From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Oct 19 00:37:35 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9J4bYI29888; Tue, 19 Oct 2004 00:37:35 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 00:37:35 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410190437.i9J4bYI29888@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 #498 TELECOM Digest Tue, 19 Oct 2004 00:38:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 498 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Comcast Launches First Broadband Internet Channel Built (Monty Solomon) Comcast Presents Election 2004 ON DEMAND Featuring Colorado (M Solomon) VoIP, IVR and Text to Speech, looking for ideas (Mail Ias) Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! A Nice Place to Work) (L Hancock) Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! A Nice Place to Work) (John Mayson) Re: XM Radio; One in Car, One in Home; Same Subscription (Isaiah Beard) Re: Can't Move 800 Number to Vonage (DevilsPGD) Re: Vonage Upgrades Local Unlimited Calling Plan to Premium (DevilsPGD) Re: Cellphone Industry Turns to Unmined Territory: Seniors (kansasman) Re: DISH Network Viewers to Receive Unique Election Coverage (L Hancock) Re: Radio Questions (John Mayson) 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: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 18:21:14 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Comcast Launches First Broadband Internet Channel Built Comcast Launches First Broadband Internet Channel Built Specifically for Kids Channel launches with premium content from Disney Online PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), the nation's leading broadband Internet provider, today announced the launch of the Comcast Kids Channel, a safe interactive environment designed for today's broadband family. The channel launches with premier content from Disney Online. Specifically, Comcast is featuring Disney Connection, a collection of Disney broadband entertainment for kids. It includes a regularly updated slate of games, activities and video, as well as select access to two premium offerings: Disney's Blast, an ad-free online entertainment service for kids ages 3-10, and Disney's Toontown Online, the first massively multiplayer Internet game designed specifically for kids and families. In addition, the new Digital Showcase provides videos from Disney each week, including cartoon shorts, music videos and movie trailers. Additional Disney video content is available in The Fan(TM), Comcast's innovative multimedia broadband player, providing more fun and educational information geared for kids. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=44330752 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 18:23:33 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Comcast Presents Election 2004 ON DEMAND Featuring Colorado PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Comcast announced today that the Company is showcasing the race for U.S. Senate in the state of Colorado on Comcast ON DEMAND, Comcast's Video on Demand (VOD) service. "Candidates on Demand" is an innovative pilot initiative that will use new television technology to enable Colorado voters to learn more about issues of importance in the election featuring Republican Pete Coors and Democrat Ken Salazar. Comcast customers in Colorado with VOD will be able to watch each candidate's response to seven major policy questions any time they want, as well as pause, stop, rewind, and fast forward the candidates' responses. Both candidates will have approximately three minutes each to individually address topics including education, health care, the economy, Social Security and homeland security. These policy statements will be available any time between the afternoon of October 19th and November 1st. This public service initiative reflects Comcast's commitment to the communities it serves. Comcast's VOD service is provided to Comcast Digital Cable customers at no additional charge, and is being rapidly rolled out across Colorado. To date, Comcast provides VOD service to approximately 215,000 customers in Colorado. Comcast is also making the Candidates on Demand content available to Bresnan Communications for the cable operator to distribute to their VOD customers in Colorado. Bresnan has 11,000 VOD customers, bringing the combined total distribution in Colorado to 226,000. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=44336631 ------------------------------ From: mailias@yahoo.com (Mail Ias) Subject: VoIP, IVR and Text to Speech, looking for ideas Organization: Insight Broadband Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 02:57:55 GMT I've been asked to help gather information about a building a VoIP based IVR application with Text to Speech capabilities. What makes this system unique and cutting edge is the use of VoIP. The hardware would be based in a data center with good backbone connectivity to the Internet. Calls would come from many different cities around the country. Callers would call a local VoIP number provided by a company like Vonage. Therefore callers would pay no toll charges, nor would the provider of the IVR system (other than VoIP charges where applicable). The underlying goal is to have a system where you can process as many calls as bandwith allows without toll charges. Also, the need for expensive telephony hardware from the likes of Dialogic and others would not be needed along with the difficulty of scaling the exact number of hardware ports via POTS, T1 or other connections to the board. To increase call handling capacity you could add more powerful processors, more processors or more servers. What's needed: 1) A service provider that is in many cities nationwide that could provide the VoIP service. Vonage is out because you have to terminate on their hardware only, not a server. Plus their usage policy doesn't allow this. 2) A software-only server platform that can process the incoming VoIP traffic through an ethernet card on an Intel standard PC server. If not possible to do through just software I suppose a DSP based card or cards is needed 3) Text to Speech and IVR software A quick guess of initial call volume might be about 200,000 minutes per month. Of course the ability to scale that to much higher volumes is desireable and probable. Also, consider that this system is needed by a very small entrepreneurial company, not a Fortune 500 with deep pockets. Any and all ideas or comments are welcomed. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! A Nice Place to Work!) Date: 18 Oct 2004 16:00:57 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com joel@exc.com (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) wrote: > The short version is that the U.S.'s lack of a strong rail > infrastructure is, in fact, by design. Detroit auto manufacturers and > the truck-driver unions combined to dismantle the rail network that > existed in this country and to pour money into building motorways > instead of railways. The result is that we have great highways in the > U.S. and not nearly as much rail as we used to (and terrible train > service on what's left). The book, "The Palace Guard" about the Nixon Administration, documents the pressure the above mentioned groups put on to fight Amtrak's creation. DOT Secretary Volpe was disliked because of his contribution toward Amtrak's creation. From the 1930s to 1950s, a consortum led by General Motors and tire and oil interests bought out city street railways and converted them to buses supplied by the consortum. This was not the only reason cities lost their streetcars, but it was a significant contributor and accelerated the loss. As to communications, when Amtrak took over the former Pennsylvania Railroad lines, it had to replace a 50 y/o telecommuniations network. It was advanced for the 1930s, but obsolete in the 1980s. Amtrak gave an LD carrier the right to bury fibre-optic along its right of way in return for free channels. For the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak installed two state of the art control centers in Philadelphia and New York. Dispatchers have computer screens that pinpoint the location of all trains and switch settings over the entire NEC railroad. Previously, control towers were required every few miles and had to manned around the clock, with instructions relayed back and forth between each tower and a central dispatcher. Amtrak never gets credit for these installations. In contrast, the FAA has been very slow to upgrade its 1960s computer systems for air traffic control and has had troubles in trial installations. Freight railroads have also installed such high-tech centers, however, they have just one serving a huge part of the country. (CSX has theirs in Jacksonville FL serving the whole eastern half of the U.S.) I think too much centralization is bad. For instance, when hurricanes strike FL and CSX has to evaccuate its Jacksonville dispatchers, the entire railroad shuts down. It's not right for trains in NY State to cease and block tracks for something going on in Florida. ------------------------------ From: John Mayson Subject: Re: AMTRAK (was Re: Last, Sad Laugh! A Nice Place to Work!) Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 02:44:46 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com > It is also the easiest way to move up and down the Eastern Corridor. I > took the Metroliner between DC and Newark a couple times shortly after > 9/11. For that distance it is about as fast, and less expensive, than > flying, if you are going to the city center. A day trip is easily > doable, if a bit of a long day. It strikes me that one of our biggest > voluntary economic disadvantages is our failure to maintain and > improve a strong rail infrastructure. If it provided such an economic advantage then private companies would be chomping at the bit to set up commuter rail service. > I'm sure you can find the full story on-line without much trouble. > The short version is that the U.S.'s lack of a strong rail > infrastructure is, in fact, by design. Detroit auto manufacturers and > the truck-driver unions combined to dismantle the rail network that > existed in this country and to pour money into building motorways > instead of railways. The result is that we have great highways in the > U.S. and not nearly as much rail as we used to (and terrible train > service on what's left). This isn't the sole cause, but there is something else contributing the decline of rail. Around 1906 or so the US government passed stringent regulations concerning the transport of cattle and hogs by rail. At the time no one used trucks (were they even invented?). Rail operators had to provide for the animals' comfort which meant feeding them, giving them water, a place to sleep, and heat. This was quite expensive to the cattle industry and intended to improve animal welfare. These laws are still on the books today, but they apply only to rail, not truck. So guess which mode of transportation the cattle and hog industry uses today? John Mayson Austin, Texas, USA ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: XM Radio; One Roady in Car, One in Home; Same Subscription Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 15:58:11 -0400 Tom Williams wrote: > I have XM service, using it in car to avoid having to carry roady back > and forth to home, thinking of getting used second roady unit for use > in home. > Is it possible to have second unit on in home, on same one > subscription? At no additional cost? If not, how much to have second > subscription for home use? A second XM radio subscription is $6.99 per month. Another possibility, if you have broadband, is XM Radio Online which was just launched. That service is $3.99 a month for current XM radio subscribers, and you don't have to buy a second radio. You just login using a broadband connection and all of the music channels are streamed over the 'net to your computer. The drawback to XM Radio Online is that it only includes the music channels, comedy channels and (for the month of October only) channel 202. The Traffic and Weather channels, CNN/MSNBC and other talk channels are only broadcast over the air. The website is http://listen.xmradio.com , and as part of their launch, they're offering a free 3-day trial (with no credit card required to try it). E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Can't Move 800 Number to Vonage Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 21:08:14 -0600 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Fred Atkinson: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Exactly *what reason* did Vonage give > for not being able/willing to move it? So you have a loyalty to that > number instead of taking the Vonage $4.99 per month with a hundred > minutes included? Judith Oppenheimer is our 800 expert here, maybe > she can explain what's going on. PAT] Vonage simply isn't prepared to handle the paperwork or hassles of moving a tollfree. It's significantly more complex then LNP, and there is a (relatively) low demand for this service. ... or so I was told when I inquired (and I made it up the food chain slightly before giving up.) Tim@Backhome.org wrote: > Sort of like Pat says, you can get the present administrator of your > 800 number to re-route it to your Vonage number. That doesn't involve > Vonage at all. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But, as Fred pointed out later in a > reply to the Digest, he has to pay for calls to his 800 number (no > matter where it terminates) *and* he has to py for the minutes of > usage on his Vonage line. He was hoping to combine the two sets of > charges by having Vonage handle both parts of his service. PAT] Vonage doesn't bill for incoming calls, so I'm not seeing this as a problem. Fred Atkinson wrote: > Well, maybe now that we are discussing it, they will rethink > their approach. Whatever happened to 'The customer is always right'? Customers got dumber. Much dumber. And sometimes I park, in handicapped spaces, While handicapped people, make handicapped faces! -- Denis Leary ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Vonage Upgrades Local Unlimited Calling Plan to Premium Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 21:06:11 -0600 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com John R. Covert wrote: > Speaking of overlays, Vonage is but should not be allowing seven > digit dialing if the assigned area code has an overlay. There is a > firm rule in the NANP that when there is an overlay, the area code > MUST be dialed. The reason for this is to make the "traditional" > area code in no way "preferable" to the overlay area code, as well > as to make sure that people don't publish seven digit numbers in > an area where you can't call up and say "What's the area code for > ?" It's worth noting that there is no "advantage" to the traditional area code once both area codes are established the way Vonage implemented 7 digit dialing -- You don't go to the traditional area code, Vonage assumes your area code. The reason is probably very simply: They were probably too lazy to figure out which area codes have overlays and which do not (and to deploy different ATA programming depending on the overlay status) And sometimes I park, in handicapped spaces, While handicapped people, make handicapped faces! -- Denis Leary ------------------------------ From: dog4dogg@yahoo.com (kansasman) Subject: Re: Cellphone Industry Turns to Unmined Territory: Seniors Date: 18 Oct 2004 14:41:44 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com David Clayton wrote in message news:: > dog4dogg@yahoo.com (kansasman) contributed the following: >> Marcus Didius Falco wrote in message >> news:: >>> From the New York Times -- >>> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/technology/11cell.html?oref=login >>> By MATT RICHTEL >>> Having equipped most adults and half of all teenagers with cellphones, >>> the mobile phone industry is turning its attention to the last >>> untapped demographic -- people over 65. >>> But its dreams of collecting monthly subscription fees from >>> grandparents talking to their grandchildren, retirees calling friends >>> from their recreational vehicles or patients checking in with their >>> doctors may exact a hefty and unexpected price. The mobile phone >>> industry has roused the interest of AARP, the powerful lobby and >>> advocacy group for older Americans. >>> And AARP is not happy with what it has heard from its members: >>> complaints about incomprehensible service contracts, confusing bills >>> and dead zones that are not clearly marked on coverage maps. They are >>> the same concerns that have been expressed for years by other consumer >>> advocates, who now have a new champion in the 35-million-member AARP. > And here's me thinking that the major obstacle for just about anyone > over 45 for using mobile phones more often is the bloody user > interface! > Just ask an "older" person how easy it is to use a tiny keyboard and > read a display full of data, both obviously designed for sharp-eyed > teenagers. > Making phones smaller and smaller is great for carrying them about, > but there comes a point when their "usability" for a fair segment of > the population is compromised. > Regards, > David Clayton, e-mail: dcstar@XYZ.myrealbox.com > Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. > (Remove the "XYZ." to reply) > Dilbert's words of wisdom #18: Never argue with an idiot. They drag > you down to their level then beat you with experience. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What you say is true if you intend to > use the phone for more than making telephone calls. For its original > and intended purpose -- making phone calls -- small is okay with me, > and I am an older person. And although I really love typing with my > thumb (three taps to make a letter /c/ for example), I strongly dislike > writing lengthy editor's notes or otherwise writing email, so I > very seldom use that wonderful feature of my cell phone, nor the use > of the cell phone to read web pages. PAT] You are right about non-user friendly cell phones for people with poor eye sight. It can be a problem. I know that aarp has an advice page for folks looking to buy cell phones, including the various cell plans, but perhaps you might want to voice your concerns with them to let more people know that accurately reading cell phones is a major concern. Here is the site: http://www.aarp.org/money/consumerprotection/telephones/Articles/a2002-10-04-UtilitiesCellPhones.html I agree with you that seniors who may be vision or hearing impaired may need special phones. Thanks for your input. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: DISH Network Viewers to Receive Unique Election Coverage Date: 18 Oct 2004 15:43:08 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Monty Solomon wrote > DISH Network Viewers to Receive Unique Election Coverage from Six > Networks on One TV Channel; Viewers Can 'Vote' For Favorite > Candidate in Special Cell Phone Poll > - Oct 18, 2004 06:00 AM (BusinessWire) While a few news junkies might find this entertaining, IMHO there is no real true news value to this sort of thing. Indeed, much of the reporting of the all-news cable is worthless. Let me emphasize that "news" is NOT raw facts or figures given by a reporter on the scene. That is just raw information that in itself is meaningless, and the cable news networks spend much time giving out only this raw data. Raw data becomes news after it is combined, reviewed, analyazed, and brought together. Context is vital. For example: a news report that six people were found dead in one day in an apartment complex sounds very bad. However, if it is added to the report that all six were very sick with terminal illnesses, it isn't that bad. "Six people dead" is only raw data. Adding context that they previously very sick changes the meaning substantially. In election reports, returns from individual districts are meaningless until many districts are in. Some districts are very partisan and not an indicator of any trends. ------------------------------ From: John Mayson Subject: Re: Radio Questions Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 02:53:52 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I believe it was in Pittsburgh, PA > in 1921. Unlike the rules today, where 'W' is east of the Mississippi > River, and 'K' stations are to the west of the same river, the station > in Pittsburgh was K-something, but I have forgotten its call sign > for sure. Another early station, perhaps the second, was WBBM in > Chicago, which began as a ham/shortwave station several years earlier > in Joliet, Illinois, but it became an *official* broadcasting station > when its owner got his license from the Federal Radio Commission (the > precursor to the present time FCC) to use the call sign WBBM and moved > his operation to the Broadmoor Hotel on the north side of Chicago, > also in 1921. PAT] You're thinking of KDKA. IIRC, there's some controversy about whether they were the first radio station in this country. Callsigns came to us from the maritime world. Back when ships used CW (Morse code) to communicate, sending "Portsmouth this is the USS John Hancock" was a little unwieldy, so much of the world adopted callsigns. Ever wonder how the US ended up with W and K (we also have N and part of the A series too)? We were late. Much of the world adopted callsigns before we did, so Great Britain got "G", the Commonwealth ended up with "V" for Queen Victoria, Germany got "D", France got "F", etc. We had to take what was left. Originally coastal stations on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico got "W" callsigns and Pacific stations got "K". When we started assigning callsigns to broadcast stations some Texas stations like WFAA and WOAI ended up with W's. Pittsburgh's KDKW and Philly's KYW were allowed to keep their pre-existing callsigns. The government quickly redrew the line along the Mississippi because the more populous east was eating up too many "W" callsigns. I only know of one exception to the Mississippi rule. The FCC allowed a Waco, TX TV station (and possibly radio) to adopt WACO. John Mayson Austin, Texas, USA ------------------------------ 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. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. 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 #498 ******************************