The Telecom Digest Thu, 26 Nov 2015
Volume 34 Issue 215

Table of contents:

* 1 - Re: [telecom] Different handling of local and 844? - Mike Spencer
  
* 2 - Re: [telecom] How one couple beat the cable company - gordonb.
  56ejw@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt)
* 3 - Re: [telecom] How one couple beat the cable company - Neal McLain
  
* 4 - Re: [telecom] How one couple beat the cable company - Neal McLain
  

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Message-ID: <87y4dn3u3o.fsf@bogus.nodomain.nowhere>
Date: 24 Nov 2015 18:34:03 -0400
From: Mike Spencer 
Subject: Re: [telecom] Different handling of local and 844?

Fred Goldstein  writes:

> On 11/23/2015 2:46 PM, Mike Spencer wrote:
>
>> What is the difference between how local-exchange and 844 toll-free
>> numbers are handled?  Here's why I ask:
>
> [snip helpful details]

Thank you.

> So while the details differ, nothing about either type of number per se
> impacts call quality one bit. But where the call is actually directed
> does matter.
>
>> I still have dial-up net access through two ISPs.  ISP-A has a local
>> exchange number, ISP-B an 844 number.
>>
>> In wet weather, my USR 56K modem cannot make a successful connection
>> to ISP-A while connection to ISP-B works as expected.  (In dry
>> weather, both work as expected.) We don't hear any exceptional audible
>> static on the phone in wet weather.
>>
>> Both connections go through the same interior lines, demarc, rural copper
>> at least as far as the telco's roadside cabinet 6 miles away.
>>
>> Where might I look for a problem sufficiently well defined that
>> someone would fix it?
>>
>
> The modem bank used by ISP A is obviously served by defective wire that
> degrades in wet weather. It's not your phone line, it's theirs.

I thought that probable.  You say it's obvious, I've pointed their
amin to this group on Usenet.

> Almost every dial-up ISP puts their modems inside some kind of network
> building, either a "carrier hotel" or other collocation offered by a
> CLEC or non-ILEC. Often the modem bank itself is rented from a CLEC or
> large ISP. But some rural carriers, detesting that damned Internet
> thingie that spoilt their subsidy milk, block local-rated calls to such
> facilities, so the occasional ISP may still be stuck sticking a rack of
> modems in back of the drugstore. And even the big Bells get away with
> this idiocy in some states. In such cases telco wires have typically
> deteriorated and water gets in.
>
> If you give specifics of the local carrier (including NPA-NXX-D), a more
> specific answer might be possible.

The originating number is 902-543-nnnn, POTS, copper, a Bell Aliant
number, our local ILEC.

The destination number for the failing connection is 902-530-nnnn, an
Eastlink number. Eastlink is our local cableco & CLEC.  902-530 is a
Bridgewater (NS) local number.  The ISP's NOC is in Kentville (NS).  I
think the modems/portmaster are in Kentville.  I don't know what that
implies in telecom switching/forwarding terms.


Thanks for your attention.
--
Mike Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada


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Message-ID: 
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2015 22:52:27 -0600
From: gordonb.56ejw@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt)
Subject: Re: [telecom] How one couple beat the cable company

> "In the case of condominiums, cooperatives and rental properties, the
> rules apply to 'exclusive use' areas, like terraces, balconies or
> patios. 'Exclusive use' refers to an area of the property that only the
> renter and people allowed by the renter may enter and use. If the area
> is shared with others or accessible without the renter's permission, it
> is not considered to be an exclusive use area."
>
> So unless they have a balcony with view of the satellite, they're
> screwed. They can't put a dish on the roof or the outside walls without
> the condo association's permission.

I do recall seeing an interesting setup in Houston, Texas a long
time ago.  The satellite dish went on top of the guys *car*, which
was parked in a parking space assigned to him.  I believe he bought
a junker car for the purpose, or else used a car he was going to
trade in.  However, it was a functional car, and he could drive it
around the block a few times with the dish on it to prove it didn't
meet the condo association's definition of "junk car", which banned
inoperable and partly-assembled cars.  He also had it registered
and insured, and it passed state inspections (with the dish still
in it).

For the first year or so, there was a cable between the car and the
condo.  Apparently he did a good job of hiding it.  Later, he
replaced it with some kind of very short-range retransmitter that
could be received on his balcony with a small, unobtrusive receiver.
I'm not sure whether it used radio waves or infrared.

Other interesting workarounds I have heard of include a back-yard
garden shed made entirely out of plastic (so it didn't interfere
with the signal much) whose purpose was to conceal the satellite
dish, the portable dish installed in a backpack worn by someone who
would walk outside, cable trailing behind him, get into position,
and stand there while the family watched TV (It was unclear *who*
did this, and if they got paid), and the satellite dish installed
25 feet above a bird bath.

***** Moderator's Note *****

Those are bush league.  ;-)

I once helped to construct a multi-homed earth feedlink which had the
feedhorn on a track that also supported a decoy (literally!) duck
which moved to whatever bird (pun intended) was needed.

I've built satellite dish feed horns concealed in the back of the head
of a religious statue, with the reflector, positioned behind the head,
painted to resemble a halo.

I've seen a three meter dish used as the oyster part of a sculture
featuring a female figure just emerging from the shell. Three meters:
I measured it! No complaints in seven years!

That's the problem with people these days: no imagination!

Bill Horne
Moderator


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Message-ID: <209f4c4d-a151-43bb-9a3d-eae9db3b4722@googlegroups.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2015 18:37:27 -0800 (PST)
From: Neal McLain 
Subject: Re: [telecom] How one couple beat the cable company

On Wednesday, November 25, 2015 at 2:03:15 PM UTC-6, Gordon Burditt wrote:
>> In the case of condominiums, cooperatives and rental properties, the
>> rules apply to 'exclusive use' areas, like terraces, balconies or
>> patios. 'Exclusive use' refers to an area of the property that only
>> the renter and people allowed by the renter may enter and use. If the
>> area is shared with others or accessible without the renter's
>> permission, it is not considered to be an exclusive use area.

[snip]

Cheezburger.com's "There I fixed it" blog has several photos of weird downlink
antennas.  My favorites:
http://theoldcatvequipmentmuseum.org/130/139/

Neal McLain


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Message-ID: <6fbdc1fa-e6d5-4cda-b796-7cdc47c09b30@googlegroups.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2015 18:48:07 -0800 (PST)
From: Neal McLain 
Subject: Re: [telecom] How one couple beat the cable company

Moderator wrote:

> I've seen a three meter dish used as the oyster part of a
> sculpture featuring a female figure just emerging from the
> shell. Three meters: I measured it! No complaints in seven
> years!

As in Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus

Neal McLain

***** Moderator's Note *****

More like Bette Midler on a TV special! It definitely wasn't high art,
but it got the job done.

Bill Horne
Moderator


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End of telecom Digest Thu, 26 Nov 2015