From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Nov 29 23:59:13 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id iAU4xD504792; Mon, 29 Nov 2004 23:59:13 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 23:59:13 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200411300459.iAU4xD504792@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 #572 TELECOM Digest Mon, 29 Nov 2004 23:59:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 572 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Internet Phone Service Cuts Down on Interruptions (Lisa Minter) SBC VoIP Fee Furor Draws Eyes to BellSouth Program (Lisa Minter) This Service Will Be Ending as of Tomorrow (11/30/04) (Jack Decker) Re: This Service Will Be Ending as of Tomorrow (11/30/04) (John Bartley) Re: This Service Will Be Ending as of Tomorrow (Angela Epstein) VOIP News Closing Down (TELECOM Digest Editor) Data Communication Versus Telecommunications (Matt) Re: Calling Card Needed -- Short Interaction Sequence (Scott Dorsey) Re: Calling Card Needed -- Short Interaction Sequence (Clark Griswold) Re: WiFi Centrino RANGE Increase POSSIBLE? (Tony P.) Can't Find Linksys IP (BHAM KAL) Re: Dropping SBC For a VoIP Solution -- Vonage or Packet8 ?? (tgreen) Re: A Burglary Foiled by Calls That Didn't Reach 911 (Shlichter1) Pay-Per-Call Pricing Introduced for Live Telephone Answer (PressRelease) Re: Trial Shows How Spammers Operate (jdj) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Lisa Minter Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 11:55:27 -0500 Subject: Internet Phone Service Cuts Down on Interruptions http://www.newsday.com/business/printedition/ny-txgearbox4057038nov28,0,6782652.story?coll=ny-business-print BY JOHN MORAN THE HARTFORD COURANT Own a telephone, someone once said, and you give 6 billion people the right to wake you up in the middle of the night. Fortunately, most can't be bothered. But even that possibility highlights what a stupid and unruly brute the traditional telephone is. Someone calls, the phone rings, and you are bound to answer it -- or at least be interrupted by it. Internet telephone service -- otherwise known as voice over Internet protocol, or more simply VOIP -- promises to change all that, offering consumers sweeping and sophisticated control over how the phone works at an affordable price. Full story at: http://www.newsday.com/business/printedition/ny-txgearbox4057038nov28,0,6782652.story?coll=ny-business-print ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:58:29 -0500 Subject: SBC VoIP Fee Furor Draws Eyes to BellSouth Program http://news.com.com/SBC+VoIP+fee+furor+draws+eyes+to+BellSouth+program/2100-7352_3-5469926.html By Ben Charny Staff Writer, CNET News.com While local phone giant SBC drew considerable fire last week for a service offering to Internet telephony providers, fellow carrier BellSouth has been selling similar services for more than a year without any protest -- at least before the SBC furor. BellSouth began in mid-2003 to sell wholesale access services that let Internet phone service providers complete customer calls on BellSouth's local phone network. The service package raises the costs to Internet phone companies, which is what drew criticism when SBC unveiled its Tiptop service package late last week. The Tiptop furor included rare public criticism from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell, who warned that the FCC would not tolerate local phone companies raising prices to hurt Internet telephony rivals. The debate has cast a spotlight on BellSouth's own offering. "It's fair to say that Chairman Powell was also sending a signal to BellSouth," an FCC spokesman said Monday. But there are several key differences keeping BellSouth's product in the good graces of regulators, while all but dooming the future of SBC's new offering -- differences that may help further sort out how Net phones will be regulated. "These are apples and oranges," a BellSouth spokesman said. [...] Tiptop apparently goes too far, according to several sources familiar with the FCC's perspective. While BellSouth's program for VoIP providers is just a service option, paying for Tiptop is the only way those providers can connect to SBC's network, according to the FCC. An FCC spokesman said on Monday that Tiptop created a large number of complaints from potential customers, while BellSouth's offering did not. Full story at: http://news.com.com/SBC+VoIP+fee+furor+draws+eyes+to+BellSouth+program/2100-7352_3-5469926.html ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 18:34:34 -0500 Subject: VOIP News: This Service Will be Ending as of Tomorrow (11/30/04) Friends, I'm sorry to say that I have decided to put VoIP News on hiatus until further notice. When I started the list, back in the spring, there were few sources of VoIP news. Over the summer, many new sources of VoIP news have sprung up, and I feel that many (if not most of them) do a better job of tracking the industry than I do. Also, I am just one person. I had hoped that maybe others would contribute items to this list on a regular basis, but that never really happened. In the meantime, the number of news sources available has increased, and I find that I am spending far more time looking at VoIP news stories than I used to, and am enjoying it far less. It used to be that VoIP providers were constantly coming out with new features, or adding to areas of the country to their service area, or otherwise doing things that made VoIP an exciting industry to report on. I am sad to say that the momentum seems to have slowed in recent months, and I see few announcements that really make me want to stand up and cheer anymore (meanwhile large areas of my home state are still unserved by any VoIP provider, as far as having numbers for incoming calls is concerned). For those of you who want/need a daily fix of VoIP news, here is a link to a post from Jeff Pulver's blog that should help you out: http://192.246.69.231/jeff/personal/archives/001375.html Feel free to unsubscribe from the group, or stay on if you like -- should I see anything I consider positively earth-shattering in VoIP News I may still send it out, but expect future postings to be very infrequent (at least from me). Thanks for signing up for the group, and Happy Holidays. Jack [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My best regards to Jack Decker and thanks for the work he has done in the past year on his newsletter. Please note later in this issue a notice from myself describing a change in this Digest you are reading now intended to take in VOIP news submitted by our regular correspondents and others. PAT] ------------------------------ From: John Bartley or K7AAY@ARRL.NET Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:06:26 PST Subject: Re: VOIP News Will be Ending as of Tomorrow (11/30/04) Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com I can also recommend Patrick Townson's tightly moderated newsgroup, comp.dcom.telecom available for non-USENET users at http://groups.google.com/groups?&group=comp.dcom.telecom which has been very useful to me in exploring VOIP issues, as has the unmoderated comp.dcom.telecom.tech available at http://groups.google.com/groups?&group=comp.dcom.telecom.tech The best of luck to you, Jack. 73s and best regards, John Bartley K7AAY > Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 18:34:34 -0500 > From: Jack Decker > Subject: This service will be ending as of tomorrow (11/30/04) > Friends, > I'm sorry to say that I have decided to put VoIP News on hiatus until > further notice. When I started the list, back in the spring, there > were few sources of VoIP news. Over the summer, many new sources of > VoIP news have sprung up, and I feel that many (if not most of them) > do a better job of tracking the industry than I do. ------------------------------ From: Angela Epstein Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:37:26 -0500 Subject: Re: VoIP News Will be Ending as of Tomorrow Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Jack - I enjoyed your news a lot! and benefited from them -- thanks for sharing your time. angela ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 23:14:24 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: VOIP News Closing Down As Jack Decker notes in another message in this issue, he is essentially closing down the Yahoo group 'VOIP News'. Effective December 1, 2004 this Digest you are reading now will be renamed 'TELECOM/VOIP Digest' and will include messages submitted submitted by readers of Jack's Digest -- those who wish to participate here. You'll see no basic changes here, just hopefully more issues of the Digest each day to accomodate an increasing number of messages pertaining to VOIP, which frankly, I believe is the telecom 'wave of the future'. Lisa Minter will continue as an associate here, and as the person maintaining the Yahoo group which will also be renamed 'TELECOM and VOIP Digest'. We will continue to have the weekly Canadian news summaries each Monday, the news summaries from USTA weekdays, the summaries from Monty Solomon and our other assortment of writers and features. I want 6to welcome the readers of VOIP News who decide to be part of this newsgroup, and encourage their participation. PAT ------------------------------ From: jrefactors@hotmail.com (Matt) Subject: Data Communication Versus Telecommunications Date: 29 Nov 2004 12:22:17 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com When people say telecommunications, it implies data communications, correct? I want to know if data communication and telecommunications usually are used interchangably. Please advise. thanks!! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the Usenet hierarchy, 'telecom' is one of the sub-groups under the larger category 'dcom'. I would say the two terms are mostly interchangeable, but data communications does include a lot more than just voice. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: Calling Card Needed -- Short Interaction Sequence Date: 29 Nov 2004 16:59:12 -0500 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) Dr. Edward F Gehringer wrote: > Does anyone know (a) of a card with a competitive price that does not > have extra messages or prompts, beyond the access code and the phone > number, or (b) a place where I can obtain such information? The Working Assets Long Distance card is this way. I find the price rather high, personally, but it's not out of line with most of them. A portion of your bill does go to causes tending toward left of center if that bothers or appeals to you. --scott "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Dr. Gehringer can also check out a group I am affiliated with 'Friends of Independence' which brokers long distance from various carriers, and then contributes back a certain portion of the money to our local food pantry, animal shelter, and high school. Click on their ad in "Our Sponsors" on our web site http://telecom-digest.org . PAT] ------------------------------ From: Clark W. Griswold, Jr. Subject: Re: Calling Card Needed -- Short Interaction Sequence Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 13:01:56 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Dr. Edward F Gehringer wrote: > Does anyone know (a) of a card with a competitive price that does not > have extra messages or prompts, beyond the access code and the phone > number, or (b) a place where I can obtain such information? The OfficeMax 1000 minute cards run 0.03/minute on sale, which is usually every other week. They are served by IDT and allow dial through the recorded prompt/advert messages. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: WiFi Centrino RANGE Increase POSSIBLE? Organization: ATCC Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:29:02 -0500 In article , chipg_ 98NO@SPAMyahoo.com says: > Michal wrote in message > news:telecom23.563.3@telecom-digest.org: >> Hi, >> I have a Toshiba A50-101 which is Centrino (with Wifi of course) I'm >> using Wifi access point from Linksys named WAG54G. I need to use the >> computer on other floor than the access point is. It works really >> poor. The wifi range is not sufficient. Is it possible to increase my >> wifi range by using some sort of PCMCIA antenna or something? >> Thanks for any advice! >> Regards, >> Mike > Personally, I use an Avaya Wireless PC Card and find that my reception > is much better than using the integrated WiFi on my IBM Thinkpad > T-41. I am not real familiar with the PC model you mention but suspect > that you will find that a PC Card will work better. The Avaya Wireless > card I have also has a little jack on it which allows for attaching an > external antenna. > Hope this helps, I've found the Centrino equipped laptops we have at our office function quite well without any external antennae, etc. Ranges in excess of 300' are quite possible with these babies. ------------------------------ From: BHAM KAL Subject: Can't find Linksys IP Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 12:32:30 -0600 Hi, I am using Vonage at home. My Linksys wireless router is connected to Vonage unit and the Vonage unit is connected to the incoming cable modem. I have not logged into the wireless router in a while, now I forgot it's IP address, how do I find it? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: trb_1217@yahoo.com (tgreen) Subject: Re: Dropping SBC For a VoIP Solution -- Vonage or Packet8 ?? Date: 29 Nov 2004 15:07:32 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com rlangly@gmail.com (Ringo Langly) wrote in message news:: > charlie@cdsdetroit.com (charlie3) wrote in message > news:: >> I dropped my SBC home phone for Vonage last spring. I'm satisfied. I >> tested Vonage before dropping the SBC phone and waited until I had a >> cell phone that worked at home for backup (Verizon). There were a few >> hiccups and things to sort out but the service is a routine part of >> life now. >> Vonage lets me set things up to ring the cell and home phones >> simultaneously so either phone can be used to take a call. No one >> needs the cell phone number or even needs to know I have a cell phone. >> If my broad band connection goes down Vonage automatically forwards to >> the cell phone. The cell and vonage services are a powerful >> combination for me. >> Charlie > Hi Charlie, > Thanks for the review! I too like Vonage over Packet8, but Vonage > isn't in my local area yet. I thought about going ahead with Vonage > and getting a number from a nearby town (closest is about 30 miles > away), but long distance is still long distance for friends and family > in town. If Packet8 doesn't suit my needs I might still drop them and > go with Vonage anyway because I do like the perks Vonage has over > Packet8. > I'll know tomorrow as that's when the Packet8 device is set to arrive. > After that I'll post some reviews on how well it works. > Thanks and take care, > Ringo Ringo, I am looking forward to your review. I recently went through a similar VOIP company comparison and I settled on Sunrocket. They are a new company, but so far I have had a good experience. I tried them out because it seemed pretty risk free -- no sign up, activation, or cancellation charges. I hope you have a good experience. I think VOIP is going to get pretty big over the next year. ------------------------------ From: shlichter1@aol.com (Shlichter1) Date: 30 Nov 2004 01:02:55 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Subject: Re: A Burglary Foiled by Calls That Didn't Reach 911 Tony P wrote: >> This is interesting. Verizon says there is all sorts of security yet >> there isn't any. I don't know about the old Bell Atlantic offices, but the Former GTE offices in California, Oregan, and Washington State have alarms, audio and video monitoring in them. They in the most part have electronic slider cards that are registered to the using company or CLEC employee. You most also turn the alarm off using a code, there are several different alarm codes that will further ID the person entering the building. Also most have separate doors for the Caged areas. When entering you may also have to contact the NOC or they may respond with Law Enforcement. As to the price of the cards, in 1999 Sprint in Las Veges had cards worth $20,000 each taken at gun point from one of their offices. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Company. Apple Elite II BBS will return. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 06:53:56 +0400 From: Editor Subject: Pay-Per-Call Pricing Introduced for Live Telephone Answering PRESS RELEASE NETWORK http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com Pay-Per-Call Pricing Introduced for Live Telephone Answering and Call Center Services Wilmington, DE - Nov 29, 2004 (PRN): 'Pay-Per-Call' (PPC) pricing for Live Telephone Answering and Call Center Services will radically improve Telephone Support Services for Small To Mid Size Companies. Brought forth by Front Office USA LLC, which is managed by a team that collectively has decades of experience with Telecom Technology, managing Call Centers and delivering Customer Service, the unique PPC pricing plans were formulated to offer a simpler and friendlier service for SMEs. Small Business, Contractors, Health Care providers use Telephone Answering Services for different business needs from Message Taking and Remote Receptionist to Order Taking, Service Dispatch, Enquiry Logging or Trouble Ticket Issuing functions. These businesses cannot afford a full time dedicated staff for such job functions and since these functions are carried out on a telephone; they are traditionally outsourced to an Answering Service. While traditional answering service providers want subscribers to enter into a commitment with them and ask for monthly call volume, the types of calls they get and the traffic hours; Aujoe Answering Service has introduced a unique pre-paid model, without any contract commitments and a transparent "pay per call" pricing. Aujoe offers plans where its subscribers get a price break on increasing call volume. The PPC pricing has been achieved by Aujoe by creation of defined call center handling processes for each business service and by automation of the entire signup and setup process thereby achieving significant efficiencies of scale and process management. The unique pricing model and the process driven call center services will help small and mid-size companies to service their customers more professionally and efficiently. Aujoe Answering Services brings the advantages to large outsourced call center services, typically enjoyed by Fortune 500 companies to the SMEs for the first time. By creating simpler, friendlier services and plans, Aujoe is saving its subscribers thousands of dollars every year while giving them access to the 'best in class practices' developed and practiced by large call outsourcing companies. About Front Office USA LLC Front Office USA is a provider of global 'Contact Management Services'. Front Office USA offers world-class teleservices that empower its subscribers to work more effectively and productively. All this can be achieved at significantly lower costs as compared to similar businesses still mired in traditional management methods, technologies and delivery models. Readers may learn more about Aujoe Answering Service through the website: http://www.aujoe.com. For more information, contact: Manuj Goyal, VP, Sales Front Office USA Tel: 212-300-0000 Email: mediarelations@frontofficeusa.com Website: http://www.aujoe.com Editor & CEO Press Release Network editor@pressreleasenetwork.com http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com ------------------------------ From: jdj Subject: Re: Trial Shows How Spammers Operate Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:56:11 -0800 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 11:08:37 -0800, Steve Sobol wrote: > jdj wrote: >> Looks like Lycos has got the idea: > Riiiiight. Except it won't work, and DDoS'ing the site isn't cool > regardless of what kind of site it is. The article makes clear it is not ddos. You really should read the article. >> The Register reports that Lycos Europe is distributing a screensaver >> that is intended to drive traffic on a verified spam site up to very >> expensive levels: > Oh, and not only that, what happens the first time spam is sent out > advertising a website that someone wants to get in trouble? It's > happened before. Wrong again. You really need to read the article. ------------------------------ 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. 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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 #572 ******************************