The Telecom Digest for November 06, 2010
Volume 29 : Issue 299 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
====== 28 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: Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:31:04 -0700
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon-Penna gets ok to end phone books
Message-ID: <4CD38888.30708@thadlabs.com>
On 11/4/2010 12:23 PM, Lisa or Jeff wrote:
> The Phila Inqr reported:
>
> Soon your fingers will do the walking on your keyboard alone. It's the
> end of the line for the phone book as we know it.
>
> Verizon Pennsylvania Inc. today got the go-ahead to stop regular
> publishing of the white pages.
> [...]
That must be a Verizon-ism. Here (Silicon Valley) we still
receive AT&T white and yellow pages every year.
I cancelled my landlines in 2002 and still receive the phone book
each year in a nice bag hanging from my home's front doorknob.
Here's a (small) scan of the "top" 1/3 of the AT&T phonebook cover
for my area which I received mid-October:
http://thadlabs.com/FILES/AT+T_cover_NOV-2010.pdf
Here's a similar JPG scan of the November 2009 phone book last year:
http://thadlabs.com/PIX/at+t_phone_book.jpg
What's interesting is this year's cover claims "yp.com" is the
new "yellowpages.com".
Interesting. Looks like "yp.com" finds businesses by name or number
(reverse lookup?) and is also a people-finder. I didn't bother to
enable javascript to test it, but that capability could be useful.
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2010 01:35:51 -0400
From: danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: whatever happened... cellphone tracking..?
Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.64.1011050134530.14829@panix5.panix.com>
Back after 9/11 and periodically since then there's been
dicussion about portable cell phone "bases" that could
be used for:
a: in a helicopter over remote areas to find lost folk
in cellular dead zones such as when Steve Fosset's plane
went down
b: building collapses or other localized situations
to help triangulate buried folk. They'd also be
able to grab signals that weren't making it to the
regular towers.
Haven't seen anything in the past few years.
Has there been any movement?
Thanks
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
Date: Thu, 04 Nov 2010 23:18:12 -0400
From: tlvp <tPlOvUpBErLeLsEs@hotmail.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon-Penna gets ok to end phone books
Message-ID: <op.vlogsmwxitl47o@acer250.gateway.2wire.net>
On Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:23:40 -0400, Lisa or Jeff <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com>
wrote:
> The Phila Inqr reported:
>
> Verizon Pennsylvania Inc. today got the go-ahead to stop regular
> publishing of the white pages.
And gone will be the days of thumbing through the Restaurant pages of the
current motel's local phone book, so as to figure out where to have dinner
before turning in for the night when temporarily in a strange town ... :-{ .
All good things must pass, I guess. Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:05:53 -0700
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon-Penna gets ok to end phone books
Message-ID: <4CD463A1.4000206@thadlabs.com>
On 11/4/2010 8:18 PM, tlvp wrote:
> On Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:23:40 -0400, Lisa or Jeff <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com>
> wrote:
>
>> The Phila Inqr reported:
>>
>> Verizon Pennsylvania Inc. today got the go-ahead to stop regular
>> publishing of the white pages.
>
> And gone will be the days of thumbing through the Restaurant pages of the
> current motel's local phone book, so as to figure out where to have dinner
> before turning in for the night when temporarily in a strange town ...
> :-{ .
>
> All good things must pass, I guess. Cheers, -- tlvp
This is actually sad -- the passing of another piece of
history.
Back when I was making numerous business trips, it was
fun to see what pages were the most-frequented in the
local phone books based on observing the book from the
side while it was "flat" on a table. In Philadelphia, I
noticed restaurant pages were the ones; in San Diego CA
it was the massage parlors. One quickly gets a "feel" for
an area from such observations. :-)
Speaking of Philadelphia PA (and off-topic), I was amazed it
seemed everyone in that state (even at the car rental office)
thought Gettysburg was in Virginia except for the folks in
Gettysburg once I drove to and arrived there to tour the
battlegrounds during a weekend layover; isn't geography
taught in schools anymore? Just curious.
***** Moderator's Note *****
The only thing taught in the public schools now is political
correctness, sensitivity, and blind acceptance of the latest
educational fad^h^h^h techniques.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2010 10:01:43 -0400
From: Eric Tappert <e.tappert.spamnot@worldnet.att.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon-Penna gets ok to end phone books
Message-ID: <2f38d6tmg81k0h9svstrn3lf2mld1j6fn4@4ax.com>
On Thu, 04 Nov 2010 23:18:12 -0400, tlvp
<tPlOvUpBErLeLsEs@hotmail.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:23:40 -0400, Lisa or Jeff <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com>
>wrote:
>
>> The Phila Inqr reported:
>>
>> Verizon Pennsylvania Inc. today got the go-ahead to stop regular
>> publishing of the white pages.
>
>And gone will be the days of thumbing through the Restaurant pages of the
>current motel's local phone book, so as to figure out where to have dinner
>before turning in for the night when temporarily in a strange town ... :-{ .
>
>All good things must pass, I guess. Cheers, -- tlvp
Relax, the Allentown Morning Call story
(http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-verizon-phone-book-20101104,0,6962970.story)
stated clearly that the business yellow pages will continue to be
printed and distributed, so you'll be able to find that 5 star
cheesesteak place without any trouble.
ET
--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news@netfront.net ---
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:25:25 -0500
From: Neal McLain <nmclain@annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Camouflaged cellphone towers
Message-ID: <4CD3F7B5.9090402@annsgarden.com>
Thad Floryan wrote:
> It appears other tree styles are also
> used depending on the terrain. Entering
> "camouflaged cellphone towers" to Google
> Images reveals numerous styles, even
> cactii, which really surprised me.
Monopines have what's known as fooliage.
Here's a link my compilation of structures, including a few fakes:
http://antennastructures.blogspot.com/
Neal McLain
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2010 17:45:05 -0700 (PDT)
From: "www.Queensbridge.us" <NOTvalid@Queensbridge.us>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon Wireless settles with FCC, to pay $25 million plus refunds
Message-ID: <bb7a6bc2-6ff8-4b44-ac80-857182c30a1b@x42g2000yqx.googlegroups.com>
On Oct 28, 4:14 pm, danny burstein <dan...@panix.com> wrote:
> [FCC press release]
>
> FCC INVESTIGATION INTO VERIZON WIRELESS "MYSTERY FEES"
> RESULTSIN RECORD SETTLEMENT
>
> Verizon Wireless to pay largest-ever settlement and consumer refund
>
> Today, the Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau announced
an
> historic consent decree with Verizon Wireless - including a record $25
million
> payment to the U.S. Treasury - regarding "mystery fees" the company charged
its
> customers over the last several years. The payment is the largest in FCC
> history and the settlement concludes the agency's ten-month investigation
into
> these overcharges. In addition to Verizon Wireless's payment to the
Treasury,
> the company will immediately refund a minimum of $52.8 million to
approximately
> 15 million customers and ensure that consumers are no longer charged the
> mystery fees.
> --------
> rest of press release (which has links to the settlement, etc.)
> in, respectively, "Word Doc" format, PDF, and text:
>
>
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-302489A1.doc
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-302489A1.pdf
http://www.fcc.gov/eb/News_Releases/DOC-302489A1.html
>
> _____________________________________________________
> Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
> dan...@panix.com
> [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
They will get it all back when the $3.50 surcharges [or the portion
they will get] for credit card billing.
--
http://www.Queensbridge.us
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:29:08 -0700
From: Richard <rng@richbonnie.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon-Penna gets ok to end phone books
Message-ID: <t5j8d65egme7b3oasjh9ln8q2t0n5qrd1r@4ax.com>
On Thu, 4 Nov 2010 12:23:40 -0700 (PDT), Lisa or Jeff
<hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:
>Verizon Pennsylvania Inc. today got the go-ahead to stop regular
>publishing of the white pages.
>http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/news_breaking/In_green_move_Verizon_pulls_plug_on_white_pages.html
It is not clear from the link above whether they will not distribute
the white pages but will distribute yellow-pages-only paper
directories, or whether they will not distribute any paper
directories.
In my town of Pahrump, NV, besides the usual AT&T white and yellow
page directory, two other companies distribute phone directories with
both types of pages: One from a local newspaper, the other from a
company based in Utah.
One advantage of the independents is that they will publish any yellow
page ad from anyone, whereas AT&T will only list those with business
phone accounts. This is useful for finding businesses which do not
have a business phone account, but use only the owner's cell phone for
business calls.
Another advantage: Pahrump is on the NV-CA state line. The
independent directories cover both sides of the line, whereas the AT&T
directory covers only the NV side.
One disadvantage is that the independents only publish yellow page
numbers for businesses which pay for the listings. So we need the two
independent directories plus the AT&T directory to find every business
in a particular field.
Dick
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 Bill Horne. 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 moderated by Bill Horne.
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 (8 messages)
|
| |
or 
