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The Telecom Digest for April 10, 2012
Volume 31 : Issue 91 : "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
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Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be
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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.
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Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2012 20:49:34 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Spam Invades a Last Refuge, the Cellphone
Message-ID: <p06240800cba7e1e2497b@[10.0.1.4]>
Spam Invades a Last Refuge, the Cellphone
By NICOLE PERLROTH
April 7, 2012
Text message spam has started waking Bob Dunnell in the middle of the
night, promising cheap mortgages, credit cards and drugs. Some
messages offer gift cards to, say, Walmart, if he clicks on a Web
site and enters his Social Security number.
Once the scourge of e-mail providers and the Postal Service, spammers
have infiltrated the last refuge of spam-free communication:
cellphones. In the United States, consumers received roughly 4.5
billion spam texts last year, more than double the 2.2 billion
received in 2009, according to Ferris Research, a market research
firm that tracks spam.
Spread over 250 million text message-enabled phones, the problem is
not as commonplace as e-mail spam. But it is a growing menace, with
the potential for significant damage.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/technology/text-message-spam-difficult-to-stop-is-a-growing-menace.html
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2012 00:24:04 -0400
From: tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Ohio bill could doom landlines
Message-ID: <1cy3wp8xymkyh$.fj4r5s593ntw.dlg@40tude.net>
On Sat, 7 Apr 2012 17:37:41 +0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> Anyone can afford a $5 phone without a government program.
Even someone without $5 :-) ?
Cheers,
-- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.
Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:30:49 -0500
From: "John F. Morse" <john@do-not-use.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Ohio bill could doom landlines
Message-ID: <pan.2012.04.09.19.30.46.678271@example.invalid>
On Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:24:04 -0400 tlvp wrote:
> On Sat, 7 Apr 2012 17:37:41 +0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>
>> Anyone can afford a $5 phone without a government program.
>
> Even someone without $5 :-) ?
>
> Cheers,
>
> -- tlvp
If you don't have $5, I doubt that anyone would want to talk to you. ;-)
--
John
When a person has -- whether they knew it or not -- already
rejected the Truth, by what means do they discern a lie?
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2012 00:00:13 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Microsoft Is Writing Checks to Fill Out Its App Store
Message-ID: <p06240815cba80eedd812@[10.0.1.4]>
Microsoft Is Writing Checks to Fill Out Its App Store
By JENNA WORTHAM and NICK WINGFIELD
April 5, 2012
Nowadays, cellphones are all about apps. And Microsoft is so
determined to have lots of brand-name apps for its Windows Phone app
store that it is willing to pay for them.
All an app maker has to do is sign on the dotted line.
After years of struggling in the phone market, Microsoft teamed up
with Nokia last year to challenge the dominance of Apple's iPhone and
Google, which makes the Android operating system. The latest fruit of
their collaboration is a gleaming machine called the Lumia 900, which
goes on sale in the United States on Sunday and is considered to be
the first true test of how well the partnership will fare.
But the hundreds of thousands of apps that run on Apple and Android
devices will not work on phones like the Lumia 900 that use
Microsoft's Windows Phone software. And many developers are reluctant
to funnel time and money into an app for what is still a small and
unproved market. So Microsoft has come up with incentives, like
plying developers with free phones and the promise of prime spots in
its app store and in Windows Phone advertising.
It is even going so far as to finance the development of Windows
Phone versions of well-known apps - something that app makers
estimate would otherwise cost them anywhere from $60,000 to $600,000,
depending on the complexity of the app. The tactic underscores the
strong positions of Google and Apple, neither of which have to pay
developers to make apps.
When Microsoft offered to underwrite a Windows Phone version of
Foursquare, the mobile social network, Holger Luedorf, Foursquare's
head of business development, did not hesitate to say yes.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/technology/to-fill-out-its-app-store-microsoft-wields-its-checkbook.html
Date: Sun, 08 Apr 2012 19:27:54 -0400
From: "news" <news@newsfe01.iad.highwinds-media.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: SaskTel ending rotary dial service
Message-ID: <du64o7tbi2ok656d9efjj4r31gedod53gq@4ax.com>
On Sun, 8 Apr 2012 08:52:05 -0700 (PDT), HAncock4
<withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> wrote:
>On Apr 7, 7:18 pm, Mike Spencer <m...@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> wrote:
>
>> We developed 60 hz hum on the POTS line 8 years ago when the Aliant
>> line and service guys were on strike. Several visits from "crews"
>> composed of accountants, marketing guys and managers failed to solve
>> the problem. Finally, one manager type went tearing off in the truck
>> to the big cabinet 5 miles away on the main road. Claimed to have
>> yanked out a circuit board and stuck in a new one. The hum was
>> gone. Off they go, happy and proud of theirselfs.
>
>Could it be that remote "concentrators" interpret the dial signals?
>In old Bell System days, I believe the concentrators would switch the
>call locally without going to the C.O. if the called party was served
>by the concentrator (per the Bell Labs history 1925-1975). Perhaps
>the modern circuit cards in the concentrator do not handle rotary
>signals.
The hardware detection of dial pulsing is exactly the same as
on-hook/off-hook detection. That is true whether or not a CO switch
or a remote switch or concentrator terminates the subscriber loop.
All it takes is a few lines of code in the signaling processing
microprocessor (or DSP...) to count the dial pulsing and such code
has existed for scores of years. To include it or not is a management
decision which, in reality, involves no real cost savings whatsoever.
Take from an old line card device application engineer, there is no
difference in the hardware, only some minor software code to count the
pulses... If pulse dialing doesn't work anymore, it's because
somebody made the decision to remove it without saving any money...
ET
PS - the 60 Hz hum was likely due to a bad connection that caused the
line to become unbalanced. It could have been at the card/rack
interface or any splice in the line. Maybe the manager got lucky....
It is possible that a component failure on the card caused the
unbalance, but that should have caused other symptoms in addition to
the hum.
rest of the post clipped...
Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2012 20:49:34 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: To Stop Cellphone Cramming, Don't Let It Start
Message-ID: <p06240801cba7e21254cb@[10.0.1.4]>
To Stop Cellphone Cramming, Don't Let It Start
By DAVID SEGAL
April 7, 2012
THE Haggler's last column apparently caused a lot of readers to take
a close look at their cellphone bills, and many made a disturbing
discovery: they had been crammed.
To recap, cramming is the unsavory act of tacking an unrequested
service fee to a phone bill. It's been a land-line scheme for years
and now appears to be full-on scourge in the mobile phone world.
Customers find themselves enrolled, without their consent, in a
short-message service, or SMS, which delivers texts on celebrity
gossip, dating and other kinds of invaluable information. The monthly
fees - often in the $9 range - as well as the service come from
third-party providers, which is a generic term for what are, in many
instances, very shadowy companies that behave very badly.
In our last episode, a woman discovered that a Georgia-based company
called Wise Media had crammed a $9.99 charge to her cellphone bill in
recent months. Her carrier, AT&T, promptly refunded the charges,
which turns out to be standard operating procedure, and may go a long
way toward explaining why the outrage about cellphone cramming has
not yet exploded like cartoon dynamite.
A handful of readers wrote last week to describe their own cramming
and refund experiences. One crammee, Harry Wall of Larchmont, N.Y.,
found that two of five cellphones on his AT&T family plan had charges
from Wise Media.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/your-money/cellphone-cramming-gets-a-second-look.html
Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2012 20:49:34 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: AT&T Will Unlock Out-of-Contract iPhones
Message-ID: <p062408fdcba7e086f7fd@[10.0.1.4]>
AT&T Will Unlock Out-of-Contract iPhones
By JENNA WORTHAM | April 6, 2012
Starting Sunday, AT&T will allow iPhone customers whose contracts
have expired to unlock their phones, or remove the restrictions that
bind them to the carrier.
Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T, confirmed the news in an interview
on Friday. "The only requirement is that the account has to be in
good standing," he said. "And it can't be associated with a current
long-term commitment with AT&T."
Those customers will have the option of having their phones unlocked
remotely or coming into an AT&T retail store.
...
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/att-will-now-unlock-your-iphone-if-your-contract-has-expired/
-or-
http://tinyurl.com/8275u24
Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2012 20:49:34 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: What 23 Years of E-Mail May Say About You
Message-ID: <p062408ffcba7e1ad3d20@[10.0.1.4]>
What 23 Years of E-Mail May Say About You
By ANNE EISENBERG
April 7, 2012
MOST of us accumulate huge amounts of data in our lives - including
e-mails, telephone calls and spikes of writing activity, as measured
by daily keystrokes.
Stephen Wolfram, a scientist and entrepreneur, wondered: Could all of
that information be compiled into a personal database, then analyzed
to tell us something meaningful about our lives? Maybe it could
suggest when we tended to be the most creative or productive, along
with the circumstances that led up to those moments.
Dr. Wolfram runs Wolfram Research, which is deeply steeped in data
analysis, along with Wolfram Alpha, a computational search engine
that provides many answers for Siri, the personal assistant for
Apple's iPhone 4S.
Computers are good at spotting patterns, and Dr. Wolfram thought an
analysis of his own personal data might reveal patterns in his life -
for example, when he was most likely to come up with new ideas,
"preferably good ones."
Dr. Wolfram, who lives in the Boston area, calls himself a "remote
C.E.O." - interacting with his company, which is based in Champaign,
Ill., almost exclusively by e-mail and phone. He has accumulated data
on the job for decades - whether for hundreds of thousands of his
outgoing e-mails back to 1989, for 100 million or so of his
keystrokes since 2002, or the time and duration of thousands of phone
calls.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/business/mining-our-personal-data-for-our-own-good.html
Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2012 19:36:29 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Verizon to require landline as part of DSL package
Message-ID: <p062408cacba661e12502@[10.0.1.4]>
Verizon to require landline as part of DSL package
Move will affect new customers
By Gail Waterhouse
Globe Correspondent / April 7, 2012
Verizon will require new customers who want its high-speed DSL
Internet service to also buy a landline phone connection, a move the
company said would allow it to better control costs.
The telecommunications giant told customers this week it would no
longer offer high-speed Internet service as a standalone feature. As
of May 6, people who want its DSL high-speed service will need to add
a landline connection to their account.
But Parul P. Desai, policy counsel at Consumers Union, said she
believed the move makes little sense for consumers, many of whom are
moving away from landline use.
...
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2012/04/07/verizon_to_end_dsl_only_service_to_new_customers/
-or-
http://tinyurl.com/7l7xsp2
Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:28:14 +0100
From: Stephen <stephen_hope@xyzworld.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon to require landline as part of DSL package
Message-ID: <5tv5o7pcaaujmc0g17099i4nvlc5m5mrqk@4ax.com>
On Sun, 8 Apr 2012 19:36:29 -0400, Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
wrote:
>
>Verizon to require landline as part of DSL package
>Move will affect new customers
>By Gail Waterhouse
>
>Globe Correspondent / April 7, 2012
>
>Verizon will require new customers who want its high-speed DSL
>Internet service to also buy a landline phone connection, a move the
>company said would allow it to better control costs.
FWIW this is standard practice in the UK for consumer broadband (and
always has been since the original ADSL services)
you have to have a phone line to "host" DSL in the 1st place, and if
the line gets ceased or moved to an alternate provider then the DSL
service goes as well.
[Moderator snip]
--
Regards
stephen_hope@xyzworld.com - replace xyz with ntl
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:46:54 +1000
From: David Clayton <dc33box-usenetcdt@yahoo.com.au>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon to require landline as part of DSL package
Message-ID: <pan.2012.04.09.22.46.54.201203@yahoo.com.au>
On Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:28:14 +0100, Stephen wrote:
> On Sun, 8 Apr 2012 19:36:29 -0400, Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Verizon to require landline as part of DSL package Move will affect new
>>customers
>>By Gail Waterhouse
>>
>>Globe Correspondent / April 7, 2012
>>
>>Verizon will require new customers who want its high-speed DSL Internet
>>service to also buy a landline phone connection, a move the company said
>>would allow it to better control costs.
>
> FWIW this is standard practice in the UK for consumer broadband (and
> always has been since the original ADSL services)
>
> you have to have a phone line to "host" DSL in the 1st place, and if the
> line gets ceased or moved to an alternate provider then the DSL service
> goes as well.
In Australia you can get "Naked" DSL services or have different Voice and
DSL providers, most companies offer "bundles"of DSL and Voice but because
of the choice in the marketplace no one makes it compulsory.
--
Regards, David.
David Clayton
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a
measure of how many questions you have.
Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2012 21:14:24 -0400
From: Pete Cresswell <PeteCress@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon to require landline as part of DSL package
Message-ID: <n827o71u1n5kcoachko7tkarmpjs4l5u9p@4ax.com>
Per Monty Solomon:
>But Parul P. Desai, policy counsel at Consumers Union, said she
>believed the move makes little sense for consumers, many of whom are
>moving away from landline use.
I assumed that was the main idea: to stop the hemmorraging of
revenue as people use services like Skype.
--
Pete Cresswell
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2012 12:56:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Ohio bill could doom landlines
Message-ID: <69015036-38fa-40b1-aabc-bc23cc2ba12c@x17g2000yqj.googlegroups.com>
On Apr 8, 2:26 am, bon...@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote:
> There are distinct advantages over the land-line 'lifeline' subsidy
> service -- the cell service provides a 'limited use' (roughly 2-4 hrs
> airtime/month) phone at no cost to the subscriber, while the 'lifeline'
> service for landlines provides only a partial reduction in the cost of
> a landline The landline usually provides unlimited 'local' calling,
> however.-
The cellphone does provide portability, which is important these days
since there are so few pay phones. If say a low-income senior goes
out and their car breaks down or they fill ill and need help, they
have their cell and can call someone, and be called back.
The flip side is that the landline provides unlimited incoming calls
as well as whatever outgoing allowance. Also, four hours over the
course of a month isn't that much two-way walk time. That's 240
minutes divided by 30 days, yielding only 8 minutes of talk time per
day. Not a lot.
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom-
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