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The Telecom Digest for September 07, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 223 : "text" Format
====== 30 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
|
Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Bill Horne and
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We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we
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we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands
against crime. - Geoffrey Welsh
See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
and the name of our lawyer, and other stuff of interest.
|
Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:46:43 -0500
From: rpw3@rpw3.org (Rob Warnock)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Mobile phones without towers coming soon
Message-ID: <1uWdnbMyUug-CvjTnZ2dnUVZ_umdnZ2d@speakeasy.net>
David Clayton <dcstarbox-usenet@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
+---------------
| The Serval system allows mobile phones to communicate with each other to
| create a virtual network where no network cover exists.
|
| In Australia it could allow people travelling in the outback to call each
| other for free.
|
| It could also provide a limited mobile phone network for remote
| communities.
+---------------
Oh, great. List all of the benefits, but ignore the problems -- the most
obvious one being that this is an open invitation to Man-in-the-Middle
eavesdropping attacks! Not to mention DoS attacks to block emergency
communications during, say, a robbery/home-invasion/kidnapping.
-Rob
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
Rob Warnock <rpw3@rpw3.org>
627 26th Avenue http://rpw3.org/
San Mateo, CA 94403
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:11:20 -0600
From: Fred Atkinson <fatkinson.remove-this@and-this-too.mishmash.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Mobile phones without towers coming soon
Message-ID: <20110907001357.96832.qmail@gal.iecc.com>
At 09:46 PM 9/5/2011, you wrote:
>David Clayton <dcstarbox-usenet@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>+---------------
>| The Serval system allows mobile phones to communicate with each other to
>| create a virtual network where no network cover exists.
>|
>| In Australia it could allow people travelling in the outback to call each
>| other for free.
>|
>| It could also provide a limited mobile phone network for remote
>| communities.
>+---------------
>
>Oh, great. List all of the benefits, but ignore the problems -- the most
>obvious one being that this is an open invitation to Man-in-the-Middle
>eavesdropping attacks! Not to mention DoS attacks to block emergency
>communications during, say, a robbery/home-invasion/kidnapping.
>
>
>-Rob
I hardly think it is much of a worry in the Australian Outback.
Fred
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 2011 10:32:54 +0100
From: Peter R Cook <PCook@wisty.plus.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: VOIP Technical Support (or lack thereof)
Message-ID: <qpu4pkBGjeZOFwMJ@wisty.plus.com>
In message
<608a34af-a7ce-4bdb-ac8f-680ad63d9e85@l2g2000vbn.googlegroups.com>,
hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes
>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.
>
There is an interesting model of the way this process works - and which
fits the landline/cellphone/VOIP behaviour very well - in a paper by
David Ahlstrom.
The full reference is
Ahlstrom, D. (2010). "Innovation and Growth: How Business Contributes to
Society." Academy of Management Perspectives 24(3): 11-24.
There is a copy on the Internet at
http://www.neeley.tcu.edu/uploadedFiles/Academic_Departments/Management/zol003102941p.pdf
Look at Figure 4 (P 18, 8th page of the PDF).
Landline quality of service probably exceeds the performance "demanded"
by the average customer. Cell phone and VOIP - certainly when introduced
were below that standard, but had other innovations ( mobility) or price
advantages (VOIP) which allowed them to overcome the perceived
performance disadvantage.
Ahlstrom's models suggests that over time VOIP and Cell quality will
exceed that 'demanded' by customers only to be replaced in their turn by ???
--
Peter R Cook
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:34:36 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Does SMS messaging keep going when cellular voice is down?
Message-ID: <j46amj$q03$1@dont-email.me>
I just read an email that claims cell phone text messaging (SMS) keeps
going when cellular voice service is down. Please tell me if this is
true or not.
TIA.
Bill
--
"Where the veterans dream of the fight
Fast asleep at the traffic light"
- Jackson Browne
Date: 7 Sep 2011 02:35:19 -0000
From: "John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Mobile phones without towers coming soon
Message-ID: <20110907023519.66076.qmail@joyce.lan>
>A mobile phone communications system that doesn't need towers is being
>developed at Adelaide's Flinders University.
Mesh networks are one of those ideas that seem much cooler in theory
than they turn out to be in practice.
Basically, it turns the mobile phone network into Skype, with random
traffic flowing through whatever nodes seem to be in generally the
right direction. Everyone's phone is a tower, so the rate at which
your battery runs down depends on how chatty strangers on opposite
sides of you are.
R's,
John
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 2011 23:24:53 -0400
From: Telecom Digest Moderator <redacted@invalid.remove-this.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Non-standard character sets in posts sent to the Digest
Message-ID: <E2QunPp-0007kD-S5@telecom.csail.mit.edu>
http://effaustin.org/2011/08/statement-on-san-francisco-bart-cellphone-service-shutdown/
BART?s action probably violated section 333 of the Communications Act. The
mobile providers? decision to give control over the mobile service
repeaters/microcells to BART also probably violated the terms of their
licenses and FCC rules, 47 C.F.R. sections 22.383 and 22.527, and possibly
others. The FCC noted only a few months ago that ?the Commission?s rules
and policies adopted pursuant to section 310(d) require that licensees
maintain control over and responsibility for their assigned spectrum,
equipment, and operations. Similarly, section 1.903 established that
stations in wireless services may only be operated with an FCC
authorization (i.e., license).? Violations are punishable by fines and
forfeitures. Although the FCC is considering changing these rules?in an
effort to encourage further use of repeaters and signal boosters by
users?the rule changes have not yet gone into effect.
--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/mixed
text/plain (text body -- kept)
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
***** Moderator's Note *****
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Bill Horne
Moderator
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