From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Aug 26 01:13:46 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i7Q5Djp05307; Thu, 26 Aug 2004 01:13:46 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 01:13:46 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200408260513.i7Q5Djp05307@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 #400 TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Aug 2004 01:13:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 400 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Norvergence Employees Bilked Out of More Than Just Paycheck (I Beard) VoIP Suggestions Wanted (Justin) OS Preference (Mark Smith) Re: Cincinnati Bell Alternatives (Al Gillis) Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind (Geoffrey Welsh) Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind (Paul Vader) Vonage Dials Up $105M (Jack Decker) 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: Isaiah Beard Subject: Norvergence Employees Bilked Out of More Than Just a Paycheck Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 17:10:17 -0400 I'm really beginning to wonder where all this money went ... --------------------------------- Bankrupt firm hit with new pay flap The Record of Bergen County, NJ By MARTHA McKAY STAFF WRITER NorVergence, a Newark-based telecommunications reseller that went bankrupt last month, left a trail of angry ex-employees who say they are stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid medical bills. The employees say NorVergence was deducting medical insurance costs from their paychecks, but apparently fell behind in payments to the company it hired to administer its insurance plan. Now, the federal government is asking questions. At least one former NorVergence employee, Mark Englander, said he has been contacted by an investigator from the U.S. Department of Labor who asked for detailed information about the insurance problems. Full story at: http://tinyurl.com/4zyan (registration required unfortunately) E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: justin_ltg@yahoo.com (justin) Subject: VoIP Suggestions Wanted Date: 25 Aug 2004 19:26:50 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello, This is sort of a lengthy rant, but I would appreciate any help. I run the IT & phone systems for our company. Our owner is bent on moving from our Partner system to VoIP, specifically a hosted solution. Now, I am all for VoIP, but we have a particular 'Used VoIP Salesman' touting the cost benefits that will be realized by moving to a hosted solution (with him). I have dealt with SBC and know what a top tier carrier is charging. SBC gives a great deal on Cisco equipment, but they are charging $55 per phone for basic services and $70 per phone for 'premium' services. In addition, we would have to purchase another T1, and 2 Qos devices for each T1 (the manufacturer escapes me now) from SBC. Our other used ... I mean VoIP salesman ... is saying he can drastically beat these monthly phone prices and provide a high quality solution without using a second T1 or a QoS device for each T1 (He would use Cisco QoS, I assume IP RTP priority, I doubt he could configure LLQ correctly). I am just looking for suggestions, or places where I can find more information on the 'typical' per month phone costs of a hosted VoIP solution. Are there any websites with hosted VoIP reviews??????? I have been unable to find anything like that, yet ... Here is some information on our company: 30-40 users at any given time (with a growth rate of 1-2 people every 6 months); One SBC T1; NO remote locations (One is coming soon, but it will be local); NO traveling salesman; NO interstate traveling; Possibly a need for two people to work from home (local); Currently, local usage + long distance usage totals anywhere from $1350 to $1600 per month; I am in the process of gathering SMDR information on our current key system so I can provide some tangible cost/usage information to our 'executives'. This email address is valid, so any suggestions comments are greatly appreciated. I do not want to get caught in a very expensive sub-par solution. Thank you for reading my post. Justin ------------------------------ From: Mark Smith Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 12:30:47 PDT Subject: OS Preference Reply-To: telecom-news@yahoogroups.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Isn't Win 98 or Win 2000 actually preferable and more flexible for most people anyway? PAT] It depends :-) The computer I am typing on right now is Win98. The main reason it's not getting updated is it's 4 GB Hard Drive. 2000 & XP are too big. The computer next to it is a laptop running Win2000. Not my choice, but the IT setup is 5 year old Os's on 5 year old machines :-( My two home machines (one laptop and on desktop) both run XP Home. It's stable, supports USB2.0, and matches the newer hardware. My rule of thumb is if you have at least 128 Mb of RAM, 20 GB of hard drive and no offending hardware; run XP. The added features justify it. Mark L. Smith smith@stones.com http://smith.freehosting.net ------------------------------ From: Al Gillis Subject: Re: Cincinnati Bell Alternatives Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 11:52:37 -0700 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Hi! I moved our local trunks and DID numbers from one of the former Bell companies to a CLEC several years ago. I needed more DID numbers and wanted 10,000 new ones so we could avoid yet another number change in the future. I asked our then present carrier (US West) for new numbers and was rebuffed several times (they couldn't provide any numbers from my CO, it was to hard to get an entire office code of numbers for one customer, I'd have to pay mileage on new trunks as new numbers would come from a different exchange, all sorts of reasons that didn't make good sense). So I called up a local CLEC (Electric Lightwave, Inc.) and asked them for the same service. In less than a week they came back to me with six office codes -- we could choose the one we wanted! Imagine that! So I bought some PRI trunks (which also weren't available from US West) - they got installed on time, we got them in service for a short test period and then announced the number change to the company. After about six weeks we disconnected the US West trunks and never looked back! That was about six or seven years ago. My experience with ELI has been very good. They're usually fast and flexible (I'm a moderately large customer, so maybe they listen more closely to my requests) and they don't have a huge rule book to consult before they try something. While you won't find my CLEC in Cincinnati I'd bet some of your local CLECs are just as good. Here's what I'd try: Interview a couple of the larger ones serving your area and tell them what level of business they might get from you. Then install a PRI (or T-1) on a 60 day trial basis (gratis if possible and with no disconnect penalty) and see how they do. How's their installation interval? Have they configured the trunks to work with your equipment correctly (or do you have to spend hours troubleshooting with them)? Does the LD work as you expect? Things like that. If it seems positive I'd make the change and start saving money! Good luck! Al BMN wrote in message news:telecom23.396.3@telecom-digest.org: > Looking to get the low down on wire line alternatives to Cincinnati > Bell. They don't want to play ball on renegotiating our pricing and I > am wondering how good, bad or indifferent other providers are. We have > about 10K/month in local and LD. Its a lot of work to switch and > sometimes the devil you know ... etc. > Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ From: Geoffrey Welsh Subject: Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 15:47:45 -0400 Geoffrey Welsh wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Isn't Win 98 or Win 2000 actually > preferable and more flexible for most people anyway? PAT] I find the the Windows 95/98 lineage to be a lot less reliable than the NT/2000/XP/2003 line and, since Windows 98 (and, presumably, ME; I never even tried it after I realized how disgusted I was at 98) takes up a lot more memory than 95, I would not recommend using anything in that product line, period. The Windows 2000 vs. XP (especially after you set it to 'maximum performance', which turns off almost all of the visual effects) is a bit less clear, though the advantages of XP are unlikely to overcome the hassle of the activation. Geoffrey Welsh VOTE FOR BUSH IN 2004 because the Founding Fathers were just kidding about that liberty stuff. ------------------------------ From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader) Subject: Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 20:41:27 -0000 Organization: Inline Software Creations Paul A Lee writes: > Yes, the activation procedures, serial numbers, key codes, etc., are > a frustrating nuisance and introduce their own operational > problems. But let's put at least some of the blame on the prodigious > software bootlegging that has driven numerous software companies -- > not just Microsoft -- to such measures. Feh. The activation scheme doesn't stop the warez kiddies for a second -- there were key generators out there the day XP was released, and they're easily findable on the net. Software piracy is bad, but annoying activation processes are 100% proven not to stop or even slow it. So why do it? You're only annoying your actual *good* customers. * * PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something like corkscrews. ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 14:22:25 -0400 Subject: Vonage Dials Up $105M Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=58297 VOIP competition reached another all-time high today as Vonage Holdings Corp. announced it has closed a $105 million Series D funding round, bringing its total funding to date to $208 million. The company says its financing will be used to speed the expansion of its service in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., the Pacific Rim, and Latin America. With more than 240,000 lines in service, Vonage says it continues to add more than 25,000 lines per month to its network. At the end of 2003, it had about 87,500 lines in service, according to Vonage CFO John Rego. New Enterprise Associates (NEA) led Vonage's latest round with a $40 million investment. The VC firm has pumped about $60 million into the company overall, Rego says. Other investors include 3i Group plc and Meritech Capital Partners. This funding boost for Vonage comes at a time when VOIP competition in the U.S. has taken an interesting turn. Full story at: http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=58297 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 is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. 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