TELECOM Digest     Fri, 2 Dec 2005 15:26:00 EST    Volume 24 : Issue 544

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Let us Take [CATV-Based] IP and Make it Wireless (Neal McLain)
    T-mobile, was: Verizon, GTE, etc, etc (Danny Burstein)
    Verizon to Offer Service for Cell Phones (Monty Solomon)
    Telecom Update #508, December 2, 2005 (Angus TeleManagement Group)
    Cellular-News for Friday 2nd December 2005 (Cellular-News)
    Juniper Snags IPv6 Deal in China (USTA Daily Lead)
    Re: Holiday Observances Phone Rates (was Re: Kennedy) (Bob Goudreau)
    Re: Holiday Observances Phone Rates (was Re: Kennedy) (Lisa Hancock)
    Re: JFK Assassination (Paul Coxwell)
    Re: JFK Assassination (Lisa Hancock)
    Re: Personal Computers Enlisted in AIDS Research (Steve Stone)
    Re: Verizon GTE Merger -- How Did it Go? (Steve Sobol)
    Re: When is TDMA Being Phased Out? (Lisa Hancock)

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
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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: Neal McLain <nmclain@annsgarden.com>
Subject: Let us Take [CATV-Based] IP and Make it Wireless
Reply-To: nmclain@annsgarden.com
Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2005 12:28:15 -0500


Crossposted from SCTE list:

   From: Dean F. Meece
   Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 6:50 PM
   Subject: Let us take IP and make it Wireless. Now.

Discussion for the SCTE floor: "Let us take IP and make it Wireless. Now."

There is a great paradox to the MSO vs. CLEC race to deliver
ridiculous IP speeds to the customer's house.

We are constructing the infrastructure to remove the middle man from
the video delivery business or phone business -- with the very thing
we race to achieve. In the end, we may just be the pipe that delivers
IP as fast as possible to the consumer. A utility like water, gas and
power, not a tollbooth for content providers to get on our delivery
network. What does this mean? A massive attack on our bottom line.

Think about college kids and teenagers, they're always the earlier
adopters to technologies that will overtake the big picture business
model within a generation. In case you need some frame of reference
for what kind of a tidal wave is coming and industry shift is about to
happen, look into periodicals and newspapers profitability and
subscriber rates.

People under 30 do not read _print_ newspapers and magazines very
much. If they do, they don't pay for them or it's because they don't
have IP handy. Maybe your kid is the exception to the rule, but the
trend is massively in retreat right now. They read them online, they
get their media downloaded to their PDA's, or their laptops or PSP's
or IPOD's now. Check out Audible.com -- you can get your daily news
downloaded in MP3 format, and play it on your car as you drive to work
on your MP3 player.

Environmentalists can cheer, but newspaper/periodical businesses are
about to be destroyed. Exit middleman stage right.

How does the MSO still win here in this model? We deliver the IP.

Need another middleman analogy to the power of IP content delivery?
CD's, DVD's manufacturing and retail distribution. Exit middleman
again. We may have dealt the first blow by burying Blockbuster with
VOD, but the next revolution is slowly taking up positions around us
within the last few months. And it's gunning right at our VOD and
Linear video distribution systems.

Apple finally has a feather in its cap that can pay the bills, keep
the lights on and then some. They've turned themselves into the 21st
century CD manufacturing and delivery system or "tollbooth" for audio
content. Eliminating the physical CD and the retail stores that sell
them. Now -- they're doing it with Video, completely skipping our
entire VOD distribution system. You can download shows and watch them
anywhere, anytime, provided you have an IP connection. Maybe it's low
bit rate today, but it's just a matter of time, with faster IP that we
provide them, they too can deliver HD content to the consumer over
IP. And their business model is -- imagine this -- profitable.

How does the MSO still win here in this model? We deliver the IP.

As soon as the downstream speeds we provide a customer cross the
19Mbps threshold, what's to stop a content provider from delivering
assets directly to the consumer in real time, or near real time? It's
not the "oh that will be ridiculously poor looking content because
it's so grainy and low BW" argument -- it will be HD over IP right to
the termination device. What about MPEG4? When the compression models
are even better, and require even LESS downstream BW to deliver that
same first class content.

Why couldn't someone use their off-the-shelf DVR with an IP back end
that works off our DOCSIS modem to get video assets on demand?

Keep thinking about how the under 30 crowd operates. They're already
doing these things.

Look at the business models emerging around us:

The IPOD can now download video over IP, that you can watch "anywhere"
or plug into a display device and watch it -- On  Demand. The PSP
(PlayStation Personal) is 802.11 enabled to stream video from a base
station you hook up off your TV, that you can control remotely. Just
like a sling box.

This model, is one step removed from needing the set top box,
eventually -- it will be IP to the PSP, they could charge for
assets. Just like VOD.  Skipping our VOD model, just using IP. The set
top, is about to go DOCSIS in a big way, all IP, or even Multicast IP
to the set top.

Young people want their Television On Demand, and increasingly -- so
do the elders as they continue to adopt. How they get it will just be
an IP pipe in the end. The younger the end user, the more likely they
will be getting their video from one of the new IP based delivery
methods and not subscribing to bloated pricey cable packages. Sure,
the prevailing MSO delivery model right now is easy to use, it's
perfect for everyone from 10 to 100 (the 90-100 crowd is still crowing
about the set top complexity) but that comfort level with "we'll do
everything for you TV" is undergoing a massive transformation right
now. The under 30's, are spoon fed computers and web gui's from
birth. And really when you think about it, how different is our guide
from a snazzy website or LCD interface on a gaming device? Actually,
I'd choose the gaming interface any day over our guide...

How does the MSO still win here in this model? We deliver the IP.

So now let me put the second half of this out there -- to do so, I want
to use Telephony as an example. Why did payphone go out as a
profitable business? Why did people stop getting 2nd and 3rd lines?
Wireless, Cell phones saved the CLEC's who adopted wireless first and
bet on the future of wireless telephony. The CLEC's that were smart
enough to transform their business in time so that they remained the
tollbooth of telephone. We lost that race I think in the end, landline
telephony is on it's way out eventually. It will take time (a long
time), but the prevailing model will be wireless, and it will be
profitable as it is today.

Voice and print "media" is always going to lead Video in technology
migrations. Simply because of how many bits it takes to move it from
point A to B in a digital world. The prevailing models are definitely
maturing for the future of print and audio delivery. Where is Video
going? It's next in line, and our number is about to be up.

So how does the MSO still win here when we are neck and neck with FIOS
for providing breakneck IP speeds to the customer? We deliver Wireless
IP to the consumer NOW.

BW over Cell phone networks is miserable, 3G speeds aren't going to be
delivering VOD assets any time soon, probably never. Cell phone towers
are never going to be closer to customers than the HFC network, which
touches about 90% of the places people live and work. Everyone is
right there, right on our HFC plant w/ massive BW to set free. That's
a position the CLEC's would love to be in with that kind of horsepower.
And we have it today, we don't have to spend 10 years and billions of
dollars to do this.

So as the CLEC's drive PON to everyone's house, and lose the ability
to put active devices all over the place. We need to take our edge and
put wireless out there. And we can't wait any longer. Or another
business model is going to come up around us, and turn MSO's into an
IP based utility, where other folks will call out the prices for
content and were just the vehicle to get it from A to B.

What if the Google WiFi model works? Wireless everywhere, ad based
revenue for wireless IP, surely they need a backbone for this
infrastructure, but our take of the pie won't be for content. It will
be wholesale BW.

Let us not go the way of Newspapers, Blockbuster and CD retailers - we
must take IP and make it wireless, at high BW speeds, so that we can
remain the tollbooth for content, so that people will pay to get their
content on our superior IP networks. Worst case, even if we are the
wholesale BW company when the game finally finishes this chapter, at
least we'll have won because we took that BW and gave it to people
wirelessly, regardless of the victorious content tollbooth model.

Dean F. Meece
Systems Engineer
Comcast

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

From: Danny Burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
Subject: T-Mobile, was: Verizon, GTE, etc, etc
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2005 20:55:58 UTC
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC


In <telecom24.543.6@telecom-digest.org> Anthony Bellanga
<anthonybellanga@notchur.biz> writes: [ snip ]

> Voicestream changed into T-Mobile. I understand that there was even a
> name used prior to being called Voicestream but I can't remember what
> it was.

Going back in time, there was Omnipoint in the (roughly) northeastern
US (parts of Pa., NJ, NY, and new England).  I have a faint memory of
them also holding licenses in Florida.

There was also Western Wireless in the Pacific Northwest.

Western merged/bought up Omnipoint as well as a few small facilities
here and there.

Soon afterwards, Deutche Telecom (German based) bought up Western and
added more licenses.

Net result (name wise)

East Coast: Omnipoint -> Voicestream -> T-Mobile

West Coast: Western Wireless -> Voicestream -> T-Mobile

(minor disclosure: user and also shareholder in T-Mobile)

_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
		     dannyb@panix.com 
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

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

Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2005 17:14:54 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Verizon to Offer Service for Cell Phones


By BRUCE MEYERSON AP Business Writer


NEW YORK (AP) -- Verizon Wireless has signed on as the first cellular
carrier that will offer a broadcast TV network for mobile phones that
Qualcomm Inc. plans to launch in late 2006.

The companies declined to say Thursday what programming might be
featured over the MediaFLO system, which will be broadcast to mobile
phones over a different portion of the wireless spectrum than cellular
calls and data services.

Cellular operators in a handful of other countries already feature TV
from a separate wireless network, using technologies from Qualcomm
rivals such as Nokia Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. Mobile
users in South Korea, one of the most advanced markets, can now watch
broadcasts via both satellites and terrestrial towers like those that
will be used by Qualcomm.

      - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=53606601

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

Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 10:43:54 -0800
Subject: Telecom Update #508, December 2, 2005
From: Angus TeleManagement Group <jriddell@angustel.ca>
Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group <jriddell@angustel.ca>


************************************************************
TELECOM UPDATE 
************************************************************
published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group 
http://www.angustel.ca

Number 508: December 2, 2005

Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous 
financial support from: 
** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/
** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca 
** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ 
** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca
** MICROSOFT CANADA: www.microsoft.com/canada/telecom/
** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/
** NEC UNIFIED SOLUTIONS: www.necunifiedsolutions.com
** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions 
** VONAGE CANADA: www.vonage.ca

************************************************************

IN THIS ISSUE: 

** BCE Gives Up Control of Globemedia 
** MTS Allstream to Lay Off 750
** Numbers Going Fast in 519
** Do-Not-Call Bill Slips Under the Wire 
** Two Senior Execs Leave Nortel 
** Judge Throws Out RIM/NTP Settlement 
** Bell Wants Fast Decision on Winback Rules 
** MTS--Tariff All 900 Services 
** Bell Must Provide Full LNP on DV Lite 
** Yukon ISPs Want Price Cut for Internet Gateway 
** SR Telecom Delisted from Nasdaq 
** BCE Opposes Income Trust Request 
** Indian Cable Maker to Locate in Canada 
** New Orleans Plans Free Wi-Fi 
** Managing Telecom in the IP World 

============================================================

BCE GIVES UP CONTROL OF GLOBEMEDIA: BCE Inc. says it will be $1.3
billion richer after reducing its share of Bell Globemedia from 68.5%
to 20%.  Under the proposed deal, which requires approval from the
Competition Bureau and the CRTC, the Thomson family's Woodbridge
Company will increase its holding from 31.5% to 40%, and the Ontario
Teachers' Pension Plan and Torstar Corporation will each acquire 20%.

** Bell Globemedia owns the Globe and Mail, the CTV 
   television network, and 15 specialty channels. BCE bought 
   CTV for $2.3 billion in 2000, then combined it with Globe 
   and Mail assets acquired from Thomson to establish 
   Globemedia, which was promoted as the key element in BCE's 
   "convergence" strategy.

MTS ALLSTREAM TO LAY OFF 750: Manitoba Telecom plans to eliminate 750
to 800 jobs, 12% of its total staff. MTS's Allstream unit will absorb
80% of the cuts, most of which will take place in the first half of
2006. The layoffs are part of the company's Transition Phase II Plan,
which aims to cut expenses by at least $100 million over the next two
years.

NUMBERS GOING FAST IN 519: The latest survey by the Canadian Numbering
Administrator predicts that all phone number prefixes in area code 519
will be in use by December 2006, eight months earlier than previously
forecast. Relief is on the way: a new area code, 226, will begin
serving the area in October 2006.

** The December 14 meeting of the 519 Relief Planning 
   Committee will consider whether new number conservation 
   measures are required.

DO-NOT-CALL BILL SLIPS UNDER THE WIRE: As we predicted last week,
bills regarding Internet wiretaps and the CRTC's power to impose fines
died on the order paper when Parliament was dissolved. But we were
wrong about the telemarketing Do-Not-Call bill, C-37--it has received
royal assent, and now only requires proclamation by Cabinet to become
law.

** We expect the CRTC to issue a Public Notice regarding 
   implementation of the Do-Not-Call List early in 2006.

TWO SENIOR EXECS LEAVE NORTEL: Nortel Networks Chief Research Officer
Brian McFadden, and Sue Spradley, President of Global Services and
Operations, have resigned after 28 and 18 years with the company,
respectively.

JUDGE THROWS OUT RIM/NTP SETTLEMENT: A U.S. judge has ruled that the
March 2005 deal settling the patent dispute between Research In Motion
and NTP Corp. is unenforceable. Judge James Spencer also denied RIM's
request to stay proceedings while the U.S. Patent Office completes a
review of NTP's claims.

** RIM won another favourable preliminary patent office 
   ruling this week, but Judge Spencer says it may be years 
   before the patent office takes action.

** NTP is now expected to ask for an injunction to halt RIM 
   sales in the U.S. (See Telecom Update #506)

BELL WANTS FAST DECISION ON WINBACK RULES: Bell Canada has asked the
CRTC to stay the "winback rules" in Bell's territory immediately,
pending the Commission's decision on whether the rules violate the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Bell also wants the Commission to
issue its final decision by January 11.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8680/b2_200513707.htm

MTS -- TARIFF ALL 900 SERVICES: MTS Allstream has asked the CRTC to
require all carriers who provide 900 services to do so under an
approved tariff, to ensure that consumer safeguards are enforced.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8622/m59_200513962.htm

BELL MUST PROVIDE FULL LNP ON DV LITE: The CRTC has given Bell Canada
six months to implement full number portability for customers
switching to Digital Voice Lite, for both primary and secondary
numbers, and for out-of-territory as well as in-territory numbers. In
the meantime, Bell must amend its Digital Voice Lite tariff to make
clear that only in-territory primary numbers can be ported.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Orders/2005/o2005-397.htm

YUKON ISPs WANT PRICE CUT FOR INTERNET GATEWAY: Two Yukon ISPs have
asked the CRTC to order Northwestel to provide its wholesale Internet
Gateway service under an approved tariff, and to immediately reduce
the price by 25%. The ISPs say Northwestel, which currently provides
this service to ISPs without a tariff, is charging unreasonably high
rates to connect to the Internet backbone.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8622/y3_200514225.htm

SR TELECOM DELISTED FROM NASDAQ: Montreal-based fixed wireless
supplier SR Telecom has been delisted from Nasdaq for failing to
maintain an adequate share price and shareholders' equity. SR's shares
have lost 90% of their value in the past year. (See Telecom Update
#490)

BCE OPPOSES INCOME TRUST REQUEST: A small BCE shareholder has asked for
the company's conversion into an income trust. BCE says the conversion
would not be in its best interests.

INDIAN CABLE MAKER TO LOCATE IN CANADA: Kavveri Telecom Products Ltd,
a telecom cable manufacturer based in Mumbai, India, said this week
that it plans to invest US$2.5 million to create a subsidiary in
Canada. No further details were announced.

NEW ORLEANS PLANS FREE WI-FI: New Orleans says it will provide free
wireless Internet access covering the entire city within a year. The
Wi-Fi network, part of an effort to attract businesses and residents
back to the devastated city, is already operational in the central
business district, the French Quarter, and the warehouse district.

MANAGING TELECOM IN THE IP WORLD: Henry Dortmans, President of Angus
Dortmans Associates, will examine the challenges posed to IT leaders
by current changes within the telecom industry at a half-day seminar
sponsored by Avaya in Toronto December 8. For information or to
register, call Josie Paoletta, 905-474-6969 or jpaoletta@avaya.com.

============================================================

HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE

E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca

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COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2005 Angus
TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further
information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please
e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca.

The information and data included has been obtained from sources which
we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no
warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy,
completeness, or adequacy.  Opinions expressed are based on
interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If
expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a
competent professional should be obtained.

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

Subject: Cellular-News for Friday 2nd December 2005
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 09:40:43 -0600
From: Cellular-News <dailydigest@cellular-news-mail.com>


Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com

======================================================================

[[ 3G ]]

Sweden has the best 3G coverage in Europe
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15072.php

Sweden's telecoms regulator, the PTS says that the country has the
best 3G coverage in Europe -- stating that 85% of the Swedish
population has 3G coverage. The UK and Italy have the second and third
best coverage in Europe. They have approximately 75...

Eurotel Launches 3G Network in Czech Republic
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15073.php

The Czech Republic's Eurotel Praha launched its UMTS network
yesterday. This is one year earlier than Eurotel committed to in its
UMTS license. No extra activation is needed to enter the world of UMTS
customers only need a Eurotel SIM card and a UM...

[[ Financial ]]

Novator Bids For Bulgaria's BTC - CEEMarketWatch
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15057.php

Bulgarian telecommunications firm BTC said Thursday that Novator, an
Icelandic company controlled by billionaire Thor Bjorgolfsson, has
made an offer to buy BTC and its mobile phone arm, VivaTel,
CEEMarketWatch reported Thursday. ...

Russia's Alfa Telecom changes name, looks for foreign partner
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15058.php

Russia's Alfa Telecom, which manages the telecommunications assets of
its parent company Alfa Group, has changed its name to Altimo and is
looking for a global partnership, Altimo said in a press release
Thursday. ...

FOCUS: Phones4U Sale Offers Scope To Emulate Carphone Warehouse Retail Chain
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15062.php

PREMIUM - Private equity buyers are jostling for Caudwell Group, the
owner of the U.K.'s second-largest mobile phones retailer Phones4U, as
they look for exposure to the fast-growing mobile phone market in an
otherwise depressed retail sector. ...

MTS Belarus' subscriber base up to 2 mln people as of December 1 
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15063.php

The subscriber base of Belarusian-Russian joint venture Mobile
TeleSystems, or MTS Belarus, increased 3.4% in November to 2 million
subscribers as of December 1, a spokesperson with the company told
Prime-Tass Thursday. ...

[[ Handsets ]]

Nokia To Expand Mobile Device Production In China
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15053.php

Finnish telecommunications equipment maker Nokia Corp. Thursday said
it plans to expand its mobile device production in Dongguan,
China. ...

Nokia President: Success In Handset Business Harder To Achieve
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15065.php

PREMIUM - It is becoming harder to succeed in the handset business,
according to Nokia Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, but the executive continues to believe Nokia
will take market share in 2006. ...

Thee New 3G Phones from Nokia
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15070.php

Nokia has shown off three new phones, one specially designed for
Vodafone and two general 3G handsets, including the first designed to
operate at the USA's 1900Mhz 3G band. "With the introduction of the
Nokia 6282 phone, we are helping to make the pr...

[[ Legal ]]

Samsung Pleads Guilty In Chip Price-Fixing Scheme
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15052.php

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)--Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., the world's largest
maker of memory chips, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge it
participated in a price-fixing conspiracy that damaged competitors and
increased computer prices. ...

Vivendi's Mobile Unit SFR To Appeal Antitrust Fine
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15054.php

Vivendi Universal's mobile phone unit SFR said Thursday it will appeal
the decision of France's antitrust regulator to fine the company
EUR220 million for price-fixing. ...

PRESS: Russian prosecutors start forgery case in SMARTS deal
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15059.php

Russia's Samara Region Prosecutor's Office has initiated a criminal
case for the document forgery that prevented the re-registration of
regional mobile operator SMARTS from a closed joint stock company into
an open joint stock company, Vedomosti bu...

Orange, SFR, Bouygues Fined For Market Collusion
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15060.php

rench competition authorities on Thursday fined the country's three
largest cell phone companies, Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom, a
cumulative 534 million euros ($629 million) for collusion. ...

IPOC says Altimo shouldn't count on 25% in MegaFon in its plans
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15064.php

Russia's Altimo, formerly Alfa Telecom, should not count on a 25.1%
stake in Russia's third largest mobile operator MegaFon in
its business development plans, Bermuda Islands-based IPOC
International Growth Fund said in a press release Thursday. IP...

[[ Mobile Content ]]

Verizon Wireless Plans Mobile TV Service
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15071.php

Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless have jointly announced that Qualcomm and
its subsidiary MediaFLO are working together to launch mobile TV
services over the MediaFLO network in approximately half of the
markets already covered by Verizon Wireless' CDMA2...

[[ Network Contracts ]]

Alcatel Wins Pakistani GSM Contract
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15066.php

Alcatel has been awarded a new GSM mobile network expansion and
modernization by Paktel Ltd, the Pakistani incumbent owned by Millicom
International Cellular (MIC). The multi-million Euro contract will be
executed over 3 phases covering the 4 provinc...

Nokia Wins GSM Contract in Colombia
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15069.php

Nokia and Telef Mes have agreed to provide a complete GSM system deal
to TelefaMes Colombia which includes GSM radio access and MSC Server
System (MSS), giving Telefa Mes the chance to broaden its service
offering to its cus...

[[ Network Operators ]]

New GSM Network Launched in Bolivia
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15068.php

Millicom International Cellular has announced the launch of GSM
services in Bolivia under the Tigo brand, including GPRS, Edge, MMS
and e-pin (electronic top-up). Marc Beuls, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Millicom said: "Our operation in B...

[[ Personnel ]]

T-Mobile UK Managing Director McBride To Join Amazon UK
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15055.php

T-Mobile International, the mobile telecommunications arm of Deutsche
Telekom, Thursday said Brian McBride, the managing director of its
struggling U.K. division, will leave the company at the end of the
year. ...

[[ Regulatory ]]

EU Telecom Regulators Favor Old Monopolies -Report
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15061.php

Regulators are failing to inject much-needed competition into Europe's
telecommunications sector by favoring former state-owned monopolies, a
report issued Thursday by an industry lobby group shows. ...

[[ Reports ]]

Will Cellular Carriers Commit to M2M?
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15067.php

Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications occupy a special place in the
cellular market. Machines that could use intelligent peer-based
communication are said to outnumber the world's human cellular-user
population by orders of magnitude. Yet financial...

Wireless Providers Making Modest Progress in Improving Customer Service
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15074.php

Wireless service providers are having some success in reducing
customer service churn and complaint rates, but they still have
significant challenges ahead, reports In-Stat. About one in eight
wireless customers considered their wireless carrier's cu...

[[ Statistics ]]

Gartner Says Worldwide Camera Phone Sales Reach 300 Million In 05
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15056.php

Gartner Thursday announced that worldwide sales of camera phones will
reach 295.5 million in 2005. This represents 38 of total worldwide
mobile phone sales, up from 14% in 2004. ...

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

From: USTelecom DailyLead  <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: Juniper Snags IPv6 Deal in China
Date: Fri, Dec 2 2005 14:00:00 CST


USTelecom dailyLead
December 2, 2005
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		TODAY'S HEADLINES
	
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Juniper snags IPv6 deal in China
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Cablevision's Dolan backs a la carte pricing
* Report: European regulators fail to promote telecom competition
* Nokia projects strong growth in mobile market
USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT
* Order Today! Newton's Telecom Dictionary -- 21st Edition
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
* Will video calling ever catch on?
VOIP DOWNLOAD
* Report: Nortel leads IP PBX market in North America
* Tech basics: VoIP session border controllers
* Nomadic VoIP providers struggle with E911 rules
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* U.S. Patent Office rejects NTP patent
* Illinois court ruling a victory for AT&T
* Telstra wants Australia to overhaul telecom rules

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/zqvMatagCzfawhQUkv

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

From: Goudreau_Bob@notchur.biz
Subject: Re: Holiday Observances Phone Rates (was Re: Kennedy) 
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2005 16:27:43 -0500 


[PAT, please obscure my email address as usual.  Thanks.]

Anthony Bellanga wrote:

> Presidents' Day was originally George Washington's Birthday, which 
> *was* the ONLY Federal Holiday to honor a *specific* individual by 
> *NAME*.

What about Columbus Day?  It became a federal holiday in the 1960s,
and it honors a specific individual by (one form of his) name.

> It was "morphed" into Presidents' Day sometime in the 1980s 
> (IIRC), to honor Lincoln (also with a February Birthday) and "all" of 
> the presidents of the US. So, after a while, even the Father of Our 
> Country lost out on the day *specifically* dedicated to him, while at 
> about the same time this mlk gets a federal holiday by name.

The "Presidents' Day" claim is incorrect.  The federal holiday has
never been known by that name and is still "Washington's Birthday".
See http://www.snopes.com/holidays/presidents/presidents.asp for
details.

Bob Goudreau
Cary, NC

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Holiday Observances Phone Rates (was Re: Kennedy)
Date: 2 Dec 2005 09:05:01 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Anthony Bellanga wrote:

> Weekday/Daytime period (the most expensive)
> Mon-Fri 08-AM to 05-PM
> Weekday/Evening period (the MID-range)
> Sun-Fri 05-PM to 11-PM
> Night/Weekend period (the lowest rates)
> ALL Nights 11-PM to 8-AM
> and ALL WEEKEND LONG starting at 11-PM Fri continuing all the way
> through (NOTE) 05-PM SUNDAY (when EVENING rates would kick-in)

IIRC, the above three-tiered rate structure began in the 1970s when
discounts for dialed-direct service was introduced.  Prior to that
time I believe there were only two rate periods, day and
evening/weekend, the minimum charge was 3 minutes, and
station-to-station calls were all the same price whether dialed
yourself or had operator assistance (payphone, collect, 3rd party
bill, time& charges, credit card, 3 min notify, busy verify).
Person-to-person remained higher.

In those days it was typical for a large business to get T&C for all
toll calls, and the PBX operator had to place them.  Some businesses
mandated person-to-person for all calls.  Person calls didn't start
charging until the specific requested party answered the phone.  In a
business, this could mean a wait of a few minutes while a secretary
paged the desired the person, so it could made sense.

You could also make a person-to-person collect call, which meant the
receiver had to pay the higher rate.

In those days "long distance calling" was serious business and usually
got attention.

The new structure was a big change.  They added a "night" class which
was originally after midnight (I don't think it originally included
weekends).  The evening and night rates had deeper discounts, but you
had to dial direct.  (If you did not have DDD in your area or had
trouble placing the call, you still got the discount).  Pay phones
didn't get the discount.  The minimum time was also now 1 minute.  I
remember waiting up till midnight to make use of the deep discount.
Later on it was moved earlier to 11pm and weekends were added and the
discounts were even better.  I know definitely Sunday evenings were at
the cheapest rate, it was later on that they bumped Sunday evenings to
"evening" rate because so many people made toll calls at that time.

I believe around that time inward (800) and outward WATS lines
appeared.

As time went on rates dropped for DDD calls but went up for operator
handled calls, either station or person.  I believe oper calls paid
the full initial charge but got an offpeak discount, if appropriate,
on additional minutes.  If you had trouble and needed oper assistance,
too bad, you bad the higher rate.

> Holiday rates were identical to EVENING (mid-range) rates, NOT the
> least expensive Night/Weekend period. At least this is how it all was
> in the mid-1970s thru mid-1990s period.

I believe originally holiday rates were the lowest weekend rates, then
went up to evening rates, about the same time Sunday evening went from
"weekend" to "evening".

> But with the 1996 Telecom Law, everything that we had become
> comfortable with (especially after having adjusted to the 1984
> divestiture) began to change again. AT&T's basic rate structures began
> to change significantly, yet at the same time, if you know how to
> choose/dial "wisely", you'll find that toll rates overall have
> decreased signficantly.

Yes and no.  Basically it all became a single number -- one rate per
minute any time for any DDD call.  But you might have to pay a monthly
carrying charge on top of toll calls.  For people calling in the day
time to very distant places this was a big savings.  For people
calling during weekends to short distant places it was a big INCREASE.
For people using pay phones or traditional calling cards it was a HUGE
increase.

> ... And while you might lash-out at Cellular
> companies, Long Distance Carriers, and even local telcos, if you do
> your homework (and yes, it can be tedious), you can get very good
> savings and discount plans on ALL of your telecom services, even
> better than it was in the stable "good old days" of Maw Bell in the
> 1970s and early (pre-divestiture) 1980s.

Again, yes and no.  At home I now have unlimited national.  It doesn't
really save me any money; I was getting killed on short haul toll
calls and regional service.  Under the pre-divesture rate structures
I'd be paying a lot less.

The "homework" is EXTREMELY TEDIOUS.  (Shouting intentional).  It is
greedy price gouging, pure and simple.

Generally, convenience stores (ie 7-11, Wawa) charge more than
supermarkets for many products.  One canned item is $1.29 at the
supermarket and $1.89 at the convenience store.  But a toll call from
home might be 35c a minute while at a payphone will be $10.00 a
minute.

That's utterly absurb and gouging.

When my mother was taken to the emergency room (no cell phones
allowed!), I used my calling card on the pay phone with my LD carrier
to notify family, and I was billed $20.00 for each call.  Sorry, but
under the circumstances I didn't have time or inclination to worry
about pre-paid calling cards, using the right LD carrier code, etc.
When I got the bill I complained loudly and took the charges off.
Most people probably just pay them.

In the convenience store or supermarket the price of every item is
clearly marked on the shelf.  Indeed, many consumer advocates want
prices marked right on the item itself like in the old days.  Yet
there are NO rate cards on a pay telephone and today you can't call
the operator and get the rate in advance like the old days.  Why
aren't the telephone carriers required to be as clear about their toll
charges are as stores are about their products?  I know immediately up
front what my convenience store will charge me. I don't know about
public toll calls.  That sucks.

I don't mind paying a premium for making a calling card or cash toll
call from a public phone, but I resent being gouged.

I resent needing to spend my free time doing all this "tedious
homework".  The rate structures are very fluid and it's a constant
battle to keep up.  Big banks are no better, always changing the
service fees on your account.

Government regulation had a lot of flaws, but companies are taking
advtg of the lack of regualation and intentionally terribly confusing
fee schedules to cheat the public.

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

From: Paul Coxwell <paulcoxwell@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: Re: JFK assassination
Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2005 00:08:12 +0000


> Inventing the transistor was one thing.  Being able manufacture it as
> a reliable and inexpensive product was a difficult long task.

> According to the IBM history, at first transistors were made by hand
> -- someone jiggled the cat whiskers and watched a scope until the
> proper effect was created.  Obviously very expensive and error prone
> way to go.  Even after automation yields of working transistors were
> low.  IBM research not only was developing new computers to use
> transistors, but also new technology to manufacture transistors and
> circuit cards.  IBM failed to patent or license the manufacturing
> technology not realizing how valuable it was and let its
> subcontractors take it and re-use it.  (Kind of like PC-DOS).

> The end result was that until the late 1950s, transistors cost more
> than tubes.

The earliest transistors were the "point contact" type, and made on a
base of germanium rather than the silicon which everybody associates
with transistors these days.  Semiconductor diodes were made the same
way, not really dissimilar to the "cat's whisker and crystal" diodes
which had been in use as radio detectors for many years.  It was a
little later that "junction" diodes and transistors appeared to
eliminate the cat's whisker approach, although the point-contact
transistor still had certain advantages over junction types for some
applications.

> Another issue was the learning curve.  Electronic engineers by that
> point had long experience with vacuum tubes--they knew what they could
> and could not do and their operating characteristics.  After the war,
> both the television and computing engineers extensively studied and
> developed circuits using tubes and were hesitent to go off on
> something new and different.

The vacuum tube and the bipolar transistor do indeed have very
different operating characteristics which require something a
different approach to design and servicing.  The tube, for example, is
an inherently high-impedance device, whereas the transistor operated
with much lower impedances.  Even the polarities of DC voltages and
currents could be off-putting.  Many of earlier transistors were the
PNP type, which means that the main supply rail is NEGATIVE.
Engineers used to years of dealing with tube circuits with POSITIVE B+
supplies suddenly had to start thinking about all the supply, biasing,
etc. polarities in a circuit in reverse.

Somewhat ironically, the field-effect transistor which was developed
some years later actually has characteristics which more closely match
those of tubes in many ways.

> Not all circuits were convertable to transistors, especially back
> then.  I understand to this day electronic guitar amplifier still use
> tubes.

> It is not surprising that TV equipment still contained many tubes.  It
> would do so for a number of years.

In the early days, transistors were suitable for low power
applications at relatively low frequencies.  They could handle neither
high frequencies nor high powers effectively.

It's easy for people nowadays to think of the transistor as heralding
the space age, for example, and without the low-power consumption and
miniaturization of transistors, some of the early satellite projects
such as Telstar would have been impossible.  Yet at the same time,
those projects could not possibly have worked without the continued
use of thermionic devices, such as the TWT (Traveling Wave Tube) used
to provide the high power signals for transmission at the extremely
high frequencies involved.  Transistors at that time were simply not
capable of providing the power needed at those frequencies.

In domestic equipment, TV sets employed tubes well into the 1970s, and
even the early 1980s in some cases. Hybrid sets gradually became quite
common from the 1960s onward, with transistors being used in the small
signal stages (I.F. amplifiers, AGC circuits, sync separator, etc.)
and tubes for the parts of the circuit which demanded higher power
(line output, frame output, final video amplifier, etc.) or, in the
early days, which had to handle high frequencies (e.g. the UHF tuner).

And of course, the thermionic tube never really went away completely
even after all those high-power stages became transistorized, for the
cathode-ray tube itself is just a special type of vacuum tube.

-Paul

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: JFK Assassination
Date: 2 Dec 2005 08:24:47 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Scott Dorsey wrote:

>> According to the IBM history, at first transistors were made by hand
>> -- someone jiggled the cat whiskers and watched a scope until the
>> proper effect was created.  Obviously very expensive and error prone
>> way to go.

> These were point-contact transistors.

At that time they were experimenting with different kinds of
transistors -- pnp, npn, the semi-conductor material, etc.  The IBM
history "IBM's Early Computers" by Bashe et al goes into some detail
on this.

BTW, in the late 1940s they had trouble with vacuum tubes for digital
applications.  What would work fine in audio was not good enough for
digital.  IBM spent a lot of time developing specs and considered
making its own tubes, but the tube makers were able to meet the needs.

> For the most part, the Mesa process that made mass production of
> consistent transistors possible was the result of research done at
> Fairchild.

IBM spent considerable efforts on this, the above book describes it.
I do believe, however, it was more on the packaging of the transistors
on cards than making the transistors themselves; IBM bought
transistors from others at that time.  But IBM did research the
manufacturing process too.

> It is true that there was a lot of work being done by the IBM T.J.
> Watson Research center on transistor fabrication.  And it is true that
> all of that research got used by IBMs competitors long before IBM.
> This is, however, pretty much the story of everything that was
> developed at Watson, from sealed hard disks to RISC.  IBM was never
> good at developing products out of their own research.

Well, the IBM history (and also "IBM's System 360" book) might have a
bit of bias since they were written by the research people.  However,
it does seem that Tom Watson Jr drastically improved the research
environment and many useful products came out of it.  They invented
the disk drive, and developed cost-effective packaging for
semi-conductors (SMS cards and later SLT chips) that allowed IBM to
take the lead of the industry from a losing position.

I do recommend the two above books on IBM (published by MIT Press).
Much interesting technical information.  There's a third, "Building
IBM" by Emerson Pugh which is a good summary history of the company.

> Yes, but don't forget that the Univac Solid-State computer came out
> before IBM built anything practical.  Univac was using Philco
> transistors of somewhat doubtful characteristics as I recall.

When did the "Solid State" computer come out?  Was that the "Univac
III"?

Philco made its own computers, too.  At some point Ford Motor Co took
them over and the name Philco has faded from the scene.  They made
consumer electronics but I didn't think their quality was as good as
other brands.

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

From: Steve Stone <spfleck@citlink.net>
Subject: Re: Personal Computers Enlisted in AIDS Research
Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2005 01:37:12 GMT


The concept of using spare cpu cycles to rid the world of bad things
is a great idea but I ran into a minor issue.
 
A similar project being run during "idle" times caused my laptop
computer to run at max performance mode when I walked away for a
meeting for an hour.

This resulted in warping of the soft clear plastic mat on my desktop.
 
Put a couple of books under your laptop if you run these programs.
 
Steve

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

From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: Verizon GTE Merger -- How Did it Go?
Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2005 18:00:07 -0800
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com


Wesrock@aol.com wrote:

> An effect of this in rapidly growing areas was the the independents,
> frequently bought up by GTE, owned the areas of high-growth,
> high-income in the suburbs. Some of this places where this was
> particular noticeable was in the Southern California area (General of
> California was larger than at least a couple of the Bell operating
> companies and attracted some senior Bell executives to fill high-level
> vacancies)

SoCal is still pretty well divided between Verizon and SBC.

San Diego and its suburbs and Los Angeles and *its* suburbs differ by 
neighborhood (or so it seems).

Up here, the Victor Valley is Verizon, while 90 minutes west of my house, 
the Antelope Valley is SBC.


Steve Sobol, Professional Geek   888-480-4638   PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Company website: http://JustThe.net/
Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: When is TDMA Being Phased Out?
Date: 2 Dec 2005 09:19:12 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Thanks for your information!  Some more questions if I may.

Jim Burks wrote:

> New handsets now are
> either GSM only or CDMA only. The are also frequently locked to a
> single carrier.  The better GSM handsets are tri-band or quad-band
> (more frequencies). This will allow them to roam in many parts of the
> world.

Does this mean a cell phone bought today won't have analog capability
as a backup if the digital signal isn't available?

When buying a cell phone, how can one tell what the handset can do?
The clerks at cell phone kiosks will say anything to get a sale.

> If you live in a big city, Sprint and T-Mobile are a little cheaper,
> but if you travel out of the cities and off the freeways, you're out
> of luck.

What happens -- the phone is dead?  That doesn't sound good.

> If you live in the wilds of Montana or Arizona, look on eBay for a 3
> watt analog bag phone. They have MILES more range.
> AMPS = all right now, going away before 2010

It seems the main carriers, at least in my area, will not accept a new
customer with a bag phone or any analog phone.  There have been news
reports that people in remote areas can only get service with the high
powered bag phone and they're having problems as carriers phase out
analog.  What will happen in those areas?

There were many news reports that digital signals had lots more "dark
spots" than analog signals did, even in well developed areas (or
because of well developed areas).  Public safety new digital radio
systems had lots of complaints, cops were carrying their own
cellphones in case their police radio failed them.  Have these
problems been resolved?

I was on a train recently and my fellow passengers lost service in a
particular area, but my old analog phone was still working.

Thanks again for your help.

[public replies please}

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


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