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The Telecom Digest for March 25, 2013
Volume 32 : Issue 70 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Your Phone vs. Your Heart (Monty Solomon)
Re: More Extensions and Lightning Protection (Fred Goldstein)
Re: More Extensions and Lightning Protection (Fred Atkinson, WB4AEJ)
Service Migration Advice (Frank Stearns)
Re: More Extensions and Lightning Protection (John Levine)
Re: More Extensions and Lightning Protection (Wes Leatherock)

====== 31 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======

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Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:19:54 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Your Phone vs. Your Heart
Message-ID: <p06240806cd742f184630@[10.0.1.13]>

Your Phone vs. Your Heart

By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSON
March 23, 2013

CAN you remember the last time you were in a public space in America 
and didn't notice that half the people around you were bent over a 
digital screen, thumbing a connection to somewhere else?

Most of us are well aware of the convenience that instant electronic 
access provides. Less has been said about the costs. Research that my 
colleagues and I have just completed, to be published in a 
forthcoming issue of Psychological Science, suggests that one 
measurable toll may be on our biological capacity to connect with 
other people.

Our ingrained habits change us. Neurons that fire together, wire 
together, neuroscientists like to say, reflecting the increasing 
evidence that experiences leave imprints on our neural pathways, a 
phenomenon called neuroplasticity. Any habit molds the very structure 
of your brain in ways that strengthen your proclivity for that habit.

Plasticity, the propensity to be shaped by experience, isn't limited 
to the brain. You already know that when you lead a sedentary life, 
your muscles atrophy to diminish your physical strength. What you may 
not know is that your habits of social connection also leave their 
own physical imprint on you.

How much time do you typically spend with others? And when you do, 
how connected and attuned to them do you feel? Your answers to these 
simple questions may well reveal your biological capacity to connect.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/opinion/sunday/your-phone-vs-your-heart.html




Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2013 21:49:14 -0400
From: "Fred Goldstein" <fred.remove-this@this-too.ionary.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: More Extensions and Lightning Protection
Message-ID: <killtv$qd2$1@dont-email.me>

On 3/23/2013 1:52 PM, David Lesher wrote:
> John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> writes:
>
>>> Linksys says the maximum number of extensions on one line is two.
>
>> Linksys is being very conservative.  Three phones will probably work
>> fine, particularly if they are modern phones with electronic ringers.
>
> I agree with John. Most tweedle-deedle phones draw 0.1-0.3 REN's; not
> the 1.0 of a real phone such as a WECO 2500 set.
>

But oddly, when I looked at my 2006-ish Panasonic office phone (a corded 
speakerphone/answering machine), its REN was 1.0B.  The 2005-ish "AT&T" 
(AAT licensee) version of same had REN 1.1B!  So not all phones put on a 
low ringer load.

So it's worth looking at the RENs on your devices and adding them up. 
The old CO standard was to support 5, but most home ATAs are lower, like 
the one in question.  Power ring is one of the harder things for 
solid-state circuits to synthesize; semiconductors usually like 5 DC 
volts and down, not 90 volts AC!  There are of course semis that can 
handle it, but power is not free there.

-- 
Fred Goldstein  k1io  fred "at" ionary dot com




Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2013 07:49:53 -0600
From: "Fred Atkinson, WB4AEJ" <fred@remove-this.remove-this.wb4aej.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: More Extensions and Lightning Protection 
Message-ID: <20130324134957.25726.qmail@leila.iecc.com>

At 01:20 AM 3/24/2013, you wrote:
>Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2013 17:52:04 +0000 (UTC)
>From: David Lesher <wb8foz@panix.com>
>To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
>Subject: Re: More Extensions and Lightning Protection
>Message-ID: <kikq44$p48$1@reader2.panix.com>
>
>John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> writes:
>
> >>        Linksys says the maximum number of extensions on one line is
> >>        two.
>
> >Linksys is being very conservative.  Three phones will probably work
> >fine, particularly if they are modern phones with electronic ringers.
>
>I agree with John. Most tweedle-deedle phones draw 0.1-0.3 REN's; not
>the 1.0 of a real phone such as a WECO 2500 set.

  Thanks for the information, guys.

  As far as the lightning protection, Mike Sandman has a device.  So I
guess that when I am ready to run that extension out to the work shop,
I will be able to use those protectors to protect the ATA and the
phone(s) in the work shop.

  This is what he showed me:
http://www.sandman.com/surge.html#KIT4A

  Regards,

             Fred




Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2013 08:01:01 -0500
From: Frank Stearns <franks.pacifier.com@pacifier.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Service Migration Advice
Message-ID: <zJydnQ-M35WQZNPMnZ2dnUVZ_oadnZ2d@posted.palinacquisition>

I'm not a telecom professional but am fascinated by telco engineering
and systems. It's frustrating when consumer/retail-level customer
service folks aren't educated or have no real systems understanding,
so I'm appealing to the pros here for a bit of advice or suggestions.

In the next few weeks, I will be moving to temporary housing several
states away, then a few months after that to permanant housing in
that same new area.

The first apparent fib I was told by Century Link CS sometime back
was the ability to move my current land-line number (have had it for
33 years) to a different area code -- and still use the old area
code. (There are reasons to keep this
number, even in a different location, but I won't waste time on
those right now.)

That trans-area code move seemed counter to what I've understood
about the "traditional" telco system, but I was assured that 21st
technology and systems allowed for this.

Still doubting, I called again a day later and got the same answer
from another Century Link CS rep -- no problem moving land line
numbers around, even to different area codes. 

When I called a 3rd time a few days back to actually do this, I was
told "no, sorry,  we can't do that."

If that's true, it seems the only option I have is to port that old
land line number to a new cell phone or perhaps a VOIP account. I
might do the cell phone port while at the temp housing, then move it
to VOIP when finally in the permanent housing. (Temp housing internet
connection is poor, thus limiting VOIP options. Excellent internet
service exists at the permanent location, however.)

I would not carry that new cell phone, it would sit on the desk and
be treated as a stationary land-line phone. (I already have a cell
and cell number that I want to maintain, and don't want to carry two
phones. Cell providers tell me I can only have one number per cell phone.)

I also have a custom ringing number on my old land line account.
Inbound toll-free calls are forwarded there. This is perhaps easier,
as the toll-free service provider can forward inbound toll-free calls
just about anywhere. The ring pattern identifying an inbound
toll-free call would be gone, but that's not a serious problem.

It seems that what I really need is the opposite of what google voice
provides: they appear to offer one inbound number that can then be
fanned out to various numbers. But what I'd like is the ability to
collect inbound calls to multiple numbers and forward them one number
(current cell, for example), all without the need for a "permanent"
account from the likes of Century Link.

Right now, it seems the pragmatic solution is that porting of my old
land number to a new cell phone (this can be done for sure).
Toll-free calls would be forwarded to that new cell as well.

Fortunately, at the moment, the call volume on the old land and
toll-free numbers is light and I can likely do fine with a cheap,
pre-paid, non-contract cell.

Sorry to be so long-winded; hope I've made the situation clear.

I'd be most interested if anyone has better ideas about managing this
changing situation, and even a final word if it is possible to put any
area code in a different area code. (And if yes, what I need to say to
a CS rep to make that happen.)

Thanks in advance
Frank
-- 
 .




Date: 23 Mar 2013 23:35:30 -0000
From: "John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: More Extensions and Lightning Protection
Message-ID: <20130323233530.91937.qmail@joyce.lan>

>>>        Linksys says the maximum number of extensions on one line is
>>>        two.
>
>>Linksys is being very conservative.  Three phones will probably work
>>fine, particularly if they are modern phones with electronic ringers.
>
>I agree with John. Most tweedle-deedle phones draw 0.1-0.3 REN's; not
>the 1.0 of a real phone such as a WECO 2500 set.

John is also speaking from experience.  I have an SPA-1001 plugged
into the second line of my home wiring with at least three phones, and
it works fine.

I have the technical equivalent of a 2500 set* but it's not plugged
into that line.

R's,
John

* - a Mickey Mouse phone I bought from SNET about 35 years ago, with
genuine Western Electric guts, including a polarity sensitve touch
tone pad.  No, you can't have it.




Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2013 07:08:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: Wes Leatherock <wleathus@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: More Extensions and Lightning Protection 
Message-ID: <1364134131.82110.YahooMailClassic@web125203.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>

--- On Sat, 3/23/13, David Lesher <wb8foz@panix.com> wrote:
> John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
> writes:
>
>>>        Linksys says the maximum number of extensions on one line
>>> is two.
>
>> Linksys is being very conservative.  Three phones will probably
>> work fine, particularly if they are modern phones with electronic >
>> ringers.
>
> I agree with John. Most tweedle-deedle phones draw 0.1-0.3 REN's;
> not the 1.0 of a real phone such as a WECO 2500 set.

Do all the phones have to ring?  I have disconnected (not just silenced) the
ringers in several of my phones to ensure reliable ringing and the remaining
ones still make a significnant racket heard all thorough the house.

Wes Leatherock
wleathus@yahoo.com






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