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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)

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

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

From: 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

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


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