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TELECOM Digest Tue, 18 Oct 2005 13:52:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 472 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Another 'New Orleans Style' Flood Expected Tuesday in Mass (Ray Henry) Cisco Adds Security to Routers, Wireless Switches (Reuters News Wire) UltraDNS Unveils Shield For Network Protection (Michael Kahn) Cellular-News for Tuesday 18th October 2005 (Cellular-News) Giant Conspiracy or Just Rotten Luck? (Gordon S. Hlavenka) BellSouth Teams With Yahoo for Internet Service (USTA Daily Lead) Re: Yahoo in Broadband Phone Pact With BellSouth (Matt Simpson) Re: Recorded Weather Forecast for New York City? (Paul Coxwell) Re: Note to Drivers: Lose the Phone (and Lipstick) (Robert Bonomi) Re: Recorded Weather Forecast for New York City? (Fred Atkinson) Re: 14.4 Runs Faster Than 56k Modem. Why? (Daniel AJ Sokolov) 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: Ray Henry <ap@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Another 'New Orleans-Style' Flood Expected Tuesday in Massachusetts Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 10:01:05 -0500 By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer A dam on the rain-swollen Mill River deteriorated overnight and Taunton prepared for the worst Tuesday, evacuating residents, canceling classes and closing off downtown amid fears of a wall of water up to 6 feet deep. Mayor Robert Nunes, at a hastily called news conference, said the situation at the wooden Whittenton Pond Dam upstream from the city took a turn for the worse about 2 a.m. Tuesday, resulting in an increase of water flow. "It is looking sort of grim today", said the Mayor and other officials. "The city of Taunton still is in a state of emergency," Nunes said. "If the dam goes, it will create massive flooding along the Mill River and into the downtown area. Most likely _everything_ will be under water." Lake Sabbatia, the body of water behind the dam, had gone down about an inch overnight, Fire Chief Joseph Rose said. But rain began falling again as dawn broke. Officials were trying to relieve pressure on the dam, roughly a half-mile upstream from downtown, by tweaking the flow between it and a second dam upstream, Rose said. Officials said that if the Whittenton Pond Dam burst it could unleash a wall of water up to 6 feet high and flood neighborhoods and downtown Taunton. They stated it would be the same as 'those levees in New Orleans last month; water several feet deep everywhere.' "I've got my fingers crossed that this thing is able to hold," Gov. Mitt Romney said Tuesday morning. "Water's going under the dam. It's going through some areas that are weakened and there's every prospect that it will give way and we'll have a very significant water event. "On the other hand, a few of us can hope that it hangs together and it ties together as long as possible and that the water is able to leak out in a relatively controlled manner," he said. "If that were the case, we'd all breathe a great sigh of relief." Dive teams were standing by if rescues proved necessary, and a shelter had been set up at the local high school, manned by the Red Cross. Army Corps of Engineers employees were placed on alert. Nearly 2,000 people were evacuated from their homes near the river on Monday when emergency management officials warned that the dam had lost a timber column and could break within 24 hours. The National Weather Service issued a flood warning, calling the situation "extremely dangerous. We'll be quite lucky to get out of this with no substantial damage. After the rain stops completely, there will have to be major repairs made on the dam on a rush basis." Police and firefighters were going door to door, urging residents to go stay with relatives and friends or at the shelter in the fieldhouse at Taunton High School. During the early morning hours Tuesday, busses picked up residents and their possessions who were willing to ride along to the shelters. "It's been intense," said Susan Jones, who lives a few hundred yards uphill from the dam, in an area that had not been evacuated. "We heard the helicopters all night long. I laid awake half the night waiting for someone to knock on the door." The state Highway Department closed roads leading into Taunton and the Massachusetts National Guard dispatched crews to the area to assist with any last-minute evacuations. Telephone and electric utility workers were also waiting for instructions to begin repairs as needed. "We're very concerned about public safety," Romney said after surveying the dam late Monday. He returned early Tuesday morning and met with the mayor at City Hall. "This will not turn into the sort of mass confusion that New Orleans had. You will either drive your own car or take the busses we provide and evacuate the area," said Romney. Taunton, a former 19th-century manufacturing hub about 40 miles south of Boston, lies at the confluence of the Mill and Taunton rivers. The working-class city, which has a population of nearly 50,000, was last flooded in March 1968 when the same dam was breached. City Councilor Charles Crowley, a local historian, said there was also catastrophic flooding in February 1886 following several days of rain. The Whittenton Pond Dam is privately owned -- one of about 3,000 private dams in the state -- according to Romney. The dam was inspected two years ago and was considered in fair condition at that time, he said. Some repairs were made since then, Romney said, but "this water was more than had been expected or anticipated." Some areas of the state received more than 16 inches of rain over the past eight days, with the heaviest rainfall in the Taunton area coming Friday night and all day Saturday. Lisa Campbell, who lives near the river, said she and her children planned to stay at her sister's house on the other side of the city. "It's better to be safe than sorry," she said. "You saw how many people had to be rescued from New Orleans when they didn't leave." The mayor noted that "we do not want to come back as the water is being pumped out and have to do a body count." The newsroom of the Taunton Daily Gazette was evacuated, though several reporters stayed at the scene, publisher John Shields said. The paper is published at its sister newspaper in Fall River. "We are erring on the side of caution," Nunes said. "If the dam goes, we will have major problems in our city." Associated Press writers Denise Lavoie and Richard Lewis contributed to this report. 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 more Associated Press headlines and stories, also see http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Cisco Adds Security to Switches, Wireless Devices Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 10:00:11 -0500 Cisco Systems Inc. is adding security features to its network switches and wireless products, in the networking gear maker's latest push to sell software to help corporations combat spyware, worms and viruses. Cisco already sells security software for its routers, which allows businesses to add a layer of security to their Web-based networks, which are often used by far-flung workforces. On Monday, Cisco said it is now selling the software for its switches, which companies often use in simpler local area networks within their own buildings. The expansion of the security features to business' internal networks also includes wireless access points, which corporations are increasingly installing on their campuses. The software is designed to protect corporations from computers and mobile devices which may have been infected through use outside of the office, as well as from outside attacks against the network itself. The software, which Cisco sells under the brand name Network Admission Control, has proven to be a popular add-on for Cisco's corporate clients, who are wrestling with a wide range of security threats. The technology has also allowed Cisco to expand into the lucrative area of security software. The market for network security software and appliances will reach $4.3 billion by the end of 2005 and could grow to $6.3 billion by 2009, according to the Synergy Research Group in Scottsdale, Ariz. Overall security spending will compose 7.9 percent of the U.S. IT budget in 2005, or $59.6 billion, according to Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. This growth is being spurred by the constant assault on corporate and home networks by worms, viruses and other harmful programs. "I've seen a big increase over the year in terms of attention paid to it by security managers and CIOs to this problem," said Gregg Moskowitz, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group. Cisco's software is designed to be compatible with devices that do not contain Cisco's own verification system, known as the Cisco Trust Agent This is important for companies that open up their networks to deal with outside business partners, such as suppliers or contractors, who might be running security software from other vendors, said Bob Gleichauf, chief technology officer in Cisco's Security and Technologies Group. Cisco's focus on network security pits it against traditional rival Juniper Networks Inc, as well as Check Point Software Technologies Ltd, Microsoft Corp, Internet Security Systems Inc. and McAfee Inc. Cisco officials declined to say how much revenue and profit it expects from its network security business. Cisco shares were down 7 cents, or 0.41 percent, in after-hours INET trading. 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: Michael Kahn <reuters@telecom-digest.org> Subject: UltraDNS Unveils Shield for Internet Attacks Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 10:01:24 -0500 By Michael Kahn UltraDNS introduced an Internet security shield on Tuesday that the company said would help thwart denial of service attacks against its customers and keep the Web available to hundreds of millions of users worldwide. The privately-held company has partnered with major U.S. Internet service and network providers, including Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), Earthlink, and Time Warner Inc.'s America Online, to offer what it calls the DNS Shield that gives a more secure underpinning to the Internet. Analysts called the shield a step forward for preventing denial of service attacks, where hackers harness thousands of "zombie" computers to knock offline Web sites or other computer systems. The attacks release an unrelenting data blitz that can cause huge financial losses and wreak havoc online. UltraDNS Chief Executive Ben Petro said the shield is essentially a security blanket that works by creating a private network between service providers and the key directories that identify the locations of Web sites. "Denial of service attacks are highly destructive and almost impossible to build true security around," Petro said. "There is very little in your control and the people launching them are getting better and better." Early denial of service attacks targeted the U.S. government or high-profile online vendors like eBay. Over the past year, criminals have used denial of service attacks to extort payments from online gambling operations, banks and other businesses, or to attack competitors, experts say. Lydia Leong, a research director at Gartner, said the extra layer of protection UltraDNS can offer by privatizing network protection with its Internet service provider customers should help it compete against rivals like Akamai Technologies Inc.. "This is a completely new thing," Leong said. "It improves UltraDNS's position," she said. The company's shield bolsters security for the more than 20 country-specific domain-named Web sites it administers such as .uk and .org, offering better protection against a costly denial of service attack or major network failure. The extra security also extends to Web sites of its customers such as Sharper Image Corp., Tommy Hilfiger Corp., Amazon.com and Oracle Corp. as well as Internet users whose service providers have partnered with UltraDNS. The DNS Shield protects against these and other attacks by integrating UltraDNS servers directly into the infrastructure of its Internet service providers. This creates totally protected environments where only authenticated user queries are answered and that eliminates the external data blitzes that can shut down networks and Web sites, the company said. Steve Crocker, chairman of the security and stability advisory committee at ICANN, the group that oversees Internet domain names, called DOS attacks the biggest threat to the Internet because almost anybody can launch them from anyplace in the world but no easy solutions exist to stop them. "It is a good step forward and a good thing to do until we have a complete solution to the denial of service problem," he said. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News for Tuesday 18th October 2005 Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 07:35:04 -0500 From: Cellular-News <dailydigest@cellular-news-mail.com> Cellular-News - www.cellular-news.com Oasis Music Content for Toshiba 3G Phone http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14440.php Toshiba Mobile Communications has announced an agreement to bring exclusive live and pre-recorded content from Oasis to its music mobile phone Toshiba 803. As part of this agreement Toshiba has been appointed exclusive mobile sponsor for Oasis live d... T-Mobile Launches OFDM Broadband Service http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14439.php T-Mobile Slovakia has launched Europe's first commercial mobile broadband service using Flarion Technologies' FLASH-OFDM network technology. As of today, the service is available in selected areas of Bratislava, and in 19 other cities around Slovakia... Two New Accessories from Sony Ericsson http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14438.php Sony Ericsson has launched two new accessories for its handsets, a speaker system and an FM radio adaptor. Sony Corporation and Sony Ericsson have announced a new jointly developed Home Audio System that enables owners of Sony Ericsson Walkman music ... SonyEricsson Launch 3G Walkman Phone http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14437.php Sony Ericsson has launched its first 3G Walkman phone. The W900 follows the highly successful global market launch of the W800. Two previously announced Walkman phones are also about to launch, the W600 in the Americas and W550 in the rest of the wor... New GSM Network for Chad http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14436.php Millicom International has announced the launch of GSM services in Chad under the Tigo brand. Millicom was awarded a 10 year license to operate a GSM 900 wireless telephony network in Chad in November 2004. Services have been launched in the capital ... More Trials of In-Flight Phone Systems http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14435.php Connexion by Boeing says that it has recently concluded a week of demonstration flights in Europe that showed travelers how mobile telephony in flight can be provided safely and conveniently for passengers in flight.... Retailer says Russia's mobile handset sales at $4 billion Jan-Sep http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14434.php Mobile handset sales in Russia were at U.S. $4 billion in January-September, Russia's largest handset retail chain Euroset said in a report obtained by Prime-Tass on Monday. ... Motorola Seen Posting Solid 3Q On Brisk Handset Sales http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14433.php Motorola Inc. (MOT) should meet, if not exceed, Wall Street's third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations on continued healthy sales of handsets. ... Nortel Names Zafirovski New CEO http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14432.php Nortel Networks Corp. on Monday named Mike Zafirovski, the former No. 2 executive at Motorola Inc., as its new CEO amid a concerted effort by the maker of phone-networking gear to engineer a turnaround. ... Euroset says Russia's mobile penetration at 40% as of Sep 30 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14431.php Mobile service penetration in Russia stood at about 40% as of September 30, the country's largest mobile handset retailer Euroset said in a statement Monday. The company based its estimation on the number of mobile handsets sold and did not provide a... Vodafone European Data Roaming To Resume Monday Evening http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14430.php Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) Monday said its U.K. users will be able to resume access to data services when roaming in Europe from Monday evening, following a lengthy disruption. ... Bouygues, Orange Begin Testing Mobile Television Service http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14429.php French mobile telecommunications operators Orange and Bouygues Telecom Monday began testing a new service that allows subscribers to watch broadcast television on a mobile handset. ... Russia's MegaFon user base reaches 4 mln in Volga area http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14428.php The user base of Russia's third largest mobile operator MegaFon increased to 4 million subscribers in the Volga area as of now, the press service of MSS-Povolzhye said Monday. MSS-Povolzhye operates MegaFon's network in the Volga area. ... Russia's MTS launches i-mode service in Pskov Region http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14427.php Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) has launched its i-mode service in Russia's Pskov Region, MTS' Pskov unit said Monday. ... Palm's Treo To License BlackBerry Technology http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14426.php Competitors Palm Inc., maker of the Treo smartphone, and Research in Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry wireless device, on Monday agreed to let Treo use BlackBerry Connect's e-mail and communications technology. ... Orange To Resolve London Connection Issues By Nov http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14425.php Orange, the mobile telecommunications arm of France Telecom SA, Monday said its U.K. customers won't be able to call some newly issued London fixed-line telephone numbers until a network issue is resolved by November. ... Freescale Semiconductor Looks For Wireless To Improve http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14424.php Freescale Semiconductor Inc. (FSL) is hopeful that its wireless business will show improved results in the third quarter, Chief Executive Michel Mayer said Monday. ... Infoquest Sells Q-Telecom Unit To Tim Hellas Holders http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14423.php Texas Pacific and Apax Partners agreed to pay EUR325 million in cash for the Q-Telecom unit. The two companies will also take on an Infoquest corporate bond valued at EUR25 million. ... Hungary's MOL Switches To Vodafone As Mobile Service Provider http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14422.php Oil and gas company MOL Rt. (MOL.BU) has switched to the local unit of the U.K.'s Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) as its mobile services provider, the mobile company said Monday. ... Ericsson To Expand GSM Network For Movistar In Argentina http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14421.php Swedish telecommunications equipment maker Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson (ERICY) Monday said it has been selected by Movistar Argentina to expand its global system for mobile communication and transmission networks. ... South Russia Cellular Relay Stations Blown Up - Officials http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14420.php NALCHIK, Russia (AP)--Unknown attackers on Monday blew up cellular relay stations of two rival companies in the southern Russian town of Yandar, in the republic of Ingushetia, officials said. No casualties were reported. ... Sony Ericsson 3Q Profit Buoyed by New Products http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14419.php Sony Ericsson Monday said net profit advanced 16% in the third quarter as new product launches, including the Walkman music phone, helped the world's sixth-largest mobile phone maker gain market share. ... ------------------------------ From: Gordon S. Hlavenka <nospam@crashelex.com> Reply-To: nospam@crashelex.com Organization: Crash Electronics Subject: Giant Conspiracy or Just Rotten Luck? I've posted before about the minuscule LD bills I get on my Qwest LD account; usually less than a dollar a month, sometimes less than 50 cents. Total. I deal with this "problem" by sending them $15 every year or so, and letting the credit balance bleed down. Then when I get a bill where I actually owe them something, I send another $15. My usage is low because I make my LD calls on my cellphone, where LD is included in the plan minutes. Qwest is also providing me with inbound 800 service, which I used quite a bit when I ran my own business. I may run another business someday and I like that 800 number so I'm keeping it. Anyway, a few months back my phone bill jumped to over 50 DOLLARS. This was due to a large number of calls placed to Mexico -- except (as you can probably guess) I didn't make any calls to Mexico. So I called Qwest, and they insisted their billing info was accurate. I called SBC (my local telco) and they assured me the calls were in fact placed from my number. Well, there are only three people who have physical access to the phones here, and none of us called Mexico. We do have quite a few PCs, but only one of them has a modem and that modem is connected to a different phone line than the one with the Mexico calls, so that rules out malware dialers too. We do have a NID. It's mounted outside the house and is not locked, but it is in a very visible location so anybody clipping in there would be noticed for sure. Especially as they'd be standing right outside our dining room window, and some of the disputed calls were placed at dinnertime. I called Qwest back, they "investigated", and determined that I was responsible for the calls. However, they issued a "courtesy credit" and so I was stuck with the taxes but not the calls themselves. Care to guess what happened next month? That's right, folks, another $50 of calls to Mexico! The calls are all to a handful of numbers in the same area and at various times of day -- it really looks like a normal calling pattern for someone with family in Mexico. It's just not a normal calling pattern for ME :-/ Of course I called Qwest and SBC again, they both insist the calls are mine. Qwest did another "investigation" and again determined that I was responsible but declined to issue another credit. The Qwest rep did suggest that I put a PIN on my LD; she said it was a free service that required callers to dial a 4-digit "account code" and if they didn't enter a valid code the call would not connect. So I set up PINs for the three of us. The Qwest rep called back half an hour later and apologized, but there was a $30 setup fee -- after _that_ the PINs were free. OK, I said, go ahead anyway. Good news and Bad news: The Mexico calls stopped. But I now have a $15.00 "minimum revenue" charge on my bill every month. The X-Files fan in me says Qwest invented the Mexico calls just to get me to "touch" my account so their computer could throw in the minimum billing charge. So, what do I do now? Obviously I'm going to call Qwest back and raise whatfor, but then what? If I can't get my LD account "fixed" then I'll have to port the 800 number elsewhere; any suggestions for cheaply "parking" an 800 number? Also, any suggestions as to how somebody could be cramming these LD calls onto my account? I've tried talking tech with the SBC operators and all they will say is that the line "tests OK" -- but they can't/won't tell me what their "test" encompasses. They insist that the calls must be coming from inside the house, since THEIR wiring is all so well protected nobody could possibly be bridging in between my house and the CO. And of course SBC's billing records are unassailable. What I'd like to do (obviously) is get back to paying 50 cents a month for practically zero LD usage. What tack should I take with Qwest to return to those halcyon days, and if there is no such chance at Qwest, who should I replace them with? Gordon S. Hlavenka http://www.crashelectronics.com If your teacher tells you to Question Authority Should you do it? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am reminded of a sitution back in the middle 1970's, when Illinois Bell first converted the WABash central office in downtown Chicago to ESS. I had my little office downtown in the Fisher Building, 343 South Dearborn Street. I was there for _maybe_ two hours per day, most days, usually in the middle of the day. I had _one_ phone for my personal use (not associated with the banks of phones on the recorded message service. That single-line business phone (WEbster-9-4600) was very conservative, with an eighty unit allotment for local area calls, which I never went through, or rarely. It was, I think, in those days, ten dollars per month. One month I got a bill for about thirty extra units; I grumbled to myself and said I would have to watch it more closely. The next month the bill came and it was eighty or a hundred units 'overage', and I thought that is really a bit much, so I called our service representative at Bell, Miss Prissy and asked her how could this be? Miss Prissy assured me I must have made all those calls and just forgotten about them. And she assured me, 'we now have a way to demonstrate what local calls you made, and I will send you the print out.' (This was a month or two following the cutover to ESS [WABash was first in Chicago, about 1973 or so.]) Sure enough, a couple days later a big print out arrived in the mail for me to examine. I took this large print out and examined it. I made the arbitrary decision that as I read through the list of numbers, all those numbers I recognized I would accept as valid calls. Any numbers I did _not_ recognize I would accept as valid if they had occurred during the time of day I was usually around that office. Any calls which occurred at times I was quite unlikely to have been in the office (such as 7 AM any day) I would investigate further. In those days, there was a reverse number lookup service at no charge called 'two oh eight oh'. (You dialed any exchange anywhere in the Chicago area, then added the suffix '2080' as in 312-922-2080. '2080 service' got you a clerk at a desk in Illinois Bell's central office who would look up the desired number from an index card file on her desk; she would tell you who the subscriber was to that number.) So I took the several calls which had been made around 7 AM and backtracked them in this way; specified exchange plus 2080, passed the number on request and copied down the results. The results were simply amazing: one number which showed up a lot was an 'extended area unit charge' (meaning 5 or 6 units to start with) to a place called 'IBT Truck Repair Depot' in Aurora, IL. A few others went to something called 'Illinois Bell Locker Room, 343 South Dearborn Street' (in other words, a room there in the Fisher Building given over to Illinois Bell as a 'semi-permanent' storage and locker room area for IBT employees by building management. [Because this older high rise building had so much phone activity all the time, telco needed a 'permanent' place in the building to store tools, extra phones, wires, etc]. I might mention that the basement of the Fisher Building had _many_ telco wire distribution frames taking wires all over the building [22-story older building, many business places located therein, including answering service, etc.]) So it seemed rather plain to me: Some one or more telco employees were using any phone in the building they wanted to make their own internal calls for company business, i.e. the truck repair depot, the external locker room/storage areas, etc. All they had to do was clip on at the distribution frames in the basement and make their calls. And as I told Miss Prissy, when I called back to ream her out good, obviously since my number was on the end of the frame and ended in double zero, i.e. '4600' therefore the dunces just knew it had to be some large company which would never miss the units ripped off each month. I called back Miss Prissy and asked her point blank "ever heard of telephone company employees getting sued for theft of service?" She was shocked that I phrased it like that, of course, and when I presented her with my findings and how I had developed my case, she said she would have to talk to her supervisor and get back to me. About a half hour later she called back and told me, "my supervisor has decided to write off _all_ the extra units on your bill for last month and this month." I told her I expected someone to tell the outside plant workers (and inside as well, for that matter) to _stay off_ my line when they had to make calls. Miss Prissy agreed that her supervisor had already taken this up with plant workers and there would be no further instances of it. So what you may want to do, Gordon, is not only think of the imaginary person outside your window getting into your pairs, but also look at every single multiple on your line between yourself and the central office, and who could have clamped on anywhere along the line. Larger older metro areas like Chicago are infamous in this way: If subscribers only knew the _truth_ about how their lines can be tapped into at various boxes. There is no such thing as a 'private' line. Only a line which has some 'security through obscurity'. Telco hopes that other folks do not know about 'borrowing pairs' from other people in the neighborhood; telco just assumes their century-old system of multiples on cable runs is still safe, and they'll try to get you to believe that also if they can. I recommend that _everyone_ who has had trouble with mystery phone calls (especially 900 type calls) for which telco keeps insisting 'you must have made the call' print this message out for future reference. Will telco certify that your wire pair back to them is not multipled anywhere? If telco cannot or will not certify that, then those calls are not yours. Maybe telco employees perhaps, or possibly total strangers, but telco has no business insisting that calls are yours when there is anywhere the line is multipled. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 12:33:15 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com> Subject: BellSouth Teams with Yahoo! for Internet Service USTelecom dailyLead October 18, 2005 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/wpvMatagCukkfByVcG TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * BellSouth teams with Yahoo! for Internet service BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Cingular, SBC to use Lucent's IMS platform * Analysis: Zafirovski faces tough course with Nortel * China's ZTE chief calls for protection from foreign competition * Report: BSkyB shows interest in Easynet * Cisco delves further into security software market * Google, 25 others vie for S.F. Wi-Fi * Ronald teams up with Mario for free play USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Supplier Diversity Summit Moves to TelecomNEXT * Telus Executive to Speak at TELECOM '05 TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * T-Mobile, Siemens switch on Flash-OFDM in Slovakia * Nokia dials up mobile WiMAX REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Verizon Wireless seeks deadline extension for location rule Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/wpvMatagCukkfByVcG ------------------------------ From: Matt Simpson <msimpson@uky.edu> Subject: Re: Yahoo in Broadband Phone Pact With BellSouth Organization: Yeah Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 11:34:26 -0400 In article <telecom24.471.1@telecom-digest.org>, Eric Auchard <reuters@telecom-digest.org> wrote: > The co-branded BellSouth Yahoo service will be available to all three > tiers of broadband service now offered by BellSouth. BellSouth counts > 2.4 million subscribers to its broadband services. In other words, they've decided the money is in content/advertising, and not in providing connectivity. They're more interested in offering "new" service to their existing broadband customers than in extending broadband access to people who can't buy it now. Hey guys, SOMEBODY has to sell access if y'all wanna sell content. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 00:30:38 +0100 From: Paul Coxwell <paulcoxwell@tiscali.co.uk> Subject: Re: Recorded Weather Forecast for New York City? > I just tried 212 976 1212 from my Lingo VoIP phone and I got a > recording saying that I can't call that number using my choice of > phone company, and if I want to call it I should either switch to > Verizon or call a 900 number that they read twice at "only 99 > cents/min." I'm getting the same recording on (212) 976-1212, although through my usual LD carrier I'm sometimes getting the "Eureka Info Highway" intercept first, just as when calling 976-2828. It's weird the way they intercept and then complete the call anyway, but 976-2828 works every time for me one way or another. I'll pass on that 99 cent/min. offer -- Besides I'm 3000 miles outside Verizon's local service area and I can't call 900 numbers, so neither suggested option is much good to me. <G> By the way,you can get the NOAA recording of current weather observations (as used by pilots etc.) for NYC on a regular number: (212) 772-7452. Paul ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Note to Drivers: Lose the Phone (and Lipstick) Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 02:42:42 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article <telecom24.450.16@telecom-digest.org>, Eric Friedebach <friedebach@yahoo.com> wrote: > Monty Solomon wrote: > <SNIP> >> Those pulled over for speeding or other moving violations can >> be fined $100 for any behavior that distracts them from driving -- >> glancing at a newspaper, typing on a BlackBerry, applying lipstick >> while looking in the rearview mirror or turning to yell at the kids in >> the back seat. > <SNIP> > So I guess that means no more talking on the ham radio while driving > as well. Or would being licensed by the FCC preclude state or local > laws? Being licensed by the FCC does trump any lower-level government attempt to regulate the Federally regulated activity. HOWEVER, the state law does not regulate use of amateur radio. it regulates _driving_an_automobile_. It says that you cannot drive while you are doing certain other things. You are penalized for driving while doing that 'other thing', not for doing that 'other thing "while driving". It is a subtle distinction, no doubt, but that is the way the law works. ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson <fatkinson@mishmash.com> Subject: Re: Recorded Weather Forecast for New York City? Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 02:01:46 -0400 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: fatkinson@mishmash.com I just called it on my Voicepulse VOIP phone. The interesting thing is that though I dialed 212 (NYC), I got a recording giving me the local Asheville weather (I am thirty miles west of Asheville, NC). Bizarre. Fred On 17 Oct 2005 16:43:59 -0000, John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> wrote: > I just tried 212 976 1212 from my Lingo VoIP phone and I got a > recording saying that I can't call that number using my choice of > phone company, and if I want to call it I should either switch to > Verizon or call a 900 number that they read twice at "only 99 > cents/min." > R's, > John ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 16:21:01 +0200 From: Daniel AJ Sokolov <sokolov@gmx.netnetnet.invalid> Subject: Re: 14.4 Runs Faster Than 56k Modem. Why? Am 14.10.2005 20:11 schrieb hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com: > I only have a 14.4 modem for my dial up connection. It obviously runs > slow nowadays with all the junk they throw on the Internet. (for > straight text, it runs great). > I needed access to some information and went to a neighbor who has a > 56k dial up. I went to the desired site and to my surprise, the site > loaded much slower than it does on my home machine. That didn't make > any sense to me. Maybe your neighbor has some noise on his loop. Some phones, if connected to the same line, can severely slow down data. Daniel AJ My e-mail-address is sokolov [at] gmx dot net ------------------------------ 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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