32 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981

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The Telecom Digest for October 14, 2013
Volume 32 : Issue 214 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
T-Mobile's Disruption Shows AT&T Merger Skepticism Was Warranted (Joseph Singer)
Re: T-Mobile's Disruption Shows AT&T Merger Skepticism Was Warranted (T)
Wireless Fatcats AT&T and Verizon Had Better Not Miss the Internet of Things (Bill Horne)
A few feet from failure: why Verizon FiOS in New York is a sad joke (Bill Horne)
Re: A few feet from failure: why Verizon FiOS in New York is a sad joke (T)
The Evolution of Verizon's Higher Bid for Its Wireless Unit (Bill Horne)
Privacy Fears as Surveillance Grows in Cities (Monty Solomon)
A Senator Raises Privacy Questions About Cross-Device Tracking (Monty Solomon)
Selling Secrets of Phone Users to Advertisers (Monty Solomon)
Group Presses for Safeguards on the Personal Data of Schoolchildren (Monty Solomon)
As DVRs Shift TV Habits, Ratings Calculations Follow (Monty Solomon)

====== 32 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======

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Date: Sat, 12 Oct 2013 09:25:23 -0700 (PDT) From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: T-Mobile's Disruption Shows AT&T Merger Skepticism Was Warranted Message-ID: <1381595123.56046.YahooMailNeo@web121406.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Two years ago I was busy debunking AT&T's claims that eliminating T-Mobile from the market would somehow magically improve competition. The deal was blocked, and now T-Mobile is successfully disrupting the wireless industry on numerous fronts, from their new Jump device payment plans (very quickly copied by their three competitors) to this week's interesting decision to offer free international data roaming. Ryan Chittum at the Columbia Journalism Review argues that T-Mobile's recent successes (they're now taking two customers from AT&T for every one customer AT&T takes from them) highlight why antitrust enforcement remains important in an age where there's an endless drum beat for weaker regulators and deregulation: Full article: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/TMobiles-Disruption-Shows-ATT-Merger-Skepticism-Was-Warranted-126182 -or- http://goo.gl/9EO3tL
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 17:32:03 -0400 From: T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: T-Mobile's Disruption Shows AT&T Merger Skepticism Was Warranted Message-ID: <MPG.2cc4db5c17e6025e989eec@news.eternal-september.org> In article <1381595123.56046.YahooMailNeo@web121406.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>, joeofseattle@yahoo.com says... > > Two years ago I was busy debunking AT&T's claims that eliminating > T-Mobile from the market would somehow magically improve competition. > The deal was blocked, and now T-Mobile is successfully disrupting the > wireless industry on numerous fronts, from their new Jump device > payment plans (very quickly copied by their three competitors) to this > week's interesting decision to offer free international data roaming. > > Ryan Chittum at the Columbia Journalism Review argues that T-Mobile's > recent successes (they're now taking two customers from AT&T for every > one customer AT&T takes from them) highlight why antitrust enforcement > remains important in an age where there's an endless drum beat for > weaker regulators and deregulation: > > Full article: > > > > http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/TMobiles-Disruption-Shows-ATT-Merger-Skepticism-Was-Warranted-126182 > > > -or- > > > http://goo.gl/9EO3tL > I guess right now I'm technically a T-Mobile(Mobil) customer being that they bought MetroPCS. And ever since Metro has been making upgrades to their networks, upgrades that knock out voice or network service for days at a time. I have resorted to the tactic of filing FCC complaints against them BEFORE I call their customer service people. That way it lights a major fire under their ass.
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 12:05:29 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Wireless Fatcats AT&T and Verizon Had Better Not Miss the Internet of Things Message-ID: <20131013160529.GA21039@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Wireless Fatcats AT&T and Verizon Had Better Not Miss the Internet of Things By Joshua Brustein October 10, 2013 It's been quite a wireless party over the past five years, with Verizon (VZ) bringing in $319 billion (via Verizon Wireless) and AT&T (T) taking $291 billion. But the end of the telecom giants' money-printing era may be in sight. The frightening thing for wireless providers is that the world is running out of fresh consumers to pay for service. A report published on Thursday by technology market-research firm Ovum predicts that mobile industry revenue will decline for the first time ever in 2018. New connections will have slowed to about 4 percent annually by then, while wireless revenue will grow at less than half that rate, the study maintains. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-10/wireless-fatcats-at-and-t-and-verizon-better-not-miss-the-internet-of-things -or- http://goo.gl/LBEoKS -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly) See the geese in chevron flight Flapping and racing on before the snow They've got the urge for going They've got the wings to go - Tom Rush
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 11:55:39 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: A few feet from failure: why Verizon FiOS in New York is a sad joke Message-ID: <20131013155539.GA19500@telecom.csail.mit.edu> The company is technically on track to meet its obligations, but that contract now looks hollow By Adrianne Jeffries on October 10, 2013 Brooklyn coder and entrepreneur Mike Caprio has been trying to get Verizon's high-speed FiOS fiber internet service since 2009, but the company repeatedly told him it wasn't available in his Williamsburg apartment. He finally got hooked up this week - but only because a Verizon press rep heard him complaining on the radio. "Apparently the best thing to do was to make a stink on public media," says Caprio, who was amazed to see four crews show up Monday to run the long-awaited fiber from the first floor of his building to his apartment. "It just seems to underscore the fact that no one is getting service. It's extremely arbitrary if the actions of just one guy made all this happen for me." Rest at: http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/10/4819790/verizon-fios-contract-new-york-city-deadline-nears-cant-get-internet -or- http://goo.gl/hxKe3T -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly) They say that all good things must end someday Autumn leaves must fall But don't you know that it hurts me so To say goodbye to you - Chad and Jeremy
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 17:33:15 -0400 From: T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: A few feet from failure: why Verizon FiOS in New York is a sad joke Message-ID: <MPG.2cc4dbab457013d6989eed@news.eternal-september.org> In article <20131013155539.GA19500@telecom.csail.mit.edu>, bill@horneQRM.net says... > > The company is technically on track to meet its obligations, but that > contract now looks hollow > > By Adrianne Jeffries on October 10, 2013 > > Brooklyn coder and entrepreneur Mike Caprio has been trying to get > Verizon's high-speed FiOS fiber internet service since 2009, but the > company repeatedly told him it wasn't available in his Williamsburg > apartment. He finally got hooked up this week - but only because a > Verizon press rep heard him complaining on the radio. > > "Apparently the best thing to do was to make a stink on public media," > says Caprio, who was amazed to see four crews show up Monday to run > the long-awaited fiber from the first floor of his building to his > apartment. "It just seems to underscore the fact that no one is > getting service. It's extremely arbitrary if the actions of just one > guy made all this happen for me." > > Rest at: > > http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/10/4819790/verizon-fios-contract-new-york-city-deadline-nears-cant-get-internet > > -or- > > http://goo.gl/hxKe3T > Considering all they do is run everything in via coaxial I'm surprised it took this long. At least that's what they did here in Providence. They used the existing Cox coax in the house to sling their video and data services.
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 11:44:40 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: The Evolution of Verizon's Higher Bid for Its Wireless Unit Message-ID: <20131013154440.GA18942@telecom.csail.mit.edu> by David Gelles It was never a secret that Verizon Communications wanted to buy back Vodafone's 45 percent stake in their enormous wireless joint venture. But just how badly Verizon wanted full ownership was disclosed in its preliminary proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. Rest at: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/the-evolution-of-verizons-higher-bid-to-vodafone/?_r=0 -- Bill Horne (Remvoe QRM from my address to write to me directly) From yellow leaves a blue jay calls Grandmothers walk out in their shawls And chipmunks run the old stone walls When fall comes to New England - Cheryl Wheeler
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 23:10:42 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Privacy Fears as Surveillance Grows in Cities Message-ID: <p06240814ce81110d910b@[10.0.1.10]> Privacy Fears as Surveillance Grows in Cities By SOMINI SENGUPTA October 13, 2013 OAKLAND, Calif. - Federal grants of $7 million awarded to this city were meant largely to help thwart terror attacks at its bustling port. But instead, the money is going to a police initiative that will collect and analyze reams of surveillance data from around town - from gunshot-detection sensors in the barrios of East Oakland to license plate readers mounted on police cars patrolling the city's upscale hills. The new system, scheduled to begin next summer, is the latest example of how cities are compiling and processing large amounts of information, known as big data, for routine law enforcement. And the system underscores how technology has enabled the tracking of people in many aspects of life. The police can monitor a fire hose of social media posts to look for evidence of criminal activities; transportation agencies can track commuters' toll payments when drivers use an electronic pass; and the National Security Agency, as news reports this summer revealed, scooped up telephone records of millions of cellphone customers in the United States. Like the Oakland effort, other pushes to use new surveillance tools in law enforcement are supported with federal dollars. The New York Police Department, aided by federal financing, has a big data system that links 3,000 surveillance cameras with license plate readers, radiation sensors, criminal databases and terror suspect lists. Police in Massachusetts have used federal money to buy automated license plate scanners. And police in Texas have bought a drone with homeland security money, something that Alameda County, which Oakland is part of, also tried but shelved after public protest. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/technology/privacy-fears-as-surveillance-grows-in-cities.html
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 23:09:25 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: A Senator Raises Privacy Questions About Cross-Device Tracking Message-ID: <p06240812ce811087718f@[10.0.1.10]> A Senator Raises Privacy Questions About Cross-Device Tracking By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER OCTOBER 10, 2013 A lawmaker has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate online ad companies that track consumers across devices, like showing them ads on their phones based on Web sites they visit on a computer. The letter, sent on Thursday by Senator Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, to Edith Ramirez, the commission's chairwoman, cited a New York Times article that ran on Sunday detailing the new ways that mobile advertisers are tracking consumers, including across devices. ... http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/a-senator-raises-privacy-questions-about-cross-device-tracking/ http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/technology/Letter-Cross-Platform-Tracking-FTC.pdf ***** Moderator's Note ***** The letter, sent by a new member in the world's most exclusive club, will be filed and forgotten in less time than it takes for me to type this sentence. The Senator is fishing for free online ink, and I'd like to see how many letters he sends to the FTC asking them to find out which companies are violating the DNC list. Bill Horne Moderator
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 23:09:11 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Selling Secrets of Phone Users to Advertisers Message-ID: <p06240813ce8110bd7e30@[10.0.1.10]> Selling Secrets of Phone Users to Advertisers By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER and SOMINI SENGUPTA October 5, 2013 SAN FRANCISCO - Once, only hairdressers and bartenders knew people's secrets. Now, smartphones know everything - where people go, what they search for, what they buy, what they do for fun and when they go to bed. That is why advertisers, and tech companies like Google and Facebook, are finding new, sophisticated ways to track people on their phones and reach them with individualized, hypertargeted ads. And they are doing it without cookies, those tiny bits of code that follow users around the Internet, because cookies don't work on mobile devices. Privacy advocates fear that consumers do not realize just how much of their private information is on their phones and how much is made vulnerable simply by downloading and using apps, searching the mobile Web or even just going about daily life with a phone in your pocket. And this new focus on tracking users through their devices and online habits comes against the backdrop of a spirited public debate on privacy and government surveillance. On Wednesday, the National Security Agency confirmed it had collected data from cellphone towers in 2010 and 2011 to locate Americans' cellphones, though it said it never used the information. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/technology/selling-secrets-of-phone-users-to-advertisers.html
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 23:05:58 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Group Presses for Safeguards on the Personal Data of Schoolchildren Message-ID: <p06240811ce810fd24708@[10.0.1.10]> Group Presses for Safeguards on the Personal Data of Schoolchildren By NATASHA SINGER October 13, 2013 A leading children's advocacy group is challenging the educational technology software industry, an estimated $8 billion market, to develop national safeguards for the personal data collected about students from kindergarten through high school. In a letter sent last week to 16 educational technology vendors - including Google Apps for Education, Samsung School, Scholastic and Pearson Schoolnet - Common Sense Media, an advocacy group in San Francisco that rates children's videos and apps for age appropriateness, urged the industry to use student data only for educational purposes, and not for marketing products to children or their families. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/technology/concerns-arise-over-privacy-of-schoolchildrens-data.html
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 22:59:52 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: As DVRs Shift TV Habits, Ratings Calculations Follow Message-ID: <p0624080dce810e8cfaa3@[10.0.1.10]> As DVRs Shift TV Habits, Ratings Calculations Follow By BRIAN STELTER October 6, 2013 One day after Fox introduced the Headless Horseman drama "Sleepy Hollow" last month, the television world was impressed by its overnight rating, a 3.4 among adults age 18 to 49. Fox knew it would grow: based on last season's viewing trends, Fox figured the premiere episode would finish between a 5.1 and a 5.4 rating once seven days of digital video recorder playback were added. Evidently, even the network's rosiest outlook wasn't rosy enough. When the seven-day data came in on Sunday, it showed that the premiere episode scored a 5.8 rating, a gain of fully two-thirds from its starting point. That's what live television is these days - just a starting point. On-demand viewing behaviors, which have been reshaping television since the first TiVo DVR was shipped in 1999, are becoming more pronounced with each passing year, sometimes to the benefit of networks and advertisers and other times to their detriment. What is notable about the start of the new fall TV season, according to network executives, is a surge in not just delayed viewing, but very-delayed viewing. Some people who might have previously time-shifted the new NBC drama "The Blacklist" by one day, for example, are now waiting longer to watch, partly because of the sheer number of shows on their mental to-watch lists. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/business/media/dvrs-shift-tv-habits-and-ratings.html ***** Moderator's Note ***** DVR's are going to shift network programming in more ways than that: they will, IMNSHO, be both the death and salvation of mass entertainment. Those whom use DVR's to "binge view" a TV series soon realize that they are incredibly insipid morality plays, with little but a passing nod to any notion of art or complexity. Ergo, viewers soon realize that it's ALL the same: all the actresses wear tight sweaters, all the men are studly, vacuous fools, and the Tall White Guy (TM) makes all the decisions. This leads, of course to viewers hitting "Off" in ever-greater numbers, and when enough of them do it, the tried-and-trite twelve stories Hollywood has recycled for decades will be replaced by new kinds of entertainment that actually challenge the viewers' minds as well as their trigger fingers. Bill Horne Moderator
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom- munications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to Usenet, where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Bill Horne. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. The Telecom Digest is moderated by Bill Horne.
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