From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Feb 2 18:13:58 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j12NDw618797; Wed, 2 Feb 2005 18:13:58 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 18:13:58 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502022313.j12NDw618797@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 V24 #51 TELECOM Digest Wed, 2 Feb 2005 18:12:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 51 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Identity Theft, Net Scams Rose in '04-FTC (Lisa Minter) Survey: Consumers Show Little Interest in VoIP (Telecom dailyLead USTA) Re: Format For Image to be Faxed? (John Levine) Re: Format For Image to be Faxed? (Brad Houser) Re: Invalid Number Tones (DevilsPGD) Re: Invalid Number Tones (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Invalid Number Tones (Brad Houser) Re: Do Allow Under-9s to Use a Mobile (John Smith) Re: Do Allow Under-9s to Use a Mobile (Daniel W. Johnson) Re: Do Allow Under-9s to Use a Mobile (Linc Madison) Re: America the Worst For Cell Rates and Plans (Joseph) Re: Who Does DA For Cox Communications? (Lou Jahn) Re: $47,000 per Line Installation Cost (Charles Cryderman) Re: TV "Decency" -- Broadcast vs. Cable (J Kelly) Re: Time Warner Cable to Offer Free AOL (CustmClr) Re: British TV License was: America the Worst For Cell (spuorgelgoog) Re: Last Laugh! Emergency Broadcast Blunder In Connecticut (Tim@Backhom) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: 02 Feb 2005 07:58:57 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Identity Theft, Net Scams Rose in '04-FTC The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it received 635,000 consumer complaints in 2004 as criminals sold nonexistent products through online auction sites like eBay Inc. or went shopping with stolen credit cards. Identity theft -- the practice of running up bills or committing crimes in someone else's name -- topped the list with 247,000 complaints, up 15 percent from the previous year. Fraud and identity theft cost consumers at least $437 million in 2003. Internet-related fraud accounted for more than half of the remaining complaints as scammers found victims through Web sites or unsolicited e-mail, the FTC said. Auction fraud was the most common Internet scam, the FTC said in its annual fraud report, followed by complaints about online shopping and Internet access service. The number of incidents was up across nearly every category from 2003, but it was unclear whether that represented an actual increase in fraud or simply a greater awareness of the FTC's Consumer Sentinel fraud program. Consumers likely lost significantly more than the amount reported, as fewer than half were able to pin a dollar figure on their losses. The median monetary loss reported was $259, though 41 consumers reported losses of $1 million or more. The FTC did not specify how many identity-theft incidents took place online. A recent report by the Better Business Bureau found that most cases of identity theft occurred through the theft of a checkbook or other offline methods. For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Yahoo News. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 13:32:17 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Survey: Consumers Show Little Interest in VoIP Telecom dailyLead from USTA February 2, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19136&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Survey: Consumers show little interest in VoIP BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * NTT DoCoMo chief talks wireless * Report predicts growth for telecom industry * Adelphia bondholder is bidder for bankrupt company * SBC, AT&T detail job cuts USTA SPOTLIGHT * Announcing Optical Communications Essentials EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * AT&T technology changed communications but couldn't save company REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Virginia lawmakers urge rethink of telecom taxes * WorldCom fraud extends back to 1997, witness says Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19136&l=2017006 ------------------------------ Date: 2 Feb 2005 15:40:33 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Format For Image to be Faxed? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > If I want to fax a B&W or, more likely, a gray-scale image from within > my computer (Apple iBook, using the internal modem), into what format > (JPEG? GIF? ???) should I convert the image and at what resolution (72 > dpi?) before I fax it, to get the best balance of image sharpness and > transmission time? Group 3 faxes have their own transmission format. It's about 200 dpi, one bit deep. TIFF files can store this format directly, but any fax program should be able to deal with other common formats. So long as it's 200 dpi and one-bit B/W, that's what a fax machine can deal with. If you want to send greyscale, email a PDF. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of The Internet for Dummies Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "A book is a sneeze." - E.B. White, on the writing of Charlotte's Web ------------------------------ From: Brad Houser Subject: Re: Format For Image to be Faxed? Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 11:51:05 -0800 Organization: Intel Reply-To: Brad Houser AES wrote in message news:telecom24.48.2@telecom-digest.org: > Pardon me if this is a bit off topic, but I suspect someone on one or > the other of these groups may have the answer immediately at hand: > If I want to fax a B&W or, more likely, a gray-scale image from within > my computer (Apple iBook, using the internal modem), into what format > (JPEG? GIF? ???) should I convert the image and at what resolution (72 > dpi?) before I fax it, to get the best balance of image sharpness and > transmission time? Faxes are essentially 1 bit black and white. Any grey scales need to be done through dithering. If your fax software does it, then no conversion is necessary. If not you will want to convert to 1 bit B/W and use some decent software that actually dithers and not convert everything that isn't white to black. Brad Houser ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Invalid Number Tones Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 01:38:12 -0700 Organization: Octanews In message L. Hao wrote: > I need to design an algorithm to detect call progress. For example, it > needs to figure out whether the call hits a live person, an answering > machine, a fax machine, and etc. But among all these things, I am > having trouble finding the spec for this so-called invalid > number. When you dial an invalid number, you normally get a tone > followed by " the number you just dialed ...". Can anyone tell me where > I can find the spec for this tone? Or better yet, if anyone can share > his/her methods of detecting it, it'd be great. In general, get a digital line (ISDN or up) and you'll get accurate dialing information. Beyond that, I don't believe that the tones are reliable or consistent anymore. ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Invalid Number Tones Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 05:09:41 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications L. Hao wrote: > I need to design an algorithm to detect call progress. For example, it > needs to figure out whether the call hits a live person, an answering > machine, a fax machine, and etc. But among all these things, I am > having trouble finding the spec for this so-called invalid > number. When you dial an invalid number, you normally get a tone > followed by " the number you just dialed ...". Can anyone tell me where > I can find the spec for this tone? Or better yet, if anyone can share > his/her methods of detecting it, it'd be great. > Thanks for the help. > Li Sounds like a telemarketer in training. ;-) ------------------------------ From: Brad Houser Subject: Re: Invalid Number Tones Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 11:54:24 -0800 Organization: Intel Reply-To: Brad Houser L. Hao wrote in message news:telecom24.49.4@telecom-digest.org: > I need to design an algorithm to detect call progress. For example, it > needs to figure out whether the call hits a live person, an answering > machine, a fax machine, and etc. But among all these things, I am > having trouble finding the spec for this so-called invalid > number. When you dial an invalid number, you normally get a tone > followed by " the number you just dialed ...". Can anyone tell me where > I can find the spec for this tone? Or better yet, if anyone can share > his/her methods of detecting it, it'd be great. The Special Information Tone (SIT) is 950, 1400, 1800 (all tones +- 50 hz) for 330 +- 70 ms. http://www.ahk.com/Special%20Information%20Tones.pdf Brad Houser ------------------------------ From: John Smith Subject: Re: Do Allow Under-9s to Use a Mobile Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 05:02:26 GMT jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: > OK, enough already! I'm not stupid enough to think that cell phones > are radioactive. And I know that RF is not the same as particle > radiation. Not all radioactivity is particle radiation. Gamma rays, for example are electromagnetic, just like RF, but incredibly more powerful. Conversely, not all particle radiation is always dangerous. Alpha particles can be effectively shielded by an average sheet of paper. Not only do experts think they know these things, but they're right. > Linc seemed to be implying that the only possible damage to cells > had to be from the heat induced by the radiation. The effects of radiation, if we limit ourselves to electromagnetic, are dependent on the energy in a photon of that energy. Microwaves produce heat, x-rays produce ionization. Microwaves will not ionize your cellular material, and x-rays will not heat you up. > I was simply pointing out that there are other ways to damage > cellular structure that don't involve heat, with the point being > that while yes, it is probably virtually impossible for the > electromagnetic radiation from a cell phone to induce enough > temperature change to have any possible effect, there may be other > mechanisms that haven't been discovered yet. Actually, a number of other mechanisms have been discovered, but microwave (cell phone) radiation can't accomplish them, because its photons are not energetic enough. Even if you turn up the intensity of the radiation a thousandfold, all you accomplish is having a thousand times as many photons failing to do anything unusual as were failing before. You can break a window by throwing a golf ball. You can't break a window by throwing a ping-pong ball--even if you throw it a thousand times. While we can't say for sure that other mechanisms may not occur, we can very reliably set an upper limit on how harmful any as-yet- undiscovered properties of microwaves can be, simply because enough people have been exposed to enough microwaves over enough years (cell phones are not a unique source) that any effect above a certain level would have been evident. That upper limit is somewhere between zero and incomprehensibly small. Gamma radiation, from radioactive decay, although not particle radiation, is still extremely dangerous. It is thousands of times more energetic, and therefore more dangerous than x-rays, which are pretty dangerous in their own right. Ultraviolet light, which we know can cause cancer, is a thousand times less energetic still. But once we get down to visible light the "radiation" is essentially harmless, as is infrared light. Microwave photons are between a hundred and a hundred thousand time LESS energetic than infrared. So, if you are concerned that it is possible for cell phones to cause untoward effects, you should be wrapping all the TV remotes in tinfoil so they can't spew out those dangerous infrared photons. The very possession of light bulbs, which spew out potentially deadly infrared and visible light by the tens of watts, should be banned outright. ------------------------------ From: Daniel W. Johnson Subject: Re: Do Allow Under-9s to Use a Mobile Date: 1 Feb 2005 22:02:53 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com fake@fake.com wrote: > Heating is not the only mechanism that can cause harm: > At one time, X-Rays were considered safe for all, including pregnant > women. And back then, they exposed you to a higher amount of > radiation. > Many people get a type of radiation burn that is so common we refer > to it as "sunburn". I don't think this is caused by heating (but > does require a lot more EM energy than cellphones produce.) To determine the effects of EM radiation, you need to know two parameters: intensity and frequency. Obviously, a higher intensity corresponds to a greater effect. As for frequency, it is proportional to the energy per photon, so a higher frequency (especially X-ray or gamma ray) means greater penetration. There is also a possibility of resonant effects at certain frequencies; I believe microwave ovens are tuned to a frequency that resonates with water (but cellphones are not). When the above is taken into account, the conclusion is that your average flashlight is more dangerous than a cellphone. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Do Allow Under-9s to Use a Mobile Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 00:26:23 -0800 From: Linc Madison Reply-To: lincmad@suespammers.org Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed In article , wrote: > Heating is not the only mechanism that can cause harm: NO ONE ever said it was. What *I* said was that heating is the only mechanism of harm that is *relevant* to a discussion of cellphones. > At one time, X-Rays were considered safe for all, including pregnant > women. And back then, they exposed you to a higher amount of > radiation. Fine. Now explain exactly what relevance that has to the discussion of CELLULAR TELEPHONES. The answer is, NONE WHATSOEVER. > Many people get a type of radiation burn that is so common we refer > to it as "sunburn". I don't think this is caused by heating (but > does require a lot more EM energy than cellphones produce.) Again, absolutely ZERO relevance to cellular telephones. Let me reiterate what I said before, in a valiant effort to kill this stupid and pointless never-ending thread: The ONLY thing ANYONE has said about the possible dangers of cellular telephones is that we might someday discover a whole new realm of science heretofore unimagined that reveals a hidden danger of using a cellular telephone. However, the same statement can be made about ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING ON EARTH. If you can't refute that specific statement, then please, for the love of this newsgroup, SHUT UP already about the "dangers" of cellphones! You may as well worry that the white markings on the roadway are going to come to life and leap up and strangle you in your car; it's an equally productive use of your time. 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. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: America the Worst For Cell Rates and Plans Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2005 20:58:33 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 1 Feb 2005 06:01:13 -0800, Justin Time wrote: > Actually it was the cellular companies who charged for "air time." > Air time does not take into account if a call is incoming or outgoing, > it only accounts for the amount of cellular resources used to connect > to the handset. That we currently have to abide by "full minute" > pricing should be the complaint . The cell phone companies charge what they do the way they do only because they can and because customers haven't demanded it. Fido in Canada at one time used exact billing i.e. you didn't start to get charged til the line was actually supervised and they also charged to the second unlike send-to-end billing which will bill you for all time including ringing if the end party answers. They got rid of that for prepaid customers a couple years ago and rumour has it that if Rogers has their way they'll eliminate per second billing as well. It's the reason why T-Mobile charges 29 cents/minute to call Europe while you can commonly get the same call through many long distance carriers for 5 cents or less per minute. Basically they're free to charge anything that they like. Until customers stop bending over to be taken advantage of they'll charge as much as they can get away with. ------------------------------ From: Lou Jahn Subject: Re: Who Does DA For Cox Communications? Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 10:26:48 -0500 Organization: Info Partners Corp. I while ago I understood Cox was buying DA from a reseller named Comtrust, who farmed the actual DA effort off to Excell Agent Services (now owned by OSC). However, the easiest approach to fixing any DA problem is to call the Service Order Center (SOC) of the LEC or CLEC (where orders for service are handled). All flow of DA records start at the SOC. When they receive a notice of an error, the SOC has an system to alert the down stream DA center. Based on the severity of an error, a DA database provider will normally correct the listing overnight, but can immediately invoke a change on emergency situations. Good DA databases reflect SOC changes like new or deleted numbers within two business days of the order. Hope that helps. Lou Jahn Info Partners Corp. 609-823-6602 609-823-2202 Fax ------------------------------ Subject: Re: $47,000 per Line Installation Cost Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 13:55:41 -0500 From: Charles Cryderman In TELECOM Digest V24 #48 Fred Atkinson wrote: > Years ago, I was working for a company that had a radio transmitter on > the top of a mountain somewhere in Hawaii. I never visited the site (or > even the state), but we normally monitored and managed our sites by > dialup lines. > The unfortunate thing was that though there were a great number of > radio transmitters on that mountain site, the local Telco had never > run a cable up there. > Not immediately knowing this fact, I called to find out what it was > going to cost to have a line dropped on the site. I was quoted a > price of ten thousand dollars just for the installation of a cable up > to the site (they wanted us to incur the entire cost despite the fact > that there were a large number of other companies needing phone lines > to control their equipment). > Of course, there was no way any manager at our company was going to sign > off for that. So, we had to have our local people frequently stop by > and check the site to make sure it was running in optimum condition. I > had found a device that connected to a cell phone and provided an RJ-11 > to plug a telephone device into. But, we decided that there would be so > much intermodulation on that site that it wouldn't work effectively. > And this was when cellular was still in its infancy. Remaining deleted. Years ago my Sister and Brother-in-Law built their home in northern Michigan (Lake St Helen). When they contacted GTE (now Verizon) about getting telephone service they were told that it would cost $15,000 but that as other homes were built and added they would receive part of that money back with each new telephone installation. My Brother-in-Law told them to take a hike. He went and rented a backhoe and installed his own 25 pair underground cable the 2000 feet or so he had to go. Installed a Demark at the main road where GTE connected his service. He said it cost him a few hundred dollars. It has been over ten years and all of the new homes built in that area still don't have telephone service. Verizon is still requiring someone to pay the $15,000 (probably more now). A few have asked about hooking to his cable but for the most part my Sister and Brother-in-Law are the only year round residents. He is willing to let others on the cable but said he would require that all who sign on release him of any possible liability. Chip Cryderman ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: TV "Decency" -- Broadcast vs. Cable Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 14:09:39 -0600 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@newsguy.com On 1 Feb 2005 10:28:12 -0800, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > What bothers me is that there are two standards -- one for traditional > broadcast TV and one for cable TV. I think both should be treated as > the same. > The claimed justified is that TV uses the "public airwaves" and TV > reaches everyone freely while cable does not. But cable depends on > "public airwaves" just as much as broadcast, only they use satellite > signals to get their material. So HBO shouldn't be allowed to air movies with nudity, simply because they use a satellite? I disagree (strongly). If the "entertainment industry" (and I use the term 'entertainment' loosely) would just stop shoving crap down our throats none of this would have happened. They don't need to use words like "bastard" or "douche bag" on network TV during times when children might watch. I think they should be *able* to use those words, or any others they want, but they should voluntarily refrain from such shenanigans. I do not believe in government censorship, and I know that the FCC fining a station afterwards isn't technically censorship since they didn't prevent the situation before the fact, but it has the same result. But I think the idiots that run the "entertainment industry" need to stop and think about what they are doing before they do it. There is no reason for tits during the super bowl, and no reason for sit com characters to call each other douche bags during prime time. ------------------------------ From: custmclr@aol.com (CustmClr) Date: 02 Feb 2005 20:46:33 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Subject: Re: Time Warner Cable to Offer Free AOL The contents of the AOL notice has changed: "Please note: Beginning early 2005, AOL will no longer be providing direct access to newsgroups. We apologize for any inconvenience. "For members with a separate high-speed Internet connection, we recommend contacting your service provider to confirm if they offer access to newsgroups. Newsgroup services from your high-speed provider can be accessed through a third party reader, such as Mozilla Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/). Alternatively, you can access Newsgroups via Google at http://groups.google.com/. " To connect with others who share your interests, visit AOL Keyword: People Connection where you can find and learn more about AOL Journals (blogs), message boards and chat rooms." ------------------------------ From: spuorgelgoog@gowanhill.com Subject: Re: British TV License (was America the Worst For Cell Rates) Date: 2 Feb 2005 12:52:14 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I believe the BBC World Service is > a decent, rather good programming effort, which is one reason why I > offer it here on the 'Feed Sweep' > URL http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/bbc.html The World Service is funded not through the television licence fee but by a separate Government grant. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/us/001108_wsfunding.shtml Owain ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Emergency Broadcast Blunder In Connecticut Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2005 19:12:13 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The talking heads on the radio and > television chattered about it for several minutes as people everywhere > started rushing out of their homes, driving their cars furiously down > all the roads and highways, etc. Once the massive traffic jam of all > traffic jams was underway, *then* the poor people were told, 'Gee, > it seems to have been a false alarm ...' PAT] The *only* reason this country has not been destroyed by terrorists because, so far, the terrorists have not decided to tube us. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You know, that may very well be true. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #51 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Feb 3 18:17:47 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j13NHlI29825; Thu, 3 Feb 2005 18:17:47 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 18:17:47 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502032317.j13NHlI29825@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 V24 #52 TELECOM Digest Thu, 3 Feb 2005 18:15:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 52 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Cell Phones Make the Young Drive More Like the Old (Michael Quinn) FCC Lets SBC Dial Direct to Get Net Phone Numbers (Jack Decker) Qwest, MCI Talk Deal (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Caller-ID -- Market Share? (Lisa Hancock) Comcast Exceeds One Million HDTV-Capable Set-Top Boxes (Monty Solomon) Re: Invalid Number Tones (L Hao) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (Robert Bonomi) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (ranck@vt.edu) Re: British TV License (was America the Worst For Cell Rates (Tony P.) Re: Time Warner Cable to Offer Free AOL (Joseph) Re: AT&T Hangs Up - and Few Are Sorry to Say Goodbye (John McHarry) Re: TV "Decency" -- Broadcast vs. Cable (Henry) Re: Identity Theft, Net Scams Rose in '04-FTC (shlichter1@aol.com) Re: Do Allow Under-9's To Use a Mobile (Matthew Lombardi) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Cell Phones Make the Young Drive More Like the Old Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 08:52:50 -0500 From: Quinn Michael From today's Washington Post. Fair use caveat applies. Regards, Mike Springfield VA Washington Post Thursday, February 3, 2005; Page A07 Drivers who use cell phones end up driving like elderly people, with slower reaction times and a tendency to miss what is right in front of them, researchers said yesterday. Even when they used "hands-free" devices, young drivers who normally have the quickest reflexes drove like 70-year-olds, the team at the University of Utah found. "If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cell phone, their reaction times are the same as a 70-year-old driver who is not using a cell phone," said psychologist David Strayer, who led the study. Writing in the journal Human Factors, Strayer's team said it tested people 65 to 74 years old against drivers 18 to 25 years old using a driving simulator. Braking time slowed 18 percent when young or elderly drivers used a cell phone, the researchers found. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily.^^ *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 12:12:12 -0500 Subject: FCC Lets SBC Dial Direct to Get Net Phone Numbers http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5560894.html By Ben Charny CNET News.com February 2, 2005, 2:11 PM PT The nation's top utility regulator has made it easier and cheaper for SBC Communications and other Internet phone service providers to get 10-digit phone numbers -- another federal boost for the mushrooming broadband phone industry. In essence, the Federal Communications Commission gave SBC permission to get telephone numbers directly from their official source -- a privately run, quasi-government agency known as the North American Numbering Plan Administration. It's a much cheaper alternative. Before the FCC's action, only those Net phone providers certified by states could approach the agency directly. The SBC division selling Net phone services argued that it wasn't fair; the calls actually use the Internet and are therefore off-limits to any regulation. Also, requiring certification multiplies the already onerous amount of expensive state and federal telephone regulation. "The waiver is in the public interest," FCC commissioners wrote in a decision released this week. "It will help expedite the implementation of (Internet-enabled) services." Other Internet phone providers are sure to win such an exemption, the FCC notes in its 27-page order. The rules exemption for SBC is in effect for another few months, as commissioners finish drafting rules for Net phone providers. Full story at: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5560894.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/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 13:33:27 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Qwest, MCI talk deal Telecom dailyLead from USTA February 3, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19163&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Qwest, MCI talk deal BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Time Warner Cable, Adelphia would merge under bid terms * Settlement against former WorldCom directors collapses * Verizon gets nod for cable franchise in Texas town * IP turns phone market on its head USTA SPOTLIGHT * Carrier Grade Voice Over IP -- Now at www.telecom-bookstore.com EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Businesses take to Wi-Fi * Report: Cable VoIP has impressive growth in 2004 Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19163&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Caller-ID -- Market Share? Date: 3 Feb 2005 11:12:01 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I get the impression that a great many people have Caller-ID at both home and work. Would anyone know roughly the percentage of subscribers, by residence and business types, who have Caller-ID? In some areas I suspect the percentage is quite high. I don't have it myself. At work, we have a basic 2500 sets and no callerID, although I believe other divisions of my employer have more modern phones that have C-ID as part of a display. At home, I will normally answer the phone, but I will ignore it if I'm not in the mood to talk, regardless of who the call is from. That is, if I'm plopped down in front of the TV or eating dinner, I don't want to be bothered getting up or interupted -- which I'd have to do to check the caller ID box. I admit having an answering machine is a big help. I'm not sure if C-ID curtails tele-solicitor calls. If you don't answer a solicitor, they just call back later or the next day, and keep calling until you actually talk to them. (Aren't computers wonderful!) While the laws have reduced the calls quite a bit, I still get some from market researchers, charities, politicians, and people who claim they've done business with me in the past. (I wish I reported the last SOB who did that since it was a blatant lie). [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Mike Sandman sells a little device which immediatly emits the three-tone signal (number not in service) upon you lifting the phone receiver. That tends to get rid of a number of telemarketers who use automated equipment. It goes in series with the phone pair and responds to the change in voltage when the phone goes off hook. Its not expensive, and you put one either in front of each phone, or if you wish, just one unit at the demarc so it catches all phones going off hook. Contact http://sandman.com for details. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 21:28:05 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Comcast Exceeds One Million HDTV-Capable Set-Top Boxes Comcast Exceeds One Million HDTV-Capable Set-Top Boxes; Demand for HDTV Service Propelled by Super Bowl - Feb 2, 2005 11:34 AM (PR Newswire) PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- As Super Bowl frenzy reaches a fever pitch, Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), announced it has now deployed more than one million high-definition television (HDTV)-capable Digital Cable set-top boxes in customers' homes, adding more than 800,000 of them in 2004 alone. In addition, Comcast has experienced a 143% increase in the number of customers connecting HDTV sets to Comcast's HD service during January 2005 versus January 2004. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=46612126 ------------------------------ Reply-To: L Hao From: L Hao Subject: Re: Invalid Number Tones Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 11:25:08 -0800 Thanks Brad and other responders. Really helpful. It does sound like a telemarketing system, doesn't it? : ). Well, it is not. I got people asking me the same question in the DSP thread. It is a system for our Pharmacy and Clinic customers to remind their patients more efficiently. L. Brad Houser wrote in message news:telecom24.51.7@telecom-digest.org: > L. Hao wrote in message > news:telecom24.49.4@telecom-digest.org: >> I need to design an algorithm to detect call progress. For example, it >> needs to figure out whether the call hits a live person, an answering >> machine, a fax machine, and etc. But among all these things, I am >> having trouble finding the spec for this so-called invalid >> number. When you dial an invalid number, you normally get a tone >> followed by " the number you just dialed ...". >> Can anyone tell me where I can find the spec for this tone? Or >> better yet, if anyone can share his/her methods of detecting it, >> it'd be great. > The Special Information Tone (SIT) is 950, 1400, 1800 (all tones +- > 50 for 330 +- 70 ms. > http://www.ahk.com/Special%20Information%20Tones.pdf > Brad Houser [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Also see the other message in this issue from Lisa Hancock talking about telemarketers who bother her household at inconvenient times, etc. If nothing else, you can measure these tones yourself using a device intended to scare away the telemarketers. Inquire of mike@sandman.com http://sandman.com ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 03:46:00 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Monty Solomon wrote: > By Jo Best > Story last modified Tue Feb 01 12:18:00 PST 2005 > A supermarket has given its customers the choice of paying by > fingerprint at a store in the state of Washington -- and has found them > surprisingly willing to use the biometric system. > U.S. chain Thriftway introduced the system, which uses technology from > Pay By Touch , in its store in the Seattle area in 2002. It said it > now sees thousands of transactions a month using the payment method. > Once people have enrolled in the Pay By Touch system, they have their > fingerprint scanned as verification of identity at the checkout. They > then choose which credit card they want to pay the bill with, having > already registered the credit cards with the store. > Thriftway President Paul Kapioski said rather than shying away from > the technology because of concerns about protecting their privacy, > customer demand ensured that the biometric payment system made it past > the pilot stage. > http://news.com.com/2100-1029-5559074.html > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not understand one thing: If > people have already been verified as to their ability and > willingness to pay for their groceries through their credit card > and their personal identification has been verified in much the same > way by the credit card people, then *why* would people want to go one > step further by enrolling in 'Pay by Touch'? Is this intended as one > way to 'save them time' by not having to sign a credit card slip? In > other words, touch your thumb or finger somewhere rather than taking > a couple seconds to sign a slip of paper? Now, if the grocery people > had set up their own credit system *in place of Visa/MC* by using a > thumb/finger print, I can see where that might be useful, but > otherwise, why bother? PAT] Gee, I dunno. Like maybe you _don't_ have to have your card, *or* card number, with you. Like, no hassles if the mag stripe doesn't read. Like, no opportunity for a dishonest cashier to memorize the number off your card. Like, maybe, *nobody*else* can buy anything with that card number at that store. i.e., if it's a 'pay by touch' card, "no touchee, no tickee", and if the fingerprint _doesn't_ match, "no sale". You're right, I can't see why anybody would *consider* bothering to do something like that. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, let's see ... maybe I was caught shoplifting at a grocery store in Iraq or Iran and the Taliban chopped off all my fingers as part of the punishment. And one of the terms for accepting MC/Visa cards required by many/most/all of the card issuers is that the store is *not* permitted to demand any other form of identification. The card is to stand on its own regards ID, *if the holder is using it for payment*. So your 'no touch, no sale' idea is not possible in many stores. I can see where fingerprints might be used in lieu of an actual plastic but I do not think it can be a requirement *in addition to* plastic. And when a clerk is caught making an unauthorized sale using someone else's card the answer is simple also. Fire and presecute them. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ranck@vt.edu Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 17:40:13 UTC Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA Monty Solomon wrote: > A supermarket has given its customers the choice of paying by > fingerprint at a store in the state of Washington -- and has found them > surprisingly willing to use the biometric system. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not understand one thing: If > people have already been verified as to their ability and > willingness to pay for their groceries through their credit card > and their personal identification has been verified in much the same > way by the credit card people, then *why* would people want to go one > step further by enrolling in 'Pay by Touch'? Is this intended as one > way to 'save them time' by not having to sign a credit card slip? In > other words, touch your thumb or finger somewhere rather than taking > a couple seconds to sign a slip of paper? Now, if the grocery people > had set up their own credit system *in place of Visa/MC* by using a > thumb/finger print, I can see where that might be useful, but > otherwise, why bother? PAT] I don't know, but presumably they would not have to have their card with them. The biometric fingerprint scan provides a positive ID and the store can just charge the purchase to the cutomer's account on file. You could then leave the card at home either on purpose or by mistake but still have no problem at the checkout. Sort of like the old days when the grocer actually knew who you were and if you forgot your wallet he'd say, "bring the money back later." There is the added security that no one else can use your account. A new clerk doesn't need to recognize you or check your ID for a written check. In theory you could cut the physical credit card up and then *only* your fingerprint will allow charges on that account. Bill Ranck Blacksburg, Va. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As long as the fingerprints accessed some internal charge system (in lieu of or in addition to) a signature on file, I see no problem with it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: British TV License (was America the Worst For Cell Rates Organization: ATCC Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 18:16:07 -0500 In article , MRC@CAC.Washington.EDU says: > On Tue, 1 Feb 2005, David Clayton wrote: >> I think the original point many have been to say that a lot of PAL TV >> sets these days seem to have in-built NTSC capability, and I would >> imagine that a lot sold in NTSC markets also have PAL. > Perhaps the term "a lot" means something different in Australia than > it does in North America. In North America, the implication of "a > lot" means "many", "a significant percentage or number." > That is not the case with PAL televisions in North America. Almost no > televisions sold in North America and Japan have PAL. TVs sold in > North America with PAL capable are grey market imports, not consumer > goods. > Nor is there any demand for it. DVDs and video tapes are much cheaper > in North America than elsewhere in the world. For similar reasons, > there is little interest in region 2 (or region-free) DVD players in > the US, even though there is quite a bit of interest in region 1 (or > region-free) DVD players in Europe and Japan. > The technical advantage that PAL once enjoyed over NTSC vanished in > the 1980s with the advent of modern electronics instead of the > one-tube wonders of the 1960s that led to the "never twice same color" > epithet. These days, the phase alteration in PAL is complete > unnecessary and comes at a steep cost in not being able to render > green accurately. Indeed. The reason we still have the black and white carriers is because the color system we use was a kludge. NTSC uses a sub carrier to convey luminance and chroma and in the past the crystal and tube method left much to be desired. Now there's very good synchronization between the carrier and luminance chroma system because of the transistor based circuitry, specifically phase lock loop. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Time Warner Cable to Offer Free AOL Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 19:02:58 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 02 Feb 2005 20:46:33 GMT, custmclr@aol.com (CustmClr) wrote: > The contents of the AOL notice has changed: > "Please note: Beginning early 2005, AOL will no longer be providing direct > access to newsgroups. We apologize for any inconvenience. Seems to me at every turn AOL is encouraging people to leave. I wonder why people even continue to use "the internet with training wheels" when lower cost easy-to-us alternatives are readily available most everywhere. I think too many people have been blinded by AOL's over-saturation of the market by including junk discs in every magazine and newspaper. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It may also be that Usenet newsgroups are not the big attraction they used to be. There are now days so many alternatives such as interactive web sites, the Yahoo groups, Google groups, etc. And so many of the Usenet newsgroups are populated by long, oldtime users who (frankly) act at times like the newsgroups are their personal property. You seem to be saying that internet = Usenet and when the new users get done with their training wheels they should graduate to begin direct Usenet useage. Some may choose to do so, but the vast majority do not. Maybe a lot of the 'new users with their training wheels' have gotten tired of the insults and 'I know it all, but you are too ignorant to be allowed to be here' attitude of many of the old-timers. I know from my experience I have gotten very turned off at one time or another by 'Usenet attitudes' and rarely use it any longer; many of the newer guys simply do not bother at all. There are just too many valid, good alternatives to Usenet these days. Or, consider the Usenet equivilent of TELECOM Digest: at one time in internet history, 'comp.dcom.telecom' as we are called was the *only* user discussion forum on telecom which was available. Then in the early/middle 1990's there were *three* of these groups on Usenet. When the web got started, more and more groups came along. Now there are at least two dozen telecom discussion groups -- mostly web based -- available. Maybe AOL is not 'encouraging people to leave' as you phrased it; maybe, to the contrary, regards Usenet they simply decided 'who needs it any longer'. And truely, Usenet has begun to wear out its welcome with a lot of netizens, some of whom were not yet born when Usenet first got started, just as many readers of this Digest were not yet born -- or quite young -- when this forum was known as 'arpa.telecom' (prior to being comp.dcom.telecom). Times change as do people and their attitudes. PAT] ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: AT&T Hangs Up - and Few Are Sorry to Say Goodbye Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 04:04:33 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Well, it was swallowed by one of its own spawn, and they have pretty well managed to choke off local competition, so those who do morn shouldn't have long to wait for the Second Coming. Voip is a large cloud on the horizon for them, but expect them to try to freeze it out of the interconnect market. Even if they don't, the cable companies are likely to attack the independent voip providers. If that succeeds, a duopoly is little better than a monopoly. They may not legally conspire to set prices, but there will ensue a sort of truce, like obtained in long distance for many years, where competitors were allowed to undercut AT&T by a certain amount, but not more (AT&T had the lowest operating cost), and raised their rates when AT&T did. ------------------------------ From: henry999@eircom.net (Henry) Subject: Re: TV "Decency" -- Broadcast vs. Cable Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 08:26:51 +0200 Organization: Elisa Internet customer J Kelly wrote: > On 1 Feb 2005 10:28:12 -0800, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >> What bothers me is that there are two standards -- one for traditional >> broadcast TV and one for cable TV. I think both should be treated as >> the same. >> The claimed justified is that TV uses the "public airwaves" and TV >> reaches everyone freely while cable does not. But cable depends on >> "public airwaves" just as much as broadcast, only they use satellite >> signals to get their material. > So HBO shouldn't be allowed to air movies with nudity, simply because > they use a satellite? I disagree (strongly). > If the "entertainment industry" (and I use the term 'entertainment' > loosely) would just stop shoving crap down our throats none of this > would have happened. They don't need to use words like "bastard" or > "douche bag" on network TV during times when children might watch. I > think they should be *able* to use those words, or any others they > want, but they should voluntarily refrain from such shenanigans. > I do not believe in government censorship, and I know that the FCC > fining a station afterwards isn't technically censorship since they > didn't prevent the situation before the fact, but it has the same > result. But I think the idiots that run the "entertainment industry" > need to stop and think about what they are doing before they do it. > There is no reason for tits during the super bowl, and no reason for > sit com characters to call each other douche bags during prime time. H.L. Mencken once poured his scorn on those busybodies in society who suffered from 'a terrible, pervasive fear that someone, somewhere, is having fun.' Don't televisions in the USA have an 'off' button any more? Can't parents tell their children 'go read a book'? This Janet Jackson 'scandal' and the repercussions from it look like so much nonsense from over here in Europe, I'll tell you. "The whole world is laughing." Cheers, Henry [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Tell me this, what do the Europeans think about Janet Jackson's brother, Michael, and the railroad ride he is getting here in the USA right now? He is certainly eccentric, but his big mistake was when he handed over five cents to that slimy woman who made the first extortion attempt about ten years ago. That opened the flood gates for the latest hysterical scene here. Janet and her wardrobe malfunction was nothing by comparison. PAT] ------------------------------ From: shlichter1@aol.com Subject: Re: Identity Theft, Net Scams Rose in '04-FTC Date: 3 Feb 2005 04:41:32 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com The folowing might have to do with your article. I got an e-mail from someone claiming to have received my entry to a contest, they gave me a toll free number; 866-677-4100. The reason given was they needed to discuss tax issues on my prize that I had one. To me that sounds like they either want a credit card number or my Social Security number. Either way ,they will not get that from me. I think all the readers to the Digest should call the above number and find out what the prize is, and make sure you also help your local payphone operator. I fowarded a copy to the FTC, don't hold much hope to them doing much. (c)The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? I Kill Spammers, Inc. A ROT in Hell Co. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 12:15:15 -0700 From: Matthew Lombardi Reply-To: Matthew Lombardi Subject: Re: Do Allow Under-9's to use a Mobile jmeissen@aracnet.com responded on the subject Re: Do Allow Under-9s to Use a Mobile on 30 Jan 2005 08:03:13 GMT: > Linc seemed to be implying that the only possible damage to cells > had to be from the heat induced by the radiation. I was simply > pointing out that there are other ways to damage cellular structure > that don't involve heat, with the point being that while yes, it > is probably virtually impossible for the electromagnetic radiation > from a cell phone to induce enough temperature change to have any > possible effect, there may be other mechanisms that haven't been > discovered yet. And maybe Scott Adams is right. Maybe not all the dinosaurs are extinct, and that they're hiding in our houses. And one day they're all going to come forward and ask why we're burning their friends' dead carcasses in our cars and turning them into carpet and plastic. Boy, they're really gonna be pissed. Impossible? Nope -- they may have been able to survive the mass extinction via mechanisms that haven't been discovered yet -- despite the massive amount of evidence that we have to the contrary. But should we make decisions that affect our lives because of this remote possibility? Is that really what you're suggesting? Remember that this began as a discussion of whether or not we should consider not letting children use cellphones - would the radiation be risky to them? I consider this to be about as likely as finding Dino in my credenza, but you and others would have me live my life in fear for my children's safety -- based on NO EVIDENCE of ANY KIND. If we did that, we would quickly find our society paralyzed, unable to do anything because of possible, billion-to-one-shot risks that we're just too damned averse to taking. "Life Is Short, But It's Wide" -- sure, go ahead and avoid reasonable risks, but stop worrying about risks so low that they cannot be measured. - Matt [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A regular reader/financial contributor to TELECOM Digest sent me some snail mail today with an article from *IEEE Spectrum*, December, 2004 issue which is quite relevant to a discussion topic here in recent days. On page 22 of the December issue, "Cellphones Linked to Brain Tumors". And subtitled, 'The good news is they're benign, the bad news is they're here.' A study of cellphone subscribers with more than ten years of use (in other words users of cellphones at present since prior to 1993) had doubled their *risk* (not that they had it; just that they had doubled their risk for getting) _Accoustic Neuroma_, a benign condition affecting one in one hundred thousand people. Accoustic Neuroma is a 'tumor' which attaches itself to the nerve connecting the brain and the inner ear, causing some degree of hearing loss. This *risk* is four times as high on the side of the head where the phone is usually held. This latest study was done by Stefan Lonn of the (Swedish) Karolinska Institute; other comments are made by James C. Lin, who studies the biological effects of electromagnetic radiation at the University of Illinois at Chicago; Kenneth R. Foster who studies the health risks of nonionizing electromagnetic radiation at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; and other scientists. They seem to conclude that users who want cut the above (rather miniscule, but existent) risk even more should use headsets. NO tumors were associated with less than ten years of cell phone use, an outcome which has been documented by past studies. So, as more and more people approach this ten year plus mark in cell phone use, should they be concerned about other malignant tumors? Experts are not sure, according to the IEEE Spectrum report. If you wish a copy of this article from IEEE Spectrum, December 2004, so you can show it to friends and others who get into this discussion, send me a *stamped* self-addressed envelope (long number 8 envelope) and ask for a copy. No donation is needed unless you wish to send along a gift. Patrick Townson, PO Box 50, Independence, KS 67301-0050. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please contact Jay Boyington for additional information at 405-744-9000, mstm-osu@okstate.edu, or visit the MSTM web site at http://www.mstm.okstate.edu ************************ 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. 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 V24 #52 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Feb 4 16:39:18 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j14LdHo11225; Fri, 4 Feb 2005 16:39:18 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 16:39:18 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502042139.j14LdHo11225@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 V24 #53 TELECOM Digest Fri, 4 Feb 2005 16:37:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 53 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Warning About Fake "Tickets" From Red Light Cameras (Marcus D. Falco) Is Canada Headed Toward a Canadian DMCA? (Marcus Didius Falco) Study: Cell Phone Use Ups Accident Risk (Marcus Didius Falco) Data Over Power Lines a Problem? (David Clayton) What Ports Are Used For NBX <--> NBX Connectivity (Michael March) Qwest, MCI Press Ahead With Merger Talks (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Please Advise for VoIP Hardware (Fakhar) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (George Mitchell) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (Barry Margolin) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (Robert Bonomi) Re: British TV License (was America the Worst For Cell Rates (BobT) Re: Comcast Exceeds One Million HDTV-Capable Set-Top Box (Isaiah Beard) Re: AT&T Hangs Up - and Few Are Sorry to Say Goodbye (Lisa Hancock) Beta Test Request: TD-Extra Site Map (TELECOM Digest Editor) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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, 02 Feb 2005 23:25:50 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Warning About Fake "Tickets" From Red Light Cameras ------ Forwarded Message From: Declan McCullagh < > Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 23:58:37 -0500 To: Subject: [Politech] Warning about fake "tickets" from red light cameras -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Red light cameras - fake tickets Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2005 17:28:39 -0800 From: editor Reply-To: editor@ To: declan@ For Declan - I do a site about red light camera tickets. Back in 2002 you had a thread about the cameras, so I figured you might be interested in a little update for politechbot. There's been a number of prominent newspaper articles recently, but when the commercial media discuss the cameras, there's a couple issues they always leave out. Issue # 1. At least nine cities in California are sending out fake red light camera tickets, to get you to identify the driver, so that they can send the driver a real ticket. It's a great con game - most people, not having heard anything about it in the press, fall for it. And, while the fake tickets are fully bilingual, I think that those not as familiar with American courts (and such things as the 5th Amendment) are much more likely to be fooled. I have a section on my website about the fake tickets, in case you need additional info. The url is http://www.highwayrobbery.net/redlightcamsticket.htm#Fakes and the fake ticket info, including some sample fake tickets, is under "Police Going Too Far...." This is some of the info from the website - "If your "ticket" does not have the address and phone number of the court on it, or if it says, "Do not contact the court," it's not really a ticket at all. It's a fake, probably generated by the police (fake ticket examples: El Cajon , Vista ), but it could have been printed up by a clever confidence man who hopes you will give him your credit card number. (For more about con men, see the end of this section.) The official format for a real ticket is on the website of the Judicial Council of California. "This section is about police trickery and bluffing ! "In some towns the police are going to extraordinary lengths to get registered owners, or members of their household, to identify the driver. In those towns, if the technicians reviewing the photos see that the pictured driver is obviously not the registered owner (gender mismatch, or great difference in age) or that the photo is too blurry to be sure of who it is, one tactic they frequently use is to send the registered owner an official-looking notice telling him that he must identify the driver, within 10 days. (In the business, they call these notices a "nomination.") "Why do they do it? "So far, the common thread is that all these "Police Going Too Far..." cities use RedFlex as their camera vendor and have contracts (signed before 2004) requiring them to pay RedFlex approx. $90 for each real ticket issued. These cities send the registered owner a notice (fake ticket) -- which the City doesn't have to pay RedFlex for - when they see that the face photo is of such poor quality that it would probably not be accepted by a judge as proof of who the driver was. Sending you the fake ticket is the police's attempt to get you to identify the driver, thus providing them that proof. Once you have filled-out the blanks on the fake ticket form, the police can be pretty sure that a ticket will stick and that they will be able to recoup the $90 it will cost them to have a real one issued. So they go ahead and have RedFlex issue (print up and mail) one." Issue # 2. There's a big incentive for the cities, and the camera companies, to set the yellows very short. Here in California our legislature passed a law, 3 years ago, setting a minimum yellow for _straight-through_ traffic. While the mandated straight-through minimums are on the short side, nonetheless it has caused the lucrative enforcement to shift to left turns, for which the minimum yellow is just 3.0 seconds. And right turns. But there's no evidence that people turning left or right cause the horrible accidents that the authorities say they want to prevent (see the analyses I did of several heavily-enforced intersections - under Hawthorne Documents Set #3, Culver City Documents Set # 12, and Costa Mesa Documents Set #10). But, if we nonetheless accept that it's a reasonable goal to decrease left-turn runners, there's an alternative to heavy ticketing. If you will look at the Mesa, Arizona Ticket Counts table (see Mesa, Arizona on the Camera Towns page of my website), you'll see that left turn violations go way down, and stay down, when drivers are given a reasonable amount of yellow. And for straight through movements, the Ticket Counts table on the Costa Mesa (California) Documents page shows that just a few tenths of a second longer yellow makes a significant decrease in the number of tickets. I hope you find this of interest. Regards, Jim editor highwayrobbery . net . no . spam I slightly munged this address to foil spammers- Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/) ------ End of Forwarded Message Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 23:33:36 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Is Canada Headed Toward a Canadian DMCA? _______________ Forward Header _______________ Subject: Is Canada Headed Toward a Canadian DMCA? Author: Michael Geist < > Date: 31st January 2005 7:15:58 am Dave, Of possible interest to IP -- my weekly Toronto Star Law Bytes column examines whether Canada may be headed toward a Digital Millennium Copyright Canada Act. The column explores the risks associated with technological protection measures alongside anti-circumvention legislation and the potential that Canada may adopt DMCA-like provisions into its copyright law. Column, posted in full below, at MG `TPMs': A perfect storm for consumers Michael Geist Toronto Star During last fall's U.S. presidential election, CBS News featured a controversial report on President George W. Bush's military service. The report, which relied on unverified documents, generated enormous media coverage, eventually leading to a public apology and the upcoming retirement of veteran news anchor Dan Rather. Several weeks ago, an independent panel released a 234-page report on the incident as CBS News continued its efforts to abate the scandal. Two days after the freely available report was released, Internet users noticed that attempts to electronically copy and paste sentences from the lengthy report were rendered impossible as CBS's lawyers had inserted a technological feature into the document that prevented any form of electronic copying. Although the use of the technological restriction was relatively unimportant -- a speed bump rather than a full blocking mechanism -- its use highlights the increasing reliance on technological protection measures (TPMs) to control access to, and use of, digital content. The proliferation of technological protection measures, alongside new legislative proposals designed to protect these digital locks, represent a perfect storm of danger to consumers, who may find themselves locked out of content they have already purchased, while sacrificing their privacy and free speech rights in the process. Owners of online databases and other digital content deploy technological protection measures (sometimes referred to as Digital Rights Management or DRM) to establish a layer of technical protection that is designed to provide greater control over their content. The content industry has touted technological protection measures' promise for more than decade, maintaining that technological locks could prove far more effective in curtailing unauthorized copying than traditional laws. While technological protection measures do not provide absolute protection - research suggests all technological protection measures can eventually be broken - companies continue to actively search for inventive new uses for these technological locks. In certain instances their use is obvious to consumers. For example, DVDs contain a content scrambling system that limits the ability to copy even a small portion of a lawfully purchased DVD. Similarly, purchasers of electronic books often find that their e-books contain limitations restricting copying, playback, or use of the e-book on multiple platforms. In fact, e-books are frequently saddled with far more restrictions than are found in the paper-based equivalent. Sometimes the use of a technological protection measure is far less obvious, manipulating markets to the detriment of consumers, rather than protecting content. DVDs also typically contain regional codes that limit the ability to play a DVD to a specific region. The consumer is often unaware of the regional code until they purchase a DVD while on vacation in one region only to find that they cannot play the disc on their DVD player when they return home. Of even greater concern is the increasing use of technological protection measures in completely unexpected environments. For example, Hewlett-Packard has begun to install technological protection measures into their printer cartridges. The technology is used to block consumers from purchasing cartridges in one region and using them in another, thereby enabling the company to maintain different pricing structures for the same product in different global markets. Despite the proliferation of technological protection measures, few consumers are aware of their existence and many manufacturers are loath to disclose their use. In fact, consumers may soon find that these technological limitations force them to incur significant new costs as they face little alternative but to re-purchase content so that it functions on their personal computer or other favourite device. The industry acknowledges as much, as according to Kevin Gage, a vice-president with the Warner Music Group, this year we will begin to see people with "large libraries of content that won't play with their devices." The impact of technological protection measures also extends far beyond consumer fairness. The same technologies can function much like spyware by invading the personal privacy of users. For example, technological protection measures can be used to track consumer activity and report the personal information back to the parent company. There is also concern that technological protection measures can be used to induce security breaches. Recent reports indicate that hackers are using these technologies in the Microsoft Windows Media Player to trick users into downloading massive amounts of spyware, adware, and viruses. While the potential for technological protection measure abuse may appear obvious, Canadian policy makers have actually been racing toward increasing the use and legal protections afforded to technological protection measures. Canadian Heritage has provided funding to technological protection measure initiatives to help facilitate their development, while parliamentarians, led by Canadian Heritage Minister Liza Frulla and Industry Minister David Emerson, have been jointly working on a copyright reform package that would reportedly grant technological protection measures additional legal protections. The experience with technological protection measure legal protection in the United States, which enacted anti-circumvention legislation as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in 1998, demonstrates the detrimental impact of this policy approach - Americans have experienced numerous instances of abuse that implicate free speech, security, user rights under copyright, and fair competition. From a free speech perspective, the CBS News case represents only the latest in a series of incidents where speech was chilled under the threat of legal action due to technological protection measure and anti-circumvention legislation. For example, several years ago Edward Felten, a Princeton researcher, sought to release an important study on encryption that included circumvention information. When he publicly disclosed his plans, he was served with a warning that he faced potential legal liability if he publicly disclosed his findings. The impact on security, particularly in the wake of 9/11, has been similarly disconcerting. Many computer science researchers have foregone working on sensitive security and encryption matters due to legal fears, pointing to the arrest and imprisonment of Dmitry Sklyarov, a Russian software programmer who spent several months in a California jail in 2001 after he traveled to the U.S. to discuss a circumvention software program at a conference. That incident led leading former Cyber-security Czar Richard Clarke to acknowledge that "a lot of people didn't realize that [the DMCA] would have this potential chilling effect on vulnerability research." Companies have not shied away from using prohibitions on circumventing technological protection measures to limit competition. Lexmark, another leading printer company, sued a rival printer cartridge company for copyright infringement for circumventing technological protection measures designed to prevent consumers from using the rival company's printer cartridges in Lexmark printers. Similarly, Chamberlain, a garage door opener company, sued Skylink for creating a universal remote control that interoperated with its garage door opener by circumventing a technological protection measure. In both instances, appellate courts recently denied the suits, but fear of a potential lawsuit may be sufficient to stop competitive activity in its tracks. From a traditional copyright perspective, anti-circumvention legislation, acting in concert with technological protection measures, has steadily eviscerated fair use rights such as the right to copy portions of work for research or study purposes, since the blunt instrument of technology can be used to prevent all copying, even that which copyright law currently permits. They also have the potential to limit the size of the public domain, since in the future work may enter public domain as its copyright expires, yet that content may be practically inaccessible as it sits locked behind a technological protection measure. Notwithstanding the U.S. experience, there is every indication that adoption of these legal provisions is marching forward in Canada leading to a potential DMCCA - the Digital Millennium Copyright Canada Act. This despite the fact that the U.S. model need not be imitated in order to meet Canada's international obligations and the fact that important advocates, such as the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, who recently wrote to Industry Canada and Canadian Heritage to request future consultation on the privacy impact of copyright reform, have yet to be heard. In fact, the time has come for all Canadians to speak out and to tell the responsible ministers along with their local MPs what is increasingly self-evident. Canada does not need protection for technological protection measures. In order to maintain our personal privacy, a vibrant security research community, a competitive marketplace, and a fair copyright balance, we need protection from them. ********************************************************************** Professor Michael A. Geist Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law University of Ottawa Law School, Common Law Section 57 Louis Pasteur St., Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5 Tel: Fax: [for phone and fax numbers and email and web addresses, check the original of this posting in Dave Farber's "interesting people" archives] Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 17:16:15 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Study: Cell Phone Use Ups Accident Risk Note the last paragraph. Do we draw the conclusion that the way to improve safety when talking on the cell phone and driving is to do it more often so we gain more experience? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56468-2005Feb2.html?sub=3DAR http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A56468-2005Feb2?language=3Dprinter washingtonpost.com Study: Cell Phone Use Ups Accident Risk By Leon D'Souza The Associated Press Wednesday, February 2, 2005; 7:19 AM SALT LAKE CITY -- Talking on a cell phone makes you drive like a retiree -- even if you're only a teen, a new study shows. A report from the University of Utah says when motorists between 18 and 25 talk on cell phones, they drive like elderly people - moving and reacting more slowly and increasing their risk of accidents. "If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cell phone, his reaction times are the same as a 70-year-old driver," said David Strayer, a University of Utah psychology professor and principal author of the study. "It's like instant aging." And it doesn't matter whether the phone is hand-held or handsfree, he said. Any activity requiring a driver to "actively be part of a conversation" likely will impair driving abilities, Strayer said. In fact, motorists who talk on cell phones are more impaired than drunken drivers with blood-alcohol levels exceeding 0.08, Strayer and colleague Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology, found during research conducted in 2003. Their new study appears in this winter's issue of Human Factors, the quarterly journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Strayer said they found that when 18- to-25-year-olds were placed in a driving simulator and talked on a cellular phone, they reacted to brake lights from a car in front of them as slowly as 65- to 74-year-olds who were not using a cell phone. In the simulator, each participant drove four 10-mile freeway trips lasting about 10 minutes each, talking on a cell phone with a research assistant during half the trip and driving without talking the other half. Only handsfree phones -- considered safer -- were used. The study found that drivers who talked on cell phones were 18 percent slower in braking and took 17 percent longer to regain the speed they lost when they braked. The numbers, which come down to milliseconds, might not seem like much, but it could be the difference to stopping in time to avoid hitting a child in the street, Strayer said. The new research questions the effectiveness of cell phone usage laws in states such as New York and New Jersey, which only ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. It's not so much the handling of a phone, Strayer said, but the fact that having a conversation is a mental process that can drain concentration. The only silver lining to the new research is that elderly drivers using a cell phone aren't any more of a hazard to themselves and others than young drivers. Previous research suggested older drivers may face what Strayer described as a "triple whammy." "We thought they would be really messed up because not only are they slower overall due to age, there's also a difficulty dividing attention," Strayer said. But the study found that more experience and a tendency to take fewer risks helped negate any additional danger. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Associated Press. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: David Clayton Subject: Data Over Power Lines a Problem? Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 15:12:01 +1100 http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;650745972;fp;2;fpid;1 Sparks fly over power line Internet trials Howard Dahdah, PC World 03/02/2005 15:22:19 Knocking an aeroplane out of the sky by simply using an ultra-fast Internet connection is closer to fact than fantasy, say opponents of a new Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) technology. While the prospect of broadband Internet access at 100 times current speeds is exciting Web surfers, critics say the radio interference it causes poses a serious threat to radio networks, including those used by air traffic controllers. BPL, also known as Power Line Communications (PLC), can transmit data at 200Mbps by utilising normal electrical power lines. Users of the service would plug their broadband modem into a normal household power point. ------------------------------ From: Michael March Subject: What Ports Are Used for NBX <--> NBX Connectivity? Date: 3 Feb 2005 20:29:23 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I just stepped into a situation where a company has two NBX 100s are linked up together. One side is on a T-1 going to the general Internet and the other is on a 640kpbs(up/down) DSL link, again, going to the general Internet. There are problems with the call quality between the sites so I want to get some QoS rules going to see if that helps out. Does anyone know what protocol / ports or whatever is used for NBX to NBX communication? Thanks! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 13:31:33 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Qwest, MCI Press Ahead With Merger Talks Telecom dailyLead from USTA February 4, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19201&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Qwest, MCI press ahead with merger talks BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * KMC turns focus to IP services * Nortel seeks repayment of bonuses from former CEO, others * Sprint, Comcast report earnings USTA SPOTLIGHT * SUPERCOMM, TELECOM '05, Webinars and the Telecom-Bookstore EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * MCI, UNH team up on IPv6 project VOIP DOWNLOAD * AOL eyes VoIP market * IP-over-Wi-Fi emerges on the scene * U.S. government issues VoIP security warning Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19201&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: fakharmtc@hotmail.com (Fakhar) Subject: Please Advise for VoIP Hardware Date: 4 Feb 2005 00:45:20 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi, I was wondering about a VoIP hardware setup that we can setup in our organization. The Organization set up is as follows. 1: Different Branches within on city and also other cities. 2: Within a single city, We have DSL Link at each location from single ISP. 3: Across the city the ISP are changed. We have independent PABXs at each location. What we want is a solution that we can integrate with the existing PABXs. Using the VoIP Hardware we should be able to use the normal telephone sets and make call within the organization (in the same city or inter-city call). Please advice me any good and inexpensive solution. Take Care, Fakhar ------------------------------ From: George Mitchell Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 16:11:01 -0800 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com ranck@vt.edu wrote: > I don't know, but presumably they would not have to have > their card with them. The biometric fingerprint scan provides > a positive ID and the store can just charge the purchase to > the cutomer's account on file. You could then leave the card > at home either on purpose or by mistake but still have no > problem at the checkout. Sort of like the old days when > the grocer actually knew who you were and if you forgot your > wallet he'd say, "bring the money back later." There is > the added security that no one else can use your account. > A new clerk doesn't need to recognize you or check your > ID for a written check. In theory you could cut the physical > credit card up and then *only* your fingerprint will allow > charges on that account. > Bill Ranck > Blacksburg, Va. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As long as the fingerprints accessed > some internal charge system (in lieu of or in addition to) a signature > on file, I see no problem with it. PAT] It's easy to forget that, once your fingerprint has been scanned into the store's system, now this impossible-to-forget, impossible-to-forge identification is stored on their system, ready to be replayed at will by anyone with access to their computer. -- George Mitchell (obfuscated email address) ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Organization: Symantec Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 01:06:20 -0500 In article , bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, let's see ... maybe I was caught > shoplifting at a grocery store in Iraq or Iran and the Taliban chopped > off all my fingers as part of the punishment. And one of the terms > for accepting MC/Visa cards required by many/most/all of the card > issuers is that the store is *not* permitted to demand any other form > of identification. The card is to stand on its own regards ID, *if the > holder is using it for payment*. So your 'no touch, no sale' idea is > not possible in many stores. I can see where fingerprints might be > used in lieu of an actual plastic but I do not think it can be a > requirement *in addition to* plastic. And when a clerk is caught > making an unauthorized sale using someone else's card the answer is > simple also. Fire and presecute them. PAT] They're not demanding it in addition to the card, they're offering it as an optional *alternative* to the card. If your fingers have been chopped off, I suggest you don't choose this option. Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 17:11:13 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Robert Bonomi wrote: > In article , >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not understand one thing: If >> people have already been verified as to their ability and >> willingness to pay for their groceries through their credit card >> and their personal identification has been verified in much the same >> way by the credit card people, then *why* would people want to go one >> step further by enrolling in 'Pay by Touch'? Is this intended as one >> way to 'save them time' by not having to sign a credit card slip? In >> other words, touch your thumb or finger somewhere rather than taking >> a couple seconds to sign a slip of paper? Now, if the grocery people >> had set up their own credit system *in place of Visa/MC* by using a >> thumb/finger print, I can see where that might be useful, but >> otherwise, why bother? PAT] > Gee, I dunno. > Like maybe you _don't_ have to have your card, *or* card number, with > you. > Like, no hassles if the mag stripe doesn't read. > Like, no opportunity for a dishonest cashier to memorize the number > off your card. > Like, maybe, *nobody*else* can buy anything with that card number at > that store. i.e., if it's a 'pay by touch' card, "no touchee, no > tickee", and if the fingerprint _doesn't_ match, "no sale". > You're right, I can't see why anybody would *consider* bothering to do > something like that. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, let's see ... maybe I was caught > shoplifting at a grocery store in Iraq or Iran and the Taliban chopped > off all my fingers as part of the punishment. Strawman -- not a _bad_ strawman despite the stretch, but still a strawman. Then, obviously, you would not _elect_ to use their *optional* system, would you? And then there's no problem for you, is there? Or didn't you notice that it is a _voluntary_participation_ system? > And one of the terms for accepting MC/Visa cards required by > many/most/all of the card issuers is that the store is *not* > permitted to demand any other form of identification. The card is to > stand on its own regards ID, *if the holder is using it for > payment*. So your 'no touch, no sale' idea is not possible in many > stores. When the store has a prior *signed*, verified, validated, directive from the card-holder on file that says "do not allow any charges against this card number unless the fingerprint matches the one I have provided on file" the store most certainly *can* demand the fingerprint. Agreed, the store cannot do it on it's _own_ initiative. However, that is simply not the situation with regard to a _voluntary_participation_ program such as the one under discussion. > I can see where fingerprints might be > used in lieu of an actual plastic but I do not think it can be a > requirement *in addition to* plastic. Making clear that you did not bother to *read* the original article. A) this is not a 'required' system. B) the fingerprint _is_ used *INSTEAD* of the plastic. > And when a clerk is caught making an unauthorized sale using someone > else's card the answer is simple also. Fire and presecute them. PAT] "Simple"??? *snicker* No, make that <*GUFFAW*> First off, that _assumes_ that the clerk got caught. Second, 'unauthorized sales' can make for a _gawdaful_ mess of problems for the actual card-holder. Just imagine that you're going on vacation. And have made sure that your card has a _zero_ balance outstanding. You get to your destination, and offer the card to pay for your hotel room, and get told "card not accepted -- over credit limit". Where are you, the wife, and kids, going to sleep tonight? Getting an 'unauthorized sale' off your account can be *difficult*. Consider a telephone order (one where the merchant asked for, and _got_ the 'security code'), that was actually _delivered_ to YOUR address, and signed for in your name. I have relatives who have been the (almost) victim of *precisely* that. They got wind of things shortly before the order was to be delivered, and law enforcement was waiting when the delivery truck came by. A guy _outside_ the house pretended to be the 'addressee', and signed for the package. Whereupon the cops pounced. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh, I dunno about this last part, where one supposedly has a hard time catching the clerk 'in the act'. Walmart does okay on it. The stores here in southeast Kansas employ 'shoppers' for just that purpose, old bag ladies who are (told to be) so ignorant and distasteful they 'could not possibly know anything about store procedures'. When management gets word of a cashier or other employee who may be a miscreant, those old bag ladies all get in line at that register over a period of a few days, and pass through that line day after day until their beady little eyes catch the cashier; something the clerk would not dare do with management or 'another employee' watching them. Then the bag lady gives a report to the proper management team responsible, secretly of course. I know how that works because for several months the Chicago Transit Authority secretly employed me (and others of my nature) to be 'riders' when they wanted to catch subway cashiers who were ripping them off royally. Obviously the cashier was *not* going to act out when a supervisor or an 'intelligent' (read: well groomed, sophisticated person with an important job) was riding the train. CTA knew it was essential to use old bag ladies or 'bad, smelly, bums' as riders to get the goods on the crooks. CTA would call and say "ride through the (name of subway station) on the 3rd shift on weekends for a few days". What that meant was wear old, ragged, filthy clothes, act as ignorant as hell, as needed be argumentative with the cashier, go rushing through the turnstyle in a big hurry, try not to act like you are looking, but *listen* for the 'fare collected' bell to ring behind you (or in newer style turnstyles) note if the cashier punches the 'fare collected' button to light the turnstyle status or if she 'accidentally' punches the button to release the turnstyle on the basis of 'transfer received' or 'monthly pass'. *Never say a word to her about it.* Just note the time/date/badge number and as soon as you can, call (private, unlisted number) to tell the inspectors. Generally, I just did as they asked me; I can be a 'dumb, ignorant old customer' if I am asked. Most business places which work with a large number of customers, and handle a lot of cash, etc employ people like that to help them out. The 'regular employees' are not supposed to know about them nor suspect people are hired to deliberatly watch them and snitch on them. PAT] ------------------------------ From: BobT Subject: Re: British TV License (was America the Worst For Cell Rates) Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 16:59:50 GMT On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 23:50:45 -0800, Mark Crispin wrote: > That is not the case with PAL televisions in North America. Almost no > televisions sold in North America and Japan have PAL. TVs sold in > North America with PAL capable are grey market imports, not consumer > goods. Well, we recently got a Philips 30 inch LCD HDTV, at BestBuy in Chicago, which is NTSC/PAL. I suppose the greymarket label may apply to it, but it wasn't the only one they were selling with this capability. It was made in the EU, which is unusual in these days of everything coming from China. The NTSC tuner also works fine in it, although we rarely use it, since the OTA STB we use incorporates both ATSC and NTSC. ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Comcast Exceeds One Million HDTV-Capable Set-Top Boxes Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 13:24:22 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Unfortunately, Comcast is leaving out the fact that in many areas, people are getting HDTV-ready set top boxes even if they intend to plug it into an NTSC TV. The boxes are capable of translating the signal to something more suitable for a standard definition TV, IF you happen to order the HD package. Ad if you dont order the package, you simply don't get those channels, and the box works as a standard digital cable receiver. Bottom line: swapping out your old cable boxes with HDTV ready tuners doesn't mean everyone is watching in HD. Monty Solomon wrote: > Comcast Exceeds One Million HDTV-Capable Set-Top Boxes; Demand > for HDTV Service Propelled by Super Bowl > - Feb 2, 2005 11:34 AM (PR Newswire) PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ > -- As Super Bowl frenzy reaches a fever pitch, Comcast Corporation > (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), announced it has now deployed more than one > million high-definition television (HDTV)-capable Digital Cable > set-top boxes in customers' homes, adding more than 800,000 of them in > 2004 alone. In addition, Comcast has experienced a 143% increase in > the number of customers connecting HDTV sets to Comcast's HD service > during January 2005 versus January 2004. > - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=46612126 E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: AT&T Hangs Up - and Few Are Sorry to Say Goodbye Date: 4 Feb 2005 10:53:40 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com RamaChandra Raju Bhupathiraju wrote: > Tue Feb 1, 6:31 AM ET Op/Ed - USATODAY.com > ... It was an overbearing monopoly before its breakup ... No it was not. It's monopoly status did not result from anything AT&T did, but rather from edicts from the state and federal govts explicitly defining what AT&T could do. Note that AT&T was also forbidden to act in many other markets, including those it had once developed products (ie motion picture sound systems). AT&T was strictly limited in what it could do and what it could charge; people forget that there was much it could NOT do. > Not since its early days has it been much of an innovator. Most of our present day communication system owes itself to innovations AT&T continued to make until divesture, not only in technology, but also telecom administration. > For much of its history, AT&T was the quintessential monopoly. It > had no competition for local service, no competition for long- > distance service and offered people few reasons to like it. Its > customers could choose whatever color telephone they wanted, the > saying went, so long as it was black. Not exactly true. Customers DID have choices in using telegrams for messages (as most people did until the 1960s when long distance costs dropped), as well as using their own phone systems internally within their company (as many large organizations did). Customers most certainly had the choice of various telephone sets and services for both residence and business to suit their needs, and they came in colors, too. > AT&T was once, arguably, the USA's most powerful company. It was a powerful company, but not necessarily the country's "most" powerful. Various companies have had great power over time. Years ago US Steel was #1. IBM once held great power. The railroads, such as the Pennsylvania and New York Central, were quite powerful. In later years the energy companies like Exxon had power. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 15:04:03 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: TD-Extra Site Map For some time now, I have been working and molding 'td-extra' to make it an all-purpose news service; if you will, a sort of "poor man's Yahoo" news service. I do not kid myself, there is a long way to go to complete the job. But here is where I am at to date, and I invite your review if what is done thus far. A dream I have had since I first got into computers and news groups now over twenty years ago was to create a total news service, with an emphasis on telecom/technology news. but not neglecting other news as well. Please tell me what you think thus far: (All these URLs begin with http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra then continue as shown below:) Audio Feedsweep entries: /AP.html Five minute radio news summary, updated hourly on the hour. /bbc.html Ongoing 24/7 news and features from BBC World Service. /TDNews.html Ongoing 24/7 news from three main sources: BBC, Voice of America (VOA) and National Public Radio (NPR) This URL automatically alternates between these three services, playing each for one or two hours, then moving on to another one. To see what it is on, and where it is going next, look at /radioschedule.html /Fednews.html This is news of interest to federal employees, 24/7 with AP news hourly on the hour, other features throughout the hour. Overnight and weekends, it is entirely AP News Radio. When combined with 'feedsweep', as the audio is playing, more than one hundred news headlines (all time stamped USA Central time) from various sources (mostly AP and Reuters) are displayed. The entire feedsweep display refreshes about once every two or three minutes, as new items are received. Click on a headline, read the story, click elsewhere, read another story. New items are posted at the top, and older items are scrolled off the bottom. All four of these pages use the feedsweep scripts, the only difference is *which audio* to which you to listen. If you don't want to listen to radio at all, then just click the button on the screen to turn it off or on. (the default is 'audio on' to which ever source you choose.) In addition to 'feedsweep' with /AP.html, /bbc.html, /TDNewsradio.html and /Fednews.html , other things to check out in td-extra are these: (like above, all begin with URL http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra then continue) /dailynews.html A *very short* summary of news headlines from various categories. /gaynews.html A collection of GLBT news headlines and links from various GLBT sources. /index.html The default starting page if you do not choose any specific newsfeed, audio, or news source. In other words you only type in http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra /internet-news.html Here I have USA Today headlines, abstracts and links, and United Press International headlines, abstracts and links. /more-news.html An extension of TELECOM Digest, with telecom headlines, abstracts and links. Additionally, United Press International reports on telecom, internet, technology, and networking. /nasa.html Video/audio from National Aeronautics and Space Administration. /nytimes.html A hundred or so headlines, abstracts and links to articles in the current day's New York Times from the National, International, Politics, Home, and Technology section of the paper. In addition, on the right side of the page, headlines, abstracts and links from the current issue of Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio News, Salon.com (internet magazine) and other sources. /miscellaneous.html Religious news service. The audio here is a 24/7 stream from Eternal Word Radio Network, however you can turn it off or switch to various other audio streams as desired. /radioschedule.html Is part of TDNews.html the program schedule. /operator-pat.html A bizzare collection of JPG files featuring your moderator's namesake. /othernews.html More headlines from USA Today, technology headlines from CNN.com and internet.com /technews.html Technology headlines and links from Forbes, EE Times, Infoworld.com, others. /supplement.html Features include full pages of the current issue of Christian Science Monitor, Atlantic Unbound (the internet version of Atlantic Monthly magazine), your local weather forecast (input your postal code), Today's Astronomy Picture, Today's Note from History, a few other things. /worldpress.html National and International News from an alternative viewpoint. =================================== And of course, you begin by reading the current issue of TELECOM Digest. I will agree I do not yet have it all organized as well as I should, and that is where I hope you all will help me in this beta-test with your comments and ideas. Remember: http://telecom-digest.org for starters, then go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra to read 'the rest of the news' each day, or listen to audio presentations of the news. For direct entry to the URL of your choice, just add /'feature name' to the URL, or make it your starting or 'home' page as desired. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ 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. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ Visit http://www.mstm.okstate.edu and take the next step in your career with a Master of Science in Telecommunications Management (MSTM) degree from Oklahoma State University (OSU). This 35 credit-hour interdisciplinary program is designed to give you the skills necessary to manage telecommunications networks, including data, video, and voice networks. The MSTM degree draws on the expertise of the OSU's College of Business Administration; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. The program has state-of-the-art lab facilities on the Stillwater and Tulsa campus offering hands-on learning to enhance the program curriculum. Classes are available in Stillwater, Tulsa, or through distance learning. Please contact Jay Boyington for additional information at 405-744-9000, mstm-osu@okstate.edu, or visit the MSTM web site at http://www.mstm.okstate.edu ************************ 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. 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 V24 #53 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Feb 5 23:58:39 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j164wc925258; Sat, 5 Feb 2005 23:58:39 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2005 23:58:39 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502060458.j164wc925258@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 V24 #54 TELECOM Digest Sat, 5 Feb 2005 23:59:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 54 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update (Canada) #467, February 4, 2005 (Angus TeleManagement) A Child Learns a Harsh Lesson in Politics (Monty Solomon) Motorola v550 - Picture Downloading?? (Pete L) Update Interval For E911 Records (William Warren) Phone Service Codes, AIM Messaging, etc. (dexter3) Re: British TV License (was America the Worst For Cell Rates) (Rob) Re: 1+Ten-Digits Mandatory in NYCity (Carl Moore) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (Barry Margolin) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (Robert Bonomi) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (DevilsPGD) Re: AT&T Hangs Up - and Few Are Sorry to Say Goodbye (Tony P.) Re: AT&T Inventions Fueled Tech Boom, And Its Own Fall (Lou Jahn) Re: Please Advise for VoIP Hardware (CWB) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 16:15:21 -0500 From: Angus TeleManagement Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #467, February 4, 2005 ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 467: February 4, 2004 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/en/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/ ** SPRINT CANADA: www.sprint.ca ** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/ ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Nortel Sues Former Executives ** MTS Sells Stake in Wireless Venture ** CRTC Sets ILEC Rates for Competitor Services ** 519 Running Short of Numbers ** Best Year in Wireless History ** Competitor Rates Set for Telebec, Telus Quebec ** SBC to Buy AT&T, Cut 12,800 Jobs ** FCI Plans VoIP Launch ** Atlantic Telecom Unions Merge ** Labour Board Reverses Telus Ruling ** Aastra Buying Former Voice-Data PBX Giant ** Spotwave Products Said 3G-Ready ** Restructuring Costs Cut BCE Profit ** Allstream Boosts MTS Profits ** Small ILEC Interconnection Rates Set ** CRTC Restarts Deferral Account Proceeding ** U.S. Report Sees Security Risks with IP Phones ============================================================ NORTEL SUES FORMER EXECUTIVES: Nortel Networks is suing three of its former executives--CEO Frank Dunn, CFO Doug Beatty and Controller Michael Gollogly--alleging they manipulated the company's financial reports in 2003. The suits seeks repayment of bonuses and stock units totaling $12.85 million. ** On February 1 Nortel released results showing a profit of US$59 million in the first quarter of 2004, and $16 million in the second quarter. MTS SELLS STAKE IN WIRELESS VENTURE: MTS Allstream has sold its one-third share of the broadband wireless joint venture launched at the end of 2003, to its former partners. Microcell Solutions (formerly Inukshuk Internet) and NR Communications have purchased equal shares for a total of $8.1 million in cash, MTS's total investment in the joint venture. (see Telecom Update #409, 423, 434, 436) ** The Joint Venture launched service in Richmond B.C. and Cumberland Ont. in March 2004, but no further deployments have been announced. CRTC SETS ILEC RATES FOR COMPETITOR SERVICES: The CRTC has released its long-awaited decision on pricing for digital services leased to competitors by incumbent telcos. ** Competitor Digital Network services (available to competitive carriers and registered resellers) now include not just customer access lines, but also lines linking other parts of competitor networks within specified large metropolitan areas. Lower-speed links (DS-0 and DS-1) are to be priced at cost plus 15%; higher-speed links will have larger markups. ** The telcos' revenue losses will be compensated from their deferral accounts. ** Call-Net says the changes will save it $25 million per year. MTS Allstream, which wanted bigger discounts on higher-speed services, is disappointed; it says "the CRTC has missed an excellent opportunity to promote full competition in the next-generation services that Canadians will want tomorrow." www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-6.htm 519 RUNNING SHORT OF NUMBERS: The Canadian Numbering Administrator says the latest survey of demand for numbers indicates that all the prefixes in the 519 Area Code will be assigned by April 2006, seven months prior to the currently scheduled introduction of a new area code, 226. The 519 Relief Planning Committee has asked the CRTC to approve several measures to avoid a number shortage, including moving the introduction of 226 up to June 3, 2006. www.cnac.ca/npa_data.htm#NPA519 BEST YEAR IN WIRELESS HISTORY: Statistics Canada says the Canadian wireless industry is "on track for its best year in history." In Q3 2004, 14 million wireless subscribers generated $2.5 billion in revenues and $753 million in operating profits -- up 18% and 39%, respectively, from Q3 2003. ** Wireline revenues remained flat, but cost-cutting raised wireline profits. ILECs had 2.6 million subscribers for high speed services in Q3 2004, up 28% from a year earlier. ** Capital investment grew year-over-year in both segments, by 26% in wireless and 21% in wireline. www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050203/d050203c.htm COMPETITOR RATES SET FOR TELEBEC, TELUS QUEBEC: CRTC Telecom Decision 2005-4 sets rates and terms for the introduction of competition in local telephone and payphone services in areas where Telebec or Telus Quebec is the incumbent telco. The decision creates a rate-banding structure similar to that used by larger telcos and sets the rates to be charged for services leased by competitors. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-4.htm SBC TO BUY AT&T, CUT 12,800 JOBS: SBC Communications has agreed to buy AT&T for US$16 billion. SBC says it expects to cut 12,800 jobs as a result of the deal. ** Published reports say that the smallest of the regional U.S. telcos, Denver-based Qwest, is trying to buy the second-largest U.S. LD carrier, MCI, for about $6 billion. Verizon and BellSouth may also make bids. FCI PLANS VoIP LAUNCH: Toronto-area CLEC FCI Broadband says it will begin offering VoIP-based telephone service to business and residential customers in June, under the brand name "iTalk." ATLANTIC TELECOM UNIONS MERGE: The Atlantic Communications and Technical Workers Union (AC&TWU) has voted to merge with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP). The AC&TWU represents Aliant employees in Nova Scotia, the CEP those in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and PEI. ** The two unions previously worked together as the Council of Atlantic Telecommunications Unions. LABOUR BOARD REVERSES TELUS RULING: The Canadian Industrial Relations Board has reversed its April 2004 order requiring Telus to enter binding arbitration with the Telecommunications Workers Union, and set aside strict rules limiting Telus from communicating with bargaining unit employees. (See Telecom Update #418, 421) Reasons for the decision will be published at a future date. AASTRA BUYING FORMER VOICE-DATA PBX GIANT: Dallas-based InteCom was one of the first companies to offer a high-end, integrated voice-data PBX. After being bought and sold by Wang, it merged with French PBX maker Matra Telecom, and is now owned by Belgian aerospace giant EADS. Now Toronto-based Aastra Technology is acquiring EADS' PBX business for $117 million. The deal is expected to close by the end of March. SPOTWAVE PRODUCTS SAID 3G-READY: Ottawa-based Spotwave Wireless says that its SpotCell products, which improve in-building coverage for wireless carriers, are now compatible with EVDO and UMTS next generation wireless technology. RESTRUCTURING COSTS CUT BCE PROFIT: BCE Inc's 2004 profits were down 13% from the previous year as a result of $772 million (after tax) in charges for restructuring, including reducing staff by 10%. Total revenue was up 2.4% to $19.19 billion from $18.74 billion. ALLSTREAM BOOSTS MTS PROFITS: Manitoba Telecom Services reports a 2004 profit of $305.1 million, up from $85.6 million in 2003. Total revenue jumped from $858 million to $1.52 billion. Most of the growth occurred in the fourth quarter, reflecting MTS's acquisition of Allstream. ** MTS TV now has 32,578 installed customers for its digital cable TV service. SMALL ILEC INTERCONNECTION RATES SET: The CRTC has revised the rates that the independent telcos charge long distance carriers to connect to their networks. The Commission says the new rates "move the small ILECs' rates closer to market- based interconnection rates." www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-3.htm CRTC RESTARTS DEFERRAL ACCOUNT PROCEEDING: The CRTC has set new timelines for submissions in its examination of how the incumbent telcos' deferral accounts are to be spent. The proceeding had been on hold, awaiting an Aliant filing that was submitted January 28. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Letters/2005/lt050202.htm www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2004/8678/aliant/050128.doc U.S. REPORT SEES SECURITY RISKS WITH IP PHONES: A new report from the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology warns government agencies and others to proceed with caution and carefully consider security risks when considering changing to VoIP-based phone systems. VoIP systems have "significant security issues," the report says. "Designing, deploying, and securely operating a VoIP network is a complex effort that requires careful preparation." http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-58/SP800-58- final.pdf ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-MAIL: editors@angustel.ca FAX: 905-686-2655 MAIL: TELECOM UPDATE Angus TeleManagement Group 8 Old Kingston Road Ajax, Ontario Canada L1T 2Z7 =========================================================== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE) TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two formats available: 1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web on the first business day of the week at www.angustel.ca 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave subject line and message area blank. We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail addresses to any third party. For more information, see www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html. =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2004 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone 905-686-5050 ext 500. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2005 12:16:53 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: A Child Learns a Harsh Lesson in Politics By JULIE SALAMON For adults, the fuss over a PBS children's television show featuring an animated bunny - and real lesbian mothers - was nothing new. But for Emma Riesner, 11, who was supposed to be a star of the now-controversial episode of "Postcards From Buster," what began as a participatory social studies lesson has become a harsh lesson in exclusionary politics. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/05/arts/television/05bust.html?ex=1265259600&en=3c8daf2784bd2764&ei=5090 NOTE: For more than a hundred headlines, story absracts and the full story behind them, you can read New York Times on line here each day with *no* login requirements, *no* cookies, *no* pop ups/unders, etc. Just the news. For NY Times, Christian Science Monitor and NPR News, check out http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html ------------------------------ From: peterlavington@hotmail.com (Pete L) Subject: Motorola v550 - Picture Downloading?? Date: 5 Feb 2005 01:43:34 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I know quite a bit about computers but phones are a bit of a mystery to me! We have just obtained a Motorola v550 and after wading through the manual Ihave mastered the art of working the thing. What I cannot seem to do is download pictures from it to my PC. I've been through all the manual and it doesn't mention it. I have a UBS cable and some software tools - which again don't seem to mention downloading pics. Surely it can be done? Question is how? Anybody out there ideas, please? Pete L ------------------------------ From: william_warren_notme@comcast.net Subject: Update interval for E911 Records Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2005 12:00:45 -0500 Pat, I have a customer who's using Vonage as his primary business line. The problem is that he moves it with him from job to job, many of them in buildings with no phone service that he's in charge of remodeling, and he's got a medical condition that might cause his coworkers to dial 911. He tells me that there's no problem with 911 calls because Vonage has a screen he uses to update his address. The question: how long do E911 updates take to propagate once submitted by Vonage? IIRC, it's at least a day, but I'm hoping I'm wrong. William (Remove "notme" from address for direct replies.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I was told it is more or less a few times daily, but my problem would be your first paragraph: 'many of them buildings with no phone service in them.' If that is the case, then *how* does he get the internet connection needed to use his VOIP line? Do you mean the buildings have no phone service but somehow *do* have cable installed for his VOIP line? Without cable modems or DSL lines, how is he going to use the VOIP? I am sure the person must have a cell phone; my suggestion would be to use in case of an emergency. Forward his VOIP line to his cell phone. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dexter3 Subject: Phone Service Codes, AIM Messaging, etc. Date: 4 Feb 2005 13:52:34 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I couldn't find where else to post this question, so please accept my apologies if there's a more appropriate place. I am very curious about how certain services are offered via phone codes. For example, there's a radio station in my area that allows free calls from Cingular subscribers by entering #630. In addition, I can send instant messages to my AOL instant messenger account by using a 6-digit code. So if I wanted to start my own business/service and utilize something like what AOL does with instant messages (you can text message a cell phone from AIM by entering something like +15555551212, and replies from the recipient phone are sent via a text message that hits a 6-digit code that delivers back to your screen name), how would I set up such a code? Do I need to work out a partnering agreement with each service provider? Or is this a standard business service offered by the providers for which I'd pay a small subscription fee? Any ideas on this would be much appreciated, as my web searches have turned up nothing on the subject. Thanks. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is done at the celco switch, like a speed dial. Ask the cellular company to set it up for you, but it won't come for free. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Rob Subject: Re: British TV License (was America the Worst For Cell Rates) Date: 4 Feb 2005 14:15:00 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com BobT wrote: > Well, we recently got a Philips 30 inch LCD HDTV, at BestBuy in > Chicago, which is NTSC/PAL. I suppose the greymarket label may apply > to it, but it wasn't the only one they were selling with this > capability. It was made in the EU, which is unusual in these days of > everything coming from China. The NTSC tuner also works fine in it, > although we rarely use it, since the OTA STB we use incorporates both > ATSC and NTSC. It's more than likely that because it was made in Europe it is both PAL and NTSC. Rob South Wales, UK ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 17:15:57 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: 1+Ten-Digits Mandatory in NYCity This topic was here two years ago. I'll rehash what I have in Maryland: each geographic area code (301 and 410) has an overlay area code (240 and 443 respectively) mixed in. The overlays put an end to 7D local calls (which now have to be dialed with 10D instead, although 1+10D will also work). And it was noted that 240 and 443 were in use in Washington DC area suburbs (area 301) as PREFIXES, so the nearby equipment could NOT jump to intercept when someone goofed and tried dialing a local call as 240-xxxx or 443-xxxx. Also recall that in the Chicago area, 847 is one of the area codes and is a prefix in what's now 773 area in city of Chicago, and since 7D was being allowed in the Chicago area, you had this scenario if you were in what's now 773 area: dial 1 847 abc defg for a local call to area code 847 or your call will complete to 847 abcd. ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Date: 4 Feb 2005 22:29:38 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , wrote: > I don't know, but presumably they would not have to have > their card with them. The biometric fingerprint scan provides > a positive ID and the store can just charge the purchase to > the cutomer's account on file. You could then leave the card > at home either on purpose or by mistake but still have no > problem at the checkout. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is reliability. It's one thing to accurately read a sequence of digits that can be validated by a checksum. It's something else to accurately match a scanned image to an original scan. I know it's not as simple as that, but they also have to account for orientation, dirt, scars, etc. I'm sure that with a small sample there's effectively a 100% match confidence. But as the population to match against grows, how reliable is the system? There are no checksums associated with fingerprints. It's easy to say that fingerprints are unique, so they make a perfect identifier. But interpreting fingerprints is not always so perfect. We had a classic and high-profile example up here in Oregon recently when a lawyer was detained for months as a terrorist on the basis of an incorrectly matched fingerprint. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Organization: Symantec Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 19:27:35 -0500 In article , George Mitchell wrote: > It's easy to forget that, once your fingerprint has been scanned into > the store's system, now this impossible-to-forget, impossible-to-forge > identification is stored on their system, ready to be replayed at will > by anyone with access to their computer. Anyone with that level of access can probably just insert charges directly into the database, there's no need to go to the fingerprint scanners. Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2005 02:20:55 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Robert Bonomi wrote: >> In article : >>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not understand one thing: If >>> people have already been verified as to their ability and >>> willingness to pay for their groceries through their credit card >>> and their personal identification has been verified in much the same >>> way by the credit card people, then *why* would people want to go one >>> step further by enrolling in 'Pay by Touch'? Is this intended as one >>> way to 'save them time' by not having to sign a credit card slip? In >>> other words, touch your thumb or finger somewhere rather than taking >>> a couple seconds to sign a slip of paper? Now, if the grocery people >>> had set up their own credit system *in place of Visa/MC* by using a >>> thumb/finger print, I can see where that might be useful, but >>> otherwise, why bother? PAT] >> Gee, I dunno. >> Like maybe you _don't_ have to have your card, *or* card number, with >> you. >> Like, no hassles if the mag stripe doesn't read. >> Like, no opportunity for a dishonest cashier to memorize the number >> off your card. >> Like, maybe, *nobody*else* can buy anything with that card number at >> that store. i.e., if it's a 'pay by touch' card, "no touchee, no >> tickee", and if the fingerprint _doesn't_ match, "no sale". >> You're right, I can't see why anybody would *consider* bothering to do >> something like that. >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, let's see ... maybe I was caught >> shoplifting at a grocery store in Iraq or Iran and the Taliban chopped >> off all my fingers as part of the punishment. > Strawman -- not a _bad_ strawman despite the stretch, but still a > strawman. > Then, obviously, you would not _elect_ to use their *optional* system, > would you? And then there's no problem for you, is there? > Or didn't you notice that it is a _voluntary_participation_ system? >> And one of the terms for accepting MC/Visa cards required by >> many/most/all of the card issuers is that the store is *not* >> permitted to demand any other form of identification. The card is to >> stand on its own regards ID, *if the holder is using it for >> payment*. So your 'no touch, no sale' idea is not possible in many >> stores. > When the store has a prior *signed*, verified, validated, directive > from the card-holder on file that says "do not allow any charges > against this card number unless the fingerprint matches the one I have > provided on file" the store most certainly *can* demand the > fingerprint. > Agreed, the store cannot do it on it's _own_ initiative. However, that > is simply not the situation with regard to a _voluntary_participation_ > program such as the one under discussion. >> I can see where fingerprints might be >> used in lieu of an actual plastic but I do not think it can be a >> requirement *in addition to* plastic. > Making clear that you did not bother to *read* the original article. > A) this is not a 'required' system. > B) the fingerprint _is_ used *INSTEAD* of the plastic. >> And when a clerk is caught making an unauthorized sale using someone >> else's card the answer is simple also. Fire and presecute them. PAT] > "Simple"??? *snicker* No, make that <*GUFFAW*> > First off, that _assumes_ that the clerk got caught. > Second, 'unauthorized sales' can make for a _gawdaful_ mess of > problems for the actual card-holder. Just imagine that you're going > on vacation. And have made sure that your card has a _zero_ balance > outstanding. You get to your destination, and offer the card to pay > for your hotel room, and get told "card not accepted -- over credit > limit". Where are you, the wife, and kids, going to sleep tonight? > Getting an 'unauthorized sale' off your account can be *difficult*. > Consider a telephone order (one where the merchant asked for, and > _got_ the 'security code'), that was actually _delivered_ to YOUR > address, and signed for in your name. > I have relatives who have been the (almost) victim of *precisely* > that. They got wind of things shortly before the order was to be > delivered, and law enforcement was waiting when the delivery truck > came by. A guy _outside_ the house pretended to be the 'addressee', > and signed for the package. Whereupon the cops pounced. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh, I dunno about this last part, where > one supposedly has a hard time catching the clerk 'in the > act'. Walmart does okay on it. The stores here in southeast Kansas > employ 'shoppers' for just that purpose, *GUFFAW* [[ sigh. I'm repeating myself. ]] The ones who get 'caught in the act' are the bozos, incompetents, and amateurs. Consider, for example: Scenario: A card fails the mag-stripe 'read' -- i.e. it doesn't "swipe". The cashier gets the card, to manually key in the number. (the cashier also *memorizes* the 16 digits of the card, and the 3 digit 'security' code. This does _not_ take much time -- how fast can you commit 2 phone numbers to memory? ) The cashier returns the card to the customer. The *completely*correct* transaction is completed. Just _what_ is the 'shopper' going to report to management? Besides the fact that the cashier did their job "right"? Even a security camera recording the cashier's every move isn't going to show anything wrong. Got any idea how many times a day that *that* scenario actually occurs for any given cashier? Sould you believe 'several times per *hour*'? "Capturing" _one_ card a day is a relatively trivial memorization task. Two or three would _not_ be a problem for most people. That's enough to make for a nice 'supplemental' income. Scenario, part II: After the cashier gets off-shift, and has _left_the_premises_, s/he writes down the previously memorized numbers. Then, that week-end, say, s/he meets up with "A. Mafiosi", who pays say, $20 for each card number with security code; $50 if the "name" that goes with the card is also available, and $150 if the _address_ is also provided. (Maybe it's a regular customer that often pays by check, but used a card _this_ time.) Scenario, part III: Our friend, "A. Mafiosi", sits on the purchased info for a couple of weeks -- hell, maybe a couple of -months-. Then he turns a crew loose to make a bunch of fraudulent purchases, using card numbers that came from several _different_ places, at *different* times. *HOW* IN THE H*LL does the victim (or _anybody_ else, for that matter) associate _those_ "unauthorized charges" with the specific transaction where the card number was 'memorized'? The *store* with the 'crooked' cashier has no inkling that anything is wrong. Not even any reason to so much as -suspect- that there's a problem. The credit-card company has no idea *where* or *when* the compromise occurred. Given _enough_ separate card numbers 'stolen', and *enough* computer processing power/time (it takes a *LOT* of "cpu cycles" to do this kind of 'pattern recognition' -- the specialty is called "cluster analysis" ), they _will_ find all sorts of 'patterns' in the valid charges. The odds of identifying the _actual_ pattern of transactions where the compromise occurred is *NOT* good. (It'd be one thing if this was the _only_ set of fraudulent transactions, but where they're mixed in with fraudulent transactions from "forty 'leven" *other* sources, the correlation problem becomes nearly impossible.) Admittedly, the more data you have to look at, the better the chances of finding 'correlations'. Unfortunately, the computing requirements for the required kind of analysis grow _faster_ than the data. It's somewhere between a 'square' and 'cube' relationship. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The 'ones who get caught are bozos and amateurs' ... okay, so all the 19-20 year old cashiers at Walmart are Harvard graduates with great memories who can glance ONCE at a sixteen digit number and recall it exactly a few hours later when they meet with Mr. Mafiosi. They won't be able to use a pen and paper to write it down, the 'shopper' will see them do that. The 'shopper' can tell management "the cashier claimed the card *you gave me as a control to be used* would not swipe, and she had to do it manually, and she wrote the number/name down on a scrap of paper in the process." Or, did this brilliant young cashier actually -- in her three second glance at the card as she punched the numbers in -- memorize the number for delivery a few hours later, especially when there is no context to -- or repetitive sequence in the number. I mean, the shopper did not give her card number 5555-1212-1212-1212 or an 'easy to glance at and memorize' number. And whether the shopper-spy is the customer standing in front of the cashier right now, or the next one in line dumping her crap all over the conveyor belt, trying to push and shove her way to the head of the line is anyone's guess. Most store cashiers in places like Walmart are in fact the bozos and amateurs you mention. And since they are the front line, handling the cash, the registers, etc, 'shoppers' blending in with the crowd of customers pushing and shoving up to the register manage to do quite well at catching them. PAT] ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 23:15:56 -0700 Organization: Octanews In message George Mitchell wrote: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As long as the fingerprints accessed >> some internal charge system (in lieu of or in addition to) a signature >> on file, I see no problem with it. PAT] > It's easy to forget that, once your fingerprint has been scanned into > the store's system, now this impossible-to-forget, impossible-to-forge > identification is stored on their system, ready to be replayed at will > by anyone with access to their computer. So? ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: AT&T Hangs Up - and Few Are Sorry to Say Goodbye Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2005 09:55:09 -0500 In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com says: > RamaChandra Raju Bhupathiraju wrote: >> Tue Feb 1, 6:31 AM ET Op/Ed - USATODAY.com >> ... It was an overbearing monopoly before its breakup ... > No it was not. It's monopoly status did not result from anything > AT&T did, but rather from edicts from the state and federal > govts explicitly defining what AT&T could do. Note that AT&T > was also forbidden to act in many other markets, including those > it had once developed products (ie motion picture sound systems). > AT&T was strictly limited in what it could do and what it could > charge; people forget that there was much it could NOT do. Bell System management had decided early on that a stronger regulator environment and regular profit were preferable to having to battle CLEC operations of the time. Of course Vail was able to absorb most of the competition which led to Bell becoming a monopoly in a vast majority of the country. Otherwise you were served by GTE, yet a smaller monopoly. >> Not since its early days has it been much of an innovator. > Most of our present day communication system owes itself to > innovations AT&T continued to make until divesture, not only in > technology, but also telecom administration. The fact that it derived regular profit was why AT&T could embark on research of the scale that it did. >> For much of its history, AT&T was the quintessential monopoly. It >> had no competition for local service, no competition for long- >> distance service and offered people few reasons to like it. Its >> customers could choose whatever color telephone they wanted, the >> saying went, so long as it was black. > Not exactly true. Customers DID have choices in using telegrams for > messages (as most people did until the 1960s when long distance costs > dropped), as well as using their own phone systems internally within > their company (as many large organizations did). Customers most > certainly had the choice of various telephone sets and services for > both residence and business to suit their needs, and they came in > colors, too. How likely was it for larger business to be using anything other than Western Electric gear. In most cases, those companies didn't even own their communication system but instead leased them from Bell. Who cared that internal traffic wasn't carried on local loop, Bell was still extracting revenue from that leasing fees which were probably as excessive then as costs for maintenance on a G3i are now. >> AT&T was once, arguably, the USA's most powerful company. > It was a powerful company, but not necessarily the country's "most" > powerful. Various companies have had great power over time. Years > ago US Steel was #1. IBM once held great power. The railroads, such > as the Pennsylvania and New York Central, were quite powerful. In > later years the energy companies like Exxon had power. AT&T was powerful in that it could bring the country to its knees had it wanted. By the time just after World War II governments had started to realize it. I'd place AT&T on the same tier as US Steel, IBM, Standard Oil, etc. ------------------------------ From: Lou Jahn Subject: Re: AT&T Inventions Fueled Tech Boom, And Its Own Fall Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2005 17:53:25 -0500 Organization: Info Partners Corp. In Vol 2 Issue 50: From: sufaud Subject: AT&T Inventions Fueled Tech Boom, And Its Own Fall Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 06:15:55 +0000 The referenced article stated: "When I run into old Bell Labs people the first thing they say is, 'Can you believe what has happened?' " says Robert Lucky, a scientist and executive who worked at Bell Labs for 31 years until 1992. Even at the time of the breakup in 1984, he says, "the feeling was that we had a network that was the envy of the world. No one could duplicate it." I was basically a lobbyist for IBM covering Network Products (mostly ROLM issues) when IBM announced that is was selling off their ROLM PBX operation. The following factual history will position AT&T's problems and why they failed themselves and stockholders. A good friend who then jointly owned a market research firm named Northern Business Information (NBI) told me he received numerous calls from AT&T senior executives about his prior research reports upon IBM's sell-off announcement. Why you ask? Well when IBM announced the Siemens deal they stated the total ROLM operations included Sales, Support and HQs operations contained 12,000 employees. Well at that point in time AT&T had a "staff headcount" of slightly over 17,000 covering their then three major PBX brands. Of course, they had more many when counting Sales, Manufacturing and Field support. What ticked off the senior executives in regard to NBI reports was the fact that internal AT&T staff managers always told the senior folks that NBI had missed this function and that function when issuing a referenced report. The simple fact was AT&T spent more on planning than IBM/ROLM did on running their operation. It was a headquarter operation that allowed inflated staff headcount and the lack of truthful internal presentation of the marketplace dynamics that lead to AT&Ts actual demise. Those readers who lived in New Jersey may remember the "many" AT&T headcount reduction announcements for the 3-5 years after the 1984 deregulation. Most were coupled with rifts of 50,000 to 100,000 at a time. Just think of the disruption such consistent headquarters turnover has on any business operation. I was always amazed the NJ's economy did not fall to the ground, but no, in spite of such job shedding NJs economy continued to grow until the late 1990's. Another factoid: AT&T as a total corporation had about 990,000 employees in 1981-82. In 1987 the seven ROBCs and AT&T had only about 725,000 employees. While one might argue firms like MCI and SPRINT were doing some of the former AT&T effort. That total headcount of the RBOCs and AT&T continued to fall well into the 1990s. So while AT&T did indeed have a magnificent network, AT&T's inflated cost structure due to HQ overhead, simply brought it to its knees. It just took time for the real problems to register. Lou Jahn Info Partners Corp 609-823-6602 609-823-2202 Fax www.InfoPartnersCorp.com ------------------------------ From: CWB Subject: Re: Please Advise for VoIP Hardware Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 01:56:02 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com What are the phone systems? Make, model, etc?? Personally I would not try VoIP over DSL for more than two calls ... each call will take 80k or so on average...if your DSL is only 384k outbound, that doesnt take many calls to stop your outbound traffic on the data side! Fakhar wrote in message news:telecom24.53.7@telecom-digest.org: > Hi, > I was wondering about a VoIP hardware setup that we can setup in > our organization. The Organization set up is as follows. > 1: Different Branches within on city and also other cities. > 2: Within a single city, We have DSL Link at each location from > 3: Across the city the ISP are changed. > We have independent PABXs at each location. What we want is a solution > that we can integrate with the existing PABXs. Using the VoIP > Hardware we should be able to use the normal telephone sets and make > call within the organization (in the same city or inter-city call). > Please advice me any good and inexpensive solution. > Take Care, > Fakhar ------------------------------ 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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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #54 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Feb 7 00:45:55 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j175jsu06668; Mon, 7 Feb 2005 00:45:55 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 00:45:55 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502070545.j175jsu06668@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 V24 #55 TELECOM Digest Mon, 7 Feb 2005 00:45:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 55 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson One in 20 People May Have a Mobile Phone Illness (Marcus Didius Falco) Drivers on Cell Phones Kill Thousands, Snarl Traffic (Marcus D. Falco) Old Party-Line Arrangements (Paul Coxwell) Historical Significant Internet Communications Technology (laconsults) Need Recommendations For Economy Pay as You Go Cell Phones (kimshapiro) Any Recommendations re: Economy Internet Phone Service (Anna) Satellite Radio Technology (AES) Re: British TV License (was America the Worst For Cell Rates) (BobT) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (AES) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (Robert Bonomi) Re: Update Interval For E911 Records (William Warren) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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, 06 Feb 2005 21:44:39 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: One in 20 People May Have a Mobile Phone Illness http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-1463100,00.html The Sunday Times - Ireland Richard Oakley UP TO 5% of the population may be suffering ill health as a result of radiation from mobile phones and masts, according to a group of Irish doctors fighting for official acceptance of the problem. The Irish Doctors Environmental Association (IDEA) is urging the government to adopt a cautious approach to the technology, and to ensure that people who claim to have related illnesses are monitored. In a study to be released this week, the doctors will say they have identified 16 people whom they believe have been adversely affected by radiation. The medical report concludes that seemingly sensitive individuals suffer devastating effects from exposure to electromagnetic radiation. According to the IDEA s co-founders Philip Michael and Elizabeth Cullen, more people are reporting severe health effects linked to radiation. The survey outlines symptoms that include fatigue, confusion, tingling, temperature changes, dizziness and difficulty sleeping . It estimates that between 1% and 5% of the population could be sensitive to radiation and experience illness as a result. The IDEA says further research is necessary. It wants special screens for the 16 people in the study, to see if their conditions improve when radiation is blocked. The association's claims will be strongly refuted by the industry and government. The Department of Communications said recently that there was no valid scientific research to suggest that the use of mobile phones could be bad for children. Their comments followed advice by a leading British expert that their use by pre-teens should be limited. The government has also said that tests on mobile-phone base stations in the country found that none exceeded internationally recognised guidelines on radiation levels. Mobile-phone operators also dismiss claims that radiation from masts or phones could be harmful. Vodafone said: There is no evidence of any impact on human health when exposure levels are below internationally recognised guidelines . Despite these reassurances there are growing numbers of people reporting symptoms, like Dubliners Helen McCrory of Clontarf and Enda Dalton of Raheny. McCrory blames nearby mobile phone masts for her illness and said she can t leave her house because masts are everywhere now . I can t sleep, my head pounds, my skin burns and I get a painful pumping sensation from head to toe. It has got so bad that I feel suicidal, she said. Dalton claims he has suffered from radiation since 1985 and has installed a screened room in his house to get relief. There are loads of people like me who are sensitive to radiation and our symptoms are real. We need the entire system shut down until a thorough investigation is carried out. We know the radiation is below recommended guidelines, but these guidelines are not correct because we still suffer, he said. John Ryan, a farmer in Tipperary, claims he has suffered illness since allowing a Vodafone mast to be installed on his land. He has offered to return the money he received to have the mast taken down but Vodafone wants him to pay extra. The mast has been shown to adhere to safe radiation levels but Ryan is adamant that it gives him headaches and dizzy spells. Vodafone does not accept that the mast is responsible for Ryan s symptoms. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,549,00.html Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Times Newspapers. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 21:40:53 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Drivers on Cell Phones Kill Thousands, Snarl Traffic http://www.livescience.com/technology/050201_cell_danger.html Drivers on Cell Phones Kill Thousands, Snarl Traffic By Robert Roy Britt LiveScience Senior Writer Finally, empirical proof you can blame chatty 20-somethings for stop-and-go traffic on the way to work. A new study confirms that the reaction time of cell phone users slows dramatically, increasing the risk of accidents and tying up traffic in general, and when young adults use cell phones while driving, they're as bad as sleepy septuagenarians. "If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cell phone, their reaction times are the same as a 70-year-old driver who is not using a cell phone," said University of Utah psychology professor David Strayer. "It's like instantly aging a large number of drivers." The study was announced today and is detailed in winter issue of the quarterly journal Human Factors. Traffic jams and death Cell phone distraction causes 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries in the United States every year, according to the journal's publisher, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. The reason is now obvious: Behind the Statistics Are Cell Phones Really So Dangerous? Drivers talking on cell phones were 18 percent slower to react to brake lights, the new study found. In a minor bright note, they also kept a 12 percent greater following distance. But they also took 17 percent longer to regain the speed they lost when they braked. That frustrates everyone. "Once drivers on cell phones hit the brakes, it takes them longer to get back into the normal flow of traffic," Strayer said. "The net result is they are impeding the overall flow of traffic." Strayer and his colleagues have been down this road before. In 2001, they found that even hands-free cell phone use distracted drivers. In 2003 they revealed a reason: Drivers look but don't see, because they're distracted by the conversation. The scientists also found previously that chatty motorists are less adept than drunken drivers with blood alcohol levels exceeding 0.08. Separate research last year at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign supported the conclusion that hands-free cell phone use causes driver distraction. "With younger adults, everything got worse," said Arthur Kramer, who led the Illinois study. "Both young adults and older adults tended to show deficits in performance. They made more errors in detecting important changes and they took longer to react to the changes." The impaired reactions involved seconds, not just fractions of a second, so stopping distances increased by car-lengths. Older drivers more cautious The latest study used high-tech simulators. It included people aged 18 to 25 and another group aged 65 to 74. Elderly drivers were slower to react when talking on the phone, too. The simulations uncovered a twofold increase in the number of rear-end collisions by drivers using cell phones. Older drivers seem to be more cautious overall, however. "Older drivers were slightly less likely to get into accidents than younger drivers," Strayer said. "They tend to have a greater following distance. Their reactions are impaired, but they are driving so cautiously they were less likely to smash into somebody." But in real life, he added, older drivers are significantly more likely to be rear-ended because of their slow speed. Other studies in the journal found: * Telephone numbers presented by automated voice systems compete for drivers' attention to a far greater extent than when the driver sees the same information presented on a display. * Interruptions to driving, such as answering a call, are likely to be more dangerous if they occur during maneuvers like merging to exit a freeway. * Things could get worse. Wireless Internet, speech recognition systems and e-mail could all be even more distracting. Are Cell Phones Really So Dangerous? Posted Feb. 2, 2005 Several readers wrote to LiveScience questioning whether cell phones were really so bad for drivers. Here is some additional information that helps illuminate the death statistic. The estimates of annual deaths reported in this week's article (2,600) may well be low. The number, for U.S. deaths related to drivers using cell phones, comes from a 2002 study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis (HCRA). Researchers then estimated that the use of cell phones by drivers caused approximately 2,600 deaths. Because data on cell phone use by motorists are limited, the range of uncertainty is wide, those researchers said. The estimate of fatalities in that HCRA report ranged between 800 and 8,000. Importantly, the researchers noted (in 2002) that increasing cell phone use could be expected to cause the annual death estimate to rise. The 2002 estimate, for example, was up from an estimate of 1,000 deaths in the year 2000. Logic suggests the number -- though just an estimate -- could be much higher in 2005. The estimates are based largely on mathematical models, but they are not without basis. In 2001 in California, for example, "at least 4,699 reported accidents were blamed on drivers using cell phones, and those crashes killed 31 people and injured 2,786," according to an analysis by The Los Angeles Times. That number can expected to be low, because of the lack of formal procedures for noting cell phone use as a cause of a traffic accident. The Times also noted a 1997 study of Canadian drivers "who agreed to have their cell phone records scrutinized found that the risk of an accident was four times greater while a driver was using the phone." Each year, about 42,000 people die in U.S. auto accidents. Here is how the new University of Utah simulations were conducted: Participants in the simulator used dashboard instruments, steering wheel and brake and gas pedals from a Ford Crown Victoria sedan, surrounded by three screens showing freeway scenes and traffic, including a "pace car" that intermittently hit its brakes 32 times as it appeared to drive in front of study participants. If a participant failed to hit their own brakes, they eventually would rear-end the pace car. Each participant drove four simulated 10-mile freeway trips lasting about 10 minutes each, talking on a cell phone with a research assistant during half the trips and driving without talking the other half. Only hands-free phones were used to eliminate any possible distraction from manipulating a hand-held cell phone. Thirty times each second, the simulator measured the participants' driving speed, following distance and -- if applicable -- how long it took them to hit the brakes and how long it took them to regain speed. -- RRB ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Old Party-Line Arrangements Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 11:14:23 -0000 I'm interested in getting some more detailed historical information on the way party-lines were arranged years ago. Here in Britain with our relatively small area and comparatively high density of population, a two-way line was the norm with ringing applied to tip or ring and bells connected from one side of the line to a local ground. Outgoing calls used a ground-start method, with subscribers having to press a button to obtain dialtone. (As even local calls were charged, this method enabled the C.O. to determine the originating party at the outset.) I've gleaned from various sources, including some old Digest posts, that in the U.S. there were various methods employed, including up to 10-way party lines with the last digit of the number selecting tip or ring and the appropriate ringing cadence. I've also seen references to tuned ringers with ringing applied at a different frequency for each party, and to party-line numbers having an additional digit (coded as a letter) added the end of the regular number. When it comes to outgoing calls once DDD and CAMA had arrived, I've seen references to different ringer wiring combinations to enable the equipment to test for originating party, and also in the earlier days of DDD that in some places (maybe small independents?) callers had to dial an ID digit (e.g. 1x + NPA + number). Can anybody elaborate and explain in more detail the arrangements which were commonly used, both in the Bell System and in the larger independents? Thanks, Paul ------------------------------ From: laconsults@aol.com Subject: Historical Significant Internet Communications Technology:PSTN Date: 6 Feb 2005 05:06:56 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Historical Significant Internet Communications Technology:PSTN quality NextGen TCP/IP Seattle News, Washington (WA), WA - Feb 3, 2005 http://www.getseattle.com/articles/...5783&;cp=308754 Historical Significant Internet Communications Technology BreakThrough: Immediate PSTN tranmsmission quality Next Generations TCP, not needing cumbersome QoS/ MPLS etc: Visit http://iwxchange.com to freely download for research purposes. Microsoft, Cisco, IETF included will be very surprised 'good old ' Internet's underlying TCP/IP protocol itself can now more successfully do for PSTN quality VoIP / Multimedia instead of current QoS/MPLS cumbersome attempts. Dr Bob Kahn had somehow perhaps foreseen something like this in his recent interview: ' ... something far bigger than existing Internet may just as easily again emerge ... just like Internet itself originally ... from totally unexpected quarters ... Here is our NextGenTCP for all Windows platforms, 9x/ME/NT/Win2000/WinXP/Win2003, ready for immediate production network uses even for this 1st version. Visit http://iwxchange.com to download free. You can easily set this up for production use on your home/ office LAN PCs. Its guaranteed SAFE not affecting systems in anyway whastsoever. Install this in your LAN/ WAN/ Proprietary Internet & immediately working corporate wide/ worldwide within minutes with immediate end2end PSTN transmissions quality among all nodes locations, not needing multimillion pounds & 6 months timeframe QOS/ MPLS etc for PSTN quality VoIP/ VideoConference, This software can be freely distributed widely with 3 months free license automatic grant , expires 1 May 2005. NextGenTCP is like most softwares AOL ... etc, after someone install 1st time, even an arts educated office girl watching can repeat the steps install & use it on her own. Right attached the concise instructions for this 1st version Here is the only instructions most people ever needs, to convert their LAN/ WAN corporate networks into PSTN quality within minutes: Download attached files in C directory, then click on winpkflt_lite to install. To run NextGenTCP bring up DOS Command Prompt & type : C:\ NextGenTCP.exe timeout pause-interval ( Timeout values in ms eg 25 , 50 etc , set this value to the WAN/ LAN most distant locations' uncongested one way latency ie slightly more than half the uncongested ping's round trip's RTT ). Typical values of NextGenTCP.exe 15 50 works well on most systems. Run NextGenTCP from command prompt DOS box in each & every PCs within your LAN &/or WAN for immediate PSTN quality UDP traffics VoIP/ VideoConference/ Movie Streams within your corporate network within minutes, not needing multi-million pounds & 6 months timeline QOS/ MPLS planning. Movie streaning/ audio file streaming tested working first time on LAN PCs (you may want to attach 2 plug & play IP phones to test). Note: make sure your PCs' Ethernet settings are 10mbs half duplex, NOT full duplex (which turns off CSMA/ CD & introduces excessive collision latencies like 150ms. Anyway full duplex setting is usually allowed only where there are only a single PC connected to a single device) http://www.getseattle.com/articles/...783&;cp=308754 ------------------------------ From: kimshapiro100@yahoo.com Subject: Need recommendations for economy "pay as you go" cell phones ... Date: 6 Feb 2005 08:59:16 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Need recommendations for economy "pay as you go" cell phones. This is for a 10 year old child in California -- to be used ONLY in EMERGENCY situations. My child is probably going to use between 5 and 30 minutes a month. I think there is no point subscribing to a plan. Any recommendations for a "pay as you go" economy cell phone ? (like prepaid cards ?) Does anyone have any stories, suggestions, recommendations ? Any companies to avoid ? Any good or bad experiences ? Which company ? How much does the phone and the calls cost ? Where is the best place to buy it from ? Thanks in advance for your input. Kim [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not know if you have Alltel where you are at, but their 'Smart Pay' service is very common around here in Independence, and many parents use it to stay in touch with their children. The advance deposit you pay Alltel never runs out, but their rates for use are not all that cheap; I think Smart Pay charges fifty cents per minute of use on local calls; a dollar per minute on long distance calls; but the credit runs until it is all used. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Anna Subject: Any Recommendations re: Economy Internet Phone Service? Date: 6 Feb 2005 09:14:49 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I have heard of Vonage, Skype etc ? Which is most economical ? We make between 6 and 12 hours of long distance calls per month.(mostly US) What service/plan is best for us ? Any companies to avoid ? Are all calls equally clear in all these companies? in terms of static? Which company's quality / customer service is best ? Also what headset / Internet phone should we get ?. Would like to get a headset/phone that gives clear reception. Prefer to avoid the static on the line? Any help would be highly appreciated. Thanks, Anna [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I personally use Vonage, which works with any telephone you wish to plug in and use. I am hearing rumors that their customer service is slipping a little; that may be due to the *huge* increase in their customer base in recent months. PAT] ------------------------------ From: AES Subject: Satellite Radio Technology Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 13:43:07 -0800 Organization: Stanford University Haven't gotten clear answers yet from the alt.radio.satellite NG on a couple of very fundamental questions re satellite radio technology (Sirius or XM) so I'll venture to ask them here: 1) If I purchase a subscription to one of these, does that mean _one_ activated receiver per subscription? (Or can I be using one receiver say on the freeway and my family be using a couple of others at different locations in the house, on one basic monthly subscription.) 2) Same question, but if I have one subscription and one activated receiver, can I pull multiple stations (or channels?) out of that receiver (using multiple "tuners" or "decoders" or whatever they're called) and feed these different audio signals into different rooms or headphones or audio channels? Thanks for any info, or pointers to neutral and reliable sources of info (which doesn't necessarily seem to include the Sirius or XM web pages). ------------------------------ From: BobT Subject: Re: British TV License (was America the Worst For Cell Rates) Organization: EasyNews, UseNet made Easy! Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 13:51:29 GMT On 4 Feb 2005 14:15:00 -0800, Rob wrote: > It's more than likely that because it was made in Europe it is both PAL > and NTSC. > Rob > South Wales, UK Yes, I thought of that too. It certainly seems reasonable, anyway. ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 10:03:07 EST Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers Do the Paying In a message dated 2/5/05 11:04:34 PM Central Standard Time, editor@telecom-digest.org writes: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The 'ones who get caught are bozos and > amateurs' ... okay, so all the 19-20 year old cashiers at Walmart are > Harvard graduates with great memories who can glance ONCE at a sixteen > digit number and recall it exactly a few hours later when they meet > with Mr. Mafiosi. Is there some relationship between memorization skills and being a Harvard graduate (or attaining any other educational level)? When I was in high school, one of the students had memorized the entire telephone directory of the small town where I lived -- about half the size of Independence -- and could memorize almost anything else with ease. But he was a very poor student and barely capable, if at all, at making his way in life. I'm not sure he even graduated from high school, and if he did it would have been the result of a social promotion. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ From: AES Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 08:40:41 -0800 Organization: Stanford University In article , jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: > It's easy to say that fingerprints are unique, so they make a perfect > identifier. But interpreting fingerprints is not always so perfect. We > had a classic and high-profile example up here in Oregon recently when > a lawyer was detained for months as a terrorist on the basis of an > incorrectly matched fingerprint. And high-tech tools that are used by law-enforcement and security agencies but not generally employed and thus tested and validated by researchers in real scientific fields should always be treated as highly suspect. As examples, fingerprint analysis has considerable validity, but not nearly as much as law enforcement agencies would have you believe; and polygraphy ("lie detectors") is total voodoo junk science. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What you say is very true. What do you think about the newest gimmick, DNA-printing? Police seem to be making a big thing out of building up their DNA files at this time. They *claim* it is much more reliable than fingerprinting, and they *claim* one's DNA is absolutely unique, but they said that about fingerprints at one time also. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 17:23:19 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Robert Bonomi wrote: > In article , Robert Bonomi > wrote: >>> In article : >>>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not understand one thing: If >>>> people have already been verified as to their ability and >>>> willingness to pay for their groceries through their credit card >>>> and their personal identification has been verified in much the same >>>> way by the credit card people, then *why* would people want to go one >>>> step further by enrolling in 'Pay by Touch'? Is this intended as one >>>> way to 'save them time' by not having to sign a credit card slip? In >>>> other words, touch your thumb or finger somewhere rather than taking >>>> a couple seconds to sign a slip of paper? Now, if the grocery people >>>> had set up their own credit system *in place of Visa/MC* by using a >>>> thumb/finger print, I can see where that might be useful, but >>>> otherwise, why bother? PAT] >>> Gee, I dunno. >>> Like maybe you _don't_ have to have your card, *or* card number, with >>> you. >>> Like, no hassles if the mag stripe doesn't read. >>> Like, no opportunity for a dishonest cashier to memorize the number >>> off your card. >>> Like, maybe, *nobody*else* can buy anything with that card number at >>> that store. i.e., if it's a 'pay by touch' card, "no touchee, no >>> tickee", and if the fingerprint _doesn't_ match, "no sale". >>> You're right, I can't see why anybody would *consider* bothering to do >>> something like that. >>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, let's see ... maybe I was caught >>> shoplifting at a grocery store in Iraq or Iran and the Taliban chopped >>> off all my fingers as part of the punishment. >> Strawman -- not a _bad_ strawman despite the stretch, but still a >> strawman. >> Then, obviously, you would not _elect_ to use their *optional* system, >> would you? And then there's no problem for you, is there? >> Or didn't you notice that it is a _voluntary_participation_ system? >>> And one of the terms for accepting MC/Visa cards required by >>> many/most/all of the card issuers is that the store is *not* >>> permitted to demand any other form of identification. The card is to >>> stand on its own regards ID, *if the holder is using it for >>> payment*. So your 'no touch, no sale' idea is not possible in many >>> stores. >> When the store has a prior *signed*, verified, validated, directive >> from the card-holder on file that says "do not allow any charges >> against this card number unless the fingerprint matches the one I have >> provided on file" the store most certainly *can* demand the >> fingerprint. >> Agreed, the store cannot do it on it's _own_ initiative. However, that >> is simply not the situation with regard to a _voluntary_participation_ >> program such as the one under discussion. >>> I can see where fingerprints might be >>> used in lieu of an actual plastic but I do not think it can be a >>> requirement *in addition to* plastic. >> Making clear that you did not bother to *read* the original article. >> A) this is not a 'required' system. >> B) the fingerprint _is_ used *INSTEAD* of the plastic. >>> And when a clerk is caught making an unauthorized sale using someone >>> else's card the answer is simple also. Fire and presecute them. PAT] >> "Simple"??? *snicker* No, make that <*GUFFAW*> >> First off, that _assumes_ that the clerk got caught. >> Second, 'unauthorized sales' can make for a _gawdaful_ mess of >> problems for the actual card-holder. Just imagine that you're going >> on vacation. And have made sure that your card has a _zero_ balance >> outstanding. You get to your destination, and offer the card to pay >> for your hotel room, and get told "card not accepted -- over credit >> limit". Where are you, the wife, and kids, going to sleep tonight? >> Getting an 'unauthorized sale' off your account can be *difficult*. >> Consider a telephone order (one where the merchant asked for, and >> _got_ the 'security code'), that was actually _delivered_ to YOUR >> address, and signed for in your name. >> I have relatives who have been the (almost) victim of *precisely* >> that. They got wind of things shortly before the order was to be >> delivered, and law enforcement was waiting when the delivery truck >> came by. A guy _outside_ the house pretended to be the 'addressee', >> and signed for the package. Whereupon the cops pounced. >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh, I dunno about this last part, where >> one supposedly has a hard time catching the clerk 'in the >> act'. Walmart does okay on it. The stores here in southeast Kansas >> employ 'shoppers' for just that purpose, > *GUFFAW* [[ sigh. I'm repeating myself. ]] > The ones who get 'caught in the act' are the bozos, incompetents, and > amateurs. > Consider, for example: > Scenario: > A card fails the mag-stripe 'read' -- i.e. it doesn't "swipe". > The cashier gets the card, to manually key in the number. > (the cashier also *memorizes* the 16 digits of the card, and the 3 digit > 'security' code. This does _not_ take much time -- how fast can you > commit 2 phone numbers to memory? ) > The cashier returns the card to the customer. > The *completely*correct* transaction is completed. > Just _what_ is the 'shopper' going to report to management? Besides the > fact that the cashier did their job "right"? Even a security camera > recording the cashier's every move isn't going to show anything wrong. > Got any idea how many times a day that *that* scenario actually occurs > for any given cashier? Sould you believe 'several times per *hour*'? > "Capturing" _one_ card a day is a relatively trivial memorization > task. Two or three would _not_ be a problem for most people. That's >enough to make for a nice 'supplemental' income. > Scenario, part II: > After the cashier gets off-shift, and has _left_the_premises_, s/he > writes down the previously memorized numbers. Then, that week-end, say, > s/he meets up with "A. Mafiosi", who pays say, $20 for each card number > with security code; $50 if the "name" that goes with the card is also > available, and $150 if the _address_ is also provided. (Maybe it's a > regular customer that often pays by check, but used a card _this_ time.) > Scenario, part III: > Our friend, "A. Mafiosi", sits on the purchased info for a couple of > weeks -- hell, maybe a couple of -months-. Then he turns a crew loose > to make a bunch of fraudulent purchases, using card numbers that came > from several _different_ places, at *different* times. > *HOW* IN THE H*LL does the victim (or _anybody_ else, for that matter) > associate _those_ "unauthorized charges" with the specific transaction > where the card number was 'memorized'? > The *store* with the 'crooked' cashier has no inkling that anything is > wrong. Not even any reason to so much as -suspect- that there's a > problem. > The credit-card company has no idea *where* or *when* the compromise > occurred. Given _enough_ separate card numbers 'stolen', and *enough* > computer processing power/time (it takes a *LOT* of "cpu cycles" to do > this kind of 'pattern recognition' -- the specialty is called "cluster > analysis" ), they _will_ find all sorts of 'patterns' in the valid > charges. The odds of identifying the _actual_ pattern of transactions > where the compromise occurred is *NOT* good. (It'd be one thing if > this was the _only_ set of fraudulent transactions, but where they're > mixed in with fraudulent transactions from "forty 'leven" *other* > sources, the correlation problem becomes nearly impossible.) > Admittedly, the more data you have to look at, the better the chances > of finding 'correlations'. Unfortunately, the computing requirements > for the required kind of analysis grow _faster_ than the data. It's > somewhere between a 'square' and 'cube' relationship. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The 'ones who get caught are bozos and > amateurs' ... okay, so all the 19-20 year old cashiers at Walmart are > Harvard graduates with great memories who can glance ONCE at a sixteen > digit number and recall it exactly a few hours later when they meet > with Mr. Mafiosi. "Harvard graduate" has *NOTHING* to do with the ability to memorize and recall two telephone numbers. The quality of your strawmen is slipping. In point of *proven* fact -- as in many, *many* college/university psych department studies -- that most people *can* do such memorizations with only a relatively SMALL amount of training; as in, only a few *hours*. *literally* the only thing it takes is some practice. Working with _numbers_. > They won't be able to use a pen and paper to write > it down, the 'shopper' will see them do that. The 'shopper' can tell > management "the cashier claimed the card *you gave me as a control >to be used* would not swipe, and she had to do it manually, and she You chose Walmart as the example. You obviously *don't* know how things work there. The *customer* swipes the card. The *customer* (as well as the cashier) gets a visible indicator _if_ the swipe succeeds/fails. If the swipe did not fail, the customer gets prompted if they want any cash back, or to approve the charge amount as shown. There's *NOT* a d*mn thing the cashier can do to affect _that_ part of the process. > wrote the number/name down on a scrap of paper in the process." Note well that I specified that the cashier did _memorize_ the number. There's *NO* 'wrote it down on a scrap of paper' to report. There's also *NO* reason for the cashier to attempt to 'fake' a "didn't swipe" for a card that does swipe. he/she just waits for one to come along that legitimately _fails_ the swipe. There are *so* many valid 'targets of opportunity' every day -- far more than they are likely to be able to retain memorization of -- that there is nothing to be gained by 'fabricating' opportunities. > did this brilliant young cashier actually -- in her three second > glance at the card as she punched the numbers in -- memorize the > number for delivery a few hours later, Despite the sarcastic tone, you've got it *exactly* right -- It doesn't take 'brilliance' -- virtually anybody who could work successfully (postulating they were given the normal training for the position) as, for example, an 'accounting clerk', a 'bank teller', or a 'motel night manager'. is "smart enough", *AND* has the memorization capacity, to do this. It is *NOT* all that difficult. Again, *all* it takes is some time/effort/ practice to develop that particular skill. > especially when there is no > context to -- or repetitive sequence in the number. I mean, the shopper > did not give her card number 5555-1212-1212-1212 or an 'easy to glance > at and memorize' number. > And whether the shopper-spy is the customer > standing in front of the cashier right now, or the next one in line > dumping her crap all over the conveyor belt, trying to push and shove > her way to the head of the line is anyone's guess. Which makes exactly _what_ difference, anyway? After all, there is *nothing* "out of the ordinary" to see/report. They had the customer try to swipe the card several times. Then they took the card, held it up beside their screen, while they looked at the number, keyed it in, and double-checked what was on their display against what was on the card. Everything is _exactly_ as a 'good' cashier would do it. This one is just "thinking" a bit more than the average cashier. > Most store cashiers > in places like Walmart are in fact the bozos and amateurs you mention. Yup. "Most" *is* the operative word. One 'smart' crooked one, however, can easily do more damage than a -thousand- of the 'dumb' ones. And the odds of catching that 'smart' one are at least a thousand times worse than catching the dumb one. > And since they are the front line, handling the cash, the registers, > etc, 'shoppers' blending in with the crowd of customers pushing and > shoving up to the register manage to do quite well at catching them. Oh, yeah, the *stupid* ones get caught. I won't dispute *that*. The 'smart' ones, nobody even so much as suspects they're there. A few years ago, there was a ring that got caught (from the *other* end -- fencing the goods purchased with the stolen card numbers) that had used a scheme very similar to what I laid out. *ONE* of the cashiers involved had made, as I recall, $160,000+ from the card-numbers that she had carried out of the store 'in her head' -- she'd been doing it for more than FIVE YEARS, without being suspected of anything. The store involved was "shocked"; management was quoted as saying "She was one of our _best_ cashiers." It _can_ happen. It *does* happen. The voluntary-participation "Pay by Touch" system deprives the 'smart' crooked cashier -- as well as the 'dumb' one -- of the opportunity to 'steal' a card number. But, you're right, I can't imagine why anyone would *consider* participating in that program. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 16:09:44 -0500 From: William Warren Subject: Re: Update Interval For E911 Records william_warren_notme@comcast.net wrote: > Pat, > I have a customer who's using Vonage as his primary business line. > The problem is that he moves it with him from job to job, many of them > in buildings with no phone service that he's in charge of remodeling, > and he's got a medical condition that might cause his coworkers to > dial 911. > He tells me that there's no problem with 911 calls because Vonage has > a screen he uses to update his address. > The question: how long do E911 updates take to propagate once submitted > by Vonage? IIRC, it's at least a day, but I'm hoping I'm wrong. > William > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I was told it is more or less a few > times daily, but my problem would be your first paragraph: 'many of > them buildings with no phone service in them.' If that is the case, > then *how* does he get the internet connection needed to use his VOIP > line? Do you mean the buildings have no phone service but somehow *do* > have cable installed for his VOIP line? Without cable modems or DSL > lines, how is he going to use the VOIP? I am sure the person must > have a cell phone; my suggestion would be to use in case of an > emergency. Forward his VOIP line to his cell phone. PAT] Pat, He's in the business of replacing existing phones and wire with new equipment, and old key systems with PBX's and dial tone provided by a CLEC. Suffice to say that experience has shown there are usually interruptions to the dial tone during that kind of work, and in any event he wants to have "his" number available for calls when in the buildings out-of-hours. He's almost always able to find a data connection, either by hooking up to an existing customer in the building or by finding a wifi hot spot, using a Pringles antenna. The benefit of having the VoIP line is that he can test a new PBX with "live" dialtone when the company's numbers get fouled up during LNP switching, and that happens a lot. He also likes to able to "transfer" his calls to his house without having to go back to an office at the end of the day (I don't know how Vonage does that, but he has two Linksys boxes, one with him and one at home). Anyway, the point is he makes it work somehow, and I'd like to be sure that a 911 call via the Vonage box would show the correct address. William (Remove "nonoise" for direct replies.) ------------------------------ 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. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ Visit http://www.mstm.okstate.edu and take the next step in your career with a Master of Science in Telecommunications Management (MSTM) degree from Oklahoma State University (OSU). This 35 credit-hour interdisciplinary program is designed to give you the skills necessary to manage telecommunications networks, including data, video, and voice networks. The MSTM degree draws on the expertise of the OSU's College of Business Administration; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. The program has state-of-the-art lab facilities on the Stillwater and Tulsa campus offering hands-on learning to enhance the program curriculum. Classes are available in Stillwater, Tulsa, or through distance learning. Please contact Jay Boyington for additional information at 405-744-9000, mstm-osu@okstate.edu, or visit the MSTM web site at http://www.mstm.okstate.edu ************************ 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. 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 V24 #55 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Feb 7 19:07:48 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j1807l515058; Mon, 7 Feb 2005 19:07:48 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 19:07:48 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502080007.j1807l515058@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 V24 #56 TELECOM Digest Mon, 7 Feb 2005 19:08:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 56 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson CBS, CSTV Hope Idea Clicks/Webcast Deal Seen as a Springboard (Solomon) TiVo Report Shows Super Bowl Ads Got Huge Audience; Sexy,Funny (Solomon) Former AOL Employee Pleads Guilty in Spam Case (Lisa Minter) Hackers, Virus Writers Target Mobile Phones (Lisa Minter) EBay to Cut Fees, Expand Customer Support (Lisa Minter) MCI Mum on Qwest Bid (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) I'm Searching For a Budget Pipe Prefere oc3. (Globeadue) Healthwatch: Deep Throat's Secret (and Health ...) (Danny Burstein) Digital Cellular Sound Quality (Jeffrey Mattox) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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, 7 Feb 2005 01:44:02 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: CBS, CSTV Hope Idea Clicks/Webcast Deal Seen as a Springboard By Bill Griffith | January 30, 2005 These days, it seems everything related to TV and broadband (1) comes back to the Super Bowl in one way or another and (2) represents someone trying to sell us something. Take Thursday's announcement that College Sports TV has cut a deal with CBS's Sportsline.com to provide streaming video (webcasts) of out-of-market games from the upcoming NCAA men's basketball tournament. Cost for the service will be $19.95. Early-bird fans (also known as "office pool participants") who sign up by Feb. 8 can get the service for half-price. The webcasts will include all games not shown in your area by CBS through the regional semifinals. http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2005/01/30/cbs_cstv_hope_idea_clicks/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 09:39:29 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo Report Shows Super Bowl Ads Got Huge Audience; Sexy, Funny TiVo Report Shows Super Bowl Ads Got Huge Audience; Sexy, Funny Ads Still Drew Most Enthusiastic Viewership - Feb 7, 2005 08:32 AM (PR Newswire) McCartney's Tamer Halftime Show Keeps More Viewers Tuned In Compared to Last Year's Hip Hop Halftime and 'Wardrobe Malfunction' ALVISO, Calif., Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) said this year's Super Bowl and the commercials within it got the typical huge global audience as in years past. But despite efforts to scale back tastelessness and sex in the game and advertising, the commercials that pushed the envelope the furthest still drew the most enthusiastic viewership, according to TiVo's annual audience measurement of the big game. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=46716865 http://www.tivo.com/5.3.6_sb.asp TiVo Super Bowl viewership http://www.tivo.com/biggame ------------------------------ Date: 07 Feb 2005 09:23:25 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Former AOL Employee Pleads Guilty in Spam Case Jason Smathers, 24, admitted to conspiracy and interstate trafficking of stolen property, charges that could carry a maximum prison sentence of 24 months under federal guidelines. The federal case charged that Smathers, of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, stole the screen names from AOL, a Time Warner Inc. unit, and sold it to an Internet marketer. The marketer paid $28,000 for the names, then allegedly used them to promote his online gambling operation while also selling them to other spammers, according to prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who last year refused to accept the guilty plea because he had a "technical" question, set a sentencing date of May 20. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily.^^ *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 07 Feb 2005 09:25:31 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Hackers, Virus Writers Target Mobile Phones Hackers can scoop up calendars, contact lists and other sensitive information, or turn a mobile phone into a bugging device to secretly listen in on conversations. Mobile viruses that spread through the air can disable phones completely. Few mobile phone users have been seriously harmed yet by security breaches. But experts say serious threats are likely to emerge as mobile phones evolve into tiny computers capable of communicating in a variety of ways. "There is a very large pool of vulnerable devices already in use, and inevitably this will lead to issues with the owners of those devices," said Adam Laurie, a U.K. security expert who has uncovered several security holes. "Problems like this are only just beginning to surface," Laurie said in an e-mail interview. Because mobile providers like Cingular maintain tight control over their networks, users have so far largely avoided the spam, spyware and other hassles that plague computer users. But that doesn't mean they're immune from other threats. Laurie demonstrated last spring that he could copy the calendars and contact lists of 46 British lawmakers and turn their phones into bugging devices that could pick up nearby conversation, simply by hanging around Parliament and waiting for victims to walk by. Laurie was able to tap into their phones using Bluetooth, a short-range wireless technology included on many new phones that allows users to zap each other their contact information, talk through their car stereos and sync up with computers without a cable. LIKE THE COMMON COLD. Bluetooth also allows viruses to spread through the air like a common cold. The Cabir virus that surfaced last June is relatively nontoxic, antivirus firms say. It requires the user to click "OK" before it installs itself, it doesn't harm the phones it infects, and it can only spread to one other phone until the host phone is rebooted. Cabir has managed to spread to nine countries so far, paving the way for other, more harmful viruses. Early computer viruses did little more than flood networks with unwanted traffic, but more recent viruses like Bagle enable criminals to secretly take control of infected computers and use them to commit identity theft or extort protection money from online businesses. That pattern is emerging with mobile viruses as well. A virus called Skulls disables phone applications and replaces their icons with a skull-and-crossbones symbol, while another disguised as a video game called Mosquito automatically places calls to toll numbers, according to descriptions by several antivirus firms. Antivirus analysts at Kaspersky Labs in Russia are currently investigating a report that Lexus car stereos have been infected with a Bluetooth virus. "In the future we can come across viruses for nearly any complicated device. Imagine your fridge throwing food in the microwave oven," Kaspersky spokeswoman Olga Kobzareva said in an e-mail interview. Some experts say mobile viruses aren't likely to become as widespread as computer viruses because no single operating system predominates, unlike the 90 percent of personal computers that run some version of Microsoft Windows. Only 1.8 percent of the 164 million mobile phones sold in the last three months use Symbian, the operating system targeted by virus writers, said Greg Mastoras, a senior security analyst at the anti-virus company Sophos. "We don't think it's a big issue to think about right now," he said. Nokia and Sony Ericsson offer patches for phones that have proven susceptible to viruses and Bluetooth hacks, and industry engineers now check for security holes before releasing new products. Users can install antivirus software on their phones, or simply place Bluetooth in "hidden" mode so it is not visible to other devices. "We're trying to design the future in a way that will prevent as many hacks as possible," said Joe Farren, a spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, a Washington-based trade group. But new headaches are likely to emerge as the industry consolidates around one or two operating systems and adds Wi-Fi Internet capability, said Tristan Henderson, a research assistant professor at Dartmouth College's Center for Mobile computing. "Once we have cell phones that are connected to the Internet, someone sitting in China or Russia or anywhere can attack a cell phone in New York, and that will be fun," he said. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 07 Feb 2005 09:30:10 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: E-Bay to Cut Fees, Expand Customer Support NEW YORK (Reuters) - Online auctioneer eBay Inc. will lower the fees it charges to list items for sale, the company said on Sunday, as it also announced other changes in pricing and customer service policies in response to user feedback. In a message posted to eBay's Web site, North America President Bill Cobb said that, effective at midnight, eBay.com and eBay.ca will lower the minimum insertion fees for auction-style listings and fixed price categories, among others, from 30 cents to 25 cents. The company says it's standing by its move to hike final value fees on store inventory format listings, but it will credit $15.95 in May to all sellers who operated an eBay Store in April. In addition, eBay plans to shut down most of its automated email responses within the next 90 days, so users will get a response from a company representative. Automated emails will only be used to acknowledge receipt of spam or policy violation reports, according to Cobb's statement. The company is also expanding telephone support to provide access to all eBay Stores owners beginning April 1, the statement said. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 12:48:08 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: MCI Mum on Qwest Bid Telecom dailyLead from USTA February 7, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19228&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * MCI mum on Qwest bid BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Telecom landscape may be poised for shift * Satellite subscriptions rise 14% as cable growth stagnates * South Korean telcos chart ambitious course * Time Warner would dominate L.A. if it wins joint bid for Adelphia USTA SPOTLIGHT * 3G Wireless with WiMAX and Wi-Fi -- Now in the Telecom Bookstore EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * New VoIP security group formed REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Spreading the message about file sharing * Former WorldCom CFO poised to testify in trial of former boss Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19228&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Globeadue Subject: I'm Searching For a Budget Pipe Pefere oc3. Date: 7 Feb 2005 13:05:01 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I'm looking for some sorta fat pipe for my systems. I'm just a hobbyist(gaming, family network and servers). What I have are some very very nice OC3 voip sequencers sq-1000's from cetacean that I'd like to get running. I'm in Georgia and if anyone knows a way for non business user to get a line under $200/m I'd love to hear about it. ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Healthwatch: Deep Throat's Secret (and Health...) Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 03:49:56 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC ob telecom: The Watergate burglers were caught planting bugs and wiretaps... ------------- From an article by John "cancer on the presidency" Dean in Sunday's LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-sources6feb06,1,828254.story "I have little doubt that one of my former Nixon White House colleagues is history's best-known anonymous source - Deep Throat. But I'll be damned if I can figure out exactly which one. "We'll all know one day very soon, however. Bob Woodward, a reporter on the team that covered the Watergate story, has advised his executive editor at the Washington Post that Throat is ill. And Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of the Post and one of the few people to whom Woodward confided his source's identity, has publicly acknowledged that he has written Throat's obituary. "I suspect that Throat's identity may prove a cautionary tale for all news gatherers. Stay tuned. _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Times change, but the more they change, the more things stay the same. In Nixon's presidency, FOIA had not yet become law -- I don't think -- and the importance of people like 'Throat' could not be underestimated, and surely, he brought down Nixon, even though others fell as well, and wound up going to jail in Tricky Dick's place. A full year and a half after ACLU and others filed suit under FOIA (in 2003) asking for information on Bush's role in the torture and sexual humiliation of Iraqi guys, the court ruled they could have the paperwork they were seeking, although with so many redactions I think there must have been a big sale on black tip marker pens. Finally, on December 20, 2004 ACLU got the paperwork they had been demanding; they released it a day or two later to the net and elsewhere. Page after page, of the hundreds of pages received had redactions; there are literally *thousands* of instances of violations of the Geneva Conven- tion regarding treatment and mistreatment of prisoners; it was all much more widespread than anyone suspected; it all came down from very high sources in the Pentagon, and ultimatly from Bush. Check out the http://aclu.org pages under 'Prisoner Torture' for more details, or also look at http://onward-christian-soldiers.n3.net . Already, a lot of the little guys (military, etc) have already wound up in jail or court-martialled, etc for 'just following orders'. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 03:48:31 -0600 From: Jeffrey Mattox Subject: Digital Cellular Sound Quality [Please withhold my email address.] My old analog cell phone, a Nokia 918, has a cheap, grandfathered rate plan, so I'm not likely to upgrade unless Cingular rips out their analog equipment. Get this: the phone's logo is "Ameritech"! Whenever I have a conversation with a modern cell phone user, it's digital-ness is highly obvious because the sound quality is so bad. I assumed digital meant higher quality. Even today, digital is called "advanced technology." To wit: Digital phones use advanced technology that converts voices into numeric code, which is then transmitted to the phone and decoded. ... Reception, sound quality, battery life, and security features are superior to analog. http://www.staples.com/content/Article/C-D/CellularWireless.asp Well, it not very advanced from my perspective -- it's a step backward. And to say that digital "sound quality .. [is] superior" is a lie. Because of the low sample rate (is it 8 KHz?), it's not possible to reconstruct perfect speech. Is this situation ever likely to be improved? Why isn't it possible to sample at a higher rate, compress the result in the phone for transmission, and then decompress at the base (and do the same thing for the reverse channel)? Are all digital cellular phones the same? Aren't many people bothered by the horrible sound quality? Jeff ------------------------------ 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. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ Visit http://www.mstm.okstate.edu and take the next step in your career with a Master of Science in Telecommunications Management (MSTM) degree from Oklahoma State University (OSU). This 35 credit-hour interdisciplinary program is designed to give you the skills necessary to manage telecommunications networks, including data, video, and voice networks. The MSTM degree draws on the expertise of the OSU's College of Business Administration; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. The program has state-of-the-art lab facilities on the Stillwater and Tulsa campus offering hands-on learning to enhance the program curriculum. Classes are available in Stillwater, Tulsa, or through distance learning. Please contact Jay Boyington for additional information at 405-744-9000, mstm-osu@okstate.edu, or visit the MSTM web site at http://www.mstm.okstate.edu ************************ 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. 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 V24 #56 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Feb 7 20:22:46 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j181MkK16032; Mon, 7 Feb 2005 20:22:46 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 20:22:46 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502080122.j181MkK16032@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 V24 #57 TELECOM Digest Mon, 7 Feb 2005 20:23:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 57 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (jsw@ivgate.omahug.org) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (John Levine) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (William Warren) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (George Kinder) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (Lisa Hancock) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (Joseph) Re: AT&T Inventions Fueled Tech Boom, And Its Own Fall (Lisa Hancock) Re: Update Interval for E911 Records (Isaiah Beard) Re: Satellite Radio Technology (Isaiah Beard) Re: A Child Learns a Harsh Lesson in Politics (Lisa Hancock) Re: America the Worst For Cell Rates and Plans (cjmebox-telecomdigest) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (David Clayton) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (Graeme Thomas) Re: Satellite Radio Technology (Carl Navarro) Re: Any Recommendations re: Economy Internet Phone Service (Ron Chapman) Re: Motorola v550 - Picture Downloading?? (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: Need Recommendations for Economy "Pay as You Go" Cell Phone (Joseph) Re: Any Recommendations re: Economy Internet Phone Service (John Levine) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 14:51:04 CST From: jsw@ivgate.omahug.org Reply-To: jsw@ivgate.omahug.org > When it comes to outgoing calls once DDD and CAMA had arrived, I've > seen references to different ringer wiring combinations to enable the > equipment to test for originating party, and also in the earlier days > of DDD that in some places (maybe small independents?) callers had to > dial an ID digit (e.g. 1x + NPA + number). The only method I'm aware of for transparently identifying the calling party was used by Ma Bell on two-party fully-selective lines. This used the ringer coils in a balanced bridge configuration to ground to indicate when the "tip" party was off hook. For four-party and eight-party lines, the usual practice was to intercept and send the call first to a live operator to identify the party. > Can anybody elaborate and explain in more detail the arrangements which > were commonly used, both in the Bell System and in the larger > independents? When speaking in context of Ma Bell, in metropolitan areas, two-party and four-party fully-selective (no party heard another party's ring) lines were at times offered. Ringdown voltage was applied between one side of the pair and ground on two-party lines. On four-party lines a small cold-cathode tube was used as a rectifier to discriminate the positive or negative ringdown pulses sent on the appropriate side of the pair. Eight party semi-selective lines were offered in rural areas, and in some cases until quite recently. This was similar to the four-party fully-selective method but employed a "one long" or "two short" ring cadence to identify the called party. The indies would more commonly use frequency-selective ringers to ring only the bell of the called party's phones. ------------------------------ Date: 7 Feb 2005 06:08:45 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I've gleaned from various sources, including some old Digest posts, > that in the U.S. there were various methods employed, including up to > 10-way party lines with the last digit of the number selecting tip or > ring and the appropriate ringing cadence. I've also seen references > to tuned ringers with ringing applied at a different frequency for > each party, Yup, they did all that. Tuned ringers, various combinations of ringing tip/ring vs. tip/ground, and ring patterns. > and to party-line numbers having an additional digit > (coded as a letter) added the end of the regular number. Only on manual exchanges where you saw a lot of numbers like 1234J, or it was just spelled out, e.g. my mother's phone number in Bell territory in Vermont in the 1930s and 40s was six two ring three. (Not that she ever needed to use it since the operator knew her and would reroute calls, e.g., "your mother's playing bridge at the Cliffords' tonight, shall I ring her there?") On older dial exchanges the last digit typically picked the ring pattern, on later ones it was all programmable by wiring. > When it comes to outgoing calls once DDD and CAMA had arrived, I've > seen references to different ringer wiring combinations to enable the > equipment to test for originating party, and also in the earlier days > of DDD that in some places (maybe small independents?) callers had to > dial an ID digit (e.g. 1x + NPA + number). In the 1970s, I knew people at non-Bell independents who used circle digits, the extra digit to identify the calling phone. There was also a surprising amount of ONI, operators cutting in to ask for your number, even on private lines in Bell territory before ANI was universal. Relatives who run a small independent told me that party line billing was a huge hassle since kids would lie to the ONI operator and they spent a lot of time getting the calls reassigned to the right parties. Regards, John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My grandmother told me once that when she was a middle age lady (she lived in Coffeyville on Southwestern Bell; they of course had manual [and party line] service in those days), the system allowed the phone of the person for whom the call was intended to ring normally; others who were on the party line would only get a feeble 'tick' from the bell clapper. She said the old biddies on the party line would set the phone in a galvanized laundry tub, so even if they were sitting out on the front porch on a hot summer night, they would all hear that (amplified by the galvanized tub) 'tick sound', and the front-porch ladies would quietly slip inside and try to listen/spy on the neighbor who had received the phone call, to find out who had called and what they were talking about. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 08:06:46 -0500 From: William Warren Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Paul Coxwell wrote: > I'm interested in getting some more detailed historical information on > the way party-lines were arranged years ago. > Here in Britain with our relatively small area and comparatively high > density of population, a two-way line was the norm with ringing > applied to tip or ring and bells connected from one side of the line > to a local ground. Outgoing calls used a ground-start method, with > subscribers having to press a button to obtain dialtone. (As even > local calls were charged, this method enabled the C.O. to determine > the originating party at the outset.) In the Bell System, ground start was never used for residential service. On two-party lines, the "tip" party would be wired with the ringer (and, on occasion, a portion of the hybrid coil) connected between the tip lead and ground, without an isolating capacitor, to allow the CO to determine the billing party. If there was current flow to ground, then the "tip" party was making the call. I worked in a 5XB office once: IIRC, tips vs. ring id was made by the originating marker, but all other billing decisions were handled in the mainframes after the paper tape rolls had been sent out for offline processing. I never worked on multi-line phones; they weren't available in my area when I was in the CO. However, I remember that we had a few "legacy" four-party lines, and I think (Again, IIRC) that billing was handled by CAMA operators asking for the originating number during billable calls. [snip] William (Remove "nonoise" for direct replies) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 08:51:16 -0500 From: George Kinder Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Paul Coxwell wrote: > I'm interested in getting some more detailed historical information on > the way party-lines were arranged years ago. > Can anybody elaborate and explain in more detail the arrangements > which were commonly used, both in the Bell System and in the larger > independents? > Thanks, > Paul Paul, I once lived in an area (1955) in West Virginia where pairs were scarce. We were on a ten party line. Five ringers were tip-to-ground and five were ring-to-ground. They used coded ringing to alert the subscriber. (long-long, long-short, short-long, short short, etc.) To get rid of the annoying rings I built a decoder out of old pinball machine parts to screen the rings and connect my ringer only when my code rang. I do not recall any correlation between telephone number and ring cadence. Eventually we got a 4 party line. On this one they used two phones on each side of the line but used a small gas tube and a superimposed dc voltage to select the appropriate ringer. I don't remember the details. George ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Date: 7 Feb 2005 09:48:56 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Paul Coxwell wrote: > Can anybody elaborate and explain in more detail the arrangements > which were commonly used, both in the Bell System and in the larger > independents? It is important to note that arrangements varied greatly from place to place depending on the date, local conditions and the telephone company that first installed the network. Party lines were common even in high density cities for many years of telephone service; they saved about 35% of the phone cost which enabled people of modest means to afford a telephone. In the 1950s, party lines were mandatory in some places until the phone company could catch up with heavy demand for new service. Party lines didn't only share the cost of running a line to the subscriber, but also central office costs as well since it reduced traffic peaks. Central offices had to be expanded before mandatory party service could end. Indeed, a major motion picture comedy was made about two people fighting over use of a party line they were forced to get. In some US states party line service is no longer offered at all. In other states it is too existing customers only. I don't know if any state allows new customers to get such service. The savings today are only about 5%. As mentioned, technical arrangements varies. In cities, it was 2-party service, Bell using arrangements of tip and ring and ground (someone else can explain better) so only the desired party was rung. In later years, each subscriber had their own number and it was transparent to the caller. The independents often used frequency ringing. For very rural service, more than 4 parties would share a line and ringing cadences were required. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 10:11:07 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Sun, 6 Feb 2005 11:14:23 -0000, Paul Coxwell wrote: > I've gleaned from various sources, including some old Digest posts, > that in the U.S. there were various methods employed, including up to > 10-way party lines with the last digit of the number selecting tip or > ring and the appropriate ringing cadence. This is generally the case only where the equipment used was "terminal per line" as opposed to "terminal per station." In terminal per line set ups the last digit always indicated the cadence of the ringing with 10 possible combinations for both tip and ring side of the line so that it might be possible to have 5 different ringing cadences depending on what your number is e.g. the last digit of 1 on the ring side of the line you'd have a single ring, 2 two rings, 3 one long and a short, 4 one long a short and a long, and 5 being five short rings. Repeated for the remaining digits on the tip side. In terminal per station you could have any ringing combination but it was determined at the central office (switch.) > I've also seen references > to tuned ringers with ringing applied at a different frequency for > each party, and to party-line numbers having an additional digit > (coded as a letter) added the end of the regular number. Mostly used by independents rather than by the Bell System. > When it comes to outgoing calls once DDD and CAMA had arrived, I've > seen references to different ringer wiring combinations to enable the > equipment to test for originating party, and also in the earlier days > of DDD that in some places (maybe small independents?) callers had to > dial an ID digit (e.g. 1x + NPA + number). On two-party lines whether it was tip or ring determined whether either party would be charged and you could use AMA. With four party you used CAMA and an operator would come on the line to ask what your number was. Independents used "ID" digit. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: AT&T Inventions Fueled Tech Boom, And Its Own Fall Date: 7 Feb 2005 10:06:10 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Lou Jahn wrote: > The simple fact was AT&T spent more on planning than IBM/ROLM > did on running their operation. It was a headquarter operation that > allowed inflated staff headcount and the lack of truthful internal > presentation of the marketplace dynamics that lead to AT&Ts actual > demise. I wouldn't call this a "lack of truthful internals" or "inflated cost". I would call it the problems of transition as technology changed. As a monopoly in electro-mechanical technology for the U.S., it made sense for AT&T have a strong staff for planning. This is what made the U.S. telephone network so reliable and robust compared to the rest of the world. Both internal and customer equipment were tested, re-test, field tested extensive before going out the door. AT&T had very few "Edsels" over its history. But with the coming of widespread electronics coupled with divesture coupled with customer owned equipment, this staff was simply no longer necessary. IBM went through the same thing. In its heydey, IBM computers were not a commodity, they needed difficult set up and programming so that a computer with 128K of memory could serve an entire moderate enterprise, 1 Meg for a big enterprise. Youngsters today with unlimited cheap gigabytes of RAM memory simply can't imagine what it was like to run complex business problems on such limited hardware. Anyway, that took a lot of people. As technology and the marketplace changed, customers could do their work right out of the box and those people were no longer necessary. IBM went through painful layoffs as well. In a sense, both at IBM and AT&T the technologists automated themselves out of a job. Cheap fibre-optic cable eliminated the need for detailed math analysis of calling and traffic patterns to optimize cable construction; cheap computers eliminated the need to precisely control the content of every bit at all times. Some critics blame the mgmt of AT&T and IBM for allowing the companies to be top-heavy. I don't agree. At the time the people were hired, there was a need for their skills. At the time they were hired, they still had a to support a network antiquated by today's standards. It's really like this in any industry. The use of new technology in electronics and materials allows my automobile to run further between maintenance work -- this has cut jobs for car mechanics. Also, cars last longer, cutting jobs for auto makers. (The flip side is that we drive much much more nowadays which offsets those savings.) > Those readers who lived in New Jersey may remember the "many" AT&T > headcount reduction announcements for the 3-5 years after the 1984 > deregulation. Most were coupled with rifts of 50,000 to 100,000 at a > time. Just think of the disruption such consistent headquarters > turnover has on any business operation. I was always amazed the NJ's > economy did not fall to the ground, but no, in spite of such job > shedding NJs economy continued to grow until the late 1990's. > Another factoid: AT&T as a total corporation had about 990,000 > employees in 1981-82. In 1987 the seven ROBCs and AT&T had only about > 725,000 employees. While one might argue firms like MCI and SPRINT > were doing some of the former AT&T effort. That total headcount of the > RBOCs and AT&T continued to fall well into the 1990s. > So while AT&T did indeed have a magnificent network, AT&T's inflated > cost structure due to HQ overhead, simply brought it to its knees. It > just took time for the real problems to register. > Lou Jahn > Info Partners Corp > 609-823-6602 > 609-823-2202 Fax > www.InfoPartnersCorp.com ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Update interval for E911 Records Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 15:59:01 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com william_warren_notme@comcast.net wrote: > I am sure the person must have a cell phone; my suggestion would be > to use in case of an emergency. Forward his VOIP line to his cell > phone. PAT] I agree with Pat on this one. Wireless E-911 with location identification is now starting to come online in quite a few areas, increasing the chance that he would be better off using the cell phone for 911 service. But in either case (VoIP OR cellular), it's still a good idea to do your best to articulate your location to the dispatch center to the best of your ability. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Satellite Radio Technology Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 16:04:52 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com AES wrote: > Haven't gotten clear answers yet from the alt.radio.satellite NG on a > couple of very fundamental questions re satellite radio technology > (Sirius or XM) so I'll venture to ask them here: Will be glad to answer, as I am an XM subscriber. > 1) If I purchase a subscription to one of these, does that mean _one_ > activated receiver per subscription? (Or can I be using one receiver > say on the freeway and my family be using a couple of others at > different locations in the house, on one basic monthly subscription.) No, for both services, it's one subscription per radio. XM does offer you a break on this though, as their "family plan" allows you to add additional radios to your account for a reduced price ($6.99 per month, as opposed to $9.99 per month). And if you have broadband at home, there is the $3.99 option where XM's service is streamed over the internet (Sirius offers something similar I believe, and it might even be a free add-on). > 2) Same question, but if I have one subscription and one activated > receiver, can I pull multiple stations (or channels?) out of that > receiver (using multiple "tuners" or "decoders" or whatever they're > called) and feed these different audio signals into different rooms or > headphones or audio channels? Currently, none of the radios offered work in the way you would want. they all are capable of tuning into just one channel at a time. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: A Child Learns a Harsh Lesson in Politics Date: 7 Feb 2005 13:22:19 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Monty Solomon wrote: > By JULIE SALAMON > For adults, the fuss over a PBS children's television show featuring > an animated bunny - and real lesbian mothers - was nothing new. But > for Emma Riesner, 11, who was supposed to be a star of the > now-controversial episode of "Postcards From Buster," what began as a > participatory social studies lesson has become a harsh lesson in > exclusionary politics. That "a harsh lesson ..." description isn't accurate. What the kid learned was that show business is tough. TV shows are cancelled all the time; few shows terminate on their own. Some may air for years before cancellation. But others get cancelled before even a single episode airs. This is not unusual. It is often claimed broadcast TV has no taste and anything goes. That is not true. While boundaries are changing, there are limits; and TV stations and network know pushing beyond those limits will offend and lose viewers. In the case of this particular show, keep in mind that the family structure it used is very rare in real life. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 14:38:16 PST From: Reply-To: cjmebox-telecomdigest@yahoo.com Subject: Re: America the Worst For Cell Rates and Plans (I hope my delayed reaction is forgiven) Thanks for the very useful link. I certainly stand corrected on my claim about the cost of calls by cell phone customers being lower in Europe than here. It is obvious from the chart that this is not the case. Interestingly, the correlation between high per minute cost and low total usage is portrayed as the cause of low usage. I wonder if this ought to be a greater concern for the operators than for the users. That is, could they "get more" out of every user if they lowered the per minute cost of calls? From the user's side though, the monthly cost seems to be lower for the European, even at the cost of lower usage (on outgoing calls). An average American is getting a 10c/min charge because he/she has purchased minutes in bulk. If he actually used all those minutes, it would cost about $55 monthly. If not, the minutes actually cost more (that's why I mentioned my "guess" that high volume users are better off in the US than in Europe). If you go over, as has happened to me on occasion, God help you. Working off the same chart, an average Italian user would have a monthly cost of about $30, a bit more than half what the American paid (of course he/she also made a lot fewer outgoing calls). It seems to me an arguable point, that if there was added value in talking more, European users would pay more to do so. Since they are not, can we infer that they have reached the limit of what they are willing to spend on their mobile service, so lower per minute costs would not necessarily increase total use? (In light of the research sited, I think that's not the case. It is likely that the average user would end up spending more per month if the per minute cost came down). Having said all that, I must say I still hate being charged for incoming calls :-) Thanks again for the papers. -Dean PS none of the above argues against the main point of Mr Marcus' report, on the adverse effects of call termination fees (I suffer from these personally. Whenever I want to call my brother in Europe, I try to call him on a fixed line so as to avoid the significant extra charges of calling him on his cell. He never has such a problem when calling me.) John Levine wrote: > The reality is that most Europeans have a much cheaper service. I just came across a most interesting article in the current European Economic Journal on this very topic. See pages 5-7: http://www.european-enterprise.org/public/docs/EEJ.pdf It argues that due to the "termination monopoly" in which anyone who wants to call you has to pay the price your carrier sets, the average per minute price for calls in Europe is much higher than in the US, and a simple chart shows that the lower the per minute price, the more calls people make. A big advantage of charging all the calls to the subscriber is that the overall price becomes a competitive issue, which drives the per minute price down and provides for cheap bundled plans. In a monopoly environment, prices tend to stay high unless regulated down, and that's what's happening in Europe, increasing regulation of termination prices. He also points out that roaming prices are an even worse problem for the same reason, they're set by whatever carrier your carrier happens to have a roaming agreement with, but now there's international politics added to the mix. ------------------------------ From: David Clayton Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 17:18:33 +1100 On Sun, 2005-02-06 at 17:23 +0000, Robert Bonomi wrote: > It _can_ happen. It *does* happen. The voluntary-participation "Pay > by Touch" system deprives the 'smart' crooked cashier -- as well as > the 'dumb' one -- of the opportunity to 'steal' a card number. > But, you're right, I can't imagine why anyone would *consider* > participating in that program. One thing that I haven't seen brought up here re the issue of having your fingerprint "on file" is that I believe the Biometric systems actually record (and store) a "hash" value of the particular ID, not the ID itself (like an actual image of your fingerprint). This is supposed to ensure that the stored ID cannot be used to re-create the actual ID, but can only be used for comparison with new hashed data. This is from my Biometric system knowledge of a few years ago, someone with more up to date information may be able to expand all of our knowledge ... Regards, David Clayton, e-mail: dcstar@XYZ.myrealbox.com Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. (Remove the "XYZ." to reply) Dilbert's words of wisdom #18: Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 14:03:31 +0000 From: Graeme Thomas Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying In article , AES writes: [ But if you decide to print it, PAT, please remove my email address. ] > As examples, fingerprint analysis has considerable validity, but not > nearly as much as law enforcement agencies would have you believe; Right. In the right circumstances fingerprint evidence is reliable. The law enforcement agencies don't mention much about what those circumstances are, though. Basically, if a good, clean fingerprint can be found then the chances of a false match are minuscule. But those chances rise fairly sharply if there's only a partial fingerprint available. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What you say is very true. What do you > think about the newest gimmick, DNA-printing? Police seem to be > making a big thing out of building up their DNA files at this time. > They *claim* it is much more reliable than fingerprinting, and they > *claim* one's DNA is absolutely unique, but they said that about > fingerprints at one time also. PAT] From what I can gather a complete DNA match is impossible, with the possible exception of identical twins. However, many of the existing DNA tests only perform partial matching, and the possibility of a match again rises sharply. In the UK the police have been using DNA matching for quite a while, and there are regular stories of people being charged with old crimes, after they've given a DNA sample for some unrelated offence. Most such people end up convicted of the old crime. (I have some worries over that. How could anyone be expected to come up with an alibi after several years have elapsed? Can *you* remember what you were doing on one particular evening 15 years ago?) One such person *was* able to prove he was innocent of the crime, though. Records showed that he was in prison at the time of the offence. The DNA evidence had already shown a match. There was some hasty reorganization after that in the DNA labs, and they started trying to identify the DNA with greater precision. It's now foolproof, apparently. I imagine that they'll stick with that view until another fool comes along with a cast-iron alibi. Graeme Thomas ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: Satellite Radio Technology Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 08:04:49 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com On Sun, 06 Feb 2005 13:43:07 -0800, AES wrote: > Haven't gotten clear answers yet from the alt.radio.satellite NG on a > couple of very fundamental questions re satellite radio technology > (Sirius or XM) so I'll venture to ask them here: > 1) If I purchase a subscription to one of these, does that mean _one_ > activated receiver per subscription? (Or can I be using one receiver > say on the freeway and my family be using a couple of others at > different locations in the house, on one basic monthly subscription.) I have the XM system and that's what it means. One receiver per activation. You get a discount on the multiple activations, but each s/n has a service. > 2) Same question, but if I have one subscription and one activated > receiver, can I pull multiple stations (or channels?) out of that > receiver (using multiple "tuners" or "decoders" or whatever they're > called) and feed these different audio signals into different rooms or > headphones or audio channels? Not yet, but I either dreamed or they are close to a unit for commercial use that has multiple tuners in one frame. Carl Navarro ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 05:57:53 -0500 From: Ron Chapman Subject: Re: Any Recommendations re: Economy Internet Phone Service? In article , Anna wrote: > I have heard of Vonage, Skype etc ? Which is most economical ? > We make between 6 and 12 hours of long distance calls per > month.(mostly US) I pay 3.85 cents/minute for regular, dial 1+ long distance from my home phone (either line -- nice and convenient). 12 hours of that comes to $27.72. Less calling comes to less money, obviously; 6 hours would come to half of that, or $13.86. You may not want to pay $25/month for a fixed rate plan of any kind. Then again, with the freedom to call as much as you want, you may. There are plenty of $20/month competitors to Vonage. Packet8 comes to mind; $20 for unlimited US service. ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Motorola v550 - Picture Downloading?? Date: 7 Feb 2005 16:43:31 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , Pete L wrote: > I know quite a bit about computers but phones are a bit of a mystery > to me! We have just obtained a Motorola v550 and after wading through > the manual Ihave mastered the art of working the thing. What I cannot > seem to do is download pictures from it to my PC. I've been through > all the manual and it doesn't mention it. I have a UBS cable and some > software tools - which again don't seem to mention downloading pics. > Surely it can be done? Question is how? Anybody out there ideas, > please? I just recently went though this with my daughter, who get that phone from her mother. I assume you're using XP? We made the mistake of inserting the Bluetooth adapter and just expecting XP to "do the right thing", as it usually does. After several days of loading/unloading/re-installing/searching I found that there is a significant difference between Microsoft's Bluetooth software and what came with the Bluetooth adapter we bought. Also, once you allow Microsoft to associate their driver with the adapter it will remember that association and continue to use it no matter how many times you un-install the adapter and try to install other software. Once we physically deleted the appropriate file(s) from the system we were able to re-install the driver software that came with the adapter, and then everything worked great. I don't recall exactly how it appeared, but it was fairly intuitive once it worked. Sorry I can't recall the files to delete (it was several weeks ago). You can probably find them with an appropriate Google search. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Need Recommendations for Economy "Pay as You Go" Cell Phones Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 10:18:34 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 6 Feb 2005 08:59:16 -0800, kimshapiro100@yahoo.com wrote: > Need recommendations for economy "pay as you go" cell phones. > This is for a 10 year old child in California -- to be used ONLY in > EMERGENCY situations. > My child is probably going to use between 5 and 30 minutes a month. > I think there is no point subscribing to a plan. > Any recommendations for a "pay as you go" economy cell phone ? (like > prepaid cards ?) A lot of it will depend on where you are. If you're in or near a major city most any of the companies around Cingular, Verizon, T-Mobile, Alltel, Virgin Mobile, etc. will likely work similarly in that you'll have to have a compatible phone and subscribe to a company's network. You'll buy refill vouchers usually in amounts of anywhere from $5 to $100. The refills will have "expiration" times by which you either need to make a call or add more money to the account to keep the account from being discontinued. If you keep track of the account and add more money generally the money you alreay have in the account stays there and is just added to by the new refill you add to your account. You cannot however just "forget" about it. You'll need to do something such as add money periodically to keep the account. ------------------------------ Date: 7 Feb 2005 05:54:25 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Any Recommendations re: Economy Internet Phone Service? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I personally use Vonage, which works > with any telephone you wish to plug in and use. I am hearing rumors > that their customer service is slipping a little; that may be due to > the *huge* increase in their customer base in recent months. PAT] It's no rumor -- I'm about to cancel my Vonage account as soon as the number is ported away which is supposed to happen on Wednesday. It used to be fine but in recent months the voice quality became terrible and I was completely unable to contact any live people at Vonage at all. Multiple e-mails went unanswered other than the auto-ack, and every time I tried to call them, once I went through the menu to the point where I would queue for a person, I always got a busy signal. Too bad, they used to be good. I'm now using Lingo, the voice quality is OK and the local calling area is much larger. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Interesting you mention how you work your way through the menu up to the point the next voice will be a human being, then it goes to busy sigal. Same thing has happened to me a lot recently; high noon, midnight, even five in the morning. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V24 #57 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Feb 8 14:09:28 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j18J9Sj23104; Tue, 8 Feb 2005 14:09:28 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 14:09:28 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502081909.j18J9Sj23104@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 V24 #58 TELECOM Digest Tue, 8 Feb 2005 14:10:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 58 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Bush Wants to Revive Digital TV Fees (Monty Solomon) A U.S. First: Dish Network Interactive Shopping Channel (Monty Solomon) Nepal Telephone Service - International Restored (Carl Moore) Qsig (Gareth) Fomer WorldCom CFO Sullivan Testifies in Ebbers Trial (Telecom Daily) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (Dave Garland) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (Tom Lager) Re: AT&T Inventions Fueled Tech Boom, And Its Own Fall (Fred Goldstein) Re: A Child Learns a Harsh Lesson in Politics (Linc Madison) Re: A Child Learns a Harsh Lesson in Politics (Joseph) Re: I'm Searching For a Budget Pipe Pefere oc3. (T. Sean Weintz) Re: Motorola v550 - Picture Downloading?? (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: One in 20 People May Have a Mobile Phone Illness (Robert Bonomi) Re: Digital Cellular Sound Quality (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Need Recommendations For Economy Pay as You Go Cell Phones (D Esan) Re: Digital Cellular Sound Quality (Joseph) Re: Hackers, Virus Writers Target Mobile Phones (Joseph) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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, 8 Feb 2005 08:58:59 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Bush Wants to Revive Digital TV Fees By Brooks Boliek WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) - President Bush is attempting to revive a plan that would require broadcasters to pay a $500 million fee for use of their current analog TV channels in 2007. The plan is part of the $2.57 trillion budget proposal Bush presented to Congress on Monday. While Bush has pushed the plan in previous budget proposals to no avail, it could see some action in the 109th Congress as pressure is mounting to get broadcasters to make the switch to digital TV. In the past, broadcasters could depend on their allies in Congress to kill the plan. But one of their key supporters, Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., the former chairman of the House Commerce Committee, has retired. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, runs the committee now, and he is decidedly less friendly to the industry. Currently, broadcasters are required to stop analog transmissions at the end of 2006, or when 85% of the American TV viewing audience receives a digital signal, whichever comes later. The 85% number has long been considered an unreachable goal. Last week, Barton warned broadcasters that he is out of patience, telling reporters that he wants Congress to enact a "hard date" that would force broadcasters to shut off their analog transmissions by year's end. Proposals to stop analog broadcasts so the frequencies can be auctioned off have become more appealing because of budgetary pressure, Barton said. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=televisionNews&storyID=7562718 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 09:13:52 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: A U.S. First: Dish Network Offers Interactive Shopping Channel Satellite News While interactive television is fairly common in the European television markets, it hasn't yet caught on in a significant way in the United States, but EchoStar Communications Corp. is hoping to change all of that. The company which already offers a variety of interactive services, EchoStar will be the first television company in either the cable or satellite side of the market to offer the ability to shop through the interactive functions on its Dish Network direct-to-home satellite television service. The service, to be launched later this month, was developed in partnership with high-tech gadget retailer Sharper Image and offers Dish subscribers the ability to purchase selected items from their catalog from the comfort of the living room. According to Scott Higgins, director of interactive programming for EchoStar, the service works like this: viewers enter the interactive portal and select the Sharper Image channel. After browsing the catalog and making a selection, the view, through the remote control, is prompted to enter credit card information. That information is shipped directly to Sharper Image for order processing. http://www.hoovers.com/free/news/detail.xhtml?ArticleID=NR200502071675.5.10_1c76001f55bd9957 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 11:46:12 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Nepal Telephone Service -- International Restored I have seen a news story that Nepal has restored international telephone service. I guess that anything starting with the international access code during the outage got blocked (I don't know how many digits had to be present before the blockage occurred). What would have happened for calls from elsewhere to Nepal? (In 1990 during Persian Gulf crisis, at least AT&T blocked calls to Kuwait when such calls got to some international call-processing center and the Kuwait country code was recognized.) ------------------------------ Subject: Qsig From: Gareth Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 11:48:11 +0000 We are planning to purchase a NEC Neax switch and connect this using QSig to an existing Samsung DCS Gateway. We already use QSig to connect together 3 Samsung DCS Gateway systems. As each vendor is unable or unwilling to guarantee the compatibility of their swiches, I am looking for advice. I know that the whole point of QSig is to connect equipment from different vendors and I would not expect this to be a problem, but I want to verify this before I continue. On an immediate basis, so that the planning can continue, I want to confirm that, in principle, that the Samsung and NEC switches can be connected using QSig to provide the basic level QSig service. QSig is supported on both these switches. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 13:01:00 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Fomer WorldCom CFO Sullivan Testifies in Ebbers Trial Telecom dailyLead from USTA February 8, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19260&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Fomer WorldCom CFO Sullivan testifies in Ebbers trial BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Sprint may unload cell-phone towers * BellSouth picks Alcatel, Redback for network upgrade * Spamhaus says spam program resides on MCI computers * EarthLink reports earnings USTA SPOTLIGHT * Announcing Phone Facts Plus 2005 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Tech companies announce superchip * Tandberg unveils video-communications technology REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Nextel agrees to spectrum exchange Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19260&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 00:34:06 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information On 7 Feb 2005 06:08:45 -0000, in comp.dcom.telecom Pat wrote: > She said the old biddies on the party line would set the phone in a > galvanized laundry tub, so even if they were sitting out on the > front porch on a hot summer night, they would all hear that > (amplified by the galvanized tub) 'tick sound', and the front-porch > ladies would quietly slip inside and try to listen/spy on the > neighbor who had received the phone call, to find out who had called > and what they were talking about. When I was a kid in the '50s in rural New York, I think we probably had an 8 or 10 party line. There were several ring codes, and a cardboard cheat sheet that told how to call other parties on the line (IIRC, each party had a different 2-digit code that you dialed, then hung up and, I think, waited for your own phone to stop ringing, indicating that the other party had picked up). By the early '60s, the number of parties had dropped to about 4. Somebody had finally turned the local corner store in to the phone company for using the residential party line as their business line. The personal phone equipment in my room, in addition to my contraband extension (constructed of an ear and mic element taped to an improvised handle ... there was no insulation so it was unwise to have it touching both your ear and your mouth when a ring signal applied ringing voltage between the two points.. and a box with a toggle on-off hookswitch and a SPST NC button switch used for dialing, to dial 9 press 9 times), included a small 3-transistor amp from a defunct tape recorder attached to the line, so I could listen to party-line conversations without going offhook. As most other eavesdroppers have probably found, 95% of the conversations were extremely boring. ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 20:51:38 EST Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements In a message dated 7 Feb 2005 06:08:45 -0000, John Levine writes: > Only on manual exchanges where you saw a lot of numbers like 1234J, or > it was just spelled out, e.g. my mother's phone number in Bell > territory in Vermont in the 1930s and 40s was six two ring three. > (Not that she ever needed to use it since the operator knew her and > would reroute calls, e.g., "your mother's playing bridge at the > Cliffords' tonight, shall I ring her there?") The letter usually used in manual exchanges were J and W on two party, with R and M added on four-party. (Lines with more than four parties had other conventions.) However, I lived in Konawa, Oklahoma, in the early 1950s and it was a small step-by-step office with terminal per line. In offices with terminal per line, an additional digit did identify the party and ringing current to be applied. (It also meant there was no effective means of intercept when party lines were regrouped.) Single party lines occupied the 2XX number series (my office number was 234) -- all three digits. Party lines were assigned numbers in the 4XXX series (first three digits identified the line, fourth digit designated the party and ringing to be applied). The four digits were written in a single block. Terminal-per-station became almost universal, of course, because of the problems with terminal-per-line and a party digit. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements From: Youremail@isp.mil.easynews.com (Tom Lager) Organization: Disorganized Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 16:52:40 GMT JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com (Joseph) wrote in : > On Sun, 6 Feb 2005 11:14:23 -0000, Paul Coxwell > wrote: >> I've gleaned from various sources, including some old Digest posts, >> that in the U.S. there were various methods employed, including up to >> 10-way party lines with the last digit of the number selecting tip or >> ring and the appropriate ringing cadence. > This is generally the case only where the equipment used was "terminal > per line" as opposed to "terminal per station." In terminal per line > set ups the last digit always indicated the cadence of the ringing > with 10 possible combinations for both tip and ring side of the line > so that it might be possible to have 5 different ringing cadences > depending on what your number is e.g. the last digit of 1 on the ring > side of the line you'd have a single ring, 2 two rings, 3 one long and > a short, 4 one long a short and a long, and 5 being five short rings. > Repeated for the remaining digits on the tip side. > In terminal per station you could have any ringing combination but it > was determined at the central office (switch.) >> I've also seen references >> to tuned ringers with ringing applied at a different frequency for >> each party, and to party-line numbers having an additional digit >> (coded as a letter) added the end of the regular number. > Mostly used by independents rather than by the Bell System. >> When it comes to outgoing calls once DDD and CAMA had arrived, I've >> seen references to different ringer wiring combinations to enable the >> equipment to test for originating party, and also in the earlier days >> of DDD that in some places (maybe small independents?) callers had to >> dial an ID digit (e.g. 1x + NPA + number). > On two-party lines whether it was tip or ring determined whether > either party would be charged and you could use AMA. With four party > you used CAMA and an operator would come on the line to ask what your > number was. > Independents used "ID" digit. When I started here (1970) we had a Federal stepper. The terminal-per-line shelves used the second digit of the station for the ring digit. For example 5195 was party 1, 5295 was party 2, etc. up to 5095 was party 0. We had five frequency grounded ringing (Synchromonic) so each party only got their own ring. Circle digit toll ID was done with North Electric "Autollizer" The sleeve lead from the line was connected through a diode to ground via a jumper that went through a "ring field" When the customer dialed the circle digit a current spike flowed through the jumper and induced a voltage in the coils of each ring through which the jumper was run. This identified the line in a register/sender that was incorporated into the toll trunk. Billing info was sent to a tape punch at the end of the call. Tapes were "read" once per week in small offices, daily in the big offices, and 90 column cards were created for shipment to the data center where bills were produced. The C.O. was a noisy place then. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 22:37:21 -0500 From: Fred Goldstein Subject: Re: AT&T Inventions Fueled Tech Boom, And Its Own Fall On 7 Feb 2005 10:06:10 -0800 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com said, > As a monopoly in electro-mechanical technology for the U.S., it made > sense for AT&T have a strong staff for planning. This is what made > the U.S. telephone network so reliable and robust compared to the rest > of the world. Both internal and customer equipment were tested, > re-test, field tested extensive before going out the door. AT&T had > very few "Edsels" over its history. > But with the coming of widespread electronics coupled with divesture > coupled with customer owned equipment, this staff was simply no longer > necessary. The old AT&T had its share of Edsels. The 101ESS was notorious, for one, and the 1964 Picturephone wasted what, a billion clams or so? But as a monopoly, there were no Buicks and Chryslers to compete with the Edsels. > Some critics blame the mgmt of AT&T and IBM for allowing the companies > to be top-heavy. I don't agree. At the time the people were hired, > there was a need for their skills. At the time they were hired, they > still had a to support a network antiquated by today's standards. No, AT&T remained fat well after divestiture, and it was fat with young blood as well as old. I was working in corporate telecom functions in the 1980s and 1990s. When AT&T showed up for a meeting -- for instance, to tell us about a new product or feature -- they would not just send the person with the information, or two people the way their competitors might. They'd send a small army! Usually one person to give the talk, that person's boss to watch them carefully and be sure they toed the line, and eight or nine others to line the room and make sure there were no empty chairs. Most said nothing and added no value. It was the same at standards meetings in the late 1980s -- AT&T would send scores of people, far more than anyone else. Most said nothing. Their only purpose seemed to be that when the Working Groups needed "consensus" to advance something (voting was only at Plenary), AT&T's own bodies looked like a near-consensus just by their own nodding together. Lou hit the nail on the head. It was a desperately mismanaged company. (earlier) >> ... It was an overbearing monopoly before its breakup ... > No it was not. It's monopoly status did not result from anything > AT&T did, but rather from edicts from the state and federal govts > explicitly defining what AT&T could do. Note that AT&T was also > forbidden to act in many other markets, including those it had once > developed products (ie motion picture sound systems). AT&T was > strictly limited in what it could do and what it could charge; > people forget that there was much it could NOT do. Let's get the history straight. I researched this for my new book, "The Great Telecom Meltdown" (Artech House), which just came out. (Pat, a review copy should be en route somewhere soon.) The monopoly didn't just happen. AT&T had a total monopoly from 1876 to 1893 because of the (questionable) Bell patent (17 years). Then there was a lot of competition, but AT&T bought Pupin's (questionable) patent on the loading coil, giving them a monopoly on long distance. There were however a lot of CLECs ("Independents", many then competing in Bell areas) a hundred years ago. In 1912, the Kingsbury Commitment allowed Independents to interconnect via Bell, but stopped Bell from buying up most Independents. Competition waned, and by the time of the Communications Act of 1934 it was dead, replaced by a regulated-utility model that AT&T preferred. AT&T largely controlled its regulators (as the Bells do now). Its telephone monopoly safe, its Western Electric competed in many areas, such as motion picture sound and broadcast transmitters. The Department of Justice brought an antitrust suit (US vs. Western Electric) in 1949, and the 1956 Final Judgment limited WECo to supporting Bell. That was reopened later and became the basis of Divestiture. >> Not since its early days has it been much of an innovator. > Most of our present day communication system owes itself to > innovations AT&T continued to make until divesture, not only in > technology, but also telecom administration. AT&T's version of telecom administration is, perhaps a model for Chinese industries that need to make inefficient use of surplus labor, while maintaining a strong authoritarian hierarchy. Its main job however was indeed to hold back innovation, partly because slow deprecation led to lower rates, which were politically popular. Fred R. Goldstein fgoldstein "at" ionary "dot" com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: A Child Learns a Harsh Lesson in Politics Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 00:30:49 -0800 From: Linc Madison Reply-To: lincmad@suespammers.org Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed In article , wrote: > Monty Solomon wrote: >> By JULIE SALAMON >> For adults, the fuss over a PBS children's television show >> featuring an animated bunny - and real lesbian mothers - was >> nothing new. But for Emma Riesner, 11, who was supposed to be a >> star of the now-controversial episode of "Postcards From Buster," >> what began as a participatory social studies lesson has become a >> harsh lesson in exclusionary politics. > That "a harsh lesson ..." description isn't accurate. > What the kid learned was that show business is tough. No, actually, what the kid learned was "a harsh lesson in (exclusionary) politics," exactly as described. The show wasn't pulled for reasons having anything at all to do with "show business," but entirely for reasons of politics. > In the case of this particular show, keep in mind that the family > structure it used is very rare in real life. Actually, again, no it isn't "very rare in real life." There are thousands upon thousands of such families in America, and more of them every single day. The show was not pulled because of any fear of alienating viewers. The show was pulled because of pressure from government officials. 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. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: A Child Learns a Harsh Lesson in Politics Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 08:26:05 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 7 Feb 2005 13:22:19 -0800, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > In the case of this particular show, keep in mind that the family > structure it used is very rare in real life. But how realistic is it to completely rub it out as if to show that such things do not exist? "Protecting" children from the reality of life is a disservice to them. ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: I'm Searching For a Budget Pipe Pefere oc3. Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 12:15:09 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Globeadue wrote: > I'm looking for some sorta fat pipe for my systems. I'm just a > hobbyist(gaming, family network and servers). What I have are some very > very nice OC3 voip sequencers sq-1000's from cetacean that I'd like to > get running. I'm in Georgia and if anyone knows a way for non business > user to get a line under $200/m I'd love to hear about it. LOL ... Under $200 a month for an OC3? While your at it why not ask for a brand new high performace sports car for under $200 as well. $200 is WAY outta the ball park for OC3 service. Add a zero on the end. ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Motorola v550 - Picture Downloading?? Date: 8 Feb 2005 17:53:43 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , wrote: > In article , Pete L > wrote: >> What I cannot seem to do is download pictures from it to my PC. > We made the mistake of inserting the Bluetooth adapter and just > expecting XP to "do the right thing", as it usually does. A quick follow-up ... The installation instructions that came with the dongle explicitly stated that you MUST install the software BEFORE plugging in the dongle. That's because once you plug it in, XP associates its own driver, which it considers to be more "correct" than anything you try to install later and hence will never be replaced. The same problem can occur if you apply SP2, since it will replace any existing manufacturer's driver with its own. This KB article describes the procedure to fix the problem. Remove the dongle, follow the procedure to remove the XP driver (I used the Device Manager to remove the device, deleted the file, then rebooted), then install the software that came with the dongle, THEN plug the dongle in and establish the association with the phone. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;840635 Hopefully that will correct the problem. It worked for us. Once we got the dongle's software installed the rest was a breeze and my daughter is happily moving pictures back and forth between her PC and the phone. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: One in 20 People May Have a Mobile Phone Illness Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 10:14:48 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Marcus Didius Falco wrote: > http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-1463100,00.html > The Sunday Times - Ireland > Richard Oakley > UP TO 5% of the population may be suffering ill health as a result of > radiation from mobile phones and masts, according to a group of Irish > doctors fighting for official acceptance of the problem. > ....... In a study to be released this week, the doctors will say > they have identified 16 people whom they believe have been adversely > affected by radiation. ..... > ..... It wants special screens for the 16 people in > the study, to see if their conditions improve when radiation is > blocked. > ...... McCrory blames nearby mobile phone masts for her > illness and said she can t leave her house because masts are > everywhere now . I can't sleep, my head pounds, my skin burns and I > get a painful pumping sensation from head to toe. It has got so bad > that I feel suicidal, she said. Oh Lordie, Lordie! That's some of the *FUNNIEST* stuff I've read in _years_. Cell-phone base stations, like cell-phones themselves, scale down their transmit power to the minimum level needed for reliable communication. In a *worst*case* scenario -- where the phone has to run at full power out, the cell tower might be transmitting an entire TEN WATTS. And, of course, the more cells there are in the area, the *LOWER* the power output from any transmitter -- because the 'range' to the cell 'edge' (i.e., where some other tower is closer to the phone) is a smaller distance. Less transmit power is required to make for an 'acceptable' signal level at the 'worst case' point of reception. In metropolitan areas, the 'radius' of a cell is a few miles, at *most*. A "legal power" TV station transmitter will produce similar signal levels at receivers more than FIFTY MILES away from the transmitter. (Stations on the "Central Iowa Telefarm", at Alleman, Iowa -- between Des Moines and Ames, claim an _85_ mile radius for their "service area". With high-gain receiving antennas, double that distance is possible.) If you're within a mile of such a TV transmitter, the signal levels are some 2500(!!) times higher than the _maximum_ from a cell tower. If the 85 mile number is to be believed, you can roughly _triple_ that number (some what over 7200). It's positively *amazing* that these people are susceptible to cell-phone tower transmissions, but don't seem to be bothered by TV, "business two-way", "Police/Fire/Ambulance", taxi-cab, etc., etc., that all generate much *HIGHER* signal levels in the atmosphere. *AT*SIMILAR*FREQUENCIES*. I've got fifty thousand -- no, make that fifty *million* -- quatloos that says that you could shut any of those 'victims' of this "illness" in a large "Faraday Cage", along with a cell-phone transmitter/antenna (behind a wall where they couldn't see it), and they would be utterly *unable* to tell if or when that transmitter was operating. For those who don't know what a Faraday Cage is, it is a totally shielded enclosure. *NO* RF energy from the 'outside world' will reach the inside of the enclosure. Nothing from inside it, will get out, either. ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Digital Cellular Sound Quality Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 06:32:03 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications Jeffrey Mattox wrote: > [Please withhold my email address.] > My old analog cell phone, a Nokia 918, has a cheap, grandfathered rate > plan, so I'm not likely to upgrade unless Cingular rips out their > analog equipment. Get this: the phone's logo is "Ameritech"! > Whenever I have a conversation with a modern cell phone user, it's > digital-ness is highly obvious because the sound quality is so bad. > I assumed digital meant higher quality. Even today, digital is called > "advanced technology." To wit: > Digital phones use advanced technology that converts voices > into numeric code, which is then transmitted to the phone and > decoded. ... Reception, sound quality, battery life, and > security features are superior to analog. > http://www.staples.com/content/Article/C-D/CellularWireless.asp > Well, it not very advanced from my perspective -- it's a step > backward. And to say that digital "sound quality .. [is] superior" is > a lie. Because of the low sample rate (is it 8 KHz?), it's not > possible to reconstruct perfect speech. Your complaint reminds me of the mother watching her son marching with his company in a military graduation ceremony. He his out of step with the others, but mom says sonny is fine, all the others are out of step. ;-) My Cingular digital phone sounds great on all connections. ------------------------------ From: david_esan@hotmail.com Subject: Re: Need Recommendations for Economy "Pay as You Go" Cell Phones Date: 8 Feb 2005 07:04:46 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com kimshapiro100@yahoo.com wrote: > Need recommendations for economy "pay as you go" cell phones. > This is for a 10 year old child in California -- to be used ONLY in > EMERGENCY situations. I think we went over this about 3 months ago. I suggest that you check the archives. Someone had a really good web site that compared various pay-as-you-go plans. If I remember correctly the winner was 7-11 who had a cheap phone, and a low per minute cost. Refills were required every 120 days, rather than the 90 that Virgin Mobile required. It is important to check the coverage maps that are available on line. There were AT&T Wireless plans that were fantastic, but the area in which my wife travels to work was not on network, and a very expensive roaming charge applied. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Digital Cellular Sound Quality Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 08:19:10 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 03:48:31 -0600, Jeffrey Mattox wrote: > Is this situation ever likely to be improved? Why isn't it possible > to sample at a higher rate, compress the result in the phone for > transmission, and then decompress at the base (and do the same thing > for the reverse channel)? Are all digital cellular phones the same? > Aren't many people bothered by the horrible sound quality? The sound quality is due to the codec that's used. What follows is opinion only and should not be taken for the last word. CDMA as offered by Sprint PCS, Verizon, etc. uses a codec that is inferior and is prone to "metalic" sounding conversations. GSM on the other hand uses a different codec and to most people the quality of audio is almost on par with that used in traditional wireline telephony. I use GSM through a Cellsocket adapter and no one can tell that I am using a mobile phone. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Hackers, Virus Writers Target Mobile Phones Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 08:21:28 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 07 Feb 2005 09:25:31 -0800, Lisa Minter wrote: > Hackers can scoop up calendars, contact lists and other sensitive > information, or turn a mobile phone into a bugging device to secretly > listen in on conversations. Mobile viruses that spread through the air > can disable phones completely. Are these articles written by Lisa? If not there's no indication where this information comes from. It would be nice if there was at least some attribution for where articles such as this one come from. Or does copyright not count on usenet and the the Telecom Digest? ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #58 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Feb 9 03:45:40 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j198jdr28577; Wed, 9 Feb 2005 03:45:40 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 03:45:40 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502090845.j198jdr28577@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 V24 #59 TELECOM Digest Wed, 9 Feb 2005 03:45:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 59 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Microsoft Issues 8 'Critical' Software Patches (Lisa Minter) Paper Submission Deadline Reminder: IEEE Conference on Service(SCC 2005) Triple-Play Broadband Resources (aminamor@gmail.com) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (Paul Coxwell) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (Lisa Hancock) Re: Need Recommendations for Economy Pay as You Go Cell Phones (E.Ranck) Re: Any Recommendations re: Economy Internet Phone Service? (timeOday) Re: Need Recommendations for Economy Pay as You Go Cell Phones (surplus) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (ranck@vt.edu) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (Lisa Hancock) Re: AT&T Inventions Fueled Tech Boom, And Its Own Fall (Lisa Hancock) Old vs. New Doctors - Communication and Technology (Lisa Hancock) Re: Digital Cellular Sound Quality (EventHelix.com) Re: E-Bay to Cut Fees, Expand Customer Support (Dave Close) Last Laugh! Stop Junk Faxes! (wal) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: 08 Feb 2005 22:11:14 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Microsoft Issues 8 'Critical' Software Patches NOTE: It must have been a busy day at Bill Gates' shop Tuesday. By Brian Krebs, washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Microsoft Corp. today released a dozen software patches to cover 16 security flaws -- half of which it deemed "critical" -- in all versions of the Windows operating system and a broad range of popular Microsoft applications such as its Internet chat and media player products. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant issued patches to mend a total of 16 security flaws, with more than half addressing security glitches found in Service Pack 2, the massive software security upgrade Microsoft made available to Windows XP users last August. Security experts said a weakness in Windows disclosed today could become a vehicle for the next big Internet virus outbreak. The flaw involves the "server message block" service enabled by default in every version of Microsoft Windows that allows users to share files on a network. Attackers could potentially exploit the weakness over the Internet without any action by the user, but only if a computer was not already protected by firewall software. Hackers could also exploit it by tricking a user into clicking on a specially crafted Web link in an e-mail. "Out of all of the vulnerabilities, this one is the most likely to become the next widespread Internet worm," said Oliver Friedrichs, senior director of security response for Symantec Corp., a Cupertino, Calif.-based Internet security company. Microsoft also issued a bundle of six fixes for vulnerabilities in its widely used Internet Explorer Web browser. One of the flaws was recently exploited by "phishers," criminals who engage in identity theft by creating authentic-looking e-mail messages and Web sites designed to lure people to disclosing personal financial data. Two of the vulnerabilities were used recently by hackers to sneak spyware onto users' computers. Experts said today's batch of patches shows that hackers are increasingly looking for ways to bypass automatic computer network defenses erected by growing numbers of business and home computer users. Half of the vulnerabilities detailed today require action by a user -- such as clicking a link in an e-mail or attached word-processing document -- before attackers could gain control of a computer. "We recommend that in any situation where you receive a link or file from someone that you use extreme caution," said Stephen Toulouse, Microsoft's security program manager. He suggested users check with the sender before opening a link or file that appears suspicious. Today's patch release included critical fixes for a number of Windows software products, including the MSN Messenger Internet chat program, Windows Media Player, and Microsoft Office, the suite of programs that includes Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. One critical software patch specific to corporate Windows users fixes a vulnerability in Microsoft's "license logging service," which helps companies keep track of of their licensed installations of Windows. The service is enabled automatically all Windows 2000 Windows NT, and Server 2003 computers, and could allow hackers to infiltrate a corporate network, said Abe Mounce, director of research for Atlanta-based Internet Security Systems Inc. The security hole in Microsoft's chat software affects MSN Messenger versions 6.1 and 6.2. Users of those versions will be prompted when they next open the program to download and install a new version of the program. Users can download most of the patches at windowsupdate.microsoft.com Microsoft has repeatedly urged Windows XP users to turn on the program's "automatic update" service, which can fetch and install patches from Microsoft automatically after they are made available. But that service does not retrieve patches for Microsoft Office, so users who have Office installed must visit the Office Update Web site, and then click on the "check for updates" link in the upper right-hand corner of the page. This month's batch of patches brings the total number of critical vulnerabilities Microsoft has identified in 2005 to 10. Last year, Microsoft released a total of 25 "critical" security fixes. The patches were released on the same day that Microsoft announced that it is buying Sybari Software Inc., an East Northport, N.Y.-based company specializing in e-mail security for corporate clients. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Associated Press reported that the acquisition -- and word that Microsoft is gearing up to release its first set of commercial antivirus products -- could help the software giant take business away from leading Internet security companies like Symantec and Santa Clara, Calif.-based McAfee Inc. Over the past two years, Microsoft has made several acquisitions aimed at bolstering its security offerings. The company bought a Romanian Internet security firm in 2003. In December, it bought Giant Company Software Inc., which makes tools to remove spyware. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: LiangJie Zhang Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 20:56:49 -0500 Subject: Paper Deadline Reminder: IEEE Conference on Services Computing I wanted to use this note to remind you that the paper submission deadline of IEEE International Conference onn Services Computing (SCC 2005) is approaching. Thank you very much for your great support. 2005 IEEE International Conference on Services Computing (SCC 2005) =================================================================== July 12-15, 2005, Orlando, Florida, USA Sponsored by IEEE Computer Society http://conferences.computer.org/scc/2005 Theme: Bridge the Gap between Business Services and IT Services Services now account for more than half of the U.S. economy. Services Computing, as a new cross discipline, addresses how to enable IT technology to help people perform business services more efficiently and effectively. As we can see, Services Computing currently shapes the processes of business modeling, business consulting, solution creation, service delivery, and software architecture design, development and deployment, monitoring and management. The 2005 IEEE International Conference on Services Computing (SCC 2005) aims to the topics of bridging the gap between Business Services and IT Services with a new ground breaking technology suite that includes Web services and service-oriented architecture (SOA), business strategy and design, business process integration and performance management, and utility/grid computing. It is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Services Computing and will be co-located with the 2005 IEEE International Conference on Web Services (ICWS 2005). The theme of this joint IEEE conference on SERVICES is 'Bridge the Gap between Business Services and IT Services'. Since Web Services is an IT technology, ICWS 2005 will put its focus on all aspects of IT infrastructure services. SCC 2005 concentrates on business services, business solutions, and the bridging technologies such as Business Strategy and Design, Business Process Integration and Management, SOA, and Grid and Utility Computing. SCC 2004 was held in Shanghai, China, September 15-18, 2004. A total of 330 papers were submitted to SCC 2004. Submissions were from over 30 countries and regions. 37 were accepted as full research papers, 9 were accepted as short papers, and 50 were accepted as special session papers. SCC 2005 has the following major research tracks: Foundations of Services Computing, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Grid/Utility Computing, and Business Process Management and Business Integration. SCOPE: Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: Foundations of Services Computing - Business Strategy and Design - Services science - Services Modeling - Service-oriented business consulting methodology and utilities - Services delivery - Servicesvalue chain and innovation lifecycle Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) - Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) - SOA Solution Stack - SOA Industry Standards - SOA Industry Solutions Business Process Management and Business Integration - Enterprise Modeling - Business process modeling, transformation and integration - Business performance management - Software architecture design, development and deployment (software as a service) - Application integration services (e.g. Enterprise Service Bus) - Service Level Automation and Orchestration - Industry solution patterns - e-Business Solutions Grid/Utility Computing - Grid Computing - Utility Computing - Utility Business Services SCC 2005 Special Tracks: Special Track 1: IEEE SCC 2005 Special Track on Service Provisioning Strategies Special Track 2: IEEE SCC 2005 Special Track on Business in the Grid SUBMISSION OF PAPERS: Authors are invited to submit original, unpublished research papers that are not being considered in another forum. Manuscripts will be limited to 8-10 (IEEE Proceeding style) pages and be printed on 10 or 12 size font. Please follow the IEEE Computer Society Press Proceedings Author Guidelines to prepare your papers. Electronic submission of manuscripts (in PDF or Word format) is required. Detailed Instructions for electronic paper submission, panel proposals, tutorial proposals, and review process can be found at http://conferences.computer.org/scc/2005/ . The length of the camera-ready of an accepted paper will be limited to 8 (IEEE style) pages. At least one author of each accepted paper is required to attend the conference and present the paper. The IEEE SCC 2005 Proceedings will be collected in EI Compendex. The detailed submission instructions can be found at SCC 2005 web site. The enhanced version of the selected best papers published in the SCC 2005 will be invited ! to publication in the International Journal of Web Services Research (JWSR) (by Idea Group) and possibly other related journals. Some speakers of the keynotes, panels, and tutorials will be invited to submit articles to extend their presentations for IEEE IT Professional Magazine. EVALUATION PROCESS: All submissions will be evaluated for originality, significance, clarity, and soundness. Each paper will be refereed by at least two to three researchers in the topical area. BEST STUDENT PAPER AWARDS: One Best Paper award and 1-3 Best Student Paper Awards will be presented by SCC 2005. The first author of the best student papers should be full-time students. IMPORTANT DATES: Abstract Submission Deadline: Feb. 14, 2005 (Monday) - NEW! Paper Submission due date: Feb. 14, 2005 (Monday) - NEW! Decision Notification (electronic): April 11, 2005 (Monday) - NEW! Camera-Ready copy due date & Pre-registration due: April 29, 2005 (Friday) - NEW! General Chairs: Carl K. Chang (Iowa State University, USA) Liang-Jie (LJ) Zhang (IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, USA) Program Committee Chairs: Frank Leymann (University of Stuttgart, Germany) Sandeep Purao (Pennsylvania State University, USA) Hai Jin (Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China) Industrial Track Chairs: Ali Arsanjani (IBM Global Services, USA) Wu Chou (Avaya Labs Research, USA) Joseph Williams (Microsoft, USA) Panel Chairs: Frank Ferrante (Editor in Chief, IEEE IT Professional Magazine, USA) Dejan S. Milojicic (Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, USA) J. Leon Zhao (University of Arizona, USA) Publicity Chairs: Patrick C. K. Hung (University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada) Anup Kumar (University of Louisville, USA) Elena Ferrari (University of Insubria at Como, Italy) Tutorial Chair: Ling Liu (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA) Job Fair Chair: Hemant Jain (University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, USA) Finance Chair: Johnny Wong (Iowa State University, USA) Publication Chair: Gurpur Prabhu (Iowa State University, USA) Awards Chair: Rong N Chang (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA) Poster Chairs: Graciela Gonzalez (Sam Houston State University, USA) Jia Zhang (Northern Illinois University, USA) Web Chair: Jinchun Xia (Iowa State University, USA) Registration Chair: Dingding Lu (Iowa State University, USA) Technical Program Committee Bajaj, Akhilesh (The University of Tulsa) Bertino, Elisa (CERIAS Purdue University) Bhagavatula, Krishna (Tata Consultancy Services) Bu-Hulaiga, Ihsan Ali (Joatha Informatics Consulting Center (JICC)) Buyya, Rajkumar (The University of Melbourne) Cai, Guoray (Pennsylvania State University) Cai, Wentong (Nanyang Technological University) Cao, Jiannong (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) Chang, Rong N. (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center) Chen, Jian (Tsinghua University) CHEN, Ying (IBM China Research Lab) Cheung, David (The University of Hong Kong) Chiu, Dickson K.W. (Dickson Computer Systems) Chua, Cecil Eng Huang (Nanyang Technological University) Cooper, Brian F. (Georgia Institute of Technology) Dustdar, Schahram (Vienna University of Technology, Austria) Etzion, Opher (Active Technologies) Guo, Minyi (University of Aizu) Huhns, Michael N. (University of South Carolina) Iwano, Kazuo (IBM Corporation) Jacob, Varghese S. (University of Texas at Dallas) Katz, Daniel S. (JPL/Caltech, USA) King, Roger (Buzz) (University of Colorado at Boulder) King, Chung-Ta (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan) Kishimoto, Hiro (Fujitsu Laboratories) Kitagawa, Hiroyuki (University of Tsukuba) Kreulen, Jeffrey T. (IBM Almaden Research Center) Lau, Francis C.M. (University of Hong Kong) Lee, Dongwon (Penn State University) Li, Wen-Syan (IBM Almaden Research Center) Li, Minglu (Shanghai Jiao Tong University) Lim, Ee-Peng (Nanyang Technological University) Lin, Geng (Cisco Systems, Inc.) Ludwig, Heiko (IBM TJ Watson Research Center) Luo, Min (IBM Global Services) Madria, Sanjay K. (University of Missouri-Rolla, USA) Mark, Leo (College of Computing, Georgia Tech, USA) Maximilien, E. Michael (IBM Almaden Research Center) Mehta, Kumar (University of Connecticut) Mitra, Prasenjit (Pennsylvania State University) Morar, John F (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center) Ouksel, Aris M. (The University of Illinois at Chicago) Potok, Thomas E. (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Ramesh, Balasubramaniam (Georgia State University) Reinwald, Berthold (IBM Almaden Research Center) Ritter, Norbert (University of Hamburg) Rossi, Matti (Helsinki School of Economics) Shan, Ming-Chien (HP Laboratories) Sheth, Amit (LSDIS Lab, UGA and Semagix, Inc) Therani, Madhusudan (University of Arizona) Tsai, Jeffrey J.P. (University of Illinois at Chicago) Voruganti, Kaladhar (IBM Almaden Research) Wang, Cho-Li (University of Hong Kong) Xu, Zhiwei (Institute of Computing Technology (ICT)) Zhang, Yanqing (Georgia State University) Zhang, Yanchun (Victoria University, Australia) Zhao, J. Leon (University of Arizona) Zhao, Huimin (School of Business Administration, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) Technical Steering Committee Carl K Chang (Iowa State University, USA) Ephraim Feig (Kintera Inc, USA) Hemant Jain (University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee , USA) Frank Leymann (University of Stuttgart, Germany) Minglu Li (Shanghai Jiaotong University, China) Jeffrey Tsai (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA) Calton Pu (Georgia Tech, USA) Zhiwei Xu (Institute of Computing Technology (ICT), China) Liang-Jie Zhang (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA) ------------------------------ From: aminamor@gmail.com Subject: Triple-Play Broadband Resources Date: 8 Feb 2005 19:08:04 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Dear all, I'm in the process of collecting technical related documents and links for triple-play deployment. My objective is to list this links and document in the following site: . (Still under construction) that will be open to everybody. Could you please help by sending your current experience? * Internet access * Voice * TV and radio broadcast * Interactive TV * Backbone design * IAD * Any other possible services How to combine those services? Who is offering this type of service so far? You can contact me directly at the following address: aminamor@gmail.com or you can post your feedback in this forum. Thanks in advance A.Amor http://www.triplepaly.be Telecom and TV convergence becomes a triple-play reality. ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 00:10:32 -0000 Many thanks to all who have replied. The variety that existed in the old U.S. network makes for some interesting history compared to the British situation where the nationalized GPO (General Post Office) ran all but a couple of tiny independent companies and practices were pretty much standard right across the country. > Only on manual exchanges where you saw a lot of numbers like 1234J, or > it was just spelled out, e.g. my mother's phone number in Bell > territory in Vermont in the 1930s and 40s was six two ring three. Now I think about it, I've seen something like that on an old postcard from the 1950s (I think it was from a rural motel). The number shown was 421R2, or something similar to that, so presumably that's "ring 2" on the end. > In the 1970s, I knew people at non-Bell independents who used circle > digits, the extra digit to identify the calling phone. There was also > a surprising amount of ONI, operators cutting in to ask for your > number, even on private lines in Bell territory before ANI was > universal. Why the name "circle" digit? > included a small 3-transistor amp from a defunct tape recorder attached > to the line, so I could listen to party-line conversations without going > offhook. As most other eavesdroppers have probably found, 95% of the > conversations were extremely boring. I guess eavesdropping was a pretty widespread pasttime. In fact back about 25 years ago my parents were on a party line and I lashed up a similar arrangement to monitor calls. My amp was a home-brew kit using, if I recall correctly, EF80 and ECL80 tubes. > The letter usually used in manual exchanges were J and W on two party, > with R and M added on four-party. (Lines with more than four parties > had other conventions.) Is there any particular significance to the letters? Can anyone remember which letters were which combination of tip/ring and polarity/cadence, or is that going back a little too far? > In the Bell System, ground start was never used for residential > service. On two-party lines, the "tip" party would be wired with the > ringer (and, on occasion, a portion of the hybrid coil) connected > between the tip lead and ground, without an isolating capacitor, to > allow the CO to determine the billing party. If there was current flow > to ground, then the "tip" party was making the call. The wiring arrangements adopted by the GPO here meant that every phone intended for party-line use could be sent out into the field wired the same way. The switch had changeover contacts and was inserted into the "A" wire (GPO terminology for what would normally be the tip side of the line) so that when pressed it opened the loop and grounded the "B" wire (normally the ring side of the line) via the hybrid and remaining circuitry. The bell would then be wired from the "B" wire to ground. The two stations were designated X and Y. The X subscriber's set was wired the normal way, A to tip, B to ring, then all that was necessary when installing at the Y subscriber's premises was to swap A and B at the junction box. Thus X had ringing on ring and grounded ring for dialtone, while Y had ringing on tip and grounded the tip to originate a call. In SxS offices (which formed the majority of exchanges here for many years) there was a small relay set which then simply switched the line to the appropriate uniselector or linefinder on detecting the ground-start. Incoming calls were what you all describe as terminal-per-station and could come from completely separate final selectors (connectors) for each party, thus giving complete freedom on which two numbers would share the line. Party lines certainly survived in some areas quite a way into the 1980s. There are still shortages of pairs in some places these days, except now BT makes extensive use of DACS units to multiplex lines. Regards, Paul ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 19:48:31 EST Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements In a message dated Tue, 08 Feb 2005 16:52:40 GMT, Youremail@isp.mil.easynews.com (Tom Lager) writes: > Billing info was sent to a tape punch at the end of the call. > Tapes were "read" once per week in small offices, daily in the big > offices, and 90 column cards were created for shipment to the data > center where bills were produced. The C.O. was a noisy place then. This reminds me many years ago when a Bell 5XB with AMA about 60 miles from the accounting office sent the wide yellow tapes (no conversion to punch cards) to the nearest accounting office by a package express company. Once the box never arrived and apparently fell off the truck. As in most such shipments, the carrier's liability was limited to $50 unless a high value was declared and paid for. There was an immediate hue and cry that every such shipment have the full value declared and the excess value fee paid. Cooler heads prevailed, and the matter was studied. The value of the calls on the lost AMA tapes was estimated at between $5,000 and $6,000. There had never been any other tapes lost since AMA offices were first installed in Oklahoma, and paying for the full value on all such shipments would amount to, as I recall, $500,000 a year. The idea of paying for the full value on all of them was hastily dropped. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Date: 8 Feb 2005 13:28:49 -0800 John Levine wrote: > In the 1970s, I knew people at non-Bell independents who used circle > digits, the extra digit to identify the calling phone. There was also > a surprising amount of ONI, operators cutting in to ask for your > number, even on private lines in Bell territory before ANI was > universal. My employer in 1973 had Centrex but suburban (message unit) and toll calls were ONI -- you dialed the number and a Bell operator came on and asked you for your number. (I believe the Centrex was run by step-by-step switch since it had secret digit absorbtion of the first digit of the extension. All our extensions began with "3" and you didn't need to dial that 3 except when calling 33xx. My co-workers were impressed when I discovered that.) My employer also used a cord switchboard; I thought all Centrex users had more modern consoles. AFAIK, ANI trailed direct-distance dialing in the Bell System. I would think being an ONI operator would be a pretty boring job -- all you did was enter 4 digits into a key pad all day long. TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response: > She said the old biddies on the party line would set the phone in a > galvanized laundry tub, so even if they were sitting out on the > front porch on a hot summer night, they would all hear that > (amplified by the galvanized tub) 'tick sound', and the front-porch > ladies would quietly slip inside and try to listen/spy on the > neighbor who had received the phone call, to find out who had called > and what they were talking about. PAT] From time to time people say "back in the good old days people were nicer, more respectful, etc." The above example -- which was very common -- shows this wasn't always the case. In my present complex, I joke that we should have our own private PBX connecting the apartments. We know a few "old biddies" who would jump at the chance to be operators so they could listen in to every call. Joseph wrote: > On two-party lines whether it was tip or ring determined whether > either party would be charged and you could use AMA. With four party > you used CAMA and an operator would come on the line to ask what your > number was. [repeating an old story] Back in the 1970s I was making a lot of toll calls from home (thank goodness for cheap after 11pm rates). We had a private line served by a #5 XBAR in a city. Suddenly, my phone bill didn't show any long distance calls. Month after month went by. I finally called the phone company and reported it and they denied anything was wrong. About a month later someone from the _business_ subscriber service (not residential) called me to report they found a problem with my line. The man said somehow my "tip and ring were confused with a business customer and my toll calls were charged to him; they reviewed the calls against my past usage and put them back on my bill; I would be allowed to pay it out over a few months." I don't know how the internals confused my line and this business's for billing purposes, his number wasn't anything like mine. But the toll calls were mine and my own calls showed up again. As I understood it, the businessman noticed my toll calls (being made late at night) and repeatedly complained to the company it couldn't have come from his place. The phone company simply said someone must have access and using his phones. After I guess he made a big enough stink they researched it and found the 'tip/ring' problem and fixed it. Oh yes -- he called one of the numbers I called and got more info. The only subsequent problem was that while the man said I could pay it out, the regular _residential_ service people demanded the full payment at once. ------------------------------ From: ranck@vt.edu Subject: Re: Need Recommendations For Economy "Pay as You Go" Cell Phones Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 20:46:04 UTC Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA kimshapiro100@yahoo.com wrote: > Need recommendations for economy "pay as you go" cell phones. > My child is probably going to use between 5 and 30 minutes a month. I have a TracFone which would seem to fill that need pretty nicely. You can go to their web page, buy a refurbished phone for $30 and they give you 2 months activation and 110 or 120 minutes with it. At least that was the deal last July when I got mine for a motorcycle trip. The 2 month activation was actually good until November. You can buy cards to add months and minutes at just about any convenience store or WalMart or other store. I later bought a 1 year activation that included 300 or 450 minutes (I forget exactly) which I have not used up yet, and seems like it would fill the needs you state. The cost at this rate is less than $10 per month. It may not be the best deal going, but there is no contract and minutes don't expire as long as the phone stays activated. web site: www.tracfone.com Bill Ranck Blacksburg, Va. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 16:37:15 -0700 From: timeOday Subject: Re: Any Recommendations re: Economy Internet Phone Service? TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to John Levine: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I personally use Vonage, which works >> with any telephone you wish to plug in and use. I am hearing rumors >> that their customer service is slipping a little; that may be due to >> the *huge* increase in their customer base in recent months. PAT] > It's no rumor -- I'm about to cancel my Vonage account as soon as the > number is ported away which is supposed to happen on Wednesday. It > used to be fine but in recent months the voice quality became terrible > and I was completely unable to contact any live people at Vonage at > all. Multiple e-mails went unanswered other than the auto-ack, and > every time I tried to call them, once I went through the menu to the > point where I would queue for a person, I always got a busy signal. > Too bad, they used to be good. I'm now using Lingo, the voice quality > is OK and the local calling area is much larger. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Interesting you mention how you work > your way through the menu up to the point the next voice will be a > human being, then it goes to busy sigal. Same thing has happened to me > a lot recently; high noon, midnight, even five in the morning. PAT] Same here. Nobody's home. At least, I've never gotten through to anybody at Vonage. I'm also getting a lot of calls dropped right as the other person answers. ------------------------------ From: NOTvalid@surplus4actors.INFO Subject: Re: Need Recommendations for Economy "Pay as You Go" Cell Phones Date: 8 Feb 2005 20:28:35 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com After reviewing all our options, including complaints re SOME carriers we chose Virgin Mobile. But then we knew the SPCS netwrok would be used by VM and had been happy with SPCS. Ask friends who are on SPCS, what service is like in your city. Incredibly low long distance phone rates, as low as USA-Canada 1.9CPM! Works as prepaid phone card. PIN not needed for calls from home or cell phone. Compare the rates at https://www.onesuite.com/ No monthly fee or minimum. Use promotion code "034720367" for some FREE time. We added OS to our VM phones for international calls. ------------------------------ From: ranck@vt.edu Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 20:09:52 UTC Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA George Mitchell wrote: > It's easy to forget that, once your fingerprint has been scanned into > the store's system, now this impossible-to-forget, impossible-to-forge > identification is stored on their system, ready to be replayed at will > by anyone with access to their computer. I don't know how the store systems are set up. I do know that we have two door lock fingerprint scanners where I work. These scanners apparently store the fingerprint info locally to themselves because I had to have my fingerprint read into each separately. They could not share the scan/image from one to the other. Seemed like a poor setup to me, but it made me less worried about that scanned image getting loose in the world if they could not even transmit the info from one scanner to another of the exact same make and model. I'm not sure what anyone could do with my scanned fingerprint anyway. If someone could get it out of the scanner on the door lock system they could also get into my office and borrow my coffee cup to get a more complete set. In the case of a store system as we have been talking about, anyone with enough access to get my fingerprint image out of the system could simply charge stuff to my account directly anyway. I suppose someone could frame me for a major crime with my fingerprint, but I can't imagine who would go to all that bother or why. Bill Ranck Blacksburg, Va. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Date: 8 Feb 2005 13:53:41 -0800 Monty Solomon wrote: > By Jo Best > Story last modified Tue Feb 01 12:18:00 PST 2005 > Thriftway President Paul Kapioski said rather than shying away from > the technology because of concerns about protecting their privacy, > customer demand ensured that the biometric payment system made it past > the pilot stage. I must admit I split the fence on this issue. When my supermarket began to accept ATM (now debit) cards as payment and even gives cash back, I jumped at it. It makes things a lot easier, plus I get my cash needs at the same time. (That's a plus for the supermarket in that it has a bank credit instead of hard currency to handle). The flip side is they now know me and what I like to buy and it's all accumulated someplace. That part I don't like. Say for example I decide to run for public office. The opposition candidate slips a few bucks to a supermarket employee who pulls up my buying habits. Do I buy 'adult' magazines or any other odd products? (This has been frequently done in video stores.) Say for example I have a medical problem and buy a lot of over-the-counter remedies for it. A prospective employer or insurance company would want to know that. Some supermarkets have pharmacies attached and prescription records would of course offer juicy data. The good news, I suppose, is that criminals have been caught using this data. Some vandals put glue in a building's locks. The authorities (according to the newspaper) checked local big box stores for sales of that particular clue which they had from their cash register tapes. They got the time whenever that particular glue was sold. Then they checked their CCTV camera tapes and matched it and found the vandals. So even paying cash doesn't protect you. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Minter) Subject: Re: AT&T Inventions Fueled Tech Boom, And Its Own Fall Date: 8 Feb 2005 11:05:15 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Some critics blame the mgmt of AT&T and IBM for allowing the companies > to be top-heavy. I don't agree. At the time the people were hired, > there was a need for their skills. At the time they were hired, they > still had a to support a network antiquated by today's standards. I forgot one other important point. Throughout the postwar history of both AT&T and IBM new technology was more efficient and reduced the number of workers needed. Yet the companies _added_ workers. Why was that? A reason was the new technology lowered the cost of service and thus increased business level. As AT&T automated long distance and reduced its cost, customers made more calls and the net need for telephone operators actually went up. There were fewer operators per call, but so many more calls. Likewise for IBM*. New technology reduced the number of employees needed to service computers, but the lower cost enabled more people to get computers, thus producing a net gain in employees. For both companies, technology (and business world) changes exploded the business yet employees were no longer needed to support even tremendous high volume of business. When was the last time we needed a human telephone operator? When was the last time an IBM service technician came out to fix a broken card, printer, or install new software? Those things are automated or eliminated. *How many employees did IBM need just to test and replace vacuum tubes in its mainframe computers of the 1950s -- which continued in service well into the 1960s? ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Minter) Subject: Old vs. New Doctors -- Communication and Technology Date: 8 Feb 2005 14:07:43 -0800 The NYT had a piece comparing old vs. new doctors, and when or if should a doctor retire. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/08/health/08essa.html?8hpib My mother used the same doctor for at least 40 years. Her family was concerned that he was too old (he was in his upper 70s), but my mother was very comfortable with him and confident. She never quite warmed up to his "junior" associate and always wanted the "senior" doctor. We finally convinced her it was time to see "junior" and that he had proved himself. I went with her and "junior" was now 60 himself, to my surprise. He came on to the practice many years ago, but my mother never got over thinking of him as the junior member of the team, still learning. If I lived close by, I'd be using 'junior' myself. I am not too comfortable by medical offices that are real ultra-modern high tech. Sure sometimes high tech is great but sometimes it seems an impediment. My lab results are faxed back and the fuzzy sheet is hard to read -- could critical numbers by misinterpreted? (Why doesn't anyone bother with the 'fine' or 'high-res' settings when faxing?) Keying the information in and reading it from a computer screen makes me uneasy -- I think it'd be easier to make an error there than from pen and paper. Confidence is a critical part of the doctor-patient relationship. My mother had great confidence in the senior man and that meant a lot. My mother always discouraged me from seeing an optometrist, feeling an opthamalogist was better. I had an eye problem and went to an optham. I had a long wait, saw him only a few minutes while an associate optometrist did the test, and paid a big bill. The next time I went to an optometrist and I was treated much better and felt much more comfortable. As far as I was concerned, I was getting better care even though the optometrist didn't have quite the training an opthamologist had. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Speaking of 'old' and 'new' doctors, my mother has gone to the same physician here in Independence for about 25 years. Then about six years ago, Dr. Empson quit taking *any* new patients at all, and he is just gradually working off his existing load of patients until he eventually retires. When I arrived here following my aneurysm, my mother tried to sign me up with Dr. Empson's practice, but he would not take me. His clinic put me on the case load of a 'junior' assistant, Dr. Wilkins, which was fine with me, but I got in the clinic last time around and Wilkins was not there either. It seems he had been promoted to a management position there in the medical center. (The clinic is a division of the medical center here, Mercy Hospital.) So now there is a third or fourth new 'junior' physician in the practice there. PAT] ------------------------------ From: EventHelix.com Subject: Re: Digital Cellular Sound Quality Date: 8 Feb 2005 18:35:14 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com The analog calls require several times the bandwidth of a digital call. The voice quality was slightly better but at a great expense. With digital calls, sampling is not the issue. The compression of the speech sometimes causes artifacts to appear. Also, loss of packets on the radio link also hurts the voice quality. The voice coders are getting better with time but you will never get toll quality voice on cell phones. Deepa EventStudio 2.5 - http://www.EventHelix.com/EventStudio Enter model in plain text;generate call flow in PDF and Word ------------------------------ From: dave@compata.com (Dave Close) Subject: Re: E-Bay to Cut Fees, Expand Customer Support Date: 8 Feb 2005 21:25:01 -0800 Organization: Compata, Costa Mesa, California Lisa Minter quotes Reuters: > In addition, eBay plans to shut down most of its automated email > responses within the next 90 days, so users will get a response from > a company representative. I don't know how eBay can stop automated responses to email when they don't accept email. There are no email addresses anywhere on their site. Like many web site operators, they seem to confuse a web form with real email. But by insisting on contact only through their forms, they destroy a user's audit trail and make it considerably more difficult for a user to track an issue. -- Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA +1 714 434 7359 dave@compata.com dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu "Though the people support the government, the government should not support the people." -- Grover Cleveland ------------------------------ From: wal Subject: Last Laugh! Stop Junk Faxes! Date: 8 Feb 2005 17:08:30 -0800 Are you fed up with companies sending you junk faxes? Here are simple ways to fight back: 1- Never ever call that toll free number that they put for you to be removed from their fax. If you call that number you are confirming that your fax number is good, and you will get more fax. They might remove you from one list, and put you on 10 other lists!. 2- Call the company that the fax is listing for you to call them (usually their toll free number) to inquire about whatever they want to sell you or make you sign up for services, and tell them the following: you: Hi ... them: Hi ... you: Got your fax ... them: Are you interested in Blah Blah Blah ... you: No ... them: Why you calling us? you: Because I got your fax and I don't want amy ore faxes. them: Give me your fax number and I'll remove you from the list. you:No thanks, if I gave u my fax number, I will recieve more faxes. them: so why you calling us. you: Because I got your fax, and don't want more faxes. They will hang up. Repeat the above to the same number at least 10 times for each fax you recieve! Trust me this method will send them a signal that what they are doing is wrong, and that it is time for them to stop faxing people that do not care to recieve their faxes. Let me know how it works for you. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #59 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Feb 9 19:16:10 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j1A0GA104714; Wed, 9 Feb 2005 19:16:10 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 19:16:10 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502100016.j1A0GA104714@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 V24 #60 TELECOM Digest Wed, 9 Feb 2005 19:15:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 60 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Profiles in Driver Distraction: Effects of Cell Phone (Monty Solomon) Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving? (Monty Solomon) U.S. Companies Move Call Center Work to the Home (Lisa Minter) Sullivan Says Ebbers Told Him to Manipulate Numbers (Telecom dailyLead) Book Review: "Managing Security with Snort and IDS Tools" (Rob Slade) Brother Question (LB@notmine.com) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (Lisa Hancock) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (Tony P.) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (John Levine) Re: Old vs. New Doctors -- Communication and Technology (ranck@vt.edu) Re: Any Recommendations re: Economy Internet Phone Service? (Tony P.) Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying (Ted Klugman) Re: Last Laugh! Stop Junk Faxes! (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Last Laugh! Stop Junk Faxes! (LB@notmine.com) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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, 9 Feb 2005 10:49:22 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Profiles in Driver Distraction: Effects of Cell Phone Conversations on Younger and Older Drivers David L. Strayer and Frank A. Drews University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah Our research examined the effects of hands-free cell phone conversations on simulated driving. We found that driving performance of both younger and older adults was influenced by cell phone conversations. Compared with single-task (i.e., driving only) conditions, when drivers used cell phones their reactions were 18% slower, their following distance was 12% greater, and they took 17% longer to recover the speed that was lost following braking. There was also a twofold increase in the number of rear-end collisions when drivers were conversing on a cell phone. These cellphone-induced effects were equivalent for younger and older adults, suggesting that older adults do not suffer a significantly greater penalty for talking on a cell phone while driving than compared with their younger counterparts. Interestingly, the net effect of having younger drivers converse on a cell phone was to make their average reactions equivalent to those of older drivers who were not using a cell phone. Actual or potential applications of this research include providing guidance for recommendations and regulations concerning the use of mobile technology while driving. http://www.psych.utah.edu/AppliedCognitionLab/StrayerHFES04.pdf ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 10:49:33 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving? David L. Strayer, Frank A. Drews, Dennis J. Crouch, and William A. Johnston Department of Psychology University of Utah To Appear In W. R. Walker and D. Herrmann (Eds.) Cognitive Technology: Transforming Thought and Society. McFarland & Company Inc., Jefferson, NC. Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving? While often being reminded to pay full attention to driving, people regularly engage in a wide variety of multi-tasking activities when they are behind the wheel. Indeed, as the average time spent commuting increases, there is a growing interest in trying to make the time spent on the roadway more productive. Unfortunately, due to the inherent limited capacity of human attention, engaging in these multi-tasking activities often comes at a cost of diverting attention away from the primary task of driving. There are a number of more traditional sources of driver distraction. These "old standards" include talking to passengers, eating, drinking, lighting a cigarette, applying makeup, or listening to the radio (Stutts et al., 2003). However, over the last 5-10 years many new electronic devices have been developed and are making their way into the vehicle. In most cases, these new technologies are engaging, interactive information delivery systems. For example, drivers can now surf the Internet, send and receive e-mail or fax, communicate via cellular device, and even watch television. There is good reason to believe that some of these new multi-tasking activities may be substantially more distracting than the old standards because they are more cognitively engaging and because they are performed over longer periods of time. This chapter focuses on how driving is impacted by cellular communication because this is one of the most prevalent exemplars of this new class of multi-tasking activity. Here we summarize research from our lab (e.g., Strayer & Johnston, 2001; Strayer, Drews, & Johnston, 2003; Strayer, Drews, & Crouch, in press), that addressed four interrelated questions related to cell phone use while driving. http://www.psych.utah.edu/AppliedCognitionLab/CogTechChapter.pdf ------------------------------ Date: 09 Feb 2005 09:48:17 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: U.S. Companies Move Call Center Work to the Home NEW YORK (Reuters) - People who reach Esther DeJesus when they call Office Depot Inc.'s customer service center have no idea that she's sitting at home in a room decorated with pictures of Garfield and Betty Boop. The Orlando, Florida, resident, who works on the retailer's account for call center contractor Willow CSN, is one of a new breed of customer service representative. Rather than commuting to a crowded office, she puts in 37 to 40 hours a week at home and sets her own schedule. "It is really convenient," said DeJesus, who likes the setup because it allows her to take care of her grandmother. And she shares her home office with her twin daughters, who work part-time for Willow while going to college. After some unsuccessful attempts to move call centers abroad, U.S. companies are shifting some of that work back to this country -- and into people's homes. Besides Office Depot, JetBlue Airways Corp., General Electric Co. and Staples Inc. are among the companies that have been using stay-at-home customer service representatives as an alternative to traditional call centers in the United States, India and the Philippines. Home-based workers are usually happier, which means better service, these companies say. The arrangement also allows employers to schedule people in small part-time slots when call volume is higher, rather than hiring regular call-center workers who get paid whether they are busy or not. To work at home, employees need a computer that meets certain specifications, such as high-speed Internet access. After taking a training course, they're ready to start answering calls that are routed to their home phone. Companies are passing on some of the savings they're realizing in rent and office equipment. Stay-at-home customer service representatives generally command $13 to $14 an hour, while the industry rate for call center workers is $8 to $9. HOMEWARD BOUND Office Depot plans to close nine of its 11 call centers by the end of September and replace them with home-based workers. The Delray Beach, Florida-based company now has 1,400 remote agents and plan to double that number in a year. "We chose to go with virtual agents as a means to keep work done domestically and also get the best quality and cost," said Julian Carter, director of operations. Office Depot said it halved its attrition rate to 30 percent almost immediately after it started using home-based workers 3 1/2 years ago. Now attrition has fallen even more, to a low-teen percentage rate, allowing the company to save training and recruiting expenses. Industrywide, the annual turnover rate of 25 percent to 30 percent for work-at-home agents is significantly lower than 35 percent to 70 percent for call center workers, according to Gartner Inc. The research firm expects that 10 percent of all contact centers will use home agents as part of their overall customer services by 2006. There are already more than 100,000 home-based agents in the United States, according to technology research firm IDC. Home-based agents are one response to the growing political backlash against offshoring. Top personal-computer maker Dell Inc., for example, is retreating from India because customers have complained about the difficulty of understanding the workers' accents. "Expectations about the benefits of offshore will mature," Alexa Bona, a research director at Gartner, said in a report. "More creative responses to outsourcing, such as work-at-home agents, will start to gain ground." West Corp., as well as closely held companies like Willow, Alpine Access and Working Solutions, has carved out a profitable niche as an intermediary between home-based workers and the corporations that use them. JetBlue already has about 900 agents based at home and is looking to add more. The discount airline said its customers like to talk to its workers, who are comfortable as they answer calls in their slippers and pajamas. "When employees are happy, revenues are going to go up," said G.R. Badger, a customer service supervisor at JetBlue. For people who chose to stay at home and answer calls, the convenience is the biggest draw. Daniel Boord, a father with two children, has a full-time job as a laboratory worker. Each weekend, he also works 15 hours helping American Automobile Association customers from his home in Phoenix. "The flexibility is superb," Boord said. "For my second job, I don't have to leave the house. I just need to walk 50 feet to my office." NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 13:32:47 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Sullivan Says Ebbers Told Him to Manipulate Numbers Telecom dailyLead from USTA February 9, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19297&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Sullivan says Ebbers told him to manipulate numbers BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * HP chief Fiorina steps down * How much is MCI worth? * Nortel, RIM forge alliance * RealNetworks changes strategy for mobile phone market * Cisco reports earnings USTA SPOTLIGHT * Win the Battle for Consumers with Help from USTA EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * San Diego electric utility to offer Internet access over power lines Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19297&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Rob Slade Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 08:20:13 -0800 Subject: Book Review "Managing Security with Snort and IDS Tools" Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca BKMSWSIT.RVW 20041106 "Managing Security with Snort and IDS Tools", Kerry Cox/Christopher Gerg, 2004, 0-596-00661-6, U$39.95/C$57.95 %A Kerry Cox %A Christopher Gerg %C 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472 %D 2004 %G 0-596-00661-6 %I O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. %O U$39.95/C$57.95 800-998-9938 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com %O http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596006616/robsladesinterne http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596006616/robsladesinte-21 %O http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596006616/robsladesin03-20 %O tl a rl 2 tc 3 ta 3 tv 2 wq 2 %P 269 p. %T "Managing Security with Snort and IDS Tools" Chapter one explains what Snort, and network intrusion detection, is. The basics of network traffic sniffing and analysis, and the operation of tcpdump and ethereal, are described in chapter two. Installation, options, and the basic operation of Snort are outlined in chapter three. Chapter four details the different types of blackhat and intruder activity in terms of network intrusion. Chapter five details the confguration file and choices. How, and where, to use and set up Snort is the topic of chapter six. Snort rules are explained in chapter seven, which also outlines the system for creating them. Snort can also be used for intrusion prevention, as chapter eight points out. Tuning sensitivity, and establishing thresholds and clipping levels, is discussed in chapter nine. Chapter ten reviews the use of ACID (Analysis Console for Intrusion Detection) as a management console. An alternative program is SnortCenter, described in chapter eleven, and more options are listed in twelve. Chapter thirteen notes possibilities for the use of Snort in high bandwidth situations. For those interested in the standard intrusion detection program, here is a set of useful explanations for its use and operation. copyright Robert M. Slade, 2004 BKMSWSIT.RVW 20041106 ====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer) rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca rslade@sun.soci.niu.edu Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer; Art is everything else. - Donald Ervin Kunth http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade ------------------------------ From: LB@notmine.com Subject: Brother Question Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2005 07:32:06 -0500 Organization: Optimum Online I recently bought a Brother All in One -- mainly for the copying ability. My question is: Does anyone know if Brother will sell my phone number if I activate the fax part of the machine? TIA LB ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Date: 9 Feb 2005 07:22:28 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > This reminds me many years ago when a Bell 5XB with AMA about 60 miles > from the accounting office sent the wide yellow tapes (no conversion > to punch cards) to the nearest accounting office by a package express > company. Once the box never arrived and apparently fell off the > truck. As in most such shipments, the carrier's liability was limited > to $50 unless a high value was declared and paid for. If this was back in the 60s, $50 was equal to about $500 today. I always wondered how much the AMA added to the cost of toll calls. The Bell System had to develop very complex tape punch machines to create the tapes and then machines to sort and read the tape--one machine resulted in a very large patent application. The Bell System was very slow to adopt mag tapes for this out of fear of unreliability. What amazes me that outside of cities which used message unit meters for suburban calls, other places itemized literally nickel+dime toll charges. All that effort to charge 15c for a call. Now that the system is all electronic and computerized, it's got to the point where we can get unlimited toll service. When I got that service, I thought of all that effort into developing, making, and running the toll charge equipment. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Organization: ATCC Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 16:47:01 -0500 In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com says: > Back in the 1970s I was making a lot of toll calls from home (thank > goodness for cheap after 11pm rates). We had a private line served by > a #5 XBAR in a city. > Suddenly, my phone bill didn't show any long distance calls. Month > after month went by. I finally called the phone company and reported > it and they denied anything was wrong. About a month later someone > from the _business_ subscriber service (not residential) called me to > report they found a problem with my line. The man said somehow my > "tip and ring were confused with a business customer and my toll calls > were charged to him; they reviewed the calls against my past usage and > put them back on my bill; I would be allowed to pay it out over a few > months." > I don't know how the internals confused my line and this business's > for billing purposes, his number wasn't anything like mine. But the > toll calls were mine and my own calls showed up again. > As I understood it, the businessman noticed my toll calls (being made > late at night) and repeatedly complained to the company it couldn't > have come from his place. The phone company simply said someone must > have access and using his phones. After I guess he made a big enough > stink they researched it and found the 'tip/ring' problem and fixed > it. Oh yes -- he called one of the numbers I called and got more info. > The only subsequent problem was that while the man said I could pay it > out, the regular _residential_ service people demanded the full > payment at once. In the early 90's I'd moved and gotten a new phone number. But months went by and I never received a bill. I'd dutifully call Nynex every month and try to explain that I was using the line, I should be getting the bill. Try as I might, this went on for eighteen months. When I finally got someone to research it they found out that the order had been processed but the paperwork was never sent to billing. Not only that, but the audit cycles never caught the fact that they had an in service line that wasn't being billed. I agreed to pay the local service charges. I think the grand total came to $150 or so for the eighteen months. Because this was post-breakup though, my AT&T LD calls were a mystery until I got a call from a friend in New Jersey asking if I'd been messing with the phone system again. Turns out he's gotten a call from the local VA hospital asking who he knew at the hospital that made calls to him on certain dates and times. Of course while he was talking to them he didn't make the connection so to speak but then it popped in his head and he called me. Turns out their main switchboard was 273-7100, part of which was 273- 7106. My number was 273-0716 -- yep, a typo. When they PIC'd my line they miss-keyed the number as 273-7106, in essence the zero moved three places to the right. Never could wade deep enough through the government beauracracy to find out how much I owed them. Oh well. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Almost the very same thing with me, in 1975. I got a new phone, outside plant came out and installed it, but they somehow failed to pass along the paperwork to the billing/accounting people, so I never did get a bill for about a year. Soon enough, in a month or so I knew there had been some error. As long as no 'coin rated' calls were made on that line, I probably never would have received a bill. But then, about a year later, some $#%@# phreak made a third-party call and billed it to my number. Eventually *that* paperwork (the charge ticket) made its way through to accounting; the computer said there is no such working number and the charge fell out of the system, and wound up in the ever increasing, seldom-resolved work of an investigator, who as part of his work decided to *call the number in question* and see if it was really disconnected. Of course, it was a working number; mine. He called plant and asked them; they claimed the paperwork had gone through long before. When my first bill finally came, it was marked for service to present time for *13 months*,plus of course the next month in advance. Oooh, that stung! I pleaded my case to the service rep: if you can't see your way clear to just write it off, at least give me a few months to pay the bill. She would not agree to write it off, but did say I could have three months to pay the entire bill; at that point it would be 13+3 = 16 months or 5 payments each month for 3 months plus a final installment. The rep had sort of a smirk in her voice as she said to me, "But Mr. Townson, you KNEW what you were doing! We share some of the blame also, which is why I am not going to demand all the payment by the due date in a month." PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 9 Feb 2005 14:32:03 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA >> In the 1970s, I knew people at non-Bell independents who used circle >> digits, the extra digit to identify the calling phone. There was also >> a surprising amount of ONI, operators cutting in to ask for your >> number, even on private lines in Bell territory before ANI was >> universal. > Why the name "circle" digit? It was displayed in a circle on the card in the middle of the dial above or below your phone number. In the 1970s and 1980s my sister in law in Ghent NY had a circle digit even though she had a private line, so toll calls were 11-number where the second 1 was the circle digit. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of The Internet for Dummies Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "I shook hands with Senators Dole and Inouye," said Tom, disarmingly. ------------------------------ From: ranck@vt.edu Subject: Re: Old vs. New Doctors -- Communication and Technology Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 20:46:08 UTC Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA Lisa Hancock wrote: > hard to read -- could critical numbers by misinterpreted? (Why > doesn't anyone bother with the 'fine' or 'high-res' settings when > faxing?) Keying the information in and reading it from a computer > screen makes me uneasy -- I think it'd be easier to make an error > there than from pen and paper. It is an old and widely accepted cliche' that doctors have terrible handwriting. My daughter is in her 4th year as a medical student and she tells me that pharmacists and nurses really like the hospitals with a computer based system for the doctors to make notes and write up prescriptions. There are fewer mistakes and no hard to read instructions. While it may make you uneasy, real life experience says using the computer is less prone to error. Bill Ranck Blacksburg, Va. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And since we all know the computer does not make mistakes and always is accurate, then whatever the prescription calls for has to be the correct medicine. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Any Recommendations re: Economy Internet Phone Service? Organization: ATCC Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 16:31:25 -0500 In article , timeOday- UNSPAM@theknack.net says: > TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to John Levine: >>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I personally use Vonage, which works >>> with any telephone you wish to plug in and use. I am hearing rumors >>> that their customer service is slipping a little; that may be due to >>> the *huge* increase in their customer base in recent months. PAT] >> It's no rumor -- I'm about to cancel my Vonage account as soon as the >> number is ported away which is supposed to happen on Wednesday. It >> used to be fine but in recent months the voice quality became terrible >> and I was completely unable to contact any live people at Vonage at >> all. Multiple e-mails went unanswered other than the auto-ack, and >> every time I tried to call them, once I went through the menu to the >> point where I would queue for a person, I always got a busy signal. >> Too bad, they used to be good. I'm now using Lingo, the voice quality >> is OK and the local calling area is much larger. >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Interesting you mention how you work >> your way through the menu up to the point the next voice will be a >> human being, then it goes to busy sigal. Same thing has happened to me >> a lot recently; high noon, midnight, even five in the morning. PAT] > Same here. Nobody's home. At least, I've never gotten through to > anybody at Vonage. I'm also getting a lot of calls dropped right as the > other person answers. They do troll the Vonage forums though and answer those questions that they easily can. Demands for things like ACR fall on deaf ears though. ------------------------------ From: Ted Klugman Subject: Re: Supermarket: Let Your Fingers do the Paying Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2005 11:05:34 -0500 Organization: Optimum Online On Thu, 03 Feb 2005 16:11:01 -0800, George Mitchell wrote: > It's easy to forget that, once your fingerprint has been scanned into > the store's system, now this impossible-to-forget, impossible-to-forge > identification is stored on their system, ready to be replayed at will > by anyone with access to their computer. There's an important thing to consider here -- what is actually being stored. Finger scan technologies do NOT store your fingerprint -- they store metadata. Sort of like a one-way hash, this information is gleaned FROM the fingerprint and the algorithm is not reversable. The data stored includes details about ridges and valleys, usually from a handful of points around the fingerprint. You cannot regenerate a fingerprint from the stored data. Additionally, finger scans take much less storage -- only a few kilobytes. Complete fingerprint storage requires much more space. The downside to using finger scans is that the FAR (false acceptance rate -- where Alice's finger is determined to actually be Bob's) and FRR (false rejection rate -- where Alice's finger is determined to not be hers) are higher. ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Stop Junk Faxes! Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2005 02:30:42 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications They still win. That takes entirely too much time for marginal results. wal wrote: > Are you fed up with companies sending you junk faxes? Here are simple > ways to fight back: > 1- Never ever call that toll free number that they put for you to be > removed from their fax. If you call that number you are confirming > that your fax number is good, and you will get more fax. They might > remove you from one list, and put you on 10 other lists!. > 2- Call the company that the fax is listing for you to call them > (usually their toll free number) to inquire about whatever they want > to sell you or make you sign up for services, and tell them the > following: > you: Hi ... > them: Hi ... > you: Got your fax ... > them: Are you interested in Blah Blah Blah ... > you: No ... > them: Why you calling us? > you: Because I got your fax and I don't want amy ore faxes. > them: Give me your fax number and I'll remove you from the list. > you:No thanks, if I gave u my fax number, I will recieve more faxes. > them: so why you calling us. > you: Because I got your fax, and don't want more faxes. > They will hang up. > Repeat the above to the same number at least 10 times for each fax you > recieve! > Trust me this method will send them a signal that what they are doing > is wrong, and that it is time for them to stop faxing people that do > not care to recieve their faxes. > Let me know how it works for you. ------------------------------ From: LB@notmine.com Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Stop Junk Faxes! Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2005 07:33:04 -0500 Organization: Optimum Online wal wrote: > Are you fed up with companies sending you junk faxes? Here are simple > ways to fight back: > 1- Never ever call that toll free number that they put for you to be > removed from their fax. If you call that number you are confirming > that your fax number is good, and you will get more fax. They might > remove you from one list, and put you on 10 other lists!. > 2- Call the company that the fax is listing for you to call them > (usually their toll free number) to inquire about whatever they want > to sell you or make you sign up for services, and tell them the > following: > you: Hi ... > them: Hi ... > you: Got your fax ... > them: Are you interested in Blah Blah Blah ... > you: No ... > them: Why you calling us? > you: Because I got your fax and I don't want amy ore faxes. > them: Give me your fax number and I'll remove you from the list. > you:No thanks, if I gave u my fax number, I will recieve more faxes. > them: so why you calling us. > you: Because I got your fax, and don't want more faxes. > They will hang up. > Repeat the above to the same number at least 10 times for each fax you > recieve! > Trust me this method will send them a signal that what they are doing > is wrong, and that it is time for them to stop faxing people that do > not care to recieve their faxes. > Let me know how it works for you. and/or "You already have my number. Could please fax the info in BRAILLE?" LB ------------------------------ 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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Please contact Jay Boyington for additional information at 405-744-9000, mstm-osu@okstate.edu, or visit the MSTM web site at http://www.mstm.okstate.edu ************************ 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. 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 V24 #60 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Feb 10 00:32:45 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j1A5WiO06693; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 00:32:45 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 00:32:45 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502100532.j1A5WiO06693@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 V24 #61 TELECOM Digest Thu, 10 Feb 2005 00:30:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 61 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Audioblog.com Lets Bloggers Include Sound, Video Files (Lisa Minter) Browser Feature Could Make Scams Easier (Lisa Minter) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (Scott Dorsey) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Old vs. New Doctors -- Communication and Technology (Fred Atkinson) Re: Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving? (D. Clayton) Re: Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving? (M D Falco) Spammer With a Toll Free Number (shlichter1@aol.com) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: 09 Feb 2005 09:39:33 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Audioblog.com lets bloggers include sound, video files By Michael Bazeley, Mercury News The push-button ease of blogging opened online publishing to the masses. Virtually anyone today can create a blog in minutes. But as bloggers look for new ways to express themselves through audio and video, the technology gets more complicated. Editing a short video and getting it to play successfully on the Web is not for the technologically faint of heart. Enter Audioblog.com, a Web-based service run by Eric Rice, an East Bay digital media producer. Audioblog.com simplifies the task of posting audio and video files to Web sites. "We said blogging is now a platform, people are constantly publishing, so let's now do the audio thing," said Rice, who already was doing an online radio talk show when he founded the company. The Audioblog service costs $4.95 a month. To get audio onto their Web sites, bloggers can upload an MP3 or WAV format file to the Audioblog servers, or call into the service from any phone. Audioblog records the phone call and automatically creates a new entry on the blog. Additionally, bloggers can record their message over the Web with a recorder the company created using Macromedia Flash. (Google's Blogger service offers a similar tool, but its features are limited.) "I love the fact that you can record from any browser or any computer," Rice said. "Audio can be complicated. And now it's just 'get an Internet connection and record.' " The advent of podcasting -- the ability to easily subscribe to and download audio programs to iPods and other portable digital players -- is pushing audio blogging to new heights. Rice said podcasters are finding new uses for the phone-blogging feature. "People use this to record conference calls or they report live, on location, if you will," he said. "It's an amazing mobile recording tool." Audioblog has been used far and wide, Rice said. Bloggers covering the Democratic and Republican national conventions filed audio reports from the convention floors with their cell phones. And a group of police officers filed audio dispatches -- with the help of a satellite phone -- from an expedition to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. Rice recently added video to the service. Members with a camera attached to their computers can create video blog dispatches with much the same ease as they can audio posts. That feature could become especially popular this year as video blogging appears poised to take off as a phenomenon. Video bloggers held their first national conference last month. And services such as Our media.org are emerging to offer free hosting for bulky video files. "We're kind of at the crossroads with video now," Rice said. "We added a video blog capability to our service because we said, 'Let's get ready.' " Contact Michael Bazeley at (408) 920-5642, and read his blog at http://www.siliconbeat.com . Have a suggestion for an Ideas and Innovations profile? E-mail us at innovations@mercurynews.com . NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, San Jose Mercury News. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not know why the Mercury is making a big deal of this. I have encoded audio/video into my web pages for several years. Its not that hard to do. For example, I am going to include in this note a bit of code which you can cut and paste and use on your own web page to play video or audio files; this snippet responds to the Real Player format: ;>--
;>-- -- HEIGHT=20 WIDTH=150> ;>-- ;>-- ;>-- ;>-- ;>-- -- HEIGHT=20 WIDTH=150 AUTOSTART=true> ;>-- Pull out the ';>--' at the start of each line; I hope this does not start playing out while you are trying to read this page, if you read it in a browser! The first line, the image, is the little radio I use on my web pages such as http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html and other 'talking pages'. The source Value is where I get the audio stream for Associated Press News in this instance. If you prefer to have a Real Player type logo instead drop the image of the little radio. That 'Object ID=video1' gets you a little window if you have a movie to play. 'CONTROLS' can be several variables ranging from 'All' (for a complete set of controls as often seen, or 'PlayButton' if you just want the simple little off/on button you see on my web pages.) The param value AUTOSTART 'true' or 'false' if you do/do not want the audio to start playing as the page loads. And *always* quote the variables. The main thing to remember is the browser command EMBED=whatever you wish to play. There are entire web sites devoted to instructions on how to do audio and video on the web; my instructions above are just intended to get you started. I am sort of ambivilent on the use of audio/video web pages. Some people hate them, others enjoy them. I sort of like them, but have seen some web pages with idiotic music I just hated. It really is *not* hard to get audio/video on a web page. Now actually *producing* your own multimedia is a different matter. Look at the 'biography' page on our web site to see a little movie I produced several years ago about this Digest. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 09 Feb 2005 10:05:06 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Browser Feature Could Make Scams Easier By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer NEW YORK - An Internet browser feature meant to permit Web addresses in Chinese, Arabic and other languages could encourage online fraudsters by making scam Web sites look legitimate to visitors. For once, the affected browser is not the industry-leading Internet Explorer from Microsoft Corp. but rather several of its more robust competitors. That's because the aging IE lacks support for internationalized domain names; at least without a plug-in, which would then make IE vulnerable. "It's kind of ironic that it affects some of the supposedly safer browsers," said Neel Mehta, a research engineer at the Internet Security Systems Inc. A fix won't be easy because the vulnerability, publicized at a weekend hacker conference, that enables so-called "phishing" scams involves a feature, not a coding error. Engineers at the Mozilla Foundation, developer of the No. 2. Firefox browser, said they were reviewing options and should have more to say within a few days. The maker of the Opera browser said in a statement that although a fix is possible, "it's extremely hard to find a balance between making the fix too comprehensive or too limited. Even though you limit yourself you can create problems for valid domains." Officially, the Internet's Domain Name System supports only 37 characters; the 26 letters, 10 numerals and a hyphen. But in recent years, in response to a growing Internet population worldwide, engineers have been working on ways to trick the system into understanding other languages. Engineers have rallied around a character system called Unicode. The newly discovered exploit takes advantage of the fact that characters that look alike can have two separate codes in Unicode and thus appear to the computer as different. For example, Unicode for "a" is 97 under the Latin alphabet, but 1072 in Cyrillic. Subbing one for the other can allow a scammer to register a domain name that looks to the human as "paypal.com," tricking users into giving passwords and other sensitive information at what looks like a legitimate site. Some browsers, including Firefox, let users deactivate the other character sets but doing so is complicated and would cut off access to the relatively few sites that use non-English characters in their addresses. A better solution is to always manually type Web address directly into a browser rather than clicking on a link sent via e-mail or even copying and pasting that link. The potential for the vulnerability has been known for awhile, but it has only recently gained the attention of security experts as non-English domain names become a reality. Eric Johanson, an independent security consultant in Seattle, publicized it on Sunday, saying he wanted to pressure vendors to act. Dan Hubbard, director of security at Websense Inc., which monitors phishing scams, said he knew of no e-mails circulating on the Internet that take advantage of the vulnerability, but he expects scammers to start using it soon to target non-IE browsers. Hubbard said plenty of flaws already exist with IE because users don't keep up with security updates. "Attackers will check to see what browser you're using and then use vulnerability A if it's Internet Explorer and B if it's Mozilla Firefox," Hubbard said. But Johannes Ullrich, chief technology office with the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center, said scammers may focus on exploiting other flaws because IE remains dominant. "Right now the one thing that will likely prevent them from using it is that Internet Explorer users will not be able to see the page at all," he said. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. in this instance, Associated Press. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Date: 9 Feb 2005 18:43:29 -0500 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) Lisa Hancock wrote: > TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response: >> She said the old biddies on the party line would set the phone in a >> galvanized laundry tub, so even if they were sitting out on the >> front porch on a hot summer night, they would all hear that >> (amplified by the galvanized tub) 'tick sound', and the front-porch >> ladies would quietly slip inside and try to listen/spy on the >> neighbor who had received the phone call, to find out who had called >> and what they were talking about. PAT] > From time to time people say "back in the good old days people were > nicer, more respectful, etc." The above example -- which was very > common -- shows this wasn't always the case. Well, I for one, know that I'd be a lot nicer and more respectful if half the town was listening in on MY phone. scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 20:08:30 EST Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements In a message dated 8 Feb 2005 13:28:49 -0800, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) writes: > AFAIK, ANI trailed direct-distance dialing in the Bell System. I believe the first office with DDD was Englewood, New Jersey, a 5XB with ANI/AMA. The second was Enid, Oklahoma, or Harlingen, Texas, similarly 5XB with ANI/AMA. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: Old vs. New Doctors -- Communication and Technology Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 20:57:42 -0500 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And since we all know the computer does > not make mistakes and always is accurate, then whatever the prescription > calls for has to be the correct medicine. PAT] I believe they said *less* prone to error, not error free, Pat. I'm inclined to believe it. There is less error when it is neatly typed rather than relying on everyone's ability to read everyone else's handwriting. The computer can also be programmed to ask [and require answers to] questions that a rushed doctor or nurse might forget to answer if they were relying on their memory for the right questions. Back in the sixties, I remember hearing doctors and engineers giving a reason most of their handwritings were so poor. They claimed it was because their professors in college went so fast during lectures that they had to write notes at a very fast rate of speed (which tended to develop poor penmanship skills). Might be valid in some cases. In others, it might be just a polite excuse. The quality of my own handwriting is pretty bad. It was so poor during my elementary school years that [after receiving numerous complaints from my teachers] my parents had me examined by a neurologist. He told them that his testing demonstrated there there was nothing neurologically wrong with me. He said that some people just never seem to develop good penmanship skills. So, when I learned to type (in high school), that was a big step up for me. When the computer became prevalent, that really took care of the issue altogether for me. I don't believe for a minute that the computer makes their work error free. But I do believe that it probably does *reduce* the likelihood of mistakes. Remember that most computers don't make mistakes. More often than not, it is the fault of the person incorrectly inputting the information the computer acted upon, the programmer who wrote the software who coded it in a way that caused a mistake when it processed the information, or someone else that was involved in the planning process in the software's development. The latter two can't predict every eventuality that could possibly result from something that they weren't able to predict. The former could be in error for a number of different reasons. This could include bad information, getting information about one patient confused with another before inputting it. And it could be a number of other factors. More often, it is the former. And it leaves a digital (not paper) trail for the lawyers to follow when something goes wrong and someone is harmed. Hopefully, that thought makes the medical folks all a bit more careful in the record keeping process. Not errror free. Fewer errors. Regards, Fred ------------------------------ From: David Clayton Subject: Re: Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving? Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 11:50:05 +1100 On Wed, 2005-02-09 at 10:49 -0500, Monty Solomon wrote: > David L. Strayer, Frank A. Drews, Dennis J. Crouch, > and William A. Johnston > Department of Psychology University of Utah > To Appear In W. R. Walker and D. Herrmann (Eds.) > Cognitive Technology: Transforming Thought and Society. > McFarland & Company Inc., Jefferson, NC. > Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving? ...... > There is good reason to believe that some of these > new multi-tasking activities may be substantially more distracting > than the old standards because they are more cognitively engaging and > because they are performed over longer periods of time. ...... Ahh, is this the old mental "cpu cycle" availability issue? It looks like with all the new "applications" we are introducing, we may need upgrades to our "wetware" to keep up? :-) Regards, David Clayton, e-mail: dcstar@XYZ.myrealbox.com Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. (Remove the "XYZ." to reply) Dilbert's words of wisdom #18: Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2005 20:10:27 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Re: Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving? ---- Forwarded Message From: Monty Solomon < > Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 10:49:33 -0500 Subject: Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving? Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving? David L. Strayer, Frank A. Drews, Dennis J. Crouch, and William A. Johnston Department of Psychology University of Utah To Appear In W. R. Walker and D. Herrmann (Eds.) Cognitive Technology: Transforming Thought and Society. McFarland & Company Inc., Jefferson, NC. Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving? While often being reminded to pay full attention to driving, people regularly engage in a wide variety of multi-tasking activities when they are behind the wheel. Indeed, as the average time spent commuting increases, there is a growing interest in trying to make the time spent on the roadway more productive. Unfortunately, due to the inherent limited capacity of human attention, engaging in these multi-tasking activities often comes at a cost of diverting attention away from the primary task of driving. There are a number of more traditional sources of driver distraction. These "old standards" include talking to passengers, eating, drinking, lighting a cigarette, applying makeup, or listening to the radio (Stutts et al., 2003). However, over the last 5-10 years many new electronic devices have been developed and are making their way into the vehicle. In most cases, these new technologies are engaging, interactive information delivery systems. For example, drivers can now surf the Internet, send and receive e-mail or fax, communicate via cellular device, and even watch television. There is good reason to believe that some of these new multi-tasking activities may be substantially more distracting than the old standards because they are more cognitively engaging and because they are performed over longer periods of time. This chapter focuses on how driving is impacted by cellular communication because this is one of the most prevalent exemplars of this new class of multi-tasking activity. Here we summarize research from our lab (e.g., Strayer & Johnston, 2001; Strayer, Drews, & Johnston, 2003; Strayer, Drews, & Crouch, in press), that addressed four interrelated questions related to cell phone use while driving. http://www.psych.utah.edu/AppliedCognitionLab/CogTechChapter.pdf ------------------------------ From: shlichter1@aol.com Subject: Spammer With a Toll Free Number Date: 9 Feb 2005 16:24:46 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com The following number is for a company that sells it bulk mailing services, you can never ger off the list even though they give you a link and this number. By the way, it also allows you to send faxes, so if you know anyone that is in the spam fax business give thme the number; 800-915-0204. Also the following number is for a company know as KaBloom, they sell flowers and use the above companies service, here is their number, let them know how you feel about them using spammers services. The only way to stop these companies is to cut off their source of income. 800-522-5666. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #61 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Feb 10 17:52:21 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j1AMqKU13108; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 17:52:21 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 17:52:21 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502102252.j1AMqKU13108@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 V24 #62 TELECOM Digest Thu, 10 Feb 2005 17:52:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 62 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Google Seeks to Broaden Ad Reach to More Companies (Lisa Minter) Pfizer, Microsoft Sue Web Sites Over Illegal Viagra (Lisa Minter) Online Banking Growing Rapidly, Survey Finds (Lisa Minter) 3.2 mln US Homes Have a PC, But no Landline (Jack Decker) Verizon Makes Informal Offer for MCI (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Print to Fax Solutions? (Reto Krucker) Re: Brother Question (Ken Abrams) Re: Brother Question (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (DevilsPGD) Re: Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving (Tim@Backhom) Re: Last Laugh! Stop Junk Faxes! (SELLCOM Tech support) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: 10 Feb 2005 14:04:49 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Google Seeks to Broaden Ad Reach to More Companies By Lisa Baertlein SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Web search leader Google Inc. is focusing investment on expanding advertising services and improving Internet search, the Web search leader said on Wednesday at its first analyst day as a public company. Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Google's current advertising services are most popular with medium-sized companies and that it is working on products to serve the largest and smallest advertisers. Google's mid-market advertising business is highly automated and low cost. Very small advertisers are more likely to not have Web sites or be unfamiliar with Internet search advertising that drives virtually all of Google's revenue. The company recently increased the number of people devoted to direct sales and to helping large advertising customers track the performance of their Web search ad dollars. Omid Kordestani, Google's senior vice president of worldwide sales and field operations, said the company is focusing on signing up more local advertisers and beefing up tools that help advertisers better target ads and measure their effectiveness. He also said the company could do better in the Asia-Pacific region, where it has just three advertising sales offices versus nine in Europe and 12 in the United States. Google competes with Yahoo Inc. for Web search advertising dollars both in the U.S. and internationally. New Web search entrant Microsoft Corp. has not said whether it will build its own Web search advertising services. It currently partners with Overture Services, Yahoo's Web search advertising provider. In all, Google said it would put about 70 percent of its investment toward its core Web search and advertising businesses. Schmidt said the business side of the company is run in a traditional way while the product development side is more creative. "We're actually not as unconventional as we say we are," Schmidt said. "We're in this to make money," said co-founder Larry Page, although he added that Google will not try to drive revenue with each of its products -- which range from local, news and image search to free online e-mail and photo management services. Google shares closed down 3.6 percent at $191.58 on the Nasdaq, ahead of IPO-related lock-ups expirations that are slated to expire on nearly 177 million shares early next week. For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Pfizer, Microsoft Sue Web Sites Over Illegal Viagra Date: 10 Feb 2005 14:03:10 -0800 By Bill Berkrot NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc. and Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday they filed parallel lawsuits against Web site operators and spam advertisers that sell illegal versions of Pfizer's Viagra. The companies said the lawsuits follow a seven-month investigation to discover the identity of two Web site operators together with those advertising them via spam e-mails. Pfizer has filed suit against CanadianPharmacy and E-Pharmacy Direct, while Microsoft has filed civil actions against the spam advertisers for the Web sites. Microsoft has also filed three suits against spam advertisers who advertise unauthorized or counterfeit versions of Viagra on other online pharmacies under such names as Discount RX, Virtual RX, and EzyDrugStore.com. With Microsoft going after illegal spammers and Pfizer taking on online sellers of illegal medicines, they said they are "targeting the entire supply chain." Pfizer general counsel Beth Levine said there was no accurate way of calculating how much the company is losing in Viagra sales as a result of illegal Internet sales of the best-selling erectile dysfunction treatment. "One individual who pleaded guilty in an earlier suit said he had taken in several million dollars in sales," she said. The pharmacy spam rings have allegedly sent hundreds of millions of e-mail messages to Microsoft's MSN Hotmail customers within the past year alone, Microsoft said. The identities of the individuals controlling the sites are unknown, the companies said. But Aaron Kornblum, Microsoft's Internet safety enforcement attorney, said now that the lawsuits are active they have subpoena power to go to Web hosting services, payment processors and shipping distributors to try to track down the culprits. "All of these are perhaps legitimate businesses being used by spammers to set up illegal businesses," Kornblum said. He said one illegal Web site was registered under an actual New York resident's name that had been obtained via identity theft. The companies said orders taken by cndpharmacy.com were being filled and shipped from India with no real Canadian connection. Pfizer has gone after illegal sales of unauthorized or counterfeit versions of their products before, especially Viagra and chloresrtol-lowering Lipitor, the world's best selling prescription drug. In August, Pfizer took legal action against 30 Web sites claiming to sell Viagra or generic versions of the drug, even though there is no legal generic Viagra. The company said 29 of those site are no longer operating. "We are going to continue to come after them," Levine promised. "We are seeing successes," Kornblum added. "We are taking spammers off line, helping to put them in jail." Microsoft said it was continuing to come up with ways to try to prevent people from being inundated with illegal spam and, in particular, offers selling illegal prescription drugs. Kornblum said Microsoft filters block 3.2 billion spam messages every day. It has also set up more than 100,000 so-called trap accounts that receive hundreds of millions of spam e-mails, he said. (Additional reporting by Toni Clarke) NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 10 Feb 2005 13:30:00 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Online Banking Growing Rapidly, Survey Finds WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly half of all U.S. adult Internet users now manage their bank accounts online, making banking the fastest-growing online activity, according to a survey released on Wednesday. Forty-four percent of U.S. Internet users bank online, up from 30 percent two years ago, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said. The nonprofit group said banking has grown faster than any other online activity since it began measuring Internet use in March 2000. People with high-speed connections at home, those between the ages of 28 and 39, and more affluent households were most likely to bank online, the group said. The survey of 537 Internet users was conducted in November 2004 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. ------------------------------ From: Jack Decker Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 11:54:28 -0500 Subject: 3.2 Mln US Homes Have a PC, But no Landline http://www.itfacts.biz/index.php?id=P2561 According to MetaFacts, the number of PC-using homes without a standard landline increased 60% since 2002 (3.2 mln in 2003 versus 2.0 mln in 2002). In terms of all PC-using homes, the numbers are just as dramatic. The percentage of users without any telephone line grew from 2.4% in 2002 to 3.5% in 2003, a 46% year over year increase. Within homes with one person, growth was even faster, rising from 2.3% in 2002 to 5% in 2003. Full story at: http://www.itfacts.biz/index.php?id=P2561 Additional commentary at: http://techdirt.com/articles/20050208/149254_F.shtml http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/60073 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: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 12:48:15 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Verizon Makes Informal Offer For MCI Telecom dailyLead from USTA February 10, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19327&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Verizon makes informal offer for MCI BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Equipment makers urge light regulatory approach to Internet-based services * Huawei to give core routers a try * EarthLink eyes 3G market USTA SPOTLIGHT * USTA applauds broad support for updating telecom laws at hearing EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Honeywell develops system to use cell phones during flights * Hotels, resorts lead in Wi-Fi access REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * AT&T, Vonage settle spat Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19327&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: reto.krucker@rocketmail.com (Reto Krucker) Subject: Print to Fax Solutions? Date: 10 Feb 2005 05:12:31 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I have a Server with a Modem on it. Now, I like to share five different Fax-Printers with different TSID's. With the Standard W2k-Faxdriver, I had to set the TSID on the Modem. Is there a Print2Fax driver, where I can set the TSID on the Printer and not on the Modem? I don't like to install something on the Clients, thats why I'm searching a Solution with Print2Fax Drivers. ------------------------------ From: Ken Abrams Subject: Re: Brother Question Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 14:35:22 GMT wrote: > I recently bought a Brother All in One -- mainly for the copying ability. > My question is: Does anyone know if Brother will sell my phone number > if I activate the fax part of the machine? This is an interesting thought but I don't think your concern is justified. I doubt the machine is programmed to "call home" on it's own. I have one and like it, except for 2 things. No power switch (at least on my older model). Toner and drums are VERY expensive from Brother. 3rd party replacements are available at about 1/2 the price but require some effort to find. I've been using 3rd party parts now for about a year with no ill effects. ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Brother Question Date: 10 Feb 2005 17:09:14 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , wrote: > I recently bought a Brother All in One -- mainly for the copying ability. > My question is: Does anyone know if Brother will sell my phone number > if I activate the fax part of the machine? This has me curious. What sort of "activation" is required by Brother in order to use the fax capability? John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 00:51:53 -0700 Organization: Octanews > The only subsequent problem was that while the man said I could pay it > out, the regular _residential_ service people demanded the full > payment at once. In fairness, if you're aware you are not being billed correctly that doesn't absolve you from needing to pay that bill. You should be putting away some cash to pay that bill when/if the telco ever bothers to bill you properly. ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving? Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 07:02:16 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications David Clayton wrote: > On Wed, 2005-02-09 at 10:49 -0500, Monty Solomon wrote: > Ahh, is this the old mental "cpu cycle" availability issue? > It looks like with all the new "applications" we are introducing, we > may need upgrades to our "wetware" to keep up? :-) Those of us who have spent a career in professional aviation found out a long time ago that the diversion caused by talking on the radio with air traffic control has to be managed carefully, and placed at the lowest of three levels of tasking: 1. Flying (controlling) the aircraft. 2. Navigating the aircraft. 3. Communicating by radio with ATC. A subset of Number 3, even with a two or three-person crew on an airliner, is to never respond to, an initiate a radio communication with ATC while taking off or landing on a runway at high speed. And, normally aircraft are not operating in as tight of an enviornment as automobiles. Plus, professional pilots are professional pilots, whereas most (but not all) automobile drivers are poorly trained, poorly kept up-to-date, rank amateur drivers. Plus, there is the progressive decline in amateur driver's attitudes for common courtesy and observation of proven safey rules. The common running of red lights, failure to yield to pedestrians lawfully crossing the street, and failure to use turn indicators are prime examples. Grossly excessive speed and excessive lane changes (as in, "get out of my way you idiot, I am more important than you are) is another scary trend. Cell phones should be outlawed for drivers everywhere. Then again, it takes consistent enforcement to make any rule like that work Consistent enforcement is the exception, rather than the rule, these days. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I assume you are referring to *using* a cell phone, not merely *being in possession* of a cell phone while driving. They are very important tools for people driving alone at night, or on the highway in the event of an accident or automobile malfunction, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Stop Junk Faxes! Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 16:57:55 GMT wal posted on that vast internet thingie: > Are you fed up with companies sending you junk faxes? Here are simple > ways to fight back: We save them up and about once a month mail them to the FCC enforcement division. Steve at SELLCOM http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Panasonic AT&T, 5.8Ghz 2line; TMC ET4000 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Watchguard! Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Firewood splitters www.splitlogs.com If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz you owe it to yourself. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #62 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Feb 11 20:47:39 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j1C1ldU22957; Fri, 11 Feb 2005 20:47:39 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 20:47:39 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502120147.j1C1ldU22957@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 V24 #63 TELECOM Digest Fri, 11 Feb 2005 20:46:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 63 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson National ID Card or Your Papers Please (Patrick Townson) Telecom Update (Canada) #468, February 11, 2005 (Angus TeleManagement) Verizon, MCI Forge Ahead With Merger Talks (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) Verizon Plans to Offer "Naked DSL" on 4/5 of its Wirelines (R Collinge) Dumb Question in Today's Wireless (Avalon1178) How to Make Skype Wireless? (tinaspeilberg1@yahoo.com) Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? (AES) Man Dies in Car Waiting for 911 to Find Him (Patrick Townson) Re: 3.2 Mln US Homes Have a PC, But no Landline (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (Paul Coxwell) Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements (William Warren) Re: Digital Cellular Sound Quality (Isaiah Beard) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Patrick Townson Subject: National ID Card is Almost Ready For Us Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 17:18:03 -0600 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ken Bryant is a cousin of mine, living in Nashville, TN. PAT] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Bryant" To: "kpbryant" Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 2:39 PM Subject: National ID Card or Your Papers Please. > Meclan McCullagh of CNET News.com reported late wyesterday, "The > U.S. House of Representatives approved on Thursday a sweeping set of > rules aimed at forcing states to issue all adults federally approved > electronic ID cards, including driver's licenses. Under the rules, > federal employees would reject licenses or identity cards that don't > comply, which could curb Americans' access to airplanes, trains, > national parks, federal courthouses and other areas controlled by > the federal government. The bill was approved by a 261-161 vote. > McCullagh went on to write, "Thursday's vote mostly fell along party > lines. About 95 percent of the House Republicans voted for the bill, > which had been prepared by the judiciary committee chairman, F. > James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican. More than three-fourths > of the House Democrats opposed it." In the meantime, you can note > how your Representative voted. Did they vote your interests? Check > it out for yourself. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll031.xml -- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So, are you ready for your National ID card? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 15:34:57 -0500 From: Angus TeleManagement Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #468, February 11, 2005 ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group www.angustel.ca Number 468: February 11, 2005 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/en/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/ ** SPRINT CANADA: www.sprint.ca ** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/ ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** European Cellular Penetration Hits 80% ** CRTC VoIP Report Expected in Q2 2005 ** Sprint U.S. to Phase Out iDEN ** Bell Wants Higher Business Rates ** Nortel and RIM Plan VoIP on BlackBerry Platform ** CUPE Signs Contract with Telus Quebec ** AT&T Settles Brand-Name Fight with Vonage ** FCC Outlaws Cellular Spam ** MTS to Provide DSL to CLEC-Served Loops ** CRTC Amends Data Collection Process ** Aliant Launches 10-Megabit Internet ** Cisco Sales Growth Slows ** Cellphone Users Drive Like Old Folks ** Mark Your Calendars Now ============================================================ EUROPEAN CELLULAR PENETRATION HITS 80%: Eurostat, an agency of the European Union, reports that Europe now has 80 mobile telephone subscriptions for every 100 inhabitants. Cellular penetration by country ranges from 45.5% (Poland) to 120.2% (Luxembourg). http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int ** A new study by Merrill Lynch finds that the top six handset makers sold 159 million handsets worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2004, a remarkable 19.6% increase over the third quarter. CRTC VoIP REPORT EXPECTED IN Q2 2005: CRTC Chair Charles Dalfen says that the Commission now expects to release its VoIP decision in the second quarter of this year. SPRINT U.S. TO PHASE OUT iDEN: Last year U.S. wireless carrier Sprint bought Nextel, a competitor whose service uses Motorola's iDEN technology. Yesterday, Sprint executives told financial analysts they will migrate all of the iDEN customers to CDMA by 2008. Motorola says it remains committed to iDEN, but the loss of its largest customer raises concerns about the technology's long-term viability. ** In Canada, iDEN is used by Telus Mobility for its Mike service. BELL WANTS HIGHER BUSINESS RATES: Bell Canada has asked the CRTC to approve an increase of 80 cents/month for individual business lines, including those on one- and three-year contracts, in most of Ontario and Quebec. www.crtc.gc.ca/8740/eng/2005/B2.htm#200501207 NORTEL AND RIM PLAN VoIP ON BLACKBERRY PLATFORM: Nortel Networks and Research In Motion are collaborating to allow users of RIM's BlackBerry 7270 to make and receive IP telephony calls and access multimedia features over a wireless LAN connected to Nortel's MCS 5100. They previewed the technology at the VoiceCon conference in Florida this week. ** RIM is also working to link the BlackBerry handhelds to 3Com IP-PBXs. CUPE SIGNS CONTRACT WITH TELUS QUEBEC: 81% of the 540 first- line managers at Telus Quebec represented by CUPE have voted to accept a new three-year contract. The deal provides for wage increases ranging from 4.55% to 20.54%, coupled with a work-week increase to 37.5 from 35 hours, beginning in September. AT&T SETTLES BRAND-NAME FIGHT WITH VONAGE: AT&T has settled a dispute with Vonage, which claimed that the name of AT&T's VoIP phone service (CallVantage) would confuse consumers and weaken Vonage's trademark. (See Telecom Update #427) AT&T has agreed always to call its service "AT&T CallVantage." FCC OUTLAWS CELLULAR SPAM: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has posted a list of 189 wireless e-mail domains to which it will be illegal to send unsolicited commercial messages after March 9. No comparable prohibition exists in Canada. ** A study released February 9 by the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, found that eight out of ten mobile users worldwide have received spam messages. The study surveyed users in eight countries, including Canada. MTS TO PROVIDE DSL TO CLEC-SERVED LOOPS: MTS Allstream says it can now, through a manual process, provide retail DSL Internet service to Manitoba residential and business customers whose local telephone service is provided by a CLEC using local loops leased from MTS Allstream. www.crtc.gc.ca/8740/eng/2005/M59.htm#200501058 CRTC AMENDS DATA COLLECTION PROCESS: The CRTC has announced revised procedures for its 2005 data collection and registration process for telecom carriers and service providers. Providers who fail to register could find themselves unable to obtain numbers, interconnection agreements, or advantageous competitor rates on network services. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Circulars/2005/ct2005-4.htm ALIANT LAUNCHES 10-MEGABIT INTERNET: Aliant has begun Internet service at 10 Mbps and will have 30 Halifax apartment buildings connected by July. The telco is also conducting a trial in Bedford, Nova Scotia of Fibre to the Home at 30 Mbps. CISCO SALES GROWTH SLOWS: Cisco System's sales for the three months ended January 29 were US$6.1 billion, an increase of 12.3% from a year earlier, but up only 1.5% from the previous quarter. Profits of $1.4 billion were double last year's level and the same as the previous quarter. During the quarter, Cisco sold its four millionth IP phone. CELLPHONE USERS DRIVE LIKE OLD FOLKS: A study published in the winter edition of the journal Human Factors concludes that young drivers talking on cellphones "drive like elderly people" -- they move and react more slowly, increasing their risk of accidents. "If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cellphone, their reaction times are the same as a 70-year-old driver who is not using a cellphone," says University of Utah Psychology professor David Strayer, principal author of the study. MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW: Two conferences not to be missed: ** ICCM Canada 2005 (formerly Call Centre Canada). Metro Toronto Convention Center. March 21-23, 2005. www.iccmcanada.com ** Telemanagement Live! Conference and Exposition on business telecom and networking. North Hall, Metro Toronto Convention Centre. October 17-19, 2005. www.telemanagementlive.com ============================================================ 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 late Friday afternoon each 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 2005 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone 905-686-5050 ext 500. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 13:10:18 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Verizon, MCI Forge Ahead With Merger Talks Telecom dailyLead from USTA February 11, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19342&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Verizon, MCI forge ahead with merger talks BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Analysis: MCI's bottom line hinges on enterprise customers * Cablevision's Charles Dolan to buy remains of Voom USTA SPOTLIGHT * Order USTA's Best-Selling VoIP Implementation and Planning Guide Today EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Ercisson chief: 3G is booming VOIP DOWNLOAD * Level 3 exits hosted VoIP market * Study: Wi-Fi phone sales slow * Pulver drops Bellster name * What does the future hold for VoIP? REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * FCC votes to further study intercarrier compensation rules Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19342&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: R Collinge Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 20:21:56 -0600 Subject: Verizon plans to offer "naked dsl" on 4/5 of its wirelines. Jack (Decker), Thanks for continuing with the newsgroup. I want to add a tidbit that Verizon announced last Friday, but that seems to have been lost in the shuffle of merger speculation. Verizon reportedly plans to unbundled DSL for over 80% of their customers, potentially this year. That would allow Verizon customers to replace their POTS lines with DSL and VoIP if they want. "Verizon expects "that in the not-too-distant future that you will be able to get Verizon DSL without getting Verizon phone service," said Tom Tauke, Verizon executive vice president for public affairs and communications. "It's a technological issue, it's not a marketing issue." "From a very practical perspective, we would like to be able to offer the DSL service on a stand-alone basis and the effort is being made to bring that about as rapidly as possible," he said. "Verizon spokesman Eric Rabe said so-called "naked DSL" could be offered potentially later this year but noted that subscribers to its service via fiber-optic lines, FiOS, could get stand-alone broadband now. Almost 1 million homes are now served by Verizon's fiber network but the company has targeted reaching 3 million homes by the end of the year. Roughly 80 percent of Verizon's 53 million traditional lines are capable of offering DSL." http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=7545839&type=technologyNews Bob [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It would be very interesting if SBC decided to go the same way: DSL with no phone service requirements, but it is very unlikely; they just can't get their act together to accomplish that. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Avalon1178 Subject: Dumb Question in Today's Wireless Date: 10 Feb 2005 22:16:28 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I apologize for the dumb question but ... Where are we (North America, Europe, and Asian countries) in wireless technology? Are we in 3G yet or are we still in 2.5G phase? When can we expect full maturity of 3G technology? If we are in 2.5G, what is the most prevalent technology? On the GSM side (EDGE? HSCSD?...)? Thanks! ------------------------------ From: tinaspeilberg1@yahoo.com Subject: How to Make Skype Wireless ? Date: 11 Feb 2005 05:20:29 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I signed up for Skype but did not realize that the calls are via PC. So whenever I make a call I am stuck to the PC. I am used to a wireless phone and doing other things while I talk. Is there any way to make my Skype connection wireless ? I am NOT technical. Thanks, Tina ------------------------------ From: AES Subject: Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 15:27:24 -0800 Organization: Stanford University Pointers to info on how XM and Sirius systems work, specifically as regards authorization? When a satellite authorizes a given radio, does it do it by sending that radio (and, as a side effect, all other radios) some kind of digital key that combines with some unique built-in matching key in that particular radio to enable it to decode the broadcast content? If so, presumably if you stop paying your bill it can also deauthorize your radio by sending something to wipe out the code? But suppose you put your radio in a shielded box, stop paying, wait a few months until they give up trying to deauthorize you, then bring it back out -- are you still authorized? Or does every authorized radio have to get reauthorized at some periodic interval? Bottom line: Do individual radios actually talk back to the satellites at any point? Or do authorization and other command signals flow only from the satellites to the radio? (Not looking to play any games here -- just interested to understand how it works.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: An interesting problem, and one that the gas company deals with a lot in older inner city areas, which is gradually getting cured. Many years ago, gas was delivered in underground pipes (it still is), but as a matter of economics the gas company used a lot of 'branch lines' off the main feed. For example, there are two dwellings on a piece of land, one sort of behind the other one. Gas company runs a pipe which attaches to one meter, then the pipe 'branches' off and runs to the second meter. First meter owner gets delinquent in paying his gas bill, and refuses to allow access to his basement for the purpose of cutting off his service. Gas company keeps telling the man "let us in your basement so we can lock off your meter." Man refuses to do so, assuming there is no way for gas company to cut his service if they can't get in his basement. What the gas company will do is get a permit from the city to excavate in the street and cut him off at that point. The only trouble is, the person on the other end of the property, with his own meter, which is in good standing, winds up getting cut also. Needless to say, that man (second meter) raises plenty of hell, and demands his gas service back. Gas company claims it was an accident, and they will turn him back on ASAP, but there is one big problem with natural gas which does not apply with other utilities; before they can turn him back on (with the consequential lighting of his pilot lights to prevent explosions, etc, now they *absolutely must* get the other guy's pilot light relighted as well (or in actual practice cut his meter) to avoid possible explosions at that end. So they turn one neighbor against the other one, telling second meter, "Gee, we would love to restore *your* service but we can't get into first meter and under the law, even if we should not have 'accidentally' cut off your service, we have to light his pilot as well (and all the other pilot lights on the same branch line)." You better believe second meter finds first meter (if he has to break the basement door down himself) and imposes on him to allow the meter to be cut off so that then gas company can turn the line back on, and go around lighting all the pilot lights for all the other residents on the 'branch line'. Western Union also had similar woes with their clock service fifty or more years ago: a large office building, maybe there were a few dozen clocks on the circuit. Some joker would not pay his clock bill and assume WUTCO can't do anything about it if I don't let them in the office to remove the clock. Their policy was where an individual clock was on an individual circuit, WUTCO would put a 'load' on the line and just leave it there. Eventually the load would overcome the tension from the escapement spring and stop the pendulum from swinging, which had the effect of denying any more clock service. When the guy paid up, the clock man came back out and restarted the clock. But if (as was common) there were fifty clocks and only one setting-circuit handling them all; one joker does not pay and refuses to give up the clock; WUTCO had to shut them all down, then once they were all dead (due to the load on the line), go back and restart the 49 good customers and let the one bad guy sit there and stew in his juices. Of course there are no clocks with WUTCO works in them any longer, and although gas company still now and then has to resort to cutting off many customers temporarily (and use *them* as tools to get after the bad guy) and delinquencies in paying for gas is more common these days for various economic reasons, gas company is gradually redoing their outside plant infrastructure, so that everyone gets their own direct feed to the gas main, so customers either voluntarily admit the gas man to inspect/lock out their meter for non-payment, or gas company excavates in the street as needed, but now there are no innocent victims in the process, or not as many as in the past. My understanding is satellite receiving units do not 'talk back' to the satellite; everything is done from the satellite end, and as long as there is any 'unfinished business' with any one receiver, the satellite company just keeps on sending over and over the required codes. DISH has those little plastic 'smart cards' which have to be replaced once a year or so, so I assume if you were not paying, at best, you'd get the remainder of the time available before the Smart Card ran out. I do not know what some of the others are doing. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, Feb 10 2005 18:00:00 PST From: Patrick Townson Subject: Man Dies Waiting for 911 to Arrive -- Suit alleges dispatcher let man die in car -- This story from our TD-Extra pages tells of a man with a cellular phone registered in Dyer, Indiana (where he lived) who died in his car (and was found in the car dead a few weeks later) in a parking garage in Saulk Village, Illinois. Saulk Village (a far south suburb of Chicago) sits on the Illinois/Indiana state line right 'across the street' from Dyer, Indiana. It appears the 911 dispatcher for Saulk Village (area code 708)did not know why she was getting a call from an area code 219 number. The man called from his automobile saying he thought he was having a heart attack; the 911 dispatcher did not deal with it correctly. The man died while waiting for an ambulance to show up (it never did show up) and several weeks later they found his body in his car where it had been parked. The family is suing the Village of Saulk Village for damages. See the full story at: http://interestalert.com/brand/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/02100002aaa0485f.upi&Sys=ptownson&Type=News&Filter=Front%20Page&Fid=FRONTPAG ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: 3.2 Mln US Homes Have a PC, But no Landline Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 10:33:05 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications Jack Decker wrote: > http://www.itfacts.biz/index.php?id=P2561 > According to MetaFacts, the number of PC-using homes without a > standard landline increased 60% since 2002 (3.2 mln in 2003 versus 2.0 > mln in 2002). In terms of all PC-using homes, the numbers are just as > dramatic. The percentage of users without any telephone line grew from > 2.4% in 2002 to 3.5% in 2003, a 46% year over year increase. Within > homes with one person, growth was even faster, rising from 2.3% in > 2002 to 5% in 2003. I have had Vonage for two years now. Today, I was using it for an important business telcon. 1 hour 15 minutes into the conference the Vonage dropped off and would not dial out. This condition lasted for perhaps 30 minutes. I was able to recover by dialing back in on my POTS wireline. ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 19:03:17 -0000 > I believe the first office with DDD was Englewood, New Jersey, a 5XB > with ANI/AMA. The second was Enid, Oklahoma, or Harlingen, Texas, > similarly 5XB with ANI/AMA. The first British office to have STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialing) go into operation was Bristol, somewhere around 1957/58. Over here though the GPO opted for a charging system somewhat different to AMA. Billing was by way of meters, stepped at a frequency dependent upon the time of day and the type of call, with each "unit" then being charged at a certain amount. For many years there were only three basic zones for calls within the United Kingdom: Local rate, "a" rate which was outside local and generally up to a radius of about 35 miles from the group center, and "b" rate for everything beyond that. This system kept the billing relatively simple, but of course we are an entire country which covers only about the same land area as Oregon. Manual dockets were kept and sent for processing for all operator-connected calls. -- Paul ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 16:08:05 -0500 From: William Warren Subject: Re: Old Party-Line Arrangements Tony P. wrote: > In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com > says: >> Back in the 1970s I was making a lot of toll calls from home (thank >> goodness for cheap after 11pm rates). We had a private line served by >> a #5 XBAR in a city. >> Suddenly, my phone bill didn't show any long distance calls. Month >> after month went by. I finally called the phone company and reported >> it and they denied anything was wrong. About a month later someone >> from the _business_ subscriber service (not residential) called me to >> report they found a problem with my line. The man said somehow my >> "tip and ring were confused with a business customer and my toll calls >> were charged to him; they reviewed the calls against my past usage and >> put them back on my bill; I would be allowed to pay it out over a few >> months." >> I don't know how the internals confused my line and this business's >> for billing purposes, his number wasn't anything like mine. But the >> toll calls were mine and my own calls showed up again. [snip] On the #5XB, a phone was wired in two separate steps: one for incoming calls, and a separate connection for outgoing. This was done because a lot of businesses choose to have all their toll usage lumped on one bill, or wanted to have a single billing number for a specific workgroup, etc., so that the "incoming" wiring was done at the Number Group, and the "outgoing" at the Translator. Someone miswired the Translator. HTH. William ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Digital Cellular Sound Quality Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 23:27:03 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Jeffrey Mattox wrote: > Whenever I have a conversation with a modern cell phone user, it's > digital-ness is highly obvious because the sound quality is so bad. For what it's worth, it didn't used to be this way. Back when CDMA was just getting started in the US, Qualcomm had these QCP-2700 digital cell phones that really did sound a LOT better than even a landline phone. of course, that was back when vocoders were set that 13kbps, which with compression, was ample bandwidth for human speech. > Well, it not very advanced from my perspective -- it's a step > backward. And to say that digital "sound quality .. [is] superior" is > a lie. Because of the low sample rate (is it 8 KHz?), it's not > possible to reconstruct perfect speech. The problem here is that when digital started penetrating the market, cellular rates started coming down and demand for cellular phones increased. This taxed even the most well-off digital networks, and so to accomodate everyone, cell carriers began demanding vocoders that used less bandwidth. 13kbps vocoders gave way to 8kbps, and then even further to the variable rate vocoders that are in use today (which can step down as far as 4kbps depending on what sounds are being transmitted). > Is this situation ever likely to be improved? Probably not. In fact, the trend is for MORE compression, using less bandwidth. Granted the new vocoders being developed are using more ingenious methods to make this happen, and they promise to improve sound quality while still reducing their network overhead. We'll see if that promise is fulfilled. > Why isn't it possible to sample at a higher rate, compress the > result in the phone for transmission, and then decompress at the > base (and do the same thing for the reverse channel)? Compression IS happening right now. The problem is that there is a huge difference between lossy compression (the type which is in use now, which discards certain elements of the audio that the codec thinks the human ear won't notice is missing much) and type of compression that you're probably expecting, lossless compression (the type which does not discard any audio information during compression). Your modern cell phone has to be able to compress audio instantaneously. It wouldn't do anyone much good if the phone captured several seconds of audio, spent a few more seconds compression that audio using a lossless algorithm, and then sending it down the line where a further delay is added while the receiving end decompresses and replays the signal. At present, cell phones just don't have powerful enough processors to do lossless compression in real time. The compromise then is to use a very lossy codec, one that discards portions of the sound that is presented to it, in the hopes that the human ear ont he receiving end will not notice that those components are missing. Although the quality suffers, it does allow a modern cell phone to quickly compress the audip it needs to transmit in almost-real time. You'll note, there is still a delay of about a quarter to a half a second between the time the person actually says something into a digital cell phone, and the time in which the sound arrives at the other end, and you'll also note that this delay just isnt't present when one uses an analog cellular or wireline phone. > Are all digital cellular phones the same? No. Different digital cell phones use different codecs. ALL of them use compression, and NONE of them truly give toll quality speech, but the differing codecs DO sound different, and it tends to be a matter of personal preference as to which sounds better. I know some people who prefer GSM phones, as they feel the sound coming from GSM is more natural to them. I, on the other hand, find GSM to be very harsh sounding to my ears ... very raspy, very shrill, and actually rather painful to listen to after an extended period. I prefer my CDMA phone, as the sound from CDMA (in my opinion, yours may differ) is much easier on my ears. > Aren't many people bothered by the horrible sound quality? > Jeff E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #63 ***************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Feb 12 19:18:19 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j1D0IJG01411; Sat, 12 Feb 2005 19:18:19 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 19:18:19 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502130018.j1D0IJG01411@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 V24 #64 TELECOM Digest Sat, 12 Feb 2005 19:18:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 64 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Man Accused of Arranging Mass Suicide For Internet Users (Lisa Minter) Online Bullying Rears Its Head in the Netherlands (Lisa Minter) Click Fraud Looms As Search-Engine Threat (Lisa Minter) Cablevision Chair to Buy Remainder of Voom (Monty Solomon) XM Antenna Construction (johndee) BT Payphone? (Clark W. Griswold, Jr.) Re: Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? (Mark Crispin) Re: Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? (DevilsPGD) Re: Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? (Robert Bonomi) Re: Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? (Isaiah Beard) Re: Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? (Ron Chapman) Re: Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Cell Phone Lockdown (LonnyPaul) Re: Verizon Plans to Offer "Naked DSL" on 4/5 of its Wirelines (S Sobol) Re: National ID Card is Almost Ready For Us (Henry) Re: National ID Card is Almost Ready For Us (Tim@Backhome.org) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: 12 Feb 2005 11:08:11 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Man Accused of Arranging Mass Suicide For Internet Users PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - An unemployed Oregon man who police said used an Internet chat room to arrange a mass suicide pact with dozens of people on Valentine's Day was charged on Friday with trying to solicit aggravated murder. Authorities seized the man's computer and are scouring it to identify and contact potential participants in the mass suicide to make sure they are safe, Klamath County Sheriff Capt. Chris Montenaro said. "They are doing welfare checks on all of them," Montenaro said. "There is a very extensive investigation involving a lot of jurisdictions." Gerald Krien, 26, was charged with solicitation to commit attempted aggravated murder. He could face 10 to 30 years in prison if convicted. Participants in the planned group suicide appeared to be people "not happy with that date (Valentine's Day, Feb. 14) and not happy with their own personal lives," Montenaro said. The police were tipped off by a Canadian woman who learned that one mother was allegedly planning to kill her two children and take her own life. The chat room was designed for people interested in suicide, Montenaro said. Krien lives with his parents in the southern Oregon town of Klamath Falls. He has had no prior contact with local law enforcement and is being held on $100,000 bail. "There is no evidence of a religious or cult following with this group," Montenaro said. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 12 Feb 2005 11:11:31 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Online Bullying Rears Its Head in the Netherlands AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Twelve percent of Dutch youngsters aged between 11 and 15 said they had been bullied online, according to a study by a local Internet provider, which added the real number could be much higher. The Netherlands-based Planet Internet said 30 percent of youngsters in the study reported they had threatened others, mainly schoolmates, via instant messaging or e-mail. "I send mails to children who I don't like," one 11-year-old respondent told the company. "I send them filthy messages, worse than rotten, saying things like 'I'm gonna kill you tonight'." The study, which interviewed 500 children, found that adults remained oblivious to the new phenomenon, in contrast to bullying at school, which was a well-publicized problem. "Online bullying occurs out of sight; children live in their own digital world," the report said, adding that only 37 percent of victims tell their parents. "Adults should take more interest in what youngsters are doing on the Internet, so that it's more likely they will be told what's going on." NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: 12 Feb 2005 11:32:10 -0800 From: Lisa Minter Subject: Click Fraud Looms As Search-Engine Threat By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer SAN FRANCISCO - Like thousands of other merchants, Tammy Harrison thought she had struck gold when hordes visited her Web site by clicking on the small Internet ads she purchased from the world's most popular online search engines. It cost Harrison as much as $20 for each click, but the potential new business seemed to justify the expense. Harrison's delight dimmed, though, when she realized the people clicking on her ads weren't really interested in her products. She was being victimized by "click fraud," a scam that threatens to squelch the online advertising boom that has been enriching Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and their many business partners. The ruse has different twists, but the end result is usually the same: Merchants are billed for fruitless traffic generated by someone who repeatedly clicks on an advertiser's Web link with no intention of ever buying anything. Harrison figures she has spent about 200 hours documenting the mischief that drained her budget and diverted customers to a competitor, costing her an estimated $100,000 in sales. "Click fraud has gotten out of control," said Harrison, who sells computer software to doctors. "It's stealing money from my pocket. It's just as bad as someone walking into a store and taking a television." Estimates vary widely on how much click fraud is going on in the $3.8 billion search engine advertising market. "Click fraud exists, but it's mostly a big paranoia," said Chris Churchill, chief executive of Fathom Online, a San Francisco firm that studies the spending patterns on search engine ads. Others believe anywhere from 10 percent to 20 percent of the clicks are made under false pretenses. "Click fraud is like a big elephant standing in the middle of the living room," said Lisa Wehr, president of Oneupweb, a search engine advertising consultant. "Everyone sees it and knows it's there, but no one is quite sure what to do about it." Both Google and Yahoo acknowledge the perils of click fraud, but believe improved internal controls and the increased vigilance of advertisers will prevent the problem from escalating. "We are always worried about it, but it hasn't been a material issue so far," said Google chief executive Eric Schmidt. After recently expanding its staff to patrol click fraud, Google broke up a scheme that had generated several thousand bogus transactions, chief financial officer George Reyes told analysts earlier this week. Yahoo also has been shoring up click fraud protections, said Patrick Giordiani, a senior manager for the company's advertising subsidiary, Overture Services. Such reassurances from search engine executives aren't surprising, given how much they stand to lose if advertisers curtail spending, said Jessie Stricchiola, president of Alchemist Media, which helps businesses detect problems and negotiate refunds. "There's some serious positioning and politicking going on," she said. "Click fraud isn't going to destroy the industry, but it's not going away either." Harrison said she didn't know a thing about the problem until a former employee formed a rival firm and started to repeatedly click on her ads as a competitive tactic. The fraudulent clicks frequently exceeded spending limits Harrison had set, knocking her ads out of the display rotation. The search engines have issued refunds to cover the bogus clicks, but Harrison says those payments don't compensate for missed sales opportunities. In November, Google filed a lawsuit that revealed the search engine can't even trust some of its own advertising partners. Houston-based Auction Experts International never responded to claims it collected at least $50,000 in illegitimate commissions by clicking on the ad links that Google delivered to its Web pages. But the site shut down and Google won a default judgment against one of its principals. The suit won't be Google's last to combat click fraud, said Palo Alto attorney David Kramer, who represents the company. Stricchiola believes it's only a matter of time before advertisers become so exasperated with click fraud that they file a class-action lawsuit against a major search engine. The incentives for click fraud have increased along with the money devoted to search engine advertising a concept that didn't exist until Overture Services introduced it in the late 1990s. Such advertising, Google calls it AdWords, works like this: The search engine auctions off the right to have advertising links displayed when designated words, such as "vacation Hawaii," are included in a search request. The top bids get the most prominent display on Web pages. Once widely ridiculed, the idea has turned into a fast-spreading craze as more merchants realized substantially higher returns on search engine ads than on more traditional marketing campaigns conducted through the Yellow Pages, direct mail and newspapers. By 2008, industry research firm eMarketer expects $7.4 billion to be spent on search engine advertising, up from just $108.5 million in 2000. The success of search engine advertising has substantially raised prices, too. In mid-1999, advertisers paid Overture an average commission of 11 cents per click. By the end of last year, advertisers were paying an industrywide average of $1.70 for the hundreds of keywords tracked by Fathom Online. The cost of prized search terms runs much higher. For instance, the top price for mesothelioma, a cancer that spurred scores of lawsuits linking the illness to asbestos exposure, recently stood at $51 per click, Fathom said. Higher prices have turned click fraud into a cottage industry. Some swindlers have hired cheap overseas contractors to sit in front of computers and click on targeted links all day. Others are developing sophisticated software to help automate and conceal click fraud. On the other side of the fence, entrepreneurs like Dmitri Eroshenko are trying to develop technology solutions to counteract click fraud. "This has become a real cat-and-mouse game," said Eroshenko, who runs Clicklab in Miami. "Advertisers are going to have to accept a certain level of click fraud as a cost of doing business." Mike Liedtke can be reached at mliedtke(at)ap.org On the Net: www.clicklab.com www.alchemistmedia.com For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra . New articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Associated Press. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is it 'click fraud' when a netizen is casually surfing around the net and clicks on an ad *thinking* they might possibly be interested in it then they discover they are not interested? Isn't clicking on an ad more or less the same thing as 'window shopping' which as often as not does not produce revenue for the owner of the window? If I return to a store window a second or third time, to examine the goods more closely and have thoughts of my own about the merchandise, is that the essence of 'click fraud'? Merchants need to realize that when they nicely decorate a window on a well traveled thoroughfare, that people are going to stop and look at it sometimes, most of whom will not go inside nor buy anything. And maybe services like Google and Yahoo need to quit the practice of auctioning off the clicks to the highest bidder and instead just start selling 'x' number of displays (or page hits) for 'x' dollars, and when 'x" number of hits has been reached, then quit displaying the ad at all, and quit playing games with particular 'word popularity' and such. There is a lot I could say about the kinds of ads they serve up to me on the telecom pages (and frequently the lack of any ads at all) but I shall not bother; I'll just go along playing the games I see other webmaster/publishers playing, making what little I can from it. But the system does need to be improved, that's for sure. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 23:10:45 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Cablevision Chair to Buy Remainder of Voom NEW YORK (AP) -- Charles Dolan, founder and chairman of Cablevision Systems Corp., is not one to give up on his satellite TV plans. After being forced by Cablevision's board of directors to sell fledgling TV service Voom's only satellite to EchoStar Communications Corp. for $200 million, Dolan said late Thursday that he is planning to buy out the remainder of Voom's assets. The deal includes Voom's 26,000 customers, 21 exclusive high definition channels, various spectrum licenses and leased capacity. Under the plan, Dolan, along with his son Tom Dolan and some other Cablevision shareholders, will form a private company that will assume Voom's liabilities and protect Cablevision from any losses. Cablevision has signed a letter of intent agreeing to the transaction, but the board must still approve final terms. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=46853664 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 11:53:41 -0600 From: johndee Subject: XM Antenna Construction Does anyone know where I can find info on how to build a XM antenna? ------------------------------ From: Clark W. Griswold, Jr. Subject: BT Payphone? Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 11:29:28 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Anyone know of a source for old coin capable BT payphones? Not the semi-public kind you found in pubs or hotels, but the silver kind that were wall mounted in phone boxes. Were those "smart" phones that counted pulses, or did they require control by the central office? A source for the old A/B button phones would be great as well. Thanks! ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 18:06:18 -0800 Organization: Networks & Distributed Computing On Fri, 11 Feb 2005, AES wrote: > When a satellite authorizes a given radio, does it do it by sending > that radio (and, as a side effect, all other radios) some kind of > digital key that combines with some unique built-in matching key in > that particular radio to enable it to decode the broadcast content? Correct. > If so, presumably if you stop paying your bill it can also deauthorize > your radio by sending something to wipe out the code? I believe this to be the case. It's certainly the way that satellite TV works. > But suppose you put your radio in a shielded box, stop paying, wait a > few months until they give up trying to deauthorize you, then bring it > back out -- are you still authorized? Or does every authorized radio > have to get reauthorized at some periodic interval? Maybe, and yes. A satellite radio or TV that was not receiving when the update comes down continues with its old status. But, it doesn't last for more than a few minutes, when the satellite company's periodic re-update hits the receiver. If the receiver has had no power (as in unplugged, not "turned off", since it's still receiving updates even when "turned off") for an extended period of time, it drops its authorization entirely and goes into unauthorized mode. It stays in that mode until the next periodic re-update when it goes alive again. RVers with satellite receivers who are quite familiar with this behavior. In my experience, it only stays unauthorized for a couple of minutes before it comes back. Empirical evidence suggests that every receiver is updated every few minutes. You can also call and ask for a manual update if you're having problems. There is quite a tribe of individuals who hack the security of satellite TV, usually in modifying the access cards to be promiscuous; and an equal tribe at the satellite TV companies who figure out how the hack worked and (1) develop a new generation of cards that breaks the hacks, (2) develop a counter-hack that attacks hacked cards and disables them. These access cards are actually programmable CPUs -- they're not just passive memory -- and the actual work is done there. I don't think that the receivers are anything other than receivers; I don't think that they have a crypto engine. North American satellite TV pirates seem to be primarily in Canada, and focus their attacks at US satellite providers. Apparently, there are some Canadians who want to get the TV that their socialist government denies them. I haven't heard of anyone hacking satellite radio. I suspect that it isn't economical; also the receiver itself would have to be hacked instead of a card. > Bottom line: Do individual radios actually talk back to the satellites > at any point? No. > Or do authorization and other command signals flow only from the > satellites to the radio? Yes. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 21:10:58 -0700 Organization: Octanews In message AES wrote: > But suppose you put your radio in a shielded box, stop paying, wait a > few months until they give up trying to deauthorize you, then bring it > back out -- are you still authorized? Or does every authorized radio > have to get reauthorized at some periodic interval? I'm not sure about XM or Sirus, but typically the transmitters will occasionally resend deauthorization lists out randomly to catch people that try to do what you described. It takes very little bandwidth to send out unsubscribe commands, so there is no reason that they couldn't dedicate one entire music channel's worth of bandwidth to running the list over and over until the end of time. > Bottom line: Do individual radios actually talk back to the satellites > at any point? Or do authorization and other command signals flow only > from the satellites to the radio? In the case of radios all transmission is from the satellite to the radio there is no feedback or return signal possible. TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response: > My understanding is satellite receiving units do not 'talk back' to > the satellite; everything is done from the satellite end, and as long > as there is any 'unfinished business' with any one receiver, the > satellite company just keeps on sending over and over the required > codes. DISH has those little plastic 'smart cards' which have to > be replaced once a year or so, so I assume if you were not paying, at > best, you'd get the remainder of the time available before the Smart > Card ran out. I do not know what some of the others are doing. PAT] DISH (and similar) do not need card swaps once a year or anything of the sort, a new card is only needed when the encryption technology changes. They're currently in the middle of changing from NAGRA1 to NAGRA2. NAGRA1 did not deactivate cards by time, only by explicit command from the broadcaster. NAGRA2 has a timeout built into the algorithm so that you can't just pull the card after you deactivate and still expect to get channels. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 04:49:45 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , AES wrote: > Pointers to info on how XM and Sirius systems work, specifically as > regards authorization? [[.. munch ..]] > Bottom line: Do individual radios actually talk back to the satellites > at any point? Or do authorization and other command signals flow only > from the satellites to the radio? It is a *one*way* transmission, from the head end to the radio. The transmitted code contains an "expiration date". if you don't get a new code by the expiration date, the receiver stops playing. "Automatically." The system designers _aren't_ "stupid", you know. This basic authentication technology is _at_least_ 20-25 years old. There was 'broadcast' radio (FM 'SCA' sub-carrier) transmission of stock-market quotes back in the early 80's, if not earlier, that worked in this precise manner. I'm not sure, but I think some Muzak(tm) (and/or competitors) background sound systems worked the same way. Re: PAT's stories about gas customer woes -- the "2nd meter" party can simply file a complaint with the state regulators. As a 'public utility', the gas company is *required* to provide service to anybody 'willing and able' to pay for it. The problem in the company infrastructure is *not* a valid reason for cutting off the '2nd meter' customer service. They can use their 'right-of-way' easement to dig up the piping, and cut off the non-paying customer, and restore service to the customer in good standing. *OR* run a new feed-pipe for him. This is the _UTILITY_ _COMPANY's_ problem, and *they* have to "do whatever is necessary" to fix it. This is a situation where the customer can play hardball with the utility, *and*win*. "No, I'm not going to do _your_job_ for you. NO, I'm not going to 'be patient'. Get it fixed. *NOW*. " etc. "Breach of franchise contract" is a _wonderfully_ potent phrase. The risk of lawsuit damage awards is even more potent. As well as a 'negotiating point' for demanding non-trivial credits for the the 'mistaken' cut-off. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The state regulatory commissions are pretty much, however, on the side of the utilties on things like this. If you appeal to the regulators (informally at first, by speaking on the telephone to the regulator's secretary or clerk) time and again that person will **assume** at first there is more to the story than what you have told him. He will take all the details, he will relay all those details to the gas/electric/telephone company involved; the utility will respond politely they will be glad to cure the problem; the regulator's secretary or clerk will close the file and get back to you saying "I have spoken to (the secretary or clerk) of the utility's chairman and they assured me it will be promptly taken care of." Then he will happily hang up his phone and go back to sleep or his lunch or whatever, feeling assured he has helped another customer recieve satisfaction. One big expenses at any utility are the costs of 'doing business' with the state commission; the country club memberships, the liquor and food tabs, etc. In many small towns, the commissioners belong to the same clubs, churches, civic organizations, etc as the utility brass. The utility says to the commission "that request is unrealistic; we are not set up to do that" and that, as 'they' say, is that. Sometimes the state commission will even assist the utility in bullying and humiliating the customer, to get the customer to lay down and be quiet. Now if *you* are in a position to file a *formal* complaint, engage the services of an attorney who is licensed and competent to practice before the commission, then be our guest. Most of us are not thus equipped. Commmissions, per se, very rarely talk back to big business per se. Big business runs things, unless/until it just gets to be too outrageous for even the rotten commissioners to stomach. Speaking of big business, you may have heard that Walmart got sued as a class action about a month ago by several state attornies general on violations of the (fairly uniform) Child Labor Laws. You are not supposed to have children without majority age (18-21 most places) operate 'dangerous machinery', i.e. chainsaws, etc even if all they are doing is attempting to sell the 'dangerous machinery'. Walmart had been saying 'nuts to that regulation' and telling their youthful clerks to demonstrate all sorts of hardware and gasoline powered equipment. Walmart pleaded guilty in late January, and agreed to pay a fine totaling several hundred thousand dollars, on *one condition*: There was not to be any news releases on it until after the fine had been paid (from Bentonville corporate) and the fine got paid sometime this past week. You can see the full story on line here in the Telecom Digest Extra pages: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra either in the FeedSweep pages or the nytimes.html section. Just look for the Walmart story. So, get your lawyer and sue the gas company if it makes you feel better. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Isaiah Beard Subject: Re: Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 00:29:44 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com AES wrote: > Pointers to info on how XM and Sirius systems work, specifically as > regards authorization? > When a satellite authorizes a given radio, does it do it by sending > that radio (and, as a side effect, all other radios) some kind of > digital key that combines with some unique built-in matching key in > that particular radio to enable it to decode the broadcast content? To an extent, yes, this is how it works. A "hit" code is sent from the satellites and is broadcast over the "preview" channel, which the radio must be tuned to and must receive the full key before the radio can decode the whole signal and the remaining channels are "unlocked." Activation keys generally take about 10-15 minutes to compeltely download, and the key is transmitted six or seven times in succession so that your radio has a chance to get a clean copy (meaning the activation code persists for about an hour). If you don't have your radio on during this period, a "refresh" signal can be sent later, when the radio is ready. > If so, presumably if you stop paying your bill it can also deauthorize > your radio by sending something to wipe out the code? That's one way to do it, and if one had their radio turned on while the deactivation code was being sent (the duration tends to be around 48 hours if activation traffic is very high; if not, then the code persists for longer), the radio would shut off more quickly than it would the "other" way (which I will describe shortly). > But suppose you put your radio in a shielded box, stop paying, wait a > few months until they give up trying to deauthorize you, then bring it > back out -- are you still authorized? Or does every authorized radio > have to get reauthorized at some periodic interval? If you do this, and you turn your radio on, then your radio will stay in an 'activated" mode for about an hour or so. However, the key that's stored in the radio has already expired, so it is actively looking for a renewal code. If it doesn't get one, the radio "shuts off," going only to the preview channel. > Bottom line: Do individual radios actually talk back to the satellites > at any point? Or do authorization and other command signals flow only > from the satellites to the radio? It's only one way, from satellite to receiver. No information is uplinked. E-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 04:26:26 -0500 From: Ron Chapman Subject: Re: Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? In article , AES wrote: > Pointers to info on how XM and Sirius systems work, specifically as > regards authorization? > When a satellite authorizes a given radio, does it do it by sending > that radio (and, as a side effect, all other radios) some kind of > digital key that combines with some unique built-in matching key in > that particular radio to enable it to decode the broadcast content? Yep. They're continuously sending out an authorization stream. > If so, presumably if you stop paying your bill it can also deauthorize > your radio by sending something to wipe out the code? No. They don't send out a deauthorization stream. Read on. > But suppose you put your radio in a shielded box, stop paying, wait a > few months until they give up trying to deauthorize you, then bring it > back out -- are you still authorized? Or does every authorized radio > have to get reauthorized at some periodic interval? Bingo. You have to get reauthorized at some periodic interval. I did exactly what you describe: I de-installed my SkyFi for a period of months, and deactivated my account. When I plugged it back in some months later, it worked fine for several days. Then suddenly it stopped. It needs to be reauthorized periodically. When it sees an entire authorization stream come and go but it's not on the list, it's deauthorized. > Bottom line: Do individual radios actually talk back to the satellites > at any point? Or do authorization and other command signals flow only > from the satellites to the radio? It's one way. The radios don't talk back to anyone. It's really quite simple. ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Satellite Radio Authorization: How Does it Work? Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 07:16:02 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications I suspect most of the folks who use this forum are not interested in trying to cheat XM or Sirius. AES wrote: > Pointers to info on how XM and Sirius systems work, specifically as > regards authorization? > When a satellite authorizes a given radio, does it do it by sending > that radio (and, as a side effect, all other radios) some kind of > digital key that combines with some unique built-in matching key in > that particular radio to enable it to decode the broadcast content? > If so, presumably if you stop paying your bill it can also deauthorize > your radio by sending something to wipe out the code? > But suppose you put your radio in a shielded box, stop paying, wait a > few months until they give up trying to deauthorize you, then bring it > back out -- are you still authorized? Or does every authorized radio > have to get reauthorized at some periodic interval? > Bottom line: Do individual