail. Retail locations throughout the metro area will have retail space dedicated to these and other business products. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42717133 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 13:44:00 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon Communications Reports 6% Second-Quarter Revenue Growth, Verizon Communications Reports 6% Second-Quarter Revenue Growth, Led by Wireless Revenue Growth of 25% Results from Growth Businesses and Continued Strong Operating Margins Produce Quarterly Earnings of $1.8 Billion, or 64 Cents per Diluted Share SECOND-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS * Total Company: 6.0 percent growth in operating revenues; 64 cents in diluted earnings per share; consolidated operating income margin (operating income divided by operating revenues) of 20.9 percent * Free Cash Flow (non-GAAP, cash from operating activities less capital expenditures and dividends): $1.6 billion in the quarter, up 25.2 percent * Wireless: industry-record 1.5 million total net customer additions, 40.4 million total customers; 25.0 percent growth in total revenues; company-record margins, up 570 basis points; company record-low churn (customer turnover) of 1.45 percent per month * Broadband DSL (digital subscriber lines): 280,000 net additions in the quarter, contributing to 5.7 percent growth in total data revenues; more than 1 million net additions over the past year, for a total of more than 2.9 million lines * Long-Distance: 14.7 percent growth in revenues Notes: Growth percentages cited above compare second-quarter 2004 with second-quarter 2003. See the schedules accompanying this news release and http://www.verizon.com/investor for reconciliations to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for the non-GAAP financial measures mentioned in this announcement. NEW YORK, July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) today reported second-quarter 2004 earnings of $1.8 billion, or 64 cents per diluted share. The results were driven by top-line consolidated revenue growth of 6.0 percent compared with second-quarter 2003 and 25.0 percent revenue growth for Verizon Wireless over the same period. Consolidated operating revenues were $17.8 billion in the second quarter 2004, compared with $16.8 billion in the second quarter 2003. Growth businesses, such as wireless, data and broadband, accounted for 52 percent of Verizon's second-quarter 2004 revenues, compared with 46 percent of the company's second-quarter revenues last year. Wireless total revenues were $6.8 billion in the second quarter 2004, compared with $5.5 billion in the second quarter 2003. This was the eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit, year-over-year wireless revenue increases. Domestic Telecom operating revenues were $9.6 billion in the second quarter 2004, a 2.9 percent decrease compared with the second quarter 2003 and a slight increase compared with the first quarter 2004. Second-quarter results included an increase of 14.7 percent in revenues from all long- distance services, which were $1.0 billion compared with $0.9 billion in the second quarter 2003, and an increase of 5.7 percent in total data revenues, which were $1.9 billion compared with $1.8 billion in the second quarter 2003. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42714069 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 13:45:03 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Motorola's OFDM Field Tests and Research Prove Capability Motorola's OFDM Field Tests and Research Prove Capability to Achieve 300 Mbps Mobile Broadband Data Rates Pioneers development of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) solutions for ultra high-speed next generation wireless networks. SCHAUMBURG, Ill., July 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT), by combining results from field experiments and research conducted by Motorola Labs, has proven existing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology can support high-speed mobile networks with a peak downlink speed of up to 300 Mbps. This research demonstrates that future all-IP mobile networks using OFDM technology have the capability to provide a broadband user experience that was previously thought to be unattainable. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42711073 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 13:29:01 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Motorola Reports Second-Quarter 2004 Financial Results - Second-quarter 2004 sales of $8.7 billion, up 41 percent compared to second-quarter 2003 sales of $6.2 billion. - Second-quarter 2004 GAAP pre-tax earnings of $800 million, up 614 percent compared to second-quarter 2003 GAAP pre-tax earnings of $112 million. - Second-quarter 2004 GAAP loss of $203 million, or ($.09) per share(1), compared to second-quarter 2003 GAAP earnings of $119 million, or $.05 per share. Second-quarter 2004 GAAP results include: (1) a non- cash tax expense of $898 million, or ($.38) per share, related to the establishment of a deferred tax asset valuation reserve associated with the initial public offering of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., an entity comprised of the company's semiconductor operations, (2) a tax benefit of $197 million, or $.08 per share, resulting from the reversal of tax reserves due to the settlement of certain tax audit items, and (3) other items described in this release. - Second-quarter 2004 positive operating cash flow of $994 million, allowing the company to complete the quarter with net cash of $1.8 billion, compared to net debt of $41 million at the end of 2003.(2) SCHAUMBURG, Ill., July 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) today reported sales of $8.7 billion in the second quarter of 2004. This is a 41 percent increase from sales of $6.2 billion in the second quarter of 2003. Motorola reported pre-tax earnings of $800 million, presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), up 614 percent compared to second quarter 2003 pre-tax earnings of $112 million. Motorola reported a GAAP net loss of $203 million, or ($.09) per share, in the second quarter of 2004 as second-quarter 2004 results include: (1) a non-cash tax expense of $898 million, or ($.38) per share, related to the establishment of a deferred tax asset valuation reserve associated with the initial public offering of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., (2) a tax benefit of $197 million, or $.08 per share, resulting from the reversal of tax reserves due to the settlement of certain tax audit items, (3) income of $22 million pre-tax resulting from the reversal of reserves relating to exit and severance costs, income of $21 million pre-tax resulting from the reversal of loan reserves relating to uncollected receivables, and income of $20 million pre-tax resulting from the reversal of reserves relating to the previous sale of a business, totaling $63 million pre-tax, or $.02 cents per share, (4) expense of $41 million pre-tax, or ($.02) per share, for separation costs relating to the company's semiconductor operations, (5) income of $20 million pre-tax, or $.01 per share, relating to the partial recovery of a previously impaired investment, and (6) expense of $15 million pre-tax, or ($.01) per share, relating to in-process research and development costs from an acquisition. Motorola reported GAAP net earnings of $119 million, or $.05 per share, in the second quarter of 2003. As reported in Motorola's second-quarter 2003 earnings release, second-quarter 2003 earnings included income of $100 million after-tax, or $.04 per share, relating to special items. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42609155 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 13:29:57 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Motorola and Apple Bring iTunes Music Player to Motorola's Motorola and Apple Bring iTunes(R) Music Player to Motorola's Next-Generation Mobile Phones ROSEMONT, Ill., and CUPERTINO, Calif., July 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) and Apple(R) (Nasdaq: AAPL) today announced they are partnering to enable millions of music lovers to transfer their favorite songs from the iTunes(R) jukebox on their Mac(R) or PC, including songs from the iTunes Music Store, to Motorola's next-generation 'always with you' mobile handsets, via a USB or Bluetooth(R) wireless connection. Apple will create a new iTunes mobile music player, which Motorola will make the standard music application on all their mass-market music phones, expected to be available in the first half of next year. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42709096 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 13:52:53 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Motorola Makes Seamless Mobility Real Company Announces World's First Integrated, Dual-Network Phone, Slimmest Clam, Apple iTunes(TM) Alliance, Home Remote Control, His-and-Hers TV, and Fingerprints-on-Demand - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42711006 Motorola and Apple Bring iTunes(R) Music Player to Motorola's Next-Generation Mobile Phones - Jul 26, 2004 09:05 PM (PR Newswire) - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42709096 Motorola A780 Helps Mobile Professionals Gain Significant Edge - Jul 27, 2004 01:10 AM (PR Newswire) - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42711031 Untether Yourself With the New Motorola MPx220 - Jul 27, 2004 01:10 AM (PR Newswire) - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42711038 Introducing the Motorola RAZR V3 - Jul 27, 2004 01:10 AM (PR Newswire) - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42711045 Motorola Announces New V551 -- The Hard-Working Handset With a Playful Edge - Jul 27, 2004 01:10 AM (PR Newswire) - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42711052 Motorola Takes 3G Technology to the Masses - Jul 27, 2004 01:10 AM (PR Newswire) - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42711059 Your Phone. Your Mail. Your Plans. Sync it With MOTOSYNC(TM) - Jul 27, 2004 01:10 AM (PR Newswire) - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42711066 Motorola's OFDM Field Tests and Research Prove Capability to Achieve 300 Mbps Mobile Broadband Data Rates - Jul 27, 2004 01:10 AM (PR Newswire) - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42711073 Motorola Turns Enterprise Business Communications Inside Out - Jul 27, 2004 01:10 AM (PR Newswire) - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42711020 Motorola Wins VIVO Award for All Its Near Term Mobile Switching Center (MSC) Deployments in Brazil; Commercial Deployment Already Underway in Londrina - Jul 27, 2004 01:10 AM (PR Newswire) - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42711021 Media Event Hosted by Chairman and CEO Ed Zander and Presentation by Motorola Executives to be Webcast - Jul 21, 2004 03:04 PM (PR Newswire) - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=42637178 ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan Subject: Re: Hot-Button Issue Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 02:07:46 GMT In article , Frank@Nospam.com says: > Monty Solomon wrote: >> With the FCC issuing fines in record numbers to everyone from Howard >> Stern to Bubba the Love Sponge, the "dump" button, like this one at >> WEEI, has taken on newfound importance because it allows for a >> 10-second delay to censor out naughty words. Never mind %!*$ or #%*@ >> -- even the word "effin' " is off-limits. But is this the government's >> job? > It's *this* government's job, just like all the other facist > governments that have preceded them throughout the world. If the > country (re)elects Bush it will only get worse. The only problem with the latter position is that the biggest advocate on the FCC for fining stations for profanity is Commissioner Copps, a Democrat, rather than the Republicans who respond to Bush. Rumor has it that Copps would be in line for the Chairmanship under Kerrey. Michael D. Sullivan Bethesda, MD, USA Delete nospam from my address and it won't work. ------------------------------ From: charlie@cdsdetroit.com (charlie3) Subject: Re: 911, Only Simple 911 at Best Date: 26 Jul 2004 20:20:53 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Cell phones have been around for years and have similar problems to VOIP phones; more and more cell phones and VOIP phones are going into use and many will replace traditional copperline phones, regardless of 911 concerns. Public officials will find solutions to 911 calls originating from cell and internet phones. I'm simply no longer willing to pay for a 100 year old POTS phone when I can get five times the functionality and unlimited US minutes for a lower price from Vonage. With a cell phone for backup my internet phone does not have perform exactly like a traditional phone. ------------------------------ From: Frank@Nospam.com Subject: Re: Area Code Unavailable For Vonage Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 01:39:28 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Frank@Nospam.com: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Couldn't the carpet installers just > as easily have sliced your telephone line and left you without SBC > service for a couple days? Or consider last Saturday here when a > drunk driver on Second Street crashed his car into a utility pole, > knocked it over completely and left an entire city block on Second > and Walnut Streets without electricity or phone or cable for a > couple hours after police arrived and took the man away with them > in a drunken stupor. Crews from SBC, electric and CableOne > came out and uprighted the pole and re-established their services an > hour or two later. Stuff happens. PAT] No. Telco inside wiring is normally twisted pair well up inside the wall, not along the baseboard. Plus, line charateristics for a POTS line are a lot less critical than signal strength on cable for broadband. Although I still had a working cable outlet providing acceptable television it would not support the cable modem. And, had one convention telco jack gone bad chances are another one (or more) would still be working. As to damage to outside plant like you mention, that was fixed in a few hours. You're right, stuff does happen. But, you're far more apt to have a Vonage go down for local reasons than you are a POTS telco line. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But if security of local, inside wiring is an important issue, then why not stuff the cable wire in the wall also or at least leave it somewhere besides running across the carpet or tacked on the wall. Basically all one can do is protect the stuff within your own local reach, and hope the outside plant otherwise stays together as it should. For instance, my own cable (television and internet and radio line) comes from the drop to the side of my house, is mounted securely on the outside wall to the base of the house, then goes to the lightning protector and from there to two demarcs; one goes immediatly through a hole drilled for it under a window into the computer room area; the other side of the wire (outside line) goes under the house to the front of the house where it enters through a hole drilled under a window and into the bedroom and another tap: to the bedroom television and the tap goes to the main living room area for the other television set and the radio. The phone does a lot the same: from the demarc on the side of the house to under the house where it splits in various directions to serve the three phone outlets (computer room, bedroom and dining room/kitchen area.) I try to protect all my wiring for the reasons you mention. PAT] ------------------------------ From: a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) Subject: Re: Phone for Noisy Environment Date: 27 Jul 2004 06:15:54 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com J Kelly wrote in message news:: > On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 17:22:44 -0600, Clark W. Griswold, Jr. > <73115.1041@compuserve.com> wrote: >> J Kelly wrote: >>> Can anyone recommend a GOOD quality phone for use in a noisy >>> environment? Most phones sold today are total pieces of crap. >>> Requirements are a volume control for the earpiece, be able to >>> withstand a reasonable amount of abuse (dropping the handset, etc, not >>> purposely abusing it), works with a POTS line, and hopefully costs >>> less than $50. Don't need speaker phone, memory dialing, etc, but >>> some of that might be nice, as would be noise cancelling. This is >>> used in an area that has a lot of very large fans and motors running >>> making a lot of noise. Even the 'office area' in this facility has a >>> lot of noise and I'm half deaf besides. >> Back in the days of TPC ("The Phone Company"), you could get something >> called a "Confidencer" that was a replacement screw on transmitter for >> standard handsets. It worked very well by reducing the sidetone (ie >> noise) from the area you were in. >> Standard phones and TPC have gone the way of the Dodo bird, so I have >> no idea where you would go now. > Reducing sidetone would be a BIG help. Good phones just do not seem > to exsist anymore. > On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 23:09:27 -0600, Phil Earnhardt > wrote: >> On 22 Jul 2004 12:27:01 -0700, a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) >> wrote: >>> The best answer for you is a headset. Lots of cabled headsets are >>> available that will work in your price range, but you will probably >>> want one with a noise-cancelling microphone if the noise level is such >>> that can be heard over a normal phone. >> I just noticed that there's a new headset option out there (new to me, >> anyhow). >> The only thing this headset (earset?) doesn't cover is the noise >> you'll pick up from your other ear. > A headset is not the solution I was hoping to find. I do far to much > running around this facility to be able to monkey with putting on and > taking of a headset, I want to grab the phone, hear the message, tell > them what I'm doing, set it down and go about my business. If I need > to walk around to look at some piece of equipment I want to just > quickly set the phone on the desk and do so. 99% of the time I am not > on the phone, so I can't just leave the thing on. > I'm half deaf in one ear, so that helps a little. Well, you used to be able to get PTT - pusb to talk - handsets, but they kind of died out when cheap phones started flooding the market and people wouldn't pay for quality. ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Phone for Noisy Environment Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 17:15:09 GMT J Kelly posted on that vast internet thingie: > A headset is not the solution I was hoping to find. I do far to much > running around this facility to be able to monkey with putting on and > taking of a headset, I want to grab the phone, hear the message, tell > them what I'm doing, set it down and go about my business. If I need > to walk around to look at some piece of equipment I want to just > quickly set the phone on the desk and do so. 99% of the time I am not > on the phone, so I can't just leave the thing on. It appears that your enemy here might be physics. (I am trying to be helpful here so please don't misunderstand.) If the vibration and sound pressure is so high tht you can't use a phone then you might want to consider what that sound pressure is doing to your ears. The only thing that I can think of would be a head set designed for such an environment which would also have the advantage of hearing protection. Steve at SELLCOM http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Siemens, AT&T, Panasonic, Motorola Vtech 5.8Ghz; TMC ET4000 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Beamer, Watchguard! Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Mini-Splitter log splitter! If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz you owe it to yourself. ------------------------------ From: David O. Rodriguez Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 11:02:37 -0500 Subject: Are NorVergence MATRIX Leases to be Voided? Pat, I read a post on ripoffreport.com that states that a judge may void all of the leases for NorVergence's MATRIX boxes. I am trying to confirm this. Hopefully someone has information and will reply. David [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But in the interim, while waiting for the court to void all the paper, (effectively forcing the bank/lender/ loan-leasing companies who prepaid Vonage for some period of time to get in line with the Bankrupty creditor's commitee) be certain to **freeze all accounts payable to Norvergence until advised otherwise by your attorney or a judge. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: More on 1970s British Numbering Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 14:34:47 +0100 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My thanks to Paul Coxwell for this very > interesting and comprehensive report on 1970's British dialing. This > report will be filed in our archives in the history section, for > further rereference as needed. PAT] Pat, Glad you found this interesting enough to archive. This being the case, perhaps I should add a couple of other points which I didn't mention in my first post. An arrangement known as the "Linked Numbering Scheme" was also very common by the 1970s. This was a system where two or more exchanges which had separate local numbering in the past were combined into a kind of shared numbering space. This was often done as numbers had digits added to make them up to 5 or 6 digits in length. A subscriber on any of the linked exchanges could then dial any of the others with just the listed number. This had the advantage of eliminating local routing codes for a lot of calls, but made calls within one's own office longer as the full number had to be dialed. It was very common with neighboring small-to-medium sized towns, then spread to include the linking of village UAX offices into the nearby town's numbering range. I'll continue with the Truro area as an example. I've already mentioned that there were several small village UAXs served from Truro, each with a 5x routing code and 3-digit local numbers, and each having access to Truro trunks by dialing 9. One such exchange had been Three Waters, located about 5 miles from Truro itself, with the local routing 56 and the usual 3-digit UAX numbering. The shop my parents ran still had rubber stamps and other items which showed the old exchange and number: Three Waters 305. By the time we moved there in 1980, however, Three Waters had already been changed into a linked scheme with Truro. All numbers had been changed to 6 digits, 560xxx, and the official exchange and number was then Truro 560305. As far as dialing was concerned, calls from the Three Waters office were then placed exactly as if dialing from Truro itself, i.e. you called Truro as just the 4, 5, or 6-digit number, no 9 first. This amalgamation of numbers would continue in the years that followed. I used Zelah as an example before, when in 1980 it was still a UAX with 3-digit local numbers, reached from Truro with the local routing code 54. If you look at that area today, you'll see that Zelah numbers are listed as (01872) 54xxxx. As I mentioned, quite often neigboring towns would also use a linked numbering scheme. A few miles west of Truro, for example, are two almost-combined towns of Redruth and Camborne. By 1980 they were also using a linked numbering scheme with, as I recall, 7xxxx numbers being Camborne and 2xxxx being Redruth. (I think there were mixed 5- and 6-digit numbers at that time, and I believe Redruth might have had 3xxxx and/or 4xxxx numbers as well, but it's been a few years!). Redruth/Camborne also shared an STD code: 209 (or 0209 as it was always printed here). Note that in some cases a small office "swallowed up" by a larger one took the parent name, as in the case of Three Waters which became part of the Truro numbering range. But, many small exchange names continued after their inclusion into a linked scheme. The village of St. Day, for example, had previously been a dependent of Redruth. In typical UAX fashion, it had had 3-digit local numbers, reached its parent exchange by dialing 9, and Redruth subscribers called St. Day with a local routing code: 82. Callers from elsewhere in the country would have been told to call St. Day as (0209-82) plus the 3-digit number. But by 1980 this had also been added to the Redruth/Camborne linked numbering scheme, numbers in the village then being listed as St. Day 820xxx. That meant that calls within the village then had to be dialed as 6-digits, but they could call Redruth and Camborne with just the 2xxxx or 7xxxx number and no 9 first. Quite what criteria were used to determine whether an exchange linked in this way kept its name or adopted the name of the larger town, I don't know. Both Three Waters and St. Day exchanges served rural villages, yet Three Waters was converted to Truro 560xxx while St. Day was still listed as St. Day 820xxx, not Redruth 820xxx. If anyone has any ideas on what determined the choice of whether to rename or not, I'd be very interested. The fact that the required local routing codes varied depending upon which exchange one was calling from resulted in the GPO issuing separate dialing code booklets to all subscribers, different editions of the book for each location. There was generally a page which would show all the local routings needed. For example, the Truro booklet would tell subscribers to dial 92 plus the number to call St.Day, whereas the Redruth booklet would say something like "St. Day ... Dial number only." As well as the local routings, the booklets at this point in time also indicated which STD areas were callable at the reduced long-distance rate. By the late 1970s, there were just three basic charge rates. Anything outside the local calling area up to about 35 miles distant was STD "a" rate. Beyond the 35-mile limit, calls were charged at "b" rate, no matter whether calling 40 miles or to other end of the country. So the dialing code booklet for a given exchange would also list which STD codes were located in the "a" zone, and then point out that calls to all other STD codes would be charged at the "b" rate. (Note that anything dialed via the local routing codes would automatically be a local call, although of course in the U.K. in the 1978/79 period local calls were already charged and timed!) Although I touched briefly on the concept of dependent exchanges and the group switching centers, there were in fact many other designations used, and also some minor exchanges which were somewhat in between in terms of hierarchy (but which still largely depended upon the GSC to handle STD calls). The development of STD and the trunk transit network in Britain is quite a complex subject. There's some more information on it at the excellent Light Straw website for anyone who's interested, starting at this page: http://www.lightstraw.co.uk/ate/main/inland/index.html One final note with regard to the dialing of calls in the 1970s. DTMF, or "TouchTone" dialing did not yet exist in Britain. The GPO had in fact had push-button phones available for some years, but all they did was store the digits and dial-pulse them out. The buttons on those early GPO phones were also very large and took a hefty stab to push. DTMF dialing was not to appear until the 1980s, after the privatization of the network and the coming of BT in place of GPO Telephones. Regards, Paul Coxwell [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks very much for this additional report on 1970's dialing in the UK. It will be filed as an archives update along with your first report. PAT] ------------------------------ From: box11@udyog.com (bingoo) Subject: Re: VOIP-Based IVR Broadcasting?? Date: 27 Jul 2004 10:47:00 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Thanks, Steven, for the suggestion. If we use Asterisk, which VOIP gateway does it use? --B11 Steven J Sobol wrote in message news:: > bingoo wrote: >> We are currently using an IVR application to dial numbers and play a >> recorded message thru a dial-up telephone line. >> We are looking for a VoIP solution by which our PC/software (connected >> to DSL/T1 line) could dial a telephone number through a VoIP gateway >> and, when connected, play the recorded message. > Asterisk can do this. I'd use Asterisk, but there are probably a number > of other IP-based PBXen that can do it just as easily. > 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: VOIP News Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 23:48:28 -0400 Subject: Will the FCC Let VOIP Flourish? Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.techcentralstation.com/072704D.html By Kevin Werbach The 1996 Telecommunications Act was hailed as a dramatic update to the musty sixty-year Communications Act. With the worlds of communications and computing rapidly converging through a great digital migration, the World Wide Web taking off, and new technologies promising to transform the very meaning of telecom, such a rewrite was certainly necessary. It's hard not to conclude that the 1996 Act as been a failure. New technologies such as VOIP are indeed poised to revolutionize communications. The promised local phone competition, however, has largely failed to materialize. The central thrust of the 1996 Act was to complete the 1984 breakup of the old monopoly AT&T, opening up local markets to competition while freeing the Baby Bell incumbents to compete in other markets such as long-distance and video. Eight years in, the industry is still fighting in courts over regulatory arcana, with no end in sight. Local competition, such as it is, has developed largely on the basis of the unbundled network element platform (UNE-P) rules adopted by the FCC and state regulators. Thanks to a series of court and FCC decisions, however, UNE-P may well disappear by the end of this year. Where did the authors of the 1996 Act go wrong? Contrary to the line the Bells are promoting, the flaw in the Act wasn't its requirement that incumbents open their networks. Simply eliminating rules designed to address market power, without addressing the reality of that market power, produces nothing more than unregulated monopolies. That was true in 1996, and it's true today. Full story at: http://www.techcentralstation.com/072704D.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: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 13:19:51 -0400 Subject: Will Internet Chat be Forced to Pay the Tax Man? Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://comment.silicon.com/0,39024711,39122623,00.htm by Declan McCullagh If the US Congress has its way, yes ... New US legislation would require businesses to pay taxes for offering internet chat and collaboration -- even if they're located outside the US. CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh asks: Does the government have any right to do this? Tiago Bittencourt Silva started an ambitious programming project last month: an open-source utility that lets small groups of internet users communicate through instant messages, video links and audio chat. Silva's project, called p2pCommunity, is designed to appeal to groups of 2 to 100 people who want to collaborate on writing papers or designing software applications. He's already made a pre-alpha release available at no cost on the SourceForge distribution site. Thanks to a bizarre move by the US Congress last week, p2pCommunity and hundreds of similar projects could end up paying taxes to state governments to prop up the antediluvian scheme of running copper wires to rural households for analog phone service. Existing law imposes those taxes on cellular and landline customers to subsidize rural customers, and state officials are hungrily eyeing the internet as a rich additional source of untapped revenue. "Open-source software like mine can't pay any taxes, so the audio chat features of the program may need to be taken off of the program, or the users will need to pay the tax to use it," Silva says. It's not clear why programmers like Silva and companies offering commercial voice software must subsidize rural telephone companies. By that logic, Congress should have forced Henry Ford to pay for horse troughs. It should have also extorted cash from laser printer manufacturers on behalf of the dying manual-typewriter industry. Full story at: http://comment.silicon.com/0,39024711,39122623,00.htm ------------------------------ Subject: Last Laugh! Re: Truth or Fiction? Osama Found Hanged Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 23:31:38 -0700 From: Linc Madison Reply-To: lincmad@suespammers.org Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed In article , Linc Madison wrote: > In article , > wrote: >> Osama Bin Ladin was found hanged ... >> http:// ... /OsamaFoundDead.zip > I haven't checked the file myself, but a report in uk.telecom > indicates that the file contains the "HackArmy" (a.k.a. "HacArmy") > virus. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I wonder, Linc ... If I were to start > a message going around on the net saying that Mr. Hitler was in fact > alive in Brazil ..., how many viruses do you suppose I could foist > off? I wouldn't dare sign my name to it; everyone knows I am a > cracked pot. Could I use your name for the message, Linc? PAT] Hitler is working at a 7-11 in upstate Michigan; he trades shifts with Elvis. In any case, it has now been revealed that the body found hanged was incorrectly identified. It was *NOT* Osama bin Laden. It was actually California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, confirmed by the suicide note found alongside the body. It must be true -- I found it on Usenet, pointing to the same servers that hosted the earlier incorrectly identified photos. Just remember: everything you read on the Internet must be true, or else it wouldn't be there. Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * lincmad@suespammers.org * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad dot com All U.S. and California anti-spam laws apply, incl. 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #353 ******************************