---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <9a9a6ff1-a01e-4fcf-957f-787b319dc9f4@googlegroups.com> Date: 2 Nov 2018 14:16:25 -0700 From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Re: Verizon building causing power outages in Lynbrook LI On Thursday, November 1, 2018 at 10:56:32 AM UTC-4, Bill Horne wrote: > By Michael Smollins > > Many business owners near Merrick Road in Lynbrook have complained > about power outages in the area that were caused by the Verizon > services communication building on Washington Avenue. > > "It's disruptive to business," said Jeffrey Greenfield, a partner at > the NGL Insurance Group at 112 Merrick Road, of the outages. "We're in > the customer service business. Our computers went down, our phones > went down. It takes time to get reestablished, so virtually every time > it goes down it puts us out of business." > > http://liherald.com/stories/verizon-building-causing-power-outages-in-lynbrook,108675 The article is from a newspaper and is rather vague as to the cause. It seems strange that a customer could do something to the electric grid and foul up other customers. The power company seems to blame Verizon, but maybe it is really their fault? I'm not sure Long Island has a very good power company. They used to have LILCO which had problems. As a computer user, when I get an intermittent power outage at home--which are too frequent--it is disruptive to me. At work it was a real pain. But in the reality of today's heavy dependence on electronics (computers and other devices), I wonder if commercial users should have some UPS protection against the intermittent disruptions and surges. They would also provide for an orderly shutdown in case the outage is more than brief. Sadly, these days, many home owners are buying rather expensive backup generators for their entire home due to frequent and extended power outages. In my opinion, it is ridiculous that people have to do this (and people who live in apartments are screwed). We really need to take a hard look at the electric utility situation and improve its low reliability. In my opinion, recent efforts at 'deregulation' or other power reforms only made things worse for ordinary consumers. Telephone note: I am bombarded at home with calls from alternative energy suppliers. Many of these calls are clearly fraudulent scams. ------------------------------ Message-ID: <03f1f38d-07c0-481d-9e33-1f340c744294@googlegroups.com> Date: 3 Nov 2018 11:18:29 -0700 From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: 50 years ago--Timesharing, WU SICOM 50 years ago, the Oct 1968 issue of Computers & Automation was devoted to timesharing. Articles included: SELECTING A VENDOR OF TIME-SHARED COMPUTER SERVICES Specific suggestions on how a non-user should go about selecting a time-sharing or remote-batch computer service, and how a current user should evaluate his present service ... with some general comments on the current state and future potential of the time-sharing industry. MULTIPLE-ACCESS, TIME-SHARING, OPERATING SYSTEM A case history - how the "Multiple Access Time Sharing" (MATS) System at Northern Electric Co., ltd., Ottawa, Canada, operates. A NEW CONCEPT IN TIME SHARING: DEDICATED SYSTEMS SHARE ONE COMPUTER A unique type of sharing in which several discrete, real-time, on-line information systems share a computer at a neutral site. COMPUTER RESOURCES SHARING-SOME COMMENTS AND PREDICTIONS Norman Doelling What do ti~e-sharing systems currently offer? Where are present trends likely to lead? DATA PROCESSING SERVICES: BANKING'S NEW PRODUCT Why banks are becoming a powerful competitor in providing data processing services. http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/computersAndAutomation/196810.pdf In the Nov 1968 there was a brief mention of Western Union's new SICOM service, a computerized message switching service for the securities industry: WESTERN UNION SERVICE FOR SECURITIES INDUSTRY A computer-controlled system designed for shared use by many firms in the securities industry - providing cross-country communication of buy and sell orders in seconds - is now being operated by Western Union for its first Wall Street customer I Shields & Company. Called SICOM (Securi ties Industry Communications) Western Union's new system serves the specialized needs of brokerage firms. The system interconnects a subscribing brokerage firm's headquarters wire and order rooms, its branches and correspondents, the trading floors, of the New York and American Stock Exchanges, and other special points desired by the subscriber. It provides for the fast transmission of buy-sell orders, execution reports, market news reports, administrative messages and other record information. Western Union engineered the entire system and provides all components, including computers, circuits, teleprinters, outstation equipment, programming and maintenance. The only equipment located on the premises of a SICOM subscriber is an automatic teleprinter supplied by Western Union. From photos from other sources, it appeared the system used the Teletype model 28 ASR. This is surprising to me in that the model 28 was a Baudot (5 bit) machine and I would think by then an ASCII machine would've been preferred. An average message of 80 characters took 20 seconds to transmit. The initial capacity was 70,000 messages per hour. Messages were switched at the Western Union computer center at Mahwah, NJ. By way of contrast, at that time, the interstate day telegram rate was $2.25 for the first 15 words, and 9c each additional word. The interstate night letter was $1.70 for the first 100 words and 1.5c for each additional word. At that time, telegram service still represented a good chunk of Western Union's revenues, although WU sought to transition over to other services like SICOM that had more of a future and profit potential. ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20181104024044.GA4651@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 22:40:44 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Howardsville, Va Centurylink customers complain of erratic service HOWARDSVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- Concerned CenturyLink customers from southern Albemarle and Buckingham counties have been without properly functioning telephones and are seeking a permanent fix. For Ellyn Moore, the problem is that her landline works only some of the time. "It means that when we can't call out, we can't call 911 for fire, for a health emergency," Moore said. "We all know that in this town that this train carries liquid petroleum down the road every single day. We know, in the 33 years we've lived in our home, there's been two derailments that we know of. It is imperative that we be able to call for help." https://www.cbs19news.com/content/news/Some-CenturyLink-customers-lack-working-telephone-causing-fear-and-frustration-499449581.html -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Sun, 04 Nov 2018