---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20200318155135.GA3475@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2020 15:51:35 +0000 From: Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Telecom company acquires Frontier for $1.3B, plans fiber upgrades in NW Montana By: Martin Kidston MISSOULA - A telecom company plans to close this spring on a $1.35 billion deal to acquire the northwest operations of Frontier Com- munications and bring high-speed fiber connections to four states, including portions of Montana. https://www.kpax.com/news/missoula-county/telecom-company-acquires-frontier-for-1-3b-plans-fiber-upgrades-in-nw-montana -- Bill Horne Telecom Digest Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20200318161048.GA3942@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2020 16:10:48 +0000 From: Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org> Subject: The coronavirus is creating an 'enormous stress test' of America's internet By Brian Fung The United States' internet and wireless networks are coming under immense pressure to deliver reliable connectivity as schools and businesses confronting the novel coronavirus have shifted their day-to-day operations out of the workplace and into homes, according to industry analysts and government officials. "This is going to be an enormous stress test for our communications networks," said Blair Levin, a former Federal Communications Commission chief of staff and author of the agency's 2010 plan to improve internet access nationwide. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/17/tech/internet-infrastructure-coronavirus/index.html -- Bill Horne Telecom Digest Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <87a0330c-ae24-157f-3d75-7f87db9c7632@yahoo.com> Date: 19 Mar 2020 05:49:22 +1100 From: "telcoplanner" <telcoplanner@yahoo.com> Subject: Telstra tells Australian office staff to work from home *Telstra tells Australian office staff to work from home* Telstra has told all Australian-based office staff that can do so to work from home from next week until at least the end of the month. The telco also said it had cancelled all events and meetings of more than 25 people, as well as all domestic air travel unless special dispensation was granted. /From : https://www.itnews.com.au/news/telstra-tells-australian-office-staff-to-work-from-home-539291/ ------------------------------ Message-ID: <F55625D3-C42F-49A1-982C-A0CD2F3D9EC3@roscom.com> Date: 17 Mar 2020 22:35:19 -0400 From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Charter engineer quits over "reckless" rules against work- from-home Charter workers apparently face choice in pandemic: work in the office or resign. By Jon Brodkin A Charter Communications engineer called the company's rules against working from home during the coronavirus pandemic "pointlessly reckless" and "socially irresponsible" before subsequently resigning instead of continuing to work in the office, according to a TechCrunch article published yesterday. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/03/charter-faces-blowback-after-banning-work-from-home-during-pandemic/ ***** Moderator's Note ***** It seems that Charter is no stranger to the "Let them eat cake" mentality of most executives at telco providers. I think the majority of ILEC or CLEC companies emply what I call "Warm body management:" supervisors and their leaders assume that if an employee is sitting in their chair and their body is still warm, they must be doing something productive. It doesn't work, and it never did: employees whom are forced to support that illusion are as likely to be trading snarky IM's with each other as they are to be doing their job. To a supervisor who's taking his subordinates temperature by checking for keyboard noise or head movement, it looks the same: but only leaders who bother to concern themselves with progress instead of appearances would notice. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Fri, 20 Mar 2020