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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)



====== 28 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 Patrick Townson 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 the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. 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: 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
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. Contact information: Bill Horne Telecom Digest 43 Deerfield Road Sharon MA 02067-2301 781-784-7287 bill at horne dot net Subscribe: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=subscribe telecom Unsubscribe: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=unsubscribe telecom 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) 2009 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)

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