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Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #470

TELECOM Digest     Tue, 5 Oct 2004 13:20:00 EDT    Volume 23 : Issue 470

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    BlackBerry, Beloved Gadget, Continues to Thrive (Monty Solomon)
    AT&T Wireless Launching Music Service (Monty Solomon)
    AT&T Wireless Debuts First-Ever Mobile Music Store in US (Monty Solomon)
    The Broad Reach of Satellite Radio (Monty Solomon)
    A New Phone and Techie Controversy at Verizon (Monty Solomon)
    Policy Post 10.16: Senate Amendments Threaten Civil Liberties (Solomon)
    To the Patio and Beyond: Speakers Without Wires (Monty Solomon)
    Almost Here: Cellphones at 37,000 Feet (Monty Solomon)
    Bank of America Gets 180,000 VOIP Phones (Rick Merrill)
    Vonage Price Increase (Joe Hearn)
    How to Lower Volume on Panasonic  KX-T7453 ASAP Help!! (Oscar)
    Boston: VoIP Technical Presentation (Boston Network Users Group)
    Re: Pennsylvania Railroad's Crew Communication System? (Robert Bonomi)
    Re: Pennsylvania Railroad's Crew Communication System? (Lisa Hancock)
    Re: Cascading Hubs (was Re: Voicepulse Disconnects Computer) (Landsberg)
    Re: Adding Ports to a Router (John Levine)
    Re: Wrong Address For 911 Caller a Tragic Ordeal (Isaiah Beard)

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, 5 Oct 2004 01:07:26 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: BlackBerry, Beloved Gadget, Continues to Thrive


By IAN AUSTEN

ABOUT a year ago, PalmOne was poised to challenge the dominance of the
BlackBerry, the wireless e-mail device made by Research in Motion that
has become the gadget of choice among celebrities and politicians.

PalmOne seemed to have all the advantages. It had a customer base in
the millions while BlackBerry users numbered in the hundreds of
thousands. When it acquired Handspring, PalmOne acquired the Treo, a
device that combined a BlackBerry-like e-mail device with a Palm-based
hand-held computer, giving it all the extras that the Blackberry
lacked, like games, cameras and music players.

But somehow, the message did not make it through to BlackBerry's loyal
fan base. Not only have sales of PalmOne's Treo lagged behind those of
the BlackBerry, things have never been better for R.I.M.

Last week R.I.M., based in Waterloo, Ontario, reported a 147 percent
in second-quarter revenues, compared with the same period last year.
After reaching a million BlackBerry subscribers in February, R.I.M.
anticipates having two million by the end of the year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/04/technology/04newcon.html

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 01:23:31 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: AT&T Wireless Launching Music Service


By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- In the first foray by a U.S. wireless carrier into
the online music market, AT&T Wireless is launching a service that
lets subscribers buy songs using their cell phones and later download
them to a computer.

Until now, mobile music sales have centered on ringtones, the song
snippets used to customize ringer and other sounds on mobile phones.

At Tuesday's launch, mMode Music Store will offer roughly 750,000
tracks priced at 99 cents each. Full albums will start at $9.99.

To buy songs on the service, an AT&T Wireless customer would use their
phone's browser screen to search for tracks and, on some phones,
listen to 30-second song samples. The mMode store will also sell
ringtones.

Purchases would be billed to users' monthly wireless phone bill, with
customers downloading songs over the Internet from a Web site in the
Windows Media Player format. The files and could then be burned onto
CDs or transferred to portable digital players.

      - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=44056747

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 01:24:40 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: AT&T Wireless Debuts First-Ever Mobile Music Store in the U.S.


Service Turns the Mobile Phone Into a 'Remote Control' for PC
Downloads Of Digital Music Tracks

Millions of Customers Can Now Discover and Buy Their Favorite Music
Right from Their Mobile Phone, and Have Purchases Billed Automatically
to Their Monthly Statement or Credit Card

SEATTLE, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Building on the success of
the company's Music ID service, AT&T Wireless (NYSE:AWE) today
announced the premier of the mMode(TM) Music Store, making the entire
music discovery, sampling, and purchase process mobile for the first
time in U.S. history.  With the AT&T Wireless mMode(TM) Music Store,
customers can discover, browse, listen to(*) and purchase digital
music tracks from a library of approximately 750,000 songs -- all
right from the handset.  Built in cooperation with Loudeye and
Microsoft, the mobile music store is seamlessly integrated with the
PC, so digital music tracks are downloaded to users' Windows PCs and
billed automatically to their monthly AT&T Wireless statement or
credit card.

For years, AT&T Wireless' mMode service has informed and entertained
customers with some of the best-in-class applications available, from
news and sports to gaming and dating.  Today, the company turns up the
volume on mobile music and significantly expands the functionality of
the mobile phone to meet the insatiable demand for digital music.  By
tying to the company's popular Music ID service, when customers
receive a text message with the name and artist of a song they've
discovered while mobile, they can now click on a link to go straight
to the AT&T Wireless mMode Music Store to buy that digital music
track.

     - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=44056583

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 00:18:06 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: The Broad Reach of Satellite Radio


By SABRINA TAVERNISE

The personalities could not be more different.

Bob Edwards, the radio host whose silky voice meant morning to
millions of listeners across the country, was scheduled to begin
broadcasting again this morning from a Washington, D.C., studio
located an eighth of a mile from his former employer, National Public
Radio.

Just hours before, in a New York studio, the irreverent radio duo,
Opie and Anthony, were due to start a new show, their first since
2002, when they were forced from their WNEW-FM program in New York
City, after they broadcast a producer's live account, delivered via
cellphone, of a couple who were purported to be having sex in St.
Patrick's Cathedral.

The new shows have one thing in common: They are being broadcast only 
on satellite radio, a new medium that became broadly available in the 
United States just three years ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/04/technology/04radio.html

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 23:12:24 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: A New Phone and Techie Controversy at Verizon


FROM THE DESK OF DAVID POGUE

Last week on "The Amazing Race for the Perfect Phone," Verizon
Wireless announced that it was emerging from its cocoon of
technological backwardness.

At long last, the carrier with the best signal coverage began offering
a full-featured flip phone with camera, voice dialing, speakerphone,
memory card and Bluetooth: the new Motorola v710. Best coverage, great
phone--what more could a gadget freak want?

Unfortunately, Web sites and blogs are teeming with complaints about
one particular aspect of the v710: it's crippled Bluetooth features.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/30/technology/circuits/30POGUE-EMAIL.html

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 23:32:23 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Policy Post 10.16: Senate Amendments Threaten Civil Liberties


CDT POLICY POST Volume 10, Number 16, October 4, 2004

A Briefing On Public Policy Issues Affecting Civil Liberties Online
from The Center For Democracy and Technology

(1) Senate Amendments Propose PATRIOT 2, Threaten Civil Liberties
(2) Background: 9/11 Commission Legislation Has Serious Implications 
    for Privacy and Civil Liberties
(3) What Should -- and Should Not -- Be Part of the Intelligence 
    Reform Legislation

http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_10.16.shtml.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 23:38:35 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: To the Patio and Beyond: Speakers Without Wires


By DAVID POGUE

FALL is in the air!

Actually, fall isn't all. Along with the usual stuff (love,
excitement, politics), the air is increasingly filled with wireless
signals. The radio spectrum bursts with invisible waves from
cellphones, cordless phones, computer networks, satellite dishes,
radios and so on. There's so much wireless traffic in the air these
days, it's a wonder you can even breathe.

But electronics companies haven't finished going wireless just yet. 
They're still looking for other wires to eliminate, like the ones 
that connect to your stereo to your speakers.

As it turns out, four companies - Sony, RCA, Advent and Acoustic 
Research -- make at least five different wireless speaker kits. (All 
right, Advent and Acoustic Research are only brand names marketed by 
RCA, whose parent, Thomson Electronics, inherited these product lines 
from Recoton, which went bankrupt this year -- don't worry, none of 
this will be on the final exam. The point is that in fact, these 
speaker sets actually come from only two companies, not four. But 
play along, will you?)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/30/technology/circuits/30stat.html

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 23:52:53 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Almost Here: Cellphones at 37,000 Feet


By JOE SHARKEY

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/05/business/05road.html

------------------------------

From: Rick Merrill <RickMerrill@comTHROW.net>
Subject: Bank of America Gets 180,000 VOIP Phones
Organization: Comcast Online
Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 10:34:58 GMT


http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1661700,00.asp

------------------------------

From: Joe Hearn <joe@hearn.net>
Subject: Vonage Price Increase
Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 03:58:42 GMT
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net


A copy of the following email was sent to Vonage Customer Care.

To: Vonage Customer Care [billing@vonage.com]
From: J H Hearn [ccis4sofi@spamfree.net]
Subject: I have questions concerning a Rate Plan Change

Telephone:
XXX XXX XXXX
Account Number:
XXXXXXX
Billing Invoice:
invoice not yet recieved

Hey, this isn't fair. You are charging me $10 to keep my same service
level.  I am a satisfied customer but I have been on the 500 minute
plan for a year and a half. I have been paying $25 per month. I think
that's great. But you shouldn't charge me an extra $10 to keep the
same plan. You waived the charge to upgrade, reduced the charge for
unlimited but charge me $10 to stay the same? That must have been a
product management decision not one coming from sales department or
customer support folks.

Your company does a great job. Your service serves me particularly
well.  Most of my calls are local and only 200-300 minutes are out of
my local area each month. Why would you penalize your 500 minute
customers for keeping the same service.

I hope you will re-think this policy. If we were not fee conscious why
would we would we buy the 500 minute service in the first place? I'm
not saying I am going to change VoIP providers over $10 but it sure
irritates me and I'm not going to talk good about you for a long time.

[Sender's Note] If they don't charge me the $10, I'll sent it + to the 
Digest.

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Would you *please* send me whatever you
received *from Vonage* which stated you would be billed this ten
dollar fee?  I am on most -- I think -- Vonage mailing lists and I 
have not seen or heard of such an increase (or single time fee) to
users. If this in fact came from Vonage -- and that company is
victimized by game players just as E-Bay and Pay Pal are, someone
always wanting a response from netizens with card numbers, etc -- then
I will be in touch with Mr. Citron about the matter. But I do not believe
it is true.  PAT]

------------------------------

From: ocarmona@orasysit.com (Oscar)
Subject: How to Lower Volume on Panasonic  KX-T7453 ASAP Help!!
Date: 5 Oct 2004 06:36:38 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


HELP!! All I need is to know how to turn off the ringing or lower it
and turn it on and raise it for the Panasonic KX-T7453 phone system.

I don't want to spend so much money getting this done, please help!!
We need this ASAP.

------------------------------

From: info@bnug.org (Boston Network Users Group)
Subject: Boston: VoIP Technical Presentation
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 09:56:19 -0500
Organization: BNUG - http://www.bnug.org


Of possible interest to those of you located in the greater Boston
area:

                     BNUG: BOSTON NETWORK USERS GROUP
                   ------------------------------------
                         OCTOBER MONTHLY MEETING 

                     VOICE OVER I.P. (VoIP) NETWORKS
                   THE TECHNOLOGY OF INTERNET TELEPHONY
                

Join BNUG on Tuesday October 12 as we discuss the state-of-the-art
Voice over IP (VoIP) technologies and practices.  Our discussion will
begin with a brief overview of the current state of telephony, then
cover network transformation, concentrating on the latest technology
available to enable Voice over IP.  We'll cover technical
considerations when implementing VoIP solutions, including transport
protocols supporting VoIP today, data network preparedness, and voice
quality considerations.  The session will wrap up with a Q-and-A
session and live demonstrations of VoIP using Nortel Networks VoIP
equipment.

Whether you're new to this VoIP thing and want to learn what it's all
about, or you're an experienced VoIPer, you'll find this meeting
informative, exciting, and very useful.  VoIP is here to stay; come
learn about and see for yourself the state of the industry.

The meeting will be held starting at 6:30pm (for munchies/networking;
meeting at 7pm) on October 12, 2004 at Nortel Networks' 600 Technology
Park Drive, Billerica, MA office.  For directions, visit
http://www.bnug.org/nortel.htm.  The meeting is free and reservations
not necessary.


  Join us at Nortel Networks' office in at 600 Technology Park Drive in 
  Billerica, Massachusetts, just off Concord Road near the intersection 
  of Concord Road and Route 3.  Beginning at 6:30 PM, meet old friends 
  and make new ones over refreshments.  The meeting will start at 7:00 PM 
  and run no later than 9:00pm.

      For detailed directions, visit http://www.bnug.org/nortel.htm 
           The meeting is free and reservations not necessary.

              BNUG meets the second Tuesday of every month.  
      Our motto is "Free Stuff!"  And in that sprit, our meetings 
     and our membership dues are free -- and refreshments are served.  
     If you wish to join, are interested in more information, or need 
      directions to our meeting place, please visit our web site at: 

                         http://www.bnug.org/ 

The Greater Boston Network Users Group is a 501c(3) non profit
corporation run entirely by volunteers.  BNUG is dedicated to helping
members understand, use, and manage computer networks, large and
small.  BNUG has been serving network users and administrators in
Boston and New England for over 16 years.  Membership is and has
always been free.

------------------------------

Organization: Robert Bonomi Consulting
Subject: Re: Pennsylvania Railroad's Crew Communication System?
From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 12:36:04 +0000


TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response in article
<telecom23.466.8@telecom-digest.org>:

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: FYI, anyone interested, for many years,
> the Chicago Transit Authority handled their train to control tower
> commuications using 'telephones' which transmitted using the third rail
> of electrical power (I think third rail is 440 volts DC). I don't know
> if they still do, or not.   PAT]

It's all done on UHF now.  Motorola handi-talkies on the belt, with
the speaker-mike-antenna clipped at the shoulder, just like the cops
use.

The change-over was 10-15 years ago.

------------------------------

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock)
Subject: Re: Pennsylvania Railroad's Crew Communication System?
Date: 4 Oct 2004 18:43:23 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Howard S. Wharton <yhshowie@acsu.buffalo.edu> wrote 

> It operated on low band VHF and operated by air core transformer
> coupling rather then radiation.

Could someone elaborate what "air core transformer coupling" is
and how it differs from normal radio?
 
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: FYI, anyone interested, for many years,
> the Chicago Transit Authority handled their train to control tower
> commuications using 'telephones' which transmitted using the third rail
> of electrical power (I think third rail is 440 volts DC). I don't know
> if they still do, or not.   PAT]

Rapid transit systems typically use 600 volts DC and I'm pretty sure
the CTA did as well.  The CTA was unusual in that some of its L cars
had trolley poles on some branches (Skokie, Evanston?) though they're
converting to all third rail.

While I'm not familiar with the CTA communiation system, I suspect
it used the same basic principle "closed circuit" that the PRR
did.  The CTA used the third rail as a conductor for a carrier
frequency, sort of like how some college radio stations use 
building wiring as antenna.  Someone can explain this better.

The CTA was also unusual in that many of its lines did not have any
signal protection -- the motorman just made sure he could stop short
before the next train.  Over the years signals were added.  Despite
the presence of signals and safety auto-train stop, a train ran a
signal and hit the next train, causing them to fall off the L in a
devastating wreck.  Apparently the motorman overrode the auto stop
signal _and_ applied power for some unknown reason.

Other traditional subway-el lines use a "trip stop" which is a little
arm that sticks up next to the tracks.  If a train runs a red signal,
the arm catches a lever on the train cutting propulsion and applying
emergency brakes.  This is an old system but has worked extremely well
over the years.  Stops are also used as speed controls, keeping a
signal at red for a preset time to ensure a train isn't going too
fast.  The signals also test for a broken rail.

These old relay operated system are extremely safe--they are designed
to be fail safe so that any component failure results in a stop.  Even
the trip arms are spring mounted so they spring upward but need power
to hold them down.

The disadvtg of the relay systems is that they are expensive and labor
intensive to maintain.  An ice storm is rough on them causing lots of
false red signals, and trains must creep along to be sure they don't
hit anything or a broken rail.  The early computer systems, such as
BART discussed elsewhere, had lots of problems.  Finally computers are
reliable enough to operate safely in the rugged railroad world and
newer technologies are coming out.

The industry trade magazine "Railway Age" used to be full of hardware
articles and ads; now it has lots of software articles and ads.  Times
change.

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not know what CTA is doing now,
but when they ran with a combination of third-rail (most of the
system) and catenary (or overhead) wires (the Evanston branch and the
Skokie branch) the trains would pause just north (Evanston) of Howard
Street (or northwest of Howard on the Skokie line) and while one of
the two persons on duty left the train to raise (lower) the catenary
the other person on the train would announce the fare differential and
go passenger by passenger to collect the five cents due to continue
the trip. If the passenger had paid the full fare upon first boarding
the train, he would have a slip of paper called 'receipt for fare
paid' and he would hold it in the air as the collector came around,
otherwise he was expected to produce the five cents to give the
collector. By the time the collector had worked his way through the
entire train, the other guy had the catenary up or down and they were
ready to continue the trip.  The overhead wire portion of the trip
came from prior to CTA taking over that section of the track, which
they had inherited from the North Shore Railroad. North Shore,
although it did travel all the way to downtown Chicago, only owned
the tracks (or right of way) from Wilson Avenue north. South of
Wilson Avenue, the right of way was owned by Chicago Rapid Transit
Company. 

Although CTA  mostly used third-rail power, there were large areas
on the west/northwest side where the trains ran at ground level, and
crossed streets with gates and flashing lights, etc. Third-rail had
to be stopped at the street crossings; trains were expected to pick
up speed as necessary, then slow down and coast across the places
where there was no third-rail. Ordinarily, at least *some part* of
the train (first or last car of several cars) would be in contact
with third-rail somewhere until the train got past the street cross-
ing and could be *entirely* once again on third rail. Periodically, 
the entire train would be out of contact with third rail if the
motorman had incorrectly set his speed. The train would come to a 
complete halt in a station and (for lack of third rail contact could
not be started back up. The conductor had to get off the train and
take an insulated stick (essentially a pole that otherwise was used
to restablish the catenary) and touch it against the third rail 
next to the car closest to the third rail, then the motorman would
pull the train forward a couple feet as needed to establish contact 
with third rail again, wait for the conductor to get back on and
then leave the station. PAT]

------------------------------

From: Nick Landsberg <SPAMhukolauTRAP@SPAMworldnetTRAP.att.net>
Reply-To: SPAMhukolautTRAP@SPAMattTRAP.net
Subject: Re: Cascading Hubs (was Re: Voicepulse Disconnects Computers)
Organization: AT&T Worldnet
Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 01:39:55 GMT


Gordon S. Hlavenka wrote:

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Does anyone know how to patch two 
>> routers together if four holes is not enough?  Or is that even
>> possible?  PAT]

> You don't need two routers, all you need is one router plus a hub or
> switch.  Plug one of the four "holes" in the router into one of the
> holes on the hub, then plug additional devices in the other holes.

> Read the little booklet that comes with the hub as there are some 
> caveats about which holes you should use ("uplink," for instance) and 
> these may vary somewhat depending on whose hub you buy.  There are also 
> limits on how deep you can cascade hubs.

> Note that most routers incorporate "switches" which are different.
> You can cascade switches without getting into trouble, although
> latency accumulates as you stack them deeper.  In a SOHO environment
> you won't have anything to worry about, though.

> A hub works at the most basic level of connection (OSI layer 1) and so
> it is fast but usually less efficient.  A hub takes any data received
> on any port and immediately transmits it to all ports.  Whereas a
> switch operates on a higher level (OSI layer 2 or 3) and examines the
> data passing through it.  Switches connect ports on-the-fly based on
> MAC or IP addresses, and so they can allow much more efficient use of
> your LAN wiring.  But since they have to look at every packet to see
> where it goes, they can't transmit the packet until they've received
> and parsed a good chunk of it -- thus the latency.  Gamers generally
> prefer hubs (better ping times).

Yeah, what he said! :)

I have my primary machine plugged into the router and the other
machines plugged into a hub which is plugged into the router.  These
others don't do much internet duty (a couple of old iMacs and an
ancient Win95 box).  I got the hub back about 5-6 years ago to wire up
two of the Mac's and the Win95 box together, and, as I recall, it was
about 40 USD back then.  If you are patient, you can shop around on
the internet to see who's having the latest sale and get a really good
price, Pat.

> Gordon S. Hlavenka           http://www.crashelectronics.com
>            "If we imagined he could _find_ the car,
>         we could pretend it might be fixed." - Calvin

"It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so
ingenious" - A. Bloch

------------------------------

Date: 5 Oct 2004 02:14:12 -0000
From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
Subject: Re: Adding Ports to a Router
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Does anyone know how to patch two 
> routers together if four holes is not enough?  Or is that even
> possible?  PAT]

To add more ports you don't need another router, you need a hub or a
switch.  They're also cheap and available at the same place you get
routers.  They come in sizes anywhere from 4 to 16 ports.  Switches
have more total throughput than hubs but for your purposes the
difference is unlikely to matter.

Plug a short ethernet cable from one of the ports on the router into
the "uplink" port on the hub or switch and you're all set.

R's,

John

------------------------------

From: Isaiah Beard <sacredpoet@sacredpoet.com>
Subject: Re: Wrong Address For 911 Caller a Tragic Ordeal
Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 11:20:44 -0400


Tony P. wrote:

> Suction cup mounted antenna in the nearest southwest facing
> window. Put solar cells on the thing to keep it charged and hell, use
> bluetooth or 802.11 for it to transmit it's location.

> Not hard at all. 

I guess "hard" and "practical" don't go hand in hand.  Not every
office has a southwest facing window ... some larger office buildings
have interior offices and cubicle areas with no nearby windows at all.
And quite a few people will migrate from one location to another,
taking the VoIP phone with them (part of the allure of VoIP is that
the phone will work anywhere it can get internet connectivity of a
decent speed).  Will the average end user want to dismantle and
relocate a GPS unit with the phone?

Dave VanHorn wrote:

> Given that houses don't often move, why not go with a fixed IP, and
> tie the IP to the address (as it probably already is, in the billing
> records).

I'd have to say this is going to be unlikely for a number of reasons. 
Some broadband providers like the idea of being able to recycle unused 
IP addresses on short notice (DSL with PPPoE is a notorious example). 
And some carriers, such as Patriot Media, decided to build out their 
networks the quick-and-dirty way, using what amounts to NAT gateways for 
streets and whole city blocks and allocating private address space 
within that subnet.

It also runs counter to current trends, where even standard phone
numbers are starting to get divorced from their geographical regions.
The New York Times did a piece on this recently:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/01/nyregion/01code.html?oref=login


E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

------------------------------


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. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.

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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #470
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