From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Aug 11 18:16:05 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.3) id i7BMG5A28205; Wed, 11 Aug 2004 18:16:05 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 18:16:05 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200408112216.i7BMG5A28205@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 #376 TELECOM Digest Wed, 11 Aug 2004 18:15:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 376 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Old London Telephone Exchange Names (Paul Coxwell) Can You Depend on Vonage 911 Service in Emergency? (Jack Decker - VOIP) Re: A Calling Card Type of Solution Needed (Brad Houser) Re: Wardriving Guilty Plea in Lowe's Wi-Fi Case (Paul Vader) Re: Up and Down, All Around (Ankur Shah) Re: NorVergence is Having Popular Leasing Hound and Threaten Me (L) Re: US West History (Joseph) Re: US West History (Hammond of Texas) Re: Old Bell System TTY Guys? (Mike Riddle) Re: Computer Programmers in Telecom (sumit chawla) 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: Paul Coxwell Subject: Old London Telephone Exchange Names Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 14:00:41 +0100 I received an e-mail recently inquiring about the old exchange names in London, and thought a general posting might be of interest. London used a 3L-4N system, making the selection of suitable names somewhat harder in later years than in U.S. cities with their 2L-5N system. The list below represents the exchange names as they stood immediately prior to the change to all-figure numbering. It is taken from the GPO booklet "Dialling Instructions and Call Charges, London, 1968." Notice that at the time of the change many exchanges were assigned a new prefix, while others retained their existing code, now expressed as all digits. The list shows the new prefixes resulting from the change to all-figure numbering. Note that on British dials the letter "O" was located on the zero, with just "MN" on the digit 6. While this removed any possible confusion between zero/letter-O, it also meant that no exchange names starting with O could be employed. Many names are geographical, taken from a district, road name, or some well-known building or landmark. The age of exchanges such as NORth and WEStern can be seen by the fact that they serve what are now really the northern and western parts of central London rather than further out. I've added my own notes in square brackets where the exchange name is not obvious from the listed area served and where I'm aware of the source. There are no doubt many other names which would be meaningful to local residents of the area in question. My family lived in north London, and were thus surrounded by such exchanges as ENField, KEAts, PALmers Green, FOX Lane, and EDMonton. Many Londoners would also be aware of the locations of many of the exchanges serving the central business districts of the city, e.g. MAYfair, REGent, and GERard, but not so much with those in other far-away suburbs. The most famous London telephone number of 3L-4N days was surely WHItehall 1212, the number for Scotland Yard, Police Headquarters. In addition to the exchange prefixes, there were also 3-digit service codes assigned for various uses. For example, TIM was used to connect to the speaking clock, and the reason why some older Londoners might still refer to "Calling Tim" to check the time. ---------------------------------------------------------------- LONDON DIRECTOR EXCHANGE NAMES Old Name New Area served --- ---- --- ----------- 222 ABBey 222 Westminster [Westminster Abbey] 220 ACOrn 992 Acton [Acorn Gardens] 233 ADDiscombe 654 Addiscombe & South Norwood 238 ADVance 980 Bow & Mile End [*1] 252 ALBert Dock 476 Plaistow & Canning Town [Dock in the East End] 257 ALPerton 998 Perivale, Alperton & North Ealing 262 AMBassador 262 Paddington [Foreign embassies in area] 264 AMHerst 985 Hackney [Amherst Road] 272 ARChway 272 Holloway [District/Bridge] 276 ARNold 904 North Wembley 285 ATLas 568 Isleworth 283 AVEnue 283 City of London [Throgmorton Avenue] 225 * BALham 672 Tooting [district] 227 BARnet 449 Barnet 228 BATtersea 228 Battersea 229 BAYswater 229 Bayswater 232 * BECkenham 650 Beckenham 235 * BELgravia 235 Belgravia 237 BERmondsey 237 Bermondsey 239 BEXleyheath 303 Bexleyheath 247 BIShopsgate 247 City of London [name of street] 258 BLUebell 656 Addiscombe & South Norwood 209 BOWes Park 888 Twickenham 274 BRIxton 274 Brixton 278 BRUnswick 278 Kings Cross 282 BUCkhurst 504 Woodford & Buckhurst Hill 287 BUShey Heath 950 Bushey Heath 297 BYRon 422 South Harrow [*2] 299 BYWood 668 Purley & Kenley [woodland in area] 226 CANonbury 226 Highbury [district] 236 * CENtral 236 City of London 242 CHAncery 242 Holborn [Chancery Lane] 243 CHErrywood 540 Merton & South Wimbledon 244 CHIswick 994 Chiswick 248 * CITy 248 City of London 253 CLErkenwell 253 Clerkenwell 254 CLIssold 254 Dalston [Clissold Park] 250 CLOcktower 552 East Ham 205 * COLindale 205 Colindale 206 CONcord 864 South Harrow 200 COOmbe End 949 New Malden 207 COPpermill 520 Walthamstow [Coppermill Lane] 208 COVent Garden 240 Covent Garden 273 CREscent 550 Barkingside & Redbridge 270 CROydon 688 Croydon 279 CRYstal Palace 659 Sydenham & Penge [famous landmark] 286 CUNningham 286 Maida Vale 326 DANson Park 304 Bexleyheath [Danson Park] 337 DERwent 337 Worcester Park 342 DICkens 359 Highbury [*2] 345 DILigence 903 Wembley 305 DOLlis Hill 450 Cricklewood & Dollis Hill 306 DOMinion 592 Dagenham 373 DREadnought 373 Earls Court [*3] 378 DRUMmond 908 North Wembley 379 DRYden 204 Kingsbury 385 DUKe 385 Fulham [*4] 386 DUNcan 690 Catford 325 EALing 567 Ealing 327 EASt 987 Poplar [area to east of central London] 334 * EDGware 952 Edgware 336 * EDMonton 807 Edmonton 354 ELGar 965 Harlesden 356 ELMbridge 399 Surbiton [Elmbridge Avenue] 357 ELStree 953 Elstree 358 ELTham 850 Eltham 362 EMBerbrook 398 Thames Ditton 367 EMPress 603 West Kensington 363 ENField 363 Enfield 368 ENTerprise 368 Southgate 387 EUSton 387 Euston 393 EWEll 393 Ewell 324 * FAIrlands 644 Sutton & Cheam 335 * FELtham 890 Feltham & East Bedfont 343 FIEld End 868 Pinner & Eastcote 346 FINchley 346 Finchley 348 FITzroy 348 Hornsey & Highgate [Fitzroy Park] 352 FLAxman 352 Chelsea 353 * FLEet Street 353 Fleet Street 350 FLOral 878 Mortlake 300 FOOts Cray 300 Sidcup [district] 307 FORest Hill 699 Forest Hill 308 FOUntain 677 Streatham 309 FOX Lane 882 Palmers Green [Fox Lane] 372 FRAnklin 669 Wallington & Carshalton 373 FREmantle 373 Earls Court [*3] 370 FRObisher 370 Earls Court 385 FULham 385 Fulham [*4] 425 GALleon 330 Worcester Park 430 GEOrgian 579 Ealing 437 GERard 437 Soho [Gerard Street] 442 GIBbon 789 Putney 447 GIPsy Hill 670 Gipsy Hill & West Norwood 452 GLAdstone 452 Cricklewood & Dollis Hill 400 GOOdmayes 599 Seven Kings & Goodmayes 472 GRAngewood 472 East Ham 473 GREenwich 858 Greenwich 474 GRImsdyke 954 Stanmore 470 GROsvenor 499 Mayfair, Grosvenor Square 485 GULliver 485 Kentish Town 423 HADley Green 440 Barnet [district] 424 HAInault 500 Hainault 426 HAMpstead 435 Hampstead 427 HARrow 427 Harrow 428 HATch End 428 Hatch End 429 * HAYes 573 Hayes (Middlesex) & Cranford 432 HEAdquarters 432 City of London, [GPO Headquarters, *5] 436 HENdon 202 Hendon 444 HIGhgate Wood 444 Muswell Hill [district] 445 HILlside 445 North Finchley 448 * HITher Green 698 Catford & Bellingham [district] 404 HOGarth 749 Shepherds Bush 405 HOLborn 405 Holborn 407 HOP 407 Southwark [area with several hop merchants] 408 HOUnslow 570 Hounslow & Heston 409 HOWard 804 Ponders End 483 HUDson 572 Hounslow & Heston 486 HUNter 486 St. Marylebone 487 HURstway 462 Hayes, Kent [several streets with Hurst name] 493 HYDe Park 493 Mayfair, Hyde Park 453 ILFord 478 Ilford 467 IMPerial 467 Chislehurst & Bickley 475 ISLeworth 560 Isleworth & Brentford 482 IVAnhoe 505 Woodford & Buckhurst Hill 489 IVYdale 394 Ewell 586 JUNiper 586 St. Johns Wood 532 KEAts 366 Enfield [*2] 535 KELvin 673 Balham 536 KENsington 589 South Kensington 545 KILburn 328 Kilburn & Maida Vale 546 KINgston 546 Kingston 547 * KIPling 857 Mottingham & Grove Park [*2] 564 KNIghtsbridge 584 South Kensington [district] 522 * LABurnum 360 Winchmore Hill [Laburnum Grove] 523 LADbroke 969 Kensal Green [Ladbroke Grove] 525 LAKeside 947 Wimbledon [lake in Wimbledon Park] 526 LANgham 580 Bloomsbury [Langham Place] 527 LARkswood 527 Highams Park [district] 528 LATimer 802 Stamford Hill [Latimer Road] 533 LEE Green 852 Lewisham 539 * LEYtonstone 539 Leytonstone 542 LIBerty 542 Merton & South Wimbledon 548 * LIVingstone 653 Norwood [Livingstone Road] 506 LONdon Wall 588 City of London (Moorgate) [*6] 507 LORds 289 Lords & Maida Vale [Lords Cricket Ground] 508 LOUghton 508 Loughton 509 LOWer Hook 397 Chessington [district] 577 LPR 432 City of London [London Postal Region, *5] 587 LTR (RHQ) 587 Vauxhall [London Telephones Region, *5] 583 * LUDgate Circus 583 Fleet Street [road junction] 622 MACaulay 622 Nine Elms 624 MAIda Vale 624 Kilburn, Maida Vale & South Hampstead 625 MALden 942 New Malden 626 MANsion House 626 City of London (Monument) [famous building] 627 MARyland 534 Stratford & Forest Gate 629 MAYfair 629 Mayfair 632 MEAdway 458 Golders Green [name of road] 635 MELville 643 Sutton & Belmont 638 * METropolitan 638 City of London (Monument) 645 MILl Hill 959 Mill Hill 646 MINcing Lane 623 City of London (Monument) [name of street] 648 MITcham 648 Mitcham & Morden 605 MOLesey East 979 Molesey & Hampton 606 MONarch 606 City of London 600 * MOOrgate 600 City of London, Moorgate 608 MOUntview 340 Hornsey & Highgate 685 MULberry 889 Wood Green 686 MUNicipal 686 Croydon 687 MUSeum 636 Bloomsbury [area of British Museum] 628 NATional 628 City of London (Moorgate) 639 * NEW Cross 639 Peckham & New Cross 602 NOBle 602 West Kensington 607 NORth 607 Barnsbury [northern part of central London] 683 NUFfield 848 Hayes & Cranford 723 PADdington 723 Paddington 725 PALmers Green 886 Palmers Green 727 PARk 727 Bayswater & Notting Hill [Hyde Park] 732 PECkham Rye 732 Peckham & New Cross 737 PERivale 997 Perivale, Alperton & North Ealing 746 PINner 866 Pinner & Eastcote 758 PLUmstead 855 Woolwich & Plumstead 705 * POLlards 764 Norbury Pollards Hill 707 * POPesgrove 892 Twickenham 774 PRImrose 722 St. Johns Wood [Primrose Hill] 770 PROspect 876 Mortlake 788 PUTney 788 Putney 724 RAGlan 556 Leytonstone 728 RAVensbourne 460 Bromley [name of river] 733 REDpost 733 Brixton 734 REGent 734 Soho [Regent Street] 735 RELiance 735 Kennington & Walworth (Vauxhall) 736 RENown 736 Fulham 742 RIChmond 940 Richmond (Surrey) 747 RIPpleway 594 Barking 748 RIVerside 748 Hammersmith [area by River Thames] 703 RODney 703 Camberwell & Walworth [Rodney Road] 709 * ROYal 709 City of London & Wapping [Royal Mint] 726 SANderstead 657 Sanderstead & Selsdon 720 SCOtt 720 Nine Elms 738 SEVen Kings 590 Seven Kings & Goodmayes 743 SHEpherds Bush 743 Shepherds Bush 740 SHOreditch 739 Shoreditch 745 SILverthorn 529 Chingford 759 SKYport 759 London Airport Heathrow & Harlington [airport] 750 SLOane 730 Sloane Square 762 SNAresbrook 530 Wanstead [district] 708 SOUthall 574 Southall 772 SPArtan 249 Dalston 773 SPEedwell 455 Golders Green 777 SPRingpark 777 West Wickham [Spring Park] 782 STAmford Hill 800 Stamford Hill 783 STEpney Green 790 Stepney Green 780 STOnegrove 958 Edgware 787 STReatham 769 Streatham 785 SULlivan 799 Westminster 786 SUNnyhill 203 Hendon 794 SWIss Cottage 794 Hampstead [district] 793 SYDenham 778 Sydenham & Penge 822 TABard 822 Fleet Street [Tabard Inn] 828 TATe Gallery 828 Victoria [name of art gallery] 829 TCY 829 Waterloo [Telephones CitY, *5] 833 TEDdington Lock 977 Teddington 836 TEMple Bar 836 Covent Garden, Temple Bar 837 TERminus 837 Kings Cross [railway station, end of line] 840 * THOrnton Heath 684 Thornton Heath 843 TIDeway 692 Deptford [Thames Tideway] 808 TOTtenham 808 Tottenham 809 TOWnley 693 Dulwich & Camberwell [Townley Road] 872 TRAfalgar 839 Whitehall [Trafalgar Square] 873 * TREvelyan 553 Ilford 870 TROjan 870 Wandsworth 879 TSW 879 Wimbledon [Telephones South West, *5] 883 TUDor 883 Muswell Hill 885 * TULse Hill 674 Tulse Hill & Brixton Hill 887 TURnham Green 995 Chiswick [district] 894 TWIckenham Green 894 Twickenham 863 UNDerhill 863 Harrow [located below Harrow-on-the-Hill] 875 UPLands 660 Purley & Kenley [area of higher ground] 877 UPPer Clapton 806 Clapton 825 VALentine 554 Ilford 826 VANdyke 874 Wandsworth 842 VICtoria 834 Victoria 844 VIGilant 642 Sutton & Belmont 845 VIKing 845 Northolt & Yeading 847 VIRginia 349 Finchley 925 WALlington 647 Wallington & Carshalton 926 WANstead 989 Wanstead 927 WARing Park 302 Sidcup [Waring Park] 928 WATerloo 928 Waterloo 929 WAXlow 578 Greenford [Waxlow Crescent] 935 WELbeck 935 St. Marylebone [Welbeck Street] 936 WEMbley 902 Wembley 937 WEStern 937 Kensington [western part of central London] 944 WHItehall 930 Westminster [name of street/district] 943 WIDmore 464 Bromley [Widmore Road] 945 WILlesden 459 Willesden 946 WIMbledon 946 Wimbledon 900 WOOlwich 854 Woolwich & Plumstead 907 * WORdsworth 907 Kenton [*2] * "Some subscribers on these exchanges were given a new telephone number or had their exchange name replaced by figures other than those shown above when they were given their all-figure number." LDCB68 My added notes: *1. The original name chosen was BEThnal Green, a district in the east end of London. Objections to the downmarket name resulted in the alternate name ADVance. *2. Toward the end of named exchanges when it was becoming harder to come up with suitable names for vacant prefixes, the poetical/literary series of names were used: BYRon, KEAts, WORdsworth, etc. *3. The 373 exchange served an area which includes Olympia, the site used for regular exhibitions. FREmantle was the normal exchange, while the alternate name DREadnought was used for temporary lines during exhibitions. *4. Another prefix with an alternate name DUKe as a substitute for the more downmarket FULham. *5. The GPO used several prefixes for their own telephone systems. HEAdquarters speaks for itself, while other prefixes were LPR (London Postal Region), LTR (London Telephones Region), TCY (Telephone CitY), and TSW (Telephones SouthWest). Some prefixes were used for direct dialing in to GPO PABX systems, and mapped to other prefixes. *6. Named for the old London Wall, the boundary of London in historic times. The name Moorgate comes from one of the former entrances to the city. Paul Coxwell Norfolk, England. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My thanks to Paul for this special report which will be specifically filed in the Archives history area. I should point out that Chicago, Illinois also used the 3L-4D method of numbering until about 1950 when it changed to 2L-5D for about ten years before going entirely 7-D. Thanks again, Paul. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 14:19:51 -0400 Subject: Can You Depend on Vonage 911 Service in an Emergency? Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com In a message on the BroadbandReports.com VoIP Forum, user "HardwareGeek" writes: > Brooklyn Vonage Users do not dial 911 > I just dialed 911 because of a car accident. And I got a 5 minute > lecture on how I should dial 911. I told the person I did dial 911 > and she immediately said don't tell me your using Vonage. So just an > FYI don't dial 911 in Brooklyn NY if your dying. Because you will > DIE and I was also told that the number I was transferred too after > 10PM that the phone isn't answered. So my advice run to a pay phone > if you don't have a cell phone handy and hope your not dying. I had > a similar Problem a few months ago and Contacted Vonage about it and > they assured me they had fixed it. Apparently not. Thank God for my > cell. In a later followup message, the person who posted the above message indicated that he'd been told that the call had been routed to the NYPD Administrative Offices. In one of the several followup messages, one user ("Fat Guy") offers this opinion: > There really should be some sort of mechanism for testing 911, given > that hundreds of thousands of North Americans are now VOIP > customers. Not exactly sure how it should be arranged, but it seems > preferable to the PR disaster that will happen when somebody dies > because VOIP 911 routed a call to a call center that has been shut > down for the night. The entire thread, which includes some suggestions on testing your VoIP provider's 911 implementation, can be found here: http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,11017575~mode=flat And for those readers who read these messages via the Telecom Digest and seem to think I never publish anything negative about VoIP, how do you explain this one? But of course, I must add a sunny, optimistic comment: I think this problem will be resolved sooner or later; there is too much at stake to let it go unresolved. However, it would be a lot more helpful if 911 centers would accept the fact that people are slowly moving away from traditional wireline phone service and that as long as there is a need for 911 centers, there will be a need for them to adapt to new technology, at least if saving lives and protecting property is really their primary goal. Exactly why the person who answered the Brooklyn 911 call thought it would be helpful to give someone who had just been in a car accident a long lecture about dialing 911 is beyond me. In my mind, the question is not whether VoIP is the likely successor to traditional wireline phone service, the only question is how long the transition will take. Granted that the traditional phone companies and the regulators could collude to slow down the transition (probably with an adverse effect on the competitiveness of the United States vs. the rest of the world) but at best that would only buy the 911 center operators a little time, and the potential for loss of life would still exist if 911 centers insist on lecturing callers that come in on the "wrong" line as opposed to perhaps taking a more positive approach, such as contacting the caller's VoIP provider to let them know they have a problem, and (if possible) working with them to fix it so that 911 calls are routed correctly in the future. In any case the emergency, if any, should still be handled as quickly as possible. I'm not saying that the VoIP providers have no responsibility here, but I wonder sometimes if they have difficulty getting the correct numbers. Just this week someone in Michigan asked me if I knew where they could get a list of PSAPs (Public Safety Answering Points) for Michigan, or where might the best place to go looking for that information might be. I drew a total blank on that one; as far as I know that information is not publicly available anywhere -- in fact it may be deliberately kept out of easy reach of the public due to security concerns. But, that lack of availability may also be making it difficult for VoIP providers who want to connect their customers to the "best" number at each PSAP, but who can't even get a list of the PSAPs in each state. I wonder if large multi-state CLECs have similar problems, or do they just toss all 911 calls off to the local incumbent phone companies? 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/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I really have to wonder what 'Hardware Geek' and 'FatGuy' who posted in Broadband Reports feel Vonage is expected to do when a Police Department closes for the night at 10 PM or a police employee chooses to give a five minute lecture rather than immediatly transfer the call to a trained dispatcher for handling. I have heard various complaints about New York City's handling of 911 calls; how people are told to call another time or they are answered with a type of voice mail and expected to press buttons routing themselves through the police department system. So suppose all calls via Vonage to 911 were actually sent to 911. Would Hardware Geek and FatGuy be happy then? Even a tiny, dinky little town full of Local Yokels like Independence, Kansas can deal properly with emergency calls requiring immediate police intervention. Why can't Brooklyn, NY? Our four full-time police dispatchers (one per shift, one floating as needed to cover days off) are trained to know *everything* about our town; every street, every house. And although it may seem like an overkill, the dispatch area has a special phone -- PSAP -- a 7-D number which is handled with 911 priority. Why in the hell couldn't Brooklyn, NY have a 'seven digit 911 line' right where the dispatchers were located (thus, I presume, to be answered 24/7 by experienced persons who have been trained to deal with emergency calls)? Let Vonage route to that seven digit phone used as the PSAP? Why in hell did Brooklyn stick their PSAP line on a switchboard where an overworked, busy and frequently rude and unctious person would answer it as time permitted until they closed down at 10 PM each night? What does HardwareGeek think Vonage could do about that? Is it Vonage's fault (or the other VOIP providers) that large city police departments are so beaurocratically inflexible and ineffecient in their operations that citizens have to suffer? When Vonage sets up their database of PSAP locations, should they first ask the responding person if they have been trained to answer the phone and work with citizens? In this tiny little town (Independence, population about 8000 people) and rural Montgomery County (25,000 people but huge in geographic area) which would fit in a few square miles of Brooklyn, NY, when I signed up with Vonage 911 service, Vonage installed it, notified the City of Independence and the Montgomery County Sheriff (of which Indy is the 'county seat') and three days later I got email from Vonage and snail mail from City of Independence telling me I was installed. I cannot see why that is such an obstacle in a larger city. Oh, by the by, we also have a 7-D but 911 style phone in the dispatcher area here which is used for people on TTY machines (hearing/speech impaired, etc). A TTY machine auto answers it, repeats its message two or three times, while the dispatcher on duty walks over to it and cuts in with typing. The hearing/speech impaired person does have to dial a 7-D number to reach it however. An overkill, perhaps, but folks here feel it is a way for GOOD government to be responsive to citizens and their needs. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Brad Houser Subject: Re: A Calling Card Type of Solution Needed Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 12:50:59 -0700 Organization: Intel Corporation Sekhar wrote in message news:telecom23.373.12@telecom-digest.org: > I have two telephone lines - one a US telephone number and the other > one a Indian telephone number. I need a device which would allow users > connected through the US line to be able to dial and use the Indian > line and vice versa. You want something called a "Call Forwarding System". Radio Shack used to have one, the CFS-200. There is a similar product on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1503&item=5713364082&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW Brad Houser ------------------------------ From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader) Subject: Re: Wardriving Guilty Plea in Lowe's Wi-Fi Case Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 20:13:46 -0000 Organization: Inline Software Creations > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I think the 'couple of teenagers' > at Vegas were too smart for their own good. Is the idea to be able > to stand on the roof of your house naked and show everyone all your > stuff or is the idea to be able to get some kind of convenient mix > between flexibilty and privacy? So they got 55 miles? Sounds very > impressive until you realize how many people in the span of that > 55 miles were eager to see what those boys were doing with their You're not understanding the experiment. This wasn't an omni-directional broadcast -- it was point-to-point between two VERY directional dishes. While you could have a literal man-in-the-middle attack if somebody poked an antenna precisely between the two dishes, this form of transfer is for the most part more secure than a normal access point, because outside of the beam, you get almost nothing. 55 miles is pretty darn impressive, and in some places, very useful. > Because I live in a rural area midst many folks who are not terribly > computer-literate (to put it politely), I'd feel safe with maybe > another city block or two, using the usual security precautions, but > not much more than that. Well, no matter, its all moot to me right > now, everything busted up and not working at least until later this > month when my Canadian consultant gets back from vacation. PAT] There are actually a number of simple things you can do to slightly change the shape and range of your wi-fi coverage area. Here's a neat example: http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/ With a little cardboard and tinfoil, you could probably fix your back porch coverage problem. * * PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something like corkscrews. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 14:00:41 -0400 From: Ankur Shah Subject: Re: Up and Down, All Around > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The three devices which pain me the > most -- the cable modem, the Vonage Motorola TX box, and the Netgear > Wireless router box -- do not have 'off/on switches' on them to toggle > as needed. They simply have plugs from power supplies (plugged in > wall outlets) to the back of the units. You want to power the device > down you have to unplug them from the back of unit or the wall. PAT] The cable modem, of all things, should not be affected by the network setup you have, since its sitting on the "outside". If it is indeed not working properly, it could just be that your cable modem is causing you all the grief with your network. Either way, I'd do the following to troubleshoot: 1. Call your ISP to check if your cable modem is (still?) compatible with their network. i.e. If your ISP's network is DOCSIS (1.0/2.0), and your cable modem isn't, you're bound to run into network problems. Also, make sure they have the correct binary (config) file set for your specific cable modem in their system. 2. Check to see if you can still access the cable modem's web interface using http://192.168.100.1 from within your LAN. If that works, look at the various RF attributes to make sure they're "fine", particularly the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) and (upstream) transmit levels. If your CM goes outside the "normal" range, you may have problems intermittently. Just my $0.02 worth, -- Ankur ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 18:58:17 GMT From: L Subject: Re: NorVergence is Having Popular Leasing Hound and Threaten Me Organization: Optimum Online Pelco Sales & Service wrote in message news:telecom23.374.10@telecom-digest.org: > NorVergence sent our Equipment in and three days later they went > under. Now Popular Leasing out of Missouri is threatening me to pay > up or else. What can I do? I haven't even had the equipment hooked > up. If you are like my friends ... you have a NON CANCELABLE lease for equipment. There is NOTHING in any of your paperwork that indicates you get service. Oh, sure, the lease amount was based on 80% of your monthly telephone bill -- but the FIVE YEAR contract you signed never promised service. What to do? I suggest contacting an attorney. And, depending on how highly you value your business credit rating, and what your corporate structure is, you might consider withholding payment. You will most likely lose any court case, however. This is the problem ... you have what I've seen referred to as a 'Hell and High Water' lease. NOTHING gets you out of it ... NOTHING. Now, there are tons of telecom companies circling the waters trying to pick up your service contract, who will tell you they will use that equipment you have, but the services are not free. And free service is what you need if you are going to pay for the equipment and manage to save 20% over your previous telecommunications bills. Look back at the literature Norvergence sent you. Did they ever mention providing telephone services for 80% of what you are paying? Look carefully. NOPE. You were invited to join a program which would give you FREE unlimited service. Can you sue Norvergence for discontinuing a free service? I suspect not. Was fraud involved. Oh yeah. Most definitely. Do you have any consumer rights? NOPE. The contract you signed for the equipment lease specifically states you are a BUSINESS and WILL NOT be using it for personal use. Businesses don't have consumer protection laws. I'm not a lawyer, but I write good letters. I have had a car lease reversed after I went home and read documents showing the dealer (I thought mistakenly) had ADDED the money for my trade-in TO the lease. So, not only did I lease the car for the full sticker price.. I also was PAYING for my trade-in, in addition to having to turn in my vehicle. When I went in the next day to point out the 'mistake' the dealer laughed. I persisted in what I felt was right. The lease company never got a payment, and the car dealer eventually renegotiated a sale for 2k less than sticker with credit for my trade-in. I didn't pat myself on the back too much tho, that is the same deal I could have had if I had researched and bought the vehicle with my eyes open. It took 3 months and the help of my state BBB to mitigate my own stupidity -- and the whole time I was without a car. Persistence is the only way you are going to lessen ANY of the damages you incurred when you signed a contract to lease a 'magic box' (retailing for $400-$2,500, depending on model) for $20,000.00 (based on phone bills of $400/month) or more. Firstly, you need insurance for that equipment. The sales spiel was that you were not obligated to purchase from the leaseholder, you could research getting your own. As you have most likely found out, your insurance company could not provide insurance for 10-60 times actual value. Your leaseholder does. That smacks of insurance fraud to me ... and wouldn't it be the civic thing to provide your state's insurance board with copies of your insurance policy and lease agreements for that equipment? Some properly worded letters, CC'd to the leaseholder of course, might raise some state agency eyebrows. Don't forget to send a complete description of the problem to the media and the congressmen of the states whose banking rules allow for those leases (look at your lease agreement). Norvergence was a NJ corporation -- it is not an anomaly that the lease agreements are governed by laws OUTSIDE of NJ. The liberal banking laws in these states bring money to the state's coffers ... at the expense of honest hardworking folk. And what about the fact that the equipment is leased at different amounts to different businesses. Doesn't that point to some complicity on the part of the lending agencies? Of course, the banking commission might be interested in a lease that is so overvalued ... what happens if you default and the bank has to repo the equipment? Banks usually have strict guidelines as to how much risk they can take. Of course, I wouldn't be TOO hopeful. You see, the leaseholder's risk is pretty low. YOU were what they were buying. Your contract, at the urging of Norvergence, to pay 60 months worth of phone bills directly to the leaseholder. You had to be pretty special to qualify for this program. You had to have enough income so that you wouldn't bankrupt over the loss, and you had to have enough interest in your business credit rating that you wouldn't simply stop paying. Additionally, your income from your business should be necessary to your paying your bills -- so that you won't simply shut down your corporation to get yourself out from under an onerous fraudulent agreement you were hoodwinked into signing. In short, you are a small business owner. And look who you are against. Some of the biggest lending agencies in the nation. GE Capitol, Wells Fargo, and other big names. SOMEONE has got to pay for all the money Norvergence took -- and 'take' is the right word -- those leases were SOLD for big money. Who do you think the powers that be will stand up for? The small business folks who where shim-shammed by trained professionals and who were foolish enough to sign LEASE agreements for equipment when buying telecommunications services? Or, the lending companies who bought discount money from Norvergence based on those small business folks very excellent credit ratings and promises to pay. If the banks take a hit, who pays for it? Multiply your loss, by the over ten thousand 'customers' Norvergence had when it went down. We are talking millions of dollars -- another Enron, perhaps? Losses, prosecution, lawsuits, legal changes ... Probably MUCH easier for the powers that be to let each little individual take his own loss. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is why I suggested the small business owner *freeze all accounts payable to Norvergence and Scam Associates* and mitigate their own losses by paying **nothing** until instructed to do so by a court or their attorney. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: US West History Date: Fri, 06 Aug 2004 08:10:57 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Thu, 5 Aug 2004 20:46:17 EDT, Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > In a message dated 5 Aug 2004 05:58:19 -0700, adamsjac@telcordia.com > (Jack Adams) writes: >> Doug Faunt N6TQS wrote in message >> news:: >>> Am I correct in believing that US West was one of the "baby bells"? >>> And what happened to the company, if so? >>> 73, doug >> Yes, the short answer is that it encompassed Mountain Bell and Pacific >> Northwest Bell which covered almost the entire Northwestern quadrant >> of the continental US. > What happened to Mountain Bell's operations in New Mexico and > Arizona, both contiguous to the Mexican border and hardly in the > "Northwestern quadrant of the continental U.S."? I'm not sure what you mean by "what happened?" They're two southern states which happen to be part of Qwest. Qwest stretches from Washington state to New Mexico and goes through the midwest to Nebraska and Iowa. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - remove NONO from .NONOcom to reply ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Aug 2004 10:13:37 -0700 From: Hammond of Texas Subject: Re: US West History Scott Dorsey wrote: > It was. It is now Qwest, a large provider of unreliable telephone service > and frequently-abused internet service. Let me guess, you used to right those "about " paragraphs for press releases, right? Nicely worded, sir. BTW, you left out " ...involved in research and development of new ways deliver poor customer service in our call centers..." ------------------------------ From: Mike Riddle Organization: Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish & Short Subject: Re: Old Bell System TTY Guys? Date: Fri, 06 Aug 2004 13:49:31 -0500 jsw@ivgate.omahug.org wrote: >> In my youth one of my telephone company friends sometimes went out to a >> customer site to work on the Teletype. I never saw the site or the >> equipment, but some of the stuff he took with him included a couple of >> vacuum tubes, commercial types 35L6 and 50Y6. I've always wondered >> what the equipment was and what the tubes had to do with it. >> Anybody know? > Not to show my age, but the 35L6 was a beam power tube that was used > for (other than the obvious audio output) such things as relay/sole- > noid drivers and servo controllers. I don't remember them in any > teletype gear (I'm not *that* old) Of course you are!!!! > but I do remember them in 60's vintage card sorters. They were > popular because the heaters of three of them could be wired in > series across the standard 120v AC line, saving the need for a > filament/heater transformer. Some of the later model TTYs actually had electronics! It depended on what signalling method was in use (20 ma, 60 ma, or some kind of modem/modulator, in military use often "low-level" where the internals were sometimes low current or voltage-switched). I don't remember which tube types we used, but I do remember the occasional tube in DC power supplies, etc. Mike Riddle Former AF 36370/30672/G3016 ------------------------------ From: sumitkchawla@rediffmail.com (sumit chawla) Subject: Re: Computer Programmers in Telecom Date: 6 Aug 2004 12:32:43 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Thanks for your response. Actually I am doing training in Lucent Switch. I just wanted to know how I could apply my software development skills in the respective industry. Sumit Chawla E-mail (sumitkchawla@rediffmail.com) Bit Twister wrote in message news:: > On 3 Aug 2004 07:35:52 -0700, Sumit Chawla wrote: >> I'm a computer engineer. I want to pursue a career in the telecom >> sector. > Move to China, Vietnam, India where the outsourcing is going. > I wish you luck; ALCATEL France, came over, bought a telecom company, > took the good projects back to Europe, outsourced other jobs, layed > everyone else off except enough to keep the sales/service office up and > running. > Suggest moving your expertise into the medical field. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. 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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 #376 ******************************