---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <c62cf5f9-6dcd-9305-b794-42ebb86861f0@ieee.org> Date: 7 Nov 2019 13:28:07 -0500 From: "Eric Tappert" <tappert@ieee.org> Subject: PG&E blackout knocks out one-quarter of Sonoma County After Hurricane Katrina the FCC mandated that cell towers have 8 hours of backup and COs have 24. Since the blackouts have lasted longer than 8 hours, loss of power to the cell sites might be expected. However, the article referenced easing of the requirements, when did that happen? I might add that the old Bell System standard had COs with 8 hours of battery backup, a generator on-site with 24 hours of fuel in the day tank and a week's worth of fuel on-site. That's why the phones worked in a blackout. It was also very lucrative for the telco as call volumes skyrocketed... ***** Moderator's Note ***** "when did that happen?" It happened when our "elected representatives" decided that the lives of 99% of the population are less important than their obscene salaries and even-more-obscene benefits, and less important than the free liquor and free private jets and free whores they enjoy at the expense of the industries they are supposedly watching over. It happened while we weren't looking, that's when. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <barmar-E24523.12315706112019@reader.eternal-september.org> Date: 6 Nov 2019 12:31:57 -0500 From: "Barry Margolin" <barmar@alum.mit.edu> Subject: Re: Pennsylvania Gives Telephone Subscribers New Protections Against Telemarketers And Robocallers In article <20191106002044.GA30005@telecom.csail.mit.edu>, Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> wrote: > * With specific respect to robocalls, the new law requires > telemarketers to establish procedures to allow called persons to > opt out of receiving future telephone solicitation calls and be > immediately taken off the list. Robocallers have been blatantly ignoring previous laws like the Do Not Call List, what makes legislators think this will be any more successful? -- Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** ***** Moderator's Note ***** Legislators routinely claim credit for every bill they "Introduce" to cure <problem-of-the-day>, knowing that none of those fluff bills will ever make it out of committee. For issues that have gotten the voters mad enough that they'll actually check, they arrange to pass meaningless legislation which they know won't change a thing. They don't care if their laws are "successful:" they care if the voters will put a check mark next to a well-known name that "introduced" and "passed" lots of important-sounding press releases. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <6A713493-7915-45C7-97EC-2263A1EC66EE@roscom.com> Date: 5 Nov 2019 21:55:17 -0600 From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> Subject: FCC crackdown on cellphone subsidies leaves millions without service It's supposed to curb fraud, but it may have punished the poor. By Jon Fingas The Ajit Pai-era FCC has spent much of its energy cracking down on claimed abuses of the Lifeline subsidy program, but this anti-fraud effort may be hurting low-income households more than it helps. The investigative news outlet Center for Public Integrity has used FCC data to determine that nationwide enrollment for cellphone subsidies has dropped by about 2.3 million people, or 21 percent, since 2017. The cuts have been particularly severe in places like the District of Columbia, where 49 percent of Lifeline users lost their subsidies between March 2018 and June 2019. Mississippi, Wyoming and Puerto Rico also lost a third or more of their enrollment in the same time frame. https://www.engadget.com/2019/11/05/fcc-lifeline-crackdown-cuts-service-for-millions/ ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Fri, 08 Nov 2019