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The Telecom Digest for June 15, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 151 : "text" Format
====== 29 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ====== |
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Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2011 10:25:46 -0500
From: Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: New telephone area-code 431 in Winnipeg area?
Message-ID: <it5a6h$8ld$1@dont-email.me>
On 6/10/2011 12:42 PM, Some Guy wrote:
> The caller ID info is injected during the space between the first and
> second rings - right? Do telco's allow customers to inject their own
> info somehow to over-ride the real data?
My VoIP vendor gives me a field to fill in on the config screen for
CID number. I can type any number I want into that field.
Dave
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:25:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lisa or Jeff <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Battery power support today
Message-ID: <5b44c4d8-e5ba-4ae5-8060-afc6e4bf4d3f@d1g2000yqk.googlegroups.com>
semi-offtopic
Battery technology was previously discussed in this newsgroup.
The NYT reported that the Phila transit system will use battery packs
to pick up power generated by braking subway trains and return it when
trains acceleration. (Electric motors can be easily switched to
become generators).
Also, some power could be fed back into the general power grid and
help control frequency deviations from the desired 60.000 Hz.
see:
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/batteries-will-save-juice-o...
Historically, telephone switching offices as well as PBXs had large
battery supplies which were kept charged on a 'float current' from
power supplied by rectifying commercial power. If commercial power
failed, the batteries would be charged by large diesel engines and
generators. All of this power plant was a major installation as part
of the central office.
It has been suggested that some central offices, remote switching
nodes, and cell phone antenna sites, no longer have generators to
supply power in a commercial outage after the batteries run down.
This is troubling. Plenty of relatively normal nasty snowfalls can
bring down commercial lines requiring more an eight hours to restore.
A tough weather event would generate greatly increased telephone and
datacomm usage, further taxing the power supply.
Hopefully the new battery technology referred to in the article could
perhaps allow telephone plant to _economically_ have greater standby
capacity, especially when there isn't a diesel engine available.
(Anyone know how many kilowatts of power are consumed by a telephone
central office at the busy hour?)
Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2011 02:29:59 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: F.B.I. Agents Get Leeway to Push Privacy Bounds
Message-ID: <p0624080eca1cb03068b1@[10.0.1.3]>
F.B.I. Agents Get Leeway to Push Privacy Bounds
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
June 12, 2011
WASHINGTON - The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving
significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them
more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use
surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have
attracted their attention.
The F.B.I. soon plans to issue a new edition of its manual, called
the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, according to an
official who has worked on the draft document and several others who
have been briefed on its contents. The new rules add to several
measures taken over the past decade to give agents more latitude as
they search for signs of criminal or terrorist activity.
The F.B.I. recently briefed several privacy advocates about the
coming changes. Among them, Michael German, a former F.B.I. agent who
is now a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, argued that
it was unwise to further ease restrictions on agents' power to use
potentially intrusive techniques, especially if they lacked a firm
reason to suspect someone of wrongdoing.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/us/13fbi.html
Date: 13 Jun 2011 15:01:51 GMT
From: Doug McIntyre <merlyn@geeks.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: New telephone area-code 431 in Winnipeg area?
Message-ID: <4df6265f$0$79797$8046368a@newsreader.iphouse.net>
John David Galt <jdg@diogenes.sacramento.ca.us> writes:
>Some Guy wrote:
>> The caller ID info is injected during the space between the first and
>> second rings - right? Do telco's allow customers to inject their own
>> info somehow to over-ride the real data?
>Any business that operates its own PBX is allowed to generate its own
>Caller ID strings. I don't know of any telco that vets them.
Most of the CLECs do now for new orders. They aren't going to go back
and retroactively filter existing lines in my experience.
For instance, I can't send callerID strings out of my PBX that aren't
within my DID range out my PRI trunks like I used to be able to in the
past (since I had changed up my trunks a while back).
If I try to do so, it reverts back to the ANI.
When shopping around for VoIP PRIs for my customers, I've found many
do filter and wouldn't remove the filters without very good
justification, and just because they were a VoIP provider wasn't enough..
That was probably a flag to not allow them to do so. :)
But there are tons of trunks out there that don't filter, and probably
plenty of LECs as well.
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:57:57 -0400
From: tlvp <PtUlRvGEpTrHeEsSsE@hotmail.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Motorola Phone Tools
Message-ID: <op.vw1jmvb1pbosr7@acer250.gateway.2wire.net>
I bought a RAZR V3 USB data cable with Motorola Phone Tools
at an at&t phone store. It's worked well for tethering with
a Motorola SLVR (aka L2) produced for Cingular/at&t, but I
wonder: will it work just as well for tethering a RAZR V3
produced for T-Voicestream/T-Mobile? Or will the RAZR's use
of 1700 MHz where the L2 uses 1900 MHz put a crimp in things?
TIA for any comments of any help. And cheers, -- tlvp
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:07:27 -0400
From: Regina_R_Monaco <remonaco@sonic.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Cable rates are rising, but don't blame your provider - entirely
Message-ID: <EF54A257-F176-4842-B1AA-90908AC1947B@sonic.net>
On Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:59:20 -0700, Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com> wrote:
Telecom Digest Moderator wrote:
..
>
> Just tell Mayor Menino that he's a pretentious blow-hard, and
> organize a
> boycott of Comcast: they'll get the message. Better yet, turn it off,
> get a library card, and read a book.
That isn't going to happen.
Perhaps going to Dish or Direct is the answer.
***** Moderator's Note *****
If it doesn't happen for others, they get to bear the
consequences. You have your own choice.
Bill Horne
Moderator
I don't think cable TV is entirely a luxury, nor can the problem of
the rising price of this service to consumers due to monopolistic
practices by cable providers be solved as easily as consumers
canceling their service and "getting a book" (not that that's a bad
idea!). Personally I have done exactly that - I've not had cable, due
to the ridiculously high prices and the monopolistic practices of Time
Warner Cable, for over 8 years. When really bored, there is of course,
Hulu.
What I have come to appreciate over this time is that I am missing
some amount of important social continuity with most other people.
Even things that seem utterly bereft of value, such as commercials,
can facilitate social bonding when one talks with others. I also miss
information that one picks up casually when the TV is on, such as
local news items (even though news is available online of course), and
things you see simply by flipping the dial - sports scores that I
would never look for, new (bad) shows, new formats. Example: I missed
the Royal Wedding and while I am no Royal follower, it certainly was
world news and an event that people talked about ,and it would have
been amusing to have had it on at 4am along with much of the world as
the silliness of it played out.
What I am trying to say is that while cable offers a stream of mostly
inane information, that stream can have a function beyond
entertainment and offers content that people often use to bond
socially. Being out of that loop can be surprisingly somewhat isolating.
So keeping the price reasonable for consumers instead of gouging them
is, I think, important. Most consumers do not want to be left out in
this way, and this social function of cable TV cannot be replaced by a
book, alas. IMHO, OC!
--Regina
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