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TELECOM Digest     Thu, 13 Oct 2005 16:21:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 465

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Dialing For Dollars? SBC Leads the Way (Consumer Affairs)
    New Gadget Makes Theft of Mobile Phones Much Harder (Reuters News Wire)
    Seattle's Free Wi-Fi Hits Some Snags (Marcus Jervis)
    Cellular-News for Thursday 13th October 2005 (Cellular-News)
    Comcast, Google in Talks to Buy AOL Stake (USTelecom dailyLead)
    Name of the Calling Feature For Redialing a No Answer (dsaklad@gnu.org)
    Re: Vonage and the 500 Minute Plan (AntwainBarbour)
    Re: Device That Interfaces Between CallerID / Serial Port? (anon1@sci)
    Last Laugh! Some Notes From Aunty Spam (Patrick Townson)

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: Consumer Affairs Report <consumeraffairs@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Dialing For Dollars? SBC Leads the Way in Political Pump Priming
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 14:12:36 -0500


When it comes to lobbying and political palavering, no one takes a
back seat to America's telephone and cable companies, with SBC setting
the pace for its rivals.

Telecom companies spent $56.8 million on political contributions over
six years and a minimum of $77.8 million on lobbying over two years in
an attempt to curry favor with elected officials in the states,
according to a new Center for Public Integrity report.

Large regional telephone companies and cable television operators
are spending millions in the hope that legislative success at the state
level will translate into similar success in Washington, D.C., as
Congress debates a major rewrite of federal telecommunications laws this
autumn.

The leading source of political froth in the states is San Antonio-
based SBC Communications, the most aggressive of the dwindling family
of "Baby Bell" companies. Now grown into a hulking bruiser, SBC spent
$16 million lobbying state governments from 2003-2004 and another $10
million in political contributions from 1999 to 2004.

For awhile there, it looked like SBC and its surviving siblings
(the Bell progeny having been somewhat thinned by an unfortunate
outbreak of cannablism) -- BellSouth, Verizon and Qwest -- would have 
the political landscape all to themselves following AT&T and MCI's
descent into irrelevance.

But just when the world looked Bell-safe, the long-slumbering cable
television industry lumbered to its feet and began filling the
slush-money niche abandoned by the fast-fading long-distance elders.

Comcast, Cox and other cable biggies have been moving rapidly onto the
Bells' turf, providing telephone and Internet service, and this has
necessitated their also moving into the political realm.

What are the Bells and cable goliaths chasing with all that money?

The Bells' primary goal is elimination of state regulation over
local phone rates, using the hardly novel argument that less regulation
will mean more competition and lower prices. Never mind that the Bells 
have successfully cut off at the knees most of the upstart local
competitors by convincing the FCC to deregulate the wholesale rates the
Bells charge the new entrants.

The cable companies, in a nutshell, want whatever it is the Bells
don't want.

The report is the first attempt by the Center to track the influence
of a single industry in all 50 states, it said.

The report described the lobbying total as a conservative tally, since
poor disclosure laws in nearly half the states make it difficult to
get a true picture of all industry spending. Despite the limitations,
the survey provides a snapshot of which companies in the telecommuni-
cations business are most active in statehouses across the nation.

The contribution data, provided by the Institute on Money in State
Politics and analyzed by Center researchers, reflects donations made
to candidates for state office and to state party organizations. It
does not include contributions made to federal candidates or national
political parties. The lobbying data was compiled by Center staffers
and includes spending by traditional telecommunications companies,
such as AT&T and SBC, as well as wireless providers, cable television
system operators and industry trade associations.

The contribution data includes donations made by traditional carriers,
telecommunications services and equipment companies.

SBC spokesman Dave Pacholczyk provided the Center with a written
statement in response to their findings.

"Telecom is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the
country, requiring us to participate in the legislative process more
than most businesses," it reads. "Decisions made by government can have
a significant impact on our ability to serve our customers, so we have
to make sure policymakers are educated and informed on our issues," he
said.

The Center's Website provides state-by-state information on
contributions and lobbying expenses.

The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan,
tax-exempt organization that conducts investigative research and
reporting on public policy issues in the United States and around the
world.

Copyright 2003-2005 ConsumerAffairs.Com 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.

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

From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: New Gadget Makes Theft of Mobile Phones Harder
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 13:52:34 -0500


Finnish scientists have invented a device to make it harder to steal
mobile phones and laptops by enabling them to detect changes in their
owner's walking style and then freeze to prevent unauthorized use.

The VTT Technical Research Center of Finland said the device, which is
has patented but has yet to sell, could prevent millions of portable
appliances being stolen every year.

"A device is equipped with sensors that measure certain characteristics
of the user's gait. When the device is used for the first time, these
measurements are saved in its memory," VTT said in a statement.

The gadget would monitor the user's walking style and check it against
the saved information. If the values differ, the user would have to
enter a password.

"Compared with passwords and traditional bio-identification, the new
method is simple: confirmation of identity takes place as a background
process without any need for user's intervention," the researchers
said.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.

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

From: Marcus Jervis <marcusjervis@hotmail.com>
Subject: Seattle's Free Wi-Fi Hits Some Snags 
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 18:52:31 +0000


As mentioned in past posts to Telecom Digest, Seattle is experimenting
with neighborhood-wide wi-fi in several neighborhoods and parks.  This
is separate from experimental wi-fi service aboard buses, which are
operated by the county.

I thought a couple of items in this article are interesting.  One is
that some businesses along University Way have stopped their regular
internet service, expecting to use the free one.  I don't know what
the nature is of these businesses, but unless they are connecting to a
web site that has SSL (and the teltale https instead of http in the
browser address bar, like the Seattle Public Library and my bank),
they don't have secure access to the net unless they also subscribe to
a VPN service.

The other interesting item was that there were already so many
wireless routers in the vicinity of University Way that spectrum
crowding is a problem.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002557695_seattlewifi13.html

Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 12:00 AM

Seattle neighborhoods' free Wi-Fi hits snags
By Tricia Duryee
Seattle Times technology reporter

Five months ago, Mayor Greg Nickels flawlessly demonstrated a new
city-run wireless Internet system in Columbia City as part of a
program to see if free access could boost business in certain
neighborhoods.

Today, the program is in flux after the network was temporarily shut
down in Columbia City and connections in the University District and
four city parks experienced sporadic outages.

The city of Seattle's difficulties deploying the technology even in
small areas come at a time when cities from San Francisco to Philadel-
phia are promising to blanket entire municipal areas with Wi-Fi, a
network of so-called hot spots that provide Internet access across
short distances.

Seattle's problems illustrate how easily things can go wrong. On the
city's Web site, a short message says it all: "We have been
experiencing technical problems with some of the equipment used in our
WiFi pilot project. Users may not be able to connect to SeattleWiFi at
this time."

For now, the city says it is committed to getting the service back up
and running.

"We've ended up putting in a lot more technician time than we
anticipated; that's been a much bigger cost for us, but we made a
commitment to put it in and we'll make it work," said David Keyes,
community technology program manager at the city's Department of
Information Technology.

The $115,000 pilot program receives money and support from a number of
sources. The city is responsible for maintenance while Internet access
will be funded through partnerships the University of Washington in
the U District and HomeSight and Atlantic Street Center in Columbia
City.

Keyes said there's an obvious demand. In August, 50 people a day on
average logged in at the parks (Occidental, Freeway, Westlake and
Victor Steinbrueck). In the same month, the U District saw a daily
average of 231 users, with a high of 284. In Columbia City, there was
an average of 27 users a day from May to July, even though the network
was never stable.

The city's measured attempt at rolling out Wi-Fi is a test to see if it 
would drive more customers to businesses in those areas; and not 
necessarily if Wi-Fi would make sense to roll out citywide.

It is too early to say what must be done to make the networks more
stable, Keyes said.

Columbia City

The decision to temporarily shut down the Columbia City network came
after Keyes discussed the issue with the business leaders in the South
Seattle neighborhood. Businesses have been informed, and notices have
been posted on street signs designating Wi-Fi access.

City officials want further analysis before restarting the Columbia
City network. Similarly, more work has to be done before the park
networks are considered reliable.

The U District network has been the most stable of all since launching
in May.

Teresa Lord Hugel, executive director of the Greater University
Chamber of Commerce, said she hears from businesses during each outage
because some opted to cancel their previous Internet service after
getting the free access.

U District

Last week, problems with the U District network prompted the city to
ask eqquipment provider D-Link for help. D-Link, based in Fountain
Valley, Calif., flew in engineers and hired Wi-Fi consultant Greg
Skinner, owner of Bellevue-based ACJ Technology Solutions.

Skinner said most of the U District's difficulties came from networks
bumping into each other. Wi-Fi blasts a signal a short distance from
an antenna that connects to the Internet. Often, densely inhabited
areas contain multiple networks, which cause interference.

Skinner, who will assist in Columbia City and the parks, said it's
hard to set the blame on any one entity because flare-ups are typical
on new networks. "I've designed quite a few networks and it's very
well designed and thought out," he said. "They [the city] obviously
never deployed something this large, but they did their homework."

Keyes said: "A couple of things are safe to say. From the community
end, there's a demand for this kind of service. ... From a technical
end, Wi-Fi is still a challenging technology."

Tricia Duryee: 206-464-3283 or tduryee@seattletimes.com

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

Subject: Cellular-News for Thursday 13th October 2005
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 07:42:59 -0500
From: cellular-News <dailydigest@cellular-news.com>


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

  India Mobile Gaming Market Is On Track To Expand 700% by 2010
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14379.php

According to a recent Pyramid Research survey of mobile phone users
across the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries and the
U.K., India ranked as the top mobile game market. Of the 355
respondents in India th...

  Three New Phones from Nokia
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14380.php

Nokia has announced the addition of three new models to its portfolio
of business-optimized devices. The three new handsets support today's
most popular and newly announced corporate mobile email solutions like
BlackBerr...

  Atari Games for the N-Gage Handset
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14381.php

Nokia says that it has shipped Atari Masterpieces Volume 1 for the
N-Gage platform. This bumper pack includes not just one but eight
classic games such as Asteroids, Battlezone, Black Widow, Millipede,
Missile Command, R...

  Realtones Generate Bulk of Ringtone Revenues
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14382.php

Telephia has reported that 60% of mobile ringtone revenues are
generated by realtones. Traditional mono and polyphonic ringtones
comprised nearly 33% of the revenue share, while callback tones
accounted for 7% of the tot...

  Research Proves Mobile Phones and Sleep Do Go Together
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14383.php

The quality of sleep for Australia's 12 million mobile phone users is
not affected by calls on mobiles before bedtime, according to the
world's largest independent study into mobile phones and sleep
quality....

  Lucent Wins CDMA Contracts
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14384.php

The USA based operator, Leap Wireless and Alaska Native Broadband 1
License, a Leap joint venture, has signed three-year agreements with
Lucent Technologies collectively valued at approximately US$125
million, providing ...

  Mobile Workers to Increase by More Than 200 Million Users
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14385.php

Today's businesses are recognizing the growing importance of the
mobile worker, who is perhaps one of the more strategic employees of
an organization, and that job functionality can be enhanced by
mobility for a signific...

  3G for Trinidad
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14386.php

Trinidad and Tobago's telecoms operator, TSTT has announced plans to
launch a broadband wireless network in Trinidad and Tobago using
solutions from Nortel. TSTT plans to offer 3G mobile broadband
services to both reside...

  Vodafone Hit By Advertising Complaints
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14387.php

Vodafone has been slapped twice over its advertising campaigns. In the
UK, the Advertising Standards Authority upheld two complaints from
rival operator, O2 about a poster campaign run by the company
commenting on its ne...

  The Pros and Cons of Smartphone Operating Systems
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14388.php

What is a smartphone? At ABI Research, the concept hinges around the
operating system, which defines much of what a smartphone is and
does....

  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...

  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...

  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...

  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. ...

  Ukraine's UMC mobile subscriber base up to 10.916 mln Sep 30 
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14358.php

The total subscriber base of Ukraine's Mobile
Communications, or UMC, Ukraine's largest mobile phone
operator, rose 3.8% on the month to 10.916 million subscribers as of
September 30, UMC said in a press release on i...

  Japan Mobile Phone Shipments Decline 2.3% In August-Kyodo
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14367.php

Shipments of mobile phones, including personal handy-phone system
devices, in Japan fell 2.3% in August from a year before to 3.19
million units, Kyodo News reported, citing the Japan Electronics and
Information Tech...

  TDC: Easymobile CEO No Longer In Charge Of Country Operations
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14368.php

Danish telecom operator TDC AS (TLD) Wednesday said the chief
executive of its EasyMobile unit is no longer in charge of operations
in the three countries where the company is active. ...

  Carphone Warehouse To Accelerate Store Rollout In 3Q
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14369.php

Carphone Warehouse Group PLC (CPW.LN), the U.K. mobile phone retailer
and telecommunications services company, Wednesday said it will
accelerate its store roll-out plan in the third quarter. ...

  Vietnam Mulls Selling Shares In Mobile Phone Cos From 2006
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14370.php

Vietnam is considering to sell shares in two state-owned mobile phone
firms in stages from 2006 to improve competitiveness of domestic firms
in the coming years, a government official said Wednesday. ...

  Bouygues Telecom Names Philippe Montagner Chairman, CEO
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14371.php

Bouygues Telecom, a division of telecom and construction company
Bouygues SA (12050.FR), Wednesday appointed Philippe Montagner as its
new chairman and chief executive. ...

  Safran Ignores Weak Mobile Phone Sales
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14372.php

Mobile phone and aerospace equipment maker Safran SA (7327.FR) said
Wednesday it is pressing on in the mobile phone business regardless of
weak sales and plunging profitability at the unit in the first half of
this y...

  EU Govts To Make Telcos Keep Data Up To 1 Year
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14373.php

Telecommunications companies will be ordered to keep records of their
customers' phone call traffic for a year as part of the European
Union's efforts to fight militant attacks. ...

  Belgian Mobile Co BASE Says Mast Permits Delay 3G Rollout
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14374.php

Belgian mobile phone company BASE Wednesday said administrative delays
in obtaining building permits for radio masts in Brussels was holding
up the roll-out of its third-generation wireless technology
services. ...

  Russia's active GSM user base seen up to 111-113 mln this year
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14375.php

Russia's GSM Standard Operators Association expects the country's
total active GSM mobile subscriber base to rise to between 111 million
and 113 million users by the end of this year from the current 104.5
million, V...

  EU Warns Nine Member States Over Breaking Telecom Laws 
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14376.php

The European Commission has sent written warnings to nine European
member states for breaking European telecom rules, the Commission said
in a statement Wednesday. ...

  Official sees Wi-Fi hotspots in Russia up to 680 by year-end
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14377.php

The number of Russia's Wi-Fi Internet access points, or
hotspots, are expected to increase to 680 by the end of this year from
435 as of now, Executive Director of Russia's Association
of GSM Operators Vyacheslav Afa...

  Russia's Megafon auctions "beautiful" phone number for $3,000 
  http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14378.php
 
Moscow-based mobile provider Sonic Duo, which operates Megafon's
network in Moscow and the Moscow Region, has sold a "beautiful"
telephone number for U.S. $3,000 at an auction held on October 10, the
company's press se...

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

Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 12:22:24 EDT
From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: Comcast, Google in Talks to Buy AOL Stake


USTelecom dailyLead
October 13, 2005
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/vEnwatagCrxJqFcLqu

		TODAY'S HEADLINES
	
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Comcast, Google in talks to buy AOL stake
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* MetaSolv lands BellSouth contract
* Comcast moves to build TV service based on 'Net
* SK-EarthLink plan youth-targeted mobile phone service
* Apple debuts video iPod
* Study: Not all consumers see reason to use VoIP
* AT&T sees some success in China
USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT
* Telecom Engineering Conference at TELECOM '05 -- register now and save
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
* Japan plans mobile VoIP network
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* New EU rules require telcos to save phone, e-mail records
* Milwaukee may launch Wi-Fi network

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

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

From: dsaklad@gnu.org <dsaklad@zurich.csail.mit.edu>
Subject: Name of The Calling Feature for Redialing a 'No Answer'
Date: 13 Oct 2005 08:21:22 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


On some systems what is the name of the calling feature like busy
redial
http://www22.verizon.com/ForYourHome/sas/sas_con_LongDescription.aspx#RefTable
http://www22.verizon.com/ForYourHome/sas/sas_CallingFeatures.aspx

where your call reaches a no answer ringing and you want to be alerted
when there is somebody at the number that could take your call?...

So after they use the telephone you are alerted somebody might be
there.

Or when they pick up the telephone for a call you are alerted somebody
can answer when you call now.

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

From: Antwain Barbour <ukcats4218016@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Vonage and the 500 Minute Plan
Date: 13 Oct 2005 07:20:46 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Henry Cabot Henhouse III 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

I've had SR for nearly a year at this point, and have been pretty
happy with them.  It's very cheap, and there are a lot of good
features.  They have had some recent issues, but I chalk those up to
growing pains.  They're definitely worth looking into.

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

From: anon1@sci.sci
Subject: Re: Device That Interfaces Between Phone/CallerID and Serial Port?
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 09:25:03 -0700
Organization: UseNetServer.com


> http://www.callerid.com/?page=ezid
   Integrated Voice Response (IVR) system

> You need an IVR that can process the CID DTMF.  Amanda comes to mind,

Ah, IVR is the jargon I was looking for in my original request. So I'm
looking for the cheapest standalone IVR device I can find. Thanks.

> In about 30 minutes, you ought to be able to build a pretty long wish
> list and download some use(ful/less) software.

Two problems: My Macintosh has less than 17 megabytes available on
hard disk, and most software I've seen on that Web site doesn't run on
a Macintosh in the first place.

> The IVR solution requires some serious hardware.  In an Amanda
> implementation you need a voice mail card (2 port version about $600
> or find one on eBay and get yourself a PC that accepts ISA boards) and
> the software.

I have no money to buy a PC, and no space here to put one even if I
got one for free. Your use of "card" bothers me. It sounds like
something that plugs inside a computer I don't have, not anything I
can just sit next to my Macintosh and use via serial port the way I
use my current SupraExpress 56 modem.

> Amanda allows variable length digit strings to be sent before the
> greeting and can route according to the digits received.  If the 10
> digit mailbox esists, play the greeting, if it doesn't, play the
> greeting you suggested above.

I don't need any multi-line device. I have just one phone line, and
one thing I hold in my hand to talk on phone. No mailboxes here. I
just need something that will protect me from ten to twenty harassing
calls per day, while allowing that one or two non-harassing calls per
month to ring my hand-phoneset, using a sort of touch-tone Turing test
to discrimate between somebody who has a legitimate reason for
contacting me from the others who are just harassing me. (And what do
you call that phone-handset anyway? The thing that has a base with
touch-tone pad, and a thing you hold in your hand with microphone and
earspeaker?)  .

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

From: Patrick Townson <ptownson@cableone.net>
Subject: Last Laugh! People Doing Stupid Things: Spammer Makes Death Threat
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 14:10:15 -0500


Some recent correspondence from Aunty Spam, our anti-spam investigator
working out of the UK:

People Doing Stupid Things: Spammer Makes Death Threat to Investigator

Summary: Talk about people doing stupid things! How stupid do you have
to be to make a death threat against an officer who is investigating
you? Spammer stupid!

There are all kinds of people doing stupid things all the time. But
some take the cake. Such as making a death threat against an officer
who is investigating you. You have to admit, as people doing stupid
things go, that's pretty darned stupid.

But, of course, when I explain that it was a spammer who made the
death threat, well, it begins to make more sense. Because we all know
that most -- not all, but most -- spammers are even more stupid than
the average stupid person.

In this instance, the death treat came from Peter Francis-Macrae,
alleged to be the biggest spammer in the United Kingdom, but it's
actually not at all uncommon for spammers to make death threats, and
other threats of bodily harm, to those whom they see as interfering
with their operations.

When your Aunty worked at MAPS, one of the first anti-spam
organizations around, our investigators routinely were threatened like
this, both in email and on the telephone. In fact, folks arrived at
the office one day only to find that someone's windshield had been
shot out.

But back to Macrae. Macrae was involved in a scam through which he
spammed offers for cheap domain registrations in the EU. The only
thing was, the domains he was advertising, and for which he was
collecting money, weren't available for sale. So he was investigated
by the agency which deals with trading standards, and, it is said, he
threatened to slit the throat of the trading standards officer.

Not the sharpest tool in the shed, you say, so what?

But a high-flying one, in more ways than one. With the 1.5 million
British pounds that he netted from his email scams he bought himself,
among other things, designer clothing (Yves Saint Laurent) and
helicopter lessons. You'd think that his father, with whom the
23-year-old Macrae still lived (in fact, his center of operations was
his bedroom in his father's house), might have caught on that his son
had a bit too much spare cash for the average 23-year-old.

Said the attorney for the government, Rupert Mayo, "He resorted to
using violent verbal abuse and deadly threats to quite innocent people
when challenged about his fraudulent activity. Of course we had to
shut him down entirely; no more computers, no more internet."

Is anyone surprised?

http://www.aunty-spam.com/

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*** 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, Aunty Spam.com

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


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