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The Telecom Digest for January 9, 2013
Volume 32 : Issue 9 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Post-Sandy repairs going slowly in New York (Bill Horne)
Re: hazard mitigation, was Disruptions: The Real Hazards of E-Devices on Planes (John David Galt)
4 Areas Frontier Communications Investors Must Watch (Bill Horne)
Some landlords blocking post-Sandy repairs (Bill Horne)
Mixed news for AT&T in Consumer Reports wireless survey (Bill Horne)

====== 31 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======

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Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2013 20:09:29 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Post-Sandy repairs going slowly in New York Message-ID: <20130109010929.GA1967@telecom.csail.mit.edu> By JIM DWYER Published: December 6, 2012 There is now more deserted office space in Lower Manhattan because of Hurricane Sandy than there are offices in many cities. Mobile boilers line the streets. Portable generators are stacked to the curbs. Ventilation tubes coil around scaffolds, snake above sidewalks, quiver and pulse. It is as if bodies had been turned inside out, exposing the hearts, lungs and organs that are normally internal. Of course, these devices keep the buildings running in some limited ways. Still, 15 million to 18 million square feet of space is unusable, about as much as exists in any condition whatsoever in cities like Miami, Phoenix and San Diego. It is not enough to have generators that keep a few elevators and a bank of fluorescent lights running. The telephones are not working. And it turns out that under the current schedule for repairs, Verizon will not be finished until May, a fact Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg dropped into a speech on Thursday morning. "That is just not acceptable," Mr. Bloomberg said. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/nyregion/empty-offices-seem-poised-to-remain-so-in-lower-manhattan.html?ref=verizoncommunicationsinc -or- http://goo.gl/z5zHY -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:25:35 -0800 From: John David Galt <jdg@diogenes.sacramento.ca.us> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: hazard mitigation, was Disruptions: The Real Hazards of E-Devices on Planes Message-ID: <kcgakg$q3b$1@blue-new.rahul.net> >>> * They wish that terrorists will confine their attention to our air >>> transport industry, and not bother the millions of gallons of poison >>> gas - excuse me, I meant water treatment chemicals - that moves by >>> rail through our major cities on a daily basis. >> Actually... there's a huge amount of retrofitting and changes >> in high risk industries in general, and in water treatment >> plants in particular. Specifically because of post 9/11 concerns. It seems to me it would make good sense to reroute rail lines around major cities generally, especially now that most passenger service has gone away. > I'm sorry to say that the destructive potential is actually greater: > it's not our lives that terrorists want to end, but our life*style*. A > leak or spill of a less dangerous chemical is more disruptive than one > of chlorine gas, for several reasons: > > 1. There's only one procedure in place for chemical spills, and only > one option when they occur: evacuation and containment. It doesn't > matter if there "should" be a lower response level for a "less > dangerous" chemical: as a practical matter, the first-responders > must be trained to deal with each event in the same way. Maybe that's the only thing the first-responders do (which is understandable, since a small spill/leak/fire can easily become a large one before they get there). But the specifics of the chemical and its concentration make a big difference to what people in the area need to do immediately, and to what is likely to happen to people who are caught by surprise. By the time the radio or CD sirens tell the public what's going on, most of the deaths or injuries, if any, that are going to happen have already happened or at least can't be prevented. A few years ago I was a truck driver. The scariest thing that ever happened to me was when I made a pickup at a paper mill: when I drove up to the gate, the guard handed me goggles and a respirator mask, and said "if that siren goes off, you better put these on quick!" Understand, I wasn't scared for myself as much as for the public. The mill was in a suburb of a major city, and if they had to provide ME with safety equipment for a two hour visit, then why the bleep aren't they required to provide it to everyone who lives or works within two or three miles, since those people are exposed to that same danger every single day? It boggles the mind. BTW: I agree with your main point that most danger-hype is just theater, and the TSA in particular should be abolished. But not all dangers are imaginary and not all precautions are worth less than they cost. This is where science, properly used and not slanted by people with axes to grind, could really help but is prevented from doing so by the government hype machine.
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2013 21:03:07 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: 4 Areas Frontier Communications Investors Must Watch Message-ID: <20130109020307.GA3538@telecom.csail.mit.edu> >From the "Take your investment advice wherever you can find it" department: 4 Areas Frontier Communications Investors Must Watch By Dan Caplinger January 7, 2013 With a huge dividend yield, Frontier Communications looks extremely tempting as a dividend stock. But the shares have taken a big hit in recent years, leaving those who bought into the stock to get rich dividend payments with a better understanding of the risks involved with the company. Investors need to keep particular watch at Frontier as it seeks to compete against fellow rural specialists Windstream and CenturyLink to provide more relevant and higher-margin services. That's the thesis of my premium report on Frontier Communications, which includes the following excerpt, which names the four areas that Frontier investors should keep an eye on going forward. http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/01/07/4-areas-frontier-communications-investors-must-wat.aspx -or- http://goo.gl/EFPgz -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2013 19:50:43 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Some landlords blocking post-Sandy repairs Message-ID: <20130109005043.GA1688@telecom.csail.mit.edu> By PATRICK McGEEHAN Rewiring all of Lower Manhattan with fiber-optic cable after Hurricane Sandy would be hard enough without landlords blocking the way with their palms open. But that is what Verizon alleges some are doing. Verizon, whose copper wires under the streets of the financial district were ruined by the storm's floodwaters, complained last week that "many building owners in Lower Manhattan" had barred their doors. Some have simply refused to let the company in, but others have demanded exorbitant fees for access, the company said in a petition to state regulators. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/nyregion/landlords-blocking-rewiring-of-cable-after-hurricane-verizon-says.html?ref=verizoncommunicationsinc&_r=0 -or- http://goo.gl/Im4N3 -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2013 22:17:57 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Mixed news for AT&T in Consumer Reports wireless survey Message-ID: <20130109031757.GA8573@telecom.csail.mit.edu> (I just found this while searching Google for at&t news. Sorry it's a bit out-of-date) Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY November 29, 2012 There's good news and bad news for AT&T in Consumer Reports' latest annual cellphone service ratings. First the bad: the carrier finished last among the four major U.S. cellphone providers, behind Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile. But AT&T also had a silver lining. The company's 4G (fourth generation) wireless network performed the best, at least judging by the fact that it received fewer complaints than any of its rivals. That's notable considering more people surveyed use AT&T's 4G network with their smartphones. http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2012/11/29/att-mixed-results-consumer-reports-survey/1733287/ -or- http://goo.gl/0ZltE -- Bill Horne Moderator
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