From editor@telecom-digest.org  Thu Feb  7 13:28:03 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
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Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 13:28:03 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202071828.NAA16174@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #151

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 7 Feb 2002 13:27:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 151

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    PuTTY + POP (was Re: Some Idiot Dumpted on Me) (Eric De Mund)
    Re: Maybe You Can Help With a Telecom Question? (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Re: Maybe You Can Help With a Telecom Question? (Paul Timmins)
    Re: Is There a Standard For Alphanumeric DTMF? (H. Peter Anvin)
    Re: WE 555 Switchboard (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Re: Technical Question (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Re: Looking For ESS Documentation (Scott Dorsey)
    Not in Finland Anymore? More Like Nokialand (Monty Solomon)

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 22:28:47 PST
From: Eric De Mund <ead@ixian.com>
Subject: PuTTY + POP (was Re: Some Idiot Dumpted on Me)
Organization: Ixian Systems, Inc.


Pat,

First off, it's good to see you back, and as sharp as ever. The Digest
just wasn't the same without you.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I've used POP and STMP mail before, to
> get mail in and out of a location while I was working elsewhere. For
> example I use POP and STMP on mail at Yahoo and indy.ks.net to send or
> get sent mail to my Outlook Express. However I use SSH instead of
> Telnet at the request of MIT to log into my account there. Actually I
> use an SSH client called 'putty'. How would POP mail work with putty
> if you know? PAT]

Once you're logged in, you might be able to issue the command:

    % telnet localhost 110

whereupon you'll receive the likes of:

    Trying 127.0.0.1...
    Connected to localhost.whatever.com.
    Escape character is '^]'.
    +OK QPOP (version 2.53) at whatever.com starting.  <46648.1013061368@whatever.com>
    ENTER DESIRED POP3 COMMANDS
    QUIT
    +OK Pop server at whatever.com signing off.
    Connection closed by foreign host.
    % 

Regards,

Eric

PS: PuTTY is perhaps the best free SSH client under Windows. However,
the Cygwin suite is also free, and includes the usual suspects of
scp(1), sftp(1), ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-agent(1), ssh-keygen(1),
sftp-server(8), and sshd(8). Cygwin is, in a nutshell, UNIX under
Windows. I run zsh(1) in an rxvt(1) terminal session under Windows 2000;
most folks run bash(1). Here's a snapshot of my /bin that Cygwin
populated, for your perusal:

    MARAJO:~% cd /bin
    MARAJO:/bin% ls
    ./                  grohtml.exe*             ps2frag*
    ../                 grolbp.exe*              ps2pdf*
    MakeTeXPK*          grolj4.exe*              ps2pk.exe*
    RunAccel*           grops.exe*               ps2ps*
    RunCache*           grotty.exe*              pslatex*
    access.exe*         groups*                  psql.exe*
    aclocal*            gs.exe*                  ptx.exe*
    addftinfo.exe*      gsbj*                    pwd.exe*
    addr2line.exe*      gsdj*                    python.exe@
    afm2tfm.exe*        gsdj500*                 python2.1.exe*
    afmtodit*           gsftopk.exe*             ranlib.exe*
    allcm*              gslj*                    ras2tiff.exe*
    allec@              gslp*                    rcp.exe*
    allneeded*          gsnd*                    rcs2log*
    apropos*            gunzip.exe*              rdjpgcom.exe*
    ar.exe*             gzexe*                   readelf.exe*
    as.exe*             gzip.exe*                readlink.exe*
    autoconf*           head.exe*                refer.exe*
    autoheader*         hostname.exe*            regtool.exe*
    automake*           hpftodit.exe*            reset.exe@
    autoreconf*         i686-pc-cygwin-gcc.exe*  rgb2ycbcr.exe*
    autoscan*           id.exe*                  rl-stat.exe*
    autoupdate*         ifnames*                 rl.exe*
    awk.exe@            igawk*                   rlogin.exe*
    basename.exe*       indxbib.exe*             rltest-stat.exe*
    bash.exe*           info.exe*                rltest.exe*
    bashbug*            infocmp.exe*             rlversion-stat.exe*
    bdftops*            infotocap.exe@           rlversion.exe*
    bibtex.exe*         inimf@                   rm.exe*
    bison.exe*          inimpost@                rmdir.exe*
    bunzip2.exe*        iniomega@                rsh.exe*
    byacc.exe*          initdb*                  rstartd@
    bzcat.exe*          initex@                  rsync.exe*
    bzip2.exe*          initlocation*            rubibtex*
    bzip2recover.exe*   install-info.exe*        rumakeindex*
    c++.exe*            install.exe*             runtest*
    c++filt.exe*        ipcclean*                rvi@
    c_rehash*           irc@                     rview@
    captoinfo.exe@      irc-20010101.exe*        rvim@
    cat.exe*            ircbug*                  rxvt.exe*
    chgrp.exe*          ircflush.exe*            scp.exe*
    chmod.exe*          ircio.exe*               sdiff.exe*
    chown.exe*          iu-config*               sed.exe*
    chroot.exe*         jbgtopbm.exe*            seq.exe*
    cjpeg.exe*          join.exe*                setfacl.exe*
    cksum.exe*          jpegtran.exe*            sftp.exe*
    clear.exe*          kill.exe*                sh.exe*
    clearn.exe*         kpsepath@                shred.exe*
    client.exe*         kpsestat.exe*            size.exe*
    cmp.exe*            kpsetool*                sleep.exe*
    comm.exe*           kpsewhich.exe*           soelim.exe*
    conv2gdbm.exe*      kpsexpand@               sort.exe*
    cp.exe*             lambda@                  split.exe*
    cpio.exe*           latex@                   squid.exe*
    cpp.exe*            ld.exe*                  ssh-add.exe*
    createdb*           less.exe*                ssh-agent.exe*
    createlang*         lessecho.exe*            ssh-host-config*
    createuser*         lesskey.exe*             ssh-keygen.exe*
    crontab.exe*        libW11.dll*              ssh-keyscan.exe*
    crypt.exe*          libpython2.1.dll*        ssh-user-config*
    csplit.exe*         lkbib.exe*               ssh.exe*
    ctags.exe*          ln.exe*                  ssmtp-config*
    cut.exe*            locate.exe*              ssp.exe*
    cvs.exe*            logger.exe*              strace.exe*
    cvsbug*             login.exe*               strings.exe*
    cxpm.exe*           logname.exe*             strip.exe*
    cygXpm-noX4.dll*    lookbib.exe*             stty.exe*
    cygbz21.0.dll*      ls.exe*                  sum.exe*
    cygcheck.exe*       lynx.exe*                sync.exe*
    cygform5.dll*       m4.exe*                  syslog.exe*
    cyggdbm.dll*        mag.exe*                 t1ascii.exe*
    cyghistory4.dll*    make.exe*                t1asm.exe*
    cygintl.dll*        makeindex.exe*           t1binary.exe*
    cygitcl30.dll*      makeinfo.exe*            t1disasm.exe*
    cygitclsh30.exe*    makempx*                 t1mac.exe*
    cygitk30.dll*       man.exe*                 t1unmac.exe*
    cygitkwish30.exe*   man2html.exe*            tac.exe*
    cygjbig1.dll*       md5sum.exe*              tail.exe*
    cygjpeg6b.dll*      mf.exe*                  talk.exe*
    cygmenu5.dll*       mft.exe*                 tangle.exe*
    cygncurses++5.dll*  mingwm10.dll*            tar.exe*
    cygncurses5.dll*    mkdir.exe*               tbl.exe*
    cygpanel5.dll*      mkfifo.exe*              tcdialog.exe*
    cygpath.exe*        mkfontdesc*              tcsh.exe*
    cygpng2.dll*        mkgroup.exe*             tee.exe*
    cygreadline4.dll*   mkindex*                 telnet.exe*
    cygrunsrv.exe*      mknod.exe*               test.exe*
    cygtcl80.dll*       mkocp*                   testdbm.exe*
    cygtclpip80.dll*    mkofm*                   testgdbm.exe*
    cygtclreg80.dll*    mkpasswd.exe*            testndbm.exe*
    cygtclsh80.exe*     mktexlsr*                tex.exe*
    cygtiff3.dll*       mktexmf*                 texconfig*
    cygtk80.dll*        mktexpk*                 texdoc*
    cygwin1.dll*        mktextfm*                texexec*
    cygwish80.exe*      mmroff*                  texhash@
    cygz.dll*           mount.exe*               texi2dvi*
    date.exe*           mpost.exe*               texi2html*
    dd.exe*             mpto.exe*                texi2pdf*
    df.exe*             msgcmp.exe*              texindex.exe*
    diff.exe*           msgcomm.exe*             texlinks*
    diff3.exe*          msgfmt.exe*              texshow*
    dir.exe*            msgmerge.exe*            texutil*
    dircolors.exe*      msgunfmt.exe*            tfmtodit.exe*
    dirname.exe*        mt.exe*                  tftopl.exe*
    djpeg.exe*          mutt.exe*                tftp.exe*
    dlltool.exe*        mutt_dotlock.exe*        thumbnail.exe*
    dllwrap.exe*        muttbug*                 thumbpdf*
    dmp.exe*            mv.exe*                  tic.exe*
    dropdb*             ncftp.exe*               tie.exe*
    droplang*           ncftpbatch.exe*          tiff2bw.exe*
    dropuser*           ncftpbookmarks.exe*      tiff2ps.exe*
    du.exe*             ncftpget.exe*            tiff2rgba.exe*
    dvi2fax*            ncftpls.exe*             tiffcmp.exe*
    dvicopy.exe*        ncftpput.exe*            tiffcp.exe*
    dvihp*              ncurses-test-dll/        tiffdither.exe*
    dvilj.exe*          neqn*                    tiffdump.exe*
    dvilj2p.exe*        newer.exe*               tiffinfo.exe*
    dvilj4.exe*         nice.exe*                tiffmedian.exe*
    dvilj4l.exe*        nl.exe*                  tiffsplit.exe*
    dvilj6@             nm.exe*                  time.exe*
    dvipdf*             nohup*                   tix4180.dll*
    dvipdfm.exe*        nroff*                   tix4180.exe*
    dvipdft*            objcopy.exe*             tixindex*
    dvips.exe*          objdump.exe*             toe.exe*
    dvired*             od.exe*                  touch.exe*
    dvitomp.exe*        odvicopy.exe*            tput.exe*
    dvitype.exe*        odvips.exe*              tr.exe*
    e2pall*             odvitype.exe*            troff.exe*
    ebb.exe*            omega.exe*               true.exe*
    echo.exe*           omfonts.exe*             tset.exe*
    ecpg.dll*           openssl.exe*             tsort.exe*
    ecpg.exe*           otangle.exe*             ttf2afm.exe*
    egrep.exe*          otp2ocp.exe*             tty.exe*
    einitex@            outocp.exe*              umount.exe*
    elatex@             pal2rgb.exe*             uname.exe*
    env.exe*            passwd.exe*              unexpand.exe*
    epstopdf*           paste.exe*               uniq.exe*
    eqn.exe*            patch.exe*               unprotoize.exe*
    etex.exe*           patgen.exe*              unzip.exe*
    evirtex@            pathchk.exe*             unzipsfx.exe*
    ex@                 pbmtojbg.exe*            users.exe*
    expand.exe*         pcre-config*             vacuumdb*
    expect.exe*         pcregrep.exe*            vdir.exe*
    expr.exe*           pdf2dsc*                 vftovp.exe*
    factor.exe*         pdf2ps*                  vi@
    false.exe*          pdfeinitex@              view@
    fax2ps.exe*         pdfelatex@               vim.exe*
    fax2tiff.exe*       pdfetex.exe*             vimtutor*
    fgrep.exe*          pdfevirtex@              virmf@
    file.exe*           pdfinitex@               virmpost@
    fileman-stat.exe*   pdflatex@                viromega@
    fileman.exe*        pdftex.exe*              virtex@
    find.exe*           pdfvirtex@               vptovf.exe*
    flex++.exe@         pfb2pfa.exe*             wc.exe*
    flex.exe*           pfbtops.exe*             weave.exe*
    fmt.exe*            pg_config*               wftopfa*
    fmtutil*            pg_ctl*                  wget.exe*
    fold.exe*           pg_dump.exe*             whatis*
    font2c*             pg_dumpall*              which.exe*
    fontexport*         pg_encoding.exe*         who.exe*
    fontimport*         pg_id.exe*               whoami.exe*
    fontinst*           pg_passwd.exe*           windres.exe*
    ftp.exe*            pg_restore.exe*          wrjpgcom.exe*
    funzip.exe*         pgeasy.dll*              wserv.exe*
    g++.exe*            pgpewrap*                xargs.exe*
    g77.exe*            pgpring.exe*             xgettext.exe*
    gasp.exe*           pic.exe*                 xxd.exe*
    gawk.exe*           pinky.exe*               yes.exe*
    gcc.exe*            pk2bm.exe*               zcat.exe*
    gcov.exe*           pktogf.exe*              zcmp*
    gdb.exe*            pktype.exe*              zdiff*
    getfacl.exe*        pltotf.exe*              zegrep*
    gettext.exe*        pooltype.exe*            zfgrep*
    gettextize*         postgres.exe*            zforce*
    gftodvi.exe*        postmaster@              zgrep*
    gftopk.exe*         ppm2tiff.exe*            zip.exe*
    gftype.exe*         pq++.dll*                zipcloak.exe*
    gif2tiff.exe*       pq.dll*                  zipgrep*
    glut32.dll*         pr.exe*                  zipinfo.exe@
    gperf.exe*          printafm*                zipnote.exe*
    gprof.exe*          printenv.exe*            zipsplit.exe*
    grep.exe*           printf.exe*              zless*
    grn.exe*            protoize.exe*            zmore*
    grodvi.exe*         ps.exe*                  znew*
    groff.exe*          ps2ascii*
    grog*               ps2epsi*
    MARAJO:/bin% 

Cygwin's home page is <http://www.cygwin.com/>. Enjoy.


Eric De Mund <ead@ixian.com> | Ixian Systems, Inc. | 53 49 B2 23 AF 6C 20 81
http://www.ixian.com/ead/    | Mountain View, CA   | ED DD 4C 81 AA C9 D1 A5

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Maybe You Can Help With a Telecom Question?
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 07:31:31 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Last night, on Capitol Beat, John R. Levine <johnl@iecc.com> said:
> So their cost per number is quite small, since a since CLEC switch can
> easily have 100,000 or more available numbers, handled by one computer
> for jfax.

I guess this depends on the tariffing; around here, DID numbers (which
is effectively what this is) go for about a buck a number a month.


Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 00:46:26 -0500
From: Paul Timmins <paul@timmins.net>
Subject: Re: Maybe You Can Help With a Telecom Question?


http://www.timmins.net/telco/telco.html?npa=707&exchange=516&results=1
http://www.timmins.net/telco/telco.html?npa=928&exchange=222&results=1
http://www.timmins.net/telco/telco.html?npa=253&exchange=498&results=1
http://www.timmins.net/telco/telco.html?npa=786&exchange=551&results=1
http://www.timmins.net/telco/telco.html?npa=208&exchange=978&results=1

It would appear they contract with several (if not many) CLECs and get a 
set of numbers from the CLEC's number blocks.

-Paul

At 12:44 PM 2/6/2002, you wrote:
> I don't know absolutely for sure, but my guess is that efax buys up a
> whole bunch of numbering space all over the country and I imagine in
> the UK as well.  For the free service they'll just assign you any
> random number.  I had been using efax's free service and changed my
> email address and couldn't find my PIN/password for my assigned number
> so I just made an ap for a new number and I was assigned a number that
> had a Little Rock, AR area code/number.  My first number was assigned
> from a city in central California (707-516).

------------------------------

From: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
Subject: Re: Is There a Standard For Alphanumeric DTMF?
Date: 6 Feb 2002 22:37:13 -0800
Organization: Transmeta Corporation, Santa Clara CA


Followup to:  <telecom20.150.3@telecom-digest.org>
By author:    edpugh@freenet.carleton.ca (Ed Pugh)

> Please CC my E-mail address on follow-ups to this post.

> This may be a FAQ.  If so, please point me in the right direction.
> Also, is there, perhaps, a more appropriate newsgroup to ask this?

> I have an idea to develop an application that would require sending a
> limited set of alphanumeric characters over the voice telephone
> network using the 12 "standard" DTMF tones.

> Does anyone know if there is an exisiting standard (e.g.  an ITU
> standard, or standard published by another well- recognised standards
> body) for encoding alphanumerics with the standard 12-digit dialpad?

> Is there, perhaps, a web site somewhere that specifies such a
> standard?

> I have an idea on how to develop my own scheme to do this, but it
> would be far better if I could adhere to an already-existing standard.

               ABC     DEF
	1	2	3

       GHI     JKL     MNO
	4	5	6

      PQRS     TUV    WXYZ
	7	8	9

	*	0	#

There used to be a convention that if you needed *only* alphabetics
you could do *+number 0+number #+number for "left", "middle" or
"right" respectively.  There are several problems with that:

a) doesn't account for Q and Z (this was before it became official
   standard to put Q and Z on 7 and 9; instead Q and Z were spelled *1
   and #1 respectively.)

b) doesn't work if you want to mix in numbers, although you could do
   something awkward like doubling the number -- 11 for "1", 22 for
   "2" etc.

Most cell phones seem to spell alphanumerics by scanning though the
list, so 2 is "A", 22 is "B", 222 is "C", 2222 is "2", and then
usually follows non-English characters (for example).  This,
however, relies on a timeout; if you want to spell, for example, FEEL:
333 <pause> 33 <pause> 33 <pause> 55; this is very awkward if you
don't have visual feedback like a cell phone display would give you.

I guess one option would be to separate letters with the * or # keys;
usually * is used as a "delete" option and # as an "enter"
option ... perhaps you could do something like

FEEL3 = 333# 33# 33# 555# 3# #


<hpa@transmeta.com> at work, <hpa@zytor.com> in private!
"Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot."
http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/puzzle.txt	<amsp@zytor.com>


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  On my Nokia 5165 phone I have
discovered the only time I have to put a pause in the process of
'thumbing out' my messages (I hold the phone in my hand and
use my thumb to enter everything I type) is if I want two letters in a
row which are on the same key, such as MNO or DEF. If I click for /M/
and do not put a pause in my typing before going click/click again
instead of getting an /M/ I get an /N/.  If I want two letters which
are not on the same key I can click as fast as I can move my thumb
around, such as /M/ followed by /A/ in 'man' instead of /O/ as in
'more'. Apparently once a different key is pressed, there is no longer
a need for it to time-out.  PAT]

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: WE 555 Switchboard
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 07:35:17 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Last night, on Capitol Beat, John Arnold <jarnold2@tampabay.rr.com> said:

> I am looking to purchase a working 555 WE Switchboard.  Would you
> have any suggestions on where I may find one.  I have been to TCI and
> ATCA.  They are looking but none as of yet.  Thanks for your time.

There was a small cord board for sale (?) at one time at Tel-Part in
Largo, Florida.  Don't have a number handy, but they're listed.

Don't know if they still have it, or if it was a 555; I used to have a
book that showed a picture of that board, but that was 20 years ago.
(Thanks, Vera.)


Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Technical Question
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 07:36:36 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Last night, on Capitol Beat, nsachs <nsachs@usc.edu> said:

> I have a bit of a technical question I was hoping you might be able to
> help with.  I'm working on a project at the University of Southern
> California that involoves making a connection over a standard phone line.
> However, we have to give a demonstration of the project and won't have
> access to a phone jack.  Is there any way to simulate a connection between
> two phones by connecting them directly using an RJ-11 cord and external
> power source, or possibly some other similar configuration?  Any help you
> could provide would be much appreciated.

Viking line simulator.  www.sandman.com.


Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey)
Subject: Re: Looking For ESS Documentation
Date: 7 Feb 2002 11:53:40 -0500
Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000)


In article <telecom20.149.4@telecom-digest.org>,
Bill Bradford  <mrbill@mrbill.net> wrote:

> Looking for reprints/copies of the old Bell System Technical Journals
> with details on the 1ESS switching system:

> * "No. 1 Electronic Switching System", BSTJ, Vol. 43 No. 5, 
>    September 1964, Parts 1 & 2.

> * "The 1A Processor", BSTJ, Vol. 56 No. 2, February 1977.

> Any pointers to these would be greatly appreciated.

Try your local library ... if they don't have them, they should be able
to get them through interlibrary loan.  The BSTJ is pretty common and a lot
of larger libraries got it.


scott

"C'est un Nagra.  C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 12:07:21 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Not in Finland Anymore? More Like Nokialand


By ALAN COWELL

HELSINKI, Finland, Feb. 1 - After the company town, behold the 
corporate nation.

A decade or so ago, this icy outpost on Russia's flank was in deep 
trouble, its economy battered by the collapse of traditional markets 
in the old Soviet Union, a recession taking hold and one in five 
workers looking for a job. Cafes closed. Lights dimmed.

Then, according to Finland's modern mythology, came a business- class 
caped crusader, as a company producing everything from paper to 
rubber boots was inspired to believe that the future lay in the 
cellphones which now bind Finns and a total of a billion people in an 
invisible web around the world.

That company was Nokia, after a town of that name on a river of that 
name in southwest Finland.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/06/international/europe/06NOKI.html

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #151
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Sat Feb  9 01:03:52 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id BAA23835;
	Sat, 9 Feb 2002 01:03:52 -0500 (EST)
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 01:03:52 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202090603.BAA23835@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #152

TELECOM Digest     Sat, 9 Feb 2002 01:04:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 152

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Maybe You Can Help With a Telecom Question (Fred Goldstein)
    Re: Information Request (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Re: Fun Ringtones for North American Cellphones (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Consonus Building in SLC "Blows Up" (Jaren Angerbauer)
    Re: Is There a Standard For Alphanumeric DTMF? (Ed Pugh)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cell Phones (Colin Sutton)
    Re: How to Read the Postal Bar Codes on Letters (Wes Leatherock)
    Re: Comcast Gunning for NAT Users (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Voice Logic Voice Pro System (Tom Wisner)
    Telco Benchmarks? (Troy)
    Seeking List of Area Codes and Their Format (Pat Cupper)
    Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (MegA)
    Re: Verizon Tests Pay-per-Minute Payphones (MegA)
    Worldcom - Time to Panic? (Paul Erickson)
    AOL Customers Livid Over Huge Phone Bills After Area-Code Switch (Jim Weiss)
    Last Laugh! Peoria AZ Jails People Who Don't Take Down Christmas Lights (M. Ross)

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Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 14:58:03 -0500
From: Fred Goldstein <fgoldstein@wn.net>
Subject: Re: Maybe You Can Help With a Telecom Question


At Thu, 07 Feb 2002 07:31:31 GMT, Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
wrote,

> Last night, on Capitol Beat, John R. Levine <johnl@iecc.com> said:

>> So their cost per number is quite small, since a since CLEC switch can
>> easily have 100,000 or more available numbers, handled by one computer
>> for jfax.

> I guess this depends on the tariffing; around here, DID numbers (which
> is effectively what this is) go for about a buck a number a month.

No, tariffing doesn't matter.  The fax provider gets the numbers from
the CLEC. ILEC tariffs for DID are a retail artifact that only apply
if the fax provider is getting its numbers from an ILEC, which of
course doesn't happen.

Local carriers (CLEC, ILEC, and wireless) get number blocks from NANPA
(NeuStar) for a one-time price that reflects administrative cost.
ILECs sometimes charge a lot for DID blocks, as a profit item, or to
make DID-equipped PBXs less competitive with DID-equipped Centrex.
But that's ILEC pricing for you.

CLECs are assigned numbers by the 1000 or 10,000 number block.  It
used to be a full prefix at a time; in states or areas that have
pooling, it's down to a thousands-group.  But in order to have full
local coverage of a state or LATA, the CLEC often has numbers in some
pretty small rate centers.  So a CLEC I have worked with has a prefix
code in West Stewartstown, NH, which has only a few hundred phones in
total.  This allows the CLEC's ISP customers to have numbers local to
the several towns which are theselves local to West Stewartstown. But
it doesn't use up the other 9,900 or so numbers.  So they are used for
the fax companies, who pay the CLEC something but not ILEC DID rates.

The ILECs have objected to this, of course, because they object to
everything creative that CLECs do.  In NH, the PUC was concerned about
number exhaust and needing to split the state's sole area code.  So
the CLECs have agreed to ask for no new prefix codes for this purpose.
Fair enough.  (New prefix codes in an already overlaid area wouldn't
be such a problem.)  But when you take existing codes in rural areas,
this is probably the best use that can be made of the 10,000 number
minimum that each rate center gets (even if it's pooled among
carriers).

The fax provider, of course, doesn't need the numbers to be local to
anyplace. But the current North American Numbering Plan has no
provision for "sent paid nongeographic" numbers, which go at regular
toll rates to everyplace.  (Nor is this planned, or contemplated in
the "spaghetti-O's" NPA expansion plan.)  Those remote rate centers
used by the fax providers are the closest thing.

The beauty of this is that everybody gets a cut.  The CLEC gets a fee
for its switch and the terminating-access fee from the IXC.  The ILEC
whose tandem the CLEC subtends usually gets a fee for the use of its
tandem, essentially sharing the terminating access.  (Unless the CLEC
has direct toll trunks.)  The IXC gets the toll.  The subscriber gets
a free fax number.  The fax server company gets number blocks.

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Information Request
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 07:11:40 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Last night, on Capitol Beat, Vidya Ramachandran <mrvidya2001@yahoo.com> said:

> In a typical company with 500 employees you might have a few voice
> T1's/T3 and a few data T1's/T3.  The voice is usually seperate from
> the data and hence you see no voice over etc.

> Nowadays i'm seeing more voip, voframe, voatm etc.  How does this
> work?  If I am the typical company with voice and data being seperate,
> how do I go about setting up an infrastructure with integrating voice
> and data?

1) Get the telecom guys and the data guys in the company cafeteria.

2) Give them all broadswords.

3) Make popcorn.

No, really; in order to do it practically, *I* think you'll eventually
have to merge the groups; there's useful knowledge and experience on
both sides, but they need to work together.

One manager, definitely.

I guess you'd make the junior guy the senior guy's right hand man.


Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Fun Ringtones for North American Cellphones
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 07:14:51 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Last night, on Capitol Beat, Ed Ellers <ed_ellers@msn.com> said:

> Paul N. Hrisko <neural@prodigy.net> wrote:

>> Plus, downloaded tones are kind of fun. Assigning a death-knell to your
>> girlfriend's number can get you into trouble tho'. ;)

> That reminds me that the Metropolitan Police in London told their
> detectives a while back not to have the themes of police shows
> programmed into their cell phones while working undercover.  I agree
> that it might be embarrassing to be in the middle of a drug buy when
> your phone goes off, if it played "dum-da-dum-dum,
> dum-da-dum-dum-DUMMM!"  :-)

On a vaguely related topic, some time ago, back when anyone still
cared, the NSA forbade employees from bringing Furbies into to work.

You see, the dolls *listen to the things being said around them*, and
slice and dice it into what they say back, apparently ...


Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

From: jtangerbauer@yahoo.com (Jaren Angerbauer)
Subject: Consonus Building in SLC "Blows Up"
Date: 7 Feb 2002 12:46:53 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Just found out through credible sources that one of the Consonus data
centers in Salt Lake City had an Energen (fire supression) discharge
that blew out the walls/windows/ceiling/etc.  Not sure if they are up
and running or not.  Any more information please add to this post.
Thanks.

------------------------------

From: edpugh@freenet.carleton.ca (Ed Pugh)
Subject: Re: Is There a Standard For Alphanumeric DTMF?
Date: 7 Feb 2002 22:22:49 GMT
Organization: The National Capital FreeNet
Reply-To: edpugh@freenet.carleton.ca (Ed Pugh)


Thanks "PAT" and "H. Peter" for your help and input.

I should have mentioned that I already knew about these two main
methods of encoding alphanumerics with DTMF.

However, my question was whether or not there is an existing standard
(say ITU or EIA or some such).  If not, I can go my own way, I guess.
But if there IS a standard, then I should try to adhere to it.

Thanks and regards,


Edward L. (Ed) Pugh, M.Sc.Eng.(EE)
Senior Firmware/Real-Time Softwar Engineer
Ottawa  ON  Canada

------------------------------

From: Colin Sutton <colin@sutton.wow.aust.com>
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 01:16:37 GMT
Organization: BigPond Internet Services (http://www.bigpond.net.au)


Don't wait for the time-out to be able to repeat a letter.  It is
quicker to type any other letter on a different key and delete it,
then repeat the letter you really wanted.

On my Motorola phone, anyway.


Colin

"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com> wrote in message
news:telecom20.151.4@telecom-digest.org...

> Followup to:  <telecom20.150.3@telecom-digest.org>
> By author:    edpugh@freenet.carleton.ca (Ed Pugh)

>> Please CC my E-mail address on follow-ups to this post.

>> This may be a FAQ.  If so, please point me in the right direction.
>> Also, is there, perhaps, a more appropriate newsgroup to ask this?

>> I have an idea to develop an application that would require sending a
>> limited set of alphanumeric characters over the voice telephone
>> network using the 12 "standard" DTMF tones.

>> Does anyone know if there is an exisiting standard (e.g.  an ITU
>> standard, or standard published by another well- recognised standards
>> body) for encoding alphanumerics with the standard 12-digit dialpad?

>> Is there, perhaps, a web site somewhere that specifies such a
>> standard?

>> I have an idea on how to develop my own scheme to do this, but it
>> would be far better if I could adhere to an already-existing standard.

> FEEL3 = 333# 33# 33# 555# 3# #

------------------------------

From: wesrock@aol.com (Wes Leatherock)
Date: 08 Feb 2002 02:39:35 GMT
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Subject: Re: How to Read the Postal Bar Codes on Letters


>> You can look up the full 11-digit code for any US address on the USPS
>> web site. They'll even tell you the check digit.
>> <http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/lookups/lookup_zip+4.html>

> Indeed.  It's also covered in USPS Publication 25, IIRC.  It's called
> PostNET, and no one has yet told me why the USPS hasn't sued the
> knickers off those people operating the MailBoxes ETC clone of the same
> name.


      The Postal Service and Mail Boxes, etc., are now very cozy, with Mail
Boxes, etc., being some sort of agent for the USPS.


Wes Leatherock
wesrock@aol.com
wleathus@yahoo.com

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Comcast Gunning for NAT Users
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 07:18:32 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Last night, on Capitol Beat, Paul Wallich <pw@panix.com> said:

>> I'd love to know how they'd identify such a thing anyway apart from the
>> increased quantity of traffic up the link, and one would think they'd
>> have a charging scheme which would encourage more traffic and therefore
>> revenue.

We've just done this extensively on NANOG; I believe someone had a
friend who was *in* such a department, but that's still fourth-hand to
y'all, I realize.

> DSL and cable are generally flat-rate -- especially with all the
> script-kiddy probes going down the wires you have an interesting time
> charging for bits transferred. And network provisioning is (rather
> like the PSTN) based on the notion that most people won't be shipping
> a lot of bits most of the time.

Which, of  course, has not been the case since P2P filesharing became
at all popular.

>  Not in most cases that it's anywhere near worth the trouble.

Not in most cases that this fact will slow down the providers.

"I have a NAT box to isolate my private LAN -- only one machine on
which talks to the Internet -- from your modem.  Prove I'm lying."


Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

From: Tom Wisner <twisner@kuhnsoft.com>
Subject: Voice Logic Voice Pro System
Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 03:17:05 GMT
Organization: Excite@Home - The Leader in Broadband http://home.com/faster


Anyone know where a manual can be found for the Voice Logic VP408
phone/voice mail system.

I have the system and some of the documentation but what I really need
is a list of the program codes.  If you can point me in the direction
it would help.


Thanks.

------------------------------

From: newsthrowaway@k-rad.com (Troy)
Subject: Telco Benchmarks?
Date: 8 Feb 2002 09:26:10 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Are there any recognized benchmarks that are used to test
carrier-grade servers for use in a telco environment?  For example,
SPECweb99 is often used to test webserver performance -- is there any
equivalent for telco, or would one use more generalized benchmarks to
test individual individual fuctional areas separately?

Assuming multiple vendors have NEBS-certified platforms available for
use as a softswitch, etc., how would one best compare them?
Suggestions for testcases, benchmarks, or specific areas to focus on
would be appreciated.

Right now, my plan is to use individual microbenchmarks to test
IPv4/IPv6 networking, Java (for JAIN-type applications), and general
performance (process creation, filesystem, etc.) with an emphasis on
testing latency under high-load, and horizontal scaling.


Thanks,

Troy

------------------------------

From: Pat Cupper <pat.cupper@xpherix.com>
Subject: Seeking List of Area Codes and Their Format
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 11:15:32 -0800


Hi, I'm trying to find a list of Area codes and their format
worldwide.  Do you know if an updated list like this can be found.
The best would be if I could just write a program to load it into a
program.

Thanks for your help.


Pat Cupper
Xpherix Corporation
pacu@xpherix.com


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  The two best sources I know are the
two guys who supply these for the TELECOM Digest website. Look at our
website -- http://telecom-digest.org/linkspage -- and check out the
two entries near the top of the page dealing with areacodes. Linc
Madison comes to mind as one example.  You should find all you ever
wanted to know about area codes there on his pages.   PAT]

------------------------------

From: bryon.spahn@corporate.ge.com (MegA)
Subject: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: 8 Feb 2002 11:45:27 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


I don't know if anyone else out there has noticed but telecom
deregulation was supposed to help lower the costs of telecommunication
services such as long distance, local service, etc. However, as all of
us know, the competition that was supposed to cause this revolution
has all but fizzled out. The question that we are faced with now is
What next?

Like the fall of the .com pioneers, telecom services vendors are going
to need to adapt and develop new ways to compete with the tier 1
providers who have an unfair advantage by owning the lines. The answer
to this is to stop using their lines. Has anyone (within the US or
Canada) tried to link together a network of VOIP Gateways for local
terminations or know of such a network? I have been developing VOIP
gateways for some time now and I would like to incorparate a VOIP
backbone into my newest Pre-paid and 1010 venture.

For international termination VOIP still needs a bit of work or a
rediculous ammount of bandwidth to be high enough quality and suitably
reliable. (You try getting an OC48 in Pakistan!) However I do not
believe that this technology is too far off. I believe that through
this medium the smaller prepaid and 1010 service providers can get a
foothold in this volitile market, thus invoking the change and
competition that they were supposed to in the first place. $20 for
unlimited monthly calling; still just a dream?

Questions?  Comments?

(A Man is condemned or exalted by his words...   Exalt me.)


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Did anyone ever notice how prepaid
service which *should* cost less because (a) there is no collection
effort involved and (b) the carrier gets to hold large amounts of your
money without paying interest in fact always costs more?  The local
Radio Shack dealer here in Independence is also an AllTel (formerly
Kansas Cellular) agent and prepaid cellular costs fifty cents *per
minute* and if you do not use it up after three months or so, you lose
whatever was left in your account. That's not Kevin's idea, it was
forced on him by AllTel.  If you tell them they don't have to do a
credit check, hire a collection agency to get your money and
furthermore they get some sum of money to keep until you in effect
ask for it a few pennies at a time, they are not impressed. In fact,
their customer service people cannot even find your account unless
you tell them it is a 'Smart Pay' type account to tip them off while
they are looking for it. Not a smart business practice, IMO.    PAT]

------------------------------

From: bryon.spahn@corporate.ge.com (MegA)
Subject: Re: Verizon Tests Pay-per-Minute Payphones
Date: 8 Feb 2002 11:56:43 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


The calls are now .50 unlimited local. You can still find a few .35
machines if you really look. As for the competition; they are the
worst. Disconnects, fast busy on out of area code local calls, and an
answering machine for an operator. I am cool with pay by the minute I
usally am only on a minute anyways.

Later,


MegA

Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:<telecom20.146.12@telecom-digest.org>...

> On Wed, 30 Jan 2002 00:58:43 -0500, Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
> wrote:

>> WASHINGTON--Verizon Communications on Tuesday began a trial program 
>> in which users of pay phones in two areas would pay by the minute for 
>> local calls, 10 cents a minute or 25 cents for three minutes.

>> Verizon, the biggest U.S. local telephone company, raised pay phone 
>> rates last fall to 50 cents from 35 cents for a call with unlimited 
>> length, citing fierce competition and declining revenue.

>> Pay phones have felt the squeeze of the booming wireless industry 
>> where there are approximately 130 million subscribers, about 47 
>> percent of the U.S. population.

> Unless Verizon has changed significantly from what they did when it
> was New England Telephone calls from pay phones were timed and you
> only got 3 minutes for your initial deposit (at the time I was in the
> area it was still 10 cents initial deposit in Massachusetts, 20 cents
> in Maine ... this was over 20 years ago.)

------------------------------

From: Paul Erickson <paule@mindspring.com>
Subject: Worldcom -- Time to Panic?
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 16:50:06 -0500
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


Our T1 line is provided via Worldcom.  I shudder to think they might
go the way of the DSL companies.  If you read this, the situation
sounds pretty dire: http://www.msnbc.com/news/697962.asp

Where do you go for T1 connectivity if Worldcom goes poof?  The local
telco will be the last one standing I suppose.  Ugh.

If Worldcom goes poof, doesn't UUNet, and a big chunk of 'net
backbone?  Does anyone think this could really happen?


Paul


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They would not 'go poof' for the same
reason telcos do not up and vanish.  Telephone companies have in fact
gone bankrupt in the past, and back in the days when AT&T was in
charge of things and forbidden by the decree to acquire any more
operating companies, there was one exception to that rule: if an inde-
pendent telco was in dire financial straits and on the verge of going
out of business, then AT&T *had* to take it over by court order. What
would happen in WorldCom's case I think is that a bankruptcy court
would declare them to be a 'debtor in possession' and have them
continue operating their business until a suitable and capable
replacement could be found to take over, and provide an orderly change
of management. Just my opinion, but I'm sure if WorldCom was about to
close its doors some lawyers would get involved and appeal it all in
court.  PAT]

------------------------------

From: Jim Weiss@aol.com
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 17:35:21 EST
Subject: AOL Customers Livid Over Huge Phone Bills After Area-Code Switch


Dozens of residents are complaining that they received phone bills of
more than $1,000 because an area-code change switched dial-up
connections to their AOL accounts from local to long distance.

http://computerworld.com/nlt/1%2C3590%2CNAV47_STO68154_NLTPM%2C00.html


 From the Offices of: Network Brokers, Inc. 
Providing Long Distance Services for Less
Jim Weiss, nbjimweiss@aol.com
305-252-1822; Fax: 775-796-9973; Miami Fax: 305-252-1823;

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 18:20:55 MST
From: snail@aztec.asu.edu (Mike Ross)
Subject: Last Laugh! Peoria AZ Jails People Who Don't Take Down Christmas Lights


Get this; if you dont take your Christmas lights down in Peoria, Arizona
you can get fined up to $2,500 and jailed for 6 months.
 
Here is a copy of the law which is Section 14-34-8-18 (1977 Code)
 
14. Holiday Decorations; Items or objects used
    to emblish and ornament physical features in
    celebration of a particular holiday.
 
    a) Holiday decorations maybe displayed for
       civic, patriotic or religious holidays;
 
    b) Such decorations shall not be displayed
       in such a manner as to constitute a
       traffic hazard;
 
    c) Such decorations shall not be displayed
       more than 28 days prior to the specified
       holiday (and) must be removed 19 days 
       after the specified holiday;
 
    d) No sign permit required.
 
Peoria city councilmen email addresses:
 
      CAROLS@PEORIAAZ.COM
      CARLOL@PEORIAAZ.COM
      PATD@PEORIAAZ.COM
      BOBBAR@PEORIAAZ.COM
      KENF@PEORIAAZ.COM
      ELLAM@PEORIAAZ.COM
      MICHAELP@PEORIAAZ.COM
 
The City of Peoria, Arizona recently arrested two people for failing to
remove their Christmas lights.

 
Mike
 
    Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 12:09:40 -0700
    From: SteveK@PeoriaAz.Com ("Steve Kemp")
    Subject: Re: One more Request for public records per A.R.S. Section
    To: snail@aztec.asu.edu
    Cc: DonnaG.CityHallPO.Peoria_Az@PeoriaAz.Com (Donna Griffith)
 
 
The proper section number is Section 14-34-8-18 (1977 Code)
 
Class one (1) misdemeanor, a fine not greater than 2,500 dollars and
imprisonment in the county jail for a period not greater than six
months.  Please note these are the maximum penalties, the court may
impose no jail and a much smaller fine.
 
There is no provision under this code for the city to correct the
violation and place a lien on your property.

 
Sincerely,
 
Steve Kemp, City Attorney
 
>>> MIKE ROSS <snail@aztec.asu.edu> 02/06/02 08:01PM >>>
 
 
Thanks for giving me a copy of the law.  I would like to ask two more questions
for information.
 
1) What is the law's full number and section
   in the peoria code?
 
2) what is the penalty for breaking
   the law? can the city fine you?
   if so how much?
   can the city jail you


?
   if so how long?
   if you dont take down the lights
   will the city take them down for
   you and then put a lein on your
   home for the costs and seize 
   your home if you dont pay?
 
here is the law as I copied it:
 
at the top of the page is a number 89-07
 
the law
 
14. Holiday Decorations; Items or objects used
    to emblish and ornament physical features in
    celebration of a particular holiday.
 
    a) Holiday decorations maybe displayed for
       civic, patriotic or religious holidays;
 
    b) Such decorations shall not be displayed
       in such a manner as to constitute a
       traffic hazard;
 
    c) Such decorations shall not be displayed
       more than 28 days prior to the specified
       holiday (and) must be removed 19 days 
       after the specified holiday;
 
     d) No sign permit required.
 
Thanks,
 
Mike
 

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; 
when the government fears the people, there is liberty "
                             Thomas Jefferson


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I was a young person, living in
the Chicago area, our family had a neighbor family who had a small
child by the name of Riley. Little Riley was about four years old. The
family put up their Christmas tree around the first of December but
then around January 1 or so, when they were going to take the tree
down, little Riley threw a terrible tantrum. He literally screamed and
kicked his feet on the floor and laid down in such a way his family
could not move the Christmas tree out the door to the dump. Whenever
the family tried to take down the tree and the other decorations,
little Riley was always there in the way having a fit. The family kept
trying to get rid of the tree to no avail. Finally they got an idea.
One of them took little Riley out for the day to a park or something,
and while he was gone the rest of the family took the tree and the
other decorations down. When did that happen?  *March 15* give or take
a couple days. Everyone who went to visit them during January and
February and the first part of March always looked at them sort of
askance and wondered about it. When little Riley and his mother or
big sister or whoever got back home that day, the little fellow did 
not even notice the tree was no longer there. I suppose if the family
had lived in Peoria, Arizona now days, the entire family would be in 
jail by now, or bankrupted with fines, etc.  Poor Riley  (shaking my 
head and clucking my tongue  ...     PAT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #152
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Sun Feb 10 02:21:11 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id CAA17481;
	Sun, 10 Feb 2002 02:21:11 -0500 (EST)
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 02:21:11 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202100721.CAA17481@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #153

TELECOM Digest     Sun, 10 Feb 2002 02:21:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 153

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic? (Steven J. Sobol)
    Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic? (Steven Lichter)
    Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic? (Tom Betz)
    Re: Verizon Payphones With BELL Logo? (Chris A. Libby)
    DNIS Cost? (Scott Ables)
    DID Number Cost - was: Maybe You Can Help ... (Al Gillis)
    Re: Seeking List of Area Codes and Their Format (Don Russell)
    Re: Seeking List of Area Codes and Their Format (Joseph Singer)
    Probe Launched Into Pac Bell DSL Flap (Monty Solomon)
    Re: How to Read the Postal Bar Codes on Letters (Stanley Cline)
    Re: How to Read the Postal Bar Codes on Letters (tonypo1@home.com)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones (Joel B. Levin)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (John R. Levine)
    Re: Maybe You Can Help With a Telecom Question (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Re: How to Read the Postal Bar Codes on Letters (Jay R. Ashworth)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated 
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
                        Independence, KS 67301
                        Phone: 630-841-7174
                        Email: editor@telecom-digest.org

Subscribe:  telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org
Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org


This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm-
unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and
published continuously since then.  Our archives are available for
your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/
mailing list on the internet in any category!

URL information:        http://telecom-digest.org

Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives
  (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives)

Email <==> FTP:  telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org 

      Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for
      a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system
      for archives files. You can get desired files in email.

*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from                  *
*   Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate  *
*   800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting.         *
*   http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com                    *
*   Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing      *
*   views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc.                             *
*************************************************************************

ICB Toll Free News.  Contact information is not sold, rented or leased.
Access to Premium (P) links requires upgrade to a paid subscription.

One click a day feeds a person a meal.  Go to http://www.thehungersite.com

Only subscribers or registered users of ICB Toll Free News web site
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LEGAL STUFF: TELECOM Digest (sm) is owned by Patrick Townson.
Copyright 2000 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

   In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert
   has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and
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   been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very
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   a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com 
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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing
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All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: sjsobol@JustThe.net (Steven J. Sobol)
Subject: Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic?
Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2002 16:09:45 -0000
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


From 'Paul Erickson' <paule@mindspring.com>:

> Our T1 line is provided via Worldcom.  I shudder to think they might
> go the way of the DSL companies.  If you read this, the situation
> sounds pretty dire: http://www.msnbc.com/news/697962.asp

> Where do you go for T1 connectivity if Worldcom goes poof?  The local
> telco will be the last one standing I suppose.  Ugh.

> If Worldcom goes poof, doesn't UUNet, and a big chunk of 'net
> backbone?  Does anyone think this could really happen?

Who knows. Worldcom and its employees are incredibly arrogant, an attitude
which filters down from management. They think they're bulletproof.


JustThe.net LLC - Steve "Web Dude" Sobol, CTO      ICQ: 56972932/WebDude216
website: http://JustThe.net  email: sjsobol@JustThe.net  phone: 216.619.2NET 
postal: 5686 Davis Drive, Mentor On The Lake, OH 44060-2752  DalNet: ZX-2

------------------------------

From: stevenl11@aol.com (Steven Lichter)
Date: 09 Feb 2002 17:28:12 GMT
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Subject: Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic?


Paul said:

> Where do you go for T1 connectivity if Worldcom goes poof?  The local
> telco will be the last one standing I suppose.  Ugh.

> If Worldcom goes poof, doesn't UUNet, and a big chunk of 'net
> backbone?  Does anyone think this could really happen?

Don't think that could happen.  That company has more money then it
knows what to do with.  They are a cash cow just like GTE was before
the Merger with HellAtlantic (Buy, not a merger.)


Apple Elite II 909-359-5338. Home of GBBS/LLUCE, support for the 
Apple II 24 hours  2400/14.4.  An OggNet Server.

The only good spammer is a dead one!!!  Have you hunted one down today?  (c)

------------------------------

From: tbetz@panix.com (Tom Betz)
Subject: Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic?
Date: 9 Feb 2002 13:58:08 GMT
Organization: Society for the Elimination of Junk Unsolicited Bulk Email
Reply-To: tbetz@pobox.com


Quoth Paul Erickson <paule@mindspring.com> in <telecom20.152.14@telecom-digest.org>:

> Our T1 line is provided via Worldcom.  I shudder to think they might
> go the way of the DSL companies.  If you read this, the situation
> sounds pretty dire: http://www.msnbc.com/news/697962.asp

> Where do you go for T1 connectivity if Worldcom goes poof?  The local
> telco will be the last one standing I suppose.  Ugh.

Don't worry, Global Crossing or British Telecom will take them over.


|I always wanted to be someone,|            Tom Betz, Generalist               |
|but now I think I should have | Want to send me email? FIRST, READ THIS PAGE: |
|been a wee bit more specific. | <http://www.panix.com/~tbetz/mailterms.shtml> |
| "Fuck NANAE." -- Paul Vixie  | YO! MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS HEAVILY SPAM-ARMORED! |

------------------------------

From: chrisalibby@yahoo.com (Chris A. Libby)
Subject: Re: Verizon Payphones With BELL Logo?
Date: 9 Feb 2002 08:49:02 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


At the local K-Mart here in Illinois, there is still an old Illinois
Bell telephone, and Illinois Bell became Ameritech over 8 years
ago ... also, while visiting Maine this past summer, the local town
is covered with NYNEX phones ... I guess telco companies are just too
lazy to update.

------------------------------

From: Scott Ables <scott_ables@yahoo.com>
Subject: DNIS Cost?
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 21:10:51 -0800
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


I hear that on 5ESS's to turn on DNIS the licensing has a per customer T1
channel charge which really adds up.  That does not seem right to me.
Anyone heard of Lucent licensing working this way?

What do customers typically pay to get DNIS delivered?


Scott

------------------------------

From: Al Gillis <alg@aracnet.com>
Subject: DID Number Cost - was Re: Maybe You Can Help...
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 19:17:23 -0800
Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com
Reply-To: Al Gillis <alg@aracnet.com>


Here in Portland, OR we paying fifteen cents per number per month.
That's the rate from both Qwest (the local former Bell company) as
well as from ELI (a CLEC).  I suspect they're available in minimum
quantities of 100 numbers.  At one of our locations near London,
Ontario we're paying Bell Canada $6.00 per number per month!  Needless
to say, that makes quite a difference in how we freely issue numbers!


Al

Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com> wrote in message
news:telecom20.151.2@telecom-digest.org ...

> I guess this depends on the tariffing; around here, DID numbers (which
> is effectively what this is) go for about a buck a number a month.

------------------------------

From: Don Russell <drussel2@san.rr.com>
Subject: Re: Seeking List of Area Codes and Their Format
Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2002 22:51:17 GMT
Organization: Road Runner


For North America you could start at www.nanpa.com , they have such files
available for download ...


Don Russell

Pat Cupper <pat.cupper@xpherix.com> wrote in message
news:telecom20.152.11@telecom-digest.org ...

> Hi, I'm trying to find a list of Area codes and their format
> worldwide.  Do you know if an updated list like this can be found.
> The best would be if I could just write a program to load it into a
> program.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  The two best sources I know are the
> two guys who supply these for the TELECOM Digest website. Look at our
> website -- http://telecom-digest.org/linkspage -- and check out the
> two entries near the top of the page dealing with areacodes. Linc
> Madison comes to mind as one example.  You should find all you ever
> wanted to know about area codes there on his pages.   PAT]

------------------------------

From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Seeking List of Area Codes and Their Format
Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2002 05:51:57 -0800
Organization: Drizzle
Reply-To: joeofseattle@yahoo.com


On Fri, 8 Feb 2002 11:15:32 -0800, Pat Cupper <pat.cupper@xpherix.com>
wrote:

> Hi, I'm trying to find a list of Area codes and their format
> worldwide.  Do you know if an updated list like this can be found.
> The best would be if I could just write a program to load it into a
> program.

Try this: http://phonebooth.interocitor.net/wtng/

Personal replies are likely not read.  Please reply in the newsgroup

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 13:44:12 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Probe Launched Into Pac Bell DSL Flap


By Margaret Kane
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
February 8, 2002, 10:35 AM PT

A California regulatory agency is investigating whether SBC Pacific 
Bell overbilled customers of its broadband services.

The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) said Thursday that 
it has opened an investigation into charges that Pacific Bell -- owned 
by SBC Communications -- overbilled customers for DSL (digital 
subscriber line) and other services.

The commission is also looking at whether Pacific Bell under-reported 
complaints regarding "cramming," the practice of putting false 
charges on customers' bills that are unrelated to actual telephone 
use.

http://news.com.com/2100-1033-832794.html

------------------------------

From: Stanley Cline <sc1@roamer1.org>
Subject: Re: How to Read the Postal Bar Codes on Letters
Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2002 14:26:00 -0500
Organization: roamer1.org, Dunwoody (Atlanta), GA, USA
Reply-To: sc1@roamer1.org


On 08 Feb 2002 02:39:35 GMT, wesrock@aol.com (Wes Leatherock) wrote:

> The Postal Service and Mail Boxes, etc., are now very cozy, with Mail
> Boxes, etc., being some sort of agent for the USPS.

I don't know about that, but *UPS* *owns* MBE the franchiser (not the
franchisees, of course :) )


Stanley Cline -- sc1 at roamer1 dot org -- http://www.roamer1.org/

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.  There might
be a law against it by that time."  -/usr/games/fortune

------------------------------

From: tonypo1@home.com
Subject: Re: How to Read the Postal Bar Codes on Letters
Organization: MobsRUs
Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2002 06:13:40 GMT


In article <telecom20.152.7@telecom-digest.org>, wesrock@aol.com says ...

>>> You can look up the full 11-digit code for any US address on the USPS
>>> web site. They'll even tell you the check digit.
>>> <http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/lookups/lookup_zip+4.html>

>> Indeed.  It's also covered in USPS Publication 25, IIRC.  It's called
>> PostNET, and no one has yet told me why the USPS hasn't sued the
>> knickers off those people operating the MailBoxes ETC clone of the same
>> name.

> The Postal Service and Mail Boxes, etc., are now very cozy, with Mail
> Boxes, etc., being some sort of agent for the USPS.

USPS has gotten quite cozy with other mail processors. It offloads
some of the mail prep from them which reduces the labor costs that
USPS incurs to deliver a letter.

I've used Mailers+ software to presort and then print labeles for mail 
runs of 2000 to 50,000. We'd then turn that over to a processor and let 
them apply the cheshire labels, sack, tag and deliver to the post office 
ready to be distributed to the other offices. 

It's a very efficient system if you ask me. 


Tony

------------------------------

From: Joel B Levin <levinjb@gte.net>
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
Organization: On the desert
Reply-To: levinjb@gte.net
Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2002 20:29:21 GMT


In <telecom20.152.6@telecom-digest.org>,
   Colin Sutton <colin@sutton.wow.aust.com> wrote:

> Don't wait for the time-out to be able to repeat a letter.  It is
> quicker to type any other letter on a different key and delete it,
> then repeat the letter you really wanted.

> On my Motorola phone, anyway.

Good one!  I'll bet it will work on my aging Qualcomm SprintPCS phone!
(Rather than wait for the timeout, I can turn the thumbwheel to advance to the
next letter, but (a) I never remember which way to turn it and (b) it's gotten
so flaky that it direction the thumbwheel moves things is now independent of
the way I've actually turned it. :-( )


/JBL

Nets:   levin at bbn.com  |  /"\
  or jbl at levin.mv.com  |  \ /  ASCII RIBBON CAMPAIGN
pots:      (617)873-3463  |   X   AGAINST HTML MAIL
ARS:    KD1ON             |  / \  AND POSTINGS

------------------------------

Date: 9 Feb 2002 09:23:46 -0500
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R. Levine)
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Did anyone ever notice how prepaid
> service which *should* cost less because (a) there is no collection
> effort involved and (b) the carrier gets to hold large amounts of your
> money without paying interest in fact always costs more?

Yeah, but if the cards are sold in stores that expect the same markup
they get on Slurpees, what do you expect?  There's too many people in
the food chain.

The prepaid vendors that sell directly over the net have extremely
attractive rates.  People have said good things about onesuite.com who
charges 2.9 cpm with 800 access and no funny charges other than the
inevitable payphone surcharge.


John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869
johnl@iecc.com, Village Trustee and Sewer Commissioner, http://iecc.com/johnl, 
Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Maybe You Can Help With a Telecom Question
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 04:25:10 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Stanley settled back into the couch, and Fred Goldstein
<fgoldstein@wn.net> said to him:

[ me: ]
>> I guess this depends on the tariffing; around here, DID numbers (which
>> is effectively what this is) go for about a buck a number a month.

>  No, tariffing doesn't matter.  The fax provider gets the numbers from
>  the CLEC. ILEC tariffs for DID are a retail artifact that only apply
>  if the fax provider is getting its numbers from an ILEC, which of
>  course doesn't happen.

No, but I assumed that the CLEC's had to file tariffs, too; they don't?

>  The fax provider, of course, doesn't need the numbers to be local to
>  anyplace. But the current North American Numbering Plan has no
>  provision for "sent paid nongeographic" numbers, which go at regular
>  toll rates to everyplace.  (Nor is this planned, or contemplated in
>  the "spaghetti-O's" NPA expansion plan.)  Those remote rate centers
>  used by the fax providers are the closest thing.

You've reminded me of something *else* that I thought of the other day,
that I don't recall seeing *anyone's* renumbering plan take into
account:

If you add two zeros into the middle of everyone's number (or, for that
matter, anything else) ... everyone's spellings break.

That will be when we see whether courts will uphold the carriers'
assertions that they're not "officially" giving you any particular
number ... no matter *how* much you've spent on the advertising.


Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: How to Read the Postal Bar Codes on Letters
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 04:27:51 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Stanley settled back into the couch, and Wes Leatherock
<wesrock@aol.com> said to him:

>>> You can look up the full 11-digit code for any US address on the USPS
>>> web site. They'll even tell you the check digit.
>>> <http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/lookups/lookup_zip+4.html>

>> Indeed.  It's also covered in USPS Publication 25, IIRC.  It's called
>> PostNET, and no one has yet told me why the USPS hasn't sued the
>> knickers off those people operating the MailBoxes ETC clone of the same
>> name.

>        The Postal Service and Mail Boxes, etc., are now very cozy, with Mail
>  Boxes, etc., being some sort of agent for the USPS.

More reason: PostNET is MBE's *competition*.


Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #153
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Mon Feb 11 17:05:23 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id RAA25975;
	Mon, 11 Feb 2002 17:05:23 -0500 (EST)
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 17:05:23 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202112205.RAA25975@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #154

TELECOM Digest     Mon, 11 Feb 2002 17:02:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 154

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Telecom Update (Canada) #319, February 11, 2002 (Angus TeleManagement)
    Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic? (Rich Greenberg)
    Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic? (Dave Phelps)
    Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic? (Steven J. Sobol)
    Re: Maybe You Can Help With a Telecom Question (Fred Goldstein)
    Re: Verizon Payphones With BELL Logo? (Joel B Levin)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Jeff Frontz)
    Re: Is There a Standard For Alphanumeric DTMF? (Don Kimberlin)
    Another Company for Directory and SPRINT is at it Again (D Horvath)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated 
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
                        Independence, KS 67301
                        Phone: 630-841-7174
                        Email: editor@telecom-digest.org

Subscribe:  telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org
Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org


This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm-
unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and
published continuously since then.  Our archives are available for
your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/
mailing list on the internet in any category!

URL information:        http://telecom-digest.org

Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives
  (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives)

Email <==> FTP:  telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org 

      Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for
      a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system
      for archives files. You can get desired files in email.

*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from                  *
*   Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate  *
*   800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting.         *
*   http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com                    *
*   Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing      *
*   views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc.                             *
*************************************************************************

ICB Toll Free News.  Contact information is not sold, rented or leased.
Access to Premium (P) links requires upgrade to a paid subscription.

One click a day feeds a person a meal.  Go to http://www.thehungersite.com

Only subscribers or registered users of ICB Toll Free News web site
will be able to access all or some of the full text of URLs provided.

LEGAL STUFF: TELECOM Digest (sm) is owned by Patrick Townson.
Copyright 2000 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

   In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert
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Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 10:35:26 -0500
From: Angus TeleManagement <jriddell@angustel.ca>
Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #319, February 11, 2002


TELECOM UPDATE
************************************************************
published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group
http://www.angustel.ca

Number 319: February 11, 2002

Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous
financial support from:
** AT&T CANADA http://www.attcanada.com
** BELL CANADA http://www.bell.ca
** GROUP TELECOM http://www.gt.ca
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** Q9 NETWORKS: http://www.Q9.com
** TELUS: http://www.telus.com
** UNISPHERE NETWORKS: http://www.unispherenetworks.com

************************************************************

IN THIS ISSUE:

** Wetmore Moves to Bell
** Cisco Sales, Profits Rise
** MaxLink LMCS Licenses Revoked
** RIM, Glenayre to Work Together
** AT&T Revenues Up 3%
** GT Reports Revenue Gains
** Bell Intros Mitel IP PBX
** Look to Re-Emerge This Week
** CLECs Want Improved Repair Times
** Sympatico Bars Residential Servers
** Court Forces Change to TIW Offer
** DMR to Become Fujitsu Consulting
** Sprint Makes Introductory Local Offer
** Rogers Video on Demand Delayed
** Bell to Launch 2.5G Service
** Games Dominate Mobile Browser Usage
** BellZinc Buys Montreal E-Marketer
** Persona Buys West Indies Cableco
** 360networks Creditors Query CEO Loan
** Ladouceur Named President of Datawire
** Clarification -- Call-Net
** Can Wireless LANs Be Secure?

WETMORE MOVES TO BELL: BCE has moved Stephen Wetmore from
President and CEO of Aliant to Vice-Chair Corporate of Bell
Canada, effective March 1. He will report to BCE President
Michael Sabia.

** Aliant's Executive VP and CFO, Jay Forbes, has been named
    Acting CEO until the Board chooses a permanent successor
    for Wetmore.

CISCO SALES, PROFITS RISE: Cisco Systems reports sales for
the quarter ended January 26 of US$4.8 billion -- 8% more
than the previous quarter, but 29% less than the previous
year. Operating profit doubled over the previous quarter, to
$664 million.

MAXLINK LMCS LICENSES REVOKED: Canada's last surviving LMCS
carrier has lost its broadband wireless licences. MaxLink
Communications has been in receivership since November 2000;
Industry Canada revoked the licenses last month for non-
payment of fees. (see Telecom Update #57, #188, #260).

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/pics/sf/revoclinton.pdf

RIM, GLENAYRE TO WORK TOGETHER: Research In Motion and
Glenayre Electronics have agreed to jointly develop
technology for wireless e-mail devices. The two companies
have settled their dispute over patent issues and dropped
pending legal actions. (See Telecom Update #284, 291)

AT&T REVENUES UP 3%: AT&T Canada's 2001 revenue was $1.545
billion, up slightly from 2000. Total loss for the year was
$780 million, up from $523 million.

** On December 31, AT&T Canada had 548,969 local lines in
    service, nearly 8% more than in the previous quarter.

** AT&T warns that if foreign ownership rules do not change
    before June 2003, it may face a change in ownership, and
    that in turn would allow creditors to demand payments that
    exceed the company's cash resources.

GT REPORTS REVENUE GAINS: Group Telecom reports October-
December sales of $61.3 million, including $11.9 million
voice (up 6% from the previous quarter) and $48 million data
(up 9%). Net loss: $89 million.

** Josef Strauss, CEO of JDS Uniphase, has joined Group
    Telecom's Board of Directors.

BELL INTROS MITEL IP PBX: Bell Canada has begun offering
Mitel's 3100 Integrated Communications Platform to small
businesses in Ontario and Quebec. The system combines LAN,
router, voice mail, and PBX functions in a single unit.

** February's Telemanagement includes a feature report on the
    Mitel 3100.

LOOK TO RE-EMERGE THIS WEEK: Trading of Look Communications'
shares has been suspended for one day to facilitate
completion of its reorganization under the Companies'
Creditors Arrangement Act. When trading resumes tomorrow, the
broadband wireless company will have one class of shares,
trading under the new symbol LOK.

CLECs WANT IMPROVED REPAIR TIMES: Call-Net and Group Telecom
have asked the CRTC to order telcos to offer CLECs the option
of obtaining a four-hour Mean Time to Repair for unbundled
loops. They claim that the telcos provide better service to
themselves and affiliates than to competitors.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/Eng/2002/8622/C25-14.htm

SYMPATICO BARS RESIDENTIAL SERVERS: Sympatico has changed its
Acceptable Use policies to prohibit residential customers
from running or hosting server applications.

** Rogers Cable says it may offer a lower-priced Internet
    service with limits on monthly data transfers. Contrary to
    published reports, it has not yet decided to proceed.

COURT FORCES CHANGE TO TIW OFFER: After an Ontario Court
ruled that its share buyback offer was unfair to minority
shareholders, Telesystem International Wireless changed the
offer last week. Boston-based Highfields Capital has asked
regulators to delay the company's new restructuring plan
until Wednesday to give investors time to review the new
offer. (See Telecom Update #316)

** J.P. Morgan Partners and Hutchison Whampoa now own 20.2%
    and 15.3% of TIW, respectively.

DMR TO BECOME FUJITSU CONSULTING: DMR Consulting, which has
8,000 employees internationally and 2,150 in Canada, will
take the name Fujitsu Consulting in April. Founded in
Montreal in 1973, DMR was bought by Fujitsu in 1997.

SPRINT MAKES INTRODUCTORY LOCAL OFFER: Sprint Canada is
offering three months of residential local service plus one
calling feature for $19.95/month. The regular rate is $29.95.

ROGERS VIDEO ON DEMAND DELAYED: In December, Rogers Cable
failed to meet a CRTC deadline for introducing a national
Video on Demand service. Broadcasting Decision 2002-25
extends the deadline to December 14, 2002.

BELL TO LAUNCH 2.5G SERVICE: Bell Mobility will officially
launch its 1XRTT wireless data service in the Toronto area at
10 a.m. on Tuesday, February 12.

GAMES DOMINATE MOBILE BROWSER USAGE: Bell Mobility says that
wireless video games, some of which are offered for a monthly
fee, now account for half the usage of its Mobile Browser
service, compared to 14% a year ago.

BELLZINC BUYS MONTREAL E-MARKETER: BellZinc, Bell Canada's
small-business website, has bought control of Montreal-based
Cesart Creation, which offers e-commerce and website
development services.

PERSONA BUYS WEST INDIES CABLECO: Persona, owner of Regional
Cablesystems, has bought Cable Bahamas, which has 53,000
subscribers in the Bahamas.

360NETWORKS CREDITORS QUERY CEO LOAN: U.S. creditors of
360networks have asked the Bankruptcy Court in New York for
information on 360's $77.5 million loan to CEO Greg Maffei
for the purchase of its shares.

** 360networks has assumed total ownership of Urbanlink
    Holdings, a Canadian fibre provider that was previously
    partly owned by Ledcor Group.

LADOUCEUR NAMED PRESIDENT OF DATAWIRE: Phil Ladouceur,
Chairman of MetroNet before its 1999 merger with AT&T, has
been named President and COO of Toronto-based Datawire
Communication Networks, which provides e-commerce services.

CLARIFICATION -- CALL-NET: Call-Net Enterprises has asked us
to clarify that the recent Ontario Superior Court ruling (see
Telecom Update #318) "focused only on certain employees
asserting that a change of control had taken place and not
on the rights or entitlements of Call-Net's bondholders."

CAN WIRELESS LANs BE SECURE? In the February issue of
Telemanagement, Gerry Blackwell examines security threats to
wireless LANs and measures available to counter them.

** Single copies of Telemanagement #192 are $75 each: call
    905-686-5050 ext 500 and charge to Visa, American Express,
    or Mastercard.

** Until February 28, new subscribers to Telemanagement will
    save $50 on the price of a one-year subscription, with a
    money-back guarantee.

** To subscribe, go to http://www.angustel.ca/teleman/tm.html.

============================================================

HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE

E-MAIL: editors@angustel.ca

FAX:    905-686-2655

MAIL:   TELECOM UPDATE
         Angus TeleManagement Group
         8 Old Kingston Road
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HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE)

TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There
are two formats available:

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COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2002 Angus
TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further
information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please
e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone 905-686-5050 ext 500.

The information and data included has been obtained from sources which
we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no
warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy,
completeness, or adequacy.  Opinions expressed are based on
interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If
expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a
competent professional should be obtained.

------------------------------

From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg)
Subject: Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic?
Date: 10 Feb 2002 11:47:39 -0500
Organization: Organized?  Me?


In article <telecom20.153.3@telecom-digest.org>, Tom Betz
<tbetz@pobox.com> wrote:

> Quoth Paul Erickson <paule@mindspring.com> in
> <telecom20.152.14@telecom-digest.org>:

>> Where do you go for T1 connectivity if Worldcom goes poof?  The local
>> telco will be the last one standing I suppose.  Ugh.

> Don't worry, Global Crossing or British Telecom will take them over.

Don't count on Global Crossing.  They just went bust.


Rich Greenberg Work: Rich.Greenberg atsign worldspan.com +1
770-563-6656 N6LRT Marietta, GA, USA Play: richgr atsign panix.com +1
770-321-6507 Eastern time zone.  I speak for myself & my dogs only.
VM'er since CP-67 Canines:Val(Chinook,CGC,TT), Red &
Shasta(Husky,(RIP)) Owner:Chinook-L Atlanta Siberian Husky
Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L

------------------------------

From: Dave Phelps <tippenring@deadspam.com>
Subject: Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic?
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 11:10:50 -0600
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


Yeah. Global Crossing will take it....

It looks to me like Global Crossing is going to be shutting down in a
short while. They are bankrupt, and have several class action lawsuits
pending regarding their creative financial reports over the last year
or two.


Dave Phelps
Phone Masters Ltd.
deadspam=tippenring

------------------------------

From: sjsobol@JustThe.net (Steven J. Sobol)
Subject: Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic?
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 15:49:30 -0000
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


 From 'Tom Betz' <tbetz@panix.com>:
> Quoth Paul Erickson <paule@mindspring.com> in
> <telecom20.152.14@telecom-digest.org>: 

>> Our T1 line is provided via Worldcom.  I shudder to think they
>> might go the way of the DSL companies.  If you read this, the
>> situation sounds pretty dire: http://www.msnbc.com/news/697962.asp
>> Where do you go for T1 connectivity if Worldcom goes poof?  The
>> local telco will be the last one standing I suppose.  Ugh.

> Don't worry, Global Crossing or British Telecom will take them over.

Global Crossing ain't taking anything over ...


JustThe.net LLC - Steve "Web Dude" Sobol, CTO ICQ: 56972932/WebDude216
website: http://JustThe.net email: sjsobol@JustThe.net 
phone:216.619.2NET postal: 5686 Davis Drive, Mentor On The Lake, OH
44060-2752 DalNet: ZX-2

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 11:22:47 -0500
From: Fred Goldstein <fgoldstein@wn.net>
Subject: Re: Maybe You Can Help With a Telecom Question


At Sun, 10 Feb 2002 04:25:10 GMT, Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
wrote,

fg>>  No, tariffing doesn't matter.  The fax provider gets the numbers from
>>  the CLEC. ILEC tariffs for DID are a retail artifact that only apply
>>  if the fax provider is getting its numbers from an ILEC, which of
>>  course doesn't happen.

> No, but I assumed that the CLEC's had to file tariffs, too; they don't?

CLECs are nondominant.  They may be required by states to file
tariffs.  But states may not, in general, regulate their retail
prices.  And CLECs are generally free to cut off-the-tariff deals, or
use "individual case basis" (ICB) prices even within a tariff.  Some
CLECs take tariffs more seriously than others.  In any case, a CLEC
tariff, when filed, need not reflect the weird pricing notions of an
ILEC tariff.  Competitive markets don't behave like monopolies.

> You've reminded me of something *else* that I thought of the other day,
> that I don't recall seeing *anyone's* renumbering plan take into
> account:

> If you add two zeros into the middle of everyone's number (or, for that
> matter, anything else) ... everyone's spellings break.

> That will be when we see whether courts will uphold the carriers'
> assertions that they're not "officially" giving you any particular
> number ... no matter *how* much you've spent on the advertising.

Oh oh, Spaghetti-Os! :-)

------------------------------

From: Joel B Levin <levinjb@gte.net>
Subject: Re: Verizon Payphones With BELL Logo?
Organization: On the desert
Reply-To: levinjb@gte.net
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 19:14:40 GMT


In <telecom20.153.4@telecom-digest.org>, chrisalibby@yahoo.com (Chris
A. Libby) wrote:

> ago ... also, while visiting Maine this past summer, the local town
> is covered with NYNEX phones ... I guess telco companies are just too
> lazy to update.

No, there are just too many to get to all of them quickly.  Verizon
really wants to get its logo everywhere, but it starts with the high
population density, high visibility locations first.

When Verizon was created, a newsletter sent to all employees described
how many pay phones, trucks, etc. that would have to be re-branded
from Bell Atlantic or GTE.  The numbers were astronomical, but not too
surprising.  (The NYNEX -> BA transition was not that long ago, I'm
not surprised they hadn't quite finished.)

Of course it's possible that a few out-of-the-way locations were
forgotten or slipped through the cracks -- NYNEX / BA / GTE / Verizon
were/are huge companies.


/JBL

------------------------------

Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
From: jhf@shell.core.com (Jeff Frontz)
Date: 10 Feb 2002 12:55:32 GMT
Organization: ExecPC Internet - Milwaukee, WI


In article <telecom20.153.13@telecom-digest.org>, John R. Levine
<johnl@iecc.com> wrote:

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Did anyone ever notice how prepaid
>> service which *should* cost less because (a) there is no collection
>> effort involved and (b) the carrier gets to hold large amounts of your
>> money without paying interest in fact always costs more?

> Yeah, but if the cards are sold in stores that expect the same markup
> they get on Slurpees, what do you expect?  There's too many people in
> the food chain.

Even the service providers charge the prices that PAT quotes, but if
you consider the target markets, you'll notice that the prices aren't
that bad.

A lot of prepaid cellular is sold to 1) folks who don't make that
many calls (they just want the phone in the glovebox in case they
need to call AAA); 2) folks who are "credit challenged" (e.g., not
credit worthy); or 3) folks who want to give a phone to someone but
not have the user rack up a huge bill (e.g., parents giving a phone
to children).  In each case, the alternatives (paying monthly fees
with a lengthy service contract, paying hefty security deposits, or
getting a huge bill after the fact) are much less attractive.

Although the model might not work for everyone, prepaid telecom is
huge and growing (believe me -- the company I work for is struggling
to keep up with the demand).


Jeff

------------------------------

From: Don Kimberlin <dkimberlin@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: Is There a Standard For Alphanumeric DTMF?
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 10:46:05 -0500


In article (7 Feb 2002 22:22:49 GMT), Ed Pugh (edpugh@freenet.carleton.ca)
wrote:

> ..... my question was whether or not there is an existing standard
> (say ITU or EIA or some such). If not, I can go my own way, I guess.
> But if there IS a standard, then I should try to adhere to it.

While there may indeed be something in the E Series if ITU-T (former
CCITT) Recommendations (and don't fail to scan the appendices, which
often contain useful informational bits about what individual nations
do, if not "standards"), there can also be helpful hints in standards
of other disciplines.

For example, I once found a very helpful standard for sending data
from a Loran receiver into a mobile radio network. It was a marine
navigational aids standard -- that used very normal datacomm signals
and protocols.  Rather than have to write it all out, and then explain
it over and over to bidders, we could simply send them to the
document.

For the case at hand, I once observed the selfsame mode of keying in
alpha characters on a "touch-tone" keypad in use on "Fuel Management
System" made for Lockheed L-1011 aircraft - back in the 1970s.  With
it, pilots entered 3-character navigational waystation points along
the route of their flight.  I don't know where to start, but you might
have some research assistants who could dig into
aircraft/airline/navigation/whatever publications.  The sole keywords
I have are "fuel management" and "L-1011."

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 11:24:29 -0500
From: dhorvath@cobs.com (David B. Horvath, CCP)
Subject: Another Company For Directory and SPRINT is at it Again


Here's a company that is holding a sweepstakes and would love for you
to get in touch with them!

> We're Going "Nuts"

> We have been trying to reach you regarding your sweepstakes entry!
> To contact us call,

> Toll Free 1-800-279-3081

> Use Your Private Code when you call: xxnnnn 

> Call 9:00 am to 9:00 pm EST
> Monday through Friday,
> 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday

> CALL NOW!!!

> 1-800-279-3081

Remember, do not abuse this. I changed the private code since it was
supposed to be for me. I don't seem to remember making an entry into
their sweepstakes, maybe you will.

And it seems like Sprint is at it again.  Remember when they offered
the free modems? Now they're offering free digital cameras:

> The world's first pen size digital 3 in one: camera/camcorder/webcam - The
> PenCam Trio!

> It's unbelievable - and it's yours for free*!

> For your FREE* PenCam Trio click here!

*** URL deleted, it wasn't Sprint's ***

> Imagine a camera that can take bright, crisp digital photos, shoot
> short videos, and connect to your computer so your friends can see
> you. Now imagine it is the size of a pen. Move over 007, the PenCam
> Trio is the new age of digital cameras. And the best thing, DAVID,
> is that you get it for FREE*! Click here!

*** URL deleted, it wasn't Sprint's *** but it does redirect to
*** https://csg.sprint.com/offsite/paidmedia/order_traffix_2630.shtml?PLAN_NAME=
*** 7_Cents_AnyTime_Online&rnum=aga1062 (actually, all you need is
*** https://csg.sprint.com/offsite/paidmedia/order_traffix_2630.shtml
*** ). The really interesting thing is that you can get different
*** offers by changing the last 2 digits of 2630.

> *Requires change of state-to-state long distance carrier to Sprint,
> remaining a customer for 90 days and completion of redemption 
> certificate sent by mail.

> **When you select all online options such as online ordering, online bill
> payment, online customer service and staying a Sprint customer, you will
> reduce your recurring charge and SAVE $5.95 every month.

> Promotion excludes current Sprint customers.


David

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #154
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Tue Feb 12 19:38:55 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id TAA22963;
	Tue, 12 Feb 2002 19:38:55 -0500 (EST)
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 19:38:55 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202130038.TAA22963@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #155

TELECOM Digest     Tue, 12 Feb 2002 19:39:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 155

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Is There a Standard For Alphanumeric DTMF? (Mike Sandman)
    Re: Small Office Phone System (Brock McFarlane)
    Re: Seeking List of Area Codes and Their Format (Rob)
    Re: AOL Customers Livid Over Huge Bills After Areacode Switch (P Smiley)
    Kellogg Silver Medal (Cemc5@aol.com)
    Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic? (Marcus Didius Falco)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones (Marcus Didius Falco)
    Seattle Local Phone Service Options (Richard Silverstein)
    Re: Technical Question (Paul Cook)
    Panasonic KX-TV200 Voicemail System Hard Disk (James Gifford)
    Iridium: What's Its Story ? (Jeff Smith)
    Panasonic KX-T System Components and Phones FS/FT (James Gifford)
    Re: PRI (John Waters)

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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

 From: Mike Sandman <mike@sandman.com>
 Subject: Re: Is There a Standard For Alphanumeric DTMF?
 Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 19:33:21 -0600
 Organization: Mike Sandman Enterprises, Inc.
 Reply-To: mike@sandman.com


 Eatoni has the best system developed so far -- actually they have a
 couple of versions.

 www.eatoni.com

 Mike

 On 6 Feb 2002 21:37:38 GMT, edpugh@freenet.carleton.ca (Ed Pugh)
 wrote:

 > This may be a FAQ.  If so, please point me in the right direction.
 > Also, is there, perhaps, a more appropriate newsgroup to ask this?

 > I have an idea to develop an application that would require sending a
 > limited set of alphanumeric characters over the voice telephone
 > network using the 12 "standard" DTMF tones.

 > Does anyone know if there is an exisiting standard (e.g.  an ITU
 > standard, or standard published by another well- recognised standards
 > body) for encoding alphanumerics with the standard 12-digit dialpad?
 > Is there, perhaps, a web site somewhere that specifies such a
 > standard?

 > I have an idea on how to develop my own scheme to do this, but it
 > would be far better if I could adhere to an already-existing standard.

 ------------------------------

 From: Brock McFarlane <bmcfarlane@westoncs.com>
 Subject: Re: Small Office Phone System
 Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 19:24:38 -0900
 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


Hi Janice,

We have installed 5 or 6 TalkSwitches with good results. For the features
that you get, $1395 is not alot to spend. Plus you do not have to buy
expensive proprietary phones but can use any analog phone - even cordless
models. Plus it is all manageable by your computer. If you do have problems
setting one up and have an Internet connection, we can use remote control
through you web browser to help but chances are you can manage the
installation.

Feel free to e-mail me at bmcfarlane@westoncs.com if you would like more
information on how our installations have gone.
Thanks and good luck!


Brock

Janice Underhill <janiceunderhill@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:telecom20.138.9@telecom-digest.org...

> What do people use for an office phone system?  Here are my
> requirements:

> 1. Auto attendant to answer incoming calls
> 2. Voicemail
> 3. Call Forwarding with all the bells and whistles - you know, music
> on hold, call queue, intercom etc.
> 4. Three business lines with 5 extensions.

> What I have found so far ...

> Bizfone :
> a bit over my budget but everyone seems to be selling them.

> TalkSwitch :
> seems to have what I want, but I have to justify $1395 for the 4x8
> otherwise the talk switch 24 is $695.  Both are cheaper than bizphone (?)

> Anybody use these systems?  How hard are they to set up?  Any problems
> with them?

------------------------------

From: rob51166@yahoo.com (Rob)
Subject: Re: Seeking List of Area Codes and Their Format
Date: 11 Feb 2002 06:50:34 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Pat Cupper <pat.cupper@xpherix.com> wrote in message
news:<telecom20.152.11@telecom-digest.org>...

> Hi, I'm trying to find a list of Area codes and their format
> worldwide.  Do you know if an updated list like this can be found.
> The best would be if I could just write a program to load it into a
> program.

> Thanks for your help.

> Pat Cupper
> Xpherix Corporation
> pacu@xpherix.com

Try looking at http://www.wtng.info which is issued, I believe, by
Warwick university in the UK.


HTH!

Rob

------------------------------

From: Phil Smiley <epsmiley@epix.net>
Subject: Re: AOL Customers Livid Over Huge Phone Bills After Areacode Switch
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 16:44:34 GMT


Sounds like the customer's LD carriers failed to make the appropriate
change in NPAs.  This information is in the LERG so it looks like
someone dropped the ball.

Jim, Weiss@aol.com wrote:

> Dozens of residents are complaining that they received phone bills of
> more than $1,000 because an area-code change switched dial-up
> connections to their AOL accounts from local to long distance.

> http://computerworld.com/nlt/1%2C3590%2CNAV47_STO68154_NLTPM%2C00.html

>  From the Offices of: Network Brokers, Inc.
> Providing Long Distance Services for Less
> Jim Weiss, nbjimweiss@aol.com
> 305-252-1822; Fax: 775-796-9973; Miami Fax: 305-252-1823;

------------------------------

From: Cemc5@aol.com
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 12:31:41 EST
Subject: Kellogg Silver Medal


Hello!                                                                      

I'm trying to verify some facts about this medal it has a candlestick
phone on the front with a circled K on the reverse it has the words
KELLOGG SWITCHBOARD & SUPPLY CO. around the top and at bottom it has
CHICAGO,KANSAS CITY,SAN FRANCISCO -- in the middle it has the logo THE
SERVICE OF THE TELEPHONE PROVES THE WORTH OF THE LINE -- I believe this
medal which is SILVER, its missing its ribbon because I dug it up
while metal detecting historical district Charleston, WV -- my theory
is this medal was given at the opening of the mfg plant Chicago to Milo
Kellogg and the 7 others who formed the business in 1894, the plant
opend in 1897, if im correct this is the oldest most important piece
of independent telephone history relic, but im not sure its the only
one that exist yet! I am a total beginner in telephone history -- the
FRENCH phone in the report by DAWNE FLAMMGER FEB95 ON your site is
incorrect the GRABAPHONE AND TALK RIGHT WAS in vented by KELLOGG
advertised APRIL4,1904 but being how they legally still own the
company after stealling it i guess they claimed everything untill 1906
SUPREME COURT decision. Im just an unemployed metal detector an i cant
pay for the research but i surely wont forget you and will,if my
theory is correct! please help if you can! to answer any questions or
info. THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME! I'll send you a picture.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 12:12:25 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic?


At 01:03 AM 2/9/2002, editor@telecom-digest.org wrote:

> From: Paul Erickson <paule@mindspring.com>
> Subject: Worldcom -- Time to Panic?
> Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 16:50:06 -0500
> Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com

> Our T1 line is provided via Worldcom.  I shudder to think they might
> go the way of the DSL companies.  If you read this, the situation
> sounds pretty dire: http://www.msnbc.com/news/697962.asp

> Where do you go for T1 connectivity if Worldcom goes poof?  The local
> telco will be the last one standing I suppose.  Ugh.

> If Worldcom goes poof, doesn't UUNet, and a big chunk of 'net
> backbone?  Does anyone think this could really happen?

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They would not 'go poof' for the same
> reason telcos do not up and vanish.  Telephone companies have in fact
> gone bankrupt in the past, and back in the days when AT&T was in
> charge of things and forbidden by the decree to acquire any more
> operating companies, there was one exception to that rule: if an inde-
> pendent telco was in dire financial straits and on the verge of going
> out of business, then AT&T *had* to take it over by court order. What
> would happen in WorldCom's case I think is that a bankruptcy court
> would declare them to be a 'debtor in possession' and have them
> continue operating their business until a suitable and capable
> replacement could be found to take over, and provide an orderly change
> of management. Just my opinion, but I'm sure if WorldCom was about to
> close its doors some lawyers would get involved and appeal it all in
> court.  PAT]

In the early 1970s Datran went bankrupt on a Friday. The FCC ordered
them to continue operating over the weekend so that AT&T would have
time to switch over the data customers, despite the FCC's having no
specific authority to order a bankruptcy court to do anything, or to
override the orders of a bankruptcy court.

That said, times have changed. There have been a couple of CLEC
bankruptcies in which there have been significant delays in getting
the customers switched. Moreover, state commissions have shown
absolutely no interest in provisions for quick reversion of resold
services to the underlying carrier (the ILEC), nor have the ILECs
shown any interest in such provisions, even when they were offered an
extra fraction of a per cent on the discount offered the reseller
(that is, the avoided cost discount might be 18.75 per cent rather
than 19 per cent as "compensation" for being "carrier of last
resort").

So monitor the financials of your carriers very carefully, and arrange
backup if necessary.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 12:18:15 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones


At 01:03 AM 2/9/2002, editor@telecom-digest.org wrote:

> From: Colin Sutton <colin@sutton.wow.aust.com>
> Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
> Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 01:16:37 GMT
> Organization: BigPond Internet Services (http://www.bigpond.net.au)

> Don't wait for the time-out to be able to repeat a letter.  It is
> quicker to type any other letter on a different key and delete it,
> then repeat the letter you really wanted.

> On my Motorola phone, anyway.

My experience on a Brother FAX machine, a Uniden cordless and a
Motorola cell phone is that to get a repeated letter (or letter group)
you type the key with the letter, then hit the right arrow, and then
type the key again.  Thus to type TU you can type 8 <rt arrow> 8

------------------------------

From: richards1052@attbi.com (Richard Silverstein)
Subject: Seattle Local Phone Service Options
Date: 11 Feb 2002 11:14:52 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


I'm trying to identify any local phone companies which might be
competing with Qwest (yuck!) here in Seattle.  Does anyone out there
know if any of the major local phone service companies operate here?


Richard Silverstein

------------------------------

Reply-To: Paul Cook <pcook@proctorinc.com>
From: Paul Cook <pcook@proctorinc.com>
Subject: Re: Technical Question
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 12:06:36 -0800
Organization: Proctor & Associates, Inc.


nsachs <nsachs@usc.edu> wrote:

> I have a bit of a technical question I was hoping you might be able to
> help with.  I'm working on a project at the University of Southern
> California that involoves making a connection over a standard phone line.
> However, we have to give a demonstration of the project and won't have
> access to a phone jack.  Is there any way to simulate a connection between
> two phones by connecting them directly using an RJ-11 cord and external
> power source, or possibly some other similar configuration?  Any help you
> could provide would be much appreciated.

Our telephone line simulators exactly mimic the signalling of real
telephone lines, so anything that can work with a real phone line will
work the same on our simulators.

For brief description and prices, see
http://www.proctorinc.com/demonstr.htm I can also email a pdf of a
product brochure.


Paul Cook - Applications Engineer
pcook@proctorinc.com
425-881-7000, ext 566

Proctor & Associates
15305 NE 95 St
Redmond WA  98052-2517
www.proctorinc.com

------------------------------

From: James Gifford <jgifford@surewest.not>
Subject: Panasonic KX-TV200 Voicemail System Hard Disk
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 12:18:03 -0800
Organization: Nitrosyncretic Press
Reply-To: jgifford@surewest.not


Hi -

I just acquired a TVS-200 and I'm a little dismayed to find that "the
proprietary operating system" resides in part on the hard disk. I
would have expected the OS to live in firmware.

Is the manual incorrect in saying that the OS lives on the hard drive?
What would a hard drive failure do to the system? Can the OS be
restored from the firmware? Is this an automatic process or what? Is
there any way to back up the contents of the drive?

Thanks for all replies.


|           James Gifford - Nitrosyncretic Press            |
| http://www.nitrosyncretic.com for the Heinlein FAQ & more |
|  Tired of auto-spam... change "not" to "net" for replies  |

------------------------------

From: jeff.smith2@caramail.com (Jeff Smith)
Subject: Iridium: What's its Story?
Date: 11 Feb 2002 12:27:29 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


I was looking at CNN's Web page and I see that Iridium has put 5 spare
satelites up in space this week.

Can anybody give me a short sysnopsis of where Iridium is, and has
been during these last few years ?

I remember about 4 years ago this was the big up and coming project.
And then it flopped big time, because it didn't have enough customers.
Now it seems somebody is spending money on it again.

------------------------------

From: James Gifford <jgifford@surewest.not>
Subject: Panasonic KX-T System Components and Phones FS/FT
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 12:29:31 -0800
Organization: Nitrosyncretic Press
Reply-To: jgifford@surewest.net


I just acquired two large bundles of Panasonic stuff that greatly
exceeds my needs. I would be interested in selling or trading it
before I put it up to the whims of eBay.

I have the following equipment:

1) KX-TD1232, rev 1
1) KX-TVS200 with 2 KX-TVS102 2-port modules

These I want to keep, but as the system is for my home, they're much
larger than I really need. I would be interested in trading down to a
newer-rev KX-TD816 and a TVS 75-80-100.

Available for sale or trade are:

(2) KX-T170 8+8 expansion modules, KX-TD1232 or -TD816
(1) KX-TD192 system bridge (to bridge two TD1232's)
(1) KX-T30810 analog KSU
(1) KX-T96141 Attendant Console card for T336 system
(11) KX-T7220 non-display digital system phones
(10) KX-T7130 LCD analog system phones
(1) KX-T7240 digital DSS/BLS (new in box)
and a half-dozen 70x0 analog phones

All of the modules and most of the phones are in like-new condition; a
few of the phones show some wear and tear. Everything will be
described in detail on request and guaranteed against DOA.

I would like to end up with:

- An appropriate KSU (KX-TD816 rev 3 or newer, in at least 4x16 
configuration;

- An appropriate VPS (TVS100 with 4 ports ideal);
- 4 more 7200-series multiline-LCD phones;
- a KX-TD193 Caller ID module if the KSU does not support CID internally.

Open to any/all deals, but make it quick - I will be eBaying the stuff
I don't need and putting the KSU/VPS I have into service, after which
I'll be less inclined to trade down.

Thanks!



|           James Gifford - Nitrosyncretic Press            |
| http://www.nitrosyncretic.com for the Heinlein FAQ & more |

------------------------------

From: John Waters <zed@zedhead.dyndns.org>
Subject: Re: PRI
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 15:55:10 -0500
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


> I have been browsing the ISDN threads and I have an assumption
> regarding a PRI application and would like to know if it is correct:
> PRI can be a connection between CPE and nearest CO where BRI calls can
> come in from anywhere in the country and forwarded to a PBX or CSU/DSU
> over the PRI connection. Another assumption is that with MPPP I can
> have a PRI connection(all 23 B channels) from one end of the country
> to another.  I appreciate all feedback.
>

Hi Joe,

We do this all the time with our video conference units and both
Nortel and NEC PBX systems.

We have Polycom MP units that can run up to 512k with bonding, or up
to 4 128k connections. We run them through ISDN interface cards in the
PBX that provides either a U-Interface (the Nortel), or an
ST-Interface (NEC). These can go out on any one of the 90+ channels on
the 4 PRIs we have here, or any of the 66 channels in California.

Likewise, for an inbound video call, the remote sites are usually on
regular BRI, and they can call a lead DID into our video system, and
this sets up the chain of calls to the other DIDs for the additional
bandwidth.

It actually works quite well.


JOHN W. WATERS
Telecommunications Specialist
ATI Technologies

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #155
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Wed Feb 13 00:07:22 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id AAA27651;
	Wed, 13 Feb 2002 00:07:22 -0500 (EST)
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 00:07:22 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202130507.AAA27651@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #156

TELECOM Digest     Wed, 13 Feb 2002 00:04:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 156

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Julian Thomas)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Gail M. Hall)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Mark Crispin)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones (Gail M. Hall)
    Re: Verizon Payphones With BELL Logo? (Steven Lichter)
    Re: Maybe You Can Help With a Telecom Question (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Problems with FM Database (Robert  Rotella)
    A Likely Urban Legend (John Bartley)
    Netscape Poll on International Monitors in Israel (Judith Oppenheimer)
    Re: Last Laugh! Peoria AZ Jails People Who Don't Take (Jack Hamilton)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated 
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
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and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
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                        Phone: 630-841-7174
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Subscribe:  telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org
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published continuously since then.  Our archives are available for
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Copyright 2000 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

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All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 06:29:25 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Stanley settled back into the couch, and Jeff Frontz
<jhf@shell.core.com> said to him:

>  A lot of prepaid cellular is sold to 1) folks who don't make that
>  many calls (they just want the phone in the glovebox in case they
>  need to call AAA); 2) folks who are "credit challenged" (e.g., not
>  credit worthy); or 3) folks who want to give a phone to someone but
>  not have the user rack up a huge bill (e.g., parents giving a phone
>  to children).  In each case, the alternatives (paying monthly fees
>  with a lengthy service contract, paying hefty security deposits, or
>  getting a huge bill after the fact) are much less attractive.

And then there's "people who don't feel like having the information
about whom they call traceable to them".

You know, terrorists, and normal American citizens.


Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                      jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com  +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Except, at least in theory, the agent
setting up the 'Smart Pay' account (as they are usually called) 
requires the petitioner or customer to present one good piece of 
identification as well as their social security number. I had a couple
of these accounts set up recently at Radio Shack here in Indendence.
One was for my elderly mother who does not know anything at all about
cellular but decided she wanted to experiment with one on the days
when her senior citizens group takes their bus rides to luncheon
gatherings, etc. The other was for a sixteen year old neighbor who
has designs on being a baby hacklet (?) if he could learn what to do.
In both cases, Kevin and Duane, (the Radio Shack guys here in town)
had to copy down my social and other details on my state-issued ID card. 
But when they called Kansas Cellular (aka Altell) to have my phones
turned on, I did not hear them read the information from the poorly-
filled out forms over the phone to the operator. But neither did I
see them later toss the forms in the trash can. I suspect *someone*
eventually gets the forms in the event someone from some government
agency has ugly thoughts.  PAT]

------------------------------

From: jata@jata-mj.net (Julian Thomas)
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 13:02:29 -0500
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


In <telecom20.154.7@telecom-digest.org>, on 02/10/02 at 12:55 PM,
jhf@shell.core.com (Jeff Frontz) said:

> A lot of prepaid cellular is sold to 1) folks who don't make that many
> calls (they just want the phone in the glovebox in case they need to call
> AAA); 2) folks who are "credit challenged" (e.g., not credit worthy); or
> 3) folks who want to give a phone to someone but not have the user rack
> up a huge bill

or 4) those (often involved in illegal activities) who want something
totally untraceable.


 Julian Thomas: jt . jt-mj @ net  http://jt-mj.net
 remove letter a for email (or switch . and @)
 In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State!
 Boardmember of POSSI.org - Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc 
 http://www.possi.org

 Ethernet (n): something used to catch the etherbunny.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  But see my earlier note.  I am not
so sure its *that* anonymous. I'll grant you some agents may make
you fill out the form and not bother to validate anything, but
others, trying to be helpful will fill out the form for you trying
to be helpful, as the guys are in my case.  PAT]

------------------------------

From: Gail M. Hall <gmhall@apk.net>
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 18:20:45 -0500
Reply-To: gmhall@apk.net


On 9 Feb 2002 09:23:46 -0500, in comp.dcom.telecom, you (johnl@iecc.com
(John R. Levine)) wrote:

[">>" is what moderator Pat wrote.]

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Did anyone ever notice how prepaid
>> service which *should* cost less because (a) there is no collection
>> effort involved and (b) the carrier gets to hold large amounts of your
>> money without paying interest in fact always costs more?

> Yeah, but if the cards are sold in stores that expect the same markup
> they get on Slurpees, what do you expect?  There's too many people in
> the food chain.

> The prepaid vendors that sell directly over the net have extremely
> attractive rates.  People have said good things about onesuite.com who
> charges 2.9 cpm with 800 access and no funny charges other than the
> inevitable payphone surcharge.

One big disadvantage of those prepaid calling cards and maybe even
other calling cards is that they don't work from everywhere.  We found
that out when my sister tried to use her prepaid calling card from a
motel room.

She still has the prepaid card for using at her relatives phones, but
she also now has a wireless phone, which is more likely to work from a
motel room if the motel is close enough to a wireless tower.  She has
to keep the calling card because she now lives out in the country
about two miles beyond where she can get a signal for her wireless
phone.


Gail from Ohio USA

------------------------------

From: Mark Crispin <mrc@CAC.Washington.EDU>
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 19:04:23 -0800
Organization: Pandamonium Reigns


On 10 Feb 2002, Jeff Frontz wrote:

> A lot of prepaid cellular is sold to 1) folks who don't make that
> many calls (they just want the phone in the glovebox in case they
> need to call AAA); 2) folks who are "credit challenged" (e.g., not
> credit worthy); or 3) folks who want to give a phone to someone but
> not have the user rack up a huge bill (e.g., parents giving a phone
> to children).

4) People who own vacation property, and want a *local* phone number
there.  Compared to the cost of connecting and disconnecting a
landline phone each year (or paying for months that the phone goes
unused), prepaid cellular looks quite attractive indeed.

Another advantage of prepaid cellular is that if you keep the phone
active (by feeding it the minimum recharge amount at the maximum
interval), not only do you have *incoming* calls at your vacation home
number which you can get at home (which can be convenient at times),
but the prepaid minutes also "bank" (they accumulate instead of dying
unused each month).  This makes prepaid much more attractive than
monthly for vacation home users.

Vacation home prepaid customers also have the option of letting the
service die, then reactivating it each year without paying an
activation fee.

> In each case, the alternatives (paying monthly fees
> with a lengthy service contract, paying hefty security deposits, or
> getting a huge bill after the fact) are much less attractive.

Yup.  For the (4) customers, the alternative is "paying for services never
used."

The real pain is that the maximum prepaid intervals are so short in the
US, as short as 45 days for ATT Wireless.

Mark

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.

------------------------------

From: Gail M. Hall <gmhall@apk.net>
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 18:20:47 -0500
Reply-To: gmhall@apk.net


On Sat, 09 Feb 2002 20:29:21 GMT, in comp.dcom.telecom, you (Joel B
Levin <levinjb@gte.net>) wrote:

> In <telecom20.152.6@telecom-digest.org>,
> Colin Sutton <colin@sutton.wow.aust.com> wrote:

>> Don't wait for the time-out to be able to repeat a letter.  It is
>> quicker to type any other letter on a different key and delete it,
>> then repeat the letter you really wanted.

>> On my Motorola phone, anyway.

> Good one!  I'll bet it will work on my aging Qualcomm SprintPCS
> phone!  (Rather than wait for the timeout, I can turn the thumbwheel
> to advance to the next letter, but (a) I never remember which way
> to turn it and (b) it's gotten so flaky that it direction the
> thumbwheel moves things is now independent of the way I've actually
> turned it. :-( )

I can live with the klunky process of entering letters on wireless
phones if all I want to do is add a name to my phone directory.  But
now they are trying to promote text messaging!  I see that as just
another way to get you to use more minutes and get you into the EXTRA
minutes charges.

Right now I use VerizonWireless and am getting adds to get me to
register to use their internet via the phone.  Aside from the klunky
text entry problem, there is that LITTLE display on the phone that is
hard to see in certain kinds of light.  I can't IMAGINE trying to use
that thing to do anything on the Internet.

There is an advertizing blitz now for a "mlife" on television.  In
today's local newspaper there is a HUGE ad for "mlife" from
AT&TWireless.

The ad is an entire page, but lots of that is white space.  There are
a few lines of large-size text.  Then there are small pictures with
descriptions in TINY print.

If you have *any* trouble reading that print, then you probably would
have trouble reading the text on a wireless phone.

For me the best use of the phone would be for VOICE input and output,
not displayed text or input text.

I do like having a phone that displays the number I am entering before
I hit the CALL (SEND) button.  Having such a feature on any phone can
save a lot of wrong-number calls.

But wireless phones for text entry?  FORGET IT!

A wireless phone peripheral with a letter/punctuation keypad and a
larger display that would hook up to a wireless phone?  That might
work and be attractive to people if it's not too high-priced.
Otherwise people who NEED to connect to the Internet while away from
home or office will use a palm-size computer or laptop computer hooked
to whatever type of phone that can give them the best service for
where they are.  Wireless connections would probably be their last
choice but might be worth it if they can't hook up to landline or
satellite, etc.


Gail from Ohio USA

------------------------------

From: stevenl11@aol.com (Steven Lichter)
Date: 12 Feb 2002 03:41:06 GMT
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Subject: Re: Verizon Payphones With BELL Logo?


JBL said:

> Of course it's possible that a few out-of-the-way locations were
> forgotten or slipped through the cracks -- NYNEX / BA / GTE / Verizon
> were/are huge companies.

A few years ago I had to go down to Indio, Calif. to a project that I
was doing when I was surprised to find a payphone sign that said
Cochella Valley Home Telephone.  That company was bought by GTE about
1967.  This was in the 80's.  I was in a company truck, so I pulled up
to the site; it was a California Highway Patrol office, got a later
out and removed the sign.  A couple of hours later when I was done
with the job, I had stopped by the yard and picked up a GTE sign; I
replaced it and added the sign to my collection of others like CWT and
Associated Telephone Limited and others. This sign was hard metal, not
plastic like they are today.  I'm trying to add some of the GTE signs
to my collection to add to the General Telephone signs I got when we
switched to GTE.  I was in update New York years ago and found an old
Bell System sign that said Long Distance on it, got that was the owner
of the store for a couple of bucks.  Once in a while I find these
things and am always looking.  Also trying to get a canceled stock,
but have not found any yet.


Apple Elite II 909-359-5338. Home of GBBS/LLUCE, support for the 
Apple II 24 hours  2400/14.4.  An OggNet Server.

The only good spammer is a dead one!!!  Have you hunted one down today?  (c)

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Maybe You Can Help With a Telecom Question
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 06:30:44 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Stanley settled back into the couch, and Fred Goldstein
<fgoldstein@wn.net> said to him:

>  At Sun, 10 Feb 2002 04:25:10 GMT, Jay R. Ashworth
>  <jra@dorothy.baylink.com> wrote,

>> No, tariffing doesn't matter.  The fax provider gets the numbers
>> from the CLEC. ILEC tariffs for DID are a retail artifact that
>> only apply if the fax provider is getting its numbers from an
>> ILEC, which of course doesn't happen.  

> No, but I assumed that the CLEC's had to file tariffs, too; they
> don't?  CLECs are nondominant.  They may be required by states to
> file tariffs.  But states may not, in general, regulate their
> retail prices.  And CLECs are generally free to cut off-the-tariff
> deals, or use "individual case basis" (ICB) prices even within a
> tariff.  Some CLECs take tariffs more seriously than others.  In
> any case, a CLEC tariff, when filed, need not reflect the weird
> pricing notions of an ILEC tariff.  Competitive markets don't
> behave like monopolies.

Ah.  Ok.  Silly me.  Thanks, Fred.

>> You've reminded me of something *else* that I thought of the other day,
>> that I don't recall seeing *anyone's* renumbering plan take into
>> account:

>> If you add two zeros into the middle of everyone's number (or, for that
>> matter, anything else) ... everyone's spellings break.

>> That will be when we see whether courts will uphold the carriers'
>> assertions that they're not "officially" giving you any particular
>> number ... no matter *how* much you've spent on the advertising.

> Oh oh, Spaghetti-Os! :-)

Indeed.

I liked 9+3, myself; I still don't quite understand the
counter-arguments that caused him to rewrite it.


Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                         jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com      +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 08:36:06 -0500
From: Robert  Rotella <robert.rotella@finnegan.com>
Subject: Problems With FM Database


Can't open FM station database: No such file or directory

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, I know. The airwaves.com web site
is pretty much a shambles.  Its just one more thing for me to work on
as time permits.  I've also got some bum links here on the telecom
web site to try and track down and change.  :(     PAT]

------------------------------

From: John Bartley <johnbartley@mail.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 11:16:05 -0500
Subject: A Likely Urban Legend


Here is a likely addition to the 'Urban Legend' files at
http://www.snopes.com. Sounds like a variation on an earlier hack -
but without the SIM module itself, no one could place calls on a GSM
celfon!

Even if true, it could only affect the 5% of the US who carry a GSM
celfon, as only GSM celfons have SIM cards.

"A well known telephone scam is now being used on cellular
telephones. There is a fraudulent company that is using a device to
gain access to the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card, which
contains all subscriber related data (this is the brains in the phone)
in your cellular telephone. A scam artist places a call to an
unsuspecting person and the caller says he or she is testing mobile
(cellular) telephone circuits or equipment. The called party is asked
to press #90 or #09. If this happens END THE CALL IMMEDIATELY with out
pressing the numbers. Once you press #90 or #09 the company can access
your SIM Card and makes calls at your expense." 


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think those are the same people
who were going around telling guys who work in offices behind centrex 
lines to take care not to give up their dial tone to any strangers
who came around asking for it. Very interesting, but not very
realistic IMO. Look guys, no /H/ in the middle of that abbreviation.
That's because I don't give humble opinions.  :)   PAT]

------------------------------

From: Judith Oppenheimer <joppenheimer@icbtollfree.com>
Subject: Netscape Poll on International Monitors in Israel
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 23:05:14 -0500


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This non-telecom-related thing came 
to us from Judith Oppenheimer's Aunt Katie. She seems to feel that
after a quiet vote got publicized and caused the Arabian people to
get stirred up, it is now important to get the Jews and Christians
back on track and turn the vote around more to their liking. It sort
of reminds me of the time back in '93 when a group of readers 
felt that I was unfair by not publicizing a vote going on to remove
me as moderator of c.d.t.  (but not from TELECOM Digest.)  Although
I 'won' the first vote taken, a decision was made by the Usenet
heirarchy to have a second vote as a result of my refusal to discuss
the matter in print. In the second vote I did not do as well. :(  But
then the heirarchy decided I should remain here anyway, so here I
am.  :) Maybe Judy feels that by my stirring up the Jews and
Christians here to assume the Israeli posture on this matter it will
make a difference. Somewhere I suspect there is an Arabian editor/
moderator urging *his* readers to support the Arab side on this.
Oh well, Judy, here is your thing.       PAT]


 From my Aunt Katie.

FYI, when I voted the vote was 79% yes, 21% no.

Judith Oppenheimer
http://JudithOppenheimer.com
http://ICBTollFreeNews.com
212 684-7210, 1 800 The Expert

  -----Original Message-----
  From: karl kaplan [mailto:bunnykarl@msn.com]
  Sent: Monday, February 11, 2002 5:51 PM
  Subject: Fw: Netscape Poll on International Monitors in Israel

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: ebjcmail
  Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2002 10:49 AM
  To: ebjcmail@home.com
  Subject: Netscape Poll on international monitors in Israel

  Subject: important

  PLEASE VOTE "NO" AND PASS ALONG!!

  Netscape is taking a poll regarding whether or not
  International monitors should be sent into Israel.

  Please respond and vote NO. Just click below then
  click on VOTE, it's a small item on the Right side.
  It is listed under POLL and not very big.

  As you probably know, international monitors will be in favor of the
Palestinians, and the Israeli Government doesn't believe there would be
impartiality in such a monitoring team.

  When this mail was sent to me the percentage was
  24% YES and 76% NO.
  Due to Pro Arab people asking everybody to vote,
  it has reached 47% YES and 53% NO.
  when I voted on 1/8/02 around 7:20 pm the vote had returned to 34% Yes
and 66% No with 327,000 votes.

  Help us change the poll in our favor!

  VERY IMPORTANT! Forward to everyone you know ASAP!
  Use this link and vote on the poll. the survey is in the lower right
corner.

  http://home.Netscape.com/ex/shak/international/packages/mideast/click on
this to see vote or if not, paste this URL into a browser to open it.

  THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE

  Thanks.

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And now, thanks to pro-Jewish and pro-
Christian people asking everyone to vote, the results will go the
other way, then it will be the Arab's turn once again to get out the
vote.   PAT]

------------------------------

From: Jack Hamilton <jfh@acm.org>
Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Peoria AZ Jails People Who Don't Take Down Lights
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 21:20:40 -0800
Organization: Copyright (c) 2002 by Jack Hamilton.  Reproduction
without attribution and archiving without permission are not allowed.
Reply-To: jfh@acm.org


If I lived in Peoria, I'd celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision in
January, Saint Brigid of Ireland in February, Charles the Good in
March, Richard of Chichester in April, Saint Athanasius in May, Saint
Charles Lwanga in June, Junipero Serra in July, Saint Alphonsus in
August, Saint Fiacre in September, Saint Francis of Assisi in October,
Saint Martin de Porres in November, and Francis Xavier in December.  I
suppose I'd have to change something once a month to indicate which
saint was currently in rotation.

This is certainly a stupid law, and probably unconstitutional as well.
Why should there be a religious exemption in the law?  Christmas is,
as the the courts have declared, a secular holiday, so everyone can
put up lights then.

snail@aztec.asu.edu (Mike Ross) wrote:

> Get this; if you dont take your Christmas lights down in Peoria, Arizona
> you can get fined up to $2,500 and jailed for 6 months.

> Here is a copy of the law which is Section 14-34-8-18 (1977 Code)

> 14. Holiday Decorations; Items or objects used
>     to emblish and ornament physical features in
>     celebration of a particular holiday.
> 
>     a) Holiday decorations maybe displayed for
>        civic, patriotic or religious holidays;
> 
>     b) Such decorations shall not be displayed
>        in such a manner as to constitute a
>        traffic hazard;

>     c) Such decorations shall not be displayed
>        more than 28 days prior to the specified
>        holiday (and) must be removed 19 days 
>        after the specified holiday;

>     d) No sign permit required.

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #156
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Wed Feb 13 15:28:56 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id PAA14802;
	Wed, 13 Feb 2002 15:28:56 -0500 (EST)
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 15:28:56 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202132028.PAA14802@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #157

TELECOM Digest     Wed, 13 Feb 2002 14:42:17 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 157

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Iridium: What's its Story? (Eric Friedebach)
    Re: Iridium: What's its Story? (Fred Goldstein)
    Re: Iridium: What's its Story? (John Hines)
    Re: A Likely Urban Legend (Mike Hartley)
    Re: Seattle Local Phone Service Options (Al Gillis)
    Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic? (Al Gillis)
    International ringtones in the USA (Paul N. Hrisko)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Joseph Singer)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Paul N. Hrisko)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Liam Hatton)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (puntomaupunto_at_tin.it)
    Re: Panasonic KX-T System Components and Phones FS/FT (neil)
    Re: Panasonic KX-TV200 Voicemail System Hard Disk (Terry Kennedy)
    Re: Panasonic KX-T System Components and Phones FS/FT (Charles P)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
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networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated 
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TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
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Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
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Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Eric Friedebach <friedebach@telecom-digest.zzn.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 20:07:54 -0500
Subject: Re: Iridium: What's its Story?


In TELECOM Digest V20 #155, jeff.smith2@caramail.com (Jeff
Smith) asked,

> Can anybody give me a short sysnopsis of where 
> Iridium is, and has been during these last few years ?
 
Check out this story from Aviation International News:

Iridium's back, but will bizav accept the risks?

by Stephen Pope, AIN, February 2002

Iridium is back, and business aircraft operators are questioning
whether they should take a chance and pony up for the satcom hardware
through one of Iridium's sales partners or play it safe and wait
for the next revolution in satellite communications.

Considering that new aviation versions of the Iridium phone systems
are selling for between $6,000 and $30,000, operators may want to roll
the dice and hope that Iridium stays on the air.  This decision should
be made slightly more palatable by the fact that Iridium Satellite
LLC, the private company that manages the satellite network, announced
in December that it now predicts the constellation's lifespan will
extend through 2010.

http://www.ainonline.com/issues/02_02/02_02_iridi umsriskpg64.html


Eric Friedebach

------------------------------

Subject: Re: Iridium: What's its Story?
From: fgoldstein@wn.DO-NOT-SPAM-ME.net (Fred Goldstein)
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 03:00:17 GMT
Organization: ATT Broadband


jeff.smith2@caramail.com (Jeff Smith) wrote in <telecom20.155.11@telecom-
digest.org>:

> Can anybody give me a short sysnopsis of where Iridium is, and has
> been during these last few years ?

It's in orbit; specifically, a set of polar orbits that provide global
coverage.  The ground piece is still in Arizona.  But most of the
original ground stations have been decomissioned.  I think two are
left.

> I remember about 4 years ago this was the big up and coming project.
> And then it flopped big time, because it didn't have enough customers.
> Now it seems somebody is spending money on it again.

Big time flop!  Motorola took in investors who, as the publicly traded
Iridium LLC, blew around $5B on it.  Moto however got high fees for
building and operating a gold-plated system; I think there are still
some lawsuits pending. It had negligible market at its original
$7/minute or so rate.  So it went bankrupt.  Rather than de-orbit the
birds, it was auctioned off, and a new company "Iridium Satellite"
bought it for around $25M (less than a penny on the dollar).  They
dramatically reduced the cost of the ground network and cut the price.
So now it has some niche markets, perhaps enough to keep it going
nicely for the remaining life of the birds.  I've had some involvement
with it, including a recent project that takes advantage of their data
capability.  (For some applications, especially control and telemetry,
2400 bps once in a while is adequate.)

Originally they were quoted as good for five years, but current
estimates are that they'll last much longer.  The spares will keep the
constellation working for a while longer as birds start dying off.


Fred R. Goldstein   k1io   fgoldstein"at" wn.net 
These are my own opinions. You expect anyone else to agree?

------------------------------

From: John Hines <jbhines@newsguy.com>
Subject: Re: Iridium: What's its Story?
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 08:23:24 -0600
Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com
Reply-To: john@jhines.org


jeff.smith2@caramail.com (Jeff Smith) wrote:

> I remember about 4 years ago this was the big up and coming project.
> And then it flopped big time, because it didn't have enough customers.
> Now it seems somebody is spending money on it again.

It has been given a new lease on life.  After it went through ch11 and
got bought cheap, it got a DoD contract.  Then came 9/11 and a lot
more people think it is a valuable service.

I imagine that the actual birds were already made, and sitting in a
warehouse, so that all that was needed was the launch.

------------------------------

From: Mike Hartley <mike.hartley@ntlworld.com>
Subject: Re: A Likely Urban Legend
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 13:57:20 -0000


> Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card, which
> contains all subscriber related data

*BBBBBZZZZZ!!! Wrong. Some fairly important info, but most of it is on the
HLR.

> (this is the brains in the phone)

*BBBBBZZZZZ!!! Wrong. Semantic definitions of brains vs
consciousness/thought aside, it's pretty dumb in comparison to the
chipset, which ISTR has the power of a mid range 486, or something
like. I could be wrong here ;+)

> in your cellular telephone. A scam artist places a call to an
> unsuspecting person <repeats the magic words>

<Magnus Magnusson>*

At the end of your 'specialised subject' round, Mr Scam Artiste, you
scored no points and no passes. Our next contestant please. 

</Magnus Magnusson>

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: <is completely right> see
http://homepages.tesco.net/~J.deBoynePollard/FGA/please-do-not-perpetuate-th
e-9-0-hash-hoax.html for a good example, or http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=GSM+%2390+hoax&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&met
a= for further reading.

> That's because I don't give humble opinions.  :)   PAT]

No need when you're right. Welcome back!

Regards,

Mike

*Unlikely to be understood outside the reaches of BBC TV.

------------------------------

From: Al Gillis <alg@aracnet.com>
Subject: Re: Seattle Local Phone Service Options
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 19:31:28 -0800
Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com
Reply-To: Al Gillis <alg@aracnet.com>


Hi Richard,

I'm in Portland and use Electric Lightwave, Inc. for a number of
services.  They are one of the bigger players in Seattle as well.
I've got a whole lot of trunks running over PRIs, with primary and
backup D channels (our 81c is connected to ELIs Portland switch via a
moderate speed optical connection).  We also use ELI for local
transport (about a dozen DS-1s connecting Nortel Carrier Remote units
around town), an OC-3 and a couple of DS-3s connecting to our LD and
WAN carrier (I'd guess that's enough!).  The service has been pretty
bullet proof so far - no failures, no unexplained weirdness (I
probably shouldn't be talking about this!!).

ELI's price was good (not a low ball price but enough lower than Qwest
to make us look twice) but the thing that really got us interested was
that Qwest couldn't offer PRI service from our serving CO.  They
proposed backhauling PRIs (and DID trunks and numbers) from another CO
and (get this) charging us mileage for the honor of doing business
with them!  What nerve!

ELI's been great - big enough to do a professional job and small
enough to be able to react to our needs.  Check 'em out!

Now, truth be told, we haven't forsaken Qwest completely.  We actually
still do a lot of business with them, they treat me really well and
they do good work for us.  They just got out of line a little so we
improved our reliability and redundancy situation a little.  My view
is that two access providers, each with their own facilities in my
building is probably the best position I could put my company in.

(My connection with ELI?  None, except as a customer!)

Questions?  Please e-mail!


Al

Richard Silverstein <richards1052@attbi.com> wrote in message
news:telecom20.155.8@telecom-digest.org...

> I'm trying to identify any local phone companies which might be
> competing with Qwest (yuck!) here in Seattle.  Does anyone out there
> know if any of the major local phone service companies operate here?

------------------------------

From: Al Gillis <alg@aracnet.com>
Subject: Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic?
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 19:39:28 -0800
Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com
Reply-To: Al Gillis <alg@aracnet.com>


My, my.  What short memories we have!

Not long ago a large ISP called Excite@Home went TU.  Lots of
customers were left holding the bag.  It took several days for AT&T to
pick the pieces and put it together again!

Now, I agree with Pat that it's pretty unlikely that Bernie's pals and
his systems at WorldCom would "go poof", but it's not without
precedent, is it?

And Pat ...  It's great to have you back!  You're wonderful!

Thanks!


Al

Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:telecom20.155.6@telecom-digest.org...

>> From: Paul Erickson <paule@mindspring.com>
>> Subject: Worldcom -- Time to Panic?
>> Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 16:50:06 -0500
>> Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com

>> Our T1 line is provided via Worldcom.  I shudder to think they might
>> go the way of the DSL companies.  If you read this, the situation
>> sounds pretty dire: http://www.msnbc.com/news/697962.asp

>> Where do you go for T1 connectivity if Worldcom goes poof?  The local
>> telco will be the last one standing I suppose.  Ugh.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  Thank you, Al Gillis!  You are wonder-
ful also!  I *think* I am glad to be back. I think, mind you.   PAT]

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 20:41:48 -0500
From: Paul N. Hrisko <neural@prodigy.net>
Subject: International Ringtones in the USA


I've recently developed a strange problem with the ring callers to my
cell phone receive when dialing my number.

A little background: VoiceStream is my provider, so I'm on the US GSM
network. My phone is a dual band Nokia 8890. I have international
roaming enabled. The number is a NYC 917 area code number.

While in Europe, people calling my number would receive the proper
Euro.  ringtones for the country in which I was roaming (i.e. 
ring-ring or riiiiiiing, etc.) Now that I'm back in the US, they
sometimes receive these tones or the Mexican tone when calling. Most
of the time they get the usual US ring. There's no pattern on time or
day, or cell I'm in (I'm assuming this since I'm in certain parts of
New York City most of the time).  Some hang up because they think it's
a busy signal. Call waiting is on and the phone can handle four way
conference calls.

Does anyone have any idea as to why this might happen? I'm at a loss
and VoiceStream seems to have no clue either.


TIA

Paul

------------------------------

From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:36:09 -0800
Organization: Drizzle
Reply-To: joeofseattle@yahoo.com


On Mon, 11 Feb 2002 19:04:23 -0800, Mark Crispin
<mrc@CAC.Washington.EDU> wrote:

> The real pain is that the maximum prepaid intervals are so short in the
> US, as short as 45 days for ATT Wireless.

If you use ecallplus http://www.ecallplus.com/ they have 90 day
expiration on all their card refills and you can use your AT&T phone.

Personal replies are likely not read.  Please reply in the newsgroup

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 00:23:34 -0500
From: Paul N. Hrisko <neural@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution


Here in NYC, things seem to be a little different.

Mom & Dad are in their 70's and like to drive out to PA, where my
mother's from. After verifying decent cell service along the route
they take with my own phone, I got them a prepaid phone from a local
reseller who carries all carriers (VoiceStream, AT&T, Verizon, etc.) I
dropped cash on the counter for a prepaid and walked out with no
paperwork or questions asked. Gotta love the big city.

------------------------------

From: Liam Hatton <me@liamhatton.com>
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 20:43:48 +0800
Organization: Customer of Connect.com.au Pty. Ltd.


On 12/2/02 2:29 PM, in article telecom20.156.1@telecom-digest.org, TELECOM
Digest Editor responded to Jay Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>:

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Except, at least in theory, the agent
> setting up the 'Smart Pay' account (as they are usually called)
> requires the petitioner or customer to present one good piece of
> identification as well as their social security number. I had a couple
> of these accounts set up recently at Radio Shack here in Indendence.
> One was for my elderly mother who does not know anything at all about
> cellular but decided she wanted to experiment with one on the days
> when her senior citizens group takes their bus rides to luncheon
> gatherings, etc. The other was for a sixteen year old neighbor who
> has designs on being a baby hacklet (?) if he could learn what to do.
> In both cases, Kevin and Duane, (the Radio Shack guys here in town)
> had to copy down my social and other details on my state-issued ID card.
> But when they called Kansas Cellular (aka Altell) to have my phones
> turned on, I did not hear them read the information from the poorly-
> filled out forms over the phone to the operator. But neither did I
> see them later toss the forms in the trash can. I suspect *someone*
> eventually gets the forms in the event someone from some government
> agency has ugly thoughts.  PAT]
> 

Here in Australia, the government requires that people present a
recognised form of ID (Medicare Card, Drivers Licence, Passport, ATM
or credit card) when purchasing prepaid phones. The ID numbers from
the ID which you present are written onto a special form. When you
connect the prepaid service (the customer rings a special number from
the new phone or sim card) they also ask for the details from your
form of ID.

The ACA (Australian Communications Authority) maintains a database
with this information, according to the information on the form (when
I buying a prepaid phone for a friend) explaining how my personal
information would be used.


Liam Hatton

------------------------------

From: puntomaupunto_at_tin.it@example.invalid
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Organization: you are kidding, right?
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 11:28:36 GMT


Julian Thomas scripsit:

> or 4) those (often involved in illegal activities) who want something
> totally untraceable.

In Italy, where prepaid cellphones far outnumber contracts, you have
to give your data when activating a prepaid. So this is not an issue.


Ciao, .mau.

Per soli italiani: http://xmau.com/

------------------------------

From: nclemmons@yahoo.com (neil)
Subject: Re: Panasonic KX-T System Components and Phones FS/FT
Date: 13 Feb 2002 06:31:53 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


I have an analog KXT-1232-11 (currently in use) that I'd be willing to
trade for the KX-TD1232 and pay you the difference.  But it looks like
you might be interested in the digital KSU's.


neil

James Gifford <jgifford@surewest.not> wrote in message
news:<telecom20.155.12@telecom-digest.org>...

> I just acquired two large bundles of Panasonic stuff that greatly
> exceeds my needs. I would be interested in selling or trading it
> before I put it up to the whims of eBay.

> I have the following equipment:

> 1) KX-TD1232, rev 1
> 1) KX-TVS200 with 2 KX-TVS102 2-port modules

> These I want to keep, but as the system is for my home, they're much
> larger than I really need. I would be interested in trading down to a
> newer-rev KX-TD816 and a TVS 75-80-100.

> Available for sale or trade are:

> (2) KX-T170 8+8 expansion modules, KX-TD1232 or -TD816
> (1) KX-TD192 system bridge (to bridge two TD1232's)
> (1) KX-T30810 analog KSU
> (1) KX-T96141 Attendant Console card for T336 system
> (11) KX-T7220 non-display digital system phones
> (10) KX-T7130 LCD analog system phones
> (1) KX-T7240 digital DSS/BLS (new in box)
> and a half-dozen 70x0 analog phones

> All of the modules and most of the phones are in like-new condition; a
> few of the phones show some wear and tear. Everything will be
> described in detail on request and guaranteed against DOA.

> I would like to end up with:

> - An appropriate KSU (KX-TD816 rev 3 or newer, in at least 4x16 
> configuration;

> - An appropriate VPS (TVS100 with 4 ports ideal);
> - 4 more 7200-series multiline-LCD phones;
> - a KX-TD193 Caller ID module if the KSU does not support CID internally.

> Open to any/all deals, but make it quick - I will be eBaying the stuff
> I don't need and putting the KSU/VPS I have into service, after which
> I'll be less inclined to trade down.

> Thanks!

> 
> |           James Gifford - Nitrosyncretic Press            |
> | http://www.nitrosyncretic.com for the Heinlein FAQ & more |

------------------------------

From: Terry Kennedy <terry@gate.tmk.com>
Subject: Re: Panasonic KX-TV200 Voicemail System Hard Disk
Organization: Giganews.Com - Premium News Outsourcing
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:55:18 GMT


James Gifford <jgifford@surewest.not> wrote in message
news:telecom20.155.10@telecom-digest.org...

> Is the manual incorrect in saying that the OS lives on the hard drive?

  No. There's a boot ROM in the box, but it boots from the drive.
This alows the software to be updated easily. Also, the system
default prompts are on the drive.

> What would a hard drive failure do to the system? Can the OS be
> restored from the firmware? Is this an automatic process or what? Is
> there any way to back up the contents of the drive?

  If the drive breaks, your TVS is down. You can copy the drive
in a number of ways. I used "dd" on Unix to make an image copy
and put the copy in the TVS before I placed the unit into service.
The copy was not an identical disk (the original was, I believe,
a Quantum 4GB and my copy was on a Seagate 6GB). I don't
think you get any more recording time doing that, though.

  The manual says you can use XMODEM to back up and restore
the drive, but I've never tried it.

  The "baby" TVS50 uses a flash card instead of an IDE drive.  I don't
know if it also stores code on the flash or if it uses ROM instead.


        Terry Kennedy             http://www.tmk.com
        terry@tmk.com            New York, NY USA

------------------------------

Reply-To: Charles P <charlesnospam@telephonesecurity.com>
From: Charles P <cp.cp@verizon.net>
Subject: Re: Panasonic KX-T System Components and Phones FS/FT
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 04:25:01 GMT


Hi Jim,

If it's for your home, would you really need 4 ports on voicemail? The
newer TVS50 ought to do ok.  If you have a home office and need the
extra ports for a second menu, then the new -5 ksu with the newest
TVS50 or higher (such as TVS110) will give you the ability to set menu
per trunk, rather than per port.  The TVS50 is going for well under
$1000 new.

Also, you mentioned wanting to get an 816 up to 16 extension ... then
just keep one of your KXT170 modules!

I'm doing the same thing, selling a d1232 and tvs100 on ebay to
upgrade to an 816-5 and a new tvs50.


Charles

"James Gifford" <jgifford@surewest.not> wrote in message
news:telecom20.155.12@telecom-digest.org ...

> I just acquired two large bundles of Panasonic stuff that greatly
> exceeds my needs. I would be interested in selling or trading it
> before I put it up to the whims of eBay.

> I have the following equipment:
>
> 1) KX-TD1232, rev 1
> 1) KX-TVS200 with 2 KX-TVS102 2-port modules

> These I want to keep, but as the system is for my home, they're much
> larger than I really need. I would be interested in trading down to a
> newer-rev KX-TD816 and a TVS 75-80-100.

> Available for sale or trade are:

> (2) KX-T170 8+8 expansion modules, KX-TD1232 or -TD816
> (1) KX-TD192 system bridge (to bridge two TD1232's)
> (1) KX-T30810 analog KSU
> (1) KX-T96141 Attendant Console card for T336 system
> (11) KX-T7220 non-display digital system phones
> (10) KX-T7130 LCD analog system phones
> (1) KX-T7240 digital DSS/BLS (new in box)
> and a half-dozen 70x0 analog phones

> All of the modules and most of the phones are in like-new condition; a
> few of the phones show some wear and tear. Everything will be
> described in detail on request and guaranteed against DOA.

> I would like to end up with:

> - An appropriate KSU (KX-TD816 rev 3 or newer, in at least 4x16
> configuration;

> - An appropriate VPS (TVS100 with 4 ports ideal);
> - 4 more 7200-series multiline-LCD phones;
> - a KX-TD193 Caller ID module if the KSU does not support CID internally.

> Open to any/all deals, but make it quick - I will be eBaying the stuff
> I don't need and putting the KSU/VPS I have into service, after which
> I'll be less inclined to trade down.

> |           James Gifford - Nitrosyncretic Press            |
> | http://www.nitrosyncretic.com for the Heinlein FAQ & more |
>
------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #157
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Wed Feb 13 23:34:10 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id XAA24888;
	Wed, 13 Feb 2002 23:34:10 -0500 (EST)
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 23:34:10 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202140434.XAA24888@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #157

TELECOM Digest     Wed, 13 Feb 2002 22:53:58 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 158

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (David Clayton)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Clarence Dold)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Al Gillis)
    Re: Last Laugh! Peoria AZ Jails People (Gordon S. Hlavenka)
    SilkRoad,Inc. (David Wilson)
    Re: AOL Customers Livid Over Bills After Areacode Switch (Bill Levant)
    Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic? (LARB0)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones (Joseph Singer)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Re: Technical Question (Phil McKerracher)
    Re: Seattle Local Phone Service Options (Joseph Singer)
    Cordless Phones in Israel (Joseph Singer)
    Comcast Tracks Users' Web Browsing (Joe Wineburgh)
    Re: Netscape Poll on International Monitors in Israel (Joe Wineburgh)
    Last Laugh! Phone Bill Delivers a Rude Surprise (Patrick Townson)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: David Clayton <dcstar@acslink.net.au>
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 09:32:02 +1100
Organization: Customer of Connect.com.au Pty. Ltd.
Reply-To: dcstar@acslink.net.au


Liam Hatton <me@liamhatton.com> contributed the following:

> Here in Australia, the government requires that people present a
> recognised form of ID (Medicare Card, Drivers Licence, Passport, ATM
> or credit card) when purchasing prepaid phones. The ID numbers from
> the ID which you present are written onto a special form. When you
> connect the prepaid service (the customer rings a special number from
> the new phone or sim card) they also ask for the details from your
> form of ID.

> The ACA (Australian Communications Authority) maintains a database
> with this information, according to the information on the form (when
> I was buying a prepaid phone for a friend) explaining how my personal
> information would be used.

When I signed up for a pre-paid mobile SIM last year, (Virgin Mobile)
all I did was fill out a web form.

The only thing I had to do was provide a "real" address for delivery and
a credit card number.


Regards,

David Clayton, e-mail: dcstar@acslink.net.au
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Dilbert's words of wisdom #18: Never argue with an idiot. They drag
you down to their level then beat you with experience.

------------------------------

From: dold@72.usenet.us.com
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: 13 Feb 2002 23:13:23 GMT
Organization: Wintercreek Data


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Did anyone ever notice how prepaid
> service which *should* cost less because (a) there is no collection

This conversation veered off from your pre-paid cellular to a rant about
pre-paid cards.

My pre-paid card is cheaper than what AT&T wants to charge me for LD,
and I'm PIC to them.  They either want a monthly fee, or $0.35 per
minute.  My prepaid card was $4.97 for 60 minutes at Staples.  It's a
Sprint card, and hasn't failed to work anywhere, which is more than I
can say for my AT&T Cell Phone in rural areas.


Clarence A Dold - dold@email.rahul.net
	        - Pope Valley (Napa County) CA.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  I was talking in my original post
about pre-paid cellular service, although prepaid long distance is
almost as bad, price-wise.   PAT]

------------------------------

From: Al Gillis <alg@aracnet.com>
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 17:04:26 -0800
Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com
Reply-To: Al Gillis <alg@aracnet.com>


Requiring "proper" identification is certainly a good technique to
scare off the meek.  Unfortunately, in the United States at least,
false ID is almost as easy to get as a cold!  Ask a junior high school
student -- I'll bet they know a source or two.  So arranging for one of
these pre-paid accounts shouldn't be to hard to do for one who's bent
on some sort of underhanded shenanigans.

I don't know the solution to the fake ID problem of course.  But it's
a factor to consider when identifying people.  Also, the chances are
good that if you couldn't find a fake ID purveyor a crisp new $20
slipped to the clerk might help "grease the skids" to a successful
unidentified purchase.

Happy Valentine's Day to All!


Al

Liam Hatton <me@liamhatton.com> wrote in message
news:telecom20.157.10@telecom-digest.org...

> On 12/2/02 2:29 PM, in article telecom20.156.1@telecom-digest.org, TELECOM
> Digest Editor responded to Jay Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>:

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Except, at least in theory, the agent
>> setting up the 'Smart Pay' account (as they are usually called)
>> requires the petitioner or customer to present one good piece of
>> identification as well as their social security number. I had a couple
>> of these accounts set up recently at Radio Shack here in Indendence.
>> One was for my elderly mother who does not know anything at all about
>> cellular but decided she wanted to experiment with one on the days
>> when her senior citizens group takes their bus rides to luncheon
>> gatherings, etc. The other was for a sixteen year old neighbor who
>> has designs on being a baby hacklet (?) if he could learn what to do.
>> In both cases, Kevin and Duane, (the Radio Shack guys here in town)
>> had to copy down my social and other details on my state-issued ID card.
>> But when they called Kansas Cellular (aka Altell) to have my phones
>> turned on, I did not hear them read the information from the poorly-
>> filled out forms over the phone to the operator. But neither did I
>> see them later toss the forms in the trash can. I suspect *someone*
>> eventually gets the forms in the event someone from some government
>> agency has ugly thoughts.  PAT]

> Here in Australia, the government requires that people present a
> recognised form of ID (Medicare Card, Drivers Licence, Passport, ATM
> or credit card) when purchasing prepaid phones. The ID numbers from
> the ID which you present are written onto a special form. When you
> connect the prepaid service (the customer rings a special number from
> the new phone or sim card) they also ask for the details from your
> form of ID.

> The ACA (Australian Communications Authority) maintains a database
> with this information, according to the information on the form (when
> I buying a prepaid phone for a friend) explaining how my personal
> information would be used.

------------------------------

From: Gordon S. Hlavenka <nospam@crashelex.com>
Organization: Crash Electronics, Inc.
Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Peoria AZ Jails People Who Don't Take Down Lights
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 19:55:36 -0600


Jack Hamilton wrote:

> If I lived in Peoria, I'd celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision in
> January, Saint Brigid of Ireland in February, Charles the Good in
> March... (etc.)

But I, on the other hand, just like little multicolored lights, jolly
animated figures, and swaths of hanging greenery.  So I put them up
all year -- as part of my normal landscaping, not in celebration of
any particular holiday at all.

(Well, no I don't really.  But in Peoria I might develop new habits :-)


Gordon S. Hlavenka               O-             nospam@crashelex.com
		I have no use for any dog I can punt.

------------------------------

From: David Wilson <derbywilson@earthlink.net>
Subject: SilkRoad,Inc.
Organization: The Dragon Guild
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 00:16:05 GMT


Does anyone know what happened to the technology SilkRoad, Inc. was
developing?  Understand the company went bus two years ago due to lack
of financing, but the founders started a new company in San Diego?


Thanks.

------------------------------

From: Wlevant@aol.com
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 20:02:01 EST
Subject: Re: AOL Customers Livid Over Huge Bills After Areacode Switch 


> Sounds like the customer's LD carriers failed to make the appropriate
> change in NPAs.  This information is in the LERG so it looks like
> someone dropped the ball.

    Nope.  More likely, the customers' LEC didn't update the
translations in the CO switch, and by default, untranslated NPA-NXX
combinations are handed off to the selected IXC, who -- upon receiving
a setup packet for what appears to be an in-state toll call -- happily
routes the call back to the LEC, and charges LD rates.

   Makes sense, if you think about it.  For new codes added outside
the "home" LATA (or the current equivalent nomenclature), the LEC
wouldn't have to change anything.  Only new "short distance" or local
NPA-NXX combinations would have to be programmed into the switch.

   This happened to me a while back ... it took a couple of calls, but
I finally got to the right person at Verizon, who made the changes
pretty much while I waited *and* credited me back for about $120.00 in
toll-charged local calls with absolutely zero fuss.


Bill

------------------------------

From: larb0@aol.com (LARB0)
Date: 13 Feb 2002 15:22:55 GMT
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Subject: Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic?


There is a huge difference between a CLEC or DLEC (Northpoint, eg) and
an ILEC or Tier 1 Carrier. Pat is on the money with his analysis.

------------------------------

From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:30:02 -0800
Organization: Drizzle
Reply-To: joeofseattle@yahoo.com


On Mon, 11 Feb 2002 18:20:47 -0500, Gail M. Hall <gmhall@apk.net>
wrote:

> I can live with the klunky process of entering letters on wireless
> phones if all I want to do is add a name to my phone directory.  But
> now they are trying to promote text messaging!  I see that as just
> another way to get you to use more minutes and get you into the EXTRA
> minutes charges.

Text messages don't have anything to do with air time minutes and are
billed separately.

> For me the best use of the phone would be for VOICE input and output,
> not displayed text or input text.

That's fine for *you*, but some people like to be able to send text
messages.  It's either cheaper or easier than making a voice call.

Modern mobile phones have text input help.  Some phones use "T9" text
input so that you don't have to do "multi-tap" to get the letters and
in fact let you just hit one corresponding key after the next and the
word is automatically displayed e.g. on the multi-tap for the word
hello you'd have to type 44, 33, 55, 55, 666 but on a predictive text
input you'd only have to key 43556.  That's one key press for each
letter of the word rather than 11 keypresses.

> A wireless phone peripheral with a letter/punctuation keypad and a
> larger display that would hook up to a wireless phone?  That might
> work and be attractive to people if it's not too high-priced.

Ericsson has just such a keyboard for several of their phones.


Personal replies are likely not read.  Please reply in the newsgroup

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 17:03:42 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Stanley settled back into the couch, and Gail M Hall <gmhall@apk.net>
said to him:

>  I can live with the klunky process of entering letters on wireless
>  phones if all I want to do is add a name to my phone directory.  But
>  now they are trying to promote text messaging!  I see that as just
>  another way to get you to use more minutes and get you into the EXTRA
>  minutes charges.

Right in one.

>  Right now I use VerizonWireless and am getting adds to get me to
>  register to use their internet via the phone.  Aside from the klunky
>  text entry problem, there is that LITTLE display on the phone that is
>  hard to see in certain kinds of light.  I can't IMAGINE trying to use
>  that thing to do anything on the Internet.

It was free for the holidays.

Now it's $.10 a message to send, and $.02 a message to receive.  

Anyone want into the pool on how much they're gonna write off?

>  If you have *any* trouble reading that print, then you probably would
>  have trouble reading the text on a wireless phone.

Nice one.  ;-)

>  But wireless phones for text entry?  FORGET IT!

Unless you have no other choice.  Being able to ping-test a machine
from Nextel Online is occasionally handy.

>  Otherwise people who NEED to connect to the Internet while away from
>  home or office will use a palm-size computer or laptop computer hooked
>  to whatever type of phone that can give them the best service for
>  where they are.  Wireless connections would probably be their last
>  choice but might be worth it if they can't hook up to landline or
>  satellite, etc.

It's not always possible to carry something like that with you.

No, you won't be writing Moby Dick on a cell phone, but "your plane was
moved to gate 26" is reasonable.


Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                         jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com      +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

From: Phil McKerracher <phil.mckerracher@dataflex.com>
Subject: Re: Technical Question
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 12:37:29 -0000


"nsachs" <nsachs@usc.edu> wrote in message
news:telecom20.150.2@telecom-digest.org ...

> I have a bit of a technical question I was hoping you might be able to
> help with.  I'm working on a project at the University of Southern
> California that involoves making a connection over a standard phone line.
> However, we have to give a demonstration of the project and won't have
> access to a phone jack.  Is there any way to simulate a connection between
> two phones by connecting them directly using an RJ-11 cord and external
> power source, or possibly some other similar configuration?  Any help you
> could provide would be much appreciated.

If you don't need to dial or ring the phones, a simple 12V battery in
series with the two phones will usually give you a speech path. A 50V
battery in series with a 600 ohm resistor would be even better, giving
you proper sidetone levels etc. A simple transformer with a 30V AC
output at mains frequency will usually get a phone to ring. 70V at 25
Hz would be even more likely to work, and so on. There are many small
cheap PBXs with half a dozen extensions around that can recognise
dialling as well. They often have ISDN network interfaces, but you can
ignore that and just use the analogue extension ports.


Phil McKerracher
www.mckerracher.org

------------------------------

From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Seattle Local Phone Service Options
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:32:58 -0800
Organization: Drizzle
Reply-To: joeofseattle@yahoo.com


On 11 Feb 2002 11:14:52 -0800, richards1052@attbi.com (Richard
Silverstein) wrote:

> I'm trying to identify any local phone companies which might be
> competing with Qwest (yuck!) here in Seattle.  Does anyone out there
> know if any of the major local phone service companies operate here?

Try:  http://www.featurefon.com/ they offer service with many extra
added services as part of the base charge for $19.95 per month.  If
you need to have ADSL though it's not an option.


Personal replies are likely not read.  Please reply in the newsgroup.

------------------------------

From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Cordless Phones in Israel
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:49:10 -0800
Organization: Drizzle
Reply-To: joeofseattle@yahoo.com


I have been asked to bring a cordless phone to Israel, but from my
understanding cordless phones in use in the USA i.e. 900 Mhz and 2.6
Ghz are illegal.  Does anyone know what frequency cordless phones
would work in Israel?

Personal replies are likely not read.  Please reply in the newsgroup.

------------------------------

From: Joe Wineburgh <jwineburgh@yahoo.com>
Subject: Comcast Tracks Users' Web Browsing
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 11:29:59 -0500


By Ted Bridis
Associated Press 
Published February 13, 2002, 8:23 AM CST

WASHINGTON -- Comcast Corp., the nation's third-largest cable company,
has begun recording the Web browsing activities of its 1 million
high-speed Internet subscribers without notifying them of the change.

Comcast said Tuesday the recording of each Web page a subscriber
visits was part of a technology overhaul designed to save money and
improve the speed of cable Internet service to its customers and was
not intended to infringe on privacy. The company said it believes the
recording was permitted by language in their service agreement with
subscribers.

Technology experts cautioned that the data could be subpoenaed by law
enforcement agencies or lawyers in civil cases, and they questioned
whether Comcast's move reflects a more cavalier attitude toward online
privacy in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

More at:
http://chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-020213comcast.story

------------------------------

From: Joe Wineburgh <jwineburgh@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Netscape Poll on International Monitors in Israel
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 11:49:18 -0500


Doesn't work unless you drop the '/click' at the end...

http://home.Netscape.com/ex/shak/international/packages/mideast

BTW the vote is now:

  Poll: Should international monitors be sent to Israel and the
Palestinian territories? 

 
Yes:   79%   8494293 votes
 
No:   21%   2261558 votes
 
	   10755856  votes total.
 
I'm guessing we're not talking about 'internet' or 'IP' monitoring, but
rather some type of UN group overseeing the military?


JOE

------------------------------

From: ptownson@sbcglobal.net (Patrick Townson)
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 08:55:20 PST
Subject: Last Laugh!  Phone Bill Delivers a Rude Surprise 


You really need to read this item on CNN news Tuesday. It seems a 
man was a fairly regular complainer to his phone company. There 
was always something or another wrong in his opinion.  When his
phone bill came last month, he was accessed a penalty for 'being
an arrogant bastard'. It was printed by computer on his phone bill.
Seriously. Phone company says they don't know how it happened. I've
left the links intact below so you can put it up in your browser
and read the story for yourself from CNN  yesterday. I used that
'email this story to someone' link to send it here to myself.  

Patrick

Title: CNN.com - Phone bill delivers a rude surprise - February 12, 2002
  
Copy and paste the following into your Web browser to access the sent
link:
http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&etMailToID=285300497&pt=Y

Copy and paste the following into your Web browser to SAVE THIS link:
http://www.savethis.clickability.com/st/saveThisPopupApp?clickMap=saveFromET&partnerID=2006&etMailToID=285300497&pt=Y
 
Copy and paste the following into your Web browser to forward this link:
http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=forward&etMailToID=285300497&partnerID=2006&pt=Y
  
Email pages from any Web site you visit - add the EMAIL THIS button to
your browser, copy and paste the following into your Web browser:

http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=browserButtons&pt=Y"

Instructions:

If your e-mail program doesn't recognize Web addresses:
1. With your mouse, highlight the Web Address above. Be sure to highlight the entire Web address, even if it spans more than one line in your email. 
2. Select Copy from the Edit menu at the top of your screen. 
3. Launch your Web browser.
4. Paste the address into your Web browser by selecting Paste from the Edit menu.
5. Click Go or press Enter or Return on your keyboard. 

<!--file:/etHTMLEmail.html template:HTMLEmail1-->

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #158
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Wed Feb 13 23:35:10 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id XAA25168;
	Wed, 13 Feb 2002 23:35:10 -0500 (EST)
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 23:35:10 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202140435.XAA25168@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #158

TELECOM Digest     Wed, 13 Feb 2002 22:53:58 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 158

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (David Clayton)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Clarence Dold)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Al Gillis)
    Re: Last Laugh! Peoria AZ Jails People (Gordon S. Hlavenka)
    SilkRoad,Inc. (David Wilson)
    Re: AOL Customers Livid Over Bills After Areacode Switch (Bill Levant)
    Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic? (LARB0)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones (Joseph Singer)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Re: Technical Question (Phil McKerracher)
    Re: Seattle Local Phone Service Options (Joseph Singer)
    Cordless Phones in Israel (Joseph Singer)
    Comcast Tracks Users' Web Browsing (Joe Wineburgh)
    Re: Netscape Poll on International Monitors in Israel (Joe Wineburgh)
    Last Laugh! Phone Bill Delivers a Rude Surprise (Patrick Townson)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: David Clayton <dcstar@acslink.net.au>
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 09:32:02 +1100
Organization: Customer of Connect.com.au Pty. Ltd.
Reply-To: dcstar@acslink.net.au


Liam Hatton <me@liamhatton.com> contributed the following:

> Here in Australia, the government requires that people present a
> recognised form of ID (Medicare Card, Drivers Licence, Passport, ATM
> or credit card) when purchasing prepaid phones. The ID numbers from
> the ID which you present are written onto a special form. When you
> connect the prepaid service (the customer rings a special number from
> the new phone or sim card) they also ask for the details from your
> form of ID.

> The ACA (Australian Communications Authority) maintains a database
> with this information, according to the information on the form (when
> I was buying a prepaid phone for a friend) explaining how my personal
> information would be used.

When I signed up for a pre-paid mobile SIM last year, (Virgin Mobile)
all I did was fill out a web form.

The only thing I had to do was provide a "real" address for delivery and
a credit card number.


Regards,

David Clayton, e-mail: dcstar@acslink.net.au
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Dilbert's words of wisdom #18: Never argue with an idiot. They drag
you down to their level then beat you with experience.

------------------------------

From: dold@72.usenet.us.com
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: 13 Feb 2002 23:13:23 GMT
Organization: Wintercreek Data


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Did anyone ever notice how prepaid
> service which *should* cost less because (a) there is no collection

This conversation veered off from your pre-paid cellular to a rant about
pre-paid cards.

My pre-paid card is cheaper than what AT&T wants to charge me for LD,
and I'm PIC to them.  They either want a monthly fee, or $0.35 per
minute.  My prepaid card was $4.97 for 60 minutes at Staples.  It's a
Sprint card, and hasn't failed to work anywhere, which is more than I
can say for my AT&T Cell Phone in rural areas.


Clarence A Dold - dold@email.rahul.net
	        - Pope Valley (Napa County) CA.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  I was talking in my original post
about pre-paid cellular service, although prepaid long distance is
almost as bad, price-wise.   PAT]

------------------------------

From: Al Gillis <alg@aracnet.com>
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 17:04:26 -0800
Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com
Reply-To: Al Gillis <alg@aracnet.com>


Requiring "proper" identification is certainly a good technique to
scare off the meek.  Unfortunately, in the United States at least,
false ID is almost as easy to get as a cold!  Ask a junior high school
student -- I'll bet they know a source or two.  So arranging for one of
these pre-paid accounts shouldn't be to hard to do for one who's bent
on some sort of underhanded shenanigans.

I don't know the solution to the fake ID problem of course.  But it's
a factor to consider when identifying people.  Also, the chances are
good that if you couldn't find a fake ID purveyor a crisp new $20
slipped to the clerk might help "grease the skids" to a successful
unidentified purchase.

Happy Valentine's Day to All!


Al

Liam Hatton <me@liamhatton.com> wrote in message
news:telecom20.157.10@telecom-digest.org...

> On 12/2/02 2:29 PM, in article telecom20.156.1@telecom-digest.org, TELECOM
> Digest Editor responded to Jay Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>:

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Except, at least in theory, the agent
>> setting up the 'Smart Pay' account (as they are usually called)
>> requires the petitioner or customer to present one good piece of
>> identification as well as their social security number. I had a couple
>> of these accounts set up recently at Radio Shack here in Indendence.
>> One was for my elderly mother who does not know anything at all about
>> cellular but decided she wanted to experiment with one on the days
>> when her senior citizens group takes their bus rides to luncheon
>> gatherings, etc. The other was for a sixteen year old neighbor who
>> has designs on being a baby hacklet (?) if he could learn what to do.
>> In both cases, Kevin and Duane, (the Radio Shack guys here in town)
>> had to copy down my social and other details on my state-issued ID card.
>> But when they called Kansas Cellular (aka Altell) to have my phones
>> turned on, I did not hear them read the information from the poorly-
>> filled out forms over the phone to the operator. But neither did I
>> see them later toss the forms in the trash can. I suspect *someone*
>> eventually gets the forms in the event someone from some government
>> agency has ugly thoughts.  PAT]

> Here in Australia, the government requires that people present a
> recognised form of ID (Medicare Card, Drivers Licence, Passport, ATM
> or credit card) when purchasing prepaid phones. The ID numbers from
> the ID which you present are written onto a special form. When you
> connect the prepaid service (the customer rings a special number from
> the new phone or sim card) they also ask for the details from your
> form of ID.

> The ACA (Australian Communications Authority) maintains a database
> with this information, according to the information on the form (when
> I buying a prepaid phone for a friend) explaining how my personal
> information would be used.

------------------------------

From: Gordon S. Hlavenka <nospam@crashelex.com>
Organization: Crash Electronics, Inc.
Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Peoria AZ Jails People Who Don't Take Down Lights
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 19:55:36 -0600


Jack Hamilton wrote:

> If I lived in Peoria, I'd celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision in
> January, Saint Brigid of Ireland in February, Charles the Good in
> March... (etc.)

But I, on the other hand, just like little multicolored lights, jolly
animated figures, and swaths of hanging greenery.  So I put them up
all year -- as part of my normal landscaping, not in celebration of
any particular holiday at all.

(Well, no I don't really.  But in Peoria I might develop new habits :-)


Gordon S. Hlavenka               O-             nospam@crashelex.com
		I have no use for any dog I can punt.

------------------------------

From: David Wilson <derbywilson@earthlink.net>
Subject: SilkRoad,Inc.
Organization: The Dragon Guild
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 00:16:05 GMT


Does anyone know what happened to the technology SilkRoad, Inc. was
developing?  Understand the company went bus two years ago due to lack
of financing, but the founders started a new company in San Diego?


Thanks.

------------------------------

From: Wlevant@aol.com
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 20:02:01 EST
Subject: Re: AOL Customers Livid Over Huge Bills After Areacode Switch 


> Sounds like the customer's LD carriers failed to make the appropriate
> change in NPAs.  This information is in the LERG so it looks like
> someone dropped the ball.

    Nope.  More likely, the customers' LEC didn't update the
translations in the CO switch, and by default, untranslated NPA-NXX
combinations are handed off to the selected IXC, who -- upon receiving
a setup packet for what appears to be an in-state toll call -- happily
routes the call back to the LEC, and charges LD rates.

   Makes sense, if you think about it.  For new codes added outside
the "home" LATA (or the current equivalent nomenclature), the LEC
wouldn't have to change anything.  Only new "short distance" or local
NPA-NXX combinations would have to be programmed into the switch.

   This happened to me a while back ... it took a couple of calls, but
I finally got to the right person at Verizon, who made the changes
pretty much while I waited *and* credited me back for about $120.00 in
toll-charged local calls with absolutely zero fuss.


Bill

------------------------------

From: larb0@aol.com (LARB0)
Date: 13 Feb 2002 15:22:55 GMT
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Subject: Re: Worldcom -- Time to Panic?


There is a huge difference between a CLEC or DLEC (Northpoint, eg) and
an ILEC or Tier 1 Carrier. Pat is on the money with his analysis.

------------------------------

From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:30:02 -0800
Organization: Drizzle
Reply-To: joeofseattle@yahoo.com


On Mon, 11 Feb 2002 18:20:47 -0500, Gail M. Hall <gmhall@apk.net>
wrote:

> I can live with the klunky process of entering letters on wireless
> phones if all I want to do is add a name to my phone directory.  But
> now they are trying to promote text messaging!  I see that as just
> another way to get you to use more minutes and get you into the EXTRA
> minutes charges.

Text messages don't have anything to do with air time minutes and are
billed separately.

> For me the best use of the phone would be for VOICE input and output,
> not displayed text or input text.

That's fine for *you*, but some people like to be able to send text
messages.  It's either cheaper or easier than making a voice call.

Modern mobile phones have text input help.  Some phones use "T9" text
input so that you don't have to do "multi-tap" to get the letters and
in fact let you just hit one corresponding key after the next and the
word is automatically displayed e.g. on the multi-tap for the word
hello you'd have to type 44, 33, 55, 55, 666 but on a predictive text
input you'd only have to key 43556.  That's one key press for each
letter of the word rather than 11 keypresses.

> A wireless phone peripheral with a letter/punctuation keypad and a
> larger display that would hook up to a wireless phone?  That might
> work and be attractive to people if it's not too high-priced.

Ericsson has just such a keyboard for several of their phones.


Personal replies are likely not read.  Please reply in the newsgroup

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 17:03:42 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Stanley settled back into the couch, and Gail M Hall <gmhall@apk.net>
said to him:

>  I can live with the klunky process of entering letters on wireless
>  phones if all I want to do is add a name to my phone directory.  But
>  now they are trying to promote text messaging!  I see that as just
>  another way to get you to use more minutes and get you into the EXTRA
>  minutes charges.

Right in one.

>  Right now I use VerizonWireless and am getting adds to get me to
>  register to use their internet via the phone.  Aside from the klunky
>  text entry problem, there is that LITTLE display on the phone that is
>  hard to see in certain kinds of light.  I can't IMAGINE trying to use
>  that thing to do anything on the Internet.

It was free for the holidays.

Now it's $.10 a message to send, and $.02 a message to receive.  

Anyone want into the pool on how much they're gonna write off?

>  If you have *any* trouble reading that print, then you probably would
>  have trouble reading the text on a wireless phone.

Nice one.  ;-)

>  But wireless phones for text entry?  FORGET IT!

Unless you have no other choice.  Being able to ping-test a machine
from Nextel Online is occasionally handy.

>  Otherwise people who NEED to connect to the Internet while away from
>  home or office will use a palm-size computer or laptop computer hooked
>  to whatever type of phone that can give them the best service for
>  where they are.  Wireless connections would probably be their last
>  choice but might be worth it if they can't hook up to landline or
>  satellite, etc.

It's not always possible to carry something like that with you.

No, you won't be writing Moby Dick on a cell phone, but "your plane was
moved to gate 26" is reasonable.


Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                         jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com      +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

From: Phil McKerracher <phil.mckerracher@dataflex.com>
Subject: Re: Technical Question
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 12:37:29 -0000


"nsachs" <nsachs@usc.edu> wrote in message
news:telecom20.150.2@telecom-digest.org ...

> I have a bit of a technical question I was hoping you might be able to
> help with.  I'm working on a project at the University of Southern
> California that involoves making a connection over a standard phone line.
> However, we have to give a demonstration of the project and won't have
> access to a phone jack.  Is there any way to simulate a connection between
> two phones by connecting them directly using an RJ-11 cord and external
> power source, or possibly some other similar configuration?  Any help you
> could provide would be much appreciated.

If you don't need to dial or ring the phones, a simple 12V battery in
series with the two phones will usually give you a speech path. A 50V
battery in series with a 600 ohm resistor would be even better, giving
you proper sidetone levels etc. A simple transformer with a 30V AC
output at mains frequency will usually get a phone to ring. 70V at 25
Hz would be even more likely to work, and so on. There are many small
cheap PBXs with half a dozen extensions around that can recognise
dialling as well. They often have ISDN network interfaces, but you can
ignore that and just use the analogue extension ports.


Phil McKerracher
www.mckerracher.org

------------------------------

From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Seattle Local Phone Service Options
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:32:58 -0800
Organization: Drizzle
Reply-To: joeofseattle@yahoo.com


On 11 Feb 2002 11:14:52 -0800, richards1052@attbi.com (Richard
Silverstein) wrote:

> I'm trying to identify any local phone companies which might be
> competing with Qwest (yuck!) here in Seattle.  Does anyone out there
> know if any of the major local phone service companies operate here?

Try:  http://www.featurefon.com/ they offer service with many extra
added services as part of the base charge for $19.95 per month.  If
you need to have ADSL though it's not an option.


Personal replies are likely not read.  Please reply in the newsgroup.

------------------------------

From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Cordless Phones in Israel
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:49:10 -0800
Organization: Drizzle
Reply-To: joeofseattle@yahoo.com


I have been asked to bring a cordless phone to Israel, but from my
understanding cordless phones in use in the USA i.e. 900 Mhz and 2.6
Ghz are illegal.  Does anyone know what frequency cordless phones
would work in Israel?

Personal replies are likely not read.  Please reply in the newsgroup.

------------------------------

From: Joe Wineburgh <jwineburgh@yahoo.com>
Subject: Comcast Tracks Users' Web Browsing
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 11:29:59 -0500


By Ted Bridis
Associated Press 
Published February 13, 2002, 8:23 AM CST

WASHINGTON -- Comcast Corp., the nation's third-largest cable company,
has begun recording the Web browsing activities of its 1 million
high-speed Internet subscribers without notifying them of the change.

Comcast said Tuesday the recording of each Web page a subscriber
visits was part of a technology overhaul designed to save money and
improve the speed of cable Internet service to its customers and was
not intended to infringe on privacy. The company said it believes the
recording was permitted by language in their service agreement with
subscribers.

Technology experts cautioned that the data could be subpoenaed by law
enforcement agencies or lawyers in civil cases, and they questioned
whether Comcast's move reflects a more cavalier attitude toward online
privacy in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

More at:
http://chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-020213comcast.story

------------------------------

From: Joe Wineburgh <jwineburgh@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Netscape Poll on International Monitors in Israel
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 11:49:18 -0500


Doesn't work unless you drop the '/click' at the end...

http://home.Netscape.com/ex/shak/international/packages/mideast

BTW the vote is now:

  Poll: Should international monitors be sent to Israel and the
Palestinian territories? 

 
Yes:   79%   8494293 votes
 
No:   21%   2261558 votes
 
	   10755856  votes total.
 
I'm guessing we're not talking about 'internet' or 'IP' monitoring, but
rather some type of UN group overseeing the military?


JOE

------------------------------

From: ptownson@sbcglobal.net (Patrick Townson)
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 08:55:20 PST
Subject: Last Laugh!  Phone Bill Delivers a Rude Surprise 


You really need to read this item on CNN news Tuesday. It seems a 
man was a fairly regular complainer to his phone company. There 
was always something or another wrong in his opinion.  When his
phone bill came last month, he was accessed a penalty for 'being
an arrogant bastard'. It was printed by computer on his phone bill.
Seriously. Phone company says they don't know how it happened. I've
left the links intact below so you can put it up in your browser
and read the story for yourself from CNN  yesterday. I used that
'email this story to someone' link to send it here to myself.  

Patrick

Title: CNN.com - Phone bill delivers a rude surprise - February 12, 2002
  
Copy and paste the following into your Web browser to access the sent
link:
http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&etMailToID=285300497&pt=Y

Copy and paste the following into your Web browser to SAVE THIS link:
http://www.savethis.clickability.com/st/saveThisPopupApp?clickMap=saveFromET&partnerID=2006&etMailToID=285300497&pt=Y
 
Copy and paste the following into your Web browser to forward this link:
http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=forward&etMailToID=285300497&partnerID=2006&pt=Y
  
Email pages from any Web site you visit - add the EMAIL THIS button to
your browser, copy and paste the following into your Web browser:

http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=browserButtons&pt=Y"

Instructions:

If your e-mail program doesn't recognize Web addresses:
1. With your mouse, highlight the Web Address above. Be sure to highlight the entire Web address, even if it spans more than one line in your email. 
2. Select Copy from the Edit menu at the top of your screen. 
3. Launch your Web browser.
4. Paste the address into your Web browser by selecting Paste from the Edit menu.
5. Click Go or press Enter or Return on your keyboard. 

<!--file:/etHTMLEmail.html template:HTMLEmail1-->

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #158
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Thu Feb 14 12:55:40 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id MAA07998;
	Thu, 14 Feb 2002 12:55:40 -0500 (EST)
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 12:55:40 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202141755.MAA07998@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #159

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 14 Feb 2002 12:56:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 159

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    AM vs. PM Thread (1/6/02) (Nitoy)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Marcus Didius Falco)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Liam Hatton)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones (Mark Crispin)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones (gpn@techie.com)
    Re: AOL Customers Livid Over Huge Phone Bills After Areacode (gpn@techie)
    Re: International Ringtones in the USA (caipira)
    Re: GSM International Ringtones in the USA (John R. Covert)
    Calling Card Startups (Doctor Java)
    Is This the Death of Dial-up? (Walter Dnes)
    Re: A Likely Urban Legend (Robert Dover)
    Wireless Phones for Text (was: Repeated Characters) (Marcus D. Falco)
    Re: Netscape Poll on International Monitors in Israel (John R. Covert)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated 
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
                        Independence, KS 67301
                        Phone: 630-841-7174
                        Email: editor@telecom-digest.org

Subscribe:  telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org
Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org


This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm-
unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and
published continuously since then.  Our archives are available for
your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/
mailing list on the internet in any category!

URL information:        http://telecom-digest.org

Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives
  (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives)

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      Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for
      a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system
      for archives files. You can get desired files in email.

*************************************************************************
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*   Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate  *
*   800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting.         *
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*   Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing      *
*   views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc.                             *
*************************************************************************

ICB Toll Free News.  Contact information is not sold, rented or leased.
Access to Premium (P) links requires upgrade to a paid subscription.

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Copyright 2000 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

   In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert
   has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and
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All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
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should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: nitoy69@hotmail.com (Nitoy)
Subject: AM vs. PM thread (1/6/02)
Date: 13 Feb 2002 21:19:37 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


David-

I find your comments about teachers more common than interesting.  As
a telecoms professional who is leaving the field to teach secondary
school Mathematics I have had ample opportunity to have my eyes
opened.  By keeping an open mind I have been able to develop a much
greater appreciation for the art and science of teaching.  Comments
about teachers in the U.S. abound, but when you think about it they
are generally no more accurate then depicting us engineers as socially
irrelevant geeks with soldering irons.

Food for thought.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 00:59:10 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution 


> From: Gail M. Hall <gmhall@apk.net>
> Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
> Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 18:20:45 -0500
> Reply-To: gmhall@apk.net

> One big disadvantage of those prepaid calling cards and maybe even
> other calling cards is that they don't work from everywhere.  We found
> that out when my sister tried to use her prepaid calling card from a
> motel room.

I had this happen once with a reseller calling card. I called the
motel front desk. They hadn't turned on long-distance on the phone in
my room when I registered.

------------------------------

From: Liam Hatton <me@liamhatton.com>
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 00:01:15 +0800
Organization: Customer of Connect.com.au Pty. Ltd.


On 14/2/02 6:32 AM, in article telecom20.158.1@telecom-digest.org, "David
Clayton" <dcstar@acslink.net.au> wrote:

> When I signed up for a pre-paid mobile SIM last year, (Virgin Mobile)
> all I did was fill out a web form.

> The only thing I had to do was provide a "real" address for delivery and
> a credit card number.

The ACA (Australian Communications Authority) explains about it at
http://www.aca.gov.au/consumer/brochure/pre-paid.htm , although they
are not very clear on how the information is shared or used.

The law is not very well enforced. A Shell service station sold me a
pack (for a friend) with no ID, and an Optus store sold my friend a
pack with only an ATM card (an ATM card is considered Category B, and
one category A type ID or two category B type IDs need to be
presented).

If you really wanted to be anonymous you could purchase a cheap
prepaid roaming SIM from somebody like MINT
(http://www.mintmiddleeast.com/) and use it in Australia (or any other
country).


Liam Hatton

------------------------------

From: Mark Crispin <mrc@CAC.Washington.EDU>
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 22:53:42 -0800
Organization: Pandamonium Reigns


On Wed, 13 Feb 2002, Joseph Singer wrote:

>> I can live with the klunky process of entering letters on wireless
>> phones if all I want to do is add a name to my phone directory.  But
>> now they are trying to promote text messaging!  I see that as just
>> another way to get you to use more minutes and get you into the EXTRA
>> minutes charges.

> Text messages don't have anything to do with air time minutes and are
> billed separately.

That's not always the case.  For most carriers, it is; but on Sprint
PCS text messaging is done via Wireless Web meaning that the minutes
are ticking while you key in a text message.  This was a factor in my
decision to fire Sprint in favor of another carrier.


Mark

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 11:29:31 -0500
From: gpn@techie.com
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones


On Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:30:02 -0800, Joseph Singer
<joeofseattle@yahoo.com> wrote:

> e.g. on the multi-tap for the word
> hello you'd have to type 44, 33, 55, 55, 666 but on a predictive text
> input you'd only have to key 43556.  That's one key press for each
> letter of the word rather than 11 keypresses.

Now, suppose I'm trying to punch in a Valentine's Day love note, and
press 5477.

How does the phone know if I meant "kiss" or "lips"?

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 10:19:12 -0500
From: gpn@techie.com
Subject: Re: AOL Customers Livid Over Huge Phone Bills After Areacode


On Mon, 11 Feb 2002 16:44:34 GMT, Phil Smiley <epsmiley@epix.net>
wrote:

> Sounds like the customer's LD carriers failed to make the appropriate 
> change in NPAs.  This information is in the LERG so it looks like
> someone dropped the ball.

I don't know why the LD carriers would be involved at all.

There is a town about five miles west of here that is in my local
(free) calling area.  Always has been.  Although it started out being
in the same NPA as we are, there have been about six splits and two
overlays in the original "201" area since then, and it's now necessary
to use 1+10 digit dialing to reach them.

But it's still a free call.  None of the splits or overlays have ever
changed anyone's local calling area.  These calls are not handed to,
carried on, or billed by any LD carrier, so they shouldn't get the
credit if it works, or the blame if it doesn't.

I'm trying to figure out what scenario would cost me a lot of money by
being inattentive to my auto-dialing string, and I just don't see it.
Say I'm auto-dialing a network point of presence in that town.  Now
suppose there's an area code split that splits off that exchange, and
then suppose they re-used that same NXX code for a distant portion of
my home NPA. I guess I could then be dialing toll calls without
knowing it.

However, before that, in fact the moment the permissive period ended,
my automatic dialing to the old number would suddenly begin to fail
and I would be unable to connect.  I would then surely know something
was wrong, and would have to change the dialing string to include the
correct new area code, or I wouldn't be able to get on-line at all.

If I were such a light user of the service that the entire permissive
period and the subsequent change moratorium managed to completely
escape my notice, then I don't see how my usage would be high enough
to generate multi-thousand-dollar bills.

Maybe it's bad reporting in these news articles, but I still have no
idea how this could have happened in real life.

------------------------------

From: sycaipira@hotmail.com (caipira)
Subject: Re: International Ringtones in the USA
Date: 14 Feb 2002 09:09:34 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Paul N. Hrisko <neural@prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:<telecom20.157.7@telecom-digest.org> ...
 
> While in Europe, people calling my number would receive the proper
> Euro.  ringtones for the country in which I was roaming (i.e. 
> ring-ring or riiiiiiing, etc.) Now that I'm back in the US, they
> sometimes receive these tones or the Mexican tone when calling. Most
> of the time they get the usual US ring. There's no pattern on time or
> day, or cell I'm in (I'm assuming this since I'm in certain parts of
> New York City most of the time).  Some hang up because they think it's
> a busy signal. Call waiting is on and the phone can handle four way
> conference calls.

> Does anyone have any idea as to why this might happen? I'm at a loss
> and VoiceStream seems to have no clue either.

I'm on Voicestream and have the same thing happening, no explanation
provided.  But does your phone ring, or is it silent when this
happens?


caipira
http://www.planetbeep.com

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 23:52:20 EST
From: John R. Covert <nospam@covert.org>
Subject: Re: GSM International Ringtones in the USA


> Now that I'm back in the US, [callers sometimes receive Euro
> ringtones]

This happened to me after my first trip to Europe with my brand new
Omnipoint phone way back in April 1997.  After I got back, people
would sometimes reach a Vodaphone "unreachable" message.

What's happening, I am almost certain, is that one of the switches you
visited is having hiccups and being restarted and restores its memory
from a saved state which happens to be while you were there.

When it comes back up, it sends a stale but valid copy of your VLR
(visitor location record) back to Voicestream, and Voicestream
dutifully sends your calls there until the VLR times out.  Then the
remote switch has another hiccup and picks up the stale VLR again, and
so on.

The technical guy for roaming at Omnipoint just would not believe my
theory, and at one point we were talking about sending in my SIM card
to dump its contents to "prove" that I had gone back to England again
and just wasn't admitting it ...

I've BCC'd him (or someone with the same name who is now wondering
what we're talking about and why I sent him mail) just in case he
feels like joining the conversation in TELECOM Digest.


/john

P.S.: don't reply to the nospam address; I won't see it.

------------------------------

Reply-To: Doctor Java <javadevelopersjournal@chiltown.com>
From: Doctor Java <javadevelopersjournal@chiltown.com>
Subject: Calling Card Startups
Organization: Java Developers Journal
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 11:42:26 GMT


Does anyone know of a good site that explains from a business
perspective the calling card market?

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 07:12:07 -0500
From: Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>
Subject: Is This the Death of Dial-Up ?


http://www.newswire.ca/releases/February2002/13/c1677.html

 Note: prices are in Canadian currency, CDN$ approx 63 cents US.

      ================= begin excerpt ================
Rogers Cable launches new Internet Lite product

TORONTO, Feb. 13 /CNW/ - Rogers Cable Inc. is pleased to announce a
new cable Internet service aimed specifically at dial-up Internet
users.  This new service will be available April 2002.

    Much faster than a dial-up connection, Rogers Internet Lite
service offers the advantage of access through Rogers Cable, which
removes the need to dial in. It eliminates the possibility of busy
signals and also eliminates the need for a second phone line for those
who do not want to incur the high cost of an extra phone line or
Internet Call Display.

    "We estimate there are more than a million people in our service
area who still use a dial-up service to access the Internet at home"
said Alek Krstajic, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Rogers
Cable. "This new product is ideal for people who only need one Email
address and surf the web occasionally. It will provide them an
opportunity to move to a more reliable, convenient and much faster way
to access the Internet for approximately the same price as dial-up and
with less frustration."

    Rogers Internet Lite service is priced at $24.95, including the
cable modem rental, with an installation fee from $49.95.

    Rogers Internet Lite will offer one unique @Rogers.com e-mail
address, up to 128 kbps download and 64 kbps upload speeds and
unlimited time online.

    Customers can obtain further information on the Rogers website at
www.rogers.com.

    ================== end excerpt =================

   Will this concept kill the viability of dial-up-only ISP's?  I can
still listen to streaming audio from 16 kbps (ugh) to 96 kbps on this
service.  The vast majority will not notice the difference between
this and 1 or 2 megabit service when surfing or downloading email.
The limit is what the server at the other end can pump out, and
internet congestion.  To borrow a tired old cliche/analogy, there's
really no difference between a Porsche and a Chevette on the
information superhighway if the speed limit is 55.  The really big
downloads will take longer, but they don't happen that often for most
people.

  This makes a lot of business sense.  Grab people from dial-up, but
don't offer enough speed to attract bandwidth hogs who download tons
of porn/warez/mp3.  The only worry is whether this will cannibalize
any of Rogers' current broadband business.


Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>

If you had purchased $1000 of @home stock in 1999, today you would
have $1.30.  If you had purchased $1000 of beer in 1999, today you
would still have $59 in empty cans.

------------------------------

From: Robert Dover <dover@nortelnetworks.com>
Subject: Re: A Likely Urban Legend
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 10:12:18 -0600
Organization: Nortel


Mike Hartley wrote in message news:telecom20.157.4@telecom-digest.org:

>> Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card, which
>> contains all subscriber related data

> *BBBBBZZZZZ!!! Wrong. Some fairly important info, but most of it is
> on the HLR.

True, but the IMSI and some critical Authentication info do reside in
the SIM.  However, pressing "#anything" during a call ain't gonna
provide anything.


BD

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 00:21:05 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Wireless Phones For Text (was Re: Repeated Characters)


> From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
> Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:30:02 -0800
> Organization: Drizzle
> Reply-To: joeofseattle@yahoo.com

> On Mon, 11 Feb 2002 18:20:47 -0500, Gail M. Hall <gmhall@apk.net>
> wrote:

>> I can live with the klunky process of entering letters on wireless
>> phones if all I want to do is add a name to my phone directory.  But
>> now they are trying to promote text messaging!  I see that as just
>> another way to get you to use more minutes and get you into the EXTRA
>> minutes charges.

> Text messages don't have anything to do with air time minutes and are
> billed separately.

>> For me the best use of the phone would be for VOICE input and output,
>> not displayed text or input text.

> That's fine for *you*, but some people like to be able to send text
> messages.  It's either cheaper or easier than making a voice call.

>> A wireless phone peripheral with a letter/punctuation keypad and a
>> larger display that would hook up to a wireless phone?  That might
>> work and be attractive to people if it's not too high-priced.

> Ericsson has just such a keyboard for several of their phones.

And such phones are popular in Japan.

On another list I have seen a story of someone who was on Cape Cod on
9/11.  He wanted to call his wife in Boston to see whether she would
come down to him, or he return home. Phones in the east were
impossible that day. He sent her a text message, she got it on her
email, and he got her reply on his cell phone. It took a couple of
minutes.

More commonly, the major airlines will now email you (to your
cellphone or pager) with information on your flights -- delays,
cancellations, changes of gates, all the information that may save you
some annoyance.

None of these are major markets, but, if the investment is trivial
enough, Verizon may make a few cents.

The real issue is whether American kids are going to take up massive
text messaging the way Japanese kids have. I see no sign of it. I see
kids just chatting away on their cell phones, but I rarely if ever see
anyone trying to enter text or read it.

On the other hand, there was one real-estate operator in Phoenix,
Arizona who was SPAMming text messages into cell phones or
pagers. It's easy, because the SPAMmer just has to know which block of
numbers each operator has. (The address is something like
telephoneNumber@message.sprint.com.)  Moreover, I am registered with
United Airlines to get messages about flights, and they just sent me a
SPAM. I logged on (using my computer, not my phone) and told them that
they better not EVER do that again -- that I let them SPAM my regular
accounts, but they better not ever spam my cell phone.  We shall
see -- it's been over a day and they still haven't responded.

>>  Otherwise people who NEED to connect to the Internet while away from
>>  home or office will use a palm-size computer or laptop computer hooked
>>  to whatever type of phone that can give them the best service for
>>  where they are.  Wireless connections would probably be their last
>>  choice but might be worth it if they can't hook up to landline or
>>  satellite, etc.

> It's not always possible to carry something like that with you.

> No, you won't be writing Moby Dick on a cell phone, but "your plane was
> moved to gate 26" is reasonable.
 
And there are combined Palm-Pilots and cell phones coming to market
(some from Palm, some from other makers).

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 00:01:24 -0500 (EST)
From: John R. Covert <nospam@covert.org>
Subject: Re: Netscape Poll on International Monitors in Israel


Not sure why we're discussing this in Telecom:

> Should international monitors be sent to Israel and the
> Palestinian territories?

> Yes: 79% ...
> No:  21% ...

If I remember correctly the Palestinians BEGGING for international
monitors about a year ago, and Israel was saying NO WAY at all.


 /john

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #159
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Thu Feb 14 20:11:49 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id UAA16017;
	Thu, 14 Feb 2002 20:11:49 -0500 (EST)
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 20:11:49 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202150111.UAA16017@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #160

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 14 Feb 2002 20:12:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 160

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Comcast Stops Recording Customer Web Browsing (Joe Wineburgh)
    Re: Comcast Tracks Users' Web Browsing (Robert Bonomi)
    Need Data (PB)
    Re: GSM International Ring Tone (Paul N. Hrisko)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones (Peter Corlett)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones (Liam Hatton)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones (Joseph Singer)
    Re: Cordless Phones in Israel (Daniel Rosenzweig)
    Re: Calling Card Startups (Jan Chowdhury)
    Last Laugh! An Amusing "Cryptoquip" (Linc Madison)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated 
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
                        Independence, KS 67301
                        Phone: 630-841-7174
                        Email: editor@telecom-digest.org

Subscribe:  telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org
Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org


This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm-
unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and
published continuously since then.  Our archives are available for
your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/
mailing list on the internet in any category!

URL information:        http://telecom-digest.org

Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives
  (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives)

Email <==> FTP:  telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org 

      Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for
      a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system
      for archives files. You can get desired files in email.

*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from                  *
*   Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate  *
*   800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting.         *
*   http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com                    *
*   Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing      *
*   views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc.                             *
*************************************************************************

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Access to Premium (P) links requires upgrade to a paid subscription.

One click a day feeds a person a meal.  Go to http://www.thehungersite.com

Only subscribers or registered users of ICB Toll Free News web site
will be able to access all or some of the full text of URLs provided.

LEGAL STUFF: TELECOM Digest (sm) is owned by Patrick Townson.
Copyright 2000 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

   In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert
   has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and
   enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order 
   telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has
   been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very
   inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request
   a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com 
   ---------------------------------------------------------------
    
Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as
yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars
per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.
Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing
your name to the mailing list.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Joe Wineburgh <jwineburgh@yahoo.com>
Subject: Comcast Stops Recording Customer Web Browsing
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 13:35:18 -0500


http://chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-020213comcast.story?coll=chi%2D
technology%2Dhed

By Ted Bridis
Associated Press 
Published February 13, 2002, 1:37 PM CST

WASHINGTON -- Comcast Corp., the nation's third-largest cable company,
pledged Wednesday to immediately stop recording the Web browsing
activities of each of its 1 million high-speed Internet subscribers.

Comcast said in a statement that it will stop storing the information
"to completely reassure our customers that the privacy of their
information is secure."

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the company had started
recording each customer's visit to a Web page as part of a technology
overhaul to save money and speed up the network.

Comcast reassured customers today that the information had been stored
only temporarily, was purged automatically every few days and "has
never been connected to individual subscribers." But it said it will
stop recording the information, anyway.

In response to the AP's coverage, Rep. Ed Markey, an aggressive
privacy advocate in Congress, pressed Comcast President Brian Roberts
in a letter today about the recording. Markey said the company's
action could be in violation of federal law.

Markey (D-Mass.) wrote that he was concerned about "the nature and
extent of any transgressions of the law that may have resulted in
consumer privacy being compromised."

The ranking Democrat on the House Commerce subcommittee on
telecommunications and the Internet, Markey said the 1984 Cable Act
prohibits Comcast from collecting personal information from its Internet
subscribers without obtaining "prior written or electronic consent." The
act was originally intended to protect the privacy of cable TV
customers.

The 1984 law does allow cable operators to collect private information
if it can show it needs the information to operate its service.

Comcast Executive Vice President Dave Watson said Tuesday that the
company was recording no more information about its customers than is
common in the industry and no more than needed to optimize its network.

He said that while the company was recording details about customer Web
browsing, it did not use the information to build profiles of online
consumer behavior.

"Comcast absolutely does not share personal information about our
customers, and we have the utmost respect for our customers' privacy,"
Watson said.

Outside experts, including the vendor whose powerful software Comcast
is using, said Comcast was recording more information about the online
activities of customers than necessary for the technology
enhancements.

"It's not needed," said Steve Russell, a vice president of Inktomi
Corp.  Russell said Inktomi's software also records other information
from Comcast subscribers, which can include passwords for Web sites
and credit-card numbers under limited circumstances.

Russell discounted privacy concerns, saying engineers are using some
of the information to improve Comcast's performance and that many
other Internet devices record data racing across computer networks.

But two of the nation's largest Internet providers, America Online and
Earthlink, said they purposely do not collect details about the Web
browsing of their combined 35 million subscribers.

"We definitely would have no interest in doing that at all,"
Earthlink's chief privacy officer, Les Seagraves, said. "We don't want
to have customer records about where they've visited."

AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham said, "We do not track the personal Web
activity of our members for privacy reasons."

A Comcast spokesman, Tim Fitzpatrick, said Web browsing was already
being recorded for its subscribers in Detroit and in parts of Delaware
and Virginia, and would be extended across the nation by the end of this
week.

"I'm furious," said George Imburgia, an Internet security expert in
Dover, Del., and a Comcast customer. "They're monitoring and logging
everybody's activities." Imburgia compared the monitoring to the
surveillance software the FBI uses. "It's an evil, Carnivore-type
thing," he said.

Comcast's recording is part of an overhaul requiring new and existing
customers to use behind-the-scenes technology known as a "proxy,"
which funnels a person's Web surfing through powerful, centralized
Internet computers controlled by Comcast. Customers previously could
volunteer to use these proxy computers, but they are automatically
activated under the new system for all subscribers.

To speed performance, these proxy computers retain copies of the
most-popular Web sites that customers visit. Comcast said it records
which are the most popular Web sites to determine which ones it should
copy to its centralized computers, although leading industry experts
said there was no need to match Web surfing back to the specific
Internet addresses of subscribers.

Experts said Comcast's own records of online activity would be
available to police and the FBI with a court order and to lawyers in
civil lawsuits, though Comcast said it did not begin the tracking
because of a government request.

"Once you're sitting on it, you're really inviting all kinds of
requests," said David Sobel of the Washington-based Electronic Privacy
Information Center, a civil-liberties group. "If they can't identify a
need to be collecting it, they should take the necessary steps to
eliminate it."  Copyright C 2002, Chicago Tribune 

------------------------------

Subject: Re: Comcast Tracks Users' Web Browsing
From: robert@bonomi.invalid
Organization: Not Much
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 20:36:01 GMT


Reported in today's (Feb 14) Wall Street Journal, Comcast has backed off
_completely_ from doing this. Says they will not keep any such data.

In article <telecom20.158.13@telecom-digest.org>,
Joe Wineburgh  <jwineburgh@yahoo.com> wrote:
> By Ted Bridis
> Associated Press 
> Published February 13, 2002, 8:23 AM CST

> WASHINGTON -- Comcast Corp., the nation's third-largest cable company,
> has begun recording the Web browsing activities of its 1 million
> high-speed Internet subscribers without notifying them of the change.
> Comcast said Tuesday the recording of each Web page a subscriber
> improve the speed of cable Internet service to its customers and was
> not intended to infringe on privacy. The company said it believes the

------------------------------

From: McMillin, Stephen H <sm1638@sbc.com>
Subject: Need Data
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 11:11:56 -0800


Patrick,

Is there a site that I can find revenue/inservice data for long distance
companies.  It is for a report at school.

Thanks!


Stephen McMillin
Area Manager-AIN Service M&P
2600 Camino Ramon  3S450C
San Ramon, CA  94583
925-901-6471
e-mail: shmcmil@sbc.com
AIN Home - http://inso.sbc.com/AINhome/AINHOME.htm

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 15:02:29 -0500
From: Paul N. Hrisko <neural@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: GSM International Ringtones


That's kind of what I thought -- a switch somewhere thinks I'm still
out of the country. The puzzle is that I've never been to Mexico nor
do I think they have GSM there either.

At 12:55 PM 14-02-02 -0500, you wrote:
> Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 23:52: 20 EST
> From: John R. Covert <nospa m@ covert.org>
> Subject: Re: GSM International Ringtones in the USA

>> Now that I'm back in the US, [callers sometimes receive Euro
>> ringtones]

At 12:55 PM 14-02-02 -0500, you wrote:

>> Does anyone have any idea as to why this might happen? I'm at a loss
>> and VoiceStream seems to have no clue either.

> I'm on Voicestream and have the same thing happening, no explanation
> provided.  But does your phone ring, or is it silent when this
> happens?

My phone usually rings - BUT, I also had some weird trouble with
voicemail where callers would get (paraphrased), "The cellular
customer is out of range and cannot accept calls" which you'd think
wouldn't happen -> the call going directly to VM instead.

They 'fixed the problem' by giving me a new number which strangely
enough has different prompts and menu choices for voicemail. I'm
wondering if it's because they've been upgrading systems since
Deutsche Telecom bought into them.

Customer service is great though -- they credited me for the ringtones
I had downloaded and let me pull them down again.

------------------------------

From: abuse@mooli.org.uk (Peter Corlett)
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 20:40:55 +0000 (UTC)
Organization: cabal.org.uk news service, Leeds, UK.


On Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:30:02 -0800, Joseph Singer
<joeofseattle@yahoo.com> wrote:

>> e.g. on the multi-tap for the word
>> hello you'd have to type 44, 33, 55, 55, 666 but on a predictive text
>> input you'd only have to key 43556.  That's one key press for each
>> letter of the word rather than 11 keypresses.

> Now, suppose I'm trying to punch in a Valentine's Day love note, and
> press 5477.

> How does the phone know if I meant "kiss" or "lips"?

On all my Nokia phones, it guesses[0]. If the guess was wrong, you can
tap "*" to cycle round all the alternatives it has. If it still
doesn't get it, you get the option to tap the word in in the
old-fashioned way and add it to a dictionary for next time. Some
people love it, some people hate it. Most fall in the first camp.


[0] Massive handwave. It uses a statistical system that appears to be
    part-based on a real English dictionary, and part on joining word parts.
    It gets the right word about 95% of the time, which usually means that
    one can type in a message without looking at the screen, and end up
    inviting people to the pub for a quick adds.

------------------------------

From: Liam Hatton <me@liamhatton.com>
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 04:56:26 +0800
Organization: Customer of Connect.com.au Pty. Ltd.


On 15/2/02 12:29 AM, in article telecom20.159.5@telecom-digest.org,
"gpn@techie.com" <gpn@techie.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:30:02 -0800, Joseph Singer
> <joeofseattle@yahoo.com> wrote:

>> e.g. on the multi-tap for the word
>> hello you'd have to type 44, 33, 55, 55, 666 but on a predictive text
>> input you'd only have to key 43556.  That's one key press for each
>> letter of the word rather than 11 keypresses.

> Now, suppose I'm trying to punch in a Valentine's Day love note, and
> press 5477.

> How does the phone know if I meant "kiss" or "lips"?

It may display 'kiss' at first, but (at least on my phone) you can
press the star key to cycle through the possible matches (to select
'lips').


Liam Hatton

------------------------------

From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 15:49:12 -0800
Organization: Drizzle
Reply-To: joeofseattle@yahoo.com


On Thu, 14 Feb 2002 11:29:31 -0500, gpn@techie.com wrote:

> On Wed, 13 Feb 2002 07:30:02 -0800, Joseph Singer
> <joeofseattle@yahoo.com> wrote:

>> e.g. on the multi-tap for the word
>> hello you'd have to type 44, 33, 55, 55, 666 but on a predictive text
>> input you'd only have to key 43556.  That's one key press for each
>> letter of the word rather than 11 keypresses.

> Now, suppose I'm trying to punch in a Valentine's Day love note, and
> press 5477.

> How does the phone know if I meant "kiss" or "lips"?

Actually, with the T9 the first choice is lips, but if you press the *
button for other options the second word that comes up is kiss :) T9
can also learn word spellings.  It also comes up with lisp! :)


Personal replies are likely not read.  Please reply in the newsgroup

------------------------------

From: danielzr@netzero.net (Daniel Rosenzweig)
Subject: Re: Cordless Phones in Israel
Date: 14 Feb 2002 15:47:53 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Well, the details regarding wireless devices are listed -- IN HEBREW
at the Israel Ministry of Communication's website:

Details regarding licensing Wireless devices for use in Israel:
 <http://www.moc.gov.il/moc/doa_iis.dll/Serve/item/English/1.1.5.1.1.html>
 http://www.moc.gov.il/moc/doa_iis.dll/Serve/item/English/1.1.5.1.1.html
(the URL says English -- but it's in Hebrew)

Telephone number for further questions +3-5198281 or 2 (The Ministry
of Communication's Office of the Electromagnetic Spectrum). It talks
about people importing/manufacturing needing to obtain a license for
selling the device (which you don't need)... another license to
approve the model of device itself (and for some wireless devices, an
operating license.)  I don't know if that means that once a specific
model is oked in Israel, your ok... or if YOU have to get a permit for
that type ... and then you can sell (or use) as many of these models as
ou'd like.

It may say somewhere, which I'm not reading ... and my Hebrew is
decent -- but I may miss a few of the more tech/law specific
things... so don't rely 100% on what I'm saying. I'd call the number
listed above to be 100% sure.  As of a few years ago, for people who
bring in CELLULAR phones ... the cellular carriers will NOT activate
them, until the specific model the user brought it to the Ministry of
Communications -- but things are probably different.  I don't have the
time right now to read every section of the document.

Frequencies / power allowed:
 <http://www.moc.gov.il/new/documents/frequences/acrobat/com_con1.pdf>
 http://www.moc.gov.il/new/documents/frequences/acrobat/com_con1.pdf

Short range wireless information is:

a) 43.710-44.490, 46.600-46.980,48.750-49.510,49.660-50.000 (mHz). For
communications and different purposes. Not more than 10 mW from a
distance of 3 meters of the device. The device needs a device type
permit and an exemption from needing a wireless permit. (again - I
don't know if individuals who brought devices in would need a permit
for device or not).

b)1.6 mHz-1.8 mHz,
26.96-27.2 mHz For different types of purposes. not more than 100 mW.
Needs same permits as above.

Basically, I think that most of those 10-40 channel (49 mHz) ones
would probably work. I know someone who used a 900 mHz phone near BG
airport. He got called and told that he was interfering with airport
communications -- and that he must stop using it.

Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<telecom20.158.12@telecom-digest.org>...

> I have been asked to bring a cordless phone to Israel, but from my
> understanding cordless phones in use in the USA i.e. 900 Mhz and 2.6
> Ghz are illegal.  Does anyone know what frequency cordless phones
> would work in Israel?

------------------------------

From: Jan Chowdhury <jan@goaccessdirect.com>
Subject: Re: Calling Card Startups
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 21:00:12 GMT


I am looking for the same. I am in the market for same.


Jan

Doctor Java <javadevelopersjournal@chiltown.com> wrote in message
news:telecom20.159.9@telecom-digest.org...

> Does anyone know of a good site that explains from a business
> perspective the calling card market?

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 13:17:59 -0800
From: Linc Madison <lincmad001@telecom-digest.zzn.com>
Subject: Last Laugh! An Amusing "Cryptoquip"


King Features Syndicate has a copyrighted feature called "Cryptoquip"
which appears in daily newspapers including the San Francisco
Chronicle. The puzzle for Tuesday, February 12, I thought was
especially appropriate to this Digest.

"The Cryptoquip is a substitution cipher in which one letter stands
for another. If you think X equals O it will equal O throughout the
puzzle. Single letters, short words, and words using an apostrophe
give you clues to locating vowels. Solution is by trial and error."

QGRCB W IMHEBMWBOF BOJOQWMNOBOM EOON XETVCGWBMGV COJX GI CO CWF BUU 
QWST CWSR-HXE?

The clue and answer are below, Rot-13 encoded.

Clue: P rdhnyf U
Answer: ZVTUG N SEHFGENGRQ GRYRZNEXRGRE FRRX CFLPUVNGEVP URYC VS UR 
UNQ GBB ZNAL UNAT-HCF?

(Just in case there's anyone out there who doesn't know what rot-13 is:

ABCDEFGHIJKLM
NOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Find each letter in the diagram above, and replace it with the letter 
above or below it. Better yet, look for the "rot-13" command in your 
newsreader or e-mail program.)

If you enjoyed this Cryptoquip, look for it in your local newspaper.

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #160
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Sat Feb 16 00:53:54 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id AAA13341;
	Sat, 16 Feb 2002 00:53:54 -0500 (EST)
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 00:53:54 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202160553.AAA13341@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #161

TELECOM Digest     Sat, 16 Feb 2002 00:52:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 161

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    2/15/2002  ICB HeadsUp Headlines (Judith Oppenheimer)
    'Star Trek' Tech Gets Limited Approval (Monty Solomon)
    FCC Rules Seek High-Speed Shift (Monty Solomon)
    Re: Wireless Phones For Text (was Re: Repeated Characters)(Jay Ashworth)
    Re: Netscape Poll on International Monitors in Israel (Gary Novosielski)
    Telecom Argentina (Silvio Halcon)
    FCC Moving to Legalize ILEC Monopolies on DSL (David Chessler)
    Re: Need Data (Marcus Didius Falco)
    Cell Phone Booster Antennas (Lou Jahn)
    Re: AOL Customers Livid Over Huge Phone Bills After Areacode (D.Esan)
    What Can Use a HYBRID LINE Card on a DEFINITY Switch? (Dirk)
    Re: Comcast Tracks Users' Web Browsing (Loren Cahlander)
    Motorola V66,V60 Unlock + IMEI Change, Language Installation (Victor)
    Re: Need Data (John R. Levine)
    Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones (John R. Levine)
    Re: Small Office Phone System (Mike V.)
    Broadband Bill Set For House Floor Action Feb. 27 (Marcus Didius Falco)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated 
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
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and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
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*************************************************************************
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Access to Premium (P) links requires upgrade to a paid subscription.

One click a day feeds a person a meal.  Go to http://www.thehungersite.com

Only subscribers or registered users of ICB Toll Free News web site
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LEGAL STUFF: TELECOM Digest (sm) is owned by Patrick Townson.
Copyright 2000 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

   In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert
   has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and
   enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order 
   telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has
   been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very
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   a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com 
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Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as
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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing
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All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
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should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Judith Oppenheimer <joppenheimer@icbtollfree.com>
Subject: 2/15/2002  ICB HeadsUp Headlines
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 22:14:27 -0500


http://ICBTollFreeNews.Com HEADS UP HEADLINES

 from ICB Toll Free News - Covering the Political, Legal
and Marketing Arenas of 800, ENUM and Dot Com.

CONTENTS FOR THE PERIOD ENDING FEBRUARY 15, 2002

FEATURE STORY:

P - THIS REVOLUTION, WILL NOT BE TELEVISED.
Mike Roberts, former ICANN President and more recently member of its
"Program Committee", seems intent on driving home the message that
ordinary Internet users should pay ICANN, or abdicate voting rights.
p.s. Remote webcast withdrawn, this revolution will not be televised.

CONTINUED HERE:  http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=5595

- THIS REVOLUTION, WILL NOT BE TELEVISED.

- NTIA'S INTERNET: A RUNAWAY TRAIN?

- SPEAKING OF NEUSTAR

- IS NEUSTAR A F*CKED COMPANY?

- INSIDE JOB: ICANN HIRES CRISPIN

/=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= advertisement =-=-=-\

ENUM changes all the rules. Will you be ready?

***  http://www.judithoppenheimer.com/enumsurvival.html  ***

\=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=/

- FCC 800 ROUNDTABLE SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 4

- FCC ANTHRAX ACTION

- WORLDCOM BREAKS RANKS

- IF ITS GOOD FOR THE GOOSE ...

- IF ALM'S YOUR ISSUE, SKIP GHANA

- ICANN CONTINUES PADDING ITS PAYROLL

ARTICLE ACCESS CODE LEGEND

ICB Toll Free News offers two valuable service options:
F = Free - News and Features articles
P = Premium - Unlimited Site Access including all Articles and Documents.

Registration information is not sold, leased or rented.

***  For additional information about topics and stories,
keyword search here:  http://www.icbtollfree.com/Search.cfm.

P - THIS REVOLUTION, WILL NOT BE TELEVISED.

Mike Roberts, former ICANN President and more recently member of its
"Program Committee", seems intent on driving home the message that
ordinary Internet users should pay ICANN, or abdicate voting rights:
"At Large comes up for the final vote in Ghana in March and it's
nearly dead" ... "There are tens of millions of Internet users," he
said earlier, "who routinely use credit cards for secure online
transactions," adding later, "If' there's no money where the mouth is
[membership fees payable to ICANN} ... the handwriting is on the
wall."  p.s. Remote webcast withdrawn, this revolution will not be
televised.  CONTINUED HERE:
http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=5595

P - NTIA'S INTERNET: A RUNAWAY TRAIN?

U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy: "The
Administrative Procedure Act (APA) ensures that unelected
administrators, who are not directly accountable to the populace, are
forced to justify their quasi-legislative rulemaking before an
informed and skeptical public."  Apparently, at least when it comes to
the internet, the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) could care less.  CONTINUED HERE:
http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=5594

F - SPEAKING OF NEUSTAR

What ever happened to the "policy advisory" body it promised to create
for dotUS?  CONTINUED HERE:
http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=5593

F - IS NEUSTAR A F*CKED COMPANY?

"I can't believe we can continue to service the deals we have. After
the dotBIZ fiasco, the dotUS disaster is going to be even bigger. So
we will have two failed gTLD's, and a oversized, overstaffed, overpaid
senior management team."  CONTINUED HERE:
http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=5591

F - INSIDE JOB: ICANN HIRES CRISPIN

"... depending on how you want to look at it, after this "long
international search," ICANN has either rewarded Crispin for keeping
secrets (if he did what they told him to) or chosen the one person on
the planet they know from direct experience cannot be relied on to do
professional technical work." by Ted Byfield 
CONTINUED HERE: http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=5592

/=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= advertisement =-=-=-\

-- Lost and Stolen Number Retrieval  --  ENUM Survival Strategies
-- Crisis Resolution  --  Vanity Number Issues, Guidance & Navigation
-- Tollfree Number Traces  --  Representation at SNAC, ENUM & ICANN Forums
-- Strategic Leadership + Competitive Intelligence  --  Custom Research
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-- Custom Problem Solving: disputes, litigation support, RespOrg issues,
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ICB Consultancy  --  http://1800TheExpert.com

\=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=.=/

Looking for the best 800 and long distance rates available today?
Choose from multiple programs - Rates as low as 2.9 per minute,
with no monthly minimums or hidden service charges!
Click here:  http://WhoSells800.com

\=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=/

F - FCC 800 ROUNDTABLE SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 4

This forum is open to the public. Parties interested in attending the
forum, but not participating in the roundtable discussion, will have
an opportunity to comment or ask questions.  CONTINUED HERE:
http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=5590

F - FCC ANTHRAX ACTION 
Preliminary test results indicated a small
amount of anthrax contamination at the FCC's off-site mail processing
center in Capitol Heights, Maryland.  CONTINUED HERE:
http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=5586

P - WORLDCOM BREAKS RANKS

What new Worldcom 800 agenda does this apparent strategy and/or policy
shift represent?        CONTINUED HERE:
http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=5584

F - IF ITS GOOD FOR THE GOOSE ...

The last time we looked, thanks to cannibalizing corporate trademark
interests, everyone ain't free to use "m", "t", or the rest of the
alphabet.  End rant.  CONTINUED HERE:
http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=5585

P - IF ALM'S YOUR ISSUE, SKIP GHANA

Word is, the fate of the At Large Membership will be decided during
ICANN's private retreat, three weeks earlier.  CONTINUED HERE:
http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=5587

P - ICANN CONTINUES PADDING ITS PAYROLL

Congratulations, Kent. In true ICANN fashion, you've earned it.
CONTINUED HERE:  http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=5588

EVERY 3.6 SECONDS SOMEONE DIES FROM HUNGER
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------------------------------

Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 23:17:33 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: 'Star Trek' Tech Gets Limited Approval


'Star Trek' Tech Gets Limited Approval

By Yuki Noguchi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 15, 2002; Page E01

Federal regulators gave a tentative go-ahead yesterday for a new
wireless technology that would make it possible for home machines to
"talk" to one another, for federal agents to locate hidden or lost
people behind walls, and for cars to stop automatically before hitting
a pedestrian.

Start-up companies, the Department of Commerce and analysts hailed the
Federal Communications Commission's decision as a victory for
consumers and the industry.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12590-2002Feb14.html

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 23:50:11 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: FCC Rules Seek High-Speed Shift


Phone Firms Would Keep Cable Rights

By Jonathan Krim
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 15, 2002; Page E01

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday proposed that
high-speed Internet access provided by telephone companies not be
subject to the same regulations governing basic telephone service, a
move that could redefine how Americans receive broadband service.

If adopted, the rules would hand large regional telephone companies a 
key victory: They would not be required to allow competitors to offer 
Internet access, e-mail and other services over the same souped-up 
telephone lines the regional carriers use to deliver high-speed 
service.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12815-2002Feb14.html

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Wireless Phones For Text (was Re: Repeated Characters)
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 02:15:49 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Stanley settled back into the couch, and Marcus Didius Falco
<marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com> said to him:

>  On another list I have seen a story of someone who was on Cape Cod on
>  9/11.  He wanted to call his wife in Boston to see whether she would
>  come down to him, or he return home. Phones in the east were
>  impossible that day. He sent her a text message, she got it on her
>  email, and he got her reply on his cell phone. It took a couple of
>  minutes.

This was computer security writer Simson Garfinkel, writing for, I
believe, Wired.  Excellent piece, indeed.  Low bandwidth
communications do have their place.

I can hear the "no, I had to learn Morse; you have to learn it too"
hams' saying "I told you so" all the way from here...


Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                      jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com   +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 21:19:30 -0500
From: Gary Novosielski <gpn@techie.com>
Subject: Re: Netscape Poll on International Monitors in Israel


On Thu, 14 Feb 2002 00:01:24 -0500 (EST), John R. Covert 
<nospam@covert.org> wrote:

> Not sure why we're discussing this in Telecom:
>> Should international monitors be sent to Israel and the
>> Palestinian territories?
>> Yes: 79% ...
>> No:  21% ...

> If I remember correctly the Palestinians BEGGING for international
> monitors about a year ago, and Israel was saying NO WAY at all.

Yeah, they still are.  I'm still surprised the poll is below 90%. I 
damn-sure voted yes.  Who in their right mind wouldn't?

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 23:38:24 ART
From: <silvio_halcon2001@yahoo.com.ar>
Subject: Telecom Argentina


No entiendo el idioma por eso no puedo leer la pagina esa me
interesaria saber mas de ustedes pero en espaol y saber si me
pueden ayudar.

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  Will one of you guys please read the
above to me?  I am hoping its not spam.    PAT]

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 21:25:27 -0500
From: David Chessler <chessler@usa.net>
Subject: FCC Moving to Legalize ILEC Monopolies on DSL


Looks as if the FCC is blowing another opportunity to get some
competition in the local exchange market.

* Original: FROM ... Dave Farber

  ------ Forwarded Message
  From: "Mike O'Dell"
  Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 16:06:21 -0500 (EST)

http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174510.html

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today said it has
tentatively concluded that broadband Internet access provided over
phone lines constitutes an "information service," and as such may not
be subject to the open-access rules that govern the nation's phone
networks.

While the text of today's "notice of proposed rulemaking" probably
won't be made publicly available for a couple days, the FCC signaled
that it intends to remove some of the regulatory fetters that dictate
how the nation's four Bell phone giants offer broadband services.

<snip>

For archives see:
http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 22:50:03 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Need Data


McMillin, Stephen H <sm1638@sbc.com> said:

> Patrick,

> Is there a site that I can find revenue/inservice data for long distance
> companies.  It is for a report at school.

This is on the FCC's web site. The best place to get it is in the
ARMIS reports that carriers file:
http://gullfoss.fcc.gov:8080/cgi-bin/websql/prod/ccb/armis1/forms/armis.hts

or summarized by the Economics division in the various annual reports.
You're specifically looking for Statistics of Common Carriers. I think
you can link to that off the ARMIS page.

http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/armis/ or just follow the links from the Common
Carrier main page www.fcc.gov/ccb

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 22:58:29 -0500
From: Lou Jahn <LouJahn@compuserve.com>
Subject: Cell Phone Booster Antennas


Pat-

Could I enter in this request into a future digest?  I am looking for
comments by TD readers as to whether Cell Phone Booster Antennas
really work or help? The only ones I've seen are the flat type that
fit under the battery.

Is there practical way to extend the range of a typical Nokia phone?
We lose signal strength on the AT&T system and the weirdest places.


Regards,

Lou  Jahn

------------------------------

From: davidesan@att.net (David Esan)
Subject: Re: AOL Customers Livid Over Huge Phone Bills After Areacode
Date: 15 Feb 2002 04:49:40 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


The morning paper here in Rochester, where this has occurred, says
that Frontier has agreed not to charge the customers, but they blame
AOL.  AOL blames Frontier for their implementation of the area code
split.

My best guess is that is an AOL problem.  

When the split was announced, my ISP, ATT Worldnet, automatically
changed the number I dial from 512-xxxx to 585-512-xxxx.  A good way
to go -- its really the same number, and I'm assured that it will
remain a local call.

Now lets say that AOL chose to be really fancy and examine the
telephone number of its user.  It discovers that the user is in the
716 area code (which was true prior to the split, and since we are in
the permissive period, is still true).  It then redirects the dialup
to a 716 number in the new and smaller 716 area code, eg somewhere in
Buffalo, which will incur long distance charges for the Rochester
user.

I'm not sure how Frontier figures in here anyway.  Its just a long
distance carrier.  Local service here is done by Rochester Telephone,
a division of Citizens.  (Rochester Tel used to own Frontier, which
was bought by Global Crossing, which sold RochTel to Citizens, before
its own demise.  The Global meltdown is being treated here like Enron
in Houston.)

------------------------------

From: DAM-MAN@SWBELL.NET (Dirk)
Subject: What Can Use a HYBRID LINE Card on a DEFINITY Switch?
Date: 15 Feb 2002 05:35:46 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


I have a few HYBRID LINE cards in my switch and was wondering what
model phones can actually be put on those cards?

I have heard that there are some phones that have ISDN capapbility.
Does that mean you can connect a ISDN modem to them and use it's
service? Kind of like you can use an analog modem on an 8411D?

------------------------------

From: Loren Cahlander <loren@ensodex.com>
Subject: Re: Comcast Tracks Users' Web Browsing
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 09:39:48 -0600
Organization: StarNet Communications, Inc.


'robert@bonomi.invalid wrote:

> Reported in today's (Feb 14) Wall Street Journal, Comcast has backed off
> _completely_ from doing this. Says they will not keep any such data.

What is it with these large corporations?  Why do they assume that we
won't mind them tracking us?

------------------------------

From: den@comoc.ru (www.VictorGsm.net)
Subject: Motorola V66,V60 Unlock + IMEI Change, Language Installation
Date: 15 Feb 2002 11:39:32 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


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- GSM (V66,V60, T280), CDMA (V60c) , TDMA, WCDMA 

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- Language only flashing (Fast language only flashing)
- Phone flexing (Activating and deactivating phone features)
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- You can buy flashing only software and get 15 free logs, or 
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Mail us now : info@victorgsm.net
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VictorGSM.net Team
Email: info@victorgsm.net
Web..: www.victorgsm.net

------------------------------

Date: 15 Feb 2002 16:56:23 -0500
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R. Levine)
Subject: Re: Need Data
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA


> Is there a site that I can find revenue/inservice data for long distance
> companies.  It is for a report at school.

For the ones that are publicly held, which is all the big ones, you
can get lots of useful data from their quarterly and annual financial
filings.  Visit http://edgar.sec.gov.


John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869
johnl@iecc.com, Village Trustee and Sewer Commissioner,
http://iecc.com/johnl, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against
Unsolicited Commercial E-mail

------------------------------

Date: 15 Feb 2002 17:00:41 -0500
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R. Levine)
Subject: Re: Repeated Characters on Cellphones
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA


>> How does the phone know if I meant "kiss" or "lips"?

> On all my Nokia phones, it guesses.

This technology is very well developed in Japan.  Written Japanese is
a combination of kana, which are phonetic characters, and kanji, which
are word symbols adapted from Chinese.  There are thousands of kanji,
so the way you type in Japanese is that you start typing the kana, and
it starts guessing the kanji until you hit a key telling it to accept
the kanji and start the next word.  Japanese has lots of homonyms,
words with different meanings and kanji but identical pronunciation
and kana, so they need very sophisticated schemes to guess the kanji
well.

Doing this on a phone keyboard is a little harder than on an
alphabetic one, but the techniques are the same.


John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869
johnl@iecc.com, Village Trustee and Sewer Commissioner,
http://iecc.com/johnl, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against
Unsolicited Commercial E-mail

------------------------------

From: valemike@yahoo.com (Mike V.)
Subject: Re: Small Office Phone System
Date: 15 Feb 2002 17:17:49 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Hello,

To expand on the Ericsson WebSwitch 2000 suggestion, looks like you
need an "M2" (i.e. two slots) WS2000. In these slots, you put in one
supplied analog trunk card, and one analog extension card. You in fact
can get up to eight analog lines in here. In fact, you dont really
even need an analog extension card. Just need an analog trunk. Get a
hub, and 5 or more IP Phones that Ericsson sells.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 22:07:45 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com>
Subject: Broadband Bill Set For House Floor Action Feb. 27 (Was:


CQ DAILY MONITOR MIDDAY UPDATE
Published by Congressional Quarterly and the CQ Daily Monitor
www.CQ.com

Thursday, February 7, 2002 - 1:57 p.m.

BROADBAND BILL SET FOR HOUSE FLOOR ACTION FEB. 27

     House Majority Leader Dick Armey, Texas, today made it official:
Legislation designed to deregulate the high-speed data market will be
on the House floor Feb. 27. It will be the primary business of the
House when it returns from the Presidents Day recess that begins next
Thursday or Friday. The broadband measure sponsored by Energy and
Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., would loosen
restrictions in the 1996 telecommunications law (PL 104-104) that
require the Baby Bells to open local networks to competition before
they can enter the long-distance telephone and data transmission
market. The Tauzin bill, pushed by the Baby Bells, is strongly opposed
by AT&T Corp., and by smaller telecommunications service providers
that compete with the Baby Bells.

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #161
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Sun Feb 17 17:10:56 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id RAA16171;
	Sun, 17 Feb 2002 17:10:56 -0500 (EST)
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 17:10:56 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202172210.RAA16171@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #161

TELECOM Digest     Sun, 17 Feb 2002 17:11:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 162

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Telecom Argentina (Michael Neary)
    Re: Telecom Argentina (Robert Bonomi)
    Re: Telecom Argentina (Ed Ellers)
    Re: Telecom Argentina (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Translation From the Spanish (John Schwartz)
    Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas (Joseph Singer)
    Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Ultra Wide Band (Robb Duffield)
    Autovon Information (Nitoy Nitoy)
    NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This? (corkie)
    News From Other Media (Monty Solomon)
    The Latest Fad From Japan (Marcus Didius Falco)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Julian Thomas)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated 
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
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                        Phone: 630-841-7174
                        Email: editor@telecom-digest.org

Subscribe:  telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org
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This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm-
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Michael Neary <mike@neary.com>
Subject: Re: Telecom Argentina
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 22:29:36 -0800
Reply-To: mike@neary.com


The translation from translator.dictionary.com:
Subject: Telecom Argentina

I do not understand the language for that reason I cannot read the
pagina that interesaria one to know to me but of you but in espaol and
to know if they can help me.


Mike

------------------------------

Subject: Re: Telecom Argentina
From: robert@bonomi.invalid (Robert Bonomi)
Organization: Not Much
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 16:38:04 GMT


[ note: I'm not an invalid,  just a dot-com ]
In article <telecom20.161.6@telecom-digest.org>,
<silvio_halcon2001@yahoo.com.ar> wrote:

> No entiendo el idioma por eso no puedo leer la pagina esa me
> interesaria saber mas de ustedes pero en espaol y saber si me
> pueden ayudar.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  Will one of you guys please read the
> above to me?  I am hoping its not spam.    PAT]

Roughly [ per "Babel Fish" <http://babelfish.altavista.com> ] :

  I do not understand the language for that reason I cannot read the
pages(?)  that interest(?) one to know to me but of you but in
Spanish(?) and to know if they "mepueden" to help.


Guessing (idiomatic clean-up):

I do not understand the language,  for that reason I cannot read the pages
that I am interested in learning from --  Do you have them available in 
Spanish, or know someone able to help.

Probably the best thing to do is point him to the Babel Fish (per URL
above), which will do translations for him.  You'll probably need to
run *your* reply through the 'fish, to get the Spanish for him.  Keep
the language simple, and the sentances short, and bablefish does a
pretty good job.

------------------------------

From: Ed Ellers <ed_ellers@msn.com>
Subject: Re: Telecom Argentina
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 15:45:27 -0500


PAT wrote:

> "Will one of you guys please read the above to me?  I am hoping its not
> spam."

AltaVista (http://babelfish.altavista.com/) says it says:

"I do not understand the language for that reason I cannot read the
pagina that interesaria one to know to me but of you but in espaol and
to know if they can help me."

Not much, but it isn't spam.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 12:49:10 -0500
From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Telecom Argentina]
Organization: Ashworth & Associates, St Pete FL USA


My sis took Spanish.  :-)

Forwarded message from "Pamela J. Ashworth" <pashworth@mindspring.com>

 From: "Pamela J. Ashworth" <pashworth@mindspring.com>
 To: jra@baylink.com (Jay R. Ashworth)
 Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 12:26:04 -0500
 Subject: Re: Fwd: Telecom Argentina

> From: <silvio_halcon2001@yahoo.com.ar>
> Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
> Subject: Telecom Argentina

> No entiendo el idioma por eso no puedo leer la pagina esa me
> interesaria saber mas de ustedes pero en espaol y saber si me
> pueden ayudar.

I don't understand the language for this can't read the page this 
interests me to know more of you but in Spanish (misspelled) and 
know if you can help me.

It would be better if the sender decided to end a sentence here and 
there. Sorry for the syntax; I couldn't tell where the sentences 
should end.

Pam from Boston

Latest Scott Bakula Appearances and News --*==*-- http://www.BakulaNews.com
      Scott Bakula starring in ENTERPRISE, Wednesdays at 8 on UPN
	     "I'm not obsessive, I'm FOCUSED"
    "It's always something. The problem is finding out *what* it is..."


Jay R. Ashworth                                       jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink             RFC 2100
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com    +1 727 647 1274

   "If you don't have a dream; how're you gonna have a dream come true?"
     -- Captain Sensible, The Damned (from South Pacific's "Happy Talk")

------------------------------

Date: 16 Feb 2002 10:54:35 MST
From: John Schwartz <schwartz@usa.net>
Subject: Translation From the Spanish


> No entiendo el idioma por eso no puedo leer la pagina esa me
> interesaria saber mas de ustedes pero en espaol y saber si me
> pueden ayudar

I don't understand the language.  Therefore I can't read the page.  It
would interest me to know more about you, but in Spanish, and know if
you can help me.


J.  

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To all you folks who provided me with
this translation, thanks very much.  I hope you same guys will get
back with this fellow and engage in some conversation with him and try
to find out *precisely* what it is he wants to know and how we can
help him if possible. Maybe I should change TELECOM Digest to look
more like Readers Digest, with fifty or so other languages in addition
to English.  In fact Readers Digest had been around twenty years or so
in the early 1940's when Dewitt Wallace and his wife Lila started
their first 'foreign language' edition, which I think was Spanish.
Would any of you like to take over the foreign language edition(s) of
this Digest, and pipe it through Babel-Fish (unless you know some
language well enough to do it for real) then dump it into the news-
group or operate a mailing list for that language?  I can't pay you
anything for it, but if you love telecom stuff and enjoy talking about
it, then you will get your reward.  :)

An aquaintence of mine and his wife translate the talk shows and
religious stuff on Family Stations, Inc into *Mandarin Chinese* (I
believe that is the dialect) and ship it off to Oakland, CA every day
for broadcast the next day on the Chinese shortwave station Family
Radio operates from their Oakland facilty on Hegenberg (?)
Road. Locally in SFCA it is station KEAR.  The European and African
shortwave stuff goes from their Florida facility. How would you like
to have a job where you listened to the radio all day and translated
it into another language on the spot for rebroadcasting in another
country?  To me, that would be a dream job. I would love doing it. I'm
sorry I only speak/write English, and not all that well at that.  :(
PAT]

------------------------------

From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 09:15:44 -0800
Organization: Drizzle
Reply-To: joeofseattle@yahoo.com


On Thu, 14 Feb 2002 22:58:29 -0500, Lou Jahn <LouJahn@compuserve.com>
wrote:

> Pat-

> Could I enter in this request into a future digest?  I am looking for
> comments by TD readers as to whether Cell Phone Booster Antennas
> really work or help? The only ones I've seen are the flat type that
> fit under the battery.

> Is there practical way to extend the range of a typical Nokia phone?
> We lose signal strength on the AT&T system and the weirdest places.

The sticker for $19.95 as seen on TV or for 25 dollars in eBay are
worthless junk and won't do anything for you except relieve you of
some of your money. 

Personal replies are likely not read.  Please reply in the newsgroup.

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 17:14:44 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Stanley settled back into the couch, and Lou Jahn <LouJahn@
compuserve.com> said to him:

>  Could I enter in this request into a future digest?  I am looking for
>  comments by TD readers as to whether Cell Phone Booster Antennas
>  really work or help? The only ones I've seen are the flat type that
>  fit under the battery.

>  Is there practical way to extend the range of a typical Nokia phone?
>  We lose signal strength on the AT&T system and the weirdest places.

So far as anyone I know has been able to tell, no, they don't.
Passive re-radiators are not a useless idea, but customarily, they've
been designed to be placed somewhere where they get a *better* view of
the remote radio site -- like those cellular passive antennas that you
put on your car windshield.

If you are losing signal in places you wouldn't expect -- *CALL YOUR
CARRIER AND COMPLAIN*.  Who ever said that Microsoft found it more
cost effective to promote fault-tolerant users than fault-tolerant
computing had it pegged.  You get the class of service you tolerate.

If any given carrier had *10* people in any given market who took
notes about the bad spots, and climbed all over customer service once
a week until they were fixed, we'd have better service.

Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                        jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com     +1 727 647 1274

 God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  Mike Sandman said the same thing to
me: that the little stickers you put inside the phone next to the
battery are worthless junk. I thought maybe Mike (sandman.com) was
biased since he sells a lot of phone stuff in his catalog including
a repeater-like thing which uses a regular antenna on your roof then
transmits the signal to several regular cell phones inside your
premises. I've had conversations with Mike about AT&T Wireless which
is my carrier.  They're not very active in this area of Kansas, and
that leaves me with a poorer signal over all than I would like.   PAT]

------------------------------

From: duffiera@hotmail.com (Robb Duffield)
Subject: Ultra Wide Band
Date: 16 Feb 2002 16:03:38 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Does anyone have a comment on the FCC's ruling regarding UWB?  How
about it's ramifications for the incumbent wireless, long-haul, ISP
providers, etc.?  Any recommendation on a group that discusses UWB
specifically?

------------------------------

From: Nitoy Nitoy <nitoy69@hotmail.com>
Subject: AUTOVON Information
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 01:14:23 +0000


Mark-

Are you still looking for historical information on AUTOVON?  I worked
on the upgrade from the analog to digital transmission system in 1988
at AT&T.  We installed a Phillips Nx5 (I believe) 140 Mb/s system.  We
did not upgrade the coax to fiber because fiber darkens with the
incidence of atomic radiation.  If you would like more information let
me know.  I was involved with the First Office Application between
Cheyenne Mt. and Lamar (my boss wanted to go to the Mountain so I got
stuck in Lamar!).  I remember that the 60's vintage nuclear blast
detector had been turned off for some time since the trucks on the
nearest highway kept setting it off, sealing the unfortunate craft
inside the hardened facility!

------------------------------

From: google@nosfratu.com (corkie)
Subject: NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This?
Date: 16 Feb 2002 18:49:31 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Last year, I paid for a domain through them for 5 years under a
special offer they where running. (Cost $79.95). They are now looking
1 year later for more money for the domain.

1) Anyone have a domain with them and managed to transfer it else
where?

2) How do I force them in to refunding the Difference in Cost  for 5
years, to 1?

Advice please?

John O. Connell

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 13:57:41 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: News From Other Media


Utah Getting Traffic 411 on 511
By Elisa Batista

2:00 a.m. Feb. 16, 2002 PST

Hundreds of thousands of Winter Olympic Game spectators are crowding
the streets of Salt Lake City, but Bill Justesen has managed to slice
into town on his daily 65-mile commute.

Justesen, a computer programmer who drives to work in downtown Salt
Lake City from the southern suburb of Payson, Utah, dials 5-1-1 on his
wireless phone as soon as he gets in his car. A pre-recorded operator
then tells him about traffic conditions and provides alternative
routes to the city if an accident were to occur.

The 511 service in Utah, free to call from any phone, is completely 
voice-activated -- the first of its kind in the country.

http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,50355,00.html

Behind Global Crossing's failure

 From Knowledge@Wharton
Special to CNET News.com
February 16, 2002, 6:00 AM PT


It seemed like a no-brainer at the time: As more people surfed the
information superhighway, demand for bandwidth would skyrocket,
companies would send and receive ever larger amounts of data,
consumers would watch feature-length movies with a click of the mouse,
and everyone would have a sudden yearning for streaming audio at all
hours of the day.

Naturally, any company that built infrastructure to support that kind
of data transmission would be hailed as the great enabler, the
all-powerful provider of transport nirvana. From a technology
standpoint, optical networking seemed to be the perfect way to realize
this vision.

http://news.com.com/2009-1033-839335.html

Hefty bill with added insult shocks Telecom customer

Telecom has ordered an investigation after a customer received an
account charging him a "penalty for being an arrogant bastard".

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=939017


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We touched on this last item from Monty
a few days ago as a Last Laugh when I pointed you all a to a link with
a story of the 'arrogant bastard tax'.   

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 13:41:43 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Latest Fad From Japan


According to a short note on the BBC last night, the latest fad from
Japan is false fingernails that flash to indicate your cell phone is
ringing.

Is this the solution to the problem of cellphones ringing in concerts,
movies, museums, and other inappropriate places?

------------------------------

From: jata@jata-mj.net (Julian Thomas)
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 16:44:00 -0500
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


In <telecom20.159.2@telecom-digest.org>, on 02/14/02 at 12:59 AM,
Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com> said:

> I had this happen once with a reseller calling card. I called the motel
> front desk. They hadn't turned on long-distance on the phone in my room
> when I registered.

Had a similar situation - the card I was using at that time used an 877
access number, and the motel PBX hadn't been taught to treat that the same
as 800.


Julian Thomas: jt . jt-mj @ net  http://jt-mj.net
remove letter a for email (or switch . and @)
In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State!
Boardmember of POSSI.org - Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc 
http://www.possi.org

Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #162
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Sun Feb 17 17:12:47 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id RAA16394;
	Sun, 17 Feb 2002 17:12:47 -0500 (EST)
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 17:12:47 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202172212.RAA16394@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #162

TELECOM Digest     Sun, 17 Feb 2002 17:11:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 162

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Telecom Argentina (Michael Neary)
    Re: Telecom Argentina (Robert Bonomi)
    Re: Telecom Argentina (Ed Ellers)
    Re: Telecom Argentina (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Translation From the Spanish (John Schwartz)
    Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas (Joseph Singer)
    Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Ultra Wide Band (Robb Duffield)
    Autovon Information (Nitoy Nitoy)
    NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This? (corkie)
    News From Other Media (Monty Solomon)
    The Latest Fad From Japan (Marcus Didius Falco)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Julian Thomas)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated 
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
                        Independence, KS 67301
                        Phone: 630-841-7174
                        Email: editor@telecom-digest.org

Subscribe:  telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org
Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org


This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm-
unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and
published continuously since then.  Our archives are available for
your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/
mailing list on the internet in any category!

URL information:        http://telecom-digest.org

Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives
  (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives)

Email <==> FTP:  telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org 

      Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for
      a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system
      for archives files. You can get desired files in email.

*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from                  *
*   Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate  *
*   800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting.         *
*   http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com                    *
*   Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing      *
*   views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc.                             *
*************************************************************************

ICB Toll Free News.  Contact information is not sold, rented or leased.
Access to Premium (P) links requires upgrade to a paid subscription.

One click a day feeds a person a meal.  Go to http://www.thehungersite.com

Only subscribers or registered users of ICB Toll Free News web site
will be able to access all or some of the full text of URLs provided.

LEGAL STUFF: TELECOM Digest (sm) is owned by Patrick Townson.
Copyright 2000 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

   In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert
   has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and
   enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order 
   telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has
   been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very
   inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request
   a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com 
   ---------------------------------------------------------------
    
Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as
yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars
per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.
Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing
your name to the mailing list.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Michael Neary <mike@neary.com>
Subject: Re: Telecom Argentina
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 22:29:36 -0800
Reply-To: mike@neary.com


The translation from translator.dictionary.com:
Subject: Telecom Argentina

I do not understand the language for that reason I cannot read the
pagina that interesaria one to know to me but of you but in espaol and
to know if they can help me.


Mike

------------------------------

Subject: Re: Telecom Argentina
From: robert@bonomi.invalid (Robert Bonomi)
Organization: Not Much
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 16:38:04 GMT


[ note: I'm not an invalid,  just a dot-com ]
In article <telecom20.161.6@telecom-digest.org>,
<silvio_halcon2001@yahoo.com.ar> wrote:

> No entiendo el idioma por eso no puedo leer la pagina esa me
> interesaria saber mas de ustedes pero en espaol y saber si me
> pueden ayudar.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  Will one of you guys please read the
> above to me?  I am hoping its not spam.    PAT]

Roughly [ per "Babel Fish" <http://babelfish.altavista.com> ] :

  I do not understand the language for that reason I cannot read the
pages(?)  that interest(?) one to know to me but of you but in
Spanish(?) and to know if they "mepueden" to help.


Guessing (idiomatic clean-up):

I do not understand the language,  for that reason I cannot read the pages
that I am interested in learning from --  Do you have them available in 
Spanish, or know someone able to help.

Probably the best thing to do is point him to the Babel Fish (per URL
above), which will do translations for him.  You'll probably need to
run *your* reply through the 'fish, to get the Spanish for him.  Keep
the language simple, and the sentances short, and bablefish does a
pretty good job.

------------------------------

From: Ed Ellers <ed_ellers@msn.com>
Subject: Re: Telecom Argentina
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 15:45:27 -0500


PAT wrote:

> "Will one of you guys please read the above to me?  I am hoping its not
> spam."

AltaVista (http://babelfish.altavista.com/) says it says:

"I do not understand the language for that reason I cannot read the
pagina that interesaria one to know to me but of you but in espaol and
to know if they can help me."

Not much, but it isn't spam.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 12:49:10 -0500
From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Telecom Argentina]
Organization: Ashworth & Associates, St Pete FL USA


My sis took Spanish.  :-)

Forwarded message from "Pamela J. Ashworth" <pashworth@mindspring.com>

 From: "Pamela J. Ashworth" <pashworth@mindspring.com>
 To: jra@baylink.com (Jay R. Ashworth)
 Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 12:26:04 -0500
 Subject: Re: Fwd: Telecom Argentina

> From: <silvio_halcon2001@yahoo.com.ar>
> Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
> Subject: Telecom Argentina

> No entiendo el idioma por eso no puedo leer la pagina esa me
> interesaria saber mas de ustedes pero en espaol y saber si me
> pueden ayudar.

I don't understand the language for this can't read the page this 
interests me to know more of you but in Spanish (misspelled) and 
know if you can help me.

It would be better if the sender decided to end a sentence here and 
there. Sorry for the syntax; I couldn't tell where the sentences 
should end.

Pam from Boston

Latest Scott Bakula Appearances and News --*==*-- http://www.BakulaNews.com
      Scott Bakula starring in ENTERPRISE, Wednesdays at 8 on UPN
	     "I'm not obsessive, I'm FOCUSED"
    "It's always something. The problem is finding out *what* it is..."


Jay R. Ashworth                                       jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink             RFC 2100
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com    +1 727 647 1274

   "If you don't have a dream; how're you gonna have a dream come true?"
     -- Captain Sensible, The Damned (from South Pacific's "Happy Talk")

------------------------------

Date: 16 Feb 2002 10:54:35 MST
From: John Schwartz <schwartz@usa.net>
Subject: Translation From the Spanish


> No entiendo el idioma por eso no puedo leer la pagina esa me
> interesaria saber mas de ustedes pero en espaol y saber si me
> pueden ayudar

I don't understand the language.  Therefore I can't read the page.  It
would interest me to know more about you, but in Spanish, and know if
you can help me.


J.  

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To all you folks who provided me with
this translation, thanks very much.  I hope you same guys will get
back with this fellow and engage in some conversation with him and try
to find out *precisely* what it is he wants to know and how we can
help him if possible. Maybe I should change TELECOM Digest to look
more like Readers Digest, with fifty or so other languages in addition
to English.  In fact Readers Digest had been around twenty years or so
in the early 1940's when Dewitt Wallace and his wife Lila started
their first 'foreign language' edition, which I think was Spanish.
Would any of you like to take over the foreign language edition(s) of
this Digest, and pipe it through Babel-Fish (unless you know some
language well enough to do it for real) then dump it into the news-
group or operate a mailing list for that language?  I can't pay you
anything for it, but if you love telecom stuff and enjoy talking about
it, then you will get your reward.  :)

An aquaintence of mine and his wife translate the talk shows and
religious stuff on Family Stations, Inc into *Mandarin Chinese* (I
believe that is the dialect) and ship it off to Oakland, CA every day
for broadcast the next day on the Chinese shortwave station Family
Radio operates from their Oakland facilty on Hegenberg (?)
Road. Locally in SFCA it is station KEAR.  The European and African
shortwave stuff goes from their Florida facility. How would you like
to have a job where you listened to the radio all day and translated
it into another language on the spot for rebroadcasting in another
country?  To me, that would be a dream job. I would love doing it. I'm
sorry I only speak/write English, and not all that well at that.  :(
PAT]

------------------------------

From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 09:15:44 -0800
Organization: Drizzle
Reply-To: joeofseattle@yahoo.com


On Thu, 14 Feb 2002 22:58:29 -0500, Lou Jahn <LouJahn@compuserve.com>
wrote:

> Pat-

> Could I enter in this request into a future digest?  I am looking for
> comments by TD readers as to whether Cell Phone Booster Antennas
> really work or help? The only ones I've seen are the flat type that
> fit under the battery.

> Is there practical way to extend the range of a typical Nokia phone?
> We lose signal strength on the AT&T system and the weirdest places.

The sticker for $19.95 as seen on TV or for 25 dollars in eBay are
worthless junk and won't do anything for you except relieve you of
some of your money. 

Personal replies are likely not read.  Please reply in the newsgroup.

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 17:14:44 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Stanley settled back into the couch, and Lou Jahn <LouJahn@
compuserve.com> said to him:

>  Could I enter in this request into a future digest?  I am looking for
>  comments by TD readers as to whether Cell Phone Booster Antennas
>  really work or help? The only ones I've seen are the flat type that
>  fit under the battery.

>  Is there practical way to extend the range of a typical Nokia phone?
>  We lose signal strength on the AT&T system and the weirdest places.

So far as anyone I know has been able to tell, no, they don't.
Passive re-radiators are not a useless idea, but customarily, they've
been designed to be placed somewhere where they get a *better* view of
the remote radio site -- like those cellular passive antennas that you
put on your car windshield.

If you are losing signal in places you wouldn't expect -- *CALL YOUR
CARRIER AND COMPLAIN*.  Who ever said that Microsoft found it more
cost effective to promote fault-tolerant users than fault-tolerant
computing had it pegged.  You get the class of service you tolerate.

If any given carrier had *10* people in any given market who took
notes about the bad spots, and climbed all over customer service once
a week until they were fixed, we'd have better service.

Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                        jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com     +1 727 647 1274

 God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  Mike Sandman said the same thing to
me: that the little stickers you put inside the phone next to the
battery are worthless junk. I thought maybe Mike (sandman.com) was
biased since he sells a lot of phone stuff in his catalog including
a repeater-like thing which uses a regular antenna on your roof then
transmits the signal to several regular cell phones inside your
premises. I've had conversations with Mike about AT&T Wireless which
is my carrier.  They're not very active in this area of Kansas, and
that leaves me with a poorer signal over all than I would like.   PAT]

------------------------------

From: duffiera@hotmail.com (Robb Duffield)
Subject: Ultra Wide Band
Date: 16 Feb 2002 16:03:38 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Does anyone have a comment on the FCC's ruling regarding UWB?  How
about it's ramifications for the incumbent wireless, long-haul, ISP
providers, etc.?  Any recommendation on a group that discusses UWB
specifically?

------------------------------

From: Nitoy Nitoy <nitoy69@hotmail.com>
Subject: AUTOVON Information
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 01:14:23 +0000


Mark-

Are you still looking for historical information on AUTOVON?  I worked
on the upgrade from the analog to digital transmission system in 1988
at AT&T.  We installed a Phillips Nx5 (I believe) 140 Mb/s system.  We
did not upgrade the coax to fiber because fiber darkens with the
incidence of atomic radiation.  If you would like more information let
me know.  I was involved with the First Office Application between
Cheyenne Mt. and Lamar (my boss wanted to go to the Mountain so I got
stuck in Lamar!).  I remember that the 60's vintage nuclear blast
detector had been turned off for some time since the trucks on the
nearest highway kept setting it off, sealing the unfortunate craft
inside the hardened facility!

------------------------------

From: google@nosfratu.com (corkie)
Subject: NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This?
Date: 16 Feb 2002 18:49:31 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Last year, I paid for a domain through them for 5 years under a
special offer they where running. (Cost $79.95). They are now looking
1 year later for more money for the domain.

1) Anyone have a domain with them and managed to transfer it else
where?

2) How do I force them in to refunding the Difference in Cost  for 5
years, to 1?

Advice please?

John O. Connell

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 13:57:41 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: News From Other Media


Utah Getting Traffic 411 on 511
By Elisa Batista

2:00 a.m. Feb. 16, 2002 PST

Hundreds of thousands of Winter Olympic Game spectators are crowding
the streets of Salt Lake City, but Bill Justesen has managed to slice
into town on his daily 65-mile commute.

Justesen, a computer programmer who drives to work in downtown Salt
Lake City from the southern suburb of Payson, Utah, dials 5-1-1 on his
wireless phone as soon as he gets in his car. A pre-recorded operator
then tells him about traffic conditions and provides alternative
routes to the city if an accident were to occur.

The 511 service in Utah, free to call from any phone, is completely 
voice-activated -- the first of its kind in the country.

http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,50355,00.html

Behind Global Crossing's failure

 From Knowledge@Wharton
Special to CNET News.com
February 16, 2002, 6:00 AM PT


It seemed like a no-brainer at the time: As more people surfed the
information superhighway, demand for bandwidth would skyrocket,
companies would send and receive ever larger amounts of data,
consumers would watch feature-length movies with a click of the mouse,
and everyone would have a sudden yearning for streaming audio at all
hours of the day.

Naturally, any company that built infrastructure to support that kind
of data transmission would be hailed as the great enabler, the
all-powerful provider of transport nirvana. From a technology
standpoint, optical networking seemed to be the perfect way to realize
this vision.

http://news.com.com/2009-1033-839335.html

Hefty bill with added insult shocks Telecom customer

Telecom has ordered an investigation after a customer received an
account charging him a "penalty for being an arrogant bastard".

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=939017


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We touched on this last item from Monty
a few days ago as a Last Laugh when I pointed you all a to a link with
a story of the 'arrogant bastard tax'.   

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 13:41:43 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Latest Fad From Japan


According to a short note on the BBC last night, the latest fad from
Japan is false fingernails that flash to indicate your cell phone is
ringing.

Is this the solution to the problem of cellphones ringing in concerts,
movies, museums, and other inappropriate places?

------------------------------

From: jata@jata-mj.net (Julian Thomas)
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 16:44:00 -0500
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


In <telecom20.159.2@telecom-digest.org>, on 02/14/02 at 12:59 AM,
Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com> said:

> I had this happen once with a reseller calling card. I called the motel
> front desk. They hadn't turned on long-distance on the phone in my room
> when I registered.

Had a similar situation - the card I was using at that time used an 877
access number, and the motel PBX hadn't been taught to treat that the same
as 800.


Julian Thomas: jt . jt-mj @ net  http://jt-mj.net
remove letter a for email (or switch . and @)
In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State!
Boardmember of POSSI.org - Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc 
http://www.possi.org

Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #162
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Mon Feb 18 15:19:36 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id PAA05191;
	Mon, 18 Feb 2002 15:19:36 -0500 (EST)
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 15:19:36 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202182019.PAA05191@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #163

TELECOM Digest     Mon, 18 Feb 2002 15:19:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 163

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Telecom Update (Canada) #320, February 18, 2002 (Angus TeleManagement)
    Book Review: "HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide" (Rob Slade)
    Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas (Don Kimberlin)
    Re: NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This? (R. Mereniuk)
    Re: The Latest Fad From Japan (H. Peter Anvin)

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 10:05:07 -0500
From: Angus TeleManagement <jriddell@angustel.ca>
Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #320, February 18, 2002


TELECOM UPDATE

published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group
http://www.angustel.ca

Number 320: February 18, 2002

Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous
financial support from:
** AT&T CANADA http://www.attcanada.com
** BELL CANADA http://www.bell.ca
** GROUP TELECOM http://www.gt.ca
** LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES CANADA http://www.lucent.ca
** PRIMUS CANADA: http://www.primustel.ca
** Q9 NETWORKS: http://www.Q9.com
** TELUS: http://www.telus.com
** UNISPHERE NETWORKS: http://www.unispherenetworks.com

IN THIS ISSUE:

** New Dialing Rules for Mexico
** Major Vulnerabilities Found in SNMP
** Nortel Warns of Falling Sales
** Telus Revenues Grow 11%
** Globalstar Files Chapter 11
** Q9 Buys Exodus Data Centre
** Shaw, Rogers Offer "Lite" Internet Access
** Bell Mobility Launches Higher-Speed Network
** Bell Makes Answer Supervision Mandatory
** BCI Completes Brazil Reorganization
** Sprint Offers BCS Video Service
** Telcos' Price Flexibility Curbed
** Telus Rate Changes Denied
** Microcell Reports Increased EBITDA
** Telesystem, BCE Increase Stake in Look
** Total Telcom Exits U.S.
** Rogers to Intro Video on Demand
** DragonWave Offers Broadband Wireless Gear
** Sigem to Be Renamed Mobile Knowledge
** How to Get the Best Cellphone Contract

NEW DIALING RULES FOR MEXICO: All calls to Mexico must now be
dialed using the country's new 2- or 3-digit long distance
codes, which replace the old city codes. To call from Canada,
dial 011 + 52 (Country Code) + LD Code + the 7- or 8-digit
local number.

MAJOR VULNERABILITIES FOUND IN SNMP: The CERT Coordination
Centre has reported a large number of previously undetected
security problems with the widely used Simple Network
Management Protocol (SNMP). Potential threats include
unauthorized privileged access and denial-of-service attacks.

** Ottawa's Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and
    Emergency Preparedness (OCIPEP) has posted risk mitigation
    guidelines at:

http://www.epc-pcc.gc.ca/emergencies/advisories/AV02-006_e.html

NORTEL WARNS OF FALLING SALES: CEO Frank Dunn said February
12 that Nortel Networks would have difficulty meeting its
sales target for January-March, which was 10% lower than
sales in the previous quarter.

** CFO Terry Hungle resigned February 11 because of
    irregularities in his stock trading. Frank Dunn is
    interim CFO.

TELUS REVENUES GROW 11%: Telus's fourth-quarter sales were
$1.904 billion, 11.2% more than last year. Wireline revenues,
which include $129 million from out-of-region operations,
grew 3.5%. Data sales increased 28%; wireless sales, 13.5%.
Net loss: $46.5 million.

** Telus added 160,400 wireless subscribers in the quarter,
    bringing its total to 2.58 million.

GLOBALSTAR FILES CHAPTER 11: Satellite phone carrier
Globalstar LP filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in
California on Friday. The company says it has reached an
agreement with creditors for a restructuring that would
transfer all of its assets to a new company owned by the
creditors.

** Globalstar Canada President Peter White says that "there
    will be no interruption of service or support to our
    customers."

Q9 BUYS EXODUS DATA CENTRE: Q9 Networks, a Toronto-based
Internet services provider, has agreed to buy a Web hosting
centre in Brampton, Ontario, from Exodus Communications.
Exodus, which was in bankruptcy proceedings, was bought this
month by Cable & Wireless.

SHAW, ROGERS OFFER "LITE" INTERNET ACCESS: Shaw
Communications has launched Lite-Speed Internet, an access
service targeted at dial-up users that provides 128 Kbps
download and 64 Kbps upload for $29.95/month ($24.95 for
cable customers).

** Rogers Internet Lite will launch in April, with the same
    prices.

BELL MOBILITY LAUNCHES HIGHER-SPEED NETWORK: Bell Mobility
has launched its 1XRTT wireless network, which offers data
services at up to 86 Kbps. Coverage, now limited to Greater
Toronto, will be offered in London, Ottawa, Montreal, and
Quebec City this spring.

BELL MAKES ANSWER SUPERVISION MANDATORY: Beginning April 22,
business phone systems that do not return Answer Supervision
will be unable to receive long distance calls over Bell
Canada trunks. Bell is advising customers to contact their
maintenance companies to ensure necessary changes are made to
electronic key systems, PBXs, IVR units, and other equipment.

** Answer Supervision is the electronic signal that triggers
    long distance billing. It is required by Industry Canada
    Standard CS-03.

BCI COMPLETES BRAZIL REORGANIZATION: Bell Canada
International has reorganized its Latin American joint
venture, Telecom Americas, to operate only in Brazil, where
it has four million subscribers. BCI has also raised US$300
million in new equity.

SPRINT OFFERS BCS VIDEO SERVICE: Sprint Canada has launched a
video conferencing and collaboration service using technology
from Broadband Collaborative Solutions, based in Richmond
Hill, Ontario.

TELCOS' PRICE FLEXIBILITY CURBED: The CRTC has told both
Telus and Aliant that they must file company-specific costs
(not amalgamated costs) to support tariff changes under
current price cap rules.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2002/dt2002-6.htm
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2002/dt2002-9.htm

TELUS RATE CHANGES DENIED: The CRTC has turned down Telus
proposals to raise local business contract rates in higher-
cost bands, while decreasing digital network access (DNA)
rates in competitive bands, in both Alberta and B.C. It also
denied an application to amalgamate Telus's DNA tariffs for
both provinces.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2002/dt2002-7.htm
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2002/dt2002-8.htm
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2002/dt2002-10.htm

MICROCELL REPORTS INCREASED EBITDA: Microcell Telecom's
fourth quarter revenues were $146 million, up 19% from last
year. EBITDA was $13.3 million, compared to $5.4 million the
previous quarter and a $43 million loss last year. Net loss:
$108 million. (See Telecom Update #316)

TELESYSTEM, BCE INCREASE STAKE IN LOOK: The restructuring of
Look Communications has increased the equity stakes of
Telesystem and BCE (through Teleglobe) to 39% and 34%
respectively. Telesystem and Teleglobe agreed in August that
they would have no representatives on Look's Board and would
vote their shares with Look's management. (See Telecom Update
#313, 319)

** Look has appointed Paul Lamontagne as Chief Executive
    Officer, replacing Interim CEO Michael Cytrynbaum.

TOTAL TELCOM EXITS U.S.: Total Telcom, which owns a fibre
network in Alberta and B.C., has sold its operations in the
United States. (See Telecom Update #302)

ROGERS TO INTRO VIDEO ON DEMAND: Rogers Cable will announce a
video on demand (VOD) service in Toronto tomorrow.

** On February 8, the CRTC extended the deadline for Rogers
    to introduce VOD to December. Last week it granted similar
    extensions to Videon Cablesystems, Corus Entertainment,
    Cogeco Cable, and Alliance Communications.

DRAGONWAVE OFFERS BROADBAND WIRELESS GEAR: Ottawa-based
DragonWave, a fixed wireless supplier, now offers equipment
that transmits wireless Ethernet at 50-100 Mbps between
buildings up to 10 miles apart.

SIGEM TO BE RENAMED MOBILE KNOWLEDGE: Sigem, an Ottawa-based
provider of wireless, location-sensitive fleet management
equipment, is asking its shareholders to approve a name
change to Mobile Knowledge Inc.

HOW TO GET THE BEST CELLPHONE CONTRACT: In the February issue
of Telemanagement, Mike Dunne and John Riddell examine how to
obtain the best terms from carriers for corporate wireless
service.

** Copies of Telemanagement #192 are $75 each: call 905-686-
    5050 ext 500 and charge to Visa, American Express, or
    Mastercard.

** Until February 28, new subscribers to Telemanagement will
    save $50 on the price of a one-year subscription, with a
    money-back guarantee.

** To subscribe, go to http://www.angustel.ca/teleman/tm.html.


HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE

E-MAIL: editors@angustel.ca

FAX:    905-686-2655

MAIL:   TELECOM UPDATE
         Angus TeleManagement Group
         8 Old Kingston Road
         Ajax, Ontario Canada L1T 2Z7


HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE)

TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There
are two formats available:

1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World
    Wide Web on the first business day of the week at
    http://www.angustel.ca

2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge.
    To subscribe, send an e-mail message to:
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COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2002
Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For
further information, including permission to reprint or
reproduce, please e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone
905-686-5050 ext 500.

The information and data included has been obtained from
sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus
TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations
whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy.
Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available
information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on
the subject matter is required, the services of a competent
professional should be obtained.

------------------------------

From: Rob Slade <rslade@sprint.ca>
Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User 
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 07:49:28 -0800
Subject: Book Review: "HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide"
Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca


BKHTMLDG.RVW   20011129

"HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide", Chuck Musciano/Bill Kennedy,
2000, 0-596-00026-X, U$34.95/C$51.95
%A   Chuck Musciano cmusciano@aol.com
%A   Bill Kennedy bkennedy@activmedia.com
%C   103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA   95472
%D   2000
%G   0-596-00026-X
%I   O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
%O   U$34.95/C$51.95 800-998-9938 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com
%P   680 p.
%T   "HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide", 3rd edition

If you are serious about designing documents and Web pages with HTML
(HyperText Markup Language) then you *must* have this book.

First of all, it *is* definitive.  Many books, though much longer,
don't begin to match the depth of this current work.  Musciano and
Kennedy cover the standard HTML up to 4.01 and XHTML 1.0, and, more
importantly, include the non-standard extensions of Netscape and
Internet Explorer.  The basics, text, rules, multimedia, links, lists,
forms, tables, frames and more are all thoroughly covered, point by
point and attribute by attribute.  There is even the SGML (Standard
Generalized Markup Language) DTD (Document Type Definition) for HTML
and the XML (eXtensible Markup Language) DTD for XHTML.  (This must be
definitive: it's the definition of the languages.)

Second, it *is* a guide, and a very good one.  Lemay's "Web Publishing
With HTML" (cf. BKWPHTML.RVW) is no longer as approachable as a
beginner's introduction to Web page creation, while Musciano and
Kennedy can easily welcome the newcomer as well.  The structure is
logical and the explanations are crystal clear.

In spite of all this, the book contains even more.  Web design is not
given a separate section, but seamlessly permeates every section of
the book.  Readers are constantly reminded that while extensions may
be fun, not everyone in the world has the same browser.  Alternative
methods are suggested for non-standard effects and functions. 
Shortcuts, suitable to only one browser or server, are recommended
against in order to ensure the utmost compatibility with all systems. 
The authors no longer have coverage of CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
programming, but they do explain the use of email to collect form
data, which is much more useful for maintainers of small Web sites
without access to extensive server functions.  The new chapter on XML
is brief, but is probably all that most people will need to know about
the language.

All this, and readable, too.  The content is straightforward and
lucid.  While you might not read this book for laughs, it is not the
tome to choose to put yourself to sleep at night, either.

I can recommend this book, without reservation, to anyone who wants to
learn HTML programming and use.  It is, still, the definitive guide
and the only one I find I need to keep on my shelf.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 - 2001   BKHTMLDG.RVW   20011129


======================  (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade@vcn.bc.ca  rslade@sprint.ca  slade@victoria.tc.ca p1@canada.com
                In terms of paradigms, shift happens.
http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev    or    http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade

------------------------------

From: Don Kimberlin <dkimberlin@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 23:33:43 -0500
Organization: Prodigy Internet


In article <Sat, 16 Feb 2002 17:14:44 GMT > Jay R. Ashworth
(jra@dorothy.baylink.com) and later, PAT wrote:

>> Is there practical way to extend the range of a typical Nokia phone?
>> We lose signal strength on the AT&T system and the weirdest places.


So far as anyone I know has been able to tell, no, they don't.
Passive re-radiators are not a useless idea, but customarily, they've
been designed to be placed somewhere where they get a *better* view of
the remote radio site -- like those cellular passive antennas that you
put on your car windshield.

The hope of the "stickers" is that they might help with multipath
cancellation that can occur at 2 GHz inside buildings and such.  They are in
no way a device that should extend distances in rural situations.  Thus,
they MIGHT help in urban fades, which is probably where their Chinese
originators got the notion.

Oh, as to the cost of the "stickers:" Two dollars or less each on
EBay; as low as 70 cents each in 100 lots on Ebay.  Just search on
"antenna booster."

As to the "passive re-radiator," you're close.  The accepted name is
"passive repeater," and you can find them under that name in Wal-Mart
for $12; somewhat less on Ebay under the same name.

> <PAT added:> TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Mike Sandman said the same
> thing to me: that the little stickers you put inside the phone next to
> the battery are worthless junk. I thought maybe Mike (sandman.com) was
> biased since he sells a lot of phone stuff in his catalog including a
> repeater-like thing which uses a regular antenna on your roof then
> transmits the signal to several regular cell phones inside your
> premises. I've had conversations with Mike about AT&T Wireless which
> is my carrier. They're not very active in this area of Kansas, and
> that leaves me with a poorer signal over all than I would like. PAT]

PAT, since you once mentioned you have the widely-used Nokia 5165 on
AT&T, it would probably help you to know that in rural areas, AT&T
rents a *lot* of 900 MHz analog towers from Cellular One. It's their
way of getting coverage the others don't have.  However, that really
convenient little stubby antenna on the Nokia 5100 phones is not
efficient on 900 MHz at all.  So, don't beat up on the carrier so
much. Get a more efficient antenna. I found external antennas on EBay
that plug into the coaxial connector on the rear of Nokia 5100 phones,
with a magnetic base to mount on t he car roof.  What a difference for
cross-country driving on the AT&T Wireless network!  On trips between
North Carolina to Iowa and Texas and return, I found not one single
dead spot on the AT&T Wireless network -- so long as I used that
external rooftop antenna on my Nokia 5165.  I proved it by unplugging
the external antenna occasionall in rural areas and the signal dropped
way down or off the screen when I did so. I recommend you get an
external antenna.

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I knew about the Cellular One
arrangement.  When I was talking one day to the AT&T representative,
complaining as usual about my service, she said to me 'hold on a
minute, I am going to locate you.'  She came back on the line a minute
or so later and told me, 'You are on Dobson's towers in Liberty, KS.'
She went on to say that Dobson was a company they dealt with that is
out of Tulsa, OK somewhere. When I am actually in Tulsa, my phone
gets a message saying 'AT&T' on the screen. Ditto when I was in
Chicago. But as the bus moved northward toward Kansas (I was on the
Jefferson Lines bus from Tulsa to Kansas City) eventually the AT&T
message on the screen disappeared and the message 'Extended Area'
appeared, which is what has been on the screen ever since. The service
rep said 'Dobson has towers all over Oklahoma and areas of Kansas.
They also rent to Cellular One, Altell and a few other carriers.'
The rep denied what Mike Sandman had said to me, which was about
this:  'AT&T holds on to their customers as long as they can, until
the signal gets so bad they completely lose the signal, and then
AT&T will pass the customer off to Cellular One if possible, and
to a third-party roaming service if no Cell One around. Mike further
said 'if the received signal is somewhere around one or better, AT&T
will clutch on to it, even if another local *could* give better 
service. But if AT&T loses you totally, then a local will pick you
up.' The service rep said to me that was a lie. She said that sounded
to her like someone who hates AT&T.

However, when I showed up at Cellular One (and also Radio Shack/Altell) 
with my Nokia 5165 phone and asked them to put it on their service
but let me keep the same phone, the Cell One lady said, 'it is a
5165 but it just looks like our phone. The firmware inside is AT&T
and that means it is written in the ROM and there is no way to use
that particular phone on our service, i.e. buy the same phone without
the AT&T firmware (in other words get it from a Cell One dealer) and
then you get 'real' Cell One service.  Kevin at Radio Shack saw me 
coming and shook his head and said "uh uh. It probably sounds like
the dealers want to sell you a new phone, but I don't care. You could
go over to the Altell kiosk at Walmart which is a corporate store
(of Altell, nee Kansas Cellular) and see if they could do it. I walked
over to Walmart and the Altell kiosk. The guy there told me the same
thing:  Kevin and the lady from Cellular One were not lying. If 
that phone goes off AT&T service, you may as well toss it in the
trash can. It *is* a Nokia 5165, but a bastardized version built for
AT&T. Kevin and the Cellular One lady both agreed with that asessment.

The AT&T service rep said what the competitors had told me was
essentially correct. That's *our* phone, she admitted, but she insisted
'AT&T does NOT insist on holding your service on a given set of 
towers no matter what. Any tower that has a poor reading on you will
drop you as soon as it can; when it cannot hold you any longer, and
she reiterated what she had said earlier about 'some people just
do not like AT&T and make up stories about us doing something like
that.'

My last visit was to the local Cingular Wireless shop. The lady
there told me she would make a confession to me:  "When AT&T had
service around here, I used to work for them. I worked for them for
a couple years. Then AT&T decided to get out of this local market
and my final job for AT&T was 'migrating' all the AT&T customers
over to Cellular One. Then one day they took down all the AT&T
signs and the place became a Cell One dealer. That was about
two years ago. A few months ago I started working here at Cingular
Wireless instead. Dobson rents to all of us. That's why you do
not get the AT&T features like #121 news service here, and you do
get Cellular One customer service when you press 611.  And even 
though double-zero (00) no longer gets you nationwide directory
assistance (because Southwestern Bell telco operates that out
of Tulsa) without giving them a calling card number to bill it 
on at their high price, you *can* do the same thing by dialing
411 from your cell phone (which is also	answered in Tulsa by
SW Bell Telco [or SBC as they like to be known now]) and get two
free calls each month before additional calls are 75 cents to
nationwide-directory, or any-directory. Either Pac Bell or Ameritech
thought that one up. They're both part of SW Bell now-days." 

Now about the external antenna: Mike Sandman sells an external
antenna which screws into a pedastel on the floor. You do take
the coax from that and plug it into the little opening on the
back of the Nokia 5165. That would be great if I sat in my room
all the time or could carry the antenna around with me. My 
physical circumstances are that since my brain aneurysm and
subsequent poor locomotion, I walk around by shuffling my feet
slowly as I walk, and getting in or out of a car is difficult.
Because our little village is about 2x3 miles in size, with a
population of only eight thousand people, I tend to walk almost
everywhere. North and south streets are generally numbered, one
through twenty-one  while east and west streets are tree names
such as Poplar, Oak, Pine, etc. I carry my phone in my jacket 
pocket, so I will try the little 'sticker' and see if it helps
any.   PAT]

------------------------------

From: Raymond D. Mereniuk <Raymond@fbntech.com>
Organization: FBN Technical Services
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 15:32:21 -0800
Subject: Re: NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This?


16 Feb 2002 18:49:31 -0800 google@nosfratu.com (corkie) wrote

> Last year, I paid for a domain through them for 5 years under a
> special offer they where running. (Cost $79.95). They are now looking
> 1 year later for more money for the domain.

Assume you are writing about the domain nosfratu.com which is
registered to a John O'Connell.  If this a bad assumption the rest of
this message is junk.  Looks like you registered it on or about
18-Jun-2001 for two years or so as the expiry date is 19-Aug-2003.
You should not have to pay for domain name renewal to on or about that
date.

It would appear your domain is hosted by IDIRECTIONS.COM which appears
to be owned by Namezero.com.  If you paid $79.95 for a 5 year domain
name registration what do you pay for web space and mail domain
hosting?  These are two separate billable items.  Web space and mail
domain hosting charges can be a variable charge item depending on
usage.  Nosfratu.com appears to offer free Email accounts.

If you are just worried about domain name registration it is easy to
switch and I would recommend going with the OpenSRS registry, just
pick a suitable OpenSRS dealer.  When you transfer a domain to the
OpenSRS system they charge a one year renewal charge but add one year
to your domain name registration.  Your domain name was only
registered for two years and if you have a billing dispute in regards
to web space and mail domain hosting with NameZero you are unlikely to
see the balance of the domain name registration period.

Are they asking for more money for domain name renewal or for your
hosting package?  I am not actually asking for details on what you pay
but only to determine if the disputed amount is for domain name
registration or hosting charges.


Virtually,


Raymond D. Mereniuk
Raymond@fbntech.com
FBN - Harnessing The Dynamics of The Internet 
http://www.fbntech.com

------------------------------

From: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
Subject: Re: The Latest Fad From Japan
Date: 17 Feb 2002 16:27:40 -0800
Organization: Transmeta Corporation, Santa Clara CA


In newsgroup: comp.dcom.telecom

> According to a short note on the BBC last night, the latest fad from
> Japan is false fingernails that flash to indicate your cell phone is
> ringing.

> Is this the solution to the problem of cellphones ringing in concerts,
> movies, museums, and other inappropriate places?

Most cell phones these days can be set to silent alert (vibrate), and
that doesn't seem to help since too many people are too stupid to
actually use it.


hpa

<hpa@transmeta.com> at work, <hpa@zytor.com> in private!
"Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot."
http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/puzzle.txt	<amsp@zytor.com>


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Back to my Nokia 5165 I was told that
in order to activate the vibrating mode, I had to purchase a
'vibrating battery', and the phone would know when thus equipped and
offer vibrator as a menu option, but not until then. Is that true?  PAT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #163
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Mon Feb 18 20:25:57 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id UAA11767;
	Mon, 18 Feb 2002 20:25:57 -0500 (EST)
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 20:25:57 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202190125.UAA11767@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #164

TELECOM Digest     Mon, 18 Feb 2002 20:26:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 164

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas (Don Kimberlin)
    Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas (John R. Levine)
    Vibrating Cellphone Alert (Don Kimberlin)
    Panasonic KX-TD/VM Help (James Gifford)
    Re: AUTOVON Information (Al Gillis)
    Re: AUTOVON Information (Don Kimberlin)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (Stanley Cline)
    Re: GSM International Ringtones (Don Kimberlin)
    Octel / Definity Message Lamp Problem (Mike)
    Re: The Latest Fad From Japan (Joe Wineburgh)
    Re: Wireless Phones For Text (was Re: Repeated Characters) (D Kimberlin)
    Cordless Phones (Ramakrishna S)
    Spanish Grammar Lesson (Chris N. Acuma)
    Re: Telecom Argentina (puntomaupunto_at_tin.it@example.invalid)
    Another Spanish Lesson (Schilling, Ben)
    More Entries For the Business Directory (David B. Horvath)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated 
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Don Kimberlin <dkimberlin@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 17:51:40 -0500
Organization: Prodigy Internet


Getting into all the gobbledegook of consumer cellphones gets, like
"Alice in Wonderland," curioser and curiouser.  As to an external
antenna that might help PAT in his rural town on the 900 mHx towers, I
have seen clip-on dipoles made to fit the stubby little
"mini-rubber-ducky"antenna of the Nokia phones. Some EBay searching on
"5165 antenna" might turn one up.  Simply getting more "skyhook" for
the 5165 should be helpful.

As to other matters of the operating software (these puppies are
heavily software-based, even to changing frequency bands and
modulation characteristics, such that the selfsame hardware phone will
not operate on a different network at all ... and they basically are so
cheap that they are not repaired.  A "factory refurb" consists of
washing them and reprogramming them on a test bench.)

In article <Sun, 17 Feb 2002 23:33:43 -0500 PAT wrote (in part):

> If that phone goes off AT&T service, you may as well toss it in the
> trash can. It *is* a Nokia 5165, but a bastardized version built for
> AT&T. Kevin and the Cellular One lady both agreed with that asessment.
> The AT&T service rep said what the competitors had told me was
> essentially correct. That's *our* phone....

Well, it's really only theirs in terms of the software load. It's not
a burned ROM - it's an EEPROM And here is the NEWS for anyone so
inclined.  Nokia's software loaders have been pirated and can be had
on a bunch of hacker websites.  With a serial port cable and the
software loader, you can reprogram a Nokia for the network you
wish. Just hunt for the brand name and model number, and largely
around Eastern Europe and Russia, you'll start finding websites with
lots of curious stuff.  BEWARE: I will not guarantee you won't ruin
your phone.  This software lets you wipe it out, and whether you get
it back in workable form is your risk!

Now, the nature of our business world being so narrow in the mindset
it teaches its employees, even the people who work in the refurb
centers probably don't even know that the hardware they hold can be
programmed to work on the competition's network.

I'm not here to tell you that figuring it out and getting it done is
simple, but what you ought to now is there is a world of cellphone
hackers out there who do it for sport -- and occasionally to make a
buck. The economics probably wouldn't work out for Joe Consumer, but
for those into the "sport" of it, some neat tricks can be done.  One
that I have seen is to cause a Nokia display to constantly show its
received signal level in dBm -- kind of an interesting exercise for a
radio engineer to have on his Nokia.

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Getting the field strength is easy.
Just enter *3001#12345# from the keypad of a Nokia 5165 phone. You
then get a new screen with maintainence conditions. Look for Field
Test and turn it on.  You have to then power the phone off and back
on. To change the on/off status in the future, enter 'menu 10' which
is not there previously.   PAT]

------------------------------

Date: 18 Feb 2002 16:24:04 -0500
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R. Levine)
Subject: Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA


> I am looking for comments by TD readers as to whether Cell 
> Phone Booster Antennas really work or help?

Seems pretty implausible.  The last I heard, cell phone makers
employed large numbers of presumably competent engineers, so if there
were a way to make the antenna on the phone more effective, they would
do it.

The good hands-free kits (which at the moment only Nokia seems to
make) have a connection for a external antenna, usually a half-wave
antenna like car phones all used to have, that will improve your
phone's performance.

Also, you can buy antenna boosters that sit in line between the phone
and the external antenna and amplifies the signal up to 3W.  They
require external power, usually 12V so you can install them in your
car.

http://www.jdteck.com/
http://boatantenna.com/cellular/booster.html
http://www.orausa.com/amp_mobile/sb2000.jsp

These things are not cheap, about $200, but they look like they should
really work unlike the little doozits that go inside the phone.


John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869
johnl@iecc.com, Village Trustee and Sewer Commissioner http://iecc.com/johnl, 
Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail

------------------------------

From: Don Kimberlin <dkimberlin@prodigy.net>
Subject: Vibrating Cellphone Alert
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 17:58:22 -0500
Organization: Prodigy Internet


In article <17 Feb 2002 16:27:40 -0800 PAT wrote:

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Back to my Nokia 5165 I was told that
> in order to activate the vibrating mode, I had to purchase a
> 'vibrating battery', and the phone would know when thus equipped and
> offer vibrator as a menu option, but not until then. Is that true? PAT]

S'true, Pat ... the vibrating battery option and a number of others
are sensed by contacts when you place the appropriate sort of battery
on the phone.

I even have a battery with a speakerphone built in, such that when I
place that battery on the phone, the speakerphone (which also has its
own little "on/off" switch) causes the display to read "handsfree"
when the speakerphone is on.  Surprisingly, despite the noise in my
old car, the speakerphone works audibly even when riding along down
the road. (What a far cry from our attempts at "speakerphones" of the
1960's!)

------------------------------

From: James Gifford <jgifford@surewest.not>
Subject: Panasonic KX-TD/VM help
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 15:18:48 -0800
Organization: Nitrosyncretic Press
Reply-To: jgifford@surewest.not


All right. I give up. Uncle! I surrender!

Despite a fair amount of experience with CTI, voicemail, telecom, and
PC-based telephony systems, I am completely stumped by my new
Panasonic system. Despite having all the manuals, I cannot make this
*&^%#$ combination work the way I want; I suspect it's a limitation of
Panasonic's sort of peculiar organization of CO and extension
management.

I have a KX-TD1232-1 KSU, no expansion modules (8x16). I have a
KX-TVS200 voicemail system, two TVS-102 port modules. This combination
services 5 CO lines, about 6 extensions, and four different logical
entities (2 house, 2 business).

After much hacking and careful reading of the manuals, I have them 
connected (DPITS mode) and four VM ports operating - at least, I can 
dial each of them directly. I can't for the life of me figure out how to 
get them to pick up incoming calls in either VM or AA mode.

How in THE HELL do I make the VM system pick up after 4 rings on a 
selected trunk line?



|           James Gifford - Nitrosyncretic Press            |
| http://www.nitrosyncretic.com for the Heinlein FAQ & more |
|  Tired of auto-spam... change "not" to "net" for replies  |

------------------------------

From: Al Gillis <alg@aracnet.com>
Subject: Re: AUTOVON Information
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 17:23:06 -0800
Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com
Reply-To: Al Gillis <alg@aracnet.com>


Reference to an AUTOVON web page would be very interesting, if anyone
knows of one!  For those interested in things of that ilk there is
whitealice.com.


Al


Nitoy Nitoy <nitoy69@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:telecom20.162.9@telecom-digest.org...

> Are you still looking for historical information on AUTOVON?  I worked
> on the upgrade from the analog to digital transmission system in 1988
> at AT&T.  We installed a Phillips Nx5 (I believe) 140 Mb/s system.  We
> did not upgrade the coax to fiber because fiber darkens with the
> incidence of atomic radiation.  If you would like more information let
> me know.  I was involved with the First Office Application between
> Cheyenne Mt. and Lamar (my boss wanted to go to the Mountain so I got
> stuck in Lamar!).  I remember that the 60's vintage nuclear blast
> detector had been turned off for some time since the trucks on the
> nearest highway kept setting it off, sealing the unfortunate craft
> inside the hardened facility!

------------------------------

From: Don Kimberlin <dkimberlin@prodigy.net>
Subject: AUTOVON Information
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 23:50:57 -0500
Organization: Prodigy Internet


In article < Sun, 17 Feb 2002 01:14:23 +0000 > Nitoy Nitoy
(nitoy69@hotmail.com) wrote (in part):

> I remember that the 60's vintage nuclear blast
> detector had been turned off for some time since the trucks on the
> nearest highway kept setting it off, sealing the unfortunate craft
> inside the hardened facility!

Ha!  Similar story for the one at AT&T in Polk City, Florida, many
miles off the main highway.  There, the energy from the lightning in
Florida thunderstorms would trip the d---- thing every afternoon.
Bell Labs said, "Impossible!" but of course deigned to ascertain the
truth of the matter.

Similarly, we'd have very infrequent but very real total microwave
fades of the entire 3700-4200 MHz TD-2 band that lasted up to ten
minutes.  When they happened, we could run outside and see the heavy
black cloud some miles away in the direction of the fade -- but Bell
Labs had stock answers.  The stock answer for this one was, "There
have never been raindrops large enough to become absorptive elements
at 4 GHz."

Of course, they wouldn't come out to our country location in Florida
to see the phenomenon, either. (If they ever found out that Polk City
was only a half hour from Disney World, we probably would have been
very popular with Bell Labs.)

------------------------------

From: Stanley Cline <sc1@roamer1.org>
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 20:10:03 -0500
Organization: roamer1.org, Dunwoody (Atlanta), GA, USA
Reply-To: sc1@roamer1.org


On Sun, 17 Feb 2002 16:44:00 -0500, jata@jata-mj.net (Julian Thomas)
wrote:

> Had a similar situation - the card I was using at that time used an 877
> access number, and the motel PBX hadn't been taught to treat that the same
> as 800.

I know of some payphones at a mall in the Atlanta area that *STILL* do
not recognize 877, 866, local numbers in NPA 256 (568 and 579 NXXs),
or 101xxxx carrier codes -- EVEN AFTER COMPLAINTS TO THE GEORGIA PSC!
(The phones in question are "AT&T" private payphones, which Lucent NO
LONGER SUPPORTS, owned by the *MALL* itself and not a COCOT company.)

That said, "rogue" payphones and PBXs are a lot less common now than
they used to be.


Stanley Cline -- sc1 at roamer1 dot org -- http://www.roamer1.org/

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.  There might
be a law against it by that time."  -/usr/games/fortune

------------------------------

From: Don Kimberlin <dkimberlin@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: GSM International Ringtones
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 22:56:24 -0500
Organization: Prodigy Internet


In message <Thu, 14 Feb 2002 15:02:29 -0500>  Paul N. Hrisko
(neural@prodigy.net) wrote:

> That's kind of what I thought -- a switch somewhere thinks I'm still
> out of the country. The puzzle is that I've never been to Mexico nor
> do I think they have GSM there either.

What you are calling "Mexican ringtone" could well be what LM Ericcson
telephone equipment has provided as a pacifier ring for decades all
over the world, wherever there is Ericcson equipment.  That sound can
be found in nations ranging from Argentina to Zambia, wherever
Ericcson has been sold.  So, if your cellular provider in England has
Ericcson equipment, they would likely send the normative Ericcson
pacifier ring that you know as being "Mexican."

------------------------------

From: anon225588@yahoo.com (Mike)
Subject: Octel / Definity Message Lamp Problem
Date: 18 Feb 2002 08:06:48 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Hello,

I have a Definity G3si Release 6 BCS with an Octel 250.  We have about
75 users. About five to eight users have experienced this problem, the
message lamp either does not turn on when there is a new message or
the message lamp stays on even after the message is listened to.  I
have switched phones to no avail.  We have 6408D+.

I have done two troubleshooting steps:

1. Ran "Clear AMW All [EXT]" on the Definity.
2. Had them delete all their voicemails.

This has corrected the problem for about 4 people.  There are still a
few left who continue to experience this problem.  I am all out of
ideas.  If anyone is aware of the solution to this please let me know.

Thank you!


Mike

------------------------------

From: Joe Wineburgh <jwineburgh@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: The Latest Fad From Japan
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 15:57:45 -0500


It is true. I had a 6160, which I bought a vibrate battery for -- lo
and behold after putting the vibrate battery on (and charging it) I
went into the menu for ring options and there was now an option for
vibrate/ring+vib/etc. I'd give you the name of the manufacturer, but I
wasn't happy with the performance of the battery. Be warned - buy from
a reputable manufacturer! They also make vibrating/light up pens you
can put in your shirt pocket and I'm sure many other strange things.

A caution -- I believe it's AT&T that does this (as well as
others). If the majority of your calls are from out of the area where
your cellular number is, they may give you grief. I remember reading
about this elsewhere -- the policy may have changed since then. They
may force you to get a local (to the area you use it most) number, or
if they've since abandoned service there - cancel the service
altogether.


JOE

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Back to my Nokia 5165 I was told that in
> order to activate the vibrating mode, I had to purchase a 'vibrating
> battery', and the phone would know when thus equipped and offer vibrator
> as a menu option, but not until then. Is that true?  PAT]

------------------------------

From: Don Kimberlin <dkimberlin@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: Wireless Phones For Text (was Re: Repeated Characters)
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 23:04:38 -0500
Organization: Prodigy Internet


In article <Fri, 15 Feb 2002 02:15:49 GMT > Jay R. Ashworth
(jra@dorothy.baylink.com) wrote:

> This was computer security writer Simson Garfinkel, writing for, I
> believe, Wired. Excellent piece, indeed. Low bandwidth
> communications do have their place.

If you dig deeply enough into submarine cable history, you will find
the story about how messages were relayed from New York to Boston via
Paris on submarine cables across the Atlantic and back when, in the
Great Blizzard of the 1880's, all lines between New York and Boston
were out for an extended period.  That was probably the world's first
international alternate route backup.  But more to the point:

> I can hear the "no, I had to learn Morse; you have to learn it too" hams'
> saying "I told you so" all the way from here...

Ha!  You should see how fast the teens who do take to text messaging
are rediscovering informal modes of shorthand ... like the famous NYC
"Speedwriting" adverts on the subway that read, "I cn gt a gd jb n mr
pa."

Just another example of "what goes around comes around," it seems.

------------------------------

From: srkrishna@bhelrpt.co.in (Ramakrishna S)
Subject: Cordless Phones
Date: 18 Feb 2002 03:17:54 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


We have bought few sets of cordless phones of KINGTEL MAKE. There is
peculiar problems observed in these phones. We are not able to make
calls to the numbers starting with 0 from handset. However from the
base station we are able to make the call with numbers starting with
0. Hence STD calls could not be made from handset.

Can you give us solutions for the above problem.

Thanking You in advance.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 21:04:55 MST
From: acuma@aztec.asu.edu (Chris N. Acuma)
Subject: A Spanish Grammar Lesson
Reply-To: acuma@aztec.asu.edu


"mepueden" correctly spelled as "me pueden" means "they can" and in
the context used seems to mean "they can help me"


"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. 
It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the 
people against the dangers of good intentions.  They promise to be good 
masters, but they mean to be masters." -- Noah Webster

------------------------------

From: puntomaupunto_at_tin.it@example.invalid
Subject: Re: Telecom Argentina
Organization: you are kidding, right?
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 13:51:12 GMT


> No entiendo el idioma por eso no puedo leer la pagina esa me
> interesaria saber mas de ustedes pero en espaol y saber si me
> pueden ayudar.

Tu puedes leer http://www.telecom.com.ar/ . Es este qu deseas? Aqui'
no hablamos espa~nol!

ciao, .mau.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  Will one of you guys please read
> the above to me?  I am hoping its not spam.    PAT]

He roughly asks if there is somebody who may help him to find news in
Spanish about Telecom Argentina. 

http://www.telecom.com.ar/ may be an answer, but I do not have enough
context to be sure it is actually what he wants - I do not speak Spanish
either.

Per soli italiani: http://xmau.com/

------------------------------

From: Schilling, Ben <Ben.Schilling@oci.state.wi.us>
Subject: Another Spanish Lesson
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 08:06:20 -0600


No entiendo el idioma por eso no puedo leer la pagina esa me
interesaria saber mas de ustedes pero en espanol y saber si me pueden
ayudar.

I don't understand that language so I can't read that page.  I'm
interested in learning more from you (plural) but in Spanish and
learning if you can help me.


Ben Schilling
Telecomm Manager
Office of the Commissioner of Insurance
608-266-1615 ben.schilling@oci.state.wi.us 

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 20:08:32 -0500
From: dhorvath@cobs.com (David B. Horvath, CCP)
Subject: More Entries For the Business Directory


This list may include repeats; I've just trimmed down the emails I've
gotten and forwarded them on.

Credit Card Machines For Sell [sic]
We have a limited supply of minimally used
Credit Card Machines that we wish to sell.
These machines originally cost us $799-$1200 each.

Verifone Trans 460 - $200
Dassault AT Talento - $300
Lip Nutrit 1090 Cellular - $400

Very Limited Supply so call soon!
1-888-848-2507

    -----------

Technological Breakthrough...
A revolutionary new technology has just been released by a well-known,
established company and 
you are one of the First to hear about it!

This exclusive and proprietary technology will change how weeducate,
inform, communicate, market and sell products and services both on and
off the Net!

Call 1-888-389-2914
for a 3 minute overview message

We offer the  HOTTEST NEW PRODUCTS + HOTTEST PAY PLAN 
For A Timely & Rewarding Financial Opportunity!

      -----------

mortgage, Debt, Sales Leads

EXPLODE Your Profits  BULK EMAIL MARKETING WORKS! 

<rates deleted, just call them>

We also have Debt and Mortgage Leads 
Call for Details 
  
CALL 1-888-235-7851 (toll free)


David B. Horvath, CCP
Consultant, Author, International Lecturer, Adjunct Professor
Board Member: ICCP Educational Foundation, ICCP Test Council, and
Philadelphia Association of Systems Administrators

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #164
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Wed Feb 20 00:11:06 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id AAA08177;
	Wed, 20 Feb 2002 00:11:06 -0500 (EST)
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 00:11:06 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202200511.AAA08177@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #165

TELECOM Digest     Wed, 20 Feb 2002 00:11:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 165

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Action Alert: Oppose H.R. 1542 (Monty Solomon)
    I Collect Autovon Stuff, Any Sources for Autovon Card Dialers (Tom Brown)
    Re: Octel / Definity Message Lamp Problem (David De Trolio)
    Re: Wireless Phones For Text (was Re: Repeated Characters) (Jay Ashworth)
    Re: Another Spanish Lesson (Jay R. Ashworth)
    Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas (Gail M. Hall)
    Need a Better Deal For Low-Volume Business Service (Claire Pieterek)
    Long Delay in Telemarketer Calls (Mike O'Dorney)
    Re: The Latest Fad From Japan (Dale Farmer)
    Datakinetics SS7 (Rob)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated 
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
                        Independence, KS 67301
                        Phone: 630-841-7174
                        Email: editor@telecom-digest.org

Subscribe:  telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org
Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org


This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm-
unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and
published continuously since then.  Our archives are available for
your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/
mailing list on the internet in any category!

URL information:        http://telecom-digest.org

Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives
  (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives)

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 12:16:43 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Action Alert: Oppose H.R. 1542


Published by NetAction            Issue No. 81              February 19, 2002

Repost where appropriate. Copyright and subscription info at end of message.
* * * * * * *
In This Issue:
ACTION ALERT: Vote Scheduled on Bell Deregulation Bill - Oppose H.R. 1542
A Second Look at NetAction's Security Survey Results and Microsoft Comments
About NetAction Notes

ACTION ALERT: Vote Scheduled on Bell Deregulation Bill

(Date of alert: February 19, 2002)

* * * Circulate this alert until February 27, 2002 * * *

Contents of this alert:
1) Oppose H.R. 1542 (The Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001)
2) Why this bill is bad news for consumers
3) Talking points
4) Who to contact in Congress
5) More background


1)Oppose H.R. 1542

A bill that would eliminate key consumer protections in 
telecommunications is scheduled for a floor vote on February 27, 
2002, in the House of Representatives. NetAction is urging Internet 
users to contact their House representative today to urge a "no" vote 
on H.R. 1542, the Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 
2001. The bill poses a threat to the continued deployment of 
affordable broadband and dial-up Internet services, both of which are 
crucial to bridging the digital divide. In addition, state regulators 
have warned that the bill could exacerbate the decline in service 
quality that consumers have experienced under deregulation. (See: 
http://www.naruc.org/tauzin_dingell.pdf.)

2) Why this bill threatens broadband Internet access

H.R. 1542 would free the four remaining Bell phone monopolies -- SBC 
Communications, Verizon, BellSouth and Qwest Communications 
International -- from their obligation to open their networks to 
competitors. Rep. Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, who co-authored H.R. 
1542 with Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, is an unabashed Bell 
supporter.

One of the key consumer protections that Congress included in the 
Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the requirement that the Bells 
open their local phone markets to competition before they are allowed 
into the long distance markets.  This requirement is the only 
incentive the Bells have to treat their customers and competitors 
fairly. H.R. 1542 would waive this requirement for long distance data 
markets, giving the Bells control of the nation's telecommunications 
and technology infrastructure and threatening the future deployment 
of both broadband and dial-up Internet access, as well as of 
competitive telephone service. The result for consumers would be less 
choice, lower quality service and higher prices for everything from 
basic phone service to Internet access.


3) Talking points

* H. R. 1542 will not promote competition.
	The Bells sat on DSL technology for years, deploying it 
widely only after competition developed.

* H.R. 1542 does not ensure that broadband services will be available 
in rural communities.
	Despite Tauzin's rhetoric, there is nothing in the bill that 
would require the Bells to deploy broadband service in rural areas. 
In fact, the Bells have been selling off their rural assets as fast 
as possible in recent years.

* The Bells can't be trusted to offer broadband service if the 
current restrictions are lifted.
	In the 1990s the Bells promised to deploy high-speed fiber 
optic networks in exchange for relaxed rate-of-return regulation. But 
instead of delivering on those promises, they pocketed the profits.

* H.R. 1542 will make it more difficult to bridge the digital divide.
	With less competition, the cost of Internet access will 
increase, making the service even less affordable to low-income 
consumers.

* H.R. 1542 will undercut efforts to address consumer complaints 
about declining service quality.
	According to the National Association of Utility Regulatory 
Commissioners (NARUC), H.R. 1542 could also lead to additional 
litigation over state jurisdiction.


4) Who to contact in Congress

News reports indicate a floor vote is scheduled for February 27, 
2002. Calls to all House members are urgently needed.

All House members can be contacted through the Capitol Switchboard: 
202-224-3121. Or visit http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html to 
look up your Representative's direct House or District phone number. 
(If you don't know who represents your district, the site includes a 
zip code search tool to locate your Representative.)


5) More background

Tauzin's claim that allowing the Bells into long distance data 
markets before local phone markets are truly competitive is necessary 
to ensure widespread deployment of broadband, particularly in rural 
communities, is an old ploy. In fact, it's one the Bells have used 
before.

In June 2000 NetAction released a comprehensive report describing how 
the Bells had broken the promises they made to regulators in the 
1990s to deploy high-speed fiber optic networks. (See 
http://www.netaction.org/broadband/bells.) In many instances the 
promises to deploy fiber optic networks were made in exchange for 
relief from important pro-consumer regulations. In many states where 
regulators went along with these schemes, traditional rate-of-return 
regulation - intended to protect consumers from profit-gouging - was 
replaced with incentive or price cap regulation.

The new regulatory schemes gave the Bells more profits, ostensibly to 
be used to build the promised fiber optic networks. But instead of 
building the networks, the companies simply pocketed the higher 
profits. This is one of the reasons that the four remaining Bell 
monopolies are among the most profitable companies in the nation.

If the Bells had made a good faith effort to meet the conditions 
spelled out in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, we might already 
have vigorous competition in both broadband and local phone service. 
But the Bells chose instead to stonewall competition by engaging in 
protracted legal and regulatory maneuvers, and by lobbying Congress 
to change the law. Changing the Act now would reward the Bells for 
failing to follow the rules.

In addition to threatening the future availability of affordable 
broadband and dial-up Internet access, H.R. 1542 could lead to higher 
phone bills. The bill broadly preempts state regulators, leaving the 
states with only limited authority over voice phone services.

A Second Look at NetAction's Security Survey Results and Microsoft Comments

Because of problems with NetAction's list software, many of our 
readers did not receive the last issue of NetAction Notes (No. 80, 
published Jan. 29, 2002). The issue included the results of our 
survey of computer security practices in nonprofit organizations, and 
a pointer to NetAction's comments on the Microsoft antitrust 
settlement. Now that our list is working again, we wanted to provide 
those pointers again for readers who missed the last issue.

The Security Practices Survey

Our report on the survey results, "Computer Practices in Nonprofit 
Organizations," is available at: http://netaction.org/security/.

Despite the growing importance of computers to nearly every aspect of 
nonprofit operations, our survey found substantial room for 
improvement, especially in maintaining the security of confidential 
and/or sensitive files, user work habits, and disaster planning.

Many of the respondents acknowledged the need to improve their 
security practices. When asked to identify specific security issues 
their organization needs to address, about two-thirds of the survey 
respondents listed user work habits and disaster planning, about half 
listed data backups and encryption, and about one third listed virus 
protection and firewalls.

The Microsoft Comments

NetAction's comments on the proposed Microsoft antitrust settlement are at:
http://www.netaction.org/msoft/doj-comments.html. They are also 
included in the listing of major comments published recently by the 
U.S. Department of Justice, at: 
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/ms-major.htm.

NetAction and Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) 
filed joint comments warning that consumers will have to make 
substantial investments in new hardware and software in order to 
benefit from the terms of the proposed settlement of the Microsoft 
antitrust case. NetAction and CPSR argued that the proposal is not in 
the public interest and urged Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to either 
reject the proposed settlement or order additional proceedings to 
eliminate its many ambiguities.

If you want to read the whole issue, it's at: 
http://www.netaction.org/notes/notes80.html.


About NetAction Notes

NetAction Notes is a free electronic newsletter, published by 
NetAction. NetAction is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated 
to promoting use of the Internet for grassroots citizen action, and 
to educating the public and policy makers about technology policy 
issues.

To subscribe to NetAction Notes, send a message to: <majordomo@netaction.org>
The body of the message should state: <subscribe netaction>
To unsubscribe at any time, send a message to: <majordomo@netaction.org>
The body of the message should state: <unsubscribe netaction>

NetAction is supported by individual contributions and grants. You
can make a credit card donation from NetAction's secure server at:
<https://secure.manymedia.com/netaction/form.html>.

For more information about contributing to NetAction, contact Audrie
Krause by phone at (415) 775-8674, by E-mail at
mailto:audrie@netaction.org>, visit the NetAction Web site at
<http://www.netaction.org>, or write to:
NetAction * 601 Van Ness Ave., No. 631 * San Francisco, CA 94102
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright 1996-2001 by NetAction/The Tides Center.  All rights reserved.
Material may be reposted or reproduced for non-commercial use provided
NetAction is cited as the source.  NetAction is a project of The Tides
Center, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

------------------------------

From: kibri@eudoramail.com (Tom Brown)
Subject: I Collect Autovon Stuff, Any Sources for Autovon Card Dialers
Date: 18 Feb 2002 18:23:14 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Hi, I collect old Autovon Phones.  I am looking for a source for some
of the Old Autovon Puch Cards, I am also trying to hook up an autovon
dial in a standard two wire Western Electric Phone for use without
command keys and as a conversation piece.  I would be interested in a
complete Autovon Card Dialer, and A complete Autovon single line phone
(4 wire) for my collection.

Any sources of supply or fellow collectors interested in selling or
trading equipment please drop me a note.

If you have any instructions on how to get the autovon dial to work in
a standard Western Electric phone (We 2500) please advice me of the
proper connections for the dial.  I managed to get the dial to work
hooked up in parallel with a 12 button dial, however cannot get it to
work alone.  I have three wires left over.  I lack telco experience,
just an interested collector of odd phones from Western Electric.
Thanks for your assistance.

------------------------------

Reply-To: David De Trolio <david.de.trolio@home.com>
From: David De Trolio <david.de.trolio@home.com>
Subject: Re: Octel / Definity Message Lamp Problem
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 05:47:34 GMT
Organization: Excite@Home - The Leader in Broadband http://home.com/faster


We have a Release 9.5.2 (we are doing VOIP) and use our Intuity Voice
Mail to service the entire company.  I did find if I do not have the
subscriber switch number in the required subscriber field, or have an
incorrect switch number, the lights will not light or will not go out.

When was the last time you rebooted the voice mail?

Updated firmware and software?

Do you have the phones in the system identified as digital phones?

Let me know if I can be of any help.


Dave

"Mike" <anon225588@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:telecom20.164.9@telecom-digest.org...

> Hello,

> I have a Definity G3si Release 6 BCS with an Octel 250.  We have about
> 75 users. About five to eight users have experienced this problem, the
> message lamp either does not turn on when there is a new message or
> the message lamp stays on even after the message is listened to.  I
> have switched phones to no avail.  We have 6408D+.

> I have done two troubleshooting steps:

> 1. Ran "Clear AMW All [EXT]" on the Definity.
> 2. Had them delete all their voicemails.

> This has corrected the problem for about 4 people.  There are still a
> few left who continue to experience this problem.  I am all out of
> ideas.  If anyone is aware of the solution to this please let me know.

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Wireless Phones For Text (was Re: Repeated Characters)
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 06:24:56 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Stanley settled back into the couch, and Don Kimberlin
<dkimberlin@prodigy.net> said to him:

> "Speedwriting" adverts on the subway that read, "I cn gt a gd jb n mr
> pa."

"f u cn rd ths, u cn us unx"

Cheers,

Jay R. Ashworth                                         jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com     +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

From: Jay R. Ashworth <jra@dorothy.baylink.com>
Subject: Re: Another Spanish Lesson
Reply-To: jra@baylink.com
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 06:25:36 GMT
Organization: RoadRunner - TampaBay


Stanley settled back into the couch, and Schilling, Ben
<Ben.Schilling@oci.state.wi.us> said to him:

>  No entiendo el idioma por eso no puedo leer la pagina esa me
>  interesaria saber mas de ustedes pero en espanol y saber si me pueden
>  ayudar.

>  I don't understand that language so I can't read that page.  I'm
>  interested in learning more from you (plural) but in Spanish and
>  learning if you can help me.

I believe Ben has mispelled "y'all" in this translation.

:-)


Cheers,
-- jr 'see?  it does have a use' a

Jay R. Ashworth                                          jra@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet         The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida        http://baylink.pitas.com       +1 727 647 1274

        God, unlike Anya, is fond of bunnies.  -- Chelsea Christenson

------------------------------

From: Gail M. Hall <gmhall@apk.net>
Subject: Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 03:36:10 -0500
Reply-To: gmhall@apk.net


On Sat, 16 Feb 2002 09:15:44 -0800, in comp.dcom.telecom, you (Joseph
Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>) wrote:

> On Thu, 14 Feb 2002 22:58:29 -0500, Lou Jahn <LouJahn@compuserve.com>
> wrote:

>> Pat-

>> Could I enter in this request into a future digest?  I am looking for
>> comments by TD readers as to whether Cell Phone Booster Antennas
>> really work or help? The only ones I've seen are the flat type that
>> fit under the battery.

Thanks for saving me the trouble.  I have received spam about such
things, but when I started seeing the ads on late-night/early-morning
TV, I began to wonder about these things.

>> Is there practical way to extend the range of a typical Nokia phone?

I also wondered about that.  They sell hands-free sets that contain a
microphone to talk into and earpiece to listen with.

>> We lose signal strength on the AT&T system and the weirdest places.

Why not an antenna extender of some kind?  The antenna on my phone is
hard-wried in there and they say not to try to extend it or disconnect it.

What would be so wrong about having an attachment that you could
attach to a more powerful antenna that was also connected in such a
way as to protect your head from dangerous signals -- just in case
such signals are dangerous.

> The sticker for $19.95 as seen on TV or for 25 dollars in eBay are
> worthless junk and won't do anything for you except relieve you of
> some of your money. 

Just like the fat-recucers and muscle-builder belts are, I suspect.

But I also wonder how much it would cost country people to build a
repeater type thing in their neighborhood to extend the signal from a
normal pole located in the town.

For example, one relative lives at the 7-mile marker on a country
road.  The furthest my relatives can get a signal on their cell phones
is at the 5-mile marker.  There is lots of BLM land and private
timerland on hills behind all the houses along the road.  Could there
be a relatively inexpensive repeater type pole built on the BLM land
that would extend the signal further out into that area for people who
live out there.

The appearance of the poles certainly wouldn't be any worse than the
appearance of clear-cut logged-off areas done by people with private
land near the BLM land.  The company or neighborhood group could make
the poles green or brown to match the surrounding woods.


Gail from Ohio USA wondering about relatives in Oregon where a huge amount
of land is owned by the federal government

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 06:59:22 -0700
From: Claire Pieterek <pieterek@spamcop.net>
Subject: Need a Better Deal For Low-Volume Business Service


Dear Digest Denizens--

My friend's been a Sprint customer since 1997, and *of course*, they
won't cut her a break.  She needs to have up to 10 two-digit
accounting codes.  Average usage is currently $50/month max, but she
anticipates that going down to $30/month.  Sprint is charging her 6.7
cents/minute, which seems awfully high to me.  If possible, she'd like
to have a calling card, but that is nice but not necessary.

If anyone knows about better deals, I know you guys do!


TIA,
Claire

surfing on a wave of nostalgia for an age yet to come

------------------------------

From: modorney@aol.com (Mike O'Dorney)
Subject: Long Delay in Telemarketer Calls
Date: 19 Feb 2002 08:58:30 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


I've noticed that the telemarketer calls take longer to identify
themselves.  These are the calls made by the war-dialer, that call
numbers, and when one answers, they are switched over to a live
person.  The switch over seems to take a lot longer -- like 5 seconds
or more.  It used to take about one second -- noticeable, but not long.

There are these boxes that announce "Please put me on the don't call
list" -- is this new delay a means of defeating the boxes?

PS -- Welcome back Pat -- I've enjoyed you over the past 11 years!


cheers,

Mike O'Dorney

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They are not trying to defeat the DNC
boxes. I doubt they care about those boxes at all. Most telemarketer
employees are simply trained to ignore remove requests and keep on
talking. I think the longer delay these days is because fewer
telemarketer employees are trying to handle more and more calls. I 
think the owners/operators have tried to fine-tune the ratio between
employees needed and the speed at which the predictive dialer gets
answers. If the delay ran more than the five or six seconds you wait
now, they'd have to put the recorded message back on ("please hold,
we have an important message for you") and I think most people were
hanging up on that message thinking 'your time is no more important
than mine' and disconnecting. So to keep from losing so many calls
that way, they had to be quicker about taking the new prospects they
did reach; yet they did not want to pay for unnecessary employees, 
thus the need to 'fine-tune' the predictive dialer and the employees
they did have.  Nah, the DNC message is about as useless as writing
back to a spammer telling him to drop your name. Very unlikely he 
will; very unlikely the telemarketer will either.

What's the difference between a spammer and a telemarketer?  None
really that I can see.    PAT]

------------------------------

From: Dale Farmer <Dale@cybercom.net>
Subject: Re: The Latest Fad From Japan
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 12:00:04 -0500
Organization: The new clue zoo


Joe Wineburgh wrote:

> It is true. I had a 6160, which I bought a vibrate battery for -- lo
> and behold after putting the vibrate battery on (and charging it) I
> went into the menu for ring options and there was now an option for
> vibrate/ring+vib/etc. I'd give you the name of the manufacturer, but I
> wasn't happy with the performance of the battery. Be warned - buy from
> a reputable manufacturer! They also make vibrating/light up pens you
> can put in your shirt pocket and I'm sure many other strange things.

> A caution -- I believe it's AT&T that does this (as well as
> others). If the majority of your calls are from out of the area where
> your cellular number is, they may give you grief. I remember reading
> about this elsewhere -- the policy may have changed since then. They
> may force you to get a local (to the area you use it most) number, or
> if they've since abandoned service there - cancel the service
> altogether.

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Back to my Nokia 5165 I was told that in
>> order to activate the vibrating mode, I had to purchase a 'vibrating
>> battery', and the phone would know when thus equipped and offer vibrator
>> as a menu option, but not until then. Is that true?  PAT]

I heard of the radio this weekend that there is a new fad in Japan of
stick on fingernail covers that light up when your cell phone rings.
Since it wasn't the first of April when I heard this ... *shakes head*


Dale

------------------------------

From: Rob <robs4x4s@home.com>
Subject: Datakinetics SS7
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 11:54:05 -0600
Organization: Verio


I have experience in configuring/troubleshooting Datakinetics
products, specifically the ISUP stack.  If you require any help,
please contact me.


Thanks,

Rob

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #165
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Wed Feb 20 17:08:03 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id RAA25793;
	Wed, 20 Feb 2002 17:08:03 -0500 (EST)
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 17:08:03 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202202208.RAA25793@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #166

TELECOM Digest     Wed, 20 Feb 2002 17:08:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 166

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Co-Location Facility Available (sueadu@gate.net)
    Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas (Eric De Mund)
    Definity G3 Solution  (Cywinski, Robert)
    Re: AOL Customers Livid Over Huge Phone Bills After Areacode (J. Decker)
    Re: Octel / Definity Message Lamp Problem (Justin Time)
    Long Range Cordless Phone Wanted! (Richard Kenward)
    An Australian Lesson (was Re: A Spanish lesson) (Colin Sutton)
    Re: Long Delay in Telemarketer Calls (Kenneth P. Stox)
    Re: Need a Better Deal For Low-Volume Business Service (Rich Greenberg)
    Re: Need a Better Deal For Low-Volume Business Service (MegA)
    Re: Long Delay in Telemarketer Calls (Barry Margolin)
    New York: Amtrak Workers Busted in Phone Scam (Carl Moore)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated 
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
                        Independence, KS 67301
                        Phone: 630-841-7174
                        Email: editor@telecom-digest.org

Subscribe:  telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org
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*************************************************************************
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Only subscribers or registered users of ICB Toll Free News web site
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LEGAL STUFF: TELECOM Digest (sm) is owned by Patrick Townson.
Copyright 2000 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

   In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert
   has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and
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should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: sueadu@gate.net
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 11:17:44 -0500
Subject: Co-Location Facility Available


Dear Mr. Townson,

I am hoping you will be able to help me. I have a co-location facility
available with 100 pair lines. Do you deal with customers in need of
this type of facility? It is located in North Miami Beach - between
Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. I've attached more details on the
specifications for you in this email.

Please let me know if you can help or not. If not, could you redirect
me to the correct person who handles this type of situation?

Thanking you in advance for your response,

~ Sue Sirianni
Call Processing Systems, Inc.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 03:44:37 (PST)
From: Eric De Mund <ead@ixian.com>
Subject: Re: Cell Phone Booster Antennas
Reply-To: Eric De Mund <ead@ixian.com>
Organization: Ixian Systems, Inc.


Hello,

John R. Levine:

>> I am looking for comments by TD readers as to whether Cell Phone
>> Booster Antennas really work or help?

> http://www.jdteck.com/
> http://boatantenna.com/cellular/booster.html
> http://www.orausa.com/amp_mobile/sb2000.jsp

> These things are not cheap, about $200, but they look like they should
> really work unlike the little doozits that go inside the phone.

Thanks for posting these pointers. I too am in need of this kind of
solution for use at home. My girlfriend lives at the seven mile marker
outside of her town, and cell phone coverage quits near the three mile
marker. Once in a blue moon I can stand in the kitchen with my Nokia
6000 series held high overhead and get one signal-strength bar on it,
but more often than not I get "No Service". Similary for her new Nokia
5165. As my and her long distance land-line charges are starting to
mount, I'm ready to look for other solutions.

One of these booster antennas, coupled with a cell service plan that
offers unlimited night and weekend calls, not to mention free long
distance calling, might be one solution.

So, this is a second to Pat's original request. Can anyone give any
testimonials regarding these pointed out by John Levine, or regarding
any others:

    - the JDTECK CB 920
    - BoatAntenna.com's BST300 ("The Booster")
    - Ora Electronics' SB2000

Though pricy, the one I run with will pay for itself in about three
months. The first of the three above has a 30-day money-back
guarantee, so I'm leaning towards trying that one first.

Regards, and Pat, thank you for posting the sequence for the hidden
"Field test" menu.


Eric De Mund <ead@ixian.com> | Ixian Systems, Inc. | 53 49 B2 23 AF 6C 20 81
http://www.ixian.com/ead/    | Mountain View, CA   | ED DD 4C 81 AA C9 D1 A5


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Although you did not mention it, Eric,
the sequence (on a Nokia 5165) of *3001#12345# produces a screen of 
more than just 'field test'. In that area, you can also make changes
in the NAM and other things. But remember, after any changes you make
there, the phone has to be completely powered off and then restarted.
Also, the last half of that sequence, the #12345# should technically
be #SECURITY CODE#  in the event you have changed yours from the
factory default of 12345. But from that menu, once you have enabled
'field test', then further uses of Field Test are done in regular mode
on the phone using MENU+10. Listen guys, before you do anything
in there with the NAM in that mode, make sure you have been authorized
by your supervisor, and other appropriate authorities.  There *are* other
four digit codes beginning with '*' in there also, which get you to
shortcuts in the NAM. I just don't know off hand what they are.  PAT]

------------------------------

Subject: Definity G3 Solution 
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 08:42:32 -0500
From: Cywinski, Robert <RCywi@SPRING-FORD.k12.pa.us>


> I have a Definity G3si Release 6 BCS with an Octel 250.  We have about
> 75 users. About five to eight users have experienced this problem, the
> message lamp either does not turn on when there is a new message or
> the message lamp stays on even after the message is listened to.  I
> have switched phones to no avail.  We have 6408D+.

> I have done two troubleshooting steps:

> 1. Ran "Clear AMW All [EXT]" on the Definity.
> 2. Had them delete all their voicemails.

> This has corrected the problem for about 4 people.  There are still a
> few left who continue to experience this problem.  I am all out of
> ideas.  If anyone is aware of the solution to this please let me know.

Have had this on my G3r. Busy-out and release the affected stations.
This should do it.


Bob

------------------------------

From: Jack Decker <unspammable-8073@workbench.net>
Subject: Re: AOL Customers Livid Over Huge Phone Bills After Areacode
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 06:14:04 -0500
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


On Thu, 14 Feb 2002 10:19:12 -0500, gpn@techie.com wrote:

> I'm trying to figure out what scenario would cost me a lot of money by
> being inattentive to my auto-dialing string, and I just don't see it.
> Say I'm auto-dialing a network point of presence in that town.  Now
> suppose there's an area code split that splits off that exchange, and
> then suppose they re-used that same NXX code for a distant portion of
> my home NPA. I guess I could then be dialing toll calls without
> knowing it.

> However, before that, in fact the moment the permissive period ended,
> my automatic dialing to the old number would suddenly begin to fail
> and I would be unable to connect.  I would then surely know something
> was wrong, and would have to change the dialing string to include the
> correct new area code, or I wouldn't be able to get on-line at all.

Here in Michigan we've had similar problems following an area code
split.  Let me throw out one possible scenario and the rest of you can
tell me why it can't happen this way.  :-)

Let's say you are dialing 1-xxx-zzz-nnnn to make a local call (which
IMHO should not ever happen, since local call should never have to be
dialed with a leading "1" - sorry, I never lived anyplace that we
didn't have toll alerting) and the area code changes to
1-yyy-zzz-nnnn.

At the end of permissive dialing, instead of putting up recording
informing callers that it's now necessary to dial the new area code,
let's say the local phone company "cheaps out" or gets lazy, and
decides to simply route all calls to 1-xxx that are not now in the
local calling area to the customer's chosen long distance carrier.

So you say, okay, but for a least a short period of time there is no
1-xxx-zzz exchange (since the former xxx-zzz is now in the yyy area
code).  BUT, let's further suppose that the long distance carrier
decides that they'd rather not have to make customers redial calls
placed to the wrong area code, so they "helpfully" translate calls
dialed using the old area code to the new one within their switching
equipment for maybe another month or two (or whenever one of their
techs gets around to reprogramming their translations).

So now you have the local phone company sending calls for xxx-zzz to
the LD carrier, which translates the number to yyy-zzz and then
connects the call.  The call completes normally and the customer has
no clue that his call is being billed at toll rates, until the bill
arrives.  Note that this could not happen if the customer normally
dialed such calls without a leading "1" (I will never, until the day I
draw my dying breath, nor even after that, think that requiring
customers to dial a "1" in front of any local call is anything other
than a scam perpetrated by the phone companies to bilk customers.  And
yes, I know SBC has started doing it in Michigan on calls that cross
area code boundaries, and I could not possibly be more opposed to it,
but it appears that it will take an act of the state legislature to
get anything done about it... and I'll stop there before this turns
into a multi-paragraph rant).

Anyway, in the scenario I've envisioned, it would mean that neither
the local nor the long distance company are handling the end of
permissive dialing properly.  The local phone company should put up a
recording advising customers to dial the new area code until xxx-zzz
is reassigned, and the LD company should not be translating the area
code in this manner (but may have done so as a stopgap measure to
resolve some problems during the changeover).

What compounds the problem from the customer's standpoint is that more
than likely, neither company would want to take the blame, and if
pressed, both would probably point to the other company (or the
customer) as the source of the problem.

Of course, for this to happen, it would also require that the customer
fails to change the area code in their dialing string during the
permissive period (or, that an ISP's auto-updating software somehow
continues to use the old area code after the permissive dialing period
ends).

Now tell me, is that scenario too far-fetched to be realistic?


Jack
[Note: The "From" e-mail address in this message will be valid only until
the spammers get hold of it!]

Resources for Michigan Telephone Users page:
http://michigantelephone.workbench.net/

------------------------------

From: a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time)
Subject: Re: Octel / Definity Message Lamp Problem
Date: 19 Feb 2002 10:46:58 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


anon225588@yahoo.com (Mike) wrote in message
news:<telecom20.164.9@telecom-digest.org>...

One more thing to check.  See if by any chance they have disabled
notification under administrative options in their mail box.  Quite
common.  On our particular load of Octel S/W, the option is something
like "Turn Message Indicator Off."  People will do this thinking it
will turn the light off on their phone not realizing that the light
will never light when they do receive a message.


> Hello,

> I have a Definity G3si Release 6 BCS with an Octel 250.  We have about
> 75 users. About five to eight users have experienced this problem, the
> message lamp either does not turn on when there is a new message or
> the message lamp stays on even after the message is listened to.  I
> have switched phones to no avail.  We have 6408D+.

> I have done two troubleshooting steps:

> 1. Ran "Clear AMW All [EXT]" on the Definity.
> 2. Had them delete all their voicemails.

> This has corrected the problem for about 4 people.  There are still a
> few left who continue to experience this problem.  I am all out of
> ideas.  If anyone is aware of the solution to this please let me know.

> Thank you!

> Mike

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 21:35:17 +0000
From: Richard Kenward <kenward.rfe@ntlworld.com>
Subject: Long Range Cordless Phone Wanted!
Organization: RKDI


I am trying to source a cordless phone that I can use in the UK with a
range exceeding 1/2 mile.  Must be able to fit in a normal size pocket
please.  Only needs one line in and no answering M/C facilities ... just
powerful, basic and smallish and sensible price.

Ideas please guys.  Would a phone produced for the US market and
presumably powered at the base station at 110volts be suitable?


Thanks,

Richard Kenward

------------------------------

From: Colin Sutton <colin@sutton.wow.aust.com>
Subject: An Australian Lesson (was Re: A Spanish Lesson)
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 05:27:13 GMT
Organization: BigPond Internet Services (http://www.bigpond.net.au)


> I believe Ben has mispelled "y'all" in this translation.

That's "youse" here in Aus :-)

Colin

------------------------------

From: Kenneth P. Stox <stox@imagescape.com>
Subject: Re: Long Delay in Telemarketer Calls
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 23:51:41 -0600
Organization: Ministry of Silly Walks
Reply-To: stox@imagescape.com


> What's the difference between a spammer and a telemarketer?

The amount of time it takes to swing the gun site from one to the other?

No, I don't own guns, but there are targets for which they are
appropriate.

------------------------------

From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg)
Subject: Re: Need a Better Deal For Low-Volume Business Service
Date: 20 Feb 2002 07:42:34 -0500
Organization: Organized?  Me?


In article <telecom20.165.7@telecom-digest.org>, Claire Pieterek
<pieterek@spamcop.net> wrote:

> My friend's been a Sprint customer since 1997, and *of course*, they
> won't cut her a break.  She needs to have up to 10 two-digit
> accounting codes.  Average usage is currently $50/month max, but she
> anticipates that going down to $30/month.  Sprint is charging her 6.7
> cents/minute, which seems awfully high to me.  If possible, she'd like
> to have a calling card, but that is nice but not necessary.

How about this as a solution:

A small PC based PBX programmed as follows: Pick up a phone, get local
dial tone (or a voice prompt).  Enter an accounting code nn.  PC
Validates nn and if not valid, gives an error msg, otherwise saves it
and gives a CO dial tone.  PC records dialed number, start time and
accounting code, and at end of call records end time.  If call never
sups, discard the info.

This makes your friend independent of Sprint.


Rich Greenberg  Work: Rich.Greenberg atsign worldspan.com  +1 770-563-6656
N6LRT   Marietta, GA, USA   Play: richgr atsign panix.com  +1 770-321-6507
Eastern time zone.   I speak for myself & my dogs only.    VM'er since CP-67
Canines:Val(Chinook,CGC,TT), Red & Shasta(Husky,(RIP))     Owner:Chinook-L
Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L

------------------------------

From: bryon.spahn@corporate.ge.com (MegA)
Subject: Re: Need a Better Deal For Low-Volume Business Service
Date: 20 Feb 2002 07:14:49 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


If price is her sole concern, tell her to try Qwest. They have been
offering some pretty nice rates lately. I will say that I have used
them in multiple situations and have had no problems. 6.7cpm is pretty
steep these days and with some half way descent negotiating she might
be able to get that down to 4 or so. That should help her hit that
$30/mo. she is looking to pay.

Good luck.


MegA

Claire Pieterek <pieterek@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:<telecom20.165.7@telecom-digest.org>...

> Dear Digest Denizens--
> 
> My friend's been a Sprint customer since 1997, and *of course*, they
> won't cut her a break.  She needs to have up to 10 two-digit
> accounting codes.  Average usage is currently $50/month max, but she
> anticipates that going down to $30/month.  Sprint is charging her 6.7
> cents/minute, which seems awfully high to me.  If possible, she'd like
> to have a calling card, but that is nice but not necessary.

------------------------------

From: Barry Margolin <barmar@genuity.net>
Subject: Re: Long Delay in Telemarketer Calls
Organization: Genuity, Woburn, MA
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 15:40:38 GMT


In article <telecom20.165.8@telecom-digest.org>, Mike O'Dorney
<modorney@aol.com> wrote:

>[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They are not trying to defeat the DNC
>boxes. I doubt they care about those boxes at all. Most telemarketer
>employees are simply trained to ignore remove requests and keep on
>talking. I think the longer delay these days is because fewer
>telemarketer employees are trying to handle more and more calls.

Isn't it also because the war-dialiers try to detect answering
machines, so they can hang up instead of passing the call on to a
human?  If the phone is answered and keeps talking for several
seconds, rather than saying "hello" and waiting for a response, it's
obviously a machine.  That means the war-dialer has to listen for
several seconds to distinguish a machine from a human.


Barry Margolin, barmar@genuity.net
Genuity, Woburn, MA
*** DON'T SEND TECHNICAL QUESTIONS DIRECTLY TO ME, post them to newsgroups.
Please DON'T copy followups to me -- I'll assume it wasn't posted to the group.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  Very good, Barry. I had not thought of
that possibility, which is also a good one.    PAT]

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 15:10:55 EST
From: Carl Moore <cmoore@ARL.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: New York: "Amtrak Workers Busted in Phone Scam"


16 Amtrak employees charged with using credit card and phone cards
(left behind by passengers) to make personal calls on GTE Railfones.
The accused were assigned to clean the trains at Amtrak's yard in
Sunnyside, NYC borough of Queens.

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #166
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Thu Feb 21 00:42:20 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id AAA03595;
	Thu, 21 Feb 2002 00:42:20 -0500 (EST)
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 00:42:20 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202210542.AAA03595@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #166
				   

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 21 Feb 2002 00:42:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 167

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This? (Denise Oyston)
    Re: NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This? (MegA)
    Re: DNIS Cost? (MegA)
    Telesoft E&M Scripts (Thoth)
    IMTS Phone Service Still Available? (73115.1041@compuserve.com)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (MegA)
    Re: Calling Card Startups (MegA)
    Re: The Latest Fad From Japan (Marcus Didius Falco)
    Re: Telephone Operators -> Infinity (Malcolm Slaney)
    Nokia 5165 Cell Phone Talk (markbryan@verizon.com)
    Re: More Entries For the Business Directory (Ernie)
    Problem With DTMF in a Caribbean Country (Thomas Osthege)
    Re: AOL Customers ... (Bill Levant)
    Re: AUTOVON Information (Don Kimberlin)
    Sony Cordless Phone Question (Alan Beagley)
    Re: Long Range Cordless Phone Wanted! (Marcus Didius Falco)
    Yet More Entries For the Business Directory (David B. Horvath)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated 
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
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and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
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Subscribe:  telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org
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published continuously since then.  Our archives are available for
your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: denise@ukgenealogy.co.uk (Denise Oyston)
Subject: Re: NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This?
Date: 20 Feb 2002 07:32:29 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


google@nosfratu.com (corkie) wrote in message
news:<telecom20.162.10@telecom-digest.org>...

> Last year, I paid for a domain through them for 5 years under a
> special offer they where running. (Cost $79.95). They are now looking
> 1 year later for more money for the domain.

> 1) Anyone have a domain with them and managed to transfer it else
> where?

> 2) How do I force them in to refunding the Difference in Cost  for 5
> years, to 1?

> Advice please?

> John O. Connell

My family has two domains with Namezero, supposedly with myself as
registrant for one and my daughter as registrant for the other.

Last week I wrote to Namezero, asking for my account details with
Network Solutions so I could transfer my domain.  Their response was
to send a demand for payment for a further year's plus service, not
due to expire until December.

I have now managed to change the password for both domains with
Network Solutions, but changing the billing contact details is
becoming a nightmare.

My daughter's domain is due for renewal in April.  I tried to renew it
today through Network Solutions, to be told I cannot because the
domain is registered with a wholesaler of domains.

My daughter is listed as the domain registrant, and can manage every
aspect of the domain herself, except for billing.  She is certainly
not a domain wholesaler.

Namezero are loathe to provide any help, other than demands for
payment for emails and web forwarding that now go through another ISP.

As anyone any ideas about how we can renew the domain, which is now
apparently blocked for any billing alterations.


Thanks,

Denise Oyston

------------------------------

From: bryon.spahn@corporate.ge.com (MegA)
Subject: Re: NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This?
Date: 20 Feb 2002 07:56:27 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


I would reccomend a shotgun and some carefully placed plastic
explosives.

On a more serious note ...

The problem with your situation is that you probably have no record of
the transaction do you? It would be real easy for NameZero (A
struggling if not already belly up registration site) to deny that
they ever told you that the term of the registration was 5 years.
Furthermore I can easily see them conveniently locating some fine
print in the contract that says that you pay 75 the first year and
then "a reduced rate" for the remaining 4. I would suggest writing
them and advising them of your problem ... if you get no answer, write
them again notifying them of your intent to discontinue their service
and pick a registrar that you can trust. may I suggest
www.register.com I have several domain names registered with them and
they are up front and honest about the costs. I hate to say it... but
when it comes to domain name registration, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
Good luck and I hope not to see your name in the paper for shooting up
the place.


MegA

------------------------------

From: bryon.spahn@corporate.ge.com (MegA)
Subject: Re: DNIS Cost?
Date: 20 Feb 2002 07:34:37 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


The G3 runs this way. You need to have not only the hardware to
process the DNIS request but the licencing per seat to allow the DINS
to pass to the stations. I believe that they do offer a "site" license
if you have a ton of seats. You should also be sure that your version
of switch software allows this functionality. Any halfway rescent
version should be fine. (I say that because I have seen definity's
running on ancient software and the admins scrambling to try and
figure out why their ANI and DNIS request are not going through)


Good luck.

MegA

------------------------------

From: techman@ematic.com (Thoth)
Subject: Telesoft E&M Scripts
Date: 20 Feb 2002 12:26:36 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


I've got a Telesoft/TSLink portable tester (PAC 586) with Version 10.0
of the CD software. Its got programmable CAS, but the script file that
comes with it for E&M ESF.tst is not Wink start.  It appears to be
immediate or delayed dial.  Does anyone have a .tst file for Wink
Start?  If so, could you post it or send it to me?


Thanks for your help, 


W. Martin
techman@ematic.com

------------------------------

From: 73115.1041@compuserve.com
Subject: IMTS Phone Service Still Available?
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 07:29:07 -0700
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


Anyone know if IMTS service -- the original car radio phone service
offered by phone companies -- is still available and what it would be
priced at?

Not that anyone would want it. I suspect coverage is significantly
less than what is offered by cellular providers today. Since it was a
tarriffed service, I suspect it still exists, but only for
grandfathered users.


Ken

------------------------------

From: bryon.spahn@corporate.ge.com (MegA)
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: 20 Feb 2002 07:20:08 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


I am glad to see that this post didn't go unanswered. Thanks to all
for your input.


MegA

------------------------------

From: bryon.spahn@corporate.ge.com (MegA)
Subject: Re: Calling Card Startups
Date: 20 Feb 2002 07:24:58 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Are you guys looking for information regarding marketing or equipment
purchasing? I can give several pointers on equipment selection,
however I am no salesman. I have worked in the pre-paid market for a
few years and with 2 different startups. You can reply to me
personally if you wish not to discuss your needs in the group.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 19:53:25 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: The Latest Fad From Japan


> From: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
> Subject: Re: The Latest Fad From Japan
> Date: 17 Feb 2002 16:27:40 -0800
> Organization: Transmeta Corporation, Santa Clara CA

> In newsgroup: comp.dcom.telecom

>> According to a short note on the BBC last night, the latest fad from
>> Japan is false fingernails that flash to indicate your cell phone is
>> ringing.

>> Is this the solution to the problem of cellphones ringing in concerts,
>> movies, museums, and other inappropriate places?

> Most cell phones these days can be set to silent alert (vibrate), and
> that doesn't seem to help since too many people are too stupid to
> actually use it.

I find that in vibrating mode I don't feel the vibration if the phone
is in a jacket pocket or a cargo pocket on pants. I feel it only if it
is close to my skin, in a shirt pocket, or if I'm wearing tight
jeans. On a belt clip it's iffy. It would be impossible if the phone
were in a handbag or backpack. YMMV

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 02:20:47 -0800
From: Malcolm Slaney <malcolm@ieee.org>
Subject: Re: Telephone Operators -> Infinity


I asked all of you recently about a story I had heard suggesting that
the number of telephone operators would have become very large if
somebody hadn't invented automatic switching systems.  Laura Dimario
put me in touch with the AT&T historian and he gave a pretty
definitive denial.  Great story, but there is no evidence for it.

Thanks to all of you for your help.

 -- Malcolm

> Subject: RE: Telephone Operators -> Infinity
> Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 08:21:07 -0500
> From: "Hochheiser, Sheldon, PR" <hochheiser@att.com>
> To: "Malcolm Slaney" <malcolm@ieee.org>

> Malcolm--

> This story is a myth that has been told for decades.

> As near as I can tell, no AT&T official ever made such a prediction.
> However, various people have said that some unknown AT&T official at
> some point prior to whenever the tale was being told had made such a
> prediction.

> For the real reasons why AT&T began switching from manual to automatic
> switching of local calls see

> Kenneth Lipartito (Florida International University), "When Women were
> Switches," American Historical Review, 99 (1994)1074 -1111.

> --Sheldon Hochheiser
> Corporate Historian, AT&T

------------------------------

From: markbryan@verizon.com
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 7:02:24 -0500
Reply-To: <markbryan@verizon.com>
Subject: Nokia 5165 Cell Phone Talk


Pat,

Saw your posting about a Nokia 5165.  I was using one until recently. 
Loved the phone. The Li-Ion Battery (about $50-$70) added the 
vibrating function. It worked great, and I liked the phone.  It was a 
little big. I was with BellSouth/Cingular.  Decided to move over to 
AT&T, when I made the move I went with a Nokia 3360 (got the phone at 
Best Buy) that with rebates it cost me nothing. Got a 1 yr contract 
with $35 activation.  The think I noticed was with Cingular that in 
the building I worked in, it was on Roam, which was in AT&T, if I was 
just outside the building I was on Extended, which was the old GTE, 
and if you had BS/Cingular you were fully digital, when on Extended 
you were digital, but Roam was analog.  

On my new phone if it says AT&T I am on digital, but I hardly ever get
Roam anymore in this area.  I have seen extended once or twice. The
thing I see mostly is what one of the people indicated, if you are
locked onto AT&T you stay there, I can power down and get a better
signal sometimes.  I love my new Nokia 3360, it gets better reception
and is much smaller and lighter, and support vibrate with buying a
special battery. Don't know if this will help you or not. Good luck.


Mark Bryan
Verizon Select Services Inc.
Internet: markbryan@verizon.com
O: 813-978-7777 F: 813-987-1691

------------------------------

From: Ernie <ernie@nospam.org>
Subject: Re: More Entries For the Business Directory
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 17:53:25 -0500
Organization: IIcx
Reply-To: ernie@nospam.org


Here is a number that has been spammed to my in-box:

"A public utility co. seeking ambitious people to work part 
time...yadda yadda... learn how to get get paid on local and LD phone 
service, internet, pagers, yadda etc. For more info, Call EXCEL 
1-888-306-0687"...Then listen to 3+ min spiel and leave a message as 
long as you like. Ask lots of questions and use a payphone so the 
owner of said payphone can collect a fee.

------------------------------

From: Thomas Osthege <ThomasO@iname.com>
Subject: Problem With DTMF in a Caribbean Country
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 00:16:18 +0100
Organization: T-Online


Hi NG,

My program (running in Germany) calls a customer (back) in a caribbean
country. He types some instructions into my program using DTMF digits.
Until recently everything worked fine. But now it seems that they
filter out DTMF signals and terminate calls after the 3rd digit in
some (too many) cases.

Has anyone heard about a practice like this?

Does anybody have an idea how to circumvent this (perhaps by another
way of signalling)?


TIA,

Thomas

Thomas@Osthege_de
To reply directly, please replace "_" with "."

------------------------------

From: Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant)
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 19:41:45 EST
Subject: Re: AOL Customers ...


> let's say the local phone company "cheaps out" or gets lazy, and
> decides to simply route all calls to 1-xxx that are not now in the
> local calling area to the customer's chosen long distance carrier.

Unfortunately, there are **only** two things that a local switch can
do with a dialed string that doesn't translate to an INTRA-LATA (or
whatever they're calling LATAs this week) call -- either hand it over
to the LD carrier or return a "reorder" tone or intercept message.
Also, by setting up the translation table so that "hand off to LD
carrier" is the default behavior, they don't have to update the tables
every time that West Bicycle Pump, Alaska adds a new NXX code (unless
they are *local to* said place).

What they *have to do* and didn't here is to promptly update the table
for new NXX codes *in the LATA or local calling area* of the switch.
They didn't, the call got handed off to the LD carrier, who -- not
asking questions -- completed it and billed for it.

100% the local company's fault.


Bill

------------------------------

From: Don Kimberlin <dkimberlin@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: AUTOVON Information
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 21:22:48 -0500
Organization: Prodigy Internet


In article <Sun, 17 Feb 2002 17:23:06 -0800> Al Gillis
(alg@aracnet.com) wrote:

> Reference to an AUTOVON web page would be very interesting, if anyone
> knows of one! For those interested in things of that ilk there is
> whitealice.com.

If there is no direct Autovon one, there are a whole handful of
various "Cold War Communications" web pages, replete with photos made
and collected by really intrepid recorders of the physical
infrastructure.  Just as there is whitealice,com, for example, there
is also an extensive page on NARS, the tropo that connected the
English end of BMEWS across the Atlantic back to North America, and a
variety of pages that record the extent of both L Carrier and TD-2
radio construction around the nation to connect both Autovon and
civilian DDD switching centers.

For an *extensive* starter, go to this page that starts with all
manner of facilities surrounding Washington, DC in the Cold War era:

http://coldwardc.homestead.com/files/

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 02:27:28 +0000 (GMT)
From: Alan Beagley <abeagley@optonline.net>
Subject: Sony Cordless Phone Question
Organization: Optimum Online


The Sony multi-handset 2.4GHz phone SPP-A2780 comes with an attached
handset and one cordless handset, but can accommodate a total of four
cordless units. The user guide says that once a new handset has been
registered it cannot be deregistered.

So what happens if the base station dies and has to be replaced? The
cordless handsets are registered with a no-longer-functioning base
station and cannot be reregistered with the new base station.

And what happens if one has the full complement of four cordless units
and one of them dies? A replacement cannot be registered with the base
station.

Is there really no way of making the base recognize a replacement
cordless unit or of making a cordless unit recognize a replacement base
unit? No "secret" key combinations? After all, either the base unit or
the cordless units (or both) must have some memory (CMOS? Flash RAM?)
somewhere to store the "associations."


Alan

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 20:49:12 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Long Range Cordless Phone Wanted!


At 05:08 PM 2/20/2002, editor@telecom-digest.org wrote:

> Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 21:35:17 +0000
> From: Richard Kenward <kenward.rfe@ntlworld.com>
> Subject: Long Range Cordless Phone Wanted!
> Organization: RKDI

> I am trying to source a cordless phone that I can use in the UK with a
> range exceeding 1/2 mile.  Must be able to fit in a normal size pocket
> please.  Only needs one line in and no answering M/C facilities ... just
> powerful, basic and smallish and sensible price.

> Ideas please guys.  Would a phone produced for the US market and
> presumably powered at the base station at 110volts be suitable?

The longest range phone in the US is the "Engenius", and I'm not sure
it would have a range of a half-mile. I don't think it's pocket sized,
either, but it clips to the belt. Check www.hellodirect.com

There are phones available in CANADA and some other countries that
have a range of up to 25 miles. These are actually PBXs for use in
remote areas.  They are not legal in the US. I don't know about
Britain. And I don't know whether the remote stations are pocket
sized. And these are quite expensive.

There are personal communicators available in the US that are pocket
sized and have a range of up to 2 miles. However, they cannot connect
to the telephone network. They are pretty cheap, too. I don't know
whether they are legal in Britain. There are also industrial versions
of these which might possibly be possible to connect to the switched
network through some sort of phone patch working through a PBX or key
system. The hand-helds are fairly cheap, but if you had to install a
PBX....

Amateur radio on the 2-meter band in the US has a range of a couple of
miles. It can sometimes connect (outgoing only) to the switched
network, if an amateur radio club in the area has set up a repeater
with a "phone-patch." There are lots of models, and possibly some are
pocket sized.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 21:22:23 -0500
From: dhorvath@cobs.com (David B. Horvath, CCP)
Subject: Yet More Entries For the Business Directory


And the offers keep coming!

The first one was part of an email that promised "Business Owner Beats
IRS.  Federal Court Backs Return Of Witheld [sic] Taxes."

   Technology by StealthLaunch. Call LaunchHosting at 1-800-804-4352  
   if your company needs high speed temporary hosting for a Campaign 
   Launch! Celebrating our 5th Year!!! 

It seems like they do something odd to the URL so that you can't
cut & paste it from notepad, so if you can't track it down, you can't
complain about it.  Call them if you have any interest!

      = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

The second was for a variety of cruises.

   Phone:  770-509-2500 / 800-254-7572 
   AABA Cruise & Vacation Superstore 
   98 Powers Ferry Rd 
   Marietta, GA 30067 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

A third one that I just got was really interesting -- they wanted to
know about the products I had for sale:

> We are interested in your product. We believe that it will be useful in
> marketing our data recovery software product.  Can you give us more
> information about its functions?  Thank You.

> Sincerely,

> Walter A. Gonzalaz
> ESS Data Recovery, Inc.

 From their web page: Welcome to the official website of the ESS Data
Recovery team. We take pride in being trusted by thousands of clients
worldwide, including NASA, Lockheed Martin and many others. Please
take a moment to browse our website, or call us at 1.800.237.4200 for
emergency data recovery services.

       = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

Do we have the following in the directory (I can't remember if I sent
this one in, I get so much spam...)

> No Catch !! Host as many domains as you want on your own Virtual Server .

> Features include:
> **  200 mb disk space
> **  Advanced Control Panel
> **  Unlimited Domain Names hosted
> **  Unlimted Email Addresses (anyname@anydomain.com)
> ** 10GB Data Transfer
> ** Windows 2000 Plans also available (Additional fees may apply)

>            ** CALL NOW !!! 1-888-869-HOST(4678) **

> Not ready to sign up yet?
> How about a 15 Day FREE Trial Account?

       ============================================

David B. Horvath, CCP
Consultant, Author, International Lecturer, Adjunct Professor
Board Member: ICCP Educational Foundation, ICCP Test Council, and
Philadelphia Association of Systems Administrators

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  You know what to do.    PAT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #167
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Thu Feb 21 00:43:32 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id AAA03810;
	Thu, 21 Feb 2002 00:43:32 -0500 (EST)
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 00:43:32 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202210543.AAA03810@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #167
				   

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 21 Feb 2002 00:42:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 167

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This? (Denise Oyston)
    Re: NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This? (MegA)
    Re: DNIS Cost? (MegA)
    Telesoft E&M Scripts (Thoth)
    IMTS Phone Service Still Available? (73115.1041@compuserve.com)
    Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution (MegA)
    Re: Calling Card Startups (MegA)
    Re: The Latest Fad From Japan (Marcus Didius Falco)
    Re: Telephone Operators -> Infinity (Malcolm Slaney)
    Nokia 5165 Cell Phone Talk (markbryan@verizon.com)
    Re: More Entries For the Business Directory (Ernie)
    Problem With DTMF in a Caribbean Country (Thomas Osthege)
    Re: AOL Customers ... (Bill Levant)
    Re: AUTOVON Information (Don Kimberlin)
    Sony Cordless Phone Question (Alan Beagley)
    Re: Long Range Cordless Phone Wanted! (Marcus Didius Falco)
    Yet More Entries For the Business Directory (David B. Horvath)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: denise@ukgenealogy.co.uk (Denise Oyston)
Subject: Re: NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This?
Date: 20 Feb 2002 07:32:29 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


google@nosfratu.com (corkie) wrote in message
news:<telecom20.162.10@telecom-digest.org>...

> Last year, I paid for a domain through them for 5 years under a
> special offer they where running. (Cost $79.95). They are now looking
> 1 year later for more money for the domain.

> 1) Anyone have a domain with them and managed to transfer it else
> where?

> 2) How do I force them in to refunding the Difference in Cost  for 5
> years, to 1?

> Advice please?

> John O. Connell

My family has two domains with Namezero, supposedly with myself as
registrant for one and my daughter as registrant for the other.

Last week I wrote to Namezero, asking for my account details with
Network Solutions so I could transfer my domain.  Their response was
to send a demand for payment for a further year's plus service, not
due to expire until December.

I have now managed to change the password for both domains with
Network Solutions, but changing the billing contact details is
becoming a nightmare.

My daughter's domain is due for renewal in April.  I tried to renew it
today through Network Solutions, to be told I cannot because the
domain is registered with a wholesaler of domains.

My daughter is listed as the domain registrant, and can manage every
aspect of the domain herself, except for billing.  She is certainly
not a domain wholesaler.

Namezero are loathe to provide any help, other than demands for
payment for emails and web forwarding that now go through another ISP.

As anyone any ideas about how we can renew the domain, which is now
apparently blocked for any billing alterations.


Thanks,

Denise Oyston

------------------------------

From: bryon.spahn@corporate.ge.com (MegA)
Subject: Re: NameZero are Thieves! Anyone Else Experiencing This?
Date: 20 Feb 2002 07:56:27 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


I would reccomend a shotgun and some carefully placed plastic
explosives.

On a more serious note ...

The problem with your situation is that you probably have no record of
the transaction do you? It would be real easy for NameZero (A
struggling if not already belly up registration site) to deny that
they ever told you that the term of the registration was 5 years.
Furthermore I can easily see them conveniently locating some fine
print in the contract that says that you pay 75 the first year and
then "a reduced rate" for the remaining 4. I would suggest writing
them and advising them of your problem ... if you get no answer, write
them again notifying them of your intent to discontinue their service
and pick a registrar that you can trust. may I suggest
www.register.com I have several domain names registered with them and
they are up front and honest about the costs. I hate to say it... but
when it comes to domain name registration, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
Good luck and I hope not to see your name in the paper for shooting up
the place.


MegA

------------------------------

From: bryon.spahn@corporate.ge.com (MegA)
Subject: Re: DNIS Cost?
Date: 20 Feb 2002 07:34:37 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


The G3 runs this way. You need to have not only the hardware to
process the DNIS request but the licencing per seat to allow the DINS
to pass to the stations. I believe that they do offer a "site" license
if you have a ton of seats. You should also be sure that your version
of switch software allows this functionality. Any halfway rescent
version should be fine. (I say that because I have seen definity's
running on ancient software and the admins scrambling to try and
figure out why their ANI and DNIS request are not going through)


Good luck.

MegA

------------------------------

From: techman@ematic.com (Thoth)
Subject: Telesoft E&M Scripts
Date: 20 Feb 2002 12:26:36 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


I've got a Telesoft/TSLink portable tester (PAC 586) with Version 10.0
of the CD software. Its got programmable CAS, but the script file that
comes with it for E&M ESF.tst is not Wink start.  It appears to be
immediate or delayed dial.  Does anyone have a .tst file for Wink
Start?  If so, could you post it or send it to me?


Thanks for your help, 


W. Martin
techman@ematic.com

------------------------------

From: 73115.1041@compuserve.com
Subject: IMTS Phone Service Still Available?
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 07:29:07 -0700
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


Anyone know if IMTS service -- the original car radio phone service
offered by phone companies -- is still available and what it would be
priced at?

Not that anyone would want it. I suspect coverage is significantly
less than what is offered by cellular providers today. Since it was a
tarriffed service, I suspect it still exists, but only for
grandfathered users.


Ken

------------------------------

From: bryon.spahn@corporate.ge.com (MegA)
Subject: Re: Fall of the Pre-Paid Revolution
Date: 20 Feb 2002 07:20:08 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


I am glad to see that this post didn't go unanswered. Thanks to all
for your input.


MegA

------------------------------

From: bryon.spahn@corporate.ge.com (MegA)
Subject: Re: Calling Card Startups
Date: 20 Feb 2002 07:24:58 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Are you guys looking for information regarding marketing or equipment
purchasing? I can give several pointers on equipment selection,
however I am no salesman. I have worked in the pre-paid market for a
few years and with 2 different startups. You can reply to me
personally if you wish not to discuss your needs in the group.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 19:53:25 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: The Latest Fad From Japan


> From: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
> Subject: Re: The Latest Fad From Japan
> Date: 17 Feb 2002 16:27:40 -0800
> Organization: Transmeta Corporation, Santa Clara CA

> In newsgroup: comp.dcom.telecom

>> According to a short note on the BBC last night, the latest fad from
>> Japan is false fingernails that flash to indicate your cell phone is
>> ringing.

>> Is this the solution to the problem of cellphones ringing in concerts,
>> movies, museums, and other inappropriate places?

> Most cell phones these days can be set to silent alert (vibrate), and
> that doesn't seem to help since too many people are too stupid to
> actually use it.

I find that in vibrating mode I don't feel the vibration if the phone
is in a jacket pocket or a cargo pocket on pants. I feel it only if it
is close to my skin, in a shirt pocket, or if I'm wearing tight
jeans. On a belt clip it's iffy. It would be impossible if the phone
were in a handbag or backpack. YMMV

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 02:20:47 -0800
From: Malcolm Slaney <malcolm@ieee.org>
Subject: Re: Telephone Operators -> Infinity


I asked all of you recently about a story I had heard suggesting that
the number of telephone operators would have become very large if
somebody hadn't invented automatic switching systems.  Laura Dimario
put me in touch with the AT&T historian and he gave a pretty
definitive denial.  Great story, but there is no evidence for it.

Thanks to all of you for your help.

 -- Malcolm

> Subject: RE: Telephone Operators -> Infinity
> Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 08:21:07 -0500
> From: "Hochheiser, Sheldon, PR" <hochheiser@att.com>
> To: "Malcolm Slaney" <malcolm@ieee.org>

> Malcolm--

> This story is a myth that has been told for decades.

> As near as I can tell, no AT&T official ever made such a prediction.
> However, various people have said that some unknown AT&T official at
> some point prior to whenever the tale was being told had made such a
> prediction.

> For the real reasons why AT&T began switching from manual to automatic
> switching of local calls see

> Kenneth Lipartito (Florida International University), "When Women were
> Switches," American Historical Review, 99 (1994)1074 -1111.

> --Sheldon Hochheiser
> Corporate Historian, AT&T

------------------------------

From: markbryan@verizon.com
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 7:02:24 -0500
Reply-To: <markbryan@verizon.com>
Subject: Nokia 5165 Cell Phone Talk


Pat,

Saw your posting about a Nokia 5165.  I was using one until recently. 
Loved the phone. The Li-Ion Battery (about $50-$70) added the 
vibrating function. It worked great, and I liked the phone.  It was a 
little big. I was with BellSouth/Cingular.  Decided to move over to 
AT&T, when I made the move I went with a Nokia 3360 (got the phone at 
Best Buy) that with rebates it cost me nothing. Got a 1 yr contract 
with $35 activation.  The think I noticed was with Cingular that in 
the building I worked in, it was on Roam, which was in AT&T, if I was 
just outside the building I was on Extended, which was the old GTE, 
and if you had BS/Cingular you were fully digital, when on Extended 
you were digital, but Roam was analog.  

On my new phone if it says AT&T I am on digital, but I hardly ever get
Roam anymore in this area.  I have seen extended once or twice. The
thing I see mostly is what one of the people indicated, if you are
locked onto AT&T you stay there, I can power down and get a better
signal sometimes.  I love my new Nokia 3360, it gets better reception
and is much smaller and lighter, and support vibrate with buying a
special battery. Don't know if this will help you or not. Good luck.


Mark Bryan
Verizon Select Services Inc.
Internet: markbryan@verizon.com
O: 813-978-7777 F: 813-987-1691

------------------------------

From: Ernie <ernie@nospam.org>
Subject: Re: More Entries For the Business Directory
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 17:53:25 -0500
Organization: IIcx
Reply-To: ernie@nospam.org


Here is a number that has been spammed to my in-box:

"A public utility co. seeking ambitious people to work part 
time...yadda yadda... learn how to get get paid on local and LD phone 
service, internet, pagers, yadda etc. For more info, Call EXCEL 
1-888-306-0687"...Then listen to 3+ min spiel and leave a message as 
long as you like. Ask lots of questions and use a payphone so the 
owner of said payphone can collect a fee.

------------------------------

From: Thomas Osthege <ThomasO@iname.com>
Subject: Problem With DTMF in a Caribbean Country
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 00:16:18 +0100
Organization: T-Online


Hi NG,

My program (running in Germany) calls a customer (back) in a caribbean
country. He types some instructions into my program using DTMF digits.
Until recently everything worked fine. But now it seems that they
filter out DTMF signals and terminate calls after the 3rd digit in
some (too many) cases.

Has anyone heard about a practice like this?

Does anybody have an idea how to circumvent this (perhaps by another
way of signalling)?


TIA,

Thomas

Thomas@Osthege_de
To reply directly, please replace "_" with "."

------------------------------

From: Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant)
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 19:41:45 EST
Subject: Re: AOL Customers ...


> let's say the local phone company "cheaps out" or gets lazy, and
> decides to simply route all calls to 1-xxx that are not now in the
> local calling area to the customer's chosen long distance carrier.

Unfortunately, there are **only** two things that a local switch can
do with a dialed string that doesn't translate to an INTRA-LATA (or
whatever they're calling LATAs this week) call -- either hand it over
to the LD carrier or return a "reorder" tone or intercept message.
Also, by setting up the translation table so that "hand off to LD
carrier" is the default behavior, they don't have to update the tables
every time that West Bicycle Pump, Alaska adds a new NXX code (unless
they are *local to* said place).

What they *have to do* and didn't here is to promptly update the table
for new NXX codes *in the LATA or local calling area* of the switch.
They didn't, the call got handed off to the LD carrier, who -- not
asking questions -- completed it and billed for it.

100% the local company's fault.


Bill

------------------------------

From: Don Kimberlin <dkimberlin@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: AUTOVON Information
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 21:22:48 -0500
Organization: Prodigy Internet


In article <Sun, 17 Feb 2002 17:23:06 -0800> Al Gillis
(alg@aracnet.com) wrote:

> Reference to an AUTOVON web page would be very interesting, if anyone
> knows of one! For those interested in things of that ilk there is
> whitealice.com.

If there is no direct Autovon one, there are a whole handful of
various "Cold War Communications" web pages, replete with photos made
and collected by really intrepid recorders of the physical
infrastructure.  Just as there is whitealice,com, for example, there
is also an extensive page on NARS, the tropo that connected the
English end of BMEWS across the Atlantic back to North America, and a
variety of pages that record the extent of both L Carrier and TD-2
radio construction around the nation to connect both Autovon and
civilian DDD switching centers.

For an *extensive* starter, go to this page that starts with all
manner of facilities surrounding Washington, DC in the Cold War era:

http://coldwardc.homestead.com/files/

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 02:27:28 +0000 (GMT)
From: Alan Beagley <abeagley@optonline.net>
Subject: Sony Cordless Phone Question
Organization: Optimum Online


The Sony multi-handset 2.4GHz phone SPP-A2780 comes with an attached
handset and one cordless handset, but can accommodate a total of four
cordless units. The user guide says that once a new handset has been
registered it cannot be deregistered.

So what happens if the base station dies and has to be replaced? The
cordless handsets are registered with a no-longer-functioning base
station and cannot be reregistered with the new base station.

And what happens if one has the full complement of four cordless units
and one of them dies? A replacement cannot be registered with the base
station.

Is there really no way of making the base recognize a replacement
cordless unit or of making a cordless unit recognize a replacement base
unit? No "secret" key combinations? After all, either the base unit or
the cordless units (or both) must have some memory (CMOS? Flash RAM?)
somewhere to store the "associations."


Alan

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 20:49:12 -0500
From: Marcus Didius Falco <marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Long Range Cordless Phone Wanted!


At 05:08 PM 2/20/2002, editor@telecom-digest.org wrote:

> Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 21:35:17 +0000
> From: Richard Kenward <kenward.rfe@ntlworld.com>
> Subject: Long Range Cordless Phone Wanted!
> Organization: RKDI

> I am trying to source a cordless phone that I can use in the UK with a
> range exceeding 1/2 mile.  Must be able to fit in a normal size pocket
> please.  Only needs one line in and no answering M/C facilities ... just
> powerful, basic and smallish and sensible price.

> Ideas please guys.  Would a phone produced for the US market and
> presumably powered at the base station at 110volts be suitable?

The longest range phone in the US is the "Engenius", and I'm not sure
it would have a range of a half-mile. I don't think it's pocket sized,
either, but it clips to the belt. Check www.hellodirect.com

There are phones available in CANADA and some other countries that
have a range of up to 25 miles. These are actually PBXs for use in
remote areas.  They are not legal in the US. I don't know about
Britain. And I don't know whether the remote stations are pocket
sized. And these are quite expensive.

There are personal communicators available in the US that are pocket
sized and have a range of up to 2 miles. However, they cannot connect
to the telephone network. They are pretty cheap, too. I don't know
whether they are legal in Britain. There are also industrial versions
of these which might possibly be possible to connect to the switched
network through some sort of phone patch working through a PBX or key
system. The hand-helds are fairly cheap, but if you had to install a
PBX....

Amateur radio on the 2-meter band in the US has a range of a couple of
miles. It can sometimes connect (outgoing only) to the switched
network, if an amateur radio club in the area has set up a repeater
with a "phone-patch." There are lots of models, and possibly some are
pocket sized.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 21:22:23 -0500
From: dhorvath@cobs.com (David B. Horvath, CCP)
Subject: Yet More Entries For the Business Directory


And the offers keep coming!

The first one was part of an email that promised "Business Owner Beats
IRS.  Federal Court Backs Return Of Witheld [sic] Taxes."

   Technology by StealthLaunch. Call LaunchHosting at 1-800-804-4352  
   if your company needs high speed temporary hosting for a Campaign 
   Launch! Celebrating our 5th Year!!! 

It seems like they do something odd to the URL so that you can't
cut & paste it from notepad, so if you can't track it down, you can't
complain about it.  Call them if you have any interest!

      = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

The second was for a variety of cruises.

   Phone:  770-509-2500 / 800-254-7572 
   AABA Cruise & Vacation Superstore 
   98 Powers Ferry Rd 
   Marietta, GA 30067 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

A third one that I just got was really interesting -- they wanted to
know about the products I had for sale:

> We are interested in your product. We believe that it will be useful in
> marketing our data recovery software product.  Can you give us more
> information about its functions?  Thank You.

> Sincerely,

> Walter A. Gonzalaz
> ESS Data Recovery, Inc.

 From their web page: Welcome to the official website of the ESS Data
Recovery team. We take pride in being trusted by thousands of clients
worldwide, including NASA, Lockheed Martin and many others. Please
take a moment to browse our website, or call us at 1.800.237.4200 for
emergency data recovery services.

       = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

Do we have the following in the directory (I can't remember if I sent
this one in, I get so much spam...)

> No Catch !! Host as many domains as you want on your own Virtual Server .

> Features include:
> **  200 mb disk space
> **  Advanced Control Panel
> **  Unlimited Domain Names hosted
> **  Unlimted Email Addresses (anyname@anydomain.com)
> ** 10GB Data Transfer
> ** Windows 2000 Plans also available (Additional fees may apply)

>            ** CALL NOW !!! 1-888-869-HOST(4678) **

> Not ready to sign up yet?
> How about a 15 Day FREE Trial Account?

       ============================================

David B. Horvath, CCP
Consultant, Author, International Lecturer, Adjunct Professor
Board Member: ICCP Educational Foundation, ICCP Test Council, and
Philadelphia Association of Systems Administrators

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  You know what to do.    PAT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #167
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Thu Feb 21 20:48:27 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id UAA24743;
	Thu, 21 Feb 2002 20:48:27 -0500 (EST)
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 20:48:27 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202220148.UAA24743@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #168

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 21 Feb 2002 20:20:04 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 168

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: IMTS Phone Service Still Available? (Don Kimberlin)
    Re: IMTS Phone Service Still Available? (KB7M)
    Re: IMTS Phone Service Still Available? (Jim Hopkins)
    Lucent EXS (Formerly Excel) Tech/Developer Seeking Opportunity (MegA)
    Re: Sony Cordless Phone Question (Alan Beagley)
    Re: Sony Cordless Phone Question (Ed Ellers)
    Re: Octel / Definity Message Lamp Problem (Mike)
    Long Distance T1 Delay and Dropping When Dialing Out (Mike)
    Panasonic KX-TD336 Card (James Gifford)
    Re: The Latest Fad From Japan (Rory Francisco)
    Avoid ATT Cordless Telephone Headsets (Ross C. Nicholson)
    Re: Telephone Operators -> Infinity (Don Kimberlin)
    Re: Is This the Death of Dial-Up ? (Rob)
    Re: Long Range Cordless Phone Wanted! (Joel B. Levin)
    Busyback (Anne Mc Donagh)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Don Kimberlin <dkimberlin@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: IMTS Phone Service Still Available?
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 17:44:49 -0500
Organization: Prodigy Internet


In article <Wed, 20 Feb 2002 07:29:07 -0700 > Ken
73115.1041@compuserve.com wrote:

> Anyone know if IMTS service -- the original car radio 
> phone service offered by phone companies -- ....

DING!  Sorry to say, IMTS was not the "original."  It was on 450 MHz.

Since IMTS stood for "Improved Mobile Telephone Service," it could
hardly be "improved" if it was the first, could it?

What immediately preceded IMTS was, of course, MTS or Mobile Telephone
Service on 150 Mhz.  And, there was even a granddaddy whose name I
forgot on 35 mHz, with about one channel per state, because its
coverage areas were so large.

And here's tomorrow morning's quiz question, class.  If there was
Mobile Telephone Service (MTS) and Improved Mobile Telephone service
(IMTS). what was the first name of cellular phone service on 900 MHz?
(Shhh--the answer is AMPS -- Advanced Mobile Telephone Service.  Ahh,
what giants of cold clear; logical <DULL!> language our monopoly
telcos were!)

------------------------------

From: KB7M <kb7m@arrl.net>
Subject: Re: IMTS Phone Service Still Available?
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 17:06:14 -0700


The last I heard, (about a year ago), the service was still available
in some remote rural areas where cell phone coverage is spotty or
non-existant.  The equipment is scarce and the few remaining units are
grabbed up for these rural areas, and by hams for conversion to ham
band repeaters.

<73115.1041@compuserve.com> wrote in message
news:telecom20.167.5@telecom-digest.org...

> Anyone know if IMTS service -- the original car radio phone service
> offered by phone companies -- is still available and what it would be
> priced at?

> Not that anyone would want it. I suspect coverage is significantly
> less than what is offered by cellular providers today. Since it was a
> tarriffed service, I suspect it still exists, but only for
> grandfathered users.

------------------------------

From: bwanajim@swbell.net (Jim Hopkins)
Subject: Re: IMTS Phone Service Still Available?
Reply-To: bwanajim@swbell.net
Organization: Prodigy Internet http://www.prodigy.com
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 13:17:02 GMT


Not in SBC-Southwestern Bell (TX, OK, KS, MO, AR). It was shut down in
1994.

On Wed, 20 Feb 2002 07:29:07 -0700, 
73115.1041@compuserve.com <73115.1041@compuserve.com> wrote:

> Anyone know if IMTS service -- the original car radio phone service
> offered by phone companies -- is still available and what it would be
> priced at?


Jim Hopkins

------------------------------

From: bryon.spahn@corporate.ge.com (MegA)
Subject: Lucent EXS (Formerly Excel) Tech/Developer Seeking Opportunity
Date: 21 Feb 2002 06:02:33 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Hello all,

I am looking for a company in the US or Canada (Toronto pref.) that is
running a Lucent EXS (formerly Excel EXS2000) Phone switch and is in
need of one or more techs to turn their pre-paid business around. I
have worked with several different startups who are presently
averaging anywhere from 500k/mo to 2.5M/mo in sales. Please let me
know if you are in this business and if you need some proactive
admins/developers on your side to give you the advantage in your
market.

I look forward to hearing from you guys soon.


Thanks,

MegA

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 14:07:38 GMT
From: Alan Beagley <abeagley@optonline.net>
Subject: Re: Sony Cordless Phone Question
Organization: Optimum Online


Oh, never mind. I found another loose sheet of paper in the package
that deals with these situations: it's <INTERCOM>, <EZ ACCESS>, and
<1> pressed simultaneously.

Sorry for the wasted bandwidth.


Alan

Alan Beagley wrote:

> The Sony multi-handset 2.4GHz phone SPP-A2780 comes with an attached
> handset and one cordless handset, but can accommodate a total of four
> cordless units. The user guide says that once a new handset has been
> registered it cannot be deregistered.

> So what happens if the base station dies and has to be replaced? The
> cordless handsets are registered with a no-longer-functioning base
> station and cannot be reregistered with the new base station.

> And what happens if one has the full complement of four cordless units
> and one of them dies? A replacement cannot be registered with the base
> station.

> Is there really no way of making the base recognize a replacement
> cordless unit or of making a cordless unit recognize a replacement base
> unit? No "secret" key combinations? After all, either the base unit or
> the cordless units (or both) must have some memory (CMOS? Flash RAM?)
> somewhere to store the "associations."

------------------------------

From: Ed Ellers <ed_ellers@msn.com>
Subject: Re: Sony Cordless Phone Question
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 19:48:49 -0500


Alan Beagley <abeagley@optonline.net> wrote:

> So what happens if the base station dies and has to be replaced? The
> cordless handsets are registered with a no-longer-functioning base station
> and cannot be reregistered with the new base station.

Does the registration take place in the base unit, in the handsets, or
both?  If the registration only takes place in the base unit, then the
replacement base unit would be empty and able to accept the user's
existing handsets.  If the registration only takes place in the
handsets, then the service center could re-serialize the replacement
base unit to match the one being replaced.

> And what happens if one has the full complement of four cordless
> units and one of them dies? A replacement cannot be registered with
> the base station.

If registration takes place at the base, then the replacement handset
could be re-serialized to match the broken unit; if only at the
handset, there would be no problem because the replacement would be
empty.

The only difficult situation would be if both the handsets *and* the
base station memorized each other's identifications.  My gut feeling
is that only the base station is handling registration, since (A) that
only requires the function to be added to one device in the system,
(B) that's the one good way to limit the number of handsets being
used, and (C) base station protection is sufficient to prevent the
customer's phone line from being misused by a neighbor or someone in a
passing car.

------------------------------

From: anonmike@hotmail.com (Mike)
Subject: Re: Octel / Definity Message Lamp Problem
Date: 21 Feb 2002 08:04:12 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


This is the original poster.  I was not able to get back into the
Google account.

1. We bought this system used and it's only been in production for
about one and a half months.  I don't think rebooting the vmail system
will do anything.

2. They are marked as digital on the system, as 6408D+.

3. I don't think it's user error, since it happens randomly and the
fixes i specified (Clear AMW ALL and Deleting all v-mails) seems to
fix it for most.

What I don't understand why it seems to be happening so often, about
one or two people a week.  Or maybe this is normal.  This is the first
time I've been responsible for telecom equipment.

Thank you for all the responses so far.


Mike

a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) wrote in message
news:<telecom20.166.5@telecom-digest.org>...

> anon225588@yahoo.com (Mike) wrote in message
> news:<telecom20.164.9@telecom-digest.org>...

> One more thing to check.  See if by any chance they have disabled
> notification under administrative options in their mail box.  Quite
> common.  On our particular load of Octel S/W, the option is something
> like "Turn Message Indicator Off."  People will do this thinking it
> will turn the light off on their phone not realizing that the light
> will never light when they do receive a message.

>> Hello,

>> I have a Definity G3si Release 6 BCS with an Octel 250.  We have about
>> 75 users. About five to eight users have experienced this problem, the
>> message lamp either does not turn on when there is a new message or
>> the message lamp stays on even after the message is listened to.  I
>> have switched phones to no avail.  We have 6408D+.

>> I have done two troubleshooting steps:

>> 1. Ran "Clear AMW All [EXT]" on the Definity.
>> 2. Had them delete all their voicemails.

>> This has corrected the problem for about 4 people.  There are still a
>> few left who continue to experience this problem.  I am all out of
>> ideas.  If anyone is aware of the solution to this please let me know.

------------------------------

From: anonmike@hotmail.com (Mike)
Subject: Long Distance T1 Delay and Dropping When Dialing Out
Date: 21 Feb 2002 08:28:56 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


I have a Definity R6 with 2 T1 lines, LD and Local.  The LD line is
from Worldcom.  At this point it is set up for Immed Wink/Immed Wink.
This corresponds to the settings that Worldcom specified.  About %10
of the time it takes about 10-15 seconds for a call to go out.
Sometimes the call just dies and does not go out.  This is becoming
very problematic.

Worldcom is claming that it is a switch problem.  Since there were
some issues with the last four channels (it is a TIE line) I busied
out those channels.  These problems are still occuring.  If anyone has
an idea please let me know.  Thank you.


Mike

------------------------------

From: James Gifford <jgifford@surewest.not>
Subject: Panasonic KX-TD336 Card
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 09:07:34 -0800
Organization: Nitrosyncretic Press
Reply-To: jgifford@surewest.not


I have a KX-T96141 2-port Attendant Console card for the KX-TD336 (and
maybe the TD500, not sure). It's been ignored on eBay; offers and
suggestions of where an interested buyer might be found appreciated.


|           James Gifford - Nitrosyncretic Press            |
| http://www.nitrosyncretic.com for the Heinlein FAQ & more |
|  Tired of auto-spam... change "not" to "net" for replies  |

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 16:14:59 -0500
Subject: Re: The Latest Fad From Japan
From: Rory Francisco <rory@virginia.edu>


In article telecom20.164.10@telecom-digest.org, Joe Wineburgh at
jwineburgh@yahoo.com wrote on 2/18/02 3:57 PM:

> A caution -- I believe it's AT&T that does this (as well as
> others). If the majority of your calls are from out of the area where
> your cellular number is, they may give you grief. I remember reading
> about this elsewhere -- the policy may have changed since then. They
> may force you to get a local (to the area you use it most) number, or
> if they've since abandoned service there -- cancel the service
> altogether.
 
As far as I know, AT&T Wireless does not have any such policy.  I had
an AT&T phone in the 917 NPA (New York City) from December 2000 to
December 2001, and used it about half the year here in
Charlottesville, VA.  No grief whatsoever from AT&T, as I was on a
"regional advantage" plan that had no roaming/LD charges from Maine
west to Pennsylvania and south to Virginia.

Since I tend to use my wireless phone more in VA than I do in NY, I
switched to SunCom (the local AT&T Wireless affiliate, but not owned
by AT&T) this December and obtained a Charlottesville wireless number.
The particular plan I'm on has no roaming or long distance charges
nationwide, as long as calls are made from a SunCom or AT&T network
(same concept as Sprint PCS, but customer service is leaps and bounds
better).

However, SunCom *does* have a policy like the one you mentioned; if
more than 50% of one's allotted monthly minutes are used off the
SunCom Network, SunCom has the right to "terminate your agreement."  I
don't know if this rule is enforced; many students like me have SunCom
phones and use them out-of-state over the summer without a problem.

Now that Verizon and Sprint (and maybe AT&T also) have fully
integrated nationwide wireless networks, perhaps they'll find a way to
have two or more numbers, based in different cities, ring the same
phone. I wouldn't think "one phone, two numbers" would be that hard
to do from a technical standpoint; this would be a feature I'd gladly
add for an extra $5 a month or so.  Perfect for college students and
frequent business travelers who have ties to more than one place.

------------------------------

From: TogetherinParis@hotmail.com (Ross C. Nicholson)
Subject: Avoid ATT Cordless Telephone Headsets
Date: 21 Feb 2002 14:02:55 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


ATT makes a microphone/one over the ear piece headset that falls apart
with any use at all.  I would tell you the model number, but they
don't bother to label it.  It cost me $19.00.  Designed for use with
cordless telephones, their headsets break at the telescope tube which
is the adjustment point for the head clamp.  It would be easy to
correct this manufacturing mistake with a little more plastic at the
vulnerable spot, but apparently they don't care.  ATT seems to think
that they make the perfect headset, one which breaks as soon as the
plasticizer leaches out--which takes a year or two.  The headsets only
have a year warranty, naturally.  Replacement parts are not available
and their support staff is smarmy.  Save yourself an inevitable
headache and buy another brand.

------------------------------

From: Don Kimberlin <dkimberlin@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: Telephone Operators -> Infinity 
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 17:56:48 -0500
Organization: Prodigy Internet


In article , Malcolm Slaney (malcolm@ieee.org) wrote:

> I asked all of you recently about a story I had heard suggesting that
> he number of telephone operators would have become very large if
> somebody hadn't invented automatic switching systems. Laura Dimario
> put me in touch with the AT&T historian and he gave a pretty
> definitive denial. Great story, but there is no evidence for it.

Of course, what is *not* stated in the official corporate archives is
that AT&T had huge economic concerns, and that by the late 1940s, LM
Ericsson had the public in Sweden dialing its own toll calls.  When
LME got to the point of filing standards proposals at CCITT meetings,
some tough calls had to be made within AT&T.  Bell Labs, as always,
wanted to be in charge of the work -- at least the world so far as
Bell Labs saw it, which lay between two great oceans.  Bell Labs had
NEVER purchased technology from anywhere, and whether that was written
or not, it was known that Bell Labs was not about to purchase any
technology unless ordered to do so from the very top.

The one piece of evidence for this internal debate is the fact that
Fred Kappel traveled to Sweden to meet LME and see its products in
public use, as part of his decision making/influencing about what or
how DDD should be for America.  His was the first official business
trip to Europe made by an AT&T exec since they had been forced to
liquidate their European holdings as a result of the 1912 antitrust
case against the Bell System. It caused quite a stir within, all up
and down the organization, still echoing out in coffee klatsches in
the Long Lines Plant Depart ment in the 1960s. That was after DDD had
become well established.

------------------------------

From: Rob <switNO77777@CAPSaolonedot.com>
Subject: Re: Is This the Death of Dial-Up?
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 12:35:24 -0500
Organization: Lucent Technologies, Columbus, Ohio


Dial-up won't die if the only alternative is a cable company ... the
modern equivalent of the old robber-barons.

------------------------------

From: Joel B Levin <levinjb@gte.net>
Subject: Re: Long Range Cordless Phone Wanted!
Organization: On the desert
Reply-To: levinjb@gte.net
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 06:42:25 GMT


In <telecom20.167.16@telecom-digest.org>, Marcus Didius Falco
<marcus_d_falco@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Amateur radio on the 2-meter band in the US has a range of a couple of
> miles. It can sometimes connect (outgoing only) to the switched
> network, if an amateur radio club in the area has set up a repeater
> with a "phone-patch." There are lots of models, and possibly some are
> pocket sized.

The US Amateur Radio Service also has some content restrictions on
what may be discussed on the service, including a phone patch on a
repeater; among other things, it can't be used for business.  And of
course you have to be a licensed amateur radio operator to use it.  So
it's not a general purpose solution by any means.

/JBL

Nets:   levin at bbn.com  |  /"\
  or jbl at levin.mv.com  |  \ /  ASCII RIBBON CAMPAIGN
pots:      (617)873-3463  |   X   AGAINST HTML MAIL
ARS:    KD1ON             |  / \  AND POSTINGS

------------------------------

From: Anne Mc Donagh <amcdonagh@bcltd.net>
Reply-To: amcdonagh@bcltd.net <amcdonagh@bcltd.net>
Subject: Busyback
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 09:27:44 +0100
Organization: Business Communications Ltd.


Dear Sir/Madam,

I have been searching for a list of international busyback
numbers with which to test some telecom signalling equipment in the UK.  Do
you have any idea where I might find such a list, or even a list of dial-a
weather, anything that would help me identify which of our international
links are up (if any?)

Hoping you can help,

A. Mc Donagh

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V20 #168
******************************
    
    
From editor@telecom-digest.org  Fri Feb 22 20:37:12 2002
Received: (from ptownson@localhost)
	by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id UAA16366;
	Fri, 22 Feb 2002 20:37:12 -0500 (EST)
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 20:37:12 -0500 (EST)
From: editor@telecom-digest.org
Message-Id: <200202230137.UAA16366@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
To: ptownson
Approved: patsnewlist
Subject: TELECOM Digest V20 #168

TELECOM Digest     Fri, 22 Feb 2002 20:33:00 EST    Volume 20 : Issue 169

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: IMTS Phone Service Still Available? (Pete Romfh)
    Re: Avoid ATT Cordless Telephone Headsets (Steve Fleckenstein)
    Re: Long Distance T1 Delay and Dropping When Dialing Out (No Spam)
    How do I Know if my Cell Phone is Locked? (Jas Kim)
    Octel/Definity Message Lamp Problem (Randy Hayes)
    Re: Is This the Death of Dial-Up? (Don Kimberlin)
    Verizon Wireless Strikes (Fred Atkinson)
    Help with KX-TD1232 + TVS-200 (James Gifford)
    FTC Want Comments on Anti-Telemarketing Proposal (Marcus Didius Falco)
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From: Pete Romfh <promfh@texas.net>
Subject: Re: IMTS Phone Service Still Available?
Organization: Giganews.Com - Premium News Outsourcing
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 12:50:28 GMT


Don Kimberlin <dkimberlin@prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:telecom20.168.1@telecom-digest.org:

> In article <Wed, 20 Feb 2002 07:29:07 -0700 > Ken
> 73115.1041@compuserve.com wrote:

>> Anyone know if IMTS service -- the original car radio
>> phone service offered by phone companies -- ....

> DING!  Sorry to say, IMTS was not the "original."  It was on 450 MHz.

> Since IMTS stood for "Improved Mobile Telephone Service," it could
> hardly be "improved" if it was the first, could it?

> What immediately preceded IMTS was, of course, MTS or Mobile Telephone
> Service on 150 Mhz.  And, there was even a granddaddy whose name I
> forgot on 35 mHz, with about one channel per state, because its
> coverage areas were so large.

> And here's tomorrow morning's quiz question, class.  If there was
> Mobile Telephone Service (MTS) and Improved Mobile Telephone service
> (IMTS). what was the first name of cellular phone service on 900 MHz?
> (Shhh--the answer is AMPS -- Advanced Mobile Telephone Service.  Ahh,
> what giants of cold clear; logical <DULL!> language our monopoly
> telcos were!)

As I remember it from when I worked on them back in antiquity:

MTS was a manual Mobile Telephone Service. It was on 150 Mhz and you
picked up the handset, keyed the mike once and the operator would
answer. The only unit authentication was verbally giving your mobile
phone number. There were 12 channels as I remember and you had to
select what channel to use for the area you were in. Transmission was
duplex but you had a PTT bar on the handset.

IMTS (Improved Mobile Telephone Service) used the same VHF channels
(designated YR, YK, YJ, etc) as MTS. The "improvements" included
automatic channel selection, automatic unit identification, and direct
dialing from the (huge) control head. If you were out of coverage of
the company you had service with it went into MTS mode. You would pick
up the phone and wait. Eventually a mobile operator would answer. You
gave her your mobile number and the number you wanted to talk to. Then
you'd be connected.

FACTS (Fully Automatic Car Telephone Service) was on 450Mhz. They had
a control head that was 1/2 the size. There was no manual mode and no
way to reach an operator. You either ID'd to the system and got dial
tone or you didn't make your call. There was no roaming as they were
intended for folks who drove around the same area all the time. There
were more channels available so the waiting list was shorter to get
one but a lot of people would switch back to IMTS when a number became
available because of the roaming ability.

The first "portable" phone was an all-transistorized FACTS unit made
by Harris.  It was a 12 pound briefcase w/ a "trimline" style handset
inside. Battery life was about six hours standby and twenty mins talk
time.

AMPS (Automatic Mobile Phone Service) was the first analog cellular
system.  Then still had a separate tranceiver and control head but
were relatively tiny units that were easy to install. They had
touchtone dialing and lots of new features but were subject to cloning
and lots of other problems. The first AMPS portable was the Motorola
"brick" which everyone thought was wonderful because it weighed under
two pounds and lasted 12 hours on standby.

How far we have come.


Pete Romfh
Now retired and playing w/ PCS and Blackberry.

------------------------------

From: Steve Fleckenstein <spfleck@citlinkdot.net>
Subject: Re: Avoid ATT Cordless Telephone Headsets
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 07:52:02 -0500
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com
Reply-To: Steve Fleckenstein <spfleck@citlinkdot.net>


If you look carefully at most consumer branded AT&T gear in discount
stores you will find that most if not all of it is manufactured by
some one else who has a license to use the AT&T name and logo. The
qualiyt varies wildly depending on the actual mfgr.

> ATT makes a microphone/one over the ear piece headset that falls apart
> with any use at all.  ...........

------------------------------

From: NoSpam@resi.com (No Spam)
Subject: Re: Long Distance T1 Delay and Dropping When Dialing Out
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 13:59:40 GMT
Reply-To: NoSpam@resi.com


On 21 Feb 2002 08:28:56 -0800, anonmike@hotmail.com (Mike) wrote:

> I have a Definity R6 with 2 T1 lines, LD and Local.  The LD line is
> from Worldcom.  At this point it is set up for Immed Wink/Immed Wink.
> This corresponds to the settings that Worldcom specified.  About %10
> of the time it takes about 10-15 seconds for a call to go out.
> Sometimes the call just dies and does not go out.  This is becoming
> very problematic.

> Worldcom is claming that it is a switch problem.  Since there were
> some issues with the last four channels (it is a TIE line) I busied
> out those channels.  These problems are still occuring.  If anyone has
> an idea please let me know.  Thank you.

What does their trouble group say they are seeing? Partial digits? No
digits?  I've seen similar behaviour on another carrier's network,
(Nortel DMS switches) where we had repeated problems with some calls
not completing, and the carrier said they weren't receiving digits.
On one occasion it was traced to echo cancellers, on another occasion
it was traced to a bad SPM modual on the Carrier's switch. (An SPM is
what the T1 connects to on the carrier side in some switches).  See
what their tech says.  It may take some time, but if you can work with
their tech and maybe get the carrier tech and your vendor together,
they'll eventually find the problem.

My opinions are my own, and not necessarily those of my employer.  My
email address is valid.

------------------------------

From: jasguild@hotmail.com (jas kim)
Subject: How do I Know if my Cell Phone is Locked???
Date: 22 Feb 2002 07:34:53 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com/


Hi, 

I got a basic but cool Ericsson phone from Cingular.  I am thinking
about upgrading to a better phone and sending the Ericsson to my
sister in the Caribbean. (They have their own local cellular provider
which works well with this model of Ericsson)

The reason I ask this question is that my phone does not have any
Cingular mark nor does it have the A1228di mark like other Cingular
phone.  According to Ericsson, the "d" series is made exclusively for
Cingular. Anyway, as I said mine has no model or name labeled on it
which makes me wonder if I was given an unlocked phone.

Is there anyway to verify this without actually having to ship it to
the Caribbean??


Thanks,

jasguild

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 10:12:20 -0600
From: Randy Hayes <Randal.Hayes@uni.edu>
Subject: Octel/Definity Message Lamp Problem


>> Hello,

>> I have a Definity G3si Release 6 BCS with an Octel 250.  We have
>> about 75 users. About five to eight users have experienced this
>> problem, the message lamp either does not turn on when there is a
>> new message or the message lamp stays on even after the message is
>> listened to.  I have switched phones to no avail.  We have 6408D+.

On many VM systems, if the users do not log-out when completing a VM
session (retrieving messages, deleting them, etc.) but simply hang-up
the phone, it can cause strange problems, including the ones you have
described.

For some of these users, verify if they are logging-out or simply
hanging-up ... and check the results if people begin logging-out at
session-end.

We had strange message waiting light problems (Definity with Intuity
Audix), and in each case where a person began logging-out of their
sessions, the problems cleared-up as well.


Randy Hayes
University of Northern Iowa

------------------------------

From: Don Kimberlin <dkimberlin@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: Is This the Death of Dial-Up?
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 11:44:30 -0500
Organization: Prodigy Internet


In article <Thu, 21 Feb 2002 12:35:24 -0500> Rob
(switNO77777@CAPSaolonedot.com) wrote:

Dial-up won't die if the only alternative is a cable company ... the
modern equivalent of the old robber-barons.

Amen, Bro, Hear! Hear! Huzzah! and well said.

Of course, the cable companies learned it from the telephone companies
who learned it from the railroads, with all of them under the tutelage
of the bankers. (If you doubt that, find the rather famous letter from
J.P. Morgan in which he flatly proclaims he will teach Theodore Vail
how to achieve a marketplace monopoly.

Today, the principles are so well known that they are taught in every
business school.