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The Telecom Digest for September 06, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 222 : "text" Format
====== 30 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
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Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
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Date: Sun, 04 Sep 2011 16:50:06 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Mobile phones without towers coming soon
Message-ID: <1315169406.1869.92.camel@Thinkpad>
On Sun, 2011-09-04 at 10:51 +1000, David Clayton wrote:
> Article from 'The Age', Austraila.
>
> Mobile phones without towers coming soon September 1, 2011
>
> A mobile phone communications system that doesn't need towers is being
> developed at Adelaide's Flinders University.
>
> The Serval Project was inspired by the 2010 Haiti earthquake in which the
> phone network crashed as infrastructure went down.
This reminds me of the ad-hoc network capability that's built into every
machine made for the "One Laptop Per Child" project (http://one.laptop.org/).
I assume that it's a form of "mesh" network, and I'm curious how many nodes
it can handle, and if there is a relay or "help me" capability in the network
that would connect a handset that was out of range to a tower via another
(or two or more) handsets.
Bill
--
(Filter QRM for direct replies)
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:45:23 +1000
From: David Clayton <dcstarbox-usenet@yahoo.com.au>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Mobile phones without towers coming soon
Message-ID: <pan.2011.09.05.22.45.20.290450@yahoo.com.au>
On Sun, 04 Sep 2011 16:50:06 -0400, Bill Horne wrote:
> On Sun, 2011-09-04 at 10:51 +1000, David Clayton wrote:
>> Article from 'The Age', Austraila.
>>
>> Mobile phones without towers coming soon September 1, 2011
>>
>> A mobile phone communications system that doesn't need towers is being
>> developed at Adelaide's Flinders University.
>>
>> The Serval Project was inspired by the 2010 Haiti earthquake in which
>> the phone network crashed as infrastructure went down.
>
>
> This reminds me of the ad-hoc network capability that's built into every
> machine made for the "One Laptop Per Child" project
> (http://one.laptop.org/). I assume that it's a form of "mesh" network, and
> I'm curious how many nodes it can handle, and if there is a relay or "help
> me" capability in the network that would connect a handset that was out of
> range to a tower via another (or two or more) handsets.
>
In theory the software could discover any other nodes within Wi-Fi range
and route packets as a relay (using the phone's power, it will be
inconvenient if a critical relay handset runs out of juice).
It could probably also be set up in a "Broadcast" mode where each handset
could act like a CB radio on a common channel - something that could be
handy in a disaster situation.
If it is only a software app that can be implemented in most of the
current handset platforms easily then it could well be of value when all
the existing infrastructure "goes dark".
--
Regards, David.
David Clayton
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a
measure of how many questions you have.
Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2011 08:17:18 -0600
From: Fred Atkinson <fatkinson.remove-this@and-this-too.mishmash.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re:VOIP Technical Support (or lack thereof)
Message-ID: <s4m967hkuff6rskglkf7upbnoqvr6c9n1d@4ax.com>
On Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:49:14 +1000, David Clayton
<dcstarbox-usenet@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>On Sun, 21 Aug 2011 19:56:38 -0600, Fred Atkinson wrote: .........
>> After two months with no resolution, I purchased another of that
>> same Linksys PAP2T VOIP devices. It was strictly a shot in the dark
>> (which is not the way to troubleshoot (buy this and replace it. If that
>> doesn't work, buy that and replace it, etc.)).
>>
>> It cleared the problem immediately. Neither one of those providers
>> could isolate the problem and it took four months to resolve it. If
>> they had determined the device was bad in the first place, I could've
>> replaced it a lot sooner.
>...........
>> Fred
>
>As the Dilbert cartoon (paraphrased) once said:
>
>"Why is it always the last thing that you try that ends up fixing the
>problem, if you'd only choose that option first then you wouldn't be so
>incompetent".
Two months with no resolution by the old company. Two months
with no resolution by the new company.
Then I take a shot in the dark and inadvertantly fix it when
they couldn't.
It wasn't the last thing they tried. I'd say that they NEVER
identified what would fix it.
It just shows that these VOIP companies hire budget people and
no one with real troubleshooting skills. They make no effort to bring
any of their people up to speed to resolve the more difficult
problems.
That's the sign of inferior management. The VOIP industry is
giving itself a very bad reputation.
Regards,
Fred
Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2011 12:09:36 -0700 (PDT)
From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: VOIP Technical Support (or lack thereof)
Message-ID: <608a34af-a7ce-4bdb-ac8f-680ad63d9e85@l2g2000vbn.googlegroups.com>
On Sep 5, 10:17 am, Fred Atkinson <fatkinson.remove-t...@and-this-
too.mishmash.com> wrote:
> That's the sign of inferior management. The VOIP industry is
> giving itself a very bad reputation.
IMHO:
Subscribers are willing to tolerate this lousy service, partly because
they don't have a frame of reference to expect better, and partly
because they like the cheaper price. The gold standard used to be the
service level from the Bell System, but since Divesture, the Baby
Bells' service quality has declined as they cut costs to be
competitive.
(Ironically, people expected more from the old Bell System since it
was a monopoly and provided end-to-end service. Today, people don't
blame the phone company if their ac power goes out and their phones do
not work as a result.)
As mentioned, after the hurricane my neighbors were quite surprised
that I had still had phone service while they lost theirs. Further,
people do so much of their talking on cell phones which have inferior
voice and connection quality. To me this all illustrates the lower
service expectations.
I suspect that if company attempted to provide today a high level of
service quality and first-rate customer support, it's prices would be
so high that it simply couldn't compete in the marketplace. This
isn't just telecommunications, but banking and other services, too.
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