32 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981
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The Telecom Digest for December 11, 2013
Volume 32 : Issue 242 : "text" Format
====== 32 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
|
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
and the name of our lawyer, and other stuff of interest.
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Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2013 13:53:31 -0500
From: Pete Cresswell <PeteCress@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Challenge-Response Now Available On CallCentric
Message-ID: <iloea9pleauo0e9dgu85v3o6dfd9lkurnv@4ax.com>
Just got an announce from my VOIP provider to the effect that they are
implementing something I've been ranting about for a couple years as the
only solution:
"Telemarketer Block - With our Telemarketer Block feature you can
dramatically reduce and potentially eliminate unwanted telemarketing and
robocalls. When activated, inbound callers (to the DIDs that you have
this feature activated on) will hear an automated message which will
require them to press a specific key (1-9) in order to complete their
call. Your Callcentric Phone WILL NOT begin to ring, until AFTER the
inbound caller has successfully pressed the requisite key on their phone
Our newest features/promotions were developed based on feedback from our
Valued Customers. If you have a service suggestion or feature request
that you would like to submit to us for review, please open a support
ticket under the category "Suggestions and Feedback" and we will be
happy to take a look. "
---
Pete Cresswell
***** Moderator's Note *****
Sounds good, but I hope they don't just wait x seconds for "the" digit
to be entered: I've heard telemousketeer calls which start with a
quick string of Touch Tone digits, presumably 1 to 0 in succession.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2013 22:36:35 -0800 (PST)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Archer Savoye Taylor (1916 - 2013) passes
Message-ID: <11fe50c2-579e-44e9-9638-3e17211d4c32@googlegroups.com>
By Brian Santo, Mon, 12/09/2013, CED
| Archer Taylor died on November 22. He was a member of the very
| first handful of people to get involved in what would only
| later become known as the CATV industry.
|
| His death was reported in The Washington Post yesterday, on
| Dec. 8.
|
| In the early 1950s, Taylor and his associates had visited a
| cable system in Bellingham, Wash. In '53, he helped build the
| first cable receiver in Montana, housed in a tent, designed to
| pull in a signal from KXLY in Spokane, according to an
| interview with The Cable Center.
|
| He co-founded Northwest Video later that same year. Shortly
| thereafter, the company decided to set up operations in
| Kalispell (using amps from "another fly-by-night outfit by the
| name of Blonder-Tongue").
|
| He said that sometimes in the late 1950s, NBC actually came to
| Northwest Video asking them to build a cable system to carry
| NBC content, because Kalispell was too small for NBC to
| justify building a broadcast station there.
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/muacfbg
The Washington Post article cited above is here:
http://tinyurl.com/n6vn6qy
I met Mr. Taylor only once during my years in the cable TV industry. The
company I worked for had applied for a franchise in a nearby village. I had
recently joined the cable TV industry, after working for several years in
educational broadcasting.
The local phone company, a subsidiary of TDS, also applied for the franchise.
TDS was the incumbent landline telephone company in the village. FCC
cross-ownership rules at the time prohibited telcos from owning CATVs within
their telephone service areas. TDS believed that it could get around this
restriction.
Faced with two competing applications, the village board scheduled a public
hearing. My boss asked me to attend in case any technical questions came up.
We arrived at the meeting and took our places on one side of the table facing
the TDS crew. I didn't recognize any of them.
Then in walked Archer Taylor. I recognized him immediately although I had
never met him. And I was well aware of his reputation. Here I was, my first
job in cable TV, and I'm sitting across the table from one of the biggest
names in the technical end of the cable TV industry. I wasn't at all sure
that I'd be able to match him if some technical issue came up.
Well, as it turned out, the lawyers spent the whole meeting arguing about FCC
technicalities. I never had to say anything, and neither did Taylor.
After the meeting broke up, I approached Taylor and introduced myself. We had
a short pleasant conversation. I think he was as glad that he didn't have to
say anything as I was.
Sometimes even lawyers can be helpful.
Postscript: the village board eventually awarded the franchise to TDS and our
side immediately appealed to the FCC. The subsequent battle raged on for five
years. Here is a link to an article I wrote about it in 2000 for the Madison
SBE Chapter newsletter:
http://www.sbe24.org/archive/ltrs2000/c24jan00.asp#five
Scroll down to TELEPHONE AND DATA SYSTEMS, INC.
Neal McLain
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