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The Telecom Digest for July 28, 2012
Volume 31 : Issue 183 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Re: Challenge-Response (T)
Sprint Nextel Reports Second Quarter 2012 Results and Updates Full Year Forecast (Monty Solomon)
Re: Caller-ID says McGraw-Hill, voice says "Best Help"? (T)
Re: Heathkit Declares Bankruptcy, Closes for Good (Again) (T)

====== 30 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======

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Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:41:43 -0400
From: T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Challenge-Response 
Message-ID: <MPG.2a7c72b27545e016989d75@news.eternal-september.org>

In article <vjui081c2e3td8892v0hggehagpd1n2odu@4ax.com>, 
PeteCress@invalid.telecom-digest.org says...
> 
> I have been ranting about challenge-response periodically for a
> couple of years now.
> 
> "Captcha" for phones, so-to-speak.
> 
> Does anybody else think that's where phone service is headed
> globally?
> 
> I'm thinking that a standard part of phone service (like the
> ubiquitous answering-machine functionality) will be a means to
> implement challenge-response.
> 
> A couple of examples where the phone doesn't even ring until the
> challenge has been met:
> 
> - A message that says "Press 1 for Joe, press 2 for Sam, press 3
> for Sue...... where the right number to press is buried somewhere
> in there and pressing anything else disconnects the call.
> 
> - A message that says something like "Please the number of
> fingers on a human hand" and anything but 5 disconnects.
> 
> 
> These could be implemented so that frequent callers can just
> press the right number as soon as the challenger picks up so they
> are minimally inconvenienced.  
> 
> 
> I'm still looking for reasons whey the world isn't headed in this
> direction...
> 
> 
> ??

It's not going to happen. Most phone services allow call-block now. And 
on my phone I use Blacklist for Android - MetroPCS wants to charge me a 
buck a month for phone block. A $2 app does it forever and I don't need 
to pay MetroPCS for the privilege. 




Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2012 10:11:31 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Sprint Nextel Reports Second Quarter 2012 Results and Updates  Full Year Forecast
Message-ID: <p062408a5cc37003d09c7@[10.0.1.6]>

26 July 2012

Sprint Nextel Reports Second Quarter 2012 Results and Updates Full 
Year Forecast

Best ever Sprint platform postpaid ARPU of $63.38 drives Sprint 
platform wireless service revenue growth of 16 percent year-over-year

Best ever Sprint platform postpaid churn of 1.69 percent

Continued strong iPhone sales of nearly 1.5 million - 40 percent to 
new postpaid customers

Network Vision deployment continues on track

Launched 4G LTE in five major markets and 15 cities on July 15

Continue to expect 12,000 sites on air by the end of 2012

Shutdown of 9,600 Nextel sites now complete

60 percent of postpaid subscribers leaving Nextel platform recaptured 
on Sprint platform

Operating loss of $629 million; Adjusted OIBDA* of $1.45 billion 
increases 10 percent year-over-year and includes Network Vision and 
iPhone dilution

Year-over-year increase in Adjusted OIBDA* is the highest in more 
than five years

Sequential quarterly increase in Adjusted OIBDA* of 20 percent

2012 Adjusted OIBDA* forecast increased to between $4.5 billion and 
$4.6 billion

...

http://newsroom.sprint.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2340




Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:44:04 -0400
From: T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Caller-ID says McGraw-Hill, voice says "Best Help"?  
Message-ID: <MPG.2a7c733e74b55c17989d76@news.eternal-september.org>

In article <2diu0810kli7idcf1ge3njllnlbvsqfd1k@4ax.com>, 
lunch@nofreelunch.us says...
> 
> On Tue, 24 Jul 2012 12:44:33 -0400, tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net>
> wrote in comp.dcom.telecom:
> 
> >Curiosity made me answer a phone call this morning that Caller-ID showed as
> >coming from an area 212 (NYC) number identified by name as McGraw Hill Com.
> >
> >A female voice at the other end, speaking an intelligible but oddly
> >accented English, asked for me by name, and then said "This is 'Best Help',
> >it's a call about your computer, OK?"
> >
> >My response? "No; not OK; thanks; bye." And I hung up. McGraw Hill, indeed!
> >
> >This business of impersonating legitimate and well-known organizations by
> >sending counterfeit Caller-ID data has got to stop. Are not the local loop
> >providers somehow "accessories after the fact" to that fraud?
> >
> >Cheers, -- tlvp
> 
> We got a 000-000-0000 call that the caller claimed happened because he
> was on VOIP. Does that make sense? AFAIK the VOIP services include
> Caller-ID. The caller still refused to identify his organization after
> being asked to do so. 
> 
> On a similar note, if the whole point of ANI was to pass along the
> number to the person paying for the call, shouldn't ANI be passed for
> all calls to cell phones?

I note Skype used to send 000-000-0000, now it send 012-345-6789 on 
occasion. 




Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:44:55 -0400
From: T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re:  Heathkit Declares Bankruptcy, Closes for Good  (Again)
Message-ID: <MPG.2a7c7376ffe9be7d989d77@news.eternal-september.org>

In article <p0624085ccc34c98b3ba1@[10.0.1.6]>, monty@roscom.com says...
> 
> Heathkit Declares Bankruptcy, Closes for Good (Again)
> 
> 07/24/2012
> 
> The July 19 edition of The Herald-Palladium -- a newspaper serving 
> the communities of Benton Harbor and St Joseph, Michigan -- is 
> reporting that Heathkit Education Company has declared bankruptcy and 
> has officially closed its doors after defaulting on its lease. 
> According to the paper, Heathkit employed more than 1800 people in 
> its heyday after World War II; when it finally closed, its workforce 
> totaled fewer than six people. This is the second time since 1992 
> that Heathkit Educational Services has shuttered its doors. In August 
> 2011, Heathkit announced it was returning to the kit building 
> business, and in September, that it would once again be manufacturing 
> Amateur Radio kits.
> 
> ...
> 
>
> http://www.arrl.org/news/view/heathkit-declares-bankruptcy-closes-for-good-again
> 

I find it odd that they couldn't make a go of it when companies like 
Sparkfun and even MPJA are doing a bang up job of it. 






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