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The Telecom Digest for June 13, 2010
Volume 29 : Issue 159 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Clearwire (Ed)
Re: Clearwire (T)
Re: Don't use your mobile on a plane - especially if you are flying! (Sam Spade)
AT&T to Offer Cash Back to Recent 3GS Buyers (Monty Solomon)
The High Cost of Loving Your Phone (Monty Solomon)
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Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2010 03:10:22 -0400
From: "bernies@netaxs.com" <bernies@netaxs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Clearwire
Message-ID: <20100612031022.20441drp7jkatgjo@webmail.uslec.net>
Quoting redacted@invalid.telecom-digest.org
> I'm much more interested in a
> reasonably priced wireless DATA plan. That would be worth its weight in
> gold to me. And I might just get my wish soon enough in my metro area,
> seems Clear is setting up as a I type.
Clearwire WiMAX 4G wireless broadband internet service is working here
in Philadelphia and in a handful of other cities. Interesting
background on their 2.5 GHz spectrum usage: it's sublicensed from a
nonprofit that holds FCC licenses for line-of-sight microwave
Educational Television Broadcasting in various markets. That's not
used much anymore, but the FCC allocations still hold. The FCC allows
them to license some of it to Clearwire in exchange for free WiMAX
user accounts, which are then provided to qualified nonprofits for a
very nominal fee. I setup a dozen user accounts for employees and
volunteers at a local technology nonprofit I'm on the board of, and
they're all pretty happy with it. For more information, check out
http://www.mobilecitizen.org
-Ed
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:57:57 -0400
From: T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Clearwire
Message-ID: <MPG.267dcce7a68de48d989cea@news.eternal-september.org>
In article <20100612031022.20441drp7jkatgjo@webmail.uslec.net>,
bernies@netaxs.com says...
>
> Quoting redacted@invalid.telecom-digest.org
>
> > I'm much more interested in a
> > reasonably priced wireless DATA plan. That would be worth its weight in
> > gold to me. And I might just get my wish soon enough in my metro area,
> > seems Clear is setting up as a I type.
>
> Clearwire WiMAX 4G wireless broadband internet service is working here
> in Philadelphia and in a handful of other cities. Interesting
> background on their 2.5 GHz spectrum usage: it's sublicensed from a
> nonprofit that holds FCC licenses for line-of-sight microwave
> Educational Television Broadcasting in various markets. That's not
> used much anymore, but the FCC allocations still hold. The FCC allows
> them to license some of it to Clearwire in exchange for free WiMAX
> user accounts, which are then provided to qualified nonprofits for a
> very nominal fee. I setup a dozen user accounts for employees and
> volunteers at a local technology nonprofit I'm on the board of, and
> they're all pretty happy with it. For more information, check out
> http://www.mobilecitizen.org
>
> -Ed
Yes, they're setting up here in the Providence metro area too.
Interesting service offerings. I might just bite.
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2010 02:37:50 -0700
From: Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Don't use your mobile on a plane - especially if you are flying!
Message-ID: <7-ednRiNMZnyyI7RnZ2dnUVZ_tidnZ2d@giganews.com>
David Clayton wrote:
> From
> http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/texting-probe-on-jetstar-landing-
> alert-20100611-y3r5.html
>
> Texting probe on Jetstar landing alert MATT O'SULLIVAN
> June 12, 2010
>
> AIR safety experts will investigate claims a Jetstar pilot was texting on
> his mobile phone just before his jet was forced to pull out of a landing
> at Singapore's Changi Airport.
>
> Pilots on an A321-200 plane flying from Darwin received an on-board
> warning when the plane carrying 167 passengers was just 122 metres above
> the ground on approach to the airport in the early hours of May 27.
>
> It is understood the so-called ''incorrect configuration warning'' was
> triggered because the plane's landing gear was not down.
>
> The pilots had to abort the landing. The 210-seater landed safely soon
> after.
>
> The investigation will examine allegations that one of the pilots on JQ57
> was using his mobile phone to send messages shortly before the landing.
> Neither investigators nor Jetstar would comment on this claim yesterday.
>
> Last October two pilots of a Northwest Airlines aircraft overshot their
> destination in the US by 160 kilometres because they were chatting and
> using their laptops. The US Federal Aviation Administration revoked their
> licences.
>
> The Australian Transport Safety Bureau confirmed it was investigating the
> ''missed approach'' in Singapore after the crew received an ''incorrect
> configuration warning''.
>
> Its director of aviation safety investigation, Ian Sangston, said the
> probe was centred on what triggered the warning. He declined to comment on
> whether it was because the landing gear was not down, saying there could
> be several reasons for an alert.
>
> He would not comment on claims that one pilot had been using his mobile
> phone.
>
> He did say, however, that the aircraft was ''lower than they would have
> liked'' when the landing was aborted.
>
> Investigators from the bureau are working with their Singaporean
> counterparts.
>
> It could take the bureau up to nine months to release a report on the
> incident.
>
> Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said the airline was helping the bureau
> in its inquiries but he declined to comment further. ''We don't comment on
> any circumstantial information,'' he said.
>
"Claims" and "allegations." The media really loves to skewer people
absent facts.
Then, they cover their six (aviation-speak) by indirectly quoting the
expert:
"The bureau's director of aviation safety investigation, Ian Sangston,
said the inquiry was trying to determine the trigger for the warning.
He declined to comment on whether it was because the landing gear was
not down, saying there could be several reasons for such an alert."
Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:34:36 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: AT&T to Offer Cash Back to Recent 3GS Buyers
Message-ID: <p06240800c838afcd42cf@[10.0.1.3]>
AT&T to Offer Cash Back to Recent 3GS Buyers
If you were one of the unlucky ones who bought an iPhone 3GS before
Apple dropped the price, AT&T wants to make it up to you. We just got
word from an MMi member inside AT&T that the carrier is going to
offer a "one-time Customer Price Protection" for anyone who bought a
16GB or 32GB iPhone 3GS in the month before the price drop on June 7.
You can either get $50 credit for the 16GB or $100 credit for the
32GB off your bill, or you can exchange a new 3GS or 3G and have the
whole purchase price put towards the purchase of a new iPhone. You
need to get the credit within 30 days of purchase, though, so get a
move on if you want to cash in; if you bought from May 7 - May 14,
you still have until June 14.
...
http://modmyi.com/forums/iphone-news/713613-exclusive-t-offer-cash-back-recent-3gs-buyers.html
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:42:42 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: The High Cost of Loving Your Phone
Message-ID: <p0624080ac838c09e33cb@[10.0.1.3]>
The High Cost of Loving Your Phone
By DAMON DARLIN
June 10, 2010
OUR cellphones have become love objects. We take them everywhere and
stare at them constantly. We panic when they are lost and grieve when
they die. We even clothe them.
If we covet a new one, well - I'll stop the analogy here, because
economists have a better way to describe the problem: there are
switching costs. That's their term for the barrier that keeps us from
blithely embracing a new product.
You would think that there were few barriers to switching cellphones.
But the carriers try to make it harder to switch by locking customers
into two-year contracts with high early-termination fees. And each
handset maker also inspires loyalty by continually making
improvements in its phones, as Apple announced last week for its
iPhone. Some people may complain incessantly about their iPhone and
AT&T's service for it, but not that many are switching. And that's
just the way the companies have intended it.
Some products have low switching costs - a car or canned corn, for
instance, because it's not much bother to replace these products, and
the manufacturer takes no extreme measures to keep you loyal.
Choosing a flight should be a simple matter of schedule and cost, but
the airlines try to make it harder with their frequent-flier
programs. Even your sandwich shop may hand out loyalty cards so your
10th sandwich is free.
There are social switching costs, too. Switching free e-mail services
is no small matter because of the bother of informing all your
correspondents of your new address. It's one reason that Facebook
doesn't worry too much that you'll dump it over some privacy
imbroglio. You could move to another social network service, but
would all your friends follow you?
When the switching costs are high, a company that has your loyalty
can abuse it by charging more. When switching costs are removed,
prices may fall.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/technology/13every.html
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