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TELECOM Digest Mon, 12 Sep 2005 07:21:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 414 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson SBC Cutting Work Force; Blames Competition (Thomas Content) Katrina Aftermath (Stephanie Mehta) Verizon Complaints About EVDO; They Dislike the Junxion Box (P Townson) Log On and Say Hello (Kim Leonard) Interesting Cellphone and Mastercard Tidbit (Thomas A. Horsley) See ROKR in Action (Monty Solomon) Re: Qwest Launches New Legal Fight Against Portland (Steve Sobol) Re: NYC Phone Rates, was: Sid Ceasar and Phones in Comedy (NOTvalid) Re: Internet Satellite Imagery Under Fire Over Security (Ed Clarke) Re: Internet Satellite Imagery Under Fire Over Security (jmeissen) Re: Internet Satellite Imagery Under Fire Over Security (Gene Berkowitz) 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: Thomas Content <tcontent@journaldsentinel.com> Subject: SBC Cutting Work Force; Blames Competition Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 17:39:01 -0500 www.jsonline.com Original URL: http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/sep05/354690.asp SBC to cut 200 jobs in state Company blames rise in competition from cellular, cable, Internet By THOMAS CONTENT tcontent@journalsentinel.com SBC is eliminating more than 200 jobs in Wisconsin, including 127 in downtown Milwaukee, in response to heightened competition from cellular phone providers and lower demand for traditional phone service. The company on Friday notified workers in downtown Milwaukee that 127 of 440 customer service representative positions will be eliminated by Dec. 15, SBC spokesman Jeff Bentoff said. The telecommunications company is scaling back certain operations given competitive pressure posed by cellular phones and the emergence of cable and Internet telephone services, Bentoff said. For Milwaukee, it's the biggest cutback since SBC eliminated hundreds of jobs when it closed an office on N. 35th St. in 1998, said George Walls, president of Local 4603 of the Communications Workers of America. "It was very shocking to the people this morning and very sad, and many of them were in tears," Walls said. "These are good-paying jobs, and I see it as really a blow to lose these jobs in the city of Milwaukee." Wages for the workers whose jobs are being eliminated run from about $400 to $974 a week, Walls said. Local 4603 represents about 2,200 SBC hourly workers in southeastern Wisconsin. SBC employs more than 5,000 people in Wisconsin, Bentoff said. The company also confirmed a series of other cuts that include the loss of 47 network support positions in Wisconsin, including 23 at an office at N. 77th St. and W. Fond du Lac Ave. in Milwaukee and 24 in Eau Claire. Those workers will be offered the option of transferring to offices in Indiana and Ohio, where their functions will be consolidated, said David Saltz, another SBC spokesman. Three positions based in Brookfield are also being eliminated, SBC said. In a separate cutback initiated earlier this year, 40 SBC workers at SBC's office at 918 N. 26th St. in Milwaukee are expected to be laid off on Wednesday, Walls said. SBC, based in San Antonio, said last fall that it would eliminate about 10,000 jobs by the end of this year in response to competitive pressures in the industry. The downtown Milwaukee office handles wholesale business, meaning requests for service connection by companies that sell phone service but that rely on SBC's network of telephone lines and wires to deliver the service. It is one of three such offices across the Upper Midwest, fielding business in Wisconsin and four other states. That wholesale business was booming so much that it was hiring hundreds of new employees downtown five years ago, but business has fallen off significantly there, Bentoff said. "Order volumes have decreased, and there's just not as much work -- there's not enough work available for those positions," he said. SBC will work with the union to find other jobs for workers whose positions are being eliminated, or to offer severance packages for employees that are approaching retirement age, he said. It's unclear how many workers' jobs will be saved from layoffs. But the cuts are likely to affect those with the least seniority because of union bumping rights, Walls said. That means that those most affected by the cuts will be those hired since roughly May 2000, he said. That also means that some of the workers laid off in the last big round of cuts -- the 1998 closing of the 35th St. customer service calling center -- face the prospect of being laid off again. "Some of those people (who lost their jobs in 1998) wound up downtown in these jobs, and now they're being hit again," Walls said. From the Sept. 10, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 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. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I Believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Stephanie N. Mehta <fortune@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Katrina Aftermath Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 17:41:28 -0500 In a Post-Katrina World, Getting Calls Through Why does phone service stop working at times when we most need to communicate? Some companies are deploying new technologies that should prevent future outages, or at least help restore service faster. FORTUNE Friday, September 9, 2005 By Stephanie N. Mehta In the scary hours after the attacks on the World Trade Center, New Yorkers could be found queued up at pay telephones, clutching impotent cellphones in their hands. During the blackouts of 2003, callers trying to reach friends and family on the East Coast often got busy signals-a rare phenomenon in this age of call waiting and voicemail. And Hurricane Katrina initially knocked out or at least interrupted service to hundreds of thousands of phone lines, according to BellSouth, the dominant phone company in the Gulf region-and the carrier is still struggling to restore many of those lines. Indeed, it seems at the very times many Americans have most desperately needed to communicate, the nation's phone networks have failed. Why does this happen? In the case of Hurricane Katrina, some of the massive computers used to route and connect calls were wiped out by flooding; in other instances the actual phone lines were cut or damaged by the storm. And wired and wireless networks alike sputtered when the backup generators running their switching systems-remember, much of the region had no electrical power-ran out of fuel or were themselves damaged by the floods. In other crises, networks simply were overloaded or critical equipment broke down. Now, some regulators and consumers are asking a simple question: How can we build a better phone network-one that withstands the rigors of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina or the attacks of September 11? Companies such as Lucent Technologies, which supply to the big phone companies, say they already are improving communications networks based on the lessons from previous disasters. "Prior to 9/11 our idea of disaster recovery was dealing with a fire in a central office," admits Nick De Tura, vice president of North American customer operations of Lucent Technologies. (A central office is a hub that houses a carrier's switching equipment and phone lines that serve a neighborhood.) "Now every service we develop is built with an eye toward speed and flexibility" for moving phone calls onto working networks. Indeed, some companies and their competitors already are deploying some new technologies that will prevent future phone outages, or at least help restore service faster. Of course, even the newest technologies still require power and perhaps shelter, making them also vulnerable to Katrina-like forces. But here's a look at a handful of advancements that are making communications more disaster-resistant-or at least more disaster-resilient. VOIP: With many voice-over-Internet Protocol systems, users simply need access to a broadband network in order to make and receive calls using their assigned home numbers-even if they're no longer at home. With VOIP, calls are transmitted in the language of the Internet, or "packets," so they don't have to travel over a traditional copper telephone wire. Also, users are assigned an Internet Protocol address, which isn't location-sensitive. Say a family relocated from Biloxi to Houston. They could take their VOIP phone along (or a special adapter that comes with most VOIP systems), and once they gained access to a broadband system-a cable modem or DSL line, for example-they'd be able to receive calls from worried friends and relatives on their home number. "It would be the same service they had before," says Mike Hluchyj, founder and CTO of Sonus Networks, which helps phone companies deploy VOIP calling services. "The device automatically configures the service-they don't even have to involve any personnel within the phone company." Still, in the most severely devastated parts of the Gulf Coast, VOIP phones wouldn't have been much help for the stranded, because broadband connections were totally wiped out. Wi-Fi: One technology that may help get broadband systems back up and running is Wi-Fi, the same wireless standard you may use to get Internet access for your laptop at coffee shops and airports. Tropos, one of a handful of upstarts that sells wireless systems covering entire cities, says Wi-Fi (which operates on the same unlicensed spectrum that cordless phones and microwaves use) is robust enough to provide broadband service when wired networks fail. The company's gear is configured so that its wireless antennas all talk to each other, which can allow users to access the service even if the nearest wired network is 100 miles away. "We can provide broadband wireless access with limited need for wires," says Chris Rittler, vice president of product development for Tropos, which is just starting to work with officials in the Gulf region. "It is a great application in light of a horrible event." One big limitation: You need a special Wi-Fi modem in order to connect to a Wi-Fi network. While most new laptops are equipped, few desktops are, and Wi-Fi phones-cordless phones that can talk to Wi-Fi networks-are just starting to hit the market. Softswitches: As more phone companies move voice traffic onto Internet networks, many are starting to replace their traditional switches-massive computers that take up entire rooms and guzzle power-with smaller, software-driven machines that consume less power. So if generators or batteries kick in, these "softswitches" can stay operational longer. Also, phone companies typically can redirect traffic traveling through a softswitch more easily, allowing technicians to remotely program the switch to move traffic away from damaged lines and onto working networks. However, phone companies like BellSouth, SBC Communications, Verizon and Qwest have invested billions of dollars in their traditional switching infrastructure, and it will take years for them to migrate completely to softswitches and other new equipment. Disasters such as Katrina, however, may just end up accelerating those purchases. Copyright 2005 Time Inc. 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. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Time, Inc. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Patrick Townson <ptownson@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Verizon Complaints About EVDO; They're Angry About Junxion Box Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 17:48:05 -0500 There have been several stories recently (Wi-Fi backpack, mobile PSP gaming) where people have used the $700 Junxion Box to take Verizon EVDO broadband service and create a hotspot. According to a New York Times (via Gizmodo) piece exploring the box, Verizon isn't pleased. "The premise is one person buys an air card and one person uses the service, not an entire neighborhood," says a Verizon wireless exec. "Giving things away for free doesn't work anymore. It never did." Over the weekend, I found a discussion thread on this very topic in other forum. Here are some replies from readers in that forum: Re: How is this different than...? How is this different than sticking an EVDO card in my laptop and sharing it via WiFi? I can just see the Verizon guys sitting in an exec conference room and giving themselves a big "DO!" and a slap to the forehead. Lamont The Goldfish DaSneaky1 Re: How is this different than...? said by Blasterbator : > How is this different than sticking an EVDO card in my laptop > and sharing it via WiFi? > I can just see the Verizon guys sitting in an > exec conference room and giving themselves a big "DO!" and a slap to the > forehead. It isn't. That's the point of this news story, Verizon execs don't like people doing that. voiplover Re: How is this different than...? So ... where is the best deal on junxion boxes anyway? evdo to voip (Unregistered) I think the bigger concern should be an $80 unlimited plain providing VOIP instad of people paying some of the highest cellular phone bills in the industry! Plus no taxes and fees Semper Vigilantis DaDogs Re: How is this different than...? ... worse Verizon is backhauling cellular at ~915 MHz in our area. Yep, that's right kiddies your nice encrypted digital cellular calls are being dropped to 915 analog in the clear and broadcast all over eastern Virginia. Gawd, the shit Verizon pulls is limitless. Sure it is protected, but does it have to be in the ISM bands where Mabel with her baby monitor can pick it up? Re: How is this different than...? I think you have your information wrong, they can't and will not go to analog. The FCC is putting an end to ALL analog cellular service in a couple years. Meaning anyone with and old analog phone theyve kept for years because they can't get anything else, will not work anymore. Semper Vigilantis DaDogs Re: How is this different than...? said by cerus98 : > I think you have your information wrong, they can't and will not go > to analog. The FCC is putting an end to ALL analog cellular service > in a couple years. Meaning anyone with and old analog phone theyve > kept for years because they can't get anything else, will not work > anymore. That is exactly what I thought myself, but in deploying 900 MHz Canopy hardware I am seeing what most certainly looks like cellular between 911 and 916. It definately touches wire line which means it is protected and it definately belongs to Verizon. It could be a beat frequency happening in the IFs but I don't think that is what it is and it can't be a harmonic. It is strong enough to break squelch even with the antenna off of the scanner. Hence my guess that it is a point-to-point link between two towers. ================ Verizon just doesn't get it. The Verizon exec is almost as dumb as the **AA exec. "Giving it away for free". Please explain where the 'free' part is? Someone is paying for the wireless access card, thus, Verizon is getting paid for the access. What that person chooses to do with their LEGALLY PAID FOR access point is up to the person, not Verizon. If you take away the Verizon doublespeak, what the executive meant to say was ... "We aren't raping everyone we can for all the money we can". Verizon can put "Terms of Service" and rules for any way they want. However, I the end user, can choose to ignore those terms of service at my own risk. Now, since Verizon is classified as a 'common carrier', they cannot legally monitor what I am doing, so their ability to 'catch me' is severely limited. All they can do is spout out empty threats really, cause proving it would be very hard to do, and at the profit margins they make, just not fiscally viable. Why is this such an issue? Because it shows that Verizon is selling a product, with certain capabilities, that they don't want the user to use. (i.e. the user is paying for 500kb download over EVDO, and if the person chooses to use all 500kb, verizon can't support it). Guess what, it's not the USERS problem. For those who don't get it, it's would be like Ford selling me a car that can only carry one passenger. Even though I don't currently carpool today, if my situation changed, and I had to, yet was unable to, I'd be pissed. Ford sold me a product, I can do what I want with the product, as long as I follow the law (not Ford's terms of service, the LAW, they ARE different you know), and in many cases, even if I don't follow the law. So, Verizon, if you want to limit it, then by all means put on a byte cap. Oh, wait, you don't want to do that, because your studies have shown that the sales you would loose to your competitors would be greater than the savings you would make. Cause if I were your competitor, I sure as hell would take out full page ads spreading FUD about your product, and it would work too... -- Grand Poobah Re: Verizon just doesn't get it. I doubt that Verizon's status as a common carrier applies to the EVDO data service. They should be able to monitor usage to ensure compliance with the TOS and cut off non-compliant users. Same as any other ISP. I don't follow your Ford analogy. If you need a bigger car, you can sell the one you have and get a bigger car, but that has no correlation to a data service. If you like car analogies for the EVDO TOS, how about you could rent a car and let anyone drive it despite what the contract says, but when it's wrecked/lost/stolen, or just if they track the car and find out you've violated the contract, then the rental company will come after YOU. =================== I have an EV-DO card and I fully understand why I can't share the service. A better analogy than the Ford example you gave is for someone to walk in to an All-You-Can buffet with a bag full of Tupperware. Since that person paid their bill, it now entitles them to fill all the containers and take the food home to feed their entire neighborhood. When the owner of the restaurant sets the price, he sets it with the expectation that you won't take every last bit of food in the place. Verizon had the same expectation and as a user of the service, you probably agree to this in the TOS (which I don't have here in front of me.) JPCass said by G_Poobah : For those who don't get it, it's would be like Ford selling me a car that can only carry one passenger. I think that's the wrong analogy. It's more like the local transit authority selling you a bus pass, and then you using it to get to work, loaning it to co-workers to run errands while you're at work, going home and loaning it to a friend to get to get back and forth to his night shift job, and loaning it out on your days off as well. Or, you might say it's like putting a splitter on your cable connection, and running wires to your neighbors, and maybe even to a large screen TV in a public area. Or maybe like sending identical quintuplets in to eat, one at a time, at an "all you can eat" buffet. Internet service providers have gotten away from early (mostly dial-up) charging based on usage, but their models are based on presumptions about average use by one household. If too many individuals push the envelope, their model to offer affordable service to the average consumer starts to break down. Metering usage adds costs, and they'd hope to avoid having to add those costs to mass-market broadband. I think they're in a quandry that has to be appreciated, and on the other hand they have gone ahead and advertised things like "unlimited" broadband. Let's think of it in terms of the large majority of average users who have moderate needs for broadband at an affordable price. How do you serve the vast majority of users, without saddling them with the costs of a small number of users who use bandwidth approaching one or more magnitudes of order greater than average, or with costs of metering and monitoring to somehow handle those exceptional users? Is that more or less unfair in the net than trying to keep costs down by cracking down on the small number of people who try to push the envelope on the marketing offer of "unlimited"? pinetree Re: Verizon just doesn't get it. i agree. don't advertise "unlimited" if you don't intend to provide it. mallyman Re: Verizon just doesn't get it. They ARE providing unlimited... FOR YOU not your friends and their friends and their friends... the pricing model is built on that and if it was 'buy once, give to the neighborhood' you would see 500 monthly instead of 80.00 the bus pass analogy fits best here ... you can use your bus pass for your OWN activities... but for others to 'share' it is not part of the deal ... &raqu; | 2005-09-09 18:51:18 | · G_Poobah My analogy was correct. I purchased a car that CAN carry 8 people, but according to Fords 'terms of service', only I can use the car by myself. If I choose to ignore that rule, and carry 8 people means that Ford lost 7 'potential sales', thus if you make EVERYONE follow Fords 'terms of service', then all 7 of my passengers would need to purchase their own Ford cars. My bringing them with me (sharing) is causing lost revenue (lost sales) to Ford. The tupperware argument has no basis. We are talking about a 'transient service', not a physical good. Every instant in time, it's either being used or not being used. If it's not being used, then it's lost forever, that's what 'transient' means. Completely different concept than physical goods. You can't apply the arguments of 'physical loss' to this, only 'potential loss'. Very well defined in case law. The transit authority is a good analogy. If I buy a pass to the Metro in DC, I can use it all I want. In fact, I can give it out to my friends, and it's violation of terms of service. But wait, I can't use the pass when my friend has it, so, am I really in violation? I would argue no, since I can't physically use the pass while my friend has it. It's the same with internet access. If my 'friend' is using all 500Kb of download, then guess what, I can't download! It's simple enough to understand, but is it wrong? no.. I paid for 500kb of download service. Period. What people are trying to argue is that it's legally wrong. It's 100% NOT legally wrong. I paid for the service, I can use the service the way I SEE FIT, terms of service be damned. PERIOD. Is it morally wrong? Hmm ... maybe, but maybe not. Morals are very subjective. Is it unprofitable for the business that sold me this service? Absolutely. Will the business use doublespeak and lies to try and prevent this, and improve their bottom line? I sure hope so, otherwise I wouldn't want to be a shareholder. Be sure to separate moral/religious beliefs from legal beliefs. If they advertise 'unlimited access', then LEGALLY, I can use the unlimited as unlimited. If they don't like it, then they just need to remove the words 'unlimited' from their advertising, and clearly define what I can/cannot do with their service. So pray tell me why they haven't done that? -- Grand Poobah &raqu; | Dexter9999 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am not that familiar at all with 'Evdo'; are any Digest readers (possibly also Verizon customers) able to explain it and talk about it here? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Kim Leonard <tribune-review@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Log on and Say Hello Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 04:49:39 -0500 By Kim Leonard TRIBUNE-REVIEW A call made over the Internet will sound about the same as one made on a traditional home phone. Still, Internet-based phone services such as Vonage, Verizon VoiceWing and AT&T CallVantage are signing up customers steadily for two reasons: They cost less than comparable, regular phone service and their special features appeal to professionals and others who want more control over when and where they receive calls. Most consumers still know very little about Internet calling, known as Voice over Internet Protocol service. But in the Pittsburgh area, they're about to see offers from at least four companies that are jumping into the emerging field. "If I'm at the office, I can get an e-mail on my computer with a voice mail that somebody left for me at home," said John Curry, president of the Monroeville phone company known until a few weeks ago as Curry Communications. The new name is Curry IP Solutions, as in Internet protocol, and Curry's enthusiasm for his company's new direction is evident as he talks about three newly launched VoIP service packages with "a few" customers so far. Meanwhile, Downtown-based Full Service Network and North Pittsburgh Telephone Co. plan to launch VoIP packages in coming weeks. Cable giant Comcast is testing its service, for a rollout later this fall. Internet phone services essentially take analog audio signals and turn them into digital data, to be transferred over the Web. A broadband connection is necessary, and most VoIP packages will work over any telecommunications or cable provider's service. North Pittsburgh's VoIP service will work only with that company's Internet service. Call quality can depend on the quality of the broadband connection, and a customer may have to buy an adapter for about $60 to get the service to work with regular phones, or a cordless broadband phone system that includes a few handsets. A VoIP user can keep a previous phone number, get a new 412 or 724 number, or even take a number in a different area code. Someone who moved to Pittsburgh from New York, for example, may want a 212 number in order to make "local" calls back home. By opting for additional lines, a customer can receive local calls from children at a college hundreds of miles away. Vonage offers a "virtual phone number" service for $4.99 a month that makes calls local from two or more area codes. Travelers can take their adapters along, plug into broadband connections and use the phone just as if they were sitting in their family rooms. "You avoid all those crazy hotel charges," Vonage spokesman Mitchell Slepian said. Still, Internet calling departs most from regular phone service for its ability to manage calls. Customers can go to a Web page and change options at any time for call waiting, caller ID and voice mail, and they can forward calls to other numbers. The service can respond differently to different calls. A former boyfriend can be sent straight to voice mail, while Mom's calls go to a cell phone. And calls can be programmed to ring to a home and cell phone at the same time. Greg Waldo, of Silver Spring, Md., likes VoiceWing's ability to keep a record of calls his family makes, as well as incoming calls. "If a call was made to someone you don't generally call, like a plumber, and you know you used him two months ago, you can go and retrieve the number. That's helpful," said Waldo, an engineer with Lockheed Martin who has used Verizon's service for about a year. Waldo cut his family's $60 phone bill almost in half with the switch, and used the savings to buy a battery backup that would power his phone adapter and other equipment during a power outage. He and his family also worry about VoIP's much-publicized shortcomings when it comes to making 911 emergency calls, although he knows Verizon and other companies are addressing this. "I don't see why Verizon sells any other service," he said. The lack of full 911 service, worries about outages and questions about directory service are the typical issues raised in debates about whether to drop a land line phone for VoIP. Most Internet calling services have been limited to simple 911 service that won't display the caller's phone number and address at a dispatch center. VoIP providers now are rushing to meet the Federal Communications Commission's Nov. 28 deadline to certify that 911 calls will go straight to an emergency dispatcher, instead of a main number for the center, and that the phone number and location will be shown. Vonage and Verizon now offer this enhanced 911 service in New York, and are expanding it nationwide. Pittsburgh area companies moving into VoIP point out that they already have agreements with emergency centers, so their 911 will mirror the service that comes with regular phone plans. Another worry is that VoIP service will fail in a power outage, and any time broadband service is down. While Internet outages happen, "it's one thing if you can't check your e-mail. It's another if that is the sole source of communication in your house," said Charles White, vice president of TNS Telecoms, a market research firm in Jenkintown, Pa. While big and small telecom providers nationwide are moving full speed into VoIP, a recent TNS survey found that residents in just 33 percent of households know what it is. That's an increase of about 10 percent over the last year. Nationwide, about 4 percent of households use Internet calling. Vonage, the leader in market share, said its business has expanded to more than 800,000 customers. Verizon and AT&T don't disclose customer figures, although AT&T spokeswoman Deborah Jones said VoIP has been the company's focus, since it stopped marketing its traditional phone services last year. Verizon views VoiceWing as one of its many phone options, a less expensive alternative to the roughly comparable Freedom local and long distance package for $54.95 a month. "It's just another choice that we are offering customers," spokesman Lee Gierczynski said. "Everybody's communications needs are different." Small phone companies like Curry and Full Service, meanwhile, view the Internet as their path to the future partly because of changes in federal and state law over the past year that require them to pay more to lease parts of Verizon's network. They also plan to build on the fact that the Internet knows no boundaries, and neither will their Internet phone products. Full Service, which sells phone service across Pennsylvania, plans to kick off VoIP on Sept. 12 in the 412 and 724 area codes. "Then, there are plans to expand into 26 markets across the United States," company President David E. Schwencke said. Those markets are cities with NFL teams. Schwencke said he's talking with investment bankers about securing $3.5 million for marketing, and working on a partnership with the National Football League to promote Full Service this fall. Curry said he is talking with Shop 'n Save and Fox's Pizza Den about promotions. He hopes to expand service to New Jersey and Ohio this month, and eventually go nationwide. He also plans to market the service through universities. "Students don't need a full-blown land line to call home. The $9.99 package is a good package for them -- and most colleges already provide the high-speed internet access," Curry said, adding that cell phone service costs much more. Calling on the Web Vonage, Verizon and AT&T sell Voice over Internet Protocol packages in the Pittsburgh region, and several other companies will jump into this emerging field in coming weeks. Here's a look at monthly costs, some of which have dropped in recent months: AT&T CallVantage: $19.99 for unlimited local service, 4 cents/minute for long distance; or $29.99 unlimited local and long distance to U.S. and Canada. Comcast: Expected to introduce service this fall; details unavailable. Curry IP Solutions: $9.99 plus 3.9 cents/minute for all calls; or $14.99 unlimited local plus 500 minutes long distance, 3.9 cents/minute afterward; or $24.99 unlimited local and long distance. Full Service Network: $19.99 for unlimited nationwide calling, debuting in September in 412 and 724 area codes. North Pittsburgh Telephone Co.: Introducing service early fall to work with company's broadband; details unavailable. Verizon VoiceWing: $19.95 for 500 minutes to anywhere in U.S., 4 cents/minute afterward; or $34.95 unlimited local and long distance. Vonage: $14.99 for 500 minutes to anywhere in U.S. or Canada, 3.9 cents/minute afterward; or $24.99 unlimited U.S. and Canada calls. Kim Leonard can be reached at kleonard@tribweb.com or (412) 380-5606. Copyright 2005 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co. 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. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Tribune-Review Publishing Co. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Subject: Interesting Cellphone and Mastercard Tidbit From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2005 02:18:04 GMT I just tried to activate my updated credit card with the new expiration date for the first time since abandoning my land line and going strictly cellphone. I updated my Mastercard records with my new "home" phone back when I got rid of the land line, but apparently the system they have for activating credit cards can't deal with cell phone numbers (the human I eventually got to talk to told me they are woking on it). I know my phone generates valid caller ID, since I've seen it show up on the phones of people I called. I also know FPL's power outage automated system can recognize me when I call and correlate my cellphone to my home address to tell me about the state of any power outage, so I gotta wonder what the difficulty is at Mastercard. -- >>==>> 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<<==+ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 21:59:30 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: See ROKR in Action Click "Watch Demo" on lower left http://www.makemedance.com/index.php?section=demo ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net> Subject: Re: Qwest Lauches New Legal Fight Against Portland Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 19:00:45 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Tony P. wrote: > I do wish the phone companies would acknowledge and embrace their own > anti-competitive history. Maybe then they wouldn't be such anal > retentive jerks about things. Not bloody likely. Embracing their past means they'd just be proud of being anal-retentive jerks. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ From: NOTvalid@XmasNYC.Info Subject: Re: NYC Phone Rates, was: Sid Ceasar and Phones in Comedy Date: 11 Sep 2005 10:58:05 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Danny Burstein wrote: > In <telecom24.411.18@telecom-digest.org> Wesrock@aol.com writes: > Bit by bit the 75 message unit allowace got cut down, so nowadays > there's nothing there there. On the slight plus side back in the 1970s the > "local area" for untimed calls expanded to the entire city. Also cut out is the discount for LOCAL calls made in evening and night altho Verizon kept itemizing how many were made eve and night. ------------------------------ From: Ed Clarke <clarke@cilia.org> Subject: Re: Internet Satellite Imagery Under Fire Over Security Date: 10 Sep 2005 22:56:48 GMT Organization: Ciliophora Associates, Inc. Reply-To: clarke@cilia.org On 2005-09-10, Jim Burks <jbburks@hotmail.com> wrote: > Panarat Thepgumpanat <reuters@telecom-digest.org> wrote in message > news:telecom24.408.2@telecom-digest.org: >> By Panarat Thepgumpanat >> Asian governments have expressed security concerns about easy access >> to detailed satellite images on the Internet, such as those used by >> rescuers in New Orleans, saying the technology could endanger >> sensitive sites. > Google should do the same as they do for the US. Currently, they > block the roof of the White House, and buildings around it. View > 1600 Pennsylvania and see. As you zoom in, at a certain magnification, > the roofs are whited out. > Either respect the wishes of those countries and 'mask' their sensitive > sites, or don't mask ours. You can buy 2m resolution imagry from Russian satellite distributors. As I recall, a Canadian newspaper got into hot water during the cold war for printing images of a secret military base in Canada ... that they bought from the Russians. My old Laserdisk of satellite images had a small section of a commercial "SeaSat". Turns out that the commercial (non military) satellite showed up nuclear submarine tracks quite nicely. The satellite suddenly went dark and has not been replaced. It's all bullshit. Anyone who wants these images can get them with very little difficulty. ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Internet Satellite Imagery Under Fire Over Security Date: 10 Sep 2005 22:59:03 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article <telecom24.413.9@telecom-digest.org>, Jim Burks <jbburks@hotmail.com> wrote: > Panarat Thepgumpanat <reuters@telecom-digest.org> wrote in message > news:telecom24.408.2@telecom-digest.org: >> By Panarat Thepgumpanat >> Asian governments have expressed security concerns about easy access >> to detailed satellite images on the Internet, such as those used by >> rescuers in New Orleans, saying the technology could endanger >> sensitive sites. > Google should do the same as they do for the US. Currently, they > block the roof of the White House, and buildings around it. View > 1600 Pennsylvania and see. As you zoom in, at a certain magnification, > the roofs are whited out. I don't know what you're looking at, but Google Earth shows complete detail of the White House down to the max resolution, which is much higher resolution than the satellite imagery on maps.google.com. Same with the Pentagon. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz <first.last@comcast.net> Subject: Re: Internet Satellite Imagery Under Fire Over Security Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 23:14:06 -0400 In article <telecom24.413.9@telecom-digest.org>, jbburks@hotmail.com says: > Panarat Thepgumpanat <reuters@telecom-digest.org> wrote in message > news:telecom24.408.2@telecom-digest.org: >> By Panarat Thepgumpanat >> Asian governments have expressed security concerns about easy access >> to detailed satellite images on the Internet, such as those used by >> rescuers in New Orleans, saying the technology could endanger >> sensitive sites. > Google should do the same as they do for the US. Currently, they > block the roof of the White House, and buildings around it. View > 1600 Pennsylvania and see. As you zoom in, at a certain magnification, > the roofs are whited out. > Either respect the wishes of those countries and 'mask' their sensitive > sites, or don't mask ours. > Jim Burks > Collierville, TN If the sites are so sensitive, let them use camouflage. All the Google masking does is highlight "sensitive" sites even more, like: N38.92138 W77.06686 or: N37.275000, W115.791667 while at the same time, they don't even bother with: N38.74080 W104.83317 --Gene ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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'. 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