From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Mar 8 17:41:06 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j28Mf5a12777; Tue, 8 Mar 2005 17:41:06 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 17:41:06 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503082241.j28Mf5a12777@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 V24 #101 TELECOM Digest Tue, 8 Mar 2005 17:40:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 101 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Richard Clarke: Real ID's, Real Dangers (NY Times) (Marcus Didius Falco) Voip in Northern KY (Kevin) SPRING VON: Vonage CEO Slams VOIP Blocking (Jack Decker) Ohio Law Require Auction License for eBay Sellers (Lisa Minter) Qualcomm Picks New CEO (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Hackers Wreck Christian Family Group Web Site (Lisa Minter) Home PBX Info: Switching Between Landline and VOIP (Lee Sweet) Re: Vonage's Citron Says VoIP Blocking Is 'Censorship' (DevilsPGD) Re: Vonage's Citron Says VoIP Blocking Is 'Censorship' (Lisa Hancock) Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday, was: Vonage (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Vonage (Tony P.) Re: New Monopoly in Dept Stores; Federated and May to Merge (Goudreau) Re: New Monopoly in Dept Stores; Federated and May to Merge (wesrock) Re: Last Laugh! was Re: Reporter's Name (wesrock) 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, 07 Mar 2005 19:01:41 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Richard Clarke: Real ID's, Real Dangers (NY Times) From the New York Times -- http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/06/magazine/06ADVISER.html THE SECURITY ADVISER Real ID's, Real Dangers By RICHARD A. CLARKE Have you ever wondered what good it does when they look at your driver's license at the airport? Let me assure you, as a former bureaucrat partly responsible for the 1996 decision to create a photo-ID requirement, it no longer does any good whatsoever. The ID check is not done by federal officers but by the same kind of minimum-wage rent-a-cops who were doing the inspection of carry-on luggage before 9/11. They do nothing to verify that your license is real. For $48 you can buy a phony license on the Internet (ask any 18-year-old) and fool most airport ID checkers. Airport personnel could be equipped with scanners to look for the hidden security features incorporated into most states' driver's licenses, but although some bars use this technology to spot under-age drinkers, airports do not. The photo-ID requirement provides only a false sense of security. Congress is debating the Real ID bill in part because many states have been issuing real driver's licenses, complete with the hidden security features, to people who have established their identities using phony birth certificates or fake Social Security cards. Indeed, some 9/11 hijackers obtained real driver's licenses using false documents. The Real ID bill has, however, provoked negative reaction from those who think it has little to do with terrorism and a lot to do with making life difficult for illegal immigrants. While the bill has passed the House, it faces difficulty in the Senate. If portions of it do pass, it will mean that the next time you apply for a driver's license, you may need substantial proof that you are who you claim to be. The Real ID legislation has caused the right and the left of the political spectrum to worry again that a national ID card is in the offing. Since we use licenses as de facto national ID's now, we should make them difficult to counterfeit and relatively easy to verify. With existing technology, that can be done. The Homeland Security Department is testing ''smart cards'' (credit-card-size devices with computer chips and embedded biometric information, like fingerprints) for all workers in the transportation industry and is also experimenting with voluntary smart cards for expedited passage through airport security. President Bush has directed that all federal employees, starting later this year, carry smart cards for access to federal buildings and computer networks. Industry analysts estimate that tens of millions of Americans will be using government-issued smart cards in a few years. Should we feel safer or be concerned about Big Brother government and the loss of privacy? Since we are already widely using government- issued ID's for a variety of purposes, employing cards that are difficult to counterfeit seems on its face like a good idea. Verifiable, secure ID's will certainly reduce some crimes (nine million Americans were victims of identity theft last year, according to the Federal Trade Commission) and may create an impediment to terrorism. I would voluntarily give up credit and other information for a card to avoid long airport lines, but I am not sure the Internal Revenue Service should have access to that data. Moreover, the government's performance to date with anti-terrorism laws does not inspire trust; the new authorities in the Patriot Act, which we readily gave the government to fight terrorists, are now being used for a variety of other purposes. For example, reports suggest that federal agents have been persuading courts to order that personal records be turned over regardless of whether there is any suspicion about the person involved and regardless of whether the crime being investigated is linked to terrorism. If Americans are going to have to carry smart cards, we will want fellow citizens whom we trust ensuring the data collected are not used by the wrong people or for the wrong purposes. Technology will not help us there; we will need strict privacy rules, truly independent oversight and tough punishment for government abuse. Only then will we be comfortable using the new security technologies, which actually can make us safer. The National Intelligence Reform Act of last year provided for a new Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which could do the necessary work to restrain the government's tendencies to overreach. The quality of President Bush's nominees for that board will show how serious he is about protecting freedoms in America while he is promoting them abroad. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, New York Times Company For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml John F. McMullen http://www.westnet.com/~observer BLOG: http://johnmacrants.blogspot.com/ ------------------------------ From: Kevin Subject: Voip in Northern KY Organization: Comcast Online Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 15:46:51 GMT Hi, Does anyone know if there's any VOIP service in Northern KY/Cincinnati area? Per the vonage website, I can't get a number with any of the local area codes. I don't know if that means that I can still sign up and get a number with another area code ... which doesn't make any sense but I guess it's possible. Thanks, Kevin ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 08:53:59 -0500 Subject: SPRING VON: Vonage CEO slams VOIP blocking http://www.itworld.com/Net/3303/050308vonagevoip/ Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service, San Francisco Bureau The top executive of VOIP (Voice over IP) provider Vonage Holdings Corp. is satisfied with regulators' response to a carrier that blocked Vonage's service but sees a broader danger ahead with technology for detecting the data service that customers are using. In an interview Monday at the Spring VON (Voice on the Net) trade show in San Jose, California, Vonage Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeffrey Citron also said traditional carriers can't afford to compete all-out with Vonage and other VOIP upstarts despite having greater resources. [.....] "I think it's a technical issue that extrapolates itself into a First Amendment issue," Citron said. Service providers that own infrastructure and deliver content or services over it now have the capability to look into the packets going to and from a customer's connection and determine what kind of service they are using and even the content of those packets, he said. It is technically possible for network operators to read e-mail, block e-mail messages based on content and limit access to Web sites, Citron said. In addition to anti-competitive moves against VOIP companies and other content and service providers, the problem raises censorship issues, he said. "What happens when the media property that owns distribution is owned by a religious group?" Citron asked. Laws should be brought up to date to prevent abuse, he said. Full story at: http://www.itworld.com/Net/3303/050308vonagevoip/ How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 09:52:34 PST From: Lisa Minter Subject: Ohio Law Would Require Auction License for eBay Sellers CNN, via Yahoo News on Tuesday reports that the State of Ohio has become very unfriendly toward online sellers using E-Bay. According to CNN-Money, State of Ohio now requires an auction license of people who want to sell on E-Bay, as well as a one-year training class required of sellers _and_ a fifty thousand dollar security bond. The auction license costs two hundred dollars. If you fail to do these things, they have some jail time waiting for you. Their excuse is they want to 'cut back on internet fraud using E-Bay'. http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/07/technology/ohio_ebay/index.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 13:26:36 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Qualcomm Picks New CEO Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 8, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19903&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Qualcomm picks new CEO BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Cox Communications may sell four cable systems * Siemens decides to keep mobile business unit open * McKinsey: Telecoms must automate customer service * Analyst: Stand-alone VoIP providers may face hurdles * Vonage's Citron sour on cable's triple play * DirecTV president Stern resigns; CEO Carey to assume duties USTA SPOTLIGHT * Calling ALL Carriers Ready to Explore! EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Nokia tests mobile TV service REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Jurors review videos of Ebbers Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19903&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Hackers Deface Christian Family Group Web Site Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 14:11:08 -0500 http://www.wlbz2.com/newscenter/article.asp?id=20748 ------------------------------ From: Lee Sweet Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 15:20:57 -0500 Subject: Home PBX Info: Switching Between Landlines and VoIP I've got an application that may apply to many with VoIP. I've got two home landlines (one for myself, and one for my wife). I also have a Vonage line for LD and Fax. We are keeping the landlines for the usual reasons, including inability to port, E-911, etc. Now, what I want to do is have all outbound LD calls go out on the Vonage line automatically. Right now, I have a separate cordless phone for that line, but that's not the optimal answer! :-) \ I'd like to have the various corded and cordless phones and the three lines hooked to some sort of home PBX where, either by dialing the required '1' (best answer) or perhaps an '8', calls are connected to the Vonage line. Else, they go out the (correct) landline. (I assume each handset could know its 'proper' outbound landline for local traffic if each input phone jack on the PBX can be programmed to use the appropriate outbound line.) Now, before PAT jumps in with his PBXtra recommendation :-) , I've discussed this with Mike Sandman, and he really doesn't recommend it for this application. I'll bet a lot of people have Vonage as an extra LD/Fax line, still have landlines, and would like to do this. Any recommendations/pointers about home PBX info? Thanks! Lee Sweet Datatel, Inc. Manager of Telephony Services and Information Security How higher education does business Voice: 703.968.4661 Fax: 703.968.4625 Cell: 703.932.9425 lee@datatel.com www.datatel.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I _know_ what Mike Sandman says about PBXs in general as opposed to multi-button phones with all the features such as holding, call transfer, flash, etc on individual buttons. He has never yet met a PBX he liked, and Lee, he told me that you called last week and he explained 'why PBXtra would not be suitable.' I talk to Mike on the phone a couple times per week. Mike's complaints can be summarized thusly: (1) People cannot be trained to do a proper flashhook, therefore as often as not cutting off the person. (2) People cannot be trained to correctly dial the number they want to reach, and forget the 9 or 8 or whatever at the start of the call. (3) People do not usually have their houses wired in a 'star' configuration (needed for using PBX) although their office may be thus wired. Mike seems to feel a phone with umpty-dozen buttons (for line selection and feature use) is a better deal, even though to install/move such a phone requires many pairs of wires and is quite labor-intensive to install/move/replace. That's Mike's opinion, to which he is certainly entitled. If I have overlooked other complaints by Mike, perhaps you or he will permit me to stand corrected. Oh, and we have talked off and on about 'custom calling features' such as hookflash to three way call, hookflash to answer call waiting, and hookflash to interject other features in the middle of a call, such as forward to voicemail, etc but he does not think all that matters; its just the dreaded hookflash used on PBX transfers, etc which he dislikes so much. PBXtra works perfectly well in small applications like mine: more than one phone instrument in a large (geographic space) house; a person who is a wee bit handicapped like myself getting to a phone in time to anwer it before the caller disconnects; a situation where there are a bunch of computers, each of them has their own 'extension' and modem, in addition to a phone in my bedroom, my parlor/dining area, the computer room, a phone where Lisa sits to work, etc. The traffic both inbound and outbound is very slow here, so the PBXtra being 'virtually non-blocking' is almost an overkill. The phone in my bedroom (ext. 104) and the one in my parlor (ext. 105) are both wireless headset style phones, with a range of about half a city block, which I guess is also an overkill. I put all my long distance calls via Vonage (dial 8 +) and all my local calls over Prairie Stream (dial 9+) and answer incoming calls from either line by dialing *70 (forced pickup from the 'operator' line). The modem ability (between computers or in/out from wherever to a computer is about 28.8). Not the best, but okay, since I usually use the cable for the computers, not the modems. Do as you wish, Lee, but Mike Sandman is just one voice in the wilderness here, mine is another voice. PAT] ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Vonage's Citron Says VoIP Blocking Is 'Censorship' Date: Sun, 06 Mar 2005 22:40:00 -0700 Organization: Disorganized In message joel@exc.com (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) wrote: >> Yes Pat, but it didn't do it on the basis of the 1st Amendment. As I >> understand it, the fine was to preserve "Net Freedom" (Powell's term) >> and although I like it, I still don't understand the legal basis for >> this action. It seems to me the Telco's ought to be concerned about >> this because if there is now a "must carry" rule for VoIP traffic, what >> happens when they start to offer TV/video? Will they be forced to allow > In the end, the only reason VoIP is so cheap is that it passes the > costs off to other sectors. Not exactly. The difference isn't that VoIP is "passing the cost", but rather, that with VoIP, the customer is providing the connection from their premises to the telco. Back in my ISP days, the ISP I worked for provided DSL over dry copper pairs. We were selling 2.5Mb/1Mb and later 7Mb/1.5Mb before either the telco or cableco were offering any soft of connectivity. We gave customers a choice: Either provide your own copper pair from your location to the nearest CO, or pay us more and we'll cover the loop costs (As well as handle the installation and whatnot) VoIP is similar. You can either pay a telco to bring the service to your door, or you can pay a cheaper rate if you provide the last mile yourself. VoIP is virtually always more expensive then traditional telco services if you include the cost of the internet connection. However, since I already have an internet connection, I don't include the cost of my internet connection in the cost of VoIP service. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is what I said yesterday. It is unfair to amortize the entire cost of the connectivity off to VOIP since you have the connection there already. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Vonage's Citron Says VoIP Blocking Is 'Censorship' Date: 8 Mar 2005 06:57:27 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Isaiah Beard wrote: >> My local convenience store and drugstore carry certain newspapers, but >> not all for my area. Does that mean they are _censoring_ the ones >> they don't sell? According to Vonage they are. > You comparison is overbroad and overreaching, and compares apples to > oranges. > I would think of it more this way: let's say that your phone company > provider, be it Verizon or other LEC, decided that profanity should no > longer be used on its phone lines, and installs special filters to > capture and "bleep out" such speech. Would that be acceptable? Actually, I think a more proper analogy would be them not letting me call certain destinations, rather than the content of the call itself. I want to clarify some confusion I had -- I misunderstood that the blockage was done by an ISP, not apparently a telephone company. ISPs are totally free market and they can do what they choose, blocking or not. Local telephone companies are regulated "critical service" carriers and as such have more obligations. Charles Cryderman wrote: > I totally agree with this. But remember the courts do as they > please. A case in point. A very religious married couple in Ann Arbor, > Michigan owned a apartment building. Because of their religious > beliefs, chose not to rent to un-married persons. Now this was private > property and their religious beliefs told them not to, but the courts > ruled that they were in violation of the law. So in essence the court > said, your right to do as you wish with you private property and to > follow your religious teaching do not exists. What takes precedent, > the Constitution or laws made by Congress? I was taught that nothing > supersedes the Constitution yet the courts do it all the time. That's a good point. Actually, in your specific example, court decisions have gone both ways. In some cases a 'mom and pop' apt owner, say of a duplex, can exercise their religion to deny to a unmarried or gay couple; but that's a pretty isolated narrow situation. > See this a misconception that the VoIP providers do not have to follow > some regulations. What they want to insure is that they do not have to > collect a bunch of crap taxes and fees per line. In my opinion none of > the companies should be forced to do this. But these providers do pay > into these. For the lines that they install to terminate to they are > paying E911, sales tax and into the universal service fund. Just not > for the customer access side. Why? because the law requires these fees > based on a telephone line, not access to making telephone calls. Not paying into those 'taxes' saves them a heck of a lot of money and allows them to undercut their competition. Given that benefit, it's wrong for them to turn around and demand that same competition help them. To me it's like I set up a hot dog cart in the parking lot of a convenience store (that also sells hot dogs) and I get the govt to say it's ok for me not to pay taxes for my spot that the host store has to pay. Now I'm demanding the host store provide me with hot dogs as well for me to sell. Perhaps another analogy would be people who ride on the bumper of a bus for free, and then complain if the bus is discontinued for lack of ridership. > Did you notice as well, Pat that all along we have been talking about a > ISP doing this. It wasn't, it was a regulated telephone company that did > it. So all the brew-ha-ha about ISPs wanting freedom from regulation had > nothing to do with it after all. I correct myself on this -- a regulated local telephone company has different obligations than an ISP. But to me it's still cream skimming. ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday, was: Vonage Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 06:46:26 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications Thor Lancelot Simon wrote: > In article , Danny Burstein > Unfortunately, the actualy duration of the problem was several hours; > Vonage is, quite simply, lying. And the problem recurred on two > successive days. No doubt about it. It caused major problems for me. > If Vonage were a regulated entity -- which it's gone to great lengths > to not be -- there would be significant penalties not just for this > sort of service failure (note that Vonage hasn't exactly contacted its > customers and offered to refund any of their money for the time that > their phones were out of service) -- but also for lying about it. What this proves is that Vonage is simply not a viable replacement for wireline service. I've been a Vonage user from the beginning, suffering through echos and quality issues for the first several months. I figured it was all worth it for the unlimited, inexpensive "out WATS." But, now that SBC offers unlimited nation-wide toll for a competitive price, it makes me think about using only my wireline (which I never got rid of). The only advantage Vonage offers today are virtual numbers. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Vonage Organization: ATCC Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 19:09:28 -0500 In article , johnl@iecc.com says... >> They definitely have some problems in different parts of the country >> but my service in the northeast has been rock solid. I wonder -- I >> know I'm on a Paetec switch so is it a Focal issue? > No, my service which became unsuably bad was switched by Paetec, too. Must be some accident of living in RI then. All I can say is I've been extremely fortunate that my only outages both involved snow/ice storms. The same kind of storms that would probably have knocked my Verizon service out of commission. ------------------------------ From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: New Monopoly in Dept Stores; Federated and May to Merge Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 22:59:42 -0500 [Please remove my email address.] Lisa Hancock wrote: >> More to the point, the Bell system monopoly was actually sanctioned by >> the government. No analogous situation has ever existed in US >> retail, thankfully. > I don't know of anything major, but Pennsylvania's liquor stores (wine > and hard stuff) were and remain the sole source of that for within > Pennsylvania. Yes, we have a similar setup here in NC: state Alcoholic Beverage Commissions are the only sellers of hard liquor (though not beer and wine). But as you mentioned in an earlier Digest, the repeal of Prohibition gave states special and unique constitutional powers with respect to alcohol. > At the end of WW II the govt had a monopoly on reactor by-products > used for medical and physics research. I'm having a little trouble thinking of reactor by-products as retail items that would be bought by consumers :-). I was thinking more along the lines of the experience my wife's East German-born sister-in-law (who unfortunately passed away two weeks ago) had when she escaped the iron curtain in the early 1980s and first encountered a West German retail store, with its exhilarating but confusing array of choices, so very different from the limited selection of crappy products available in the state-run retail outlets of East Germany. > As I said, the railroads were FORBIDDEN by the govt to do what you > suggest, and ORDERED to divest what things they had done. I think you missed my point. They could have chosen to divest the entire regulated railroad business instead (in the way that AT&T chose to give up the local telco business in the early 1980s), leaving the now-separate rump company to concentrate exclusively on rail while the new successor company (which would have purchased the non-rail assets) chased the newer markets. Instead, the execs chose to stay with the rump themselves. They bet on the wrong pony. Of course, sometimes the ho-hum legacy business turns out to be the winning horse after all. It now looks like that's what happened with AT&T; the Baby Bells seem to have been the winning choice there, while AT&T's grandiose plans to make money in the computer business came to naught (twice!). >> People just don't particularly need department stores any more in >> order to purchase their clothes and furnishings. They can buy their >> clothes and furnishings elsewhere, and they increasingly are doing so, >> which is why the department store chains are having so much trouble in >> the first place. > I would be curious: take men's dress suits. What is the breakdown for > men buying suits? I doubt Walmart/Kmart are that big. One > discounter, Today's Man, went out of business. I think the main issue here is that demand for men's suits has been gradually declining for a few decades. Not quite buggy-whip status (yet), but casual clothing is far more prevalent in the workplace than it was in the 1950s or 1960s. I've never heard of Today's Man, but perhaps the competition from the likes of Men's Wearhouse was too much for them in the overall slow-growing (or even shrinking) market for men's suits. TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Henry: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have seen mentions of Sears, Roebuck >> occasionally in this thread. Back in the 1920's, Sears Roebuck was a >> very large chain of stores. The radio station they started >> acknowledged this fact by its call sign: >> 'W'(orlds)'L'(argest)'S'(tore), >> based in Chicago. WLS is on AM radio 890 kc... > Interesting. I knew a different version of the 'World's Largest Store' > story. The way I heard it, the radio station was owned by the same > outfit that owned the Merchandise Mart (also in Chicago). Our esteemed Editor is correct, according to http://www.wlshistory.com/WLS20/. The Merchandise Mart was a spinoff of Marshall Field's. See http://www.merchandisemart.com/marchitecture/history.html. Bob Goudreau Cary, NC ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 16:50:47 EST Subject: Re: New Monopoly in Dept Stores; Federated and May to Merge In a message dated 7 Mar 2005 13:15:01 -0800, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: > As I said, the railroads were FORBIDDEN by the govt to do what you > suggest, and ORDERED to divest what things they had done. For > example, the railroads set up bus lines to more efficiently serve > light-volume areas, but the govt ordered them out. Railroads were > regulated, just like the phone company, and the phone company was > tightly limited into what communication product markets it could > enter. (Western Electric had sound systems they had to discontinue.) It was the Motor Carrier Act of 1935 that prohibited railroads from owning motor carriers. Such operations that were in existence before the passage of that act were grandfathered. The Santa Fe Trail Transportation Company was perhaps the dominant freight and passenger motor carrier in many parts of the western Midwest/Southwest region. The Santa Fe Trail Transportation Company's bus operation, known as Santa Fe Trailways, was one of the core companies that first former the National Trailways Bus System, and then many of the largest, dominated by Santa Fe Trailways, merged to form Transcontinental Bus Systerm, Inc., which continued to use the name of its large Texas (non-railroad-owned) component, Continental Trailways. There were a number of such major motor carriers, both freight and passenger, organized before 1935 by major railroads, which continued in operation for many decades; their successors may continue to be in operation. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 16:55:02 EST Subject: Last Laugh! was Re: Reporter Name Pat wrote: > The newspapers make that mistake now and then when writing > about former president 'Harry S Truman'. His middle name, in fact, was > merely the initial /S/ and there shouldn't be a period after a complete > name. There were many conjectures over the years about what the 'S' stood > for in his name. His wife Bess and his daughter Margaruite both confirmed > it meant nothing at all. Just 'S'. PAT] Scholarly works have been written on this subject. Harry S (or S.) Truman often signed documents without the period, also signed many with the period. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #101 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Mar 9 03:42:16 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j298gGF18606; Wed, 9 Mar 2005 03:42:16 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 03:42:16 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503090842.j298gGF18606@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 V24 #102 TELECOM Digest Wed, 9 Mar 2005 03:42:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 102 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Harvard Applicants Breached Security / Applicants' Behavior (M Solomon) On EBay, E-Mail Phishers Find a Well-Stocked Pond (Monty Solomon) Cablevision's Voom Gets a Reprieve (Monty Solomon) Credit Information Stolen From DSW Stores (Monty Solomon) New Approaches to Television Archiving (Monty Solomon) Vari, Varo and Varc -parameters for Ericsson MD110 BC9 (Ben) Dead Phone at New House, Short Circuits Say SBC! (Japple) Re: Ohio Law Would Require Auction License for eBay Sellers (LB@notmine) Re: Ohio Law Would Require Auction License for eBay Sellers (Tony P.) Re: Richard Clarke: Real ID's, Real Dangers (NY Times) (Thomas Horsley) Re: Richard Clarke: Real ID's, Real Dangers (NY Times) (Steve Sobol) Re: DoJ: VoIP Providers Avoiding CALEA Mandate (Tony P.) Re: Best Phone to Use For Radio Telephone Interviews? (Tony P.) Re: Voip in Northern KY (John Levine) Re: New Monopoly in Dept Stores; Federated and May to Merge (Wesrock) Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday, was: Vonage (Tony P.) Re: Hackers Deface Christian Family Group Web Site (Ed Clarke) Re: Home PBX Info: Switching Between Landlines and VoIP (Soren Rathje) Re: "Broadcast Flag", was Re: My New DVR From Cable One (Tony P.) Re: A Great Phone, Tied Down (Tony P.) Re: Any Old Mechanical Systems Still in Use in the US? (Tony P.) Re: Voip in Northern KY (Christopher Sabine) 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: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 18:34:06 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Harvard Applicants Breached Security / Applicants' Behavior Harvard rejects 119 accused of hacking Applicants' behavior 'unethical at best' By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff | March 8, 2005 Harvard Business School will reject the 119 applicants who hacked into the school's admissions site last week, the school's dean, Kim B. Clark, said yesterday. "This behavior is unethical at best -- a serious breach of trust that can not be countered by rationalization," Clark said in a statement. "Any applicant found to have done so will not be admitted to this school." A half dozen business schools were swamped by a wave of electronic intrusions Wednesday morning, after a computer hacker posted instructions on a BusinessWeek Online message board. Harvard is the second school to say definitively that it will deny the applications of proven hackers. The first was Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business, where only one admission file was targeted. ... http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/03/08/harvard_rejects_119_accused_of_hacking_1110274403/ Harvard applicants breached security Tried via computer to learn status By Hiawatha Bray and Robert Weisman, Globe Staff | March 4, 2005 http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/03/04/harvard_applicants_breached_security/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 18:54:13 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: On EBay, E-Mail Phishers Find a Well-Stocked Pond By IAN AUSTEN Donald Jay Alofs got a call last fall at home asking if he had recently bought several thousand dollars worth of electronics. Mr. Alofs had not, and he had a good reason for not being on a spending spree: he was in the hospital at the time. Things got worse for Mr. Alofs, a coin collector and dealer who buys and sells on eBay. His inbox was soon filled with e-mail messages from irate buyers: someone had used his eBay account to sell about $780,000 worth of coins -- about five times the online business Mr. Alofs had done over several years -- and many of the coins offered for sale never existed. Adding insult to injury, fees for hosting photos for the fraudulent auctions had been financed with $300 from Mr. Alofs's account with PayPal, eBay's online payment service. The source of the trouble, he believes, was that his eBay and PayPal accounts were hijacked through what is known as phishing, a type of online fraud that collects victims' account passwords and other information, after he responded to an e-mail that appeared to come from a legitimate business. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/07/technology/07ebay.html?ex=1267851600&en=961346a7f16ccb24&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 21:45:50 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Cablevision's Voom Gets a Reprieve By SETH SUTEL AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- Cablevision Systems Corp., a New York-area cable television provider, has reached a deal with its own chairman to keep a satellite TV venture running through the end of the month while he continues trying to assemble a deal that would keep the business afloat. The announcement late Tuesday signaled a cease-fire in a bitter family feud that has rocked the country's sixth-largest cable company. Cablevision CEO James Dolan had earlier sided with other board members against his father Charles, the company's chairman and founder, in voting to shut down the startup satellite venture, called Voom. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=47514074 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 22:13:23 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Credit Information Stolen From DSW Stores COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Credit card information from customers of more than 100 DSW Shoe Warehouse stores was stolen from a company computer's database over the last three months, a lawyer for the national chain said Tuesday. The company discovered the theft of credit card and personal shopping information on Friday and reported it to federal authorities, said Julie Davis, general counsel for the chain's parent, Retail Ventures Inc. The Secret Service is investigating, she said. DSW was alerted by a credit card company that noticed suspicious activity, she said. Customers should check their credit card statements and report any irregularities, Davis said. She did not know how many customers might be affected. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=47512557 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 23:12:14 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: New Approaches to Television Archiving by Jeff Ubois http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_3/ubois/ Abstract Worldwide, more than 30 million hours of unique television programming are broadcast every year, yet only a tiny fraction of it is preserved for future reference, and only a fraction of that preserved footage is publicly accessible. Most television broadcasts are simply lost forever, though television archivists have been working to preserve selected programs for fifty years. Recent reductions in the cost of storage of digital video could allow preservation of this portion of our culture for a small fraction of the worldwide library budget, and improvements in the distribution of online video could enable much greater collaboration between archival institutions. Contents Non-commercial broadcasters, educational institutions, and libraries For-profit organizations with television archives Governmental institutions Fans and amateurs Collaborative possibilities Cataloging Technical standards and low-cost approaches to preservation and access Legal strategies Building a social consensus about television archiving http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_3/ubois/ ------------------------------ From: ben.smans@excite.com (Ben) Subject: Vari, Varo and Varc -parameters for Ericsson MD110 BC9 Date: 8 Mar 2005 15:25:59 -0800 Does anyone can provide me the VARI, VARO and VARC parameters for analog routes (TL11/TL39) in BC90C for Ericsson MD110? If possible, i'd like the options for the digits. Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ From: Japple Subject: Dead Phone at New House, Short Circuits Say SBC! Date: 8 Mar 2005 23:34:49 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello, I just moved to a new house and I tried getting the phone line set up, and no dialtone. So SBC sent someone out and they said that of the four jacks in the house, three were shorted out ... it's an older house and he couldn't figure out where the short was. (except at $55 per 20 minutes) The three lines ran into the crawl space, and I don't know how they were spliced. He was able to get one line working, but the other three are dead. Now, I'm stuck, either trying to figure out where the shorts are or rewiring the other three jacks ... I just don't understand how three lines were shorted when the previous owners just moved out. Because they did previously have service! What's the best way to figure out where the short is? Any ideas? If I do rewire the other jacks, and run new cable, the SBC guy recommended running all new wires, one wire per jack to get the best connection ... what do you think about this? And how do I connect four wires to the phone box? connect them each directly, or splice them right to the main two wires that are already connected? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: LB@notmine.com Subject: Re: Ohio Law Would Require Auction License for eBay Sellers Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 19:40:20 -0500 Organization: Optimum Online Lisa Minter wrote: > CNN, via Yahoo News on Tuesday reports that the State of Ohio has > become very unfriendly toward online sellers using E-Bay. > According to CNN-Money, State of Ohio now requires an auction license > of people who want to sell on E-Bay, as well as a one-year training > class required of sellers _and_ a fifty thousand dollar security > bond. The auction license costs two hundred dollars. If you fail to > do these things, they have some jail time waiting for you. Their > excuse is they want to 'cut back on internet fraud using E-Bay'. > http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/07/technology/ohio_ebay/index.htm For those that care there is large discussion of this in the group alt.marketing.online.ebay LB ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Ohio Law Would Require Auction License for eBay Sellers Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 20:47:31 -0500 In article , lisa_minter2001 @yahoo.com says: > CNN, via Yahoo News on Tuesday reports that the State of Ohio has > become very unfriendly toward online sellers using E-Bay. > According to CNN-Money, State of Ohio now requires an auction license > of people who want to sell on E-Bay, as well as a one-year training > class required of sellers _and_ a fifty thousand dollar security > bond. The auction license costs two hundred dollars. If you fail to > do these things, they have some jail time waiting for you. Their > excuse is they want to 'cut back on internet fraud using E-Bay'. > http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/07/technology/ohio_ebay/index.htm Tax revenue. That's what every state is about. On a related note -- a couple years ago I get notice from the state of RI that I never filed my 1990 taxes and owe them $1,300 between fines, etc. So the past few years they snatched my refunds. This year I decided I want receipts from this point forward, and I'll keep my tax records for more than three years so I can prove I filed. Turns out the RI Division of Taxation won't give a receipt. I got the woman to stamp my copy with their "RECEIVED - RI DIV TAX" verbiage with the date and all. Hopefully the state will lose one more of my returns -- then I can bring the receipted version to the news hounds and watch as the sparks fly. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Richard Clarke: Real ID's, Real Dangers (NY Times) From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 01:10:09 GMT Here's a thought: Combine two hot button issues into one -- if they are gonna force us to have national ID cards, then they should also force all the ChoicePoint and Eqifaxes of the world to only release information when the person they are releasing it to has verified proof of our consent via our smart cards. >>==>> The *Best* political site >>==+ email: Tom.Horsley@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL | Free Software and Politics <<==+ ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Richard Clarke: Real ID's, Real Dangers (NY Times) Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 18:33:09 -0800 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Marcus Didius Falco wrote: > Have you ever wondered what good it does when they look at your > driver's license at the airport? Let me assure you, as a former > bureaucrat partly responsible for the 1996 decision to create a > photo-ID requirement, it no longer does any good whatsoever. The ID > check is not done by federal officers but by the same kind of > minimum-wage rent-a-cops who were doing the inspection of carry-on > luggage before 9/11. And that's why the extra security measures being taken by the Feds in many cases are stupid. The airports have needed real security *forever*, but even after 9/11, we don't have it because the Feds were half-assed about it. I personally feel that the current measures do little to actually enhance security. But hey, they make good window dressing. > hijackers obtained real driver's licenses using false documents. The > Real ID bill has, however, provoked negative reaction from those who > think it has little to do with terrorism and a lot to do with making > life difficult for illegal immigrants. Well, I'd sure hope that we'd make life difficult for illegal immigrants. I wonder how many of the idiots complaining live where I live (Southern California). I don't want them here. They leech off the system. I'm not against people taking the time to move here and become legal, naturalized citizens ... people doing it the *right* way. Just people trying to take shortcuts. Anyone remember the drive (pardon the pun) to give illegals driver licenses? JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: DoJ: VoIP Providers Avoiding CALEA Mandate Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 17:24:43 -0500 In article , Jack Decker says: > http://www.americasnetwork.com/americasnetwork/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=121788 > Source: Warren Publishing, Inc. > COMMUNICATIONS DAILY via NewsEdge Corporation : FBI and Justice > Dept. officials told the House Telecom Subcommittee Wed. that there > have been difficulties establishing wiretaps through some VoIP > carriers. While members emphasized the importance of law enforcement > having access to VoIP communications, some had questions about DoJ's > and FBI's problems with access and if updates to the Communications > Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) were needed. While the DoJ > and FBI said they were trying to "work with" VoIP providers, they also > said many products were introduced without thought to CALEA, though > they declined to provide any specifics. > Some members wanted more information about the problems FBI and DoJ > officials face from VoIP providers when trying to obtain a > wiretap. Laura Parsky, DoJ deputy asst. attorney general, said the > information about specific problems was too sensitive. "We don't want > terrorists migrating to these networks," she said. Marcus Thomas, FBI > deputy asst. director, said it didn't appear to be "disingenuous effort" > that prevented law enforcement access to networks. Rather, he said, > many have deployed networks without giving much thought to law > enforcement access. Thomas said CALEA was supposed to create an > atmosphere where innovators factored CALEA standards into its > development, but that atmosphere never developed. Rep. Buyer (R-Ind.) > told law enforcement witnesses that they should do a better job of > articulating their concerns, since they appeared to be rather > vague. Parsky said more information could be given in a classified > forum. I'm pretty sure that most VoIP providers encrypt from the terminal adapter back to the server. But everything is based on IP aware telephone switches so it isn't a problem to tap at the switch. It's because law enforcement by and large is ignorant when it comes to technology. Even the FBI, the leading agency in the U.S. trips over it's own feet when it comes to information technology. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Best Phone to Use For Radio Telephone Interviews? Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 17:28:09 -0500 In article , kludge@panix.com says: > JayKay wrote: >> I get called fairly often by radio stations for commentary. My current >> phone, AT&T 2-line 962, apparently doesn't cut it and I often find >> myself calling the studios back from the fax phone (a little better) >> or (after hooking it up) from a 25-year old rotary phone for call >> clarity (even better). >> But I'd like to get a new office phone that would be OK for these >> talk/news people. >> Any suggestions? > As far as audio quality goes, I honestly have not used anything that > sounds better than an old 500-set on the other end. Your next step up > is probably a hybrid and dedicated mike. A WE or AE touch tone set will give the best overall quality. They still make knock offs of each but just get on ebay and pick one up. I've got a bid in on a yellow 2500 set as I speak. ------------------------------ Date: 9 Mar 2005 00:03:17 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Voip in Northern KY Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Does anyone know if there's any VOIP service in Northern KY/Cincinnati > area? Lingo, AT&T Callvantage, and Packet8 all have Cincinnati numbers. Callvantage and Packet8 also have Covington numbers. I dumped Vonage for Lingo last month, largely because Vonage's reliability collapsed and their customer service disappeared. See my web page on the topic at http://net.gurus.com/phone which has some signup links with coupons if you want to sign up. R's, John ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 20:37:45 EST Subject: Re: New Monopoly in Dept Stores; Federated and May to Merge In a message dated Mon, 7 Mar 2005 22:59:42 -0500, Bob Goudreau writes: > I think you missed my point. They could have chosen to divest the > entire regulated railroad business instead (in the way that AT&T chose > to give up the local telco business in the early 1980s), leaving the > now-separate rump company to concentrate exclusively on rail while the > new successor company (which would have purchased the non-rail assets) > chased the newer markets. Instead, the execs chose to stay with the > rump themselves. They bet on the wrong pony. This seems to ignore the reality that the railroads are thriving businesses today. Intercity bus services has been declining and many cities are without any intercity bus service at all. The motor freight business more and more is turning to the railroads to carrying their long-haul freight in trailers or containers. J.B. Hunt, the nation's largest trucking company, is one of the largest customers of the railroads. I believe UPS is the largest single customer of the railroads. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday, was: Vonage Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 20:48:37 -0500 In article , Tim@Backhome.org says: > Thor Lancelot Simon wrote: >> In article , Danny Burstein >> Unfortunately, the actualy duration of the problem was several hours; >> Vonage is, quite simply, lying. And the problem recurred on two >> successive days. > No doubt about it. It caused major problems for me. >> If Vonage were a regulated entity -- which it's gone to great lengths >> to not be -- there would be significant penalties not just for this >> sort of service failure (note that Vonage hasn't exactly contacted its >> customers and offered to refund any of their money for the time that >> their phones were out of service) -- but also for lying about it. > What this proves is that Vonage is simply not a viable replacement for > wireline service. I've been a Vonage user from the beginning, > suffering through echos and quality issues for the first several > months. > I figured it was all worth it for the unlimited, inexpensive "out > WATS." But, now that SBC offers unlimited nation-wide toll for a > competitive price, it makes me think about using only my wireline > (which I never got rid of). The only advantage Vonage offers today > are virtual numbers. I'd like to know what part of $88 you consider reasonable. That's what Verizon was getting from me for unlimited national/local. ------------------------------ From: Ed Clarke Subject: Re: Hackers Deface Christian Family Group Web Site Date: 9 Mar 2005 02:11:40 GMT Organization: Ciliophora Associates, Inc. Reply-To: clarke@cilia.org On 2005-03-08, Lisa Minter wrote: > http://www.wlbz2.com/newscenter/article.asp?id=20748 This is the second time it's happened. They claim that "thousands of dollars worth of intellectual property" was destroyed. No backups? After it happened before?? This sounds like the punch line of a joke -- "How'd it happen? Well, I stuck my hand under the press like this and ..." This signature left blank. ------------------------------ From: Soren Rathje Subject: Re: Home PBX Info: Switching Between Landlines and VoIP Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 08:42:59 +0100 Organization: Organized... Who me? Lee Sweet wrote: [snip] > Now, what I want to do is have all outbound LD calls go out on the > Vonage line automatically. Right now, I have a separate cordless > phone for that line, but that's not the optimal answer! :-) \ [snip] > Lee Sweet > Datatel, Inc. > Manager of Telephony Services > and Information Security > How higher education does business > Voice: 703.968.4661 > Fax: 703.968.4625 > Cell: 703.932.9425 > lee@datatel.com > www.datatel.com The short answer is: Asterisk (www.voip-info.org/tiki-index.php?page=Asterisk) The long answer: ... I use Asterisk with 1 Danish VoIP, 1 UK VoIP and 1 US VoIP provider as well as 1 regular PSTN line. The dialprefix tells Asterisk which way to go :) Incoming calls go either direct to an extension or into a ACD where all phones ring. Unanswered calls go to VoiceMail. Conferences can be hosted if family meetings are required. Asterisk can do regular FXO/FXS using hardware from Digium (inventors site), ISDN-BRI from various sources or T1/E1 equipment from various sources. Protocols are limited to OSP, Enum, Dundi, ADSI, SIP, H.323, MGCP, SCCP (Cisco Call Manager), IAX. Other projects (there are many) available for install are: Nortel native protocol support, FAX send/receive and SS7. The smallest system for Asterisk reported so far is an X-Box, I've heard of people working on Sony PS/2 implementation and also builds ment for install on LinkSys WBR's so basically anything bigger goes, AMD, Intel or PowerPC running some form of Unix; Linux, BSD, OS X, Solaris ... (pending hardware support) Anyway, for my last homesystem, I downloaded the Asterisk@Home ISO, made a CD, put it in the pc and powered up. The @home project will format the disk, install CentOS-3 (stripped down RedHat Enterprise), install Asterisk PLUS additional tools so in fact you will (almost) never need to telnet to the box, you can do mostly everything from a browser. I had it up and running in a usable state in a couple of hours. http://sourceforge.net/projects/asteriskathome/ Really good reading is here, especially the WiKi is a goldmine of information! www.asterisk.org www.digium.com www.voip-info.org/tiki-index.php?page=Asterisk /Soren ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: "Broadcast Flag", was Re: My New DVR From Cable One Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 17:29:35 -0500 In article , jkelly@newsguy.com says: > On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 15:35:53 -0000, pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader) > wrote: >> Danny Burstein writes: >>> Nope. He was just given given advance warning. New recording equipment >>> is supposed to recognize a "do not record" flag that gets sent >>> over-the-air along with the signal. Periodically a couple of the >> Except that it isn't sent over the air, and the flag is part of their >> licensing agreement with macrovision. Cable one was just passing along >> FUD. > Not FUD. The flag is sent over the air, and it has nothing to do with > Macrovision. > Unfortunately, Hollywood pulled a hold-up. It threatened to derail the > DTV transition by withholding "high-value content" from over-the-air > DTV, unless the FCC imposed "content protection" (aka DRM) on all > future televisions and related devices. The idea was that content > owners would implant a "broadcast flag" into DTV programming. When > devices detect the flag, they have to "protect" (i.e., lock up in DRM > jail) the programming. > Sadly, the FCC bought it. Thanks to an FCC ruling, as of July 2005, > it will be illegal to manufacture or import DTV tuners unless they > include DRM technologies mandated by the FCC. > See more at: http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/HDTV/ But if you read the FCC documents about it, they make it clear that anyone with a little technical knowledge can easily defeat the DRM functions. The courts are going to slap down on the FCC anyhow. First they pushed the V-Chip, now the DRM. I can see the FCC devolving into what it should have been in the first place, a bandwidth manager. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: A Great Phone, Tied Down Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 17:32:41 -0500 In article , monty@roscom.com says... > Ten O'Clock Tech > by Arik Hesseldahl > But a week ago I swerved in new direction and dropped about $300 for > an upgrade to the v710, which appears to be Motorola's highest-end > phone that works on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, > namely that of Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon and > Vodafone. > But then I learned that the phone can't do this via Bluetooth. I've > been syncing my PalmOne Tungsten T handheld with my Mac for about year > now using Bluetooth without difficulty. Exactly why this phone > couldn't do the same thing seemed ridiculous. > It turns out Verizon has had certain features in the phone disabled. > Full Bluetooth support is one of them. This rules out the phone > connecting to any Bluetooth devices other than a headset, such as a > wireless keyboard or a printer or indeed another Bluetooth-enabled > phone. > Another missing feature is the ability to move a photo from the phone > directly to a computer via Bluetooth or a data cable. When you take > pictures on this phone, the only way to save them on a computer is to > send them by e-mail over Verizon's wireless network, for which there > is a charge. > The network works just fine and sending pictures in this way is more > or less flawless. But it's irritating to know that when you just want > to take a picture and save it for yourself, you can't just move it > directly from the phone to a computer. And Verizon operates a Web > service called Pix Place, where you can send pictures and then > download them to a PC. But why add an extra step to a process that > should be simple? > A Verizon Wireless spokeswoman tells me this is standard operating > procedure across its camera phone lines. Verizon's product is not the > phone, she says, but rather the network itself. Indeed. > http://www.forbes.com/personaltech/2004/09/13/cx_ah_0913tentech.html You answered your own question. It's because they charge to email it. If you could just suck the pictures off the unit with Bluetooth it would erode their revenue stream. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Any Old Mechanical Systems Still in Use in the US? Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 17:39:44 -0500 In article , johnl@iecc.com says... >> The single 5E in town, where there was once two xbars, handles eight >> LEC exchanges and at least three CLEC exchanges. > Really? I've heard of Bell handling switching for tiny independents > (VZ North for Naushon Island, for example), but I've never heard of a > LEC selling switching to a CLEC. Space! ESS and DMS systems also sit on a smaller footprint than SxS and X-bar systems. Got to maximize revenue somehow. BTW, the DMS-100 in my city handles 51 exchanges. In addition there are several other switches in the building. I note the map feature is interesting. There's a whole cluster of switches in Providence. ------------------------------ From: Christopher Sabine Subject: Re: VOIP in Northern KY Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 18:04:50 -0500 Kevin, You can get another number from Vonage in Cincinnati. It just means that Vonage doesn't have any local numbers in Cincinnati. I use Vonage is a secondary line and have numbers in Columbus and Salt Lake City that I use. Chris ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #102 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Mar 9 15:12:05 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j29KC4R23239; Wed, 9 Mar 2005 15:12:05 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 15:12:05 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503092012.j29KC4R23239@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 V24 #103 TELECOM Digest Wed, 9 Mar 2005 15:10:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 103 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson FCC Chief Warns VoIP-Backers of Rock Star Syndrome (Jack Decker) Powell: VoIP Already Changing Perceptions (Jack Decker) Google Window-Shops for VoIP (Jack Decker) "Take Action," Vonage CEO Citron Tells VoIP Industry (Jack Decker) VOIP / NonVOIP Small Questions (gallwapa@gmail.com) Cell Phone Radiation Dangers (Dean) How to Insert Newline Into 3com RAS 1500 Message? (Tree by the river) Walkie Talkie (Jason) AOL's Got VoIP (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Re: Dead Phone at New House, Short Circuits Say SBC! (HorneTD) Re: Dead Phone at New House, Short Circuits Say SBC! (Lisa Hancock) Re: Dead Phone at New House, Short Circuits Say SBC! (Allen McIntosh) Re: Harvard Applicants Breached Security/Applicants' Behavior (jtaylor) Re: New Monopoly in Dept Stores; Federated and May to Merge (B Goudreau) FCC Says: Consumers Can Put an End to Port Blocking (Jack Decker) Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday (Randy Hayes) Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday, was: Vonage (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday, was: Vonage (John Levine) 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: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 13:19:01 -0500 Subject: FCC Chief Warns VoIP-Backers of Rock Star Syndrome http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050308/wr_nm/telecoms_fcc_voiceoverinternet_dc_3 Tue Mar 8, 5:55 PM ET By Eric Auchard SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) - The outgoing chief regulator of U.S. communications markets on Tuesday said phone calls via the Internet have become a fact of life but warned the emerging industry not to become cocky in its success. In his last public speech as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites), Michael Powell told Internet-based phone service providers that the industry has been secured against efforts to use regulation to defeat it. "There is something about the voice over 'net industry that has really taken root, that won't be uprooted," Powell told an audience at the Voice on the Net (VON) conference. Powell made protecting Internet services from traditional phone regulations a touchstone issue in his eight-year stint at the FCC (news - web sites), first as a Republican member of the commission, and for the last four years, as chairman. But his legacy remains in question if opponents of the free-wheeling Internet industry succeed in bringing it under the existing regulatory regime. "The future is so bright for voice over the net," Powell said, then warned: "But you won't be a rock star forever." He said that the industry's growing success made it vulnerable to critics who will increasingly hold it responsible for service outages, security breakdowns or other disruptions. Powell compared the position of Internet communications to a decade ago when the mobile phone industry became a mainstream communications technology. Flush with success, the wireless industry ignored customer complaints about network reliability and invited increased government regulation, he said. Full story at: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050308/wr_nm/telecoms_fcc_voiceoverinternet_dc_3 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 13:04:05 -0500 Subject: Powell: VoIP Already Changing Perceptions http://www.newtelephony.com/news/53h8142739.html By Charlotte Wolter Posted on: 03/08/2005 In his final public speech as chairman of the FCC, Michael Powell told an appreciative audience at the Voice on the Net (VON) conference in San Jose, Calif., the industry has done much already to change how the world, and regulators, view VoIP. He said this will lead to less regulation and more protection for VoIP, citing the FCC's recent decision against Madison River Telephone Company LLC's blockage of VoIP as an example. "But we're not naive," he added. "We know that danger still lurks in the weeds. We recognize that the owners of broadband distribution platforms might have motive and incentive to play with your bits to filter them or block them." Full story at: http://www.newtelephony.com/news/53h8142739.html ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 12:29:34 -0500 Subject: Google Window-Shops for VoIP http://news.com.com/Google+window-shops+for+VoIP/2100-7352_3-5605025.html By Ben Charny Staff Writer, CNET News.com SAN JOSE, Calif.--A team of Google honchos met this week with several Net telephone service providers, sources familiar with the talks told CNET News.com, renewing speculation that the search giant may be exploring a move into the fast-growing market. "They were fairly aggressive about getting our opinions," said one Internet phone executive who facilitated several meetings between Google and Net phone interests here at Spring 2005 Voice on the Net. The executive requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the meetings. [.....] The meetings offer further confirmation of the view that as the Net phone business starts to take off, search giants and Web portals such as Yahoo may not be far behind. Among the announcements at VON, America Online said it plans to unveil a VoIP service in the next month, heightening speculation that Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN and Google -- its biggest Web rivals -- may be exploring similar moves. Full story at: http://news.com.com/Google+window-shops+for+VoIP/2100-7352_3-5605025.html ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 13:05:50 -0500 Subject: "Take Action," Vonage CEO Citron Tells VoIP Industry http://www.newtelephony.com/news/53h8142038.html By Charlotte Wolter Posted on: 03/08/2005 Vonage CEO Jeffrey Citron today urged the VoIP community to get involved politically by contacting Congress and urging legislation that is favorable to VoIP. Citron says Vonage is looking to expand its service to new territories in the coming year, referring specifically to Mexico City and London, although he said the company also is looking at Europe and Asia as potential areas of growth. Speaking at the Voice on the Net (VON) conference in San Jose, Calif., Citron told a large audience during the keynote address, "All of you should write your Congresspersons and let them know that you want a network bill of rights to protect your right to use communications like Vonage (Holdings Corp.)." Citron was referring to the broadband bill of rights articulated by departing FCC Chairman Michael Powell. Powell has advocated that consumers have the right to connect any device to the network that does not harm the network; be able to download and run any application that is legal and paid for; and be able to access any legal content; and get information about the features of any service. Full story at: http://www.newtelephony.com/news/53h8142038.html ------------------------------ From: gallwapa@gmail.com Subject: VOIP / NonVOIP Small questions Date: 9 Mar 2005 10:15:55 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Excuse my lack of knowledge, but telecom isn't my specialty. We're currently investigating claims with regard to G.729A and G.729B and VoIP. As far as I can tell, these codecs do not affect VoIP conversations over our Data WAN? We currently have 40+ sites connected by T1s to carry data across those networks. The T1s are provided by QWEST, and again excuse my lack of knowledge please. Thanks! ------------------------------ From: Dean Subject: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers Date: 9 Mar 2005 08:56:41 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com A while back some on this list engaged in a lively debate about cell phone radiation risks. This article may have some information of interest to those of you who think this issue isn't dead yet. The cell phone industry: Big Tobacco 2.0? By Molly Wood, senior editor, CNET.com Tuesday, March 8, 2005 http://www.cnet.com/4520-6033-5741203-1.html Regards, Dean ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 16:56:34 GMT From: tlode@nyx.net (the tree by the river) Subject: How to Insert Newline Into 3com RAS 1500 Message? Organization: Nyx Net, Free Internet access (www.nyx.net) I'm setting up a 3com RAS 1500 remore access server and need to configure a custom initial welcome message and login prompt. There are special codes like $date, $hostname, $port, etc., for inserting those values into the message text, but I can't find any mention of how to insert a newline, even one at the end of the message. The result is that the welcome message and prompt all run together. The factory default message does include a newline at the end, so it is obviously possible for the system to have one stored as part of the field, but I can't figure out how to get it in there. Anyone know the secret? Seems like you'd always want to do this, and surely I can't be the first person ever to set custom welcome messages and prompts. soc.singles FAQ [ Nyx Net, free ISP ] Misc.Fitness.Weights page www.trygve.com/ssfaq.html [ http://www.nyx.net ] www.trygve.com/mfw.html the Furbeowulf Project - build your own supercomputer for less than $79.95: http://www.trygve.com/furbeowulf.html ------------------------------ From: jason Subject: Walkie Talkie Date: 9 Mar 2005 00:38:56 -0800 Hello all, I need to know more about walkie talkie and how the frequency range work. Let'say a walkie talkie with frequency range work from 2400 to 2500 Mhz, while the IF is 5 Mhz. So how will the channels be allocated for transmitting and receiving if it is a single duplex type? Can anyone enlighthen please. Any helpful link or docment is appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance. Regard and thanks. Jason ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 12:51:00 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: AOL's Got VoIP Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 9, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19934&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * AOL's got VoIP BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Alltel enters deal with EchoStar * Comcast, Motorola forge alliance, extend set-top deal * Fiber market gets back on its feet * Dolan gets more time to save Voom * Microsoft unveils communication convergence software * Analysis: MCI must weigh long-term, short-term goals USTA SPOTLIGHT * IP Telephony Principles and Applications EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Samsung takes wraps of seven-megapixel phone REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Powell touts VoIP in VON speech * Chicago mulls Wi-Fi network Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19934&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: HorneTD Subject: Re: Dead Phone at New House, Short Circuits Say SBC! Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 17:21:02 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Japple wrote: > Hello, > I just moved to a new house and I tried getting the phone line set up, > and no dialtone. So SBC sent someone out and they said that of the > four jacks in the house, three were shorted out ... it's an older > house and he couldn't figure out where the short was. (except at $55 > per 20 minutes) > The three lines ran into the crawl space, and I don't know how they > were spliced. He was able to get one line working, but the other three > are dead. Now, I'm stuck, either trying to figure out where the > shorts are or rewiring the other three jacks ... > I just don't understand how three lines were shorted when the previous > owners just moved out. Because they did previously have service! > What's the best way to figure out where the short is? > Any ideas? > If I do rewire the other jacks, and run new cable, the SBC guy > recommended running all new wires, one wire per jack to get the best > connection ... what do you think about this? And how do I connect four > wires to the phone box? connect them each directly, or splice them > right to the main two wires that are already connected? > Thanks. There is no easy way to find these shorts without special equipment. You will have to trace the lines physically. The most likely culprit is a common point on the wires that serve all three jacks. If the three jacks are connected from one to the other, called daisy chained, or they are served by a common splice a single fault at any jack will down them all. The advice to run new lines is sound. I would suggest that you use a 66M block to do your splicing. The reason for that is that you use readily removable bridging clips to connect each jacks line to your network interface device. Removing the bridging clips isolates the associated jack for trouble shooting and repair. Do you have a place to mount your telephone splicing block that will be out of the way and yet reasonably convenient? There are weather proof housings available that are designed to protect 66 blocks. One of these can be mounted on the outside of the home adjacent to your Network Interface Device (NID) if you do not have a convenient place indoors. http://www3.sympatico.ca/bparker/index1.html#03 is a pretty good sight for telephone basics. http://www.homephonewiring.com/ is an excellent sight for techniques and tools. It also has supplies available for purchase. http://www.siemon.com/int/installation_instructions/pdf/S66_Field-Terminated_M_Series_Blocks.pdf is a manufacturers site on wiring 66 blocks. Tom H ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Minter) Subject: Re: Dead Phone at New House, Short Circuits Say SBC! Date: 9 Mar 2005 07:18:27 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Japple wrote: > I just moved to a new house and I tried` getting the phone line set up, > and no dialtone. So SBC sent someone out and they said that of the > four jacks in the house, three were shorted out ... it's an older > house and he couldn't figure out where the short was. (except at $55 > per 20 minutes) That's a common problem. Either it's a full short, or worse, an intermittent break or leakage which degrades voice quality and hurts dial up computer use. I'm not an expert, but I'd say wiring technique is more critical today than in the past for plain voice service because data transmission is much more sensitive to things like crosstalk or interwire capacitance or plain old static. Perhaps another reader could offer suggestions. My recommendation is to abandon all old phone wiring and rewire the house using modern standards that will give the best quality for high speed data transmission and multi-line phone service. Others can give tips on the best way to do this. When we needed new wiring, we had the phone company do it for us. Not cheap but reliable. I presume a qualified electrician familiar with modern phone requirements could do so as well, possibly cheaper. ------------------------------ From: Allen McIntosh Reply-To: nospam@mouse-potato.com Subject: Re: Dead Phone at New House, Short Circuits Say SBC! Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 08:10:46 -0500 Organization: Optimum Online > I just don't understand how three lines were shorted when the previous > owners just moved out. Because they did previously have service! > What's the best way to figure out where the short is? It is possible that the previous owners shorted out the jacks so you couldn't make phone calls the day the house traded hands (when the calls might have been on their account). I happened to me once -- had to replace several phone jacks. In your shoes, I'd start by looking at all the phone jacks, and disconnecting any that didn't look right (after writing down how they were wired, of course). ------------------------------ From: jtaylor Subject: Re: Harvard Applicants Breached Security / Applicants' Behavior Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 08:55:45 -0400 Organization: MCI Canada News Reader Service Monty Solomon wrote in message news:telecom24.102.1@telecom-digest.org: > Harvard rejects 119 accused of hacking > Applicants' behavior 'unethical at best' > By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff | March 8, 2005 > Harvard Business School will reject the 119 applicants who hacked into > the school's admissions site last week, the school's dean, Kim > B. Clark, said yesterday. Now, as soon as this item became news, I wondered if they would do this. Which brings up a possible scenario -- hire a hacker to find out the status of EXCEPT yourself ... ------------------------------ From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: New Monopoly in Dept Stores; Federated and May to Merge Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 08:37:28 -0500 Wes Leatherock wrote: > This seems to ignore the reality that the railroads are thriving > businesses today. Intercity bus services has been declining and many > cities are without any intercity bus service at all. The motor > freight business more and more is turning to the railroads to carrying > their long-haul freight in trailers or containers. J.B. Hunt, the > nation's largest trucking company, is one of the largest customers of > the railroads. I believe UPS is the largest single customer of the > railroads. The few railroad companies that *survived* are currently doing well, though their business is now all freight and no passengers. (Not counting Amtrak here, since it is *not* doing well financially and is not exactly a traditional corporation either.) However, most of the railroads that were around 50-60 years ago could not survive the brutal consolidation of the industry; they were liquidated or sold to competitors. Today's railroads collectively are a much smaller slice of the overall economy than were their prewar predecessors. It looks like the telcos are going through the same sort of shakeout right now themselves. Eventually, there won't be a "telephone business" any more; there will just be a "communications business" within which voice will be one application (albeit still a popular one). It's already started with the landline telcos as customers like me drop their RBOC service and choose to funnel their voice traffic over their broadband connection. In a few years it's going to spread even to mobile telephony as technology advances and the wireless internet becomes ubiquitous. Bob Goudreau Cary, NC [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am wondering about a few passenger trains I have ridden in the past and wonder what they are doing now, if they are even still in business: Around 1970 or so, I went with a friend of mine from Chicago on the City of New Orleans to the Mardis Gras in New Orleans. We left about 4 in the afternoon and got into New Orleans about 9 the next morning. It was a wonderful train ride. Then, about 1950 or so I rode the train by myself (or actually with my cousin Ken, who is four years younger than myself). We took the Santa Fe train between Independence and Chicago. I do not remember much about that trip except that my grandmother fixed a *huge* sack of food for Ken and I to eat on the trip, and my grandfather gave each of us a silver dollar coin to use for our 'expenses' on the way. We landed at the Dearborn Station in Chicago about a day later, where my parents picked us up. I just barely remember three years before that, in 1947, when my mother and grandmother took me on the same Santa Fe train between Coffeyille and Chicago to meet my father and grandfather at Dearborn Station. They had already come to Chicago area to live, and we had gone there to live with them. I don't know why I just now remembered those train trips. I do remember at the time they were all quite elegant trains, and I do remember that when my younger cousin and I rode the train back to Chicago, the conductor gave us quite a tour through the entire train, including the area where newspapers and mail were conveyed. The train went very slow at one point and almost came to a halt; the conductor took a huge stack of newspapers which were tied up and handed them off the train to a man waiting next to the track with a car who grabbed up all the papers, put them in the car and drove away, then the train took up speed and off we went again. I doubt any of those things even exist any longer. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 13:23:04 -0500 Subject: FCC: Consumers Can Put End to VOIP Port Blocking http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1773983,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594 By Mark Hachman, ExtremeTech SAN JOSE, Calif. Members of the Federal Communications Commission claim market forces, not regulation, will likely prevent a repeat of an ISP blocking voice-over-IP traffic. In a "town hall" meeting Monday night at the VON Conference & Expo here, Jeffrey Carlisle, chief of the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau, and Robert Pepper, chief of policy development at the FCC, answered audience questions on regulatory issues. A key topic was the recent blocking of VOIP traffic by Madison River Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Madison River Telephone Company LLC, and whether that scenario could repeat itself with other ISPs. PointerVOIP port blocking draws congressional interest. Click here to read more. According to Carlisle, consumers are becoming more savvy about their broadband providers and will notice if services such as those provided by Vonage Holdings Corp. stop working. The industry is going through a "frontier period," Carlisle said, where corporations could press the limits of the law. "Consumers will know if they're not able to get something," Carlisle said. "If I see a Vonage box in the store, [bring it home], and I can't get Vonage, I'm going to know about that." In that case, consumers will simply choose another broadband provider that provides the services that they're looking for, he said. [COMMENT: Well, heck, yes, if I don't like what my current broadband provider is doing I'll simply go down to the local broadband service store and select another provider from among the multitude of choices there. Riiiiiight. Sounds like some people at the FCC still need to get a clue!] Full story at: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1773983,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 13:02:35 -0600 From: Randal Hayes Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday Whenever a communications technology outage is reported and the cause is attributed to some problem with a software load or other maintenance work performed *in the middle of a workday* I always ask myself, "What were they thinking, performing this type of work during a busy period?!?" I do not know what the peak hours for Vonage are, but even with a customer base that is currently more residential in nature, and, acknowledging that a global environment complicates what a carrier's busy-hours are (it may be 4:00 AM CST in the U.S., but it's primetime for those in the U.S. calling Europe, etc.), one would have to believe a Thursday afternoon would not be the wisest time to perform non-emergency, but potentially intrusive work on the network! Vonage, or even the VOIP environment are not unique here; for several years some of the largest carriers have experienced outages during some of their busiest periods due to scheduling non-emergency software loads and upgrades during peak periods ... what idiocy! Is common sense a thing of the past for some people, or is the belief in performing quality work a thing of the past for some people..or both? Randy Hayes University of Northern Iowa randal.hayes@uni.edu ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday, was: Vonage Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 05:58:29 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications Tony P. wrote: > In article , Tim@Backhome.org > says: >> Thor Lancelot Simon wrote: >>> In article , Danny Burstein >>> Unfortunately, the actualy duration of the problem was several hours; >>> Vonage is, quite simply, lying. And the problem recurred on two >>> successive days. >>> No doubt about it. It caused major problems for me. >>> If Vonage were a regulated entity -- which it's gone to great lengths >>> to not be -- there would be significant penalties not just for this >>> sort of service failure (note that Vonage hasn't exactly contacted its >>> customers and offered to refund any of their money for the time that >>> their phones were out of service) -- but also for lying about it. >> What this proves is that Vonage is simply not a viable replacement for >> wireline service. I've been a Vonage user from the beginning, >> suffering through echos and quality issues for the first several >> months. >> I figured it was all worth it for the unlimited, inexpensive "out >> WATS." But, now that SBC offers unlimited nation-wide toll for a >> competitive price, it makes me think about using only my wireline >> (which I never got rid of). The only advantage Vonage offers today >> are virtual numbers. > I'd like to know what part of $88 you consider reasonable. That's what > Verizon was getting from me for unlimited national/local. Well, compared to long-distance bills I had of $1,100 per month in the mid-1970s, which would equate to $,4000 or $5,000 per month today, $88 seems quite reasonable. You are comparing Vonage's total cost with SBC's total cost. I guess if wireline, E911, commercial power protection, etc., is not worth much to you then go with Vonage and the unpredictable outages. I have a critical conference call later this morning. I'll use my Vonage, but my SBC phone is close at hand in the event the Vonage connection zaps 45 minutes, or so, into the conference call. That has happened twice in the past two months. ------------------------------ Date: 9 Mar 2005 16:17:02 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday, was: Vonage Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I'd like to know what part of $88 you consider reasonable. That's what > Verizon was getting from me for unlimited national/local. SBC now charges $49, same as Vonage, except that SBC thows in a phone wire and offers E-911 as part of the deal. Regards, John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ 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 V24 #103 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Mar 10 05:55:16 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2AAtGf29243; Thu, 10 Mar 2005 05:55:16 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 05:55:16 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503101055.j2AAtGf29243@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 V24 #104 TELECOM Digest Thu, 10 Mar 2005 05:55:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 104 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Canadian Security Co's Speak Out Against Anti-Circumvention (M Falco) "Hollywood Hacking Bill" Author Named Dem. Liaison (Marcus Didius Falco) Cell Phones Do Much More Than Make Calls (Monty Solomon) TiVo Patent Suit Advances on Federal Court Denial of Echostar (Solomon) Vonage Being Blocked -- Again (Jack Decker) Phone Doesn't Disconnect (cyklone006@gmail.com) Shooting Victim Gets to Pay Phone (Carl Moore) Re: "Broadcast Flag", was Re: My New DVR From Cable One (Dan Lanciani) Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday (DevilsPGD) Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday (Brian Inglis) Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday, was: Vonage (Lisa Hancock) 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: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 23:26:40 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Canadian Security Co's Speak Out Against Anti-circumvention ------ Forwarded Message From: Michael Geist < > Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 17:30:17 -0500 To: Subject: Canadian Security Co's Speak Out Against Anti-circumvention Legislation Dave, A substantial group of Canada's security technology companies have sent a public letter to the Industry and Heritage Ministers to express concern about the potential for DMCA-like legislation in Canada. Years of discussions and no one bothered to ask these guys what they think. The public letter has been posted online at A release and backgrounder are at http://www.cippic.ca/en/news/documents/Press_Release_-_Security_Businesses.pdf http://www.cippic.ca/en/news/documents/Backgrounders_of_Participants.pdf This might be a sign of Canada's technology community waking up to the implications of copyright reforms that directly impact their businesses. Best, MG March 8, 2005 BY COURIER The Honourable David L. Emerson, P.C., M.P. Minister of Industry 235, Queen Street, 11th Floor, East Tower Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H5 The Honourable Liza Frulla, P.C., M.P. Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women 15 Eddy Street Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0M5 Dear Minister Emerson and Minister Frulla: Re: Proposals to include Anti-Circumvention Rights in A Bill to Amend the Copyright Act We write to you as leaders of Canada's security research business community. We understand that the Canadian government in the near future will introduce legislation to amend the Copyright Act to introduce rights to prohibit the circumvention of technological protection measures, or "TPMs". Any such amendment will have profound negative consequences for security researchers and businesses that commercialize such research. The business community involved with security research and related services has a great deal at stake in this legislation, both economically and technologically. Despite these considerations, the government has yet to consult with us. We urge the government to take our concerns into account prior to implementing any such amendment. Legal protection for TPMs is the equivalent of making screw-drivers illegal because they can be used to break and enter. Good legislation targets the illegal act, not the legal tools the crook might use. Canada is already well-served by laws protecting copyright. Outlawing the technological tools - the screw-drivers of the technology community - undermines Canada's commitment to fostering an economy built on innovation and opportunity. Understand that the science and business of digital security implicates the practical application of circumvention technologies. To understand security threats, researchers must understand security weaknesses. We are not in the business of circumventing technological safeguards for the purposes of exploiting the weaknesses we find; rather, we are in the businesses of finding and addressing those weaknesses. In this way, our work offers crucial support to the business interests of those who seek to protect their copyrighted works through technology. Indeed, technological protection measures and digital rights management systems themselves are practical applications of the work of this research community. We observe that in other jurisdictions, rights holders have often sought to enforce anti-circumvention rights for reasons other than copyright protection. Anti-circumvention rights have anti-competitive applications. These have been well documented and should be familiar to you. We won't dwell on them here. More troubling from a public policy perspective, however, are those attempts to assert anti-circumvention rights to silence critical research into security holes. Such attempts are at base motivated by a desire to maintain control over security research in respect of particular platforms or applications. Centralized control over security research does not make for good public policy. Security weaknesses are best found - and addressed - when a variety of security researchers examine a platform or application. The odds of one party devising the best response to a security issue are slim; the likelihood of an optimal response improves significantly when a community of security researchers has the opportunity to examine and test a platform or application. Anti-circumvention laws throw a shroud of legal risk over that community, and dampen security research at the edges. Simply, anti-circumvention laws that provide for excessive control make for bad security policy. The American experience under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the "DMCA") should be instructive in this regard. Professor Ed Felton of Princeton University was threatened with litigation (as were conference organizers) for attempting to present his findings on security holes in the work of the Secure Digital Music Initiative industry working group. Dmitri Sklyarov, a Russian programmer, was jailed for travelling to the United States and presenting the results of his work on a software tool that could be used to read Adobe's "e-book" files. American security researchers are choosing to avoid research with DMCA implications. Global experts on security now avoid traveling to the United States. Richard Clarke, former White House cybersecurity and counterterrorism adviser, has observed that the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions have had a "chilling effect on vulnerability research." The DMCA has had a demonstrably negative impact on security research in the United States. Canada has historically been a global leader in the science of cryptography. Canada is now turning to apply that strength to the business of digital security. The Canadian government should support this emerging industry, not erect market barriers or create new risks of legal liability. In the late nineties, the Canadian government made online connectivity a priority with the goal of making Canada "the most connected nation in the world". Consistent with that goal, Canada released its Cryptography Policy in 1998, envisioning digital security as key to "building Canada's information economy and society", and making a commitment to fostering the development of the digital security business sector. In 1998, the Canadian government recognized the importance of this business sector to securing reliable electronic commerce. In the context of anti-circumvention laws, these considerations have barely merited a mention. Proponents of anti-circumvention laws protest that these laws do not target "legitimate" security research, and that laws may be crafted with exceptions for such research. With respect, the DMCA carries such exceptions. They have proven both inadequate and ineffective in protecting security researchers from threats of litigation. Moreover, such exceptions offer little security against the threat of litigation. Rights-holders have not hesitated to assert anti-circumvention rights against researchers to maintain control over public dissemination of security research implicating their applications and platforms, even where such claims have only the most tenuous basis in fact. Nonetheless, such threats create a "liability chill". Security researchers and businesses generally lack the time and resources to defend such claims, with the result that the mere threat achieves the claimant's objective. The mere threat of liability for circumvention is a mischief itself that may only be addressed by not creating the basis for the threat in the first place. In our view, the best policy would be to introduce no change to the law at all. Rights-holders are well protected by traditional rights under the Copyright Act. An infringement remains an infringement regardless of whether or not a TPM is circumvented. TPMs themselves provide a second layer of protection sufficient to deter all but the most sophisticated would-be infringers. Legally privileging TPMs would add a third layer of protection; however, we seriously question whether the marginal value of this legal protection outweighs the severe impairment it causes to legitimate security research. We welcome the opportunity to discuss the matters addressed in this letter with you. We look forward to being consulted by the government on future developments in this area. Yours truly, Brian O'Higgins Chief Technology Officer Third Brigade, Ltd. Brian Flood Chief Executive Officer VE Networks, Inc. Bob Young, Co-founder and Director, Red Hat, Inc. Founder and CEO of Lulu, Inc. Owner, Hamilton Tiger-Cats Football Team Hugh Ellis Chief Executive Officer Cinnabar Networks Inc. John Detombe Director AEPOS Technologies Corporation Austin Hill President Synomos Inc. John Alsop Founder and Chairman Borderware Technologies Inc. Michael Kouritzin Chief Executive Officer Random Knowledge Inc. Dr. Stefan Brands President Credentica Carl C. Bond President Innusec, Inc. Djenana Campara Chief Technology Officer Klocwork Inc. Randy Sutton, President Elytra Enterprises Inc. Professor Michael A. Geist Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law University of Ottawa Law School, Common Law Section ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 00:41:40 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Hollywood Hacking Bill Author Named Dem. Liaison From Declan's list ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Subject: "Hollywood Hacking Bill" Author Named as Democrat Liaison to Entertainment Industry From: Richard Forno This is beyond absurd. Howard Berman is the Congresscritter who, a few years ago, wanted to enact laws that would let the entertainment industry "hack" private computers in their quest for copyright investigations.....his proposed law would also indemnify the entertainment cartels if those actions resulted in problems for the folks being "hacked" -- even if the "hack" resulted in not finding any "infringing" materials. As of today, the Democrats have the glaringly-ignorant shill of the entertainment industry (Berman) working for the greedy entertainment industry itself. How very convenient for all sides. Except the public (and many artists) of course. Anyway, some info on the old Berman Bill that shows how his mind works: http://news.com.com/2100-1023-945923.html?tag=3Dfd_lede ... and the new press release from today ... Pelosi Appoints Berman as Chief Liaison to the Entertainment Industry http://democraticleader.house.gov/press/releases.cfm?pressReleaseID=886 Washington, D.C House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today announced the appointment of California Congressman Howard L. Berman as chief liaison between the House Democratic Caucus and the entertainment industry. Berman, a senior California lawmaker who has worked closely and productively with the film industry for years, will hold a more regular and institutionalized dialogue with industry representatives on issues vital to those who make and market films, music, and other copyrighted materials. Berman is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property. "Howard Berman has long been a leader on copyright enforcement and stopping Internet piracy," Pelosi said. "He understands the business and creative interests of the entertainment industry, which comprises the largest and fastest growing sector of the U.S. economy and creates a surplus balance of trade. This appointment will put in place a process for even greater communication and mutual understanding between House Democrats and the entertainment industry." "Entertainment is my hometown industry," said Berman, "and it's one I've been working with closely for all the years I've been in Congress. I welcome this new way to emphasize its issues to the Democratic leadership." _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/) John F. McMullen http://www.westnet.com/~observer ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 22:45:08 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Cell Phones Do Much More Than Make Calls By MATT MOORE AP Business Writer HANOVER, Germany (AP) -- The mobile phone is a phone no more. The new models unveiled at the CeBIT technology show Wednesday let users do far more than just call a friend to catch up. How about sending them a brief film clip of you standing by a fountain in Rome? Or perhaps a photo of the Eiffel Tower with an image quality so fine it could be blown up and placed in a 10x14-inch frame. Between a new Samsung handset that sports a seven-megapixel camera _ better resolution than most nonprofessional digital cameras _ and a wide range of mobiles that download and stream music like an MP3 player, cell "phones" are now a lot more than just a keypad and three hours of talk time. The slew of new features on phones is an astounding leap from just two years ago, when an integrated camera that took fuzzy images was an attention-getter. And since 2002, music and mobiles has meant much more than just ringtones. All these new bells and whistles have become a big selling point, not just for the makers, but for the carriers who want to increase their revenue. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=47544259 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 22:47:06 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo Patent Suit Advances on Federal Court Denial of Echostar ALVISO, Calif., March 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced that the federal district court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division has denied motions to dismiss and transfer TiVo's patent infringement case against Echostar Communications Corporation (ECC) and affiliated companies. In that case, TiVo has alleged that ECC and certain subsidiaries are violating a key TiVo patent (U.S. Patent No. 6,233,389 issued to TiVo in May 2001, known as the "Time Warp" patent). The defendants had sought to transfer the case out of Texas, and two of the defendants argued that they were not subject to jurisdiction in Texas. The Court denied both motions. Key TiVo inventions protected by this patent include a method for recording one program while playing back another; watching a show as it is recording; and a storage format that supports advanced capabilities -- such as pausing live television, fast-forwarding, rewinding, instant replays, and slow motion. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=47542335 ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 21:53:56 -0500 Subject: Vonage Being Blocked -- Again Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=159400250 Vonage Being Blocked -- Again March 9, 2005 Vonage Holdings Corp. said it is investigating a new potential incident of its Voice over IP service being blocked, this time by a cable television company that also provides Internet services. By Paul Kapustka - Advanced IP Pipeline Vonage Holdings Corp. said it is investigating new potential incident of its Voice over IP service being blocked, this time by a cable television company that also provides Internet services. Brooke Schulz, Vonage's vice president for corporate communications, confirmed that the company is "investigating a new instance" of service interruption that appears to be another case of port blocking. Schulz said the incident involves Vonage customers who use high-speed Internet services provided by a cable operator, somewhere in the Midwest U.S. [.....] Over the past two weeks, industry sources who declined to be named said they had heard rumors that some Vonage customers in the Midwest were having their services blocked. On Wednesday, Schulz confirmed that Vonage is "investigating an instance [of service outages] on a cable operator's system in the Midwest." Full story at: http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=159400250 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: cyklone006@gmail.com Subject: Phone Doesn't Disconnect Date: 9 Mar 2005 17:30:50 -0800 Hello. I am having problems with people -- usually telemarketers calling my home. When I hang up the phone, and wait a few seconds, and then pick it up again, they are still on the line. How is this done? Can I do something about it? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You need to wait a few more seconds. Give it about a full minute to make sure the line disconnects, but it usually should not take that long. And of course, make sure all of your numbers -- landline, cellular and VOIP are listed on the federal and (your) state 'do not call' lists as well. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 15:23:33 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Shooting Victim Gets to Pay Phone A story dated yesterday got onto the WPVI-TV web site (channel 6, "Action News", Philadelphia), entitled "Shooting Outside Logan Restaurant". It says a man was shot and "He was able to walk to a nearby pay phone and call 911". I'm letting you know because of previous blurbs in this Digest about fewer pay phones due to cell phones being so popular. For as long as it's good, here is the reference: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/030805_nw_loganshooting.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 00:40:32 EST From: Dan Lanciani Subject: Re: "Broadcast Flag", was Re: My New DVR From Cable One kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net (Tony P.) wrote: > But if you read the FCC documents about it, they make it clear that > anyone with a little technical knowledge can easily defeat the DRM > functions. So have they given up on the (complicated but fairly robust) encryption/ authentication/key-revocation scheme for digital interconnects that was being bandied about in the beginning? (The actual OTA signal would have been in the clear in any case, but building an ATSC receiver probably takes more than a little technical knowledge and even then isn't what I'd call easy. Unless of course someone comes up with a good GNUradio cookbook. :) > The courts are going to slap down on the FCC anyhow. We live in hope ... Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 17:34:23 -0700 Organization: Disorganized In message Randal Hayes wrote: > Vonage, or even the VOIP environment are not unique here; for several > years some of the largest carriers have experienced outages during > some of their busiest periods due to scheduling non-emergency software > loads and upgrades during peak periods ... what idiocy! > Is common sense a thing of the past for some people, or is the belief > in performing quality work a thing of the past for some people ... or > both? Personally, I do most of the maintenance work on my servers during "peak hours" Why? Well, two reasons: 1) My system is redundant enough that users don't notice the outage. 2) If something blows up and I need assistance (usually in the form of a hardware failure in a remote data center), I can get that support during the day. At night it's hit and miss. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 07:03:05 GMT From: Brian Inglis Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday Reply-To: Brian.Inglis@SystematicSW.ab.ca Organization: Systematic Software On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 13:02:35 -0600 in comp.dcom.telecom, Randal Hayes wrote: > Vonage, or even the VOIP environment are not unique here; for several > years some of the largest carriers have experienced outages during > some of their busiest periods due to scheduling non-emergency software > loads and upgrades during peak periods ... what idiocy! > Is common sense a thing of the past for some people, or is the belief > in performing quality work a thing of the past for some people..or > both? It works, ship it ... we're all beta test sites now! Thanks. Take care, Brian Inglis Calgary, Alberta, Canada Brian.Inglis@CSi.com (Brian[dot]Inglis{at}SystematicSW[dot]ab[dot]ca) fake address use address above to reply ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 01:34:04 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications Randal Hayes wrote: > Is common sense a thing of the past for some people, or is the belief > in performing quality work a thing of the past for some people ... or > both? Maybe creative lying is more of a thing of the past. ;-) So far as I know the wireline LECs still do major generic loads at 200 AM on Saturday morning. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday, was: Vonage Date: 9 Mar 2005 12:06:40 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Tony P. wrote: > I'd like to know what part of $88 you consider reasonable. That's > what Verizon was getting from me for unlimited national/local. My Verizon charge for that is about $40 (with discount for combining cell phone), and also gives a package of features. FCC line cost, etc. extra but the total cost is much less than $88. There are other wireline competitors with cheap packages, too. Note that many people may be paying close to that already just to have a regional-wide free calling area. I had that it and it was another only $15 to go unlimited national. I don't make that many toll calls but it paid for me; plus I have the convenience of not watching the clock anymore or worrying about toll calls. I also can call back other callers so they don't run up their bill, so my friends save money too. A lot of people who use VOIP still keep a wireline in reserve or for other uses. There is still a cost for that. ------------------------------ 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 V24 #104 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Mar 10 17:50:04 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2AMo3A04466; Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:50:04 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:50:04 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503102250.j2AMo3A04466@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 V24 #105 TELECOM Digest Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:50:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 105 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson New Orleans Installs Surveillance Cameras (Monty Solomon) LexisNexis: 32,000 Consumers' Data Stolen (Monty Solomon) U.S. Citizens' Data Possibly Compromised (Monty Solomon) Elite Computer Pirates Plead Guilty in Bootlegging Crackdown (M Solomon) Rejected Harvard Applicants say School's Reaction to Web Page (Solomon) MIT Says it Won't Admit Hackers (Monty Solomon) Drug-Error Risk at Hospitals Tied to Computers (Monty Solomon) QuickerTek 27db Transceiver for AirPort (Monty Solomon) Motorola Postpones iTunes Phone Debut (Monty Solomon) BT Strikes Long-Term Network Deal With Reuters (Telecom dailyLead USTA) Draytek Router Problem: Class C Address Only on LAN Interface (paulfoel) Long Distance Carrier Verification (Michael Muderick) Comunications ATA 186 to ATA 186 (Without Gatekeeper, CallManager)(SoGo) Vonage Outage Last Thursday (Randal Hayes) Motorola Says It Is Working on More iTunes Phones (Lisa Minter) LexisNexis Says 32,000 Profiles Stolen (Lisa Minter) Microsoft Gives First Key Details on New Xbox (Lisa Minter) AOL Jumps Into VoIP Service (Jack Decker) Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers (Joseph) Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers (Isaiah Beard) Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday (Robert Bonomi) Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday (Lisa Hancock) Re: Home PBX Info: Switching Between Landlines and VoIP (Robert Bonomi) 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: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 07:28:57 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: New Orleans Installs Surveillance Cameras By Mary Foster, Associated Press | March 9, 2005 NEW ORLEANS -- The man marched down the street in daylight, armed with a paintball rifle that had been converted to shoot with lethal force. He then blasted a newly installed camera in hopes of ridding the drug-ridden neighborhood of police surveillance. But the shooter's image was saved on the camera's hard drive. "All it did was get him arrested," said New Orleans' chief technology officer, Greg Meffert, with a chuckle. "The camera immediately notified the police and tracked him until he was caught." And when they got him, they found he was wanted on a murder warrant. The arrest was the first success story from a new crime-fighting system of cameras that New Orleans is installing citywide. The bulletproof cameras can monitor an eight-block area, communicate with the authorities, and provide evidence in court. Police hope the system will catch criminals in the act and serve as a deterrent in a city long plagued by drugs and murders. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/03/09/new_orleans_installs_surveillance_cameras/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 07:27:47 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: LexisNexis: 32,000 Consumers' Data Stolen By Jeffrey Goldfarb and Andy Sullivan LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Data broker LexisNexis on Wednesday said that identity thieves have gained access to profiles of 32,000 U.S. citizens, prompting calls for better consumer protections after a rash of similar break-ins. The U.S. Secret Service said it is investigating the incident, while a company spokeswoman said the FBI has also launched an investigation. The announcement comes amid heightened scrutiny of data brokers and other companies that handle consumer information, after rival ChoicePoint Inc. said last month that thieves had gained access to at least 145,000 consumer profiles. U.S. lawmakers plan at least two hearings over the coming week and are considering new regulations. LexisNexis, a subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch Reed Elsevier , said a billing complaint by a customer of its Seisint unit in the past week led to the discovery that an identity and password had been misappropriated. The information accessed included names, addresses, Social Security and driver's license numbers, but not credit histories, medical records or financial information. LexisNexis, which bought Seisint last year, said it is contacting the 32,000 people affected and offering them credit monitoring and other support to detect any identity theft. The company is also changing the way it handles passwords and other security features, said Kurt Sanford, president and CEO of the company's corporate and federal markets division. http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/03/09/consumer_data_stolen_from_reed_elsevier/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: For the complete report on this incident involving LexisNexis, see the article by Lisa Minter elsewhere in this issue of the Digest, and also review our supplementary news section http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 07:28:22 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: U.S.Citizens' Data Possibly Compromised By Ellen Simon, Associated Press Writer | March 9, 2005 NEW YORK --Using stolen passwords from legitimate customers, intruders accessed personal information on as many as 32,000 U.S. citizens in a database owned by the information broker LexisNexis, the company said. The announcement Wednesday comes on the heels of a series of similar high-profile breaches, the most serious affecting another large data broker, ChoicePoint Inc. in which scores of identities were stolen. The ChoicePoint case, as well as other data losses including one affecting some 1.2 million federal employees with Bank of America charge cards, have prompted an outcry for federal oversight of a loosely regulated commercial sector. In the data-brokering business, sensitive data about nearly every adult American is bought and sold. The first in a series of Capitol Hill hearings are scheduled for Thursday. At LexisNexis, criminals found a way to compromise the logins and passwords of a handful of legitimate customers to get access to the database, said Kurt Sanford, the company's chief executive, told The Associated Press. The database that was breached, called Accurint, sells reports for $4.50 each that include an individual's Social Security number, past addresses, date of birth and voter registration information, including party affiliation. No credit history, medical records or financial information were accessed in the breach, LexisNexis parent company Reed Elsevier Group PLC said in a statement. The Accurint database is part of the Seisint unit, which LexisNexis bought in August. Sanford said a team examining Seisint's data security routines in February noticed abnormal usage patterns and suspicious billing on some accounts. http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/03/09/us_citizens_data_possibly_compromised/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Also see the article by Lisa Minter in this issue of the Digest. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 07:27:50 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Elite Computer Pirates Plead Guilty in Bootlegging Crackdown By Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press Writer | March 8, 2005 HARTFORD, Conn. -- Three top members of a global computer piracy network admitted Thursday that they shuttled millions of dollars in computer games, movies and software around the world through a coded system of Web sites and chat rooms. The men pleaded guilty in U.S. District court to federal copyright charges, becoming the first Americans convicted in what the Justice Department said was the largest-ever investigation of software piracy. All said they made no money off the conspiracy and U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor said they considered themselves "the Robin Hoods of cyberspace." But investigators said the bootlegged software ended up on the streets of foreign countries, selling for pennies on the dollar. The investigation -- dubbed "Operation Higher Education" because many pirates use computers at universities -- spanned across the United States and about a dozen foreign countries. FBI agents in New Haven said the case broke open when they infiltrated the clandestine "warez" community on the Internet. http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2005/03/08/feds_crack_down_on_internet_software_piracy_sites/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 07:29:20 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Rejected Harvard Applicants say School's Reaction to Web Excessive Rejected Harvard applicants say school's reaction to Web page "hack" excessive By Jay Lindsay, Associated Press Writer | March 8, 2005 BOSTON --His decision came late at night, with his laptop propped in front of him in bed. Instructions on a Web site promised business school applicants an early online look at whether they'd been accepted. Intrigued, he began typing. A minute later he'd accessed the Harvard Business School's admission site, though all he saw was a blank page. That split-second decision cost the 28-year-old New Yorker a chance to attend Harvard Business School this year. On Monday, Harvard became the second school, after Carnegie Mellon, to announce its blanket rejection of any applicant who used a method detailed in a BusinessWeek Online forum to try to get an early glimpse at admissions decisions in top business schools. On Tuesday, some of the 119 applicants denied Harvard admission because they visited the site said the school overreacted, and disputed that accessing a public Web page with their own identification numbers was either a "hack" or "unethical," as Harvard Business School Dean Kim Clark said in a statement. The applicant said he spent months completing Harvard's rigorous application process. http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2005/03/08/harvard_applicants_who_hacked_into_system_rejected_for_admission/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 07:28:24 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: MIT Says it Won't Admit Hackers Business school joins Harvard in decision By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff | March 9, 2005 The dean of MIT's Sloan School of Management yesterday said Sloan will join Harvard Business School in rejecting applications from prospective students who hacked into a website last week to learn whether they had been admitted before they were formally notified. Stanford's Graduate School of Business, meanwhile, asked its own applicant-hackers to come forward and explain their actions, in a sign that the California school soon may take tougher action as well. Thirty-two applicants apparently sought an early peek at the confidential data in their admission files at Sloan, while 41 files were targeted at Stanford and 119 at Harvard. Harvard on Monday became the second victimized business school to say outright it would not admit proven hackers. The first was Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business, where one admission file was violated. Those schools, along with Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and Duke's Fuqua School of Business, all use an independent website run by ApplyYourself Inc. of Fairfax, Va., to receive applications and, in some cases, manage communications with applicants. After midnight last Wednesday, hundreds of business school admission files were targeted by computers around the globe when a hacker posted detailed instructions on a BusinessWeek Online forum. Most of the hackers saw only blank screens, though some who accessed admission files at Harvard viewed preliminary decision information. http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/03/09/mit_says_it_wont_admit_hackers/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 07:28:47 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Drug-Error Risk at Hospitals Tied to Computers By Scott Allen, Globe Staff | March 9, 2005 Hospital computer systems that are widely touted as the best way to eliminate dangerous medication mix-ups can actually introduce many errors, according to the most comprehensive study of hazards of the new technology. The researchers, who shadowed doctors and nurses in a Philadelphia hospital for four months, found that some patients were put at risk of getting double doses of their medicine while others get none at all. Doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania identified 22 types of mistakes they have made because of difficulty using computerized drug-ordering, such as failing to stop old medications when adding new ones or forgetting that the computer automatically suspended medications after surgery. Some doctors interviewed for the study said they made computer-related mistakes several times a week. The findings underscore the complexity of improving safety in US hospitals, where the Institute of Medicine estimates that errors of all kinds kill 44,000 to 98,000 patients a year. The University of Pennsylvania researchers stressed that computers hold great potential, but said many systems are overhyped and hard to use, prompting one Los Angeles hospital to turn off its drug-ordering system altogether. http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2005/03/09/drug_error_risk_at_hospitals_tied_to_computers/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 12:21:10 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: QuickerTek 27db Transceiver for AirPort http://www.quickertek.com/27dbtrans.html 27db Transceiver for AirPort Base Station; Adds up to 1/2 Mile Line-of-Sight Range! If you have Wi-Fi range issues, this is the solution for you . Plus, the user can add one of these to each end of the network if needed. The transceiver is also great for point-to-point systems, college dorms, distant AP's like house boats trying to connect to wireless access points etc. Typical installations would include classrooms or fixing range problems with your ITunes and AirPort Express by adding this to the PowerBook or Desktop. The 27db transceiver operates on all 2.4GHz, Wi-Fi systems. The transceiver is Wi-Fi compliant, supporting both 802.11g and 802.11b. and works with both OS9.x and OS10.x systems. This product is designed especially for Apple's Airport Extreme wireless systems and allows the maximum power output allowed by the FCC. Apple wireless products have RF output of 30mW; our product is 500mW. This transceiver works on Apple Base Stations (Graphite, Snow, and both Extremes models). It comes with a 2.2Dbi antenna, but all other QuickerTek omni and directional Base Station antennas can be added. http://www.quickertek.com/27dbtrans.html http://www.quickertek.com/pr/2005_08_02_27DbiTrans.pdf http://www.quickertek.com/faq.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 12:23:14 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Motorola Postpones iTunes Phone Debut By MATT MOORE AP Business Writer HANOVER, Germany (AP) -- Motorola Inc. postponed plans Thursday to unveil a cell phone that can buy and play songs from Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes download service, a sudden decision which may reflect tensions with cellular companies who also want to sell music to mobile phone users. The company briefed reporters on the new offering earlier in the week and planned to unveil the phone at the big CeBIT technology show here. Motorola's two-story exhibition booth included a display of iMacs running iTunes, but the new phones weren't there. Motorola spokeswoman Monica Rohleder said in Chicago that the company remains in discussions with a number of wireless carriers regarding the first iTunes phone and will announce it "when it's ready to go," close to its expected release time this summer. She asserted that the last-minute change in plans was no reflection of a dispute with carriers who offer Motorola phones in their handset lineups. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=47560470 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 13:05:15 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: BT Strikes Long-term Network Deal With Reuters Telecom dailyLead from USTA http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19974&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * BT strikes long-term network deal with Reuters BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Verizon sets fiber rollout in Comcast's back yard * Motorola delays iTunes phone announcement * Vonage alleges more port-blocking * AT&T to forge ahead with SoIP plans despite SBC deal * Report: Africa's mobile phone market booming * Nokia may snare lead in 3G race before long * Comcast gets access to CA with Motorola deal USTA SPOTLIGHT * Telecom Crash Course -- The must-have book for telecom professionals EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Sony bets big on mobile PlayStation REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Two names emerge as possible replacements for Michael Powell * Jurors in Ebbers trial seek clarification, guidance Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19974&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: paulfoel Subject: Draytek Router Problem - Class C Address Only on LAN Interface? Date: 10 Mar 2005 06:31:53 -0800 Now this is really weird ... Set up network Draytek 2600+ as ADSL router connecting to broadband. Local LAN port was given the address of 10.0.0.254 with a netmask of 255.255.0.0. This is because we have all the DHCP stuff on 10.0.1.x, servers on 10.0.2.x, printers on 10.0.3.x etc. Should work, yeh ? Trouble is if you pinged say 10.0.2.10 from the Draytek you got 50% packet loss ... Speaking to Draytek it seems they only support class C addresses on the LAN port. It totally ignores the first three octets and only looks at the last ... So, if we've got a server 10.0.2.10, and a DHCP allocated PC with 10.0.1.10 the router gets confused when trying to ping 10.0.2.10 because it only looks at the last .10. Got round it by changed the DHCP range to start at 50 (there are less than 50 servers etc) to make sure the last octet is unique on the lan. Pretty disappointed with the draytek router. We tried a cheap netgear router and this handled the subnets fine ... Any comments ??? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 10:57:28 -0500 From: Michael Muderick Subject: Long Distance Carrier Verification Has anyone tried 700-555-4141 lately to verify long distance carrier? It's still a published number, but in the Phila. area, I keep getting a busy signal. Is there a new number available? Michael Muderick ------------------------------ From: frsanchez@gmail.com (SoGo) Subject: Comunications ATA 186 to ATA 186 (Without Gatekeeper/CallManager) Date: 10 Mar 2005 08:11:00 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I have two customer. Both connected to Internet (ADSL) Each customer has an IP fixes and an equipment with ATA 186. The configuration would be: Customer 1: extension 1000 Customer 2: extension 2000 When client 1 dialing 2000, they call to VoIP phone of customer 2 ... and vice versa. This simple configuration can be made without having to use a Gatekeeper (Asterisk, CallManager, ...) The solution seems to be in that ATA of customer 1 puts as gateway ATA of customer 2, and vice versa. I was not able to find answers in the Cisco documentation. Would know somebody like doing it? Would you have any url/link that explained it? I really need help. Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 10:59:25 -0600 From: Randal Hayes Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday DevilsPGD wrote about Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday on Wed, 09 Mar 2005 17:34:23 -0700 > Personally, I do most of the maintenance work on my servers during > "peak hours" > Why? Well, two reasons: > 1) My system is redundant enough that users don't notice the outage. > 2) If something blows up and I need assistance (usually in the form of a hardware failure in a remote data center), > I can get that support during the day. At night it's hit and miss. A) We're talking about carriers here ... not internal support for a company. B) From a corporate/institutional standpoint, for a scheduled upgrade, I always, and I mean always, have all my ducks in a row with the vendor such that I've never, in 23 years in this business, had a problem getting immediate vendor support, even at 4:00 AM; it's called extremely good planning. Randy Hayes ------------------------------ Date: 10 Mar 2005 03:45:38 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: otorola Says It Is Working on More iTunes Phones HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - Motorola said on Thursday it is working on several mobile phones that are compatible with Apple's iTunes music service and some of which can store eight hours of songs. One model, the E790, was initially scheduled for a European launch this summer, but that introduction has been delayed after discussions with operators, Motorola said at the fringes of CeBIT, the world's biggest electronics fair here. The model is a surprise as it was originally planned ahead of the ROKR, which is also a music phone with iTunes and which Motorola has banged the drum about, but has not yet shown. The ROKR is expected to be unveiled later this month at a music event in Florida. Rival Sony Ericsson showed its first phone with a built-in Sony Walkman last week. "Over the course of the year, you'll see more (iTunes) devices," said Alberto Moriondo, Motorola's global director of entertainment for mobile devices. Major handset makers have started collaborating with online digital music stores. Sony Ericsson said its first Walkman phone will be on the market around August or September. Nokia which said it will use Microsoft's music technology alongside other standards, has yet to unveil a dedicated music phone. Motorola hopes to benefit from its association with Apple, which makes the world's most popular digital player iPod and runs the world's most popular music store, iTunes Music Store. "The Walkman for the 21st century is the Apple brand," Moriondo said. The fact that some iTunes phones can store eight hours of music or more is different from initial announcements last year that Motorola phones would only carry a small number of songs. Motorola's E790 handset will work on second-generation mobile networks, and not the faster, third-generation (3G) systems. Motorola at CeBIT also unveiled two more phones for third-generation networks, one medium-priced flip phone model and a slightly higher-priced handset which has taken some design features from the popular RAZR model. The Schaumberg, Illinois-based company has said it will launch 16 handsets for 3G networks this year. Motorola also introduced new flip phone handsets for the entry-level segment of the market, to be available in the second half of 2005. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 10 Mar 2005 03:46:49 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: LexisNexis Says 32,000 Profiles Stolen By Jeffrey Goldfarb and Andy Sullivan LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Data broker LexisNexis on Wednesday said that identity thieves have gained access to profiles of 32,000 U.S. citizens, prompting calls for better consumer protections after a rash of similar break-ins. The U.S. Secret Service and the FBI said they were investigating the incident. The announcement comes amid heightened scrutiny of data brokers and other companies that handle consumer information, after rival ChoicePoint Inc. said last month that thieves had gained access to at least 145,000 consumer profiles. U.S. lawmakers plan at least two hearings over the coming week and are considering new regulations. LexisNexis, a subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch Reed Elsevier (ELSN.AS), said a billing complaint by a customer of its Seisint unit in the past week led to the discovery that an identity and password had been misappropriated. The information accessed included names, addresses, Social Security and driver's license numbers, but not credit histories, medical records or financial information. LexisNexis, which bought Seisint last year, said it is contacting the 32,000 people affected and offering them credit monitoring and other support to detect any identity theft. The company is also changing the way it handles passwords and other security features, said Kurt Sanford, president and CEO of the company's corporate and federal markets division. "LexisNexis sincerely regrets these circumstances and continues to work aggressively and expeditiously to minimize the impact of this incident to consumers and our customers," Sanford said in a statement. A spokesman declined further comment. Seisint, based in Boca Raton, Florida, uses property records and other public data to build profiles on millions of U.S. consumers, which it sells to law-enforcement agencies and financial institutions. A Seisint-created criminal-information database called Matrix came under fire when it provided government officials with the names of 120,000 people whose personal information supposedly fit the profile of a terrorist. GROWING PROBLEM Identity theft is a growing problem as criminals use stolen personal information to run up charges, costing companies and individuals billions of dollars each year. Until recently identity thieves could find credit-card numbers and other sensitive information on customer receipts, bills and other easy-to-obtain forms, but have recently turned their attention to companies that hold such information in bulk. "As the value of what you're trying to steal increases, so does the effort that the bad guys will put into it," said Paul Beechey, a security expert with UK defense group QinetiQ. Along with LexisNexis and ChoicePoint, financial group Bank of America Corp. and discount-store owner Retail Ventures Inc have reported lost or stolen personal information on customers in recent weeks. The only reason the public is aware of these incidents is because of a California law that requires companies to disclose them, said Jim Dempsey, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington public-interest group. Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson who has introduced a bill that would impose tougher regulations on the industry, learned about the Seisint breach Wednesday morning as he spoke about identity theft on the Senate floor. "Are we going to do anything about it? I sure hope so, and I hope that we are going to have Congress start to take action," Nelson said. Reed Elsevier, which bought Seisint in July 2004 for $745 million, reaffirmed financial targets in the wake of the theft. The company's shares in London closed down 1.87 percent at 537 1/2 pence. Though Seisint represents only about 1.5 percent of Reed Elsevier's revenues, analysts said the situation could harm management's credibility and acquisition track record. (Additional reporting by Emma Thomasson and Theo Kolker in Amsterdam and Adam Pasick in London) NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited/Tech Tuesday. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So 32 thousand people get their records ripped off due to the clumsiness of Lexis/Nexis and their management's main concern is 'this may make it harder for *them* to aquire still another company'. My heart really bleeds for them. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 10 Mar 2005 03:47:32 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Microsoft Gives First Key Details on New Xbox In a speech at the Game Developers Conference here, J Allard, the Microsoft executive overseeing the software development tools for the new Xbox, said the new streamlined interface would help draw more users to the platform. "We've got to create a consistent experience so that consumers can enter our worlds much more easily," he told a packed convention center audience. "If we want to get to 10 or 20 million subscribers we've got to create some consistency." Microsoft is expected to release the new Xbox in time for the 2005 holidays, but the company has kept mum so far on both timing and the name of the new device. Among the features Allard demonstrated was an on-screen "Gamer Card" that gives information other players can see on a gamer's location, achievements in various games, time playing specific games and level of skill. Other features include a custom music player and a "store" where players could make small purchases, for pennies or a few dollars, of new characters, parts for virtual racing cars and the like. The theme of Allard's speech was the "HD Era," which he described as a time when all games are in high-definition, players are constantly connected through mobile phones, instant messaging and the Internet and gamers can personalize their environments to suit their tastes. "The HD consumer needs more than a hi-definition Super Bowl," Allard said. "The opportunity is real and now, but make no mistake we have the power to blow it." Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 13:32:50 -0500 Subject: AOL Jumps Into VoIP Service http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/000548.html Posted by Aoife McEvoy Tuesday, March 08, 2005, 02:27 PM (PST) Big news from one of the big dogs: AOL is yet another company to jump on the Voice-over-IP bandwagon (albeit a little late in the game). AOL's setup will mimic the services from companies like Vonage, VoicePulse, Lingo, and BroadVoice, where you connect an adapter to your broadband router and telephone. You don't even need to turn on your PC to reach out and call someone. Full story at: http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/000548.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 06:11:58 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 9 Mar 2005 08:56:41 -0800, Dean wrote: > A while back some on this list engaged in a lively debate about cell > phone radiation risks. This article may have some information of > interest to those of you who think this issue isn't dead yet. They've brought out this pony for a couple decades now and haven't found anything. Why should we believe this latest scare? ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 14:51:37 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Dean wrote: > A while back some on this list engaged in a lively debate about cell > phone radiation risks. This article may have some information of > interest to those of you who think this issue isn't dead yet. > The cell phone industry: Big Tobacco 2.0? > By Molly Wood, senior editor, CNET.com > Tuesday, March 8, 2005 Oh, C|Net. Now we KNOW it's quality journalism. Consider that Ms. Wood readily admits she has an agenda (she has an axe to grind with cell phone manufacturers over what she perceives as "iron-clad control over phone releases and pricing, its ever-lengthening contracts, and the annoying habit it has of crippling Bluetooth phones so that [she] can't use them the way [she wants] to"). I would thus take this with a heavy handful of salt. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 16:27:20 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Randal Hayes wrote: > Whenever a communications technology outage is reported and the cause > is attributed to some problem with a software load or other > maintenance work performed *in the middle of a workday* I always ask > myself, "What were they thinking, performing this type of work during > a busy period?!?" Methinks the visible problems do _not_ occur *during* the loading of the new software or other maintenance work. Rather, that the problem manifests itself only "when the conditions are right" to provoke the failure. Which, not surprisingly generally occurs during times of peak activity. And, that once the manifestation is apparent, the "cause of the problem" is traced back to a flaw in the new software or other maintenance work. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday Date: 10 Mar 2005 08:40:52 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Randal Hayes wrote: > Whenever a communications technology outage is reported and the cause > is attributed to some problem with a software load or other > maintenance work performed *in the middle of a workday* I always ask > myself, "What were they thinking, performing this type of work during > a busy period?!?" When the Bell System was trying out prototype ESS gear, they had a real central office served by their new switch. They had to make some changes and planned to do so at 3am. However, they hesitated about taking the switch down at that time, since if a call did come through, it likely would've been an emergency. Sure enough, a call did come up and it was indeed an emergency. The engineers realized 24 hr service had to be truly 24 hour service. I don't know about today, but ESS was originally built with two CPUs. One was handling calls and one was reserved in case of failure or to do maintenance. Early ESS turned out to be extremely reliable -- the longest outage was on account of a failed air conditioner. (IIRC this was the Morris IL test). One of things the big Bell System was able to do was 'beta test' new hardware and software under very controlled conditions before rolling it to the whole country. A small community would be selected, residents notified and trained accordingly, and the system tested. Not everything passed the test -- certain call features weren't popular and their initial tone ringers were disliked. The experience the engineers gained from seeing and maintaining their switch in real service serving real people was invaluable. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Home PBX Info: Switching Between Landlines and VoIP Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 12:51:18 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Lee Sweet wrote: > I've got an application that may apply to many with VoIP. I've got > two home landlines (one for myself, and one for my wife). I also have > a Vonage line for LD and Fax. We are keeping the landlines for the > usual reasons, including inability to port, E-911, etc. > Now, what I want to do is have all outbound LD calls go out on the > Vonage line automatically. Right now, I have a separate cordless > phone for that line, but that's not the optimal answer! :-) \ > I'd like to have the various corded and cordless phones and the three > lines hooked to some sort of home PBX where, either by dialing the > required '1' (best answer) or perhaps an '8', calls are connected to > the Vonage line. Else, they go out the (correct) landline. (I assume > each handset could know its 'proper' outbound landline for local > traffic if each input phone jack on the PBX can be programmed to use > the appropriate outbound line.) > Now, before PAT jumps in with his PBXtra recommendation :-) , I've > discussed this with Mike Sandman, and he really doesn't recommend it > for this application. > I'll bet a lot of people have Vonage as an extra LD/Fax line, still > have landlines, and would like to do this. > Any recommendations/pointers about home PBX info? Thanks! Any _real_ PBX can do what you're looking for. With minimal systems, you implement an outside line access code for each line -- say '7' for His, '8' for Hers, and '9' for long distance. Smarter systems support 'call routing', where the outgoing line used is selected by the first digit(s) of the number being called. This allows you to route international calls differently from domestic long distance, handle different areacodes differently, handle toll-free calls differently from toll calls, etc., etc. As mentioned in another response, the lowest cost approach is Asterix. free software, an old PC (a 486 box is plenty fast enough), and some inexpensive 'line cards' for the telephony interfaces. More features and capabilities than you can *possibly* use, but you don't pay anything for those "surplus" capabilities. I've only played with it a *little* bit -- don't know off-hand if it will do 'call routing' on a per extension basis out of the box. BUT, if it doesn't, it would be a fairly simple matter for a programmer to _add_ that capability -- one of the *big* advantages of a system where you have the source code. ------------------------------ 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 V24 #105 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Mar 11 00:35:18 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2B5ZH706941; Fri, 11 Mar 2005 00:35:18 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 00:35:18 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503110535.j2B5ZH706941@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 V24 #106 TELECOM Digest Fri, 11 Mar 2005 00:35:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 106 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Google Lets Users Customize News Site (Lisa Minter) Online Payment Company Settles Privacy Charges (Lisa Minter) Jail Sentence For Phone Line "Denial of Service" (Danny Burstein) FCC to Cellcos: Clean up Your Bills and Invoices (Danny Burstein) Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (emb120skw@aol.com) Technion (Choreboy) Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification (No Spam) Re: Drug Error Risk Tied to Computers (LB) Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification (bhamilton) Re: Phone Doesn't Disconnect (bhamilton) Re: Any Old Mechanical Systems Still in Use in USA? (bhamilton) Re: Home PBX and VoIP Tie-In (Lee Sweet) 107-Year-Old Woman From Independence (Wesrock@aol.com) 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: 10 Mar 2005 19:10:13 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Google Lets Users Customize News Site SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Web search leader Google Inc. on Thursday said it added tools to its news site that lets users customize the stories they see. The move from Silicon Valley-based Google and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN Internet unit added features to make it easier for their users to create personalized welcome pages tailored with the information they want to receive. With the new tools, users of Google News can create customized pages on the site that gathers news stories from around the Web, the company said. Google News users can now prioritize existing news topics such as top stories, health, entertainment or sports to change the look of the site's front page. Users also can create new categories to capture news stories that contain certain key words. Google News is available on mobile phones and handheld devices that can read Web pages. News customization is now available only on personal computers. Separately, Yahoo announced on Thursday that it had given its mobile users the ability to access all of their personalized My Yahoo headlines and the first part of related stories, including those that come from RSS and Atom feeds, on most mobile phones and handheld devices in the United States. My Yahoo recently added support for open content syndication standards like Really Simple Syndication and Atom, which allow users to receive content from sources such as news organizations and blogs. Google gets the lion's share of its revenue from Web search advertising, but does not show ads on its news site. "It's something that we'll consider. We're not making any decisions at this time," Director of Consumer Web Products Marissa Mayer said when asked whether the company plans to add ads to its news site. Google's news aggregation site is still in testing as the company builds out its features. Mayer added that Google was not trying to offer a personalized home page like those from competitors, which allow users to view news or information such as horoscopes or stock quotes and quickly connect to other services such as e-mail. "We're not trying to make this be your one-stop shop on the Web," Mayer said. Shares of Google closed down $1.37, or 0.8 percent, to $79.98 on the Nasdaq. Yahoo shares finished off 41 cents, or 1.3 percent to $31.91 also on Nasdaq. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 10 Mar 2005 19:12:15 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Online Payment Company Settles Privacy Charges WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Internet payment company has agreed to return the money it earned from selling a list of nearly 1 million customers to telemarketers and junk mailers without permission, federal regulators said on Thursday. Utah-based CartManager International sold the names, addresses, phone numbers and purchase history of consumers who used its "shopping cart" software to make purchases on thousands of Web sites, the Federal Trade Commission said. Many of those Web sites told visitors that any personal information they provided would be kept private, the FTC said. CartManager said that it would retain "full ownership" of consumer data, but buried that notice in a lengthy online agreement and did not explain how it intended to use that information. CartManager parent company Vision I Properties LLC agreed to pay back the $9,000 it earned from the sale of customer data and clearly disclose when it intends to sell customer data in the future. The company faces increased penalties if does not abide by the agreement. CartManager was not immediately available for comment. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited/Tech Tuesday. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Jail Sentence for Phone Line "Denial of Service" Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 21:17:30 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC Fascinating ... could this be extended to spammers? Please? Looks close enough to be worth a looksee ... "Ex-GOP Party Head Charged in Phone Jamming" "By ERIK STETSON Associated Press Writer March 10, 2005, 1:23 PM EST" "CONCORD, N.H. The former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party was sentenced Thursday to seven months in prison for jamming Democratic telephone lines during the 2002 election. "Chuck McGee pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiring to make anonymous calls with the intent to annoy or harass. He was also fined $2,000 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service." ... "The computer-generated calls -- more than 800 in all -- lasted for about an hour and a half and also disrupted a union phone line." rest at (watch for line wrap): http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-gop-phone-jamming,0,1684971,print.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am not sure if they would warrant _jail_ time or not. It would depend on the judge's interpretation of the facts; most spammers and/or telemarketers simply go through a list of email addresses and/or phone numbers. A nusiance yes, but not the sort of willful and deliberate behavior of Chuck McGee. Or even if you say that spammers/telemarketers are a little bit deliberate and willful, they do not single out one person or organization as this man did. I am reminded of the same situation happening to Jerry Falwell's "Moral Majority" organization, in Lynchburg, VA several years ago. Someone living in the Atlanta area programmed his computer to dial the 800 number for Falwell exactly once per minute, around the clock for several weeks. The phone room operators in Lynchburg kept receiving these 'dead calls' (total silence) but because of the volume of calls, no one detected anything unusual, just that they had a 'lost call', i.e. a call where the caller 'hung up' (so they thought) before an operator was available to take the call. Finally an operator during the slower overnight hours wised up to the fact that these spurious 'lost calls' were coming once per minute at times when there was absolutely no reason for them at all ... Their first thought was to blame the 'telephone company' and a call to the Bell repair techs brought a couple of techs out to investigate. This was a very large account for Bell, after all, with inbound 800 traffic totalling several hundred thousand dollars per month. The techs wanted to appease the customer, and they got in that centrex ACD (automatic call distributor) cabinet and over a couple days tried to isolate the problem. Their main hassle was it was very difficult to 'busy out' certain lines to test; the volume of 'regular' calls was so heavy the techs had a hard time getting a line isolated to busy it out, there was one seizure after another, often times several seizures at the same instant. Finally, Bell came to the conclusion there was nothing wrong with the customer premise equipment. About the same time, someone on Dr. Falwell's staff in charge of reconciling and paying the phone bill each month noticed that the same phone number was showing up 'quite a lot of the time', and Bell started looking in that direction, still trying to appease the customer. Telco back-tracked it through AT&T to Atlanta, and telco there filled in the blanks, and when telco security representatives and Atlanta Police showed up with a search warrant, they found the computer busy at its task, dialing 800-MoralMajority once per minute, sitting there several seconds, then disconnecting and doing it again. Bell told Falwell they would write it off as long as he (Falwell) okayed them filing charges. If he would not file charges, they they would sue him for payment instead. Falwell agreed to let the telco handle it for him (obviuously!) and the total damage was a little over a million dollars in bogus 800 charges, over the several months it had been going on. I guess the guy wound up getting a jail term of six months or so, and had to make a couple thousand dollars in restitution as part of his parole agreement. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: FCC to Cellcos: Clean up Your Bills and Invoices Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:12:02 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC "FCC Extends Truth-in-Billing Rules to Wireless Phones; Seeks Comment on Additional Measures to Increase Ability of Consumers to Make Informed Choices ... "Federal Communications Commission has expanded the federal consumer protection rules that apply to consumers=D5 wireless phone bills. It has also asked for comment on additional measures to facilitate the ability of telephone consumers to make informed choices among competitive telecommunications service offerings. "The actions come in response to consumer concerns with the billing practices of wireless and other interstate providers, outstanding issues from the FCC=D5s 1999 Truth-in-Billing Order and a petition filed by the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA). rest at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-257319A1.txt [a] http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-257319A1.doc [b] http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-257319A1.pdf [c] with further info at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-257319A2.txt [a] http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-257319A2.doc [b] http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-257319A2.pdf [c] and http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-257319A3.txt [a] http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-257319A3.doc [b] http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-257319A3.pdf [c] [a] mangled ascitt/txt [b] Word Doc [c] pdf (Most FCC material is available in all three ways. URLs are identical except for trailing extension.) _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: emb120skw@aol.com Subject: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack Date: 10 Mar 2005 19:21:37 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi, I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the wires after opening the jack. The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to it. The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires connected per terminal. The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line? Thank you! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Red/green is traditionally one pair; and yellow/black is traditionally the second pair. You want to use the unused yellow/black screw terminals for your second line. Can you tell us more about the _type of phone instrument_ currently in use on your (I presume) working single line? With no other knowledge it is difficult to answer your question; was this/is this part of a business phone arrangment? Does the pair which is 'wired' at present go to a working instrument? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Choreboy Subject: Technion Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 19:18:35 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com This afternoon I rushed into the room to answer a call on the third ring. "This is Tell Nants calling on behalf of Bell South in regards to telemarketing. Sorry we missed you. If you have any questions, call 1-866..." It's pretty bad when somebody programs a robot to call homes and hang up without saying what it's about. The call came from 954 443 9404, which is Technion Communications. On the web I've found complaints that their telemarketing robots will bombard a Bell South customer day after day. Apparently the law doesn't apply if the victim has a business relationship with the client, in this case Bell South. Two hours later I found a similar message on my answering machine, again telling me to call Bell South at the 866 number. Because the robot was programmed start speaking immediately, I didn't get the whole message. That could lure the victim into calling in case it was important. (On the web I've found a document where Technion argues to the FCC that the law doesn't apply if they can lure the victim into making the call.) It seems like harassment to me. Can I do anything to stop it? Choreboy ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 18:12:52 -0500 From: No Spam Subject: Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification At 05:50 PM 3/10/05, Michael Muderick wrote to inquire: > Has anyone tried 700-555-4141 lately to verify long distance carrier? > It's still a published number, but in the Phila. area, I keep getting > a busy signal. Is there a new number available? > Michael Muderick I'm sure someone will chime in with the 'official' word, but in practice I've always used 700-555-4141 as the inTER-lata PIC verification, and 700-555-4242 as the inTRA-lata PIC verification (not applicable in all markets). That having been said, your carrier of choice still has to have translations set up for that to work. I believe historically the LEC's would send anything in NPA 700 to the PIC'd carrier. It worked from my home phone about two months ago (Philly suburban), and it does work from my Focal (clec) provided service here as well. The other thing you can do is try 'double 0' to get to the PIC'd LD operator. That might tell you something, but if the PIC'd carrier is a reseller, you could end up anywhere. Good luck! Joshua my opinions are my own and not necessarily those of my employer but sometimes we agree ------------------------------ From: LB@notmine.com Subject: Re: Drug-Error Risk at Hospitals Tied to Computers Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 22:41:59 -0500 Monty Solomon wrote: > By Scott Allen, Globe Staff | March 9, 2005 > Hospital computer systems that are widely touted as the best way to > eliminate dangerous medication mix-ups can actually introduce many > errors, according to the most comprehensive study of hazards of the > new technology. The researchers, who shadowed doctors and nurses in a > Philadelphia hospital for four months, found that some patients were > put at risk of getting double doses of their medicine while others get > none at all. > Doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania identified > 22 types of mistakes they have made because of difficulty using > computerized drug-ordering, such as failing to stop old medications > when adding new ones or forgetting that the computer automatically > suspended medications after surgery. Some doctors interviewed for the > study said they made computer-related mistakes several times a week. > The findings underscore the complexity of improving safety in US > hospitals, where the Institute of Medicine estimates that errors of > all kinds kill 44,000 to 98,000 patients a year. > The University of Pennsylvania researchers stressed that computers > hold great potential, but said many systems are overhyped and hard to > use, prompting one Los Angeles hospital to turn off its drug-ordering > system altogether. > http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2005/03/09/drug_error_risk_at_hospitals_tied_to_computers/ Some of those problems are the result of poor design and/or programming as well as poor testing and quality control. LB ------------------------------ From: bham Subject: Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification Date: 10 Mar 2005 19:57:18 -0800 If you are getting a busy signal this means that there is most likely trouble with your local phone company. Whenever you call that number and you get the name of your long distance company or some other type of message then the trouble is usually with your long distance carrier. I would call your local phone company's repair line and advise them that you are getting a busy signal on the 700 number and they can check the routing for you. This is really a problem if you are getting a fast busy which you didn't indicate. ------------------------------ From: bham Subject: Re: Phone Doesn't Disconnect Date: 10 Mar 2005 20:01:26 -0800 Normally should take between 3-15 seconds to disconnect a call. If trouble persists, disconnect all phones except for one and see if it still happens. If it doesn't happen anymore the trouble is with one of the phones you unhooked. If you are still having the trouble see if you get your dialtone back after 15 seconds. If not, call repair service at your local phone company to have your line tested to make sure nothing is wrong. There are a number of issues that could cause this type of problem that an electronic line test might find out. ------------------------------ From: bham Subject: Re: Any Old Mechanical Systems Still in Use in the US? Date: 10 Mar 2005 20:05:22 -0800 The bells are totally digital. I was told a few years ago that US West (Qwest) had the last XBAR offices around in Wyoming and now those are gone. Most large telcos are now in the process converting their older 1ESS switches to either 5ESS or DMS. ------------------------------ From: Lee Sweet Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 16:57:47 -0500 Subject: Re: Home PBX and VoIP Tie-in Soren Rathje responded to me: > Lee Sweet wrote: [snip] > Now, what I want to do is have all outbound LD calls go out on the > Vonage line automatically. Right now, I have a separate cordless > phone for that line, but that's not the optimal answer! :-) Soren Rathjes said ... The short answer is: Asterisk (www.voip-info.org/tiki-index.php?page=Asterisk) > 88 > and Lee Sweet adds: > You took the words out of my about-to-reply mouth, and thanks for the > added sourceforge info! Last night I google'd "home pbx" and > Asterisk and Digium were near the top. By purchasing one FXS > (station) and one FXO (telco analog line) card for a PC, I figure I > can do all I want. Sounds great from what I've read, and this week I'll download the tarball and look at the docs. Thanks for the second opinion! (And, for PAT's response re PBXtra, it could *almost* do what I want, but I need CLID info, and that's not there.) Lee Sweet Datatel, Inc. Manager of Telephony Services and Information Security How higher education does business Voice: 703.968.4661 Fax: 703.968.4625 Cell: 703.932.9425 lee@datatel.com www.datatel.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The way I get Caller-ID was by first suspending the DISA (the PBXtra was otherwise grabbing calls on the first half-ring and providing its own ringing tone meaning caller-ID never had a chance to get transmitted (between first and second rings). You suspend DISA by using program code 508000 and another string of numbers, then 'saving' the program code with 50911. Henceforth the line(s) just ring until they get answered. To get the caller-ID I tapped both incoming lines (Prairie Stream and Vonage) into an AT&T two-line splitter and sent the output to the (1) single caller-ID display unit and (2) a common audible or 'side ringer'. By suspending the DISA (thus preventing the PBXtra from doing 'call supervision' it also permits me to use my _own_ answering machine/voicemail (which cuts in after a reasonable number of rings) rather than having PBXtra grab the incoming call on the first ring and processing it itself and the two CO's (Vonage and Prairie Stream) thinking the call was answered. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 18:48:32 EST Subject: 107-Year-old Woman From Independence Pat, Not telecom related at all, as far as I know, but on the front page of the Oklahoman Today there was a photo of a 107-year-old woman, now in an old folks home in McLoud, Oklahoma, who was born in Independence in 1898. It was her birthday party. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ 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 V24 #106 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Mar 11 20:53:29 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2C1rTr16089; Fri, 11 Mar 2005 20:53:29 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 20:53:29 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503120153.j2C1rTr16089@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 V24 #107 TELECOM Digest Fri, 11 Mar 2005 20:52:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 107 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson NEC NEAX IPX (phillip) Mike Wendland: Phone Over Internet is Last Nail in (Jack Decker) Michael Powell on Charlie Rose Tonight 3/11/05 (Monty Solomon) Remote Physical Device Fingerprinting (Monty Solomon) FCC Approves National Standard For Cell Phone Bills (Telecom dailyLead) Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (LB@notmine.com) Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (Clark W. Griswold, Jr.) Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (Robert Bonomi) Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (Carl Navarro) Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (Brad Houser) Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (John Beaman) Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification (Dave Garland) Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification (Bill Matern) Re: Technion (Robert Bonomi) Re: Technion (sean) Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers (Dean) Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday (Steve Sobol) A Push to Explain Cell Phone Costs (Carl Moore) Re: Other Firmware For Linksys wrt54g? Satori (gary) Re: Jail Sentence for Phone Line "Denial of Service" (Robert Bonomi) Re: FCC to Cellcos: Clean up Your Bills and Invoices (Lisa Hancock) Re: DoJ: VoIP Providers Avoiding CALEA Mandate (Sean) Iraq's 'Saviors' Guilty of Vandlism (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: phillip Subject: NEC NEAX IPX Date: 11 Mar 2005 08:57:48 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Has anyone using a NEC NEAX IPX telephone switch run across telephone lines mysteriously becoming unforwarded from voicemail? BTW, the voicemail system we are using is Cisco Unity. This is a random occurance that is becoming a hot issue. Also what are the experiences with integrating this switch with Cisco Unity. We are having issues there as well. ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 07:58:06 -0500 Subject: Mike Wendland: Phone Over the Internet is Last Nail in Coffin Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwendland11e_20050311.htm MIKE WENDLAND: Phone over the Internet is last nail in landline coffin BY MIKE WENDLAND FREE PRESS COLUMNIST The most basic way the world communicates -- by telephone -- is rapidly moving to the Internet. The technology is called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. Just as cell phones started us down the road of replacing our traditional landline phones, so VoIP will eventually cut the wired connection. Oh, there will still be landline phones, just like some people still have rotary dial phones. But in the next few years, many of us will be making our calls via the Internet. This week, America Online, arguably the most influential Internet service in the world, announced that it will start to bring VoIP service to its customers within a month. Full story at: http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwendland11e_20050311.htm How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 08:57:26 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Michael Powell on Charlie Rose Tonight 3/11/05 MICHAEL POWELL Chairman, Federal Communications Commission The Charlie Rose Show http://www.charlierose.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 20:00:59 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Remote Physical Device Fingerprinting http://www.caida.org/outreach/papers/2005/fingerprinting/ Remote physical device fingerprinting To be presented at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, May 8-11, 2005 Tadayoshi Kohno Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of California, San Diego Andre Broido and kc claffy Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis - CAIDA San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California, San Diego We introduce the area of remote physical device fingerprinting, or fingerprinting a physical device, as opposed to an operating system or class of devices, remotely, and without the fingerprinted device's known cooperation. We accomplish this goal by exploiting small, microscopic deviations in device hardware: clock skews. Our techniques do not require any modification to the fingerprinted devices. Our techniques report consistent measurements when the measurer is thousands of miles, multiple hops, and tens of milliseconds away from the fingerprinted device, and when the fingerprinted device is connected to the Internet from different locations and via different access technologies. Further, one can apply our passive and semi-passive techniques when the fingerprinted device is behind a NAT or firewall, and also when the device's system time is maintained via NTP or SNTP. One can use our techniques to obtain information about whether two devices on the Internet, possibly shifted in time or IP addresses, are actually the same physical device. Example applications include: computer forensics; tracking, with some probability, a physical device as it connects to the Internet from different public access points; counting the number of devices behind a NAT even when the devices use constant or random IP IDs; remotely probing a block of addresses to determine if the addresses correspond to virtual hosts, e.g., as part of a virtual honeynet; and unanonymizing anonymized network traces. http://www.caida.org/outreach/papers/2005/fingerprinting/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:21:03 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: FCC Approves National Standard for Cell Phone Bills Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 11, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19980&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * FCC approves national standard for cell phone bills BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Dolan to use own coin to fund Voom * FCC chief calls for return of civil discourse * EchoStar faces accounting investigation, report says USTA SPOTLIGHT * At SUPERCOMM: Register today for the IP Video Conference EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Tokyo plans citywide WiMAX network * Wireless companies display wares at CeBit VOIP DOWNLOAD * Report: VoIP key to wireless growth * Search players next to enter VoIP space? * Cox embraces VoIP * Q-and-A with Vonage's chief REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * SEC plans charges against former Qwest CEO Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19980&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: LB@notmine.com Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 06:21:25 -0500 Organization: Optimum Online emb120skw@aol.com wrote: > Hi, > I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the > wires after opening the jack. > The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to > it. The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire > connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires > connected per terminal. > The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any > wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line? > Thank you! > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Red/green is traditionally one pair; > and yellow/black is traditionally the second pair. You want to use > the unused yellow/black screw terminals for your second line. Can > you tell us more about the _type of phone instrument_ currently in > use on your (I presume) working single line? With no other knowledge > it is difficult to answer your question; was this/is this part of > a business phone arrangment? Does the pair which is 'wired' at > present go to a working instrument? PAT] As Pat says red-green and black-yellow are what you care about. You (actually the telco does this when you sign up) would normally add the extra line to the yellow-black at the box where the phone enters the premises. The extra wires sound like they go to extra phones. If that box (with extra wires) is outside the premises you might want to ask the telco or the cops unless those wires clearly go to extra phones or devices you know about. ------------------------------ From: Clark W. Griswold, Jr. Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 07:56:10 -0700 emb120skw@aol.com wrote: > I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the > wires after opening the jack. > The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to > it. The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire > connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires > connected per terminal. I think you will find that your house was not wired "home run" to each jack. In other words, one pair goes back to the demarc block and the two other pairs go to other jacks in the house. > The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any > wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Red/green is traditionally one pair; > and yellow/black is traditionally the second pair. You want to use > the unused yellow/black screw terminals for your second line. Can > you tell us more about the _type of phone instrument_ currently in > use on your (I presume) working single line? With no other knowledge > it is difficult to answer your question; was this/is this part of > a business phone arrangment? Does the pair which is 'wired' at > present go to a working instrument? PAT] The colors don't really matter other than for keeping track of what's going on. You need to start at the demarc and select an unused pair for the second line. When you get to the phone jack, you need to know if your phone is a single line or dual line phone. If its a dual line phone, then Pat's advice is correct. Wire line 1 to the inner pair of the jack (red/green on some jacks) and wire line 2 to the outer pair (yellow/black). If the phone is a single line phone and you want it to access Line 2, you will need to wire Line 2 to the inner pair. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:49:36 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > Hi, > I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the > wires after opening the jack. > The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to > it. The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire > connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires > connected per terminal. Because your wiring is a 'spider web'. The 3 pairs of wires go to three different places. Two of them go to other jacks, or where other jacks 'used to be'. The other pair goes "towards" where the phone line comes into your house. Maybe 'directly", or may to another jack that is 'closer' to the entry-point. > The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any > wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line? You need another pair of wires from the telco entry-point (or wherever the 2nd line originates) to that jack. connected to the black/yellow terminals. Of course, this implies that you _have_ a "second line", from the telephone company, or 'somebody else' (e.g. a VoIP provider). Then, obviously, you have to have a "two line capable" telephone instrument, or some sort of a 'switch' (as in a simple mechanical "DPDT" device) between the phone and the wall jack. ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 17:03:52 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com On 10 Mar 2005 19:21:37 -0800, emb120skw@aol.com wrote: > Hi, > I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the > wires after opening the jack. > The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to > it. The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire > connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires > connected per terminal. > The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any > wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line? If you haven't already guessed, the blue pair in a cable is the first line and the orange par is the second. The reason for 3 wires is that one jack is feeding another one or two jacks somewhere else in the building. If you carefully tag the 3 cables that go to the jack, you can remove one at a time until you don't get dial tone, or remove them all and put them back one at a time until you get dial tone. That is the feed pair to that jack and if you search, you'll find that 2 or more other jacks are now dead. The trick is to find the closest jack to the demarc and hope that it is the one that feeds dial tone to the whole building. Get out your toner and probe and start testing :-) or just do it by trial and error. When you're finished, you'll bring the second dial tone into the building on the orange pair and wire that orange pair to the black/yellow wires on the jack. If you need to send that dial tone to another location, you'll need to put 2 or 3 pairs down on every jack just as they did with the first line. I would guess that the reason for the orange pair is because the previous tenant either had DSL, or a broken blue pair on that cable. Carl Navarro ------------------------------ From: Brad Houser Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 11:52:59 -0800 Organization: Intel Reply-To: Brad Houser wrote in message news:telecom24.106.5@telecom-digest.org: > Hi, > I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the > wires after opening the jack. > The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to > it. The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire > connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires > connected per terminal. > The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any > wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line? Many homes were wired with a "daisy chain" or loop. The Blue/Blue-White lines are probably going off in two directions, no way of telling from your description, but it could be one to the demarc and one to another jack. The Orange/Orange-White pair could also be going to one of the first two locations, or to a third location. There may even be yet another Orange pair that isn't connected that could be used for line two. You need to figure out what is available for use, if you don't want to change any of the other phones. You can do this by trial and error or by "toning" the lines. (Ask your Home Depot electrical guy if you don't have one of these.) You could also have a situation where the lines are "home run" but someone added a jack by extending a line from that jack to another. Brad Houser ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 08:55:16 -0600 From: John Beaman Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack emb120skw@aol.com wrote to inquire about Wiring Two Lines on One Jack on 10 Mar 2005 19:21:37 -0800: > Hi, > I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the > wires after opening the jack. > The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to > it. The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire > connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires > connected per terminal. > The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any > wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line? > Thank you! Greetings, Sounds to me like your residence is wired with CAT3 (4 pair) cable instead of the old standard wiring used for phone jacks. It would also seem that your phone jacks are "daisy chained" together instead of each being wired directory from the demark (star topology). I am also assuming that the orange pair is wired to the terminals because there is an open in one of the blue pairs, and someone just grabbed the next available pair as a workaround. Or, they could be used as some sort of intercom / door access system. Please see the attached chart documenting the relationship Standard wire Cat 3 Tip- Green -----Line 1----- Blue Ring- Red -----Line 1----- White/Blue stripe Tip- Black -----Line 2----- Orange Ring-Yellow ----Line 2----- White/Orange stripe With that in mind, there is no reason you cannot use the green or brown pair for your second line. Provided that they are not in use at any other jacks. I would highly recommend opening up the other phone jacks, and see if you can find another jack where the orange pair is in use. While that would not be conclusive, it would further substantiate my guess about the orange pair being used in place of the blue pair. JB The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society. ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 23:34:32 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when Michael Muderick wrote: > Has anyone tried 700-555-4141 lately to verify long distance carrier? Works fine here (Minneapolis, with LDC Lightyear). ------------------------------ From: Bill Matern Subject: Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:49:10 -0500 Organization: MV Communications, Inc. When I worked on a 700 number service, the number was 700-555-1212 to find out about your IXC. This was over 10 years ago. However, when I just tired it in Salem, NH it did not work, but you may want to try this alternative number. On Verizon's site, they indicate the 700-555-4141 number so it probably has changed in that time. This number did not work either for me. Bill Some info on 700 numbers (from http://www.nanpa.com/faq/sitefaq.html) Area code 700 was assigned in 1983 on the eve of the introduction of long distance competition in the US. The intent was that interexchange carriers could use 700 numbers to implement new services quickly. When a 700 number is dialed, the local exchange carrier processing the call routes it to the presubscribed interexchange carrier, unless the caller has overridden presubscription by dialing 101XXXX before the number. Thus each interexchange carrier has access to all 7.92 million 700 numbers. 700 numbers are different from all other North American Numbering Plan numbers because the destinations are not unique, and, in fact, depend on the network the caller has selected. Michael Muderick wrote in message news:telecom24.105.12@telecom-digest.org: > Has anyone tried 700-555-4141 lately to verify long distance carrier? > It's still a published number, but in the Phila. area, I keep getting > a busy signal. Is there a new number available? > Michael Muderick ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Technion Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 16:26:38 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Choreboy wrote: > This afternoon I rushed into the room to answer a call on the third > ring. "This is Tell Nants calling on behalf of Bell South in regards > to telemarketing. Sorry we missed you. If you have any questions, > call 1-866..." > It's pretty bad when somebody programs a robot to call homes and hang > up without saying what it's about. > The call came from 954 443 9404, which is Technion Communications. On > the web I've found complaints that their telemarketing robots will > bombard a Bell South customer day after day. Apparently the law > doesn't apply if the victim has a business relationship with the > client, in this case Bell South. The language of the statute (47 USC 227) does *NOT* support that interpretation. It gives a free pass if the _caller_ has a "prior business relationship" with the party being called. There is nothing to indicate that the party with the prior business relationship can "delegate" that right to a third party. See: Particularly sections (a) (3) (B), and (a) (4) (B) > Two hours later I found a similar message on my answering machine, > again telling me to call Bell South at the 866 number. Because the > robot was programmed start speaking immediately, I didn't get the > whole message. That could lure the victim into calling in case it was > important. (On the web I've found a document where Technion argues to > the FCC that the law doesn't apply if they can lure the victim into > making the call.) > It seems like harassment to me. Can I do anything to stop it? Consider a small-claims lawsuit for 'statutory damages' ($500) under 47 USC 227. File a formal complaint with the Federal *TRADE* Commission, for violation of the 'telemarketing rule". Get on the federal "Do Not Call" list, if you're not there already. The FTC rules make it clear that 3rd-party telemarketing agencies have to scrub against that list -- even if their client is 'exempt' from regulation. Dunno about Bell South, but SBC -- who is *really* egregious with their telemarketing --_will_ flag a customer account for "do not call for marketing purposes", upon request. I betcha Bell South will too. The law *requires* that companies maintain their _own_ internal Do not call list -- for *anyone* who has expressly requested that "that company" not call them. The 'prior business relation- ship' exemption does *not* trump the company-maintained 'do not call' list for marketing calls. Note: When requesting (demanding) addition to the company DNC list, the companies are prone to tell you that it will take some period of time before that request becomes effective. Reply that the only delay sanctioned by law is for a number entered on the *NATIONAL* Do Not Call registry. that there is *NO* provision in law for any delay in implementing a company-specific "do not call" request. For a telco, require that they put in the account 'notes' that "customer has directed that his number be put on the company-maintained do-not-call list, and that therefore, in compliance with federal statute, all telemarketing calls cease IMMEDIATELY." The telco _is_ "responsible" (as in 'legally liable') for the actions of any 'agent' or contract marketing service that violates the law. This opens the door for small-claims action against *both* the actual telemarketer, and the telco. subpoenaing the records for when _anyone_ "requested" addition to the company-maintained do-not-call list, when the add was _actually_ made, and the date/time of the last call each such number, does wonders for showing 'knowing and wilful' violation --- allowing for treble damages to be collected. ------------------------------ From: sean Subject: Re: Technion Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:27:33 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Choreboy wrote: > This afternoon I rushed into the room to answer a call on the third > ring. "This is Tell Nants calling on behalf of Bell South in regards > to telemarketing. Sorry we missed you. If you have any questions, > call 1-866..." > It's pretty bad when somebody programs a robot to call homes and hang > up without saying what it's about. > The call came from 954 443 9404, which is Technion Communications. On > the web I've found complaints that their telemarketing robots will > bombard a Bell South customer day after day. Apparently the law > doesn't apply if the victim has a business relationship with the > client, in this case Bell South. > Two hours later I found a similar message on my answering machine, > again telling me to call Bell South at the 866 number. Because the > robot was programmed start speaking immediately, I didn't get the > whole message. That could lure the victim into calling in case it was > important. (On the web I've found a document where Technion argues to > the FCC that the law doesn't apply if they can lure the victim into > making the call.) > It seems like harassment to me. Can I do anything to stop it? > Choreboy Give em a dose of their own medicine: Get a cheap PC and a cheap modem, and set up a script to repeat dial the 800 number over and over and over, with a recorded message saying that auto dial robots are illegal. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But _your_autodial robot is _also_ illegal. People have tried that, thinking they would not get caught, but they do get caught, and frequently punished, sometimes severely. ------------------------------ From: Dean Subject: Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers Date: 10 Mar 2005 22:08:55 -0800 Isaiah Beard wrote: > Dean wrote: >> A while back some on this list engaged in a lively debate about cell >> phone radiation risks. This article may have some information of >> interest to those of you who think this issue isn't dead yet. >> The cell phone industry: Big Tobacco 2.0? >> By Molly Wood, senior editor, CNET.com >> Tuesday, March 8, 2005 > Oh, C|Net. Now we KNOW it's quality journalism. > Consider that Ms. Wood readily admits she has an agenda (she has an > axe to grind with cell phone manufacturers over what she perceives as > "iron-clad control over phone releases and pricing, its > ever-lengthening contracts, and the annoying habit it has of crippling > Bluetooth phones so that [she] can't use them the way [she wants] > to"). I would thus take this with a heavy handful of salt. > E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. > Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. OK OK, I'm not saying there's anything absolutely definitive in that article. But it seems certainly prudent to use a headset and try to keep the antenna at a certain distance -- just as she suggests toward the end of the article. (although I think I read somewhere that the cord of the headset can have some adverse effect too - one can only take so many precautions and still be reasonable:-) Regards, Dean PS As for Ms Wood's honesty, I am certainly not qualified to offer an opinion (haven't read her enough). But the evidence you mention is hardly enough to dismiss her as biased. If I had to guess, I would say that her grievances are shared by the vast majority of people interested in telecom, and I don't think too many of us want to see phone manufacturers brought to their knees by unwarranted lawsuits. ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 22:52:53 -0800 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Brian Inglis wrote: > It works, ship it ... we're all beta test sites now! Given this discussion of apparent Vonage incompetence, their whining about their traffic being blocked is quite funny. Seems they are quite capable of blocking their own traffic, if inadvertently. ;) JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 10:24:01 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: "A Push to Explain Cell Phone Costs" For as long as it's good: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/31105-bb-cellphones.html Story starts "Have trouble understanding how all those fees add up on your cellphone bill?" In the path I furnished above, notice "bb", which stands for "Bizarre Bazaar" -- strange but true stories. ------------------------------ From: gary Subject: Re: Other Firmware For Linksys wrt54g? Satori Date: 11 Mar 2005 07:35:47 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com pattyjamas@hotmail.com wrote: > I have put in a few wireless routers but never got into the internals. > I now have one in my home and will be adding a Range Extender. > I possess a WRT54G, running Windows 2000 and uploaded the latest > firmware (version 3+ dated Dec 2004 I think) from Linksys.com. > In reading the latest PC Mag, I ran across an interesting article on > the Satori firmware and extra options it adds. (www.linksys.org) > A few questions: > 1. Is this the best choice of stable firmware for my WRT54G to add new > options, perhaps increase signal power (if it really works) and tweak > other necessary parameters for best performance/range? > 2. Are there other firmware vendors worth looking at on linksys.org? > Thank you, > Patty Patty, Look on the bottom of your router, on the sticker that has your s/n and mac address, it should have you hardware version. (WRTG54g vx.x) If your version is 2.2 or greater you will probably have to subscibe to sveasoft.com for $20/yr and use the Alchemy release as I have. If your version is 2.0 or lower then you should be able to load the older versions like Satori(available without subscription) or openwrt(only supports through v2.0) The signal power increase does work, but so do better antennas ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Jail Sentence for Phone Line "Denial of Service" Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:39:37 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Danny Burstein wrote: > Fascinating ... could this be extended to spammers? Please? Looks close > enough to be worth a looksee ... No chance. unfortunately. The statute involved (47 USC 223) is *expressly* limited to _telephone_calls_ made with the intent to harass or annoy. > "Ex-GOP Party Head Charged in Phone Jamming" > "By ERIK STETSON Associated Press Writer March 10, 2005, 1:23 PM EST" > "CONCORD, N.H. The former executive director of the New Hampshire > Republican Party was sentenced Thursday to seven months in prison for > jamming Democratic telephone lines during the 2002 election. > "Chuck McGee pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiring to make > anonymous calls with the intent to annoy or harass. He was also fined > $2,000 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service." ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: FCC to Cellcos: Clean up Your Bills and Invoices Date: 11 Mar 2005 09:41:32 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Danny Burstein wrote: > "FCC Extends Truth-in-Billing Rules to Wireless Phones; Seeks > Comment on Additional Measures to Increase Ability of Consumers to > Make Informed Choices ... I wonder if this will make bills _harder_ to understand. As a result of all the "fair disclosure" laws, companies now send out whole books in fine print on their numerous policies. They're impossible for a lay person to understand, and they're constantly changing. Overloading someone with detail is an easy way to fraud someone. Years ago our electric bill was on a postcard. Name, address, KWH hours used, total cost. Now it's several pages of graphs and charts. Our phone bill used to be one small slip of paper -- fixed costs on one side, toll charges on the other. Now it's so thick it requires extra postage -- and I don't even have toll charges! (And it's on double-sided paper too!) I'm pretty sure it was the PUCs that ordered the breakouts of toll/non-toll and basic/non-basic data blocks. Further, all imposed charges, ie 911, FCC line, should be rolled up in service and equipment; all taxes rolled into one item just as the old days. Can anyone justify mailing out the Encyclopedia Britannica for a monthly utility bill? ------------------------------ From: sean Subject: Re: DoJ: VoIP Providers Avoiding CALEA Mandate Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 13:26:59 -0500 Tony P. wrote: > I'm pretty sure that most VoIP providers encrypt from the terminal > adapter back to the server. But everything is based on IP aware > telephone switches so it isn't a problem to tap at the switch. Most do NOT encrypt. That is what makes this so funny. It's extremely easy to tap VOIP. All one needs to tap SIP based voip is the latest vesrion of ETHEREAL - capture the packets, and it will save the sip streams as .au files that can be played in windows media player! I have verified this works for tapping Vonage calls. > It's because law enforcement by and large is ignorant when it comes to > technology. > Even the FBI, the leading agency in the U.S. trips over it's own feet > when it comes to information technology. ------------------------------ From: Patrick Townson Subject: Iraq's 'Saviours' Guilty of Vandalism Date: Fri, Mar 11 2005 00:00:00 GMT A very sad story about a bit of 'collateral damage' in the historically significant country called Iraq. Now it seems, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the 'Hanging Gardens' has been irreparably damaged by Iraq's 'saviors'; American troops have ruined it. I thought I read somewhere they were trying to take care of the museums and other historical artifacts in this part of the world where so much of the Old Testament was based. I guess I thought wrong, but what else is old? http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1106088610017&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795 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. 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 V24 #107 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Mar 12 01:04:56 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2C64u017789; Sat, 12 Mar 2005 01:04:56 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 01:04:56 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503120604.j2C64u017789@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 V24 #108 TELECOM Digest Sat, 12 Mar 2005 01:05:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 108 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Swedish Raid on ISP Called Major Blow to Piracy (Lisa Minter) GOP Party Head Sentenced to Seven Months in Phone Jamming (M Solomon) Apple Can Demand Names of Bloggers, Judge Says (Monty Solomon) EFFector 18.4: EFF Announces New Privacy Tool (Monty Solomon) EFFector 18.5: EFF Asks Court to Protect Online Journalists (M Solomon) EFFector 18.6: Action Alert - Help Save the Orphan Works! (M Solomon) EPIC Alert 12.04 (Monty Solomon) EPIC Alert 12.05 (Monty Solomon) Privacy Self-Regulation, A Decade of Disappointment (Monty Solomon) Need PC Based Call Attendant/Answering Service (pgrogan@gmail.com) Re: How to Make Skype Wireless? (summitcircle) Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification (Diamond Dave) Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (Marcus Didius Falco) 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: 11 Mar 2005 21:10:27 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Swedish Raid on ISP Called Major Blow to Piracy By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The U.S. film industry on Friday hailed a raid by Swedish police against an Internet service provider as a major blow to European piracy of movies and music on the Web. The raid was carried out on Thursday at the Stockholm offices of Bahnhof, Sweden's oldest and largest ISP, which U.S. copyright protection experts have considered a haven for high-level Internet piracy for years. "This was a very big raid," said John Malcolm, worldwide anti-piracy operations director at the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which represents Hollywood's major studios. "The material that was seized contained not only evidence of a piracy organization operating in Sweden but of online piracy organizations operating throughout all of Europe," he told Reuters. Bahnhof, the first major ISP raided by the Swedes without advance notice, was home to some of the biggest and fastest servers in Europe, the MPAA said in a statement. Authorities in Sweden seized four computer servers -- one reputed to be the biggest pirate server in Europe -- containing enough digital film and music content for up to 3-1/2 years of uninterrupted play, the organization said. Malcolm said authorities in Scandinavian countries had been reluctant to take such action in the past but were recently cracking down on piracy. About 20 individuals suspected of Internet piracy have been the targets of smaller raids by Swedish authorities during the past month. The servers seized during the operation contained a total of 1,800 digital movie files, 5,000 software application files and 450,000 digital audio files -- amounting to 23 terabytes of data. The MPAA says the film industry loses $3.5 billion a year to videotapes and DVDs sold on the black market, but it has no estimate for how much Internet piracy costs the industry. Reuters/VNU NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters/VNU News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Monty Solomon Subject: GOP Party Head sentenced to Seven Months in Phone Jamming Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 21:45:41 -0500 By Erik Stetson, Associated Press Writer | March 10, 2005 CONCORD, N.H. -- The former executive director of the state Republican Party was sentenced Thursday to seven months in prison for jamming Democratic telephone lines during the 2002 general election. Chuck McGee pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to make anonymous calls to annoy or harass. He also was fined $2,000 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. He faced up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2005/03/10/ former_gop_party_head_sentenced_to_seven_months_in_phone_jamming/ ------------------------------ From: Monty Solomon Subject: Apple Can Demand Names of Bloggers, Judge Says Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:24:36 -0500 By LAURIE J. FLYNN SAN FRANCISCO, March 11 - A California judge ruled Friday that Apple Computer has the right to subpoena the names of sources and documents relating to confidential company information that was published late last year by three Web sites. Judge James P. Kleinberg of the Santa Clara County Superior Court in San Jose, Calif., said in a 13-page ruling that Apple's interest in protecting its trade secrets outweighed the public's right to information about Apple and the right of bloggers to disseminate that. The ruling skirted the question of whether the Web sites were protected by the same laws that protect professional journalists, as civil liberties groups had argued, and focused on the notion that the published information included trade secrets and was essentially stolen property. The ruling came in the three-month-old lawsuit brought by Apple against the unnamed individuals, presumably Apple employees, who reportedly leaked information about new music software, code-named Asteroid, which the company said constituted a trade secret. Under California law, divulging trade secrets is subject to civil and criminal penalties. That information was published on three Apple enthusiast Web sites, Apple Insider, Think Secret and PowerPage. The Web sites were not named in the suit. In the course of discovery, Apple served a subpoena on Nfox.com, the e-mail service provider for PowerPage, seeking information and documents that might identify the source of the disclosure of Apple's new product. The Web sites sought to block that subpoena. The case has been closely watched for its potential impact on the publishers of Web sites and bloggers, who say the privilege of reporters to protect their confidential sources should extend to online writers. But Judge Kleinberg wrote that assuming Apple's accusations are true, the information is "stolen property, just as any physical item, such as a laptop computer containing the same information on its hard drive (or not) would be." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/12/technology/12blog.html? hp&ex=1110603600&en=65f05a7ccf104a46&ei=5094 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To read New York Times on line each day with no login or registration requirements, read it here at our site at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html . Hundreds of new items each day. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:55:18 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 18.4: EFF Announces New Privacy Tool EFFector Vol. 18, No. 4 February 11, 2005 donna@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 320th Issue of EFFector: * EFF Announces New Privacy Tool * EFF Urges Congress to Vote "No" on Real ID Bill * Mandatory Student IDs Contain RFIDs * BayFF Event: EFF Celebrates Innovation, Feb. 22 * EFF Seeks Summer Interns * MiniLinks (17): RIAA Sues Dead People * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/18/04.php ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:56:24 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 18.5: EFF Asks Court to Protect Online Journalists EFFector Vol. 18, No. 5 February 18, 2005 donna@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 321st Issue of EFFector: * EFF Asks Court to Protect Online Journalists * RFID Tracking Program Ended in Sutter School * EFF Warns Consumers about the Dangers of EULAs * BayFF Event: EFF Celebrates Innovation, Tuesday, Feb. 22 * EFF Seeks Summer Interns * MiniLinks (18): European Parliament Rejects Software Patents * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/18/05.php ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:55:35 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 18.6: Action Alert - Help Save the Orphan Works! EFFector Vol. 18, No. 6 February 25, 2005 donna@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 322nd Issue of EFFector: * Action Alert: Help Save Orphan Works! * Online Journalists Get Their Day in Court * Fight the Broadcast Flag From Your Armchair * Patent Threats Hurt Scientific Research * Texas E-voting Forum Open to the Public * EFF, Public Knowledge to Hold Press Conference on Grokster Case, March 1 * CFP 2005: Panopticon - April 12-15 * MiniLinks (10): FCC "Can't Regulate Washing Machines" * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/18/06.php ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:54:47 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EPIC Alert 12.04 ====================================================================== E P I C A l e r t ====================================================================== Volume 12.04 February 26, 2005 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Washington, D.C. http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_12.04.html ====================================================================== Table of Contents ====================================================================== [1] EPIC Urges ChoicePoint To Give Access to 145,000 Victims [2] California School Drops RFID Tracking Program After EPIC Protest [3] EPIC Opposes Sharp Increase in TSA Surveillance Spending [4] EPIC Comments on DC Metro's Public Access to Records Policy [5] Bipartisan Legislation Introduced to Enhance Open Government [6] News in Brief [7] EPIC Bookstore: Michael Chesbro's Privacy Handbook [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_12.04.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:54:52 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EPIC Alert 12.05 ======================================================================== E P I C A l e r t ======================================================================== Volume 12.05 March 11, 2005 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Washington, D.C. http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_12.05.html ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== [1] EPIC Launches West Coast Office, Continues to Probe ChoicePoint [2] New Report: FTC Market Approach Fails to Protect Consumer Privacy [3] "Spotlight on Surveillance" Highlights Federal Spending on Snooping [4] EPIC Urges Careful Scrutiny of Proposed Federal Profiling Agency [5] Comments Outline Voter Registration Problems in the 2004 Election [6] News in Brief [7] EPIC Bookstore: William S. Hubbartt's Workplace Privacy [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_12.05.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:56:07 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Privacy Self-Regulation, A Decade of Disappointment Excerpt from EPIC Alert 12.05 http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_12.05.html EPIC Report: Privacy Self-Regulation, A Decade of Disappointment: http://www.epic.org/reports/decadedisappoint.html A high-resolution PDF version of the report features advertisements for personal data sold by major companies, including Victoria's Secret and 1-800-FLOWERS: http://www.epic.org/reports/decadedisappoint.pdf ------------------------------ From: pgrogan@gmail.com Subject: Need PC Based Call Attendant/Answering Service Date: 11 Mar 2005 21:20:14 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I'm looking for an inexpensive (under 400) software/hardware solution that will act as an answering service/call attendant. Preferably something that can run off of a PC and with Vonage (VoIP). Here are the features that I need: -Multiple Mailboxes -Ability to transfer caller to my cell phone (if caller chooses this option) Any ideas? This software package seems like it might work, but I have never heard of them: http://www.nch.com.au/ivm/index.html TIA Ron ------------------------------ From: summitcircle Subject: Re: How to Make Skype Wireless ? Date: 11 Mar 2005 18:07:57 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Tina, There are plenty of companies that sell phones made specifically for Skype. Some of these phones are wireless. One of the more popular ones that I have noticed can be found at http://www.dualphone.net/ If you are interested in all the other vendors who have created phones for Skype you can the directory of Skype phone vendors that I have created at http://www.summitcircle.com/ Louis Philip ------------------------------ From: Diamond Dave Subject: Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification Organization: The BBS Corner / Diamond Mine On-Line Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 21:31:07 -0500 On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 10:57:28 -0500, Michael Muderick wrote: > Has anyone tried 700-555-4141 lately to verify long distance carrier? > It's still a published number, but in the Phila. area, I keep getting > a busy signal. Is there a new number available? Have you done the obvious and dialed it as 1-700-555-4141 ? Dave ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 21:34:59 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack LB@notmine.com responded to emb120skw@aol.com on the topic of Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack on Fri, 11 Mar 2005 06:21:25 -0500 > emb120skw@aol.com wrote: >> Hi, >> I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the >> wires after opening the jack. >> The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to >> it. The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire >> connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires >> connected per terminal. >> The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any >> wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line? >> Thank you! >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Red/green is traditionally one pair; >> and yellow/black is traditionally the second pair. You want to use >> the unused yellow/black screw terminals for your second line. Can >> you tell us more about the _type of phone instrument_ currently in >> use on your (I presume) working single line? With no other knowledge >> it is difficult to answer your question; was this/is this part of >> a business phone arrangment? Does the pair which is 'wired' at >> present go to a working instrument? PAT] > As Pat says red-green and black-yellow are what you care about. You > (actually the telco does this when you sign up) would normally add > the extra line to the yellow-black at the box where the phone enters > the premises. The extra wires sound like they go to extra phones. > If that box (with extra wires) is outside the premises you might > want to ask the telco or the cops unless those wires clearly go to > extra phones or devices you know about. Many years ago the standard was somewhat different, and the yellow wire was sometimes used as a ground. Then, for a time, I think the yellow wire was used to power the lights on princess phones. Almost certainly the yellow wire is either dead or shorted to one of the other wires. Check this with a volt meter. In any event, with modern equipment you can use the red-green and yellow-black pairs as described by others. As others have said, your wiring is almost certainly from jack to jack in a loop topology (not a star pattern). That is, there are one or two loops of wire through the house, originating and terminating at the service entrance. Each wire is normally continuous. If a wire is not continuous, but is a sort of spur, this can work for telephone, but will sometimes act as an antenna and put noise on the line. ------------------------------ 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 V24 #108 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Mar 12 16:03:20 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2CL3KD24166; Sat, 12 Mar 2005 16:03:20 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 16:03:20 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503122103.j2CL3KD24166@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 V24 #109 TELECOM Digest Sat, 12 Mar 2005 16:03:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 109 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson AT&T Billing (Choreboy) Skype Phone Numbers (UK) Re: Need PC Based Call Attendant/Answering Service (LB@notmine.com) Re: Need PC Based Call Attendant/Answering Service (Tony P.) Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers (Tony P.) Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers (Tim Keating) Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday (Tony P.) Re: FCC to Cellcos: Clean up Your Bills and Invoices (Tony P.) Re: How to Make Skype Wireless ? (John Levine) Re: How to Make Skype Wireless ? (Phillip LeNir) Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (Paul Coxwell) Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification (Steve Sobol) Re: Technion (Choreboy) Re: Privacy Self-Regulation, A Decade of Disappointment (Peter Pearson) 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: Choreboy Subject: AT&T Billing Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 13:52:41 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Robert Bonomi wrote: > The telco _is_ "responsible" (as in 'legally liable') for the actions > of any 'agent' or contract marketing service that violates the law. That reminds me of a string of bad experiences with AT&T. Five or six years ago I had another carrier. Then an AT&T agent phoned and offered a plan with no monthly charge and two hours free. I agreed. When the letter came a couple of weeks later, it said there would be a $5 monthly charge and there was no mention of free minutes. I phoned AT&T, whose representative said they were not responsible for lies their agents told. The representative said he'd put me on a plan with no monthly charge and send me a calling card for my two free hours. I read the document that came with the card. There was no mention of free minutes. Instead, it said I'd be billed 35 a minute. I would have been billed $42 for the two "free" hours the AT&T representative had promised. I never used AT&T and no charge appeared on my telephone bill. My bills were paid by automatic bank draft. I didn't check them promptly because they were always the same. After five years or so, I saw on my bank statement that my phone bill had jumped $8.50. AT&T was now charging me. By now we were two days into AT&T's third billing cycle, so it would cost me $25.50. Their representative said they had sent me a card six months ago informing me of their increase, so there was nothing I could do. She offered to switch me to an account with no monthly charge but not refund any money. I wanted to know why I had been switched *from* an account with no monthly charge. She spoke as if I'd agreed to it by receiving the post card. I had saved that card. It said that in the future they would abide by state law if they changed their rates. If that was an announcement that they would change my account, it was deceptive. Anyway, it said continuing to use or pay for an AT&T service would constitute acceptance of the "agreement." I hadn't used or paid for any AT&T service in years. I said I wanted to cancel any account I had. AT&T required me to jump through hoops with them and Bell South. If AT&T had signed me up for a different kind of account without even notifying me, that sounded like slamming. I complained to the FCC. They said as long as AT&T had not stolen me from another carrier, they could do as they pleased with me. Eventually, AT&T refunded two months' charges. They did not explain why they refused to refund the third month. AT&T seems like a criminal enterprise to me. Choreboy [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note Yet, Traditional Bell and its apologists keep talking complaining about what a bum deal telco is getting from the alternative services such as the CLECs and VOIP, etc. This is just IMO, but I think AT&T, SBC, etc have mostly brought on their own troubles over the years. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Alan Burkitt-Gray Subject: Skype Phone Numbers Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 11:50:07 -0000 Knowing Digest readers' interest in VoIP and Skype, I thought you might like to see the item we published in our free email newsletter, Global Telecoms Business Top 5 Daily, yesterday. Incidentally, if anyone wants to get on our mailing list, drop me an email directly. It goes out at around 12.30 UK time, 7.30am ET, Mon-Fri. Alan Burkitt-Gray Editor, Global Telecoms Business aburkitt@euromoneyplc.com tel +44 20 7779 8518 or +1 212 224 3880 Skype launches real phone numbers at Eur30 a year Peer-to-peer phone operator Skype is beta-testing its SkypeIn service, offering customers real phone numbers from 30 area codes in the US as well as London and Hong Kong, plus non-geographic French numbers. Customers can buy up to three numbers for their Skype account at Eur30 (about $40) a year each, with no charges for incoming calls and with free voicemail. There's been no formal announcement of any launch, but details have just appeared on the company's site, with the warning: "Right now we're just testing the service, so there might be some kinks and it might not be entirely stable all the time." Meanwhile Skype's CEO Niklas Zennstrm said yesterday that one million users have bought SkypeOut, enabling them to call regular phone numbers around the world at Eur0.017 a minute. The minimum pre-pay amount is Eur10. ------------------------------ From: LB@notmine.com Subject: Re: Need PC Based Call Attendant/Answering Service Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 02:37:09 -0500 Organization: Optimum Online pgrogan@gmail.com wrote: > I'm looking for an inexpensive (under 400) software/hardware solution > that will act as an answering service/call attendant. Preferably > something that can run off of a PC and with Vonage (VoIP). Here are > the features that I need: > -Multiple Mailboxes > -Ability to transfer caller to my cell phone (if caller chooses this > option) > Any ideas? This software package seems like it might work, but I have > never heard of them: > http://www.nch.com.au/ivm/index.html > TIA > Ron A search in Google for answering service call attendant software returned 146,000 hits. http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=mozclient&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=answering+service+call+attendant+software LB ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Need PC Based Call Attendant/Answering Service Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 10:59:04 -0500 In article , pgrogan@gmail.com says: > I'm looking for an inexpensive (under 400) software/hardware solution > that will act as an answering service/call attendant. Preferably > something that can run off of a PC and with Vonage (VoIP). Here are > the features that I need: > -Multiple Mailboxes > -Ability to transfer caller to my cell phone (if caller chooses this > option) > Any ideas? This software package seems like it might work, but I have > never heard of them: > http://www.nch.com.au/ivm/index.html Asterisk PBX -- runs on pretty much any Linux distribution. The software doesn't cost anything. It's the hardware that will cost you. I know that Digium (Who curiously produces Asterisk - nice business model if you ask me.) produces a bunch of FXO and FXS cards, I think a four port FXS will run you about $300 or so. And an FXO add on for that is about $100. You don't mention number of CO lines or stations so what I've recommended is a 4:1 ratio. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 10:44:30 -0500 In article , cjmebox- telecomdigest@yahoo.com says: > Isaiah Beard wrote: >> Dean wrote: >>> A while back some on this list engaged in a lively debate about cell >>> phone radiation risks. This article may have some information of >>> interest to those of you who think this issue isn't dead yet. >>> The cell phone industry: Big Tobacco 2.0? >>> By Molly Wood, senior editor, CNET.com >>> Tuesday, March 8, 2005 >> Oh, C|Net. Now we KNOW it's quality journalism. >> Consider that Ms. Wood readily admits she has an agenda (she has an >> axe to grind with cell phone manufacturers over what she perceives as >> "iron-clad control over phone releases and pricing, its >> ever-lengthening contracts, and the annoying habit it has of crippling >> Bluetooth phones so that [she] can't use them the way [she wants] >> to"). I would thus take this with a heavy handful of salt. >> E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. >> Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. > OK OK, I'm not saying there's anything absolutely definitive in that > article. But it seems certainly prudent to use a headset and try to > keep the antenna at a certain distance -- just as she suggests toward > the end of the article. (although I think I read somewhere that the > cord of the headset can have some adverse effect too - one can only > take so many precautions and still be reasonable:-) > Regards, The problem is that many of the headsets are now Bluetooth enabled. Those put out signals on what, 2.4GHz at relatively low power. ------------------------------ From: Tim Keating Subject: Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 12:27:01 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 06:11:58 -0800, Joseph wrote: > On 9 Mar 2005 08:56:41 -0800, Dean > wrote: >> A while back some on this list engaged in a lively debate about cell >> phone radiation risks. This article may have some information of >> interest to those of you who think this issue isn't dead yet. > They've brought out this pony for a couple decades now and haven't > found anything. Why should we believe this latest scare? Because the technology has change dramatically over time. A couple of decades ago: A. Cell phones were fairly rare and air time was expensive. (short and infrequent calls). B. Used benign handsets. Most where trunk or bag units with antenna mounted on the exterior of motor vehicles. (Increased Distance from RF radiator). C. Operated in or around the 900 Mhz band.. The human body is more transparent to lower frequency RF energy. D. Volume of tissue which absorbed RF energy was much greater, thus overall exposer per in^3 was way lower. The danger has increased because: a. Self contained hand unit proximity to users head. (Inverse square law.. increases exposer dramatically.) b. Higher operating frequencies. (1.8 to 2.0 Ghz). (Overall RF absorption gets concentrated into a relatively small volume centered above the users ear.). c. People are using them wit greater frequency and talking for long periods. http://www.willthomas.net/Investigations/Articles/cellphones.htm Care to roll the dice again?? ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 09:30:11 EST Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack In a message dated Fri, 11 Mar 2005 21:34:59 -0500, Marcus Didius Falco writes: > Many years ago the standard was somewhat different, and the yellow > wire was sometimes used as a ground. Then, for a time, I think the > yellow wire was used to power the lights on princess phones. Almost > certainly the yellow wire is either dead or shorted to one of the > other wires. Check this with a volt meter. The yellow wire was indeed used for ground, required for the generally used type of party-line ringing, and also for calling party identification when DDD came along. Two wires were required, as for all electrical circuits, for the lights on Princess and Trimline phones. They were normally on yellow-black. Usually a wall war was used, but there were also separate plug-in transformers with binding post terminals that could be put in an inconspicuous location and multipled (normally on the yellow-black) to several Princess or Trimline phones. Later examples of Trimline phones got the power for the lights from the phone pairs (another task for the C.O. battery). Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 10:49:09 -0500 In article , sjsobol@JustThe.net says: > Brian Inglis wrote: >> It works, ship it ... we're all beta test sites now! > Given this discussion of apparent Vonage incompetence, their whining > about their traffic being blocked is quite funny. Seems they are quite > capable of blocking their own traffic, if inadvertently. ;) I've had Vonage for 5 months now and haven't had any outages at all that were caused by their alleged incompetence. One was ISP related where the cable service for a good chunk of Providence went dark during a snow storm. The other was a chunk of ice damaging a piece of cable on the outside of the house. Seems the methods employed by the previous building owner weren't held to exacting standards. They've got the siding off the building now so I should tack down a section of CAT-5 and replace the damaged wire. But why should I? I don't own the building and it only affected the phone in the bedroom. It also severed by connection to the NID which means there's no chance of getting a reverse voltage on my VoIP line. I think that many of the problems people are having in the mid-west are ISP related. Therefore I understand Vonage whining about being denied access to certain ports necessary for their service to function. Maybe I've had good luck. Who knows. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: FCC to Cellcos: Clean up Your Bills and Invoices Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 10:55:15 -0500 In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com says: > Danny Burstein wrote: >> "FCC Extends Truth-in-Billing Rules to Wireless Phones; Seeks >> Comment on Additional Measures to Increase Ability of Consumers to >> Make Informed Choices ... > I wonder if this will make bills _harder_ to understand. > As a result of all the "fair disclosure" laws, companies now send out > whole books in fine print on their numerous policies. They're > impossible for a lay person to understand, and they're constantly > changing. Overloading someone with detail is an easy way to fraud > someone. > Years ago our electric bill was on a postcard. Name, address, KWH > hours used, total cost. Now it's several pages of graphs and charts. > Our phone bill used to be one small slip of paper -- fixed costs on one > side, toll charges on the other. Now it's so thick it requires extra > postage -- and I don't even have toll charges! (And it's on > double-sided paper too!) > I'm pretty sure it was the PUCs that ordered the breakouts of > toll/non-toll and basic/non-basic data blocks. Further, all imposed > charges, ie 911, FCC line, should be rolled up in service and > equipment; all taxes rolled into one item just as the old days. > Can anyone justify mailing out the Encyclopedia Britannica for a > monthly utility bill? There are certain details that shouldn't be rolled up under one fee. I suspect that in the days of the Bell System the equipment rental charges were actually subsidizing certain elements of service. But you're right about the electric bills. I don't so much object to the graphs but the increased fees ever since de-regulation took place. You see, now we have a separate distribution and generation charge. Theoretically you could choose the source for your electricity but the cost differential is inconsequential for residential users. Instead the de-regulation benefits business. I don't for a moment think the Narragansett Electric was going to walk away owning just the distribution network and not make people pay top dollar for it. All this at the time that our electric system infrastructure is crumbling. There are echoes of Enron all over the place. Now you just have to dig a bit deeper to find them. ------------------------------ Date: 12 Mar 2005 16:20:50 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: How to Make Skype Wireless ? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > There are plenty of companies that sell phones made specifically for > Skype. Some of these phones are wireless. One of the more popular ones > that I have noticed can be found at http://www.dualphone.net/ These all seem to be phones that have a base unit plug into your computer's USB port, and handsets that talk to that base unit. Has anyone seen (or even heard rumors of) a usable WiFi phone for Skype that talks to your LAN rather than to a proprietary base? Zyxel makes a phone for normal SIP but it doesn't seem to be compatible with Skype. Regards, John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 11:36:11 PST From: Philip LeNir Subject: Re: How to Make Skype Wireless ? John, I have not actually found any products that can be purchased right now ... however ... I've noticed a series of press releases that indicate a variety of companies are headed in this direction and that Skype is organizing partnerships that will make it attractive for Hardware vendors to produce these types of devices. I certainly believe that Skype is creating a business ecosystem around itself, and as such provide value for its customers that it could not do on its own. Title: "Skype alights on Broadreach hotspots" http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/70029/skype-alights-on-broadreach-hotspots.html "Anyone with a wireless-ready device can now use Broadreach hotspots for free to make Skype voice calls, which are also free. What's the catch? There isn't one. Broadreach has configured its hotspots to recognise the Skype protocol and allow that traffic to connect. Any of the Skype services - eg instant messaging - can be used in this way." My opinion: This makes a Skype enabled WiFi phone more attractive to users. It also sets a precedent that wireless providers cannot be happy with... it is completely free...you do not have to pay the WiFi provider any money what so ever to make wireless calls to anywhere in the world (assuming the callee has Skype.. otherwise 2 cents per minute with SkypeOut). See related article below regarding Motorola's acquisition of MeshNetworks. Title: "i-mate & Skype form global partnership" http://www.skype.com/company/news/2005/imate.html "Newly manufactured i-mate PDA2K and i-mate PDA2 handsets will be produced with Skype's award-winning software preloaded, enabling i-mate owners to use Skype immediately on start-up of their device. Both handsets are dual mode GSM/GPRS Wifi handsets that, with Skype included, allow users to make free, superior quality voice calls wherever they are worldwide." My opinion: I haven't had a chance to read too deeply into this, but I figure it will probably work over a home area WiFI network. Title: "Motorola launches Skype alliance" http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/wireless/0,39020348,39187936,00.htm "The handset manufacturer is developing Wi-Fi compatible mobiles, and will bundle popular VoIP application Skype with the planned devices" My opinion: I think that Motorola is covering its bases and making a wise bet on the future. Title: "Motorola Extends Broadband Wireless Technology Portfolio with Acquisition of MeshNetworks" http://www.motorola.com.cn/en/news/2005/01/0202_01.asp Title: "Motorola Mesh Networks Solution Transforms The Way Minnesota Town Communicates" http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050228/cgm031_1.html My opinion: I don't think it will take Motorola long to combine the technology they got with MeshNetworks, Skype enabled WiFi phones, as well as the various pushes to completely WiFi enabled entire cities (as a public service ... Philadelphia, San Franscisco, Taipei are three examples I know of) and thus threaten Cell phone providers. Philip. Find a Skype phone, Skype add-on or Skype community at http://www.summitcircle.com/ --- John Levine wrote: >> There are plenty of companies that sell phones made specifically for >> Skype. Some of these phones are wireless. One of the more popular ones >> that I have noticed can be found at http://www.dualphone.net/ > These all seem to be phones that have a base unit plug into your > computer's USB port, and handsets that talk to that base unit. > Has anyone seen (or even heard rumors of) a usable WiFi phone for > Skype that talks to your LAN rather than to a proprietary base? Zyxel > makes a phone for normal SIP but it doesn't seem to be compatible with > Skype. > Regards, > John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 > +1 607 330 5711 > johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com, > Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against > Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 19:25:51 -0000 > John Beaman wrote: > Standard wire Cat 3 > Tip- Green -----Line 1----- Blue > Ring- Red -----Line 1----- White/Blue stripe > Tip- Black -----Line 2----- Orange > Ring-Yellow ----Line 2----- White/Orange stripe Other way around for the tip and ring colors in the last column. Conductors with a white base color are tip, those with blue or orange base are ring. ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 08:45:48 -0800 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Bill Matern wrote: > When I worked on a 700 number service, the number was 700-555-1212 to > find out about your IXC. This was over 10 years ago. However, when I > just tired it in Salem, NH it did not work, but you may want to try > this alternative number. > On Verizon's site, they indicate the 700-555-4141 number so it > probably has changed in that time. This number did not work either > for me. Apple Valley, CA, March 12th: 700-555-4141 works just fine with VZ as the ILEC and Sprint as the IXC. Has worked everywhere else I've tried it, too. I've never seen -1212 advertised as the IXC number. JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" ------------------------------ From: Choreboy Subject: Re: Technion Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 13:52:51 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Robert Bonomi wrote: > In article , > Choreboy wrote: [...] >> It seems like harassment to me. Can I do anything to stop it? [...] > I betcha Bell South will too. The law *requires* that companies > maintain their _own_ internal Do not call list -- for *anyone* who has > expressly requested that "that company" not call them. The 'prior > business relation- ship' exemption does *not* trump the > company-maintained 'do not call' list for marketing calls. Thanks. I seem to be on Technion's DNC list now. ------------------------------ From: Peter Pearson Subject: Re: Privacy Self-Regulation, A Decade of Disappointment Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 11:26:54 -0800 Monty Solomon wrote: > EPIC Report: Privacy Self-Regulation, A Decade of Disappointment: > http://www.epic.org/reports/decadedisappoint.html Summary: Freedom is ugly. The FTC should do something. The "specifics", if you can call them that, of the "something" are: (1) abandon its faith, (2) reexamine something, (3) reexamine something else, (4) investigate something, (5) investigate something else, and (6) develop a mechanism for opting out. Peter Pearson To get my email address, substitute: nowhere -> spamcop, invalid -> 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. 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 V24 #109 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Mar 12 22:52:48 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2D3qlO26610; Sat, 12 Mar 2005 22:52:48 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 22:52:48 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503130352.j2D3qlO26610@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 V24 #110 TELECOM Digest Sat, 12 Mar 2005 22:53:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 110 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Qwest Cost Creep (jared) FCC Wants Comments Re: Should VoIP co's Get Numbers Direct (Jack Decker) Enron Update, was: FCC to Cellcos: Clean up Your Bills (Danny Burstein) Satellite Radio as "Broadcast Audio Internet"? (AES) Re: Privacy Self-Regulation, A Decade of Disappointment (Peter Pearson) A Decade of Disappointment - Part I (Patrick Townson) Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (Tony P.) Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers (Steve Sobol) Re: AT&T Billing (Tim@Backhome.org) 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: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 16:25:15 -0700 From: jared@nospam.au (jared) Subject: Qwest Cost Creep In the middle of last year I changed to QWEST and a plan that reduced my monthly charges to about $33. Now in March it's up to > $50. Even a simple phone line with no features is apparently $28 per month ... that's only twice what QWEST advertises (i.e., before fine print). One of the tricky changes was to start charging a monthly fee for long distance that had been bundled in the plan. No notice, just a few dollars more. I asked the customer service representative why and all she could say was that they didn't know that there was going to be a charge for long distance with that plan. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That's a problem (one of several) I had with SBC: I'd call to complain the bill had gone up, they would review it and say "if we do thus and so, the bill will go down to be X dollars." I'd say okay, then the next month the bill would arrive and be higher still. I'd have to talk to two or three different people (with a wait on hold for each of them) to get the promised adjustment. None of them knew anything about what the others had said or promised. Once they transferred me to a man 'in Topeka, who is our employee but he deals with state regulatory matters'. The man talked to me for about thirty minutes, detirmined I was 'eligible for lifeline service' (a program of reduced rates for handicapped/elderly people) and told me absolutely what my new monthly rate would be after he had audited my entire bill. Guess what? When the next bill arrived it was **no where close** to that amount. Bell said the reason the bill was 25 pages long that month was because they had to prorate it since the 'guy in Topeka' had re-rated me. The next month's bill _was_ a few pages (not many!) smaller, but the bottom line total was still higher. Then, according to the service rep they had detirmined I was not eligible for lifeline rates unless I would send them once again send them notes from doctor, SRS (Kansas medicaid public assistance) and some other paperwork. When I finally fled to Prairie Stream and Cable One (since SBC would not allow Prairie Stream to handle my DSL), they had me up to $140 per month; I was choking on the phone bill. And the lies they tell about their various service offerings ... their claims ... just incredible. I was so happy to get out of their noose. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 18:07:40 -0500 Subject: FCC Wants Comments Re: Should VoIP co's Get Numbers Direct? The following is an excerpt from an FCC public notice, which can be read in full at: PDF: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-663A1.pdf DOC: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-663A1.doc TEXT: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-663A1.txt The basic issue here is whether VoIP companies will be allowed to obtain numbers directly from NANPA. Right now, when a VoIP company wants a block of numbers, they have to go to a CLEC that has numbers assigned to them, and use numbers out of the CLEC's number pool. The problem with this is that the CLEC then owns the numbers rather than the VoIP company. Consider the case of where a CLEC is giving poor service or goes out of business; calls to customers may not complete properly and it may not be the VoIP company's fault, but rather the fault of the CLEC that owns the number. So, allowing this change would let the VoIP company to own their own numbers, and therefore they would have both more flexibility and more responsibility. When a CLEC that the VoIP company partners with isn't completing calls properly, the VoIP company could move the termination point for the numbers to another CLEC. I think allowing this change would allow VoIP companies to provide better service to customers, and by the way it would also probably remove the current impediments for customers wanting to take their phone number from one VoIP provider to another (or to a landline or cellular company, for that matter -- in other words, local number portability for VoIP numbers would probably be a reality). Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see any real downside to this. Those that just don't like VoIP will probably find some reason to oppose it but I think that if VoIP companies had control of their own number space, rather than using numbers out of the various CLEC's pool, it would make thing far easier for everyone. Note this has nothing to do with whether they would still use the CLEC's for actual call completion, it only addresses who owns the block of numbers out of which customer numbers are assigned. Comments are due by April 15 and those who wish to send a comment can go to http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/ for details. Instructions for sending an e-mail comment are at: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/email.html or you can send a brief comment to the FCC using the online form at http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/upload_v2.cgi . You will need the Proceeding number, which is 99-200 (this is called a "CC Docket No." on the Public Notice). Here is the excerpt: PUBLIC NOTICE Federal Communications Commission 445 12th St., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 DA 05-663 March 11, 2005 WIRELINE COMPETITION BUREAU SEEKS COMMENT ON RNK, INC. D/B/A RNK TELECOM, NUVIO CORPORATION, UNIPOINT ENHANCED SERVICES D/B/A POINTONE, DIALPAD COMMUNICATIONS, INC., VONAGE HOLDINGS CORPORATION, AND VOEX, INC. PETITIONS FOR LIMITED WAIVER OF SECTION 52.15(g)(2)(i) OF THE COMMISSION'S RULES REGARDING ACCESS TO NUMBERING RESOURCES PLEADING CYCLE ESTABLISHED: CC Docket No. 99-200 Comment Date: April 11, 2005 Reply Comment Date: April 26, 2005 RNK, Inc. d/b/a RNK Telecom (RNK), Nuvio Corporation (Nuvio), Unipoint Enhanced Services d/b/a PointOne (PointOne), Dialpad Communications, Inc. (Dialpad), Vonage Holdings Corporation (Vonage), and VoEX, Inc.(VoEX) have filed petitions with the Commission for a limited waiver of section 52.15(g)(2)(i) of the Commission's rules. The petitions request a limited waiver of the Commission's numbering rules to allow RNK, Nuvio, PointOne, Dialpad, Vonage, and VoEX to obtain numbering resources from the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) and/or the Pooling Administrator (PA). RNK, Nuvio, Point One, Dialpad, Vonage, and VoEX seek the same relief that the Commission granted in an Order allowing SBCIS to obtain numbering resources directly from the NANPA and/or the PA until the Commission adopts final numbering rules for IP-enabled services. We invite comment on the Petitions for Limited Waiver. Pursuant to applicable procedures set forth in sections 1.415 and 1.419 of the Commission's rules, interested parties may file comments on or before April 11, 2005; and reply comments on or before April 26, 2005. Comments may be filed using the Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) or by filing paper copies. See Electronic filing of Documents in Rulemaking Proceedings, 63 Fed. Reg. 24121 (1998). [End of excerpt] I have Gmail invites available if anyone needs one -- e-mail me. If I think there's a chance you might be a spammer, I'll probably ignore your request. How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Enron Update, was: FCC to Cellcos: Clean up Your Bills Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 22:55:57 UTC Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC In Tony P. writes: > I don't for a moment think the Narragansett Electric was going to > walk away owning just the distribution network and not make people pay > top dollar for it. All this at the time that our electric system > infrastructure is crumbling. > There are echoes of Enron all over the place. Now you just have to dig > a bit deeper to find them. Speaking of Enron: "Federal regulators handed a major victory Friday to Western utilities and cities trying to escape exorbitant contracts they made with disgraced energy giant Enron Corp. during the power crunch of 2000-01. "In a six-page order issued Friday evening, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission determined that Enron was engaging in illegal activity at the time it entered the contracts with the utilities - and that therefore, a hearing should be held to determine whether Enron should be allowed to collect profits it would have received had those contracts been fulfilled. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111060370422077742,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us (paid subscription Comment: fascinating that this was released by the feds Friday evening, eh? That time, as we all know, is used when you want a story to be buried ... _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: AES Subject: Satellite Radio as "Broadcast Audio Internet"? Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 13:31:06 -0800 Organization: Stanford University Random thoughts re satellite radio (as it might be, not necessarily as it is): 1) Think of a satellite radio system in technical terms as basically a couple of hundred one-way high-audio-quality phone lines coming into your house, office or car, no matter where you are. If you buy the service and get your radio authorized, you can listen to any line you want, any time you want. There is however no way for any line to "ring your phone" individually, and no way for the system to determine what you're actually listening to, or to charge you on an individual basis for listening to any individual line. In other words, it's kind of a one-way broadcast audio Internet. 2) Suppose a commercial firm wanted to build and provide such a satellite radio service with about the same technical capabilities and the same current or likely magnitude of customer base as XM or Sirius at present or in the foreseeable future, but with no content ­­ in other words a kind of "common carrier" service ­­ with income derived from (a) listener subscriptions and (b) selling channels to content providers. What might this cost? ­­ that is, what might be a subscriber's monthly "phone bill", and what might be the cost to a content provider to buy a channel, just to cover the operating costs of the system, plus a modest profit for the provider? 3) Obviously this depends on how the system's costs are allocated between these two sources, but might the subscriber's cost be about the same as XM or Sirius subscription rates at present, and channel costs to content providers be maybe thousands or tens of thousands per month, not millions per month? 4) That would be an interesting system. "Broadcasters" ­­ aka "content providers" ­­ could purchase channels, provide content (e.g., music), and cover their costs of buying the channel and generating the content by selling advertising, although without further technical developments they'd have trouble determining just how much audience they were delivering to their advertisers, and thus what they could charge for the ad slots on their channel. 5) But if the channels were cheap enough a large number of "interest groups" of all types ­­ political, religious, ethnic, athletic, social, religious, academic, educational, environmental, you name it ­­ Could buy (or share) channels, and send content to their members, or to broader audiences, supported by their own membership or their donors or sponsors in the manner of KPFA, KQED, WBAI, the Sierra Club, and so on. That would be a socially interesting and socially valuable/desirable situation, at least IMHO. In fact, maybe that's the way satellite radio should be required (legislatively) to operate . . . ? 6) What if any of the above aspects does satellite radio have now? Does or will XM or Sirius sell a channel to a content provider and/or interest group now (disclaiming any responsibility for what's on it)? If they sell to some content providers now, can they be required to sell to any and all providers willing to pay? Assuming they get up to some acceptable level of subscribers, can or could subscriber fees similar to those at present cover their basic operating costs (i.e., just for providing the empty channels) and modest profit? Or are they counting on advertising revenues for a major portion of their future profits? (as do essentially all other forms of commercial media, radio, TV and print, at present) 7) My personal take or viewpoint on all this is summed up in: "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." British philosopher Lord Acton around 1890. "Dependence on advertising tends to corrupt. Total dependence on advertising corrupts totally." Today's version. The second line is my view of the situation in essentially all areas of journalism and broadcast media today. The right kind of satellite radio could be a way around it. ------------------------------ From: Peter Pearson Subject: Re: Privacy Self-Regulation, A Decade of Disappointment Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 11:26:54 -0800 Monty Solomon wrote: > EPIC Report: Privacy Self-Regulation, A Decade of Disappointment: > http://www.epic.org/reports/decadedisappoint.html Summary: Freedom is ugly. The FTC should do something. The "specifics", if you can call them that, of the "something" are: (1) abandon its faith, (2) reexamine something, (3) reexamine something else, (4) investigate something, (5) investigate something else, and (6) develop a mechanism for opting out. Peter Pearson To get my email address, substitute: nowhere -> spamcop, invalid -> net [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I went to that web site and read entirely the essay mentioned (A Decade of Disappointment) and found it well worth the time to reprint here for inclusion in our archives. But it is _quite large_ so it will appear in two parts; much of it will appear in this issue, the balance in the next issue. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Patrick Townson Subject: A Decade of Disappointment - Part I Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 15:43:22 -0600 Privacy Self Regulation: A Decade of Disappointment By Chris Jay Hoofnagle March 4, 2005 A hi-resolution version report is available in PDF (2.5 MB). [Front Cover: Lists of personal information for sale from website registrations.] [Inside Front Cover: Letter forwarded to EPIC explaining that an individual has no rights in personal information held by the company, Locateplus.com.] Summary The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is capable of creating reasonable and effective privacy protections for American consumers. There is no better example of this than the Telemarketing Do-Not-Call Registry. The Registry, which was created and is now run by the FTC, makes it easy for individuals to opt-out of unwanted telemarketing. Now, more than 80 million numbers now no longer ring at the dinner hour. Prior to the creation of the Registry, the telemarketing industry created self-regulatory protections that were largely useless. One had to write a letter to opt out of telemarketing, or pay to opt out by giving their credit card number to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). The industry's self-regulatory efforts didn't even cover all telemarketers-only those that were members of the DMA. At its peak, the self-regulatory opt-out system had less then 5 million enrollments. FTC's success in the telemarketing field demonstrates that it can protect Americans' privacy effectively and fairly. However, telemarketing was a 20th century problem. This report argues that it is time for the agency to move into the 21st century. It is time for the agency to apply the principles of telemarketing privacy regulation into the online world. The FTC can protect privacy better than the industry can with self-regulation. We now have ten years of experience with privacy self-regulation online, and the evidence points to a sustained failure of business to provide reasonable privacy protections. New tracking technologies exist that individuals are unaware of, and old tracking technologies continue to be employed. Some companies deliberately obfuscate their practices so that consumers remain in the dark. Spyware has developed and flourished under self-regulation. Emerging technologies represent serious threats to privacy and are not addressed by self-regulation or law. Self regulation has failed to produce easy to use anonymous payment mechanisms. And finally, the worst identification and tracking policies from the online world are finding their way into the offline world. In other words, the lack of protection for privacy online not only has resulted in a more invasive web environment, but has also started to drag down the practices of ordinary, offline retailers. EPIC calls upon the Federal Trade Commission and Congress to seriously reconsider its faith in self-regulatory privacy approaches. They have led to a decade of disappointment; one where Congress has been stalled and the public anesthetized, as privacy practices steadily worsened. We call on the government to create a floor of standards for protection of personal information based on Fair Information Practices. I. The FTC Registry Is Better Than Market Alternatives The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Telemarketing Do-Not-Call Registry was a stunning privacy success. Americans enrolled 10 million numbers in the Registry in its first day of operation. Now, the phone has stopped ringing on the more than 60 million numbers that were enrolled by the public. The nuisance of telemarketing will now be a thing of the past. Those who wish to receive telemarketing may still do so, but others have an easy option to preserve the dinner hour from interruption. When one analyzes the decisions made by the FTC, it reveals that the agency took steps to effect consumers' desires. The FTC publicized the existence of the Registry and gave it a simple name and URL on the Internet. The FTC allowed people to enroll free by telephone or by the Internet. The FTC minimized "authentication" burdens. That is, the FTC made it easy for people to enroll by not requiring the consumer to jump through unnecessary hoops. Some from the industry suggested that only the line subscriber-not even a spouse or roommate-could enroll. The Do-Not-Call Registry was a success because the FTC took the opposite approach from the self-regulatory system created by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). In every respect, the FTC ensured that the Registry would be easy to use and fair, while the DMA's opt-out mechanism was difficult to use and relatively unknown. For starters, the DMA's system only applied to the industry association's members. Telemarketers who had not joined the group were not bound to comply with consumers' desire to opt-out. The FTC's approach applied to a much broader group of telemarketers. Second, the DMA's list was named the "Telephone Preference Service." The name and acronym, "TPS," had no meaning to the public. To some, it could mean a list of people who preferred to be telemarketed. The FTC approach, on the other hand, was sensibly named and assigned a easy to remember URL, http://donotcall.gov, on the Internet. Third, the DMA's list required the consumer to actually write a letter for free enrollment. To enroll online, the consumer had to pay a fee and give their credit card number to the DMA. The FTC's approach allows free Internet, mail, and telephone enrollment. The FTC's Registry is universal, free, and easy to use. Individuals could enroll online or by phone. The DMA's only applied to its members, cost money to enroll online, and was difficult to find. It's no wonder why the DMA's list only had 5 million enrollments, while the FTC's has more than 80 million. These forces combined to make the DMA's market approach to telemarketing ineffective. The numbers speak for themselves. USA Today commented in 2002 that: "In 17 years, just 4.8 million consumers have signed up with the DMA's do-not-call list. By contrast, just five states -- New York, Kentucky, Indiana, Florida and Missouri -- have signed up roughly the same number in far less time."[i] Today's self-regulatory approaches to Internet privacy are much like the failed ones employed by the DMA for telemarketing. They are difficult to use, confusing, and often offer no real protection at all. This report details the current state of privacy on the Internet, and illustrates the myriad ways in which threats to privacy are becoming ever more grave, as new technologies are developed, new practices become commonplace, and companies are not held accountable for disregarding privacy risks. Collection of personal information on the Internet runs rampant, both through direct and indirect means, both in the open and in secret. It is imperative that the FTC act now to correct these market failures. The FTC effectively and fairly corrected the failures of a 20th century nuisance-telemarketing. It is time for the agency to move into the 21st century and correct the failures of self-regulation to meaningfully protect Internet privacy. II. Ten Years of Self-Regulation and Still No Privacy In Sight EPIC has completed three Surfer Beware reports assessing the state of privacy on the Internet. "Surfer Beware I: Personal Privacy and the Internet," a 1997 report, reviewed privacy practices of 100 of the most frequently visited web sites on the Internet. It checked for collection of personal information, establishment of privacy policies, cookie usage, and anonymous browsing. The inquiry found that few sites had easily accessible privacy policies, and none of these policies met basic standards for privacy protection. However, at that time, most of the sites surveyed allowed users to access web content and services without disclosing any personal data. The report ended with a recommendation of continuing support for anonymity and the development of both good privacy policies and practices. In 1998, EPIC produced "Surfer Beware II: Notice Is Not Enough," a report based on a survey of the privacy practices of 76 new members of the Direct Marketing Association ("DMA"), a proponent of self-regulation of privacy protection. The DMA released guidelines in 1997 that would require all future members of the DMA to publicize privacy policies and provide an opt-out capability for information sharing. Of the 76 new members surveyed, only 40 had web sites, and only 8 of these sites had policies satisfying the DMA's requirements. The report concluded that DMA's self-regulation efforts were not effective. The 1999 report "Surfer Beware III: Privacy Policies without Privacy Protection" assessed the privacy practices of the 100 most popular shopping web sites on the Internet. It examined whether these sites complied with common accepted privacy principles, used profile-based advertising, and employed cookies. The survey determined that 18 of the sites had no privacy policy displayed, 35 of the sites used profile-based advertising, and 86 of the sites used cookies. None of the companies adequately addressed Fair Information Practices, commonly-accepted responsibilities covering collection, access to, and control over personal information. Surfer Beware III concluded that current practices of the online shopping industry provided little meaningful privacy protection for consumers. The Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") has given self-regulation a decade to produce reasonable privacy protections online. The FTC first visited online privacy in 1995, and with minor fluctuations since then, has adopted a policy that embraces the idea that self-regulation is "the least intrusive and most efficient means to ensure fair information practices online, given the rapidly evolving nature of the Internet and computer technology."[ii] It certainly is the least intrusive approach for companies exploiting personal information, but it has not efficiently ensured Fair Information Practices. Of the five Fair Information Practices[iii] endorsed by the FTC-notice, choice, access, security, and accountability-only notice can be said to be present as a result of privacy statements. The first fluctuation in the FTC's commitment to self-regulation occurred in 1998, after the agency's survey of online practices showed that the lowest level of protection for consumer, notice of privacy practices, was not widely implemented. In a survey of 1400 web sites conducted by the Commission, 92% of the commercial sites collected personal information but only 14% had privacy notices. Of the commercial sites, only 2% had a "comprehensive" privacy policy.[iv] In reaction to these findings, the FTC was "still hopeful" that industry efforts would produce adequate privacy protections.[v] At the time, Chairman Pitofsky recommended that Congress pass legislation if self-regulation failed to produce significant progress.[vi] A year later in testimony to Congress, the FTC renewed its faith in self-regulation, noting that many web sites had adopted privacy policies. But protections beyond mere disclosure of practices lagged behind. Only a small number of surveyed sites had incorporated choice, access, and security into their practices. No meaningful avenue for enforcement existed at all. Commissioner Sheila Anthony concurred with the report's findings but dissented from its recommendations, noting, "industry progress has been far too slow since the Commission first began encouraging the adoption of voluntary fair information practices in 1996. Notice, while an essential first step, is not enough if the privacy practices themselves are toothless. I believe that the time may be right for federal legislation to establish at least baseline minimum standards." "Notice, while an essential first step, is not enough if the privacy practices themselves are toothless." In 2000, a 3-2 majority of the FTC formally recommended that Congress adopt legislation requiring commercial web sites and network advertising companies to comply with Fair Information Practices.[vii] However, a year later with the appointment of a new FTC Chairman, the FTC embraced self-regulation again. Chairman Muris decided to focus the Commission's attention on enforcing existing laws rather than create new legislative protections for online privacy.[viii] Chairman Muris indeed has expanded privacy protections through the creation of a do-not-call list and with application of the agency's powers to prevent unfair and deceptive trade practices. The overall effect of the FTC's approach has been to delay the adoption of substantive legal protection for privacy. The adherence to self-regulatory approaches, such as the Network Advertising Initiative that legitimized third-party Internet tracking and the Individual References Service Group principles that concerned sale of SSNs, allowed businesses to continue using personal information while not providing any meaningful privacy protection. Ten years later, online collection of information is more pervasive, more invasive, and just as unaccountable as ever-and increasingly, the public is anesthetized to it. It doesn't have to be this way. The FTC has been effective in protecting privacy when dealing with 20th century nuisances. It's time for the FTC to apply the lessons from telemarketing and other efforts to address the 21st century problem of Internet privacy. III. Today's Tracking Methods Are More Pervasive and Invasive Seven years ago, EPIC's report Surfer Beware I reviewed the status of Internet users' privacy rights and protections on the 100 most frequently visited web sites. The report was concerned primarily with the solicitation, collection, use, and protection of personal information obtained either from user-input forms or cookies. Today, there are many more methods through which users can be tracked, profiled, and monitored in the online world. Cookie technology has matured-cookies are widespread and new uses have been developed. Entirely new technologies have emerged as well, some of which are all but unknown to consumers. Few of these methods are regulated, either internally by industry or externally by government. Without privacy legislation to protect Internet users from improper use of the information collected on the web, companies are unlikely to voluntarily cease privacy-invasive practices. Cookies Surfer Beware I discussed an Internet tracking technology over which there was "a great deal of controversy"-cookies. It found that about a quarter of the most frequently visited web sites used cookies. Today, many websites use cookies for one reason or another. In addition, there are several new wrinkles in the use of this tracking technology. Third Party Cookies Today, websites that a user explicitly visits are not the only entities which place cookies in your web browser-many web sites contain advertising served by outside commercial providers, and these providers may also send a cookie to your browser. These are known as "third party cookies." Some web browsers, such as Firefox allow users to block third party cookies. Many web pages today have arrangements with third party ad servers that serve advertisements to their pages. For example, the MSN Privacy Statement lists two dozen third party ad networks that may place cookies in a user's browser.[ix] Privacy policies (such as MSN's) tend to frame these third party cookies as a benefit to the user, allowing advertisers to "deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you." Persistent Cookies A persistent cookie is one that remains on a user's computer after she has quit the browser. These cookies can be used to set and remember a user's web site preferences, settings, and passwords from one browser session to the next, but can also be used for tracking and monitoring purposes. A troubling recent trend is to design these cookies to remain not just for many browser sessions, but for many years. Google's search cookie, for example, will not expire until January 17, 2038. This kind of long range tracking of users raises significant privacy risks. Web Bugs A web bug is a graphic on a web page that allows tracking and monitoring of visitors to that page. Web bugs are usually invisible, "clear" images only 1-by-1 pixel in size. They are capable of transmitting, back to the bug's originating server your Internet Protocol ("IP") address, the page you visited, the time you visited, browser information, and information from existing cookies in the browser. For market approaches to work, consumers must grasp both technology and practices. But in a Pew Internet Report, 56% surveyed couldn't identify a cookie.[x] Web bugs are sometimes used for the innocuous purpose of counting how many times a particular page is viewed and gathering statistics about browser usage and web site usage. There are, however, much more invasive uses, such as compiling a detailed web-browsing profile of a particular user. Web bugs are designed specifically to be secret and invisible. Many Internet users today are aware of cookies, and may perceive them from the appearance of visible advertisements. There are also tools to manage cookies. Web bugs, however, can transmit information and set cookies even when there is no telltale banner advertisement on the website tipping off a user that information might be collected about them. Furthermore, just one "allowed" cookie from an ad network opens the door for all web bugs within that network to collect browsing information about that user. With companies such as DoubleClick, providing advertising to countless web sites, this risk is significant. For instance, if a user with a DoubleClick cookie in their browser loads a web page with a DoubleClick web bug on it, that bug can grab the identifying information in the cookie and transmit it back to the server along with the other information collected by the bug. Google's Gmail Content Extraction On April 1, 2004, Google announced the launch of their new Gmail service. Gmail is a web-based e-mail service offering one-gigabyte of e-mail storage to users. Gmail is supported by advertisers who buy keywords, much like the Google search engine's AdWords advertising program, which lead to targeted advertisements displayed alongside an e-mail message in a Gmail user's inbox. Gmail uses "content extraction" (a term from Google's patents) on all e-mails sent to and from a Gmail account in order to target the advertising to the user. "If Google ogles your e-mail, will Ashcroft be far behind?"[xi] Many privacy advocates hold the position that the Gmail service violates the privacy rights of both Gmail users and non-subscribers. Non-subscribers who e-mail a Gmail user have "content extraction" performed on their e-mail even though they have not consented to have their communications monitored, nor may they even be aware that their communications are being analyzed. This is a significant development in Internet tracking technology because it is one of the first with the capacity and the structure to monitor and record not just transactional data and personal information, but the content of private communications. Spyware Spyware and adware are extremely invasive and annoying technologies that have flourished in the self-regulatory world of Internet privacy. Both can be broadly described as pieces of software placed on a user's computer by a third party that perform unwanted functions. Spyware and adware collect information about the user, sometimes in complete secrecy without the knowledge of the user. Some programs display pop-up ads on the user's monitor, while others track and record everything the user does online. Information is sometimes collected by the programs for the sole purpose of sending that data back to an advertiser, and other times used to immediately serve pop-up ads to the user. Users often inadvertently download and install spyware and adware along with other desired computer programs, most commonly file-sharing applications. McAfee, an Internet security firm that sells popular virus protection and other personal computer security programs, reported more than 2.5 million "potentially unwanted programs" on its customers' computers, as of March 2004.[xii] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the next issue of the Digest, we will begin with Part IV of this essay, discussing even more nefarious schemes to invade your privacy getting started. PAT ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 15:58:25 -0500 In article , Wesrock@aol.com says... > In a message dated Fri, 11 Mar 2005 21:34:59 -0500, Marcus Didius Falco > writes: >> Many years ago the standard was somewhat different, and the yellow >> wire was sometimes used as a ground. Then, for a time, I think the >> yellow wire was used to power the lights on princess phones. Almost >> certainly the yellow wire is either dead or shorted to one of the >> other wires. Check this with a volt meter. > The yellow wire was indeed used for ground, required for the generally > used type of party-line ringing, and also for calling party > identification when DDD came along. > Two wires were required, as for all electrical circuits, for the > lights on Princess and Trimline phones. They were normally on > yellow-black. Usually a wall war was used, but there were also > separate plug-in transformers with binding post terminals that could > be put in an inconspicuous location and multipled (normally on the > yellow-black) to several Princess or Trimline phones. Yep -- I remember that setup well. There were different wall warts depending on the configuration being set up. Our house had one but the current was higher because there were two Trimlines and one Princess in use. > Later examples of Trimline phones got the power for the lights from > the phone pairs (another task for the C.O. battery). Yep, got one of those on my desk right now. A yellow Trimline to be specific. Has green LED's to provide the lighting. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: One thing I have noticed which is different between the older Trimline phones (with a separate power supply) and the newer units is that the newer units (with an LED to light the buttons) run from telco battery instead of an external power supply. The old units would stay lighted all the time unless you flipped the switch to turn off the light bulb. The newer units (with an LED powered from telco battery) are dark when the phone is on hook and also go dark for a few seconds as the buttons are pressed. That is unfortunate, because the older units also made very nice 'night lights' in a darkened room. With the newer (telco battery powered LED) units, you can not see the phone in a dark room until you have already found it and have it off hook. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 14:02:03 -0800 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Tony P. wrote: >>> Consider that Ms. Wood readily admits she has an agenda (she has an >>> axe to grind with cell phone manufacturers over what she perceives as >>> "iron-clad control over phone releases and pricing, its >>> ever-lengthening contracts, and the annoying habit it has of crippling >>> Bluetooth phones so that [she] can't use them the way [she wants] >>> to"). I would thus take this with a heavy handful of salt. If Miss Wood thinks that retail phone pricing and contracts are the fault of the MANUFACTURERS, she's probably too stupid to carry a cell phone in the first place. I doubt the removal of certain functions is done by the manufacturers on their own, either. > The problem is that many of the headsets are now Bluetooth enabled. > Those put out signals on what, 2.4GHz at relatively low power. So? My phone runs on 1.9GHz ... I still haven't heard anything definitive either way, either that cell phones DO or DON'T cause illness. JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: AT&T Billing Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 15:17:32 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note Yet, Traditional Bell and its apologists > keep talking complaining about what a bum deal telco is getting from the > alternative services such as the CLECs and VOIP, etc. > This is just IMO, but I think AT&T, SBC, etc have mostly brought on > their own troubles over the years. PAT] No doubt about it. They were the most arrogant suits in town in the 1950s and 60s. Had they been able to reason objectively they would have never let Carterfone get out of hand. Then again, their history from the late 1800s, on through WWII, made them feel they were more powerful than the U.S. Government or any mere private enterprise domestic corportation. ------------------------------ 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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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #110 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Mar 12 23:53:17 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2D4rHI27159; Sat, 12 Mar 2005 23:53:17 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 23:53:17 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503130453.j2D4rHI27159@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 V24 #111 TELECOM Digest Sat, 12 Mar 2005 23:53:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 111 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson A Decade of Disappointment - Part II (Patrick Townson) Re: Ohio Law Would Require Auction License on eBay (Gene S. Berkowitz) Why Pay to be an Identity Thief? CMU Will Show You How (Marcus Falco) Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid (Marcus Didius Falco) 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: Patrick Townson Subject: A Decade of Disappointment - Part II Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 15:43:22 -0600 This is part 2 in a 2-part essay written by Chris Jay Hoofnagle on Privacy. The first part appeared in the issue before this. The two parts will be merged into a longer essay for the Telecom Archives. Privacy Self Regulation: A Decade of Disappointment By Chris Jay Hoofnagle March 4, 2005 IV. More Invasive Tracking Mechanisms Are on the Horizon There are several new and emerging technologies that have the potential to present significant privacy problems as they become more advanced and more widely used. Digital Rights Management "Digital copyright management systems.are not some remote, futuristic nightmare.they will enable an unprecedented degree of intrusion into and oversight of individual decisions about what to read, hear, and view."[xiii] Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems use technical means to protect an owner's interest in software, music, text, film, artwork, etc. DRM can control file access (number of views, length of views), altering, sharing, copying, printing, and saving, through either the software or hardware of a computer or device. Some DRM technologies are being developed with little regard for privacy protection. These systems require the user to reveal his or her identity in order to access protected content. Upon authentication of identity and valid rights to the content, the user can access the content. Widespread use of DRM systems could lead to an eradication of anonymous consumption of content. DRM systems could lead to a standard practice where content owners require all purchasers of media to identify themselves. DRM can also link or tie certain content inextricably to one particular user. Windows Media Player, for example, has an embedded globally-unique identifier that can track users and the content they are viewing. Trusted Computing Trusted computing is a platform for pervasive DRM in personal computers. The Trusted Computing Group, an industry consortium with members Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett Packard, and Advanced Micro Devices, is overseeing the creation of industry-wide specifications for trusted computing hardware and software. Computer freedom itself is at stake here. DRM can convert a flexible, user-controlled computer into an inflexible, copyright-owner-controlled surveillance device. Your next computer may really be a TV that watches you. Trusted computing systems combine hardware and software elements to create a platform that gives software vendors an incredible amount of control over what users do with their computers. These systems have been developed to protect the security of the computer from its owner when she uses proprietary or copyrighted information. While trusted computing does enable a number of important security and privacy-enhancing functions, it also creates new threats to privacy and anonymity that should be seriously considered. For example, by augmenting the security functions already present on personal computers, trusted computing may offer greater protection from malicious programs or remote exploits. On the other hand, Trusted Computing could make it difficult or impossible for users to access content anonymously. As trusted computing technology develops, it could have significant impact on computer users' privacy in the digital and online world. Single Sign On Services "Project Liberty" is an online identification and authentication system. It allows individuals to use a single sign-on in order to access many different web pages, and is being developed by a coalition of companies. A similar system has been designed by Microsoft, known as Passport or .NET Passport. Identification and authentication systems present privacy risks for individuals. They can become virtual tollbooths for the Internet, requiring identity before one can view web pages. This violates a fundamental principle of privacy-the idea of collection limitation. It is illegitimate to collect information unless it is actually necessary to complete some function. However, with a proliferation of authentication systems, it becomes easier to compel individuals to identify themselves for no legitimate reason. These systems also enable profiling, which results in more spam, direct mail, and telemarketing for individuals. V. The Privacy Friendly Are Mimicking the Privacy Invasive In Surfer Beware I, EPIC noted that news web sites usually did not require disclosure of personal information in order to access their content, a practice that enhances privacy. The report stated that many of the top web sites allow "users to visit without giving up personal information. Anonymity plays a particularly important role for those sites.that are providing news and information to the on-line community." EPIC thought that it was especially appropriate for news sites not to attempt to identify site visitors, as anonymous access to political information shields individuals from law enforcement scrutiny and politically-motivated retribution. But the ability to view the news anonymously is dramatically limited now. More and more news websites are requiring disclosure of personal information in various forms in order to access news articles. EPIC conducted a survey of the websites of the top twenty-five US newspapers (by daily circulation).[xiv] Thirteen of these top twenty-five sites require disclosure of some personal information in order to access content. Seven newspapers (including three of the top five) actually require "registration." All seven of these sites require disclosure of personally identifiable information. The other five sites require only disclosure of information which is not, on its own, personally identifiable (gender, postal code/country, and birth year). Internet users are becoming increasingly frustrated with the prevalence of registration requirements on Internet sites. Evidence suggests that users will go out of their way to avoid divulging personal information on news sites. Many users who don't want to divulge personal information in order to read the news online are engaging in "privacy self defense," as they enter false information in registration pages, or turn to services such as Bugmenot.com. Bugmenot is a website through which users can "share" personal login information, and as of August, 2004, claims to have "liberated" more than 18,000 pages from the confines of required registration. Online users have strong reservations about the use and abuse of their personal information. Surveys show that people value anonymity, especially on the Internet, and simply don't want to give up their information. A 2003 Annenberg Survey found that 57% of those polled believed that if a company has a privacy policy, the company will not share information with other entities.[xv] The mere existence of a "privacy policy" also does not ensure that a person's information will remain "private" in the common sense of the word-both the LA Times and Chicago Tribune websites do not allow users to opt out of information sharing, advertising and communications from the newspapers and their "affiliates" (although you can opt out of sharing of your information with their advertisers and other third parties). There is also some indication that some newspapers have been checking the data provided at registration against third party commercial databases for accuracy.[xvi] Compulsory site registration is likely to become a "vicious cycle" of privacy violations-increasing prevalence of privacy self-defense through providing "bad" or incorrect information might result in an increased tendency on the part of newspapers to require more invasive information from users, and to compare this information to commercial databases to ensure accuracy. VI. Previous Self-Regulatory Initiatives Have Failed Instead of driving towards legally accountable privacy frameworks, the FTC has a predilection towards self-regulatory initiatives. One notable effort was the NAI-The Network Advertising Initiative. The NAI was announced in 1999 shortly after DoubleClick, an online target advertising company, was the subject of a FTC investigation. The investigation was spawned by reports that the company was planning to link its anonymous surfing data with detailed offline customer profiles from Abacus Direct. Public protest led them to suspend their plans to merge their anonymous data with the personal information they had purchased. Strong public opposition to online profiling caused Congress and the FTC to make efforts to address the practice. In November 1999, the FTC and Department of Commerce announced the formation of the NAI at a Workshop on Online Profiling. Less than a year later and with little involvement from consumer and privacy groups, the self-regulatory NAI principles were publicized. The NAI standards were too weak to provide privacy commensurate with surfers' expectations. They encompassed only notice, opt-out, and "reasonable" security. NAI members could transfer information amongst themselves to an unlimited degree, so long as it is used for advertising. No meaningful enforcement mechanism was incorporated. Even where the NAI set privacy standards, they were burdensome for individuals to exercise. For instance, users who didn't want to be tracked by DoubleClick's cookies had to download and leave an "opt-out cookie" in their browser. For those who think that deleting their cookies enhances their privacy protections, they will have to repeatedly remember to download the cookie. Further contributing to the irrelevance of NAI is the fact that its membership has depleted to two: DoubleClick and Atlas DMT. New Tracking Methods Undermine the Already Weak NAI Provisions Behavioral targeting is becoming increasingly popular with web ads that follow users as they browse the web. These ads can be targeted to a visitor's online habits. Many of these ads rose in popularity from keyword searches, however, more omniscient tactics are also at work. Revenue Science, for instance, offers their customers web bugs to collect user information. Individual sites can determine which data gets used for targeting and the information collected does not get shared among different sites using the service. Customers of Revenue Science include ESPN, Reuters, Dow Jones, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal and many others. As more network advertisers benefited from electronic espionage, the relevancy of the NAI dwindled as the two member companies no longer controlled the industry. Companies such as Google, Overture, Aquantive and Omniture are all influential stakeholders in the targeted advertising market and profiling business. Although they are not NAI members, the common theme of self-regulation has remained popular. Not surprisingly, the core of the weak NAI principles can still be identified throughout the privacy policies of the major network advertisers. The NAI Principles Didn't Provide Privacy Then and Don't Provide it Now The NAI principles have not contributed to an environment where privacy is protected. Only notice has effectively been conveyed online. Although consent varies depending on opt-out/opt-in policies, most advertisers operate on a no consent or opt-out model. While access is often provided for, a user is often only given access to the information that they have voluntarily provided to the company. However, in order for meaningful access to be attained, a user must able to receive the same electronic profile that is of value to the marketer. Accountability and enforcement are equally meaningless concepts without a central authority to monitor and impose the standards. Without enforceable rights, Internet users will continue to be tracked and profiled as they become pawns of the advertising industry. IRSG: Freeing the Commercial Data Brokers From Privacy Responsibilities The Individual Reference Services Group (IRSG) Principles were developed by commercial data brokers in the late 1990s in order to manage fomenting criticism regarding their business model. These data brokers sold Social Security Numbers and detailed dossiers on Americans to marketers, insurers, private investigators, landlords, and law enforcement. The IRSG Principles set forth a weak framework of protections. They allowed companies to sell non-public personal information "without restriction" to "qualified subscribers." The problem is that everyone with an account is "qualified." Under the IRSG Principles, individuals can only opt-out of the sale of personal information to the "general public," but commercial data brokers don't consider any of their customers to be members of the general public. For instance, data broker ChoicePoint gives individuals no right to opt out and claims that "We feel that removing information from these products would render them less useful for important business purposes, many of which ultimately benefit consumers." The IRSG Principles have been carefully crafted in order to ensure maximum flexibility for data brokers. They represent another self-regulatory failure that has resulted in easy access to detailed dossiers on Americans by both commercial and law enforcement interests. By turning a blind eye to the commercial sector, Congress allowed commercial data brokers to become "Big Brother's Little Helpers." They have created a national data center of personal information for law enforcement.[xvii] NAI and IRSG Were Successful-For Those Invading Privacy These self-regulatory initiatives served their purpose-to stop Congress from creating real, enforceable rights while allowing privacy-invasive activities to continue. They placated the FTC, causing Congress not to act. The end result has been that the FTC hasn't taken action to address traditional network advertisers or newer forms of privacy invasive tracking. Similarly, since Congress didn't act on data brokers, the IRSG has dissolved, and its member companies continue to sell personal information widely. VII. Anonymous Purchasing Options: Another Market Failure A list of Internet shoppers who paid with an American Express card. The company offering the list, American List Counsel, offers to segment the consumers by age, estimated income, dollar amount per order, and annual purchase amount. Even if a given online retailer extends strong privacy protections to customers, popular payment methods are not anonymous and provide an avenue for online profiling. Credit card companies use and sell personal information for target marketing, and provide an easy trail for law enforcement access to purchasing information. Currently, there are not ubiquitous and easy to use anonymous online purchasing mechanisms. Companies in recent years have offered anonymous purchasing services based on various models, but these approaches tend to be cumbersome and costly. In testimony to Congress in 1997, the Federal Trade Commission discussed anonymous payment systems and recommended that: "federal government should wait and see whether private industry solutions adequately respond to consumer concerns about privacy and billing dispute resolution issues that arise with the growth of electronic payment systems, and then step in to regulate only if those efforts -- be they market-created responses, voluntary self-regulation or technological fixes, or some combination of these -- are inadequate."[xviii] How much longer does the consumer have to wait for user-friendly, ubiquitous anonymous payment options? VIII. Information [In]Security One of the five fair information practices endorsed by the FTC is security-the responsibility that data collectors take reasonable steps to assure that information collected from consumers is secure from unauthorized use.[xix] Collection of personal information creates security risks for individuals. As companies amass personal information or send it elsewhere for processing, the databases become attractive targets for malicious actors. It is difficult for individuals to assess the security and integrity of data collectors' systems. And recent events indicate that security in the data collection and processing industries falls fall short of being "reasonable." A recent case in point involves Acxiom, a publicly-traded corporation that sells personal data and processes it for client companies. In a written statement to the FTC in June 2003, Acxiom's CEO assured that its security practices were "exceptional" and multi-leveled: ".it must be noted that Acxiom undertakes exceptional security measures to protect the information we maintain.and around the information we process for our clients to ensure that information will not be made available to any unauthorized person or business."[xx] A month after making this statement, Acxiom was informed by law enforcement officials that an Ohio man was able to download and crack Acxiom's password database. The method of stealing the personal information shows that Acxiom did have extraordinary security measures-the problem was that they were extraordinarily sloppy. The man, using FTP access operated for Acxiom's clients, was able to browse around Acxiom's system and download a single file containing all the passwords.[xxi] In the course of the Ohio investigation, Acxiom learned that a second man used the same technique to access over 8 gigabytes of personal information from April 2002 to August 2003.[xxii] Acxiom did have extraordinary security measures-they were extraordinarily sloppy. And, while the SSNs and credit card numbers of 20 million were accessed, the identities of companies that provided the personal information to Acxiom remain secret. Other indications of information insecurity abound thanks to a California law that took effect in July 2003. That law requires data collectors to notify individuals when their data has been stolen. As a result, the public has heard of many information security breaches that normally would have been kept secret. The first publicized notice of a security breach involved a banking consultant who had financial details on his computer. An office burglar stole the computer, which had credit line information, Social Security Numbers, and other bank account information.[xxiii] Since then, news of security breaches routinely appear in the national media. IX. Bad Online Practices Are Leeching into the Offline World The trend of collecting personal information and monitoring purchase habits is not strictly limited to the on-line environment. Increasingly, merchants are requiring consumers to produce identification or reveal personal information at the point of sale or when they wish to return or exchange an item. What's Your Phone Number? Increasingly, cashiers are asking individuals for their phone numbers. This places individuals at risk that they will receive telemarketing based on the most trivial of purchases in the offline world. Consumers don't realize that giving a phone number to a cashier invites telemarketing under the "established business relationship" loophole to the Telemarketing Do-Not-Call Registry. But the problem extends beyond a cashier's request for information, rather, it is the presumption that the disclosure of personal information has become a precondition of sale. While a customer may feel uneasy about revealing this information, many do not know that this disclosure is voluntary. And because individuals want to shield their personal information from disclosure, some data companies have developed stealth information collection techniques for offline retailers. For instance, Trans Union, a credit reporting agency, offered "Translink / Reverse Append," a product that gave retailers name and address information from credit card numbers collected at the register.[xxiv] Consumers are not actually asked for their address, and probably are not aware that their address is discoverable. The exact purpose for this information collection varies from store to store. Nine West asks for customer information in order to create a database of transaction histories for each customer, containing shoe size and width. Victoria's Secret has recently begun asking customer's for their telephone numbers so that they may be informed of promotions. Sometimes, it is difficult to find out how the information is being used. Grocers Get Loyalty and We Get Less Frequent shopper or loyalty card programs vary depending on the type of retailer or service. Generally, grocery stores will offer loyalty cards where a customer reveals a significant amount of personal information in exchange for a card which makes them eligible for in-store discounts. There is a high privacy risk associated with these cards as a great deal of personal data is revealed and all purchased are tracked. Consumers are led to believe that they saving money when in reality, the prices at non-savings card stores are often lower. The Wall Street Journal reported that, ".according to industry experts.[loyalty] cards are designed to make customers feel like they got a bargain, without actually lowering prices overall." A 2003 Wall Street Journal study found that "most likely, you are saving no money at all [from supermarket shopping cards]. In fact, if you are shopping at a store using a card, you may be spending more money than you would down the street at a grocery store that doesn't have a discount card."[xxv] The Wall Street Journal study surveyed card and non-card grocery stores in five different American cities and concluded that "In all five of our comparisons, we wound up spending less money in a supermarket that doesn't offer a card, in one case 29% less."[xxvi] The author further wrote that ".according to industry experts, our shopping experience was typical, because cards are designed to make customers feel like they got a bargain, without actually lowering prices overall. 'For many customers, the amount of money saved has not risen,' says Margo Georgiadis, a specialist in loyalty programs at McKinsey & Co. The difference is that stores now make you carry a card to get the discounts, whereas before they just offered plain old sale prices."[xxvii] Making a Return? Your Papers Better Be in Order A receipt from H&M, a popular clothing store, which now requires government issued photo identification for all returns. A review of the return policies of select retailers indicates that asking for identification for returns, even when an original receipt is present, is becoming a common practice. In some situations, this requirement is even printed on the receipt while other merchants fail to post any notice of this condition. While some retailers simply take the identification to match the name and contact information, others go as far as to enter the driver's license number into their computer system. Often, a customer might not even know that this is occurring, or they may feel as though the recording of their driver's license number is a necessary step. Given the sensitivity of the information contained on a driver's license, when combined with credit card information that is often available at a return, this practice places the customer at risk of identity theft. Consumer Returns Database Some point of sale return information is being added to a little-known system known as the "Consumer Returns Database."[xxviii] The database is offered by The Return Exchange which offers a standardized return system to retailers. It operates in real-time by monitoring consumer return patterns it helps merchants identify fraudulent or abusive customers. It is unclear what standards are applied to identify an abusive customer, or the rights that a customer has to access and correct the database. A list of the retailers who participate in the database is not publicly available. By the time a customer is aware that negative information exists about them in the database, it is because they have already been branded as a fraudulent or abusive returner. Firing the Customer Combined, collection of returns information and loyalty behavior can tip the balance of power between the consumer and the retailer. Left unchecked, this data will be used for customer exclusion. As the Boston Globe recently put it, slow service or unattractive prices are being used "as a behavior modification tool to transform an unprofitable customer into either a profitable customer or a former customer."[xxix] "Filene's banned two sisters from all 21 of its stores last year after the clothing chain's corporate parent decided they had returned too many items and complained too often about service."[xxxiii] There is a growing movement in the "customer relationship management" or profiling industry where businesses are encouraged to eliminate customers who complain or who return goods. Jim Dion, president of retail consulting firm Dionco Inc., recently urged storeowners to create disincentives for certain customers.[xxx] Dion characterized 20% of the population as "bottom feeders," who complain and have low-levels of loyalty. Businesses, he argues, should try to eliminate these customers: "It'd be cheaper to stop them at the door and give them $10 not to come in."[xxxi] An article in DMNews quotes Dion as suggesting that retailers "should consider a preferred-customer database-prefer that they don't shop here."[xxxii] And major businesses are adopting these recommendations. Best Buy's consumer exclusion tactics were recently detailed by the Wall Street Journal. Literally, Best Buy is trying to eliminate its most savvy customers, ones that recognize good deals, in favor of less thrifty customers that the company can charge more.[xxxiv] Other companies engage in consumer exclusion in more subtle ways, for instance, Harrah's casinos automatically identifies callers and charges them for hotel rooms based on their perceived profit potential.[xxxv] The company hides the profiling system because consumers, if fully informed, would find the practices creepy. First-Degree Price Discrimination "First-degree price discrimination," a practice where businesses attempt to "perfectly exploit the differences in price sensitivity between consumers," is a growing problem resulting from collection of consumer information.[xxxvi] As Professor Janet Gertz has explained: "By profiling consumers, financial institutions can predict an individual's demand and price point sensitivity and thus can alter the balance of power in their price and value negotiations with that individual. Statistics indicate that the power shift facilitated by predictive profiling has proven highly profitable for the financial services industry. However, there is little evidence that indicates that any of these profits or cost savings are being passed on to consumers. For this reason, and because most consumers have no practical ability to negotiate price terms for the exchange of their data, many characterize the commercial exploitation of consumer transaction data as a classic example of a market failure."[xxxvii] First-degree price discrimination is a goal of some in the information business. CIO Insight Magazine recently published an article discussing pricing ceilings where price discrimination is described as a goal for the industry: "The ideal strategy? To capture the value of the product or service for a particular customer or customer segment."[xxxviii] X. Recommendations The FTC has to move into the 21st century and meaningfully address Internet privacy. Ten years of self-regulation has led to serious failures in this field. The online privacy situation is getting worse, so bad that offline retailers are emulating the worst Internet practices. The FTC certainly is capable of protecting privacy online. It has to rise to the challenge and exercise more skepticism in the market as a proxy for consumer interest. Sometimes the market advances consumer interests, but when it comes to privacy, the market has been a driving force in eroding both practices and expectations. In order to rise to the challenge of effectively protecting individuals' privacy, we recommend the following: a.. The FTC should abandon its faith in self-regulation. Self-regulatory systems have served to stall Congress while anesthetizing the public to increasingly invasive business practices. Self-regulation has only been reliable in promoting privacy notices, the least substantive aspect of privacy protection. The public's, and even the FTC's own conception of Fair Information Practices, commands a broader array of privacy protection including access, choice, security, and accountability. b.. The FTC should reexamine the Network Advertising Initiative in light of the agreement's dwindling membership and the existence of new, more invasive tracking measures. c.. The FTC should reexamine the IRSG Principles to ensure that they provide some measure of meaningful privacy. d.. The FTC should investigate the emerging technologies identified in this report, including digital rights management, trusted computing, and single sign on services. e.. The FTC should investigate the emerging offline business practices identified in this report, including unnecessary requests for information at point of sale or return, customer return databases, customer exclusion, and first degree price discrimination. f.. The FTC should work with the banking agencies to develop a unified mechanism for opting out under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley and Fair Credit Reporting Acts. Just as it made no sense for individuals to opt-out of every telemarketing call, it currently makes no sense for an individual to have to contact every single financial institution separately to protect privacy. *This report was written with assistance from EPIC Internet Public Interest Opportunity Program (IPIOP) Clerks Dina Mashayekhi, Tara Wheatland, and Amanda Reid. [i] Consumers deserve stronger shield against telemarketers, USA Today, Sept. 17, 2002. In just one year, the New York DNC list amassed 2 million enrollments. Telemarketing's Troubled Times, CBS News, Apr. 1, 2002, at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/01/eveningnews/main505124.shtml. [ii] Self Regulation and Privacy Online, Before the House Commerce Subcomm. on Telecom., Trade, and Consumer Protection, 106th Cong., Jul. 13, 1999, available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/07/pt071399.htm. [iii] FTC, Staff Report: Public Workshop on Consumer Privacy on the Global Information Infrastructure, Dec. 1996, available at http://www.ftc.gov/reports/privacy/privacy1.htm. [iv]FTC, Privacy Online: A Report to Congress, Jun. 4, 1998, available at http://www.ftc.gov/reports/privacy3/index.htm. [v]FTC, Self-regulation Is the Preferred Method of Protecting Consumers' Online Privacy; Jul. 21, 1998, available at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1998/07/privacyh.htm. [vi] Consumer Privacy on the World Wide Web, Before the House Comm. on Commerce Subcomm. on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection, 105th Cong. (Jul. 21, 1998) (statement of the FTC), available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/1998/07/privac98.htm. [vii]FTC, Online Profiling:A Report to Congress Part 2 Recommendations, Jul. 2000, available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2000/07/onlineprofiling.htm. [viii] Timothy J. Muris, Protecting Consumers' Privacy: 2002 and Beyond, Remarks delivered at the Privacy 2001 Conference, Oct. 4, 2001, available at http://www.ftc.gov/speeches/muris/privisp1002.htm. [ix] Ad4Ever; AdCentric Online; Ad Dynamix; AdSolution; Avenue A; BlueStreak; BridgeTrack; DoubleClick; efluxa; Enliven; Flycast; i33; Mediaplex; PlanetActive; Pointroll; Profero; Qksrv; RealMedia; RedAgency; TangoZebra; TargetGraph; TrackStar; Travelworm; Unicast. [x]Pew Internet & American Life Project, Trust and Privacy Online: Why Americans Want to Rewrite the Rules, Aug. 20, 2000. [xi] Company Needs to Engage Privacy Advocates in a Thorough Debate, San Jose Mercury News, Apr. 15, 2004. [xii] David McGuire, States Speed up Spyware Race, Wash. Post, May 13, 2004, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24746-2004May13.html [xiii] Julie E. Cohen, A Right to Read Anonymously: A Closer Look at "Copyright Management" in Cyberspace, 28 Conn. L. Rev. 981 (Summer 1996). [xiv]BurrellesLuce, Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation 2004. [xv] Joseph Turow, Americans and Online Privacy: The System is Broken, Annenberg Public Policy Center, June 2003. [xvi] Rachel Metz, We Don't Need No Stinkin' Login, Wired Jul. 20, 2004, available at http://wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,64270,00.html [xvii] Chris Jay Hoofnagle, Big Brother's Little Helpers, 29 N.C.J. Int'l L. & Com. Reg. 595 (Summer 2004). [xviii]FTC, Wait, Watch Closely and See is Right Stance for Government on Privacy Issues for Electronic Payment Systems, Says FTC Official, Sept. 18, 1997, available at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1997/09/medine.htm. [xix]FTC, Online Profiling:A Report to Congress Part 2 Recommendations, Jul. 2000, available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2000/07/onlineprofiling.htm. [xx] Information Flows, Before the FTC, Jun. 18, 2003, available at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/infoflows/present/030618morgan.pdf. [xxi] Robert O' Harrow, Jr., No Place to Hide 71-72, Free Press (2005). DOJ, Milford Man Pleads Guilty to Hacking Intrusion and Theft of Data Cost Company $5.8 Million, Dec. 18, 2003, available at http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/baasPlea.htm. [xxii]DOJ, Florida Man Charged with Breaking Into Acxiom Computer Records, Jul. 21, 2004, available at http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/July/04_crm_501.htm. [xxiii] Customer Data Was on Stolen PC, Wells Fargo Says, Reuters, Nov. 21, 2003. [xxiv] In re Trans Union, 2000 FTC LEXIS 23 (2000). [xxv] Katy McLaughlin, The Discount Grocery Cards That Don't Save You Money, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 21, 2003, at http://wsj.com/article/0,,SB1043006872628231744,00.html. [xxvi] Id. [xxvii] Id. [xxviii] http://www.thereturnexchange.com/ [xxix] Bruce Mohl, Facing their demons: To face demons, firms dump maxim, Boston Globe, Jul. 27, 2003. [xxx] Mickey Alam Khan, Technology Creates Tough Environment for Retailers, DMNews, Jan. 13, 2003. [xxxi] Id. [xxxii] Id. [xxxiii] Joshua Freed, The customer is always right? Not anymore, San Fran. Chron., Jul. 5, 2004. [xxxiv] Gary McWilliams, Analyzing Customers, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 8, 2004. [xxxv] Christina Binkley, Taking Retailers' Cues, Harrah's Taps Into Science of Gambling, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 22, 2004. [xxxvi] Anthony Danna & Oscar H. Gandy, Jr., All That Glitters is Not Gold: Digging Beneath the Surface of Data Mining, 40 Journal of Business Ethics 373, 381 (2002). [xxxvii] Janet Dean Gertz, The Purloined Personality: Consumer Profiling in Financial Services, 39 San Diego L. Rev. 943, 964-5 (Summer 2002). [xxxviii] Amy Cortese, Price Flexing: How the Web Adds New Twists, CIO Insight, at http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,3959,43528,00.asp. [Inside Back Cover: Personal information sold by magazines. Some segment their subscribers by age, sex, religion, and whether there are children in the household.] [Back Cover: More lists of personal information sold based on Internet registrations. List brokers sell personal information en masse segmented by age, sex, sexual orientation, and race.] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This report came to us from EPIC, and you can examine the several good reports at their web site: http://www.epic.org, or read the original report at its URL: Page URL: http://www.epic.org/reports/decadedisappoint.html . In the archives, these two parts (last issue and current issue) will be merged into one. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Ohio Law Would Require Auction License for eBay Sellers Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 22:20:53 -0500 In article , kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net says: > In article , lisa_minter2001 > @yahoo.com says: >> CNN, via Yahoo News on Tuesday reports that the State of Ohio has >> become very unfriendly toward online sellers using E-Bay. >> According to CNN-Money, State of Ohio now requires an auction license >> of people who want to sell on E-Bay, as well as a one-year training >> class required of sellers _and_ a fifty thousand dollar security >> bond. The auction license costs two hundred dollars. If you fail to >> do these things, they have some jail time waiting for you. Their >> excuse is they want to 'cut back on internet fraud using E-Bay'. >> http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/07/technology/ohio_ebay/index.htm > Tax revenue. That's what every state is about. > On a related note -- a couple years ago I get notice from the state of > RI that I never filed my 1990 taxes and owe them $1,300 between fines, > etc. So the past few years they snatched my refunds. > This year I decided I want receipts from this point forward, and I'll > keep my tax records for more than three years so I can prove I filed. > Turns out the RI Division of Taxation won't give a receipt. I got the > woman to stamp my copy with their "RECEIVED - RI DIV TAX" verbiage > with the date and all. > Hopefully the state will lose one more of my returns -- then I can > bring the receipted version to the news hounds and watch as the sparks > fly. Haven't you ever heard of Certified Mail / Return Receipt? I have signed, stamped return post cards for every Fed & State return since I started filing. --Gene ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 22:43:29 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Why Pay to be an Identity Thief? CMU Will Show You How ------ Forwarded Message From: Steven Cherry < > Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 02:33:41 -0500 To: "David J. Farber" < > Subject: Why Pay to be an Identity Thief? Dave, We just posted an article I think of interest to IP: Why Pay to be an Identity Thief? Experimental Software Makes It Free By Steven Cherry Thieves purchased sensitive personal data from ChoicePoint, but a Carnegie Mellon University researcher can get the same information free on the Web Steven Cherry, +1 212-419-7566 Senior Associate Editor IEEE Spectrum, 3 Park Ave, New York, NY 10016 ------ End of Forwarded Message Why Pay to be an Identity Thief? Experimental Software Makes It Free By Steven Cherry Thieves purchased sensitive personal data from ChoicePoint, but a Carnegie Mellon University researcher can get the same information free on the Web 11 March 2005 -- The U.S. database industry is under a legal microscope following the pilfering of information that could allow thieves to steal the identities of hundreds of thousands of people. In a hearing yesterday, senators threatened legislation to regulate large brokers of financial and other data such as Lexis Nexis, Bank of America, and Choicepoint all of which have disclosed problems in the last two months. It was the incident at Alpharetta, Ga.-based ChoicePoint that kindled the current concern in Washington, D.C. In mid-February the firm, whose data is used to check the legitimacy of the potential customers of other companies, revealed that it had been tricked into selling the records of 145 000 people to thieves posing as legitimate ChoicePoint customers. But why should an identity thief bother with an expensive charade? Carnegie-Mellon University associate professor of computer science, Latanya Sweeney, has found an even simpler way than paying a company in the personal database industry, which critics say is underregulated. She's found a way to extract all the data she wants for free from the World Wide Web. For over a decade, Sweeney has been exploring the intersection of technology and privacy. Her latest work builds on earlier Web-searching tools that create software agents to extract names, address, birth dates, and Social Security numbers from resumes posted online; everything you need to apply for a new credit card in someone else's name. Sweeney will report= her findings at a symposium devoted to national security sponsored by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and held at Stanford University, in California, 21 - 23 March. With her software, Sweeney can gather the key data with just a little Web surfing. She starts with a filter that searches for documents likely to be resumes and then extracts the key data values: name, social security number, address, and date of birth. R=E9sum=E9s are found in a two-part process: first, a program Sweeney wrote last year finds long lists of names. Then a specialized Google search filter looks for resumes associated with those names that contain Social Security numbers. Social Security numbers and the other needed fields, such as birth date, are isolated using a combination of techniques. For example, dates can be formatted in several different ways, but there are now standard techniques for parsing them. If a resume has all the needed data except a birth date, the software grabs it from one of the many sites that offer them, such as Anybirthday.com. Social Security numbers have a distinctive format: nnn-nn-nnnn. Another program of Sweeney's, SSN Watch, checks the numbers that are found. How important are those Social Security numbers? Last September, the commissioner of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission told Congress that they play "a pivotal role in identity theft. Identity thieves use the Social Security number as a key to access the financial benefits available to their victims." Obviously, if people are posting their Social Security numbers to the Web, and if doing so leaves them highly vulnerable to identity theft, then they ought to stop. Sweeney's work addressed that issue. The Identity Angel project, which she launched earlier this year, looks for e-mail addresses in those resumes, and sends individuals automated notices that their identity information was found online. She says a follow-up study showed that more than 90 percent of the people subsequently removed the information from the Web. Nonetheless, even with a digital Samaritan patrolling the ether, U.S. identities remain at risk. A November study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that "Social Security numbers appear in any number of records exposed to public view almost everywhere in the nation, primarily at the state and local levels of government." The GAO reported that many states and hundreds of the nation's 3141 counties put Social Security numbers directly on the Internet and that "this could affect millions of people." The agency concluded that the risk of exposure for Social Security numbers in public records "is highly variable and difficult for any one individual to anticipate or prevent." That risk is much lower across the Atlantic, where a 1995 European Union directive on data privacy ensures that personal data is kept secret by default. According to Stephen J. Kobrin, a professor of multinational management at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, this represents a fundamental difference between the United States and Europe. "In America privacy is seen as an alienable commodity subject to the market," he wrote in 2002 report. In contrast, he says, in Europe, privacy is considered to be "a fundamental human right." Not only do explicit privacy statutes exist there, but they are also enforced by dedicated regulatory agencies. In other words, the current U.S. crisis of identity theft is a result of policy choices that Americans have made, sometimes implicitly, sometimes explicitly. They are choices that can be revisited anytime. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, IEEE Spectrum and Steven Cherry. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 22:44:07 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid * Original: FROM..... Dave Farber BTW Pat Wood is a very good person who actually wanted to be at the FCC Dave ------ Forwarded Message From: Fred Langa < > Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 10:33:57 -0500 Subject: "Hackers target U.S. power grid" (wash post) Describing his reaction to the demonstration [of how easily hackers might break into electrical grid computers] Patrick H. Wood III, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said: 'I wished I'd had a diaper on.'" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7152899 Fred Langa Current Projects/Affiliations Info: http://www.langa.com/about_fred.htm Free Newsletter ("The LangaList"): subscribe@langa.com Free LangaList Link Exchange: http://www.langa.com/code.htm Hackers target U.S. power grid Government quietly warns utilities to beef up computer security By Justin Blum The Washington Post Updated: 8:33 a.m. ET March 11, 2005 WASHINGTON - Hundreds of times a day, hackers try to slip past cyber-security into the computer network of Constellation Energy Group Inc., a Baltimore power company with customers around the country. "We have no discernable way of knowing who is trying to hit our system," said John R. Collins, chief risk officer for Constellation, which operates Baltimore Gas and Electric. "We just know it's being hit." Hackers have caused no serious damage to systems that feed the nation's power grid, but their untiring efforts have heightened concerns that electric companies have failed to adequately fortify defenses against a potential catastrophic strike. The fear: In a worst-case scenario, terrorists or others could engineer an attack that sets off a widespread blackout and damages power plants, prolonging an outage. Patrick H. Wood III, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, warned top electric company officials in a private meeting in January that they need to focus more heavily on cyber-security. Wood also has raised the issue at several public appearances. Officials will not say whether new intelligence points to a potential terrorist strike, but Wood stepped up his campaign after officials at the Energy Department's Idaho National Laboratory showed him how a skilled hacker could cause serious problems. Wood declined to comment on specifics of what he saw. But an official at the lab, Ken Watts, said the simulation showed how someone could hack into a utility's Internet-based business management system, then into a system that controls utility operations. Once inside, lab workers simulated cutting off the supply of oil to a turbine generating electricity and destroying the equipment. Describing his reaction to the demonstration, Wood said: "I wished I'd had a diaper on." Growing concerns Many electric industry representatives have said they are concerned about cyber-security and have been taking steps to make sure their systems are protected. But Wood and others in the industry said the companies' computer security is uneven. "A sophisticated hacker, which is probably a group of hackers ... could probably get into each of the three U.S. North American power [networks] and could probably bring sections of it down if they knew how to do it," said Richard A. Clarke, a former counterterrorism chief in the Clinton and Bush administrations. Clarke said government simulations show that electric companies have not done enough to prevent hacking. "Every time they test, they get in," Clarke said. "It's nice that the power companies think that they've done things, and some of them have. But as long as there's a way to get into the grid, the grid is as weak as its weakest company." Some industry analysts play down the threat of a massive cyber-attack, saying it's more likely that terrorists would target the physical infrastructure such as power plants and transmission lines. James Andrew Lewis, director of technology policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the District, said a coordinated attack on the grid would be technically difficult and would not provide as much "bang for the buck" as high-profile physical attacks. Lewis said the bigger vulnerability may be posed not by outside hackers but by insiders who are familiar with their company's computer networks. But in recent years, terrorists have expressed interest in a range of computer targets. Al Qaeda documents from 2002 suggest cyber-attacks on various targets, including the electrical grid and financial institutions, according to a translation by the IntelCenter, an Alexandria firm that studies terrorist groups. Power grid seen as vulnerable A government advisory panel has concluded that a foreign intelligence service or a well-supported terrorist group "could conduct a structured attack on the electric power grid electronically, with a high degree of anonymity, and without having to set foot in the target nation," according to a report last year by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Cyber-security specialists and government officials said that cyber-attacks are a concern across many industries but that the threat to the country's power supply is among their top fears. Hackers have gained access to U.S. utilities' electronic control systems and in a few cases have "caused an impact," said Joseph M. Weiss, a Cupertino, Calif.-based computer security specialist with Kema Inc., a consulting firm focused on the energy industry. He said computer viruses and worms also have caused problems. Weiss, a leading expert in control system security, said officials of the affected companies have described the instances at private conferences that he hosts and in confidential conversations but have not reported the intrusions publicly or to federal authorities. He said he agreed not to publicly disclose additional details and that the companies are fearful that releasing the information would hurt them financially and encourage more hacking. Weiss said that "many utilities have not addressed control system cyber-security as comprehensively as physical security or cyber-security of business networks." The vulnerability of the nation's electrical grid to computer attack has grown as power companies have transferred control of their electrical generation and distribution equipment from private, internal networks to supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, systems that can be accessed through the Internet or by phone lines, according to consultants and government reports. That technology has led to greater efficiency because it allows workers to operate equipment remotely. Other systems that feed information into SCADA or that operate utility equipment are vulnerable and have been largely overlooked by utilities, security consultants said. Some utilities have made hacking into their SCADA systems relatively easy by continuing to use factory-set passwords that can be found in standard documentation available on the Internet, computer security consultants said. The North American Electric Reliability Council, an industry-backed organization that sets voluntary standards for power companies, is drafting wide-ranging guidelines to replace more narrow, temporary precautions already on the books for guarding against a cyber-attack. But computer security specialists question whether those standards go far enough. Officials at several power companies said they had invested heavily in new equipment and software to protect their computers. Many would speak only in general terms, saying divulging specifics could assist hackers. "We're very concerned about it," said Margaret E. "Lyn" McDermid, senior vice president and chief information officer for Dominion Resources Inc., a Richmond-based company that operates Dominion Virginia Power and supplies electricity and natural gas in other states. "We spend a significant amount of time and effort in making sure we are doing what we ought to do." Executives at Constellation Energy view the constant hacking attempts -- which have been unsuccessful -- as a threat and monitor their systems closely. They said they assume many of the hackers are the same type seen in other businesses: people who view penetrating corporate systems as fun or a challenge. "We feel we are in pretty good shape when it comes to this," Collins said. "That doesn't mean we're bulletproof." Old equipment may be a threat The biggest threat to the grid, analysts said, may come from power companies using older equipment that is more susceptible to attack. Those companies many not want to invest large amounts of money in new computer equipment when the machines they are using are adequately performing all their other functions. Security consulting firms said that they have hacked into power company networks to highlight for their clients the weaknesses in their systems. "We are able to penetrate real, running, live systems," said Lori Dustin, vice president of marketing for Verano Inc., a Mansfield, Mass., company that sells products to companies to secure SCADA systems. In some cases, Dustin said, power companies lack basic equipment that would even alert them to hacking attempts. O. Sami Saydjari, chief executive of the Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.-based consulting firm Cyber Defense Agency LLC, said hackers could cause the type of blackout that knocked out electricity to about 50 million people in the Northeast, Midwest and Canada in 2003, an event attributed in part to trees interfering with power lines in Ohio. He said that if hackers destroyed generating equipment in the process, the amount of time to restore electricity could be prolonged. "I am absolutely confident that by design, someone could do at least as [much damage], if not worse" than what was experienced in 2003, said Saydjari, who was one of 54 prominent scientists and others who warned the Bush administration of the risk of computer attacks following Sept. 11, 2001. "It's just a matter of time before we have a serious event." Copyright 2005 The Washington Post Company NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Washington Post Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ 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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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #111 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Mar 13 18:44:30 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2DNiTT04753; Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:44:30 -0500 (EST) Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:44:30 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503132344.j2DNiTT04753@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 V24 #112 TELECOM Digest Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:44:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 112 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson A Spiritual Connection (Marcus Didius Falco) Behind the Digital Divide (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: FCC Wants Comments was Re: Should VoIP Get Numbers Direct? (Tim) Re: Draytek Router Problem - Class C Address Only on LAN? (Geoff Welsh) Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers (Tony P.) Re: Ohio Law Would Require Auction License for eBay Sellers (Tony P.) Re: Satellite Radio as "Broadcast Audio Internet"? (John McHarry) Re: Need PC Based Call Attendant/Answering Service (andrew@voicent.com) 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: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 03:48:51 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: A Spiritual Connection from Economist.com http://economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=3D3713955 A spiritual connection Mar 10th 2005 From The Economist print edition Technology and society: Around the world, mobile phones seem to have a spiritual or supernatural dimension that other forms of technology lack. THOSE who go into the priesthood are said to have a calling from God. Now the purveyors of faith the world over are using mobile phones to give believers a call in a more literal sense. Catholics can sign up for daily inspirational text messages from the pope simply by texting Pope On to a special number (53141 in Ireland, for example). The Irish Jesuits offer a service called Sacred Space, accessible via smartphone, which encourages users to spend ten minutes reflecting on a specially chosen scripture for the day. In Taiwan, limited-edition phones made by Okwap, a local handset-maker, offer Matsu wallpaper and religious ringtones, along with a less tangible feature each one has been specially blessed at a temple to Matsu. And Muslims around the world can use the F7100 handset, launched last July by LG of South Korea, both to remind them of prayer times (the phone has an alarm system that works in 500 cities) and to find the direction of Mecca using the handset's built-in Mecca indicator compass (see picture). Mobile phones also make it easy to donate money to religious groups. In Britain, a company called MS Wireless Marketing offers a TXT & Donate Islamic Prayer Alert service for .25 ($0.48) per day. The profits go to Muslim charities such as Muslim Hands and Islamic Relief. There are also dozens of Christian charities that accept text-message donations. Phones and religious beliefs do not always mix smoothly, however. Finnish authorities shut down a service which claimed to offer text messages from Jesus for 1.20 ($1.55) each, and bishops in the text-mad Philippines put a stop to people attending confession and receiving absolution via text messages. That technology and religion can be so intertwined is not new. After all, the first book to roll off Gutenberg's new-fangled printing press was the Bible. But unlike the personal computer, which has remained paradoxically impersonal, the mobile phone has transcended its pragmatic beginnings as a yuppie business tool and has burrowed its way into popular consciousness, says Mizuko Ito, an anthropologist at the University of Southern California. Fashion models don them like jewellery and strut the catwalk, teenage girls in Japan use them as lockets, sticking photographs of their friends into their battery compartments, and some Ghanaians even choose to be buried in giant mobile-phone coffins. Mobile phones are a uniquely personal form of technology, thanks in large part to their mobility. When you leave the house, you probably take your keys, your wallet and your phone. Laptop computers are carried by far fewer people, and do not have the same personal associations. Mobile phones provide scope for self-expression, through the choice of ringtone and screen wallpaper. At the same time, mobile phones' ability to communicate with unseen, distant people using invisible radio waves is almost magical. Indeed, the notion that phones might be capable of supernatural or spiritual communication goes right back to the inventor of the telephone himself, Alexander Graham Bell. According to Avital Ronell, a professor of philosophy at New York University and the author of The Telephone Book: Technology, Schizophrenia, and Electric Speech , Bell was just as interested in using his invention to contact the dead as he was in talking to his associate Thomas Watson. Bell and Watson had attended regular seances in Salem, says Dr Ronell. Bell even drew up a contract with his brother, agreeing that whoever lived the longest should try to contact the other. For his part, Watson was an avid medium who spent hours listening to the weird hisses and squeals of early telephone lines in case they proved to be the dead trying to make contact. AFP Answering the call The telephone still maintains such ghostly connections. In China, people celebrating the Hungry Ghost Festival burn life-sized paper effigies of everything from televisions to mobile phones so that the dead can enjoy them in the afterlife. These phone offerings enable the dead to call each other, rather than the living. Why shouldn't the dead be as technologically advanced as we are? asks Genevieve Bell, an anthropologist who works for Intel, the world's largest chipmaker. She spent two years in Asia conducting field research about attitudes to technology in different countries. In parts of southern China, she found, it is customary to take your mobile phone to a local Buddhist monk for blessing. Even phone numbers can have supernatural connotations. In Beijing, a man recently paid $215,000 for a lucky phone number. In Cantonese, the number four sounds like the word for death, and is therefore unlucky, while the number eight sounds like the word for fortune, and is therefore lucky. It's not uncommon even for migrant workers to pay up to a month's salary for a lucky telephone number, says James Katz, professor of communications at Rutgers University. Since phones are the most personal of all high-tech devices, it is hardly surprising that their use should reflect the entire spectrum of personal beliefs. Copyright 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 03:54:13 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Behind the Digital Divide Economist.com http://economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=3D3714058 REPORTS Reuters Development: Much is made of the digital divide between rich and poor. What do people on the ground think about it? IN THE village of Embalam in southern India, about 15 miles outside the town of Pondicherry, Arumugam and his wife, Thillan, sit on the red earth in front of their thatch hut. She is 50 years old; he is not sure, but thinks he is around 75. Arumugam is unemployed. He used to work as a drum-beater at funerals, but then he was injured, and now he has trouble walking. Thillan makes a little money as a part-time agricultural labourer about 30 rupees ($0.70) a day, ten days a month. Other than that, they get by on meagre (and sporadic) government disability payments. In the new India of cybercafes and software tycoons, Arumugam and Thillan, and the millions of other villagers around the country like them, seem like anachronisms. But just a few steps outside their section of the village a section known as the colony , where the untouchables traditionally live the sheen of India's technology boom is more evident in a green room equipped with five computers, state-of-the-art solar cells and a wireless connection to the internet. This is the village's Knowledge Centre, one of 12 in the region set up by a local non-profit organisation, the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF). The centres, established with the aid of international donor agencies and local government support, offer villagers a range of information, including market prices for crops, job listings, details of government welfare schemes, and health advice. A conservative estimate of the cost of the equipment in the Embalam centre is 200,000 rupees ($4,500), or around 55 years' earnings for Thillan. Annual running costs are extra. When asked about the centre, Thillan laughs. I don't know anything about that, she says. It has no connection to my life. We're just sitting here in our house trying to survive. Scenes like these, played out around the developing world, have led to something of a backlash against rural deployments of new information and communications technologies, or ICTs, as they are known in the jargon of development experts. In the 1990s, at the height of the technology boom, rural ICTs were heralded as catalysts for leapfrog development , information societies and a host of other digital-age panaceas for poverty. Now they have largely fallen out of favour: none other than Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, derides them as distractions from the real problems of development. Do people have a clear view of what it means to live on $1 a day? he asked at a conference on the digital divide in 2000. About 99% of the benefits of having a PC come when you've provided reasonable health and literacy to the person who's going to sit down and use it. That is why, even though Mr Gates made his fortune from computers, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, now the richest charity in the world, concentrates on improving health in poor countries. The backlash against ICTs is understandable. Set alongside the medieval living conditions in much of the developing world, it seems foolhardy to throw money at fancy computers and internet links. Far better, it would appear, to spend scarce resources on combating AIDS, say, or on better sanitation facilities. Indeed, this was the conclusion reached by the recently concluded Copenhagen Consensus project, which brought together a group of leading economists to prioritise how the world's development resources should be spent (see articles). The panel came up with 17 priorities: spending more on ICTs was not even on the list. Still, it may be somewhat hasty to write off rural technology altogether. Charles Kenny, a senior economist at the World Bank who has studied the role of ICTs in development, says that traditional cost-benefit calculations are in the best of cases an art, not a science . With ICTs, he adds, the picture is further muddied by the newness of the technologies; economists simply do not know how to quantify the benefits of the internet. The view from the ground Given the paucity of data, then, and even of sound methodologies for collecting the data, an alternative way to evaluate the role of ICTs in development is simply to ask rural residents what they think. Applied in rural India, in the villages served by the MSSRF, this approach reveals a more nuanced picture than that suggested by the sceptics, though not an entirely contradictory one. Villagers like Arumugam and Thillan older, illiterate and lower caste appear to have little enthusiasm for technology. Indeed, Thillan, who lives barely a five-minute walk from the village's Knowledge Centre, says she did not even know about its existence until two months ago (even though the centre has been open for several years). When Thillan and a group of eight neighbours are asked for their development priorities a common man's version of the Copenhagen Consensus they list sanitation, land, health, education, transport, jobs the list goes on and on, but it does not include computers, or even telephones. They are not so much sceptical of ICTs as oblivious; ICTs are irrelevant to their lives. This attitude is echoed by many villagers at the bottom of the social and economic ladder. In the fishing community of Veerapatinam, the site of another MSSRF centre, Thuradi, aged 45, sits on the beach sorting through his catch. I'm illiterate, he says, when asked about the centre. I don't know how to use a computer, and I have to fish all day. But surely technology can provide information for the likes of Thuradi, even if he does not sit down in front of the computers himself? Among other things, the centre in this village offers information on wave heights and weather patterns (information that Thuradi says is already available on television). Some years ago, the centre also used satellites to map the movements of large schools of fish in the ocean. But according to another fisherman, this only benefited the rich: poor fishermen, lacking motorboats and navigation equipment, could not travel far enough, or determine their location precisely enough, to use the maps. Such stories bring to mind the uneven results of earlier technology-led development efforts. Development experts are familiar with the notion of rusting tractors a semi-apocryphal reference to imported agricultural technologies that littered poor countries in the 1960s and 1970s. Mr Kenny says he similarly anticipates a fair number of dusty rooms with old computers piled up in them around the countryside. That may well be true, but it does not mean that the money being channelled to rural technology is going entirely unappreciated. Rural ICTs appear particularly useful to the literate, to the wealthier and to the younger those, in other words, who sit at the top of the socio-economic hierarchy In the 12 villages surrounding Pondicherry, students are among the most frequent users of the Knowledge Centres; they look up exam results, learn computer skills and look for jobs. Farmers who own land or cattle, and who are therefore relatively well-off, get veterinary information and data on crop prices. I'm illiterate, says one fisherman. I don't know how to use a computer, and I have to fish all day. Outside the Embalam colony, at a village teashop up the road from the temple, Kumar, the 35-year-old shop owner, speaks glowingly about the centre's role in disseminating crop prices and information on government welfare schemes, and says the Knowledge Centre has made his village famous . He cites the dignitaries from development organisations and governments who have visited; he also points to the fact that people from 25 surrounding villages come to use the centre, transforming Embalam into something of a local information hub. At the centre itself, Kasthuri, a female volunteer who helps run the place, says that the status of women in Embalam has improved as a result of using the computers. Before, we were just sitting at home, she says. Now we feel empowered and more in control. Some economists might dismiss such sentiments as woolly headed. But they are indicators of a sense of civic pride and social inclusiveness that less conventional economists might term human development or well-being. A question of priorities Given the mixed opinions on the ground, then, the real issue is not whether investing in ICTs can help development (it can, in some cases, and for some people), but whether the overall benefits of doing so outweigh those of investing in, say, education or health. Leonard Waverman of the London Business School has compared the impact on GDP of increases in teledensity (the number of telephones per 100 people) and the primary-school completion rate. He found that an increase of 100 basis points in teledensity raised GDP by about twice as much as the same increase in primary-school completion. As Dr Waverman acknowledges, however, his calculations do not take into account the respective investment costs and it is the cost of ICTs that makes people such as Mr Gates so sceptical of their applicability to the developing world. AFP Now that's what I call antivirus technology Indeed, Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai (formerly Madras), argues that cost is the deciding factor in determining whether the digital divide will ever be bridged. To that end, Dr Jhunjhunwala and his colleagues are working on a number of low-cost devices, including a remote banking machine and a fixed wireless system that cuts the cost of access by more than half. But such innovation takes time and is itself expensive. Perhaps a more immediate way of addressing the cost of technology is to rely on older, more proven means of delivering information. Radios, for example, are already being used by many development organisations; their cost (under $10) is a fraction of the investment (at least $800) required for a telephone line. In Embalam and Veerapatinam, few people actually ever sit at a computer; they receive much of their information from loudspeakers on top of the Knowledge Centre, or from a newsletter printed at the centre and delivered around the village. Such old-fashioned methods of communication can be connected to an internet hub located further upstream; these hybrid networks may well represent the future of technology in the developing world. But for now, it seems that the most cost-effective way of providing information over the proverbial last mile is often decidedly low-tech. On December 26th 2004, villagers in Veerapatinam had occasion to marvel at the reliability of a truly old-fashioned source of information. As the Asian=20 tsunami swept towards the south Indian shoreline, over a thousand villagers were gathered safely inland around the temple well. About an hour and a half before the tsunami, the waters in the well had started bubbling and rising to the surface; by the time the wave hit, a whirlpool had formed and the villagers had left the beach to watch this strange phenomenon. Nearby villages suffered heavy casualties, but in Veerapatinam only one person died out of a total population of 6,200. The villagers attribute their fortuitous escape to divine intervention, not technology. Ravi, a well-dressed man standing outside the Knowledge Centre, says the villagers received no warning over the speakers. We owe everything to Her, he says, referring to the temple deity. I'm telling you honestly, he says. The information came from Her. Copyright 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. http://economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=3D3713955 NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, the Economist Group. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: FCC Wants Comments Re: Should VoIP co's Get Numbers Direct? Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 04:03:09 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications Jack Decker wrote: > point for the numbers to another CLEC. I think allowing this change > would allow VoIP companies to provide better service to customers, and > by the way it would also probably remove the current impediments for > customers wanting to take their phone number from one VoIP provider to > another (or to a landline or cellular company, for that matter -- in > other words, local number portability for VoIP numbers would probably > be a reality). What is scary is that the FCC has allowed Vonage and others to claim true LNP when that presently simply isn't the case based on what you are stating. So, someone who has trusted Vonage (or other VoIPs) by switching perhaps a coveted number to Vonage has, in fact, placed ownership of that number in potential, if not actual, jepordy. ------------------------------ From: Geoffrey Welsh Subject: Re: Draytek Router Problem - Class C Address Only on LAN Interface? Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 09:49:39 -0500 paulfoel wrote: > Pretty disappointed with the draytek router. We tried a cheap netgear > router and this handled the subnets fine ... Most 'residential' broadband routers support only a class C address range on their LAN port. Geoffrey Welsh Ambidextrous? No, I said I'm ambinonscattous - I don't give a crap either way! ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 10:43:27 -0500 In article , sjsobol@JustThe.net says: > Tony P. wrote: >>>> Consider that Ms. Wood readily admits she has an agenda (she has an >>>> axe to grind with cell phone manufacturers over what she perceives as >>>> "iron-clad control over phone releases and pricing, its >>>> ever-lengthening contracts, and the annoying habit it has of crippling >>>> Bluetooth phones so that [she] can't use them the way [she wants] >>>> to"). I would thus take this with a heavy handful of salt. > If Miss Wood thinks that retail phone pricing and contracts are the > fault of the MANUFACTURERS, she's probably too stupid to carry a cell > phone in the first place. I doubt the removal of certain functions is > done by the manufacturers on their own, either. >> The problem is that many of the headsets are now Bluetooth enabled. >> Those put out signals on what, 2.4GHz at relatively low power. > So? My phone runs on 1.9GHz ... I still haven't heard anything > definitive either way, either that cell phones DO or DON'T cause > illness. Go and read up on Part 97 of the FCC rules for Amateurs. It was scary enough for them to require certifications of RF safety. But then, we hams are allowed to run 1500W in the HF bands and a couple hundred in the 2M and 70CM bands so I guess the RF exposure is a little more intense at those levels. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Ohio Law Would Require Auction License for eBay Sellers Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 10:47:36 -0500 In article , first.last@comcast.net says: > In article , > kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net says: >> In article , lisa_minter2001 >> @yahoo.com says: >>> CNN, via Yahoo News on Tuesday reports that the State of Ohio has >>> become very unfriendly toward online sellers using E-Bay. >>> According to CNN-Money, State of Ohio now requires an auction license >>> of people who want to sell on E-Bay, as well as a one-year training >>> class required of sellers _and_ a fifty thousand dollar security >>> bond. The auction license costs two hundred dollars. If you fail to >>> do these things, they have some jail time waiting for you. Their >>> excuse is they want to 'cut back on internet fraud using E-Bay'. >>> http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/07/technology/ohio_ebay/index.htm >> Tax revenue. That's what every state is about. >> On a related note -- a couple years ago I get notice from the state of >> RI that I never filed my 1990 taxes and owe them $1,300 between fines, >> etc. So the past few years they snatched my refunds. >> This year I decided I want receipts from this point forward, and I'll >> keep my tax records for more than three years so I can prove I filed. >> Turns out the RI Division of Taxation won't give a receipt. I got the >> woman to stamp my copy with their "RECEIVED - RI DIV TAX" verbiage >> with the date and all. >> Hopefully the state will lose one more of my returns -- then I can >> bring the receipted version to the news hounds and watch as the sparks >> fly. > Haven't you ever heard of Certified Mail / Return Receipt? I have > signed, stamped return post cards for every Fed & State return since I > started filing. When one works right across the street from the building that taxation is in (It's part of Dept. of Administration) it's easier to just walk in and drop it off as I have other business in that building many times per month. ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: Satellite Radio as "Broadcast Audio Internet"? Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 04:13:26 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net I don't think the inability to directly measure audience is much more of a problem for satellite content providers than it is for AM and FM broadcasters. About all they have to work with is Arbitron and the like, which is pretty dicey for smaller markets. At least the satellite broadcasters would have national data. I have thought for some time that XM and Sirius are likely to start leasing channels, or even timeshares of channels, rather than to keep trying to fill all their channels themselves. Some of the content looks a lot like that now, although I have no idea what the business arrangements are. ------------------------------ From: andrew@voicent.com Subject: Re: Need PC Based Call Attendant/Answering Service Date: 12 Mar 2005 21:42:54 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com If you are a developer than you can use Voicent Gateway to create your own voice mail software. Voicent Gateway is an open standard based VoiceXML gateway that works on a PC with a voice modem. The shareware version, as well as autodialer and reminder products, are available for free download at http://www.voicent.com/download. Thanks, Andrew Voicent Smart AutoDialer Software - Easy to use and affordable http://www.voicent.com ------------------------------ 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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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #112 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Mar 13 23:07:44 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2E47iC06375; Sun, 13 Mar 2005 23:07:44 -0500 (EST) Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 23:07:44 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503140407.j2E47iC06375@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 V24 #113 TELECOM Digest Sun, 13 Mar 2005 23:05:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 113 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Outsourcing Innovation -- and Why Apple Doesn't (Marcus Didius Falco) Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? (zcarenow@yahoo.com) Cell Phone Reception (bumblebee4451@yahoo.com) Re: Qwest Cost Creep (J Kelly) 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: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 21:36:09 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Outsourcing Innovation -- and Why Apple Doesn't Some excerpts from the latest Business Week 'Technology' issue: From Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_12/b3925601.htm Outsourcing Innovation First came manufacturing. Now companies are farming out R&D to cut costs and get new products to market faster. Are they going too far? As the Mediterranean sun bathed the festive cafs and shops of the Cte d'Azur town of Cannes, banners with the logos of Motorola (MOT ), Royal Philips Electronics (PHG ), palmOne (PLMO ), and Samsung fluttered from the masts of plush yachts moored in the harbor. On board, top execs hosted nonstop sales meetings during the day and champagne dinners at night to push their latest wireless gadgets. Outside the city's convention hall, carnival barkers, clowns on stilts, and vivacious models with bright red wigs lured passersby into flashy exhibits. For anyone in the telecom industry wanting to shout their achievements to the world, there was no more glamorous spot than the sprawling 3GSM World Congress in Southern France in February. Yet many of the most intriguing product launches in Cannes took place far from the limelight. HTC Corp., a red-hot developer of multimedia handsets, didn't even have its own booth. Instead, the Taiwanese company showed off its latest wireless devices alongside partners that sell HTC's models under their own brand names. Flextronics Corp. demonstrated several concept phones exclusively behind closed doors. And Cellon International rented a discrete three-room apartment across from the convention center to unveil its new devices to a steady stream of telecom executives. The new offerings included the C8000, featuring eye-popping software. Cradle the device to your ear and it goes into telephone mode. Peer through the viewfinder and it automatically shifts into camera mode. Hold the end of the device to your eye and it morphs into a videocam. HTC? Flextronics? Cellon? There's a good reason these are hardly household names. The multimedia devices produced from their prototypes will end up on retail shelves under the brands of companies that don't want you to know who designs their products. Yet these and other little-known companies, with names such as Quanta Computer, Premier Imaging, Wipro Technologies (WIT ), and Compal Electronics, are fast emerging as hidden powers of the technology industry. They are the vanguard of the next step in outsourcing -- of innovation itself. When Western corporations began selling their factories and farming out manufacturing in the '80s and '90s to boost efficiency and focus their energies, most insisted all the important research and development would remain in-house. But that pledge is now pass. Today, the likes of Dell (DELL ), Motorola, (MOT ) and Philips are buying complete designs of some digital devices from Asian developers, tweaking them to their own specifications, and slapping on their own brand names. It's not just cell phones. Asian contract manufacturers and independent design houses have become forces in nearly every tech device, from laptops and high-definition TVs to MP3 music players and digital cameras. "Customers used to participate in design two or three years back," says Jack Hsieh, vice-president for finance at Taiwan's Premier Imaging Technology Corp., a major supplier of digital cameras to leading U.S. and Japanese brands. "But starting last year, many just take our product. Because of price competition, they have to." While the electronics sector is furthest down this road, the search for offshore help with innovation is spreading to nearly every corner of the economy. On Feb. 8, Boeing Co. (BA ) said it is working with India's HCL Technologies to co-develop software for everything from the navigation systems and landing gear to the cockpit controls for its upcoming 7E7 Dreamliner jet. Pharmaceutical giants such as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK ) and Eli Lilly (LLY )are teaming up with Asian biotech research companies in a bid to cut the average $500 million cost of bringing a new drug to market. And Procter & Gamble Co. (PG ) says it wants half of its new product ideas to be generated from outside by 2010, compared with 20% now. Competitive Dangers Underlying this trend is a growing consensus that more innovation is vital -- but that current R&D spending isn't yielding enough bang for the buck. After spending years squeezing costs out of the factory floor, back office, and warehouse, CEOs are asking tough questions about their once-cloistered R&D operations: Why are so few hit products making it out of the labs into the market? How many of those pricey engineers are really creating game-changing products or technology breakthroughs? "R&D is the biggest single remaining controllable expense to work on," says Allen J. Delattre, head of Accenture Ltd.'s (ACN ) high-tech consulting practice. "Companies either will have to cut costs or increase R&D productivity." The result is a rethinking of the structure of the modern corporation. What, specifically, has to be done in-house anymore? At a minimum, most leading Western companies are turning toward a new model of innovation, one that employs global networks of partners. These can include U.S. chipmakers, Taiwanese engineers, Indian software developers, and Chinese factories. IBM (IBM ) is even offering the smarts of its famed research labs and a new global team of 1,200 engineers to help customers develop future products using next-generation technologies. When the whole chain works in sync, there can be a dramatic leap in the speed and efficiency of product development. The downside of getting the balance wrong, however, can be steep. Start with the danger of fostering new competitors. Motorola hired Taiwan's BenQ Corp. to design and manufacture millions of mobile phones. But then BenQ began selling phones last year in the prized China market under its own brand. That prompted Motorola to pull its contract. Another risk is that brand-name companies will lose the incentive to keep investing in new technology. "It is a slippery slope," says Boston Consulting Group Senior Vice-President Jim Andrew. "If the innovation starts residing in the suppliers, you could incrementalize yourself to the point where there isn't much left." Such perceptions are a big reason even companies that outsource heavily refuse to discuss what hardware designs they buy from whom and impose strict confidentiality on suppliers. "It is still taboo to talk openly about outsourced design," says Forrester Research Inc. (FORR ) consultant Navi Radjou, an expert on corporate innovation. The concerns also explain why different companies are adopting widely varying approaches to this new paradigm. Dell, for example, does little of its own design for notebook PCs, digital TVs, or other products. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ ) says it contributes key technology and at least some design input to all its products but relies on outside partners to co-develop everything from servers to printers. Motorola buys complete designs for its cheapest phones but controls all of the development of high-end handsets like its hot-selling Razr. The key, execs say, is to guard some sustainable competitive advantage, whether it's control over the latest technologies, the look and feel of new products, or the customer relationship. "You have to draw a line," says Motorola CEO Edward J. Zander. At Motorola, "core intellectual property is above it, and commodity technology is below." Wherever companies draw the line, there's no question that the demarcation between mission-critical R&D and commodity work is sliding year by year. The implications for the global economy are immense. Countries such as India and China, where wages remain low and new engineering graduates are abundant, likely will continue to be the biggest gainers in tech employment and become increasingly important suppliers of intellectual property. Some analysts even see a new global division of labor emerging: The rich West will focus on the highest levels of product creation, and all the jobs of turning concepts into actual products or services can be shipped out. Consultant Daniel H. Pink, author of the new book A Whole New Mind, argues that the "left brain" intellectual tasks that "are routine, computer-like, and can be boiled down to a spec sheet are migrating to where it is cheaper, thanks to Asia's rising economies and the miracle of cyberspace." The U.S. will remain strong in "right brain" work that entails "artistry, creativity, and empathy with the customer that requires being physically close to the market." You can see this great divide already taking shape in global electronics. The process started in the 1990s when Taiwan emerged as the capital of PC design, largely because the critical technology was standardized, on Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT ) operating system software and Intel Corp.'s (INTC ) microprocessor. Today, Taiwanese "original-design manufacturers" (ODMS), so named because they both design and assemble products for others, supply some 65% of the world's notebook PCs. Quanta Computer Inc. alone expects to churn out 16 million notebook PCs this year in 50 different models for buyers that include Dell, Apple Computer (AAPL ), and Sony (SNE ). Now, Taiwanese ODMs and other outside designers are forces in nearly every digital device on the market. Of the 700 million mobile phones expected to be sold worldwide this year, up to 20% will be the work of ODMs, estimates senior analyst Adam Pick of the El Segundo (Calif.) market research firm iSuppli Corp. About 30% of digital cameras are produced by ODMs, 65% of MP3 players, and roughly 70% of personal digital assistants (PDAs). Building on their experience with PCs, they're increasingly creating recipes for their own gizmos, blending the latest advances in custom chips, specialized software, and state-of-the-art digital components. "There is a lot of great capability that has grown in Asia to develop complete products," says Doug Rasor, worldwide strategic marketing manager at chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc. TI often supplies core chips, along with rudimentary designs, and the ODMs take it from there. "They can do the system integration, the plastics, the industrial design, and the low-cost manufacturing, and they are happy to put Dell's name on it. That is a megatrend in the industry," says Rasor. Taiwan's ODMs clearly don't regard themselves as mere job shops. Just ask the top brass at HTC, which creates and manufactures smart phones for such wireless service providers as Vodafone and Cingular as well as equipment makers it doesn't identify. "We know this kind of product category a lot better than our customers do," says HTC President Peter Chou. "We have the capability to integrate all the latest technologies. We do everything except the Microsoft operating system." Or stop in to Quanta's headquarters in the Huaya Technology Park outside Taipei. Workers are finishing a dazzling structure the size of several football fields, with a series of wide steps leading past white columns supporting a towering Teflon-and-glass canopy. It will serve as Quanta's R&D headquarters, with thousands of engineers working on next-generation displays, digital home networking appliances, and multimedia players. This year, Quanta is doubling its engineering staff, to 7,000, and its R&D spending, to $200 million. Why? To improve its shrinking profit margins -- and because foreign clients are demanding it. "What has changed is that more customers need us to design the whole product," says Chairman Barry Lam. For future products, in fact, "it's now difficult to get good ideas from our customers. We have to innovate ourselves." Sweeping Overhaul India is emerging as a heavyweight in design, too. The top players in making the country world-class in software development, including HCL and Wipro, are expected to help India boost its contract R&D revenues from $1 billion a year now to $8 billion in three years. One of Wipro's many labs is in a modest office off dusty, congested Hosur Road in Bangalore. There, 1,000 young engineers partitioned into brightly lit pods jammed with circuit boards, chips, and steel housings hunch over 26 development projects. Among them is a hands-free telephone system that attaches to the visor of a European sports car. At another pod, designers tinker with a full dashboard embedded with a satellite navigation system. Inside other Wipro labs in Bangalore, engineers are designing prototypes for everything from high-definition TVs to satellite set-top boxes. Perhaps the most ambitious new entrant in design is Flextronics. The manufacturing behemoth already builds networking gear, printers, game consoles, and other hardware for the likes of Nortel Networks (NT ), Xerox (XRX ), HP, Motorola, and Casio Computer. But three years ago, it started losing big cell-phone and PDA orders to Taiwanese ODMs. Since then, CEO Michael E. Marks has shelled out more than $800 million on acquisitions to build a 7,000-engineer force of software, chip, telecom, and mechanical designers scattered from India and Singapore to France and Ukraine. Marks's splashiest move was to pay an estimated $30 million for frog design Inc., the pioneering Sunnyvale (Calif.) firm that helped design such Information Age icons as Apple Computer Inc.'s original Mac in 1984. So far, Flextronics has developed its own basic platforms for cell phones, routers, digital cameras, and imaging devices. His goal is to make Flextronics a low-cost, soup-to-nuts developer of consumer-electronics and tech gear. Marks has an especially radical take on where all this is headed: He believes Western tech conglomerates are on the cusp of a sweeping overhaul of R&D that will rival the offshore shift of manufacturing. In the 1990s, companies like Flextronics "completely restructured the world's electronics manufacturing," says Marks. "Now we will completely restructure design." When you get down to it, he argues, some 80% of engineers in product development do tasks that can easily be outsourced -- like translating prototypes into workable designs, upgrading mature products, testing quality, writing user manuals, and qualifying parts vendors. What's more, most of the core technologies in today's digital gadgets are available to anyone. And circuit boards for everything from cameras to network switches are becoming simpler because more functions are embedded on semiconductors. The "really hard technology work" is migrating to chipmakers such as Texas Instruments, Qualcomm (QCOM ), Philips, Intel, and Broadcom (BRCM ), Marks says. "All electronics are on the same trajectory of becoming silicon surrounded by plastic." Why then, Marks asks, should Nokia (NOK ), Motorola, Sony-Ericsson, Alcatel (ALA ), Siemens (SI ), Samsung, and other brand-name companies all largely duplicate one another's efforts? Why should each spend $30 million to develop a new smartphone or $200 million on a cellular base station when they can just buy the hardware designs? The ultimate result, he says: Some electronics giants will shrink their R&D forces from several thousand to a few hundred, concentrating on proprietary architecture, setting key specifications, and managing global R&D teams. "There is no doubt the product companies are going to have fewer people design stuff," Marks predicts. "It's going to get ugly." Granted, Marks's vision is more than a tad extreme. True, despite the tech recovery, many corporate R&D budgets have been tightening. HP's R&D spending long hovered around 6% of sales, but it's down to 4.4% now. Cisco Systems' (CSCO ) R&D budget has dropped from its old average of 17% to 14.5%. The numbers also are falling at Motorola, Lucent Technologies (LU ), and Ericsson. In November, Nokia Corp. said it aims to trim R&D spending from 12.8% of sales in 2004 to under 10% by the end of 2006. Close to the Heart Still, most companies insist they will continue to do most of the critical design work -- and have no plans to take a meat ax to R&D. A Motorola spokesman says it plans to keep R&D spending at around 10% for the long term. Lucent says its R&D staff should remain at about 9,000, after several years of deep cuts. And while many Western companies are downsizing at home, they are boosting hiring at their own labs in India, China, and Eastern Europe. "Companies realize if they want a sustainable competitive advantage, they will not get it from outsourcing," says President Frank M. Armbrecht of the Industrial Research Institute, which tracks corporate R&D spending. Companies also worry about the message they send investors. Outsourcing manufacturing, tech support, and back-office work makes clear financial sense. But ownership of design strikes close to the heart of a corporation's intrinsic value. If a company depends on outsiders for design, investors might ask, how much intellectual property does it really own, and how much of the profit from a hit product flows back into its own coffers, rather than being paid out in licensing fees? That's one reason Apple Computer lets the world know it develops its hit products in-house, to the point of etching "Designed by Apple in California" on the back of each iPod. Yet some outsourcing holdouts are changing their tune. Nokia long prided itself on developing almost everything itself -- to the point of designing its own chips. No longer. Given the complexities of today's technologies and supply chains, "nobody can master it all," says Chief Technology Officer Pertti Korhonen. "You have to figure out what is core and what is context." Lucent says outsourcing some development makes sense so that its engineers can concentrate on next-generation technologies. "This frees up talent to work on new product lines," says Dave Ayers, vice-president for platforms and engineering. "Outsourcing isn't about moving jobs. It's about the flexibility to put resources in the right places at the right time." It's also about brutal economics and the relentless demands of consumers. To get shelf space at a Best Buy (BBY ) or Circuit City often means brand-name companies need a full range of models, from a $100 point-and-shoot digital camera with 2 megapixels, say, to a $700 8-megapixel model that doubles as a videocam and is equipped with a powerful zoom lens. On top of this, superheated competition can reduce hit products to cheap commodities within months. So they must get out the door fast to earn a decent margin. "Consumer electronics have become almost like produce," says Michael E. Fawkes, senior vice-president of HP's Imaging Products Div. "They always have to be fresh." Such pressures explain outsourcing's growing allure. Take cell phones, which are becoming akin to fashion items. Using a predesigned platform can shave 70% of development costs off a new model, estimates William S. Wong, a senior vice-president for marketing at Cellon. That can be a huge savings. As a rule of thumb, it takes around $10 million and up to 150 engineers to develop a new cell phone from scratch. If Motorola or Nokia guess wrong about the market trends a year into the future, they can lose big. So they must develop several versions. With most of its 800 engineers in China and France, Cellon creates several basic designs each year and spreads the costs among many buyers. It also has the technical expertise to morph that basic phone into a bewildering array of models. Want a 2-megapixel camera module instead of 1-megapixel? Want to include a music player, or change the style from a gray clamshell to a flaming-red candy-bar shape? No problem: Cellon engineers can whip up a prototype, run all the tests, and get it into mass production in a Chinese factory in months. Moving Up the Food Chain Companies are still figuring out exactly what to outsource. PalmOne Inc.'s collaboration with Taiwan's HTC on its popular Treo 650 smart phone illustrates one approach. Palm has long hired contractors to assemble hardware from its own industrial designs. But in 2001, it decided to focus on software and shifted hardware production to Taiwanese ODMs. PalmOne designers still determine the look and feel of the product, pick key components like the display and core chips, and specify performance requirements. But HTC does much of the mechanical and electrical design. "Without a doubt, they've become a part of the innovation process," says Angel L. Mendez, senior global operations vice-president at palmOne. "It's less about outsourcing and more about the collaborative way in which design comes together." The result: PalmOne has cut months off of development times, reduced defects by 50%, and boosted gross margins by around 20%. Hewlett-Packard, a company with such a proud history of innovation that its advertising tag line is simply "invent," also works with design partners on all the hardware it outsources. "Our strategy is now to work with global networks to leverage the best technologies on the planet," says Dick Conrad, HP's senior vice-president for global operations. According to iSuppli, HP is getting design help from Taiwan's Quanta and Hon Hai Precision for PCs, Lite-On for printers, Inventec for servers and MP3 players, and Altek for digital cameras. HP won't identify specific suppliers, but it says the strategy has brought benefits. Conrad says it now takes 60% less time to get a new concept to market. Plus, the company can "redeploy our assets and resources to higher value-added products" such as advanced printer inks and sophisticated corporate software, he says. How far can outsourced design go? When does it get to the point where ODMs start driving truly breakthrough concepts and core technologies? It's not here yet. Distance is one barrier. "To be a successful product company requires intimacy with the customer," says Azim H. Premji, chairman of India's Wipro. "That is very hard to offshore in fast-changing markets." Another hurdle is that R&D spending by ODMs remains relatively low. Even though Premier develops most of its own cameras and video projectors, "the really core technology," such as the digital signal processors, is invented in the U.S., says vice-president Hsieh. Premier's latest wallet-size video projector, for example, was based on a rough design by Texas Instruments, developer of the core chip. With margins shrinking fast in the ODM business, however, Premier and other Taiwanese companies know they need to move up the innovation food chain to reap higher profits. That's where Flextronics and its design acquisitions could get interesting. Inside frog's hip Sunnyvale office, designers are working to create a radically new multimedia device, for an unnamed corporate client, that won't hit the market until 2007. The plan, says Patricia Roller, frog's co-CEO, is to use Flextronics software engineers in Ukraine or India to develop innovative applications, and for Flextronics engineers to design the working prototype. Flextronics then would mass-produce the gadgets, probably in China. Who will ultimately profit most from the outsourcing of innovation isn't clear. The early evidence suggests that today's Western titans can remain leaders by orchestrating global innovation networks. Yet if they lose their technology edge and their touch with customers, they could be tomorrow's great shrinking conglomerates. Contractors like Quanta and Flextronics that are moving up the innovation ladder, meanwhile, have a shot at joining the world's leading industrial players. What is clear is that an army of in-house engineers no longer means a company can control its fate. Instead, the winners will be those most adept at marshaling the creativity and skills of workers around the world. By Pete Engardio and Bruce Einhorn With Manjeet Kripalani in Bangalore, Andy Reinhardt in Cannes, Bruce Nussbaum in Somers, N.Y., and Peter Burrows in San Mateo, Calif. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_12/b3925608.htm Outsourcing Commentary: Apple's Blueprint for Genius Handling its own design work is one reason for best-sellers reason for best-sellers like the iPod and Shuffle. Steve Jobs is the other By Peter Burrows "Designed by Apple in Cupertino." The words are printed in such small type on the back of Apple's (AAPL ) tiny new iPod Shuffle MP3 player that you have to squint to read them. But they speak volumes about why Apple is standing so far out from the crowd these days. At a time when rivals are outsourcing as much design as possible to cut costs, Apple remains at its core a product company -- one that would never give up control of how those products are created. In this age of commodity tech products, design, after all, is what makes Apple Apple. This focus is apparent to anyone who has used one of its trailblazing products. While the Silicon Valley pioneer sells only a few dozen models, compared to the hundreds offered by many of its rivals, many of those "designed in Cupertino" products are startling departures from the norm -- and they often set the directions for the rest of the industry. Examples abound, from the iPod, to the flat screen look of the new iMac, to the simple smallness of the new Mac mini PC. What's the secret? The precise details are almost impossible to get, because Apple treats its product-development processes like state secrets -- going so far as to string black drapes around the production lines at the factories of the contract manufacturers it hires to assemble its products. In one case, says a source who once worked on an Apple project, the outfit even insisted that its wares be built only on the midnight shift, when fewer prying eyes might be around. "INSANELY GREAT." But the general themes are clear. Most CEOs are focused on achieving their financial and operational goals, and on executing a strategy. But Apple's Steve Jobs believes his company's ultimate advantage comes from its ability to make unique, or as he calls them, "insanely great" products. Jobs's entire company is focused on that task. That means while rival computer makers increasingly rely on so-called outsourced design manufacturers (ODMs), for key design decisions, Jobs keeps most of those tasks in-house. Sure, he relies on ODMs to manufacture his products, but the big decisions on Apple products are made in Silicon Valley. Jobs himself is a crucial part of the formula. He's unique among big-time hardware CEOs for his hands-on involvement in the design process. Even product-design experts marvel at the power of the Jobs factor. FIRST, AN IDEA. "I've been thinking hard about the Apple product-development process since I left," says design guru Donald Norman, co-founder the design consultants Nielsen Norman Group, who left Apple in 1997. "If you follow my [guidelines], it will guarantee good design. But Steve Jobs doesn't want good design. He wants great design, and my method will never give you that. That takes a rare leader, who can bring both the cohesion and commitment and style. And Steve has it." Many executives believe that outsourcing design allows them to lower the salaries they must pay, and lets them have engineers working on the products across all time zones. Jobs thinks that's short-sighted. He argues that the cost-savings aren't worth what you give up in terms of teamwork, communication, and the ability to get groups of people working together to bring a new idea to life. Indeed, with top-notch mechanical, electrical, software, and industrial designers all housed at Apple's Infinite Loop campus in Cupertino, Calif., the company's design capability is more vertically integrated than almost any other tech outfit. Typically, a new Apple product starts with a big idea for an unmet customer need. For the original iPod, it was for an MP3 player that, unlike earlier models, could hold and easily manage your entire music collection. Then, Apple's product architects and industrial designers figure out what that product should look like and what features it should have -- and, importantly, not have. "Apple has a much more holistic view of product design," says David Carey, president of design consulting firm Portelligent. "Good product design starts from the outside, and works its way inside." HALF MEASURE. Already, that's different from the process by which the bulk of tech products are made. Increasingly, tech companies meet with ODMs to see what designs they have cooked up. Then, the ODMs are asked to tweak those basic blueprints to add a few features, and to match the look and feel of the company's other products. That's where the "design" input might end for most companies. But since it's almost always trying to create one-of-a-kind products, Apple has to ask its own engineers to do the critical electrical and mechanical work to bring products to life. In the iPod Shuffle, for example, designers cut a circuit card in two and stacked the pieces, bunk-bed style, to make use of the empty air space created by the height of the battery in the device. "They realized they could erase the height penalty [of the battery] to help them win the battle of the bulge," says Carey, whose company did a detailed engineering analysis of the iPod Shuffle. SCREW-FREE. Even more important, Apple's products are designed to run a particular set of programs or services. By contrast, a Dell (DELL ) or Gateway (GTW ) PC must be ready for whatever new features Microsoft (MSFT ) comes out with, or whatever Windows program a customer opts to install. But Apple makes much of its own software, from the Mac operating system to applications such as iPhoto and iTunes. "That's Apple's trump card," says one Apple rival. "The ODMs just don't have the world-class industrial design, the style, or the ability to make easy-to-use software -- or the ability to integrate it all. They may some day, but they don't have it now." Of course, Apple also sets its self apart by designing machines that are also little works of art -- even if it means making life difficult for manufacturers contracted to build those designs. During a trip to visit ODMs in Asia, one executive told securities analyst Jim Grossman of Thrivent Investment Management about Steve Jobs's insistence that no screws be visible on the laptop his company was manufacturing for Apple. The executive said his company had no idea how to handle the job and had to invent a new tooling process for the job. "They had to learn new ways to do things just to meet Apple's design," says Grossman. TOUGH CUSTOMER. That's not to say Apple is completely bucking the outsourcing trend. All its products are manufactured by ODMs in Asia. Just as it buys chips and disk drives from other suppliers, sources say Apple lets ODMs take some role in garden-variety engineering work -- but not much. "This is an issue for Apple, because the A-team engineers [at the ODMs] don't like working with Apple. It's like when you were a kid, all your dad let you do was hold the flashlight, rather than let you try to fix the car yourself," says an executive at a rival MP3 maker. In fairness, Apple's reliance on a smaller number of products than its rivals and go-it-alone design means it's always a dud or two from disaster. But at the moment, it's proving that "made in Cupertino" is a trademark for success. Burrows is Computer editor in BusinessWeek's Silicon Valley bureau http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_12/b3925611.htm OUTSOURCING INNOVATION/Online Extra R&D Jobs: Who Stays, Who Goes? A recent in-depth outsourcing study of a hypothetical 1,000-person team found only 722 needed to be kept. Others say that's way too many After decades of streamlining and downsizing practically every aspect of their businesses, corporate budget-cutters and efficiency wonks are zeroing in on one of the most sacrosanct areas of the organization: research and development. R&D can account for anywhere from 5% to 18% of the costs of a major electronics company. Human considerations aside, the task is fraught with risk. Do nothing, and a company could end up at a severe disadvantage against nimbler, lower-cost rivals that have mastered the art of using networks of contractors, design partners, and technology providers in India, China, or Eastern Europe. But cut too deeply, and the whole product-development process could go out of whack. Over the long run, a company could even lose its ability to generate future breakthrough products. "PORTABLE" POSITIONS. So how to assess which jobs must remain in-house and which ones can safely take place more cheaply and efficiently offshore? This is a red-hot question in management circles today, with consultants busily applying cold calculus to each step of the product-development process. "R&D used to be treated as one big black box," says Vivek Paul, CEO of Indian info-tech services giant Wipro Technologies (WIT ), whose contract R&D service employs 8,000 engineers. "Now, companies are deconstructing the whole R&D chain, sorting out what's strategic and what's not." To help provide answers, Parametric Technology (PTC), a Needham (Mass.) producer of collaborative design software for 31,000 clients worldwide, commissioned a study of a typical R&D workforce of a typical electronics company. It concluded that about 30% of the jobs were "portable," meaning companies could shift them offshore. The PTC study used two basic questions: First, how critical is a particular job to the company's competitive advantage? Second, how easy is it to physically transfer that taskn to a remote location? CREATING CRITERIA. More specifically: Does an employee add enough value to the company to justify the higher cost of keeping that slot on the U.S. payroll, or is the employee doing more routine, low-value work that an offshore worker could accomplish for much less pay? Is the staffer mainly upgrading or reducing costs of existing product lines, or devoted to future products? Is he or she integral to creating technology that the company regards as part of its strategic core, or can the intellectual property be purchased on the market? Deciding whether a job can move also involves even deeper issues: Can it be digitalized and done entirely on a computer, or does it require close personal contact with customers or other members of a team? Can the entire task fit into one distinct piece, or "module," that can be plugged in or out of a product-development project, much as a chassis or seat assembly can be bolted onto a car? If so, can that entire module of work move out of the company? Does a staffer have special institutional knowledge of the corporation's culture, needs, and history that any outsider lacks? Using such criteria, the PTC study classified each R&D position as "most critical," "moderately critical," or "less critical." It then estimated how many of the jobs in each category were easily transportable. Starting with an R&D operation of 1,000 engineers, PTC's details its opinion as to whittling down the operation: Most critical: Only about 150 staffers fall into this category. It includes product managers who develop and guide strategies for product lines, and program or project managers who monitor development milestones, schedules, and budgets. Systems engineers, who define a product in its broadest terms, also rank as critical. They set specific performance standards, for example, for core components such as certain digital displays, microprocessors, and software platforms. Only 9 of the 150 positions can be outsourced, the PTC study estimates. Head count: 991. Moderately critical: Mechanical analysts who determine if designs hold up to certain levels of stress and electrical engineers who scrutinize the performance of a circuit board fall into the moderately critical category. So do engineers who translate conceptual designs into working prototypes as well as computer engineers who supply the information-technology systems needed to develop a product. Of the 600 jobs in this category, PTC tags 144 for outsourcing. Head count: 847. Less critical: Here's where the real downsizing can take place. Those who can go: designers of auxiliary systems the company can purchase from the outside and "value engineers" who mainly upgrade products already on the market or find ways to reduce their manufacturing costs. "Documentation specialists," who do detailed schematic drawings for the factory, write operating manuals, or compile lists of components also come under this category. Some 250 of the 1,000 workers do these types of jobs, and 135 of them can be outsourced. Final head count of R&D staff: 722. Of course, many other analysts find this figure conservative. Wipro's Paul believes anywhere from 40% to 60% of an electronics company's R&D jobs can be farmed out overseas. One thing that's clear: R&D jobs may not stick around, but outsourcing them will. Copyright 2000-2004, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. John F. McMullen http://www.westnet.com/~observer BLOG: http://johnmacrants.blogspot.com/ NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Business Week, McGraw-Hill. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: zcarenow@yahoo.com Subject: Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? Date: 13 Mar 2005 18:57:54 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Do any of these services allow the capability for me to use my fax machine to fax out and receive faxes from others? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: bumblebee4451@yahoo.com Subject: Cell Phone Reception Date: 13 Mar 2005 18:38:13 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I have been having problems with my cell phone (LG) dropping calls in my home. Seems like you talk for a few minutes and the call is dropped. Getting tired of this and thinking it was my phone, I went to Verizon since I was near the end of my contract and got 2 new LG 6100 camera phones (one for me and one for my son). I paid over $200 -- there is a rebate. Well don't you know it the same thing happens with this phone. I did some testing and find that the signal bars are very weak in my area (suburban), its not just my house ( a regular wood house) but seemingly a few miles area the signal is weak. I drove about a mile east and the signal bars got stronger and then they got the strongest a few miles a way. The phone worked fine there. So does this mean my area is in a dead zone? What can be done? How can Verizon put someone in a contract if it knows that cell reception will be poor in there area? Why doesn't Verizon fix this so we all could get uniform service. It seems a rip off if I can't use my cell phone in my home. ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: Qwest Cost Creep Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:06:17 -0600 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@*newsguy.com On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 16:25:15 -0700, jared@nospam.au (jared) wrote: > In the middle of last year I changed to QWEST and a plan that reduced > my monthly charges to about $33. Now in March it's up to > $50. Even a > simple phone line with no features is apparently $28 per month > ... that's only twice what QWEST advertises (i.e., before fine print). > One of the tricky changes was to start charging a monthly fee for long > distance that had been bundled in the plan. No notice, just a few > dollars more. I asked the customer service representative why and all > she could say was that they didn't know that there was going to be a > charge for long distance with that plan. I'm no fan of Qwest, but I haven't had the cost creep you mention since buying into their unlimited long distance plan quite some time back. The sent me a letter to explain the new plan they had, which was 5 cents a minute, with a $20 cap, a better deal than the $20 unlimited for people that may use less than 400 minutes in some months. They also sent me a letter later on stating that their would now be a monthly fee if useage was under a certain amount, but I always use more than 400 minutes per month so always end up at the $20 max that they charge for LD anyway. I guess I can't recall ever having them just raise my rate without notice, and I've been a Qwest/US West customer since 1993. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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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 V24 #113 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Mar 14 17:22:05 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2EMM5q13948; Mon, 14 Mar 2005 17:22:05 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 17:22:05 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503142222.j2EMM5q13948@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 V24 #114 TELECOM Digest Mon, 14 Mar 2005 17:21:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 114 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Technology & Development: The Real Digital Divide (Marcus Didius Falco) Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds (Monty Solomon) Payroll Website Still Not Secured (Monty Solomon) European Telecom Market Heats Up (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Industry Officials Debate Policies For Internet Telephony (Jack Decker) Notes From The Ebbers Trial (Eric Friedebach) Offering USA (ASR-80%) (Phil Lall) Re: Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? (sean) Re: Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? (DevilsPGD) Re: Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? (John Levine) Re: Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? (ukcats4218016@yahoo.com) Re: Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) Re: Cell Phone Reception (LB@notmine.com) Re: Cell Phone Reception (Gene S. Berkowitz) Re: Cell Phone Reception (Justin Time) Re: Draytek Router Problem - Class C Address Only on LAN? (paulfoel) 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: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 03:55:57 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Technology and Development: The Real Digital Divide Cute picture of an African boy holding a "phone" made of clay at: http://economist.com/images/20050312/1105LD1.jpg http://economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=3D3742817 Technology and development The real digital divide Mar 10th 2005 From The Economist print edition Encouraging the spread of mobile phones is the most sensible and effective response to the digital divide. IT WAS an idea born in those far-off days of the internet bubble: the worry that as people in the rich world embraced new computing and communications technologies, people in the poor world would be left stranded on the wrong side of a digital divide . Five years after the technology bubble burst, many ideas from the time that eyeballs matter more than profits or that internet traffic was doubling every 100 days have been sensibly shelved. But the idea of the digital divide persists. On March 14th, after years of debate, the United Nations will launch a Digital Solidarity Fund to finance projects that address the uneven distribution and use of new information and communication technologies and enable excluded people and countries to enter the new era of the information society . Yet the debate over the digital divide is founded on a myth that plugging poor countries into the internet will help them to become rich rapidly. The lure of magic This is highly unlikely, because the digital divide is not a problem in itself, but a symptom of deeper, more important divides: of income, development and literacy. Fewer people in poor countries than in rich ones own computers and have access to the internet simply because they are too poor, are illiterate, or have other more pressing concerns, such as food, health care and security. So even if it were possible to wave a magic wand and cause a computer to appear in every household on earth, it would not achieve very much: a computer is not useful if you have no food or electricity and cannot read. Yet such wand-waving through the construction of specific local infrastructure projects such as rural telecentres is just the sort of thing for which the UN's new fund is intended. How the fund will be financed and managed will be discussed at a meeting in September. One popular proposal is that technology firms operating in poor countries be encouraged to donate 1% of their profits to the fund, in return for which they will be able to display a Digital Solidarity logo. (Anyone worried about corrupt officials creaming off money will be heartened to hear that a system of inspections has been proposed.) This sort of thing is the wrong way to go about addressing the inequality in access to digital technologies: it is treating the symptoms, rather than the underlying causes. The benefits of building rural computing centres, for example, are unclear (see the article in our Technology Quarterly in this issue). Rather than trying to close the divide for the sake of it, the more sensible goal is to determine how best to use technology to promote bottom-up development. And the answer to that question turns out to be remarkably clear: by promoting the spread not of PCs and the internet, but of mobile phones. Plenty of evidence suggests that the mobile phone is the technology with the greatest impact on development. A new paper finds that mobile phones raise long-term growth rates, that their impact is twice as big in developing nations as in developed ones, and that an extra ten phones per 100 people in a typical developing country increases GDP growth by 0.6 percentage points (see article). And when it comes to mobile phones, there is no need for intervention or funding from the UN: even the world's poorest people are already rushing to embrace mobile phones, because their economic benefits are so apparent. Mobile phones do not rely on a permanent electricity supply and can be used by people who cannot read or write. Phones are widely shared and rented out by the call, for example by the telephone ladies found in Bangladeshi villages. Farmers and fishermen use mobile phones to call several markets and work out where they can get the best price for their produce. Small businesses use them to shop around for supplies. Mobile phones are used to make cashless payments in Zambia and several other African countries. Even though the number of phones per 100 people in poor countries is much lower than in the developed world, they can have a dramatic impact: reducing transaction costs, broadening trade networks and reducing the need to travel, which is of particular value for people looking for work. Little wonder that people in poor countries spend a larger proportion of their income on telecommunications than those in rich ones. The digital divide that really matters, then, is between those with access to a mobile network and those without. The good news is that the gap is closing fast. The UN has set a goal of 50% access by 2015, but a new repor from the World Bank notes that 77% of the world's population already lives within range of a mobile network. And yet more can be done to promote the diffusion of mobile phones. Instead of messing around with telecentres and infrastructure projects of dubious merit, the best thing governments in the developing world can do is to liberalise their telecoms markets, doing away with lumbering state monopolies and encouraging competition. History shows that the earlier competition is introduced, the faster mobile phones start to spread. Consider the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia, for example. Both have average annual incomes of a mere $100 per person, but the number of phones per 100 people is two in the former (where there are six mobile networks), and 0.13 in the latter (where there is only one). Let a thousand networks bloom According to the World Bank, the private sector invested $230 billion in telecommunications infrastructure in the developing world between 1993 and 2003 and countries with well-regulated competitive markets have seen the greatest investment. Several firms, such as Orascom Telecom (see article) and Vodacom, specialise in providing mobile access in developing countries. Handset-makers, meanwhile, are racing to develop cheap handsets for new markets in the developing world. Rather than trying to close the digital divide through top-down IT infrastructure projects, governments in the developing world should open their telecoms markets. Then firms and customers, on their own and even in the poorest countries, will close the divide themselves. Copyright 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. http://economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=3D3713955 NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Economist Newspaper Group. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 23:55:31 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds A national Kaiser Family Foundation survey found children and teens are spending an increasing amount of time using "new media" like computers, the Internet and video games, without cutting back on the time they spend with "old" media like TV, print and music. Instead, because of the amount of time they spend using more than one medium at a time (for example, going online while watching TV), they're managing to pack increasing amounts of media content into the same amount of time each day. The study, Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds, examined media use among a nationally representative sample of more than 2,000 3rd through 12th graders who completed detailed questionnaires, including nearly 700 self-selected participants who also maintained seven-day media diaries. http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia030905pkg.cfm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 00:44:27 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Payroll Website Still Not Secured By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | March 1, 2005 Boston software entrepreneur Aaron Greenspan, who revealed serious security flaws in the website of Tennessee payroll company PayMaxx Inc. last week, said yesterday that the site remains insecure. Greenspan said that a computer hacker still could use the site to obtain the Social Security numbers of hundreds of Americans. Greenspan called the management of PayMaxx incompetent, and urged Congress to investigate the company. "They have no idea what they're doing," he said. Greenspan's company, Think Computer Corp., had its payrolls prepared by PayMaxx, of Franklin, Tenn., until late last year. After ending their relationship, Greenspan found that his name, address, Social Security number, and other personal data were still available on the PayMaxx website, which could be accessed by entering zeroes in the site's login windows. Greenspan also found that he could obtain the same information about other PayMaxx customers by typing random numbers into the browser's address window. He estimated that up to 100,000 files could be accessed this way. http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2005/03/01/payroll_website_still_not_secured/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are so many real idiots out there working on websites, etc. I am _hardly_ a brilliant web designer, but don't any of these fools know simple security measures they can take to thwart all but the most detirmined hackers? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:39:45 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: European Telecom Market Heats Up Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 14, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20043&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * European telecom market heats up BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Qwest ups ante in battle for MCI * Malone gets cozy with Cablevision * AT&T tests WiMAX service * Leap agrees to sell licenses to Verizon Wireless * China Telecom gets license to operate Internet cafe chain USTA SPOTLIGHT * Calling ALL Carriers Ready to Explore! EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * RIM adds IM to BlackBerry * New breed of mobiles do more than just voice REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * SEC filing details severance package for AT&T's Dorman Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20043&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:46:55 -0500 Subject: Industry Officials Debate Policies For Internet Telephony http://www.vonage-forum.com/article1727.html Industry Officials Debate Policies For Internet Telephony March 9, 2005 By Drew Clark A regional Bell telephone company, a rural carrier, a cable company and an Internet phone company disagreed Wednesday about the obligations and prices that communications companies must pay when they offer Internet telephony to rural America. Speaking at a telecommunications forum hosted by a task force of the Congressional Rural Caucus, Vonage CEO Jeffrey Citron said subsidies between long-distance and local telephone service must be eliminated. Kevin Hess, vice president of federal affairs for the rural firm TDS Telecom, disagreed and said the current inter-carrier subsidization systems "remain the appropriate mechanism of compensation." Hess also said voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) providers like Vonage must contribute equally to the universal service fund (USF), which is designed to finance phone service to all Americans. Reps. Charles (Chip) Pickering, R-Miss., and Rick Boucher, D-Va., also addressed the task force, and each outlined their bills to pre-empt state regulation of Internet-based services. Pickering's bill is focused on VoIP; Boucher's deals with all Internet services. [.....] Both Citron and Boucher said USF should be revised to permit monies for broadband networks. Currently, the $6 billion fund subsidizes only traditional phone networks. "I personally think that broadband should be part of that equation," Boucher said, adding that "the time may come in the not-too-distant future in which USF can be greatly restricted in scope, and perhaps eliminated altogether." Full story at: http://www.vonage-forum.com/article1727.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Eric Friedebach Subject: Notes From The Ebbers Trial Date: 14 Mar 2005 11:22:00 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Dan Ackman, 03.11.05, Forbes.com NEW YORK - Reading consequence into notes from a jury room is always an inexact science, if only because it's impossible to know whether a particular note came from one juror or 12. Despite the uncertainty, the future for Bernard Ebbers looks a lot brighter today than it did two days ago, as the jury in his fraud and conspiracy trial ended its sixth day of deliberations without a verdict. Indeed, the jury may not even be close to finishing its work, as just this morning it asked for a "flip chart," or poster board and markers, apparently so it could diagram the charges. More favorable for Ebbers, the former billionaire CEO of WorldCom, was the fact that the jury also asked for the direct testimony and cross-examination of Cynthia Cooper. While Cooper was an internal auditor for WorldCom -- and the whistle-blower who first exposed the accounting fraud -- at the trial she was a witness for the defense. Sources close to the defense say their calling her was meant as a powerful signal that Ebbers was on the side of those who didn't know about the fraud as it occurred. http://www.forbes.com/business/2005/03/11/cx_da_0311ebbers.html Eric Friedebach /An Apollo Sandwich from Corky & Lenny's/ ------------------------------ Reply-To: Phil Lall From: Phil Lall Subject: Offering USA (ASR-80%) Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 01:01:39 -0800 We have developed a domestic USA network that offers superb quality and reliability with aggressive pricing that is especially attractive for the carrier that does not want to deal with a sophisticated USA routing scheme and wants to send all of it's USA traffic to only one carrier. INCLUDING Alaska and Hawaii. Pricing for USA is: Onnet $.0075 Offnet $.0129 Flat- 1c Regards, Phil phillall@lycos.com ------------------------------ From: sean Subject: Re: Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 00:59:59 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com zcarenow@yahoo.com wrote: > Do any of these services allow the capability for me to use my fax > machine to fax out and receive faxes from others? Thanks. Vonage does. Dunno 'bout lingo. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 23:35:24 -0700 Organization: Disorganized In message zcarenow@yahoo.com wrote: > Do any of these services allow the capability for me to use my fax > machine to fax out and receive faxes from others? Thanks. Vonage sells fax lines. My experience has been very reliable using the fax line, but faxes using the primary line aren't anywhere near as reliable. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Mar 2005 06:36:14 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Do any of these services allow the capability for me to use my fax > machine to fax out and receive faxes from others? Thanks. In theory, faxes work over Vonage. In practice, even when the voice quality was good, faxes were pretty iffy. I had the old Cisco ATA. If the newer TAs recognize fax tones and just send the fax data, they'd probably work a lot better. Lingo also claims they support faxing, but I haven't tried it. Regards, John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 02:12:30 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications zcarenow@yahoo.com wrote: > Do any of these services allow the capability for me to use my fax > machine to fax out and receive faxes from others? Thanks. Fax works fine with Vonage (at least on a good broadband pipe such as cable). In fact, if you want to pay the fee, you can have the second port on the adapter dedicated as a fax line. Unlike the primary line, the fax line has a limited number of free minutes per month. If you do a whole lot of faxing, you get around that by switching to the primary line to send faxes then back to the fax line to receive faxes. ------------------------------ From: ukcats4218016@yahoo.com Subject: Re: Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? Date: 14 Mar 2005 05:18:25 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I'm pretty sure most of the large VoIP companies have fax capabilities. I have SunRocket, and my fax works great, both outoging and incoming. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid Date: 14 Mar 2005 10:01:01 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Power grids existed long before networked-computers came out. Why would the grid be so vulnerable now? Shouldn't those critical networks be isolated from outside access altogether? Secondly, they should be more worried about grid overloads from all the power source shifting done today. The grids were not designed to handle that kind of loads and problems like the recent NYC-NE blackout will occur again. ------------------------------ From: LB@notmine.com Subject: Re: Cell Phone Reception Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 23:34:53 -0500 Organization: Optimum Online bumblebee4451@yahoo.com wrote: > I have been having problems with my cell phone (LG) dropping calls in > my home. Seems like you talk for a few minutes and the call is > dropped. Getting tired of this and thinking it was my phone, I went > to Verizon since I was near the end of my contract and got 2 new LG > 6100 camera phones (one for me and one for my son). I paid over $200 > -- there is a rebate. > Well don't you know it the same thing happens with this phone. I did > some testing and find that the signal bars are very weak in my area > (suburban), its not just my house ( a regular wood house) but > seemingly a few miles area the signal is weak. I drove about a mile > east and the signal bars got stronger and then they got the strongest > a few miles a way. The phone worked fine there. > So does this mean my area is in a dead zone? > What can be done? How can Verizon put someone in a contract if it > knows that cell reception will be poor in there area? Why doesn't > Verizon fix this so we all could get uniform service. It seems a rip > off if I can't use my cell phone in my home. If you are still in the trial period try a Motorola V265. LB ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Cell Phone Reception Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 00:25:20 -0500 In article , bumblebee4451@yahoo.com says: > I have been having problems with my cell phone (LG) dropping calls in > my home. Seems like you talk for a few minutes and the call is > dropped. Getting tired of this and thinking it was my phone, I went > to Verizon since I was near the end of my contract and got 2 new LG > 6100 camera phones (one for me and one for my son). I paid over $200 > -- there is a rebate. > Well don't you know it the same thing happens with this phone. I did > some testing and find that the signal bars are very weak in my area > (suburban), its not just my house ( a regular wood house) but > seemingly a few miles area the signal is weak. I drove about a mile > east and the signal bars got stronger and then they got the strongest > a few miles a way. The phone worked fine there. > So does this mean my area is in a dead zone? > What can be done? How can Verizon put someone in a contract if it > knows that cell reception will be poor in there area? Why doesn't > Verizon fix this so we all could get uniform service. It seems a rip > off if I can't use my cell phone in my home. If you want uniform service, you'll have to allow cell towers in your neighborhood. Everyone wants cell service, but NIMBY ... --Gene [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: On my personal cell phone, which is on Cingular Wireless, my latest contract is about to run out, and when I was downtown Friday, I went in the Cingular Wireless store and talked to the lady about getting a new phone in exchange for renewing my contract. There were several hangups, IMO: the newer phones are a bit smaller and (a) they would not work with my existing Cell Socket device; I use a Nokia 5165, which is an older phone, but it works quite well (and, it also works quite well when tied into my PBXtra through the Cell Socket) ... (b) the picture quality on the newer phones, while it has gotten better, _still_ has a way to go before the picture quality is as good as an inexpensive digital PC camera, and (c) the lady told me unlike Cingular Wireless text messages, to send a picture costs more money, around 40 cents per transmission. If there was a way to avoid that transmission charge (for example by somehow transferring the picture directly to my computer, then using my own email to move the picture around, I might be inclined to get a new phone and try it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Justin Time Subject: Re: Cell Phone Reception Date: 14 Mar 2005 06:31:38 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com The best thing for you to do right now is take the phones back to Verizon and cancel the contract. They have to give you 30 days for "buyer's remorse." In your instance, it's not the phones, but the service. OBTW, the contract usually has a clause about "not all areas being served." ------------------------------ From: paulfoel Subject: Re: Draytek Router Problem - Class C Address Only on LAN Interface? Date: 14 Mar 2005 03:18:23 -0800 Hmmm. Seems a bit strange that it allows you create whatever netmask you like on the LAN port but, in affect, only looks at the last octet. Also, we've found that it does actually allow different subnets just only allows 255 entries in the ARP table. So, if theres a machine with 10.0.1.1 and one with 10.0.2.1 they are constantly switching around in the ARP table (which is not cool and does'nt work too well). Also, how can they define their router as 'residential' use? Doesn't it support something like 16 LAN to LAN VPNs or something? Not exactly home use ??? Any idea if 3COM, Linksys etc are the same ? ------------------------------ 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 V24 #114 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Mar 15 19:06:21 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2G06Kc24380; Tue, 15 Mar 2005 19:06:21 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 19:06:21 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503160006.j2G06Kc24380@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 V24 #115 TELECOM Digest Tue, 15 Mar 2005 19:06:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 115 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Former WorldCom CEO Guilty on All Counts (Lisa Minter) Hacker Whose E-Mail Called Police Goes to Jail (Lisa Minter) Comcast and TiVo Announce Strategic Partnership (Monty Solomon) Business/Payroll Website Still Not Secured (Marcus Didius Falco) Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft (Marcus Didius Falco) Vodafone to Acquire TIW's Assets in Romania (Telecom dailyLead USTA) Re: Cell Phone Reception (Thomas A. Horsley) Re: Cell Phone Reception (LB@notmine.com) Re: Cell Phone Reception (Justin Time) Re: Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid (John Levine) Re: Offering USA (ASR- (Robert Bonomi) 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: 15 Mar 2005 13:44:56 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Former WorldCom CEO Guilty on All Counts Former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers Convicted The verdict marked a colossal fall for Ebbers, who had turned a humble Mississippi long-distance provider into a global telecommunications power, swallowing up companies along the way and earning the nickname "Telecom Cowboy." A federal jury in Manhattan returned guilty verdicts on all nine counts, including securities fraud, conspiracy and lying to regulators; a decision that could send Ebbers, 63, to prison for the rest of his life. Sentencing was set for June 13. The former chief executive reddened deeply when the jury announced its verdict after eight days of deliberations, and his wife, Kristie, burst into tears in the courtroom's front row. Later, as his lawyer spoke outside, promising an appeal, Ebbers and his wife nearly toppled by the enormous crew of cameras and reporters camped outside the federal courthouse; made their way to a nearby street, hailed a cab and drove away. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales called the conviction a "triumph of our legal system." He said the jury had recognized that the fraud "extended from the middle management levels of this company all the way to its top executive." In a six-week trial, prosecutors painted Ebbers as obsessed with keeping WorldCom stock high, and panicked about pressure he was getting over $400 million in personal loans that were backed by his own WorldCom shares. From late 2000 to mid-2002, the government claimed, Ebbers intimidated chief financial officer Scott Sullivan into covering up billions of dollars in out-of-control expenses and recognizing improper revenue. "He was WorldCom, and WorldCom was Ebbers," prosecutor William Johnson told jurors. "He built the company. He ran it. Of course he directed this fraud." The defense claimed all along that the fraud was masterminded by Sullivan, who testified as the star government witness that Ebbers instructed him quarter after quarter to "hit our numbers"; meet Wall Street expectations. Ebbers himself took the witness stand at trial's end and flatly denied any role in the fraud. He said he viewed his role at the company as a visionary and cheerleader, was uncomfortable with accounting and left it to Sullivan. "He's never told me he made an (accounting) entry that wasn't right," Ebbers said of Sullivan. "If he had, we wouldn't be here today." The largely blue-collar jury of seven women and five men considered the case for eight days, an uncommonly long deliberation for white-collar cases, but never showed signs of discord. The jurors were ushered away from the courthouse without speaking to the media, and Judge Barbara Jones instructed reporters not to badger them. Outside court, top defense lawyer Reid Weingarten said he was "devastated" but predicted Ebbers "will ultimately be vindicated" on appeal. He said he had no regrets about calling Ebbers to testify. "I did not think Mr. Ebbers ever acted with criminal intent," he said. "Obviously we're disappointed by the result, but the fight will continue." Legal experts said the appeal would be difficult. Weingarten said part of the case would center on prosecutors' refusal to grant immunity to three former WorldCom executives the defense wanted to call as witnesses. The nine criminal counts against Ebbers, securities fraud, conspiracy and seven counts of making false filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission carry up to 85 years in prison. He will be free on bail until sentencing. The conviction comes more than two years after an internal auditor began asking questions about curious accounting at WorldCom, touching off a scandal that eventually unearthed $11 billion in cooked books. With the entire telecom industry suffering a dot-com hangover, the fraud was driven by soaring "line costs"; the fees WorldCom paid to smaller local telephone carriers to use their networks. Besides Sullivan, three former WorldCom accounting officials who have pleaded guilty in the case testified they were pressured to cover up the expenses. Only Sullivan directly implicated Ebbers. Ebbers still faces civil litigation, including from the company, which backed up his $400 million in personal loans when Bank of America demanded more and more collateral as the stock price fell. The company struck a $750 million settlement with federal regulators to repay aggrieved investors, a small sum compared to the tens of billions of dollars of market capitalization that evaporated in the scandal. WorldCom, which was based in Clinton, Miss., since re-emerged as MCI Inc., based in Ashburn, Va. Twelve former directors of the company, plus some investment banks that underwrote WorldCom securities and auditing firm Arthur Andersen, also face a civil trial brought by angry investors. That trial is scheduled to get under way later this month. In winning a conviction against Ebbers, federal prosecutors in Manhattan rang up another victory in a remarkable string of white-collar prosecutions that began in the summer of 2002. Martha Stewart, Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas and former dot-com banking star Frank Quattrone were all found guilty during that stretch, with the same prosecutor, David Anders, handling both Quattrone and Ebbers. The prosecutors have also wrung guilty pleas from countless other executives, including ImClone Systems Inc. founder Sam Waksal and five other former WorldCom officials who agreed to cooperate against Ebbers. Sullivan and the three former WorldCom executives who have pleaded guilty in the case still face sentencing. They hope to win lighter prison terms or none at all by cooperating with the government against Ebbers. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Associated Press. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shml ------------------------------ Date: 14 Mar 2005 22:37:02 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Hacker Whose E-Mail Called Police Goes to Jail SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A Louisiana man who wrote malicious e-mails that caused some computers to dial the 911 emergency number was sentenced on Monday to six months in prison. A U.S. federal judge sentenced David Jeansonne, 44, to the prison term as well as six months home detention after he admitted sending e-mails to about 20 subscribers of Microsoft's WebTV, a television Internet service since renamed MSN TV. Code embedded in the e-mail changed the subscriber's WebTV number to dial 911 rather than WebTV. Police dispatched officers on at least 10 occasions because of the 2002 hoax, officials said. Jeansonne pleaded guilty last month to two counts of intentionally damaging computers and causing a public safety threat. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 10:45:05 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Comcast and TiVo Announce Strategic Partnership Multi-Year Agreement to Make the TiVo Service Available to Comcast Customers PHILADELPHIA, and ALVISO, Calif., March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), the nation's leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services, and TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced that the companies have reached an agreement to make the TiVo(R) service and advertising capability widely available to Comcast customers in the majority of its markets around the country. Under the terms of the agreement, Comcast and TiVo will work together to develop a version of the TiVo service that will be made available on Comcast's current primary DVR platform. New software will be developed by TiVo and will be incorporated into Comcast's existing network platforms. The new service will be marketed with the TiVo brand, and is expected to be available on Comcast's DVR products in a majority of Comcast markets in mid-to-late 2006. This long-term, non-exclusive partnership will provide millions of Comcast customers with the opportunity to choose the TiVo service, including TiVo's award-winning user interface and features like Season Pass(TM) and WishList(TM), as an additional option. In addition, the service will showcase TiVo's home networking, multimedia, and broadband capabilities. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=47664337 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 15:34:48 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Boston.com / Business / Payroll Website Still Not Secured ------ Forwarded Message From: Aaron Greenspan <> Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 11:08:34 -0500 To: David Farber Subject: [IP] more on Payroll website still not secured Professor Farber, A friend of mine forwarded me the post that went out to interesting-people on the flaw I discovered at PayMaxx. While the Globe article covers part of it, the real crux of the issue is outlined in my white paper: http://www.thinkcomputer.com/corporate/news/identitycrisis.pdf Thanks, Aaron Aaron Greenspan President & CEO Think Computer Corporation http://www.thinkcomputer.com Payroll website still not secured By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | March 1, 2005 Boston software entrepreneur Aaron Greenspan, who revealed serious security flaws in the website of Tennessee payroll company PayMaxx Inc. last week, said yesterday that the site remains insecure. Greenspan said that a computer hacker still could use the site to obtain the Social Security numbers of hundreds of Americans. Greenspan called the management of PayMaxx 'incompetent,' and urged Congress to investigate the company. "They have no idea what they're doing," he said. Greenspan's company, Think Computer Corp., had its payrolls prepared by PayMaxx, of Franklin, Tenn., until late last year. After ending their relationship, Greenspan found that his name, address, Social Security number, and other personal data were still available on the PayMaxx website, which could be accessed by entering zeroes in the site's login windows. Greenspan also found that he could obtain the same information about other PayMaxx customers by typing random numbers into the browser's address window. He estimated that up to 100,000 files could be accessed this way. After being contacted by the Globe, PayMaxx shut down the insecure website service. But yesterday, Greenspan said he found another way into the system. This time, he demonstrated for the Globe how a data thief could obtain the Social Security numbers of people listed in the PayMaxx system. Greenspan said that PayMaxx apparently used workers' Social Security numbers to identify them to the website software. But the company's method made it easy to read those numbers by merely activating the 'view source' feature found on all Web browsers. A spokesperson for PayMaxx said that the company would shut down the site entirely until questions about its security were resolved. The spokesperson also said that there was no indication that anybody had stolen personal data from the site. Greenspan said he's contacted the office of US Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York. Schumer has called for legislation to limit data-mining services that contribute to identity theft. Congressional concern over the potential privacy threat erupted in February, when mistakenly sold 140,000 files to criminals. Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company NOTE: To read several hundred New York Times items on line here each day with no login nor registration requirement, set your browser to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html . PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 15:33:59 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Los Angeles Times: Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-scam14mar14,0,2533939.story Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft By David Colker Times Staff Writer Executives at besieged information broker ChoicePoint Inc. have said they had no idea how vulnerable the company was to the identity thieves who recently tapped into personal data on 145,000 Americans, igniting a national furor over privacy. Chairman Derek Smith told CNBC last week, for instance, that management "never realized the sophistication organized crime" would demonstrate in order to access ChoicePoint files. But documents in a criminal case against a brother-and-sister team that pulled a similar scam several years ago suggest that penetrating ChoicePoint's defenses could take little more than a home computer, a fax machine and a bottle of Wite-Out. "This is an old-fashioned kind of thing," said Deputy Special Agent Dale Pupillo of the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates cases of credit card fraud and identity theft. Hackers capable of stealing data electronically increasingly pose a threat, but "this was kind of low-tech." That worries consumer advocates and lawmakers. Several members of Congress have proposed laws that would require data brokers to establish effective security systems to keep the Social Security numbers and other confidential data they gather and store out of the hands of fraud artists. ChoicePoint executives declined to be interviewed for this article but issued a statement reiterating the company's view that recent data thefts from ChoicePoint and rival information broker LexisNexis provide "ample proof of the seriousness and sophistication of this type of fraud." Both ChoicePoint and LexisNexis, a unit of Reed Elsevier, have said they will institute new policies to ensure that only government agencies and legitimate businesses can gain access to their data, which are used to verify employment applications, screen credit applicants and investigate security risks. But it might not be wise to trust the companies to police themselves, said Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the advocacy organization U.S. Public Interest Research Group. "I question whether companies [that have been] so cavalier with confidential consumer information will really change their attitude without tough new laws and a lot of lawsuits," Mierzwinski said. Court documents in the 2002 case of Bibiana and Adedayo Benson who were convicted and sentenced to federal prison shed light on what it took to steal data from ChoicePoint and open fraudulent credit card and bank accounts in the names of unknowing victims. The case, which led to at least $1 million in losses, attracted no public attention at the time. Like the most recent security breach, it involved con artists using simple and time-tested methods to hoodwink the data broker. According to the court records, Bibiana Benson applied for a ChoicePoint account in the name of Christine Lorraine Burton on April 2, 2000. To get the account, Benson needed two things: Burton's Social Security number and a professional or business license. ChoicePoint requires a copy of "business or professional licensing," according to its current application form, because information obtained from its databases may be used only for "business reasons." Benson had the Social Security number. (The documents don't say how she obtained it, but authorities say there was evidence her brother was involved in identity theft before the ChoicePoint infiltration.) The California real estate broker's license in Burton's name was a fake. Benson faxed the license to ChoicePoint along with the application form. The real Christine Burton, who was living in a small town in Indiana, told a Secret Service investigator that she had no real estate license and never had resided in California, and the California Department of Real Estate said there was no license on record in Burton's name. But it's easy to fake a document such as a real estate license if it only has to withstand scrutiny as a fax, forgery expert James Black said. "Piece of cake," said Black, who has testified in many forgery cases. "All you need is a [valid] license form, Wite-Out and a copy machine." Investigators discovered the fake real estate license when they searched Bibiana Benson's home, the court records show. There is no indication in the records whether ChoicePoint attempted to check on the authenticity of the license. Benson who pleaded guilty in September 2002 to a felony count of unlawful use of identification told an investigator after her arrest that she was working with a ring of identity thieves. She said ring members would give her names, often taken from building mailboxes, and that she would then do the research using her online account with ChoicePoint, securing the Social Security numbers and other information needed to steal people's identities. Ring members paid $45 to $65 per record, she said. ChoicePoint accounts given to investigators showed she examined at least 7,000 personal data files in a two-year period. Her brother Adedayo, who pleaded guilty to three felony counts, used the information to establish fraudulent accounts. The first step was to rent mailboxes at private mailbox companies in the San Fernando Valley and Beverly Hills. Then he would apply for credit cards in the name of consumers whose data his sister had stolen, using the mailboxes as the return address, the court records show. "Once I took over the box," he told investigators after his arrest, "I just called the bank and asked them to send me a credit card to the mailbox number. I called several banks." He would then use the card to buy expensive goods and take out cash advances. The court documents detail only a few of his purchases; one receipt from Circuit City is for two laptop computers. Another part of the scam was producing fake driver's licenses. One that Adedayo Benson used, complete with his picture, was in the name of Dale Patterson. Investigators determined that the person whose identity was lifted for the card was a woman whose full name was Dale Veronica Patterson. Forgery expert Black said that obtaining fake driver's licenses was one of the least challenging jobs for the fraud ring. "We could go over to MacArthur Park," Black said, referring to the Mid-Wilshire area park that has long had crime problems, "and come back about an hour later with 10 fake licenses, with pictures. "It's an old game." If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Los Angeles Times. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 12:23:03 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Vodafone to Acquire TIW's Assets in Romania, Czech Republic Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 15, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20069&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Vodafone to acquire TIW's assets in Romania, Czech Republic BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Comcast forms partnership with TiVo * Virgin Mobile, Nokia unveil inexpensive phone for teen market * BT offers Ethernet services outside of U.K. * Malone, now on Cablevision board, has doubts about Voom * Fox Sports to offer wireless highlights USTA SPOTLIGHT * USTA/Deloitte Tax Summit@SUPERCOMM EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Inmarsat launches first of three birds REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Still no sign of verdict in Ebbers trial Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20069&l=2017006 ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Cell Phone Reception From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 22:39:56 GMT TELECOM Digest Editor queried: > If there was a way to avoid that transmission charge (for example by > somehow transferring the picture directly to my computer... Go visit the forums over on http://www.howardforums.com/, the phone hackers there have info on just about every model phone (where to find cables that hook to your computer, what software and drivers you need to extract info off the phone, etc). I have an audiovox 8910 I extract pictures from all the time using bitpm and a cable for a different model LG phone. >>==>> The *Best* political site >>==+ email: Tom.Horsley@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL | Free Software and Politics <<==+ ------------------------------ From: LB@notmine.com Subject: Re: Cell Phone Reception Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 18:31:23 -0500 Organization: Optimum Online Gene S. Berkowitz wrote: > In article , bumblebee4451@yahoo.com > says: >> I have been having problems with my cell phone (LG) dropping calls in >> my home. Seems like you talk for a few minutes and the call is >> dropped. Getting tired of this and thinking it was my phone, I went >> to Verizon since I was near the end of my contract and got 2 new LG >> 6100 camera phones (one for me and one for my son). I paid over $200 >> -- there is a rebate. >> Well don't you know it the same thing happens with this phone. I did >> some testing and find that the signal bars are very weak in my area >> (suburban), its not just my house ( a regular wood house) but >> seemingly a few miles area the signal is weak. I drove about a mile >> east and the signal bars got stronger and then they got the strongest >> a few miles a way. The phone worked fine there. >> So does this mean my area is in a dead zone? >> What can be done? How can Verizon put someone in a contract if it >> knows that cell reception will be poor in there area? Why doesn't >> Verizon fix this so we all could get uniform service. It seems a rip >> off if I can't use my cell phone in my home. > If you want uniform service, you'll have to allow cell towers in your > neighborhood. Everyone wants cell service, but NIMBY ... > --Gene > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: On my personal cell phone, which is on > Cingular Wireless, my latest contract is about to run out, and when > I was downtown Friday, I went in the Cingular Wireless store and > talked to the lady about getting a new phone in exchange for renewing > my contract. There were several hangups, IMO: the newer phones are > a bit smaller and (a) they would not work with my existing Cell Socket > device; I use a Nokia 5165, which is an older phone, but it works > quite well (and, it also works quite well when tied into my PBXtra > through the Cell Socket) ... (b) the picture quality on the newer > phones, while it has gotten better, _still_ has a way to go before the > picture quality is as good as an inexpensive digital PC camera, and > (c) the lady told me unlike Cingular Wireless text messages, to send > a picture costs more money, around 40 cents per transmission. If there > was a way to avoid that transmission charge (for example by somehow > transferring the picture directly to my computer, then using my own > email to move the picture around, I might be inclined to get a new > phone and try it. PAT] Pat, How many pictures do you take? Since I use a phone for talking first a little math showed me that buying a hookup would not be economical for me. LB [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ditto here; mainly I have a cell phone to catch incoming calls (landline forwards on busy or no answer to cell phone) and to call Jeff (the cab driver) to come fetch me to go back home if I am out. I was sitting at Uncle Jack's (local restaurant and watering hole) the other day when a young guy came in with a newer style camera/picture phone. He showed me how it worked and emailed me a picture of myself. I'm afraid my eyes and interests were bigger than my budget once again. It really would not be economical for me either, and only serve to raise my monthly bill a few dollars. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Justin Time Subject: Re: Cell Phone Reception Date: 15 Mar 2005 05:22:08 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com TELECOM Digest Editor Noted in response to a question: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: On my personal cell phone, which is on > Cingular Wireless, my latest contract is about to run out, and when > I was downtown Friday, I went in the Cingular Wireless store and > talked to the lady about getting a new phone in exchange for renewing > my contract. There were several hangups, IMO: the newer phones are > a bit smaller and (a) they would not work with my existing Cell Socket > device; I use a Nokia 5165, which is an older phone, but it works > quite well (and, it also works quite well when tied into my PBXtra > through the Cell Socket) ... (b) the picture quality on the newer > phones, while it has gotten better, _still_ has a way to go before the > picture quality is as good as an inexpensive digital PC camera, and > (c) the lady told me unlike Cingular Wireless text messages, to send > a picture costs more money, around 40 cents per transmission. If > there was a way to avoid that transmission charge (for example by somehow > transferring the picture directly to my computer, then using my own > email to move the picture around, I might be inclined to get a new > phone and try it. PAT] And what the lady in the Cingular store DIDN'T tell you was that all the new phones are GSM. While on the average the sound quality is better with GSM (a poor analogy would be FM and AM radio) they will not work in an analog service area. The TDMA phone you are now carrying, the 5165, should have about 5 more years of service life left -- assuming the phone itself doesn't die -- before they shut down the older TDMA networks. As more people move to GSM, the service on TDMA will become somewhat spotty (like GSM was a couple of years ago) and the few channels allocated will be busy, the ability to make an analog roaming call in the event of an emergency can be a mitigating factor. If you don't do a lot of traveling -- I know you take the cab, -- then moving to GSM and its price plans may be a good move -- if the right phone can be found. If there is an old AT&T Wireless office near you, stop in and see if they have any stock left. The "Blue" phones are no longer being ordered and are not offered for sale, but if you ask they may trot one or two out of the stock in the back room. Any they sell and activate are ones that are not written off. OBTW, Cingular calls the two networks "Blue" and "Orange." Blue being the AT&T equipment, Orange the Cingular. The biggest problem they have right now in this merger is getting the back offices merged. Working for the government (and no, we're not here to help), we can only order "Blue" as "Orange" isn't the name on the contract. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am sort of provincial these days; I only rarely get out of Independence, and then I go to Coffeyville or perhaps Neodesha or Cherryvale. We _had_ an AT&T Wireless office here in town four years ago, then one day the same storefront (122 North Penn) had a Cingular Wireless sign in front of it, but the same people were working there. The manager said to me "about a week ago AT&T decided to trade our agency to Cingular Wireless, and all the customers as well." At the time I migrated here from the Chicago area, I had an AT&T Wireless phone, but AT&T has or had a policy that if their customer roamed out of range, AT&T would hold the customer on _their_ tower as long as possible, even though the transmission got pretty awful. They would only release the call to another tower (a competitor) when they absolutely had to, and then to a Cell One system. I had a Chicago area 630 number on my phone (also a 'blue' Nokia 5165) which was registered with AT&T. The phone said 'AT&T' on the LED when I was in Chicago, St. Louis or Tulsa on the bus coming here, and it did all the AT&T features. Once the bus got north of Tulsa the screen display changed to say 'AT&T Extended Area'; I got handed off to Cellular One (a company named 'Dobson Cell One' is big in this area), but according to conversations I had on the phone with Mike Sandman, the connection sounded pretty awful (as AT&T customer being handled by Dobson which I would be here.) I went by the AT&T (but now Cingular Wireless) dealer a few days after I first migrated here and asked them to switch my phone over to Cingular. The lady said it could not be done. Yes, it is the same phone (Nokia 5165) which she had a stack of sitting in her window, but AT&T has some firmware installed which locks out anyone but themselves and no programming is possible. She said she would give me the very same 'blue phone' (Nokia 5165) but they could _not_ do anything with the AT&T. AT&T confirmed the same thing, as did the other cellular dealers in town (Radio Shack sells Alltel [which also goes through Dobson here]), United States Cellular agreed, and do did Dobson Cell One: "take whatever phone you like and get it turned on, but the AT&T Wireless Phone can go in the garbage can when you give up using AT&T." So I got the AT&T Wireless Nokia 5165 cut over to prepaid to use in emergencies and got a Wichita area 316 number installed on it. It still refers to itself as 'AT&T Extended Area' (Wichita is too far away to reach us directly, and Tulsa is too far south to reach us directly. I mostly use the Cingular Wireless Nokia 5165 since they have cellular towers in town (one is five blocks away from me, at the Presbyterian Church bell tower). They both work fine in my Cell Socket so I guess I will just keep what I have and use it until it either falls apart or gets turned off totally. I know GSM is very popular here, all the kids carrying cell phones have these newer (and relatively small, and IMO flimsy) little things. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 15 Mar 2005 05:13:27 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Power grids existed long before networked-computers came out. Why > would the grid be so vulnerable now? See below. > Shouldn't those critical networks be isolated from outside access > altogether? You'd think so. > Secondly, they should be more worried about grid overloads from all > the power source shifting done today. The grids were not designed to > handle that kind of loads and problems like the recent NYC-NE > blackout will occur again. Exactly. The links between utilities were designed as backup, not the primary source of power. But that's what they've become, and they haven't been reengineered to match. R's, John ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Offering USA (ASR- Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 05:24:57 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Phil Lall wrote: > We have developed a domestic USA network that offers superb quality > and reliability with aggressive pricing that is especially attractive > for the carrier that does not want to deal with a sophisticated USA > routing scheme and wants to send all of it's USA traffic to only one > carrier. INCLUDING Alaska and Hawaii. Pricing for USA is: > > Onnet $.0075 > Offnet $.0129 > Flat- 1c > > Regards, > Phil > phillall@lycos.com Can't/Won't tell us who the company is. Posting from a freemail account. Prices "too good to be true". <*SNIFF*> is that eau d'NorVergance he's wearing? ------------------------------ 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 V24 #115 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Mar 16 09:45:29 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2GEjSP01753; Wed, 16 Mar 2005 09:45:29 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 09:45:29 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503161445.j2GEjSP01753@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 V24 #116 TELECOM Digest Wed, 16 Mar 2005 09:46:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 116 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Online Banking Industry Very Vulnerable to Cross-Site Script (M Solomon) Know your Enemy: Tracking Botnets (Monty Solomon) 3 Verizon Phones -- Throw Away or What? (Paintblot) British Firm Breaks Ground in Surveillance Science (Marcus Didius Falco) What Happened To Channel 1 (davisdynasty83) Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? (delete 'z' for my real address) Correlator (Flavia) Re: Former WorldCom CEO Guilty on All Counts (Thomas A. Horsley) Re: Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? (Hank Karl) Re: Cell Phone Reception (Joseph) Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing (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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 11:53:47 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Online Banking Industry Very Vulnerable to Cross-Site Scripting Online Banking Industry Very Vulnerable to Cross-Site Scripting Frauds Phishing Attacks reported by members of the Netcraft Toolbar community show that many large banks are neglecting to take sufficient care with the development and testing of their online banking facilities. Well known banks have created an infestation of application bugs and vulnerabilities across the Internet, allowing fraudsters to insert their data collection forms into bona fide banking sites, creating convincing frauds that are undetectable to most customers. Indeed, a personal finance journalist writing for The Motley Fool was brave enough to publicly admit to having fallen for a fraud running on Suntrust's site and having her current account cleaned out. It's a reasonable premise that if a Motley Fool journalist can fall for a fraud, anyone can. One fraud recently blocked by the Netcraft Toolbar was at Citizens Bank. Fraudsters composed and mass mailed a phishing mail which exploited a program on CitizensBank.com, loading Javascript from the attackers' server hosted at Telecom Italia. Customers were presented with a page bearing the CitizensBank.com URL in the address bar, while the browser window displays a form from the Telecom Italia server asking for user login information. The script being exploited allows visitors to search for Citizens Bank branch offices in their town. Along with search scripts, branch locator pages are frequently carelessly coded and are targets for fraudsters who are actively analyzing financial web sites for weaknesses. http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2005/03/11/online_banking_industry_very_vulnerable_to_crosssite_scripting_frauds.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 11:53:06 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Know Your Enemy: Tracking Botnets Using honeynets to learn more about Bots The Honeynet Project & Research Alliance http://www.honeynet.org Last Modified: 13 March 2005 Honeypots are a well known technique for discovering the tools, tactics, and motives of attackers. In this paper we look at a special kind of threat: the individuals and organizations who run botnets. A botnet is a network of compromised machines that can be remotely controlled by an attacker. Due to their immense size (tens of thousands of systems can be linked together), they pose a severe threat to the community. With the help of honeynets we can observe the people who run botnets -- a task that is difficult using other techniques. Due to the wealth of data logged, it is possible to reconstruct the actions of attackers, the tools they use, and study them in detail. In this paper we take a closer look at botnets, common attack techniques, and the individuals involved. We start with an introduction to botnets and how they work, with examples of their uses. We then briefly analyze the three most common bot variants used. Next we discuss a technique to observe botnets, allowing us to monitor the botnet and observe all commands issued by the attacker. We present common behavior we captured, as well as statistics on the quantitative information learned through monitoring more than one hundred botnets during the last few months. We conclude with an overview of lessons learned and point out further research topics in the area of botnet-tracking, including a tool called mwcollect2 that focuses on collecting malware in an automated fashion. http://www.honeynet.org/papers/bots/ ------------------------------ From: Paintblot Subject: 3 Verizon Phones - Throw Away or What? Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 16:04:03 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications I'm permanently leaving the USA in a few weeks. I have a Verizon account with 3 telephones, 2 of which are almost new. These phones have 2 year contracts. When we leave, what should I do? I cannot take them back to Verizon, because all they'll want is the big dollar contract buyout, which I won't pay (let them attack my credit, who cares, I'm not coming back here). Sell the phones? Aren't they banned from continuing to work on the Verizon network, and locked into the Verizon network? Just destroy them and throw them away? Any advice appreciated! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My personal advice, for whatever it is worth, is sell them for a few dollars each and get what you can out of them. If you know anyone you can generally trust, sell them a phone (for ten or twenty dollars?) with the understanding that _they_ can continue to pay the bill for the remainder of the contract (or until they get tired of paying the bill and/or the phone gets turned off, whichever comes first. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 21:32:20 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: British Firm Breaks Ground in Surveillance Science http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7892255 By Mark Trevelyan, Security Correspondent MALVERN, England (Reuters) - The "suicide bomber" clips a shrapnel-filled belt around his waist and buttons up his jacket to conceal it. As he turns back and forth in front of a semi-circular white panel, about the size of a shower cubicle, a computer monitor shows the metal-packed cylinders standing out clearly in white against his body. This is no real security alarm: it's a demonstration at the British technology group QinetiQ of a scanning device that sees under people's clothes to spot not just metal but other potential threats like ceramic knives or hidden drugs. The electromagnetic technology, known as Millimeter Wave (MMW), is just one aspect of a potential revolution in security screening being pioneered at QinetiQ, formerly part of the research arm of the British defense ministry. "Actually, detecting a suicide bomber in the lobby of an airport is not a great thing to happen," Simon Stringer, new managing director of QinetiQ's security business, says with British understatement. "It's slightly better than having him do it in the departure lounge or perhaps on the plane, but you're still doing to have to deal with a significant problem." That's why, he says, the trend for the future will be to move the scanners outside the terminal building and operate them in "stand-off mode" -- checking people from a distance before they even set foot inside. The advantage is obvious: to spot potential attackers without alerting them to the fact, and gain precious seconds for security forces to prevent an attack. ARE YOU SWEATING TOO MUCH? Another prospect in store for air travelers is "hyperspectral sensing" that will check for chemicals called pheromones, secreted by the human body, which may indicate agitation or stress. "People under stress tend to exude slightly different pheromones, and you can pick this up ... There are sensing techniques we're working on," Stringer said. The stress may have an innocent cause, such as fear of flying, but could also betray the nervousness of a potential attacker. The point is to alert security staff to something unusual that may need further investigation. As with MMW, the technology could function at a distance and without the need for people to wait in line. By conducting such checks while people are approaching the airport and moving through it, authorities could avoid bottlenecks and queues. SUSPICIOUS MOVEMENTS As the passenger proceeds through the terminal, the next layer of surveillance could be carried out through "cognitive software" which monitors his or her movements and sounds a silent alarm if it picks up an unusual pattern. "Someone who's been back in and out of the same place three times or keeps bumping into the same people might be something that's worthy of further investigation ... I think that's really the sort of capabilities we're going to be looking at," Stringer said in an interview. While many of these technologies are still under development, others have already been rolled out to clients by QinetiQ, which made group operating profit of 28 million pounds ($53.9 million) in the six months to last September. Millimeter wave, for example, has been tested at airports and, in a different application, is being used by British immigration authorities and Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel to detect illegal immigrants trying to enter the country as stowaways in the back of trucks. Stringer says the potential market for MMW runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars and goes well beyond the transport sector. "We're spending quite a lot of time talking to multinationals who want to establish perimeter security systems around plant, installations and buildings," he said. QinetiQ -- owned 30 percent by private equity group Carlyle and 56 percent by the British government -- expects rapid growth for its security business as it gears up for a stock market launch. BIG BROTHER? But how will ordinary people embrace the prospect of surveillance technology that sees through their clothes, checks how much they're sweating and tracks their airport wanderings between the tax-free shops and the toilets? Stringer acknowledges that some might see this as George Orwell's Big Brother come true. "There are always going to be issues of privacy here and they're not to be belittled, they're important." But he says smarter technology will actually make the checks less intrusive than those now in standard practice, such as being searched head to foot after setting off a metal detector alarm. "Personally I find that more irritating than the idea of someone just scanning me as I walk through," he said. "You're under surveillance in airports anyway. What you're looking at here is just being applied more intelligently." NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: davisdynasty83 Subject: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: 15 Mar 2005 19:06:16 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I've always wondered what happened to Channel 1 as a viable television channel. Is there a substantial reason behind this? I am very interested in this particular issue and if anyone could provide me with any information pertaining to this subject I would greatly apprecaite it. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is a topic we have covered here on a few occassions in the past. The generally accepted answer is that the lowest of the television channels (one through four or five) are allocated in very close proximity to the 'VHF-low' radio frequencies. In fact, channel one on television overlapped a section of the VHF-low area and caused much interference with VHF-low radio activities (30-50 megs) so it was decided to return the use of that frequency to the VHF-low people (often times small town police/sheriff forces, etc). This decision (to return the 'channel one' allocation to the VHF-low people) was made back in the early days of television, around the 1940's. So for most people, they can never remember a time when there 'used to be a channel one'. More modern (over the air) television sets do not even include a '1' dial any longer, and haven't for about a half-century. Now cable-ready television sets and channel one is a totally different matter. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Walter Dnes (delete the 'z') Subject: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? Date: 16 Mar 2005 05:27:14 GMT Reply-To: see_my_sig_at_bottom_of_message@waltdnes.org I was originally going to post this in answer to another posting, but this goes off on its own tangent, so I'm giving it a separate thread. When the original Iridium was being drawn up on the planning boards, the accountants went over the numbers very meticulously. They compared the cost of of an inconvenient bulky Iridium receiver with the cost of an inconvenient bulky mobile-telephone receiver (break-even). They compared the projected worldwide coverage of Iridium with the miniscule footprints of mobile-telephone transmitters, which were almost all located in a few major city centres (advantage Iridium). They compared the horrendously high cost-per-minute of Iridium usage with the horrendously high cost-per-minute of international long distance (break even). Etc, etc. After going through the entire business plan, Iridium looked like a winner. But the telecom industry changed between the drawing board and launch pad. Inconvenient bulky mobile-telephone receivers were replaced by dinky little cellphones. Cellphone companies built out their coverage area to include almost all potential customers in the 1st world. And cellphone and long distance rates plummeted due to competition. Iridium was doomed even if it launched on budget and on spec. The only major customers now are mineral exploration companies and US DOD in really isolated places with no telecom infrastructure. I'm sure that satellite radio went through much the same number crunching under the eyes of watchful accountants 10 years ago. Back then, we had reached the extreme limit of regular modems at 33.6 kbits/sec. FM-mono yes, but nowhere near good enough for FM-stereo quality, let alone CD quality. Besides, if someone really wanted to listen to it a lot, you'd need a second phone line, another $30/month. Things change. A lot of satellite radio's target households have broadband and can get "internet radio" now. Both satellite and internet radio have to pay royalties. But internet radio only pays incremental bandwidth costs over the net, while satellite radio has to pay for a network of satellites to be launched and maintained in orbit. Satellite radio requires an antenna or dish of some sort, while internet radio is simply another item in your browser's bookmark list. The car was supposed to be the last refuge of satellite radio that internet radio couldn't touch. But 3G, WiFi, and WiMax are showing that it can be done. I think that satellite radio will be another "Pola-Vision". Interesting technology that was rendered obsolete by other developments as it came out. Walter Dnes; my email address is *ALMOST* like wzaltdnes@waltdnes.org Delete the "z" to get my real address. If that gets blocked, follow the instructions at the end of the 550 message. ------------------------------ From: flavia_rafols@yahoo.es (Flavia) Subject: Correlator Date: 16 Mar 2005 02:15:10 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello! I work in a project with Spread Spectrum Technik. I must to program a correlator. I have read about matched filters. That is wie to program a fir filter? I have a question. I wanted to know how can I choose a PN-Code. I have a noise and die Spectrum, and ideal I want to choose a code which the spectrum complementary. How can I make it? I know that I can produce codes with simulink, but how can I choose a code with the complementary spectrum for my noise? Thanks and regards, Flavia Rafols ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Former WorldCom CEO Guilty on All Counts From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 02:13:21 GMT I think what the jurors "got" wasn't necessarily a complete grasp of a complex case, but simple recognition that Ebbers should have known what was going on even if he really didn't, and that he should go to jail for either fraud or incompetence, so they might as well convict him :-). >>==>> The *Best* political site >>==+ email: Tom.Horsley@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL | Free Software and Politics <<==+ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am reminded of a new book written by Fred Goldstein entitled 'The Great Telecom Meltdown' which does cover a lot of the history of telecom since 1879 to the present, but with much emphasis on the post-divestiture era, and specifically the time frame from 1996-2003. It is a very technical book; you cannot just flip the pages to read it. I'll do a more detailed review of it here in a few days, but not only WorldCom/MCI but Qwest as well are discussed. And the story of Bernard Ebbers is _not_ the end of the tale. It appears the folks in Denver are in for some hard times with the law in the near future. Fred also gets into a discussion of the 'dot.com' bubble bursting and the myth of 'the internet is doubling in size every hundred days' which was considered to be gospel in the late 1990's. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Hank Karl Subject: Re: Vonage or Lingo Allow For Faxing? Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 22:06:06 -0500 Organization: NETPLEX Internet Services - http://www.ntplx.net/ They both have a fax line "free" with the business service. On 13 Mar 2005 18:57:54 -0800, zcarenow@yahoo.com wrote: > Do any of these services allow the capability for me to use my fax > machine to fax out and receive faxes from others? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Cell Phone Reception Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 22:43:38 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 22:39:56 GMT, tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) wrote: > Go visit the forums over on http://www.howardforums.com/, the > phone hackers there have info on just about every model phone > (where to find cables that hook to your computer, what software > and drivers you need to extract info off the phone, etc). > I have an audiovox 8910 I extract pictures from all the time > using bitpm and a cable for a different model LG phone. I really don't think those who contribute to Howardforums would appreciate you calling them *hackers!* Would you like someone to call you a hacker? Howardforums prides itself for not allowing information that is proprietary. They do not even allow discussion of phone unlocking which is very legal but it's a subject that the board owner has forbidden in discussions. Be very careful of what you accuse someone of being. ------------------------------ From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick Townson) Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 6:00:00 EST Subject: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing Buffy is _huge_ dog of the Australian Cattle Dog variety. When I say huge, I mean of the Irish Wolfhound type of animal. She is several months old, very playful, and came into my life about two weeks ago. She is very 'rough around the edges, had not been housebroken when I got her and had obviously been mistreated in her younger days by her previous master. I say that because when I roll up a newspaper in my hands and she sees me doing it, she becomes _very_ submissive and quiet, afraid she is going to get swatted, etc. And, very important, she has not been 'fixed' as of yet. When she came here to live, she had a collar which was far too tight, had caused some skin irritations on her. One of the guys who hangs around here a lot, a kid named Eric brought her over and asked me if I could 'give her a good home'. After finding out the hard way that Buffy had not been housebroken, and watching her cower and become submissive right after she made a mess in my parlor, I saw the problem. She was expecting to get swatted for doing what comes natural for dogs -- for all of us I guess. By using the word 'potty' and opening the door to my backyard I finally got her to understand to let me know when she wanted to go outside to do 'it', and now she is pretty much housebroken. And that brings me to the gist of this story: About 4 AM this morning, while I was asleep, Buffy started making a ruccus. I stumbled out of bed, went to the back door mumbling 'potty' and pushed the door open. Buffy was all excited and in trying to get out the door with me in it she knocked me down. I fell, banged up my own face pretty well, and chipped a tooth which was about gone anyway. Remember, she _is_ a very big dog, weighing close to a hundred pounds, who likes to jump in the air and race around the room as she communicates with me. She came back inside, saw my face all bloody as I laid on the bed and decided she would lick my face to tell me she was sorry, etc. Needless to say, the two cats totally *hate* Buffy, and run to hide when they see her coming. Now comes about 8 AM, I had not been able to get back to sleep, my face is all swollen up and I am missing a couple of teeth. Lisa's mother shows up (she had a key to get in and out as does Justin (Lisa's husband) and Eric, mainly in case I wind up croaking sometime in the middle of the night. She gets _very_ anxious seeing me there with swollen face, missing tooth and calls Lisa to come over. Lisa arrives, looks me over and says sarcastically 'well what happened to you, did Justin or Eric come over during the night and decide to beat you up, or punish you?' I told her it was that damn dog that Eric had brought over. Now they want me to call the Animal Control officer for the city and have Buffy taken away to the Animal Shelter and a certain death I imagine. But I am going to continue trying to work with the animal if I can; she loves me and I love her, and even if the two cats still hate her, I am sure they will learn to at least tolerate her. But, I have to go to the doctor myself later today and have him decide what to do about my swollen face, if anything. And as for now, Buffy is curled up under my feet at the computer desk sound asleep. 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. 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 V24 #116 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Mar 16 16:49:26 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2GLnQp05176; Wed, 16 Mar 2005 16:49:26 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 16:49:26 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503162149.j2GLnQp05176@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 V24 #117 TELECOM Digest Wed, 16 Mar 2005 16:30:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 117 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Spain Leads 12-Nation Crackdown on Internet Child Porn (Lisa Minter) E-Mail Paranoia (Lisa Minter) Ebbers Convicted of $11 Billion Fraud (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) VoIP's Next Step: Hearings On The Hill (Jack Decker) Lifespan of a Desktop PC? (Lisa Hancock) The Lost Lessons of the 1920s and 1930s (Lisa Hancock) FTC Goes After Spyware Firm (Justin Time) Hosting Content on Zombie Computer Networks (Gareth Morrissey) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Michael Quinn) Re: 3 Verizon Phones - Throw Away or What? (Justin Time) Re: 3 Verizon Phones - Throw Away or What? (Joseph) Re: 3 Verizon Phones - Throw Away or What? (John Levine) Re: Cell Phone Reception (Dean) Re: Cell Phone Reception (John Levine) Re: Los Angeles Times: Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft (L. Hancock) Re: Former WorldCom CEO Guilty on All Counts (Lisa Hancock) 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: 16 Mar 2005 07:09:54 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Spain Leads 12-Nation Crackdown on Internet Child Porn MADRID (Reuters) - Spain said Wednesday it was coordinating a 12-nation police operation against Internet child pornography and around 500 arrests were expected. Police were making simultaneous searches of homes in Spain, France, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Chile, Argentina, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Nineteen people had been arrested so far throughout Spain and worldwide arrests were expected to total around 500, the ministry said. The operation targets child pornography distributed through a Spanish-language Internet chat room. Police had found more than 20,000 items containing child porn, including videos, photographs and MP3 files and had also seized video cameras and documents, the ministry said. The investigation began in January when a Spaniard complained to authorities about "highly aggressive" photographs of very young children that were available through an Internet chat room, the Interior Ministry said. Spanish police monitored the site to find out who was putting the material on the Internet and tracked down more than 900 connections from all over the world in two weeks. Spain then informed Eurojust and IbeRed, organizations that coordinate judicial cooperation in Europe and Latin America respectively. Investigating judges from all countries involved took part in planning meetings before Wednesday's swoop. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters, Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is it just me, or do other readers think that child porn is getting increasingly common? It seems like every few weeks now, we read where X-hundred people have been arrested for it. Then before long, another X-hundred more have been arrested. Whoever said that child porn was a universally disliked crime? I think more people are 'into it' than we realize. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: E-Mail Paranoia Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMT I love the Toshiba laptop I bought last year. I keep just about everything related to work, school, and my finances on it. So when I received an e-mail from Toshiba warning that my model may have a data-threatening memory defect, I was anxious to find out whether my machine was affected. A link in the message took me to a Toshiba Web page, which promised to download a utility to my PC that would check for a defective memory module. All I had to do was click one button. But just as I was about to click that button, a doubt bubbled up from the depths of my digital credulity. Could the whole thing be a scam? Was I about to download and install a Trojan horse, backdoor program, or worm? As it turned out, it wasn't a trick: Toshiba really did send out an e-mail containing an embedded link leading to an executable file download located at a long, complex Web address. Trouble is, phishing exploits, browser hijackers, and other online scams often hook their victims by using similar-looking e-mail messages. Fortunately, you can learn to spot these e-mail cons by using a handful of investigative techniques and a boatload of common sense. Here are some of the ways to tell a genuine message from a bogus one. Don't Take the Bait If you keep just this one thing in mind, you'll protect yourself from the majority of e-mail attacks: Assume any message could be malicious. It matters not who the sender appears to be, or whether the message's corporate logos, artwork, and embedded links look authentic. It's a trivial matter for scam artists to create fake messages that contain return addresses, images, and URLs lifted from the real company's own Web site. Next, use your newfound paranoia to examine messages critically. If you don't have an account with Citibank, for example, the company won't be sending you any account-related e-mail. But even messages that appear to come from firms you have an account with may not be real. Remember, your new motto is "Trust No One." Before clicking a link or taking any action requested in a message, determine for certain that the message is genuine. Return addresses, embedded links, and images can be deceiving. Look for dire warnings and other classic con techniques, undoubtedly accompanied by a link to a bogus Web site where you'll be asked to enter personal information. Legitimate e-mails and scams can look very much alike. Both may be text-based, reasonably well written, and plausible (although phishing messages often contain typos and poorly composed sentences with questionable logic). Both also contain real addresses to each company's Web site. The only difference is that, for example, a faux-Citibank message also may have a link to a short-lived phishing site where the unsuspecting visitor is asked to enter personal information. Rather than providing a link to a specific page, genuine messages from companies that are savvy to phishing and other online fraud will generally instruct you to visit or log in to the company's main Web site. Another clue: A phishing message may be delivered to an e-mail address that you don't use with that company or institution. Note that I've received phishing messages at a widely publicized (and indexed) address (nettips@pcworld.com), whereas a genuine PayPal message came to my personal address, which I had previously verified with PayPal. If you get a message at an address you never registered with the company, it's fake. Intuition and a suspicious nature are a good start, but to separate real messages from bogus ones, you also need to decipher their Web addresses. In a couple text-based messages I received, all addresses were plain text, so what I clicked was what I got. Clicking "https://www.paypal.com" took me to the real PayPal Web site. But clicking "http://218.45.31.164/signin/citifi/scripts/login2/index.html" didn't exactly lead to a Citibank Web site. One clue is the string of numbers following the URL prefix "http://". Every Web site resides at a specific Internet Protocol address, so, for example, you can get to the PCWorld.com site by typing 65.220.224.30 in your browser's address bar instead of www.pcworld.com. However, "218.45.31.164" doesn't lead to the Citibank Web site, even though the rest of the address looks like other links you may routinely click. The only way you can be sure to reach the real Citibank site is to type the domain-name-based URL www.citibank.com into your browser's address window manually. (And once you do, be sure to click the Consumer Alert link that describes these fraudulent e-mail messages.) If you're not sure where an IP address leads, don't click it. Substituting a numeric IP address for a domain name in a URL isn't the only way a malicious message will try to trick you. The address "www.citibank.com" is the real deal, but "www.citibank.phishing.com" could lead anywhere. Every domain name ends with a top-level domain, such as.com,.org,.edu, or a country-specific TLD such as.cn (China),.uk (United Kingdom), or.ru (Russia). The word just to the left of this TLD, together with the TLD portion, spells out the actual domain name: "citibank.com", for example, is all it takes to get to Citibank's site. When a phisher modifies a domain name slightly, or inserts a word to the left of the TLD, the link changes. Phishers hope that you won't know or notice the difference between "pcworld.com" and "pcworld-gotcha.com" or "pcworld.phishing.com." E-mail attacks can also use the HTML formatting to conceal the true destination of links. If a message is composed using HTML, the underlined link text may not be the same as the actual embedded link. This was true of the e-mail I received from Toshiba and was one reason I became suspicious of its origin. Most e-mail programs display an embedded link's destination URL in the bottom status bar or in a pop-up window when you hover the mouse pointer over it. I needed to find out whether the message from Toshiba was genuine; if it was, I would have to test my beloved laptop for a faulty memory module. First I entered a likely Toshiba site URL -- "toshiba.com" -- into my browser's address bar; this move transported me to a global Toshiba site.

After rummaging around awhile, I finally stumbled upon a Web page describing the same issues noted in the Toshiba e-mail, and using the same URLs. Voil?! I had my confirmation -- the Toshiba e-mail was truly legitimate. But I still never clicked the message's embedded link, going instead through the link on the company's Web site. You can never be too careful.

Scott Spanbauer is a contributing editor for PC World He writes the monthly Internet Tips column. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Tech Tuesday, PC-World. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I wonder if most netizens realize the serious way in which phishing has proliferated. I must get a dozen or more of these daily in my account here at massis. Since massis is an old-fashioned style mail service (uses 'sendmail' with text copy) it is very easy for me to tell where I would be sent to if I clicked on something by just reading through the html looking at the links which would appear if I had been using html and had clicked. It is really pretty disgusting, the volume of it. It is literally all over the place. I get them all the time pertaining to 'errors found in my PayPal account' or 'fraud discovered in my Citibank account' etc. I don't even have a Citibank account, and my PayPal account does not go through massis. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 12:44:15 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Ebbers Convicted of $11 Billion Fraud http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20104&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Ebbers convicted of $11 billion fraud BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Qwest to raise MCI bid * RIM settles patent lawsuit * TiVo shares soar 75% after deal with Comcast * Differences between Motorola, Apple forced iTunes phone delay USTA SPOTLIGHT * In the Telecom Bookstore: Broadband Facts EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * SureWest jumps into TV game REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * SEC charges former Qwest CEO and other former executives Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20104&l=2017006 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Situations like this are the main reason I could _care less_ if people happen to rip off the 'telephone company' a little now and then. I hope old man Ebbers never gets out of jail; considering what MCI has done rather routinely to the telephone network since back in the late 1960's. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 11:39:07 -0500 Subject: VoIP's Next Step: Hearings On The Hill Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.telecomweb.com/news/1110908201.htm Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology and carriage is starting to get additional attention in light of potential rewrites of the 1996 Telecom Act during the 109th session of Congress, with the House Rural Caucus Telecommunications Task Force feeling out the business last week and the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet scheduling on open hearing on the subject tomorrow. The Rural Caucus' broadband-oriented Telecom Task Force, co-chaired by Rep. Gil Gutknect (R-Minn.) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), followed up last year's briefings on future telecom challenges facing the rural United States and universal service fund (USF) issues with a March 9 hearing on VoIP during which carriers and lobbying groups outlined their positions surrounding VoIP in rural America. BellSouth Chief Technology Officer Bill Smith underscored VoIP's rural importance to his company by saying "BellSouth provides service to more rural customers than all of the independent companies combined," including in three states via the high cost portion of the USF program and in six states where it receives no such support. "With continued broadband deployment, there are now broadband service applications that can provide people who live in rural America with a competitive alternative to conventional voice phone service that is comparable in both quality and functionally and generally lower in price," he said. "Given the changes in technology and the right economic incentives, providers will target more and more areas to provide both broadband and VoIP services to compete for the consumer's business." Full story at: http://www.telecomweb.com/news/1110908201.htm How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Lifespan of a Desktop PC? Date: 16 Mar 2005 08:24:27 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Would anyone know what is the average/typical physical lifespan of a desktop PC? That is, how many years do they run before components start failing? When buying a new PC, how do people typically transfer the contents from the old PC hard drive to the new PC? At work, people move stuff out onto the LAN server or move the old drive into the new box; but others say old drives are not compatible with new technology. How do home users without a LAN handle it? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have here a Toshiba Satellite 220-CDS sine 1995. It started life as Win 95, has since been converted to Win-98 (which I am sorry I did, really, it seems to be running a little slower than it did as a 95). But it _never_ freezes up, _never_ locks out; just sits there all day long as part of my network doing its thing, the same as it did as a 95. Is ten years a rather good life span? PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: The Lost Lessons of the 1920s and 1930s Date: 16 Mar 2005 10:56:15 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com In the 1920s there was a terrific economic boom. Underneath there was some dark clouds, like that much of the boom was based on 'nothing', that is stocks that had no real value under them bought on margin without any real coverage. But everyone was having such a good time the naysayers were ignored. The boom burst. The securities markets collapsed. Since so much was based on nothing, underlying loans and margin accounts collapsed as well, causing a nasty domino effect throughout the financial world. Nobody could pay any of their debts in a long chain. Without any money, the economy of the world ground to a halt. In the 1930s reformers of the New Deal attempted to save the system. The industrialists and financiers were terribly upset since until now they had done as they pleased and answered to no one. But without reform they would end up with nothing. Sadly, today the descendants of those industrialists and financiers are pulling the same crimes as was done in the 1920s. But what is worse is that the regulators and laws that were supposed to prevent this sort of thing have been forgotten. We need to be more "competitive" they tell us as an excuse to allow big monopolies and concentrated power. "This will create economic development" they tell us while laying off thousands of employees with no other place to go. Had the SEC and auditors been doing their job properly Enron, MCI, and other fisascos would've been stopped early or not started at all. But they told us "everyone is having such a good time", so we shouldn't interfere. Years ago the power utilities were caught in a scandal with lots of watered stock in the form of layered "holding companies". We're going right back to that today. ------------------------------ From: Justin Time Subject: FTC Goes After Spyware Firm Date: 16 Mar 2005 06:46:23 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com FTC Goes After 'Phony' Spyware Assassin Elizabeth Millard, www.enterprise-security-today.com The Federal Trade Commission has asked a U.S. District Court to bar Spyware Assassin and its affiliates from offering consumers free spyware detection scans and from selling antispyware software. The FTC also is seeking a permanent halt to the alleged "marketing scam," as well as redress for consumers. "The defendants' free remote scan is phony, and the defendants' representations that they have detected spyware on the consumer's computer are deceptive," the FTC charges. Bogus Claims About Spyware In papers filed with the court, the FTC alleges that Spyware Assassin and its affiliates use Web sites, e-mail, banner ads and pop-ups to draw users to the company's site. After dire warnings about spyware, users are offered a free scanning tool, which inevitably finds "dangerous spyware virus infections," according to the company's post-scan pop-up message. The message advises users to pay for and download Spyware Assassin software, which does not remove all, or substantially all, spyware, the FTC alleges. This violates the FTC Act, which bars deceptive claims. Fraudulent E-Mail on the Rise As the FTC was conducting its investigation, security firms also were noticing the rise in Spyware Assassin's antispyware e-mail activity. Reston, Virgina-based iDefense, a threat-intelligence firm, noticed the fraudulent e-mails increasing over the past couple of months. "There's been a dramatic increase in the number of messages from Spyware Assassin," said iDefense director of malicious code research Ken Dunham. "We checked it out and found they were bogus." Unlike prescription drug scams, antispyware protection appeals to a larger group of people, Dunham noted, because many users have heard of spyware, but most are unaware of how to remove it. Larger Spyware Issues Although Spyware Assassin could be shut down permanently, that does not solve the deeper issue of user naivete, according to Dunham. "The larger problem that this highlights is that users are far too trusting [of] junk e-mail and spam," he said. "There is an issue here much bigger than this one fraudulent site, and that's user education," Dunham added. Without reliable information being disseminated to users about what is safe and what is fraud, bogus e-mail claims are likely to proliferate, noted Dunham. Rodgers Platt NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Enterprise Security Today. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: garethmorrissey@yahoo.com (Gareth Morrissey) Subject: Hosting Content on Zombie Computer Networks Date: 16 Mar 2005 10:44:17 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Would it be possible to host content on zombie computer networks (like those used to send out spam)? Is anybody doing this currently? The next wave of p2p program? Solves the free rider problem?? Just curious. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 11:25:21 -0500 From: Michael Quinn Along this line, and at the risk of perhaps being slightly OT, if anyone knows why television uses channels while radio uses frequencies (for the most part, that is, the 88 channel) FM Marine Band in the 156 MHz range being an exception), I would be interested in hearing about it. Regards, Mike [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: On radio, there are also 'channels', as you point out for example in the FM Marine Band, also the Citizens Band has 'channels'. I think the difference is where 'frequencies' refers to a general range of spaces in the spectrum for general categories of service (radio or television), 'channels' further divides that group of frequencies into into specific allocations. For example, we say the 'eleven meter band' (of frequencies) is divided into forty channels. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Justin Time Subject: Re: 3 Verizon Phones - Throw Away or What? Date: 16 Mar 2005 06:59:21 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I believe that you will be able to cancel the service contract with the return of the phones as you are leaving the country. You need to go in to your local VZW store - not an "authorized dealer" and explain the situation. Rodgers Platt ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: 3 Verizon Phones - Throw Away or What? Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 08:21:29 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 16:04:03 -0800, Paintblot wrote: > I'm permanently leaving the USA in a few weeks. I have a Verizon > account with 3 telephones, 2 of which are almost new. These phones > have 2 year contracts. When we leave, what should I do? I cannot take > them back to Verizon, because all they'll want is the big dollar > contract buyout, which I won't pay (let them attack my credit, who > cares, I'm not coming back here). Sell the phones? Aren't they banned > from continuing to work on the Verizon network, and locked into the > Verizon network? Just destroy them and throw them away? If the contract was not fulfilled or you have not paid the account the ESNs on the phones will be shown to be in default and no one will be able to use them. I'm not sure how contract terms will have any effect on it though. On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 16:04:03 -0800, Telecom digest editor wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My personal advice, for whatever it is > worth, is sell them for a few dollars each and get what you can out of > them. If you know anyone you can generally trust, sell them a phone > (for ten or twenty dollars?) with the understanding that _they_ can > continue to pay the bill for the remainder of the contract (or until > they get tired of paying the bill and/or the phone gets turned off, > whichever comes first. PAT] If you mean pay the charges as if he was someone else that would work. If you meant taking over the account Verizon would likely require a credit check. ------------------------------ Date: 16 Mar 2005 18:33:08 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: 3 Verizon Phones - Throw Away or What? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I'm permanently leaving the USA in a few weeks. I have a Verizon > account with 3 telephones, 2 of which are almost new. These phones > have 2 year contracts. When we leave, what should I do? You can sell them on ebay, or you may be able to donate them to a local charity. They're locked to Verizon's network, but VZ shouldn't care if someone else wants to use them on a different VZ account. Ebay has a page with estimates of how much they're worth: http://pages.ebay.com/rethink/cpsz/howmuch.html I gather that womens' shelters and the like can use old phones even without service since they can still dial 911. See http://www.wirelessfoundation.org/CalltoProtect/index.cfm Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of The Internet for Dummies, Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "More Wiener schnitzel, please", said Tom, revealingly. ------------------------------ From: Dean Subject: Re: Cell Phone Reception Date: 16 Mar 2005 09:36:39 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: On my personal cell phone, which is on > Cingular Wireless, my latest contract is about to run out, and when > I was downtown Friday, I went in the Cingular Wireless store and > talked to the lady about getting a new phone in exchange for renewing > my contract. There were several hangups, IMO: the newer phones are > a bit smaller and (a) they would not work with my existing Cell Socket > device; I use a Nokia 5165, which is an older phone, but it works > quite well (and, it also works quite well when tied into my PBXtra > through the Cell Socket) ... (b) the picture quality on the newer > phones, while it has gotten better, _still_ has a way to go before the > picture quality is as good as an inexpensive digital PC camera, and > (c) the lady told me unlike Cingular Wireless text messages, to send > a picture costs more money, around 40 cents per transmission. If there > was a way to avoid that transmission charge (for example by somehow > transferring the picture directly to my computer, then using my own > email to move the picture around, I might be inclined to get a new > phone and try it. PAT] Pat, Getting pics from the cell phone to the PC generally depends on the device. If you don't take too many pics, I've found the cheapest way to be to use a cell phone with an infrared port. Then all you need to do is send the images to the laptop via its infrared port. Costs nothing, but can only be done one image at a time. There are fancier ways (bluetooth, special cables and special software etc) but this is the cheapest I've found. Regards, Dean ------------------------------ Date: 16 Mar 2005 18:22:12 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Cell Phone Reception Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA >> Go visit the forums over on http://www.howardforums.com/, the >> phone hackers there ... > I really don't think those who contribute to Howardforums would > appreciate you calling them *hackers!* Would you like someone to call > you a hacker? Sure. Among people old enough to understand, it's a term of respect. Perhaps you're confusing it with "cracker" or "script kiddie". R's, John ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Los Angeles Times: Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft Date: 16 Mar 2005 10:44:50 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Marcus Didius Falco wrote: > Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft > By David Colker > Times Staff Writer > Executives at besieged information broker ChoicePoint Inc. have said > they had no idea how vulnerable the company was to the identity thieves > who recently tapped into personal data on 145,000 Americans, igniting a > national furor over privacy. The network news showed the congressional hearings. The CEO appeared before Congress and came off as a total boob. These companies were greedy, collecting extremely sensitive and personal information for corporate use -- use that would seriously hurt many of us every day people in our jobs and business dealings. Corporations use the information -- true or not -- to justify price increases or lower salaries on the grounds the person is a "bad risk". I was shocked to learn that bad credit history can prevent someone from getting a job and making them pay more for insurance. So someone in bad straits is pushed down by their system even lower -- someone unemployed can't even get a job and has to pay more for vital services! There apparently is virtually no regulation of the collection or dissemination of the information. If something is inaccurate, I can't help but wonder that the private person has a really tough time demonstrating otherwise, especially when they don't learn about it until years later. On top of it all, they are sloppy with their security and let stuff get stolen. If it were up to me: 1) Their own credit report would be free to consumers. 2) When any time seriously adverse information is posted to a person's file, the credit company would be required to notify the person and allow time for a response. The consumer should be able to challenge such adverse information and the burden of proof to be on the reporter, without any risk or penalty or cost to the individual person. 3) Any time a business requests credit info the consumer is to be notified. ("Credit info" to all personal info about a person, not just financial.) Obviously these companies would howl in protest. The news said they spent millions lobbying against any regulation in the past. But I suspect these companies are quite profitable and the costs of accomplishing the above would be modest. It would also cause credit reporters to be more careful and have better internal procedures and controls (which are sorely lacking today) and they'll protest that as well. But it is not up to me since I'm not a yuppie nor have access to million dollar lobbyists. Is anyone out there on the side of these info bank companies? ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Former WorldCom CEO Guilty on All Counts Date: 16 Mar 2005 09:51:35 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Lisa Minter wrote: > A federal jury in Manhattan returned guilty verdicts on all nine > counts, including securities fraud, conspiracy and lying to > regulators; a decision that could send Ebbers, 63, to prison for the > rest of his life. Sentencing was set for June 13. He clearly deserves prison. As CEO, understanding the overall finances of his company was a very basic legal responsibility. I don't know where that guy went to school, but my basic accounting classes they made it quite clear that falsifying the books was a serious crime, that managers had a responsibility to understand their records, and how to understand a financial statement. Does anybody out there think he -- or others convicted in stock fraud -- got a raw deal? ------------------------------ 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. 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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #117 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Mar 17 11:13:38 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2HGDcq14058; Thu, 17 Mar 2005 11:13:38 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 11:13:38 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503171613.j2HGDcq14058@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 V24 #118 TELECOM Digest Thu, 17 Mar 2005 11:14:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 118 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Vonage Number Portability (John Schmerold) WQN, Inc. Announces the Introduction of RocketVoIP, an (Jack Decker) Rep. Fred Upton Apparently Sold Out to Incumbent Telcos (Jack Decker) My Apologies to Rep. Upton, I Misunderstood!!! (Jack Decker) Bush Chooses Martin as Next FCC Chairman; Jeff Pulver's (Jack Decker) Sending Ringtones via a Web Service (absolutemcv) Re: E-Mail Paranoia (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: E-Mail Paranoia (Thomas A. Horsley) Re: E-Mail Paranoia (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? (J Kelly) Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? (Gene S. Berkowitz) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Paul Coxwell) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Robert Bonomi) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: 3 Verizon Phones - Throw Away or What? (Mark Crispin) Re: 3 Verizon Phones - Throw Away or What? (Steve Sobol) Re: Lifespan of a Desktop PC? (David) Re: Lifespan of a Desktop PC? (Robert Bonomi) Re: Lifespan of a Desktop PC? (Peter R Cook) 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: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 16:48:09 -0600 From: John Schmerold Subject: Vonage Number Portability We had problems with Vonage, so I thought "Let's give Callvantage a shot". I put in our order, a week later, I get a note from ATT stating that they could not port my number, so I phone ATT. They tell me they cannot use number portability to transfer a number from Vonage, if I want to move my number to Callvantage, I'll need to port it back to SBC, then move it to ATT from SBC. Hmmm, now I've heard everything. Anyone know of a way around this BS ? If the VOIP can transfer numbers from SBC, it seems to me that fairness would dictate that they must transfer the number to any wireless, landline or VOIP carrier I choose. John Schmerold Katy Computer & Wireless 20 Meramec Station Rd Valley Park MO 63088 636-861-6900 v 775-227-6947 f [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But, by the terms of this 'fairness' you speak about, according to AT&T, Vonage will port the number back to SBC on your request. What I have heard, but will not vouch for, is that there is some technical hangup at present involved with porting a number between two VOIP services. Its not that they will not, but that for some technical reason they _cannot_ move the number directly. Any other comments on this? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 14:35:26 -0500 Subject: WQN, Inc. Announces the Introduction of RocketVoIP [Comment: I have looked over this company's web site a little bit and while they are so new that I can't find any customer reviews of their service, I can say that even if they do give decent service they don't have as many features as some of their longer-established competitors, and they only have Michigan numbers in some ratecenters in the Detroit LATA. In my personal opinion, the only reason I would ever consider this company would be if I made a lot of international calls to the locations covered by their unlimited plan -- otherwise, as someone who generally only makes calls within the United States, I'd be much more attracted to a company with more features, a record of good customer service, and numbers in or near my ratecenter.] http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-16-2005/0003201139&STORY&EDATE= WQN, Inc. Announces the Introduction of RocketVoIP, an Expanded Broadband Phone Service http://www.wqn.com http://www.rocketvoip.com The First to Offer Broadband Users Unlimited International Calling From a Mobile Phone DALLAS, March 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WQN, Inc. (Nasdaq: WQNI), a leading provider of international long distance telephony services utilizing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), today announced the introduction of its next generation VoIP technology service, RocketVoIP. With RocketVoIP, subscribers can use their broadband service to make and receive unlimited domestic and international calls using a home phone, mobile phone or personal computer. This service is being introduced to WQN's current customer base and other ethnic groups. RocketVoIP has unique features and advantages over competing products: * Unlimited local, long distance and international calling to 50 countries, for a low monthly fee of $24.95 a month * The ability to use a mobile phone to access RocketVoIP's network for high quality unlimited international calls * Free RocketVoIP in-network calling * Free features including Caller-ID, Call-Waiting, Call-Forwarding, 3-Way Calling, Voice Mail, and more * A total calling solution enabling travelers to make and receive phone calls from anywhere in the world using a personal computer and high- speed internet access, including Wi-Fi hotspots "Over the last four years we have invested a significant amount of time, energy and resources in both research and development to create an international VoIP network which currently services over 300,000 retail customers," said Mike Adler, WQN's President and Chief Executive Officer. "RocketVoIP allows us to leverage this existing infrastructure to provide a next generation converged broadband phone service that we believe will save customers 70 percent on their total calling needs." "A significant number of our customers already use their mobile phones to access our VoIP network and make international calls," said Victor E. Grijalva, WQN's Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "We believe many of these customers will prefer RocketVoIP, as it is the first service to offer unlimited international calling from a mobile phone." For more information on RocketVoIP, please visit http://www.rocketvoip.com . About WQN, Inc. WQN, Inc. is a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony company providing international long distance services. WQN's customers utilize the company's enhanced VoIP services platform to make and receive calls using their home phone, business phone, personal computer and mobile phone. The Company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and has offices in Los Angeles, California, and New Delhi, India. For more information about WQN Inc., please visit the company's Web site at http://www.wqn.com . SOURCE WQN, Inc. Web Site: http://www.wqn.com http://www.rocketvoip.com How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 21:09:52 -0500 Subject: Rep. Fred Upton apparently sold out to incumbent telcos A disturbing final paragraph in this article, which starts out telling the oft-told story of how a Houston family apparently didn't understand that their VoIP service doesn't come with 911 service (probably didn't bother to read the numerous warnings most VoIP companies give when you sign up), but then progresses to say this: [Begin quote:] Since then, the FCC has ruled that VoIP is an interstate service not subject to state rules and regulations, and that companies providing Internet telephony must comply with federal wiretap requirements. The agency is still studying the 911 obligations of VoIP carriers and the potential contributions carriers might be required to make to the Universal Service Fund. "VoIP is still in its infancy and the regulatory ground upon which VoIP stands is not as firm as I think it needs to be in order that it reaches its projected potential," Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the subcommittee, said. "I would note that only seven individuals -- five FCC commissioners and two federal district court judges -- stood in the way of VoIP potentially being regulated by 51 state public utility commissions." [End quote from end of article at http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3490701 ] The fortunate thing is that Rep. Upton's views are probably in the minority, but I fear that the incumbent telco lobbyists are working furiously behind the scenes to try and get VoIP hobbled by state regulations. That would kill many of the smaller VoIP companies, and maybe all of them that don't have a presence in every state. We do NOT need regulation by state public utility regulators, and given the way the Michigan Public Service Commission has f***ed up expanded local calling, there is no way in hell I want them regulating VoIP. As far as I am concerned, the FCC is absolutely on the right track in exercising federal oversight of VoIP and pre-empting the states - it would be a disaster to VoIP to be subjected to individual state regulation. Those of you who live Rep. Upton's district in southwest Michigan (basically the Kalamazoo area and southwest) might want to write him or e-mail him and ask him to stop selling out to the incumbent telcos. Let him know that you don't want additional regulation and costs added to VoIP. His contact info is on this page: http://www.house.gov/upton/contact.html The issue of 911 is important but it will not be resolved immediately -- it took the cellular telephone industry a couple of decades to get the kinks worked out (some cell phone companies still don't offer "enhanced" 911), and since talks are already in progress between the major VoIP companies and the organization representing 911 centers, I am sure that most VoIP companies will offer 911 sooner rather than later. The FCC can facilitate this by putting its blessing on one nationwide scheme for VoIP connecting to 911, whereas if every state commission tries to regulate this, a VoIP company located in Nerw Jersey or California may be told they have to deal with over 50 different 911 connection mandates. So I believe that Rep. Upton's comments have nothing to do with 911 and everything with who is pumping money into his election campaign. According to http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00004133&cycle=2004 both SBC and Verizon were among his top contributors (SBC was his top contributor, while Verizon tied for the #6 slot. Also, Comcast Corp. and the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn. both tied for the #3 slot, and even when cable operators offer VoIP they often register as CLEC's and have a local presence in each state, and therefore might not oppose regulation that impedes independent VoIP, which does not have facilities in every state in the union). One other thing, I have been warning that attempts at individual state regulation could backfire, since VoIP companies can move offshore and out of reach of any U.S. regulation. For example, a VoIP company located in Canada or England could probably still buy U.S. numbers for incoming calls from CLEC's, and still complete calls to the U.S. at wholesale rates about the same as what they are paying now. If you don't think this is true, consider that when the instant messaging program ICQ first started out, its servers were in Israel, and had the U.S. attempted to impose excessive regulation or taxation on instant messaging it's quite likely that the servers (and the company) would have stayed there. ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 23:58:46 -0500 Subject: My Apologies to Rep. Upton, I Misunderstood!!! At 10:12 PM 3/16/2005 -0600, R Collinge wrote [in the VoIP News list]: > Hi Jack, > Are you reading Rep Upton's comments correctly? I had interpreted > his quote as something like, "It is scary that we were so close to > disaster, which could easily have happened if not for a few brave > commissioners and judges." I read his thought as being that we need > federal regulation to keep the hungry states permanently at bay. > Also, I certainly agree with your point about international > competition holding the power of regulators in check. FWIW, I > commented to the FCC on the Vonage petition back in November '03, > and think I mentioned it then, too. > Bob Bob and everyone, Oh, boy, when I blow it I really blow it. I had of course interpreted it as, "these seven individuals stopped the states from doing what they ought to be able to do", but when Bob sent the above comment, I did a Google search to see if Rep. Upton had made any other remarks on VoIP, and came up with this: http://www.vonage-forum.com/printout1009.html "We will never know VoIP's tremendous potential if we saddle it with unwarranted government regulation," Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., said in his opening remarks at one of the first hearings to address VoIP regulation. Upton, who chairs the House telecommunications subcommittee, warned that "VoIP providers should not be regulated like common carriers." So, I apologize to Rep. Upton and to the readers of the MI-Telecom and VoIP News groups -- apparently he gets it. Actually, I guess I should have realized that SBC, Verizon, and Comcast would not necessarily favor regulation of VoIP because they all are getting into it. It's the smaller rural companies (the second- and third-tier companies) that really feel threatened by VoIP. What I think misled me was the fact that the article started out as kind of an anti-VoIP hit piece (in effect saying that someone could have died because they tried to use a VoIP line to call 911) and when Rep. Upton's remarks were included in that type of article, I took them in a negative light. In fact, I almost have to wonder if the writer of that article deliberately took that quote out of context in such a way that some people (like me) might think that Rep. Upton was anti-VoIP. Still, I feel like an idiot right now -- what was obvious to Bob and probably to many of you totally went right past me. Mea culpa and all that! ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 00:35:49 -0500 Subject: Bush Chooses Martin as Next FCC Chairman http://news.com.com/Bush+chooses+Martin+as+next+FCC+chairman/2100-1036_3-5620520.html Bush chooses Martin as next FCC chairman Published: March 16, 2005, 12:43 PM PST By Declan McCullagh Staff Writer, CNET News.com Update The Federal Communications Commission has a new chairman: Kevin Martin, who is expected to wield considerable influence during a period of radical change in the telecommunications and Internet business. Martin, an FCC commissioner who was appointed chairman by President Bush on Wednesday afternoon, will be responsible for shepherding the agency through a major revision to U.S. telecommunications laws and an upswing in telephone calling over the Internet. "I am deeply honored to have been designated as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and I thank President Bush for this distinct privilege," Martin said. Bush's choice of Martin, a 38-year-old lawyer who once worked for the Bush-Cheney campaign, was expected. While Martin occasionally clashed with fellow Republican Michael Powell, the outgoing chairman, observers said the FCC's general approach toward broadband regulation and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is likely to follow the same broad principles. Full story at: http://news.com.com/Bush+chooses+Martin+as+next+FCC+chairman/2100-1036_3-5620520.html Press release from Jeff Pulver: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/03-16-2005/0003201686&EDATE= VoIP Thought Leader and Industry Pioneer, Jeff Pulver, Comments on Today's Appointment of Kevin Martin as FCC Chairman http://www.pulver.com MELVILLE, N.Y., March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The following may be attributed to Jeff Pulver, CEO of pulver.com regarding today's announcement appointing Kevin Martin as FCC Chairman: "The new era at the FCC is dawning (alongside the new era in Communications). Chairman Martin will not exactly be a wild card to our industry. As a Commissioner for several years he has demonstrated a keen intellect and savvy political instincts and skills. We're looking forward to working with him to advance the cause of IP-based communications and to enable IP-based entrepreneurs and innovators to continue to transform the ways in which people communicate. Our experience has been that Martin has an uncanny ability to put all the pieces together and to bring parties to common ground for mutual benefit. While Chairman requires a different skill set than Commissioner, we're confident that, Kevin Martin will prove to be a savvy, politically astute Chairman with the ability to hammer out difference and find common ground." About Pulver.com Jeff Pulver is the President and CEO of pulver.com, and one of the true pioneers of the Internet telephony/VoIP industry. Mr. Pulver is a globally renowned thought leader, author and entrepreneur. He is the publisher of The Pulver Report and VON magazine, and creator of the industry standard Voice on the Net (VON) conferences. Additionally, Mr. Pulver is the founder of Free World Dialup (FWD), the VON coalition, LibreTel, WHP Wireless, pulverinnovations, Digisip, and is the co-founder of VoIP provider, Vonage. Recently, Mr. Pulver's petition for clarification declaring Free World Dialup as an unregulated information service was granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This landmark decision by the FCC, now referred to as "the Pulver decision," was the first decision made by the FCC on IP communications, and provides important clarification that computer-to- computer VoIP service is not a telecommunications service. For more information, please visit http://www.pulver.com Reader Contact Information Pulver.com Enterprises, 115 Broadhollow Road, Suite 225; Melville, NY 11747; Tel: 631-961-8950, Fax: 631-293-3996, http://www.pulver.com . Company Contact: PR Agency Contact: Jonathan Askin Alan Weinkrantz General Counsel 210-820-3070 ext. 103 631-748-8236 alan@weinkrantz.com jaskin@pulver.com SOURCE pulver.com Web Site: http://www.pulver.com ------------------------------ From: absolutemcv Subject: Sending Ringtones via a Web Service Date: 17 Mar 2005 03:53:24 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Does anyone know the process involved in sending ringtone's to mobile phoned via either a web service or other server based system? ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 20:28:21 EST Subject: Re: E-Mail Paranoia In a message dated 3/16/05 3:56:05 PM Central Standard Time, Pat writes: > I don't even have a Citibank account, and my PayPal account does not > go through massis. PAT] You don't have any credit cards? Citibank is the largest issuer of credit cards in the country, including retail cards, gasoline credit cards, and many others. However, they usually have a brand-specific domain name, such as "www.searscard.com" I don't have a PayPal account, but I get those messages two or three times a week. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Of course I have a couple credit cards, and a couple of debit cards, but they are all handled under their own individual names, and not as Citibank, and they all have their own web sites under their own names. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: E-Mail Paranoia From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 02:22:24 GMT Actually, there is a much simpler way to deal with this: Never click on any links mailed to you :-). For something like the Toshiba laptop, if I had gotten that mail I would have gone to the Toshiba web site and searched for information about the laptop model involved, and if I found a link starting from Toshiba's official web site, I'd be much more likely to click on it (although if the problem description also had serial numbers and wot-not I could check manually, I'd still be more likely to do that than to run their program). >>==>> The *Best* political site >>==+ email: Tom.Horsley@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL | Free Software and Politics <<==+ ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: E-Mail Paranoia Date: 16 Mar 2005 14:07:20 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Lisa Minter quoted a newspaper article: > But just as I was about to click that button, a doubt bubbled up from > the depths of my digital credulity. Could the whole thing be a scam? > Was I about to download and install a Trojan horse, backdoor program, > or worm? ... > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I wonder if most netizens realize the > serious way in which phishing has proliferated. I must get a dozen or > more of these daily in my account here at massis. Many companies I deal with want me to use the 'net to access my bills or account on-line. Doing so obviously saves them money from having a real person answer my questions over the phone. I guess I'm a Luddite, but I shy away from using e-mail or the Internet for personal business transactions. I feel there aren't enough protections -- both technical and legal -- to protect consumers. First, often the Internet does NOT answer questions I have. Sending emails to a company is often a failure -- either they never answer or don't answer the question properly (often they refer you back to the 'net page, but if the info was there in the first place I wouldn't need to ask). Even big companies forget to update their web pages with the latest information. Other companies change terms and offerings so rapidly and make them so complex a person is needed to sort it all out. Secondly, email is notoriously unreliable. Servers break down and messages in transit are lost. Messages are accidently deleted along with the spam. Lastly is the security problem -- emails are easily forged. It has long been against the law to use the US Mail for fraud, and I presume there are still U.S. Postal Inspectors who investigate and prosecute violations. But does anyone really know the law as it stands with fraud done by email? Who is responsible for enforcement and prosecution? My guess is only the most blatant and biggest violators are prosecuted (and not necessarily thrown in prison as they deserve) while the vast majority go unscathed. "Spam" is not just a nuisance, it is fraud and a host of other law violations, but nothing seems to be done. The fact that Congress can't pass an enforceable anti-spam law means to me the whole email system is just not safe. Too many legal loopholes, too little enforcement, too many criminals. The Internet is based upon protocols never intended or designed for use in public commerce. Remember the 'net was developed as a private link between users of a very small community and designed to share information. As such, there was little need for protection since there was little to be gained by fraud. That became obsolete the minute the 'net became public. So today we have people at home hooking their PCs up to broadband networks, blissfully unaware that criminals are hacking into their PCs searching for weaknesses to exploit. The network protocols should never permit this kind of random searching in the first place. A growing problem with using the 'net is its high powered automation. When I had my 286 DOS machine, I knew what it was doing because (normally) only I could start up a program. (Obviously if I took someone else's program I was at risk). Email attachments back then didn't automatically start up macros in applications. But today everything is so automated and fancy most users have no idea what's going on in their machine. Hard drives spin along, things open and close on their own. Things intended to be a shortcut and easy for us make it easier for saboteurs to screw up our machines. (Shouldn't we call viruses "sabotage"? The word "virus" makes it sound like it came from mother nature, not an intentional effort to harm.) The technocrats out there are partly to blame. They never can sit still long enough to let a software release settle in before demanding new features. This constant revisions allows bugs and fraud to creep in. Stable functionality would get sturdier over time. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If I understand the law correctly, if you make a false/fraudulent communication by _any_ means -- email, or web site, or telephone, etc -- in an effort to induce someone else to deposit something in the US Mail, then you have committed postal fraud. Example: you apply for a credit card using a web site or email in someone else's name and with their credentials; this in turn induces the credit card company to send you a card in the postal mail, then it is as good as if you had originally corresponded by mail, you still committed postal fraud. Or maybe at some point they send you a bill or a notice in the US mail. In other words, _they_ would not have used the US Mail had _you_ not encouraged them to do so. PAT] ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 17:22:04 -0600 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@*newsguy.com On 16 Mar 2005 05:27:14 GMT, Walter Dnes (delete the 'z') wrote: > I'm sure that satellite radio went through much the same number > crunching under the eyes of watchful accountants 10 years ago. Back > then, we had reached the extreme limit of regular modems at 33.6 > kbits/sec. FM-mono yes, but nowhere near good enough for FM-stereo > quality, let alone CD quality. Besides, if someone really wanted to > listen to it a lot, you'd need a second phone line, another $30/month. I think satellite radio is maily target to a mobile audience that travels. I do 99% of my music listening while in my vehicle. ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 19:15:10 -0500 In article , Walter Dnes (delete the 'z') says: > I was originally going to post this in answer to another posting, but > this goes off on its own tangent, so I'm giving it a separate thread. > When the original Iridium was being drawn up on the planning boards, > the accountants went over the numbers very meticulously. They > compared the cost of of an inconvenient bulky Iridium receiver with > the cost of an inconvenient bulky mobile-telephone receiver > (break-even). They compared the projected worldwide coverage of > Iridium with the miniscule footprints of mobile-telephone > transmitters, which were almost all located in a few major city > centres (advantage Iridium). They compared the horrendously high > cost-per-minute of Iridium usage with the horrendously high > cost-per-minute of international long distance (break even). Etc, > etc. After going through the entire business plan, Iridium looked > like a winner. > But the telecom industry changed between the drawing board and launch > pad. Inconvenient bulky mobile-telephone receivers were replaced by > dinky little cellphones. Cellphone companies built out their coverage > area to include almost all potential customers in the 1st world. And > cellphone and long distance rates plummeted due to competition. > Iridium was doomed even if it launched on budget and on spec. The > only major customers now are mineral exploration companies and US DOD > in really isolated places with no telecom infrastructure. > I'm sure that satellite radio went through much the same number > crunching under the eyes of watchful accountants 10 years ago. Back > then, we had reached the extreme limit of regular modems at 33.6 > kbits/sec. FM-mono yes, but nowhere near good enough for FM-stereo > quality, let alone CD quality. Besides, if someone really wanted to > listen to it a lot, you'd need a second phone line, another $30/month. > Things change. A lot of satellite radio's target households have > broadband and can get "internet radio" now. Both satellite and > internet radio have to pay royalties. But internet radio only pays > incremental bandwidth costs over the net, while satellite radio has to > pay for a network of satellites to be launched and maintained in > orbit. Satellite radio requires an antenna or dish of some sort, > while internet radio is simply another item in your browser's bookmark > list. The car was supposed to be the last refuge of satellite radio > that internet radio couldn't touch. But 3G, WiFi, and WiMax are > showing that it can be done. > I think that satellite radio will be another "Pola-Vision". > Interesting technology that was rendered obsolete by other > developments as it came out. > Walter Dnes; my email address is *ALMOST* like wzaltdnes@waltdnes.org > Delete the "z" to get my real address. If that gets blocked, follow > the instructions at the end of the 550 message. You have your bandwidth calculations all wrong. The satellites (and the US domestic "networks" only have two and three birds, respectively) are continuously streaming all ~100 channels. When you make a net connection, you are consuming a large portion of you available network bandwidth. Should everyone on your neighborhood subnet attempt this, you'll reach saturation. The satellite broadcast doesn't care if there's 1 or 1 billion receivers. Then there's reach. Sure, an automotive WiFi connection might work in an urban setting, but what about on an interstate, through the New Mexico desert? --Gene ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:16:01 -0000 > Along this line, and at the risk of perhaps being slightly OT, if anyone > knows why television uses channels while radio uses frequencies (for the > most part, that is, the 88 channel) FM Marine Band in the 156 MHz range > being an exception), I would be interested in hearing about it. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the FCC does actually have official channel numbers for each allocation in the AM and FM broadcast bands, even though they're rarely used. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:35:09 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Michael Quinn wrote: > Along this line, and at the risk of perhaps being slightly OT, if anyone > knows why television uses channels while radio uses frequencies (for the > most part, that is, the 88 channel) FM Marine Band in the 156 MHz range > being an exception), I would be interested in hearing about it. There's no intrinsic reason for using one form of naming over another. However, note that _if_ you assign "channel numbers" to specific frequency allocations, you are *permanently* fixing the utilization of that chunk of RF spectrum. e.g. in going from 15khz deviation to 5khz deviation on FM, you'd have to either completely 're-number' everything, or you have non- consecutive "channel numbers" as you go up the band. When you (the regulatory authority) "haven't decided" what the minimum allowable spacing between frequency assignments is, or even _if_ the spacing between assignments will always be a multiple of that minimum -- it is *really* difficult to come up with a channel 'number'. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is an example of how someone screwed up when the Citizens Band radio channels were numbered. CB is allocated the space between 26.965 kc and (originally) 27.255 kc. The 'channels' were 10 kc apart, and there were (originally) 23 channels. (Well, not originally, when there were 8 channels, but in later years.) If you look at the difference between 27.255 and 26.965 as divided in 10 kc increments you get more than 23. That's because the FCC took three spaces in the middle and reserved them for use on garage door openers. So we had channel 22 as 27.225 and channel 23 a full 30 kc later, on 27.255. Then the FCC said they would expand the CB area all the way up to 27.405, or 40 channels, although common sense would imply actually 43 channels if you take 27.405 minus 26.965 at 10 kc increments. What the FCC did, in an effort to 'tidy up' that discrepany was run the channels slightly out of order. After channel 22 (27.225) they created channel _24_ at 27.235, channel _25_ at 27.245, then they had the (already existing) channel _23_ at 27.255 where it had always been, and then by 10 kc up to channel 40 at 27.405. Having those two channels out of order in the frequency allocations did make for some tricky programming of the 'gang switches' (revolving knobs which select the channels). PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 05:37:38 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications An NTSC analog "channel" is called such because it is allocated to AM video and FM audio. These channels will soon be just a part of television history as they are phased out and replaced by the digital "channels." Michael Quinn wrote: > Along this line, and at the risk of perhaps being slightly OT, if anyone > knows why television uses channels while radio uses frequencies (for the > most part, that is, the 88 channel) FM Marine Band in the 156 MHz range > being an exception), I would be interested in hearing about it. > Regards, > Mike > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: On radio, there are also 'channels', as > you point out for example in the FM Marine Band, also the Citizens > Band has 'channels'. I think the difference is where 'frequencies' > refers to a general range of spaces in the spectrum for general > categories of service (radio or television), 'channels' further > divides that group of frequencies into into specific allocations. For > example, we say the 'eleven meter band' (of frequencies) is divided > into forty channels. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: 3 Verizon Phones - Throw Away or What? Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 14:21:37 -0800 Organization: Networks & Distributed Computing On Wed, 16 Mar 2005, John Levine wrote: > They're locked to Verizon's network, but VZ shouldn't > care if someone else wants to use them on a different VZ account. Verizon phones are not locked, and can be re-programmed for any CDMA network if that network will accept an "outside" phone (Sprint PCS, for example, will not). If your Verizon phone requires a password to get into the programming/service menu, the password is 000000. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: 3 Verizon Phones - Throw Away or What? Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 20:49:44 -0800 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Paintblot wrote: > I'm permanently leaving the USA in a few weeks. I have a Verizon > account with 3 telephones, 2 of which are almost new. These phones > have 2 year contracts. When we leave, what should I do? I cannot take > them back to Verizon, because all they'll want is the big dollar > contract buyout, which I won't pay (let them attack my credit, who > cares, I'm not coming back here). Sell the phones? Aren't they banned > from continuing to work on the Verizon network, and locked into the > Verizon network? Just destroy them and throw them away? Not locked to Verizon, unless they're prepay phones, but they may be blacklisted from use on Verizon's network if you have no intention of paying the bill. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My personal advice, for whatever it is > worth, is sell them for a few dollars each and get what you can out of > them. If you know anyone you can generally trust, sell them a phone > (for ten or twenty dollars?) with the understanding that _they_ can > continue to pay the bill for the remainder of the contract (or until > they get tired of paying the bill and/or the phone gets turned off, > whichever comes first. PAT] The buyer has to be willing to take financial responsibility for the account and has to pass Verizon's credit checks, etc., and fill out a form accepting financial responsibility for that to happen. What *I* am curious about is why Paintblot is refusing to pay the early termination fees. JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The buyer of the phone sends in his payment each month under Paintblot's name. Then, no credit check, etc because at that point all the carrier cares about is getting the money. Paintblot already passed their credit check, and as he noted, he does not care what happens to his credit standing. PAT] ------------------------------ From: David Reply-To: FlyLikeAnEagle@United.Com Subject: Re: Lifespan of a Desktop PC? Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 01:02:13 GMT On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 16:24:27 UTC, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Would anyone know what is the average/typical physical lifespan of a > desktop PC? That is, how many years do they run before components > start failing? I've seen batteries go bad after 5-10 years. That takes very little to fix. Hard drives might fail after a few years if you buy the common, cheap machines. At work the monitors probably go next as they can fade out. You might then have a power supply problem. The motherboards and cards don't fail all that often. All of my machines are still working. I have an Apple ][ with floppies and hard drives, a 286 24Mhz PC, 486 DX2-66Mhz PC, and a PIII Xeon 500Mhz PC. The PIII with its non-Windows GUI will outrun my 2Ghz Windows 2000 machine at work. I prefer to move drives to new machines and copy the drives, or just leave them in the new machine. I also leave my machines on, but they have drives that are made for continuous use. My car mechanic has several Best Buy PCs at his shop and they are fine after several years. He usually runs out of space on his HD first. A UPS is also very helpful in keeping a PC physically healthy. > When buying a new PC, how do people typically transfer the contents > from the old PC hard drive to the new PC? At work, people move stuff > out onto the LAN server or move the old drive into the new box; but > others say old drives are not compatible with new technology. How do > home users without a LAN handle it? Buy your new PC. If the new PC can't handle your old drives, just add a card for that. Install the old drive(s) in your new machine and copy the data over. When you're done just put the old PC back together and erase it if you plan to get rid of it. Another modern solution to the need for a LAN is just a CDR/W and a pack of disks. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have here a Toshiba Satellite 220-CDS > sine 1995. It started life as Win 95, has since been converted to Win-98 > (which I am sorry I did, really, it seems to be running a little > slower than it did as a 95). But it _never_ freezes up, _never_ locks > out; just sits there all day long as part of my network doing its > thing, the same as it did as a 95. Is ten years a rather good life > span? PAT] David ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Lifespan of a Desktop PC? Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 01:22:54 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > Would anyone know what is the average/typical physical lifespan of a > desktop PC? That is, how many years do they run before components > start failing? "Way back when", disk drives were the most frequent point of failure. They had expected lifetimes equivalent to a few years of continuous operation. For today's hard drives, the expected lifetimes are on the order of 20-40 years. Floppy drives are prone to go 'out of alignment' after a number of years. This matters *only* if you are using floppies to transfer stuff _between_ different machines. An out-of-alignment drive can read material written on _that_ drive w/o problems, although trying to read those disks on a different machine, or reading disks from a different machine _on_ the out- of-alignment drive, results in 'data error' failure messages. How long it takes a drive to go out of alignment depends on the quality of the drive construction, and the physical abuse that the system containing it is subjected to. It's usually _much_ cheaper to replace the drive, than pay for the labor to have it 're-aligned'. The 'electronics', assuming they make it past the 'infant mortality' stage (the first 100 hours or so, of operation) are easily good for 20 years, and probably _much_ more. > When buying a new PC, how do people typically transfer the contents > from the old PC hard drive to the new PC? At work, people move stuff > out onto the LAN server or move the old drive into the new box; but > others say old drives are not compatible with new technology. How do > home users without a LAN handle it? If they can't do it themselves, they _pay_ somebody to do it. There are software tools that let you transfer via a serial port, or parallel port, or even USB or Firewire, between two computers. Drive 'compatibility' is pretty much a "non-issue". *Very* old PCs used, primarily, what were called MFM drives, Or sometimes a cousin thereof, called RLL. Newer generations -- meaning most 386/486 class machines, and everything past that -- use what is called IDE. IDE has gone through a number of changes, adding higher-performance options to the base technology. You cannot use a MFM or RLL drive in a machine that has support only for IDE drives. HOWEVER, the earliest IDE drive _will_ work in the most modern IDE machine. And, if one is sufficiently determined to use the 'antique' drive, it is usually possible to drop an appropriate 'controller' card into the newer machine to run it -- this approach may not be viable if you have a machine with *only* PCI expansion slots. Then there is the issue of any software installed on the old drive. If that drive was in a machine running a MS operating system that includes the "Registry", most software will _not_ be usable if the disk is simply installed in a new machine, nor if the software is 'copied' from the old machine to the new one. Because the required "Registry" settings are not propagated to the Registry on the new system. General practice is to 'reinstall software from the original distribution media', then copy any _data_ files over. It's a real time-waster, but Microsoft doesn't think user's time has any value. *snarl* I've got _twenty-year-old_ PC equipment that's still running today. One example being a "TI Business PRO 286" box. I still use it because I haven't found anything that can replace it, at an affordable price. Notably because it has *fourteen*(!!) usable expansion slots in it. And I've got them _all_ full with various specialized goodies. It would take at least 3 'semi-modern' machines to provide the same number of 'usable' expansion slots. Well, maybe not. I just saw an ad for an odds-and-ends dealer, that has a 14 slot rack-mount box, with a 486 processor card, for about $300. That's a *LOT* of money for a 486 box, though. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:28:50 +0000 From: Peter R Cook Subject: Re: Lifespan of a Desktop PC? Organization: Personal In message , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: > Would anyone know what is the average/typical physical lifespan of a > desktop PC? That is, how many years do they run before components > start failing? > When buying a new PC, how do people typically transfer the contents > from the old PC hard drive to the new PC? At work, people move stuff > out onto the LAN server or move the old drive into the new box; but > others say old drives are not compatible with new technology. How do > home users without a LAN handle it? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have here a Toshiba Satellite 220-CDS > since 1995. It started life as Win 95, has since been converted to Win-98 > (which I am sorry I did, really, it seems to be running a little > slower than it did as a 95). But it _never_ freezes up, _never_ locks > out; just sits there all day long as part of my network doing its > thing, the same as it did as a 95. Is ten years a rather good life > span? PAT] Define a desktop PC. Which bits count? My machines evolve rather than get replaced. I am typing this on a machine that I put together at the end of 1999 The case, memory and display were new, the motherboard was second-hand (so probably started life in 1997/8). The processors were upgraded (to a set of second-hand 1Ghz units) at the end of 2001. The disks have been regularly upgraded and added to . The latest upgrade (this month) is a USB2 card (see off-line backup below) for speed. When transferring "stuff" from one machine to another I have always used as "crossover LAN cable" to connect one to the other -- its a long time since I saw a machine without an ethernet port! Easiest way to do the transfer is probably to "restore" your off-line backup to the new machine - you do _have_ a backup of all the stuff you might want to transfer (i.e. not loose) don't you? Best bet today is probably to get a USB hard drive enclosure (US$35?), pull the old drive and drop it into the box. Two benefits. You can transfer the stuff easily. You now have an off-line backup that you can keep up to date. Peter R Cook [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have two older IBM Think Pad 770 machines. One with a working CD Drive, the other without. I wanted to put them both on Win 98. What I did was get the one machine up and running with Win 98, then I swapped hard drives (put the one with no associated CD drive into the machine that did have a CD drive.) Then I used the Win 98 update CD to load Win 98 on the other hard drive. Once Win 98 was working on that hard drive as well, then I swapped the hard drive back to the other machine. Now I have Win 98 on both machines. 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. 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 V24 #118 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Mar 17 13:01:54 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2HI1rc16085; Thu, 17 Mar 2005 13:01:54 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 13:01:54 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503171801.j2HI1rc16085@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 V24 #119 TELECOM Digest Thu, 17 Mar 2005 13:02:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 119 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Does AOL Treat Trillian Messages Differently? (sreelatha@hotmail.com) Re: Hosting Content on Zombie Computer Networks (Robert Bonomi) Re: Hosting Content on Zombie Computer Networks (John Levine) Re: Lifespan of a Desktop PC? (Justin Time) Re: Lifespan of a Desktop PC? (Al Dykes) Re: Los Angeles Times: Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft (D. Garland) Re: Los Angeles Times: Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft (C Griswold) Re: Former WorldCom CEO Guilty on All Counts (Dean) Re: The Lost Lessons of the 1920s and 1930s (Jim Haynes) Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? (John Levine) Re: Rep. Fred Upton Apparently Sold Out to Incumbent Telcos (R Collinge) Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing (Fred Atkinson) Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing (SELLCOM Tech support) 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: nagu Subject: Does AOL Treat Trillian Messages Differently? Date: 17 Mar 2005 08:21:11 -0800 This is weird. AOL client pops up a new message window to the foreground when a new message arrives. But if it is a new message from a Trillian client, the new msg window is created but not brought to the foreground. My colleague had term-serv'ed into another machine and was using it in full screen mode. A msg from a trillian user wasn't pushed to the foreground. But a msg from a AIM client was pushed to the foreground. He uses AOL client. Has anyone seen this behavior? All the reference is to a new msg-new window. Not a new msg in an older window. Sreelatha ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Hosting Content on Zombie Computer Networks Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:46:00 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Gareth Morrissey wrote: > Would it be possible to host content on zombie computer networks (like > those used to send out spam)? > Is anybody doing this currently? Yes, and yes. Sometimes actual 'hosting' is on the zombie, sometimes just a 'transparent proxy' that forwards to the "real" content holder. You can even find nameservers running on zombied machines. ------------------------------ Date: 16 Mar 2005 22:58:57 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Hosting Content on Zombie Computer Networks Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Would it be possible to host content on zombie computer networks (like > those used to send out spam)? Yes. > Is anybody doing this currently? Yes. > The next wave of p2p program? Solves the free rider problem?? I doubt it. The next wave of online fraud, perhaps. R's, John ------------------------------ From: Justin Time Subject: Re: Lifespan of a Desktop PC? Date: 17 Mar 2005 08:12:08 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com The lifespan of the average PC is almost impossible to measure. Our moderator states he has one that has been in use for the past 10 years. In our office here are some that are between 6 and 7 years old with some about 2 years old. But the question also asked about when you could expect the components to start failing. That is a more difficult question to answer. The two things that are most likely to fail first are the CRT monitor and the hard drive. The monitor because the phosphor will become etched or the electron gun will become less able to provide enough excitation to drive the screen to its desired brightness. The hard drive will fail because of mechanical motion, either the actuator that moves the heads across the surface of the disk or the motor that spins the disk. Those are two of the most common failures. The other common failure would be one of the electronic components such as an integrated circuit or driver transistor. These usually fail because of heat. If the case fan fails, then the operating temperature climbs and for every 10 degrees Celcius (about 18 degrees F) the junction temperature rises in a transistor, its life is cut in half. If an IC is spec'd to run say 40,000 hours at 30 degrees C (86 F), then if the temperature climbs to 40 C (104 F), the life span is now 20,000 hours. This also assumes the IC is powered on for the full time and the operating temperature can be maintained. What is not counted is thermal shock, the almost instantaneous heating when electricity begins to flow. The buildup of dust and dirt in a computer case also adds to thermal stress as the dust and dirt inhibit the flow of cooling air and act as insulation to keep the heat in the unit. Opening the case at least yearly and running a vacuum inside is one method of reducing this problem. You may also want to use compressed air, or even the exhaust of the vacuum cleaner to blow out any dust or dirt the suction misses. So, how long will a computer last before it fails mechanically? It depends on the environment. Used for only a couple of hours a day and properly maintained, almost indefinitely. I'd worry more about my software. But if a computer is turned on and left running behind the closed door of a cabinent and not checked and cleaned regularly, then maybe 8 or 9 years if you are fortunate. Rodgers Platt ------------------------------ From: adykes@panix.com (Al Dykes) Subject: Re: Lifespan of a Desktop PC? Date: 17 Mar 2005 11:12:16 -0500 Organization: PANIX -- Public Access Networks Corp. In article , Peter R Cook wrote: > In message , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com > writes: >> Would anyone know what is the average/typical physical lifespan of a >> desktop PC? That is, how many years do they run before components >> start failing? >> When buying a new PC, how do people typically transfer the contents >> from the old PC hard drive to the new PC? At work, people move stuff >> out onto the LAN server or move the old drive into the new box; but >> others say old drives are not compatible with new technology. How do >> home users without a LAN handle it? >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have here a Toshiba Satellite 220-CDS >> since 1995. It started life as Win 95, has since been converted to Win-98 >> (which I am sorry I did, really, it seems to be running a little >> slower than it did as a 95). But it _never_ freezes up, _never_ locks >> out; just sits there all day long as part of my network doing its >> thing, the same as it did as a 95. Is ten years a rather good life >> span? PAT] > Define a desktop PC. Which bits count? My machines evolve rather than > get replaced. > I am typing this on a machine that I put together at the end of 1999 > The case, memory and display were new, the motherboard was second-hand > (so probably started life in 1997/8). The processors were upgraded (to > a set of second-hand 1Ghz units) at the end of 2001. The disks have > been regularly upgraded and added to . The latest upgrade (this month) > is a USB2 card (see off-line backup below) for speed. > When transferring "stuff" from one machine to another I have always used > as "crossover LAN cable" to connect one to the other -- its a long time > since I saw a machine without an ethernet port! > Easiest way to do the transfer is probably to "restore" your off-line > backup to the new machine - you do _have_ a backup of all the stuff > you might want to transfer (i.e. not loose) don't you? > Best bet today is probably to get a USB hard drive enclosure (US$35?), > pull the old drive and drop it into the box. Two benefits. > You can transfer the stuff easily. > You now have an off-line backup that you can keep up to date. > Peter R Cook > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have two older IBM Think Pad 770 > machines. One with a working CD Drive, the other without. I wanted to > put them both on Win 98. What I did was get the one machine up and > running with Win 98, then I swapped hard drives (put the one with no > associated CD drive into the machine that did have a CD drive.) Then > I used the Win 98 update CD to load Win 98 on the other hard drive. > Once Win 98 was working on that hard drive as well, then I swapped > the hard drive back to the other machine. Now I have Win 98 on both > machines. PAT] IME the upgrade decision is forced when a Windows98 machine catches a virus or spyware that can't be removed, or could be only if the owner had the W/98 distro CD. The hardware is fine. The system needs a fresh install and patches and it will be amazing who much better the machine will work. This can happen to perfectly usable mid-range hardware. Depending on the type of advice the user is getting, it could mean just buying a w/98 CD, somewhere and doing a fresh installation (a new big disk and a memory chip as upgrade should cost less than $100) or opening up the wallet to Dell and buying much more machine than the user really needs. I've seen donated P-III 700 machines. Users lose the CDs and registration information. For recent (XP) machines I predict the same thing will happen but XP is much more robust so it will take disk crash or killer virus to force a new purchase. a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m Don't blame me. I voted for Gore. ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Los Angeles Times: Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 17:20:36 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > If it were up to me: > 1) Their own credit report would be free to consumers. In the US, this part is already true, sort of, partially. If you are turned down for credit, the place that turned you down must tell you the company that issued the report, and the credit bureau must give you a free copy. You are entitled to a free report annually from each of the "big 3" agencies (TransUnion, Experian, Equifax) by going to http://www.annualcreditreport.com/. You can get them all at the same time, but you don't have to (usually it would be a better idea to space them out throughout the year). This isn't entirely in place yet, it's being rolled out geographically, it works for people in the West and Midwest now, the South will be added in June, the East in September. The reports do indicate when companies got reports on you. It's a lot more frequent than most people would think. But it's (maybe a long time) after the fact that you find out. It's still very easy for unscrupulous individuals to get access to these reports. And this law doesn't cover sleaze like ChoicePoint. Of course, that's just a start. They still claim they aren't responsible for damages to you that might be caused by their sale of incorrect or untrue information. Judging by ChoicePoint's case, there doesn't seem to be any penalty (except bad publicity, if it becomes public) for negligent handling of your data. And going by reports, it is still very difficult for the consumer to get corrections made. ------------------------------ From: Clark W. Griswold, Jr. Subject: Re: Los Angeles Times: Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 17:45:28 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > 1) Their own credit report would be free to consumers. It is. www.annualcreditreport.com From all three major agencies. > 2) When any time seriously adverse information is posted > to a person's file, the credit company would be required > to notify the person and allow time for a response. The > consumer should be able to challenge such adverse information > and the burden of proof to be on the reporter, without any risk > or penalty or cost to the individual person. Consumers have been able to challenge adverse entries in their reports for years. Reporting companies are required to investigate and remove said item if it can't be substantiated. Furthermore, the consumer is required to be told when a credit report was used to as a basis of an adverse decision and is entitled to request a copy of that report, even if they have their free annual report allowance used already. > 3) Any time a business requests credit info the consumer is to be > notified. Its already recorded and shows up the free annual report. ------------------------------ From: Dean Subject: Re: Former WorldCom CEO Guilty on All Counts Date: 16 Mar 2005 14:32:32 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Lisa Minter wrote: >> A federal jury in Manhattan returned guilty verdicts on all nine >> counts, including securities fraud, conspiracy and lying to >> regulators; a decision that could send Ebbers, 63, to prison for the >> rest of his life. Sentencing was set for June 13. > Does anybody out there think he -- or others convicted in stock fraud > -- got a raw deal? You're kidding right? This _is_ a rhetorical question isn't it? -Dean [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think, technically, his prison sentence could be for 85 years, if the court decided to give him (what shall I say?) full value for his dollar. Obviously he would not live long enough to fulfill his obligation. I think in actual practice the court will probably give him 5-10 years, and considering his health -- not that great -- that may be all he 'needs'. I know that in this column yesterday, or day before, I said something about him getting the essence of a life sentence, but as I think about it now, I think almost all prison sentences are far, far too long. I think an 'ideal' -- if that is a good term -- prison sentence would be one or two years, max. After all, if a person does not know what prison is about the day he enters one, I doubt he will know any more about it ten or fifteen years later. And if people are _serious_ about rehabilitation efforts, then the prisoner has to be discharged while there is still some time to engage him in rehabilitation. The speed with which our society and technical world is changing, a person getting out of prison after ten or twenty years is never going to be able to catch up. And if a person commits a crime which is *that* atrocious as to deserve a fifty or seventy year prison sentence, my suggestion would be to offer the person the option of a death penalty instead; his choice. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: The Lost Lessons of the 1920s and 1930s Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 00:11:47 GMT Yes, and people like to ignore the fact that the regulated industries we had got regulated because of the misdeeds of the operators before they were regulated. jhhaynes at earthlink dot net ------------------------------ Date: 17 Mar 2005 04:11:54 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > When the original Iridium was being drawn up on the planning boards, > the accountants went over the numbers very meticulously. ... > But the telecom industry changed between the drawing board and launch > pad. Inconvenient bulky mobile-telephone receivers were replaced by > dinky little cellphones. Cellphone companies built out their coverage > area to include almost all potential customers in the 1st world. And > cellphone and long distance rates plummeted due to competition. Part of their mistake was to underestimate how fast cellular would develop, which suprised just about everyone, but an equally big part was to disregard what pricing was due to technology and what to politics. Actually, long distance rates plummeted more due to regulatory changes and fiber optics than to competition. For the past century long distance had been deliberately overpriced to subsidize local service and (in places with PTTs) other bits of government bureaucracy. The mistake there was not to realize that with a stroke of a pen those subsidies could be and were removed, which is the main reason that a call from the US to the UK or Hong Kong now costs 2 cpm rather than a dollar. > Things change. A lot of satellite radio's target households have > broadband and can get "internet radio" now. True, but unlike Iridium vs. cellular, satellite vs. internet radio is not an apples to apples comparison. With telephony, the question is how you get a 3 KHz low-latency full duplex channel (not exactly, but close enough) from one point to another. Satellite really broadcasts, but internet radio fakes it with a separate connection to each recipient. (There is real Internet multicasting but it's a pain to set up and is only used in the geek community to broadcast IETF meetings and the like.) With broad, the question is how you get the same one-way signal to lots of recipients. This means that it's a question of scale. With the current low numbers of listeners, Internet has the edge as you note due to its parasitic carriage. > The car was supposed to be the last refuge of satellite radio that > internet radio couldn't touch. But 3G, WiFi, and WiMax are showing > that it can be done. Two-way radio spectrum is far from free. 3G definitely works, WiFi is OK for short distances, WiMax is grossly oversold for other than fixed point to point service. They're swell for telephone and individual data service but they're way too expensive for broadcast. Back around the turn of the century, there was what you might call telephone radio, with concerts and the like sent over phone wires to large numbers of listeners. (It was really popular in Hungary for some reason.) As radio developed, radio blew it away because there was no incremental cost per listener, and the phone wires could be used more profitably for telephony. If you use any Internet technology for radio, you're in the same situation, using point-to-point bandwidth for simulated broadcast. If the total number of listeners to your station is small, in the thousands, point-to-point looks good because of the low cost of entry. But if satellite radio does what its backers hope, and has millions of listeners per station, which is not implausible considering how many listen to Howard Stern on normal broadcast, satellite wins big. I think the real outcome will depend on questions like whether the satellite radio stations are able to bribe car makers to install receivers as standard equipment in cars so users need only call up and subscribe, no installation or visible startup cost involved. It'd be like cell phones are now, using the equipment as a loss leader made up from subscription revenue. It looks to me like the incremental cost of a Sirius or XM receiver and antenna would be about $100 which is well within the range that cell plans subsidize. R's, John ------------------------------ From: R Collinge Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:12:27 -0600 Subject: Re: Rep. Fred Upton apparently sold out to incumbent telcos Hi Jack, Are you reading Rep Upton's comments correctly? I had interpreted his quote as something like, "It is scary that we were so close to disaster, which could easily have happened if not for a few brave commissioners and judges." I read his thought as being that we need federal regulation to keep the hungry states permanently at bay. Also, I certainly agree with your point about international competition holding the power of regulators in check. FWIW, I commented to the FCC on the Vonage petition back in November '03, and think I mentioned it then, too. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: Jack Decker To: MI-Telecom Mailing List ; VoIP News Mailing List Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 8:09 PM Subject: [VoIP News] Rep. Fred Upton apparently sold out to incumbent telcos [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Jack Decker *did say* in a later message the same day (both original message and retraction were printed here in the last issue) that there was a misunderstanding in the way he interpreted the message. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing Reply-To: fatkinson@mishmash.com Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 20:32:05 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Pat, When I was a teenager, my family had an enormous German Shepherd. Her name was Heidi, she was approximately 125 pounds, all lean, strong as a bull, and very protective of the family. She grew to be so big that we couldn't get a harness big enough to fit her from the local pet store. As my father was a director for the department of corrections, we were able to ask the D.O.C. guard dog people who their supplier was so we could special order a harness that would fit her. Heidi was huge. Her father was a national tracking champion. We had a couple of minor incidents with her, but we were patient and taught her better. When she was still a pup, I was scratching her behind her ears while she was eating her dinner. She turned and bit at my arm (fortunately I drew back fast enough that she didn't bite me). I swatted her pretty good for that and took her dinner away. After that, I could take the bowl away from her and she'd just beg nicely to get it back. Any of our family members could take the bowl away from her (or take the food t of her mouth, for that matter) and she'd not become aggressive with any of us. When she was full grown, I came in late one night. She apparently didn't realize it was me and came running at me at the speed of a rocket. She reared on her hind legs and suddenly realized it was me. She tried to stop, but 125 pounds of all lean dog coming at that speed with her front paws five feet in the air wasn't going to be able to stop in a few short feet. Her nose hit me on the nose of my wire rim glasses. The cut across my nose was in a perfect line parallel to the nose bridge of my frames (she didn't bite me, the glasses cut into my nose). I had to go to the hospital and have three stitches put in. When I got home, she followed me everywhere trying to make up with me. I let her think she was still in the 'dog house' with me for quite a while after that. Hopefully, it would make her more careful in the future. When she bounced off me, she turned and took off because she knew she was in trouble. She thought she'd lose me under the kitchen table, but she thought wrong. I was hopping mad at her. I caught her and gently swatted her nose to let her know she had really fouled up. Years later, my sister brought my two then tiny little nieces over to my parents' house when I was visiting there. Melissa (my oldest niece) had a strange idea about 'patting' dogs. It was more like hitting them. I saw Melissa 'pat' Heidi out of the corner of my eye and saw Heidi coming up to her feet. I rushed towards the corner intending to push Melissa out of the way and let Heidi bite me instead. But I knew I wasn't going to be able to get there quick enough. But the dog never growled, snapped, or even showed her teeth. She just got up, walked away, and as she walked away she let out a gentle 'woof' of protest. She knew Melissa was family and it was not kosher for her to harm Melissa in any way. In fact, the behavior she always exhibited around those two nieces of mine was always one of protectiveness. We subsequently gave Melissa 'patting' lessons. Show the dog some patience and treat her with some love. A big dog like that is going to be clumsy. But they are good protection. When Heidi was still a pup, we were all asleep one night. She was in the front room barking. My parents thought she was just exhibiting normal behavior of a young pup and didn't even get out of bed to check. The next day, our across the street neighbor reported that burglars had come through the neighborhood the night before. The only houses that weren't hit were ours, that neighbors, and the neighbors on either side of our house. Heidi was on the job, that was clear. The noise she made caused the burglars to bypass us altogether. She had become a very loving animal when it came to our family. She was by far one of the best pets we ever had in spite of her size and potential. Good luck with the dog. Fred [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for your good words. Very oddly (at least to me) Buffy very seldom barks. Now it is quite rare that we have any burglars or other malfeasants in this area, however, Buffy was always letting me know when the the garbage collection truck came through the alley every Monday and Thursday morning. But now today, she only jumped around a little -- because I was sitting on my back porch when they came through. But she has never barked even once at the Meals on Wheels guy when he brings in my dinner, or at the housekeeper nor my friends. She seems to understand that is okay, but she sure was giving hell to the garbage collectors and the postman each day. PAT] ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 05:56:22 GMT ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick Townson) posted on that vast internet thingie: > Buffy was all excited and in trying to get out the door with me in > it she knocked me down. I fell, banged up my own face pretty well, > and chipped a tooth which was about gone anyway. Remember, she _is_ > a very big dog, weighing close to a hundred pounds Well, I have read and found that it is a good idea to train a dog to "stay" until you have gone out (or in) and then tell them to come. You are the leader of the pack. A puppy is a puppy and your puppy did not intend to harm you and apparently was trying to please/obey you. I am sorry to hear of your hurt and wish you a speedy recovery. It sounds like you have a loyal canine friend for many years. You may wish to solicit a favor or two from any local dog trainer (those people AMAZE me though I have had dogs for many years). Regards, Steve http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Panasonic 5.8Ghz 2line; TMC ET4300 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Brickmail voicemail Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Firewood splitters www.splitlogs.com If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz. New www.electrictrains.biz [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And thanks for your encouraging words also. I am going to speak to Dr. Epp (veternarian) or the lady who grooms pets (Buffy was taken to get a bath a couple days after she first got here) and see if either of them can recommend a good dog trainer. Maybe the animal shelter will know of someone. 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. 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! 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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 V24 #119 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Mar 18 06:26:26 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2IBQPw24732; Fri, 18 Mar 2005 06:26:26 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 06:26:26 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503181126.j2IBQPw24732@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 V24 #120 TELECOM Digest Fri, 18 Mar 2005 06:26:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 120 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Mobile Phone Porn Set for Sales Spike - Survey (Lisa Minter) Web Design Hampers Mobile Internet, Pioneer Says (Lisa Minter) EBay May Face Injunction in MercExchange Case (Lisa Minter) GAO Questions FCC Management of E-Rate Program (Lisa Minter) BC Warns its Alumni of Possible ID Theft After Computer Hack (M Solomon) Debit Card Fraud a Growing Problem (Monty Solomon) Can Somebody Please Explain CSD to Me? (bob@jfcl.com) Blackberry Enterprise Server Calendar Sharing (sollento) Kevin Martin Picked for FCC Chief (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Third Time's No Charm (Eric Friedebach) FCC May Allow VOIP Access Charges (Jack Decker) AT&T Net Phone Disappoints (Jack Decker) Toll-free Number Service for Europe - I Need Information (Michael Av) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Paul Coxwell) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Tony P.) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Neal McLain) Re: Vonage Number Portability (John Levine) Re: Vonage Number Portability (Randal Hayes) Re: E-Mail Paranoia (Henry) Re: Lifespan of a Desktop PC? (Lisa Hancock) Re: Los Angeles Times: Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft (L Hancock) Re: Sending Ringtones via a Web Service (Joseph) Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? (delete the 'z' for address) Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing (Hudson Leighton) Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing (John McHarry) 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: 17 Mar 2005 16:19:48 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Mobile Phone Porn Set for Sales Spike - Survey AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Mobile phone users around the world spent $400 million on pornographic pictures and video in 2004, an amount that is expected to rise to $5 billion by 2010, despite the tiny screen sizes, a survey found on Thursday. The adult entertainment sector was one of the first media industries to take advantage of the World Wide Web, and its customers were the among the first to get high-speed Internet access for downloading X-rated films. In mobile communications, however, pornography might not do as well as on the fixed-line Internet, because the screens are small and download prices charged by telecoms operators are high, research group Strategy Analytics said in a report. "In 2010 we estimate that expenditure on mobile adult content will represent just 5 percent of total end-user spend on mobile content services," said analyst Nitesh Patel. "We expect services that are built around sports, music and media to perform better, because they appeal to a wider audience of users," he added. In addition, there is value in offering news bulletins or a recently scored goal on a mobile screen. Still, the $5 billion in porn revenues by 2010 is $4 billion more than Strategy Analytics had forecast until recently. It has upgraded its estimates, because adult entertainment businesses are aggressively building services, and customers are buying. Playboy and rival Private Media Group have geared up their offerings, and many mobile phone makers are busy implementing strategies to make sure no subscribers aged under 18 years will be able to access x-rated services. In addition, one in every two phones sold in 2005 had bright color screens, which will rise to four out of five by 2010. In the meantime, anecdotal evidence from countries that have a technological edge shows interest from consumers. South Korea 's SK Telecom (017670.KS) said in late 2003 that 23 percent of the traffic over its higher speed mobile network was adult content. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited/Tech Tuesday. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Who was it once who said here that the internet of the 21st century consists of porn stuff and TELECOM Digest mostly? I know I get _so tired_ of zapping porn each day from my computers I am almost becoming numb from it. And I still say if you actually want porn, you don't need to bother paying for it, just use the Porn Worm program I have announced here a couple times, start it running, go off to bed, and when you wake up in the morning your computer will be over run by it ( http://porn-worm.us.tf ). The worm never quits finding it until/unless you stop it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 17 Mar 2005 16:22:22 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Web Design Hampers Mobile Internet, Pioneer Says By Daniel Frykholm TAMPERE, Finland (Reuters) - A mass market exists for the mobile Internet, but it will remain untapped until designers make simpler Web pages that can be viewed properly on handsets, the inventor of the World Wide Web said. "(The mobile Internet) will be a huge enabler for the industry ... and for big profits," Tim Berners-Lee told a seminar on Thursday on the future of the Web. "Web designers have learned to design for the visually impaired and for other people. They will learn in a few years how to make Web sites available for people with mobile devices too," he said. Berners-Lee invented the Web in 1990 while working at European particle-physics lab CERN in Geneva, trying to make it easier for fellow scientists to share information and collaborate over the Internet. While his invention has revolutionized the way people across the globe work and communicate, repeated attempts by mobile device makers and operators to lure users with mobile Internet access have failed. "Everyone was supposed to be browsing the Web with their mobile phone, but the problem is that it has not happened," Berners-Lee said, adding later this was not a question of weak demand. "It is a chicken or egg thing, just like originally when the Web became the Web. Nobody asked for Web clients or Web servers ... you have to get enough people to understand the potential returns," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the seminar. Berners-Lee's original vision of the Web was as a resource for collaboration. He said that so far it had been "a big disappointment" in this respect, although exceptions such as "wikis" -- essentially interactive online note pads -- showed its potential. "Wikis in general are great examples of how people want to be creative and not just suck in information," he told the seminar, pointing to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia as the most advanced development in this area. Information on the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org) can be edited by the site's users. The Web page currently shows around 500,000 items. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited/Tech Tuesday. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 17 Mar 2005 16:24:38 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: EBay May Face Injunction in MercExchange Case In a wide-ranging, 30-page ruling on Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found one MercExchange patent invalid but reversed a lower court's rejection of MercExchange's motion for a permanent injunction. A federal judge in 2003 ordered eBay to pay Virginia-based MercExchange $29.5 million for infringing a trio of e-commerce patents that MercExchange charged were key to eBay's "Buy it Now" feature that handles fixed-price sales. Such sales accounted for about 31 percent of the total value of goods sold on eBay in the fourth quarter of last year. That lower court also denied MercExchange's request for a permanent injunction against eBay. EBay had appealed the initial judgment and was allowed to suspend payment to MercExchange during appeal. "Each side can claim partial victory in the appeal," Dennis nCrouch, a patent attorney at McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff in Chicago, wrote in an e-mail to Reuters. Attorneys for MercExchange said the judgment on the invalidated patent was equal to $4.5 million, meaning that $25 million of the earlier judgment was affirmed. "In this case, the district court did not provide any persuasive reason to believe this case is sufficiently exceptional to justify the denial of a permanent injunction," the appeals court said in its ruling. "We're going to go back the district court and ask for the permanent injunction and ask for an additional two years of damages," MercExchange lawyer Scott Robertson, a partner at Hunton & Williams, told Reuters. "We believe that any injunction that might be issued by the district court with respect to the other patent will not have an impact on our business because of changes we have made following the District Court's original verdict," eBay said in a statement. The Web marketplace said it was pleased with the appeals court's decision to invalidate one of MercExchange's patent, and as a result, the related damages. "We are confident in our position against MercExchange and do not believe that these matters will have any impact on our business," said eBay, which in 2003 booked a $30 million charge related to the lawsuit. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is reexamining the validity of MercExchange's patents upon eBay's request, the company said. Crouch said the legal battle is far from over since the two other patents in the suit will require more litigation in district court. "There is only a small likelihood that eBay will allow its servers to be shut-down rather than settle the case," Crouch said. Shares of eBay, which finished down 59 cents to $36.48 on the Nasdaq, slipped to $36.40 in after-hours trade. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 17 Mar 2005 16:26:48 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: GAO Questions FCC Management of E-Rate Program WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. communications regulators are not effectively managing a $2.25 billion program to link schools and libraries to the Internet, congressional investigators said on Wednesday said in a new report. The Government Accountability Office said the Federal Communications Commission has been slow to respond to problems uncovered by auditors, has not tracked the effectiveness of the program, and a backlog of cases has been growing. "We remain concerned that FCC has not done enough to proactively manage and provide a framework of government accountability for the multi-billion-dollar E-rate program," the new report said. The FCC, Congress and prosecutors have been investigating waste, fraud and abuse in the E-rate program, which subsidizes telecommunications equipment and services for schools and libraries. Telephone carriers fund the program by paying a percentage of their long-distance service revenues. The findings by the GAO prompted U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Joe Barton to say he plans to push legislation to overhaul the program. "This committee has no choice but to develop legislation to scrap the status quo and apply some common sense to the E-rate program," the Texas Republican said in a statement. He did not elaborate on what the legislation would include. Barton pointed to $101.2 million in funds that were disbursed between 1998 and 2001 to provide schools in Puerto Rico with high-speed Internet access, but a warehouse full of unopened boxes of equipment was discovered and few schools connected. "We look forward to continuing to work with GAO to improve our processes," Jeffrey Carlisle, head of the FCC's wireline bureau, said in testimony to Barton's committee. "We are continuing existing and have initiated new measures to address issues identified by the GAO." The GAO urged the FCC to establish performance goals and measures, take steps to reduce the backlog of appeals and determine all of the federal accounting requirements that apply to the program. Last year the FCC froze new commitments for a few months while it determined how to account for funds it obligated to schools and libraries on the government's balance sheets. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 21:02:04 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: BC Warns its Alumni of Possible ID Theft After Computer is Hacked By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | March 17, 2005 Boston College has sent warning letters to 120,000 of its alumni, after a computer containing their addresses and Social Security numbers was hacked by an unknown intruder. College officials say they have no reason to believe the intruder was looking for personal information to steal; instead, the attacker planted a program that would enable him to use the computer to launch attacks on other machines. But the school is taking no chances, because of the sensitive information stored on the computer. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/03/17/bc_warns_its_alumni_of_possible_id_theft_after_computer_is_hacked/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 22:16:08 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Debit Card Fraud a Growing Problem By Beverley Wang, Associated Press Writer | March 17, 2005 CONCORD, N.H. -- The recent theft of thousands of dollars from people who used their debit cards at a Manchester ATM is one type of identity theft becoming more common as consumers increasingly rely on electronic transactions. The crime known as "card skimming" takes three steps: Using scanners placed over ATM card slots, thieves steal account information stored on a debit card's magnetic strip. A dummy number pad, camera or stealthy glance over a customer's shoulder captures the PIN. Those who know where to look can easily find Web sites that sell blank magnetic cards and card-printing machines. "It's a very popular type of crime these days," said Connie Stratton, a senior assistant attorney general in New Hampshire's consumer protection bureau. "Cards are simple to make," she said. "You can buy bundles of cards on the Internet -- you can buy them with the electronic strip on them, you can buy them with the strip not on them -- there are a number of varieties." In the most recent cases, two women who used a Bank of America ATM at the T.J. Maxx plaza on Monday reported having money withdrawn without their knowledge at a Saugus, Mass., ATM on Tuesday. One woman said $4,500 was taken from her account, another said $1,900 was taken. http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2005/03/17/customer_account_info_stolen_from_atm_machine/ ------------------------------ From: bob@jfcl.com Subject: Can Somebody Please Explain CSD to Me? Date: 17 Mar 2005 20:18:38 -0800 I live in San Jose (San Francisco Bay Area) and have Cingular GSM service with a Nokia 6620 phone. I'm told that with CSD I can use my phone as a modem for my laptop and place a point-to-point data call to my ISP. Is that right? Does my ISP need any special equipment to receive this call, or does any regular dial up line suffice for the destination? What do I tell the Cingular sales people on the phone that I want to buy? They've never heard of CSD and want to sell me either Laptop Connect or Media Net. Media net is certainly not what I want, and Laptop Connect is a) expensive and b) doesn't seem to work with my VPN. I know CSD is only 9600bps and not as fast as EDGE, but I can live with that to save money. Is this going to work when I travel around the US, or is this setup unique to each little Cingular area? Thanks in advance for the help. I won't have any trouble setting up a dialup connection on my PC, but I'm afraid I don't know very much about cell phone technology. Sadly, all the Cingular sales people seem to know even less about it than I do! Bob Armstrong ------------------------------ From: sollento Subject: Blackberry Enterprise Server Calendar Sharing Date: 17 Mar 2005 23:26:28 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi, I am looking for a solution / configuratuon to synchronise two BB (version 4) devices with a blackberry enterprise server. The backend email system is Lotus notes. The solution should work as a priority over the air, and as a second priority with the cradle. Basically, it's like having two devices synchronised with the same calendar which will allow a secretary to view her boss' calendar on the move, view any changes he's made, and vice versa. Help would be greatly appreciated (Lotus notices replication, BES feature, or third party product). Thank you in advance. H ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 12:54:01 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Kevin Martin Picked For FCC Chief Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 17, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20137&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Kevin Martin picked for FCC chief BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Qwest raises offer for MCI * Sprint affiliates join forces * Wireless companies see gold in home networking * Adelphia picks Level 3 for VoIP * Wireless execs discuss current, future trends in industry USTA SPOTLIGHT * CenturyTel Executive Urges Congress to Update the Nation's Telecom Laws * USTA Small Company Summit is Right Around the Corner! April 6 and 7 in Minneapolis EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * NTL tests 18 mbps broadband lines REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Ebbers' lawyers plan appeal * GAO: Overhaul E-rate program to stop fraud and abuse Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20137&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Eric Friedebach Subject: Third Time's No Charm Date: 17 Mar 2005 11:25:22 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com David M. Ewalt, 03.17.05, Forbes.com NEW YORK - Benjamin Franklin once remarked that the definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over and expecting different results. If that's true, then someone needs to fit Qwest Communications International Chief Executive Richard Notebaert for a straightjacket. Wednesday night, Qwest submitted yet another bid to purchase MCI, upping its offer to $8.45 billion in cash and stock, or about $26 per share. The new offer is up significantly from the $8 billion Qwest offered just over two weeks ago. The cash part of the deal was increased to $10.50 a share from $9.10, with the stock terms unchanged at $15.50. This is the third offer Qwest has made, and it's likely to be the third offer MCI will ignore. Last month, the company accepted an offer from Verizon Communnications for $6.75 billion, or about $20.75 a share, even though MCI CEO Michael Capellas and his board were well aware that Qwest was willing to pony up more cash. http://www.forbes.com/wireless/2005/03/17/cx_de_0317qwest.html {Hey Pat, looks like you could use one of those pallets of dog food I see at Sam's Club!} Eric Friedebach /An Apollo Sandwich from Corky & Lenny's/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, I could use one, Eric. Right now the monster is in _my_ bedroom, on _my_ bed, sound asleep. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:42:46 -0500 Subject: FCC May Allow VOIP Access Charges http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=70369&site=lightreading The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to deny a forbearance petition that has kept VOIP providers from paying PSTN access charges, just days before the Commission's March 22 deadline, sources close to the Commission say. When this happens, VOIP providers will be subject to access charges for terminating their calls on other carrier networks. But all is not lost for the VOIP crowd. The FCC is expected to deny the forbearance request before Tuesday, rather than let the deadline pass, sources say. But soon after, the FCC may also order a rule change further exempting the VOIP carriers from access charges. Either way, the resolution of the situation will have very serious implications for the fledgling VOIP industry. "I know there will be order of denial on the forbearance," says Staci Pies, vice president of governmental and regulatory affairs at VOIP provider PointOne Telecommunications. "But because of the way they will deny it, following that will be an additional order that will change the rules in such a way that Level 3 and others like them will be afforded relief," says Pies, who worked at Level 3 when the petition was filed, and before that held an office at the FCC in Washington. "The commissioners understand that it doesn't make any sense to deny the forbearance because the rules are substandard, and then not change the rules," Pies says. Background: The forbearance petition was filed a year ago by VOIP provider Level 3 Communications Inc., and since then the VOIP industry has watched for the Commission to grant or deny it, hoping all the while that it would do neither as the deadline approached. If the Commission did let the deadline pass, it would mean that VOIP carriers would continue to be exempt from the access charges. Outgoing chairman Michael Powell, in one of the last actions of his term, has reportedly floated two possible responses to the Level 3 petition, sources close to the situation say. The first is an outright denial of the forbearance petition, and the second is an 'interim' rule change that would further protect Level 3 and others from the access charges. Telecom carriers, on the other hand, believe that the FCC will deny the petition -- period. Full story at: http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=70369&site=lightreading How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 18:10:53 -0500 Subject: AT&T Net Phone Disappoints Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://news.com.com/ATT+Net+phone+disappoints/2100-7352_3-5623538.html Published: March 17, 2005, 12:04 PM PST By Ben Charny Staff Writer, CNET News.com AT&T's Internet phone service, CallVantage, had a paltry 53,000 subscribers at the end of 2004 -- a lesson in how millions of dollars in marketing and a well-known brand name don't always guarantee success. Full story at: http://news.com.com/ATT+Net+phone+disappoints/2100-7352_3-5623538.html ------------------------------ From: Mikeavian@go2.pl (Michael Av) Subject: Toll-Free Number Service For Europe - I Need Information Date: 17 Mar 2005 12:58:20 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I need to set up a toll-free number service for Europe which would redirect calls to my cell phone in a Eastern European country -- can somebody recommend me a company offering such services or a place for further search? (google.com is't too helpful) Mikeavian ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 18:27:42 -0000 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is an example of how someone > screwed up when the Citizens Band radio channels were numbered. CB is > allocated the space between 26.965 kc and (originally) 27.255 kc. The > 'channels' were 10 kc apart, and there were (originally) 23 channels. > (Well, not originally, when there were 8 channels, but in later > years.) If you look at the difference between 27.255 and 26.965 as > divided in 10 kc increments you get more than 23. That's because the > FCC took three spaces in the middle and reserved them for use on > garage door openers. So we had channel 22 as 27.225 and channel 23 > a full 30 kc later, on 27.255. Then the FCC said they would expand the > CB area all the way up to 27.405, or 40 channels, although common > sense would imply actually 43 channels if you take 27.405 minus 26.965 > at 10 kc increments. What the FCC did, in an effort to 'tidy up' that > discrepany was run the channels slightly out of order. After channel > 22 (27.225) they created channel _24_ at 27.235, channel _25_ at 27.245, > then they had the (already existing) channel _23_ at 27.255 where it > had always been, and then by 10 kc up to channel 40 at 27.405. There were more than three gaps left in the channels for radio-control. They are at: 26.995 (between channels 3 / 4) 27.045 (7 / 8) 27.095 (11/ 12) 27.145 (15 / 16) 27.195 (19 / 20) then 27.235 and 27.245 as you say, which were later filled by channels 24 and 25. In addition, 27.255 was shared between CB channel 23 and the "blue" radio-control channel. > Having those two channels out of order in the frequency allocations > did make for some tricky programming of the 'gang switches' > (revolving knobs which select the channels). PAT] It also resulted in some interesting switching modifications over here in Britain as well, as when we finally got a legal CB allocation in the early 1980s it was just 40 channels running in straight 10kHz steps all the way (27.60125 through 27.99125). I did quite a lot of EPROM burning to provide UK bands on export sets 20-odd years ago. - Paul ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Organization: ATCC Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 21:31:50 -0500 In article , bonomi@host122.r- bonomi.com says: > In article , Michael Quinn > wrote: >> Along this line, and at the risk of perhaps being slightly OT, if anyone >> knows why television uses channels while radio uses frequencies (for the >> most part, that is, the 88 channel) FM Marine Band in the 156 MHz range >> being an exception), I would be interested in hearing about it. > There's no intrinsic reason for using one form of naming over another. > However, note that _if_ you assign "channel numbers" to specific > frequency allocations, you are *permanently* fixing the utilization of > that chunk of RF spectrum. e.g. in going from 15khz deviation to 5khz > deviation on FM, you'd have to either completely 're-number' > everything, or you have non- consecutive "channel numbers" as you go > up the band. > When you (the regulatory authority) "haven't decided" what the minimum > allowable spacing between frequency assignments is, or even _if_ the > spacing between assignments will always be a multiple of that minimum > -- it is *really* difficult to come up with a channel 'number'. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is an example of how someone > screwed up when the Citizens Band radio channels were numbered. CB is > allocated the space between 26.965 kc and (originally) 27.255 kc. The > 'channels' were 10 kc apart, and there were (originally) 23 channels. > (Well, not originally, when there were 8 channels, but in later > years.) If you look at the difference between 27.255 and 26.965 as > divided in 10 kc increments you get more than 23. That's because the > FCC took three spaces in the middle and reserved them for use on > garage door openers. So we had channel 22 as 27.225 and channel 23 > a full 30 kc later, on 27.255. Then the FCC said they would expand the > CB area all the way up to 27.405, or 40 channels, although common > sense would imply actually 43 channels if you take 27.405 minus 26.965 > at 10 kc increments. What the FCC did, in an effort to 'tidy up' that > discrepany was run the channels slightly out of order. After channel > 22 (27.225) they created channel _24_ at 27.235, channel _25_ at 27.245, > then they had the (already existing) channel _23_ at 27.255 where it > had always been, and then by 10 kc up to channel 40 at 27.405. Having > those two channels out of order in the frequency allocations did make > for some tricky programming of the 'gang switches' (revolving knobs > which select the channels). PAT] LOL - and then there were those who had the Siltronics sets. They used to be on 27.415 or Channel 41 as we called it. This was in the days before I got my amateur license. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 22:17:54 -0600 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1? davisdynasty83 asked [TD V24#116]: > I've always wondered what happened to Channel 1 as a viable > television channel. Is there a substantial reason behind this? > I am very interested in this particular issue and if anyone > could provide me with any information pertaining to this > subject I would greatly apprecaite it. An excellent narrative on this subject is "Whatever Happened To Channel 1" by David A. Ferre (Radio-Electronics, March 1982, 43-46,89). http://www.tvhistory.tv/1946%20RCA%20630TS%20TV.htm PAT added the following comment: > Now cable-ready television sets and channel one is a totally > different matter. Indeed. Except for channels 2-13, cable TV channel-number assignments differ in frequency from same-number broadcast channel assignments. A CATV Frequency Assignment chart is posted at http://www.annsgarden.com/telecom/CATV.html. My previous post about Cable Channel 1 is at http://tinyurl.com/5uljg. Michael Quinn wrote [TD V24 #117]: > Along this line, and at the risk of perhaps being slightly OT, > if anyone knows why television uses channels while radio uses > frequencies (for the most part, that is, the 88 channel) FM > Marine Band in the 156 MHz range being an exception), I would > be interested in hearing about it. Historical accident, cultural inertia, administrative convenience, and commercial branding. Back in the early days of radio (before Congress enacted the Radio Act of 1927), broadcasting was a free-for-all. Domestic frequency assignments were made by the Department of Commerce on a more or less first-come-first-served basis. Many foreign governments didn't even have a mechanism for assigning frequencies; some stations, operating without (or ignoring) governmental authority, simply picked their own frequencies. Even the boundaries of specific "bands" (as we use the term today) weren't uniformly defined. Given the chaotic nature of things, it's not surprising that the Commerce Department didn't assign channel numbers. The legacy of this chaos lives on to this day: we still use frequency designations in the domestic AM broadcast band and the international shortwave bands. In order to impose some sort of order on the situation, Congress enacted the Radio Act of 1927, creating the Federal Radio Commission. A few years later, it enacted the Communications Act of 1934, which created the Federal Communications Commission to replace the FRC. Both commissions were charged with responsibility for managing the radio spectrum. Over the years, the FCC's frequency-assignment policies have evolved into three patterns: ====== ASSIGNMENT by BAND ====== In some bands, the FCC simply assigns the entire band to a specific service, and leaves it up to licensees to assign specific frequencies within the band. Examples of this policy include the amateur radio bands, the common-carrier satellite C- and Ku-bands, and the DBS bands. ====== ASSIGNMENT by FREQUENCY AS CHANNEL NUMBER ====== In some bands, the FCC assigns "channel" numbers to specific frequency blocks, but uses the center frequency of the block as the channel number. Examples: Radio Control (R/C) Radio Service (47 CFR 95.207): http://kauko.hallikainen.org/FCC/FccRules/2005/95/207/ Paging operation (47 CFR 22.531): http://kauko.hallikainen.org/FCC/FccRules/2005/22/531/ And even domestic AM Broadcasting: many FCC rules now refer to AM "channels" instead of frequencies, even though the channel number and the center frequency are the same (47 CFR 73.25, -.26, and -.27). http://kauko.hallikainen.org/FCC/FccRules/2005/73/25/ http://kauko.hallikainen.org/FCC/FccRules/2005/73/26/ http://kauko.hallikainen.org/FCC/FccRules/2005/73/27/ ====== ASSIGNMENT by ARBITRARY CHANNEL NUMBER ====== In some bands -- notably FM and TV broadcasting -- the FCC assigns arbitrary channel numbers. These assignments are tabulated in the FCC Rules as follows: TV broadcasting (47 CFR 73.603): http://kauko.hallikainen.org/FCC/FccRules/2005/73/603/ FM broadcasting (47 CFR 73.501): http://kauko.hallikainen.org/FCC/FccRules/2005/73/201/ One additional FM Channel (200, at 87.9 MHz) has been assigned since the original assignments were made. It overlaps TV Channel 6; consequently, its use is limited to certain types of stations (see footnote \1\ at 47 CFR 73.501). Once the FCC finally established television channel assignments, the broadcast and receiver-manufacturing industries adopted them. But these industries didn't adopt the FM channel assignments. Why not? There's no single reason, but I suspect that it was largely a matter of cultural inertia: broadcasters had been using AM frequency designations for years, and they simply continued the practice with FM. Furthermore, even by the late 1940s, there was still a lot of confusion about channel assignments (as the aforementioned article by David Ferre makes clear). Receiver manufacturers who had been building FM radios (before channel assignments were finalized) had been using frequency designations by default. Apparently they just continued doing so. This legacy too lives on to this day: we still use channel numbers for TV and frequency designations (albeit in megahertz rather than megacycles) for FM. Broadcast stations take these designations very seriously: they've become commercial brand names. AM and FM broadcast stations brand their frequency designations, often with superficial (and not-necessarily-accurate) descriptions: "Nifty Ninety" (really 900); "Super 101" (really 101.3); etc. Television stations brand their channel numbers: "Local 2"; "Virginia's 13"; "CBS-19"; etc. As brand names, these numbers are so important that many television stations don't even use their actual call signs. Stations even demand that CATV and DBS companies identify them by their channel numbers, even though the actual RF frequencies may be different. Carrying this branding game to extreme, most television stations plan to continue using their old analog channel numbers as their DTV "channels," even if they move to new channels for DTV. Receiver manufacturers have included mapping logic to display the old numbers. Thus, for example, WISC-TV Channel 3 will become WISC-DT Channel 50, but receivers will display 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, etc. to identify the various video streams. The FCC also assigns (or accepts ITU assignment of) arbitrary channel designations for certain non-broadcast services. Examples: Citizens Band Radio Service (47 CFR 95.407): http://kauko.hallikainen.org/FCC/FccRules/2005/95/407/ Television Broadcast Auxiliary Service [point-to-point microwave] (47 CFR 74.602): http://tinyurl.com/2k9d9 Cable Television Relay Service [point-to-point microwave] (47 CFR 78.18): http://kauko.hallikainen.org/FCC/FccRules/2005/78/18/ VHF Marine Channels (ITU RR Appendix S18): http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/vhf.htm Note that the VHF Marine Channels (as mentioned in Michael Quinn's post quoted above) were assigned by the ITU, not the FCC. The FCC incorporates these assignments by reference. Neal McLain ------------------------------ Date: 17 Mar 2005 20:59:01 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Vonage Number Portability Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I put in our order, a week later, I get a note from ATT stating that > they could not port my number, so I phone ATT. They tell me they > cannot use number portability to transfer a number from Vonage, if I > want to move my number to Callvantage, I'll need to port it back to > SBC, then move it to ATT from SBC. > Hmmm, now I've heard everything. Anyone know of a way around this BS ? Try a different VoIP carrier. I ported my number from Vonage to Lingo last month with no trouble at all. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 12:09:28 -0600 From: Randal Hayes Subject: Re: Vonage Number Portability My guess is that very simply none of the VOIP providers have the systems installed or capability to perform number portability, so it has to be done in concert with an ILEC or CLEC which does have the system and capability in place. ILECs and CLECs put systems in place to be able to perform number porting, and the FCC allowed them to recover their costs of doing so via the Local Number Portability surcharge (which I believe is also being used to produce some additional revenue, but that's another discussion). To my knowledge, none of the strictly VOIP providers have these systems in place or plan to do so in the reasonable future. This brings-up a question for me regarding the efforts to have VOIP providers be able to receive telephone numbers directly from the NANPA, rather than having to get them from an ILEC or CLEC. I'm presuming this would simply complicate the porting process, but then again maybe it's just a matter of the procedure for porting numbers from a VOIP provider requiring more steps in the process.. Randy Hayes University of Northern Iowa ------------------------------ From: henry999@eircom.net (Henry) Subject: Re: E-Mail Paranoia Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 21:57:52 +0200 Organization: Elisa Internet customer Lisa Minter wrote: > I love the Toshiba laptop I bought last year. I keep just about > everything related to work, school, and my finances on it. So when I > received an e-mail from Toshiba etc. Except _Lisa Minter_ didn't 'write' this, did she? I got into this article and after a while started to think that it wasn't really anything like the comments Lisa has written here before. Then, at the end, I found > Scott Spanbauer is a contributing editor for PC World He writes the > monthly Internet Tips column. which suggests that the entire article in fact is from PC World, written by this Scott Spanbauer. Looks like there was a (big?) lapse in attribution here. I of course believe in Fair Use, etc., etc. I'm just saying that perhaps we should have been notified of the source of this article at the beginning, rather than at the end. Cheers, Henry [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, when the _original_ article appeared, the attribution and fair use quotes were given. But, when the first response by a reader was printed, the problem so common occurred, which was that the person given in the header as 'From:' (in this case and many others, Lisa Minter), the software did not read the actual article and instead attributed it to Lisa Minter. Often times I catch that in the final editing and add a line at the very top of the article saying 'TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to an article by X' since as often as not that happens to my editor's notes. The responder wants to talk about what I said rather than what the 'original writer' said. I probably should have been more careful to catch that. I've commented a couple times that I am probably the only person to actually read every word in the Digest each day, and that is only because I _have_ to; I am the editor. I frankly only expect people to read the articles of especial interest to them; not the other stuff. If I were not the editor here, I would not read every word of it either. Anyway, please excuse the slipshod editing. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Lifespan of a Desktop PC? Date: 17 Mar 2005 12:53:27 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Robert Bonomi wrote: > Drive 'compatibility' is pretty much a "non-issue". *Very* old PCs > used, primarily, what were called MFM drives, Or sometimes a cousin > thereof, called RLL. Newer generations -- meaning most 386/486 class > machines, and everything past that -- use what is called IDE. IDE has > gone through a number of changes, adding higher-performance options to > the base technology. My machine, a Pentium 120 (by HP) is from 1996, so I'm hopeful I could just transfer over the hard-drive. It would be easiest for me. > Then there is the issue of any software installed on the old drive. > If that drive was in a machine running a MS operating system that > includes the "Registry", most software will _not_ be usable if the > disk is simply installed in a new machine, nor if the software is > 'copied' from the old machine to the new one. Because the required > "Registry" settings are not propagated to the Registry on the new > system. Hmmm. My present machine is early Win95. I don't think any of my software would've used the registry when installed since they were for either Windows 3.1 or plain DOS. The DOS stuff was loaded by merely copying the file off of a diskette. I have some manufacturer's original source diskettes, but I really don't want to load from scratch because I've made so many setting changes and customization to various products. For instance, I have Word 6.0, and I want to continue using exactly as I have it. Thanks for your help! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And don't, for one minute, buy into that Microsoft BS about how "this installation of (for example) Win 98 or Win 2000 will take about 45 minutes to an hour to install." I have never yet installed a new Microsoft OS in '45 minutes to an hour'. Most of the time I start one evening, and several hours later, completely nervous and upset set the thing aside until the next day and then go back to continue my work after a good night's sleep. Of course I have to install the networking components, etc as well. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Los Angeles Times: Low-Tech Methods Used in Data Theft Date: 17 Mar 2005 13:05:01 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Clark wrote: > Consumers have been able to challenge adverse entries in their reports > for years. Reporting companies are required to investigate and remove > said item if it can't be substantiated. Furthermore, the consumer is > required to be told when a credit report was used to as a basis of an > adverse decision and is entitled to request a copy of that report, > even if they have their free annual report allowance used already. From what I read in the newspapers, that protection doesn't work very well in practice. In other words, the consumer ends up with the burden of proof to show the errors were indeed errors. In real life, there can be gray areas. For instance, suppose you have an obligation but the company screws up your address and you never get a bill. They never get paid. (This has happened to me.) Since they never were paid, they blackmark you. I had a heck of a time proving it was their error (they left my apt # off the address and the post office returned it); further, they claimed it was still my responsibility to get them payment no matter what. I got it cleared up, but it was very aggravating. For victims of identity theft or outright fraud, it seems the companies take their time investigating the problem, in the mean time, the blackmarks are on your record. It seems victims have to hire a lawyer to push the companies to correct theft/fraud errors. (I can understand a credit company not wanting to writeoff thousands of dollars of fraud charges, but that's shouldn't be the consumer's problem.) When I got my credit report, I discovered a lot of junk in it -- long closed accounts listed as active or not responsive, stores long out of business, bad addresses, etc. For instance, I had a card with a store that closed. Unbeknowst to me, the successor store opened a new account for me, but had my address badly wrong so I never knew an account was out there. There were no charges, but still lots of bookeeping activity. This was frightening since it showed how easily errors can creep in or valid cards mailed to wrong places. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Sending Ringtones via a Web Service Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 13:20:07 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 17 Mar 2005 03:53:24 -0800, absolutemcv wrote: > Does anyone know the process involved in sending ringtone's to mobile > phoned via either a web service or other server based system? Are you talking regular monophonic ring tones or polyphonic ring tones? In either case you go to a site that sends ring tones and usually there's some sign up procedure. They'll send the ring tone to you (usually for a fee) and you'll receive it as an SMS. When the tone comes into your phone you'll have the opportunity to play the tone and if you like it you'll then have the opportunity to save it. There are also PC programs that will allow you to compose your own ring tones and send them to your phone through either a cable or sent over the air to your phone through your computer. ------------------------------ From: Walter Dnes (delete 'z' to get my address) Subject: Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? Date: 18 Mar 2005 02:44:20 GMT Reply-To: see_my_sig_at_bottom_of_message@waltdnes.org On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 19:15:10 -0500, Gene S Berkowitz, wrote: > In article , Walter Dnes (delete the > 'z') says: > You have your bandwidth calculations all wrong. The satellites (and > the US domestic "networks" only have two and three birds, > respectively) are continuously streaming all ~100 channels. When you > make a net connection, you are consuming a large portion of you > available network bandwidth. Should everyone on your neighborhood > subnet attempt this, you'll reach saturation. The satellite broadcast > doesn't care if there's 1 or 1 billion receivers. Internet multi-casting is the next step. It isn't being used because it isn't needed right now. I can see it being adopted if/when "regular" internet radio (and especially TV) starts straining the system. As it is, Bit-Torrent and other file-sharing programs are the number 1 bandwidth user. On 17 Mar 2005 04:11:54 -0000, John Levine, wrote: > Actually, long distance rates plummeted more due to regulatory > changes and fiber optics than to competition. For the past > century long distance had been deliberately overpriced to subsidize > local service and (in places with PTTs) other bits of government > bureaucracy. The mistake there was not to realize that with a > stroke of a pen those subsidies could be and were removed, which > is the main reason that a call from the US to the UK or Hong Kong > now costs 2 cpm rather than a dollar. Actually, satellites helped cut long distance rates in two ways: 1) being cheaper than land (actually under the ocean) lines. 2) you mentioned the subsidy factor. Years ago, before deregulation, big companies would lease dedicated channels via satellite to carry internal phone traffic between widely separated offices (e.g. New York to LA). This was cheaper than calling long distance during business hours. > Satellite really broadcasts, but internet radio fakes it with a > separate connection to each recipient. (There is real Internet > multicasting but it's a pain to set up and is only used in the geek > community to broadcast IETF meetings and the like.) With broad, > the question is how you get the same one-way signal to lots of > recipients. > This means that it's a question of scale. With the current low > numbers of listeners, Internet has the edge as you note due to its > parasitic carriage. Once internet radio (and especially TV) becomes more than a minor traffic blip, and overtakes Bit-Torrent and friends as the number 1 bandwidth user, multicasting will become more widespread. As for being a pain to set up, Windows is a pain to install. Joe Sixpack may not be able to do so, but his PC comes with Windows pre-installed. Once PCs start coming with multi-cast reception enabled out-of-the-box, it'll take off. > I think the real outcome will depend on questions like whether the > satellite radio stations are able to bribe car makers to install > receivers as standard equipment in cars so users need only call up > and subscribe, no installation or visible startup cost involved. > It'd be like cell phones are now, using the equipment as a loss > leader made up from subscription revenue. It looks to me like the > incremental cost of a Sirius or XM receiver and antenna would be > about $100 which is well within the range that cell plans subsidize. I don't think the subsidized-cellphone analogy is valid. Verizon etal, "subsidize" cellphones *ONLY FOR CUSTOMERS WHO ENTER A CELLPHONE SERVICE CONTRACT*. Subsidizing satellite-radio receivers on *ALL CARS* in order to get subscribers from only a small percentage, is not an economically viable business plan. All it takes is for one car producer to not make it standard, and they can undercut their competitors, who won't dare end up looking like they're trying to ram it down customers' throats. Look at FM radio. It had to be legislatively mandated into all car radios in many countries. This is not going to happen with satellite radio. There aren't any "free" satellite radio stations and there isn't a generic satellite radio reciever that will work with Sirius, XM, and all other competing services. I don't see governments mandating any one specific service in all cars. Walter Dnes; my email address is *ALMOST* like wzaltdnes@waltdnes.org Delete the "z" to get my real address. If that gets blocked, follow the instructions at the end of the 550 message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:08:16 -0600 From: hudsonl@skypoint.com (Hudson Leighton) Subject: Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing Organization: MRRP In article , fatkinson@mishmash.com wrote: > Pat, > When I was a teenager, my family had an enormous German Shepherd. Her > name was Heidi, she was approximately 125 pounds, all lean, strong as > a bull, and very protective of the family. She grew to be so big that > we couldn't get a harness big enough to fit her from the local pet > store. A friend had a German Shepard who could have been Heidi's brother, He was a great dog, on of my favorite memories was him laying on the floor being mauled by a crawling baby, pulling, pooking, tugging anything he could get his hands on, the only time the dog moved was when a hand reached for a eye. The same dog put a burglar in the hospital. http://www.skypoint.com/~hudsonl ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 00:31:11 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for your good words. Very oddly > (at least to me) Buffy very seldom barks. Now it is quite rare that we > have any burglars or other malfeasants in this area, however, Buffy > was always letting me know when the the garbage collection truck came > through the alley every Monday and Thursday morning. Some wag remarked awhile back that, to a dog, garbage men are burglars stealing all your best stuff. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #120 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Mar 18 20:09:37 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2J19aJ01075; Fri, 18 Mar 2005 20:09:37 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 20:09:37 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503190109.j2J19aJ01075@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 V24 #121 TELECOM Digest Fri, 18 Mar 2005 20:07:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 121 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Cell Annoyance Calls (How to Handle?) (AES) Survey: SMS Takes Hold in U.S. (Telecom dailyLead from USTA ") After Years In The Dark, Utilities See The Light (Eric Friedebach) New FCC Chief Not So VoIP-Friendly (Jack Decker) Pressure Builds Over FCC's Level 3 VoIP Issue (Jack Decker) Inbound CAMA Capabable PC Card? (Tom Johnson) WTS NEC NEAX 2000 IVS (Adam) Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? (John Levine) Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? (J Kelly) Re: Toll-Free Number Service For Europe - I Need Information (Joseph) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Fred Atkinson) Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing (Lisa Hancock) 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: AES Subject: Cell Annoyance Calls (How to Handle?) Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 09:23:16 -0800 Organization: Stanford University Been getting intermittent calls to my cellphone (Verizon 650 Area Code) for some time now, once every few days, 2 rings, then terminates. Caller ID in most recent case shows 916-235-4999; earlier ones were 916-???-?888. If I try to call back on our SBC land line a voice says "This call cannot be completed: Code NTI-20" and then it turns into a busy signal. So: 1) What might this be? 2) If I want to pursue it further, is there anyone or any organization I can query or hassle who will actually respond/potentially supply information or actually do something? In particular, any way (Internet or otherwise) to discover who is associated with that number? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 12:55:05 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: March 18, 2005 - Survey: SMS takes hold in U.S. Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 18, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20174&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Survey: SMS takes hold in U.S. BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Qwest puts heat on MCI shareholders with raised offer * Churn slowing for mobile phone companies * Cox makes data, phone gains USTA SPOTLIGHT * Telecom Engineering Conference at SUPERCOMM: Registration is Open EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Paris calling VOIP DOWNLOAD * Is VoIP mainstream? * Spammers jump on VoIP bandwagon * U.K. security guru warns of massive attack on enterprise VoIP networks REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Wireless industry may be headed for clash with states Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20174&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Eric Friedebach Subject: After Years In The Dark, Utilities See The Light Date: 18 Mar 2005 10:56:01 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Lisa DiCarlo, 03.18.05, Forbes.com NEW YORK - In February the New Millennium Research Council, a Washington, D.C., policy group, pronounced that 2005 could be the breakthrough year for a technology called broadband over power line, or BPL, where utility companies use standard power lines to deliver broadband connections to anyone with a power outlet. It is compelling technology that could provide meaningful competition to cable and to broadband service providers for digital subscriber lines. But that might not even be the most interesting thing about BPL. What's groundbreaking is that utility companies are, for the first time, using modern technology like BPL to automate critical functions and manage their networks. In most cases, there is little or no "intelligence" between an electric substation and a power outlet. That means that utility companies provide electric power pretty much the same way they did a century ago. But that's changing. Several municipal and investor-owned utilities are deploying BPL services to consumers to leverage their valuable infrastructure and drive new revenue, but also to manage their networks. The result will be better customer service, faster response to problems, lower costs and better profit margins. nIn Manassas, Va., the municipal utility is using BPL for tracking power outages in real time, automated meter reading and remote switching, even turning on Wi-Fi hot spots. "We can use the [BPL] infrastructure to serve multiple purposes," says John Hewa, director of utilities for the city of Manassas. Those purposes could also include automated customer service, remote monitoring and remote control of substations. http://www.forbes.com/intelligentinfrastructure/2005/03/16/cx_ld_0317bpl.html Eric Friedebach /An Apollo Sandwich from Corky & Lenny's/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 14:11:08 -0500 Subject: New FCC Chief Not So VoIP-Friendly http://voxilla.com/voxstory151.html New FCC Chief Not So VoIP-Friendly Regulation By CAROLYN SCHUK for VOXILLA.COM Kevin J. Martin, President Bush's appointee as Chair of the Federal Communications Commission may not be as friendly to Voice over IP service provider as Michael Powell, whom Martin replaces this week. Martin, a 38-year-old attorney and FCC boardmember, clashed over regulatory issues with Powell in the past, advocating, for example, even greater government regulation in areas such as television broadcast program content than his predecessor. Unlike Powell, who espoused a 'hands-off' approach to government regulation of the fledgling VoIP industry, Martin has said that all providers using the public switched telephone network -- including VoIP providers -- should contribute to the Universal Service Fund (USF), an FCC-managed program to subsidize basic telephone services in areas where the costs of offering such services are high, primarily sparsely populated rural areas, and to provide telephone service discounts to low-income consumers. USF funds are not used for new technology or wider bandwidth, which are needed for VoIP services. Instead, they finance only the most basic twisted pair telephony. Critics suggest that if wireline carriers were not subsidized they would be more likely to develop alternative wireless services for their rural customers; something they currently have no incentive to provide. VoIP service providers do not directly contribute to the USF. And some believe that requiring them to make such contributions, is in effect, forcing new technology to subsidize old technology, or forcing new providers to subsidize their legacy competition. "We support the general principles behind the USF," said Ravi Sakaria, CEO of VoIP service provider VoicePulse. "However, the bulk of USF dollars go to traditional telecom infrastructure. It doesn't go in fair share for broadband access. Because broadband is a requirement for our services, we view this as funding competitive technology." Martin made public his views on expanded USF contributions on at least two separate occassions. Full story at: http://voxilla.com/voxstory151.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As to whether or not Martin, as a 'Bush appointee' will be friendly to VOIP, my observations to date have been that Bush or his appointments are usually not very friendly to most of us, for various reasons. I don't know why the FCC in its governance of VOIP should be any exception. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 17:32:17 -0500 Subject: Pressure Builds Over FCC's Level 3 VoIP Issue Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com COMMENT: For those that don't want to read the full story below, here' a quick summary, seasoned with perhaps a hint of sarcasm: Dear FCC: [Whine] Please preserve our monopolies and let us continue to gouge our customers, since there is almost no competition and we really love being able to extract every last penny we can from them. [Whine] Please don't look at our filings with the SEC, or our financial statements, or you might get the wrong idea and think we're doing a whole lot better than we're telling you. [Whine] Please continue to give us all those subsidies we've grown so accustomed to, after all we are corporations and the law says corporations are like people in the eyes of the law, and if people can get welfare from the government then we should get it too. [Whine] And please kill the evil VoIP companies, who are stealing our slaves, er, customers, after all we have a God-given right to squeeze them because their families have lived in our turf for ages and they are too stupid to move out of our area. Signed, The rural (not necessarily small) telephone companies of the United States P.S. And please, while you are at it, we want MORE. [Whine] End of admittedly snarky comment (hey, it's Friday), now here's the real story. http://www.telecomweb.com/news/1111169709.htm Pressure Builds Over FCC's Level 3 VoIP Issue The House Rural Caucus and several trade organizations are making a last ditch effort to get the Federal Communications Commission to deny a Level 3 Communications request to exempt certain VoIP calls from access charges. Under commission rules, Level 3's forbearance petition not to apply access charges would require FCC action by this Tuesday, March 22, otherwise by default the petition is considered granted. Since the matter is being cut this close, the House group recently sent a letter to outgoing FCC chairman Michael Powell urging the Level 3 petition be denied, not only because of concerns for rural telco revenues from access charges, but also the Rural Caucus maintained that segments of VoIP, the broader proceeding on intercarrier compensation (ICC) and many other related issues should be treated comprehensively as a whole and not a in a piecemeal fashion.. A central Level 3 question is whether VoIP calls should be subject to reciprocal compensation or access charges. The Rural Caucus move drew support from the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance (ITTA), the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA), the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO), and the Western Telecommunications Alliance (WTA). They lauded the Rural Caucus for recognizing that a granting of Level 3's petition“ 'would prejudge' many of the issues. Full story at: http://www.telecomweb.com/news/1111169709.htm How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Tom Johnson Subject: Inbound CAMA Capabable PC Card? Date: 18 Mar 2005 12:09:34 -0800 I am looking for a card that supports analog CAMA trunks from a CO. My understanding is that the card needs to support reverse battery for wink-start and MF tone detection for CAMA compliance. A PCI card would be preferred, but at this point, might take anything that can be hooked into a PC. ------------------------------ From: Adam Subject: WTS NEC NEAX 2000 IVS Date: 18 Mar 2005 12:48:00 -0800 Hello, I have the NEC NEAX 2000 IVS phone system and I am looking for offers. This unit has these cards in it: *PN-8DLCJ *PN-8LCS *PN-4COTB *PN-2DATA *PN-CP03 Also have these phones availible: 1x DTP-8D-1 (BK) TEL - used 1X DTP-32D-1 (BK) TEL - used 1X DTP-8-1 (BK) TEL - used 12X DTP-8-1 (BK) TEL - new in box Please email me at Adamatcdr@yahoo.com if you have any questions or are interested. Thank you. ------------------------------ Date: 18 Mar 2005 17:05:33 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA >> doesn't care if there's 1 or 1 billion receivers. > Internet multi-casting is the next step. It isn't being used because > it isn't needed right now. ... and it never will be used. More below. >> Actually, long distance rates plummeted more due to regulatory >> changes and fiber optics than to competition. ... > Actually, satellites helped cut long distance rates in two ways: > 1) being cheaper than land (actually under the ocean) lines. That might have been true at the dawn of the satellite era when cables were still coax. These days, the TAT-14 cable has more capacity across the Atlantic than all satellites combined, and that's not even the fastest cable. > 2) you mentioned the subsidy factor. Years ago, before deregulation, > big companies would lease dedicated channels via satellite to > carry internal phone traffic between widely separated offices > (e.g. New York to LA). This was cheaper than calling long > distance during business hours. Well, sure, it was an arbitrage play since leased lines of any sort, not just satellite, didn't pay into the access scheme. This has nothing to do with satellite, and just reinforces my point that the high price was due to politics, not technology. > Once internet radio (and especially TV) becomes more than a minor > traffic blip, and overtakes Bit-Torrent and friends as the number 1 > bandwidth user, multicasting will become more widespread. As for > being a pain to set up, Windows is a pain to install. Setting up multicast on a PC is not the problem; you can install a program and be done with it. The painful part of multicast is that every router between the program source and each listener has to be set up to pass on multicast traffic, perhaps with some IP-in-IP tunnels between areas where multicast works, but the multicast must be supported on the end user networks or there's no point. If you think that Comcast and Cox and Road Runner are going to provide multicast for free to subsidize parasitic competition with their own cable radio offerings, or Verizon or SBC are going to add anything that will make it easier for people to compete with the always present chimera of ADSL video-on-demand, I would like some of whatever you're smoking. I can see it in WiFi cybercafes, but that'll never be more than a tiny niche market. >> I think the real outcome will depend on questions like whether the >> satellite radio stations are able to bribe car makers to install >> receivers as standard equipment in cars ... > etal, "subsidize" cellphones *ONLY FOR CUSTOMERS WHO ENTER A CELLPHONE > SERVICE CONTRACT*. Subsidizing satellite-radio receivers on *ALL > CARS* in order to get subscribers from only a small percentage, is not > an economically viable business plan. > All it takes is for one car producer to not make it standard, and > they can undercut their competitors, who won't dare end up looking like > they're trying to ram it down customers' throats. I realize that car companies have done stupid things in the past, but why in the world would they want to provide satellite radios that don't worj the satellite broadcasters? XM or Sirius or maybe both would pay car makers to put in receivers that can receive their stuff. I suppose that in theory GM could try to invent their own proprietary sat rad network (don't they still own Hughes satellite?) but I don't see them heading down that rat hole. It doesn't have to happen to every car right away. I would expect them to start with high-end brands whose owners would be more likely to subscribe, and to provide a few months for free to get them used to it. R's, John ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 15:34:42 -0600 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@*newsguy.com On 18 Mar 2005 02:44:20 GMT, Walter Dnes (delete 'z' to get my address) wrote: > I don't think the subsidized-cellphone analogy is valid. Verizon > etal, "subsidize" cellphones *ONLY FOR CUSTOMERS WHO ENTER A CELLPHONE > SERVICE CONTRACT*. Subsidizing satellite-radio receivers on *ALL > CARS* in order to get subscribers from only a small percentage, is not > an economically viable business plan. > All it takes is for one car producer to not make it standard, and > they can undercut their competitors, who won't dare end up looking like > they're trying to ram it down customers' throats. Many GM cars already come standard with XM Radio. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Toll-Free Number Service For Europe - I Need Information Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 06:00:57 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 17 Mar 2005 12:58:20 -0800, Mikeavian@go2.pl (Michael Av) wrote: > I need to set up a toll-free number service for Europe which would > redirect calls to my cell phone in a Eastern European country -- can > somebody recommend me a company offering such services or a place for > further search? (google.com is't too helpful) Try Kall8 http://www.kall8.com/international_tollfree.html Freephone numbers in the UK, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany. ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Reply-To: fatkinson@mishmash.com Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 15:11:26 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net > LOL - and then there were those who had the Siltronics sets. They used > to be on 27.415 or Channel 41 as we called it. This was in the days > before I got my amateur license. When the FCC was preparing to open the additional seventeen channels for CB, the CBers were already using the new channels with those Siltronics sets and other illegal units. In fact, I had one of those folks confront me at work and brag about how he used his 'slider' (CB slang for a VFO) to go outside the bands allocated for CB. He said they were even thinking of going up on the 10 meter amateur radio band. It was disgusting to see someone who cared absolutely nothing about encroaching on other services and breaking radio laws and treaties. When I was out doing radio maintenance for the company two-way radio system, a CBer asked my working buddy (Jerry) to use our watt meter to check the power output on his radio. I generally refused such requests because if we did it for everyone, it would encroach on company time and make it more difficult for us to meet our objectives. But, Jerry said he would loan our wattmeter to the guy. He told him to use the reverse scale on the wattmeter because that was the only way our wattmeter was going to read something as low as four watts. The guy came back and talked Jerry into coming over and doing it for him as he said the meter was full scale. When Jerry did this, he discovered that the CB radio in this guy's truck was putting out nearly two hundred watts. That was the last time Jerry ever volunteered our equipment or agreed to help someone with Citizen's band equipment. There was such a huge amount of misinformation running around among the CBers. I couldn't believe some of the things they would say and I can't imagine where they were getting information like that. For example, another one of our radio technicians (Ed) saw a fellow at a truck stop installing a power mike on his CB. He claimed that with the additional audio power in, that there would be more radio power out. When Ed told him that this was not true, he told Ed (our experienced, FCC licensed radio technician) that he was wrong. He said that all of the CBers were doing it and they were getting a lot more power out. Ed didn't try to argue with him any further. One fellow asked me to help him figure out why the antennas on his car weren't working properly. I told him I couldn't do it on company time (to be polite), but he told me about it, anyway. He had the truckers antennas mounted on a Volkswagon fastback. He told me that what the truckers antennas were for was to keep from 'messing up your SWR' when you had a 'huge metallic load' behind you. I had learned never to try to correct CBers on their information because they would usually tell you you are wrong. So I didn't correct him. But there was no way he was going to get enough separation between those two antennas for them to work properly on a Volkswagon fastback. He also told me that you had to keep your power mike turned down or 'Uncle Charlie' (an old expression used to refer to the FCC) would get you for running too much power. I knew it was an effort in futility, but I explained to him why that was not true and how cranking up the audio too much would corrupt your signal, not increase the radio power. He looked at me kind of baffled. I was very surprised he didn't tell me I was wrong. A ham radio operator friend of mine (Ross) had a two meter rig in his car. Ross would periodically have some CBer pull up next to him on the road and show what channel they were on by holding up the correct amount of fingers. My friend made the mistake of holding up two fingers (intending to tell them that he wasn't on CB but rather was on two meters). The CBer turned his set over to channel 2. Ross told me he had since given up on trying to explain to CBers the difference between ham radio and CB. Another fellow I knew (Jim) was in Florence, SC. Jim was parked in front of a beauty salon waiting for his wife to come out. He was having a good, long conversation with another ham who was in Fayetteville, NC on his two meter set while he waited. A CBer pulled up behind him and parked. He saw Jim talking on his radio and he dialed through all the CB channels trying to pick him up. After a while, he got out of his car and walked up to Jim telling him 'Good buddy, your CB isn't modulating'. Jim responded by telling the ham in Fayetteville to about this CBer and asking him to tell the guy where he was located. He responded that he was in Fayetteville, NC. The CBer's eyes almost popped out when he heard that come over Jim's radio. He went back to his car, pulled his CB out, set it on the sidewalk, and took it apart to work on it. When Jim's wife returned to the car, Jim got out and spoke to the guy explaining that that CB would never pick up his signals. The guy insisted that his radio would pick up any CB. Jim informed him that his radio was not a CB then got in his car and drove off leaving the poor guy sitting on the sidewalk with his CB completely disassembled. While funny, I think it was also a little mean. The Citizen's Band radio service spawned the biggest pool of misinformation I've ever heard of. And certainly it led to complete chaos on a number of radio bands. It was very poorly planned and the FCC never had the manpower for enforcement. Also, I believe that this thread was started by wondering what happened to television channel one. The six meter amateur band is from fifty to fifty-four megahertz. That should explain much of it. Regards, Fred, WB4AEJ http://www.wb4aej.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And that was the main conflict with television 'channel one' I think. A conflict with other services in the 50-54 megs area. CB radio operators did have a lot of ignorance. It was almost impossible to explain to them about the relationship of carrier power and modulation, for example, or height of the antenna, or how radio waves can 'skip' across bodies of water, such as Lake Michigan, and how using 3.5 watts with 90-95 percent modulation with an antenna on the top of an eight story apartment building on the edge of Lake Michigan (north side of Chicago) could _easily_ get you a nice clean signal in Benton Harbor, Michigan or Michigan City, Indiana. I often-times had people curse me out, tell me to 'quiet down out there' when I was operating totally legally. I would tell those people, "take your cheap, toy radio back to Walmart where you got it, and ask them to please refund your welfare check for last month." They could not understand a four watt radio (assuming it was legal) could only put out _four watts_ distributed between the carrier and the modulation. Too much carrier you could not be heard; too much modulation you would splash all over the band. They would 'peak up' their radio for closer to five watts, and then complain when you said you could not hear them. They did not understand the relationship between watts of power and decibels either, and when I would take the time to explain it all to them, they would tell me I was 'full of xxxx' and cuss me out. The analogy I would often times use was to tell the person, take an empty, sort of small, glass, put it in the sink and turn the water on full blast. Come back in a few minutes and see how much water is in the glass. Very little, most of it splashed into the sink or on the floor. Now, turn the water down to a slow, steady stream, and watch the glass fill up nicely with cold, fresh water. Some would listen, some would cuss me out even more. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing Date: 18 Mar 2005 10:01:00 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Patrick Townson wrote: > Buffy is _huge_ dog of the Australian Cattle Dog variety. Best wishes to recover quickly from your wounds. Unfortunately with pets even attempts to show love and affection can result in human injury if they come at the wrong time or are unexpected. Trying to adopt an animal, especially one that was mistreated, is a very noble and honorable thing. But it is not an easy task to break old habits and earn a new trust. Good luck, it sounds like you've made great progress. We have some feral cats in the neighborhood I want to adopt and have tried over the years to lure them with food and kindness. They always kept their distance (although they would eagerly take the food if I stayed far away). I described their behavior to my vet and he said they were feral and that they could not be domesticated. One has been around for seven years, which isn't bad for feral. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Try each day to move their food closer to where you are sitting, then just sit there quietly; they'll eventually decide to come closer for their food. They will never come to you if you keep chasing after them. But each day, make sure they can see/smell the food, but have it a bit closer and closer until it is eventually only a few feet away. 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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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #121 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Mar 19 17:12:42 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2JMCgx11038; Sat, 19 Mar 2005 17:12:42 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 17:12:42 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503192212.j2JMCgx11038@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 V24 #122 TELECOM Digest Sat, 19 Mar 2005 17:09:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 122 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Bank Regulator Says Banks Must Warn of ID Theft (Lisa Minter) Piracy Row Widens After Swedish Internet Firm Raid (Lisa Minter) What to Expect of 'Spamalot'? A Lot of Spam (Monty Solomon) Growth of Wireless Internet Opens New Path for Thieves (Monty Solomon) Dangling Broadband From the Phone Stick (Monty Solomon) Colleges on Their Guard Against ID Security Threats (Monty Solomon) Feds: Criminals Luuuuv Those Open 802.11 Networks (Danny Burstein) Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? (Isaiah Beard) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: What Happened To Channel 1? (Michael D. Sullivan) 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: 18 Mar 2005 17:31:57 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Bank Regulator Says Banks Must Warn of ID Theft The 5-0 vote by the agency's board of directors come in the wake of a flurry of announcements of the theft of personal data affecting hundreds of thousands of consumers. The changes have won approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision, and still require Federal Reserve Board approval. Fed spokesman Andrew Williams said the board is considering the matter. Banks will be required to notify customers when they learn of unauthorized access to sensitive customer information and, after a reasonable investigation, determine the information was misused or there is a "reasonable possibility" of misuse. The notices must describe the incidents, detail measures taken to protect customers, provide phone numbers for further information, remind customers to be vigilant and describe how customers may put fraud alerts in their credit reports. Sensitive customer information is defined as a customer's name, address or phone number, in conjunction with his or her Social Security or driver's license numbers; account, credit or debit card numbers; or an identification number or password that would permit access to an account. It also includes any combination of data that would allow a thief to access an account. Obtaining Social Security numbers is often considered a key to identity theft scams involving banks, which regularly use the numbers as a unique way to identify customers. Identity theft cost businesses $47.6 billion and consumers $5 billion in 2002, Federal Trade Commission estimates show. Financial institutions regularly targeted by scammers include Citibank, Wells Fargo, Washington Mutual, U.S. Bank, SunTrust, and Capital One. A common form of identity theft involving banks is "phishing," derived from the act of computer thieves who "fish" for private data. Phishers typically tell prospective victims in e-mails that there is a problem with their accounts, and ask them to verify personal information through a link to a real-looking Web site. They e-mail either known customers of a particular bank, or many people with the hope of reaching actual bank customers. Many phishing e-mails contain return addresses at sites such as Yahoo.com, or typographical or grammatical errors. Among companies to have reported thefts of customer data this year are data brokers ChoicePoint Inc. and LexisNexis, a unit of Anglo-Dutch Reed Elsevier (ELSN.AS) (REL.L), as well as DSW Shoe Warehouse, a unit of Retail Ventures Inc. Meanwhile, Bank of America Corp. the No. 3 U.S. bank, last month said computer tapes with credit card records of more than 1 million U.S. government employees were lost. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Associated Press. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 18 Mar 2005 17:33:14 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Piracy Row Widens After Swedish Internet Firm Raid By Patrick Lannin STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A raid on a Swedish internet firm last week, hailed by the entertainment industry as a blow against piracy of songs and movies, has sparked a debate in the high-tech country over confidentiality rights and file sharing. Bailiffs and police raided Internet firm Bahnhof seeking pirate files on servers. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), representing major Hollywood studios, said digital film and music was seized which would take 3-1/2 years to watch and listen to. The raid was initiated by a group called the Antipirate Bureau, which represents the music and film industry. But now the investigators are being investigated. The government-owned Data Inspection Office and the telecoms sector supervisor want to see whether the Bureau broke confidentiality rules by obtaining the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of people it suspects of illegal file sharing. An IP address, which is given to computers for identification and data traffic regulation on the Internet, enables investigators to identify a computer and hence an individual. But under Swedish law, access to IP addresses is strictly regulated. "We are likely to open an investigation after Easter," said a spokeswoman for the Data Inspection. The National Post and Telecom agency said it would investigate whether the IP addresses were obtained from telecoms operators, in which case it would be the operators that would have to be investigated further. The Antipirate Bureau, whose Web Site has been hacked, was not available to comment. One of its managers, lawyer Henrik Ponten, told newspaper Svenska Dagbladet this week that the industry could not stand by "with its arms folded while the sector is robbed." MORE COUNTER ATTACKS But high-profile figures from Sweden's tech world have also come forward to attack the tactics of raiding Bahnhof. Jonas Birgersson, who founded one of Sweden's most successful dotcom consultancies and is still involved in the Internet via his Labs2 business, said the raid was heavyhanded and smacked of "1984" methods, referring to the George Orwell novel about an imaginary police state. He said the music business should go the other way, and offer films and music at affordable prices to download. "Why do we start using these risky methods? We think people would like to pay if it was cheap enough," he told Reuters. A group called the Pirate Bureau, which supports file sharing and scaled-down copyright laws, said it estimated that around 100 million downloads of movies are made a year. The incident has sparked a wider debate about the legality of file sharing. In Sweden, it is legal to download copyrighted movie and music files, but making them available for sharing is illegal. The legal loophole, however, is about to be closed. The Justice Ministry has just proposed a law to make both illegal, bringing Sweden into line with the rest of the EU. Still, without power to identify IP addresses, that new law may not help the entertainment industry. The MPAA says the film industry loses $3.5 billion a year to videotapes and DVDs sold on the black market, but it has no estimate for how much Internet piracy costs the industry. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 09:52:01 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: What to Expect of 'Spamalot'? A Lot of Spam By DAVID F. GALLAGHER "Spamalot" fans who signed up for a newsletter on the Broadway musical's official Web site may end up getting, well, spammed a lot. "Movin' Out" devotees may have the same problem. A security glitch -- now fixed -- exposed the names and postal and e-mail addresses of more than 31,000 people to savvy computer users. Up until Thursday evening, when a reporter from The New York Times pointed out the problem to the Web sites' developer, visiting a specific address on the shows' sites produced a long page with mailing-list data. The security hole was not obvious to casual Web surfers because the address was buried in the site's code. But it could have been discovered by someone deliberately seeking the list data, or by a kind of program used by spammers to scour the Web for new e-mail addresses to bombard. http://theater2.nytimes.com/2005/03/12/theater/newsandfeatures/12hack.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 09:57:52 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Growth of Wireless Internet Opens New Path for Thieves By SETH SCHIESEL March 19, 2005 The spread of the wireless data technology known as Wi-Fi has reshaped the way millions of Americans go online, letting them tap into high-speed Internet connections effortlessly at home and in many public places. But every convenience has its cost. Federal and state law enforcement officials say sophisticated criminals have begun to use the unsecured Wi-Fi networks of unsuspecting consumers and businesses to help cover their tracks in cyberspace. In the wired world, it was often difficult for lawbreakers to make themselves untraceable on the Internet. In the wireless world, with scores of open Wi-Fi networks in some neighborhoods, it could hardly be easier. Law enforcement officials warn that such connections are being commandeered for child pornography, fraud, death threats and identity and credit card theft. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/19/technology/19wifi.html?ex=1268888400&en=51d90e7518bba5d6&ei=5090 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To read the full New York Times on line each day with no login or registration requirements, please login to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html where several publications -- in addition to nytimes -- are updated continually around the clock, 24/7. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 10:53:06 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Dangling Broadband From the Phone Stick By MATT RICHTEL SAN FRANCISCO, March 18 - To gauge the potential consumer impact of the consolidation sweeping the telephone industry, look no further than the silver-toned plastic phone gathering dust on the desk in Justin Martikovic's studio apartment. Mr. Martikovic, 30, a junior architect who relies on a cellphone for his normal calling, says he never uses the desk phone -- but he pays $360 a year to keep it hooked up. "I have to pay for a service I'm never using," he said. He has no choice. His telephone company, SBC Communications, will not sell him high-speed Internet access unless he buys the phone service, too. That puts him in the same bind as many people around the country who want high-speed, or broadband, Internet access but no longer need a conventional telephone. Right now, their phone companies tend to have a "take it or leave it" attitude. Consumers "are not forced to go with SBC," said Michael Coe, a company spokesman. "If they just want a broadband connection, I'd recommend they look around for people who can provide just a broadband connection." The nation's other two largest phone companies, Verizon Communications and BellSouth, have similar policies: broadband service is available only as a bundle with phone service. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/19/technology/19phone.html?ex=1268888400&en=b8329ca7e98c5ee3&ei=5090 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And so it is here in Independence, KS also. SBC's attitude is "take us as is ... no phone service, then no high speed internet." The reason that backfired on them around here is due to services like Cable One, we get high speed internet anyway. To show you how sleazy SBC has gotten, the latest offer in the US Mail to get me back now offers monthly service (full service package) for _$2.95_ per month (that's two dollars, ninety five cents) per month for one year. It has been said that in long ago times, the Bell tactic for getting rid of their competitors -- who could not afford such things -- was if neccessary, *give away their service* until the competitors gave up and went away. Are they going to start that again in places like Kansas, where Prairie Stream is fully licensed to do business state-wide, and gradually getting weaned off of Southwestern Bell? SBC for a long time was threatening to get rid of UNE-P but its not at all certain that will work either. So, they fall back on the old 'give it away until we don't have any competition' routine when they have to. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 01:20:26 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Colleges on Their Guard Against ID Security Threats Computer breach prompts BC to limit Social Security data By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | March 18, 2005 While Boston College warns 120,000 alumni that their Social Security numbers may have been stolen by Internet thieves, computer administrators at other Boston-area colleges say they long ago took steps to reduce the threat. James Stone, director of consulting services for the Office of Information Technology at Boston University, said his school and many others throughout the United States once routinely used Social Security numbers for identification on internal files and documents. But by the late 1990s, BU officials began to doubt the wisdom of this approach. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/03/18/colleges_on_their_guard_against_id_security_threats/ ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Feds: Criminals Luuuuv Those Open 802.11 Networks Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 04:24:34 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC "... Of those suspects, half regularly used the open Wi-Fi connections of unsuspecting neighbors. Four suspects, in Canada, California and Florida, were logged in to neighbors' Wi-fi networks at the moment law enforcement agents, having tracked them by other means, entered their homes and arrested them, Secret Service agents involved in the case said. ... " 'We had this whole network set up to identify these (suspects) but the one thing we had to take into consideration was Wi-fi', (former Secret Service agent) Mr. Gilhooly said. 'If I get to an Internet address and I send a subpoena to the Internet provider and it gets me a name and physical address, how do I know that that person isn't actually bouncing in from next door?' (rest at: ) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/19/technology/19wifi.html _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Iridium II: Is Satellite Radio Doomed? Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 14:20:36 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com John Levine wrote: > I suppose that in theory GM could try to invent their own proprietary > sat rad network (don't they still own Hughes satellite?) but I don't > see them heading down that rat hole. Actually, they don't HAVE to. GM owns a significant stake in XM, and I beleive they have one or two people on their board. And the current status quo is doing quite well. With GM, Honda and a few other car manufacturers, a satellite radio option exists for a number of models as an option package. If someone wants it, they can add the option in, and not only do they get a radio, but the first year of service is built in to the purchase price of the car (exactly the same model as OnStar). Once the subscriber is "hooked," they're likely (as has proven true in previous SEC filings) to pay for the service once the first year is up. Not everyone opts for this though. Personally, I think GM needs to reduce the size and improve the appearance of their satellite radio antenna. It currently looks like a big ugly black wart on the roof of the car, regardless of the car's paint color, and usually the placement isn't even centered, so anyone who is interested in preserving the lines and look of the vehicle will have issue with it. On the other hand, the aftermarket satellite radio systems have a tiny magnet mount antenna no larger than a postage stamp, and you can get creative as to where you place it. I opted for aftermarket, placed the antenna on the trunk lid where it's not too distracting, and got the added bonus of having a removable unit that can be taken and used indoors as well. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 22:41:00 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Fred Atkinson responded to What Happened To Channel 1 on 18 Mar 2005 15:11:26 GMT> > Another fellow I knew (Jim) was in Florence, SC. Jim was parked in > front of a beauty salon waiting for his wife to come out. He was > having a good, long conversation with another ham who was in > Fayetteville, NC on his two meter set while he waited. A CBer pulled > up behind him and parked. He saw Jim talking on his radio and he > dialed through all the CB channels trying to pick him up. After a > while, he got out of his car and walked up to Jim telling him 'Good > buddy, your CB isn't modulating'. Jim responded by telling the ham in > Fayetteville to about this CBer and asking him to tell the guy where > he was located. He responded that he was in Fayetteville, NC. The > CBer's eyes almost popped out when he heard that come over Jim's > radio. He went back to his car, pulled his CB out, set it on the > sidewalk, and took it apart to work on it. When Jim's wife returned > to the car, Jim got out and spoke to the guy explaining that that CB > would never pick up his signals. The guy insisted that his radio > would pick up any CB. Jim informed him that his radio was not a CB > then got in his car and drove off leaving the poor guy sitting on the > sidewalk with his CB completely disassembled. While funny, I think it > was also a little mean. This may have been another reason the FCC dropped Channel 1: too much interference. Back in the 50s, during the sunspot peak, there were a LOT of instances of some Channel 2 in Texas wiping out Channel 2 in NY. It happened, IIRC, mostly on Channel 2, and rarely on Channel 4. Channel 1 would have been worse. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And that was the main conflict with > television 'channel one' I think. A conflict with other services in > the 50-54 megs area. The very high power of TV stations, however well filtered, would have caused problems. Nearbly broadcast towers can cause serious problems far outside their band, even for good receivers. ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1? Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 08:02:17 GMT A simpler explanation for the use of channel numbers for TV and frequencies for FM and AM radio is that (1) AM radio operated in a contiguous band covered by an analog variable tuning capacitor and never had separate channel numbers, so (2) people were used to tuning in radio stations by frequency on a dial, and (3) FM radio likewise was in a contiguous band covered by a an analog variable tuning capacitor, so people were comfortable tuning in the station by frequency. Television, on tho other hand, started out in two discontiguous VHF bands, with somewhat variable spacing between channels and a need for precise tuning, and tuning in on a single band by twiddling an analog variable tuning capacitor to the right frequency would have been difficult. This tuning method was used on some early TVs; I don't know whether they were tuned by numeric frequency or by channel number, but it would not have been very convenient. The TV industry instead standardized on TV tuners that had 12 discrete fixed settings, pre-tuned to channels 2-13, with a fine tuning control that allowed one to tune the frequency higher or lower to account for offsets. Later on, tuners had separate fine-tuners for each channel so one wouldn't need to retune when switching from station to station. Given the move to fixed- position tuning, the use of "digital" numbering of channels instead of analog-like frequency designations was an obvious simplification. When UHF was added, it used a single contiguous band, and most sets initially required a separate converter box, which had an analog-style variable tuning capacitor that required careful attention to get the station one wanted (the pointer is between 30 and 40, is that channel 33 or 36?), but the tradition of using channel numbers instead of frequencies prevailed due to the established TV tradition. Eventually, TVs incorporated the analog-style continuously variable UHF tuner and later adopted a fixed-position tuner for UHF. Modern technologies, including Phase Locked Loop tuning and digital input and display, have relegated the dual-dial tuner and the fine tuning control to the dustbin of history. Michael D. Sullivan Bethesda, MD, USA Replace "example.invalid" with ".com". [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is true, however if you look at some FCC documents on FM radio frequency allocations (for example, documents on which frequencies are available on which places for 'low power' FM). All those documents show both 'frequency' and 'channel number' for the spaces between 87.6 FM and 108.1 FM. I think they have the 'channels' beginning at 201 and numbering upward. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #122 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Mar 20 18:59:36 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2KNxa720818; Sun, 20 Mar 2005 18:59:36 -0500 (EST) Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 18:59:36 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503202359.j2KNxa720818@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 V24 #123 TELECOM Digest Sun, 20 Mar 2005 19:00:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 123 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Wireless E-Mail: Attack of the BlackBerry Killers? (Marcus Didius Falco) Cell Phone ATT (absmith3@hotmail.com) VoIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? (Thumper) Cell Phone "Caller ID" Needed (Ray Burns) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Paul Coxwell) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Robert Bonomi) Re: Question re: Vonage E-Coupon (Jeff Miller) Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing (SELLCOM Tech support) 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: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 22:57:29 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Wireless E-Mail: Attack of the BlackBerry Killers? http://economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=3D3775141 From The Economist print edition The seemingly ubiquitous e-mail device faces growing competition. WHAT Apple's iPod music-player is to teenagers, the BlackBerry e-mail hand-held is to executives: the gizmo they cannot be seen without, and often cannot live without. But you probably knew that already: readers of The Economist are smack in the middle of the BlackBerry demographic. At conferences, in boardrooms and on commuter planes and trains, they are everywhere. The BlackBerry has spawned designer accessories; earned a nickname ( CrackBerry ) that reflects its addictive nature; and even has a malady ( BlackBerry Thumb ) associated with over-use. But its success means that the Canadian firm that makes it, Research in Motion (RIM), now faces a growing throng of competitors. Most complex technologies start out in industry, then hit mass scale. We've crossed over now, says Mike Lazaridis, who founded RIM in 1984 while a student at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. RIM hopes to benefit as wireless e-mail, like the mobile phone before it, goes from being an executive toy to a technology with mass appeal. But so do its many rivals. As a result, warns Brian Modoff, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, RIM has reached a turning point, as the potential reward of a far wider market is balanced with the risk of much greater competition. At the moment, 70% of RIM's revenue comes from the sale of BlackBerry devices, and the rest from software and services. To broaden its reach, RIM has licensed the BlackBerry software to big handset-makers such as Nokia, Motorola and Samsung, while continuing to sell its own devices. It is therefore both co-operating and competing with some much larger companies, as it navigates the transition to a more software-and services-based business. Business-model transitions are always fraught with challenges, says Mr Modoff. Other firms sense an opportunity to offer handset-makers their own BlackBerry-like software instead. This segment is switching from proprietary innovation to standards-based mainstream growth, says Danny Shader of Good Technology, a maker of wireless e-mail software that runs on a wide range of hand-held computers and smartphones. Without a hardware business, Good is not competing with the handset-makers (such as Nokia) that license its programs. Its software, running on Treo and PocketPC hand-helds, is already in use at nearly 5,000 companies, including seven of America's top ten firms. Brian Bogosian of Visto, another software firm that hopes to dethrone RIM, claims that mobile operators, like handset-makers, are also ambivalent about the BlackBerry. Many operators that resell the BlackBerry co-branded with their own logos would prefer not to dilute their own brands, he says. Visto offers white label software that runs on almost any device, and can be offered by operators under their own brands. So far, Visto has signed up ten operators, and will announce a deal with one of the world's biggest operators next month, says Mr Bogosian. Other firms pursuing a similar strategy include Intellisync, Seven and Smartner. Patent-infringement claims abound, underlining the intensity of competition. This week RIM paid $450m to settle a long-running suit with NTP, based in Virginia. Visto has filed suits against Seven and Smartner. If all this were not enough, another threat looms on the horizon: Microsoft, the world's largest software company. These guys exist because Microsoft is bad at mobile e-mail, says Mr Modoff. But the next versions of Microsoft's mail-server and PocketPC software, due in a few months, will include support for BlackBerry-style push e-mail, whereby new messages simply appear in the in-box. Anyone who ignores Microsoft needs to take a history lesson, says Mr Shader, who once worked at Netscape, a software-maker crushed by Microsoft because its web browser posed a competitive threat. RIM is risking the same fate, says Mr Shader, by promoting the BlackBerry as a platform. Mr Lazaridis is unfazed. Getting mobile e-mail to work is far harder than it looks, he says, and RIM has over a decade of experience. The complexity is masked by this very simple, user-friendly device, he says of the BlackBerry. This is a solution that has evolved and developed, and gone through trial by fire. Any competitor is going to have to go through that. We've done it right, we have the brand, we know how to make these devices. It's a very high standard to try to match. RIM continues to improve its hardware and software to maintain its lead, he says. Yet while RIM will continue to grow at an impressive rate, it will probably do so more slowly than the overall market as competitors start to muscle in. One possible outcome is that RIM and Good will end up fighting over the lucrative corporate market, while the less-demanding consumer market becomes commoditised. But with hundreds of millions of e-mail users worldwide and, despite their apparent ubiquity, only 2.5m BlackBerry devices in circulation, it is still early days for the mobile e-mail business. Copyright 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance,Economist Newspaper Group. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: absmith3@hotmail.com Subject: Cell Phone ATT Date: 19 Mar 2005 19:03:34 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I have an ATT contract dated in Oct- 2004- before Cingular bought ATT. Now Cingular is saying that I owe it $170 for cancellation fee if I tranfer service to Verizon. My contract was with ATT and I never signed anything with Cingular. So, looks like the ATT contract is shakey at best. Does anybody have any experience similar to mine and didn't pay for cancellation fees? Thanks, Abby ------------------------------ From: ThumperStrauss@hotmail.com (Thumper) Subject: VoIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? Date: 19 Mar 2005 17:10:58 -0800 I've read some of the articles here about VoIP (Internet telephony) and I'm very intested in signing up. I pay almost $50 for my local phone line with Bell (with voice mail and caller ID) and I'd like to not have to. Vonage, Primus and the others shows rates of $20 + tax for a service that seems to provide much more than Bell. I know the issues with VoIP (no 911 service, dependent on power), but I'd still like to try it. The ability to check you voice mail from the Web is neat. I also read the article about Sympatico offering naked DLS at the end of March 2005. This means you will be able to get a DSL service without also having a regular phone line. Does anyone have any news about this? There was talk that Bell might only offer naked DSL to users who bought the (not yet released?) Bell VoIP service. Also, Vonage told me that I can't keep my local Bell number. Anyone know if the new Bell VoIP service will let me keep my local Bell number? Thanks. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A couple things you have described as 'issues' are actually non-issues if you handle them correctly. For example, take 911. Vonage at least, maybe other VOIP carriers as well, take pains to advise you when signing up to _make absolutely certain to activatw your 911 service -- as a separate thing, not done automatically -- before you start using it._ When I signed up with Vonage a couple years ago, I also completed the PSAP form telling them where I could be physically located. I submited the form in email, got back an auto-ack from Vonage saying they would register it. Two or three days later I got two pieces of mail: one was email from Vonage saying I had been registered with the Montgomery County, Kansas Sheriff. The other piece of mail came like regular mail, from the City of Independence Police Department saying I had also been registered. At the time, Vonage had no POPs in the Kansas area, so I signed up (for Vonage) with an area 415 number. Then when Vonage expanded their service to Kansas area 316 and 620 numbers, I took a _local_ 620 number and dumped entirely the 415 number, and I also took a virtual area 773 number for my friends in the Chicago area who wanted to reach me easily. The Vonage PSAP department paperwork went through on that okay, but that same day or the next I got a phone call from the Sheriff's office who called me on my local landline 620-331-xxxx number sort of confused. "Did you move over to Winfield?" asked the lady. The new order from Vonage for a local number in 620 was actually a Winfield, Kansas number. No hassle, Winfield is a few miles west of here and the best that Vonage had at the moment. I explained to her that I was at the same old place, my mother's old house on East Poplar Street by Second Street. That seemed to satisfy her also. "Yeah, we know who you are and where to find you," she said. We did a test where I called her back on 911 using Vonage. She said the screen display 'looked different' but was 'understandable'. Granted, I live in a very small town, population 8800, one phone exchange for the entire town, the police dispatcher responds for the sheriff also, and the city offices and they receive 'two or three 911 calls per day'. So your milage may vary, but it does seem to work. And in our tiny little town, the police dispatchers know *everything* and *everybody*. They seem to know every address in town. You also raised an 'issue' with power. If you use a battery backup unit you get around any problems with power. I have heard people ask, but what about the DSL/cable line; their power could go out also. Yes, but there is a chance power could be out at the phone exchange also. I guess nothing is perfect. You also said 'Vonage told you they could not port your number' but that is only true if they do not have immediate local service in your telephone exchange. If they have a POP in your town or in your central office then they can and will be glad to port your number. Regards naked DSL, for most parts of the Bell System it is unlikely as they do business now. SBC, for example has stated they would not do it and they don't do it except where courts have ordered them to do so. You would be better off looking at high speed cable internet or satellite internet if it is possible in your community, as it is here. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:07:12 -0500 From: Ray Burns Subject: Cell Phone "Caller ID" Needed Dear Patrick Townson, Pat, I am writing software that communicates from one network-connected computer to another controlled by a cell phone (XHTML-M). The user logs in with just a password. Passwords are not guaranteed to be unique, so I need some sort of phone serial number or other similar number to append to the password to make it unique. Do you know of such a phone id number/string that I could access via HTTP/HTTPS? Thanks, Ray Burns Nantasket Software, Inc 617.964.4084(w) ray@igsw.com 617.966-7439(c) 970 Commonwealth Avenue, Newton Center MA 02459 617.965-5081(f) ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 23:52:03 -0000 > This may have been another reason the FCC dropped Channel 1: too > much interference. Back in the 50s, during the sunspot peak, there > were a LOT of instances of some Channel 2 in Texas wiping out > Channel 2 in NY. It happened, IIRC, mostly on Channel 2, and rarely > on Channel 4. Channel 1 would have been worse. Here in the U.K. we had a TV channel 1 right up until the closure of our old 405-line service in 1985. The main transmitters on ch. 1 were Crystal Palace (London), Redruth (far southwest of England), and Divis (Northern Ireland), although many other low-power relays (transposers) also used it in other parts of the country. Channel 1 was still using the same frequencies as the original pre-war BBC service: Video carrier on 45.0MHz, sound on 41.5MHz. It was certainly much more susceptible to interference, although all the VHF "Band I" channels (1 through 5, extending up to about 67MHz) could get hit by signals from Continental Europe when conditions were right. The hot summer of 1976 provided many instances of such interference during the long summer evenings. It was quite common during the 1970s for the BBC to put up announcements between programs telling people "Do not adjust your sets." As Independent TV used only the "Band III" channels (starting at ch. 6 from about 174Mhz upward), it was generally less affected than the BBC. > There was such a huge amount of misinformation running around among > the CBers. I couldn't believe some of the things they would say and > I can't imagine where they were getting information like that. It was the same over here. I took in CB repairs for several years, but one of the reasons I dropped CB work in the end was that I was getting more and more fed up with (a) getting nowhere trying to correct the horrendous misconceptions that were around, and (b) having to put right sets in which every darned preset and coil had been interfered with before somebody decided it needed repair and brought it to me. One incident sticks in my mind of a guy who had me fit a crystal I.F. filter in his set. It improved the receiver's selectivity no end, but unfortunately, he wasn't at all happy. Apparently all his buddies had the modulation on their transmitters cranked up so far that with his improved receiver they now sounded terrible (and keep in mind that the British CB service uses FM). There was just no way I could convince him that the filter was doing its job exactly as intended and that he should tell his friends who were splattering over about three channels either side to get their deviation with limits. I wouldn't even like to guess at how many sets came in with the calibration pot on the meter turned up to maximum by somebody who actually thought he had increased his RF output that way. Even when a transmitter did have the output tuned up a little higher, you were on a losing battle trying to convince most of them that going from 4 to 5 watts carrier power isn't going to make a huge difference and that raising the antenna or replacing the coax with something less lossly would have a far greater effect, not to mention improving reception as well. -Paul ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 21:10:46 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Michael D. Sullivan wrote about Re: What Happened To Channel 1? on Sat, 19 Mar 2005 08:02:17 GMT > Television, on tho other hand, started out in two discontiguous VHF > bands, with somewhat variable spacing between channels and a need for > precise tuning, and tuning in on a single band by twiddling an analog > variable tuning capacitor to the right frequency would have been > difficult. This tuning method was used on some early TVs; I don't know > whether they were tuned by numeric frequency or by channel number, but > it would not have been very convenient. The TV industry instead > standardized on TV tuners that had 12 discrete fixed settings, pre-tuned > to channels 2-13, with a fine tuning control that allowed one to tune > the frequency higher or lower to account for offsets. Later on, tuners > had separate fine-tuners for each channel so one wouldn't need to retune > when switching from station to station. Given the move to fixed- > position tuning, the use of "digital" numbering of channels instead of > analog-like frequency designations was an obvious simplification. I had such a set in the early 50s. Tuning was analog, with detents and, IIRC, a fine-tuning wheel on the back of the main wheel. Band switching was done by turning the whole assembly of the main wheel. It worked. > When UHF was added, it used a single contiguous band, and most sets > initially required a separate converter box, which had an analog-style > variable tuning capacitor that required careful attention to get the > station one wanted (the pointer is between 30 and 40, is that channel 33 > or 36?), but the tradition of using channel numbers instead of > frequencies prevailed due to the established TV tradition. Eventually, > TVs incorporated the analog-style continuously variable UHF tuner and > later adopted a fixed-position tuner for UHF. This was required by the FCC: they required parity in tuning (on all but the cheapest sets -- under 12 inches IIRC) between UHF and VHF to promote UHF. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is true, however if you look at > some FCC documents on FM radio frequency allocations (for example, > documents on which frequencies are available on which places for > 'low power' FM). All those documents show both 'frequency' and > 'channel number' for the spaces between 87.6 FM and 108.1 FM. I > think they have the 'channels' beginning at 201 and numbering > upward. PAT] If you look at a digital "world band" radio, you will find somewhere a "europe-america" switch. It's often well hidden. I have one where it's in the battery compartment. In the Americas the channels on the AM band are spaced 10 kHz apart. In Europe they are spaced 9 kHz apart, allowing them to squeeze in a few extra stations. This is significant only in digital tuning, especially in digital search. There is something similar in FM. I've forgotten the exact details, but in US we use only the "odd" frequencies: 88.1, 88.3, 88.5, 88.7, 88.9 MHz. I think in some parts of the world they use the even frequencies: 88.2, 88.4 etc. This is to get the necessary spacing between the broadcasts. One other peculiarity: in most countries, FM is about 88 to 108 MHz. In Japan it's about 78 to 98 MHz. There are a few radios that will receive the entire band, 78 to 108, but most, including Japanese brands sold outside Japan, miss the low end of the Japanese band. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 10:02:02 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Michael D. Sullivan wrote: > A simpler explanation for the use of channel numbers for TV and > frequencies for FM and AM radio is that (1) AM radio operated in a > contiguous band covered by an analog variable tuning capacitor and > never had separate channel numbers, so (2) people were used to tuning > in radio stations by frequency on a dial, and (3) FM radio likewise > was in a contiguous band covered by a an analog variable tuning > capacitor, so people were comfortable tuning in the station by > frequency. > Television, on tho other hand, started out in two discontiguous VHF > bands, with somewhat variable spacing between channels and a need for > precise tuning, and tuning in on a single band by twiddling an analog > variable tuning capacitor to the right frequency would have been > difficult. This tuning method was used on some early TVs; I don't know > whether they were tuned by numeric frequency or by channel number, but > it would not have been very convenient. The TV industry instead > standardized on TV tuners that had 12 discrete fixed settings, pre-tuned > to channels 2-13, with a fine tuning control that allowed one to tune > the frequency higher or lower to account for offsets. Later on, tuners > had separate fine-tuners for each channel so one wouldn't need to retune > when switching from station to station. Given the move to fixed- > position tuning, the use of "digital" numbering of channels instead of > analog-like frequency designations was an obvious simplification. Plausable, just 'false to fact'. In the early days of TV receivers, they were equipped with continuous- tuning knobs/dials, just like an AM radio receiver. For the TV band, however the indicator assembly was marked by "channel", *not* by frequency. I used to have a 1930's Crosley TV that had that kind of continuous tuner. *BIG* gap on the dial, between channel 6 and 7, It actually tuned across that entire 'midband' space -- with all kinds of interesting results. You could "see" aircraft band transmissions, and hear stuff on broadcast FM, 2m Ham, and business-band. [[.. munch ..]] > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is true, however if you look at > some FCC documents on FM radio frequency allocations (for example, > documents on which frequencies are available on which places for > 'low power' FM). All those documents show both 'frequency' and > 'channel number' for the spaces between 87.6 FM and 108.1 FM. I > think they have the 'channels' beginning at 201 and numbering > upward. PAT] Originally, 199 channels, 100kc spacing, numbered 1-199, corresponding to frequencies from 88.1 through 107.9 megacycles. Since then, even the name of the unit-of-measurement has changed. :) and a few additional channels have managed to sneak in. I believe 200 is 108.0, 201 is 88.0, and I'm not sure how they numbered the space below 88.0. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I seem to recall about 1960 or so there was a 'christian' radio station in Hammond, Indiana which belonged to Crawford Broadcasting Company (WYCA perhaps?) which was horribly over- modulated most of the time and located somewhere in the 89-90 megs territory on the FM band. Many people did not have FM radios in those days, but the standing joke was you did not need to purchase an FM radio to listen to it; all you had to do was tune your television set to channel 6 (no such channel then or now around Chicago) and tweak the dial slightly in order to pick up WYCA clearly. About 1989, I wrote a piece here in the Digest about that horrible station and all the interference they caused in the North Hammond/Burnham, Illinois area; the FCC finally required the station to work with Illinois Bell to install filters free of charge on people's phones and other types of amplifier equipment on request. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:41:18 -0500 From: Jeff Miller Subject: Re: Question re: Vonage E-coupon [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The other day, I received one of my all too freqeuent questions asking if it was possible to 'double-dip' with the Vonage e-coupon I offer. I gave my usual answer, no it is not. Either *I* sell you the telephone adapter (actually, it is drop shipped from Vonage) and give you the 'rebate' in the form of a month of free service, or *someone else* -- CompUSA or Best Buy for example -- sells you the adapter and *they* give the rebate; but you don't get it twice. He then replied as follows, below: PAT] PAT -- Thanks for your reply. That's what I expected, didn't think there'd be a way to double dip. Here's the deal I'm getting through CompUSA, which apparently is no longer being offered: $60 purchase price for PAP-2 -$50 rebate from Vonage once I have the service for 90 days (with a gotcha that says "not combinable with other Vonage offers", should have looked at that before asking the question, I suppose) -$10 rebate from CompUSA (already received) =$0 (except for sales tax) cost for adapter Plus, I received a $25 gift card from CompUSA so eventually I'm money ahead, looking solely at the acquisition end of things. However, when I disconnect there will be a $40 disconnect fee according to the TOS. There's some information out there indicating that current Vonage policy is to waive disconnect fees for accounts using retail adapters; of course, that policy is subject to change at any time. OTOH, if I went with the Vonage-provided adapter then the disconnect fee would be waived (if I returned the adapter) and I could get the free month, but there's a $30 activation fee and a $10 shipping fee according to the Vonage website. Either way, looks like they'd ding me for about $40 coming or going on top of the monthly service charges -- proving once again TANSTAAFL. Feel free to any part of the above in the Digest as you see fit. Jeff At 02:52 PM 3/19/2005, you wrote: > Saw your post on the Telecom Digest about an e-coupon for > Vonage service. Is that e-coupon only applicable to direct > activation through Vonage, or can it be applied to activations > of equipment purchased through a third-party vendor? PAT replied: > I am in essence the 'third party vendor'; although Vonage does the > drop shipping of the adapter box for me. > I purchased my adapter through CompUSA and am ready to > activate service, just thought I'd ask before starting out. PAT replied: > I believe Comp USA also gives a premium in the form of a month of > service or perhaps an instant rebate on the cost of the adapter that > you purchased. You cannot get *two* rebates, sorry. Either you get > the rebate Comp USA gives (which in effect comes from Vonage) _or_ > you get the month of service I give for free which also in effect > comes from Vonage. You cannot get both. > The way Vonage verifies who gets what is that if you get my e-coupon > the link enclosed in it walks you through the sign up process, and > gives you your new phone number, etc. **It requires a credit card > number from you in the process** > I think you have two choices at this point: > 1) if CompUSA did _not_ give you some premium in the process of > purchasing your adapter (free month of service or rebate on the > adapter) then ask them for it now. > 2) return the adapter to them, and use my e-coupon to get an adapter > through mail order and use the rebate I give (a month of free > service). > Sorry. > Thanks, > Jeff Miller > Columbia, MD > (Off and on reader of Telecom Digest since 1992) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So, if you have not yet signed up with any VOIP service, or you have signed up with others but were not satisfied and want to try Vonage, then let me know if you want to try Vonage with an 'e-coupon'. You click on the link in the email I send you; it takes you to a sign up page for Vonage. It arranges to ship you a Vonage adapter, gives you your number assigment, etc. You pay with your credit/debit card. They ship it out same day and you have it a couple days later. Whatever kind of service plan you sign up for (_and use your credit/debit card to pay for_) then the e-coupon kicks in and you get a _second month_ of the very same service plan for free. That's how the plan I offer works. PAT] ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 00:11:12 GMT SELLCOM Tech support posted on that vast internet thingie: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And thanks for your encouraging words > also. I am going to speak to Dr. Epp (veternarian) or the lady who > grooms pets (Buffy was taken to get a bath a couple days after she > first got here) and see if either of them can recommend a good dog > trainer. Maybe the animal shelter will know of someone. PAT] I still can't help but be in awe of some of those trainers. I gotta tell another dog story ... We had one live through the woods from us and he would help us with our pups from time to time. One day we were over at his house in the street and he was doing some training. One of his big Rottweiller dogs was chained up at the top of his driveway just watching. There was a neighbor dog going crazy and he spent about an hour going through different stuff with our dog and I believe one other one. After all the "training" was finished he called his Rottweiller from the top of the driveway. It was not chained after all but just lying up there commanded to "down" or "stay". I couldn't believe my eyes. Pretty amazing what these guys can do. Steve http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Panasonic 5.8Ghz 2line; TMC ET4300 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Brickmail voicemail Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Firewood splitters www.splitlogs.com If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz. New www.electrictrains.biz [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I need to find someone who can handle this monster before my entire house gets torn up! This morning I was on my way out the door about 10:30 AM when Buffy got loose when the fence gate was opened; she took off at a gallop all around the neigh- borhood. The more I called and chased after her, the more she ran up and down the alley and the street. To her it was just more play, but I was late for where I was going. I walked over to Eric and Justin, and got them to help me catch her, which they did, and got her in the fenced in back yard. When I got back home around 12:30 she had systematically taken all my things off the table in the back yard area and scattered them all around. I need to find someone to help me with her or else get her a good home somewhere. 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. 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. 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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #123 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Mar 21 15:13:22 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2LKDMG00527; Mon, 21 Mar 2005 15:13:22 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 15:13:22 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503212013.j2LKDMG00527@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 V24 #124 TELECOM Digest Mon, 21 Mar 2005 15:13:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 124 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Senator Asks FCC to Probe Gov't Videos (Lisa Minter) Newspapers Battle Web Sites for Classified Ads (Lisa Minter) Scam Artists Dial for Dollars on Internet Phones (Lisa Minter) Regional Cable TV Outfit Pulls Big Approval (Jack Decker) Free From State Regulation - FCC Decision on DSL (Jack Decker) Growth of Wireless Internet Opens New Path (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Tony P.) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Neal McLain) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Garrett Wollman) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Paul Coxwell) 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: 21 Mar 2005 07:37:19 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Senator Asks FCC to Probe Gov't Videos By GENARO C. ARMAS, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - A Senate Democrat influential on telecommunications issues has asked federal regulators to investigate whether any laws were broken by broadcasters who aired video news releases produced by the government. Stations may have violated the law if they used the video releases without disclosing that the government was the source of the information, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, wrote in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC should "take any remedial measures necessary to prevent station owners from misleading their viewers", said Inouye, adding that any lack of disclosure also represents "a serious breach of journalistic ethics." Inouye, ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said the FCC should also scrutinize whether stations violated prohibitions against accepting "money, service or other valuable consideration for the airing of content." The commission will "take the letter very seriously and will look into it," FCC spokesman David Fiske said Thursday. Generally, the FCC reviews letters and complaints before determining if there should be an investigation. The Republican White House has for some time been preparing and distributing 'press releases' without any attribution to the source, and many people who have read these 'press releases' have said they amounted only to government propoganda. The White House has defended the video releases, which are distributed to television stations across the country. The videos are frequently used without any disclosure of the government's role in their production by claiming they are 'truthful accounts'. President Bush at a news conference Wednesday pointed to a Justice Department memo issued last week that concluded the practice was appropriate so long as the videos presented factual information about government activities. "Now I also think it would be helpful if local stations then disclosed to their viewers that this was based upon a factual report and they chose to use it," Bush said. "But evidently in some cases that's not the case." The Justice guidelines conflicted with an opinion from the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. The videos could amount to illegal "covert propaganda" if stations did not clearly state the source of the information, the GAO said. There has been increased scrutiny on government media practices since the revelation in January that conservative columnists were paid to plug the administration's agenda and did not tell their audiences that they had received money. Bush, after the practice was disclosed, said it was wrong and ordered that it stop, then in February, a gay male prostitute who operated gay pornographic websites was found to be operating daily from the Press Room at the White House doing 'cut and paste' Republican press releases for 'Talon', an alleged web site with political news. The FCC is investigating at least one of those cases, involving commentator Armstrong Williams and his deal with the Education Department to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Associated Press. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 20 Mar 2005 16:05:03 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Newspapers Battle Web Sites for Classified Ads By Lisa Baertlein SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Not so long ago, the classified ad section of the local newspaper was the best place to sell a car, rent an apartment or post a job opening. Now the Internet is shaking up this once-staid and lucrative business. Newspaper publishers that once enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the classified market are facing increasing competition, including from Web sites like eBay Inc. Experts wonder if free online ads and innovations that allow sellers of everything from exotic cars to Pez candy dispensers to reach a massive audience via the Web will expand the business for all or inflict serious damage on incumbents. EBay, best known for its auction site, has spent more than $850 million to buy three online classified companies in the United States and abroad. Last summer, the Web marketplace took a 25 percent stake in mostly free, San Francisco-based Craigslist.org (http://www.craigslist.org), an online classified shop that covers about 100 cities worldwide. EBay recently launched free classified Web sites in seven international markets including Germany, China and Japan. Those new Kijiji-branded sites (http://kijiji.com) mimic Craigslist. Moves like these are causing havoc with newspapers, many of which have fought back with online versions of their publications -- complete with classifieds. "It's a free-for-all," said Peter Zollman, founding principal of consulting firm Classified Intelligence. "I think the threat (to newspapers) is very real because classified advertising is so lucrative." The Newspaper Association of America expects the market for print newspaper classified advertising to grow 5.2 percent to $17.4 billion this year. But newspaper market share is falling amid intense competition from a range of players, including Web sites and Internet search companies, as well as radio and television, niche publications and Yellow Pages providers, Zollman said. Newspapers remain the dominant medium for listing jobs and selling cars and homes in most local markets, but Zollman warned they must work to keep that hold. "I don't think they'll go out of business, but the business is being transformed very fast," he said. Analysts who focus on the Web also point to the success of companies like Yahoo Inc. and MSN Web unit, which have seen their banner and branded ad revenue grow as big advertisers follow audiences from television to the Internet. ROOM FOR ALL? Still, some analysts see the changing classified ad market resulting in a larger sea that can float all boats. "It's a case of one and one equaling 2 1/2," said Ed Atorino, a publishing analyst at Fulcrum Global Partners. "It doesn't seem to be taking away a lot of dollars from the traditional media; it just seems to be a new market." Print newspaper classified revenue declined from 2001 to 2003, when the broader ad market was soft, but has risen in every other year since the Web went mainstream in 1995. The Kelsey Group estimates that total revenue from U.S. Web classifieds was $1.95 billion in 2004, excluding eBay, but including sites operated by newspapers. Auto sales typically constitute the biggest chunk of classified ad spending at newspapers, followed by help-wanted and real-estate listings, while Web classifieds are dominated by jobs, followed by dating and autos. The help-wanted market may be a harbinger for the future push and pull between the online and offline worlds. Newspaper job listings were the first to feel the heat from Internet rivals like Monster.com. Most newspaper chains during 2004 continued to lose online recruitment market share to rivals, based on the number of job postings, according to Corzen, a New York market research firm. Help-wanted revenue growth at newspapers also lags that of online job posting sites. But there were some bright spots. Online recruiting site Careerbuilder jointly owned by newspaper publishers Gannett Co. Inc., Knight Ridder Inc. and Tribune Co. gained market share, as did Hollinger International and Pulitzer Inc. Newspapers are also fighting back on other fronts. For example, Hearst Corp.'s San Francisco Chronicle is giving extended listings to unsuccessful sellers, while Miami Herald and San Jose Mercury News publisher Knight Ridder lets people buy online-only ads, with or without pictures. Still others allow their news items to be used freely in exchange for advertising revenue earned through online sources. Reuters Limited is one such example. Kelsey analyst Greg Sterling said the jury is still out, but newspapers appear to be worse off than before the arrival of online rivals. "It's very hard to know what kind of dollars have been lost from newspapers," he said. "I think it's substantial." NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 20 Mar 2005 16:08:11 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Scam Artists Dial for Dollars on Internet Phones By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Internet phone services have drawn millions of users looking for rock-bottom rates. Now they're also attracting identity thieves looking to turn stolen credit cards into cash. Some Internet phone services allow scam artists to make it appear that they are calling from another phone number -- a useful trick that enables them to drain credit accounts and pose as banks or other trusted authorities, online fraud experts say. "It's like you've handed people an entire phone network," said Lance James, who as chief technology officer of Secure Science Corp. sees such scams on a daily basis. The emerging scams underline the lower level of security protecting Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP, the Internet-calling standard that has upended the telecommunications industry over the past several years. Traditional phone networks operate over dedicated equipment that is difficult for outsiders to penetrate. Because VOIP calls travel over the Internet, they cost much less but are vulnerable to the same security problems that plague e-mail and the Web. Internet worms that snarl online networks can render VOIP lines unusable, and experts at AT&T say VOIP conversations can be monitored or altered by outsiders. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras recently warned that unscrupulous telemarketers could use VOIP to blast huge numbers of voice messages to consumers, a technique known as SPIT, for "spam over Internet telephony." All of these threats remain largely in the realm of theory. Caller ID spoofing, on the other hand, has emerged over the past six months as a useful tool for identity thieves and other scam artists, according to fraud experts. PRESIDENT BUSH ON THE LINE Any reporter would scramble for a ringing phone that reads "White House media line" on its caller ID display. But it's not the Bush administration on the line -- it's security instructor Ralph Echemendia, calling from a mobile phone on a remote Georgia highway. "You can see how this sort of thing could be used in a very malicious way," said Echemendia, a security instructor at the Intense School, a technology training company. Caller ID spoofing is not prohibited by law, but the Federal Communications Commission requires telemarketers to identify themselves accurately, a spokeswoman said. Echemendia built his own system to spoof calls, but several free or low-cost services allow even technical novices to falsify caller ID information as well. Debt collectors and private investigators use Camophone.com's 5-cents-per-call service to trick people into answering the phone, according to messages posted on a discussion board. Traveling salesmen say the service comes in handy when they want clients to return calls to the main office, rather than their motel room. James said criminal uses of caller-ID spoofing have become common over the last six months. Wire-transfer services like Western Union require customers to call from their home phone when they want to transfer money in an effort to deter fraud -- a barrier easily sidestepped by any identity thief using a caller-ID spoofing service. Fraud rings can now transfer money directly out of stolen credit-card accounts, rather than buying merchandise and reselling it, he said. Western Union spokeswoman Danielle Periera said the company has no other way to verify that transfer requests are valid. "We try hard to stay one step ahead of them and recognize that scam artists are sophisticated and often change their schemes," she said. Criminals can use caller-ID spoofing to listen to other people's voice mail, James said, especially when those accounts are not protected by passwords. They also have begun to use the technology to make it appear that they are calling from a bank or other financial institution, said Dave Jevans, who chairs the Anti-Phishing Working Group, a banking-industry task force. That helps them convince consumers to divulge account numbers, passwords and other sensitive information in a scam that echoes the "phishing" e-mails that have become common, he said. VOIP industry pioneer Jeff Pulver, whose Free World Dialup service can be used to spoof calls, said he couldn't prevent abuse of his system. The problem will likely recede as companies like VeriSign Inc. and NeuStar Inc. develop ways to verify online identities, he said: "We're not there yet, but we're going to get there." NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 11:43:33 -0500 Subject: Regional Cable TV Outfit Pulls Big Approval http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwendland21e_20050321.htm BY MIKE WENDLAND FREE PRESS COLUMNIST It may be the Detroit area's No. 2 cable company, but it's No. 1 in customer satisfaction. In fact, says Mark Dineen, the general manager and a corporate vice president of WOW Internet Cable and Phone, the biggest complaint he gets is from people outside the service areas of 42 Detroit-area communities who want WOW but can't get it. Dineen's company was just rated No. 1 by cable TV subscribers in a nationwide J.D. Power and Associates survey that measured customer satisfaction. Comcast, the area's dominant cable provider, ranked seventh. [.....] WOW was founded in Colorado in 1999 and then moved to the Midwest in 2001 when it acquired the cable assets of Ameritech New Media. The Colorado operation broke off from the main corporation and is operated separately. [.....] Two weeks ago, WOW rolled out one of the industry's most aggressive bundled packages that includes digital telephone service. For $89.99 a month, customers get cable television, basic Internet and unlimited local and long distance telephone calls. The system, which allows customers to keep their existing phone numbers, uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to patch two-way phone calls through the WOW network to the Sprint land-based network. "This really is the future," says Dineen, 40, a resident of Troy. "People get digital quality and all the caller ID and call forwarding and 911 features they expect, but never have to pay long distance fees." Full story at: http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwendland21e_20050321.htm How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 12:20:15 -0500 Subject: Free From State Regulation - FCC Decision on DSL http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/61574 Free From State Regulation Will FCC decision on DSL carry a larger impact? The Federal Communications Commission has ruled, in a 3-2 vote yet to be announced, that states no longer had authority to regulate digital subscriber lines offered by BellSouth and other providers, as reported in the Los Angeles Times this decision, companies such as BellSouth would no longer be required to sell high-speed Internet service to voice customers of rival firms. "The larger impact is that it would put the commission on record saying that there should be a national broadband policy and not one any state could opt out of," said BellSouth spokesman Bill McCloskey. Article + reader comments at: http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/61574 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 22:09:00 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Growth of Wireless Internet Opens New Path Sorry I don't have the original URL for this. It's from the NY Times. Note the risk to the innocent individual user, which is explained in the last paragraph. * Original: From..... Bill Craig March 19, 2005 Growth of Wireless Internet Opens New Path for Thieves By SETH SCHIESEL The spread of the wireless data technology known as Wi-Fi has reshaped the way millions of Americans go online, letting them tap into high-speed Internet connections effortlessly at home and in many public places. But every convenience has its cost. Federal and state law enforcement officials say sophisticated criminals have begun to use the unsecured Wi-Fi networks of unsuspecting consumers and businesses to help cover their tracks in cyberspace. In the wired world, it was often difficult for lawbreakers to make themselves untraceable on the Internet. In the wireless world, with scores of open Wi-Fi networks in some neighborhoods, it could hardly be easier. Law enforcement officials warn that such connections are being commandeered for child pornography, fraud, death threats and identity and credit card theft. "We have known for a long time that the criminal use of the Internet was progressing at a greater rate than law enforcement had the knowledge or ability to catch up," said Jan H. Gilhooly, who retired last month as special agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in Newark and now helps coordinate New Jersey operations for the Department of Homeland Security. "Now it's the same with the wireless technologies." In 2003, the Secret Service office in Newark began an investigation that infiltrated the Web sites and computer networks of suspected professional data thieves. Since October, more than 30 people around the world have been arrested in connection with the operation and accused of trafficking in hundreds of thousands of stolen credit card numbers online. Of those suspects, half regularly used the open Wi-Fi connections of unsuspecting neighbors. Four suspects, in Canada, California and Florida, were logged in to neighbors' Wi-Fi networks at the moment law enforcement agents, having tracked them by other means, entered their homes and arrested them, Secret Service agents involved in the case said. More than 10 million homes in the United States now have a Wi-Fi base station providing a wireless Internet connection, according to ABI, a technology research firm in Oyster Bay, N.Y. There were essentially none as recently as 2000, the firm said. Those base stations, or routers, allow several computers to share a high-speed Internet connection and let users maintain that connection as they move about with laptops or other mobile devices. The routers are also used to connect computers with printers and other devices. Experts say most of those households never turn on any of the features, available in almost all Wi-Fi routers, that change the system's default settings, conceal the connection from others and encrypt the data sent over it. Failure to secure the network in those ways can allow anyone with a Wi-Fi-enabled computer within about 200 feet to tap into the base station's Internet connection, typically a digital subscriber line or a cable modem. Wi-Fi connections are also popping up in retail locations across the country. But while national chains like Starbucks take steps to protect their networks, independent coffee shops that offer Wi-Fi often leave their connections wide open, law enforcement officials say. In addition, many universities are now blanketing campuses with open Wi-Fi networks, and dozens of cities and towns are creating wireless grids. While some locations charge a fee or otherwise force users to register, others leave the network open. All that is needed to tap in is a Wi-Fi card, typically costing $30 or less, for the user's PC or laptop. (Wi-Fi cards contain an identification code that is potentially traceable, but that information is not retained by most consumer routers, and the cards can in any case be readily removed and thrown away.) When criminals operate online through a Wi-Fi network, law enforcement agents can track their activity to the numeric Internet Protocol address corresponding to that connection. But from there the trail may go cold, in the case of a public network, or lead to an innocent owner of a wireless home network. "We had this whole network set up to identify these guys, but the one thing we had to take into consideration was Wi-Fi," Mr. Gilhooly said. "If I get to an Internet address and I send a subpoena to the Internet provider and it gets me a name and physical address, how do I know that that person isn't actually bouncing in from next door?" Mr. Gilhooly said the possibility of crashing into an innocent person's home forced his team to spend additional time conducting in-person surveillance before making arrests. He said the suspects tracked in his investigation would regularly advise one another on the best ways to gain access to unsecured Wi-Fi systems. "We intercepted their private conversations, and they would talk and brag about, 'Oh yeah, I just got a new amplifier and a new antenna and I can reach a quarter of a mile,' " he said. "Hotels are wide open. Universities, wide open." Sometimes, suspected criminals using Wi-Fi do not get out of their car. At 5 a.m. one day in November 2003, the Toronto police spotted a wrong-way driver "with a laptop on the passenger seat showing a child pornography movie that he had downloaded using the wireless connection in a nearby house," said Detective Sgt. Paul Gillespie, an officer in the police sex crimes unit. The suspect was charged with child pornography violations in addition to theft of telecommunications services; the case is pending. "The No. 1 challenge is that people are committing all sorts of criminal activity over the Internet using wireless, and it could trace back to somebody else," Sergeant Gillespie said. Holly L. Hubert, the supervisory special agent in charge of the Cyber Task Force at the F.B.I. field office in Buffalo, said the use of Wi-Fi was making it much more difficult to track down online criminals. "This happens all the time, and it's definitely a challenge for us," she said. "We'll track something to a particular Internet Protocol address and it could be an unsuspecting business or home network that's been invaded. Oftentimes these are a dead end for us." Ms. Hubert says one group of hackers she has been tracking has regularly frequented a local chain of Wi-Fi-equipped tea and coffee shops to help cover its tracks. Many times the suspects can find a choice of unsecured wireless networks right from home. Special Agent Bob Breeden, supervisor of the computer crime division for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said a fraud investigation led in December to the arrest of a Tallahassee man who had used two Wi-Fi networks set up by residents in his apartment complex. Over those Internet connections, the suspect used the electronic routing information for a local college's bank account to pay for online pornography and to order sex-related products, Mr. Breeden said. The man was caught because he had the products delivered to his actual address, Mr. Breeden said. When officers went to arrest him, they found his computer set up to connect to a neighbor's wireless network. Mr. Breeden said the suspect, Abdul G. Wattley, pleaded guilty to charges of theft and unauthorized use of a communications network and was sentenced to two years' probation. In another recent case, the principal of a Tallahassee high school had received death threats by e-mail, Mr. Breeden said. When authorities traced the messages to a certain Internet Protocol address and went to the household it corresponded to, Mr. Breeden said, "Dad has his laptop sitting on a table and Mom has another laptop, and of course they have Wi-Fi, and they clearly didn't know anything about the threats." Cybercrime has been known to flourish even without Wi-Fi's cloak of anonymity; no such link has been found, for example, in recent data thefts from ChoicePoint, Lexis/Nexis and other database companies. But unsecured wireless networks are nonetheless being looked at by the authorities as a potential tool for furtive activities of many sorts, including terrorism. Two federal law enforcement officials said on condition of anonymity that while they were not aware of specific cases, they believed that sophisticated terrorists might also be starting to exploit unsecured Wi-Fi connections. In the end, prevention is largely in the hands of the buyers and sellers of Wi-Fi equipment. Michael Coe, a spokesman for SBC, the nation's No. 1 provider of digital subscriber line connections, said the company had provided about one million Wi-Fi routers to its customers with encryption turned on by default. But experts say most consumers who spend the $60 to $80 for a Wi-Fi router are just happy to make it work at all, and never turn on encryption. "To some degree, most consumers are intimidated by the technology," said Roberta Wiggins, a wireless analyst at the Yankee Group, a technology research firm in Boston. "There is a behavior that they don't want to further complicate their options." That attitude makes life easier for tech-savvy criminals and tougher for those who pursue them. "The public needs to realize that all they're doing is making it harder on me to go find the bad guys," said Mr. Gilhooly, the former Secret Service agent. "How would you feel if you're sitting at home and meanwhile someone is using your Wi-Fi to hack a bank or hack a company and downloads a million credit card numbers, which happens all the time? I come to you and knock on your door, and all you can say is, 'Oops.' " Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. Also check telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, New York Times Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 22:35:21 -0500 In article , paulcoxwell@tiscali.co.uk says: > It was the same over here. I took in CB repairs for several years, > but one of the reasons I dropped CB work in the end was that I was > getting more and more fed up with (a) getting nowhere trying to > correct the horrendous misconceptions that were around, and (b) having > to put right sets in which every darned preset and coil had been > interfered with before somebody decided it needed repair and brought > it to me. > One incident sticks in my mind of a guy who had me fit a crystal > I.F. filter in his set. It improved the receiver's selectivity no > end, but unfortunately, he wasn't at all happy. Apparently all his > buddies had the modulation on their transmitters cranked up so far > that with his improved receiver they now sounded terrible (and keep in > mind that the British CB service uses FM). There was just no way I > could convince him that the filter was doing its job exactly as > intended and that he should tell his friends who were splattering over > about three channels either side to get their deviation with limits. > I wouldn't even like to guess at how many sets came in with the > calibration pot on the meter turned up to maximum by somebody who > actually thought he had increased his RF output that way. Even when a > transmitter did have the output tuned up a little higher, you were on > a losing battle trying to convince most of them that going from 4 to 5 > watts carrier power isn't going to make a huge difference and that > raising the antenna or replacing the coax with something less lossly > would have a far greater effect, not to mention improving reception as > well. Interestingly I was in with a group that understood the importance of good feed line and good antenna's. Never did hop up a set and that's what actually channeled me into amateur radio. One of the fellows in the group was an EE - actually designed a tube based 1KW amp for the 11m band. Now if he'd gotten his amateur ticket and moved it up to the 10m band he would have been pretty much legal. Of the entire bunch of us that were on during that period, three of us ended up getting our amateur licenses. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 21:40:01 -0600 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Michael D. Sullivan wrote: > Television, on tho other hand, started out in two discontiguous > VHF bands, with somewhat variable spacing between channels and > a need for precise tuning, and tuning in on a single band by > twiddling an analog variable tuning capacitor to the right > frequency would have been difficult. This tuning method was > used on some early TVs; I don't know whether they were tuned > by numeric frequency or by channel number, but > it would not have been very convenient. The TV industry > instead standardized on TV tuners that had 12 discrete fixed > settings, pre-tuned to channels 2-13, with a fine tuning > control that allowed one to tune the frequency higher or lower > to account for offsets.... Whereupon Robert Bonomi (bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com) wrote: > Plausable, just 'false to fact'. > In the early days of TV receivers, they were equipped with > continuous-tuning knobs/dials, just like an AM radio receiver. > For the TV band, however the indicator assembly was marked by > "channel", *not* by frequency. > I used to have a 1930's Crosley TV that had that kind of > continuous tuner. *BIG* gap on the dial, between channel 6 and > 7, It actually tuned across that entire 'midband' space -- with > all kinds of interesting results. You could "see" aircraft > band transmissions, and hear stuff on broadcast FM, 2m Ham, and > business-band. Sullivan is correct. As Sullivan acknowledged, some old TV sets did work like Bonomi's 1930s Crosley: they required "tuning in on a single band by twiddling an analog variable tuning capacitor to the right frequency [which] would have been difficult." But by the 1950s, TV set manufacturers were installing "turret tuners" to simplify VHF tuning. A single knob rotated a cylindrical mechanism fitted with twelve little hand-wired circuit boards, one for each channel. Each circuit board had a bunch of capacitors, some hand-wound coils, and a row of metal contacts that mated with metal springs. As each circuit board was brought into position by the rotating mechanism, the springs mated with the contacts on the board, placing that board in the circuit. After the introduction of UHF, turret tuners were manufactured with 13 circuit boards, one for each VHF channel + one that switched to a separate UHF tuner. The UHF tuner was tuned in one continuous-tuning dial. Sullivan continued: > Later on, [turret] tuners had separate fine- tuners for each channel > so one wouldn't need to retune when switching from station to > station. On each channel, the fine-tuning control engaged a tuning slug inside one of the little hand-wound coils. Here's a link to a picture showing a turret VHF tuner (left) and what appears to be a continuous-tuning UHF tuner (right). This particular photo happens to be on a British website, but the basic structure of the turret mechanism is the same in the USA. http://www.thevalvepage.com/valvetek/guidgrid/GGRID2.JPG Back in my cable TV days during the 70s, turret tuners used to drive us nuts. There was only one VHF TV station in the market (Channel 3), so if a viewer wasn't hooked to cable, the only exercise the tuner got was from getting flipped back and forth between UHF and 3. This kept the contacts on UHF, 2, and 3 clean, but the rest of the contacts got pretty dusty and/or corroded. If this viewer then connected to cable (just 12 channels in those days), suddenly, all 12 VHF circuit boards were needed. We spent a lot of time explaining, "I'm sorry, sir, your TV set's tuner needs to be cleaned ... please take it to the TV repair shop of your choice ... no we do not repair television sets ... our franchise agreement specifically prohibits it." Things got even worse when we introduced our first pay service (HBO) in 1978. We "hid" it in the midband on cable channel 17, "in the clear" (not scrambled, not trapped). We provided each HBO sub with a primitive converter: a little box with a single two-position switch: - One position converted channel 17 to channel 2 for HBO. - One position passed the incoming cable signal through unaltered for channels 2-13. It wasn't very good security, but the powers-that-were considered it to be good enough, since turret tuners couldn't tune it. Well, it wasn't long before local TV shops discovered a new line of business: retuning one of the lesser-used turret circuit boards (like public access) to channel 17. Of course, Bonomi's old Crosley would have tuned to it. But by the 1970s, virtually all TV sets used turret VHF tuners. Varactor tuners with digital displays were just coming on the market, and the old continuous-tuning models had just about disappeared. A few years later, we moved HBO to channel 2 (so we could sell HBO to hotels and motels), installed negative traps to secure it, and abandoned all those old two-position-switch converters. But some people never figured it out: for years thereafter, those old boxes kept appearing at garage sales and flea markets, sometimes accompanied by "get HBO free" signs. As for the folks who paid some TV shop to illicitly retune a circuit board to channel 17 ... well, they got what they paid for. Neal McLain ------------------------------ From: wollman@lcs.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 04:31:38 UTC Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science In article , Robert Bonomi responded to TELECOM Digest Editor: > Originally, 199 channels, 100kc spacing, numbered 1-199, corresponding > to frequencies from 88.1 through 107.9 megacycles. Since then, even > the name of the unit-of-measurement has changed. :) and a few > additional channels have managed to sneak in. I believe 200 is 108.0, > 201 is 88.0, and I'm not sure how they numbered the space below 88.0. Channel 200 is 87.9; 201 is 88.1, and so on up to 300 which is 107.9. There are two stations in the entire U.S. on channel 200: KSFH, a high-school station in Mountain View, Calif., and K200AA, a Calvary satellator in Sun Valley, Nev. In addition, Federal Signal Corp. has an experimental license for WA2XNX in Brazos, Tex., but I have no idea if this station is operating. Channel 200 is reserved for non-commercial, class-D stations which have been "bumped" by a primary station from their previous channel, and for which no other FM channel would be technically permissible. I suspect this rule was made specifically for KSFH, which was for many years the only station on the channel; K200AA was just recently built. -GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every wollman@csail.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own Opinions not those | search for greater freedom. of MIT or CSAIL. | - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. ___ (2003) ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 12:46:11 -0000 > If you look at a digital "world band" radio, you will find somewhere a > "europe-america" switch. It's often well hidden. I have one where it's > in the battery compartment. In the Americas the channels on the AM > band are spaced 10 kHz apart. In Europe they are spaced 9 kHz apart, > allowing them to squeeze in a few extra stations. This is significant > only in digital tuning, especially in digital search. The allocations here were also all shifted upward by 1kHz following a WARC conference in 1978, so 899, 908, 917kHz became 900, 909, 918 etc. > There is something similar in FM. I've forgotten the exact details, > but in US we use only the "odd" frequencies: 88.1, 88.3, 88.5, 88.7, > 88.9 MHz. I think in some parts of the world they use the even > frequencies: 88.2, 88.4 etc. This is to get the necessary spacing > between the broadcasts. Yes, FM broadcasts in Europe use both even and odd slots, and in Britain there have even been some stations given a 50kHz allocation, i.e. xx.x5 MHz. > One other peculiarity: in most countries, FM is about 88 to 108 > MHz. In Japan it's about 78 to 98 MHz. There are a few radios that > will receive the entire band, 78 to 108, but most, including Japanese > brands sold outside Japan, miss the low end of the Japanese band. The former Soviet Bloc countries in eastern Europe also had their own FM band. I can't remember the details, but I think it was somewhere around the 60 to 70MHz region. In Britain, the original FM broadcast band ran only from 88 to 100MHz. The band above 100MHz was used for two-way radio, a fact soon discovered by even the casual listener when imported radios covering right up to 108MHz started to appear in the country. The broadcast band was extended right up to 108MHz after the other services had been moved to different frequencies in the 1980s. Another minor technical variation here is that we use a different pre-emphasis curve on FM broadcasts: 50uS vs. 75uS. - Paul. ------------------------------ 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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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #124 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Mar 21 18:08:09 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2LN88k03025; Mon, 21 Mar 2005 18:08:09 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 18:08:09 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503212308.j2LN88k03025@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 V24 #125 TELECOM Digest Mon, 21 Mar 2005 18:08:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 125 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Back From Bankruptcy, Telecom is in For a Fight (Monty Solomon) Phishing by Phone - VoIP Raises Security Concerns (Jack Decker) Tracking Down a Harassing Caller Number? (AES) Former WorldCom Executives Settle for $55.25 Mln (Telecom dailyLead) Dialpad.com Dpphone 211 (nselewa@gmail.com) Re: Cell Phone ATT (David B. Horvath, CCP) Re: Cell Phone ATT (John Levine) Re: Cell Phone ATT (Joseph) Re: Cell Phone ATT (Robert Bonomi) Re: Cell Phone ATT (Scott) Re: Cell Phone ATT (Isaiah Beard) Re: Cell Phone "Caller ID" Needed (LB@notmine.com) Re: VoIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? (John Levine) Re: VoIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? (Robert Bonomi) Re: VoIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? (Philip R. Mann) Re: VOIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? (Lisa Hancock) What Happened to FM Channels 1-199 (Bob Goudreau) Re: What Happened to Channel 1 (Alan Burkitt Gray) Re: What Happened to Channel 1 (Paul Coxwell) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Joe Morris) Re: Feds: Criminals Luuuuv Those Open 802.11 Networks (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Attacked by a Dog Which Was Playing (Ben Schilling) 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: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 23:51:00 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Back From Bankruptcy, Telecom is in For a Fight PETER D. AQUINO - CHIEF EXECUTIVE, RCN CORP. | ON THE HOT SEAT March 20, 2005 Peter D. Aquino took over in late December as chief executive of telecommunications upstart RCN Corp., which provides cable television, Internet, and phone service in parts of the Boston region and six other US metropolitan areas. RCN had just emerged from a $2 billion, eight-month bankruptcy reorganization, and within days giant Verizon Communications Inc. -- taking dead aim at RCN and Comcast Corp. -- unveiled plans to build a powerful new fiber-optic network that can deliver cable TV in the Boston area. Aquino, 43, a former Bell Atlantic executive and broadband entrepreneur in Venezuela, spoke with Globe reporter Peter J. Howe. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/03/20/back_from_bankruptcy_telecom_is_in_for_a_fight/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 23:40:24 -0500 Subject: Phishing by Phone -- VoIP Raises Security Concerns Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5627631.html Reuters Published on ZDNet News: March 20, 2005, 6:11 PM PT Internet phone services have drawn millions of users looking for rock-bottom rates. Now they're also attracting identity thieves looking to turn stolen credit cards into cash. Some Internet phone services let scam artists make it appear that they're calling from another phone number -- a useful trick that enables them to drain credit accounts and pose as banks or other trusted authorities, online fraud experts say. "It's like you've handed people an entire phone network," said Lance James, who as chief technology officer of Secure Science sees such scams on a daily basis. [.....] Debt collectors and private investigators use Camophone.com's 5-cents-per-call service to trick people into answering the phone, according to messages posted on a discussion board. Traveling salesmen say the service comes in handy when they want clients to return calls to the main office, rather than their motel room. Full story at: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5627631.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: AES Subject: Tracking Down a Harassing Caller Number? Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 08:57:42 -0800 Organization: Stanford University Are there any official procedures or unofficial ways of tracking down the source of repeated harassing calls coming from a set of apparently related numbers in a distant area code? [Calls may or may not be legally harassing but are certainly unwanted. Callbacks to the Caller ID numbers get a "Your call can not be completed" message followed by a code number. It's most probably some kind of commercial call, rather than a personal harassment.] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 12:42:16 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Former WorldCom Executives Settle Lawsuits for $55.25 Million Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 21, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20207&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Former WorldCom executives settle lawsuits for $55.25 million BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * PHS phones for the masses * Identity thieves take advantage of VoIP's security holes * Nortel reports earnings USTA SPOTLIGHT * Learn about the "Wireless Triple Play": USTA Small Company Summit, Apr 6 and 7 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Company trials 10 Gigabit Ethernet chip REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * FCC poised to rule on "naked" DSL * Brand X appeal could alter broadband landscape Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20207&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: nselewa@gmail.com Subject: dialpad.com dpphone 211 Date: 21 Mar 2005 10:14:26 -0800 You get what you pay for. If your lucky enough not to get a busy signal, you can actually make a U.S. call. But wait; if you forget to dial 1 for U.S. coutry code and you dial a 10 digit number that belongs to an international country, it's going through. Ex. 847 xxx-xxxx goes to Vietnam. It conveniently masks the 011 for you. No thanks. And there's no way to set the dpphone 211 to require the 011. This is from their tech support. I've had Dialpad for almost a month. Way to many problems. Dropping them ASAP. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 19:56:08 -0500 From: David B. Horvath, CCP Subject: Re: Cell Phone ATT PAT: Please remove my email address, too much SPAM. Technically, the AT&T Wireless and Cingular companies merged, so your contract with AT&T Wireless still survives. Just because the final company happens to have a different name doesn't change anything. In addition, I bet if you read the contract closely, it allows AT&T Wireless to assign the contract to someone else (i.e., they could "sell" you). - David On 19 Mar 2005 19:03:34 -0800, absmith3@hotmail.com wrote: > I have an ATT contract dated in Oct- 2004- before Cingular bought ATT. > Now Cingular is saying that I owe it $170 for cancellation fee if I > transfer service to Verizon. > My contract was with ATT and I never signed anything with > Cingular. So, looks like the ATT contract is shakey at best. Does > anybody have any experience similar to mine and didn't pay for > cancellation fees? > Thanks, > Abby ------------------------------ Date: 21 Mar 2005 01:23:13 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Cell Phone ATT Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I have an ATT contract dated in Oct- 2004- before Cingular bought ATT. > Now Cingular is saying that I owe it $170 for cancellation fee if I > transfer service to Verizon. > My contract was with ATT and I never signed anything with > Cingular. So, looks like the ATT contract is shakey at best. Does > anybody have any experience similar to mine and didn't pay for > cancellation fees? AT&T Wireless merged with Cingular and the combined company calls itself Cingular. Merely changing the name of the company doesn't void the contracts, any more than all your contracts would be voided if you got married and changed your name. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Cell Phone ATT Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 18:24:41 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 19 Mar 2005 19:03:34 -0800, absmith3@hotmail.com wrote: > I have an ATT contract dated in Oct- 2004- before Cingular bought ATT. > Now Cingular is saying that I owe it $170 for cancellation fee if I > tranfer service to Verizon. If you had a one year contract your contract would be fulfilled in October 2005. > My contract was with ATT and I never signed anything with > Cingular. So, looks like the ATT contract is shakey at best. Does > anybody have any experience similar to mine and didn't pay for > cancellation fees? When Cingular assumed AT&T Wireless' assets they also assumed all of its agreements which would include any contract you had with AT&T Wireless. If you had a year's contract with AT&T Wireless your contract did not end when Cingular purchased AT&T Wireless. I'm pretty sure that if you had failed to meet the terms of your contract with AT&T Wireless they would have charged you an early termination fee. Bottom line is that you are responsible for your contract til the end of your contract term. There is no get out of jail free pass by your being absorbed by Cingular. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Cell Phone ATT Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 04:02:39 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > I have an ATT contract dated in Oct- 2004- before Cingular bought ATT. > Now Cingular is saying that I owe it $170 for cancellation fee if I > tranfer service to Verizon. > My contract was with ATT and I never signed anything with > Cingular. So, looks like the ATT contract is shakey at best. *READ* the contract. Dollars to donuts, it expressly says that they _can_ "assign" it, without affecting _your_ liabilities. If the contract is silent on the issue, then by long-standing principle, either party can assign their interest to 'somebody else'. The only time that is disallowed is if the contract explicitly states that (a) no assignment is allowed, or (b) that assignment is allowed *only* with the consent of the opposite party in the contract. Thus, _unless_ the contract specifically states that they cannot assign it without your consent, you =are= liable for the termination fee in the contract you signed. A question -- putting the shoe on the other foot -- what would your attitude have been if Cingular had just turned off your phone, without any notice or warning, on the day their purchase became effective? I'll _bet_ that you would have been screaming "breach of contract", threatening lawsuits, etc., etc. Well, contract commitments work _both_ ways. If they're compelled to provide you service under that contract, you are required to pay the early termination fee, if you cancel before the full term. ------------------------------ From: Scott Subject: Re: Cell Phone ATT Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 23:04:01 -0500 Cingular is successor-in-interest to ATTWS, and as such, your contract is automatically assigned to Cingular. Contract law states that unless the contract specifically does not allow assignment, it is assignable. wrote in message news:telecom24.123.2@telecom-digest.org: > I have an ATT contract dated in Oct- 2004- before Cingular bought ATT. > Now Cingular is saying that I owe it $170 for cancellation fee if I > transfer service to Verizon. > My contract was with ATT and I never signed anything with > Cingular. So, looks like the ATT contract is shakey at best. Does > anybody have any experience similar to mine and didn't pay for > cancellation fees? > Thanks, > Abby ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Cell Phone ATT Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 15:03:58 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com absmith3@hotmail.com wrote: > I have an ATT contract dated in Oct- 2004- before Cingular bought ATT. > Now Cingular is saying that I owe it $170 for cancellation fee if I > transfer service to Verizon. > My contract was with ATT and I never signed anything with > Cingular. So, looks like the ATT contract is shakey at best. No, it's quite solid actually, as long as Cingular has honored the terms of the contract and have not made any changes that you never agreed to. If they have, then you have a case. But if only the name at the top of the bill has changed, then you're still in for the length of the contract. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: LB@notmine.com Subject: Re: Cell Phone "Caller ID" Needed Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 19:16:20 -0500 Organization: Optimum Online Ray Burns wrote: > Dear Patrick Townson, > Pat, > I am writing software that communicates from one network-connected > computer to another controlled by a cell phone (XHTML-M). The user > logs in with just a password. Passwords are not guaranteed to be > unique, so I need some sort of phone serial number or other similar > number to append to the password to make it unique. Do you know of > such a phone id number/string that I could access via HTTP/HTTPS? > Thanks, > Ray Burns Nantasket Software, Inc > 617.964.4084(w) ray@igsw.com > 617.966-7439(c) 970 Commonwealth Avenue, Newton Center MA 02459 > 617.965-5081(f) If such a thing is possible, and with all due respect to the OP I would suggest two two things: 1. Be damn sure you know who this person is. 2 Do NOT post in a newsgroup! LB ------------------------------ Date: 21 Mar 2005 01:20:37 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: VoIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Does anyone have any news about this? There was talk that Bell might > only offer naked DSL to users who bought the (not yet released?) Bell > VoIP service. > Also, Vonage told me that I can't keep my local Bell number. Anyone > know if the new Bell VoIP service will let me keep my local Bell > number? Since you're in Canada, I don't think you have landline portability at all. Bell will probably let you keep your number since you'd just be moving it from a POTS line to VoIP on the same pair of wires, so it'd end up being switched in the same switch. Having just managed to cancel my Vonage "service" this evening after trying for more than a month, I'd stay away from them. Now I'm using Primus Lingo which seems OK. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of The Internet for Dummies, Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "More Wiener schnitzel, please", said Tom, revealingly. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: VoIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 03:44:40 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: > Regards naked DSL, for most parts of the Bell System it is unlikely as > they do business now. SBC, for example has stated they would not do it > and they don't do it except where courts have ordered them to do > so. You would be better off looking at high speed cable internet or > satellite internet if it is possible in your community, as it is here. > PAT] Note: The playing field on this *is* changing. Generally for the better. While it's true that in a lot of territory the ILEC won't sell you DSL unless you have phone service from them as well, It _is_ possible to get 'naked DSL' from competing providers. It costs a little bit more, typically $10/month, but _is_ available in large parts of the country. Verizon has announced plans to offer naked directly to customers, but the release date has slipped. Qwest, as of this month is offering it in their entire service area, at a premium of $5 over their shared-line pricing. In a significant part of at least the former Ameritech part of SBC, naked DSL has been available through the likes of COVAD, and MCI, for _years_ even though you could _not_ get it through Ameritech/SBC. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What do you mean when you say 'the playing field is changing, generally for the better?' Is it 'better' that people will now in many areas (but not SBC of course!) be able to grovel and beg to get DSL without a phone line and have service reps get ignorant and give them a hard time and maybe not even know how to write the order? Is it 'better' that telco will try all its usual sleazy tricks with this new fertile area for them (naked DSL)? What makes that 'better'? When I got a letter last week from SBC telling me I could have the whole works for just =$2.95= per month for one year _if I would please just come back to them_ and get away from Prairie Stream, I knew they were up to their old tricks once again. Why is naked DSL direct from telco 'better' than to give cablecos a crack at it, and their friends in the ILEC side of the business? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Philip R. Mann Subject: Re: VoIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 00:47:38 EST Reply-To: Philip R. Mann On 19 Mar 2005 17:10:58 -0800, TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Thumper: > Regards naked DSL, for most parts of the Bell System it is unlikely as > they do business now. SBC, for example has stated they would not do it > and they don't do it except where courts have ordered them to do > so. And if they ever offer naked DSL (whether by Court order or otherwise), expect two tiered pricing similar to what Time-Warner Cable (at least in NYC) does for high speed online access: $X for cable customers with a certain minimum level of service and $[X+15] for non-cable (and basic cable) customers. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I personally say telco has had their chance at DSL (or rather, high speed internet) and they have blown it. I suggest just letting the cable companies handle it henceforth if they wish to provide it, and the various third party vendors. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: VoIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? Date: 21 Mar 2005 13:29:43 -0800 Editor wrote: > Granted, I live in a very small town, population 8800, one phone > exchange for the entire town, the police dispatcher responds for the > sheriff also, and the city offices and they receive 'two or three > 911 calls per day'. But what happens if you're in a county of 880,000 where there are a lot more 911 calls per day and they don't know everyone? I don't know about the rest of the country, but in our region telephone exchanges, municipal boundaries, and post office names are totally separate. Some fire/rescue/police units are merged between municipalities, others are separate. In our county, if the local town is busy, help is dispatched from the next town that is available. The problem is that a distant town may not be familiar with new streets in ever expanding suburban developments and cul-de-sacs. > You also raised an 'issue' with power. If you use a battery backup > unit you get around any problems with power. I have heard people ask, > but what about the DSL/cable line; their power could go out also. Yes, > but there is a chance power could be out at the phone exchange also. > I guess nothing is perfect. When we have a commercial power failure, our cable TV system goes out as well. It takes longer for that to be restored than commercial power. They tell us the fibre optic cable has many sensitive amplifiers and needs more care than the prior analog coax. As to landline phone reliability, in my many years at this location, commercial power went out a lot, but never phone service. I only remember when unavailable dial tone, which was during an unexpected extremely severe storm that drove up phone usage. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well Lisa, what do you do in a case like Brooklyn, New York where by the dispatcher's own admission, "we do not answer this phone after 10 PM"? I guess VOIP would never work there, would it? I would have been sort of ashamed to admit to a member of the public that a police department (especially in New York City!) closes down its phone line at 10 PM, but I guess being brazen is what makes some public 'servants' good at their job. If a small town can arrange its police department to serve the public efficiently, without a lot of sass-back to the public they are expected to serve, then why can't your so-called county of 880,000? I think it is about time our public servants get told "either learn to do the job right and do it right -- or we will get people who can". Maybe you, or one of the other Bell System apologists in our readership can tell me why it is that VOIP carriers are expected to be the ones to have to do the twisting and turning and maneuvering to get their ways in line to make it easier for the public servants? Why do the public servants simply refuse to accept the fact that as times change, *their procedures* have to change as well? What the hell did any of those people do back in the 1960's when our nation was crossbar with no immediate ID on calls? You want a job as a police dispatcher? Then you, by-God, either get an encyclopedic knowledge of streets and intersections and addresses in your town or don't get in the way of the people who do; if your worker's "union" insists you have to have a job you are probably not qualified for anyway, is that the public or VOIP carriers at fault? PAT] ------------------------------ From: BobGoudreau@withheld at request> Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 15:39:24 -0500 Subject: What Happened to FM Channels 1-199? [Please remove my email address from both this message and the Table of Contents. Thanks.] Garrett Wollman wrote: > Channel 200 is 87.9; 201 is 88.1, and so on up to 300 which is 107.9 Now that we've covered the history of VHF Channel 1, can anyone explain why the official FM channel numbers are in the range 200-300 instead of 1-101? Bob Goudreau Cary, NC ------------------------------ From: Alan Burkitt-Gray Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 20:39:58 -0000 Paul Coxwell paulcoxwell@tiscali.co.uk wrote: > In Britain, the original FM broadcast band ran only from 88 to > 100MHz. The band above 100MHz was used for two-way radio, a fact > soon discovered by even the casual listener when imported radios > covering right up to 108MHz started to appear in the country. Even better, it was used by the police. I remember around 1969 listening to a car chase through the territory of various police forces in northern England, where I then lived -- picking up transmissions from different forces on different channels. The police had to move off -- I think it was done in two stages -- before broadcasters could take over the band. Earlier on, many FM radios designed by UK manufacturers such as Roberts wouldn't go higher than 100 MHz. Alan Burkitt-Gray, Editor, Global Telecoms Business http://www.globaltelecomsbusiness.com email aburkitt@euromoneyplc.com; Global Telecoms Business Top 5 Daily: email me to get on the distribution list for this free newsletter. ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 21:34:43 -0000 > But by the 1950s, TV set manufacturers were installing "turret tuners" > to simplify VHF tuning. A single knob rotated a cylindrical mechanism > fitted with twelve little hand-wired circuit boards, one for each > channel. Each circuit board had a bunch of capacitors, some > hand-wound coils, and a row of metal contacts that mated with metal > springs. As each circuit board was brought into position by the > rotating mechanism, the springs mated with the contacts on the board, > placing that board in the circuit. > After the introduction of UHF, turret tuners were manufactured with 13 > circuit boards, one for each VHF channel one that switched to a > separate UHF tuner. The UHF tuner was tuned in one continuous-tuning > dial. As you linked to a picture of typical British VHF and UHF tuners, allow me to add a few more comments from this side of the pond. In early times, many British sets had no outside channel selection, just a fine tuning adjustment. As we had only one TV service then, this wasn't much of a problem, unless somebody moved to a different area, in which case he would need to have the set retuned. Only channels 1 through 5 -- our low VHF band I -- were in use. By 1955 Independent Television arrived and the turret tuner had became standard. All ITV transmissions were on high VHF band III, channels 6 through 12, later 13. External converter units were also sold to frequency convert band III signals down to band I for those using older sets. There were also some sets in the later 1950s and 1960s which included an FM radio option (FM radio itself being a relatively new introduction, having started in Britain in 1955). There were only three BBC networks in those days, and some sets added three extra turret positions to tune the "band II" FM broadcast range (a separate cam and switch arrangement on the turret mechanism was generally employed to blank the screen during radio reception). These positions were sometimes labeled H, L, and T on the selector for the names of the BBC services (Home, Light, and Third). The plan for UHF was ready by the early 1960s, so sets incorporating a UHF tuner started to appear. The complication was that existing VHF transmissions were still 405-line (system A) but the new UHF transmitters were to be 625-line (system I). The dual-standard sets had a *monster* changeover switch which had to not only switch from VHF to UHF but also reroute signals to different I.F. stages, switch the horizontal scan from 10.125 to 15.625kHz, change from AM to FM sound, invert video polarity, and so on. The switch was often a custom-made unit for the set which ran the full length of the chassis so that each pole was close to the required section of the circuitry. Two switching approaches were used: One left the VHF turret positions as normal and used a completely separate rotary or push-button/rocker control to operate the changeover switch. The other put a "U" position on the turret tuner to select UHF, with a cam and link rod on the mechanism to operate the changeover. The VHF tuner was then used as an "high I.F." for UHF reception. There were even some designs which used an auxiliary contact on the "U" position to apply power to a solenoid to operate the switch, presumably on the basis that a wire between tuner and main board was easier to maintain than a mechanical link which would need to be removed, reconnected, and adjusted if anything was taken out for servicing. The UHF tuners came in two flavors: One was the continuously variable type as described, the other being a mechanical preset arrangement. The UHF band-plan was designed to allow an eventual four networks (BBC1, BBC2, ITV, plus a yet-to-be-determined fourth station), so many of these UHF tuners had four buttons. These mechanical UHF tuners operated with permeability tuning (i.e. the slugs were moved in and out of the coils), with each button being turnable to set the preset to any channel across the UHF bands (bands IV and V, channels 21 through 69). This is similar to the arrangement which was employed on the mechanical presets of car radios at the time. For several years, people needed both VHF and UHF in order to receive the full range of programs. The second BBC service, BBC2 went on air on 625/UHF in 1964. BBC1 and ITV started their 625/UHF broadcasts around 1968/69, but it would be several more years before UHF coverage was extended to most of the country. The fourth button on mechanical UHF tuners (sometimes marked "*" or "ITV2" in anticipation of a second independent network) was often used by those living on the boundaries of service areas to select an ITV broadcast from an adjacent region (BBC was networked most of the time, while in those days the ITV regions were far more autonomous and often had alternate programming). Gradually, UHF covered most areas, and in the 1970s we started to see single-standard sets once again, only this time they were 625-line and came with only a UHF tuner. Small portables of the era tended to come with a continuously variable UHF tuner, while by the end of the 1970s varicap tuning and 6 or more preset positions was becoming the norm for larger sets. Just to finish the story, that planned-for fourth network finally went on-air in 1982, and the 405/VHF transmitters -- still radiating just BBC1 and ITV in monochrome only -- were eventually closed down in 1985. - Paul. ------------------------------- From: Joe Morris Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1? Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 13:57:19 UTC Organization: The MITRE Organization Michael D. Sullivan writes: > Television, on tho other hand, started out in two discontiguous VHF > bands, with somewhat variable spacing between channels and a need for > precise tuning, and tuning in on a single band by twiddling an analog > variable tuning capacitor to the right frequency would have been > difficult. This tuning method was used on some early TVs; I don't know > whether they were tuned by numeric frequency or by channel number, but > it would not have been very convenient. I'm not sure when the manufacturing of TV sets with a single analog tuner was finally discontinued in the US, but I recall my family having a very early duMont (?) receiver (maybe 5" diameter circular screen?) with an analog tuning knob which drove the tuning capacitor through a reducing gear. This would have been in the early 1950s when WDSU-TV [*] went on the air in New Orleans. And no, I can't recall the brand we got to replace this receiver, but my (non-parity-checked) memory says that it had a "revolutionary" drum tuner with detents and tuning settings for each of the channels. [*] I get a number of questions at the office when my wallpaper changer pops up with the original WDSU-TV test pattern. It makes me feel old when I turn out to be the only person there who remembers when test patterns were routinely incorporated into the station ID slides ... Joe Morris [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I seem to recall when I was about five years old my parents had a television set with a tiny little screen which was maybe two or three inches round. And it had a _huge_ magnifying glass attached to the front of it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Feds: Criminals Luuuuv Those Open 802.11 Networks Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 06:23:36 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications It is so easy to secure WiFi, at least against most intruders. I can receive four other home WiFi signals in my condo. Like mine, all the others are secured. So, I guess me and my neighbors are smarter than some of these dummies. ;-) Danny Burstein wrote: > "... Of those suspects, half regularly used the open Wi-Fi connections > of unsuspecting neighbors. Four suspects, in Canada, California and > Florida, were logged in to neighbors' Wi-fi networks at the moment law > enforcement agents, having tracked them by other means, entered their > homes and arrested them, Secret Service agents involved in the case > said. ... > " 'We had this whole network set up to identify these (suspects) but > the one thing we had to take into consideration was Wi-fi', (former > Secret Service agent) Mr. Gilhooly said. 'If I get to an Internet > address and I send a subpoena to the Internet provider and it gets me > a name and physical address, how do I know that that person isn't > actually bouncing in from next door?' > (rest at: ) > http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/19/technology/19wifi.html> > _____________________________________________________ > Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key > dannyb@panix.com > [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: Ben Schilling Subject: Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:01:39 -0600 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > We have some feral cats in the neighborhood I want to adopt and have > tried over the years to lure them with food and kindness. They always > kept their distance (although they would eagerly take the food if I > stayed far away). I described their behavior to my vet and he said > they were feral and that they could not be domesticated. One has been > around for seven years, which isn't bad for feral. You might see if your area has a "Friends of Ferals" or similar organization. They catch, spay, neuter, vaccinate, and release feral cats. This keeps the population down and prevents them from spreading diseases to pets. Ben Schilling ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V24 #125 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Mar 22 14:53:02 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2MJr2w12018; Tue, 22 Mar 2005 14:53:02 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 14:53:02 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503221953.j2MJr2w12018@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 V24 #126 TELECOM Digest Tue, 22 Mar 2005 14:53:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 126 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Website Rouses Informants' Fear, Investigators' Ire (Monty Solomon) Is it Net Assistance ... or Cyberstalking? (Monty Solomon) Let's Focus on the Theft, Not the Identity (Monty Solomon) iPod-Like Cellphone Music Still Evolving (Monty Solomon) Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (Monty Solomon) Source: FCC to Dress 'Naked' DSL (Jack Decker) Vonage Says Its Calls Are Still Being Blocked (Jack Decker) Level 3 Withdraws Request for VoIP Fee Ruling (Jack Decker) Who's the Owner of the Dim-and-Burst Signaling? (Hilbert) New Long Range Cordless Phones? (Dave) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Robert Bonomi) Re: What Happened to FM Channels 1-199? (Garrett Wollman) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Paul Coxwell) Re: Walkie Talkie (Steve Watt) Re: Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid (Daniel J McDonald) Re: Feds: Criminals Luuuuv Those Open 802.11 Networks (Steve Sobol) Re: VoIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? (Lisa Hancock) Re: Cell Phone ATT (Lisa Hancock) 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, 21 Mar 2005 21:27:08 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Website Rouses Informants' Fear, Investigators' Ire By Kathleen Burge, Globe Staff | March 21, 2005 When a team of police, federal agents, and a drug-sniffing dog burst through the front door and scoured every corner of the house, the woman and her boyfriend figured they knew who had turned them in. So she struck back: In the shadowy realms of cyberspace, she publicly identified the informant who she suspected had ratted on her boyfriend, landing him in court on drug possession charges. On a website launched seven months ago from the North Shore, the woman posted a note saying her alleged informant, a 27-year-old man from the Tewksbury area, was a 'narc' who made a practice of snitching on others to minimize his own legal problems. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/03/21/website_rouses_informants_fear_investigators_ire/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 21:37:30 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Is it Net Assistance ... or Cyberstalking? By Associated Press | March 21, 2005 A Cambridge start-up is offering a service it says gives a measure of control over the personal data the Internet disgorges, giving new meaning to a practice commonly termed 'ego surfing' or 'Googling yourself.' The practice of typing your name into an Internet search engine and seeing what pops up is now common, but the results can be unpredictable. The Internet holds surprising amounts of personal information, and some of it may be outdated, inaccurate, or embarrassing. ZoomInfo's computers have compiled individual Web profiles of 25 million people, summarizing what the Web publicly says about each person. The service, launched today, allows Web surfers to search for their profile, then change it for free. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/03/21/is_it_net_assistance____or_cyberstalking/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 21:55:36 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Let's Focus on the Theft, Not the Identity By Hiawatha Bray | March 21, 2005 Identity theft is a nasty crime with a catchy name -- too catchy for our own good. Identity theft, though important, isn't the root problem, and focusing on it may distract us from real solutions. And we need solutions badly. For a month or so, we've fretted over the news that careless database companies had sold crooks a couple hundred thousand Social Security numbers. Meanwhile, Boston College warns about 120,000 graduates that a computer hacker may have gained access to their personal information by raiding a computer that contained the alumni database. It's bad enough that crooks can steal our personal data, or even purchase it. But it gets worse: They can often find the same stuff with Google. At least they can if they're as smart as Latanya Sweeney, an associate professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. In a paper she will present this week in California, Sweeney describes a program of hers that scans Google search results for files containing names and Social Security numbers. In her test of the software, Sweeney tracked down 140 job hunters who had posted resumes on the Web. For some odd reason, they included their Social Security numbers -- easy pickings. Sweeney's motives are pure; she wrote another program to e-mail the 140 people and warn them of the threat. Nearly all cleaned up their resumes. Sweeney has proposed a service called Internet Angel that would automatically scour the Net and alert people if their Social Security numbers are online. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/03/21/lets_focus_on_the_theft_not_the_identity/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 22:01:39 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: iPod-Like Cellphone Music Still Evolving Carriers' profits said to be a crucial issue By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | March 21, 2005 With more than 8 million sold last year and a popular buzz to die for, Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod has proven there's a big appetite for a portable, battery-powered, Internet-connected digital device that makes sound. And that's drawing plenty of attention from the businesses behind another kind of portable, battery-powered, Internet-connected digital device that makes sound: cellphone companies. The save-a-pocket logic of offering consumers iPod-like music capability built into a wireless handset seems obvious. But industry insiders warn that it could be a long wait for true iPod-rivaling devices to hit the market -- unless they come with some clear way for carriers like Cingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint PCS to get a cut of the profits. Sprint this month began offering a $280 Sanyo MM-5600 camera phone with enough memory to store about one hour's worth of MP3-format music. For another $75, Sprint subscribers can buy a 512-megabyte memory disk for the phone that can store roughly 400 songs, a far cry from the 5,000 that can be stored on the $300 iPod. Sprint customers buying the Sanyo device get a cable to transfer songs from their computer into the phone, which also comes with stereo earphones. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications is also rolling out a line of music-playing cellphones this year that sport the Sony Walkman name, which dates back to the original portable music players of the late 1970s. But a more ambitious effort by phone maker Motorola Inc. has apparently been slowed down. This month, Motorola was set to unveil at a big industry trade show in Hanover, Germany, a phone that downloads music from Apple's iTunes service. Trade reporters had been briefed on the phone's capabilities just days before Motorola canceled the announcement. http://www.boston.com/business/personaltech/articles/2005/03/21/ipod_like_cellphone_music_still_evolving/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 22:06:56 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System CONCORD, N.H. --The E-ZPass system that will soon make it easier to pay tolls in New Hampshire will make it easier to track people's movements, privacy advocates warn. State officials say strict policies are in place to prevent that, and stress that E-ZPass will be voluntary. They also say the system will reduce traffic congestion and put off the need to expand the current toll plazas. http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2005/03/21/some_concerned_about_privacy_implications_of_e_zpass_system/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 15:09:53 -0500 Subject: Source: FCC to Dress 'Naked' DSL Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://news.com.com/Source+FCC+to+dress+naked+DSL/2100-1037_3-5627726.html By Ben Charny Staff Writer, CNET News.com U.S. regulators are expected to up-end state public utility rules that force BellSouth to let customers buy its high-speed Internet service without having to also sign up for its local phone offering. As early as Monday, said a source familiar with the situation, the Federal Communications Commission could suspend public utility commission regulations in California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana that forced BellSouth to sell DSL, or digital subscriber line, service separate from its local phone service. In the past, the two services had been inextricably linked. Such a decision would send a strong message to other state utility commissions that might be considering similar rules, the source said. The expected FCC decision would have a profound effect on the few thousand people in the four states who now get "naked" DSL from BellSouth. It would also affect the millions of homeowners who would go with a separate DSL offering given the chance, insiders believe. The possible precedent for the Bells -- BellSouth and the nation's three other top phone and DSL providers -- could even affect cable operators that sell broadband and telephony on fiber-optic networks, services that are much faster than the Bells' DSL. Full story at: http://news.com.com/Source+FCC+to+dress+naked+DSL/2100-1037_3-5627726.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 18:30:32 -0500 Subject: Vonage Says its Calls are Still Being Blocked http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5628564.html By Ben Charny, CNET News.com Published on ZDNet News: March 21, 2005, 11:24 AM PT Two broadband providers are causing problems for Vonage's Internet phone traffic, a spokeswoman said Monday, suggesting that a recent federal fine for blocking Vonage calls may not have had its intended impact. A cable operator and what Vonage spokeswoman Brooke Schulz would only describe as a "wireless broadband provider" are the two alleged culprits. The problems include Vonage calls not getting through and Vonage home phone adapters not working, she said. The complaints surface about three weeks after a Mebane, N.C., telecommunications provider, Madison River Communication, said it would "refrain from blocking" voice over Internet Protocol calls and pay a $15,000 fine to the government. Vonage, a VoIP provider, brought Madison River to the Federal Communications Commission's attention, and may do so with providers involved in these latest problems. Full story at: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5628564.html ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 01:54:54 -0500 Subject: Level 3 Withdraws Request for VoIP Fee Ruling http://news.com.com/Level+3+withdraws+request+for+VoIP+fee+ruling/2100-7352_3-5629045.html By Declan McCullagh Staff Writer, CNET News.com One of the most important Internet telephony rulings of the year was expected from federal regulators Tuesday, but now it won't happen. In a surprise move, an Internet telephony company that had asked the Federal Communications Commission for the ruling said late Monday that it was withdrawing its request. Level 3 Communications had been telling the FCC that the company should be able to pay lower fees to local telephone companies to begin or end voice calls on their networks. The decision from the FCC was expected to have a far-reaching impact on the voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, industry. If Level 3 had lost, the prices for some VoIP calls could have jumped. But because FCC Chairman Michael Powell had left last week, the timing was no longer right for a ruling, Level 3 CEO James Crowe said in a statement. "The appointment of new leadership only three business days before the statutory deadline for ruling on the petition" made it "inappropriate to ask the agency to resolve this important issue in the timeframe required by law," Crowe said. Full story at: http://news.com.com/Level+3+withdraws+request+for+VoIP+fee+ruling/2100-7352_3-5629045.html ------------------------------ From: geunbsong@yahoo.com (Hilbert) Subject: Who's the Owner of the Dim-and-Burst Signaling? Date: 21 Mar 2005 16:20:39 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello, I'm a graduate student in Korea. Now I'm wondering who's the owner of the dim-and-burst signaling method in IS-95? Qualcomm or Motorola or else? Or could you give me a good hint for finding the answer? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: Dave Subject: New Long Range Cordless Phones? Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 18:46:17 -0900 I saw a link earlier for this on Slash Dot. Its a cordless phone that supposedly works 100km from the base station (under ideal conditions). http://www.goodbyelongdistance.com/catalog/item/1441280/975984.htm Other then the obvious potential for grief from the FCC, anyone else have any thoughts? I'm living in a rural Alaskan town and traditional cell service is spotty to none, even with an old bag phone and roof antenna so I was thinking that this could be an interesting approach to local mobile phone service. Thanks, -Dave ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 04:30:18 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Neal McLain wrote: > Michael D. Sullivan wrote: >> Television, on tho other hand, started out in two discontiguous >> VHF bands, with somewhat variable spacing between channels and >> a need for precise tuning, and tuning in on a single band by >> twiddling an analog variable tuning capacitor to the right >> frequency would have been difficult. This tuning method was >> used on some early TVs; I don't know whether they were tuned >> by numeric frequency or by channel number, but >> it would not have been very convenient. The TV industry >> instead standardized on TV tuners that had 12 discrete fixed >> settings, pre-tuned to channels 2-13, with a fine tuning >> control that allowed one to tune the frequency higher or lower >> to account for offsets.... > Whereupon Robert Bonomi (bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com) wrote: >> Plausable, just 'false to fact'. >> In the early days of TV receivers, they were equipped with >> continuous-tuning knobs/dials, just like an AM radio receiver. >> For the TV band, however the indicator assembly was marked by >> "channel", *not* by frequency. >> I used to have a 1930's Crosley TV that had that kind of >> continuous tuner. *BIG* gap on the dial, between channel 6 and >> 7, It actually tuned across that entire 'midband' space -- with >> all kinds of interesting results. You could "see" aircraft >> band transmissions, and hear stuff on broadcast FM, 2m Ham, and >> business-band. > Sullivan is correct. His recitation of history is factual. He is *NOT* accurate with regard to 'cause and effect' of 'detent' tuners leading to "channel number" common-usage. Detent tuners were at least 'second generation'; the prior generation (analog continuous-tune) sets all used _numbered_ channels, Crosley, in those days, was a "high end" manufacturer. If a high-tech, 'detent' tuner design had been available, they *would* have been using it. Thus we've got numbered channels (_without_ frequency numbers) in "common use" well before any 'detent' (turret switching, or other) tuners were in vogue. In the -very- early days stations _were_ identified by the frequency/ frequencies they transmitted on, There wasn't any option on the matter, since it was being done under experimental provisions of _amateur_radio_ licenses, and where they were broadcasting could change from day to day. :) But this is WW-I era. > As Sullivan acknowledged, some old TV sets did work like Bonomi's > 1930s Crosley: they required "tuning in on a single band by twiddling > an analog variable tuning capacitor to the right frequency [which] > would have been difficult." Actually it was surprisingly easy. Not even as hard as tuning an AM receiver. Or use the markings on the dial to get 'close', then you ignore the markings and tweak for maximum clarity. All it takes is "reasonable" gearing. :) Add in two-stage gearing -- the first few revolutions in either direction were moved the frequency in small increments, once the 'limit' in either direction was reached, things went much faster. Thus, when you overshot a "little bit" on the first attempt, you had "automatic" fine-tuning as you started going in the other direction. Somewhat complex mechanically, but amazingly easy to _use_. > But by the 1950s, TV set manufacturers were installing "turret tuners" > to simplify VHF tuning. A single knob rotated a cylindrical mechanism > fitted with twelve little hand-wired circuit boards, one for each > channel. Each circuit board had a bunch of capacitors, some > hand-wound coils, and a row of metal contacts that mated with metal > springs. As each circuit board was brought into position by the > rotating mechanism, the springs mated with the contacts on the board, > placing that board in the circuit. > After the introduction of UHF, turret tuners were manufactured with 13 > circuit boards, one for each VHF channel + one that switched to a > separate UHF tuner. The UHF tuner was tuned in one continuous-tuning > dial. Yuppers. 'Practicality' strikes again. 70 UHF channels would have meant a detent roughly every 5 degrees of rotation. A 70-sided turret, with circuit strips that were only 1/2" wide, would have had to be nearly a _foot_ in diameter. Gotta wait for a better technology. :) > Sullivan continued: >> Later on, [turret] tuners had separate fine- tuners for each channel >> so one wouldn't need to retune when switching from station to >> station. > On each channel, the fine-tuning control engaged a tuning slug inside > one of the little hand-wound coils. Sometimes a tuning slug in a coil, often a trimmer capacitor. Either way, it provides a frequency adjustment over a limited range, with relatively high precision and stability. Sets with this kind of fine tuning could _almost_always_ be identified by the fact you had to 'push in' the fine-tuning knob/ring to engage the adjustment mechanism on the 'active" turret segment. > Here's a link to a picture showing a turret VHF tuner (left) and > what appears to be a continuous-tuning UHF tuner (right). This > particular photo happens to be on a British website, but the basic > structure of the turret mechanism is the same in the USA. > http://www.thevalvepage.com/valvetek/guidgrid/GGRID2.JPG > Back in my cable TV days during the 70s, turret tuners used to drive > us nuts. There was only one VHF TV station in the market (Channel 3), > so if a viewer wasn't hooked to cable, the only exercise the tuner got > was from getting flipped back and forth between UHF and 3. This kept > the contacts on UHF, 2, and 3 clean, but the rest of the contacts got > pretty dusty and/or corroded. If this viewer then connected to cable > (just 12 channels in those days), suddenly, all 12 VHF circuit boards > were needed. We spent a lot of time explaining, "I'm sorry, sir, your > TV set's tuner needs to be cleaned ... please take it to the TV repair > shop of your choice ... no we do not repair television sets ... our > franchise agreement specifically prohibits it." > Things got even worse when we introduced our first pay service (HBO) > in 1978. We "hid" it in the midband on cable channel 17, "in the > clear" (not scrambled, not trapped). We provided each HBO sub with > a primitive converter: a little box with a single two-position > switch: > - One position converted channel 17 to channel 2 for HBO. > - One position passed the incoming cable signal through > unaltered for channels 2-13. > It wasn't very good security, but the powers-that-were considered it > to be good enough, since turret tuners couldn't tune it. > Well, it wasn't long before local TV shops discovered a new line of > business: retuning one of the lesser-used turret circuit boards (like > public access) to channel 17. > Of course, Bonomi's old Crosley would have tuned to it. B&W only, a roughly 11" _round_ tube, medium-lousy contrast range, moderately long-persistence phosphor, and a few other drawbacks -- hardly worth the trouble. :) And, of course, no 75-ohm coax input. Would have had to use a balun on the twin-lead screw terminals. ;) *nice* audio, though. > 1970s, virtually all TV sets used turret VHF tuners. Varactor tuners > with digital displays were just coming on the market, and the old > continuous-tuning models had just about disappeared. I don't think anybody selling into the U.S. market at the end of WW-II was making a continuous-tuning model. Turret tuners were simpler/easier/ cheaper to manufacture, once you worked out the right combinations of resonant frequencies and band-pass filters. And *much* more "user-friendly". > A few years later, we moved HBO to channel 2 (so we could sell HBO to > hotels and motels), installed negative traps to secure it, ..... What science can take away, science can put back. Those traps did _not_ *completely* eliminate the signal getting into the customer premises, they just made it so weak that a conventional TV set couldn't amplify it enough to make a decent picture. A decent high-gain single-channel pre-amp, on the other hand, installed 'in front of' the TV receiver, could do a surprisingly good job of resurrecting the 'killed' signal. ------------------------------ From: wollman@lcs.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: What Happened to FM Channels 1-199? Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 23:21:21 UTC Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science In article , wrote: > Now that we've covered the history of VHF Channel 1, can anyone > explain why the official FM channel numbers are in the range 200-300 > instead of 1-101? I believe it was simply to avoid confusion with the TV channels 2-83. -GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every wollman@csail.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own Opinions not those | search for greater freedom. of MIT or CSAIL. | - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. ___ (2003) ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 10:50:02 -0000 Joe Morris wrote: > [*] I get a number of questions at the office when my wallpaper changer > pops up with the original WDSU-TV test pattern. It makes me feel old when > I turn out to be the only person there who remembers when test patterns > were routinely incorporated into the station ID slides ... Any chance of a copy of that? It would be interesting to see. You can find many examples of old (and not-so-old) test patterns and idents for British TV here: http://www.meldrum.co.uk/mhp/ > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I seem to recall when I was about five > years old my parents had a television set with a tiny little screen > which was maybe two or three inches round. And it had a _huge_ > magnifying glass attached to the front of it. PAT] I never saw it, but my father built a set in the late 1940s/early 1950s using a VCR97 tube, which, if I recall correctly, was about 5 inches. The VCR97 had been a very common CRT in radar sets and was available cheaply as government surplus at the time. Of course, the resulting monochrome picture would have been green! - Paul. ------------------------------ From: steve@Watt.COM (Steve Watt) Subject: Re: Walkie Talkie Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 00:28:58 UTC Organization: Watt Consultants In article , jason wrote: > Hello all, > I need to know more about walkie talkie and how the frequency range > work. Let'say a walkie talkie with frequency range work from 2400 to > 2500 Mhz, while the IF is 5 Mhz. > So how will the channels be allocated for transmitting and receiving > if it is a single duplex type? The IF doesn't have anything to do with the channel spacing at all; many older handheld transceivers have IFs of 455KHz, and that has no impact on the channel spacing. In simplified terms, minimum channel spacing is determined by the modulation bandwidth. If you've got FDMA (i.e. normal AM, SSB or FM modulation) then the channels are slightly more than the modulation bandwidth apart. So if you have a 3KHz modulation bandwidth, the channel center frequencies would be 5KHz apart. If your modulation scheme is based on spread-spectrum techniques, then basically everything changes, and everyone shares the same frequency band with separation of signals provided by receive correlation. Now, to your other question of how the channels will be allocated? That's only barely a technical issue. The regulators in the particular country you intend to operate that transmitter in have regulations and band plans that say what can be transmitted where. They usually specify bandwidths and center frequencies for FDMA, add slot timing to TDMA, and specific spreading codes or classes of spreading codes for CDMA. So, in the US, the FCC controls channel spacing for duplexing, and I don't remember (and don't have at hand) the spacing in that frequency band in the US. -- Steve Watt KD6GGD PP-ASEL-IA ICBM: 121W 56' 57.8" / 37N 20' 14.9" Internet: steve @ Watt.COM Whois: SW32 Free time? There's no such thing. It just comes in varying prices... ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid From: djmcdona@fnord.io.com (Daniel J McDonald) Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 19:35:58 -0600 In article , wrote: > Power grids existed long before networked-computers came out. Why > would the grid be so vulnerable now? Because it is more efficient to control a grid froma central location, rather than sending men out to substations to throw breakers. > Shouldn't those critical networks be isolated from outside access > altogether? Information sharing can be gathered for non-control systems from the intelligent devices at grid control points. Meters are not only useful for determining load and deciding when to switch to a different circuit, but for billing as well. information about voltage and frequency support is used to demonstrate "more stability" and thus gain a higher retail price, in addition to giving the control board operators information on what they need to do to support the grid. Also, the grid has become more complicated, with "distributed generation". With people looking for alternative sources of power, there are many additional complexities. For example, in my city, Austin Texas, there are solar, fuel-cell, and small-package combined chiller/generators distributed around the city that feed into the grid, along with a couple of methane burners at the dumps. Coordinating all of those small generators takes extensive instrumentation that wasn't necessary 20 years ago, and wouldn't be possible without networks. > Secondly, they should be more worried about grid overloads from all the > power source shifting done today. The grids were not designed to > handle that kind of loads and problems like the recent NYC-NE blackout > will occur again. Yup. The real solution, assuming we can't upgrade the grid, is to build more powerplants closer to the load (that is, closer to population centers). Of course, that is very popular and people are overjoyed to welcome new jobs into their neighborhoods. ;-) Daniel J McDonald CCIE # 2495, CNX Visit my website: http://www.austinnetworkdesign.com ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Feds: Criminals Luuuuv Those Open 802.11 Networks Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 21:56:27 -0800 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Tim@Backhome.org wrote: > It is so easy to secure WiFi, at least against most intruders. I can > receive four other home WiFi signals in my condo. Like mine, all the > others are secured. So, I guess me and my neighbors are smarter than > some of these dummies. ;-) Are you using 802.11b or g? g, with WPA, is far better than WEP, due to the way WPA handles encryption keys. JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: VoIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? Date: 22 Mar 2005 07:18:14 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well Lisa, what do you do in a case > like Brooklyn, New York where by the dispatcher's own admission, > "we do not answer this phone after 10 PM"? I don't understand the context of your statement. You mean they say in NYC they don't answer 911 calls after 10PM? I don't know the story, but I suspect perhaps the call was routed to a business office instead of an emergency line where such calls wouldn't be answered after hours. > ... If a small town can arrange its police department to serve the > public efficiently, without a lot of sass-back to the public they > are expected to serve, then why can't your so-called county of > 880,000? That is a good question. But we are speaking of two separate issues: (1) what exists now and how we consumers are best to deal with it and (2) what we'd like to exist. As to (1) -- what exists now: public safety dispatching has become more centralized, covering a wider area and multiple jurisdictions. This is in part due to making 911 service available in suburban areas. The modern 911 services lock onto your line, provide your number, and access a database showing your address and other information. The problem is that VOIP, being a "floating" kind of service, doesn't necessarily input into these databases (does it charge for this as regular phones do -- we pay a "911 surcharge" of $1/month?) You seem to be upset than the existing 911 infrastructure doesn't support newcomer VOIP. As the newcomer, shouldn't VOIP have the obligation to make itself support the existing infrastructure and pay for the costs thereof? For 2 -- in an ideal world each local town would have on duty a 24/7 dispatcher even though overnight they'd handle very few calls. But even this has limitations because the central dispatch knows where all police/fire/rescue units are and their availability and in case of a big problem, neighboring units are immediately dispatched. There's no need to relay phone calls from one jurisdiction to another. We had an unexpected bad flood and the response was quick and efficient. There are always tradeoffs between local specialized service and reginal mass-market service. Each has pros and cons. > Maybe you, or one of the other Bell System apologists in our > readership can tell me why it is that VOIP carriers are expected to > be the ones to have to do the twisting and turning and maneuvering > to get their ways in line to make it easier for the public servants? Because in the last two decades considerable infrastructure has been invested in an E911 structure based on wireline service. Suddenly this new technology comes along and they want everyone to conform to it. Why can't the new technology confirm to the existing? It's not like E911 has been a secret. The govt and telephone subscribers have foot the bill for these enhancements. Why should some newcomer get a free ride? The cable TV industry grew up by laying its own cable at its own expense and building its own receiver buildings. Then they upgraded on their own replacing with coaxial with fibre-optic and now they're free to do as they wish. But if they wish to mix in with existing networks, they have to conform to existing networks. Part of that conformity requirement is E911 service. In other words, suppose we invent a cheap and easy to fly helicopter. Now we're upset that supermarkets and housing developments don't have landing platforms on their roofs to accomodate us. > What the hell did any of those people do back in the 1960's when our > nation was crossbar with no immediate ID on calls? In big cities you dialed zero and the operator gave you the police dept. In rural areas it was rather cumbersome and took extra time. Don't forget, not too long ago suburbanites had to know the specific numbers for fire/police/rescue for their town. In rural areas, these changed years since you called the home of the police or fire chief (and the phone books of rural areas said this). Phone CO service boundaries and town boundaries do not always mesh in suburban areas. > You want a job as a police dispatcher? Then you, by-God, either get > an encyclopedic knowledge of streets and intersections and addresses > in your town or don't get in the way of the people who do; if your > worker's "union" insists you have to have a job you are probably not > qualified for anyway, is that the public or VOIP carriers at fault? > PAT] Having that "encyclopedic knowledge" of a wide suburban region is not so easy. Unlike a city with its grid streets, a suburban county has much more land area and crazy patchwork developments with overlapping names and towns and jurisdictions. The police officials years back decided that computerized reference would be superior. If someone wasn't able to talk or a call got cut off, they could still send help which they couldn't before. They supposedly can send help faster. They supposedly have up-to-date information about new construction or changed situations. Again, like it or not, this is the present system, and it's up to the VOIP carriers to make it work for them, not for the existing system to assume costs to make it work for VOIP. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Cell Phone ATT Date: 22 Mar 2005 09:31:20 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com absmith3@hotmail.com wrote: > I have an ATT contract dated in Oct- 2004- before Cingular bought > ATT. Now Cingular is saying that I owe it $170 for cancellation fee > if I transfer service to Verizon. As all the others mentioned, you are still liable to fulfill the contract. My question is: why do you want to switch? Were you dissatisfied with AT&T service before the merger? Has the merger caused your service quality to deteriorate? ------------------------------ 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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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #126 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Mar 22 18:28:50 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2MNSoK13865; Tue, 22 Mar 2005 18:28:50 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 18:28:50 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503222328.j2MNSoK13865@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 V24 #127 TELECOM Digest Tue, 22 Mar 2005 18:28:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 127 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Find Routes to Get Free Directory Assistance Help (Jack Decker) Level 3 CEO Comments on Withdrawal of VoIP Forbearance Petition (Decker) Forbes Article on VoIP vs. Incumbent Telcos (Jack Decker) Dangling Broadband From the Phone Stick (Jack Decker) Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (Jack Decker) Level 3 Withdraws Request For VoIP Ruling (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Intertel Eclipse Telephone Programming (marcsanders2003@yahoo.com) New Long Range Cordless Phones (Michael Quinn) Re: Mobile IP Networks (Rick Lenhart) Our Telephonic Primacy (Monty Solomon) Re: Level 3 Withdraws Request For VOIP Programming (Devils PGD) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Dave VanHorn) Re: Tracking Down a Harassing Caller Number? (Lisa Hancock) Re: Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid (Al Dykes) Re: VoIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? (Steve Sobol) 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: Jack Decker Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 12:52:25 -0500 Subject: Find Routes to Get Free Directory Assistance Help http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sns-yourmoney-0320spending,0,7646233.story?coll=sfla-business3 By Gregory Karp Of The Morning Call Convenience costs Americans big-time, from bagged salad at the grocery store to automatic carwashes to house-cleaning services. Another convenience is dialing directory assistance whenever you need a phone number. It can be incredibly expensive for what you get. Some directory-assistance services cost nearly $2.50 per request. And many Americans are using the services, according to research firm TNS Telecoms. A survey showed 41 percent of customers used some kind of directory assistance on their home or wireless phone over the past month. And, clearly, many of those lookups were not free. The good news is that spending on directory assistance can be virtually eliminated because there are so many other ways -- some old, some very new -- to get phone numbers. Here's the 411 on reducing directory-assistance calls on your home and wireless phones: [Comment: This article makes a number of good suggestions including a few I didn't know about, and I can honestly say that in my entire lifetime I have never once paid for a directory assistance call, so I thought I already knew most of the ways to get free telephone number lookups. At the same time, they do miss a fairly obvious way to get a number when you are calling a company -- go to the company's web site and look for a "Contact" or "About us" type of link. Very often there will be one or more contact telephones posted right on the company's web site. And if you don't need to make the call right away and have an e-mail address for the person you want to call (or a friend or business associate), using e-mail to request the number is another option.] Full story at: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sns-yourmoney-0320spending,0,7646233.story?coll=sfla-business3 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: One very inexpensive directory service is a sponsor here at this Digest: 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 ! After you sign up with them, then your telephone number (or a few different numbers under your control go on their records. Then you dial an 800 number for directory assistance. ANI allows them to charge that phone number for your call; after a few dollars in calls or at least once per month, your credit card is charged at 65 cents per one or two inquiries. No set up charges of any kind, and the 65 cent rate is the least expensive rate for directory assistance anywhere. Plus which, a portion of that 65 cents comes back to this Digest as a donation. Please consider signing up; no set up fees and no minimum use requirements. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 12:37:19 -0500 Subject: Level 3 CEO Comments on Withdrawal of VoIP Forbearance Petition http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-21-2005/0003236950&STORY&EDATE= James Crowe Comments on Withdrawal of Level 3 VoIP Forbearance Petition http://www.level3.com BROOMFIELD, Colo., March 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The following statement can be attributed to James Q. Crowe, chief executive officer of Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT): "Today, Level 3 withdrew a forbearance petition the company had filed in December 2003 with the Federal Communications Commission seeking to clarify the regulatory status of Voice over IP. "In the petition, we asked the FCC to reaffirm that legacy interconnection fees called 'access charges' do not apply to a certain class of VoIP traffic. By statute, the agency was required to issue a decision in the matter by March 22, 2005. "Level 3 has withdrawn the petition in deference to the Commission. Given the appointment of new leadership only three business days before the statutory deadline for ruling on the petition, we determined it was inappropriate to ask the agency to resolve this important issue in the timeframe required by law. However, there remains a pressing need in the industry for clarity in this area, and Level 3 may elect to refile the petition or take other appropriate regulatory actions in the future. "Our decision to withdraw the petition was made in consultation with industry participants that share our views, including the VON Coalition and CompTel/Ascent. "Level 3 is committed to offering the industry's broadest suite of wholesale VoIP services, and our decision, which in effect maintains the regulatory status quo, will not have any material financial impact on the company. Level 3 and other VoIP service providers continue to maintain that voice calls between the legacy telephone network and the Internet should be exchanged using reciprocal compensation rates, which are lower than access charges and far closer to the network provider's true cost. "We believe that VoIP stands to deliver enormous benefits to business and residential end-users, and will help drive broadband adoption nationwide. In our view, and in the view of many of the companies who supported this petition, creating regulatory clarity is the best way for the government to encourage investment in this promising new technology. "The Commission's record is one of strong support for Voice over IP, and we're confident it will resolve these important issues in an appropriate and timely manner. There are number of other avenues by which the Commission can address the issue of VoIP and intercarrier compensation, and our hope is that it does so quickly in order to provide the industry with clear ground rules. We look forward to continuing to work with the FCC as it formulates policies that will foster VoIP's continued development." About Level 3 Communications Level 3 (Nasdaq: LVLT) is an international communications and information services company. The company operates one of the largest Internet backbones in the world, is one of the largest providers of wholesale dial-up service to ISPs in North America and is the primary provider of Internet connectivity for millions of broadband subscribers, through its cable and DSL partners. The company offers a wide range of communications services over its 23,000-mile broadband fiber optic network including Internet Protocol (IP) services, broadband transport and infrastructure services, colocation services, and patented softswitch managed modem and voice services. Its Web address is http://www.Level3.com. The company offers information services through its subsidiaries, Software Spectrum and (i)Structure. For additional information, visit their respective Web sites at http://www.softwarespectrum.com and http://www.i-structure.com. The Level 3 logo is a registered service mark of Level 3 Communications, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. SOURCE Level 3 Communications, Inc. Web Site: http://www.level3.com How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 12:32:47 -0500 Subject: Forbes Article on VoIP vs. Incumbent Telcos http://www.forbes.com/home/free_forbes/2005/0328/066.html OutFront Threatening Calls Scott Woolley, 03.28.05 Never friendly, the battle between the Internet calling companies and the incumbent telcos has gotten downright ugly. Vonage, the biggest Internet phone company, has taken 500,000 customers from giants such as Verizon and SBC. Those customers had been worth $100 million in annual operating income to the Bells. And the stakes are rising; Vonage Chief Jeffrey Citron expects to double his customer base again this year. [.....] So far Peter John's case is the only 911 snafu to draw much public attention. And while John is now out of the hospital and on the way to a full recovery, Citron, trying to keep the heat on the Bells, warns that until the 911 systems are connected, there is the possibility of a real tragedy: "If something really bad happens, I'd hate to be a [Bell] chief executive testifying before Congress about why there have been delays." Full story at: http://www.forbes.com/home/free_forbes/2005/0328/066.html ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 14:08:26 -0500 Subject: Dangling Broadband From the Phone Stick http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/19/technology/19phone.html By MATT RICHTEL SAN FRANCISCO, March 18 - To gauge the potential consumer impact of the consolidation sweeping the telephone industry, look no further than the silver-toned plastic phone gathering dust on the desk in Justin Martikovic's studio apartment. Mr. Martikovic, 30, a junior architect who relies on a cellphone for his normal calling, says he never uses the desk phone -- but he pays $360 a year to keep it hooked up. "I have to pay for a service I'm never using," he said. He has no choice. His telephone company, SBC Communications, will not sell him high-speed Internet access unless he buys the phone service, too. That puts him in the same bind as many people around the country who want high-speed, or broadband, Internet access but no longer need a conventional telephone. Right now, their phone companies tend to have a "take it or leave it" attitude. Consumers "are not forced to go with SBC," said Michael Coe, a company spokesman. "If they just want a broadband connection, I'd recommend they look around for people who can provide just a broadband connection." The nation's other two largest phone companies, Verizon Communications and BellSouth, have similar policies: broadband service is available only as a bundle with phone service. That means, even as high-speed Internet service has become one of the most quickly adopted technologies of the computer era, there are few options for the tens of millions of Americans trying to upgrade their dial-up connections. Some lawmakers and consumer advocates say the issue should be on the agenda as the government considers the market impact of two proposed big telecommunications deals: SBC's planned $16 billion acquisition of AT&T, and Verizon's $6.75 billion offer for MCI, which is being challenged by a rival offer from Qwest Communications. For many consumers, the main alternative to broadband from the phone company is the local cable company. But cable broadband prices tend to be higher - as much as $60 a month for access, compared typically with $40 or less for phone company broadband. And the cable companies prefer to sell the service as a package with television that can easily exceed $100 a month. That is assuming cable is even available, which it is not in Mr. Martikovic's apartment in the Nob Hill section of San Francisco - or in 10 percent of the nation's households, for that matter. [.....] Consumer advocacy groups, including Consumers Union, say they plan to ask the F.C.C. to address the lack of "à la carte" broadband when the agency reviews the proposed takeovers. [.....] Verizon has said it is working to develop a stand-alone broadband offering that could be available as soon as the end of the year. [.....] But the smallest of the Bells, Qwest, which operates primarily in the Rocky Mountain states and is struggling to grow, has been willing to offer à la carte broadband for more than a year. [Comment: As those of you who have been on this list for a while know, it has long been my position that a customer should never be forced to buy a service he doesn't want in order to get a service he does want. My usual example would be a gas station that would not sell you gas unless you also bought a case of pop, or vise versa. Gas stations can't get away with that, not only because it's probably illegal in most areas, but also because in most places there's another gas station just down the street. Since phone companies don't have that kind of competitive pressure, they tend to try to screw their customers in ways that a normal business could never get away with. I will always remember a time when I lived in a city in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and my car stalled in the downtown area. I knew I needed to pour some gasoline directly into the carburetor to get it started, but fortunately (or so I thought) there was a gas station a block away. The first problem was I didn't have a container to put any gasoline in, but I only needed a little gas, and when I got to the station I happened to look in the trash container and found where someone had discarded a clean but empty plastic container of gas line antifreeze. So, I thought, no problem, I'll get a dime's worth of gas in this. Only problem then was, how to get the gas into the container, which had a much smaller neck than the pump nozzle. I went inside, explained my situation to the man inside, and asked if he might have a funnel or even a piece of stiff paper I could make into a cone. And his reply was, "I won't sell you the gas unless you put it directly into that container." I could not believe my ears. It was obvious he wanted to sell more gas than just 10 or 20 cents worth, but in doing so I would have wound up spilling a considerable amount of gasoline on the ground deliberately (which, the last I heard, is considered an environmental hazard) AND since I would have had to hold the bottle while filling it, I would have very likely got gasoline all over my hand as well. Bear in mind, this bottle wasn't an "approved" container to begin with (it was not painted red or anything) so if his concern has been about legalities he would have refused to sell me the gas at all, but that wasn't his issue -- he just didn't want to be bothered with selling such a small amount of gas, but would have sold it to me had I been willing to spill enough on the pavement to make it worth his while. After some discussion with the man, who refused to budge on his position, I told him I would never buy another drop of gasoline or anything else at his station as long as I lived (and I never did!), and walked six more blocks in below-freezing temperatures to the next nearest station, which had no problem with offering me a funnel to get the small amount of gas I needed to get the car started. (The funny part about is was that the first gas station was in the same block as, and almost next door to an insurance agency that I had the misfortune of having some dealings with, and the guy who ran that was in my opinion also a nutcase - now that I think back on it I wonder if the gas station guy and the insurance agent were using the same drugs, since they both shared the same customer-be-damned attitude. I have to say, the Upper Peninsula has some of the friendliest people in Michigan, but when they go into business there is a small percentage of them that seem to turn into morons with bad attitudes. I suppose that happens in lower Michigan also, but up there people talk and compare notes more, I think, so when a person in business is a real jerk, word tends to get around. But I digress.) It seems to me that the phone companies are just like that gas station owner when they refuse to sell unbundled DSL. They know there are situations where the customer doesn't need their service, where the traditional phone service will never be used, yet they require the customer to take it anyway. It's just pure greed, just as it was with that gas station owner. But since the phone companies are monopolies, you don't have the option of walking six blocks down the road to the next nearest DSL provider. That's why I've been in favor of any and all alternative broadband technologies, including wireless and even BPL if they can work out the interference problems. At the same time, I think these proposed mergers do represent a golden opportunity to get the SBC and Verizon to drop the forced bundling requirement. That won't help the people served by companies like CenturyTel, Alltel, BellSouth, etc. but it would make a big difference here in Michigan where the vast majority of lines are owned by SBC or Verizon. So, I hope Consumers Union is successful in their efforts in that regard.] Full story at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/19/technology/19phone.html [New York Times - free registration required] TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Also see http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html for the story. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 14:15:06 -0500 Subject: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com [Comment: Since this originates in Texas, I cannot help but wonder if SBC had any involvement in this, even if only maybe by putting a bug in someone's ear at the AG's office. We will probably never know, but when I hear about something anti-VoIP coming out of Texas, that's just the way my mind wanders.] http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5630118.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed By Ben Charny, CNET News.com The attorney general of Texas is suing Internet phone provider Vonage, charging that the company isn't clear to its customers about deficiencies in its 911 service. Vonage 911 calls aren't routed in the traditional manner. Rather, most end up at the administrative offices of the 6,000 emergency calls centers rather than dispatchers. According to Abbott, the dangers of the circuitous route were exposed in early March when a 17-year-old Houston girl was unable to get through to police after dialing 911 on a Vonage phone after both her parents were shot by intruders. In the U.S. District Court suit, announced Tuesday, Attorney General Greg Abbott alleges that Vonage doesn't "clearly disclose the lack of traditional 911 access" nor adequately inform its customers they must first sign up for the free 911 service. Such an omission violates state law dealing with deceptive trade practices, the state attorney general alleges. The state is asking for civil penalties of more than $20,000 and an injunction requiring more conspicuous disclosure. A Vonage spokeswoman said the company was surprised to hear of the litigation and pointed out there are numerous references, both on the Internet and material mailed to customers, explaining the 911 service's limitations and its proactive nature. Abbott's office contacted New Jersey-based Vonage about a week ago asking for marketing materials and other information; the company hadn't heard anything since it replied with the materials two days ago, the spokeswoman said. Full story at: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5630118.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/index.php?p=307 Texas sues Vonage for lack of 911 call deficiency disclosure -Posted by Russell Shaw @ 10:17 am Earlier today, we reported that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said he's sued Vonage for not being clear about the limitations of its 911 service. [.....] A somewhat different circumstance prompted the lawsuit, however. Early this month, a 17 year-old Houston girl was unable to get through to the police on the family's Vonage line to inform them that her parents had been shot in a break-in. Full story at: http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/index.php?p=307 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 13:22:32 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Level 3 Withdraws Request For VoIP Ruling Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 22, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20236&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Level 3 withdraws request for VoIP ruling BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Texas to sue Vonage over 911 call * Verizon, Qwest exchange barbs via letters * Symbian, Microsoft team up * Wireless security a challenge for companies USTA SPOTLIGHT * USTA Applauds Withdrawal of Level 3 Petition * Announcing Phone Facts Plus 2005 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * EarthLink announces VPN plans REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Former WorldCom chairman settles shareholder lawsuits Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20236&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: marcsanders2003@yahoo.com Subject: Intertel Eclipse Telephone Programming Date: 22 Mar 2005 12:04:33 -0800 Anybody with technical knowledge of the InterTel Eclipse telephone system? Here's what I'm trying to do: I'm trying to set up a shared mailbox. In other words, I've added a new extension, 262, and I want it to use the voice mailbox of 214. So both extensions will be using mailbox 214. I would also like notification of messages to go to 262. It seems fairly simple, but so far nothing seems to work. Any help would be appreciated. ------------------------------ Subject: New Long Range Cordless Phones Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 15:10:07 -0500 From: Michael Quinn Dave, I'm pretty sure these are illegal in the US&P(ossessions). One of the issues was interference with Air Traffic Control communications systems, as I recall. Someone on the list may be able to cite chapter and verse from US Code, or FCC regs. I may have saved a Navy Department spectrum management brief on the subject; if so, I'll forward off net. Regards, Mike From: Dave Subject: New Long Range Cordless Phones? Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 18:46:17 -0900 I saw a link earlier for this on Slash Dot. Its a cordless phone that supposedly works 100km from the base station (under ideal conditions). http://www.goodbyelongdistance.com/catalog/item/1441280/975984.htm Other then the obvious potential for grief from the FCC, anyone else have any thoughts? I found a link to the Navy brief of which I was thinking, from about three years ago. Mike http://www.see.asso.fr/ICTSR1Newsletter/No007/LONG%20DISTANCES%20Garmisc h.pdf ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones? Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 15:27:58 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when Dave wrote: > a cordless phone that supposedly works 100km from the base station > (under ideal conditions). > http://www.goodbyelongdistance.com/catalog/item/1441280/975984.htm > Other then the obvious potential for grief from the FCC, anyone else > have any thoughts? It is true that highly directional antennas (which none of those pictured in the ad are) can provide ranges such as they describe. Think satellite dishes and clear line-of-sight paths (or even better, put one side in orbit). But highly directional antennas are not going to let you "walk or drive around for a radius of around 30 miles" without stopping to carefully align *both* antennas every time you want to use the phone. With the antennas shown, even 30 miles over unimpeded water seems like it would be pushing it. They offer only manufacturer's warranty (and it's not even clear what country the vendor is in). I don't know what Samsung model that is, but I'd bet that Samsung doesn't specify performance anything like that described. Don't do it without a full money-back guarantee. ------------------------------ From: rick.lenhart@gmail.com Subject: Re: Mobile IP Networks Date: 22 Mar 2005 13:47:33 -0800 I can help, I have a great Cisco based solution for you. rlenhart@icinetworks.net www.miptac.com 007 wrote: > I need to investigate some solutions for a true mobile wireless > networks and I'm looking for anyone's input. > The situation is as follows: I need to design a network that will > supporting IP traffic on a public bus transport system. Wireless > terminals on each bus will communicate through a router onboard each > bus (ie each bus is a mobile wireless LAN). At the bus depot there is > a gateway for internet and telephony. The range of each LAN on each > bus is limited to no more than 3km and there are no more than 10 > busses within the network. > What are some considerations for the planning, design and architecture > of such a network? > Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 17:13:41 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Our Telephonic Primacy By William F. S. Miles | March 21, 2005 "WE'RE NUMBER One!" Americans often make this jingoistic boast in bouts of competitive patriotism. But on what basis? When it comes to the standard international ranking of countries in terms of human development (life expectancy, literacy, and purchasing power, as compiled by the United Nations Development Program), the United States comes in a respectable, but hardly chest thumping, number 7 (bested by Belgium, for goodness sake!) Even when it comes to the kind of measure with which UN-suspicious free marketeers are more comfortable -- straightforward GDP per capita -- we're still outdone by the likes of Norway and, Lord help us, Luxembourg. There is one incontrovertible standard by which we are first, though: international telephone ranking. I am not referring to cellphone use: In this respect we are laggards, trailing 34 other countries (including Estonia). I don't even mean the extent of regular landlines, where we are again 7th, squeaking ahead of those loquacious Icelanders. No, the one measure by which we are literally Number 1 is our International Country Code. When you call home from overseas, you need merely hit (after dialing the international circuit) the number 1. Disappointed? Don't be. There is much we can learn about the world, and America's place in it, by examining the international telephone code chart. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/03/21/our_telephonic_primacy/ ------------------------------- From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Level 3 Withdraws Request for VoIP Fee Ruling Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 15:34:30 -0700 In message Jack Decker wrote: > But because FCC Chairman Michael Powell had left last week, the timing > was no longer right for a ruling, Level 3 CEO James Crowe said in a > statement. "The appointment of new leadership only three business days > before the statutory deadline for ruling on the petition" made it > "inappropriate to ask the agency to resolve this important issue in > the timeframe required by law," Crowe said. To translate from PR-speak to English, they didn't think that the new overlords would give a favourable ruling. ------------------------------ Reply-To: Dave VanHorn From: Dave VanHorn Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 14:18:08 -0500 > There was such a huge amount of misinformation running around > among the CBers. I couldn't believe some of the things they would say > and I can't imagine where they were getting information like that. Whenever I need some comic releif, I check out the CB section of the local truck stop. BTW: Did anyone notice the latest trend in antennas? You angle them forward about 45 degrees. These are the rigid ones that might bend back five degrees in the wind, if that much. I haven't yet figured out what they think they are accomplishing. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I have heard that horizonal polarization (that is, when an antenna is at a 90 degree angle) offers better transmission and reception. The stuff transmitted 'vertically' (which is how most antennas are mounted) does not get in the way as 'interference' that much. I think there is a difference if you are radiating a 'full wave' or a 'half-wave' also. It has been a _long time_ since I studied much about citizen's band radio, but I do know that the exact length and placement of a _transmitting_ antenna is very critical in getting out a good signal. I do know that radio waves travel at approximatly the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) and the antenna has to be 'cut' in such a way as to accomodate that formula. An 'eleven meter' band transmission (CB radio) therefore has to have ideally an antenna about 14 feet long for a 'full wave' or about 8 feet long for a 5/8 wave, which is considered acceptable. When the amount of space is not sufficient, then the radio can be 'tricked' by loading the antenna with coils. I have forgotten so much of that stuff, it really pains me. Anyway, horizonal polarization is supposed to have its good points. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Tracking Down a Harassing Caller Number? Date: 22 Mar 2005 11:21:23 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com AES wrote: > Are there any official procedures or unofficial ways of tracking > down the source of repeated harassing calls coming from a set of > apparently related numbers in a distant area code? Call your telephone company business office. You didn't describe the call content -- if there is no one there, it may be from a fax machine. Your business might help with that. There is a call trace feature available in some areas that can trace most calls, even blocked. There is usually a fee. The number is given to the phone company's investigative unit. Check your telephone directory if Call Trace (*70) is available and its terms and procedures. I don't know why they don't publicize Call Trace, though it is in the phone book. {TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think *57 is call trace and *70 is 'suspend call waiting for the remainder of this call'. *57 is not publicized, maybe because of the huge fees they charge for what they used to do for free (investigate people causing trouble for others on the phone.) Telco does not like to admit that subscribers are entitled to the peaceful, unmolested use of their phones. As often as not, using *57 gets you a ten or fifteen dollar charge on your phone bill and a letter in the mail a couple days later saying they cannot do anything to help you. PAT] ------------------------------ From: adykes@panix.com (Al Dykes) Subject: Re: Hackers Target U.S. Power Grid Date: 22 Mar 2005 14:44:55 -0500 Organization: PANIX -- Public Access Networks Corp. In article , Daniel J McDonald wrote: > In article , > wrote: >> Power grids existed long before networked-computers came out. Why >> would the grid be so vulnerable now? > Because it is more efficient to control a grid froma central location, > rather than sending men out to substations to throw breakers. >> Shouldn't those critical networks be isolated from outside access >> altogether? > Information sharing can be gathered for non-control systems from the > intelligent devices at grid control points. Meters are not only > useful for determining load and deciding when to switch to a different > circuit, but for billing as well. information about voltage and > frequency support is used to demonstrate "more stability" and thus > gain a higher retail price, in addition to giving the control board > operators information on what they need to do to support the grid. > Also, the grid has become more complicated, with "distributed > generation". With people looking for alternative sources of power, > there are many additional complexities. For example, in my city, > Austin Texas, there are solar, fuel-cell, and small-package combined > chiller/generators distributed around the city that feed into the > grid, along with a couple of methane burners at the dumps. > Coordinating all of those small generators takes extensive > instrumentation that wasn't necessary 20 years ago, and wouldn't be > possible without networks. >> Secondly, they should be more worried about grid overloads from all the >> power source shifting done today. The grids were not designed to >> handle that kind of loads and problems like the recent NYC-NE blackout >> will occur again. > Yup. The real solution, assuming we can't upgrade the grid, is to > build more powerplants closer to the load (that is, closer to > population centers). Of course, that is very popular and people are > overjoyed to welcome new jobs into their neighborhoods. ;-) > Daniel J McDonald CCIE # 2495, CNX > Visit my website: http://www.austinnetworkdesign.com These little gas-fired plants (100MW ?) seem to be solving the problem for the NYC area. They take about an acre and generate no perceptable smells/noise/etc and pass zoning review if the proposed location isn't a residential area. The downside it seems is that we may have "overcomitted" our supply of natural gas. Greenspan made a statement to this effect a year or so ago. -- a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m Don't blame me. I voted for Gore. ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: VoIP and Bell DSL: Is it Ready For Prime Time? Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 12:16:13 -0800 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well Lisa, what do you do in a case >> like Brooklyn, New York where by the dispatcher's own admission, >> "we do not answer this phone after 10 PM"? > I don't understand the context of your statement. You mean they say > in NYC they don't answer 911 calls after 10PM? I don't know the story, > but I suspect perhaps the call was routed to a business office instead > of an emergency line where such calls wouldn't be answered after hours. Or, in a case like we have out here ... There are 300,000 people in the Victor Valley region of San Bernardino County, California, spread out over a significantly large chunk of desert. There are no municipal police departments in this particular area; the patrol cars say Apple Valley Police, Hesperia Police, Adelanto Police, etc., but the police officers are all actually county sherriff's deputies. There is an outpost in each incorporated city. You can call the Apple Valley police department number after hours, but your call won't go to Apple Valley; it'll get routed to the sherriff's outpost in Victorville. I am not sure whether the other numbers get routed to Victorville after hours, but they probably do. (When I say "call the Apple Valley number", I mean the local number, not 911. Again, I'm not sure how things work out here but 911 is probably routed to a regional PSAP.) -- JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We have a similar situation here. The town of Cherryvale, Kansas (population about two thousand) has a police department, but during overnight hours, the *single* police officer on duty is dispatched from here in Independence, and I think their 911 lines overnight are routed here. 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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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #127 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Mar 23 16:20:42 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2NLKgn23729; Wed, 23 Mar 2005 16:20:42 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 16:20:42 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503232120.j2NLKgn23729@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 V24 #128 TELECOM Digest Wed, 23 Mar 2005 16:21:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 128 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson More 'Tweens' Going Mobile; Long-Term Health Remains Unclear (M Solomon) Symantec Internet Security Threat Report Volume VII (Monty Solomon) News Corporation Completes Acquisition of Fox (Monty Solomon) Phoning 0870 and 0844 UK Numbers Out of Free Minutes (polinaskulski@aol) SS7 vs SIP (Michal_km) Texas Files Lawsuit Against Vonage (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S (donestuardo@yahoo.com) GSM900 (jason) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (Wesrock@aol) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (Lisa Hancock) Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones? (Tony P.) Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones (John Bartley) Re: What happened to Channel 1 (Neal McLain) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Tony P.) Re: What Happened to Channel 1 (Brad Houser) Re: Dangling Broadband From the Phone Stick (Lisa Hancock) Re: Our Telephonic Primacy (Lisa Hancock) Re: Intertel Eclipse Telephone Programming (T. Sean Weintz) Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (DevilsPGD) 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: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 18:42:02 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: More 'Tweens' Going Mobile; Long-Term Health Risks Remain Unclear By Associated Press | March 21, 2005 CHICAGO -- There were two things 11-year-old Patty Wiegner really, really, really wanted for Christmas. One was a furry, playful dog that's now filling her parents' home with the sound of barking. The other gift makes a different kind of noise -- it has a ring tone that mimics rapper 50 Cent's hit song 'Candy Shop.' While some might question why someone so young might need one, and some scientists have expressed health concerns, Patty is one of many kids her age who are asking their parents for cellphones. And increasingly, they're getting them. http://www.boston.com/business/personaltech/articles/2005/03/21/more_tweens_going_mobile/ Long-term health risks remain unclear By Associated Press | March 21, 2005 SEATTLE -- Parents should think twice before giving in to a middle-schooler's demands for a cellphone, some scientists say, because potential long-term health risks remain unclear. Researchers have speculated for more than 10 years that the electromagnetic radiation emitted from cellphones may damage DNA and cause benign brain tumors, said Henry Lai, a bioengineering professor at the University of Washington. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/03/21/long_term_health_risks_remain_unclear/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 19:12:17 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Symantec Internet Security Threat Report Volume VII Symantec Offers Webcast On Findings Of Latest Internet Security Threat Report CUPERTINO, Calif. - March 21, 2005 - Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC), the global leader in information security, today announced it will host a webcast discussing the findings of its seventh bi-annual Internet Security Threat Report. The webcast will be held on Wed., March 23, 2005 at 9 a.m. PST. The webcast and report are invaluable for security IT management who are responsible for strategic security decisions, policy setting, and learning about how security issues affect business. Attendees can register at http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/content/webcastinfo.cfm?webcastid=145 http://www.symantec.com/press/2005/n050321a.html Symantec Internet Security Threat Report Volume VII Presented by: Dean Turner, Executive Editor, Symantec Internet Security Threat Report Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 Time: 9am PST http://ses.symantec.com/content/webcastinfo.cfm?webcastid=145 Internet Security Threat Report http://ses.symantec.com/ITR https://ses.symantec.com/content.cfm?articleid=1539&EID=0 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 21:21:13 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: News Corporation Completes Acquisition of Fox NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2005--News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) announced today that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Fox Entertainment Group, Inc.'s Class A common stock (NYSE:FOX) that News Corporation did not already own. In a short-form merger of Fox Entertainment Group, Inc. with and into News Corporation's wholly owned subsidiary, Fox Acquisition Corp, that was effected earlier today, each share of Fox Class A common stock, other than those owned by News Corporation or its subsidiaries, was converted into 2.04 shares of News Corporation Class A common stock, subject to the rights of stockholders to seek appraisal under Delaware law. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=47820386 ------------------------------ From: polinaskulski@aol.com Subject: Phoning 0870 and 0844 UK Numbers Out of Free Minutes Date: 23 Mar 2005 06:16:40 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Does anyone know of any UK mobile phones companies/plans which allow to phone 0870 and 0844 numbers out of the free minutes. ------------------------------ From: Michal_km Subject: SS7 vs SIP Date: 23 Mar 2005 01:55:58 -0800 Hi, I'm looking for the equivelant terms in SIP to SS7 terms: OPC, DPC, CIC, SLS. Is it possible to compare between the two technologies? I am working with a monitoring program that monitors SS7 equipment (such as STP, SSP, SCP) and messages and the plan is to extend it to monitor IP messages and equipment on a VoIP network. Thanks, M~ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 12:43:09 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Texas Files Lawsuit Against Vonage Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 23, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20270&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Texas files lawsuit against Vonage BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Microsoft, Symbian target RIM * SBC taps five execs for IPTV service * MCI beefs up Wi-Fi coverage * BellSouth pitches directories to Hispanic market * AOL's new content plan * MCI board to discuss Qwest offer USTA SPOTLIGHT * Register Today! VoIP 101 Webinar: Tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * BT sets aggressive timeline for 21CN project * AT&T conducts WiMax tests REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Texas city hires private company to build, operate Wi-Fi network Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20270&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: donestuardo@yahoo.com Subject: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S Date: 22 Mar 2005 17:12:24 -0800 I have a nearly new cell phone jammer for sale -- range is approximately 30 metres in radius. Model MONIX MGB-1S cellular Jammer. Used only one week (and then the tenant was gone! - hint great for getting rid of loser tenants who depend on their cell phones for calls). Includes unit, plus 2 attennas, and a power cable and transformer for North American Standard power. Asking price $395 plus shipping. I am located in Canada. Please email me at donestuardo (AT Sign) yahoo.com or call me on my cell at (416) 458-0012 and I will be happy to go over details with you. Thanks, Stew [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Why is a person who relies on a cell phone for their communications a 'loser'? Good luck finding someone willing to buy this evil device. :( PAT] ------------------------------ From: jason Subject: GSM-900 Date: 22 Mar 2005 17:16:09 -0800 Hello All, May I know why do we need the number 900 to make GSM900 meaningful? Is it because the rf signal is in 900 MHz? or the local oscillator used for GSM900 system is at 900 MHz? Kindly enlighthen. rgds and thanks, jason ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 20:28:47 EST Subject: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System In a message dated Mon, 21 Mar 2005 22:06:56 -0500, Monty Solomon writes: > CONCORD, N.H. --The E-ZPass system that will soon make it easier to > pay tolls in New Hampshire will make it easier to track people's > movements, privacy advocates warn. > State officials say strict policies are in place to prevent that, and > stress that E-ZPass will be voluntary. They also say the system will > reduce traffic congestion and put off the need to expand the current > toll plazas. > http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2005/03/21/some_concerned_about_privacy_implications_of_e_zpass_system/ NH is just now getting E-Z Pass or some similar system? Oklahoma, with more turnpikes than any other state, has had them for 15 years or more. In Texas, where most of the toll roads are urban, there has been a similar system (made by the same company) for years. Kansas put in a similar system a few years ago. Those privacy concerns have been raised in each of those states, and come up again every so often. As far as I know, no problems have been reported in any of the three states with privacy problems. As the story says, you can choose not to participate. It's a real pain once you've gotten used to driving on the turnpikes without stopping -- newer toll plazas are being built with 75 mph lanes for holders of the devices. Older toll plazas are being replaced or remodeled to provide high speed lanes for those who have the devices. You can still pay in cash if you want to carry proper change and thread your way across several lanes to wait for your turn. If you have to make change (some remote entrances/exits do not have manned toll booths) the line will be even longer. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System Date: 23 Mar 2005 06:59:50 -0800 Monty Solomon wrote: > CONCORD, N.H. --The E-ZPass system that will soon make it easier to > pay tolls in New Hampshire will make it easier to track people's > movements, privacy advocates warn. > State officials say strict policies are in place to prevent that, and > stress that E-ZPass will be voluntary. They also say the system will > reduce traffic congestion and put off the need to expand the current > toll plazas. Yes and No. Some tollways give a big discount to EZPASS users and provide faster lanes, making cash users pay more and wait longer. (Other tollways actually charge more for EZPASS than cash users, which seems to defeat the whole purpose of the program which is to encourage widespread use.) I'm sure each and every one of the organizations hit with big identity data theft/loss cases recently would've also told us they had "strict policies in place" what turned out to still happened, strict policies or not. I myself use EZPASS to get a toll discount and save time; it's also convenient when I travel on other roads. But I don't like the loss of privacy. My toll bridge doesn't handle it, some service contractor down in DC does. The tollgates also have recording cameras to catch toll skippers. Anyone who gets my account number and pin number can go online and access my EZP driving history, and that's frightening. There's also the concern if my car with its transponder unit is stolen. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones? Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 22:40:06 -0500 In article , newsgroups@dave!!! christense!!n.o!!!r!!!g says: > I saw a link earlier for this on Slash Dot. Its a cordless phone that > supposedly works 100km from the base station (under ideal conditions). > http://www.goodbyelongdistance.com/catalog/item/1441280/975984.htm > Other then the obvious potential for grief from the FCC, anyone else > have any thoughts? > I'm living in a rural Alaskan town and traditional cell service is > spotty to none, even with an old bag phone and roof antenna so I was > thinking that this could be an interesting approach to local mobile > phone service. I highly doubt that it is legal in the U.S. However, modifying your 802.11 gear and using say a PalmOS type machine with an 802.11 card you could probably cobble together a VoIP solution that has a linear range of 11 miles or so, depending on what type and pattern of radiator you decide to use. From what I've read about these units they operate in the amateur radio band so I take sort of strong offense to that. ------------------------------ From: John Bartley Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 11:31:58 -0800 Subject: Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones > From: Dave > Subject: New Long Range Cordless Phones? > Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 18:46:17 -0900 > I saw a link earlier for this on Slash Dot. Its a cordless phone that > supposedly works 100km from the base station (under ideal conditions). > http://www.goodbyelongdistance.com/catalog/item/1441280/975984.htm > Other then the obvious potential for grief from the FCC, anyone else > have any thoughts? On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 15:10:07 -0500, Michael Quinn replied: > Dave, > I'm pretty sure these are illegal in the US&P(ossessions). One of the > issues was interference with Air Traffic Control communications > systems, as I recall. Someone on the list may be able to cite chapter > and verse from US Code, or FCC regs. I may have saved a Navy > Department spectrum management brief on the subject; if so, I'll > forward off net. > Regards, > Mike From the Amateur Radio Newsline report #1399 last year: ENFORCEMENT: EATERY FINED $10,000 FOR USING 2 METERS Rem ember the case of Best Wok? The New Jersey restaraunt that was warned b y the FCC to stop using an illegal high power 2 meter cordless telephone to coordinate deliveries but which continued to do so anyhow? Well, that decision by the store manager is going to cost the company $10,0 00. Thats the amount of the fine that the FCC has levvied against Best Wor k for transmitting on 145.8376 MHz without Commission authorization. The r esteraunt was given the customary 30 days to pay up or to file an appeal. (FCC) And, from , a Miami dealer was fined $7,000 for selling those kinds of cordless phones. Some hams ('observers') volunteer to track misuse, triangulate where it's from, and report it to the local FCC field office or field engineer. It's a well-respected role within the amateur radio community. So, just because it's on Slashdot don't mean you can sell it Stateside. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 21:09:02 -0600 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: What happened to Channel 1? I wrote: > A few years later, we moved HBO to channel 2 (so we could sell > HBO to hotels and motels), installed negative traps to secure > it, ..... Whereupon Robert Bonomi wrote: > What science can take away, science can put back. Those traps > did _not_ *completely* eliminate the signal getting into the > customer premises, they just made it so weak that a > conventional TV set couldn't amplify it enough to make a decent > picture. A decent high-gain single-channel pre-amp, on > the other hand, installed 'in front of' the TV receiver, could > do a surprisingly good job of resurrecting the 'killed' signal. > Except that the relevant parameter is noise figure, not gain. To the extent that the preamp has a better (i.e., lower) noise figure than the TV set's own tuner (and holding all other variables constant), you'll get a decibel-for-decibel improvement. But even a relatively low-gain preamp (say, ca 20 dB) will show similar improvement if it has a similarly lower noise figure. http://www.broadband-pbimedia.com/ct/archives/0500/0500col2.htm Neal McLain ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 22:43:33 -0500 In article , bonomi@host122.r- bonomi.com says: > What science can take away, science can put back. Those traps did _not_ > *completely* eliminate the signal getting into the customer premises, they > just made it so weak that a conventional TV set couldn't amplify it enough > to make a decent picture. A decent high-gain single-channel pre-amp, on > the other hand, installed 'in front of' the TV receiver, could do a > surprisingly good job of resurrecting the 'killed' signal. Sort of how the FCC has pretty much admitted that anyone with a modicum of technical knowledge will be able to defeat the broadcast flag. ------------------------------ From: Brad Houser Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 12:22:48 -0800 Organization: Intel Reply-To: Brad Houser The channel is the range of frequencies allocated to that broadcast station. NTSC (analog TV) and ATSC (digital TV) still use the same channels. Most of the new DTV channels are UHF, and the broadcasters are allowed to continue to use the older analog channels (the best ones being VHF) during the transition. Once the FCC tells them to shut off the analog broadcasts, the original channels will be put up for auction. Brad H wrote in message news:telecom24.118.14@telecom-digest.org: > An NTSC analog "channel" is called such because it is allocated to > AM video and FM audio. > These channels will soon be just a part of television history as they are > phased out and replaced by the digital "channels." ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Dangling Broadband From the Phone Stick Date: 23 Mar 2005 06:52:05 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Jack Decker wrote: > For many consumers, the main alternative to broadband from the phone > company is the local cable company. But cable broadband prices tend to > be higher -- as much as $60 a month for access, compared typically with > $40 or less for phone company broadband. And the cable companies > prefer to sell the service as a package with television that can > easily exceed $100 a month. > ... It seems to me that the phone companies are just like that gas station > owner when they refuse to sell unbundled DSL. ... > ... But since the phone companies are monopolies, you don't have the > option of walking six blocks down the road to the next nearest > DSL provider. It seems to me you contradicted your own post and have a double standard. Your clipping stated that cable companies offer broadband as an alternative. So consumers DO have an alternative and don't have to walk six blocks in bad weather to get it. You also want the phone companies to be forced to drop their bundling requirement. But your clipping says cable companies do the same thing and charge even more. Why should the cable companies be allowed to bundle and charge more when you want the phone company controlled? It seems from your article that the phone company, bundled or not, is giving the consumer a better deal. Remember, the phone company doesn't have to offer broadband at all and you could get it only from the cable company and pay their prices. BTW, a lot of consumer goods are "bundled" whether you like it or not. Sometimes it's for marketing convenience as a la carte pricing and selling would be too cumbersome. But other times it's to add profit to the mfr. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Our Telephonic Primacy Date: 23 Mar 2005 07:37:52 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Monty Solomon wrote: > By William F. S. Miles | March 21, 2005 > Americans often make this jingoistic boast in bouts of competitive > patriotism. But on what basis? When it comes to the standard > international ranking of countries in terms of human development (life > expectancy, literacy, and purchasing power, as compiled by the United > Nations Development Program), the United States comes in a > respectable, but hardly chest thumping, number 7 (bested by Belgium, > for goodness sake!) I wonder how accurate these international rankings are. Recently someone claimed that infant mortality was worse in the U.S. than in Cuba, something I find difficult to believe without additional explanation. Anyway, in the case of the United States, the national averages, rankings, and indexes really don't mean very much. The U.S. is a very big country with great economic diversity. Real estate costs more in NYC, but salaries are higher, for example. Crime and disease are often much higher in ghetto areas than most suburban areas. Advocates of public policy on both sides of the aisle love to throw out statistics. Newspapers like them as well -- they "authenticate" a story. But the key component of all statistics is the base sample. When we say 25% percent of such-and-such, we need to understand exactly what 'such and such' _includes_ AND _excludes_, as well as exactly the definition of the subset percentage. Further, it is critical that statistics be compared in context to other yardsticks of other equivalent areas and situations of past time. Often the full story is not told. ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Intertel Eclipse Telephone Programming Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 12:50:42 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com marcsanders2003@yahoo.com wrote: > Anybody with technical knowledge of the InterTel Eclipse telephone > system? Here's what I'm trying to do: > I'm trying to set up a shared mailbox. In other words, I've added a > new extension, 262, and I want it to use the voice mailbox of 214. So > both extensions will be using mailbox 214. I would also like > notification of messages to go to 262. > It seems fairly simple, but so far nothing seems to work. > Any help would be appreciated. I don't think that can be done. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Quite a few years ago, I had two lines in Skokie, IL -- ORchard 7 9510 and ORchard 7 9511. Both had Voicemail on them from Ameritech; both were handled from 9511. I think what Ameritech told me was there was only one voicemail box in reality, probably on 9511 (which was a roll-over line from 9510) and that the voicemail on 9510 was 'aliased' to 9511. When someone dialed into 9510 and the voicemail was to pick up, the alias pointed at 9511; not only for the storage of messages, but also notification in the form of a flashing red LED on the phone. PAT] ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 16:24:32 -0700 Organization: Disorganized In message Jack Decker wrote: > A Vonage spokeswoman said the company was surprised to hear of the > litigation and pointed out there are numerous references, both on the > Internet and material mailed to customers, explaining the 911 > service's limitations and its proactive nature. Abbott's office > contacted New Jersey-based Vonage about a week ago asking for > marketing materials and other information; the company hadn't heard > anything since it replied with the materials two days ago, the > spokeswoman said. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Vonage should not be offering 911 at all, rather, they should be highlighting the fact that emergency call centers do not allow Vonage to route emergency calls to the right place (so their only option is to dump the call to an administrative number.) Personally, I'd rather have attempts to dial 911 get the "Stop, this phone does not have 911 service" then get through to someone who can't or won't help. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But wouldn't the ideal arrangement be like here? A number designated for 'emergency but not 911' phone is terminated on the consoles of the persons who respond for police, etc, and they are tipped off "if this line, with its unusual cadence in ringing goes off, it is to be treated like any other emergency call". Our dispatchers answer not only the occassional 911 call, but they also answer for the city hall offices. The PSAP people (at Vonage, and elsewhere) are told to connect with them as needed _using one of the back lines_ on the city hall group; a line which would almost never get calls on its own. Now, if _that phone_ rings/flashes, treat it as a priority emergency call. The same woman sitting there taking calls for the city hall centrex/switchboard sees that one phone give out a continuous (never pausing) ring with the light on the wall flashing at a furious pace says 'ah, it is an emergency call from a system which cannot (for whatever reason) use 911. She answers it and makes dispatch as needed. Does not seem like that major of problem. That single phone, by the way, also has a caller-ID device on it, and a rather detailed map on the wall as well, so the dispatcher gets the essence of the desired information, even if not every single bit of it. Ah, but that would involve _training_ the dispatchers in possibly a new procedure. Do you think their Civil Servants Union would allow that sort of a requirement? ------------------------------ 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 V24 #128 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Mar 23 21:54:36 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2O2sZd26119; Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:54:36 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:54:36 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503240254.j2O2sZd26119@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 V24 #129 TELECOM Digest Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:55:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 129 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Macintosh Hacker Attacks Are on the Rise -Symantec (Lisa Minter) AOL LatAm Running Out of Cash, May Cease Operations (Lisa Minter) Yahoo Ups Free E-Mail Storage to 1 GB (Lisa Minter) Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (Thor Lancelot Simon) Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (DevilsPGD) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Garrett Wollman) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Dan Lanciani) Re: Our Telephonic Primacy (Justin Time) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (John Levine) Re: SS7 vs SIP (VOIP SS7 Softswitch specialists) 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: 23 Mar 2005 14:17:05 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Macintosh Hacker Attacks Are on the Rise - Symantec SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hacker attacks on Apple Computer Inc.'s OS X operating system, thought by many who use the Mac to be virtually immune to attack, are on the rise, according to a report from anti-virus software vendor Symantec Corp. "Contrary to popular belief, the Macintosh operating system has not always been a safe haven from malicious code," said the report, which was issued on Monday. "It is now clear that the Mac OS is increasingly becoming a target for the malicious activity that is more commonly associated with Microsoft and various Unix-based operating systems." An Apple spokesman said the Cupertino, California-based company would have no comment on the report. Many in the Macintosh computer community have long claimed that the Mac platform has been virtually immune to attack -- unlike Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system, which runs on more than 90 percent of the world's personal computers. The Macintosh operating system, the current version of which is based on the Unix operating system, has less than 5 percent of the global market for computer operating systems. "All these platforms have vulnerabilities - it's a fact of life," said Gartner analyst Martin Reynolds. "The truth of the matter is that Mac is only a couple percentage points of (computer) shipments so it's not an interesting target." Apple's recent introduction of the Mac mini, a $500 computer sold without a display, keyboard or mouse, could actually increase the likelihood of more malicious software computer code targeting the Mac platform, Symantec said. "The market penetration of Macintosh platforms will be accelerated by the much lower priced Mac mini, which may be purchased by less security-savvy users," the report said. "As a result, the number of vulnerabilities can be expected to increase, as will malicious activity that targets them." Symantec said that over the past year, it had documented 37 high-vulnerabilities -- weaknesses that leave the system open to malicious software attacks -- in Mac OS X They "have been confirmed by the vendor, which, in the Apple case, almost always means that the company has released a patch." A patch is a small piece of software designed to shore up a vulnerability or to fix other software glitches. At the same time, the report said that while those vulnerabilities in the Mac operating system will increase, "they will likely be outnumbered in other operating systems for some time to come." Shares of Apple fell 87 cents, or 2 percent, to close at $42.83 on Nasdaq. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 23 Mar 2005 14:18:30 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: AOL LatAm Running Out of Cash, May Cease Operations SEATTLE (Reuters) - America Online Latin America Inc. South America, said on Tuesday that it was running out of cash and may shut down or file for bankruptcy protection. Unless AOL Latin America finds a buyer for its assets, it will have to close down operations, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based company said in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. AOL Latin America, founded as a joint venture between America Online Inc. and the Cisneros Group at the start of the Internet bubble in 1998, has since struggled to become profitable. The loss-making company, which provides Internet dial-up service mainly in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, stopped counting non-paying subscribers in 2003 as the SEC investigated the company's methods in counting subscribers. Although AOL Latin America has enough cash to stay in business through the third quarter of this year, it said it may have fallen into default with Time Warner Inc. which holds $160 million of senior convertible notes in the company. "We do not believe that our common stock has, or will have, any value," the company said in the filing. AOL Latin America said it is no longer pursuing any financing. "We are not currently expending resources to obtain financing from any source because we believe that any efforts to obtain financing would be futile based on past experience," the company said. Other Internet service providers have also struggled to stay in business in Latin America. StarMedia Network Inc., Terra Lycos and Yahoo's efforts to build an access provider have fallen flat. AOL Latin America went public on the Nasdaq in 2000 at the low end of the expected range, with investors expressing concern over its growth prospects. The shares fell to 22 cents in after-hours trading, less than half of their closing price of 47 cents. It peaked above $8 shortly after its initial public offering. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 23 Mar 2005 14:20:21 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Yahoo Ups Free E-Mail Storage to 1 GB SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc. said on Wednesday it will soon begin giving users of its free Web e-mail service 1 gigabyte of storage, four times more than it now offers, amid intense competition. Consumers are increasingly using their Web e-mail inboxes as a repository for e-mail as well as digital photos and documents. Web e-mail providers have been responding with offers of ever more free storage. Yahoo, which Nielsen/NetRatings said in February boasted the most unique users among e-mail providers in the United States ahead of Time Warner Inc.'s Corp.'s MSN Hotmail, said the global storage upgrade will begin in late April and take about two weeks to complete. The Internet media company also said it is beefing up antivirus protection for free e-mail users, giving them the ability to remove viruses from attachments -- a feature that had only been available to paying users. Yahoo Mail is available in 15 languages in almost two dozen countries around the world. Google Inc. last spring was the first email provider to offer 1 gigabyte of free storage to users of its invitation-only test Gmail service, setting off me-too moves from rivals. Gmail, a distant fourth in the rankings of top e-mail destinations, is now available only as an English-language service. Microsoft currently limits free storage on its free MSN Hotmail accounts to 250 megabytes. Yahoo and Microsoft each offer 2 gigabytes of storage to users who pay about $20 per year for the service. Yahoo shares edged up 10 cents to $31.08 on Nasdaq early Wednesday afternoon. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance,in this instance, Reuters Limited/Tech Tuesday. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) Subject: Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:18:27 UTC Organization: Public Access Networks Corp. Reply-To: tls@rek.tjls.com In article , DevilsPGD wrote: > In message Jack Decker > wrote: >> A Vonage spokeswoman said the company was surprised to hear of the >> litigation and pointed out there are numerous references, both on the >> Internet and material mailed to customers, explaining the 911 >> service's limitations and its proactive nature. Abbott's office >> contacted New Jersey-based Vonage about a week ago asking for >> marketing materials and other information; the company hadn't heard >> anything since it replied with the materials two days ago, the >> spokeswoman said. > I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Vonage should not be > offering 911 at all, rather, they should be highlighting the fact that > emergency call centers do not allow Vonage to route emergency calls to > the right place (so their only option is to dump the call to an > administrative number.) Your claim above "emergency call centers do not allow..." is false; in fact, it's a key element of Vonage's public-relations effort on this issue. *If* Vonage were willing to pay the same fees other local exchange carriers pay for 911 connectivity *in each LATA*, *then* Vonage could route 911 calls correctly. Avoiding this *cost* has been a major competitive win for Vonage all along and it is hard to not see it as a major reason, if not _the_ reason, why Vonage has fought state regulation as a local exchange carrier: by avoiding regulatory mandates like 911 service standards Vonage avoids the cost of compliance. What is truly irresponsible is to offer a "911" service that does not have the same user experience that Americans have been trained to expect from 911 for several decades. In a just world, Vonage would pay and pay indeed for their decision to make the provision of such a service part of their public-relations effort aimed at avoiding service quality regulation. This is a choice they made, not one they had forced on them; there are VoIP providers out there that did the right thing. People's safety in emergency situations should be quite simply out of bounds for this kind of political maneuvering. Of course, it's not, but darn it, it ought to be. Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com "The inconsistency is startling, though admittedly, if consistency is to be abandoned or transcended, there is no problem." - Noam Chomsky ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 16:50:15 -0700 Organization: Disorganized In message DevilsPGD wrote: > In message Jack Decker > wrote: >> A Vonage spokeswoman said the company was surprised to hear of the >> litigation and pointed out there are numerous references, both on the >> Internet and material mailed to customers, explaining the 911 >> service's limitations and its proactive nature. Abbott's office >> contacted New Jersey-based Vonage about a week ago asking for >> marketing materials and other information; the company hadn't heard >> anything since it replied with the materials two days ago, the >> spokeswoman said. > I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Vonage should not be > offering 911 at all, rather, they should be highlighting the fact that > emergency call centers do not allow Vonage to route emergency calls to > the right place (so their only option is to dump the call to an > administrative number.) > Personally, I'd rather have attempts to dial 911 get the "Stop, this > phone does not have 911 service" then get through to someone who can't > or won't help. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But wouldn't the ideal arrangement be > like here? A number designated for 'emergency but not 911' phone is > terminated on the consoles of the persons who respond for police, etc, > and they are tipped off "if this line, with its unusual cadence in > ringing goes off, it is to be treated like any other emergency call". > Our dispatchers answer not only the occassional 911 call, but they > also answer for the city hall offices. The PSAP people (at Vonage, and > elsewhere) are told to connect with them as needed _using one of the > back lines_ on the city hall group; a line which would almost never > get calls on its own. Now, if _that phone_ rings/flashes, treat it as > a priority emergency call. The same woman sitting there taking calls > for the city hall centrex/switchboard sees that one phone give out a > continuous (never pausing) ring with the light on the wall flashing at > a furious pace says 'ah, it is an emergency call from a system which > cannot (for whatever reason) use 911. She answers it and makes > dispatch as needed. Does not seem like that major of problem. That > single phone, by the way, also has a caller-ID device on it, and a > rather detailed map on the wall as well, so the dispatcher gets the > essence of the desired information, even if not every single bit of > it. Ah, but that would involve _training_ the dispatchers in possibly > a new procedure. Do you think their Civil Servants Union would allow > that sort of a requirement? No, the ideal solution is to route the calls to the same place as 911 calls. They should enter the 911 call center just like every other 911-addressed call center comes in. Like with a cell phone there is no confirmed address, but that didn't stop cell phones from offering 911. The only reason cell phones get 911 service and VoIP gets screwed around is that cell phones were initially only deployed by telcos and weren't seen as a threat to telcos. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Very true, but given the inability to immediatly provide the location until there are some changes in the way the 'system' operates, shouldn't there be some 'make do' solution used in the interim? If some combination of dedicated phone lines and caller ID can be employed, why not use those? And we know it is possible to force caller-ID to say whatever we want it to say, so why can't Vonage (or other VOIP carriers offering 911 service) dummy up their PSAP databases with the desired information to be sent to the 'caller ID' devices attached to these 'special' phones? Or, in your opinion is it better to do without since it cannot be done perfectly right from the start? We've had that discussion about spam a few times haven't we? No one simple solution, everything has pitfalls, so wring our hands and do nothing. 911 has politics involved, just like spam, its easier to claim it is 'very complex problem', and do nothing about it, and when our public servants get on a tangent about it, bow and grovel and twist to meet their desires instead. PAT] ------------------------------ From: wollman@lcs.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 23:00:55 UTC Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science In article , Brad Houser wrote: > The channel is the range of frequencies allocated to that broadcast > station. NTSC (analog TV) and ATSC (digital TV) still use the same > channels. Most of the new DTV channels are UHF, and the broadcasters > are allowed to continue to use the older analog channels (the best > ones being VHF) during the transition. Once the FCC tells them to shut > off the analog broadcasts, the original channels will be put up for > auction. Not entirely correct ... 1) Digital television has "virtual channels". Stations which have an existing brand identity based on their analog channel in most cases have chosen to PSIP with that channel rather than their new digital channel (even when the analog channel is going away permanently). 2) Stations have the opportunity to choose which of their two channels they will use for their "permanent" DTV operation. The cost advantages to being in VHF-high are so significant that almost every station which has had the opportunity so far to make that choice has chosen the VHF channel. Most stations on VHF-low have chosen to leave the band (particularly if the channel in question is the very undesirable channel 6). Stations with analog channels 52 and higher do not get a choice, unless their DTV channel is also above 51, in which case they get their pick of technically feasible channels after the stations that had a choice have chosen. 3) It's not clear to me whether the FCC will seriously auction channels below 52 for new services, or simply open them up to the usual competitive process for new TV applications, or do both and have TV and other services competing in the same auction. -GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every wollman@csail.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own Opinions not those | search for greater freedom. of MIT or CSAIL. | - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. ___ (2003) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 18:51:11 EST From: Dan Lanciani Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net (Tony P.) wrote: > Sort of how the FCC has pretty much admitted that anyone with a > modicum of technical knowledge will be able to defeat the broadcast > flag. I think you've mentioned this before, but what does it mean? The system as originally conceived requires the digital representation of flagged content to be protected by encryption on bus and media. I have more than a modicum of technical knowledge and I don't see an easy way around the proposed system in concept. Has the original system been abandoned? Or are you aware of some implementation flaw? Now of course (so far) the over-the-air ATSC broadcasts are to remain in the clear. But again, building a practical ATSC receiver takes (IMHO) more than a modicum of technical knowledge--at least until there is a GNUradio cookbook and good canned DSP software. So what exactly is going on with the broadcast flag? There seems to be a lot of misinformation floating around, including the absurd proposition that the copy management can never be expanded to include more than two states because of a lack of bits! Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com ------------------------------ From: Justin Time Subject: Re: Our Telephonic Primacy Date: 23 Mar 2005 13:16:01 -0800 Advocates of public policy on both sides of the aisle love to throw out statistics. Newspapers like them as well -- they "authenticate" a story. But the key component of all statistics is the base sample. When we say 25% percent of such-and-such, we need to understand exactly what 'such and such' _includes_ AND _excludes_, as well as exactly the definition of the subset percentage. Further, it is critical that statistics be compared in context to other yardsticks of other equivalent areas and situations of past time. Often the full story is not told. I believe it was George Carlin who stated something like, "40% of all statistics are made up." ------------------------------ Date: 23 Mar 2005 23:13:47 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > NH is just now getting E-Z Pass or some similar system? E-ZPass started on the NY Thruway in 1993 and has been expanding over the past decade to most of the toll facilites from Washington DC northward. (The system in Massachusetts is called FastLane but it's the same technology and it's part of the E-ZPass system.) NH is just getting around to it. The potential for privacy problems is severe, but to their credit I don't think I've ever heard reports of abuses. Besides the possibility of tracking people by tag use, there's the violation tracking issue. If you drive through an E-ZPAss booth in NY with no tag or an invalid tag, a camera takes a picture of your car and they will ask the state DMV to look up the license plate number so they can send you a ticket. This actually happens, not just for NY violations but for nearby states and provinces as well. In Toronto the 407 toll road has fully automated toll collection, and if you don't have a tag, they send you a bill based on your plate number. (The toll is much lower if you have a tag, so regular users all have tags.) We've gotten bills for our NY car that way, so NY is providing the info to Ontario as well. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of The Internet for Dummies, Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly. Regards, John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ From: VOIP SS7 Softswitch Specialists Subject: Re: SS7 vs SIP Date: 23 Mar 2005 17:06:13 -0800 VOIP & SS7/C7 engineering My name is Donald Bonner and I am with Blue Rock Solutions, the leading Cisco reseller in VOIP and SS7/C7 engineering. I would like introduce Blue Rock Solutions and offer our services. donb@bluerockdata.com ------------------------------ 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 V24 #129 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Mar 24 15:42:22 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2OKgMj05198; Thu, 24 Mar 2005 15:42:22 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 15:42:22 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503242042.j2OKgMj05198@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 V24 #130 TELECOM Digest Thu, 24 Mar 2005 15:42:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 130 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Internet Phone Service Creating Chatty Network (Marcus Didius Falco) Citron: Some Bills Are 'Weirdly Weird' (Jack Decker) Texas: Vonage 911 Is a Joke (Jack Decker) Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (telcotech) Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (John Levine) Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (Lisa Hancock) Huawei Seeks Deals With Nortel, Lucent (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Re: Our Telephonic Primacy (Dave Garland) Re: More 'Tweens' Going Mobile; Long-Term Health Risks Unclear (Hancock) Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S (Isaiah Beard) Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S (Joseph) Re: GSM-900 (Joseph) Re: GSM-900 (Robert Bonomi) Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones? (Michael Quinn) Re: Phoning 0870 and 0844 UK Numbers Out of Free Minutes (Rob) Re: Mobile IP Networks (Jon Gauthier) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (Lisa Hancock) Re: Dangling Broadband From the Phone Stick (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Robert Bonomi) From the Past: Craft Access Article from '93 (Patrick Moore) From the Past: My First Post (Neil McClain) 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: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 03:41:07 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Internet Phone Service Creating Chatty Network From the New York Times -- http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/24/technology/circuits/24skyp.html?8dpc Internet Phone Service Creating Chatty Network By ETHAN TODRAS-WHITEHILL JOHN PERRY BARLOW is pretty free and open, but he's no simpleton. So when he signed on to Skype, a free Internet phone service, and a woman identifying herself as Kitty messaged him, saying, "I need a friend," he was skeptical. He figured she was "looking for 'friends' to come watch her 'relax' in her Webcam-equipped 'bedroom.' " Nevertheless, he took the call. "Will you talk to me?" she said. "I want to practice my English." Kitty turned out to be Dzung Vu My, 22, a worker at an oil company in Hanoi, Vietnam. They spoke for a long time, exchanging text, photographs and Web addresses, and discussing everything from the state of Vietnam's economy to Ms. My's father's time in the army. "One doesn't get random phone calls from Vietnam," Mr. Barlow, 57, the former Grateful Dead lyricist and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy organization for an unfettered Internet, wrote on his blog. "At least, one never could before." Mr. Barlow's experience is not unique. Skype users report unsolicited contacts every day, and contrary to such experiences with phone and e-mail, the calls are often welcomed. Skype was founded by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the creators of Kazaa, a peer-to-peer file-sharing service. Skype is one of a few hundred companies in the United States that let people talk to one another over the Internet using just their computers and a headset, a microphone or a conventional phone. The technology, known as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), is offered by phone and cable companies like AT&T and Comcast as well as instant-messaging services like Yahoo's and MSN's. Skype says that it has over 2.8 million users in the United States and 30.6 million worldwide and that it is adding users at a rate of 155,000 a day. Skype's biggest competitor, Vonage, a paid VoIP service, has about 550,000 customers. A reason Skype is so popular is that it is free. Another is that it works. That may not seem like much, but it matters when calls with other free VoIP programs sound more like walkie-talkie conversations than phone calls. Skype also has unusual features: users can search the database of Skype users by such fields as age, language and nationality. When Skype began, in August 2003, this search feature resulted in unwanted calls for some people. In response, Skype added the Skype Me feature in 2004. Users can now set their user status to Skype Me if they are interested in receiving calls from strangers and search for other users in the same mode. A preponderance of the random calls involve people "Skyping" one another to practice a certain language (as with Mr. Barlow's experience), but other people seem to be calling simply because they can. In February 2004, John Andersen, 57, a software engineer in Juneau, Alaska, was contacted out of the blue by two retired couples in Sydney, Australia, planning a cruise through Alaska's Inside Passage region that summer. They wanted to know the best helicopter glacier tours and fishing excursions in Juneau, and Mr. Andersen was happy to send them links through Skype. They made plans to meet, but Mr. Andersen was away when the couples visited. "I did get a very nice e-mail from them saying the trip had gone off without a hitch," Mr. Andersen said. "It's like ham radio for the Internet." This was something I had to try. I picked up a $25 headset and microphone combination, downloaded the free software from the Web site (skype.com), put a few personal details in my user profile (male, New York, favorite color green) and set my user status to Skype Me. Despite what I had heard, I wasn't convinced that I would get any calls. Within 15 minutes, I had more callers than I could handle. In the five days I was in Skype Me mode, I received more than 30 calls and messages from Morocco, Russia, China, Poland, Argentina, Israel and several other countries. One of my most interesting chats was with Billy Einkamerer, 27, a freelance Web developer in Johannesburg. I messaged him first, the Skype equivalent of knocking on the door before barging in. He taught me a little Afrikaans, and we commiserated over our mutual inability to multitask. I do some Web design myself, so through Skype's instant-messaging feature we traded links to sites we had done; he found an error on one of mine, which I quickly corrected. It was a pretty afternoon in Brooklyn, so I took a snapshot out the window and sent it to him. Near the end of our conversation, Mr. Einkamerer got a call from his friend Gerhard Jacobs, also 27 and from Johannesburg. Mr. Jacobs runs an information technology company. Mr. Einkamerer conferenced him into the call, and the three of us made jokes about our accents. It felt like the early days of AOL, another environment in which people contacted others randomly. But voice brings to life the other person in a way that typing cannot, like hearing Mr. Einkamerer laugh at my jokes. The instant-messaging environment is anonymous; with voice, you cannot hide from the other person. Moreover, the voice quality over Skype is actually superior to traditional phone service. Standard telecommunications are restricted to the 0 to 3.4 kilohertz range to limit the bandwidth consumed; Skype transmits at 0.5 to 8 kilohertz, according to a Columbia University study in 2004. It feels intimate because it is; more of the users' voices reach each other. There are problems with Skype Me mode. Skype Me users are subject to the undesirable solicitors familiar to e-mail and phone users: spammers, scammers and perverts. Skype is starting to see its fair share of all these groups: one user who contacted me was a Nigerian "model" who requested my help depositing $4,000 in an American bank account -- a classic scheme. In addition, the blogging community is reporting scattered Skype telemarketers, and women who identify themselves as such in their profile report a bombardment of unwelcome advances when they enter Skype Me mode. These problems appear to be growing. Skype users can limit callers to people on their contact list, so if the nuisance calls become substantial, the number of users who choose Skype Me mode -- already only a tiny fraction of users, according to Kelly Larabee, a Skype spokeswoman - could disappear entirely. Government intervention is not a likely fix. In February 2004, the Federal Communications Commission issued the Pulver Order, named after the VoIP pioneer Jeff Pulver, which states that "pure" computer-to-computer VoIP services like Skype and Mr. Pulver's Free World Dialup are no different from the unregulated instant-messaging programs and are not subject to the traditional phone service taxes and regulations. The Pulver Order is viewed as a victory by many in the VoIP community, including Skype, but it has potentially negative implications for the Skype Me callers: no regulation means no do-not-call list, which means Skype Me users, particularly women, will continue to receive unwanted and unfriendly calls. Even without government intervention, however, random Skyping appears likely to continue in some form. The next phase may be more formalized Skype-enabled social networks like www.jyve.com, which connects people with similar interests and desire to practice a certain language, and www.someonenew.com, which connects people for romantic purposes. Only a few English-language social networking sites currently use Skype, but such sites in Asia have been very successful. Jyve, according to Charles Carleton, a co-founder, will be introducing a feature in the next few months that Mr. Carleton hopes will protect the medium's social capabilities: an eBay-like feedback system to help users reject callers with a track record of inappropriate conversation. Skype is happy to leave these functions to other companies. "We're probably never going to run a dating service or language seminars," Ms. Larabee said of Skype. "Our business is the technology, not the networks." Mr. Barlow, who has been inviting people to Skype him for three months, with 20 takers, believes that Skype's intimate feel will be sufficient to keep the Skype Me phenomenon alive. "There's something confessional about this space," Mr. Barlow said about Skype. He was in Madrid for a conference, and I was in New York. "It's like a long over-the-ocean flight where the other guy starts telling you stuff that you're astonished to hear and you start talking about stuff you're astonished to say. The combination of anonymity and intimacy creates a special kind of environment." Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The 'johnmacsgroup' Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, New York Times Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml John F. McMullen http://www.westnet.com/~observer BLOG: http://johnmacrants.blogspot.com/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 12:11:01 -0500 Subject: Citron: Some Bills Are 'Weirdly Weird' http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=70767 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'Vonage order' exempting VOIP providers from state-level regulation is perhaps the VOIP industry's biggest regulatory win to date. But state regulatory agencies are trying to reverse it, and Vonage Holdings Corp. CEO Jeffrey Citron sees that movement as a huge threat to VOIP companies (see FCC Shields VOIP From States ). "If that order gets reversed there will be very serious consequences for the industry -- it could kill it," Citron tells Light Reading. That order, issued November 9, preempted an order by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission applying to Vonage VOIP service the state's own long list of 'telephone company' regulations, which include rules on everything from E911 services to billing practices. The California and Minnesota state utilities commissions have now filed separate appeals in circuit courts, while New York and Ohio are reportedly considering following suit. Representatives from the state commissions claim the FCC's Vonage ruling leaves many regulatory questions unanswered, and opens the door for traditional carriers to begin VOIP offerings just to skirt state regulations. Citron claims Minnesota PUC's regulations were written for wireline carriers and do not fit the way VOIP providers conduct business. For instance, the state's rules on billing practices apply only to after-the-fact payment, Citron says, while Vonage service is all pre-paid. The Minnesota regulations also require phone numbers to be closely associated with physical addresses (for E911 purposes), while Vonage service can be used anywhere a broadband connection is available. "They wanted our users to stay in one place," Citron says. Full story at: http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=70767 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 12:36:40 -0500 Subject: Texas: Vonage 911 Is a Joke http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=70779 Vonage Holdings Corp. says it intends to quickly settle its legal tangle with the State of Texas and its Attorney General, Greg Abbott. Or maybe it will fight back. "Yes, we are going to try to settle it," says Brooke Schulz, Vonage's VP of corporate relations. "We are going to sit down with them and try to reach an agreement that is favorable for everybody. Whether we settle or defend, they are both ways of settling." Background: The Texas Attorney General announced this week that it is suing Vonage, claiming that the VOIP provider is misrepresenting its service as a real phone service -- allegedly Vonage implies that dialing 911 from one of its lines would yield the same results as would using a phone connected to the PSTN. The lawsuit stems from an incident in Houston when a teenage girl had to run to a neighbor's house to call 911 while her parents were assaulted and shot during a robbery. The family were Vonage customers, but their phone was useless as they didn't properly activate Vonage's 911 service. But it's not as if they weren't warned, Vonage says. "There are a lot of disclosures we make to our customers about E911," Schulz says. "During the subscription process there are several reminders that our 911 service is different and that there is a need for the customer to activate it." Full story at: http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=70779 ------------------------------ From: telcotech Subject: Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Date: 23 Mar 2005 20:11:03 -0800 Thor Lancelot Simon wrote: > In article , DevilsPGD > wrote: > *If* Vonage were willing to pay the same fees other local exchange > carriers pay for 911 connectivity *in each LATA*, *then* Vonage could > route 911 calls correctly. Avoiding this *cost* has been a major > competitive win for Vonage all along and it is hard to not see it as > a major reason, if not _the_ reason, why Vonage has fought state > regulation as a local exchange carrier: by avoiding regulatory mandates > like 911 service standards Vonage avoids the cost of compliance. > What is truly irresponsible is to offer a "911" service that does > not have the same user experience that Americans have been trained > to expect from 911 for several decades. In a just world, Vonage > would pay and pay indeed for their decision to make the provision of > such a service part of their public-relations effort aimed at > avoiding service quality regulation. This is a choice they made, > not one they had forced on them; there are VoIP providers out there > that did the right thing. > People's safety in emergency situations should be quite simply out of > bounds for this kind of political maneuvering. Of course, it's not, > but darn it, it ought to be. > Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com Thanks for the clarification. That's how I remember it. ------------------------------ Date: 24 Mar 2005 05:51:42 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > No, the ideal solution is to route the calls to the same place as 911 > calls. They should enter the 911 call center just like every other > 911-addressed call center comes in. Indeed, and that is what Packet8 is offering to a large and growing fraction of their customers. I can't help but ask why, if Packet8 can do it, why can't Vonage? Of course, Packet8's E911 costs more. Surely Vonage wouldn't put their customers' lives at risk merely to save a few bucks. R's, John ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Date: 24 Mar 2005 10:15:15 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Thor Lancelot Simon wrote: > *If* Vonage were willing to pay the same fees other local exchange > carriers pay for 911 connectivity *in each LATA*, *then* Vonage could > route 911 calls correctly. Avoiding this *cost* has been a major > competitive win for Vonage all along and it is hard to not see it as > a major reason, if not _the_ reason, why Vonage has fought state > regulation as a local exchange carrier: by avoiding regulatory mandates > like 911 service standards Vonage avoids the cost of compliance. Excellent points. The states in my area allow a 911 fee to be tacked on to phone bills. The money goes to the run the 911 call centers. I presume VOIP don't have this charge. As you say, not having this (and other charges) give VOIP a cost advantage over traditional services. But they want it all -- full connectivity to special services without paying for it. IIRC, it was previously discussed here the VOIP fails to send the calling number for Caller ID displays, so the recipient gets a meaningless 111-111-1111 display. As to the editor's comments, there are conventional phone numbers that will reach the emergency center and will be answered (at least in my area). But how would a VOIP know what number to use, esp when the caller can "float" and be anywhere? Further, such numbers change when area codes change or for other reasons; that was a factor in establishing "911" as a unified constant emergency number in the first place. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If the caller wishes to travel around, as for example with a cellular phone, that certainly is not the VOIP carrier's fault. But Vonage, as far as I know, deliberatly takes two or three days *after* receiving an email request from someone asking to be included in the PSAP database to detirmine _where_ to route the call which gets _aliased_ in dialing to '911'. In larger metropolitan areas, of course, most everyone gets redirected to the same number. In smaller, more rural areas like mine, Vonage has to inquire of the local authorities _exactly where_ the call is to be routed. They found in their own research that the 'county seat' for Montgomery County, Kansas is Independence; that the jail and courthouse are here, and that in fact, Independence has its own police department as well, so it was easy enough to inquire of local authorities, "which phone number should calls aliased to our 911 be funneled through?" And Lisa, they do _not_ get all ones or zeros or some other flaky number on their caller ID display, they get an actual number, although as the lady told me, "at first glance, the screen display looks odd; it is not what we usually see for an Independence or Independence Rural location." When Vonage wrote me email to say it was 'now turned on' they did include a cautionary note: "this only works correctly if you are stationary in location. If you travel around or move to another location it may not be the best way to reach emergency res- ponders." PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 12:38:37 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Huawei Seeks Deals With Nortel, Lucent Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 24, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20312&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Huawei seeks deals with Nortel, Lucent BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * MCI, Qwest resume merger talks * Plans for iTunes phone hit a snag * Adelphia close to $725 million settlement with SEC, Justice Dept. USTA SPOTLIGHT * SUPERCOMM: TIA's and USTA's Premiere Event EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * The phone tree on steroids * Survey finds growing appetite for on-demand services REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * USTA's South rallies incumbent carriers in speech Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20312&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Our Telephonic Primacy Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 20:59:12 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Recently someone claimed that infant mortality was worse in the > U.S. than in Cuba, something I find difficult to believe without > additional explanation. It's true, but the US has far more heroic interventions among extremely low birth weight and extremely premature infants than Cuba. Which, of course, are far more likely to die than normal births. I suspect that in Cuba, those get counted as miscarriages, not infants. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: More 'Tweens' Going Mobile; Long-Term Health Risks Unclear Date: 24 Mar 2005 10:26:57 -0800 Monty Solomon wrote: > By Associated Press | March 21, 2005 > CHICAGO -- There were two things 11-year-old Patty Wiegner really, > really, really wanted for Christmas. One was a furry, playful dog > that's now filling her parents' home with the sound of barking. The > other gift makes a different kind of noise -- it has a ring tone that > mimics rapper 50 Cent's hit song 'Candy Shop.' My initial knee-jerk reaction would be to object to kids having cell phones. But then I remember my teenage days and it seemed the phone was attached to my ear. And in my parents' day, the phones in the corner candy stores were quite busy. However, this was when I was in high school, not elementary school. I'm not so thrilled about the idea of "tweens" or younger kids having cell phones. (A friend gave his 9-year-old one last Christmas.) Of course, these days kids are far more isolated than we were. We were in the city or more built-up suburbs where there were plenty of friends within walking distance. Today kids have to be driven to practically any kind of activity otherwise they're isolated. (Also parents want more control over their kids than ours did.) ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 13:54:02 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com donestuardo@yahoo.com wrote: > Please email me at donestuardo (AT Sign) yahoo.com or call me on my > cell at (416) 458-0012 and I will be happy to go over details with you. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Why is a person who relies on a cell > phone for their communications a 'loser'? Especially considering that he's asking people to call him ... on his cell. :) One last note to anyone in the US: yes, it's illegal to buy/import/use this thing in the US. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:01:05 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 22 Mar 2005 17:12:24 -0800, donestuardo@yahoo.com wrote: > I have a nearly new cell phone jammer for sale -- range is > approximately 30 metres in radius. Model MONIX MGB-1S cellular Jammer. Are we really down to this? As far as I know it's very illegal to use a cell phone jammer in the US. Maybe it's OK in Canada but I think advertising such a thing on a legitimate telecom group cheapens the group and I'm wondering why the moderator even approved it for posting to CDT/Telecom Digest. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: GSM-900 Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:05:30 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 22 Mar 2005 17:16:09 -0800, jason wrote: > May I know why do we need the number 900 to make GSM900 meaningful? > Is it because the rf signal is in 900 MHz? or the local oscillator > used for GSM900 system is at 900 MHz? Kindly enlighthen. GSM 900 is basically "shorthand" for the frequency used. It's the same way with GSM 1800, GSM 850 and GSM 1900. Different frequencies are used to transmit and receive. The frequencies are *around* those frequencies i.e. to say GSM 900 has different offsets for transmitting and receiving as do the other standards. Matter of fact for some odd reason it was decided that when GSM was overlayed on "cellular" frequencies in the US and Canada cellular was always called "800" (as opposed to PCS at 1900.) For some reason they decided to call GSM at cellular frequencies GSM 850. Reality is that it's the same band of frequency used for TDMA (IS-136) and CDMA (IS-95.) ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: GSM-900 Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:19:52 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , jason wrote: > Hello All, > May I know why do we need the number 900 to make GSM900 meaningful? Because GSM is used on other frequency bands as well. > Is it because the rf signal is in 900 MHz? or the local oscillator > used for GSM900 system is at 900 MHz? Kindly enlighthen. '900' is a nominal figure. neither the carrier or the LO are on exactly 900MHz. _Where_ the _receive_ LO is, depends on the particular set design. it may be 'above' the desired carrier frequency, or 'below' it. it will be offset from that desired frequency by "whatever" the IF (or 1st IF, if multiple-state superhet) frequency is. an offset of 10.7 MHz is common, Of course, the _transmit_ LO will generally be on the carrier frequency, (in _rare_ cases, the xmit LO may run on a sub-multiple, and then be 'frequency doubled', or 'frequency tripled', before transmission. This complicates the design, and for that reason is "unusual", at best.) Essentially, the number was picked because it is a "convenient" round-number _name_, that is "approximately" accurate. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:40:27 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones Michael Quinn commented on this topic: > Dave, > I'm pretty sure these are illegal in the US&P(ossessions). They are illegal in the US and many other countries. They are in use in mining, logging, and oil drilling in rural parts of Canada and by the oil industry in the middle east and elsewhere. > One of the issues was interference with Air Traffic Control > communications systems, as I recall. Someone on the list may be > able to cite chapter and verse from US Code, or FCC regs. I may have > saved a Navy Department spectrum management brief on the subject; if > so, I'll forward off net. > Regards, > Mike > From: Dave > Subject: New Long Range Cordless Phones? > Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 18:46:17 -0900 > I saw a link earlier for this on Slash Dot. Its a cordless phone that > supposedly works 100km from the base station (under ideal conditions). > http://www.goodbyelongdistance.com/catalog/item/1441280/975984.htm Not 100 Km. I think they claim 50 Km, which is 30 miles. And there's another with a claimed range of 5.5 miles (9 KM) Try one of these URLs: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/rciautomation/p32.htm http://www.sellcom.com/main.htm https://www.provantage.com/ > Other then the obvious potential for grief from the FCC, anyone else > have any thoughts? > I found a link to the Navy brief of which I was thinking, from about > three years ago. > Mike > http://www.see.asso.fr/ICTSR1Newsletter/No007/LONG%20DISTANCES%20Garmisch.pdf > From: Dave Garland > Subject: Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones? > Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 15:27:58 -0600 > Organization: Wizard Information > It was a dark and stormy night when Dave > wrote: >> a cordless phone that supposedly works 100km from the base station >> (under ideal conditions). >> http://www.goodbyelongdistance.com/catalog/item/1441280/975984.htm >> Other then the obvious potential for grief from the FCC, anyone else >> have any thoughts? > It is true that highly directional antennas (which none of those > pictured in the ad are) can provide ranges such as they describe. > Think satellite dishes and clear line-of-sight paths (or even better, > put one side in orbit). But highly directional antennas are not going > to let you "walk or drive around for a radius of around 30 miles" > without stopping to carefully align *both* antennas every time you > want to use the phone. With the antennas shown, even 30 miles over > unimpeded water seems like it would be pushing it. > They offer only manufacturer's warranty (and it's not even clear what > country the vendor is in). I don't know what Samsung model that is, > but I'd bet that Samsung doesn't specify performance anything like > that described. Don't do it without a full money-back guarantee. Now if you search around you will find things like linear amplifiers for cell phones. These could be probably be used by cordless phones in in the 900 MHz band. Not legally, of course, but that doesn't stop them from being offered on the internet. Google can often find stuff like this, but Ask Sam has been getting a lot of publicity lately. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones? Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 07:05:43 -0500 From: Michael Quinn These are reported to be the bands where these phones operate -- no wonder they're illegal in the US, and probably elsewhere as well. 130 - 136 MHz: Commercial Air Traffic Control. 138 - 174 MHz: Primary Land Mobile/2 Meter Ham Band/Civil/Marine, etc. 225 - 400 MHz: US Military, NATO/Air Traffic Control, Comm/Data Links, SATCOM, Telemetry, etc. Tony P. also noted: > From what I've read about these units they operate in the amateur radio > band so I take sort of strong offense to that. ------------------------------ From: Rob Subject: Re: Phoning 0870 and 0844 UK Numbers Out of Free Minutes Date: 24 Mar 2005 05:36:22 -0800 polinaskulski@aol.com wrote: > Does anyone know of any UK mobile phones companies/plans which allow > to phone 0870 and 0844 numbers out of the free minutes. I believe Orange allow non-geographic numbers to be called out of their free minute allowance, but try uk.telecom.mobile for more, and better, advice. HTH! Rob ------------------------------ From: Jon Gauthier Subject: Re: Mobile IP Networks Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:44:07 -0500 Organization: The MITRE Organization Rick, Can you describe what standard is used to change the IP address of the mobile router's rf link back to the bus depot? I have a similar problem involving a mobile LAN, not just a single mobile node, which is what Mobile IP. (http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/~jain/refs/wir_refs.htm#mobileip-rfcs) was designed for. Moving a whole LAN around means your gateway router external interface's IP address is always changing. For our solution, our developers hacked the Linux Mobile IP to support IPSec for registration (of course, the advertisements are still broadcast in the clear). What I'm not clear on is how they maintain routing updates and integrity (I haven't seen that part of the code yet). And my talks with Cisco indicate they're toying with different methods of doing mobile adhoc routing, but this scenario is really mobile infrastructure routing where the "access point" moves around from cell to cell. Any pointers on how you implement it would be appreciated! rick.lenhart@gmail.com wrote: > I can help, I have a great Cisco based solution for you. > rlenhart@icinetworks.net www.miptac.com > 007 wrote: >> I need to investigate some solutions for a true mobile wireless >> networks and I'm looking for anyone's input. >> The situation is as follows: I need to design a network that will >> supporting IP traffic on a public bus transport system. Wireless >> terminals on each bus will communicate through a router onboard each >> bus (ie each bus is a mobile wireless LAN). At the bus depot there is >> a gateway for internet and telephony. The range of each LAN on each >> bus is limited to no more than 3km and there are no more than 10 >> busses within the network. >> What are some considerations for the planning, design and architecture >> of such a network? >> Thanks. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System Date: 24 Mar 2005 10:02:28 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com John Levine wrote: > The potential for privacy problems is severe, but to their credit I > don't think I've ever heard reports of abuses. Besides the > possibility of tracking people by tag use, there's the violation > tracking issue. If you drive through an E-ZPAss booth in NY with no > tag or an invalid tag, a camera takes a picture of your car and they > will ask the state DMV to look up the license plate number so they can > send you a ticket. The original private contractor for the NJ EZP system was notoriously, sending out many violation notices that weren't deserved. That strongly discouraged motorists from adopting EZP. Of course, now the NJTpk intends to eliminate the EZP discount, which is a stupid move since it removes the incentive for motorists to use EZP, esp occassional drivers. Result is more overcrowding in cash lanes. ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Dangling Broadband From the Phone Stick Date: 24 Mar 2005 08:27:16 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , wrote: > It seems to me you contradicted your own post and have a double > standard. > Your clipping stated that cable companies offer broadband as an > alternative. So consumers DO have an alternative and don't have > to walk six blocks in bad weather to get it. Not true. There are many places where cable Internet access is not available. Also, there are many situations where cable isn't appropriate. For instance, I need a DSL circuit to connect to a local independent ISP. I can't use Comcast for that. I shouldn't have to also have incumbent telco service, too, just to get that circuit. john- ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:07:58 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Dan Lanciani wrote: > kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net (Tony P.) wrote: >> Sort of how the FCC has pretty much admitted that anyone with a >> modicum of technical knowledge will be able to defeat the broadcast >> flag. > I think you've mentioned this before, but what does it mean? The > system as originally conceived requires the digital representation of > flagged content to be protected by encryption on bus and media. I > have more than a modicum of technical knowledge and I don't see an > easy way around the proposed system in concept. Has the original > system been abandoned? Or are you aware of some implementation flaw? *Somewhere* in the TV set, the signal has to get decrypted, before it can be presented to the CRT, or other actual 'display'. Thus there *is* a "cleartext" signal running around inside the box. Thus, someone with a reasonable amount of skill can 'tap' the cleartext signal, and "voila!" And there's always the "idiot method" -- just point a camcorder at the TV. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 18:46:50 PST From: Patrick M. Subject: Craft Access article from '93 Hi, I'm very interested in the Craft Access System and came across an old article in Telecom Digest, Tue 9 Nov '93. http://www.phreak.org/archives/The_Hacker_Chronicles_II/td/td13_748.txt It says you moderated, is this accurate? If I do have the right person, would you have any information on the article by "Eric Kiser" regarding the old Craft Access Terminals? Thanks a million, Patrick Moore Yes, I was and am the editor of Telecom Digest. I think the article you are referring to is the one printed below. I'll reprint it again in the Digest on Thursday morning and we will see if any of the current readers have any information. Who knows, Eric Kiser may still be around and may have information. Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1993 00:06:01 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #748 TELECOM Digest Tue, 9 Nov 93 00:06:00 CST Volume 13 : Issue 748 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Computer CNID Solution Summary Sought (Scott Coleman) Apple Newtons Recalled in Australia (Mark Cheeseman) Signaling System #7 Cost/Performance Information (Dave Munsinger) Re: Caller ID-Blocking Unblocking (Mark Steiger) Cordless Phone Systems (Delavar K. Khomarlou) Information on Mobile Data Systems/Technologies (Peter Chan) Landline Telegraph Service (Gabe M Wiener) Tech Job Available (Ian Eisenberg) ===> AT&T Craft Access Butt-Sets (Eric Kiser) <=== Re: Analog Telephone Interfaces For Computers (Andy Behrens) Re: Nationwide GTE 800 Outage? (Brian Nunes) Re: Brush Fires in Southern California (Stephen Friedl) Re: Preparing My Case Against Sprint (Chris Labatt-Simon) Re: Busy Signal Strangeness (John Desmond) Re: My Meeting With the Commish (Christopher Zguris) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Nov 93 22:14:12 EST From: kiser@tecnet1.jcte.jcs.mil Subject: AT&T Craft Access Butt-Sets I'm sure you've all seen them advertised recently, surplus. The safety-yellow AT&T craft-access butt sets are available new, in the box with two batteries, charger and manual for $60 (how's that for pennies on the dollar, AT&T?). Well ... I broke down and bought one (ok -- I bought three). Even the standard TALK and MONITOR are swanky on this thing. The entire thing is menu driven on a 3"x3" LCD, with user input through a four-way plus button joystick and the standard 3x4 DTMF keypad. (Alpha input is via the keypad -- press 1 once for 1, twice for Q, thrice for Z, etc.) The dialed number is menu driven, or you can do it manually. MONITOR and TALK modes have digital volume access, and MONITOR has a QUIET mode for extra sensitive noise hunting. I got all that working ... The trick is these were used by AT&T folk to access the work scheduling computer system, and they have a 1200 baud Bell 212 modem and terminal program built in. But I can't seem to figure out the protocol used by the terminal program. On CONNECT, the butt-set sends tildes (~) until the remote system sends ACK, and then some five-digit something that I can't figure out; every time I enter the fifth digit, it goes back to tildes. I took the thing apart (a real trick, since it had #10 TORX screws with the security restriction post in place all the way around) and yanked the uP program EPROM. It disassembled to more than 20000 lines of 8031 (Intel MCS-51 series) assembly language. I've been able to wade througha lot of it, but isn't there an easier way? Does anyone have access to / references on the protocol used by these things? I'd hate to reprogram it from scratch; I'd like to write a small BBS for my PC that would interact with the screen, joystick and keypad using the current protocol, if I could find out what it is. Thanks, Eric Kiser 74007.303@compuserve.com kiser@tecnet1.jcte.jcs.mil ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #748 ****************************** You are welcome. Anyone with any up to date information to share with Mr. Moore? Patrick Townson ptownson@telecom-digest.org PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 00:15:44 EST From: Neal McLain Subject: My First Post As of this year, I've been a reader and intermittent contributor to this list for ten years. I guess I'm still a newbie compared to many of the other readers, but I've learned a lot from this list during the past decade. Thanks to all of you readers for the information you've contributed, and a special thanks to PAT for his efforts! My first post, dated March 24, 1995, is at http://tinyurl.com/6ar7l. In re-reading it now, I find it interesting to note how things have changed -- especially my statement that "an area code and a central office code can't be the same." I guess 847-847-XXXX proves that wrong, even though it may be confusing to non-Chicagoans. Neal McLain [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As long as I am digging up old postings for today's issue, I decided to get yours out and review it also. It is reprinted below. And thank you also, Neal, for your many contributions over the years. You have been a good friend over the past decade also. Your kind words very much appreciated. Date: Fri, 24 Mar 95 23:16:21 CST From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #169 TELECOM Digest Fri, 24 Mar 95 23:16:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 169 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "The Information Superhighway: Beyond the Internet" (R Slade) 800 Numbers, and FLOWERS Again (Judith Oppenheimer) Outsourcing of International Telecom Services (Victor Prochnik) Re: Your 500 Number and International Access (Tony Harminc) Re: X.25/ISDN Prices: Global Information Wanted (Andy Lochridge) Re: Interesting Telemarketing, Sad Actually (William Wood) Re: Keypad Letter Pattern (was Re: U.S. 800 Users Alert) (Mark Brader) Re: Recommendations Wanted on Voice Mail Systems (Paul Hanson) ===> New Area Code Assignments (Neal McLain) <=== 800 Service Costs and ISDN Rates (Arthur Greenwald) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Mar 95 22:30 CST From: Neal McLain Subject: New Area Code Assignments A recent issue of TELECOM Digest raised a question about how "new" (since 1/1/95) area codes are assigned. A partial answer certainly has to be this: an area code and a central office code can't be the same. And, if at all possible, an area code shouldn't be the same as any nearby central office code in any adjacent area code. Consider how these requirements affect the selection of the new area code when an existing area code is split: - Avoiding a conflict with any existing central office code means that the new area code must be selected from the list of presently-unused central office codes. That list is likely to be fairly short: if an area code needs to be split, it's already running out of central office codes. - Avoiding a conflict with any existing central office code in any nearby community in adjacent area codes makes that short list even shorter. A case in point: the 205/334 split in Alabama: - 334 is not used as a central office code anywhere in Alabama. Thus, there will be no 205-334 or 334-334. - With one exception, 334 is not used as a central office code in any nearby city in any adjacent area code: 404-334 doesn't exist; 601-334 is in Greenville; 615-334 is in Decatur; 706-334 is in Ranger; and 904-334 is in Tallahassee. - The one exception which proves the rule: 912-334 is in Georgetown, Georgia, right across the Chattahoochee River from Eufaula, Alabama. This will no doubt cause some confusion for the 900 or so residents of Georgetown. That confusion notwithstanding, it seems obvious that Bellcore and the local telephone companies went to considerable effort to select the code which would cause the least amount of confusion. Neal McLain nmclain@macc.wisc.edu ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #169 ****************************** You are correct: 847-847 is a situation none of us ever thought in those days would be possible. Of course, none of from those days ever thought there would be a 708 code to split up 312 either, and certainly not a 773 to further divide it all, nor a 630. The times, they are a changing ... and in case you did not know it, one's skin has to be very thick to stay in this racket for a long time, also. 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. 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! 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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 V24 #130 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Mar 25 16:52:02 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2PLq1J16592; Fri, 25 Mar 2005 16:52:02 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 16:52:02 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503252152.j2PLq1J16592@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 V24 #131 TELECOM Digest Fri, 25 Mar 2005 16:52:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 131 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Symantec's Self Serving Warnings - 2 Comments (Marcus Didius Falco) What's Historic? (Wesrock@aol.com) CDR Collection (Matt) Telecom Reform: Here Come the States (Jack Decker) Clearwire May Block VoIP Competitors (Jack Decker) Adelphia Offers Feds $725 Million to Settle Fraud (Telecom dailyLead) Packet8 Number Portability (kwyet) 911,Taxes,Fees, was: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (Danny Burstein) PSAP Locations, was: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (Danny Burstein) Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (Thor Lancelot Simon) Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (Justin Time) Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones? (Dave) Re: Intertel Eclipse Telephone Programming (T. Sean Weintz) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Dan Lanciani) Re: Our Telephonic Primacy (John Smith) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (Isaiah Beard) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (B Margolin) 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: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 21:30:35 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Symantec's Self Serving Warnings - 2 Comments http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/other/0,39020682,39192261,00.htm This story was printed from ZDNet UK, located at http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/ Story URL: http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/other/0,39020682,39192261,00.htm Symantec's self serving warnings Fran Foo ZDNet Australia March 22, 2005, 13:10 GMT Apple has apparently become a victim of its own success since Mac OS X is gaining in popularity, Symantec expects it to become a target for more attacks and intense vulnerability scrutiny. This trend was published in Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report for July to December 2004. To back its claim, Symantec cited several reasons ranging from Mac OS X's heredity to attacking the intelligence of loyal Mac fans. "With a newly designed operating system based on a BSD-Unix lineage, Mac OS X has begun to not only capture the attention of users but of vulnerability researchers as well." "Contrary to popular belief, the Macintosh operating system has not always been a safe haven from malicious code," the report said. Sure, Microsoft's attempts at security are often scoffed at but to infer that Mac users (or those of Unix, Linux etc.) are living in a bubble is ignorance on Symantec's part. Another point of contention was Apple's new products. Increased adoption of the Mac mini the company's low-priced computer will escalate malicious activity since it could be purchased by less security-savvy users, the report stated. I can understand how non-IT literate users at large struggle to understand the difference between a virus and a worm but is Symantec saying only technologically-competent people purchase Windows machines? Rebooting a machine multiple times a day can't be that hard (I should know). It's difficult to grasp the reasoning behind these statements. Symantec's only piece of solid evidence is reference to 37 previous high-impact vulnerabilities in Mac OS X all of which have been patched. Juxtaposed against the 17,500 Windows-based viruses and threats, it's clearly an uneven contest. One telling finding in the report was the decline in bot-scanning activity during the second half of 2004 Symantec recorded a dip from 30,000 per day to 5,000 on a daily basis. The company concluded that the decrease corresponded with the availability of Windows XP Service Pack 2. "Ports 445 and 135 are common paths for bot networks to spread onto computer systems, either through unpatched vulnerabilities or bad user name and password choices. "Many common bot network applications, including Gaobot, target vulnerabilities that are accessible through these Windows ports as a method of infecting new systems. The sudden drop in bot network scanning indicates that Service Pack 2, in addition to cumulative patches, may have been successful at reducing the number vulnerabilities in Windows XP systems that are subject to remote compromise," Symantec said. If Microsoft does a stellar job at improving the security of its products coupled with the availability of proprietary anti-spyware and antivirus solutions which platform will be Symantec's new engine for growth? Copyright 2005 CNET Networks, Inc. Mac Threats: Is Symantec Crying Wolf? March 23, 2005 By David Coursey In a perfect would, people might pay for security software based on the number of attacks prevented and the severity of those threats. The bigger the threat, the harder the software works and the more it protects, the more you pay. Seems fair enough. In the case of Mac OS X, if you paid for what you got, the price for security software would be zero. The price would thus equal the number of virus and malware threats that target Apple's Unix-based operating system. RELATED LINKS * Mac OS X Patch Includes IDN Browser Fix http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1778335,00.asp * Mac OS X Will Become a Target, Symantec Warns http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1777982,00.asp * Mac OS X: Virus-free=97For Now http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1777202,00.asp So why do Mac users pay so much often as much at $70 for anti-virus alone and as much as $150 for a security "suite." Using the same math, Windows anti-virus software would probably cost $1,000 a desktop, yet it's easy to find software for as little as $20 in the stores. Mac OS X users pay significantly more for protection than Windows users, protection so far they have needed only in theory or "just in case" a big new threat appears. People are getting wise to this. So is it any wonder that Symantec, in the eternal search for the next dollar, is out with a report that seems to predict dire consequences for future Mac users? It's like a teacher once told me, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak. Especially when you don't have any steak." I suppose it's to the anti-virus industry's credit that some bored anti-virus developer hasn't launched an OS X threat merely to justify his or her continued employment. Still, with no threats, it's not like the software really requires much dev time. It was not my plan to return to Macintosh security so soon, having just written about it last week. Click here to read David Coursey's column "Mac OS X: Virus-Free For Now." But my friend and co-worker Ryan Naraine wrote a story this week in which Symantec talks about the growing threat viruses and malware pose to Mac OS X users, mentioned earlier. This claim is based on an internal assessment conducted for the company's "Security Threat Report," issued twice yearly. Ryan's story quotes the company as predicting that with the "introduction and popularity of OS X Apple has become a target for new attacks and vulnerabilities." Click here to read "Mac OS X Will Become a Target, Symantec Warns." Indeed, a Morgan Stanley report out this week predicts Apple could nearly double its share of the worldwide PC sales this year, thanks to iPod users buying a Mac as well. Going from 3 percent to 5 percent will be dramatic for Apple, but hardly noticeable in the broad marketplace. Given OS X's small global installed base, even this projected doubling of sales may not be enough to attract too much unwanted attention. "Contrary to popular belief," the Symantec Threat Report continues, "the Macintosh operating system has not always been a safe haven from malicious code. Out of the public eye for some time, it is now clear that the Mac OS is increasingly becoming a target for the malicious activity that is more commonly associated with Microsoft and various Unix-based operating systems." Next Page: Threats will grow. Having recently spoken to Symantec's Mac product manager, I got a sense that the threat to Mac OS X is likely to grow over time, but not into something we should stay up nights worrying about. But this Symantec Threat Report sounds like the Mac has never been secure and is only going to get worse over time. The comparison to Microsoft sounds downright ominous. Ryan's story includes more quotes from the report that are equally frightening or more so. Is it any surprise that Symantec would beat the drums of fear as loudly as possible? This is, after all, a company that has for years persuaded Mac users to pay $70 for software "necessary" to protect their computers against nonexistent threats. This makes me wonder whether the real threat that concerns Symantec isn't from Mac OS X viruses and malware. Rather, it's customers noticing that they've paid a lot of money for Norton anti-virus software that they didn't really need. For more insights from David Coursey, check out his Weblog. How can Symantec keep those customers in line and writing checks? By scaring the living daylights out of them, that's how. They even invoke the "M" word as a warning of what could be in store! It's prudent to protect yourself. But what you pay for the protection ought to have some relationship to the threat. While my "value pricing" concept will never fly, there really should be some relationship between what we pay and the protection we get. Compared with what Windows users pay, $70 is more protection than any Mac requires. Yet that's what Symantec and some competitors charge. Mac users deserve a break. Contributing Editor David Coursey has spent two decades writing about hardware, software and communications for business customers. A full bio and contact information may be found on his Web site, www.coursey.com. Check out eWEEK.com's Macintosh Center for the latest news, reviews and analysis on Apple in the enterprise. Copyright (c) 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 20:14:58 EST Subject: What's Historic? This item forwarded from another list (and which apparently originated in a newspaper) calls Basking Ridge "historic." To many of us 195 Broadway would be historic. Basking Ridge was a johnny-come-lately and I remember the panic among Manhattan workers and how AT&T held driving lessons for employees from NYC. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com Verizon to pay $125M for AT&T's 'Pagoda' Offspring to buy former telecom giant's HQ Tuesday, March 22, 2005 BY GEORGE E. JORDAN Star-Ledger Staff Verizon has agreed to pay about $125 million for the sprawling Basking Ridge campus that once served as the historic headquarters of AT&T, according to five people with knowledge of the transaction. Verizon, the nation's biggest telephone company, eventually could move its operations center and up to 1,000 employees from Manhattan to the 10 interconnecting buildings in Somerset County, said the sources. ------------------------------ From: Matt Subject: CDR Collection Date: 25 Mar 2005 09:28:45 -0800 I have a NItsuka PBX (Not sure of mod # yet); from which I would like to pull incoming CDR records, for the purposes of parsing the phone number and bringing the customer up automatically in our customer system. The PBX has a PC attached to it, which I believe is used for voice mail. None of the phones have any sort of data port. Any idea where the most likely place for a port to obtain this data would be? Given the age of the thing, If there is a port at all, I'm guessing it will be a DB9 or 25 serial port. Thanks, Matt ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 11:48:53 -0500 Subject: Telecom Reform: Here Come the States Those of you on the MI-Telecom list can pretty much skip this commentary (it's a condensed version of my earlier commentary in the previous message) and scroll right down to the excerpt. For those of you on the VoIP News list, here's a little preliminary commentary: I am passing along this item not because I agree with it -- for the most part, I do NOT -- but because for some reason the libertarian think tanks seem to have more influence with legislators than they should. Since there are no libertarian legislators elected by the people (in most states), one wonders why libertarian think tanks are even paid any attention. Further, I wish someone with the investigative skills would follow the money trail on these organizations -- they have to get their funding from somewhere, and I'm very suspicious that some of their funding may be coming from Some Big Company in Texas. But more to the point, these people are lobbying for deregulation of the telephone industry. It seems to me that competition is a good thing, and deregulation is a bad thing when one company (the ILEC) still has effective bottleneck control over an industry. What I see happening here may be nothing less than a sneaky way to re-establish the Bell monopoly. The attack is as follows: Paint VoIP as a formidable competitor. Get state legislators to agree that VoIP offers significant and ubiquitous competition, even though less than 1% of the public uses VoIP and VoIP currently has significant shortcomings (such as lack of "enhanced" 911). Then when the phone companies are deregulated, they will put the screws to VoIP, by first refusing to sell broadband connectivity (DSL) unless the customer also buys dial tone, and should the customer agree to that, they will then play games with packet routing and traffic shaping to degrade the service of VoIP companies. Well, except of course for their own deregulated VoIP offerings, which (unless the customer subscribes to a "premium" service at a very high price) will look a lot more like traditional phone service (limited calling areas and per-minute billing). That traffic will ride the expressway, while competitors' VoIP traffic may be relegated to the gravel roads, so to speak. And without regulation, they will be able to raise rates at will. End of my commentary, here's an excerpt of the article that inspired it (note the date -- one could hope this is just an April Fool's joke, but I suspect it is deadly serious). http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=16648 Telecom Reform: Here Come the States Alabama leads the way Written By: Steven Titch Published In: IT&T News Publication Date: April 1, 2005 Publisher: The Heartland Institute In February, Alabama became the latest state to place telecom reform on its legislative agenda. Senate Bill 114 and its House counterpart, House Bill 112, call for deregulation of wireline dial-tone services. The law would still allow the Alabama Public Service Commission (PSC) to field complaints and adjudicate disputes between consumers and local phone companies, but the PSC would no longer set rates or dictate the way companies bundle their services. Similar reform bills are on the docket, or headed for it, in Illinois, Indiana, Texas, Wisconsin, and other states. The Alabama bill recognizes the reality of intermodal competition from wireless and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. It affirms that telecommunications is becoming increasingly competitive as service platforms shift away from proprietary, closed narrowband networks to broadband connections based on open standards that support diverse, customizable multimedia services. Telecom reform advocates recognize that telephone service offered on broadband platforms simply cannot be regulated as it was in the past. Reform is necessary. The only question is what form it should take. Many opponents of reform refuse to acknowledge that the current scheme, even as it keeps rates low for some, is unsustainable. Full story at: http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=16648 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 12:20:55 -0500 Subject: Clearwire May Block VoIP Competitors http://www.crn.com/sections/breakingnews/dailyarchives.jhtml?articleId=159905955 Clearwire May Block VoIP Competitors Vonage says it's been blocked; Company's terms of service "prohibits" use of certain high-bandwidth applications. By Paul Kapustka, Advanced IP Pipeline 2:32 AM EST Fri. Mar. 25, 2005 Someday, customers of wireless broadband provider Clearwire Corp. may be able to use Voice over IP services. But right now, Craig McCaw's newest company is giving its customers the silent treatment by apparently blocking outside VoIP providers from its network. In what the company claims is an effort to preserve the performance of its pre-standard WiMAX network, Clearwire says it reserves the right to prohibit the use of a wide range of bandwidth-hungry applications, a list that apparently includes VoIP as well as the uploading or downloading of streaming video or audio, and high-traffic Web site hosting. According to the company's terms of service, Clearwire reserves the right to restrict access or terminate service to customers who don't comply with its rules. While a company executive claimed the restrictions were necessary to ensure network performance reliability, Clearwire could not explain how that issue would be resolved when it offers its own VoIP services in the near future. Earlier this month, Clearwire signed an agreement with Bell Canada under which Bell Canada will provide VoIP systems and services for Clearwire, at a date and price yet to be announced. Full story at: http://www.crn.com/sections/breakingnews/dailyarchives.jhtml?articleId=159905955 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Aren't there, in most communities a choice of other highspeed data services, such as AOL? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 13:06:53 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Adelphia Offers Feds $725 Million to Settle Fraud Charges Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 25, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20348&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Adelphia offers feds $725 million to settle fraud charges BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Supreme Court set to consider Brand X * Debate emerges over mobile phone virus threat * Report: Price key for telcos in broadband sales USTA SPOTLIGHT * Timberwolves? and Wireless Business Opportunities EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * TiVo's deal with Comcast cements DVR service's future VOIP DOWNLOAD * Equipment makers battle for share of VoIP market * VoIP brings new opportunities for test industry * Huawei tops worldwide VoIP media gateway shipments REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * West Virginia lawmakers lay out broadband plans Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20348&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: kwyet Subject: Packet8 Number Portability Date: 24 Mar 2005 14:07:55 -0800 Packet8 has been ok for me. Just one thing thats been irritating. The claims on their website at times don't jive with reality. For one, they claimed that virtual numbers were available for Canadian area codes. That was simply a lie. They were aware of this contradiction but chose to ignore it for a very long time. Finally they removed the claim. Secondly, they claim that it takes up to six weeks to have your number ported. That may be true for some, but it hasn't been true for me. It has been 9 weeks for me and still no "status updates" on my account. Their standard reply when called on this matter is, "I'll pass this to the LNP department". On one call to support, I was led to believe it was stalled because of my phone company. I entered a complaint with my States's PSC only to receive a call from my phone company saying all they need is a PON and that Packet8 would know exactly what that is. Well ... I called support again. Same response as quoted above. Oh ... and he also said that the website is incorrect ... that it hasn't been updated yet to reflect that they are backed up and the time is actually more than 6 weeks. Support told me that 10 days ago. Does it take 10 days to update a sentence on a website? Naw it dutton. ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: 911, Taxes, and Fees, was: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 23:09:40 UTC Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC Thor Lancelot Simon wrote: > *If* Vonage were willing to pay the same fees other local exchange > carriers pay for 911 connectivity *in each LATA*, *then* Vonage could > route 911 calls correctly. Avoiding this *cost* has been a major > competitive win for Vonage all along and it is hard to not see it as > a major reason, if not _the_ reason, why Vonage has fought state > regulation as a local exchange carrier: by avoiding regulatory mandates > like 911 service standards Vonage avoids the cost of compliance. So let me get this straight. Local (and state) gov'ts pretend that a 911 PSAP (Public Safety Answering Position) isn't part of the standard functions of government, and therefore they get the telcos to pass through a separate "911 fee" (read tax). Oh, for good measure, if you look at umptity audits you'll find that the amount of the "911 fee" has next to nothing to do with how much money is acually put into the PSAP. To the government, it's all one big pot of money. What's next? Perhaps the county will claim that libraries are special, so there needs to be a separate tax, excuse me, fee, on all book sales? Oh, and just think how much money they could kick over to the library if they extended that tax, excuse me, fee, onto all blank paper and pens and copying supplies? > People's safety in emergency situations should be quite simply out of > bounds for this kind of political maneuvering. Of course, it's not, > but darn it, it ought to be. Absolutely. And 911 issues shouldn't be used as a tag for governments to extract more money from the working folk. How's about instead of attacking Vonage for this we directed some ire against the politicians that do everything they can to hide the level of taxation they're hitting us with? _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: PSAP Locations, was: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 23:26:32 UTC Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC ( PSAP = Public Safety Answering Point = the 911 centers ) In hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: > The states in my area allow a 911 fee to be tacked on to phone > bills. The money goes to the run the 911 call centers. And there's a Santa Clause. > IIRC, it was previously discussed here the VOIP fails to send the > calling number for Caller ID displays, so the recipient gets a > meaningless 111-111-1111 display. Many, and soon just about all, VOIP phones send across the Caller ID string associated with the account. The fact that (many) PSAPs can't use regular consumer CNID and do a comparison/sanity check against both the ANI string and the "911" caller info is due to their own equipment limitations. (This is separate from the very real issue of the small number of folk who'd get a VOIP account in Lenexa, Ks, and then take the adapter with them and make calls that are physically coming from Uzbekistan) > As to the editor's comments, there are conventional phone numbers that > will reach the emergency center and will be answered (at least in my > area). But how would a VOIP know what number to use, esp when the > caller can "float" and be anywhere? Further, such numbers change when > area codes change or for other reasons; that was a factor in > establishing "911" as a unified constant emergency number in the first > place. Conveniently enough, the FCC maintains a list of PSAPs: "Information regarding PSAP ID, PSAP Name, and PSAP County can be obtained from the FCC's Master PSAP Registry. The following state listings have been updated: Arizona, Arkansas, California, (etc., etc., and so forth)." http://www.fcc.gov/911/enhanced/reports/psapregistry.html So it would be trivial for the VOIP folk to do a translation of all calls placed to "911" and route them to the PSAP serving the registered "home" of the customer. Now in regards to figuring out the exact boundaries, well, isn't it about time the local gov'ts got their acts together? In many parts of the country you'll find little or no coterminality between, oh, sanitation services, postal zip codes, water supply, fire protection, school districts, and police coverage. Now whose fault is that? As a side note, wouldn't it be nice if the Feds got together and had a _central_, national, number for help? One that got a little office in, say, Cheyenne and had tie lines to every 911 PSAP? Right now, for example, if I'm in East Cupcake, NY and on the phone with a friend of mine in Walla Walla and he collapses onto the floor, how am I supposed to get him help? Watcha wanna bet that if I called my local PSAP they wouldn't have a clue? With a central office (at least available to the PSAPs, but really should be open to all) life would be much simpler. _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) Subject: Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 21:19:45 UTC Organization: Public Access Networks Corp. Reply-To: tls@rek.tjls.com In article , wrote: > Thor Lancelot Simon wrote: >> *If* Vonage were willing to pay the same fees other local exchange >> carriers pay for 911 connectivity *in each LATA*, *then* Vonage could >> route 911 calls correctly. Avoiding this *cost* has been a major >> competitive win for Vonage all along and it is hard to not see it as >> a major reason, if not _the_ reason, why Vonage has fought state >> regulation as a local exchange carrier: by avoiding regulatory mandates >> like 911 service standards Vonage avoids the cost of compliance. > Excellent points. > The states in my area allow a 911 fee to be tacked on to phone > bills. The money goes to the run the 911 call centers. It's not just that. To actually do the interconnection, Vonage would need to build some infrastructure: they'd need trunks into every LATA in which they offered 911. A responsible telco would, it seems to me, see this as an unavoidable part of the cost of offering a service for emergencies reachable by dialing 9-1-1, because you basically can't give callers the same user interaction they expect in an emergency if you *don't* have those trunks. Packet8 is an example of a VoIP telco that is responsible and does the right thing: they *don't* offer a service that works in an unexpected and dangerous way when the user dials 9-1-1; they *do* offer genuine 911 service -- enhanced 911, even, though I have to question whether this is desirable, because of the low quality of the location information for VoIP -- everywhere they have managed to run trunks to. They charge their users separately for this service; we can argue about whether it should be a mandated service or not but it certainly seems equitable to charge for it if it is not mandated, and that's what they do. What Vonage does is provice fake 911 service that may be adequate for many callers much of the time, but emergencies by defintion are not "many/much" situations: they are emergencies; they are exceptions. And for callers in some areas, the service is worse than inadequate, it actually makes emergencies worse, by wasting the caller's and the emergency personnel's time by sending the calls somewhere that cannot handle them at all. Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com "The inconsistency is startling, though admittedly, if consistency is to be abandoned or transcended, there is no problem." - Noam Chomsky ------------------------------ From: Justin Time Subject: Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Date: 25 Mar 2005 11:23:48 -0800 From two different responses by our editor: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But wouldn't the ideal arrangement be > like here? A number designated for 'emergency but not 911' phone is > terminated on the consoles of the persons who respond for police, etc, > and they are tipped off "if this line, with its unusual cadence in > ringing goes off, it is to be treated like any other emergency call". > Our dispatchers answer not only the occassional 911 call, but they > also answer for the city hall offices. The PSAP people (at Vonage, and > elsewhere) are told to connect with them as needed _using one of the > back lines_ on the city hall group; a line which would almost never > get calls on its own. Now, if _that phone_ rings/flashes, treat it as > a priority emergency call. The same woman sitting there taking calls > for the city hall centrex/switchboard sees that one phone give out a > continuous (never pausing) ring with the light on the wall flashing at > a furious pace says 'ah, it is an emergency call from a system which > cannot (for whatever reason) use 911. She answers it and makes > dispatch as needed. Does not seem like that major of problem. That > single phone, by the way, also has a caller-ID device on it, and a > rather detailed map on the wall as well, so the dispatcher gets the > essence of the desired information, even if not every single bit of > it. Ah, but that would involve _training_ the dispatchers in possibly > a new procedure. Do you think their Civil Servants Union would allow > that sort of a requirement? A couple of misconceptions need to be addressed here Pat. First of all not everywhere is "like here" meaning Independence, Kansas. Let's move your scenario out of the rural area and into a major city. The PSAP operators in this major city on the Eastern Seaboard only answer two types of calls, they are either 9-1-1 or 3-1-1. The PSAP, with its equipment and 20 operators per shift is funded through the fees collected on telephone numbers terminating within its service area. The cellular companies pay a fee for each of their trunks that terminate in their cell sites within the service area. The local cable companies which provide telephone service bundled with their television and data services pay a fee to help support the PSAP. It seems everyone pays a fee to support the PSAP except the VOIP people who claim their having to pay the fee would be anti-competitive "because they are not a phone company." If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, the obvious conclusion would be that it is what it puports to be - unless it is a VOIP provider. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If the caller wishes to travel around, > as for example with a cellular phone, that certainly is not the VOIP > carrier's fault. But Vonage, as far as I know, deliberatly takes two > or three days *after* receiving an email request from someone asking > to be included in the PSAP database to detirmine _where_ to route the > call which gets _aliased_ in dialing to '911'. In larger metropolitan > areas, of course, most everyone gets redirected to the same number. In > smaller, more rural areas like mine, Vonage has to inquire of the > local authorities _exactly where_ the call is to be routed. They found > in their own research that the 'county seat' for Montgomery County, > Kansas is Independence; that the jail and courthouse are here, and > that in fact, Independence has its own police department as well, so > it was easy enough to inquire of local authorities, "which phone > number should calls aliased to our 911 be funneled through?" And Lisa, > they do _not_ get all ones or zeros or some other flaky number on > their caller ID display, they get an actual number, although as the > lady told me, "at first glance, the screen display looks odd; it is > not what we usually see for an Independence or Independence Rural > location." When Vonage wrote me email to say it was 'now turned on' > they did include a cautionary note: "this only works correctly if > you are stationary in location. If you travel around or move to > another location it may not be the best way to reach emergency res- > ponders." PAT] Now your example of "If the caller wishes to travel around, as for example with a cellular phone, that certainly is not the VOIP carrier's fault." is rather rife with flaws. If I travel to Independence, Kansas with my cell phone, which has an eastern city's identification, the PSAP in Independence would know the 9-1-1 call was local because it would ring in from the cellular switiching site based on the tower I was using. My call from my cellular phone wouldn't be routed to the PSAP that handles the NPA-NXX on the phone, but the PSAP that handles emergency services where the TOWER is located. Now, are you beginning to see the problems with being able to take your VOIP phone traveling and use the service wherever you have a broadband connection? The VOIP carriers are using the telephone number assigned to the adapter for routing to the PSAP rather than the location of the router/gateway or whatever is the first unit to handle the call. Until some method is determined to associate a physical address with a connection, the problem will remain. People who think that VOIP is the answer to their telephone needs are being left hanging high-and-dry when it comes to emergency services. Oh, those 3-1-1 non-emergency calls are just that, a non-emergency in the training of the PSAP operators. A 3-1-1 call will go unanswered should an active call on 9-1-1 be in process. The busiest hour for calls in this PSAP just happen to be the two hours before and after the bars close. One other point about the difference between a 9-1-1 call and a 3-1-1 call. All 9-1-1 calls are delivered with ANI and perform a "data dip" to provide the ALI or location of the caller. 3-1-1 calls, by FCC mandate will only deliver Caller ID - if provided. Rodgers Platt [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Aside for a minute the fact that I do not approve of 311 or the idea of police acting as the Answering Service for the entire government, which is what they would like, let's just talk about your cellular comparison. Yes, if you came here to visit from wherever, your cellular call to 911 would get routed as you say. But you have had a stroke, or for some other reason are unable/unwilling to speak, what _display_ will the 911 person _here_ receive? Your east coast address/phone number ID will be useless ... will it give the outgoing phone number of the local tower? What good will that do? By using GSM, I suppose _your_ phone could transmit to _our_ tower some string to be used as your 'temporary location' to be passed along as the 'ID' to _our_ dispatcher ... that might work. Maybe VOIP could do something similar: A call on a VOIP phone to 911 would be intercepted by the broadband carrier handling your traffic and routed _from that point_ over a phone line to the local 911 spot. I do not honestly know _how_ Vonage handles it; only that they warn you repeatedly prior to getting the adapter turned on that "if you wish to use 911 from this adapter, you _must_ tell us the main address (house number, apartment number, etc) where the police or firemen or doctor or whoever is to go to find you and your distress. We need that information to make 911 work. It is _not_ optional." Then two or three days later they advise you the work is finished. I should also point out that a 911 call is a rarity here; there are one or two per _day_ between the various places they respond for, including Independence PD, 'Independence Rural', Montomgery County Sheriff, Cherryvale, KS PD (overnight, when the one officer on duty there is the only staff person on duty in the town of 2000 people). And, she answers the City Hall centrex, and is the receptionist for the Police Department which is in the basement of our City Hall. And, on the occassion of a 911 call arriving, she _immediatly_ says on the radio 'nine one one call, stand by ... ' which means all the officers on the street, etc who may be chattering on the radio know to shut up and wait and listen. Using my scanner, I will hear her sometimes 'patching in her headset line' and a one-way conversation while she questions the caller: 'which way did you see them go? what kind of car was it, etc' and she will repeat back to the caller (and over the air of course) whatever the caller told her; officers all over southeast Kansas listening in and ready to move out if it involves their area. The overwhelming majority of our 'crime' around here involves teenagers and other young guys who are rowdy and very possibly had been drinking. They (police) also claim there is a 'terrible problem with drugs' here; my local attorney just laughs and says "that is the usual police BS; they find some kid with a bunch of old cola bottles and the powder that _could_ be used to make meth so police claim the kid has a 'meth lab' going on". The usual give and take you find between police and defense lawyers everywhere. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Dave Subject: Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones? Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:43:14 -0900 If I set up another computer with Asterix running, this kludge isnt going to be terribly cost effective. The rate for the additional electricity (38-43 cents per KWH) will negate the advantages. The other problems with sourcing VOIP from a provider in Alaska is that a) all high speed connections are metered and b) no VOIP carriers offer TN's in the 907 NPA, and being in a small rate center the odds of having a local TN are even less. Other then costs and time involved in getting a tech class ham license, can someone estimate what the costs and legalities involved in setting up a mobile radio system with a (pseudo-encrypted) PSTN gateway? Then I could 'legally' do what these devices do. The terrain is pretty open and flat and I have a barn that I could mount my equipment on which is above the treeline. At least if i'm going to burn additional dead dinosaurs I can have a higher 'gee-whiz' factor. Or should I just say forget this idea and go back to Iridium? Thanks in advance. Tony P. wrote: >> I'm living in a rural Alaskan town and traditional cell service is >> spotty to none, even with an old bag phone and roof antenna so I was >> thinking that this could be an interesting approach to local mobile >> phone service. > I highly doubt that it is legal in the U.S. However, modifying your > 802.11 gear and using say a PalmOS type machine with an 802.11 card > you could probably cobble together a VoIP solution that has a linear > range of 11 miles or so, depending on what type and pattern of > radiator you decide to use. > From what I've read about these units they operate in the amateur > radio band so I take sort of strong offense to that. ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Intertel Eclipse Telephone Programming Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 15:46:33 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com T. Sean Weintz wrote: > marcsanders2003@yahoo.com wrote: >> Anybody with technical knowledge of the InterTel Eclipse telephone >> system? Here's what I'm trying to do: >> I'm trying to set up a shared mailbox. In other words, I've added a >> new extension, 262, and I want it to use the voice mailbox of 214. So >> both extensions will be using mailbox 214. I would also like >> notification of messages to go to 262. >> It seems fairly simple, but so far nothing seems to work. >> Any help would be appreciated. > I don't think that can be done. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Quite a few years ago, I had two lines > in Skokie, IL -- ORchard 7 9510 and ORchard 7 9511. Both had Voicemail > on them from Ameritech; both were handled from 9511. I think what > Ameritech told me was there was only one voicemail box in reality, > probably on 9511 (which was a roll-over line from 9510) and that the > voicemail on 9510 was 'aliased' to 9511. When someone dialed into 9510 > and the voicemail was to pick up, the alias pointed at 9511; not > only for the storage of messages, but also notification in the form > of a flashing red LED on the phone. PAT] Yeah ... Ok, they could do it in a similar way ... what I describe below works intertel Axxes and probably Eclipse systems with very recent firmware, since they are basically the same as AXXESS from what I hear. Older eclipse systems may be a different story.. 1) Create a call routing announcement that plays nothing and immediately times out to mailbox 214. 2) For the forwarding path for ext 262, instead of having it go to voicemail (default ext for that is usually 2500, dunno what it is on your system), have it forward to the call routing announcement. That call routing announcement will immediately forward them to the 214 mailbox. -Sean ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 22:46:05 -0500 (EST) From: Dan Lanciani Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote: > In article , > Dan Lanciani wrote: >> kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net (Tony P.) wrote: >>> Sort of how the FCC has pretty much admitted that anyone with a >>> modicum of technical knowledge will be able to defeat the broadcast >>> flag. >> I think you've mentioned this before, but what does it mean? The >> system as originally conceived requires the digital representation of >> flagged content to be protected by encryption on bus and media. I >> have more than a modicum of technical knowledge and I don't see an >> easy way around the proposed system in concept. Has the original >> system been abandoned? Or are you aware of some implementation flaw? > *Somewhere* in the TV set, the signal has to get decrypted, before it > can be presented to the CRT, or other actual 'display'. > Thus there *is* a "cleartext" signal running around inside the box. > Thus, someone with a reasonable amount of skill can 'tap' the cleartext > signal, and "voila!" The original proposal required that the undegraded digital representation of flagged content never appear on a bus (even the LCD driver bus) in the clear, specifically to thwart such an attack. (CRTs do not present the same kind of problem as LCDs because the video can be converted to analog before it ever leaves the final driver circuits. Of course, even if you could access the LCD driver bus you would be getting a decompressed and possibly otherwise manipulated version and not the original stream.) Thus, there would be no clear text version of the signal "running around inside the box" to tap. You would have to probe the dies of the appropriate integrated circuits themselves. Although this is certainly not impossible, it requires more than a modicum of technical knowledge and also requires some specialized and rather expensive equipment. Anyone willing to go to those lengths would be better served by building an ATSC receiver from scratch. This brings me back to my question: has the original approach been abandoned? If not, I'm having a hard time understanding some of the comments I've read that tend to minimize the impact of the broadcast flag implementation. The only explanation I can think of is that people have become so accustom to Macrovision, SCMS, and similar stupidity that they don't understand that this time it's for real... > And there's always the "idiot method" -- just point a camcorder at the TV. The purpose of the broadcast flag (and all the associated DRM) is to protect the undegraded digital representation of flagged content. Your approach of creating a degraded analog rendition of the content does not defeat that intent. In fact, as of now, we will supposedly still be allowed to access the analog output of receivers, perhaps even at HD resolution. If a copy to analog and back is what the FCC (or anybody else) is considering a defeat of the broadcast flag then I'm afraid they have really missed the point. Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com ------------------------------ From: John Smith Subject: Re: Our Telephonic Primacy Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 15:21:19 GMT Dave Garland wrote (about infant mortality in Cuba): > It's true, but the US has far more heroic interventions among extremely > low birth weight and extremely premature infants than Cuba. Which, of > course, are far more likely to die than normal births. I suspect that > in Cuba, those get counted as miscarriages, not infants. Is this just a guess, or do you have reason to suspect that the medical definition of "birth" is different in Cuba? Or perhaps it's the definition of "death"? It seems to me, considering an equal number of premature births, that heroic intervention should produce a benefit in the statistics. If it doesn't, then why do it? Or is there a higher percentage of premature births in the U.S.? I know that Cuba has more doctors per capita than (I believe) any country in the hemisphere, and a major commitment to disease prevention and public health. Maybe it just pays off. Wouldn't that be a shock. ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 14:09:59 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com John Levine wrote: > The potential for privacy problems is severe, but to their credit I > don't think I've ever heard reports of abuses. Besides the > possibility of tracking people by tag use, there's the violation > tracking issue. If you drive through an E-ZPAss booth in NY with no > tag or an invalid tag, a camera takes a picture of your car and they > will ask the state DMV to look up the license plate number so they can > send you a ticket. There's also that nagging problem where the system isn't perfect, and sometimes the RFID tags that are used don't work, or you have a malfunctioning toll lane. I just recently got hit with one of those. I'm an EZ Pass user, and my work ended up taking me to a remote podunk little rural area in southern NJ. When I got ON the turnpike at a major, heavily travelled and manned toll plaza, I passed through the EZ Pass lane and my tag registered just fine. Getting out to the sticks, I exited in a remote, unmanned and probably barely used toll plaza. Bzzzt! My transponder wasn't picked up and I was flashed a "GO: TOLL UNPAID" warning on way my off the turnpike. Lovely. Later that day I called up the EZ Pass customer service number and told them what happened. "No problem," came the response. "As long as your license plate is resgistered on your EZ pass acount, we'll make the correction and everything should be fine." Fast forward to yesterday. Assurances notwithstanding, I received a toll violation notice from the NJ Turnpike authority. Attached was that oh-so-incriminating photo of my car "skipping the toll," and a bill for $25.70 ... 70 cents for the actual toll, and $25.00 in "administrative fees," along with one of those typical scary-language legal threats that if I don't pay up within 10 days, I could be hit with additional fines "in excess of" $200. Clearly, they knew where my car got ON the turnpike in order to charge the correct toll amount, otherwise they would have assesed the maximum toll amount (which I believe is around $2.00). So you'd think they'd figure it out that my tag was successfully scanned there and obtain the correct billing data that way. Grrr. So now, I have to fill out a "dispute form," and indicate in writing why I feel I SHOULDN'T be hit with the fine. I've explained that I am an ex pass customer and had my tag in the car, and attached supporting documentation (tag serial number, account #, etc.). We'll see what kind of response I get. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System Organization: Symantec Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 21:33:31 -0500 In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > John Levine wrote: >> The potential for privacy problems is severe, but to their credit I >> don't think I've ever heard reports of abuses. Besides the >> possibility of tracking people by tag use, there's the violation >> tracking issue. If you drive through an E-ZPAss booth in NY with no >> tag or an invalid tag, a camera takes a picture of your car and they >> will ask the state DMV to look up the license plate number so they can >> send you a ticket. > The original private contractor for the NJ EZP system was notoriously, > sending out many violation notices that weren't deserved. That > strongly discouraged motorists from adopting EZP. Of course, now the > NJTpk intends to eliminate the EZP discount, which is a stupid move > since it removes the incentive for motorists to use EZP, esp > occassional drivers. Result is more overcrowding in cash lanes. Massachusetts doesn't give a discount for FastLane, but last year they instituted a tax deduction if you use it enough to be considered a commuter (I think $150 or $250). Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** ------------------------------ 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. 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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #131 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Mar 26 17:52:36 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2QMqZm29705; Sat, 26 Mar 2005 17:52:36 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 17:52:36 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503262252.j2QMqZm29705@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 V24 #132 TELECOM Digest Sat, 26 Mar 2005 17:51:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 132 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Amazon.com Knows, Predicts Shopping Habits (Monty Solomon) Writer of Retracted Stories Faces Review (Monty Solomon) As File Sharing Nears High Court, Net Specialists Worry (Monty Solomon) Purloined Lives (Monty Solomon) FCC Extends 'Truth in Billing' Guidelines to Cellphones (Monty Solomon) Announcing EEPI - Electronic Entertainment Policy Initiative (M Solomon) TSA Work Sloppy, but Not Illegal (Monty Solomon) EFFector 18.7: Hearing Friday Could Determine Future (Monty Solomon) EFFector 18.8: Action Alert Best E-voting Bill Reintroduced (M Solomon) EFFector 18.9: Action Alert Stop the Trademark Act (Monty Solomon) EPIC Alert 12.06 (Monty Solomon) VOIP or PBX? (Smokey) Verizon FiOS Blocking Ports? (andyrankin@gmail.com) FCC: We Don't Need no Steenkin Line Sharing (Danny Burstein) Dealing With Vonage (David B. Horvath, CCP) Re: Our Telephonic Primacy (BobGoudreau) Re: Our Telephonic Primacy (AES) Re: Our Telephonic Primacy (Dave Garland) Re: What's Historic? (LB@notmine.com) Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (John Levine) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (G Wollman) Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones? (Robert Bonomi) Re: CDR Collection (Carl Navarro) If You Work at RCN, Read This (Anonymous) 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: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 09:19:59 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Amazon.com Knows, Predicts Shopping Habits By ALLISON LINN AP Business Writer SEATTLE (AP) -- Amazon.com Inc. has one potentially big advantage over its rival online retailers: It knows things about you that you may not know yourself. Though plenty of companies have detailed systems for tracking customer habits, critics and boosters alike say Amazon is the trailblazer, having collected information longer and used it more proactively. It even received a patent recently on technology aimed at tracking information about the people for whom its customers buy gifts. Amazon sees such data-gathering as the best way to keep customers happy and loyal, a relationship-building technique that analysts consider potentially crucial to besting other online competitors. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=47926794 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 09:21:24 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Writer of Retracted Stories Faces Review By MARK JEWELL AP Business Writer BOSTON (AP) -- A freelance journalist who authored two online news articles that Technology Review magazine retracted over questions of veracity is also facing review of stories she wrote for other publications. The journalist, Michelle Delio, is a 37-year-old New York City freelance writer specializing in technology. Delio said Friday that Technology Review's online version was correct in retracting the two stories because they were based on an anonymous source who misrepresented himself to her. But she defended the rest of the work she has written over her 15-year career as truthful. WiredNews.com, for whom Delio has long been a contributor, published a note to readers citing this month's retractions by TechnologyReview.com and saying it had assigned a journalism professor to review articles written by Delio. The online publication has not, however, removed any of the hundreds of stories Delio has written for it, said Wired News' managing editor Marty Cortinas. Adam Penenberg, a New York University professor who also writes a media column for Wired News, was to do the review. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=47925733 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 09:40:17 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: As File Sharing Nears High Court, Net Specialists Worry By JOHN MARKOFF SAN DIEGO, March 16 - As the bitter debate over computer file sharing heads toward the Supreme Court, the pro-technology camp is growing increasingly anxious. Some technologists warn that if the court decides in favor of the music and recording industries after hearing arguments in the MGM v. Grokster case on March 29, the ruling could also stifle a proliferating set of new Internet-based services that have nothing to do with the sharing of copyrighted music and movies at issue in the court case. Some of those innovations were on display here at the Emerging Technologies Conference, attended by about 750 hardware and software designers. The demonstrations included Flickr, a Canadian service that has made it possible for Web loggers and surfers to easily share and catalog millions of digital photographs. And Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief of executive of Amazon.com, demonstrated a set of new features in the company's A9 search engine designed to make it extremely simple for Web users to share searches specially tailored to mine everything from newspapers to yellow pages to catalogs of electronics parts. Software designers from iFabricate, a small company in Emeryville, Calif., displayed a new Web service intended to make it simple for home inventors to share instructions for complex do-it-yourself garage construction projects. Projects can be documented and shared with a mixture of images, text, ingredient lists, computer-animated design files and digital videos. There was also a demonstration of Wikipedia, a volunteer-run online encyclopedia effort that now has generated 1.5 million entries in 200 languages. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/17/technology/17soft.html?ex=1268715600&en=542d867283a2fb4c&ei=5090 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To read NY Times on line each day with no login or registration requirements please check out our section here http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 09:43:16 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Purloined Lives By GARY RIVLIN March 17, 2005 SAN FRANCISCO, March 16 - The phone lines are seldom quiet for long at the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center. But lately they have been ringing almost continually. The calls come from people like Warren Lambert, who phoned on Feb. 18, the same day he received a letter conveying alarming news from ChoicePoint, a company that compiles data on millions of citizens. It was only one of more than 140,000 such letters ChoicePoint has mailed in recent weeks, informing people like Mr. Lambert that computer files containing their names, addresses and Social Security numbers, among other critical personal data, had been inadvertently sold to "several individuals, posing as legitimate business customers." Mr. Lambert, a 67-year-old retiree living in San Francisco, called the identity theft hotline to ask not only what immediate steps he should take but, more important, "what I'm going to be exposed to." The immediate steps were clear, according to Jay Foley, who with his wife, Linda, runs the ID theft counseling center from their home in San Diego. Mr. Lambert needed to phone the three major credit reporting agencies to find out if any credit cards or other accounts had been opened in his name -- none had, so far -- and then place a "fraud alert" on his accounts, to warn potential creditors not to open additional accounts in Mr. Lambert's name without fuller verification. But Mr. Lambert also needed to understand that the privacy breach meant he now had something similar to an incurable virus -- a chronic condition he would need to monitor for the rest of his life. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/17/business/17private.html?ex=1268715600&en=ed495f886c4621c7&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 09:59:42 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: F.C.C. Extends 'Truth in Billing' Guidelines to Cellphones By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS March 11, 2005 WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (AP) - Regulators voted Thursday to extend "truth in billing" guidelines to cellphone bills in hopes of promoting clearer, shorter statements devoid of confusing add-on fees. All five members of the Federal Communications Commission gave their support to a measure requiring cellphone bills to be "brief, clear, nonmisleading and in plain language." The guidelines already cover bills for traditional phone service. The F.C.C. said it was misleading to suggest that any fees in addition to the base rate for cellphone service were caused by taxes or government-mandated charges. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/11/business/11phone.html?ex=1268283600&en=42d7faeec224862d&ei=5090 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To read NY Times, USA Today and other national news publications on line each day with no registration or login requirements, go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 10:21:08 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Announcing EEPI - Electronic Entertainment Policy Initiative Lauren Weinstein lauren@vortex.com March 25, 2005 I'm pleased to announce "EEPI" ( http://www.eepi.org ), a new initiative aimed at fostering cooperation in the areas of electronic entertainment and its many related issues, problems, and impacts. I've teamed with 30+ year recording industry veteran Thane Tierney in this effort to find cooperative solutions to technical, legal, policy, and other issues relating to the vast and growing range of electronic technologies that are crucial to the entertainment industry, but that also impact other industries, interest groups, individuals, and society in major ways. There are many interested parties, including record labels, film studios, the RIAA, the MPAA, artists, consumers, intellectual freedom advocates, broadcasters, manufacturers, legislators, regulators, and a multitude of others. The issues cover an enormous gamut from DVDs, CDs, and piracy issues to multimedia cell phones, from digital video recorders to Internet file sharing/P2P, from digital TV and the "broadcast flag" to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and "fair use" controversies. Working together, rather than fighting each other, perhaps we can all find some broadly acceptable paths that will be of benefit to everyone. For more information, please see the EEPI Web site at: http://www.eepi.org A moderated public discussion list and an EEPI announcement list are now available at the site. Public participation is cordially invited. Thank you very much. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Lauren Weinstein was a charter subscriber to TELECOM Digest, back in 1981, and was a regular participant here for many years. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 10:27:36 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TSA Work Sloppy, but Not Illegal By Ryan Singel 02:00 AM Mar. 26, 2005 PT Homeland Security officials failed to keep millions of airline passenger records secure and repeatedly made false denials of their involvement in data transfers to the media and Congress, but they did not violate federal law, according to a report released Friday. The report (.pdf) by acting Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner found that the Transportation Security Administration was involved in 14 different data transfers totaling more than 20 million records in 2002 and 2003. The report describes an array of data dumps from airlines to TSA contractors and paints a picture of an agency unable to keep track of its own operations, leading to false denials of data transfers to the media and inaccurate sworn testimony to the Senate. However, the department did not violate the Privacy Act, which prohibits secret databases on Americans, since the agency used the records in bulk and did not look up individuals by name, according to the report. Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways and American, Frontier, Continental and America West airlines -- along with three airline record processing firms, all secretly turned over data directly to the TSA and government contractors. The data included names, addresses, dates of birth, itineraries and credit card numbers. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,67031,00.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 09:13:37 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 18.7: Hearing Friday Could Determine Future EFFector Vol. 18, No. 7 March 3, 2005 donna@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 323rd Issue of EFFector: * Hearing Friday Could Determine the Future of Online Journalists' Rights * Press Conference on Supreme Court File Sharing Case Now Online * Keep RFIDs Out of California IDs * Support EFF - Bid on "Freedom to Connect" Pass on eBay! * CFP 2005: Panopticon - April 12-15 * MiniLinks (14): European Commission Ignores Opposition to Software Patents * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/18/07.php ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 09:15:48 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 18.8: Action Alert - Best E-voting Bill Reintroduced EFFector Vol. 18, No. 8 March 11, 2005 donna@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 324th Issue of EFFector: * Action Alert: Best E-voting Bill Reintroduced - Lend Your Support! * EFF Giving and Activism Pages Improved * Court Crushes Online Journalists' Rights * WIPO Shutting Out Public Interest Organizations * EFF to ITU: DRM Is Dangerous for Developing Countries * Slowly, Sunshine Creeping Into Texas E-voting Process * Grokster Send-off Party - You're Invited! * IP Attorneys: EFF Wants You * Staff Calendar: 03.16.05 - Fred von Lohmann speaks at "IP and Creativity: Redefining the Issue," Washington, DC * MiniLinks (16): Discontent in the Cult of Mac * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/18/08.php ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 09:14:52 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 18.9: Action Alert - Stop the Trademark Act from EFFector Vol. 18, No. 9 March 17, 2005 donna@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 325th Issue of EFFector: * Action Alert: Stop the Trademark Act from Diluting Free Speech! * Counting Down to Grokster with EFF * Grokster Send-off Party - March 24 * CopyNight.org: Meet-up for Copyfighters - March 29 * EFF Advises US Army on Soldiers' Email Legacy * CFP 2005: Panopticon - April 12-15 * MiniLinks (14): Apple Tightens DRM Noose * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/18/09.php ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 09:17:45 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EPIC Alert 12.06 ======================================================================== E P I C A l e r t ======================================================================== Volume 12.06 March 24, 2005 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Washington, D.C. http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_12.06.html ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== [1] EPIC Calls for Regulation of Choicepoint; Coalition Demands Action [2] Madrid Summit Urges Democratic Response to Threats of Terrorism [3] Google's Gmail Subject of EPIC West Testimony in California Senate [4] Transportation Biometric ID Raises Privacy Concerns; Review Urged [5] EPIC Introduces EPIC FOIA Notes, 2005 FOIA Gallery [6] News in Brief [7] EPIC Bookstore: J.J. Luna's "How to Be Invisible" [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_12.06.html ------------------------------ From: Smokey Subject: VOIP or PBX? Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 06:20:17 -0800 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Looks like we will be moving our company soon and growing a lot so I have a need for a new system. We currently have an old key (Meridian) system and a Call Pilot. I anticipate we will have some remote offices around the country and we make heavy use of phones. I would like something that will work well in this scenario and not take rocket scientist to manage. Adds, removes, moves, should be easy. We have a robust network with all Cisco switches, etc. So any ideas? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: andyrankin@gmail.com Subject: Verizon FiOS Blocking Ports? Date: 26 Mar 2005 08:08:12 -0800 I'm very lucky to be in an area where Verizon's FiOS fiber to the premises service is available. I have the 15/2 Mbps service and it works great. I'm wondering if anyone knows if Verizon blocks are inbound ports (80, etc.)? Also, I'm using the Verizon provided DLink DI-604 router. I'm not having any luck getting the router to forward WAN traffic through to specific machines on the LAN. For example, I've tried passing traffic on port 8080 to a linux box running Apache on that port and I think I have the router configured properly but it doesn't seem to be letting the traffic through. I'm a bit of a novice so I'm not sure how to determine if this is something Verizon's blocking before it gets to my router or if I just haven't figured the router out yet. ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: FCC: W Don't Need no Steenkin Line Sharing Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 13:53:18 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC "The Commission has before it a petition for declaratory ruling filed by BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. (BellSouth) regarding issues stemming from the Triennial Review Order. As explained below, because the Commission's national unbundling rules in the Triennial Review Order directly address the primary issue raised by BellSouth, we grant BellSouth's petition to the extent described in this Order. "Specifically, applying section 251(d)(3) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the Act), we find that a state commission may not require an incumbent local exchange carrier (LEC) to provide digital subscriber line (DSL) service to an end user customer over the same unbundled network element (UNE) loop facility that a competitive LEC uses to provide voice services to that end user. "For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that state decisions that impose such an obligation are inconsistent with and substantially prevent the implementation of the Act and the Commissions federal unbundling rules and policies set forth in the Triennial Review Order that implement sections 251(c) ..... rest at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-78A1.txt [a] http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-78A1.doc [b] http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-78A1.pdf [c] [a] messy ascii [b] Word Doc [c] PDF (most FCC material is available in all three forms. URLs are identical except for the trailing extension). Further info on the main FCC page: http://www.fcc.gov ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 20:05:29 -0500 From: David B. Horvath, CCP Subject: Dealing with Vonage PAT - please remove my email address -- too much SPAM. I signed up with Vonage a while ago (taking advantage of PAT's offer). I decided that I wasn't using it enough (plenty of minutes with free LD on my cell) and tried to cancel. I called on 3/18, sat on call for at least half an hour, got transferred to regular customer service who could not take the cancelation order. I was given a tracking ticket and a promise that I'd get a call back in a day or two. At the same time I also requested cancellation using their web page. I finally called again on 3/24, sat on hold for a while and finally was connected to the "retention department". It took about 5 minutes (mostly on hold) to handle the actual cancellation. The clerk was very helpful. When I mentioned my 3/18 call, she told me that they had over 3,000 tickets in queue waiting for calls back and that it was "a staffing issue" (they need more people). - David David B. Horvath, CCP Consultant, Author, International Lecturer, Adjunct Professor Member: ICCP Educational Foundation Board and ICCP Test Council; Chair of LPR&GC CMP ------------------------------ From: BobGoudreau@withheld on request Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 18:34:16 -0500 Subject: Re: Our Telephonic Primacy [As always, please block my email address=2E] John Smith wrote: >Dave Garland wrote (about infant mortality in Cuba): >> It's true, but the US has far more heroic interventions among extremely >> low birth weight and extremely premature infants than Cuba=2E Which, of >> course, are far more likely to die than normal births. I suspect that >> in Cuba, those get counted as miscarriages, not infants. > Is this just a guess, or do you have reason to suspect that the > medical definition of "birth" is different in Cuba? Or perhaps it' > the definition of "death"? Actually, yes, he does have reason. Many (perhaps most) other countries, even developed ones, use a different standard than the US does in distinguishing between live births and stillbirths. Infant mortality figures apply only to live births which subsequently die, so stillbirths don't count. See http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110006161 for more info. For example, almost one-third of US infant deaths happened to very premature babies (less than 1 kg) who wouldn't have even been counted as live births in Switzerland. > It seems to me, considering an equal number of premature births, that > heroic intervention should produce a benefit in the statistics. Only if they're counted as live births, not stillbirths. Bob Goudreau Cary, NC ------------------------------ From: AES Subject: Re: Our Telephonic Primacy Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 20:10:34 -0800 Organization: Stanford University In article , John Smith wrote: > Dave Garland wrote (about infant mortality in Cuba): >> It's true, but the US has far more heroic interventions among extremely >> low birth weight and extremely premature infants than Cuba. Which, of >> course, are far more likely to die than normal births. I suspect that >> in Cuba, those get counted as miscarriages, not infants. > Is this just a guess, or do you have reason to suspect that the > medical definition of "birth" is different in Cuba? Or perhaps it's > the definition of "death"? It seems to me, considering an equal > number of premature births, that heroic intervention should produce a > benefit in the statistics. If it doesn't, then why do it? Or is > there a higher percentage of premature births in the U.S.? Demographics, specifically distribution of ages at which women conceive and deliver, could be significantly different in the two societies, and have an impact on the resulting statistics. (But don't ask me for specifics; I don't know them.) ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Our Telephonic Primacy Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 00:19:46 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when John Smith wrote: > Is this just a guess, or do you have reason to suspect that the > medical definition of "birth" is different in Cuba? Yes, I suspect the definitions are different. Shoulda given my source: http://www.overpopulation.com/articles/2002/000019.html None of which diminishes Cuba's tremendous successes in infant health. But the statistics for the two countries are not directly comparable. Which I think was Lisa's point, that you need to know all the details in order to be able to judge statistical comparisons. And, alas, none of which actually has much to do with telecom. So this will be my last post on the subject. ------------------------------ From: LB@notmine.com Subject: Re: What's Historic? Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 07:29:52 -0500 Organization: Optimum Online Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > This item forwarded from another list (and which apparently > originated in a newspaper) calls Basking Ridge "historic." > To many of us 195 Broadway would be historic. Basking Ridge was > a johnny-come-lately and I remember the panic among Manhattan workers > and how AT&T held driving lessons for employees from NYC. > Wes Leatherock > wesrock@aol.com > Verizon to pay $125M for AT&T's 'Pagoda' Offspring to buy former > telecom giant's HQ > Tuesday, March 22, 2005 > BY GEORGE E. JORDAN > Star-Ledger Staff > Verizon has agreed to pay about $125 million for the sprawling Basking > Ridge campus that once served as the historic headquarters of AT&T, > according to five people with knowledge of the transaction. > Verizon, the nation's biggest telephone company, eventually could move > its operations center and up to 1,000 employees from Manhattan to the > 10 interconnecting buildings in Somerset County, said the sources. I think the "historic" appellation comes from the design. It is a pretty spectacular set of buildings. LB ------------------------------ Date: 25 Mar 2005 23:59:50 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > It's not just that. To actually do the interconnection, Vonage would > need to build some infrastructure: they'd need trunks into every LATA > in which they offered 911. But they already do. The phone numbers they offer are all from facility based CLECs. I know that my number was on the Paetec switch in Syracuse, in the same building with all the other CLEC switches and probably the cell switches, too. > It seems everyone pays a fee to support the PSAP except the VOIP > people who claim their having to pay the fee would be > anti-competitive "because they are not a phone company." If it walks > like a duck, looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, the obvious > conclusion would be that it is what it puports to be - unless it is a > VOIP provider. ... Agreed. > The VOIP carriers are using the telephone number assigned to the > adapter for routing to the PSAP rather than the location of the > router/gateway or whatever is the first unit to handle the call. I see you've never tried VoIP service. When I signed up for Vonage, they told me fairly clearly that they needed to know my physical address for 911 service, so I gave it to them. Didn't ever try it, and I'm not sure how informative a test would have been since the PSAP for my house is the same one for the phone's rate center. Same for Lingo, where part of my account profile is my physical address, separate from the billing address (my po box) and the address where they shipped the adapter. Collecting the address is a minor problem compared to the real problem, most VoIP carriers, with the notable exception of Packet8, won't pay for a real E911 connection to the PSAP. > So let me get this straight. Local (and state) gov'ts pretend that a > 911 PSAP (Public Safety Answering Position) isn't part of the standard > functions of government, and therefore they get the telcos to pass > through a separate "911 fee" (read tax). Don't be silly. Governments tax all sorts of stuff. Since PSAPs are uniquely useful to people who use phones, there's some logic in taxing phones to support them. I agree that the amount of 911 tax could be better matched to the cost of the PSAPs. > What's next? Perhaps the county will claim that libraries are > special, so there needs to be a separate tax, excuse me, fee, on all > book sales? Don't be silly. We have library districts for that. R's, John ------------------------------ From: wollman@lcs.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 21:48:44 +0000 (UTC) Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science In article , Barry Margolin wrote: > Massachusetts doesn't give a discount for FastLane, Actually, the Turnpike does. The resident discounts on the harbor tunnels now require Fast Lane (and have since it was introduced, IIRC), and the two toll barriers on the Extension give a 25-cent discount for Fast Lane customers. > but last year they instituted a tax deduction if you use it enough to > be considered a commuter (I think $150 or $250). I believe it's actually written such that you don't have to use Fast Lane, but you're unlikely to have saved all those receipts in any other form. -GAWollman Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every wollman@csail.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own Opinions not those | search for greater freedom. of MIT or CSAIL. | - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. ___ (2003) ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones? Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 14:13:49 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Dave wrote: > If I set up another computer with Asterix running, this kludge isnt > going to be terribly cost effective. The rate for the additional > electricity (38-43 cents per KWH) will negate the advantages. > The other problems with sourcing VOIP from a provider in Alaska is > that a) all high speed connections are metered and b) no VOIP carriers > offer TN's in the 907 NPA, and being in a small rate center the odds > of having a local TN are even less. > Other then costs and time involved in getting a tech class ham > license, can someone estimate what the costs and legalities involved > in setting up a mobile radio system with a (pseudo-encrypted) PSTN > gateway? Then I could 'legally' do what these devices do. The > terrain is pretty open and flat and I have a barn that I could mount > my equipment on which is above the treeline. At least if i'm going to > burn additional dead dinosaurs I can have a higher 'gee-whiz' factor. There's a matter of finding an "available", legal, radio channel to operate on. Given that you're out in the boonies, this may not be a problem. You've got some recurring costs for license fees, etc. to the FCC. There's an annual "regulatory" fee that will be maybe a couple of bucks; might be as low as $0.40 or so. (looks like between $.08 and $0.26 per radio per year) Then there's the license fee, itself; Looks like $55-$155. "depending" I think that's good for 5 years. "Renewals", for like period, same cost. Then, there's the equipment cost. Buying new, you'll spend beaucoup thousands. On the used/surplus market, you can probably find equipment in the low hundreds. Transistorized gear uses a few tens of watts on standby. Maybe a couple of hundred when actually transmitting. Good antennas make a *BIG* difference in range. They, cost, too. The higher in the air you can get them, the better, of course. Depending on _how_far_ up in the air, you may have to worry about legal requirements for lighting, at night. Those requirements are *no* fun. Aim for "just under" that 'lighting required' height. The interconnect to the PSTN is fairly simple -- In the ham radio community, it's called an "autopatch". There are various kinds of 'access controls' possible, so that you, and nobody else, can enable the telephone interface. Generally, they let you *originate* calls from your radio, only. Except for 'mobile phone' service, there are legal issues with a transmitter going on because the phone rings. "Pseudo encryption" is problematic. The law requires you to announce the station call-sign "in the clear" at the beginning/end of any period of activity, and at stated intervals during activity. Technically, minimal 'speech scrambling' is relatively trivial. I'm *NOT* sure about the legal issues. Going the 'ham radio' route has its problems, too. It's, legally, *strictly* 'recreational'/'hobby' usage. Something like calling a pizza joint, to place a pick-up order, is technically illegal. 'In the clear' transmission is required at all times. > Or should I just say forget this idea and go back to Iridium? I'd suggest trying a "better" roof antenna on the cell-phone. Speculating -- you've got an 'omnidirectional' antenna, like a 'mag mount' one for a car. just mounted way up in the air. A directional "beam" antenna, pointed at the cell tower, can make a *lot* of difference. > Tony P. wrote: >>> I'm living in a rural Alaskan town and traditional cell service is >>> spotty to none, even with an old bag phone and roof antenna so I was >>> thinking that this could be an interesting approach to local mobile >>> phone service. >> I highly doubt that it is legal in the U.S. However, modifying your >> 802.11 gear and using say a PalmOS type machine with an 802.11 card >> you could probably cobble together a VoIP solution that has a linear >> range of 11 miles or so, depending on what type and pattern of >> radiator you decide to use. >> From what I've read about these units they operate in the amateur >> radio band so I take sort of strong offense to that. ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: CDR Collection Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 14:47:46 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com On 25 Mar 2005 09:28:45 -0800, Matt wrote: > I have a NItsuka PBX (Not sure of mod # yet); from which I would like > to pull incoming CDR records, for the purposes of parsing the phone > number and bringing the customer up automatically in our customer > system. > The PBX has a PC attached to it, which I believe is used for voice > mail. > None of the phones have any sort of data port. > Any idea where the most likely place for a port to obtain this data > would be? Given the age of the thing, If there is a port at all, I'm > guessing it will be a DB9 or 25 serial port. You sort of answered your own question. Pretending that you have an Onyx, (black plastic cabinet, modular plugs for lines and amphenol for stations), you ought to find a serial port on the AUX board ... if you have one. Carl Navarro ------------------------------ From: someone@netscape.net Subject: If You Work at RCN Read This Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 17:00:00 EST Mr. Townson, please remove my name. I have been in this business for almost forty years, but yesterday took the cake. I didn't think the bullshit could get any deeper than it's been lately, but I was wrong. If you work at RCN, and I hope you do and I hope you are high up, I've got a bone to pick with you. I work for a small clec -- never mind which one -- and we've been doing ports to and from RCN for years. Used to be it was no big deal: I could do it, my mates could do it, we all work together and it's a small outfit but we do a good job. But yesterday, I got handed the biggest blivot in the world. I called up the guy we used to deal with at RCN and said we're porting a couple of numbers out, they want it for next week, I guess you know the routine. Like I said, it used to be no big deal -- you get customers porting in, you got customers porting out, it's just business and no big fuss, especially with it being mud season and lots of summer folks getting ready to come back. The guy I called said they got a new central department that handles this now, and I have to call an 800 number. OK, I figure, they just got out of bankrupcy so they probably contracted out some LNP stuff. I figure they went to a gooey like Verizon has, which is a pain but it works, and I make the call. I get switched to someone who's name I won't say, but he tells me I have to fill out a form and send it back and can he have my email to send it to me. Sure, no problem, I give the email address and a few minutes later I get the shock of my life. When I get the email, it has a form attached to it that opens up in Microsoft Excel. The first page is instructions, and I nearly crapped my pants when I read this. Here's what it says: "Put one letter in each box. YOU MUST HIT TAB AFTER EVERY LETTER" Now, like I said, I have been in this business since the panel days, and I have seen some stupid things, but four hours and forty minites later I know that this takes the prize. Whoever set up this form used ONE SPREADSHEET SQUARE for EACH LETTER OR NUMBER. Every goddamm time I type two letters one after the other, I have to go back and erase, and half the time I had about twenty things typed before I remembered to look. It took the best part of the afternoon, and my boss said we got to get it down today and I had to type a letter and hit tab and type a number and hit tab and type a letter and type a letter and oh shit goddamm it again! I had a plan for yesterday afternoon, and you screwed it up, RCN. I was gonna pop a few and watch the wwf with my grandchild, but instead I wound up halfway up a roof trying like hell not to slip and finding my way with a flashlite because I was stuck in the office all damm day and I have a guy out of service and it's that kind of a job. RCN, you used to know what kind of job it is. You used to be pros. You just went through a bankrupcy, so I can understand how you got a lot of fresh faces in there, but this takes the prize. Tell me RCN, since when does a company that just got out of bankrupcy court have time to use a five thousand dollar computer to make a carbon copy of a form that looks like it came out of my typewriter while I was in the Navy? Hell, I learned to type on a Smith-Corona, and I'm pretty good at it still, and I passed the po3 test four months early because of it, but your form wasted my whole day. Tell me, please, that whoever wasted my day and a lot of other guy's days is getting called on the carpet. I won't sign this. Just act like it came from all your old customers who are calling me now. ------------------------------ 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! 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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 V24 #132 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Mar 27 22:41:46 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2S3fkP12673; Sun, 27 Mar 2005 22:41:46 -0500 (EST) Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 22:41:46 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503280341.j2S3fkP12673@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 V24 #133 TELECOM Digest Sun, 27 Mar 2005 22:42:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 133 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Cell Phone Songs Prompt Control Questions (Monty Solomon) Cyberlaw in the Supreme Court (Monty Solomon) Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music (Monty Solomon) Lingo Referral (akubird@gmail.com) OT/Tangent (was Re: We Don't Need no Steenkin Line Sharing) (Henry) FCC: We Don't Need no Steenkin Line Sharing (Marcus Didius Falco) Grounding a Vonage System (Alex Batson) Re: What's Historic? (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: Dealing with Vonage (Isaiah Beard) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (S Barkley) Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (Tony P.) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Tony P.) Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones (Tony P.) Re: More 'Tweens' Going Mobile; Long-Term Health Risks Unclear (Tony P) Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S (Tony P.) Re: 911, Taxes, and Fees, was: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (Tony) Last Laugh! Field Guide to experts - Oxman et al. (Marcus Didius Falco) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 20:12:21 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Cell Phone Songs Prompt Control Questions By BRUCE MEYERSON AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- It's been the great "Whodunit?" of two big technology shows: Who put the gag in Motorola Corp.'s mouth just as it was going to unveil a new cell phone featuring the iTunes music download service from Apple Computer Inc.? Motorola initially said it acted alone, then quickly pointed to Apple, citing the computer company's long practice of never unveiling new products until they're actually available to buy. Many industry players, however, suspect that a wireless service provider intervened, essentially telling Motorola that, `I'll be darned if I'll sell your phones to my customers if it means they can buy songs through Apple and Motorola without giving me a piece of the pie.' Or, some surmise, perhaps a wireless carrier who planned to offer the iTunes phone balked at the last minute? This mystery, which played prominently this month at both the CeBit show in Germany where the phone was to be unveiled and then the CTIA Wireless show in New Orleans, drives right to the heart of an uneasy dynamic simmering in the cellular industry. The rush is on to deliver music and video to mobile phones, with wireless providers and device makers jockeying for position to grab their share of the payday, all parties mindful of the surprising billions being spent on musical ringtones. At the same time, the media companies who produce the entertainment, which also includes video games, are approaching cautiously, determined to avert any Napster-like, file-sharing bonanza among cell phone users. In fact, Motorola also plays a role in a second drama involving these choppy uncharted waters. Earlier this year, a class-action lawsuit was filed in three states involving a Motorola phone sold by Verizon Wireless. The v710 handset was equipped with a short-range wireless technology called Bluetooth and was configured to work with cordless headsets. Only one problem: Its file-transfer capabilities had been disabled. The suit insinuates that Verizon Wireless is obliging subscribers to use its cell network if they wish, for example, to send a photo taken on a camera phone to a computer or another cell phone. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=47934972 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 20:56:31 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Cyberlaw in the Supreme Court Stanford Law School http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/supreme/ On March 29, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in two cases that together will greatly determine how government can and will regulate the Internet in the future, and the impact that the public interest will have on the development of cyberlaw over the next decade. In MGM v. Grokster, the Court will decide whether copyright holders can veto consumer electronics and computing innovations that upset the content industries' prevailing business models, even where the technology's non-infringing uses provide substantial benefits to consumers. The question is whether consumer demand for new and better products will drive technological development, or copyright owners' demand for control will retard it. In Brand X v. FCC, the Court will decide whether the FCC should retain the option to regulate cable modem services to promote open access to broadband lines, universal service and network neutrality, as it did in the early days of the Internet when most people connected over common-carrier telephone lines. The question is whether tomorrow's communications services will be defined by citizen choices or by the business interests of a handful of cable broadband companies. At Cyberlaw in the Supreme Court, the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society will convene a discussion of these cases, their broader implications, and what effect the pending Supreme Court decisions could have on the public interest. Panels of attorneys litigating and arguing these cases, the parties affected by them, the policy advocates whose work will begin once the Judges rule, and the people thinking about what the legal landscape will look like for the next ten years will discuss both cases and the impact the decisions will have on the future. http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/supreme/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 20:57:21 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blogs/cooper/archives/BENEFITSofPEERtoPEER.pdf TIME FOR THE RECORDING INDUSTRY TO FACE THE MUSIC: THE POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF PEER-TO-PEER COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS Mark Cooper Director of Research, Consumer Federation of America Fellow, Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society March 2005 ISSUE BRIEF PIRACY PANICS V. THE PUBLIC INTEREST A critical debate over a technological revolution is underway in the U.S. that will have far reaching implications for economic growth and global competitiveness, technological innovation and creativity, and the capacity of an open, democratic society to adapt to breakthroughs in the way we communicate. This debate is over advances in peer-to- peer technologies and whether their growth will be driven by the capacity of human innovation or hindered by special interests reluctant to embrace change. This debate is unfolding in the U.S. court system, the halls of Congress at universities and research organizations, and among entrepreneurs everywhere from corporate boardrooms to the lone innovators looking for next great invention. If vested interests in the recording and movie industries have their way, innovation and progress will be the victim of a public relations campaign intended to paint file sharing as "piracy." Big movie studios and recording companies are attempting to squelch peer-to-peer networks just as their potential to deliver economic growth and technological progress is only beginning to be exploited. However, contrary to the copyright holder claims that peer-to-peer communications networks are copyright infringement schemes, decentralized peer-to-peer networks have become the dominant form of Internet communications because they are vastly more efficient. Peer-to-peer technologies eliminate the congestion and cost of central servers and distribute bandwidth requirements throughout the network. In so doing they become a powerful force to expand freedom of expression and the flow of information, stimulate innovation, and promote the economic interests of consumer and creative artists alike (see Exhibit EX-1). This report explains why public policy should embrace peer-to-peer technologies. It examines the history of technological innovation in communications and the "piracy panics" they cause among entrenched incumbents. For three centuries, in battles over the printing press, telegraphy, mechanical pianos, cinematography, radio, cable television, photocopying, video and audio recorders, and the current generation of digital technologies, public policy has favored technological innovation by refusing to allow copyright to regulate technology. The paper reminds policymakers of the historic lesson that technological innovation promotes political, cultural, and social development, and economic growth. The analysis demonstrates the social and economic harms of the "tyranny of copyright" that recording companies and movie studios seek to impose on peer-to-peer technologies, as well as the legal and public policy grounds for rejecting this tyranny. http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blogs/cooper/archives/BENEFITSofPEERtoPEER.pdf ------------------------------ From: akubird@gmail.com Subject: Lingo Referral Date: 26 Mar 2005 18:27:23 -0800 I recently signed up with Lingo and am very pleased with service. I'm saving a lot of money. I frequently make long distance calls from the East Coast to Australia and the sound quality is very clear. If anyone is interested in more information or a referral I can give one. akubird at gmail (dot) com ------------------------------ From: henry999@eircom.net (Henry) Subject: OT/Tangent (was Re: We Don't Need no Steenkin Line Sharing) Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 13:17:29 +0200 Organization: Elisa Internet customer Greetings. With his title 'We Don't Need no Steenkin Line Sharing', Danny Burstein is of course playing on the popular quote 'We Don't Need no Steenkin Badges'. This line is supposedly from the classic Bogart film _The Treasure of the Sierra Madre_ -- but it's not. Or, not quite. :-) When Woody Allen's _Play It Again, Sam_ came out, everybody thought that this title was also a quote. But in _Casablanca_, Rick (Bogart's character) never actually says these precise words. He says something similar, but not this exact phrase. It is similar with _Sierra Madre_. I watched this picture on video a year or so ago, and when the steenkin badges scene came I stopped the tape and carefully transcribed the dialogue. Here is what they really said. Fred C. Dobbs: If you're the police, where are your badges? Bandito leader: Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any steenkin badges! Cheers, Henry ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:52:01 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: FCC: We Don't Need no Steenkin Line Sharing Well, this certainly looks like something close to the deathknell for competition. * Original: FROM..... Dave Farber's list ------ Forwarded Message From: d berns Reply-To: Telecom Regulation & the Internet Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 13:22:57 -0500 Subject: FCC: we don't need no steenkin line sharing "The Commission has before it a petition for declaratory ruling filed by BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. (BellSouth) regarding issues stemming from the Triennial Review Order. As explained below, because the Commissions national unbundling rules in the Triennial Review Order directly address the primary issue raised by BellSouth, we grant BellSouths petition to the extent described in this Order. "Specifically, applying section 251(d)(3) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the Act), we find that a state commission may not require an incumbent local exchange carrier (LEC) to provide digital subscriber line (DSL) service to an end user customer over the same unbundled network element (UNE) loop facility that a competitive LEC uses to provide voice services to that end user. "For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that state decisions that impose such an obligation are inconsistent with and substantially prevent the implementation of the Act and the Commissions federal unbundling rules and policies set forth in the Triennial Review Order that implement sections 251(c) ..... rest at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-78A1.txt [a] http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-78A1.doc [b] http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-78A1.pdf [c] [a] messy ascii [b] Word Doc [c] PDF (most FCC material is available in all three forms. URLs are identical except for the trailing extension). Further info on the main FCC page: http://www.fcc.gov --- End of Forwarded Message --- Forwarded Message From: Bob Frankston Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 17:26:37 -0500 To: Subject: Re: [IP] FCC: we don't need no steenkin line sharing Am I missing something or is this indeed a battle over whether a given copper line has to support two over-specified protocols? (No pun, as in voice-over-data, this is over as in over-the-top). If so, then wouldn't it make more sense to focus on naked DSL with voice telephony being provided over IP? There are plenty of faux telephony providers, including the carriers themselves, who will give the illusion of line sharing for those who want it. This is an example of where an "IP-only" policy makes sense rather than fighting legacy skirmishes. I don't want to oversimplify the problem but it seems better than continuing to fight the old battles. It reminds me of the two back-to-back panel discussions on the triennial review -- the first was arguing over how it affected the purchase of switches. The second, with most of the same participants, was on VoIP because no one was buying those switches anymore. And I thought lawyers were taught not to argue moot cases outside of class and what is the Regulatorium if not moot? --- End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------ From: Alex Batson Subject: Grounding a Vonage System Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 15:50:24 -0500 Greetings: I've just subscribed to Vonage and just hooked everything up. When I press a key to clear the dial-tone, the empty line has a bit of snowy, white-noise in the background. This isn't anything that sounds like electrical interference, and there's no 'hum' in the line actually. It's not 99% silent like my Verizon land-line is, but then again, that demarc is grounded, and my Vonage isn't. Question: 1.)How can I tell which lead is Tip, and which is Ring, and which one, if either, can I connect to a good earth-ground? If I'm still off in left field, can someone give me a pointer or two, on how to lessen the snowy white-noise on a empty line? Alex ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:53:37 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Re: What's Historic? It took a bit of searching, but the URL of the full story is: http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-21/1111472186300180.xml > This item forwarded from another list (and which apparently > originated in a newspaper) calls Basking Ridge "historic." > To many of us 195 Broadway would be historic. Basking Ridge was > a johnny-come-lately and I remember the panic among Manhattan workers > and how AT&T held driving lessons for employees from NYC. > Wes Leatherock > wesrock@aol.com > Verizon to pay $125M for AT&T's 'Pagoda' Offspring to buy former > telecom giant's HQ > Tuesday, March 22, 2005 > BY GEORGE E. JORDAN > Star-Ledger Staff > Verizon has agreed to pay about $125 million for the sprawling Basking > Ridge campus that once served as the historic headquarters of AT&T, > according to five people with knowledge of the transaction. > Verizon, the nation's biggest telephone company, eventually could move > its operations center and up to 1,000 employees from Manhattan to the > 10 interconnecting buildings in Somerset County, said the sources. ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Dealing with Vonage Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:28:35 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com David B. Horvath wrote: > I finally called again on 3/24, sat on hold for a while and finally > was connected to the "retention department". It took about 5 minutes > (mostly on hold) to handle the actual cancellation. The clerk was very > helpful. When I mentioned my 3/18 call, she told me that they had > over 3,000 tickets in queue waiting for calls back and that it was "a > staffing issue" (they need more people). Oh, you think Vonage is bad? Have a gander at cancelling through Packet8: http://www.scaredpoet.com/packet8sucks In short: I cancel, but they change the TOS so conviently I owe them more money to cancel. They they put me on the wringer because they can't process my credit card for strange reason, then won't take another credit card to charge the fee, yet threatened to send a collection agency after me. Why? Not for security reasons, not becuase they thought I was a deadbeat. Simply because no one was in the mood to actually operate their credit card payment system when I called. After that, I dusted off my old Vonage ATA from a while back, swallowed my pride and had it reactivated, and have not look back. All because I was a cheapskate and wanted to save an extra $5 a month for unlimited calls. I've got a cell phone with free LD too and it does have plenty of extra minutes at the end of every month, but frankly, I prefer the sound quality of a VoIP call (which at its most minimal takes up around 15-30kpbs of bandwidth) to a cell call (which tops out at 13kbps in rare instances, but you're typically lucky to get around 8kbps and tyou can HEAR the difference). I don't think I'll ever dump my cell phone, and am glad to have it when I'm out and about, but if a VoIP or landline phone is nearby, then I'll still use it. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 14:12:14 -0500 From: Stuart Barkley Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System The article and discussion here both miss what I consider a more important issue with the EZ-pass system: There is no way to know who else is tracking the EZ-pass transponders. The transponder should have a audio and/or visual indicator whenever it is read. How else can you know that Big Brother is only reading the transponder for its intended use and instead isn't reading it in other locations for other purposes. There should also be an off switch on the unit although I can see that causing more problems with people forgetting to turn it back on before traveling through EZ-pass lanes. I've never been lost; I was once bewildered for three days, but never lost! -- Daniel Boone ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 17:49:47 -0500 In article , jack- yahoogroups@withheld says: > [Comment: Since this originates in Texas, I cannot help but wonder if > SBC had any involvement in this, even if only maybe by putting a bug > in someone's ear at the AG's office. We will probably never know, but > when I hear about something anti-VoIP coming out of Texas, that's just > the way my mind wanders.] > http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5630118.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed > By Ben Charny, CNET News.com > The attorney general of Texas is suing Internet phone provider Vonage, > charging that the company isn't clear to its customers about > deficiencies in its 911 service. > Vonage 911 calls aren't routed in the traditional manner. Rather, most > end up at the administrative offices of the 6,000 emergency calls > centers rather than dispatchers. According to Abbott, the dangers of > the circuitous route were exposed in early March when a 17-year-old > Houston girl was unable to get through to police after dialing 911 on > a Vonage phone after both her parents were shot by intruders. > In the U.S. District Court suit, announced Tuesday, Attorney General > Greg Abbott alleges that Vonage doesn't "clearly disclose the lack of > traditional 911 access" nor adequately inform its customers they must > first sign up for the free 911 service. Such an omission violates > state law dealing with deceptive trade practices, the state attorney > general alleges. The state is asking for civil penalties of more than > $20,000 and an injunction requiring more conspicuous disclosure. > A Vonage spokeswoman said the company was surprised to hear of the > litigation and pointed out there are numerous references, both on the > Internet and material mailed to customers, explaining the 911 > service's limitations and its proactive nature. Abbott's office > contacted New Jersey-based Vonage about a week ago asking for > marketing materials and other information; the company hadn't heard > anything since it replied with the materials two days ago, the > spokeswoman said. > Full story at: > http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5630118.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed > http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/index.php?p=307 > Texas sues Vonage for lack of 911 call deficiency disclosure > -Posted by Russell Shaw @ 10:17 am > Earlier today, we reported that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott > said he's sued Vonage for not being clear about the limitations of > its 911 service. > [.....] > A somewhat different circumstance prompted the lawsuit, however. Early > this month, a 17 year-old Houston girl was unable to get through to > the police on the family's Vonage line to inform them that her > parents had been shot in a break-in. > Full story at: > http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/index.php?p=307 This is ridiculous. Vonage makes it abundantly clear that the 911 service they provide isn't E-911 service unless: a) You live in Rhode Island where E-911 with VoIP works. and b) You provide the address information in the on-line control panel. I'm not certain when Vonage posted this, but it clearly states that: Your Call Will Go To A General Access Line at the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). This is different from the 911 Emergency Response Center where traditional 911 calls go. * This means your call goes to a different phone number than traditional 911 calls. Also, you will need to state the nature of your emergency promptly and clearly, including your location and telephone number, as Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) personnel will NOT have this information on hand. Service Outages Can Prevent 911 Dialing. * 911 Dialing and Vonage Service DO NOT function during an electrical power or broadband provider outage. http://www.vonage.com/features.php?feature=911&refer_id=visa From the article I found this rather amusing: 'The Bells say they want to fix the problem but that the integration with the Internet is technically complex. They flatly deny dragging their feet. "Safety and security have to be the primary concern," says Verizon's vice president of regulatory affairs.' Huh? Every switch built in the last twenty years has had upgrades to let the CLAN cards talk to the net. And Internet routing isn't exactly rocket science. Securing it gets a little more complex but nothing more than an LEC can handle. In article , ihatespam@crazyhat.net says: > In message Jack Decker > wrote: >> A Vonage spokeswoman said the company was surprised to hear of the >> litigation and pointed out there are numerous references, both on the >> Internet and material mailed to customers, explaining the 911 >> service's limitations and its proactive nature. Abbott's office >> contacted New Jersey-based Vonage about a week ago asking for >> marketing materials and other information; the company hadn't heard >> anything since it replied with the materials two days ago, the >> spokeswoman said. > I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Vonage should not be > offering 911 at all, rather, they should be highlighting the fact that > emergency call centers do not allow Vonage to route emergency calls to > the right place (so their only option is to dump the call to an > administrative number.) > Personally, I'd rather have attempts to dial 911 get the "Stop, this > phone does not have 911 service" then get through to someone who can't > or won't help. Or be aware of what Vonage can connect to and what it can't. Interestingly by setting up our E-911 system to play nicely with alternative carriers our state PUC actually got something right. Rhode Island is an interesting place, extremely business hostile but extremely savvy when it comes to telecom. How else would you explain our being the first state with an E-911 PSAP that could get GPS data, and the first and only state currently able to offer E-911 to VoIP customers. This whole thing reeks of anti-competive behavior on the part of the incumbent carriers. I would hope whatever flavor of the PUC is available in Texas steps up to the AG and tells him not to make an ass of himself because Vonage clearly states that E-911 may or may not work and that the technical issues are only monopoly games. In article , tls@panix.com says: > In article , DevilsPGD > wrote: >> In message Jack Decker >> wrote: > Your claim above "emergency call centers do not allow..." is false; in > fact, it's a key element of Vonage's public-relations effort on this > issue. > *If* Vonage were willing to pay the same fees other local exchange > carriers pay for 911 connectivity *in each LATA*, *then* Vonage could > route 911 calls correctly. Avoiding this *cost* has been a major > competitive win for Vonage all along and it is hard to not see it as > a major reason, if not _the_ reason, why Vonage has fought state > regulation as a local exchange carrier: by avoiding regulatory mandates > like 911 service standards Vonage avoids the cost of compliance. > What is truly irresponsible is to offer a "911" service that does not > have the same user experience that Americans have been trained to expect > from 911 for several decades. In a just world, Vonage would pay and pay > indeed for their decision to make the provision of such a service part > of their public-relations effort aimed at avoiding service quality > regulation. This is a choice they made, not one they had forced on > them; there are VoIP providers out there that did the right thing. > People's safety in emergency situations should be quite simply out of > bounds for this kind of political maneuvering. Of course, it's not, > but darn it, it ought to be. Interestingly the costs for E-911 staff and facilities in RI is paid for by the state, not Verizon. Verizons only cost is the database. I like that fact that our system is set up to stick it to Verizon. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:04:06 -0500 In article , bonomi@host122.r- bonomi.com says: > In article , > Dan Lanciani wrote: >> kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net (Tony P.) wrote: >>> Sort of how the FCC has pretty much admitted that anyone with a >>> modicum of technical knowledge will be able to defeat the broadcast >>> flag. >> I think you've mentioned this before, but what does it mean? The >> system as originally conceived requires the digital representation of >> flagged content to be protected by encryption on bus and media. I >> have more than a modicum of technical knowledge and I don't see an >> easy way around the proposed system in concept. Has the original >> system been abandoned? Or are you aware of some implementation flaw? > *Somewhere* in the TV set, the signal has to get decrypted, before it > can be presented to the CRT, or other actual 'display'. > Thus there *is* a "cleartext" signal running around inside the box. > Thus, someone with a reasonable amount of skill can 'tap' the cleartext > signal, and "voila!" > And there's always the "idiot method" -- just point a camcorder at the TV. Thank you for that. Of course it runs clear somewhere in the set -- all you need to do is tap that signal. Funny you mention the camcorder. A coworker and I are geeks to the nth and considered that the only thing they can never stop. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:06:53 -0500 In article , quinnm@bah.com says: > Dave, > I'm pretty sure these are illegal in the US&P(ossessions). One of the > issues was interference with Air Traffic Control communications > systems, as I recall. Someone on the list may be able to cite chapter > and verse from US Code, or FCC regs. I may have saved a Navy > Department spectrum management brief on the subject; if so, I'll > forward off net. Many of these units are smack dab in the middle of the amateur 2m band. Interestingly I as a licensed amateur could possess and use one, so long as I kept to Part 97 rules, which include identifying with my call sign at regular periods. It's pretty much an auto-patch to be precise. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: More 'Tweens' Going Mobile; Long-Term Health Risks Unclear Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:14:09 -0500 In article , monty@roscom.com says: > By Associated Press | March 21, 2005 > CHICAGO -- There were two things 11-year-old Patty Wiegner really, > really, really wanted for Christmas. One was a furry, playful dog > that's now filling her parents' home with the sound of barking. The > other gift makes a different kind of noise -- it has a ring tone that > mimics rapper 50 Cent's hit song 'Candy Shop.' I'm not sure what I'd be more concerned about. Should it be the RF exposure to tender young brain tissue, or the fact that said eleven year old knows what "Candy Shop" is referring to or has actually listened to the lyrics of the song. In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com says: > Monty Solomon wrote: >> By Associated Press | March 21, 2005 >> CHICAGO -- There were two things 11-year-old Patty Wiegner really, >> really, really wanted for Christmas. One was a furry, playful dog >> that's now filling her parents' home with the sound of barking. The >> other gift makes a different kind of noise -- it has a ring tone that >> mimics rapper 50 Cent's hit song 'Candy Shop.' > My initial knee-jerk reaction would be to object to kids having cell > phones. But then I remember my teenage days and it seemed the phone > was attached to my ear. And in my parents' day, the phones in the > corner candy stores were quite busy. > However, this was when I was in high school, not elementary school. > I'm not so thrilled about the idea of "tweens" or younger kids having > cell phones. (A friend gave his 9-year-old one last Christmas.) > Of course, these days kids are far more isolated than we were. We > were in the city or more built-up suburbs where there were plenty of > friends within walking distance. Today kids have to be driven to > practically any kind of activity otherwise they're isolated. (Also > parents want more control over their kids than ours did.) That is what we get for fleeing the urban core cities. The costs of that are coming back in spades. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are lots of things wrong with the urban core, inner city. I am sorry you feel that those of us who wanted something better in life did what you call 'fleeing'. I know you would _never_ get me back to Chicago for example. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:28:02 -0500 In article , donestuardo@yahoo.com says: > I have a nearly new cell phone jammer for sale -- range is > approximately 30 metres in radius. Model MONIX MGB-1S cellular Jammer. > Used only one week (and then the tenant was gone! - hint great for > getting rid of loser tenants who depend on their cell phones for > calls). > Includes unit, plus 2 attennas, and a power cable and transformer for > North American Standard power. > Asking price $395 plus shipping. > I am located in Canada. > Please email me at donestuardo (AT Sign) yahoo.com or call me on my > cell at (416) 458-0012 and I will be happy to go over details with you. > Thanks, > Stew > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Why is a person who relies on a cell > phone for their communications a 'loser'? Good luck finding someone > willing to buy this evil device. :( PAT] To add to your comments, this is also a serious no-no in the eyes of the FCC. I'm waiting for the first emergency to take place and a cell phone jammer is incorporated. Seems that we get less confrontational as time goes on. Instead of posting notice that offenders will be violated, we go out and buy cell phone jammers. But cell phones are a curse to some degree. A local University that shall remain nameless instituted a no cell phone policy for students. That quickly went downhill when professors cell phones would ring during class time, etc. For those of us in continuing education, that was even more interesting. For example, at the time I was working for the state AG, I HAD to keep my cell phone on. But at least I had the common sense to put it on vibrate. One professor told me he always knew when my phone went off because I'd jolt up a bit. Beepilepsy indeed. What is really amusing about this is that Stew has posted a Bell Mobility cell number. Anyone know if Bell Mobility charges the subscriber for incoming calls? Hmmmm ... we could give this the same treatment we give to those who post their 800 numbers trying to sell wares that are offensive to us. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: 911, Taxes, and Fees, was: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:40:17 -0500 In article , dannyb@panix.com says: > Thor Lancelot Simon wrote: >> *If* Vonage were willing to pay the same fees other local exchange >> carriers pay for 911 connectivity *in each LATA*, *then* Vonage could >> route 911 calls correctly. Avoiding this *cost* has been a major >> competitive win for Vonage all along and it is hard to not see it as >> a major reason, if not _the_ reason, why Vonage has fought state >> regulation as a local exchange carrier: by avoiding regulatory mandates >> like 911 service standards Vonage avoids the cost of compliance. > So let me get this straight. Local (and state) gov'ts pretend that a > 911 PSAP (Public Safety Answering Position) isn't part of the standard > functions of government, and therefore they get the telcos to pass > through a separate "911 fee" (read tax). > Oh, for good measure, if you look at umptity audits you'll find that > the amount of the "911 fee" has next to nothing to do with how much > money is acually put into the PSAP. To the government, it's all one > big pot of money. Indeed -- here in Rhode Island all receipts go into a thing called the General Fund. Bad, bad, bad, bad. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 21:22:45 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Last Laugh! A Field Guide to Experts - Oxman et al. 329 (7480): If you want the whole article, which is very funny, let me know. It is long (23K in stripped form) Unfortunately the illustrations did not come with this copy. To get them, see the original file, or download the PDF. http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/bmj;329/7480/1460 BMJ 2004;329:1460-1463 (18 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7480.1460 This article PDF http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/329/7480/1460 Experts' eye view A field guide to experts Andrew D Oxman, researcher1, Iain Chalmers, editor2, Alessandro Liberati, researcher3 on behalf of the World Artifexology Group 1 Informed Choice Research Department, Norwegian Health Services Research Centre, PO Box 0130, Oslo, Norway, 2 James Lind Library, Oxford, 3 University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and Agenzia Sanitaria Regionale, Bologna, Italy Correspondence to: A D Oxman oxman{at}online.no Experts are common but not well understood. This guide introduces novice expert spotters to the essentials of artifexology the study of experts A field guide to experts An expert is a man who has stopped thinking he knows! Frank Lloyd Wright Experts are a little understood family within the phylum Chordata. Many people mistakenly believe them to have well developed egos, winged words, and dull plumage. In fact, they typically have immature egos (which explains their incessant self flattery), rudimentary wings (which is why they fly first class), and exotic plumage (to detract from their vulnerability). Despite their deficiencies, experts can be dangerous. Our brief field guide to artifexology (the study of experts) should help people to protect themselves from the insidious influence of experts. Apologia An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less. Nicholas Murray Butler Who are we to write a field guide to experts? By its very nature, artifexology is a non-expert field of study. As soon as one becomes an expert in artifexology one becomes the subject of one's own studies, thus arriving at a sticky end up one's own cloaca. Unsurprisingly, we insist that this guide has been written by amateurs for amateurs. Deeply tanned experts top the pecking order Credit: MARTIN ECCLES <<> ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V24 #133 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Mar 28 19:48:34 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2T0mYH24207; Mon, 28 Mar 2005 19:48:34 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 19:48:34 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503290048.j2T0mYH24207@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 V24 #134 TELECOM Digest Mon, 28 Mar 2005 19:49:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 134 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Major Hangups Over the iPod Phone (Monty Solomon) This Shark Is Missing Some Teeth (Monty Solomon) Comcast Does Digital Video Recording (Monty Solomon) 'Mommy, I'm Losing You. Pick Me Up at Brownies' (Monty Solomon) FCC: Phone Companies Don't Have to Sell DSL Stand-Alone (Jack Decker) Communications Companies Form Security Alliance (Telecom dailyLead USTA) Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S (Fred Atkinson) Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S (Joseph) Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S (Isaiah Beard) Re: Grounding a Vonage System (Isaiah Beard) Re: Grounding a Vonage System (Scott Dorsey) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Dan Lanciani) Re: OT/Tangent (was Re: We Don't Need no Steenkin Line Sharing) (P Lee) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (Isaiah Beard) Re: Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music (Lisa Hancock) Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (Lisa Hancock) Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem (Justin Time) Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones? (John Bartley) Re: Lingo Referral (John Levine) Employment Opportunity or Scam Opportunity? (TELECOM Digest Editor) 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: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 23:08:28 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Major Hangups Over the iPod Phone NEWS ANALYSIS :TECH By Roger O. Crockett Cellular carriers such as Verizon and Cingular are hesitant to sell the Apple-Motorola gizmo. Here's why: It seemed like a sure thing: the iPod mobile phone. What could be more irresistible than a device combining the digital-music prowess of Apple Computer (AAPL ) with the wireless expertise of Motorola (MOT )? Motorola sent its buzz machinery into overdrive in January when it leaked word that the product would debut at a cellular-industry conference in New Orleans in mid-March. Well, hold the phone. At the New Orleans confab, a frustrated Edward Zander, Motorola's chief executive, stood before a roomful of analysts and reporters and said the handset's debut would have to wait. Why? Zander said Motorola and Apple want to hold off until the phone is closer to hitting store shelves. But three industry sources say a lack of support from such giant cellular operators as Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless was instrumental in delaying the unveiling. So far, the wireless companies are reluctant to promote the Motorola-Apple phone. Behind the clash are two very different views of the future of music on mobile phones. Motorola and Apple would let customers put any digital tune they already own on their phones for free. That would help Motorola sell more phones, and it would help Apple expand its dominance of digital music. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2005/tc20050324_7462_tc024.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 23:15:51 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: This Shark Is Missing Some Teeth PRODUCT REVIEW By Stephen Baker Griffin's gizmo records and downloads audio broadcasts. But it can't handle Internet radio, so you're limited to local fare. The Good Like TiVo for radio, it records favorite shows The Bad Reception can be iffy, and program slows the computer The Bottom Line Improvements are needed before it's ready for mainstream listeners A sleek white fin rises from the clutter on my desk. Salsa music pours out of the computer speakers. Only five minutes after unpacking Griffin Technology's RadioSHARK -- a TiVo-like service for radio -- it's up and running. Great start. RadioSHARK, which retails for $69.95, promises just the type of time-shifting service that radio-lovers have been clamoring for. It captures radio signals the old-fashioned way, through that fin-like antenna, and its software puts a radio tuner right on the computer screen, whether it's a PC or Macintosh. It records programming on a hard drive and even dumps it into iPod and MP3 music players. In this, RadioSHARK mimics podcasting. That's the current rage in audio, in which listeners download programming from the Internet and listen to it on the go. What's not to like? Unfortunately, a few things. The biggest problem is that RadioSHARK relies on over-the-air signals for its feed. This means that reception is only as good as it is on a normal transistor radio. On our 43rd floor office in Manhattan, the FM signal is strong, AM picks up nothing. No Yankee broadcasts for me. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2005/tc20050328_5522_tc117.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 23:25:51 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Comcast Does Digital Video Recording Cable company offers a TiVo alternative -- but can this device compete? Liane Cassavoy, PC World Friday, March 18, 2005 If you can't stand to leave home knowing you might miss an episode of Lost or 24, you need a digital video recorder. Gone are the days of the VCR -- today's DVRs let you schedule recordings of your favorite shows and replay them at your convenience. And you don't have to shell out big bucks to get one. Several big-name cable companies, including Comcast, are offering DVRs to subscribers for a monthly fee. So how do these "rental" DVRs stack up to ReplayTV and TiVo? I put Comcast's DVR to the test and found that, while the price may be right, the device is certainly not perfect. http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,120090,00.asp ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 13:56:31 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: 'Mommy, I'm Losing You. Pick Me Up at Brownies' By WALTER S. MOSSBERG If you think there are already way too many people talking way too much, in way too many places, on mobile phones, brace yourself: a whole new demographic is about to join the mobile phone-toting army. Apparently, some parents think it's a good idea to give a cellphone to their preteen children. And, ever anxious to please, the technology industry is ready with just such a gadget. A new company, Firefly Mobile Inc., has introduced a small, colorful, cellphone that fits comfortably into the hands of kids aged 8 through 12, and is greatly simplified so kids can easily use it. But the phone is also designed to strictly limit what the kids can do with it and to give parents control. For instance, there is no key pad for dialing; out of the box, the phone can dial only numbers programmed into its phone book and large direct-dial buttons, presumably by parents. My assistant Katie Boehret and I have been testing this mini phone, and we liked its kid-oriented features. Among other things, Firefly has a 911 button on its side for emergencies and its battery isn't removable because, according to the company's CEO, kids put their tongues on batteries. http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/solution-20050323.html ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 11:10:56 -0500 Subject: FCC: Phone Companies Don't Have to Sell DSL as a Stand-Alone Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.detnews.com/2005/technology/0503/27/tech-129887.htm By Yuki Noguchi / The Washington Post WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission announced Friday that states cannot require regional phone companies to sell high-speed Internet service as a stand-alone product. The 3 to 2 decision along party lines, voted on last week and released Friday, was a victory for BellSouth Corp., which had asked the commission for a ruling in 2003. The ruling effectively gives BellSouth and other regional giants an advantage over competitors trying to sell alternative phone service. Democratic Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps dissented, calling the practice of "tying" phone service to high-speed Internet service anti-competitive. In doing so, Copps and Adelstein echoed the concerns of smaller carriers and Internet phone providers such as Vonage Holdings Corp., which have argued that requiring customers to buy Internet access and phone service from a single provider limits consumers' choices. "If it is permissible to deny consumers DSL if they do not also order ... voice service, what stops a carrier from denying broadband service to an end-user who has cut the cord and uses only a wireless phone?" the Democrats wrote in a joint statement. Full story at: http://www.detnews.com/2005/technology/0503/27/tech-129887.htm How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have said before that the best thing to do, IMO, is go with cable internet _whenever possible_ and try to avoid Bell and its DSL completely, for just these same reasons. Bell has a long, sordid history of being very tricky and difficult to deal with. If cable internet is not available, then of course take Bell service and its DSL, but watch for any possible opportunity -- such as cable being installed or expanded in your area -- to break away to a competitive CLEC and cable internet, such as I have done, now two years ago with Prairie Stream and Cable One. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 13:31:23 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Communications Companies Form Network Security Alliance Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 28, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20388&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Communications companies form network security alliance BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * It's decision time for MCI * Huawei seeks to clarify report * WiMAX startup raises Vonage's ire * NTP pursues wireless e-mail patent disputes USTA SPOTLIGHT * Announcing Phone Facts Plus 2005 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Network DVRs could alter business in a heartbeat, study says REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * FCC backs BellSouth in stand-alone DSL ruling * File-sharing case goes before U.S. Supreme Court this week Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20388&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 23:52:56 -0500 > But cell phones are a curse to some degree. A local University that > shall remain nameless instituted a no cell phone policy for students. > That quickly went downhill when professors cell phones would ring during > class time, etc. That's nothing. Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee has an interesting policy to allow interconnect to the campus network. When my first niece went off to school, several family members gave me money to purchase the parts needed for me to put a nice computer together for her to take off to school with her. In addition to a number of other pieces of hardware, I put a dial up modem and a NIC card in it. It was a fairly common one (in fact my PC has the same model in it). When she got there, she called me and said that the folks at TNU said her NIC card was no good and they wanted to charge her ninety dollars to install a 3Com card in it. I didn't believe it was defective and told her not to pay them to install that card. After a couple of days, she called me again and told me that they wouldn't hook her up until a 3Com card was installed. I called the I.T. department at TNU and asked what was going on. I was told that the school policy said that only 3Com NIC cards could be used to connect to the campus network. Needless to say I was a little upset that they were going to make me drop another ninety dollars into that computer. But, I wasn't going to let them get the money. I called around and found a deal on a 3Com card and had them ship it to her at school. Fortunately, she had a classmate that was a Saturday afternoon PC tech. He installed it for her and got her connected to the network. I spoke to the dean at the school where I was taking computer networking classes. He told me that while this was completely unorthodox, that TNU was far from being the only school doing something so ridiculous. His own daughter went to a school that required a specific brand (and I don't remember what he said it was except that it wasn't a 3Com card). She had to fork out fifty dollars for the card and sold it to another student when she graduated. I wish someone in a position to do so would blow the whistle on this practice of soaking the students for the money for these cards. It's unethical at best. Fred [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Other than the fact that she apparently was not able to hook herself up to the network, I wonder how the school would know what was or wasn't there. In other words, if she now were to open the computer and install the original card in there instead, how would the school ever find out, or do they search dorm rooms looking for contraband hardware, etc? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 08:09:25 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:28:02 -0500, Tony P. wrote: > Anyone know if Bell Mobility charges the subscriber for incoming calls? > Hmmmm ... we could give this the same treatment we give to those who post > their 800 numbers trying to sell wares that are offensive to us. All North American mobile providers charge for incoming as well as outgoing calls except for some Nextel and Fido plans. It's been that way for the last twenty years. The same thing will happen to you if you call from your phone. The subscriber who you called files a complaint with his provider and they come after you and slap the law on you for harrassment. ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 11:42:38 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Tony P. wrote: > In article , donestuardo@yahoo.com > says: >> I have a nearly new cell phone jammer for sale -- range is >> approximately 30 metres in radius. Model MONIX MGB-1S cellular Jammer. ... >> Please email me at donestuardo (AT Sign) yahoo.com or call me on my >> cell at (416) 458-0012 and I will be happy to go over details with you. > What is really amusing about this is that Stew has posted a Bell > Mobility cell number. > Anyone know if Bell Mobility charges the subscriber for incoming calls? From their website, Bell Mobility in Ontario appears to use "bucket" minute plans, with a limited peak bucket of minutes that are used for incoming and outgoing calls, similar to the US, and a per minute charge for incoming and outgoing calls once you exceed that limit. The bucket is VERY limited though, on the order of 30 to 200 minutes depending on how much you want to spend. On the other hand, nights and weekends are free and unlimited. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Grounding a Vonage System Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 11:45:20 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Alex Batson wrote: > Greetings: > I've just subscribed to Vonage and just hooked everything up. When I > press a key to clear the dial-tone, the empty line has a bit of snowy, > white-noise in the background. This isn't anything that sounds like > electrical interference, and there's no 'hum' in the line actually. > It's not 99% silent like my Verizon land-line is, but then again, that > demarc is grounded, and my Vonage isn't. Actually, it *should* be grounded in a sense, through the electrical connection it requires. Are you using a Linksys PAP2? There is a known issue with some of these units where background "static" is heavy. You should call either Vonage or Linksys and complain, or if you bought the unit retail and are still within your return period, go back and exchange the unit. Other users have gotten their PAP2s replaced for this same problem. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: Grounding a Vonage System Date: 28 Mar 2005 14:05:32 -0500 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) Alex Batson wrote: > I've just subscribed to Vonage and just hooked everything up. When I > press a key to clear the dial-tone, the empty line has a bit of snowy, > white-noise in the background. This isn't anything that sounds like > electrical interference, and there's no 'hum' in the line actually. > It's not 99% silent like my Verizon land-line is, but then again, that > demarc is grounded, and my Vonage isn't. Yes, this is there so that you know something is connected up. > Question: 1.)How can I tell which lead is Tip, and which is Ring, and > which one, if either, can I connect to a good earth-ground? DO NOT DO THIS. The phone line is balanced. If you connect either leg to ground, you will screw the balancing up. What is grounded in the demarc is a surge suppression device, NOT the line. > If I'm still off in left field, can someone give me a pointer or two, > on how to lessen the snowy white-noise on a empty line? Don't use the Cisco VoIP boxes. --scott "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 01:21:17 EST From: Dan Lanciani Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net (Tony P.) wrote: > In article , bonomi@host122.r- > bonomi.com says: >> In article , >> Dan Lanciani wrote: >>> kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net (Tony P.) wrote: >>>> Sort of how the FCC has pretty much admitted that anyone with a >>>> modicum of technical knowledge will be able to defeat the broadcast >>>> flag. >>> I think you've mentioned this before, but what does it mean? The >>> system as originally conceived requires the digital representation of >>> flagged content to be protected by encryption on bus and media. I >>> have more than a modicum of technical knowledge and I don't see an >>> easy way around the proposed system in concept. Has the original >>> system been abandoned? Or are you aware of some implementation flaw? >> *Somewhere* in the TV set, the signal has to get decrypted, before it >> can be presented to the CRT, or other actual 'display'. >> Thus there *is* a "cleartext" signal running around inside the box. >> Thus, someone with a reasonable amount of skill can 'tap' the cleartext >> signal, and "voila!" >> And there's always the "idiot method"-just point a camcorder at the TV. > Thank you for that. Of course it runs clear somewhere in the set -- all > you need to do is tap that signal. Except that (according to the original proposal) it won't run in the clear anywhere you can "tap" without relatively sophisticated die probing equipment. Are you aware of some change in the approach or are you just assuming that the manufacturers will screw up the implementation? If the latter, remember that the original proposal also incorporates key revocation for compromised device families. > Funny you mention the camcorder. A coworker and I are geeks to the nth > and considered that the only thing they can never stop. Except that that has nothing to do with defeating the broadcast flag. Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com ------------------------------ From: Paul A Lee Subject: Re: OT/Tangent (was Re: We Don't Need no Steenkin Line Sharing) Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 10:49:22 -0500 Organization: Rite Aid Corporation In TELECOM Digest V24 #133, henry999@eircom.net (Henry) wrote (in part): > Greetings. With his title 'We Don't Need no Steenkin Line > Sharing', Danny Burstein is of course playing on the popular > quote 'We Don't Need no Steenkin Badges'. This line is > supposedly from the classic Bogart film _The Treasure of the > Sierra Madre_ -- but it's not. Or, not quite. > I watched this picture on video a year or so ago, and when the > steenkin badges scene came I stopped the tape and carefully > transcribed the dialogue. Here is what they really said. > Fred C. Dobbs: If you're the police, where are your badges? > Bandito leader: Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need > no badges! I don't have to show you any steenkin badges! The actual "Badges? We don't need no steenking badges!" line came from Mel Brooks' classic, "Blazing Saddles", and was perhaps an homage to the "Sierra Madre" dialog. As Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) interviewed and "deputized" an array of villains, he offered deputy's badges to a group of stereotypical Mexican banditos. The bandito leader's response was, "Badges...!? We don' need no steenking badges! manos!" 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 ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 11:36:18 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Stuart Barkley wrote: > other purposes. > There should also be an off switch on the unit although I can see that > causing more problems with people forgetting to turn it back on before > traveling through EZ-pass lanes. There actually is a rather low-tech measure that works very well: there's a plastic container bag that comes with every ez-pass transponder, and is coated with RF-blocking material. It looks a lot like very sturdy, semi-trasparent foil. The EZ-pass instruction booklets tell users that if they are concerned for any reason that their transponder might be read in an instance where they don't want it to be, they can remove the transponder from its windshield mount and place it in the bag, ensuring that the transponder will not be read. Not as convenient as an off switch, but it does solve the problem of people not being aware of the unit being "off" when they in fact want it "on." If it's in the bag, it's off. If it's on the windshield, then it's on. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music Date: 28 Mar 2005 10:00:52 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Monty Solomon wrote: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blogs/cooper/archives/BENEFITSofPEERtoPEER.pdf > TIME FOR THE RECORDING INDUSTRY TO FACE THE MUSIC: THE POLITICAL, > SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF PEER-TO-PEER COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS The popular view of this issue seems to be "screw the recording companies". I don't agree. People have a Constitutional right (and a moral one too) to be compensated for their creative efforts. Like it or not, the recording industry provides a conduit for artists to distribute their works to a widespread general public and be compensated accordingly. Any system that would lead to so much free copying that would crimp that compensation is wrong and some sort of control is needed. So, the issue isn't whether there should be controls, but what kind of controls are appropriate. I, for example, copy music from a CD or phonograph record onto a tape cassette that is easier for me to listen to. I wouldn't want to be prohibited from making such copies since I properly paid for the music in the first place. The challenge of the Internet is that the technology makes it really easy to make perfect copies and distribute them widely. Sure, in the past one could borrow a record and tape it and plenty of people did just that. But that still took some effort and quality suffered; often it was easier just to buy your own record. Today it's no effort at all and quality is perfect. The recording industry isn't blameless either. In the past, one could buy inexpensive 45s of a single song they liked, that's hard and more expensive today. The cost of CDs seem to be much more than records were even allowing for inflation. Given that it's easy and cheap to make CDs today, they should sell singles just like 45s of the old days. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Date: 28 Mar 2005 10:38:28 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Tony P. wrote: > 'The Bells say they want to fix the problem but that the integration > with the Internet is technically complex. They flatly deny dragging > their feet. "Safety and security have to be the primary concern," says > Verizon's vice president of regulatory affairs.' I am not a technical expert, but I do agree that security is a much more serious issue today than in years past. The fact is we have hackers and saboteurs (virus writers) out for harm. They spend hours of time trying to penetrate networks, to gain any foothold they can and worm their way as far inside as they can. This isn't anything new, but the potential for damage has increased as society is more dependent than ever on open networks that are penetrable. To give one example, there was an Internet scam that secretly had a user's modem turn off sound and dial very expensive foreign countries to generate huge phone receipts. We don't want VOIP to be used for scams. > This whole thing reeks of anti-competive behavior on the part of the > incumbent carriers. ... and that the technical issues are only > monopoly games. I have strong doubts whether this charge is true. During the 1970s I heard this charge filed many times against the old Bell System about competing long distance service and customer owned equipment. But at the same time, I also saw many situations where the competing long distance failed or the customer equipment failed and the Bell System got the blame or was expected to somehow make it right. I saw many naive computer users get angry at Bell for refusing to fix their broken terminal because it was a non-Bell modem on it -- people certainly should not have expected Bell to fix someone else's product! Yet they did. Likewise when MCI failed to complete a call (as it did often) Bell got wrongly blamed. After divesture many people bought cheapo phones that broke easily and had lousy sound quality, making communiation impossible. (I finally told some friends I wouldn't talk to them over their cheapo phone and they agreed). Anyway, today the cable companies lay their own fibre cable and has their own broadband infrastructure fully independent of Bell. They offer phone service. So today there is no need to hook up with the old Bell company at all. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And something else I thought was a pretty bad abuse was MCI and Sprint getting companies to sign up on *their* networks and then the companies would encourage people to use MCI/Sprint, ... "but for directory assistance, just use Bell and dial 555-1212 since it is 'free'; Sprint/MCI will charge us for their network." so people were to get free directory from Bell but use the cheaper carriers to place the actual calls. And people wonder why Bell started charging for calls to D.A. ! PAT] ------------------------------ From: Justin Time Subject: Re: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem Date: 28 Mar 2005 12:02:03 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Aside for a minute the fact that I do > not approve of 311 or the idea of police acting as the Answering > Service for the entire government, which is what they would like, > let's just talk about your cellular comparison. Yes, if you came here > to visit from wherever, your cellular call to 911 would get routed as > you say. But you have had a stroke, or for some other reason are > unable/unwilling to speak, what _display_ will the 911 person _here_ > receive? Your east coast address/phone number ID will be useless ... > will it give the outgoing phone number of the local tower? What good > will that do? To answer the question about what number is shown at the PSAP. I would have to say it depends on what the PSAP is capable of receiving. Now, before you say that is a cop-out, in this city all cellular calls come in on dedicated trunk groups. So immediately the operator knows it is a cellular call. The location given, and this is from memory from working with it a couple of years ago is that of the cell tower. As far as locating a cell phone from a cell tower, it takes a while but it can be done through triangulation. One has to assume the signal is being seen by multiple towers, but the tower having the best reception will be the primary tower for handling the call. > By using GSM, I suppose _your_ phone could transmit to > _our_ tower some string to be used as your 'temporary location' to be > passed along as the 'ID' to _our_ dispatcher ... that might work. As far as GSM, or CDMA or IDEN transmitting your location by using GPS, this is possible. But not all phones are GPS enabled nor have all cellular carriers upgraded all their equipment to handle reporting of GPS data and not all PSAPs have been upgraded to receive the data. This is a technology that is very much in progress and is being deployed. The deployment isn't as quick as some would like, but it is being rolled out. In fact I am currently testing one of the latest converged devices from a major manufacturer and it is not GPS enabled even though it was released within the past 90 days. > Maybe VOIP could do something similar: A call on a VOIP phone to 911 > would be intercepted by the broadband carrier handling your traffic > and routed _from that point_ over a phone line to the local 911 spot. > I do not honestly know _how_ Vonage handles it; only that they warn > you repeatedly prior to getting the adapter turned on that "if you > wish to use 911 from this adapter, you _must_ tell us the main address > (house number, apartment number, etc) where the police or firemen or > doctor or whoever is to go to find you and your distress. We need > that information to make 911 work. It is _not_ optional." Then two or > three days later they advise you the work is finished. Yes, the issue with getting 911 turned on with VOIP, whether it be Vonage or one of the other carriers is something that has to be worked out. With your statement above you are beginning to see some of the technical issues with attempting to tie everything back to a telephone number. If you take your Vonage adapter and a telephone from Independence to Tulsa and make a 9-1-1 call, what PSAP is going to get the call? From the description you have provided it will be the one tied to the location information given when you enabled the service. This isn't much help in Tulsa. If you had the boundary router or some other device route the call based on where it was first received, how would you track it back to the physical location? Unlike a cell phone you aren't hitting different points with different signal strengths that can be triangulated, and the last time I checked, GPS doesn't work indoors. > I should also point out that a 911 call is a rarity here; there are > one or two per _day_ between the various places they respond for, > including Independence PD, 'Independence Rural', Montomgery County > Sheriff, Cherryvale, KS PD (overnight, when the one officer on duty > there is the only staff person on duty in the town of 2000 people). > And, she answers the City Hall centrex, and is the receptionist for > the Police Department which is in the basement of our City Hall. > And, on the occassion of a 911 call arriving, she _immediatly_ says > on the radio 'nine one one call, stand by ... ' which means all the > officers on the street, etc who may be chattering on the radio know > to shut up and wait and listen. Using my scanner, I will hear her > sometimes 'patching in her headset line' and a one-way conversation > while she questions the caller: 'which way did you see them go? what > kind of car was it, etc' and she will repeat back to the caller (and > over the air of course) whatever the caller told her; officers all > over southeast Kansas listening in and ready to move out if it > involves their area. The overwhelming majority of our 'crime' around > here involves teenagers and other young guys who are rowdy and very > possibly had been drinking. They (police) also claim there is a > 'terrible problem with drugs' here; my local attorney just laughs > and says "that is the usual police BS; they find some kid with a bunch > of old cola bottles and the powder that _could_ be used to make > meth so police claim the kid has a 'meth lab' going on". The usual > give and take you find between police and defense lawyers everywhere. > PAT] While Independence handles 1 or 2 emergency calls per day, this city handles between 20 and 40 an hour with more, up to 200, during peak periods. This includes the true emergencies where a police or fire & EMS response is needed to the calls about potholes, trash, illegally parked cars, and time-of-day requests. With 20 operators on duty and over 100 calls in an hour means a call is coming in about every 100 seconds. Now, add a mix of numbers coming in on the administrative lines, like 3-1-1, and you have a good chance the emergency on the non-emergency line is not going to be answered, sometimes for several minutes. You can imagine the hew and cry that would be raised because their emergency, however legitimate, wasn't answered immediately. Now to give you an idea of call flow, the call is taken by a trained operator. The operator asks the diagnostic questions to determine the type of emergency, takes necessary data to fill in the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) entries and the computer sends the call to the appropriate dispatcher. The dispatcher, based on the CAD data selects the closest unit for response and assigns the call a priority. If the call is for medical services or the fire department, once the call data is logged it is transferred to Fire / EMS for dispatch. The call taker remains on the line to be certain a police response is not required before disconnecting (like an auto accident with injuries). If police response is also required, the CAD data is then sent to the police dispatcher for action as well. If police response is not required the call taker is then available to take the next call in queue, 9-1-1 calls first. While it is the responsibility of the government to protect its citizens and visitors, the costs of the equipment and personnel handling emergency calls are _partially_ offset by the fees collected. This is where the VOIP callers end up on the wrong queue. As they refuse to collect and pay the fees, their calls are not priority but administrative. Rodgers Platt ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 13:07:28 -0800 (PST) From: John Bartley Subject: Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones? First poster: >>> I'm living in a rural Alaskan town and traditional cell service is >>> spotty to none, even with an old bag phone and roof antenna so I was >>> thinking that this could be an interesting approach to local mobile >>> phone service. Sorry, if it uses frequencies illegal for use in the US, its use is illegal. Indiscriminate use of the "230-450MHz" band described for that device elsewhere: http://www2.dslreports.com/forum/remark,12419431~mode=flat~days=9999~start could trash a lot of navigation devices. How well received would you be if you trashed a nav beacon, in AK where bush pilots are a necesssity? I would be *very* specific with anyone selling such a device that you want to know what frequencies *specifically* are used, and have them show you in the FCC regs how they are exempt. Ask them for the 'FCC ID' number for the equipment. Then, check with the FCC field office, or confirm at the FCC website: https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm >> I highly doubt that it is legal in the U.S. However, modifying your >> 802.11 gear and using say a PalmOS type machine with an 802.11 card >> you could probably cobble together a VoIP solution that has a linear >> range of 11 miles or so, depending on what type and pattern of >> radiator you decide to use. However, again, if the modifications exceed what's permissible under Part 15 rules, you're again violating FCC regs. Adding a high-gain antenna can, under some circumstances, require reducing power on your wireless access point. A complex formula determins what's permissible. http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/1428941 On Thu, 24 Mar 2005, Dave wrote: > Other then costs and time involved in getting a tech class ham > license, can someone estimate what the costs and legalities involved > in setting up a mobile radio system with a (pseudo-encrypted) PSTN > gateway? Encryption or pseudo-encryption is not allowed under FCC regs for the amateur bands. Although inverted-modulation is permitted in GPRS devices, phone patches for them are not. > Then I could 'legally' do what these devices do. The > terrain is pretty open and flat and I have a barn that I could mount > my equipment on which is above the treeline. At least if i'm going to > burn additional dead dinosaurs I can have a higher 'gee-whiz' factor. > Or should I just say forget this idea and go back to Iridium? There's another possibility which would be cheaper and more reliable than anything else mentioned so far; better antennas for your bag phone. Just because the antenna's on the roof does not mean it's got adequate gain for what you need. Here's one high gain store-bought antenna: http://www.antennaworld.com/eshop/Default.ASP?WCI=ItemDetails&WCE=CLR-83514Y http://www.arcelect.com/High_gain_Yagi_and_High_gain_antenna.htm And, if there's a mountain in the way, set up a passive repeater in a location which can see both your home and the cell tower you're trying to hit. A passive antenna is just two antennas, attached to each other, with no electronics; one aimed at your home QTH and another at the cell tower you are trying to hit. Then, aim the home antenna at the passive repeater. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Mike Sandman has a similar antenna device in his catalog http://sandman.com and I have one of them but never much need it these days. Its an indoor antenna mounted on a tripod which you set next to a window then plug it into the external antenna jack on your cellular phone. Back in my early days this time around here in Independence, when I was using the AT&T phone which always seemed to look for a Tulsa-based tower whenever it could, that external antenna on a tripod helped quite a bit. Mike also has a device which is mounted outdoors somewhere with a good clear line of sight to the base, then it 'repeats' its signal all around your home or office. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 28 Mar 2005 03:27:06 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Lingo Referral Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I recently signed up with Lingo and am very pleased with > service. I'm saving a lot of money. I frequently make long distance > calls from the East Coast to Australia and the sound quality is very > clear. > If anyone is interested in more information or a referral I can give > one. I like Lingo too, and I'm equally happy to give referrals. Regards, John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: John, how does their referral plan work? Is it anything like Vonage? I am _still_ living off those 'next month free' coupons I accumulated. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 19:34:27 +0000 From: Mayra TABOR Subject: Job Opportunity [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Readers, perhaps you can tell me if this is a _legitimate_ employment opportunity or just another scam intended to get you to do a quick shuffle of money outbound before the excrement hits the propeller blades? In my limited examination of this company I note a few things: (1) They are looking for licensees to help them in their 'shipping and freight forwarding' business. (2) They seem quite eager to find people with a USA bank account; in fact a question on their online employment application asks about your USA bank routing number. (3) Their 'home office' (of which they show lots of pictures of happy industrious employees) is in St. Petersburg, _Russian Federation_. I do not intend to besmirch their character and accuse them of being a bunch of crooks, however I do recall reading somewhere of two Russian 'hackers' who were from St. Petersburg, Russia who the United States FBI wanted very badly but could not get them extradited. Anyway, I pass this along in the event any one or more of you feel like applying for the job, and are quick witted enough to hang onto your purse (and only provide accurate ABA routing numbers, etc) in the event you absolutely must. Here is the message I got a few days ago, and you can check out the corresponding web page. PAT] =========================== Hi, Would you like to earn some extra money working from home? We offer you a great opportunity! Our company Ship & Pay International is looking for reliable and trustworthy people to be our representatives in your country! This is not a sales gimmick requiring you to pay setup fees or sign up to a mailing list. You will need no money and no special skills to start. Anyone can work with us! If you are interested, don't hesitate to visit our website: http://www.shipandpay.com/jobs.html Requirements: 1. A computer with access to the Internet, e-mail 2. 3-5 hours free during the week (mainly in the non-business hours) 3. Check your e-mail several times a day (each hour is welcome) 4. Be able to repeatedly lift 5-20 pound boxes. 5. Reply to e-mails immediately 6. We don't work with persons under 21 7. Bank account to receive payments 8. Account in: PayPal, E-gold (if possible) 9. Be able to answer phone calls 10. Be responsible, hard working and communicable If you would like to join our team please visit http://www.shipandpay.com/jobs.html and fill in the online application form. Thank you. Best regards, Ship & Pay International [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Now, it all appears to be an honest company trying to get started with a worldwide presence. But something leaves me feeling a bit queasy, even with those nice pictures on their web site, and happy, smiling employees; the picture of their office building, etc. What is going on? 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. 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. 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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 V24 #134 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Mar 29 16:30:33 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2TLUWG04852; Tue, 29 Mar 2005 16:30:33 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 16:30:33 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503292130.j2TLUWG04852@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 V24 #135 TELECOM Digest Tue, 29 Mar 2005 16:30:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 135 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Plan to Merge MCI, Qwest Has A Sour Ring (Marcus Didius Falco) Anatomy of a Techno-Myth -- Economist.com (Marcus Didius Falco) Divide Grows on Treatment of Students in Online Breach (Monty Solomon) As Verizon Hikes 411 Cost, Rival Offers a Free Tryout (Monty Solomon) Sony in Dispute Over Digital Projectors (Monty Solomon) Vonage Move a Jobs Bonanza (Ankur Shah) Horrible Voice Quality on Skypeout (John Levine) MCI Takes Revised Verizon Offer (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) SecuPress; a Good Source of Security News (Sandra) Internet Telephony - Please Help My Dissertation (MJBarlow@gmail.com) 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: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 01:06:02 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Plan to Merge MCI, Qwest Has A Sour Ring http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5750-2005Mar27.html By Jerry Knight Monday, March 28, 2005; Page E01 As a long-time advocate for investors, it pains me to say it, but MCI Inc.'s board of directors ought to tell shareholders who oppose merging with Verizon Communications Inc. to take a hike. It's true that Qwest Communications International Inc. is offering stockholders more money for MCI than Verizon -- $8.45 billion vs. $6.75 billion -- but merging with Qwest would be one of the dumbest deals in the history of Washington investing. MCI already is co-champion in the D.C.'s Dumbest Deals competition. Merging with Qwest could turn out to be an even bigger mistake than MCI's decision to sell out to WorldCom Inc., a blunder matched only by Time Warner Inc. selling itself to Dulles-based America Online Inc. The same "take the money" mentality that produced those two disastrous mega-mergers is behind the support by many of MCI's biggest stockholders for combining with Qwest. Unless the bids are raised -- and they may well be -- investors would get stock and cash worth $26 a share if MCI hooks up with Qwest and $20.75 if MCI goes with Verizon. While the higher price might arguably be in the best interest of shareholders, this is one of the rare instances when the interest of the shareholders and the interest of the company are not the same. It's doubtful that a merger with Qwest would be in the best interest of MCI, its customers, its employees or the Washington region -- even if it is good for the shareholders. There are shareholders and then there are shareholders. The vast majority of the investors who own MCI stock are not individual investors. Nor are they the mutual funds, insurance companies or pension funds that make investments on behalf of ordinary Americans. Most of those folks were wiped out by the bankruptcy reorganization that was necessary when the WorldCom/MCI merger was turned into a train wreck by accounting fraud, flawed business strategies and incompetent management. Those former shareholders are going to get a small part of their money back, thanks to a series of lawsuits (more about that later.) Today's MCI stockholders are mostly hedge funds -- private pools of money, managed for the ultrawealthy by the ultrawealthy with the goal of making as much money as possible as fast as possible, damn the risk or the consequences. "By our estimation, hedge funds make up two-thirds to 70 percent of the ownership of MCI," Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc., the Arlington investment firm, said in a recent report on the MCI maneuvering. "It is quite reasonable," the FBR report noted, "that the majority of hedge-fund investors would prefer to cash out quickly in a Qwest-MCI deal rather than wait for potential upside from a Verizon-MCI combination." Reasonable for hedge funds, perhaps, but not for anyone else with a stake in MCI. Most independent evaluations of the competing offers agree with the implicit premise of the FBR report: There is more long-term potential for the company that would be created by merging MCI and Verizon than for the one that would be produced by combining MCI and Qwest. Verizon is the biggest and strongest of the regional Bell companies, Qwest the smallest and weakest -- burdened by $16.7 billion in long-term debt and so fragile that it may not be able to survive unless it finds a partner. Qwest is willing to pay more than Verizon for MCI because it needs MCI more. Qwest, of course, doesn't put it that way. Its executives argue that they can pay more because Qwest makes a better partner for MCI than Verizon, because they can fire more MCI employees than Verizon and because their deal is more likely to be approved by government regulators and approved quickly. That last claim is challenged by Blair Levin, a Washington-watcher for Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc., the Baltimore investment company. Levin, a former chief of staff of the Federal Communications Commission, says either transaction could win regulatory approval. As for the timing, neither is likely to be cleared until after regulators make a decision on AT&T Corp.'s plan to merge with SBC Communications Inc., a bigger and more precedent-laden merger. "It's probably going to be true that they are going to look at both deals together and when one [decision] comes out, the other will come out at the same time or shortly after," he said. Neither Verizon nor Qwest has gained much traction arguing that its offer is better from a regulatory standpoint, he added. "I don't think policy is going to tip the MCI decision one way or the other." Levin approaches the merger from a regulatory and policy point of view, but analysis based on business fundamentals generally comes down on the side of Verizon. It is a financially stronger company with a stock market value of $96.28 billion compared with Qwest's market capitalization of $6.87 billion. A $96 billion business that makes a $6.75 billion acquisition is making a modest investment. A $7 billion company that makes an $8.45 billion deal is betting the ranch. To make that bet pay off, Qwest plans to slash expenses at MCI. Many telecom analysts are skeptical of Qwest's claim that it can cut as many as 16,000 jobs -- and do so without hurting the quality of service to customers. That "promise" alone argues that the interests of the employees and the public would better be served by a merger with Verizon, which claims fewer than half as many job cuts will be needed. Absolutists on the issue of shareholder rights argue that neither the employees nor the customers matter. Nor does the risk that the combined company will founder down the road. If one offer gives stockholders more money today, then it should be accepted, they argue in support of Qwest (and in support of the hedge funds that are pressing MCI to take the money.) MCI board members so far have taken a broader view of the choice. After all, they got their jobs because their predecessors were ousted during the bankruptcy and ultimately forced to pay millions in damages out of their own pockets for not stopping the accounting fraud. But a merger decision must be ratified by stockholders, and with two-thirds of MCI's stock in the hands of quick-buck artists, that could be difficult. The worst thing that could happen -- and it's a real possibility -- is that the hedge fund stockholders hook up with Qwest and a stage a hostile takeover by voting out MCI's management. While the future of MCI hangs in the balance, the final act of its tragic marriage to WorldCom is playing out. Today, court proceedings are scheduled to begin in lawsuits filed on behalf of stock and bond holders against the accounting firm of Arthur Andersen LLP, which signed off on the fraudulent bookkeeping that ultimately destroyed WorldCom. All the other defendants in the cases have settled, including the investment banks that sold WorldCom stocks and bonds based on phony financial records and the former WorldCom board members who allowed the fraud to occur. Together, they have agreed to pay $6 billion in damages, $4.8 billion to bondholders and $1.2 billion to shareholders. Add the $433 million in restitution wrung out of Wall Street by the Securities and Exchange Commission in another case, part of which goes to WorldCom investors, and shareholders stand to get back more money than the victims of any other corporate fraud ever. The deadline for claiming a piece of the settlement was March 4, but the courts have the authority to sweep in investors who file belated claims, said a spokesman for New York State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi, who is supervising the cases because the state's employee pension fund was the biggest loser in the debacle. Anyone who bought WorldCom stock or bonds between April 29, 1999, and June 25, 2002 is potentially eligible to get some money back. Details on eligibility and how to file a claim can by found at www.worldcomlitigation.com. Copyright 2005 The Washington Post Company NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, The Washington Post Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 01:06:27 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Science and Society: Anatomy of a Techno-Myth -- Economist.com http://economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=3D3786384 The debate over the safety of mobile phones has little to do with science. DO MOBILE phones cause explosions at petrol stations? That question has just been exhaustively answered by Adam Burgess, a researcher at the University of Kent, in England. Oddly, however, Dr Burgess is not a physicist, but a sociologist. For the concern rests not on scientific evidence of any danger, but is instead the result of sociological factors: it is an urban myth, supported and propagated by official sources, but no less a myth for that. Dr Burgess presented his findings this week at the annual conference of the British Sociological Association. Mobile phones started to become widespread in the late 1980s, when the oil industry was in the middle of a concerted safety drive, Dr Burgess notes. This was, in large part, a response to the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988, when 167 people died in an explosion on an oil platform off the Scottish coast. The safety drive did not apply merely to offshore operations: employees at some British oil-company offices are now required to use handrails while walking up and down stairs, for example. So nobody questioned the precautionary ban on the use of mobile phones at petrol stations. The worry was that an electrical spark might ignite explosive fumes. By the late 1990s, however, phonemakers having conducted their own research realised that there was no danger of phones causing explosions since they could not generate the required sparks. But it was too late. The myth had taken hold. One problem, says Dr Burgess, is that the number of petrol-station fires increased in the late 1990s, just as mobile phones were proliferating. Richard Coates, BP's fire-safety adviser, investigated many of the 243 such fires that occurred around the world between 1993 and 2004. He concluded that most were indeed caused by sparks igniting petrol vapour, but the sparks themselves were the result of static electricity, not electrical equipment. Most drivers will have experienced a mild electric shock when climbing out of their vehicles. It is caused by friction between driver and seat, with the result that both end up electrically charged. When the driver touches the metal frame of the vehicle, the result is sometimes a spark. This seems to have become more common as plastic car interiors, synthetic garments and rubber-soled shoes have proliferated. A further complication was the rise of the internet, where hoax memos, many claiming to originate from oil companies, warned of the danger of using mobile phones in petrol stations. One e-mail contained fictitious examples of such explosions said to have happened in Indonesia and Australia. Another, supposedly sent out by Shell, found its way on to an internal website at Exxon, says Dr. Burgess, where it was treated as authoritative by employees. Such memos generally explain static fires quite accurately, but mistakenly attribute them to mobile phones. Official denials, says Dr Burgess, simply inflame the suspicions of conspiracy theorists. Despite the lack of evidence that mobile phones can cause explosions, bans remain in place around the world, though the rules vary widely. Warning signs abound in Britain, America, Canada and Australia. The city of Sao Paulo, in Brazil, introduced a ban last year. And, earlier this month, a member of Connecticut's senate proposed making the use of mobile phones in petrol stations in that state punishable by a $250 fine. For Dr Burgess, such concerns are part of a broader pattern of unease about mobile phones. There is a curious discrepancy, he notes, between the way that such phones have become indispensable, and the fact that they are also vaguely considered to be dangerous. This is particularly noticeable in Britain. The country that led the way in banning mobile phones at petrol stations is also the country that has taken the strongest line on the safety of mobile-phone use by children. In January, Sir William Stewart, the government's expert on the subject, warned that while there is no evidence that mobile phones are unsafe, as a precautionary measure children should use them only when absolutely necessary. The safety of mobile phones would appear to be not so much the province of the hard science of physics, as of the soft science of sociology. Copyright 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Economist Newspaper. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 20:27:21 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Divide Grows on Treatment of Students in Online Breach By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff A small backlash has formed against the business schools of Harvard and some of the nation's other most prestigious universities for denying admission to more than 200 applicants who used a loophole devised by a computer hacker to peek at their admission files. Last week, Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, dissenting from Harvard's stern reaction to the digital trespassing, said it had accepted at least a few of the electronic intruders. For administrators at Harvard, MIT, Duke, and Carnegie Mellon, the attempts to view confidential data this month were the electronic equivalent of breaking and entering, wholly unworthy of the future captains of American commerce. But others see the online breaches as a victimless crime by overeager young people accustomed to copying and pasting links onto websites. The contrasting reactions may expose not only a generational divide in Internet etiquette but also increasingly divergent mores in the physical and virtual worlds at a time when free downloading of music and open-source software is commonplace. http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2005/03/28/divide_grows_on_treatment_of_students_in_online_breach/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 20:29:24 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: As Verizon Hikes 411 Cost, Rival Offers a Free Tryout By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | March 28, 2005 As Verizon prepares to nearly quadruple the price for calling 411 Friday, to $1.25, a North Carolina company that sells a discount directory-assistance alternative plans a big promotion: free calls for everyone in Massachusetts for the day. Starting Friday, barring a highly unlikely last-minute intervention by state regulators, Verizon is raising the price for calling 411 to $1.25 from 34 cents. Customers will, however, continue to get 10 free calls a month before they start paying the fee. In response, 411Saver, a company based in Maggie Valley, N.C., plans to offer unlimited free directory assistance calls to Bay State residents between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Friday. It is setting up a special number for the day: 1-866-MASS-411 (1-866-627-7411). http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/03/28/as_verizon_hikes_411_cost_rival_offers_a_free_tryout/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Here at the Digest, we offer a directory assistance alternative which is quite affordable and easy to use. Plus which, the Digest benefits from your use of the service. 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 ! Just as an example of how it works, at the above link, you register the telephone number or numbers you normally call from. Then ANI is used to capture that number each time you use the toll free number. It is a real, live, up to date service bureau, meaning changes and new additions are updated at least once per day. To hear a sample directory assistance call, listen to http://www.easy411.com/Easy411_call.wav. You just dial the 800 number (maybe assign it to a speed dial position) then give your one or two requests. Your credit card (based on the information you give them when you register for the service) gets billed 65 cents each time around, in reasonable billing increments with no minimum charges of any kind. Instead of dialing '411' for directory, you use our 800 number. And, the Digest gets a few cents 'commission' on each call you make. No equipment or any changes needed to your phone system, except you may with to put it on a speed dial entry. Let me know how it works for you if you choose to use it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 09:19:15 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Sony in Dispute Over Digital Projectors VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) -- There's a showdown brewing at the local movie theater, but it's not playing on the screen. It's in the projection booth. Sony Electronics Inc., a unit of Sony Corp., last week demonstrated a projection technology for digital cinema that displays images at twice the resolution of existing digital projectors. Sony plans to begin shipping the system in July, setting up a race with Texas Instruments Inc., whose technology is at the heart of digital projectors already on the market. The competition is emerging at the same time Hollywood is looking to work out a fair way to roll out digital cinema nationwide to replace the ubiquitous 35mm film projectors. Critics question how well the eye can distinguish between the 2,000 lines of resolution that current digital projectors have and the 4,000 lines Sony's new projector promises (by comparison, high-definition TV sets show up to 1,080 lines). They also question whether color separation and contrast are any better with a higher line count. Regardless, Landmark Theaters, owned by entrepreneur Mark Cuban, announced it would be the first to use the projectors, giving Sony a high-profile partner in the quality debate. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=47961533 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 17:20:46 -0500 From: Ankur Shah Subject: Vonage Move a Jobs Bonanza [Pat, please remove my email address from all postings] http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050325/NEWS/503250331/1001/NEWS01 Published in the Asbury Park Press 03/25/05 By DAVID P. WILLIS BUSINESS WRITER Vonage Holdings Corp., the nation's largest Internet telephone company, expects to move its offices to Holmdel, where it hopes to employ about 2,000 workers by the end of the year, a company spokesman said. The move would make Vonage one of the Shore's largest employers. The company, which now has 1,000 employees, has outgrown its offices on Route 27 in Edison, Vonage spokesman Jamie Serino said. "We are working right on top of each other," he said. The company is "close" to signing a lease for an office building in Holmdel, Serino said. He would not identify the location, but he said it would have space for another 1,000 employees the company expects to hire this year. Joseph Sarno, senior director at Cushman & Wakefield of New Jersey, believes Vonage will move into the former Prudential Property & Casualty Insurance Co. building, a two-story 358,932-square-foot office building on 88 acres on Route 520. "This is a big shot in the arm for the Monmouth County office market and also for the businesses and community of Holmdel to say the least," said Sarno, a Holmdel resident. "That building was looming as another big empty building in the Monmouth County market." Charlie Morrison, a Holmdel resident who worked for Bell Laboratories for more than 40 years, agreed. "Well, I'm sure that some of the people that are unemployed these days would be happy to hear" about the move, said Morrison, 83. *550,000 customers* Formed in January 2001, Vonage jump-started a hot new market that, while still small, is providing an alternative to traditional telephone service. Co-founded by Brielle resident Jeffrey Citron, the company offers local and long-distance telephone service over the Internet using a new technology called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP for short. The technology gives customers who have a high-speed Internet connection a less expensive way to make telephone calls. Now telecommunications giants, such as AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications and Cablevision Systems, are offering their own service. Vonage, which has run ads on television and the Internet, has grown to more than 550,000 lines in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, up from about 130,000 as of March 31, 2004. "The company is growing very, very quickly. We are signing up over 15,000 customers a week," Serino said. The company estimates it will have 1 million customers by the end of the year. "As that number grows, we are going to have to have more people to serve that customer base," he said. "Every single week, we are bringing more and more people on. We are looking forward to recruiting in the area." The jobs will include customer care, technical support, and software development positions, Serino said. The new location in Holmdel will encompass the company's corporate offices, call center, network operations, research and operations and other functions, Serino said. "By the end of the summer, the majority of the company, if not the whole company, will move over," he said. Holmdel Mayor Larry Fink said it is good to see vacant office space used. "It should be especially exciting for residents of Holmdel and Monmouth County municipalities who formerly worked for AT&T, Lucent, Agere and Avaya, many of who are still looking for employment in the telecom industry," Fink said. "That might bode well for them." *Prospective employee* Mark P. Horvath, an electrical engineer who lives in Holmdel, said he was thrilled by news of the Vonage relocation. He's been looking for work since his former employer, Lucent spin-off Agere Systems, closed its area offices last year. He hopes maybe he'll be one of the local people the company hires when it moves here. "I'm glad to have them as a neighbor," said Horvath, 49. "It's nice when a company moves in; something sizable with a new direction like Vonage. It makes it a very impressive draw for other companies, as well." Sam Shramko, who moved to Holmdel in the early 1960s when his employer, Bell Laboratories, opened offices there, said the move would be a win-win situation for employers and employees alike. "I think (Holmdel) is the ideal place for a company, a technical company, because of the past communications and facilities that are around here," Shramko, 70, said. "They'd have a good labor force." ------------------------------ Date: 29 Mar 2005 15:19:30 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Horrible voice quality on skypeout Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA My new USB handset showed up so I tried a couple of Skypeout calls to regular phone numbers. Ewww. It sounded really awful. Is this the USB handset, Skypeout, or am I just unlucky? R's, John ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 12:49:30 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: MCI Takes Revised Verizon Offer Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 29, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20418&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * MCI takes revised Verizon offer BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Cablevision may join investment firms in bid for Adelphia * Kuwaiti telco enters fast-growing African market with buy * Alltel launches EV-DO in three new markets * Comcast looks to telephony, VOD to power growth * VeriSign likely to maintain .net domain control USTA SPOTLIGHT * VoIP 101: How to Rapidly Roll Out VoIP, March 31, 1:00 p.m. EST EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * New chip merges electronics, fiber optics REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Public comments as regulators consider lifting cell phone ban Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20418&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Sandra Subject: SecuPress: A Good Daily Source of Security News Date: 29 Mar 2005 04:39:07 -0800 SecuPress is a daily updated hacking and security relatedwebsite. We provide news and headlines from thousands of news sources worldwide. Visit us : http://www.secupress.com - Hacking & Security News ------------------------------ From: MJBarlow@gmail.com Subject: Internet Telephony - My Dissertation Date: 29 Mar 2005 08:36:09 -0800 Hi, I am in the final year of my MSc Computer Science at APU in Cambridge. I have designed an online questionnaire which examines the call habits of those that use software phones: www.mayshack.com Please complete the questionnaire it only takes 5 mins and will really help my dissertation. Matt Barlow ------------------------------ 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'. 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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 V24 #135 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Mar 29 19:53:01 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2U0r0D07342; Tue, 29 Mar 2005 19:53:01 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 19:53:01 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503300053.j2U0r0D07342@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 V24 #136 TELECOM Digest Tue, 29 Mar 2005 19:53:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 136 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Stolen UC Berkeley Laptop Exposes Data of 100,000 (Marcus Didius Falco) MetLife Plans Free ID Theft Aid for Clients (Marcus Didius Falco) Internet Connectivity Assistance for Italy (MoGold) Fax Station ID (John Schmerold) Verizon, Voicewing and Portability (zftcg@yahoo.com) LNP Transfer From McLeod to Vonage (wondering) Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S (T. Sean Weintz) Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S (Tony P.) Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S (Doug Krause) Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S (Robert Bonomi) Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S (Fred Atkinson) Re: Lingo Referral (John Levine) Re: Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music (Joseph) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (Lisa Hancock) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (A User) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (Chris Farrar) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (DevilsPGD) Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: Job Opportunity (LB@notmine.com) 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: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 15:45:45 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Stolen UC Berkeley Laptop Exposes Personal Data of 100,000 --- Forwarded Message From: Ari Ollikainen < > Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 15:57:17 -0800 To: David Farber < t> Subject: Stolen UC Berkeley laptop exposes personal data of nearly 100,000 For IP ... WHEN will they ever learn? [WHEN THEY CAN BE HELD LIABLE DJF] WHY was personal information other than a name and a NON-SSN ID on a laptop? Stolen UC Berkeley laptop exposes personal data of nearly 100,000 - By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer Monday, March 28, 2005 (03-28) 15:11 PST San Francisco (AP) -- A thief has stolen a computer laptop containing personal information about nearly 100,000 University of California, Berkeley alumni, graduate students and past applicants, continuing a recent outbreak of security breakdowns that has illustrated society's growing vulnerability to identity theft. University officials announced the March 11 theft on Monday under a state law requiring that consumers be notified whenever their Social Security numbers or other sensitive information has been breached. Notifying all of the 98,369 people affected by the UC Berkeley laptop theft could prove difficult because some of the students received their doctorate degrees nearly 30 years ago, university officials said. The stolen laptop contained the Social Security numbers of UC Berkeley students who received their doctorates from 1976 through 1999, graduate students enrolled at the university between fall 1989 and fall 2003 and graduate school applicants between fall 2001 and spring 2004. Some graduate students in other years also were affected. The stolen computer files also included the birth dates and addresses of about one-third of the affected people. University police suspect the thief was more interested in swiping a computer than people's identities, UC Berkeley spokeswoman Maria Felde said. She said there been no evidence so far that the stolen information has been used for identify theft. Scam artists often use the data to borrow money by posing as someone else. The UC Berkeley theft follows several other high profile instances in which businesses and colleges have lost control of personal information that they kept in computer databases. Recent breaches have occurred at ChoicePoint Inc., a consumer data firm duped into distributing personal information about 145,000 people; Lexis-Nexis, where computer hackers obtained access to the personal information of 32,000 people; and Chico State University, where a computer hacking job exposed 59,000 people to potential identity theft. URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/03/28/financial/f151143S80.DTL Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it. --Mark Twain --- End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 01:17:36 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: MetLife Plans Free ID Theft Aid for Clients Quite likely most other insurance companies will match this within a year. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5805-2005Mar27.html washingtonpost.com MetLife Plans Free ID Theft Aid for Clients By Eileen Alt Powell Associated Press NEW YORK, March 27 -- MetLife Inc., one of the nation's largest insurers, is rolling out a new program this week to provide free help in resolving cases of identity theft for all of its homeowner insurance policyholders. Noel Edsall, director of MetLife Auto & Home product development, said the ID theft resolution service would be launched first in New York and Florida, then expand nationwide. While several insurance companies sell ID theft coverage, mainly to reimburse consumers for their costs in dealing with misuse of credit cards or other accounts, MetLife would be the first that works with consumers to resolve their problems at no cost. The program, which will be available to the nearly 1 million MetLife homeowners and renters policyholders, comes at a time of heightened concern over ID theft. In recent weeks, several data collection companies have disclosed that thousands of their records were tapped by thieves. ID theft tops the list of frauds reported to the Federal Trade Commission, which coordinates federal fraud prevention efforts. Edsall said that the program will help consumers with identity theft, which can involve a fraudster taking over someone's identity and opening new accounts or buying cars, as well as account takeovers, which often involves the theft of a credit card. Matt Cullina, manager of the MetLife team that developed the new service, said that MetLife policyholders who are victimized by ID thieves will be urged to call the MetLife call center listed on their policies. From there they will be directed to specialists at Identity Theft 911 LLC of Scottsdale, Ariz., which provides ID theft resolution services. Sheryl Cox Christenson, the company's chief executive, said Identity Theft 911 "serves as an advocate," providing services that include preparing affidavits, contacting police and notifying credit bureaus on a consumer's behalf. Several major banks, including Citigroup Inc. and Washington Mutual Inc., offer free identity theft services for customers, but they generally focus on the most onerous cases. There are also a number of nonprofit groups that provide advice to ID theft victims, including the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego, which operates the site www.idtheftcenter.org. Copyright 2005 The Washington Post Company NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, The Washington Post Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: MoGold Subject: Internet Connectivity Assistance for Italy Date: 29 Mar 2005 13:51:52 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello All, I am trying to assist my local Junior College's Semester Abroad program. They will be staying in a hotel in Orvieto, Italy. The proprietor is a 70+ year old man who knows very little about computers, but I am told a "broadband" line was installed in the hotel this year. I also know that any technology installed came from Perugia, the nearest large city. Since the hotel is VERY old, running cables is out of the question, so I plan on creating a wireless setup. Any insight anyone can give me on Italian ISP's, protocols (PPP, PPPoE,etc) network configutation, or anything else would be greatly appreciated. ============================================= Mona Goldstein, A+, MCSE NT4, MCSE W2K Systems Design Engineer Services Infrastructure & Deployment Verizon Architecture and eServices ============================================= ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 15:03:25 -0600 From: John Schmerold Subject: Fax Station ID Anyone know if it's a law or regulation that requires faxes to include station identification at top of every page sent ? ------------------------------ From: zftcg@yahoo.com Subject: Verizon, Voicewing and Portability Date: 29 Mar 2005 14:29:30 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Please tell me if this makes sense: I live in Manhattan and currently have Verizon local and DSL. I would like to switch my local service to VoiceWing 500 (same as regular VoiceWing with 500 minutes of outgoing calls/month, for $19.95). I just got off the phone with multiple Verizon customer service people; they all told me varying things, but the basic upshot is that because I'm a DSL customer, I can't get VoiceWing on the same line, since DSL requires a regular land line. That seems to me to be completely backwards -- after all, wouldn't the most obvious customers for VoiceWing be current DSL customers? Yet they're telling me those are the exact people who are ineligible for the service (unless I'm willing to sign up for an entirely new phone line, which would be completely pointless and cost me an additional $20/month). What's more, while at least one person had told me this situation could change in the near future, the last guy I spoke to said it was a structural problem that could never be rectified. Now, as I said, I got different answers from different people, and in general, people seemed to be a little confused about how VoiceWing works, most likely because it's still relatively new. Can anyone out there shed any light on this riddle? Does anyone currently have both VoiceWing and Verizon DSL, with no additional phone lines? Thanks! Zorro for the Common Good [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You will need to do the very same thing as I did. You will need to, in this order, (1) install cable internet to replace DSL; then once the cable internet is installed in order to avoid any network downtime, (2) tell Verizon to get their DSL off of your line, ASAP, immediatly, etc. (3) Once the DSL has been removed, _then and only then_ can you tell VoiceWing to port your existing number (I assume you prefer to keep your number) to their service. In my instance, it was SBC's DSL and the local telco I wished to use called 'Prairie Stream'). (4) Once VoiceWing ports your number to them, then Verizon will die off naturally on their own. To avoid being without either internet for a few days (while waiting for cable to get installed) or without telco (while Verizon has a hissy fit and keeps sending VoiceWing on an endless looping run-around), you will need to do it in the order I specified above. In other words, it is _your_ problem if there is any duplication on your premises between DSL and cable) for a few days. Oh, and be prepared for Verizon to suddenly get very busy and decide 'it may take two or three weeks to get the disconnect order written' both on the DSL and also on the phone itself. You cannot, by Bell System fiat, have _their_ DSL and _someone else's_ phone service. They have chosen to take that gamble thinking that because they are *so* special, and *so* precious, anyone who knows anything about anything would realize Bell is the best deal around and want to stay with them until forever ... You may want first of all (before you begin too much sass and talk-back with Verizon) to find out all you can about VoiceWing. I've never heard of the company, and assume they are like most CLECs offering residential service; that is, they take over your billing and your service out of their cage at the Verizon central office, and Verizon will continue to carry the last mile or whatever to your door step. (At one point, I seriously entertained keeping Bell's DSL here with Prairie Stream as the telco [same phone number, just LNP'd over to them from SBC] until, IMO [and look, no /H/ in the middle there; that's because I do not give 'humble' opinions] SBC got very arrogant and rude, midst all their lies to me, etc and left me with the option, 'take us entirely, or not at all.' Calling their bluff, I said, "okay, I will take none of you". They were shocked to hear that, of course, and have pestered me ever since to return to the fold. At first, the 'return to us' offers were reasonable, but as time went on, they got more and more outrageous; their latest 'please come back' offer to me is unlimited service, all custom calling features, and long distance for $2.95 (_two dollars, ninety five cents_) per month for one year. But you know, the way SBC lies about so much stuff, how can I trust them on the $2.95 per month for a year deal, especially when along with that offer was two pages of terms and conditions in very small print that I did not bother reading. I expect your mailbox will soon be loaded with their premium offers and cut rate prices on service starting soon after you ditch them also, if you decide to go with VoiceWing, or Gage, or one of the other CLECs licensed in your area. And you _can_ use LNP to keep your number as long as you get the DSL off your line, although Bell is fond of telling the CLECs "customer does not qualify for transfer" (because he has our DSL, although they do not say why 'not qualified' unless they are pressed for an answer). I hope this helps you a little, and good luck as you break away from Bell, as more and more people are doing. PAT] ------------------------------ From: wondering Subject: LNP Transfer From McLeodUSA to Vonage Date: 29 Mar 2005 14:40:43 -0800 I am wondering is anyone has successfully ported their home number out of McLeodUSA to Vonage. I have been trying for eight months. I am beginning to believe it is impossible. ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 14:16:25 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Fred Atkinson: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Other than the fact that she apparently > was not able to hook herself up to the network, I wonder how the > school would know what was or wasn't there. In other words, if she now > were to open the computer and install the original card in there > instead, how would the school ever find out, or do they search dorm > rooms looking for contraband hardware, etc? PAT] Since the beginning octects of the MAC address of an ethernet card identify who the manufacturer of the card is, and all ethernet switches maintain a database of what mac addresses are plugged in to what ports; if one is using manages switches it is a trivial task to locate where network cards of a particular brand are plugged into the network. It's also quite easy on some switches to specify a range of MAC addresses that are allowed to use particular ports. So you can set that range to be only cards whose MAC address identify them as being made by 3com, and lock out everything else. Of course most network card drivers will allow you to overide the factory coded mac address on your card, which could be used by an ethernet saavy personm to overide the security methods I describe above ... ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 12:29:13 -0500 In article , fatkinson@mishmash.com says: >> But cell phones are a curse to some degree. A local University that >> shall remain nameless instituted a no cell phone policy for students. >> That quickly went downhill when professors cell phones would ring during >> class time, etc. > That's nothing. Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee > has an interesting policy to allow interconnect to the campus network. > When my first niece went off to school, several family members gave me > money to purchase the parts needed for me to put a nice computer > together for her to take off to school with her. In addition to a > number of other pieces of hardware, I put a dial up modem and a NIC > card in it. It was a fairly common one (in fact my PC has the same > model in it). > When she got there, she called me and said that the folks at TNU said > her NIC card was no good and they wanted to charge her ninety dollars to > install a 3Com card in it. > I didn't believe it was defective and told her not to pay them to > install that card. After a couple of days, she called me again and > told me that they wouldn't hook her up until a 3Com card was > installed. > I called the I.T. department at TNU and asked what was going on. I > was told that the school policy said that only 3Com NIC cards could be > used to connect to the campus network. Needless to say I was a little > upset that they were going to make me drop another ninety dollars into > that computer. > But, I wasn't going to let them get the money. I called around and > found a deal on a 3Com card and had them ship it to her at school. > Fortunately, she had a classmate that was a Saturday afternoon PC > tech. He installed it for her and got her connected to the network. > I spoke to the dean at the school where I was taking computer > networking classes. He told me that while this was completely > unorthodox, that TNU was far from being the only school doing > something so ridiculous. His own daughter went to a school that > required a specific brand (and I don't remember what he said it was > except that it wasn't a 3Com card). She had to fork out fifty dollars > for the card and sold it to another student when she graduated. > > I wish someone in a position to do so would blow the whistle on this > practice of soaking the students for the money for these cards. It's > unethical at best. > Fred > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Other than the fact that she apparently > was not able to hook herself up to the network, I wonder how the > school would know what was or wasn't there. In other words, if she now > were to open the computer and install the original card in there > instead, how would the school ever find out, or do they search dorm > rooms looking for contraband hardware, etc? PAT] MAC addresses contain a manufacturers code that takes up the first couple of bytes. It would be fairly trivial to set a router up to refuse any MAC not containing said bytes. But then, it would be just as trivial to reprogram a MAC on a NIC to look like a 3Com even though it's a $10 D-Link. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S From: dkrause@ratcage.com (Doug Krause) Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 07:49:04 GMT In article , TELECOM Digest Editor responded to Fred Atkinson : > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Other than the fact that she apparently > was not able to hook herself up to the network, I wonder how the > school would know what was or wasn't there. In other words, if she now > were to open the computer and install the original card in there > instead, how would the school ever find out, or do they search dorm > rooms looking for contraband hardware, etc? PAT] If they are being proactive, just check the MAC address of all systems on the network. http://standards.ieee.org/regauth/oui/index.shtml Or if she ever has connection issues and opens a trouble ticket, the person responding to it would find the non-approved card. Doug Krause dijon@ratcage.com ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 14:02:30 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , TELECOM Digest Editor noted: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Other than the fact that she apparently > was not able to hook herself up to the network, I wonder how the > school would know what was or wasn't there. In other words, if she now > were to open the computer and install the original card in there > instead, how would the school ever find out, or do they search dorm > rooms looking for contraband hardware, etc? PAT] Ignorance in action. Specific ranges of Ethernet addresses are assigned to given manufacturers. Which manufacturer "owns" which range is _public_data_. Any device residing on the same LAN segment that can "see" Ethernet packets from a given machine can tell which brand of NIC is in that box. All Ethernet cards on a LAN are required to have a _unique_ Ethernet address. So, manufacturers "build in" the uniqueness. On some systems, with some cards, you can over-ride the built-in Ethernet address, and tell it to use an Ethernet address you specify. This is not an option under MS-Windows. A _lot_ of schools require you to 'register' your computer (actually the NIC) with the institution before you can use it on the school network. And even then it will work *only* from your dorm room. The network infrastructure is built around 'secure' switches, and only accepts packets from a "known" Ethernet address on any given port. This does wonders for being able to track down the perpetrator when, for example, one student tries hacking other student machines. ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 21:18:59 -0500 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Other than the fact that she apparently > was not able to hook herself up to the network, I wonder how the > school would know what was or wasn't there. In other words, if she now > were to open the computer and install the original card in there > instead, how would the school ever find out, or do they search dorm > rooms looking for contraband hardware, etc? PAT] Because they don't make the jack in her dorm room hot until they had verified it. That's how. Truthfully, though, it wouldn't be hard to set up access lists to reject all MAC addresses except those with OUIs that reflect 3Com. Fred ------------------------------ Date: 29 Mar 2005 15:18:25 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Lingo Referral Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I like Lingo too, and I'm equally happy to give referrals. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: John, how does their referral plan > work? Is it anything like Vonage? I am _still_ living off those > 'next month free' coupons I accumulated. PAT] It's a normal affiliate deal run through Linkshare which runs hundreds of other affilate programs. If someone signs up via your affiliate link, they pay you $25, paid monthly by check. I haven't gotten any Lingo signups yet, but I get lots of small checks from Linkshare's other programs via my site at http://airinfo.aero. R's, John ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 06:09:36 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 28 Mar 2005 10:00:52 -0800, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > People have a Constitutional right (and a moral one too) to be > compensated for their creative efforts. Like it or not, the recording > industry provides a conduit for artists to distribute their works to a > widespread general public and be compensated accordingly. The only problem with that is that the artists *aren't* generally accorded much compensation for their work. The majority of the monies taken in for recordings, video etc. does not go to artists but rather goes to the recording companies, distributors and others. Of that $18 you're paying for that CD the artists are getting literally *pennies* of that pie. You'll pardon me if I don't shed crocodile tears for the "poor old" recording industry. Rather than to try and embrace the new technology they (as they've done before) fight it tooth and nail. They believe going on as they have for the last 100 years is the way to go. Hell no we won't go is their mantra when called to get with the times and adjust their product model. They'd rather go after people for their (recording companies) perceived loss of revenue. Perhaps if the recording companies weren't so greedy charging $18 for a disc of music and perhaps if the recording companies shared a bigger portion of profits from CDs people would see it differently. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System Date: 28 Mar 2005 13:46:23 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Isaiah Beard wrote: > Fast forward to yesterday. Assurances notwithstanding, I received a > toll violation notice from the NJ Turnpike authority. Very disturbing. These kinds of problems were supposed to be fixed on the NJ Tpk. There have been reports of database abuse by the Phila Parking Authority. Seems that people who've never been to Phila are receiving legal dunning letters for unpaid parking tickets issued years ago (per newspaper reports). It appears the PPA is using a commercial database to look up names of violators to track them down and issuing letters, even if that person isn't the one who originally got the ticket. In other words, a car with a license ABC123 gets a ticket. But a notice sent to the registered address is returned. So they use the database to try to find the name somewhere else. The problem is that they're getting people in different cities with the same name. Big brother is watching -- no -- going after you. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That was also a big stink in Chicago at one point, maybe still is. People who have never been to Chicago in their life get parking tickets _based on their license plates_ sent from City of Chicago with warrants issued for their arrest unless they drop everything here and now and drive all the way to Chicago to defend themselves, or preferably to the city's point of view, just pay up and shut up. PAT] ------------------------------ From: A User Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 07:54:33 +1000 On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 14:12:14 -0500, Stuart Barkley wrote: > The article and discussion here both miss what I consider a more > important issue with the EZ-pass system: > There is no way to know who else is tracking the EZ-pass transponders. > The transponder should have a audio and/or visual indicator whenever > it is read. How else can you know that Big Brother is only reading > the transponder for its intended use and instead isn't reading it in > other locations for other purposes. > There should also be an off switch on the unit although I can see that > causing more problems with people forgetting to turn it back on before > traveling through EZ-pass lanes. > I've never been lost; I was once bewildered for three days, but never > lost! -- Daniel Boone Big brother doesn't need your transponder, they just use off the shelf OCR licence plate readers ... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 21:12:35 -0500 From: Chris Farrar Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System > Stuart Barkley wrote: >> other purposes. >> There should also be an off switch on the unit although I can see that >> causing more problems with people forgetting to turn it back on before >> traveling through EZ-pass lanes. > There actually is a rather low-tech measure that works very well: > there's a plastic container bag that comes with every ez-pass > transponder, and is coated with RF-blocking material. It looks a lot > like very sturdy, semi-trasparent foil. The EZ-pass instruction > booklets tell users that if they are concerned for any reason that > their transponder might be read in an instance where they don't want > it to be, they can remove the transponder from its windshield mount > and place it in the bag, ensuring that the transponder will not be > read. > Not as convenient as an off switch, but it does solve the problem of > people not being aware of the unit being "off" when they in fact want > it "on." If it's in the bag, it's off. If it's on the windshield, > then it's on. Of course, this doesn't work so well for those of us who have cars with metallic windshields, and have to use the licence plate mounted EZPass. Its a little time consuming to mount and unmount it all the time. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 19:17:50 -0700 Organization: Disorganized In message Dan Lanciani wrote: > Except that (according to the original proposal) it won't run in the > clear anywhere you can "tap" without relatively sophisticated die > probing equipment. Are you aware of some change in the approach or > are you just assuming that the manufacturers will screw up the > implementation? If the latter, remember that the original proposal > also incorporates key revocation for compromised device families. Sure, but imagine the legal backlash if suddenly Sony's TVs no longer work. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 20:28:16 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Re: New Long Range Cordless Phones? > First poster: >>>> I'm living in a rural Alaskan town and traditional cell service is >>>> spotty to none, even with an old bag phone and roof antenna so I was >>>> thinking that this could be an interesting approach to local mobile >>>> phone service. > Sorry, if it uses frequencies illegal for use in the US, its use is > illegal. Indiscriminate use of the "230-450MHz" band described for > that device elsewhere: > http://www2.dslreports.com/forum/remark,12419431~mode=flat~days=9999~start > could trash a lot of navigation devices. How well received would you > be if you trashed a nav beacon, in AK where bush pilots are a > necesssity? > I would be *very* specific with anyone selling such a device that you > want to know what frequencies *specifically* are used, and have them > show you in the FCC regs how they are exempt. Ask them for the 'FCC ID' > number for the equipment. Then, check with the FCC field office, or > confirm at the FCC website: > https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm An old bag-type AMPS phone (analog cellular) is legal for another few years. These have a power of 5 Watts, IIRC, and a nominal range of about 25 or 30 miles. You can get upgraded antennae for them from Wilson (Sorry, no URL, and there are two companies named Wilson: you can check any truck stop). The old mobile non-cellular phones are car-mount only, and are grandfathered in, but are being phased out. ------------------------------ From: LB@notmine.com Subject: Last Laugh! was Re: Job Opportunity Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 21:27:21 -0500 Organization: Optimum Online TELECOM Digest Editor responded to a message sent by Mayra TABOR: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Readers, perhaps you can tell me if > this is a _legitimate_ employment opportunity or just another scam > intended to get you to do a quick shuffle of money outbound before > the excrement hits the propeller blades? > In my limited examination of this company I note a few things: > (1) They are looking for licensees to help them in their > 'shipping and freight forwarding' business. > (2) They seem quite eager to find people with a USA bank account; in > fact a question on their online employment application asks about > your USA bank routing number. > (3) Their 'home office' (of which they show lots of pictures of happy > industrious employees) is in St. Petersburg, _Russian Federation_. I > do not intend to besmirch their character and accuse them of being a > bunch of crooks, however I do recall reading somewhere of two Russian > 'hackers' who were from St. Petersburg, Russia who the United States > FBI wanted very badly but could not get them extradited. > Anyway, I pass this along in the event any one or more of you feel > like applying for the job, and are quick witted enough to hang onto > your purse (and only provide accurate ABA routing numbers, etc) in the > event you absolutely must. Here is the message I got a few days ago, > and you can check out the corresponding web page. PAT] > =========================== > Hi, > Would you like to earn some extra money working from home? We offer > you a great opportunity! > Our company Ship & Pay International is looking for reliable and > trustworthy people to be our representatives in your country! > This is not a sales gimmick requiring you to pay setup fees or sign up > to a mailing list. You will need no money and no special skills to > start. Anyone can work with us! > If you are interested, don't hesitate to visit our website: > http://www.shipandpay.com/jobs.html > Requirements: > 1. A computer with access to the Internet, e-mail > 2. 3-5 hours free during the week (mainly in the non-business hours) > 3. Check your e-mail several times a day (each hour is welcome) > 4. Be able to repeatedly lift 5-20 pound boxes. > 5. Reply to e-mails immediately > 6. We don't work with persons under 21 > 7. Bank account to receive payments > 8. Account in: PayPal, E-gold (if possible) > 9. Be able to answer phone calls > 10. Be responsible, hard working and communicable > If you would like to join our team please visit > http://www.shipandpay.com/jobs.html and fill in the online application > form. > Thank you. > Best regards, > Ship & Pay International > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Now, it all appears to be an honest > company trying to get started with a worldwide presence. But something > leaves me feeling a bit queasy, even with those nice pictures on their > web site, and happy, smiling employees; the picture of their office > building, etc. What is going on? PAT] If it smells even mildly bad avoid it. Trying to pet a skunk is always high risk. LB [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And that, it seems, is the story of the whole internet in the past few years; if it smells even a little, best to avoid it. Very sad, really. I mean, there _are_ honest people in Russia; just as there _are_ honest people in Nigeria. Can you imagine the hassles _honest_ netizens in Nigeria must have in trying to communicate with potential business associates in the United States? Now, some people would probably say 'honest netizen in Nigeria' is an oxymoron. Still others would probably say 'honest netizen' in and of itself is an oxymoron. Do you remember the infamous cartoon several years ago -- long, long before any of the nonsense in recent years was even dreamed of -- called "Honesty on the Internet"? I think I will get it and put it on our web page to give people a laugh. 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. 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. 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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #136 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Mar 30 16:29:17 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j2ULTHG17741; Wed, 30 Mar 2005 16:29:17 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 16:29:17 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200503302129.j2ULTHG17741@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 V24 #137 TELECOM Digest Wed, 30 Mar 2005 16:30:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 137 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Secret Service DNA - "Distributed Networking Attack" (Monty Solomon) Re: Fax Station ID (Gary Breuckman) Re: Fax Station ID (Steve Sobol) Re: Fax Station ID (Dave Garland) Re: Fax Station ID (Robert Bonomi) Re: Fax Station ID (NOTvalid@surplus4actors.INFO) Re: Fax Station ID (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Arguments in 'Brand X' Case (Daily Lead from USTA) Re: Verizon, VoiceWing and Portability (Zorro) Re: FCC: Telcos do not Have to Sell DSL as Stand Alone (Lisa Hancock) Re: More 'Tweens' Going Mobile - Health Risks (Lisa Hancock) Blackboards vrs. Whiteboards (Lisa Hancock) Re: Verizon, Voicewing and Portability (Robert Bonomi) Re: Verizon, Voicewing and Portability (John Levine) Re: Verizon, Voicewing and Portability (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: LNP Transfer From McLeodUSA to Vonage (Steve Sobol) Re: Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music (John Smith) Re: Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music (Lisa Hancock) Re: Last Laugh! was Re: Job Opportunity (NOTvalid@surplus4actors.INFO) Re: Horrible Voice Quality on skypeout (Koos van den Hout) Re: GSM-900 (Jason) Re: Science and Society: Anatomy of a Techno-Myth (Lisa Hancock) Re: Last Laugh! was Re: Job Opportunity (NOTvalid@surplus4actors.INFO) 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: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 09:07:19 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Secret Service DNA - "Distributed Networking Attack" DNA Key to Decoding Human Factor Secret Service's Distributed Computing Project Aimed at Decoding Encrypted Evidence By Brian Krebs washingtonpost.com Staff Writer For law enforcement officials charged with busting sophisticated financial crime and hacker rings, making arrests and seizing computers used in the criminal activity is often the easy part. More difficult can be making the case in court, where getting a conviction often hinges on whether investigators can glean evidence off of the seized computer equipment and connect that information to specific crimes. The wide availability of powerful encryption software has made evidence gathering a significant challenge for investigators. Criminals can use the software to scramble evidence of their activities so thoroughly that even the most powerful supercomputers in the world would never be able to break into their codes. But the U.S. Secret Service believes that combining computing power with gumshoe detective skills can help crack criminals' encrypted data caches. Taking a cue from scientists searching for signs of extraterrestrial life and mathematicians trying to identify very large prime numbers, the agency best known for protecting presidents and other high officials is tying together its employees' desktop computers in a network designed to crack passwords that alleged criminals have used to scramble evidence of their crimes -- everything from lists of stolen credit card numbers and Social Security numbers to records of bank transfers and e-mail communications with victims and accomplices. To date, the Secret Service has linked 4,000 of its employees' computers into the "Distributed Networking Attack" program. The effort started nearly three years ago to battle a surge in the number of cases in which savvy computer criminals have used commercial or free encryption software to safeguard stolen financial information, according to DNA program manager Al Lewis. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6098-2005Mar28.html ------------------------------ From: Gary Breuckman Subject: Re: Fax Station ID Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 20:55:03 -0600 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Reply-To: puma@catbox.com John Schmerold wrote: > Anyone know if it's a law or regulation that requires faxes to include > station identification at top of every page sent ? It's part of 47 U.S.C. 227. Put that in Google and you'll find lots of references. That section also covers unsolicited calls made by recording systems, etc. -- Gary Breuckman ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Fax Station ID Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 20:19:40 -0800 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com John Schmerold wrote: > Anyone know if it's a law or regulation that requires faxes to include > station identification at top of every page sent ? I believe it's part of the TCPA, which would make it a law. (47 USC 227 IIRC, someone correct me if I'm wrong about this rule being part of the TCPA.) JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Fax Station ID Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 23:43:35 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when John Schmerold wrote: > Anyone know if it's a law or regulation that requires faxes to include > station identification at top of every page sent ? I haven't tracked down the original rule, but according to a law firm's website at http://tinyurl.com/6l4h7 (the very first hit from googling on "fax number header") in the US the FCC: rules ... require every fax (not just unsolicited advertisements) to identify in the top or bottom margin on each page or on the first page the date and time it is sent, the sender's identity (the originator of the fax, not the name of the broadcast fax service), and the fax number of the machine sending the transmission or the telephone number of the sender. If a broadcast fax service (which likely includes an outside marketing firm retained for such purposes) is used and the fax broadcaster is responsible for the content of the fax or for supplying the fax numbers to which the faxes are sent, then the fax broadcaster's name also must be identified in the header. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Fax Station ID Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 11:40:25 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , John Schmerold wrote: > Anyone know if it's a law or regulation that requires faxes to include > station identification at top of every page sent ? United States Federal statute requires: 1) sender ID on the top of every page *or* 1) sender ID on the _first_ page See 47 USC 227 ------------------------------ From: NOTvalid@surplus4actors.INFO Subject: Re: Fax Station ID Date: 30 Mar 2005 07:11:46 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com John Schmerold wrote: > Anyone know if it's a law or regulation that requires faxes to include > station identification at top of every page sent ? Yes ... but Only if made after a certain year. My 4800bps fax card from my XT which I still use is exempt. ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Fax Station ID Date: 30 Mar 2005 17:05:06 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , John Schmerold wrote: > Anyone know if it's a law or regulation that requires faxes to include > station identification at top of every page sent ? US Code Title 47 Chapter 5 Subchapter II Part I Section 227.d.2: Telephone facsimile machines: The Commission shall revise the regulations setting technical and procedural standards for telephone facsimile machines to require that any such machine which is manufactured after one year after December 20, 1991, clearly marks, in a margin at the top or bottom of each transmitted page or on the first page of each transmission, the date and time sent, an identification of the business, other entity, or individual sending the message, and the telephone number of the sending machine or of such business, other entity, or individual. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 12:31:13 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Arguments in Brand X Case Focus on Information vs. Telecom Rules Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 30, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20451&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Arguments in Brand X case focus on information vs. telecom rules BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Verizon wins MCI; Qwest may up ante * Juniper buys Kagoor * Cisco's acquisition of Airespace puts heat on rival gear makers * Tellabs, Occam strike a deal * Cablevision's Charles Dolan pledges $400M for Voom USTA SPOTLIGHT * Tomorrow! VoIP 101: How to Rapidly Roll Out VoIP, 1:00 p.m. EST EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Extreme unveils new family of Gigabit Ethernet switches REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Supreme Court mulls impact on innovation in Grokster case Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20451&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Zorro for the Common Good Subject: Re: Verizon, Voicewing and Portability Date: 30 Mar 2005 11:25:14 -0800 Pat, Thanks for the reply. VoiceWing is not a separate company, but rather Verizon's own VOIP product. That's why it makes such little sense that current Verizon DSL customers would be unable to sign up. Also, I just re-upped with VDSL for another year in order to get the $30 rate, so switching to a cable modem isn't an option. ZftCG [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ah yes, the cheaper rate if you agree to go for one year. When SBC sensed I was getting unhappy and about to toss them out, they tried that on me also. Re-up for one year on DSL, get it for thirty dollars per month. When I reminded them that they had earlier promised (and lied) about having a cheaper rate on DSL as long as I also subscribed to Cingular Wireless [which I do] -- then they later claimed that would not apply in my case and would not honor the rate; and when I reminded them they had earlier also promised a thirty dollar rate if I subscribed to a whole truckload of unwanted and sometimes useless 'custom calling features' including voicemail,[which at the time they said they would turn on, then a day or two later a technician told me they could not do on this exchange] and they later told me they had not promised any such thing; then you have to forgive me if I did not want to take any more chances on them. I am on a very fixed income and cannot afford something as expensive as Southwestern Bell DSL when a bunch of hollow, bogus lies come as part of the package. Maybe you will have better luck getting Verizon to honor a promise of a thirty dollar rate. Watch and see how the bill slowly starts to creep up with invoices of a dozen or more pages written in hierogliphics arrives. You call them each month to complain about the increase and what they promised you in the re-up, they say 'so sorry, our mistake we will re-rate you next month and pro-rate the credit you have due.' Then the next month your bill arrives, two or three times as many hierogliphics as the month before and if you wade through all the re-rates and pro-rates you see they actually did the same thing again. For that, you get to wait in their voicemail hell 'as a valued customer' for 30-45 minutes each time. Anyway, if you did not actually _sign anything_ as part of the re-up, don't worry about it. Just tell them, as I did, "well, I lied about it, I never promised, etc." They'll never be able to get their act together well enough to produce any paperwork anyway. I'd suggest that unless there is paperwork to the contrary, you just back out of the deal and go with cable and some CLEC. It will work out cheaper for you in the long run. My cable internet, Prairie Stream telephone line -and- my VOIP phone line turn out to be less each month than SBC was costing. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: FCC: Phone Companies Don't Have to Sell DSL as a Stand-Alone Date: 30 Mar 2005 10:15:10 -0800 TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Jack Decker: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have said before that the best > thing to do, IMO, is go with cable internet _whenever possible_ and > try to avoid Bell and its DSL completely, for just these same > reasons. Bell has a long, sordid history of being very tricky and > difficult to deal with. If cable internet is not available, then of > course take Bell service and its DSL, but watch for any possible > opportunity -- such as cable being installed or expanded in your area > to break away to a competitive CLEC and cable internet, such as I > have done, now two years ago with Prairie Stream and Cable One. PAT] But many cable broadband carriers won't give you that unless you buy their TV service as well (which is a lot more expensive than a basic POTS wireline.) Seems to me there's a double standard when it comes to expectations from the telephone companies vs. the cable companies. My own cable company keeps jacking up its rates -- a few years ago I paid $35/month and now pay $55. They added some Spanish language channels which is curious since very few Spanish speaking people live in this particular service territory. As soon as Bell finishes their high speed fibre work I plan to switch to them for TV as well. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: True, some won't see it stand alone, but many will, and anyway, people may want television as well. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: More 'Tweens' Going Mobile; Long-Term Health Risks Unclear Date: 30 Mar 2005 10:21:00 -0800 Tony P. wrote: > That is what we get for fleeing the urban core cities. The costs of that > are coming back in spades. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are lots of things wrong with the > urban core, inner city. I am sorry you feel that those of us who > wanted something better in life did what you call 'fleeing'. I know > you would _never_ get me back to Chicago for example. PAT] When once-nice city neighborhoods decayed and the people were forced to leave their homes, nobody (govt, politicians) cared and did anything. Indeed, those people themselves got blamed for "fleeing" even though their wants -- decent schools, safe streets, no vandalism -- were perfectly acceptable and met elsewhere. If anyone challenged the anti-social behavior of the new people moving into the neighborhoods and causing trouble, they were accused of being a snob or worse (esp if there were ethnic differences). Yet when the opposite happens -- when affluent people move back into the city and fix up a decayed neighborhood -- rebuilding rotted buildings, chasing drug dealers away, opening new stoers in empty shells -- everyone worries about the people who previously lived there (the ones who failed to keep up the neighborhood). Seems to me the ones already there are benefiting -- at no cost to them -- of a nicer living area. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, one thing I really appreciate about living here in Independence is that this is a very integrated community, which is how I would want it. We are not a rich community (although there is a 'rich part of town' [north of Taylor Road near the country club]) and there are areas which tend to have more minority residents than others, but we all seem to get along okay. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards Date: 30 Mar 2005 10:25:59 -0800 I heard my school district will modernize and replace the classic "blackboard" (or greenboard) with modern 'whiteboards'. I can't help but wonder if this is a dumb idea. AFAIK, blackboards last forever. Lots of old schools still have their original ones. In contrast, whiteboards seem sensitve to nicks and scrapes. I believe black/greenboards cost less than whiteboards. But most significantly is the chalk vs. marker. Chalk is much cheaper than markers. Markers always run out quickly. Someone forgets and uses the wrong kind permanently staining the whiteboard. Lastly, markers have that weird chemical smell. Seems to me there's nothing wrong with blackboards and nothing to be gained by whiteboards. Thoughts anyone? ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Verizon, Voicewing and Portability Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 13:06:27 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > Please tell me if this makes sense: > I live in Manhattan and currently have Verizon local and DSL. I would > like to switch my local service to VoiceWing 500 (same as regular > VoiceWing with 500 minutes of outgoing calls/month, for $19.95). I > just got off the phone with multiple Verizon customer service people; > they all told me varying things, but the basic upshot is that because > I'm a DSL customer, I can't get VoiceWing on the same line, since DSL > requires a regular land line. That seems to me to be completely > backwards -- after all, wouldn't the most obvious customers for > VoiceWing be current DSL customers? Yet they're telling me those are > the exact people who are ineligible for the service (unless I'm > willing to sign up for an entirely new phone line, which would be > completely pointless and cost me an additional $20/month). What's > more, while at least one person had told me this situation could > change in the near future, the last guy I spoke to said it was a > structural problem that could never be rectified. > Now, as I said, I got different answers from different people, and in > general, people seemed to be a little confused about how VoiceWing > works, most likely because it's still relatively new. Can anyone out > there shed any light on this riddle? Does anyone currently have both > VoiceWing and Verizon DSL, with no additional phone lines? The current regulatory environment *requires* that the ILEC (Verizon, in your case) transfer the _exclusive) use of that wire-pair to the CLEC, when you go with a CLEC as the dial-tone provider. IF the _CLEC_ does not offer line-shared DSL -- either their own offering, or access for third-party providers -- you are SOL as far as getting DSL on _that_ wire-pair. In those situations where the CLEC does not offer line-shared DSL, you simply have to get another wire-pair for your DSL service. Covad and MCI, at least, in your area, can do this. It costs a little more ($5-10/mo) than line-sharing. _AT_THIS_TIME_, Verizon does not have any 'non-line-shared' DSL offering, They did, last year, announce their intention to offer 'naked' DSL -- DSL on it's own wire-pair, without voice service on it; *BUT* the projected roll-out of the service (originally scheduled for 'early 2005') has been pushed back, and no firm availability date has been set. In theory, *IF* the CLEC offered the functionality, Verizon could piggy- back their service on the CLEC-controlled wire-pair. Verizon _would_, in that situation, however, have to *pay* the CLEC for the privilege of using the CLEC-controlled wire-pair to provide your DSL. Methinks Verizon would be loathe to do so, _if_ it were technically viable. _Very__Few_ CLECs have the installed equipment to support shared-line DSL. Those that do, do not make it available for 3rd-party use -- rather they use it for _their_own_ shared-line offering. Verizon apparently restricts their DSL offerings to situations where _they_ "own" the wire-pair. And, at this time, do =not= offer "non-shared" line service. Thus, _IF_ you change dial-tone providers, you *will* have to change Internet access providers as well. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Check out panix.com, and world.std.com, a couple of _good_ providers in your area. *IF* you have a _reliable_ cable TV provider, they may offer Internet access, and could be worth checking out. If, like many places, the cable TV service is subject to frequent short-duration outages, you should take into consideration what effect similar outages will have on your Internet use. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the nearly two years since I decided to ditch Southwestern Bell (for everything) and go with CableOne for my high speed internet, I do not think there has been five minutes of downtime. Well, there was one time I decided to move a television set into my computer room so I could watch television while working on the Digest, and in the process of hooking up a splitter to the cable line and attaching a television/radio combination to the cable which (at that point in my system) had just been the internet, I got a splitter installed incorrectly. I had that same day installed a Cisco router for the computers, and between the ill-advised television/radio on the cable line in my computer room and the Cisco router, the Motorola SB-4220 Surfboard Cable Modem (supplied by CableOne) somehow lost track of what it was doing. But the tech guy at CableOne very graciously got me back on line in about 10 minutes once I decided to call them and ask for help. Cable only rarely goes off line, I have found. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 30 Mar 2005 05:52:18 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Verizon, Voicewing and Portability Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > they all told me varying things, but the basic upshot is that because > I'm a DSL customer, I can't get VoiceWing on the same line, since DSL > requires a regular land line. Does it make sense? No. Is it true? Unfortunately, yes. Just this week the FCC ruled that it has jurisdiction over DSL, not the states, and it affirmed its ill-considered finding that telcos do not have to provide "naked" DSL. I agree that you're probably better off with a cable modem. Regards, John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And have you noticed, as I have, how cable internet is usually _much faster_ than DSL? Both downloads and uploads go amazingly fast. And our local CableOne office gave me a choice of either a 'full T-1' or 'half-speed' which is apparently a smaller 'pipeline', but in either event, quite enough for most residential use. Anyway, our original correspondent should enjoy reading all the outrageous offers Verizon starts making to him once he does a 'Terri Shivo' on them and pulls the plu. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Verizon, Voicewing and Portability Date: 30 Mar 2005 17:11:59 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , wrote: > Please tell me if this makes sense: > I live in Manhattan and currently have Verizon local and DSL. I would > like to switch my local service to VoiceWing 500 (same as regular > VoiceWing with 500 minutes of outgoing calls/month, for $19.95). I > just got off the phone with multiple Verizon customer service people; > they all told me varying things, but the basic upshot is that because > I'm a DSL customer, I can't get VoiceWing on the same line, since DSL > requires a regular land line. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You will need to do the very same thing > as I did. You will need to, in this order, (1) install cable internet > to replace DSL; then once the cable internet is installed in order to > avoid any network downtime, (2) tell Verizon to get their DSL off of > your line, ASAP, immediatly, etc. (3) Once the DSL has been removed, > _then and only then_ can you tell VoiceWing to port your existing number VoiceWing is Verizon's VoIP offering. The ironic part of all of this is that because of Verizon's policy of only providing DSL over a line that also has regular Verizon phone service, if you live in a Verizon DSL territory you can't get their VoIP service unless you ALSO have regular Verizon phone service. And thanks to the FCC decision this week, that's not about to change. John [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The same thing is true in Southwestern Bell territory. TerraWorld (our local ISP here in southeastern Kansas) also brokers Bell's DSL on their ISP lines, but Bell will not let Duane Shaub (TerraWorld owner) install DSL on any of his Prairie Stream lines. Makes no sense at all to me or Duane; he says it would be a win-win situation for everyone, including Bell and Prairie Stream's puny little slice of business they have taken away from Bell. But Prairie Stream/TerraWorld's attitude on this is very pragmatic: "Just go up the street to Mike Flood (local CableOne manager) and ask him to turn on cable internet timed with when Bell disconnects their DSL. Prairie Stream and CableOne -- two local business places -- start making the money that Bell loses out on. What a terrible loss for Bell! hahahahahaha." But you see, Bell is so tied up with regulations and rules -- mostly of their own making -- they cannot begin to think out of the box, in a creative way. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: LNP Transfer From McLeodUSA to Vonage Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 20:09:56 -0800 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com wondering wrote: > I am wondering is anyone has successfully ported their home number out of > McLeodUSA to Vonage. I have been trying for eight months. I am > beginning to believe it is impossible. I would have filed a complaint with my state PUC long ago. Vonage isn't a regulated LEC, but McLeod most certainly is. JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" ------------------------------ From: John Smith Subject: Re: Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 04:26:08 GMT hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > People have a Constitutional right (and a moral one too) to be > compensated for their creative efforts. Wow! That's a wild interpretation of the Constitution. You know, by writing this message, I have just made a creative effort. Where the hell's my check!? In fact, nobody has a Constitutional right to be compensated just because they wrote a song. If they did, there would be a lot fewer out-of-work song writers in the world. What the Constitution /really/ says is that Congress has the power "[t]o promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries". Authors certainly don't have the right to get compensated; they only have the right to prevent OTHER people from publishing or using their work. And they only have that right for a limited time, and only if Congress grants it to them, which it has the power to, but is under no Constitutional obligation to do. In fact, Congress only has that power if it finds that doing so will promote the "useful arts". That's a far cry from "everyone has a right to get paid". ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music Date: 30 Mar 2005 10:10:03 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Joseph wrote: > Perhaps if the recording companies weren't so greedy charging $18 for > a disc of music and perhaps if the recording companies shared a bigger > portion of profits from CDs people would see it differently. Well then, what would be an appropriate royalty for musicians and price for CDs? Well-known recording artists seem to be living quite well. Stuff by the Beatles done 40 years ago is still selling new at full price. ['course then there's people like me who buy that stuff used for 50c at yard sales.] Actually, in thinking about it, the price of album when I was a kid is lower today considering inflation. (The cost of a 'single', if you can even find one, is much more.) While I can't help but suspect CD prices should be lower, in fairness to the record companies, they have their unseen costs as well. They go to plenty of expense to select new talent and market and distribute it. Often times a CD doesn't sell and that expense is wasted. They also have to deal with tempermental artists, fickle consumer tastes, normal distribution channel issues, investors, and basic business issues. There's a hopeful singer Analise van der Pol. She did a pop song "Over It" that got repeated play, but she was not signed for a record deal. I think she's very talented, but the mass market obviously didn't think so. So it goes. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not only are the Beatles still doing okay on their work from forty years ago, but lots of the very old classical music stuff -- from the 78 rpm era and the very early 33 rpm era is now getting re-issued on CD and selling pretty well. I had some ancient 78 rpm and 33 rpm 'long playing' records of Virgil Fox which were lost in the tragic fire Bill Pfieffer endured in the mid 1990's. I just assumed I would never see them again. They dated back to the early 1950's and late 1940's, when LP records were very heavy in the old fashioned cardboard sleeves. Well, you can imagine my surprise when I received a very small box of CDs the other day including all those ancient recordings now on Compact Disk, re-issued, including a newer DVD-style disk which had a bunch of other old things of Fox on it, including a thirty minute 'Quick Time' movie file of Fox from his 1964 visit to the Wanamaker store in Philadelphia and one of his performances there. Lisa H, you said you have visited Lord and Taylor in recent years. Would you like a copy of that DVD of Fox from when it was Wanamaker's? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Koos van den Hout Subject: Re: Horrible Voice Quality on Skypeout Date: 30 Mar 2005 07:31:11 GMT Organization: http://idefix.net/~koos/ John Levine wrote: > My new USB handset showed up so I tried a couple of Skypeout calls to > regular phone numbers. Ewww. It sounded really awful. > Is this the USB handset, Skypeout, or am I just unlucky? Have you tried calling the 'echo test' number (search for 'echo test' in Skype)? This eliminates the 'skypeout' and 'other phone networks' part of the callpath. And the USB handset is supposed to be a normal audio device to what you are using on the computer (my guess). Have you tried recording a bit of audio from the handset and playing it back? I have just started playing with Skype and I noticed I need to find a good microphone. Which may explain the sudden interest in microphones at work ;) Greetings, Koos van den Hout Koos van den Hout, PGP keyid RSA/1024 0xCA845CB5 via keyservers koos@kzdoos.xs4all.nl or DSS/1024 0xF0D7C263 -?) Fax +31-30-2817051 Visit the site about books with reviews /\\ http://idefix.net/~koos/ http://www.virtualbookcase.com/ _\_V ------------------------------ From: Jason Subject: Re: GSM-900 Date: 30 Mar 2005 05:04:16 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Thank you all for the explanation. It really helps. But may I know for a trasnmitter and a receiver, will the trasnmitting frequency be different than the receiving frequency? I know there are such cases. But why they make it this way? Kindly help. Thank you, Jason ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Science and Society: Anatomy of a Techno-Myth -- Economist.com Date: 30 Mar 2005 09:57:11 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Marcus Didius Falco wrote: > http://economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=3D3786384 > The debate over the safety of mobile phones has little to do with > science. I don't think the scare of using cell phones while pumping gas ever got too far. It'd be a very easy thing to check -- what were the causes of gas station fires and technically could a cell phone cause that? As an all-electronic device, cell phones normally don't generate sparks. One does wonder why so many gas station attendants smoke a cigarette while pumping. Many of these 'scares' come from grandstanding politicians who want to come off as being concerned about their constituents' well being. Cheap, non-attackable, tasteful free publicity. Another source is the news media, particularly local TV and cable TV news. My local TV stations regularly run teaser ads 'A NEW DANGER ABOUT APPLES, FIND OUT AT EYEWITNESS AT 11!", or, 'WHAT YOUR DOCTOR ISN'T TELLING YOU!" or 'IS YOUR CHILD AT RISK?' and then they tell you about something that's a 1 in 634 trillion chance to happen. Many news shows about have medical segments that are pure quackery. You don't need to be a scientist to see through this crap, only some common sense and some careful thinking is needed. ------------------------------ From: NOTvalid@surplus4actors.INFO Subject: Re: Last Laugh! was Re: Job Opportunity Date: 30 Mar 2005 07:35:28 -0800 Probably this is to tranship cameras, VCRs etc bought with stolen credit cards. When the sh*t hits the fan ... all merchandise was shipped to you ... all payments were made to you. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Please don't have ugly thoughts like that! 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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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #137 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Mar 31 20:50:02 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j311o1e02726; Thu, 31 Mar 2005 20:50:02 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 20:50:02 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200504010150.j311o1e02726@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 V24 #138 TELECOM Digest Thu, 31 Mar 2005 20:50:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 138 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson SBC Rejects Vonage Bid to Work On Joint 911 System for VoIP (J Decker) Vonage May Route 911 Call to Congress, FCC (Jack Decker) Blocking VoIP, Other Apps - Clearwire Blockade Finds Industry (J Decker) New Technology Brings Back Old Problem For 911 (Jack Decker) Supreme Court to Hear High-Speed Internet Case - Cable (Jack Decker) The Real Reason SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 (Jack Decker) Sprint PCS Vision Added to Open Relay DataBase (Eric Friedebach) Cell Phone Compatibility (SmarSquid) Classic Telephone Call on PC (Gerhard Nowak) Microsoft Launches Downloadable TV For Handheld (Telecom dailyLead USTA) EU Needs More Time For Biometric Passports (Marcus Didius Falco) Microsoft Files 117 Suits That Target 'Phishing' (Lisa Minter) Every Ten Days (Choreboy) 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: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 19:56:12 -0500 Subject: SBC Rejects Vonage Bid to Work on Joint 911 System For VoIP http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=11637&hed=Vonage%E2%80%99s+emergency+call+to+SBC§or=Capital&subsector=EconomyAndPolicy Vonage's Emergency Call to SBC March 30, 2005 SBC has turned down overtures from Vonage to work together on developing 911-style emergency services for the VoIP company's customers. Vonage approached SBC with an offer 'to test and deploy a joint VoIP E-911 service' in a February 18 letter from CEO Jeffrey Citron to SBC CEO Edward Whitacre. "We cannot resolve fundamental issues associated with providing a native E-911 service to VoIP users without your assistance," he said. Mr. Citron received a response on March 25 from Christopher Rice, SBC's Executive Vice President of Network Planning & Engineering. "SBC would welcome the opportunity to have its 911 expert meet with Vonage to explain SBC's current 911 offerings," said Mr. Rice. "We cannot agree, however, to participate in a separate, proprietary trial with Vonage." Mr. Rice also pointed to Telcordia as a carrier with which SBC has been working to deliver 911 calls, and cited SBC's own 911 solution available to VoIP providers, called the Switched IP Service. SBC's decision didn't sit well with Mr. Citron. "I write to express my concern and disappointment at SBC's refusal to work directly with Vonage," Mr. Citron wrote in a March 28 letter. "Vonage renews its request to jointly test and deploy a VoIP solution as soon as possible." Full story at: http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=11637&hed=Vonage%E2%80%99s+emergency+call+to+SBC§or=Capital&subsector=EconomyAndPolicy How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 22:40:03 -0500 Subject: Vonage May Route 911 Call to Congress, FCC http://news.com.com/Vonage+may+route+911+call+to+Congress,+FCC/2100-7352_3-5647706.html By Ben Charny Staff Writer, CNET News.com Internet phone provider Vonage may ask Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to help it solve problems with SBC over subscriber access to the 911 emergency call network. SBC's decision not to work more closely with Vonage, made public Wednesday, may delay efforts to fix the problem that keeps a majority of U.S. Net phone providers from successfully routing 911 calls to the right emergency calling center. Many of those 911 calls are instead sent to non-emergency operators, with no guarantee the calls will reach dispatch centers close enough to provide the most effective help. In mid-February, Vonage asked SBC, BellSouth, Qwest and Verizon, the nation's largest local phone companies collectively known as the Bells, to provide access to their 911 infrastructure within the next 60 days. At first, it appeared the logjam had been broken: SBC met with Vonage to work out the logistics; Verizon, the largest Bell, also committed to testing just such a system; and Qwest, the smallest of the Bells, began considering its options. While Verizon and BellSouth are now cooperating, SBC has refused to do so, telling the FCC that Vonage and other Net phone providers need to develop a standard way to route the 911 calls appropriately. What Vonage was asking to test, SBC claimed, was a proprietary fix. "SBC can not agree to engage in numerous individual tests with each and every VoIP provider," it recently told the FCC, referring to the Net phone technology also known as voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). A spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment. Vonage spokeswoman Brooke Schulz said Vonage is considering asking Congress and the FCC to demand SBC open up its 911 infrastructure to Vonage and other Net phone operators. In rebuking SBC's proprietary claim, Schulz said operators Packet8, AT&T's CallVantage and Verizon Communications VoiceWing Net phone service all use the same 911 products, "so how can SBC call what we're doing proprietary?" Full story at: http://news.com.com/Vonage+may+route+911+call+to+Congress,+FCC/2100-7352_3-5647706.html ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 22:37:09 -0500 Subject: Blocking VoIP, Other Apps - Clearwire Blockade Finds Industry Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Jack Decker notes: My comment follows the (very short) article ... http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/61935 Blocking VoIP, Other Apps Clearwire blockade finds industry support? As mentioned last week , Clearwire faces criticism for blocking a number "high bandwidth" applications, including some Vonage customers; their TOS says they may "without limitation, block and allow traffic types as we see fit at any time." Light Reading has a number of curious quotes from ISPs who support Clearwire, and features U.S. Internet Industry Association president David McClure *mocking* Vonage for complaining about service blockades. [Jack Decker Comment: The basic issue here is much larger than VoIP - the fact is that most people who pay a monthly fee for broadband expect to be able to connect to "the Internet" and all the applications available there. For some strange reason a few ISP's seem to have the attitude that it's not sufficient that their customers are paying for an Internet connection, but instead they feel that if they offer an add-on service such as VoIP, they should be able to block competitive services. Now, I want you to think about the Internet services you use and the web pages you visit, because let me tell you, if they make this stick, NOTHING on the Internet is guaranteed accessible to you. Let's suppose, for example, that you use AIM or ICQ, and all your friends are on the same instant messaging service. And let's say you get your broadband from SBC, which as it happens, has a partnership with Yahoo. And, of course, Yahoo has its own instant messaging service. So let's suppose that suddenly one day you find that your AIM or ICQ no longer works, because it can't connect to their server, because SBC is blocking access to force you to use Yahoo's Instant Messaging program. So, okay, you e-mail your friends and ask them to download the Yahoo program, only maybe some of them find it won't work because they have cable broadband and their cable company has struck a deal with Microsoft and they are only allowed to use the MSN instant messaging program. See the problem? Or let's say your a politician, and you're running for re-election, and you have put up a blog to communicate with voters. Only your blog site is blocked by some ISP's because they have an exclusive agreement with a particular blog syndicator and your blog isn't part of that syndicate. Or, what the heck, maybe they just happen to like your opponent, so on a whim the company president decided to block access to everything you -- your web site, your blog site, whatever. Maybe, just to make it more legit, they asked your opponent to pay them $1, for which he receives exclusive access from customers of that ISP. My point is this: Up until now, Internet providers have pretty much acted like common carriers -- in fact, they have evaded prosecution on copyright infringement charges by explicitly stating that they were common carriers and do not monitor the traffic that their customers send back and forth. Now, all of a sudden, a few of them seem to want to go the other way. Well if that be the case, and they no longer claim to be common carriers but in fact are actively blocking certain kinds of traffic, then watch the lawsuits begin for the traffic they DON'T block -- and they have brought it all on themselves by their greed. For those of you who read this and are connected with an Internet Service Provider, and if your ISP belongs to the "U.S. Internet Industry Association", may I respectfully suggest that you think long and hard about David McClure's comments in Light Reading, and whether that is the type of organization you wish to belong to. I say that because in my opinion, with comments of the type he is making in this article, he is inviting both government regulation and potential lawsuits on Internet Service Providers such as yours. The RIAA and the MPAA and similar groups would probably be absolutely ecstatic if you were to renounce your defacto common carrier status, because you have much deeper pockets than most of the people using your ISP. Remember that sometimes there are unintended consequences to actions, and in my opinion Mr. McClure is not thinking clearly about the possible consequences of his attitude. End of commentary.] Article + reader comments at: http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/61935 Original article from Light Reading: http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=71020 ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 14:18:02 -0500 Subject: New Technology Brings Back Old Problem For 911 http://www.sooeveningnews.com/articles/2005/03/31/news/news582.txt By SCOTT BRAND/The Evening News EASTERN UPPER PENINSULA - New technology threatens to bring old problems back to local residents as Voice Over Internet Phone service (VOIP) may be unable to connect residents with their local central dispatch systems in times of emergency. "What we want to make people aware of is they are not able to access 911 like you can on a traditional phone," said Mackinac County 911 Coordinator Pam Matelski. "The dispatch center will not get your information." In Chippewa County, callers should not have difficulty reaching 911 while utilizing the new system. "It's an issue and we are on top of it," said Chippewa County Central Dispatch Director Tim McKee. "We have done what we need to do to insure VOIP calls are directed to the appropriate administrative line." Unlike Luce and Mackinac counties, which go through the Regional 911 Dispatch Center in Negaunee, Chippewa County has the advantage of housing its emergency and administrative offices inside the same building. As a result, 911 calls over the VOIP boxes can be directed to the county's administrative line and, from there, quickly channeled on to the dispatchers in the next room. To date, Vonage is the only company that appears to be offering this new phone service in the Eastern Upper Peninsula. [COMMENT: Actually, that is not true. Viewed one way, any major VoIP provider can be used from anywhere broadband service is available, including the Eastern Upper Peninsula. However, at the present time, only VoicePulse and Broadvoice offer numbers in the Upper Peninsula - in contrast, if you go to Vonage's site and do a search on the 906 area code, it returns "No Area Codes Available" (which probably really means no ratecenters are available).] Full story at: http://www.sooeveningnews.com/articles/2005/03/31/news/news582.txt ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 14:30:39 -0500 Subject: Supreme Court to Hear High-Speed Internet Case - Cable http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/bal-te.bz.brandx29mar29,1,166907.story?ctrack=1&cset=true Supreme Court to hear high-speed Internet case Cable companies may have to open networks By William Patalon III Sun Staff In a debate that will shape the future of high-speed Internet service, the Supreme Court will hear arguments today to determine whether cable companies must open their networks to competitors. The court could decide, in effect, how companies can compete to deliver high-speed Internet access to a rapidly growing market and how much choice consumers will have. The case pits the Federal Communications Commission and National Cable & Telecommunications Association, representing cable companies including Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc., against Internet service providers such as EarthLink Inc. and consumer groups. At stake are billions of dollars expected from the emerging new markets such as Internet-based phone service and digital entertainment that high-speed service -- or broadband -- makes possible. "What I think that this case will decide is just who's going to get the money," said Eric Easton, a telecommunications expert and associate professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Full story at: http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/bal-te.bz.brandx29mar29,1,166907.story?ctrack=1&cset=true ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 11:54:05 -0500 Subject: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 It's probably no secret that I don't have a lot of love for SBC, mainly because it seems as though any time they have a choice between doing something that would be beneficial to their customers or the general public, or making a profit, they always seem to choose to make a profit. This seems to be the way of most large corporations, I fear -- it seems that people in a pack will conspire to do evil that none of the members of that group would think of doing individually. In this case it's a pretty clear cut distinction -- SBC would rather see people's lives endangered than lift a finger to help what they perceive as a competitor gain acess to 911. The thing is, this doesn't even surprise me anymore, in fact it's exactly the sort of action I'd expect SBC to take. http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/index.php?p=324 3/31/2005 The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 -Posted by Russell Shaw @ 5:49 am I am not surprised that SBC is declining to work with Vonage on a way to allow Vonage subscribers access to the E-911 emergency network. SBC's public reason for not being all that eager to do so is that well, Vonage hasn't figured out all the tech stuff on their end and we, SBC, don't have time to help them with it. Or, as the giant ILEC recently told the FCC, "SBC can not agree to engage in numerous individual tests with each and every VoIP provider." But why then, are Verizon and BellSouth cooperating with Vonage on a way to make 911 access work? First of all,the "it would be a pain in the neck" issue doesn't hold water with me. Since most VoIP service providers use similar equipment, getting in the lab with Vonage could result in a template for E-911 solutions that could be deployed by many, if not most, of the 400 or so VoIP access companies in the U.S. Full story at: http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/index.php?p=324 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Can't you just see SBC chomping at the bit to get the old 'Bell System' out of cold storage and back into service with all its old ways, albiet modernized somewhat? Put this thing down -- refusal to work on 911 with VOIP carriers as one more thing to negotiate when the FCC is asked to approve the AT&T/SBC merger. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Eric Friedebach Subject: Sprint PCS Vision Added to Open Relay DataBase Date: 30 Mar 2005 16:17:51 -0800 First thing Monday morning I started noticing a lot of email I was sending to my customers was bouncing back. I use a PCMCIA card with the PCS Vision service from Sprint . It seems that Sprint has been added to the Open Relay DataBase by mistake somehow. Sprint has no idea how this happened, and they can't tell me when this will be resolved. Has anyone here had this happen to their ISP? How long did it take to get it resolved? Eric Friedebach /An Apollo Sandwich from Corky & Lenny's/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Was it truly 'by mistake' or has Sprint been entertaining some spammers? PAT] ------------------------------ From: SmarSquid Subject: Cell Phone Compatibility Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 08:26:26 -0700 I have a couple of inactive cell phones (Motorola 120e and Samsung GS-x426) that are lying around because I have taken phone upgrades. They are blanked out and ready for service, and I want to sell them on E-Bay. Howver, prospective buyers will want to know what cellular service providers the equipment will work with. How can I learn this? The Motorola was originally used in the Verizon Wireless network, and the Samsung was used in the AT&T Wireless network, but I have a feeling other providers could work with these phones. More network compatibility means a higher number of potential buyers. ------------------------------ From: Gerhard Nowak Subject: Classic Telephone Call on PC Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 20:07:37 +0400 Organization: Arcor Hi there, Since 3 months I try to get any proggy and tried out everything starting from Hyperterminal to make a phonecall on my laptop! Its just not possible! It's amazing, how all related programs guide into the wrong direction. Please help, if there is anybody out there to do so. Maybe I got something wrong, or else. I don`t know: If I use hyperterminal of windows -- and all other proggies are derived from this - I can call a party, of course; and I also hear the voice, but there is never a conversation and I can never answer, I can not even "lift" the phone of the hook! What to do? Thanks in advance, Gerry ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 13:08:32 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Microsoft Launches Downloadable TV for Handhelds Telecom dailyLead from USTA March 31, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20487&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Microsoft launches downloadable TV for handhelds BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Qwest mulls another bid for MCI * Cisco scraps poison pill defense * Cablevision COO says MSO would acquire given right opportunity * Relationship between satellite radio providers may thaw * Real estate developers, not consumers, increasingly choose TV providers USTA SPOTLIGHT * Learn about the "Wireless Triple Play": USTA Small Company Summit, April 6 to 7 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Qualcomm looks to bring push-mobile e-mail to masses REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Nortel wins Defense Department contract Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20487&l=2017006 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 22:29:33 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: EU Needs More Time for Biometric Passports So much for the US government's big rush to get them done this year, to the extent that they haven't thought out the implications of the RFID chip (although they realize they should call it anything but RFID, because the acronym RFID is a magnet for animosity). http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-03-30-eu-passports_x.htm?POE=3DTRVI SVA EU needs more time for biometric passports BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) The European Union on Wednesday told the U.S. Congress the bloc needed another year to implement new U.S. rules on secure biometric passports, which include a computer chip with data such as a digital photo of the passport holder. EU justice and interior ministers had said last year they would meet this year's Oct. 26 deadline. But only six of the 25 EU countries Belgium, Finland, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, and Sweden will be ready to issue biometric passports by that date. After Oct. 26, citizens from 27 visa-exempt countries will have to apply for a visa or have a biometric passport. The EU's Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini wrote on Wednesday to James Sensenbrenner, head of the U.S. House of Representative's Judiciary Committee that although the bloc had made substantial progress, it would require more time, until Aug. 28, 2006, to introduce the new passports. "Despite all the progress ... we would urge the Congress to consider a second extension of the deadline," Frattini said in the letter. The United States had already extended the original Oct. 26, 2004, deadline by a year. Frattini said the issuing of similar U.S. passports was also experiencing "a certain slippage" due to problems in adapting the new technology to passports. Japan also will be unable to meet the U.S. deadline, officials said. So-called biometric features can reduce patterns of fingerprints, irises, voices and faces to mathematical algorithms that can be stored on a chip or machine-readable strip. EU countries also want to include a fingerprint on the chip. "Despite all the progress made ... in reinforcing the security of passports you are surely aware that critical aspects of the biometric technology, such as data security and interoperability of reading devices, are still being finalized," wrote Frattini. Frattini said the EU "shares the view of the United States that more secure travel documents are an important tool in the fight against international crime and terrorism." The United States is urging European countries to have new biometric travel documents in place as part of its tighter border security checks following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. All new U.S. passports issued by the end of 2005 are expected to have a chip containing the holders' name, birth date and issuing office, as well as a a photo of the holders' face. The photo is the international standard for biometrics, but countries are free to add other biometrics, such as fingerprints, for greater accuracy. Also Wednesday, the EU head office released a report on the impact of using biometrics, which said more large-scale field trials were needed to ensure the new technology worked properly. It also urged governments to ensure safeguards for privacy and data protection in the use of biometric data. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, the Associated Press. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 31 Mar 2005 12:03:32 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Microsoft Files 117 Suits That Target 'Phishing' WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. on Thursday said it was filing 117 lawsuits against unknown Internet site operators it charged were engaged in "phishing" schemes to obtain personal and financial information from unsuspecting consumers. Often scam artists pose as banks or other legitimate businesses, sending out millions of e-mails or pop-up Web advertisements with requests that the recipient update their account information but instead direct them to fake sites. The world's biggest software company said it was filing "John Doe" defendant lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Washington state in an attempt to establish connections between worldwide phishers and discover the largest-volume operators. "We must work together to stop these con artists from misusing the Internet as a tool for fraud," Aaron Kornblum, Internet safety enforcement attorney at Microsoft, said in a statement. He was joined by officials from the Federal Trade Commission and the National Consumers League who used the lawsuits and Friday's April Fool's Day to encourage consumers to beware of these online schemes. "Phishing is more than a dirty trick played on unsuspecting consumers -- it's a serious identity theft problem," said Susan Grant, director of the National Consumers League's National Fraud Information Center and Internet Fraud Watch program. Some scams are getting more and more sophisticated, some by including what looks like a legitimate Internet address link but once clicked on by the user, they are instead directed to a different, fraudulent site asking for personal information. The officials encouraged consumers to be suspicious of unexpected e-mails seeking personal data, to not click on links in those e-mails, and verify contacts from institutions that claim a person is a victim of identity theft. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Choreboy Subject: Every Ten Days Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 18:08:04 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com March 9, somebody from 877 467 3277 called. I answered on the second ring and they hung up. They did it again March 19 and March 29. A search engine turned up a coed 3,000 miles from here whose blog reported the same thing in November: " ... omg someone called me and then hung up ... here I got their number it's 1-877-467-3277 lol so if you wanna call and bitch at them do so." If she was annoyed that somebody didn't apologize for misdialing, it's hard to imagine that instead of dialing back immediately, she would have thought it over and asked those who saw her blog to harass the caller. It's easier to believe that because she has a blog, the company offered her a commission for anyone who called in her name. I suspect that people all over the country are receiving these hang-up so some will call back to bitch because if these calls are logged, their names can be sold on a list of people who, according to somebody's interpretation of the law, are fair game for telemarketers. I hesitate to call the toll-free number, but I don't want to keep running to answer the phone for a company that intends to hang up on me. What should I do? Choreboy [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That telephone number 1-877-467-3277 belongs to 'Sears Home Improvement Products'. 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. 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 V24 #138 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Mar 31 22:21:04 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j313L3904219; Thu, 31 Mar 2005 22:21:04 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 22:21:04 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200504010321.j313L3904219@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 V24 #139 TELECOM Digest Thu, 31 Mar 2005 22:20:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 139 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed (Lisa Minter) Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S (T. Sean Weintz) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (Chris Farrar) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (Dale Farmer) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (DevilsPGD) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (Barry Margolin) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (T. Sean Weintz) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (Mark Atwood) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (John Hines) Re: Fax Station ID (Rich Greenberg) Re: Fax Station ID (Robert Bonomi) Re: GSM-900 (Robert Bonomi) Re: GSM-900 (Joseph) Re: Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music (Dave Garland) Re: Science and Society: Anatomy of a Techno-Myth (Thomas A. Horsley) Re: Science and Society: Anatomy of a Techno-Myth (T. Sean Weintz) Re: Verizon, Voicewing and Portability (Robert Bonomi) Re: Secret Service DNA - "Distributed Networking Attack" (John McHarry) New Sponsor on Board at Digest Web Site (TELECOM Digest Editor) 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: 31 Mar 2005 11:54:41 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged woman who spent 15 years connected to a feeding tube in an epic legal and medical battle that went all the way to the White House and Congress, died Thursday, 13 days after the tube was removed. She was 41. Schiavo died at 9:05 a.m. at the Pinellas Park hospice where she lay for years while her husband and her parents fought over her in what was easily the longest, most bitter and most heavily litigated right-to-die dispute in U.S. history. The feud between the parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and their son-in-law continued even after her death: The Schindlers' advisers complained that Schiavo's brother and sister had been at her bedside a few minutes before the end came, but were not there at the moment of her death because Michael Schiavo would not let them in the room. "And so his heartless cruelty continues until this very last moment," said the Rev. Frank Pavone, a Roman Catholic priest. He added: "This is not only a death, with all the sadness that brings, but this is a killing, and for that we not only grieve that Terri has passed but we grieve that our nation has allowed such an atrocity as this and we pray that it will never happen again." Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, announced the death but had no immediate comment beyond that. Michael Schiavo's whereabouts were not immediately known. "She's got all of her dignity back. She's now in heaven, she's now with God, and she's walking with grace," Michael Schiavo's brother, Scott Schiavo, said at his Levittown, Pa., home. Outside the hospice, a small group of activists sang hymns, raising their hands to the sky and closing their eyes. After the tube that supplied a nutrient solution was disconnected, protesters had streamed into Pinellas Park to keep vigil outside her hospice, with many arrested as they tried to bring her food and water. Dawn Kozsey, 47, a musician who was among those outside Schiavo's hospice, wept. "Words cannot express the rage I feel," she said. "Is my heart broken for this? Yes." Schiavo suffered severe brain damage in 1990 after her heart stopped because of a chemical imbalance that was believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder. Court-appointed doctors ruled she was in a persistent vegetative state, with no real consciousness or chance of recovery. She left no written instructions, but her husband argued that his wife told him long ago she would not want to be kept alive artificially. His in-laws disputed that, saying that would have gone against her Roman Catholic faith, and they contended she could get better with treatment. They said she laughed, cried, responded to them and tried to talk. Over and over, Pinellas County Circuit Judge George W. Greer said that Michael Schiavo had convinced him that Terri Schiavo would not have wanted to be kept alive under such conditions. The feeding tube was removed with the judge's approval March 18 the third time food and water were cut off during the seven-year legal battle. Florida lawmakers, Congress, President Bush and his brother Gov. Jeb Bush tried to intervene on behalf of her parents, but state and federal courts at all levels repeatedly ruled in favor of her husband. The case focused national attention on living wills, prompting perhaps thousands of Americans to discuss their end-of-life wishes with their loved ones and put their instructions in writing. The dispute also stirred a furious debate over the proper role of government in such life-and-death decisions. And it led to allegations that Republicans in Congress were pandering to the religious right and violating their own political principles of limited government and states' rights. In Washington, the president said he was saddened by the death. "The essence of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak," Bush said. "In cases where there are serious doubts and questions, the presumption should be in favor of life." In Rome, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Vatican office for sainthood, called the removal of the feeding tube "an attack against God." An autopsy is planned, with both sides hoping it will shed more light on the extent of her brain injuries and whether she was abused by her husband, as the Schindlers have argued. In what was the source of yet another dispute between the husband and his in-laws, Michael Schiavo will get custody of the body and plans to have her cremated and bury the ashes in the Schiavo family plot in Pennsylvania. A funeral Mass, sought by the Schindlers, was tentatively scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday. Gov. Jeb Bush said that millions of people around the world will be "deeply grieved" by her death but that the debate over her fate could help others grapple with end-of-life issues. "After an extraordinarily difficult and tragic journey, Terri Schiavo is at rest," he said. "I remain convinced, however, that Terri's death is a window through which we can see the many issues left unresolved in our families and in our society. For that, we can be thankful for all that the life of Terri Schiavo has taught us." Although several right-to-die cases have been fought in the courts across the nation in recent years, none had been this public, drawn-out and bitter. Six times, the Court declined to intervene. As Schiavo's life ebbed away earlier this month, Congress rushed through a bill to allow the federal courts to take up the case. President Bush signed it March 21. But the federal courts refused to intervene. Described by her family as a shy woman who loved animals, music and basketball, Terri Schindler grew up in Pennsylvania and battled a weight problem in her youth. "And then when she lost all the weight, she really became quite beautiful on the outside as well. What was inside she allowed to shine out at that point," a friend, Diane Meyer, said in 2003. She met Michael Schiavo, pronounced SHY-voh, at Bucks County Community College near Philadelphia in 1982. She worked for a short time for the Bell Telephone Company in Pennsylvania. They wed two years later. After they moved to Florida, she worked in an insurance agency. But recurring battles with weight led to the eating disorder that was blamed for her collapse at 26. Doctors said she suffered severe brain damage when her heart stopped beating because of a potassium imbalance. Her brain was deprived of oxygen for 10 minutes before she was revived, doctors estimated, while waiting for an ambulance and in transit to emergency care. Because Terri Schiavo did not leave written wishes on her care, Florida law gave preference to Michael Schiavo over her parents. But the law also recognizes parents as having crucial opinions in the care of an incapacitated person. A court-appointed physician testified her brain damage was so severe that there was no hope she would ever have any cognitive abilities. Still, her parents, who visited her nearly every day, reported their daughter responded to their voices. Video showing the dark-haired woman appearing to interact with her family was televised nationally. But the court-appointed doctor said the noises and facial expressions were reflexes. Both sides accused each other of being motivated by greed over a $1 million medical malpractice award from doctors who failed to diagnose the chemical imbalance. However, that money, which Michael Schiavo received in 1993, has all but evaporated, spent on his wife's care and the court fight. Just $40,000 to $50,000 remained as of mid-March. Michael Schiavo's lawyers suggested the Schindlers wanted to get some of the money. And the Schindlers questioned their son-in-law's sincerity, saying he never mentioned his wife's wishes until winning the malpractice case. The parents tried to have Michael Schiavo removed as his wife's guardian because he lives with another woman and has two children with her. Michael Schiavo refused to divorce his wife, saying he feared the Schindlers would ignore her desire to die. Schiavo lived in her brain-damaged state longer than two other young women whose cases brought right-to-die issues to the forefront of public attention. Karen Quinlan lived for more than a decade in a vegetative state brought on by alcohol and drugs in 1975 when she was 21; New Jersey courts let her parents take her off a respirator a year after her injury. Nancy Cruzan, who was 25 when a 1983 car crash placed her in a vegetative state, lived nearly eight years before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that her parents could withdraw her feeding tube. Schiavo's feeding tube was briefly removed in 2001. It was reinserted after two days when a court intervened. In October 2003, the tube was removed again, but Gov. Jeb Bush rushed Terri's Law through the Legislature, allowing the state to have the feeding tube reinserted after six days. The Florida Supreme Court later struck down the law as unconstitutional interference in the judicial system by the executive branch. Nearly two weeks ago, the tube was removed for a third and final time. Associated Press reporters Allen Breed, Vickie Chachere, Mark Long, Mitch Stacy and Ron Word contributed to this story. This message to TELECOM Digest was prompted by friends of Terri Shiavo from her college days at Bucks Community College. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, the Associated Press. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Cell Phone Jammer For Sale MONIX MGB-1S Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 21:28:23 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Robert Bonomi wrote: > On some systems, with some cards, you can over-ride the built-in > Ethernet address, and tell it to use an Ethernet address you specify. > This is not an option under MS-Windows. Talk about ignorance in action! ;-) (hey, you said it first ) IT IS an option in Windows, if you have a card and driver that support it. MOST modern ethernet cards and drivers will allow this under Windows. In fact it's been years since I have encountered one that did NOT support assigning your own mac address under windows. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 17:04:38 -0500 From: Chris Farrar Subject: Re: Blackboards vrs. Whiteboards hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote about Subject: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards on Date: 30 Mar 2005 10:25:59 -0800 > I heard my school district will modernize and replace the classic > "blackboard" (or greenboard) with modern 'whiteboards'. I can't help > but wonder if this is a dumb idea. > AFAIK, blackboards last forever. Lots of old schools still have their > original ones. In contrast, whiteboards seem sensitve to nicks and > scrapes. > I believe black/greenboards cost less than whiteboards. > But most significantly is the chalk vs. marker. > Chalk is much cheaper than markers. Markers always run out quickly. > Someone forgets and uses the wrong kind permanently staining the > whiteboard. > Lastly, markers have that weird chemical smell. > Seems to me there's nothing wrong with blackboards and nothing to be > gained by whiteboards. > Thoughts anyone? Well, blackboards do generate chalk dust. And the way kids seem to have alergies to almost everything under the sun, and parents that will file contingency lawsuits if someone looks at their kids funny, I wonder if it is to head off lawsiuts that the chalk dust is causing Johnny's asthma to act up. Chris ------------------------------ From: Dale Farmer Organization: The fuzz in the back of the fridge. Subject: Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 22:51:51 GMT hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > I heard my school district will modernize and replace the classic > "blackboard" (or greenboard) with modern 'whiteboards'. I can't help > but wonder if this is a dumb idea. > AFAIK, blackboards last forever. Lots of old schools still have their > original ones. In contrast, whiteboards seem sensitve to nicks and > scrapes. > I believe black/greenboards cost less than whiteboards. > But most significantly is the chalk vs. marker. > Chalk is much cheaper than markers. Markers always run out quickly. > Someone forgets and uses the wrong kind permanently staining the > whiteboard. > Lastly, markers have that weird chemical smell. > Seems to me there's nothing wrong with blackboards and nothing to be > gained by whiteboards. > Thoughts anyone? That this has nothing to do with telecom. So I'll leave it at that. --Dale ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 17:13:15 -0700 Organization: Disorganized In message hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > I heard my school district will modernize and replace the classic > "blackboard" (or greenboard) with modern 'whiteboards'. I can't help > but wonder if this is a dumb idea. > AFAIK, blackboards last forever. Lots of old schools still have their > original ones. In contrast, whiteboards seem sensitve to nicks and > scrapes. > I believe black/greenboards cost less than whiteboards. > But most significantly is the chalk vs. marker. > Chalk is much cheaper than markers. Markers always run out quickly. > Someone forgets and uses the wrong kind permanently staining the > whiteboard. > Lastly, markers have that weird chemical smell. > Seems to me there's nothing wrong with blackboards and nothing to be > gained by whiteboards. > Thoughts anyone? I'll take a whiteboard over a blackboard for readability any day. ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards Organization: Symantec Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 20:28:58 -0500 In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Seems to me there's nothing wrong with blackboards and nothing to be > gained by whiteboards. This web site mentions chalk dust as a common trigger of asthma attacks in children: http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/allergy/asthma.html A google search shows a number of other pages mentioning similar connections. Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 21:35:16 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > I believe black/greenboards cost less than whiteboards. I would expect a good quality, real slate blackboard (the kind I had in all my classrooms growing up) is considerably MORE than a whiteboard. > But most significantly is the chalk vs. marker. Yes. > Chalk is much cheaper than markers. YES! > Markers always run out quickly. > Someone forgets and uses the wrong kind permanently staining the > whiteboard. Yup. However I have seen some good enameled white boards that DON'T stain very easily -- "permanent" marker wipes right off with a little alcohol. > Lastly, markers have that weird chemical smell. And teenagers can sniff them ... Happens when you give them glue, paint, correction fluid ... It will happen with markers. > Seems to me there's nothing wrong with blackboards and nothing to be > gained by whiteboards. Initially they may be cheaper to install new. It's a losing proposition fiscally when you look at the cost of markers vs. chalk and the cost of replacing damaged white boards. > Thoughts anyone? ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards From: Mark Atwood Organization: EasyNews, UseNet made Easy! Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 08:22:40 GMT hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: > Chalk is much cheaper than markers. Markers always run out quickly. > Someone forgets and uses the wrong kind permanently staining the > whiteboard. > Lastly, markers have that weird chemical smell. Seems to me there's > nothing wrong with blackboards and nothing to be gained by > whiteboards. Thoughts anyone? Chalk dust is hell on electronics. Mark Atwood | When you do things right, people won't be sure mark@atwood.name | you've done anything at all. http://mark.atwood.name/ http://www.livejournal.com/users/fallenpegasus [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The fact that so many classrooms are now also equipped with computers and other electronics may have played some role in the decision. PAT] ------------------------------ From: John Hines Subject: Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 10:15:12 -0600 Organization: www.jhines.org Reply-To: john@jhines.org hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Lastly, markers have that weird chemical smell. Blackboards are always dusty if they get used. White reflects light, so it would brighten up a room. ------------------------------ From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Fax Station ID Date: 30 Mar 2005 16:32:28 -0500 Organization: Organized? Me? In article , wrote: > John Schmerold wrote: >> Anyone know if it's a law or regulation that requires faxes to include >> station identification at top of every page sent ? > Yes ... but > Only if made after a certain year. > My 4800bps fax card from my XT which I still use is exempt. Time to upgrade. Adding the ID is not the responsibity of the modem, but of the fax software that drives the modem. Winfax in my case. Newer faxes do 14.4 kbaud faxes. Rich Greenberg Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507 Eastern time. N6LRT I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67 Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Fax Station ID Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 02:01:37 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > John Schmerold wrote: >> Anyone know if it's a law or regulation that requires faxes to include >> station identification at top of every page sent ? > Yes ... but > Only if made after a certain year. > My 4800bps fax card from my XT which I still use is exempt. Sorry, John, but you are *wrong*. You, "the person" sending the fax are *still* required to place the identification information at the top/bottom of every page, or on the first page. You are correct that _equipment_ manufactured before 20 Dec 1992 does not have to do this 'automatically', HOWEVER, just because you are using such equipment you are _not_ exempt from the requirement of 47 USC 227 (d) (1). ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: GSM-900 Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 02:50:32 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Jason wrote: > Thank you all for the explanation. It really helps. > But may I know for a transmitter and a receiver, will the transmitting > frequency be different than the receiving frequency? I know there are > such cases. But why they make it this way? So they can both work _at_the_same_time_. duh! ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: GSM-900 Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 19:02:30 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 30 Mar 2005 05:04:16 -0800, Jason wrote: > But may I know for a trasnmitter and a receiver, will the trasnmitting > frequency be different than the receiving frequency? I know there are > such cases. But why they make it this way? Transmitting and receiving frequencies are different. ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Time for the Recording Industry to Face the Music Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 16:00:38 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Well then, what would be an appropriate royalty for musicians and > price for CDs? Well-known recording artists seem to be living quite > well. Actually, most musicians make their money from concerts and maybe merchandising. "Few musicians ever actually receive royalties from their record sales on major labels", even including name bands like the Backstreet Boys (NYT article reprinted at http://knowyourmusic.com/index.asp?LogID=131 ), and individuals like Janis Ian, who said "in 37 years as a recording artist, I've created 25+ albums for major labels, and never once received a royalty check that didn't show I owed _them_ money" ( http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html ) and David Byrne ( http://www.boingboing.net/2005/03/28/david_byrne_launches.html ). Royalties get paid on "profits", and the recording industry is as ingenious as Hollywood in creative accounting practices that ensure there never will be anything labelled a profit. The economics for a hypothetical successful band are described in an entertainment column: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/60991p-57008c.html Of course, none of that is to say that the record companies aren't entitled to make some money. But it's misleading to suggest that shared music steals food from the tables of the creators of the music. (Sorry, stretch as I may, the only ObTelecom I can think of is "and the recording companies use _telephones_ in plotting their nefarious deeds" :-D ) ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Science and Society: Anatomy of a Techno-Myth -- Economist.com From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 22:40:11 GMT > I don't think the scare of using cell phones while pumping gas ever > got too far. It'd be a very easy thing to check -- what were the > causes of gas station fires and technically could a cell phone cause > that? As an all-electronic device, cell phones normally don't > generate sparks. There is certainly no evidence that cellphones can start gas station fires (and a lot of evidence against it from MythBusters episodes to research by the peteroleum safety institute), nevertheless every gas station I go to has an official looking sign near the pumps telling you not to use cellphones :-). -- >>==>> The *Best* political site >>==+ email: Tom.Horsley@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL | Free Software and Politics <<==+ ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Science and Society: Anatomy of a Techno-Myth -- Economist.com Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 21:37:21 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > You don't need to be a scientist to see through this crap, only some > common sense and some careful thinking is needed. Both (common sense and careful thinking) are in woefully short supply in this area. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Verizon, Voicewing and Portability Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 02:45:40 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Robert Bonomi wrote: [[.. munch ..]] > *IF* you have a _reliable_ cable TV provider, they may offer Internet > access, and could be worth checking out. If, like many places, the cable > TV service is subject to frequent short-duration outages, you should take > into consideration what effect similar outages will have on your Internet > use. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the nearly two years since I decided > to ditch Southwestern Bell (for everything) and go with CableOne for > my high speed internet, I do not think there has been five minutes of > downtime. Well, there was one time I decided to move a television set > into my computer room so I could watch television while working on the > Digest, and in the process of hooking up a splitter to the cable line > and attaching a television/radio combination to the cable which (at > that point in my system) had just been the internet, I got a splitter > installed incorrectly. I had that same day installed a Cisco router > for the computers, and between the ill-advised television/radio on the > cable line in my computer room and the Cisco router, the Motorola SB-4220 > Surfboard Cable Modem (supplied by CableOne) somehow lost track of what > it was doing. But the tech guy at CableOne very graciously got me back > on line in about 10 minutes once I decided to call them and ask for help. > Cable only rarely goes off line, I have found. PAT] A lot depends on where you are, and who your cable provider is. "Big city" cable tends to be -less- reliable than smaller-town installation. Probably because bigger cities tended to get wired earlier. Older, more problematic, infrastructure. Cable TV here -- metro Chicago -- has short-duration outages (i.e., 3-15 seconds or so) several times a week, *on*average*. It looks like an amplifier somewhere power-cycles. I _don't_ know about the Internet service, but the "reliability" of the TV failures does not inspire confidence. My folks, in another state, have 'cable Internet' -- they don't have any choice, being a couple of thousand feet too far away from the C.O. for DSL. A few weeks ago, the cable company did an over-night 'upgrade' of the head-end equipment. It was FIVE DAYS before my folks Internet connection worked again. Getting the problem resolved took: more than TWELVE HOURS (cumulative) sitting on hold, waiting to speak to a customer-service rep, _and_ *THREE* on-site visits by the cable co. techs, Ultimate determination, it _was_ a problem in the new head-end gear; the site visits didn't accomplish anything, except to establish that what my folks were reporting was the _exact_ truth. *sigh*. Cable may be a good choice for some. A lot depends on the provider. Unfortunately, in most locales, you have as much choice for a cable provider as you have for an ILEC. ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: Secret Service DNA - "Distributed Networking Attack" Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 04:09:52 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Since this is their job, at least it is an efficient use of public money, but it does give one an idea about how subtle security can be when challenged by an adversary with intelligence and resources. I worked for a short period for an entity that dealt in national security, although I never got more than peripherally involved. The one thing that struck me immediately was that we weren't up against kids or crooks, but people as smart and patriotic as ourselves. ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 20:55:00 CST Subject: New Sponsor Comes on Board With Digest Web Site I am pleased to welcome AllSlots.com, an online casino service as a new sponsor for one year, effective April 1, 2005. If you enjoy online wagering, casino-style, from the privacy of your home computer, you may wish to check out http://www.allslots.com/online-casinos.php . And, my thanks for their support. 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. 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. 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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #139 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Apr 1 21:29:36 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j322Ta415106; Fri, 1 Apr 2005 21:29:36 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 21:29:36 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200504020229.j322Ta415106@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 V24 #140 TELECOM Digest Fri, 1 Apr 2005 21:30:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 140 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update #475, April 1, 2005 (John Riddell) Protecting Teens Online (Monty Solomon) Verizon's Pitch Could Signal Local Cable War (Monty Solomon) Exclusive: SBC Comments on the Vonage E-911 Issue (Jack Decker) Qwest Raises Offer For MCI (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Microsoft Drops Teen Blaster Writer's $500,000 Fine (Lisa Minter) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (DevilsPGD) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (Henry) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (Richard Kaszeta) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (Lisa Hancock) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (Neal McLain) Re: GSM-900 (jason) Re: Every Ten Days (Dave Garland) Re: Every Ten Days (Choreboy) Re: Sprint PCS Vision Added to Open Relay DataBase (Dave Garland) Re: Sprint PCS Vision Added to Open Relay DataBase (jmeissen@aracnet) Does Your Computer Look Like This? (Patrick Townson) Last Laugh! Spammer With a Toll Free Number (Steve Shlichter) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Telecom Update #475, April 1, 2005 Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 15:32:14 -0500 From: John Riddell ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 475: April 1, 2005 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 Begins IP Telephony Rollout ** Telus Says Shaw Breaks Local Phone Rules ** Telecom Review Members Selected? ** Nortel Hires New Technology Officer ** Entourage Technicians on Strike ** Satellite Carrier Distributes OneConnect VoIP ** Call-Net Wants Database Charges Slashed ** Yak Joins Peering Alliance ** Telus Wants Winback Ban Lifted ** CRTC Toughens Rules for Telco Service to Competitors ** Qwest Still Trying to Buy MCI ** Financial Results Cygnal Technologies SR Telecom WaveRider ** Report -- Cablecos to Get 11% of Home Phones ** CRTC Sets New Rules for 900 and 976 ** New IXPL Routes Deregulated ** One-Day Conference to Examine WiMAX ** CIRA to Hold Annual Meeting BELL BEGINS IP TELEPHONY ROLLOUT: Following several months of technical trials, Bell Canada's broadband IP telephone service, Digital Voice, is now available to consumers in Quebec City, Trois-Rivieres, and Sherbrooke. Pricing depends on which unlimited long distance plan the customer selects: $38 for province-wide, $40 for Canada-wide, and $45 for Canada-U.S. There is no contract or activation fee, and the first month is free. ** The CRTC is expected to rule this spring on whether=20 incumbent telcos must file tariffs for this type of=20 service. TELUS SAYS SHAW BREAKS LOCAL PHONE RULES: Telus says Shaw is not complying with its obligations as a local phone service carrier, as set out in Decision 97-8. The telco wants the CRTC to order Shaw to stop offering local phone service until it can show it has met all requirements. ** Telus says Shaw deliberately launched local phone service in Calgary before it could provide equal access to all long distance carriers and comply with industry arrangements for transferring customers. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8622/t66_200503418.htm TELECOM REVIEW MEMBERS SELECTED? Today's Toronto Star reports industry speculation that the members of the panel to review Canadian telecom policy will be: Gerri Sinclair, former head of Microsoft's MSN.ca; Hank Intven, former Executive Director telecom at the CRTC, now a partner at McCarthy Tetrault; and Andre Tremblay, former CEO of Microcell Telecommunications. (see Telecom Update #470) NORTEL HIRES NEW TECHNOLOGY OFFICER: Gary Kunis, who was Cisco's Chief Science Officer until 2002, has been named Chief Technology Officer of Nortel Networks. Nortel's current CTO, Brian McFadden, has been appointed Chief Research Officer. Both appointments are effective Monday, April 4. ** Nortel will hold a combined 2004/2005 annual shareholders meeting in Toronto June 29. ENTOURAGE TECHNICIANS ON STRIKE: 1,400 technicians employed by Entourage Technology Solutions, the company that does residential repair and installation for Bell Canada, went on strike March 24. An Ontario provincial mediator has invited Bell and the Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union to return to negotiations on April 4. ** Bell Canada recently announced plans to buy the 57% of Entourage it doesn't own, and operate it as a wholly owned subsidiary. (See Telecom Update #470) SATELLITE CARRIER DISTRIBUTES ONECONNECT VoIP: RamTelecom, an Ottawa-based satellite services provider, has begun offering OneConnect's hosted IP telephony service across Canada, using its LinkStar platform. CALL-NET WANTS DATABASE CHARGES SLASHED: Call-Net says Bell Canada charges competitors exorbitant fees to update its database when customers request blocking of collect or bill-to-third-party calls. The current fee was set in 2000: Call-Net argues costs have plummeted since then, and only a 15% margin should be charged. ** Furthermore, Bell automatically charges this fee when numbers are ported to Call-Net, even though no additional database change is necessary. This accounts for 2/3 of the fees Bell has charged Call-Net for the service, amounting to "millions of dollars ... over the past six years." www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8622/c25_200502858.htm YAK JOINS PEERING ALLIANCE: Yak Communications, a VoIP provider in Canada, is among the six initial members of XConnect, a new international VoIP peering alliance that offers IP-based interconnection and VoIP phone number lookup services. TELUS WANTS WINBACK BAN LIFTED: Telus has asked the CRTC to eliminate, in Calgary and anywhere else Shaw offers phone service, the current rules preventing ILECs from attempting to win back local customers for 12 months after they choose a competitor's service. ** In Telus' view, "cable entry changes everything" and the reasons for the current rules no longer apply. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8622/t66_200503393.htm CRTC TOUGHENS RULES FOR TELCO SERVICE TO COMPETITORS: CRTC Decision 2005-20 sets 14 Quality of Service indicators that the major incumbent telcos must meet for services they provide to competitors, such as clearing service repair calls. If any indicator is missed, the ILEC must pay a rebate, up to a maximum of 5% of the competitor's payments for the period if all indicators are missed. ** The Commission says that the indicators are a minimum acceptable level of service, and that smaller penalties have proven to be insufficient to motivate the ILECs to meet required standards. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-20.htm QWEST STILL TRYING TO BUY MCI: The Verizon-MCI-Qwest saga continues. Despite repeated decisions by MCI's Board to accept a buyout offer from Verizon, Qwest is still pitching, and MCI agreed to meet with it again after the Denver-based telco has raised its offer to US$8.9 billion, $1.4 billion more than Verizon's. FINANCIAL RESULTS: The following results are for 2004: ** Cygnal Technologies reports revenues of $140 million, down 5% from 2003. EBITDA was nil, and the net loss of $0.8 million was slightly less than in 2003. ** SR Telecom had revenues of $124 million, down 3% from 2003, but fourth-quarter sales were down 40% from a year earlier. The net loss for 2004 doubled to $86 million. The company says it is experiencing "uncertainty associated with...refinancing issues." ** WaveRider Communications had revenues of $9.5 million, down 27% from 2003. The net loss of $6.3 million was up 24%. REPORT -- CABLECOS TO GET 11% OF HOME PHONES: The latest Convergence Consulting Group report on "The Battle for the North American Couch Potato" predicts that Canadian cable TV companies will capture 11% of the residential telephone market by the end of 2007. www.convergenceonline.com CRTC SETS NEW RULES FOR 900 AND 976: CRTC Telecom Decision 2005-19 establishes new consumer safeguards for 1-900 and 1-976 services. Content providers must disclose all charges at the beginning of the call, and cannot link toll-free calls to billable 900 services. Telcos must offer 900 call-blocking with no initial set-up charge, and must waive all reasonably disputed charges for first-time disputes. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-19.htm NEW IXPL ROUTES DEREGULATED: The CRTC has added several new interexchange private line routes to those on which the incumbent telcos no longer need to file tariffs, because competitors also serve those routes. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-18.htm ONE-DAY CONFERENCE TO EXAMINE WiMAX: The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association's will hold a one-day conference on WiMAX technology in Toronto on April 13. Conference program details are available at: www.cwta.ca/CWTASite/english/conference/WiMAX.html CIRA TO HOLD ANNUAL MEETING: The Canadian Internet Registration Authority will hold its 2005 annual general meeting in Toronto and online on April 28, 2005, noon to 3pm. To pre-register, visit www.cira.ca/en/agm/2005/agm-registration.html. HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-MAIL: editors@angustel.ca FAX: 905-686-2655 MAIL: TELECOM UPDAT 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: The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web late Friday afternoon each 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 2005 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: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 10:11:04 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Protecting Teens Online Pew Internet Report 54% of parents with teenagers use internet filters - a big jump from 2000 WASHINGTON, March 16 -- More than half of American families with teenagers use filters to limit access to potentially harmful online content -- a 65% increase from the number of those who used filters in 2000. But big majorities of both teens and parents believe that teens do things on the internet that their parents would not approve of. ... http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/100/press_release.asp http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/152/report_display.asp http://www.pewinternet.org/report_display.asp?r=152 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 10:32:32 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon's Pitch Could Signal Local Cable War By Steven Rosenberg, Globe Staff | March 31, 2005 Coming soon to northern Massachusetts: Cable competition between Comcast and Verizon. Verizon, the voice, wireless, and data telecommunications company, has begun installing a fiber-optic network that it hopes will attract cable television subscribers in Lynn, Lynnfield, Topsfield, Nahant, Swampscott, and West Newbury. The network will also provide phone service and Internet service up to 7.5 times faster than Comcast's entry-level package. Verizon's announcement marks the first time a company has offered to build a separate cable television system in more than one community north of Boston. Currently Wakefield is the only community north of Boston where more than one cable company operates. RCN has been competing with Comcast there for several years. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/03/31/verizons_pitch_could_signal_local_cable_war/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 11:28:07 -0500 Subject: Exclusive: SBC Comments on the Vonage E-911 Issue http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/index.php?p=328 -Posted by Russell Shaw @ 8:55 am In a previous post today, I surmised why SBC seems to be reluctant to work with Vonage to devise E-911 solutions. Now, SBC has their say. Spokesperson Wes Warnock just emailed me to clarify their position on this issue: "First, SBC recognizes that there are no shortcuts when it comes to public safety. That said, SBC does not own the 9-1-1 system. Public safety agencies do. "Vonage needs to take yes for an answer. We have 9-1-1 solutions in place for VoIP providers today. Vonage appears more concerned about finding ways to provide E9-1-1 on the cheap." Full story at: http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/index.php?p=328 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 12:19:19 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Qwest Raises Offer For MCI Telecom dailyLead from USTA April 1, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20521&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Qwest raises offer for MCI BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Time Warner testing mobile phone service in Kansas City * SBC picks Scientific Atlanta for video rollout * Stealthy startup seeks to shake up core routing market * Nortel taps a new CTO * A chat with Avaya's head honcho USTA SPOTLIGHT * At SUPERCOMM: Register today for the IP Video Conference EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * BellSouth adds end-to-end class of service to VPN VOIP DOWNLOAD * ISPs dialing for dollars * New modem allows toggling between VoIP, SIP networks * Quebec's VoIP market gets more crowded REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * T-Mobile lobbies for access to UNEs Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20521&l=2017006 ------------------------------ Date: 01 Apr 2005 10:17:05 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Microsoft Drops Teen Blaster Writer's $500,000 Fine SEATTLE (Reuters) - Jeffrey Lee Parson, the teen convicted of infecting 48,000 computers with a variant of the destructive Blaster worm, will not have to pay $500,000 in restitution to Microsoft Corp. the world's largest software maker said on Wednesday. Instead, the Minnesota teen will have to perform 225 hours of community service in addition to a year and half in prison and an earlier order to perform 100 hours of community service, once the final sentence is signed by Judge Marsha Pechman of the U.S. District Court in Seattle. He also will be placed under supervision for three years following the sentence. Microsoft, which released Parson from his financial obligation in a legal agreement signed by both parties earlier this week, said it was satisfied with the final sentence. "Mr. Parson's additional community service will have a stronger impact on him in serving his sentence," Tim Cranton, senior attorney at Microsoft, said in an e-mailed statement. Parson pleaded guilty last year to creating a variant of the worm, which infected computers in mid-2003 and targeted computers at Microsoft. Parson said he created his "B" or "teekids" variant of the Blaster worm and used it to access 50 computers which he then used to launch a broader attack on more than 48,000 computers. Blaster and its variants are self-replicating Internet worms that bore through a security hole in Windows, Microsoft's operating system which is found on more than 90 percent of the world's personal computers. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 20:26:27 -0700 Organization: Disorganized In message T. Sean Weintz wrote: >> Lastly, markers have that weird chemical smell. > And teenagers can sniff them ... Happens when you give them glue, > paint, correction fluid ... It will happen with markers. All the more reason to switch to whiteboards. Darwin's theories cease to function properly when you sink to the lowest common denominator. ------------------------------ From: henry999@eircom.net (Henry) Subject: Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 08:29:29 +0200 Organization: Elisa Internet customer John Hines wrote: > White reflects light, so it would brighten up a room. Also, coloured markers on a whiteboard are more visually effective than coloured chalk on a black- or greenboard. Cheers, Henry ------------------------------ From: Richard Kaszeta Subject: Re: Blackboards vrs. Whiteboards Date: 01 Apr 2005 07:40:16 -0600 Organization: University of MN ME Dept Chris Farrar writes: > Well, blackboards do generate chalk dust. And the way kids seem to > have alergies to almost everything under the sun, and parents that > will file contingency lawsuits if someone looks at their kids funny, I > wonder if it is to head off lawsiuts that the chalk dust is causing > Johnny's asthma to act up. As a frequent user of both types of boards in the past (teaching college classes), I can say that you also get dust from whiteboards, and it's the nasty grimy powder from the dry-erase markets. I don't like whiteboards anyways, since as a lefty they are very difficult to use; if my hand even lightly glances over what I just wrote, it wipes off, whereas chalk is fairly tolerant. That, and I've never gotten woozy from a chalkboard, whereas an afternoon spent entirely around whiteboards with uncapped markers will give you a pretty good buzz. Richard W Kaszeta rich@kaszeta.org http://www.kaszeta.org/rich ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards Date: 1 Apr 2005 08:08:16 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Barry Margolin wrote: > This web site mentions chalk dust as a common trigger of asthma > attacks in children: What I don't understand is that blackboards have been around for ages but asthma seems to be growing among kids. Given that, I wonder if chalkdust is really the cause. Another poster complained this was off-topic. This newsgroup tends to examine a variety of issues regarding all _communication_, not just telecom. BTW, I've seen electronic whiteboards that transmit the writings or produce a hardcopy, though they don't seem to get much use. Also, I must admit whiteboards can double as a projection screen, instead of having a separate screen. With the decrease of price in computer projectors and ease of products like PowerPoint (which I personally dislike), perhaps writings will be pre-done by computer rather than written on the fly. (There's also the older transparency overhead projector that's been around for a long time.) However, I have always found it easier to follow and take notes of a traditional lecture where the teacher writes on a blackboard as he goes along, rather than showing an entire frame all at once (and that disappears for the next slide). [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I first reviewed this subject in preparing the issue of the Digest a few days ago, my first thought was that Lisa was referring to the 'whiteboard' concept which is common in certain chat programs for computer: the screen is divided in two parts with half given over to a whiteboard on which the chat participants can 'doodle' or draw things for the other participants in the chat. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 11:15:34 -0600 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards Dale Farmer wrote: > That this has nothing to do with telecom ... Unless it's an electronic whiteboard. http://tinyurl.com/3u8xe Neal McLain [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, see my other message in this issue on this topic. That's what I first thought Lisa was going to discuss, given the popularity of computers in schools these days and a teacher being able to display things at various student workstations around the room on the computer. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jason Subject: Re: GSM-900 Date: 1 Apr 2005 09:02:14 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com But since we transmit in x freq, then the receiver must tune to x feq in order to receive the signal right? Why transmit at x freq and receive at y freq? Or I have misunderstood. Kindly enlighthen. Thank you, Jason [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Because both microphones and loudspeakers basically tend to do the same thing. Have you ever plugged a microphone in to a 'speaker jack' or a speaker into a 'microphone jack'? They can do each other's jobs quite well, since, after all, each of them has something inside which tends to 'vibrate' to sound waves. If you ever had a microphone too close to a speaker, or a telephone too close to a radio (during a call in show you were talking on) you hear a squeal, or 'feedback', the noise caused by the sound waves you or someone is producing going around and around. Microphones not only 'hear' the principal sound being given to them, they also 'hear' the amplified sound of the original sound coming back to go around again. Changing the frequencies eliminates a lot of that problem. My explanation is probably not the best, but I hope it gives you the idea. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Every Ten Days Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 21:00:28 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when Choreboy wrote: > March 9, somebody from 877 467 3277 called. I answered on the second > ring and they hung up. They did it again March 19 and March 29. Large telemarketing operations sometimes use dialers that call numbers, and when there is an answer shunt the call to an available human telemarketer. If all the telemarketers are busy (on the phone, on break, whatever), you get a few seconds of dead air, then it hangs up. This is an efficient use of the (probably minimum-wage) telemarketers, as they don't waste time dialing, waiting while it rings, getting answering machines, etc. The efficiency, of course, comes at the expense of the victims like you. ------------------------------ From: Choreboy Subject: Re: Every Ten Days Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 11:29:17 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Choreboy wrote: > March 9, somebody from 877 467 3277 called. I answered on the second > ring and they hung up. They did it again March 19 and March 29. > A search engine turned up a coed 3,000 miles from here whose blog > reported the same thing in November: > " ... omg someone called me and then hung up ... here I got their > number it's 1-877-467-3277 lol so if you wanna call and bitch at them > do so." > If she was annoyed that somebody didn't apologize for misdialing, it's > hard to imagine that instead of dialing back immediately, she would > have thought it over and asked those who saw her blog to harass the > caller. It's easier to believe that because she has a blog, the > company offered her a commission for anyone who called in her name. > I suspect that people all over the country are receiving these hang-up > so some will call back to bitch because if these calls are logged, > their names can be sold on a list of people who, according to > somebody's interpretation of the law, are fair game for telemarketers. > I hesitate to call the toll-free number, but I don't want to keep > running to answer the phone for a company that intends to hang up on > me. What should I do? > Choreboy > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That telephone number 1-877-467-3277 > belongs to 'Sears Home Improvement Products'. PAT] Thank you. How did you find out? It seems strange that they've hung up on me every time they called, and the California blogger reported the same thing. Could dialing that number establish a "business relationship" with the telemarketer? Would it be safer to complain by some other channel? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The way I found out was by using a phone line *not associated with myself* letting it ring until a woman answered (I did it twice to make sure that 877-467-3277 was answered 'Sears Home Improvement Products' both times) then I chose to belch in a rather noisy, obscene manner each time before disconnecting. Considering the dump I live in, which is likely as not to blow down or away in a Kansas tornado sometime, I did not see where Home Improvements could be of any use, at least not if _I_ had to pay for them, which is what, I suspect, the woman at 877-467-3277 had in mind for me. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Sprint PCS Vision Added to Open Relay DataBase Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 21:05:46 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when Eric Friedebach wrote: > It seems that Sprint has been added to the Open Relay DataBase... > Has anyone here had this happen to their ISP? How long did it take to > get it resolved? Every now and again, one of my ISP's mail servers will find its way onto a RBL (realtime blackhole list) such as that. Usually they get it resolved in a couple of hours. But my ISP is pretty proactive about stomping on spammers and people with open relays. Maybe if the RBL proprietors thought they were lax, it might take a bit longer to get off. (And every RBL has its own criteria, one or two have reputations of being very slow to unlist.) ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Sprint PCS Vision Added to Open Relay DataBase Date: 1 Apr 2005 16:22:38 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , Eric Friedebach wrote: > It seems that Sprint has been added to the Open Relay DataBase > by mistake somehow. Sprint has no idea how this > happened, and they can't tell me when this will be resolved. Riiiigghht. From the ORDB web pages, "stores IP-addresses of verified open SMTP relays." The verification is done by a series of automated tests. They also attempt to notify the postmaster at the listed site when they become listed, and removal is as easy as requesting to be retested. Frankly, I wouldn't believe anything a Sprint customer service rep tells me. It's their job to make you believe that any problem with service is not theirs. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: Patrick Townson Subject: Does Your Computer Look Like This? Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 18:02:41 -0600 In 1954, the well-known Popular Electronics Magazine in connection with the Rand Corporation put together an artist's conception of what computers would look like in fifty years, in 2004. Look at it here. http://www.mountainwings.com/past/5082.htm This is _not_ an April Fool's joke. PAT ------------------------------ From: shlichter1@aol.com Subject: Spammer With a Toll Free Number Date: 1 Apr 2005 16:38:12 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Sounds like they want my credit card of SS number to ripe me off. From the ringback tone it appears to be an off shore system. Everyone call and see about claiming your prizes. THE ONLY GOOD SPAMMER IS A DEAD ONE!! HAVE YOU HUNTED ONE DOWN TODAY? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Company. --- Here is the message received in email --- Please call me at 1-866-677-4100. I previously tried to contact you at 951-352-0222, but was unable to reach you. This is reference to an entry form you filled out, either on-line or at a major mall or movie theater. I actually have some decent news in regards to the $500 shopping spree and Global Travel or Chevrolet / Lexus contest. I have an address, claim number, and further details for you. Since all prizes are well over $500, I will need a few moments of your time to cover all related lottery-type information from procuring your prizes due to any tax issues on them. Sincere congratulations! The Prize Claim Coordinators P.S. For your convenience, I am available 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM Central Standard Time, Monday to Friday 172.128.38.11 Dec 9 2004 1:29AM Sender: The Prize Claim Coordinators 105 South River Rd North Aurora, IL, 60542 ------------------------------ 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 V24 #140 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Apr 2 01:02:01 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j32621616820; Sat, 2 Apr 2005 01:02:01 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 01:02:01 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200504020602.j32621616820@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 V24 #141 TELECOM Digest Sat, 2 Apr 2005 01:02:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 141 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Bell Canada Launches VoIP Without Reg Approval (Jack Decker) Book Review: The Great Telecom Meltdown (Patrick Townson) Re: What Happened To Channel 1 (Dan Lanciani) Re: Vonage May Route 911 Call to Congress, FCC (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Cell Phone Compatibility (John Levine) Re: Verizon, Voicewing and Portability (Steve Sobol) Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 (T. Weintz) Re: Classic Telephone Call on PC (T. Sean Weintz) Re: New Technology Brings Back Old Problem For 911 (T. Sean Weintz) Re: Fax Station ID (T. Sean Weintz) Re: Blocking VOIP, Other Apps, Clearwire (Fred Goldstein) Re: GSM-900 (Michael Sullivan) Re: Does Your Computer Look Like This? (G. Paul Ziemba) Re: Does Your Comptuer Look Like This? (Michael Sullivan) Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed (Lisa Hancock) 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: Jack Decker Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 19:22:46 -0500 Subject: Bell Canada Launches VoIP without Reg Approval http://www.phoneplusmag.com/hotnews/54h115345379033.html By Charlotte Wolter In a move that could put it head to head with Canadian regulator CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Council), Bell Canada (BCE Inc.) has launched its consumer voice-over-IP service, Bell Digital Voice, in one of its local service areas without waiting for approval by the regulatory authority. The CRTC has been in the process of developing explicit policies for VoIP services, but is not expected to issue formal regulations until later this year. In the meantime, Bell Canada has launched the service in three locations in Quebec province: Sherbrooke, Quebec City and Trois-Rivieres, after a trial of several months in Sherbrooke. "Bell Canada is throwing down the gauntlet," says Jon Arnold, principal of J. Arnold Associates, a VoIP consulting firm. "They are saying, 'You are taking too long to make a decision on VoIP.' " Bell Canada is using the carefully chosen term 'retail Internet applications' to describe its new service. The reason for the wording is the only explicit CRTC regulation on Internet services is a 1998 ruling that exempts 'retail Internet applications' from pricing regulations. Full story at: http://www.phoneplusmag.com/hotnews/54h115345379033.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 09:25:45 -0500 From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Book Review: The Great Telecom Meltdown Author: Fred R. Goldstein Publisher: Artech House, Boston ISBN: 1-58053-939-4 Fred Goldstein, a long time participant in TELECOM Digest has recently written a new book on the state of affairs in telephony. The book is entitled, 'The Great Telecom Meltdown'. Published by Artech House, this 200 page book describes, in sometimes vivid detail, exactly what went wrong in the telecom industry, particularly in the past decade. Although Fred does touch on the earlier history of the Bell System, beginning in 1876 and continuing through and beyond the divestiture in 1982, the book's major emphasis is on the time frame of the 1990's through the present. In today's telecom business environment, you have to have a good grasp of _what went wrong_ and caused the failure of so many telecom firms between 2000 and 2002 if you now expect to succeed. Some of the topics covered in this book include: Chapter 1: Ma Bell and her Natural Monopoly, 1876-1969. Chapter 2: The Rebirth of Competition. Chapter 3: Divestiture: Equal Access and Chinese Walls. Chapter 4: The Internet Boom and the Limits to Growth. Chapter 5: The Deutoronomy Networks. Chapter 6: Losing by Winning: Wireless License Auctions. Chapter 7: Competitive Access Providers, A Costly Way to Local Competition. Chapter 8: DLECS and ELECS: An Exercise in Oversupply. Chapter 9: CLECS Winning Strategies are Met by Rule Changes. Chapter 10: Focusing on the Bottom Line. and subchapters here are: Asset Valuation is Risky. Accounting was Scandalous. WorldCom and the Limits to Mergers. AT&T Acted in Good Faith on Worldcoms Numbers. Global Double Crossing. New Services Need to Fit into the Food Chain. Old Dinasaurs Die Hard. Fred speaks in a rather blunt way and explains what has gone wrong with the telecom industry, especially in the past few years. Fred and I have been on radio 'talk shows' together in years past, so I had some correspondence with him in email recently and asked him a few questions which are covered below: PAT: What were the most important legal or regulatory changes that led to the meltdown? Fred: The Meltdown happened because several bubbles burst at once. The telecommunications industry isn't one thing, it's really several sectors. They all benefited from the late 1990s boom, and they all melted down together. A lot of people have assumed that the Telecom Act of 1996 was the main culprit. But that turns out to have played a minor role. Two things really had more to do with it. First off, the 1984 AT&T divestiture created a fully competitive long distance sector, which enabled anyone to string fiber. Second, the Internet was opened to the public in 1992 and privatized. That created a huge demand for bandwidth, which got people interested in stringing more fiber. By 1998, supply was starting to overwhelm demand. This led to cheaper long distance calling rates, which killed the industry's cash cow. PAT: How were so many investors, entrepreneurs, and even economic journalists led so far astray? Fred: Capitalism feeds on greed and foolishness. The stock market was booming, investors were looking for places to put their money, and entrepreneurs were willing to take it. People were looking for excuses to jump onto the bandwagon. Some industry analysts even drank the flav'r'ade by believing the story that the Internet was doubling every hundred days. That one factoid helped justify billions of dollars of investment. Yet it was not based in reality. It came from a Worldcom UUNET salesman's "best case scenario", what would happen *if* the Internet were doubling every hundred days. But it got retold and retold until the 1998 Worldcom annual report stated it as fact. Of course we now know that Worldcom's reports could be an exercise in creative writing. PAT: Was the meltdown a surprise? What are the warning signs of a new bubble? Fred: No, it wasn't really a surprise at all, because too much money was being spent irrationally. Equipment vendors and network operators were gearing up to handle increasing demand for dial-up ISP connections, just as the big users were starting to shift to broadband. Venture capital-fed DSL operators were lining up next to each other in crowded telco central offices, putting in several times as much equipment as the local market could possibly support. Competitive access providers were trenching fiber atop each other down the same "NFL city" streets. And the big European operators formed a round firing squad when they overbid in the 2000 UK and Germany "3G" license auctions. PAT: What public telecom policies would be best for consumers and investors? Fred: Policies need to encourage competition where it is economically sustainable, while regulating monopolies to prevent them from abusing their customers. The current FCC gets it entirely wrong, emphasizing the private-property nature of the telephone company's wire plant, and is moving to allow the incumbent telephone companies to take control of Internet service and even content that traverses "their" wire. The FCC then encourages competitors to string their own parallel facilities. This is entirely wrong, as the history of the past decade shows that overbuilding is rarely profitable. The only winners were the early investors who sold out to greater fools. The outside plant is a natural monopoly, a public utility, that should be available on a cost-based nondiscriminatory basis. The FCC's "hypothetically efficient competitor" policy only works during a boom cycle like that of 1996-1999, which can never be sustained. Once the local wire or fiber is properly regulated, innovation can take place over that wire, making more efficient use of capital and therefore having a reasonable chance at becoming profitable. PAT: And how are your sales going on the book? Is the price per copy seriously $79 per copy? Fred: Yes, list $79, not that it was my idea -- Artech House does technical books which tend to have a small audience that is really, really interested, and can get the company to pay. Textbooks often go at that price too, since they know the audience has little choice, once they manage to get the book assigned. If the book does well enough, maybe I can talk them into a lower price for another printing. It is moving rather well for Artech, several hundred so far, and its Amazon number has gone as high as 13,000 or so, before drifting down of course, which means they've moved a few copies. PAT: Thanks for talking with me about this. Fred: And thank you! =============================== You can look on Amazon for 'The Great Telecom Meltdown' or you can inquire of the publisher, Artech House http://www.artechhouse.com . Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 02:46:44 EST From: Dan Lanciani Subject: Re: What Happened To Channel 1 ihatespam@crazyhat.net (DevilsPGD) wrote: > In message Dan Lanciani > wrote: >> Except that (according to the original proposal) it won't run in the >> clear anywhere you can "tap" without relatively sophisticated die >> probing equipment. Are you aware of some change in the approach or >> are you just assuming that the manufacturers will screw up the >> implementation? If the latter, remember that the original proposal >> also incorporates key revocation for compromised device families. > Sure, but imagine the legal backlash if suddenly Sony's TVs no longer > work. I don't imagine that there would be much legal backlash as long as "legitimate" users were supplied with an upgrade, especially if that upgrade were provided before the remaining devices were made to fail. Note that this seems to be exactly what is happening with some receivers that predate the broadcast flag mandate (you remember, the receivers that the FCC and broadcast flag apologists claimed would continue to work unchanged after the flag was enabled) so there is precedent. See for example: http://product.samsung.com/stb_upgrade/ Now of course, there are cost tradeoffs between plugging a hole and placating the "legitimate" owners of the equipment you need to upgrade. Given that the original broadcast flag proposal was pretty much a rehash of existing digital rights management proposals for other consumer content (and the broadcast flag mandate is a great way to get that DRM infrastructure deployed) I suspect that the costs of key revocation have already been considered. Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Vonage May Route 911 Call to Congress, FCC Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 06:09:05 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications Typical arrogance of SBC. Sounds like AT&T in 1970. What SBC is conveniently forgetting is that the 911 system belongs to local or regional government (the residents and taxpayers) not the @#!&* legacy phone company. I presume Vonage is smart enough to make that case. Jack Decker wrote: > http://news.com.com/Vonage+may+route+911+call+to+Congress,+FCC/2100-7352_3-5647706.html > By Ben Charny > Staff Writer, CNET News.com > Internet phone provider Vonage may ask Congress and the Federal > Communications Commission to help it solve problems with SBC over > subscriber access to the 911 emergency call network. > SBC's decision not to work more closely with Vonage, made public > Wednesday, may delay efforts to fix the problem that keeps a majority > of U.S. Net phone providers from successfully routing 911 calls to the > right emergency calling center. Many of those 911 calls are instead > sent to non-emergency operators, with no guarantee the calls will > reach dispatch centers close enough to provide the most effective > help. > In mid-February, Vonage asked SBC, BellSouth, Qwest and Verizon, the > nation's largest local phone companies collectively known as the > Bells, to provide access to their 911 infrastructure within the next > 60 days. At first, it appeared the logjam had been broken: SBC met > with Vonage to work out the logistics; Verizon, the largest Bell, also > committed to testing just such a system; and Qwest, the smallest of > the Bells, began considering its options. > While Verizon and BellSouth are now cooperating, SBC has refused to do > so, telling the FCC that Vonage and other Net phone providers need to > develop a standard way to route the 911 calls appropriately. What > Vonage was asking to test, SBC claimed, was a proprietary fix. "SBC > can not agree to engage in numerous individual tests with each and > every VoIP provider," it recently told the FCC, referring to the Net > phone technology also known as voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). A > spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment. > Vonage spokeswoman Brooke Schulz said Vonage is considering asking > Congress and the FCC to demand SBC open up its 911 infrastructure to > Vonage and other Net phone operators. In rebuking SBC's proprietary > claim, Schulz said operators Packet8, AT&T's CallVantage and Verizon > Communications VoiceWing Net phone service all use the same 911 > products, "so how can SBC call what we're doing proprietary?" > Full story at: > http://news.com.com/Vonage+may+route+911+call+to+Congress,+FCC/2100-7352_3-5647706.html ------------------------------ Date: 1 Apr 2005 02:50:26 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Cell Phone Compatibility Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I have a couple of inactive cell phones (Motorola 120e and Samsung > GS-x426) that are lying around because I have taken phone > upgrades. ... The Motorola was originally used in the Verizon > Wireless network, and the Samsung was used in the AT&T Wireless > network, but I have a feeling other providers could work with these > phones. It's good you asked, because your feeling is wrong. The Moto 120e is a dual-band CDMA phone, and is doubtless locked to work only on Verizon. The Samsung is a GSM phone that is locked to ATTWS. To work on any other network, they'd need to be unlocked. If you still have service with the carriers, you could try calling them or going to one of their stores and ask nicely if they'll unlock them, but don't be surprised if they say no. If you could unlock them, a big if, the CDMA phone would work with other CDMA 800/1900 carriers, many of of the second tier telco-related ones like Alltel. The GSM phone would work on other GSM networks, which in the US basically means Cingular (the part that didn't used to be ATTWS) and T-Mobile. I'd suggest selling them as locked phones and making it clear that they're for Verizon and ATTWS. R's, John ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Verizon, Voicewing and Portability Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 19:48:40 -0800 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Robert Bonomi wrote: > My folks, in another state, have 'cable Internet' -- they don't have > any choice, being a couple of thousand feet too far away from the > C.O. for DSL. A few weeks ago, the cable company did an over-night > 'upgrade' of the head-end equipment. It was FIVE DAYS before my folks > Internet connection worked again. That's interesting. I'm in a relatively unpopulated corner of the Town of Apple Valley, part of the Victor Valley which is in California's High Desert region. The population of Victor Valley is around 300,000. Other than Barstow, which is served by Time Warner Cable, all of the cities here (as well as several San Bernardino County municipalities "down the hill" on the other side of the mountains) are served by Charter. Apple Valley itself has about 60,000 people living here. I had an extremely aggravating week one week about 18 months ago, where something at my headend broke, and Charter kept coming out to fix it, and it kept breaking. Repeatedly, over the course of six days. They finally got it fixed permanently. I forget what it was. It was aggravating because I was telecommuting to work at the time, and my job description primarily involved working online. :) But since then, Charter's been rock-solid in this area. It's gotten to the point that if I have a problem, I assume it's my el-cheapo SMC Barricade router* -- and usually, that's a correct assumption, and rebooting the router fixes the problem. **SJS *I don't know if all Barricades suck. Mine does, but mine's the bottom-of-the-line model from about three years ago, and I bought it for $30 new, so I don't really expect much out of it. -- JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 16:38:12 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to a writer: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Can't you just see SBC chomping at the > bit to get the old 'Bell System' out of cold storage and back into > service with all its old ways, albiet modernized somewhat? Put this > thing down -- refusal to work on 911 with VOIP carriers as one more > thing to negotiate when the FCC is asked to approve the AT&T/SBC > merger. PAT] Scary. I am in what was SNET (Southern New England Telephone) territory. What was I believe the oldest RBOC in the country -- in fact I am right now sitting only about 1500 feet away from the site first commercial switching office in the country. SBC bought out SNET a few years back, and has done NOTHING for us but take what WAS good service and make it lousy, while raising prices and laying off workers. Back in the monolithic BELL ATT days, things were MUCH more reliable than they are now. I'm talking REAL sloppy stuff -- botched record keeping, service suddenly shifted to a different set of pairs on the underground feed for no apparent reasons, etc. etc. SNET HAD been in the process of running fiber all over our state (and starting to do Cable TV!) when SBC bought them out and nixed all that. I HATE SBC. My only hope now is that perhaps Verizon will get big enough to buy them out? Or maybe some sort of deal that would give our state to Verizon? (All the surrounding states, and even a teeny tiny portion of this state, have Verizon as the local RBOC ILEC.) ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Classic Telephone Call on PC Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 16:43:01 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Gerhard Nowak wrote: > Hi there, > Since 3 months I try to get any proggy and tried out everything starting > from Hyperterminal to make a phonecall on my laptop! > Its just not possible! It's amazing, how all related programs guide > into the wrong direction. > Please help, if there is anybody out there to do so. Maybe I got > something wrong, or else. I don`t know: > If I use hyperterminal of windows -- and all other proggies are > derived from this - I can call a party, of course; and I also hear the > voice, but there is never a conversation and I can never answer, I can > not even "lift" the phone of the hook! > What to do? > Thanks in advance, > Gerry I've never seen a program that will do what you are trying to do. What would have to happen is the computers sound card would have to record your voice on the sound cards microphone, digitize it, and then play it back out the modem. To do that, you need a modem that shows up as a multimedia device under windows (most don't) and of course you also need software to actually do what I describe above. I have never seen such. Plenty of software will DIAL for you, but then expects that once the call is made you will pick up the call on a plain old handset plugged into the passthru port on your modem. ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: New Technology Brings Back Old Problem For 911 Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 16:47:07 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Jack Decker wrote: > "What we want to make people aware of is they are not able to access > 911 like you can on a traditional phone," said Mackinac County 911 > Coordinator Pam Matelski. "The dispatch center will not get your > information." Given the amount of airtime this issue has been given, anyone who is NOT aware of the VOIP vs. 911 issue should be left to die when calling 911, thus weeding their stupidity out of the gene pool and hopefully improving humanity. <\tounge in chee mode> Seriously. Ths issue has been beaten to death in the media. ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Fax Station ID Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 16:51:38 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Robert Bonomi wrote: > Sorry, John, but you are *wrong*. > You, "the person" sending the fax are *still* required to place the > identification information at the top/bottom of every page, or on the > first page. > You are correct that _equipment_ manufactured before 20 Dec 1992 does > not have to do this 'automatically', HOWEVER, just because you are > using such equipment you are _not_ exempt from the requirement of 47 > USC 227 (d) (1). So when FAX.COM sends me junk faxes and they put MY OWN PHONE NUMBER in as the header on the fax, and also send MY OWN NUMBER as the CLID info (from what is likely a PRI they are using to war dial fax numbers), they are at least DOUBLY breaking the law, huh? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 23:04:22 -0500 From: Fred Goldstein Subject: Re: Blocking VOIP, Other Apps, Clearwire On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 22:37:09 -0500, Jack Decker wrote: > [Jack Decker Comment: The basic issue here is much larger than VoIP - > the fact is that most people who pay a monthly fee for broadband > expect to be able to connect to "the Internet" and all the > applications available there. For some strange reason a few ISP's > seem to have the attitude that it's not sufficient that their > customers are paying for an Internet connection, but instead they feel > that if they offer an add-on service such as VoIP, they should be able > to block competitive services. Now, I want you to think about the > Internet services you use and the web pages you visit, because let me > tell you, if they make this stick, NOTHING on the Internet is > guaranteed accessible to you. But that is, legally, the case. Under current US law, ISPs are regulated as "information" providers, precisely because they are not simply providing bit pipes. Sure, most ISPs just pass everything, because that's what many people want and it's a competitive market. But it's not as if "ISP" is a licensed common carrier. It's an information provider. If blocking some things is how they optimize the performance of other things, that's their business. Common carriers are a different entity. The problem is that the Bells do not want to be common carriers any more; they want to provide "information" service on an exclusive basis, kicking off other ISPs. That would be very, very dangerous, but it's before the FCC right now (Verizon and BellSouth Forbearance petitions). Without competition *or* common carriage at an underlying layer (ATM, what their DSL uses now), they could block anything they want and that's that. ... > My point is this: Up until now, Internet providers have pretty much > acted like common carriers -- in fact, they have evaded prosecution on > copyright infringement charges by explicitly stating that they were > common carriers and do not monitor the traffic that their customers > send back and forth. Wrong, wrong, wrong. They are NOT common carriers, have never stated that they were common carriers, and don't want to be common carriers. ISPs have separate legal rights concerning content owned by their customers, but it's not part of common carriage. > Now, all of a sudden, a few of them seem to want > to go the other way. Well if that be the case, and they no longer > claim to be common carriers but in fact are actively blocking certain > kinds of traffic, then watch the lawsuits begin for the traffic they > DON'T block -- and they have brought it all on themselves by their > greed. They are governed by contract law. Clearwire is apparently acting within its contract. You don't like it? Go somewhere else. That's the beauty of the ISP business, so long as competition remains available. > For those of you who read this and are connected with an Internet > Service Provider, and if your ISP belongs to the "U.S. Internet > Industry Association", may I respectfully suggest that you think long > and hard about David McClure's comments in Light Reading, and whether > that is the type of organization you wish to belong to. The USIIA is *not* a real ISP trade association. It is a public relations front, an "astroturf" operation run by Sam Simon's Issue Dynamics Inc., public relations agent for the Bells. Simon's IDI creates phoney organizations in order to promote their clients' interests. I have an article on him on my web site http://www.ionary.com/ion-astroturf.html . Other IDI fronts are APT, TRAC and New Millennium Research Council. So whatever McClure is saying is what Verizon is thinking. Fred Goldstein k1io fgoldstein "at" ionary.com ionary Consulting http://www.ionary.com/ ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan Subject: Re: GSM-900 Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 05:10:32 GMT Jason wrote: > But since we transmit in x freq, then the receiver must tune to x feq > in order to receive the signal right? Why transmit at x freq and > receive at y freq? > Or I have misunderstood. Kindly enlighthen. Many (but not all) two-way radio transmission systems that operate in full duplex (which means there are two full-time transmission paths, one in each direction) use different frequencies for each of the two paths. One path, known as the downlink, uses frequency X to transmit from the base station to the mobile, and the other path, known as the uplink, uses frequency Y to transmit from the mobile to the base station at the same time. Under this scenario, the handset transmits on Y to a base station receiver tuned to Y, while the base station transmits on X to the handset, which is tuned to receive X. Operating in this manner is known as frequency division duplex, or FDD. Using paired frequencies that are sufficiently far apart allows the receiver at each end to be able to operate without getting overloaded and desensitized by the transmitter at the same end. If the receiver were tuned to the same frequency being used to transmit at the same time, it would pick up its own transmitter's strong signal and wouldn't be able to pick up the much weaker signal coming from the other end. Some communications networks use a single frequency for both transmissions, but alternate the use of that frequency in time so that neither end is actually trying to receive when it is transmitting, known as time division duplex or TDD. One way of operating in this manner is to use "simplex" transmissions, such as on ham radio bands or old-fashioned taxi dispatching systems, where you say "over" when you are finished and then the other party keys its transmitter on to respond. Another way to accomplish it is to alternate between transmitting and receiving at a constant, high rate, with both units carefully synchronized. Keeping the units synchronized at a high enough rate for high-quality speech is complex, and even more so when the distance between the two units can vary considerably, since for every mile of distance, there is a delay between transmission and reception of 1/18,600 second. Thus, if the system is designed for a maximum transmission distance of 20 miles and a minimum of 0 miles, there must be at least 1/9300 second of dead air at the beginning and end of each time slice to keep the two transmissions from overlapping, wasting at least 1/2325 second for each pair of time slices (1 in each direction). If the time slices themselves are short, as they must be for conversational speech that isn't going to tolerate significant delay due to the time compression and decompression involved, a significant amount of transmission time is wasted. And that's for just a single two-way voice transmission. GSM networks combine many conversations into a single paired radio channel, which is itself time-sliced, utilizing time division multiple access (TDMA); but GSM separates the TDMA uplink and downlink transmissions by frequency, using FDD. So GSM is an FDD/TDMA system. In applications where an appreciable time delay is acceptable, TDD/TDMA can be used, in which transmission time on a single frequency is sliced up between up- and downlinks, each of which is further time-sliced into multiple communications channels. Michael D. Sullivan Bethesda, MD (USA) (Replace "example.invalid" with "com" in my address.) ------------------------------ From: G. Paul Ziemba Subject: Re: Does Your Computer Look Like This? Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 04:19:01 UTC Organization: The Treehouse Patrick Townson wrote: > In 1954, the well-known Popular Electronics Magazine in connection > with the Rand Corporation put together an artist's conception of what > computers would look like in fifty years, in 2004. Look at it here. > http://www.mountainwings.com/past/5082.htm Wasn't this a FARK photoshop contest entry? > This is _not_ an April Fool's joke. "That is not my dog." G. Paul Ziemba FreeBSD unix: 8:16PM up 84 days, 21:03, 9 users, load averages: 0.24, 0.22, 0.17 ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan Subject: Re: Does Your Computer Look Like This? Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 05:14:40 GMT Patrick Townson wrote: > In 1954, the well-known Popular Electronics Magazine in connection > with the Rand Corporation put together an artist's conception of what > computers would look like in fifty years, in 2004. Look at it here. > http://www.mountainwings.com/past/5082.htm > This is _not_ an April Fool's joke. No, it's not an April Fool's joke. It's a hoax. The photo at issue came from a Photoshopping competition on fark.com. Debunked at: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp -- Michael D. Sullivan Bethesda, MD (USA) (Replace "example.invalid" with "com" in my address.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Shucks, gee-whiz; I can't get anything past you guys, can I? Oh well, Patrick, nice try, but no cigar. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed Date: 1 Apr 2005 07:30:05 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Lisa Minter wrote: > By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer From a communication point of view, the facts of this story were terribly distorted. The parents' point of view and their videos got very widespread airing on TV, but the dry boring medical assessments got much less airing. As a result, many viewers got the impression the girl was in better shape than she was. Further, the Internet was used to transmit all sorts of false malicious gossip about her husband; he was doing far more to take care of her than generally described. For those who read all the way to the back of the newspaper or watched the late night cable news, the full facts were shown. But most people don't or can't do that. I'm sensitive to this issue because I went through it with a family member. When someone is that sick -- as I've seen in nursing homes -- they don't look or act as nicely as the parents' videos showed. > "And so his heartless cruelty continues until this very last moment," > said the Rev. Frank Pavone, a Roman Catholic priest. He added: "This > is not only a death, with all the sadness that brings, but this is a > killing, and for that we not only grieve that Terri has passed but we > grieve that our nation has allowed such an atrocity as this and we > pray that it will never happen again." This kind of thinking is really disturbing. The intimates are certainly entitled to their point of view. However, other familes simply do not share those religious attitudes about medical care. A feeding tube is not lifting a glass of water, it is surgical procedure. Like any medical procedure, there is a choice of proceeding or not, and that must be weighed upon the expected the results. This situation has shown there are some people who believe that every medical procedure possible must be applied or it is a "killing" as the priest above says. But other people do not see it that way. I'm afraid their views will be imposed on the rest of us. > ... with many arrested as they tried to bring her food and water. That illustrated the lack of understanding in this case. They could've brought her all the food and water they wanted and it would not have done a damn bit of good. > Court-appointed doctors ruled she was in a > persistent vegetative state, with no real consciousness or chance of > recovery. What is sad is that many people refused to accept this medical fact. It was reviewed again and again by many doctors. Yet some others -- based only on what they saw on TV -- claimed otherwise. > [her parents] said she laughed, cried, responded to them > and tried to talk. Sadly, there was absolutely no real evidence of that. If any of that actually occured, there would've been no case or issue because no doctor would pull the tube given that. I don't like to criticize the parents in their time of grief, but they chose to involve the country's legislators and turn this into a national spectacle. The fact is they were in denial about their daughter's condition. It is terribly painful for parents to lose a child and many parents don't handle it well. But that doesn't justify dragging in the US Congress. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not like to criticize the family or Ms. Shiavo's husband either in this time of grieving for all of them. But I really suspect that this 'lose-lose' situation for all of them -- and all of us, really -- is going to continue to backfire on the various politicians who persisted in sticking their nose into the mess, for example, the brothers Bush and certain other elements of the far right, including Terry Randall, all of whom, I suspect are hoping/ wishing that the stench will go away soon. Far too many newspapers and radio/television outlets have 'changed formats' to one of "All Schiavo, all the time" recently. 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. 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! 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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 V24 #141 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Apr 2 20:06:21 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j3316LN25347; Sat, 2 Apr 2005 20:06:21 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 20:06:21 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200504030106.j3316LN25347@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 V24 #142 TELECOM Digest Sat, 2 Apr 2005 20:05:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 142 Inside This Issue: Remember to Set Your Clock Ahead! Prepaid vrs. 'Regular' Cell Phone Service (TELECOM Digest Editor) Microsoft Employee Sentenced for Software Theft (Lisa Minter) Yahoo Hires Gen. Manager of MSN's Programming Group (Lisa Minter) Cell Phone Service Comparisons (Den) DECT For Local Loop: 'Boot up Time' (news@absamail.co.za) Re: Fax Station ID (DevilsPGD) Re: Fax Station ID (Robert Bonomi) Re: Classic Telephone Call on PC (Robert Bonomi) Re: Classic Telephone Call on PC (Gerhard Nowak) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (John Hines) Re: GSM-900 (Chris Farrar) Re: Cell Phone Compatibility (Steve Sobol) Re: Verizon's Pitch Could Signal Local Cable War (Steve Sobol) Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 (Thor Simon) Re: Does Your Computer Look Like This? (Robert Bonomi) Re: Book Review: The Great Telecom Meltdown (John Levine) Re: Every Ten Days (Choreboy) Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed (AES) 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: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 18:37:21 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Prepaid vrs. 'Regular' Cell Phone Service I have mentioned before that I have _two_ working cellular phones here. They are both Nokia 5165 models (digital service). The original phone that I used both in Chicago, on the bus trip to here in Independence, and for a month or so after that is on AT&T Wireless (although it was not on prepaid in those days, just on regular service with a Chicago 630 area code). I went downtown one day back then, to a store which had an AT&T Wireless sign on the front of it, and asked the lady about switching me over to a local (area 620-331) number. She said she could not do it, mainly because they were no longer AT&T ... which had gone out of business here in town a few days before. "We are now Cingular Wireless," the lady told me. "Myself and my two clerks were with AT&T, but they 'traded us' off to Cingular when Cingular took over Independence. The sign painters are coming out today or tomorrow to change our sign and windows. But if you want to go with Cingular, I can certainly help you." I handed her the (at the time) _one_ Nokia 5165 phone I had and said okay, program it over to Cingular. She looked at the phone and said, "We cannot program that phone, it is permanently locked in firmware to AT&T. When you quit AT&T the phone becomes useless." Thinking that maybe she was lying to me in order to get a sale for Cingular, I checked with various other places: the Cellular One dealer a few doors away, the Radio Shack dealer here (who sells for Alltel under the Radio Shack corporate deal), the United States Cellular dealer on Chestnut Street, and the salesman at the Alltel Corporate kiosk out at Walmart. They all said the same thing: Phone is locked into AT&T; buy any of ours that you wish, on our various service plans, but that physical phone you are holding now is _only useable_ on AT&T. So I went back to the Cingular Wireless lady (whose store was now properly decorated and marked as 'Cingular' rather that 'AT&T' and told her I would take one of her service plans __if she could replace the 5165 in order that I did not have to get all new peripherals for it, after all, a Cellsocket and a headphone and a battery charger for one 5165 will fit any 5165 phones; they don't care _who_ provides the service. "Well, yeah, she said, I think I have one in back somewhere," and she found another 5165 _not firmware locked_ and she programmed it up for use on Cingular Wireless with a local 620-330 number. She gave it to me for ten dollars with a one year agreement. I chatted with the person in Chicago who was holding the (now expired) agreement on the AT&T phone, and his suggestion was 'just toss it in the trash and we will go with the new Cingular phone you got instead.' But I did not have the heart to just toss a perfectly good phone in the trash, so I talked to someone in Tulsa (we here in Independence are in the 'Tulsa Market' on AT&T) and I had her put it on prepaid service, figuring I would not use it a lot since I had just gotten the new Cingular ... and all my peripherals would work on either phone. But I took from the various selections I was offered a number out of Wichita, KS (316-841). Now fast-forward three or four years; that is where I am at today. One Nokia 5165 on Cingular, regular service locally here in Independence, and one Nokia 5165 on AT&T Prepaid service out of Wichita, which is considered 'roaming' when used here in town. On Thursday I called AT&T to replenish the time on the prepaid phone; I only buy ten dollars of time because it expires whether used or not after 45 days. But this time, the recorded menu for 'adding time to your prepaid wireless' had changed. The recorded message said "We are now known as Cingular Go service, the prices are the same, but you get 90 days to use it up, and you can purchase prepaid time at your local Cingular dealer." So, I went back downtown and talked to the lady I deal with at Cingular. She agreed, "we will _soon_ be able to take 'Go phone' payments; not right now, but hopefully soon." She continued, "and you can also get a local number here in Independence for your prepaid phone as well, we don't have any more '330' numbers, now they are assigning on 620-714, but to get that prepaid phone changed over to a local number, when you call to have it done (I cannot do it here as of now), be certain to tell the clerk that you are 'Tulsa Market' otherwise they will try to do it out of Wichita and claim that AT&T (now Cingular) is not in the 620 area. The _only way_ Cingular (prepaid or regular service) will give you a 620 number is if they are clued into the fact that this agency is out of the Tulsa market, otherwise they will assume you are up in the bigger towns north end of state or else Wichita and try to give you a 316 or a 913 number." I came back home and called the number she had given me. They indeed know all about assigning new numbers, but here is where the kicker comes in: Yes, we now are Cingular, and yes, the former AT&T prepaid service plan is now 'Go' from Cingular. But the only way you can get a 620 number is by _purchasing_ a new GSM phone. Cingular is now almost entirely GSM; older digital customers such as yourself with the Nokia 5165 phone are 'grandfathered' but no more digital service to new prepaid customers (which I would be) allowed. And it seems they refuse to assign a 620 number to anyone other than with a new GSM-style phone. According to the folks at Cingular Wireless, "there is no guarentee your old digital phone will work correctly on the GSM network," that is why we do not allow old digital customers (other than the 'regular customers' to use their existing phones." The lady I deal with downtown at Cingular Wireless said "those people at (our) corporate office are largely correct. I suggest you probably would work out okay, but _they_ say the old AT&T firmware, while it does allow number changes to be made, does _not_ allow for carrier changes to be made. They told me how to go about changing phone numbers for already existing Cingular Wireless customers; I could maybe change your existing (Cingular) Nokia 5165 phone and program it for a new number, but that old AT&T firmware is going to mess us up if we try to get a number change _into 620_ using it. She said the only people Cingular is allowing to go on prepaid service these days are people with the newer GMS phones; the ones that have the little card I have to slide in it. By now I am completely confused. Can any reader familiar with GMS and AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless help me figure this out? I am willing, and desirous of using my old Nokia phone as long as I can; the Cingular phone is perfect for me; it works with local seven digit dialing. Only very rarely (when the local tower is overloaded for some reason) does it go into 'roaming mode'. The AT&T phone defaults to 'roaming mode' since I am no where near Wichita or Tulsa or Chicago (the screen message calls where I am 'extended area', but that is the next step above 'roaming', and it demands to begin each outgoing call with 'press one for English; enter your own number; enter your PIN; enter the number you wish to call.' However, when I was on AT&T full time as a 'regular' (not a prepaid) customer, I did not get all that nonsense about 'enter your number and your PIN' before I was allowed to make any calls at all; according to Cingular Wireless I should not get that nonesense from them either _if I am a 'local' user_, prepaid or not, that it is only 'roaming' customers on 'prepaid' who get that request. PAT ------------------------------ Date: 02 Apr 2005 13:58:41 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Microsoft Employee Sentenced for Software Theft Richard Gregg, 45, agreed to a plea agreement in U.S. District Court in Seattle, where he admitted to ordering more than $13 million worth of software meant for internal use and selling it to pay off a mortgage and buy luxury cars. Gregg, who worked at Microsoft until late 2002, had cooperated with prosecutors in their investigation, a fact that Judge John Coughenour said he took into consideration at the sentencing. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft cracked down on criminal theft in late 2003 and put in more stringent policies after similar incidents involving employees selling Microsoft's high-end software for personal gain were discovered. Microsoft hired investigators and made changes to its internal ordering system in order to prevent future incidents. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 02 Apr 2005 13:59:31 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Yahoo Hires Gen. Manager of MSN's Programming Group Scott Moore will be based in Santa Monica, California, and report to Yahoo Media Group leader Lloyd Braun. Moore will join the company on May 2 and oversee a number of media sites within the group, Yahoo said. Earlier in his career, Moore had been publisher of Slate, the Internet magazine recently sold by Microsoft to the Washington Post. Yahoo, which is expanding in Southern California amid a move closer to Hollywood's entertainment companies, has been led by former studio chief Terry Semel since 2001. Yahoo hired Braun, a former chairman of Walt Disney Co.'s ABC Entertainment Television Group, in November. The Silicon Valley company, which reaps most of its revenue from advertising, is actively seeking content deals as it moves to broaden into entertainment and beyond such staples as shopping, e-mail and Web search. Yahoo already has signed content deals with "Survivor" creator Mark Burnett Productions and JibJab Media, a producer of short animated films. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Den Subject: Cell Phone Service Comparisons Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 16:23:04 GMT Group: Is there a site or publication that gives an unbiased comparison of the difference cell phone service plans? I'm thinking of moving from pay-as-you-go but there seems to be so much choice! Cheers, Den ------------------------------ From: news@absamail.co.za Subject: DECT For Local Loop: 'Boot up Time'. Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 03:22:31 -0600 Hi, I'm told that DECT takes 10 minutes after power-up, before an incoming call can be detected !! DECT has been used in rural areas in 'developing' countries, where solar-charges have been used for power. Apparently when the 'base station' is 15 Km removed, the subscriber needs to transmit continually 250mW power. Which means about 500mW continual standby power ! My suggestion to use a 5% duty cycle to check for incoming call detection, each say 2 seconds, was re-buffed on the basis that 'boot up' takes 10 minutes. If so, what accounts for this massive delay ? Thanks for any info. == Chris Glur. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Fax Station ID Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 00:25:24 -0700 Organization: Disorganized In message T. Sean Weintz wrote: > Robert Bonomi wrote: > So when FAX.COM sends me junk faxes and they put MY OWN PHONE NUMBER > in as the header on the fax, and also send MY OWN NUMBER as the CLID > info (from what is likely a PRI they are using to war dial fax > numbers), they are at least DOUBLY breaking the law, huh? Yes indeed, they definitely are. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Fax Station ID Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 09:48:07 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , T. Sean Weintz wrote: > Robert Bonomi wrote: >> Sorry, John, but you are *wrong*. >> You, "the person" sending the fax are *still* required to place the >> identification information at the top/bottom of every page, or on the >> first page. >> You are correct that _equipment_ manufactured before 20 Dec 1992 does >> not have to do this 'automatically', HOWEVER, just because you are >> using such equipment you are _not_ exempt from the requirement of 47 >> USC 227 (d) (1). > So when FAX.COM sends me junk faxes and they put MY OWN PHONE NUMBER > in as the header on the fax, and also send MY OWN NUMBER as the CLID > info (from what is likely a PRI they are using to war dial fax > numbers), they are at least DOUBLY breaking the law, huh? Yuppers. *YOU* can take them to court for violation of 47 USC 227, and clearly show 'wilful and deliberate' non-compliance. The mere violation entitles you to 'statutory damages' of $500 per fax. The 'wilful...' part entitles you to _triple_ that amount, per fax. Faking the Caller-ID, runs afoul of FTC 'telemarketing rules', +and+ similar FCC rules. The govt. has to go after them on that, but it is $11,000 in fines for *each* instance. Note: What you're getting isn't from "FAX.COM" any more. The feds _did_ sue them out of existence. The perps behind that operation, _didn't_ "learn from the experience", however, and _despite_ being named *personally* in the court orders, have set up a new network of sham corporations to continue their abusive ways. The "wheels of justice" are grinding slowly, but when the hammer falls, there _will_ be prison time involved. The Feds do _not_ take it lightly when somebody *deliberately* sets out to violate their orders. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Classic Telephone Call on PC Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 09:37:15 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , T. Sean Weintz wrote: > Gerhard Nowak wrote: >> Hi there, >> Since 3 months I try to get any proggy and tried out everything starting >> from Hyperterminal to make a phonecall on my laptop! >> Its just not possible! It's amazing, how all related programs guide >> into the wrong direction. >> Please help, if there is anybody out there to do so. Maybe I got >> something wrong, or else. I don`t know: >> If I use hyperterminal of windows -- and all other proggies are >> derived from this - I can call a party, of course; and I also hear the >> voice, but there is never a conversation and I can never answer, I can >> not even "lift" the phone of the hook! >> What to do? >> Thanks in advance, >> Gerry > I've never seen a program that will do what you are trying to do. It *does* exist. > What would have to happen is the computers sound card would have to > record your voice on the sound cards microphone, digitize it, and > then play it back out the modem. To do that, you need a modem that > shows up as a multimedia device under windows (most don't) and of > course you also need software to actually do what I describe > above. I have never seen such. As you say, special hardware is required. It's called a 'voice/data' modem. a whole bunch of people used to sell 'em; I have no idea about the current market, not having used a dial-up modem in probably 5 years. ("always on" broadband does change your habits! :) The 'bundled' software that came with such modems *did* provide the capabilities the OP is trying to use. I've got an old Toshiba "Tecra" laptop (Windows 95) that has a voice/data modem, and came with full-blown "telephony" software. Not only can I use the built-in microphone/speakers as a "hands-free" telephone/speakerphone, It does automatic telephone answering, and even handles multiple voice-mail mailboxes. About the only "big system" feature it _doesn't_ have is a programmable IVR subsystem. I still like my antique "Complete Answering Machine" (from 'The Complete PC') better though -- their mailbox access from the keyboard/screen is a truly superior design. Too bad they 'went under', years ago. Their voice/fax/modem card is one reason I still have a _286-based_ box running! ------------------------------ From: Gerhard Nowak Subject: Re: Classic Telephone Call on PC Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 15:40:43 +0400 Organization: Arcor Thanks for answering. Now I`m a bit released. I just thought, only I don`t see the solution. But why is it working on VoIp so easily? My problem is to connect my international calls via VoIp to local calls from people don`t have ADSL so that these people can talk together. Here in Mauritius not many people can afford ADSL and is much more expensive than in the States or in Europe. I thought, the realisation of this idea must be much easier ... But thanks anyway I will continue to look for a possibility, maybe I can at least manage to weld the Phone-cable to my headset ... like in the old times with accoustic coupler ... or switch to Linux. Regards, Gerry Mauritius T. Sean Weintz schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:telecom24.141.8@telecom-digest.org: > I've never seen a program that will do what you are trying to do. > What would have to happen is the computers sound card would have to > record your voice on the sound cards microphone, digitize it, and then > play it back out the modem. To do that, you need a modem that shows up > as a multimedia device under windows (most don't) and of course you also > need software to actually do what I describe above. I have never seen > such. > Plenty of software will DIAL for you, but then expects that once the > call is made you will pick up the call on a plain old handset plugged > into the passthru port on your modem. ------------------------------ From: John Hines Subject: Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 00:21:10 -0600 Organization: www.jhines.org Reply-To: john@jhines.org hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > I heard my school district will modernize and replace the classic > "blackboard" (or greenboard) with modern 'whiteboards'. I can't help > but wonder if this is a dumb idea. I remember elementary Catholic school, 20 years ago, where white shirts, and black pants was the uniform of the day, so when come the last class on Friday, stealing what ever chalk was left on the board, was the thing to do. We had "chicken fights" on the walk home, where one guy on the back of another would try and do as much damage as he could. The white chalk would wash out no problems, so mom wasn't mad. Egoism, bumps and bruises ... That and being bad that day in class and you could be penalized by having to say after and "clap the erasers", which meant you'd miss the fights. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 01:25:57 -0500 From: Chris Farrar Subject: Re: GSM-900 Jason wrote about Re: GSM-900 on Date: 1 Apr 2005 09:02:14 -0800 >> But since we transmit in x freq, then the receiver must tune to x feq >> in order to receive the signal right? Why transmit at x freq and >> receive at y freq? > The answer is "Full Duplex" vs "Half Duplex." Think of a Family Radio Service (FRS) walkie talkie. You transmit and listen on the same frequency. If you're transmitting, you can't hear. If you're listening, you can't transmit. Only one side can speak at a time. If both transmit at the same time, you can't hear each other, and anyone else on the same frequency hears garbage as you get walked on. Transmit at X, and the other side transmits at Y, you listen on Y and they listen on X. Thus both of you can talk simutaneously, like a land line telephone. Chris ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Cell Phone Compatibility Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 22:36:11 -0800 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com John Levine wrote: > It's good you asked, because your feeling is wrong. > The Moto 120e is a dual-band CDMA phone, and is doubtless locked to > work only on Verizon. It won't be unless it was sold as a prepay phone. Verizon doesn't lock their postpay phones. > If you could unlock them, a big if, the CDMA phone would work with > other CDMA 800/1900 carriers, many of of the second tier telco-related > ones like Alltel. The GSM phone would work on other GSM networks, > which in the US basically means Cingular (the part that didn't used to > be ATTWS) and T-Mobile. Alltel would activate it. US Cellular and Sprint wouldn't (they both run CDMA). I don't know whether Western Wireless would or not (WW also runs CDMA). The flat-rate prepay providers (Cricket, MetroPCS, Northcoast PCS) definitely won't. Like USCC and SPrint, they will only activate phones they originally sold. JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Verizon's Pitch Could Signal Local Cable War Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 22:38:16 -0800 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Monty Solomon wrote: > By Steven Rosenberg, Globe Staff | March 31, 2005 > Coming soon to northern Massachusetts: Cable competition between > Comcast and Verizon. Yawn. Ameritech competed with some of the local cables in Cleveland years before Verizon decided to compete with Comcast in Massachusetts. The cable operation was called Americast, and Ameritech had to divest it when they sold themselves to SBC. JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" ------------------------------ From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) Subject: Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 07:14:02 UTC Organization: Public Access Networks Corp. Reply-To: tls@rek.tjls.com In article , T. Sean Weintz wrote: > SBC bought out SNET a few years back, and has done NOTHING for us but > take what WAS good service and make it lousy, while raising prices and > laying off workers. Back in the monolithic BELL ATT days, things were > MUCH more reliable than they are now. I'm talking REAL sloppy stuff -- > botched record keeping, service suddenly shifted to a different set of > pairs on the underground feed for no apparent reasons, etc. etc. I'm not sure what the "monolithic BELL ATT days" might have been, but I would just like to point out that Southern New England Telephone (SNET) was never part of AT&T; it was not a wholly-owned subsidiary like most other regional operating companies and it was not directly controlled by AT&T in the same way in which the others were. SNET had a separate ownership structure and was allowed to use the Bell logo, but remain at least partially outside the control of the Bell System, because of some very savvy dealmaking by its founders early on; Bell needed them more than they needed Bell, and so things were always done a little bit differently -- just a little bit, but still differently -- in SNET territory than in the "monolith". SNET and Cincinnati Bell had more in common in some ways with Rochester Tel and the other large single-region independents than with the regional companies that had been absorbed into AT&T. The one way one could say, though, that they were "monolithic" is that unlike the pure independents they still bought their switchgear from Western Electric and generally conformed to operating practices established by Bell Labs research. It's not right to talk about what SNET or Cincinnatti Bell did and draw conclusions about how AT&T was or was not, because those two Bell companies were not part of AT&T. Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com "The inconsistency is startling, though admittedly, if consistency is to be abandoned or transcended, there is no problem." - Noam Chomsky ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Does Your Computer Look Like This? Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 09:19:55 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Patrick Townson wrote: > In 1954, the well-known Popular Electronics Magazine in connection > with the Rand Corporation put together an artist's conception of what > computers would look like in fifty years, in 2004. Look at it here. > http://www.mountainwings.com/past/5082.htm > This is _not_ an April Fool's joke. While it may not be an "April Fool's" joke, it is, in actual fact, a JOKE, or at best "creative fiction". That picture, as shown, I can guarantee, did *NOT* run in _any_ 1954 (or even approximately that year) publication. Proof: the "console" in the foreground is a DECwriter LA-36 (or possibly a LA-120 -- a very similar-looking, but _newer_, model), that was first manufactured in 1974. See: Proof: the 'cut-line' mentions the FORTRAN programming language, which was first released in 1957. Three years _after_ the purported publication of this material. Note: whomever created the "fiction" also got the geometry slightly wrong -- the white frame of the LA-36 does not _quite_ line up with the console panel it is supposedly part of. The front-left corner is slightly 'behind' the front edge of that panel, while the front-right corner is slightly _in_front_ of the front edge of that same panel. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As I said in the last issue, it is very hard -- damn near impossible -- to pull the wool over you guy's eyes. Try as hard as I may. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 2 Apr 2005 21:30:48 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Book Review: The Great Telecom Meltdown Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Author: Fred R. Goldstein > Publisher: Artech House, Boston > ISBN: 1-58053-939-4 I've also read it, and it's really good. It collects the whole story of the effect on Telecom of dereg and the 1990s bubble into one place, something you can't find anywhere else. Artech priced it rather high at $79.99. I hope Fred arranges for a lower cost edition. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of The Internet for Dummies, Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "I shook hands with Senators Dole and Inouye," said Tom, disarmingly. ------------------------------ From: Choreboy Subject: Re: Every Ten Days Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 19:34:47 -0500 Dave Garland wrote: > It was a dark and stormy night when Choreboy > wrote: >> March 9, somebody from 877 467 3277 called. I answered on the second >> ring and they hung up. They did it again March 19 and March 29. > Large telemarketing operations sometimes use dialers that call > numbers, and when there is an answer shunt the call to an available > human telemarketer. If all the telemarketers are busy (on the phone, > on break, whatever), you get a few seconds of dead air, then it hangs > up. > This is an efficient use of the (probably minimum-wage) telemarketers, > as they don't waste time dialing, waiting while it rings, getting > answering machines, etc. The efficiency, of course, comes at the > expense of the victims like you. That could explain what happened March 9. I answered on five rings. After eight seconds or so I heard a click. It wouldn't explain the next two calls. March 19 I answered on four rings and got a dial tone. March 29 I answered on one or two rings and heard a click a second or so after I said hello. I can't be sure it's Sears. In the past few months, Caller ID has shown apparent telemarketers calling from out-of-service numbers, from 888-888-8888, and from 111-111-1111. Choreboy ------------------------------ From: AES Subject: Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 08:18:39 -0800 Organization: Stanford University In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >> "And so his heartless cruelty continues until this very last moment," >> said the Rev. Frank Pavone, a Roman Catholic priest. He added: "This >> is not only a death, with all the sadness that brings, but this is a >> killing, and for that we not only grieve that Terri has passed but we >> grieve that our nation has allowed such an atrocity as this and we >> pray that it will never happen again." > This kind of thinking is really disturbing. The intimates are > certainly entitled to their point of view. However, other familes > simply do not share those religious attitudes about medical care. This is certainly OT for this group; but when you see a message as thoughtful and well done as this entire message was, you're willing to forgive the error. This priest is a real jerk. And the really serious problem is, is he just stating the moral views he believes his parishoners and fellow Catholics should follow for themselves; is he urging his parishoners to vote for laws and legislators that will use the power of the State to forcibly impose their religious views on the rest of us, who do not share his views, in the management of our own lives? His statements are very frightening. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There was a very interesting program today at our local synagogue. A professor of theology from the university at Lawrence, Kansas was invited to come and preach; his sermon topic was 'Liberal Jews and Terri Schiavo'; afterward, at the coffee hour, he and the rabbi entertained a question and answer session. Most interesting, most revealing. The times are really changing in these United States, to be sure. Oh, and remember, this is 'spring ahead' night on our clocks. Move your clocks _up one hour_ sometime tonight or tomorrow! 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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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #142 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Apr 3 18:35:34 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j33MZXS05687; Sun, 3 Apr 2005 18:35:34 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 18:35:34 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200504032235.j33MZXS05687@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 V24 #143 TELECOM Digest Sun, 3 Apr 2005 18:35:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 143 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Vatican Used SMS, Email to Announce Pope's Death (Lisa Minter) China's Giant Pandas Get Broadband (Lisa Minter) EFFector 18.10: WIPO Lockout Inspires Global Protest (Monty Solomon) EFFector 18.11: Supreme Court Justices Grill Both Sides (Monty Solomon) LG and Matsushita to Settle Plasma Dispute -- Paper (Monty Solomon) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (Tony P.) Re: New Technology Brings Back Old Problem For 911 (Tony P.) Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 (Tony P.) Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 (Wesrock) Re: Cell Phone Compatibility (Joseph) Re: Every Ten Days (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (Dave Close) Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed (Joseph) Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed (jmeissen@aracnet) List of Schiavo Donors Will Be Sold by Direct-Marketing Firm (M Solomon) Re: Does Your Computer Look Like This? (Dave Garland) Re: Does Your Computer Look Like This? (Tony P.) Re: Classic Telephone Call on PC (Robert Bonomi) Re: Digest Has a New Sponsor (Sellcom Tech Support) 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: 03 Apr 2005 11:43:25 -0700 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Vatican Used SMS, Email to Announce Pope's Death VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - It took just minutes for the Catholic Church to alert the world's media of John Paul's death -- using text messages and email so the 2,000-year-old Church could meet the new demands of real-time news. Just a quarter of an hour after the Pope was pronounced dead Saturday at 9:37 p.m., the Vatican sent journalists an SMS message alerting them to a pending statement. Television networks across the globe were already on standby a minute later when the email communique was beamed to a sea of state-of-the-art handheld computers, purchased by journalists at the suggestion of the Vatican. "The Holy father died this evening at 21:37 in his private apartment," it said, in a simple Word document. TV spectators across the globe learned of the Pope's death even before the thousands of faithful gathered in prayer below the Pope's window in St. Peter's Square. Archbishop Leonardo Sandri only informed them minutes later and their reaction -- a long round of applause, an Italian custom -- was captured on television in real time. During John Paul's life and after his death, the Vatican was at pains to accommodate the mass media, which closely followed the 84-year-old Pope's decline and spells in hospital. Medical bulletins this year gave brief snapshots of the Pontiff's condition, growing increasingly pessimistic as they prepared the world for the worst. It was a marked break from the secrecy surrounding previous pontificates, even as recently as the 1960s. The Vatican, for example, kept Pope John XXIII's inoperable stomach cancer secret until just a few days before he died in June 1963. The Pope himself wrote in a February letter that the Church should not be shy of using the media, including the Internet, to spread its message, saying the "mass media can and must promote justice and solidarity." For the faithful, the extremely public suffering and death of John Paul became a central part of his message and inspired comparisons with Jesus Christ. Stricken with illnesses including Parkinson's Disease, he was unable to walk or, in the final weeks, speak publicly. "For me, his suffering had purpose," said Sonia Stipa, 41, holding a candle in St. Peter's Square. "It was like the pain that Jesus endured for humanity." NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 03 Apr 2005 11:42:07 -0700 From: Lisa Minter Subject: China's Giant Pandas Get Broadband BEIJING (Christian Science Monitor) Calling all tech-savvy pandas -- China's biggest nature reserve in the foggy mountains of southwest Sichuan province is now wired for broadband. Some might argue that the Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve, China's largest, is now ready for the world's first panda internet cafe, but the great digital leap forward is aimed more at panda protection. Researchers are able to process real-time data on the pandas, including photos and video signals, around the clock at any given corner of the nature reserve, or observe giant panda cubs on a daily basis without having to step out of their offices," Xinhua said. "Digital technology has changed communication between Wolong and the rest of the world and will help promote information sharing on giant panda protection," said Zhang Weimin, director of the reserve. "This will not only help increase the number of giant pandas, but also help us manage the living environment of giant pandas in a more efficient manner." Wolong, founded in 1963, covers 200,000 hectares (772 square miles) and is home to 76 giant pandas. The giant panda is one of the world's most endangered species, with an estimated 1,000 living in Sichuan and in northwestern Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Statistics from the State Forestry Administration released last year show the number of pandas in the wild in China has risen by more than 40 percent from 1,110 in the 1980s to 1,590, while a total of 161 are in captive breeding programs worldwide. "Despite the increase, the animal's existence is menaced by problems including loss of habitat and a low rate of reproduction," Xinhua said, meaning that pandas are not yet out of the woods. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, The Christian Science Publishing Society. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 00:56:33 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 18.10: WIPO Lockout Inspires Global Protest EFFector Vol. 18, No. 10 March 25, 2005 donna@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 326th Issue of EFFector: * WIPO Lockout Inspires Global Protest * EFF Appeals Ruling in Apple Case * Leading Nonprofits Take Stand Against Business Method Patents * CopyNight Reminder - Mashups & Martinis, March 29 * Tell a Friend About EFF - Send a Postcard From the Electronic Frontier! * MiniLinks (17): New Indian Patent Law Threatens Human Health * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/18/10.php ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 00:58:11 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 18.11: Supreme Court Justices Grill Both Sides EFFector Vol. 18, No. 11 March 31, 2005 donna@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 327th Issue of EFFector: * Supreme Court Justices Grill Both Sides at Copyright Hearing * New US Passports Will Serve as Terrorist Beacons * It's Official: TSA Lied * MiniLinks (11): A Few Notes From the Grokster Argument * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/18/11.php ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 01:12:28 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: LG and Matsushita to Settle Plasma Dispute -- Paper Reuters Saturday, April 2, 2005; 8:28 AM TOKYO (Reuters) - The world's No. 1 and 3 suppliers of plasma panels, the key component in flat-screen televisions, have agreed to settle their dispute over plasma display technology, a newspaper said on Saturday. South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. and Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. filed lawsuits against each other last year, claiming infringements on patents related to plasma technology. The suits have led to a halt of imports of LG panels into Japan and Matsushita panels to South Korea. The tussle has been just one of a number of legal disputes over panel technology among Japanese firms and rivals from South Korea and Taiwan, underscoring a fierce fight for position in the potentially lucrative market for flat panel TVs. The two companies have been holding talks and are expected to agree on a settlement that would require LG to pay royalties to Matsushita while allowing each firm access to some of the other's patents, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A20736-2005Apr2 ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 12:00:59 -0400 In article , jbhines@newsguy.com says: > hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >> I heard my school district will modernize and replace the classic >> "blackboard" (or greenboard) with modern 'whiteboards'. I can't help >> but wonder if this is a dumb idea. > I remember elementary Catholic school, 20 years ago, where white > shirts, and black pants was the uniform of the day, so when come the > last class on Friday, stealing what ever chalk was left on the board, > was the thing to do. > We had "chicken fights" on the walk home, where one guy on the back of > another would try and do as much damage as he could. > The white chalk would wash out no problems, so mom wasn't mad. > Egoism, bumps and bruises ... > That and being bad that day in class and you could be penalized by > having to say after and "clap the erasers", which meant you'd miss the > fights. Can you honestly tell me you guys never chalked a nun/priest/brother? That was a favorite trick -- just run up and pat em' on the back with a well used eraser. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: New Technology Brings Back Old Problem For 911 Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 12:11:17 -0400 In article , strap@hanh-ct.org says: > Jack Decker wrote: >> "What we want to make people aware of is they are not able to access >> 911 like you can on a traditional phone," said Mackinac County 911 >> Coordinator Pam Matelski. "The dispatch center will not get your >> information." > > Given the amount of airtime this issue has been given, anyone who is NOT > aware of the VOIP vs. 911 issue should be left to die when calling 911, > thus weeding their stupidity out of the gene pool and hopefully > improving humanity. > <\tounge in chee mode> > Seriously. Ths issue has been beaten to death in the media. Because the incumbents are hemorrhaging red ink because of VoIP, and their offerings come too little too late. So at any opportunity they'll try to kill VoIP, or at least the competitors at first, then they'll let their own VoIP services whither so people will flock back to the three-9's reliability of circuit switched. The issue with E-911 is NOT a technical issue at all. For example, Vonage can get E-911 to work just fine in Rhode Island of all places. I dial 911 and I get the actual emergency answer point and they get my address info. Vonage uses facilities based carriers like Paetec and Focal, those already have interconnection to E-911 services in most every community they server. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 12:06:21 -0400 In article , strap@hanh-ct.org says: > TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to a writer: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Can't you just see SBC chomping at the >> bit to get the old 'Bell System' out of cold storage and back into >> service with all its old ways, albiet modernized somewhat? Put this >> thing down -- refusal to work on 911 with VOIP carriers as one more >> thing to negotiate when the FCC is asked to approve the AT&T/SBC >> merger. PAT] > Scary. I am in what was SNET (Southern New England Telephone) territory. > What was I believe the oldest RBOC in the country -- in fact I am right > now sitting only about 1500 feet away from the site first commercial > switching office in the country. > SBC bought out SNET a few years back, and has done NOTHING for us but > take what WAS good service and make it lousy, while raising prices and > laying off workers. Back in the monolithic BELL ATT days, things were > MUCH more reliable than they are now. I'm talking REAL sloppy stuff -- > botched record keeping, service suddenly shifted to a different set of > pairs on the underground feed for no apparent reasons, etc. etc. > SNET HAD been in the process of running fiber all over our state (and > starting to do Cable TV!) when SBC bought them out and nixed all that. > I HATE SBC. My only hope now is that perhaps Verizon will get big enough > to buy them out? Or maybe some sort of deal that would give our state to > Verizon? (All the surrounding states, and even a teeny tiny portion of > this state, have Verizon as the local RBOC ILEC.) Verizon does seem to be in a better position to purchase SBC at this point. But I suspect they'll first bankrupt Qwest, absorb it and then take either take on or start merger talks with SBC. Mother Bell will be reunited, but without the regulatory framework from days of old. Woe to the consumer. For all of SBC's blatant behavior the one to really watch is Verizon. Look at the bid war they're having with Qwest over MCI. I suspect their true motivation is to make Qwest pay far too much for MCI and then they'll roll in for the liquidation. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ma Bell will live on forever, just like Terri Schiavo. In our nightmares, perhaps, but Ma does not intend you should forget about her anytime soon. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 20:39:26 EST Subject: Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 In a message dated Sat, 2 Apr 2005 07:14:02 UTC, tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) writes: > In article , T. Sean Weintz > wrote: >> SBC bought out SNET a few years back, and has done NOTHING for us but >> take what WAS good service and make it lousy, while raising prices and >> laying off workers. Back in the monolithic BELL ATT days, things were >> MUCH more reliable than they are now. I'm talking REAL sloppy stuff -- >> botched record keeping, service suddenly shifted to a different set of >> pairs on the underground feed for no apparent reasons, etc. etc. > I'm not sure what the "monolithic BELL ATT days" might have been, but > I would just like to point out that Southern New England Telephone > (SNET) was never part of AT&T; it was not a wholly-owned subsidiary > like most other regional operating companies and it was not directly > controlled by AT&T in the same way in which the others were. SNET had > a separate ownership structure and was allowed to use the Bell logo, > but remain at least partially outside the control of the Bell System, > because of some very savvy dealmaking by its founders early on; Bell > needed them more than they needed Bell, and so things were always done > a little bit differently -- just a little bit, but still differently > -- in SNET territory than in the "monolith". I worked for Southwestern Bell for 32 years before I retired. What does this have to do with SNET? Well, one of the things that they did was send SWBT folks to AT&T headquarters for a month to see how it worked there. The AT&T folks, not knowing exactly what to do with you, often gave you tasks like calling the operating companies and telling them about some new procedure or something they should do or something AT&T was doing that might affect the BOCs. Most of the companies would listen more or less attentively, although the companies were less monolithic in their operations than many think. Even in the five SWBT states, there were some state organizations more independent than others. Anyway, in doing these calls to other Bell companies, it was very noticeable when you called SNET that they were very well aware that they were not controlled by AT&T. They might thank you for calling, to be polite, but clearly they understood that they would do what SNET wanted to do. Same thing was true with Cincinnati & Suburban Bell Telephone Company (the full name of the company then), although not quite so overtly. Then there was Bell Canada, of which AT&T then owned only something like 2%. (Actually, they were pretty agreeable to work with, although not accepting instructions for AT&T as anything other than just informational.) Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Cell Phone Compatibility Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 16:57:06 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 08:26:26 -0700, SmarSquid wrote: > I have a couple of inactive cell phones (Motorola 120e and Samsung > GS-x426) that are lying around because I have taken phone > upgrades. They are blanked out and ready for service, and I want to > sell them on E-Bay. Howver, prospective buyers will want to know what > cellular service providers the equipment will work with. How can I > learn this? The Motorola was originally used in the Verizon Wireless > network, and the Samsung was used in the AT&T Wireless network, but I > have a feeling other providers could work with these phones. More > network compatibility means a higher number of potential buyers. As the French might say it depend. The Verizon CDMA phone will likely work only on another CDMA carrier that allows their customers to attach a non-native CDMA equipment to their network. Many networks such as Sprint PCS which is also a CDMA network will not allow connection of any device that they either do not sell or has been formerly on their network. They will check their database to see whether the ESN (electronic serial number) is there. If it is not many carriers will not activate a handset that has not been on their network. In the case of the AT&T Wireless phone it will depend on which kind of phone it is. If it is a TDMA phone you will only be able to use it on AT&T Wireless' TDMA network and not on any other network such as cingular's TDMA network. Cingular/AT&T will not activate any new TDMA phone service though I imagine you can switch the ESN from what someone already has to another phone which has been on the AT&T Wireless network. If it was on the AT&T Wireless GSM network you could use it on another GSM network provided that the SIM lock is defeated. AT&T Wireless did not and will not give unlock codes for the GSM phones that it sold and you either have to go to sites that will "remotely unlock" or find someone to flex/flash the phone so that you can use it on another network. Also with older GSM phones that AT&T Wireless sold they were single band 1900 only. To get the best possible service you really should get a dual band 850/1900 phone. If you know which was the original provider you need to let your perspective buyer know this. Many buyers are well aware of what will and will not work for them so I'd strongly advise giving as much information as possible including which networks (and technology if you know it) the phone uses. Also you need to be sure and give the correct full model number since some models have the same model number but are for different technologies e.g. Motorola V60c, t or g depending on whether it's CDMA, TDMA or GSM. ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 19:58:25 EST Subject: Re: Every Ten Days In a message dated Thu, 31 Mar 2005 21:00:28 -0600, Dave Garland writes: > It was a dark and stormy night when Choreboy > wrote: >> March 9, somebody from 877 467 3277 called. I answered on the second >> ring and they hung up. They did it again March 19 and March 29. > Large telemarketing operations sometimes use dialers that call > numbers, and when there is an answer shunt the call to an available > human telemarketer. If all the telemarketers are busy (on the phone, > on break, whatever), you get a few seconds of dead air, then it hangs > up. > This is an efficient use of the (probably minimum-wage) telemarketers, > as they don't waste time dialing, waiting while it rings, getting > answering machines, etc. The efficiency, of course, comes at the > expense of the victims like you. This has been going on for quite a few years, and generated so many complaints that the Oklahoma Legislature passed a law forbidding the practice. It has, of course, been no more effective than laws or regulations calling with only a recorded message. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ From: dave@compata.com (Dave Close) Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System Date: 2 Apr 2005 21:29:41 -0800 Organization: Compata, Costa Mesa, California Stuart Barkley writes: > The article and discussion here both miss what I consider a more > important issue with the EZ-pass system: And another issue, maybe not so important, but serious for some: portability. If you travel on business and rent a car, you are usually stuck using the cash lanes on local toll roads. Even if you have a working transponder at home which is compatible with the local system, you aren't supposed to try using it. The transponder is only valid for use in a registered vehicle, which your rental car isn't. Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "Politics is the business of getting dave@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 power and privilege without dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu possessing merit." - P. J. O'Rourke ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 17:05:45 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 31 Mar 2005 11:54:41 -0800, Lisa Minter wrote: > By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer > PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged woman > who spent 15 years connected to a feeding tube in an epic legal and > medical battle that went all the way to the White House and Congress, > died Thursday, 13 days after the tube was removed. She was 41. This topic has occupied the national media now for more than 15 years. What it has to do with telecom is beyond my comprehension. Why we have to see yet another re-hashing of this non-topical business here mystifies me. Yes, her circumstance is tragic. No, it doesn't belong here. It's been all over the national news. We don't need it here. I'm really starting to wonder what the editor of this digest/news group's rationale for putting this stuff here. More and more stuff is ending up in this space and it has absolutely nothing to do with telecom and why is it here? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You should see the Terri Shiavo crapola which shows up in my mailbox in a day's -- no, several hours' -- time I _do not_ print here. As Monty Solomon points out a couple messages from now in this issue, her father sold the rights to the mailing list of people who had been moved enough in recent days to write him or his wife. So, even if all you did was take a few seconds to send them a note saying "I am sorry about your grief", your name and _email address_ has now been sold -- at a pretty penny I might add -- to spammers who wanted that list so _they_ could milk it also for all their cracked-pot causes, etc. Just read the message elsewhere in this issue; don't take my word for it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed Date: 3 Apr 2005 05:05:12 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , wrote: > This kind of thinking is really disturbing. The intimates are > certainly entitled to their point of view. However, other familes > simply do not share those religious attitudes about medical care. What is more disturbing, in my mind, is that once they decided to let the body die (regardless of the state of the mind), they chose to let it happen through two weeks of starvation and dehydration. This is a sad statement about humanity, that we'll use drugs to painlessly put a mortally wounded dog out of its misery, but a human body must be forced to endure two weeks of torture until its organs fail. And even as Shiavo fades into memory, the feds continue their assault on Oregon's Death With Dignity laws ... what a bizarre society we live in. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What do you mean, 'Shiavo fades into memory ...' _they_ are not going to allow that to happen. The net, like many broadcasting stations in recent weeks is going to convert to 'All Schiavo news, all the time'. And you call this a 'bizarre society'? As Lisa Minter explained it to me last week, when news that a top honcho in Boy Scouts of America (I am sure you've heard of them, and _their_ posture on how everything good and patriotic about America does *not* include H-people) got arrested by police and confessed to _being a pedophile_ when several hundred pictures of little boys naked and engaging in sex were found on his computer at BSA headquarters; my, oh my ... well Lisa said, "This society is really fuc--d." Yeah, I have to wonder. Now for today's Terri Shiavo report, here is Monty Solomon. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 13:22:42 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: List of Schiavo Donors Will Be Sold by Direct-Marketing Firm By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and JOHN SCHWARTZ WASHINGTON, March 28 - The parents of Terri Schiavo have authorized a conservative direct-mailing firm to sell a list of their financial supporters, making it likely that thousands of strangers moved by her plight will receive a steady stream of solicitations from anti-abortion and conservative groups. "These compassionate pro-lifers donated toward Bob Schindler's legal battle to keep Terri's estranged husband from removing the feeding tube from Terri," says a description of the list on the Web site of the firm, Response Unlimited, which is asking $150 a month for 6,000 names and $500 a month for 4,000 e-mail addresses of people who responded last month to an e-mail plea from Ms. Schiavo's father. "These individuals are passionate about the way they value human life, adamantly oppose euthanasia and are pro-life in every sense of the word!" Privacy experts said the sale of the list was legal and even predictable, if ghoulish. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/politics/29donate.html?ex=1269752400&en=f1312f1b5ae170ad&ei=5090 NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. Also check out http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Does Your Computer Look Like This? Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 22:43:20 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when Patrick Townson wrote: > http://www.mountainwings.com/past/5082.htm > This is _not_ an April Fool's joke. Maybe not by *you*. But it's photoshopped. http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp even has the original picture (a museum exhibit of a submarine's control room) that was modified. (Notice there's something Escher-like about the way the paper hangs in that printer.. at the top it's at the rear of the printer, but hanging straight down somehow it's close to the front when it gets to the bottom. And the printer's design is more '60s than '50s.) ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Does Your Computer Look Like This? Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 12:16:50 -0400 In article , paul+usenet@w6yx.stanford.edu says: > Patrick Townson wrote: >> In 1954, the well-known Popular Electronics Magazine in connection >> with the Rand Corporation put together an artist's conception of what >> computers would look like in fifty years, in 2004. Look at it here. >> http://www.mountainwings.com/past/5082.htm > Wasn't this a FARK photoshop contest entry? Yes it was. That's a DEC LA36 printing terminal if I'm not mistaken. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So what does this have to do with Terry Shiavo? PAT] ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Classic Telephone Call on PC Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 15:48:41 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Gerhard Nowak wrote: > Thanks for answering. Now I`m a bit released. I just thought, only I > don't see the solution. > But why is it working on VoIp so easily? > My problem is to connect my international calls via VoIp to local > calls from people don`t have ADSL so that these people can talk > together. Here in Mauritius not many people can afford ADSL and is > much more expensive than in the States or in Europe. > I thought, the realisation of this idea must be much easier ... Heck, why didn't you _say_ that's what you wanted to do? Doing -that- is an entirely different matter than what you first asked about. See The price is right -- the software is free, Although it won't run under MS Windows, the Windows "replacement" that is required is also free. > But thanks anyway I will continue to look for a possibility, maybe I can > at least manage to weld the Phone-cable to my headset ... like in the > old times with accoustic coupler ... or switch to Linux. Ding, ding, ding! we have a winner! Asterisk requires Linux, or similar. ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: New Sponsor Comes on Board With Digest Web Site Organization: www.sellcom.com Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 18:27:53 GMT TELECOM Digest Editor posted on that vast internet thingie: > an online casino service Have you no ethics at all? Steve http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Panasonic 5.8Ghz 2line; TMC ET4300 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Brickmail voicemail Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Firewood splitters www.splitlogs.com If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz. New www.electrictrains.biz [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: About as many as you have. 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. 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 V24 #143 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Apr 4 16:17:01 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j34KH1v16460; Mon, 4 Apr 2005 16:17:01 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 16:17:01 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200504042017.j34KH1v16460@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 V24 #144 TELECOM Digest Mon, 4 Apr 2005 16:15:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 144 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Anonymous E-mailer Steps Forward After Supreme Court Order (M Solomon) Fourth Man Indicted in Republican Phone-Jamming Scheme (Monty Solomon) Increasingly, the Bells See Their Future on a Screen (Monty Solomon) Some Colleges Falling Short in Security Of Computers (Monty Solomon) Music Rules (Monty Solomon) NYS AG Spitzer Gets Verizon to Wake Up. A Bit (Danny Burstein) Bidfraud Website "Grand Opening" -- Read Capabilities (Stop Fraud) USB to RJ-45 console cable? (JXM2119) Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls (Lisa Minter) Re: Prepaid vrs. 'Regular' Cell Phone Service (Joseph) Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E911 (Justin Time) Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards (Tony P.) Re: Does Your Computer Look Like This? (DevilsPGD) Re: Sprint PCS Vision Added to Open Relay DataBase (SELLCOM Tech) Re: Cell Phone Service Comparisons (Justin Time) OpinionJournal Article: The Soul of a Controversy (Withheld) 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: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 22:43:49 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Anonymous E-Mailer Steps Forward After Supreme Court Order PORTLAND, Maine --After a year of court wrangling, the sender of an insulting e-mail who fought to withhold his identity in a case that tested the waters of Internet anonymity has stepped into light. James Stanley Jr., president and CEO of The Liberty Group, said Thursday that he sent a satirical e-mail to a half-dozen Great Diamond Island residents on Christmas Eve 2003 under another island resident's name. "I regret that the entire incident ever took place," Stanley said in a statement. "It was a spontaneous, tongue-in-cheek bit of silliness that for reasons that are still unfathomable has taken on a life of its own." Ronald Fitch, whose identity was used to send the e-mail, had contended the e-mail amounted to identity theft and fraud. But through his lawyers, Stanley claimed it was anonymous free speech, protected by the Constitution. Two weeks ago the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ordered, without addressing First Amendment issues, that Stanley's identity had to be revealed. http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2005/04/01/anonymous_e_mailer_steps_forward_after_supreme_court_order/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: 'The Liberty Group', a right-wing organization, should have known it was identity theft and fraud if they specifically gave some other person's identifiable name and address. All they had to say, if they had wanted to avoid that problem was state, "there is no such real person as Ronald Fitch" and been vague on his address or not given an address at all. I have had people do that same thing to me; there was nothing I could do about it under those circumstances. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 23:05:25 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Fourth Man Indicted in Republican Phone-Jamming Scheme April 3, 2005 CONCORD, N.H. --A fourth man has been charged with taking part in a Republican scheme to jam Democrats' get-out-the-vote phone lines on Election Day 2002. Shaun Hansen, of Spokane, Wash., headed a former telemarketing company that placed hundreds of hang-up calls to five phone lines run by Democrats and one run by the Manchester firefighters union. Prosecutors say Hansen's Mylo Enterprises of Sandpoint, Idaho, was hired by Republican operatives to place the calls. Hansen is accused of violating a federal law that forbids placing anonymous telephone calls to annoy or harass someone. He has not entered a plea, but is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Concord on May 9. http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2005/04/03/fourth_man_indicted_in_republican_phone_jamming_scheme/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 01:45:20 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Increasingly, the Bells See Their Future on a Screen By MATT RICHTEL and KEN BELSON SAN FRANCISCO, April 3 - The telephone companies are desperate to be seen, not just heard. In the coming months, the Bell telephone companies, including SBC and Verizon, will start selling television programming in their most recent effort to crack a market in which they have had almost no presence. The cable industry, meeting here this week for its annual trade show, is already bracing for the assault on its prime turf. To offer paid TV services, the Bells are spending billions of dollars to expand their superfast fiber optic networks and improving technology that can send video to their phone and Internet customers. SBC alone is expected to spend about $4 billion over three years to install fiber lines to reach neighborhoods where half of its 36 million customers live. But in addition to laying new fiber lines, the phone companies also must acquire expensive programming rights, go through the tedious process of getting permission from municipalities to sell television, and master the Internet-based technology that sends video programming over the same crowded network that now delivers voice and data streams. And even after making these gargantuan investments, the Bells will face formidable challenges to break into the saturated market for pay TV. To lure customers from the cable and satellite providers, analysts said, they have to offer better programming and features at a lower price compared to cable. They have little choice but to take the gamble. Cellphone carriers are chewing into the Bells' traditional landline business. And cable companies -- leaders in the high-speed Internet access business -- are fast entering the phone market with Internet-based services. To compete with cable's offerings, the phone companies are pushing to sell an array of services -- Internet connections, wireless and television -- in a bundle. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/04/business/04iptv.html?ex=1270267200&en=d0a786872bb8af85&ei=5090 NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 01:46:43 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Some Colleges Falling Short in Security Of Computers By TOM ZELLER Jr. If the computer age is continually testing how well institutions protect personal information, the nation's colleges and universities may be earning a failing grade. Last Monday, administrators at the University of California, Berkeley, acknowledged that a computer laptop containing the names and Social Security numbers of nearly 100,000 people - mostly graduate school applicants - had been stolen. Just three days earlier, Northwestern University reported that hackers who broke into computers at the Kellogg School of Management there may have had access to information on more than 21,000 students, faculty and alumni. And one week before that, officials at California State University, Chico, announced a breach that may have exposed personal information on 59,000 current, former and prospective students. There is no evidence that any of the compromised information has been used to commit fraud. But at a time of rising concerns over breaches at commercial data warehouses like ChoicePoint and LexisNexis, these incidents seem to highlight the particular vulnerabilities of modern universities, which are heavily networked, widely accessible and brimming with sensitive data on millions of people. Data collected by the Office of Privacy Protection in California, for example, showed that universities and colleges accounted for about 28 percent of all security breaches in that state since 2003 - more than any other group, including financial institutions. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/04/technology/04data.html?ex=1270267200&en=c1009f3311210ac6&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 21:19:01 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Music Rules A Supreme Court ruling against peer-to-peer network Grokster would do more than punish music pirates. It would affect the future of the Internet. By Andrew Leonard March 30, 2005 | I decided to rip my vinyl in honor of MGM vs. Grokster, the case heard before the Supreme Court on Tuesday that will likely result in a landmark ruling on copyright law. "To rip one's vinyl" means to convert long-playing records to digital files. And if some doomsayers are correct, it's the kind of thing the music biz would be able to prevent me from doing if the Grokster decision goes their way. In a worst-case scenario, anything that would allow me to copy music, whether it's a CD-burner, some audio-editing software, or a peer-to-peer network like Grokster, would be illegal. But to be honest, stopping me from taking moldering P-Funk, Rolling Stones and R.E.M. albums and transforming them into MP3s for my own enjoyment is not the highest priority for the entertainment industry. In the Grokster case, a roll-call of music and movie studios are targeting their sights on file-sharing peer-to-peer networks. Their argument is that the creators of those networks should be deemed responsible for what people do with them -- technically, that means they should be found guilty of "secondary liability" for the copyright infringement committed by file sharers. The case before the Supreme Court does not pertain to whether the actual act of file sharing is illegal. Let's accept for now that when you or I grab a copy of the newest Aimee Mann track from Kazaa or LimeWire, we are committing intellectual-property piracy, stealing royalties from starving artists, and threatening the entire economic basis of the music industry. Personally, I enjoy supporting the artists I like by purchasing their records on iTunes, and I especially savor doing so after I have heard a free sample of their music over the Net. But that's an entirely separate issue from what's at stake in this case. MGM vs. Grokster deals with whether the creators of a technology are responsible for how it used. It's not an understatement to say that the case could influence the future of the Internet. This is why the "secondary liability" charge makes a lot of folks, particularly those in the computer, consumer electronics and telecom industries, very nervous. A decision in favor of the plaintiffs would represent a reversal of the precedent set 20 years ago in the famous "Sony-Betamax" case, which held that Sony was not liable for any copyright abuses likely to be perpetrated by owners of VCRs because there were "substantial noninfringing" uses of the product. In other words, because the VCR could be used for perfectly legitimate purposes, like watching a rented movie, it was OK for Sony to sell it, even if some people were going to use it to tape copyrighted television shows. http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2005/03/30/grokster/ TELECOM Digest Editors's Note: Salon.com is available on line here daily by setting your browser to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html (far right column, botton of the right column), new articles daily. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: NYS AG Spitzer Gets Verizon to Wake Up. A Bit Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 22:24:43 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC "Verizon to block `cramming' of computer charges on phone bills By MICHAEL GORMLEY, AP Writer April 3, 2005, 12:16 PM EDT "Albany NY - Verizon Communications Inc. will fight the 'cramming ' of unauthorized charges by companies such as Internet providers that appear on phone bills. "New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said the settlement is the first time a telephone company has been required to monitor and correct the fraudulent billing practices by other companies on phone bills. The action follows complaints about the unauthorized charges by Internet providers, Web hosting and other services on Verizon phone bills. "Spitzer said small businesses and residential customers in New York claimed Verizon did nothing to help them resolve the charges and instead told Verizon customers to solve the matter with those companies. The agreement applies only to New York customers. [snipppety snip. There's nothing yet on Spitzer's web site so I don't know quite how extensive this agreement is. As we all know, there's plenty of sleaze in the entire "third party" billing the telcos handle and the phrase in the article about "Internet providers, Web hosting..." is very selective ... ] rest at: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--phonebillcramming0403apr03,0,6464120,print.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork ------------------------------ From: Stop Fraud Subject: Bidfraud Website "Grand Opening" -- Read Inside for capabilities Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 12:10:24 GMT Organization: Road Runner After 1000 plus hours in development -- Bidfraud.com is "breathing." http://www.bidfraud.com Features: Capable of archiving ebay auction transactions locally on our server. This is important, as ebay deletes transactions every few months. It is as simple as entering an ebay item number when creating a report. example of archived ebay page: http://www.bidfraud.com/cachedpages/6113839605/alouette-amusement/6113839605.html The above archived page, while it still exists at bidfraud.com, no longer exists at ebay.com Report templates contain an area to write a narrative as well as an interface to upload as many as 10 images/files (word & excel, etc.) The use of pictures as well as other supporting documents will help to substantiate and validate a claim. Example of report with pictures: http://www.bidfraud.com/example.php Easy search interface capable of finding a suspect by user name, email or item number at various sites. Simple private messaging, including a chat system are provided. Registration is Free. Easy to use interface. If you wish to advertise on the site, it is free, but space is limited. Please use contact page on www.bidfraud.com to make a request. Example of ad layout/dimensions: http://www.bidfraud.com/ads.htm Next time you leave negative feedback at ebay or any other site, please reference them to bidfraud. Thank you. ------------------------------ From: JXM2119 <> Subject: USB to RJ-45 Console Cable? Reply-To: jxm2119_AT_rochester.rr.com@syrcnyrdrs-01.nyroc.rr.com Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 22:41:33 GMT Organization: Road Runner Hi All, I have read numerous threads on Google goups and cannot come up with an answer on this one. I have already read and seen that there are cables/adapters that go from USB to DB-9. That would allow you to connect your standard serial console cable as you normally would. I am trying to find a way to eliminate this. I would like to buy/make a cable that will have a USB connector on one end and an RJ-45 on the other. I'm not sure if it is as easy as cutting off a connector on the usb and just terminating the RX/TX/GND like you can do with a serial cable (DB-9). I know there may be some issues with going from USB to RS-232 signaling and I could always build some kind of breakout box in the middle. Any thoughts????? - Jay ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 16:45:51 PDT Subject: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls From: Lisa Minter Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls Four churches in Mexico have unobtrusively installed Israeli-made cell-phone jammers to thwart those who don't seem to understand they should turn the things off during services or weddings. They're not the only ones to install the jammers. http://www.wired.com/news/gizmos/0,1452,65378,00.html?tw=wn_story_mailer ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Prepaid vrs. 'Regular' Cell Phone Service Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 10:07:47 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Sat, 2 Apr 2005 18:37:21 EST, TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Can any reader familiar with GMS and > AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless help me figure this out? I am > willing, and desirous of using my old Nokia phone as long as I can; > the Cingular phone is perfect for me I assume you know that GSM is a totally different system than you use with your Nokia 5165. The Nokia 5165 is a TDMA (IS-136) phone and absolutely will not work with anything other than IS-136. It absolutely will not work with GSM at all. If your handset works stay with it. Cingular will not activate any new TDMA service. If you find another TDMA phone which is/was used on cingular's TDMA service you can probably switch it out, but AFAIK cingular does not sell any new TDMA IS-136 handsets any longer. They really want to transition people to GSM (and of course they want their customers to pay for the "privilege" as well!) Welcome to Cingular! Resistance is futile. You have been assimiliated. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yeah, that is true, but all I wanted to do was swap my existing area 316 (Wichita) prepaid number on AT&T with an area 620 (Independence area) prepaid number on AT&T (now Cingular). But the phone is several years old (dating back to my Chicago days) however it works quite well. If I am going to absolutely have to (some day) go with GSM, maybe I will chat with the ladies who run the Cell One store or the United States Cellular place here, and see if I can get any better deals from them. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Justin Time Subject: Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 Date: 4 Apr 2005 05:15:05 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com The better rumor regarding Verizon and their plans is on the wireless front. They will let Sprint merge with Nextel and then take Sprint Wireless. Sprint PCS is the only other major CDMA carrier. Nextel, using Motorola's iDEN, is actually fairly close in its operation to CDMA (a lot closer than to GSM or TDMA). The real piece the carriers want is Nextel and their "Direct Connect" or walkie-talkie feature. Rodgers Platt [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Two questions for you Rodgers: One, which in your opinion is the bigger threat right now, Verizon or SBC (which of course is also Cingular Wireless)? My second question is, isn't the walkie-talkie feature of Nextel really just a fancy sort of speed dial which transmits over the speaker phone? If I had a Nextel 'walkie talkie' style phone and my friend in Chicago used his Nextel walkie-talkie phone to call me, it surely would not go over some airwaves would it? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Blackboards vs. Whiteboards Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 11:58:52 -0400 In article , nmclain@annsgarden.com says: > Dale Farmer wrote: >> That this has nothing to do with telecom ... > Unless it's an electronic whiteboard. > http://tinyurl.com/3u8xe At my last job we had one of those Smart Boards. It's a whiteboard that you don't use traditional marker on. You project the image and then pick up the tools from the tray to mark up that image. You can then save the marked drawings. BTW, this doesn't preclude you from using it as a whiteboard. I used ours plenty of times as a true whit board without having to use those damned markers. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Does Your Computer Look Like This? Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 21:38:32 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As I said in the last issue, it is very > hard -- damn near impossible -- to pull the wool over you guy's eyes. > Try as hard as I may. PAT] Why would you want to? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I don't especially want to, but it was April Fool's Day and I thought some laughs would have been fun. Too bad my joke was ruined. :( PAT] ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Sprint PCS Vision Added to Open Relay DataBase Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 18:25:49 GMT jmeissen@aracnet.com posted on that vast internet thingie: > In article , > Eric Friedebach wrote: >> It seems that Sprint has been added to the Open Relay DataBase >> by mistake somehow. Sprint has no idea how this >> happened, and they can't tell me when this will be resolved. If you trace route to many of the spam / porn sites being spamvertised you will find that their websites are provided US connectivity by the scum at sprintlink.net. I have had some that I have received spam for weeks and sprintlink.net continues to enable the foreign spam websites in spite of repeated notice. Steve http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Panasonic 5.8Ghz 2line; TMC ET4300 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Brickmail voicemail Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Firewood splitters www.splitlogs.com If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz. New www.electrictrains.biz ------------------------------ From: Justin Time Subject: Re: Cell Phone Service Comparisons Date: 4 Apr 2005 05:23:19 -0700 Hey, If you can find a site that manages even to keep up with all the different cell plans offered by the carriers it would be something! Carriers change their plans to react to market pressure and to create a new market. That is why you cannot find any two plans from competing carriers that line up item-for-item. That, and the fact new plans are announced quarterly -- or more often if market conditions warrant -- make the job of any telecom manager even more hectic. Just try adding a new phone to that great plan you got only 3 weeks ago ... Rodgers Platt ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 18:41:45 -0400 Subject: OpinionJournal Article: The Soul of a Controversy From: Telecom Digest Reader via OpinionJournal Pat: Please consider posting this in Obituary thread about Terry Schiavo. The writer clearly understands the Descartian Duality. If this topic is going to be in the digest, we need to elevate the discussion. For fairly obvious reasons, wish to remain anonymous -- I don't need the hatemail from either side of this controversy. The Soul of a Controversy: After Terri Schiavo's death, questions remain. BY DAVID B. HART Terri Schiavo has now died, but of course the controversy surrounding her last days will persist indefinitely. Most of the issues raised as she was dying were legal and moral; but at the margins of the storm, questions of a more "metaphysical" nature were occasionally raised in public. For instance, I heard three people on the radio last week speculating on the whereabouts of her "soul." One opined that where consciousness has sunk below a certain minimally responsive level, the soul has already departed the body; the other two thought that the soul remains, but as a dormant prisoner of the ruined flesh, awaiting release. Their arguments, being intuitive, were of little interest. What caught my attention was the unreflective dualism to which all three clearly subscribed: The soul, they assumed, is a kind of magical essence haunting the body, a ghost in a machine. This is in fact a peculiarly modern view of the matter, not much older than the 17th-century philosophy of Descartes. While it is now the model to which most of us habitually revert when talking about the soul -- whether we believe in such things or not -- it has scant basis in either Christian or Jewish tradition. The "living soul" of Scripture is the whole corporeal and spiritual totality of a person whom the breath of God has wakened to life. Thomas Aquinas, interpreting centuries of Christian and pagan metaphysics, defined the immortal soul as the "form of the body," the vital power animating, pervading, shaping an individual from the moment of conception, drawing all the energies of life into a unity. This is not to deny that, for Christian tradition, the soul transcends and survives the earthly life of the body. It is only to say that the soul, rather than being a kind of "guest" within the self, is instead the underlying mystery of a life in its fullness. In it the multiplicity of experience is knit into a single continuous and developing identity. It encompasses all the dimensions of human existence: animal functions and abstract intellect, sensation and reason, emotion and reflection, flesh and spirit, natural aptitude and supernatural longing. As such, it grants us an openness to the world of which no other creature is capable, allowing us to take in reality through feeling and thought, recognition and surprise, will and desire, memory and anticipation, imagination and curiosity, delight and sorrow, invention and art. The fourth-century theologian Gregory of Nyssa calls the soul a "living mirror" in which all things shine, so immense in its capacity that it can, when turned toward the light of God, grow eternally in an ever greater embrace of divine beauty. For the seventh-century theologian Maximus the Confessor, the human soul is the "boundary" between material and spiritual reality -- heaven and earth -- and so constitutes a microcosm that joins together, in itself, all the spheres of being. I doubt even the dogmatic materialists among us are wholly insensible to the miraculous oddity that in the midst of organic nature there exists a creature so exorbitantly in excess of what material causality could possibly adumbrate, a living mirror where all splendors gather, an animal who is also a creative and interpretive being with a longing for eternity. Whether one is willing to speak of a "rational soul" or not, there is obviously an irreducible mystery here, one that commands our reverence. Granted, it is easiest to sense this mystery when gazing at the Sistine Chapel's ceiling or listening to Bach. But it should be evident -- for Christians at least -- even when everything glorious and prodigious in our nature has been stripped away and all that remains is frailty, brokenness and dependency, or when a person we love has been largely lost to us in the labyrinth of a damaged brain. Even among such ravages -- for those with the eyes to see it -- a terrible dignity still shines out. I do not understand exactly why those who wanted Terri Schiavo to die had become so resolute in their purposes by the end. If she was as "vegetative" as they believed, what harm would it have done, I wonder, to surrender her to the charity (however fruitless) of her parents? Of this I am certain, though: Christians who understand their faith are obliged to believe that she was, to the last, a living soul. It is true that, in some real sense, it was her soul that those who loved her could no longer reach, but it was also her soul that they touched with their hands and spoke to and grieved over and adored. And this also means that it was a living soul that we as a society chose to abandon to starvation and thirst -- which should, at the very least, give us cause to consider what else we may have abandoned along the way. Mr. Hart, an Eastern Orthodox theologian, is the author of "The Beauty of the Infinite" (Eerdmans). [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thank you very much for this fitting conclusion to the 'Terri Shiavo Obituary Thread', which itself has now been declared dead, unless anyone absolutely has something they wish to add. Seriously, this is _not_ going to become the 'Terri Shiavo News All the Time' corner of the net. There are lots of such places and URL's which will live on and on and on, I suspect, and they do not need, nor welcome my assistance in their debates. My _original intent_ in allowing the first message of the thread to see the light of day here last week was to lead up to the message by Monty Solomon posted yesterday telling how greed had once again taken root in the net, with the sale, for purposes of spam, the email names and mailing list of those folks who had presumably expressed their condolences to the family and/or the husband; either their condolences or their hatred, one or the other, or both. That, and the fact that Ms. Schiavo had been employed years ago for a short time by Bell of Pennsylvania then later as a clerk/telephone operator for the 'insurance company' in Florida, seemed to make the message at least a wee bit relevant here in this forum on communications. And what should have been a very private, personal matter between a husband and his wife turned into such a three-ring circus with the politicians, legislators, judges and other 'professionals' getting involved. I know, that as a disabled person myself -- though hardly in the category of Ms. Shiavo -- I would be greatly aggrieved by the notion of someone deciding for me that 'my time had come'. In this lose-lose situation one good thing _did_ come out of it for me at least, and perhaps some of you. If you have not written a living will, and instructions for (a) your treatment if you get in Ms. Shiavo's situation and (b) the disposal of your remains, consider doing so _today_. Most of you long term readers know that I was 'as good as dead' back in 1999-2000, following my brain aneurysm. I was comatose for two months, and like Ms. Shiavo, fed through a tube in my stomach. The doctors and therapists 'did me a favor' -- or did they? -- by bringing me around two months and a few days following November 26, 1999 (in late January, 2000). To this day, April, 2005 I _still_ feel groggy and dizzy, with very poor memory skills, and a variety of other incidental problems. Sometimes I have to wonder, I really do. Why I was brought back to life (?) after two months and left as essentially a half-person is not something I can understand. Those of you who were readers here back in the 1980's and 1990's know many of my ideas and attitudes were much, much different, when I felt like a whole person, something that has remained evasive to me now for several years. Do yourself and your partners/companions a _big favor_. Write up those living wills today, please. You don't know when your time is up, any more than I knew on that Thursday morning that I would wind up comatose in a hospital in Topeka -- a hundred miles away -- by nightfall. Now, is there any more to say on the obituary thread? I hope not. 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. 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. 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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #144 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Apr 5 14:16:30 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j35IGTJ28298; Tue, 5 Apr 2005 14:16:30 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 14:16:30 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200504051816.j35IGTJ28298@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 V24 #145 TELECOM Digest Tue, 5 Apr 2005 14:15:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 145 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Prison Cell Phone Scandal (Lisa Minter) MIT Developing $100 Laptops for Children (Lisa Minter) Free VOIP Resources - Learn VOIP (H.323, SIP, MGCP, RTP) (tek junkie) Verizon FTTP in Mass (Monty Solomon) Cingular Mobi-MLB.com Gameday Audio (Monty Solomon) Update, was: NYS AG Spitzer Gets Verizon to Wake Up. (Danny Burstein) Lingo - Stay Far, Far Away (radezeeuw@yahoo.com) Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox Warns Consumers (Jack Decker) Microsoft Targets RIM's BlackBerry With Software Update (Telecom daily) Verizon Threatens to Walk Away From MCI Offer (Telecom dailyLead USTA) Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 (S Sobol) Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 (Justin Tim) Re: USB to RJ-45 Console Cable? (nmclain@annsgarden.com) Re: USB to RJ-45 Console Cable? (Scott Dorsey) Re: USB to RJ-45 Console Cable? (James Carlson) Re: Sprint PCS Vision Added to Open Relay DataBase (SELLCOM Tech) Re: Sprint PCS Vision Added to Open Relay DataBase (Scott Dorsey) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (G Berkowitz) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass (Justin Time) Re: Every Ten Days (Hank Karl) Re: Does Your Computer Look Like This? (Paul Vader) 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 Subject: Prison Cell Phone Scandal Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 19:48:01 -0400 Prisoners sometimes smuggle in cell phones to use in continuing their criminal enterprises. Follow this link to view the article: Prison Cell Phone Scandal Copyright (c) 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 14:51:21 PDT From: Lisa Minter Subject: MIT Developing $100 Laptops for Children http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/04/04/hundred.dollar.laptops.ap/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 10:05:16 PDT From: tek junkie Subject: Free VOIP Resources - Learn VOIP (H.323, SIP, MGCP, RTP) ============================================================== >>>>>Free VOIP RESOURCES - Learn VOIP (H.323, SIP, MGCP, RTP) ============================================================== All, Learn VOIP (H.323, SIP, MGCP, RTP) at: http://www.voip-start.com Tutorials, news, resource links and pdf's on learning voip. Great for: businesses looking to implement VOIP in their companies professionals seeking knowledge. Fresh content - updated daily! Vist the links and feed your appetite for knowledge! http://www.voip-start.com Check it out... :-) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 20:26:20 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon FTTP in Mass. Verizon Brings Fiber to Consumers and Small Businesses in 11 Additional Massachusetts Communities Industry-Leading Verizon Fiber-to-the-Premises Network Means Blazing-Fast Data, Crystal Clear Voice and Video Capability Company's Transformational Technology to Benefit Residential and Business Customers, Boost Economic Development BOSTON, April 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon is bringing to 11 additional communities in Massachusetts one of the most significant advancements in telecommunications technology in the past 100 years. The company today announced it is rolling out a fiber-optic network - known as fiber to the premises, or FTTP -- to many customers in the communities of Georgetown, Hamilton, Littleton, Marlborough, Middleboro, Needham, Stoneham, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Wakefield and Wenham. The all-fiber network will deliver faster data speeds and crystal clear voice, and also has the capability to offer a full suite of video services, a competitive choice to existing cable television providers. The company will seek a franchise agreement before offering cable TV service in a selected community. Today's announcement brings to 39 the number of communities in eastern Massachusetts identified by the company for deployment of its all-fiber network. The others are Andover, Bedford, Belmont, Boxford, Burlington, Canton, Dedham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Lakeville, Lexington, Lincoln, Lynn, Lynnfield, North Reading, Nahant, Natick, Newton, Reading, Sherborn, Swampscott, Topsfield, Wellesley, Westborough, West Newbury, Westwood, Winchester and Woburn. FTTP uses hair-thin strands of fiber and optical electronics to directly link homes and businesses to Verizon's network. The state-of-the-art network upgrade will unleash a range of advanced communication services. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=48122799 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 20:59:37 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Cingular Mobi-MLB.com Gameday Audio MobiTV and Cingular Pitch Live Major League Baseball Audio Broadcast to Mobile Phones Cingular Wireless Customers Can Now Access Live MLB Broadcasts Right from Their Wireless Phones ATLANTA and BERKELEY, Calif., April 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular Wireless, the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., and MobiTV, the world's first television network for mobile phones, today launched the availability of Mobi- MLB.com Gameday Audio to Cingular Wireless subscribers. Cingular's customers can now listen live to every Major League Baseball game played from opening day to the World Series, directly from their wireless phones. Cingular's Mobi-MLB.com Gameday Audio service provides subscribers with access to more than 2,500 MLB games with the same audio broadcast available on radio. This agreement with MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) delivers unlimited access to subscribers who can choose up to 30 feeds each day with the option to select their home team announcers. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=48122145 ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Update, was: NYS AG Spitzer Gets Verizon to Wake Up. A Bit Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 01:21:45 UTC Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC In danny burstein writes: > "Verizon to block 'cramming' of computer charges on phone bills > By MICHAEL GORMLEY, AP Writer April 3, 2005, 12:16 PM EDT > "Albany NY - Verizon Communications Inc. will fight the 'cramming ' > of unauthorized charges by companies such as Internet providers that > appear on phone bills. It's now up on Spitzer's site: http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2005/apr/apr04a_05.html Typical paragraph: "Verizon must terminate contracts with third parties that have persistent complaint levels. The Attorney GeneralÕs investigation found that in some cases, Verizon did not promptly take action against parties with high complaint levels, even after lawsuits and regulatory actions had been commenced Still no mention of anything back at the telco for facilitating these charges, no recompense to the consumer who had to notice the fake bill and take the time to complain, and no requirement for pro-activity (i.e. if 50% of "Integra-sleaze" charges are disputed, Verizon can let the other 50% of the payments made by the recipients go through). But it's a decent start. Personally I believe anyone sending 10,000 fake bills through a telco (and the telco that assists) should be treated to the same criminal charges that anyone mailing out 10,000 fake invoices, hoping that 1/4 of the recipients would send in a check, would get. _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: radezeeuw@yahoo.com Subject: Lingo - Stay Far, Far Away Date: 4 Apr 2005 13:32:10 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I have had Lingo for a few months and continuously had bad connections ... after many calls to their tech department. I cancelled it on March 9 and they told me that there was a cancellation fee of $ 39.95 because I was beyond the trial period. OK, fine, I can live with that. Now I received a bill on our credit card statement for the normal monthly fee, dated March 17 ... eight days after I cancelled. I just called the billing department and they claim that the bill was generated on March 5 and I should have been told that I might as well wait to cancel until the end of March since the billing had already occurred. But, I was not told that ... plus I was cancelling it because it did not work. So, in addition to the 39.95 cancellation fee, I get to pay for days when I did not even use it. Also -- I switched to AT&T Voice IP and it works GREAT!!!! Stay far, far way from Lingo. Rick DeZeeuw ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 11:35:42 -0400 Subject: Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox Warns Consumers of Voice Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/04-04-2005/0003329186&EDATE= Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox Warns Consumers of Voice Over the Internet Technology Limitations http://www.michigan.gov/ag Cox Concerned About Lack of 9-1-1 Coverage LANSING, Mich., April 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorney General Mike Cox advised consumers today about possible limitations regarding "Voice Over the Internet," or VoIP, technology. Advertised in Michigan, VoIP technology may not offer access to 9-1-1 emergency services. "While VoIP may offer less expensive telephone service, consumers should be seriously concerned about the possible risks of not having access to 9-1-1 emergency services," Cox said. "I encourage every Michigan consumer to become informed about this new technology and the important differences between it and traditional telephone service, especially in regards to proper access to the 9-1-1 emergency system." VoIP technology allows consumers to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular telephone line. Some VoIP services do not provide access to emergency 9-1-1. A Consumer Alert detailing Cox's concerns is available at the Attorney General's Web site, http://www.michigan.gov/ag . "If the advertising, brochure, or other marketing materials are silent on this issue, it is likely that 9-1-1 is not being provided," Cox said. Even for those companies that do provide 9-1-1 service, it may not be the full service on which consumers rely. For example, the landline telephone system automatically provides 9-1-1 operators with the caller's location, while the VoIP service may not. Landline telephone systems also route 9-1-1 calls through emergency phone lines while VoIP may route these calls to a general call center. Even when the VoIP service includes traditional 9-1-1 access, it may not be automatically activated and consumers must take proactive steps in order to place a 9-1-1 call. If you are a VoIP subscriber: * Verify that you can access 9-1-1 with your telephone by checking your VoIP provider's Web site. DO NOT dial 9-1-1 to test your access to the emergency response network. * Be sure to activate the emergency calling feature of your service plan, if applicable. * If the power is out, your VoIP service may be out, too. Consider purchasing a back up power supply. * Inform children, babysitters, and visitors about your VoIP service and relevant limitations. * Consider keeping a landline telephone to access 9-1-1 emergency services. Consumers with a questions or a complaint about VoIP may contact the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division toll-free at 1-877-765-8388, by writing to P.O. Box 30213, Lansing, MI 48909, or by visiting http://www.michigan.gov/ag . The Attorney General provides Consumer Alerts to inform the public of unfair, misleading, or deceptive business practices, and to provide information and guidance on other issues of concern. SOURCE Michigan Attorney General Web Site: http://www.michigan.gov/ag How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ ate: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 12:56:42 EDT From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Microsoft targets RIM's BlackBerry with software update Telecom dailyLead from USTA April 4, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20556&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Microsoft targets RIM's BlackBerry with software update BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Telecom Italia unloads TIM * Alaska ILEC turns to softswitch technology * SBC, Verizon set to begin long-awaited move into TV USTA SPOTLIGHT * Small Company Summit starts this Wednesday in Minneapolis EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Cable, high-tech industries draw closer in converged world * Yahoo! seen pressuring Hollywood to produce for Internet REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * AT&T appeals FCC decision on prepaid calling cards Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20556&l=2017006 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 12:46:57 EDT From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Verizon Threatens to Walk Away From MCI Offer Telecom dailyLead from USTA April 5, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20591&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Verizon threatens to walk away from MCI offer BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Report: VoIP adoption poised to skyrocket * Sprint lands cable deals * Leap unveils flat-rate calling plan USTA SPOTLIGHT * Announcing Phone Facts Plus 2005 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Cable takes a shot at digital convergence * The new broadband lifestyle REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Quebec's highest court outlaws satellite TV signal theft Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20591&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: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 20:12:40 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Justin Time wrote: > The better rumor regarding Verizon and their plans is on the wireless > front. They will let Sprint merge with Nextel and then take Sprint > Wireless. Sprint PCS is the only other major CDMA carrier. Wrong. Alltel just got a lot larger by buying CellularONE, and USCC is not a bit player either (although they're significantly smaller than the others). Then, TELECOM Digest Editor questioned: > My second question is, isn't the walkie-talkie feature of Nextel > really just a fancy sort of speed dial which transmits over the > speaker phone? No. > Nextel 'walkie talkie' style phone and my friend in Chicago used his > Nextel walkie-talkie phone to call me, it surely would not go over > some airwaves would it? PAT] It would. JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My next question, to Steven, is about Alltel's purchase of Cellular One. _Which_ Cellular One? I had always thought 'Cellular One' was a brand name for a consortium of various cellular carriers which used the 'Cellular One' name. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Justin Time Subject: Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 Date: 5 Apr 2005 05:43:05 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com TELECOM Digest Editor originally questioned, which is more of a threat, SBC or Verizon: As far as your first question, define threat. Is Verizon or SBC a threat to what? As far as Nextel, I am not the expert on Nextel and their technology, but the analogy I use when discussing the differences between Nextel and Cellular service and the attempts to recreate the "Direct Connect" feature by carriers such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T was that Nextel was a walkie-talkie with a phone feature, the others are a cell phone with a walkie-talkie feature. Nextel was built on the LMRS, or Land Mobile Radio Service frequencies and services. This was the taxicab and business dispatch frequency band. Nextel also incorporated a lot of the "Mom and Pop" paging companies and their frequencies in order to obtain bandwidth. As far as "Direct Connect" being a "fancy sort of speed dial", you could probably argue that it is true just as my analogy is true. The Nextel (actually Motorola) implementation is known for its connect speed, normally in the range of just a couple of seconds vice the up to 10 or more for the traditional cellular carriers. The conversation is carried on in the same way as the walkie-talkies, most people scream into their device and blast everyone in the area with the maximum volume on the speaker. Some have stated if the units are close enough they will transmit between themselves directly without using a tower, otherwise they will use a site and be carried just as if it were a cell-to-cell conversation. We recently installed a Nextel base station in one of our buildings and it is configured to carry a total of 19 concurrent conversations on three frequencies. These include the "dispatch" or two-way and regular cellular type calls. It is possible for a person on the 6th floor to carry on a conversation to a unit in the basement with their two-way. While it may not sound like much, the building is almost 100 years old and has load-bearing walls on the top floor that are almost two meters thick made out of red brick. There is a 28 dB loss between the office on the outside of the wall and the inner part of the building. In terms most can relate to, that's going from four bars of signal to one. But yes Pat, if you and your friend in Chicago wanted to hold a walkie-talkie conversation it would be carried on both airwaves and landlines. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That sounds rather amazing to me, in view of the fact that we are about 700 miles from Chicago, and I have never yet seen any 'radio equipment' (with ease to carry around, and battery operated and low radiation power) which could cover such a distance. I could see a few miles in a city, or two such units in a town like this where I am, but Citizen Band, 2-meter units, and even the older style pocket pagers cannot 'make a trip' like that, (700 miles from Chicago) but Nextel can? Regards 'threat', I was referring to the 'threat' to consumers, in making informed choices in telecom services. Which of them -- Verizon or SBC -- is more likely to clamp the lid down on us sometime soon if they are able to do so? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 21:13:35 -0600 From: nmclain@annsgarden.com Subject: Re: USB to RJ-45 Console Cable? JXM2119 wrote: > I would like to buy/make a cable that will have a USB > connector on one end and an RJ-45 on the other. If by "RJ-45" you mean an 8-position modular connector wired to carry an Ethernet circuit, you'll need an adapter such as Planet Technology Corp. Model PT9500. I have two of these devices in service, connecting oldish PCs (W98) to a Linksys router. They work great. L-Com sells the adapter, including the software driver (3.5" floppy), for $29.00. See http://tinyurl.com/6ddc3 . > I'm not sure if it is as easy as cutting off a connector > on the usb and just terminating the RX/TX/GND like you > can do with a serial cable (DB-9). Ethernet uses balanced circuits, whereas EIA-232 (formerly RS-232) and EIA-574 (same voltages as EIA-232, but implemented with a DB-9 connector) use unbalanced circuits. It takes more than just a different connector to make the transition between balanced and unbalanced. Neal McLain ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: USB to RJ-45 Console Cable? Date: 4 Apr 2005 18:50:56 -0400 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) JXM2119 wrote: > I have already read and seen that there are cables/adapters that > go from USB to DB-9. That would allow you to connect your standard > serial console cable as you normally would. I am trying to find a way > to eliminate this. Those boxes have a lot of electronics inside them, basically one FPGA that is programmed to do all the conversion. > I would like to buy/make a cable that will have a USB connector on one > end and an RJ-45 on the other. I'm not sure if it is as easy as > cutting off a connector on the usb and just terminating the RX/TX/GND > like you can do with a serial cable (DB-9). No, it's not even close. This would be like transplanting a dog's head on a human being. It takes a good bit of glue logic, and I suppose you could build all the glue yourself with TTL but you'd wind up with a big expensive box full of stuff. What is wrong with the USB/RS-232C interface boxes that you don't like? Can you just put a serial card in your machine? --scott "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'd feel very sorry for the dog, if the animal lived through it all. PAT] ------------------------------ From: James Carlson Subject: Re: USB to RJ-45 Console Cable? Date: 05 Apr 2005 11:13:57 -0400 Organization: Sun Microsystems JXM2119 <> writes: > I have already read and seen that there are cables/adapters that > go from USB to DB-9. That would allow you to connect your standard > serial console cable as you normally would. I am trying to find a way > to eliminate this. > I would like to buy/make a cable that will have a USB connector on one > end and an RJ-45 on the other. I'm not sure if it is as easy as > cutting off a connector on the usb and just terminating the RX/TX/GND > like you can do with a serial cable (DB-9). Most of the ones I've seen have the electronics that "convert" USB into RS-232 embedded in the DB-9 end of the cable, so lopping that off would give you a useless wire. > I know there may be some issues with going from USB to RS-232 > signaling and I could always build some kind of breakout box in the > middle. > Any thoughts????? It's probably simpler to get a passive DB-9 to RJ45 adapter and plug that on the end of a USB to DB-9 cable. James Carlson, KISS Interop Sun Microsystems / 1 Network Drive 71.234W Vox +1 781 442 2084 MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757 42.497N Fax +1 781 442 1677 ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Sprint PCS Vision Added to Open Relay DataBase Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 18:25:49 GMT jmeissen@aracnet.com posted on that vast internet thingie: > In article , > Eric Friedebach wrote: >> It seems that Sprint has been added to the Open Relay DataBase >> by mistake somehow. Sprint has no idea how this >> happened, and they can't tell me when this will be resolved. If you trace route to many of the spam / porn sites being spamvertised you will find that their websites are provided US connectivity by the scum at sprintlink.net. I have had some that I have received spam for weeks and sprintlink.net continues to enable the foreign spam websites in spite of repeated notice. Steve http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Panasonic 5.8Ghz 2line; TMC ET4300 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Brickmail voicemail Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Firewood splitters www.splitlogs.com If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz. New www.electrictrains.biz ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: Sprint PCS Vision Added to Open Relay DataBase Date: 4 Apr 2005 18:59:05 -0400 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) Eric Friedebach wrote: > It seems that Sprint has been added to the Open Relay DataBase > by mistake somehow. Sprint has no idea how this > happened, and they can't tell me when this will be resolved. In my basic experience, ORDB is pretty good about removing sites within a day or so of a problem being resolved. This, however, requires sysadmins who understand how the mail system works and who have the skill to fix it. This is almost certainly absent at Sprint if my experiences with them are any judge. These days the most common way of getting an open relay is to have a Windows machine that is infected with any one of a number of viruses that install them. But, with a machine that is intended to relay messages to an external network, there are a large number of ways that an incompetent admin can hose things up. I would not be surprised if nobody at Sprint DOES understand the problem. --scott "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 23:26:10 -0400 In article , dave@compata.com says: > Stuart Barkley writes: >> The article and discussion here both miss what I consider a more >> important issue with the EZ-pass system: > And another issue, maybe not so important, but serious for some: > portability. If you travel on business and rent a car, you are usually > stuck using the cash lanes on local toll roads. Even if you have a > working transponder at home which is compatible with the local system, > you aren't supposed to try using it. The transponder is only valid for > use in a registered vehicle, which your rental car isn't. > Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "Politics is the business of getting > dave@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 power and privilege without > dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu possessing merit." - P. J. O'Rourke I've been wondering about this. Why can't the rental cars include an EZ-pass, then simply bill you for tolls accrued during the rental period? The only thing worse than a clueless tourist is a clueless tourist blocking the EZ-pass lane. --Gene ------------------------------ From: Justin Time Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-ZPass System Date: 4 Apr 2005 12:35:06 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Uhmm "Registered Vehicle"???? > The transponder is only valid for use in a registered vehicle, which > your rental car isn't. Since when aren't rental cars registered? Every one I've ever driven, and even those in the state of California had a vehicle registration in the car -- or else it wouldn't have had plates. ------------------------------ From: Hank Karl Subject: Re: Every Ten Days Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 17:00:37 -0400 Organization: NETPLEX Internet Services - http://www.ntplx.net/ On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 18:08:04 -0500, Choreboy wrote: > I hesitate to call the toll-free number, but I don't want to keep > running to answer the phone for a company that intends to hang up on > me. What should I do? Report them to the FCC. The TSR (which includes the national "do not call" list) requires Telemarketers to have a low call abandonment rate, and to play a message stating who called if no agent is available. They also must allow the phone to ring for either (IIRC) four rings or fifteen seconds. > Choreboy > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That telephone number 1-877-467-3277 > belongs to 'Sears Home Improvement Products'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader) Subject: Re: Does Your Computer Look Like This? Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 21:29:52 -0000 Organization: Inline Software Creations Patrick Townson writes: > with the Rand Corporation put together an artist's conception of what > computers would look like in fifty years, in 2004. Look at it here. > http://www.mountainwings.com/past/5082.htm > This is _not_ an April Fool's joke. Perhaps not, but it is a made up picture: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp * * PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something like corkscrews. ------------------------------ 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! 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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #145 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Apr 6 00:57:26 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j364vPx03553; Wed, 6 Apr 2005 00:57:26 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 00:57:26 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200504060457.j364vPx03553@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 V24 #146 TELECOM Digest Wed, 6 Apr 2005 00:58:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 146 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Satellite Radio Takes Off, Altering the Airwaves (Monty Solomon) Verizon Juices up Its DSL Service (Monty Solomon) Comcast Eyes Advertising System for DVRs (Monty Solomon) Cable Execs Say They're Not Blocking Outside VoIP (Jack Decker) Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls (John McHarry) Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 (L. Hancock) Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 (Sullivan) Re: Prison Cell Phone Scandal (Fred Atkinson) Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-Z Pass (Chris Farrar) Accessing an Old Norvergence Article (Eli Varenberg) Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed (John McHarry) 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: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 15:12:17 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Satellite Radio Takes Off, Altering the Airwaves By LORNE MANLY Just a blink after the newly emergent titans of radio -- Clear Channel Communications, Infinity Broadcasting and the like -- were being accused of scrubbing diversity from radio and drowning listeners in wall-to-wall commercials, the new medium of satellite radio is fast emerging as an alternative. And broadcasters are fighting back. The announcement on Friday by XM Satellite Radio -- the bigger of the two satellite radio companies -- that it added more than 540,000 subscribers from January through March pushed the industry's customer total past five million after fewer than three and a half years of operation. Analysts call that remarkable growth for companies charging more than $100 annually for a product that has been free for 80 years. Total subscribers at XM and its competitor, Sirius Satellite Radio, will probably surpass eight million by the end of year, making satellite radio one of the fastest-growing technologies ever -- faster, for example, than cellphones. To keep that growth soaring, XM and Sirius are furiously signing up carmakers to offer satellite radio as a factory-installed option and are paying tens of millions of dollars for exclusive programming. On Sunday, XM began offering every locally broadcast regular-season and playoff Major League Baseball game to a national audience, having acquired the rights in a deal that could be worth up to $650 million over 11 years. And Howard Stern is getting $500 million over five years to leave Infinity and join Sirius next January. Each company offers 120 or more channels of music, news, sports and talk. Though satellite radio is still an unprofitable blip in the radio universe, it is pushing commercial radio to change its sound. Broadcasters are cutting commercials, adding hundreds of songs to once-rigid playlists, introducing new formats and beefing up their Internet offerings. A long-awaited move to digital radio could give existing stations as many as five signals each, with which they could introduce their own subscription services -- but with a local flavor that satellite is hard pressed to match. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/national/05satellite.html?ex=1270353600&en=724b9d6f25b87447&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 20:50:59 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon Juices up Its DSL Service By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | April 5, 2005 Verizon Communications Inc. ratcheted up the broadband Internet arms race yesterday, doubling the speed of its $30-a-month service while confirming that 11 more Massachusetts communities are getting its new super-fast fiber-optic network. Verizon's $30 digital subscriber line service will now offer downstream access at up to 3 megabits, up from 1.5 megabits currently and much closer to cable modems, for subscribers willing to sign a one-year contract, or bundle DSL with phone service. Subscribers who have already been paying $40 for 3 megabit service will have their bills automatically lowered, starting with the next billing cycle. Because of technology limitations, however, only about half of customers whose phone lines can support Verizon DSL will be able to get the faster speed, spokeswoman Bobbi Henson said. At the same time, Verizon raised to 39 the number of Bay State communities where it has confirmed it is building out its FiOS fiber-optic network, which can deliver Internet access at speeds up to 30 megabits per second. This year, FiOS will also offer cable television packages in direct competition with Comcast Corp. and satellite TV companies. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/04/05/verizon_juices_up_its_dsl_service/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 23:37:38 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Comcast Eyes Advertising System for DVRs SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Comcast Corp. is working with TiVo Inc. on an advertising system that will insert new, updated commercials into already-recorded programs, the company said. Comcast Chief Executive Roberts told cable executives late Monday that under such a system, programs that were recorded weeks ago on a TiVo digital video recorder would have their old commercials replaced with new ones. The system could also take into account viewer patterns to make ads more targeted and relevant, Roberts explained. Philadelphia-based Comcast, the country's largest cable company, announced last month it would start offering TiVo's DVRs by 2006. The new technology could help make DVRs more palatable to TV networks, which are concerned about losing advertising opportunities because DVRs allow viewers to fast-forward past commercials in recorded shows. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=48173844 ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Tue, 05 Apr 2005 11:16:23 -0400 Subject: Cable Execs Say They're Not Blocking Outside VoIP Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160403733 Would cable companies block independent Internet services like Voice over IP from their broadband offerings? Not a chance, according to some top execs who spoke at the National Cable & Telecommunications Show Sunday. By Paul Kapustka Advanced IP Pipeline SAN FRANCISCO -- Would cable companies block independent Internet services like Voice over IP from their broadband offerings? Not a chance, according to some top execs who spoke at the National Cable & Telecommunications Show here Sunday. Those sentiments were echoed later in the day at a panel discussing government issues, where a chief legal staffer on the House Energy & Commerce committee said that members of that committee are "very concerned" about incidents like the recent port-blocking case involving Vonage and Madison River Communications, and that upcoming telecom reform legislation might include specific wording prohibiting the practice. According to Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft who is now chairman and the largest shareholder of Charter Communications, and Thomas Rutledge, chief operating officer of Cablevision, their companies shouldn't have to worry about violating any such law. Rutledge dismissed the idea of selectively blocking services out of hand, even though players like Vonage might compete with Cablevision's own VoIP offering. "If you look at our high-speed network, Yahoo's on it, Google's on it, AOL's on it and voice is on it," Rutledge said in an interview after Sunday's keynote panel discussion. "Our customers expect to access to the sites our network enables them to have, and the applications that they're able to reach. For us to do anything otherwise would be against our economic interest." Kyle McSlarrow, the newly minted president and CEO of the NCTA, said cable-company CEOs he has talked to since he's been on the job are "absolutely" against selective blocking of Internet services or applications. Full story at: http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160403733 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 01:45:57 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net On Sun, 03 Apr 2005 16:45:51 -0700, Lisa Minter wrote: > Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls > Four churches in Mexico have unobtrusively installed Israeli-made > cell-phone jammers to thwart those who don't seem to understand they > should turn the things off during services or weddings. They're not > the only ones to install the jammers. This is kind of old news. Jammers are illegal in the US, but if I were building or extensively remodeling a theatre, church, etc., I would make it into a Faraday cage. Done right, it is also good insulation. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 Date: 5 Apr 2005 14:08:37 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Jack Decker wrote: > It's probably no secret that I don't have a lot of love for SBC, > mainly because it seems as though any time they have a choice between > doing something that would be beneficial to their customers or the > general public, or making a profit, they always seem to choose to make > a profit. That's what regular businesses always do -- go for the profit. Why should you be so surprised? Some businesses have a very strong customer service/support policy. They don't do so because it's "nice", they do so because they believe it is most profitable FOR THEM to do so. Other businesses are not so big on customer service but have lower prices. That's the free market -- you choose the kind of business for yourself. The old regulated-monopoly Bell System and airline industry operated on a service philosophy since they were tightly regulated. Eventually the public complained rates were too high. So, Bell got out of leasing phones -- AND providing 24/7 free service to support those phones. The airlines stopped the freebies too (like easy ticket exchanges annd interchanges with other airlines). If you don't like SBC, don't use them. Cable companies sell broadband now and you can get your phone service through them. Tell your town to subscribe to VOIP so your 911 calls will go through. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But try to be realistic, would you Lisa? For most people, it is not as simple as just saying, 'Do not use SBC.' I managed to pull that off, after considerable grief, and I _know how the 'system' works_, but as we have said here many times, not all cablecos are as effecient and friendly and prepared as ours is here Independence. Not everyone has access to good _alternative_ phone networks as we do here. Oh, I agree, ASAP get yourslf weened off of Traditional Bell if that's your pleasure, but its not all that easy even for experienced people to do, let alone newbies to telecom. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan Subject: Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 02:38:54 GMT > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My next question, to Steven, is about > Alltel's purchase of Cellular One. _Which_ Cellular One? I had always > thought 'Cellular One' was a brand name for a consortium of various > cellular carriers which used the 'Cellular One' name. PAT] Alltel is acquiring Western Wireless, which not only uses the Cellular One brand name in its business as other companies do, it owns the brand and franchises use of the name. Michael D. Sullivan Bethesda, MD (USA) (Replace "example.invalid" with "com" in my address.) ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: Prison Cell Phone Scandal Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 15:32:17 -0400 Perhaps *this* might define a legitimate use for a cell phone jammer. Fred ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 05 Apr 2005 16:40:44 -0400 From: Chris Farrar Subject: Re: Some Concerned About Privacy Implications of E-Z Pass System Gene S. Berkowitz wrote: > And another issue, maybe not so important, but serious for some: >> portability. If you travel on business and rent a car, you are usually >> stuck using the cash lanes on local toll roads. Even if you have a >> working transponder at home which is compatible with the local system, >> you aren't supposed to try using it. The transponder is only valid for >> use in a registered vehicle, which your rental car isn't. > I've been wondering about this. Why can't the rental cars include an > EZ-pass, then simply bill you for tolls accrued during the rental > period? Humm, New York E-ZPass can be transplanted into any vehicle of the same class. I had one that I was using for a few weeks before I "registered" my licence plate with them, as I was waiting for them to mail me my PIN numbers to access my account. The CSR on the phone said that as long as the E-ZPass is valid, they don't care what car it is in. The same goes for Ontario's Hwy 407ETR. The only caviat is that if the transponder isn't read it will generate a bill to the rental company, who will in turn hit you for it plus a surcharge to handle their time and effort to figure out who had the car that day. As for why not have an E-ZPass for the rental fleet, cost is probably a big issue. The amount of pre-paid tolls has to be pretty hefty. Chris ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 05 Apr 2005 17:48:11 -0400 From: Eli Varenberg Subject: Accessing an Old Norvergence Article Dear Mr. Townson: I am trying to access an October 2003, perhaps October 15, 2003 digest that appeared at one point at the following webpage: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/telecom-archives/TELECOM_Digest_Online/1140.html (This link no longer works.) I am seeking a complaint against Norvergence, which is referenced in the following article: http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/October%202003/10-15-03.htm. I'd appreciate your help in finding this digest. If you have any questions, please e-mail me or call me. Sincerely, Eli Varenberg, Researcher Art science Research Laboratory www.asrlab.org [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ah yes, Norvergence! I think the item you are looking for is here: http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/archives/back.issues/volume.22/vol22.iss651-700 (and in particular issue 675, through issue 690.) Articles that old have long since been flushed from the online Digest you referred to (1140.html) but I think if you look in the above cluster of 50 back issues you will find a copy of it. There were so many articles complaining about Norvergence I don't know which one you specifically want. If you go to the above rather large file, use an editor of some sort to sort down to issue 675 and look through it in detail, also the issues following. If you ever have any other occassion to look for an older article from our archives, which does not show up in the TELECOM_Digest_Online files because of its age, then use this formula: Try to extrapolate the YEAR, MONTH and DATE of the article as best you can. Then go to http://telecom-digest.org/back.issues and start from there. First locate the year in particular, then the month and in each instance you will get a cluster of 50 back issues. (We publish two or three issues daily). Our files go back to 1981, but are only filed by individual issue (instead of clusters of 50) as of last year. With the real, real old stuff, you can also use the accelerated index covering 3 years at a time between 1989 and 1998, and sort through those by subject line or author. On that real old stuff I will help you as much as I can if you will send me clues like you did this time. Working your way through our old archives will cause a sane person to go crazy. Maybe that is what imminently qualifies me as the editor/publisher/caretaker around here. I hope this helps and is what you want. Please let me know. Certain topics around here, such as Bell System, Norvergence, and Terri Shiavo never seem to go away. PAT] ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 02:16:17 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net On Sun, 03 Apr 2005 05:05:12 +0000, jmeissen wrote: > What is more disturbing, in my mind, is that once they decided to let > the body die (regardless of the state of the mind), they chose to let > it happen through two weeks of starvation and dehydration. > This is a sad statement about humanity, that we'll use drugs to > painlessly put a mortally wounded dog out of its misery, but a human > body must be forced to endure two weeks of torture until its organs > fail. It is certainly the Peronismo sin Peron of euthanasia, but the medical authorities claim it is painless and without feelings of hunger or thirst. I think part of their motivation is laws criminalizing euthanasia, including voluntary suicide for the competent. Part of it also must be the feeling that there is a moral difference between not acting to prolong "life" and acting to end it. Most of the world failed to act to stop the genocide in the Balkans, and in Africa, but seems to see a difference between that and actively slitting the throats. I don't know why there is a feeling that one is more answerable for action than for inaction, but it seems to fit some sort of primitive moral intuition. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Do we have Ms. Shiavo buried yet, at least for the purposes of this Digest? 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. 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! 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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 V24 #146 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Apr 6 13:35:36 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j36HZaq11039; Wed, 6 Apr 2005 13:35:36 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 13:35:36 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200504061735.j36HZaq11039@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 V24 #147 TELECOM Digest Wed, 6 Apr 2005 13:36:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 147 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Amazon.com Plans Plant Facility Expansion in s.e. Kansas (P.Townson) Microsoft Aids Florida Anti-Spam Lawsuits (Lisa Minter) Google Adding Personal Video to Search Repertoire (Lisa Minter) Hackers Add Web, Chat to PSP Video Game Player (Lisa Minter) China's Tomb-Sweeping Day Joins Internet Age (Lisa Minter) New Heights For In-Flight Internet (Marcus Didius Falco) Verizon Brings VoiceWing Internet-Based Calling to Mass. (Monty Solomon) Maine Joins Fight to Keep Pay Phones (Monty Solomon) Re: USB to RJ-45 Console Cable? (James Carlson) Re: Can Somebody Please Explain CSD to Me? (Koos van den Hout) Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls (jtaylor) Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls (Thor Lancelot Simon) Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage E-911 (Lisa Hancock) Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage E-911 (Steve Sobol) Re: Google Maps (AES) Re: Classic Telephone Call on PC (Gerhard Nowack) So ... What's an E-mail Address Worth to a Spammer? (Danny Burstein) 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: 06 Apr 2005 11:00:00 CDT From: Telecom Digest Editor Subject: Amazon.com Plans Plant Facility Expansion in s.e. Kansas (Excerpts from the Independence Reporter and Coffeyville Journal). On Monday, managers of the Amazon.com distribution facility in Independence/Coffeyville were given approval by the Montgomery County Commissioners in their regular meeting to expand their facilty. County Commissioners reviewed the plans presented by Amazon.com and gave the required approvals. The company plans to begin the expansion in early May in order to accomodate its planned expansion in its line of products sold over the Internet. Amazon estimates the number of new jobs to be created as a result of the expansion is 20; however they said that might be a conservative estimate. Last year's plant expansion resulted in 94 new jobs. Amazon employs 430 people full time, but during the holiday season has expanded to 1500 people. The company noted the volume of merchadise shipped each day out of Coffeyville is the highest it has ever been. The 'Coffeyville Industrial Park' -- Amazon's base of operations -- is located mid-way between Independence and Coffeyville. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: 05 Apr 2005 22:55:59 -0700 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Microsoft Aids Florida Anti-Spam Lawsuits SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. said on Monday it has aided Florida's attorney general in anti-spam lawsuits against two Tampa residents, who the state says are responsible for sending tens of thousands of spam messages. Microsoft, which has been engaged in a three-year fight against virus writers, hackers, spammers and Internet scam artists, said in a statement that Scott Filary and Donald Townsend of Tampa, Florida, were responsible for "running a bogus e-mail and Internet operation responsible for sending more than 65,000 illegal spam messages during the past year." Filary and Townsend could not immediately be reached for comment. Florida's top prosecutor, Charlie Crist, said the investigation against the two was conducted with Microsoft's help. Microsoft says spam, or unsolicited email advertisements touting everything from home refinancing to miracle health cures, could hurt users of its Windows operating system, which runs more than 90 percent of the world's personal computers. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 05 Apr 2005 22:57:05 -0700 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Google Adding Personal Video to Search Repertoire SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc. plans to put out a call for personal video clips as it moves to further expand the reach of its Web search business, company co-founder Larry Page said on Monday. "We're going to start taking video submissions from people," Page said at the annual cable industry convention in San Francisco. Google in January rolled out the test version of its video search service that allows users to find content in television programs from such providers as Fox News, the NBA and PBS. The service, called Google Video, allows users to see still images from the video clips and associated closed-captioning. Google has search relationships with numerous content and broadband providers and hopes to extend those into new areas. For example, cable company Comcast Corp. uses Google search on its site and also creates its own content. "We're always looking for ways to expand partnerships," Google co-founder Sergey Brin said. The company on Monday also said it would provide data about popular Web searches to Current, a new television network for the 18- to 34-year-old audience that is backed by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and other investors. Google's main rival Yahoo Inc. led by former Hollywood studio executive Terry Semel, has made a big move into entertainment and already has struck exclusive content deals with "Survivor" creator Mark Burnett and JibJab Media, a producer of short animated films. Google's Brin said investors should not take the company's recent steps as a cue that it, too, is making similar moves into entertainment. "Entertainment is one of the applications (of search). It is one of the kinds of information you can find -- it's just one," Brin said. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 05 Apr 2005 22:58:34 -0700 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Hackers Add Web, Chat to PSP Video Game Player By Ben Berkowitz LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp new PlayStation Portable is turning into a great tool for Web browsing, comics reading and online chat -- and it also happens to play video games, movies and music, if you prefer that sort of thing. The $249 PSP handheld video game player went on sale in the United States on March 24, and it took very little time before techies added the kinds of functions to the PSP that Sony did not include -- and may never have intended. One man needed only 24 hours to get a working client for Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, an older messaging platform. "I was on IRC, and someone mentioned how cool it would be to use their PSP on Wi-Fi at Starbucks to talk to people over IRC. I said, 'I can do that', so I began working on it immediately," said Robert Balousek, creator of PSPIRC ( http://www.pspirc.com ), in an email interview. Balousek said as many as 100,000 people may have visited the IRC client, and he is starting work on a new project that would let PSP users chat on the AOL Instant Messenger network. Hacking new video game hardware is old hat -- rare is the console that does not get its own version of the operating system from enterprising developers. But the gaming and hacking communities embraced the PSP with speed rarely seen in the console world -- a nod, perhaps, to its portability. Other "hacks" include a way to transfer TV shows recorded by the digital video recorder to the PSP ( http://www.zatznotfunny.com/ttg.htm#psp ); a program for reading ebooks, ( http://gamefries.blogspot.com/2005/03/how-to-get-e-books-on- your-psp.html ); and a viewer for comics downloaded from the Internet ( http://www.8bitjoystick.com/archives/jake_how_to_read_web_ comics_on_a_playstation_portable.php ). Much of the new PSP functionality comes from using the Web browser built into the racing game "Wipeout Pure," which was meant to go to a Sony site. By changing some of the PSP's network settings, the browser can be pointed to an Internet portal. A number of people have already set up such portals, formatted to fit in the PSP's screen and offering links and a place to enter Web addresses. The technology blog Engadget has rounded up a number of those links. Sony Computer Entertainment of America, the Japanese conglomerate's U.S. gaming unit, did not respond to requests for comment. But the tinkerers suggest Sony probably did not have their work in mind when they released the PSP. Balousek said the company had only left small loopholes for outsiders to use. The development community wishes that would change, as evidenced by an open plea to Sony posted April 5 on the Web site PS2dev.org ( http://www.ps2dev.org ), which is dedicated to the development of open-source software projects for the PS2. "I suggest to Sony that they should work with us to develop a method to allow home-brew software" using technology to protect Sony copyrights," the site's editor "Oobles" wrote. ------------------------------ Date: 05 Apr 2005 22:57:59 -0700 From: Lisa Minter Subject: China's Tomb-Sweeping Day Joins Internet Age BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese burned virtual candles and incense, sent digital flowers and set fire to paper cell phones on Tuesday as modern technology changes the way the ancient Qing Ming Tomb-Sweeping Day is celebrated. Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional holiday when people honor their ancestors and flock to cemeteries, but many young Chinese consider conventional ceremonies like setting off firecrackers, burning real incense and paper and making offerings of food and drink as passe, Xinhua news agency said. "Internet mourning, such as on the 'online cemetery', where virtual candles or joss-sticks are lit and virtual flowers are sent, is in fashion, saving millions of people of Chinese origin the trouble of traveling long distances in order to sweep tombs for their ancestors," it said. New technology had also changed what people like to burn for ancestors to enjoy in the afterlife as well as traditional items such as cars and houses, Xinhua said. Some mourners had added mobile phones "or other big ticket items that might be of particular interest for the deceased." Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 02:47:37 -0400 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: New Heights For In-Flight Internet http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/03/31/bt.internet.flight/index.html LONDON, England (CNN) -- The Internet has changed the way many business travelers book their flights, and now it looks set to change the culture within the cabin. No executive wants to arrive at their hotel room after a long-haul flight and have 100 e-mails waiting for them -- one of the reasons why German carrier Lufthansa took the lead and installed in-flight Internet access last May. Since then Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines have followed suit, while Singapore Airlines, China Airlines, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have announced their intent to install the system on long-range aircraft. "I would kill for Internet access on a flight to Europe, it is something business travelers want and are willing to pay for," says Chris McGinnis of Travel Skills Group, a business travel consultancy in Atlanta, Georgia. Boeing's Connexion network charges flat-rate fees from $10 on short flights to $30 for long flights for Internet access, with download data speeds of five Mbps per aircraft, to be shared among all in-flight users. The price compares favorably with those for using in-flight telephones, which are built into airplane seats. This service -- at more than $2 a minute -- is still expensive and infrequently used by business travelers In-flight Internet access works by sending electronic signals from planes to orbiting satellites, which are then relayed to ground stations. Boeing launched the service five years ago, just before the September 11, 2001 attacks. But at that time U.S. airlines were not in a position to take up the service. Many U.S. airlines are still in a difficult position financially and Delta Airlines is only now considering in-flight Internet -- which would make it the first domestic U.S. airline to do so. Connexion now faces competition from OnAir, a European joint venture that includes Boeing's rival Airbus. In-flight expectations Affordable in-flight Internet access could be a source of revenue for airlines. But service providers may have to bring prices down for uptake to be significant. Yet Connexion believes the technology will be a great asset for airlines, since the Internet is an important tool, and which business travelers are willing to pay for to catch up on work. "This technology gives airlines a powerful tool to differentiate themselves from their competition," Stanley Deal from Connexion says. However, once more airlines sign on, business travelers may begin to expect Internet access on major long-haul business routes. It could then follow the trend at global five star hotels, where business travelers now expect wireless broadband Internet for free before checking in. Despina Afentouli contributed to this report for CNN Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/03/31/bt.internet.flight/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 10:21:02 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon Brings VoiceWing Internet-Based Calling to Massachusetts Verizon Brings VoiceWing Internet-Based Calling to Massachusetts for as Low as $19.95 a Month VoiceWing Costs Less Than Traditional Phone Service and Harnesses the Power of the Internet to Provide Unique Calling Features BOSTON, April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Residents of Massachusetts now have a new low-cost, feature-rich option for telephone service with VoiceWing, an Internet-based calling service from Verizon. One VoiceWing calling plan just introduced today gives customers 500 minutes of outbound local and domestic long-distance for just $19.95 a month. An unlimited local and long-distance plan is also available for as low as $29.95 a month. VoiceWing customers use a small telephone adapter provided by Verizon to connect their own telephones to their home high-speed Internet connections. The telephone adapter allows the VoiceWing customer to send and receive calls over the Internet instead of using a standard phone line. The service works with both DSL and cable modem broadband connections and allows subscribers to call anyone, anywhere, worldwide. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=48188401 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 10:22:27 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Maine Joins Fight to Keep Pay Phones By GLENN ADAMS Associated Press Writer FAYETTE, Maine (AP) -- Along a hilly stretch of road in central Maine, there's no cell phone service for more than a mile. Callers once used the pay phone outside the Fayette Country Store, but that ended when the phone company, despite objections, removed it. Customers who need to make toll calls now are told to drive a few miles to use a pay phone at the Readfield Post Office. Around the state and country, similar scenes are playing out as telephone companies remove unprofitable pay phones. In Maine alone, the 8,200 pay phones available to the public in 1998 dropped to 4,500 by 2003, according to state Rep. Herbert Adams. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=48184373 ------------------------------ From: James Carlson Subject: Re: USB to RJ-45 Console Cable? Date: 06 Apr 2005 07:27:57 -0400 Organization: Sun Microsystems nmclain@annsgarden.com writes: > JXM2119 wrote: >> I would like to buy/make a cable that will have a USB >> connector on one end and an RJ-45 on the other. > If by "RJ-45" you mean an 8-position modular connector wired to carry > an Ethernet circuit, you'll need an adapter such as Planet Technology > Corp. Model PT9500. I have two of these devices in service, > connecting oldish PCs (W98) to a Linksys router. They work great. RJ-45 connectors are also commonly used for all sorts of serial links -- including async (using RS-232 levels), sync (often RS-422), and even telecom (such as DS-1). It's not just Ethernet. -- James Carlson, KISS Interop Sun Microsystems / 1 Network Drive 71.234W Vox +1 781 442 2084 MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757 42.497N Fax +1 781 442 1677 ------------------------------ From: Koos van den Hout Subject: Re: Can Somebody Please Explain CSD to Me? Date: 6 Apr 2005 12:40:05 GMT Organization: http://idefix.net/~koos/ bob@jfcl.com wrote: > I live in San Jose (San Francisco Bay Area) and have Cingular GSM > service with a Nokia 6620 phone. I'm told that with CSD I can use my > phone as a modem for my laptop and place a point-to-point data call to > my ISP. Is that right? Yes. Although I don't know what 'CSD' stands for in this context. > Does my ISP need any special equipment to receive this call, or does > any regular dial up line suffice for the destination? The ISP doesn't need special equipment. Your GSM provider (Cingular) needs modem equipment to convert gsm-data to normal 9600 bps calls. Your ISP does need to accept calls at those rates. Some have their modems set up to reject calls at 'lower' speeds. > What do I tell the Cingular sales people on the phone that I want to > buy? A Nokia 6620 data cable. A google search for that term gives me http://www.nokiausa.com/nokia_accessories/6620/1,2224,70,00.html > Thanks in advance for the help. I won't have any trouble setting up a > dialup connection on my PC, but I'm afraid I don't know very much > about cell phone technology. To your computer it will look like a normal modem that understands Hayes commands to build a connection and dial your ISP. Your phone will convert it to a gsm-data call. Cingular can have a different rate for those calls and not count it against 'voice' minutes you may have. Hope this helps in getting yourself connected, Greetings, Koos van den Hout Koos van den Hout, PGP keyid RSA/1024 0xCA845CB5 via keyservers koos@kzdoos.xs4all.nl or DSS/1024 0xF0D7C263 -?) Fax +31-30-2817051 Visit the site about books with reviews /\\ http://idefix.net/~koos/ http://www.virtualbookcase.com/ _\_V ------------------------------ From: jtaylor Subject: Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 08:21:29 -0300 Organization: MCI Canada News Reader Service John McHarry wrote in message news:telecom24.146.5@telecom-digest.org: > On Sun, 03 Apr 2005 16:45:51 -0700, Lisa Minter wrote: >> Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls >> Four churches in Mexico have unobtrusively installed Israeli-made >> cell-phone jammers to thwart those who don't seem to understand they >> should turn the things off during services or weddings. They're not >> the only ones to install the jammers. > This is kind of old news. Jammers are illegal in the US, but if I were > building or extensively remodeling a theatre, church, etc., I would > make it into a Faraday cage. Done right, it is also good insulation. And so we have a situation where it is not the act that is illegal, but the method. Would those who so quickly hope for a lawsuit to arise from a jammer interfering with an emergency wireless telephone call also claim that a building so constructed would similarly be grounds for action? ------------------------------ From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) Subject: Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 11:55:59 UTC Organization: Public Access Networks Corp. Reply-To: tls@rek.tjls.com In article , John McHarry wrote: > On Sun, 03 Apr 2005 16:45:51 -0700, Lisa Minter wrote: >> Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls >> Four churches in Mexico have unobtrusively installed Israeli-made >> cell-phone jammers to thwart those who don't seem to understand they >> should turn the things off during services or weddings. They're not >> the only ones to install the jammers. > This is kind of old news. Jammers are illegal in the US, but if I were > building or extensively remodeling a theatre, church, etc., I would > make it into a Faraday cage. Done right, it is also good insulation. Really? I'd be interested to know what the current state of the art for "done right" is in this area. I saw such a room constructed once, about 10-15 years ago: it had "wallpaper" with a conductive grid printed on the back, and long strips of copper tape running up each corner of the room to ensure that all the sides were shorted together. There was chicken-wire-like mesh in the ceiling (this made running cables a real pain!) and I'm not sure what was in the floor. But I wouldn't call anything I saw there particularly good thermal insulation. I've always figured this must just be how it's done. Is there some other method? Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com "The inconsistency is startling, though admittedly, if consistency is to be abandoned or transcended, there is no problem." - Noam Chomsky ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 Date: 6 Apr 2005 07:15:19 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But try to be realistic, would you > Lisa? For most people, it is not as simple as just saying, 'Do not > use SBC.' I managed to pull that off, after considerable grief, and > I _know how the 'system' works_, but as we have said here many times, > not all cablecos are as effecient and friendly and prepared as ours > is here Independence. Not everyone has access to good _alternative_ > phone networks as we do here. Oh, I agree, ASAP get yourslf weened > off of Traditional Bell if that's your pleasure, but its not all that > easy even for experienced people to do, let alone newbies to telecom. > PAT] In my town, the cable company, when still small and locally owned, relaid its network with fibre-optic cable. I suspect the investment is not that high to do so. Afterwards they jacked up their rates. As to good alternatives not being available, that's the free market that society wanted by breaking up the Bell System. Maybe other subscribers do like SBC and there isn't enough demand for alternatives. The textbooks say if people don't like SBC service, other providers will come in to provide it since they'll be a demand for their services. Some people forget that in the real world, a "free market" is often not what an economics textbook make it out to be. There is no guarantee that you'll have multiple grocery stores, gas stations, or department stores. There's no guarantee that the equilibrium reached in a competitive marketplace is one that we like -- such as the situation described here. In cellular phones, it seems to me most companies have settled on a $40/month service plan, and it's hard to find something cheaper for occassional users. Theorectically competition should bring that price down, but the marketplace settled on this particular equilibrium, for better or for worse. I must admit I get frustrated when people complain as in this context. To me, it seems people want the low rates and high service quality of the old Bell System ALONG WITH competitive choices. In other words, they want only the 'good' things about a free marketplace but none of the bad. They forget that in a free marketplace businesses can be jerks. (I believe it was Mr. Decker himself who pointed out how a gas station was not very customer friendly and he had to schlep further down the road to find another). That's the situation now. There is competition and alternatives, but sometimes one must "go down the road" to find it. People complain today the phone companies aren't too helpful if you have a problem like static on your line. The subscriber must disconnect every phone in their house and check carefully to be sure it isn't in any of their telephone sets, answering machines, computer modems, faxes, or house wiring. As mentioned before, people once complained about paying $1.00 every month to rent each extension telephone set. But, they conveniently forgot that if they had any problems, regardless of cause (telephone set, house wiring, street wiring, central office, or long distance), one quick easy phone call took care of it. (Back then telephone sets and wiring were built to last forever to keep down maintenance costs and keep service quality high. No longer.) ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: The Real Reason Why SBC Won't Work With Vonage on E-911 Date: Tue, 05 Apr 2005 22:17:59 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Michael D. Sullivan wrote: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My next question, to Steven, is about >> Alltel's purchase of Cellular One. _Which_ Cellular One? I had always >> thought 'Cellular One' was a brand name for a consortium of various >> cellular carriers which used the 'Cellular One' name. PAT] > Alltel is acquiring Western Wireless, which not only uses the Cellular > One brand name in its business as other companies do, it owns the brand > and franchises use of the name. Gah! Thanks, Michael. Yes. Western Wireless purchased the CellularONE brand name from SBC. The many SBC CellularONE markets became Cingular. Dobson CellularONE and Western Wireless CellularONE remained CellularONE. WW owned the brand for a few years; Dobson owns a C1 franchise. Anyone have a list of the other C1 franchisees? JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Dobson owns the Cellular One franchise here in Independence, and a few miles southeast of here in Liberty, KS has an antenna set up which is used not only by Cellular One but by other carriers such as Cingular Wireless and US Cellular and Alltel. PAT] ------------------------------ From: AES Subject: Re: Google Maps Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 08:15:02 -0700 Organization: Stanford University I love all the remarkable, almost unbelievable and unlimited features of Google. But it truly bothers me that what is fast becoming THE primary reference and search tool and "window on the world" for me and so many others is founded on and controlled by an entirely commercial and primarily advertising-supported financial base. Sergey Brin and the other founders of Google can say all they want about their company's ultimate purpose being to "do good", and I'm quite willing to believe they're sincere about this. But they won't always be around and may not always have control of Google, and in the end, "He who pays the piper calls the tune." Think about the power and the ability to control just what information you are provided -- or are NOT provided -- the potential control that could be exercised over what commercial, political, technical, ideological, environmental, or other information is made readily available to you -- by less idealistic people who might (in fact, are certain to) acquire ownership of Google some time in the future. I think the viewpoint expressed in what I sometimes use as a sig file contains way too much truth: "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton (1834-1902) "Dependence on advertising tends to corrupt. Total dependence on advertising corrupts totally." My own equivalent for today. ------------------------------ From: Gerhard Nowak Subject: Re: Classic Telephone Call on PC Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 19:56:41 +0400 Organization: Arcor Yes, I think you are right! Again after failed welding activities I will have to finally install the asterisk in my Redhat 9.0, but I don`t know, if the X-pro also will work there. Only I am not so convinced about Linux yet: Just two days ago I installed Amule on it and it was running fine, but soon it crashed and couldn`t be uninstalled anymore (bcause it says "no such file installed") and when I try to reinstall the .rpm it says "is already installed"! Such thing will never happen in Windows, btw., Linux also didn`t recognize the soundcard yet and there is no special Linux-driver out there for this. (Redhat 9.0 on an IBM TP600E Laptop) Thanks to everybody. Gerry Mauritius Robert Bonomi schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:telecom24.143.18@telecom-digest.org: > In article , Gerhard Nowak > wrote: > Heck, why didn't you _say_ that's what you wanted to do? Doing -that- > is an entirely different matter than what you first asked about. > See > The price is right -- the software is free, Although it won't run > under MS Windows, the Windows "replacement" that is required is also > free. > Ding, ding, ding! we have a winner! Asterisk requires Linux, or > similar. ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: So ... What's an E-Mail Address Worth to a Spammer? Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 09:47:46 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC (note: while this is part of the Schiavo case I'm forwarding it over for the very specific spam related issue, not to reopen the rest of the painful sequence /db) ----------- "An article last Tuesday about the decision by the parents of Terri Schiavo to let a conservative direct-mailing firm sell a list of their financial supporters referred incorrectly to the price the firm would charge. It is $150 per thousand names or e-mail addresses [a], not $150 a month for all of them. (The list consists of 6,000 names and 4,000 e-mail addresses.) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/pageoneplus/corrections.html original article: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/politics/29donate.html? [a] that's $0.15, or 15 cents/name _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ 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 V24 #147 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Apr 7 01:50:27 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j375oQB16279; Thu, 7 Apr 2005 01:50:27 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 01:50:27 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200504070550.j375oQB16279@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 V24 #148 TELECOM Digest Thu, 7 Apr 2005 01:50:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 148 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Question on Caller ID on Panasonic KX-TA624 (eljainc@ameritech.net) Harrasing Annoying Ex Boyfriend Phone Calls CALLER ID Manager (Paratwa) MCI Rejects Qwest's Offer For Third Time (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls (Dale Farmer) Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls (Robert Bonomi) Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls (Thomas A. Horsley) Re: Google Maps (Steve Sobol) Re: Can Somebody Please Explain CSD to Me? (Joseph) Re: Prison Cell Phone Scandal (T. Sean Weintz) Re: Cable Execs Say They're Not Blocking Outside VoIP (Thomas Horsley) Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed (Joseph) Last Laugh! Supreme Court Grokster - Funny Spin (randall62@gmail.com) 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: eljainc@ameritech.net Subject: Question on Caller ID on Panasonic KX-TA624 Date: 6 Apr 2005 12:44:30 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello, We have a Panasonic KX-TA624 hybrid phone system along with the KXT-7735 phones. We have 4 phone lines and the caller ID card is properly set up on the system. When an incoming call comes in, each phone displays the CID information. However, if one person is on a call and another call comes in, they do not see caller ID information. The phone line display only lights. Is there a way to have the system display CID information on the other calls? I believe the other phone extensions that are not in use will see the CID information. Thanks, Mike McWhinney ------------------------------ From: Paratwa Subject: Harrasing Annoying Ex Boyfriend Phone Calls CALLER ID Manager Organization: UseNetServer Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 18:38:49 -0500 I'm mainly posting this in the hope that it might help other Google searchers, with my particular problem. Basically I discovered that the police don't do much to individuals who enjoy harassing and annoying others by calling their phone. My situation was somewhat unique in that an ex boyfriend of my wife enjoyed calling at all hours of the night once leaving 37 messages on our answering machine. I used all the phone company resources I could buy from Bellsouth (call block, caller anonymous rejection and caller ID) to no avail. The Bellsouth call block feature doesn't work to block cell phones (how nice for our annoying caller) and he simply turned off the feature blocking HIS phone number. Since he didn't leave threatening messages the police didn't care. We were reduced to just turning off the ringer and answering machine at night and reviewing the caller ID prior to answering the phone during the day. Finally took a chance on the somewhat pricey Caller ID Manager from Privacy Corps. I couldn't find any independent comments on this device from others, so here are mine. The good news is it works -- peace and quiet finally. The annoying callers phone number is programmed to go to an unused port on the device. When he calls the phone doesn't ring and he can't leave a message on the answering machine. I programmed it to block my cell phone temporarily as a test. Calling the device with a blocked numbers leads the caller to believe your phone is ringing, which is perfect for my situation. He doesn't even know he isn't harrassing us but thinks he is. Another nice freature is the display is much larger than my phones so it's useful as a mundane caller ID device as well. The Caller ID manager has other useful features I haven't taken advantage of yet mainly because of the one bad feature of the device which I'll discuss below. It can be programmed to not allow ANY calls between certain hours (sorry Aunt Bertha I guess we left the ringer off). Also it has a silent feature good for avoiding phone calls, while entertaining or watching a movie. The silent feature can be setup for a couple hours after which it automatically allows the phone to ring again. Ok the bad news. I recommend you burn the manual immediately after opening the box. I've installed motherboards in computers, setup a wireless home network and setup a 5.1 home theater in my house, but the Caller ID manager eluded all my programming attempts. The web site FAQ is likewise useless since much of it is a copy / paste of the manual. Please Privacy Corps write a new manual and post it on your web site -- I'll review it for a small fee. Another thing that could bother others is that all other phones need to have their ringer off or you have to buy another remote device from the same people for the other phone. Otherwise the other phones will ring. If you buy the remote thing, with the caller ID manager, its half price -- unfortunately I missed this selling point. We've had our phone ringers off, except for the main phone, for so long it isn't a problem to have only one phone ringing. The manual is useless is so I had to call technical support. I recommend you be seated as you read further. I didn't have to wait long and talked to somebody who spoke clear ENGLISH and was friendly AND actually understood the device backwards and forwards. If anybody from Privacy Corps ever reads this don't let that guy leave -- at least till you've rewritten the manual. With his help I had the device wired and setup as I needed fairly quickly (less than 30 minutes). If you have an annoying ex boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse whatever this is the device for you. The web sites are http://www.privacycorps.com and http://www.person-to-person.net . The last one is the one with the FAQ and a tips section consisting of portions of the manual. Regards. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am glad it works for you. Southwestern Bell (SBC; their chairman's office, or rather, the flunky who responds in his name) has a rather odd philosophy on customer privacy. If you do all the things you are able to do to block out unwanted calls, and still continue to recieve calls from caller ID '000-000-0000' or some similar nonsensical number, SBC none-the-less insists that they have delivered caller ID. If you ask them why can't they do a database dip and treat obviously undialable/unreachable numbers as anonymous (and you have paid to have anonymous calls rejected). "We received caller ID and passed it along, therefore it is _not_ an 'anonymous' call and not subject to anonymous call rejection." And other telcos can reject calls from interLATA numbers; why can't SBC? Well, they could if they wanted to; but customer privacy is not a big thing with them. SBC is such a sleazy, cheap operation. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 13:51:53 EDT From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: MCI Rejects Qwest's Offer For Third Time Telecom dailyLead from USTA pril 6, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20626&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * MCI rejects Qwest's offer for third time BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Cablevision offers $16.5 billion for Adelphia * How high will Qwest go? * CFOs predict solid growth for MSOs * Nokia to build plant in India USTA SPOTLIGHT * SIP Demystified Now Available in the Telecom Bookstore EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Mobile phones to get TV listings * Skype taps into outside programmers' creativity REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * More students download entertainment legally Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20626&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Dale Farmer Organization: The fuzz in the back of the fridge. Subject: Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 19:35:10 GMT Thor Lancelot Simon wrote: > In article , John McHarry > wrote: >> On Sun, 03 Apr 2005 16:45:51 -0700, Lisa Minter wrote: >>> Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls >>> Four churches in Mexico have unobtrusively installed Israeli-made >>> cell-phone jammers to thwart those who don't seem to understand they >>> should turn the things off during services or weddings. They're not >>> the only ones to install the jammers. >> This is kind of old news. Jammers are illegal in the US, but if I were >> building or extensively remodeling a theatre, church, etc., I would >> make it into a Faraday cage. Done right, it is also good insulation. > Really? I'd be interested to know what the current state of the art > for "done right" is in this area. I saw such a room constructed once, > about 10-15 years ago: it had "wallpaper" with a conductive grid > printed on the back, and long strips of copper tape running up each > corner of the room to ensure that all the sides were shorted together. > There was chicken-wire-like mesh in the ceiling (this made running > cables a real pain!) and I'm not sure what was in the floor. But I > wouldn't call anything I saw there particularly good thermal > insulation. > I've always figured this must just be how it's done. Is there some > other method? That's one way. For new construction, embed the grounded mesh inside the walls ceiling and floor so it is less easy to damage. Size of the mesh is dictated by what wavelengths you want to stop. --Dale ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 21:45:39 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , jtaylor wrote: > John McHarry wrote in message > news:telecom24.146.5@telecom-digest.org: >> On Sun, 03 Apr 2005 16:45:51 -0700, Lisa Minter wrote: >>> Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls >>> Four churches in Mexico have unobtrusively installed Israeli-made >>> cell-phone jammers to thwart those who don't seem to understand they >>> should turn the things off during services or weddings. They're not >>> the only ones to install the jammers. >> This is kind of old news. Jammers are illegal in the US, but if I were >> building or extensively remodeling a theatre, church, etc., I would >> make it into a Faraday cage. Done right, it is also good insulation. > And so we have a situation where it is not the act that is illegal, > but the method. > Would those who so quickly hope for a lawsuit to arise from a jammer > interfering with an emergency wireless telephone call also claim that > a building so constructed would similarly be grounds for action? In the U.S. *operating* an unlicensed transmitter is, with a few exceptions, contrary to law. _Operating_ a transmitter, whether licensed or otherwise, to "deliberately interfere" with the operation of another licensed transmitter is contrary to law. Pure "passive" measures, however, are *NOT* proscribed by law. Among other reasons, because your signal has no 'right' of transit across somebody else's private property. Engaging in a legally proscribed activity that has the side-effect of "danger to life and limb" of un-involved third parties _does_ open one up to civil suit from those who suffered adverse consequences from the _proscribed_ activity -- as well as the risk of criminal prosecution for those actions. An aside, I have direct knowledge of one church that actually Faraday caged their sanctuary. In fact, they did it nearly *FORTY* years ago, now. They were undergoing change from 'traditional' to 'modern' style of services, including a complete remodel of the sanctuary -- with a very "open" area for the ministers, etc. No podium, lectern, etc. So, they went with _wireless_ microphones feeding the P.A. system. All the various changes were perceived to be a -major- improvement, attendance was climbing, more younger people were being drawn in, etc. etc. Then there was a momentous Sunday morning, when somebody with a high-powered mobile radio (probably an illegal CB rig) drove down the street, during the sermon. There was a "most unfortunate" juxtaposition of his language over the minister's sermon, as his transmission overloaded the receiver for the PA system. There wasn't any practical way to eliminate the wireless mic's, while retaining the 'character' of the new-style services, so they _did_ shield the entire sanctuary to prevent any recurrence. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 22:51:48 GMT > Would those who so quickly hope for a lawsuit to arise from a jammer > interfering with an emergency wireless telephone call also claim that > a building so constructed would similarly be grounds for action? Judging from the crowd of folks you always see walking back and forth and talking on their cells in parking lots, most buildings are apparently *already* constructed this way :-). >>==>> The *Best* political site >>==+ email: Tom.Horsley@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL | Free Software and Politics <<==+ ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Google Maps Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 16:34:15 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com AES wrote: > I love all the remarkable, almost unbelievable and unlimited features > of Google. But it truly bothers me that what is fast becoming THE > primary reference and search tool and "window on the world" for me and > so many others is founded on and controlled by an entirely commercial > and primarily advertising-supported financial base. How do you expect Google to pay its bills if it's not going to be either advertising-supported or subscriber-supported? > environmental, or other information is made readily available to you > -- by less idealistic people who might (in fact, are certain to) > acquire ownership of Google some time in the future. Google's already gone public. I think you're a little late expressing your concerns. > "Dependence on advertising tends to corrupt. Total dependence on > advertising corrupts totally." My own equivalent for today. "I want a free lunch, but I'm not willing to allow other people to pay for it." My interpretation of your quote. JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Can Somebody Please Explain CSD to Me? Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 20:56:14 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 6 Apr 2005 12:40:05 GMT, Koos van den Hout wrote: > To your computer it will look like a normal modem that understands > Hayes commands to build a connection and dial your ISP. Your phone > will convert it to a gsm-data call. Cingular can have a different rate > for those calls and not count it against 'voice' minutes you may have. CSD = circuit switched data. CSD uses plan minutes as opposed to GPRS which just uses data and data is billed differently. By the kilobyte (if measured) or unlimited in some cases. ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Prison Cell Phone Scandal Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 12:59:29 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Fred Atkinson wrote: > Perhaps *this* might define a legitimate use for a cell phone jammer. > Fred Except I wonder how many prisons have their corrections officers using cell phones to communicate with one another? Don't want to jam *them*, of course. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Cable Execs Say They're Not Blocking Outside VoIP From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 22:46:39 GMT > ...Rutledge dismissed the idea of selectively blocking services out of > hand... Practically every cable company I know of blocks port 80 so you can't host a web server on your home machine, so it is nice to know they are gonna stop that too :-). >>==>> The *Best* political site >>==+ email: Tom.Horsley@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL | Free Software and Politics <<==+ ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 10:17:02 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 02:16:17 GMT, [Telecom digest editor>] wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Do we have Ms. Shiavo buried yet, at > least for the purposes of this Digest? PAT] Since Mr. Townsend is the editor of TD/CDT he of course could return submissions to those who submit them and let them know that it is not of relevance to TD/CDT. But then again it would require a bit of editorial control. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Do you have any idea what you are talking about? Mr. Townsend returns _several hundred_ submissions each day, largely spam in nature to the senders. Maybe to show you what I am talking about, tomorrow or the next day I should just open the gate and let _everything_ go out, at least to the Usenet audience. I mean, do you think it is just some sort of accident that you get 15-20 messages in most issues, as though that is all that comes in? And by the by, to quote Mr. Oscar Wilde, I could care less what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name correctly. It is TOWNSON, not 'Townsend'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: randall62@gmail.com Subject: Last Laugh! Supreme Court Grokster - Funny Spin Date: 6 Apr 2005 10:46:10 -0700 Here is an funny spin on the whole Grokster in the Supreme Court: http://www.orlandocitybeat.com/custom/popculture/ocb-popculture-rant033005-s,0,5997369.story?coll=ocb--pop-promos You can get lofty about the issues or view them from the level of the man-in-the-street, but you can't do both objectively. cya, Rnl ------------------------------ 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 V24 #148 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Apr 7 17:00:47 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j37L0lb24115; Thu, 7 Apr 2005 17:00:47 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 17:00:47 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200504072100.j37L0lb24115@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 V24 #149 TELECOM Digest Thu, 7 Apr 2005 16:58:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 149 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Cable Industry Touts Move Into Telecommunications (Lisa Minter) Viacom's MTV Launches Web-Based TV 'Channel' (Lisa Minter) AOL Launches Internet Phone Service (Lisa Minter) AOL Unveils Pricey VoIP Offering (Jack Decker) Verizon's Press Release on New, Overpriced, Limited VoIP (Jack Decker) Great Post For Someone Thinking About VoIP (Jack Decker) VoIP Adapter With High REN? (Thor Lancelot Simon) Telemarketing to Cellphones (HarryHydro) AOL Goes VoIP (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Sperm - Not so Mobile (Monty Solomon) Opposition to Cell Phones on Airplanes (Lisa Hancock) Re: Harrasing Annoying Ex Boyfriend Phone Calls CALLER ID (Justin Time) Re: Question on Caller ID on Panasonic KX-TA624 (Carl Navarro) Re: Prison Cell Phone Scandal (Fred Atkinson) Re: Wired: Word From on High - Jam Cell Calls (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed (Fred Atkinson) 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: 06 Apr 2005 23:12:09 -0700 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Cable Industry Touts Move Into Telecommunications By Jeremy Pelofsky SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - After years of promises, U.S. cable companies will finally launch telephone service on a large scale this year, executives at the National Cable & Telecommunications Industry's annual convention this week said. Cable companies like Time Warner Inc. and Cox Communications Inc. see offering telephone service as a key area for growth in the $57.6 billion industry -- and plenty of other companies were at the convention to offer revenue-enhancing options like on-screen caller identification and messaging. Already the cable industry has about 3 million telephone customers but that is expected to explode with the advance of service via high-speed Internet as well as regulations making it easier for customers to take their phone numbers with them while switching providers. Time Warner Cable, the No. 2 U.S. cable operator, at the end of 2004 had 220,000 voice customers and was adding 10,000 a week. "This year is the year that we're now starting to ramp up," Time Warner Cable Chief Executive Glenn Britt said in an interview this week. "At the moment, we're just learning how to sell it, how to service it, how to install it and how to bundle it with other products." A.G. Edwards analysts forecast that cable operators would benefit from a large jump in customers buying Internet-based phone service, known as voice over Internet protocol (VOIP). "The number of available homes passed by VOIP service should grow substantially in 2005," the report said. "Average revenue per user for the service trends in the $40 area, adding meaningful incremental revenue potential." The big local carriers, known as the Baby Bells, last year lost almost 8 million residential landlines because of competition from cable, wireless and the Internet. But the Bells are not standing idle, looking to expand into cable's turf of video service. Additionally, No. 3 wireless carrier Sprint Corp. president and chief operating officer Len Lauer showed up at the show since cable operators are looking to offer customers a complete bundle of entertainment and communications services. "It's convergence of devices, it's convergence of access, it's convergence of workplace and also the homeplace," Lauer said in an interview. "We don't think any one company can do it alone ... we think it's really going to take a new approach to partnering." As attendees walked the 190,000 square feet of the show, they saw not only the latest cable television offerings, but also displays from companies like Siemens offering telecommunications services like on-screen caller ID. That company has deals with cable operators such as Cablevision Systems Corp. and Time Warner to help roll out Internet-based phone services and expects them to expand their client base. "They started with the residential play because the cable goes into your TV. The next step to take is business customers," Harald Braun, president of Siemens' carrier network division, said in an interview. He also said Siemens is working on features such as call blocking and tracking mobile-phone or e-mail messages on television screens. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 06 Apr 2005 23:12:39 -0700 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Viacom's MTV Launches Web-Based TV 'Channel' NEW YORK (Reuters) - MTV Networks, home to raucous pop culture television hits like "The Osbournes" and "Punk'd," on Wednesday launched a free Web-based "channel" that places many of its popular programs on the Internet. MTV, a unit of media conglomerate Viacom Inc., debuted "MTV Overdrive," a web site where viewers watch full length music video on demand, extended versions of programs that have aired on MTV's television network and original video updates from its MTV News operation. With Overdrive, now in limited testing and due for full release April 25, MTV joins a host of companies using high-speed Internet connections to deliver high-quality video to consumers without using a TV, including Walt Disney, Microsoft Corp., Alcatel, Akimbo and other telecommunications providers. "With an incredibly high percentage of young people using broadband, it seemed essential to create a new hybrid screen with its own content," said Jason Hirschhorn, Senior Vice President of Digital Music & Media at MTV Networks. The service will feature music videos, clips from live performances and shows like "TRL," movie trailers and eventually programs related to video games and fashion. It will be supported by inserted video advertising and billboard ads from Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Sony Corp's Sony Pictures, as well as other top advertisers from the TV network. Van Toffler, President of MTV Networks Group said he is not concerned that putting the shows on the Web will draw viewers away from the MTV television franchise. "The TV experience is still great. Our ratings are moving higher and we don't fear that (losing viewers)," he said at a press conference. "(Also) we are capturing money that is going to new media." Toffler added that the company is in talks with cable operators such as Comcast about possibly delivering the channel to cable subscribers, but said there were no deals in place. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 06 Apr 2005 23:30:22 -0700 From: Lisa Minter Subject: AOL Launches Internet Phone Service By MATTHEW FORDAHL, AP Technology Writer SAN JOSE, Calif. - America Online Inc. on Thursday launched its Internet telephone service, jumping into a market that's already crowded with startups, cable operators and even traditional phone companies. The AOL Internet Phone Service, which is being offered to AOL members and others in 40 markets at first, includes the regular features of traditional telephony and combines them with advanced services that are accessed on a PC over the Internet. The offering "will uniquely combine advanced tools, competitive pricing plans and AOL's hallmark ease of use to allow mass-market consumers to take full advantage of the revolution underway in Internet voice technology," said Jon Miller, AOL's chief executive. Instead of traveling over the traditional phone system that's been around for more than a century, calls are converted to packets of data and streamed over the Internet. All providers generally charge less and offer more advanced features than traditional phone companies. The technology, known as Voice over Internet Protocol, VoIP, is being touted as the next big revolution in communications. Dozens of companies have entered the market in recent years, ranging from startups like Vonage Holdings Corp. to traditional telecom players like Verizon Communications Inc. Most major cable operators are also developing or rolling out services. AOL's subscribers must have a high-speed Internet connection and a router. An adapter connects to the router, and a conventional phone can be plugged into the adapter. Users will receive a number and can make or receive calls. AOL's starting price for new users is $29.99 per month for the first six months; increasing to $39.99 after that. It includes unlimited local and long-distance calling within the U.S. and Canada as well as unlimited access to the regular AOL service over existing broadband. Plans for current AOL users start at $13.99 a month (increasing to $18.99 after three months) for unlimited local and regional calling to $29.99 (increasing to $34.99) for a global calling plan with low international rates. The price for new users is steeper than the current Internet telephony leader, Vonage, which charges $24.99 a month for unlimited U.S. and Canada dialing. Packet8, a similar service offered by 8x8 Inc., charges $19.95 for its "Freedom Unlimited" plan. AOL is apparently trying to differentiate itself by bundling its online service. It also claims to make it easier for consumers to manage their service from a Web-based "dashboard," which New Jersey-based Vonage also uses to describe its Web-interface. From there, users can change call-forwarding settings, view call logs and access contact lists that will dial a number simply by clicking on it. Subscribers also will be able to see if someone is online; and theoretically available to chat by instant message or by voice, the company said. AOL also is trying to avert a criticism lodged at other Internet telephone companies by providing enhanced 911 service that delivers a caller's address to dispatchers in case of an emergency. Packet8 currently offers the same, but charges extra. Vonage takes a different approach that requires users to register their address in advance. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Associated Press. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 12:01:27 -0400 Subject: AOL Unveils Pricey VoIP Offering http://voxilla.com/voxstory153.html SoapVox VOXILLA.COM News Report America Online (AOL) will officially launch its Voice over IP service called 'AOL Internet Phone Service' Thursday, the company announced in a press statement released late Wednesday night. The service, to be bundled with access to AOL's internet content and including unlimited calling to the U.S. and Canada, is being offered in 40 U.S. markets and will carry a price of $39.99 per month, significantly higher than most existing VoIP services. During the first six months, new customers will be offered a $10 discount. But, even reduced to $29.99, the AOL price will be higher than services such as BroadVoice, Packet8, VoicePulse and Vonage, each of which has a significant head start on the Time Warner-owned internet service giant that has fallen on difficult times of late. Currently, AOL has about 22.6 million internet customers, having lost about 4.5 million over the past two years. Existing AOL customers will pay between $13.99 to $29.99 per month to add the company's VoIP service, though those rates will increase by $5.00 in three months. For a limited time, the company will give current AOL members who sign up a free wireless home network base station. Full story at: http://voxilla.com/voxstory153.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 12:22:36 -0400 Subject: Verizon's Press Release on New, Overpriced, Limited VoIP What's ironic about this announcement, besides the fact that this new limited minutes plan is priced higher than competitive plans by companies such as VoicePulse and BroadVoice, is that the announcement has a dateline of Muskegon, Mich. That's not unusual because Verizon's state headquarters are in Muskegon. But what is ironic is that you can't get a Muskegon number with Verizon's VoIP service. In fact, if you read the list of area codes in which numbers are offered, neither 231 (northwest Lower Peninsula, including Muskegon and several other Verizon exchanges) nor 269 (Southwest lower Michigan, which also has many Verizon exchanges) are on that list. Could it be that Verizon doesn't want their own ILEC customers buying their VoIP service? But no matter, other companies including the two I mentioned above have numbers in many of these Verizon exchanges, and their similar offerings are less expensive and they offer more features. Furthermore, though I have no proof of this one way or another, it would not surprise me if, because Verizon is a traditional telco, they tack on a few of the extra fees that are so prominent in the traditional telephone industry. Personally I see nothing at all in this announcement that would motivate me to pick Verizon's offering over that of another company (and I would make that same comment about AOL's similarly-overpriced service, also announced today). http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-07-2005/0003338600&STORY&EDATE= Verizon Brings VoiceWing Internet-Based Calling to Michigan for as Low as $19.95 a Month http://www.verizon.com Company Archive VoiceWing Costs Less Than Traditional Phone Service and Harnesses the Power of the Internet to Provide Unique Calling Features MUSKEGON, Mich., April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Residents of Michigan now have a new low-cost, feature-rich option for telephone service with VoiceWing, an Internet-based calling service from Verizon. One VoiceWing calling plan just introduced today gives customers 500 minutes of outbound local and domestic long-distance for just $19.95 a month. An unlimited local and long-distance plan is also available for as low as $29.95 a month. VoiceWing customers use a small telephone adapter provided by Verizon to connect their own telephones to their home high-speed Internet connections. The telephone adapter allows the VoiceWing customer to send and receive calls over the Internet instead of using a standard phone line. The service works with both DSL and cable modem broadband connections and allows subscribers to call anyone, anywhere, worldwide. "VoiceWing lets you use something familiar -- your own home phone and broadband connection -- to save money and communicate in exciting new ways," said Michelle Swittenberg, executive director for Verizon's consumer VoIP services. "It's like having a customized, portable telephone service and personal assistant rolled into one." The service is offered nationally, and subscribers, regardless of where they live, can choose from 167 area codes, including the 248, 313, 517, 586, 616, 734 and 810 codes in Michigan. Customers can take VoiceWing with them by using their adapter to make and receive calls anywhere there is a DSL or cable modem high-speed Internet connection. Subscribers can also purchase up to five additional telephone numbers with their choice of area codes to use on their VoiceWing service for incoming calls. "This is very convenient for calling with out-of-town friends and family," said Swittenberg. "For example, if you live in Michigan and your mother lives in Atlanta, you can purchase an additional incoming number with your mother's 404 area code. Now every call mom makes to you is a local call for her." Both VoiceWing calling plans include faxing capabilities; calls to Puerto Rico and other U.S. Territories; a 30-day money-back guarantee; and low per-minute international calling rates, including 1 cent per minute to Canada, 3 cents per minute to the United Kingdom and 6-to-11 cents per minute to various locations in Mexico. All VoiceWing subscribers can make unlimited calls to other VoiceWing subscribers at no additional charge. Both VoiceWing plans also include an extensive roster of advanced calling features that can be conveniently controlled through an online personal account manager that is accessible from any Internet-enabled computer. These advanced calling features include: * Call Logs with Click to Dial: A list of all incoming, outgoing and missed calls for three days, including name, telephone number, date, time of day, physical location and duration of the call. Customers can click on calls to have VoiceWing dial them, or to easily add the caller's information to the customer's address book. * Visual Voice Mail: Customers can see their voice mails online, listen by clicking on them and click a Forward button to send the audio message by e-mail to as many recipients as the customer would like. * Enhanced Call Forwarding: Schedule call forwarding ahead of time for a specific date and time of day, or as a recurring event. Customers can quickly re-direct calls to another phone directly from their personal account manager. E-mail alerts will remind customers of when a scheduled call-forward is about to take place. * Scheduled Callbacks: Schedule important calls in advance online. Customers' phones will ring at the appointed time, and they will then be connected to the call. * Synchronized Personal Address Book: Customers can save telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of people who have called, arrange contacts in convenient groups, click on a phone number to dial it, or send an e-mail directly from their account manager. Only Verizon eliminates the hassle of creating and maintaining multiple address books by synchronizing customers' VoiceWing address books with a variety of other PC and PDA address books. * Do Not Disturb: Sends all calls straight to voice mail and only allows the important ones through. Customers can designate up to 20 phone numbers to go through. * Simultaneous Ring: Customers can designate up to three phone numbers where they'd like calls to ring in addition to their VoiceWing phone number. The first phone answered will be connected to the call. * Back-up Number: Customers can designate another phone, such as their cell phone or office phone, where their VoiceWing calls can be automatically routed in case of a power failure or broadband outage. * Incoming Call Block: Allows customers to block up to 20 telephone numbers and send the calls directly to voice mail. Customers can easily add or remove numbers they want blocked either through their online account manager or by entering a code on their telephone handset. * Anonymous Call Rejection: Allows customers to refuse calls from parties who have blocked or restricted their Caller ID information and to send these calls directly to voice mail. * Permanent Caller ID Block: Gives VoiceWing customers total control over who sees their Caller ID information whenever they make an outbound call. By simply setting up Caller ID Block online, all calls are anonymous until the VoiceWing customer disables the feature. To learn about even more VoiceWing calling features, customers can visit http://www.verizon.com/voicewing and select "Calling Features" from the menu. Customers can also order service at this Web site. If they do, they get their first month of service free. With more than $71 billion in annual revenues, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon has a diverse work force of more than 210,000 in four business units: Domestic Telecom serves customers based in 29 states with wireline telecommunications services, including broadband and other services. Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 43.8 million voice and data customers across the United States. Information Services operates directory publishing businesses and provides electronic commerce services. International includes wireline and wireless operations and investments, primarily in the Americas and Europe. For more information, visit http://www.verizon.com. VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at http://www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases. SOURCE Verizon Web Site: http://www.verizon.com ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 12:57:46 -0400 Subject: Great Post For Someone Thinking About VoIP Today a post showed up on BroadbandReports.com that is worth reading even if you already know about VoIP. This is the sort of post that, when a non-techie-type friend or relative asks you about VoIP, you can point them here and it will lay out all the pros and cons of VoIP for them (the benefit to that is that it helps manage their expectations -- if they know EXACTLY what to expect, they're less likely to blame you if there's a hiccup in their service!). Bookmark this one, you just might be thankful you did: http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,13109066 ------------------------------ From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) Subject: VoIP Adapter With High REN? Date: 7 Apr 2005 15:20:37 -0400 Organization: PANIX -- Public Access Networks Corp. Reply-To: tls@rek.tjls.com I am trying to switch two of three phone lines in a very large, very old house over to VoIP. The house has quite literally twenty extensions split between the three lines -- I think I need at least 4 or 5 REN per line, plus the ability to drive all the wire leading to those handsets (over 100' in some cases) without exploding the audio output circuit in the ATA. Does anyone make equipment meant for this that I can use with a mainstream VoIP provider? It's been suggested to me that Packet8 might be my best chance since they build their own gear but I don't see anything suitable on their web site. I am basically looking for a Cisco ATA-186 (including the 2-line capability) on steroids. Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com "The inconsistency is startling, though admittedly, if consistency is to be abandoned or transcended, there is no problem." - Noam Chomsky ------------------------------ From: HarryHydro Subject: Telemarketing to Cellphones Date: 7 Apr 2005 10:32:32 -0700 In a few weeks, cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls. You will be charged for these calls. Call this number from your cell phone 888-382-1222. It is the national DO NOT CALL list. It only takes a minute of your time. It blocks your number for 5 years. Please pass this on to everyone you know who doesn't want to be hassled. Or you can go to donotcall.gov and do it on-line. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 13:39:50 EDT From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: April 7, 2005 - AOL Goes VoIP Telecom dailyLead from USTA April 7, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20660&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * AOL goes VoIP BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Qwest may approach MCI shareholders * Verizon launches low-cost VoIP tier * MSOs looks to add mobile phone service to bundles * Interview with RIM's co-CEO USTA SPOTLIGHT * Telecom Engineering Conference at SUPERCOMM: Register today! EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Bluetooth no longer an afterthought * MSN adds phone features to IM software REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * MGM v. Grokster is latest chapter in technology v. copyright saga Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=20660&l=2017006 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 08:35:36 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Sperm - Not so Mobile http://www.newcastle.edu.au/news/media-releases/2005/aitkenmobile.htm Friday 18 February, 2005 A preliminary study at the University of Newcastle has identified that radio waves of a similar frequency to those associated with mobile phones can damage sperm DNA in mice. Professor John Aitken and Dr Bruce King from the Faculty of Science and Information Technology conducted the preliminary study exposing mice to electromagnetic radiation at a frequency similar to what most people receive from their mobile phones. Initial results found that there was more DNA damage in the exposed sperm than in sperm from the control groups. Professor Aitken stresses, "Clearly further research needs to be done before we are able to establish an impact of mobile phone use on sperm quality. These are very preliminary findings that will have to be substantiated in additional, more detailed, studies." The study will be published in the International Journal of Andrology. http://www.newcastle.edu.au/news/media-releases/2005/aitkenmobile.htm [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But, wouldn't exposing a mouse to the radiation of a cellular phone be the equivilent of exposing a human being to the radiation of a nuclear bomb? What would happen to _your_ sperm if you were within range of radiation from a nuclear bomb? The little guy running around at your feet is getting that same kind of radiation (relative to his size and body build) from a cell phone I would assume, when to him, this 'giant thing in the air' is right in his midst. What would happen to a mouse if exposed to the benign amount of radiation from a (built for human use) X-Ray machine? PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Opposition to Cell Phones on Airplanes Date: 7 Apr 2005 10:01:58 -0700 The regulators are considering to allow cell phones to be used on airlines. There is opposition on the grounds they could be used to coordinate and attack and upset passengers. See: http://www.kyw1060.com/news_story_detail.cfm?newsitemid=45229 Regretfully, the heavy use of cell phones on commuter trains and Amtrak has been very annoying. Cellphones have little sidetone and people speak very loud, so everybody around has to listen to the conversation. Phones are constantly ringing in all sorts of songs. ------------------------------ From: Justin Time Subject: Re: Harrasing Annoying Ex Boyfriend Phone Calls CALLER ID Manager Date: 7 Apr 2005 05:20:45 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Sheesh Pat! Because of your extreme dislike of SBC you seem to have fallen for this advertisement written as a sob story about harrassing phone calls that "no one would do anything about." The story has all the earmarks of an urban ledgend -- no verifiable facts and no way to ascertain even if the story is true. Rodgers Platt [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: All I can do is speak to my own experience. I was harassed for a couple months by AT&T (of all people!) who three or four times per day would call me on my ring-ring (distinctive ringing) line, looking for someone I had never heard of, and because of SBC's alleged inability to do anything to help me eventually _I_ had to invest in a long distance call at my own expense to call them back and trace through it with them. And SBC (to name just one of the Bell companies) absolutely refuses to do _anything_ about harassing phone calls except charge their _customer_ fifteen dollars for each use of *57. Bell used to have an 'Annoyance Call Bureau' to deal with those things; now apparently that has to be a profit center for them like everything else. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: Question on Caller ID on Panasonic KX-TA624 Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 08:58:01 -0400 On 6 Apr 2005 12:44:30 -0700, eljainc@ameritech.net wrote: > Hello, > We have a Panasonic KX-TA624 hybrid phone system along with the > KXT-7735 phones. We have 4 phone lines and the caller ID card is > properly set up on the system. When an incoming call comes in, each > phone displays the CID information. However, if one person is on a call > and another call comes in, they do not see caller ID information. The > phone line display only lights. Is there a way to have the system > display CID information on the other calls? I believe the other phone > extensions that are not in use will see the CID information. Did you read the manual? Under Call Waiting, you'll find that you have to turn the feature on. 7311# for outside call waiting. Carl Navarro ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: Prison Cell Phone Scandal Reply-To: fatkinson@mishmash.com Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 13:57:22 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 12:59:29 -0400, T. Sean Weintz wrote: > Except I wonder how many prisons have their corrections officers using > cell phones to communicate with one another? > Don't want to jam *them*, of course. The truth of the matter is that cell phones are considered very unreliable for law enforcement/emergency rescue type operations, especially when bad weather sets in (because everyone starts calling and tying up systems). If they are using them, they shouldn't be. They should still be using public safety radio services/systems. Fred ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 16:21:22 -0400 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls jtaylor wrote, quoting John McHarry: > John McHarry wrote in message > news:telecom24.146.5@telecom-digest.org: >> On Sun, 03 Apr 2005 16:45:51 -0700, Lisa Minter wrote: >>> Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls >>> Four churches in Mexico have unobtrusively installed Israeli-made >>> cell-phone jammers to thwart those who don't seem to understand they >>> should turn the things off during services or weddings. They're not >>> the only ones to install the jammers. >> This is kind of old news. Jammers are illegal in the US, but if I were >> building or extensively remodeling a theatre, church, etc., I would >> make it into a Faraday cage. Done right, it is also good insulation. > And so we have a situation where it is not the act that is illegal, > but the method. > Would those who so quickly hope for a lawsuit to arise from a jammer > interfering with an emergency wireless telephone call also claim that > a building so constructed would similarly be grounds for action? No, because that is "passive." Most modern office buildings have so much steel and wire in them that they are nearly impervious. My doctor's office is in a building that's so tight I often can't listen to the radio, let alone use my cell phone. It's a real nuisance when I'm at the pharmacy picking stuff up. If I have to talk to my wife, I have to go out to the sidewalk. ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: Obituary: Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed Reply-To: fatkinson@mishmash.com Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 14:08:48 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Well, I'm still not sure anyone outside the family (or maybe even inside the family) has got an accurate picture of what happened. The part that disturbs me is that the husband (if you can call him that, since he's already had children with another woman) has a great deal of personal relief from her death. It takes a great deal of responsibility away from him. And he can get on with his new life with this other woman. So, why would he care that the parents wanted to preserve her life? Why not just divorce her and let her parents manage the situation, since that's what they wanted to do, anyway? I'm wondering what the financial arrangements were in the event of her death. That would likely be altered (and not in his favor) if he divorced her. I could be wrong, of course. But as you said, there was so much distortion of the issue that I can't feel good about it. I'd have to know a lot more than I think was ever disclosed before I could put my suspicions to rest. Regards, Fred [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We really have to shut down this thread on Terri Schiavo. Thanks to all who have participated in it. 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. 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! 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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 V24 #149 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Apr 7 23:05:51 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j3835p726715; Thu, 7 Apr 2005 23:05:51 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 23:05:51 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200504080305.j3835p726715@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 V24 #150 TELECOM Digest Thu, 7 Apr 2005 23:05:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 150 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson A Trail of DNA and Data (Marcus Didius Falco) Philly Reveals Wireless Plan (David Chessler) Re: Telemarketing to Cellphones (David B. Horvath, CCP) Re: Telemarketing to Cellphones (Paul Vader) Re: Telemarketing to Cellphones (Joseph) Re: Google Maps (AES) Re: Sperm - Not so Mobile (T. Sean Weintz) Re: Prison Cell Phone Scandal (T. Sean Weintz) Re: VOIP Adapter With High REN (GlowingBlue Mist) Re: Harrasing Annoying Ex Boyfriend Phone Calls CALLER ID Mgr (Paratwa) 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: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 17:40:43 -0400 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: A Trail of DNA and Data http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20454-2005Apr2.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A20454-2005Apr2?language=3Dprinter By Paul Saffo Sunday, April 3, 2005; Page B01 If you're worried about privacy and identity theft, imagine this: The scene: Somewhere in Washington. The date: April 3, 2020. You sit steaming while the officer hops off his electric cycle and walks up to the car window. "You realize that you ran that red light again, don't you, Mr. Witherspoon?" It's no surprise that he knows your name; the intersection camera scanned your license plate and your guilty face, and matched both in the DMV database. The cop had the full scoop before you rolled to a stop. "I know, I know, but the sun was in my eyes," you plead as you fumble for your driver's license. "Oh, don't bother with that," the officer replies, waving off the license while squinting at his hand-held scanner. Of course. Even though the old state licensing system had been revamped back in 2014 into a "secure" national program, the new licenses had been so compromised that the street price of a phony card in Tijuana had plummeted to five euros. In frustration, law enforcement was turning to pure biometrics. "Could you lick this please?" the officer asks, passing you a nanofiber blotter. You comply and then slide the blotter into the palm-sized gizmo he is holding, which reads your DNA and runs a match against a national genomic database maintained by a consortium of drug companies and credit agencies. It also checks half a dozen metabolic fractions looking for everything from drugs and alcohol to lack of sleep. The officer looks at the screen, and frowns, "Okay, I'll let you off with a warning, but you really need more sleep. I also see that your retinal implants are past warranty, and your car tells me that you are six months overdue on its navigation firmware upgrade. You really need to take care of both or next time it's a ticket." This creepy scenario is all too plausible. The technologies described are already being developed for industrial and medical applications, and the steadily dropping cost and size of such systems will make them affordable and practical police tools well before 2020. The resulting intrusiveness would make today's system of search warrants and wiretaps quaint anachronisms. Some people find this future alluring and believe that it holds out the promise of using sophisticated ID techniques to catch everyone from careless drivers to bomb-toting terrorists in a biometric dragnet. We have already seen places such as Truro, Mass., Baton Rouge, La. and Miami ask hundreds or thousands of citizens to submit to DNA mass-testing to catch killers. Biometric devices sensing for SARS symptoms are omnipresent in Asian airports. And the first prototypes of systems that test in real time for SARS, HIV and bird flu have been deployed abroad. The ubiquitous collection and use of biometric information may be inevitable, but the notion that it can deliver reliable, theft-proof evidence of identity is pure science fiction. Consider that oldest of biometric identifiers -- fingerprints. Long the exclusive domain of government databases and FBI agents who dust for prints at crime scenes, fingerprints are now being used by electronic print readers on everything from ATMs to laptops. Sticking your finger on a sensor beats having to remember a password or toting an easily lost smart card. But be careful what you touch, because you are leaving your identity behind every time you take a drink. A Japanese cryptographer has demonstrated how, with a bit of gummi bear gelatin, some cyanoacrylic glue, a digital camera and a bit of digital fiddling, he can easily capture a print off a glass and confect an artificial finger that foils fingerprint readers with an 80 percent success rate. Frightening as this is, at least the stunt is far less grisly than the tale, perhaps aprocryphal, of some South African crooks who snipped the finger off an elderly retiree, rushed her still-warm digit down to a government ATM, stuck it on the print reader and collected the victim's pension payment. (Scanners there now gauge a finger's temperature, too.) Today's biometric advances are the stuff of tomorrow's hackers and clever crooks, and anything that can be detected eventually will be counterfeited. Iris scanners are gaining in popularity in the corporate world, exploiting the fact that human iris patterns are apparently as unique as fingerprints. And unlike prints, iris images aren't left behind every time someone gets a latte at Starbucks. But hide something valuable enough behind a door protected by an iris scanner, and I guarantee that someone will figure out how to capture an iris image and transfer it to a contact lens good enough to fool the readers. And capturing your iris may not even require sticking a digital camera in your face -- after all, verification requires that the representation of your iris exist as a cloud of binary bits of data somewhere in cyberspace, open to being hacked, copied, stolen and downloaded. The more complex the system, the greater the likelihood that there are flaws that crooks can exploit. DNA is the gold standard of biometrics, but even DNA starts to look like fool's gold under close inspection. With a bit of discipline, one can keep a card safe or a PIN secret, but if your DNA becomes your identity, you are sharing your secret with the world every time you sneeze or touch something. The novelist Scott Turow has already written about a hapless sap framed for a murder by an angry spouse who spreads his DNA at the scene of a killing. The potential for DNA identity theft is enough to make us all wear a gauze mask and keep our hands in our pockets. DNA can of course be easily copied -- after all, its architecture is designed for duplication -- but that is the least of its problems. Unlike a credit card number, DNA can't be retired and swapped for a new sequence if it falls into the hands of crooks or snoops. Once your DNA identity is stolen, you live with the consequences forever. This hasn't stopped innovators from using DNA as an indicator of authenticity. The artist Thomas Kinkade signs his most valuable paintings with an ink containing a bit of his DNA. (He calls it a "forgery-proof DNA Matrix signature.") We don't know how much of Tom is really in his paintings, but perhaps it's enough for forgers to duplicate the ink, as well as the distinctive brush strokes. The biggest problem with DNA is that it says so much more about us than an arbitrary serial number does. Give up your Social Security number and a stranger can inspect your credit rating. But surrender your DNA and a snoop can discover your innermost genetic secrets -- your ancestry, genetic defects and predispositions to certain diseases. Of course we will have strong genetic privacy laws, but those laws will allow consumers to "voluntarily" surrender their information in the course of applying for work or pleading for health care. A genetic marketplace not unlike today's consumer information business will emerge, swarming with health insurers attempting to prune out risky individuals, drug companies seeking customers and employers managing potential worker injury liability. Faced with this prospect, any sensible privacy maven would conclude that DNA is too dangerous to collect, much less use for a task as unimportant as turning on a laptop or working a cash machine. But society will not be able to resist its use. The pharmaceutical industry will need our DNA to concoct customized wonder drugs that will fix everything from high cholesterol to halitosis. And crime fighters will make giving DNA information part of our civic duty and national security. Once they start collecting, the temptation to use it for other purposes will be too great. Moreover, snoops won't even need a bit of actual DNA to invade our privacy because it will be so much easier to access its digital representation on any number of databanks off in cyberspace. Our Mr. Witherspoon will get junk mail about obscure medical conditions that he's never heard of because some direct marketing firm "bot" will inspect his digital DNA and discover that he has a latent disease or condition that his doctor didn't notice at his annual checkup. It is tempting to conclude that Americans will rise up in revolt, but experience suggests otherwise. Americans profess a concern for privacy, but they happily reveal their deepest financial and personal secrets for a free magazine subscription or cheesy electronic trinket. So they probably will eagerly surrender their biometric identities as well, trading fingerprint IDs for frequent shopper privileges at the local supermarket and genetic data to find out how to have the cholesterol count of a teenager. Biometric identity systems are inevitable, but they are no silver bullet when it comes to identity protection. The solution to identity protection lies in the hard work of implementing system-wide and nationwide technical and policy changes. Without those changes, the deployment of biometric sensors will merely increase the opportunities for snoops and thieves -- and escalate the cost to ordinary citizens. It's time to fix the problems in our current systems and try to anticipate the unique challenges that will accompany the expanded use of biometrics. It's the only way to keep tomorrow's crooks from stealing your fingers and face and, with them, your entire identity. Paul Saffo is a director of the Institute for the Future, a forecasting organization based in Silicon Valley. Copyright 2005 The Washington Post Company NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, The Washington Post Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 18:58:25 -0400 From: David Chessler Subject: Philly Reveals Wireless Plan From WiFi Planet -- http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/3495991 By Eric Griffith According to the Philadelphia Daily News, at noon today, John Street, the mayor of Philadelphia, Penn., and the cities CIO Dianah Neff planned to make official the business plan behind Wireless Philadelphia (http://www.phila.gov/wireless/ -- see below), the city's embattled move to bring wireless broadband to everyone in its surroundings. The cost will be $10 million dollars to install as many as 3,000 wireless nodes on light poles across the 135 square mile city, with an additional $5 million to run the network for the first two years, according to Neff. The money won't come from tax payersa major gripe of the anti-municipal-wireless crowdbut will be raised through taxable bonds or getting low-interest loans. The money would be repaid in four years. No one company has been picked yet to do the install or provide equipment for the network, but Neff believes a selection will be made by June 30, with deployment to start in August. Subscribers could be online by the end of the year. The network will be owned by a non-profit also called Wireless Philadelphia, which will be run by a CEO and appointees from Mayor Street. Wireless Philadelphia will make money by licensing the network to carriers, which would resell access to end users. Neither the city nor Wireless Philadelphia would actual serve as the wireless ISP. Licensers will be required to keep the cost for end-users downlikely lower than $20 per month. Even less for low-income homes. Right now, they estimate that 42% of the city's denizens are not online. This is usually due to the cost of broadband. The companies Wireless Philadelphia could let use the network may be some that tried to stop it in the first place. Local providers of cable and DSL based broadband like City Councilman Frank Rizzo has long been an opponent of the Wireless Philadelphia project, and says it is not something government should do. He fears taxpayer money will be needed if subscribers don't sign up, and that the technology will be outdated very soon. In a op-ed piece in today's Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0504070283apr07,1,5006951.story?coll=chi-techtopheds-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true , Rizzo implies that Wi-Fi is "just another Big Dig," referring to the highly over-budget highway project in Boston that is still having issues even after completion. He says "the real costs could range from $30 million to $100 million for a feasible network" to cover Philly. Wireless Philadelphia has gotten around the city council by not using public funds and by going non-profit. They don't need the council's approval. The push to put a wireless cloud across Philly has been at the center of attacks against muni-backed Wi-Fi networks for months. A bill was passed by the Pennsylvania state legislature last yearjust weeks after the news surfaced that Philly wanted such a network that would prevent any state municipalities from installing a broadband network without an incumbent provider getting a right of first refusal. In December of last year, Verizon waived that right, and the project proceeded. Other cities in the state have until January 1, 2006 to give their local telcos a chance to put in a network first. In February, a Washington D.C. based group called the New Millenium Research Council (NMRC), issued a report called "Not in the Public Interest: The Myth of Municipal W-Fi Networks " http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/3468381 , which called into question the necessity, anti-competitiveness and overall viability of municipal run wireless networks. Many have charged the NRMC with a "lack of transparency," especially in terms of the groups backing, potentially by big telcos like Verizon. They also say the report ignores many successful deployments of municipal wireless, such as the network in Chaska, Minn. That network is powered by equipment from Tropos Network, and that company's CEO, Ron Sege, has become one of the most vocal proponents of muni wireless networks (which is no surprise, as he wants his company to sell more products). In a commentary at ZDNet this week http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5653856.html , he argues that the anti-muni groups have "flawed arguments" and says "Policies that limit the rapid deployment of broadband wireless networks mean limiting the real benefits of these networks to public safety, economic growth and the education and enrichment of our citizens." Philly and Chaska are far from the only cities with, or considering, a wireless Wi-Fi cloud. Others include Minneapolis, St. Paul & Moorhead, Minn.; Alexandria, Va.; Rochester & Buffalo, N.Y.; Rio Rancho, N.M.; Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Ill.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Lexington, Ky.; Addison & San Antonio, Texas; and Lompoc, Isla Vista, Fullerton, Cerritos, & San Francisco, Calif; Independence, KS; others. There are many more Tropos already claims over 125 metro-scale customers. And that's just the Wi-Fi networks. Many more have fixed wireless broadband that uses pre-WiMax or proprietary equipment to replace the physical lines needed for DSL and cable modems, even T1 leased lines. However, many states have passed or are trying to pass legislation similar to Pennsylvania's that would, at worst, make city-wide wireless networks illegal. Those states include West Virginia, Texas, Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, Illinois, and others. Similar bills were tried in Indiana and Virginia but died in committee, according the MuniWireless.com March 2005 report http://www.muniwireless.com/reports/docs/March2005Report.pdf http://www.phila.gov/wireless/ City of Philadelphia will be hosting the Wireless Internet Institute (W2i) Digital Cities Convention: The Frontier of Broadband Wireless Applications at the Pennsylvania Convention Center May 2-4, 2005 Promote Open Metro-scale Wireless Connective Citywide Wireless Philadelphia aims to strengthen the City's economy and transform Philadelphia's neighborhoods by providing wireless internet access throughout the city. Wireless Philadelphia will work to create a digital infrastructure for open-air internet access and to help citizens, businesses, schools, and community organizations make effective use of this technology to achieve their goals while providing a greater experience for visitors to the City. Advocate of Wireless Community Networking Appointed by Mayor John F. Street in July 2004, the Wireless Philadelphia Executive Committee (Committee) serves as an advisory/advocacy group for wireless community networking through community outreach programs, communications with the press and participation in meetings and conferences. Wireless Philadelphia seeks to educate the general public and businesses about the benefits of wireless community networking. Wireless Philadelphia seeks to utilize existing wireless technologies and incorporate evolving wireless technologies as they become available. Provide a Forum for Wireless Networking Wireless Philadelphia provides a forum for discussion to enhance usage of emerging wireless technologies especially for those related to building wireless community networks. The Committee seeks to promote the third-party development of research, development and use of mobile mesh networks to enrich neighborhood economic viability. Recommend Policy The Committee will formulate recommendations in several policy areas including fees, roles and responsibilities, extent of service, privacy and security. The Committee will identify possible legal and regulatory barriers and help develop strategies to overcome them. Future Uses Wireless Philadelphia will develop a process through which the initial outdoor network can be expanded to allow indoors utilization by residents, businesses, visitors, institutions, and students. In so doing, Wireless Philadelphia shall coordinate efforts with other agencies of City to maximize the social, developmental, and educational return . > From the Chicago Tribune -- http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0504070283apr07,1,5006951.story?coll=chi-techtopheds-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true Wi-Fi: Is it just another Big Dig? By Frank Rizzo a member at large of the Philadelphia City Council Published April 7, 2005 In Chicago and elsewhere, city administrators are considering a massive, open-ended public works project: municipally owned and subsidized wireless (Wi-Fi) networks. The goal, say the bureaucrats, is to capitalize on advances in wireless technology to build a local information nirvana that will help bridge the digital divide. But before embarking on this seemingly visionary agenda, local governments should take a closer look at municipal forays into the world of telecommunications. For if they do, they might find that history littered with cost overruns, debt and rapidly outdated systems. And if they look under the hood at what self-interested consultants are selling them on projected costs of new wireless systems, they are likely to find a bit of Enron-style accounting. The wireless revolution has much seductive allure, to be sure. Wi-Fi hot spots -- whereby a hard-wired router sends wireless signals in an area with a radius of 300 feet -- abound in many homes, coffee shops and elsewhere. The even more robust Wi-Max technologies, with propagation capability over many miles, may also soon come to the market. These new services have aided mostly upscale consumers with expensive laptop computers. But while a wireless router at home is relatively inexpensive, an entirely new wireless network built by a local government is likely to be very costly for many years -- when municipal budgets are expected to be increasingly strapped. In Philadelphia's 135 square miles, a wireless network would likely require well over 20,000 access points -- remote routers, essentially -- with no more than 10 subscribers per access point to ensure satisfactory speeds. The city that I represent as a council member at large -- Philadelphia -- seems to be the national test tube for this debate. Here, the chief information officer -- backed up by a battery of financially interested analysts -- projects that the City of Brotherly Love could construct such a system for less than $11 million. But with numbers like this, she could wind up in a heap of trouble were she held accountable to investor disclosure laws. Simply put, believing one can cover our 135 square miles with a wireless network for $11 million is like believing the moon is made of green cheese. Independent analyses and prevailing market prices for network and construction costs make clear that the real costs could range from $30 million to $100 million for a feasible network. And this is just the starting point. For most cities with a greater landmass, the costs would be even greater. Once committed, taxpayers are likely to be on the hook for the foreseeable future. Sheer maintenance will cost annually a minimum of 10 to 15 percent of the initial upfront costs, according to most experts. Further, engineers estimate that an astounding 60 percent of the equipment requires replacement or upgrading every three to five years. These expenses, together with other operating and administrative costs, network redundancy and security over ever insecure wireless technologies -- as the hacking into Paris Hilton's cell phone reminds us -- could cost tens of millions of additional dollars. And, as many experts tell us, the city's new wireless network could quickly be outdated with advances in technology. It is precisely this kind of unrealistic planning that created Boston's Big Dig tunnel project fiasco. Indeed, municipal forays into local telecom networks have created a sea of red ink in Georgia, Iowa, Oregon and elsewhere. Realizing this, and faced increasingly with demands for greater budgetary scrutiny over these proposals, some city administrators are engaging in a strange dance: They argue that they can solve the problem of ballooning network costs simply by handing off the network to a private vendor. The notion of cash-squeezed local governments seeking to enter an ever more competitive marketplace, only to then hand off a taxpayer-financed network in the form of a subsidy to one competitor in that marketplace, would seem an odd role for government -- particularly in a city that represents the birthplace of democracy. Remember, of course, that the wireless Internet service industry is increasingly competitive, with scores of carriers entering the marketplace. In Chicago alone, there are hundreds of hot spots. If, on the other hand, local governments really want ownership of such speculative ventures, they should stop playing hide the ball and instead be honest with the taxpayers -- the bill payers -- about real costs and the need for the government's entry into an increasingly competitive industry. What's really needed is a true national broadband policy. Rather than subsidizing narrow-band technologies, the federal Universal Service Fund should promote market-based incentives to ensure universal rollout of broadband technology and access to needed computer hardware for underserved communities. This kind of comprehensive, thoughtful approach would dramatically boost our economy and our literacy without putting vulnerable municipal budgets at dire risk with Don Quixote searches for the broadband cure. Copyright 2005, Chicago Tribune From WiFi Planet -- http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/3468381 (there are many links in this article -- go to the site to go deeper) Think Tank Trashes Municipal-Run Wireless By Eric Griffith A report out today from the Washington D.C.-based New Millenium Research Council (NMRC), called "Not in the Public Interest The Myth of Municipal W-Fi Networks," calls into question the necessity, the anti-competitiveness, and the overall viability of towns, cities, or counties installing wireless broadband and treating it like a public utility. However, Wi-Fi-supporting pundits point out potential issues with not only the arguments made in the report but also the objectivity of the authors, who the pundits brand as "sock puppets of industry." The NRMC was created in 1999 to "develop workable, real-world solutions to the issues and challenges confronting policy makers, primarily in the fields of telecommunications and technology." The group is an "independent project" of Issue Dynamics, Inc. (IDI), a group that has the support of such incumbent telcos as Bell South, Comcast, SBC, Sprint, Verizon and Verizon Wireless to name just a few (according to reports at eWeek.) In a phone briefing held today with journalists, the authors of various sections of the report gave a summary of their analysis, all of which uniformly question the need for any kind of government-run and funded wireless broadband system. Arguments against include: Anti-competitiveness: Municipal wireless networks will be funded by taxpayers. "When a private sector company fails, it must respond. But government [programs] can be propped up with additional tax dollars," according to Technology Counsel Braden Cox, counsel for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Past failures: "Nearly every municipal network of the last decade has failed badly," says David P. McClure, president and CEO of U.S. Internet Industry Association. When asked directly what municipal networks had failed, speakers mentioned Marietta, Georgia, a utility district in Washington state, and others though not all are necessarily wireless. Not addressing the "Digital Divide:" McClure's section of the report states that the phrase is a catchall, and can't be limited just to a lack of free broadband. He also says "econometric data shows no specific link between broadband availability and economic development." And, he says, it won't increase tourism either, since it won't offer more than the Wi-Fi already available in public access hotspots run by private companies. It's already covered: Steven Titch, a senior fellow with the Heartland Institute, said that major cities proposing municipal broadband (like Philadelphia and San Francisco) are already well served by existing hotspots. Citing numbers from JiWire.com, Titch says San Francisco, for example, has 399 hotspot locations, 42 of which are free. He says that most municipal networks would only cover areas like downtowns and airports anyway areas that are usually well-covered with Wi-Fi connections already. Government Censorship: "If broadband ownership is by municipalities or county governments, you have the potential for government censorship that most of the journalists on this call would bristle against vehemently," said Barry Aarons, analyst with the Institute for Policy Innovation. Many states, including Indiana and Nebraska, are already contemplating bans on municipal broadband networks, much like the one that was signed into law in Pennsylvania not long ago. Big companies like Intel are considering lobbying against such measuresmunicipalities are, after all, potential customers for future WiMax long-range wireless products that would be powered by Intel chips. Glenn Fleishman, editor of the popular blog Wi-Fi Networking News, took the group to task before the report was even out in a post on February 1, after BusinessWeek's blog took the group's findings at face value. While he says he doesn't wholeheartedly oppose the NMRC's point of view, he was put off by the lack of "transparency" of the groups the authors represent. Most are seen as being possibly funded by telecom organizations, such as Verizon, which stand to lose out to municipalities doing their own wireless. (Verizon, however, gave a right of refusal to Philadelphia after first trying to block that city's network plans even after the Pennsylvania anti-muni-network law passed.) Esme Vos has been writing exclusively about municipal wireless networks on her blog MuniWireless for two years. She's previously written about the Heartland Institute when it stated in October 2004 that that "virtually everyone who wants broadband services can get DSL from their telephone company or cable modem service from their cable company"a sentiment they echoed in today's call. Vos said at the time, "Where is this paradise? Maybe in Seoul, Korea." Today on her site, referring to an early article Heartland placed on its own site as a preview to today's NMRC report, she said "For some reason, it does not cite the successful municipal Wi-Fi (and wired) deployments we all know about: Chaska (MN), Scottsburg (IN), Auburn (IN), among others. No, in the world of Heartland, they do not exist." She counters that, contrary to what the NRMC report says, the false hopes don't lay with the municipal broadband deployments, but in the "false hopes propagated for so long by the cable and DSL incumbents, the one that promises to bring fast, cheap broadband to YOUR neighborhood. Only now people are very impatient and the equipment is becoming very cheap." Fleishman says in his rebuttal against the same Heartland article, "Municipal broadband is almost the last resort of cities and towns that can no longer wait on the promises or lack of promises from incumbents." In a perfect world, he says, municipalities wouldn't have to build networks: the private companies would already have done so "without sock puppets making their arguments for them." From ZDNet -- http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5653856.html Should cities hook up to WiFi? By Ron Sege Commentary -- Recently, parties lacking experience and facts have suggested that municipalities should not promote or fund broadband wireless networks. Their arguments ignore a growing number of successful municipal deployments and rely on incorrect assertions. These flawed arguments put the public at risk of making incorrect policy decisions and having to live with the consequences. Policies that limit the rapid deployment of broadband wireless networks mean limiting the real benefits of these networks to public safety, economic growth and the education and enrichment of our citizens. They mean that the United States will forgoe its best option for improving its dismal world ranking in terms of per-capita availability of broadband. Broadband wireless networks are the fastest, lowest cost and simplest way to increase broadband availability. Municipal broadband wireless networks do not require digging up streets, complex RF engineering or expensive subscriber devices. Wireless Philadelphia, based on similar, albeit smaller systems, conservatively estimates a citywide mesh network will cost $60,000 per square mile to construct. With a land area of 135 square miles, this translates into $8.1 million to install the mesh network. Add a comfortable margin (based on Tropos experience) for security systems, billing systems, network management systems, routers to connect to the Internet and the like and, all in, the cost of deploying a broadband wireless network in Philadelphia would be about $11 million. Municipal broadband wireless networks today provide many benefits to cities and their citizens. For instance, chaska.net, a citywide Wi-Fi network in Chaska, Minnesota, projects that revenues from their 2,000+ subscribers will fund the network's operating costs, pay the interest and repay the principal -- without using taxpayer funds. The 16-square mile network was financed (less than $600,000) with four-year equipment certificates. And 25 percent of Chaskas homes have signed on for broadband Internet access speeds (>1Mbps, symmetrical) at dial-up prices ($16/month). Other cities have turned to broadband wireless to support public safety and other operations. In San Mateo, California, police officers now spend 8,000 more hours a year on their beats, because a municipal broadband wireless network gives them mobile access to databases and in-field reporting. In Corpus Christi, Texas, a broadband wireless network is automating utility meter reading, reading 73 water meters per second, compared to minutes per meter using manual processes. New Orleans installed a broadband wireless network to support public safety video surveillance. The system was quickly and easily installed, and reduced the murder rate by 57 percent in six months and auto theft by 25 percent in the covered areas. While cities are improving public services with broadband wireless networks, many project that their networks will provide more bandwidth than city workers will consume. Mindful of tight budgets, they intend to sell this excess bandwidth to help pay for the initial installation and operating costs. This is good fiscal prudence. Often municipalities foot a fraction of the cost of installation and operation in other ways. Business models include public-private partnerships such as allowing service providers to use city rights of way tenant in exchange for low-cost accounts for use by city workers. Other possible models allow service providers to lease capacity on municipally owned wireless networks, split installation costs with private entities in exchange for service and revenue sharing, or provide capital to for-profit and non-profit entities in exchange for an ownership stake. Different models are appropriate for different local goals and circumstances. Fears that new technology will quickly obsolete municipal wireless networks are vastly overblown. To date, over 100 million Wi-Fi client devices have been shipped. Wi-Fi is connecting an increasing assortment of devices, not just laptops and PDAs but also security cameras, traffic management systems, meter readers, location sensors, cell phones and much more. And Wi-Fi will get even faster and more capable over time. Further, new technologies such as WiMAX are easily integrated into broadband wireless networks. In conclusion, the parties debating this issue must consider the facts outlined above. With these facts, they must also acknowledge that broadband wireless networks today provide numerous benefits to many constituencies. With the facts in hand, lets develop policies at the state and federal level that encourage the development of broadband wireless networks, not ones that stifle their creation. The winners will be the citizens, no matter who deploys a broadband wireless network--municipality or service provider. Biography Ron Sege is CEO of Tropos Networks, which sells equipment to carriers, service providers and municipalities deploying metro-scale Wi-Fi. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The 'johnmacsgroup' Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Ron Sege and Tropos Networks. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml John F. McMullen http://www.westnet.com/~observer BLOG: http://johnmacrants.blogspot.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 17:22:35 -0400 Subject: Re: Telemarketing to Cellphones From: David B. Horvath, CCP PAT -- please remove my email address to keep SPAM down... This is an urban legend -- you can confirm that by checking www.snopes.com for more information. Your cell number is not going to be "released" to the telescum. I do recommend (have done so myself) that you include your cell number in any do-not-call list entries maintained by the FTC. - David On Date: 7 Apr 2005 10:32:32 -0700, HarryHydro wrote: > In a few weeks, cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing > companies and you will start to receive sale calls. You will be > charged for these calls. > Call this number from your cell phone 888-382-1222. > It is the national DO NOT CALL list. It only takes a minute of your > time. It blocks your number for 5 years. Please pass this on to > everyone you know who doesn't want to be hassled. > Or you can go to donotcall.gov and do it on-line. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I did this way back when the 'Do Not Call' list was first getting started. In addition to my personal line, my distinctive ring-ring line, and my VOIP number, I also added my cellular phone number; my VOIP and cell numbers were never questioned. PAT] ------------------------------ From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader) Subject: Re: Telemarketing to Cellphones Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 21:25:22 -0000 Organization: Inline Software Creations HarryHydro writes: > In a few weeks, cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing > companies and you will start to receive sale calls. You will be > charged for these calls. Urban legend. http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp * * PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something like corkscrews. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Telemarketing to Cellphones Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 17:41:49 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 7 Apr 2005 10:32:32 -0700, HarryHydro wrote: > In a few weeks, cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing > companies and you will start to receive sale calls. You will be > charged for these calls. > Call this number from your cell phone 888-382-1222. > It is the national DO NOT CALL list. It only takes a minute of your > time. It blocks your number for 5 years. Please pass this on to > everyone you know who doesn't want to be hassled. > Or you can go to donotcall.gov and do it on-line. Before you get everyone all excited and bent out of shape maybe you should tell the *whole* story and not just the bit that's supposed to make us all worry that cell phone numbers will be released to telemarketers. The truth is that a wireless 411 "directory" is being developed. Your number in most cases will not automatically be included in this directory. In most cases you will have to *opt in* to the directory. Even when you do opt in there will be no paper directory. It will only be available through operators. You are being terribly irresponsible in circulating this untrue rumor that telemarketers will receive cell phone numbers. http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_cell_phone_directory.htm [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So what harm is there in adding your cell phone and/or VOIP number to the list just to 'be safe'? PAT] ------------------------------ From: AES Subject: Re: Google Maps Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 14:32:46 -0700 Organization: Stanford University In article , Steve Sobol wrote: > How do you expect Google to pay its bills if it's not going to be either > advertising-supported or subscriber-supported? > "I want a free lunch, but I'm not willing to allow other people to pay > for it." My interpretation of your quote. Well, in fact I have paid subscriptions to a number of magazines and a newspaper or two that I think have reasonably high editorial standards. Since I think KQED-FM is a fairly decent and largely advertiser independent information source, I've been a voluntary subscriber and donator to them for decades (I even supported KPFA for quite a while...). I've voted for (and as a taxpayer helped pay off) public library bond issues for decades. Back when I had four school-age children in the house I even once purchased, at retail, a complete set of the Britannica. I don't know how to solve the problem (the very real, serious, and IMHO increasing) problem of corruption of many of our primary information sources and media by advertising I'd willingly pay a significant subscription fee for access to a Google equivalent that was equally good and that I could be sure was and would remain truly advertiser independent. ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Sperm - Not so Mobile Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 19:03:08 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Monty Solomon wrote: > http://www.newcastle.edu.au/news/media-releases/2005/aitkenmobile.htm > Friday 18 February, 2005 > A preliminary study at the University of Newcastle has identified that > radio waves of a similar frequency to those associated with mobile > phones can damage sperm DNA in mice. Damn. Now I need to take the cell phones away from my mice. How are they supposed to call me at work to let me know when they are out of cheese now? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Very clever retort, but my presumption is the researchers would rather experiment with mice than with human children, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Prison Cell Phone Scandal Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 19:04:24 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Fred Atkinson wrote: > On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 12:59:29 -0400, T. Sean Weintz > wrote: >> Except I wonder how many prisons have their corrections officers using >> cell phones to communicate with one another? >> Don't want to jam *them*, of course. > The truth of the matter is that cell phones are considered very > unreliable for law enforcement/emergency rescue type operations, > especially when bad weather sets in (because everyone starts calling > and tying up systems). If they are using them, they shouldn't be. > They should still be using public safety radio services/systems. > Fred Hmm ... a few years ago I know many of the local police departments back here used them. Dunno if that is still true. ------------------------------ From: GlowingBlueMist Subject: Re: VoIP Adapter With High REN? Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 21:27:17 -0500 Organization: SunSITE.dk - Supporting Open source Thor Lancelot Simon wrote in message news:telecom24.149.7@telecom-digest.org: > I am trying to switch two of three phone lines in a very large, very > old house over to VoIP. The house has quite literally twenty > extensions split between the three lines -- I think I need at least 4 > or 5 REN per line, plus the ability to drive all the wire leading to > those handsets (over 100' in some cases) without exploding the audio > output circuit in the ATA. > Does anyone make equipment meant for this that I can use with a > mainstream VoIP provider? It's been suggested to me that Packet8 > might be my best chance since they build their own gear but I don't > see anything suitable on their web site. > I am basically looking for a Cisco ATA-186 (including the 2-line > capability) on steroids. You might want to try something like a REN extender or two. An example of one can (Viking RG-10A) be found at: http://salestores1.com/virgelrgribo.html It claims to boost the ring signal to 15 REN and should work with what ever brand of VOIP interface you have as long as it will already ring a single phone instrument correctly. ------------------------------ From: Paratwa Subject: Re: Harrasing Annoying Ex Boyfriend Phone Calls CALLER ID Manager Organization: UseNetServer Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 18:46:44 -0500 If your referring to my story its just that -- a personal story. You won't find it in the paper and it certainly wasn't in the local news. Heck in today's world of stalkers and murders I'm amazed I couldn't find others with similar problems via a search. In any event if you really want proof I can at the very least probably dig up a police report and pdf it to you -- for proper monetary compensation of not less than $25. For what its worth by sheer coincidence the idiot called from a pay phone last night an left a message. He has probably figured out that something isn't right since he could leave a message with the first try on a pay phone and couldn't do it again, since I blocked it. On 7 Apr 2005 05:20:45 -0700, Justin Time wrote: > Sheesh Pat! > Because of your extreme dislike of SBC you seem to have fallen for > this advertisement written as a sob story about harrassing phone calls > that "no one would do anything about." The story has all the earmarks > of an urban ledgend -- no verifiable facts and no way to ascertain > even if the story is true. > Rodgers Platt > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: All I can do is speak to my own > experience. I was harassed for a couple months by AT&T (of all > people!) who three or four times per day would call me on my > ring-ring (distinctive ringing) line, looking for someone I had > never heard of, and because of SBC's alleged inability to do anything > to help me eventually _I_ had to invest in a long distance call at > my own expense to call them back and trace through it with them. And > SBC (to name just one of the Bell companies) absolutely refuses to > do _anything_ about harassing phone calls except charge their > _customer_ fifteen dollars for each use of *57. Bell used to have > an 'Annoyance Call Bureau' to deal with those things; now apparently > that has to be a profit center for them like everything else. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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