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TELECOM Digest Sat, 17 Sep 2005 19:50:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 424 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Florida Cops, Others Misused Our Data, Choicepoint Claims (B. Sullivan) Should Your Business Switch to VOIP? (Peter Alexander) Massachusetts Teen Convicted For Hacking Telcos and ISPs (News Wire) Cellular and VoIP Carriers Working on E-911 (Paul Korzeniowski) Alternatives to LEC Voicemail (ed.gehringer@gmail.com) 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: Bob Sullivan <sullivan@msnbc.com> Subject: Florida Cops, Others Misused Our Data, Choicepoint Claims Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 13:26:23 -0500 By Bob Sullivan Technology correspondent MSNBC A Miami-Dade police officer allegedly peeked at thousands of private consumer records in what database giant ChoicePoint described as illegal use of its information. The company also announced three other incidents of improper access, two involving private investigators. The incidents were discovered in February, said ChoicePoint marketing director James Lee, when the company was investigating a systematic electronic break-in by a crime ring that managed to steal some 145,000 records from the firm's massive database. The Alpharetta, Ga.-based firm maintains records on nearly every adult in the United States. ChoicePoint is sending out notice of the privacy breach to all those affected and offering a year of free credit monitoring. The letters state that Social Security numbers, addresses, dates of birth, and other personal information might have been accessed by rogue employees at legitimate agencies, the firm said. The company waited until now to notify consumers at the request of the various law enforcement agencies conducting their own investigations, Lee said. In the biggest single incident, 4,689 people's records may have been improperly accessed by an officer of the Miami-Dade Police Department in Florida. Department spokeswoman Detective Mary Walters said the officer had been suspended and an investigation was ongoing. She declined to identify the officer and said no charges had been filed. The three other incidents announced Friday were: .. Two California-based private investigators, Kenneth Beck and Robert Starr, allegedly used ChoicePoint's data to hunt for possible identity theft victims, Lee said. .. A Texas-based firm named RPM was found to have improperly accessed data. .. An employee of an "accredited insurance" company that ChoicePoint would not name, citing contracts with the firm, was also alleged to have improperly accessed records. In total, the three incidents resulted in 547 warning notices being sent to victims, Lee said. ChoicePoint also announced Friday it will send out an additional 4,667 notices to newly-discovered victims of the high-profile data theft revealed in February. Those consumers will also get a year of free credit monitoring. In the wake of that incident, ChoicePoint began taking a closer look at how its databases were being accessed. "We identified some unusual search patterns," Lee said. "We have the ability for certain law enforcement customers to track the usage and report when there are anomalies." The firm passed the information on the U.S. Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies, which are conducting their own investigations. 'Access without accountability' Privacy rights advocate Chris Hoofnagle of the Electronic Privacy Information Center said the revelations highlight a serious problem with the use of electronic investigation tools such as ChoicePoint's database: Law enforcement officials might abuse such systems to conduct personal searches. "One concern is the problem of law enforcement having access without accountability," he said. Hoofnagle said he warned of this problem four years ago in a law journal article titled "Big Brother's Little Helper." "This clearly raises the question of whether or not anyone is overseeing law enforcement users of ChoicePoint," he said. "Can police officers just root through the files and take whatever they wish with no accountability; no need for warrants, etc?" But Hoofnagle did praise the ability of Choicepoint auditors to uncover these incidents. "That's a good thing, that ChoicePoint found these errant users of the system and that the public has received notice of them," he said. Lee said ChoicePoint does all it can to make sure its service is used legitimately, but he said the firm's clients also need to guard internally against misuse. "We are using our technology to the degree that we can ensure searches are proper, but with any customer there has to be internal controls," he said. Congress is currently debating legislation that would make customer notifications when private data is leaked mandatory nationwide, imitating a state law that protects California residents. However, currently it's not clear which firm would have the responsibility to send the notifications: ChoicePoint, which owns the data, or the companies with the rogue employees that allegedly stole the data. While ChoicePoint was not necessarily legally obliged to send the notifications, the company chose to do so "to avoid arm-wrestling" with the other firms, Lee said. So far this year, nearly 50 million consumers' data has been reported lost, stolen, or exposed to hackers. ChoicePoint's data theft, first reported Feb. 14 on MSNBC.com, began a string of reported incidents that has highlighted the fragility of systems used to protect consumer data. Copyright 2005 MSNBC Interactive Copyright 2005 MSNBC.com URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9370909/page/2/ 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, MSNBC Interactive. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Peter Alexander <msnbc@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Should Your Business Switch to VOIP? Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 13:26:50 -0500 by Peter Alexander, Entreprenuer.com Voice over internet protocol technology cuts telecommunications costs and improves productivity. But is it right for your business? You're at an internet cafe; and get an important business call -- on your laptop. You're on the road and receive an urgent voice mail -- in your e-mail inbox. Your business has a phone number with a Florida area code -- even though your office is in California. Welcome to the world of voice over internet protocol (VoIP). With VoIP service, your phone calls travel over the internet as data, just as e-mail does. This type of service can dramatically lower your telecommunications costs while increasing your productivity. It also provides useful features and capabilities that conventional phone technology can't offer. Though VoIP is quickly gaining popularity, some small businesses are still on the sidelines, concerned that VoIP audio quality is substandard, that the technology is difficult or costly to implement, or that their phone service will be interrupted if their electricity goes out. The truth is, VoIP's benefits far outweigh any potential drawbacks. Here's what you need to know about VoIP to decide if it's right for your business -- plus tips for making the most out of VoIP service. 1. Since its inception, the quality of VoIP service has come a long way. Early VoIP products required both parties in a conversation to be at a computer. Not only was this extremely limiting, but the sound quality was often poor. Today's VoIP service has evolved and allows you to make and receive calls using standard phones or, even better, feature-rich IP phones. Sound quality has vastly improved, too--in fact, many businesses today have abandoned traditional phone systems in favor of VoIP. Many of these businesses have the ability to leverage their own data network to carry phone calls originating and terminating within their office with additional savings and benefits. 2. Using VoIP can significantly reduce your telecommunications costs. Operating costs for VoIP service providers are significantly lower than for traditional phone companies, which must contend with the existing, expensive-to-maintain phone infrastructure and costly industry regulations. With lower expenses, VoIP providers can charge much less than their competitors. And with VoIP, businesses no longer have to maintain separate networks for phones and data -- another significant money saver. Also, the costs associated with employee moves, adds and changes -- which can cost $100 or more per occurrence -- are virtually eliminated. All you have to do is move your IP phone (or traditional phone with a VoIP adapter) to a different broadband network jack and plug it in. Many times, your VoIP adapter can be connected through a 'switchboard' arrangement, making it even more flexible. 3. VoIP service makes your phone system highly flexible. VoIP systems allow you to do things that are simply not possible with traditional phone technology. For example, you can: a .. Take your phone system with you. As long as you have access to a broadband connection, you can use your VoIP system anywhere, such as in a hotel room or at a friend's home. Customers and employees can stay in touch just by calling your regular business phone number -- they don't need to call your cell phone, which means you can save precious cell phone minutes. a.. Talk on your laptop. Many VoIP systems include telephony software that enables you to send and receive calls using a headphone/microphone unit connected to your computer. Now you won't miss an urgent call from a client, even when you're hanging out with your laptop at an internet cafe. a.. Get voice mail and faxes with your e-mail. Many VoIP services allow you to have voice mail and faxes automatically forwarded to your regular e-mail inbox. You get all your messages in one place, and your voice mail and faxes can be easily archived or forwarded to others. Users can also get their e-mails "read" to voice mail. a.. Get virtual phone numbers. Your phone number can have any available area code, not just the one assigned to your region, that telco says you are stuck with. For example, a business based in California could have a phone number with a Florida area code -- particularly advantageous if your business has (or wants) customers in Florida. a.. Increase productivity. Many VoIP phone numbers can be configured to simultaneously ring on multiple devices -- such as your cell and landline phones -- before going to voice mail, thus eliminating time-consuming "phone tag." In a recent survey conducted by Sage Research, the increased productivity enabled by internet telephony added up to 3.9 hours per week, per employee. With all the benefits VoIP has to offer, if you're now considering a switch to VoIP service, these tips will help you overcome any potential hurdles and make the most of a VoIP system: a.. When in doubt, hire an expert. An off-the-shelf VoIP system for a business with a few employees is fairly straightforward to implement. But larger VoIP systems may work best if installed and configured by experts. Ask your network equipment vendor about VoIP services tailored for small businesses. a.. Test it out. Rather than switch everyone at once, test a VoIP service first with just a few users. Once you're satisfied with the service, then you can roll it out to other employees. (You might want to keep your traditional phone system up and running during the transition as a backup.) a.. Use call forwarding. If the power goes out, your computer network may go down -- taking your VoIP service with it (unless you have a generator or other alternative power source). For backup, configure your VoIP service to automatically forward unanswered calls to a cell or landline number. a.. Secure your network. VoIP's growing popularity is attracting the attention of hackers, and users are concerned that hackers may digitally intercept VoIP calls or bring down a company's VoIP system using denial-of-service attacks. The solution? Make sure your network security is thorough and up to date. For more information, see my earlier article, "Is Your Business Safe from Internet Security Threats?." One thing's for sure: VoIP technology is continually evolving, with compelling new benefits being developed for small businesses. For example, some new wireless PDA/phone combination devices allow you to use your VoIP service whenever you're near a Wi-Fi network and use your cell phone service when you're not. Among the advantages: a dramatic increase in mobility and a sharp decrease in your cell phone charges. For larger small businesses, having a single IP network for both voice and data can provide other advantages, too. For example, an IP network can also support real-time, high-quality, affordable videoconferencing, call center applications and more. No matter the size of your business, VoIP is a surprisingly flexible, affordable technology that offers the same, sophisticated communication tools your enterprise-size competitors have. Copyright 2005 Entrepreneur.com, Inc. copyright 2005 MSNBC.com URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9368492/ 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, MSNBC Interactive. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have always been quite pleased with my Vonage VoIP service, and for maximum flexibility, I have it connected as a 'trunk line' on my internal PBX here at my home/office. I am able to make outgoing calls via VoIP from any extension or recieve incoming VoIP calls at any extension. Using VoIP has made a _huge_ savings on my already inexpensive phone costs. (I use a local carrier, Prairie Stream rather than the more expensive and less useful SBC.)And you know what? I have had no SBC in this house now for over a year and don't miss it at all; they keep sending me letters every week or two to please re-consider and take them back, of course. PAT] ------------------------------ From: News Wire <newswire@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Massachusetts Teen Convicted for Hacking Internet and Telcos Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 13:33:05 -0500 A Massachusetts juvenile pled guilty in federal court and was sentenced Thursday in connection with a series of hacking incidents into Internet and telephone service providers; the theft of an individual's personal information and the posting of it on the Internet; and making bomb threats to high schools in Florida and Massachusetts; all of which took place over a 15-month period. Victims of the juvenile's conduct have suffered a total of approximately $1 million in damages, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan for the District of Massachusetts; United States Attorney H. E. Bud Cummins, III for the Eastern District of Arkansas; United States Attorney R. Alexander Acosta for the Southern District of Florida; Steven D. Ricciardi, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service in New England; Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England; William Sims, Special Agent in Charge of the Secret Service in Miami, Florida; and William C. Temple, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Little Rock, Arkansas, announced today that in a sealed court proceeding a Massachusetts teenager pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Rya W. Zobel to an Information charging him with nine counts of juvenile delinquency. By statute, federal juvenile proceedings and the identity of juvenile defendants are under seal. The Court has authorized limited disclosure in this case at the request of the government and defendant. Judge Zobel also imposed a sentence today of 11 months' detention in a juvenile facility, to be followed by two years' of supervised release. During his periods of detention and supervised release, the juvenile is also barred from possessing or using any computer, cell phone or other electronic equipment capable of accessing the Internet. Following his two years' supervised release (parole) he will be allowed to _apply for computer priviledges from the judge_. Had the juvenile been an adult, the underlying charges would have been charged as three counts of making bomb threats against a person or property, three counts of causing damage to a protected computer system, two counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and one count of obtaining information from a protected computer in furtherance of a criminal act. "Computer hacking is not fun and games," stated U.S. Attorney Sullivan. "Hackers cause real harm to real victims as graphically illustrated in this case." "Would-be hackers, even juveniles when appropriate, should be put on notice that such criminal activity will not be tolerated and that stiff punishments await them if they are caught. It is a very serious business these days." As a result of this bomb threat, the school was closed for two days, while a bomb squad, a canine team, the Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services were called in. In August, 2004, the juvenile logged into the Internet computer system of a major Internet Service Provider ("ISP") using a program he had installed on an employee's computer. This program allowed the juvenile to use the employee's computer remotely to access other computers on the internal network of the ISP and gain access to portions of the ISP's operational information. In January, 2005, the juvenile gained access to the internal computer system of a major telephone service provider that allowed him to look up account information of the telephone service provider's customers. He used this computer system to discover key information about an individual who had an account with the telephone company. He then accessed the information stored on this individual's mobile telephone, and posted the information on the Internet. During this same time period, the juvenile used his access to the telephone company's computer system to set-up numerous telephone accounts for himself and his friends, without having to pay for the service. Also in January, 2005, an associate of the juvenile set-up accounts for the juvenile at a company which stores identity information concerning millions of individuals allowing the juvenile to look at the identity information for numerous individuals, some of which he used for the purpose of looking up the account information for the victim whose personal information he posted on the Internet. In the spring of 2005, the juvenile, using a portable wireless Internet access device, arranged with one or more associates to place a bomb threat to a school in Massachusetts and local emergency services, requiring the response of several emergency response units to the school on two occasions and the school's evacuation on one. In June, 2005, the juvenile called a second major telephone service provider because a phone that a friend had fraudulently activated had been shut off. In a recorded telephone call, the juvenile threatened the telephone service provider that if the provider did not provide him access to its computer system, he would cause its Web service to collapse through a denial of service attack -- an attack designed to ensure that a Website is so flooded with request for information that legitimate users cannot access the Website. The telephone service provider refused to provide the requested access. Approximately ten minutes after the threat was made, the juvenile and others initiated a denial of service attack that succeeded in shutting down a significant portion of the telephone service provider's Web operations. Shortly thereafter, he was placed under arrest. ------------------------------ From: Paul Korzeniowski Subject: Internet, Cell Phone Carriers Piecing Together e-911 System Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 13:35:51 -0500 by Paul Korzeniowski A major shift is under way in the telecom industry. People increasingly use cell phones rather than landlines. And businesses and consumers are cutting their telecom costs by installing voice over Internet protocol links. As a result, calls are moving from the public switched telephone network, or PSTN, to next-generation communications, such as wireless networks and the Internet. While these newer technologies offer many benefits to users and carriers, they have a limitation: They often don't work well with emergency 911 services. "Unfortunately, users may not know a network does not support 911 services until they make those calls," said Bob Egan, president of the consulting firm Mobile Competency. Problem In Crisis In March, a family in Houston tried to call police during a break-in and found their service provider couldn't connect 911 calls. Spurred by such events, the telecom industry is developing a new emergency-calling system, dubbed e911. This service works with new technology and could give additional data to emergency responders. The system could give callers' location information and support video transmissions. That means callers could transmit video of a house fire. Responders would be better prepared to offer help. For all its promise, the e911 system still faces plenty of hurdles. The challenges stem from how emergency calls are transmitted. Here's how the system works: Calls start off in the user's device, which can be a wireless or wireline phone, a computer or a personal digital assistant. They're sent to a call routing system, such as a private branch exchange, or PBX, switchboard or a voice communications server. Next, the call is handed off to a telecom service provider who delivers it to one of 6,000 911 emergency call centers throughout the U.S. These centers are known as public safety answering points, or PSAPs. Emergency operators then work with local responders, such as fire and police departments, to ensure that the caller gets help. Not 'Location' Designed The old 911 system works smoothly because the network end points are fixed. The public network carries the caller information -- caller ID data, such as name and address -- along with the call throughout the transmission. That's not as easy with the new telecom networks. Unlike the public network, Internet protocol and wireless networks were not designed to identify callers' locations. Instead, they locate the switch or server that's controlling the call. "Problems in pinpointing where a call is coming from can arise as users move from one wireless PBX or (local area network) access point to another," said Matthias Machowinski, an analyst at Infonetics Research. Theoretically, an ambulance could be routed to a company data center while a 911 caller actually is a mile away in the branch office. In 2000, the government stepped in to address such problems. The Federal Communications Commission began by focusing on enhancing wireless networks so they could support e911 services. It's a critical issue, since U.S. wireless users already place 50 million 911 calls each year. Those calls account for 30% of total 911 calls. The FCC embarked on a five-year plan that is scheduled to be completed in December. Once finished, emergency personnel should be able to identify wireless users' locations within 1,000 feet. The cellular industry has been working on different ways to meet this goal. The most popular technique aligns cellular and global positioning system technology. GPS systems transmit information from remote devices to satellites revolving around the Earth. During the past few years, cell phone makers have included GPS capability in their products. Qualcomm Unit Involved Wireless service providers, meanwhile, have signed agreements with firms like Cell-Loc Location Technologies and SnapTrack, a unit of Qualcomm. They provide GPS tracking services. That means that when 911 is dialed from a cell phone, the caller's number can be matched to a GPS location. That data can go to a public safety answering point and on to emergency service providers. While helpful, this solution is not foolproof. "GPS systems only work within certain ranges," said Mobile Competency's Egan. "If a user is inside a building, the system may not be able to see him." Another concern: Cellular carriers already have missed a few of the FCC deadlines. They were originally supposed to complete the e911 work by the end of 2004, but they were granted an extension. "I wouldn't be surprised if there were more deployment delays at the end of this year," said Neil Strother, an industry analyst with In-Stat/MDR. And only recently -- in May -- did the FCC turn its attention to voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP. In the long term, the federal agency wants VoIP service providers to offer similar capabilities as the public network -- including emergency services. The FCC is requiring VoIP providers to warn customers about the lack of 911 capabilities. The Telecommunications Industry Association, an ad hoc standards-making group, has been trying to make it possible for wireless and VoIP networks to transmit location data in a uniform way. The association's Link Layer Discovery Protocol-Media Endpoint Discovery standard, which is in draft form, is designed to make it easier to share information within the VoIP network. The standard is expected to be added to various products during the next year or two. So while a great deal of progress has been made in filling 911 holes, more work needs to be done. "Equipment vendors and service providers understand the need to improve their emergency services," Egan said. "But time, money and effort will need to be expended in order to deliver those enhancements." Copyright 2005 Investor's Business Daily 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, Investors Business Daily. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A couple times I have wondered what will the E-911 advocates do when we eventually reach the point that the older-style and more cumbersome landline phone system is event- ually abandoned (over the next few years, I suspect; the telcos are losing one or two million subscribers each year, it seems.) PAT] ------------------------------ From: ed.gehringer@gmail.com Subject: Alternatives to LEC Voicemail Date: 16 Sep 2005 20:14:09 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com My LEC has hiked their rates again for voicemail, bringing the total to $10.50/mo. + tax. I'm fed up with paying 50% more for this service than I did a few years ago. So I want to investigate alternatives. If I sign up with a third-party voicemail provider, it looks like I'll still need to buy call-forwarding don't answer ring control, call-forwarding busy line, and message-waiting stutter dialtone from my LEC. Is this correct? If so, it will be very hard to realize any savings. Or, I could use software like AnswerMyPhone or EZVoice. If I do so, I will need a voice modem in my computer. Am I correct in assuming that most modems that come with PCs are not voice modems? With a software solution like that, is there any way that voicemail can be left while I am on the phone? That is, would call-forwarding busy line work with AnswerMyPhone, EZVoice, or equivalent? Actually, I don't see how it could, because if the call was forwarded, it would have to be forwarded to some other phone number, wouldn't it? The only other number I have is a cellphone, which is not going to be connected to a PC modem. And finally, I've paged through dozens of Google links without finding any semi-technical popular articles on alternatives to voicemail. Does anyone know of a good article on the topic that I could read? Thanks! Ed [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The way I handle this problem is by having telco forward on busy/no answer to my cell phone, which I will always have with me if I am away from home. After three rings (but sometimes the caller only hears two rings or maybe four rings) then the call is yanked away from my landline phone and sent to my cellular phone, where it is given another five or six rings, and then at that point it goes to the cellphone voicemail which is free as part of my cellphone package. If my landline phone (actually, my little home-style PBX) is busy when a call comes in (via call- waiting) then it is automatically given to the cell phone. And given my physical handicaps, it is not always easy for me to get up and find where I left my (wireless landline) phone, so I confess at times to just deliberatly waiting until the call is pushed over to my cell phone which I happen to have in my pocket, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ 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'. 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. 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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 #424 ****************************** | |