37 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981
Copyright © 2019 E. William Horne. All Rights Reserved.

The Telecom Digest for Thu, 18 Apr 2019
Volume 38 : Issue 108 : "text" format

Table of contents
AT&T's speed test results aren't as fast as they seemBill Horne
Re: Gatesville, TX police say 911 system is workingHAncock4
Conversation with a strangerBill Horne
Apple and Qualcomm Settle All Disputes WorldwideMonty Solomon
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20190416005131.GA18134@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2019 00:51:31 +0000 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: AT&T's speed test results aren't as fast as they seem Its download speeds have been skewed by so many people testing 5G E. By Rani Molla AT&T is the fastest US mobile provider but probably not by as much as first reported, according to new information from speed-test company Ookla. AT&T's overall mobile speed was artificially inflated in Ookla's latest speed ratings by the sheer number of people testing their new "5G E" connections, whose icon notification has recently started showing up on newer iPhone models. This, along with AT&T's extensive 5G E advertising, is currently the subject of a Sprint lawsuit against the company for deceptive practices. https://www.recode.net/2019/4/10/18304783/att-fastest-mobile-provider-5g-5ge-ookla -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <a5eab261-372f-495f-b7ae-3cea8e143c00@googlegroups.com> Date: 16 Apr 2019 14:33:17 -0700 From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Re: Gatesville, TX police say 911 system is working On Monday, April 15, 2019 at 3:41:52 PM UTC-4, HAncock4 wrote: > ***** Moderator's Note ***** > > One of my earliest memories is of the moment when I answer the phone > in my parents' home in Dedham, Massachusetts, and a woman told me > "This phone is now dial." I didn't know what she meant, but I and my > siblings spent the rest of the day dialing calls to all our friends. In some cases, telephone company personnel called subscribers to check on the new dial line hookup, or to provide training. The article below, from Prescott, AZ, describes the training program. The trainers could send a dial tone, then monitor the dial pulses with a special unit to verify the subscriber is dialing correctly. https://books.google.com/books?id=vrcKAAAAIBAJ&lpg=PA3&dq=prescott%20dolores%20yescas&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=false (see top right). Scroll up to page one of the same issue to see more information. Also, see the special second section, beginning on page nine, for multiple additional articles and ads. (right side) https://books.google.com/books?id=vrcKAAAAIBAJ&lpg=PA3&dq=prescott%20dolores%20yescas&pg=PA5#v=onepage&q&f=false Note all the merchants offering congratulations to the phone company for the dial conversion, as well as touting their contributions to constructing the new building ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20190416144843.GA22119@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:48:43 +0000 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Conversation with a stranger I was sitting in a doctor's office, cranking out the HTML version of the Digest while waiting for my wife, and I struck up a conversation with a stranger sitting opposite me. One of those spur-of-the-instant things, curiosity really: I had been looking for an AC outlet on the wall next to him- I had my laptop with me - and he'd volunteered to switch seats with me. The man was using a dumb phone and I asked him how he could stand that small a screen and he told me that it's just a way to get work done before his client calls. I asked him if he had a landline, and he told me "no," so of course I asked why, and he said that he and his boyfriend had moved to the area a few years back, and he'd refused to pay the high phone rates that are charged around here. I asked if him saying "client" implied that he's a lawyer, and he told me that he just has one client, and that the man does research for patent-infringement cases and that, although "he's a great researcher," he can't put his thoughts to paper, and so hands my interviewee "A bag of words" to organize and make coherent. At that point, a woman came out of the back and he introduced me, and she said she'd sit somewhere else for a moment, and I tried to find a way to get more from him by pulling out my dumb phone and asking him "is this thing an electronic leesh?" His opinion was that dumb phones do waste a lot of time, and addictive, and he digressed and said that if a doctor told him he had six months to live, he would go out and buy a pack of cigarettes. I knew he was going to leave, so I said "If you don't mind, may I have your phone number?" I may as well have slapped his face: he was instantly on guard, cold, and distant, and said "no," while gathering his coat and hurrying away. Well, I don't know what to make of that, then or now. I guess Bob Woodward doesn't have to worry about competition from me. Bill -- Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <D26C5467-F6B9-4901-B9B4-93A6B8D2675A@roscom.com> Date: 17 Apr 2019 02:38:24 -0400 From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Apple and Qualcomm Settle All Disputes Worldwide Apple and Qualcomm said they had agreed to dismiss all litigation between them worldwide. By Don Clark and Daisuke Wakabayashi SAN FRANCISCO - For the past two years, Apple and Qualcomm have dueled on three continents over the division of billions of dollars of smartphone profits and even how much consumers pay for their phones. On Tuesday, just as a trial had begun in a federal courtroom in San Diego over a suit Apple had filed against Qualcomm, the two companies said they had essentially made up. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/16/technology/apple-qualcomm-settle.html ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Thu, 18 Apr 2019

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