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TELECOM Digest Sun, 16 Oct 2005 19:47:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 469 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Biggest WiFi Cloud is in Rural Oregon (Rukmini Callimachi) In China, Internet Creates New Wave of Pop Stars (Doug Young) What's up With OneSuite ? (Reed) Telephone Chat Line Software (danarz@gmail.com) Re: A Message to Soldiers: Hold on Please (George Berger) Re: Recorded Weather Forecast for New York City? (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Recorded Weather Forecast for New York City? (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) Re: Switchboards in Homes; Closing at Night (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) Re: Dropping SBC For a VOIP Solution; Packet8 (Michael B.) 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: Rukmini Callimachi <ap@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Biggest Wi-Fi Cloud is in Rural Oregon Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 16:45:57 -0500 By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI, Associated Press Writer Parked alongside his onion fields, Bob Hale can prop open a laptop and read his e-mail or, with just a keystroke, check the moisture of his crops. As the jack rabbits run by, he can watch CNN online, play a video game or turn his irrigation sprinklers on and off, all from the air conditioned comfort of his truck. While cities around the country are battling over plans to offer free or cheap Internet access, often-times fighting with telephone companies trying furiously to get them forbidden, this lonely terrain is served by what is billed as the world's largest hotspot, a wireless cloud that stretches over 700 square miles of landscape so dry and desolate it could have been lifted from a cowboy tune. Similar wireless projects have been stymied in major metropolitan areas by telephone and cable TV companies, which have poured money into legislative bills aimed at discouraging such competition. In Philadelphia, for instance, plans to blanket the entire city with Wi-Fi fueled a battle in the Pennsylvania legislature with Verizon Communications Inc., leading to a law that limits the ability of every other municipality in the state to do the same. But here among the thistle, large providers such as local phone company Qwest Communications International Inc. see little profit potential. So wireless entrepreneur Fred Ziari drew no resistance for his proposed wireless network, enabling him to quickly build the $5 million cloud at his own expense. While his service is free to the general public, Ziari is recovering the investment through contracts with more than 30 city and county agencies, as well as big farms such as Hale's, whose onion empire supplies over two-thirds of the red onions used by the Subway sandwich chain. Morrow County, for instance, pays $180,000 a year for Ziari's service. Each client, he said, pays not only for yearly access to the cloud but also for specialized applications such as a program that allows local officials to check parking meters remotely. "Internet service is only a small part of it. The same wireless system is used for surveillance, for intelligent traffic system, for intelligent transportation, for telemedicine and for distance education," said Ziari, who immigrated to the United States from the tiny Iranian town of Shahi on the Caspian Sea. It's revolutionizing the way business is conducted in this former frontier town. "Outside the cloud, I can't even get DSL," said Hale. "When I'm inside it, I can take a picture of one of my onions, plug it into my laptop and send it to the Subway guys in San Diego and say, 'Here's a picture of my crop.'" Even as the number of Wi-Fi hotspots continues to mushroom, with 72,140 now registered globally, only a handful of cities have managed to blanket their entire urban core with wireless Internet access. Hundreds of cities from San Francisco to Philadelphia have announced plans to throw a wireless tarp over their communities, and a few smaller ones such as Chaska, Minn., have succeeded. But only Ziari appears to have pinned down such a large area. The wireless network uses both short-range Wi-Fi signals and a version of a related, longer-range technology known as WiMax. While Wi-Fi and WiMax antennas typically connect with the Internet over a physical cable, the transmitters in this network act as wireless relay points, passing the signal along through a technique known as "meshing." Ziara's company built the towers to match the topography. They are as close as a quarter-of-a-mile apart inside towns like Hermiston, and as far apart as several miles in the high-desert wilderness. Asked why other municipalities have had a harder time succeeding, he replies: "Politics. The telephone companies, especially SBC, are making it very time consuming and difficult for most towns." "If we get a go-ahead, we can do a fairly good-sized city in a month or two," said Ziari. "The problem is getting the go-ahead." "The 'Who's-going-to-get-a-piece-of-the action?' has been a big part of the obstacles," said Karen Hanley, senior marketing director of the Austin, Texas-based Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry group. No major players were vying for the action here, making the area's remoteness -- which in the past slowed technological progress -- the key to its advance. Morrow County, which borders Hermiston and spans 2,000 square miles, still doesn't have a single traffic light. It only has 11,000 people, a number that does not justify a large telecom player making a big investment, said Casey Beard, the director of emergency management for the county. Beard was looking for a wireless provider two years ago when Ziari came knocking. The county first considered his proposal at the end of 2002 and by mid-2003, part of the cloud was up. The high desert around Hermiston also happens to be the home of one of the nation's largest stockpiles of Cold War-era chemical weapons. Under federal guidelines, local government officials were required to devise an emergency evacuation plan for the accidental release of nerve and mustard agents. Now, emergency responders in the three counties surrounding the Umatilla Chemical Depot are equipped with laptop computers that are Wi-Fi ready. These laptops are set up to detail the size and direction of a potential chemical leak, enabling responders to direct evacuees from the field. Traffic lights and billboards posting evacuation messages can also be controlled remotely over the wireless network. "We had to find a way to transmit huge amounts of data -- pictures, plume charts ... All that data is very complex and it's hard over radio to relay to someone wearing chemical protective gear," said Beard. And for the Hermiston Police Department, having squad cars equipped with a wireless laptop means officers can work less overtime by being able to file their crime reports from the field. While the network was initially set up for the benefit of city and county officials, it's the area's businesses that stand to gain the most, say industry experts. For the Columbia River Port of Umatilla, one of the largest grain ports in the nation, the wireless network is being used to set up a high-tech security perimeter that will scan bar codes on incoming cargo. "It has opened our eyes and minds to possibilities. Now that we're not tied to offices and wires and poles, now what can we do?" said Kim Puzey, port director. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. 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. For other news from Associated Press please look at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Doug Young <reuters@telecom-digest.org> Subject: In China, Internet Creates New Wave of Pop Stars Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 16:45:44 -0500 By Doug Young Yang Chengang was a music teacher by day and lounge singer by night in central China's Hubei province when one day three years ago a friend suggested putting one of his songs on the Internet. Fast forward to 2005, when Yang and his song, "Mice Love Rice," have become two of the hottest refrains on China's music scene -- all without the help of a slick marketing campaign, national concert tour or even a proper album release. "At first, the Internet posting didn't have much effect," said the 26-year-old Yang, whose debut, self-titled album won't even hit music stores until November. "But then last year, a DJ made a disco version of it. It was the original song, but with a faster rhythm. He put it on the Web, but people started playing it in discos as well." The phenomenon that propelled Yang to fame has gone on to lift a growing number of others to similar stardom, all helped by China's 100 million-strong Internet user base that is now the world's second largest and a growing crop of young companies trying to cash in on the trend. "Mice Love Rice" has been downloaded from the Internet around 100 million times, according to Yang -- a fact that led more than 20 record companies to approach him about signing a contract. Even Vivendi's Universal Music, the world's biggest record label, has gotten in on the act, signing a recent contract with Internet singer Dao Lang, said Harry Hui, Universal Music's president of Southeast Asia. Since signing Dao, Universal has released an album of his previously recorded tracks, and is preparing a new CD as well. "We have been tracking this pretty closely," Hui said. "The Internet is becoming a very good promotional platform that did not exist before for finding new talent. I don't see it as a threat, but as a complement to our business." Similar phenomena are happening in other markets, as exemplified earlier this year when the song "Crazy Frog Axel F," based on a cellphone ring tone mimicking the sound of motorcycle engines, became a major hit in Britain. But the trend of using the Internet as a promotional tool is especially suited to China, where traditional broadcast media typically used to promote new music are tightly controlled and less available to promoters, said Hui. The market's lack of big labels with fat promotional budgets is also a factor behind the trend, said Scarlett Li, chief financial officer of R2G, a content management company. She estimated that at least three or four of the top 10 songs on China's music charts at any one time have come from Internet artists over the last year. "There is a music community in China online," she said, citing chat rooms, peer-to-peer download sites and music portals as parts of the broader Chinese online music community. "These are spots where young people go to find and exchange music," she said. "Some of the Internet singers just throw their music into these different pools and hope something comes out." A number of the major western labels, including Universal, Warner Music and EMI Group have operations in China, which was the world's 19th largest by value in 2003 but was No. 7 in terms of units sold, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). But despite the market's huge potential, all the major labels have been reluctant to make significant investments there due to piracy rates that some estimate to be as high as 90 percent. Enter the Internet, where a growing crop of entrepreneurial Web site operators have seized on the medium and started signing exclusive deals with online singers. Site operators then post the songs on the Internet, collecting a fee each time one is downloaded and paying a cut of the proceeds to the artist. One such service, operated by Hong Kong-listed Tom Online, charges about 2 yuan per song downloaded, and gives 40 percent of proceeds to the artist while retaining the rest, said chief executive Wang Leilei. "We sign contracts personally with singers and repackage their Internet songs and promote them via our music channel," he said. "We believe we'll get good results for the effort." 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. For other news headlines, look at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday ------------------------------ From: Reed <reedh@rmi.net> Organization: None Whatsoever Subject: What's up With OneSuite ? Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 19:28:08 GMT Apparently their system has been down since at least Thursday night. Got a brief recording then, called Cust Serv, they said "try again in 1 hour". I did not try again til Friday night, new recording saying "system down for maint., send an e-mail for more info and will respond in 15 min." Same today and no e-mail response either. Call to Cust Serv now gets endless MOH. Anybody know their story ?? Really bad failure, or gone out of biz ?? --reed ------------------------------ From: danarz@gmail.com Subject: Telephone Chat Line Software Date: 16 Oct 2005 03:31:17 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com This is a silly question. 1. What kind of software/hardware is used for those phone-chat/party-lines? 2. How would I go about setting up a server that can work as an online answering service? I posted these questions here since I am not sure which user group would be appropriate for this kind of question. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You came to the right place ... there is no such thing as a 'silly question', just a question that someone needs an answer for. What you want for the first question is known as a 'phone bridge'. It is specifically designed equipment used to properly handle telephone conference calls. Someone who may be able to give you more advice on these devices is a fellow who has been and and off this group for many years. John Higdon may be able to tell you how to build or buy such a device, and he may know something about your second question as well. Sorry, I have not chatted with John in a few years now, and do not have any valid email address for him. Last I heard he was in the San Jose/San Francisco area. I am sure you could Google and find him. Good luck with your search! PAT] ------------------------------ From: George Berger <gberger@his.com> Subject: Re: A Message to Soldiers: Hold on Please Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2005 19:32:31 -0400 Organization: Heller Information Services In article <telecom24.468.15@telecom-digest.org>, Vincent M. Mallozzi <nytimes@telecom-digest.org> wrote: > Good article about the "operators" who help the soldiers get calls > through. Vincent - Thank you for that post. In WWII, the civilians and military family members in the vicinity of Ft. Hamilton filled a similar role. Different, but similar in the compassion they had for the soldiers getting onto troop ships bound for Europe, and for the ones returning. I'll never forget one of my soldiers telling me of the warmth and goodness of an elderly woman who wished him well. She had lost her husband in WWI, but she still had the will, courage and sheer gumption to hug him and tell him to "Be good, and to come home." George (The Old Fud) I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. -- Robert McCloskey, State Department spokesman (attributed) ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2005 20:35:26 EDT Subject: Re: Recorded Weather Forecast for New York City? In a message dated Sat, 15 Oct 2005 14:51:50 +0100, Paul Coxwell paulcoxwell@tiscali.co.uk writes: > Try (212) 976-2828. You need to listen through the lotto results > before getting to the weather forecast though! > I remember in the early 1980s NYC was using 936-1212 for weather and > 936-1616 for time. I can't remember when they changed to 976 numbers, > possibly late 1980s? > When WE6 was still in use there was also the "Big Apple Report" on > 999-1111. Was 999 a general exchange serving part of NYC at that > time, or was that a special prefix? > WE6-1212 will still get you the weather forecast for Boston (617), > Milwaukee (414), and Washington D.C. (202). > -Paul In Oklahoma City, the weather used to be provided by the Weather Bureau/National Weather Service. The time number was sponsored (had an advertising message you had to listen to before getting the time). The Audiovox machine used to sit on the main banking floor of the First National Bank and Trust Company, a grand art-deco space, with a handset you could pick up to listen directly and lights showing what lines were in use by incoming calls. Later, with the growth in volume, the number 3-0561, later Regent 6-0561, overloaded too often, and the machine was placed in a telco C.O. and a bus was extended to each office with the time announcement on it continuously. The prefix 599 was reserved for this service, and when that prefix was dialed it connected to the bus in the office where the call originated. (The listed number was 599-1234.) With the prohibition on Bell companies providing customer equipment and information services, this all had to be ripped out and the machine placed in some customers' premises. This also caused a proliferation of such services with different sponsors, many of them adding the weather forecast along with their message and the time. There are probably six or eight now available in Oklahoma City, not counting those with sponsors in suburbs that are also local calls. Probably this same progression has taken place in all flat-rate cities, which are most of the country, since there is no revenue for the telco in message rate charges. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: According to Illinois Bell, the Chicago area telco on the way out the door (to Ameritech) at the time of divestiture, those devices (along with 'Enterphone' [the apartment building front door security system] and a couple other oddball services) were 'grandfathered'; those who had them could continue to keep them and use them through the auspices of the telephone company; any new installations had to come from elsewhere. I know I had only a year or so prior to that gotten rid of my recorded message newsline on which a couple dozen telco-style 'intercept machines' were wired in series through a couple dozen telephone lines in rotary hunt. The company I sold the service to when I got out of the business later told me they had been approached by Ameritech in 1982-83 or thereabouts and told Ameritech had set up a small subsidiary company mainly just to handle the several dozen 'odd' customers they had in circumstances like that and 'keep it legal' where divestiture was concerned. I think Ameritech put their alarm company in that category also. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Recorded Weather Forecast for New York City? Date: 15 Oct 2005 19:19:48 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com John Levine wrote: > They should work fine if you're calling from the NYC area. The > 212-976 and 914-976 prefixes are pay per call, so long distance > carriers won't connect to them. The last time I called (a long time > ago) the charge was a quarter. I'm pretty sure I called in from outside the NYC area via long distance and got through, despite being 976. Perhaps my LD carrier won't do it. However, I note that the AAA book no longer lists the number though it did before. > As far as the weather is concerned, here in upstate NY we've had a lot > of rain but nothing too bad. There are swampy areas that flood, and > they're flooded. It's not a big deal except, I suppose, that many of > the swampy areas are close to where NYC news people live. The www.1010wins.com newsradio site reported a number of road closures in the area I wanted to visit. As the day went on, the closures increased (trees were falling down). As of Friday night, traffic was very bad (worse than normal) where I was headed. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Switchboards in Homes; Closing at Night Date: 15 Oct 2005 19:49:48 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com hay ... @alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) wrote > Every manual switchboard I've seen, from PBX to central office, has an > audible alarm that the operator can turn on or off. When turned on it Sounds when there is an incoming call that needs attention. It also lights a signal lamp on the board. This circuit is always called a "night alarm". The typical manual switchboard "audible alarm" was a buzzer. Bell System PBX buzzers tended to make a rapid clicking sound rather than a buzzer, that sound was a bit more pleasant. In service, busy switchboards kept the buzzer off and operators watched for signal lights, both on the jackface as well as supervisory signals from cordpairs. In light service, where operators would be doing other tasks, the buzzer was kept on. The "night alarm", if present, was a separate loud bell, intended to someone from a distance or wake someone up. Cord PBXs had "night connections". When the switchboard was shut down for the down, connections would be made with outside trunks and designated extensions to receive calls. Modern (1960) cordless dial PBXs had a more sophisticated system: after hours a separate bell (old style wall mounted bell boxes) would sound. Anyone who wanted to answer would dial a special code and would get connected to the incoming outside call. In the Moutain Bell history, "Muttering Machines to Laser Beams", they describe in detail life with a home switchboard. The telephone company inspected the home very carefully, down to how clothing was arranged to bureau drawers. My impression was that service WAS available 24/7, late at night the alarm would wake the operator up. In the small communities there would normally be very little night traffic, but people would need to call the doctor or report a fire. During WW II, a long distance call from a hometown serviceman might come in. In my own town, the local switchboard serving a few hundred lines, had two positions with a full time operator and a part time assistant. (The assistant was in high school at the time and still lives in town, and kindly shared her experiences with me*.) Anyway, the switchboard was in a private home; my point being even a busy two position board could be in a house. During ESS trials, the lab men considered "taking over" the switch late at night which meant taking the exchange out of service. A few minutes before the shutdown an emergency call for a doctor came through. They realized how critical telephone service is, even at 3am in a small town. *In 1954 the town went dial. The young woman was transferred to a nearby city to work a dial toll & assistance board. The city board was a totally different experience than the small town board, the city board was very structured while the small town was informal (like "Sarah" in Mayberry). The operator did keep track of where the doctor and policeman were in case of emergency. The small town board did NOT handle long distance, all toll calls were forwarded to the next town where a toll operator handled it. ------------------------------ From: Michael <mbw4359@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Dropping SBC For a VoIP Solution -- Vonage or Packet8 Date: 16 Oct 2005 15:24:07 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Some of the items that were said about the Packet8 TA are not correct. You can set the IP address of it if you're not using DHCP. The BPA410 can be logged into and changed via a browser (but I don't know if that is the case with the other TAs). The one thing I'll say about Packet8 is they have great tech support. I have a special configuration at home and I orginally had Vonage and it never worked right because of my special configuration but I could never get through to their tech support never , never, never, never, never , never, never, never did I mention I never , never, never, never could get through to their tech support!! My advice is if you have a simple configuration one PC and cable/dsl modem Vonage will work if and only it plugs and plays the first time or if you're good at figuring stuff out. if you have an SMC router thats over 2 years old stay away from Vonage or go buy a Netgear, Belkin etc. I'm having several problems with Packet8 as well though I hate the Caller ID it should be renamed to Caller Number (you don't get the name) and I can't use my 2 line phone (hey, that worked with Vonage) and call waiting isn't working (the one down side to Packet8 tech support is they don't work on Sundays.) Michael B. Packet8 is cheaper and has better tech support but their features AREN'T as slick as Vonage. Packet8 is promising 7 digit dialing come 11/05 we'll see! ------------------------------ 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 #469 ****************************** | |