---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20181017164043.GA16504@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2018 12:40:43 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Why Verizon Is Giving Free Service to Many Florida Customers By Aaron Pressman Verizon announced on Tuesday that it would give three months of free service to its wireless customers in the Florida panhandle region affected by Hurricane Michael. The move comes after sharp criticism of the industry from, among others, the head of the Federal Communi- cations Commission, over its failure to recover quickly from storm damage. Every Verizon customer living in Bay and Gulf counties will get the three free months, including both consumer and business accounts, Verizon said. http://fortune.com/2018/10/16/free-verizon-wireless-florida-hurricane/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ***** Moderator's Note ***** There is an alternative explanation for Verizon's largese: the company isn't concerned with the FCC, with which they already have a chummy relationship, but rather with the possibility that lower-income users will realize that the convenience of cell phones isn't worth the price. It doesn't take much: once folks get used to the idea that their boss isn't entitled to demand they carry an electronic leash all the time, and that calls can be better made on a landline for much less money, they'll drift away from cellular service. Verizon, public servant that it is, is deathly afraid that the paradigm shift the cellular industry achieved will suddenly go backwards, towards unionized employees with health coverage and benefits, and users who demand that they be served the old, expensive way. Heaven forfend! Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <180CB3BB-F929-47CE-B416-669A0041F3CA@roscom.com> Date: 17 Oct 2018 09:29:36 -0400 From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> Subject: FCC says hurricane victims in Florida deserve a month of free cell service FCC says hurricane victims in Florida deserve a month of free cell service Chairman Ajit Pai slammed carriers such as AT&T and Verizon for their "completely unacceptable" response to the storm. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/10/16/fcc-says-hurricane-michael-victims-florida-deserve-month-free-cell-service/ The Federal Communications Commission slammed the nation's wireless carriers Tuesday for failing to quickly restore service to Hurricane Michael victims and demanded that the companies compensate Florida residents with a month of free cellular service. Telecom regulators have repeatedly pressed for the companies to act quickly to restore cell service in the wake of the storm, which left hundreds of thousands without power in the region and killed more than a dozen people. ***** Moderator's Note ***** Just in time for the mid-term elections, the FCC which tossed Net Neutrality under the bus has decided that it's the friend of the people. ... but there I go, being "political" again: my apologies. I know common men aren't supposed to think for themselves anymore. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <1aa11d97-4fd1-42c9-9087-cbe1bc40e9e2@googlegroups.com> Date: 17 Oct 2018 12:58:10 -0700 From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: History: General Telephone advertising General Telephone & Electronics was the largest of the "independent" telephone companies (not associated with the Bell System). Here are a few of their ads: 1961--chart our own course http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/show-picture?id=1207530598&size=FULL 1962 teletype messaging http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/show-picture?id=1207530447&size=FULL 1956 public service http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/show-picture?id=1079124546&size=FULL Their subsidiary, Automatic Electric Company, had some neat ads for the P-A-X systems: 1942 minutes saved move munitions http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/show-picture?id=1161431456&size=FULL 1953 We encourage people to use _this_ telephone http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/show-picture?id=1090876845&size=FULL ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Thu, 18 Oct 2018