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The Telecom Digest for January 23, 2012
Volume 31 : Issue 23 : "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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See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
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Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:16:30 -0800
From: dplatt@remove.radagast.org (Dave Platt)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: A stake in the ground for IPv6
Message-ID: <u6msu8-0hb.ln1@radagast.org>
> From an entry in the Cybertelecom-L list:
> according to
> http://www.worldipv6launch.org/
> , everyone is going to
> start using IPv6 on June 6.
>
> I may have to buy a new router: or connect my Linux PC directly to the
> net!
Or, take an old low-power PC, and configure it with a small Linux
distribution to turn it into a dual-stack router.
A lot of the older 802.11g routers (e.g. WRT54G and the like) can run
OpenWRT firmware, which is a compact Linux distro that can support
both IPv4 and IPv6, firewalling/NATing, etc.
> Has anyone else heard about this 'official' date for IPv6.
It's a followup to a similar, but smaller experiment exactly one year
earlier. It's not an attempt to obsolete IPv4 all at once... just to
get a significant set of services up and running on IPv6 in parallel
on a full-time basis.
IPv6 is going to take quite a while to be fully deployed - a lot of
the residential ISPs have no current IPv6 support and no firm plans to
roll it out.
If your ISP doesn't provide IPv6 natively, you can get a free
IPv6-in-IPv4 "tunnel" through Hurricane Electric or some other
providers. This would let you put your home LAN on IPv6, with IPv6
connectivity through the tunnel.
--
Dave Platt <dplatt@remove.radagast.org> AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page:
http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do not wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:46:26 +0000 (UTC)
From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: A stake in the ground for IPv6
Message-ID: <jfhsj2$snp$1@leila.iecc.com>
>> I may have to buy a new router: or connect my Linux PC directly to the
>> net!
>
>Or, take an old low-power PC, and configure it with a small Linux
>distribution to turn it into a dual-stack router.
Not a bad idea, unless your router is like mine, integrated into the
DSL modem that my phone company provides. I have a separate box on
the LAN doing DNS and DHCP, but I can't separate out the router.
>If your ISP doesn't provide IPv6 natively, you can get a free
>IPv6-in-IPv4 "tunnel" through Hurricane Electric or some other
>providers. This would let you put your home LAN on IPv6, with IPv6
>connectivity through the tunnel.
[Those] IPv6 tunnels work great if you have a fixed IPv4 address and
aren't behind a router that does helpful filtering. (See, for
example,
http://www6.abuse.net/
) My home LAN has a fixed external IP,
but the router won't pass the protocol 41 packets that the tunnel
uses, so I'm out of luck. I can use Teredo on individual PCs, but
that's a kludge and it doesn't give me a fixed IPv6 address.
R's,
John
***** Moderator's Note *****
I'm wondering if the ILECs will try to push fiber-optic systems,
rather than upgrading the exisitng ADSL equipments to handle
IPv6. Come to think of it, what's the latest projection for the IPv4
exhaust date?
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:29:51 +0000 (UTC)
From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: A stake in the ground for IPv6
Message-ID: <jfi2kv$1mcl$3@leila.iecc.com>
>I'm wondering if the ILECs will try to push fiber-optic systems,
>rather than upgrading the exisitng ADSL equipments to handle
>IPv6. Come to think of it, what's the latest projection for the IPv4
>exhaust date?
My ILEC says that since there are no businesses on my street, if I want fiber, I have
to pay the cost to bring it here. It's only three blocks, but it's not worth it.
R's,
John
***** Moderator's Note *****
I understand, but they might decide that maintaining both IPv4 and
IPv6 components costs more than moving you to fiber. Time will tell.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: 23 Jan 2012 05:40:40 GMT
From: Doug McIntyre <merlyn@geeks.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: A stake in the ground for IPv6
Message-ID: <4f1cf2d8$0$79803$8046368a@newsreader.iphouse.net>
John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> writes:
> Dave Platt <dplatt@radagast.org> wrote:
>> Telecom Digest Moderator wrote:
>>> I may have to buy a new router: or connect my Linux PC directly to the
>>> net!
>>
>>Or, take an old low-power PC, and configure it with a small Linux
>>distribution to turn it into a dual-stack router.
>Not a bad idea, unless your router is like mine, integrated into the
>DSL modem that my phone company provides. I have a separate box on
>the LAN doing DNS and DHCP, but I can't separate out the router.
If your ISP supports PPPoE (Qwest/Centurylink does), you most likely
can put your integrated DSL modem/router into a bridge mode, and
do the layer-3 termination on any device you choose beyond the bridge..
If I had DSL still, that is the way I'd run, with PPPoE termination
handled on my firewall beyond the DSL bridge interfacing the ATM side.
>***** Moderator's Note *****
> I'm wondering if the ILECs will try to push fiber-optic systems,
> rather than upgrading the exisitng ADSL equipments to handle
> IPv6. Come to think of it, what's the latest projection for the IPv4
> exhaust date?
I'm most familure with Qwest/Century-Links FTTN system, I don't know
about what other ILECs are doing (outside of Verizon's FIOS system).
The Qwest FTTN still mostly uses ADSL2+ (or VDSL), which still runs
over ATM between the CPE and the DSLAM before the DSLAM gets the
packets put onto the GigE backbone. The Layer-3 termination functions
by the LNS broadband termination devices are seperate devices than the
DSLAMs, and can be upgraded independantly. If they are using Cisco
and/or Juniper, the LNSs probably already support IPv6 and have for years.
The biggest problem with DSL is that almost nothing in the consumer
grade market supports IPv6 native for the DSL Modem/combo router.
Even the latest boxes, let alone anything in the past. There are a few
lesser brands mostly in Europe that do.
I've heard that CenturyLink is testing a new box from ActionTec that
supposedly will let them roll out IPv6. But it isn't shipping yet.
Most likely, there won't be a backport of this to any existing device.
The enterprise DSL router/firewall type devices (ie. made by Fortinet
or Juniper or Cisco) would support IPv6, but the typical consumer isn't
going to be paying $500-$1000 for a DSL router. Going back to the
PPPoE type setup, if you bridge through your DSL and can do PPPoE auth,
you can have almost anything on the backend that does PPPoE and can
support IPv6. I have several customers doing this with linux type boxes.
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:59:26 -0600
From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: A stake in the ground for IPv6
Message-ID: <JfOdnUvAa86zdIHSnZ2dnUVZ_t6dnZ2d@posted.nuvoxcommunications>
In article <jfhsj2$snp$1@leila.iecc.com>,
>
>***** Moderator's Note *****
>
>I'm wondering if the ILECs will try to push fiber-optic systems,
>rather than upgrading the exisitng ADSL equipments to handle
>IPv6. Come to think of it, what's the latest projection for the IPv4
>exhaust date?
The IPv4 "free pool" is gone -- IANA has no more IPv4 blocks to give
out to regional registries. When the registries will 'run out' of
address blocks to hand out depends on the registry. (oddly enough. :)
the expected run-out dates for the various regional registries ranges
from last year ('Asia/Pacific') to around 5 years from now (Africa).
For North America, the projected run-out is about 21 months from now -- 95%
confidence interval is about +/- 5 months.
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:13:46 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Diabetic Tester That Talks to iPhones and Doctors
Message-ID: <yd7at.A.MCH.aDGHPB@telecom>
Personal Technology
Diabetic Tester That Talks to iPhones and Doctors
by Walt Mossberg
January 4, 2012
While consumer technology advances by leaps and bounds, the devices
patients use to manage diseases often seem stuck in the past. A
glaring example is the glucometer, the instrument diabetics use to
measure the sugar in their blood-information they use to adjust their
diet, exercise and medication.
These meters, which analyze drops of blood drawn from fingertips,
typically resemble crude PDAs from 10 or 15 years ago. They offer
little feedback and can't connect to the Internet to show results to
caregivers. Most diabetics who use them log their readings on paper,
which they hand doctors weeks or months later.
But that is beginning to change. Next week, a small start-up will
introduce a new diabetes meter it says is the first with wireless
technology that instantly transmits a patient's readings to a private
online database, which can be accessed by the patient or - with
permission - by a doctor, caregiver or family member. This system charts
the results to highlight trends and spot problems, and can be accessed
via a Web browser or an iPhone app. It automatically transmits
relevant feedback - such as whether your readings seem high or low -
and allows doctors to respond.
I've been testing this new meter and service, which is called Telcare
and comes from a Bethesda, Md., company of the same name. As a Type 2
diabetic myself, I found the Telcare meter a refreshing change, and a
significant step toward bringing consumer medical devices closer to
the world of modern technology.
...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203513604577140830225124226.html
***** Moderator's Note *****
Mr. Mossberg, despite his qualifications to evaluate the convenience
of a new glucose testing system, has not mentioned the reason that
medical instruments such as glucometers change very slowly. It is that
medicine is not supposed to be a sales vehicle for electronic gadgets
which saddle their users with never-ending, unavoidable fees that take
yet-another bite out of the fixed incomes of retirees and add unneeded
complexity, expense, and inconvenience to the practice of medicine.
This device costs $99.95 from the "Telcare" website, if customers
subscribe to a "plan":
Test Strip List Price: $55.95
Your Price: $35.95
"The plan requires the purchase of at least 4 Telcare Test Strip vials
per quarter at its reduced contract price."
... which translates into $35.95 times four vials times four quarters,
or $575.20 per year, and the site also offers a "care" plan that will
replace the meter once in a year for $6.95 per month, or $83.40 per
year. Any customer that doesn't buy the 16 vials of test strips is,
according to the "terms and conditions" page, obligated to pay a
one-time fee of $100.00.
In other words, this is an expensive and unnecessary solution in
search of a problem. The only "need" it addresses - and I'm very
surprised that Mr. Mossberg doesn't realize this - is that of the
Health Maintenance industry, to deliver electronic data to low-paid
physicians in foreign countries, who can, in turn, deliver cheap
advice to patients they have never met.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:50:49 +0000 (UTC)
From: David Scheidt <dscheidt@panix.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Diabetic Tester That Talks to iPhones and
Message-ID: <jfhpap$69v$1@reader1.panix.com>
:***** Moderator's Note *****
:Mr. Mossberg, despite his qualifications to evaluate the convenience
:of a new glucose testing system, has not mentioned the reason that
:medical instruments such as glucometers change very slowly. It is that
:medicine is not supposed to be a sales vehicle for electronic gadgets
:which saddle their users with never-ending, unavoidable fees that take
:yet-another bite out of the fixed incomes of retirees and add unneeded
:complexity, expense, and inconvenience to the practice of medicine.
Do you know what test strips for other meters cost?
:... which translates into $35.95 times four vials times four quarters,
:or $575.20 per year, and the site also offers a "care" plan that will
Because that's pretty much what they cost.
There is, apparently, a thriving black market for stolen test strips
- or in at least one case, strips that were recalled because they
were defective - because they're so expensive.
There are good solid technical reasons they're expensive, too.
They're pretty impressive bits of applied chemistry and electrical
engineering, and they need to have a failure rate of pretty near zero.
- -
sig 81
***** Moderator's Note *****
I'm not a diabetic, so I've no direct experience with glucometer test
strips. However, even if they cost exactly the same amount as those
for traditional glucometers, I object to the assumption that diabetics
should spend their dollars for a system that I think is obviously
geared to moving the jobs of American physicians overseas, and, in the
process, lowering the standard of American medical care several
notches down on the scale.
The system of electronic health-care information gathering is, IMNSHO,
a ticking time bomb that is going to go off right after the election,
with HMO's, insurance companies, and other players licking their chops
at the thought of being able to deny life insurance coverage, deny
health care coverage, and deny employment applications, all based on
electronic information provided by patients who assumed that they were
protected.
If this thought doesn't scare you, then it should: there are already
commercial databases in use which reflect the "predisposed" possible
medical conditions of potential employees whose parents had medical
issues that might have been passed on to their children. Once such
data is gathered, it will be used.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 01:22:29 -0500
From: "r.e.d." <red-nospam-99@mindspring.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: How U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work
Message-ID: <ib2dnW6sZrixNobSnZ2dnUVZ_gednZ2d@earthlink.com>
"Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> wrote in message
news:6yLS5D.A.SVB.Vb5GPB@telecom...
[Moderator snip]
> Why can't that work come home? Mr. Obama asked.
>
> Mr. Jobs's reply was unambiguous. "Those jobs aren't coming back," he
> said, according to another dinner guest.
[Moderator snip]
>
> http://goo.gl/Sjoam
>
>
> ***** Moderator's Note *****
>
> I bet that if American buyers started looking for "Made in USA" labels
> again, this unwelcome part of Mr. Jobs' legacy would vanish.
[Moderator snip]
The Technology Review has an article about manufacturing in its latest
issue:
http://www.technologyreview.com/article/39311/
Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:25:06 +0100
From: Marc Haber <mh+usenetspam1118@zugschl.us>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: A stake in the ground for IPv6
Message-ID: <jfiug3$1ir$1@news1.tnib.de>
Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> wrote:
>according to
>http://www.worldipv6launch.org/
>, everyone is going to
>start using IPv6 on June 6.
Unfortunately, Carriers are going to greatly expand using Carrier
Grade NAT for their residential customers, pulling back their IP
addresses for data center / server use.
This saves you from shelling out $100 for an expensive new router, and
saves the world from a lot of the possibilities that the Internet used
to offer.
Brave New World.
Greetings
Marc
--
-------------------------------------- !! No courtesy copies, please !! -----
Marc Haber | " Questions are the | Mailadresse im Header
Mannheim, Germany | Beginning of Wisdom " |
http://www.zugschlus.de/
Nordisch by Nature | Lt. Worf, TNG "Rightful Heir" | Fon: *49 621 72739834
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:15:50 -0600
From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Some unanswered questions from January 2011
Message-ID: <msKdnbfAoqhrQ4HSnZ2dnUVZ_uWdnZ2d@posted.nuvoxcommunications>
In article <2755e$4f1888cf$adce4530$30287@PRIMUS.CA>,
Geoffrey Welsh <gwelsh@spamcop.net> wrote:
>Garrett Wollman wrote:
>
>> [3] It was obviously stupid to use TCP for multimedia applications.
>
>I was intrigued by that statement. [Garrett] mentions discarding list
>UDP packets, which might be fine in an uncompressed media stream, but
>aren't errors/omissions likely to cause disruption to a compressed
>media stream (for comparison, consider that data compression was only
>commonly implemented in dialup modems on top of error correction)? Or
>is the 'compression' implemented in the codecs themselves (lower D/A
>resolution and/or sample rate) so that no data compression per se is
>required and thus missing samples are not a serious problem?
If you are dealing with a single continuous stream of compressed data, then
any lost/scrambled data renders everything after that point 'unrecoverable',
because you "don't know" where you are in the decoding process.
On the other hand, it is practical to get 'not quite as good' compression
by 'restarting' the compressor at regular intervals. IF you do that,
you can resume decoding from any 'restart' point -- this is the way HDTV
works, and why it takes several seconds after you change channels for the
new channel to start displaying..
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom-
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