29 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981

Add this Digest to your personal   or  

The Telecom Digest for June 06, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 143 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Re: Caller Pays vs. Called Party Pays (was Re: DSL Reports: AT&T Caps Have Arrived)(Wes Leatherock)
Re: There's no easy escape from cellphone risks(Wes Leatherock)
Re: Pre-paid SIM cards in the US(John Levine)

====== 29 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Bill Horne 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, and other stuff of interest. 




Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2011 17:39:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Wes Leatherock <wleathus@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Caller Pays vs. Called Party Pays (was Re: DSL Reports: AT&T Caps Have Arrived) 
Message-ID: <541434.30352.qm@web111724.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>

--- On Fri, 6/3/11, Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Let's not get into the old saw of "their system is better than
> ours."  In Europe and other countries where the subscriber doesn't
> pay to receive calls the calls are not free.  The initiator of the
> call pays for all call charges and always at a non-negotiated rate.
> Whatever the tariff is that's what the caller pays and very often at
> a rate that's even higher than an international call to a regular
> number. Most people in North America get calling plans that give
> them a surfeit of available minutes or get a plan that gives them
> enough minutes that they can make just necessary calls.

I would think caller pays would severly restrict the usefulness of a
cellphone.  [Who] would pay to call their plumber, electrician or
whatever if they only list a cellnumber?  I notice quite a few
commercial vehicles now that list only a number I recognize as a cell
number.  Most landline service in the U.S.A. is flat rate, so there is
no marginal cost for making a call to a land line or to a cell
number...in many cases the caller doesn't know which he or she is
calling.

And, as you note, most cell phone users have more minutes than they
use, so there is no marginal cost there, either.

Wes Leatherock
wleathus@yahoo.com
wesrock@aol.com




Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2011 17:44:50 -0700 (PDT)
From: Wes Leatherock <wleathus@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: There's no easy escape from cellphone risks 
Message-ID: <350918.21548.qm@web111710.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>

--- On Thu, 6/2/11, David Clayton <dcstarbox-usenet@yahoo.com.au> wrote:

> One issue that might arise from these studies is he evolving changes
> in radiation intensity which must have varied since the beginning of
> cellphone networks.  In the beginning when there were far fewer base
> stations than there are now, the handsets must have been forced (on
> average) to transmit at hight power levels which would have had
> commensurate increase in any negative effects as outlined in these
> studies. Nowadays one can make the judgement that with more cell
> base stations (installed to meet the steadily increased demand) then
> - overall - handset transmit power should have diminished for a lot
> of users. There will be many exceptions in less dense service areas,
> but the general concept should be valid.  The bottom-line may be
> that the effects - which take a long time to arise - may be less
> harmful than a decade or so ago for the same overall time of phone
> usage with the device next to your skull.

Several commentators in the U.S.A. have noted that the possible danger
is about the same as the WHO cites for drinking coffee.

Wes Leatherock
wleathus@yahoo.com
wesrock@aol.com




Date: 5 Jun 2011 04:25:30 -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: <20110605042530.5372.qmail@joyce.lan>

>But it should be possible to snag a pre-paid SIM alone, without cheap
>phone to go with it, more economically, no?

You would think so, but in my experience you can usually get a prepaid
with a SIM for less than just a SIM.

>Cheers, -- tlvp (who's still hoping for answer to an analogous question
>for use in Canada -- Vancouver, BC, more exactly -- for a coupla' weeks'
>GSM data usage exclusively).

Your choices are Rogers, Fido (owned by Rogers but run separately), and
Telus.  Bell and the other wirelines are CDMA.  I think you will find
that the phrase "cheap Canadian prepaid" is an oxymoron, but you can poke
around on their web sites and see what they have to offer.

R's,
John





TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom-
munications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in
addition 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 Bill Horne. 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.

The Telecom Digest is moderated by Bill Horne.
Contact information:Bill Horne
Telecom Digest
43 Deerfield Road
Sharon MA 02067-2301
781-784-7287
bill at horne dot net
Subscribe:telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=subscribe telecom
Unsubscribe:telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=unsubscribe telecom 
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


Copyright (C) 2009 TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------

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 The Telecom Digest (3 messages)

Return to Archives ** Older Issues