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Message Digest Volume 28 : Issue 41 : "text" Format Messages in this Issue: Re: MagicJack Re: 911 service not prepared for new generation of pranksters Re: 911 service not prepared for new generation of pranksters ====== 27 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ====== 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, and other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:48:51 -0500 From: Will Roberts <oldbear@arctos.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: MagicJack Message-ID: <0MKpCa-1LWXTW2TRJ-0007C8@mrelay.perfora.net> In Telecom Digest (Vol 28 # 39), Anna Baum wrote: >Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2009 22:07:32 -0800 (PST) >From: annabaum100@yahoo.com >To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu >Subject: MagicJack > >I am not a techie, so I apologize in advance. > >I see the MagicJack ads on TV a lot: my question is - "Do all the >calls come thru a PC/Laptop device"? If this is so, then this is a >problem: that means if my laptop is not on, I will miss calls. > >Currently I have Comcast cable Internet and telephone service. >I have a wireless router for laptop use. > >Pls let me know as I am ignorant [of] how MagicJack works. You have it about right. MagicJack must be plugged into a computer which is connected to the internet by some kind of broadband connection. Your cable modem and wireless router would be fine. If your computer is not turned on, calls will go to a personal voicemail box which is included as part of your MagicJack service. If can check your voicemail from your MagicJack or from any telephone, cellphone, etc. The MagicJack service also will automatically email any un-retrieved voicemail messages to you as audio files. [Moderator snip] So, if you're at home (or anywhere else) with your computer, you need to have it turned on to receive incoming calls. But when you're not home and/or do not have your computer turned on, your calls will be answered by voicemail. If you want, you also have the option to set up call forwarding so that your calls will be forwarded to another North American number such as your cellphone or office phone. This feature can be turned on and off by logging into your MagicJack account from any web browser -- so even if you're away from home and decide you'd like to get calls forwarded for a while and then change back to letting voice mail answer for you, you can do so easily. Hope this information helps. Regards, Will ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2009 10:58:41 -0500 From: T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: 911 service not prepared for new generation of pranksters Message-ID: <MPG.23fa1cbe7eb3f8de9898d9@reader.motzarella.org> In article <gmi0ej$rfh$1@reader1.panix.com>, wb8foz@panix.com says... > > David Kaye <sfdavidkaye2@yahoo.com> writes: > > > >> This was just one of the 185 calls Ellis made to 911 call centers > >> around the US, according to Yahoo Tech, and the Bates family was > >> picked at random. After being caught, the teen pleaded to five felony > >> felony counts that include computer access and fraud, [....] > > >But he was CAUGHT, and investigators were able to determine that he'd > >made 185 such calls. It sounds like the problem isn't as big as it's > >portrayed in the story. So, what's the problem now? > > > The problem is, that arrest was likely long after the SWAT teams kicked > in the doors, shooting. > > The more often they do, the more dead people.... and pets. Look at case > in Berwyn Heights where they murdered the *mayor's* dogs. Or the one > I just saw where the homeowner is on trial for murder after he shot an > armed intruder... who turned out to be a cop. I seem to recall reading that the one who shot the cop was found not guilty. The story about the Mayor's dogs was terrible though. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2009 11:00:03 -0500 From: T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: 911 service not prepared for new generation of pranksters Message-ID: <MPG.23fa1d0a71aeeb5b9898da@reader.motzarella.org> In article <sYKdnZYovspG1hPUnZ2dnUVZ_qfinZ2d@posted.internetamerica>, gordonb.i8dam@burditt.org says... > > >It should be trivial, and should be mandatory... that any call > >coming into a PSAP from a "questionable", for want of a better > >term, source, get a Big Note on the screen saying something > >like "this caller is from a questionable source. Make sure > >you triple check any and all info". > > 911 operators are not necessarily all that careful about getting > the location straight when the caller SAYS he's at a different > location than the emergency and makes it very clear that there's a > difference. Example: once during a lunch break some fellow employees > were looking out over downtown Dallas from a high floor of a downtown > office building. One of them spots a large burst of flame and lots > of smoke, along with hearing a loud bang, coming from a building > on the edge of downtown and he calls 911. He describes it as best > he can: something like "about 200 yards north of the blah blah exit > of 35E, on the east side. A sign on the top of the building says > FooBar Corp.". Guess where the fire trucks show up? At the downtown > office building, even though the fire is at least 30 blocks away. We had this problem among our three offices. One was served by an MCK tied back to the Prologix switch. If they dialed 911 the services would be dispatched to the main location, not the remote location. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom- munications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition 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. The Telecom Digest is currently being moderated by Bill Horne while Pat Townson recovers from a stroke. Contact information: Bill Horne Telecom Digest 43 Deerfield Road Sharon MA 02067-2301 781-784-7287 bill at horne dot net Subscribe: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=subscribe telecom Unsubscribe: mailto:telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=unsubscribe telecom 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://feeds.feedburner.com/telecomDigest Copyright (C) 2008 TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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 The Telecom digest (3 messages) ******************************