From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Mar 30 15:44:14 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i2UKiER10936; Tue, 30 Mar 2004 15:44:14 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 15:44:14 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200403302044.i2UKiER10936@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 #151 TELECOM Digest Tue, 30 Mar 2004 15:43:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 151 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Level 3 Announces Wholesale VoIP Customer Agreement With 8x8 (VOIP News) AT&T Ushers in New Era in Communication With Launch of AT&T (VOIP News) VoicePulse Announces Plans for Encrypted Phone Service (VOIP News) Re: Nuisance Recorded Phone Calls (No Spam) Re: Nuisance Recorded Phone Calls (John Bartley) AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill (Carl Moore) 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 are 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: VOIP News Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 11:27:14 -0500 Subject: Level 3 Announces Wholesale VoIP Customer Agreement With 8x8 Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-30-2004/0002137119&EDATE= Broadband VoIP and Video Communications Company Purchases Level 3's Local Inbound and Voice Termination Services SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT) today announced at the Spring 2004 VON Conference & Expo that 8x8 (Nasdaq: EGHT), a broadband VoIP and video communications service provider, has purchased wholesale VoIP services from Level 3. 8x8 (http://www.8x8.com) purchased (3)VoIP(SM) Local Inbound and (3)Voice(R) Termination services from Level 3. 8x8 serves residential and business customers through a suite of offerings under the Packet8 and Packet8 Virtual Office brands that include broadband telephone service for residential customers, consumer videophones and virtual office PBX solutions for small businesses. "Packet8 is a worldwide communications service available today to anyone with broadband Internet access," said Barry Andrews, president of 8x8. "The quality and broad market coverage of Level 3's advanced VoIP solutions are enabling us to quickly deliver feature-rich, cost-effective voice and video services to our growing base of business and residential customers." "We're pleased that 8x8 has selected Level 3 as its primary provider of wholesale VoIP solutions," said Sureel Choksi, president of Softswitch Services for Level 3. "Level 3 has a full set of wholesale VoIP offerings that give 8x8 and other customers the control they need to develop and quickly roll-out new products and services." (3)VoIP Local Inbound service significantly reduces communications costs for call center operators, conferencing providers, and other enhanced service providers that require a reliable local-calling infrastructure. The service complements both (3)VoIP Toll Free(SM), Level 3's new toll-free, nationwide calling solution, and its worldwide (3)Voice Termination service. "Level 3's wholesale VoIP solutions enable our customers to develop new services at significantly lower cost and with traditional phone quality," said Kevin Dundon, senior vice president of Wholesale Voice Services for Level 3. "Customers can create their own products using multiple Level 3 wholesale VoIP services as building blocks." The (3)VoIP Local Inbound service rides Level 3's patented softswitch platform, which has successfully processed more than 300 billion minutes in voice and data calls since 1999. The service also utilizes Level 3's extensive local networks, offering industry-leading geographic coverage. The (3)VoIP Local Inbound service enables customers to: * Establish local presence in 73 markets across the United States; * Design and deliver new applications quickly and cost-effectively; * Streamline call flows; * Deploy and maintain application servers at a single location. (3)Voice Termination service, originally launched in December 1999, enables PTTs, inter-exchange carriers, enhanced service providers, cable operators and other companies to terminate calls in the U.S. and abroad. (3)Voice Termination was the world's first long-distance voice service that offered customers voice quality indistinguishable from traditional telephone networks, but with the efficiencies and inherent cost advantages of IP. In December 2003, Level 3 significantly expanded its softswitch-based (3)Voice Termination service by enabling customers to hand off traffic directly to Level 3 using an IP interface, further lowering their fixed network costs and capital expenses. Level 3's expanded voice capability allows IP-to-IP interconnection with the Level 3 network at the high levels of security required for voice traffic. Level 3 is an industry pioneer in the development of VoIP technology and services. Today the company offers a broad suite of wholesale, business and residential IP-based voice solutions over a robust softswitch-based network platform that carries more than 30 billion minutes of IP-based voice and data calls every month. For more information about Level 3's portfolio of VoIP services, please stop by VON booth #615, or visit http://www.Level3.com. About Level 3 Communications Level 3 (Nasdaq: LVLT) is an international communications and information services company. The company operates one of the largest Internet backbones in the world, is one of the largest providers of wholesale dial-up service to ISPs in North America and is the primary provider of Internet connectivity for millions of broadband subscribers, through its cable and DSL partners. The company offers a wide range of communications services over its 22,500 mile broadband fiber optic network including Internet Protocol (IP) services, broadband transport and infrastructure services, colocation services, and patented Softswitch managed modem and voice services. Its Web address is http://www.Level3.com. The company offers information services through its subsidiaries, Software Spectrum and (i)Structure. For additional information, visit their respective Web sites at http://www.softwarespectrum.com and http://www.i-structure.com. The Level 3 logo and (3)Voice are registered service marks and (3)VoIP and (3)VoIP Toll Free are service marks of Level 3 Communications, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. 8x8, Packet8 and Packet8 Virtual Office are trademarks of 8x8, Inc. SOURCE Level 3 Communications, Inc. Web Site: http://www.level3.com Photo Notes: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990721/LVLTLOGO PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 201-369-3467 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 11:40:40 -0500 Subject: AT&T Ushers in New Era in Communication With Launch of AT&T Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Note: I took the subject line for this message from the headline on the press release itself, but it seems to me that AT&T is quite full of themselves if they think it is they who are ushering in the "new era." Several other companies, including VoicePulse, Vonage, and Packet8, have beat them to that claim, and several reviews I have read suggest that those other companies do it better. Certainly, anyone interested in VoIP should compare the features and prices of the other companies before going with AT&T, and it wouldn't hurt to spend a little time at places like the BroadbandReports.com VoIP forum reading the user reviews on the various providers. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-30-2004/0002137485&EDATE= AT&T Ushers in New Era in Communication With Launch of AT&T CallVantage Service Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston First Major Cities to be Served Introductory Promotion Offers Unlimited Calling and Advanced Features at 50 Percent Off Regular Price of $39.99 Per Month DALLAS, March 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AT&T today launched its residential Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service, called AT&T CallVantage(SM) Service, providing the residents of Texas a high-tech alternative for their personal communications needs. Starting today, AT&T's CallVantage Service will begin setting the benchmarks for what the company believes will be the industry's most reliable and innovative broadband phone service in the country as it becomes generally available to consumers in the Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston metropolitan areas. The service will be expanded to serve the San Antonio metropolitan area over the next several weeks through a controlled introduction with additional markets in the state and the nation to follow early this summer. Yesterday, the company also announced the local availability of AT&T CallVantage Service in parts of New Jersey. "AT&T already provides traditional residential local service to more than 4 million households nationwide, but AT&T CallVantage Service marks the beginning of an exciting new era in telecommunications that gives customers another competitive choice," said Cathy Martine, AT&T senior vice president for Internet Telephony, Consumer Marketing and Sales. "AT&T will continue to lead the adoption of VoIP services by both businesses and consumers as it delivers the next generation of communications that our customers demand." AT&T CallVantage Service requires a customer to have a high-speed Internet connection to the home. While most households have access to these broadband connections through their local cable or telephone company, only about one in five subscribe nationally. In Texas, broadband penetration runs close to this national average with higher pockets of penetration in some of its major metropolitan areas according to data from TNS Telecoms. VoIP applications might just be the "value-add" that consumers are seeking to justify their investment in broadband, Martine said. AT&T CallVantage Service is different than traditional phone services because it uses IP-based networks instead of traditional circuit-switched phone networks to make calls. That means AT&T CallVantage not only can offer customers typical features such as call waiting, three-way calling, and call forwarding -- all free of charge -- but far more advanced ones as well. Indeed, consumers will get unprecedented convenience and control with innovative features including: * "Call Logs," which tracks incoming and outgoing calling with "click to dial" capability; * "Do Not Disturb," which allows customers to receive calls only when they want, while letting emergency calls ring in; * "Personal Conferencing," which enables users to set up a meeting with up to nine additional callers; * "Locate Me," which enables home phones to find customers by ringing up to five phones all at once or one right after the other; * "Voicemail with eFeatures," which allows customers to hear their messages from any phone or PC and forward the voicemail to anyone on the Web via e-mail. All that is required for service is an easy-to-connect, plug-in telephone adapter (TA) provided by AT&T, and a broadband Internet connection and regular telephone supplied by the customer. It is simple to use and easy for consumers to install -- typically in 10 minutes. AT&T CallVantage Service works with most any cable modem or digital subscriber line (DSL) broadband connection. The TA is compatible with most home computer networks and may be used in conjunction with various home network routers. And, the adapter can be used from almost any location where there is a telephone and a broadband connection. That gives customers the ability to take their telephone numbers with them wherever they travel. To kick-start the AT&T CallVantage Service launch, AT&T will offer a special introductory rate of $19.99 a month for six months to those who subscribe by May 31, 2004. This promotional rate includes a complete calling solution that provides unlimited local and long-distance domestic calling, including calls to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, discount rates for international calling, and a suite of advanced features that customers have never experienced before. AT&T CallVantage will cost $39.99 a month thereafter. The company plans to add many more advanced features over the next 12 months. As a special incentive, the company will offer AT&T CallVantage customers one month of free service (maximum of 12 months) for each referral and sale made through its "Refer-a-Friend" program. The company's commitment is to expand AT&T CallVantage Service to 100 major markets by year's end as part of AT&T's growing strategic focus on IP- based communications services. The company expects to sign up 1 million business and consumer customers by year-end 2005. "Imagine extending this set of features to your entire family and the connectedness that functionality will provide. With an IP-based service, imagination combined with software opens up enormous possibilities," Martine added. AT&T CallVantage Service is an innovative service that promises to transform the way people communicate. A core concept to the service, built on AT&T Labs patented technology, is the ability to quickly introduce new features and capabilities to the platform. "New technologies like VoIP in no way substitute for the important, pro- competitive local phone policies that are needed to be established by the Texas Public Utility Commission under the Federal Communication Commission's Triennial Review Order," said Tom Pelto, AT&T vice president of law and government affairs. "Without question, VoIP is the future of telecommunications in this country, however, the Unbundled Network Elements Platform (UNE-P) is the present and remains the gold standard that has allowed some 1.8 million Texans to select a competitive local phone service provider. Voice is the killer application and UNE-P is the only way today to get it into the bundle. "Healthy competition is the engine that will drive investment and innovation that leads us to the future," he said. "Without UNE-P, you would not have seen the wave of innovation to introduce VoIP. Without UNE-P, you will not see VoIP grow, nor will Texans experience the full array of attendant benefits and investment." With the addition of AT&T CallVantage Service, AT&T offers consumers a broad range of communications services designed to meet almost any need and budget. AT&T's portfolio of offers includes everything from new and innovative services like broadband telephony to traditional bundled packages of classic local, long distance and Internet services. The company plans to support the marketing of AT&T CallVantage Service with an extensive communications campaign that will include mass market advertising on television, radio and in print and through direct mail, viral marketing and online. Television and print advertising begins in Texas tomorrow. To learn more about AT&T CallVantage Service, consumers can visit http://www.att.com/CallVantage or call 1-866-816-3815 extension 64525. About AT&T For more than 125 years, AT&T (NYSE: T) has been known for unparalleled quality and reliability in communications. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company is a global leader in local, long distance, Internet and transaction-based voice and data services. The foregoing contains "forward-looking statements" which are based on management's beliefs as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events made by and information currently available to management. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside AT&T's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. For a more detailed description of the factors that could cause such a difference, please see AT&T's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This information is presented solely to provide additional information to further understand the results of AT&T. SOURCE AT&T Web Site: http://www.att.com/CallVantage How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VoIPnews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: VoIPnews-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 11:03:48 -0500 Subject: VoicePulse Announces Plans for Encrypted Phone Service Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-30-2004/0002137086&EDATE= VoicePulse Announces Plans for Encrypted Phone Service Broadband Phone Service Allows Customers to Make Secure Phone Calls SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- VON (VOICE ON THE NET) CONFERENCE AND EXPO, -- VoicePulse Inc., one of the nation's leading providers of broadband phone service, and Sipura Technology, manufacturer of the feature rich SPA-2000 phone adapter, today announced plans to secure customers' broadband phone calls using encryption. The new capability leverages technology built into the SPA-2000 as well as modifications to VoicePulse's own softswitch, developed in house. "The lack of encryption in consumer VoIP offerings has been a growing concern among users," said Ketan Patel, VoicePulse executive vice-president. "For the first time, customers will be able to pick up a telephone and carry on a conversation that is protected from eavesdropping - electronic or traditional. This is something that was rarely available even to PSTN phone users." Unlike consumer VoIP offerings to date, the new capability will protect customer phone calls by encrypting the portion that travels over the public Internet -- a frequent request by residential consumers, and an absolute requirement for business users. VoicePulse is the first company to announce plans to offer this level of security, due to be implemented in the second quarter of 2004. VoicePulse allows consumers to use their existing cable or DSL Internet connection for phone service. The service includes traditional features such as caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding and voicemail as well as a host of advanced features such as distinctive ring, call filters, telemarketer blocking and anonymous call rejection. Consumers need only a high-speed Internet connection and an ordinary touch-tone telephone to use the service. VoicePulse uses Voice-over-IP technology to deliver the next generation of broadband phone service. VoicePulse's services include: -- Unlimited local, regional and 200 US long distance minutes for $14.99 per month -- Unlimited local, regional and US long distance calling for $24.99 per month -- Traditional features such as Caller ID, Call Waiting with Caller ID, 3-Way Calling, Call Transfer, Call Return, Caller ID Blocking, Repeat Dialing -- Advanced features including Telemarketer Blocking, Do Not Disturb, Anonymous Call Rejection, Distinctive Ring. -- Voicemail with optional e-mail delivery of messages as sound attachments -- Choose your own area code -- Low international calling rates About Sipura Technology: Sipura Technology, Inc., located in San Jose, California, delivers products that are economically and functionally designed for large-scale global Voice over IP deployments. By providing exceptional value, Sipura offers customers high quality products that support rapid service adoption with secure and sustainable growth. Web address: http://www.sipura.com About VoicePulse: VoicePulse is a New Jersey based communications company that uses its VoIP network to deliver advanced features and high-quality phone service to residential and small-business consumers. The company leads the industry in delivering innovative features and excellent customer service. For more information about VoicePulse, please visit http://www.voicepulse.com. VoicePulse is a trademark of VoicePulse Inc. http://www.voicepulse.com For more information, please contact: VoicePulse Inc. Rima Vaghasiya Phone: (732) 339-5100 ext. 1 rima@voicepulse.com Sipura Technology Sherman Scholten Phone: (408) 572-5674 sherman@sipura.com SOURCE VoicePulse Inc. Web Site: http://www.voicepulse.com http://www.sipura.com ---------------------------------------- How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 09:00:18 -0500 From: No Spam Subject: Re: Nuisance Recorded Phone Calls PAT: Your information on RespOrg is correct, but these calls are probably not intentionally 'nuisance' calls. The number belongs to CCA, a financial services organization. I called them on behalf of a 'concerned user' of one of my systems, and they explained that they are not a sales or telemarketing organization. If they are calling a number in error, they are happy to remove said number, however, I explained to them that I just needed to confirm the nature of the call, and would let the end-user decide how to proceed. I suspect that they are trying to contact someone (who may or may not be you) for a legitimate reason. Your description reminded me of the time that Citibank called me because the noticed an unusually high quantity of transactions on my card. I had started my Holiday shopping. I would suggest giving them a call to confirm if they're calling you, or if they have a 'wrong number'. The 'nuisance' coordinator at x210 said she'd be more than happy to remove the 'dialled' number if they were calling it in error. If you'd like to authorize me to contact them on your behalf, email me privately with which of your numbers they dialled. J On Mon, 29 Mar 2004 21:14:35 EST TELECOM Digest Editor discussed Nuisance Recorded Phone Calls: > I have lately been getting one or two calls daily from a recorded > message which identifies itself as 'customer service' and claims to > have an important matter to discuss with me. I am to call back to > 'customer service' at 877-706-5624. For several days, I just ignored > it, treated it as a nuisance to petty too complain about very much. > I found is impossible to block the number from calling me. I was not > even able to track down *who* owned the number. > But I found something of value today and it may be useful for you as > well. The 'Resporg' (or Responsible Organization) Identification Line > can tell you which telco has the line in question. Dial 800-337-4194 > (recorded menu) and enter the entire ten digit number (800,888,877, > 866-xxx-xxxx) you are inquiring about. Confirm your entry when > requested. The recording will then read out the name of the resporg > and the number to call for troubles with it. I found out that my > nuisance calls were originating via Allnet, in Dallas, TX and the > number to call to report troubles, etc is 800-466-4600. > I hope this detail will be of value to readers. > PAT ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 11:22:58 PST From: John Bartley or K7AAY@ARRL.NET Subject: Re: Nuisance Recorded Phone Calls I recognize the MO. It's a collection agency. They called me looking for another John Bartley who had stiffed his dentist. I advised them that I was not the John Bartley they were looking for, and they went away. However, I did obtain their e-mail address, and sent them an e-mail I also BCC'd back to myself to document the conversation, in case the dentist appears in my credit history as the source of a false bad debt. John E. Bartley, III K7AAY telcom admin, PDX - Views mine. celdata cjb net - Handheld Cellular Data FAQ *This post quad-ROT13 encrypted. Reading it violates the DMCA.* [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In regards to your note about calls from CCA in (a suburb of) Dallas, TX what I was able to find out is either they are as division of Southwestern Bell *or* Southwestern Bell is somehow affiliated with them. I dumped SBC out of my home totally almost a year ago, in May, 2003. I *had* a full service package from them (local service, long distance, DSL, and Cellular [via Cingular Wireless]). I had it all for about two years, under the my personal number, the main billing number at my home, except the cell phone. More than a year ago, I began to have a lot of trouble with SBC, to the point I had to call the business office at least once each month, to lodge complaints. The bills just kept getting higher and higher. They were getting money two ways: a large credit balance on my account (several hundred dollars sent in advance to pay for a year of DSL) and when that money was all used, then they had auto debit from my bank account here in Independence. One month they got paid TWICE. I sent them a check, then they went in the same month and got another payment from the bank. They claimed it was an accident, and offered to refund my money. It never showed up. Then once, because of my age and disability they decided I was eligible for 'Lifeline'? service and quoted certain rates. They did not keep any of those promises. Although they claimed that *60 would block unwanted/anonymous calls from getting through, they said (in a later conversation) that if a caller presented 000-000-0000 as their calling number ID, it was not an anonymous call, therefore they could not help me further with it. They told me DSL could be obtained for $29 per month instead of $49 per month, but then continued to bill me $49 and said the earlier quote was a 'mistake', that I was not eligible, because although I do have Cingular Wireless it did not 'appear on the same phone bill'. When I decided to switch entirely to Prairie Stream (our local area telco) SBC stalled forever, and was not going to allow me to switch since I had DSL. They said I was 'ineligible for conversion'. So I dumped DSL and all SBC service totally, going with cable modem from Cable One who is also going to be offering phone service soon. No sooner had I gotten rid of SBC entirely and was working on the bad taste in my mouth, I began getting requests from them to come back. DSL for $29, no questions, full package of telco for a very low rate, *and* a free fifty dollar gift card to sign up. About a month after I had left them totally, they went again to my bank trying to get more money, and because I told bank not to pay them further each month, they decided to place me for collection. Some days I would get two pieces of mail from them in the same day; one piece offering a great deal to return to them, and a second piece saying pay us the $117 you owe. I asked them for a complete breakdown of how they arrived at the $117 figure, and to deduct the overpayment from a few months earlier (bank draft in a month when a check also went in) and I got nothing from them at all, just more offers of great bargains if I would leave Prairie Stream and come back to them. I told CCA (out of some suburb in Dallas) to please get me a total, final, detailed balance due, deduct the overpayment and tell me how much was still due. They said 'call SBC and ask them to get the matter straightened out.' Well, SBC will not even talk to me since I am not a customer of theirs any longer. I have suggested to CCA they should not use an autodialer to call numbers and play recorded messages about 'customer service' without first identifing who they are calling, that they should give caller ID when they call, and that they should cease calling on request. I think there are laws against all those forms of behavior. I have suggested SBC should simply go ahead and sue me; let it come to a head so they can be shown for the liars and fools they are. Oh, one last thing ... a couple months ago, I got tired of this and sent them a fifty dollar money order with a note saying "despite your lies and misrepresentations, if I still owe you anything after you have applied the credit due to me, then use this fifty dollar money order, and file is considered closed." I never heard another word from them until CCA started calling March 9 except for one more 'we miss you' letter with bargains galore if I would return and accept more of their lies, etc. Now it appears they cannot locate the $50 I sent even though I marked my telephone number on the bill and enclosed one of their dunning notices. I guess they feel *I* should get in line at the customer disservice department at SBC and go through the whole thing once again. CCA said they would ask SBC for my file and a copy of my bill, but to allow 2-3 weeks for it to arrive. "Then we will call you and expect payment in full." I guess even though as the lady claimed to me, 'SBC will have to look in their records for something that far back' (a year ago) I am expected to have all my own records from a year ago at my fingertips so I can send them immediate payment (of how much ever is left, minus my credit and my fifty dollar payment at the end.) Why does *anyone* stay with the large telcos if they can find other more effecient bunches like Prairie Stream or Vonage? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 13:47:59 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill Did you see that story in New York and elsewhere? Someone accidentally ran a phone bill up to $2500 because of a mistaken belief that a call to an AOL number within 973 in New Jersey was a free local call. The story had the note about the usual need to use leading 1 if it's a toll call, and also said that's not always the case "in some East Coast service areas". Remember about use of 7D for all calls (even toll) within a NJ area code. ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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 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. 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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 #151 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Mar 31 00:00:35 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i2V50Y616168; Wed, 31 Mar 2004 00:00:35 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 00:00:35 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200403310500.i2V50Y616168@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 #152 TELECOM Digest Tue, 30 Mar 2004 23:59:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 152 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Manchester, UK Exchange Fire (Jim Burks) <<================ More Fire News from Manchester, UK Fire (TELECOM Editor) <<========== Re: Western Union Clocks (Wesrock@aol.com) Cellular Tower Leases (Roy) Re: HDTV - Looking at an All-Digital World (jmayson@nyx.net) San Francisco ballpark becomes WiFi Internet hub (Monty Solomon) Re: "Virtual" Call Forwarding (Sammy@nospam.biz) Re: A Better Way To Squelch Spam? (jmayson@nyx.net) VOIP Seeks Its FCC Level (VOIP News) Vonage Sues AT&T for Trademark Infringement (VOIP News) VoIP Reaches Out, Wirelessly (VOIP News) SPA-3000 Unveiled by Sipura Technology at the Spring VON (VOIP News) 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 are 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: Jim Burks Subject: Manchester, UK Exchange Fire Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 03:14:47 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com A fire damaged a major BT cable tunnel in central Manchester, UK early Monday morning. This seems to be their equivalent of the Hinsdale, IL fire of the '80s in the US (see TELECOM Digest archives for details). Significant disruption of the phone network at least 100 miles from Manchester in some areas. Estimates are 150,000 lines affected, including the city ambulance dispatch radios, a number of call centres and web hosting centres. My company's high capacity leased lines in the area are still down as of Tuesday evening. News links: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/5/36645.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/5/36652.html http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/stories/Detail_LinkStory=85790.html http://www.cybertrn.demon.co.uk/guardian/ Jim Burks Collierville, TN jburks2 (et) midsouth.rr.com ------------------------------ From: Editor writes: > Participating PBS stations transmit the time signal on Line 21 of the > Vertical Blanking Interval. > My Sony VCR sets itself withing about 5 minutes. I doesn't make the > DST changes until I cycle the power for some reason. My (Panasonic) doesn't make any changes until you cycle the power. A couple of months ago my power was off for a time and when it came back on it was totally confused. Finally I got the manual out and discovered that was document ... except it seemed to me the power going off and then coming back on at some later time *was* cycling the power. I cycled the power off and on manually and the time came up very promptly. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ From: roy.inc@verizon.net (Roy) Subject: Cellular Tower Leases Date: 30 Mar 2004 17:27:06 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I want to buy cellular tower leases, is there a directory of cell tower lease owners? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: jmayson@nyx.net Subject: Re: HDTV - Looking at an All-Digital World Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 01:53:18 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com > The digital television (DTV) transition is moving into more American > homes via over-the-air broadcasting, cable TV, satellite and other > formats. Nearly 7 million U.S. households have bought digital TV > monitors and other display devices to take advantage of this > opportunity. Another 11 million homes are expected to buy DTV > equipment this year, and the number will grow to about 34 million > households by the end of 2006. To discuss the opportunities and > challenges, Vision spoke with a true DTV pioneer, Peter Fannon, vice > president, technology policy and regulatory affairs, > Panasonic/Matsushita Electric Corp. of America. I just don't get it. They expect Americans to pay a steep price for clearer mind-numbing crap? Quoting from TurnOffYourTV.com: "The whole point of DTV and HDTV (high definition television) is to offer a clearer TV signal -- at a price. And the price will be steep in two ways: First, the actual cost to the consumer for the new DTV products. And second, the cost to the environment as thousands of perfectly useable televisions are rendered useless and placed in trash heaps. The point of the TurnOffYourTV.com web site is for people to unplug from the tube, get rid of their television sets and replace them with books, exercise and rewarding interpersonal activities -- not to trash the television and replace it with a more expensive one." http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/commentary/digitaltv/digitaltv.html I'd just as soon let all of the analog stations go dark and forget the medium ever existed. But I'm the only one in my house who has this opinion. :-/ John Mayson Austin, Texas, USA ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 21:00:34 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: San Francisco Ballpark Becomes WiFi Internet Hub SAN FRANCISCO, March 30 (Reuters) - The old ballgame is getting some new technology. Baseball fans bored by the slow pace of a game or wanting more statistics and information will be able to connect computer devices via wireless computer networking, or WiFi, at San Francisco Giants home games this year, the team announced on Tuesday. The Giants' stadium is, after all, called SBC Park, for telecommunications giant SBC Communications Inc. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40967313 ------------------------------ From: Sammy@nospam.biz Subject: Re: "Virtual" Call Forwarding Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 18:14:54 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications _William_ wrote: > Question: > ================= > Does anyone know of a company that allows me to "port" (using the new > number portability capabilities) my existing landline phone number to > them and then allows me to forward that to a different number without > having to maintain an actual phoneline. Interesting question. The LECs have offered a feature since the early 1980s called "Remote Call Forwarding," which is only a logical presence in an area where you want a local presence. But, that would mean having a local number in the remote area forwarded to your physical number. Since number porting is local, I doubt what you are seeking would fall under the local number portability rules. ------------------------------ From: jmayson@nyx.net Subject: Re: A Better Way To Squelch Spam? Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 02:01:12 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com > Here's a way to do it. Let anybody issue money stamps. Let the > issuer keep the money. Let them use the money to build the necessary > server infrastructure, and if it's profitable, fine. A "stampette" > is, in effect, a one-time certificate, and the issuer is a certificate > authority whose certificates can't be cached. I'm estimating a price > of few thousand stampettes per dollar. I shouldn't have to pay even a penny because of spammers. I believe any system constructed to "stop spam" will get bypassed and abused. I don't understand why Internet users can't take it upon themselves to stop spam. I figure if *I* can do it, anyone can. John Mayson Austin, Texas, USA ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 15:51:13 -0500 Subject: VOIP Seeks Its FCC Level Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=50174 The regulatory status of voice over IP (VOIP) is still undecided, even after one service's victory with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), according to speakers at the Voice Over the Net (VON) conference. Kicking off a day-long session [ed. note: a mighty long session, that] on policy and regulation, speakers reiterated the argument that VOIP is fundamentally different from telephone service and should be regulated differently. The FCC has agreed -- for now. VOIP service Free World Dialup (FWD) was granted a February petition to be considered a data service rather than a telecommunications service (see VOIP to Star at FCC ). That puts FWD, and anything looking just like it, under Title I regulation for information services, as opposed to the more restrictive Title II for telephone service. (FWD is offered by Pulver.com, the same company that organizes VON). But that's no reason for proponents of easily accessible VOIP to celebrate yet, said Blair Levin, managing director of Legg Mason Inc. who was chief of staff to former FCC commissioner Reed Hundt. Full story at: http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=50174 ---------------------------------------- How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 13:04:57 -0500 Subject: Vonage Sues AT&T for Trademark Infringement Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com My comments follow the excerpt ... http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8309500.htm By Martha McKay, The Record, Hackensack, N.J. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 30 - Vonage says AT&T is taking advantage. The Edison-based Internet telephone start-up claims AT&T stepped on its cyber-turf when AT&T named its new Internet phone service "CallVantage" and registered some Web site names that sound close to Vonage's name. Vonage makes its claims in a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Trenton. The suit accuses AT&T of trademark infringement, among other things. "It's about the brand name," said Vonage spokeswoman Brooke Schulz. "We're concerned that our brand is being infringed upon and we're concerned there will be confusion in the marketplace." AT&T introduced "CallVantage," a service similar to Vonage's broadband phone service, in December and began selling service in New Jersey and Texas this month. AT&T chose the name CallVantage "with the intent of causing confusion, mistake, and deception as to the source of its products and services, and with the intent to present its products and services as emanating from, or being associated with, Vonage," the lawsuit said. AT&T spokesman Gary Morgenstern would not comment on the case except to say: "We think the lawsuit is totally without merit and we think we'll prevail in court." Vonage's additional claim against AT&T involves the practice by companies of purchasing the rights to Web site domain names with similar spellings to their own. Experts say companies may do this to ensure that potential customers who incorrectly type a Web site name will either be redirected to the correct site, or get an error message. Full story at: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8309500.htm Comment: First the standard disclaimer - I am not a lawyer, and what follows is my personal opinion only. Having said that, and disregarding the domain name issue for the moment, on the face of it this appears to be one of the dumbest trademark infringement lawsuits I've ever heard of. Not only is there very little similarity between "Vonage" and "CallVantage", but the folks at Vonage surely must realize that AT&T is not some small company that can be easily bullied into changing their product's name. I can think of a lot of company names that are a lot more similar than this. For example, first there was VoicePulse, then a few weeks later, VoiceGlo. There is a company called Broadvox, and more recently a company called Broadvoice (those last two are so similar that someone commented that maybe one of them should buy a blimp, so we can tell them apart!). But, in my opinion, the only way someone could confuse "CallVantage" with "Vonage" is if they were really drunk or something. Now, the practice of purchasing a misspelled version of a competitor's trade name is probably much more questionable, and if that were the sole issue I would not be making these comments. But somehow, I really doubt that Vonage is going to be able to force AT&T to change its product's name. (For those outside the U.S. who may not understand the blimp reference -- there are two U.S. tire manufacturers that have had similar names for decades. One, Goodyear, has a blimp (actually I think more than one) that's often used for aerial video shots at sporting events, etc., and is probably one of the more recognized icons of the advertising world. The other one, Goodrich, once ran an advertising campaign that mentioned the blimp and said, "We're the OTHER guys.") ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 15:19:58 -0500 Subject: VoIP Reaches Out, Wirelessly Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1557451,00.asp By Sebastian Rupley The talk at the VON (Voice On the Net) conference this week in Silicon Valley is not just about Voice over IP (VoIP) technology, but the coming convergence of Wi-Fi wireless LAN technology and VoIP services. That melding is already leading to the development of new products and services, with many more expected later this year. VoIP is already in the middle of a major comeback, and most observers think that's because widespread broadband adoption and other more reliable high-data-rate technologies have finally made sound quality and ease of use good enough for phone calls placed over the Internet. VoIP is saving businesses and consumers money, and is also raising sticky issues, such as whether the Federal Communications Commission should levy tariffs on VoIP players. According to Arizona research firm In-Stat/MDR, over 5 million people will subscribe to VoIP services by 2007 five times more than there were in 2002, a trend which could represent a trouble spot for other kinds of telecommunications companies. Full story at: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1557451,00.asp ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 15:17:01 -0500 Subject: SPA-3000 Unveiled by Sipura Technology at the Spring VON Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.sipura.com/Documents/SipuraPressRelease005.pdf SPA-3000 Unveiled by Sipura Technology at the Spring VON Conference VoIP Phone Adapter + PSTN Gateway Functionality Combines Advanced Media Gateway with Sophisticated Call Routing and Authentication in an Ultra Compact Design SAN JOSE, CA. March 30, 2004 Expanding on the phenomenally successful SPA-2000 and the just released SPA-1000 Voice over IP telephone adapters, the SPA-3000 continues to deliver on Sipura Technology's mission to provide market leading, best-in-class VoIP end points providing freedom and opportunity to service providers and end users. The SPA-3000 will feature VoIP adapter functionality found in the SPA-2000 and SPA-1000 with the additional benefit of an integral connection for legacy telephone network hop-on, hop-off applications. SPA-3000 users will be able to leverage their broadband phone service connections more than ever by automatically routing local calls from cell phones and land lines to a VoIP service provider and vice versa. A typical user calling from a land line or mobile phone will be able to reduce and even eliminate international and long distance telephone charges by first calling their SPA-3000 via a local phone number or by using a telephone connected directly to the unit. The advanced authentication and call routing intelligence programmed into the SPA-3000 will connect the caller via the Internet to the far end destination with security and ease. At the far end, calls can be answered immediately or further processed as a local call to any legacy land line or mobile phone allowed by the SPA-3000 dial plan. By combining the all features and functionality of a Sipura phone adapter with the power of a land line connection, the SPA-3000 is a welcome addition to our growing line of voice over IP endpoints, said Jan Fandrianto, Sipura president and CEO. The SPA-3000 may also be used for life line applications. For example, depending on the service provider's set-up, callers who dial 911 can be automatically routed via the IP or legacy telephone network. If power is lost to the unit or the VoIP service is down, calls will still be sent to a traditional carrier via the FXO interface. Sipura is currently working with several service providers to further define requirements for life line support in products such as the SPA-3000. In addition to the hundreds of programmable features available with VoIP phone adapter functionality, the SPA-3000 will provide specific features to allow calls to be routed to and from the FXO interface. Some of the features available on the SPA-3000 include: - Multiple, Configurable Dial Plans Activated for Individual or Groups of Users - Single and Dual Stage Dialing - FXO / VoIP Line Sharing The SPA-3000 will be available in North America in May 2004, from Internet telephony service providers and authorized Sipura Technology distributors. Beginning in April, a paid beta and evaluation program will be offered to customers via Sipura Technology's web site. The list price of the SPA-3000 is $169.95 About Sipura Technology: Sipura Technology, Inc., located in San Jose, California, delivers products that are economically and functionally designed for large-scale global Voice over IP deployments. By providing exceptional value, Sipura Technology offers customers high quality products that support rapid service adoption with secure and sustainable growth. Web address: http://www.sipura.com Contact: Name: Sherman Scholten Company: Sipura Technology Phone: (408) 572-5674 Email: sherman@sipura.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: 620-402-0134 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 oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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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 #152 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Mar 31 01:15:34 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i2V6FX917445; Wed, 31 Mar 2004 01:15:34 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 01:15:34 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200403310615.i2V6FX917445@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 #153 TELECOM Digest Wed, 31 Mar 2004 01:14:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 153 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Fire Coverage From Manchester, UK Continued (TELECOM Editor) <====== VoIP Provider to Block Eavesdroppers (VOIP News) Re: Cellular Tower Leases (John Levine) Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2500 Phone Bill (Marcus Jervis> 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 are 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: Editor Subject: Fire Coverage From Manchester, UK Continued Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 00:00:00 UCT Here are some news reports from the UK newspapers for Tuesday, March 30 and Wednesday, March 31 regards the telephone exchange fire in Manchester, UK on Monday. PAT BT fire disrupts emergency services By Tim Richardson Posted: 29/03/2004 at 13:41 GMT A major cable fire in Manchester has brought chaos to the region as emergency services struggle to cope with a communication blackout. According to the BBC, emergency services have been stretched after the fire damaged communication links. Greater Manchester Ambulance Service said it was struggling after the fire damaged its radio network while some 999 services have also been hit. And because so many phone lines have been wiped out, there are concerns that people will be unable to access 999 services in the event of an emergency. At this early stage it's impossible to gauge the full extent of the incident that has wiped out more than 130,000 telephone lines. The Register has received a number of reports from readers about companies hit by the fire and unable to access their systems. From banks to airlines, it seems the fire has brought many companies to their knees. Mobile phone operator Vodafone said that some of its network had been hit and that it's working with BT to reroute calls elsewhere. While a statement on utility giant Powergen's website reads: "We're sorry but the Powergen website is currently unavailable. This is due to a major telecommunications failure in the North of England. We're working hard to restore the service as soon as possible. Our apologies again for any inconvenience caused." Fire crews are still dealing the incident deep down in tunnels beneath the centre of Manchester. Black smoke is reportedly billowing out as firefighters use emergency generators to ventilate the tunnels. Said BT in its latest statement: "A fire in deep level tunnels running beneath the streets of central Manchester has caused extensive damage to cables and widespread disruption to phone services in Manchester and the surrounding area. "The fire is affecting some 130,000 homes and businesses in the centre of the city. BT is currently assessing the extent of the damage and working to reroute and restore as many services as possible. "However, the true extent of the repair will not become clear until the fire authority have declared the site safe and BT engineers can gain access to the tunnels. It is not possible at this stage to say how long it will be before all services are fully restored." The fire broke out around 2.00am causing "extensive damage". ® ===================================== BT denies cable fire was in A-bomb exchange By Tim Richardson Posted: 30/03/2004 at 11:28 GMT While BT was tackling its underground cable fire yesterday, the burning issue for many Web watchers was whether the blaze was in an old telephone exchange buried deep below Manchester and designed to withstand a twenty-kiloton atom bomb. The Register was flooded with emails yesterday from people convinced that the fire had broken out in what is known as the "Guardian Underground Telephone Exchange". According to this fascinating insight into Manchester's Cold War past the "Guardian" was built in 1954 some 34m underground and was designed to withstand a Hiroshima-size atomic explosion and ensure that communications could continue in the event of Manchester being flattened. Yesterday, BT officials denied that the fire was anywhere near the underground exchange. Today, though, a spokesman told The Register: "The tunnel in which the fire broke out was built at the same time as the former underground 'Guardian' exchange - in the 50s. "The exchange no longer exists - it was decommissioned in the early 70s and all the gear removed. "The tunnel is and always has been a cable tunnel between the two BT (then GPO) buildings - Dial House and Rutherford House." No one at the telco was available at the time of writing to say if the tunnel was part of the bomb-proof underground structure. ® =================================== Cold-War History in Manchester The Guardian Underground Telephone Exchange Ever since I moved to Manchester in 1986 I've heard rumours about secret underground installations under the city centre. I particularly remember being told on several occasions about a secret nuclear bunker under Piccadilly Gardens. I have since found out that there is some truth behind these rumours. This web site reports my findings. Warning The Guardian Underground Telephone Exchange is NOT open to the public. Attempting to gain unauthorised access is trespass. Often it is very dangerous too: on more than one occasion people have died in the process of trying to gain access to such sites. If you attempt to enter a defence related site, even an apparently unused one, you should expect an unpleasant encounter with military police. Please do not pester site owners to gain access, this causes irritation to many of them. Instead, please join one of the specialist societies that can organise visits properly. Most of what I found out came from the excellent and highly recommended book: War Plan UK: The Secret Truth about Britain's "Civil Defence" by Duncan Campbell Published by Paladin Books in 1983 (Unfortunately it is now out of print) This book includes a map and description of the Guardian Underground Telephone Exchange and deep level tunnel system in Manchester. Duncan Campbell has kindly given me permission to reproduce this information here: I have had to remove the map at the request of the Geographers' A-Z Map Co Ltd. Manchester Guardian is an underground telephone exchange in the centre of Manchester built in 1954. It is 112 feet (34m) below ground and cost £4 million to construct. The main tunnel, one thousand feet long and twenty-five feet wide (300m by 7m), lies below buildings in Back George Street, linking up to an anonymous and unmarked surface building containing the entrance lifts and ventilator shafts. There are also access shafts in the Rutherford telephone exchange in George Street. Its purpose was to resist a Hiroshima sized twenty-kiloton atom bomb, and preserve essential communications links even if the centre of Manchester had been flattened. A deep level tunnel system runs east and west from Guardian. A mile-long (1.3km) tunnel runs west to Salford, and a thousand-yard (700m) tunnel runs to Lockton Close in Ardwick, where a modernised ventilator building marks the south-eastern extension of the Manchester deep level tunnels. In the event of an attack warning, Guardian's main entry shaft was to have been sealed by a thirty-five-ton concrete slab that could be positioned over the entrance. Staff could escape either by using built-in hydraulic jacks to lift the slab (if covered with debris) some weeks after attack, or via the deep level tunnels to Ardwick and Salford. Emergency stores contained six weeks' supply of food rations, and Guardian had its own artesian well, generators, fuel tanks, and artificial windows and scenery painted onto rest-room walls. The exchange was to survive even if the city it served was destroyed. The Manchester Guardian telephone exchange and deep level tunnels were one of several such systems built in the 50s. Similar installations can be found under London (Kingsway) and Birmingham (Anchor). By the time the exchange and tunnels were complete they were entirely vulnerable to more powerful Soviet H-bombs. I decided to try to locate and photograph the shafts and surface buildings described in "War Plan UK". To my surprise I found the surface buildings still intact, although they seemed to be in a bad state of repair. Their existence is still not common knowledge in Manchester. I wonder how much is left of the underground installations. Ardwick Shaft The entrance to the ardwick shaft can be found in a small fenced off enclosure in Lockton Close in Ardwick. Lockton close is first right off Grosvenor Street, which is off Downing Street. The entrance is adjacent to the Mancunian way, and I wonder whether the deep level tunnels where damaged by the extension of the Mancunian way which was added a few years ago. Karel Hladky, a visitor to this page made the following comment: "I don't think that the foundations of the new Mancunian Way - London Road flyover piers would go as deep as this - it is a steel bridge and would be a fair bit lighter than a concrete one". Perhaps this is why the new flyover was not a concrete construction, so as not to interfere with the tunnels (also see the reply to this site from BT). Ardwick Shaft Note the padlocked blast-proof doors and the ventilation louvers. These relatively new "No Parking" road markings in front of the entrance to the fenced enclosure may indicate it is still in occasional use (see the reply to this site from BT): Ardwick Shaft - Entrance to Compound Salford Shaft The entrance to the Salford shaft can be found in a small fenced off enclosure on Islington Street between Chapel Street and North Star Drive in Salford (close to Salford Crescent). As can be seen the design of the entrance building and enclosure are very similar to those found at the Ardwick Shaft despite being a couple of miles from Ardwick. Salford Shaft Salford Shaft City Centre Entrance and Ventilator Shaft Building This is the city centre building containing the entrance lifts and ventilator shafts above the Guardian telephone exchange. This building is located on George Street between Princess Street and Dickinson Street. That is just behind the Odeon Cinema on Oxford Street. This is the entrance to the car park on George Street. Entrance Building - George Street The sign on the gate reads: POLICE NOTICE NO PARKING AT ANY TIME enquiries - 55 GEORGE ST 236-0430 Looking over the wall I saw a BT van parked in the car park which makes some sense given the telecommunications function of the site, although I would not expect the exchange to still be in use. Perhaps BT are just using the car park for their vehicles (see the reply to this site from BT). This is the building viewed from James Street. Entrance Building - James Street This would be the main loading bay into the building, possibly used for the installation of large telephone exchange equipment. The lift-shaft and thirty-five-ton concrete slab described in "War Plan UK" must lie just behind this door. Entrance Building - James Street Note the tall chimney-like ventilation shaft required to provide a supply of fresh-air to the underground installations below. The sign on the door reads: FIRE EXIT NO PARKING DAY OR NIGHT Apart from the two "No Parking" signs the building is completely unmarked. A visitor to this site was inspired to take some more pictures of this structure in the city centre. Rutherford Telephone Exchange This is Rutherford House on George Street, just behind Piccadilly Plaza. This is the renamed and renovated Rutherford Telephone Exchange, and as such contains shafts allowing access to the underground Guardian Exchange. Rutherford Telephone Exchange Some of the ground-floor windows seem to have very strong grills or shutters behind them. Perhaps this building was strengthened to make it blast proof as some other surface telephone exchanges were in the mid 70s. I recently (Jan 2002) received an email which indicates that the information about Rutherford House containing an entrance to the bunker is incorrect: "Your reference to Rutherford House as being one of the entrances is wrong. The main entrance is behind the doorman's office in a building across the Road, 26 York Street. The other entrance was in George Street. The building contained a passenger lift and a crane for winching materials to the tunnel below. I worked in Guardian 1966-69 and it was a very depressing place of work. If the weather was bad during winter, I could go 5 days without seeing daylight. Dark in the morning going to work and dark going home. Most people who worked down there wore glasses. Eyestrain brought on by fluorescent lighting." Information from another site: Guardian was a Trunk Non-Director exchange, opened 8.0 a.m. 7th December 1958. A second and larger Trunk Unit, 'Pioneer' was brought into service during November & December 1959, to complete the Trunk Mechanisation in Manchester. Manchester Civic Society Article Certain members of the Manchester Civic Society had a guided tour of the Guardian Exchange in 1997. Their newspaper, the Forum, carried an article about this tour in its December 1997 edition. The Civic Society have kindly given me permission to reproduce this article here: Underground Manchester - An Undiscovered World Beneath Our Feet. Pictures Taken Within the Underground Exchange I have obtained some pictures taken inside the underground telephone exchange. Unfortunately these are of a rather poor quality and I don't know when they were taken. I was particularly surprised to see the piano and pool table in the recreation room. They were planning to have quite a relaxing time sitting out armageddon down there! (but see the reply to this site from BT). THESE PICTURES ARE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MANCHESTER CIVIC SOCIETY AND WERE NOT TAKEN DURING THEIR VISIT TO THE EXCHANGE. Pictures Taken During the Construction of the Underground Exchange I have obtained some pictures taken during the construction of the underground telephone exchange. These pictures were kindly sent to me by BT in Manchester who also sent a reply to some of the points made on this site. I have recently (March 2002) obtained some more pictures taken during the very early phase of construction and some taken later but before the exchange equipment was installed. THESE PICTURES ARE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MANCHESTER CIVIC SOCIETY AND WERE NOT TAKEN DURING THEIR VISIT TO THE EXCHANGE. Final Comments As the Guardian underground telephone exchange and deep level tunnels still exist under the streets of Manchester and are no longer in use, I believe they should be opened to the public as a cold-war museum. It is essential, in my opinion, to preserve this recent history so that past mistakes are not repeated. Alternatively, the exchange could be converted into an interesting venue for a club or bar by some entrepreneur, as so many other derelict buildings in Manchester have been. See the reply to this site from BT. If anyone reading this has any more information on the underground installations in Manchester please email me at: atomic@cybertrn.demon.co.uk For a comprehensive list of the UK's Cold War defence infrastructure and related information visit the The Research Study Group pages. Duncan Campbell's home page has information on his current research and investigations. Readers of this page may also be interested in the Protect and Survive web site, an archive of UK civil defence material which also includes a comprehensive list of cold-war related links. Copyright 2002 © George Coney - Cybertron Limited Last updated March 12, 2002 *** 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 owners, in one instance, George Coney, Cyberton Limited, in the other instance, The Register Newspaper. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 20:02:51 -0500 Subject: VoIP Provider to Block Eavesdroppers Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-5181428.html By Ben Charny CNET News.com SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Net-phoning provider VoicePulse says it plans to use encryption to secure calls, part of an industry trend that could pull in business customers but raise problems for law enforcement wiretaps. VoicePulse said the new feature will prevent electronic or traditional eavesdropping on customers' phone calls. It encrypts the part of the call that travels alongside other data on the public Internet, the first time this approach has been taken by a commercial voice over Internet Protocol service provider (VoIP), according to VoicePulse. VoicePulse President Ravi Sakaria said he believes the company's competitors, which now include AT&T, will also make it standard to protect the data in calls from being captured by outsiders. He said it will ease privacy concerns, satisfying current subscribers and making voice calling over the Internet more palatable to potential business customers. "Encryption will not cost extra, and we do intend to encrypt every call on all plans," Sakaria said. "As a service provider, we feel that providing encryption is a requirement, not an option." [.....] broadband telephony service providers have said they intend to comply with any law enforcement request, where it's technically feasible. Adding encryption "makes it no harder, or easier, to capture calls," Sakaria said. Full story at: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-5181428.html or http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040330.gtvoip0330/BNStory/Technology/ How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ Date: 31 Mar 2004 05:30:53 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Cellular Tower Leases Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I want to buy cellular tower leases, is there a directory of cell > tower lease owners? Thanks. I doubt it. We tower owners are a very miscellaneous lot. 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 ------------------------------ From: Marcus Jervis Subject: Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 05:38:38 +0000 Carl Moore wrote: > Did you see that story in New York and elsewhere? Someone > accidentally ran a phone bill up to $2500 because of a mistaken belief > that a call to an AOL number within 973 in New Jersey was a free local > call. The story had the note about the usual need to use leading 1 if > it's a toll call, and also said that's not always the case "in some > East Coast service areas". Remember about use of 7D for all calls > (even toll) within a NJ area code. Here it is: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/technology/033004_aptech_phonebill.html or: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apfeature_story.asp?category=1120&slug=Phone%20Bill ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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 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 #153 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Mar 31 14:11:42 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i2VJBgo19826; Wed, 31 Mar 2004 14:11:42 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 14:11:42 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200403311911.i2VJBgo19826@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 #154 TELECOM Digest Wed, 31 Mar 2004 14:11:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 154 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Leading Vendors Deliver IP Phones, VoIP Devices on Windows (VOIP News) FCC Policy-Maker Lays Out VOIP Problem (VOIP News) VON Keynote Speech: FCC Enters Year of VOIP (VOIP News) Programming Partner Mail VS R4.0 (Evan Mann) Teaching My Mother About Making Long Distance Calls (Heywood) Excel Communications (William Robison) Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill (John Levine) Re: A Better Way To Squelch Spam? (Paul Vader) Re: Cellular Tower Leases (Mark Atwood) Internet Links Teachers, Parents and Students (Lisa Minter) 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 are 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: VOIP News Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 09:56:52 -0500 Subject: Leading Vendors Deliver IP Phones and VoIP Devices on Windows Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-31-2004/0002138346&EDATE= Leading Vendors Deliver IP Phones and VoIP Devices on Windows CE Microsoft Will Extend VoIP Platform in Next Version of Windows CE SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today at the Spring 2004 Voice on the Net (VON) Conference & Expo, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) announced upcoming voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) features for Windows(R) CE 5.0 (previously code-named "Macallan"). The company also announced that leading vendors are delivering a wide variety of VoIP-based client devices and services -- such as desktop and wireless phones, IP set-top boxes, residential gateways and thin clients -- running the Windows CE operating system. New device and equipment manufacturer partners developing IP phones and VoIP devices using Windows CE include Atrium C&I Co. Ltd., Bast Inc., Intermec Technologies Corp., Inter-Tel Integrated Systems Inc., LG Electronics, Mikasa Shoji Co. Ltd., NEC Infrontia Corp., Netsys Corp., Reddline Systems Inc., RV Technology Ltd., Uptech Ltd., Wooksung Electronics Inc. and ZTE Corp. These partners chose Microsoft because Windows CE enables innovative telephony applications and tight integration with desktop and server applications. The updates to the VoIP platform in Windows CE 5.0 will decrease development time for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) via expanded componentization, integrated collaboration features, and an advanced application programming model and user interface. Windows CE 5.0 will further enable enterprises and network service providers to offer compelling telephony services to customers through easy integration with existing infrastructure, sophisticated call functionality and a configurable telephony user interface. "We are extremely excited about the breadth of IP phones and VoIP devices being delivered by a broad range of manufacturers on Windows CE," said Scott Horn, director of the Embedded Devices Group at Microsoft. "As voice and data services continue to merge across networks, enterprises and service operators are deploying innovative IP phone and VoIP devices that will help increase productivity and access to information in the office and at home. The new features in Windows CE 5.0 will support manufacturers with an even more flexible and integrated platform for developing a broad variety of VoIP-enabled client devices." Strong Partner Momentum "With strong customer interest, we recently shipped our Inter-Tel Model 8690 advanced IP phone on Windows CE, which creates a framework for our customers to integrate business-specific applications," said Jeff Ford, president of Inter-Tel Integrated Systems. "We are expanding our relationship with Microsoft to build our next generation of advanced IP phones on Windows CE, which are designed to make it easier for our enterprise customers to integrate their existing IT infrastructure with our telephony solution." Additional VoIP features coming in Windows CE 5.0 will enable increased productivity for customers via multiparty audio conferencing, Exchange Server integration with contact search and calendar functionality, and unified messaging. New features such as automatic provisioning and user identification will help IT departments simplify deployment and administration of IP phones and VoIP devices. "Windows CE 5.0 will enable us to easily build our upcoming IP phone product line while providing premium features such as instant messaging, alerts and multimedia services to our customers and end users of our phones," said Gyoo-Soo Lee, chief research engineer at LG Electronics. "As IP phones become multifunctional communication devices, the feature enhancements in Windows CE 5.0 will enable us to more quickly and cost-effectively develop smart IP phones." System integrators including BSQUARE Corp., HCL Technologies Ltd., Datacraft Asia Ltd., Net2Com Ltd., TABLETmedia Inc. and Zinwell Corp. are using the Windows platform to provide deployment and integration support for enterprises and service operators around the world. These new industry partners join previously announced manufacturers BCM Computers Co. Ltd., Casio Computer Company Ltd., Hitachi Ltd., Samsung Electronics Company Ltd., Symbol Technologies Inc. and Tatung Co., which are delivering innovative IP phones and VoIP-enabled devices running Windows CE. One example is Mitel Networks Corp.'s 5230 IP appliance, which enables location transparency across the network, allowing users to associate any workstation as their own. Leading telephony and Internet service providers are using the Windows platform to provide innovative, revenue-generating services while reducing customer support costs and increasing user satisfaction. "Utilizing our global network and advanced routing technologies, Vonage offers innovative, feature-rich and cost-effective telephony services," said Cyrus Driver, vice president of wholesale sales at Vonage. "The recent deployment of our soft phone based on Windows CE enables rich services that integrate with desktop and server applications, allowing our customers to be more productive." About Windows CE Windows CE 5.0 will be Microsoft's newest and most advanced real-time embedded operating system for rapidly creating the next generation of 32-bit smart, connected and small-footprint devices such as consumer electronics devices, gateways, industrial controllers, mobile handheld devices, IP set-top boxes, VoIP phones and thin clients. Building on the reliable foundation of previous versions of Windows CE, new technologies included in the upcoming release enable platform developers to unleash their innovation through rich multimedia capabilities, increase their development efficiencies, and reduce time to market. More information, including Technology Preview kits, is available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/embedded/. SOURCE Microsoft Corp. Web Site: http://www.microsoft.com ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 09:53:51 -0500 Subject: FCC Policy-maker Lays Out VOIP Problem Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1558347,00.asp By Mark Hachman SANTA CLARA, Calif. A Federal Communications Commission policy-maker underlined the financial implications of voice over IP in a speech here Tuesday. For months, FCC Chairman Michael Powell has argued that the government should take a hands-off approach to VOIP, which uses the Internet Protocol (IP) to transmit voice information. But if VOIP takes off, the government will lose an important source of revenue that is being used to fund the communications needs of the poor, said Bob Pepper, chief of policy development for the FCC during a speech at the Voice On the Net show. The problem is that universal service, used to provide a basic level of telecommunications services to underserved markets, is funded through interstate calls. Calls made between states can yield only a few cents in fees per call, but the total obviously adds up, Pepper said. In 2001, $99.3 billion worth of interstate calls were made, Pepper said. And, as wireless and VOIP calls become more popular, the source of universal service funding will decrease. The habit is affecting American culture, Pepper said. "The only time I ever pay a long-distance bill is by accident," he said. "I use a cell phone. The incremental cost to call long distance is zero; I think of it as free. Why should I pay $4.95 a month and then get charged by the minute when I can call on my cell phone for free?" Full story at: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1558347,00.asp How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 12:40:01 -0500 Subject: VON Keynote: The FCC Enters the Year of VoIP Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.convergedigest.com/regulatory/regulatoryarticle.asp?ID=10667 VON Keynote: The FCC Enters the Year of VoIP "If last year was the year of spectrum, this is the year of VoIP," said Robert Pepper, Chief of Policy Development at the FCC. In the first three months of this year, the FCC has issued an historic declaratory ruling on VoIP (the Pulver.com petition), initiated a Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement (CALEA) rulemaking proceeding on VoIP, and launched a far-ranging Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) concerning "Everything over IP" (EoIP). In addition to the Pulver.com petition (now resolved), there are also at least five other declaratory rulings still pending on critical VoIP questions (AT&T, Level 3, Inflexion, Vonage and SBC). This burst of regulatory action is not unexpected. Pepper said the FCC had been watching VoIP with interest for years but had decided not to jump into action in order to give the technology time to evolve. Its hand was forced however, when the state of Minnesota and others began their own regulatory actions against Vonage and other nascent VoIP providers. Full story at: http://www.convergedigest.com/regulatory/regulatoryarticle.asp?ID=10667 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: Evan Mann Subject: Programming Partner Mail VS R4.0 Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 18:11:40 GMT Organization: RoadRunner - Central Florida I have a ACS R4.0 and a Partner Mail VS R4.0 with 4 port card. I'm unfamiliar with the VS mail so I was hoping someone can give me a few tips on setting it up. Ive only setup PC Card VM's and those seem to work differently. ------------------------------ Subject: Teaching my Mother How to Make Long Distance Calls From: Heywood Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 00:08:32 -0600 Hi! My mother has Ameritech service in 248-651 (Rochester, MI) and she pays about a buck a minute long distance because she uses the default. I will be visiting her home next week, and I'm looking for suggestions on what to change it to. She may do one LD call per week or so, so good rates and a small monthly LD "access fee" would be ok. And, I'm in Canada so calls to Canada should also be reasonable - although I've been trying to explain to her how to call my 1-888 number. Dial arounds are not an option, this is a woman who has trouble with Touch-Tone (tm) phones. Those who wish to reply via email could email me at fred at nepean dot com. just use the same subject line so I'll spot it amidst the spam. Thanks! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Or how about a good *low* rate with no monthly access fee if possible? Or how about some minimum amount of time included in the service package for 'free' each month? Is your mother on SBC? I think you can get 60 minutes per month of long distance in a package each month for a few dollars. PAT] ------------------------------ From: William Robison Subject: Excel Communications Organization: Universitry of Iowa Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:17:25 GMT I attended a presentation by Excel Communications last night. They appear to sell telecom services (local, long-distance, internet, cell). The presentation was for prospective sales people, but it had all the hallmarks of a pyramid scheme. Sign up for $400, sign up more sellers and get a substantial "incentive", The people you sign up sign up more and you get a different kickback, etc. Has anyone out there encountered this organization, or have anything to relate with respect to Excel? Many thanks, -Willy [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We used to get a lot of messages about Excel here, but not so much in recent years that I know of. Most of the mail in the past referred to them as a pyramid scheme; not so many people making long distance calls as busy signing up still other agents is the way I heard it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 31 Mar 2004 16:55:13 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Did you see that story in New York and elsewhere? Someone > accidentally ran a phone bill up to $2500 because of a mistaken > belief that a call to an AOL number within 973 in New Jersey was a > free local call. I saw the story, and it makes no sense. The story was filed from Denver, about a Denver guy arguing about the bill with Qwest which is the phone company in Denver. All calls within 973 are intra-LATA. Unless someone made the unusual choice of another carrier for intra-LATA toll, they'd be billed by Verizon on the Verizon local phone bill. It looks to me like what happened was that the guy's daughter set up her PC in New Jersey to call a 973 access number, brought the computer back to Denver, forgot to change the settings, so it kept calling the NJ number. It's hard to see how someone could run up a $2500 bill at NJ intralata rates which are under 10 cpm, but it's not hard if it's non-plan interstate rates which can still be 25 cpm or more. Too bad he didn't sign up for Qwest's flat rate long distance for $25/mo. North Jersey has overlays and permissive dialing, so any call within the 973/862 can be dialed either as 10D or 1+10D, with everything else being 1+10D. Rather than attempt to memorize and program in long lists of local prefxes, the easiest thing to do is to set up your PC to dial everything as 1+10D. 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 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: John, does this story sort of have the marks of an urban legend? Yes, there was a newspaper account of it, and newspapers do not usually write fiction (the New York Times and the Boston Globe being two exceptions) but has anyone ever identified the person who got this humongous telephone bill or audited how the telco heard the sad story then refused to make an adjustment, etc? These situations used to 'come up' all the time in the past with BBS lines and in the early days of Compuserve. Someone always dialed an inappropriate number then got a terrible bill for it, etc. I am not sure I can buy all that bologna. PAT] ------------------------------ From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader) Subject: Re: A Better Way To Squelch Spam? Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:57:16 -0000 Organization: Inline Software Creations William Warren writes: > The cost of paying for email will be dwarfed by the savings that > result from it: not just the lowered cost of an (already overtaxed) > infrastructure, but the much higher human cost in wages, agravation, > and time. That's only true if the plan actually works. Since 99.999% of all spam is sent out these days by other than the spammer's resources, these dumb schemes are hurting everyone BUT who they're supposed to. Privacy is not the issue here -- theft of resources is. * * PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something like corkscrews. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Cellular Tower Leases From: Mark Atwood Organization: EasyNews, UseNet made Easy! Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 08:12:15 GMT John Levine writes: >> I want to buy cellular tower leases, is there a directory of cell >> tower lease owners? Thanks. > I doubt it. We tower owners are a very miscellaneous lot. This sounds like a business opportunity crying to be filled. Mark Atwood | When you do things right, people won't be sure mra@pobox.com | you've done anything at all. http://www.pobox.com/~mra | http://www.livejournal.com/users/fallenpegasus [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess I am missing something here. Exactly *what* does a person who 'buys cellular tower leases' or 'sells cellular tower leases' do? Is that like Dobson here in Liberty, Kansas (suburb of Independence)? Mr. Dobson has the 'Cellular One' brand name in this area of the county, but one of his subsidiary companies is the cellular tower southwest of town. In addition to 'Dobson Cellular One' he rents tower space to the other carriers around town. Is that what your hypothetical buyer/seller would be doing? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Internet Links Teachers, Students and Parents Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 12:00:00 CST A story in the Independence Reporter for Sunday, March 24, 2004 told about the work of Bob Tincher, Technology Coordinator for the Independence, Kansas public schools. Bob serves as webmaster for http://www.indyschools.com and the story also told about the web pages maintained by the various teachers in the schools here such as Doran Smith, chemistry and physics teacher at Independence High School. Teachers can send/receive email with parents, students and other faculty members. Teachers use their individual web pages at http://www.indyschools.com to post class assignments and course description and other news. Each school (the three elementary schools, the middle school and the high school) maintains a mailing list/newsletter for parents. Go to the main front page for the Independence School District then after noting the calendar of events, continue on to each individual school, then each teacher's web page. High school students at Independence High School began http://www.indyschools.com about eight years ago (1995) as a class project, and it since has developed into a large web site. About 45 teachers in our school district participate with web pages of their own for communication with parents and students. Lisa Minter ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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 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 #154 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Apr 1 03:16:05 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i318G4c04940; Thu, 1 Apr 2004 03:16:05 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 03:16:05 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404010816.i318G4c04940@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 #155 TELECOM Digest Thu, 1 Apr 2004 03:16:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 155 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson April Foolproof: AT&T Alerts Consumers About Latest Scams (M Solomon) Liberal Talk Radio? No One Will Buy it (Monty Solomon) Verizon Wireless to Cut Bulk, Cost of Bills (Monty Solomon) Search Engine Google to Offer Free E-Mail (Monty Solomon) Another Wrinkle: Permitted Numbers/Parents May Soon Decide (M Solomon) Teen Girl Charged With Posting Nude Photos on Internet (Monty Solomon) Congress Takes Aim Yet Again at P2P Users; Film at 11 (Monty Solomon) Clear Channel Hires Jesse Jackson as Host For Talk Radio (Monty Solomon) Amazon Patents Cookies (Monty Solomon) Pulver: VoIP Lacks Coolness (VOIP News) Re: Fire Coverage From Manchester, UK Continued (Tony P.) More Cell Phone Courtesy - Don't Hold up Other Customers (Carl Moore) Picture Phone Purgatory (Eric Friedebach) Bogus Collect Calls From Longview, Texas? (Carl Moore) Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill (Tom Hudson) Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill (John Levine) Wireless Equivalent to Crossover Network (Daveman750) Re: Excel Communications (John Levine) 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 are 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, 31 Mar 2004 17:47:16 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: April Foolproof: AT&T Alerts Consumers About the Latest Scams April Foolproof: AT&T Alerts Consumers About the Latest Scams MORRISTOWN, N.J., March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- This April Fool's Day, AT&T wants to warn consumers about some of the latest scams being perpetrated on the unsuspecting public. "Awareness certainly helps consumers from being bilked," said Robert Cruz, consumer affairs director for AT&T. "We try to be vigilant about detecting new fraud and alerting consumers so they won't fall prey to ever more resourceful lawbreakers." Beware of the following schemes: Star-7-2, billing back to you: You receive a call from a stranger posing as a telephone technician or telling you that he has been arrested for driving with a suspended license and is in jail -- or is in a situation that requires your immediate help. "I need to reach my wife and tell her what happened so she can pick up our two kids. Would you dial *72 and then her number?" Star-7-2 is a custom feature for call forwarding. When the customer dials *72 followed by a telephone number, it activates the call forwarding feature causing all your incoming calls to ring at another number. At the end of the other line -- whether calls have been forwarded to a landline, a cell phone or a payphone -- the original caller's partner-in-crime is able to accept all collect and third-party calls, while telling your own legitimate callers that they have the wrong number. You get billed for all calls made because your number is the one from which they are forwarded. This ingenious scam, which even overrides cell phones inability to get collect calls, may go on for several days before you become aware it has occurred. *72, Not for you: Do not accept collect calls from individuals you don't know, regardless of who they claim to be. Also, never activate *72, the call forwarding feature, unless you yourself wish to have calls forwarded elsewhere. Within the sound of my voicemail: Hackers can compromise your voicemail system in order to make fraudulent collect, third party or direct-dial calls. Hackers make use of an out-calling feature on many systems that allows them to make the calls at your expense. It isn't until you receive notification from your telephone company's security group, notices something different about your voicemail greeting, or receive a large bill that you realize you have become a victim. To prevent this: * Always change the default password provided by your voicemail vendor. * Choose a complex voicemail password, of at least six digits, so it's difficult for a hacker to guess. * Don't use obvious passwords such as an address, birth date or phone number. * Change your voicemail password often. * Check your announcement regularly to ensure the greeting is indeed yours. (Owners of small businesses should consider disabling the auto-attendant, call-forwarding and out-paging capabilities of voicemail (if these features are not used), because those features also can be hacked. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40974362 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have heard of cases where some hacker got illicit control of a voicemail box or system and changed the outgoing greeting on one or more boxes to say something like this: "Operator ... collect calls to this number will be accepted." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 22:41:31 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Liberal Talk Radio? No One Will Buy It By Jay Severin, 3/30/2004 AFTER YEARS of contemptuously dismissing talk radio as a vast, embarrassing wasteland of doltish, bigoted, old, angry, overweight, religious white men named Chuck, liberals suddenly want a piece of the action. Coming soon to a radio near you, the Liberal Talk Network. Well, my "progressive" pals, prepare to confront a shocking fact: Talk radio is a business. As in must make a profit. Success requires capturing a vast audience, and more. As a business enterprise, it is virtually meaningless whether your listeners agree with you politically. Your audience must attract major advertising dollars. That's right -- we're not in NPR land anymore, Toto. Al Franken, your latest great white hope, declared your mission: "We're going to put it to Bush." You're off by one crucial letter: To win this game, you don't have to beat Bush, you have to beat Rush. He and his cohort are far more formidable than you imagine. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/03/30/liberal_talk_radio_no_one_will_buy_it/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 22:56:00 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon Wireless to Cut Bulk, Cost of Bills By Peter Howe, Globe Staff, 3/31/2004 Verizon Wireless is trying to cut costs by sending its 37.5 million customers streamlined bills that no longer provide information on which numbers have been called and for how long. For a family with two phones and 800 minutes of calling time, a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman said the new streamlined bill would be two pages instead of the current 23. http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2004/03/31/verizon_wireless_to_cut_bulk_cost_of_bills/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 22:59:44 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Search Engine Google to Offer Free E-Mail By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Business Writer MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) -- Search engine Google Inc. announced Wednesday it would launch a free, Web-based e-mail service to compete against popular services from rivals Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Google's service, called "Gmail," will include a built-in search function that will let people search every e-mail they've ever sent or received. According to company executives, users will be able to type in keywords to sort e-mails or find old missives. And it will come with 1 gigabyte of free storage _ more than 100 times what some popular rivals offer and enough to hold 500,000 pages of e-mail. Officials at Yahoo and Microsoft's Hotmail division declined to comment on Google's entry into a new category. But analysts said that Google _ whose technology is behind nearly four out of every five Web searches _ could shake up the free e-mail market. Yahoo dominates the niche, with 52.6 million unique users per month in the United States, according to a February survey by online research firm comScore Media Metrix. Microsoft's Hotmail service is next, with 45.4 million users. AOL has 40.2 million paying users. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40981937 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So what is to prevent me from typing in your name and seeing all your old archived email? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 22:58:02 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Another Wrinkle: Permitted Numbers / Parents May Soon Decide By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff, 3/28/2004 WOBURN -- Rather than yell at their children for using too many wireless minutes, and threaten to shut off the phones, parents may soon be able to go online and control not only how much the kids use the phones -- but when and even whom they can call. Boston Communications Group Inc. , a company that provides back-office order-processing systems for prepaid wireless plans to big US wireless carriers, rolled out a new software package this month called "Mobile Guardian." The program would give parents or corporate finance managers a package of tools to regulate phone use. By going to a website, people using the system could register multiple phone numbers and put weekly or monthly limits on the minutes each one can be used. When a subscriber got within 10 or 20 minutes of using up the allotment, he or she could be alerted with an e-mail message, a short advisory to the phone, a voice mail alert, or all three. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/03/28/another_wrinkle_permitted_numbers/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 00:13:21 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Teen Girl Charged With Posting Nude Photos on Internet PITTSBURGH (AP) - A 15-year-old girl has been arrested for taking nude photographs of her self and posting them on the Internet, police said. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2004-03-29-child-self-porn_x.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 00:24:17 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Congress Takes Aim Yet Again at P2P Users, Film at 11 http://politechbot.com/pipermail/politech/2004-March/000571.html Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 19:47:02 -0600 From: Declan McCullagh Subject: [Politech] Congress takes aim yet again at P2P users, film at 11 [ip] Copy of PDEA: http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/pdf/ne/2004/pdea2004.pdf http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5182898.html House panel approves copyright bill March 31, 2004, 4:55 PM PST By Declan McCullagh A House of Representatives panel has approved a sweeping new copyright bill that would boost penalties for peer-to-peer piracy and increase federal police powers against Internet copyright infringement. The House Judiciary intellectual property subcommittee voted for the "Piracy Deterrence and Education Act" (PDEA) late Wednesday, overruling objections from a minority of members that it would unreasonably expand the FBI's powers to demand private information from Internet service providers. The PDEA -- the result of intense lobbying from large copyright holders over the past six months -- has emerged as a kind of grab-bag that combines other proposals unsuccessfully advanced in the past. One section that first surfaced last year punishes an Internet user who makes available $1,000 in copyrighted materials with prison terms of up to three years and fines of up to $250,000. If the PDEA became law, prosecutors would not have to prove that $1,000 in copyrighted materials were downloaded -- they would need only to show that those files had been publicly accessible in a shared folder. One part of the PDEA that did not appear in earlier bills would require the FBI to "facilitate the sharing" of information among Internet providers, copyright holders and police. "I am sure (that its sponsor) does not mean to expand the powers of the FBI," Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said during the subcommittee hearing. "The concern I have is that this is very ambiguous. The language itself could lead an aggressive FBI to a different conclusion." Lofgren's attempt to amend the PDEA failed by a 4-14 vote. [...remainder snipped...] Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 00:42:59 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Clear Channel Hires Jesse Jackson as Host For Talk Radio Show From Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2004 By Sarah McBride Clear Channel Communications Inc., the radio company that frequently comes under fire for its large donations to Republican politicians and allegedly conservative bent in programming, is taking a high-profile step in the other direction. The company has signed up former Democratic presidential candidate the Rev. Jesse Jackson as a host for a Sunday-morning talk-radio show based in Chicago, the nation's third-biggest radio market after New York and Los Angeles. It also will run in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Norfolk, Va. In addition, Clear Channel plans to test programming from a new liberal radio network, Air America, in the Portland, Ore., market. http://www.freepress.net/news/article.php?id=2950 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 00:47:48 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Amazon Patents Cookies United States Patent 6,714,926 Benson March 30, 2004 Use of browser cookies to store structured data Abstract A web site system implements a process for storing selected data structures within browser cookies. The data structures may contain a variety of different types of data elements, including N-bit integers and other non-character elements. A version tracking scheme provides forward and backward compatibility between client and server software. The process is implemented without the need for any browser extensions, and without the need for users to download any special code to their computers. Inventors: Benson; Eric A. (Seattle, WA) Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc. (Seattle, WA) Appl. No.: 494712 Filed: January 31, 2000 http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,714,926.WKU.&OS=PN/6,714,926&RS=PN/6,714,926 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 12:51:36 -0500 Subject: Pulver: VoIP lacks coolness Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0330pulver.html Pulver: VoIP lacks coolness By Tim Greene Network World Fusion, 03/30/04 Delegates to the VON 2004 conference were told that Apple's Steve Jobs needs to step in to boost the popularity of voice over IP. The trouble with VoIP is that nobody knows how to make it wildly popular a la Apple's iPod, says Jeff Pulver, who runs the VON shows. "It's really challenging. We don't want to just replicate what we have [with traditional voice phones]," Pulver said. "I'd love to see Apple join absolutely to make it cool." Full story at: http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0330pulver.html ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Fire Coverage From Manchester, UK Continued Organization: ATCC Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 19:36:51 GMT In article , ptownson@telecom- digest.org says: > Here are some news reports from the UK newspapers for Tuesday, March 30 > and Wednesday, March 31 regards the telephone exchange fire in > Manchester, UK on Monday. > PAT > BT fire disrupts emergency services > By Tim Richardson > Posted: 29/03/2004 at 13:41 GMT > A major cable fire in Manchester has brought chaos to the region as > emergency services struggle to cope with a communication blackout. > According to the BBC, emergency services have been stretched after > the fire damaged communication links. > Greater Manchester Ambulance Service said it was struggling after > the fire damaged its radio network while some 999 services have > also been hit. > And because so many phone lines have been wiped out, there are > concerns that people will be unable to access 999 services in the > event of an emergency. > At this early stage it's impossible to gauge the full extent of the > incident that has wiped out more than 130,000 telephone lines. > The Register has received a number of reports from readers about > companies hit by the fire and unable to access their systems. From > banks to airlines, it seems the fire has brought many companies to > their knees. > Mobile phone operator Vodafone said that some of its network had > been hit and that it's working with BT to reroute calls elsewhere. > While a statement on utility giant Powergen's website reads: "We're > sorry but the Powergen website is currently unavailable. This is > due to a major telecommunications failure in the North of England. > We're working hard to restore the service as soon as possible. Our > apologies again for any inconvenience caused." So in essence this cuts off subscribers, radio networks, emergency services and wireless services. Looks like amateur radio ops in that area of the U.K. are going to be plenty busy. The thing people don't realize is the critical nature of trunk circuits. Without those switches of any kind are simply remote islands with no connectivity to other islands. So wireless can still be used so long as they're on the same cell, but with the advent of PCS and smaller cells that limits their use. A few years ago then Bell Atlantic accidentally cut off E-911 trunks near the answering point. That was an ugly mess that got resolved within a few hours. But imagine if you will that most of the trunk circuits are carried underground and are usually well marked, particularly those near rail systems, along highways, etc. And it's impossible to protect. Got to wonder what caused the fire. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: According to the Manchester Fire Brigade, the fire was probably due to electrical sparks. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 15:01:24 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: More Cell Phone Courtesy - Don't Hold up Other Customers For as long as it's good, there is this web reference: http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2004/03/31hanginguponcell.html Some businesses have had to ask customers not to use cell phones when doing business, say, at a supermarket checkout or a sandwich shop. There have apparently been cases where a person at the head of a line at a sandwich shop would be taking orders over his/her cell phone, thus holding up other customers. There is a list provided of courtesies to be mindful of; they include the now-familiar one about churches, libraries, etc., and the relatively-recent one about cell phones with cameras (don't take pictures which you yourself would not want to appear in). To ward off arguments (say, this "being a free country", which someone is quoted as saying in the above reference), I suggest we keep looking to the generic courtesies. For example, in a non-phone case, I have found it annoying during a music rehearsal when I am playing as part of such rehearsal and there is talking going on where I can hear it. ------------------------------ From: friedebach@yahoo.com (Eric Friedebach) Subject: Picture Phone Purgatory Date: 31 Mar 2004 12:53:02 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Alicia Ferrari, 03.31.04, Forbes.com NEW YORK - When new megapixel and megapixel-plus camera phones from many vendors start emerging in the U.S. market in the coming months, older phones with a fraction of the resolution are bound to lose their luster. But for now, the top-selling Nokia 3650, launched in the United States in March 2003, remains top of the line. Practically every mobile phone manufacturer under the sun has plans to break the megapixel barrier, among them LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson -- the joint venture of Sony and Ericsson -- and Kyocera . http://www.forbes.com/technology/2004/03/31/cx_af_ii_0331tentech.html Eric Friedebach /Tonight's Skywarn training cancelled due to... weather?/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:33:26 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Bogus Collect Calls From Longview, Texas? I have been sent the following web reference: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04020/263322.stm which was still valid just before I wrote the message you are reading. The sender, as well as a woman from Verona, PA (in the website reference, which turns out to be the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), complains of being charged for a collect call from Longview, Texas which he/she is sure they never accepted. The sender sent me a telephone number on the 903-381 prefix in Longview, and I have heard that calling that number connects to a computer modem. The sender had written to me on the basis of finding a September 2002 message where I complain of making a legitimate call (AT&T calling card) from Connecticut to Delaware, but the bill, in referring to "PAYPHONE" (okay so far), said it was in Texas at 903-381-6832 (same prefix, but not same last four digits sent to me by the above-mentioned sender), and I *today* called that number (the one from MY bill) and I also got a computer modem. In my case, I was on the side of a road between Bridgeport and New Haven, Connecticut, and if I change the first digit of the area code to a 2, I get a prefix which is in Bridgeport (sorry I'd have to go back to Connecticut to try to pinpoint where I was -- it was on right side of westbound US 1 at some convenience store). ------------------------------ From: Tom Hudson Subject: Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:27:24 -0600 I experienced this problem a few years ago when I set up my wife's prodigy account on a new computer. I wasn't paying enough attention and I allowed the prodigy setup to pick a phone number for Leavenworth KS, just 15 minutes away across the state line. Oddly, the call to Leavenworth didn't require dialing a "1" even though it was long distance through SWB at 20 cents a minute. Our local company was sprint. After not looking at the bill for a couple of months (and leaving the connection up all the time), we got slammed with $800 of charges and the phone company refused to negotiate. I also had an equally frustrating experience with Compuserve a few years ago when my account was magically switched from a flat rate plan to a per minute plan. They insisted that I switched the plan and that I was liable for the charges. Despite disputing the credit card for months on end, neither myself nor American Express could make any headway with those people. "No one at Compuserve, even the president himself, has the authority to amend the bill" I was repeatedly told. This was when Compuserve was still owned by HR Block. Tom Hudson ------------------------------ Date: 1 Apr 2004 04:32:34 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: John, does this story sort of have the > marks of an urban legend? Yes, there was a newspaper account of it, > and newspapers do not usually write fiction (the New York Times and > the Boston Globe being two exceptions) but has anyone ever identified > the person who got this humongous telephone bill or audited how the > telco heard the sad story then refused to make an adjustment, etc? The AP story identifies the guy and his daughter by name, and says Qwest agreed to settle the bill for $375. I would think that was generous except that he could have signed up for flat rate long distance for $25 and the calls would have cost $0 above that. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-03-30-aol-phone-bill_x.htm 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: dsimcha@yahoo.com (Daveman750) Subject: Wireless Equivalent to Crossover Network Date: 31 Mar 2004 20:11:49 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Is there any cheap way to get a wireless equivalent to a simple crossover network for sharing a dialup connection and files between only two computers? Thank you. ------------------------------ Date: 1 Apr 2004 04:18:28 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Excel Communications Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I attended a presentation by Excel Communications last night. They > appear to sell telecom services (local, long-distance, internet, > cell). The presentation was for prospective sales people, but it had > all the hallmarks of a pyramid scheme. Sign up for $400, sign up more > sellers and get a substantial "incentive", The people you sign up sign > up more and you get a different kickback, etc. It is a pyramid scheme, but since they sell an actual product, it's a legal multi-level-marketing pyramid scheme. Every time someone's asked me to look at Excel, I've come to the same conclusion: it's long distance just like everyone else's long distance, but at a rather high price since they have to pay that mountain of MLM commission overhead. If you think you'd enjoy selling long distance service to your friends and relatives for twice what they could get it for elsewhere, I suppose it's a reasonable business. 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 ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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 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 #155 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Apr 1 14:52:15 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i31JqF008481; Thu, 1 Apr 2004 14:52:15 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 14:52:15 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404011952.i31JqF008481@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 #156 TELECOM Digest Thu, 1 Apr 2004 14:49:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 156 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson VON Keynote: ITXC Sees Unstoppable Momentum for VoIP (VOIP News) Microsoft Unveils Windows CE With VoIP (VOIP News) Michigan on the Wrong Track? (VoIP) (VOIP News) Cable's IP Telephony Conundrum (VOIP News) Has Covad Changed The VoIP Rules? (VOIP News) New Voip Adapter Offers Old Fashioned Operator Service (VOIP News) Codec Negotiation (Alfonso) Buying Books on the Net (C. Smith) I Want to Block Anonymous/Name Unavailable/Unwanted Calls (D. Mattingly) Flat Rate Plans and Modems; was Re: AOL Connection Leads (No Spam) Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill (Carl Navarro) Remember Last January was: Bogus Collect Calls From Longview (C Moore) Press One To Score Points (Eric Friedebach) Re: Teaching my Mother How to Make Long Distance Calls (Geoffrey Welsh) Re: Bogus Collect Calls From Longview, Texas? (Clarence Dold) Re: Amazon Patents Cookies (Barry Margolin) Re: Excel Communications (John A. Weeks III) EFFector 17.11: EFF Opposes RFIDs in Passports (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 are 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: VOIP News Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 10:30:15 -0500 Subject: VON Keynote: ITXC Sees Unstoppable Momentum for VoIP Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=10678 VON Keynote: ITXC Sees Unstoppable Momentum for VoIP For the next two years, people will continue to purchase VoIP primarily for cost savings rather than for advanced feature sets, predicted Tom Evslin, Chairman and CEO of ITXC, in a keynote at the Spring VON conference in Santa Clara, California. To be really useful, advanced features require deployments at both ends of the call. Evslin figures that once penetration rates reach somewhere around 15% an inflection point will occur and people will start to buy VoIP in order to have the same advanced features as the early adopters. In the mean time, momentum continues to build. Evslin presented a "Top 7" List of indicators that VoIP is hot again. http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=10678 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 10:43:41 -0500 Subject: Microsoft Unveils Windows CE With VoIP Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com [Article #1:] http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5182217.html Windows CE gets call for Net phones By Ben Charny CNET News.com SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Microsoft said Wednesday that major manufacturers, including NEC and LG Electronics, intend to create Internet phones with the newest version of Windows CE, Microsoft's operating system for small devices. The first substantial wave of phones from the equipment makers is expected in about three months, Microsoft Product Manager Balz Wyss said. The manufacturers are among 22 new licensees Microsoft announced Wednesday for its latest Windows CE software, which is a stripped-down version of the Windows operating system intended for handheld devices, set-top boxes and other limited-function computing devices other than PCs and servers. The new CE software, version 5, contains much improved technology for making phone calls on the Net with voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), according to Microsoft. Internet Protocol is the most popular method of sending data from one computer to another. Full story at: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5182217.html [Article #2:] http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=129656&liArticleTypeID=1&liCategoryID=6&liChannelID=7&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1 Thursday 1 April 2004 Microsoft unveils Windows CE with VoIP Microsoft will unveil enhancements to the VoIP capabilities of Windows CE in the upcoming version 5.0. The operating system forms the basis of Microsoft's platforms for embedded, automotive and mobile computing. A lot of suppliers want to add VoIP as an application to wireless handhelds and other devices, said John Starkweather, a product manager in Microsoft's Embedded Devices Group. In the latest version of Windows CE, Microsoft has added multiparty audioconferencing capability, unified messaging and integration on Exchange Server with calendar and contact searching features. They complement what has been a simpler set of telephony features built in to CE 4.2. Full story at: http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=129656&liArticleTypeID=1&liCategoryID=6&liChannelID=7&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 10:35:49 -0500 Subject: Michigan on the Wrong Track? (VoIP) Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Comment: The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a libertarian think tank (they prefer to describe themselves as "a research and educational institute") headquartered in Midland, Michigan. http://www.mackinac.org/article.asp?ID=6483 Michigan on the Wrong Track? Early in her new administration, Gov. Jennifer Granholm won high marks for addressing tough issues without damaging Michigan's business climate. She closed a nearly $2 billion budget gap with some real spending cuts and without resorting to general tax increases. Gov. Granholm said all the right things about retaining jobs, and even ordered her Department of Environmental Quality to speed up air quality permits for industry. The Mackinac Center awarded the governor a "B-" for her first year. However, a number of recent Granholm administration actions threaten to put Michigan on the wrong track in terms of improving our economic vitality. Hopefully these missteps are aberrations, but it is not too early to raise a red flag by listing some of the bad policy moves: [.....] Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). Arguably, one of the leading causes of our recent economic downturn was the destruction of $2 trillion worth of market valuation in publicly traded telecom companies, leading to the loss of 500,000 jobs in the past three years, as outlined by Mackinac Center Director of Science, Environment, and Technology Policy Diane Katz in a recent report. The destruction came about because federal and state regulators have tried to shoehorn 21st century telecommunications networks and technologies into a 19th century regulatory model. "VOIP" is a new technology that transmits voice over the Internet. It has the potential to reignite the telecom sector if the regulators keep their hands off. Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has called for a "light regulatory touch." The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) may have a different idea, however. MPSC Chair Peter Lark is a Granholm appointee. In a recent press report announcing potential new VOIP regulations he said, "The commission has the responsibility to telecommunication customers in Michigan to protect ... users of Voice over Internet Protocol ... " If past performance is any measure, new regulations are most likely to "protect" VOIP users by making sure there aren't any. Full article at: http://www.mackinac.org/article.asp?ID=6483 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 11:10:18 -0500 Subject: Cable's IP Telephony Conundrum Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.cabledatacomnews.com/apr04/apr04-2.html The Industry's Postponed PacketCable 1.x Push May Prove Too Little, Too Late By Michael Harris, president, Kinetic Strategies, and publisher, Cable Datacom News The good news is that cable multiple system operators (MSOs) are finally rolling out IP telephony. Large commercial deployments are underway by Cablevision Systems and Time Warner Cable, and other operators like Rogers Cable have unveiled plans to follow suit. The bad news is that a horde of telecom players is also entering the fray, exponentially increasing competition for residential voice services. Compounding problems, the PacketCable 1.x technology that MSOs are belatedly deploying increasingly seems old-fashioned, rather than cutting-edge. Full story at: http://www.cabledatacomnews.com/apr04/apr04-2.html ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 11:23:27 -0500 Subject: Has Covad Changed The VoIP Rules? Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.telecomweb.com/broadband/feature.htm Has Covad Changed The VoIP Rules? The first IP-based competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) with a nationwide reach is about to be born, an event that could change the VoIP landscape. Covad Communications Group [COVD] is buying VoIP provider GoBeam for $48 million in stock. The deal is expected to close in about 60 days. The deal mates GoBeam's VoIP phone service and Covad's national broadband network. That contrasts sharply with the current situation, where just about every would-be VoIP player is forced to ride the wires of an ILEC. "For really the first time there's actually going to be a company that's going to be able to provision all aspects of the VoIP business over their own facilities," says Steve Lail, Covad's vice president of voice deployment. Moreover, Lail says Covad still is willing to accommodate competing VoIP carriers, even though it will be a VoIP carrier itself. That gives the VoIP industry an alternative to dealing with the ILECs. That, in turn, has significant implications for the current battle at the FCC and in the courts over whether ILECs should be required to open up their newest broadband networks to VoIP carriers. With Covad sitting as an alternative, it is reasonable to assume that at least some of the ILECs may reconsider their refusal to accommodate VoIP competitors, rather than see the revenue go to Covad. Full story at: http://www.telecomweb.com/broadband/feature.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 13:37:29 -0500 From: VOIP News Subject: "Hello, Central!" VoIP Adapter Brings Old-Fashioned Ease Of Use Meucci Enterprises Introduces New VoIP Adapter "Hello, Central!" VoIP Adapter Brings Old-Fashioned Ease Of Use to Internet Telephony Unit is Packaged in Attractive Real Oak Wood Box SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 1 /VoIP Newswire/ -- Meucci Enterprises today announced at the Spring VON Conference the availability of its new VoIP endpoint designed specifically for residential use. Named the "Hello, Central!" model, and packaged in a real oak wooden box with real bell gongs reminiscent of the old-time telephone ringer boxes, this VoIP adapter is designed to be displayed as a conversation piece rather than hidden away in a utility closet. The authentic reproduction of a hand crank on the side of the unit not only adds to the nostalgic look, but also actually powers a small internal generator that can be used to recharge the backup batteries in the event of a power failure. Although the unit is much larger than most VoIP adapters, the space inside is not wasted -- it contains a fully functional microcomputer designed specifically for speech generation and recognition. This means that when a user picks up a phone, instead of hearing a dial tone, they will hear the voice of an operator, saying "Number, Please" just as real operators used to do in manual telephone exchanges in the first half of the 20th century. The unit accepts voice input from a connected telephone, and will place a call to any number spoken into it. If the number is busy, the unit will say, "that line is busy, please try again later." It can be programmed for variations, for example, instead of asking the caller to try again later it can offer to keep trying the call and ring the caller's phone when a connection is made. Programming the unit is via a voice response mechanism or by accessing a web page interface. The unit is capable of providing custom calling features, but in a unique manner. For example, if call waiting is enabled, the "operator" will break into a call in progress and announce the incoming call, and ask the user to accept or reject it. When used in a home with children, the device can be programmed so that if a call attempt is made after a certain hour, it will say something like, "The telephone exchange closes at eleven o'clock, and accepts emergency calls only after that hour," thereby aiding parents in enforcing a curfew on outgoing telephone calls. The unit can take messages, and otherwise provide all the functionality of voicemail. The only difference is that the unit accepts voice commands. For example, a user can say, "Delete that message", rather than having to remember which button to press to delete the message. In answer to complaints about current VoIP adapters not being able to ring all the phones in a home, the bell on the adapter box is an actual, working, and very loud bell, reminiscent of the telephone bells heard in old black-and-white movies. "As loud as the bell is on this unit, you should be able to turn off the ringers on all the phones in your home and still hear a call come in," said Antonio Meucci, executive director of product development at Meucci Enterprises. A VoIP Adapter With An Attitude While some may prefer the nostalgic simulation of an operator at an old-time manual telephone exchange, others may prefer the unit's other choice in operators: Ernestine. Based on the famous Lily Tomlin character, Ernestine provides a bit of comic relief mixed with sarcasm while making calls. For example, if you say a number that's not valid, Ernestine will inform you that "Perhaps you should ask your mommy to help you use the telephone." If you happen to utter an off-color word while giving the number you wish to call, Ernestine may say, "Profanity! I am not required to listen to such language while on duty!" and hang up on you. And of course, instead of the normal ringback tone, you'll hear "one ringy-dingy ... two ringy-dingies..." No matter which operator is chosen, the unit can be trained to remember certain spoken names, and dial an associated number. So you can train it to recognize "Call Dad," or "Connect me with Bill Smith," and the unit will place the call to the appropriate number. Caller ID can be displayed in the normal manner on a Caller ID telephone, or the unit can be set to have the "operator" announce the calling number after the receiver is lifted off the hook. For example, if "Ernestine" is the chosen operator, she will ask "Is this the party to whom I am speaking" and upon hearing an affirmative response, she will announce the calling number and ask the answering party to accept or reject the call. One word of advice from Mr. Meucci: "Don't ever tell Ernestine that you are not the party to whom she is speaking. Just don't do it." Special Introductory Offer The first 100 people to order the "Hello, Central!" VoIP endpoint will receive upon request, absolutely free and without additional charge, an older 500-series telephone set with a dial blank instead of a dial. These phones are exactly like the phones used by telephone subscribers in manual telephone exchanges back in the 1950's. They are provided to show that it is possible to make full use of the "Hello, Central!" VoIP adapter without the need for a dial, Caller ID display, or most of the other gizmos found on modern telephones. "Using the Hello, Central! adapter is simplicity itself, because it can be completely controlled by the spoken word." For those who may not care to use a voice interface, the unit will also accept numbers dialed using any rotary dial telephone. Contact: Meucci Enterprises Sciocco Di Aprile Florence, Italy [Jack Decker's Note: These VoIP adapters make great gifts at Christmas ... [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I want a dozen. Can I get them for friends, etc? PAT] ... on Ground Hog Day, or on April Fool's Day!] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh! Maybe this should have been a Last Laugh item, eh? PAT] ------------------------------ From: alfvillarreal@hotmail.com (Alfonso) Subject: Codec Negotiation Date: 1 Apr 2004 09:54:43 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi guys, I'm a new guy in the town and I introduce myself: Alfonso. Currently I'm trying to send calls with H.323 from an IVR platform to one AS5300 gw to another Gk which routes the calls to any part in the calls. The problem is that the AS5300 isn't negotiating the codec with the Gk when the termination end has normal/slow start. Does any one could help me to try find why ? I have this in my voip dial-peer: dial-peer voice 201 voip description *** IVR Calls *** . . . voice-class codec 1 And my voice-class codec is: voice class codec 1 codec preference 1 g729r8 codec preference 2 g729br8 codec preference 3 g723r63 codec preference 4 g723r53 codec preference 5 g723ar63 codec preference 6 g723ar53 Do you have some idea why this isn't working properly ? Thanks in advance. Rgds. ------------------------------ Subject: Buying Books on the Net From: C. Smith Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 10:31:09 GMT I have bought dozens of books on the Net and, so far (touch wood), without any problems. I have paid for most of transactions by credit card. On occasions (at the suggestion of the bookseller), I have emailed my CC number in two halves, by separate emails. Is this sound practice for me and for the retailer? And am I exposing myself to unnecessary risk? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That may be a good suggestion, but I think a better one might be if the merchant collected your credit card number *one time only*, encrypted it, then on future purchases asked if you wish to use the 'same card as last time', and if you said 'yes', the put the charge through to it without you having to pass the details a second time. Another good suggestion would be what a one of the local banks here in Independence does. They issue 'debit cards' (like most banks, with a Visa/MC style account number) but they serve like a 'firewall' against your real bank account and source of money. Mine has a zero balance in it all the time, or maybe ten or twenty dollars. If I see something I want to purchase on the net, you can always 'pretend' a debit card is a credit card, and use that 'credit card' number to make the purchase. Then the bank transfers enough money to cover that purchase into the 'firewall account'. Hackers and other malefactors who want to rip off my 'bank account' on the net see that firewall there and rip into it thinking they will make a bundle, only to find maybe three or five dollars in the whole thing at best, if that much. A variation on this is the PayPal debit card which is good for a couple things: I put money into it from the telecom account; it becomes immediatly spendable from my personal account via PayPal debit card (they have a MasterCard style number) and there is *so little* in there at any time, I could care less if some theives take it. (Well, not really, but you see the idea.) Maybe it is all a moot point: I very seldom have any spare money, other than the proceeds of my social security disability check for the month, not yet removed by the bank for other autodebits such as utilities, the SRS housekeeper I have to pay a little for each month, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dennismattingly@hotmail.com (D. Mattingly) Subject: I Want to Block Anonymous/Name Unavailable/Unwanted Calls Date: 1 Apr 2004 06:33:56 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I hope I am posting this in the correct group. I want a simple device for my home that will prohibit "Name/Number Unavailable" calls from ringing through and any other numbers I wish to add. I have this service from Verizon, but it will only let me block numbers from residential land-line phones. Thanks. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I do not think it is just 'residential land-line phones' that can be blocked, but those are the kind of phones most likely to NOT have special equipment on them to bypass blocking attempts. For instance, I have found Vonage and my two cell phones can both be blocked ** if star-67 is used to call my personal home phone from any of them **. I have a feature like you on my line to 'block anonymous calls', and if I *deliberatly and willfully* use star-67 from any of them, they get blocked also when calling my personal phone. But the problem comes when the caller either makes no attempt to hide but either sends a bogus number such as all zeros OR the distant telco is unable to block. All zeros or other deliberate camouflouge is supposed to be illegal these days when its a telemarketer. Complaining to telco is futile. What I would like to see is Mike Sandman or another vendor develop a box to be plugged in at the head end which was trainable: all zeros, other ridiculous number, nothing at all, out of area, or other numbers I teach it are all rejected. Either just ring open forever, or preferably go off hook one or two seconds -- enough to start supervision and run up the phone bill of the caller -- then hang up. No apologetic recording, nothing. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 12:03:08 -0500 From: No Spam Subject: Flat Rate Plans and Modems; was Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 On 1 Apr 2004 04:32:34 -0000 John Levine wrote about Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill > The AP story identifies the guy and his daughter by name, and says > Qwest agreed to settle the bill for $375. > I would think that was generous except that he could have signed up > for flat rate long distance for $25 and the calls would have cost $0 > above that. > http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-03-30-aol-phone-bill_x.htm The fine print I have seen on several of these plans specifically excludes modem calls. ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill Reply-To: cnavarro@wcnet.org Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 11:23:16 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com On 1 Apr 2004 04:32:34 -0000, John Levine wrote: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: John, does this story sort of have the >> marks of an urban legend? Yes, there was a newspaper account of it, >> and newspapers do not usually write fiction (the New York Times and >> the Boston Globe being two exceptions) but has anyone ever identified >> the person who got this humongous telephone bill or audited how the >> telco heard the sad story then refused to make an adjustment, etc? > The AP story identifies the guy and his daughter by name, and says > Qwest agreed to settle the bill for $375. > I would think that was generous except that he could have signed up > for flat rate long distance for $25 and the calls would have cost $0 > above that. Not exactly. The fast talker at the end of the spot for flat rate LD states that internet access is not included in the rate plan :-) Some lady in Chicago found that out. She had been calling her ISP before the change and after got a huge bill for ISP calls. Carl Navarro ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 11:33:19 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Remember Last January (was Re: Bogus Collect Calls From Longview) In writing about the bogus collect call problem (Longview, Texas), I also pointed out my concern about a Texas telephone number showing up in the "From" part of a legitimate call I made on AT&T calling card from Connecticut to Delaware. Don't forget the post just this past January where I pointed out that I made AT&T calling card call from rest area just inside Canada on 450-246 prefix but the bill showed somewhere else within 450 area. ------------------------------ From: friedebach@yahoo.com (Eric Friedebach) Subject: Press One To Score Points Date: 1 Apr 2004 08:56:24 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Aude Lagorce, 03.31.04, Forbes.com NEW YORK - After the Golden Globes, the Oscars and the Grammies, please welcome the Mobies, the first distinctions to reward...the best mobile phone games by category. Never heard of them? Not surprising since they took place for the first time last week at the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association trade show in Atlanta. Keep an eye out in the future, though: The event may not yet be broadcast on major television channels, but it is a clear sign that the mobile gaming industry is gaining heft. If you're still playing a black-and-white worm game on your mobile phone to kill a few minutes on the train, you may be surprised to learn that the mobile gaming industry is shaping up to be big business. The Yankee Group says there are already 27 million U.S. users playing games on their handsets. While the technology research firm says revenues are still "well south of $1 billion" -- tiny in comparison to the $12 billion gaming industry -- the segment has huge potential. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2004/03/31/cx_al_0331phonegames.html Eric Friedebach /Old enough to remember when MTV played music videos/ ------------------------------ From: Geoffrey Welsh Subject: Re: Teaching my Mother How to Make Long Distance Calls Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 11:23:08 -0500 Organization: Primus Canada Heywood wrote: > Dial arounds are not an option, this is a woman who has trouble with > Touch-Tone (tm) phones. How about investing a few bucks in a telephone with memory dial? Surely your mother wouldn't have a problem with pressing a button with your name beside it, and you could program it to dial whatever number you like. Geoffrey Welsh Always looking for a good condition original 'chicklet keyboard' Commodore PET ------------------------------ From: dold@BogusXColl.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Bogus Collect Calls From Longview, Texas? Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 17:14:20 UTC Organization: a2i network Carl Moore wrote: > telephone number on the 903-381 prefix in Longview, and I have heard > that calling that number connects to a computer modem. Don't COCOT phones take incoming calls for reprogramming via modem? I thought they didn't answer for lots of rings, but they would answer with modem tone. That could have been a legitimate pay phone. Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Amazon Patents Cookies Organization: Looking for work Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 03:36:06 -0500 Monty's subject line is *extremely* misleading. This patent is not about cookies in general. It's about a specific technique for encoding structured, binary data into the text-based cookies. The web application makes use of a generic routine that takes a data structure and a schema file to perform the translation; additional claims cover mechanisms for tracking different versions of the data structure, so that users who have old cookies saved on their computers can be supported automatically, and things like encrypting the cookie. Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Excel Communications Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 23:11:00 -0600 From: John A. Weeks III Organization: Newave Communications In article , William Robison wrote: > I attended a presentation by Excel Communications last night. They > appear to sell telecom services (local, long-distance, internet, > cell). The presentation was for prospective sales people, but it had > all the hallmarks of a pyramid scheme. Sign up for $400, sign up more > sellers and get a substantial "incentive", The people you sign up sign > up more and you get a different kickback, etc. William ... if you would like to know more, please send me E-mail so we can keep this out of the Digest. To give brief answers to your points ... 1) All successful organizations from GM to the US Army are delta shaped organizations, with a few highly placed people on top who make the big bucks, and lots of worker bees at the lower level making it happen. 2) Excel pays commissions in advance. For example, they know how many customers a typical sales rep will sign up, how much those customers will spend each month, and how long they will stay with the company. Excel then does the math, and pays you the commission up front. There is so little profit in long distance that it would otherwise take years for folks to see any reasonable paychecks, to this advanced commissions puts a little jazz into it. 3) There is no fee to become an Excel sales rep. There are other ways to join, including a package that includes a bunch of marketing materials, training classes, and management services. The level that you quote is to become a paid company trainer and go around the country training new sales reps. That fee pays for the advanced training classes that you need to take to be able to train others. 4) A pyramid scheme is where there is no product involved, rather, money coming in goes to pay other members. This is illegal. The poster child for this was the Ponzi scheme, where new "investors" put in their money, and that was used to pay the rate of return that was promised to existing members. Excel does not pay out a single dime until a sales person makes a sale to a number of customers, and those customers use the service to generate revenue and commissions, so everything is 100% legal -- nothing shady or grey area about it. John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john@johnweeks.com Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 08:38:04 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 17.11: EFF Opposes RFIDs in Passports EFFector Vol. 17, No. 11 March 31, 2004 donna@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 283rd Issue of EFFector: * EFF Opposes Radio Tracking Technology, Biometrics in Passports * Let the Sun Set on PATRIOT - Sections 201 and 805 * EFF's Deep Links - The Weblog * MiniLinks (16): Canada's Copyright Revolution: As Good As It Gets * Staff Calendar: 04.06.04 - Fred von Lohmann speaks at Columbia University Law School, New York, NY * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/17/11.php ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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 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 #156 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Apr 2 03:54:23 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i328sM129560; Fri, 2 Apr 2004 03:54:23 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 03:54:23 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404020854.i328sM129560@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 #157 TELECOM Digest Fri, 2 Apr 2004 03:53:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 157 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson BroadVoice Announces the Launch of Broadband Voice Service (VOIP News) Vonage Apparently Now in Canada; Offering Canadian Numbers (VOIP News) Hot-spot Wi-Fi Business (D. Jones) Carrier Class Managed Ethernet Switch; Mission Critical Apps (mktg) Exporting America (John Stahl) Norvergence Documentary (Eric Claiborne) Re: Flat Rate Plans and Modems; was Re: AOL Connection (Tony P.) Re: Excel Communications (J Kelly) Re: Buying Books on the Net (John A. Weeks III) Re: I Want to Block Anonymous/Name Unavailable/Unwanted (John Chmerold) Re: Teen Girl Charged With Posting Nude Photo on Internet (Linc Madison) Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill (John Levine) Re: Amazon Patents Cookies (Me) Google Says "Gmail" is No Joke, But Lunar Jobs Are (Monty Solomon) US Court Rejects Revisiting Cable Broadband Ruling (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 are 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: VOIP News Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 14:14:03 -0500 Subject: BroadVoice Announces the Launch of Its Broadband Voice Service Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Comment: Before doing business with this company, I suggest you read the comments (both pro and con) on the VoIP Forum at BroadbandReports.com . There seems to be a lot of controversy concerning the way this company has promoted itself, and the operation of its service during the beta test period, and that's all I'll say about it. http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040401005464&newsLang=en April 01, 2004 11:55 AM US Eastern Timezone BroadVoice Announces the Launch of Its Broadband Voice Service for Consumers and Small Businesses; New Company Offers Unlimited Calling at Unprecedented Value LOWELL, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 2004--BroadVoice, a new kind of Communications Company, today announced the immediate availability of its voice over internet protocol (VoIP) service. Coupled with an existing high-speed Internet connection, the company's service allows consumers to make and receive phone calls anywhere in the world. Subscribers benefit from unlimited domestic calling options, lower international rates, and a suite of advanced features not found with either traditional telephone service or other VoIP providers. The announcement, which occurred at the Voice on the Net (VON) conference in Santa Clara, CA introduces an unprecedented value proposition to the VoIP community and consumers at large. Entry prices are the best the market has to offer and include an Unlimited In-State plan for just $9.95 a month and an Unlimited USA calling plan for $19.95 a month. BroadVoice subscribers can choose a direct-dial telephone number from any of the 30 states and 1,300 cities and towns the company currently offers, regardless of the user's geographic location. All BroadVoice accounts come with voicemail, caller ID, call waiting and a suite of 21 other advanced calling features (more than any other VoIP provider) at no additional charge. All features are available through the company's interactive communications portal. Full press release at: http://www.broadvoice.com/areacodes.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 21:58:32 -0500 Subject: Vonage Apparently Now in Canada and Offering Canadian Numbers Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com I found out via a message posted on BroadbandReports.com that Vonage is now doing business in Canada, or at least their Canadian web site is up and running: http://www.vonage.ca/ As in parts of the United States, they tend to "cherry pick" the most populous ratecenters, offering only a very few ratecenters in each province they serve. Strangely, in Ontario they do not show Toronto (Canada's largest city) or any ratecenter close to Toronto -- the only four ratecenters they offer right now are Kitchener, London, Ottawa, and Hamilton. They apparently have NO numbers in Toronto, Windsor, Sarnia, Barrie, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, etc. Customers in one country (Canada or the U.S.) can only have a number in the other country as a "Virtual Number" -- that means that their primary Vonage number must be in their home country. That might be a problem for some users because on an outgoing call, it's the primary number that shows up on the called party's Caller ID display. Also, regional calling plans are based on the primary number. Rates shown on the Vonage Canada site are $45.99 for the Premium Unlimited Plan, $34.99 for a Province Unlimited Plan, and $19.99 for a Basic 500 Plan. Presumably, those amounts are in Canadian dollars. There is also a "Regulatory Recovery Fee" of $1.95 per line, so bear that in mind when comparing prices to other companies that don't charge this fee. One reply message in the thread I saw notes that 911 is "coming soon" and that Toll Free Plus (incoming toll free numbers available at an extra monthly charge to U.S. customers) is apparently not available, and that there seems to be other differences in the offerings in the two countries as well. If you live or work in Canada, and Vonage has a number in a ratecenter you want, then it might be a good deal. Otherwise, there are less expensive U.S.-based VoIP companies that offer unlimited calling to both the U.S. and Canada, and that may even be willing to do business directly with customers in Canada (Packet8 comes to mind, but that is not a recommendation, because I've read mixed reports about their service quality). The thread on BroadbandReports.com is here: http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,9848404~mode=flat [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: USA customers of Vonage are able to choose 416/Toronto numbers for Virtual numbers however, if they wish. And the prices they quote on their Canadian web page are quoted in Canadian dollars. USA customers can also have virtual numbers in area codes in various Canadian cities. Also, on vonage.ca I do see where Canadian residents can have 416/Toronto code numbers if desired. ------------------------------ Subject: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business From: D. Jones Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 01:32:11 GMT I would like to operate a profitable hot-spot (Wi-Fi) service for my community. People would access my network for a $1 a day in our communities cafe's and parks. I'm thinking to have about 8 hot spots. How much would a hot spot cost to run? Also, how could I collect payments? Is there a hot-spot management system out there? ------------------------------ From: mktg@garrettcom.com Subject: Carrier Class Managed Ethernet Switch for Mission Critical Apps Date: 1 Apr 2004 15:57:56 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com GarrettCom's new model Magnum 6K16 Managed Ethernet Switch provides a compact package and configuration flexibility and is available with fan cooling and rack mounting, ideal for the carrier class customer. One rack-mount option is to mount two units side-by-side in a 19" rack for redundancy and hot back-up systems in mission-critical applications. For more information go to: http://garrettcom.com/6k16.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 15:55:40 -0500 From: John Stahl Subject: Exporting America A friend was telling me yesterday that he had a problem with his Palm PDA which necessitated calling Palm customer service. When he connected through their 800-customer service number, he soon found that he was talking to a gentleman in India. My friend's experience prompted me to do a search to see if anyone is keeping the count of all the companies who are outsourcing labor outside the USA. I was surprised (and appalled) when I located, on the CNN Internet site, an extensive list of these companies. The CNN site describes their list as: "Here is a list of companies we've confirmed are "Exporting America." These are U.S. companies either sending American jobs overseas, or choosing to employ cheap overseas labor, instead of American workers." Since the list is too large to reproduce in an email, here is the URL so you can see for yourself the corporations who have done so: (just "click" on the name) URL: http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/popups/exporting.america/frameset.exclude.html John Stahl Aljon Enterprises Telecom/Data Consultant [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Interesting you should mention this. A story in the Independence Reporter for Monday of this week listed one such office that surprised all of us who saw it: The State of Kansas, Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services (known locally as SRS) has 'outsourced' its client services operations to India also. That is, when I call the 800 number to inquire about my SRS benefits under Kansas Medicaid, etc, I am dealing with someone in India. The story in the Reporter really questioned that. "Is there no one here in Independence or Coffeyville working for six or seven dollars an hour who can't handle this?" Topeka (state capitol)'s answer: Yes, but we can get it a lot cheaper in India." Amazing. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Norvergence Documentary Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 14:41:08 -0500 From: Eric Claiborne Hello, We have been approached by Norvergence for a proposal to be our all-in-one data/telephone service provider. In doing research on this company, I came accross this document on your website. Here is the link: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/reports/norvergence2.doc I was kind of concerned about something like this with this company. So far, we have been told about the 5-year deal and the equipment you mention in the document. This document seems authentic but it does not claim the source of the person who did this research. I just want to make sure this is a valid analysis of Norvergence's services. Please let me know and thank you for your information on this. Eric F. Claiborne Knox Nursery, Inc. I.S. Manager 407.293.3721 eclaiborne@knoxnursery.com www.knoxnursery.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I referred Mr. Claiborne to other articles in our archives and elsewhere on the net, both good and bad about the company. He reviewed these with his co-workers and then responded a few hours later: Subject: RE: Norvergence documentary Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 16:07:56 -0500 From: "Eric Claiborne" Thank you very much for you work in these matters. On such a sensitive issue of phone/data systems we have decided that a contract with this company is not worth ANY risk. We started to get leary when the answer to every question was "YES". That is usually the trademark of a B.S. artist. With the information we read from you and other sources, we cancelled our plans with them. Thanks again, Eric F. Claiborne Knox Nursery, Inc. I.S. Manager 407.293.3721 eclaiborne@knoxnursery.com www.knoxnursery.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That's my job here, Mr. Claiborne, to collect facts and experiences our readers have with various telecom companies, including Norvergence. I am glad our archives was useful to you. http://telecom-digest.org PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Flat Rate Plans and Modems; was Re: AOL Connection Organization: ATCC Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 22:28:12 GMT In article , nospam@resi.com says: > On 1 Apr 2004 04:32:34 -0000 John Levine wrote about > Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill > >> The AP story identifies the guy and his daughter by name, and says >> Qwest agreed to settle the bill for $375. >> I would think that was generous except that he could have signed up >> for flat rate long distance for $25 and the calls would have cost $0 >> above that. >> http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-03-30-aol-phone-bill_x.htm > The fine print I have seen on several of these plans specifically > excludes modem calls. I find the whole modem/fax surcharges to be ridiculous. Both are designed to utilize the 3Khz bandwidth of a standard phone line. And with regard to fax, most of those calls are < 5 minutes. Granted, when mux'ing all those calls a data/fax takes up the full 3Khz bandwidth, as opposed to other calls only taking it up a fraction of the time. But there is so much excess capacity in LD circuits that this shouldn't be an issue at all. Just wait until the RBOC's go whole hog into VoIP. ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: Excel Communications Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 17:25:54 -0600 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@newsguy.com On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 23:11:00 -0600, John A. Weeks III wrote: > 2) Excel pays commissions in advance. > Excel does not pay out a single dime until a sales person makes a > sale to a number of customers, and those customers use the service > to generate revenue and commissions, You seem to contradict yourself here. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Buying Books on the Net Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 14:43:30 -0600 From: John A. Weeks III Organization: Newave Communications In article , C. Smith wrote: > I have bought dozens of books on the Net and, so far (touch wood), > without any problems. I have paid for most of transactions by credit > card. On occasions (at the suggestion of the bookseller), I have > emailed my CC number in two halves, by separate emails. Is this > sound practice for me and for the retailer? And am I exposing > myself to unnecessary risk? The risk is that the merchant (or whoever ends up with the card number) will use it again in the future without your permission. One way to protect against this is to use a one-time only credit card number. Major cards, such as Citibank, will allow you to go to their web site, where you put in your transaction information, and they issue a new credit card number that is good for one time only, to the merchant you specifiy, for the amount you specify. This eliminates the risk of using the card number again. > dollars. If I see something I want to purchase on the net, you can > always 'pretend' a debit card is a credit card, and use that 'credit > card' number to make the purchase. Two items to note. (1) Debit cards do not have any of the same protections that credit cards would otherwise have. In fact, corporate debit cards have almost no protections for fraud. (2) Once someone gets your debit card info, they can keep spamming your account, and might get future deposits that you put in, or at least generate overdraw notices or cause other debits to bounce. ==================================================================== John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john@johnweeks.com Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com ==================================================================== ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 17:28:52 -0600 From: John Schmerold Subject: Re: I Want to Block Anonymous/Name Unavailable/Unwanted Three products come to mind. I use the first, want to move to the second and believe the third would make an excellent basis for a cheap Sandman box. http://identafone.com http://www.voicecallcentral.com http://vocp.sourceforge.net The reason I want to move to the second one is because it will allow you to send undesirable calls to voicemail. We use the first one at the computer store. Since we sell locally, I don't want calls from anywhere but 314 & 636 area codes. It's beautiful, no sales calls, no surveys, no free magazine subscriptions. The only calls we get are from our clients. Problem is that from time to time we have a client that has their caller id blocked or is calling from a 2-way that doesn't issue caller id. So, we'd like to assign someone to listen to the voice mails -- perhaps when they are sitting in the restroom -- yes I'm a tyrant. Now if I could only find a legal cell phone blocker ... ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Teen Girl Charged With Posting Nude Photos on Internet Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 16:47:35 -0800 From: Linc Madison Reply-To: lincmad@suespammers.org Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed In article , Monty Solomon wrote: [The story tells briefly of a 15yo girl who has been arrested for posting photos of herself "performing a variety of sexual acts" on the Internet. She has been charged with "sexual abuse of children, possession of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography."] Well, I should certainly hope that the authorities will be consistent and charge this horrible miscreant as an adult! It's rather like cases in Britain when the age of consent for two men was 21, even though it was 16 for a boy and a girl or for two girls. If a 20yo man was in a relationship with an older man, the younger one would be charged *as an adult* with the crime of facilitating the exploitation of a minor -- himself!! Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * lincmad@suespammers.org * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad dot com All U.S. and California anti-spam laws apply, incl. CA BPC 17538.45(c) This text constitutes actual notice as required in BPC 17538.45(f)(3). DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED E-MAIL TO THIS ADDRESS. You have been warned. ------------------------------ Date: 2 Apr 2004 01:48:55 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2,500 Phone Bill Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA >> The AP story identifies the guy and his daughter by name, and says >> Qwest agreed to settle the bill for $375. >> I would think that was generous except that he could have signed up >> for flat rate long distance for $25 and the calls would have cost $0 >> above that. > Not exactly. The fast talker at the end of the spot for flat rate LD > states that internet access is not included in the rate plan :-) > Some lady in Chicago found that out. Um, Colorado != Illinois, and Qwest != SBC. I just spent 20 really boring minutes looking through the Qwest tariffs, and found the part that describes the unlimited LD service. It's actually 5 cents/min for the first 500 minutes, zero cents/min after that. It doesn't say anything about calling ISPs, but it does say that you can only use your residence phone for residence uses, and that flat rate really means 5,000 minutes per month. If you use more than that, they can demand that you prove that you're not misusing the service. Since 5000 minutes is 7 hours a day, 7 days a week, that doesn't seem like a really onerous limit unless you're using your phone as a long distance baby monitor.* Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of The Internet for Dummies Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Sewer Commissioner "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly. * - A few years back when my daughter was quite small, she slept in her car seat in the car a lot better than she slept anywhere else. I had an analog AMPS car phone and a plan with unlimited nights weekends, so we'd often park the car in the driveway where we could see her from the house, call the house from the car phone and leave her on the speakerphone until we heard her wake up, as much as two or three hours later. ------------------------------ From: Me Subject: Re: Amazon Patents Cookies Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 02:22:08 GMT And I thought it was an April Fool's joke :) Barry Margolin wrote in message news:telecom23.156.16@telecom-digest.org: > Monty's subject line is *extremely* misleading. This patent is not > about cookies in general. It's about a specific technique for > encoding structured, binary data into the text-based cookies. The web > application makes use of a generic routine that takes a data structure > and a schema file to perform the translation; additional claims cover > mechanisms for tracking different versions of the data structure, so > that users who have old cookies saved on their computers can be > supported automatically, and things like encrypting the cookie. > Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu > Arlington, MA > *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 01:46:29 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Google Says "Gmail" is No Joke, But Lunar Jobs Are http://www.forbes.com/technology/newswire/2004/04/01/rtr1320652.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 02:05:48 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: US Court Rejects Revisiting Cable Broadband Ruling WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court has refused to reconsider its decision that regulators mistakenly insulated cable companies that offer high-speed Internet from extensive regulations, like providing consumers a choice of Internet service providers. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in October that the Federal Communications Commission should have classified cable broadband as a telecommunications service instead of an information service. The court late on Wednesday denied requests to rehear the case. The FCC could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40987018 ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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 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 #157 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Apr 2 20:46:18 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i331kIF06764; Fri, 2 Apr 2004 20:46:18 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 20:46:18 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404030146.i331kIF06764@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 #158 TELECOM Digest Fri, 2 Apr 2004 20:46:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 158 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Rate Hikes in Sheep's Clothing - Consumer Groups Rally (VOIP News) VoIP Letters to the Hill (VOIP News) Re: Vonage Apparently Now in Canada and Offering (VOIP News) Sununu Bill Allows Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP News) Bill Would Exempt Most VOIP From Regulation (VOIP News) VoIP Reaches Out, Wirelessly - Two Hot Net Technologies (VOIP News) Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business (Tony P.) Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business (Clarence Dold) Lawful Intercept (Marco Ponte) Stopping Nuisance Calls (Mark Crispin) VOIP News Question (Tom Lowe) Re: Norvergence Documentary (William Warren) Re: Western Union Clocks (Lawrence Jones) Vonage, Bad Experince, Really is Terrible, Maybe the Worst (G) Re: Buying Books on the Net (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) 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 are 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: VOIP News Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 11:27:42 -0500 nSubject: Rate Hikes in Sheep's Clothing - Consumer Groups Rally Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/41691 Consumer groups rally against 'fees' Written by Karl Bode As previously discussed, BellSouth recently added a "regulatory cost recovery" fee of $2.97 to customer DSL bills. Letters informing customers of the change caused a long discussion over the tactic in our BellSouth forum. The fee is not assessed by the government, and consumer groups argue it's simply a rate hike in sheep's clothing. The biggest problem is that the fee isn't included in the cost that these companies are advertising. Critics charge this allows the companies to advertise one rate, charge another, and then blame the government when you get angry. We've been changing our own price comparisons to reflect this. While just yesterday we praised SBC for their decision to offer higher speeds and lower their rates, the reality is those price reductions are simply being offset by new hidden fees. Surcharges ranging from $1.84 to $5.83 a month are being added to customer bills, depending on which of SBC's 13 states you live in. If you don't see the fee yet, you will when your contract comes up for renewal. The justification for the fee from both companies is that the Universal Service Fund, and other regulatory efforts are draining their coffers. "Given the dramatic way that it has increased in the last couple of years, we have found it necessary to break it out," says SBC spokesman Joe Izbrand to the Dallas Morning News. Consumer groups argue that the USF is simply part of the cost of doing business in the United States, and should be included in the overall price of service. "It's a price increase," bluntly notes Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America. [Comment: At least one VoIP company does this also. Vonage adds a "Regulatory Recovery Fee" of $1.50 per line to their monthly rate. It's not assessed by the government, and not included in the advertised price.] Full story at: http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/41691 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 11:52:55 -0500 Subject: VoIP Letters to the Hill Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Apr/1028225.htm] Late yesterday, nine small VoIP providers and the VON Coalition, of which AT&T is a member, sent a letter to key policymakers on the Hill and at the FCC urging them to avoid placing old telephone rules on this new service. Below is the letter delivered to the Senate. A separate letter was addressed to Reps. Joe Barton, John D. Dingell and Charles "Chip" Pickering. As you all know, the FCC is poised to rule on a petition deciding how much phone-to-phone VoIP providers will have to pay to access the Bell network. Full story (including text of letter) at: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Apr/1028225.htm ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 10:52:45 -0500 Subject: Re: Vonage Apparently Now in Canada Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Forwarded message: Date: 2 Apr 2004 05:41:30 -0000 From: John Levine To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [VoIP News] Vonage apparently now in Canada and offering Canadian numbers In-Reply-To: <5.06794476509094.114.978631258011@1.00006684993781> Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Strangely, in Ontario they do not show Toronto (Canada's largest city) or > any ratecenter close to Toronto That appears to be a mistake. If you go through the signup menu, it offers area code 647 numbers in Toronto. ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 15:36:22 -0500 Subject: Sununu Bill Allows Voice Over Internet Protocol Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.politicsnh.com/press_releases/2004/April/4_2voip.shtml SUNUNU BILL ALLOWS VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL TO GROW FREE FROM STATE AND FEDERAL REGULATION WASHINGTON, DC -- United States Senator John Sununu (R-NH) today (4/2) reviewed components of Senate legislation that encourages the growth of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) by clarifying its status as an information service and limiting state regulation of this innovative voice communication technology. Sununu, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, was joined by Congressman Chip Pickering (R-MS) at a press round-table in the Capitol on April 2 where they outlined provisions of the Senate and corresponding House legislation and took questions from the press. "Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) - technology that enables efficient, cost-effective delivery of voice communications over Internet broadband networks - is at a critical stage in its development, but its potential to serve consumers, business, and society is enormous," said Sununu. "Unfortunately, some interests would like to impose an outdated and stifling regulatory framework on this service, rather than allow VoIP to continue to expand freely." "Burdensome state and federal regulations could easily prevent VoIP from delivering on its promise of cost savings, versatility, and innovation for consumers. That is why I propose a clear, but limited federal role to enable future growth of this technology," Sununu continued. "Congress must establish federal authority in this area, provide direction for any action by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and preclude individual states and jurisdictions from regulating VoIP. This guidance, which my legislation provides, will help ensure a greater degree of market certainty, and more importantly, will help ensure that a misguided approach to VoIP does not develop." Key provisions in the bill will: Treat VoIP as an information service. Doing so will help establish a level playing field for all forms of data; Establish federal jurisdiction over VoIP applications. Allowing state and local jurisdictions to impose costly and unnecessary regulations on this technology will discourage investment and development; and Protect VoIP data from federal and state taxation. Imposing oppressive taxes on VoIP will serve only to block further emergence of this technology. On previous occasions, Sununu has addressed his concerns about the future of VoIP at a February 24, 2004 Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the issue and at the January 9, 2004 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada . ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 15:31:32 -0500 Subject: Bill Would Exempt Most VOIP From Regulation Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/04/02/HNvoipreg_1.html By Grant Gross, IDG News Service April 02, 2004 Most voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services would be exempt from state taxes and regulations and be treated by the U.S. government as a lightly regulated information service under legislation that U.S. Senator John Sununu plans to introduce by early next week. Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican, has drafted a bill that defining most VOIP services as information services, like most other Internet-related services, under congressional and U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations. The Sununu bill would exempt VOIP from most regulations governing traditional voice telecommunications, including federal law-enforcement wiretap regulations and access charges typically shared among telecom providers. Sununu and Representative Charles "Chip" Pickering Jr., a Mississippi Republican who plans to introduce a similar bill in the House, said the legislation is necessary to give clarity to VOIP vendors and customers, even though the FCC began a rule-making proceeding on VOIP in mid-February. FCC Chairman Michael Powell has also called for VOIP to be exempt from state regulations, but the legislation could help avoid the court battles that have followed other FCC telecommunications decisions, Sununu said. Full story at: http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/04/02/HNvoipreg_1.html ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 11:39:54 -0500 Subject: VoIP Reaches Out, Wirelessly - Two Hot Net Technologies Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/ZDM/wireless_voip_pcmag_040402.html VoIP Reaches Out, Wirelessly Two Hot Net Technologies Converge for New Mobile Phone Calls By Sebastian Rupley PC Magazine April 2 The talk at the VON (Voice On the Net) conference this week in Silicon Valley is not just about Voice over IP (VoIP) technology, but the coming convergence of Wi-Fi wireless LAN technology and VoIP services.That melding is already leading to the development of new products and services, with many more expected later this year. Full story at: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/ZDM/wireless_voip_pcmag_040402.html ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business Organization: ATCC Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 21:00:15 GMT In article , djones0315@hotmail.com says: > I would like to operate a profitable hot-spot (Wi-Fi) service for my > community. People would access my network for a $1 a day in our > communities cafe's and parks. I'm thinking to have about 8 hot > spots. How much would a hot spot cost to run? Also, how could I > collect payments? Is there a hot-spot management system out there? First think of the infrastructure. Yuo'd need some type of well equipped Wi-Fi router or two, and the access points associated with it. Then of course you'll need some form of security above and beyond basic WEP and not broadcasting the SSID. For that I'd suggest BlueSocket but it isn't in any way cheap. Equipment, I'd say is about $15K to $30K or so. Then there's the broadband connection -- anywhere from $100 to $1000 a month. ------------------------------ From: dold@Hot-SpotXW.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 14:50:28 UTC Organization: a2i network D. Jones wrote: > I would like to operate a profitable hot-spot (Wi-Fi) service for my > community. People would access my network for a $1 a day in our > communities cafe's and parks. I'm thinking to have about 8 hot > spots. How much would a hot spot cost to run? Also, how could I > collect payments? Is there a hot-spot management system out there? The first thing that comes to mind is to become a hotspot for an established carrier. That would relieve you of all of the bookkeeping. Al you would do is provide the spot[s]. http://www.boingo.com is one of them. There is a steady stream of this same question in the Usenet News Group alt.internet.wireless . A search of that newsgroup via Google lists 63 threads on the subject: http://makeashorterlink.com/?E16F62AE7 Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 ------------------------------ From: marco_ponte@yahoo.com (Marco Ponte) Subject: Lawful Intercept Date: 2 Apr 2004 05:46:54 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I'm writing a paper on Lawful Intercept in today's telecom ip based networks (access providers, internet providers, ...) I know about standards that describe different functionalities (e.g. the famous H1, H2 and H3 handover interfaces) Now, I'm wondering at what part of the network this interception best takes place : at the DSLAM, access routers, edge routers ... and what are reasons to implement one or the other. If possible, send replies by e-mail. Greetings. ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Stopping Nuisance Calls Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 10:00:34 -0800 Organization: University of Washington There is an option for stopping nuisance calls that hasn't been widely discussed. If your phone company has Do Not Disturb service, you can set up your DND schedule so that it is 24 hours/day. Consequently, nobody can call you unless they know a four-digit code that you decide upon. The disadvantage is that if you have a forwarding (e.g. to voice mail or a cell phone), DND will happily transfer to it. So prerecorded telemarketers will then leave their crap on your voice mail (or worse you cell phone). So be sure to cancel all forwardings first. There is an option which you can enable to allow callers who don't know the code to press "*" and give their name, and then you get to decide whether to take the call or not. Of course, this mainly works for people who have a very small number of legitimate callers and thus it scales to "whitelist" in this way. My phone line has been very peaceful since I went this route. My friends and family know my code and their calls go right through, but no more wrong numbers and no more damn telemarketers who think that the do-not-call law doesn't apply to them. What's more, it's not only more effective, but is also a lot cheaper than the No Solicitation, Security Screen, etc. services. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. ------------------------------ Subject: VOIP News Question Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 16:18:57 -0500 From: Tom Lowe No offense, but if the VOIP news is already in a mailing list of it's own, what's the point in posting it to this group as well? I love the news provided by them, but not enough to read it twice. I would encourage you to keep a list of relevant mailing lists that your subscribers may be interested in signing up for and send it out to the list every so often, or post it on your web site or something else, but don't duplicate stuff. Thanks for listening! Tom ------------------------------ From: William Warren Subject: Re: Norvergence Documentary Organization: Comcast Online Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 13:05:23 GMT Eric Claiborne wrote in message news:telecom23.157.6@telecom-digest.org: [snip] > Thank you very much for you work in these matters. On such a > sensitive issue of phone/data systems we have decided that a contract > with this company is not worth ANY risk. We started to get leary when > the answer to every question was "YES". That is usually the trademark > of a B.S. artist. With the information we read from you and other > sources, we cancelled our plans with them. [snip] > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That's my job here, Mr. Claiborne, to > collect facts and experiences our readers have with various telecom > companies, including Norvergence. I am glad our archives was useful > to you. http://telecom-digest.org PAT] Pat, QUICK! Hit them up for a sponsorship!! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That's very crass! If everyone who had ever benefitted from our archives had become a 'sponsor', I would be a very wealthy person. Not because I am so smart (I am not) but because of the collective wisdom to be found in this newsgroup. Anyway, I did not come up with the Norvergence information on my own; I just serve as a large humanoid filing cabinet for all that stuff. 'Tis very true, a lot of things have to be paid for around here, not the least of which is my own willingness to sit here anywhere from two to eight ot ten hours per day organizing the 'wisdom', dumping out the tons of spam and virus crap which comes through, and trying to arrange the rest of it in a reasonable way. I *did* mention to the Knox Nurseries that a sponsorship would be welcome, but the rest of it has to come from them. I generally however do not tie the two together; search our files, then pay for it. We used to say and believe when Usenet usership and traffic was about one tenth of what it is now that this was a PUBLIC network for USERS. I believe we should continue that policy. Do you remember when *I* (and many others) back in the 1980's used to say 'wait until the day comes when *everyone* is hooked up to the net.' ? Well, we are just about getting to that point. Instead of taking such a crass direction of making (or very strongly suggesting) that people who use our files then pay some set fee for doing so, (gee, are there any Internet sites which do that; have a cashier at the front door, etc?), I prefer just to leave it up the friends and supporters of this Digest to look out for its (and my) welfare. Those who want to do that either use a credit card to make a payment through PayPal at http://telecom-digest.org or else they mail a gift as they find approriate to Post Office Box 50, Independence, KS 67301 and recieve my thanks. PAT] ------------------------------ From: lawrence.jones@ugsplm.com Subject: Re: Western Union Clocks Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 21:13:01 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > My (Panasonic) doesn't make any changes until you cycle the > power. A couple of months ago my power was off for a time and when it > came back on it was totally confused. Finally I got the manual out > and discovered that was document ... except it seemed to me the power > going off and then coming back on at some later time *was* cycling the > power. My Panasonic sets the time when you power it *off*, not on. It seems to me that it actually said that in the manual, too. I suspect the reason is that the process can take a bit of time and they didn't want to keep you from doing whatever you were trying to do when you turned the VCR on, so they wait until you're no longer using it. -Larry Jones Years from now when I'm successful and happy, ... and he's in prison ... I hope I'm not too mature to gloat. -- Calvin ------------------------------ From: info414@yahoo.com (G) Subject: Vonage, Bad Experince, Really is Terrible, Maybe the Worst Date: 2 Apr 2004 10:18:36 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Vonage has some serious problems and here they are ! You phone does not work for ALL the following reasons, which cumulatively can amount to more than a few HOURS a week! 1. If power is out; 2. If cable is out; 3. Every once in awhile Vonage system is down; 4. If Vonage modem has a glitch; 5. If your cable has a glitch. If your phone loses dial tone you do not get it back unless you reboot the Vonage modem, which you do not know is out of order unless you check it. Once you reboot it, it takes two or three minutes, because Vonage only poles you one every few minutes, NOT ONCE EVERY FEW SECONDES, like any normal system would do. Voip is a great technology for campus wide utilization, but Vonage is going to go belly up fast with this application of the technology. Beware of saving a few dollars and losing a lot of business/friends with this technology. G [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But for those readers who have not experienced this series of disasters with their electricity, cable modem, etc and want to check out Vonage, I can give you an e-coupon good for a month of free service.(Whatever kind of service you decide is best, you get the second month of it for free with an e-coupon. Just write ptownson@telecom-digest.org and request it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 14:32:29 GMT From: joel@exc.com (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Re: Buying Books on the Net Organization: Excelsior Computer Services > The risk is that the merchant (or whoever ends up with the card > number) will use it again in the future without your permission. One The other risk is that someone will break into the merchant's database. ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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 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 #158 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Apr 3 18:07:42 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i33N7gj14480; Sat, 3 Apr 2004 18:07:42 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 18:07:42 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404032307.i33N7gj14480@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 #159 TELECOM Digest Sat, 3 Apr 2004 18:07:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 159 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Feds Tell States 'VoIP is Ours' (VOIP News) AT&T, Comcast Support VoIP Legislation (VOIP News) New Sipura SPA Version 2.0 Firmware Available (VOIP News) Re: Excel Communications (Gary) Re: Vonage, Bad Experience, Really is Terrible, Maybe Worst (Frank) Re: Vonage, Bad Experience, Really is Terrible, Maybe Worst (S Garland) Re: Western Union Clocks (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Re: Sununu Bill Allows Voice Over Internet Protocol (Joel M. Hoffman) Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business (Clarence Dold) Re: Wireless Equivalent to Crossover Network (Kenneth P. Stox) Walmart Card Balancing Mix up Causes Major Headache (TELECOM Editor) Media For Sale (Mike L) iTunes Case Study - Digital Media Project (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 are 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: VOIP News Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 11:56:41 -0500 Subject: Feds Tell States 'VoIP is Ours' Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Jack Decker note: (I sent this out earlier with a bad subject line - that'll teach me to do cut-and-paste operations when I'm half awake. Sorry for the duplication, but I did want to get this out with a proper subject line). http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5184603.html By Ben Charny and Declan McCullagh CNET News.com Sen. John Sununu announced on Friday long-awaited Internet phone legislation that would effectively eliminate state and local authorities' ability to tax and regulate broadband phone calls. The bill, which is expected to draw fire from state governments, says all authority over regulating VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) services is "reserved solely to the federal government." The measure, VoIP Regulatory Freedom Act, also imposes some curbs on the Federal Communications Commission's ability to extend to VoIP much of the thick quilt of rules and requirements that govern the traditional phone network. For instance, it bans imposing certain "access charge" taxes, but does require the FCC to levy VoIP universal service fees that will be redirected to provided discounted analog phone service to low-income and rural Americans. Sununu's proposal also addresses the controversial issue of VoIP wiretapping, saying that VoIP companies that provide links to the existing telephone network -- a category that would include Vonage, for instance -- must provide some "access to necessary information to law enforcement agencies." But the access requirement, a key concern of the FBI, would not apply to instant messaging applications or peer-to-peer services like Skype. Full story at: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5184603.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 12:13:05 -0500 Subject: AT&T, Comcast Support VoIP Legislation Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Two press releases commenting on the VoIP legislation introduced by Senator Sununu and Congressman Pickering: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-02-2004/0002140211&EDATE= AT&T Welcomes Introduction on VoIP Legislation WASHINGTON, April 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The following statement may be attributed to Peter Jacoby, AT&T Vice President of Congressional Affairs: Sen. Sununu and Congressman Pickering have demonstrated a strong vision for the future with the introduction of this legislation today. These bills provide an excellent place for the Congress to join the discussion on VoIP. They have presented a deregulatory approach that both acknowledges the need to reform the current subsidy system and allows this nascent service to flourish and bring the benefits of competition and innovation to the telecommunications marketplace. SOURCE AT&T Web Site: http://www.att.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-02-2004/0002140315&EDATE= Statement From Comcast Corporation PHILADELPHIA, April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Comcast issued the following statement today regarding legislation introduced today by Senator John Sununu and Rep. Chip Pickering: We commend Senator Sununu and Rep. Pickering for their leadership on VOIP telephony policy. Consumers will benefit if this exciting technology is free to develop without burdensome regulation. VOIP will help cable companies to provide widespread facilities-based phone competition, leveraging the $85 billion we have collectively spent on network upgrades since 1996. Keeping VOIP free of the kind of regulation developed for a monopoly telephone era is essential to ensure that VOIP investment will continue and competition will grow. SOURCE Comcast Corporation Web Site: http://www.comcast.com ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 00:02:02 -0500 Subject: New Sipura SPA Version 2.0 firmware available Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Highlights of the upgrade are here: http://www.sipura.com/Documents/SPA_Version_2_Highlights.txt Sipura states that it is not necessary to upgrade to version 2.0 unless you require one or more new features. Also, it is not necessary to upgrade your SPA if your device is remotely provisioned by a service provider. But if you own a Sipura and you're not using it with a commercial VoIP service, and you need one of the new features, you can find the upgrade at this address: http://www.sipura.com/support/index.htm ------------------------------ From: roadtoadkw@msn.com (gary) Subject: Re: Excel Communications Date: 2 Apr 2004 20:32:31 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com J Kelly wrote in message news:: > On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 23:11:00 -0600, John A. Weeks III > wrote: >> 2) Excel pays commissions in advance. >> Excel does not pay out a single dime until a sales person makes a >> sale to a number of customers, and those customers use the service >> to generate revenue and commissions, > You seem to contradict yourself here. It's obivious you don't know what your talking about jkelly, unless you know the way the residuals are paid, you don't know what your talking about. As soon as someone switches over to the Excel's telecom services, a check or record is made and the rep or sponsering rep and uplines are paid by the end of the week on some commissions and by the month on some of the commissions, there are weekly and monthly weeks that are generated when a new customer or marketing rep has joined or requested the telecom service. If your with any other telecom service provider you're still paying at or near the same as Excel price, Excel just pays it back to the rep, while your other telecom pays it back to their big marketing or sales scheme's including big name athletes, etc.; you're paying one way or the other, just with Excel you're getting a part of it back and the more customers or reps you have the more money you get back. Ask your telecom back for some of the monies you payed for your services and they will laugh you in the face so to speak, so become a customer and help someone else recieve a residual income that will last forever, or become a rep and get a piece of the pie yourself; that's what it's all about. www.payyourselfnow.com/garyowens www.excelir.com/gowens2 ------------------------------ From: Frank@nospam.biz Subject: Re: Vonage, Bad Experince, Really is Terrible, Maybe the Worst Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 06:11:25 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications G wrote: > Vonage has some serious problems and here they are ! > You phone does not work for ALL the following reasons, which > cumulatively can amount to more than a few HOURS a week! > 1. If power is out; > 2. If cable is out; > 3. Every once in awhile Vonage system is down; > 4. If Vonage modem has a glitch; > 5. If your cable has a glitch. > If your phone loses dial tone you do not get it back unless you > reboot the Vonage modem, which you do not know is out of order unless > you check it. Once you reboot it, it takes two or three minutes, > because Vonage only poles you one every few minutes, NOT ONCE EVERY > FEW SECONDES, like any normal system would do. Voip is a great > technology for campus wide utilization, but Vonage is going to go belly > up fast with this application of the technology. > Beware of saving a few dollars and losing a lot of business/friends > with this technology. You sound like you work for a competitor, perhaps AT&T? I have had Vonage for 13 months, now, on a cable modem and it is up and running almost 100% of the time. Then again, only two people call me on it. Otherwise it is for extensive outbound calls. I keep a wireline presence for my incoming calls. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Vonage not so terrible From: no_email_address@hotmail.com (Sara Garland) Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 20:38:56 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net > You phone does not work for ALL the following reasons, which > cumulatively can amount to more than a few HOURS a week! > 1. If power is out; > 2. If cable is out; > 3. Every once in awhile Vonage system is down; > 4. If Vonage modem has a glitch; > 5. If your cable has a glitch. I've had Vonage since August and I've had about 4 hours of downtime total. My cable company is apparently very good, and I've never experienced Vonage being down while I was home. I've had to reset the cablemodem a few times, but that wasn't a Vonage-specific problem. I have experienced problems with some of the features, though. I can't get *69 to work well, but the website does give accurate information (after the fact) about calls that came in. I have no complaints, but I've got some money saved because of Vonage. Your mileage may vary. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 14:35:59 GMT From: joel@exc.com (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Re: Western Union Clocks Organization: Excelsior Computer Services > My Panasonic sets the time when you power it *off*, not on. It seems > to me that it actually said that in the manual, too. I suspect the > reason is that the process can take a bit of time and they didn't want > to keep you from doing whatever you were trying to do when you turned > the VCR on, so they wait until you're no longer using it. [way off topic, of course, but:] Or perhaps the reason is that the only time you need an accurate clock on a VCR is when you're recording, and most VCR's only record when they're off. Personally, I've always HATED this "feature," having many times programmed my VCR (perhaps even successfully) to record, but then left it on. I suspect many other people also don't record what they want because they leave the VCR on. -Joel ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 14:49:22 GMT From: joel@exc.com (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Re: Sununu Bill Allows Voice Over Internet Protocol Organization: Excelsior Computer Services > Key provisions in the bill will: > Protect VoIP data from federal and state taxation. Imposing > oppressive taxes on VoIP will serve only to block further emergence of > this technology. It's "reporting" like this that does injustice to the truth. Of course "oppressive taxes" are bad. But (1) not all taxes are oppressive; (2) the taxes will not "serve only to block...", as, for example, they could also serve to level the playing field with other telephony conduits or require that people using VoIP contribute their fair share to the common network whose use they enjoy; but most importantly, (3) the second sentence is not a provision; it's propaganda. Protecting VoIP from taxation may or may not be a good idea, but without clear reporting and without a differentiation between data an opinions, it will be hard to have a serious discussion. -Joel ------------------------------ From: dold@Hot-SpotXW.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 20:26:54 UTC Organization: a2i network Tony P. wrote: > First think of the infrastructure. Yuo'd need some type of well equipped > Wi-Fi router or two, and the access points associated with it. Then of > course you'll need some form of security above and beyond basic WEP and > not broadcasting the SSID. For that I'd suggest BlueSocket but it isn't > in any way cheap. Why would you want to have security like WEP? No public hotspot that I've used has any encryption. > Equipment, I'd say is about $15K to $30K or so. We have a different idea of what he's trying to do, I guess. I would say closer to 10% of that. Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 ------------------------------ From: Kenneth P. Stox Organization: Imaginary Landscape, LLC. Subject: Re: Wireless Equivalent to Crossover Network Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 23:30:51 GMT Daveman750 wrote: > Is there any cheap way to get a wireless equivalent to a simple > crossover network for sharing a dialup connection and files between > only two computers? You will need to configure both machine's wireless interfaces to use ad-hoc mode. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 22:46:30 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle On Thursday evening, a major problem happened with Walmart Stores and their credit/debit card processing. I do not usually shop at Walmart Supercenter here in Independence but on Thursday evening had to get some ink for my printer after the stores which carry it downtown were closed. I love to use my PayPal debit card, since Paypal pays 1.5 percent cash back on sales, and I can check its status right on line anytime. Of course I can use it 'like a credit card' for purchases on the net, and I never have more than a few dollars in it at any time. Anyway, I went out to Walmart SuperCenter, got my printer ink and a ream of paper. The purchase came to $36.72 (I do not know WHO keeps claiming that Walmart is 'so much cheaper than the stores downtown' but they do.) Anyway, today, Friday, I was checking my PayPal account and saw not one! not two! but three charges from Walmart for the $36.72, leaving me $72.44 in the 'hole', since I *only* move what money I need to that PayPal account, plus or minus a couple dollars. Naturally I got on the phone right away to PayPal and asked them, "how did that happen, the account is a debit card with a 'credit limit' of only the balance in the account. How did those additional two charges get approved instead of declined as I would have expected." Pay Pal said the reason it showed as 'approved' rather than 'declined' was because Walmart had 'forced it' in order to balance their card sales totals for the night. She blamed it on Walmart, saying 'they had a big mix up Thursday night in their card balancing.' I called Walmart/Independence and the customer service lady said it was not their fault, it was their credit card processor who screwed everything up. She said every Walmart store got a memo on the fax today explaining what had happened and that it 'was being corrected over the weekend, and to tell any customers who asked that it was NOT Walmart's fault'. I still decided to check with the credit card processor, who because the size and severity of the screw up opened an 800 toll free line to deal with customers tonight who happen to use their computers to examine their credit/debit card balances, and went crazy when they saw the mess. Just as I suspected, the credit card processor refused to confess to the blame either, saying "it was not us, it was Walmart who caused this mess, and we are not going to have Walmart blaming us for causing this." PayPal also had a standard response to read to customers saying that **everyone will get full credit either overnight or by Monday for the incorrect charges**. Walmart and the credit card processor said the same thing. They all said 'do not pay attention if your computer screams at you about 'get money in your account to cure this negative balance mess'. Apparently either Walmart Stores or the card processor ran the 'batch' two or three times instead of ONCE Thursday night, and a lot of people were affected. Credit cards were charged two or three extra times, and debit cards the same way. Debit cards which went negative as a result or credit cards which went over limit as a result were 'forced' to balance. Its all being ironed out now. I hope Walmart and/or the card processor find out who caused this and make a human sacrifice of them. (Update, Saturday afternoon, 4:30 PM CST: I got a phone call from the credit card processing office people. They are still working feverishly trying to get this straightened out; it was much worse than just Walmart Stores apparently. ) PAT ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 03:59:19 GMT From: Mike L Subject: Media For Sale Organization: Shaw Residential Internet I have several different media for sale: 5" 640 MB optical disks (aka PD disks) 3" 125 MB optical disks (sometimes referred to as optimagneto) 3" 230 MB optical disks (sometimes referred to as optimagneto) 720K floppy disks 1.44 MB floppy disks without read/write tab For info call (780) 437-1253 or email ebenezer@shaw.ca Thanks. Mike L ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 16:28:16 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: iTunes Case Study - Digital Media Project iTunes Case Study Overview In recent months, iTunes, Apple's Online Music Store, has become the pacesetter in the digital media marketplace. Its business model responds to many of the current legal and technological challenges in online media distribution. The Digital Media Project's Green Paper, iTunes: How Copyright, Contract, and Technology Shape the Business of Digital Media, provides an in-depth look at this service from the perspective of comparative law. Members of the Digital Media Team examined different legal and regulatory regimes from a range of countries to deterimine how iTunes and services like it are likely to fare under different sets of norms. By focusing on the specific iTunes example, the Case Study offers a concrete view of the way law, technology, and business model interact in the post-Napster world. The Case Study has focused on four important regulatory issues: * Interaction between Copyright and Contract Law * Digital Rights Management * Digital First Sale Doctrine * Fair Use Doctrine http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/media/itunes ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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 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 #159 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Apr 4 16:12:41 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i34KCfi22617; Sun, 4 Apr 2004 16:12:41 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2004 16:12:41 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404042012.i34KCfi22617@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 #160 TELECOM Digest Sun, 4 Apr 2004 16:12:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 160 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Why Sun Threw in the Towel in Mankind vs. Microsoft (Monty Solomon) Tech Heavyweights Explain How to Destroy the Internet (Monty Solomon) Re: Excel Communications (John Levine) Re: Excel Communications (Ray Normandeau) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (Tony P.) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (Horsley) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (AES) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (Dold) Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business (Tony P.) Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business (Gene S. Berkowitz) Net Calling Makes Waves (VOIP News) Archives - Telephone Directories (Jo Falconer) New Members and New Chairman at the Fixedline MMS Forum (Press nRelease) 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 are 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, 4 Apr 2004 11:24:37 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Why Sun Threw in the Towel in Mankind vs. Microsoft By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco Principles are fine things to have, but only if you can afford them. With its stock declared a 'junk bond' and finishing a terrible quarter, Silicon Valley's leading Microsoft antagonist Sun Microsystems has now decided it can't. The news will have surprised the company's lawyers, who only this week were girding themselves for the next round of litigation. It appears that for almost $2 billion, Microsoft has bought its way out of a lot of trouble. In truth however, both parties realized that the EU decision, which is still pending appeal, was a watershed. Microsoft doesn't have any more nasty surprises to face from the US, EU or States, and Sun realized that it couldn't push any more severe penalties out of the process. What could Sun achieve by proceeding with its 2002 lawsuit? The lawsuit asked for $1 billion in damages; today's settlement yields Sun $700 million for antitrust issues - less than what it wanted -- and a further $1,250 million covering patent royalties -- which is more than what it wanted. But the hardest thing for Sun to swallow will be its pride. McNealy had presented the fight in apocalyptic terms: Mankind vs Microsoft. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/36777.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2004 11:39:20 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Tech Heavyweights Explain How to Destroy the Internet By Thomas C Greene in Washington A group of tech celebs gathered on Capitol Hill this week to brief Congressional aides on how Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can, and probably will, make a complete mess of the Internet in about a year's time. At issue are likely revisions to the 1996 Telecommunications Act and FCC regulations, which, thus far, have managed to do scant violence to the Net. Unfortunately, changes now being contemplated, urged by telecomms and media behemoths and their lobbyists, may soon alter that happy state of affairs. Broadband users are particularly at risk, because they enjoy little of the consumer choice available to dialup users. One can connect to a phone line and reach any of hundreds of dialup ISPs. Broadband users have no such luxury. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/22/36744.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not think these 'tech celebs' know what they are talking about. (a) the internet is already a mess, and has been bad for a few years and is getting worse with spam and virii and other things. And (b) regards broadband not having choices, I can reach any dialup ISP I want. I can either direct my computer to connect with any of those ISPs in the form of http://any-ISP or I can use my dialup connection (although much slower) to get there as well. But who really wants to these days, as crappy as so many sites are. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 4 Apr 2004 05:46:32 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Excel Communications Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > If your with any other telecom service provider you're still paying at > or near the same as Excel price, ... Uh, no. Excel's Nickel Nation costs $5 per month and 5 cents per minute with an outrageous five minute (25 cent) minimum per call. Other plans have even higher per minute rates. 800 service is $3.50/mo and 19 cpm. And don't forget the bogus $1.30/mo "carrier cost recovery" charge which Excel keeps. There are some bundled local resale plans, but they're not available where I live (nobody resells my tiny telco's service) and they don't look particularly cheap compared to Verizon's prices. I'm currently paying ECG 4.9 cpm, one minute increments, no monthly fee or minimum, and if I got around to calling them up and asking for their new plan, that'd drop to 3.5 cpm. These rates are not the lowest available, but they also provide my 800 service for 49 cents/mo and the same 4.9 cpm rate, and their service is decent. ECG and Excel both charge 9.1% USF, no difference there. It'd take an awful lot of MLM kickbacks to make Excel cheaper than normal LD service. I think I'd rather just pay less and not have to build a pyramid. 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 ------------------------------ From: rayta@msn.com (Ray Normandeau) Subject: Re: Excel Communications Date: 4 Apr 2004 12:04:29 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com How about giving some sample Excel rates right here!! ?? I use OneSuite and can call to Hong Kong for two cents a minute. To Canada cost more though. Anyone have opinions on why? See https://www.onesuite.com/ Long distance at 2.9 Cents Per Minute for USA calls and to Canada for 3.5CPM. If you don't use the 800 number access, rate is even cheaper! It is basically a prepaid phone card but you can do away with the PIN for calls from home. Program it as a speed dial, you don't even have to remember their number. No monthly fee or minimum. There is a surchage for calls from payphones. If you use the promotion code "034720367" we both get some free miniutes. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 23:33:18 GMT In article , ptownson@telecom- digest.org says: > Anyway, today, Friday, I was checking my PayPal account and saw not one! > not two! but three charges from Walmart for the $36.72, leaving me > $72.44 in the 'hole', since I *only* move what money I need to that > PayPal account, plus or minus a couple dollars. > Naturally I got on the phone right away to PayPal and asked them, "how > did that happen, the account is a debit card with a 'credit limit' of > only the balance in the account. How did those additional two charges > get approved instead of declined as I would have expected." Pay Pal > said the reason it showed as 'approved' rather than 'declined' was > because Walmart had 'forced it' in order to balance their card sales > totals for the night. She blamed it on Walmart, saying 'they had a > big mix up Thursday night in their card balancing.' > I called Walmart/Independence and the customer service lady said it > was not their fault, it was their credit card processor who screwed > everything up. She said every Walmart store got a memo on the fax today > explaining what had happened and that it 'was being corrected over the > weekend, and to tell any customers who asked that it was NOT Walmart's > fault'. Neither one is going to give you a straight answer, meanwhile you're on the hook for the $72.44. The processor was more than likely First Data Merchant Service, I've dealt with them and they're bandits. > I still decided to check with the credit card processor, who because > the size and severity of the screw up opened an 800 toll free line to > deal with customers tonight who happen to use their computers to > examine their credit/debit card balances, and went crazy when they > saw the mess. Just as I suspected, the credit card processor refused > to confess to the blame either, saying "it was not us, it was Walmart > who caused this mess, and we are not going to have Walmart blaming us > for causing this." > PayPal also had a standard response to read to customers saying that > **everyone will get full credit either overnight or by Monday for the > incorrect charges**. Walmart and the credit card processor said the > same thing. They all said 'do not pay attention if your computer > screams at you about 'get money in your account to cure this negative > balance mess'. In the interests of not pissing everyone off, WalMart through it's obvious weight around and got the card processor to roll back the charges. > Apparently either Walmart Stores or the card processor ran the 'batch' > two or three times instead of ONCE Thursday night, and a lot of people > were affected. Credit cards were charged two or three extra times, > and debit cards the same way. Debit cards which went negative as a > result or credit cards which went over limit as a result were 'forced' > to balance. Its all being ironed out now. What it looks like is the batch was run three times, and each time failed and was resent. It was probably communication problems. > I hope Walmart and/or the card processor find out who caused this and > make a human sacrifice of them. > (Update, Saturday afternoon, 4:30 PM CST: I got a phone call from the > credit card processing office people. They are still working > feverishly trying to get this straightened out; it was much worse than > just Walmart Stores apparently. ) Once something goes into the clearinghouse that is a card processor it takes a mighty effort to get it back out. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 23:46:02 GMT > ..."not anyones fault"... Ah yes, takes me back to the good old days when I worked in the payroll/MIS area at Florida Atlantic University. The management folks would tell us computer grunts, "Use this data set tonight", or "Turn on/off the flag for this or that deduction tonight". Then it would turn out they were wrong, all the checks were screwed up, so they would have to fix it in the next check and always included a note about how "a computer error" was to blame :-). >>==>> The *Best* political site >>==+ email: Tom.Horsley@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL | Free Software and Politics <<==+ ------------------------------ From: AES/newspost Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 16:54:39 -0800 In article , TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > On Thursday evening, a major problem happened with Walmart Stores and > their credit/debit card processing. I do not usually shop at Walmart > Supercenter here in Independence but on Thursday evening had to get > some ink for my printer after the stores which carry it downtown were > closed. Pat, will this show up on comp.risks? (which is an important place for this kind of screw-up). Or to phrase this differently, shall we both watch and see what further news about this shows up on comp.risks? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not know if it will show up on Computer Risks or not. I haven't communicated with Dr. Neumann for quite a long time. If it does, you can let me know if you wish. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dold@WalmartXMi.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2004 04:52:57 UTC Organization: a2i network TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > (Update, Saturday afternoon, 4:30 PM CST: I got a phone call from the > credit card processing office people. They are still working > feverishly trying to get this straightened out; it was much worse than > just Walmart Stores apparently. ) And were they claiming that the "others" were caused by WalMart, or were they ready to accept their own liability? Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They -- all of them -- Walmart, PayPal and First Data Merchant Services were full of double talk today and a lot of nonsense. I called PayPal again today, and when the person from India or wherever they outsource their 'customer service' to gave me a lot of blather and refused to give me a supervisor or anyone to talk to I told him just to cancel out my PayPal accounts, since obviously they were no more trustworthy than any other web site which collects credit card numbers and bank accounts. He insisted it was 'someone elses fault', but refused to say who and refused to give me a super- visor. So I told him to tell whoever *is* the supervisor that I am not going to use their services any longer, since I cannot trust them. I also went over to Walmart and talked to the local store manager and the district area manager who happened to be there today and told them 'thank you for reminding me why I never go to Walmart if there is any other store still in town providing the same merchandise.' Walmart has made a total disaster of our downtown area. They have driven so many of our businessmen out of business. Furthermore, they have managed to increase our crime statistics a lot also. In the police activity column in the Reporter each day, it used to be once or twice a week police had something to say; usually an underage kid drinking or maybe a driver who was drunk. Now there is not a day goes by in the police column but what police arrest one or more people for shoplifting at Walmart. And last week police arrested a cashier at Walmart who had stolen a thousand dollars from the cash register. It was in the Reporter. I told the district manager today when I was there that he needs to work hard at cleaning up the local store there to get rid of the riff raff hanging around and the dishonest employees as well. And downtown is like a ghost town now, no one shopping at all. And yes, it was First Data Merchant Services, whose latest line was 'you will get the credit when we get a chance to issue it sometime soon.' They could not produce any supervisor today either. I told them and Paypal (who has already started nagging me to 'cure my negative balance') that I would prefer to get sued so they could all get exposed for the fools they are. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 23:43:41 GMT In article , dold@Hot- SpotXW.usenet.us.com says: > Tony P. wrote: >> First think of the infrastructure. Yuo'd need some type of well equipped >> Wi-Fi router or two, and the access points associated with it. Then of >> course you'll need some form of security above and beyond basic WEP and >> not broadcasting the SSID. For that I'd suggest BlueSocket but it isn't >> in any way cheap. > Why would you want to have security like WEP? No public hotspot that I've > used has any encryption. You need to somehow authenticate the users, and keep out those who aren't paying. WEP can't be used as you'd have to constantly change the key. Instead you get a solution like Blue Socket. That's the expensive part of the system. ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 23:54:50 -0500 In article , dold@Hot- SpotXW.usenet.us.com says: > Tony P. wrote: >> First think of the infrastructure. Yuo'd need some type of well equipped >> Wi-Fi router or two, and the access points associated with it. Then of >> course you'll need some form of security above and beyond basic WEP and >> not broadcasting the SSID. For that I'd suggest BlueSocket but it isn't >> in any way cheap. > Why would you want to have security like WEP? No public hotspot that I've > used has any encryption. ... which means, in effect, don't read or write anything over that link that you don't want anyone/everyone else in or near the coffee shop to read also. --Gene ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2004 09:52:56 -0400 Subject: Net Calling Makes Waves Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/business/8353031.htm By Ellen Lee CONTRA COSTA TIMES Ryan Bennett trekked through Sweden, Iceland and Denmark last year, but no one calling him would have known it. He took his telephone and his 510 area code number with him, allowing anyone to ring his number and reach him as though he were home in San Leandro. All he had to do was hook up a small adapter to a high-speed Internet connection and link his telephone to the box. The box stored his identification, including his telephone number, so that Bennett could dial a friend in the Bay Area as though he were placing a local call, and the friend could do the same. Full story at: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/business/8353031.htm How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 19:55:33 PST From: Jo Falconer Subject: Archives - Telephone Directories Hi, I am looking for old telephone directories (from 1970) to find the address details of a relative of mine that died in America in 1972. The trouble is, I do not know the state he was living in, when he died. Is there anywhere on the internet where one can search for details in old phone directories? Thanks for your help, Jo Falconer Australia The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it. - Moliere ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2004 20:18:50 +0400 From: Editor (PressReleaseNetwork.com) Subject: New Members and New Chairman at the Fixedline MMS Forum PRESS RELEASE NETWORK http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com Berne, Switzerland - Apr 4, 2004 (PRN): As the popularity of fixedline MMS increases so does the number of companies joining the F-MMS Forum. Just recently the Forum welcomed another round of new members, among them Alcatel (France) and Huawei (China). To Stan Willemsen, the newly appointed chairman of the F-MMS Forum, a clear sign that the activities of the Forum are focussing on the relevant issues. According to market forecast fixedline MMS is predicted to grow at the astronomical rate of 200% p.a. A siren call neither operators nor industry can resist, as they are both eagerly looking for new market opportunities. No wonder they are joining forces to give F-MMS a good headstart. With over 40 members the F-MMS Forum is becoming an important driving factor in the MMS market. A first success of the Forum consisted in laying the groundwork for F-MMS standards in cooperation with ETSI thereby ensuring the future interoperability of services and equipment. At this year's CEBIT MMS capable corded terminals and handsets based on DECT technology gave an impression of what will shortly be available on the market for residential and business use. Further activities by the F-MMS Forum are planned. Interoperability, market research and promotion are some of the issues that figure on top of the items list. At the last Steering Committee Meeting in February the responsibility to guide the Forum through these tasks was handed over to a new chairman, Mr. Stan Willemsen, an employee of Siemens AG. His predecessor, Mr. Erich Schmidt, himself an employee of Siemens AG as well, was thanked for his efforts and the good results, which were achieved during his chairmanship. Mr. Schmidt will take new exciting responsibilities within Siemens. With its new chairman and its new members the F-MMS-Forum is set to take up new challenges -- and there are, no doubt, plenty of them waiting out there. About F-MMS Forum The objective of the Fixed Line MMS Forum is to introduce Multimedia Messaging Service in the fixed network in order to enhance attractiveness by adding new services (including voice -- data services). This will lead to fixed - mobile convergence applications while ensuring interoperability between fixed and mobile networks. The non-profit organisation is based in Berne, Switzerland. Since its creation end of 2002, more than 40 companies from all over the world joined the Forum. These companies represent the core of the global messaging activities. For more information, contact: Heinz Ochsner F-MMS Forum Secretariat and Press Office P. O. Box 7465 3001 Berne Switzerland Tel: +41 (32) 6212692 Fax: +41 (32) 6212691 Email: info@fixedlinemms.org Website: http://www.f-mms.org Editor & CEO Press Release Network 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. 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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. 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #160 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Apr 5 02:53:56 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i356ruC26558; Mon, 5 Apr 2004 02:53:56 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 02:53:56 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404050653.i356ruC26558@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 #161 TELECOM Digest Mon, 5 Apr 2004 02:54:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 161 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Tech Trends May Come Together (VOIP News) Setting up Internet Phone Service Not Costly (VOIP News) High-Speed Calling: Internet-Based Phone Service Goes (VOIP News) Regulators Weigh Whether New Services Fall In Their Realm (VOIP News) How India is Saving Capitalism (Monty Solomon) Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business (John R. Levine) Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business (Clarence Dold) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Hassle (Rich Greenberg) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Hassle (Nick Landsberg) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Hassle (Tony P.) Re: Excel Communications (John A. Weeks III) Some Interesting Telecommunication Books on Ebay (Ray) Trying to Locate Robert K. Johnson Jr. (Lewis) 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 are 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: VOIP News Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2004 16:43:26 -0400 Subject: Tech Trends May Come Together Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11271~2062678,00.html Wi-Fi wireless Internet access and voice-over service could bring free or inexpensive calls By Associated Press NEW YORK -- Two hot technology trends -- Wi-Fi wireless Internet access and voice-over-Internet service -- could come together soon with Wi-Fi phones that promise free or very inexpensive calls. Voice-over-Internet carrier Vonage Holdings Corp. is testing Wi-Fi handsets it hopes to sell by fall. The devices would look like cordless phones and would likely be used in homes with Wi-Fi networks. Rival Net2Phone Corp. is six months into a test of technology aimed at turning Microsoft Corp.'s Pocket PCs into Wi-Fi cell phone replacements. Full story at: http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11271~2062678,00.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2004 16:53:49 -0400 Subject: Setting up Internet Phone Service Not Costly Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~10834~2062675,00.html Free software downloadable By John Moran - HARTFORD COURANT Ray Wade, a computer systems operator in Atlanta, sounds puzzled as he answers my phone call. He doesn't get many incoming calls on this line. That's because Wade's phone isn't connected to the telephone network. It's connected directly to the Internet. I've dialed Wade's phone more or less at random from a list of hundreds of people who have signed up for free Internet telephone accounts. All that's required is a broadband Internet connection, a free downloadable software program, an account with an online phone provider and a PC equipped with microphone and speakers. Wade's Internet phone connection comes courtesy of a service called Free World Dialup, often abbreviated as FWD. Full story at: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~10834~2062675,00.html ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2004 16:35:34 -0400 Subject: High-Speed Calling: Internet-Based Phone Service Goes Mainstream Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~10834~2062849,00.html By Eve Mitchell, BUSINESS WRITER NOEL FRANK LIKES to talk to his friends and family both in the U.S. and Canada. Now, the Oakland resident has found a way to talk to them as much as he wants without racking up a big long-distance bill. Frank is one of the growing number of consumers making inexpensive voice calls via his high-speed Internet connection and a regular phone instead of the traditional phone network that has been around since the telephone was invented more than 125 years ago. "I have family spread out around the U.S. and Canada. That was one of the reasons. And the other reason I'm doing it is for entrepreneurial activity. Some time the business I'm working on may end up on the East Coast," said Frank. Full story at: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~10834~2062849,00.html ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2004 19:08:02 -0400 Subject: Regulators Weigh Whether New Services Fall Within Their Realm Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11271~2062848,00.html By Eve Mitchell, BUSINESS WRITER IF IT SOUNDS like a phone call and rings like a phone, should it be regulated like a phone company? That's the question facing regulators looking into the growing business of sending voice calls over the Internet. At issue before the Federal Communications Commission and the state Public Utilities Commission is whether VOIP, or voice over Internet protocol, providers like Vonage and Packet8 should be classified as telecom providers. Such a move would open them up to regulation and fees that don't apply to them now. A PUC staff report has concluded that VOIP is a telecom service but commissioners have yet to act on the recommendation. If VOIP is ultimately classified as a telecom service, providers would have to collect from their customers fees to support Universal Service Fund programs, pay access charges to traditional phone companies for using their networks, and provide enhanced 911 service for customers. VOIP providers are already trying to come up with solutions to meet 911 requirements. And because VOIP calls travel over the Internet instead of the traditional circuit-switched network, VOIP providers also are exploring ways to comply with federal wiretapping laws. Full story at: http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11271~2062848,00.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Those public servants never give up, do they? They'll be damned if they can't have VOIP service to screw up the way they have screwed up landline telco over the years. Anyway, I thought a couple days ago I read here that (a) the FCC had decided that VOIP was not going to be subject to those regulations and/or (b) the federal government was pre-empting all the state and local agencies and going to take it over exclusively for themselves. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 01:59:42 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: How India is Saving Capitalism For one Silicon Valley company, hiring Indian programmers wasn't about greed, it was about survival. A special report from Chennai, globalization's ground zero. Editor's note: This is the first of a series of reports on the offshoring of white-collar jobs, reported on location in India. By Katharine Mieszkowski April 1, 2004 | CHENNAI, India -- CollabNet's story is symbolic of a larger truth about the the globalization of white-collar jobs -- particularly those in the technology sector. If Silicon Valley now faces an uncertain future as a center for software development, the seeds of that uncertainty were planted not in India or China or the Philippines, but right at home. The build-out of the Internet and the tremendous advances in computer technology over the last decade have opened up new passageways between disparate economic realities. And no one has embraced one of the central premises of the Internet age -- easy interconnection between everybody -- more than software engineers. The immense strength and vitality of the open-source software phenomenon is a clear testament to that. It wasn't so-called "Benedict Arnold" CEOs or greedy shareholders or even the ruthless laws of economics that crafted these new virtual workplaces where job performance is measured purely by your output on the screen, no matter where you log on from. Technological innovation and investment opened up the doors for coders in India and China and everywhere else. It is one of the tremendous ironies of the digital era that the easy flow of capital and labor to every inch of the globe, made possible by the superhuman efforts of American and European programmers, has ended up wreaking havoc on the job security of those very programmers. Got a problem with that, Silicon Valley? Don't blame India, and don't blame the CEOs. Blame yourself. http://salon.com/tech/feature/2004/04/01/collabnet/ ------------------------------ From: johnl@iecc.com (John R. Levine) Subject: Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business Date: 4 Apr 2004 16:35:48 -0400 Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA >> Why would you want to have security like WEP? No public hotspot >> that I've used has any encryption. >> ... which means, in effect, don't read or write anything over that >> link that you don't want anyone/everyone else in or near the >> coffee shop to read also. WEP doesn't secure you against other people on the same wlan. If you want security, you use ssh or ipsec to make an encrypted tunnel back to your home network. At one point I was looking into setting up a hotspot at my local coffee joint (see http://www.gimmecoffee.com/contact.php, the one at the lower left, sort of like Starbucks except with good coffee) and I found some open source Linux routing stuff that wouldn't have been too hard to adapt to hotspot accounting. In my case, my goal was more to ensure the viability of the store than to make money, so my plan was to print up tickets each with a code that was good for an hour's connect time, and have the barista give out a ticket on request whenever someone bought something. If you want to sell access, poking around on the web I found several packaged billing systems that you can either buy, or that they'll provide and split the revenue with you. ------------------------------ From: dold@Hot-SpotXW.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 04:23:37 UTC Organization: a2i network Tony P. wrote: > You need to somehow authenticate the users, and keep out those who > aren't paying. WEP can't be used as you'd have to constantly change > the key. I misunderstood the post. I thought you were suggesting that WEP wasn't sufficient, not that it wasn't the right solution at all. > Instead you get a solution like Blue Socket. That's the expensive part > of the system. I didn't recognize Blue Socket. I see that it is in use on at least a few college campuses. There aren't any prices listed on their web site. There would be other sub-$1000 hardware solutions to consider, but I suppose Blue Socket could be considered along with Cisco solutions, if that were the size endeavor being undertaken. http://bluesocket.com Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 ------------------------------ From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: 4 Apr 2004 16:20:23 -0400 Organization: Organized? Me? In article , AES/newspost wrote: > Or to phrase this differently, shall we both watch and see what further > news about this shows up on comp.risks? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not know if it will show up on > Computer Risks or not. I haven't communicated with Dr. Neumann for > quite a long time. If it does, you can let me know if you wish. PAT] Pat, since you were involved in this personally, why don't you submit it to Peter for the Risks Digest? 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 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I am sort of busy right now with some other things; I have a lot of spam to clean out of the archives which manages to sneak in there every day, and deal with my sister and her son (my nephew)'s problems, etc. People are free to copy whatever they want from here (and god knows, some people take it wholesale like the Nigerian telecom digest people), so if its found to be interesting enough I should imagine it will find its way to Risks. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Nick Landsberg Reply-To: hukolau@NOSPAM.att.net Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2004 20:39:45 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet Tony P. wrote: > In article , ptownson@telecom- > digest.org says: [SNIP] >> Apparently either Walmart Stores or the card processor ran the 'batch' >> two or three times instead of ONCE Thursday night, and a lot of people >> were affected. Credit cards were charged two or three extra times, >> and debit cards the same way. Debit cards which went negative as a >> result or credit cards which went over limit as a result were 'forced' >> to balance. Its all being ironed out now. > What it looks like is the batch was run three times, and each time > failed and was resent. It was probably communication problems. What it looks like to me is that: a) The programmers who programmed the batch fouled up, either issuing a bogus error message or aborting the continuance of the batch when (possibly) some single item was badly formatted. There is a concept of "commit transaction" in any well-designed system. If you are going to abort the whole run when you discover an error you should back out all the previously committed transactions from that run. (This is why database systems have rollback logs.) b) The technicians who were running the batch were not properly trained to do a backout when something failed. (Which brings up the question of the programmers again and it also casts doubt upon the wisdom of management to hire the least-trained help available as well as not to train them). See signature for bottom line. "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious" - A. Bloch [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Sunday afternoon I went over to the Independence Walmart Supercenter and the District Manager, local store manager and assistant managers all grew so weary of dealing with me they printed out a copy of the 'confidential memo to Walmart personnel' they received from their head office for me, after they had trimmed *their names* and the *senders names* from the top of the email. The email otherwise reads like this: Subject: Walmart Customers Affected by Computer Disruption at First Data; Special Toll Free Number Opened for Customer Inquiries Source: Comtex News Network (PR Newswire via Comtex) On Thursday, April 1, First Data (NYSE: FDC)experienced a computer hardware problem that affected MasterCard and Visa transactions at Wal-Mart. In some instances, the problem resulted in *triplicate* postings to consumer debit and credit card accounts. First Data has been processing corrections to the affected accounts since Friday, April 2. First Data opened a toll free hotline for customers at 1-888-893-0626 (as of 8 pm Friday night) to assist consumers. First Data apologizes to Wal-Mart and its customers for the inconvenience. This is a global issue with Visa/MasterCard debit and credit cards and concerns some Customer/Members being charged three times for their purchases processed by First Data Merchant Services on 4/1/04. This is not a Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. issue. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. only submitted ONE charge for processing and was only paid ONE time. Visa and MasterCard have sent notifications to their issuing financial institutions, asking that any overdraft/NSF charges related to the dupliate or triplicate transactions should be removed from the Customer's account. Action required: Any Customer/Member experiencing overdraft or NSF charges or sales authorization failures due to this problem *only on 4/1 or 4/2/04* should call 1-888-893-0626. For transactions involving an immediate purchase where customers are declined because of insufficient credit or insufficient funds on hand **due to this error only**, please call 479-273-4357 for evaluation and manual credit approval if warranted. We believe all reversals of this error should be completed by 4/5/04, but all Walmart managers and cashiers should be made aware of this issue. (There then followed a long paragraph entitled 'About First Data' which I am not including here which talked about all the wonderful things going on in Denver with FDC.) ================= Its too bad Walmart's first response was to simply deny any of this and tell people to contact their own 'credit card issuer'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2004 21:40:52 GMT In article , tom.horsley@att.net says: >> ..."not anyones fault"... > Ah yes, takes me back to the good old days when I worked in the > payroll/MIS area at Florida Atlantic University. > The management folks would tell us computer grunts, "Use this data set > tonight", or "Turn on/off the flag for this or that deduction > tonight". > Then it would turn out they were wrong, all the checks were screwed > up, so they would have to fix it in the next check and always included > a note about how "a computer error" was to blame :-). That's what comes of putting the finance guys in charge of the I.T. guys. It's been like that wherever I've worked and always had entertaining consequences. At one point I worked for a retail business and was responsible for their accounting and POS systems. The president of the company considered himself a financial genius of sorts. I've been gone from the place for about 3 years. While I was there, I worked with the controller and tamed the POS/Accounting interfaces to the point where we'd get regular distributions and things would actually balance out. We could actually say what our cash position was at any given time. Once both of us left it went straight down hill. From what I hear, they haven't been able to get the POS distributions into the accounting system for months. It's because the company president, being the know it all, has completely fouled the entire system. In article , TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to dold@WalmartXMi.usenet.us.com: > And yes, it was First Data Merchant Services, whose latest line was > 'you will get the credit when we get a chance to issue it sometime > soon.' They could not produce any supervisor today either. I told > them and Paypal (who has already started nagging me to 'cure my > negative balance') that I would prefer to get sued so they could all > get exposed for the fools they are. PAT] Go for it. They will not take the bait so instead, contact your local television station. Most of them now have a consumer unit that aggressively goes after these things and makes a big public stink about it. Because this involves three national names it will probably get uploaded to the network. On the flip side, you state attorney general or the district attorney more than likely has a consumer unit. I'd suggest giving them a call too. As to FDMS, I set up several merchants with various 'banks' and 95% of them were tied in via FDMS. It's because they basically own the transport network for all transactions. And they have their share of problems, believe me. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The first of the two credits back to my PayPal account came through Sunday evening on the computer. The second credit appeared a few minutes ago, at 1:00 AM Monday morning. PayPal had dutifully given me 55 cents 'bonus cash back' for each of the two erroneous transactions. I will see if tomorrow they reverse those as well; probably they won't. But this whole exciting weekend has been an excellent example of *why* I keep a 'financial firewall' in place, and only keep enough money in my 'working debit card' (the plastic I use for internet purchases and other small items where plastic is the preferred [or only realistic] method of payment) in my account. Imagine if I had used an open ended credit/debit card and instead of Walmart (a reasonably honest, even if ineffectual) merchant I had used one of the internet guys. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Excel Communications Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2004 17:51:44 -0500 From: John A. Weeks III Organization: Newave Communications In article , John Levine wrote: > I'm currently paying ECG 4.9 cpm, one minute increments, no monthly > fee or minimum, and if I got around to calling them up and asking for > their new plan, that'd drop to 3.5 cpm. These rates are not the > lowest available > It'd take an awful lot of MLM kickbacks to make Excel cheaper than > normal LD service. I think I'd rather just pay less and not have to > build a pyramid. Keep in mind that most people are on the most expensive plan that their carrier offers. The reason is that folks convert to companies like AT&T and MCI, and their discount program is discontinued after a year or two. They end up on some default plan. I have seen folks on MCI plans that pay 25 cents a minute plus a monthly access fee, and they have been on these plans for years. In comparison, any other rate plan looks like a good deal, Excel included. Most of these carriers are quite content to rape their smaller customers. LD is a funny business ... you can find rates as low as 2.5 cents per minute and as high as $2.50 cents a minute for the very same minute of long distance time carried on the same fiber optic lines. I don't know of any other product that has a two order of magnitude price variation like this. ==================================================================== John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john@johnweeks.com Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com ==================================================================== ------------------------------ From: rayj00@yahoo.com (Ray) Subject: Some Interesting Telecommunication Books on Ebay Date: 4 Apr 2004 16:54:00 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I have a 5 volume set of books entitled "Telephone Communication Systems". These were put out by Western Electric in 1970. They cover early telehone exchanges as well as a slew of other information. These would make a nice addition to anyones technical library. This set is in NEW condition and could probably be considered antique. Please go to ebay and check out the desciption if you are interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4202098340 Thanks, Ray ------------------------------ From: Lewis Subject: Searching for Robert K. Johnson Jr. Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2004 10:41:16 -0600 Patrick, I recently noticed an e-mail thread that included some messages from a Robert K. Johnson Jr. I have been trying to locate an old Air Force friend by that name who went to work for IBM in the early '70s. I lost touch with him at that time. His e-mail address was deleted by request in the online thread. I wonder if you would do me the favor of forwarding this message to him to allow him the opportunity to respond to me if he would choose to do so. The guy I'm looking for was from the Detroit area and stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base, an officer and navigator. He was also an avid skier. A Mississippi native, I was at Ellsworth in the missile wing. Please let me know if you're willing and able to forward this to him. Thanks. Lewis McCool Dolores, Colorado lmccool@sprynet.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If it is the one I am thinking of I will pass it on now. No guarentees is the right one. I think the only reason he asked to be anonymous was because of the Norvergence problem. 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: 620-402-0134 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 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 #161 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Apr 5 15:38:42 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i35JcgS04653; Mon, 5 Apr 2004 15:38:42 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 15:38:42 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404051938.i35JcgS04653@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 #162 TELECOM Digest Mon, 5 Apr 2004 15:38:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 162 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update (Canada) #427, April 5, 2004 (Angus TeleManagement) Cox Closes Wiretap Hole For VoIP (VOIP News) VoIP's Broadband Bottleneck (VOIP News) Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business (Kyler Laird) MCI's Post-Bankruptcy "Big Splash" (Navigate) New ALCATEL OMNIPCX 4400 Knowledge Base (Simon Templar) Re: Walmart Mixup Balancing Credit Cards Causes Hassle (Mark Atwood) Re: Walmart Mixup Balancing Credit Cards Causes Hassle (Mark Crispin) Re: Walmart Mixup Balancing Credit Cards Causes Hassle (Clarence Dold) 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 are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 10:55:14 -0400 From: Angus TeleManagement Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #427, April 5, 2004 ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 427: April 5, 2004 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca ** CYGCOM INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGIES: www.cygcom.com ** GROUP TELECOM: www.360.net ** JUNIPER NETWORKS: www.juniper.net ** PRIMUS CANADA: www.primustel.ca ** SPRINT CANADA: www.sprint.ca ** TELUS: www.telus.com ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** TSX Won't Order MTS Vote ** Virgin and Bell Join to Target Youth Market ** Vonage Launches Canadian VoIP Service ** Primus Expands VoIP Service, Adds 9-1-1 ** Aliant Must Tariff "Packages" ** CRTC Issues First Expedited Rulings ** Competitors Want DSL Ruling Extended ** Vonage Sues AT&T over VoIP Brand ** Free Broadband Trial for School Boards ** Start-Up Offers Hosted VoIP for Business ** Call-Net Wants Telus Agreement Annulled ** Aliant Offers Higher-Speed DSL ** Pier 1 and Pulver to Subsidize VoIP Start-Ups ** Cellphone Users to Get Olympic News ** Broadband Promised in Fort Frances Area ** Allstream Intros Hosted Call Centre ** Bell Cuts Price for High-Speed Internet ** Ottawa Invests in Integrated Phone ** Cygcom to Sell Pronexus Software ** Telecom Consulting Firm Closes ** Couch Potato Report Available ** Are Internet Phones Business-Ready? ============================================================ TSX WON'T ORDER MTS VOTE: The Toronto Stock Exchange has denied a request from Enterprise Capital Management that it order a shareholder vote on Manitoba Telecom Services' plan to acquire Allstream. (See Telecom Update #425 and 426) The TSX says it saw no evidence that the MTS management failed to meet its fiduciary obligations. ** Enterprise says it is "disappointed but not surprised" and will evaluate options for future action. ** In a move to placate income trust advocates, MTS says it will set its annual dividend at $2.60 per share after the acquisition. This is 40 cents higher than it promised when the Allstream deal was announced three weeks ago. VIRGIN AND BELL JOIN TO TARGET YOUTH MARKET: The Virgin Group and Bell Mobility have formed a jointly owned company to offer prepaid wireless service and handsets to young people under the Virgin Mobile brand. A similar venture in the U.S. has won 1.75 million customers in two years. VONAGE LAUNCHES CANADIAN VOIP SERVICE: U.S. Internet telephony provider Vonage launched service in Canada on March 31. Pricing: $46.99/month for unlimited North American use; $34.99 for unlimited in-province calling and 500 minutes elsewhere; $19.99 for 500 minutes. Local number portability and 9-1-1 are not yet available. PRIMUS EXPANDS VoIP SERVICE, ADDS 9-1-1: Primus Canada says its Internet telephony service, TalkBroadband, now offers local numbers in Victoria, Winnipeg, Quebec City, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Halifax, Mississauga, and St. Catharines in addition to the seven previously announced cities. It provides 9-1-1 calling in 14 cities, but only if the phone is in a registered location in the exchange associated with the telephone number. ** Monthly rates have been reduced for customers who pay $139.95 to purchase a TalkBroadband modem outright: ** Residential: Basic, $15.95; Power Bundle, $25.95; Ultimate Bundle, $30.95. A new $45.95 Unlimited Bundle provides all local features and unlimited calling within Canada and to the U.S. ** Commercial: Basic, $25.95; Power Bundle, $32.95; Elite Bundle, $38.95. ALIANT MUST TARIFF "PACKAGES": Responding to a complaint filed by EastLink, CRTC Telecom Decision 2004-21 says that Aliant's "Value Packages" are bundles that require tariff approval. The telco must either file tariffs by April 19 or discontinue providing the bundles to existing customers. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/dt2004-21.htm CRTC ISSUES FIRST EXPEDITED RULINGS: On Friday the CRTC issued decisions in the first three competitive disputes handled under the Commission's new expedited process (see Telecom Update #426). ** 2004-22: Bell Canada "failed to comply with the bundling rules" when its Customer Service Reps incorrectly told customers that they must subscribe to Bell local service to qualify for the "Bundle from Bell." Bell must now file quarterly third-party reports on CSR accuracy. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/dt2004-22.htm ** 2004-23: Telus's "Student Bundle" does not need to be separately tariffed, but the promotion should not have implied that it offered additional savings beyond the tariffed "Residence Value Bundle." www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/dt2004-23.htm ** 2004-24: Shaw must provide its higher speed Internet service to Cybersurf for resale in one of its six serving areas within 45 days, and in other areas within 14 days of Cybersurf's written request, until Shaw actually provides third-party Internet access throughout the serving area. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/dt2004-24.htm COMPETITORS WANT DSL RULING EXTENDED: FCI Broadband and Maskatel want the CRTC to rule that incumbent telcos cannot refuse high-speed Internet service to customers who obtain local phone service from a competitor that has its own local facilities. This would extend Telecom Decision 2003-49, which applied only when the competitor obtains the local loop from the telco. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2004/8622/f18_200402321.htm VONAGE SUES AT&T OVER VoIP BRAND: Internet telephony provider Vonage has asked a U.S. District Court to order AT&T to change the name of its new Internet telephone service. Vonage says the similarity of "CallVantage" to "Vonage" will confuse consumers and weaken Vonage's trademark. ** AT&T began offering CallVantage in parts of New Jersey and Texas last week, and said it would be in 100 markets by year-end. FREE BROADBAND TRIAL FOR SCHOOL BOARDS: The Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION) is offering school boards in the province free trials of the high-speed network. There is no further obligation to sign on to the network after the trial. Interested Boards should e-mail info@orano.on.ca. START-UP OFFERS HOSTED VoIP FOR BUSINESS: OneConnect, a new subsidiary of Globalive Communications, has begun offering hosted Voice over IP to businesses in Toronto and Montreal. The company's services, based on Nortel's Multimedia Communication Server 5200, include Virtual PBX, Video Calling, Whiteboarding, and Find Me/Follow Me options. www.oneconnect.ca CALL-NET WANTS TELUS AGREEMENT ANNULLED: Call-Net wants out of the agreement under which it leases components for Wide Area Ethernet service from Telus. It has asked the CRTC to annul the contract, saying the terms are unjust, unreasonable, and discriminatory. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2004/8622/c25_200402347.htm ALIANT OFFERS HIGHER-SPEED DSL: Aliant's new Ultra High- Speed Internet access, which provides downloads at up to 3 Mbps, costs $54.95/month with no contract. Customers who sign a 12-month contract pay $44.95/month and get the first three months free. PIER 1 AND PULVER TO SUBSIDIZE VoIP START-UPS: Vancouver- based Peer 1 Network and Pulver.com have formed a joint venture -- the VoIP Acceleration Project -- to fund the bandwidth and co-location needs of new VoIP companies in the beginning stages of their business. For more information see www.pulver.com/colo. CELLPHONE USERS TO GET OLYMPIC NEWS: CBC and Montreal-based messaging developer Lipso Inc. have teamed up to deliver news on the Athens 2004 Olympics by text messaging. Cellphone users will be able to register in advance, or get information on demand using shortcodes. BROADBAND PROMISED IN FORT FRANCES AREA: Bell Canada has announced plans to extend broadband Internet to communities in the Fort Frances, Ontario, area. The telco says it is partnering with the Pwi-di-goo-zing Ne-yaa-zhing Advisory Services and Industry Canada under the federal Broadband for Rural and Northern Development (BRAND) Pilot Program. ALLSTREAM INTROS HOSTED CALL CENTRE: Allstream has announced a "unique Hosted Contact Centre solution," which provides ACD, IVR, speech recognition, and CTI capabilities over traditional or IP infrastructure, charged on a per-seat basis. BELL CUTS PRICE FOR HIGH-SPEED INTERNET: Bell Canada has reduced the rate for its Sympatico High Speed Ultra service by $10, to $59.95/month, and increased speeds for most customers to 4 Mbps (download) and 800 Kbps (upload). OTTAWA INVESTS IN INTEGRATED PHONE: The federal government has announced a $9.5-million "strategic investment" in an R&D project to develop the Sierra Wireless Voq Professional Phone, which will combine features of a personal digital assistant, wireless e-mail device, and mobile phone. CYGCOM TO SELL PRONEXUS SOFTWARE: Cygcom Integrated Technologies has signed an agreement to distribute telephony and speech software tools developed by Ottawa-based Pronexus Inc. TELECOM CONSULTING FIRM CLOSES: Schooley Mitchell Telecom Consultants, a Stratford, Ontario-based company that claimed to have over 150 franchises in Canada and the U.S., appears to have closed its doors. Individual franchisees are discussing how to proceed, but they tell us the head office is no longer operating. The company did not reply to our requests for comment. COUCH POTATO REPORT AVAILABLE: An updated report on "The Battle for the North American Couch Potato" is now available from the Convergence Consulting Group. www.convergenceonline.com ARE INTERNET PHONES BUSINESS-READY? In the April issue of Telemanagement: Gerry Blackwell tests Local IP phone services from Primus and Vonage; John Riddell examines the latest trends in IP-PBXs; BCE and the Cable TV Association debate technology substitution and telecom regulation. ** Telemanagement is available to subscribers only. Telemanagement Online subscribers can access this issue, and an extensive library of past issues, columns, editorials, and feature reports, at the Online Home Page. ** To subscribe, or to add online access to your existing subscription, call 800-263-4415 x500 or go to the Online Subscription Page. 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 2004 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone 905-686-5050 ext 500. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 09:32:27 -0400 Subject: Cox Closes Wiretap Hole For VoIP Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://news.com.com/2100-7352_3-5184774.html By Ben Charny Staff Writer, CNET News.com Police can now wiretap Internet phone calls on Cox Communications' network, kicking off a new era for law enforcement. The cable and broadband provider turned to security specialist VeriSign to supply the know-how, the latter announced Monday. Law enforcement officers can now eavesdrop on every call made by Cox's nearly 1 million voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone subscribers. Police can already tap calls on 12 of Cox's 13 telephone markets because they rely on traditional phone equipment equipped with eavesdropping abilities. But in December, Cox deployed VoIP, a much cheaper alternative that uses the unregulated Internet. Roanoke, Va., is the first of several small markets where Cox is deploying VoIP technology. Full story at: http://news.com.com/2100-7352_3-5184774.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 09:38:32 -0400 Subject: VoIP's Broadband Bottleneck Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5184599.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed By Ben Charny CNET News.com Broadband Net-phoning services pushing aggressive expansion plans are discovering a harsh reality: Some residential Internet service providers in the United States currently can't guarantee the bandwidth required to handle calls effectively. AT&T Vice President Kathy Martine said she learned that lesson the hard way during recent trials of the company's CallVantage Net-phoning plan, which it hopes to introduce in 100 markets this year. Some customers' broadband connections just weren't good enough to provide "AT&T-like" quality, she said. So the company was forced to help the broadband providers fix their connections. Now AT&T Labs is "doing a lot of statistical modeling and analysis on that so we can, in fact, prove where the problems are in the future," Martine said recently. "But the reality is, it's only as good as the broadband connection to your home." VoIP backers such as Cisco Systems insist that the industry has solved problems that once plagued the technology. But those claims tacitly assume the presence of high-quality broadband networks, something industry insiders admit they don't always encounter when deploying service in residential markets. United States spoiled by Ma Bell VoIP's quality problems aren't a big deal in Europe or Asia, where the cost of traditional phone lines is so high that dialers are expected to eagerly embrace VoIP in the home and put up with the lost calls and dropped words. But Americans are a different story. They've become used to the century-old telephone networks, which operate so well that even during power outages there may still be a dial tone. Full story at: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5184599.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have discovered one thing about my Vonage service which is a problem. Even though it usually does okay, I get the dropped words problem whenever I am trying to run too many jobs at once here. Left alone on the cable, Vonage seems to do very well. But usually I am running my weather station http://weatherforecast.n3.net or http://weatherforecast.us.tf and my computer room live camera http://patricktownson.us.tf most of the time. Both of these services take .jpg images and transfer them to my California web site using FTP (under their alias 'n3.net' and 'us.tf' names) every fifteen seconds or so. Often times also I am using a secure form of telnet or rlogin to work on this Digest at MIT. Whenever weather or the office cam decide it is time to do a transfer via FTP I can count on the words on Vonage getting lost. I can set my watch by it, every fifteen seconds or so. They are on other machines, (the Windows 98 and Windows 95 computers) but still using the same NetGear router and cable modem. I wish there was a way that Vonage could take priority and slow down or automatically stop the other jobs when it was talking. I asked Mike Flood, general manager of Cable One here in Independence about this. His answer was I need a 'bigger pipe', which of course he said he could sell me. I now have what he termed 'half size' (or some words like that) with 500 K and he said I should get a 'full size pipe'. (More money of course). Does that make sense to anyone? I guess the full size is twice the 500 K. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Hot-Spot Wi-Fi Business From: Kyler Laird Organization: Insight Broadband Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 13:08:17 GMT > but I suppose Blue Socket could be considered along with Cisco > solutions, if that were the size endeavor being undertaken. My experience has been that users are *much* happier if they don't have to install any new software in order to use a service. This is especially true for people using company laptops (which might be "locked down," preventing them from installing anything anyway). I've watched users choose to use PPTP over 802.11b because they saw that they could just use software that was already on their systems. It seems like an obvious answer. It should be easy to implement with a Free system also, although the usual MS protocol, MPPE, requires a bit more effort to invoke there. http://www.opentech.at/howtos/pptp.html (MPPE also has some more weaknesses but I don't think that's significant for this application.) --kyler ------------------------------ From: dmudd@navigateinternational.com (Navigate) Subject: MCI's Post-Bankruptcy "Big Splash" Date: 5 Apr 2004 09:44:53 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Anyone heard about the "big splash" MCI is planning when they come out of bankruptcy around the end of April? In 2003 they rolled out "The Neighborhood" during the MCI Heritage tournament, and I heard they have something up their sleeves again this year. ------------------------------ From: le_prelude@yahoo.fr (simon templar) Subject: New ALCATEL OMNIPCX 4400 Knowledge Base Date: 5 Apr 2004 10:12:07 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi all, I just created a new place where 'we' (alcatel engineers) could exchange experience, and share our knowledge with other. You can find it at http://www.gadot.net There is a link on the top left to the ALCATEL KNOWLEDGE BASE Enjoy ! ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle From: Mark Atwood Organization: EasyNews, UseNet made Easy! Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 17:51:59 GMT Nick Landsberg writes: > Its too bad Walmart's first response was to simply deny any of this > and tell people to contact their own 'credit card issuer'. PAT] Probably what happened was that Walmart didn't think they had done anything wrong (and they hadn't). First Data was probably stonewalling and lying to them as well. Mark Atwood | When you do things right, people won't be sure mra@pobox.com | you've done anything at all. http://www.pobox.com/~mra | http://www.livejournal.com/users/fallenpegasus ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 11:35:13 -0700 Organization: University of Washington On Sun, 4 Apr 2004, TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Nick Landsberg: > Its too bad Walmart's first response was to simply deny any of this > and tell people to contact their own 'credit card issuer'. PAT] They probably didn't know anything other than a lot of customers were complaining and that their (Wal-Mart's) IT department insisted "we didn't cause it." In such circumstances, that advice would be appropriate: have the customer complain to their card issuer, get a dispute going, and let the goblins whose job it is to work out such things straighten it out. This would solve the problem immediately for most credit card holders. Of course, it would not solve the problem for credit card holders near their limit, or for debit card holders; the funds would be in limbo for those folks. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. ------------------------------ From: dold@WalmartXMi.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 18:36:56 UTC Organization: a2i network AES/newspost wrote: > Or to phrase this differently, shall we both watch and see what further > news about this shows up on comp.risks? It was mentioned on the CBS Hourly News carried on KCBS-AM radio in San Francisco. It mentioned the dates involved, the only store was WalMart, and that the corrections had been applied to people's accounts. Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I had two credits coming; the first one came through Sunday night about 10 PM; the second one came through about 1 AM Monday morning April 5. PayPal has not, as of yet taken back the 'bonus money' they gave me (55 cents times two transactions, or $1.10 total) for the two bogus transactions. What I do not understand is why an outfit like Walmart, as big as they are, does not process their own Visa/MC paper, sending it directly to Visa/MC instead of going through a third party place like First Data Merchants? Isn't FDMC in this case a sort of 'bottom feeder' a lot like the 'operator service companies' who intercept what Bell is doing and get their own rake off at more expense to the end user (in this case, Walmart?) I had thought places like First Data Merchants were mostly intended for small people. For example, when I first checked into the idea of using credit cards here in the Digest, First Data said they would lease me a terminal, accept 'no signature, no swipe, no card presented' transactions, etc, for some monthly fee. It would have been ideal for me, but then PayPal came along and said they could do it better and at no charge to me. Why would Walmart need a company like that to handle their credit card stuff? 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: 620-402-0134 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 oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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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. 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #162 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Apr 5 22:35:29 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i362ZTt08558; Mon, 5 Apr 2004 22:35:29 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 22:35:29 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404060235.i362ZTt08558@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 #163 TELECOM Digest Mon, 5 Apr 2004 22:35:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 163 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson See Voip (VOIP News) US Bills To Protect VoIP From Regulation (Jack Decker) Book on How the Internet/WWW Works? (AES/newspost) Re: How India is Saving Capitalism (Clarence Dold) Linx "Casper" Chip Available Sept. 2005 (Christopher Calder) Wiring Old Intercoms (Rich) Need Big Picture of Fixed Line Telecom System (relyah@hotmail.com) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (AES) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (G Welsh) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (J Levine) Apparent Hidden Advertisements in the Telecom Digest (Phil Earnhardt) Re: High-Speed Call: Internet-Based Phone Service Goes Mainstream (AES) Re: Cable Modem Hackers Conquer the Co-ax (Martin McCormick) SP2 to Cause Microsoft Support Call Flood? (jmayson@nyx.net) BellSouth Shakes Google's Hand (jmayson@nyx.net) 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 are 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: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 09:29:18 -0400 Subject: See Voip Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/8358167.htm By Michael Bazeley Mercury News When was the last time you ooohhed and aaahed at your telephone? Probably never, right? Because let's face it, the traditional home phone may be amazingly reliable, but its coolness factor is almost zero. This might be the year that changes. Internet phone service -- also known as VoIP for Voice over Internet Protocol (pronounced 'voyp') -- has been widely available to consumers for more than a year through small companies such as VoicePulse, Vonage and Packet8. So far, Americans have been slow to sign on. About 25 milion homes have broadband access where VoIP would work, but only about 200,000 have bought the service, notes Jeff Pulver, founder of the free VoIP service called Free World Dialup. "If anyone thinks we've gone mainstream, they should reconsider," he said last week at a Silicon Valley conference dedicated to VoIP. But the next 12 months could see a breakthrough. Vonage is moving its service into hundreds of Circuit City stores across the country. AT&T has now formally entered the market in two states (more will follow soon). And other big names will enter the market by the end the year, including Time Warner Cable. Full story at: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/8358167.htm How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 17:13:57 -0400 Subject: US Bills To Protect VoIP from Regulation Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/story/33326.html By Jay Lyman TechNewsWorld Despite the contentions from the growing VoIP industry, Yankee Group senior analyst Zeus Kerravala told TechNewsWorld that VoIP is indeed another flavor of telephone service because people still talk to one another, even if the technology travels over IP. Providers of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services may get their way, preventing state governments from taxing or regulating them, if proposed U.S. federal legislation is approved. Parallel bills from Sen. John Sununu (R-New Hampshire) and Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Mississippi) could keep VoIP classified as an information service and free from state regulation. VoIP is being used by both consumers and corporations to replace or integrate existing circuit-switch telephone network use. While there is a general consensus that VoIP should not be overly or heavily regulated, there are concerns that the Internet services might become too deregulated. Gartner analyst Ron Cowles said he questions the need for the proposed legislation because the states are already precluded from oversight by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which is contemplating its own VoIP oversight. "Honestly, I don't know what's really behind these," Cowles told TechNewsWorld. "Why would we want more laws on that kind of stuff?" The analyst answered his own question on the cause of the legislation -- pointing out that "it's because of lobbying" -- but still questioned the need for it. [Comment: Okay, let me explain it for Mr. Cowles: We would want these laws because the incumbent phone companies (ILEC's) far too often have managed to have their way with state legislatures and regulatory agencies. If they could, they'd have the states regulating VoIP out of existence, or at least delay it until they could enter the market. Here in Michigan the Public Service Commission has started an investigation into VoIP, and allowed only a miserly two week period for comments, which just today was extended for two more weeks after McLeodUSA Telecommunications Services, Inc filed a motion for extension of time in which to file its comments in this proceeding. We simply cannot afford to have 50 different state legislatures and 50 different public utility commissions implementing regulations on companies which may not even have a presence in their states, particularly given that any such regulations or legislation is very like to, at least in some cases, be inspired by the efforts of ILEC lobbyists. The rural telephone companies, some of whom are notorious for gouging their customers (with high rates and small local calling areas), particularly want to see VoIP regulated. They're also at the forefront of opposing access charge reform, by the way. Even the FCC may be vulnerable to undue influence from the ILEC's, and from other entities that benefit from the current outdated taxation and compensation schemes. For example, the Universal Service Fund has rightly been described as a form of "corporate welfare", yet those who are recipients of it are going to fight to keep that scheme intact, whether it makes sense or not. Recipients of taxpayer and ratepayer funds will hardly ever acknowledge that their source of funding is highly questionable. The FCC is going to be hearing from all those special interests. So basically, this legislation would clarify that these special interests aren't going to get their way for once; that we are not going to be saddled with a regulatory regime intended for old technology. And remember, just because it has been proposed doesn't make it a done deal -- I expect it will be hotly debated on the floor of the House and the Senate, if indeed it ever gets out of committee.] Full story at: http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/story/33326.html ------------------------------ From: AES/newspost Subject: Book on How the Internet/WWW Works? Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 11:16:19 -0700 I'm a technically sophisticated type (EE PhD), use the Internet/WWW all the time -- but I really don't understand how it all "works", from an organizational or descriptive or structural/functional or governance viewpoint more than a technical or protocol viewpoint. (I'm not even totally clear on what the difference is between the "Internet" and the "WWW".) For example, when I or anyone else sends bits over the Internet: -- What segments of hardware (wires, cables, routers, fibers) do these bits typically pass through on the way from my laptop to the recipient's machine? -- Who _owns_ all these segments? -- Who _pays_ who to _use_ these segments? -- What rules or agreements govern who can access or use these segments? -- Routers: Who operates them? Why? How do they get paid? What general rules do they have to obey? How do they get authorized? -- How does an ISP become an ISP? What do they have to do? -- How does this whole world-wide structure all get managed, controlled, and especially built and paid for? and a lot of similar questions. So, can anyone recommend a book or other reference for the technically savvy but general reader on this? (Not a "how too use it" book; not a detailed reference on the IP or other protocols; just a "how it all works" description.) ------------------------------ From: dold@HowXIndiaX.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: How India is Saving Capitalism Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 18:38:19 UTC Organization: a2i network Monty Solomon wrote: > For one Silicon Valley company, hiring Indian programmers wasn't > about greed, it was about survival. A special report from Chennai, > globalization's ground zero. Our company recently concluded that India no longer offers the cost savings that it once did, and chose instead to expand in North America. Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 ------------------------------ From: ccalder1@yahoo.com (Christopher Calder) Subject: Linx "Casper" Chip Available Sept. 2005 Date: 5 Apr 2004 12:17:04 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com "Casper" chip available Sept. 2005 I just received a e-mail from Linx Electronics and their new HDTV receiver chip that turns ghosting into a positive signal will be available in Thompson Electronics products in September of 2005. http://www.linxelectronics.com/products/lx2004rx.asp - Linx They are sending out sample chips to other manufacturers the end of this month. I hope Sony and the makers of Intel LCOS sets will use the chips. It will be available built into sets as well as in set top tuners. The cost is said to be the same as current chips. The Casper chip is said to pick up difficult signals 85% of the time in contrast to current chips which pick up those signals only 18% to 50% of the time. You will not need a directional antenna with the Linx Casper chip. HDTV reception should be better and easier in all ways than analog reception. Christopher Calder ------------------------------ From: rerstad@faegre.com (Rich) Subject: Wiring Old Intercoms Date: 5 Apr 2004 12:24:36 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I have a set of old Couch intercoms I want to install in our 1912 house. I am able to get a little life out of them with a 12V battery, but I had understood that to ring, I'd need AC power. But, I've found that these ring on DC -- but I haven't been able to figure out how to hook them up right. There appear to be four possible points to wire the intercom, but I'm not sure what wires should go where. I've had no luck locating any wiring diagrams or any discussion of these intercoms, for that matter. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Rich ------------------------------ From: relyah@hotmail.com Subject: Need Big Picture of Fixed Line Telecommunications System Date: 5 Apr 2004 12:32:15 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I need to get some information about PSTN which should include the following information: 1. access layer 2. signalling layer 3. transmission layer I would like to know how the above three are linked together. A picture would be perfect! Where on the internet can I get such information ? Can anybody help ? Regards, Loic ------------------------------ From: AES/newspost Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 14:09:03 -0700 In article , Mark Atwood wrote: >> Its too bad Walmart's first response was to simply deny any of this >> and tell people to contact their own 'credit card issuer'. PAT] > Probably what happened was that Walmart didn't think they had done > anything wrong (and they hadn't). First Data was probably > stonewalling and lying to them as well. But with all the very bad PR Walmart has been having recently (literally locking their night time employees in their stores, for G_d's sake), it probably would have been a lot wiser to make a lot of very apologetic noises, express their great dismay at whatever has gone wrong, say they hope it's not their fault but they promise to look into it immediately and make things right no matter what, etc etc. ------------------------------ From: Geoffrey Welsh Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 16:14:25 -0400 Organization: Primus Canada > But this whole exciting weekend has been an > excellent example of *why* I keep a 'financial firewall' in place, and > only keep enough money in my 'working debit card' (the plastic I use > for internet purchases and other small items where plastic is the > preferred [or only realistic] method of payment) in my account. > Imagine if I had used an open ended credit/debit card and instead of > Walmart (a reasonably honest, even if ineffectual) merchant I had > used one of the internet guys. PAT] Actually, the lesson that really stood out for me is that your "financial firewall" didn't work! Even though you were using a debit card with only enough money for one transaction, the vendor was able to "force" the transaction, leaving your account in the red. What's to stop a merchant from "forcing" through whatever transaction they want, regardless of your safety? If the merchant and/or transaction processor did not admit culpability, you'd be on the hook for the dough ... sure, you could walk away from it and it wouldn't affect your bank balance but it would probably show up on your credit report. I, like many people, get along OK but would lose a lot (and set off a chain reaction of unfortunate consequences) if my credit rating were to change from pretty good to pretty bad when the balance I walked away from became a red flag in my report. Geoffrey Welsh Always looking for a good condition original 'chicklet keyboard' Commodore PET [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Nothing would prevent them from denying culpability or marking my credit record. Likewise, nothing would prevent me from countersuing (if they chose to sue) and telling the world about them through the various agencies for same such as Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, Small Claims Court, etc. Certainly there is a risk either way, but if you are like me, and have very little actual money, it is prudent to clutch carefully onto what little you have. Maybe it is precisely because I have so little actual cash money, credit bureau reports do not frighten me very much. PAT] ------------------------------ From: johnl@iecc.com (John R. Levine) Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: 5 Apr 2004 18:44:36 -0400 Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > What I do not understand is why an outfit like Walmart, as big as > they are, does not process their own Visa/MC paper, sending it > directly to Visa/MC instead of going through a third party place like > First Data Merchants? Isn't FDMC in this case a sort of 'bottom > feeder' a lot like the 'operator service companies' Processing credit card merchant transactions is a very specialized business, and there aren't a whole lot of companies that do it, with FDMS being one of the largest ones. Their web site says they did 12 billion transactions last year. I don't know of any merchants that do their own processing, and a lot of banks contract it out, too. My smallish bank contracts out to First Data, too. So far, they haven't screwed up any of my charges, knock on plastic. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies" Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Sewer Commissioner "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Whatever happened to the small merchant with a storefront who sells thing occassionally getting a credit card for payment where the person signs the little slip of paper and the merchant stores these slips of paper away in the event of a dispute and the (swiped) card transaction goes to Visa/MC for processing? A larger store, such as Walmart for example would so something similar but on a much larger scale. Does *anyone* turn their charges into Visa/MC directly these days? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Phil Earnhardt Subject: Apparent Hidden Advertisements in the Telecom Digest Date: 5 Apr 2004 13:05:50 -0700 Organization: Newsguy News Service [http://newsguy.com] In article , Our Moderator says: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But for those readers who have not > experienced this series of disasters with their electricity, cable > modem, etc and want to check out Vonage, I can give you an e-coupon > good for a month of free service.(Whatever kind of service you decide > is best, you get the second month of it for free with an e-coupon. > Just write ptownson@telecom-digest.org and request it. PAT] I'd been wondering about these comments that you had been putting in the Vonage messages. I just went to http://www.vonage.com/features_affiliates.php . These coupons you're offering are apparently part of Vonage's affiliates program; you apparently receive between $10 and $40 for every customer who signs up with Vonage after using one of your coupons. The moderator's apparent compensation for promotion of a telecommunications product in the Digest is a conflict of interest. At the very least, if you receive payments from Vonage, you need to disclose that financial interest every time you post such a promotion. If I misunderstood -- if the e-coupons you are offering are not part of the Vonage affiliates program -- I apologize in advance for presuming that they were. You've told us in the past that the TELECOM Digest follows the funding model of PBS or NPR stations where they have periodic "pledge breaks". I would be outraged if these broadcasters started sprinkling hidden advertisements in their normal programming. I fondly hope that you will maintain the same integrity with the TELECOM Digest. Thanks, Pat. phil [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do generally follow the NPR/PBS model except that where NPR (like our local classical music station KRPS 89.9 FM) tends to have seven or ten days of mostly pledge stuff with a small sprinkling of music inserted once a year, I stay with mostly 'programming' all the time and insert a 'pledge request' message once a month or so. Also, like NPR/PBS there are various categories of donors, but I consider that part a little crass, and don't really make an issue out of that part. The vast majority of PBS/NPR contributors, like the vast majority of mine, send in small amounts from time to time and receive thanks from the station (or myself). On KRPS, the donors who make 'larger than average' contributions are given a half dozen little thirty second or so blurbs on a non-commercial basis to wish happy birthdays, or happy anniversaries, etc. Slightly larger contributors such as small businesses (on KRPS) are given in one or two sentences as the 'sponsors' of programs. No 'commercials', no program interuptions, just a simple statement at the start of the program that X is the sponsor, and blah, blah. Major corporate donors are well known in the literature and programming efforts on NPR/PBS. That is sort of how I do things, only as I said, I do not make any distinction between class of donors, except regular, generous donors (such as Mike Sandman, Judith Oppenheimer, etc) are mentioned in each issue. I do not give premiums, or such. That is very crass to me. Just because some guys cannot give as much as others does not mean they should be ignored or mistreated. A *very big, very powerful* donor, or patron of mine would be given more space of course. This was the case with Microsoft a few years ago. Mike Rowesoft was the only one of those I have ever had, and everyone here was told about it, and asked (as a personal favor to me) to kindly refrain from being too abusive of the company. They are no longer around here. Now, your next question no doubt is where does Vonage fit into this picture. Vonage has two programs: an 'Affiliates' program and a 'Refer a Friend' program. They are quite similar, but different. I am **not** an Affiliate. An Affiliate is paid in cold, hard cash money once per month, gets a 1099 tax return annually, and the commissions are subject to the new customer sticking around for three months and paying his bills (to Vonage). A prospective 'Affiliate' fills in some paperwork for Vonage and has to stick to their terms. I think -- am not sure -- an 'Affiliate' gets $40-50 for each one of those signed up. Cold, hard cash once per month. If I were an 'affiliate' I would have a banner on a web page for them, etc. The other category is one that was used on me (when I first started with Vonage), which any new customer using my e-coupons can use and which I certainly use liberally. If I use 'refer a friend' to get you to try Vonage, I get a month of free service *at the service level I use* equal to a month of the service *you sign up for*. Example: My own Vonage phone bill is about thirty dollars per month. You sign up, I get 'next month' free, and you get a month free. You have no other obligations; you get a month free of whatever you paid for to start with. I get no money, ever, just (in my case) an infinite number of 'next month free' for my redeemed e-coupons. You might choose to purchase from Vonage the 'super extended deluxe business package' or whatever they call it, quite expensive IMO, forty dollars per month or something. I get my 'next month free' although the service I use is the 500 minutes per month long distance thing which costs $14.99 to which is added my virtual number, $4.99 and the 'regulatory recovery fee' which everyone has to pay. You of course get a free month also. But Vonage never pays me cash, since I am not an Affiliate. Nor do I hang up any banners for them. What I do have from Vonage is an infinite number of e-coupons redeemed for an infinite number of 'next month free' things. I have not paid for my Vonage service since the day I bought my ATA-186 adapter box and paid for the first month service. By the time I was into my paid for second month free, my own issued e-coupons were rolling in. I have not paid a nickle since, and I have at least a couple year's worth of redeemed e-coupons waiting to be used. When I now and then have occassion to chat on the phone with Vonage (very rarely) I can almost 'hear' their eyes bulge out of their heads when they see my account pop up on the screen, and the rows and rows of credit memos going past still waiting to be redeemed for a 'month of free service'. I use the redeemed e-coupons as fast as I can; I changed my service to get a virtual number out of Chicago which I do not need (plus my local Kansas number) and to get a virtual 800 number which is a nice frill but hardly neccessary. Now instead of having three or four years worth of waiting e-coupons, I only have a year or two of them, because of how frivilously I spend my money. (?) But if YOU sign up with Vonage and become eligible to use 'Refer a Friend' and your friends sign up, you'll soon be in the same position as myself. The reason is because VOIP is where things are at these days as you must know. The handwriting is on the wall for Traditional Bell; they've only got a few years left, at best. I hope this answers your questions. PAT] ------------------------------ From: AES/newspost Subject: Re: High-Speed: Internet-Based Phone Service Goes Mainstream Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 11:25:03 -0700 > http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~10834~2062849,00.html > By Eve Mitchell, BUSINESS WRITER > NOEL FRANK LIKES to talk to his friends and family both in the > U.S. and Canada. Now, the Oakland resident has found a way to talk to > them as much as he wants without racking up a big long-distance bill. > Frank is one of the growing number of consumers making inexpensive > voice calls via his high-speed Internet connection and a regular phone > instead of the traditional phone network that has been around since > the telephone was invented more than 125 years ago. I've read between a dozen and a hundred news stories like this in the past few weeks (one in the San Jose Merc this very morning) and am still not clear on the basic questions: -- If I acquire one of these VOIP hardware/software packages for my DSL-connected home computer, or subscribe to one of the commercial services like Vonage, can I now phone not just other VOIP users, but anyone with a regular phone, anywhere, just as I can with my regular phone? -- Or only people with their own VOIP installations? -- Or only people with their own VOIP installations who are using the same brand of VOIP gadgetry? -- Or does it depend? (and on what?) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, and you are going to be seeing a lot more VOIP reports in the papers and on the net in months to come. VOIP is the 'killer application' of this century, IMO. It is every- thing the telephone itself was at the start of the 20th century, and the traditional wired telephone is quickly becoming obsolete. As Jack Decker said recently when he started the VOIP News on Yahoo, this generation may well be the last one to know what a wired tele- phone is all about. After all, how many readers here remember seeing or sending or receiving a telegram? To try and answer your questions, the more flexible the VOIP application the more you can do with it. I prefer Vonage because it uses the telephone public switched network as needed. Vonage to Vonage calls are make on their own network, but thats only a very small percentage of the calls. With a VOIP system like Vonage you can reach anyone with a 'telephone' at all. I do not say that just because I get some considerations for the redeemed e-coupons (I frankly do not expect to ever pay for VOIP again in my old age; see the other message this issue about credits stacked up everywhere in my name; so instead of getting an e-coupon from me get it from someone else in the 'Refer a Freind' program if you wish; write ptownson@telecom-digest.org if you have no other friends to help you out.) With Vonage the calls are *practically free*. If practically free is not good enough and you want a limited subset of VOIP for totally free, then consider FWD (Free World Dialing) by Jeff Pulver. His is only good for other folks with the same software installed. Well, I stand corrected. At Christmas time, he was giving free calls anywhere by having the VOIP call 'drop off his network' and go on the public telephone network as needed. And I think he now has a deal with another VOIP service to interchange traffic by means of dialing some prefix at the very start. You buy one of his hardware boxes with a phone, then all the calls are free **on his network**, plus or minus. I think you will begin seeing more and more of the smaller VOIP companies begin interchange agreements with the others in order to be able to get away from Damnable Bell whenever possible, but interchange is not all that common yet. That's sort of why I have stuck with Vonage (although my Windows 98 has FWD on it also); mainly the flexability of it since 90 percent of the world is still on wired phones and the ease of use (standard eleven digit dialing, easy interchange to a Bell phone, etc. Yes, I *do* get paid with Vonage (if you consider that when I die sometime soon my estate will consist of a jillion redeemed e-coupons for 'next month free' on Vonage is payment) and Mr. Pulver does not give e-coupons (in fact I think once he said that the whole idea of coupons for a month of free service was a cheap gimmick) so I would pick between one of those two VOIP carriers myself. But VOIP is where things are at. Just ask Congress or the FCC if you don't believe me. PAT] ------------------------------ From: martin@okstate.edu (Martin McCormick) Subject: Re: Cable Modem Hackers Conquer the Co-ax Date: 5 Apr 2004 15:27:24 -0500 Organization: Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK Net-ops > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Although I do not know the particulars > of this, I do know that Mr. Mike Flood, the general manager of Cable > One, here in Independence told me 'that was all taken care of recently' > when I asked him 'what prevents everyone on the cable from showing up > in my Network Neighborhood, and the other way around. There may be limits on the type of traffic that can go from node to node, but here is a partial answer. There are a couple of ways the cable is a little more secure than you might think, but not as secure as we'd like it. Your local section of the cable is apt to be like the LAN or Local Area Network in a building. Traffic on that section of cable is said to be in the same VLAN or broadcast domain. All the Internet addresses for everybody in that section of the cable will most likely start with the same network number. Somebody might be 192.168.3.4 and somebody else 192.168.3.7. You can probably see your neighbor's traffic if it is not encrypted and he/she can see yours. The reason why you don't see everybody's traffic on the cable for a whole town is because there are limits to how much traffic can safely fit on to any given segment of the cable system. If everybody was on one huge VLAN, you not only could spy on everybody else, but the packet traffic would eventually reach a point at which collisions would paralyze the whole network. What you end up with is a sort of compromise in which the cable company engineers fit as many customers on to a segment as they can without reaching the point of gridlock. I believe that a congestion rate of about 30% is the beginning of the melt-down phase. If you get above this level, the collisions and countermeasures to allow stations to re-transmit happen so often that the network is overloaded and slows to a crawl. If you have DSL, your traffic looks more like traffic on a switched Ethernet network. In a switched network, the only traffic you see on your port is broadcast traffic for the network or traffic meant for you specifically. You can't see your neighbor's packets at all. It isn't practical for the cable company to deploy switches everywhere so they break their Internet number ranges in to several smaller groups and those groups are what get put in to the segments of cable. Another advantage to having a subnetted network on a cable system is that a malicious customer or malfunctioning modem can't tie up the entire cable system. He may trash his segment, but that is still a lot better than trashing the entire cable system in the whole city. In short, the cable system may deliver entertainment from a central point called the "head end" to each house, but the data portion of the system behaves more like a bunch of small LAN's to both keep down congestion and isolate faults. This explanation is terribly oversimplified because there are even more technical measures that the cable company can use to prevent data broadcasts by one modem to others, but this is a start. It is certainly advisable to encrypt when you can and be smart and not send sensitive information across the cable when you can't encrypt. -- Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK Information Technology Division Network Operations Group [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Two points here: One, OSU (Oklahoma State University/Stillwater) has an excellent masters degree program in telecommunications, and I **strongly suspect** the telecommunica- tions program is coming aboard here as a sponsor real soon. To address Mr. McCormick's main point, I am on Cable One and I do not see a thing on my 'network neighborhood' except my own site's stations. I live in a private house, with two cable drops on the same line; my computer room, my bedroom (a television set) and my living room (television set and radio.) The bedroom and living room are wired in series; my computer room is in parallel to the other drop. I would say there are about a dozen households in the block or two around me. Anyway, if someone moved in the empty house next door with cable on their computer, would they see me naked here, or would they only see the NetGear router on 192.168.0.1 ? Or ....? Mr. McCormick, can you talk about this a bit further? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 15:39:35 -0500 From: jmayson@nyx.net Subject: SP2 to Cause Microsoft Support Call Flood? Organization: Nyx Net, The Spirit of the Night http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-5185106.html?tag=nefd_top "Microsoft can expect thousands of extra technical support calls after the release of its security update for Windows XP this summer, according to security analysts." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 15:38:23 -0500 From: jmayson@nyx.net Subject: BellSouth Shakes Google's Hand Organization: Nyx Net, The Spirit of the Night http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-5185076.html "BellSouth announced on Monday that it has teamed up with Google to provide search capabilities to its Internet and broadband customers." ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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 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. 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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 #163 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Apr 6 14:28:51 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i36ISpA16507; Tue, 6 Apr 2004 14:28:51 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 14:28:51 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404061828.i36ISpA16507@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 #164 TELECOM Digest Tue, 6 Apr 2004 14:28:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 164 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Cell Phones Exceed Land Lines in Maine (VOIP News) Full Text of TIA Press Release and Link to CPUC Filing (VOIP News) TIA Supports VOIP Bills (VOIP News) The Internet Surveillance Cash Cow (VOIP News) U.S. Player Offers Phone Service Over Internet [in Canada] (VOIP News) Michigan Public Service Commission Grants Time Extension (VOIP News) PRIMUS Canada Enhances TalkBroadband Internet Phone Service (VOIP News) Cox Implements VeriSign for VoIP CALEA Compliance (VOIP News) Skype is Not Hype (VOIP News) Small Players Team Up In Big VoIP Play (VOIP News) How the Government Helped Build America's Media Might (Monty Solomon) Planned Nielsen Changes Criticized (Monty Solomon) Broadband Legal Limbo Lingers (Monty Solomon) Putting 40,000 Readers, One by One, on a Cover (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 are 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: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 12:53:45 -0400 Subject: Cell Phones Exceed Land Lines in Maine Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Even though this probably off-topic a bit, I think it is very illustrative of how fast things are changing in the telephone industry. A lot of people are sick to death of being gouged by the ILEC's, and they are "voting with their feet." I'm sure that VoIP companies will pick up a good percentage of the remaining wireline customers as the industry matures. http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.cfm/ID/420003 Cell phones exceed land lines in Maine LEWISTON - While the number of wireless phone subscribers continues its climb in Maine to 519,000 in January, the number of land-based phones is dropping.Cell phone subscribers in the state now exceed the number of Verizon telephone lines running into Maine homes, according to spokesman Peter Reilly. "Prior to the late '90s, all we saw for decades was positive line access growth," Reilly said. "It's safe to say traditional telephony is on the decline." Cell phone use in Maine is increasing rapidly even though it is one of the least-covered states for cell phone use. Only Alaska, Vermont and North and South Dakota had less mobile phone coverage, according to a Federal Communications Commission checkup at the end of 2002. Full story at: http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.cfm/ID/420003 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 10:33:44 -0400 Subject: Full Text of TIA Press Release and Link to CPUC Filing Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.tiaonline.org/media/press_releases/index.cfm?parelease=04-35 Press Release TIA Supports Legislative Efforts to Preempt State Regulation of VoIP; Files Comments with California PUC Contact: Sharon Grace (703) 907-7721 sgrace@tiaonline.org Arlington, Va. -- The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is encouraged by the introduction of federal legislation aimed at protecting voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) from unnecessary and piecemeal regulation. On April 2, 2004, U.S. Senator John Sununu (R-N.H.) and House Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) each introduced similar companion versions of the VoIP Regulatory Freedom Act of 2004. The bills would establish federal jurisdiction over VoIP and would free VoIP from much of the regulation currently applied to legacy telephone services. At the same time, they seek to safeguard or not disturb important national policy objectives such as universal service and law enforcement access. They also restrict state or local taxation of VoIP. The legislation defines a VoIP application as the use of hardware, software or network equipment for real-time two-way or multidirectional voice communications over the public Internet or a private network utilizing Internet protocol. It excludes VoIP applications that both originate and terminate on the public switched telephone network. Meanwhile, TIA today filed comments with the California Public Utilities Commission, which has initiated an investigation into VoIP regulatory requirements. In the comments, TIA argues that the State of California lacks authority to regulate VoIP applications, because the inherent interstate nature of such communications makes it impossible to classify them as intrastate telecommunications or telephone services. Furthermore, the comments note the efforts under way at the federal level to determine the appropriate national regulatory framework for IP-enabled applications, including VoIP. TIA President Matthew J. Flanigan observed, "As a nation, we are at a critical crossroads for the future of communications. IP-enabled applications and broadband connectivity offer exciting opportunities and are poised to dominate the future of communications. The question we face in this country, however, is whether we will saddle emerging technologies with the regulatory baggage of the past or liberate them and afford them the opportunity to soar to new heights. "It also is an issue of national competitiveness," continued Flanigan, "as the U.S. fights to maintain a leadership role in developing and deploying new technologies. It is imperative that we have one national policy on VoIP, and that such a policy not stifle the nascent and competitive IP communications market. TIA looks forward to working with the Congress, the Administration and the FCC to work towards this end." View TIA's California PUC Comment Filing http://www.tiaonline.org/media/press_releases/uploads/TIACalifPUCApr04.pdf ### The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is the leading trade organization serving the communications and IT industry, with proven strengths in standards development, domestic and international public policy, and trade shows. Through its worldwide activities, TIA facilitates business development opportunities and a competitive market environment. The association provides a forum for its member companies, the manufacturers and suppliers of products and services used in global communications. TIA represents the communications sector of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA). Visit us at http://www.tiaonline.org. P.A. Release 04-35/04.05.04 2004 Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) 2500 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: (703) 907-7700 | Fax: (703) 907-7727 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 08:53:16 -0400 Subject: TIA Supports VOIP Bills Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=50589 ARLINGTON, Va. -- The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is encouraged by the introduction of federal legislation aimed at protecting voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) from unnecessary and piecemeal regulation. On April 2, 2004, U.S. Senator John Sununu (R-N.H.) and House Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) each introduced similar companion versions of the VoIP Regulatory Freedom Act of 2004. The bills would establish federal jurisdiction over VoIP and would free VoIP from much of the regulation currently applied to legacy telephone services. At the same time, they seek to safeguard or not disturb important national policy objectives such as universal service and law enforcement access. They also restrict state or local taxation of VoIP. The legislation defines a VoIP application as the use of hardware, software or network equipment for real-time two-way or multidirectional voice communications over the public Internet or a private network utilizing Internet protocol. It excludes VoIP applications that both originate and terminate on the public switched telephone network. Meanwhile, TIA today filed comments with the California Public Utilities Commission, which has initiated an investigation into VoIP regulatory requirements. In the comments, TIA argues that the State of California lacks authority to regulate VoIP applications, because the inherent interstate nature of such communications makes it impossible to classify them as intrastate telecommunications or telephone services. Furthermore, the comments note the efforts under way at the federal level to determine the appropriate national regulatory framework for IP-enabled applications, including VoIP. Full story at: http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=50589 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 23:31:46 -0400 Subject: The Internet Surveillance Cash Cow Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.securityfocus.com/news/8394 A few large companies and entrepreneurs stand to profit from the FBI's bid for a wiretap-friendly Internet. By Annalee Newitz , SecurityFocus Apr 5 2004 9:21AM Pundits and policy-makers are arguing over the legal implications of the FBI's recent petition to the FCC about how to implement the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. But the Bureau's push to get broadband providers covered under CALEA, which currently applies only to telecom carriers, stands to benefit more than just government spies: a domestic eavesdropping industry stands waiting to sell Internet wiretapping tools and services to cable and DSL companies. John Morris, an attorney with the Center for Democracy and Technology, worries that the FBI's petition will mean that "any new technology that might substitute for phone calls needs to be cleared and approved by the FBI before it can be deployed." These new technologies include VOIP and IM, which are often difficult to wiretap. Former federal agents like Warren will have a leg up on the competition in a tech marketplace regulated by law enforcement's needs. Full story at: http://www.securityfocus.com/news/8394 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 03:18:38 -0400 Subject: U.S. Player Offers Phone Service Over the Internet [in Canada] Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1081203009120&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851 U.S. player offers phone service over the Internet Vonage VoIP service challenges Primus Prices falling with competition in market TYLER HAMILTON TECHNOLOGY REPORTER Prices are already starting to fall as competition takes hold in Canada's budding voice-over-Internet phone market. The Star has learned that Edison, N.J.-based Vonage Holdings Corp., which has been talking about entering the Canadian market for nearly a year, has quietly launched Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, phone service in six provinces, including five cities in Southern Ontario. Vonage is the second company to launch a residential VoIP service on a national scale. In January, Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. announced its TalkBroadband Internet phone service, with prices ranging from $19.95 to $34.95 for second-line local service bundled with calling features. Long-distance packages are charged on top. Full story at: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1081203009120&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 03:20:21 -0400 Subject: Michigan Public Service Commission Grants Time Extension Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://cis.state.mi.us/cgi-bin/mpsc/vieworder.cgi?filename=/mpsc/orders/comm/2004/u-14073_04-05-2004.htm S T A T E O F M I C H I G A N BEFORE THE MICHIGAN PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION * * * * * In the matter, on the Commission's own motion, to commence an investigation into voice over Internet protocol issues in Michigan. Case U-14073 At the April 5, 2004 meeting of the Michigan Public Service Commission in Lansing, Michigan. PRESENT:Hon. J. Peter Lark, Chair Hon. Laura Chappelle, Commissioner ORDER GRANTING EXTENSION On March 16, 2004, the Commission issued an order requesting comments on a number of important issues regarding voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) activity in Michigan. Telecommunications service providers subject to Commission jurisdiction were instructed to file their comments by April 2, 2004. All other interested parties were encouraged to voluntarily file comments by the same date. On March 29, 2004, McLeodUSA Telecommunications Services, Inc. (McLeodUSA), filed a motion for extension of time in which to file its comments in this proceeding. McLeodUSA expressed its strong desire to participate in this proceeding, but cited a number of factors, including several large Commission proceedings currently underway, that are impeding its ability to fully participate. Consequently, the company requested a two-week extension. The Commission finds that McLeodUSA's motion should be granted. The Commission is interested in obtaining a full discussion of the important issues identified in its March 16, 2004 order and finds that it is in the public interest to extend the deadline. Because a number of interested parties, however, may be subject to the same resource and time constraints cited by McLeodUSA, the Commission will grant the motion for all interested parties. All parties who have not already done so, may now file their comments in this proceeding by April 21, 2004. The Commission FINDS that: a. Jurisdiction is pursuant to 1986 PA 32, as amended, MCL 484.1101 et seq.; 1991 PA 179, as amended, MCL 484.2101 et seq.; 1969 PA 306, as amended, MCL 24.201 et seq.; and the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, as amended, 1999 AC, R 460.17101 et seq. b. McLeodUSA's motion for extension of time in which to file comments is granted. c. Providers of telecommunications services subject to the Commission's jurisdiction should file comments in regard to the VOIP issues identified in the Commission's March 16, 2004 order by April 21, 2004. d. Other interested persons should voluntarily file comments regarding the VOIP issues identified in the Commission's March 16, 2004 order by April 21, 2004. THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that: A. McLeodUSA Telecommunications Services, Inc.'s, motion for extension of time in which to file comments is granted. B. Providers of telecommunications services subject to the Commission's jurisdiction shall file comments regarding the voice over Internet protocol issues identified in the Commission's March 16, 2004 order by April 21, 2004. C. Other interested persons shall voluntarily file comments regarding the voice over Internet protocol issues identified in the Commission's March 16, 2004 order by April 21, 2004. The Commission reserves jurisdiction and may issue further orders as necessary. MICHIGAN PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION [..... signature block omitted.....] Suggested Minute: 'Adopt and issue order dated April 5, 2004 granting an extension of time to file comments in this investigation of voice over Internet protocol issues, as set forth in the order.' ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 23:40:14 -0400 Subject: PRIMUS Canada Enhances TalkBroadband(R) Internet Phone Service Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com I was tipped off to this via an item in Patrick Townson's "Telecom Digest": http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2004/05/c7804.html PRIMUS Canada enhances TalkBroadband(R) internet phone service with 911, expands local competition to 8 more cities - PRIMUS Canada extends TalkBroadband (TM) service for consumers and businesses to include local numbers in Victoria, Winnipeg, Quebec City, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Halifax, Mississauga (Cooksville) and St. Catharines. - 911 emergency service to be provided in all TalkBroadband local calling areas - Now more Canadian consumers have a true alternative to traditional local service, starting at $15.95 per month with purchase of voice gateway hardware - New TalkBroadband long distance package allows calling to 20 overseas countries including China, Hong Kong, France, Germany and the UK for as low as 2.5 cents per minute - New Unlimited Bundle introduced for $45.95 per month, including all local features and unlimited calling within Canada and to the U.S. Full press release at: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2004/05/c7804.html TELECOM Digest & Archives at: http://telecom-digest.org ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 23:24:06 -0400 Subject: Cox Implements VeriSign for VoIP CALEA Compliance Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=10715 Cox Communications has implemented VeriSign's NetDiscovery Service to help ensure compliance of its VoIP-based cable telephony services with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). CALEA requires carriers to assist Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in lawfully authorized surveillance. To comply, carriers often have to purchase dedicated hardware, have trained operation staff and are called upon to maintain connectivity with a variety of LEAs. Full story at: http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=10715 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 12:05:07 -0400 Subject: Skype is Not Hype Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8357609.htm San Jose Mercury News, Calif., Mike Langberg Column By Mike Langberg, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News This new Internet service really does let you make computer-to-computer phone calls anywhere in the world absolutely free, and the audio quality is outstanding. There are some significant drawbacks, however, that will keep Skype from becoming hugely popular in the United States. If you've already heard about Skype (www.skype.com), it's probably because its two European founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, previously created the peer-to-peer file-sharing service Kazaa, which has emerged as the single biggest facilitator of global music piracy. Skype, in contrast, is strictly legitimate and is already attracting the kind of serious supporters -- venture capitalists with big bucks, equipment suppliers offering partnership deals -- who would never have gotten within a mile of the outlaw Kazaa. Launched in a pre-release beta Aug. 23, 2003, the official 1.0 release of Skype isn't expected for several months. But I decided last week was a good time to take a look because many of the early bugs have been ironed out and there's been a lot of news lately about Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. Most notably, AT&T launched a VoIP service last week; I'm planning to review AT&T's CallVantage once it reaches California, which should be in about a month. [Comment: Above and beyond the problems with Skype described in this article, my opinion is that any service that relies on the computer's audio circuitry will not be around for long. The reason is that for optimal sound quality, both ends really need to use a headset - otherwise you get audio feedback loops from speakers to microphone. But in order to use a headset, you have to disconnect your speakers and standalone microphone (if any) from your computer's sound system. And even if you somehow work around that, if you let your computer play streaming audio or background music while you work, you have to shut that down every time you take a call. So, any form of VoIP that uses the computer's audio circuitry becomes doggone inconvenient to use after a while. I'll bet a lot of people install it, play with it for a little while, and then abandon it. The USB VoIP handsets are a much better idea, but until the pricing comes down to the level of, say, a mouse or a keyboard (which is to say, free after rebate on the day after Thanksgiving), there won't be wide adoption of those. $59.99 (the price of the USB handset on the Skype web site) is way too much to pay just to try out a service (consider that in contrast, OfficeMax is offering a fully functional 13-memory speakerphone, for use with traditional phone service or with a hardware VoIP adapter, for $10 or FREE after rebate this week. Why is the USB phone so high in comparison?). The thing that made instant messaging (ICQ) a killer app was precisely that you could send a friend to their download site and five minutes later they'd be fully functional, with NO added expense or great amount of effort required. The reason something like Skype won't be as successful is that people will be reluctant to buy USB handsets (and perhaps a USB hub to make room for the handset on an older system), and in any case, they'll have to go somewhere to buy them, so the convenience factor just isn't there. And I suspect that a lot of people won't tolerate that kind of application taking over the functionality of their computer's sound system for very long.] Full story at: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8357609.htm ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 10:53:47 -0400 Subject: Small Players Team Up In Big VoIP Play Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/news/article.php/3335601 By Michael Singer Several smaller companies that specialize in making voice over Internet protocol networks are banding together to provide an alternative to the larger carriers like AT&T and Vonage. The wild growth in the VoIP (define) sector has seen the Baby Bells and cable firms hopping aboard the bandwagon. The likes of SBC, Verizon, BellSouth and Qwest are all planning VoIP offerings and, according to the Synergy Research Group, the boom has created a 50 percent growth rate in the worldwide market for enterprise IP telephony, generating almost $864 million in vendor revenue last year. Forrester Research statistics also paint a rosy picture. The analyst firm says VoIP's Internet Protocol-PBX (define) will continue to grow through 2007 to 1.7 million lines from 100,000 lines today. Similarly, a report from research firm Stratecast Partners, says by 2007, the U.S. VoIP market is forecast to grow to more than five million subscribers, a five-fold increase over 2002 levels. Full story at: http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/news/article.php/3335601 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 01:18:25 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: How the Government Helped Build America's Media Might In the two decades since President Reagan named Mark Fowler chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, the government has been steadily moving away from the role that Starr thinks it should play By Nicholas Lemann When did the press become the media? It seems to have happened sometime during the last generation-long enough ago, anyway, for us to have forgotten that "media" is plural. But people who use "the media" as a more encompassing term for "the press" (because it includes broadcast journalism, too) may find it hard to get used to the even more encompassing way it's used by scholars of communications: for them, it takes in just about any channel through which information is transmitted. As you're reading this, you are probably near a telephone, a television set, a computer hooked up to the Internet, a radio, a pager, a mailbox. Some of those things receive and some can also send; some are meant for person-to-person communication and some for interacting with institutions. They're all forms of media. In order to overcome ingrained habits of thought, suppose we remove all ideas about journalism from our minds - don't worry, we'll reinstall them later - and then contemplate the media. We immediately start to think about those machines whose wondrous inventors - Samuel F. B. Morse and Alexander Graham Bell and Guglielmo Marconi - we all learned about as schoolchildren. But the technology picture is still too simple, so let's delete the machines from our minds, too. What's left? The media start to look like an array of political, economic, and social arrangements, each of which, in a different way, turns people into a public. http://www.freepress.net/news/article.php?id=3016 http://newyorker.com/critics/books/?040412crbo_books ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 01:33:40 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Planned Nielsen Changes Criticized Planned Nielsen Changes Criticized By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ and STUART ELLIOTT Washington THE N.A.A.C.P. and leading members of Congress from both parties, including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, have added their voices to the growing number complaining that the proposed changes in how Nielsen gathers local television ratings will drastically undercount the number of black and Hispanic viewers. But Nielsen Media Research, whose ratings have been used for decades to help set TV advertising rates, takes issue with the critics, asserting that the number of households sampled with African-American and Hispanic viewers will actually increase under the proposed changes. Senator Clinton, Democrat of New York, in a letter yesterday to Susan D. Whiting, president and chief executive of Nielsen, urged a delay in plans to adopt, effective April 8, the new methodology in New York. The change involves adopting locally the so-called people meters Nielsen has used since 1986 to gather national ratings data. The people meters would replace the paper diaries Nielsen has provided to viewers in local markets since 1950, as well as set-top boxes that are not as technically sophisticated. Nielsen intends to switch New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to local people meters as part of plans to have all the 10 largest local markets using them by next year. One big market, Boston, shifted to people meters in 2002. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/31/business/media/31adco.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 01:39:40 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Broadband Legal Limbo Lingers From Multichannel News, April 5, 2004 By Ted Hearn Federal broadband policy took another hit last Wednesday, less than a week after President Bush called for affordable nationwide broadband access by 2007. The setback came in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which refused to allow the Federal Communications Commission to use certain legal standards to shield cable-modem service from potentially intrusive regulation. The 9th Circuit's decision had the effect of perpetuating the legal limbo hanging over cable-modem service since 1999, and probably introduced more uncertainty over whether FCC chairman Michael Powell can graft his cable policies onto digital subscriber line (DSL) services provided by the Baby Bell phone giants. Legal clarity is nowhere within sight. The current litigation could putter along for a few more years, at the conclusion of which the FCC might find it necessary to modify its policies. Those new policies would undoubtedly trigger a new round of litigation. Somewhere along the line, Congress could always step in with a new law. One more factor to weigh: a victory by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in the November presidential election could lead to the installation of a committed pro-regulatory FCC majority that could force cable to share its broadband facilities with the competition. The legal jockeying is expected to continue by this Wednesday, as the FCC or National Cable & Telecommunications Association is expected to ask the 9th Circuit to stay its decision while the case makes its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. http://www.freepress.net/news/article.php?id=3010 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 01:53:27 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Putting 40,000 Readers, One by One, on a Cover DAVID CARR When the 40,000 subscribers to Reason, the monthly libertarian magazine, receive a copy of the June issue, they will see on the cover a satellite photo of a neighborhood -- their own neighborhood. And their house will be graphically circled. On one level, the project, sort of the ultimate in customized publishing, is unsurprising: of course a magazine knows where its subscribers live. But it is still a remarkable demonstration of the growing number of ways databases can be harnessed. Apart from the cover image, several advertisements are customized to reflect the recipient's particulars. The cover article, written by Declan McCullagh, suggests that while databases can lead to breaches in privacy, it allows Dell to provide instant credit to computer buyers, grocery stores to stock goods that their customers want, and mortgage lenders to keep their rates down. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/05/business/05reason.html ------------------------------ 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 #164 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Apr 6 17:20:46 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i36LKkW18806; Tue, 6 Apr 2004 17:20:46 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 17:20:46 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404062120.i36LKkW18806@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 #165 TELECOM Digest Tue, 6 Apr 2004 17:20:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 165 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Jeff Pulver's Comments on the Sununu VoIP Bill (VOIP News) Centigram Series 6 Voicemail (Tim Howell) Re: Book on How the Internet/WWW Works? (John Levine) Re: Excel Communications (J Kelly) Re: Regulators Weigh Whether New Services Fall Within Realm (M Sullivan) For the Person Asking About Setting Up an Internet Cafe (Tony P.) Problems With VOIP Dropping Words (Jack Decker) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (Zwanzig) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (Tony P.) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (Thomas) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (Dold) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (Leighton) Re: Walmart Mixup Balancing Credit Cards Causes Hassle (Wesrock) Re: Cell Phones Exceed Land Lines in Maine (John R. Levine) Re: Apparent Hidden Advertisements in the Telecom Digest (C Cryderman) 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 are 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: VOIP News Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 13:20:45 -0400 Subject: [VoIP News] Jeff Pulver's comments on the Sununu VoIP Bill Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Jeff Pulver expressed his opinion on the Sununu VoIP Bill on his blog, which can be found at: http://192.246.69.231/jeff/personal/index.html] Here is what he wrote: My take on the Sununu VoIP Bill I like it! :-) Overall the VoIP Bill is what I expected to see, a nice show of support and place holder setting forth a strong statement to allow VoIP to grow relatively free of excessive regulation, particularly unaffected by a host of onerous state regulations. I think it is pretty good to have this as the first proposed piece of legislation on the topic, but I don't really expect any immediate action from Congress beyond a few hearings and press statement this year or early next year. Than again, as I've learned, "Nothing is Impossible!" This bill (and the Pickering version in the House), will be very important to help people frame the regulatory debate. I look forward to additional meetings on Capitol Hill and taking part in future hearings on this subject. Posted by jeff at 06:16 PM How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: tim@fefcful.org (Tim Howell) Subject: Centigram Series 6 Voicemail Date: 6 Apr 2004 10:41:21 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Can anyone post instructions on how to change the length of a DTMF digit and the length of the gap between DTMF digits on a Centigram Series 6 voicemail server? Thanks! --TWH ------------------------------ Date: 6 Apr 2004 05:40:43 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Book on How the Internet/WWW Works? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > So, can anyone recommend a book or other reference for the technically > savvy but general reader on this? (Not a "how too use it" book; not a > detailed reference on the IP or other protocols; just a "how it all > works" description.) If you can find a copy of my "Internet Secrets", 2nd edition, there's a couple of chapters on just those topics. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies" Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Sewer Commissioner "More Wiener schnitzel, please", said Tom, revealingly. ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: Excel Communications Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 08:12:28 -0500 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@newsguy.com On 4 Apr 2004 05:46:32 -0000, John Levine wrote: >> If your with any other telecom service provider you're still paying at >> or near the same as Excel price, ... > Uh, no. Excel's Nickel Nation costs $5 per month and 5 cents per > minute with an outrageous five minute (25 cent) minimum per call. > Other plans have even higher per minute rates. 800 service is > $3.50/mo and 19 cpm. And don't forget the bogus $1.30/mo "carrier > cost recovery" charge which Excel keeps. LOL! I pay $.05 with NO monthly fee, no minimum, and it is capped at $20. Use more than 400 minutes and the rest are free. I'm quite happy with it. The provider is the same as my local service. Qwest. Never had a problem with their LD service. Their local service had some nightmares for awhile, but they fixed it and compensated me nicely for their screw up. ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan Subject: Re: Regulators Weigh Whether New Services Fall Within Their Realm Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 04:49:19 GMT In article , TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to an article in VOIP News: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Those public servants never give up, do > they? They'll be damned if they can't have VOIP service to screw up > the way they have screwed up landline telco over the years. Anyway, I > thought a couple days ago I read here that (a) the FCC had decided > that VOIP was not going to be subject to those regulations and/or (b) > the federal government was pre-empting all the state and local > agencies and going to take it over exclusively for themselves. PAT] The FCC has not decided what to do about phone-to-phone VOIP yet. It has held that pulver.com's non-interconnected Free World Dialup isn't a telecommunications service, but it has begun a rulemaking about what to make of this new thing that is threatening to break out of the mold of the 1934 Act. Legislation is being introduced (most recently by Sununu of NH -- I wonder who wrote it for him? My guess is the carrier with the TouchTone(TM) code 288 that wants to convert all of its service to VoIP and exempt it from access charges) that would specifically exempt all VoIP service from telecommunications regulation at the state and federal level, but a bill is about as good as a warm bucket of s*it. Michael D. Sullivan Bethesda, MD, USA Delete nospam from my address and it won't work. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: For the Person Asking About Setting up an Internet Cafe Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 05:22:14 GMT Read! This is very interesting even if it did happen in Ireland. John Allman allmanj at houseofireland.com Mon Apr 5 09:33:39 IST 2004 Some of you who were on #linux on Friday will know part or most of this story already as I witnessed some of it (while drinking a truly delicious hot chocolate). For those of you who don't, the following is a report written up by a friend of mine on his succussful (or at least, it's looking good) attempt to stop and catch a 419 scammer. I feel it's worth the read. John From: Steffen Higel To: John Allman , [This is long, and is quite heavy on the technical discussion. Skip the bits you don't understand. It gets interesting.] I work for a busy Dublin Internet cafe, doing some sysadmining and general computer maintenance. On Sunday the 28th of March, I got a rather distressing email from a sysadmin in a large U.S. University. Spamcop had blacklisted our server's external IP address. Abuse mail for the server in question gets sent to my college account (bad practice, I know, but it's a part time job). My college uses Spamcop as a blacklist source. You can probably tell what happened... Anyway, said email included the full headers of an email which was natted by our server pretending to be from the widow of Mr. Jonas Savimbi, offering the recipient a share of an unspecified large sum of money. The usual panicked thoughts kick in... "Have I fiddled with something which has left us as an open relay?", "Has our server been cracked?", "Have I been sleep-spamming again?". A more reasoned examination of the headers showed that the mail had originated from one of the IP addresses that we assign dynamically to people who bring laptops into the cafe. This is something of a nightmare for cafe operators, we can hardly block outbound smtp but then again it isn't possible for us to manually check every single mail either. Maybe rate limiting is a valid technical solution. Or a contraption which hits the user on the head for every mail they send. So if they send 1 an hour, it's a mild nuisance. But if they send 100 a minute, it'll probably kill them. A peek through the logs revealed: Mar 26 15:04:16 server dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:40:f4:5d:aa:f7 via eth1 Mar 26 15:04:17 server dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.1.70 to 00:40:f4:5d:aa:f7 via eth1 Mar 26 15:04:17 server dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.1.70 from 00:40:f4:5d:aa:f7 via eth1 Mar 26 15:04:17 server dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPACK on 192.168.1.70 to 00:40:f4:5d:aa:f7 via eth1 Mar 26 15:04:20 server dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.1.70 from 00:40:f4:5d:aa:f7 via eth1 Mar 26 15:04:20 server dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPACK on 192.168.1.70 to 00:40:f4:5d:aa:f7 via eth1 Bingo. I had something to work with. The network card is one based on a Cameo 32bit chipset. Matches up quite nicely with these: Return-Path: Received: from 192.168.1.70 (server.XXXXXX [XXXXXXX.29]) byXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX) with SMTP id i2QFrgi0002755 for ; Fri, 26 Mar 2004 10:53:44 -0500 (EST) Reply-To: "michelle savimbi" From: "michelle savimbi" To: Subject: urgent response Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 15:53:26 +0000 Organization: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0034_01C221EC.6C64F7B0" X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000ams X-MimeOLE: Produced by Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 I asked around, and a man, described as being black (or is the word African-American these days?), roughly 30, with an accent which seemed half London and half African had been in the cafe with a laptop and had a number of visitors call into his booth and had been there at the given time. I hate spam more than I hate crackers. I hate spam more than I hate virus writers. I wanted to catch this guy in the act and I wanted to see him hauled off in a paddywagon. We contacted the police, who unfortunately didn't seem willing to do anything about it unless we caught someone in the act of doing something illegal. The daily staff in the cafe were instructed to let me know if said individual turned up again, though honestly, who could be that stupid? My hopes weren't high. Evidently, a 419er is that stupid. The very next Friday (2nd of April 2004) he turned up again. I was on the bus at the time, just about to go in for another day of world altering research. I ran down as fast as I could and was told that he was on the second floor and hadn't plugged in yet because he wanted one particular booth which is somewhat secluded and was willing to wait. I sat myself down at a computer in another room, started tailing the daemon.log and waited for the telltale entries. I took a quick flick through the tcpdump manpage, just to make sure I didn't screw up. 20 minutes later, it started to happen. He plugged in, and his Windows XP laptop started to blabber away. WindowsUpdate, Netbios, passport logins. Nothing much happened for a while. The odd DNS request here, the occasional search: GET /search.php?Keywords=male%20erection&p (I'm not messing!) on 64.21.81.131, which seems to belong to some direct marketing whorehouse. He logged into this as well: 66.180.174.12, which seems to be some sort of mail harvesting database. The login is done over SSL, so I can't find out more. If any militant anti-spam vigilantes want to get a good look at how these people organize themselves, that's probably a good place to start. Then, he spent a bit of time on http://www.emailspidereasy.com. Don't you just love the fake google-textads? He logged into mail.com next, using the email address kendoda at accountant.com. Whatever hash they use for passwords was aaka7zxkcNo. Then, he logged into his yahoo mail account. This was probably to check the account that in which he receives those mails. It looks like the rest happened over SSL. Then it started. The screen started showing an awful lot of smtp traffic heading out onto the net. I knew that I had to let it go, even if it meant another 48 hours of being blacklisted. If it meant he could be convicted of committing a crime, then I figured it was worth the price. I hope those who received the mail also feel that way. (sorry :-/) Before I phoned my contact in the Gardai, I had to make sure that he was actually sending out his vile wares. I scped the partial dumpfile onto my laptop, and opened it up in ethereal. Guess what? 220 serverXXXXXXXXXX ESMTP Postfix HELO 192.168.1.70 250 serverXXXXXXXXXX MAIL FROM: 250 Ok RCPT TO: 250 Ok DATA 354 End data with . Reply-To: "michelle savimbi" Subject: Trouble With VOIP Sometimes Dropping Words Pat, please conceal my e-mail address as usual. At 03:38 PM 4/5/2004 -0400, editor@telecom-digest.org wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have discovered one thing about my > Vonage service which is a problem. Even though it usually does okay, I > get the dropped words problem whenever I am trying to run too many > jobs at once here. Left alone on the cable, Vonage seems to do very > well. But usually I am running my weather station > http://weatherforecast.n3.net or http://weatherforecast.us.tf and my > computer room live camera http://patricktownson.us.tf most of the > time. Both of these services take .jpg images and transfer them to my > California web site using FTP (under their alias 'n3.net' and 'us.tf' > names) every fifteen seconds or so. Often times also I am using a > secure form of telnet or rlogin to work on this Digest at MIT. > Whenever weather or the office cam decide it is time to do a transfer > via FTP I can count on the words on Vonage getting lost. I can set my > watch by it, every fifteen seconds or so. They are on other machines, > (the Windows 98 and Windows 95 computers) but still using the same > NetGear router and cable modem. I wish there was a way that Vonage > could take priority and slow down or automatically stop the other > jobs when it was talking. > I asked Mike Flood, general manager of Cable One here in Independence > about this. His answer was I need a 'bigger pipe', which of course he > said he could sell me. I now have what he termed 'half size' (or some > words like that) with 500 K and he said I should get a 'full size > pipe'. (More money of course). Does that make sense to anyone? I > guess the full size is twice the 500 K. PAT] Pat, if you have 500K upload speed that should be more than adequate, since even G.711 (the highest bandwidth protocol) only uses about 90K. The problem is that your other applications are managing to totally saturate your outgoing bandwidth. First check to see if there's any way to throttle the software itself - some FTP software will let you throttle uploads, but many other kinds of software don't have that feature. Beyond that, you may find some helpful ideas at these pages on BroadbandReports.com: http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/41603 http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/38267 http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,9751570~mode=flat Somewhere in those three pages, or one of the pages linked from them, you should be able to find a way to resolve your problem. Jack ------------------------------ From: zbang@radix.net (Carl Zwanzig) Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 23:26:34 -0000 Organization: RadixNet Internet Services PAT asked: > or $1.10 total) for the two bogus transactions. What I do not understand > is why an outfit like Walmart, as big as they are, does not process > their own Visa/MC paper, sending it directly to Visa/MC instead of > going through a third party place like First Data Merchants? Isn't > FDMC in this case a sort of 'bottom feeder' a lot like the 'operator > service companies' who intercept what Bell is doing and get their own Because Visa/MC are issued by individual banks, not by a single entity like amex. Visa Int'l and MC are pretty much only licensing organizations, they don't do any processsing. WallyWorld would have to interface to every bank that has issued the cards. This is similar to why banks send foreign checks to the federal reserve or another large bank for clearing, instead of to each issueing bank. (At one time, the fed was contracting large regional banks to process checks for them. Riggs in DC comes to mind.) z! ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 05:27:45 GMT > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Whatever happened to the small merchant > with a storefront who sells thing occassionally getting a credit card > for payment where the person signs the little slip of paper and the > merchant stores these slips of paper away in the event of a dispute > and the (swiped) card transaction goes to Visa/MC for processing? A > larger store, such as Walmart for example would so something similar > but on a much larger scale. Does *anyone* turn their charges into > Visa/MC directly these days? PAT] It used to be that the money wasn't actually transferred from your card issuer to the merchant until the merchant had submitted the signed charge slip. Now everything moves at near light speed. And so you get triple dips into your account. It's only going to get worse over time. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 11:47:13 +0100 From: Graeme Thomas Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle [ Pat: please remove my address from this is you send it to the digest. It's OK to leave my name. ] > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Whatever happened to the small merchant > with a storefront who sells thing occassionally getting a credit card > for payment where the person signs the little slip of paper and the > merchant stores these slips of paper away in the event of a dispute > and the (swiped) card transaction goes to Visa/MC for processing? A > larger store, such as Walmart for example would so something similar > but on a much larger scale. Does *anyone* turn their charges into > Visa/MC directly these days? PAT] Visa/MC try hard not to have any direct dealings with merchants. They may allow it occasionally, but I'm sure they charge a great deal for the privilege. The normal procedure (even for small merchants) is for them to sign up to an acquiring institution -- often their local bank -- for credit card services. As John Levine remarked, often small banks subcontract the work to specialist companies like First Data. The card transaction from the swiped (or, these days, dipped) card is routed first to the acquirer. They then route it to the network (Visa, etc), who ship it to the issuer (the card-holder's bank). There are supposed to be protections in place from having batches of transactions submitted multiple times. It's hard, though, to find out reliably if this is the case. Fortunately it's relatively easy to track down such things once they've happened, and reversing the transactions themselves is easy. Coping with the consequential damage (such as PAT's $1.10 profit) is way harder. Graeme Thomas [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As of today, Tuesday afternoon, PayPal has not yet seized their $1.10 back from my account. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dold@WalmartXMi.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 13:35:57 UTC Organization: a2i network dold@walmartxmi.usenet.us.com wrote: > It was mentioned on the CBS Hourly News carried on KCBS-AM radio in San > Francisco. It mentioned the dates involved, the only store was WalMart, > and that the corrections had been applied to people's accounts. It made KTVU-Fox TV in Oakland. ------------------------------ From: hudsonl@skypoint.com (Hudson Leighton) Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 09:17:14 -0500 Organization: MRRP In article , johnl@iecc.com (John R. Levine) wrote: >> What I do not understand is why an outfit like Walmart, as big as >> they are, does not process their own Visa/MC paper, sending it >> directly to Visa/MC instead of going through a third party place like >> First Data Merchants? Isn't FDMC in this case a sort of 'bottom >> feeder' a lot like the 'operator service companies' Because Visa/MC do not process credit cards, they are just marketing companies, the cards are issued by banks ( the meaning of "bank" is a little hazy with credit cards), the merchant then contracts with a "processor" which then bills the various "banks" and then deposits the funds in the merchants bank account. American Express and Discover are done a little differently, but the end result is about the same. -Hudson http://www.skypoint.com/~hudsonl [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess from what you are saying, that VISA (formerly known as BankAmericard) is no longer a Bank of America in San Francisco product, as it was back in the 1950's and 60's. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 10:35:07 EDT Subject: Re: Walmart Mixup Balancing Credit Cards Causes Hassle editor@telecom-digest.org (Pat Townson) wrote in two separate messages: > ... What I do not understand > is why an outfit like Walmart, as big as they are, does not process > their own Visa/MC paper, sending it directly to Visa/MC instead of > going through a third party place like First Data Merchants? Isn't > FDMC in this case a sort of 'bottom feeder' a lot like the 'operator > service companies' who intercept what Bell is doing and get their own > rake off at more expense to the end user (in this case, Walmart?) I > had thought places like First Data Merchants were mostly intended for > small people. For example, when I first checked into the idea of > using credit cards here in the Digest, First Data said they would > lease me a terminal, accept 'no signature, no swipe, no card > presented' transactions, etc, for some monthly fee. It would have > been ideal for me, but then PayPal came along and said they could do > it better and at no charge to me. Why would Walmart need a company > like that to handle their credit card stuff? PAT] - - - - - > Whatever happened to the small merchant > with a storefront who sells thing occassionally getting a credit card > for payment where the person signs the little slip of paper and the > merchant stores these slips of paper away in the event of a dispute > and the (swiped) card transaction goes to Visa/MC for processing? A > larger store, such as Walmart for example would so something similar > but on a much larger scale. Does *anyone* turn their charges into > Visa/MC directly these days? It was my understanding that there is no "Visa/MC" entity, in the sense you are using the term, to send them to. Visa and MC are associations of financial institutuions which interchange their transactions with one another. The transactions go to a processing and interchange agent, of which First Data is the largest. In turn the processing agent relays them to the various banks that issue Visa and MasterCard. (There was a big flap a number of years ago when JCPenney wanted to enter their transactions directly, as though they were a bank.) As far as I know, every Visa or MasterCard is issued by a bank or other financial instittution which is a member of those associations, and the transactions are interchanged between the association members, not through a great "Visa/MC" in the sky. Perhaps others can contradict or expand on this, which is seems to be on-topic as it intimately involves telecommuniciations and its processing. (It seems to me than in the time when all credit card transactions were done on paper, the actual slips were sent between banks, often represented by associations which handle the business for their members.) Wal-Mart and many other merchants now operate in a totally paperless mode, and you sign on a pad which captures the image of your signature electronically. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: At our Walmart Supercenter here, unless they changed procedures lately, (I rarely ever go there, I hate the place) if the plastic is used as a 'debit' card the clerk has you put in your pin on a keypad. If the plastic is used as a 'credit' card the clerk prints out a little receipt and has you sign it. If the plastic just has a bank name on it, they usually assume it is a credit card. PAT] ------------------------------ From: johnl@iecc.com (John R. Levine) Subject: Re: Cell Phones Exceed Land Lines in Maine Date: 6 Apr 2004 15:09:14 -0400 Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Cell phone subscribers in the state now exceed the number of Verizon > telephone lines running into Maine homes, according to spokesman > Peter Reilly. Verizon is not the only landline telco in Maine. There are plenty of independents. I would be surprised if there were more cell phones than landlines, since in large parts of rural Maine, your cell phone just plain doesn't work. ------------------------------ From: Charles Cryderman Subject: Apparent Hidden Advertisements in the Telecom Digest Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 14:11:04 -0400 In TELECOM Digest V23 #163 Phil Earnhardt wrote: > You've told us in the past that the TELECOM Digest follows the funding > model of PBS or NPR stations where they have periodic "pledge breaks". I > would be outraged if these broadcasters started sprinkling hidden > advertisements in their normal programming. I fondly hope that you will > maintain the same integrity with the TELECOM Digest. I don't know about you but this past Saturday morning I was watching "New Yankee Workshop" and right after it was over there were 5 minutes of commercials for things like "Stanley Tools" and "Home Depot". They were no just mentioning them for their support but were full fledged advertisements a good two minutes each. So Pat, take heart, you are not going that far and I see no reason for you not to add your comments after these items. Remember folks, we should be grateful to have someone with as much experience as Pat working this Digest for us. I will never understand the way we Americans treat the elderly. They get old and we throw them away, forgetting all the knowledge they can impart to us young whipper- snappers. Thanks for the job you do Pat. Chip Cryderman [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thank you for your kind words. I *do* try to be mindful of the 'old Usenet customs' (and some customs I invented on my own) here when it is practical, but things around here have changed **so much** over the past twenty years or so. I still do not like putting in the pitch (or 'pledge' messages) now and then, but I do what I have to do in order to survive. When I first saw the original message from p.a.e. here (first time I read it was when I was editing it) I thought I was going to be accused of implanting spy cookies or pop-up ads or selling the mailing list secretly (all of which I have been approached to do at one time or another). 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: 620-402-0134 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 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. ************************ OSU -- Oklahoma State University -- also helps with the Digest through a grant each month. Their School of Telecommunications provides an excellent opportunity to get that degree you have always wanted. ************************ 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 End of TELECOM Digest V23 #165 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Apr 6 22:30:59 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i372UwX21108; Tue, 6 Apr 2004 22:30:59 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 22:30:59 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404070230.i372UwX21108@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 #166 TELECOM Digest Tue, 6 Apr 2004 22:31:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 166 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? (Alex) Final Report on Blackout (Daeron) Philly Area Miliwatt (1004 Hz) Test Number Needed: (T. Gerald Dyar) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (J Levine) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (S Sobol) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (Thomas) Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle (CharlesH) One Nation Under Internet Protocol (VOIP News) Nouvelle base de connaissances pour les PABX Alcatel (Simon Templar) 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 are 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, 06 Apr 2004 15:10:07 -0500 From: Alex Subject: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? Hi all, Many years ago, I used to find the RJ11 splitters that seperated the two pairs of lines into Line 1 and Line 2 for dual-line phone jacks. Now'days, I'm having trouble locating one. I've even talked to folks from SBC and they say the splitters aren't common anymore and are hard to find. Does anyone know of a supplier that still produces or sells these splitters? I'm not talking about a y-splitter where one analog line is split to two, but one that physically splits the two pairs of lines. Thanks in advance. Alex. ------------------------------ From: doug_mentohl@yahoo.co.uk (Daeron) Subject: Final Report on Blackout Date: 6 Apr 2004 12:38:32 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Blackout remedies languish, panel says Lorraine Mirabella April 06 2004 The nation's worst blackout ... could have been prevented and could reoccur if a series of recommendations ... are not adopted. The Task Force sent its final report to President Bush and Canada's prime minister . An interim report released in November by the U.S. Department of Energy blamed a constellation of failures at Ohio's FirstEnergy Corp. as the principal trigger. It pointed to the loss of three high-voltage transmission lines in northern Ohio -- which short-circuited after the lines sagged onto untrimmed trees -- and to a failure of Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. operators to recognize and contain the problem ... http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/bal-te.bz.grid06apr06,0,5223403.story?coll=bal-technology-headlines ------------------------------ From: T. Gerald Dyar Subject: Philly Area Miliwatt (1004 Hz) Test Number Needed Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 19:03:31 GMT I posted this message on comp.dcom.telecom.tech with no luck so I thought I'd try here. My daughter lives in a very old row house in the Philadelphia area and the inside wiring is a mess. I live in CT but on my next visit to her I want to bring down my telephone test set and check out the inside wiring to find out what needs fixing. She's already determined, using the NIC, that the problem is not with the tel line coming in. Since I'm from CT I need the local number there, nearest to 215-887 to get the 1004 hz, miliwatt, test tone. Contact me direct if you don't want to divulge this to the world. Thanks, Gerry ------------------------------ From: johnl@iecc.com (John R. Levine) Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: 6 Apr 2004 17:46:40 -0400 Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess from what you are saying, that > VISA (formerly known as BankAmericard) is no longer a Bank of America > in San Francisco product, as it was back in the 1950's and 60's. PAT] Nope, since about 1976 it's belongs to Visa Internnational which is owned by the 21,000 banks that issue Visa cards. Now that you mention it, the Bank of America isn't the Bank of America any more, either. In 1998 it was absorbed by Nationsbank, an aggressive east coast bank, which renamed the combined entity to Bank of America because the name was so well known. Now Bank of America-Nationsbank is absorbing Fleet Bank, a regional bank in the northeast which had already vacuumed up a lot of banks in New York and New England, with the whole mess to be called Bank of America. So the old San Francisco bank is still in there somewhere, but there's a whole lot of other stuff as well. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies" Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Sewer Commissioner "More Wiener schnitzel, please", said Tom, revealingly. ------------------------------ From: Steven J Sobol Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 17:41:29 -0500 TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Hudson Leighton : > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess from what you are saying, that > VISA (formerly known as BankAmericard) is no longer a Bank of America > in San Francisco product, as it was back in the 1950's and 60's. PAT] My VISA Check Card is a Bank of America product, but that's because it's a Bank of America debit card connected to a Bank of America checking account. BTW, I thought BofA was still headquartered in SFO too, until very recently. I learned that when they merged with NationsBank (headquartered in Charlotte), Charlotte became the headquarters for the merged company. JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, Apple Valley, CA PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net Domain Names, $9.95/yr "someone once called me a sofa, but i didn't feel compelled to rush out and buy slip covers." -adam brower * Hiroshima '45, Chernobyl '86, Windows 98/2000/2003 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2004 00:02:13 +0100 From: Graeme Thomas Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle [ Pat: Please remove my address from this if you want to publish it in the digest. Leaving my name in is OK. ] In article , Hudson Leighton writes: > Because Visa/MC do not process credit cards, they are just marketing > companies, the cards are issued by banks ( the meaning of "bank" is a > little hazy with credit cards), the merchant then contracts with a > "processor" which then bills the various "banks" and then deposits the > funds in the merchants bank account. Visa and MasterCard are consortia of issuing and acquiring banks. They are not just marketing companies, although it's true they do a lot of that. They own their own networks, and humungous processing centres. The way it typically works is as follows. When you buy something, the card terminal sends a AUTHREQ (authorization request) to the merchant's acquiring institution. The message is then routed through the appropriate network to the issuing bank, who check to see if there are sufficient funds in the account. The amount of the transaction is blocked in the account, which means that it's still there, but spoken for. The acknowledgement is sent back, by the same route, to the merchant. If everything is OK, there will be a 6-digit authorization code on the slip. At the end of the day, the whole batch of transactions is sent as a "financial" to the network. There is a vast sort/merge, and the rebatched transactions are sent on to the issuers. The net payments are made overnight, and that's when the merchants get their money. The blocked amounts are reinstated to the accounts, and the real transaction amounts are deducted from each account. (It can happen that the authorized amount and the transaction amount differ.) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess from what you are saying, that > VISA (formerly known as BankAmericard) is no longer a Bank of America > in San Francisco product, as it was back in the 1950's and 60's. PAT] No. It's an international consortium. In article , Wesrock@aol.com writes: > It was my understanding that there is no "Visa/MC" entity, in > the sense you are using the term, to send them to. Visa and MC are > associations of financial institutuions which interchange their > transactions with one another. That's not really true. Visa and MC own their own processing centres, which route all the transactions. They will even do quite a lot of the work for smaller member banks, for a fee. > Perhaps others can contradict or expand on this, which is seems > to be on-topic as it intimately involves telecommuniciations and its > processing. (It seems to me than in the time when all credit card > transactions were done on paper, the actual slips were sent between > banks, often represented by associations which handle the business > for their members.) Wal-Mart and many other merchants now operate in > a totally paperless mode, and you sign on a pad which captures the > image of your signature electronically. If the customer disputes the charge, then the "paperwork" all follows. Even if the original paperwork was on dead trees, the transfers are usually done electronically. As a matter of curiosity, as soon as you dispute the charge the merchant repays the money (it's deducted from his account), and he only gets it back if the resulting investigation shows that the dispute was false. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: At our Walmart Supercenter here, unless > they changed procedures lately, (I rarely ever go there, I hate the > place) if the plastic is used as a 'debit' card the clerk has you put > in your pin on a keypad. If the plastic is used as a 'credit' card > the clerk prints out a little receipt and has you sign it. If the > plastic just has a bank name on it, they usually assume it is a credit > card. PAT] The decision on whether to use a signature-based system or a PIN-based system is done by the card issuer. You can have PIN-based credit cards, or signature-based debit cards, although I admit both are rarer than the other way around. In the UK we're moving (oh so slowly) to "chip and PIN". Each payment card will be a smart card, with a secure chip on it, and all security will be PIN-based. The transaction mechanisms are subtly different from the one I just outlined, but with much of the same flavour. One difference is that the card can, under some circumstances, authorize transactions on its own behalf, without setting up a connection to its issuing bank. The smart cards are being touted mainly as a security feature ("an end to all fraud"! ha!), but they will reduce network traffic. Graeme Thomas ------------------------------ From: hoch@exemplary.invalid (CharlesH) Subject: Re: Walmart Mix Up Balancing Credit Cards Causes Major Hassle Date: 7 Apr 2004 00:56:59 GMT Organization: http://newsguy.com In article , Hudson Leighton wrote: > In article , johnl@iecc.com (John R. > Levine) wrote: >>> What I do not understand is why an outfit like Walmart, as big as >>> they are, does not process their own Visa/MC paper, sending it >>> directly to Visa/MC instead of going through a third party place like >>> First Data Merchants? Isn't FDMC in this case a sort of 'bottom >>> feeder' a lot like the 'operator service companies' > Because Visa/MC do not process credit cards, they are just marketing > companies, the cards are issued by banks ( the meaning of "bank" is a > little hazy with credit cards), the merchant then contracts with a > "processor" which then bills the various "banks" and then deposits the > funds in the merchants bank account. > American Express and Discover are done a little differently, but the > end result is about the same. > -Hudson > http://www.skypoint.com/~hudsonl > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess from what you are saying, that > VISA (formerly known as BankAmericard) is no longer a Bank of America > in San Francisco product, as it was back in the 1950's and 60's. PAT] Visa started out as BankAmericard from Bank of America. Many years ago it became an independent company. They act as a clearing house for Visa transactions, between the merchant's bank and the bank issuing the Visa card. They have several huge data centers around the world to handle those millions of transactions/day. ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 13:13:58 -0400 Subject: One Nation Under Internet Protocol Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://news.com.com/2010-7352-5185413.html By J. William Gurley "Gonna keep on tryin' Till I reach the highest ground." --Stevie Wonder, Higher Ground Take a trip to Korea or Japan, and you will immediately have a new appreciation for the definition of broadband. There, it is not uncommon for a consumer's Internet connection to breathe a blazingly fast 10-plus megabits per second. In Japan, Yahoo BB goes a step further, trumpeting a full 45-megabits-per-second offering for a cool $37 per month (about 3,892 yen). Still not amazed? Korea boasts a mind-boggling 80 percent broadband penetration rate, while the United States still ambles around half that. That said, even the states' 42 percent penetration rate is deceptive, as the U.S. version of broadband is a far cry from these Asian fire hoses. What is most striking about the notion of a 45-megabit Internet Protocol connection is the overwhelming universality of such an incredibly high-speed packet-based conduit. Into it melt all forms of media and communications: voice, data, video and any other application or service you might imagine. There is no need to consider bringing multiple connections or service providers into your home, for this network can do everything you need and more. Early signs in Japan are consistent with this notion. Yahoo BB announced a stunning 80 percent attachment rate on its IP-based phone service. It is now promoting an IP-based set-top box for the ultimate in personalized television. One cannot help but wonder if we are headed for a similar fate in the United States -- a single super high-speed pipe into the home that carries all media forms over a simple, standard IP connection. [.....] Additionally, the many state municipalities around the country are eager to place their hands on voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. A poorly executed policy could in fact "increase" the long-term pricing on voice services for all users. For example, would you really tax a free service? The regulators are supposedly looking after the best interest of consumers, but it is hard for them not to look after their own longevity as well. [Comment: I am so glad to see that I'm not the only one who's had this thought. Many state Public Utility Commissions have a division entirely dedicated to regulating telephone service, and if traditional telephone service as we know it goes away, they may be left with nothing to regulate -- unless, of course, the states decide that there is a need for some quality-of-service standards for broadband providers that need enforcement. I don't think that's at all an unrealistic scenario; as broadband becomes more important in our lives state officials may well demand accountability for service outages, particularly if no truly viable competition develops among broadband providers in most areas of a state. People will have the essentially the same types of complaints they have about phone service - service outages, billing issues, what constitutes a minimal quality of service - and I fully expect that as state regulators are relieved of their role as the overseers of voice traffic, in at least some states they may take on the larger role of regulating broadband providers. I can almost certainly see a call for regulation if broadband providers deliberately attempt to "break" the IP network in an effort to protect their video (and potentially voice) revenue streams, as is suggested later in this article. The day I can't use a VoIP provider of my choice because the cable company is deliberately messing with their packets is the day I'll be first in line calling for their heads on a platter, and if it takes state or federal regulation to make them behave, then so be it. I'm certain that not everyone share my opinion on that (particularly those in the libertarian think tanks that like to make so much noise on such issues), and whether state-level regulation would have an ultimately desirable outcome is certainly open to debate. And of course the broadband providers would fight any such attempt at regulation tooth-and-nail, but if they start messing with packets they'll bring it on themselves. Anyone, one would hope that none of the efforts we see to regulate VoIP at the state level are in reality driven by the desire of regulators to keep their jobs. One would hope that, but that's not necessarily the way I'd bet. This is an interesting article and worth reading, even if you don't agree with every point made (neither do I).] Full story at: http://news.com.com/2010-7352-5185413.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: le_prelude@yahoo.fr (simon templar) Subject: Nouvelle base de connaissances pour les PABX Alcatel Date: 6 Apr 2004 19:02:42 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Bonjour tout le monde, Je viens de mettre en route un site web avec une base de connaissances (en cours de creation) des switches OmniPCX 4400 et ENTREPRISE ALCATEL. J'espere que tout le monde s'en servira, et que ca nous facilitera la vie ! http://www.gadot.net En haut a gauche de la page, il y a un lien "ALCATEL". A+ ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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 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. ************************ OSU -- Oklahoma State University -- also helps with the Digest through a grant each month. Their School of Telecommunications provides an excellent opportunity to get that degree you have always wanted. ************************ 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 #166 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Apr 7 14:30:00 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i37ITxS03734; Wed, 7 Apr 2004 14:30:00 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2004 14:30:00 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404071830.i37ITxS03734@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 #167 TELECOM Digest Wed, 7 Apr 2004 14:30:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 167 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson VeriSign NetDiscovery Service Implemented by Cox Comm (VOIP News) Cable Not Planning to Tangle With Net Phone Service - Yet (VOIP News) Time Warner VoIP Details (VOIP News) Congressmen Introduce Bills to Stop States from Regulating (VOIP News) Mobile Software Ties Wi-Fi, VoIP For Free Calls (VOIP News) Obituary: Inventor of Telephone Answer Machine Dies at 92 (Friedebach) Skype's Cell Division (Eric Friedebach) Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? (Jeff Spidle) Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? (lars) Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? (Carl Navarro) Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? (AES/newspost) Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? (Paul Vader) Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? (Joseph) Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? (Ed Clarke) Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? (Phil Earnhardt) Re: Trouble With VOIP Sometimes Dropping Words (Hank Karl) 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 are 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: VOIP News Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2004 08:02:48 -0400 Subject: VeriSign NetDiscovery Services Implemented by Cox Communication Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-05-2004/0002140799&EDATE= Service Tested and Implemented in Advance of New FCC Rules to Broaden CALEA Ruling to Include VoIP and Broadband Internet Services MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN), the leading provider of critical infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, and Cox Communications, a multi-service broadband communications company with approximately 6.6 million total customers, today announced that Cox has implemented VeriSign NetDiscovery(TM) Services to help ensure compliance of its Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)-based cable telephony services with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). Cox Communications launched its 12th telephony market in December 2003 in Roanoke, Va., and its first using VoIP technology. Eleven other Cox systems offer Cox Digital Telephone using circuit-switched technology, all CALEA-compliant since first introduced in 1997. VeriSign NetDiscovery Services, which was tested and implemented to support the Cox data network infrastructure used in VoIP deployments, assists Cox in meeting CALEA compliance through an outsourced model of service, which will minimize Cox's capital and operational expenditures. To implement the service, VeriSign worked with the VoIP network infrastructure vendors supplying to Cox and integrated the end-to-end NetDiscovery solution. Cox's announcement underscores VeriSign's commitment and ability to provide carriers and service providers with the necessary services they need to introduce integrated next-generation communications services and comply with CALEA. This announcement also marks VeriSign's first CALEA compliance implementation with a major cable provider. VeriSign will utilize its heritage in security, Internet infrastructure and telecommunications to aid cable providers via a unique managed communications services model to quickly deliver the integrated, next-generation services that wireless, cable and wireline subscribers are demanding. "VeriSign provides a full spectrum of other tools and services aimed at top-tier carriers, including NetDiscovery," said Bill Dame, director of network switch engineering at Cox Communications. "Cox has always considered CALEA compliance as a top priority in our circuit switched markets, and realized that CALEA in new markets served by VoIP would be a challenge. VeriSign came in with a total solution, using the same equipment we had evaluated, and made it easy and cost effective." Vernon Irvin, executive vice president of VeriSign Communications Services, said: "Being the leader in managed security services, VeriSign is delivering a service via its NetDiscovery platform to Cox Communications in order to assist them with CALEA compliance. VeriSign can help all types of service providers meet their legal obligations both securely and at a low cost." CALEA requires carriers to assist Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in lawfully authorized surveillance. To comply, carriers often have to purchase dedicated hardware, have trained operation staff and are called upon to maintain connectivity with a variety of LEAs. VeriSign's NetDiscovery Service greatly streamlines the CALEA compliance requirements and eliminates the need to purchase costly equipment. The service offers a secure and streamlined administration, along with a multitude of connectivity options that make it easy to fulfill lawful interception mandates and take the burden and expense of compliance out of a service provider's hands. By outsourcing the service to VeriSign, service providers maintain continuous, hassle-free compliance. Greg Caressi, vice president of Frost & Sullivan said: "It used to be that to satisfy regulations, a carrier had to do it themselves. VeriSign's NetDiscovery Service offers carriers a safe, secure and trusted way to reach CALEA compliance without having to utilize a great deal of internal resources." For more information on VeriSign's NetDiscovery http://www.verisign.com/telecom/products/network/netDiscovery.html About VeriSign VeriSign, Inc., delivers critical infrastructure services that make the Internet and telecommunications networks more intelligent, reliable and secure. Every day VeriSign helps thousands of businesses and millions of consumers connect, communicate, and transact with confidence. Additional news and information about the company is available at http://www.verisign.com . SOURCE VeriSign, Inc. Web Site: http://www.verisign.com How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2004 07:03:47 -0400 Subject: Cable not Planning to Tangle With Net Phone Service - Yet Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.nj.com/business/ledger/index.ssf?/base/business-0/1081318358280250.xml The cable industry is not thrilled companies such as Vonage and AT&T are trying to sell Internet phone service to its high-speed data customers. But would cable operators try to use technology to block out interlopers? It's feasible, but not likely, according to a recent research report by Merrill Lynch. Big Cable only has to look back at the example of Excite@Home, which was supposed to be a pumped-up version of America Online. Customers had to pay for a package that included fast online access and homegrown content from Excite@Home. But people who preferred chat rooms and channel offerings from AOL, or a stripped-down connection to the Web, hated the idea of paying extra for something they didn't want. Wireless gains ground in long-distance race If you want to know the state of the long-distance industry, look no further than a recent consumer survey by the Yankee Group. The Boston-based consulting group found wireless customers make 43 percent of their long-distance calls on their mobile phones. That's bad news for companies such as AT&T, MCI or Sprint, even though they all sell wholesale long- distance service to wireless carriers. The reason: Profit margins for wholesale contracts are a lot smaller than selling service to Aunt Tilly in Tulsa. The survey found 50 percent of households with wireless subscribers have significantly reduced the use of their home phones in favor of cell phones. Phone offerings by cable companies are expected to cut into traditional calling plans even more. "These trends have precipitated the death of distance and eventually will result in the death of the minute as the measure of the market," Katie Griffin, a Yankee Group analyst, said in a statement. Translation: Get used to flat- rate pricing schemes the wireless industry pioneered. Full story at: http://www.nj.com/business/ledger/index.ssf?/base/business-0/1081318358280250.xml ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 11:19:05 -0400 Subject: Time Warner VoIP Details Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/41858 Several markets ready for launch Written by Karl Bode According to sources, Time Warner's VoIP launch is very close, with several markets ready to go live in May. Time Warner has spent the past year making the rounds, trying to get regulatory approval for the upcoming launch of its "digital phone" service in its 31 markets - and beyond. Full story at: http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/41858 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 13:33:51 -0400 Subject: Congressmen Introduce Bills to Stop States from Regulating, Taxing Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.phoneplusmag.com/hotnews/44h682359.html Rep. Chip Pickering (R.-Miss.) and Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) on Friday introduced bills that would prohibit states from imposing taxes and fees on Internet-based phone service and place the technology under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Among other provisions, the Senate bill states the FCC shall ensure VoIP providers contribute to the USF either directly or indirectly based on a flat fee; however, the regulator can make exemptions. The House bill is less specific, stipulating the commission may put in place a contribution method based on the assignment of telephone numbers or other methodologies. The bills also includes provisions related to 911 emergency services, law enforcement's ability to monitor calls, telephone access for disabled people and improving the reliability of the technology. Full story at: http://www.phoneplusmag.com/hotnews/44h682359.html ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 14:54:55 -0400 Subject: Mobile Software Ties Wi-Fi, VoIP For Free Calls Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20040406S0002 By W. David Gardner, TechWeb News A new way to merge two disruptive technologies--Internet phoning and Wi-Fi--was introduced Tuesday, in the form of mobile-PDA software from Skype Technologies. Called PocketSkype, the free software enables users of Microsoft PocketPC-based handhelds to connect to Wi-Fi access points to make free VoIP calls. "PocketSkype is essentially the same core as our desktop software," said Niklas Zeenstrom, CEO and co-founder of the Stockholm-based Skype, in an interview. "The user interface is different." PDA manufacturers have noted the possibilities of taking advantage of VoIP and Wi-Fi technologies in one simple hardware package, and some firms have even begun manufacturing such devices. However, there has been a gap -- no enabling software. Zeenstrom said he created PocketSkype to fill that gap. Full story at: http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20040406S0002 ------------------------------ From: friedebach@yahoo.com (Eric Friedebach) Subject: Obituary: Inventor of Telephone Answering Machine Dies at 92 Date: 6 Apr 2004 19:33:40 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Associated Press, April 5, 2004 MILWAUKEE -- Joseph James Zimmermann Jr., who invented the telephone answering machine in 1948 and patented it a year later, has died at the age of 92. Zimmerman died last Wednesday, and funeral services were scheduled today, April 7, at St. Mary's Church in suburban Elm Grove. Zimmermann said in a 1949 interview with the Milwaukee Journal that he got the idea for the device as the owner of an air conditioning and heating company when he could not afford to hire a secretary to take calls when he was out of the office. The first machine, the Electronic Secretary Model R1, was made up of a box that lifted the telephone receiver from its cradle when the phone rang, a box containing a control panel with a 78 rpm record player inside that played a recorded greeting and a wire recorder on top of the second box for recording a series of 30-second messages. http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4705283.html Eric Friedebach /Old enough to remember when MTV played music videos/ ------------------------------ From: friedebach@yahoo.com (Eric Friedebach) Subject: Skype's Cell Division Date: 6 Apr 2004 19:37:03 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Aude Lagorce, 04.06.04, Forbes.com NEW YORK - By threatening to make extravagant phone bills a distant memory, voice-over-Internet Protocol technology, also known as VoIP, has become the most ominous cloud hanging over the future of traditional phone companies. In recent months, giants like AT&T and Verizon Communications have responded to its threat by launching their own discount VoIP services. Meanwhile, cell phone carriers thought they were relatively safe. That assumption may yet turn out to be wrong: Skype, a company founded by the developers of the file-sharing service Kazaa, announced this morning that it is bringing the disruptive technology to handheld devices. "We knew it was just a matter of time before VoIP services came to mobile devices," says Jane Zweig, chief executive of the Shosteck Group, a telecom research firm. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2004/04/06/cx_al_0406skype.html Eric Friedebach /Old enough to remember when MTV played music videos/ ------------------------------ From: Jeff Spidle Subject: Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 21:41:55 -0500 Check Radio Shack Part 279-402 or 279-432 Splits a 2 line jack into line 1, line 1&2, line 2 outputs. Alex wrote in message news:telecom23.166.1@telecom-digest.org: > Hi all, > Many years ago, I used to find the RJ11 splitters that seperated the > two pairs of lines into Line 1 and Line 2 for dual-line phone jacks. > Now'days, I'm having trouble locating one. I've even talked to folks > from SBC and they say the splitters aren't common anymore and are hard > to find. > Does anyone know of a supplier that still produces or sells these > splitters? I'm not talking about a y-splitter where one analog line > is split to two, but one that physically splits the two pairs of > lines. > Thanks in advance. > Alex. ------------------------------ From: lars Subject: Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 22:30:52 -0400 Organization: Alstown Reply-To: lars http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F008%5F008%5F001%5F004&product%5Fid=279%2D402 Radio Shack 279-402 line 1-2 in line 1, line 2, and line 1-2 out All rj11 connectors. Alan Larsson KC2GOC / NYSING-413 http://www.alstown.com Webmaster, Genesee & Ontario Model-N-Gineers Ntrak http://www.ggw.org/gno ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? Reply-To: cnavarro@wcnet.org Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2004 02:51:14 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 15:10:07 -0500, Alex wrote: > Hi all, > Many years ago, I used to find the RJ11 splitters that seperated the > two pairs of lines into Line 1 and Line 2 for dual-line phone jacks. > Now'days, I'm having trouble locating one. I've even talked to folks > from SBC and they say the splitters aren't common anymore and are hard > to find. > Does anyone know of a supplier that still produces or sells these > splitters? I'm not talking about a y-splitter where one analog line > is split to two, but one that physically splits the two pairs of > lines. The part you're looking for is an SE-267B. Here's the reference from Suttle: http://www.suttleonline.com/trad_adapters_modular.html#tadapters Carl Navarro ------------------------------ From: AES/newspost Subject: Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 20:32:41 -0700 In article , Alex wrote: > Does anyone know of a supplier that still produces or sells these > splitters? I'm not talking about a y-splitter where one analog line > is split to two, but one that physically splits the two pairs of > lines. Radio Shack or Fry's? ------------------------------ From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader) Subject: Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2004 15:51:29 -0000 Organization: Inline Software Creations This is a cheap item you can pick up at any Radio Shack. It looks exactly like a one-line splitter though, so make sure you pick up the right item. * * PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something like corkscrews. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2004 08:00:38 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.NONOcom On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 15:10:07 -0500, Alex wrote: > Hi all, > Many years ago, I used to find the RJ11 splitters that seperated the > two pairs of lines into Line 1 and Line 2 for dual-line phone jacks. > Now'days, I'm having trouble locating one. I've even talked to folks > from SBC and they say the splitters aren't common anymore and are hard > to find. > Does anyone know of a supplier that still produces or sells these > splitters? I'm not talking about a y-splitter where one analog line > is split to two, but one that physically splits the two pairs of > lines. If you can't find it why not make one yourself? All you need is two standard jacks, a length of cable with one end having a modular "pinch" plug and the other end having spade lugs. Open the jacks and attach green/red spade lugs to the green red on one jack, take the yellow/black spade lugs and attach it to the green/red terminal on the other jack. remove NONO from .NONOcom to reply ------------------------------ From: Ed Clarke Subject: Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? Date: 7 Apr 2004 11:31:38 GMT Organization: Ciliophora Associates, Inc. Reply-To: clarke@cilia.org In article , Alex wrote: (Deleted) Last time I bought one, I got it at Radio Shack. One plug in, three sockets out -- pair one, pair two and both pairs (pass thru). ------------------------------ From: Phil Earnhardt Subject: Re: RJ11 Line 1/2 Splitter - Do These Still Exist? Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 22:58:25 -0600 Organization: Kaos OnLine Coalition They're right in the Radio Shack catalog. Look at http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F008%5F008%5F001%5F004&product%5Fid=279%2D432 You can see the "L1" "L2" and "L1 + L2" on the image of the splitter on that page. They list it for $8.59. Or just type 3-way jack into the keyword form on www.radioshack.com There's a Mad Magazine-type joke I made up about RS. For years, these guys have used the slogan: "You've got questions. We've got answers." The real slogan is: "You've got questions. We've got radios." > Alex. --phil ------------------------------ From: Hank Karl Subject: Re: Trouble With VOIP Sometimes Dropping Words Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2004 12:59:38 -0400 Organization: NETPLEX Internet Services - http://www.ntplx.net/ On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 23:06:49 -0400, Jack Decker wrote: > Pat, please conceal my e-mail address as usual. > At 03:38 PM 4/5/2004 -0400, editor@telecom-digest.org wrote: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have discovered one thing about my >> Vonage service which is a problem. Even though it usually does okay, I >> get the dropped words problem whenever I am trying to run too many >> jobs at once here. Left alone on the cable, Vonage seems to do very >> well. But usually I am running my weather station >> http://weatherforecast.n3.net or http://weatherforecast.us.tf and my >> computer room live camera http://patricktownson.us.tf most of the >> time. Both of these services take .jpg images and transfer them to my >> California web site using FTP (under their alias 'n3.net' and 'us.tf' >> names) every fifteen seconds or so. Often times also I am using a >> secure form of telnet or rlogin to work on this Digest at MIT. >> Whenever weather or the office cam decide it is time to do a transfer >> via FTP I can count on the words on Vonage getting lost. I can set my >> watch by it, every fifteen seconds or so. They are on other machines, >> (the Windows 98 and Windows 95 computers) but still using the same >> NetGear router and cable modem. I wish there was a way that Vonage >> could take priority and slow down or automatically stop the other >> jobs when it was talking. Pat, do you have the Cisco ATA186 or the Motorola TA that Vonage supplies? If you have the Motorola TA, and you hook it between your cable modem and your router, it should enforce QOS (that is, it will take priority as per your wish). If you have the Cisco TA, see if Vonage will swap it for the Motorola TA. If you're really interested in some details of how good your VoIP connection is, try going to www.testyourvoip.com and running the test, try to do it so the other traffic coming out of your PC happens in the middle of a test. www.voiptroubleshooter.com also offers a lot of advice. >> I asked Mike Flood, general manager of Cable One here in Independence >> about this. His answer was I need a 'bigger pipe', which of course he >> said he could sell me. I now have what he termed 'half size' (or some >> words like that) with 500 K and he said I should get a 'full size >> pipe'. (More money of course). Does that make sense to anyone? I >> guess the full size is twice the 500 K. PAT] > Pat, if you have 500K upload speed that should be more than adequate, > since even G.711 (the highest bandwidth protocol) only uses about 90K. > The problem is that your other applications are managing to totally > saturate your outgoing bandwidth. First check to see if there's any > way to throttle the software itself - some FTP software will let you > throttle uploads, but many other kinds of software don't have that > feature. > Beyond that, you may find some helpful ideas at these pages on > BroadbandReports.com: > http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/41603 > http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/38267 > http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,9751570~mode=flat > Somewhere in those three pages, or one of the pages linked from them, > you should be able to find a way to resolve your problem. > Jack [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have a Cisco ATA-186 and there is *no way* to run it to the head of the line, when used with (either) a Linksys router or (my present) NetGear router. The Cisco simply has to take a position on the router, or maybe I could get another router or 'cable splitter' or something to shove it into the cable modem *first* then run the line to the NetGear with everything else (less the ATA). Should I conclude from what you are saying, that the Motorola TA has that condition as part of it, i.e. it feeds into the cable, then also feeds 'the other way' not only to the telephone instrument but also allows a 'pass through' to a router from there? That would be ideal, if all I had to do was swap TA boxes and re-arrange some wiring. 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: 620-402-0134 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 oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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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. ************************ OSU -- Oklahoma State University -- also helps with the Digest through a grant each month. Their School of Telecommunications provides an excellent opportunity to get that degree you have always wanted. ************************ 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 l