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The Telecom Digest for May 8, 2014
Volume 33 : Issue 77 : "text" Format
====== 32 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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Date: Wed, 7 May 2014 04:12:33 -0400
From: tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: at&t-to-Frontier handover in CT?
Message-ID: <fpcyec0qpyx1.zvga5y3eu5a5$.dlg@40tude.net>
My local cable company made me aware today that Frontier Communications may
soon "Acquire at&t's Connecticut Wireline Properties" -- cf.
http://frontier.com/ct
.
In Frontier's words, "On December 17th 2013, Frontier Communications
announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire AT&T's wireline
properties in Connecticut. Upon completion of the transaction, Frontier
will become the communications service provider for AT&T's residential and
business broadband, phone and TV customers in Connecticut â?" including
U-verse® and satellite customers. We expect the transition to close in the
second half of 2014." More detail in the link above.
I'm shocked that it's taken nearly five months for this December
announcement to come to my attention -- not a peep about it to me from
either at&t, the local press, or the local broadcast media. It's almost as
if only Comcast/Xfinity has any motive to report it :-) .
Cheers, -- tlvp
Date: Wed, 07 May 2014 17:14:25 -0700
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: at&t-to-Frontier handover in CT
Message-ID: <536ACC61.6010402@thadlabs.com>
On 5/7/2014 1:12 AM, tlvp wrote:
> My local cable company made me aware today that Frontier Communications may
> soon "Acquire at&t's Connecticut Wireline Properties" -- cf.
>
>
> http://frontier.com/ct
> .
>
> In Frontier's words, "On December 17th 2013, Frontier Communications
> announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire AT&T's wireline
> properties in Connecticut. Upon completion of the transaction, Frontier
> will become the communications service provider for AT&T's residential and
> business broadband, phone and TV customers in Connecticut including
> U-verse® and satellite customers. We expect the transition to close in the
> second half of 2014." More detail in the link above.
>
> I'm shocked that it's taken nearly five months for this December
> announcement to come to my attention -- not a peep about it to me from
> either at&t, the local press, or the local broadcast media. It's almost as
> if only Comcast/Xfinity has any motive to report it :-) .
Hilarious! But I'm not surprised -- I have stock in both the "new" at&t and
Frontier and your posting above is the first I've heard of that transition.
Long story short, I used to own a large number of shares in the original
AT&T since the 1960s.
In 1984 the US DoJ broke up AT&T into the seven RBOCs (Regional Bell
Operating Companies) and I received new certificates from Nynex, SW Bell,
et al, and those split and/or were acquired or whatever into more splinter
companies and whatnot and/or were re-absorbed by the "new" at&t and I don't
dare sell any of the shares to avoid a tax nightmare (regarding "basis") so
I simply deposit dividend checks from each splintered company plus the "new"
aggregated at&t every 3 months to avoid any hassles.
Fast forward 30 years to 2014 and I receive some small dividends from both
Comcast (which must have acquired some splintered company(ies)) and a $0.22
check from Frontier which costs them more to mail the check to me than the
value of the dividend -- it'll cost me more to contact Frontier and ask for
direct deposit than I care to spend so I'll let them continue sending me a
check every 3 months. :-)
Thad
Date: Wed, 07 May 2014 09:35:01 -0400
From: Pete Cresswell <PeteCress@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Re-post: Stopping illegal robocalling
Message-ID: <cbdkm9l1h7sccrsm8nd7qmj3ubffmcv42g@4ax.com>
Per John David Galt:
>I expect that the market will solve this problem sooner or later. One
>way would be for more widespread use of VOIP to replace POTS, after
>which similar filtering could be done by software on the computer
>receiving the calls.
That rings true to me. With VOIP, one can implement challenge-response
(i.e. Press 1 for Fred, Press 2 for Sam....).
I'm seriously considering moving my incoming calls to VOIP. I already
have all my non-800 outgoing calls going through a VOIP provider. Only
reason I haven't gone all the way is that it seems like VOIP providers'
implementation of 911 is unreliable.
OTOH, the DNC lists have become moot and we're sometimes getting a
half-dozen solicitor calls a day.... so maybe I'll be making the
cutover.
Cellphone-wise, I have something called "Call Control" on my Android
phone and robocalls and other solicitor calls have dropped off to near
zero from a high of several per week.
--
Pete Cresswell
Date: Wed, 07 May 2014 09:29:46 -0500
From: Jim Haynes <jhaynes@cavern.uark.edu>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Re-post: Stopping illegal robocalling
Message-ID: <slrnlmkgqp.2s7.jhaynes@Henry.localdomain>
Why not replace caller ID with a non-spoofable variety. I presume this
kind of thing already exists in the kinds of records the telephone plant
makes.
Or, have your proposed *99 code act not on the CID number but on the
actual originating number.
[moderator pro tem's note: It's not that simple. Calls from individual line analog (home-type) phones have an ANI, which is generally accurate, and PBX trunks can have an accurate ANI and a user-generated CID. But robocalls come through a chain of providers, typically VoIP intermediaries, and there is no clear ANI. There are also carriers not delivering ANI to other carriers. It's a mess.]
Date: Wed, 07 May 2014 00:28:17 -0700
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Re-post: Stopping illegal robocalling
Message-ID: <5369E091.8050702@thadlabs.com>
On 5/6/2014 11:34 AM, news wrote:
> Because of the weak response to my previous posting (2 Feb.2014), I'm once
> again asking the newsgroup readership to help form a grassroots alliance to
> get illegal robocalling stopped.
> The method is detailed in my entry to the 2012-2013 FTC Robocalling contest.
> See
> http://telecom-digest.org/robocalls.pdf
> . I'll give a brief overview
> here.
>
> In my opinion it will be fruitless to try to stop these calls by threats,
> making them illegal, etc. This will work only if the callers can be
> identified and prosecuted easily. Therefore, my proposal relies on
> technical means to actually stop most calls from completing. The method is
> based on caller ID (CID) information delivered with the calls. It requires
> development of new features to be deployed in the phone network.
> [...]
I'm all for blocking robocallers. But as Fred, the pro tem moderator,
wrote [appended to your Tuesday May 6 article]:
" The probem is that it requires changing switch software in
" existing old DMS and 5E switches, and in the SS7 network. That
" stuff is old, not well supported, and the telcos are just letting
" them rot in place. So trying to get them to do anything would be
" extremely difficult. Comments from the rest of the readership are
" welcome!
Shoe-horning a solution into the aging existing infrastructure is going
to be a very difficult part of achieving the goal assuming legislative
support for the task. I wouldn't be holding my breath waiting. :-)
Note your original February 3, 2014, article also cited the IETF in
addition to your
http://telecom-digest.org/robocalls.pdf
document:
" The main thrust of the proposal is to detect Caller ID spoofing.
" For your information, the IETF has resurrected its efforts to
" detect Caller ID spoofing.
"
" Check it out:
"
&http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-stir-problem-statement-03
&
"
" Also available at:
"
&ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-stir-problem-statement-03.txt
&
Out of curiosity, I did some Googling regarding the Ooma VoIP service in
this regards and found these 3 URLs with some interesting solutions and
thoughts:
1. View topic - Robocall blocking suggestions. - Ooma
http://www.ooma.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=16626
2. Want to block telemarketers? Use Ooma's Blacklist feature ...
http://www.ooma.com/node/1325
[ noting Ooma Premier has a personal blacklist and a community one ]
3. AMERICANS FED UP WITH POLITICAL ROBOCALLS - Ooma
http://www.ooma.com/press/press-releases/americans-fed-political-robocalls
"
" [...]
" At the top of the list of most desirable home phone features is
" the ability to automatically block unwanted callers. Among
" people considering switching home phone service, 77% said a
" feature that automatically blocks telemarketers and other
" unwanted callers would make them more likely to switch, says
" another study conducted by novaQuant, Inc., a leading market
" research firm, and commissioned by Ooma, Inc., a leading
" Internet-based home phone service.
"
" Ooma offers this unique privacy feature as part of its Premier
" Service via a personal and community blacklist. The Personal
" Blacklist blocks specific callers or sends them directly to
" voicemail and the Community Blacklist draws on a database of
" thousands of known telemarketers and solicitors automatically
" blocking those callers.
" [...]
Thad
Date: Wed, 7 May 2014 13:09:06 -0400
From: "news" <news@fx12.iad.highwinds-media.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Re-post: Stopping illegal robocalling
Message-ID: <YMtav.64824$eo6.29198@fx12.iad>
A significant aspect of this proposal not emphasized in the re-post is that,
assuming PLMN switches are appropriately upgraded, it works for cell phones
as well as landlines. I.e., the proposal stops illegal robocalls to cell
phones.
If we're going to solve the problem, let's do it only once, if possible, for
ALL phones.
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