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TELECOM Digest Sat, 10 Feb 2007 02:45:00 EST Volume 26 : Issue 43
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
EPIC Alert 14.03 (Monty Solomon)
Internet Service Electrifies Embarq Profit (USTelecom dailyLead)
Telecom Update #566, February 9, 2007 (Angus TeleManagement Group)
CommunicationsDirect News Daily Update (communicationsdirect_daily)
Re: Telephone Area Codes and Prefixes (Neal McLain)
Re: What About Areas Where Alphabet is Not Like Ours? (Jack Hamilton)
Re: What About Areas Where Alphabet is Not Like Ours (Neal McLain)
Re: What About Areas Where Alphabet is Not Like Ours? (Mr Joseph Singer)
Re: What About Areas Where Alphabet is Not Like Ours? (Wesrock@aol.com)
Re: How to Shut Down the Net (ellis@no.spam)
Re: Bell System History Book (Charles Gray)
1010-WINS Subway-Payphone Poll (Carl Moore)
Pennsylvania Proposal Regarding Political Campaign Calls (Carl Moore)
Reaching For Cell Phone Causes Accident (Carl Moore)
Re: A Call to Let Your Phone Loose (Steven J. Sobol)
Re: BabyTEL Brings Back Seven Digit Dialing (B. Wright)
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
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 20:37:28 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: EPIC Alert 14.03
========================================================================
E P I C A l e r t
========================================================================
Volume 14.03 February 9, 2007
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published by the
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
Washington, D.C.
http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_14.03.html
========================================================================
Table of Contents
========================================================================
[1] Personal Data Privacy and Security Act Of 2007 Introduced
[2] Homeland Security Budget Request Includes Eight Percent Increase
[3] Maine Rejects Real ID, Other States to Follow
[4] White House to Release Documents Detailing Secret Spy Program
[5] Florida Governor Proposes and End to Paperless Touch Screen Voting
[6] News in Brief
[7] EPIC Bookstore: "Proskauer on Privacy"
[8] Upcoming Conferences and Events
...
http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_14.03.html
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 12:33:27 CST
From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: Internet Service Electrifies Embarq Profit
USTelecom dailyLead
February 9, 2007
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/ggbsfDtusXlSjyCibuddnpou
TODAY'S HEADLINES
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Internet service electrifies Embarq profit
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Newspaper: Cable competition good for customers
* Virgin Media to debut on-demand channel
* Alcatel-Lucent outlines savings plan
* Vodafone offers mobile-phone access to YouTube
* Oregon officials approve Verizon's bid
* Companies join forces on 3G phone
* Broadcom's 4th-quarter profit slips
* News Corp. announces rival to CNBC
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
* Cisco buys social-networking software maker
* Telepo licenses fixed-mobile links to Ericsson
* Voice remains central for mobile phones
IP DOWNLOAD
* Truphone, Google Talk connect
* Siemens launches Gigaset.net
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* Statewide franchise bid stalls in Colorado
Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/ggbsfDtusXlSjyCibuddnpou
------------------------------
From: Angus TeleManagement Group <jriddell@angustel.ca>
Subject: Telecom Update #566, February 9, 2007
Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2007 10:34:31 -0800
Here is the latest issue of Telecom Update from Canada:
http://www.angustel.ca/update/up.html
No text, non-html version is possible.
------------------------------
Subject: CommunicationsDirect News Daily Update - February 09, 2007
From: communicationsdirect_daily <communicationsdirect_daily@communication.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 11:42:42 EST
********************************
PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents
The CommunicationsDirect Daily Update
For February 09, 2007
********************************
Virgin Media's Launch Invigorates U.K. Broadband Market
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/22620?11228
The merged NTL Telewest and Virgin Mobile group rebranded its
operations as Virgin Media and launched an aggressive promotional
campaign unveiled by the owner of the Virgin empire, Richard
Branson, with the new advertising campaign featuring Hollywood
actress Uma Thurman. The rebranding strategy will enable Virgin
Media to capitalise on ...
Qwest Back in Black for 2006
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/22618?11228
Qwest Communications has continued the return to profitability in
the release of the latest results for the fourth quarter, giving
the first full year of net profits since 2003, although the
results have missed expectations. Full-year revenues totalled
US$13.9 billion, barely up by 0.1% on the previous year, while
the cost-cutting ...
Contemplating the Next Move
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/22613?11228
Operators around the globe are taking on major modernization
programs that will mean a fundamental change to their networks
and systems architectures. Before spending vast amounts on new
technology, operators need to ask themselves some pretty
fundamental questions about why they are embarking on these
ventures. Despite all the ...
Samsung Unveils Mobile Phone With Features Similar to Apple's iPhone
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/150/22612?11228
SEOUL, South Korea -- Samsung Electronics Co. has unveiled a new
mobile phone that features some of the sleek design and functions of
Apple Inc.'s much-hyped iPhone. Samsung's Ultra Smart F700 will
be exhibited at next week's 3GSM World Congress, a telecommunications
exhibition in Barcelona, Samsung spokeswoman ...
Alcatel-Lucent Job Cull Hits 12,500
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/22610?11228
Alcatel-Lucent fleshed out its additional cost-cutting plans
Friday morning by announcing that its post-merger headcount reduction
would total 12,500 staff, up more than 3,500 from the initial 8,800
to 9,000 it had signaled last year. When Alcatel and Lucent
first announced their merger plan in April 2006, they said that
about ...
Yet Another Study Dismisses Mobile WiMAX
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/140/22604?11228
Yet another major analytical study has concluded that, despite
all the hype, the technology being marketed as WiMAX is going to
be just a niche player in the mobile wireless market over the
next half decade. The latest study, by Arthur D. Little,
compares High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and WiMAX, and concludes
WiMax will capture ...
Today's Funding Roundup
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/22601?11228
Fixed/mobile convergence and WiMax startups gather the big bucks in
this week's funding roundup. Tango Networks: Stealthy
Richardson, Texas-based fixed/mobile convergence startup Tango
Networks Inc. completed its first funding round, totaling $25
million, this week. Investors include Motorola Ventures , Nortel
Networks Ltd. ...
IP Set Top Box Market Spurs New Players and Some Consolidation
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/140/22595?11228
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Driven by increasing Telco TV deployments,
demand for IP set top boxes is growing, and will reach 19 million
units in 2010, up from 4.3 million in 2006, reports In-Stat. New
box vendors have entered the market within the past year, the
high-tech market research firm says, but the important box
features-HD, DVR, ...
Copyright (C) 2007 PricewaterhouseCoopers.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 00:10:15 -0600
From: Neal McLain <nmclain@annsgarden.com>
Subject: Re: Telephone Area Codes and Prefixes
Joe Tibiletti <joetib@cox.net> wrote:
> I have testified before the Public Utility Commission of
> Texas -- one of the last states to have this jurisdiction
> placed in one organization under state control.
What do you mean by "one organization"?
If you're referring to an organization that regulates all (or almost
all) utilities, Texas isn't the only state. Every state has some sort
of utility regulatory agency (although they go by variety of names:
http://tinyurl.com/2qx65y ). Indeed, Texas is an oddball in this
respect: the TPUC regulates all utilities except natural gas; the
Texas Railroad Commission regulates natural gas; and the Texas DOT
regulates railroads.
If you're referring to an organization that regulates landline
telephone service, again, Texas isn't the only state. Almost every
state regulatory agency (by whatever name) regulates landline service
(I say "almost" because there's probably an exception somewhere; I've
just never heard of one).
If you're referring to an organization that assigns area codes, no
state, not even Texas, does this. Area codes in the United States are
assigned by NANPA ( http://nanpa.com/ ), and implemented by the state
(or territorial) regulatory agency. In every state, including Texas,
the state agency determines the *method* of area code relief (overlay,
split, or boundary realignment), and it can *request* specific area
codes.[*] But NANPA makes the final decisions on code assignments.
> The matter was the breakup of the then 512 area code with
> outlying areas to the state capital going to a new code of
> the N, (2-9), N -- ...
Actually, the format was N,(2-8),X. No area code can have 9 as the
middle digit; these codes are reserved for some unspecified future use.
> EVENTUALLY THE SECRET WAS OUT AS 361. They had their minds made
> up as to the outcome, but I put in my two cents worth.
NANPA had probably assigned 361 to Texas as a relief code long before
the TPUC even held hearings.
When NANPA assigns an area code, it has to consider several
constraints:
- An area code can be used only once. A new area code can't conflict
with any other area code anywhere in the United States, Canada, Bermuda,
US territories in the Pacific, or a hodgepodge of geopolitical entities
in the Caribbean.
- An area code can't (or at least shouldn't) conflict with any central
office code within the area code; thus, for example, 573-573 would be
a prohibited combination. Consequently, when a new area code is
assigned, it must be selected from the list of presently-unassigned
central office codes. That list is likely to be short: if an area
code needs relief, it's already running out of central office codes.
(And yes, I'm aware of the 847-847 exception to this rule.)
- An area code can't conflict with any of several reserved
combinations: N11, N9X, NYY (second and third digits the same),
370-379, 456, 521-529, 555, 880-889, 950, 960-969.
http://tinyurl.com/33wx7r
If you apply all of these constraints to any given area-code relief
situation, you end up very few usable possibilities. In order to
avoid ending up with zero possibilities at some future date, NANPA has
established "Geographic Relief Codes" -- two or three codes held in
reserve for each state for possible future use. To ensure that these
codes remain available, they are never assigned as central office
codes within the state.
I suspect that 361 was one of these Geographic Relief Codes. I
wouldn't be surprised if it was assigned back when the 512/210 split
was under consideration.
> Here are my suggestions which are still today applicable.
> 1. Place all government telephones on their own area code...
Somebody here on TD once suggested splitting 202 by putting the
federal government in 666.
> In another comment cell phones are placed upon special area
> codes in Chicago and NYC.
NYC yes, Chicago no.
This issue invariably comes up in area code relief proceedings: if the
wireless (paging, cellular, and PCS) companies are using up all the
numbers, why not put them in their own "service-specific" area code?
The New York PSC adopted a service-specific overlay in New York City
in 1992 when 917 was overlaid on 212 and 718. The wireless companies
didn't like it because that "funny" area code put them at a
competitive disadvantage. Furthermore, reaching a 917 number from 212
or 718 required 11-digit dialing, while intra-area code numbers were
dialable with seven digits.
The next attempt to implement a service-specific overlay wound up in
the FCC's lap. In this case, Ameritech wanted to overlay 630 on 312
and 708 in the Chicago area. The wireless companies protested to the
FCC, asserting that service-specific overlays were not "competitively
neutral." The FCC eventually ruled that Ameritech could implement 630
as an all-services overlay or a split, but not as a service-specific
overlay.
> 2. Give a fourth number (digit) behind the present area code
> three digits based upon the clock: with 0 being north of center
> of code area or city center, 3 to the east, 6 to the south, and
> 9 to the west.
If we're going to add any digits, I'd suggest adding a check digit to
prevent wrong numbers. Similar to UPC codes.
> 3. Give an additional digit to all numbers based upon use,
> e.g. 1 for cell, 2 for fax 3 for internet access, etc.
That sounds like another "service-specific" scheme. Furthermore, how
would a telco know what a given landline would be used for? Phone?
Answering machine? Fax? PC modem? Alarm system? TiVo? All of above?
If we're going to have any type of service-specific coding, I'd suggest
a code for coin phones.
> As to archives and comments of telephone number configurations,
> the prefix Zenith was used in the 1950's for non dial telephones
> in Pacific Palisades area of LA.
Zenith (and Enterprise) were used throughout the country for
operator-assisted calls to businesses willing to accept charges. I
suspect that Zenith was chosen because it couldn't be dialed.
> Chicago had in the same period a 2L and 6N in some sub-urban
> area numbers in the same period.
Are you sure? That totals eight digits. Source?
> Not all possible combinations were used in all area codes,
> while several private NXX -- such as KRypton was used in
> Houston, Texas, for the Humble Building...
Well, I guess that's better than KRemlin.
> and LT (WITH NO MEANING WAS USED UNTIL MODERN TIMES IN NYC.)
Combinations in the form 58X were widely used as far back as the
1950s. In point: St. Louis (LUcas); Chicago (JUniper). Mark Cuccia's
post "Recommended 'EXchange' Names" (TD 25:118, 03/26/06) lists the
following 58X combinations: JUniper, JUno, JUstice, LUdlow, LUther.
> Use of NXX which are identical to area codes.. this really
> confused subscribers, for example 512 the former area code of my
> home city of Victoria, Texas, prior to 361, was used as an
> exchange in the LA area in Gardena, another use of this knid was
> 708 (Rochester MN). In Austin, Texas, my NXX was 310 -- the
> area code for Beverly Hills...
Well, we exhausted the original 144 area codes in 1994, so we had to
adopt interchangeable area codes. Every area code introduced since
01/01/1995 is identical to a central office code in dozens of other
area codes.
> If one is familiar with telephone numbering issuance one can
> tell when a telephone number was issued in many cases.
> Issuance of numbers woulds be as follows: at time of dial
> switchover 5N (N-NNNN) then 1L - 4N -- uncertain whether
> all letters were used or not ...
Not necessarily. Some SxS exchanges used four-digit numbers (or four-
and 5-digit intermixed). In point: Ann Arbor. http://tinyurl.com/jtg3f
> ... the exchanges 2L-4N followed by 2L-5N, or in Chicago 2L-6N.
Once again: are you sure about eight-digit numbers? Source?
> Note the initial digit in 2L-5N was not a 1 or a 0.
Neither was the second digit. Which is why N1X and N0X combinations
were not used for central office codes. Which (conveniently) is why
they were available in 1947 for use as area codes.
> then 2L-4N disappeared and 2L-5N took on 0 or 1 with 4 N, then
> 7N (except for NXX that were N(1 or 0) in second position or
> third position) 624, but not 604 7N with second digit 1 or 0
> being issued with other numbers e.g 510 7N with NXX including 00
> in second and third position. ef.g. 200 break up of area code.
I don't follow that sentence.
[*] Many states have requested specific (vanity) area codes. Lexington,
home of the University of Kentucky, is in UKY. Knoxville, home of
University of Tennessee's Volunteers, is in VOL. In Florida, Daytona
Beach has FUN, Miami gets SUN, and Cape Canaveral does the 321 countdown.
Several Caribbean entities have commemorated themselves: Anguilla
(ANG), Antiqua (ANT), Bahamas (BHA), British Virgin Islands (BVI),
Grenada (GRE), Puerto Rico (PTR), St. Lucia (SLU), St. Vincent and the
Grenadines (SVG), and Trinidad and Tobago (TNT). [Thanks to Mark
Cuccia for this list.]
But Nevada couldn't get 777, so it had to settle for 775. Two cherries
and a lemon.
In some area codes, unintentional vanity equivalents have arisen. In
Chicago's northern suburbs, every VIP carries a BAG. Canada's northern
territories are at the TOP of the world. In Utah, 385 spells ... well,
I'll let you figure that out.
Neal McLain
Brazoria, TX
Area code 979, formerly 409, formerly 713.
------------------------------
From: Jack Hamilton <jfh@acm.org>
Subject: Re: What About Areas Where Alphabet is Not Like Ours?
Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2007 21:48:18 -0800
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com
Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> In article <telecom26.40.7@telecom-digest.org>, Joe Tibiletti
> <joetib@cox.net> wrote:
>> I raise the question, what does the telephone dial look like in areas
>> with alphabets different fron our own, such as Cairo, Egypt, or
>> Beijing, China, or Oslo, Norway? Before the time of dial phones, how
>> did operators communicate with multi lengual populations?.
> It's my understanding that the addition of letters on the dial is
> mostly an American thing, and European phones don't generally have
> them at all. I expect this is similar in most of the countries you
> mention, although I found a web page that mentioned that Russian
> phones used to have cyrillic letters on them, but they don't any more.
European mobile phones do -- they use text messaging too.
My recollection is that desk phones have numbers. A search at
www.ebay.fr found several phones with numbers clearly shown; for
example, a "Téléphone ancien année 1950" where 2=ABC 3=DEF
4=GHI 5=JKL 6=MN 7=PRS 8=TUV 9=WXY.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Unfortunatly, the 8-bit characters were
impossible to correctly render in this message. PAT]
------------------------------
From: Neal McLain <nmclain@annsgarden.com>
Subject: Re: What About Areas Where Alphabet is Not Like Ours
Reply-To: nmclain@annsgarden.com
Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2007 01:59:17 -0500
Joe Tibiletti <joetib@cox.net> wrote:
> I raise the question, what does the telephone dial look
> like in areas with alphabets different fron our own, such
> as Cairo, Egypt, or Beijing, China, or Oslo, Norway?
Here are a couple of foreign dials:
Sweden ...
http://tinyurl.com/2dmsta
http://tinyurl.com/2h7jde
Note that the Swedish dial is offset one pulse from the NANP dial. 1
pulse=0; 2 pulses=1, ... 10 pulses=9. But no letters, so the alphabet
issue wasn't a problem.
Denmark ...
http://tinyurl.com/27gko3
http://tinyurl.com/2byb87
The "9" on the Danish dial corresponds to the 27th and 28th letters of
the 29-letter Danish alphabet.
http://users.cybercity.dk/~nmb3879/tree.html The embossed design in
the center of the dial is the "National Coat of Arms" (as
distinguished from the "Royal Coat of Arms").
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/dk).html
> I understand that until about 5 years ago there were
> some crank up telephones in use -- in West Virginia --
> with telephone numbers that had 4N-1L-2N. Anyone got
> sharing on this one?
That seems unlikely. I'd be interested in knowing the source of that
story.
Numbers in the format you describe (which here on TD we'd write as
4D-1L-2D) were rural party lines served by manual offices.
The "4D" is the line number; it could be a 1-, 2-, 3-, or 4-digit
number. The single letter indicates that it was a party line; for
rural multiparty lines, it was usually "F" (for "farm") or "R" (for
"rural"). The last two digits indicated the ring cadence. Case in
point: my grandfather's phone in Steuben County Indiana used to be
59F03.
> There appears to be a return to two party lines in some areas
> because of shortage of lines. e.g . Round Rock, Texas, north of
> Austin, TX.
That also seems unlikely. I'd be interested in knowing the source of
that story too.
Neal McLain
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 17:17:28 PST
From: Mr Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: What About Areas Where Alphabet is Not Like Ours?
Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu> Thu, 08 Feb 2007 22:16:47 -0500
wrote:
> It's my understanding that the addition of letters on the dial is
> mostly an American thing, and European phones don't generally have
> them at all. I expect this is similar in most of the countries you
> mention, although I found a web page that mentioned that Russian
> phones used to have cyrillic letters on them, but they don't any
> more.
Nope. Letters in the dial was not just an American thing. British
dials had letters associated with numbers as well. (The exchange in
London GROsvenor [470] or the exchange in Edinburgh, Scotland of
CALedonian [225] or the number in Paris, France OPEra [473] as
examples.) The letter/number association was a little different than
that used in North American dials. 6 was MN (no O) with O sharing the
position with 0. Also København (Copenhagen, Denmark) has some
letters from the Danish alphabet on it as well. Paris, France also
had number/letter combinations on early dials.
As far as letters on dials the ITU agreed that new dials/keypads would
have ABC/2, DEF/3, GHI/4, JKL/5, MNO/6, PQRS/7, TUV/8 and WXYZ/9 with 1
and 0 having no letters associated with them.
In North America Northern Telecom/Nortel hasn't put "Operator" on the 0
key for many years.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Once again, the 8-bit characters did
not render correctly in this message. PAT]
------------------------------
From: Wesrock@aol.com
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 20:48:29 EST
Subject: Re: What About Areas Where Alphabet is Not Like Ours?
In a message dated 8 Feb 2007 07:45:17 -0800, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
writes:
> Exchange names go back far before dial operation -- probably before
> the turn of the 20th century. In Oklahoma City, for example, Walnut
> and Maple (manual exchanges) went back to the 1910s, when the city
> needed more than 10,000 (considered as about the reach in the manual
> multiple jacks for an operator's arm).
Depending on the size of the city, and its history of numbering plans,
exchange names had been dropped in many cities with a need for only a
few exchange, four-, five- or six- digit. Exchange names were
reintroced later only when the demand for numbers became confusing, by
the standards of the day. (Tulsa at one time in the 1940s and 1950s
had Four-, five- and six-digit numbers all at the same time. Before
DDD there was no requirement that the length of numbers had to be
uniform, even in the same city.)
And the requirement for two- or three-letter prefixes was not uniform.
About the time mentioned for Tulsa, Dallas had numbers that started
with one letter only.
With requirement for a uniform numbering plan, various plans were
followed. Some exchange names from the manual area were clearly not
candidates--one that was often cited as impossible because only local
Philadelphia customers would be able to pronounce it, let along spell
it, was Bala-Cynwyd.
Some places the locality name or old exchange name (often the same)
were adapted to be dial prefixes, other places which did not have a
history of exchange names adopted a rule that no locality name would
be used as a prefix. There was no standard. The individual Bell
companies (or in some cases the independent operating company) usually
followed the reommended list put out by Bell Labs, but there were
amusing anecdotes.
When Waco, Texas, was converted to 2L-5N, the Chevrolet dealer
objected to the assignment of PLymouth to the downdown area. It was
changed to PLaza, also on the approved.
City fathers in Anadarko, Oklahoma (location of "Indian City, USA",
what now is considered a theme or educational park). realized that the
prefix assigned to the city which started with 24x (I don't now
remember what name was originally assigned) could be rendered as
CHieftain (not on the approved list). There appeared to be no real
problem with this, and so the prefix was published as CHieftain.
> As mentioned here, U.S. city telephone numbers consisted of a named
> exchange which corresponded to the letters on the dial. This was done
> (1) to ease the transition from manual to dial and (2) because it was
> felt "MUnicipal 6-1776" would be easier to remember than "686-1776".
> After WW II, the telephone company realized that users were confusing
> the letter I with the number 1 (and 0 and O) as well as
> pronouciation. For example, in Philadelphia there was the BAring 2
> exchange, but it was pronounced "BEARING". Philadelphians know that,
> but outsiders wouldn't and errors would result. There were numerous
> examples of that in many cities. Also, telephone growth was causing
> shortages of numbers in some places. Because of those and some other
> technical reasons, the Bell System decided to go to "ANC", All Number
> Calling. An all number dial would have bigger numbers and be easier
> to read, too.
You leave out the objections from Prof. S. I. Hiyakawa, who formed the
Anti-Digit Dialing League (ADDL) and attracted quite a few adherents.
Prof. Hiyalawa was later elected to the U.S. Senate from California.
Ed Clark, president of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, finally
agreed to allow Wichita Falls, Texas, to be used as a guinea pig and
converted to all-number calling. While it wasn't converted back,
Clark declared there would be no more ANC conversions while he was
president of SWBT, and there weren't. (The title president then mean
the Chief Executive Officer, before it became customary for CEOs to be
called "chairman.") Other SWBT exchanges were converted to ANC only
after Clark retired.
Wes Leatherock
wesrock@aol.com
wleathus@yahoo.com
------------------------------
From: ellis@no.spam
Subject: Re: How to Shut Down the Net
Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2007 08:10:08 -0000
Organization: S.P.C.A.A.
In article <telecom26.42.6@telecom-digest.org>, mc
<look@www.ai.uga.edu.for.address> wrote:
> As I understand it, only very recently changed domain addresses would
> be affected by a temporary failure of the root servers.
If *all* the root name servers had been taken out, there would have
been a huge impact. Any domain that wasn't cached by your server
wouldn't have resolved. But taking them all down isn't an easy task.
http://deepcreekhotsprings.net/
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Bell System History Book
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 10:46:09 -0600
From: Charles Gray <charles.gray@okstate.edu>
The Bell System History book that Lisa referred to is: A History of
Science & Engineering in the Bell System: Communications Sciences,
1925-1980. The ISBN is 0-932764-06-1. It is available from
http://www.alibris.com (and numerous others) starting at $32.28. I
have a copy. Google the ISBN for other sources.
Regards,
Charles G. Gray
Senior Lecturer, Telecommunications
Oklahoma State University - Tulsa
(918) 594-8433
------------------------------
Subject: 1010-WINS Subway-Payphone Poll
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 13:12:53 EST
From: cmoore@arl.army.mil (Carl Moore)
Web site (1010 AM radio) has "Do you use payphones in subway stations?"
Choices:
Yes, sometimes it's a necessity.
No, I use my cell phone all the time.
They have payphones in subway stations?
------------------------------
Subject: Pennsylvania Proposal Regarding Political Campaign Calls
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 13:17:11 EST
From: cmoore@arl.army.mil (Carl Moore)
> From KYW news radio site:
"robo-call" is proposed to be able to be blocked just like calls from
telemarketers.
------------------------------
Subject: Reaching For Cell Phone
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 16:20:17 EST
From: cmoore@arl.army.mil (Carl Moore)
News story coming from near Wilmington, Delaware is that a man in a pickup
truck was parked in front of store; he reached down for a cell phone; he
accidentally hit the accelerator, and the pickup truck crashed into the
store. He was cited for inattentive driving.
------------------------------
From: Steven J. Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: A Call to Let Your Phone Loose
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 07:30:59 UTC
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com
In article <telecom26.42.1@telecom-digest.org>, Charles Babington
wrote:
> Wireless carriers, which limit what customers may do with their
> phones, say the move is unnecessary and potentially harmful. But in
> articles, blogs and speeches, a number of researchers are asking why
> the companies are allowed to force consumers to buy new handsets when
> they change carriers ...
Sometimes, you don't have a choice. Perhaps the consumer groups should
do their homework.
Of the majors:
**Alltel, Sprint and Verizon use the same technology -- CDMA. You could
conceivably transfer between them, and in the past, I took a Nokia
6185 from Alltel to Verizon. Sprint locks their phones, though, and I
think Alltel started a couple years ago.
**Cingular and T-Mobile USA are both GSM. The phones are sold SIM-locked
(which means you can only use SIM/subscriber cards from the carrier)
but both companies WILL unlock phones that have been on their networks
for a specified number of months.
**Nextel is iDEN. No other US carrier uses the same technology, so
whether or not Sprint locks Nextel phones is really a moot point.
> "At some point, I think Americans are going to put their foot down and
> say, 'We won't tolerate this anymore,' " said Dave Passmore, who has
> written extensively on the issue as an analyst for the Burton Group, a
> research firm.
Perhaps he should do more research :)
> Moreover, eliminating controls on the wireless network could undermine
> its security
I think a bigger potential problem might be support. Wireless carriers
tend to not want to support phones they haven't trained their
employees on, which is understandable. (At least I can appreciate that
sentiment, having worked tech support for over ten years!)
> Wu, in his 40-page article "Wireless Net Neutrality," notes that AT&T
> and T-Mobile "lock" their cellphones so users cannot continue using
> them if they switch carriers.
But BOTH companies will unlock the phones. Just not immediately. (I
will concur that the customers need to be made aware of that fact.)
Not that I mean to imply that I think wireless carriers do a good
enough job of keeping things open, but the industry wags and consumer
rights groups aren't doing their homework very well.
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: But I feel his point is valid; _should_
the cellular companies be allowed to do things in such a way (as for
example locking their phones) to make these customer inconveniences
necessary? I do not think they should be allowed to do it. PAT]
------------------------------
From: B. Wright <bmwright@xmission.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 13:30:05 UTC
Organization: XMission Internet http://www.xmission.com
Subject: Re: BabyTEL Brings Back 7-Digit Dialing
Nigel Allen <ndallen@interlog.com> wrote:
> The following press release was issued by babyTEL, a Montreal-based
> provider of VoIP service. I don't work for babyTEL, but I thought
> that the press release might be of interest.
> Attention News/Business Editors:
> babyTEL(TM) Brings Back 7-Digit Dialing
Not much new here, other VoIP services have offered 7 digit local
dialing for some time. This is also easy enough to do on your own
with a software PBX or something even as simple as number re-writes in
a Sipura SPA dialing plan. The international rates, just to use UK
mobile and 08, 0845, and 0870 as an example, $1.079CAD/$0.91USD for
+44845 and +44870 (surely, this is a joke?!), range for poor to
appallingly high. Not really anything special on the monthly service
fee bargain front either or any of the other included services which
many/most VoIP providers already have.
I normally wouldn't comment/care on this, but their press release is
ridiculous in the way they try to portray themselves as so cutting
edge, as if they are doing something that hasn't ever been done
before. It might seem cutting edge if you lived in a bubble the past
few years, but these guys are way behind the curve in a very
over-saturated cut-throat competitive VoIP service provider market
right now.
------------------------------
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