30 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981
Add this Digest to your personal
or 
The Telecom Digest for December 20, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 324 : "text" Format
====== 30 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 Bill Horne 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 that person, or email address
owner.
Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be
sold or given away without the explicit written consent of the owner of
that address. 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: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:24:30 +0000
From: Ken Wheatley <ken@birchanger.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Voice mail auto delete
Message-ID: <4eef8f6e$0$16501$a8266bb1@newsreader.readnews.com>
On 2011-12-18 22:36:02 +0000, David Clayton said:
> On Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:24:08 -0600, Robert Bonomi wrote:
>
>> In article <XgLG3B.A.8nF.Nwh7OB@telecom>, David Clayton
>> <dcstarbox-usenet@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>>>
>>> Now it is claimed that the voice mail messages would be deleted
>>> automatically and therefore the "hackers" were not responsible for the
>>> message deletions, but my understanding is that only played messages
>>> would be auto-deleted, not the unheard ones, but this could also vary
>>> with each network.
>>
>> It definitely varies by voice-mail service.
>>
>> On (at least) large-scale VM systems, e.g. 'Octel', there are
>> configuration options to auto-delete messages -- 'heard' or 'un-heard' --
>> after a specified number of days; unless the message has specifically
>> been marked as 'saved'.
>>
>> There is a 'system default' value, plus over-rides by 'class of service',
>> and individual account.
>>
>> Small corporate VM systems may behave significantly differently.
>
> That's what I would have thought, in the case I outlined it would have
> been a major UK telco so I assume that they would have a reasonable policy
> of retaining all unheard messages (which was implied by the statements of
> not being able to leave a new VM when it was full), but more than likely
> would auto-discard listened to messages (which was also implied by the
> ability to leave new VMs after the mailbox was "hacked").
>
> I wonder if any UK readers of the CDT have any more info on this?
I used to work for Unisys some time ago, and played with their
large-scale messaging platforms.
As others have said, these things are configurable, so an operator can
set them up how they like. In fact there may be more than one
configuration as there may be several voicemail products or classes of
service running on the platform.
Normally messages become candidates for deletion when read. That may
not mean they're deleted at once, but may wait for a batch process to
take place.
Unread messages are kept until read, deleted by the user or until a
certain time limit is reached. You obviously wouldn't keep them for
ever.
Finally, there are message that have been listened to but then saved by
the user. These, too, have a shelf life.
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:49:10 -0800
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Good news for a change: Falcone's Lightsquared running out of cash
Message-ID: <4EF005B6.5030705@thadlabs.com>
On
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/19/us-falcone-wireless-idUSTRE7BI1U320111219
The upstart wireless company that is being bankrolled by Philip
Falcone's $5 billion Harbinger Capital Partners hedge fund could run
out of money during the second quarter of 2012, according to the
company's financial statement.
LightSquared, which registered a $427 million net loss during the
first nine months of this year, may not be able to "continue as a
going concern" unless it can raise additional capital and financing,
the statement reviewed by Reuters said.
"There is a need to raise substantial capital beyond the beginning of
the second quarter of 2012 in order to have sufficient liquidity," the
company's statement said.
It's been no secret in the telecom world that LightSquared is in need
of cash, but the financial statement paints a fairly bleak outlook for
the Reston, Virginia-based company. A failure of LightSquared would be
another jolt to investors in Falcone's hedge fund, which has committed
more than $3 billion in equity and loan commitments to the
company. Falcone gained fame after making billions in 2007 by shorting
subprime mortgages.
A spokesman for LightSquared said the company "has cash through the
next several quarters." A person familiar with LightSquared said the
company does not need any additional money until the Federal
Communication Commission rules on a company plan for dealing with
potential interference issues with global positioning systems. It is
not clear when the FCC will rule.
A Harbinger's spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
In July, Falcone's hedge fund loaned about $184 million to
LightSquared in return for warrants that can be converted into 2.9
million shares of LightSquared stock, according to the financial
statement.
New York-based Harbinger already is LightSquared's largest equity
holder - owning all but a small sliver of the company.
Falcone's big bet on wireless has always been a risky one given that
the telecom space is one with a history of failure and usually
requires significant sums of cash to become operational. But Falcone
began raising money for LightSquared at a time the capital markets
remained less than hospitable to risky ventures and the network has
been plagued by concerns it could interfere with GPS for planes and
the military.
[...]
Lack of cash is not the only problem facing LightSquared. Opposition
to LightSquared's planned network roll-out continues to grow on
Capitol Hill, over concern that the company's available broadcast
spectrum will cause interference with global positioning systems used
by the Department of Defense and the aviation industry.
LightSquared says it has a plan to deal with the potential
interference problems, but some of the company's critics are not
convinced. On Capitol Hill, Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa
Republican, is using the GPS issue to press the Federal Communications
Commission to release more information about its dealings with the
Falcone-backed telecom.
On December 9, Falcone notified investors in his hedge fund that
U.S. securities regulators are considering charging him with a number
of securities law violations. The U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission informed Falcone that he could face a civil enforcement
action over an allegation his fund engaged in manipulative trading
involving an unnamed debt security.
Falcone, in a letter to his investors reviewed by Reuters, said none
of the matters the SEC is investigating involve LightSquared.
[...]
{ full article at the URL at the beginning of this posting }
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:11:25 -0500
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Dear Congress, It's no longer OK to not know how the Internet works
Message-ID: <4EEFFCDD.1080006@horne.net>
Here's an opinion from Joshua Kopstein at MotherBoard, concerning the
Stop Online Piracy Act.
... Since its introduction, SOPA and its Senate twin PROTECT-IP have
been staunchly condemned by countless engineers, technologists and
lawyers intimately familiar with the inner functioning of the
internet. Completely beside the fact that these bills as they
currently stand would stifle free speech and potentially cripple
legitimate businesses by giving corporations extrajudicial censorial
powers, they have found an even more insidious threat: The method of
DNS filtering proposed to block supposed infringing sites opens up
enormous security holes that threaten the stability of the internet
itself.
http://motherboard.vice.com/2011/12/16/dear-congress-it-s-no-longer-ok-to-not-know-how-the-internet-works
1.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/internet-inventors-warn-against-sopa-and-pipa
--
Bill Horne
339-364-8487
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:34:37 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: AT&T Ends $39 Billion Bid for T-Mobile
Message-ID: <p06240865cb15a49496a2@[10.0.1.3]>
AT&T Ends $39 Billion Bid for T-Mobile
By MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED
DECEMBER 19, 2011
AT&T on Monday ended its effort to buy T-Mobile USA, acknowledging
that it could not overcome stiff opposition by the Obama
administration to form the nation's biggest cellphone service
provider.
The decision to scrap the $39 billion takeover - which would have
been the biggest deal of the year - is a major setback for AT&T,
which had pinned its hopes for growth on the acquisition. The company
wanted T-Mobile's cellular airwaves, or spectrum, to relieve its
congested network and offer faster service for data-hungry devices
like the iPhone.
And the deal's end leaves T-Mobile, the weakest of the four national
operators, with an uncertain future.
...
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/att-withdraws-39-bid-for-t-mobile/
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:31:35 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: U.S. Backs Apple In Patent Ruling That Hits Google
Message-ID: <p06240862cb15a3d4699e@[10.0.1.3]>
U.S. Backs Apple In Patent Ruling That Hits Google
By NICK WINGFIELD
December 19, 2011
A federal agency ruled on Monday that a set of important features
commonly found in smartphones are protected by an Apple patent, a
decision that could force changes in how Google's Android phones
function.
The ruling, by the United States International Trade Commission, is
one of the most significant so far in a growing array of closely
watched patent battles being waged around the globe by nearly all of
the major players in the mobile industry. These fights reflect the
heated competition among the companies, especially as Android phones
gain market share.
At the heart of the disputes are the kind of small but convenient
features that would cause many people to complain if they were not in
their smartphones. For example, the case decided Monday involves the
technology that lets you tap your finger once on the touch screen to
call a phone number that is written inside an e-mail or text message.
It also involves the technology that allows you to schedule a
calendar appointment, again with a single tap of the finger, for a
date mentioned in an e-mail.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/technology/apple-wins-partial-victory-on-patent-claim-over-android-features.html
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.
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) 2011 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 (5 messages)
Return to Archives ** Older Issues