From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Jan 5 14:30:56 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i05JUui04028; Mon, 5 Jan 2004 14:30:56 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 14:30:56 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200401051930.i05JUui04028@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #6 TELECOM Digest Mon, 5 Jan 2004 14:31:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 6 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update (Canada) #414, January 5, 2004 (Angus TeleManagement) Re: NANP Numbering (Mark J Cuccia) Re: Twenty Years Ago Today 1-Jan-2004 on 1-Jan-1984 (Lincoln King-Cliby) AlchemyTV DVR / Digital Video Recorder for your PowerMac (Monty Solomon) TiVo Inc. Invites You to Join Conference Call, Webcast (Monty Solomon) Last Laugh! 15 Year Old Gets Caught With $71,000!!! (free$$$) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk is definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2004 10:31:08 -0500 From: Angus TeleManagement Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #414, January 5, 2004 ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 414: January 5, 2004 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca ** CYGCOM INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGIES: www.cygcom.com ** GROUP TELECOM: www.360.net ** JUNIPER NETWORKS: www.juniper.net ** PRIMUS CANADA: www.primustel.ca ** SPRINT CANADA: www.sprint.ca ** TELUS: www.telus.com ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Colville Reappointed to CRTC ** Bell Can Appeal CRTC Contract Ruling ** Telus Wants Re-Auction of Inukshuk Spectrum ** Notice Required on Automatic Contract Renewals ** Telus Apologizes to Customers ** MTS Raises Business Line Rates ** SaskTel Wants EMI, Voice Messaging Forborne ** Bell, Aliant Must Provide Detailed Bills ** Cybersurf Wins Order Against Shaw ** RIM Results Swing to Profit ** DBRS Upgrades Telus Debt ** Nortel Files Final Restated Results ** Emergis Exits U.S. Health Business ** UBS Takes Control of Look ** Canada Payphone Cuts Loss ** Telemanagement Goes Online ============================================================ COLVILLE REAPPOINTED TO CRTC: Telecom Update congratulates David Colville, the CRTC's Vice-Chairperson of Telecommunications and Atlantic regional Commissioner on his re-appointment to the Commission for a further one-year term. BELL CAN APPEAL CRTC CONTRACT RULING: The Federal Court has granted Bell Canada leave to appeal CRTC Telecom Decision 2003-63 (see Telecom Update #405). The appeal is restricted to the question of whether the Commission should have elicited customer views before ordering that details of their contracts with Bell be made public. TELUS WANTS RE-AUCTION OF INUKSHUK SPECTRUM: In December, Telus Mobility asked Industry Canada to revoke Inukshuk's MCS licence for failing to meet license conditions. Telus says the spectrum should be offered again in the upcoming 2.3/3.5 GHz spectrum auction. (See Telecom Update #413) NOTICE REQUIRED ON AUTOMATIC CONTRACT RENEWALS: The CRTC has decided not to remove the automatic contract renewal provisions in Bell and Telus business local service contracts, but Telecom Decision 2003-85 requires both telcos to notify customers at least 60 days before and within 35 days after automatic renewal occurs. Customers will have 30 days from the latter notice to cancel the contract. ** No business customers participated in this proceeding. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2003/dt2003-85.htm TELUS APOLOGIZES TO CUSTOMERS: In a letter sent to two million customers last week, Telus CEO Darren Entwistle says: "Recently, some aspects of our service have not been at the levels you deserve ... If you have been inconvenienced in your dealings with Telus in any way, we sincerely apologize." He says the company is "on track to meet and exceed industry standards in all areas in December 2003." http://about.telus.com/media/customerletter.html MTS RAISES BUSINESS LINE RATES: CRTC Telecom Order 2003-519 approves a proposal by MTS Communications to increase monthly rates for multi-line business service, effective February 1. Non-contracted service goes up $1.45 in bands A to C and $1.65 in bands D to G. Contracted service in all bands increases $1.40, $1.15, and $0.80 for 1, 3 and 5-year contracts respectively. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Orders/2003/o2003-519.htm SASKTEL WANTS EMI, VOICE MESSAGING FORBORNE: SaskTel has asked the CRTC to forbear from regulating its Electronic Messaging and Voice Messaging services and any similar services that may be developed in the future. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2003/8640/8640_03.htm#200318560 BELL, ALIANT MUST PROVIDE DETAILED BILLS: CRTC Telecom Decision 2003-86 orders Bell Canada and Aliant to provide monthly itemized bills to all customers, effective mid-2004. The costs are to be borne by the carriers as a normal cost of business. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2003/dt2003-86.htm CYBERSURF WINS ORDER AGAINST SHAW: Responding to a complaint by Calgary ISP Cybersurf (see Telecom Update #388), the CRTC has ordered Shaw Cablesystems, as a condition of providing its own high-speed Internet service, to provide the same service to ISPs for resale at $22.46/sub/month (25% off Shaw's lowest retail rate) until it provides Third Party Internet Access to its underlying network. ** The CRTC adds, "where TPIA can be technically provided ... cable companies must ensure that TPIA is made available forthwith." www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2003/dt2003-87.htm RIM RESULTS SWING TO PROFIT: Research In Motion reports a profit of US$16.3-million in the quarter ended November 29, compared to a $92.8-million loss a year ago. The company netted a record 154,000 new Blackberry subscribers in the quarter, reaching 865,000. DBRS UPGRADES TELUS DEBT: Dominion Bond Rating Service has upgraded its rating of Telus Communications Inc.'s long-term debt to BBB (high) and confirmed its rating of Telus Corp. at the same level. While generally positive, DBRS expressed concern about technology substitution and competition in Telus's wireline business, and about the possibility of a strike by unionized workers. NORTEL FILES FINAL RESTATED RESULTS: On December 23, Nortel Networks filed restated results for 2000, 2001, 2002, and the first half of 2003. Revenue was reduced to $60.62 billion, and its loss for the period is now $505 million less than previously stated. The previously reported 2Q 2003 loss of $14-million changed to a $37 million profit. EMERGIS EXITS U.S. HEALTH BUSINESS: BCE Emergis says that it is selling its 400-employee U.S. health services business to MultiPlan Inc. for US$213-million, and hopes to sell its U.S. care management operations as well. ** As a result of this change and related writedowns, BCE Emergis is restating its 2003 results to show a loss of between $0.95 and $1.03 per share. UBS TAKES CONTROL OF LOOK: As expected, Unique Broadband Systems has increased its stake in Look Communications to 51% by buying six million shares from Telesystem Ltd. Craig Wireless International has appealed a CRTC ruling that permitted the takeover. (See Telecom Update #409) CANADA PAYPHONE CUTS LOSS: Canada Payphone Corporation reports a loss of $1.8 million in the year ended September 30, 2003, compared to $5.0 million in the previous year. Total revenue was up 12.5%. TELEMANAGEMENT GOES ONLINE: Starting next week: a new subscribers-only section of the Angus Telemanagement website will feature current and past issues of Telemanagement, detailed indexes, feature reports, and more. Watch for full details, including a money-saving Charter Subscription Offer, in next week's Telecom Update. ============================================================ 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 www.angustel.ca 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave subject line and message area blank. We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail addresses to any third party. For more information, see www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html. =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2004 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. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2004 21:55:45 CST From: Mark J Cuccia Subject: Re: NANP Numbering Bob Goudreau wrote (in reply to Earle Robinson): > Check out the WTNG for details on the incredible amount of numbering > changes that have taken place in Europe in recent years. Meanwhile, > in the NANP, there are tens of millions of people who still have the > same area code that they had 30 or 40 years ago. Even the ones who have > encountered an area code split got to keep their local numbers. And, > with overlay area codes now the most common way to expand the numbering > space, most of us will probably never be forced to change our numbers > again. That is, most of us in the NANP will (probably) never be forced to change our numbers again, until that time "sometime" in the future, when the NANP might ultimately have to expand to something "longer-than-ten-digits", by adding one (or two) digits somewhere within the existing ten-digit number, to create a subsequent eleven (or twelve) digit NANP number. That number "change" is going to affect ANY/EVERY one in the NANP in one big swoop, as well as anyone who needs to call NANP-based numbers from outside of the NANP. But there will be a "permissive/parallel" dialing period for both intra-NANP usage, as well as "intl/ovs"-to-NANP calling. But current projections have that an expansion to an eleven or even twelve digit NANP based number is now anticipated to happen in the 2040 to 2050 time frame. And IMO, as time continues, that 2040/2050 timeframe will be pushed out even further into the future! Mark J. Cuccia mcuccia@tulane.edu New Orleans LA CSA (in the LAND of DIXIE!) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2004 23:12:55 -0800 From: Lincoln King-Cliby Reply-To: linwebmain@pe.net Organization: Is the sign of a sick mind Subject: Re: Twenty Years Ago Today 1-Jan-2004, back on 1-Jan-1984 [Pat - Please remove my email address. Thanks!] Mark J Cuccia wrote: > It was *** TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY *** (1-Jan-2004) on 1-Jan-1984, > that the Bell System *DID* "officially" die as a single unit. > Other thing *HAVE* changed in the past twenty years ... What "was" > Western Electric, the manufacturing and equipment arm of the (one) > Bell Telephone System, with Bell Telephone Laboratories, was retained > by AT&T in 1984. However, a little over ten years later, in the > 1995/96 timeframe, AT&T spun-off its equipment and (Bell) Labs > operations into Lucent, which itself has had its ups-and-downs over > the past eight or so years. (BTW, AT&T did retain a "labs" unit for > switched network operations, which was separated from "Bell Labs" > shortly before spinning off what would be known as Lucent). You know, it's amazing -- I was born 5 months after divestiture [14-May-1984 to be exact] but I have a strong respect for -- and am amazed by "The Bell System" [Yes, I know about the problems with the NIH syndrome, and various other things -- I'm not sure I'd want to live under an iron fisted Bell System where I couldn't do my own wiring, so no flames, please] But speaking of the Bell System and Western Electric -- my Grandparents are preparing to move out of their Northern California home and into what has been their vacation home (St. Ignace, MI -- a beautiful area, and from what I've been told one of the last places to cut over to direct dial service) ... when my mother and I visited them for Christmas they were offering that they weren't moving for the taking, I seized the opportuntiy for something they thought was odd -- their phones. An old, WE rotary desk set (white 500-series) and a WE rotary wall (white 554) phone. The same Western Electric "Bell System Property - Not For Sale" phones that were installed when built the house 40 years ago and had used day in and day out. Down to the same handset cords that had faithfully carried many hundreds of hours of conversations -- the phones are at least twice as old as I am and is still working flawlessly! (The wall phone was used likely hundreds of times a week -- my grandmother is a teacher and has lots of friends, family, and parents that she keeps in touch with). When the 554 came off the wall for the first time in I don't know how many years, a pristine, stainless steel jack was exposed, down to the Bell System logo embossed in the lower right corner ... I had to resist the urge to take that along too. I remember back when my Grandparents had their 2nd line installed to access the Internet my grandfather (a recently retired Civil Engineer) reminisced about how it used to be so easy -- there was just one phone company and they were responsible for everything, including the phones. If something didn't work, they couldn't blame it on your wiring -- they knew exactly whose responsibility it was to fix the problem. He mentioned that when he was building their home he left one night and the next day when he stopped by the house after his day job a Pacific (Telegraph & Telephone Co? Bell? Telesis? ???) employee had added a notation to the effect of "What about the phones?" on the blueprints. He made the notations about jack locations on the prints, did some work on the house and left. A short time later, the jacks were installed in the locations that he noted by the local BOC. Service was ordered, and the phones installed ... and not one visit from the BOC until they had this 2nd line added roughly 35 years later. I was away from my computer on the 1st, but still wanted to take this opportunity to "Pay my respects" on the 20th anniversary of the death of the Bell System. Lincoln [BTW - Anyone happen to know why, with the exception of the wall jack round jacks and boxes were used? I've always kind of wondered.] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 02:40:32 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: AlchemyTV DVR / Digital Video Recorder For Your PowerMac Featuring a high performance Philips tuner and full QuickTime support, AlchemyTV DVR lets you watch TV in full screen mode on your PowerMac. AlchemyTV DVR features a scheduled recording functionality allowing you program the time and date for your recordings in a few easy steps.Your favourite TV program will be recorded onto your hard drive for later viewing or export to VCD or DVD. http://www.miglia.com/products/video/alchemytvdvr/index.html AlchemyTV DVR FAQ http://www.miglia.com/Support/alchemytvdvr_faq.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 09:21:46 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo Inc. Invites You to Join Its Conference Call and Webcast TiVo Inc. Invites You to Join Its Conference Call and Webcast from the 2004 International Consumer Electronics Show - Jan 5, 2004 08:00 AM (PR Newswire) - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40121190 ------------------------------ From: free$$$ <'free_money@cox.net> Subject: Last Laugh! 15 Year Old Gets Caught With $71,000!!! Reply-To: 'free_money@cox.net Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2004 22:34:40 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have received this spam at least five or six times in the past month or so. I have never yet seen the so-called 'original item' in the papers or on televison or heard it on the radio. However, it has obviously inspired some guys (no doubt competing for the idiot-of-the-year award) to try the plan for them- selves. In addition to the five or six times I have received this proposition, I've had twice that many emails from the guys testing it out. My comments inserted below as we read through this, and please accept my apologies if you have also received this many times around. PAT] EARN EXTRA INCOME FROM HOME! As seen on National Television.. PARENTS OF 15 YEAR OLD FIND $71,000 CASH HIDDEN IN HIS CLOSET ! You most likely have just seen this story recently featured on a major nightly news program (USA). And reported elsewhere in the world. His mother was cleaning and putting laundry away when she came across a large brown paper bag that was suspiciously buried beneath some clothes and a skateboard in the back of her 15-year-old sons closet. Nothing could have prepared her for the shock she got when she opened the bag and found it was full of cash. Five-dollar bills, twenties, fifties and hundreds - all neatly rubber-banded in labeled piles. "My first thought was that he had robbed a bank", says the 41-year-old woman, "There was over $71,000 dollars in that bag -- that's more than my husband earns in a year". [TEL Editor: My first thought would have been that he had taken a position as a Usenet group moderator and 'spammed his own newsgroup' on a regular basis. Same as is accused of me, and everyone knows I have bags of money neatly stacked and banded in my closet. PAT] The woman immediately called her husband at the car-dealership where he worked to tell him what she had discovered. He came home right away and they drove together to the boys school and picked him up. Little did they suspect that where the money came from was more shocking than actually finding it in the closet. As it turns out, the boy had been sending out, via E-mail, a type of "Report" to E-mail addresses that he obtained off the Internet. Everyday after school for the past 2 months, he had been doing this right on his computer in his bedroom. [Well I can think of other things guys do with bedroom computers.] "I just got the E-mail one day and I figured what the heck, I put my name on it like the instructions said and I started sending it out", says the clever 15-year-old. The E-mail letter listed 5 addresses and contained instructions to send one $5 dollar bill to each person on the list, then delete the address at the top and move the others addresses Down, and finally to add your name to the top of the list. The letter goes on to state that you would receive several thousand dollars in five-dollar bills within 2 weeks if you sent out the letter with your name at the top of the 5-address list. "I get junk E-mail all the time, and really did not think it was going to work", the boy continues. Within the first few days of sending out the E-mail, the Post Office Box that his parents had gotten him for his video-game magazine subscriptions began to fill up with not magazines, but envelopes containing $5 bills. "About a week later I rode [my bike] down to the post office and my box had 1 magazine and about 300 envelops stuffed in it. There was also a yellow slip that said I had to go up to the [post office] counter. I thought I was in trouble or something (laughs)". He goes on, "I went up to the counter and they had a whole box of more mail for me. I had to ride back home and empty out my backpack because I could not carry it all". [Tel Ed: I'd be most reluctant to let the post office sorting room clerks find out I was getting 'money in my box'; remind me to tell you sometime about a charity in Chicago (Missionary Fathers) or a US-based television evangelist with a box in Toronto, Ontario and what happened to them when a postal clerk got wise to what they were getting in the mail. PAT] Over the next few weeks, the boy continued sending out the E-mail. "The money just kept coming in and I just kept sorting it and stashing it in the closet, barely had time for my homework". He had also been riding his bike to several of the banks in his area and exchanging the $5 bills for twenties, fifties and hundreds. "I didn't want the banks to get suspicious so I kept riding to different banks with like five thousand at a time in my backpack. I would usually tell the lady at the bank counter that my dad had sent me in to exchange the money and he was outside waiting for me. One time the lady gave me a really strange look and told me that she would not be able to do it for me and my dad would have to come in and do it, but I just rode to the next bank down the street (laughs)." Surprisingly, the boy did not have any reason to be afraid. The reporting news team examined and investigated the so-called "chain-letter" the boy was sending out and found that it was not a chain-letter at all. In fact, it was completely legal according to US Postal and Lottery Laws, Title 18, Section 1302 and 1341, or Title 18, Section 3005 in the US code, also in the code of federal regulations, Volume 16, Sections 255 and 436, which state a product or service must be exchanged for money received. Every five-dollar bill that he received contained a little note that read, "Please send me report number XYX". This simple note made the letter legal because he was exchanging a service (A Report on how-to) for a five-dollar fee. ITS TRUE! THE TEENAGE BOY LEGITIMATELY EARNED $71,000. YOU SHOULD PRINT THIS, READ IT AND FOLLOW THE SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS. YOU TOO CAN MAKE $71,000 AND MORE. IT IS WORKING SO WELL, MANY PEOPLE ARE ENTERING THE PROGRAM FOR SECOND AND THIRD TIMES. SOME ARE REPORTING THEY ARE EARNING ENOUGH TO GIVE UP THEIR JOBS AND THEY ARE SPENDING JUST A FEW HOURS A DAY SENDING OUT E-MAILS! Dear Friend, You can earn $50,000 or more in next the 90 days sending e-mail. Seem impossible? Read on for details; is there a catch; NO, there is no catch, just send your emails and be on your way to financial freedom. AS SEEN ON NATIONAL TELEVISION with a whole segment on "20/20". Thank you for your time and Interest. This is the letter you've been reading about in the news lately. Due to the popularity of this letter on the Internet, a major nightly news program recently devoted an entire show to the investigation of the program described below to see, if it really can make people money. =========================================== Dear Friends & Future Millionaires: AS SEEN ON NATIONAL TV: Make over half a million dollars every 4 to 5 months from your home for an investment of only $25 U.S. dollars expense - ONE TIME!! THANKS TO THE COMPUTER AGE AND THE INTERNET!! =========================================== BE A MILLIONAIRE LIKE OTHERS WITHIN A YEAR!!! Before you say 'BULL', please read the following. This is the letter you have been hearing about on the News lately.....the Oprah Winfrey Show...etc. Due to the popularity of this letter on the Internet, a national weekly news program recently devoted an entire show to the investigation of this program described below, to see if it really can make people money. The show also investigated whether or not the program was legal. Their findings proved once and for all that there are ''absolutely NO Laws prohibiting the participation in the program and if people can follow the simple instructions, they are bound to make some mega bucks with only $25 out of pocket cost''. DUE TO THE RECENT INCREASE OF POPULARITY & RESPECT THIS PROGRAM HAS ATTAINED, IT IS CURRENTLY WORKING BETTER THAN EVER! This is what one had to say: ''Thanks to this profitable opportunity. I was approached many times before, but each time I passed on it. I am so glad I finally joined just to see what one could expect in return for the minimal effort and money required. To my astonishment, I received a total of $610,470.00 in 21 weeks, with money still coming in!" Pam Hedland, Fort Lee, New Jersey. ===== PRINT THIS NOW FOR YOUR FUTURE REFERENCE ====== ORDER YOUR REPORTS TODAY AND GET STARTED ON YOUR ROAD TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM!! If you have any questions as to the legality of this program, contact the Office of Associate Director for Marketing Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Washington, D.C. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I mercifully deleted another 20 K of text, i.e. all the names of the suckers who had bought into this scheme; the names of all the 'valuable reports' you would receive (worthless trash paper is more like it); how to go about manipulating and editing the various names on your list, etc. Its all an old, old story, which began back in the 1930's during the Great Depression, or maybe before that ... of course in those days we did not have the great miracle called 'computers' to store our lists of names and do our mailing for us. Or, as the German Infomatics Society (IBM) said in their 1990 convention in Stuttgart, "computers will change the way we live for the better". Neil Postner replied in a message given at the same convention, "We will inform ourselves to death is what will happen." In twenty-plus years of this Digest -- something I should think would be a *real report* of value -- I have yet to come anywhere close to making what this alleged fifteen year old boy allegedly made in one month with his pseudo-reports. I gave you all a vacation holiday from my usual end-of-the-month spam, but will resume it later in January. Here's to a happy, prosperous and spam-free (dream on!) New Year. PAT] ------------------------------ 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, Yahoo Groups, 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: 620-330-6774 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 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: mirror.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. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2003 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. In addition, gifts from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert have 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 fifty 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. If you donate at least fifty dollars per year we will send you our two-CD set of the entire Telecom Archives; this is every word published in this Digest since our beginning in 1981. 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. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #6 ****************************