34 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981Copyright © 2015 E. William Horne. All Rights Reserved.The Telecom Digest for Oct 11, 2015
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| If we could survive without a wife, citizens of Rome, all of us would do without that nuisance; but since nature has so decreed that we cannot manage comfortably with them, nor live in any way without them, we must plan for our lasting preservation rather than for our temporary pleasure. |
| Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus |
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| Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2015 16:24:41 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: The Cellphone Imperative: if I can't text, I'm moving Message-ID: <B4E98CD3-7149-4D86-8598-C7489D97C215@roscom.com> New York developers are installing distributed antenna systems, or D.A.S., to boost cellphone coverage. What's more frustrating than being cut off in the middle of an important phone call or missing an urgent text because of a bad wireless connection? Having it happen while you're in your own living room. As New York City apartment towers are built to new heights using cutting-edge design and technology, developers still often find themselves stymied by an important aspect of contemporary life: providing crystal-clear, never-quit cellphone service. It turns out that the thick concrete walls, reinforced steel floors and specially coated low-emissions windowpanes used in many new high-rises can weaken, if not block out, wireless signals. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/realestate/the-cellphone-imperative-if-i-cant-text-im-moving.html ***** Moderator's Note ***** Having just spent $266.67 on a femtocell, I can say that I feel their pain. What bothers me, and I say this at the risk of being further branded as an anti-cellular luddite, is that the builders don't tell the cellular carriers that it's their cash flow and their problem. Cable companies had to pay to have apartments wired for cable TV (which later morphed into Internet and phone service), and the Baby Bells used to have entire departments dedicated to keeping track of new high-rise buildings under construction, so that Ma Bell could go in and install wire while the walls were still open. What changed? Bill Horne Moderator |
| Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2015 16:21:32 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Obama won't seek access to encrypted cellphone data Message-ID: <12C55FD5-B45E-4782-8F02-E81065FC81B4@roscom.com> The Obama administration has concluded that it is not possible to give American agencies a back door to encrypted smartphone data without creating an opening for other nations, criminals and terrorists. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/us/politics/obama-wont-seek-access-to-encrypted-user-data.html ***** Moderator's Note ***** I thought this was all settled with the Clipper Chip debacle. Then again, I know a lobbyist who told me that everything I see in the media is never what really happened. Bill Horne Moderator |
| Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2015 00:55:58 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Verizon raising prices on data plan Message-ID: <20151011045558.GA19689@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Verizon to raise prices of unlimited, grandfatherd data plans by $20 Less than one percent of customers still have unlimited data. Verizon doesn't want to be the bad guy and completely get rid of its old unlimited data plans, so it's pursuing a new strategy: price customers out of them. The Verge has learned that Verizon will soon raise the monthly cost of grandfathered unlimited data plans by an additional $20 per line to $49.99. A friendly tipster clued us in on the change, and when contacted for comment, a Verizon spokesperson confirmed the news. The new rate will apply beginning in November. To be clear, $49.99 is the cost of unlimited data alone and is added on top of your monthly voice and text plan. I've got the Nationwide Talk & Text 450 plan ($59.99), so this change would raise my monthly payment to $109.98, and that's before Verizon's extra fees and charges. If you've got more or unlimited voice minutes, you'll pay more each month. For customers determined to remain on the unlimited plan, Verizon will now let them purchase new smartphones through its monthly device payment plan; previously, you could only buy phones outright at their full retail cost. That's one upside in this news. http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/8/9478093/verizon-increasing-unlimited-data-price -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) |
| Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2015 01:14:35 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Can't use AT&T's Wi-Fi calling with your iPhone? This could be why Message-ID: <20151011051435.GA19744@telecom.csail.mit.edu> By Chris Ziegler For the launch of the iPhone 6S, I elected to buy the T-Mobile version from Apple instead of the AT&T one, because I was planning on paying full price for the phone and the T-Mobile one comes unlocked out of the box. (I don't plan on leaving AT&T, necessarily, but an unlocked phone is easier to use internationally and has a higher resale value.) I suspect there are some folks out there who did the same. What you may not have known, though, is that using this version of the phone on AT&T sets off a weird chain of events that you'll want to be aware of. http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/9/9488403/att-wi-fi-calling-problem-unlocked-iphone-6s -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) |
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