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TELECOM Digest     Sat, 11 Jun 2005 21:54:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 262

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Internet Telephony Grows With Do-it-Yourself Help (Lisa Minter)
    Yahoo Sees Larger Opportunity in Voice Services (Lisa Minter)
    Another Virus Disguised as Jackson Suicide Rumor (Lisa Minter)
    Cell Phone Rental in Europe (marty@ceflorida.com)
    Cellphone Curiosity (Thomas A. Horsley)
    Mac iBook and Bluetooth Cordless Headphones? (AES)
    Re: Cannot Cancel My AT&T Service After Moving to Vonage (Rick M)
    Re: Cannot Cancel My AT&T Service After Moving to Vonage (Tony P.)
    Re: Schools Prohibit Personal E-mail Sites (Fred Atkinson)
    Re: Schools Prohibit Personal E-mail Sites (nospam4me@mytrashmail.com)
    Re: Can Verizon Phone be Used With Bell Mobility in Canada? (M Crispin)
    Re: Can Verizon Phone be Used With Bell Mobility in Canada? (Joseph)
    Re: Verizon's Voice Mailboxes Now Give 'Shout Out' to Verizon (S Sobol)
    Re: Verizon's Voice Mailboxes Now Give 'Shout Out' to Verizon (Tony P.)
    Re: Bennett LeBow? (David Wolff)
    Re: Coal, was From our Archives: Standard Oil and Bell (Tim Keating)
    Re: Bellsouth Caller ID (Robert Bonomi)
    Re: Altigen Workgroup Outbound Caller ID (Robert Bonomi)

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: Internet Telephony Grows With Do-it-Yourself Help
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 19:36:37 -0500


PluggedIn: Internet telephony grows with do-it-yourself help
By Adam Pasick

After nipping at the heels of the major telephone providers for years,
Internet telephony is finally taking a big bite out of telephone call
traffic.

Leading the way is a Luxembourg-based startup, Skype, which has signed
up 40 million users for its Internet telephone service and is growing
at a remarkable 150,000 users a day.

It's managed this feat with a tried and true method for Internet
startups -- giving away its service for free.

But like its predecessors, Skype could fall victim of its own hype as
bigger, better-funded competitors are drawn to the market it
created. It wouldn't be the first time a high-tech pioneer stumbled
after an early success.

For now, Skype's blazing the trail with software that enables free
phone calls to any other Skype user around the globe. All it takes is
a headset or telephone connected to a computer and a broadband
Internet connection,

The free service poses a challenge to Vonage, long the leader in
low-priced Internet telephony using normal telephones plugged directly
into broadband connections. Internet giants Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN
are also rolling out free Internet telephony services that are bundled
with their popular instant messenger programs .

Skype is turning its fast-growing user base into a clear competitive
advantage. A core of do-it-yourself Skype enthusiasts have rushed to
create new capabilities for the service, most of which are also
free. They've built voice mail, text messaging and call recording
capability for the network.

That, in turn, has spurred creation of a range of add-ons, from video
conferencing to foreign language tutorials.

The thriving Skype developer community gives the company an edge as it
girds itself for competition from Microsoft and Yahoo, which Skype
Chief Executive Niklas Zennstrom has called "the biggest threats" to
Skype. It's similar to the third-party software applications gave
Palm's handheld devices an early lead in the PDA market in the 1990s.

Other Skype add-ons include programs that let users record their
telephone conversations ( http://www.hotrecorder.com/ ), send and
receive voicemail messages, collaborate with coworkers 
( http://www.jybe.com/site/index.aspx ) and send text messages to mobile
phones ( http://www.connectotel.com/sms/skype.html ).

One of the newest Skype add-ons combines the service with the emerging
format of the podcast, a home-spun radio show distributed over the
Internet, in what has come to be called a Skypecast.

LOOKING FOR BUSINESS

For enthusiastic users like Rob Walker, who lives in England and
remotely manages a small Latin American market research business using
Skype, any additional capabilities will be more than welcome.

"We're communicating between Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Brazil, and
we're looking into using video conferencing, which would be quite
useful," he said.

Walker said his business already makes significant savings from using
Skype's free calls: Even discount phone carriers commonly charge rates
of 30 pence per minute between Britain and Latin America, and Walker
spends hours each day talking to his employees.

"As a small business, why wouldn't we use it?" he said.

OPEN UP

Skype's business plan has been to offer its basic service for free and
then charge for additional services. But Zennstrom said the company
has intentionally given developers free reign, even if their offerings
compete with Skype's own offerings.

The privately-held company made a crucial decision early on to open
its API -- a set of protocols and routines that coders use to build
new software applications -- which allowed developers to write their
own applications that fit neatly together with Skype.

The move involved surrendering a certain amount of control over how
Skype is used. Indeed, some of the add-ons, such as "answering
machine" software and a video conferencing application called
Video4Skype ( http://www.video4skype.com/ ), bump up against some of
the products that Skype itself plans to offer.

"We want to be as open as we can. It's about creating an ecosystem
around Skype," he told Reuters in an interview. "We have no problem
with those things -- the more the merrier. Even if there's no direct
monetary benefit to us, we believe this is helping us."

The Skype add-ons extend to hardware as well, including a device from
Siemens that links the service with cordless phones, and a hobbyist
project to hook up Skype to a salvaged pay phone.

Phillip Torrone, a technology writer for Make magazine and Popular Science,
has posted a video link showing off his Skype payphone creation on the Make
Web site ( http://downloads.oreilly.com/make/skype.mov ).

"Skype payphone is moving along, right now you can use it to make
receive any Skype call," he said in an email to Reuters. "It's become
my full time phone here at home since it looks so cool."

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: Yahoo Sees Larger Opportunity in Voice Services
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 19:35:10 -0500


By Justin Hyde

Internet services company Yahoo Inc. is looking to boost its business
in the Internet's next big growth area -- voice communications.

The largest U.S. provider of Web e-mail services, Yahoo already has
deals with several landline and wireless telephone companies,
including SBC Communications , Verizon Communications Inc. and Sprint
Corp. , for a variety of Web-based services.

In addition to voice services, Yahoo is also expanding the reach of
its e-mail service, saying earlier this week it would allow Sprint
wireless customers to manage their e-mail accounts through their cell
phones. Last month, Yahoo announced an upgrade of its messenger
service, boosting the ability to make free voice calls between
computers.

For what the future could hold, Yahoo points to its deal with
Britain's BT Group Plc , which sells the BT Communicator -- a version
of Yahoo's Messenger that can not only handle voice calls between
computers but make and receive telephone calls.

"We view voice as a fundamental aspect of the instant messaging
experience," said Brad Garlinghouse, vice president of communications
products for Yahoo, in an interview Thursday with Reuters. "We will
continue to enhance and expand the voice functionality within
Messenger."

The market for the intersection of computer messaging and telephone
service has been dominated by Skype, a European software company. The
free Skype software allows users to call to any other Skype user
globally for free and to make and receive calls at low cost. With
little advertising, Skype typically has up to 3 million users online.

Garlinghouse declined to offer specifics of Yahoo's future plans for
voice services. But officials at SBC say they were considering a
Skype-like service that could be sold with Yahoo.

"We could put one together real quickly," said Scott Helbing, senior
vice president for consumer marketing, in a recent interview with
Reuters. "We don't have that service right now, but we're interested
in it and we're investigating time to market and the services that are
out there."

Garlinghouse said Yahoo preferred to work with telephone companies
like BT and SBC instead of pursuing customers independently.

"By working with the carriers, we've found there's a very nice
symbiotic relationship," Garlinghouse said. With voice messenger
services, "one of the nice things with working with BT is it allows us
to deliver a much higher call quality."

Garlinghouse said Yahoo saw an opportunity to simplify the growing
sprawl of customers' e-mail accounts and voice mail boxes. As part of
the SBC deals, SBC customers will be able to access voice mails
through Yahoo's e-mail service.

"You're seeing these huge collisions occur, and over time we won't
think about ... voice mail, e-mail, or IM," he said. "I think we'll
increasingly think about it as 'I have an inbox."'


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: Virus Poses as Michael Jackson Suicide Rumor
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 19:29:47 -0500


Hackers use Jackson suicide rumor to spread virus

Emails claiming pop star Michael Jackson, on trial on sex abuse
charges, has tried to kill himself are being spread by hackers as a
means to break into computers, a British anti-virus firm said on
Friday.

The hackers have sent emails with the subject "Re: Suicidal attempt"
and the message text: "Last night, while in his Neverland Ranch,
Michael Jackson has made a suicidal attempt," said security software
specialists at Sophos. Other versions claim the suicide was successful
and all versions offer lurid photos of the event. 

Jackson is awaiting a California court verdict on charges of child
molestation.

The email asks recipients to click on a link that takes them to a Web
Site which secretly installs malicious code on their computers.

"If you click on the link, the Web Site displays a message saying it
is too busy, which may not surprise people who think it might contain
genuine breaking news or lurid pictures about Michael Jackson's
"suicide," said Carole Theriault, security consultant at Sophos. There
are no such pictures, there was no such incident.

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: marty@ceflorida.com
Subject: Cell Phone Rental in Europe
Date: 11 Jun 2005 09:39:40 -0700


Traveling to Greece and Turkey (Istanbul)and am seeking a reliable and
competitively priced company to rent a cell phone from. Would also
like a recommendation as to which phone I should select.

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

Subject: Cellphone Curiosity
From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley)
Organization: AT&T Worldnet
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 21:51:39 GMT


Now that my silly gadget for making my phone's ring loud enough works:

   http://home.att.net/~Tom.Horsley/markII/markII.html

I have come to wonder about I thing I see all the time: People in cars
talking on cellphones while the stero is cranked up lound enough to
rattle windows a block away.

How do they hear? How does the person on the other end hear? How did
they hear it ring to know to answer it (or maybe they only make
outgoing calls to let their friends know how lound their sound system
is? :-). 

>>==>> The *Best* political site <URL:http://www.vote-smart.org/>
>>==+ email: Tom.Horsley@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL |
<URL:http://home.att.net/~Tom.Horsley> Free Software and Politics
<<==+

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

From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu>
Subject: Mac iBook and Bluetooth Cordless Headphones?
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 10:19:57 -0700
Organization: Stanford University


Is it possible to listen to the audio output from a Bluetooth-equipped
Mac using a Bluetooth cordless headphone?

[iBook G4 with a D-Link Bluetooth adapter in one of the USB ports,
listening to audio streamed from the XM Satellite Radio site with
Netscape 7 working together with (I think) Windows MultiMedia.]

Will this interfere with simultaneous use of Apple-brand Bluetooth
cordless keyboard and mouse?

What System Prefs and other setting will I have to fiddle with to get
this to work?

Is there an audio or Bluetooth group that would be a better place to
ask about this?

[I'm frankly intimidated, or impressed, by all the technologies that
will have to work together to make this work: Bluetooth, USB,
Netscape, Windows MultiMedia, and Mac audio output -- not to mention
Airport, Ethernet, a Cayman router, and a DSL link to get from the Mac
to the Internet -- so I'm asking for a little reassurance before I
start on this.]

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

From: Rick M <r.muscoplat_nospam@vikingelectronics.com>
Subject: Re: Cannot Cancel My AT&T Service After Moving to Vonage
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 23:33:32 -0500
Reply-To: r.muscoplat_nospam@vikingelectronics.com


Followup with Public Utilities Commission AND go on to the FCC web
site and file a compaint about AT&T.

I did both and heard back from AT&T in about two weeks. Problem
solved.

On 7 Jun 2005 18:46:25 -0700, johnspilker@msn.com wrote:

> Anyone know how I can get AT&T to cancel long distance service to my
> home number? We moved our home number to Vonage from Qwest with AT&T
> long distance service.

> Qwest cancelled the service promptly and even gave us a refund. AT&T
> refuses to cancel the long distance service. They maintain the
> cancellation must be done through Qwest. Qwest says the notification
> has been sent to AT&T. A Qwest representative said she had heard of
> several instances where AT&T will not cancel long distance service of
> numbers moved over to VOIP.

> Any ideas?

> Thanks.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is this a situation where AT&T is
> charging you some monthly fee for 'handling' your account? If not,
> and you are just billed for calls you actually make then it does
> not matter. Just ignore it; let them call you a 'customer' if they
> wish, since there are no calls being made via AT&T, the account
> will always have a zero balance. Now if AT&T is charging some sort
> of monthly fee, then a letter sent registered to the company should
> help. For example, one side of SBC _still_ persists in referring to
> me as a 'customer' while another part of the company is trying to
> win me back (with all sorts of outrageous deals these days, free
> service, etc).  PAT]

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

From: Tony P. <kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net>
Subject: Re: Cannot Cancel My AT&T Service After Moving to Vonage
Organization: ATCC
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 11:20:51 -0400


In article <telecom24.261.11@telecom-digest.org>, dannyb@panix.com 
says:

> In <telecom24.260.17@telecom-digest.org> johnspilker@msn.com writes:

>> They are charging us a monthly fee that amounts to $8 a month with
>> taxes. I did send a registered letter to AT&T legal department and got
>> a simple form letter that told me to contact Qwest.

> [ snip of the usuals problems ]

> Once again, in most states sending off a letter to the public
> service//utilities commission (and it never hurts to add the AG) gets
> results for straightforward and (relatively low cost) matters like
> this.

> I personally did, in fact, do this with AT&T service here in
> NYC. About a week after I dropped my letter in the mail box I got back
> a standard form letter from the PSC in ALbany, NY, and a couple of
> days later I got a "we've fixed it" note from AT&T. Which they did.

> (Other people  have reported to me similar  effectiveness courrtesy of
> web-page writeups, but I prefer paper.  This gives me my own hard copy
> to refer to).

It is absolutely effective. Whenever dealing with a telephone company 
these days its almost standard procedure to cc everything to the PUC. 

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

From: Fred Atkinson <fatkinson@mishmash.com>
Subject: Re: Schools Prohibit Personal E-mail Sites
Reply-To: fatkinson@mishmash.com
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 02:45:48 GMT
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net


On 6 Jun 2005 09:34:28 -0400, kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

> Yes, I think that restricting web access at school and some workplaces
> is probably a very good thing.  What is bad is that it is usually done
> by people who don't know very much about the web or about the blocking
> technology, and it is often done by management folks who refuse to
> take responsibility for their own actions.

> There are other work environments where blocking any traffic is a very
> bad thing.  I work at a government facility where pornographic sites
> are blocked.  To my mind, it would be much more effective just to fire
> people who spend their workday looking at porn on the internet; in
> this case network blocking results in employees being retained who
> would be better off gone.  --scott

> "C'est un Nagra.  C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

I agree with you that Web blocking is a necessary thing in the school
system.  I further agree that it is done blindly and without looking
at the big picture.  Blocking sites like QSL Net is ignorant and
untrained.

The state of Georgia blocks 2600.com in their colleges.  I can
understand the high schools and below, but what about those that are
doing research on computer security and networking.  Depriving them of
access to such information is incredibly short sighted.  When I was
taking network security in graduate school, we learned a lot from 2600
magazine and their Web site.  I subscribe to 2600 magazine myself and
it can be bought at most major bookstores.

On 6 Jun 2005 06:58:28 -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:

> You must remember that the contents of libraries have always been
> "censored", though perhaps the better word is "selected".

So, then you are saying that they should remove ham radio books from
the library?  I don't think so.

> For younger readers, books are selected appropriate to their reading
> skill as well as their age.  Most 12 year olds would not know what to
> do with ancient literature written in the original Greek or Latin, and
> such books would be inappropriate for them.

No argument there.  

> A second consideration is book quality.  There are lots and lots of
> books out there on any given subject, including "vanity" books
> published by the authors themselves.  Quality varies dramatically.
> Libraries attempt (not always successfully) to use generally respected
> and quality works.

This is true.  But there are a number of well known ham radio books
that can be placed in the library.

> Lastly, some common sense is applied.  Should a children's or school
> library really contain books on bomb-making or other extremely intense
> subjects?

I agree with you there, especially in light of Columbine.  But how
does ham radio compare with bomb making?  Please explain that to me.

> As to the Internet: There is a great deal of mis-information out
> there, some of it even dangerous.  Anybody can set up a site and put
> anything they want on it; that by no means makes it authoritative or
> appropriate.  Even legitimate organizations screw up on their Internet
> sites by failing to keep the information timely and accurate.

There has been misinformation in publications since the beginning of
time.  Anyone can write and sell a book if they want to go to the
trouble.  How is this any different?

>> Sorry to come down on you this hard, but limiting student access to
>> information simply because we think they don't 'need' access to it
>> is a pretty short sighted opinion for an educator to take.

> As mentioned, student "access" is already quite limited in many ways.

So, we justify limiting them to things that could be beneficial to
them to achieve that end?

Sorry, I don't think so.  


Fred 


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: See the next issue of our Digest later
Saturday night which will include an archives reprint "Informing
Ourselves to Death" which hopefully you will find interesting. PAT]

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

From: nospam4me@mytrashmail.com
Subject: Re: Schools Prohibit Personal E-mail Sites
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 16:33:00 UTC
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC


Robert Bonomi <bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com> wrote:

> I've sat in a federal courtroom, and witnessed sentencing for an 18
> USC 641 violation.  It wasn't a single egregious act, but an ongoing
> series of really 'little' things. After having been reminded by
> management "not to".  The idjit had a side-line personal business, and
> was doing stuff for it at the office, after hours -- writing
> correspondence, and printing it out, doing estimates in a
> spread-sheet, a little bit of photo-copying, etc.

So what kind of sentence did the above malfeasant Federal employee get
for doing the above?


 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 Herb Oxley
 Reply-to: address IS Valid.

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

From: Mark Crispin <MRC@CAC.Washington.EDU>
Subject: Re: Can Verizon Phone be Used With Bell Mobility in Canada?
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 17:22:25 -0700
Organization: Networks & Distributed Computing


On Fri, 10 Jun 2005, aqabbas@yahoo.com wrote:

> Can a Verizon phone be used with Bell Mobility in Canada? I know they
> both use CDMA. I am specifialy interested in the Kyocera 7135.

Technically, a Verizon phone can be used.  Verizon phones are
completely unlocked.

Administratively, it is up to Bell Mobility whether or not they will
accept a phone that they did not sell.  I know that Telus Mobility
does not.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.

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

From: Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Can Verizon Phone be Used With Bell Mobility in Canada?
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 06:42:42 -0700
Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com


On 10 Jun 2005 15:09:40 -0700, aqabbas@yahoo.com wrote:

> Can a Verizon phone be used with Bell Mobility in Canada? I know they
> both use CDMA. I am specifialy interested in the Kyocera 7135.

It all depends on BM's policies.  Many CDMA operators will not allow
you to use equipment (even if compatible) on their networks unless the
ESN of the handset is in their database.  I believe BM's policy is to
not allow ESNs not in their database.  I'm not sure if they do this to
be obstinate or if there's some other reason.  CDMA and TDMA operators
are the only ones who do this.  GSM operators don't care what
equipment you use on their networks and for the end user all they need
to know is that their handsets are not "SIM locked" i.e. the handsets
have not been prevented from using another SIM by locking out other
operator's SIMs.
           
------------------------------

From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: Verizon's Voice Mailboxes Now Give 'Shout Out' to Verizon
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 22:49:10 -0700
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com


Justin Time wrote:

> Hey -- anything to drive the number of minutes of usage up.  (OBTW Pat,
> they are not talking about voicemail left on the cell phone, but on
> your landline.)

You could let the call go to voicemail on your cell phone. Verizon
Wireless does not charge for voicemail retrieval from a
landline. Besides, some people may find the feature convenient.

VZW does tend to nickel-and-dime their customers, but I'll stick up
for them and VZ this time.


JustThe.net - Steve Sobol / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Coming to you from Southern California's High Desert, where the
temperatures are as high as the gas prices! / 888.480.4NET (4638)

"Life's like an hourglass glued to the table"   --Anna Nalick, "Breathe"

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

From: Tony P. <kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net>
Subject: Re: Verizon's Voice Mailboxes Now Give 'Shout Out' to Verizon
Organization: ATCC
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 11:15:48 -0400


In article <telecom24.260.10@telecom-digest.org>, promfhTAKE@OUThal-
pc.org.invalid says:

> Monty Solomon wrote:

>> Verizon's Voice Mailboxes Now Give 'Shout Out' to
>> Verizon Wireless Phones When New Messages Arrive

>> Home and Business Customers in N.Y.C. and New England Can
>> Receive TXT Alerts on Their Verizon Wireless Phones

>> NEW YORK, June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon home and
>> business voice mailboxes now can alert customers on their
>> Verizon Wireless phone that someone has left a message.

>> Starting today, Verizon voice-messaging customers in New
>> York City and New England can add a feature that sends a
>> text message to any Verizon Wireless short text messaging-
>> capable phone with an alert that a new voice message has
>> been left on the customer's landline phone.

>> http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=49739949

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What is supposed to make
>> that so exceptional? Cingular Wireless has always had an
>> icon on the display screen indicating voice message
>> waiting, and I have always had my phone set to make three
>> chirps when that icon is turned on.   PAT]

> The "New" feature is having the voicemail on your home phone send a
> message to your cellphone saying a message has been left. Most
> voicemail systems have had this feature for years. You could have it
> call your cellphone or a pager. The SMS message is sort of a new
> wrinkle on an existing service.

But in most cases the outcalling feature is turned off because it is a
huge security hole.

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

From: dwolffxx@panix.com (David Wolff)
Subject: Re: Bennett LeBow?
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 00:38:59 UTC
Organization: Public Access Networks Corp.


In article <telecom24.247.12@telecom-digest.org>,
<hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:

> I was wondering about the background of this fellow.

> He is a wealthy businessman who has donated a great deal of money to
> colleges that have named stuff for him.

> According to Google, we had a post mentioning him in the bankruptcy
> proceedings of Western Union some years ago, and he was involved in
> that somehow.

> I get the impression he was kind of an aggressive corporate takeover
> artist.

> I was wondering if readers here had any opinions of him beyond the
> official history.

> Thanks.

> [public replies please]

All this is just my understanding, which could be off.

Bennett Lebow is/was a "corporate raider."  He bought controlling
interest in various struggling companies, slashed expenditures to the
bone and thereby dooming the company (eg no more R&D, therefore no new
products).  This resulted in good profits until all the current
customers left for competitors who had new products, at which point
the victim company could go into bankruptcy and be flushed down the
toilet.

Even companies such as Prime Computer, which survived his attempt to
buy them out, wasted huge amounts of time and money and were thereby
damaged.  He hurt many, many people.

Thanks --

David,

(Remove "xx" to reply.)

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

From: Tim Keating <NotForJunkEmail@directinternet11.com1>
Subject: Re: Coal, was From our Archives: History of Standard Oil and Bell
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 08:18:19 -0400
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


On Wed, 8 Jun 2005 06:41:51 UTC, tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon)
wrote:

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'd personally like to see more wide-
>> spread research/development/use of solar power, especially for things
>> like heating our homes in the winter. Oops, I forgot to include the
>> mantra from the petroleum industry on this: "Solar power is not
>> practical nor efficient."  PAT]

> For what it's worth, many estimates are that it takes more energy to
> fuse silica to make solar panels than will be output by those panels
> as electricity over their expected service lifetimes, at sea level in
> most temperate climes.

Your estimates are both inaccurate and obsolete..

The amount of energy consumed in glass production is a small fraction
of overall energy input ... ref page 3 of ...
http://www.homepower.com/files/pvpayback.pdf

Next, lookup your area's climate/solar radiation data.   
http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/redbook/atlas/ 

I suggest starting out  by changing two of the defaults:
         "2. Select a month"    set to "Annual"
         "3. Select an instrument orientation"  
	set to "Flat Plate Tilted South at Latitude"

 From the map produced, one will see that most of the continental US,
falls into 4 to 7 kWh/M^2/day categories.  The number increases
substantially if one uses some tracking technology.

As for payback ...  

http://www.nrel.gov/ncpv/energy_payback.html
"What is the Energy Payback for PV?"

(Note: Payback calc uses ~4.6kWh/m^2/day as a reference). 

Additional links ... 

EPT drops with mass production.
http://www.apec-vc.or.jp/solar/outline/outlne09.htm
"Energy payback time (EPT) = Eo/Eg"

> However, what that analysis does ignore is that you cannot get more
> local -- that is, less transmission loss -- than the energy generation
> and consumption from the panels in the typical intertie solar setup.

> So, if the energy to make the panels is generated in, at least, a not
> terribly dirty way, and the panels aren't made far from where that
> power is generated, due to transmission losses solar panels in many
> locations are a serious net win.

In the future, please distribute more accurate information. 

The world doesn't need more people adding to streams of dis-information
being advertised as facts.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, ex----cuse me, won't you please?
I am _not_ in a position to validate everything which is submitted by
readers here. Anyway, I always thought the main purpose of the
internet was to spread dis-information.  PAT] 

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

From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
Subject: Re: Bellsouth Caller ID
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 15:57:28 -0000
Organization: Widgets, Inc.


In article <telecom24.261.2@telecom-digest.org>,
Choreboy  <choreboyREMOVE@localnet.com> wrote:

[[..  munch  ..]]

> So Bellsouth won't tell me what cellphone carriers provide names for
> their Caller ID.  Is this information available anywhere?

Not suprising.  Bellsouth *doesn't*know* who provides names, and who
doesn't.

All they can do is pass along what is supplied.

Probably just knowing the cell carrier is not sufficient.

It probably depends on the type of servicecontract as well.  e.g., I
doubt names are even available to the carrier for 'pre-paid' phones.

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

From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
Subject: Re: Altigen Workgroup Outbound Caller ID
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 16:03:46 -0000
Organization: Widgets, Inc.


In article <telecom24.261.3@telecom-digest.org>, <citius21j@yahoo.com>
wrote:

> Hi,

> Could someone please help me with this. We are using the ALTIGEN
> SYSTEM We have 2 workgroups set up for two separate businesses we are
> running.  I have entered two different transmitted CID numbers for
> them but they dont seem to be displayed when an agent logged into the
> workgroup is making an outbound call. It seems to pull up the
> transmitted CID number for the agent.  Please guide me as how to get
> the different business number show up when the agent is making
> outbound call from the workgroup.

It may not be possible in your situation.

Some telcos allow customers to transmit 'anything' as the CID info.

Some telcos allow customers to transmit 'anything that belongs to
them' as the CID info.

Some telcos over-ride whatever the customer transmits with the 'true'
line ID.

If you're in the latter category, you're simply SOL.

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


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