28 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981

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Message Digest 
Volume 28 : Issue 312 : "text" Format

Messages in this Issue:
  Google poised to become your phone company 
  David Pogue (tech journalist) discovers serious VZW issues
  Dell unveils Android-based Mini 3 smartphone 
  Re: I'm looking, sigh, yes, for a "ring tone" 


====== 28 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: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:41:31 -0600 (CST) From: John Mayson <john@mayson.us> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Google poised to become your phone company Message-ID: <alpine.OSX.2.00.0911132240440.482@John-Maysons-iBook-G4.local> (Wired) -- Google is set to become your new phone company, perhaps reducing your phone bill to zilch in the process. Seriously. Google has bought Gizmo5, an online phone company that is akin to Skype but based on open protocols and with a lot fewer users. TechCrunch, which broke the news on Monday, reported that Google spent $30 million on the company. More here http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/13/google.phone.service/index.html -- John Mayson <john@mayson.us> Austin, Texas, USA
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:16:01 -0500 From: danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: David Pogue (tech journalist) discovers serious VZW issues Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.64.0911132312540.29502@panix5.panix.com> [NYT column] [a] Verizon: How Much Do You Charge Now? Starting next week, Verizon will double the early-termination fee for smartphones. That is, if you get a BlackBerry, Android or similar phone from Verizon, and you decide to switch phones before your two-year contract is up, you'll be socked with a $350 penalty (it used to be $175) ... What bothers me more, though, is another bit of greedy nastiness that readers both inside and outside Verizon have noticed. ... [quoting a customer] "Virtually every bill I get has a couple of erroneous data charges at $1.99 each - yet we download no data. "Here's how it works. They configure the phones to have multiple easily hit keystrokes to launch 'Get it Now' or 'Mobile Web' - usually a single key like an arrow key. Often we have no idea what key we hit, but up pops one of these screens. The instant you call the function, they charge you the data fee. We cancel these unintended requests as fast as we can hit the End key, but it doesn't matter; they've told me that ANY data - even one kilobyte - is billed as 1MB. The damage is done. --------------- rest (and make sure to check out the comments): http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/verizon-how-much-do-you-charge-now/?ref=technology [a] Mr. Pogue is an independent writer, usually tech stuff, who also gets paid for periodic columns in the NYTimes. _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:39:05 -0600 (CST) From: John Mayson <john@mayson.us> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Dell unveils Android-based Mini 3 smartphone Message-ID: <alpine.OSX.2.00.0911132238100.482@John-Maysons-iBook-G4.local> (CNET) -- Dell said Friday that it's ready to enter the smartphone business with the Android-based Mini 3. Long rumored to have such a device in the works, Dell said that the first two carriers to sell the Mini 3 will be China Mobile and Brazil's Claro. More here http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/13/dell.android.smartphone/index.html -- John Mayson <john@mayson.us> Austin, Texas, USA
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:29:14 -0500 From: "Gary" <fake-email-address@bogus.hotmail.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: I'm looking, sigh, yes, for a "ring tone" Message-ID: <hdmbba$1fg$1@news.eternal-september.org> "Thad Floryan" <thad@thadlabs.com> wrote in message news:4AFDCA93.5090004@thadlabs.com... > I may make that WE2500 bell ringtone my new > default since I'm retiring this year and don't/won't need to be able > to answer a phone 24/7/365. :-) In that case, maybe you should make the "SIT Tone" your ringer. :-) -Gary ***** Moderator's Note ***** I want Captain Kirk's communicator sound. Bill Horne Moderator
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 Bill Horne. 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 moderated by Bill Horne. 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: 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 Copyright (C) 2009 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 (4 messages)

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