TELECOM Digest     Thu, 2 Jun 2005 02:19:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 244

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Microsoft to Include .xml in Future Products (Lisa Minter)
    Retailers Tailor Prices to Web Users (Lisa Minter)
    Verizon, SBC Find TV Venture a Tough Go (Monty Solomon)
    Kabel Deutschland Launches Digital Telephony Over Cable (Monty Solomon)
    Nortel Reports Results for the First Quarter 2005; Financial (M Solomon)
    Verizon INPulse (Prepay) Billing Errors (Ed Fortmiller)
    Re: 25 cps Power, was: Tie Lines was Re: Foreign Exchange (Robt Bonomi)
    Re: SBC to Cut High Speed Internet to $14.95 per Month (Gordon Hlavenka)
    Re: SBC to Cut High Speed Internet to $14.95 per Month (Tim@Backhome)
    Re: Very Early Modems (Joe Morris)
    Last Laugh! Another Spammer With an 800 Number (Withheld on request)

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: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com>
Subject: Microsoft to Include .xml in Future Products
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 23:42:06 -0500


Microsoft to adopt XML for next Office version

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software
maker, said on Wednesday that it will make XML, a data format
increasingly used by businesses, standard in the next version of its
Office program due out next year.

XML, or extensible markup language, is used to transfer data back and
forth between different programs, computers and organizations.

The upcoming Office upgrade -- code-named "Office 12" -- will have new
default XML file formats for the Word wordprocessing, the Excel
spreadsheet and Powerpoint presentations programs, Microsoft said.

Last month, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said that Office 12 would
make it easier for workers to "focus, prioritize and apply their
expertise, visualize and understand key data, and reduce the amount of
time they spend dealing with the complexity of an information-rich
environment."

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, as well as other major software
companies, have been building XML capabilities into their products
over the last few years.

OpenOffice, a free software suite with document, spreadsheet and
presentation programs, as well as StarOffice, an $80 version developed
by Sun Microsystems Inc., both are XML-based as well.

Microsoft's current Office version retails for between $150 and $400,
depending upon the edition.

Betsy Frost, Microsoft's a senior marketing director in the Microsoft
business group that includes Office, said that the XML capabilities
will mainly benefit companies and corporate workers who need to tap
into a variety of different databases.

Microsoft said it would begin discussing details about the new XML
file format at TechEd, Microsoft's annual meeting for information
technology managers and developers in Orlando, Florida, next week.

The new default formats for Word, Excel and Powerpoint will change,
respectively, from ."doc," ".xls" and ".ppt" to ".docx," ".xlsx" and
".pptx," Microsoft said.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

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.

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

From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com>
Subject: Retailers Tailor Prices to Personal Web Data -- Study
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 23:43:19 -0500


By Jon Hurdle

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - U.S. shoppers may be paying different prices
for the same goods because of information gleaned from the Internet
about individual buying habits, according to a survey released on
Wednesday.

Internet shoppers in particular are vulnerable to "behavioral
targeting," in which retailers collect information about what they
shop for and how often they do it, and adjust their prices
accordingly, said the survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center
at the University of Pennsylvania.

Retailers often use the data to reward frequent buyers with lower
prices, a practice of which many consumers are unaware.

Online stores identify individuals by inviting them to sign in with a
password and requiring information such as birth date and ZIP code,
said the report, titled "Open to Exploitation."

Online retailers can watch and record what products a shopper looks at
and whether they started to buy something but did not complete the
purchase.

"The study's findings suggest ... most Internet-using adult American
shoppers are open to financial exploitation by retailers," according
to authors Joseph Turow, Lauren Feldman and Kimberly Meltzer.

They warned the trend could become more common as retailers gather
more information about consumers' habits.

"Database-driven price distinctions could spread as growing numbers of
retailers use information consumers never knew they revealed to draw
detailed conclusions about their buying patterns that they would never
have wanted," the report said.

Scott Krugman, a spokesman for the National Retail Federation, said
the practice was just good business.

"In today's competitive environment retailers are going to do whatever
they can to keep their loyal customers," he said, adding, "There will
be better pricing" for repeat customers.

The Annenberg study found that almost two-thirds of the national
sample of 1,500 participants did not know online stores can legally
charge different people different prices. A higher proportion - 71
percent -- did not know that traditional retailers are also entitled to
do the same thing.

Consumers also were largely unaware of how their names were shared,
the study found.

More than 7 out of 10 did not know charities are allowed to sell
consumers' names to other charities without permission, and some
two-thirds were unaware that supermarkets are allowed to sell
information about what they buy to other companies.

Three-quarters believed, incorrectly, that a Web site's privacy policy
prevents it from sharing information.

The report recommended schools integrate consumer education and media
literacy to make young people aware of such practices and it called on
government to require retailers to disclose what information they
collect and how they use it.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

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.

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

Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 21:15:33 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Verizon, SBC Find TV Venture a Tough Go


By DAVID KOENIG AP Business Writer

DALLAS (AP) -- Verizon and SBC believe they can break cable's powerful
grip and get consumers to switch to the enhanced TV services they're
cooking up, but they are having a tough time getting state legislators
to help.

The two telecommunications powers lost a key battle over the weekend
when Texas lawmakers failed to act on a bill that would have let phone
companies obtain a statewide TV franchise instead of having to
negotiate franchises with every individual city and town.

Verizon Communications Inc. and SBC Communications Inc. had hoped
Texas would serve as a model for the nation, speeding their ability to
sell TV service in many other states. Instead, it joined Virginia in
frustrating the regional Bell companies.

      - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=49534734

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

Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 21:17:28 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Kabel Deutschland Launches Digital Telephony Over Cable


     Kabel Deutschland Launches Digital Telephony Over Cable With
            Cisco IP Next Generation Network Technology

MUNICH, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 31, 2005--Cisco Systems(R)
(Nasdaq:CSCO) today announced that Kabel Deutschland (KDG), Europe's
largest cable operator, has implemented Cisco Internet Protocol
Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) solution to deliver converged voice,
video and data, or "Triple Play," services over its cable broadband
network serving the city of Leipzig.

The new converged IP NGN infrastructure is supporting the launch of
KDG's "Kabel Phone" service, giving customers access to digital
telephony services in addition to television, radio and Internet
services over the same cable broadband connection. KDG customers
participating in the Leipzig pilot project have been able to make
digital telephone calls over a cable connection instead of the normal
telephone connection since April 1 this year. The KDG "Kabel Phone"
service is scheduled to be available in up to fifteen more cities,
including Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Dresden and Koblenz, by the fourth
quarter this year.

     - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=49541043

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

Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 21:21:26 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Nortel Reports Results for the First Quarter 2005


     Nortel Reports Results for the First Quarter 2005; Financial
     Reporting is Now Current; Nortel Provides Status Update

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 1, 2005--Nortel Networks Corporation
(NYSE:NT) (TSX:NT):


    --  Q1 2005 revenues of $2.54 billion, up year over year 4 percent
    --  Q1 2005 net loss of $49 million, ($0.01) per common share on a
        diluted basis
    --  Q1 2005 cash balance of $3.43 billion

Nortel Networks Corporation (NYSE:NT) (TSX:NT) today reported results
for the first quarter 2005 prepared in accordance with accounting
principles generally accepted in the United States in U.S.
dollars. As previously reported, commencing with the first quarter
2005 results Nortel's new reporting segments are GSM and UMTS
Networks, Carrier Packet Networks, Enterprise Networks and CDMA
Networks.

     - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=49550946

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

From: Ed Fortmiller <RUBBISHef25u@fortmiller.us>
Subject: Verizon INPulse (Prepay) Billing Errors
Date: Wed, 01 Jun 2005 16:58:47 -0400


We signed up with a Verizon INPulse (prepay) plan back in March. Since
then they have incorrectly billed us on well over a dozen "IN
Calls". Initially they were blaming it on such things as the other
person was maybe under a bridge, in a building, had caller ID turned
off, etc, etc. Well a couple of weeks ago they finally admitted they
have a "bug" causing this. Just last week we got nailed again. Each
time they have issued a credit but we are tired of wasting time
getting the credit.

Warning: So if you are a Verizon INPulse customer I strongly suggest
you go over all the Call Detail and make sure you are not being
mischarged.

I would be willing to bet that when they eventually get this "bug"
fixed that they will not go back and automatically credit everyones
account.

Ed Fortmiller | RUBBISHef25u@fortmiller.us | Hudson MA

* To avoid getting a lot of SPAM junk mail, I have altered my REPLY-TO
* address. PLEASE remove the leading "RUBBISH" from my REPLY address.
* Any Email sent to the address without removing "RUBBISH" will
* automatically be discarded without me even seeing it.

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

From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
Subject: Re: 25 cps Power, was: Tie Lines was Re: Foreign Exchange Lines
Date: Wed, 01 Jun 2005 21:00:38 -0000
Organization: Widgets, Inc.


In article <telecom24.242.7@telecom-digest.org>,
Robert Bonomi <bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com> wrote:

> In article <telecom24.241.5@telecom-digest.org>, Joe Morris
> <jcmorris@mitre.org> wrote:

>> Wesrock@aol.com writes:

>>> Danny Burstein <dannyb@panix.com> writes:

>>> (Fred Harvey and the Santa Fe Railroad were associated from some time
>>> in the late 1800s.)

>>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Remember also the "Harvey Girls" who
>>> were like 'stewardesses' on the Santa Fe trains and the 1940's movie
>>> about the Harvey Girls, and they were always singing that song about 
>>> the railroad ... how did it go?  Something about " ... my day, and the
>>> Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe ..." 

>> Tying this (barely) into the thread currently running about WU clocks,
>> part of the lyrics went:

>>   See the old smoke risin' 'round the bend,
>>   I reckon that she knows she's gonna meet a friend,
>>   Folks around these parts get the time of day,
>>   From the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe.

>> Joe Morris

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Right you are, I do not have any prize
>> for you, however. The AT&SF railroad _originally_ ran between
>> Atichson, Kansas, through Topeka, Kansas and southwestward on to Santa
>> Fe, New Mexico. Then, as Chicago became the railroad capitol of
>> America (start of 20th century) the AT&SF continued pushing eastward,
>> making its new terminus at Dearborn Station in Chicago, and relocating
>> its headquarters in the 'Santa Fe Building' at Jackson Blvd. and
>> Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. I hear your question now: ...
>> ... *what was/is 'Dearborn Station'?*  Well, along with Union Station
>> (Canal Street and Madison) which still exists and is now the terminus
>> for most intercity railroad traffic, there were Dearborn Station
>> (Dearborn and Harrison Streets), Grand Central Station, (Baltimore &
>> Ohio RR, Chesapeake RR's and others at Harrison and Wells Streets),
>> Central Station (Illinois Central RR at Michigan and Roosevelt Road),
>> LaSalle Street Station (various lines, LaSalle and Van Buren Streets)
>> Northwestern Station (Canal and Randolph Streets) and others. All are
>> gone, except for Northwestern Station and Union Station, and the
>> various railroads still offering passenger service all merged their
>> depots/terminals into one of those two locations.  

> "Not exactly" applies.

> La Salle station (as the name at least), a rebuilt, greatly reduced
> facility, still exists, and has commuter service (only) running out of
> it.  Tracks terminate a bit south of Congress Ave.

> 'Central Station' also nominally still exists; in use by electrified
> inter-urban (Illinois & South Shore Rwy) to Gary-Hammond.

> All long-distance passenger rail (AMTRAK) is out of Union station,
> With commuter rail out of Union and Northwestern stations, as well as
> the aforementioned La Salle and Central stations.

>[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Begging pardon, sir. I was talking
>about _inter-city_ rail traffic, not a commuter line.

OK, what inter-city traffic has run out of Northwestern Station  after 
1973?

In article <telecom24.243.8@telecom-digest.org>,
<hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I still recall how Chicago Transit
>> Authority used to switch between 'third rail' and overhead (catenary)
>> wires north of Howard Street on the Evanston line and the Skokie
>> line. Train would pull out of the station (using third rail), get a
>> short distance up the track, coast to a stop and while they were in
>> the process of hoisting the catenary pole into place, one or more of
>> the clerks would walk through the cars like the proverbial train
>> bandits of old times, telling the passengers "five cents more to
>> continue your ride, please". People would get in their purses to find
>> a nickel to hand over, but thoughtful passengers who made the trip
>> each day and knew what to expect had already paid their five cent
>> surcharge at the station where they boarded the train and instead of
>> a nickle for the clerk would produce a a scrap of paper instead which
>> I think was entitled 'proof of payment' and hand that over to the
>> clerks instead. PAT]

> I got burned with that.

> I was joyriding the Evanston Line to the end and decided to stay in
> the station to avoid paying another fare to get back in.  The train
> left and stopped as you said.  The conductor had this heavy belt with
> a series of fare registers (counters) for various fare types.  I ended
> up paying a full fare anyway.  If I had paid at Evanston that cashier
> would've given me a reciept for the conductor.  Apparently the little
> stations in between are unmanned.

Depended on day, and time-of-day.

At peak times, all stations were manned, and no on-board collection
was done.  (Except for the Chicago 'surcharge' collected for folks
riding South of 'South Boulevard', that is. During peak times, a
separate fare collector would board at South Blvd, and collect fares
before Howard St. The train would hold short of the station, until he
got all the fares collected.)

At off-peak times, the station turnstiles were bypassed, and a "pay on
train" sign was lit at trackside. And the conductor doubled as fare
collector.  Late nite, they had one-man operation, with the old 6000
series cars. with a farebox at the motorman's booth.

> If I knew that operation I would've gotten off and checked out the
> ancient station and surroundings and got a few pics.

> The Evanston Line is 3rd rail all the way but AFAIK the manual
> fare collection continues.

A reduced fare for Evanston only service, and/or a 'surcharge' for
continuing into Chicago have been gone for 15-20 years.

The only on-train fare collection after that was evening and late
night hours.  circa 7PM to 7AM.weekdays, and most,if not all, of the
week-ends.

Any form of manual fare collection on the Evanston line went away when
fare cards were introduced system-wide.  September, 1997.

Definitely _not_ a labor-saving change on the Evanston run -- although
the trains were reduced to single-person operation, every station now
had to be manned.  For evening hours, this meant 2-4 less train crew,
and 6-7 additional station staff.

> I've heard the Skokie Swift line will convert to all 3rd rail.
> That had an automated home-made pantograph conversion.

Done.  Sept, 2004. 

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Evanston is now third-rail entirely,
> but many years ago it was catenary for most of its distance.  PAT]

Converted to all 3rd rail in 1973.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I was speaking about the 1950-60's era.
PAT]

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

Date: Wed, 01 Jun 2005 19:01:10 -0500
From: Gordon S. Hlavenka <nospam@crashelex.com>
Reply-To: nospam@crashele.com
Organization: Crash Electronics
Subject: Re: SBC to Cut High Speed Internet to $14.95 per Month


> "What we find is if you sell DSL, the customer just doesn't churn,"
> said SBC Chief Operating Officer Randall Stephenson in an interview
> last week, referring to the rate of customer turnover.

> "Once you get them, you've got them," Stephenson added.

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My past experiences with SBC have not
>> been at all favorable.  They give you a lot of double-talk and their
>> bills are _very_confusing...]

I had SBC/Yahoo DSL for $27/mo.  The way they did it was to bill me
$49/mo or something like that, with a "promotional credit".  After a
year, my bill suddenly jumped -- the rate didn't "change", but that
promo credit went away.

So I called up and asked what I had to do to get the promo rate for 
another year.  I couldn't, they said -- that promotion was for new 
customers only, and only if they signed up online.

So, I went online and signed up as a "new" customer on my second phone 
line :-)  Got the promo rate for another year, and as soon as it was up 
and running I canceled the old one.  I only had one month without the 
promo discount.  Of course the new account included a starter kit with a 
set of filters, new Cisco router, etc.  Since I already had all that 
stuff I sold the second kit on eBay for almost $100.

This year they were a bit smarter:  They sent me an email that basically 
said "Click here to extend for a year at your existing rate" and so I 
did that.  I suppose I could have "churned" again, back to the first 
line, and gotten another starter kit to sell on eBay ...


Gordon S. Hlavenka           http://www.crashelectronics.com
        Tragically, as many as 9625 out of every 10,000
                individuals may be neurotypical

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

From: Tim@Backhome.org
Subject: Re: SBC to Cut High Speed Internet to $14.95 per Month
Date: Wed, 01 Jun 2005 18:37:26 -0700
Organization: Cox Communications


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This suggestion by SBC that they may
> lower their DSL rates is all well and good, but can they be trusted
> to actually hold to the new rates and not do some gimmicks with a
> few months of lower prices then dramatic increases a few months
> later?  My past experiences with SBC have not been at all favorable.
> They give you a lot of double-talk and their bills are _very_
> confusing with all the added fees they put in. I'll probably just
> stick with cable which has always worked out very well.   PAT]

You may very well be right Pat.  Also, SBC offers minimum bandwith for the
minimum price.  I am in an SBC area in California also served by Cox
Cable.  Sure, Cox charges $35 a month for broadband cable, but for
bandwith that SBC probably can't even deliver to most residential
customers via DSL.  And, where facilities will permit that kind of
bandwidth with DSL, the price would be far higher than $35.



[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Plus which, when I first went to cable
instead of SBC DSL, I had it turned on and running in 20 minutes. It 
took me five minutes to get to the CableOne office downtown in a cab,
five minutes of talking to the lady (she typed on her computer and 
turned on my internet; I already have their cable TV) and five to ten
minutes waiting for the cab to pick me up and get back home. I assumed
it would take a few days or whatever, but the lady in the office said
'internet will be up and active when you get back home', and it was. 

There was a time we here in Independence got the same service from
Southwestern Bell. At the central office on the corner of 6th and
Maple, on the first floor there were two cashiers plus a service rep
on duty; you could walk in to talk to them, pay your bill, and get
whatever changes you needed on your line. You told the rep what you
wanted to do, she _actually understood what you wanted_ and would
call upstairs to the guy in the frames and have the work done. Then
one day, the rep disappeared and was replaced by a speed dial phone
and a little counter to stand at while you were talking on the phone
to Fort Worth or wherever. Then a couple months after that, the
cashiers also disappeared and a note on the door said to use the phone
located there to call customer service. Then one day, that phone was
taken away also. If that's how they wish to run things, that's their
business, but I like at least some modicum of personal service, which
I recieve from Prairie Stream and CableOne, both of whom have a
presence right here in town, easy to walk to and deal with.  PAT]

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

From: Joe Morris <jcmorris@mitre.org>
Subject: Re: Very Early Modems
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 22:07:26 UTC
Organization: The MITRE Organization


hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes:

> Anyway, the phone system as of 1960 was similar.  It was fine for us
> to talk over and an occassional click or pop or slight crosstalk was
> ignored by humans.

> But sending data at 2400 is another story.  One little click disrupts
> a whole stream and requires a re-transmission.  The older switches
> could be 'noisy'.

You don't have to get up to the "fast" speeds like 2400 bps to have
problems with some switches.

My PPOE (an Enormous State University) installed a new SxS exchange in
the mid-1960s.  Just as the new switch went into service the Computer
Center (where I worked) took delivery of some IBM 2740 terminals and
obtained WECo DataPhone 103A2 boxes to connect them to the switched
net.

The noise, presumably from the new, unburnished wipers, was so bad
that we couldn't get reliable communications between a pair of the
2740s linked back-to-back through the switch.  The speed was that of
just about all of the Selectric-based termials: 134.5 baud.

After a few months of service the noise subsided, but I suspect that
we put more duty time on the error light than the IBM designers had
planned for.  (And just as the noise levels dropped, we had to send
all of the time-sharing equipment back to IBM because the computer
center's budget was chopped to free up money for the football team's
new artificial grass ... but that's another story)

Joe Morris

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

Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 18:44:04 MDT
From: Withheld on request <withheld.com>
Subject: Last Laugh! Another Spammer With an 800 Number


Well, it looks like this lot is so eager for us to call they've
provided an 800 number and 888 number.  Tried them while I was out,
forgot my mobile, so I had to call from a payphone.  800 didn't work
but the 888 did, and it's definitely them.  The message claims you can
make $1000/day, maybe that's how they afford the toll free number?

Anyway, I couldn't make out the girls name at the beginning of the
message so I had to keep calling back, and after about 6-8 calls from
the same pay phone it gave a fast busy (some type of toll
throttling/control?).  Maybe you can post it to your list and someone
who lives in big city with a lot of phones on each street corner can
get in enough calls to figure out what the beginning of the voice mail
announcement says!

Anyway, if you feel like re-posting this to the digest go ahead, 
but please remove my name from it.

Thanks!

      ---------- Forwarded message ----------
      Date: Wed, 01 Jun 2005 03:38:39 -0200
      From: Kenneth <KennethMcclendon@mailblocks.com>
      Subject: Offer Expires: June 10th-2005

Information on increasing your cash flow;
This email is only intended for (net readers who see it).

If you are interested in earning income by working out of you home
then please contact us.  Our program will allow you to earn as little
or as much income as u desire.  This is not a gimmick, and selling is
NOT required.

Give us a call and leave us a message.  We will respond within 1 hour
of your call.

1-888-676-4491

Kenneth Mcclendon
Back On Top Corp.
Phone: 1-800-513-3859

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


TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and
other forums.  It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the
moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
                        Independence, KS 67301
                        Phone: 620-402-0134
                        Fax 1: 775-255-9970
                        Fax 2: 530-309-7234
                        Fax 3: 208-692-5145         
                        Email: editor@telecom-digest.org

Subscribe:  telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org
Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org

This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm-
unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and
published continuously since then.  Our archives are available for
your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list
on the internet in any category!

URL information:        http://telecom-digest.org

Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/
  (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives)

RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html
  For syndication examples see http://www.feedroll.com/syndicate.php?id=308
    and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/telecom

*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from                  *
*   Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate  *
*   800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting.         *
*   http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com                    *
*   Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing      *
*   views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc.                             *
*************************************************************************

ICB Toll Free News.  Contact information is not sold, rented or leased.

One click a day feeds a person a meal.  Go to http://www.thehungersite.com

Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

              ************************

DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO
YOUR CREDIT CARD!  REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST
AND EASY411.COM   SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest !

              ************************

Visit http://www.mstm.okstate.edu and take the next step in your
career with a Master of Science in Telecommunications Management
(MSTM) degree from Oklahoma State University (OSU). This 35
credit-hour interdisciplinary program is designed to give you the
skills necessary to manage telecommunications networks, including
data, video, and voice networks.

The MSTM degree draws on the expertise of the OSU's College
of Business Administration; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the
College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. The program has
state-of-the-art lab facilities on the Stillwater and Tulsa campus
offering hands-on learning to enhance the program curriculum.  Classes
are available in Stillwater, Tulsa, or through distance learning.

Please contact Jay Boyington for additional information at
405-744-9000, mstm-osu@okstate.edu, or visit the MSTM web site at
http://www.mstm.okstate.edu

              ************************

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

Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as
yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars
per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.
Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing
your name to the mailing list. 

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the
author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only
and messages should not be considered any official expression by the
organization.

End of TELECOM Digest V24 #244
******************************