From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Feb 4 13:51:09 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i14Ip9R05413; Wed, 4 Feb 2004 13:51:09 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 13:51:09 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402041851.i14Ip9R05413@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 #56 TELECOM Digest Wed, 4 Feb 2004 13:51:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 56 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson U.S. Cellular Reports Fourth Quarter Results (Monty Solomon) Terra Lycos and Network Associates Team Up to Provide Online (Solomon) Very Black 'Little Black Books' (Monty Solomon) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (McWebber) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Joey Lindstrom) Re: 450-434 Prefix? (Joey Lindstrom) Re: SIP IP PHones (BMN) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. (Justin Time) Re: Switch Verizon to Cavalier, Can't Get Through Some Places (K Abrams) Re: MTV Blames Janet Jackson for Super Bowl Incident (Roger) Re: MTV Blames Janet Jackson for Super Bowl Incident (S Falke) Re: Jackson, Timberlake Apologize for Flash (Joey Lindstrom) 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 is 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: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 08:04:47 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: U.S. Cellular Reports Fourth Quarter Results CHICAGO, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- United States Cellular Corporation (Amex: USM) reported service revenues of $620.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2003, up 8% from $575.4 million in the comparable period a year ago. The company recorded operating income of $24.3 million during the quarter, a decrease of $13.2 million, or 35%, from the fourth quarter of 2002. Operating expenses include a $22.3 million loss, primarily related to the assets to be sold to AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. (NYSE:AWE) ("AT&T Wireless") pursuant to the transaction announced in November 2003. The company recorded a net tax benefit in the quarter of $0.5 million, primarily due to the benefits of net operating losses, including losses related to the sale of the South Texas markets. Net income and basic earnings per share were $20.6 million and $.24, respectively compared to $14.6 million and $.17, respectively, in the comparable period one year ago. In the fourth quarter of 2002, the company recorded $16.5 million of pre-tax losses ($15.9 million net of $0.6 million of taxes) related to the writedown in value of certain investments. The company's operating results include operations, through July 31, 2003, of the markets that were part of an exchange of assets with AT&T Wireless that occurred in August 2003. The company's operating results include, and will continue to include through the transaction closing date, the operations of the markets that will be sold to AT&T Wireless pursuant to the transaction announced in November 2003. Fourth Quarter Highlights * Customer units totaled 4,409,000, a 7% increase from 4,103,000 customers one year earlier. * Net customer unit activations from distribution channels totaled 141,000 during the quarter, compared to 160,000 activations for the same quarter of 2002. Fourth quarter 2003 activity reflects the writeoff of 16,000 prepaid customers and 10,000 postpay customers based on a review of certain accounts. The 10,000 postpay customer writeoffs are included in the fourth quarter postpay churn calculation. * For the quarter, the company recorded postpay churn of 1.4%, which is favorable to industry averages and which is the company's lowest quarterly postpay churn rate since it began tracking the measure. * Average monthly retail service revenue per customer increased 3% year- over-year in the quarter to $39.68, compared to $38.69 in the same period a year ago. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40418206 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 09:58:14 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Terra Lycos and Network Associates(R) Team Up to Provide Online Terra Lycos and Network Associates(R) Team Up to Provide Online Security Protection for Consumers Terra Lycos Users to Benefit from McAfee(R) VirusScan(R) and McAfee(R) Personal Firewall Plus Services SANTA CLARA, Calif. and MADRID, Spain, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Network Associates, Inc. (NYSE:NET), the leading provider of intrusion prevention solutions and Terra Lycos (Nasdaq: TRLY; MC:TRR), the largest Internet access provider in Spain and Latin America, today announced an agreement to deliver Network Associates McAfee(R) VirusScan(R) and McAfee(R) Personal Firewall Plus protection to Terra Lycos' worldwide customer base. The services will be available in Spain and will roll out to Latin America and the U.S. later this year. After downloading the McAfee Security software, Terra Lycos customers will benefit from fully automatic and easy to use anti-virus and firewall protection. The agreement enables Terra Lycos customers to subscribe to Network Associates McAfee VirusScan and McAfee Personal Firewall Plus online services via the new Security Center on the Terra Lycos website, or as an add-on feature packaged with customers' existing access accounts. The monthly online subscription service enables products to be delivered directly to the desktop, giving the customer convenience and peace of mind that their PC will be protected through regular automatic updates. McAfee Security anti-virus and firewall protection will help to ensure Terra Lycos customers a secure Internet access even as new threats arise. After downloading the software, Terra Lycos customers will enjoy protection against attacks from hackers and online threats such as the recent "My Doom" virus which has been classified as the most virulent virus ever. Blaster and Love Bug are other viruses which have wreaked havoc amongst consumers, with the Love Bug infecting more than 40 million computers worldwide and resulting in billions of dollars in clean up costs. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40418433 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 23:40:40 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Very Black 'Little Black Books' Roger Clarke Abstract Technology and human ingenuity continue to pose new privacy challenges. During 2003, a new dot.com fashion arose from an odd amalgam of Rolodex address-books, e-communities and dating. Users of these services store personal data on a central server, which can be accessed by other people, and, potentially at least, exploited by the service-operator. There are privacy concerns, of a kind that has been analysed many times before. The new dimension that these services bring is that they entice users to disclose personal data about their friends, business contacts or acquaintances. That is a disturbing feature, and it requires careful analysis. http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/DV/ContactPITs.html ------------------------------ From: McWebber Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 01:14:59 -0500 TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to a message sent by Hank Karl in message news:telecom23.55.11@telecom-digest.org: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Since you mentioned Dell Support, let's > The people in the back seat reach out, grab the clerk and pull him > into the car and speed away. The clerk is shown now sitting in the > back seat, yelling frantically at the people saying, "Let me go! What > do you want from me?". The car driver turns around and says to the > folks in the back seat, "do not tell anyone about this." I thought he said, "Don't tell your mom about this." McWebber No email replies read If someone tells you to forward an email to all your friends please forget that I'm your friend. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Maybe so. You know there about ten or so different edited versions of most advertising messages on television. For example, the Advil commercial. One verion has a man limping up the sidewalk greeting his wife telling her the doctor has prescribed Advil. The other version has a woman and her husband getting out of bed in the morning; she is very stiff and sore, and tells her husband the doctor has prescribed the same thing, an Advil tablet before bedtime. At that point however the message takes a turn: In one version of both, the other partner looks shocked and says, but we have always taken Brand X (by name); the other partner dismisses that with, 'Yes, I know, but the doctor says ...' the other version of the very same commercial edits out that reference to Brand X and very smoothly continues telling the good things about Advil. I do not know if they were trying to save five seconds (times how many stations) on their advertising bill, or if the lawyers for Brand X got on their case. Same man and woman in each case. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 23:30:25 -0700 From: Joey Lindstrom Reply-To: Joey Lindstrom Organization: Telus Sucks! Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Tuesday, February 3, 2004, 10:54:19 PM, TELECOM Digest Editor noted: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Since you mentioned Dell Support, > let's chat about them for a minute. Has anyone seen that very funny > commmercial on television where a car load of people pull up to a > Radio Shack store just at closing time? The clerk is walking out, > and locking the door of the store when he sees this car full of > people looking at him and giggling. The clerk approaches the car > questioningly, and asks the people, "May I help you?" I've never seen a big-box Radio Shack store up here in Canada, do they have them south of the border? The store in the commercial is not a Radio Shack, but a "generic" big-box computer/electronics store. Think about it: had Dell used the Radio Shack trademark in this spot, they'd have been sued faster than Ruben Studdard through the front door at Krispy Kreme's when the Hot Light goes on. I don't recall anybody giggling at that point in the commercial, either. Speaking of commercials, why are we so hung up about this Janet Jackson thing? Why has nobody mentioned, or taken offense to, the Bud Lite "horse fart" commercial during the Super Bowl? For those that missed it, a guy and a girl are riding behind a horse, and he gives her a candle, then turns away for a moment, and during that moment, the horse lifts its tail, lets out a blast, and the resulting flame scorches his girlfriend. To me, that's FAR worse than Janet's boob. Who knew LaToya would turn out to be the "normal" one in that family? Joey Lindstrom Come see http://td-extra.interocitor.net [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess so, if you feel that exposing yourself on national TV is 'normal' behavior. Although I personally feel Michael is innocent in this latest affair, victimized by a very noisy mother, I also think he is just as goofy as she is. I do not watch much television, and certainly not the Super Bowl. Thanks for reminding me why not. I did not see either the horse incident or the instance of LaToya Jackson's indecent exposure, but I certainly am reading a lot about it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 23:15:19 -0700 From: Joey Lindstrom Reply-To: Joey Lindstrom Organization: Telus Sucks! Subject: Re: 450-434 Prefix? Tuesday, February 3, 2004, 10:54:19 PM, Dave Garland wrote: >> One of the calls appearing on a just-received AT&T bill says it was >> from "CANADA USA" > Oops. That wasn't supposed to be used until after the invasion had > begun. :) No, that can't be right, otherwise it would have said "USA, Canada". ;-) Don't make us come down there and burn down the White House again... :-) Joey Lindstrom Come see http://td-extra.interocitor.net ------------------------------ From: BMN Subject: Re: SIP IP PHones Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 05:12:37 -0500 Organization: Bell Sympatico Hard Phones: 3com? Aastra 480i SIP - coming Q2 '04 Expected $250 USD Arrayvox: SIP, MGCP, H.323 - $179 - $189 USD BCM - SIP, MGCP, H.323: HP180, HP300 D-Link - SIP phone, 1 line display (Russian site) farfon IAX Device coming Q104 Expected $100 USD Grandstream Budgetone - Approx $65 USD Cisco Phones - Approx $150 to $400 USD Clipcomm Phones SIP and H.323. incl PSTN jack and small NAT/router - Approx. $165 USD Inter-fone Innovaphone? - H.323 and ISDN website (cache) IPDialog Phones SIP - Approx $200 USD Microsoft Windows Messenger: SIP udp/tcp, for Windows XP, free Mitel Phones Ortena SIP Phones - Approx $100 - $120 Pingtel Phones Planet Phones H.323 incl PSTN jack - Approx 166 ? Euro (excl. VAT) Polycom Phones - Approx $250 - $450 USD QTelNet Phones Sayson Phones - makes some of the Aastra phones Siemens Phones OptiPoint 400 - Approx. 275 British pounds Snom Phones Linux based, with GSM codec - Approx $199 to $299 USD Suncomm Phones OEM of the Welltech and Planet handsets - Approx $120 USD SwissVoice H.323 or MGCP (SIP announced) - Approx. $149 USD / 140 ? Euro SysConfig ipDialog SipTone - see IPDialog above Telebau Phones H.323 with optional S0 gateway(s) (ISDN BRI) Telstrat IP Phone i2732? SCCP - Approx. $420 USD Virbiage Phones: SIP and IAX, includes also "open" codecs Welltech Phones LAN phone 301: SIP (no display); H.323 (incl. POTS): $100 USD Zultys phones 'ZIP 2': $100, 'ZIP 4x4': $350 (with SRTP/AES encryption) World Phone USB Plug & Play, h.323 protocol, dial up (as low as 8Kbs) to Broadband, operates behind routers and NAT, full duplex. $29.95/month-unlimited calling. Taken from www.voip-info.org, they also have lists of softphones and WLAN phones. Cheers, Brett George Muenz wrote in message news:telecom23.55.10@telecom-digest.org: > Hi: We are looking to implement the Asterisk System. Looking at a few > handset vendors as well. > Would apprecaite any feedback or comments on these as well as if you > know any vendors who can supply this cheap, or resources where they > can be searched. > Handsets > Polycom SoundPoint IP 600 SIP > Zultys ZIP 4x4 > Snom Snom200 VoIP phone > ipDialog SipTone Ethernet > Thanks, > George Muenz ------------------------------ From: a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) Subject: Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading away in U.S. Date: 4 Feb 2004 06:33:07 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Phil McKerracher wrote in message news:: > Joseph wrote in message > news:telecom23.54.5@telecom-digest.org: >> ... Color phones are many >> times useless outside as the screen gets washed out in bright light >> where a regular monochrome handset you can still see what's in the >> display... > Unless the screen is "transreflective" as on the O2 xda, which I > have found surprisingly good, even in bright sunlight (Australian > summer). >> ... Polyphonic ringtones may sound somewhat cool, but if you can't >> hear them in a noisy environment they are also useless... >> True, but a well chosen one (e.g. spanning a range of frequencies) >> can actually be more audible than a monophonic one. They also >> avoid confusion about whose phone is ringing. >> Believe it or not some people want a mobile phone that they can >> actually make and receive calls on ... easily. Again, I've found >> it very convenient to have all my Outlook contacts in the xda, >> dialable with a single tap on the number. >> It's going to be many years if never that cell phones supplant >> personal computers as a way to communicate data. Hmm. Again, my >> xda is very useful for sending and receiving e-mail on the move. I >> have used it recently to e-mail diagnostic oscilloscope traces from >> a lab, to retrieve a streetmap of my current location from a car >> and to find a timetable for buses from Heathrow. It's MUCH more >> convenient to carry than a laptop, and the battery lasts all day. >> It hasn't "supplanted" my PC because I prefer to use that when >> I'm at > home, but I wouldn't be without it when I'm on the >> move. That's not to say it's perfect - it crashes regularly for a >> start - but I think the principle is good. The "gimmicks" of a >> camera and other new features in cell phones aren't used by the >> vast majority of cell phone users. The devices are becoming so >> complicated that many business people don't have time to fool with >> them. They want something they can pick up, store numbers into and >> then use the device to make calls with. They don't want to have to >> jump through hoops and remember to put the device into a cradle to >> sync it with their e-mail, calendar or other functions on the >> computer - and contrary to popular opinion, most sales people would >> rather write things in an day timer type of journal rather than >> rely on an electronic device. You can put more write more >> information on a page than you can enter into a PDA in the same >> amount of time. By the time you dig through your carry case to pull out the keyboard, unfold it, attach the PDA -- and then find the device won't balance on your knees, the meeting is over and you have no notes. Your fancy $500 PDA with built-in phone, is now as useful as a brick. And who wants to hold one of those things up to your ear and try to make a phone call? My Nokia 8260 still runs fine and does everything I need it to do, and my portfolio with notepad takes all the notes I need along with holding much more information than any PDA. Rodgers Platt ------------------------------ From: Ken Abrams Subject: Re: Switch Verizon to Cavalier, Can't Get Through From Some Places Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 14:50:48 GMT TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to John : > Or maybe the school is on Verizon. You said 'I have many people > call me and there is no problem with Cavalier.' No, there probably > isn't any problem with Cavalier. I would suggest the problem is with > Verizon. My bet is: The school's phone works out of the same switch as John's home phone. Calls placed from that switch are the only ones that fail. Because: Calls from any other switch are routed based upon a query to a common data base. They seem to work. Calls from within the home switch will NOT query the common database unless the number record in that switch says to make that query. It appears that the number record in his home Verizon switch was not updated properly. ------------------------------ From: electroknot@yahoo.com (roger) Subject: Re: MTV Blames Janet Jackson for Super Bowl Incident Date: 4 Feb 2004 09:06:43 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Janet shouldn't even be at the stupid bowl. And, stupid bowl sucked this year. Two teams no one cares about ... http://www.twelvefifteen.com ------------------------------ From: s falke Subject: Re: MTV Blames Janet Jackson for Super Bowl Incident Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 18:27:17 GMT > NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Singer Janet Jackson masterminded the > Super Bowl halftime stunt that left her right breast exposed and > prompted a federal probe into television indecency, the head of MTV > said on Tuesday. MTV taking a prudish stance? Imagine that. It was cheap duct tape. --s falke ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 23:09:53 -0700 From: Joey Lindstrom Reply-To: Joey Lindstrom Organization: Telus Sucks! Subject: Re: Jackson, Timberlake Apologize for Flash Tuesday, February 3, 2004, 10:54:19 PM, Monty wrote: > NEW YORK (AP) -- CBS, MTV, the NFL, Janet Jackson and Justin > Timberlake all say they're sorry _ but none of that is deterring the > federal government from looking into the Super Bowl's too-revealing > halftime show. And she wore that throwing star on her nipple because it's comfy. :-) Joey Lindstrom Come see http://td-extra.interocitor.net ------------------------------ 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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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 #56 *****************************