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TELECOM Digest     Tue, 10 May 2005 15:14:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 206

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Hit "*" for More Options (Jack Decker)
    BT Objects to US Telco Mega-Mergers (Jack Decker)
    Ethernet Services Market Poised For Boom (Telecom dailyLead from USTA)
    STP Vendors (tnerber@gmail.com)
    Re: The Only Exciting Thing In Tech? (Tony P)
    Re: 1A2 Help Requested (Tony P.)
    Re: 1A2 Help Requested (Carl Navarro)

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
Internet.  All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and
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               ===========================

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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: Jack Decker <jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request>
Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 08:08:09 -0400
Subject: Hit "*" for More Options


http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,1059204,00.html

By Owen Thomas,  May 09, 2005

When Mark Spencer was starting a Linux company six years ago, he had
$4,000 and some cheap, leftover hardware from a company where he had
interned during college. His first conundrum: How were customers going
to call him? A private branch exchange -- the specialized hardware
that routes calls around an office -- was going to set him back
$6,000.

So Spencer decided to program his own Linux-based PBX. "Telecom was
not really our core business," he says. But he released the software
as open-source, and as contributions of code started coming in,
Asterisk was born. Today, his company, now called Digium, focuses
entirely on developing Asterisk and selling related hardware and
software. He won't disclose the revenue of his closely held company,
but he says it is profitable.

The success of Asterisk shows the growing power of open-source. Digium
could have tried to roll out its own proprietary PBX -- and likely
would have been crushed by the likes of Avaya, Cisco, and Nortel. But
by sharing his code, Spencer has created an ecosystem full of niches
waiting to be filled. That should keep his phones ringing for quite a
while.

Full story at:
http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,1059204,00.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: Jack Decker <jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request>
Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 10:09:36 -0400
Subject: BT Objects to US Telco Mega-mergers


http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=2BB6940A-C7DB-4C00-BDED-62115F6C129A

Concerns over the competitive impact of the proposed mergers of AT&T
and SBC Communications and MCI and Verizon Communications are
increasing, with BT Group and the New York attorney general among the
latest object.

10 May 2005, 09:38 GMT -

BT met with US Federal Communications Commission staff late last week
to ask the regulator block the two mergers, saying that they would
create a "classic duopoly" in the telecommunications market, and
consolidate control of the internet backbone.

The UK incumbent carrier said the mergers "will significantly impede
effective competition, resulting in higher prices, lower quality and
reduced innovation for business customers", according to a FCC filing
released yesterday

AT&T is being acquired by SBC for $16bn, while Verizon is currently
the approved frontrunner to pick up MCI for $8.5bn, a drastic
consolidation of the US carrier market that needs separate regulatory
approval before they can be closed.

According to BT, allowing the SBC-AT&T merger would give the merged
company the ability to "abuse its dominance" over the local loop. This
would be compounded, the company said, by a simultaneous Verizon-MCI
deal.

[.....]

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, known as one of the fiercest
consumer rights activists in elected office in the US, did not object
to the mergers outright, but asks the FCC consider two potential
problems that mirror BT's concerns.

First, Spitzer said Verizon should be forced to offer naked DSL, that
is broadband internet connectivity without the requirement to take
phone service, if it buys MCI.

It should also be dissuaded from preferentially routing IP over MCI's
internet backbone, Spitzer said. Combined, BT's "duopoly" would
control over half of the internet's backbone assets, Spitzer claimed.

Also expressing some concern over the deals is Vonage Holdings, the
private company that is becoming a bit of a player in the voice over
IP space.

Full story at:

http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=2BB6940A-C7DB-4C00-BDED-62115F6C129A

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

Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 12:48:10 EDT
From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA <usta@dailylead.com>
Subject: Ethernet Services Market Poised for Boom, Report Says


Telecom dailyLead from USTA
May 10, 2005
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=21459&l=2017006

		TODAY'S HEADLINES
	
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Ethernet services market poised for boom, report says
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Verizon launches marketing campaign for TV service
* Symbian phone shipments jump 180%
* Report: For telecom, more subscribers aren't growing revenue
* Qwest offers VoIP
USTA SPOTLIGHT 
* USTA's VoIP Webinar Series: Now Available On Demand!
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
* The mobile phone revolution
* Reality-TV czar Mark Burnett stages online-only bout
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* Cisco code theft part of broader hacker attack
* MCI settles Mississippi tax claims
* Advocacy groups form coalition to urge Telecom Act rewrite

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=21459&l=2017006

Legal and Privacy information at
http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp

SmartBrief, Inc.
1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20005

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

From: tnerber@gmail.com
Subject: STP Vendors
Date: 10 May 2005 05:41:30 -0700


Hello,

I am trying to find a list of STP Vendors. The only one I am familier
with is Tekelec but there must be many others. Any suggestions would
be helpful.

Thanks,

tnerber at gmail dot com

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

From: Tony P <kd1s@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: The Only Exciting Thing In Tech?
Date: 10 May 2005 09:48:16 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


The only flaw I see in this logic is that they assume everyone wants
to watch television on a screen that's < 2" diagonal. Or play games
for that matter.

Give me a roll up OLED screen and I might start to consider it, but
I'm a purist who believes a phone is a phone, though I do like SMS.

But then, I don't want to carry a cell phone. It is nothing but an
interruption. Unfortunately the job requires it.

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

From: Tony P. <kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net>
Subject: Re: 1A2 Help Requested
Organization: ATCC
Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 07:12:59 -0400


In article <telecom24.204.9@telecom-digest.org>, Tim@Backhome.org 
says:

> TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to the original query:

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I can tell this much; no one,but no
>> one tampers with or tries to rewire the inside of a 1A2 phone. The
>> wiring is just too complex. All the rewiring is done in the box on
>> the wall where there is room to move your arms and fingers, _not_
>> in the phone itself.   PAT]

> No doubt.  No one ever changed the wiring within a 1A2 or 10A2 set, with
> the expection of installing a buzzer for intercom.  But, that wasn't
> really rewiring; rather loosing a couple of screws to overlap
> u-connectors.

> And, no one in the field re-wired a 1A2/10A2 KSU, other than to
> restrap the tie down wiring to change features, etc.

> Ain't computers great?!

> TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I really do not think anything much can
> be done inside those phones without a lot of grief that cannot be done
> better and quicker at the punchdown block on the wall. I've done
> 'stuff' inside those phones but mainly things like remove or
> re-arrange the ball-bearings under the push buttons so I could get two
> or more buttons to stay down at one time. And once I converted a five-
> line six-button phone with a hold button into a three line phone with
> three associated hold buttons by using two of the line strips for each
> line, so that three buttons merely put a short on each of the
> associated three lines, and re-arranging the ball-bearings as
> needed. This was circa 1975. It was not a fun project. That was the
> day I vowed never to take one of those 1A2 phones apart again.  PAT]

At least you could modify a 2565 or 565 type set. Modifying a 7406, 8410 
or 6408 is almost completely out of the question. 

I note the OP is a fan of modern phone system, as am I. But there is one 
tiny little problem. 

Our PRI between our two switches regularly goes down for anywhere from 
30 seconds to 5 minutes. This seems to occur most between 8:30AM and 
9:00AM and then again between 2:00PM and 2:30PM. Verizon claims they 
can't figure it out. 


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In that case, next month when it is
time to pay the bill is tell Verizon "I can't figure out where I left
my purse and money."  PAT]

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

From: Carl Navarro <cnavarro@wcnet.org>
Subject: Re: 1A2 Help Requested
Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 08:27:41 -0400
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


On Mon, 09 May 2005 18:16:36 -0700, Tim@Backhome.org wrote:

> TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to the original query:

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I can tell this much; no one,but no
>> one tampers with or tries to rewire the inside of a 1A2 phone. The
>> wiring is just too complex. All the rewiring is done in the box on
>> the wall where there is room to move your arms and fingers, _not_
>> in the phone itself.   PAT]

> No doubt.  No one ever changed the wiring within a 1A2 or 10A2 set, with
> the expection of installing a buzzer for intercom.  But, that wasn't
> really rewiring; rather loosing a couple of screws to overlap
> u-connectors.

> And, no one in the field re-wired a 1A2/10A2 KSU, other than to
> restrap the tie down wiring to change features, etc.

> Ain't computers great?!

> TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I really do not think anything much can
> be done inside those phones without a lot of grief that cannot be done
> better and quicker at the punchdown block on the wallI

The 10-button sets were the most fun, because you had tons of room.
True, most of the surgery involved adding things like bells, buzzers,
flash buttons and speakers, and removing screws from the keystrips for
signal buttons, but sometimes you had to field replace a keystrip,
tone pad/dial, or a network module.  Or in the case of the last
Comdials, whole circuit boards.

I still may have some of those items in the corner of my warehouse
:-).

Carl Navaro


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: For a good time, try adapting a six-
button/five-line phone to use the little twist knob up in the left
corner of the dial plate for something or another. You know, the
little twist knob which (on a two line phone with mechanical hold)
would switch between lines when you lifted the plunger on the left
side of the switchhook. Many folks had those in their homes for two
lines, but they did not realize the twist knob actually had a _third_
position as well: turn it sideways or up and down to select the
desired line, but depress it as well (it was spring loaded and only
would stay down if you held it). On those phones, where red/green
in the cable was line one, and yellow/black was line two, the blue/
white was the third position output. Pressing down on that twist
knob was often times used to (a) ring an intercom buzzer manually,
or (b) apply ground as needed on a ground-start line. 

Those little plungers built into the left side of the switchhook
had various jobs also. On two line phones with mechanical hold, they
were used to short the pair _not_ being used, to keep it on 'hold'
while you were talking on the other line. When the little plunger
was used as an 'exclusion key', lifting it up would disconnect all 
the other instruments which were in series behind it. To make that
happen you came from the demarc in to that phone _first_, wired
it up, _then_ took the wire back out to the demarc and went to the
other phones on the line. I also sometimes saw the little twist
knob used to feed (or not) the operator headset jack built into the
back of the six button phones, and sometimes the little plastic
plunger in the switchhook was used to activate a monitoring line to
a speaker (or a combination speakerphone/monitoring unit). The
switchhooks of course are spring loaded also to make them pop up 
and down, but the ones used in connection with twist knobs could
additionally be pulled up a bit further as needed. 

And here is a good project with a two-line twist button phone:
Take a little neon bulb, the kind that only flashes when it gets
90 volts of current. Open the two line phone plastic case and mount
that neon bulb inside right next to the plastic twist/turn knob.
Attach the wires to one of the pairs. Now put the phone back together
and dial the number associated. Watch the neon bulb flash in
cadence with the ringing signal. If you get really cagey, you can
attach the neon in a way that when you are on one line or the other,
the _alternate_ line will feed the neon bulb, so that if you get 
a second call in the midst of it, instead of a loud ring to disturb
you, all you will see is that twist knob blinking at you as the
_alternate, not currently in use_ line is 'ringing'. Sort of an
elegant 'beehive lamp' IMO. 

I haven't had one of those two-line or five-line phones around for
many years. They can be such fun projects to work on, at least the
two-line phones. I wish I could find one around somewhere.

Trying to work inside the six-button phone itself was enough to make
any sane person go crazy, so you can imagine what it did to me. How in
the hell I got all the way to 1999 in my life without my head
exploding is beyond me. I was due for it years before it happened when
I contemplate some of the phones I messed around with. On the other
hand, at the inside terminal block, if you could say to yourself
'line, light, hold' over and over as you counted by threes down the
block in there, you had it made. PAT]

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


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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #206
******************************

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