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TELECOM Digest     Fri, 11 Mar 2005 20:52:00 EST    Volume 24 : Issue 107

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    NEC NEAX IPX (phillip)
    Mike Wendland: Phone Over Internet is Last Nail in (Jack Decker)
    Michael Powell on Charlie Rose Tonight 3/11/05 (Monty Solomon)
    Remote Physical Device Fingerprinting (Monty Solomon)
    FCC Approves National Standard For Cell Phone Bills (Telecom dailyLead)
    Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (LB@notmine.com)
    Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (Clark W. Griswold, Jr.)
    Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (Robert Bonomi)
    Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (Carl Navarro)
    Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (Brad Houser)
    Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack (John Beaman)
    Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification (Dave Garland)
    Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification (Bill Matern)
    Re: Technion (Robert Bonomi)
    Re: Technion (sean)
    Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers (Dean)
    Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday (Steve Sobol)
    A Push to Explain Cell Phone Costs (Carl Moore)
    Re: Other Firmware For Linksys wrt54g? Satori (gary)
    Re: Jail Sentence for Phone Line "Denial of Service" (Robert Bonomi)
    Re: FCC to Cellcos: Clean up Your Bills and Invoices (Lisa Hancock)
    Re: DoJ: VoIP Providers Avoiding CALEA Mandate (Sean)
    Iraq's 'Saviors' Guilty of Vandlism (Patrick Townson)

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: phillip <phillip.sass@med.va.gov>
Subject: NEC NEAX IPX
Date: 11 Mar 2005 08:57:48 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Has anyone using a NEC NEAX IPX telephone switch run across telephone
lines mysteriously becoming unforwarded from voicemail? BTW, the
voicemail system we are using is Cisco Unity. This is a random
occurance that is becoming a hot issue. Also what are the experiences
with integrating this switch with Cisco Unity. We are having issues
there as well.

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

From: Jack Decker <jack-yahoogroups@Withheld at request>
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 07:58:06 -0500
Subject: Mike Wendland: Phone Over the Internet is Last Nail in Coffin
Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com


http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwendland11e_20050311.htm

MIKE WENDLAND: Phone over the Internet is last nail in landline coffin

BY MIKE WENDLAND
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

The most basic way the world communicates -- by telephone -- is
rapidly moving to the Internet.

The technology is called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. Just
as cell phones started us down the road of replacing our traditional
landline phones, so VoIP will eventually cut the wired connection.

Oh, there will still be landline phones, just like some people still
have rotary dial phones. But in the next few years, many of us will be
making our calls via the Internet.

This week, America Online, arguably the most influential Internet
service in the world, announced that it will start to bring VoIP
service to its customers within a month.

Full story at:
http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwendland11e_20050311.htm

How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home:
http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html

If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/

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

Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 08:57:26 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Michael Powell on Charlie Rose Tonight 3/11/05


MICHAEL POWELL
Chairman, Federal Communications Commission

The Charlie Rose Show
http://www.charlierose.com/

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

Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 20:00:59 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Remote Physical Device Fingerprinting


http://www.caida.org/outreach/papers/2005/fingerprinting/

Remote physical device fingerprinting

To be presented at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, May
8-11, 2005

Tadayoshi Kohno
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of California, San Diego

Andre Broido and kc claffy
Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis - CAIDA
San Diego Supercomputer Center,
University of California, San Diego

We introduce the area of remote physical device fingerprinting, or
fingerprinting a physical device, as opposed to an operating system or
class of devices, remotely, and without the fingerprinted device's
known cooperation. We accomplish this goal by exploiting small,
microscopic deviations in device hardware: clock skews. Our techniques
do not require any modification to the fingerprinted devices. Our
techniques report consistent measurements when the measurer is
thousands of miles, multiple hops, and tens of milliseconds away from
the fingerprinted device, and when the fingerprinted device is
connected to the Internet from different locations and via different
access technologies. 

Further, one can apply our passive and semi-passive techniques when
the fingerprinted device is behind a NAT or firewall, and also when
the device's system time is maintained via NTP or SNTP. One can use
our techniques to obtain information about whether two devices on the
Internet, possibly shifted in time or IP addresses, are actually the
same physical device. Example applications include: computer
forensics; tracking, with some probability, a physical device as it
connects to the Internet from different public access points; counting
the number of devices behind a NAT even when the devices use constant
or random IP IDs; remotely probing a block of addresses to determine
if the addresses correspond to virtual hosts, e.g., as part of a
virtual honeynet; and unanonymizing anonymized network traces.

http://www.caida.org/outreach/papers/2005/fingerprinting/

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

Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:21:03 EST
From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA <usta@dailylead.com>
Subject: FCC Approves National Standard for Cell Phone Bills


Telecom dailyLead from USTA
March 11, 2005
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19980&l=2017006

TODAY'S HEADLINES

NEWS OF THE DAY
* FCC approves national standard for cell phone bills
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Dolan to use own coin to fund Voom
* FCC chief calls for return of civil discourse
* EchoStar faces accounting investigation, report says
USTA SPOTLIGHT 
* At SUPERCOMM:  Register today for the IP Video Conference
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
* Tokyo plans citywide WiMAX network
* Wireless companies display wares at CeBit
VOIP DOWNLOAD
* Report: VoIP key to wireless growth
* Search players next to enter VoIP space?
* Cox embraces VoIP
* Q-and-A with Vonage's chief
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* SEC plans charges against former Qwest CEO

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19980&l=2017006

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

From: LB@notmine.com
Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 06:21:25 -0500
Organization: Optimum Online


emb120skw@aol.com wrote:

> Hi,

> I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the
> wires after opening the jack.

> The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to
> it.  The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire
> connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires
> connected per terminal.

> The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any
> wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line?

> Thank you!

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Red/green is traditionally one pair;
> and yellow/black is  traditionally the second pair. You want to use
> the unused yellow/black screw terminals for your second line. Can
> you tell us more about the _type of phone instrument_ currently in
> use on your (I presume) working single line? With no other knowledge
> it is difficult to answer your question; was this/is this part of
> a business phone arrangment? Does the pair which is 'wired' at
> present go to a working instrument?   PAT]

As Pat says red-green and black-yellow are what you care about.  You
(actually the telco does this when you sign up) would normally add the
extra line to the yellow-black at the box where the phone enters the
premises.  The extra wires sound like they go to extra phones.  If that
box (with extra wires) is outside the premises you might want to ask the
telco or the cops unless those wires clearly go to extra phones or devices
you know about.

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

From: Clark W. Griswold, Jr. <spamtrap100@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 07:56:10 -0700


emb120skw@aol.com wrote:

> I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the
> wires after opening the jack.

> The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to
> it.  The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire
> connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires
> connected per terminal.

I think you will find that your house was not wired "home run" to each
jack. In other words, one pair goes back to the demarc block and the
two other pairs go to other jacks in the house.

> The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any
> wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line?

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Red/green is traditionally one pair;
> and yellow/black is  traditionally the second pair. You want to use 
> the unused yellow/black screw terminals for your second line. Can
> you tell us more about the _type of phone instrument_ currently in
> use on your (I presume) working single line? With no other knowledge
> it is difficult to answer your question; was this/is this part of
> a business phone arrangment? Does the pair which is 'wired' at
> present go to a working instrument?   PAT]

The colors don't really matter other than for keeping track of what's
going on.  You need to start at the demarc and select an unused pair
for the second line.  When you get to the phone jack, you need to know
if your phone is a single line or dual line phone. If its a dual line
phone, then Pat's advice is correct. Wire line 1 to the inner pair of
the jack (red/green on some jacks) and wire line 2 to the outer pair
(yellow/black).

If the phone is a single line phone and you want it to access Line 2,
you will need to wire Line 2 to the inner pair.

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

From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:49:36 -0000
Organization: Widgets, Inc.


In article <telecom24.106.5@telecom-digest.org>, <emb120skw@aol.com>
wrote:

> Hi,

> I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the
> wires after opening the jack.

> The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to
> it.  The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire
> connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires
> connected per terminal.

Because your wiring is a 'spider web'.  <grin>

The 3 pairs of wires go to three different places.

Two of them go to other jacks, or where other jacks 'used to be'.

The other pair goes "towards" where the phone line comes into your
house.  Maybe 'directly", or may to another jack that is 'closer' to
the entry-point.

> The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any
> wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line?

You need another pair of wires from the telco entry-point (or wherever
the 2nd line originates) to that jack.  connected to the black/yellow
terminals.

Of course, this implies that you _have_ a "second line", from the
telephone company, or 'somebody else' (e.g. a VoIP provider).

Then, obviously, you have to have a "two line capable" telephone
instrument, or some sort of a 'switch' (as in a simple mechanical
"DPDT" device) between the phone and the wall jack.

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

From: Carl Navarro <cnavarro@wcnet.org>
Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 17:03:52 GMT
Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com


On 10 Mar 2005 19:21:37 -0800, emb120skw@aol.com wrote:

> Hi,

> I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the
> wires after opening the jack.

> The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to
> it.  The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire
> connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires
> connected per terminal.

> The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any
> wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line?

If you haven't already guessed, the blue pair in a cable is the first
line and the orange par is the second.

The reason for 3 wires is that one jack is feeding another one or two
jacks somewhere else in the building.  If you carefully tag the 3
cables that go to the jack, you can remove one at a time until you
don't get dial tone, or remove them all and put them back one at a
time until you get dial tone.  That is the feed pair to that jack and
if you search, you'll find that 2 or more other jacks are now dead.

The trick is to find the closest jack to the demarc and hope that it
is the one that feeds dial tone to the whole building.  Get out your
toner and probe and start testing :-) or just do it by trial and
error.

When you're finished, you'll bring the second dial tone into the
building on the orange pair and wire that orange pair to the
black/yellow wires on the jack.  If you need to send that dial tone to
another location, you'll need to put 2 or 3 pairs down on every jack
just as they did with the first line.

I would guess that the reason for the orange pair is because the
previous tenant either had DSL, or a broken blue pair on that cable.

Carl Navarro

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

From: Brad Houser <bradDOThouser@intel.com>
Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 11:52:59 -0800
Organization: Intel
Reply-To: Brad Houser <bradDOThouser@intel.com>


<emb120skw@aol.com> wrote in message
news:telecom24.106.5@telecom-digest.org:

> Hi,

> I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the
> wires after opening the jack.

> The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to
> it.  The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire
> connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires
> connected per terminal.

> The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any
> wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line?

Many homes were wired with a "daisy chain" or loop. The Blue/Blue-White
lines are probably going off in two directions, no way of telling from
your description, but it could be one to the demarc and one to another
jack. The Orange/Orange-White pair could also be going to one of the
first two locations, or to a third location. There may even be yet
another Orange pair that isn't connected that could be used for line
two. You need to figure out what is available for use, if you don't want
to change any of the other phones. You can do this by trial and error
or by "toning" the lines. (Ask your Home Depot electrical guy if you
don't have one of these.)

You could also have a situation where the lines are "home run" but
someone added a jack by extending a line from that jack to another.

Brad Houser

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

Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 08:55:16 -0600
From: John Beaman <jbeaman@good-sam.com>
Subject: Re: Wiring Two Lines on One Jack 


emb120skw@aol.com wrote to inquire about Wiring Two Lines on One Jack
on 10 Mar 2005 19:21:37 -0800:

> Hi,

> I would like to wire one jack for two lines. Here is the setup of the
> wires after opening the jack.

> The red screw terminal has two blue and 1 orange wires connected to
> it.  The green screw terminal has 2 white/blue and 1 white/orange wire
> connected to it. I'm just curious as to why there are 3 wires
> connected per terminal.

> The yellow an black screw terminals are not connected to any
> wires. Now what should I do to be able to access a second line?

> Thank you!

Greetings,

  Sounds to me like your residence is wired with CAT3 (4 pair) cable
instead of the old standard wiring used for phone jacks.  It would
also seem that your phone jacks are "daisy chained" together instead
of each being wired directory from the demark (star topology).  I am
also assuming that the orange pair is wired to the terminals because
there is an open in one of the blue pairs, and someone just grabbed
the next available pair as a workaround.  Or, they could be used as
some sort of intercom / door access system.  Please see the attached
chart documenting the relationship

Standard wire               Cat 3

Tip- Green -----Line 1----- Blue
Ring- Red  -----Line 1----- White/Blue stripe
Tip- Black -----Line 2----- Orange
Ring-Yellow ----Line 2----- White/Orange stripe

With that in mind, there is no reason you cannot use the green or
brown pair for your second line.  Provided that they are not in use at
any other jacks.  I would highly recommend opening up the other phone
jacks, and see if you can find another jack where the orange pair is
in use.  While that would not be conclusive, it would further
substantiate my guess about the orange pair being used in place of the
blue pair.

JB
The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society.

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

From: Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com>
Subject: Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 23:34:32 -0600
Organization: Wizard Information


It was a dark and stormy night when Michael Muderick
<michael.muderick@verizon.net> wrote:

> Has anyone tried 700-555-4141 lately to verify long distance carrier?

Works fine here (Minneapolis, with LDC Lightyear).

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

From: Bill Matern <wtm@ncomm.com>
Subject: Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:49:10 -0500
Organization: MV Communications, Inc.


When I worked on a 700 number service, the number was 700-555-1212 to
find out about your IXC.  This was over 10 years ago.  However, when I
just tired it in Salem, NH it did not work, but you may want to try
this alternative number.

On Verizon's site, they indicate the 700-555-4141 number so it
probably has changed in that time.  This number did not work either
for me.

Bill

Some info on 700 numbers (from http://www.nanpa.com/faq/sitefaq.html)

Area code 700 was assigned in 1983 on the eve of the introduction of
long distance competition in the US. The intent was that interexchange
carriers could use 700 numbers to implement new services quickly. When
a 700 number is dialed, the local exchange carrier processing the call
routes it to the presubscribed interexchange carrier, unless the
caller has overridden presubscription by dialing 101XXXX before the
number. Thus each interexchange carrier has access to all 7.92 million
700 numbers. 700 numbers are different from all other North American
Numbering Plan numbers because the destinations are not unique, and,
in fact, depend on the network the caller has selected.

Michael Muderick <michael.muderick@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:telecom24.105.12@telecom-digest.org:

> Has anyone tried 700-555-4141 lately to verify long distance carrier?
> It's still a published number, but in the Phila. area, I keep getting
> a busy signal.  Is there a new number available?

> Michael Muderick

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

From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
Subject: Re: Technion
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 16:26:38 -0000
Organization: Widgets, Inc.


In article <telecom24.106.6@telecom-digest.org>,
Choreboy  <choreboyREMOVE@localnet.com> wrote:

> This afternoon I rushed into the room to answer a call on the third
> ring.  "This is Tell Nants calling on behalf of Bell South in regards
> to telemarketing.  Sorry we missed you.  If you have any questions,
> call 1-866..."

> It's pretty bad when somebody programs a robot to call homes and hang
> up without saying what it's about.

> The call came from 954 443 9404, which is Technion Communications.  On
> the web I've found complaints that their telemarketing robots will
> bombard a Bell South customer day after day.  Apparently the law
> doesn't apply if the victim has a business relationship with the
> client, in this case Bell South.

The language of the statute (47 USC 227) does *NOT* support that
interpretation.  It gives a free pass if the _caller_ has a "prior
business relationship" with the party being called.  There is nothing
to indicate that the party with the prior business relationship can
"delegate" that right to a third party.

See: <http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/47/227.html> 

Particularly sections (a) (3) (B), and (a) (4) (B)

> Two hours later I found a similar message on my answering machine,
> again telling me to call Bell South at the 866 number.  Because the
> robot was programmed start speaking immediately, I didn't get the
> whole message.  That could lure the victim into calling in case it was
> important.  (On the web I've found a document where Technion argues to
> the FCC that the law doesn't apply if they can lure the victim into
> making the call.)

> It seems like harassment to me.  Can I do anything to stop it?  

Consider a small-claims lawsuit for 'statutory damages' ($500) under
47 USC 227.

File a formal complaint with the Federal *TRADE* Commission, for
violation of the 'telemarketing rule".

Get on the federal "Do Not Call" list, if you're not there already.

The FTC rules make it clear that 3rd-party telemarketing agencies have
to scrub against that list -- even if their client is 'exempt' from
regulation.

Dunno about Bell South, but SBC -- who is *really* egregious with
their telemarketing --_will_ flag a customer account for "do not call
for marketing purposes", upon request.

I betcha Bell South will too.  The law *requires* that companies
maintain their _own_ internal Do not call list -- for *anyone* who has
expressly requested that "that company" not call them.  The 'prior
business relation- ship' exemption does *not* trump the
company-maintained 'do not call' list for marketing calls.

Note: When requesting (demanding) addition to the company DNC list,
the companies are prone to tell you that it will take some period of
time before that request becomes effective.  Reply that the only delay
sanctioned by law is for a number entered on the *NATIONAL* Do Not
Call registry. that there is *NO* provision in law for any delay in
implementing a company-specific "do not call" request.  For a telco,
require that they put in the account 'notes' that "customer has
directed that his number be put on the company-maintained do-not-call
list, and that therefore, in compliance with federal statute, all
telemarketing calls cease IMMEDIATELY."  

The telco _is_ "responsible" (as in 'legally liable') for the actions
of any 'agent' or contract marketing service that violates the law.
This opens the door for small-claims action against *both* the actual
telemarketer, and the telco.  subpoenaing the records for when
_anyone_ "requested" addition to the company-maintained do-not-call
list, when the add was _actually_ made, and the date/time of the last
call each such number, does wonders for showing 'knowing and wilful'
violation --- allowing for treble damages to be collected.

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

From: sean <sean@snerts-r-us.org>
Subject: Re: Technion
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:27:33 -0500
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


Choreboy wrote:

> This afternoon I rushed into the room to answer a call on the third
> ring.  "This is Tell Nants calling on behalf of Bell South in regards
> to telemarketing.  Sorry we missed you.  If you have any questions,
> call 1-866..."

> It's pretty bad when somebody programs a robot to call homes and hang
> up without saying what it's about.

> The call came from 954 443 9404, which is Technion Communications.  On
> the web I've found complaints that their telemarketing robots will
> bombard a Bell South customer day after day.  Apparently the law
> doesn't apply if the victim has a business relationship with the
> client, in this case Bell South.

> Two hours later I found a similar message on my answering machine,
> again telling me to call Bell South at the 866 number.  Because the
> robot was programmed start speaking immediately, I didn't get the
> whole message.  That could lure the victim into calling in case it was
> important.  (On the web I've found a document where Technion argues to
> the FCC that the law doesn't apply if they can lure the victim into
> making the call.)

> It seems like harassment to me.  Can I do anything to stop it?  

> Choreboy

Give em a dose of their own medicine:

Get a cheap PC and a cheap modem, and set up a script to repeat dial
the 800 number over and over and over, with a recorded message saying
that auto dial robots are illegal.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But _your_autodial robot is _also_
illegal. People have tried that, thinking they would not get caught,
but they do get caught, and frequently punished, sometimes severely. 

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

From: Dean <cjmebox-telecomdigest@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Cell Phone Radiation Dangers
Date: 10 Mar 2005 22:08:55 -0800


Isaiah Beard wrote:

> Dean wrote:

>> A while back some on this list engaged in a lively debate about cell
>> phone radiation risks. This article may have some information of
>> interest to those of you who think this issue isn't dead yet.

>> The cell phone industry: Big Tobacco 2.0?

>> By Molly Wood, senior editor, CNET.com
>> Tuesday, March 8, 2005

> Oh, C|Net.  Now we KNOW it's quality journalism.  </sarcasm>

> Consider that Ms. Wood readily admits she has an agenda (she has an
> axe to grind with cell phone manufacturers over what she perceives as
> "iron-clad control over phone releases and pricing, its
> ever-lengthening contracts, and the annoying habit it has of crippling
> Bluetooth phones so that [she] can't use them the way [she wants]
> to").  I would thus take this with a heavy handful of salt.

> E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
> Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

OK OK, I'm not saying there's anything absolutely definitive in that
article. But it seems certainly prudent to use a headset and try to
keep the antenna at a certain distance -- just as she suggests toward
the end of the article. (although I think I read somewhere that the
cord of the headset can have some adverse effect too - one can only
take so many precautions and still be reasonable:-)

Regards,

Dean

PS As for Ms Wood's honesty, I am certainly not qualified to offer an
opinion (haven't read her enough). But the evidence you mention is
hardly enough to dismiss her as biased. If I had to guess, I would say
that her grievances are shared by the vast majority of people
interested in telecom, and I don't think too many of us want to see
phone manufacturers brought to their knees by unwarranted lawsuits.

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

From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: Vonage Outage Last Thursday
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 22:52:53 -0800
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com


Brian Inglis wrote:

> It works, ship it ... we're all beta test sites now!

Given this discussion of apparent Vonage incompetence, their whining
about their traffic being blocked is quite funny. Seems they are quite
capable of blocking their own traffic, if inadvertently. ;)


JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638)
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED

"The wisdom of a fool won't set you free"
     --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"

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

Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 10:24:01 EST
From: Carl Moore <cmoore@ARL.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: "A Push to Explain Cell Phone Costs"


For as long as it's good:
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/31105-bb-cellphones.html

Story starts "Have trouble understanding how all those fees add
up on your cellphone bill?"

In the path I furnished above, notice "bb", which stands for
"Bizarre Bazaar" -- strange but true stories.

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

From: gary <garys_groups@nb.net>
Subject: Re: Other Firmware For Linksys wrt54g? Satori
Date: 11 Mar 2005 07:35:47 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


pattyjamas@hotmail.com wrote:

> I have put in a few wireless routers but never got into the internals.
> I now have one in my home and will be adding a Range Extender.

> I possess a WRT54G, running Windows 2000 and uploaded the latest
> firmware (version 3+ dated Dec 2004 I think) from Linksys.com.

> In reading the latest PC Mag, I ran across an interesting article  on
> the Satori firmware and extra options it adds. (www.linksys.org)

> A few questions:

> 1. Is this the best choice of stable firmware for my WRT54G to add new
> options, perhaps increase signal power (if it really works) and tweak
> other necessary parameters for best performance/range?

> 2. Are there other firmware vendors worth looking at on linksys.org?

> Thank you,

> Patty

Patty,

Look on the bottom of your router, on the sticker that has your s/n
and mac address, it should have you hardware version. (WRTG54g vx.x)

If your version is 2.2 or greater you will probably have to subscibe
to sveasoft.com for $20/yr and use the Alchemy release as I have. If
your version is 2.0 or lower then you should be able to load the older
versions like Satori(available without subscription) or openwrt(only
supports through v2.0)

The signal power increase does work, but so do better antennas

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

From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
Subject: Re: Jail Sentence for Phone Line "Denial of Service"
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:39:37 -0000
Organization: Widgets, Inc.


In article <telecom24.106.3@telecom-digest.org>, Danny Burstein
<dannyb@panix.com> wrote:

> Fascinating ... could this be extended to spammers? Please? Looks close 
> enough to be worth a looksee ...

No chance.  unfortunately.

The statute involved (47 USC 223) is *expressly* limited to
_telephone_calls_ made with the intent to harass or annoy.

> "Ex-GOP Party Head Charged in Phone Jamming"

> "By ERIK STETSON Associated Press Writer March 10, 2005, 1:23 PM EST"

> "CONCORD, N.H. The former executive director of the New Hampshire 
> Republican Party was sentenced Thursday to seven months in prison for 
> jamming Democratic telephone lines during the 2002 election.

> "Chuck McGee pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiring to make 
> anonymous calls with the intent to annoy or harass. He was also fined 
> $2,000 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service."

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: FCC to Cellcos: Clean up Your Bills and Invoices
Date: 11 Mar 2005 09:41:32 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Danny Burstein wrote:

> "FCC Extends Truth-in-Billing Rules to Wireless Phones; Seeks
> Comment on Additional Measures to Increase Ability of Consumers to
> Make Informed Choices ...

I wonder if this will make bills _harder_ to understand.

As a result of all the "fair disclosure" laws, companies now send out
whole books in fine print on their numerous policies.  They're
impossible for a lay person to understand, and they're constantly
changing.  Overloading someone with detail is an easy way to fraud
someone.

Years ago our electric bill was on a postcard.  Name, address, KWH
hours used, total cost.  Now it's several pages of graphs and charts.
Our phone bill used to be one small slip of paper -- fixed costs on one
side, toll charges on the other.  Now it's so thick it requires extra
postage -- and I don't even have toll charges!  (And it's on
double-sided paper too!)

I'm pretty sure it was the PUCs that ordered the breakouts of
toll/non-toll and basic/non-basic data blocks.  Further, all imposed
charges, ie 911, FCC line, should be rolled up in service and
equipment; all taxes rolled into one item just as the old days.

Can anyone justify mailing out the Encyclopedia Britannica for a
monthly utility bill?

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

From: sean <sean@snerts-r-us.org>
Subject: Re: DoJ: VoIP Providers Avoiding CALEA Mandate
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 13:26:59 -0500


Tony P. wrote:

> I'm pretty sure that most VoIP providers encrypt from the terminal
> adapter back to the server. But everything is based on IP aware
> telephone switches so it isn't a problem to tap at the switch.

Most do NOT encrypt. That is what makes this so funny. It's extremely
easy to tap VOIP. All one needs to tap SIP based voip is the latest
vesrion of ETHEREAL - capture the packets, and it will save the sip
streams as .au files that can be played in windows media player!

I have verified this works for tapping Vonage calls.

> It's because law enforcement by and large is ignorant when it comes to 
> technology. 

> Even the FBI, the leading agency in the U.S. trips over it's own feet 
> when it comes to information technology. 

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

From: Patrick Townson <ptownson@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Iraq's 'Saviours' Guilty of Vandalism
Date: Fri, Mar 11 2005 00:00:00 GMT


A very sad story about a bit of 'collateral damage' in the
historically significant country called Iraq. Now it seems, one of
the Seven Wonders of the World, the 'Hanging Gardens' has been
irreparably damaged by Iraq's 'saviors'; American troops have
ruined it.  I thought I read somewhere they were trying to take care
of the museums and other historical artifacts in this part of the 
world where so much of the Old Testament was based. I guess I 
thought wrong, but what else is old?  

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1106088610017&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795

PAT

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


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