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Message Digest 
Volume 28 : Issue 226 : "text" Format

Messages in this Issue:
  Re: suggestions for a decent DECT wireless system, but...
  Re: suggestions for a decent DECT wireless system, but...
  Re: Central Office noise levels
  Hacker-run GSM networks are coming
  Re: Mobile phones teach youths to focus on speed, not accuracy


====== 27 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 Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because 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: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:15:23 -0600 From: Robert Neville <dont@bother.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: suggestions for a decent DECT wireless system, but... Message-ID: <oefg85pvhvs1i630vm7obo83519617iq2c@4ax.com> Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com> wrote: > The only gripe I have is turning the ringer on and off requires a > couple of confusing menu selections. Well, as long as we are griping, my biggest problem with residential cordless phones is their current size. What seemed to start out with one country's fascination with all thing microsized has been amplified by a desire to mimic cell phone dimensions. It would be nice if phone manufacturers did a little human factors analysis of their designs... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 18:20:47 -0700 From: Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: suggestions for a decent DECT wireless system, but... Message-ID: <Qf2im.30973$rD6.24533@newsfe01.iad> Robert Neville wrote: > Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com> wrote: > > >>The only gripe I have is turning the ringer on and off requires a >>couple of confusing menu selections. > > > Well, as long as we are griping, my biggest problem with residential cordless > phones is their current size. What seemed to start out with one country's > fascination with all thing microsized has been amplified by a desire to mimic > cell phone dimensions. > > It would be nice if phone manufacturers did a little human factors analysis of > their designs... > My new handsets are 6.5 inches long by 1.5 inches wide. That's not quite cell phone size. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:33:52 -0700 (PDT) From: David Kaye <sfdavidkaye2@yahoo.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Central Office noise levels Message-ID: <a427f1bc-a1ad-4784-bcaa-73a6b16f0cf7@c1g2000yqi.googlegroups.com> On Aug 15, 6:50 pm, Bill Horne <b...@horneQRM.net> wrote: > His name is Frank Julian, and he has applied for compensation for > hearing loss, so I'm sure he'd appreciate help from other veterans who > have suffered hearing loss from CO environments. Didn't they have ear plugs back in the day? Back in the 1970s I worked in the canneries and wore ear plugs to keep my ears safe. I'd think that a person has at least some responsibility in protecting themselves against hostile environments. ***** Moderator's Note ***** <RANT> You are assuming that soldiers have the world-view of civilians, and that's just not true: it never was, and it never will be true. It can't be. Soldiers face the responsibility of protecting themselves against hostile environments by preparing their minds and bodies to kill the hostiles, and the mental discipline which is essential to becoming a soldier colors soldiers' and veterans' tolerance for risk forever. >From the moment they arrive at a recruiting depot until the moment they leave the service, the military hammers a message into the frontal lobes of every recruit, : "You are immortal! You are courageous and fearless! All your relatives and friends envy you!" It's how old soldiers are able to make young ones sacrifice their free will, their humanity, and their lives in furtherance of goals that only politicians can understand and only soldiers can achieve: you don't get to turn that off like it's an assembly line. In addition, the weight of tradition impedes progress in all aspects of military life: it's easier to train the recruits to "Call out your numbers loud and strong" than it is to provide hearing protection. We owe veterans the compensation which they're entitled to, because they gave up the right to complain about the noise or to complain about the food or to complain about the danger, and accepted the need to sacrifice their individuality, and even their instincts for self-preservation, in order to learn how to slay our nations' enemies. If you think that I'm not making sense, just imagine that in your cannery, every One Hundred Thousand cans or so, one of them would explode and kill every cannery worker within twenty meters. Imagine that you couldn't change that number, that you couldn't reduce the risk, and that you couldn't quit the job. _Now_ how much are you worried about your hearing? </RANT> Bill "You just pushed the big red button that's labelled 'Never push this big red button'" Horne Copyright (C) 2009 E.W. Horne. All rights reserved ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 18:33:20 -0700 From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Hacker-run GSM networks are coming Message-ID: <4A88B360.7020506@thadlabs.com> I have mixed emotions when I read something like the following which appeared on Slashdot earlier today, especially given the known GSM interference problems. However, this is telephony and this is news (from Slashdot): Harald Welte, who's been interviewed previously by Slashdot, has written on his blog about operating an Open Source GSM network: http://laforge.gnumonks.org/weblog/2009/08/14/#20090814-har2009_gsm_network at the recent HAR2009 conference: https://wiki.har2009.org/page/Main_Page Photographs and a description and of the setup, run under license of the Dutch regulatory authority, are provided; essentially the setup consisted of a pair of BTSs (Base Transceiver Stations) running at 100mW transmit power each and tied to a tree. In turn these provided access to the Base Station Controller (BSC), in this case a Linux server in a tent running OpenBSC: http://bs11-abis.gnumonks.org/trac/wiki/OpenBSC The system authenticated users with a token sent via SMS; in total 391 users subscribed to the service and were able to use their phones as if they were on any other network. Independent researchers are increasingly examining GSM networks and equipment, Welte's work proves that GSM is in the realm of the hackers now and that this realm of mobile networking could be set for a few surprises in the future. [ We need to keep an eye on this; "a few surprises" could mean many different things :-) ] ------------------------------ Date: 16 Aug 2009 21:39:10 -0400 From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Mobile phones teach youths to focus on speed, not accuracy Message-ID: <h6acbu$nc4$1@panix2.panix.com> David Clayton <dcstar@myrealbox.com> wrote: > A NEW study suggests young heavy mobile phone users have poorer > memory, slower reaction times and make more mistakes. A recent study > of 300 students aged 12 to 14 from 20 Melbourne private and state > schools shows children who use their mobile a lot may be sacrificing > accuracy for speed. Are you sure it's not just that kids with poorer memory and slower reaction time are more likely to use mobile phones rather than other media? --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ 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 Patrick Townson. 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 currently being moderated by Bill Horne while Pat Townson recovers from a stroke. Contact information: Bill Horne Telecom Digest 43 Deerfield Road Sharon MA 02067-2301 781-784-7287 bill at horne dot net Subscribe: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=subscribe telecom Unsubscribe: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=unsubscribe telecom This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Copyright (C) 2009 TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of The Telecom digest (5 messages) ******************************

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