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TELECOM Digest Tue, 15 Nov 2005 01:55:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 519
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
AOL to Launch Online TV (Kenneth Limon)
Net Consensus Unlikely at Summit (Andrew Sullivan & David Lawsky)
AOL.com is First Major Portal to Deliver DVD Quality Videos (Monty Solomon)
AOL and Warner Bros. Announce 'In2TV,' New Broadband Network (M Solomon)
UK Mobile Company O2 Reports Strong Growth (Monty Solomon)
Akamai Net Usage Index Releases Data on Most Viewed News Events (M Solomon)
The On Demand Future of TV (Monty Solomon)
States Get Western Union to Help With Money Sleazoids (Danny Burstein)
Re: If You Would Like to Get Away From ICANN ; Registrars (Paul Vader)
Re: If You Would Like to Get Away From ICANN ; Registrars (Mike Sullivan)
Re: If You Would Like to Get Away From ICANN ; Registrars (John Levine)
Re: Sony BMG "Service Pack 2a" (beavis)
Re: Replacement for Siemens Gigaset (DevilsPGD)
Re: "Soft Dial Tone" on Uuused lines (Lisa Hancock)
Re: Comcast, Verizon Wage Licensing War/Towns Caught in Crossfire (Levine)
Re: Moving to VOIP But Keeping Same Phone Number (Tony P.)
Re: Online Small-Scale POSTAL Mailing Firms? (Clark W. Griswold, Jr.)
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: Kennth Limon <reuters@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: AOL to Launch Online TV
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 23:46:17 -0600
By Kenneth LiMon
Time Warner's AOL said on Monday it planned to launch a free Internet
television service by early 2006, in one of the technology and media
industry's most ambitious designs to reach TV viewers online.
Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. threaten to bypass traditional media
outlets by linking computer users with TV shows online, striking
partnerships with programmers, or create it themselves, but what they
lack AOL now possess in abundance -- the shows themselves.
The advertising-supported service, In2TV, will feature approximately
3,400 hours of programing from 4,800 episodes spanning 100 series of
Warner Bros.-produced shows from the past in its first year in an
exclusive deal.
They include past primetime hits "Welcome Back Kotter," "Growing
Pains" and "Kung Fu" organized under six channels divided by comedy,
drama, animation, action, classic and superhero/villain genres. Two
more may launch in 2006.
Over time, Warner Bros. could add up to 14,000 episodes from 300
series it has currently cleared with rights holders, executives
said. AOL is also currently in talks with "every major provider" to
offer shows not owned by Time Warner, Kevin Conroy, executive vice
president of AOL media networks said in an interview.
ONE PLUS ONE EQUALS SEVEN
In2TV has been two and a half years in the making, executives said,
and to date remains one of the most aggressive displays of
collaboration among the corporate siblings of world's largest media
conglomerate once riven by dissension and infighting after the 2001
merger of AOL and Time Warner.
"The great promise behind this legendary merger was there would be
synergies," said Jupiter Research analyst Todd Chanko, who was briefed
on the service ahead of the announcement. "Here, you have a great
example of two sister operations with mutual needs being satisfied by
the other. It's a no lose proposition."
Working with a corporate sibling was "better than spending $100
million" to build a service from soup to nuts, Eric Frankel, president
of Warner Bros. domestic cable distribution, told Reuters.
Invoking phrases eerily reminiscent of the unkept promises of the
merger, Frankel added, "We're hoping one plus one equals seven."
Indeed, with some 112 million unique monthly visitors to AOL's online
properties, the company has been quickly restructuring the company to
attract even more by offering more free programing, through which it
can sell online advertising to offset a quickly declining dial-up
subscriber base.
AOL has also been in discussions for an alliance or a sale of a stake
in the division to Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and Comcast to reach a
wider audience.
The project comes amid turmoil in the traditional TV industry, when
the Internet, digital media players such as Apple's iPod, cable TV's
on-demand systems and video games now compete for attention.
Eyeing a shift in viewership, two top U.S. TV broadcast networks,
Viacom's CBS and General Electric's NBC, inked deals with cable
company Comcast Corp. and satellite TV provider DirecTV Group
Inc. respectively to sell on-demand episodes of recently aired top
shows for 99 cents.
Meanwhile, Apple and Walt Disney's ABC networks struck a landmark
agreement in October to offer episodes of top shows "Desperate
Housewives" and "Lost" for sale at $1.99 per show that can be
downloaded into recently launched new iPod digital music players. CBS
and NBC are also in discussions to offer shows to Apple's service,
sources have said.
Jupiter's Chanko, who is a media industry veteran, said he saw the
future of TV in free, advertising-driven business models. Selling
shows directly to consumers on a per episode basis, although
interesting, could face problems at a time when monthly cable bills
average about $40 and rising each year.
"There's only so much programming that the U.S. public will pay for at
any given point of time," Chanko said.
Conroy said AOL has not ruled out a transactional business and perhaps
someday charge for shows. But, he added, "You have to build a mass
market for consumer consumption before people think about ownership
models."
In the foreseeable future, however, In2TV, will only feature backlog
shows that are not currently on syndication on other channels to
sidestep conflicts with existing distribution agreements.
"We have more programming in our warehouse than we can monetize on
traditional TV," Frankel said.
Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.
NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.
------------------------------
From: Andy Sullivan <reuters@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Net Consensus Unlikely at Summit
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 23:48:36 -0600
By Andy Sullivan and David Lawsky
The United States is headed for a showdown with much of the rest of
the world over control of the Internet but few expect a consensus to
emerge from a U.N. summit in Tunisia this week.
The very notion of "Internet governance" may seem an oxymoron to the
875 million users of the global computer network, which has proven
stubbornly resistant to the efforts of those who wish to rid it of
pornography, "spam" e-mail and other objectionable material.
But the United States, which gave birth to the Internet, maintains
control of the system that matches easy-to-remember domain names like
"reuters.com" with numerical addresses that computers can understand.
That worries countries like Brazil and Iran, which have pushed to
transfer control to the United Nations or some other international
body.
Even the European Union, where much of the business community backs the
current system, has taken swipes at the United States.
"We just say this needs to be addressed in a more cooperative way ... under
public-policy principles," said one EU official who asked not to be
identified. The official noted that, "having the United States controlling
_our_ web sites, with the ability to censor us or otherwise cut us
out is not acceptable."
The issue is expected to dominate the World Summit on the Information
Society, which begins Wednesday in Tunis, Tunisia.
Part diplomatic summit, part trade fair, the summit was launched two
years ago with a focus on bringing the Internet and other advanced
communications to less developed parts of the world.
That remains a hot topic for many of the 17,000 diplomats,
human-rights activists and technologists expected to attend.
High-tech heavyweights like Intel Corp. and Alcatel will send top
executives to talk up their development programs.
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will unveil
a $100 laptop computer that can be powered by a hand crank in areas
without a reliable supply of electricity.
INTERNET 'PLUMBING'
But progress can't come without legal reform, business groups
say. Internet access in the developing world will always remain
expensive as long as governments allow their telecommunications
monopolies to discourage competition, said Allen Miller, a senior vice
president at the Information Technology Association of America.
"For most of these countries that are complaining about it, it's their
own regulation and lack of liberalization that's preventing backbone
providers from coming in," he said.
Over the past two years tension between the haves and have-nots has
shifted from the question of who has access to the Internet to who
controls its plumbing.
Diplomats were to meet on Sunday for a final round of negotiations
before the summit. They might agree to set up a forum to discuss
issues like cybercrime and spam, and countries might win more direct
control over their own top-level domains, such as .nl for the
Netherlands and .fr for France.
But the United States has said repeatedly it does not intend to cede
control of the domain-name system to a bureaucratic body that could
stifle innovation.
"No agreement is preferred to a bad agreement," U.S. Ambassador David
Gross said at a recent public meeting.
Many experts say the Internet needs less government involvement, not
more.
"When governments talk about imposing their public policies on the
Internet, unfortunately they don't typically mean, 'Let's protect
human rights, individual rights, let's guarantee the freedom of the
Internet,"' said Milton Mueller, a professor at Syracuse University's
School of Information Studies.
"They mean, 'Damn it, somebody using the Internet did something I
don't like and let's find a way to stop it,"' he said, "and the same
thing is true of many elements in the United States as well."
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.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 00:11:23 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: AOL.com is First Major Portal to Deliver DVD Quality Videos
DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 14, 2005--
Trial Begins for "AOL Hi-Q" Video Format, Which Provides
Free Video on Demand, Such as Online Movie Trailers, Music
Videos, and Video Game Trailers, to Broadband Users
The AOL.com portal is the first to introduce a trial for a new "AOL
Hi-Q" high quality video format. The AOL Hi-Q format builds on the
AOL.com Web portal's industry-leading video experience
( http://www.aol.com/video ) and can deliver DVD quality videos, in
addition to standard quality streaming video, free to broadband users.
Consumers can view AOL Hi-Q video on demand as well as select to have
new Hi-Q videos in a particular category of interest, such as online
movie trailers, music videos, video game trailers and more
entertainment content, pushed to them when they are available.
Using one of the industry's first commercial-grade, peer-to-peer grid
distribution networks, developed in partnership with Kontiki, AOL(R)
Hi-Q(TM) can deliver DVD quality videos directly to consumers more
quickly and efficiently. The peer-to-peer distribution network built
by Kontiki features robust security to protect copyrighted content
through digital rights management (DRM) and a centrally managed,
highly-scalable delivery model that enables AOL to reliably deliver
content to consumers. Through the installation of a simple plug-in, a
special AOL Hi-Q video player provides a high resolution display with
image quality designed for full-screen viewing on PC monitors or
televisions capable of showing a PC interface.
- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=53118361
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 00:13:51 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: AOL and Warner Bros. Announce 'In2TV,' New Broadband Network
AOL and Warner Bros. Announce ''In2TV,'' New Broadband Network on
AOL.com, Delivering the Largest Offering of Long-Form Television
Programming Online
DULLES, Va. & BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 14, 2005--America
Online, Inc.:
Thousands of Episodes from Welcome Back Kotter, Sisters, Beetlejuice,
Lois & Clark, La Femme Nikita, Growing Pains and Many More to be Shown
in Their Entirety, Free and On-Demand, With Interactive Quizzes,
Games, Polls, and Contests
Thousands of episodes from some of the most popular television series
of all time will make a comeback exclusively on AOL.com
http://www.aol.com in early 2006, thanks to a pioneering collaboration
between AOL and Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution to form a new
broadband network. The network- called In2TV - will allow consumers to
stream full-length episodes from favorite series such as Welcome Back
Kotter, Sisters, Beetlejuice, Lois & Clark, La Femme Nikita and
Growing Pains free and on-demand on the Web. Along with full-length
episodes, In2TV will also include unique interactive features such as
games, quizzes, polls, trivia contests and more.
This first-of-its-kind interactive video experience demonstrates the
impact of broadband -- now in 53% of U.S. households* -- on the
television industry, as broadband provides a new platform for
television assets on the Internet.
This treasure trove of television programming will serve as a
cornerstone of the AOL.com website's commitment to delivering
broadband video through AOL Video on Demand http://www.aol.com/video
and AOL Video Search http://www.aol.com/videosearch and
http://www.aolsearch.com , as well as through AOL Television
http://www.aol.com/television , the number one television destination
online**. AOL's Video Search engine is one of the industry's most
comprehensive video search tools, drawing from the industry-leading
AOL Video on Demand archive of more than 18,000 licensed and
originally produced assets and over 1.5 million video assets on the
Internet indexed through AOL's Singingfish.
- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=53118177
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 00:20:19 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: UK Mobile Company O2 Reports Strong Growth
By JANE WARDELL AP Business Writer
LONDON (AP) -- British telecommunications company O2 PLC on Monday
reported strong growth in customer numbers and a higher profit in its
final set of interim results as an independent company.
O2 last month agreed to an 18 billion pound ($31.5 billion) takeover
by Telefonica SA, the Spanish telecom powerhouse that has been
expanding in Latin America and Eastern Europe.
In line with takeover rules, O2 did not comment on the progress of the
offer Monday, but did confirm that it had not received any rival bids
since the Telefonica offer was announced.
O2 said its profit in the six months to Sept. 30 increased 4.2 percent
to 350 million pounds ($611.8 million) from 336 million
pounds. Revenue increased 12 percent to 3.6 billion pounds ($6.3
billion) from 3.2 billion pounds.
The company also said that it increased its customer base 17 percent
to 25.7 million from 22 million a year ago.
- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=53119143
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 00:22:59 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Akamai Net Usage Index Releases Data on Most Viewed News Events
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 14, 2005--Akamai
Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM):
-- Akamai releases Net Usage Index "Widget" for use on MAC and PC
desktops
-- Index adds new feature that chronicles the prior 24 hours of
news consumption by geography
-- Over 48,000 unique visitors from around the world have
accessed the Akamai Net Usage Index to date
Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM), the leading global service
provider for accelerating content and business processes online, today
announced that its Akamai Net Usage Index for News (
www.akamai.com/netusageindex ) has chronicled its first 90 days of
real-time news consumption on a global scale.
As part of the analysis that is possible with the Net Usage Index for
News, Akamai released today a look at the five highest peaks based on
total visitors per minute to its aggregate set of 100+ news sites.
The following data ranks the top five peaks since the launch of the
Index and the corresponding events that were taking place in the world
at the time.
Rank Date Approx. Peak visitors Compelling News Event(1)
Time (EST) per minute
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Sep. 12 12 p.m. 3,294,300 Memorial coverage for the 4-
(Mon.) year anniversary of
September 11, 2001
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Oct. 2 4 p.m. 3,196,750 Bali Bombings
(Sun.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
3 Sep. 8 12 p.m. 3,154,000 Flood survivors forced from
(Thu.) New Orleans; Yushchenko
fires government in Ukraine
----------------------------------------------------------------------
4 Sep. 2 2 p.m. 2,921,400 Hurricane Katrina coverage
(Fri.) on Friday before Labor Day
weekend (U.S.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5 Oct. 4 4:30 p.m. 2,903,950 UN condemns Iraq charter
(Tue.) change
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) The Net Usage Index for News does not represent that a single news
event accounts for all Web news traffic at any given time, but the
Index can be used to correlate worldwide interest in specific news
events with relative audience size.
- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=53120402
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 00:34:08 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: The On Demand Future of TV
The On Demand Future of TV
Aired: Monday, November 14, 2005 11-12PM ET
By host Tom Ashbrook:
There is a gusher of news from the world of television lately - and
maybe the end, we're told, of TV as we know it. The common theme is
the collision of television and the Internet, and everything going "on
demand."
Haven't had enough of "The Fugitive," "Eight is Enough," or "Welcome
Back Cotter"? There is news today that Warner Brothers and AOL will
put them all on line.
Last week, CBS and NBC announced 99-cent downloads, on demand, of
prime-time fare: CSI, Law & Order and more. ABC is pushing "Lost" and
"Desperate Housewives" through i-Tunes. The electronic hearth of
television is being shattered.
Hear about on demand and on your own, in TV-land.
Guests
* Tom Lowry, Senior Media Writer at Business Week, co-author of the
article "The End of TV (As You Know It)" in the current issue of
Business Week.
* Aaron Barnhart, Television Critic for the Kansas City Star
* Jim Nail, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, co-author of a
new report arguing that the "TV Schedule will soon be as irrelevant
as last night's news."
* Steven Johnson, author of "Everything Bad Is Good for You: How
Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter."
* Bob Thompson, Director of the Study of Popular Television at
Syracuse University.
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2005/11/20051114_b_main.asp
------------------------------
From: Danny Burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
Subject: States get Western Union to Help With Money Sleazoids
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 16:51:33 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC
" (NYS) Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today announced that Western
Union Financial Services has entered into an agreement with New York
and 46 other states to address the prevalent use of the company's wire
transfer services by fraudulent telemarketers.
" Under the agreement, Western Union will include very prominent
consumer warnings on the forms used to wire money. These disclosures
are aimed at warning consumers of the dangers of fraud-induced wire
transfers....
( Spitzer's press release at:
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2005/nov/nov14a_05.html )
danny " wondering which three states held out " burstein
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
------------------------------
From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader)
Subject: Re: If You Would Like to Get Away From ICANN Oversight and Registrars
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 23:16:14 -0000
Organization: Inline Software Creations
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I don't suppose you know about '.ms' do you?
Montserrat: http://www.iana.org/root-whois/ms.htm. It took two seconds in
google to find this out. *
* PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something
like corkscrews.
------------------------------
From: Michael D. Sullivan <userid@camsul.example.invalid>
Subject: Re: If You Would Like to Get Away From ICANN Oversight and Registrars
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 01:44:53 GMT
Robert Bonomi wrote:
> See ISO 3166-1 on-line at http://www.iso.org for what all those two-letter
> codes mean, and the CIA world factbook (can be found online at:
> http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ ) for where the place
> is, and "more than you really want to know" about what they do there.
The problem is that http://www.iso.org will SELL you an official list
of the country codes for a lot of money if you just type 3166-1 into
the search box. I went to http://www.3c.org, searched for ccTLD
(country code top level domain) and got a FREE iso.org listing of the
country codes. It's at
http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/02iso-3166-code-lists/list-en1.html
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I don't suppose you know about '.ms' do you?
Monserrat, according to the above reference.
Michael D. Sullivan
Bethesda, MD (USA)
(Replace "example.invalid" with "com" in my address.)
------------------------------
Date: 14 Nov 2005 20:02:30 -0000
From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
Subject: Re: If You Would Like to Get Away From ICANN Oversight and Registrars
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA
> .tf is the "French Southern Territories" -- a group of 4 *UNINHABITED*
> islands
The domain was run by AdamsNames in the UK, which handle a bunch of
other vanity country domains, until the French government noticed,
grabbed it back, and put it under the same management as .fr. Once
the current vanity registrations expire, you're not likely to see
anything in it other than perhaps the research stations located there.
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I don't suppose you know about '.ms'
> do you?
That's Montserrat, a small Caribbean island that is nearly uninhabited
due to an erupting volcano. It's been a popular location for "free"
porn chat since they have +1 numbers and very high rates. Their
registry is also run by AdamsNames.
> http://cydots.com offers .ms on a self-registering basis.
No, they offer third level subdomains in .net.ms, etc., which are fine
so long as Cydots feels like doing so. The moment they lose interest,
all of those 3rd level domains disappear.
By the way, be sure never to look at IANA's list of country domains at
http://www.iana.org/cctld/cctld-whois.htm, since then you will
actually know what they are and who runs them, and it'll be a lot
harder to concoct rumors about them.
R's,
John
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Sony BMG "Service Pack 2a"
From: beavis <nobody@nowhere.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 18:32:11 GMT
Organization: Road Runner
In article <telecom24.518.4@telecom-digest.org>, Monty Solomon
<monty@roscom.com> wrote:
> November 8, 2005 - This Service Pack removes the cloaking technology
> component that has been recently discussed in a number of articles
> published regarding the XCP Technology used on SONY BMG content
> protected CDs....
This works even better:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/security/
------------------------------
From: DevilsPGD <spamsucks@crazyhat.net>
Subject: Re: Replacement for Siemens Gigaset
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 12:11:07 -0700
Organization: Disorganized
In message <telecom24.518.13@telecom-digest.org>
bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote:
> In article <telecom24.517.15@telecom-digest.org>,
> CharlesH <hoch@exemplary.invalid> wrote:
>> Thor Lancelot Simon wrote:
>>> I would stay away from the 900Mhz phones for a few reasons. First,
>>> the only multi-line phones available in 900Mhz are notoriously
>>> unreliable. Second, eavesdropping on many 900Mhz phones, even modern
>>> ones, is trivial.
>> How does one eavesdrop on a Digital Spread Spectrum (DSS) 900MHz
>> cordless phone? I would have thought that with the spreading code
>> being changed every time the phone is put into the base, they would be
>> essentially uncrackable, like CDMA cell phones.
> The phone and the base station have to negotiate the spreading code
> used for each session. If you can eavesdrop on that negotiation, you
> _can_ predict the frequency hops, rendering it 'trivial' to track as a
> third-party listener.
Sure, except that the negotiation is typically performed by the base
and handset via a wired connection OR at extremely low power (since it
only happens when they're physically connected)
------------------------------
From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: "Soft Dial Tone" on Uuused lines
Date: 14 Nov 2005 11:10:49 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Michael Chance wrote:
> The historical telco provisioning models don't have lines available
> for every possible address, since not all of them will have paying
> customers 100% of the time, so they play the percentages and only
> have lines available for the normal load of customers.
I tend to question that. The vast majority of addresses will have
active telephone service and many locations will require multiple
lines. There would be very few lines that might be out of service due
to building vacancy or unable to afford service.
Rather, I think the limiting factor is loop-line-concentrator and
switch capacity. That is, everybody in a given exchange might have a
telephone, but not everybody in that exchange can use their phone at
the same time. I have no idea what the percentage of calls relative
to lines a switch can handle; obviously this varies by community.
(Older concentrators limited the number of active calls within a
specific neighborhood because of line capacity. One critic of the
Bell System claimed Bell was too stingy with trunk lines per
concentrator resulting in unnecessary blocking out.)
(I once visited a #5 xbar switch that had two exchanges assigned to
it. They told me they could handle 60 calls at once, FWIW. It was
primarily a suburban residential area, but it did have a reasonably
sized business district with some large shopping centers and
commercial strips.)
Now I think cables tend to be built with excess capacity, so a
community having say 250 homes might have pairs for 300 lines or more.
But I don't think the CO is built to put everyone one of those lines
into service -- a dead line that terminates nowhere is different than a
line that terminates into someone's house, in service or not.
> SDT/QDT requires 100% connected lines all the time, and a
> TN assigned to every one of them, with a large percentage that will be
> non-paying facilities that still have to be maintained as if there
> were someone paying for it.
I'm not sure what "maintained" would require. Since the lines aren't
being used, presumably nobody is calling to complain if service isn't
working. Since individual phone lines are bundled into cables and
possibly carrier facilities, if one line has trouble it means a
problem in a cable affecting many people at once. I do agree some
additional work might be required in outdoor terminal junction boxes.
However, I do agree that switching and bookeeping for such lines could
be a nuisance.
I found a demarc box high up on an electric pole in my development, a
red green pair was dangling underneath it. I had no idea why it was
there (the development was old). I didn't try the pair since it was
on a higher voltage power pole and I didn't want to take any chances.
Eventually the pair was gone.
------------------------------
Date: 14 Nov 2005 20:28:01 -0000
From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
Subject: Re: Comcast, Verizon Wage Licensing War/Towns Caught Cable Crossfire
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA
> The chances of me using Verizon for anything other than POTS are
> less than nil, given the availability of Charter broadband in AV
> (which has been quite reliable over the past two years), and the
> suckage level of Verizon DSL, but it'll be interesting to see if
> Charter raises a fuss about Verizon entering the market, anyhow.
Even if they don't, you should if they offer Verizon anything that
Charter doesn't already have.
The franchise we have with T-W says that if we sign any franchise
agreements with anyone else, they have the option of using the new
agreement, which I gather is typical.
R's,
John
------------------------------
From: Tony P. <kd1s.nospam@nospam.cox.nosapm.net>
Subject: Re: Moving to VOIP But Keeping Same Phone Number
Organization: Ace Tomato and Cement Co.
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 17:43:12 -0500
In article <telecom24.518.6@telecom-digest.org>, johnl@iecc.com says...
>> it took more than four months for Vonage to transfer his phone
>> number of 13 years from his previous VoIP provider, Time Warner.
> Well, that's Vonage for you, billions for advertising, pennies for
> customer "service".
> I am pleased to report, though, that when I ditched Vonage in favor of
> Lingo, it only took a few days to transfer my number over. As far as
> I can tell, Vonage still hasn't figured out that it's been ported, so
> Vonage users still can't call it since they route calls to my long ago
> returned terminal adapter. But everyone else can.
I've noticed that Vonage is a hit/miss thing. In my case my number
transferred in < 20 days but I was proactive about it, involving
friends at the PUC in order to grease the process.
Haven't had any problems with Vonage either. Most of the loss of service
(97%) were my fault or my ISP's fault not that of Vonage. The only
annoyance is that they don't yet have ACR.
The reason it annoys me is that they're using Paetec in my area and I
know Paetec offers it on their 5E. In essence VoIP is just a last mile
technology so why the hell can't I have that one feature? It also
appears to be high on the list of many Vonage subscribers.
------------------------------
From: Clark W. Griswold, Jr. <spamtrap100@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Online Small-Scale POSTAL Mailing Firms?
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 20:56:08 -0700
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com
AES <siegman@stanford.edu> wrote:
> Are there online services that will accept a message, a few
> instructions, and a small list of names and addresses online; print,
> stuff, stamp, and mail the message to this list of names using some
> low-end automated machinery; and bill the organization online -- at
> low cost?
http://www.usps.com/netpost/welcome.htm?from=0001home&page=0129netpostservices
------------------------------
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