From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Feb 2 14:31:15 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i12JVF418636; Mon, 2 Feb 2004 14:31:15 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 14:31:15 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402021931.i12JVF418636@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 #51 TELECOM Digest Mon, 2 Feb 2004 14:30:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 51 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update (Canada) #418, February 2, 2004 (Angus TeleManagement) Re: "Superman TV" and Telephones (jbl) Re: "Superman TV" and Telephones (Joseph) EME was Re: "Superman TV" and Telephones (noname) Faked CallerID Info? (Chironex) Re: Help With Call-Attendant System? (Carl Navarro) 802.11g Wireless Router/Signal Booster/wireless Antenna to Home (O K) Free Legal Downloads For S6/Month. DRM Free (Monty Solomon) TiVo Here, There - TiVo Everywhere (Monty Solomon) TiVo Kicks Off the Year with Lower Pricing (Monty Solomon) T-Mobile and Comcast Strategic Marketing Alliance (Monty Solomon) 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, 02 Feb 2004 10:07:22 -0500 From: Angus TeleManagement Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #418, February 2, 2004 ************************** TELECOM UPDATE ************************** published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 418: February 2, 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: ** Telus and TWU Go to Binding Arbitration ** Nortel Posts First Profit in Seven Years ** CRTC Extends Winback Prohibition ** Allstream and Call-Net Want Backlog CSAs Denied ** Worm Hits SCO With Denial of Service Attack ** MTS to Vote on Income Trust Proposal ** Bell Reorganizes Western Operations ** Telcos to Provide Ethernet Links to Competitors ** Allstream Offers Ethernet Private Line ** Cogeco Boosts Internet Access Speed ** Investment Group Buys Persona ** Financial Results Aliant Avaya Sierra Wireless ** Issues for Wireless Data Planners ============================================================ TELUS AND TWU GO TO BINDING ARBITRATION: On January 28, the Canadian Industrial Relations Board ruled that Telus had violated the Canada Labour Code and "irreparably undermined the union's efforts in achieving a collective agreement." It ordered the company to offer the Telecommunications Workers Union the option of binding arbitration. On Friday, the TWU Executive voted unanimously to accept binding arbitration. Also last week: ** Telus submitted a final offer to the union, then withdrew it after the CIRB Order. ** Over 86% of Telus employees represented by the TWU voted to authorize strike action. If the union had not accepted binding arbitration, it could have called a strike on 72 hours notice this week. ** The B.C. Supreme Court granted an injunction blocking the TWU from showing commercials that parody Telus's animal- based advertising. Telus said the commercials violate its copyright. NORTEL POSTS FIRST PROFIT IN SEVEN YEARS: Nortel Networks earned US$732 million in 2003, its first profit since 1997. World revenues for the year were $9.81 billion, down from $10.57 billion in 2002, but fourth quarter revenues were up 12% over the previous year. CRTC EXTENDS WINBACK PROHIBITION: CRTC Decision 2004-4 responds to Call-Net's "jump start to local competition" application filed last June (see Telecom Update #385). The decision: ** rejects Call-Net's request for a 50% reduction in local loop rates; ** extends the "winback" period, during which incumbent telcos are prohibited from trying to win back customers who have taken service from a CLEC, to 12 months; ** orders incumbents to provide CLEC customers served on unbundled loops the same level of installation and repair service that the ILEC provides to its own customers; ** orders ILECs to provide "prominent" reference, on bills and their Web sites, to a new section on the CRTC website that will inform consumers about local competition. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/dt2004-4.htm ALLSTREAM AND CALL-NET WANT BACKLOG CSAs DENIED: Allstream and Call-Net have asked the CRTC to reject all pending telco proposals for Customer Specific Arrangement tariffs, and to order Bell Canada to cease providing service under these contracts. They want the Commission to impose a moratorium on new CSAs until the Federal Court rules on Bell's appeal of a CRTC ruling requiring disclosure of the details of the tariffs. (See Telecom Update #405) WORM HITS SCO WITH DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACK: On the weekend, computers infected by the MyDoom.A worm launched a Denial of Service attack on SCO, the Utah-based software company that claims to own part of the code used in Linux, putting its website out of service. MyDoom.B is expected to launch a similar attack on Microsoft on Tuesday. ** Microsoft and SCO Group have each offered US$250,000 rewards for information leading to conviction of the authors of the worms that have infected hundreds of thousands of computers and accounted for over 30% of Internet traffic at peak. MTS TO VOTE ON INCOME TRUST PROPOSAL: The Board of Directors of Manitoba Telecom Services says it will put a proposal to convert the company into an income trust to a vote at its next annual meeting. The Board took no position on the proposal. BELL REORGANIZES WESTERN OPERATIONS: Bell Canada has placed both its Bell Mobility and Bell West operations in Alberta and B.C. under a single executive. Paul Healey, head of Bell Mobility in the two provinces, will become President of Bell's Western Canadian Region. ** Randy Reynolds, formerly head of Bell West, is retiring. TELCOS TO PROVIDE ETHERNET LINKS TO COMPETITORS: CRTC Telecom Decision 2004-5 gives interim approval to Ethernet access tariffs filed by Bell Canada and Telus (see Telecom Update #370, 397), including Ethernet connecting arrangements for competitor use, and orders the other major incumbents to file similar tariffs. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/dt2004-5.htm ALLSTREAM OFFERS ETHERNET PRIVATE LINE: Allstream has launched Ethernet Private Line service at 1 Gbps within and between Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver. More sites are to be added later this year. COGECO BOOSTS INTERNET ACCESS SPEED: Cogeco Cable has increased the download speed of its Standard High-Speed Internet service from 3 Mbps to 5 Mbps, and of its High Speed Pro service from 5 Mbps to up to 10 Mbps. Upload speeds have been raised to 640 Kbps and 1 Mbps, respectively. INVESTMENT GROUP BUYS PERSONA: A group of investors including TD Capital Canadian Private Equity Partners and CIBC Capital Partners has agreed to buy Persona Inc, Canada's sixth- largest cable operator, for $406 million. The deal requires approval by two-thirds of the company's shareholders. FINANCIAL RESULTS: ** Aliant's 2003 profit was $185.3 million, up from $142.2 million in 2002. Total revenue grew 1.1% to $2.07 billion. ** Avaya reports September-December world revenues of US$971 million, 3% more than the same period the previous year. Net income of $10 million compares to a loss of $121 million in 2002. ** Sierra Wireless had a profit of $1.5 million in 2003, compared to a loss of $38.4 million the previous year. Revenues for the year were $34.6 million, an increase of 54%. ISSUES FOR WIRELESS DATA PLANNERS: The February issue of Telemanagement features four reports on wireless LANs, including: lessons learned from McGill's campus-wide WLAN; a user evaluation of public Wi-Fi hotspots; rethinking enterprise WLAN configurations; and key issues in evaluating wireless ROI. ** Telemanagement Online subscribers can access this issue, and an extensive library of past issues, columns, editorials and feature reports, at http://online.angustel.ca/. ** To subscribe, or to add online access to your existing subscription, go to www.angustel.ca/teleman/tm-sub-online.html. Charter Subscriber discounts are available now. ============================================================ 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 2003 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: jbl Subject: Re: "Superman TV" and Telephones Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 11:28:58 -0700 Organization: On the desert Reply-To: jbl@spamblocked.com In , Gail M. Hall wrote: > What struck me was that when they used their cell phones, the tones > were sounded as the buttons were pressed instead of the way my current > cell phone works. Mine makes a beep with each phone press, but I > don't hear the normal phone tones until I press "Talk" on my phone. My cell phone (an Audiovox on VZW) plays the touchtone if you dial a digit (or * or #), or a beep if you press any other button. I don't hear any tones after I press "send". On the other hand, my cordless phone at home does act the way you describe, if you dial before pressing "talk". > Another thing in the story was that they would immediately enter the > numbers over and over again and *then* get some kind of beep that > indicated they didn't have a signal. My phone has a little graphic on > it that indicates signal strength from the time I turn on the phone. > It also has a graphic that indicates battery power. I would know > without entering any numbers if I had a signal or not. I would not > have to dial any number first. A lot of people might not look first; Columbo, with all his technical "expertise", for instance, was very new to his mobile phone and possibly had no idea what all the little doodads in the display meant. > [TELECOM Digest Editor' Note: Television and Hollywood tend to take > some liberties with the realities of cell phones in their productions. > I do not think any cellphones ever worked differently than the way > they do now. PAT] Yes, but in the case of the phones, the liberties were not all that huge (this time). /JBL ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: "Superman TV" and Telephones Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 06:52:42 -0800 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.NOcom On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 22:05:10 -0500, Gail M. Hall wrote: > What struck me was that when they used their cell phones, the tones > were sounded as the buttons were pressed instead of the way my current > cell phone works. Mine makes a beep with each phone press, but I > don't hear the normal phone tones until I press "Talk" on my phone. I'm guessing that it may may be a case of different manufacturers implementing "dialing" differently. On all Nokias I've ever used as well as an Ericsson model that I have when you press the keys to "dial" you get regular DTMF "touch tones." > Another thing in the story was that they would immediately enter the > numbers over and over again and *then* get some kind of beep that > indicated they didn't have a signal. Again, this probably has more to do with the way a manufacturer designs their phones. Some phones will beep when they go out of range. Some phones will have blinking light that shows constantly while the phone is in use while others do not. Others will change colours as they go out of range or have something else happen such as running low on battery. You can't really make an absolute statement. Along with that is film/TV producers don't always picture phones in a realistic manner. I don't think I can count the number of times I've seen someone go to use a "fortress" type pay phone and when they insert their coins you hear a "ding-ding" like you used to get with the old three slot pay phones or having a Trimline phone ring and the ring you hear is the dual gong "500" type ringer rather than the muted gong you should hear from a Trimline. > My parents had a satellite dish for their TV back around 1980. It was > a big thing. At first it could get lots of channels, but eventually > the companies started jumbling their signals so people would have to > buy a service to descramble the signals to see the channels. By the > '90's, that satellite dish was essentially useless. The service is still very much alive though the popular satellite service is now the mini-dish rather than the BUD (big ugly dish.) True there's not as much free programming as there was, but if you have the money there's just as much programming available now as there was then. remove NO from .NOcom to reply ------------------------------ From: noname Subject: EME was Re: "Superman TV" and Telephones Organization: ATCC Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 05:20:59 GMT In article , gmhall@apk.net says: > On 12 Jan 2004 07:01:25 -0800, in comp.dcom.telecom message > , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa > Hancock) wrote: >> I saw an old episode of the TV "Superman" (mid 50s) and >> noticed how today's phones would've made a difference. > On another issue, I noticed that the bad guy had a big TV, which he > said was hooked to a satellite with 200 channels. I didn't see a box. > Also, there was no remote, so he had to use the TV's on/off button to > turn it on and off. > My parents had a satellite dish for their TV back around 1980. It was > a big thing. At first it could get lots of channels, but eventually > the companies started jumbling their signals so people would have to > buy a service to descramble the signals to see the channels. By the > '90's, that satellite dish was essentially useless. My brother-in-law > took down the dish last summer and has plans to make something else > out of it -- maybe something to let plants climb on or something. They make great EME antennae for us hams out there. EME being Earth- Moon-Earth as in bouncing signals off of it. ------------------------------ From: Chironex Subject: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 11:36:09 -0500 I recently hosted a very priveliged conference call using an online calling service. Once the call was complete, I received a list of the people connected to the call, and noticed that there was an additional caller who was not authorized. It was not the conference call service, nor was it any of my employees as I can account for all of their caller ID info. Strangely the number in question is 794-902-XXXX, which appears to be an unused area code! Is this possible and how the heck did someone do this???? ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: Help With Call-Attendant System? Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 09:49:19 -0500 Organization: Airnews.net! at Internet America On 30 Jan 2004 12:32:13 -0800, jcoronat@paulbunyan.net (James) wrote: > Can anyone help in constructing an automated telephone answering > system for me? > The idea is to allow a caller to sample one or more long books over > the phone. Each of the one or more books will be playing continuously, > and a caller will simply tap in to a particular recording at whatever > point it happens to be when the caller calls in. So does this mean I can listen to an entire book on your dime two minutes at a time? > It should work as follows: the caller dials our toll-free number and > connects to our system ("System" - the one you supply me). The System > should then: > 1. automatically answer the call and play an outgoing message of 1-2 > mins ("Hello and thank you for calling! To hear Book One, press"); > 2.then automatically connect to a live feed-through for 2-4 minutes > minutes (this is one of the continuously playing CD players or tape > players); > 3. then automatically disconnect or fade out the live feed-through and > play a short termination message ("Thank you for listening. For > additional information write"); > 4. then automatically disconnect the call. Without spending more than 30 seconds on the answer, it is possible to do this in two ways. One is the standard voice mail system. The other is the equipment used for time and temperature. A vox file is fairly easy to construct in software with the right equipment. If it were my system, I'd select a random or specific passage from each book and make vox files of those passages. Now you can transfer them to the VM or T&T system and give them locations. > To start the System, I'd insert my book CD or audiocassette into a CD > or tape player, set the player on "continuous play" mode, and jack it > into the live feed-through port on the machine you supply. If the > system had more than one port, I'd jack additional CD players, each > playing different books, into the other ports. Then I want to walk > away and have it service callers unattended. > To summarize: when callers dial in, they'll hear an introductory > message, then 2 to 4 minutes of the book's text at whatever point the > recording happens to be at that moment; then, a short message telling > what to do if more information is desired. At the end, the system > disconnects the caller automatically. > Does anyone know how I could assemble a system of telephone equipment > that will do this? My guess is that you can have 4-16 ports and a whole boatload of sample books on a VM system for less than $4K. It requires a computer and software(or maybe the same computer) to sample the Audiobook, and just a very small learning curve to slot the books in the right "mailbox". Carl Navarro > Sincerely, > James. ------------------------------ Reply-To: O K From: O K Subject: 802.11g Wireless Router/Signal Booster/Wireless Antenna to Network Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 18:57:03 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications I have a question about adding a wireless antenna or signal booster to my home network. My current setup is I have a Linksys WRT54G wireless router which supports B and G infrastructure. I have a 802.11b Wireless PCI card in my PC. In my condo, I can verify that the wireless portion of the network between the wireless router and my PC are functioning. I then take my PC to another floor in my building, and I get little to no signal. I would like to add either a signal booster and/or an antenna to make my network functional. From the reading that I have done, I can't determine where the antenna needs to be installed if I go this route. Is it installed on the PCI portion of the network, or the router portion of the network. As the router TX's and RX's, is the problem with the low transmission power from the router and therefore I need a wireless antenna on the PC, or is the problem the low transmission power from the PCI card to the router upstairs? I can't figure out which hardware I need to make this functional. Please contact me directly at okorkie3@cox.net (remove the *) Thanks, Owen ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 00:09:55 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Free Legal Downloads For $6/Month. DRM Free Free legal downloads for $6 a month. DRM free. The artists get paid. We explain how ... By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco Imagine a world where music and movies could be freely exchanged online, where artists are recompensed and the labels don't lose a cent, and where 12-year old girls need not fear harboring an MP3 of their favorite TV show theme tune on their PC. All that could be yours for less than the price of a subscription to Napster: for less than $6 a month. Harvard University Professor Terry Fisher has completed the first comprehensive examination of various alternative models and the one we outline here offers such tantalizing social benefits, that even the most jaded sceptic ought to pay attention. Professor Fisher belongs to the school of forensic sceptics rather than the school of wide-eyed techno-utopians, and he's spent three years trying to make the sums add up. We think it's worth a look, and we think you ought to take a look too. (To make his task even more difficult, Fisher's license model also takes on the additional onerous task of compensating Hollywood, too). How does it work? Let's look at the sums: what level of compensation do the labels, studios and artists need to make it worthwhile? http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/35260.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 02:01:10 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo Here, There - TiVo Everywhere Stephen Williams In "Ghostbusters," one of the running gags that was assimilated into the lexicon of pop culture occurs when Bill Murray is attacked by the ghost. "I've been slimed!" he shrieks. Well, I've been TiVoed. I came face to face with this recent electronic dependency at the Consumer Electronics Show just past in Las Vegas. In fact, the spectre of TiVo was ubiquitous at CES. With more than a dozen products set to launch this year, TiVo continues to solidify its expanding niche in home video and beyond. While the DVD recorder still seems to me the logical successor to the VCR, the DVD recorder-with-TiVo now seems more logical. The digital recording technology - or near-perfect copies of it - showed up as well in home networking products, in satellite broadcast systems, in cable TV boxes; and plans are in place to invade the space of satellite radio networks Sirius and XM. http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-plgear3643969jan27,0,1537321.column ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 08:09:16 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo Kicks Off the Year with Lower Pricing Company Announces All-Time Low $199 MSRP for TiVo(R) Series2(TM) Digital Video Recorders SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) today announced a price change that will for the first time, push the entry price point on the TiVo(R) Series2(TM) DVR to under $200 at leading retailers across the country. TiVo Series2 DVRs will be available starting at a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $199 for the 40-hour, and $299 for the 80-hour model. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40373092 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 09:11:02 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: T-Mobile and Comcast Announce Strategic Marketing Alliance T-Mobile and Comcast Announce Strategic Marketing Alliance Companies Team Up for Customers to Experience Wireless Broadband Internet Service On the Go BELLEVUE, Wash. and PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Comcast Cable and T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced a strategic marketing alliance to offer the T-Mobile HotSpot Wi-Fi Internet service to Comcast's nearly five million high- speed Internet customers. With today's announcement, Comcast customers can experience the convenience, reliability and value of a T-Mobile wireless broadband connection when they're away from home, via Wi-Fi, at the more than 4,000 T-Mobile HotSpot locations nationwide. As part of this strategic marketing alliance, Comcast high-speed Internet customers will receive a special offer when they sign up for T-Mobile HotSpot through their Comcast portal homepage. Comcast customers who subscribe to the T-Mobile HotSpot service can surf the Web, check email or view streaming media at wireless broadband speeds with a Wi-Fi enabled laptop or PDA at T-Mobile HotSpot locations. T-Mobile operates the largest commercial Wi-Fi network of its kind in the U.S. and Comcast is the nation's largest provider of high-speed Internet service. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40374961 ------------------------------ 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 2004 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 #51 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Feb 2 18:52:48 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i12Nqmu20259; Mon, 2 Feb 2004 18:52:48 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 18:52:48 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402022352.i12Nqmu20259@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 #52 TELECOM Digest Mon, 2 Feb 2004 18:53:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 52 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Mydoom Computer Virus Launches Record Attack on SCO Web Site (ptownson) Justin and Janet Top Super Bowl Show According to Annual (Monty Solomon) Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. (Monty Solomon) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Sam Etler) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (John Levine) It-Stop Seeks Test Equipment (It-Stop T&M) Re: "Superman TV" and Telephones (J Kelly) Re: 802.11g Wireless Router/Signal Booster/Wireless Antenna (noname) Re: FCC Seeks to Limit F-Word on US Airwaves - Sources (Me) Re: Domain Registrars Sued Over URL Patent (Templeton Peck) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ptownson Subject: Mydoom Computer Virus Launches Record Attack on SCO Web Site Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 17:21:41 -0600 Here is the grim story as reported on Bloomberg earlier today. It appears over 250,000 computers are attacking SCO, which has been shut down since Saturday. Tomorrow, Tuesday, the trouble-makers are starting on Microsoft's web site in the same way. http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=3Demail&refer=3Dnews_index&sid=3D= azXE8LVs80lU PAT ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 17:53:55 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Justin and Janet Top Super Bowl Show UPDATE: Justin and Janet Top Super Bowl Show According to Annual TiVo Audience Measurement Analysis 'Wardrobe Malfunction' Most Replayed Moment TiVo Has Ever Measured Commercials and Half Time Show More Compelling for Viewers Than Action on the Field SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson stole the show during Sunday's Super Bowl, attracting almost twice as many viewers as the most thrilling moments on the field, according to an annual measurement of second-by-second viewership in TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) households. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40381041 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 18:15:15 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading away in U.S. By Ben Berkowitz LOS ANGELES, Feb 2 (Reuters) - As a fashion color, gray is the new black, thin batteries are in and you're not in vogue if you don't have the latest ringtone. As the U.S. wireless market grows, the cell phone is evolving into a phone in name only as calling becomes almost secondary to a host of other functions. After years of trailing Japan and Western Europe, where cell phones have long had color screens, e-mail, music, video games, cameras and other accessories that make American cell phones look backward in comparison, handset makers are finally pushing a new generation of units on the domestic market that offer the full range of functions available elsewhere. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40380798 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 13:41:30 CST From: Sam Etler Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? > Strangely the number in question is 794-902-XXXX, which appears to be an > unused area code! > Is this possible and how the heck did someone do this???? There's a lot of ways to do it, but anyone with a dedicated ISDN PRI connection can set the Calling Party Number (Caller ID) field to whatever they want. Not only can you set it to a fake area code or prefix, but most networks allow you to send from 0 to 15 or more digits. AT&T's 4ESS network allows up to 17 though some digits may be stripped when the call enters another carrier's network. Now, setting your billing number is an entirely different and much more difficult matter. sam [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I *thought* (there I go, thinking for myself again) that sometime in the past two weeks a rule saying correct caller ID information had to be sent, whenever possible. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 2 Feb 2004 23:02:32 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Strangely the number in question is 794-902-XXXX, which appears to be an > unused area code! > Is this possible and how the heck did someone do this???? Most likely: he called from a PBX with ISDN trunks that permit the PBX to send any caller ID it wants. Second most likely: he has a box that sends cl-id chirps that fooled the conferencing system. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com Village Trustee and Sewer Commissioner http://iecc.com/johnl Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ From: It-Stop T&M Organization: It-Stop Test Equipment Subject: It-Stop Seeks Test Equipment Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 12:42:08 -0800 Hello, It-Stop has an immediate requirement for the following: 1 HP/ Agilent 8720D 1 Tektronix TDS 3054B Oscilloscope Please let me know if you can help. Thanks, Pete Zeiner It-Stop.com 831-685-9441 ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: "Superman TV" and Telephones Date: 2 Feb 2004 12:58:31 -0800 Organization: Newsguy News Service [http://newsguy.com] In article , Gail M. Hall says: > What struck me was that when they used their cell phones, the tones > were sounded as the buttons were pressed instead of the way my current > cell phone works. Mine makes a beep with each phone press, but I > don't hear the normal phone tones until I press "Talk" on my phone.> > [TELECOM Digest Editor' Note: Television and Hollywood tend to take > some liberties with the realities of cell phones in their productions. > I do not think any cellphones ever worked differently than the way > they do now. PAT] Was it an actual cellular telephone, or a "car phone" in the more generic sense of the word? There were other mobile telephone systems in use before the AMPS Cellular network came to be. A couple that I have used are the IMTS system and GE-Marc V. The GE-Marc type phones did work as noted above, dial the number, hit talk, it would acquire an idle channel, send some tones to the base station to tell it the ID of the "phone" in use, and then send DTMF to the base to dial out. There was really no way to know if you were in range or not without attempting to make a call. The system also worked as a two-way radio. It was rather an old, slow, analog version of the Nextel phones. The system I used to work on was on the 800MHz band alongside a newer digital/analog hybrid type of 800MHz trunked radios known as EDACS. I'm not sure if there are any GE-Marc systems still in use today, but when I left the two-way business in 1997 the company I had been working for still had quite a few of them around. The two-way functionality made them somewhat usefull. They also could run up to 25W on a mobile. I think the protable walkie-talkie type ran 5W. The portables were not full duplex so telephone useage on them wasn't much fun, the mobiles where full duplex. ------------------------------ From: noname Subject: Re: 802.11g Wireless Router/Signal Booster/Wireless Antenna Organization: ATCC Reply-To: okorkie3@cox.net Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 21:29:59 GMT In article , o*k*o*r*k*i*e@lvcm.com says: > I have a question about adding a wireless antenna or signal booster to > my home network. > My current setup is I have a Linksys WRT54G wireless router which > supports B and G infrastructure. I have a 802.11b Wireless PCI card > in my PC. In my condo, I can verify that the wireless portion of the > network between the wireless router and my PC are functioning. I then > take my PC to another floor in my building, and I get little to no > signal. I would like to add either a signal booster and/or an antenna > to make my network functional. > From the reading that I have done, I can't determine where the > antenna needs to be installed if I go this route. Is it installed on > the PCI portion of the network, or the router portion of the network. > As the router TX's and RX's, is the problem with the low transmission > power from the router and therefore I need a wireless antenna on the > PC, or is the problem the low transmission power from the PCI card to > the router upstairs? I can't figure out which hardware I need to make > this functional. > Please contact me directly at okorkie3@cox.net (remove the *) Owen - when one gets into the frequencies that Wi-Fi runs on polarization matters. I believe that your router has two antennas on it. Orient one horizontally and one vertically. On the PC on the floor above make sure it's antenna is also on the horizontal. Tony ------------------------------ From: good_timecharlie@yahoo.com (Me) Subject: Re: FCC Seeks to Limit F-Word on US Airwaves - Sources Date: 2 Feb 2004 15:12:47 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Jeez, Count on internet low lifes disregarding the standards of human conduct and pretending they don't matter. You better hope you don't get the world you want. You'll regret it if you do. People with no morals tend to do immoral things whenever they like and that includes violating the rules against violence etc.. Yet idiots like you think disregarding the rules of behavior we have developed over centuries is a good thing. Some people are just too stupid for words. Me wrote in message news:: > Jeeez, > Count on Michael Powell and the FCC to tackle the really important and > earth shattering issues of the day. > Monty Solomon wrote in message > news:telecom23.20.18@telecom-digest.org: >> (First paragraph of this story contains language that may be >> offensive to some readers.) >> By Jeremy Pelofsky >> WASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Communications Commission >> Chairman Michael Powell has proposed barring the word "fuck" from most >> radio and broadcast television, regardless of the context, sources >> close to the issue said on Tuesday. >> The proposal would overturn an October FCC staff decision that ruled >> the word was not indecent when U2 rocker Bono used it while accepting >> an award during the 2003 live broadcast of the "Golden Globe Awards" >> on the NBC television network. >> To succeed, Powell will have to garner at least two other votes for >> the proposal and the four other FCC commissioners are now considering >> the issue, the sources said. >> - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40181215 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I would credit Powell with having > a modicum of good taste in his vocabulary skills. *That word* has only > appeared in this Digest twice; once many years ago in the early 1980's > then yesterday. Today's message from 'me' makes number three. Halliday > thoughtfully blocked it out in her reply. That word, like 'kike' and > 'nigger' should certainly be used in context when appropriate, but > avoided in routine discussion. That's my opinion; not to say I have > never used the F-Word when IMO it was 'warranted' in anger, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: faceman28208@yahoo.com (Templeton Peck) Subject: Re: Domain Registrars Sued Over URL Patent Date: 2 Feb 2004 11:48:11 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Monty Solomon wrote in message news:: > The suit accuses Network Solutions and Register.com of selling rights > to Web URLs and e-mail addresses that infringe on a patent that was > granted to Javaher and Weyer on Dec. 20, 2003. The patent covers the > method of assigning URLs and e-mail addresses of members of a group > such that the "@" sign is the dot in the URL. For example, if a group > used a so-called third-level URL, www.john.smith.com, the e-mail > address would be john@smith.com. A couple of issues: 1. Who ever heard of assigning URLs? Is there a URL registry anywhere on the Internet? 2. There is no URL of the format www.john.smith.com. Apparently the "inventors" INTENDED domain name rather than URL. However, the patent text says URL and never once mentions DNS. ------------------------------ 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 #52 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Feb 2 23:33:02 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i134X2H21892; Mon, 2 Feb 2004 23:33:02 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 23:33:02 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402030433.i134X2H21892@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 #53 TELECOM Digest Mon, 2 Feb 2004 23:33:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 53 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Danny Burstein) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Sam Etler) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Clarence Dold) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Felis Inferis) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Mydoom Computer Virus Launches Record Attack on SCO Web Site (Dold) SCO Options, was Re: Mydoom vs. SCO (Danny Burstein) Re: "Superman TV" and Telephones (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: FCC Seeks to Limit F-Word on US Airwaves - Sources (Steven J Sobol) IE Handling of User Information in HTTP and HTTPS URLs (Monty Solomon) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Danny Burstein Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 00:06:11 UTC Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC In John Levine writes: >> Strangely the number in question is 794-902-XXXX, which appears to be an >> unused area code! > Most likely: he called from a PBX with ISDN trunks that permit the > PBX to send any caller ID it wants. > Second most likely: he has a box that sends cl-id chirps that fooled > the conferencing system. Zeroeth most likely: he used a calling card which sent out a pseudo caller id string very loosely based on its non-dialable outgoing trunk. _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 19:20:13 CST From: Sam Etler Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I *thought* (there I go, thinking for > myself again) that sometime in the past two weeks a rule saying correct > caller ID information had to be sent, whenever possible. PAT] Nope. The rules that went into effect on 1/29/2004 were set forth in the FCC's Report and Order FCC 03-153 in Part XII. This R&O created 47 CFR 64.1601(e) which states in part: "Any person or entity that engages in telemarketing, as defined in section 64.1200(f)(7) must transmit caller identification information." It goes on to say that either CPN or ANI (billing number) can be used, and when available, the name of the telemarketer or the entity for which the telemarketer is placing calls. The provided number must permit any individual to make a do-not-call request during business hours. (47 CFR 64.1601(e)(1)). It also says that tax-exempt nonprofit organizations don't have to comply. (47 CFR 64.1601(e)(3)). As you can see this only applies to entities involved in telemarketing. This is defnied in 47 CFR 1200(f)(7) as: "The term telemarketing means the initiation of a telephone call or message for the purpose of encouraging the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods, or services, which is transmitted to any person." So this does not apply to businesses who have a legitimate reason for setting their Caller ID when not involved in telemarketing (and believe me, there's plenty of good reasons to do it that most people will never encounter) or private individuals who are doing it for kicks (and perhaps not so legitimate reasons). sam ------------------------------ From: dold@FakedXCall.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 00:11:58 UTC Organization: a2i network Sam Etler wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I *thought* (there I go, thinking for > myself again) that sometime in the past two weeks a rule saying > correct caller ID information had to be sent, whenever possible. PAT] There is a recent ruling that telemarketers must show a number that can actually be called back, and they should no longer show up as "out of area". I noticed that I have received some telemarketer calls that show an 800 number on caller ID, with the name of the survey or marketing firm. I've also received multiple calls from one outfit, pitching the same thing, and they show up as a personal name and number from San Francisco. Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 ------------------------------ From: Felis Inferis Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 17:24:01 -0800 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com One the one hand, your caller may have had access to a PBX or a PRI ISDN line through which Caller ID can sometimes be fabricated (see Lucky225's outstanding article in 2600, Spring 2003), or on the other hand there could have been an ANI failure. However if at any time during the call you heard any strange digital-sounding chirps or squeaks, chances are someone on the line used a device or a sound program such as S.O.B. that creates a Caller ID signal. Without knowing by what mechanism you receive your Caller ID, it's tough to say, but this one would only work if you had a normal Call Waiting Caller ID box for POTS use. Related link: http://artofhacking.com/orange.htm On Mon, 2 Feb 2004 11:36:09 -0500, Chironex wrote: > I recently hosted a very priveliged conference call using an online > calling service. Once the call was complete, I received a list of the > people connected to the call, and noticed that there was an additional > caller who was not authorized. It was not the conference call > service, nor was it any of my employees as I can account for all of > their caller ID info. > Strangely the number in question is 794-902-XXXX, which appears to be an > unused area code! > Is this possible and how the heck did someone do this???? ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 20:42:28 EST Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? In a message dated Mon, 2 Feb 2004 13:41:30 CST Sam Etler wrote: >> Strangely the number in question is 794-902-XXXX, which appears to be an >> unused area code! >> Is this possible and how the heck did someone do this???? > There's a lot of ways to do it, but anyone with a dedicated ISDN PRI > connection can set the Calling Party Number (Caller ID) field to > whatever they want. Not only can you set it to a fake area code or > prefix, but most networks allow you to send from 0 to 15 or more > digits. AT&T's 4ESS network allows up to 17 though some digits may be > stripped when the call enters another carrier's network. > Now, setting your billing number is an entirely different and much more > difficult matter. > sam > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I *thought* (there I go, thinking for > myself again) that sometime in the past two weeks a rule saying > correct caller ID information had to be sent, whenever possible. PAT] Today I got a call showing the number as 727 450-1267 with the name shown as "BLOCKED" or "--PRIVATE CALL--" (depending on which CID box I read it on). But if it is blocked, how come it displays a number? Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ From: dold@MydoomXCom.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Mydoom Computer Virus Launches Record Attack on SCO Web Site Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 00:19:37 UTC Organization: a2i network ptownson wrote: > Here is the grim story as reported on Bloomberg earlier today. It > appears over 250,000 computers are attacking SCO, which has been > shut down since Saturday. Tomorrow, Tuesday, the trouble-makers are > starting on Microsoft's web site in the same way. I read some network analysis that said this was patently not true, and that it is more of SCO trying to ... whatever it is they do instead of sell software. Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: SCO Options, was Re: Mydoom vs. SCO Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 00:08:57 UTC Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC In ptownson writes: > Here is the grim story as reported on Bloomberg earlier today. It > appears over 250,000 computers are attacking SCO, which has been > shut down since Saturday. Tomorrow, Tuesday, the trouble-makers are > starting on Microsoft's web site in the same way. > http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid3Demail&refer3Dnews_index&sid3D s80lU If, for some reason or another, you absolutely must get in touch with SCO: "The assault on SCO is expected to last until 12 February. Until then, SCO has said it will use the alternative domain name www.thescogroup.com." http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994629 Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 20:20:20 EST Subject: Re: "Superman TV" and Telephones jbl wrote on Mon, 02 Feb 2004 11:28:58 -0700: > In , Gail M. Hall > wrote: >> What struck me was that when they used their cell phones, the tones >> were sounded as the buttons were pressed instead of the way my current >> cell phone works. Mine makes a beep with each phone press, but I >> don't hear the normal phone tones until I press "Talk" on my phone. > My cell phone (an Audiovox on VZW) plays the touchtone if you dial a > digit (or * or #), or a beep if you press any other button. I don't > hear any tones after I press "send". > On the other hand, my cordless phone at home does act the way you > describe, if you dial before pressing "talk". On my Nokia 5165 you hear the tones as you push the buttons. This seems almost essential if you reach a menu requiring tones to navigate, or if you have to make a numeric entry with tones, or for that matter to push "*" to retrieve your messages. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ From: Steven J Sobol Subject: Re: FCC Seeks to Limit F-Word on US Airwaves - Sources Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 19:36:50 -0600 Me wrote: > Jeez, > Count on internet low lifes disregarding the standards of human > conduct and pretending they don't matter. You better hope you don't > get the world you want. You'll regret it if you do. I'm going to try not to fan the flames here, since I just dealt with a ridiculously long thread on the exact same subject as moderator of rec. radio.broadcasting. I will, however, point out that saying the F-word doesn't make you inherently immoral. Of course, if you can prove I'm wrong, you're welcome to do so. *Your* crack about "Internet low-lifes" borders on flame-baiting, though. JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, Apple Valley, CA Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net PGP: C57E 8B25 F994 D6D0 5F6B B961 EA08 9410 E3AE 35ED ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 22:10:44 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: IE Handling of User Information in HTTP and HTTPS URLs A security update is available that modifies the default behavior of Internet Explorer for handling user information in HTTP and HTTPS URLs SUMMARY A security update is available that removes support for handling user names and passwords in HTTP and HTTP with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or HTTPS URLs in Microsoft Internet Explorer. The following URL syntax is no longer supported in Internet Explorer or Windows Explorer after you install the MS04-004 Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (832894): http(s)://username:password@server/resource.ext This article is intended to notify you of this change in Internet Explorer's default behavior. If you include user information in HTTP or HTTPS URLs, Microsoft recommends that you explore the workarounds that are described in this article before you install the 832894 security update. For additional information about the 832894 security update, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS04-004.asp http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;834489 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Caution to readers ... as always, when you read something someone else wrote regarding 'Microsoft Updates' you should *always* verify the message carefully. Do NOT click on any links printed in e-journals or Usenet messages or emails you recieve. Starting with a fresh browser window, type the address in carefully yourself, not just click a link you saw in this Digest, or any other email. I see nothing wrong with the link in Monty's news clipping above, but just take care. Normally, Microsoft notifies its customers through Windows Update only, not via 'security bulletins'. 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 #53 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Feb 3 14:29:01 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i13JT0T27017; Tue, 3 Feb 2004 14:29:01 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 14:29:01 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402031929.i13JT0T27017@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 #54 TELECOM Digest Tue, 3 Feb 2004 14:29:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 54 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Verizon Violates DNC List (McWebber) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (AES/newspost) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (McWebber) Telemarketers Buy Suspicious Lists (McWebber) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading away in U.S. (Joseph) Re: SCO Options, was Re: Mydoom vs. SCO (Kenneth P. Stox) Switch Verizon to Cavalier, Can't Get Through From Some Places (John) 450-434 Prefix? (Carl Moore) Bluegiga Launches New-Generation Bluetooth Access Server (PressRelease) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: McWebber Subject: Verizon Violates DNC List Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 09:23:59 -0500 I am a Verizon customer. I have always been on their no solicitation, and as they acknowledge, should not receive any marketing calls from them or anyone working on their behalf. Yet, the other day I was called by a company called ICM out of Orlando, FL (http://www.icmconnect.com/ note suspicious whois info below on that domain. 407-384-4220) trying to sell me Verizon long distance. It took a little work to get any info from the rep. My caller ID showed "Out of area" even though it is in the area. I asked the rep a couple of times who she is with and she insisted Verizon. The lack of CID made me suspicious so I said, "Look, who do YOU work for" and that's when she said "ICM" When I asked where they're located all she would say is Orlando. When I asked for an address she said they didn't have an address. All she would give me was a phone number. An 800-483-4000 Verizon number, and 407-384-4220 number for ICM. I filed an FTC DNC complaint and contacted Verizon. Reply #1: (Wanted to verify my details for security, but:) "In the mean time, unfortunately, since we have no affiliation with ICM of Orlando, FL we do not have any information about them or their attempt to contact you. We do not condone their use of our name, and have not authorize them to contact anyone on our behalf. "If they contact you again, we ask that you get any information that you can, such as address, phone number, and especially any name and title of any management personnel, we will be glad to do all possible to put a stop to their calls." Then, after I wrote back with my info and pointing out that I had ICM's info and phone number, had spoken to them again to confirm they were working for Verizon, I get this: "I have taken the opportunity to contact the solicitation group directly (as they advised me you had as well), and have spoken with the director for their Verizon project. [I had only spoken to ICM, not to anyone at Verizon except this droid by email.] "Apparently they have contracted with a broad initiative that covers more than just Verizon local service, so are not one of the solicitation groups we are normally familiar. " With that said, they advised that they work from a list of prospective customers, that Verizon provides, that already fit some demographic requirements. Since you have subscribed to several calling features, they were to suggest a viable package. " With that said, I have found no reason that your request for no solicitation should have been overlooked, so in the event that there was some error behind the scenes, I have re-initiated the necessary process to have your account removed from any solicitation list we are involved with. " The representative I spoke with at ICM advised that she also took steps to have your account manually removed from their contact lists. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience, and trust that you will have no further trouble with this issue. " It has been my goal to provide you with outstanding service. I hope I have succeeded in meeting that goal. If you have additional questions or if Verizon may be of assistance to you in the future, please let us know. We look forward to serving you. Thank you for using Verizon. We appreciate your business." Sincerely, David Verizon Consumer eCenter Domain registration whois: Registrant: STEPHANIE G ICM 4037 Metric Drive # 120 Winter Park, FL US 32792 Registrar: NameSecure.com Domain: ICMCONNECT.COM Created on 03-06-2002 Expires on 03-06-2012 Administrative Contact: STEPHANIE G Phone: 407-384-4220 E-mail: accounts@itsolutionsnet.com Technical Contact: Namesecure Inc. Phone: 703-925-6988 E-mail: support@namesecure.com Name Servers: NS1.ITSOLUTIONSNET.COM 207.30.12.60 McWebber No email replies read If someone tells you to forward an email to all your friends please forget that I'm your friend. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The last two paragraphs of the letter you received from the droid at Verizon are *exactly* -- word for word ('It has been my goal...' and 'thank you for using ...') -- the same words/phrases used by *every Bell System service rep* everywhere. Substitute the phrase 'SBC' everywhere the phrase 'Verizon' appears in that letter and the letter might as well have been written by David's droid brother or sister at Southwestern Bell. Even though officially the Bell System has been dead for many years, the droids continue to act like Ma Bell was still around, as much as they are permitted, don't they? I think those people act like divestiture was merely a stumbling-block, a minor inconvenience in their path. PAT] ------------------------------ From: AES/newspost Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 19:17:08 -0800 In article , Sam Etler wrote: > There's a lot of ways to do it, but anyone with a dedicated ISDN PRI > connection can set the Calling Party Number (Caller ID) field to > whatever they want. Not only can you set it to a fake area code or > prefix, but most networks allow you to send from 0 to 15 or more > digits. AT&T's 4ESS network allows up to 17 though some digits may be > stripped when the call enters another carrier's network. I take this to mean that if legislation were passed saying simply that all telemarketing calls had to be made using a Caller ID that started with some special, dedicated, and universally understood "area code" -- something like 303 or whatever -- that this requirement, aided perhaps by a few technical adjustments by telcos and telemarketers, would be entirely feasible. I've long felt that this has to be the long-term solution to telemarketing. No First Amendment problems -- telemarkets can call whomever they want, about whatever they want, just so long as they identify the nature of their call with the 303 prefix. Those who don't want such calls will buy a $10 gadget from Radio Shack that blocks this prefix; or phones -- and even houses and apartments -- will start being sold with this blocking built in. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, don't dump on the good people of Denver, CO where 303 is located. I am sure you were just using that as an example. Maybe '666' could be used; that superstitious number which is the mark of the anti-Christ or Satan will never be used as an area code. But you know, of course, telcos talk out of both sides of their mouth on the telemarketer 'problem'. They make too much money from the sales droids on the phone (their own and other companies) to push too hard on eliminating their ability to talk to people. PAT] ------------------------------ From: McWebber Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 09:28:23 -0500 Chironex wrote in message news:telecom23.51.5@telecom-digest.org: > Strangely the number in question is 794-902-XXXX, which appears to be an > unused area code! > Is this possible and how the heck did someone do this???? I got a telemarketing call once and the caller was abusive. When I tried to call the number in the CID I got a standard TelCo number disconnected recording. > Today I got a call showing the number as 727 450-1267 with the > name shown as "BLOCKED" or "--PRIVATE CALL--" (depending on which CID > box I read it on). Ditto. Just last night I got a call from an outfit trying to sell mortgages due to my filling out spammer's forms to catch who they sell the leads to: (http://www.google.com/groups?selm=Z76cnfWo4fyVO1OjXTWcow%40comcast.com&oe=U TF-8&output=gplain) The first call from them last night showed Out of area and the next call from his boss to get details from me on the spammer they bought the lead from showed a phone number and ANONYMOUS CALL below. McWebber "Richter points to the lack of legal action against his company as proof that he's operating appropriately." Information Week, November 10, 2003 ------------------------------ From: McWebber Subject: Telemarketers Buy Suspicious Lists Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 10:11:02 -0500 Recently I got two calls from telemarketers that ask for my name and when I ask how they're spelling my name they give me a misspelling that exists only on the old Internic, (now Network Solutions), whois database. I got a call yesterday, despite being on the DNC list from (561-338-7877 Hunter Scott Financial) a telemarketer with some investment scam. Played dumb when I mentioned the DNC list and thought all they had to do was promise not to call me again. McWebber No email replies read If someone tells you to forward an email to all your friends please forget that I'm your friend. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading away in U.S. Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 21:24:03 -0800 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.NOcom On Mon, 2 Feb 2004 18:15:15 -0500, Monty Solomon wrote: > By Ben Berkowitz > LOS ANGELES, Feb 2 (Reuters) - As a fashion color, gray is > the new black, thin batteries are in and you're not in vogue if > you don't have the latest ringtone. > As the U.S. wireless market grows, the cell phone is evolving into a > phone in name only as calling becomes almost secondary to a host of > other functions. > After years of trailing Japan and Western Europe, where cell phones > have long had color screens, e-mail, music, video games, cameras and > other accessories that make American cell phones look backward in > comparison, handset makers are finally pushing a new generation of > units on the domestic market that offer the full range of functions > available elsewhere. What the article fails to mention is that these gimmicks of color, polyphonic tones, etc. are just that gimmicks. Color phones are many times useless outside as the screen gets washed out in bright light where a regular monochrome handset you can still see what's in the display. Polyphonic ringtones may sound somewhat cool, but if you can't hear them in a noisy environment they are also useless. Believe it or not some people want a mobile phone that they can actually make and receive calls on.... easily. It's going to be many years if never that cell phones supplant personal computers as a way to communicate data. remove NO from .NOcom to reply ------------------------------ From: Kenneth P. Stox Organization: Imaginary Landscape, LLC. Subject: Re: SCO Options, was Re: Mydoom vs. SCO Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 05:51:17 GMT Danny Burstein wrote: > If, for some reason or another, you absolutely must get in touch with SCO: > > "The assault on SCO is expected to last until 12 February. > Until then, SCO has said it will use the alternative > domain name www.thescogroup.com." Strange. www.sco.com resolves to 216.250.128.12, and www.thescogroup.com resolves to 216.250.128.21. Now then, if I was someone with more than one interconnected neuron, and I was expecting a DOS attack, wouldn't I try to locate the other server on another network? Naahhhhhh! ------------------------------ From: jvj1@yahoo.com (John) Subject: Switch Verizon to Cavalier, Can't Get Through From Some Places Date: 2 Feb 2004 22:08:45 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi, I recently switched from Verizon to Cavalier (in Maryland). All is working fine until today. My daughter's phone tries to contact me for some emergency. The school (walking distance from home) tells me that they cannot call me and told me that they are getting my voicemail. I called Cavalier. They told me that it is the problem with how the school is dialing. So, I go to the school and dial our home. I'm getting Verizon voicemail and it is asking me to enter a mailbox. I called Cavalier again and explained the problem. They put me on hold and told me they fixed it. I called the school half an hour later and asked to call me at home. No calls from them ... meaning things are still are not working. I seem to get calls from other parts ... Long Distance and International. Cavalier doesn't seem to want to send anybody to check it out. Anybody knows what could be the problem? Wondering, where else people cannot call me..:-/ Thanks. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Please answer a few questions for me. You said you switched *from* Verizon to Cavalier. Yet the school calls go to *Verizon* voice mail ... and the voicemail equipment (from *Verizon*) asks the caller to 'enter a mailbox number'? It sounds to me like the school phone (if their phones are on Verizon) is getting sent to a generic voicemail inbound line. Verizon voicemail cannot detirmine who the call is for so it asks the calling party to enter a mailbox number. When you switched to Cavalier, did you intend to retain the Verizon voicemail (or does Verizon supply the voicemail for Cavalier under some contract, etc?) Did you (and/or your daughter) use the same telephone to placed the call to you that would ordinarily be used for such? If Voicemail does not have an account for you (either because you have now dropped Verizon or have not properly configured your Cavalier phone voicemail correctly) then calls to it intended for 'no accounts' get handled like calls where Voicemail does not know who is calling it; a generic greeting 'what mailbox do you want?' is substituted. Another clue was that Cavalier first told you the school was not dialing the number 'correctly'. What is the 'correct' way to dial it? If Verizon, (or whoever is the inter exchange carrier) and Cavalier have their tables (databases) set up correctly then it shouldn't matter how you dial, but this leads me to wonder if (whoever extended dial tone -- Verizon? -- to the school and you on your attempt) has some database error. Obviously you can see there are a lot more questions to be answered in the process of resovling this mystery. In fact, let's get even a bit more extreme: what do you get if you dial your Cavalier number from a next door neighbor or even dial from your home phone? ***Make certain you use a phone subscribed to Verizon for your tests.*** And if possible, also test using a phone which is subscribed to Cavalier. Also try these tests before and after you have done whatever three-digit diddle is required to turn voice mail on and off (in other words ring through to me.) Then please write again, and we will try to resolved it further. Do not trouble the droids with all this, not at first. It would be good if you could tell them exactly what is wrong before they begin working on it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 11:55:14 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: 450-434 Prefix? One of the calls appearing on a just-received AT&T bill says it was from "CANADA USA" (leaving blank space where a U.S. point would have the state name). The telephone number shown was 450 434-0000, but I am sure I placed the call from the 450-246 prefix, which was found along the Autoroute 15 just north of U.S. border in Quebec province. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 14:55:29 +0400 From: Editor (PressReleaseNetwork.com) Subject: Bluegiga Launches A New-Generation Bluetooth Access Server. PRESS RELEASE NETWORK http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com Bluegiga Launches A New-Generation Bluetooth Access Server, First To Combine Multiple Bluetooth Modules With WLAN, GPRS Connectivities Bluegiga WRAP Multiradio Access Server Integrates Bluetooth, WLAN, GSM, GPRS And Ethernet LAN, Software Customizable For Easy Integration In Corporate IT Infrastructure Espoo, Finland - Feb 3, 2004 (PRN): Bluegiga Technologies, a provider of wireless local area networks and M2M communications systems based on Bluetooth technology, today announced the commercial availability of WRAP Multiradio Access Server, the first device in the market to integrate multiple Bluetooth modules with other wireless technologies. With the WRAP Multiradio Access Server, Bluetooth enabled cell phones and other devices utilizing wireless Bluetooth technology are flexibly connected with other wireless and wireline networks. The WRAP Multiradio Access Server enables the use of cell phones and other devices with Bluetooth technology to wirelessly access and synchronize content and applications in both the corporate intranet and the Internet. First applications include the synchronization of email and calendar systems and news services. In corporations utilizing telephony systems based on VoIP technology (Voice Over IP), an attractive future opportunity is the use of Bluetooth enabled smartphones as VoIP terminals. Bluetooth technology has become a new standard connectivity in cell phones, PDAs, laptops and other wireless devices. With GSM-level data security and low power drain, Bluetooth technology is an ideal and cost efficient way to integrate these wireless devices in the corporate networks, allowing full utilization of smart handheld devices, said Tom Nordman, General Manager, Bluegiga Technologies. The WRAP Multiradio Access Server enables a new level of efficiency and flexibility in wireless applications. The Bluegiga WRAP Multiradio Access Server combines a Bluetooth access point with local application hosting and processing capability and transparent routing to other networks. Designed to enable smooth wireless transmission of services and content, the device suits the needs of both corporate IT departments and original equipment manufacturers. Software customizability allows the deployment of Bluetooth connectivity as a new virtue of existing networks without network reconfiguration. With three built-in Bluetooth modules, Bluegiga WRAP Multiradio Access Server manages up to 21 simultaneous connections, in contrast to conventional access points supporting just seven connections. Support for WLAN, GSM and GPRS technologies are added with a CF card. Wireline interfaces include Ethernet LAN, USB and RS232. Routing between different communication technologies is completely transparent to the users. Support for a higher number of simultaneous Bluetooth connections enables the provision of Bluetooth Hotspots, offering a wireless Internet connection to cell phones and PDAs. As a new service targeted to the users of Bluetooth enabled smart devices, Bluetooth Hotspots open up a variety of opportunities for local wireless marketing and promotional purposes. Applications for a Bluetooth Access Server include a range of telemetry solutions, such as wireless monitoring of patient condition in medical institutions. An emerging field is Machine-to-Machine communication (M2M), utilizing systems based on Bluetooth technology in remote monitoring, control and configuration of machines in industrial plants, allowing e.g. an engineer to problem-shoot a paper machine located in another country. Bluegiga WRAP (Wireless Remote Access Platform) Multiradio Access Server is easy and fast to deploy. With dimensions of 130 x 80 x 35 mm and weight of 450 g, the device is suitable for both desktop and wall mounting. The device is already in volume production and immediately commercially available via Bluegiga Technologies and its partners around the world. Technical data is available at http://www.bluegiga.com/wrapas Press photos are available at http://www.netprofile.fi/bluegiga About Bluegiga Technologies: Bluegiga Technologies provides wireless local area networks and M2M communications systems based on Bluetooth technology. Bluegiga WRAP Access Servers integrate Bluetooth-enabled devices as part of a corporate network. Bluegiga WRAP THOR Bluetooth modules are robust, lightweight and flexibly embeddable. Software configurable for versatile integration, Bluegiga products are ideally suited in enterprise proximity access, telemetry, remote monitoring and cable replacement applications. Founded in 2000, Bluegiga is based in Espoo, Finland and privately held. Bluegiga products are globally available via a network of qualified distributors, original design manufacturers and system integrators. For further information, please visit http://www.bluegiga.com. For more information, contact: Bluegiga Company Contact Mr. Tom Nordman General Manager Tel: +358 9 4124 0450 Email: tom.nordman@bluegiga.com Website: http://www.bluegiga.com Bluegiga Agency Contact Mr. Ile Knnen, Netprofile Finland Tel: +358 9 6812 080 Email: ile@netprofile.fi editor@pressreleasenetwork.com http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com ------------------------------ 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! 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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 #54 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Feb 4 00:54:19 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i145sJl01098; Wed, 4 Feb 2004 00:54:19 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 00:54:19 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402040554.i145sJl01098@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 #55 TELECOM Digest Wed, 4 Feb 2004 00:54:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 55 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson PluggedIn: Going Mobile on a PC is Risky Business (Monty Solomon) Cisco Systems Reports Second Quarter Earnings (Monty Solomon) Jackson, Timberlake Apologize for Flash (Monty Solomon) New Verizon Advertising Socks it to Cable (Monty Solomon) MTV Blames Janet Jackson for Super Bowl Incident (Monty Solomon) Re: 450-434 Prefix? (Dave Garland) Re: 450-434 Prefix? (John Levine) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading away in U.S. (Phil McKerracher) What If ...? Was Re: Verizon Violates DNC List (George Mitchell) SIP IP PHones (George Muenz) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Hank Karl) Re: Switch Verizon to Cavalier, Can't Get Through (John) 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: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 21:16:19 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: PluggedIn: Going Mobile on a PC is Risky Business By Caroline Humer NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - In any local coffee house, airport lounge or hotel lobby, technophiles and technophobes alike can be found hunched over their notebook computers. Toting around a computer filled with valuable data, however, is a growing risk: If the computer is lost or stolen, the user loses everything -- from a prized doctoral thesis to bank account numbers to records of passwords. When the thrill of being unplugged outweighs the danger of losing essential data, there are a number of technologies that make it easier to back up those files, keep them hidden and even track down the missing computer itself. It starts with that techno-mantra: back-up, back-up, back-up. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40400174 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 21:19:37 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Cisco Systems Reports Second Quarter Earnings SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 2004--Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO): -- Q2 Net Sales: $5.4 Billion (14.5% increase year over year; 5.8% increase quarter over quarter) -- Q2 Operating Cash Flows: $1.7 Billion -- Q2 Earnings Per Share: $0.18 GAAP before accounting change; $0.10 GAAP after accounting change Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today reported its second quarter results for the period ended January 24, 2004. Net sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2004 were $5.4 billion, compared with $4.7 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2003, an increase of 14.5 percent, and compared with $5.1 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2004, an increase of 5.8 percent. Net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2004, on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis, before the non-cash cumulative effect of an accounting change, was $1.3 billion or $0.18 per share, compared with $991 million or $0.14 per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2003, and compared with $1.1 billion or $0.15 per share for the first quarter of fiscal 2004. Net income on a GAAP basis, after the non-cash cumulative effect of the accounting change, was $724 million or $0.10 per share. Pro forma net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2004 was $1.3 billion or $0.18 per share, compared with $1.1 billion or $0.15 per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2003, and compared with $1.2 billion or $0.17 per share for the first quarter of fiscal 2004. A reconciliation between net income on a GAAP basis and pro forma net income is provided in a table immediately following the Pro Forma Consolidated Statements of Operations. Net sales for the first six months of fiscal 2004 were $10.5 billion, compared with $9.6 billion for the first six months of fiscal 2003, an increase of 9.8 percent. Net income for the first six months of fiscal 2004, on a GAAP basis, before the non-cash cumulative effect of the accounting change, was $2.4 billion or $0.33 per share, compared with $1.6 billion or $0.22 per share for the first six months of fiscal 2003. Net income for the first six months of fiscal 2004, on a GAAP basis, after the non-cash cumulative effect of the accounting change, was $1.8 billion or $0.25 per share. Pro forma net income for the first six months of fiscal 2004 was $2.5 billion or $0.35 per share, compared with $2.1 billion or $0.29 per share for the first six months of fiscal 2003. During the second quarter of fiscal 2004, Cisco(R) completed the acquisition of Latitude Communications, Inc. for a purchase price of approximately $86 million. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40406614 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 21:22:30 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Jackson, Timberlake Apologize for Flash By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- CBS, MTV, the NFL, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake all say they're sorry _ but none of that is deterring the federal government from looking into the Super Bowl's too-revealing halftime show. Federal Communications Commission chief Michael Powell on Monday promised an investigation into whether CBS violated decency laws, with potential fines of up to $27,500. If applied to each CBS station, the fine could reach into the millions. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40401895 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 21:23:59 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: New Verizon Advertising Socks it to Cable TV Commercials Stress it's an 'Easy Call' to Choose Verizon Online DSL Service Over Cable Companies' Offering NEW YORK, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon's new advertising campaign takes a peek inside the broadband-buyer's decision-making process and explains why Verizon Online DSL service is a better choice than cable for high-speed Internet communications. In two new television commercials, set to run in more than 20 major markets nationwide beginning tomorrow, consumers looking for broadband service come to the realization, after talking with a representatives from identified cable companies, that Verizon Online DSL with MSN Premium offers more of the features that they need at a lower price than the named cable provider can offer. In living room and home-office settings, fictitious consumers first hear about the hidden fees, limited service offerings and features they don't get when applying for cable modem service from identified cable television companies. Then, in a replay of the conversation with a Verizon representative, the consumers learn about the advantages of choosing Verizon Online DSL with MSN Premium service. After the consumers decide that Verizon is the better choice, Verizon's longtime spokesperson, James Earl Jones, concludes by saying, "That's an easy call." - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40406904 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 21:25:57 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: MTV Blames Janet Jackson for Super Bowl Incident By Kenneth Li NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Singer Janet Jackson masterminded the Super Bowl halftime stunt that left her right breast exposed and prompted a federal probe into television indecency, the head of MTV said on Tuesday. "Janet Jackson engineered it," MTV Chief Executive Tom Freston told Reuters in an interview. The blame on Jackson comes on a second day of fallout after pop idol Justin Timberlake tore off half of Jackson's black leather bustier while the pair were singing a duet, exposing her right breast at the conclusion of Sunday's Super Bowl halftime show. Freston, whose company produced the halftime show for CBS, said Timberlake was informed of the stunt just moments before he took the stage with Jackson. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40402505 ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: 450-434 Prefix? Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 13:35:59 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when Carl Moore wrote: > One of the calls appearing on a just-received AT&T bill says it was > from "CANADA USA" Oops. That wasn't supposed to be used until after the invasion had begun. :) ------------------------------ Date: 3 Feb 2004 22:01:23 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: 450-434 Prefix? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > One of the calls appearing on a just-received AT&T bill says it was > from "CANADA USA" (leaving blank space where a U.S. point would have > the state name). The telephone number shown was 450 434-0000, but > I am sure I placed the call from the 450-246 prefix, which was found > along the Autoroute 15 just north of U.S. border in Quebec province. The Jan 1 prefix list from CNAC says that 450-246 is Lacolle, 450-434 is Ste Therese. Both are near Montreal, but you were probably in Lacolle. Maybe your call got splashed. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of The Internet for Dummies, Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Sewer Commissioner "I shook hands with Senators Dole and Inouye," said Tom, disarmingly. ------------------------------ From: Phil McKerracher Subject: Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading away in U.S. Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 21:42:36 GMT Organization: blueyonder (post doesn't reflect views of blueyonder) Joseph wrote in message news:telecom23.54.5@telecom-digest.org: > ... Color phones are many > times useless outside as the screen gets washed out in bright light > where a regular monochrome handset you can still see what's in the > display... Unless the screen is "transreflective" as on the O2 xda, which I have found surprisingly good, even in bright sunlight (Australian summer). > ... Polyphonic ringtones may sound somewhat cool, but if you > can't hear them in a noisy environment they are also useless... True, but a well chosen one (e.g. spanning a range of frequencies) can actually be more audible than a monophonic one. They also avoid confusion about whose phone is ringing. > Believe it or not some people want a mobile phone that they can > actually make and receive calls on.... easily Again, I've found it very convenient to have all my Outlook contacts in the xda, dialable with a single tap on the number. > ... It's going to be many years if never that cell phones supplant > personal computers as a way to communicate data. Hmm. Again, my xda is very useful for sending and receiving e-mail on the move. I have used it recently to e-mail diagnostic oscilloscope traces from a lab, to retrieve a streetmap of my current location from a car and to find a timetable for buses from Heathrow. It's MUCH more convenient to carry than a laptop, and the battery lasts all day. It hasn't "supplanted" my PC because I prefer to use that when I'm at home, but I wouldn't be without it when I'm on the move. That's not to say it's perfect - it crashes regularly for a start - but I think the principle is good. Phil McKerracher www.mckerracher.org ------------------------------ From: George Mitchell Subject: What If ...? Was Re: Verizon Violates DNC List Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 14:01:58 -0800 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com > TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to a message: > Even though officially the Bell System has been dead for many years, > the droids continue to act like Ma Bell was still around, as much as > they are permitted, don't they? I think those people act like > divestiture was merely a stumbling-block, a minor inconvenience in > their path. PAT] Verizon, of course, would have been an impossibility pre-divestiture, and even at the beginning of 1999, who would have dreamed of a merger between the largest independent telco with a big chunk of the old Bell System? As I was pondering Verizon's history this morning, it occurred to me to wonder what was on Judge Greene's mind when he repartitioned the old Bell System into the seven Baby Bells. What would have hap- pened if he had simply spun off the existing Bell operating companies with the nominal corporate structure which existed at the time? Surely some of us would still be dealing with New England Telephone, or Paci- fic Northwest Bell, etc. Would anything the size of Bell Atlantic have merged together by this point, to be merged in its turn with GTE? -- George Mitchell (obfuscated email address) ------------------------------ From: run1500@yahoo.com (George Muenz) Subject: SIP IP PHones Date: 3 Feb 2004 17:00:12 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi: We are looking to implement the Asterisk System. Looking at a few handset vendors as well. Would apprecaite any feedback or comments on these as well as if you know any vendors who can supply this cheap, or resources where they can be searched. Handsets Polycom SoundPoint IP 600 SIP Zultys ZIP 4x4 Snom Snom200 VoIP phone ipDialog SipTone Ethernet Thanks, George Muenz ------------------------------ From: Hank Karl Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 22:27:59 -0500 Organization: NETPLEX Internet Services - http://www.ntplx.net/ On Mon, 2 Feb 2004 19:20:13 CST, Sam Etler wrote: > As you can see this only applies to entities involved in telemarketing. > This is defined in 47 CFR 1200(f)(7) as: > "The term telemarketing means the initiation of a telephone call or > message for the purpose of encouraging the purchase or rental of, or > investment in, property, goods, or services, which is transmitted to > any person." In the documentation at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/donotcall/businfo.html Its defined more widely. Anyone selling goods over the phone is a telemarketer. This also applies to some incoming calls. If you call in to a catalog and they try to "upsell" you, that call is covered under the regs. Of course, the caller-id part is not applicable. IANAL, but these regs seem to apply to a lot more businesses than the ones I've thought of as "telemarketers" (i.e. boiler rooms full of phones and people trying to sell just about everything you don't want). These rules seem to affect even a local business calling consumers. > So this does not apply to businesses who have a legitimate reason for > setting their Caller ID when not involved in telemarketing (and > believe me, there's plenty of good reasons to do it that most people > will never encounter) or private individuals who are doing it for > kicks (and perhaps not so legitimate reasons). > sam > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I *thought* (there I go, thinking for > myself again) that sometime in the past two weeks a rule saying > correct caller ID information had to be sent, whenever possible. PAT] It has to be correct for the organization making the call, but does not have to be the line's number. For example, a computer manufacturer may try to hide the fact that they outsource support to India. So when that third-party company calls you, they can put (for example) "Dell Support" and an 800 number instead of their actual company name and international number. See http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/donotcall/businfo.html for more. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Since you mentioned Dell Support, let's chat about them for a minute. Has anyone seen that very funny commer- cial on television where a car load of people pull up to a Radio Shack store just at closing time? The clerk is walking out, and locking the door of the store when he sees this car full of people looking at him and giggling. The clerk approaches the car questioningly, and asks the people, "May I help you?" The people in the back seat reach out, grab the clerk and pull him into the car and speed away. The clerk is shown now sitting in the back seat, yelling frantically at the people saying, "Let me go! What do you want from me?". The car driver turns around and says to the folks in the back seat, "do not tell anyone about this." The poor Radio Shack clerk is looking frantic at this point, convinced he is going to get kidnapped, molested, whatever. The car pulls into a garage and we see everyone dragging or pulling the store clerk into the house where we see a computer monitor. "What we want you to do," says the man to the clerk, as he points at the computer screen, "is make this go away!" On the screen we see a message in large letters saying, 'ERROR CODE 417'. In the next scene, we see the car driving the clerk back to the store; they push the clerk out of the car in sort of a rough way, and then speed away, with the shocked clerk standing there shaking his head. A voice in the background warns us sternly: "Don't go there and do that! Instead get a Dell and all the help you need making it work correctly." (Picture of Dell Computer and sales/tech support phone number.) OUr local Radio Shack store has a sign by their computers saying 'we do not have Dells, dude! Much better deals!" PAT] ------------------------------ From: jvj1@yahoo.com (John) Subject: Re: Switch Verizon to Cavalier, Can't Get Through From Some Places Date: 3 Feb 2004 20:22:51 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com jvj1@yahoo.com (John) wrote in message news:: > Hi, > I recently switched from Verizon to Cavalier (in Maryland). All is > working fine until today. My daughter's phone tries to contact me for > some emergency. The school (walking distance from home) tells me that > they cannot call me and told me that they are getting my voicemail. > I called Cavalier. They told me that it is the problem with how the > school is dialing. So, I go to the school and dial our home. I'm > getting Verizon voicemail and it is asking me to enter a mailbox. > I called Cavalier again and explained the problem. They put me on hold > and told me they fixed it. I called the school half an hour later and > asked to call me at home. No calls from them ... meaning things are > still are not working. I seem to get calls from other parts ... Long > Distance and International. Cavalier doesn't seem to want to send > anybody to check it out. > Anybody knows what could be the problem? Wondering, where else people > cannot call me..:-/ > Thanks. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Please answer a few questions for > me. You said you switched *from* Verizon to Cavalier. Yet the school > calls go to *Verizon* voice mail ... and the voicemail equipment (from > *Verizon*) asks the caller to 'enter a mailbox number'? It sounds to > me like the school phone (if their phones are on Verizon) is getting > sent to a generic voicemail inbound line. Verizon voicemail cannot > detirmine who the call is for so it asks the calling party to enter a > mailbox number. When you switched to Cavalier, did you intend to > retain the Verizon voicemail (or does Verizon supply the voicemail for > Cavalier under some contract, etc?) Did you (and/or your daughter) use > the same telephone to placed the call to you that would ordinarily be > used for such? > If Voicemail does not have an account for you (either because you have > now dropped Verizon or have not properly configured your Cavalier > phone voicemail correctly) then calls to it intended for 'no accounts' > get handled like calls where Voicemail does not know who is calling > it; a generic greeting 'what mailbox do you want?' is substituted. > Another clue was that Cavalier first told you the school was not > dialing the number 'correctly'. What is the 'correct' way to dial it? > If Verizon, (or whoever is the inter exchange carrier) and Cavalier > have their tables (databases) set up correctly then it shouldn't > matter how you dial, but this leads me to wonder if (whoever extended > dial tone -- Verizon? -- to the school and you on your attempt) has > some database error. Obviously you can see there are a lot more > questions to be answered in the process of resovling this mystery. In > fact, let's get even a bit more extreme: what do you get if you dial > your Cavalier number from a next door neighbor or even dial from your > home phone? ***Make certain you use a phone subscribed to Verizon > for your tests.*** And if possible, also test using a phone which is > subscribed to Cavalier. Also try these tests before and after you > have done whatever three-digit diddle is required to turn voice mail > on and off (in other words ring through to me.) Then please write > again, and we will try to resolved it further. Do not trouble the > droids with all this, not at first. It would be good if you could tell > them exactly what is wrong before they begin working on it. PAT] Slight confusion here in what I said. Please re-read in my post "My daughter's phone" to "My daughter's school". (my daughter is only 6 yr old :). I'll try to answer/give more details now. I'm only talking about 1 problem ... calling from School phone to my home. I only have one phoneline at home. It used to be Verizon and now it is Cavalier. I kept my phone number when switiching ... my number didn't change. It seems like when I call from the school, it is getting routed to a generic Verizon voicemail. I know it is Verizon because the greeting mentions Verizon. I tried to dial Verizon voicemail from my home and enter my phone number as the mailbox, and my voice mail at Verizon is not active anymore. I have activated the Cavalier voice mail the day I got connection from cavalier and it works. I have many people call me at my home, neighbor, My Cell phone, International etc. No problems with Cavalier and their voicemail. Only problem as far as I know is calling from School. I'll try calling from School to home on wednesday and write again. School was closed on Tuesday due to bad weather. Thanks, -John [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for some explanation. Now I want you to find out what telephone company serves the school, is it Verizon or some other competitor (like you have Cavalier.) Also find out what phone exchange serves the school. If the school is on Brand X telecom, then maybe Brand X does not have their routing tables up to date. Or maybe Brand X simply brokers through Verizon. Or maybe the school is on Verizon. You said 'I have many people call me and there is no problem with Cavalier.' No, there probably isn't any problem with Cavalier. I would suggest the problem is with Verizon. When a person has voicemail and does not answer the phone or the line is busy, the call is usually forwarded to a group of trunks which take the call to voicemail, sending along with the called party the number he was trying to reach and his own number, so the recipient voicemail can examine it and say he goes to box whatever. Maybe when your number was ported using LNP (local number portability) over to Cavalier, whoever did that work forgot to change the 'forward to voicemail' feature so that the call would go to Cavalier Voice Mail instead of Verizon Voice mail. So Verizon winds up getting the voicemail call but they no longer have an account for you. But you said 'friends from all over town call me and reach me' (and I assume your genuine voicemail). Find out for me which of your friends is on the same exchange as the school. What exchanges are they using in common? I think what you will find out is that anyone **on the same exchange as the school ** gets the very same results because there is something wrong in the translation tables at the (Verizon-based) exchange the school is on. In other words, a dozen phone subscribers on that exchange calling a dozen Cavalier subscribers would wind up getting the wrong voicemail (if the dozen recipients of Cavalier had voicemail and were called. It does not matter how many of your friends call you and get through. People on the same exchange as the school most likely are not getting through. I as reminded of a time several years ago when Chicago area (read that as Illinois Bell) customers could not get through to a given exchange in Milwaukee. It existed, it was populated, but Illinois Bell handed off their default calls to AT&T (which had bad tables!). If you called it as 1010+whatever carrier+the ten digit number you got through okay. But 1+ failed, cause IBT was handing the traffic to AT&T. I feel certain you are going to find something similar here in your case. Verizon (which after all, is where things are really at; Cavalier only has some two bit thing going on) has a translation problem somewhere. But more details please. We are starting to get close. 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. 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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 #55 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Feb 4 13:51:09 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i14Ip9R05413; Wed, 4 Feb 2004 13:51:09 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 13:51:09 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402041851.i14Ip9R05413@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 #56 TELECOM Digest Wed, 4 Feb 2004 13:51:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 56 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson U.S. Cellular Reports Fourth Quarter Results (Monty Solomon) Terra Lycos and Network Associates Team Up to Provide Online (Solomon) Very Black 'Little Black Books' (Monty Solomon) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (McWebber) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Joey Lindstrom) Re: 450-434 Prefix? (Joey Lindstrom) Re: SIP IP PHones (BMN) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. (Justin Time) Re: Switch Verizon to Cavalier, Can't Get Through Some Places (K Abrams) Re: MTV Blames Janet Jackson for Super Bowl Incident (Roger) Re: MTV Blames Janet Jackson for Super Bowl Incident (S Falke) Re: Jackson, Timberlake Apologize for Flash (Joey Lindstrom) 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: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 08:04:47 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: U.S. Cellular Reports Fourth Quarter Results CHICAGO, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- United States Cellular Corporation (Amex: USM) reported service revenues of $620.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2003, up 8% from $575.4 million in the comparable period a year ago. The company recorded operating income of $24.3 million during the quarter, a decrease of $13.2 million, or 35%, from the fourth quarter of 2002. Operating expenses include a $22.3 million loss, primarily related to the assets to be sold to AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. (NYSE:AWE) ("AT&T Wireless") pursuant to the transaction announced in November 2003. The company recorded a net tax benefit in the quarter of $0.5 million, primarily due to the benefits of net operating losses, including losses related to the sale of the South Texas markets. Net income and basic earnings per share were $20.6 million and $.24, respectively compared to $14.6 million and $.17, respectively, in the comparable period one year ago. In the fourth quarter of 2002, the company recorded $16.5 million of pre-tax losses ($15.9 million net of $0.6 million of taxes) related to the writedown in value of certain investments. The company's operating results include operations, through July 31, 2003, of the markets that were part of an exchange of assets with AT&T Wireless that occurred in August 2003. The company's operating results include, and will continue to include through the transaction closing date, the operations of the markets that will be sold to AT&T Wireless pursuant to the transaction announced in November 2003. Fourth Quarter Highlights * Customer units totaled 4,409,000, a 7% increase from 4,103,000 customers one year earlier. * Net customer unit activations from distribution channels totaled 141,000 during the quarter, compared to 160,000 activations for the same quarter of 2002. Fourth quarter 2003 activity reflects the writeoff of 16,000 prepaid customers and 10,000 postpay customers based on a review of certain accounts. The 10,000 postpay customer writeoffs are included in the fourth quarter postpay churn calculation. * For the quarter, the company recorded postpay churn of 1.4%, which is favorable to industry averages and which is the company's lowest quarterly postpay churn rate since it began tracking the measure. * Average monthly retail service revenue per customer increased 3% year- over-year in the quarter to $39.68, compared to $38.69 in the same period a year ago. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40418206 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 09:58:14 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Terra Lycos and Network Associates(R) Team Up to Provide Online Terra Lycos and Network Associates(R) Team Up to Provide Online Security Protection for Consumers Terra Lycos Users to Benefit from McAfee(R) VirusScan(R) and McAfee(R) Personal Firewall Plus Services SANTA CLARA, Calif. and MADRID, Spain, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Network Associates, Inc. (NYSE:NET), the leading provider of intrusion prevention solutions and Terra Lycos (Nasdaq: TRLY; MC:TRR), the largest Internet access provider in Spain and Latin America, today announced an agreement to deliver Network Associates McAfee(R) VirusScan(R) and McAfee(R) Personal Firewall Plus protection to Terra Lycos' worldwide customer base. The services will be available in Spain and will roll out to Latin America and the U.S. later this year. After downloading the McAfee Security software, Terra Lycos customers will benefit from fully automatic and easy to use anti-virus and firewall protection. The agreement enables Terra Lycos customers to subscribe to Network Associates McAfee VirusScan and McAfee Personal Firewall Plus online services via the new Security Center on the Terra Lycos website, or as an add-on feature packaged with customers' existing access accounts. The monthly online subscription service enables products to be delivered directly to the desktop, giving the customer convenience and peace of mind that their PC will be protected through regular automatic updates. McAfee Security anti-virus and firewall protection will help to ensure Terra Lycos customers a secure Internet access even as new threats arise. After downloading the software, Terra Lycos customers will enjoy protection against attacks from hackers and online threats such as the recent "My Doom" virus which has been classified as the most virulent virus ever. Blaster and Love Bug are other viruses which have wreaked havoc amongst consumers, with the Love Bug infecting more than 40 million computers worldwide and resulting in billions of dollars in clean up costs. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40418433 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 23:40:40 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Very Black 'Little Black Books' Roger Clarke Abstract Technology and human ingenuity continue to pose new privacy challenges. During 2003, a new dot.com fashion arose from an odd amalgam of Rolodex address-books, e-communities and dating. Users of these services store personal data on a central server, which can be accessed by other people, and, potentially at least, exploited by the service-operator. There are privacy concerns, of a kind that has been analysed many times before. The new dimension that these services bring is that they entice users to disclose personal data about their friends, business contacts or acquaintances. That is a disturbing feature, and it requires careful analysis. http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/DV/ContactPITs.html ------------------------------ From: McWebber Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 01:14:59 -0500 TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to a message sent by Hank Karl in message news:telecom23.55.11@telecom-digest.org: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Since you mentioned Dell Support, let's > The people in the back seat reach out, grab the clerk and pull him > into the car and speed away. The clerk is shown now sitting in the > back seat, yelling frantically at the people saying, "Let me go! What > do you want from me?". The car driver turns around and says to the > folks in the back seat, "do not tell anyone about this." I thought he said, "Don't tell your mom about this." McWebber No email replies read If someone tells you to forward an email to all your friends please forget that I'm your friend. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Maybe so. You know there about ten or so different edited versions of most advertising messages on television. For example, the Advil commercial. One verion has a man limping up the sidewalk greeting his wife telling her the doctor has prescribed Advil. The other version has a woman and her husband getting out of bed in the morning; she is very stiff and sore, and tells her husband the doctor has prescribed the same thing, an Advil tablet before bedtime. At that point however the message takes a turn: In one version of both, the other partner looks shocked and says, but we have always taken Brand X (by name); the other partner dismisses that with, 'Yes, I know, but the doctor says ...' the other version of the very same commercial edits out that reference to Brand X and very smoothly continues telling the good things about Advil. I do not know if they were trying to save five seconds (times how many stations) on their advertising bill, or if the lawyers for Brand X got on their case. Same man and woman in each case. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 23:30:25 -0700 From: Joey Lindstrom Reply-To: Joey Lindstrom Organization: Telus Sucks! Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Tuesday, February 3, 2004, 10:54:19 PM, TELECOM Digest Editor noted: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Since you mentioned Dell Support, > let's chat about them for a minute. Has anyone seen that very funny > commmercial on television where a car load of people pull up to a > Radio Shack store just at closing time? The clerk is walking out, > and locking the door of the store when he sees this car full of > people looking at him and giggling. The clerk approaches the car > questioningly, and asks the people, "May I help you?" I've never seen a big-box Radio Shack store up here in Canada, do they have them south of the border? The store in the commercial is not a Radio Shack, but a "generic" big-box computer/electronics store. Think about it: had Dell used the Radio Shack trademark in this spot, they'd have been sued faster than Ruben Studdard through the front door at Krispy Kreme's when the Hot Light goes on. I don't recall anybody giggling at that point in the commercial, either. Speaking of commercials, why are we so hung up about this Janet Jackson thing? Why has nobody mentioned, or taken offense to, the Bud Lite "horse fart" commercial during the Super Bowl? For those that missed it, a guy and a girl are riding behind a horse, and he gives her a candle, then turns away for a moment, and during that moment, the horse lifts its tail, lets out a blast, and the resulting flame scorches his girlfriend. To me, that's FAR worse than Janet's boob. Who knew LaToya would turn out to be the "normal" one in that family? Joey Lindstrom Come see http://td-extra.interocitor.net [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess so, if you feel that exposing yourself on national TV is 'normal' behavior. Although I personally feel Michael is innocent in this latest affair, victimized by a very noisy mother, I also think he is just as goofy as she is. I do not watch much television, and certainly not the Super Bowl. Thanks for reminding me why not. I did not see either the horse incident or the instance of LaToya Jackson's indecent exposure, but I certainly am reading a lot about it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 23:15:19 -0700 From: Joey Lindstrom Reply-To: Joey Lindstrom Organization: Telus Sucks! Subject: Re: 450-434 Prefix? Tuesday, February 3, 2004, 10:54:19 PM, Dave Garland wrote: >> One of the calls appearing on a just-received AT&T bill says it was >> from "CANADA USA" > Oops. That wasn't supposed to be used until after the invasion had > begun. :) No, that can't be right, otherwise it would have said "USA, Canada". ;-) Don't make us come down there and burn down the White House again... :-) Joey Lindstrom Come see http://td-extra.interocitor.net ------------------------------ From: BMN Subject: Re: SIP IP PHones Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 05:12:37 -0500 Organization: Bell Sympatico Hard Phones: 3com? Aastra 480i SIP - coming Q2 '04 Expected $250 USD Arrayvox: SIP, MGCP, H.323 - $179 - $189 USD BCM - SIP, MGCP, H.323: HP180, HP300 D-Link - SIP phone, 1 line display (Russian site) farfon IAX Device coming Q104 Expected $100 USD Grandstream Budgetone - Approx $65 USD Cisco Phones - Approx $150 to $400 USD Clipcomm Phones SIP and H.323. incl PSTN jack and small NAT/router - Approx. $165 USD Inter-fone Innovaphone? - H.323 and ISDN website (cache) IPDialog Phones SIP - Approx $200 USD Microsoft Windows Messenger: SIP udp/tcp, for Windows XP, free Mitel Phones Ortena SIP Phones - Approx $100 - $120 Pingtel Phones Planet Phones H.323 incl PSTN jack - Approx 166 ? Euro (excl. VAT) Polycom Phones - Approx $250 - $450 USD QTelNet Phones Sayson Phones - makes some of the Aastra phones Siemens Phones OptiPoint 400 - Approx. 275 British pounds Snom Phones Linux based, with GSM codec - Approx $199 to $299 USD Suncomm Phones OEM of the Welltech and Planet handsets - Approx $120 USD SwissVoice H.323 or MGCP (SIP announced) - Approx. $149 USD / 140 ? Euro SysConfig ipDialog SipTone - see IPDialog above Telebau Phones H.323 with optional S0 gateway(s) (ISDN BRI) Telstrat IP Phone i2732? SCCP - Approx. $420 USD Virbiage Phones: SIP and IAX, includes also "open" codecs Welltech Phones LAN phone 301: SIP (no display); H.323 (incl. POTS): $100 USD Zultys phones 'ZIP 2': $100, 'ZIP 4x4': $350 (with SRTP/AES encryption) World Phone USB Plug & Play, h.323 protocol, dial up (as low as 8Kbs) to Broadband, operates behind routers and NAT, full duplex. $29.95/month-unlimited calling. Taken from www.voip-info.org, they also have lists of softphones and WLAN phones. Cheers, Brett George Muenz wrote in message news:telecom23.55.10@telecom-digest.org: > Hi: We are looking to implement the Asterisk System. Looking at a few > handset vendors as well. > Would apprecaite any feedback or comments on these as well as if you > know any vendors who can supply this cheap, or resources where they > can be searched. > Handsets > Polycom SoundPoint IP 600 SIP > Zultys ZIP 4x4 > Snom Snom200 VoIP phone > ipDialog SipTone Ethernet > Thanks, > George Muenz ------------------------------ From: a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) Subject: Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading away in U.S. Date: 4 Feb 2004 06:33:07 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Phil McKerracher wrote in message news:: > Joseph wrote in message > news:telecom23.54.5@telecom-digest.org: >> ... Color phones are many >> times useless outside as the screen gets washed out in bright light >> where a regular monochrome handset you can still see what's in the >> display... > Unless the screen is "transreflective" as on the O2 xda, which I > have found surprisingly good, even in bright sunlight (Australian > summer). >> ... Polyphonic ringtones may sound somewhat cool, but if you can't >> hear them in a noisy environment they are also useless... >> True, but a well chosen one (e.g. spanning a range of frequencies) >> can actually be more audible than a monophonic one. They also >> avoid confusion about whose phone is ringing. >> Believe it or not some people want a mobile phone that they can >> actually make and receive calls on ... easily. Again, I've found >> it very convenient to have all my Outlook contacts in the xda, >> dialable with a single tap on the number. >> It's going to be many years if never that cell phones supplant >> personal computers as a way to communicate data. Hmm. Again, my >> xda is very useful for sending and receiving e-mail on the move. I >> have used it recently to e-mail diagnostic oscilloscope traces from >> a lab, to retrieve a streetmap of my current location from a car >> and to find a timetable for buses from Heathrow. It's MUCH more >> convenient to carry than a laptop, and the battery lasts all day. >> It hasn't "supplanted" my PC because I prefer to use that when >> I'm at > home, but I wouldn't be without it when I'm on the >> move. That's not to say it's perfect - it crashes regularly for a >> start - but I think the principle is good. The "gimmicks" of a >> camera and other new features in cell phones aren't used by the >> vast majority of cell phone users. The devices are becoming so >> complicated that many business people don't have time to fool with >> them. They want something they can pick up, store numbers into and >> then use the device to make calls with. They don't want to have to >> jump through hoops and remember to put the device into a cradle to >> sync it with their e-mail, calendar or other functions on the >> computer - and contrary to popular opinion, most sales people would >> rather write things in an day timer type of journal rather than >> rely on an electronic device. You can put more write more >> information on a page than you can enter into a PDA in the same >> amount of time. By the time you dig through your carry case to pull out the keyboard, unfold it, attach the PDA -- and then find the device won't balance on your knees, the meeting is over and you have no notes. Your fancy $500 PDA with built-in phone, is now as useful as a brick. And who wants to hold one of those things up to your ear and try to make a phone call? My Nokia 8260 still runs fine and does everything I need it to do, and my portfolio with notepad takes all the notes I need along with holding much more information than any PDA. Rodgers Platt ------------------------------ From: Ken Abrams Subject: Re: Switch Verizon to Cavalier, Can't Get Through From Some Places Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 14:50:48 GMT TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to John : > Or maybe the school is on Verizon. You said 'I have many people > call me and there is no problem with Cavalier.' No, there probably > isn't any problem with Cavalier. I would suggest the problem is with > Verizon. My bet is: The school's phone works out of the same switch as John's home phone. Calls placed from that switch are the only ones that fail. Because: Calls from any other switch are routed based upon a query to a common data base. They seem to work. Calls from within the home switch will NOT query the common database unless the number record in that switch says to make that query. It appears that the number record in his home Verizon switch was not updated properly. ------------------------------ From: electroknot@yahoo.com (roger) Subject: Re: MTV Blames Janet Jackson for Super Bowl Incident Date: 4 Feb 2004 09:06:43 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Janet shouldn't even be at the stupid bowl. And, stupid bowl sucked this year. Two teams no one cares about ... http://www.twelvefifteen.com ------------------------------ From: s falke Subject: Re: MTV Blames Janet Jackson for Super Bowl Incident Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 18:27:17 GMT > NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Singer Janet Jackson masterminded the > Super Bowl halftime stunt that left her right breast exposed and > prompted a federal probe into television indecency, the head of MTV > said on Tuesday. MTV taking a prudish stance? Imagine that. It was cheap duct tape. --s falke ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 23:09:53 -0700 From: Joey Lindstrom Reply-To: Joey Lindstrom Organization: Telus Sucks! Subject: Re: Jackson, Timberlake Apologize for Flash Tuesday, February 3, 2004, 10:54:19 PM, Monty wrote: > NEW YORK (AP) -- CBS, MTV, the NFL, Janet Jackson and Justin > Timberlake all say they're sorry _ but none of that is deterring the > federal government from looking into the Super Bowl's too-revealing > halftime show. And she wore that throwing star on her nipple because it's comfy. :-) Joey Lindstrom Come see http://td-extra.interocitor.net ------------------------------ 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. 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #56 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Feb 4 19:10:20 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i150AKn07914; Wed, 4 Feb 2004 19:10:20 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 19:10:20 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402050010.i150AKn07914@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 #57 TELECOM Digest Wed, 4 Feb 2004 19:10:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 57 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Akamai Reports Fourth Quarter 2003 & Full-Year 2003 Financial (Solomon) TiVo & Nielsen Media Research Agree to Market DVR Usage (Monty Solomon) Computer, TV, Stereo? (Monty Solomon) Microsoft Security Bulletins (Monty Solomon) IVR System Information Request (Brett Nelson) Re: Using PIX 501 With Vonage VOIP (Charles Hizark) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (McWebber) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Daniel W. Johnson) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. (noname) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. (Phil McKerracher) Re: Jackson, Timberlake Apologize for Flash (J Kelly) Re: What If ...? was Re: Verizon Violates DNC List (noname) Real Time ANI Service Needed on Toll Free Lines (Virtual Lab Rat) Re: SCO Options, was Re: Mydoom vs. SCO (Phil Earnhardt) "David Nelson" in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Article (Carl Moore) Last Laugh! Re: Some *Good News* About Norvergence! (Chris Jones) 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: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 18:03:23 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Akamai Reports Fourth Quarter 2003 and Full-Year 2003 Financial CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 4, 2004--Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM): -- Record fourth quarter revenue of $45.2 million, up 8% quarter-over-quarter, and up 28% year-over-year -- Annual revenue grew to $161.3 million, up 11% year-over-year -- GAAP net loss narrowed to $0.02 per share -- First ever normalized net income(a) of $1.5 million, or $0.01 per share Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM), the global leader in distributed computing solutions and services, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year ended December 31, 2003. Revenue for the fourth quarter 2003 was $45.2 million, an 8.1 percent increase over third quarter revenue of $41.8 million, and a 27.7 percent increase over fourth quarter 2002 revenue of $35.4 million. Total revenue for 2003 was $161.3 million. Net loss, in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), for the fourth quarter 2003 was $2.1 million, or $0.02 per share, compared to a net loss for the third quarter 2003 of $3.9 million, or $0.03 per share, and compared to a net loss of $55.6 million, or $0.48 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2002. Included in the fourth quarter 2003 net loss is $2.1 million of expenses associated with the retirement of debt. For the first time in its history, the Company achieved positive earnings per share of $0.01 on a normalized basis(a), generating $1.5 million positive net income for the fourth quarter, compared to a normalized net loss(a) for the prior quarter of $0.03 per share, or $3.5 million, and compared to First Call's consensus estimate for the fourth quarter of a normalized net loss of $0.01 per share. ((a)See Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures below for definitions.) Akamai ended the year with $208.4 million in cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, marketable securities and restricted marketable securities, including $95.8 million in net debt proceeds and redemptions, an increase from $99.0 million at the end of the third quarter. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40430314 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 18:02:38 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo and Nielsen Media Research Agree to Market DVR Usage SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nielsen Media Research, the global leader in television measurement services, and TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO), the pioneer in digital video recording (DVR) services, have signed an agreement to deliver information on DVR usage to the television industry. This new service, which will be marketed by Nielsen Media Research, will aid advertisers and television executives seeking to understand the opportunities and effects of growing DVR usage. Consistent with their dedication to industry privacy standards, TiVo and Nielsen will collect data on television viewing patterns and trends by creating an Opt-In panel of TiVo's standalone subscribers. This fully consensual panel will provide key information for the purposes of analyzing, processing and marketing DVR usage data to the television industry. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40430118 ------------------------------ From: Monty Solomon Subject: Computer? TV? Stereo? Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 14:00:00 EST By WALTER S. MOSSBERG EVERYONE KNOWS that personal computers come in a variety of styles and types-desktops, laptops, tablet PCs and so forth. But gradually, over the past year, a new major subtype has elbowed its way onto the family tree: the Windows Media Center PC. A Media Center PC is a high-end, well-equipped Windows PC that has a TV tuner built in and that uses a special version of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system called the Media Center Edition. It can be used on a desk or lap, just like any Windows computer. But it comes with a remote control and is meant to be operated, at least some of the time, from across the room. In this mode, you can use a Media Center PC to watch and record television, play your digital music files, view photos and video clips, and play DVDs. When Microsoft first envisioned a Media Center PC a couple of years ago, it was seen as a niche product for dorm rooms and teenagers' bedrooms. The theory was that computers would likely be placed in these rooms anyway, so they might as well contain functions that would eliminate the need to equip these rooms with TV sets, VCRs, DVD players and audio systems. But the machines proved popular with consumers, and in many more settings than teenagers' rooms. So this winter lots of PC makers are offering Media Center PCs, in both desktop and laptop versions. Some of these models are designed to look like flat-panel TVs or even stereo components, in hopes consumers will place them in the family room instead of the home office. As with so many other products, Microsoft didn't invent the idea of a Media Center computer but is merely refining the work of pioneers. Years ago Apple Computer sold a sleek, black Macintosh model called the Mac TV, with a built-in TV tuner and an elegant remote control the size of a credit card. And various Windows PC makers have also tried PCs with built-in TVs and remotes. Especially notable in this regard was Packard Bell, once the king of low-priced retail PCs. http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/report-200401.html ------------------------------ From: Monty Solomon Subject: Microsoft Security Bulletins Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 16:00:00 CST Security Bulletins http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/ Read About the New Security Bulletin Process http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/revsbwp.asp Technical Bulletins http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/?url=/technet/security/current.asp?frame=true Learn How to Spot a Bogus Security Bulletin http://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/authenticate_mail.asp [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As a general rule of thumb, Microsoft Security things (and other updates/improvements to their software) do not come in email. They don't write to people in general about it. You get them by going to the Microsoft Windows Update site. At your computer, go to a blank, fresh browser screen and type in the address of record for Microsoft Updates. That's the only safe way to do it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: BMN Subject: IVR System Information Request Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 18:26:31 -0500 Organization: Bell Sympatico Looking for feedback on www.locusdialog.com speech-enabled auto attendant and call routing solutions. Hearing about any experiences with this product or similar products, good or bad or otherwise would be appreciated. Regards, Brett Nelson ------------------------------ From: hizark21@yahoo.com (Charles Hizark) Subject: Re: Using PIX 501 With Vonage VoIP Date: 4 Feb 2004 15:28:34 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Chainsman wrote in message news:: > Hi, I use Vonage VoIP with my home telephone system in a NATted and > firewalled network and it works fine. If you order Vonage now, the > current device has a simple firewall and NAT function so you can use > it like a gateway. The most important reason to do this is that your > firewall will probably not pass-through the Quality-of-Service (QoS) > tagged packets. If you use the Vonage device between your gateway and > your cable/DSL modem then the QoS tags are used and, probably more > importantly, the VoIP network activity gets the highest priority over > your networks' internally-generated traffic. > The layout that gives VoIP the highest priority (via QoS over the > cable modem network and priority over all your internal network's > traffic): network --> gateway/router --> Vonage device --> cable modem Cable companies use DOCIS 2.0 (Data over cable interface specification). DoCIS 2.0 is a form of broadband ATM. This allows flow control or hard QOS. Hard QOS is garunteed bandwidth delivery. > I have used it in both modes and if you are doing online games you > will probably not like the firewall and NAT function but if you depend > on the Vonage for your primary phone line (I do not) you will want it > as the last device before the modem. > It should be noted that Cisco was not interested in adding the > NAT/Firewall feature to their VoIP box so that's why Vonage is only > using the Motorola box now. ------------------------------ From: McWebber Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 16:06:24 -0500 McWebber wrote in message news:telecom23.56.4@telecom-digest.org: > tablet before bedtime. At that point however the message takes a turn: > In one version of both, the other partner looks shocked and says, but > we have always taken Brand X (by name); the other partner dismisses > that with, 'Yes, I know, but the doctor says ...' the other version of > the very same commercial edits out that reference to Brand X and very > smoothly continues telling the good things about Advil. I do not know > if they were trying to save five seconds (times how many stations) on > their advertising bill, or if the lawyers for Brand X got on their > case. Same man and woman in each case. PAT] IIRC, the old Advertising Code had some rules about comparative advertising and brand names and some stations may still have such rules so as not to piss off the other company. McWebber "Richter points to the lack of legal action against his company as proof that he's operating appropriately." Information Week, November 10, 2003 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Maybe so, but I have seen both versions of the commercial on the same station (TV Land, which is about the only thing I watch on the idiot box other than occassional PBS shows on Channel 11. Mostly I listen to radio, especially while working. PAT] ------------------------------ From: panoptes@iquest.net (Daniel W. Johnson) Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: 4 Feb 2004 14:59:05 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com TELECOM Digest Editor added in message news:: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess so, if you feel that exposing > yourself on national TV is 'normal' behavior. Although I personally > feel Michael is innocent in this latest affair, victimized by a very > noisy mother, I also think he is just as goofy as she is. I do not > watch much television, and certainly not the Super Bowl. Thanks for > reminding me why not. I did not see either the horse incident or the > instance of LaToya Jackson's indecent exposure, but I certainly am > reading a lot about it. PAT] I haven't read anything about indecent exposure on the part of LaToya, just the incident with her younger sister Janet on the Super Bowl halftime show. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My bad ... I should have said 'Janet' instead of 'LaToya'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: noname Subject: Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. Organization: ATCC Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 19:00:24 GMT In article , a_user2000@yahoo.com says: > By the time you dig through your carry case to pull out the keyboard, > unfold it, attach the PDA -- and then find the device won't balance on > your knees, the meeting is over and you have no notes. Your fancy > $500 PDA with built-in phone, is now as useful as a brick. And who > wants to hold one of those things up to your ear and try to make a > phone call? > My Nokia 8260 still runs fine and does everything I need it to do, and > my portfolio with notepad takes all the notes I need along with > holding much more information than any PDA. If they really want the things to be used in meetings for notes, etc. why not build a decent voice recognition system in that can not only detect and parse speech, but identify speaker. That would make a useful tool. Buttons are the rule of the day. It's what happens when we give the engineers free reign without considering the human element. I'm surprised none of the manufacturers have figured that out yet. ------------------------------ From: Phil McKerracher Subject: Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 22:25:58 GMT Organization: blueyonder (post doesn't reflect views of blueyonder) Justin Time wrote in message news:telecom23.56.8@telecom-digest.org: [Some quoting omitted, part of it erroneously attributed to me] > By the time you dig through your carry case to pull out the keyboard, > unfold it, attach the PDA -- and then find the device won't balance on > your knees, the meeting is over and you have no notes. Your fancy > $500 PDA with built-in phone, is now as useful as a brick ... That's why no keyboard is actually available for mine. You either write on the screen as you would on paper, or record a voice memo (useful if only one hand is free). You can also take a picture with the camera ones. I've taken a picture of a train timetable and an information board with a digital camera to save transcribing the bits I want, for example. > ... And who wants to hold one of those things up to your ear and > try to make a phone call? I don't find this a problem at all, the palm size is comfortable. > My Nokia 8260 still runs fine and does everything I need it to do, and > my portfolio with notepad takes all the notes I need along with > holding much more information than any PDA. > Rodgers Platt Surely you don't really mean the "holding much more information" bit? I currently have a couple of e-books in my xda, taking up much less physical space than paper would. They can also be read in a dark bedroom or plane without disturbing other people. Paper notes are much harder to back up, search or share. I don't see any advantage at all, except that there's no battery to go flat. Phil McKerracher www.mckerracher.org ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: Jackson, Timberlake Apologize for Flash Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 13:03:16 -0600 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@newsguy-nospam-.com On Tue, 3 Feb 2004 21:22:30 -0500, Monty Solomon wrote: > Federal Communications Commission chief Michael Powell on Monday > promised an investigation into whether CBS violated decency laws, with > potential fines of up to $27,500. If applied to each CBS station, the > fine could reach into the millions. Does anyone else wonder why they keep mentioning that affiliates may be fined? How in the hell did some little CBS affiliate in West Undershirt, Iowa have anything to do with it? They just pass through what the CBS network feeds them, they had *NO IDEA* they should be watching this in case they needed to censor it. As far as they knew it was simply a football game. The affiliates do not normally censor what the network is sending them in less they have reason to believe ahead of time that something offensive to their local audience is about to be broadcast. ------------------------------ From: noname Subject: Re: What If ...? Was Re: Verizon Violates DNC List Organization: ATCC Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 19:04:25 GMT In article , george@coventry.m5p.com says: > TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to a message: >> Even though officially the Bell System has been dead for many years, >> the droids continue to act like Ma Bell was still around, as much as >> they are permitted, don't they? I think those people act like >> divestiture was merely a stumbling-block, a minor inconvenience in >> their path. PAT] > Verizon, of course, would have been an impossibility pre-divestiture, > and even at the beginning of 1999, who would have dreamed of a merger > between the largest independent telco with a big chunk of the old Bell > System? As I was pondering Verizon's history this morning, it occurred > to me to wonder what was on Judge Greene's mind when he repartitioned > the old Bell System into the seven Baby Bells. What would have hap- > pened if he had simply spun off the existing Bell operating companies > with the nominal corporate structure which existed at the time? Surely > some of us would still be dealing with New England Telephone, or Paci- > fic Northwest Bell, etc. Would anything the size of Bell Atlantic have > merged together by this point, to be merged in its turn with GTE? New England Telephone and New York Telephone were the first to group together as Nynex. I don't think that Judge Greene envisioned the arguments about economies of scale that would be put forth by the companies. Nor did he think about diseconomies of scale as is so the case with Verizon absorbing GTE. When you think about it, Bell Atlantic probably was in the best financial position to start all this. They pretty much had the prime areas that weren't all that expensive to service and they had some plum government contracts. ------------------------------ From: me@virtuallabrat.com (Virtual Lab Rat - No Spam Please) Subject: Real time ANI service needed on toll free lines Date: 4 Feb 2004 13:18:13 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I currently use kall8.com and telcan.net for toll free service. I don't need the ability to change the ring to number in real time, and I don't need many of the other value added features these services offer. The only value added feature I need is real time ANI or near real time ANI that I can access thorugh the web or that is passed through as caller ID. At one time I used a service called IPHONE, I think they resold Worldcom service. I paid 4 cents per minute at straight 6 sec increments. They passed the ANI through to Caller ID. Even if the caller had blocked their caller ID info, I could see it. I am looking for a similar service at a similar price. Would appriciate any suggestions. ------------------------------ From: Phil Earnhardt Subject: Re: SCO Options, was Re: Mydoom vs. SCO Date: 4 Feb 2004 13:41:00 -0800 Organization: Newsguy News Service [http://newsguy.com] In article , Kenneth P. Stox says: >> "The assault on SCO is expected to last until 12 February. >> Until then, SCO has said it will use the alternative >> domain name www.thescogroup.com." > Strange. www.sco.com resolves to 216.250.128.12, and www.thescogroup.com > resolves to 216.250.128.21. Now then, if I was someone with more than > one interconnected neuron, and I was expecting a DOS attack, wouldn't I > try to locate the other server on another network? Naahhhhhh! That may have been the prior address of www.sco.com. At this instant, www.sco.com doesn't resolve to any IP address; SCO removed that name from the name servers. I presume they did this action early enough so that the name would be flushed from the caches of any normally-operating name servers -- before the attacks started. Comments on neuron interconnectivity aside, SCO's strategy of dealing with the threat appears to be working: responsiveness on requests to www.thescogroup.com is prompt. --phil ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 15:21:12 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: "David Nelson" in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Article On Jan. 18 or so, subject newspaper in western Pennsylvania had the story of an arrest in auction scam. I take it many of you heard of the scenario of the seller (of car or animal or other item) being sent a cashier's or certified check (probably by a 3rd party) for a few thousand dollars more than what the seller asked for, with the seller being asked to wire the difference to the buyer. (The scam scenario is that that check will be found to be counterfeit, with the scammers hoping that the money to be wired by the seller will be gone by then.) Anyway, there is a note of a scammer sometimes using the name of David Nelson online. David Nelson?!? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Sigh ... David Nelson always was the black sheep in the family, wasn't he? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Chris Jones Subject: Last Laugh! Re: Some *Good News* About Norvergence! Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 16:41:05 -0500 In response to Brett's (BMN ) response to Pat, I just have to say, isn't that America, to you and me? Norvergence is out there following in the footsteps of PT Barnum with the Feds sniffing around their heels to see if any illicit money might turn up, and you want to point fingers? You want to name names? There's more than enough gravy to sink this boat, so all aboard! Down with naysayers, up with profiteers, and it's everyone on the bandwagon for hiself! Women and children first! Forward, upward, outtasight! Excelsior ad whooosh! ------------------------------ 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 #57 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Feb 5 14:06:11 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i15J6Bp13412; Thu, 5 Feb 2004 14:06:11 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 14:06:11 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402051906.i15J6Bp13412@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 #58 TELECOM Digest Thu, 5 Feb 2004 14:06:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 58 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson "My Advice to Social Networking Services" (Monty Solomon) AT&T Wireless & T-Mobile USA Sign Airport Wi-Fi Roaming (Monty Solomon) Three Blind Phreaks (Monty Solomon) Connecting 4-Wire (Line-in and Line-out) to a Headset Jack (Newsgroups) The NUG-IT Magazine for Telecom Professionals (Pokey) Unused 800 Number - Ending in 1000 - Can I Rent it Out? (Chris Barr) You Switched -TO- Cavalier? (Carl Moore) Re: Switch Verizon to Cavalier, Can't Get Through Some Places (John) Re: Jackson, Timberlake Apologize for Flash (Clark W. Griswold, Jr.) Re: MTV Blames Janet Jackson for Super Bowl Incident (Laurie Laws) Re: What If ...? Was Re: Verizon Violates DNC List (jbl) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Herb Stein) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Ken Alper) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. (email@crazyhat.net) Call for Papers: ICWIN 2004 (Wireless Networks) (Mishra, Aishvarya) 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: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 22:02:17 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: "My Advice to Social Networking Services" Christopher Allen I have now had CEOs of three different social networks send me emails asking me to compare Orkut to their service. I've not had a chance to dig deeply into good answers for each specific one, but I did have some general advice that I wanted to offer given my recent experiences with Orkut.com, and my evaluation and followup on various social networking services in December. http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2004/02/my_advice_to_so.html Confirmed Email Privacy Hole at Orkut Christopher Allen Another Orkut user and I have confirmed a privacy hole in Orkut whenever you send a message to someone via Orkut. http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2004/02/confirmed_email.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 09:25:20 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile USA Sign Airport Wi-Fi Roaming Agreement Covers Wi-Fi at Denver International, Philadelphia International and San Francisco International Airports BELLEVUE, Wash. and REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Driving expanded Wi-Fi (802.11b) service coverage at the nation's airports, T-Mobile USA, Inc. and AT&T Wireless (NYSE:AWE) today announced a reciprocal Wi-Fi roaming agreement for Denver International (DIA), Philadelphia International (PHL) and San Francisco International (SFO) airports. Today's announcement marks the first roaming agreement between AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile for Wi-Fi service. As a result of this roaming agreement, T-Mobile HotSpot subscribers can soon add DIA and PHL to the list of hotspot locations available to them to stay connected to the Internet, access their corporate networks, or check e-mail via a Wi-Fi enabled laptop or PDA. For AT&T Wireless Wi-Fi customers, the roaming agreement means they will be able to use their Wi-Fi device throughout the public areas of SFO. The companies' respective customers will be able to roam using their existing user ID and password. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40441795 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 22:33:27 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Three Blind Phreaks Issue 12.02 - February 2004 Three Blind Phreaks How the phone-phreaking Badir brothers ran rings around Israel's telcos for six scam-filled years. By Michael Kaplan Inside the chintz-filled living room of the Badir family's neat and modest home, a feast of freshly roasted chicken, saffron rice, and seasoned vegetable stew perfumes the air. Friends and relatives pour through the front door to congratulate 27-year-old Munther "Ramy" Badir. He's just been released from prison after serving 47 months for computer-related crimes. Outside, Islamic prayers resonate from speakers on a truck moving slowly down the dusty streets of Kafr Kassem. Everyone in this Israeli village -- populated mostly by Arabs -- appears ecstatic to have Ramy back. But he does not see their smiles. Ramy, along with two of his three brothers, has been blind since birth due to a genetic defect. He and his sightless brothers have devoted their lives to proving they can out-think, out-program, and out-hack anyone with vision. (Their sighted brother, Ashraf, is a baker with no tech leanings.) They've been remarkably successful. Ramy says dryly, "A computer that is safe and protected is a computer stacked in a warehouse and unplugged." Israeli authorities agree. The 44 charges leveled against Ramy, Muzher, and Shadde Badir in 1999 included telecommunications fraud, theft of computer data, and impersonation of a police officer. The brothers' six-year spree of hacking into phone systems and hijacking telephone time ended when they were convicted of stealing credit card numbers and breaking into the Israeli army radio station's telephone system to set up an illicit phone company. Unwitting customers - mostly Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza Strip - paid the fake telco for long distance calls that were billed to the radio station. A lawyer close to the case said that the Badirs' scams pulled in more than $2 million. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/phreaks.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 01:11:06 +0000 (GMT) From: Newsgroups Subject: Connecting 4-Wire (Line-in and Line-out) to a headset jack Organization: Optimum Online I bought a USRobotics ConferenceLink Speakerphone from Heartland America for 30 bucks. Originally 400 or so. That's the good news. What they didn't tell me was that it is designed to work with PBX's (obsolete ones at that) and it _won't_ work with analog POTS lines. I'm a techie, so rather than send it back like any rational person, I am determined to make it work. It comes with the connector for the PBX (worthless), but because it's USRobotics, it also comes with a connector to two mini-jacks that are line-in and line-out to a computer sound card. I tried it with my speakerphone-enabled modem card and it works. The qualilty is not good, however, because of interference inside my home-made computer box (my guess). Then I got this bright idea. I have a great Sony handset that has a headset jack. In the end what I want is the speakerphone to connect into the headset jack of the Sony handset. To make that work, I need to bridge between the 4 wire (line-in and line-out) jacks to a headset jack. RadioSnack doesn't have anything built for it (I've tried). I'm willing to cut wires and have the appropriate jacks to do it, but I'm confused about what to attach to what. There are two wires each going to the line-in and line-out jacks from the USRobotics ConferenceLink. It looks like there are two (maybe three?) going to the headset. Can someone tell me how to connect this up? Thanks in advance for your help! ------------------------------ From: Pokey Subject: The NUG-IT Magazine for Telecom Professionals Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 21:00:25 -0500 The latest copy of The NUG-IT Magazine is available on-line. If you are involved in, or wish to be involved in, IT, Telecom, or Call Center operations then 'The NUG-IT Magazine' is for you. It contains 'Golden NUG-ITs of Information - from Traditional to IP Telephony'. To download current and past issues, or to subscribe: http://magazine.TelecomCafe.org Subscription automatically enrolls you in our Reader Rewards Program, and you will be notified by email of new issues. www.nug-it.org We do not sell or rent our list. If you are interested in advertising or writing for The NUG-IT Magazine, please contact us: http://www.nug-it.org/contact ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 11:13:25 -0500 From: Chris Barr Reply-To: c-barr@comcast.net Subject: Unused 800 Number - Ending in 1000 - Can I Rent it Out? We currently have an 800 number that won't be in active use for probably 2 years. It's an attractive number, ending in 1000. Can this be leased or rented out to another company? In advance, thanks for any feedback. Chris Barr ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 13:19:29 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: You Switched -TO- Cavalier? Some time ago (starting in July 2002 or so) I told the story of having to have my lines taken back by Verizon after Cavalier withdrew from the part of Maryland where I live (I am in the North East exchange in Cecil County, and had subscribed to Conectiv local calling, later taken over by Cavalier, because it offered local service to northern Delaware, where some of my phone traffic goes). But in going from Verizon to Conectiv/Cavalier and back to Verizon, my phone numbers did not change. Where in Maryland is your Cavalier service? ------------------------------ From: jvj1@yahoo.com (John) Subject: Re: Switch Verizon to Cavalier, Can't Get Through From Some Places Date: 4 Feb 2004 22:17:08 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Just called from school to my home. Now the calls are getting through ... Voice mail is also working. I'm sure the school and home is same exchange, it is only few blocks away. Thanks for replying. -John Ken Abrams wrote in message news:: > TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to John : >> Or maybe the school is on Verizon. You said 'I have many people >> call me and there is no problem with Cavalier.' No, there probably >> isn't any problem with Cavalier. I would suggest the problem is with >> Verizon. > My bet is: > The school's phone works out of the same switch as John's home phone. > Calls placed from that switch are the only ones that fail. > Because: > Calls from any other switch are routed based upon a query to a common > data base. They seem to work. > Calls from within the home switch will NOT query the common database > unless the number record in that switch says to make that query. It > appears that the number record in his home Verizon switch was not > updated properly. ------------------------------ From: Clark W. Griswold, Jr. <73115.1041@compuserve.com> Subject: Re: Jackson, Timberlake Apologize for Flash Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 19:16:41 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com J Kelly wrote: > Does anyone else wonder why they keep mentioning that affiliates may > be fined? How in the hell did some little CBS affiliate in West > Undershirt, Iowa have anything to do with it? They just pass through > what the CBS network feeds them, they had *NO IDEA* they should be > watching this in case they needed to censor it. As far as they knew > it was simply a football game. Because the affiliate is the one who holds the license for use of the public airways and agrees to abide by the rules for that particular chuck of public spectrum. Most of the FCC authority over the network relates to Owned and Operated stations -- that is, stations the network runs directly. >The affiliates do not normally censor what the network is sending >them unless they have reason to believe ahead of time that something >offensive to their local audience is about to be broadcast. Isn't that interesting ... You've just summed up the problem that most people have with J&J's little stunt. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 21:51:55 -0500 From: Laurie Laws Subject: Re: MTV Blames Janet Jackson for Super Bowl Incident roger wrote: > Janet shouldn't even be at the stupid bowl. > And, stupid bowl sucked this year. Two teams no one cares about ... Try again. The Nielsen numbers were 44.2/Rating 63/Share. It was one of the best games ever for the Super Bowl, suspenseful right up to the last few seconds. Hardly something 'no one cares about'. In New England, the share was even higher. ------------------------------ From: jbl Subject: Re: What If ...? was Re: Verizon Violates DNC List Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 20:19:39 -0700 Organization: On the desert Reply-To: jbl@spamblocked.com In , noname wrote: > New England Telephone and New York Telephone were the first to group > together as Nynex. That's not quite how it worked. After the reorg in 1984, the 22 (or so) Bell Operating Companies were grouped under the seven regional holding companies. Nynex was the regional company for New York Tel and New England Tel; Bell Atlantic had the various C&Ps, NJ Bell, etc.; Pacific Telesis had Pac Bell and some others; Ameritech had Illinois Bell, Michigan Bell and a few others, and so on. It was later that Nynex decided to absorb NYT and NET into a single operating company, and similar things went on elsewhere. Then some of the big mergers started (e.g. SBC borging PacTel and Ameritech, for instance; Qwest buying USWest, etc.) /JBL ------------------------------ From: Herb Stein Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 21:36:24 -0600 Daniel W. Johnson wrote in message news:telecom23.57.8@telecom-digest.org: > TELECOM Digest Editor added in message > news:: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess so, if you feel that exposing >> yourself on national TV is 'normal' behavior. Although I personally >> feel Michael is innocent in this latest affair, victimized by a very >> noisy mother, I also think he is just as goofy as she is. I do not >> watch much television, and certainly not the Super Bowl. Thanks for >> reminding me why not. I did not see either the horse incident or the >> instance of LaToya Jackson's indecent exposure, but I certainly am >> reading a lot about it. PAT] > I haven't read anything about indecent exposure on the part of LaToya, > just the incident with her younger sister Janet on the Super Bowl > halftime show. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My bad ... I should have said 'Janet' > instead of 'LaToya'. PAT] LaToya was in Playboy/Penthouse/Hustler/ or one of them a few years ago. Of course, the reader of the magazine found the spread anything but indecent. :-) Herb Stein herb@herbstein.com ------------------------------ From: ken@nac.net (Ken Alper) Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: 5 Feb 2004 10:31:29 -0800 dold@FakedXCall.usenet.us.com wrote in message news:: > I noticed that I have received some telemarketer calls that show an > 800 number on caller ID, with the name of the survey or marketing > firm. I am VERY interested in any data like this. My firm has been trying to do exactly this -- send an 800 number along with our name -- and we've had absolutely no success doing so. If you can send along to me any of the number/name combinations, I might be able to get in touch with their telecom people and figure out how they're doing it. --Ken ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 00:55:14 -0700 From: email@crazyhat.net In message <> Joseph did ramble: > Believe it or not some people want a mobile phone that they can > actually make and receive calls on.... easily. It's going to be many > years if never that cell phones supplant personal computers as a way > to communicate data. Here here. Personally, all I really want out of a cellphone is to make calls, receive calls, possibly a phonebook (names, numbers, and nothing else), call timers, and a bluetooth interface. Everything else should be handled on one of the several other electronic devices I carry around with me, including the full phonebook, web browsing, email, text messaging, photos, and whatever other fetish is popular this week. ------------------------------ From: amishra@ilstu.edu (Mishra, Aishvarya) Subject: Call for Papers: ICWIN 2004 (Wireless Networks) Date: 4 Feb 2004 15:57:45 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com CALL FOR PAPERS The 2004 International Multiconference in Computer Science and Computer Engineering (18 Joint Int'l Conferences) Monte Carlo Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA June 21-24, 2004 Dear Colleagues: You are invited to submit a draft paper (see instructions below). All accepted papers will be published in the respective conference proceedings. The International Multiconference in Computer Science and Computer Engineering is a major annual research event. It assembles a spectrum of affiliated research conferences into a coordinated research meeting held in a common place at a common time. This model facilitates communication among researchers in different fields of computer science and computer engineering. The last Multiconference attracted over 1,650 computer science and engineering researchers from 78 countries. We expect to have over 2,000 attendees for this set of conference. One of the events of the 2004 conference (18 conferences) is: 2004 International Conference on Wireless Networks (ICWN'04) All areas of wireless are welcomed. In particular, we are looking for papers in the areas of security and routing of AD-HOC networks. (a link to other conference's URL can be found at http://www.world-academy-of-science.org) Please regard this announcement as General Guidelines. You are requested to send your submission to session chair at the contact address which appears below. CONFERENCES CONTACT: Mishra, Aishvary Illinois State University Tel (O): +1 309 438 8338 Fax (O): +1 309 438 5113 Tel (R): +1 309 862 3768 Mail: amishra@ilstu.edu E-mail for paper submissions: ICWIN@lnotes.acs.ilstu.edu SUBMISSION OF PAPERS: Prospective authors are invited to submit three copies of their draft paper (about 5 pages - single space, font size of 10 to 12) to Aishvary, Mishra by the due date (who will be forwarding the papers to respective conference chairs/committees). E-mail submissions in MS document or PDF formats are preferable (Fax submissions are also acceptable.) The length of the Camera-Ready papers (if accepted) will be limited to 7 (IEEE style) pages. Papers must not have been previously published or currently submitted for publication elsewhere. The first page of the draft paper should include: title of the paper, name, affiliation, postal address, E-mail address, telephone number,& fax number for each author. The first page should also include the name of the author who will be presenting the paper (if accepted) and a maximum of 5 keywords. IMPORTANT DATES: Feb. 21, 2004: Draft papers (about 5 pages) due Mar. 22, 2004: Notification of acceptance Apr. 21, 2004: Camera-ready papers & Pre-registration due. Jun. 21-24, 2004: 2004 Int'l Multiconference in CS & CE ------------------------------ 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 #58 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Feb 6 13:13:04 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i16ID4W19899; Fri, 6 Feb 2004 13:13:04 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 13:13:04 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402061813.i16ID4W19899@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 #59 TELECOM Digest Fri, 6 Feb 2004 13:13:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 59 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson US FCC to Begin Weighing Internet-Telephony Rules (Monty Solomon) Mac, AOL PC Users Allowed Video Chats (Monty Solomon) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Nick Landsberg) Get Out Those Postage Stamps: No Internet Voting For Military (Burstein) GSM Gateway in the UK (Benm) Re: Unused 800 Number - Ending in 1000 - Can I Rent it Out? (Al Gillis) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading away in U.S. (Rob) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. (Justin Time) New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, and Anonymous Call Reject (M. Quinn) A Few Messages Mangled, Sorry (TELECOM Digest Editor) 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: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 22:00:35 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: US FCC to Begin Weighing Internet-Telephony Rules WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission said on Thursday it plans to begin determining what regulations, if any, should apply to telephone calls that travel over the Internet. The FCC said it will discuss a formal inquiry into the fast-growing technology at its regularly scheduled meeting next week. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40456873 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 22:04:06 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Mac, AOL PC Users Allowed Video Chats SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Apple Computer Inc. released a new version of its iChat software Thursday so Macintosh users can now do video chats with America Online subscribers who have Windows-based PCs. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40450261 ------------------------------ From: Nick Landsberg Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 04:30:52 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet Ken Alper wrote: > dold@FakedXCall.usenet.us.com wrote in message > news:: >> I noticed that I have received some telemarketer calls that show an >> 800 number on caller ID, with the name of the survey or marketing >> firm. > I am VERY interested in any data like this. My firm has been trying to > do exactly this -- send an 800 number along with our name -- and we've > had absolutely no success doing so. If you can send along to me any of > the number/name combinations, I might be able to get in touch with > their telecom people and figure out how they're doing it. > --Ken Caller Name is implemented as a separate service from Caller-ID, although some providers may package them together. Caller ID (number), I'm pretty sure, is still delivered as in-band signalling by the originating switch. If the called party does not subscribe to CID, the terminating switch suppresses it. (This requires a database dip to see if the called party subscribes to caller ID. The database may be local to the terminating switch or may be a network database, depending on implementation.) Caller Name (CNAM) on the other hand, requires a database lookup in a "network" (big) database. If your number in the database does not have an asociated name, no name will show up, even if the called party subscribes to the service. If the CNAM service is unbundled from CID, and the called party does not subscribe to it, it will not be delivered, even if your company name is in the database. "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious" - A. Bloch ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Get Out Those Postage Stamps. No Internet Voting For the Military Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 01:51:52 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC "The Pentagon has decided to scrap plans for an on-line Internet voting system for U.S. military personnel and Americans living abroad. The system had come under fire from experts who said it could be vulnerable to computer attacks. "The decision to cancel the computer voting project was made by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. "Pentagon officials say he ordered the system scrapped because of an inability to ensure the legitimacy of the votes that would be cast." http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=215A8EF4-FC2E-46DA-8F0B218EA14649D9 _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: ben77m2000@yahoo.com (Benm) Subject: GSM Gateway in the UK Date: 6 Feb 2004 03:16:40 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Can anyone in the UK recommend a GSM Gateway and/or mobile calling plan? My business uses about 600 minutes a month on calls to mobile networks. At this moderately low level, it would take me about a year to pay off the gateway I've had quoted (250 pounds). The "any network anytime" plans from the Orange and Vodafone that I've seen aren't very impressive either. Given that about 30% of my phone bill is calls to mobile phones, there must be a better solution. ------------------------------ From: Al Gillis Subject: Re: Unused 800 Number - Ending in 1000 - Can I Rent it Out? Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 03:52:11 -0800 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Chris Barr wrote in message news:telecom23.58.6@telecom-digest.org: > We currently have an 800 number that won't be in active use for > probably 2 years. It's an attractive number, ending in 1000. > Can this be leased or rented out to another company? > In advance, thanks for any feedback. > Chris Barr Hi Chris, You could probably have your toll-free provider change the number to which that T-F goes to (that is, point your 800 xxx-1000 to the POTS number furnished by your new "customer"). That would let your new "customer" use the number but it would still be yours. You'd get the invoice, of course, and would be responsible for paying it. And, in turn, you'd have to generate an invoice to your "customer", adding 20% or whatever for your trouble. When it comes time for that relationship to end you could have your t-f provider point the t-f number back to your POTS or DID number, where there would be an intercepting recording for a month or two, until the "customers" calls dried up and it would be safe for your business to resume using the t-f number. Good luck! Al ------------------------------ From: rob51166@yahoo.com (Rob) Subject: Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. Date: 6 Feb 2004 04:24:47 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com >> As the U.S. wireless market grows, the cell phone is evolving into a >> phone in name only as calling becomes almost secondary to a host of >> other functions. >> After years of trailing Japan and Western Europe, where cell phones >> have long had color screens, e-mail, music, video games, cameras and >> other accessories that make American cell phones look backward in >> comparison, handset makers are finally pushing a new generation of >> units on the domestic market that offer the full range of functions >> available elsewhere. > What the article fails to mention is that these gimmicks of color, > polyphonic tones, etc. are just that gimmicks. Color phones are many > times useless outside as the screen gets washed out in bright light > where a regular monochrome handset you can still see what's in the > display. Polyphonic ringtones may sound somewhat cool, but if you > can't hear them in a noisy environment they are also useless. > Believe it or not some people want a mobile phone that they can > actually make and receive calls on.... easily. It's going to be many > years if never that cell phones supplant personal computers as a way > to communicate data. Going by the way mobile phone technology here in Western Europe and over in Japan is advancing, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that mobile phones will have most, if not all, the facilities of a standard PC or laptop in the not too distant future. After all, the vast majority of mobile phones over here already have web and email access. Personally, I'd much rather carry a palm-sized unit around than have to lug (sorry, carry) a laptop with all the paraphenalia associated with it -- or even worse a briefcase with reams of paper. At least with a mobile palm-sized unit you can download directly from that straight to your PC at home or at the office without having to worry about finding a phone socket for your laptop, or the hassle of connecting to your mobile and hoping that you're able to get a decent signal. Just my 2 pence-worth! ------------------------------ From: a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) Subject: Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. Date: 6 Feb 2004 06:06:29 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Phil McKerracher wrote in message news:: > Justin Time wrote in message > news:telecom23.56.8@telecom-digest.org: > [Some quoting omitted, part of it erroneously attributed to me] >> By the time you dig through your carry case to pull out the keyboard, >> unfold it, attach the PDA -- and then find the device won't balance on >> your knees, the meeting is over and you have no notes. Your fancy >> $500 PDA with built-in phone, is now as useful as a brick ... > That's why no keyboard is actually available for mine. You either > write on the screen as you would on paper, or record a voice memo > (useful if only one hand is free). You can also take a picture with > the camera ones. I've taken a picture of a train timetable and an > information board with a digital camera to save transcribing the bits > I want, for example. >> ... And who wants to hold one of those things up to your ear and >> try to make a phone call? > I don't find this a problem at all, the palm size is comfortable. >> My Nokia 8260 still runs fine and does everything I need it to do, and >> my portfolio with notepad takes all the notes I need along with >> holding much more information than any PDA. >> Rodgers Platt > Surely you don't really mean the "holding much more information" bit? > I currently have a couple of e-books in my xda, taking up much less > physical space than paper would. They can also be read in a dark > bedroom or plane without disturbing other people. > Paper notes are much harder to back up, search or share. I don't see > any advantage at all, except that there's no battery to go flat. > Phil McKerracher > www.mckerracher.org Have you ever tried to sketch out a diagram about how a system will interface with another, or when your customer comes up with an idea for a product or a modification to one you already have on a PDA -- even one that "recognizes" handwriting? Keeping notes in a diary may make them "more difficult" to share, but the support systems available are much more robust, and my day timer notebook will never die because the battery went flat. Rodgers Platt ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 11:19:41 -0500 From: Michael Quinn Organization: Booz Allen Hamilton Subject: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, and Anonymous Call Reject A few weeks back in the long thread on spoofed caller ID, someone mentioned a recently enacted federal law that requires telemarketers to deliver a caller ID number (whether accurate or not). Here in Nothern VA, we have been using Verizon's Anonymous Call Reject, which does not allow "out of area" numbers to even ring the phone unless the caller provides some additional information (or enters a PIN); we pay $7.50 per month or so for this. I think it was about this time that I started to notice a significant increase in telemarketing calls which now display the number and the name, although sometimes the name says "out of area" or "not available" (or even "ohio"), which of course ACR doesn't look at -- as long as they deliver a number, however inaccurate, ACR lets the call through. The net result is that our dinner and evening hours are now once again filled with ringing phones. Before this, there was a fair chance that an incoming call was from someone we wanted to hear from, so we'd pick up after looking at caller ID; now we have to deal with at least double or triple the number of calls. Has anyone else noticed this phenomenom? I guess for the small number of folks with ACR it's a step backward, even though it may be an improvement for the majority. I'm wondering what will happen if I cancel ACR -- even more calls I suppose. Regards, Mike Quinn Springfield VA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That was a very big hassle I had with SBC (Southwestern Bell Tel) when they had my phone service. They claimed (the chairman's office, yet, when I appealed) that they had met all requirements to subscribers of anonymous call blocking and last call reject 'as long as the calling party supplies some number.' No matter if it was all zeros, if the name was bogus or missing, etc. SBC still wanted the couple bucks per month for providing 'anonymous call rejection'. They claimed 'the call was not anonymous, we did give you the number and often times the name.' Yet, even though the call was not 'anonymous' by telco's definition, they still were not able to block future calls from the same 'number'. I think what you will find, Michael, is that telco makes too much money from telemarketers to abuse them too badly. Telco turns a blind eye to the way they rig their phone systems (with skimpy or non- existent details of ID) because the telemarketers would suffer from it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 12:32:57 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: A Few Messages Mangled, Sorry On Thursday evening, a few messages (maybe four or five) intended for the Digest got mangled beyond repair and totally lost, sorry. You probably got an auto-ack saying they got here. My clumsy fingers are at fault, sorry. There was a huge amount of spam that slipped through the filter as usual, with the four or five good, legitimate messages stuck in the middle of them. Unfortunatly, my favorite mail clients, ('mail' "mailx' and 'Mail') while good for years ago, are not as good as in the past, and one false move with your fingers can cause massive repercussions. Especially with the large amount of spam; one has to read very closely the subject lines as they go past, only zapping the known spam that the filters did not remove. Anyway, please resubmit them promptly for prompt action here. 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 #59 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Feb 6 20:24:49 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i171OmV22035; Fri, 6 Feb 2004 20:24:49 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 20:24:49 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402070124.i171OmV22035@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 #60 TELECOM Digest Fri, 6 Feb 2004 20:25:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 60 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Draft - Recommendation for Electronic Authentication (Monty Solomon) Nextel Testing Wireless Broadband Service; Market Trial (Monty Solomon) Re: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, Anonymous Call Reject (J Wineburg) Re: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, Anonymous Call Reject (fakeaddress) VoIP Gateway (Andrew Bell) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. (Bob Goudreau) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Robert Pierce) Question About 802.11g Wireless Router and Signal Booster (O K) Panasonic 616 Toll Restriction (Javier Gonzalez Ferreyra) 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: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 16:57:00 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: DRAFT - Recommendation for Electronic Authentication http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/drafts.html DRAFT Special Publication 800-63, Recommendation for Electronic Authentication. NIST has completed the draft NIST Special Publication 800-63, Recommendation for Electronic Authentication. E-authentication is the remote authentication of individual people over a network for the purpose of electronic government and commerce. This recommendation provides technical guidance in the implementation of electronic authentication to allow an individual person to remotely authenticate his or her identity to a Federal IT system. It supplements OMB guidance, E-Authentication Guidance for Federal Agencies that defines four levels of authentication in terms of the likely consequences of an authentication error. Special Publication 800-63 states specific technical requirements for each of the four levels of assurance in the following areas: identity proofing and registration, tokens, remote authentication mechanisms and assertion mechanisms. NIST requests comments on the draft document by March 15, 2004. http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/drafts/draft-sp800-63.pdf ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 18:49:32 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Nextel Testing Wireless Broadband Service; Market Trial Nextel Testing Wireless Broadband Service; Market Trial in Raleigh-Durham, N.C. to Evaluate Flarion's FLASH-OFDM Technology, Service Offering and Market Demand - Feb 6, 2004 03:20 PM (BusinessWire) RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 6, 2004-- Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks and IBM Employees to Trial Service Cisco Systems and Nortel Networks to Provide Infrastructure Support and Amdocs to Supply Customer Care and Billing Platform Nextel(R) Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTL) announced today that it will trial a wireless broadband service in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C. market using Flarion Technologies' FLASH-OFDM(R) technology. The trial will begin later this month and will offer participants highly secure, high-speed, IP-based broadband access with the full mobility of wireless service. Participants in the trial will include employees from select Nextel enterprise customers, including Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), Nortel Networks (NYSE/TSX:NT) and IBM (NYSE:IBM). They will be able to take full advantage of average downlink speeds of up to 1.5 megabits per second (mbps) with burst rates of up to 3.0 mbps, making the service comparable to DSL and cable broadband services. The service will be up to 50 times faster than dial-up connections with the added benefit of being untethered. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40470931 ------------------------------ From: Wineburgh, Joe Subject: Re: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, and Anonymous Call Reject Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 14:05:40 -0500 You don't say if you're signed up for the national do-not-call registry. I recommend signing up if you haven't already. I signed up for the national DNCR last August and in January '04 dropped my LEC's (Sprint) version of the Anon Call Reject service. Since we dropped ACR, we got all of two calls -- and only from existing business relationships at that! (ironically Sprint and I think DirecTV) They were both just trying to sell more crap I don't need, so I asked them to put us on their (local/company's) do not call list and that was that. I believe it's been about a month since we have gotten any sales calls. One further note -- I was actually kinda pissed when Sprint also blocked calls that came in with no name (both our cell phones at the time, but knowing of your experiences I'd say it was probably a 'good thing'! YMMV #JOE ------------------------------ From: Subject: Re: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, and Anonymous Call Reject Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 15:42:21 -0500 Organization: NETPLEX Internet Services - http://www.ntplx.net/ Two thoughts here: 1. The DNC list works well for me. I usually don't see more than one telemarketer every month or so. See https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx 2. If the telco's were interested in enforcing the DNC, they'd add a new CLASS service like malicious call trace that captures the caller ID _and_ ANI. Typing the *xx code could report these numbers to the FTC, with the time and your phone number so your complaint can be more easily traced. That is, if the phone companies really wanted to help enforce the anti-telemarketer regs. On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 11:19:41 -0500, Michael Quinn wrote: > A few weeks back in the long thread on spoofed caller ID, someone > mentioned a recently enacted federal law that requires telemarketers > to deliver a caller ID number (whether accurate or not). > Here in Nothern VA, we have been using Verizon's Anonymous Call > Reject, which does not allow "out of area" numbers to even ring the > phone unless the caller provides some additional information (or > enters a PIN); we pay $7.50 per month or so for this. > I think it was about this time that I started to notice a significant > increase in telemarketing calls which now display the number and the > name, although sometimes the name says "out of area" or "not > available" (or even "ohio"), which of course ACR doesn't look at -- as > long as they deliver a number, however inaccurate, ACR lets the call > through. The net result is that our dinner and evening hours are now > once again filled with ringing phones. Before this, there was a fair > chance that an incoming call was from someone we wanted to hear from, > so we'd pick up after looking at caller ID; now we have to deal with > at least double or triple the number of calls. > Has anyone else noticed this phenomenom? I guess for the small number > of folks with ACR it's a step backward, even though it may be an > improvement for the majority. I'm wondering what will happen if I > cancel ACR -- even more calls I suppose. > Regards, > Mike Quinn > Springfield VA > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That was a very big hassle I had with > SBC (Southwestern Bell Tel) when they had my phone service. They > claimed (the chairman's office, yet, when I appealed) that they had > met all requirements to subscribers of anonymous call blocking and > last call reject 'as long as the calling party supplies some number.' > No matter if it was all zeros, if the name was bogus or missing, etc. > SBC still wanted the couple bucks per month for providing 'anonymous > call rejection'. They claimed 'the call was not anonymous, we did give > you the number and often times the name.' Yet, even though the call > was not 'anonymous' by telco's definition, they still were not able to > block future calls from the same 'number'. > I think what you will find, Michael, is that telco makes too much > money from telemarketers to abuse them too badly. Telco turns a blind > eye to the way they rig their phone systems (with skimpy or non- > existent details of ID) because the telemarketers would suffer from it. > PAT] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There *is* a CLASS service such as you describe. *57 does that job; dial *57 during a conversation (flash the hook, fresh dialtone, *57, then flash again to go back to the conversation) or immediatly following disconnection, and telco records the details regardless of any privacy flags (*67, etc) being set and forwards the details to police. **They will NOT tell you the details. You have to get the details from the police.** Police will generally only give you details if you agree _in writing first_ to prosecute on the results. Telco will not serve as your private detective agency, etc. Communication privacy laws prohibit telco from working with you directly. Getting the police to actually do something about the matter is a different thing. Many police believe it is a civil matter, and they are not permitted to get involved in civil matters. Police also usually have a busy schedule and phone harassment is not a big issue, especially when there is a telemarketer causing you some minor grief. Oh, and *57 is not an inexpensive CLASS service. Typically, telco gets eight to ten dollars for *each instance* of its use. The recorded message they play immediatly following the capture of the details tells you about this charge, and provides an 800 number at the 'call annoyance bureau' to be used to follow up with telco and police. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Andrew Bell Subject: VoIP Gateway Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 13:36:15 -0500 I need to borrow some experience from the VoIP hobbyists out there. I'm currently toying with the idea of creating an OPX (off premise extension) using VoIP. What I want to do is hang a (preferrably Linux based) PC on the office network, and plug it into an analog extension from the PBX. Then I want to go home, VPN into the network, and use some sort of softphone to get PBX dialtone. More importantly, I also want to be able to answer calls at home originating from the PBX. I know there a lots of commercial offerings to do this, but I'm hoping to get away with just the cost of an FXO card for a proof of concept right now. Has anyone here done something like this already? Andrew [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well you can now get softphone software from the Vonage people. That's one of their newer offerings, since they have expanded to have a POP in almost every area code (even here in rural s.e. Kansas!), and 800 numbers. You can also get softphone service if desired. Ask me for an e-coupon for a month of free service whenever you are ready to try it out. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 14:21:44 -0500 From: BobGoudreau@withheld at users request Subject: Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. [Please obcure my email address. Thank you.] Rodgers Platt wrote: > Keeping notes in a diary may make them "more difficult" to share, but > the support systems available are much more robust, and my day timer > notebook will never die because the battery went flat. On the other hand, one aspect of the paper diary support system is painfully inadequate: backup. My friend's wife painfully discovered this last year when her purse (including her daytimer) was stolen from her car and never recovered. Tens of thousands of bytes of hand-written data were lost forever. This loss finally persuaded her to emulate her husband's example and get a PDA, which can be easily (and wirelessly) synced with his office computer to provide a backup copy. Even if the device is lost or destroyed, a replacement can quickly be purchased and loaded with all the backed-up data, which will be no more than a day or two out of date. Bob Goudreau Cary, NC ------------------------------ From: Robert Pierce Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 15:36:46 -0500 Pat, remove my e-mail address, please. In "Get Out Those Postage Stamps: No Internet Voting For Military (Burstein)" Danny Burstein wrote: > "The Pentagon has decided to scrap plans for an on-line Internet > voting system for U.S. military personnel and Americans living > abroad. The system had come under fire from experts who said it could > be vulnerable to computer attacks. > "The decision to cancel the computer voting project was made by Deputy > Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. > "Pentagon officials say he ordered the system scrapped because of an > inability to ensure the legitimacy of the votes that would be cast." http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=215A8EF4-FC2E-46DA-8F0B218EA1464 9D9 This is _good_ news. Any regular reader of comp.risks knows that computer-based voting schemes are fraught with problems of accountability and security. Adding an internet connection only compounds the problems. During my stint in Uncle Sam's service I voted with absentee ballots many times. It was not a hardship. I, personally, would have no confidence in an unaccountable system sending voting information via the insecure internet. The military made the right decision. Rob Pierce Pat, remove my e-mail address, please. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But I think we are going to get to the point where electronic voting becomes a necessity before too long, and the military with 'absentee ballots' would provide a smaller and more easily controlled sample as the bugs are worked out of it. And I wonder also if anyone has considered at least one or two parallel votes so results can be compared for accuracy: that is, the traditional paper vote (to be the authoritative vote as needed) and an electronic vote for comparison purposes once or twice. I don't know of any large corporation back in the 1960-70's as computers were taking over every- thing which did not run in parallel for at least a month or two for just that reason. I know telco and Amoco credit card did that. PAT] ------------------------------ Reply-To: O K From: O K Subject: Question About 802.11g Wireless Router/Signal Booster/Antenna Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 12:39:25 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications I have a question about adding a wireless antenna or signal booster to my home network. My current setup is I have a Linksys WRT54G wireless router which supports B and G infrastructure. I have a 802.11b Wireless PCI card in my PC. In my condo, I can verify that the wireless portion of the network between the wireless router and my PC are functioning. I then take my PC to another floor in my building, and I get little to no signal. I would like to add either a signal booster and/or an antenna to make my network functional. From the reading that I have done, I can't determine where the antenna needs to be installed if I go this route. Is it installed on the PCI portion of the network, or the router portion of the network. As the router TX's and RX's, is the problem with the low transmission power from the router and therefore I need a wireless antenna on the PC, or is the problem the low transmission power from the PCI card to the router upstairs? I can't figure out which hardware I need to make this functional. Please contact me directly at okorkie3@cox.net (remove the *) Thanks, Owen ------------------------------ From: javi@wizardes.com (Javier Gonzalez Ferreyra) Subject: Panasonic 616 Toll Restriction Date: 6 Feb 2004 14:48:35 -0800 Organization: http://groups.goggle.com The manual says that I've to dial * to complete the 3 digit code for toll restriction, but nothing appears on the LCD and I can not store the two digit code. How can I fix it? I can program everything else but not toll restriction which is the most improtant for me ... please help. Thanks. ------------------------------ 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'. 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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 #60 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Feb 7 15:24:16 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i17KOGI27248; Sat, 7 Feb 2004 15:24:16 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 15:24:16 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402072024.i17KOGI27248@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 #61 TELECOM Digest Sat, 7 Feb 2004 15:24:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 61 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Comcast Has Limits For Heavy Internet Users (Wesrock@aol.com) Vonage Motorola VT1000 Box (John Schmerold) "Out of Area" Caller ID Law (Mike) Re: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, Anonymous Call Reject (Mary@bent) Re: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, Anonymous Call Reject (Dink) Re: Panasonic 616 Toll Restriction (Carl Navarro) Re: VoIP Gateway (Ron Kritzman) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Gail M. Hall) Call Centres (Rob) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Thomas A. Horsley) A How-To Guide for Hackers (Monty Solomon) TiVo-Nielsen Deal Could Aid Advertisers (Monty Solomon) IDT America Unlimited - Pros/Cons? (Zebra) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 09:36:54 EST Subject: Comcast Has Limits For Heavy Internet Users Pat, I'm surprised no one has made mention of this in Telecom Digest. Forwarded from another list. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ Warning letters trouble broadband subscribers Comcast targets heavy users, but some say limits aren't clear Associated Press SAN JOSE, Calif. By all accounts, George Nussbaum demands a lot from his Internet connection. He streams video and transfers large files from his office. His family downloads movie trailers, and his stepson listens to and buys music online. Mr. Nussbaum subscribes to his cable TV provider's high-speed Internet service, which, he thought, was built for such high-bandwidth activities. Then, in November, he got a letter from the provider, Comcast Corp., ordering him to dial down his usage or face service termination. Until last summer, the service was advertised as "unlimited." But Comcast, citing its "acceptable use" policy, is cracking down on the heaviest users on the premise that their consumption could degrade their neighbors' service. A number of broadband providers are beginning to offer different tiers of service, charging high-volume users more. Some, particularly wireless providers, charge extra for heavy use. Comcast, critics say, is trying to impose limits without telling consumers that the service is limited. Looking for answers Mr. Nussbaum, who had no idea how many gigabytes he used, was willing to cut back. He called to find out by how much, but customer service had no answer. Then he asked how much he used. Again, Comcast wouldn't provide a number. Last month, Mr. Nussbaum got a second letter threatening suspension or termination, so he decided to sign up for a digital subscriber line offered by his phone company, Verizon Communications. "How am I supposed to know what my limits are?" said Mr. Nussbaum, an engineer from Plaistow, N.H. "It was actually kind of ridiculous." 'Changing the rules' "They have the right to control their service and offer different services to different people," said David Willis, an analyst at the Meta Group. "The problem is you can't keep changing the rules all the time." Most broadband companies have vague policies, but Comcast's appear to be the most aggressively enforced. It provides no tools for monitoring bandwidth and does not give any specific guidance. Comcast says the people who receive the warning letters typically consume 100 times more than the average user. "The total number of customers who have had their service disconnected is well below one one-hundredth of 1 percent of our overall Internet customer base," said spokeswoman Dana Ryan, reading from a prepared statement. But the nation's largest cable company refused to reveal the average consumption among its 4.8 million high-speed Internet subscribers. Ms. Ryan also would not say how many received warnings or exactly how many have had their accounts suspended or terminated. Excessive use is a problem for Comcast and other providers because they must predict bandwidth use and buy the capacity. If too much is consumed, it can bog down the local network and also affect profit margins. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Associated Press Syndicate. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 22:20:23 -0600 From: John Schmerold Subject: Vonage Motorola VT1000 Box The 1+ dialing is a Vonage deal killer for me. I tried a couple of dialers behind the Cisco boxes Vonage used to use -- they didn't work. Anyone know if there is a dialer compatible with the VT1000 to automatically insert the 1 needed with Vonage? ------------------------------ From: littleboyblu87@yahoo.com (Mike) Subject: "Out of Area" Caller ID Law Date: 6 Feb 2004 22:39:43 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I registered on that Do Not Call list back when it first came out. When it went into affect we stopped receiving all those annoying telemarketing phone calls. But ever since that new law came out that requires telemarketers to display info on the caller id, we've been getting about 3 "out of area" calls everyday at the same times they used to call. Does anyone know what that's all about? It's really annoying. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It goes to show that the telemarketers are keeping up with the times. Telemarketers are not going to be easily thwarted. :) PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mary@bentmetal.biz Subject: Re: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, and Anonymous Call Reject Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 05:35:43 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications Your feature sounds more like Privacy Manager than Anonymous Call Rejection. Michael Quinn wrote: > A few weeks back in the long thread on spoofed caller ID, someone > mentioned a recently enacted federal law that requires telemarketers > to deliver a caller ID number (whether accurate or not). > Here in Nothern VA, we have been using Verizon's Anonymous Call > Reject, which does not allow "out of area" numbers to even ring the > phone unless the caller provides some additional information (or > enters a PIN); we pay $7.50 per month or so for this. > I think it was about this time that I started to notice a significant > increase in telemarketing calls which now display the number and the > name, although sometimes the name says "out of area" or "not > available" (or even "ohio"), which of course ACR doesn't look at -- as > long as they deliver a number, however inaccurate, ACR lets the call > through. The net result is that our dinner and evening hours are now > once again filled with ringing phones. Before this, there was a fair > chance that an incoming call was from someone we wanted to hear from, > so we'd pick up after looking at caller ID; now we have to deal with > at least double or triple the number of calls. > Has anyone else noticed this phenomenom? I guess for the small number > of folks with ACR it's a step backward, even though it may be an > improvement for the majority. I'm wondering what will happen if I > cancel ACR -- even more calls I suppose. > Regards, > Mike Quinn > Springfield VA > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That was a very big hassle I had with > SBC (Southwestern Bell Tel) when they had my phone service. They > claimed (the chairman's office, yet, when I appealed) that they had > met all requirements to subscribers of anonymous call blocking and > last call reject 'as long as the calling party supplies some number.' > No matter if it was all zeros, if the name was bogus or missing, etc. > SBC still wanted the couple bucks per month for providing 'anonymous > call rejection'. They claimed 'the call was not anonymous, we did give > you the number and often times the name.' Yet, even though the call > was not 'anonymous' by telco's definition, they still were not able to > block future calls from the same 'number'. > I think what you will find, Michael, is that telco makes too much > money from telemarketers to abuse them too badly. Telco turns a blind > eye to the way they rig their phone systems (with skimpy or non- > existent details of ID) because the telemarketers would suffer from it. > PAT] ------------------------------ From: Dink Subject: Re: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, and Anonymous Call Reject Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 18:23:22 -0600 Organization: Frijoles Refritos On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 11:19:41 -0500, Michael Quinn wrote: > A few weeks back in the long thread on spoofed caller ID, someone > mentioned a recently enacted federal law that requires telemarketers > to deliver a caller ID number (whether accurate or not). > Here in Nothern VA, we have been using Verizon's Anonymous Call > Reject, which does not allow "out of area" numbers to even ring the > phone unless the caller provides some additional information (or > enters a PIN); we pay $7.50 per month or so for this. > I think it was about this time that I started to notice a significant > increase in telemarketing calls which now display the number and the > name, although sometimes the name says "out of area" or "not > available" (or even "ohio"), which of course ACR doesn't look at -- as > long as they deliver a number, however inaccurate, ACR lets the call > through. The net result is that our dinner and evening hours are now > once again filled with ringing phones. Before this, there was a fair > chance that an incoming call was from someone we wanted to hear from, > so we'd pick up after looking at caller ID; now we have to deal with > at least double or triple the number of calls. > Has anyone else noticed this phenomenom? I guess for the small number > of folks with ACR it's a step backward, even though it may be an > improvement for the majority. I'm wondering what will happen if I > cancel ACR -- even more calls I suppose. > Regards, > Mike Quinn > Springfield VA > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That was a very big hassle I had with > SBC (Southwestern Bell Tel) when they had my phone service. They > claimed (the chairman's office, yet, when I appealed) that they had > met all requirements to subscribers of anonymous call blocking and > last call reject 'as long as the calling party supplies some number.' > No matter if it was all zeros, if the name was bogus or missing, etc. > SBC still wanted the couple bucks per month for providing 'anonymous > call rejection'. They claimed 'the call was not anonymous, we did give > you the number and often times the name.' Yet, even though the call > was not 'anonymous' by telco's definition, they still were not able to > block future calls from the same 'number'. > I think what you will find, Michael, is that telco makes too much > money from telemarketers to abuse them too badly. Telco turns a blind > eye to the way they rig their phone systems (with skimpy or non- > existent details of ID) because the telemarketers would suffer from it. > PAT] From a posting I made in another newsgroup on Jan. 29th: Subject: US: Telemarketers Unmasked From: Dink Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 05:58:10 -0600 From today, telemarketer calls are required to display information on caller ID displays. Such calls previously showed on Caller ID as "out of area." Now the name displayed by Caller ID must be either the company trying to make a sale or the firm making the call. The display must also include a phone number that consumers can call during regular business hours to ask the company to place their number on the company's internal do not call list. Dink ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: Panasonic 616 Toll Restriction Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 21:34:38 -0500 Organization: Airnews.net! at Internet America On 6 Feb 2004 14:48:35 -0800, javi@wizardes.com (Javier Gonzalez Ferreyra) wrote: > The manual says that I've to dial * to complete the 3 digit code for > toll restriction, but nothing appears on the LCD and I can not store > the two digit code. How can I fix it? I can program everything else > but not toll restriction which is the most improtant for me ... please > help. On the bottom of the KSU is a silver tag. Read it. Is there a 3 in a circle on it? Was it made in Great Britain? Is it a 616-D? The software is different for each release. Carl Navarro ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 00:21:29 -0600 From: Ron Kritzman Subject: Re: VoIP Gateway Andrew Bell wrote: > I know there a lots of commercial offerings to do this, but I'm hoping > to get away with just the cost of an FXO card for a proof of concept > right now. > Has anyone here done something like this already? Have you looked into Asterisk? Its an Open Source, Linux based PBX with VOIP capability built right in. Ron ------------------------------ From: Gail M. Hall Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 04:25:29 -0500 Reply-To: gmhall@apk.net On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 21:36:24 -0600, in comp.dcom.telecom message , Herb Stein wrote: > Daniel W. Johnson wrote in message > news:telecom23.57.8@telecom-digest.org: >> TELECOM Digest Editor added in message >> news:: >>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess so, if you feel that exposing >>> yourself on national TV is 'normal' behavior. What I don't understand is the part of the "exposure" that really bothered me, and that is the appearance of grabbing the girl's clothes off of her. Grabbing and groping against her will is just a lower form of imposition and the type of thinking that leads to rape. This sort of thing glorifies abusing other people. As for the appropriateness or not, there are times and places for different activities. Forcing adult type material during GP times is inconsiderate and crude. This is just another form of "in-your-face" stuff that telemarketers and spammers do. They are going to force you to see it whether or not you want to. If a person *wants* to see that stuff, they should be able to go to the so-called adult channels and see it. But don't intrude on general TV channels during prime time when our kids are likely to see it. Don't teach our kids that grabbing a girls clothes off her is OK or funny! >> I haven't read anything about indecent exposure on the part of LaToya, >> just the incident with her younger sister Janet on the Super Bowl >> halftime show. >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My bad ... I should have said 'Janet' >> instead of 'LaToya'. PAT] > LaToya was in Playboy/Penthouse/Hustler/ or one of them a few years > ago. Of course, the reader of the magazine found the spread anything > but indecent. :-) > Herb Stein > herb@herbstein.com Apparently the one whose pictures were published in the magazine chose to expose herself in an appropriate place -- in a magazine that specializes in that sort of thing. People who don't want to see that can choose not to buy the magazines. People who are watching a football game with their kids probably don't want to see that kind of thing. Also, it's more likely that the magazine pictures show her posing in an "alluring" position, VOLUNTARILY, not being shown as being forced against her will. I didn't see the pictures, so I am just guessing about that. At any rate, they are not showing this on national TV on a program that is not labeled as R or X. BTW, all the repeats of the Justin and Janet scene on all the news shows demonstrates how hypicritical so many people in this country are. If it's all that bad, they shouldn't be showing it over and over and over and over and ... Gail in NE Ohio USA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: According to the radio news today, a lady in California (I think) has filed a class action lawsuit on this incident. She named as the members of the Class 'anyone who watched the Stupid Bowl and saw the incident'. I wonder how much will be asked in damages for each member of the Class for the offense done to their eyes? The same radio news said that the network is also rather 'livid' about the incident and was quoted as saying "if the FCC sticks it to us with a fine, we most assuredly will sue Jackson to recover the amount of the fine imposed on us." And apparently at least one of the major advertisers on the Stupid Bowl is now stalling on paying their advertising bill, on the premise they did not intend to sponsor an 'X-rated production.' I think we will hear more about this affair for a long time. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rob51166@yahoo.com (Rob) Subject: Call Centres Date: 7 Feb 2004 03:03:52 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Does anyone know what the situation is in the US/Canada as far as call centres being transferred abroad is like? It's *BIG* news over here at the moment, with many companies, such as insurance companies, telco's (including BT), some 118 Directory Assistance companies, National Rail Enquiries, and AOL, opening up call centres in India, primarily Kolkutt and Mumbai. Basically they're *MUCH* cheaper to run and operate over there than call centres here in the UK, but that's at the expense of job losses as well. At the moment they're being used as overflow for the call centres here -- but as I say, that's at the moment. BTW, the reason I know that AOL have opened a centre in India is because I had to call them a few weeks ago, only for my call to be answered (eventually) by a guy with a very strong Indian accent -- you don't hear Indian accents in Waterford, Ireland, where AOL have their main European office! TIA! Rob ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 09:05:59 EST Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" In a message dated Fri, 6 Feb 2004 15:36:46 -0500 TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Robert Pierce's message: > I don't know of any large corporation back in the 1960-70's as > computers were taking over everything which did not run in > parallel for at least a month or two for just that reason. I know > telco and Amoco credit card did that. PAT] This does not seem to be typical of government, state, local, etc. In Oklahoma there have been at least three cases in the last few years where this apparently not even considered and the new system was supposed to run straight out of the box. One was a combined system for state government, which took six weeks or so to get where it would even issue pay checks to state employees ... another was the Oklahoma City school district which did similarly and employee pay checks were delayed for a number of days, and payments to vendors for many weeks, to the extent that some vendors cut them off, and another case involving Oklahoma County payrolls. Probably much of the other data on those systems, some of which might be quite important for continuing operations, would be similarly screwed up. This is probably the norm for most states all over the country. Didn't the IRS or SSA have a similar screwup that delayed tax refunds or SSA payments for several days? From my experience with Southwestern Bell, and its insistence on always running parallel systems, sometimes for months, before being satisfied the new system is working right and switching over to it for real, the first one (state payrolls and other information) of those struck me as feckless. But then the others came along and it would appear governmental agencies, at least, don't take such things seriously. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Even if the software worked perfectly out of the box -- not impossible, but unlikely if the software is custom built as much of it is -- there is still the hassle of getting the database correctly built the first time around. Does anyone here besides me remember when VISA (when it was known as BankAmericard and was the 'local' credit card program of Bank of America in San Francisco) decided to put it all on computers (yes, there was a time when Visa -- as it is known now -- was totally manual) and make it a national system of credit cards through various banks? Around 1960 or so, BankAmericard went national but they kept that trade name for a few more years before becoming Visa. Ooooh, did all the banks get hit with **severe** fraud as a result! First National Bank of Chicago alone got hit with about 30 million dollars in fraud over a five or six year period. The way the banks built their databases for BankAmericard cards was to just take every account in their bank and put them on the database. Then they dumped all those little plastic cards in the postal mail, including accounts opened for tiny babies at the bank, trust fund and escrow accounts, estates of dead people, etc. I suppose about a third of the cards never reached their rightful owners, and maybe half of the remainder were innaprop- riatly issued to dead people with estates, babies and litle children, etc. Really, such an approach is the only sensible way to build a national database (of voters, for instance or credit card account holders). Bottom line is what they go by. I guess they felt it would cost less money to (in effect) throw all the plastics in the air, and weed out the deadbeats and fraud as it happened than to go to the expense of running bureaus on everyone who applied, if they ever did. But when Bank of America and then the national association they started made an attempt to build a national database of customers it wound up costing them plenty. Ditto with Sears, when they started 'Discover Card', it was not without a lot of frustration and expense in constructing the database. Sears had to eat about forty million in fraud before the Discover card was totally up and running. And with the latest movement to totally computerize the process of voting, I suspect the same thing will happen. 'Experts' will decide how far (and with how much expense) they want to go to 'purify' the results. No one ever said there would never be fraud in an election; only that the goal was to keep a reasonable ratio between fraud and administrative costs. You can always put FBI and similar in charge of punishing fraud as it is caught. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 15:19:17 GMT > But I think we are going to get to the point where electronic voting > becomes a necessity before too long, What could possibly be necessary about it? You know all that spam you get in your electronic mailbox? You know how you *don't* have a freightcar full of advertising circulars and come-ons in your postal mail box every day? That's because electrons can be cheaply and easily arranged into unlimited patterns at almost no expense. Paper,' printing, and postage, on the other hand requires time, energy, and money to manipulate. All electronic voting will do is make manipulating elections as cheap and easy as sending spam. No thanks. (I'm still fighting a hopeless campaign to get Palm Beach County to sell the stupid touch-screen machines they just bought to Iraq or someplace and buy scanners instead where real voters fill out real ballots which can be touched and looked at, and would at least put someone to a great deal more effort to fake than numbers that exist only in a computer that the same people who designed butterfly ballots tell us are foolproof :-). ==>> The *Best* political site ==>> email: Tom.Horsley@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL | Free Software and Politics [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Responding to 'What could possibly be necessary about (electronic voting)'? Well, please take the advice of someone who has grown up in an *entirely non-computerized* world to an almost entirely computerized one. There is very little you can do *without computers* that can't be done better *with computers*, including detecting fraud and other crimes. Please accept this rephrasing of your question: What could possibly be better about paper ballots which take a long time to tabulate and confirm? Did you know that the election held on the first Tuesday after the second Monday in November will only have projected results the next day? It only becomes *official* a month or so later when it has been certified by (in Chicago at least) the Board of Election Commissioners. That is after they have weeded out tons of fraud, illegible ballots, recounted the ballots at least once or twice, etc. How could computers possibly do worse? The fact that a little bit of *new style fraud* enters the picture in the process of purifying and expediting the results otherwise shouldn't matter. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 22:17:09 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: A How-To Guide for Hackers By Michelle Delio Already bored with all the presents you got for the holidays? Hack them into new-and-improved presents. Got piles of now-outdated gifts from past festive occasions carefully stashed away because you might need the parts someday? Hack them, too. Don't know how to hack or need some inspiration? Get yourself a copy of Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty. It has 576 pages of detailed instructions that will show you how to re-engineer almost every inanimate object in your home or office. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,62089,00.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 23:05:56 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo-Nielsen Deal Could Aid Advertisers By Sam Diaz, Knight Ridder, 2/6/2004 TiVo and Nielsen Media Research, the television ratings company, announced a deal Wednesday in which TiVo will provide a breakdown of how its customers are using their digital video recorders. That means Nielsen will find out whether viewers are watching "American Idol" live or watching it a day later and, more importantly, which commercials they're skipping and which were watched a second time. http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2004/02/06/tivo_nielsen_deal_could_aid_advertisers/ ------------------------------ From: Zebra Subject: IDT America Unlimited - Pros/Cons? Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 12:18:35 -0500 IDT America Unlimited offers the following for $39.95 ($40) a month: Unlimited Local - Unlimited Regional - Unlimited Long Distance - Popular Calling Features - Caller ID - Call Waiting with Name - 3-Way Calling - Speed Dial (8 Numbers) http://www.idt.net/products/unlimited/ Has anyone tried this service? Can you share your experiences? Is this company reliable? Do your calls go through? Is it a nightmare? AT&T wants $55 for the basically same offering, and Verzion wants $60. Before I take the plunge, I would love to get some feedback -- searching the newsgroups has not found anything pro or con on this offering. Thanks in advance from NY. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Our local telco here in Independence, KS called 'Prairie Stream Communications' offers basically the same package for $29.95 per month. The main difference is instead of 'unlimited regional' and 'unlimited long distance' they have those two merged into 'long distance'. In addition to unlimited local, Prairie Stream allows 100 minutes (an hour plus 20 minutes) of 'long distance' in the package. Additional minutes are two cents each. Does IDT allow you to port or keep your local number? Is this the same IDT that used to do TV commercials saying long distance is only five cents per minute if you dialed their 1010 code? 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 #61 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Feb 8 18:26:17 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i18NQHS05909; Sun, 8 Feb 2004 18:26:17 -0500 (EST) Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 18:26:17 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402082326.i18NQHS05909@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 #62 TELECOM Digest Sun, 8 Feb 2004 17:48:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 62 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson The Virus Underground (Monty Solomon) Re: Question About 802.11g Wireless Router/Signal Booster/Ant (Sutton) Telephone Service Surcharges (jared) Building a Voice-Driven Application (Alex Smith) Re: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, Anonymous Call Reject (fakeaddress) Re: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, Anonymous Call Reject (M Quinn) Re: "No Internet Voting" (noname) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Dave Close) Re: "Out of Area" Caller ID Law (Steve Michelson) Re: Call Centres (CCIE8122) Re: Comcast Has Limits For Heavy Internet Users (Kim Brennan) Re: Faked CallerID Info? (Steven J Sobol) Ameritech Historical Picture Book Available (Jim Haynes) 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: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 10:05:04 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: The Virus Underground By CLIVE THOMPSON This is how easy it has become. Mario stubs out his cigarette and sits down at the desk in his bedroom. He pops into his laptop the CD of Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast," his latest favorite album. "I really like it," he says, "My girlfriend bought it for me." He gestures to the 15-year-old girl with straight dark hair lounging on his neatly made bed, and she throws back a shy smile. Mario, 16, is a secondary-school student in a small town in the foothills of southern Austria. (He didn't want me to use his last name.) His shiny shoulder-length hair covers half his face and his sleepy green eyes, making him look like a very young, languid Mick Jagger. On his wall he has an enormous poster of Anna Kournikova -- which, he admits sheepishly, his girlfriend is not thrilled about. Downstairs, his mother is cleaning up after dinner. She isn't thrilled these days, either. But what bothers her isn't Mario's poster. It's his hobby. When Mario is bored -- and out here in the countryside, surrounded by soaring snowcapped mountains and little else, he's bored a lot -- he likes to sit at his laptop and create computer viruses and worms. Online, he goes by the name Second Part to Hell, and he has written more than 150 examples of what computer experts call 'malware': tiny programs that exist solely to self-replicate, infecting computers hooked up to the Internet. Sometimes these programs cause damage, and sometimes they don't. Mario says he prefers to create viruses that don't intentionally wreck data, because simple destruction is too easy. "Anyone can rewrite a hard drive with one or two lines of code," he says, "It makes no sense. It's really lame." Besides which, it's mean, he says, and he likes to be friendly. But still -- just to see if he could do it -- a year ago he created a rather dangerous tool: a program that autogenerates viruses. It's called a Batch Trojan Generator, and anyone can download it freely from Mario's Web site. With a few simple mouse clicks, you can use the tool to create your own malicious ''Trojan horse.'' Like its ancient namesake, a Trojan virus arrives in someone's e-mail looking like a gift, a JPEG picture or a video, for example, but actually bearing dangerous cargo. Mario starts up the tool to show me how it works. A little box appears on his laptop screen, politely asking me to name my Trojan. I call it the ''Clive'' virus. Then it asks me what I'd like the virus to do. Shall the Trojan Horse format drive C:? Yes, I click. Shall the Trojan Horse overwrite every file? Yes. It asks me if I'd like to have the virus activate the next time the computer is restarted, and I say yes again. Then it's done. The generator spits out the virus onto Mario's hard drive, a tiny 3k file. Mario's generator also displays a stern notice warning that spreading your creation is illegal. The generator, he says, is just for educational purposes, a way to help curious programmers learn how Trojans work. But of course I could ignore that advice. I could give this virus an enticing name, like ''britney--spears--wedding--clip.mpeg,'' to fool people into thinking it's a video. If I were to e-mail it to a victim, and if he clicked on it -- and didn't have up-to-date antivirus software, which many people don't -- then disaster would strike his computer. The virus would activate. It would quietly reach into the victim's Microsoft Windows operating system and insert new commands telling the computer to erase its own hard drive. The next time the victim started up his computer, the machine would find those new commands, assume they were part of the normal Windows operating system and guilelessly follow them. Poof: everything on his hard drive would vanish -- e-mail, pictures, documents, games. I've never contemplated writing a virus before. Even if I had, I wouldn't have known how to do it. But thanks to a teenager in Austria, it took me less than a minute to master the art. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/08/magazine/08WORMS.html *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, New York Times Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Colin Sutton Subject: Re: Question About 802.11g Wireless Router/Signal Booster/Antenna Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 22:46:02 +1100 The problem may be the *building*. Try putting an external antenna on the router, outside the window. Do you then get reception on the PC? If you put the PC by the window? Out the window? (don't drop it! :-) Regards, Colin O K wrote in message news:telecom23.60.8@telecom-digest.org: > I have a question about adding a wireless antenna or signal booster to my > home network. > My current setup is I have a Linksys WRT54G wireless router which > supports B and G infrastructure. I have a 802.11b Wireless PCI card > in my PC. In my condo, I can verify that the wireless portion of the > network between the wireless router and my PC are functioning. I then > take my PC to another floor in my building, and I get little to no > signal. I would like to add either a signal booster and/or an antenna > to make my network functional. > From the reading that I have done, I can't determine where the > antenna needs to be installed if I go this route. Is it installed on > the PCI portion of the network, or the router portion of the network. > As the router TX's and RX's, is the problem with the low transmission > power from the router and therefore I need a wireless antenna on the > PC, or is the problem the low transmission power from the PCI card to > the router upstairs? I can't figure out which hardware I need to make > this functional. > Please contact me directly at okorkie3@cox.net (remove the *) > Thanks, > Owen ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 14:49:16 -0700 From: jared.NospaM@netspace.net.au (jared) Subject: Telephone Service Surcharges Thought c.d.t readers might find this list of surcharges fascinating. Company X overlooked my local government's 911 surcharge and just-because-its-a-source-of-revenue tax that add another few dollars. The upshot is that a thirty-something dollar nominal cost becomes fifty-something dollars. COLORADO Federal Excise Tax 3% Tax mandated by the federal government imposed on all telecommunication services. Federal Universal Service Fund 8.7%. FUSF is assessed on your interstate and international charges not including taxes. This includes a portion of the monthly product fee that is allocated to interstate services for regulatory purposes. [This] is consistent with the FUSF rate of other large long distance carriers. This surcharge is assessed on any monthly long distance plan fees/ minimums, Interstate and International Usage and the Network Access Charge. Network Access Surcharge Primary Line - (EUCL) $6.50 Monthly charge assessed on each line within the household. This charge compensates for the Local Telephone Company's cost of installation and maintenance of the components that link your home to the telephone network. Network Access Surcharge Secondary Line - (EUCL) $7.00 (when applicable) Monthly charge assessed on each line within the household. This charge compensates for the Local Telephone Company's cost of installation and maintenance of the components that link your home to the telephone network. Carrier Cost Recovery Charge (CCRC)* 1.4% A monthly surcharge in order to recover costs the Company incurs with regard to Telecommunications Relay Service, national number portability, and federal regulatory fees. The surcharge is assessed on long distance (Dial-1, Card, P800 and SB T800) state-to-state and international charges. Local 911 $0.00 - $0.70 per line This fee provides the local governing body with a source of revenue for payment of the total costs of establishing or upgrading, operating and maintaining an emergency telephone system. State and Local Taxes 2.900% This is a state sales tax on the consumption of telecommunications services. State and Local Taxes 0% - 5% This is a local sales tax on the consumption of telecommunications services. State and Local Taxes 0% - 0.8% This is a special sales tax to pay for regional transportation projects, scientific and cultural projects, and sports stadium projects. Federal, State and Local Surcharges $1.12 This is a surcharge of the City of Denver telecommunications business tax on telephone and telegraph companies. High Cost Fund (Colorado) 2.300% The Colorado High Cost Fund is used to ensure the availability of affordable basic telephone service in areas where costs to provide service are high. Telecommunications Relay Service $0.10 A surcharge to fund the relay center that assists the hearing and speech impaired with communicating to other telephone providers. Local Number Portability (LNP) $0.43 Covers the cost of providing residential customers with the ability to retain, at the same location, their existing local telephone numbers when switching from one local provider to another. ------------------------------ From: asmith42@hotmail.com (Alex Smith) Subject: Building a Voice-Driven Application Date: 7 Feb 2004 16:11:34 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello all, I am venturing into the telephony world and even though I have briefly dealt with CTI and H.323, I am still a newbie. I'd like to build an application that would allow me to buy apples from several grocery stores. (This is a hypothetical but representative example, please bear with me). I want to place a telephone call to a number, enter my pin, navigate through some voice prompts that will allow me to select a particular grocery store, then select a variety of apples and enter the amount of apples (weight) I'd like to buy using the phone keypad. Finally I would also like to leave voice instructions for the grocer on how to pack my apples (paper or plastic). The app would "look me up" using my pin number and store the packing instructions as a soundbyte along with the other order parameters in a database. From a high-level architectural perspective, what hardware and software components would make up my stack? For the sake of the example, assume small volume (personal use). I am looking for high-level architecture rather than product names even though Open Source/GNU/etc suggestions are welcome. My limited understanding tells me I need a CTI server. Do I need a PBX? Other components? If I want to parse the voice instructions (i.e. speech recognition) in order to extract "paper" or "plastic", how doable is that? Any URLs or books that go from slow to complex with architectural examples are appreciated. Alex Smith Insight LLC ------------------------------ From: fakeaddress@fakedomain.com Subject: Re: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, and Anonymous Call Reject Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 12:26:36 -0500 Organization: NETPLEX Internet Services - http://www.ntplx.net/ On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 15:42:21 -0500, wrote: > Two thoughts here: > 1. The DNC list works well for me. I usually don't see more than > one telemarketer every month or so. See > https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx > 2. If the telco's were interested in enforcing the DNC, they'd add a > new CLASS service like malicious call trace that captures the caller > ID _and_ ANI. Typing the *xx code could report these numbers to the > FTC, with the time and your phone number so your complaint can be more > easily traced. That is, if the phone companies really wanted to help > enforce the anti-telemarketer regs. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There *is* a CLASS service such as you > describe. *57 does that job; dial *57 during a conversation (flash the > hook, fresh dialtone, *57, then flash again to go back to the > conversation) or immediatly following disconnection, and telco records > the details regardless of any privacy flags (*67, etc) being set and > forwards the details to police. **They will NOT tell you the details. > You have to get the details from the police.** Police will generally > only give you details if you agree _in writing first_ to prosecute on > the results. Telco will not serve as your private detective agency, > etc. Communication privacy laws prohibit telco from working with you > directly. Getting the police to actually do something about the matter > is a different thing. Many police believe it is a civil matter, and > they are not permitted to get involved in civil matters. Police also > usually have a busy schedule and phone harassment is not a big issue, > especially when there is a telemarketer causing you some minor grief. > Oh, and *57 is not an inexpensive CLASS service. Typically, telco gets > eight to ten dollars for *each instance* of its use. The recorded > message they play immediatly following the capture of the details > tells you about this charge, and provides an 800 number at the 'call > annoyance bureau' to be used to follow up with telco and police. PAT] I had thought that *57 cost one dollar a use, but found you are right, a couple of SBCs tariffs that charge $7 and $8 per successful use. I thought a buck was too much, and the headache of getting the local LEA involved was not worth the effort, even if they did anything. That's why I think we need a similar service that sends the data to the FTC/FCCs enforcement division (to get around the privacy aspects). If its cheap (i.e. free) and easy to send the data, people will do it. The FTC/FCC do not call list website seems to have been done by someone with at least a clue as to what they are doing, so I bet they could set up a system to automatically record all the data that was sent in, and sort it by number of calls from each ANI and each CID, so they could address the most prolific violators first. Also, you need both ANI and CID. I don't know if *57 gives both. You need ANI because CID can be faked; you need CID because a company may use many telemarketers, each with their own line (and ANI). ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 15:38:29 -0500 From: Michael Quinn Organization: Booz Allen Hamilton Subject: Re: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, and Anonymous Call Reject Oops -- I checked my Verizon bill. The service is called "Call Intercept" and is $5 per month plus the $7.50 per month caller ID. Anonymous Call Rejection is part of the basic overpriced local service. Sorry for the confusion. Mike Mary@bentmetal.biz responded to my post on Re: New Telemarketer Law, Caller ID, and Anonymous Call Reject: > Your feature sounds more like Privacy Manager than Anonymous Call > Rejection. ------------------------------ From: noname Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 21:43:29 GMT In article , Wesrock@aol.com says: > In a message dated Fri, 6 Feb 2004 15:36:46 -0500 TELECOM Digest > Editor noted in response to Robert Pierce's message: >> I don't know of any large corporation back in the 1960-70's as >> computers were taking over everything which did not run in >> parallel for at least a month or two for just that reason. I know >> telco and Amoco credit card did that. PAT] > This does not seem to be typical of government, state, local, > etc. In Oklahoma there have been at least three cases in the last few > years where this apparently not even considered and the new system was > supposed to run straight out of the box. One was a combined system > for state government, which took six weeks or so to get where it would > even issue pay checks to state employees ... another was the Oklahoma > City school district which did similarly and employee pay checks were > delayed for a number of days, and payments to vendors for many weeks, > to the extent that some vendors cut them off, and another case > involving Oklahoma County payrolls. Indeed. State of Rhode Island went with a canned solution for their G/L system which had previously been running on an IBM mainframe. The new one ran via Citrix metaframe using Oracle on the back end. Of course the problem was that the pukes in purchasing got a system that was great for purchasing but sucked as a G/L package. So at one point we tried to pay things using non-existent codes -- and had to fudge. That does wonders for the G/L. Then of course getting checks cut to vendors was a major headache as was reporting. Every quarter we'd get a crappy Access database of all the revenue and expenditures for every state agency. I re-worked it so I just brought the table into the version I'd modified that could issue reports for ONLY our agency code and could do summaries, etc. Theirs couldn't. Took more than a year to work things out on that system. Wisely, they didn't migrate payroll because they knew what would have happened. ------------------------------ From: dave@compata.com (Dave Close) Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" Date: 8 Feb 2004 12:30:03 -0800 Organization: Compata, Costa Mesa, California > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There is very little you can do > *without computers* that can't be done better *with computers*, > including detecting fraud and other crimes. Money manipulators have been counting the stuff for centuries. One thing accountants figured out a long time ago is that, just as with the US Constitution, a system of checks and balances makes the whole thing work more reliably. No reputable fund manager would tolerate a system which could not be audited. But just as with the "new economy" bubble, some folks think that voting electronically does not need to be subject to the same old rules. Los Angeles County has been counting ballots with computers for about 35 years, so using computers as part of the process is certainly not new. But those ballots have been punched cards and they can be counted manually in case of any doubt about the computer counting. The problem with the proposed military system and many other net voting schemes is that there is no auditability. No one, not even a computer, can detect and prove a fraud without that ability. Voting via the Net may happen, but many of us won't support it until there is a method for conducting an audit. Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA +1 714 434 7359 dave@compata.com dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you." - Pericles [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But what I said was about the same thing: Run the new system in parallel with the old system *at least* for one cycle using the usual audit procedures on the paper system to validate the computer system. And if turning the whole thing loose on the general public is too difficult at first, then overseas military would make a good subset to practice on. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steve Michelson Subject: Re: "Out of Area" Caller ID Law Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 02:08:41 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net I wonder whether you live in a state where they are having primary elections. The Do Not Call list does not apply to political pollsters, charities, and companies with whom you had an existing relationship. Perhaps you are getting calls from political pollsters? Mike wrote in message news:telecom23.61.3@telecom-digest.org: > I registered on that Do Not Call list back when it first came out. > When it went into affect we stopped receiving all those annoying > telemarketing phone calls. But ever since that new law came out that > requires telemarketers to display info on the caller id, we've been > getting about 3 "out of area" calls everyday at the same times they > used to call. > Does anyone know what that's all about? It's really annoying. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It goes to show that the telemarketers > are keeping up with the times. Telemarketers are not going to be > easily thwarted. :) PAT] ------------------------------ From: CCIE8122 Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 21:27:56 -0700 Organization: XMission http://www.xmission.com/ Subject: Re: Call Centres > Does anyone know what the situation is in the US/Canada as far as call > centres being transferred abroad is like? > It's *BIG* news over here at the moment, with many companies, such as > insurance companies, telco's (including BT), some 118 Directory > Assistance companies, National Rail Enquiries, and AOL, opening up > call centres in India, primarily Kolkutt and Mumbai. Basically > they're *MUCH* cheaper to run and operate over there than call centres > here in the UK, but that's at the expense of job losses as well. At > the moment they're being used as overflow for the call centres here > -- but as I say, that's at the moment. > BTW, the reason I know that AOL have opened a centre in India is > because I had to call them a few weeks ago, only for my call to be > answered (eventually) by a guy with a very strong Indian accent -- you > don't hear Indian accents in Waterford, Ireland, where AOL have their > main European office! > TIA! > Rob Same in US. I sell MCI/AT&T/Qwest/GX services, including IPL, to a major call center company in the US (they do call center for UPS, United Healthcare, Metlife, AT&T, and several other Fortune 500 cos). May even be the same company that does AOL. Anyway this company has IPL to Mexico, Ghana, India (Bangalore and Mumbai), with call centers in all those locations. According to them the next major areas are Beijing, and Philippines. Other major companies like Cisco do a similar sort of thing -- Cisco TAC does sort of a "follow the sun," doing TOD routing between call centers in US, India, Sydney, among others. kr [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: One reason they like locating in the Philippines (well, two reasons, actually) is the neutrality of the language (mostly decent English) and the low costs involved in the payroll; the people work for very low wages, and employers are not subject to all the various worker comp, insurance, and taxes they are here in the USA. Work for people who need jobs, and less grief for the employers. A 'win-win' situation for all (smile) except the USA customers/consumers. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kimbrennan@aol.comfrtz.com (KimBrennan) Date: 08 Feb 2004 05:28:36 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Subject: Re: Comcast Has Limits For Heavy Internet Users Of course, DirecPC has "fair use" limits too (and for far more reason as satellite bandwidth is much more limited, and must more expensive to upgrade.) However ... This begs the question of what they (Comcast et al) are doing. ISP means (or is SUPPOSED to mean) Internet Service Provider. Unfortunately far too many of these silly people think that means ONLY http, and they restrict it so that ONLY http can be served. But INTERNET service implies FTP and Mail and telnet and a whole slew of other capabilities. If they want to "restrict" users to an equal playfield (though the usage patterns may not justify that anyway) then each user should have the EXACT same limits. It's called dial up. Bah. "I'm sorry, all my money is tied up in currency." W.C.Fields [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And how often do you ever see an ISP who will give you a shell if you ask for one. They're deathly afraid of what havoc you might cause if you had a shell account. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steven J Sobol Subject: Re: Faked CallerID Info? Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 15:18:21 -0600 Gail M. Hall wrote: > What I don't understand is the part of the "exposure" that really > bothered me, and that is the appearance of grabbing the girl's clothes > off of her. Grabbing and groping against her will is just a lower > form of imposition and the type of thinking that leads to rape. > This sort of thing glorifies abusing other people. Hey Gail! If you've read any of Janet's interviews ... in many of them she admits to being very, well, sexual. Which is fine, and she hasn't attempted to market sexuality like Madonna has. But it still bothers me that someone with the magnitude of talent that Janet Jackson has ... *or* Madonna ... or Christina Aguilera, who has an AMAZING voice ... it bugs me that any of those three extremely talented ladies feels the need to do some of the things they've done. They all have the goods they need to succeed (and NO, I'm not talking about body parts, get your mind out of the gutter!) and don't have to act like total skanks in order to get people's attention. I'm afraid that Janet, however, is going down that road. Christina started down that road a while ago, and Madonna, unfortunately, *paved* that road. :( (And during the years when she was more interested in shocking people than making music, her music suffered.) Back on topic here -- the Janet/Justin thing, the streaker advertising the online casino -- telemarketers -- spammers -- the idiot standing in the used car lot screaming at you - they're all employing the same marketing ploy: "get in their faces, annoy them and maybe they'll pay attention." (As you so rightly pointed out.) Know why? BECAUSE WE LET THEM. (And because they think they have the God-given right to do it, in the case of the telemarketers who insist they do nothing wrong.) Need I say more? JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, Apple Valley, CA Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net PGP: C57E 8B25 F994 D6D0 5F6B B961 EA08 9410 E3AE 35ED [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thank you, Doctor Sobol, for that very interesting message -- I'll call it the Sunday evening sermon for this week. You raise some very good points. That's one reason why I hope the television sets which are able to detect the presence of a comm- ercial message (when one comes on, it stops recording until the message is finished, then resumes its recording) are very successful in their sales. We need more such vigorous resistence by the public. To all readers: stop by our 'literature table' on your way out of this issue of the Digest tonight, and place your order for a very good pictorial history book now available on Illinois Bell/Ameritech. I hope you will decide to order a personal copy. See the final message in this issue today. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Ameritech historical picture book available Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 17:01:53 GMT (this came to me via the greenkeys mailing list) The SBC Archives and History Center is pleased to offer the book entitled, Snapshots in Time: A Photographic History of Ameritech. This 192-page soft-cover book chronicles the evolution of telecommunications in the SBC Midwest (former Ameritech) five-state region through select historical images. It offers more than 225 captioned photos of switchboard operators, crews with their vehicles and technicians testing central office equipment. The book begins with an 1876 portrait of Alexander Graham Bell and ends in 1999, on the eve of the SBC/Ameritech merger. The cost for each book is $25.00, plus $4.95 for shipping. To order, fill out the form below. If you have questions, please call Bill Caughlin at (210) 524-6192. Or send him an e-mail at wc2942@sbc.com --------------------------------------------------------------- ORDER FORM FOR Snapshots in Time: A Photographic History of Ameritech NAME __________________________________________________ BUSINESS UNIT ________________________________________ ADDRESS _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ CITY _________________________ STATE _____ ZIP __________ PHONE NUMBER (______)_________________________ I would like to order _______ copy(ies) each at $25.00, plus $4.95 shipping, for a total of _____________. No cash, please. Make your check or money order payable to SBC Services, Inc. and send it to: SBC Archives and History Center 7990 IH-10 West Floor 1 San Antonio, Texas 78230 jhaynes at alumni dot uark dot edu ------------------------------ 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. 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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 #62 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Feb 9 14:03:21 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i19J3K811775; Mon, 9 Feb 2004 14:03:21 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 14:03:21 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402091903.i19J3K811775@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 #63 TELECOM Digest Mon, 9 Feb 2004 14:03:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 63 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update (Canada) #419, February 9, 2004 (Angus TeleManagement) Book Review: "Web Site Privacy With P3P", Lindskog/Lindskog (Rob Slade) Re: Comcast Has Limits For Heavy Internet Users (Clarence Dold) Re: Comcast Has Limits For Heavy Internet Users (Rich Greenberg) Re: Call Centres (Rob) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. (Justin Time) 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, 09 Feb 2004 09:50:17 -0500 From: Angus TeleManagement Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #419, February 9, 2004 ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 419: February 9, 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: ** Sault PUC to Offer Internet Over Power Lines ** Bell to Own 100% of Bell West ** Shaw Registers to Offer Phone Service ** Cybersurf, Shaw Spar Over Internet Access ** Wireless Auction Starts Today ** Call-Net vs Royal Bank and Bell ** Bell Offers Global IP Networking ** Telecom Ottawa Tests Wi-Fi Service ** CRTC Deregulates Telus Quebec's WAN Services ** TeraGo to Offer Wholesale Broadband ** Ottawa Optical Startup Raises $10 Million ** Milliard to Head Ottawa VoIP Developer ** CATA Seeks Nominations for Innovation Award ** Financial Results Allstream BCE Cisco MTS Rogers Wireless Telesat ** Contact Centre Leadership Program Launched ** Charter Offer for Telemanagement Online ============================================================ SAULT PUC TO OFFER INTERNET OVER POWER LINES: PUC Telecom, owned by the City of Sault Ste. Marie, has begun technical trials of Broadband over Power Line technology developed by Massachusetts-based Amperion Inc. It hopes to begin market trials, perhaps involving thousands of homes, "in a matter of weeks." BELL TO OWN 100% OF BELL WEST: As expected, MTS has decided to exercise its option to require Bell Canada to buy the Manitoba telco's 40% stake in Bell West, for approximately $645 million. Bell says it will pay the purchase price, due in 180 days, out of general corporate funds. SHAW REGISTERS TO OFFER PHONE SERVICE: On January 22, Shaw Telecom Inc. notified the CRTC that it intends to meet all the regulatory obligations of a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier, and plans to begin offering service in Calgary. It provided no dates or details. CYBERSURF, SHAW SPAR OVER INTERNET ACCESS: Calgary-based ISP Cybersurf has told the CRTC that Shaw Cablesystems has refused to provide its retail higher-speed Internet service to Cybersurf for resale, as the Commission ordered in Telecom Decision 2003-87 (see Telecom Update #414). Shaw counters that it is now ready to provide Third Party Internet Access in Vancouver and Calgary, so the resale arrangement is superseded. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2004/8622/c122_200400656.htm WIRELESS AUCTION STARTS TODAY: The auction for Canadian spectrum in the 2.5 and 3.5 GHz bands starts on February 9, with 22 qualified bidders. Information on bidders and licences is available on Industry Canada's website, which will also provide round-by-round summaries of bidding. http://agora.ic.gc.ca/AuctionGCLF_BTS/mainmenu.cfm CALL-NET VS ROYAL BANK AND BELL: Call-Net has asked the CRTC to block a mass transfer to Bell Canada of Sprint long distance customers served under a "Talk and Save" program available to Royal Bank Visa users. RBC wants to switch them to Bell, but Sprint says that requires explicit authorization from each individual customer. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2004/8622/c25_200400812.htm BELL OFFERS GLOBAL IP NETWORKING: Bell Canada has launched Global Internet Protocol Suite, which extends its enterprise IP networks to 50 countries, using Infonet's international IP network. TELECOM OTTAWA TESTS WI-FI SERVICE: Telecom Ottawa has begun a three-month trial of wireless technology developed by a Ottawa-based BelAir Networks. The utility-owned carrier will provide free Wi-Fi Internet access at Ottawa City Hall and the Nepean Sportsplex through April. CRTC DEREGULATES TELUS QUEBEC'S WAN SERVICES: CRTC Telecom Decision 2004-7 forbears from regulating Telus Quebec's wide area network services, on similar terms to other major incumbents' WAN services. The Commission retains the power to protect customer confidentiality and to prevent discrimination against other service providers or customers. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/dt2004-7.htm TERAGO TO OFFER WHOLESALE BROADBAND: TeraGo Networks has begun offering wireless broadband at wholesale rates to Internet providers, resellers, and sales agents. OTTAWA OPTICAL STARTUP RAISES $10 MILLION: Metconnex, an Ottawa-based supplier of optical components, has raised $10.6 million from an international investors group led by St. Paul Venture Capital and Skypoint Capital. MILLIARD TO HEAD OTTAWA VoIP DEVELOPER: Natural Convergence, an Ottawa-based developer of broadband communications software for VoIP, has named Daniel Milliard as CEO. Milliard was formerly CEO of Group Telecom. CATA SEEKS NOMINATIONS FOR INNOVATION AWARD: The Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance will present the "19th Annual Canadian Innovation Awards" in Ottawa April 27. Nomination deadline is March 5; for more information go to www.cata.ca/Media_and_Events/Awards/ FINANCIAL RESULTS: ** Allstream reports fourth-quarter sales of $301.9 million, 2.4% less than during the same period last year. Net income was $17.1 million, down 29% from the previous quarter. ** BCE reports fourth-quarter revenue of $4.9 billion and net income of $400 million. Bell Canada's revenue from continuing operations was down 1.8% from last year: long distance and data sales fell 5%, while local and access sales were unchanged and those of wireless rose 16%. ** Cisco had net income of US$1.3 billion in the quarter ended January 24, up from $1.1 billion the previous quarter. Sales rose 5.8% on the quarter to $5.4 billion. Cisco predicted that sales growth would slow in the next quarter to 1%-3%. ** Manitoba Telecom's fourth quarter revenues were $211 million, level with those of a year earlier; net income rose 5.7% to $12.8 million. Wireless sales were up 16%; long distance sales fell 13%. As of February 2, MTS had connected 10,000 customers for TV over DSL. ** Rogers Wireless reports fourth quarter revenue of $625 million, 19% more than in the same period last year. Net income was $1.35 million, compared to a $39 million loss. Revenue per subscriber rose 2.4%. Data service revenue made up 4% of sales, double the rate of a year ago. Rogers added a net 166,200 postpaid subscribers in the quarter. ** Telesat Canada, a BCE subsidiary, had net earnings of $11.5 million, down 35% from the previous year. Sales increased 5% to $99 million. CONTACT CENTRE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM LAUNCHED: Angus Dortmans Associates is now scheduling client-site presentations of a new seminar, presented by Henry Dortmans. Topics include: Setting strategies and tactics; Producing effective reports; Understanding technology and tools; Managing financials; Establishing credibility. ** For information on bringing this important two-day program to your team, call 1-800-263-4415 ext. 300 or go to www.angustel.ca/ada/adccs.html. CHARTER OFFER FOR TELEMANAGEMENT ONLINE: Time is running out. Act now to take advantage of special Charter Subscriber rates for Telemanagement and Telemanagement Online. Download full details (including 107 reasons to subscribe now!) today. ** Subscribe now and start your subscription with the current issue, featuring in-depth reports on implementing and using wireless data for business applications in 2004, and Part One of our exclusive series on new IP Telephony systems for branch offices. www.angustel.ca/teleman/tm-sub-online.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 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 2003 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 Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 08:18:38 -0800 Subject: Book Review: "Web Site Privacy with P3P", Lindskog/Lindskog BKWSPP3P.RVW 20031019 "Web Site Privacy with P3P", Helena Lindskog/Stefan Lindskog, 2003, 0-471-21677-1, U$40.00/C$61.95/UK#27.95 %A Helena Lindskog %A Stefan Lindskog %C 5353 Dundas Street West, 4th Floor, Etobicoke, ON M9B 6H8 %D 2003 %G 0-471-21677-1 %I John Wiley & Sons, Inc. %O U$40.00/C$61.95/UK#27.95 416-236-4433 fax: 416-236-4448 % http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471216771/robsladesinterne http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471216771/robsladesinte-21 %O http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471216771/robsladesin03-20 %P 244 p. %T "Web Site Privacy with P3P" Chapter one is a brief but reasonable introduction to privacy. Internet security gets the same level of treatment in chapter two. The World Wide Web is explained in chapter three. Privacy and the net are examined in chapter four. All of this acts as background by the time we get to chapter five, which explains the Platform for Privacy Preferences, or P3P. Chapter six describes how to enhance your Web site's privacy. The creation of a privacy policy is reviewed in chapter seven. Chapter eight lists such a policy in English, and then nine provides a detailed structure of how the policy is established using P3P. Special consideration for cookies is outlined in chapter ten. Chapter eleven examines P3P tools. P3P and mobile networking, as well as XML source code for policies, is given in chapter twelve. A serviceable guide, with no major problems, but no stellar qualities, either. copyright Robert M. Slade, 2003 BKWSPP3P.RVW 20031019 ====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer) rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca rslade@sun.soci.niu.edu May you live all the days of your life. - Jonathan Swift http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade ------------------------------ From: dold@ComcastXHa.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Comcast Has Limits For Heavy Internet Users Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 22:59:46 +0000 (UTC) Organization: a2i network KimBrennan wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And how often do you ever see an ISP > who will give you a shell if you ask for one. They're deathly afraid > of what havoc you might cause if you had a shell account. PAT] I only read mail and usenet news from a shell account ... cuts down on the virus/worms and anything that I can't read is probably SPAM anyway. http://www.rahul.net/guest is what I use, at the moment connected via cablemodem to an ISP that I never use, except for connectivity. A google search for "shell account" turns up lots of potential sites. http://www.sonic.net is another company in my area that is well respected and offers dialup-dsl-wireless and shell accounts. KimBrennan wrote: > This begs the question of what they (Comcast et al) are doing. ISP > means (or is SUPPOSED to mean) Internet Service > Provider. Unfortunately far too many of these silly people think that > means ONLY http, and they restrict it so that ONLY http can be served. > But INTERNET service implies FTP and Mail and telnet and a whole slew > of other capabilities. I think streaming video is generally delivered via http, or at least as a result of web browsing. To me, FTP implies two way. I don't just download stuff. The cable and DSL already have limits on the speed of uploads. Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 ------------------------------ From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Comcast Has Limits For Heavy Internet Users Date: 8 Feb 2004 19:52:45 -0500 Organization: Organized? Me? In article , KimBrennan wrote: [...] > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And how often do you ever see an ISP > who will give you a shell if you ask for one. They're deathly afraid > of what havoc you might cause if you had a shell account. PAT] There are several. IMHO the one I use is the best run one (Panix). And my HO was confirmed by some extensive discussion in an internal newsgroup started by someone asking for suggestions for backup shell providers. Thier policy is you can do nearly anything you want as long as its legal and doesn't disturb the service for other users. Example: They don't officially support the "screen" utility, but if you know unix well enough to d/l and compile your own copy, feel free to use it. Another frequent poster to CDT works there. He can chime in if he wishes. 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: rob51166@yahoo.com (Rob) Subject: Re: Call Centres Date: 9 Feb 2004 04:33:20 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com CCIE8122 wrote in message news:: >> Does anyone know what the situation is in the US/Canada as far as call >> centres being transferred abroad is like? >> It's *BIG* news over here at the moment, with many companies, such as >> insurance companies, telco's (including BT), some 118 Directory >> Assistance companies, National Rail Enquiries, and AOL, opening up >> call centres in India, primarily Kolkutt and Mumbai. Basically >> they're *MUCH* cheaper to run and operate over there than call centres >> here in the UK, but that's at the expense of job losses as well. At >> the moment they're being used as overflow for the call centres here >> -- but as I say, that's at the moment. >> BTW, the reason I know that AOL have opened a centre in India is >> because I had to call them a few weeks ago, only for my call to be >> answered (eventually) by a guy with a very strong Indian accent -- you >> don't hear Indian accents in Waterford, Ireland, where AOL have their >> main European office! >> TIA! >> Rob > Same in US. > I sell MCI/AT&T/Qwest/GX services, including IPL, to a major call > center company in the US (they do call center for UPS, United > Healthcare, Metlife, AT&T, and several other Fortune 500 cos). May > even be the same company that does AOL. > Anyway this company has IPL to Mexico, Ghana, India (Bangalore and > Mumbai), with call centers in all those locations. According to them > the next major areas are Beijing, and Philippines. > Other major companies like Cisco do a similar sort of thing -- Cisco > TAC does sort of a "follow the sun," doing TOD routing between call > centers in US, India, Sydney, among others. > kr > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: One reason they like locating in the > Philippines (well, two reasons, actually) is the neutrality of the > language (mostly decent English) and the low costs involved in the > payroll; the people work for very low wages, and employers are > not subject to all the various worker comp, insurance, and taxes > they are here in the USA. Work for people who need jobs, and less > grief for the employers. A 'win-win' situation for all (smile) except > the USA customers/consumers. PAT] Yeah, it's very much the same over here. Most major banks, such as Barclays, Abbey, HSBC, Lloyds TSB have transferred call centres over to India (my bank, NatWest, hasn't, thankfully), as well as many insurance companies such as Sun Alliance, Prudential, Axa. Because English is spoken fluently by the literate in India, as well as the wages being an nth of what they are over here in the UK and Europe, and the lack of employee rights are just a few of the reasons British companies chose to go there en masse. Some British companies have also moved call centres to South Africa, where there's no language problem whatsoever. China I'm not so sure about, but I wouldn't put it past any major British company to move call centres etc, to the Philipines in the not too distant future. Oh BTW, British jobs are also going to Europe, as well. My mother worked at Hoover Europe Headquarters in the neighbouring valley and her department (export) was transferred to Italy. I've put it down to the fact that, as Italy's in the Eurozone, it's cheaper for them to export from there to other countries which use the Pound than to export from here, where the Pound is stronger, and therefore the goods are more expensive for sale to Euroland. ------------------------------ From: a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) Subject: Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. Date: 9 Feb 2004 06:45:16 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com BobGoudreau@withheld at users request wrote in message news:: > [Please obcure my email address. Thank you.] > Rodgers Platt wrote: >> Keeping notes in a diary may make them "more difficult" to share, but >> the support systems available are much more robust, and my day timer >> notebook will never die because the battery went flat. > On the other hand, one aspect of the paper diary support system is > painfully inadequate: backup. My friend's wife painfully discovered > this last year when her purse (including her daytimer) was stolen from > her car and never recovered. Tens of thousands of bytes of > hand-written data were lost forever. This loss finally persuaded her > to emulate her husband's example and get a PDA, which can be easily > (and wirelessly) synced with his office computer to provide a backup > copy. Even if the device is lost or destroyed, a replacement can > quickly be purchased and loaded with all the backed-up data, which > will be no more than a day or two out of date. We are beating a dead horse, but if the person having the PDA never performs a backup or transfer -- when was the last time you backed up the contents of your PC's hard disk -- the data is still lost. PDAs and computers still do not have the ability to take hand drawn graphics as input, notes or other items that may be shared. Every office I visit has at least a copier or fax machine that would allow a sheet of notes or sketches to be copied and shared if need be. Most of the time, and this goes for all you advocating the use of PDAs as well, the notes I take at a meeting are for my use and are not shared. When was the last time you sent someone a copy of your meeting notes? The notes I take are virtually meaningless to someone else as they don't think, or remember, things the way I do. With notes in a daytimer, I have a record of what happened, and when. Not only the date, but the time. If someone wants a copy of my notes, I can scan and e-mail or fax them a copy -- complete with drawings. Rodgers For keeping records of appointments, phone lists and expense records, a PDA is difficult to beat. I can sync the PDA with my PC and have it keep records and even download expense information to a program for tracking purposes. Paper, for this purpose, is a little more difficult I know and recognize. Each has its use and there are some things for which the "old" way still excels. ------------------------------ 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. 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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 #63 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Feb 9 15:00:12 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i19K0Cb12350; Mon, 9 Feb 2004 15:00:12 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 15:00:12 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402092000.i19K0Cb12350@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 #64 TELECOM Digest Mon, 9 Feb 2004 15:00:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 64 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson The Pornography Industry vs. Digital Pirates (Monty Solomon) Social Networks: Will Users Pay to Get Friends? (Monty Solomon) Shorten TV Season? Rules Shifting at Networks (Monty Solomon) Recording the VCR's Swan Song (Monty Solomon) For Better HDTV Displays, It's All About the Chip (Monty Solomon) Yours Not So Truly, J. Goodspam (Monty Solomon) Thorny Issues Await FCC. as It Takes Up Internet Phones (Monty Solomon) Will the Election be Hacked? (Monty Solomon) Online Search Engines Help Lift Cover of Privacy (Monty Solomon) Re: Building a Voice-Driven Application (Nick Landsberg) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Nick Landsberg) Re: Telephone Service Surcharges (John Levine) Bluegiga Integrates Wireless Bluetooth, GSM Technologies (PressRelease) 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: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 22:17:37 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: The Pornography Industry vs. Digital Pirates By JOHN SCHWARTZ THOUSANDS of Web sites are putting Playboy magazine's pictures on the Internet -- free. And Randy Nicolau, the president of Playboy.com, is loving it. "It's direct marketing at its finest," he said. Let the music industry sue those who share files, and let Hollywood push for tough laws and regulations to curb movie copying. Playboy, like many companies that provide access to virtual flesh and naughtiness, is turning online freeloaders into subscribers by giving away pictures to other sites that, in turn, drive visitors right back to Playboy.com. When Mr. Nicolau is asked whether he thinks that the entertainment industry is making a mistake by taking a different approach, he replies: "I haven't spent much time thinking about it. It's like asking Henry Ford, 'What were the buggy-whip guys doing wrong?' " The copyright rumble is playing out a little differently in the red-light districts of cyberspace. That neighborhood is increasingly difficult to confine, what with a fetishwear-clad Janet Jackson flashing a Super Bowl audience of millions, and Paris Hilton making her own version of a "Girls Gone Wild" video. Professional peddlers say they are hard pressed to compete. Still, the business of being bad is very good, especially for the biggest players. Though the industry has felt a financial squeeze during the economic slowdown, it nonetheless has sales of as much as $2 billion each year, said Tom Hymes, the editor of AVNOnline, a business magazine for the industry. And the pornography industry, which has always been among the first to exploit new technologies, including the VCR, the World Wide Web and online payment systems, is finding novel ways to deal with the threat of online piracy as well. The mainstream entertainment industry, some experts say, would do well to pay attention. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/08/business/yourmoney/08porn.html *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, New York Times Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 22:27:33 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Social Networks: Will Users Pay to Get Friends? Social Networks: Will Users Pay to Get Friends? By BOB TEDESCHI The idea behind "social networking" Web sites like Friendster, Tribe.net and LinkedIn is almost the opposite of the old Groucho Marx joke: they attract people who want to join a club eager to have them. But as the popularity of such sites has taken off, the big question for investors in new technologies is whether social networking sites can ever make a lot of money by connecting friends of friends in mini-networks of trust, whether for dating, business or maintaining acquaintances. For many, the buzz over social networking sounds a lot like vintage Internet hyperbole from the late 1990's. "I'm having a real problem finding a business model here," said Nate Elliott, an analyst with Jupiter Research. "It feels like the early days of the Internet, with sites like Globe.com saying they'll aggregate tens of millions of users, then find a way to monetize them. That's not the way to run a business." The creators of such services strenuously disagree, arguing that in contrast to the hundreds of dot-coms that bombed, they have clear plans for generating revenue. But those plans could be short-circuited by Internet giants like Yahoo and Google, as well as by established players in the online jobs and dating categories, whose turf most social networking sites seek to occupy. Indeed, as the more popular dating and jobs sites like Match.com and Monster.com quickly add networking features of their own, sites like Friendster face the challenge of how to differentiate themselves - beyond boasting that they are, for now, free. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/09/technology/09ecom.html *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, New York Times Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 23:30:30 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Shorten TV Season? Rules Shifting at Networks By BILL CARTER February 8, 2004 When NBC recently invited Donald J. Trump to move into its most exclusive neighborhood on Thursday night, the network's competitors immediately recognized the momentousness of the programming maneuver. For the sake of finding the best location for Mr. Trump's new reality series, "The Apprentice," NBC broke with a two-decade tradition of offering its four best comedies in a row on Thursday night, the night of "Friends" and "Cheers" and "Seinfeld," the night that has generated the most advertising revenue by far for any network. Now that "The Apprentice" has become the most successful new show of the season, NBC executives have announced that they plan to bring it -- as well as Mr. Trump -- back in the same 9 p.m. time slot in the fall. NBC's decision to overturn its "must see" comedy strategy for a reality show is only the latest sign that the playbook that has governed prime-time programming since the days of radio is in the midst of its most substantial revision. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/08/business/media/08TUBE.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 00:16:59 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Recording the VCR's Swan Song By DAVID POGUE PREDICTING the future of technology is a fool's game. Still, every now and then, you recognize that a product is so obviously superior to what came before it, the writing is on the wall in block letters big enough for Mr. Magoo to read. The graphic elegance of the first Macintosh spelled the demise of DOS, the crisp sound and compact size of the CD unmistakably suggested the vinyl record's decline, and the convenience of the digital camera set off a tailspin in film sales that continues today. Don't look now, but another machine you probably own is on its way out: the VCR. Its disruptive successor is the cheap set-top DVD recorder. Now, the phrase "cheap set-top DVD recorder" may strike you as two oxymorons in one. First of all, in this era of flat screens that are only two inches thick, the last place you'd set a set-top box is on the top of the set. (Nominations are welcome for a better term that distinguishes these TV-room DVD recorders from the ones that you attach to a computer.) Second, there's that bit about "cheap." Everybody knows that set-top DVD recorders are expensive. The best ones include a hard drive for TiVo-like flexibility but cost $600 and up. DVD-only models start at $400 or so. Logic and pundits have long maintained that the VCR's funeral rites won't begin in earnest until DVD-recorder prices fall below $300 -- and now they have, led by Gateway's AR-230 and a few rivals from lesser-known companies. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/05/technology/circuits/05stat.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 00:17:46 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: For Better HDTV Displays, It's All About the Chip By ERIC A. TAUB BACK in the dark ages of high-definition television -- about four years ago -- HDTV pictures suffered in quality. The problem was not with the technical standard, but with some of the digital television sets that were sold. "The weakest link in the HDTV chain was the display," recalled Joe Flaherty, a CBS senior vice president for technology who was one of the people responsible for instituting digital high-definition TV. "It was like Mark Twain's comment that Wagner's music is better than it sounds." The biggest sets at the time, supersize rear-projection monstrosities priced around $10,000, used conventional cathode-ray-tube technology to create images. As a result, the high-definition pictures were not very sharp and had some problems common to big-screen TV's in general: inaccurate color registration and pronounced "hot spots" that limited where viewers could sit and see the picture. Today, consumers have a much wider and better choice of display technologies in HDTV models, some of which are priced considerably lower than those available a few years ago. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/05/technology/circuits/05howw.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 00:22:04 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Yours Not So Truly, J. Goodspam By LISA NAPOLI PURPOSES L. XYLOPHONIST sounds like my kind of man. Unique. Creative. Focused, with a hint of formality. There is no way to be certain that Mr. Xylophonist is, in fact, a mister. Actually, it is a pretty safe bet he is not a person at all. The fact that his name appeared in the return line of a piece of unsolicited e-mail almost assures that he is not. Mr. Xylophonist wrote trying to sell some pamphlet about maximizing profits on eBay. Or maybe that was what Beiderbecke P. Sawhorse was pitching. It was definitely not the one from Marylou Bowling; she wrote to tell about "Government Free Cash Grant Programs." Then again, that might have been from Elfrieda Billman. As for Usefully T. Medicaids and Boggs Darrin, they both wrote about cheap drug sales, no prescription needed. (Of course.) Alongside those missives from friends and that drudgery from the office is a cast of e-mail characters with fantastic names promising all manner of stuff for sale. Frequently the promises are bogus; virtually all of the names are, too. Though it seems impossible to imagine the unwanted e-mail known as spam as anything but a nuisance, there is something creative about these return addresses -- even if they are being used for untoward purposes. On Web bulletin boards, they are sometimes draw admiring observations. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/05/technology/circuits/05name.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 00:26:55 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Thorny Issues Await F.C.C. as It Takes Up Internet Phones By STEPHEN LABATON WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 - The effort to write the rules for Internet telephone service begins this week, and whether it succeeds may ultimately come down to a matter of money. On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission is set to consider approving a notice of proposed rulemaking, the first step in a lengthy process of writing regulations for Internet-based phone services. The commission is also set to issue a final decision on a petition by one of the new Internet phone companies, Pulver.com, which has asked the commission to rule that it does not need to pay interconnection access fees to phone companies for any calls made and received between computers through Internet connections. http://nytimes.com/2004/02/09/technology/09rules.html The Issues Before the F.C.C. By THE NEW YORK TIMES February 9, 2004 The Federal Communications Commission plans this week to begin considering rules for new Internet telephone systems, a process that could have a lasting economic impact on the telephone, cable and computer industries. Here are some of the major issues that new rules would need to address and some of the related industry petitions pending at the F.C.C. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/09/technology/09rules-side.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 01:14:40 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Will The Election be Hacked? A Salon special report reveals how new voting machines could result in a rigged presidential race -- and we'd never know. By Farhad Manjoo Feb. 9, 2004 | A few weeks after Election Night 2002, Roxanne Jekot, a computer programmer who lives in Cumming, Ga., began fearing demons lingering in the state's voting machines. The midterm election had been a historic one: Georgia became the first state to use electronic touch-screen voting machines in every one of its precincts. The 51-year-old Jekot, who has a grandmotherly bearing but describes herself as a "typical computer geek," was initially excited about the new system. "I thought it was the coolest thing we could have done," she says. But the election also brought sweeping victories for Republicans, including, most stunningly, one for Sonny Perdue, who defeated Roy Barnes, the incumbent Democrat, to become Georgia's first Republican governor in 135 years, while Rep. Saxby Chambliss upset Vietnam veteran Sen. Max Cleland. The convergence of these two developments -- the introduction of new voting machines and the surprising GOP wins -- began to eat away at Roxanne Jekot. Like many of her fellow angry Democrats on the Internet discussion forums she frequented, she had a hard time believing the Republicans won legitimately. Instead, Jekot began searching for her explanation in the source code used in the new voting machines. What she found alarmed her. http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/02/09/voting_machines/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 09:40:43 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Online Search Engines Help Lift Cover of Privacy By Yuki Noguchi Washington Post Staff Writer Sitting at his laptop, Chris O'Ferrell types a few words into the Google search engine and up pops a link to what appears to be a military document listing suspected Taliban and al Qaeda members, date of birth, place of birth, passport numbers and national identification numbers. Another search yields a spreadsheet of names and credit card numbers. "All search engines will get you this," O'Ferrell said, pointing to files of spoils he has found on the Internet: Medical records, bank account numbers, students' grades, and the docking locations of 804 U.S. Navy ships, submarines and destroyers. And it is all legal, using the world's most powerful Internet search engine. Cybersecurity experts say an increasing number of private or putatively secret documents are online in out-of-the-way corners of computers all over the globe, leaving the government, individuals, and companies vulnerable to security breaches. At some Web sites and various message groups, techno-hobbyists are even offering instructions on how to find sensitive documents using a relatively simple search. Though it does not technically trespass, the practice is sometimes called "Google hacking." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24053-2004Feb8.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And it is all perfectly legal, as it should be. As we used to say to the movie studios and music producers who would put their stuff on the public web then whine and cry when people would link to them, **do not put your stuff on the public internet if you do not want it to be seen.** Remember how a big issue several years ago was whether or not someone had the 'right' to link to another site? Hollywood wanted all the advantages of putting their crap out on the sidewalk or in the front yard for people to see, but then complained when 'the wrong people' (in their estimation) took what was on display, etc. All anyone has to do is make a web page or a directory unviewable, or fix it so you have to go through *their* front door and pay their admission fee, etc. But no, it was easier to whine and cry about it and throw their weight around with the government authorities trying to stop it from happening. Should there be any government 'secrets'? Personally, I do not think so; after all the government is *supposed to* represent you and me. But if there has to be secrets, then if you or I can go to a public library and look up the very same thing (albiet many hours later), then I think it is particularly obnoxious to hide the very same information from the great know-it-all, the computer. Just my opinion. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Nick Landsberg Subject: Re: Building a Voice-Driven Application Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 23:41:43 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet Alex Smith wrote: > Hello all, > I am venturing into the telephony world and even though I have briefly > dealt with CTI and H.323, I am still a newbie. I'd like to build an > application that would allow me to buy apples from several grocery > stores. (This is a hypothetical but representative example, please > bear with me). I want to place a telephone call to a number, enter my > pin, navigate through some voice prompts that will allow me to select > a particular grocery store, then select a variety of apples and enter > the amount of apples (weight) I'd like to buy using the phone keypad. > Finally I would also like to leave voice instructions for the grocer > on how to pack my apples (paper or plastic). The app would "look me > up" using my pin number and store the packing instructions as a > soundbyte along with the other order parameters in a database. > From a high-level architectural perspective, what hardware and > software components would make up my stack? For the sake of the > example, assume small volume (personal use). I am looking for > high-level architecture rather than product names even though Open > Source/GNU/etc suggestions are welcome. > My limited understanding tells me I need a CTI server. Do I need a > PBX? Other components? If I want to parse the voice instructions (i.e. > speech recognition) in order to extract "paper" or "plastic", how > doable is that? > Any URLs or books that go from slow to complex with architectural > examples are appreciated. > Insight LLC Well, I'm only familiar with the "high-end" market for this type of thing, and then only because I had to troubleshoot performance problems on one such product. There are products out there which can do both speech recognition (ASR) and also text-to-speech (TTS). The two products I can recall off the top of the head are Speechworks and Nuance, but these software products are generally sold to resellers who put them on a particular computer or board and then sell it to you. (There are other products on the market which I don't recall, so please, don't take this as an endorsement of either of these two products.) You have to provide a "grammar" to these beasts if you have esoteric things you want to interpret, but grammars for things like numbers, dates, etc. are usually built in. A simple grammar to parse something like "paper" or "plastic" is almost trivial to write, unless you want to handle regional dialects or other languages at the same time. There is also a technology (language?) called Voice-XML with which you can write scripts which parse either the voice utterance or the DTMF the user entered and take (if-then-else) actions based on that. There are several vendors which use this now, but most of their customers are large service providers who want to charge $$$ for accessing you horoscope or something like that. ("Please speak your zodiac sign") Given your example of "apples", you would then have to script the VXML to do something like: "Please speak or say 1 for Granny Smith apples, speak or say 2 for Macintosh apples..." or alternatively ask for the name of the particular apples they were interested in, in which case you would have to program the words "Granny Smith" and "Macintosh" into the ASR grammar. I suggest doing a search on VXML or Voice XML on the web. The VXML stuff can run on either Windows or Linux (or other Unix variants, it's Java-based), and the speech recognition and sythesis software also can run on Windows or Linux. These machines/boards have to be hooked into something which can do call-control (like a PBX). (Note that if you have a small universe of possibilities you can probably get away with just playing recordings rather than speech synthesis, and you probably do not need VXML.) Also note, that the speech recognition facilities, no matter what the hype, are limited. If your application is something like: "Speak the name of a company and we will provide you the current market quote", then you can expect the speech recognition to grind away for a not-insignificant time trying to match your utterance to the name of a traded company. Hope this gives you a start. "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious" - A. Bloch ------------------------------ From: Nick Landsberg Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 23:59:00 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet Dave Close wrote: > The problem with the proposed military system and many other net > voting schemes is that there is no auditability. No one, not even a > computer, can detect and prove a fraud without that ability. Voting > via the Net may happen, but many of us won't support it until there is > a method for conducting an audit. > > Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA +1 714 434 7359 > dave@compata.com dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu > "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't > mean politics won't take an interest in you." - Pericles > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But what I said was about the same > thing: Run the new system in parallel with the old system *at least* > for one cycle using the usual audit procedures on the paper system > to validate the computer system. And if turning the whole thing loose > on the general public is too difficult at first, then overseas > military would make a good subset to practice on. PAT] Audit trails are important in many things, both computer related and not computer related. The telephone companies, for example, want to know which technician changed the settings on their switch in case the switch takes a Phase 5. Banking institutions also need simlar information to reconcile possible accounting discrepancies. Unfortunately, audit trails and voter privacy may be at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to computer voting. Is it enough to know that Patrick Townsend cast a vote in order to ensure the accuracy of the tally? Probably not. If this is the case, then Patrick's actual vote must be recorded. But then Patrick loses his anonymity! Once Patrick loses his anonymity, then all sorts of *BAD THINGS* may happen when (not if) someone finds out the way Patrick voted. (I'm probably preaching to the choir here.) As to running the systmes in parallel, well, if someone was determined to undermine the system (hack it), and knew that it would be running in parallel for some length of time, then they would not hack it until the the parallel running was suspended, would they not? Security, accuracy, and convenience may well be at the extreme points of a triangle and the resultant solution will be to compromise all three (a little, hopefully), in order to come up with a workable system. "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious" - A. Bloch [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But there are already people who know if you voted, and to the extent that they need to know, how you voted. What do you feel government agencies like the Board of Election Commissioners (to use the Chicago name) are for, if not to try and govern and manage elections and have some honesty behind them? Aside from being sworn to absolute secrecy (even to the extent of no office gossiping) with *severe* penalties for violating that trust (losing their job and their source of monthly welfare would be a total disaster for most of them, to say nothing about *maybe* going to jail); most public servants -- or do you pronounce it serpents? -- find elections and the results to be a terrible bore. They've got their jobs and could really care less what you think of the higher ups you voted for. Nah, I would not worry that a handful of public servants knew how I voted if their job duties required it. And if the *Chicago Democratic machine* runs a relatively honest Board of Election Commissioners (not talking now about individual judges or the candidates, etc) then almost anywhere does. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 9 Feb 2004 01:20:18 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Telephone Service Surcharges Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA In article you write: > Thought c.d.t readers might find this list of surcharges fascinating. There are indeed a lot of taxes asssessed on phone service but the doublespeak is quite fascinating: > Network Access Surcharge Primary Line - (EUCL) $6.50 > Monthly charge assessed on each line within the household. This charge > compensates for the Local Telephone Company's cost of installation and > maintenance of the components that link your home to the telephone > network. > Network Access Surcharge Secondary Line - (EUCL) $7.00 (when applicable) > Monthly charge assessed on each line within the household. This charge > compensates for the Local Telephone Company's cost of installation and > maintenance of the components that link your home to the telephone > network. English translation: this is the part of the local bill that's regulated by the federal FCC rather than the state PUC. We (the phone company) keep it all. > Carrier Cost Recovery Charge (CCRC)* 1.4% > A monthly surcharge in order to recover costs the Company incurs with > regard to Telecommunications Relay Service, national number > portability, and federal regulatory fees. The surcharge is assessed on > long distance (Dial-1, Card, P800 and SB T800) state-to-state and > international charges. English translation: We don't like paying taxes, and TDD sounds kind of virtuous, so we're going to pretend that paying this charge is your responsibility rather than ours. We (the phone company) keep it all. > Local Number Portability (LNP) $0.43 > Covers the cost of providing residential customers with the ability to > retain, at the same location, their existing local telephone numbers > when switching from one local provider to another. English tranlation: We phone companies moaned and groaned so much when the FCC mandated LNP that they let us add a line to the bill that looks like a tax but isn't and has only the most tenuous relationship to the actual cost of upgrading the network for LNP. We (the phone company) keep it all. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies" Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Sewer Commissioner "A book is a sneeze." - E.B. White, on the writing of Charlotte's Web ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2004 13:52:46 +0400 From: Editor Subject: Bluegiga Integrates Wireless Bluetooth and GSM Technologies PRESS RELEASE NETWORK http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com Integration of GSM and Bluetooth technologies in M2M systems increases flexibility and decreases costs of data communications Espoo, Finland - Feb 9, 2004 (PRN): Bluegiga Technologies, a provider of wireless local area networks and M2M communications systems based on Bluetooth technology, today announced a design reference confirming the support of Bluegiga's embeddable WRAP THOR Bluetooth module for Nokia 12 GSM module. Bluegiga WRAP THOR and Nokia 12 form the first reference design in the market to enable the developers of machine-to-machine (M2M) systems to extend their GSM-based remote management systems with cost-efficient wireless Bluetooth functionalities. With Bluetooth technology, remotely monitored M2M systems are controllable and configurable over Bluetooth links, using either smart phones like Nokia 6600 based on Symbian Series 60 platform or laptop PCs. Routing the entire data traffic of a monitored site via Bluetooth links into a single device with an uplink to the GSM network helps to minimize the costs of remote operation. "The design reference is perfectly in line with our strategy to develop comprehensive communication solutions based on wireless Bluetooth technology," said Tom Nordman, General Manager, Bluegiga Technologies. "Nowadays autonomous information systems seldom require on-site monitoring. The integration of Bluegiga and Nokia products introduces a smooth and cost-efficient solution for remote M2M monitoring." Targeted to device manufacturers and application developers, the design reference includes three separate components; a Bluegiga WRAP THOR Bluetooth module, Bluetooth Java Application Programming Interfaces for the Nokia 12 GSM module, and hardware reference designs. The Bluegiga WRAP THOR is a robust, configurable Bluetooth module optimized for embedded applications. It enables device manufacturers (OEMs) to easily add a secure and robust wireless communication element in both new and existing applications. The Nokia 12 is a compact and intelligent GSM module for M2M applications and other wireless solutions. A Nokia M2M Platform compatible product, the Nokia 12 GSM module can also act as a cellular modem or be remotely controlled via text messaging. With support for Java's technology, location services and offering a wide range of data bearers, the Nokia 12 GSM module makes application development more cost effective and faster. Hardware reference designs are available from http://www.bluegiga.com. About Bluegiga Technologies Bluegiga Technologies provides wireless local area networks and M2M communications systems based on Bluetooth technology. Bluegiga WRAP Access Servers integrate Bluetooth-enabled devices as part of a corporate network. Bluegiga WRAP THOR Bluetooth modules are robust, lightweight and flexibly embeddable. Software configurable for versatile integration, Bluegiga products are ideally suited in enterprise proximity access, telemetry, remote monitoring and cable replacement applications. Founded in 2000, Bluegiga is based in Espoo, Finland and privately held. Bluegiga products are globally available via a network of qualified distributors, original design manufacturers and system integrators. For further information, please visit http://www.bluegiga.com. Java and all Java-based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Bluetooth is a registered Trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. For more information, contact: Bluegiga Company Contact Mr. Tom Nordman, General Manager Tel: +358 9 4124 0450 Email: tom.nordman@bluegiga.com Website: http://www.bluegiga.com Bluegiga Agency Contact Mr. Ile Knnen, Netprofile Finland Tel: +358 9 6812 080 Email: ile@netprofile.fi Editor & CEO Press Release Network editor@pressreleasenetwork.com http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com ------------------------------ 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. 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #64 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Feb 9 22:51:01 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i1A3p1N14961; Mon, 9 Feb 2004 22:51:01 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 22:51:01 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402100351.i1A3p1N14961@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 #65 TELECOM Digest Mon, 9 Feb 2004 22:51:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 65 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Nigerians Certainly Getting Agressive! (TELECOM Digest Editor) Broadband in the Sky (Monty Solomon) A Cameraphone That Turns Heads (Monty Solomon) Help on Centigram, Baypoint Innovations, Mitel NuPoint (Centigramparts) Record Two Telephone Lines to One PC (Ryan Ochoa) Re: Recording the VCR's Swan Song (Carl Navarro) Re: Building a Voice Driven Application (Charles B. Wilber) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. (Bob Goudreau) Re: Comcast Has Limits For Heavy Internet Users (Paul Vader) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Paul Vader) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Nick Landsberg) Order New Book: Photographic History of Ameritech (SBCSI) 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, 9 Feb 2004 17:41:04 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Nigerians Certainly Getting Agressive! Over the past two weeks I have received at least a dozen phone calls from Nigeria -- of all places! -- from someone claiming to be a top banking official in that country asking if I wanted to open an account in a US bank for him. Quite often the calls arrived when I was asleep (roughly 3 AM to 8 AM) and sleepily I answered my phone and without even listening, told the caller to try back at a more civilized hour. Twice I did not catch the phone soon enough and it rolled over to voicemail. Once I was talking to someone and let it just go to voicemail. The person never left any voicemail messages. Once I was coming out of Marvins with several sacks of groceries and told the caller to try me again later. Each time he was calling from Nigeria. Each time he sounded like a typical telemarketer, that is began with saying 'hello Mr. Townson, how are you today' or once I was 'Patrick' rather than 'Mr. Townson'. But he never would volunteer who he was until (each time) I rather sharply asked who he was and what he wanted, then he would pause, think about it and give me the 'bank officer' routine. You see, they are not allowed to open any accounts in foreign countries, and need help to do that, which is where I was to come into the picture and be of help. At least a dozen attempts over a week or two! Now you know he is not paying for all those calls, every one of them is most likely fraud. Even today, I was a little bit peeved with the interupption to my work when he called, so I did not think clearly. But if he calls again, which I hope he does, I'll play his game with him. I'll provide him with a bogus social security number, a good post office box address (of my own) and invite him to send his money order or cashiers check or whatever for negotiation on this end. I've mentioned it to the manager at our bank here, she said if such a thing arrives to just give it to her, she will try to get us something out of it. I never thought those Nigerians would actually resort to using the phone to find new suckers however, certainly not at the rate of several international phone calls over two weeks. PAT ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 22:04:06 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Broadband In The Sky Ten O'Clock Tech Arik Hesseldahl, 02.06.04, 10:00 AM ET NEW YORK - There's only so much a business traveler can accomplish with a notebook computer that is not connected to the Internet. Airlines like JetBlue (nasdaq: JBLU - news - people ) can bring you in-flight satellite TV service, but aircraft manufacturer Boeing (nyse: BA - news - people ) is trying to figure how to bring in-flight Internet access via satellite. Some business travelers see their travel time as a gift; others see it as an obstacle to productivity. A good deal of the design attributes of many notebook PCs from vendors like IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people ), Gateway (nyse: GTW - news - people ) and Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ), as well as Intel's (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ) Centrino chip platform, aim to maximize the hours of use out of a notebook computer while on a long flight. Beginning in April, a unit of Boeing called Connexion by Boeing will launch a service that brings broadband Internet access aboard certain flights with airlines like Lufthansa, Japan Airlines, British Airways (nyse: BAB - news - people ) and others. http://www.forbes.com/personaltech/2004/02/06/cx_ah_0206tentech.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 22:09:32 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: A Camera Phone That Turns Heads Ten O'Clock Tech Arik Hesseldahl, 02.09.04, 10:00 AM ET NEW YORK - When we saw the LG Electronics VX-6000 used in an advertisement on a giant video screen in New York's Times Square, we figured it was time to try it out. For the most part, the camera-phone craze has been a Global System for Mobile Communications affair. The best phones with integrated digital cameras come from companies like Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people ) and Sony Ericsson, the joint venture of Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) and Ericsson (nasdaq: ERICY - news - people ) and are aimed at carriers who use the GSM standard, which dominates Europe. GSM carriers in the U.S. include AT&T Wireless (nyse: AWE - news - people ), T-Mobile, a unit of Deutsch Telekon (nyse: DT - news - people ), and Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of SBC Communications (nyse: SBC - news - people ) and BellSouth (nyse: BLS - news - people ). But the dominant network standard in the U.S. is Code Division Multiple Access. And the two main CDMA carriers in the U.S. are Sprint PCS (nyse: PCS - news - people ) and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon (nyse: VZ - news - people ) and Vodafone (nyse: VOD - news - people ). And, generally speaking, camera phones on CDMA networks have been a little less impressive than those on the GSM networks. While they may work about as well as their GSM competitors, they haven't done so with the sleek fashion-phone cachet. LG Electronics, the South Korean manufacturing giant, has changed that with the VX6000, which is available from Verizon Wireless. It's a clamshell shaped phone that weighs less than four ounces. It looks cool, and it's easy to use. http://www.forbes.com/personaltech/2004/02/09/cx_ah_0209tentech.html ------------------------------ From: rlawrence@promemoinc.com (Centigramparts.com) Subject: Help on Centigram, Baypoint Innovations & Mitel NuPoint Messenger? Date: 9 Feb 2004 17:13:45 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com My name is Ron Lawrence and my company is ProMemo, Inc ... ProMemo, Inc. has been working on Centigram Voicemail equipment for over 21 years now. We continue to stock parts for all Legacy systems like Power Supplies, Hard Drives, CPU's and Line Cards. We also have Software too, in case you are missing a certain diskette or require an extra cost feature. So whether you are a Service Bureau or CPE, we will continue to stock the equipment you need for your NEW and Legacy Voicemail systems. Take a peek at our Interactive web-site www.promemoinc.com or www.centigramparts.com or www.baypointinnovations.com and you will see just how focused we are to the Centigram platform. Also, in one week, we will be adding the Technical Documentation Manual for you to access, and at no extra charge ... check-it out. ProMemo, Inc. email: rlawrence@promemoinc.com web: www.promemoinc.com web: www.centigramparts.com web: www.baypointinnovations.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Welcome to the Digest readership, Mr. Lawrence. Are there any newsgroups for voicemail equipment and/or software? Although this Digest is not usually used for commercial messages as such, many of our readers either operate or administer voicemail systems, so I thought maybe your message might be a way for them to update their list of contacts, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rochoa@allcovered.com (Ryan Ochoa) Subject: Record Two Telephone Lines to One PC Date: 9 Feb 2004 11:53:47 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I'm looking for a device or instructions on how to record ALL telephone conversations from a jack with TWO telephone numbers to my PC. I would like to have an all in one device, but I could use two modems if neccessary. Any help is much appreciated. ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: Recording the VCR's Swan Song Reply-To: cnavarro@wcnet.org Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2004 21:24:39 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com On Mon, 9 Feb 2004 00:16:59 -0500, Monty Solomon wrote: > Second, there's that bit about "cheap." Everybody knows that set-top > DVD recorders are expensive. The best ones include a hard drive for > TiVo-like flexibility but cost $600 and up. DVD-only models start at > $400 or so. Logic and pundits have long maintained that the VCR's > funeral rites won't begin in earnest until DVD-recorder prices fall > below $300 -- and now they have, led by Gateway's AR-230 and a few > rivals from lesser-known companies. I came close to biting on the latest Wal~Mart offering, the Apex 9000 for about $269. The reviews are horrible. WM also has a "Cyber-home" unit for $248. At some point in time, we'll just need the VCR to play existing tapes into the DVD recorder one time for copying :-) Carl Navarro ------------------------------ Date: 09 Feb 2004 16:02:51 EST From: Charles.B.Wilber@Dartmouth.EDU (Charles B. Wilber) Subject: Re: Building a Voice Driven Application Nick, Did you possibly mean to write "press or say" instead of "speak or say?" I don't see the difference between "speaking" and "saying" something. Charlie Wilber Dartmouth College Nick Landsberg wrote: > "Please speak or say 1 for Granny Smith apples, speak or say 2 for > Macintosh apples..." or alternatively ask for the name of the > particular apples they were interested in, in which case you would > have to program the words "Granny Smith" and "Macintosh" into the ASR > grammar". ------------------------------ Reply-To: BobGoudreau@not-your.biz From: BobGoudreau@not-your.biz We are beating a dead horse, but if the person having the PDA never > performs a backup or transfer -- when was the last time you backed up > the contents of your PC's hard disk -- the data is still lost. > Every office I visit has at least a copier or fax machine that > would allow a sheet of notes or sketches to be copied and shared if > need be. But I'm willing to bet that far more PDA users than Daytimer users actually do back up their data. It's pretty easy for me to back up my Palm Pilot (which is also my phone) by slipping it into its charging cradle, pressing the "sync" button and waiting 30 seconds -- so easy that I do it almost daily. In fact, anyone who wants to have a shared appointment book (say, between their phone or PDA and MS Outlook on their PC) will be happy to do this regularly. In comparison, flipping through a daytimer to find all the pages that have changed since the last backup and then photocopying them is quite a chore. Bob Goudreau Cary, NC [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Dear Bob, I hope obscuring your address by putting you in the '.biz' domain (?) was sufficient. PAT] ------------------------------ From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader) Subject: Re: Comcast Has Limits For Heavy Internet Users Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2004 22:35:30 -0000 Organization: Inline Software Creations > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And how often do you ever see an ISP > who will give you a shell if you ask for one. They're deathly afraid > of what havoc you might cause if you had a shell account. PAT] In point of fact there are lots of services selling (and in at least one case, giving away) shell accounts. But why does it matter anyway? On real operating systems, your own computer's shell can do all the same things a shell account used to do, and even better because you can compile your own command line programs. * * PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something like corkscrews. ------------------------------ From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader) Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2004 22:37:57 -0000 Organization: Inline Software Creations > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But there are already people who know > if you voted, and to the extent that they need to know, how you > voted. What do you feel government agencies like the Board of Election What? Unless you're not talking about national elections, nobody should be able to determine how you voted. Do you let your election judge shoulder surf while you're voting or something? * -- * PV something like badgers -- something like lizards -- and something like corkscrews. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No I do not allow the judge of election to shoulder surf. Anyway, its not their business. Judges of election and precinct captains and others of that ilk have no business knowing anything about *how* you voted; only that you did (you signed the register when you went in or did not sign it. Either you have officially voted -- per the register -- or you have not yet voted. The judges of election (ordinarily two of one party and one of the other party, or one each of three parties) have the jobs of examining your identification (to qualify your residence, etc for voting); prohibiting electioneering (the illegal practice of campaigning for candidates or parties within a certain distance of the polling place; usually fifty or one hundred feet, including the distribution of literature in the same distance); giving instruction on voting (on request of the voter only) and giving assistance in voting with a second or third judge of the opposite party present, again, on request of the voter. For example, I go to vote and ask the judges of election "how do I use this machine?" That is called 'instruction' and any judge can instruct me in using the voting apparatus. Other judges present, along with the polling place observers, will hear the judge instructing me. If the judge's instructions include 'pull lever four for straight Democratic ticket' for example, the Republican judge or the polling place observers might protest. If I state that I am handicapped, and need help in voting, then *two judges* -- one of each party -- will escort me to the voting booth. They will stand beside me while one of the two explains the apparatus and asks me about my choices. If I say I wish to vote straight Republican for example, then the *Democratic* judge will say to the Republican judge, 'Mr. Townson wishes to vote straight Republican' and as the three of us observe, the Democratic judge will pull the lever/push the button, etc if I am physically unable to do so because of my physical handicap. If you say you don't know anything about politics, don't care, etc then the judge will say 'just pull one of the levers.' They will pressure you to get off the pot, so to speak and say something so they can observe each other doing what they heard you say. That's all the judges of election do: maintain an orderly process, advise as requested and help as requested. Precinct captains are not supposed to be there at all; no loitering allowed at the polling place. And the youthful, idealistic poll watchers (who do get to hang around all day, and are appointed by the minority candidates) won't hesitate to speak up and say 'objection, judge' if one or more of the judges of election say or do something improper. When one of the observers or another judge call an objection, all ears perk up and everyone starts watching and listening closely. And whenever there is a request for 'help in voting' (as opposed for example to a request for 'instruction') then the judge who deals first with the request for help must say in a relatively loud and conspicuous voice 'voter needs help' or maybe one of the poll watchers will say it for him. Then like before, everyone stops, looks and listens. Most voters do not need any help, the curtain has to go closed before the machine will operate, and all votes (except the rare 'assisted in voting') are done in private. Before the election begins, an employee of the Board has to go around to each polling place, remove the locks from the machines, cast a 'sample vote' for each candidate to assure each machine is functioning properly, etc. Sample votes are later deducted from the total votes. An aquaintence of mine in Chicago who is employed by the Board of Election Commissioners said to me, "The people objecting the most to computerized voting do not realize how easy by comparison it is to rig the old mechanical machines, if that's your thing, if you don't object to a stay in Joliet Penitentiary for a couple years. While the computerized systems *are* more sophisticated and difficult to tamper with short of being a 'computer hacker' (his term), yes, it can be done, but not to the extent the old mechanical systems were diddled with. So who would know about your vote short of shoulder surfing? Well all the absentee ballots have to be imput into the machinery also, even the electromechanical apparatus if not the computerized stuff. Many folks can 'cheat' with your vote if that's their thing; most are just droids working at their jobs and don't care either way. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Nick Landsberg Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 01:14:37 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet I originally wrote: [much snipped] > Is it enough to know that Patrick Townsend cast a vote in order to > ensure the accuracy of the tally? Probably not. If this is the case, > then Patrick's actual vote must be recorded. But then Patrick loses > his anonymity! Once Patrick loses his anonymity, then all sorts of > *BAD THINGS* may happen when (not if) someone finds out the way > Patrick voted. (I'm probably preaching to the choir here.) > As to running the systmes in parallel, well, if someone was determined > to undermine the system (hack it), and knew that it would be running > in parallel for some length of time, then they would not hack it until > the the parallel running was suspended, would they not? > > Security, accuracy, and convenience may well be at the extreme points > of a triangle and the resultant solution will be to compromise all > three (a little, hopefully), in order to come up with a workable > system. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But there are already people who know > if you voted, and to the extent that they need to know, how you > voted. What do you feel government agencies like the Board of Election > Commissioners (to use the Chicago name) are for, if not to try and > govern and manage elections and have some honesty behind them? Aside > from being sworn to absolute secrecy (even to the extent of no office > gossiping) with *severe* penalties for violating that trust (losing > their job and their source of monthly welfare would be a total > disaster for most of them, to say nothing about *maybe* going to > jail); most public servants -- or do you pronounce it serpents? -- > find elections and the results to be a terrible bore. They've got > their jobs and could really care less what you think of the higher ups > you voted for. Nah, I would not worry that a handful of public > servants knew how I voted if their job duties required it. And if the > *Chicago Democratic machine* runs a relatively honest Board of > Election Commissioners (not talking now about individual judges or the > candidates, etc) then almost anywhere does. PAT] Patrick, you may have missed my point. It is one thing to have the board of elections folks know how you voted, it is quite another thing, in my mind, to have any random "hacker" know how you voted. Maybe I'm too paranoid, but my parents escaped from a communist country where your ballot was "inspected" before being cast. I consider the concept of "secret ballot" as one of the great strengths of true democratic systems because of that. How would YOU feel if your local sherrif made a call on you and said "I notice you didn't vote for me, Pat. I'm disappointed in you."? Or if the union steward mentioned that you didn't vote for candidate the union had endorsed? Or your employer did the same thing, if you were non-union? As far as I am concerned, the current level of so-called security in these computerized voting systems is sorely lacking. In a paper system, one can (however painfully) take the anonymous ballots and retally them. There is a "paper trail" which does not reveal the voter's identity but can be used to verify the accuracy of the count. Certainly, one can claim to be a person whose name you got from a gravestone in the local cemetary and cast a false ballot (Definition of Chicago voting: "Vote early and often!") With computerized systems, there are many more places where fraud can be introduced, including the hacker who changes the totals in a disk file without leaving any trail of his/her actions. To avoid this, there should be a way of independently recreating the tally. How? If the system keeps a trail of how everyone voted, then that same hacker could copy that set of files to his/her machine and decipher that information and you may well be into the scenarios I mentioned above. "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious" - A. Bloch [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Probably everyone's background detirmines how they come down on this issue. Your parents coming from a communist country had every reason to be concerned. But remember, people in Chicago, with the 'vote early and often' mentality also have good reasons to be leary of the old combination paper and electromechanical system and the mounds of fraud that go on with that. I was a polling place observer in Chicago for several years, beginning back in the 1960's when one of the poll-watchers' jobs was to make certain that black and other minority people were allowed to vote. The judges of election were forever playing games, and precinct captains (invariably Democratic) were always driving chartered busses to the polling places full of old (white) people from the nursing homes and *escorting them into the little booths to 'help them' cast the right votes, etc.* You could object all you wanted to as a polling place watcher, they did not care; when the precinct captain sassed at you and said he was going to stand there anyway, and glare at you, maybe you got some help from the Republican judge -- if there was a Republican judge there -- they were in such short supply many times the Board had to recruit excess Democratic judges from precincts where there were too many and deputize them to be a *Republican* judge in that one instance for that one day only. And in the 1960's they would not even let a poll watcher in to observe if he seemed to be in sympathy with Martin Luther King, especially after the Democrats had their riot at the 1968 convention. I and many others got gassed and beaten up by the Chicago Police in that sordid affair. Maybe that tear gas is what affected my brain desease so badly now, eh? So, for about 40 years I kept praying and hoping for a day when computers would be used to decide all elections in an impartial way. Now you see where I am coming from, and I see where you are at also. The Board of Election Commissioners in Chicago at least never hesitates these days to fire any employee who screws around with the election or violates their trust, etc. Sadly, it was not always that way. PAT] ------------------------------ From: CAUGHLIN, WILLIAM D (SBCSI) Subject: New Book: Photographic History of Ameritech Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 10:54:10 -0600 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A repeat of an earlier message from a previous issue, in case you missed seeing it earlier. I don't mean to be a bore on this. PAT] Dear Pat: I would be delighted to send you a copy of the book that I co-authored in 1999. It is nearly 4-1/2 years old, but has never been reviewed. I am copying Ilana Pergam (now at the Leo Burnett Archives in Chicago), who was a co-author, too. Sincerely, Bill William D. Caughlin Corporate Archivist SBC Communications Inc. Archives and History Center 7990 IH-10 West, Floor 1 San Antonio, Texas 78230 Tel: (210) 524-6192 Fax: (210) 321-5577 E-mail: wc2942@sbc.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: See the coupon in issue 64 to order this book from the publisher, SBC Services, Inc. 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'. 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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 #65 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Feb 10 16:46:57 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i1ALkvZ01644; Tue, 10 Feb 2004 16:46:57 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 16:46:57 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402102146.i1ALkvZ01644@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 #66 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Feb 2004 16:47:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 66 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: NEC and Centigram Help From www.ProMemoInc.com (Centigramparts.com) Re: Building a Voice-Driven Application (Lynn) Re: Building a Voice Driven Application (Nick Landsberg) VoIP Behind D-Link DI-614+ (Brent) Int Journal of Info Technology & Decision Making - Vol 2 No 4 (YH Khoo) Wireline Switch and IS-41 (Mehul) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Fred R. Goldstein) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Dave Anderson) Last Laugh! Re: IDT America Unlimited - Pros/Cons? (Gary Breuckman) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: rlawrence@promemoinc.com (Centigramparts.com) Subject: Re: NEC and Centigram Help From www.ProMemoInc.com Date: 9 Feb 2004 17:40:56 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: One of our newer contributors here in the Digest has sent along a rather lengthy file which is a configur- ation for voicemail equipment. It is quite long, but might be very useful to some people. PAT] tvargas@networld.com (Tvargas) wrote in message news:: > Has anyone ever integrated a NEC 2000 IVS system to a Centigram Model > 70 Voicemail system? If so, how was your template configured? Regarding your Centigram Model 70 system and the NEC 2000 IVS. I understand you are curious to see how the template was configured. I can help ... We have experience integrating to EVERY PBX with EVERY LEVEL of Centigram Equipment. We have over 21 years behind us and we're ready for another 21 years ahead. We even stock parts for ALL the Centigram systems ever made since 1983. So if you need a power supply or hard drive, or even just a single software diskette (even in 5 1/4"), we can help. ALSO, in one week, we will have the complete technical manual Release 7.0 available for viewing and downloading, at no extra charge to you. www.centigramparts.com www.baypointinnovations.com www.promemoinc.com THIS IS QUITE LONG and I would be happy to email it directly to you or anyone, just let me know... >>> www.promemoinc.com <<< >>> www.centigramparts.com <<< >>> www.baypointinnovations.com <<< SYSTEM CONFIGURATION Mon Feb 9 14:29:44 2004 VOICEMEMO SYSTEM CONFIGURATION Group #1: "NEC 2400" Module 1: Lines 9:0 9:1 9:2 9:3 9:4 9:5 9:6 9:7 9:8 9:9 9:10 9:11 9:12 9:13 9:14 9:15 9:16 9:17 9:18 9:19 9:20 9:21 9:22 9:23 12:0 12:1 12:2 12:3 12:4 12:5 12:6 12:7 12:8 12:9 12:10 12:11 12:12 12:13 12:14 12:15 12:16 12:17 12:18 12:19 12:20 12:21 12:22 12:23 Fax Conn: Fax Group 1 (4 channels serving 48 lines) Voice Recognition Conn: Module 2: Lines 9:0 9:1 9:2 9:3 9:4 9:5 9:6 9:7 9:8 9:9 9:10 9:11 9:12 9:13 9:14 9:15 9:16 9:17 9:18 9:19 9:20 9:21 9:22 9:23 12:0 12:1 12:2 12:3 12:4 12:5 12:6 12:7 12:8 12:9 12:10 12:11 12:12 12:13 12:14 12:15 12:16 12:17 12:18 12:19 12:20 12:21 12:22 12:23 Fax Conn: Fax Group 2 (4 channels serving 48 lines) Voice Recognition Conn: Module 3: Lines 9:0 9:1 9:2 9:3 9:4 9:5 9:6 9:7 9:8 9:9 9:10 9:11 9:12 9:13 9:14 9:15 9:16 9:17 9:18 9:19 9:20 9:21 9:22 9:23 12:0 12:1 12:2 12:3 12:4 12:5 12:6 12:7 12:8 12:9 12:10 12:11 12:12 12:13 12:14 12:15 12:16 12:17 12:18 12:19 12:20 12:21 12:22 12:23 Fax Conn: Voice Recognition Conn: Application = [NEC 2400] Call Agent Interface Dial plan = [1,5,A,5,5,V,5,5,5] Star Prefix Dplan, Dial By Name = [3] Administrator mbox # = [99998] General Greeting mbox # = [] Attendant mbox # = [99999] Transfer Call Box # = [] Wait Prompt = [Y] Caller multiple messages enabled = [Y] KEY_0 for attendant transfer during greeting = [Y] Disconnect string = [] Pre-company name string = [] Pre-mailbox greeting string = [] Passcode Length Min = [4], Max = [10], Language = [English] "6" Key Operator Transfer Dial String = [] "6" Key Operator Transfer pre-Dial String = [] Start of day = [08:00 AM], End of day = [05:00 PM], Days of Week = [DDDDDNN] Passcode trip count = [5], Passcode trip period = [24] Dial-by-name: Last First = [Y], Match Threshold = [3], Exact = [Y] Suppress Number = [N], Single Digit Access = [N] Delay Before Answer = [50] E-mail Transfer String = [] Allow Dial an Extension for callers = [Y], users = [Y] Analog Networking: Call Setup timeout = [6] International Access Code = [], Country code = [] Area/City code = [], 1plus dialing = [] Area/City code is dialed with Local Telephone Number = [N] Telephone number = [], Loop-back Test Mailbox = [] Name Greet Quality = [18], Message Quality = [18] Serial Port $cti1 Attendant's extension = [] Pre DN or attendant xfer string = [S+] NEC 2400 STATIONS : [0025296(1:09:00), 0025297(1:09:01), 0025298(1:09:02), 0025299(1:09:03)] [0025300(1:09:04), 0025301(1:09:05), 0025302(1:09:06), 0025303(1:09:07)] [0025304(1:09:08), 0025305(1:09:09), 0025306(1:09:10), 0025307(1:09:11)] [0025308(1:09:12), 0025309(1:09:13), 0025310(1:09:14), 0025311(1:09:15)] [0025312(1:09:16), 0025313(1:09:17), 0025314(1:09:18), 0025315(1:09:19)] [0025316(1:09:20), 0025317(1:09:21), 0025318(1:09:22), 0025319(1:09:23)] [0025320(1:12:00), 0025321(1:12:01), 0025322(1:12:02), 0025323(1:12:03)] [0025324(1:12:04), 0025325(1:12:05), 0025326(1:12:06), 0025327(1:12:07)] [0025328(1:12:08), 0025329(1:12:09), 0025330(1:12:10), 0025331(1:12:11)] [0025332(1:12:12), 0025333(1:12:13), 0025334(1:12:14), 0025335(1:12:15)] [0025336(1:12:16), 0025337(1:12:17), 0025338(1:12:18), 0025339(1:12:19)] [0025340(1:12:20), 0025341(1:12:21), 0025342(1:12:22), 0025343(1:12:23)] [0025248(2:09:00), 0025249(2:09:01), 0025250(2:09:02), 0025251(2:09:03)] [0025252(2:09:04), 0025253(2:09:05), 0025254(2:09:06), 0025255(2:09:07)] [0025256(2:09:08), 0025257(2:09:09), 0025258(2:09:10), 0025259(2:09:11)] [0025260(2:09:12), 0025261(2:09:13), 0025262(2:09:14), 0025263(2:09:15)] [0025264(2:09:16), 0025265(2:09:17), 0025266(2:09:18), 0025267(2:09:19)] [0025268(2:09:20), 0025269(2:09:21), 0025270(2:09:22), 0025271(2:09:23)] [0025272(2:12:00), 0025273(2:12:01), 0025274(2:12:02), 0025275(2:12:03)] [0025276(2:12:04), 0025277(2:12:05), 0025278(2:12:06), 0025279(2:12:07)] [0025280(2:12:08), 0025281(2:12:09), 0025282(2:12:10), 0025283(2:12:11)] [0025284(2:12:12), 0025285(2:12:13), 0025286(2:12:14), 0025287(2:12:15)] [0025288(2:12:16), 0025289(2:12:17), 0025290(2:12:18), 0025291(2:12:19)] [0025292(2:12:20), 0025293(2:12:21), 0025294(2:12:22), 0025295(2:12:23)] [0075005(3:09:00), 0025200(3:09:01), 0025201(3:09:02), 0025202(3:09:03)] [0025203(3:09:04), 0025204(3:09:05), 0025205(3:09:06), 0025206(3:09:07)] [0025207(3:09:08), 0025208(3:09:09), 0025209(3:09:10), 0025210(3:09:11)] [0025211(3:09:12), 0025212(3:09:13), 0025213(3:09:14), 0025214(3:09:15)] [0025216(3:09:16), 0025217(3:09:17), 0025218(3:09:18), 0025219(3:09:19)] [0025220(3:09:20), 0025221(3:09:21), 0025222(3:09:22), 0025223(3:09:23)] [0025224(3:12:00), 0025225(3:12:01), 0025226(3:12:02), 0025227(3:12:03)] [0025228(3:12:04), 0025229(3:12:05), 0025230(3:12:06), 0025231(3:12:07)] [0025232(3:12:08), 0025233(3:12:09), 0025234(3:12:10), 0025235(3:12:11)] [0025236(3:12:12), 0025237(3:12:13), 0025238(3:12:14), 0025239(3:12:15)] [0025240(3:12:16), 0025241(3:12:17), 0025242(3:12:18), 0025243(3:12:19)] [0025244(3:12:20), 0025245(3:12:21), 0025246(3:12:22), 0025247(3:12:23)] NAME: NEC2400 DESCRIPTION: Template for NEC-2400 Feature-2 ETI with XON/XOFF Installation Date: Tue Feb 2 10:56:34 1999 Last Modify Date: Mon Apr 19 11:16:10 1999 T1: "/B0!J", , Next: 2 3 4 Comment: Packet header T2: "0" X2 p5 " ", , Next: 5 6 7 8 9 10 Comment: VM message T3: X11 "39" X19, S, Next: Comment: XON, suspend sending MWI, ignore the reset of the packet T4: X11 "66" X19, T, Next: Comment: XOFF, resume sending MWI, ignore the reset of the packet T5: "40", zV3, Next: 11 12 13 Comment: Ring No Answer call T6: "41", zV4, Next: 11 12 13 Comment: Busy No Answer call T7: "42", zV2, Next: 11 12 13 Comment: All call T8: "43", zV1, Next: 12 13 17 Comment: Direct call T9: "44", zV5, Next: 11 12 13 Comment: Attendant call T10: "45", zV5, Next: 11 12 13 Comment: Outsider call T11: "0" X2 s5 " ", , Next: 14 15 16 Comment: Get calling ext. T12: "2" X2 X6, , Next: 14 15 16 Comment: Calling ext. is a trunk, ignore ext. T13: "1" X8, , Next: 14 15 16 Comment: Calling ext. is an attendant, ignore it T14: "0" X2 d5 " /C", Z, Next: Comment: Get called ext. T15: "1" X8 "/C", Z, Next: Comment: Called ext. is an attendant, ignore ext. T16: "2" X8 "/C", Z, Next: Comment: Called ext. is a trunk, ignore ext. T17: "0" X2 d5 " ", , Next: 15 16 18 Comment: Get calling ext. for direct call T18: "0" X2 s5 " /C", Z, Next: Comment: Get called ext. for direct call MWI ON: "/B0!B2" m5 " 01/C" MWI OFF: "/B0!B6" m5 " 01/C" Link Alive: Extra 1: P " " Extra 2: Group #2: "OUTCALL PAGING by www.promemoinc.com" Module 1: Lines 13:0 13:1 13:2 Fax Conn: Voice Recognition Conn: Application = [PAGER DIALER] Dial plan = [3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3] Administrator mbox # = [998] General Greeting mbox # = [] Attendant mbox # = [999] Wait Prompt = [Y] Caller multiple messages enabled = [Y] KEY_0 for attendant transfer during greeting = [N] Disconnect string = [] Pre-company name string = [] Pre-mailbox greeting string = [] Passcode Length Min = [4], Max = [10], Language = [English] "6" Key Operator Transfer Dial String = [] "6" Key Operator Transfer pre-Dial String = [] Start of day = [08:00 AM], End of day = [05:00 PM], Days of Week = [DDDDDNN] Passcode trip count = [5], Passcode trip period = [24] Dial-by-name: Last First = [Y], Match Threshold = [3], Exact = [Y] Suppress Number = [N], Single Digit Access = [N] Delay Before Answer = [50] E-mail Transfer String = [] Allow Dial an Extension for callers = [N], users = [N] Analog Networking: Call Setup timeout = [6] International Access Code = [], Country code = [] Area/City code = [], 1plus dialing = [] Area/City code is dialed with Local Telephone Number = [N] Telephone number = [], Loop-back Test Mailbox = [] Name Greet Quality = [], Message Quality = [] Attendant's extension = [0] Pre DN or attendant xfer string = [S+] Supports pager systems: [0] = "PROMEMOINC.COM PAGING" [1] = [2] = [3] = [4] = [5] = [6] = [7] = [8] = [9] = [10] = [11] = [12] = [13] = [14] = [15] = Group #3: "CALL AGENT" --No lines assigned Application = [NEC 2400] Call Agent Interface Dial plan = [3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3] Administrator mbox # = [998] General Greeting mbox # = [] Attendant mbox # = [999] Transfer Call Box # = [] Wait Prompt = [Y] Caller multiple messages enabled = [Y] KEY_0 for attendant transfer during greeting = [N] Disconnect string = [] Pre-company name string = [] Pre-mailbox greeting string = [] Passcode Length Min = [4], Max = [10], Language = [English] "6" Key Operator Transfer Dial String = [] "6" Key Operator Transfer pre-Dial String = [] Start of day = [08:00 AM], End of day = [05:00 PM], Days of Week = [DDDDDNN] Passcode trip count = [5], Passcode trip period = [24] Dial-by-name: Last First = [Y], Match Threshold = [3], Exact = [Y] Suppress Number = [N], Single Digit Access = [N] Delay Before Answer = [50] E-mail Transfer String = [] Allow Dial an Extension for callers = [N], users = [N] Analog Networking: Call Setup timeout = [6] International Access Code = [], Country code = [] Area/City code = [], 1plus dialing = [] Area/City code is dialed with Local Telephone Number = [N] Telephone number = [], Loop-back Test Mailbox = [] Name Greet Quality = [], Message Quality = [] No serial port selected, Application Disabled Attendant's extension = [0] Pre DN or attendant xfer string = [S+] NAME: NEC2400 DESCRIPTION: Template for NEC-2400 Feature-2 ETI with XON/XOFF Installation Date: Tue Feb 2 10:56:34 1999 Last Modify Date: Mon Apr 19 11:16:10 1999 T1: "/B0!J", , Next: 2 3 4 Comment: Packet header T2: "0" X2 p5 " ", , Next: 5 6 7 8 9 10 Comment: VM message T3: X11 "39" X19, S, Next: Comment: XON, suspend sending MWI, ignore the reset of the packet T4: X11 "66" X19, T, Next: Comment: XOFF, resume sending MWI, ignore the reset of the packet T5: "40", zV3, Next: 11 12 13 Comment: Ring No Answer call T6: "41", zV4, Next: 11 12 13 Comment: Busy No Answer call T7: "42", zV2, Next: 11 12 13 Comment: All call T8: "43", zV1, Next: 12 13 17 Comment: Direct call T9: "44", zV5, Next: 11 12 13 Comment: Attendant call T10: "45", zV5, Next: 11 12 13 Comment: Outsider call T11: "0" X2 s5 " ", , Next: 14 15 16 Comment: Get calling ext. T12: "2" X2 X6, , Next: 14 15 16 Comment: Calling ext. is a trunk, ignore ext. T13: "1" X8, , Next: 14 15 16 Comment: Calling ext. is an attendant, ignore it T14: "0" X2 d5 " /C", Z, Next: Comment: Get called ext. T15: "1" X8 "/C", Z, Next: Comment: Called ext. is an attendant, ignore ext. T16: "2" X8 "/C", Z, Next: Comment: Called ext. is a trunk, ignore ext. T17: "0" X2 d5 " ", , Next: 15 16 18 Comment: Get calling ext. for direct call T18: "0" X2 s5 " /C", Z, Next: Comment: Get called ext. for direct call MWI ON: "/B0!B2" m5 " 01/C" MWI OFF: "/B0!B6" m5 " 01/C" Link Alive: Extra 1: P " " Extra 2: Group #4: "TEST T1" --No lines assigned Application = [VOICEMEMO FROM PROMEMO] Dial plan = [3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3] Administrator mbox # = [998] General Greeting mbox # = [] Attendant mbox # = [999] Wait Prompt = [Y] Caller multiple messages enabled = [Y] KEY_0 for attendant transfer during greeting = [N] Disconnect string = [] Pre-company name string = [] Pre-mailbox greeting string = [] Passcode Length Min = [4], Max = [10], Language = [English] "6" Key Operator Transfer Dial String = [] "6" Key Operator Transfer pre-Dial String = [] Start of day = [08:00 AM], End of day = [05:00 PM], Days of Week = [DDDDDNN] Passcode trip count = [5], Passcode trip period = [24] Dial-by-name: Last First = [Y], Match Threshold = [3], Exact = [Y] Suppress Number = [N], Single Digit Access = [N] Delay Before Answer = [50] E-mail Transfer String = [] Allow Dial an Extension for callers = [N], users = [N] Analog Networking: Call Setup timeout = [6] International Access Code = [], Country code = [] Area/City code = [], 1plus dialing = [] Area/City code is dialed with Local Telephone Number = [N] Telephone number = [], Loop-back Test Mailbox = [] Name Greet Quality = [], Message Quality = [] Attendant's extension = [0] Pre DN or attendant xfer string = [S+] Group #99: www.promemoinc.com www.baypointinnovations.com www.centigramparts.com End of Group Info Pager Systems: Pager System [0], Pager Name = "ProMemoInc PAGING" Access code = [T], Hold time = [20] SO Tag string = [CSOIO-I] SO Release = [VM6.00] SOIO Continuous Integration = DISABLED TCP/IP System Wide Host Configuration ------------------------------------- Domain name: www.promemoinc.com H C M S o a o l N s r d o e t d e t t IP Address Host Name Port Irq Vendor --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 1 P 0 3 XXX.XXX.X.X vmc640 0280 10 ALTA #1 Host Card Gateway Address Subnet Mask Broadcast Address --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 1 XXX.XXX.X.X XXX.XXX.XXX.X SERIAL CARD TABLE host card port name card type owner intr addr 1 1 $cti1 DigiBoard Xe NEC 2400 N/A 320 1 1 $cti2 DigiBoard Xe EMPTY N/A 320 1 1 $cti3 DigiBoard Xe EMPTY N/A 320 1 1 $cti4 DigiBoard Xe EMPTY N/A 320 2 1 $cti1 DigiBoard Xe EMPTY N/A 320 2 1 $cti2 DigiBoard Xe EMPTY N/A 320 The following optional features are enabled: NEC NEAX 2400 Receptionist MESA Forms FaxMemo Call Detail Recorder Continuous System Operation Unified TCP/IP Call Agent Disk Redundancy Zip Drive Prompt Language Configuration: English This was on a Model 640 with 6.0D software, using a T1 Card. We have EVERYTHING for EVERY MODEL, WITH AN UNHEARD OF 18 MONTH WARRANTY ON REFURBISHED PARTS OR SYSTEMS. My name is RonL. ------------------------------ From: Lynn Subject: Re: Building a Voice-Driven Application Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 01:29:12 GMT This question may be off topic but ... I've been getting strange calls (sometimes in the middle of the night) from a number that requires the caller to enter a pin. Which carriers provide these types of phone numbers? The number is 646-539-9007. Thank you for your attention. Alex Smith wrote in message news:telecom23.62.4@telecom-digest.org: > Hello all, > I am venturing into the telephony world and even though I have briefly > dealt with CTI and H.323, I am still a newbie. I'd like to build an > application that would allow me to buy apples from several grocery > stores. (This is a hypothetical but representative example, please > bear with me). I want to place a telephone call to a number, enter my > pin, navigate through some voice prompts that will allow me to select > a particular grocery store, then select a variety of apples and enter > the amount of apples (weight) I'd like to buy using the phone keypad. > Finally I would also like to leave voice instructions for the grocer > on how to pack my apples (paper or plastic). The app would "look me > up" using my pin number and store the packing instructions as a > soundbyte along with the other order parameters in a database. > From a high-level architectural perspective, what hardware and > software components would make up my stack? For the sake of the > example, assume small volume (personal use). I am looking for > high-level architecture rather than product names even though Open > Source/GNU/etc suggestions are welcome. > My limited understanding tells me I need a CTI server. Do I need a > PBX? Other components? If I want to parse the voice instructions (i.e. > speech recognition) in order to extract "paper" or "plastic", how > doable is that? > Any URLs or books that go from slow to complex with architectural > examples are appreciated. > Alex Smith > Insight LLC ------------------------------ From: Nick Landsberg Subject: Re: Building a Voice Driven Application Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 13:10:56 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet Charles B. Wilber wrote: > Nick, > Did you possibly mean to write "press or say" instead of "speak or > say?" I don't see the difference between "speaking" and "saying" > something. > Charlie Wilber > Dartmouth College > Nick Landsberg wrote: >> "Please speak or say 1 for Granny Smith apples, speak or say 2 for >> Macintosh apples..." or alternatively ask for the name of the >> particular apples they were interested in, in which case you would >> have to program the words "Granny Smith" and "Macintosh" into the ASR >> grammar". Yes, I meant to say that. ::chagrin:: "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious" - A. Bloch ------------------------------ From: qubit@mail.com (Brent) Subject: VoIP Behind D-Link DI-614+ Date: 9 Feb 2004 18:14:15 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I am trying to use Xten Lite with the FreeWorld Dialup service. I cannot get the D-Link configured properly to let communications to occur between the FWD server and the Softphone. Has anyone managed to configure the D-Link DI-614+ router to allow a SIP based VoIP phone to function with the outside Internet? Please let me know what settings were used, such as port forwarding, range forwarding, etc. Thanks. -Br- ------------------------------ From: announce@wspc.com.sg (YH Khoo) Subject: Int Journal of Info Technology & Decision Making - Vol 2 No 4 Date: 9 Feb 2004 22:05:31 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making Vol. 2, No. 4 (December 2003) View table-of-contents and abstracts at http://www.worldscinet.com/ijitdm.html Contents: Telecommunications Theories, Management, Development, Practices, And Applications In Information Technology: Issues And Analysis Bahador Ghahramani And Zixiang Tan Didero 3G A Strategic Network Planning Tool For 3G Mobile Networks Klaus D. Hackbarth and J. Antonio Portilla A Hybrid Bayesian Network-Based Multi-Agent System And A Distributed Systems Architecture For The Drug Crime Knowledge Management Parag C. Pendharkar and Rahul Bhaskar The Evolution Of Strategies And Organizational Competencies In The Telecommunications Industry Afonso Fleury And Maria Teresza Fleury A Grasp Heuristic For Solving An Extended Capacitated Concentrator Location Problem Bernard T. Han and V. T. Raja Bandwidth Allocation In Multicast Trees With Qos Constraints M. Kodialam and V. Venkateswaran Bandwidth Allocation In A Wireless Broadcast System Aslihan Celik, Steve Nahmias And Rhonda Righter Leveraging IP For Business Success P. K. Eswaran, S. Prakash, David D. Ferguson and Kathleen Naasz Safety-Critical Wide Area Network Performance Evaluation Tuncay Bayrak and Martha R. Grabowski A Low-Cost Embedded System For Internet Based Power Measurement M. Yeary, J. Sweeney, B. Swan and C. Culp A Comparison Of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (Atm) And High Speed Ethernet: The Network Design Implications To A Business Organization Dennis Guster, Changsoo Sohn, Paul Safonov And David Robinson A Telecommunication's Lean Management Information System For The Utility Industry Bahador Ghahramani Acknowledgement To Reviewers Subject Index Author Index Volume 2 (2003) For more information, go to http://www.worldscinet.com/ijitdm.html ------------------------------ From: msraval@rediffmail.com (Mehul) Subject: Wireline Switch and IS-41 Date: 10 Feb 2004 02:44:25 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Why cannot landline switches be intelligent enough to use IS-41? In such a scenario, Wireline switch will be able to terminate the call to mobile subscriber by directly giving the call to correct MSC. I request to comment you all on this issue. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2004 23:41:30 -0500 From: Fred R. Goldstein Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" Pat, Nobody who supports a paper trail in voting machines (voter verified) wants the ballots to be personally identifiable. The ideal machine would print the ballot, allow the voter to see (but not take) it, and then, presuming the voter did not see a discrepancy, put it into a box. No name or anything on the ballot, just a small printout in a ballot box. The box would be opened in case of recount. Brazil used some of these machines. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,61654-2,00.html?tw=wn_story_page_next1 Some of these machines had the printers, though others didn't; the machines were cheap (no touch screen held down the cost) though printers added to the cost. Certainly it can be done. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 15:40:33 EST From: Dave Anderson Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" Dave Close wrote: > The problem with the proposed military system and many other net > voting schemes is that there is no auditability. No one, not even a > computer, can detect and prove a fraud without that ability. Voting > via the Net may happen, but many of us won't support it until there is > a method for conducting an audit. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But what I said was about the same > thing: Run the new system in parallel with the old system *at least* > for one cycle using the usual audit procedures on the paper system > to validate the computer system. And if turning the whole thing loose > on the general public is too difficult at first, then overseas > military would make a good subset to practice on. PAT] Running a new system in parallel with the old one doesn't address the basic problem, which is that it is intrinsicly impossible to reliably detect manipulation of an election (let alone determine the correct result) unless one can refer to a copy of each vote which was verified by the voter and has not been tampered with. Obviously, it's not likely that this can be done perfectly in practice -- but it's not hard to do it well enough to make it extremely likely that significant fraud will be caught and the correct result determined. But you have to design in auditability from the very beginning, which is what so many of the electronic voting schemes do not do (in fact, many of them design in prevention of auditing). An example of how to do this right, as far as I can tell, is the new voting system (installed less than a year ago) where I live: the ballot is a piece of paper with spaces to mark to indicate votes which the voter fills out and then inserts face-down into a ballot box which includes a scanner. The election officials verify that each registered voter votes at most once, but they never see the actual votes. The voter has verified that the paper ballot correctly indicates his vote, since he filled it out (well, if it's not a "butterfly" ballot). The scanner counts the votes as the ballots are inserted, and so provides the "instant gratification" that so many people demand, but the original paper ballot is preserved and can be examined if there is a recount. Dave Anderson [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They do something like that here in our town. People in this 'ward' of the city of Independence go to vote at the 900 East Poplar Street Building. (a senior citizen center in half of the building; the local nursery school/Head Start program in the other half.) We do not have any problems of electioneering there; the politicians stay away. The judge of election has us sign the register book; the printout is checked against our name and address then we are given a large ballot and a 'special pencil' to use. We have to CAREFULLY shade the boxes for each desired candidate, taking care not to mark the ballot otherwise or outside the designated marking area for each candidate. When finished, we slip our ballot into a sort of metal container which hides what we have marked, and give it to another judge who stands next to the scanning machine. She takes a quick (all of two seconds) look to make sure the boxes were shaded in correctly and puts the ballot in upside down into this thing, which grabs it by the edge of the paper and gobbles it and apparently reads the special marks we made and prints a little piece of paper which says 'thank you for voting, examine this closely for errors, etc' with the time and date, and the polling place location. It looks sort of like the little reciept you get from an ATM machine after your cash comes out, but no screen to look at. The judge lady there tells you to take the paper and when you do she puts a little sticker with a message on it saying 'proud to live in Independence and be a voter' with an American flag design on it (our town's logo) on your shirt or jacket. Some kind of sticky thing which you wear. Then you take your 'receipt' and are asked to leave the area. Of course we do not have nearly the volume of voters found in a major metropolis, but it seems to work fine here. We have to return the 'special pencils' before we leave. (They appear to be thick things with soft, black lead which color in the various boxes nicely, and we are told NOT to use our own pens or pencils. We vote for federal, state and local matters, four council members, we confirm the continued employment of the city manager, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Gary Breuckman Subject: Last Laugh! Re: IDT America Unlimited - Pros/Cons? Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2004 22:43:55 -0600 Organization: Puma's Lair - catbox.com In article , TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Zebra saying: >> IDT America Unlimited offers the following for $39.95 ($40) a month: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Our local telco here in Independence, KS > called 'Prairie Stream Communications' offers basically the same package > for $29.95 per month. The main difference is instead of 'unlimited > regional' and 'unlimited long distance' they have those two merged into > 'long distance'. In addition to unlimited local, Prairie Stream allows > 100 minutes (an hour plus 20 minutes) of 'long distance' in the package. > Additional minutes are two cents each. Does IDT allow you to port or > keep your local number? Is this the same IDT that used to do TV > commercials saying long distance is only five cents per minute if you > dialed their 1010 code? PAT] So Pat, how many minutes does Prairie Stream give you in an hour?? -- Gary [TELECOM Digest Editor Note: Glaring at Gary indignantly, for his impertinence: Oh, the number of minutes in a Prairie Stream hour ... Well, they go by the telecom digest Universal Coordinated Standard ... 80 minutes per hour, and they then throw in another 20 minutes. A clock for people whose lives have been lived in slow motion since they through God's Grace (or maybe God's Damnation as I feel most days) were 'spared' from a brain aneurysm, to 'live' another day, if you call what I do these days 'living'. My brain acted out once again, please excuse me for trying to think and calculate for myself. 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 #66 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Feb 10 20:28:27 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i1B1SRl02974; Tue, 10 Feb 2004 20:28:27 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 20:28:27 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402110128.i1B1SRl02974@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 #67 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Feb 2004 20:28:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 67 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson TiVo Wins Patent Infringement Suit (Monty Solomon) PalmSource Develops New Handheld Strategy (Monty Solomon) Verizon / Samsung SCH-a610 Digital Camera Phone (Monty Solomon) 'Mydoom' Creators Start Up 'Doomjuice' (Monty Solomon) Microsoft Warns of Widespread Windows Flaw (Monty Solomon) Satellite, Cable Operators Get Ready to Raise Rates (Monty Solomon) Disney to Speed Digital Content Delivery (Monty Solomon) Usage and Maintenance Usage in Nortel and Motorola Switches (Bush) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. (Justin Time) Computer Phone Conferencing, Give me a Dial Tone! (Chas) Nokia Cellphones Vulnerable to SNARF Attack via Bluetooth (John Bartley) Re: "Out of Area" Caller ID Law (J Kelly) Voicemail Notify Signal Has Disappeared? (+1 3 0 3 5 4 3 2 3 1 1) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Thomas A. Horsley) Mrs. Stevens Had to go to the Hospital (TELECOM Digest Editor) 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: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 19:57:22 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo Wins Patent Infringement Dispute SAN JOSE, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO), the pioneer in digital video recording (DVR) services, today announced it has obtained a favorable summary judgment ruling in the case filed against the Company in 2001 by Pause Technology LLC. United States District Judge Patti Saris of the District of Massachusetts has ruled that TiVo does not infringe Pause's patent, and accordingly has ordered that judgment be entered in favor of TiVo. TiVo plans to file a motion seeking an Order declaring this an "exceptional case," and requiring Pause to pay all of TiVo's attorneys' fees and costs. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 11:30:37 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: PalmSource Develops New Handheld Strategy By MAY WONG AP Technology Writer SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- PalmSource Inc., a maker of operating systems for handheld computers, is shifting gears as the market for so-called smartphones grows and the one for simpler personal digital assistants shrinks. The company's new strategy, to focus more on devices that handle both voice and data communications _ as rivals Nokia Corp. and Microsoft Corp. have already done _ was being unveiled at its developer conference here Tuesday. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40498348 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 11:41:19 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon / Samsung SCH-a610 Digital Camera Phone The SCH-a610 From Samsung Offers Unique Design and Flash Photography BEDMINSTER, N.J. and DALLAS, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless, operator of the nation's largest and most reliable wireless network, and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung), a wireless leader known for its award-winning product designs and advanced technology, today introduced the SCH-a610, an innovative digital camera phone featuring Verizon Wireless' Get It Now(R) service and Samsung's patented rotating screen design. Available exclusively from Verizon Wireless, the SCH-a610 brings consumers a total digital solution for voice, data and advanced imaging with an emphasis on performance and design. Picture Messaging service through Get It Now from Verizon Wireless makes taking and sending photos with the SCH-a610 as easy as 1-2-3; simply shoot the photo, enter a Verizon Wireless number or e-mail address, and send. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40502630 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 17:11:04 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: 'Mydoom' Creators Start Up 'Doomjuice' By MATTI HUUHTANEN Associated Press Writer HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- Finnish computer security experts warned Tuesday of a new worm, known as "Doomjuice," that is expected to attack computers infected by "Mydoom," despite the fact it's programmed to stop spreading later this week. The virus, first detected by F-Secure on Monday night, has so far infected at least 30,000 computers worldwide since it was activated Sunday, said the company's director of antivirus research, Mikko Hypponen. Like Mydoom.A and Mydoom.B, the new worm is designed to strike Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating systems and is programmed to launch a worldwide attack on the web site of SCO, one of the largest UNIX vendors in the world. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40507941 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 17:43:55 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Microsoft Warns of Widespread Windows Flaw By Robert Lemos Staff Writer, CNET News.com Microsoft has a message for Windows users: Patch your computers quickly. On Tuesday, the software giant released a fix for a networking flaw that affects every computer running Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. If left unpatched, the security hole could allow a worm to spread quickly throughout the Internet, causing an incident similar to the MSBlast attack last summer. http://news.com.com/2100-7355-5156647.html What You Should Know About the Windows Security Updates for February 2004 http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/20040210_windows.asp Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-007 ASN.1 Vulnerability Could Allow Code Execution (828028) http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS04-007.asp Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-006 Vulnerability in the Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) Could Allow Code Execution (830352) http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS04-006.asp Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-004 Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (832894) http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS04-004.asp [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Always take much caution when clicking on any email link you see discussing Microsoft bug fixes, even this one. Far better and safer to bring up a fresh browser window and enter the address for updates directly at Microsoft. But this upate is very important. Please go get it ASAP. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 19:02:15 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Satellite, Cable Operators Get Ready to Raise Rates By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY NEW YORK - So much for predictions Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. (NWS) would start a cable/satellite TV industry price war after taking over DirecTV, the top U.S. satellite service at 12 million subscribers. The service plans to boost average rates by more than 3% starting March 1 -- an increase "tied to the increasing escalation of programming costs," says Steve Cox, executive vice president of sales, distribution and customer acquisition. The new prices will range from $36.99 a month for basic service with 125 channels to $90.99 for the "premier" package with 210 channels and free TiVo service. The increase is the fourth in 10 years, but the last, 3.3%, came in March. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-02-09-directv_x.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 19:18:53 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Disney to Speed Digital Content Delivery By GARY GENTILE AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Walt Disney Co. and Microsoft Corp. agreed to work together to speed the availability of Disney movies, TV shows and other digital content on cell phones, personal digital assistants and a new generation of portable media players. The two companies said Monday they have signed a multiyear agreement for Disney to license Microsoft's Windows Media digital rights management technology, which protects digital content from being illegally copied or played. Financial terms were not disclosed. Disney already licenses its movies for Internet rentals over the third-party Movielink service, which uses technology from Microsoft and RealNetworks Inc., to protect movies and process payments. Disney uses a proprietary technology to protect movies sent to consumers in their homes over its MovieBeam service. The non-exclusive deal with Microsoft is part of Disney's wider effort to make movies, television shows and other content available to consumers in digital format, including on a home network and in the next generation of high-definition DVDs. Disney also wants its programs available for use on personal media players, a new generation of devices set to hit the market later this year and next. The players allow people to store movies, personal photos, music and other digital content on portable devices. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40488372 ------------------------------ From: dakshing64@yahoo.com (Bush will disarm all workers next) Subject: Usage and Maintenance Usage in Nortel and Motorola Switches Date: 10 Feb 2004 16:14:48 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I was assigned a project to figure out the actual usage of a circuit. I know that it is measured in CCS or erlangs. In Lucent 5E's log every 30 minutes several usage numbers are given ITUSG, OTUSG, etc. Could someone clarify what these are? Also I am looking for a relationship between maitenance usage and usage for Nortel and Motorola switches. Many thanks, Dakshin ------------------------------ From: a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) Subject: Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. Date: 10 Feb 2004 08:04:19 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com BobGoudreau@not-your.biz ... > [Please obscure my email address. Thank you.] > Rodgers Platt wrote: >> We are beating a dead horse, but if the person having the PDA never >> performs a backup or transfer -- when was the last time you backed up >> the contents of your PC's hard disk -- the data is still lost. >> Every office I visit has at least a copier or fax machine that >> would allow a sheet of notes or sketches to be copied and shared if >> need be. > But I'm willing to bet that far more PDA users than Daytimer users > actually do back up their data. It's pretty easy for me to back up my > Palm Pilot (which is also my phone) by slipping it into its charging > cradle, pressing the "sync" button and waiting 30 seconds -- so easy > that I do it almost daily. In fact, anyone who wants to have a shared > appointment book (say, between their phone or PDA and MS Outlook on > their PC) will be happy to do this regularly. > In comparison, flipping through a daytimer to find all the pages that > have changed since the last backup and then photocopying them is quite > a chore. > Bob Goudreau > Cary, NC > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Dear Bob, I hope obscuring your address > by putting you in the '.biz' domain (?) was sufficient. PAT] I didn't say you didn't back up your PDA. I asked when was the last time you did a backup of the device that you sync your PDA with. Having a backup of the data on your PDA doesn't do any good if that source crashes -- the same as loosing a daytimer or at least the pages that haven't been filed. Rodgers ------------------------------ From: xarush@omelas.com (Chas) Subject: Computer Phone Conferencing, Give Me a Dial Tone! Date: 10 Feb 2004 09:26:53 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I want a simple system that will allow me to call into a "box" and out on another line. For example, I have a high speed link that allows me to put a Vonage like phone in a remote locale. I want to call into that phone which is hooked into the box and then hear a dial tone and dial out on a "local" phone. The way I envisage it is to have small computer, a dialogic card with a conference ability and some simple software. If you know of the type of software/hardware that would support this ability please respond. Maybe there is another solution I am open to any suggestions. Regards, xarush [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A ready made out-of-the-box solution might be to use a 'WATS extender' or a a call-diverter type box. You plug the Vonage in one side of it, and your new telephone line into the other side of it, and of course program it for security with a password. Sort of like a 'patch' used by ham operators. Then when you dial into the one number and enter your password, bingo, you get a dial tone from the Vonage. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 09:37:59 PST From: John Bartley or K7AAY@ARRL.NET Subject: Nokia Cellphones Vulnerable to SNARF Attack via Bluetooth AL Digital http://www.aldigital.co.uk/ announced Nokia 6310, 8910 and 8910i mobiles were found to be at greatest risk to having their data copied without the owner's consent with a crack attack over Bluetooth. The security papers (links, below) suggest keeping some other models of Bluetooth-capable mobiles 'invisible' to other devices may prevent data within the phone from being copied with a 'SNARF attack.' At worst, ony the data within the phone itself could be abducted, so if you don't keep data in it, and instead keep data within a PDA or notebook, the risk to you is low. Yeah, welcome to the 21st century. However, the authors apparantly got the brush from Sony-Ericsson, Nokia and the Bluetooth standards body when they raised the issue, so further attention seems merited. http://www.commsdesign.com/showArticle.jhtml?artic leID=17601809 http://www.bluestumbler.org/ The latter URL has a number of references and leads to web pages for the cracking software cited, and it looks like AL Digital may have done their homework. John E. Bartley, III K7AAY telcom admin, PDX, USA - Views mine. celdata (dot) cjb (dot) net - Handheld Cellular Data FAQ *This post is quad-ROT13 encrypted. Reading it violates the DMCA.* One Ringtone to rule them all, one Carrier to find them, One Phone to bring them all and to the Service Contract bind them. ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: "Out of Area" Caller ID Law Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 15:15:19 -0600 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@newsguy-nospam-.com On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 02:08:41 GMT, Steve Michelson wrote: > I wonder whether you live in a state where they are having primary > elections. The Do Not Call list does not apply to political pollsters, > charities, and companies with whom you had an existing > relationship. Perhaps you are getting calls from political pollsters? Tell me about it, we were getting several a day right before the Iowa caucuses. I told each one I vote for the candidate that outlaws ALL junk calls, especially the most vile type, those being the politcial type. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 11:55:29 -0700 From: Paul Migliorelli (+1 3 0 3 5 4 3 2 3 1 1) Subject: Voicemail Notify Signal Has Disappeared? Hi all. I'm a Qwest Wireless user, currently with a Kyocera 2135. Voicemail is set to notify new messages. Normally you would get the beep, or vibrate, or whatever. Over the last long while, there hasn't been any notify. I'm curious if this could be a result of the physical phone being full of text messages? I'm a blind user, and thus have ***no access to the text functions of the phone. I gather that by some default setup of service, you are able to email messages to phone numbers?? Maybe it's fulla spam now and I never know this?? Is there some menu choice where you can set suppress text messages, or can you tell qwest to suppress them?? I remember when I originally got service, it was default setup for browsing which it took long time to convince them to take it off and not charge $14.95. I'd just never thought that text messages were thrown in. Some of us are thinking maybe if the phone is cleared out, the notify will return?? Thanks as always. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 23:16:56 GMT > The scanner counts the votes as the ballots are inserted, and so > provides the "instant gratification" that so many people demand, but > the original paper ballot is preserved and can be examined if there > is a recount. Right! Exactly what I've been going on about. Here we have a paper record filled out by the voter. Scanners are just vastly superior to the stupid touch screen machines which operate entirely on the "trust me" principle. Probably even more important in practical terms -- even if the scanner breaks, people can continue to cast ballots, they just have to do without the instant feedback (a pencil is the only bit of technology that needs to be working for voters to cast ballots with scanners -- a finicky $4000 piece of equipment has to be working to cast a ballot with a touch screen). Now they want to add printers to the touch screen systems here in Palm Beach County, but no one has answered the question I'd like answered: "What the heck do you do if, on election day, the printers start telling everyone they voted differently than they actually did?". Now you are trying to run an election with machines that are obviously non-functional. I suppose that's marginally better than not knowing they are broken, but you still can't actuallly hold a valid election. You might as well just forget the printers and continue to operate on the "trust me" principle. By almost every practical measure, even the old punch card systems were better than the touch screens. >>==>> The *Best* political site >>==+ email: Tom.Horsley@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL | Free Software and Politics <<==+ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 19:34:01 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Mrs. Stevens Had to go to Hospital My dear friend, a female cat whose name is Mrs. Stevens, or Missy for short, has had some trouble recently. Last Friday was 'open house' day at the Independence Animal Hospital and since they were giving greatly discounted health exams and ten percent off any other procedures done, I took Missy out there. Her health is generally pretty good, but her claws had to be trimmed. (She expresses her interest in me by jumping on my bed and latching into me with her claws otherwise.) I do *not* declaw my cats since it has the effect of leaving them defenseless when roaming around in my yard (dogs, other cats, squirrels, etc). But she had been scratching her ear quite a bit lately which is a sign of something. The doctor found an 'ear plug' (something like ear wax or similar) in her one ear. A big nasty black thing when doctor showed it to me on the scope they use for those exams, etc. Neither I nor Doctor know how she got it, but he said to bring her back today (Tuesday) to get it removed. Missy was not about to allow anyone to get inside her ear, so Doctor decided they (he and his staff) would anestisize her and do it that way. She stayed in the animal hospital all last night and had the surgery done this morning. She was crying when I left her off yesterday night (a pitiful wail is more like it) and started doing the same thing when I went back this afternoon to get her. Now, Tuesday evening she is back home, but sort of wobbly from the after affects of the anesthesia. She always sits where she can keep her eye on me except when she goes out in the yard. I moved her bed here into the computer room where she can sleep it off but keep her eye on me when she is awake. Normally she sleeps in a chair here in the computer area (when I am in here) but the poor thing is so wobbly she tried to get in her chair tonight and fell over. Doctor said to not give her any food tonight and only *take* her a small bowl of water when she wanted it. I hope she is feeling better by tomorrow. 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. 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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 #67 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Feb 11 14:30:59 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i1BJUx608745; Wed, 11 Feb 2004 14:30:59 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 14:30:59 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402111930.i1BJUx608745@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 #68 TELECOM Digest Wed, 11 Feb 2004 14:31:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 68 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Yahoo! and Sprint Announce Launch of Enhanced Yahoo! Msgr (M. Solomon) Policy Post 10.03: Security Holes at DMVs Nationwide Highlight (Solomon) Lycos Emerges as Web's Central Location for Connecting People (Solomon) Lycos U.S. Enters Multi-Year Comprehensive Media Sales (Monty Solomon) Comcast Proposes to Buy Walt Disney (Monty Solomon) Comcast Corporation Makes Proposal to Merge With Walt Disney (M Solomon) Media Alert: Comcast to Host Press Conference to Detail Merger (Solomon) TiVo Watchers Uneasy After Post-Super Bowl Reports (Monty Solomon) U.S. Copyright Office Sets Webcaster Royalty Rates (Monty Solomon) Yahoo Rolls Out New Messenger Service With Sprint (Monty Solomon) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Nick Landsberg) Hands Free Use With Motorola V60C Closed (Greg Smolin) Re: Computer Phone Conferencing, Give Me a Dial Tone! (Pete Romfh) Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. (Bob Goudreau) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Monty Solomon Subject: Yahoo! and Sprint Announce Launch of Enhanced Yahoo! Messenger Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 09:32:29 -0500 SUNNYVALE, Calif. & OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 11, 2004-- New Downloadable Application Built Specifically for the Mobile Environment Allows PCS Vision Customers to View Who's Online, Send Messages and Conduct Multiple Conversations Directly from Their Phone Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, and Sprint (NYSE:FON, PCS), which operates the largest all-digital, all-PCS nationwide wireless network in the United States, today announced customers nationwide can now access an enhanced Yahoo!(R) Messenger for Mobile ( http://mobile.yahoo.com/messenger/sprint ), a downloadable full-color, graphical version of Yahoo! Messenger, on PCS Vision phones. The new service is built specifically for the mobile environment and demonstrates the companies' continuing commitment to innovation and meeting consumer demand for engaging mobile services. The new Java-based Yahoo! Messenger for Mobile provides a PC-like experience for the mobile phone that allows consumers to have unlimited instant messaging with everyone on their friends list. The service allows consumers with PCS Vision phones to sign into Yahoo! Messenger from their phone and continue to communicate with their friends online. Upon purchase the application is downloaded to the consumer's handset and can be accessed directly through the phone. Users can see who else is online, send and receive instant messages and have multiple conversations at once simply by switching between IM sessions. The service is available for $2.99 a month, and consumers will be charged on their monthly Sprint bill upon purchase. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40526072 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 09:25:39 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Policy Post 10.03: Security Holes at DMVs Nationwide Highlight CDT POLICY POST Volume 10, Number 3, February 3, 2004 A Briefing On Public Policy Issues Affecting Civil Liberties Online from The Center For Democracy and Technology (1) Security Holes at DMVs Feed ID Theft, Offer Lessons for National ID Card Debate (2) Driver's License Facing Wider Uses, including Online Authentication (3) Lax Security and Insider Abuse at the Local Level Pose National Challenges http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_10.03.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 09:28:20 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Lycos Emerges as Web's Central Location for Connecting People New Strategy Helps People Create and Recreate Relationships WALTHAM, Mass., Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Terra Lycos (Nasdaq: TRLY and Madrid Exchange: TRR), the global Internet Group, today announced the creation of the first Internet network specifically constructed to enable people to create and recreate relationships with the people who most enrich their lives. With the change, to be rolled out in a series of steps over the coming months, the new Lycos is poised to be a leader in the emerging personal connectivity category, the Internet arena that connects people around areas of passion including family, friends, career and more. Lycos will transition from a generic portal business to a tight network of interconnected vertical sites focused on personal connections. The transition will include an internal restructuring, as well as changes to the company's media sales operations. The new Lycos aims to be a leader in subscription services that connect people, facilitating one of the most valuable Internet activities. Later this month, the Lycos.com homepage will be relaunched to become a hub for personal connections, giving users a single starting place to manage their Internet experience as a way to connect with others. Lycos Search will anchor the new Lycos homepage, with convenient navigation between and among the varied Connections sites. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40527697 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 09:29:12 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Lycos U.S. Enters Multi-Year Comprehensive Media Sales Lycos U.S. Enters Multi-Year Comprehensive Media Sales and Technology Agreement with 24/7 Real Media - Feb 11, 2004 09:01 AM (PR Newswire) 24/7 Real Media to Provide Media Sales, Ad Serving, Analytics and Behavioral Targeting Technology as Lycos Embarks on Strategy Centered on Creating and Re-creating Relationships Online Agreement Makes the 24/7 Web Alliance the 4th Largest Media Entity on the Internet(1) WALTHAM, Mass, and NEW YORK, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Terra Lycos (Nasdaq: TRLY and Madrid Exchange: TRR), the global Internet group, and 24/7 Real Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: TFSM), a pioneer in interactive marketing and technology, today announced the signing of a multi-year strategic agreement for 24/7 Real Media to provide media sales, ad serving and analytics technology and services for Lycos U.S. Web properties. As part of the agreement, the 24/7 Real Media sales force will represent the U.S. properties of Lycos, Inc., for all display advertising. The Lycos properties, which attract 50 million U.S. monthly unique users(2), will enter the 24/7 Web Alliance, which will then be the 4th largest Media Entity on the Internet(1) with more than 66 million monthly unique users. The 24/7 Web Alliance is the Company's suite of Web advertising solutions comprised of branded Web sites, vertical content channels and a direct marketing network of more than 700 Web sites. Lycos U.S. operates a network of highly branded Web sites which include: Quote.com, Tripod.com, Angelfire.com, HotBot.com, Matchmaker.com, and Wired News (Wired.com). In a separate announcement, Lycos today introduced a new strategy that will focus on Lycos becoming the leading Web site for creating and re-creating relationships online. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40527722 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 09:30:03 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Comcast Proposes to Buy Walt Disney By SKIP WOLLENBERG AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- In a surprise move, cable TV giant Comcast Corp. proposed early Wednesday to buy Walt Disney Co., the iconic media and entertainment powerhouse that owns the ABC and ESPN television networks, movie studios and theme parks, for stock valued at about $54 billion. The nation's biggest cable systems operator said it would also assume $11.9 billion in Disney debt. Comcast's stunning proposal was made even as Disney boss Michael Eisner is fending off criticism from former board members Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Disney founder Walt Disney, and Stanley E. Gold about his performance and lack of a succession plan as Disney's chief executive. Comcast said Eisner declined earlier this week to discuss a possible merger. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40527980 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 09:34:45 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Comcast Corporation Makes Proposal to Merge With The Walt Disney Offer Values Disney at $66 Billion Strategic Combination Would Create One of the World's Premier Entertainment and Communications Companies NEW YORK, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) today announced that it has made a proposal to The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) to merge the two companies in a tax-free transaction. The combination would create one of the world's leading entertainment and communications companies with an unparalleled distribution platform and an extraordinary portfolio of content assets. The new company would have a presence in all of the nation's top 25 markets, and would propel broadband forward, expanding current services and inspiring new ones. Terms of the proposed transaction are as follows: * Comcast would issue 0.78 of a share of Comcast Class A voting common stock for each Disney share. * Disney shareholders would receive a premium of over $5 billion, based on yesterday's closing prices, plus full participation in the combination benefits. * Comcast's proposal values Disney at $66 billion (which includes assumption of $11.9 billion of Disney's net debt), offering a multiple of approximately 14x Disney's 2004 estimated EBITDA. * Disney shareholders would own 42% of the combined company. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40525030 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 09:38:26 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Media Alert: Comcast to Host Press Conference to Detail Merger PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) announces the following press conference: What: Comcast has initiated discussions to merge Comcast and The Walt Disney Company in a combination that would create one of the world's premier entertainment and communications companies. Who: Brian Roberts, President and CEO, Comcast Corporation Steve Burke, President, Comcast Cable When: February 11, 2004 @ 11:00 a.m. ET Where: St. Regis Hotel St. Regis Roof, 20th Floor Two East 55th Street New York, NY 10022 If you are unable to attend the meeting you can access the event via webcast or teleconference. To participate in the webcast, visit www.cmcsa.com or www.cmcsk.com . Those parties interested in participating via telephone should dial (800) 865-4460 for U.S. callers and (973) 935-8505 for international callers. A telephone replay will begin immediately following the call and will be available until February 18, 2004 at midnight Eastern Time (ET). To access the rebroadcast, please dial (877) 519-4471 for U.S. callers and (973) 341-3080 for international callers, enter passcode 4509745. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40525236 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 22:21:05 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo Watchers Uneasy After Post-Super Bowl Reports By Ben Charny Staff Writer, CNET News.com Janet Jackson's Super Bowl flash dance was shocking in more ways than one: Some TiVo users say the event brought home the realization that their beloved digital video recorders are watching them, too. On Monday, TiVo said the exposure of Jackson's breast during her halftime performance was the most-watched moment to date on its device, which, when combined with the TiVo subscription service, lets viewers pause and "rewind" live television broadcasts, among other features. TiVo said users had watched the skin-baring incident nearly three times more than any other moment during the Super Bowl broadcast, sparking headlines that dramatically publicized the power of the company's longstanding data-gathering practices. http://news.com.com/2100-1041-5154219.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 20:31:12 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: U.S. Copyright Office Sets Webcaster Royalty Rates By Sue Zeidler LOS ANGELES, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Copyright Office has published long-awaited royalty rates for Web music broadcasts, ending a year-long process marked by legal and financial wrangling, the group named to handle the royalties said on Tuesday. Regulations published on Feb. 6 essentially rubber-stamped a resolution reached last April between online music broadcasters and the Recording Industry Association of America, the industry trade group for big record labels like Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX) Warner Music and Vivendi Universal's (NYSE:V) Universal Music. In addition to setting rates for the 2003-2004 license period, the Copyright Office also named SoundExchange -- a former RIAA arm spun off as a separate non-profit group in September 2003 -- as the sole designated agent to collect and distribute royalties from Webcasters and new online subscription services. The recording industry and Webcasters finally agreed on a proposed 0.0762 cents per performance or 1.17 cents per aggregate hour tuned in for free, advertising-supported services. Webcasters had opposed other rates suggested by the RIAA, saying they would put them out of business. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40519503 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 09:30:58 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Yahoo Rolls Out New Messenger Service With Sprint - Feb 11, 2004 08:18 AM (Reuters) qSAN FRANCISCO, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Internet services company Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) on Wednesday launched an enhanced version of its instant messenger service to run on PCS Vision mobile telephones from partner Sprint Corp. (NYSE:FON). The new mobile service, which is a downloadable Java-based application, allows Yahoo messenger users to see who else is online, send and receive messages and carry on multiple conversations at once, among other things. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40526679 ------------------------------ From: Nick Landsberg Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 02:34:13 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet Thomas A. Horsley wrote: > Probably even more important in practical terms -- even if the scanner > breaks, people can continue to cast ballots, they just have to do > without the instant feedback (a pencil is the only bit of technology > that needs to be working for voters to cast ballots with scanners -- a > finicky $4000 piece of equipment has to be working to cast a ballot > with a touch screen). This reminds me of the story of NASA way back when. They purportedly spent thousands if not millions in R&D money to develop a ball-point pen which would work in space (Null-gravity, free-fall, whatever you want to call it ... weightlessness). The Russians supplied their cosmonauts with a pencil. "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious" - A. Bloch ------------------------------ From: gsmolin@suscom.net (Greg Smolin) Subject: Hands Free Use With Motorola V60C Closed Date: 10 Feb 2004 20:58:31 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Is it possible to use the Motorola V60C with the phone closed with a hands free device -- or must the phone be open to talk? ------------------------------ From: Pete Romfh Subject: Re: Computer Phone Conferencing, Give Me a Dial Tone! Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 07:20:24 -0600 Organization: Not Organized Chas wrote: > I want a simple system that will allow me to call into a "box" and > out on another line. > For example, I have a high speed link that allows me to put a Vonage > like phone in a remote locale. I want to call into that phone which > is hooked into the box and then hear a dial tone and dial out on a > "local" phone. > The way I envisage it is to have small computer, a dialogic card > with a conference ability and some simple software. > If you know of the type of software/hardware that would support this > ability please respond. Maybe there is another solution I am open to > any suggestions. > Regards, > xarush > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A ready made out-of-the- box solution > might be to use a 'WATS extender' or a a call-diverter type box. You > plug the Vonage in one side of it, and your new telephone line into > the other side of it, and of course program it for security with a > password. Sort of like a 'patch' used by ham operators. Then when > you dial into the one number and enter your password, bingo, you get > a dial tone from the Vonage. PAT] Take a look at http://www.pcphoneline.com/ They have a VoIP Gateway (FXO/FXS Port Converter) that will do what you're wanting. It's under $50 and lots easier than "Rolling your own". Pete Romfh, Telecom Geek & Amateur Gourmet. promfh at Texas dot net ------------------------------ From: BobGoudreau@not-your.biz Subject: Re: Plain Old Cell Phones Fading Away in U.S. Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 13:22:18 -0500 [Patrick, please continue to obscure my email address. Your "@not-your.biz" method for doing this works wonderfully. Thank you.] Rodgers Platt wrote: > I didn't say you didn't back up your PDA. I asked when was the last > time you did a backup of the device that you sync your PDA with. > Having a backup of the data on your PDA doesn't do any good if that > source crashes -- the same as loosing [sic] a daytimer or at least the > pages that haven't been filed. But these scenarios are not the same. The typical (i.e., not backed up) Daytimer user is doomed by the loss or destruction of just one object (the Daytimer), as my friend's wife so painfully found out when her purse was stolen. I, OTOH, won't lose data unless *two* unrelated things are simultaneously lost or destroyed: my Palm phone *and* the computer to which I sync it. The Daytimer analogy to that double-failure scenario would be having you lose your Daytimer *and* also losing your putative repository of photocopy backups. In fact, it would take far more than a double failure to destroy my Palm phone's data, because I don't actually back it up to my work PC -- I back it up *through* my work PC (which runs Outlook) to a Microsoft Exchange server located in a data center 700 miles away, which itself gets backed up regularly and professionally. But even for PDA users without such a safety net, it would still take two separate losses to totally destroy their data. Bob Goudreau Cary, NC mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ . ------------------------------ 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! 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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 #68 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Feb 12 00:24:16 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i1C5OFM11680; Thu, 12 Feb 2004 00:24:16 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 00:24:16 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402120524.i1C5OFM11680@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 #69 TELECOM Digest Thu, 12 Feb 2004 00:24:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 69 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson eBay Scam Uses iPods as Bait (Monty Solomon) CDT Calls for Legislation Creating Federal Privacy Officers (M. Solomon) CDT Files Complaint With FTC in "Browser Hijacking" Case (Monty Solomon) MS-Disney Deal 'Heralds Format War' (Monty Solomon) Cable Modem Hackers Conquer the Co-ax (Monty Solomon) EPIC Alert 11.03 (Monty Solomon) Can't Get First Two Digits of Inband String (Matt Darnell) Norvergence Still at it ... (TELECOM Digest Editor) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Mark Atwood) NetZero Commercials on Television (TELECOM Digest Editor) Re: Hands Free Use With Motorola V60C Closed (SELLCOM Tech support) 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: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 16:52:05 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: eBay Scam Uses iPods as Bait By Leander Kahney A search for "iPod" on eBay yields a couple thousand listings for the digital music player and accessories, but beware: Hundreds of the listings are inducements to join pyramid-style scams. Ebay is swamped with new "matrix" schemes, which appear to be legitimate buyers clubs but are in fact variations on classic pyramid scams, which are outlawed around the world. In most cases, eBay shoppers are offered hot products like an iPod, a game console or a cell phone at an incredible discount, say for $40 or $25. The eager bargain hunter is told not to bid on the item, but is directed instead to sites like My3Mobile ,The Phone Matrix or Goraks.com , which offer iPods or cell phones as free gifts when products like CDs or eBooks are purchased. The catch is that buyers only get their free iPod after more people sign up. When making a purchase, the buyer's name is added to a list. As new members join, names are shuffled up the list. When they reach the top, the iPod is dispatched. To speed up the process, buyers are often encouraged to recruit new members to join the scheme. And that's where all the eBay posts come from: Victims are using eBay to recruit new members. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,62226,00.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 17:01:36 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: CDT Calls for Legislation Creating Federal Privacy Officers Citing the model of the Privacy Officer established by statute in the Department of Homeland Security, CDT is urging Congress to create similar positions at other federal agencies as a means of addressing privacy concerns associated with government information practices in the digital age. February 10, 2004 CDT Testimony: "Privacy in the Hands of the Government: The Privacy Officer for the Department of Homeland Security", Feb. 10, 2004 http://www.cdt.org/testimony/20040210dempsey.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 17:06:15 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: CDT Files Complaint with FTC in "Browser Hijacking" Case The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) today filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Mailwiper Inc., Seismic Entertainment Media and/or their affiliates engaged in deceptive and unfair marketing practices by changing computer users' Web homepages without their consent and then trying to convince these users that they needed the Mailwiper program called "Spy Wiper" software to protect their computer. CDT has heard from several consumers who have spent hours trying to fix their computer and some who even bought Spy Wiper to no avail. CDT asked consumers to provide information about their experiences with spyware via a Web site. CDT received hundreds of messages about different companies. Several of these messages were about Spy Wiper and their activities led CDT to investigate further. February 11, 2004 CDT's Complaint with the FTC against Mailwiper and Seismic Entertainment Media [pdf] Feb. 10, 2004: http://www.cdt.org/privacy/20040210cdt.pdf CDT Report "Ghosts in Our Machines: Background and Policy Proposals on the 'Spyware' Problem" [pdf] November 2003: http://www.cdt.org/privacy/031100spyware.pdf Join CDT's Campaign Against "Spyware": http://www.cdt.org/action/spyware/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 17:10:01 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: MS-Disney Deal 'Heralds Format War' By Macworld staff Industry insiders believe the Microsoft-Disney alliance, which will see the two companies develop digital media content and delivery systems together, indicates that a new format war is under way. Jupiter Research analyst Joe Wilcox told The New York Post: "Apple has traction in Hollywood. Its computers are used to make a lot of movies. But Apple needs to go a step further in the digital distribution of video." Wilcox notes that Microsoft plans to introduce handheld devices later this year that will let users fetch and play movies on the go. "If the only way to download Disney movies is on a Microsoft-powered digital player, a consumer might buy music that would play on the same device. It might finally give Microsoft a leg up on Apple's iPod," he said. http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/main_news.cfm?NewsID=7886 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 20:21:07 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Cable Modem Hackers Conquer the Co-ax By Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus A small and diverse band of hobbyists steeped in the obscure languages of embedded systems has released its own custom firmware for a popular brand of cable modem, along with a technique for loading it -- a development that's already made life easier for uncappers and service squatters, and threatens to topple long-held assumptions about the privacy of cable modem communications. The program, called Sigma, was released in its final version last month, and has reportedly been downloaded 350 to 400 times a day ever since. It's designed to be flashed into the non-volatile memory of certain models of Motorola's Surfboard line, where it runs in parallel with the device's normal functionality. It gives users almost complete control of their cable modem -- a privilege previously reserved for the service provider. The project is the work of a gang of coders called TCNiSO. With about ten active members worldwide, the group is supported by contributions from the uncapping community -- speed-hungry Internet users who rely on TCNiSO's research and free hackware to surmount the bandwidth caps imposed by service providers, usually in violation of their service agreement, if not the law. To them, Sigma is a delight, because it makes it simple to change the modem's configuration file -- the key to uncapping, and, on some systems, to getting free anonymous service using "unregistered" modems. "I've known TCNiSO for two years now and I've done a lot of things with their techniques," wrote a Canadian uncapper in an e-mail interview. "Sigma is the greatest one I've seen." http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7977 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 21:52:23 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EPIC Alert 11.03 ======================================================================= E P I C A l e r t ======================================================================= Volume 11.03 February 11, 2004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Washington, D.C. http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_11.03.html ====================================================================== Table of Contents ====================================================================== [1] EPIC FOIA Docs Show Acxiom Was Considered as TIA Data Source [2] Pentagon Cancels Internet Voting Project [3] FBI Asks FCC to Delay Discussion of Internet Phone Rules [4] DHS Deputy Secretary Questioned About Passenger Profiling [5] EPIC and PI Open Nominations for Brandeis, Big Brother Awards [6] News in Brief [7] EPIC Bookstore: Protecting America's Health [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_11.03.html ------------------------------ From: mdarnell@servpac.com (Matt Darnell) Subject: Can't Get First Two Digits of Inband String Date: 11 Feb 2004 19:35:32 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Aloha, We are having touble receiving the first 2 digits of a string of digits being sent by our PBX. The digits are sent immediatly after we go offhook. I.E. The PBX sends "###333" (we verified with a digit grabber) we will only see "#333". This is 100% consistant. I have included our C test program, I think the DTMF receivers are not being activated soon enough after on hook. After reading the docs, the dx_getdig simply gets the digits out of the buffer, it doesn't turn the DTMF receivers on or off. Aloha, Matt Darnell ******* while(1) { printf("Opening " DEVICE "\n"); if ((chdev = dx_open(DEVICE, 0)) == -1) { printf("Failed to open device!! : %d\n", errno); switch(errno) { case EINVAL : printf("\tInvalid device " DEVICE "\n"); break; case EBADF : printf("\tInvalid file descriptor\n"); break; case EINTR : printf("\tEAn interrupt was caught\n"); break; case EIO : printf("\tLinux Streams error\n"); break; default : printf("\tUnknown error\n"); } exit(-1); } dx_sethook(chdev, DX_ONHOOK, EV_SYNC); dx_clrtpt(tpt,3); tpt[0].tp_type = IO_CONT; tpt[0].tp_termno = DX_MAXDTMF; /* Maximum number of digits */ tpt[0].tp_length = 4; /* terminate on 4 digits */ tpt[0].tp_flags = TF_MAXDTMF; /* terminate if already in buf. */ tpt[1].tp_type = IO_CONT; tpt[1].tp_termno = DX_LCOFF; /* LC off termination */ tpt[1].tp_length = 3; /* Use 30 ms (10 ms resolution */ tpt[1].tp_flags = TF_LCOFF|TF_10MS; /* level triggered, clear history, 10 ms resolution */ tpt[2].tp_type = IO_EOT; tpt[2].tp_termno = DX_MAXTIME; /* Function Time */ tpt[2].tp_length = 100; /* 10 seconds (100 ms resolution */ tpt[2].tp_flags = TF_MAXTIME; /* Edge-triggered */ tpt[2].tp_flags = TF_MAXTIME; /* Edge-triggered */ /* clear previously entered digits */ if (dx_clrdigbuf(chdev) == -1) { printf("Unable to clear digit buffer\n"); exit(-1); } printf("Gonna wait for ring!!\n"); if (-1 == (dx_wtring(chdev, 1, DX_OFFHOOK, -1))) { printf("dx_wtring returned error\n"); ATDV_ERRMSGP(errno); exit(-1); } printf("Gonna get digs\n"); if ((numdigs = dx_getdig(chdev, tpt, &digp, EV_SYNC)) == -1) { printf("dx_getdig returned error\n"); exit(-1); } printf("dx_getdig got %d digits", numdigs); for (cnt=0; cnt < numdigs; cnt++) { printf("\n\tDigit received = %c digit type = %d", digp.dg_value[cnt], digp.dg_type[cnt]); } printf("\nClosing " DEVICE "\n"); dx_close(chdev); } [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: For a short term solution, can't you force feed two more digits in the front of the string which do not matter to the PBX as filler so that when it starts 'seeing' the digits it is where you want things to be? Or, do you have any way to get the PBX to stall long enough to get the equipment opened? Maybe in your script above a couple of NOPS (non-operations) will stall sufficiently. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 23:54:43 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Norvergence Still at it ... I *thought* Norvergence was going to leave me alone. Silly me for thinking, I know ... Now just today, I got still another letter from an attorney (new to me) named Federico Acosta, in Tustin, CA who purports to represent David Rodriquez, the defendant in the Norvergence vrs. Rodriquez case. Attorney Acosta, just like attorney Kyle Kulzer of Norvergence, is making demand that derogatory messages about Norvergence be removed from our web site. Despite the fact that Michael D. Sullivan in Washington, DC is representing me in the case, attorney Acosta chose to write directly to me. I do not know if that was his own idea, or if perhaps Norvergence and their attorney simply chose to cut Sullivan out of the picture and put the pressure directly on me instead. *Once again* I told this latest attorney NO! to his demands, and suggested he take furher demands etc to Mr. Sullivan. I faxed the latest correspondence over to Mike Sullivan tonight. PAT ------------------------------ Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" From: Mark Atwood Organization: EasyNews, UseNet made Easy! Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 22:13:49 GMT Nick Landsberg writes: > This reminds me of the story of NASA way back when. They purportedly > spent thousands if not millions in R&D money to develop a ball-point > pen which would work in space (Null-gravity, free-fall, whatever you > want to call it ... weightlessness). > The Russians supplied their cosmonauts with a pencil. http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp | Claim: NASA spent millions of dollars developing an "astronaut pen" | which would work in outer space while the Soviets solved the same | problem by simply using pencils. | | Status: False. | | Origins: The Write stuff lesson of this anecdote is a valid one, that | we sometimes expend a great deal of time, effort, and money to create | a "high-tech" solution to a problem, when a perfectly good, cheap, and | simple solution is right before our eyes. The anecdote offered above | isn't a real example of this syndrome, however. Fisher did ultimately | develop a pressurized pen for use by NASA astronauts (now known as the | famous "Fisher Space Pen"), but both American and Soviet space | missions initially used pencils, NASA did not seek out Fisher and ask | them to develop a "space pen," Fisher did not charge NASA for the cost | of developing the pen, and the Fisher pen was eventually used by both | American and Soviet astronauts. | | Here's how Fisher themselves described it: NASA never asked Paul | C. Fisher to produce a pen. When the astronauts began to fly, like the | Russians, they used pencils, but the leads sometimes broke and became | a hazard by floating in the [capsule's] atmosphere where there was no | gravity. They could float into an eye or nose or cause a short in an | electrical device. In addition, both the lead and the wood of the | pencil could burn rapidly in the pure oxygen atmosphere. Paul Fisher | realized the astronauts needed a safer and more dependable writing | instrument, so in July 1965 he developed the pressurized ball pen, | with its ink enclosed in a sealed, pressurized ink cartridge. Fisher | sent the first samples to Dr. Robert Gilruth, Director of the Houston | Space Center. The pens were all metal except for the ink, which had a | flash point above 200°C. The sample Space Pens were thoroughly tested | by NASA. They passed all the tests and have been used ever since on | all manned space flights, American and Russian. All research and | developement costs were paid by Paul Fisher. No development costs have | ever been charged to the government. | | Because of the fire in Apollo 1, in which three Astronauts died, NASA | required a writing instrument that would not burn in a 100% oxygen | atmosphere. It also had to work in the extreme conditions of outer | space: | | 1. In a vacuum. | 2. With no gravity. | 3. In hot temperatures of +150°C in sunlight and also in the cold | shadows of space where the temperatures drop to -120°C | | (NASA tested the pressurized Space Pens at -50°C, but because of the | residential [sic] heat in the pen it also writes for many minutes in | the cold shadows.) | | Fisher spent over one million dollars in trying to perfect the ball | point pen before he made his first successful pressurized pens in | 1965. Samples were immediately sent to Dr. Robert Gilruth, Manager of | the Houston Space Center, where they were thoroughly tested and | approved for use in Space in September 1965. In December 1967 he sold | 400 Fisher Space Pens to NASA for $2.95 each. | | Lead pencils were used on all Mercury and Gemini space flights and all | Russian space flights prior to 1968. Fisher Space Pens are more | dependable than lead pencils and cannot create the hazard of a broken | piece of lead floating through the gravity-less atmosphere. Mark Atwood | When you do things right, mra@pobox.com | people won't be sure you've done anything at all. http://www.pobox.com/~mra ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 23:37:45 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: NetZero Commercials on Television Lately I have seen commercials on television for an ISP known as 'NetZero'which invite me to take the 'Netzero Challenge'. According to those people, you can 'surf the net at up to five times faster than regular dialup', and they sell it for $14.95 per month. Does anyone know what they are doing? The various 56-K dialups around town are all brokering through TerraWorld under various names, but I wonder what NetZero does that makes them 'up to five times faster than regular dialup'. Any ideas? PAT ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Hands Free Use With Motorola V60C Closed Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 23:53:01 -0500 Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com gsmolin@suscom.net (Greg Smolin) posted on that vast internet thingie: > Is it possible to use the Motorola V60C with the phone closed with a > hands free device -- or must the phone be open to talk? My V60 works closed with a hands free headset plugged in. Unplug the headset to disconnect the call. Steve at SELLCOM http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Siemens, AT&T, Panasonic, Motorola Vtech 5.8Ghz; TMC ET4000 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Talkswitch, Watchguard! Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Minisplitter log splitter If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz you owe it to yourself. ------------------------------ 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.o