---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20171026181708.GA27773@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2017 14:17:08 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Is Centurylink's New Internet Deal Too Good To Be True? Most of us see or hear dozens of ads each day, but one appears to really be grabbing people's attention. That's because it offers you "price for life" internet from CenturyLink, which on the surface sounds great. But is it too good to be true? To verify fact from fiction, our sources included CenturyLink market development manager Molly Clemen, U of M Marketing Professor George John, and John Brillhart, who runs his own company called Cable Alternatives. http://www.kare11.com/news/verify-is-centurylinks-new-internet-deal-too-good-to-be-true/485818271 -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ***** Moderator's Note ***** Every now and then, I get irritated enough at the constant stream of - dare I say it - "fake news," that I'm disposed to pass some of it along to my readers. We have here a good (I almost wrote "perfect") example, and I'll just leave it to the readers to decide if it's newsworthy. By the way, once does not "verify" fact from fiction. Whoever wrote this bit of - ah, "news" - could have written "separate," but "verify" is a more muscular word with better push and more sibilance, both of which help to keep the audience tuned in during the commercials, and thus to sell the soap. I'll climb down off my soapbox now. ;-) Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20171026195952.GA30205@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2017 15:59:52 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: AT&T: You Were Warned Summary * AT&T missed Q3 analyst estimates. * The company is losing key subscribers on multiple fronts. * The lack of benefits from the DirecTV merger should raise red flags concerning Time Warner. Despite ongoing weakness in the stock, AT&T (T) is down following Q3 results. Investors were warned that the wireless giant has no answer to the overly competitive situation that will place the stock price under pressure despite the now substantial 5.8% dividend yield. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4116392-t-warned -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20171026200952.GA30902@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2017 16:09:52 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: AT&T Loses Record 385,000 Traditional Pay-TV Subscribers AT&T Loses Record 385,000 Traditional Pay-TV Subscribers in Q3, Posts Gains for DirecTV Now AT&T's DirecTV and U-verse TV businesses were hammered in the third quarter of 2017, while the telco's over-the-top DirecTV Now service delivered its biggest quarterly increase since launching less than a year ago. The company reported a record quarterly loss of 385,000 traditional pay-TV subs, which AT&T blamed on increased competition from other pay-TV operators and over-the-top services, as well as implementing stricter credit standards and "hurricane disruptions." That was partially offset by 296,000 net adds for the DirecTV Now service. http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/att-directv-q3-2017-record-pay-tv-loss-1202598165/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <osrl3v$v2$2@grapevine.csail.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2017 03:34:23 +0000 (UTC) From: wollman@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: FCC Proposes Market-Based Changes to Toll Free Number Administration In article <51015be2f312da62d77a7f8726da11e1.squirrel@email.fatcow.com>, Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com> wrote: >On Sept. 28, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission >released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that >seeks to permit the assignment of toll free numbers via >alternative market-based approaches, I'd like to understand one thing: why does anyone bother with toll- free numbers any more? Don't most people have national calling plans at this point? (Especially poor people, who are as likely to have prepaid cellular as landlines these days.) -GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can, wollman@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future. This is Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together." my employers. | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015) ***** Moderator's Note ***** Toll-free numbers are no longer needed to attract cost-conscious prospects to sales centers, it's true. However, they are, and will continue to be, in constant demand for a different reason. When toll-free service was first offered, companies that were considering it for their brand name marketing were offered a critical incentive: the privilege of receiving computer printouts which showed the originating numbers that were used to dial each call. Since "800" numbers were created before the SS7 system was deployed, and thus before Caller ID info was transmitted from sender to recipient during call set-up, a different method had to be adopted: the "ANI" records which were gathered at each originating office, in order to bill long-distance calls, were used to assemble special reports that both the AT&T salespeople and the customers could use to measure the effectiveness of their respective sales efforts, and to target specific areas of their markets. Over time, the printouts have changed to data lines which deliver the ANI infomation in real time, so that toll-free customers can program their call-center computers to make split-second decisions about which call-taker or center will receive the call, including such factors as household income, most-probable language spoken, current brand penetration in the associated market, availability of inventory, and other factors too numerous to mention. The Baby Bells offer a "caller ID blocking" option to their customers, which is a profit-pack that they sell both on a monthly and per-call basis - but that option was never considered for calls to toll-free numbers, for both technical and more obvious reasons. It all boils down to more sales, and major vendors will be eagerly writing checks to cover "800" services for the foreseeable future. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Fri, 27 Oct 2017