From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Apr 26 11:25:14 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i3QFPEC01824; Mon, 26 Apr 2004 11:25:14 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 11:25:14 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404261525.i3QFPEC01824@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #209 TELECOM Digest Mon, 26 Apr 2004 11:25:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 209 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson A New Day for Voice (VOIP News) FCC Taps 8x8 for Washington, DC Video-Over-IP Demonstration (VOIP News) Net2Phone and Navini to Offer Wireless VoIP Company Charter (VOIP News) $10 M Wireless Telecom Network Proposed for Lower Manhattan (Nick Ruark) Re: Book Review: 19th Century Telegraphers (Jim Haynes) Re: Bad Weather Storm; Vonage Goes Out (Bob Goudreau) Re: Bad Weather Storm; Vonage Goes Out (Keith) President Bush: Internet Sales Tax Moratorium to be Continued (Editor) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 00:17:27 -0400 Subject: A New Day for Voice Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.techcentralstation.com/042604C.html By Kevin Werbach Quick. What technology has two billion paying customers worldwide, generates over $300 billion in annual service revenues in the US, and is so important to daily life and business that we'd have a hard time functioning without it? No, not the Internet, the personal computer, or even the television. It's the humble telephone. So it's no small news that the telephone is facing its biggest revolution since Alexander Graham Bell called out for Mr. Watson. The four letters spelling out that revolution are: V-O-I-P. Voice over Internet Protocol means carrying phone calls and other forms of voice communication over data networks. It will have profound impacts on the economy, and on the way we work, socialize, get information, and entertain ourselves. It will power a transformation of the telecom industry, and of the entire information sector that depends upon it. It will generate enormous benefits for innovation, business efficiency, and individual freedom. That is, if politicians and government regulators don't smother it. And that, in a nutshell, is the rationale for this new section of Tech Central Station, focused on the important policy questions surrounding VOIP. Our goal is to make it the central meeting place for intellectuals, businesspeople, commentators, and other thought leaders concerned with this issue. Telecommunications is among the most heavily regulated segments of the economy. VOIP points towards the day when competitive free markets can replace that regulation, but we face a challenging transition to reach that point. Today's VOIP is like the early mammals scurrying around the feet of the dinosaurs: it will inherit the Earth as long as it isn't stamped out in its infancy. Full story at: http://www.techcentralstation.com/042604C.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 09:59:36 -0400 Subject: FCC Taps 8x8 for Washington, DC Video-Over-IP Demonstration Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-26-2004/0002159352&EDATE= Packet8 VoIP Video Devices Will Change the Way People Communicate and Dramatically Improve the Quality of Life and Accessibility for all SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 8x8, Inc. (Nasdaq: EGHT), the Packet8 broadband voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and video communications service provider, announced today that Dr. Barry Andrews, 8x8's President, will present and demonstrate the benefits of next-generation IP-communications services for disabled citizens at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Solutions Summit on Friday, May 7, 2004. This Solutions Summit is the second in a series where government, industry leaders and stakeholders discuss creative ways to address policy issues that arise as communications services move to Internet-Protocol-based platforms. This meeting will focus on the ways in which persons with disabilities access services that will be increasingly based upon IP technologies. 8x8 plans to demonstrate the DV326 videophone with Packet8 service to illustrate how IP-based technologies can help consumers with hearing and other disabilities communicate more completely. Dr. Andrews stated, "IP-based services with real-time, two-way TV-quality video will change the way all people communicate and operate every day in society." Dr. Andrews continued, "The FCC is looking into how people living with disabilities will be able to access these new IP-based services. We believe that rich media devices like the 8x8 DV326 that include video and other data services will actually improve the accessibility of those with disabilities to communication networks, and additionally provide unprecedented access to the physicians, careworkers, family and other remote parties that need to care for the disabled on a regular basis." The summit is open to the public, and seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. The FCC is recommending that attendees submit a pre-registration form. Pre-registration is encouraged, but not required. The pre-registration form is located at: http://www.fcc.gov/voip/. About 8x8, Inc. 8x8, Inc. offers the Packet8 broadband voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and video communications service (http://www.packet8.net), Packet8 Virtual Office and videophone equipment and services. For more information, visit 8x8's web site at http://www.8x8.com. About Packet8 Launched in 2002, Packet8 enables anyone with high-speed Internet access to sign up for voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and video communications service at http://www.packet8.net. Customers can choose a direct-dial phone number from any of the rate centers offered by the service, and then use an 8x8-supplied terminal adapter to connect any telephone to a broadband internet connection and make or receive calls from a regular telephone number. For $19.95/month, Packet8 subscribers can make unlimited calls to any telephone number in the United States and Canada, and unlimited calls to any other Packet8 subscriber anywhere in the world. All Packet8 accounts come with voice mail, caller ID, call waiting, call waiting caller ID, call forwarding, hold, line-alternate, 3-way conferencing, web access to account controls, and real-time online billing. Packet8 Virtual Office allows users anywhere in the world to be part of a virtual PBX that includes auto attendants, conference bridges, extension-to-extension dialing, ring groups and a host of other high end business class PBX features while still following true to Packet8 unlimited calling anywhere in the United States and Canada. NOTE: 8x8, the 8x8 logo, Packet8, the Packet8 logo and Packet8 Virtual Office are trademarks of 8x8, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. SOURCE 8x8, Inc. Web Site: http://www.8x8.com http://www.packet8.net http://www.fcc.gov/voip ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 10:21:23 -0400 Subject: Net2Phone and Navini to Offer Wireless VoIP Companies Charter Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040426005365&newsLang=en Net2Phone and Navini to Offer Wireless VoIP Companies Charter the Next Wave of Wi-Fi Expansion with Telephony Bundle NEWARK, N.J. & RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 26, 2004--Net2Phone (NASDAQ: NTOP) and Navini Networks, a leading Non-Line-of-Sight wireless broadband provider, today announced plans to empower wireless broadband connectivity with telephony services. The companies will jointly deliver Net2Phone's broadband telephony services over Navini's wireless broadband infrastructure, extending the flexibility and mobility of VoIP calling. Under this agreement, Navini and Net2Phone will offer VoIP telephony solutions to Navini's wireless broadband customers. Net2Phone has adapted its residential broadband telephony solution called VoiceLine to enable communications over wireless IP networks. VoiceLine provides a robust set of features and functionality, including inbound and outbound calling with applications such as phone number selection, call waiting, caller ID and voice mail. Calls are routed over Navini's Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN) solution to Net2Phone's SIP-based platform, which performs call routing and management, supplies CLASS 5 features, provides billing and provisioning integration and distributes the infrastructure required for interconnecting onto and off of the Public Switched Telephone Network. Customers can place and receive local, long distance and international phone calls miles from the Navini Ripwave Base Station while stationary or portable throughout Navini's wireless metropolitan area broadband network. "Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks are clearly the next frontier for Net2Phone, as we extend our reach beyond the wired world," said Bryan Wiener, President of Net2Phone Global Services. "Navini's technological leadership in the space and superior support for QoS will allow Net2Phone to continue its leadership position in providing high quality VoIP solutions to telecom and high speed data providers across the globe." Wide area wireless broadband has become a viable alternative for customers to receive high-speed Internet access in rural areas and areas with low high-speed data availability where wired broadband is not an option. For Net2Phone, extending its retail VoIP offerings to the wireless environment enables Net2Phone to ride the wave of wireless broadband deployments by offering a bundle of telephony in conjunction with a high-speed wireless data product. Further enhancements to wireless VoIP will likely include VoIP enabled mobile handsets that allow consumers and business users to use the VoiceLine service anytime they are within the coverage footprint. Full press release at: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040426005365&newsLang=en ------------------------------ From: Nick Ruark Subject: $10 M Wireless Telecom Network Propsed For Lower Manhattan Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2004 20:26:07 -0700 A Plan for Wireless Telecommunications Network By JOHN HOLUSHA A WIRELESS telecommunications system that would keep Lower Manhattan's computers and phones connected with the rest of the world in the event of a major disruption downtown has been proposed by officials of the Alliance for Downtown New York. (http://www.downtownny.com/) The proposed system would send signals through the air, rather than through fiber-optic cables or copper wires and would be the first such system in a central business district in the country, according to executives of the alliance, the downtown business improvement group. The signals would be sent to switching centers in Manhattan and some other location, probably in New Jersey, to ensure that if there is damage in one location, connections would be maintained through the links to other centers. The Lower Manhattan Wireless Redundancy System http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/articleView.cfm?articlenumber=993 is intended to carry data, like stock and bond trading and banking transactions, but could be used for voice communications, if necessary, they said. However, the system requires an investment of $10 million in public money to install the basic components -- roof-top antennas and the structure to keep them in place. The system and other initiatives are part of a strategy by the alliance to use communications technology to increase the attractiveness of the area to small and medium-size companies that want reliable connections, but cannot afford to develop systems on their own. The issue of reliability is an important one downtown because the Sept. 11 attack cut off many companies, even those who had multiple carriers, because all their wires connected at 140 West Street, which was heavily damaged. "We looked at what Merrill Lynch and other large companies did to develop private networks," after the World Trade Center attack, said John J. Gilbert, the executive vice president of Rudin Management and chairman of a committee that studied the communications problem and recommended the new backup system. He said they relied on high speed data transmission through the air, which is called broadband wireless, to locations outside the city to ensure that their operations remain connected, regardless of the emergency. "Broadband wireless is here," Mr. Gilbert said. "The question is, how do we provide access to small and medium-size business? As we rebuild the telecommunications system downtown, we do not want to do it as it was; we want to do it as it should be." Shirley Jaffe, vice president of economic development for the alliance, said the group had been making presentations to the city, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and other institutions of government to secure the financing needed to build the basic system, which could be used by multiple telephone companies. Because of this, no single telephone company is willing to make the investment. "It has a lot of support from business, but we still need an entity of government to pay for it," she said. With billions being spend to rebuild downtown, Ms. Jaffe said, "$10 million is a relatively modest amount of money." She added, "We could be in operation within six months, and it would have a major positive impact in the short term." The system would cover all of Lower Manhattan by installing antennas and related equipment on five of the tallest buildings in the area, which are called hubs. Planners said just about every office in the area would be able to "see" one of the hubs, either through a window or by a common antenna operated by the landlord near the top of a building. The hubs would collect the communications signals and transmit them to what is known as a Point of Presence, or POP, which is a large switching location connected by various types of links -- wires, fiber-optic cables and microwave links - to national and international telecommunications networks. The transmission would be to POP's in multiple locations to ensure reliability. The transmissions would use both laser light in the not-visible infrared wavelengths and radio microwaves to add to reliability, Mr. Gilbert said. He said using both compensated for light's inability to penetrate fog and the tendency of microwave beams to spread out and grow unfocused. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/25/realestate/25COMM.html Forwarded from the Private Wireless Forum for Mobile Communication Professionals http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivateWirelessForum ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Book Review: 19th Century Telegraphers Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2004 23:50:32 GMT I too wish I could read somewhere about the late history of W.U. What's in the business press is pretty sketchy. Back on the subject of 19th century telegraphers, there is a more recent book, "My sisters telegraphic : women in the telegraph office, 1846-1950" by Thomas C. Jepsen, Ohio University Press. Concerning the business relationship between AT&T and W.U., Oslin's book says some of that started back when AT&T bought a controlling interest in W.U. and introduced the practice of accepting telegrams by telephone and having them appear on the phone bill. And that practice was continued even after the government forced AT&T to divest W.U. Of course at that point the new president of W.U., Newcomb Carlton, was hand-picked by Theodore Vail of AT&T. Some of the later W.U. presidents were hired from railroad companies and didn't know the telegraph business at all. The outstanding late president of W.U. was Walter Marshall, who ironically came to W.U. as part of the merger with Postal Telegraph. The last president of W.U. was a man who came up through the ranks starting as a messenger boy (trying unsuccessfully to remember his name right now). Perhaps he was the only one who could be found who would wear the captain's hat as the ship went down. jhhaynes at earthlink dot net ------------------------------ From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: Bad Weather Storm; Vonage Goes Out Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2004 22:50:45 -0400 [Please obscure my email address as usual. Thanks.] Linc Madison wrote: >> By the way -- the next time someone tries to argue that Amtrak should >> be getting a direct subsidy to level the playing field with all those >> public highways and interstates, you might point them to the $30 >> Billion every year that US taxpayers are paying for those roads. > Exactly the point -- the public highways and interstates are subsidized > by the taxpayers, tilting the playing field. To *level* the playing > field, we should subsidize rail travel, too. So, you are advocating charging additional taxes on rail users as a way of making rail *more* attractive? To *really* level the playing field, divert part of those rail taxes to pay for roads. After all, a portion of road fuel taxes is already diverted to other forms of transportation. Bob Goudreau Cary, NC ------------------------------ From: Keith Subject: Re: Bad Weather Storm; Vonage Goes Out Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2004 22:54:35 -0400 Pat, Yeah as others have mentioned, use a UPS. I have both a 650 and 1000 for a couple different computers. I have my cable modem and wireless router+switch on my UPS. It's pretty neat to be online surfing when the power is out to the house. With this being said, I think this is a good argument for why I would never get rid of a normal regular POTS line at home. I hear people replacing their home phones with cell phones, with VOIP phones, etc. I've got a regular el cheapo corded plugged in that takes power from the line. The uptime experienced in the voice world kicks butt over anything in the data world. Keith TELECOM Digest Editor wrote in message news:telecom23.206.12@telecom-digest.org... > My questions are: since battery will keep computers going temporarily, > and assuming one's cable line/or phone and DSL line was working, I am > wondering if one could not run a battery to the Motorola MTA and the > router and keep your Vonage on line even when the computers otherwise > are shut down? > PAT [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But a good flip side of this argument is that an independent UPS or power supply eliminates another of the excuses for the 'why Vonage could never replace traditional Bell' things, doesn't it. When the UPS is properly configured, since the 'telephone' line (DSL in this instance) is so reliable, Vonage is also. PAT] ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: President Bush 'No Internet Taxes' Promise Today Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 10:00 CDT As I compiled/edited this issue of the Digest, President Bush was speaking (over the satellite radio, from a university in Minnesota) and promising that if he is re-elected in November, the moratorium on 'taxes on sales over the internet' will be continued. Of course Bush has occassionally (?) been sometimes less than forthright in his statements and promises so it remains to be seen how this will work out when the present moratorium (established for five years in 1998-99) expires later this year. But note your records please, he is promising it today at the all-day event in Minnesota. PAT ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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