From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Nov 23 20:16:32 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id iAO1GWQ18608; Tue, 23 Nov 2004 20:16:32 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 20:16:32 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200411240116.iAO1GWQ18608@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 #564 TELECOM Digest Tue, 23 Nov 2004 20:16:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 564 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update (Canada) #458, November 22, 2004 (Angus TeleManagement) Virgin Mobile USA May Seek IPO (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Verizon Fios and Its Effect on v.90 Modems? (Charles W Green Jr) Re: Anyone Having any Luck With Google Ads? (DevilsPGD) Re: What Wal-Mart Knows About Customers' Habits (DevilsPGD) 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, 23 Nov 2004 16:51:42 -0500 From: Angus TeleManagement Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #458, November 22, 2004 ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 458: November 22, 2004 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/en/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/ ** SPRINT CANADA: www.sprint.ca ** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/ ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Bell and Call-Net Complete 360 Deal ** City Fido Launched in Montreal ** Telus to Buy Video Conferencing Firm ** Bell Files Centrex III Rate Increases ** ExpressVu Wins Inside Wire Dispute ** Rogers Offers Consumer-Focused BlackBerry ** Change in Satellite Use Policy Proposed ** CRTC Okays Bell TV Application ** Survey Reports Local Competition Growth ** International VoIP Traffic Growth Slows ** Rogers Removes 4-1-1 Fee for Visually Impaired ** Total Telcom Forms Last-Mile Venture ** IWAY Awards Announced ** Chris Tacit to Join Cybersurf ** Opening Up Wi-Fi to Guests and Customers ============================================================ BELL AND CALL-NET COMPLETE 360 DEAL: Bell Canada has completed its acquisition of the Canadian operations of 360networks and Group Telecom, for C$275 million. As part of the transaction, Call-Net Enterprises purchased 360's retail customer contracts in central and eastern Canada from Bell for about $15 million, to be paid over two years. (See Telecom Update #435) ** Call-Net is also paying $2.3 million for an option to acquire 360's local network facilities, including access to over 1,000 buildings. ** Bell will retain the Group Telecom brand name in western Canada; the business will be headed by Bell's Mark Hanlon, who has been appointed COO. CITY FIDO LAUNCHED IN MONTREAL: Microcell's new Rogers-appointed management has launched City Fido in greater Montreal, providing unlimited local wireless calls for $45/month. ** Rogers plans to apply a $6.95/month "system access fee" on new City Fido accounts, and to increase out-of-region roaming charges from 20 to 30 cents/minute. TELUS TO BUY VIDEO CONFERENCING FIRM: Telus has agreed to acquire Toronto-based Adcom, video conferencing company with 84 employees and 2004 sales of $24.7 million. BELL FILES CENTREX III RATE INCREASES: In Tariff Notice 6839, Bell Canada proposes to increase rates for Centrex Microlink Access and Data Locals in January, and to eliminate multi- year term discounts as current contracts expire. The changes are intended "to encourage customers to migrate towards new [IP-based] services." www.crtc.gc.ca/8740/eng/2004/B2.htm#200412560 EXPRESSVU WINS INSIDE WIRE DISPUTE: In response to a complaint by ExpressVu, the CRTC has ruled that Rogers Cable must allow competitors to lease its inside wire in apartment buildings for 52 cents/subscriber/month, instead of requiring building owners to buy back the inside wire if a competitor begins offering service in the building. ** Two commissioners dissented. Barbara Cram says that the 52 cent fee may be too low for use of wire in new buildings. Stuart Langford says the Commission should not interfere in building owners' contracts. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/db2004-494.htm ROGERS OFFERS CONSUMER-FOCUSED BLACKBERRY: Rogers Wireless has begun selling the BlackBerry 7100r, which provides e- mail, voice, web, and organizer functions in a phone-like design. Price: $399 with a three-year contract. CHANGE IN SATELLITE USE POLICY PROPOSED: Industry Canada requests comment by November 29 on a proposal to allow satellite radio services to broadcast Canadian programs in Canada using U.S. satellites. http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/en/sf08253e.html CRTC OKAYS BELL TV APPLICATION: The CRTC has approved Bell Canada's application to distribute television programming using DSL in Ontario (Toronto, Hamilton/Niagara, Oshawa, Kitchener, London, Windsor, and Ottawa) and Quebec (Montreal, Gatineau, Sherbrooke, and Quebec City). Bell has two years to launch the service. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/db2004-496.htm SURVEY REPORTS LOCAL COMPETITION GROWTH: The 2004 edition of NBI/Michael Sone Associates' report on Canadian Local Telecom Services, just released, says that: ** Competitors now have more than 20% of the business lines in London, Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener, Windsor, and Quebec City. ** Competitors have 5%-7% of the residential lines in London, Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, and Oshawa, and nearly 30% in Halifax. www.nbicanada.com/reports.html INTERNATIONAL VoIP TRAFFIC GROWTH SLOWS: TeleGeography reports that the yearly growth rate of international Voice over IP traffic was 23% in 2003 and will be about 40% in 2004, a decline from the 80% annual growth rate of previous years. VoIP now accounts for 11% of international calls. www.telegeography.com ROGERS REMOVES 4-1-1 FEE FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED: Rogers Wireless has made directory assistance service available without charge to customers who are blind or visually impaired. The service normally costs $1.25/call. TOTAL TELCOM FORMS LAST-MILE VENTURE: Total Telcom, an Alberta-based fibre provider, has joined with Winnipeg-based WiBand Communications to form QC-Networks, which will provide fibre and wireless-based last-mile connectivity across Alberta. ** Total Telcom had sales for the year ended June 30 of $12.9 million, compared to $3.6 million the previous year. Net income rose 51% to $1.7 million. IWAY AWARDS ANNOUNCED: CANARIE's Ninth Annual IWAY Awards will be presented at a gala celebration in Halifax tonight. This year's winners are: ** Adaptive Technology: Pierre Dumouchel, CRIM ** Application of Technology: Adam Froman, Delvinia Interactive ** Community Service: Karen Keppler, Smart Partners of Manitoba ** New Technology Development: Andre Charbonneau & Gabriel Mateescu, National Research Council ** Public Leadership: Brian Unger, iCore CHRIS TACIT TO JOIN CYBERSURF: Well-known regulatory lawyer Chris Tacit is leaving Nelligan O'Brien Payne. He will join ISP Cybersurf Corp. as Vice-President Law and General Counsel in January. OPENING UP WI-FI TO GUESTS AND CUSTOMERS: The November-December issue of Telemanagement analyzes initiatives by Canadian organizations to make their Wi-Fi networks available to non-employees with no loss of security. Also in this issue: ** Reinventing Telecom Management-Again ** Avaya and Mitel: Two Strategies for IP Success ** IP Shakes Up Health Care Network These reports are available to Telemanagement subscribers only. To subscribe today, call 1-800-263-4415 ext 500 or go to www.angustel.ca/teleman/tm-sub-online.html. ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-MAIL: editors@angustel.ca FAX: 905-686-2655 MAIL: TELECOM UPDATE Angus TeleManagement Group 8 Old Kingston Road Ajax, Ontario Canada L1T 2Z7 =========================================================== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE) TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two formats available: 1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web on the first business day of the week at www.angustel.ca 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave subject line and message area blank. We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail addresses to any third party. For more information, see www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html. =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2004 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone 905-686-5050 ext 500. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 12:52:55 EST From: Telecom DailyLead From USTA Subject: Virgin Mobile USA May Seek IPO http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=17700&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Virgin Mobile USA may seek IPO BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Report: Carrier VoIP revenues soar * SBC's Whitacre talks video * Internet changing telcos' Yellow Pages business USTA SPOTLIGHT * Telecom Basics, 3rd Edition, is Now Available EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Special Report: The state of television technology REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Adelstein wins Senate confirmation * Citywide Wi-Fi faces opposition http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=17700&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: CharlesWGreenJr@NetScape.Net Subject: Verizon Fios and its Effect on v.90 Modems? Date: 23 Nov 2004 11:30:11 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com It looks like we'll soon be getting Verizon's fiber-to-the-premises on our street, so I can give up my Adelphia cable modem. In reading about other people's experiences, however, a thought has occurred to me: It is sometimes necessary for me to dial up via modem when my home broadband connection doesn't work, or there are VPN issues between my laptop and the workplace. It's my understanding that when people opt to have the fiber broadband brought to their house, it *replaces* the existing copper pairs which are currently serving my analog phone - a box is mounted outside the house, the fiber goes in, and broadband and phone connections come out and go into the house. (Somewhere in there, power and backup battery from the homeowner come into play as well.) I understand that v.90 gets its high-speed inbound capability when there is a pure digital path from the remote / server "modem" end all the way to a single D/A converter which serves the analog feed to the house. The shorter and cleaner the analog end, the better the modem does. And if there's another A/D - D/A stage in between, the v.90 "magic" is lost. Does anyone know whether FTTP, at least for Verizon, means that the phone connection can now be pure digital all the way to my house, or is some sort of conversion performed on the signal before it gets to the neighborhood which might wreak havoc with v.90? Thanks, Charles Green ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Anyone Having any Luck With Google Ads? Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 16:36:29 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com In message Michael A. Covington wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have not had very good luck with them > to date. They seem to undercount hits to my various pages (based on my > examination of my logs) and some days they cannot come up with any > good ads at all. According to their figures, I am getting about 1.2 % > rate of impressions to clicks, but most people seem to get a lot > more. PAT] As I understand it, Google ads require JavaScript to load. Every user that hits your site without JavaScript, or with some adblocking technology in place will count as a hit as far as you're concerned, but not as far as Google is concerned. A fool and his money are soon popular. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is true. Google does use JavaScript. But Google would have no way of knowing what the user did or did not have on his computer until it was time for the javascript to be executed, and by then the hit would already have been counted, wouldn't it? PAT] ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: What Wal-Mart Knows About Customers' Habits Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 16:36:28 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com In message bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote: > There are *very* limited ways for a cashier to themselves steal cash > money 'from the store', and approximately _one_ way to steal from the > customers, with 'computerized' registers. > Doing multiple charges against a card is simply *not* one of them. > The audit trail catches it at the end-of-shift, or over-night, at > worst. And the records point directly to the perp. Sure. However, since the customer can request cash back it's another way to steal. The cashier fakes problems scanning an item, punches in the amount manually as cash, and gives the customer the item. The customer isn't over charged, so has no reason to complain. The cashier's till is now over -- Now she just needs to grab the cash at some point during the transaction. > If the card never leaves your hand, they are correct. it could *not* > happened via multiple swipes. *Unless* _you_ did it, in which case > it =is= valid multiple charges. :) With a credit card, you just call the company and reverse the charges -- Unless Walmart can show multiple signatures you get your money back. With debit you can let the rep swipe the card as many times as you want, as long as you only enter your PIN once. After entering your PIN, unless the store can produce a receipt which shows you were not charged, you should assume you were billed. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are generally correct as far as the > plastic never leaving my hands. At the bank of cash registers, there > is an LED screen facing the cashier and a side facing the > customer. The side facing me had a place to slide your card, and a > keypad to enter your PIN as needed. The cashier slides your item > across a glass thing which examines it and reads the bar code, the the > register makes a 'ping' noise and the display screen says what the > item was and how much it costs. If the register does not make its > 'ping noise' they slide it over the glass again until the register > *does* ping. If it never will ping (I have seen that happen, then the > cashier manually enters the price on the keypad on that side, But they > work so rapidly I cannot keep up with them. With a debit card if you > want cash back, you tell the cashier and that amount is added to the > total you paid, and it is treated like amount due, total tendered > (sale plus cash back) and change due (amount of the cash back). Bob > Donaldson told me once that each cashier has to check their money box > out of the office when they start their shift. To prevent the fraud I described above, Walmarts around here cannot give you cash back from a debit card unless the customer requests it using the keypad. A fool and his money are soon popular. ------------------------------ 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 #564 ******************************