For your convenience in reading: Subject lines are printed in RED and
Moderator replies when issued appear in BROWN.
Previous Issue (just one)
TD Extra News
Add this Digest to your personal
or  
TELECOM Digest Fri, 21 Oct 2005 14:19:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 479 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson NYC Subway Service Resumes After Second Fire (Adam Goldman) Massachusetts City Re-opens After Flood Threat (Michael Kunzelman) BskyB Buys Easynet (US Telecom DailyLead) Can't Forward Calls to AT&T Callvantage Phone Number (VoipGuy) Cellular-News for Friday 21st October 2005 (Cellular-News) Re: Voice Calls Will be Completely Free in a Few Years (Fred Atkinson) Re: Long Beach, CA Network Failure (Henry Cabot Henhouse III) Re: On Having Telco as a Housemate (was Question Easement) (Lisa Hancock) Re: Recorded Weather Forecast for New York City? (Lisa Hancock) Re: TV Show - Legacy Phone in Scene (Joseph) 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: Adam Goldman <ap@telecom-digest.org> Subject: NYC Subway Service Rusumes After Another Fire Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 12:29:32 -0500 By ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press Writer An apparent electrical fire in a subway storage room produced heavy smoke, forcing the evacuation of a busy Manhattan station and disrupting rush hour service for tens of thousands of commuters, authorities said. Six firefighters suffered minor injuries, officials said. All seven train lines that were suspended due to the fire had resumed service by late Friday morning, NYC Transit spokesman James Anyansi said. The trains still were bypassing West Fourth Street station, the major West Side subway hub where the fire occurred. The smoke rose through street grates, causing a heavy smoke condition at street level as well, said David Billig, a fire department spokesman. More than 100 firefighters and 25 pieces of fire equipment were at the scene, he said. The cause of the fire, reported at 8:05 a.m., was not immediately known. Sixth Avenue was blocked off to traffic and crowds of onlookers snapped pictures on their cell phones. The smell of smoke wafted through the subway system, giving stranded riders a hint of the cause of their delay. Commuters covered their mouths with their hands as they rushed in and out of the trains. A fire in January that damaged a signal room knocked out service to two of the same lines for days. 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 headlines and stories from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html (or) http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Michael Kunzelman <ap@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Massachusetts City Reopening After Flood Threat Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 12:14:13 -0500 By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press Writer City officials reopened neighborhoods surrounding a storm-weakened wooden dam Friday, four days after evacuating the area because of fears that a collapse would flood downtown Taunton with several feet of water. Workers pumped millions of gallons of water from the rain-swollen lake above the Whittenton Pond Dam and began shoring up the battered structure Friday ahead of the new round of heavy rain forecast for the weekend. Some 2,000 people in the city of 50,000 had been told to leave their homes Monday. About half were allowed back Thursday night, but hundreds of residents who live close to the dam were asked to stay away. Mayor Robert G. Nunes lifted their evacuation order Friday. As downtown businesses reopened, Anthony Lentine welcomed the breakfast crowd back to his deli, estimating he lost $1,000 for each of the three days he was closed. But he didn't blame town officials for playing it safe. "After seeing what happened in New Orleans, God forbid, we wouldn't want anything like that to happen here," he said. Authorities cautioned that the threat had not entirely passed for the working-class city south of Boston. A state of emergency will remain in effect until early next week. "We still have the danger we had before," Fire Chief Joe Rose said. "Now we're trying to fix it." Water levels rose as the area got more than 11 inches of rain this month, including 7 inches last weekend. The pumping that began Thursday -- combined with dry weather -- greatly relieved the pressure on the 173-year-old wooden dam. But another wave of foul weather expected to arrive this weekend could push area waterways back to flood levels. With the water level lowered, officials hope to make some repairs before then. Authorities said that if the dam gave way, it could send a 6-foot wall of water surging through downtown Taunton, about a half-mile downstream. "We feel very comfortable with the decision we've made," the mayor said. "We are seeing tremendous progress." Thomas Shaughnessy, 25, was headed home from a high school-turned-shelter with his girlfriend and their cat, but he wasn't convinced they're completely safe. "I'm not going to lie to you," he said. "I'm scared, but I think our mayor made the right choices." ___ On the Net: City of Taunton: http://www.ci.taunton.ma.us/ 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. Notice the several news features listed in our headlines area: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra for complete news coverage on a variety of topics. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 13:32:01 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com> Subject: BSkyB Buys Easynet USTelecom dailyLead October 21, 2005 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/wDBoatagCuxXqFmAqE TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * BSkyB buys Easynet BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Verizon taps Killian to replace Capellas * SBC exec says VoIP is not a major threat * Alltel begins selling DISH Network TV service * IDC: Mobile phone shipments rise 19% in Q3 * Wireless continues to boom * Cable, telcos set limits on bandwidth use * Alltel, Ericsson, AT&T report earnings USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Last chance to save -- register today for TELECOM '05! * Wireless Technologies Featured at TELECOM '05 TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Everything you wanted to know about mobile TV VOIP DOWNLOAD * Skype users targeted by Trojan worm * Canada rules VoIP providers must disclose 911 limits * StarVox reborn as VoIP service provider * VoIP spam predicted in two years REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Senate panel sets deadline for DTV switch Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/wDBoatagCuxXqFmAqE Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: VoipGuy <bryan@insightbb.com> Subject: Can't Forward Calls to AT&T Callvantage Phone Number Date: 21 Oct 2005 02:44:45 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Did anyone know or realize that you can't forward calls (a cell phone for example) to your AT&T CallVantage number? If you do, the call will go directly to voicemail and never ring the phone. I tested this about a month or so ago and it would ring the phone about 1 out of 5 times and the other 4 times it went to voicemail. I called AT&T tech support today and they are now telling me that since it is an "on net voip system", you can't forward phones to your CallVantage number and expect it to ring! This is bogus (I think), can anyone explain technically why it won't work? Otherwise I will be forced to believe that it is a business decision AT&T made, so as not to tie up network resources ... Does AT&T competitors have the same issue? Thanks. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well I know I can forward whatever I wish to my Vonage line, which is also VOIP. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News for Friday 21st October 2005 Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 07:43:22 -0500 From: Cellular-News <dailydigest@cellular-news-mail.com> Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com The Ultra Low Cost Cellular Market: Ignore it at Your Peril http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14501.php While 80% of the world's population lives within range of a cellular network, only 25% of it subscribes to a mobile phone service. This means there are upwards of three billion potential customers for cellular. That, says Alan Varghese, ABI Research'... China Mobile Phone Market Expected to Exceed 400 Million Users by Year End 2005 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14500.php T-Bay Holdings says that according to recent reports, the market for mobile phone users in mainland China is expected to exceed 400 million by the end of 2005. As announced on September 9, 2005, T-Bay Holdings, Inc. acquired a 95% stake in Shanghai S... Worldwide Mobile Phone Market Breaks 200 Million Unit Mark in 3Q05 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14499.php New product introductions, portfolio refreshes, and exciting new form factors helped spur growth in the worldwide mobile phone market during the third quarter of 2005. According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, worldwide mobile phon... Mobile Pictures Driving New Consumer Push for Convergence http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14498.php Convergence is finding traction in mobile phones, with one-fourth of all USA Internet households willing to use a high-resolution camera phone as their primary camera, according to the forthcoming report "Mobile Market Intelligence" from Parks Associ... FOCUS: Russia's MTS offers new tariffs, to abandon Jeans soon http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14497.php Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems, or MTS, announced Wednesday that starting Friday it would offer a new line of tariffs. MTS decided to abandon the prepaid tariffs under the Jeans brand and focus on the development of the single ... Tele.ring Confirms CEO Approached For E-Plus Job http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14496.php Michael Krammer, the chief executive of Austrian telecommunications company Tele.ring, has received job offers from several companies including E-Plus, a Tele.ring spokesman said Thursday. ... German Prosecutors Contest Acquittals In Mannesmann Case http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14495.php KARLSRUHE, Germany (AP)--Prosecutors Thursday contested the acquittal of Germany's most prominent banker and five others over large payments to executives during the 2000 takeover of Mannesmann by Vodafone Group PLC (VOD). ... Motorola Sues New CEO At Nortel http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14494.php Motorola Inc. has sued to block former Chief Financial Officer Mike Zafirovski from taking the top job at rival Nortel Networks Corp. ... Nokia Battles Branding Issues In Music-phone Revolution http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14493.php [Premium] Nokia is determined to be part of the music-phone revolution, though lack of brand appeal could hinder. ... China Mobile, Telecom Post Strong Jan-Sep Results http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14492.php China's top telecommunication companies Thursday reported earnings for the first three quarters, with the leading mobile operator continuing to post strong growth in a further sign that mobile services are substituting for fixed-line services. ... EU Court:EUR1.2 Million German Fee For O2 Phone Numbers Illegal http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14491.php The European Court of Justice Thursday ruled that Germany wasn't entitled to charge the German unit of phone company O2 PLC a EUR1.2 million fee for the allocation of phone numbers. ... Nokia Raises Market Outlook After 3Q Profit Jump http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14490.php Nokia Corp. (NOK) Thursday raised its forecast for the global handset market after third-quarter earnings were boosted by rising demand for phones with cameras and music players and growth in emerging markets. ... Willcom Ties With Sharp,Microsoft In Japan Smartphone Operations http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14489.php Telecom service provider Willcom Inc. said Thursday it will team up with Sharp Corp. (6753.TO) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) to launch the first Japanese handheld communications device using the latest "Windows Mobile" operating system. ... Siemens Gets EUR70 Million Mobile Technology Order http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14488.php The communications unit of German technology company Siemens AG (SI) has received a EUR70 million order to expand the network capacity of Indonesian mobile operator Telkomsel. ... O2 To Launch HSDPA Next Month http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14487.php O2 PLC (OOM.LN), the U.K. mobile telecommunications company, Thursday said it will launch a faster third-generation, or 3G, network in the Isle of Man on November 1. ... France Telecom Buys Orange Slovakia Minority Holders http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14486.php France Telecom (FTE) said Thursday it has reached an agreement with minority shareholders in Orange Slovakia to buy shares it doesn't already own, boosting its stake in the mobile phone operator to 100% from 63.88%. ... ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson <fatkinson@mishmash.com> Subject: Re: Voice Calls Will be Completely Free in a Few Years Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 01:30:57 -0400 Like this is something we haven't known for a long time? They are saying in the future? It's already happening, folks. Fred ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 01:32:39 -0700 From: Henry Cabot Henhouse III <sooper_chicken@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: Long Beach, CA Network Failure We felt the outage at 2 of our 4 buildings ... we lost 911, 411, and lots of toll frees, pretty much everything our clec (mpower) routed through Verizon. Our other clec, Paetec, had no outage. And one of our Global Crossing data T1's backhauled to Anaheim was out, Global attributed it to the "earthquake" in Long Beach (did you feel the earth move? I didnt). 2 other Gblx, our multimeg Uunet pipe, our Telepacific and mPower data T1's were all up, just the one Gblx went kaput. The local news covered it as rain damage, saying 911 calls over pcs wasn't affected, and local 7D Police and Fire Dept numbers were given out. A day later, Verizon 'fessed up and said a software glitch took it all down, and the backup system failed. The outage hit about 6 am, our Gblx came back up about 12:30pm, 411/800 dialling later that afternoon.... so it was longer than just a few hours. If any pcs sites were affected, it could be due to the sporadic data outage. Dave ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: On Having Telco as a Housemate (was Question Easement) Date: 21 Oct 2005 08:00:17 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com J Kelly wrote: > Use an attorney. Always. I've only bought real estate twice, once > with and once without a real estate agent, but both times I had my > attorney do a title opinion and part of the original offer to purchase > the property had a clause that offer was contingent upon a clear title > and acceptable title opinion from my attorney. ... Excellent advice. The time for an attorney is _before_ you sign the agreement for sale. While such agreements are pretty much standardized, your attorney can make sure any special conditions necessary to protect you are listed and there is nothing to later come back and bite you. Sorry to say it, but many real estate agents I've seen aren't very knowledgeable and its hard to find a true professional. When I bought my place the seller's agent had a bad but justified reputation for being a real pain and too aggressive, but she knew what she was doing and she was honest ("Is the building soundproof?" "No"). She made very sure I was ready for settlement -- that my mortgage, down payment, etc., were all in order and ready to go. She did phone me a million times to check, but she was doing her job. Many times one or both parties aren't properly prepared at settlement and its held up. When my parents sold their house, the buyer was unprepared and left their baby with my mother all day while they went downtown and got stuff. When I sold my mother's house I couldn't use the above mentioned agent, but I found someone good in the city. BTW, my mother never got cable TV and I was worried that it would be expensive and cumbersome for the new people to run cable wires through the house. When cable first served an area, the companies wired for free to attract new customers, but nowadays they charge quite dearly for that. Of course, I presumed the cable would be as carefully and neatly installed as phone wires were. Nope. The buyer asked for permission to come in and set up before the closing and I let them (normally not a good idea), and I found they had the cable installed that day, a big fat wire poked through the side wall, not discretely up from the basement. From that sale I learned how important it was to have even little things in writing. I had no use for the refrig, washer, and dryer and wanted to leave them behind for free. The buyer didn't want one of the units and a friend did, so I was gonna have him come in to take it out, but then the buyer said they wanted it after all or I was confused. I ended up leaving everything for them just to make it simple for me. There was also confusion over the furniture they wanted. Fortunately they were nice people and everything worked out ok, but normally these kinds of misunderstandings will lead to trouble. While my mother was able to sign the initial documents, she declined suddenly and I represented her at closing under power of attorney she wisely prepared long in advance. Ironically, while at closing no one gave the POA a second thought even though I was selling a whole house, which is after all a major transaction. In contrast, in dealing with my mother's bank accounts of a far lower value, the phone company, Blue Cross, etc., they gave me a very difficult time despite my having the POA. The phone co simply wouldn't talk to me since her account was password protected; fortunately my mother had a good day and was able to talk to them and remember the password. As a personal aside, I felt pretty lousy abandoning my mother's furniture for sentimental reasons -- it was what I grew up with and its loss brought home hard that my mother wasn't gonna get better. I had no room for it and other family members lived too far away and already had their own furniture. My mother's neighbors were extremely nice and helpful and took care of it for me; whatever nobody wanted would be carted off to charity and I know my mother would've been happy doing that. (Selling it would've been more trouble than anything I would've gained and emotionally painful). ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Recorded Weather Forecast for New York City? Date: 21 Oct 2005 08:07:37 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Scott Norwood wrote: > In Boston, at least, the Weather has been 617-936-xxxx (where xxxx can > be replaced wth any four digits) since at least the mid-1980s (and > probably much earlier) through the present. The xxxx part may be now 1212 or some other fixed number because of the squeeze on phone numbers. The Phila weather and time services used to be any four digits but now only work on 1212. The Bell System made a half hearted attempt to standardize weather reports at 936-1212; many cities used that number. In the 1970s they had a bill insert listing the number for a number cities and suggesting calling it before taking a trip (as a way to drum up long distance business). I thought that was a pretty good idea and made use of it. As mentioned, the AAA Travel Guides listed such numbers in the city writeups. At one time the phone company advertised these services and gave them prominent mention in the telephone directory. However, I suspect they're no longer interested in them, it is a cost after all with little benefit today. I don't see any references in the phone book. Indeed, my local directory lists time of day service available from the operator for something like $1.50 service charge which is far more than calling the city for their time announcement. I remain curious whether 212-976-1212 is active in New York City. I posted the question on a NYC newsgroup and no one seems to know there either. ------------------------------ From: Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: TV Show - Legacy Phone in Scene Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 08:13:21 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 20 Oct 2005 11:47:07 -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > As an aside, in the 1970s they had fully _manual_ (no dial) payphones > in Poconos (Penna) resorts. This made sense since most calls from a > resort guest would be long distance and the area didn't have TSP/TSPS, > so an operator would be required to complete the call anyway. When I went to camp in Farmington, Maine ~1968 they had dial-less three slot coin phones where the operator completed all calls. The operators all used dials! No key pulse. An interesting bit was that the SXS office (207-778) was right on the main street and because it was summer the windows were open and you could hear the clatter of the SXS machine going. Some friends of mine lived for a time in Bowdoinham, Maine (207-666!) and they had dial-less coin phones, but these were the "fortress" type pay phones. They just had a number card in the middle of where a dial or push buttons would normally be. ------------------------------ 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. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ Visit http://www.mstm.okstate.edu and take the next step in your career with a Master of Science in Telecommunications Management (MSTM) degree from Oklahoma State University (OSU). This 35 credit-hour interdisciplinary program is designed to give you the skills necessary to manage telecommunications networks, including data, video, and voice networks. The MSTM degree draws on the expertise of the OSU's College of Business Administration; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. The program has state-of-the-art lab facilities on the Stillwater and Tulsa campus offering hands-on learning to enhance the program curriculum. Classes are available in Stillwater, Tulsa, or through distance learning. Please contact Jay Boyington for additional information at 405-744-9000, mstm-osu@okstate.edu, or visit the MSTM web site at http://www.mstm.okstate.edu ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. 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 #479 ****************************** | |