TELECOM Digest     Thu, 7 Jul 2005 15:05:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 312

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Sprint Begins High Speed Mobile Services (Lisa Minter)
    Netters Change Habits to Avoid Spam and Spyware (Lisa Minter)
    Google and Partners to Back Broadband Venture (Lisa Minter)
    Rabble Mobile Blogging Network (Monty Solomon)
    Emerging VOIP Regulation in Europe and the United States (Monty Solomon)
    Verizon, TBS Sign Carriage Deal (Telecom dailyLead from USTA)
    Re: Non-Bell ESS? (Diamond Dave)
    Re: Non-Bell ESS? (Tim@Backhome.org)
    Re: Bell Usage of IBM Computers For Switching (Scott Dorsey)
    Re: Bell Usage of IBM Computers For Switching (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com)
    Re: Last Laugh! Western Union's Comment About Useless Phones (J Morris)

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: Sprint Begins High Speed Mobile Services 
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2005 12:23:25 -0500


Sprint Corp. said on Thursday it has begun selling high-speed wireless
services to laptop computer users and would have services in business
districts and airports in 34 U.S. markets in July, making it the
second U.S. mobile operator to offer such services.

Sprint -- the third biggest U.S. mobile provider which plans to buy
Nextel Communications Inc. in the current quarter -- said charges for
the service would range from $40 a month to $90.

Its $80 monthly fee for unlimited use is the same as that of bigger
rival Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc.  and
Vodafone Group Plc.

Sprint said it plans to provide the service in 14 broad market areas
covering a population of about 92 million in the third quarter and
expects to serve markets with 143 million people by the fourth
quarter, expanding to coverage of 150 million potential customers in
early 2006.

Sprint is following in the footsteps of Verizon Wireless, the
country's second biggest wireless provider which started its service
in 2003. Verizon has services in about 50 markets using the same
high-speed technology, known as EV-DO.

Both companies, along with most large operators around the world, are
working on making their networks faster in the hope of boosting their
revenue by encouraging people to use phones for everything from
watching video clips to reading e-mail.

Verizon plans coverage for 150 million potential customers or half the
population by the end of 2005. Cingular Wireless, a venture of SBC
Communications and BellSouth Corp. plans to have high-speed services
in about 15 to 20 markets by year end.

Sprint plans to sell new handsets and applications based on the higher
speed network by the end of the fourth quarter.

It already has agreements to sell laptop cards from Novatel Wireless
Inc.  and Sierra Wireless Inc.

Sprint said it expects its latest service to provide Web access
average speeds of 400 to 700 kilobits per second, about six times
faster than its current network.

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: Netters Change Habits to Avoid Spyware and Spam 
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2005 12:25:13 -0500


Nine out of 10 Internet users say they have changed their online
habits to avoid spyware and other Internet-based threats, according to
a study released on Wednesday.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project found that an overwhelming
majority of Internet users have stopped opening questionable e-mail
attachments, or taken other steps to avoid a plague of stealthy,
unwanted programs that can disable computers or secretly monitor
online activity.

Nearly half said they have stopped visiting particular Web sites that
they suspect may deposit unwanted programs on their computers, while
25 percent say they have stopped downloading music or movies from
"peer to peer" networks that may harbor spyware.

Eighteen percent said they had switched the type of Web browser they
use in order to avoid spyware.

Spyware has emerged as a major headache for computer users over the
last several years.

It can sap computing power, crash machines and bury users under a
blizzard of unwanted ads. Scam artists use spyware to capture
passwords, account numbers and other sensitive data. It can end up on
users' computers through a virus or when they download games or other
free programs from the Internet.

Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed said they had suffered slower
performance or other problems that could be attributed to
spyware. Other surveys have found the level of infection to be as high
as 80 percent.

The nonprofit group surveyed 1,336 U.S. Internet users, between May 4
and June 7. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3
percent.

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: Google, Partners to Back Broadband Venture
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2005 12:26:27 -0500


Google Inc. , Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Hearst Corp. are investing
about $100 million in Current Communications Group, a start-up that
offers high-speed Internet connections over electricity lines, The
Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Current Communications, of Germantown, Maryland, uses a technology
that sends Internet signals over regular power lines, the newspaper
said, citing people familiar with the situation.

Current, a closely held company, offers its high-speed service in the
Cincinnati area and is expected to use its new investment to expand,
the Wall Street Journal 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.

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

Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2005 02:38:09 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Rabble Mobile Blogging Network


Rabble Lets Verizon Wireless Get It Now(R) Customers Join The
First Enhanced Mobile Blogging Network

Rabble Enables Verizon Wireless Customers to Create, Publish and Share
Media and Connect with Others Based on Proximity or Areas of Interest

BEDMINSTER, N.J. and SAN DIEGO, July 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon
Wireless, the nation's leading wireless provider, and Intercasting
Corporation, the first Location-Aware Media Networking Operator
(LMNO), today announced the availability of Rabble, the first mobile
application designed to empower individuals to create, publish and
share media and connect with others based on proximity or areas of
interest. With Rabble, Verizon Wireless customers with select Get It
Now-enabled phones can use their mobile devices to create and
distribute their own content, connecting people by customer-provided
location specific information. Rabble turns Get It Now customers into
producers, inviting them to create and publish media on their phones
enabling them to inform, entertain and interact with others.

Capitalizing on the massive consumer trend toward Internet blogging,
Rabble users can publish personalized media channels through certain
channels to allow Rabble users to promote themselves, connect with
like-minded individuals or groups, give voice to opinions, discuss
events, report news, review locales and more. Rabble users define
their own limits or rules that govern who can access their channel of
information -- and this feature allows them to maintain control over
the distribution of personal content. Rabble users can conduct
powerful searches of user-generated content based on interest, time,
location or browse the available community around them to connect with
one individual or to many. Though it is the first mobile-centric
blogging application, Verizon Wireless Get It Now customers who use
many of the top blogging sites can use Rabble as a tool to publish to
their existing blog on the Web or import their existing blog to
Rabble.

     - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=50311772

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

Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2005 09:04:53 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Emerging VOIP Regulation in Europe and the United States


http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/bach/

The challenges of classification: Emerging VOIP regulation in Europe 
and the United States

by David Bach and Jonathan Sallet

Abstract

Internet telephony -- or Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) -- has
the potential to transform the world of voice communications more
profoundly than anything since the invention of the telephone itself.
As telecommunications incumbents and a range of new entrants begin
rolling out commercial VOIP services, policymakers around the world
are grappling with the regulatory implications. In the United States
and the European Union, the two largest near-term VOIP markets,
efforts are underway to fit VOIP into existing regulatory frameworks.
This process of "regulatory classification" is by no means a purely
administrative act. A lot is at stake and different interest groups
have therefore mobilized to shape the respective outcomes. Because
legacy regulatory systems in Europe and the United States differ, the
regulatory treatment of VOIP in the two markets is beginning to differ
as well. Yet in both markets there is a substantial danger that
fitting VOIP into existing classifications will force VOIP to look
more like regular telephony, thereby limiting its innovation
potential.

Contents

Introduction

 - The rapid rise and inevitable regulation of VOIP
 - Classifying VOIP in the U.S.: Circuit-switched policies meet IP
 - Classifying VOIP in Europe: The first test for a new framework
 - The politics of regulatory classification
 - Conclusion

http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/bach/

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

Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2005 12:49:20 EDT
From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA <usta@dailylead.com>
Subject: Verizon, TBS Sign Carriage Deal


Telecom dailyLead from USTA
July 7, 2005
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=22905&l=2017006

		TODAY'S HEADLINES
	
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Verizon, TBS sign carriage deal
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Morgan Freeman, Intel to launch movie download service
* DOJ OKs Alltel-Western Wireless deal
* Google, Hearst, Goldman invest in broadband startup
* France Telecom, Microsoft to develop VoIP handsets
* Sprint launches EV-DO service
USTA SPOTLIGHT 
* RFID: Radio Frequency Identification -- Get Your Copy Today!
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
* Yahoo! launches new mobile search feature
* Japan Telecom to start high-speed wireless network trial
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* Commentary: FCC chief calls for further deregulation of broadband market
* Florida man arrested for accessing Wi-Fi network
* Nextel says it didn't violate agreement with Nextel Partners
* Qualcomm responds to Broadcom lawsuit

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=22905&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: Diamond Dave <dmine45.NOSPAM@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Non-Bell ESS?
Organization: The BBS Corner / Diamond Mine On-Line
Date: Thu, 07 Jul 2005 05:22:47 -0400


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I know from my personal experience that
> Illinois Bell had ESS in the Wabash office in downtown Chicago in 
> 1974, along with the Superior office on the near north side the same
> year. But I think they were just the first editions or versions of
> that type of switch. PAT]

The Western Electric #1ESS was invented in 1965, with the upgrade
#1AESS invented in 1976. These were analog switches with computer
control (and in my opinion, glorified crossbar switches with reed
relays).

Others, as I've mentioned before, came out with their fully digital
switches before Western Electric came out with their fully digital end
office switch (the #5 ESS) in 1982.

Dave Perrussel
Webmaster - Telephone World
http://www.dmine.com/phworld

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

From: Tim@Backhome.org
Subject: Re: Non-Bell ESS?
Date: Thu, 07 Jul 2005 06:39:19 -0700
Organization: Cox Communications


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I know from my personal experience that
> Illinois Bell had ESS in the Wabash office in downtown Chicago in
> 1974, along with the Superior office on the near north side the same
> year. But I think they were just the first editions or versions of
> that type of switch. PAT]

The No. 1ESS (replaced early on by the 1AESS) was well along in
deployment by 1974.  The first installation in California was in
Beverly Hills in 1967.  That wasn't long after the first installation
somewhere in the east, perhaps 1965?

The difference between the 1 and the 1A was larger volitile memory
(call control storage) and giant disk drives for program control
storage.  Many Bell LECs upgraded their existing 1ESS switches to 1As
once deployment of the 1A began.

Once the digital 5ESS came along, the regional Bells had already
aquired a preference for Nortel's DMS-100, mostly because it was
cheaper and would do an adequate job in all but the most intensive
urban environments (the 5ESS was definately better, but perhaps a
Lexius when a Ford would do. ;-)

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

From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey)
Subject: Re: Bell Usage of IBM Computers For Switching
Date: 7 Jul 2005 09:13:57 -0400
Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000)


<hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:

> In reading histories of IBM and the Bell System, my impression is that
> the companies were pretty distant from each other even though both
> were developing very similar technologies.  Early on, both Bell and
> IBM were developing ever better ways of using relays to "think" in
> sophisticated ways, then using electronic components.  (IBM obviously
> did go to Bell Labs to learn about the transistor).

The Bell System had Bell Labs, a research organization that did pure
research which turned into developments which Bell rapidly
incorporated into their products.

IBM had the T.J. Watson Center, a research organization that did pure
research which turned into developments which IBM's competitors
rapidly incorporated into their products and IBM ignored for the most
part.

> Anyway, the Bell Labs history says Bell did make use of the IBM
> System/7 as part of the switching network.  The S/7 was a process
> controller machine, kind of a sideline of IBM's normal business line.
> Anyway, Bell used the S/7 to replace AMA (long distance message
> accounting) machines.  Even here the S/7 was eventually replaced with
> a PDP machine.

> Would anyone know if there was some sort of hostility between Bell and
> IBM in the 1950s and 1960s?  Or, am I just missing that there was a
> lot of collaboration?

No, but I do know that IBM was not very good at the whole "small
computer" thing.  The minicomputer revolution escaped them completely
for the most part, which is why DEC systems wound up being
incorporated into switching systems.  I am sure that if IBM had made
minicomputers that actually worked well a decade before the Series/1,
the phone company (and a lot of other companies) would have bought
them.

> Perhaps the lab histories of both companies prefers to focus on the
> company's own developments and ignore those elsewhere.  The IBM
> history does give credit to semi-conductor makers.  I sense Bell
> wanted to build everything it used for itself rather than buy finished
> products in the market.

Yes, which is why those DEC minicomputers later got replaced with AT&T
3b2 and 3b20 systems.  Bell had a very strong impulse toward vertical
and horizontal integration.

> I also wonder if the commercial computer components of the 1960s (ie
> System/360 SLT chips and core memory) were adequate for the speed
> demanded by electronic switching.  The Bell history suggests Bell had
> to develop its own gear because it needed faster speed and memory
> available in the commercial world on a cost- efficient basis.  I
> believe an ESS of 1965 had quite a bit of memory and would compare to
> the largest commercial computers of that day.

Well, the early ESS systems were very far from general purpose
computer systems.  There was a whole lot of combinational logic inside
there.  As general purpose computers got cheaper and more powerful,
ESS systems evolved toward using them for control.

scott

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

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Bell Usage of IBM Computers For Switching
Date: 7 Jul 2005 07:34:09 -0700


Tony P. wrote:

> From what I'm to gather the phone switches themselves had their own
> processors.

Yes, they did and do now.

> As to processor requirements, I don't know but in the case of a switch
> the more critical component is the t/d matrix. All the computer does
> is keep track of call store which is nothing but a table.

A computer must break down every function into tiny little steps
handled one by one.  For instance, IIRC, on a PC when you depress key
you're actually sending two signals to the processor -- one that you
depressed a particular key, and a subsequent signal that you released
that particular key.  The processor must respond appropriately to the
key or combination of keys you depressed, then the operating system
and/or application program is passed the information.

Likewise with a telephone, when you lift the receiver the processor
must detect that, connect you to a dial-pulse receiver and send you an
audible dial tone and then interpret your dialing -- all this before
it even actually 'switches' your call.  And there's the optional
"flash" signal which calls in special routines.

All of this work can either be done by the central processor (which
eats up cycles) or by sub-processors to take the load off.  There are
cost and performance issues with each approach.  Generally, cheaper
computers (phone or digital) do it all in the processor while more
sophisticated ones offload to give more speed.

(It was like adding a math co-processor in PC early days to get more
heavy math speed.  The regular processor could do math, but the
co-processor did it faster.)

In the early days of ESS Bell Labs came out with a sub-processor to
take some load off the main one.  Doing this offered more capacity to
handle calls at a modest cost.  This unit was later discontinued when
faster processors didn't need it.

Another use of this concept was with outside loop concentrators.  Some
concentrators in the field had sophisticated logic in them which freed
up the central office from doing certain chores (I think a fancy
concentrator could even connect calls within itself without help from
the central).  But such field units were expensive and not worth the
cost.  There were always tradeoffs to be made.

> But I have seen references to DEC PDP series computers being used to
> write the code, etc. for the switches.

Getting back to the original question: Message Accounting is something
that can be done by the processor or a separate machine.  In #5
Crossbar it was done separately.  (AMA machines were critical to
customer DDD).  Anyway, Bell used electronic computers instead of its
own electro-mechanical AMA machines to time and record phone calls.
Originally it used an IBM System/7, but then switched to PDP.

My impression is that Bell tended to favor PDP gear over IBM for many
applications.  Also, then tended to home-build pretty much everything
else.

[public replies please]

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

From: Joe Morris <jcmorris@mitre.org>
Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Western Union's Comment About Useless Phones
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2005 12:38:58 UTC
Organization: The MITRE Organization


hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes:

> If the Bell System still existed as a monopoly provider today, I
> wonder how they'd deal with the above described customer frustrations.
> The Bell System did not like it when their product/service was made to
> look bad and spent money and efforts to counteract it.

The Bell system breakup [*] certainly caused problems, but the
pre-breakup system was not what I would call accommodating to users'
requirements ... it was instead a follower of Henry Ford's famous line
that his customers could have any color automobile they wanted as long
as it was black.

Case in point -- and one that gave me lots of heartburn at the time --
was the absurd DAA requirement.  I'm all for protecting a network, but
neither at the time nor in retrospect can I find any justification for
the DAA other than protecting AT&T's revenue stream.

Joe Morris

[*] seen on a button distributed by Computerworld magazine at
    a meeting:  "Judge Green is a Bell buster"


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No one, it seems, had their hands
totally clean in the Bell divestiture. Far from being a 'visionary'
whose sole motive was for the good of the American people -- which is
the _only thing_ Judge Harold Green had any legitimate right thinking
about in his deliberations -- it is claimed that early on, during the
mid 1970's when the trial was first being thought about, Harold had
attempted to use a payphone on a street corner in Washington, DC only
to lose his ten cents in an out of order instrument, and as he stood
there in that busted up, grafitti-filled, smelling-of-urine-
and-whiskey, pay phone booth on a hot, sultry afternoon, trying to get
his ten cents back _or_ get an operator's attention and sympathy (he
wound up getting neither; apparently the operator sassed him, but what
else is new?), Harold decided then and there that the company should
be dismantled. We know for a fact that Harold had been approached by
some friends in the Justice Department as a judge who would likely be
sympathetic to their cause (the breakup of Bell) so apparently that
incident with the broken down pay phone only fueled his animosity
which was quite apparent during much of the trial.

How much animosity? The most obvious was his refusal to allow AT&T
to have a jury trial, as they initially requested. I am not at all
certain had there been a jury, that divestiture would have been 
ordered. Maybe, maybe not. Harold's rationale was the matter was
'too complex' for a jury, it would have (and did) lasted far too
long to find a willing and competent jury, and anyway, the prosecutors
did not want a jury. If AT&T had used the 'IBM Technique' as IBM
successfully did in _their_ divestiture trial, chances are likely the
matter would still be going on, now 22 years later. For those who do
not recall, the 'IBM Technique' was to blitz the court with so much
paper in its defense [quite literally, IBM made hundreds of copies
of each paper record presented in their successful defense; there were
times when semi-trailer-truck vans full of legal documents to be read
would pull up at the court's loading dock/receiving room to drop off
the material the court and prosecutors had to read and act on] as
part of the trial. I mean, imagine a thousand page document full of
dry statistics in IBM's defense; here is the six hundred copies of
same the prosecutorial team gets; plus copies for each employee of
the court clerk's office, the judge, etc. IBM, in its successful 
defense insisted that in order to 'fully understand' how much 
divestiture would 'harm the company' one had to see the 'big picture'
which IBM was more than pleased to present in its defense. (wink!)

Can you imagine if AT&T had insisted on that sort of 'paper blitz'
with Harold and if they had gotten their way with a jury trial and
each member of the jury (but of course) had to carefully examine all
the 'evidence' before reaching their decision?  It worked perfectly
well in IBM's trial. I suspect Harold would have preferred to take
the check for ten cents refund the telephone company would have sent
him (telco had long since discontinued the practice of sending out 
a few coins scotch-taped to a form letter of apology through the mail)
as they did for more than a half-century, or allowing the operators
to liberally issue verbal 'credit' for calls via the phone itself,
also an ancient practice of about half-century. PAT] 

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


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.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308
    and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest

*************************************************************************
*   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 #312
******************************