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TELECOM Digest     Tue, 11 Oct 2005 15:18:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 462

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Yahoo Expands News Searches to Include Blogs (Eric Auchard)
    Internet Enters Bold Second Act (Mark Trumbull)
    Cellular-News for Tuesday 11th October 2005 (Cellular-News)
    BellSouth Expands Wireless Broadband Service, (USTelecom dailyLead)
    NEC 2400 Out of Extensions (Jason Wasser)
    PocketDISH Portable Media Companion (Monty Solomon)
    Location Tracking - For People, Products, Places (Monty Solomon)
    Re: Device That Interfaces Between Phone/CallerID - Serial Port? (anon1)
    Re: United States Says No! Internet is Ours! (Gordon Burditt)
    Re: Dispute Leads to Internet Woes for Thousands of Users (Henhouse III)
    Re: Life Beyond Earth (Linc Madison)
    Re: Vonage and the 500 Minute Plan (DevilsPGD)
    Re: Vonage and the 500 Minute Plan (J Kelly)

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
Internet.  All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and
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We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we
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               ===========================

See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest.  

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

From: Eric Auchard  <reuters@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Yahoo Expands News Searches to Include Blogs 
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 12:00:03 -0500


by Eric Auchard

Yahoo Inc. said on Monday it will begin featuring the work of
self-published Web bloggers side-by-side with the work of professional
journalists, leveling distinctions between the two.

Yahoo News, the world's most popular Internet media destination, is
set to begin testing on Tuesday an expanded news search system that
includes not only news stories and blogs but also user-contributed
photos and related Web links.

The move will further stoke the debate between media traditionalists
who want to maintain strict walls between news and commentary and
those who argue such boundaries are elitist and undervalue the work of
"citizen journalists."

Blogs, short for Web logs, are easy-to-publish Web sites where
millions of individuals post commentary from political analysis to
personal musings, creating a grassroots publishing medium that
challenges established media's authority.

Yahoo said its move to combine professionally edited news alongside
the work of grassroots commentators promises to enrichen the sources
of information on breaking news events.

"Traditional media doesn't have the time and resources to cover all
the stories," Joff Redfern, product director for Yahoo Search
said. "It really does add substantially to what you are looking at
when you are looking for news."

Yahoo has, in effect, created a three-tier system for finding news
that starts with the links to top ten stories and related photographs
produced by mainstream news organizations on the main Yahoo News site.

Readers searching for further details will be taken to a second-level
news site, which splits the page between news from 6,500 professional
sources and links to the hundreds of thousands of blogs available from
its syndication service.

Thus the expanded search stops short of blurring all lines between
edited news and self-publishing. "We do try to demarcate what is
mainstream media and what is user-generated content so that there is
no confusion there," Redfern said.

Those choosing to dig still deeper can click on "More Blog results..."
to be taken to purely user-generated news from blogs, photos and
links.  This allow the user to search 10 million blogs listed on
Yahoo's blogs blog tracking service.

The search includes links to many of the 42 million photos on the
popular Flickr photo-sharing site, which Yahoo acquired this past
spring, as well as to My Web, Yahoo's mechanism for allowing its users
to learn from the Web searches of others.

FIGHTING TO DEFINE JOURNALISM

Robert Thompson, a media studies professor at Syracuse University,
said it was important to preserve the distinctions between
professional journalism and personal commentary.

He defined professional journalism as reporting which adheres to
standards of accuracy and writing subjected to an editorial process,
and all done with an eye to journalistic ethics -- however often
journalism falls short of these goals.

"There is a distinction between something that has gone through an
editorial process as opposed to something put up by someone that has
been through none of those processes," Thompson said.

But media critic Jeff Jarvis, author of the blog Buzzmachine
(http://www.buzzmachine.com), said major Internet sites such as Yahoo
and Google continue to patronize bloggers by treating them as
secondary sources of news.

Jarvis, who is a former TV critic for TV Guide and People magazines,
mocked the notion that journalists live by a shared set of
professional standards, that they are better trained or more
trustworthy than the anyone-can-join blog movement.

"What made the voice of the people somehow less important than the
paid professional journalist?" he asked. "You don't need to have a
degree, you don't need to have a paycheck, you don't need to have a
byline," Jarvis said.

"If you inform the public, you are committing an act of journalism," he
declared.

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: Mark Trumbull <csm@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Internet Enters a Bold Second Act
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 11:59:47 -0500


By Mark Trumbull, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Across the high-tech landscape, tectonic plates are shifting.

Google, the company that's king of the online search, recently offered
to provide wireless Internet access to the entire city of San
Francisco -- for free.

Apple Computer now offers an iPod music player so tiny it could get
lost in your wallet.

And the British Broadcasting Corp. is starting to offer many of its TV
programs in digitized formats online.

In their own ways, these developments point to a common theme: Led by
the Internet, the high-tech industry appears to be entering a vibrant
new phase of both growth and upheaval.

This is a far different boom from the dotcom craze of the late 1990s. It
is the Web's sober second act, characterized not by soaring stock prices
but by forces that are challenging traditional industries -- from
publishing to telecommunications -- to adopt new business plans. 
Consumers seem to be the only sure winners.

"We've taken a huge step forward and moved from a stage of concept to
a stage of product and service delivery," says Brooks Gray, vice
president of Technology Business Research in Hampton, N.H. His warning
is clear: "There are some sizable risks to companies that don't
evolve."

The maturing of the Internet as an engine of the global economy is
being driven by a handful of important forces:

Prices and sizes shrink. Miniature "flash memory" technology, for
example, is enabling the rise of little gadgets that link people to
the Web. Transferring songs from the Internet to a shirt-pocket music
player is just one example. Next, in an announcement Wednesday, could
come iPods that show music videos. And cellphones will soon display TV
episodes.

Information goes digital. Lines are blurring between computers and
traditional consumer devices such as phones, television sets, or even
printed books and newspapers. Finally, "digital convergence" -- the
fusion of computing with other traditional industries foreseen in the
1990s -- is happening in earnest, challenging traditional
communications industries.

Mobility expands. Wireless services, such as the network Google
envisions in San Francisco, are making the Web portable, not just a
desk-bound tool. Shopping for shoes? A smartphone will help navigate
as you hoof it from store to store.

As all these trends shower consumers with new products and services,
corporations face both risks and opportunities.

The good news, experts say, is that the online realm has reached
critical mass.

As of this fall, an estimated 1 billion people worldwide have Web
access. In the US, the share of Internet users with high-speed
connections is passing 50 percent. Online advertising revenue is
soaring, and consumers are getting used to the notion of paying for
services online.

But as information is digitized, profit margins can get squeezed. The
Internet may be maturing, but it's not yet yielding the rich rewards
that top companies typically reap when an industry reaches full bloom.

Instead, it's shaking up a host of traditional industries.

Consider telecommunications. Businesses and consumers are increasingly
flocking to upstart providers like Vonage, which send calls over the
Web for a fraction of the traditional land-line cost.

The rise of wireless online networks adds to the potential for price
wars. These networks compete with phone and cable wires to take people
online. They also could give consumers an alternative to traditional
cellphone voice traffic.

"It's good for everybody except possibly the providers" of all these
networks, says Allyn Hall, an expert in wireless technologies for the
market-research firm In-Stat, in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Advertising revenue may help Google or some other bidder to finance a
free wireless network that San Francisco hopes to create.

Such efforts, under consideration in other US cities, represent a
direct challenge to traditional phone companies. So it's likely they
will fight back not only with rival service plans but also by lobbying
lawmakers and regulators.

"Never bet against the regulated providers," Mr. Hall says.

But in this battle to provide access to an array of online services,
the winner will be "perhaps less dependent on technology than on other
factors like marketing," he says.

The providers of content, such as media conglomerate Time Warner, face
a different set of challenges. As content goes digital, these firms
are learning to get consumers to pay for the information and news they
get online. And they're finding more advertisers who will help foot
the bill. By 2010, online ad revenues are expected to more than double
from last year's $9.3 billion.

The problem of illegal copying, which has plagued the music industry,
must be solved anew for video products as TV goes online.

Whatever the hurdles, Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons recently said
the Web -- specifically his company's troubled merger with Internet
service provider AOL -- is where the "growth opportunity" lies.

Mainstream high-tech companies are also scrambling for their place in
the wild wild Web. The most closely watched battle pits Microsoft, the
dominant software provider for personal computers, against Web-search
giant Google.

"Google is certainly the best candidate that's come along in a long time
to displace Microsoft," says Joe Wilcox, a senior analyst at Jupiter
Research.

That doesn't mean it will. Microsoft is famous for tenaciously fending
off threats, and has recently reorganized, in part to strengthen its
MSN Web services. The company has also discussed a possible alliance
with AOL.

But Google embodies a whole new model of computing.

Where Microsoft has traditionally helped people make the most of their
own PC, Google wants the Internet to be a giant personal computer for
the planet. It's stated mission is "to organize the world's information
and make it universally accessible."

The more the Internet becomes such a tool, the less important
traditional desktop software like Microsoft's becomes. The PC becomes
just a way to get on to the Web.

Mr. Wilcox isn't counting Microsoft out just yet. But "Google could be
in a very good position if it executes well," he says.

And as all these battles shake out, consumers stand to be in the best
position of all. Their main challenge may be the old one of competing
standards. Remember Betamax vs. VHS? Today, consumers could pay $299 for
an iPod, only to find that next year's music player comes from a
different company.

Copyright 2005 The Christian Science Monitor

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.

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

Subject: Cellular-News for Tuesday 11th October 2005
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 07:41:05 -0500
From: cellular-news <dailydigest@cellular-news.com>


Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com


  Alcatel Wins Cambodian GSM Contract
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14349.php

Alcatel has signed a US$8.8 million contract to expand and upgrade the
GSM network of Cambodia's CamGSM. With this agreement Alcatel becomes
CamGSM's sole supplier of radio network solutions. Alcatel will also
extend the...

  Cingular Wireless Corrects Subscriber Count Reports
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14350.php

Cingular Wireless says that it has corrected the number of customers
it reported at the end of the second quarter of 2005 from 51.596
million to 51.442 million. This change has no impact on the company's
previous financi...

  Specialist Phone Insurance Overpriced - report
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14351.php

Just under 2,000 mobile phones are stolen in the UK every day making
it important for customers to consider insurance. But the British
Insurance Brokers' Association warns that mobile phone insurance
policies can prove e...

  Italy Getting Digital TV on Mobiles
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14352.php

Mediaset and Italy's TIM have reached an agreement that will become
the basis for a commercial launch of digital terrestrial TV on mobile
phones using DVBH (Digital Video Broadcast Handheld) technology....

  New Smartphone from SonyEricsson
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14353.php

Sony Ericsson is launching an upgraded smartphone, the P990 - which
will be the first commercially available smartphone to adopt the
enhanced Symbian OS version 9.1 and UIQ 3 software platform. This
flagship UMTS smartph...

  Use SMS to Boil Water
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14354.php

The tea seller, PG Tips has teamed up with Orange UK to develop a PG
Tips branded kettle - that can be switched on by sending it an
SMS. Inspired by loveable inventors Wallace & Gromit, PG Tips, best
known for the innova...

  FOCUS: Russia mulls fighting mobile handset thieves
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14293.php

Russia is facing a rising problem of mobile handsets theft. In 2004,
the Moscow police officially registered over 7,000 mobile handset
thefts. However, analysts consider that the real number of stolen
mobile handsets is ...

  Belarus MDC mobile subscriber base up 4.1% in September
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14297.php

The subscriber base of Belarus mobile phone operator Mobile Digital
Connection (MDC) increased 4.1% on the month in September to 1.645
million users, the company said Tuesday. ...

  Ukraine's Jeans mobile subscriber base up to 5 mln users Sep 30 
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14300.php

The subscriber base of Ukraine's Jeans rose 74% since the beginning of
the year to 5 million users as of September 30, Ukrainian Mobile
Communications (UMC) said in a press release. ...

  Russia's Euroset to cooperate in MVNO project with MTT
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14301.php

Russia's largest mobile handset retailer Euroset has concluded an
agreement with Multiregional Transit Telecom (MTT) on cooperation in
the development of Euroset's mobile virtual network operator (MVNO)
project, an MTT...

  TeliaSonera says holders to invest $60 mln in Moldova's Moldcell in 5 yrs
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14303.php

Shareholders of Moldova's mobile service operator Moldcell plan to
invest U.S. $60 million in the company within five years, Anders Igel,
CEO of TeliaSonera, Moldcell's key shareholder, said Wednesday. ...

  Belarus' BeST to buy $234 mln equipment from Alcatel Shanghai 
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14313.php

Belarus state-controlled mobile operator Belarus Telecommunications
Network, or BeST, has signed an agreement with China's Alcatel
Shanghai Bell to purchase the Chinese company's telecommunications
equipment for U...

  Russia's VimpelCom to launch tariff with free cell phone in Dec
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14316.php

Russia's second-largest mobile operator VimpelCom plans to launch a
tariff with a free mobile handset included in the price of the
subscription fee, the company said in a press release Thursday. ...

  Russia's VimpelCom user base in Far East hits 1 million people 
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14319.php

The subscriber base of Russia's second-largest mobile operator
VimpelCom in the country's Far East Federal District has exceeded 1
million people, the company said on Thursday. ...

  Russian court freezes SMARTS' shares once again
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14325.php

Russia's regional court in St. Petersburg has frozen 100% of the
shares of Russian regional mobile operator SMARTS, Kommersant business
daily reported Friday, citing Gennady Kiryushin, the company's general
director. ...

  Finland's Elcoteq opens telecom equip plant in Russia
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14326.php

Russia's ZAO Elcoteq, a subsidiary of Finland's electronics
manufacturing company Elcoteq Network Corporation, opened a
telecommunications equipment plant in St. Petersburg on Friday,
Elcoteq's CEO Antti Piippo said at...

  Hong Kong Hutchison Whampoa Says 3G Subscribers Surpass 10 Million
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14338.php

Jones)- Ports-to-telecommunications conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa
Ltd. said Monday its third-generation mobile phone
subscribers surpassed 10 million worldwide. ...

  Hong Kong Hutchison Telecom Plans US$1 Billion Loan - Sources
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14339.php

Jones)- Hong Kong-listed telecom operator Hutchison Telecommunications
International Ltd. (HTX) is planning to launch a US$1 billion
syndicated loan this week to finance expansion in India, Indonesia and
Vietnam, people ...

  EUROPE MARKETS: Telecom Equipment Shares Climb In Europe
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14340.php

s) -- Telecom equipment shares gave European markets a lift Monday
amid reports that Ericsson is near a deal to buy smaller rival Marconi
and on optimism from the chief executive of Nokia, the world's leading
mobile-hand...


  Dobson Communications Puts 3Q Net Subscriber Base Down 24,100
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14341.php

Dow Jones)- Dobson Communications Corp. (DCEL) expects to report a net
subscriber reduction of about 24,100 for the third quarter, compared
with a net addition of 1,200 in the year-earlier period, and the
company announc...

  PRESS: Russia's VimpelCom may start ops in 9 Far East regions
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14342.php

Russia's second-largest mobile operator VimpelCom may get frequencies
for operation in GSM 900 frequencies in nine regions in the Far East
Federal District, Vedomosti business daily reported Monday, citing a
letter fro...

  CWA Members On Strike At Sprint In Four States
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14343.php

Jones)- Nearly 1,000 Communications Workers of America members working
at Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) went on strike early Monday protesting the
company's calls for benefits cuts in contract negotiations for workers
at its ...

  MegaFon says ups base stations in Moscow to 1,500 units
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14344.php

Russia's third largest mobile operator MegaFon has increased the
number of base stations in the Moscow License Area (MLA) to 1,500
units as of now from 1,000 units as of January 1, the company's
General Director Sergei...

  Nextel Partners Responds To Sprint Nextel Lawsuit
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14345.php

ones)- The dispute between Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) and affiliate
Nextel Partners Inc. (NXTP) got uglier Monday as Nextel Partners fired
back a response to Sprint's legal action. ...

  AC&M says Russia's mobile user base up to 111.74 mln on Sep 30
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14346.php

The number of mobile phone service subscribers in Russia increased to
111.74 million people as of September 30 from 107.33 million people as
of August 31, Advanced Communications & Media (AC&M) said in a report
released ...

  Russia's SMARTS launches EDGE technology in test mode
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14347.php

Russian regional mobile operator SMARTS has launched Enhanced Data
rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) technology in test mode, the company
said Monday. ...

  America Movil Launches New Claro Trademark In Peru
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14348.php

Mexican wireless communications provider America Movil SA (AMX)
launched its new Claro mobile-phone trademark in Peru on Monday. ...

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

Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 13:02:58 EDT
From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: BellSouth Expands Wireless Broadband Service, Strikes Deal


USTelecom dailyLead
October 11, 2005
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/vvhUatagCrppyVMalM

		TODAY'S HEADLINES
	
NEWS OF THE DAY
* BellSouth expands wireless broadband service, strikes deal with Sprint
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Marconi won't comment on reports of Ericsson bid
* Carriers see gold in mobile gaming market
* AT&T offers 911 solution for roaming VoIP users
* Icahn boosts stake, increases pressure on Time Warner
USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT
* Free Tomorrow:  CALEA Update - Impact on VoIP and Broadband Telephony
HOT TOPICS
* Sprint Nextel sues Vonage
* Texas grants first state-issued cable franchise
* More big companies consider own fiber networks
* Report: Verizon Wireless to roll out live TV in 2006
* Report: SBC to use AT&T brand
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
* Wi-Fi group seeks approval for new tech specs
* Coming wireless TV boom could benefit Qualcomm
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* Pay phones live on in some rural towns
* Sprint Nextel asks court to review Nextel Partners deal

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/vvhUatagCrppyVMalM

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

From: Jason  Wasser <jasonwasser@gmail.com>
Subject: NEC 2400 Out of Extensions
Date: 10 Oct 2005 12:54:29 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


We have an NEC 2400 and we're running out of extensions.  How do we
get more?  We're currently only using three digit extensions.

Thanks.

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

Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 13:42:17 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: PocketDISH Portable Media Companion


     DISH Network Introduces PocketDISH Portable Media Companion;
     Three Handheld Styles Play Music, Store Photos, and Display TV
     Entertainment, Anywhere
     - Oct 11, 2005 08:02 AM (BusinessWire)

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 2005--EchoStar
Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) and its DISH Network(TM)
satellite TV service announced today the rollout of its
PocketDISH(TM), a new line of portable media companions. Enhancing the
most on-the-go lifestyles, the handheld PocketDISH downloads and plays
thousands of MP3s, stores and displays photos and is one of the
industry's first video players. PocketDISH gives TV viewers the
ability to take their favorite sitcoms, reality shows or even last
night's game with them to watch anywhere.

The sleek, silver PocketDISH is available in three models: two
portable media recorders and a portable media player.

With the choice of a crystal-clear 2.2-inch, 4-inch or 7-inch LCD
screen, PocketDISH is one of the most advanced portable media devices
available and provides consumers the ultimate convenience in how they
watch television. Compatible with most TVs and consumer electronic
devices on the market today, the units can download or record content
from a PC or Mac, digital cameras, mass storage devices, as well as
other video or audio sources such as DVD players, camcorders and VCRs.
DISH Network customers will enjoy a special feature of ultra-fast
video transfer speeds when attaching PocketDISH to select DISH Network
digital video recorders (DVRs) via a USB 2.0 connection. For instance,
an hour of DISH Network programming can be transferred to the
PocketDISH hard drive in about five minutes.

     - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=52278962

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

Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 14:07:54 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Location Tracking - For People, Products, Places 


Location tracking -- for people, products, places -- is fast coming
into its own It's 11 o'clock. Do you know where your _______ is?

By Andrew Caffrey, Globe Staff  |  October 10, 2005

In one operating room at Massachusetts General Hospital, doctors and
nurses wear radio tags that register their comings and goings on a
42-inch television screen so other members of the medical team know
who is attending the surgery at any given moment.

At an old-soldiers home in King, Wis., elderly residents who are at
risk of wandering off carry a small wireless beacon that signals their
location within a residential facility, and triggers an audio alert
over the public address system when one gets close to a potentially
risky area, such as a stairwell.

At the Illinois Institute of Technology, prospective students could
take a self-guided tour using a tablet PC that spits out information
on activities happening near where they are standing on the Chicago
campus or gives them architectural highlights of the Mies van der Rohe
building as they walk by.

Such tracking technologies, including new applications for Global
Positioning Systems, are coming to a campus, cafe, or care center near
you.

After years of false starts and underwhelming results, systems for
locating people, places, and objects are finally finding themselves.
Once the province of the fanciful imagination of Q from the James Bond
series, location technologies are wending their way into ordinary
business practices and extraordinary human applications, from
monitoring the elderly to connecting a cardiac patient admitted to the
emergency room with the nearest surgeon.

The advances are being aided by upgrades in hand-held and other mobile
devices, which can now process prodigious amounts of data generated by
navigation and related technologies. Communications networks are more
robust and can provide more saturated coverage, and the costs of chip
sets for GPS and other tracking technologies have fallen steeply.

Indeed, consumers are now so accepting of mobile devices such as
cellphones that industry analysts predict they won't be reluctant to
adopt this next wave of newfangled technologies.


http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/10/10/location_tracking____for_people_products_places____is_fast_coming_into_its_own/

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

From: anon1@sci.sci
Subject: Re: Device That Interfaces Between Phone/CallerID and Serial Port?
Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 12:53:17 -0700
Organization: UseNetServer.com


> Assuming you are looking for a device that receives Caller-ID, and the
> voice menu stuff is done by something else, ..

That's a very bad assumption. It's the voice-menu touch-tone: press 1
if you are a personal acquaintance whose first name I would recognize;
press 2 if you are calling me in regard to an existing business
relationship such as a credit card or bank account; press 3 if you are
a stranger trying to call me to advertise a product or service; press
4 if you are offering me a job; press 5 if you are a stranger trying
to call for personal reasons such as you want to discuss something
interesting I posted in a newsgroup; press 6 if we met in person but I
don't yet know your name but I'd remember meeting you.)  which I don't
have and am seeking.

Do you know what such a device would be called and which newsgroup
would be appropriate for asking about such devices? It would be nice
if that one device also included decoding of caller-ID, so that I can
put up different touch-tone monus depending on whether the call
provides caller-ID or not and if so then whether the call is from
somebody whose number I already know, and if a number I already know
then depending on the number: -- You have harassed me and I asked you
to stop calling. But here you go calling me to harass me again. Your
call will be reported to the police.  -- Hi daddy. Phone is ringing
now. If I'm here, I'll answer shortly. -- Hi Margaret. Nice to hear
from you. If I'm here, I'll answer shortly.

> "a cheap modem". It needs Caller-ID but it doesn't need 56K or even
> 33.6k speeds. You don't want to set it up to auto-answer.  The modem's
> RING response code will include caller-ID if it's set up to return it.

I already have a modem, a SupraExpress 56. When the phone rings, the
modem sends just the word RING on a line by itself, with a blank line
between consecutive RINGs. I don't know of any way to make it detect
caller-ID and report that.

> The various Digium PCI cards used by Asterisk to interface with analog
> phone lines let you do a lot more, including the voice menu stuff
> itself, but they don't do RS-232.

I don't think a mere "card" would be of any use to me. It doesn't
sound like anything I can connect up to a phone line and
program/configure in any simple manner. But just in case I'm mistaken
in rejecting your suggestion, please tell me how somebody would
program the "card" to set up the various touch-tone menus? Is there a
keypad on the "card" for entering configuration commands, and a LED or
LCD display on the "card" for getting responses to verify what I'm
doing? 

> Try www.callerid.com and check out the Whozz Calling box.

I looked on that Web site, but didn't see any description of the Whozz
Calling box nor any link to such information. The only mention was
"using our Whozz Calling? family of multi-line hardware." with no link
to info about the device. The text " Features simple viewing, logging,
and networking of both incoming and outgoing Caller ID . Setup screen,
search and find hardware routine, help screens, documentation, and
source code included." appears to refer not to the box but to some
software that wouldn't run on my Macintosh in any case, and there's no
mention of either software or hardware providing any touch-tone menu.

I did a Google search for "Whozz Calling box" and found:

http://www.sandman.com/callerid.html
     Whozz Calling 2 Rear Panel
     2 ports with a DB-9 Serial output to connect to a Serial Printer or
     PC! Has a 250 Call Buffer, to store calls until you download them
     to your PC - using any terminal program with a "Save to Disk"
     feature!

OK, that would be a slight improvement on my current TPC-supplied
caller-ID box which stores only the last 25 caller-ID info and
requires me to manually view each individual record and manually
re-key the information into a text editor. But I see nothing about
supporting touch-tone menus.

     * See any DTMF digits dialed ON INBOUND CALLS! Use this to verify
what mailbox was dialed along with the Caller ID number!  I assume
DTMF is the technical name/abbreviation for the tones used by "touch
tone" dialing. In the absense of any outgoing message, there's no
reason anyone would key in any DTMF tones after getting a connection,
so by itself this is of no use here.

I really need something that will enforce a touch-tone (DTMF) menu,
which anonymous or other unknown/suspicious callers must traverse
before they will be allowed to ring my phone. I don't see any
indication that Whozz will provide that capability. If there's no such
device that handles both touch-tone menus and caller-ID decoding to
pick which menu to use at the start, then I'd settle for a device that
didn't have any caller-ID decoding at all, merely uses the same
touch-tone menu for all callers, and rings my phone only if the caller
passes a "Turing" test for establishing the person as a known friendly
acquaintance or relative. (I currently get ten to twenty harassing
calls per day, and maybe one or two non-harassing calls per month. I
would like the touch-tone menu to filter out everything except those
very few non-harassing calls.)

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

From: gordonb.youeh@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt)
Subject: Re: United States Says No! Internet is Ours!
Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 22:12:26 -0000
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But although the 'real roots' work just
>> fine, as you note, someone starting their own competing root server
>> could bypass all the silly requirements of things like ICANN couldn't
>> he?  In addition to copying all the data now in use, he could also start
>> his own domains, could he not?  He could start a domain for example
>> called '.abracadabra' or whatever name and it would not be subject to
>> any rules but his own. Or am I missing something here?

I don't have to pretend to be a root server to set up my own top-level
domains.  If I want ".abracadabra", I can set up my server to serve
it, possibly delegating it to some other server (in BIND, this is a
"forward zone") or slaving the .abracadabra zone from some other
server.  I can use the normal root servers for all the other stuff,
except the OFFICIAL .abracadabra should it ever exist.  Of course, the
only machines that will see this are ones using servers (directly or
indirectly) that know about this zone.  If I can convince enough
people to use my servers or (e.g. use "forwarders" in a BIND config
file) point a reference to .abracadabra to my servers (the BIND
"forward zone"), I might actually be able to sell domain names in that
zone profitably (dream on!).

> Only that his root domains would only be recognized by users of his
> root servers. There might be some use for this in setting up shorthand
> domain names, but it wouldn't make the actual sites private, since they
> would still have public underlying IP addresses. 

To say nothing of the fact that DNS is usually public: if you have a
zone on your server, I can normally query it directly if it has a
public IP address and you didn't put in an access list to restrict who
to answer queries from.

Gordon L. Burditt

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

Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 16:17:21 -0700
From: Henry Cabot Henhouse III <sooper_chicken@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Dispute Leads to Internet Woes for Thousands of Users


I'll bet a lot of traffic coming from Cogentco is spam and porn ... a large 
percentage of traceroutes to .cn hosts where spam originates traces back to 
the Cogentco network. Cogentco also sells to companies that resell to 
pornographers.

I ran across a spammer on IRC hawking kiddie porn using a redirect.  Traced 
it to hostf*ck.com, which is off a provider off Cogentco.

Do you think anyone at Cogentco cares? Nope. As long as the customer pays 
the bill, Cogentco doesn't care what kind of filth they deal with.

Cogentco is worse than just a haven for spammers ... they're a haven
for smut merchants.

Andy Sullivan <reuters@telecom-digest.org> wrote in message 
news:telecom24.459.4@telecom-digest.org:

> By Andy Sullivan

> Thousands of Internet users struggled to send e-mail and keep their
> Web sites running on Thursday after a dispute between two service
> providers left large portions of the Internet unable to talk to each
> other.

> Computer technicians scrambled to shore up their networks after Level
> 3 Communications Inc. refused to accept traffic from rival Cogent
> Communications Group Inc., rendering large portions of the Internet
> unreachable by others.

> "We weren't able to get to our e-mail systems, we weren't able to get
> to our externally hosted chat systems," said Bob Serr, chief
> technology officer at Chicago instant-messaging provider Parlano
> Inc. "Some customers say they've had trouble getting to our Web site."

> The rift meant that thousands of customers -- including individuals
> who use Time Warner Inc.'s Road Runner cable-modem service -- were not
> able to view Web sites and send e-mail to servers located on the other
> company's network, violating the Internet's premise as a universal,
> borderless network of computers.

> The dispute affects roughly 15 percent to 17 percent of the Internet,
> Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer said.

> "The usability and value people get out of the Internet is highly
> dependent on its ability to be ubiquitous and affordable, and I think
> what Level 3 is attempting to do is undermine both of those core
> principles," he said in an interview.

> TOO MUCH COGENT TRAFFIC

> Like other large, wholesale Internet service providers, Cogent and
> Level 3 handed off traffic from one network to each other free of
> charge, until Level 3 said that it was handling too much Cogent
> traffic.

> "We felt that there was an imbalance and we were disadvantaged in that
> relationship and we were ending up with what amounts to free capacity,"
> Level 3 spokeswoman Jennifer Daumler said.

> Cogent's Schaeffer said Level 3 was simply trying to get Cogent to
> raise its prices, which at $10 per megabit are far below the market
> average of $60 or so per megabit.

> Larger customers of each company have been little affected by the
> dispute because they usually sign agreements with several different
> wholesale providers.

> But customers who rely entirely on either provider for their Internet
> connections would not be able to reach any Web sites or servers on the
> others' network, those involved in the dispute said.

> That would include law firms, community colleges and companies like
> Parlano, which face lost business and angry customers from the outage.

> "It's kind of a game of chicken to see who's going to blink first, and
> to see whose customer base wants connectivity to the other customers'
> more," said Alan Mauldin, an analyst at TeleGeography Research in
> Washington.

> Parlano's Serr said he would stick with Cogent as his provider for the
> time being because he saw Level 3's move as "strong-arm tactics."

> Road Runner said its customers have not been able to visit Web sites
> and send e-mail to Cogent customers.

> "We are working to find alternate pathways so our customers can be
> connected with these Web sites as soon as possible," Road Runner said
> in a statement.

> Representatives for America Online Inc., EarthLink Inc. and Microsoft
> Corp.'s MSN service said their customers have not been affected by the
> dispute.

> Cogent ran into a similar dispute with America Online several years
> ago but it was resolved amicably, AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham said.

> Cogent said it was offering Level 3 customers affected by the dispute
> a year of free service if they wished to switch providers. Level 3
> said it was working with its customers to ensure they could reach the
> entire Internet.

> "Level 3 is working with their customers and Cogent needs to work with
> its customers," Level 3's Daumler said. "If Cogent wants to make its
> customers happy they've got to figure out a way to get that
> connectivity to the Internet."

> 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.

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

Subject: Re: Life Beyond Earth
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 00:06:19 -0700
From: Linc Madison <lincmad@suespammers.org>
Reply-To: lincmad@suespammers.org
Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed


In article <telecom24.446.17@telecom-digest.org>, Brad Guth
<ieisbradguth@yahoo.com> wrote:

> This "Life beyond Earth?" is yet another very nicely composed
> article. However, I've also noticed as to how nicely you've avoided
> the nearest of such orbs as having been perfectly good for another
> chapter or two within your "Life beyond Earth" topic, that are by far
> the most humanly accessible and should perhaps remain as keen
> interest to humanity for less than a penny on the dollar.

> Are you and your readers up for the task of an icy proto-moon or
> that of Venus?

In order to go explore an icy proto-moon of earth, there first has to
actually EXIST an icy proto-moon of earth.

As for Venus, we're more likely to play a soccer match against the
folks from Alpha Centauri than to find recognizable life on Venus.
Although it is obviously possible that some radically different form
of life exists elsewhere in the universe, all life on earth is
dependent on the existence of liquid water, which is completely absent
on Venus.

To bring this back to some shred of telecom relevance, I was at a
shopping mall this afternoon and saw a whole *booth* devoted to
products to protect me from the risk that my cellphone could cause
brain cancer. The products included some hands-free ear pieces that at
least move the source of radiation away from your brain, which would
significantly reduce the danger if there actually were any danger to
begin with. However, they also included some little metallic stickers
to place over the speaker grille of the cellphone itself, for people
who insist on holding the phone right up against their brain cases.
Those would be utterly superfluous even if there were a real risk, but
they claim to reduce harmful radiation by up to 78%. Where is the
bunko squad when you need them?

Linc Madison  *  San Francisco, California  *  lincmad@suespammers.org
<http://www.LincMad.com> * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad d0t c0m
Read my political blog, "The Third Path" <http://LincMad.blogspot.com>
DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED E-MAIL TO THIS ADDRESS.  You have been warned.

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

From: DevilsPGD <spamsucks@crazyhat.net>
Subject: Re: Vonage and the 500 Minute Plan
Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 17:11:58 -0600
Organization: Disorganized


In message <telecom24.461.12@telecom-digest.org> Henry Cabot Henhouse
III <sooper_chicken@hotmail.com> wrote:

> I couldn't find reference to the "unlimited local w/500 national"
> minutes on the archived website that Daniel pointed me to, but the
> info from DevilsPGD confirms what I thought I signed up for... and the
> reason I changed my pcs to a 323 number so forwarded minutes would not
> count towards the 500 minutes.

> I don't recall ever receiving notification from Vonage that the plan
> changed.

If you were on that plan, you were upgraded to the unlimited national
plan at no additional charge.

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

From: J Kelly <jkelly@*newsguy.com>
Subject: Re: Vonage and the 500 Minute Plan
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 11:26:12 -0500
Organization: http://newsguy.com
Reply-To: jkelly@*newsguy.com


On Sun, 09 Oct 2005 16:47:34 -0700, Henry Cabot Henhouse III
<sooper_chicken@hotmail.com> wrote:

> I couldn't find reference to the "unlimited local w/500 national"
> minutes on the archived website that Daniel pointed me to, but the
> info from DevilsPGD confirms what I thought I signed up for... and the
> reason I changed my pcs to a 323 number so forwarded minutes would not
> count towards the 500 minutes.

> I don't recall ever receiving notification from Vonage that the plan
> changed.

> Vonage has been ok, I've only suffered through a few outages -- which
> affected everyone -- and fortunately I've never had the pain of trying
> to get through to them on the phone.

> I've recently considered switching to Sunrocket ... the website says
> they can port one of my Verizon Wireless numbers (310-995 Gardena)
> which Vonage can not do. I guess that, along with them being five
> bucks a month less than Vonage for unlimited, makes SR attractive to
> me.

> Anyone have any opinions on SR?

> Thanks,

> Dave

Check over on broadbandreports.com for reviews.  I seem to recall
seeing a lot of posts there about SR being down a lot.

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


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