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| Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2015 10:11:14 -0400
From: Fred Goldstein <invalid@see.sig.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Re: Judge John Hodgman on a Wife's Casual Texts
Message-ID: <562E3482.1040405@ionary.com>
On 10/24/2015 12:06 PM, Harold Hallikainen wrote:
> Typing text messages on a tiny keyboard is a pain. If someone has not
> already done it, I hope to some day write an application to allow Morse
> text entry to text messaging. I could go a LOT faster.
>
Amen! I am now using a tiny thumb keyboard on a new Blackberry, which is
a mighty step up from the SSS T UU P III D way text is entered on a
10-digit keypad, and a lot easier for me than an infernal fondleslab
"picture of a keyboard". But my old dumbphone had an unused PTT button
that would have made a good Morse key. Of course such phones use BREW,
which isn't the most open OS in the world.
- de k1io
|
| Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2015 18:03:26 -0400
From: tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Re: Judge John Hodgman on a Wife's Casual Texts
Message-ID: <2hdyvksbx2g.1xe39bxivtzq5$.dlg@40tude.net>
On Mon, 26 Oct 2015 10:11:14 -0400, Fred Goldstein wrote:
> ... a mighty step up from the SSS T UU P III D way ...
Sorry, Fred, that's going to come out "the RRR T UU P III D way" -- what
you wanted is "the SSSS T UU P III D way". HHTHH :-) . Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.
|
| Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2015 17:17:38 -0400
From: Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: New federal rate caps on telephone calls by prison inmates
Message-ID: <barmar-28B58A.17173824102015@88-209-239-213.giganet.hu>
In article <20151024192628.GC23141@telecom.csail.mit.edu>,
Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> wrote:
> As for there being "zero good economic reasons" for higher-than-usual
> rates on calls from prisons, you are wrong.
>
> Here's a partial list of the good economic reasons:
Maybe those would explain a 50-100% bump in the price, but they hardly
explains rates that were reported to be more than 1,000 times higher
than the rates on the outside. Nor would increased costs explain why
the states should make a profit on the service -- if it costs the
telco more to provide the service, the fees should go to the telco.
--
Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***
|
| Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2015 10:19:36 -0400
From: Fred Goldstein <invalid@see.sig.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: New federal rate caps on telephone calls by prison inmates
Message-ID: <562E3678.8020505@ionary.com>
On 10/25/2015 1:01 PM, Bill Horne wrote:
>...
>> It seems to me that... with telephone sets costing, perhaps, five
>> dollars apiece for basic units, it would be better to treat them as
>> disposable throways and simply budget for a replacement each month. Or
>> even each week.
>
> I'm sorry, but that's not a viable solution. It does, however,
> illustrate the added costs and burdens that vendors must undergo when
> providing phone services in secure locations.
>
> Discount phones can't be used in secure environments because...
The telephone instrument cost is not the issue. If, taking Bill's
advice, it's a problem, then the phone set itself might be a $300
ruggedized model. Installing it would be done like any other
maintenance, with the prisoners moved elsewhere (unable to fling dung at
them, as if that were a real issue here). Let's say that it cost
$2000/phone once installation were done.
A prison phone is shared and queued, so it is very busy. Let's say it's
used 5 hours (300 minutes) per day. At five cents/minute, those fifteen
bucks/day pay for the phone in a few months. But prison phone calls
sometimes cost multiple dollars per minute. They could buy a new phone
every day for what they have been charging. It's a web of kickbacks to
the turnkeys that fuels the bill.
Nor does this only apply to convicts. Phone calls from jails (where
people who have not been convicted, but are not able to meet bail, are
kept) are also overpriced. These prisoners do need to talk to their
lawyers, and sometimes are involved in complicated cases where others'
lawyers need to talk with them.
|
| Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2015 14:26:16 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Report: Comcast plans to compete against big four wireless carriers
Message-ID: <6309096F-AAEB-4D92-846E-D53146B43270@roscom.com>
Comcast has told Verizon that it plans to resell the company's
wireless service, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing anonymous
sources.
"Comcast would offer a hybrid cellular and Wi-Fi service, using
Verizon's network and Wi-Fi hotspots," Bloomberg wrote.
Cable companies including Comcast struck a deal with Verizon Wireless
in 2011 to resell Verizon's cellular service. If the Bloomberg report
is accurate, Comcast would be just now activating the agreement, over
three years later.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/10/comcast-reportedly-plans-to-resell-verizon-wireless-service/
|
| Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2015 14:35:25 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: FCC hopes to shut down robocallers by publishing numbers weekly
Message-ID: <FD19030F-0086-4754-831D-24FA0CFA3E98@roscom.com>
by Megan Geuss
On Wednesday the Federal Communications Commission said that it
would begin releasing a spreadsheet every week of numbers
belonging to robocallers and telemarketers in the hopes of making it
easier for third parties to build Do Not Call functions into their
products.
The spreadsheet, published as a downloadable CSV file, contains
numbers reported through informal consumer complaints. "Consumer
complaints to the FCC are a vital tool in the agency's work," a
statement by the FCC said. "Complaints about unwanted calls and texts
are by far the largest complaint category to the agency, with over
215,000 complaints last year."
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/10/fcc-hopes-to-shut-down-robocallers-by-publishing-numbers-weekly/
***** Moderator's Note *****
I don't think that will work: it's another whack-a-mole game, and I'm
surprised that the FCC would try it.
This may be a case of the FCC commissioners feeling that they must do
"something", and not thinking it through.
Bill Horne
Moderator
|
| Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2015 08:43:27 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Prison phone companies fight for right to charge inmates $14 a minute
Message-ID: <2EE6AD33-B2A8-4A0A-98EC-D38AA72F2B14@roscom.com>
by Jon Brodkin
"Everybody sues us about everything," says FCC chairman.
The Federal Communications Commission is about to face another
lawsuit, this time over a vote to cap the prices prisoners pay for
phone calls.
Yesterday's vote came after complaints that inmate-calling companies
are overcharging prisoners, their families, and attorneys. Saying the
price of calls sometimes hits $14 per minute, the FCC has now capped
rates at 11ยข per minute.
Prison phone companies charging "endless" fees to families of inmates
FCC says it will put a stop to price gouging.
"None of us would consider ever paying $500 a month for a voice-only
service where calls are dropped for seemingly no reason, where fees
and commissions could be as high at 60 percent per call and, if we are
not careful, where a four-minute call could cost us a whopping $54,"
FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said before yesterday's vote
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/10/prison-phone-companies-fight-for-right-to-charge-inmates-14-a-minute/
|
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