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Message Digest 
Volume 28 : Issue 335 : "text" Format

Messages in this Issue:
 Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse
 Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse
 Upgrade from DSL to U-verse
 Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse
 Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse
 Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse
 Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse
 Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse
 Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse


====== 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: Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:37:22 -0600 From: "David" <someone@somewhere.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse Message-ID: <hgk2l9$se0$1@news.eternal-september.org> "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote in message news:hgjqfn$us9$2@news.albasani.net... > Steven <diespammers@killspammers.com> wrote: > >> I just got the word from AT&T that they would not be able to >> install the U-Verse on my line. This was after they took the order >> and told me it would work. I questioned them on it since they >> would still be using the last 3000 feet of cable that is a mess of >> bad splices and pairs. . . . > > 3000 feet of copper that's required replacement for how many years > now? > > I had no idea that the VLAD (the alien landing platform) could be > that far from the subscriber's premises. Considering how ubiquitous > these boxes are in communities in which AT&T is selling U-verse, I > figured the subscriber had to be within 1/4 mile or no more than > 1500 feet. I have Uverse over a 4200 foot loop from the VRAD (node) to the demark on 30 year old copper. The copper is mostly underground except for a section of about 250 feet. They had to cut off a few bridge taps but has been working quite well for close to two years now. The line runs at about 25 Mb/s down and about 2 Mb/s up. This supports my low end Internet access subscription at 1.5 Mb/s up and down plus 2 HD and 2 SD TV channels simultaneously. I would have never thought this bit rate was possible over old copper of that length but I think I am at the outer limits of what can be done. David
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:28:51 -0800 From: Steven <diespammers@killspammers.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse Message-ID: <hglmsn$h32$1@news.eternal-september.org> David wrote: > "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote in message > news:hgjqfn$us9$2@news.albasani.net... >> Steven <diespammers@killspammers.com> wrote: >> > >>> I just got the word from AT&T that they would not be able to >>> install the U-Verse on my line. This was after they took the order >>> and told me it would work. I questioned them on it since they >>> would still be using the last 3000 feet of cable that is a mess of >>> bad splices and pairs. . . . >> >> 3000 feet of copper that's required replacement for how many years >> now? >> >> I had no idea that the VLAD (the alien landing platform) could be >> that far from the subscriber's premises. Considering how ubiquitous >> these boxes are in communities in which AT&T is selling U-verse, I >> figured the subscriber had to be within 1/4 mile or no more than >> 1500 feet. > > I have Uverse over a 4200 foot loop from the VRAD (node) to the demark > on 30 year old copper. The copper is mostly underground except for a > section of about 250 feet. They had to cut off a few bridge taps but > has been working quite well for close to two years now. The line runs > at about 25 Mb/s down and about 2 Mb/s up. This supports my low end > Internet access subscription at 1.5 Mb/s up and down plus 2 HD and 2 > SD TV channels simultaneously. I would have never thought this bit > rate was possible over old copper of that length but I think I am at > the outer limits of what can be done. The cable here is above ground and is in very bad shape. I have problems with the 6MB DSL. The cable is a mix of lead, 24/26 gage and goes all over the place. My guess is that there are still Bridge Taps all over the place. I watched the tich try to turn it up vial his Lap Top and it would not even try to start. A subscriber migh question this, but I install the Switches so I know the problems. A block over they can get it since the cable is about 1600 feet qand a bit newer. I think I might have gotten them moving, the tech who tried to get it up stopped by and told me they are now checking the condition of the cable. Last year they did a conditioning on the cable for U-verse and that is when all the problems started, not they are going back over what was done. When my DSL takes a dump I just switch my Mac's Airport over to my Sprint MiFi (Mini Wifi) 4G Hub, gets about 4.5 down. Good thing I opted for unlimited Data. -- The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc., A Rot in Hell. Co.
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:32:31 -0700 From: "Fred Atkinson" <fatkinson@mishmash.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse Message-ID: <003601ca815f$bd1a15c0$c800000a@mishmash> Steven <diespamm...@killspammers.com> wrote: > I just got the word from AT&T that they would not be able to install > the U-Verse on my line. This was after they took the order and told > me it would work. I questioned them on it since they would still be > using the last 3000 feet of cable that is a mess of bad splices and > pairs. I had a pretty good idea that they would be unable to > install it. I have had problems with my DSL over the last year. By > the way, 4 techs worked over 8 hours trying to get it up. I guess > I'll just have to live with what I have until they get more people > in the area that want U-verse and place another Hub a couple of > thousand feet closer or we get the long promised rebuild. Cable is > not an option. Steve, This is typical of the phone company. They promise it to you and then they have no remorse on telling you they were wrong. Nothing new here. You can only be sure of something when they actually install it. When we moved to Columbia, South Carolina, into a newly developed neighborhood [with only a small complement of houses built and occupied as yet], we ordered a private line. When the installer showed up, they told us it was going to be a four party line (this was in the early seventies). I protested. But he said there weren't enough pairs in the neighborhood and this was the best they could do. We were 'promised' that we'd have a private line within three months. About eight months later, we realized that we were still on the four party line. We called and complained to the business office. They still couldn't give us a private line. But they said they could take us off the four party line and put us on the two party line. So they did. I wish I could remember the time frame. But it was quite a while after that before they finally put more pairs in the neighborhood and we finally got our private line. It seems a bit silly that a newly developed neighborhood [that is now enormous] wouldn't have enough pairs to support the development that is projected to take place. Regards, Fred
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:37:45 -0800 From: Steven <diespammers@killspammers.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse Message-ID: <hglnde$jfq$1@news.eternal-september.org> Fred Atkinson wrote: > Steven <diespamm...@killspammers.com> wrote: >> I just got the word from AT&T that they would not be able to install >> the U-Verse on my line. This was after they took the order and told >> me it would work. I questioned them on it since they would still be >> using the last 3000 feet of cable that is a mess of bad splices and >> pairs. I had a pretty good idea that they would be unable to >> install it. I have had problems with my DSL over the last year. By >> the way, 4 techs worked over 8 hours trying to get it up. I guess >> I'll just have to live with what I have until they get more people >> in the area that want U-verse and place another Hub a couple of >> thousand feet closer or we get the long promised rebuild. Cable is >> not an option. > > Steve, > > This is typical of the phone company. They promise it to you and > then they have no remorse on telling you they were wrong. Nothing new > here. > > You can only be sure of something when they actually install it. > > When we moved to Columbia, South Carolina, into a newly developed > neighborhood [with only a small complement of houses built and occupied > as yet], we ordered a private line. > > When the installer showed up, they told us it was going to be a four > party line (this was in the early seventies). I protested. But he said > there weren't enough pairs in the neighborhood and this was the best > they could do. We were 'promised' that we'd have a private line within > three months. > > About eight months later, we realized that we were still on the four > party line. We called and complained to the business office. They > still couldn't give us a private line. But they said they could take us > off the four party line and put us on the two party line. So they did. > > I wish I could remember the time frame. But it was quite a while > after that before they finally put more pairs in the neighborhood and we > finally got our private line. > > It seems a bit silly that a newly developed neighborhood [that is > now enormous] wouldn't have enough pairs to support the development that > is projected to take place. Having worked for GTE for 30 years I have seen it all. When we first moved in here in 1977 we were on a 2 party line, because I worked for the phone company they never put anyone else on my line; within about 6 months they got the cable in place. We had a major problem in Moreno Valley; (1979), a contractor built 100 units of housing and never contacted GTE or the cable company about the tract; you can guess what happened. GTE placed cables in place after the developer dug the streets up, but the Cable company said no way, and to this day there is no cable in that tract, but that was one of the first FIOS system to be deployed and everyone there signed up for it. -- The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc., A Rot in Hell. Co.
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:15:10 EST From: wesrock@aol.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse Message-ID: <118a1.1731e370.3860261e@aol.com> In a message dated 12/20/2009 11:26:29 AM Central Standard Time, fatkinson@mishmash.com writes: > It seems a bit silly that a newly developed neighborhood [that is > now enormous] wouldn't have enough pairs to support the development > that is projected to take place. You would be surprised to know how many developments proposed by a developer never come to pass, and how many never reach their projected size. The Telco's forecasters try mightly to make a good judgment as to this because they would like to engineer enough facilities for what will actually be built and sold, but sometimes they miss. If they build too much, there will be a large and expensive plant lying fallow in the ground and not earning. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ***** Moderator's Note ***** But if they build too little, potential customers turn to the competition, and then they're likely to stay away forever. Bill Horne Moderator
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:20:49 -0800 From: Steven <diespammers@killspammers.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse Message-ID: <hgmpik$5qh$1@news.eternal-september.org> wesrock@aol.com wrote: > > > In a message dated 12/20/2009 11:26:29 AM Central Standard Time, > fatkinson@mishmash.com writes: > >> It seems a bit silly that a newly developed neighborhood [that is >> now enormous] wouldn't have enough pairs to support the development >> that is projected to take place. > > You would be surprised to know how many developments proposed by a > developer never come to pass, and how many never reach their projected > size. The Telco's forecasters try mightly to make a good judgment as > to this because they would like to engineer enough facilities for what > will actually be built and sold, but sometimes they miss. > > If they build too much, there will be a large and expensive plant > lying fallow in the ground and not earning. > > Wes Leatherock > wesrock@aol.com > wleathus@yahoo.com > > ***** Moderator's Note ***** > > But if they build too little, potential customers turn to the > competition, and then they're likely to stay away forever. > Bill Horne > Moderator In 2000 and 2001, Pacific Bell, U.S. West and Verizon were installing DSL as fast as they could, [and] they are now starting to use those, [but] now they are pushing U-Verse and FIOS, only this time the companies are only putting more units in as they sell the [existing] ones. We are putting [in] frames and power, but that is all. The same thing appears to be what is happening with upgrades in outside plant and [Fiber?] Nodes. -- The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc., A Rot in Hell. Co.
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:57:20 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse Message-ID: <LYCdnXbazJONebPWnZ2dnUVZ_oZi4p2d@speakeasy.net> Fred Atkinson wrote: > When we moved to Columbia, South Carolina, into a newly developed > neighborhood [with only a small complement of houses built and occupied > as yet], we ordered a private line. > > When the installer showed up, they told us it was going to be a four > party line (this was in the early seventies). I protested. But he said > there weren't enough pairs in the neighborhood and this was the best > they could do. We were 'promised' that we'd have a private line within > three months. > > About eight months later, we realized that we were still on the four > party line. We called and complained to the business office. They > still couldn't give us a private line. But they said they could take us > off the four party line and put us on the two party line. So they did. > > I wish I could remember the time frame. But it was quite a while > after that before they finally put more pairs in the neighborhood and we > finally got our private line. > > It seems a bit silly that a newly developed neighborhood [that is > now enormous] wouldn't have enough pairs to support the development that > is projected to take place. In the 1950's, my father moved us into a new house in a Boston suburb called Dedham. The once-sleepy farm hamlet - the home of millionairess Katherine Endicott - was overwhelmed by baby-boomer families that swamped it's manual telephone exchange and open-wire infrastructure, as the farmers sold out to developers and quarter-acre lots became the norm. When my dad went in to order a phone, he told the sales clerk that he wanted a private line. The sales clerk said that he could only have an eight-party line and that he'd have to wait for ten months or more to get it. My father, a former Marine who'd been shot on Guadalcanal, wasn't one to shrink from a fight, but he had also grown up in the Roxbury section of Boston, a place that by all accounts made New York's Hell's Kitchen seem like an Indian Ashram, and he had a very low tolerance for arrogant bureaucrats. He asked the clerk if he could use her phone to make a call, and then informed her that he would call her back from his home the next day. The woman laughed in his face. The next night, a man in a suit knocked on the door of our house, and told my father that there were two cable crews busy stringing new telephone cables from the junction point at Endicott circle, about two miles away. He said they could not be finished before 9 PM, and apologized for the delay. My dad told the man that he appreciated his hard work, and that 9 PM would be acceptable. There's no mystery as to how my dad accomplished this miracle: my mother's father, you see, was the State Respresentative for Roxbury, and the Chairman of the Massachusetts State House of Representatives' Committee on Public Utility Regulation. It took Ma Bell a few decades, but eventually she had an attack of common sense, and realized that the revenue she was losing by not having people connected to the network far outstripped any savings that could be obtained by forcing customers to wait ten months for 8-party lines. When I was an employee of that same company, I found out that there were Engineering staff members who spent their days scanning newspapers and trade magazines and building-permit reports so as to have adequate cable or carrier ready and installed the day each new development opened. Of course, the old attitudes didn't die as fast as we might wish: more than twenty years later, when Congressman Barney Frank's staff called in to order some extra lines in preparation for his upcoming campaign against a heavyweight contender named Marjorie Claprood, Ma Bell's old attitudes once again appeared. Representative Frank's staff was told that there were no lines available. The next day, a courier deposited a large box on the central office steps, which I was called upon to sign for. It contained a device called an "AML-8", which was an analog multiplexing device that could use two pairs of wire to support 8 phone lines (Yes, it's the same idea as "N" carrier). The device was strapped to the horizontal frame supports, and an extension cord was run over the lights and down the frame stanchions to power it. It was connected to eight dial tones (The CO Tech was given the line equipment numbers in a hand-written note), and to two cable pairs (which had been in use for two pay telephones in the building that housed the Congressman's office). From the time I opened the box until the Congressman's staff had eight new lines available, it took about three hours. There is a moral to these stories: if you want Ma Bell to do something she doesn't feel like doing, all you need to do is find a way to remind her that she is only a big fish while in her little pond. The fastest way is to toss in a few sharks, but there are others. Bill Horne (Speaking for myself) (Filter QRM from my address for direct replies)
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:36:57 -0500 From: tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse Message-ID: <op.u471vvb8o63xbg@acer250.gateway.2wire.net> On Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:14:45 -0500, after whatever Steven <diespammers@killspammers.com> wrote, Moderator wrote: > ***** Moderator's Note ***** > > What's "MiFi"? > > Bill Horne It's Sprint's or Verizon's little fat-credit-card-sized, high-speed cellular data-modem plus wi-fi router, made by Novatel. cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiFi , which summarizes: "... a device backconnecting to the cellular 3G network and frontconnecting to local (up to 10m/30ft distance) Wi-Fi devices ..." Novatel reportedly has (or will soon have) a GSM/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA version out, too. I long for such a beasty, unlocked of course, for use with prepaid data SIMs while traveling. Cheers, -- tlvp -- Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:39:15 -0800 From: Steven <diespammers@killspammers.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Upgrade from DSL to U-verse Message-ID: <hglng5$jfq$2@news.eternal-september.org> tlvp wrote: > On Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:14:45 -0500, after whatever Steven > <diespammers@killspammers.com> wrote, Moderator wrote: >> ***** Moderator's Note ***** >> >> What's "MiFi"? >> >> Bill Horne > > It's Sprint's or Verizon's little fat-credit-card-sized, high-speed > cellular data-modem plus wi-fi router, made by Novatel. > > cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiFi , which summarizes: > > "... a device backconnecting to the cellular 3G network and > frontconnecting to local (up to 10m/30ft distance) Wi-Fi devices > ..." > > Novatel reportedly has (or will soon have) a GSM/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA > version out, too. I long for such a beasty, unlocked of course, for > use with prepaid data SIMs while traveling. When there is 4G it finds that. -- The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc., A Rot in Hell. Co.
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.
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