31 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981
Add this Digest to your personal
or 
The Telecom Digest for April 23, 2013
Volume 32 : Issue 87 : "text" Format
====== 31 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: Sun, 21 Apr 2013 13:31:58 -0700
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Timeline of Provo UT fiber network before Google, and a Google Gotcha
Message-ID: <51744CBE.4040809@thadlabs.com>
As many of you may know, Google has been offering to provide
Gigabit Internet services with Austin TX being the second city
to be so provisioned and Provo UT the third. Provo already had
a failing fiber system (management and technical issues) that
Google recently acquired. I was curious about Provo's failure
and found this article showing the timeline of Provo's iProvo
fiber network:
http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/central/provo/the-iprovo-timeline/article_92b618c2-3479-5125-bb89-96cd1e33b269.html
I've copy'n'pasted the short timeline below.
There's also an interesting 'Google Gotcha' for Provo: Google
promised free Internet to every home but it never said anything
about businesses. Whoops! A long article about that datelined
today is here:
http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/central/provo/google-bringing--gig-internet-to-your-home-but-not/article_b0568f40-bacc-593f-ba95-5ecaa01945e0.html
And here's Provo's fiber network timeline:
1998 -- The city began investigating a telecom project.
November 2003 -- The Municipal Council voted to move it forward.
January 2004 -- The council approved a $39.5 million bond for iProvo.
October 2004 -- iProvo available for subscriptions.
Early 2005 -- Fiber built out in Grandview neighborhood, other areas.
July 2005 -- HomeNet, the first service provider, bails on iProvo; Mstar
and Veracity take over. HomeNet later goes bankrupt.
March 2006 -- Provo loans itself $980,000 to make the first bond payment
on iProvo.
2006 -- Subscribers continue to grow, although not at the hoped-for
rate.
June 2007 -- Provo allocates $1.2 million in sales tax revenue for bond,
while projecting the system will not be self-sustaining until 2011.
September 2007 -- iProvo hits 10,000 subscribers.
January 2008 --The state auditor began an investigation into how much
money iProvo's providers owe the city.
May 2008: Provo City sells iProvo to Broadweave for $40.6 million; city
pays $2.6 million in sale costs.
April 2009: Broadweave scales back on marketing, citing prohibitive
costs of setting up new customers.
August 2009: Broadweave and Veracity merge, ask for the city to take
over some of the bond payment for 18 months.
July 2011: Provo City prepares to take back the network from Veracity,
which could not make enough revenue to make the bond payments.
September 2011: Provo adds surcharge to every utility ratepayer's bill
to pay off iProvo bond. City begins shopping the network.
April 2013: Google Fiber announces takeover of the network.
Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2013 13:20:36 -0400
From: Julian Thomas <jt@jt-mj.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Any opinions about xLink BT?
Message-ID: <CB1974EB-5654-476E-95BC-C29E87161841@jt-mj.net>
The good, the bad, and the ugly. This is a device that connects your cell
phones to the wired phones (including cordless base stations) in your home.
search amazon or elsewhere for xlink bt
thanks
--
Julian Thomas
jt@jt-mj.net
http://jt-mj.net
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:48:17 -0400
From: ajbcommconsulting@frontier.com (Jim Bennett)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Do not mention his name
Message-ID: <51754DB1.8080302@frontier.com>
On 2013-04-20 02:59, Mark Kaminsky wrote:
> On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:33:20 -0400, Bill Horne wrote:
>
>> Forget him. He deserves no less.
>
> There was a really good science fiction story a few years ago (sorry
> that I cannot supply a citation, but memory says - for whatever that's
> worth - that it was in Analog magazine), where someone found a gateway
> to an alternate earth populated by highly civilized Neanderthals. In
> their culture (among some other very interesting differences from
> ours), those convicted of a serious crime AND THEIR ENTIRE FAMILIES
> lost their names (I don't even think that the banned names became
> vulgar curses, though that may have been a result which just didn't
> fit into the story).
>
> The entire family had to choose some other name (with approval from
> the record keepers who tracked all the banned names). It led to some
> incredible family pressure to behave well (and of course, for richer
> families, there was some incredible pressure to pervert justice to
> prevent a conviction)!
>
> For my part, I would very much like to see that punishment become the
> law here! Of course, there are lots of things I would love to change
> - the world would be very different if I were in charge. I just don't
> know if it would be any better.
>
> Mark
>
>
I used to think it would be nice to be dictator, with enough power to
right ALL of the wrongs that exist in society. Then I realized that it
would be a messy, messy job. And pointless.
Next on my reading list is George Carlin's "Last Words." Shortly before
he passed, I heard an interview with him from way back. The NPR lady
asked him why he felt the need to use so much profanity, and he replied
that it was impossible for him to comment on the world around him
without it.
I know how he felt.
And, despite the news media orgy going on right now, I will be following
Bill's advice to the letter. I have not, and will not, speak, write,
tap, or even think the name of <expletive deleted>.
Jim Bennett
===================================================================
The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2013 01:42:18 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Apple Finally Reveals How Long Siri Keeps Your Data
Message-ID: <p06240811cd9a7dcc4340@[10.0.1.5]>
Apple Finally Reveals How Long Siri Keeps Your Data
BY ROBERT MCMILLAN
04.19.13
All of those questions, messages, and stern commands that people have
been whispering to Siri are stored on Apple servers for up to two
years, Wired can now report.
Yesterday, we raised concerns about some fuzzy disclosures in Siri's
privacy policy. After our story ran, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller
called to explain Apple's policy, something privacy advocates have
asking for.
This is the first time that Apple has said how long it's keeping Siri
data, but according to Nicole Ozer, the American Civil Liberties
Union lawyer who first brought these Siri privacy questions to our
attention, there's still more that Apple could do.
...
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/04/siri-two-years/
Siri Remembers Your Secrets, But for How Long?
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/04/siri-privacy/
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:00:08 -0400
From: Matt Simpson <net-news69@jmatt.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: "Fiber-backed" - mean anything specific, or marketing buzz?
Message-ID: <net-news69-24413A.13000822042013@news.eternal-september.org>
Windstream, the local telco in this area, has just started running ads
about their new "fiber-backed" internet service:
We've just built 100% fiber-backed high speed internet in
Lexington
After one of the largest local network upgrades in recent company
history, Windstream¹s High-Speed Internet service in Lexington is
now 100% backed by fiber technology.
What does fiber tech mean for me?
"Fiber-backed" simply means a reliable high speed internet
connection is now closer to you than ever before. Fiber technology
sends light pulsing at ultra high speeds over glass fiber strands
that can transmit high-quality and massive amounts of information
over longer distances. Our Lexington network now fully supports
this technology, and the result is an enhanced network that, even
during the heaviest online traffic, provides a fast, uninterrupted
connection.
I'm pretty sure their DSL customers still have copper running to their
homes. They may have added more fiber somewhere in their backbone.
"Closer to you than ever before" might mean they've run fiber to the
neighborhoods.
Considering that almost any internet service is probably going to
involve some fiber somewhere, when is it appropriate to call a service
"fiber-backed"? And how much more fiber do you need to be "100%
fiber-backed"? Does this statement mean anything specific? Or just
that they've buried some more fiber?
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) 2013 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