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The Telecom Digest for October 23, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 269 : "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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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.
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Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:15:37 +1100
From: David Clayton <dcstarbox-usenet@yahoo.com.au>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Mobile shock: customer floored by $200,000 bill
Message-ID: <pan.2011.10.22.08.15.32.832954@yahoo.com.au>
Mobile shock: customer floored by $200,000 bill
October 19, 2011
A higher than usual phone bill can leave anyone stunned. And when Celina
Aarons got a jaw-dropper for more than $US200,000 ($195,417), it was no
mistake.
The US woman has a plan that usually costs her $US175 ($171) a month. She
includes two of her brothers on it, who are deaf and mute, and use
smartphones extensively for texting and communicating more easily.
"He's a sweetheart, and he goes to college and I would do anything for
him," she told WSVN television of her brother Shamir.
The problem was that Shamir went to Canada on vacation, and did not turn
off his data roaming.
The bad news for big sister, who lives in Florida: a bill for
$US201,005.44.
"I was freaking out. I was shaking, crying, I couldn't even talk that much
on the phone. I was like my life is over!" she told WSVN.
She said she thought "it's never going to get paid... I can't pay that.
That's like paying a nice house right now based on what houses are going
for".
Though T-Mobile did not have to reduce her bill, it wrote down her charges
to $US2500.
"The case of Ms Aarons was extraordinary, even if the amount was correct.
T-Mobile cut her bill to $US2500 [$2442] and gave her six months to pay,"
a T-Mobile spokeswoman said.
AFP
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/mobile-shock-customer-floored-by-200000-bill-20111019-1m6tm.html
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2011 00:21:03 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Bye-bye unlimited 4G: Sprint institutes data usage caps
Message-ID: <p062408eccac7f4fd71d9@[10.0.1.9]>
Bye-bye unlimited 4G: Sprint institutes data usage caps
By Casey Johnston
Sprint has announced that none of its customers with tablets, USB
connection cards, or mobile hotspots will have unlimited 4G access
anymore. Instead, the 3G and 4G data use will be combined and capped,
with extra charges for overages. The restriction does not currently
extend to mobile phones that are not used for tethering, and goes
into effect next month.
Sprint has been beating its chest in ads about its unlimited data
services, but that bragging point is quickly crumbling. Last month, a
leaked document stated the company would start capping data via
mobile phone hotspot at 5GB per month, with overage charges for both
new and current customers.
...
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/10/bye-bye-unlimited-4g-sprint-institutes-data-usage-caps.ars
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2011 00:33:33 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Danish study finds no link between cell phones, cancer
Message-ID: <p062408f1cac7f8022706@[10.0.1.9]>
"Massive 15-year study finds no link between cell phones, cancer"
By John Timmer
Despite numerous studies indicating that cell phones pose no health
risk to their users, a few studies have been released that suggest
prolonged use might contribute to brain cancer. For the World Health
Organization, that was enough to declare the phones "possibly
carcinogenic" and to call for further studies on the link.
At least one of these studies was already in the works. Some specific
features of how Denmark tracks its citizens have made that nation a
convenient laboratory for long-term population studies. Now, one
study has looked at almost the entire Danish adult population and
found that having a cell phone doesn't seem to be associated with any
additional risk of brain cancers.
...
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/10/massive-15-year-study-finds-no-link-between-cell-phones-cancer.ars
***** Moderator's Note *****
The web page include this warning:
"The only significant weakness to the study is that the authors
couldn't associate corporate accounts with individual users, so they
weren't considered in the analysis. "
... which means that corporate users, whom I suspect are more likely
to have higher exposures, may have been undercounted. Moreover, the
study did not consider societal or cultural differences that might
affect cancer patterns of Danes compared to users in other countries.
In other words, while this is "nice" news for the Danish markets, it
might or might not be the whole story for cellphone users in other
places. We'll probably hear every cellphone salesdroid on Earth
trumpeting this report from every cell tower, but I'll wait until the
results have been picked over by the scientific communities in other
places, and corroborated by other studies, before I throw out my wired
set.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2011 00:32:43 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Why Apple added little-known C-Spire as a US iPhone carrier
Message-ID: <p062408f0cac7f7d21bf0@[10.0.1.9]>
Why Apple added little-known C-Spire as a US iPhone carrier
By Christina Bonnington, wired.com
Apple will be expanding its iPhone 4S availability to another US
carrier in the next few weeks. No, it's not T-Mobile, but rather C
Spire Wireless, a small, regional carrier that's popular in
Mississippi and pockets of the Southeast. It's hard to resist that
Southern charm.
...
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/10/why-apple-added-little-known-c-spire-as-a-us-iphone-carrier.ars
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2011 10:27:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Coming soon: Verizon Droid Razr ?
Message-ID: <1319304439.22452.YahooMailClassic@web161516.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:48:09 -0400 tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net> wrote:
<<For all who wistfully remember -- or even still use -- a Motorola RAZR,
an intriguing announcement of an impending Android RAZR through Verizon:>>
Car manufacturers have been doing this for years.
***** Moderator's Note *****
Do you mean to tell me that John Belushi and Jim Belushi aren't
actually related?
Bill Horne
Moderator
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom-
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