The Telecom Digest
Tuesday, September 6, 2022
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Message-ID: <20220905204948.GA250021@telecomdigest.us>
Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2022 20:49:48 +0000
From: Bill Horne <malassimQRMilation@gmail.com>
Subject: My VoIP phone is dead
My callcentric VoIP phone stopped working yesterday, and it's still out.
I have a new ISP: they bought out the old local company which was
providing cable TV and Internet service, and I've been having trouble
ever since. Streaming media such as Reuters and CBS news have gaps in
their audio feeds, and even missing video while the audio continues
on, and the online Zoom video call I (and others) used yesterday to
attend my Quaker meeting without risk of Covid-19 was so intermittent
that I had to drop out and log back in twice.
The new Cable TV/ISP owner started their operations a few weeks
ago. On the day they took control, I lost the ability to log in to the
T-D servers at M.I.T. I had to install VPN software to regain access,
and then when I tried to find out which North Carolina government
agency regulates such companies, the TCP port which is used for "ssh"
connections was suddenly not blocked anymore.
Yesterday, my VoIP phone went dead. It's a three line phone, and there
are two VoIP services I use it for: Callcentric, where I get my "home"
phone number, and the Hamshack Hotline, a free VoIP service for
Amateur Radio operators like me. They both quit at the same time.
This morning, I talked to a person at the new cableco's "trouble"
number, and she told me that she was going to reset my cable modem. Lo
and behold, the Callcentric line came back, long enough for me to make
a call to my sister's home in Massachusetts: I talked to my
brother-in-law for a few minutes, and said 'goodbye,' and hanged up. A
few minutes later, the line was out again.
I called the new cableco's trouble department again: they told me that
it's a problem in my router and demanded that I call the company that
made the router for help. I told them they were wrong, and demanded to
speak to Tier 2 support, and they said they would submit a ticket but
that the departement which handles that isn't open today.
This reminds me of what Comcast was caught doing a while back: they
would block any port that they didn't like, and when anyone
complained, they'd open the port for a few days, and then go back to
blocking it again.
I'll call the new cableco tomorrow, and ask what it will cost to
restore VoIP connectivity. Suggestions welcome.
Bill Horne
--
(Please remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)
Message-ID: <20220905200640.GA249677@telecomdigest.us> Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2022 20:06:40 +0000 From: Bill Horne <malassimQRMilation@gmail.com> Subject: Task of watering ‘broadband deserts’ gets underway My take: Task of watering ‘broadband deserts’ gets underway By Delaware Business Now An ambitious program to bring broadband internet to areas of the state is getting underway. Three of the four cable companies operating in Delaware will share in the nearly $45 million grant that is part of a $110 million program announced earlier, Fierce Telecom reported. The money comes from the American Rescue Plan Act. Comcast will get $33 million, with Mediacom and Verizon splitting the remainder. Not a part of the program is Breezeline, formerly Atlantic Broadband, the cable carrier serving Middletown and adjacent areas. https://delawarebusinessnow.com/2022/09/my-take-task-of-watering-broadband-deserts-gets-underway/ Message-ID: <20220905194445.GA249499@telecomdigest.us> Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2022 19:44:45 +0000 From: Bill Horne <malassimQRMilation@gmail.com> Subject: People Fight Tooth and Nail to Unionize, but They Shouldn't Need To | Opinion By Sara Steffens And Jimmy Williams Jr. This Labor Day we celebrate the unprecedented waves of worker-led organizing that are sweeping America. Workers from nearly every industry in our country are joining together to use their collective power to demand change at their workplaces - resulting in stunning union representation wins at multi-billion dollar mega corporations like Starbucks, Amazon, Apple, and Chipotle. But behind each of those victories are the harrowing stories of workers who have faced vicious, illegal union-busting tactics. … Verizon fired a worker organizing a union at a Seattle-area store in April. And the brutal reality is that companies of all sizes use tactics like these on a regular basis without making headlines. https://www.newsweek.com/people-fight-tooth-nail-unionize-they-shouldnt-need-opinion-1739159 Message-ID: <20220905195610.GA249611@telecomdigest.us> Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2022 19:56:10 +0000 From: Bill Horne <malassimQRMilation@gmail.com> Subject: It looks like Verizon accidentally bought $1.5M worth of 2.5GHz spectrum By Mike Dano Verizon purchased a handful of 2.5GHz spectrum licenses scattered around the US for a total of $1.5 million in the FCC's recent auction. Analysts are calling it an accident. “This 2.5GHz spectrum will be useless to Verizon; the company actually tried to dump all of their bids, but got stuck as the final bidder for the licenses they won,” wrote the financial analysts at New Street Research in a note to investors. Verizon currently does not widely use 2.5GHz spectrum in its wireless network. https://www.lightreading.com/5g/it-looks-like-verizon-accidentally-bought-$15m-worth-of-25ghz-spectrum/d/d-id/780140 |
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