---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20170917201116.GA31702@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2017 16:11:16 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Verizon gives away cool freebies, as long as you give away your privacy By David Lazarus Would you give up your privacy for a shot at free concert tickets, Uber rides or Apple Music tunes? Verizon is betting the answer is yes. The telecom giant has unveiled a new loyalty program that it says will provide customers with "experiences you won't stop talking about" and "rewards you really, really want." All you have to do is spend at least $300 on your wireless bill or some other Verizon service. http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-verizon-up-privacy-issues-20170915-story.html -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20170917195923.GA31655@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2017 15:59:23 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Verizon Is Booting 8,500 Rural Customers Over Data Use, Including Some on 'Unlimited' Plans By Tom McKay Verizon has decided to abruptly cut off wireless internet to some 8,500 rural customers in 13 states, saying their heavy data use had made it impossible to profit off of the accounts - even though many of the users had purchased unlimited plans. "Approximately 8,500 customers - using a variety of plans - were notified this month that we would no longer be their service provider after October 17th, 2017," Verizon corporate communications director Kelly Crummey told BGR. "These customers live in 13 states (Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah and Wisconsin) and in areas outside of where Verizon operates our own network." http://gizmodo.com/verizon-is-booting-8-500-rural-customers-over-data-use-1818476496 -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20170917200317.GA31675@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2017 16:03:17 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Verizon's nixing some cell service in rural Montana has locals scared about emergencies By Kristen Inbody, Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune Some rural Montana residents are learning they'll soon be without cell phone service after Verizon Wireless quietly informed them they're dropping them. At issues are accounts that use too much data outside the network. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/09/17/verizons-nixing-some-cell-service-rural-montana-has-locals-scared-emergencies/674986001/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <8507758a-79b6-4ed8-875a-7eb3b5864f1a@googlegroups.com> Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2017 20:42:30 -0700 (PDT) From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Seventy years ago--sunspots and communications The Western Union Technical Review did a study of the impact of sunspots on wire, cable, and radio transmissions. If they got bad, communications could be adversely impacted by spurious currents and interference. Back then, some telegraph lines were ground return (as were very early telephone lines). A metallic circuit, while more expensive, offered better quality and reliability. Telephone engineers recognized early on that metallic circuits were necessary. The very low bandwidth of Morse telegraph was more forgiving. The article describes what was known 70 years ago and what they were doing to protect signals and equipment: http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/technical/western-union-tech-review/01-2/p059.htm (This was the second issue and was still typewritten.) In contrast, an article in Wikipedia describes what is known today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunspots ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Mon, 18 Sep 2017