Message-ID: <20210703220142.3491B73C@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu>
Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2021 22:01:42 +0000 (UTC)
From: Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org>
Subject: CWA Members in Minnesota Fight CenturyLink/Lumen's Attempt
to Eliminate Service Quality and Call Answering Time Requirements
CWA members are urging the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC)
to oppose CenturyLink/Lumen's attempt to eliminate service quality
rules and call center answering time requirements.
Service quality rules protect customers, particularly those in areas
where the company has failed to deploy fiber. An investigation by CWA
found that the company has failed to maintain its physical copper
plant and has failed to deploy fiber to 46 percent of its coverage
area in Minnesota. CWA's analysis revealed that the company is
prioritizing network upgrades to wealthier areas, leaving lower income
communities with outdated technologies.
https://cwa-union.org/news/cwa-members-in-minnesota-fight-centurylinklumens-attempt-eliminate-service-quality-and-call
Message-ID: <20210705042223.A48F7730@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu>
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2021 04:22:23 +0000 (UTC)
From: Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Oregon High Court Rejects CenturyLink Unit's Property Tax
Appeal
By Sam McQuillan
The Oregon Supreme Court has rejected a CenturyLink subsidiary's
property tax appeal, ruling that a lower court correctly assessed the
difference between the company's value and the value of property under
its control.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-tax-report-state/oregon-high-court-rejects-centurylink-units-property-tax-appeal
Message-ID: <20210704174036.54E3F730@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu>
Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2021 17:40:36 +0000 (UTC)
From: Bill Horne <malQassRimiMlation@gmail.com>
Subject: STIR/SHAKEN takes hold
I got a call yesterda, from an "Elizabeth Smith" at 916 658 3702: the
oh-so-sweet and sincere sounding Ms. Smith told me I might not know
that I was still "Pre approved," and promised to keep my file open,
and then asked that I dial 866 776 1384 to get more good news.
It might or might not have been a forged caller ID, but the fact that
the computer played a request to call a toll-free response line tells
me that STIR/SHAKEN is having an effect. As I've already written, I
don't think there will be much improvement in the robocall problem -
most likely, the slugs who plan the campaigns will just wait and see
if the new tactics work as well as the old, and then buy themselves
new laws if their profits drop too much.
As with other sleazy manipulation techniques, robocalls have resulted
in an arms race: my son and his friends, all of whom grew up without
being taught to answer phones politely, have already adopted a new
paradigm: when their phones ring, if they don't recognize the calling
number, they just divert the call to an already-full voice mail
system. That's discomfiting for Baby-boomers like me, but it's a much
more effective way to avoid wasting time listening to the voice of
Ms. Smith(1).
Having paid for the product-placement advertising that convinced every
teenager to want a call phone, and then having paid TV scriptwriters
to show every studly tall white actor or terminally pretty ingénue as
being willing to interrupt face-to-face conversations and answer cell
calls within seconds like perfectly programmed automatons, the
cellular industry is about to reap the whirlwind of manipulation and
deceit that it sowed. In the not-so-distant-future, even aged cellular
users like me will be setting our phones to silent mode whenever
they're talking to actual people, and once again, we'll be screening
like Olympic wrestlers *IF* we bother to check for recorded mesaages
at all.
Bill
1. If I'm not busy and I'm bored, I ask Ms. Smith what she thinks
about items in the news, or for help with a math question, or if
she's a member of the professional phone-callers union.
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)
