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The Telecom Digest for Tue, 07 Aug 2018
Volume 37 : Issue 185 : "text" format

Table of contents
New Jersey gets new area codeDavid
Re: Backup Power for Cox [or other] ISPNaveen Albert
Subject: Re: New Jersey gets new area codeNeal McLain
$50 a month for 1Mbps: How AT&T and Verizon rip off DSL customersBill Horne
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <5B67AF17.1070204@panix.com> Date: 5 Aug 2018 22:14:47 -0400 From: "David" <wb8foz@panix.com> Subject: New Jersey gets new area code "Naveen Albert" <wirelessaction@outlook.com> asked: > Why do telcos. insist on doing overlays? They sound like such a pain. I vigorously disagree. Unlike a split, with an overlay no one has to surrender their number for a new one. They keep it, period. With an split, the border is often politically contentious. Are *you* still part of Gotham City, or now labeled some suburban type? (NYC: when Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island were forced into 718.) Making splits requires predicting which parts will grow faster, and which slower. Otherwise you soon split again. With an overlay, the initial overlay is the hard-to-adjust event. When you overlay another, it's a yawn. In Maryland, 443 overlaid 410 in 1997. In 2012, 667 was also added; no one blinked. By contrast, splitting into smaller and smaller areas gets worse each time. Look up the history of 312; originally, it covered 16,000^2 miles. Three splits later, it's about five miles^2. AND The only "pain" of an overlay is 10D dialing. I don't know where to find a cellphone using Millennial who knows how to dial 7D. ***** Moderator's Note ***** I do! I DO!! I even know how to dial 5D! Oh, wait a minute ... Sorry, wrong millennium. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <BYAPR13MB223288864E3A207A10CE1F5A91210@BYAPR13MB2232.namprd13.prod.outlook.com> Date: 5 Aug 2018 19:34:09 +0000 From: "Naveen Albert" <wirelessaction@outlook.com> Subject: Re: Backup Power for Cox [or other] ISP For Fred: I respectfully disagree with your respectfully disagreeing. > POTS line are slowly going the way of the dinosaur. I don't know where you live, but that's generally not the case. Usage is declining yes, and some large telcos. would love to get rid of them because it's expensive for them, but you can always choose to get a POTS line. The primary reason they are "going away" is because people like you think they are. >We should be able to rely on the new technology This seems contrary to how technology works these days. Technology these days is made to be cheap, disposable, and mains power reliant. > The last thing I would ever lean on is outdated [or nearly outdated] > technology. Nobody's forcing you to. You can use all the fandangled new technology which nevers works in a crisis. But even 911 centers advise people to keep a landline. One day, cord-cutters will pay the price. The idea that old technology is outdated is a little absurd. Electric lights are about as old as POTS lines. The power grid is too. Pencil and paper are even older. Yet, nobody considers those things "outdated". ------------------------------ Message-ID: <e6a6c747f76c035724f8a4c1a4c95540.squirrel@email.fatcow.com> Date: 5 Aug 2018 16:12:02 -0500 From: "Neal McLain" <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com> Subject: Subject: Re: New Jersey gets new area code Naveen Albert wrote: > Date: 3 Aug 2018 17:41:28 +0000 > From: "Naveen Albert" <wirelessaction@outlook.com> > Subject: Re: New Jersey gets new area code > > Hancock4 wrote: > > excerpt from NJ.COM: > > > > The new area code, 640, will overlay the current 609 area code > > territory in the central and southeastern parts of the state from > > Cape May to Trenton. > Why do telcos insist on doing overlays? They sound like such a > pain. They are contrary to everything the Bell System desired in > the PSTN. Telcos don't make the split-vs.-overlay decisions; the state regu- latory agency does. In the case of Wisconsin that's the Public Service Commission. https://psc.wi.gov/Pages/Home.aspx > I am fortunate enough to live in the 262 area code, which was a > split from 414 about 25 or so years ago. If you look in the old > phone books, the older prefixes, such as (262) 542-xxxx were once > (414) 542-xxxx. The numbers themselves did not change, only the area > code, so there was absolutely no impact when the 262 area code since > the area code you are in generally does not matter to you. It matters a lot if you're a business with customers outside of your local area. I attended the public hearing when the PSC was considering the overlay-v.-split question for 920. One participant, owner of a personnel-recruitment firm ("headhunter") for the hospitality industry was concerned that a split would change the area code of his company, resulting in possible loss of customers. Another participant, the board chairman of the Town of Oconomowoc, was concerned that the proposed split line would split the town. Although I didn't attend the public hearing, the entire argument played out again when the 414-262 split was considered. That split essentially reduced the size of 414 to Milwaukee county. If 414 ever needs relief I predict that it will be an overlay, not another split. Here is a link to an article I wrote about the 414-262 split: http://www.sbe24.org/archives/newsletters/ltrs1999/apr99.pdf The same argument continues to this day. Here is a link to an article about the overlay-v.-split question for 715 and 920. http://www.sbe24.org/archives/newsletters/ltrs2009/jan09.pdf The overlay on 715 (534) has been implemented. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_codes_715_and_534 Apparently the overlay on 920 (274) is still pending. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_code_274 Neal McLain Brazoria, Texas ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20180806155143.GA20415@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2018 11:51:43 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: $50 a month for 1Mbps: How AT&T and Verizon rip off DSL customers AT&T and Verizon force copper customers to pay fiber-level prices. By Jon Brodkin Tens of millions of people in the AT&T and Verizon service territories can only buy slow DSL Internet from the companies, yet they often have to pay the same price as fiber customers who get some of the fastest broadband speeds in the US. That's the conclusion of a new white paper written by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), a broadband advocacy group. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/08/50-a-month-for-1mbps-how-att-and-verizon-rip-off-dsl-customers/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Tue, 07 Aug 2018

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