33 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981
Copyright © 2014 E. William Horne. All Rights Reserved.
The Telecom Digest for Oct 2, 2014
Volume 33 : Issue 172 : "text" Format
33 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981Copyright © 2014 E. William Horne. All Rights Reserved.The Telecom Digest for Oct 2, 2014 |
| Messages in this Issue: | |
|---|---|
| AT&T's congestion magically disappears when it's signing up new customers | (Bill Horne) |
| iOS 8 MAC Randomization | (Monty Solomon) |
| AT&T, Where "Congestion" and Data Caps Only Apply To Existing Users | (Bill Horne) |
| AT&T To Defy "Exploding" offers | (Bill Horne) |
| 3 Industries That Desperately Need Customer Service Makeovers | (Bill Horne) |
| New rule allows New Jersey state legislators to "phone it in" | (hancock4) |
| The passion for office among members of Congress is very great, if not absolutely disreputable, and greatly embarrasses the operations of the Government. They create offices by their own votes and then seek to fill them themselves. - James K. Polk |
See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details.
| Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 12:51:48 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: AT&T's congestion magically disappears when it's signing up new customers Message-ID: <m0en34$tqm$1@dont-email.me> AT&T's congestion magically disappears when it's signing up new customers Unlimited plans throttled after 5GB, but AT&T gives new lines 100GB unthrottled. by Jon Brodkin AT&T yesterday began offering "double the data for the same price" to new customers and existing customers who sign new contracts, apparently forgetting that its network is so congested that speeds must be throttled when people use too much data. Like other carriers, AT&T slows the speeds of certain users when the network is congested. Such network management is a necessary evil that can benefit the majority of customers when used to ensure that everyone can connect to the network. But as Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has argued, the carriers' selective enforcement of throttling shows that it can also be used to boost revenue by pushing subscribers onto pricier plans. http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/09/att-congestion-magically-disappears-when-its-signing-up-new-customers/ -or- http://goo.gl/httn5T -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly) For it's hi-hi-hee in the Field Artillery, Shout out the number loud and strong. Till our final ride, It will always be our pride To keep those caissons a rolling along. - Gruber/Bryden/Danford |
| Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 10:22:57 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: iOS 8 MAC Randomization Message-ID: <p0624088cd0506b2cb05e@[10.0.1.7]> iOS8 MAC Randomization - Analyzed! SEPTEMBER 23, 2014 by Bhupinder Misra In June of this year, at WWDC#14, Apple announced that the Wi-Fi scanning behavior of their devices would change starting with iOS8. They would start using randomized and locally administrated Wi-Fi MAC addresses in the probing state. The touted rationale was that such an approach would hide the real MAC addresses of the devices and make MAC address based analytics difficult. I didn't find any instances of randomized MAC addresses in iOS8 beta releases. Apple made iOS8 generally available as part of their September 2014 launch. Accordingly, it was time for me to take out the packet sniffing gear and clock some hours to dig into the workings of randomized MAC addresses. Read on and familiarize yourself with how they work in iOS8 on iPhone 5, iPhone 5s and iPad mini (iOS8 is supported on iPhone 4s and onwards). I'll do a follow up post if anything different is found in iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus ... http://blog.airtightnetworks.com/ios8-mac-randomization-analyzed/ http://blog.airtightnetworks.com/ios8-mac-randomgate/ |
| Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 12:09:21 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: AT&T, Where "Congestion" and Data Caps Only Apply To Existing Users Message-ID: <m0ekji$9mm$1@dont-email.me> By Chris Morran Ever since AT&T and Verizon got rid of unlimited wireless plans, both companies have used the questionable excuse of "congestion," claiming that throttling data after remaining unlimited users pass an arbitrary threshold was necessary to keep data flowing. But in plans announced over the weekend, AT&T is effectively once again offering unlimited data (for a limited time) to new customers, which makes one wonder - what happened to all that congestion? The Death Star announced over the weekend that it was doubling the data allotments of its mobile share value plans through Oct. 31. So an account that currently gives users 15GB of shared data will get you 30GB; this goes up through the current 50GB plan, which doubles to 100GB during the promotion. Rest at: http://consumerist.com/2014/09/30/att-where-congestion-data-caps-only-apply-to-existing-users/ -or- http://goo.gl/7Rlwv3 -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly) Tin can at my feet Think I'll kick it down the street That's the way to treat a friend - Randy Newman |
| Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 12:20:33 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: AT&T To Defy "Exploding" offers Message-ID: <m0el8i$eqe$1@dont-email.me> by Phil Bourget Cell phone carriers are great at a couple of things [- and] at not much else, usually. First, they are good at having enough towers and bandwidth to (most of the time) let you make a phone call anywhere. Second, they are good at having plans that seem like a good enough price with enough money-for-value in it to be worth it to many customers. And third, they are great at making offers sound like deals, with the former being a limited time thing while the latter is a lasting one. AT&T, however, apparently is being a not-cell phone carrier, by breaking the third one in half, for a limited time. AT&T is notorious for having a not-so-great set of prices on their data-related plans lately. Being number two in the United States sadly allows them to keep doing it. But as Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T's mobility and enterprise business, says "Those exploding offers - customers hate them". So, an 'exploding offer' is one that has a benefit, like a doubled amount of allotted data per month, but only for a limited amount of time. T-Mobile has an extra 1.5 GB of data until the onset of 2015. Verizon has a similar 'deal' which includes an extra gigabyte of data for two years, then it's gone. The reasoning behind them is an initial benefit, then during the plan or contract it goes away and the customer is stuck with a sub-par plan. AT&T has plans for its plans, and it includes a data doubling, but it seems to be done right. Rest at: http://www.androidheadlines.com/2014/09/att-defy-exploding-offers-limited-time-permanent-effect-data-doubling-offer.html -or- http://goo.gl/OlgTKf -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly) If you want a lover I'll do anything that you ask me to And if you want another kind of love I'll wear a mask for you - Leonard Cohen |
| Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 12:30:33 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: 3 Industries That Desperately Need Customer Service Makeovers Message-ID: <m0elra$jka$1@dont-email.me> by Brad Tuttle Comcast is hardly the only company that should be doing some soul searching and commit - not only with words but actions - to making customer service genuinely better. Because the state of customer service has been bad for so long, and because we've heard many times over that some or another big initiative would improve customer service dramatically only to have little or no impact, we're skeptical about the effectiveness of any broad campaign supposedly crafted to address age-old customer grievances. Nonetheless, it was good to see Comcast's recent announcement that a long-serving executive named Charlie Herrin had been named as the company's new senior vice president of customer experience. "Charlie will listen to feedback from customers as well as our employees to make sure we are putting our customers at the center of every decision we make," a message from Comcast president and CEO Neil Smit explained on Friday. ... To be fair, it's not just Comcast that's sorely in need of a customer service makeover. Here are three entire business categories that are regularly bashed for not putting customers' needs first on the agenda. Rest at: http://time.com/money/3445407/comcast-pay-tv-internet-wireless-banks-customer-service/ -or- http://goo.gl/zif5qv -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly) I am changing my name to Chrysler I am going down to Washington, D.C. I will tell some power broker what you did for Iacocca Would be perfectly acceptable to me - Tom Paxton |
| Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 10:39:21 -0700 (PDT) From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: New rule allows New Jersey state legislators to "phone it in" Message-ID: <f3b2ef44-339c-496d-af51-d265c4d3199f@googlegroups.com> The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that members of the New Jersey Assembly will soon be able to register their attendance via cellphone or e-mail to allow certain routine legislative business to proceed. Major votes will still require an actual presence. full article at: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20141001_New_rule_lets_N_J__legislators_phone_it_in.html article from "NJ.COM": http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/09/nj_assembly_changes_rules_after_members_were_marked_present_without_knowing_it_1.html |
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