From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Dec 6 14:20:12 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id iB6JKCm27084; Mon, 6 Dec 2004 14:20:12 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 14:20:12 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200412061920.iB6JKCm27084@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 #581 TELECOM Digest Mon, 6 Dec 2004 14:20:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 581 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update (Canada) #460, December 3, 2004 (Angus TeleManagement) Better Phone System (starrtelcom) Kudos to New York Attorney General (David O. Rodriguez) Re: Lingo Voip SUCKS! (Garth Nospam) Countering the "Lingo Sucks" Thread (Ted Koppel) Re: FAX vs VOIP (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: OnStar Frequency of Use (Tim@Backhome.org) R2 Signalling (mara) Re: What is an AT&T RTSLS? (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Kicking the Avaya Habit (david_esan@hotmail.com) Re: Kicking the Avaya Habit (Paul A Lee) Norstar Sharing With Predictive Dialer (Ferodom) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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, 06 Dec 2004 09:44:23 -0500 From: Angus TeleManagement Group Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #460, December 3, 2004 ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 460: December 3, 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: ** Verizon to Sell Stake in Telus ** Bell to Test Fixed-Mobile Wireless Service ** Mitel Upgrades Teleworker Products ** B.C. Broadband Wireless Providers Merge ** Rogers Offers Text-to-Speech Calling ** Telus Intros Internet Fax Service ** Embree Named CAIP Spokesperson ** Cogeco Plans Phone Service in 2005 ** Satellite Broadband Service Launched ** NorthernTel, Telebec Fund Wireless Research ** Emergis Drops BCE From Name ** Reinventing Telecom Management Again ============================================================ VERIZON TO SELL STAKE IN TELUS: U.S. telecom giant Verizon Communications has announced plans to sell its 20.5% equity interest in Telus Corporation by mid-December. Verizon expects to receive C$2.24 Billion from the sale. BELL TO TEST FIXED-MOBILE WIRELESS SERVICE: Bell Canada and Chicago-based BridgePort Networks have announced plans to test a combined CDMA and Wi-Fi wireless telephone service in the first half of 2005. The service would allow customers to use the same handset on Bell's public wireless network and on Bell Sympatico's DSL wireless home network. MITEL UPGRADES TELEWORKER PRODUCTS: Release 3 of Mitel's Teleworker product line adds local PSTN connectivity, remote video conferencing, local voice streaming for remote offices, and new reporting capabilities. Teleworker permits a remote location to use the features of Mitel PBXs over a broadband Internet access. B.C. BROADBAND WIRELESS PROVIDERS MERGE: Universco Broadband Solutions and AirCelerator Wireless have merged to form MetroBridge Networks, which provides fixed wireless broadband at up to 1 Gbps to 400 customers across Greater Vancouver. ROGERS OFFERS TEXT-TO-SPEECH CALLING: Rogers Wireless has launched TXT 2 Landline, which enables a user to send a text message to a landline phone anywhere in Canada and the continental U.S. The messages are converted to voice and delivered in either English or French. TELUS INTROS INTERNET FAX SERVICE: Telus has introduced a service that lets users send and receive fax messages as e-mail attachments. The service is operated by Ottawa-based Protus IP Solutions. EMBREE NAMED CAIP SPOKESPERSON: Kirsten Embree, a partner with Fraser Milner Casgrain, has become a national spokesperson of the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, a division of CATAalliance. COGECO PLANS PHONE SERVICE IN 2005: Cogeco CEO Louis Audet says that the cableco is now testing an Internet telephone service and intends to launch it next year. Cogeco expects that 15% of its cable customers will subscribe to its phone service by the end of the decade. (See Telecom Update #428) SATELLITE BROADBAND SERVICE LAUNCHED: New Brunswick-based Barrett Xplore now offers Xplornet, an enterprise-grade satellite broadband service that delivers up to 1.5 Mbps download and 256 Kbps upload for $359/month. NORTHERNTEL, TELEBEC FUND WIRELESS RESEARCH: NorthernTel and Telebec are investing $1 million for research on wireless communications in underground mines, to be carried out by the Universite du Quebec en Abitibi-Temiscamingue. EMERGIS DROPS BCE FROM NAME: BCE Emergis shareholders have approved a change in the company's name to Emergis Inc. BCE sold its interest in the e-business company earlier this year. (See Telecom Update #438) REINVENTING TELECOM MANAGEMENT AGAIN: "We begin with one fundamental and indisputable fact: enterprise telecom and networking are in the midst of truly radical change." The current issue of Telemanagement features a exclusive report by Ian Angus and Henry Dortmans on effective strategies for enterprise network and telecom management in 2005. Also in this issue: ** Avaya and Mitel: Two Strategies for IP Success ** Opening Enterprise Wi-Fi Nets to Guests and Customers These important 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. ============================================================ JOHN RIDDELL jriddell@angustel.ca Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca 8 Old Kingston Road Tel: 905-686-5050 x226 Ajax Ontario L1T 2Z7 Canada Fax: 905-686-2655 ------------------------------ From: starrtelcom Subject: Better Phone System Date: 6 Dec 2004 07:32:43 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I may be biased, but its sad to see so many companies and IT techs get snowballed by the pitches from Avaya, Nortel, and Cisco - all of whom have been in the telephony industry for years, but still have not had the courage or the respect to truly cater to their customers and their desires. We will change that for you and we have for others. Televantage may not be the most well-known product in the world -- but its been around and its getting noticed -- www.starrtelcom.com -- I am a reseller of this spectacular phone system. Tired of the Avaya, Nortel, Cisco and other propietary traps that get you sucked into dictating, expensive contracts? This may sound too good to be true, but there is a better way -- www.starrtelcom.com. We offer a non-propietary, no-contract, open-source solution that allows the user to dictate how they want the phone system to work and even allows the user to change it to their specific needs, without a contract, without being stuck to propietary equipment and without having to be a slave to the schedule of a service tech. No kidding! No strings! Dont believe it? Call me personally at 214-868-3549 to hear for yourself or visit us on the web at www.starrtelcom.com. We know that the other companies have made similar promises, but we arent interested in just making good on what we say -- we are wanting to change the telecom industry and the way IT professionals view and use telecom solutions. Dont knock it til you've tried it -- regardless of what you've heard or what the 'other companies' want you to hear. We stand by our product and its promises. Chris McLean Starrtelcom.com 214-868-3549 ------------------------------ From: David O. Rodriguez Date: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 12:39:16 -0500 Subject: Kudos to New York Attorney General I just read that New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer negotiated with GE Capital to eliminate the lease payments for the NorVergence MATRIX. GE Capital is even going to refund money. Hopefully all other finacial institutions and all other states involved will follow this example. Now if some agency could follow up on the Salzanos. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As I have been saying for literally *months* here, put a total freeze on your accounts payable due to Norvergence and its fraudulent leases. I am sure when Spitzer 'negotiated' with GE Capital he actually put a hard squeeze on them due to sins of their own in other matters; offering to forgive their sins on those matters in exchange for their cooperation on the Norvergence matter. Very few, if any, of the creditors had clean hands and pure motives in the Norvergence incident. If they all get off as cheaply as GE Capital, by forgiving the leases and refunding what they had already scammed from business people, they'll be lucky indeed. PAT] ------------------------------ From: garth@humboldt.net (Garth Nospam) Subject: Re: Lingo Voip SUCKS! Date: 5 Dec 2004 22:35:32 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Well let me state that Lingo still SUCKS! I'm always happy to blame Verizon whenever possible but I think in my case Primus (Lingo) is being run in very non business friendly way. Now remember, it took Lingo 40+ days to tell me they could not port my phone number to their system. I checked around with other Voip companies and even Verizon's Voip service. None of them support porting my number including Verizon who provides me my local service and current number! How long did it take all the other company's to tell me this? NOT 40 DAYS! About 30 sec with a built in search function on their web pages!!! Now tell me Lingo is not scamming people with their $39.90 disconnect charge. -Garth ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 09:25:21 -0500 From: Ted Koppel Subject: Countering the "Lingo Sucks" Thread I'm a little bothered by the recent Lingo Sucks thread that has been rolling through the TD the last couple of days. Let's get serious -- the inability to successfully port a Verizon phone number to Lingo is *not* Lingo's fault -- it is clearly and incontestibly Verizon's. (Among other postings, see mine of early October about trying to get Verizon to do their job.) If you're going to complain about Lingo, at least do it for real reasons: - still not sending callerID *name* (although they are sending number) on outgoing calls - still not passing callerID *name* on incoming calls - occasional overmodulation on calls (one side too loud) - ATA device needs to be reset/powered down about once a week Still, I have had Lingo for almost 5 months, and I would have to give my service a strong B-plus. Ted ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: FAX vs VOIP Date: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 06:09:34 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications My 3-year old FAX machine works fine on my Vonage service. Lisa Hancock wrote: > John McHarry wrote >> I believe the issue with FAX over VOIP is that VOIP uses lossy >> compression that does not treat FAX modulation gently. This tends to >> be a problem over any compressed link. > For those who don't know, there are two types of data compression > techniques. One type preserves 100% of the original data; the other > "lossy" accepts some loss of accuracy for increased compression > efficiency. (Others can explain data compression better than I can.) > I still use dial-up for certain connections, and even if I had VOIP I > would still need to do so. I wonder if I even could. > While my arrangement is growing rare these days, using fax machines as > dial up is not. How do businesses that depend on VOIP use their fax > machines? ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: OnStar Frequency of Use Date: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 06:10:49 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications Those GM executives must be desperate. ;-) Good Housekeeping "Good Buy" award? Which is the fox, and which is the chicken coop? Monty Solomon wrote: > OnStar Achieves Another First as Winner of Good Housekeeping's > 'Good Buy' Award for Best Service > NEW YORK, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- OnStar by General Motors was awarded > the "Good Buy" Award from the Good Housekeeping Institute (GHI) today. > OnStar is the first service ever acknowledged in GHI's new "best > service" category. This is the first time any automotive product or > service has been become an award winner since the "Good Buy" award > program began ten years ago. > Each month on average, OnStar receives about 700 airbag notifications > and 11,000 emergency assistance calls, which include 4,000 Good > Samaritan calls for a variety of emergency situations. In addition, > each month OnStar advisors respond to an average of 500 stolen vehicle > location requests, 20,000 requests for roadside assistance, 36,000 > remote door-unlock requests and 19,000 GM Goodwrench remote > diagnostics requests. > - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=45410120 ------------------------------ From: mara Subject: R2 Signalling Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 15:25:40 +0100 Organization: lubman Hi, I have a question. Where are transmitted the multifrequency signals? (Time slot 16 uses four status bits for signaling purposes -- Supervisory Signals). Interregister Signalling -- I don't know. Time slot 16 in frame 0 is used for Super Frame alignment. Maybe in the next frames (1 through 15)? Thanks for help. ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 09:36:47 EST Subject: Re: What is an AT&T RTSLS? In a message dated 5 Dec 2004 10:49:41 -0800, fosterdave@hotmail.com (DevEhf) writes: > I've seen the acronym RTSLS after the names of AT&T execs. What does > this designation mean? > Thanks, > Dave Is it RTSLS pronounceable? If not, it's not an acronym, and I can't think of any way to pronounce it. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ From: david_esan@hotmail.com Subject: Re: Kicking the Avaya Habit Date: 6 Dec 2004 08:45:37 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Why did you wait so long between phone calls? After their first screw up, I would have faxed the cancellation and then called 10 minutes later to make sure they had the fax, and continued to call until they confirmed receipt. I agree with PAT -- after a while the US mail receipts become useful. Why did you not escalate the problem? Ask for the A's or B's supervisor. Ask for their supervisor. Call the office of the president of Avaya and explain why you're gonna toss their equipment and never purchase from them again. They are well aware of what I call the IBM effect -- everyone bought IBM only because that's what everyone else bought. (Recursive thinking? Of course, but that's the CYA/risk minimizing mentality. Wonder why it took so long for UNIX to take hold?) Where is your copy of the first cancellation? Find it, refuse to pay the bill and enclose copies of it with each refusal. Make them work for their money. You certainly are, and you shouldn't give your company's money away. Avaya is walking all over you, and you're saying, Thank you sir, may I have another? The world is full of bureaucrats who have forgotten what their job is supposed to be about, and think that the important thing is to move the documents from the in-basket to the out-basket. You need to remind them what their job is about -- making sure that the documents they are moving, which represent something important to you (and should be equally important to them) are filled in correctly before they are moved. ------------------------------ From: Paul A Lee Subject: Re: Kicking the Avaya Habit Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 12:17:47 -0500 Organization: Rite Aid Corporation In TELECOM Digest V23 #578, Geoffrey Welsh wrote (in part): > ... am I right to suspect that Avaya is intentionally and > systematically interfering with legitimate attempts to cancel > contracts, perhaps because they feel they have nothing to lose > and continuing payments to gain? In our case they lost an > opportunity to sell a maintenance contract for the very same > system in a different location, and a lasting impression on > me that will make me try to avoid dealing with Avaya ever again. > I share my story in the hopes that someone will learn from > our mistake and not get hooked the way we did. I suggest you tell your story to the Avaya Customer Response Team at 800-784-6104 or 908-953-6000 ('1' for "customer", then '9' for CRT). Or, email them at (note the missing 'e' at the end of "office"), giving all the identifying numbers and information and a description of the problem and your experiences with it. Avaya has been going through a lot of changes in recent years. In the process, the nature of the problems customers have with them and the way of getting help with those problems have changed somewhat, too. The best way I have found to deal with any billing or contract renewal issues (if your account executive or business partner or a few phone calls don't get the required resolution) is to go straight to the Customer Response Team. In my 15 years of dealing with Avaya (and Lucent and AT&T), I've found that numerous aspects of their billing and sales, and a few portions of their web site, can be agonizingly difficult to deal with. However, I have found their equipment, software, documentation, service, and support are almost always exceptional. I've dealt with other companies whose best efforts come from their marketing, sales, and billing operations, while their actual products and services languish in mediocrity or worse. If I have to choose the lesser of two headaches, I'll take the billing problems. (This is my own experience and opinion and does not necessarily reflect any organizational endorsement of Avaya or any other vendor.) Paul A Lee Sr Telecom Engineer Rite Aid Corporation HL-IS-COM (Telecomm) V: +1 717 730-8355 30 Hunter Lane, Camp Hill, PA 17011-2410 F: +1 717 975-3789 P.O. Box 3165, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3165 W: +1 717 805-6208 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Has anyone ever observed how approximatly half of the employees at any given company are there solely to correct mistakes made by the other half? And a large number of those hired to correct mistakes have to correct the errors of the first bunch of correctors (i.e. customer response teams, etc). I wonder how things would go if companies thoroughly and completely trained the fifty percent of the work force they would need if they did it that way to start with? PAT] ------------------------------ From: ferodom Subject: Norstar Sharing With Predictive Dialer Date: 6 Dec 2004 10:51:09 -0800 I have two T1's they both are PRI and NI-2 protocol. I have a predictive dialer with a dual t1 Dialogic card in it and a MICS norstar. Therefore one pri is going directly to the predictive dialer and the second one is going to the Norstar what I am trying to accomplish is to share some line of the second pri with the dialer trough a second t1 card. Please help. Fernando ------------------------------ 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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