TELECOM Digest     Sat, 6 Jan 2007 14:24:00 EST    Volume 26 : Issue 006

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Verizon to Offer TV Shows on Cellphones (Reuters News Wire)
    San Francisco Makes Deal With Earthlink for Wi-Fi Access (Eric Auchard)
    ICANN Will Create '.xxx' Porn Domain (Anick Jesdanun, Associated Press)
    Telecom Update #561 - Canada (Angus Telecommunications)
    Re: Should Kids Have Cell Phones in School? (Herb Stein)
    Re: Should Kids Have Cell Phones in School? (Rick Merrill)
    Re: The Best Phone Company in America (Steven Lichter)

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Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2007 12:16:23 -0600
From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Verizon to Offer TV Shows on Cellphones


Verizon to offer TV shows on cellphones: NY Times
 
Verizon Wireless is expected to announce on Sunday that it will offer
full-length programing to its cellular subscribers from major U.S.
television networks, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

Citing "people apprised of the deal," the Times said that the service,
which should be in operation by the end of March, will consist of
eight channels and will include popular shows from NBC, CBS, Fox and
MTV. ESPN is reportedly also in negotiations to offer programs, which
will be offered for the cellphone screen soon after they appear on
television, the newspaper said.

Verizon is joining MediaFLO U.S.A., a subsidiary of Qualcomm which has
created technology to transmit high-resolution video through its own
dedicated network, for the service, the Times said. Sources with
knowledge of the deal told the newspaper that MediaFLO was also in
talks to offer TV shows through other wireless phone companies.

According to the deal, media companies would receive fees based on
consumer subscriptions. The newspaper said a Verizon Wireless
spokesman could not be reached for comment on Friday night.

The programs would be among the first full-length television shows to
be offered to cellular subscribers in the United States, the Times
said.  The deal could help make mobile phones more competitive with
Apple Computer's iPod, after Apple said in 2005 it would offer shows
from the ABC network for sale, the paper added.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and 
Vodafone Group PLc.

Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited. 

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/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at
http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or)
http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html

For more news and headlines, please go to:
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html

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

Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2007 12:21:32 -0600
From: Eric Auchard, Reuters <reuters@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: San Francisco Makes Deal With Earthlink for Wi-Fi Access


San Francisco, EarthLink have tentative Wi-Fi deal
By Eric Auchard

The City of San Francisco and EarthLink said on Friday they had
reached a tentative deal to offer free wireless Internet access,
promising to make it the first major U.S. city to deliver municipal
Wi-Fi services citywide.

Internet access provider EarthLink Inc. is working with partners
including Google Inc. to develop a free wireless Internet program
throughout the hilly city of 777,000 residents under a preliminary
agreement announced last April.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said the agreement reached on Friday
between the city and EarthLink will provide wireless Internet access
at no cost to taxpayers and extend to cover neighborhoods throughout
San Francisco over time.

"Ubiquitous Wi-Fi will change how residents access education, social
services and economic opportunities," Newsom said.

The deal, which gives EarthLink access to public rights of way to
install the necessary Wi-Fi radio antennas, follows more than a year
of negotiations and public hearings where backers sought to assuage
the public over privacy and security concerns.

The next step is for the city's Board of Supervisors to review the
agreement and decide whether to approve the deal.

"We look forward to working with the Board of Supervisors to gain
approval of the agreement so we can begin building out the network in
2007," Donald Berryman, president of EarthLink's municipal networks
unit, said in a statement.

EarthLink has said it plans to offer the free, 300 kilobit-per-second 
Wi-Fi service alongside a premium commercial service at speeds of 1 
megabit or faster for around $20 a month. This commercial service would 
target consumers and businesses looking for faster Internet access.

In late 2005, the city received 26 proposals from private and
nonprofit organizations on how to deliver universal Wi-Fi service
throughout San Francisco. Rival proposals came from telephone
companies, Internet service providers and grassroots groups.

The EarthLink wireless access plan contrasts with the current
hodgepodge of wireless connections typically offered by public,
nonprofit and government entities in busy "hot spots" in and around
major public buildings or plazas in many cities.

Other cities including Philadelphia, New Orleans and Portland, Oregon,
are also developing citywide wireless networks of their own.

Details of the San Francisco-EarthLink deal can be found at
http://www.sfgov.org/techconnect.

Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited.

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/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at
http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or)
http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html

For more news and headlines, please go to:
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html

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

Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2007 12:25:08 -0600
From: Anick Jesdanun, Associated Press <ap@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: ICANN Will Create '.xxx' Porn Domain


Plan would create '.xxx' Web porn domain 
By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer

The Internet's key oversight agency has revived a proposal it earlier
rejected to create an online red-light district, after adding stronger
provisions to prohibit child pornography and require labeling of Web
sites with sexually explicit materials.

The use of the proposed ".xxx" domain name would remain voluntary, but
any porn sites that choose to use it instead of the more popular
".com" would be subject to the new terms issued late Friday by the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

The idea of a separate ".xxx" domain has generated significant
opposition from conservative groups and even some pornography Web
sites.

But ICANN officials said they initially rejected the proposal in May
not because of the opposition but because of concerns that the agency
might be put in a difficult position of having to enforce all of the
world's laws governing pornography. They noted that various nations'
speech-related laws sometimes conflict with one another.

The new proposal does not directly address any potential conflicts in
laws, but it calls for the company backing it, ICM Registry Inc. of
Jupiter, Fla., to hire independent organizations to monitor porn
sites' compliance with the new rules.

ICANN, the agency in Marina del Rey, Calif., designated by the U.S.
government to oversee domain name policies, opened the proposal to
public comment but did not indicate when it would rule.

If approved, ICM would be required to help develop mechanisms for
promoting child safety and preventing child pornography, "including
practices that appeal to pedophiles or suggest the presence of child
pornography on the site."

Porn sites would have to participate in a self-descriptive labeling
system, likely one from the Internet Content Rating Association. Under
it, Web sites add tags based on such criteria as the presence of
nudity and whether it is in an artistic or educational context, such
as for sites on breast feeding. Relatively few sites now participate,
although major Web browsers have mechanisms for reading the tags.

ICM also would have to develop automated tools to check for compliance 
and give users ways to report violations.

ICM believes the domain would help the $12 billion online porn
industry clean up its act, as those using it must abide by rules
designed to bar such trickery as spamming and malicious scripts.

Anti-porn advocates, however, countered that sites would be free to
keep their current ".com" address, in effect making porn more easily
accessible by creating yet another channel to house it.

Many porn sites also objected, fearing that an ".xxx' domain would
pave the way for governments or even private industry to filter speech
that is protected in the United States by the First Amendment.

Copyright 2007 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/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at
http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or)
http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html

For more news and headlines, please go to:
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html

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

Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2007 12:41:47 -0600
From: Angus Telecommunications <angus@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Telecom Update #561   (Canada)


#561, January 5, 2006 

Our New Look
Quake Highlights Internet Vulnerabilities
RIM Adds 875,000 Blackberry Users
BlackBerry to Offer Push-to-Talk
Bermuda Seeks Bids for Submarine Cable
Videotron Tests 100 Mbps Broadband
Ottawa Invests in Telecom Projects
U.S. Company Buys Saskatchewan Equipment Maker
MTS Sells Winnipeg Buildings
DBRS Raises Rogers Rating
AT&T Completes Bellsouth Purchase
Cisco Buying Web Security Firm

OUR NEW LOOK: Beginning with this issue, the e-mail edition of Telecom 
Update will be published in HTML instead of plain text. We will 
fine-tune the design over the next few weeks, to make Canada's 
most-widely-read telecom publication even more readable and usable. We 
welcome your comments and suggestions: please email them to 
ianangus@angustel.ca.

QUAKE HIGHLIGHTS INTERNET VULNERABILITIES: On December 26, a magnitude
7.1 earthquake off Taiwan ruptured six undersea telecom cables,
interrupting international telecom services across much of East Asia.
Voice services from Taiwan were down by 60%-90%. Internet services
were affected as far away as Sri Lanka.

Partial service has been restored, using satellite links and fibre
overcapacity built during the dot-com boom, but Internet service is
still impaired. Repairs will not be completed until later this month.

Even some supposedly landline links were affected. For example Hong
Kong's connection to China's Wikipedia went down because it passes
through a South Korean server.

Some ISPs have come under fire for offering to sell businesses extra 
bandwidth to compensate for their reduced service.

Chinese state media reports that more than 9,000 Chinese domain names 
vanished from Internet registries, many of them then 'snatched by 
overseas investors.'

RIM ADDS 875,000 BLACKBERRY USERS: Research In Motion says it added 
875,000 Blackberry subscribers in the three months ended December 2, 
bringing the total to about 7 million. Revenue for the quarter was up 
49% from a year ago to US$835.1 million, and profit was $176 million, up 
from $120 million in the same period a year earlier.

BLACKBERRY TO OFFER PUSH-TO-TALK: California-based Kodiak Networks says 
it has signed a global licensing agreement allowing Research In Motion 
to add Push-To-Talk capability on the BlackBerry Pearl and other RIM 
handsets. U.S. carrier Cingular Wireless will be the first wireless 
operator to offer the feature.

BERMUDA SEEKS BIDS FOR SUBMARINE CABLE: The Bermuda Ministry of 
Telecommunications and E-Commerce is seeking proposals to install and 
manage a new submarine cable linking Bermuda to the mainland. The 
Ministry hopes to issue a formal invitation to tender by January 31, and 
to choose a supplier by July.

VIDEOTRON TESTS 100 Mbps BROADBAND: Videotron says it has begun beta 
tests of new technology that would allow it to offer Internet access at 
up to 100 Mbps throughout its serving area. About 150 trial modems will 
be installed for consumer and business users this month, and testing 
will continue over a three- to four-month period.

OTTAWA INVESTS IN TELECOM PROJECTS: In late December, Industry Canada 
announced repayable R&D investments, through Technology Partnerships 
Canada, in two wireless communications projects.

$1.8 million to Consilient Technologies Corporation of St. John's, 
Newfoundland, part of a $5.5 million software development project to 
increase data and messaging functions for mobile phones and devices.

$9.3 million to ViXS Systems of Toronto, part of a $27.7 million project 
to capture, store, and wirelessly distribute high-definition content to 
electronic and communications devices in the home.

U.S. COMPANY BUYS SASKATCHEWAN EQUIPMENT MAKER: Regina-based Noran Tel, 
a privately owned maker of power distribution, network transmission, and 
remote monitoring equipment, has been acquired by Illinois-based Westell 
Technologies for an undisclosed amount. Westell, which makes broadband 
access products, says Noran Tel will remain in Regina, operating as a 
Westell subsidiary.

MTS SELLS WINNIPEG BUILDINGS: MTS Allstream has sold two office 
buildings in Winnipeg, including its head office, to Crown Realty for 
$51.1 million, and signed a 15-year lease on the space it occupies in 
those buildings. Proceeds of the sale will be used to buy back common 
shares.

DBRS RAISES ROGERS RATING: Dominion Bond Rating Service has upgraded
the financial ratings for three Rogers Companies. Rogers
Communications is now rated BB, while Rogers Cable and Rogers Wireless
are both BB (high).

AT&T COMPLETES BELLSOUTH PURCHASE: Following approval by the Federal
Communications Commission in late December, AT&T Inc. has completed
its US$85 billion purchase of Bell South Corp (see Telecom Update
#550) in the largest U.S. telecom merger ever. The new AT&T combines
six formerly separate telecom giants: AT&T, Bell South, Southwestern
Bell, Pacific Telesis, Ameritech, and Cingular Wireless.

CISCO BUYING WEB SECURITY FIRM: Cisco has acquired IronPort Systems,
an email filtering and Web security firm based in San Bruno,
California, for US$830 million in cash and stock. The deal is expected
to close by the end of April.

Copyright 2007, Angus Telecommunications. 

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

From: Herb Stein <herb@herbstein.com>
Subject: Re: Should Kids Have Cell Phones in School?
Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com
Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2007 03:42:01 GMT


<hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote in message 
news:telecom26.5.2@telecom-digest.org:

> Should kids be even allowed to bring a phone into the building?  If
> so, should it be allowed with them?

> I am curious as to what other people think of this issue.  It is
> presently controversial.

> Generally speaking I don't think kids "need" cell phones; for a kid
> they're generally a luxury rather than a need.

> I don't buy the argument that parents need to be able to reach their
> kids "since 9/11".  "9/11" was a once in a lifetime event.  Other
> disasters, natural or man-created can of course happen, but they are
> rare, too.

I, for one, agree that no school child needs a cell phone. But then
I'm an old guy. I don't think they need helmets when riding a bicycle
either.

Schools just need to ban cell phones.

> However, the argument that pay phones are no longer available is
> unfortunately valid in most places.  I've seen lots of places where
> pay phones were pulled (like the local public library).  School kids
> tell me they were pulled in school as a result of prank call abuse.

> I don't like the idea that middle school age kids are so interdependent
> on the outside world that they need cells phones to deal with it.
> Parents should be available for their kids directly, not over the
> phone; I don't like parents using the phone as a crutch as too many
> do. Kids tell mom "I'm at the library" when in reality they're
> somewhere they shouldn't be.

> Some companies (including Disney) are advertising GPS/monitoring phones
> for their kids.  I don't like the idea of parents becoming "Big
> Brother" either, that makes me really uncomfortable.  It's like saying
> to the kids "Oh, we trust you.  Well, actually we don't trust you."   I
> was a goody-goody growing up, but I'd resent as hell secret attempts by
> my parents to monitor my whereabouts.  I think the first thing I'd do
> would be to figure out how to defeat the tracking.
>
> Unfortunately today high school kids have much more adult
> responsibilities than in our day.  Having a cell phone is almost a
> necessity. High school age kids today work after school.  They have
> varied after school activities.  They have no public transit and are
> dependent on the car.  They have split parents who both work.

> Any thoughts?

> [public replies, please]

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

Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2007 08:09:05 -0500
From: Rick Merrill <rick0.merrill@NOSPAM.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Should Kids Have Cell Phones in School?


hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:

> Should kids be even allowed to bring a phone into the building?  If
> so, should it be allowed with them?

The phones and the kids are almost synonymous these days! They let the
parents be much more involved with the children's lives: knowing where
they are and who they are with is very important.

Plus kids can call for rides more efficiently!

On the down side phones can be a big time waster and a distraction.

Some localities are considering a bank of tiny lockers outside the 
school where each kid puts his cell phone before entering the school
(and going through the security check).

- RM

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

From: Steven Lichter <diespammers@ikillspammers.com>
Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc.
Subject: Re: The Best Phone Company in America
Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2007 04:08:51 GMT


Steven J. Sobol wrote:

> In article <telecom26.4.5@telecom-digest.org>, Jim Haynes wrote:

>> Sighted in another venue is a link to an article in Telephony:

>> http://telephonyonline.com/mag/telecom_best_phone_company/

>> jhhaynes at earthlink dot net

> Wow. Nice.

> Cox takes top honors in a bunch of JD Powers categories.

> What strikes me is the facility-powered phone lines. Apparently,
> everyone else is too cheap to do that. In my area, Charter
> Communications, the local cable franchisee, does phones too -- our
> current phone service is from Charter - and out in Apple Valley,
> Verizon is offering FiOS. Both services require the end-user to
> provide battery backup. In my case, the unit Charter says to use is
> about $100. (I'm sure we'll eventually get one - but we don't have the
> extra money right now.)

> Quotes:

> Cox also decided to make its phone service network-powered from the
> outset, despite the fact that it was more costly and time-consuming
> than using local power and battery backup.

> "We included generator backup in many parts of the country," Bowick
> said. "We built hardened facilities -- our master telecom centers were
> built very early on with NEBS compliance just as you would expect a CO
> to be. Everything was done top-notch before we entered the business.
> Early on, it wasn't without some difficulty. This was a new business
> we had to learn. But redundancy was key; network powering was key.."

> and:

> Cox also chose to build its own national fiber backbone network so it
> could offer local and long-distance voice services without having to
> lease capacity from other service providers. That national backbone
> connects its local markets and provides both long-distance voice and
> high-speed Internet transport.

> Mark Kaish, Cox's vice president of voice development and support, is
> a telecom veteran, having worked at both Sprint and BellSouth before
> he joined Cox in 2005. What he found when he arrived at Cox was a
> level of enthusiasm for voice services that reminded him of earlier
> days when telcos were launching data services.

> Steve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows
> Victorville, California     PGP:0xE3AE35ED

> It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The one thing telcos have going for
> them -- reliability in a power outage -- is something that cable and
> internet phones are beginning to learn are very important.  PAT]

Cox and Time-Warner got into telephones years before the others, so it
would not surprise me that they would build backup systems.  I had a
friend of mine that went to work for Time-Warner in south Riverside
county; he was telephone company trained.


The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? 
(c) 2007  I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co.

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


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End of TELECOM Digest V26 #6
****************************