33 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981
Copyright © 2015 E. William Horne. All Rights Reserved.

The Telecom Digest for Aug 2, 2015
Volume 34 : Issue 144 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Verizon Faces Strike by 37,000 as Contract Talks Go Down to Wire (Bill Horne)
AT&T offers lower cost connnections if you let them snoop on you (Bill Horne)
Re: AT&T offers lower cost connnections if you let them snoop on you (David Clayton)
Verizon strike looms (Bill Horne)
Why Consumers Should Tred Carefully with Samsung Galaxy's Price Cut (Monty Solomon)
AT&T responds to BBB complaint about Lumia 830 (Bill Horne)

We're going to keep trying to strengthen the American family. To make them more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons.
George H.W. Bush

See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details.

Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2015 19:52:58 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Verizon Faces Strike by 37,000 as Contract Talks Go Down to Wire Message-ID: <mpjm1p$j44$2@dont-email.me> by Sarah Mulholland More than 37,000 Verizon Communications Inc. workers are ready to go on strike Sunday as the second-largest U.S. telephone company continues to negotiate with employee unions over benefits. Contracts with the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers expire at midnight Saturday night. The two sides have failed to reach an agreement after almost seven weeks of negotiations, according to a Verizon statement on Friday. A strike would affect landline workers in the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. and could delay service calls and disrupt installations for new phone and Internet customers. http://goo.gl/Kcl73i -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2015 20:02:46 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: AT&T offers lower cost connnections if you let them snoop on you Message-ID: <mpjmk6$lhb$1@dont-email.me> AT&T's plan to watch your Web browsing - and what you can do about it Want to opt out? It could cost up to $744 extra per year. by Jon Brodkin If you have AT&T's gigabit Internet service and wonder why it seems so affordable, here's the reason - AT&T is boosting profits by rerouting all your Web browsing to an in-house traffic scanning platform, analyzing your Internet habits, then using the results to deliver personalized ads to the websites you visit, e-mail to your inbox, and junk mail to your front door. In a few select areas including Austin, Texas, and Kansas City, Missouri - places where AT&T competes against the $70-per-month Google Fiber [offering] - Ma Bell offers its own $70-per-month "GigaPower" fiber-to-the-home Internet access. But signing up for the deal also opts customers in to AT&T's "Internet Preferences" program, which gives the company permission to examine each customer's Web traffic in exchange for a price that matches Google's. http://goo.gl/ZkhFO3 -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
Date: Sun, 02 Aug 2015 10:28:38 +1000 From: David Clayton <dc33box-usenet2@NOSPAM.yahoo.com.au> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: AT&T offers lower cost connnections if you let them snoop on you Message-ID: <pan.2015.08.02.00.28.34.721439@NOSPAM.yahoo.com.au> On Sat, 01 Aug 2015 20:02:46 -0400, Bill Horne wrote: > AT&T's plan to watch your Web browsing - and what you can do about it > > Want to opt out? It could cost up to $744 extra per year. > > by Jon Brodkin > > If you have AT&T's gigabit Internet service and wonder why it seems so > affordable, here's the reason - AT&T is boosting profits by rerouting all > your Web browsing to an in-house traffic scanning platform, analyzing your > Internet habits, then using the results to deliver personalized ads to the > websites you visit, e-mail to your inbox, and junk mail to your front > door. Given that technology savvy people can effectively obscure their "browsing habits" by using things like encrypted DNS services and HTTPS, I wonder if this is just another "Come on in suckers" offering that the masses will take up just for the convenience? - - Regards, David. David Clayton Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a measure of how many questions you have. ***** Moderator's Note ***** The fact that I pointed my browser somewhere is information in and of itself: such "traffic intelligence" can be as useful as seeing what I type. After all, a visit to www.islamicjihad.com tells a watcher something about me, even with an encrypted connection. But, assuming that they want to know every word I read, and leaving aside the fact that their software could simply parrot my browser's GET requests to see it anyway, what if AT&T makes in impossible to use your workarounds? What if the company demands that all users give up encrypted connections entirely? Bill Horne Moderator
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2015 19:50:41 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Verizon strike looms Message-ID: <mpjltg$j44$1@dont-email.me> Verizon strike possible as contract deadline looms; company expects 'minimal' impact Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) - Verizon workers in nine states could walk off the job as soon as early Sunday if union negotiators don't reach an agreement over benefits with the wireless carrier. A contract covering 39,000 Verizon workers represented by two unions expires at the end of Saturday. Last week, the Communications Workers of America announced that 86 percent of Verizon workers covered by the contract voted to strike in a recent poll, if a new agreement isn't reached. http://goo.gl/GdHXkN -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2015 17:52:26 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Why Consumers Should Tred Carefully with Samsung Galaxy's Price Cut Message-ID: <D5E08038-ECE2-476C-A53E-515B4F997FE6@roscom.com> Samsung is reducing the price of its Galaxy S6 mobile phone. That doesn't necessarily mean that buyers should rush in. http://goo.gl/TnDWmU
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2015 19:56:29 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: AT&T responds to BBB complaint about Lumia 830 Message-ID: <mpjm8j$kd0$1@dont-email.me> AT&T responds to BBB complaint, Lumia 830 likely to never get Lumia Denim update BY DANIEL RUBINO The Lumia Denim update has come and gone for many Windows Phone owners. Announced back at IFA in September 2014, the update continued to roll out to devices through early spring. One phone, however, missed the update, and it was the Lumia 830 for AT&T. It is ironic, if only because Denim was co-announced with the Lumia 830 at IFA yet it was the AT&T Lumia 1520 that managed to snag the update instead. Fast forward to July 2015 and at this point it is a safe bet that the AT&T Lumia 830 will not see Lumia Denim. A reader of the site, Noah M., filed a complaint against AT&T with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to express his frustration. http://goo.gl/jScoSg -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)

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