From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Dec 6 18:43:31 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id iB6NhVg29885; Mon, 6 Dec 2004 18:43:31 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 18:43:31 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200412062343.iB6NhVg29885@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 #582 TELECOM Digest Mon, 6 Dec 2004 18:43:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 582 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson For $999, a Lifetime of Internet Phone Calls (Lisa Minter) Treo 600 Internet Access (sssadler@rogers.com) BellSouth to Upgrade Network (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Norvergence, was: Kudos to New York Attorney General (Danny Burstein) Re: Another Black Eye For VoIP2 (sripaiboon@gmail.com) Re: GM Auto's OnStar Phone System? (J Kelly) Re: Countering the "Lingo Sucks" Thread (Tony P.) New Telecom Website Feature: Telecom Digest Extra (Patrick Townson) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Lisa Minter Date: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 11:56:25 -0500 Subject: For $999, a Lifetime of Internet Phone Calls Jack Decker's note: Interesting idea here, but of course the problem is that any sort of "lifetime" plan beg the question -- whose lifetime? That of the customer, or of the company offering the plan? Basically you are gambling that the company will stick around long enough to at least give you a better deal than you would have got by buying service on a per-month basis. On the other hand, this plan could give the company a lot of up-front cash to reinvest in the company, and by the time four or five years are up it just might be that there are no longer significant terminating charges on calls, so the company will be able to keep providing the service. Since I have no crystal ball (and would probably only see the dust on it if I did), I can't tell you what the future will bring for those who sign up for this. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2004/12/06/for_999_a_lifetime_of_internet_phone_calls/ For $999, a lifetime of Internet phone calls By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | December 6, 2004 Making unlimited phone calls for a fixed monthly price has proven to be a key selling point for Internet phone services like Vonage and AT&T CallVantage. But an upstart Dedham company is raising the stakes, offering consumers all the phone calls they want for the rest of their lives. RNK Telecom Inc. is promising subscribers that for a one-time payment of $999 they can make an unlimited number of unbilled calls for their remaining days on Earth. Customers would have to continue to pay another company for a broadband Internet connection, however. RNK plans to begin offering the "Phone for Life" plan today to Massachusetts consumers, through retail partners including Galaxy Internet Services of Newton, Pro-Speed.net of Tyngsborough, and Voip2Save.com of Providence. The same deal will be offered in New Hampshire and Rhode Island later this month and in New York in January, company president Richard N. Koch said. At current rates, compared to the $30-a-month cost of AT&T Corp.'s CallVantage Internet phone service, with the first month free, RNK's offer would not save a consumer money until after 34 months of service. Full story at: http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2004/12/06/for_999_a_lifetime_of_internet_phone_calls/ ------------------------------ From: sssadler@rogers.com Subject: Treo 600 Internet Access Date: 6 Dec 2004 12:27:49 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I have a TREO 600 cell phone with Bell Mobility ... I also have a Rogers high speed internet account ... Neither Bell nor Rogers can explain the server pop 3 settings that I can use to access my a-mail account through the phone ... pop.broadband.rogers.com doesn't work ... pop-rog.mail.yahoo.com doesn't work (suggestion from Bell tech support) ... Is there any one to sync the cell so it gets me Rogers e-mail??? Anyone can help me??? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 13:32:54 -0500 (EST) From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: BellSouth to upgrade network Telecom dailyLead from USTA December 6, 2004 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=17913&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * BellSouth to upgrade network BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Telecom Italia set for TIM buyout * Big wireless auction just around the corner * Cisco: CRS-1 sales ahead of projections USTA SPOTLIGHT * USTA Webinar: LNP Porting Requirements -- Thursday, Dec. 9, 1:00 p.m. EDT EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Online, phone worlds meet in growing marketing technique REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Supreme Court to hear cable broadband case * Report: Musicians embrace Internet, oppose suits against file-sharers * Telecom Act may be outdated Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=17913&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Norvergence, was: Kudos to New York Attorney General Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 20:15:52 UTC Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC In David O. Rodriguez writes: > 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. Hey, you beat me to it! No fair ... Spitzer's press release is at: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/259192p-222020c.html BTW, GE Capital is the actual "real company" (loosely defined) behind many other names, so it's quite possible that "East Cupcake Bar and Loan" (and many others ...) is really one of their offshoots. Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: sripaiboon@gmail.com Subject: Re: Another Black Eye For VoIP2 Date: 6 Dec 2004 11:22:35 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I used Voip2.net for two months, ten days. Suddenly they've changed their plan without inform and still charge me the same amount. A lot of tricky thing in their term of service like 49.95 smallworld plan. They quote unlimited international call but they are restriction that you can not make a call more than usually resident call, and they didn't tell how many minutes? If you want to cancel you have to pay a lot of money to them. A lot of bad servicea from them. Be careful! Lisa Minter wrote: > Jack Decker comment: Anyone who is even thinking about doing business > with VoIP2 really should first read the numerous comments about them > in the BroadbandReports.com VoIP forum. > http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/56260 > Read Your Fine Print > Marketing Lingo in the modern age. > One user in our VoIP forum > > claims they were slammed with a five-hundred dollar cancellation fee > by upstart provider VoIP2 after taking their > "Money Back Guarantee" a little too literally. Their terms of service > stipulate if you cancel in writing > within the allotted time frame you'll get your money back, sans "the > charges for completed calls at $0.03 per minute for United States > calls related to an Unlimited plan and the actual billed charge for > International calls" (of which we're guessing he made a few). This is > 2004: unlimited means limited and "Money Back Guarantees" mean "Some > of your money back, maybe." > Full article plus reader comments at > http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/56260 > Another related thread at: > http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,11640174~mode=flat ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: GM Auto's OnStar Phone System? Date: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 13:59:55 -0600 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@newsguy.com On Sat, 04 Dec 2004 14:20:28 GMT, Jim Burks wrote: > Al Dykes wrote in message > news:telecom23.577.6@telecom-digest.org: >> Whenever I hear an advert for a GM car that features the built-in >> phone system I wonder what kind of cell service they use. Someone >> here proably knows. >> ISTM that it's got to be analog, for the widest possible coverage, but >> I thought this was being phased sooner rather than later. > OnStar uses Verizon Wireless for connectivity. Original version was > analog only. Current product uses analog/CDMA. It may also use other carriers, depending on where you live. My parents both have vehicles with OnStar registered to the same address. Each vehicle has a number assigned to a different carrier, both of which are smallish rural carriers. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Countering the "Lingo Sucks" Thread Organization: ATCC Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 17:52:17 -0500 In article , tkoppel@adelphia.net says: > 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.) My complaint got elevated to the Verizon President's office. Verizon is scared shitless that their incompetence has lost them yet another customer who used to pay over $100 a month. However I did find out today that my LNP move not being completed yet is due to Paetec's dropping the ball. Imagine my surprise. Paetec has since been informed to get on the ball. But then, it's December 6th and I seriously doubt I'll see anything this week. So the 13th or 14th it will be. Total mental masturbation exercise. ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: New Website Feature: Telecom Digest Extra Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 18:00:00 EST An addition to our web site is Telecom Digest (or TD) Extra. This is a series of telecom and networking news items received from our news wire for the most part not included in the regular Digest each day. This is a collection of a dozen or more items which arrive each day and are automatically updated throughout the day (on a 24 hour cycle) for you to read. Each time you login to our web site you will probably find one or two new items in the telecom news section. To check it out, go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra (for direct entry) or you can go through our main front page, or if you prefer, when you read our http://telecom-digest.org/latest-issue.html on line you will see a short cut there to td-extra as well. I hope you enjoy this additional collection of always changing telecom news headlines from our news wire. PAT ------------------------------ 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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