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TELECOM Digest     Sat, 9 Apr 2005 17:00:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 153

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Lingo Broadband Phone is a Scam (ME123)
    Touch Tone Blocking (Takoma Park Volunteer Fire Department Postmaster)
    Calif. PUC To Withdraw Appeal Of FCC's Vonage Order (Jack Decker)
    PPC Lawsuit: Search Engines Accused of Overcharge Advertisers (Skinner)
    Experts Please help (sffdsff)
    Re: Telemarketing to Cellphones (Joseph)
    Re: Telemarketing to Cellphones (DevilsPGD)
    Re: VoIP Adapter With High REN? (Kenneth P. Stox)
    Re: Google Maps (AES)
    Re: Sperm - Not so Mobile (John McHarry)
    Re: GSM-900 (jason)
    Re: Verizon FiOS Blocking Ports? (pvwebb)
    Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls (Tony P.)
    Re: Harrasing Annoying Ex Boyfriend Phone Calls CALLER ID Mgr (Paratwa)
    Administrivia: URL Telecom-Digest.org Was Out of Order (Editor)

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
Internet.  All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and
the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other
journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are
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               ===========================

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: ME123 <bill94el@yahoo.com>
Subject: Lingo Broadband Phone is a Scam
Date: Fri, 08 Apr 2005 15:24:59 -0400


This is here to let anyone researching the Lingo broadband phone
system know how a customer feels about their service.

After signing up with Lingo I was unable to complete any faxes nor
could I connect a work-related dialup device correctly.  The line
quality was terrible.  Callers frequently complained about echoes and
dropped signals.  By dropped signals I mean that the person could hear
everything you said except for the last word (before a pause).  On top
of that there were several times that there was not a dialtone.  I had
to reset the phone adapter numerous times just to get a dialtone.  I
also had several dropped calls similar to what a cell phone would do
if you lost signal suddenly.

When I contacted Lingo's customer support via their website e-mail
(24hr response time according to website) it took them four days to
get back to me.  I followed the directions to allow for a
configuration change on my phone adapter and was still having all of
these problems and more.  On top of that they wanted me to ping about
ten sites to see if their routing was the problem.  Sorry it's sure as
hell not worth the hassle.

On top of all this they charged me $39 to disconnect so you see they
make more money in the short term to have you disconnected.  My
feeling is that they really don't care if it works right for me
because they make their money anyway.  It all sounds like a great deal
in the beginning at $19.95, but it is all a scam in my opinion.

My recommendation is to stay as far away from this company as is
humanly possible.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If your sentences get cut off on the
last word before a pause, then make the 'last word' in each sentence
be 'pause'. i.e. your sentence, "How are you today pause" (then pause
for reply), "I am doing fine, thank you pause" (then pause again for
reply). So all you lose is the 'filler' word 'pause' each time. It is
a crummy work-around I know, but it would do the job. I've never heard
that particular complaint about VOIP before. I have heard that 
speech gets broken up sometimes, if the pipe is to full at the moment,
unless you do like Vonage recommends, and use their router which tries
to throttle other machines on the stream at the same time.  

But regards the $39 to disconnect, that's one reason that Vonage does
_not_ have a current, usable credit card of mine. In the event I run 
out of 'next month free' coupons and have to start actually paying for
the service and decide it is not worth it, then to hell with them 
getting any disconnect fee from me.  PAT]

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

From: Takoma Park Volunteer Fire Department <vze7p6vh@verizon.net>
Subject: Touch Tone Blocking
Date: Sat, 09 Apr 2005 00:23:27 GMT


I need to devise a way to keep users from playing touch tones over the
paging system.  If you can suggest a way to prevent users from
sounding touch tones over the paging amplifier circuit post it here or
E-mail direct.  Be advised that my ISP's anti Spam software will
generate a service message to which you will have to respond in order
for me to receive your e-mail.

Tom H


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: At least on the older Bell
switchboards, there was a certain contact on the network (inside the
switchboard) to mute your earpiece from the audio on touch tones while
still playing them out over the phone. It was generally only done for
switchboard operators to prevent them having to listen to the tones
all the time as they placed calls. PAT] 

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

From: Jack Decker <jack-yahoogroups@witheld_on_request>
Date: Fri, 08 Apr 2005 21:09:58 -0400
Subject: Calif. PUC To Withdraw Appeal Of FCC's Vonage Order


http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160503382&tid=5978

Voice over IP proponents on the California Public Utilities Commission
made good on their pledge to withdraw the commission's original motion
to appeal the FCC's Vonage Order, meaning that California's
influential public utilities board no longer opposes the idea of
federal-only regulation of Voice over IP.

By Paul Kapustka
Advanced IP Pipeline
	  	
Voice over IP proponents on the California Public Utilities Commission
made good on their pledge to withdraw the commission's original motion
to appeal the FCC's Vonage Order, meaning that California's
influential public utilities board no longer opposes the idea of
federal-only regulation of Voice over IP.

In a closed session during the CPUC's meeting Thursday, the commission
decided to withdraw its appeal, according to a source close to the
proceedings. The CPUC is expected to make a formal announcement of its
decision soon, either today or early next week.

How the California PUC's decision may affect other states' similar
motions is unclear. But at the very least, it moves the influence of
regulators from one of the country's largest telecommunications
markets to the other side of the VoIP regulatory chessboard, the side
in favor of national VoIP policymaking.

Full story at:

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160503382&tid=5978

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: 9 Apr 2005 07:14:41 -0000
From: Greg Skinner <gds@best.com>
Subject: PPC Lawsuit: search Engines Accused of Overcharging Advertisers


See the article here:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050405/click_fraud_lawsuit.html?.v=1

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

From: sffdsff <sffdsff@yahoo.com>
Subject: Experts Please help
Date: 8 Apr 2005 18:08:22 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Hi Guys,

I am trying to develop an application which will connect to the
telephone line and when I get an incoming line it shall send a voice
data on the phone line and then look for key entries from the other
side ... similar to a voice mail system. I have figured out that I
would need a DAA to interface to the phone line (of course a one that
would have a DTMF decoder so that I can get the key entries). Now my
question is how do I send the voice data out (this voice will be
pre-recorded on a flash). All the places I have looked say that I
would need PCM data interfaced to a DSP.

I do not want to complicate the matter -- I want to make it simple by
using a PIC Microcontroller.

So basically this is what I plan it would look like:

RJ11 <---> DAA <---> Serial Interface <---> PIC Micro <-->Flash

This should take care of both voice and key entries.

I have looked into tons of options but cannot figure out a "simple" way
to do this

PLEASE HELP!

-sffdsff

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

From: Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Telemarketing to Cellphones
Date: Fri, 08 Apr 2005 18:50:45 -0700
Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com


On Fri, 08 Apr 2005 04:45:40 -0600, Telecom Digest Editor wrote:

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Why, when by your presence on that list
> you have in effect stated 'do not bother me, I am not interested', 
> would some 'exempt' company deliberatly call you anyway? Do they have
> money to waste just being malicious?   PAT]

Well, spammers make a game out of trying to get to you even though
you've made it pretty clear a lot of the time that you just *don't*
want to be bothered with whatever scheme they happen to be peddling.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I dunno ... the 'legitimate'
telemarketers I have seen (yes, I know, maybe none of them are
legitimate; it is a dreadful occupation to be in) have too big of a 
work load to sit and play games with their telephones. To them, time
is money, and they would _prefer_ -- if the answer from you is 'no' --
to get that 'no' early on so they can move on to the next call. 
           
Now if it is a 'spammer' (and yes, I know, you may be defining all
telemarketers as 'spammers') they are not going to pay attention to
any list of DNC people anyway. And none of the types you have named,
either 'spammers' or 'telemarketers', are going to be 'exempt from 
DNC' type callers. The people who actually read and obey the list are
legitimate users of the list. PAT]

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

From: DevilsPGD <ihatespam@crazyhat.net>
Subject: Re: Telemarketing to Cellphones
Date: Sat, 09 Apr 2005 01:36:10 -0600
Organization: Disorganized


In message <telecom24.151.5@telecom-digest.org> DevilsPGD
<ihatespam@crazyhat.net> wrote:

> In message <telecom24.150.5@telecom-digest.org> Joseph
> <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com> wrote:

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So what harm is there in adding your
>> cell phone and/or VOIP number to the list just to 'be safe'?   PAT]

> The harm is that exempt companies can purchase the DNC list and use it
> as a list of people to annoy.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Why, when by your presence on that list
> you have in effect stated 'do not bother me, I am not interested', 
> would some 'exempt' company deliberatly call you anyway? Do they have
> money to waste just being malicious?   PAT]

Just because "Dave" added a number to the DNC list doesn't mean that
they won't find "John" at that number that might buy their shit.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they have been told, by the
presence of a phone number on the list to _not_ connect with that
phone number. The DNC list does not say 'do not call Dave at this
number', it simply says _do not call this number_. In my opinion, the
more phone numbers that can be loaded on that list, whether they are
landline, residential, business, cell, VOIP or whatever, the better
off the world will be.  PAT]

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

From: Kenneth P. Stox <ken@stox.org>
Organization: Ministry of Silly Walks
Subject: Re: VoIP Adapter With High REN?
Date: Sat, 09 Apr 2005 18:36:49 GMT


Do you need to have ringers on all of the phones?

If not, simply disable the ringers as necessary.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And not just by mechanically turning
the clapper down; there still is a bit of electricity _attempting_
to ring the disabled bell. Disconnect the wires to the bell inside
the phone, or get little electronic chirps for your audio signal.
PAT]

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

From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu>
Subject: Re: Google Maps
Date: Fri, 08 Apr 2005 19:52:37 -0700
Organization: Stanford University


In article <telecom24.151.11@telecom-digest.org>, Steve Sobol
<sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote:

> AES wrote:

>> I don't know how to solve the problem (the very real, serious, and
>> IMHO increasing) problem of corruption of many of our primary
>> information sources and media by advertising I'd willingly pay a
>> significant subscription fee for access to a Google equivalent that
>> was equally good and that I could be sure was and would remain truly
>> advertiser independent.

> There is no such thing. (No, not even public TV and radio, they have
> corporate sponsorships too, and have had them for quite some time.)

I know.  And the Business section of the NY Times reports today that GM 
has announced that it's terminating all its advertising in the Los 
Angeles Times "for an indefinite period" because it doesn't like the way 
the paper treats GM in its news and Auto sections.  Think about that ...

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

From: John McHarry <jmcharry@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Sperm - Not so Mobile
Date: Sat, 09 Apr 2005 03:06:18 GMT
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net


On Fri, 08 Apr 2005 09:44:57 -0400, T.Sean wrote:

> Yes, of course. But what many folks don't realize is they use
> specially bred mice that are VERY susceptible to tumors for these
> types of experiments.

> Which means there is a very GOOD chance that the same exposure will
> have no effect whatsoever on a normal healthy human.

Oh good, a volunteer!

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

From: Jason <cheanglong@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: GSM-900
Date: 9 Apr 2005 02:35:11 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Hi All,

Thank you for the explanation you have spent time on.  it is so good
to see all of them here.  Do give me some time to check it out.  I was
tied up with some other topic.  I will reply here soon.  Thank you so
much for people who spend time and effort in this enquiry Thank you so
much.


rgds and thanks

Jason

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

From: pvwebb <pvwebb1@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Verizon FiOS Blocking Ports?
Date: 9 Apr 2005 09:27:32 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


You're probably having trouble with the firewall on your DLink router.
You need to set it to pass through the ports from the Linux computer.

andyrankin@gmail.com wrote:

> I'm very lucky to be in an area where Verizon's FiOS fiber to the
> premises service is available.  I have the 15/2 Mbps service and it
> works great.

> I'm wondering if anyone knows if Verizon blocks are inbound ports
> (80, etc.)?

> Also, I'm using the Verizon provided DLink DI-604 router.  I'm not
> having any luck getting the router to forward WAN traffic through to
> specific machines on the LAN.  For example, I've tried passing traffic
> on port 8080 to a linux box running Apache on that port and I think I
> have the router configured properly but it doesn't seem to be letting
> the traffic through.  I'm a bit of a novice so I'm not sure how to
> determine if this is something Verizon's blocking before it gets to my
> router or if I just haven't figured the router out yet.

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

From: Tony P. <kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net>
Subject: Re: Wired: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls
Organization: ATCC
Date: Sat, 9 Apr 2005 13:34:52 -0400


In article <telecom24.148.6@telecom-digest.org>, tom.horsley@att.net 
says:

>> Would those who so quickly hope for a lawsuit to arise from a jammer
>> interfering with an emergency wireless telephone call also claim that
>> a building so constructed would similarly be grounds for action?

> Judging from the crowd of folks you always see walking back and forth
> and talking on their cells in parking lots, most buildings are
> apparently *already* constructed this way :-).

Because they're all steel frame buildings with lots of double and
triple layer glass. Does wonders for killing RF signals.

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

From: Paratwa <support@usenetserver.com>
Subject: Re: Harrasing Annoying Ex Boyfriend Phone Calls CALLER ID Manager
Organization: UseNetServer
Date: Fri, 08 Apr 2005 13:57:41 -0500


12 Gauge pump shotgun and a bedside 38 special the wife was taught to
use.  Noisy outdoor dog when strangers approach. 

We had changed the number once and had no problems for quite a while.
Unfortunately he tricked the slow brother-in-law and got the new
number.

I spoke to a lawyer's secretary about the situation and she said I
could make an appointment with the lawyer for $100.  She couldn't even
discuss whether he handles this type of situation.  Heck I bought this
device for $100 and got immediate results.

I don't have much regard for the justice system in general anyway.
When we made out a police report we learned that there was a warrant
for his arrest.  But the police didn't have his address.  So we gave
them the address and we were told it was in a different police
district.  Unless somebody has killed somebody or is in the process of
doing so the police aren't interested.  Yeah we could eventually get a
restraining order but what is to stop him from calling on a pay phone
at 2 am w/o leaving a message -- as he does frequently.

He is pretty much scum of the earth without a life and addictions to
booze and casinos -- a bad combo if you live on the MS gulf coast.
Eventually he'll be picked up for DUI or kill somebody driving.  

I prefer the tech solution.

On 8 Apr 2005 05:24:18 -0700, Justin Time <a_user2000@yahoo.com>
wrote:

> not to say that this type of harassment doesn't occur.  There are
> other remedies available that appear not to have been explored.  If
> you had proof, then a court order to stop the harassment could have
> been obtained.  Violation of the court order will have more impact on
> police action than the filing of a complaint.  The question remains,
> other than complaining what have you done to protect yourself?

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What I did to protect myself is switch
> to a different telephone company; one that knows what *77 is used for
> and how to implement it so it works correctly, and overall it is a lot
> less expensive as well ($25 per month for a large package of features
> _plus_ unlimited local calling, _plus_ a hundred minutes of long
> distance calling per month). Admittedly, that solution is not
> available to everyone: SBC (and many other Bell telcos) tell many
> customers they are 'not eligible' for porting elsewhere.

> And to get a 'court order', you generally have to have had the police
> involved first, to justify your need for a court order. The court does
> not hand them out willy-nilly to everyone who asks. PAT]

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

From: ptownson <ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu>
Subject: Administrivia: A Temporary Outage
Date: Sat, 09 Apr 2005 15:00:00 EDT


Sometime late Friday afternoon, the _alias name_ 'telecom-digest.org'
went out of order. This alias is routed through John Levine's computer
in New York. It came back on line Saturday late morning or early
afternoon. When this happens, any netter who requests the URL
http://telecom-digest.org simply draws a blank. But, anyone who uses
the real name http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives does get 
through (unless massis also happens to go down). Although we would
_prefer_ to be known as 'telecom-digest.org' to the internet world,
we can go by 'massis.lcs.mit.edu' as needed. If you tried to reach
this site Friday afternoon/evening/overnight into Saturday morning 
and kept 'drawing blanks', please remember this and use our alternate
(but original) URL, and you should get through that way. 

Patrick

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


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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #153
******************************

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