29 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981
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The Telecom Digest for May 27, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 134 : "text" Format
====== 29 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ====== |
Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
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Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 06:25:40 +0800
From: John Mayson <john@mayson.us>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Pre-paid SIM cards in the US
Message-ID: <BANLkTi=xp9T+2y6s=m3cO2ORB6fwFENZCQ@mail.gmail.com>
On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 4:39 AM, Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>
>>AT&T would not sell him a SIM telling him before they could sell him
>>one he needed a phone number and to have a phone number he needed an
>>account with AT&T.
>
>>T-Mobile gladly sold him one and it works great.
>
> I'm with the AT&T clerk on this one, for I am confused as to how he could
> have a SIM card without a telephone number. What was the objection, that
> he didn't want a cell phone number geographiccally assigned to San Jose?
Wouldn't the SIM card come with a telephone number? How would someone
not from the US have an existing phone number?
> Did T-Mobile sell him a SIM card also assigned to existing telephone number
> geographically assigned to Malaysia?
No, he got a +1-408 number.
--
John Mayson <john@mayson.us>
Austin, Texas, USA
Date: 26 May 2011 01:00:26 -0000
From: "John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Pre-paid SIM cards in the US
Message-ID: <20110526010026.456.qmail@joyce.lan>
>>AT&T would not sell him a SIM telling him before they could sell him
>>one he needed a phone number and to have a phone number he needed an
>>account with AT&T.
>
>>T-Mobile gladly sold him one and it works great.
>
>I'm with the AT&T clerk on this one, for I am confused as to how he could
>have a SIM card without a telephone number.
The clerk was a moron. They sell you a SIM (or a prepaid phone with a
SIM), then activate it and assign you a telephone number. That's how
prepaid service works in the US.
This is exactly what I did in an AT&T store in NYC last month. He
said he could only assign me a number in the NYC area -- if I wanted
one upstate where I live I'd have had to call 611 later and have them
change my number.
SIMs aren't tied to phone numbers. That relationship is made at the
switch. That's why you can move an existing number to a new phone,
and change the number on an existing phone.
R's,
John
Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 11:15:04 -0500
From: Neal McLain <nmclain@annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Comcast Tests Tech Overhaul
Message-ID: <4DDE7C88.7000108@annsgarden.com>
By jessica E. Vascellaro
Comcast Corp., facing a growing threat from online video services, is
fighting fire with fire.
The country's largest cable-service provider soon will start testing a
new way to deliver its television channels, co-opting the same
technology standard that upstart Internet rivals have used to challenge
traditional pay-TV business models.
Using the MIT campus as its proving ground, Comcast in coming months
will try delivering TV channels using the same standard used to deliver
data over the Internet, known as the Internet protocol, or IP.
Like other cable providers, Comcast currently delivers channels over
less versatile digital television technology that sends the video in
streams to set-top boxes and isn't compatible with the Internet.
http://tinyurl.com/3o6erko
Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 10:43:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lisa or Jeff <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: No. 10A Remote Switching System--experience/historical track record?
Message-ID: <218959f5-5efb-496e-a521-0785f3bedfff@u26g2000vby.googlegroups.com>
In April 1982 the BSTJ reported on a new remote switching system, the
No. 10A, that was intended to economically replace small step-by-step
community dial offices and provide ESS features to subscribers who
otherwise couldn't get them.
Table of Contents of that issue: (very detailed description of the
system)
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/bstj/vol61-1982/bstj-vol61-issue04.html
The No. 10A is a slave system to a larger ESS.
IIRC, many small switching offices were indeed replace by this or
other arranagements. In a sense, this switch is a fancy line
concentrator.
Now, nearly 30 years later, would anyone know of the actual service
experience of the 10A or similar functional units? It seems like a
good idea, and given the huge drop in the cost of electronics since
that time, probably more such systems have been deployed.
Of course the flip side is that many tiny communities with a CDO have
grown as a result of population growth and suburbanization and would
need more capacity.
Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 11:11:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lisa or Jeff <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Early Voice Mail ("voice storage") systems
Message-ID: <1e448fe7-2bfa-4a01-8c5e-b4fee34bad83@32g2000vbe.googlegroups.com>
The May 1982 issue of BSTJ has a seires of articles on voice storage.
This technology led to voice mail services.
As usual, Bell Labs extensively researched the architecture, physical
design, software, office engineering, maintenance, and reliability,
with articles describing in detail the findings.
The preface says the FCC ordered Bell to cease work on this system as
it violated regulatory policy--it was considered a premium add-on in
violation of "Computer II". So even though in 1982 Bell's competitors
were providing both transmission services and customer equipment, Bell
was forbidden to offer its own premium services.
How much of this research carried forward to voice mail systems I
don't know. But I can't but suspect that subsequent private
developers benefited from Bell's original research and trials.
table of contents may be found at:
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/bstj/vol61-1982/bstj-vol61-issue05.html
Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 09:02:33 +1000
From: David Clayton <dcstarbox-usenet@yahoo.com.au>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Pre-paid SIM cards in the US
Message-ID: <pan.2011.05.25.23.02.29.969062@yahoo.com.au>
On Wed, 25 May 2011 20:39:49 +0000, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> John Mayson <john@mayson.us> wrote:
>
>>Here's the verdict.
>
>>Earlier this year a coworker from Malaysia went to San Jose and neither
>>AT&T Mobility nor T-Mobile USA would sell him a SIM card telling him his
>>only option was buying the prepaid phone.
>
>>A second coworker went over armed with the information you gave me plus
>>some digging I did.
>
>>AT&T would not sell him a SIM telling him before they could sell him one
>>he needed a phone number and to have a phone number he needed an account
>>with AT&T.
>
>>T-Mobile gladly sold him one and it works great.
>
> I'm with the AT&T clerk on this one, for I am confused as to how he could
> have a SIM card without a telephone number. What was the objection, that
> he didn't want a cell phone number geographically assigned to San Jose?
..........
Since there are security issues with SIMs/handsets these days the customer
identification credentials are probably the issue, not any technical
issues.
If is probably the difference in the internal bureaucracy between the two
organisations.
--
Regards, David.
David Clayton
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a
measure of how many questions you have.
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