|
|
Message Digest
Volume 29 : Issue 73 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Re: Who says Apple has no sense of humor?
VZW And My Phone
Re: New Zealand just implemented government-censored filtered Internet
Re: Who says Apple has no sense of humor?
Re: Who says Apple has no sense of humor?
Re: Who says Apple has no sense of humor?
Re: Who says Apple has no sense of humor?
When is broadband broad enough?
Re: When is broadband broad enough?
Re: Something new: FCC broadband speed testing
Honey, Don't Bother Mommy. I'm Too Busy Building My Brand.
Re: Honey, Don't Bother Mommy. I'm Too Busy Building My Brand.
Effort to Widen U.S. Internet Access Sets Up Battle
FCC Launches Broadband Consumer Tools
Re: Who says Apple has no sense of humor?
Re: Slammed and crammed
Re: Slammed and crammed
====== 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, 12 Mar 2010 18:38:02 -0800
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Who says Apple has no sense of humor?
Message-ID: <4B9AFA8A.6000702@thadlabs.com>
On 3/12/2010 6:20 PM, Bill Horne wrote:
> Apple just sent me a come-on for a new iphone, and although I'm not in
> the "smart phone" market, I couldn't help but pass along something I
> noticed: their address.
>
> 1 Infinite Loop
> Cupertino, CA
>
> Now, who says that Apple doesn't have a sense of humor?
>
> Of course, if it were up to me, I would have chosen ...
>
> #1 Disk Drive
>
> ... but I guess that's out of fashion. ;-)
Close, but no cigar! :-)
Seagate Technology
920 Disc Drive
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
United States of America
The above address is between San Jose CA and Santa Cruz CA.
IIRC, there's another "Disk Drive" just off California Highway 237
between Sunnyvale and Milpitas.
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:31:22 GMT
From: sfdavidkaye2@yahoo.com (David Kaye)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: VZW And My Phone
Message-ID: <hnft26$lqs$4@news.eternal-september.org>
Okay, my dilemma: On Thursday evening at 10:15pm I got a phone call from
someone. I took it and talked for awhile. I then walked into a friend's home
where I was until 3:00am. That location was about 2 blocks from a large VZW
cell site. I then drove home a number of blocks, through probably 3 other
cell sites.
The following day, Friday, I've received no phone calls until 5:30pm. My
friend called me to ask if I'd gotten a voicemail message from him. No,
nothing has registered on my phone. He had left it at 4:10pm when I didn't
answer the phone.
I had been in an area with excellent cell reception all day. I phoned my
voicemail and got the reverse of what I usually get. The voicemail said, "A
message is about to expire" and then offered to play it for me. I deleted it.
The voice then said, "You have one new message." I played it. It was from
4:10pm.
So, since I didn't get either the phone call nor the voicemail notification
from Verizon Wireless, I phoned their customer service number. The helpful
guy, Derek in Los Angeles did a little research and told me that their records
show my phone was "not registered" between 10:15pm Thursday night at 5:30pm
Friday. The term means that either my phone was off or I was out of cell
range.
And yet my phone was on constantly throughout the entire time. The clock that
shows up on my phone was working (this is what I use for a watch) since I
referred to it several times, and if I'm out of range, the clock won't show up
after about 10 minutes out of the area.
AND GET THIS: At about 3:10pm Friday I had made a phone call. I had
accidentlly hit speed dial and called entry #9 on my list. I immediately
hung up as soon as I heard the ring. But VZW doesn't show that my phone was
"registered on the network" during that time!
This morning (Saturday) at about 1:00am I phoned VZW to see if they could look
up my phone and see if I was offline this evening, since I was within about 2
blocks of where I had been the previous night and during approximately the
same hours. The guy this time at VZW (in Florida I think) told me he had no
way of looking up my account info to see if my phone was online or not. He
asked his supervisor and they also said that there was no way to find whether
I was "registered" or not.
I decided to remove the phone battery, wait a few minutes, reinsert it and
restart it given that I've had a couple incidents in the past week where I
have gotten email messages from calls I otherwise should have gotten.
WHAT I'M ASKING HERE is if anybody here has experienced a similar kind of
thing and if anybody knows what to ask for (in official bureaucratic terms) if
I want to find out whether my phone was "registered" with the VZW network at a
particular time. Or is there a page on their "My Verizon" website that may
have that info for me?
My phone is a constant bit rate SCH-a650, which I don't want to turn loose
unless it's truly broken, so I'm hoping it's a network problem or a software
glitch solved by the battery removal and replacement.
Anybody?
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:02:30 +1100
From: David Clayton <dcstar@myrealbox.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: New Zealand just implemented government-censored filtered Internet
Message-ID: <pan.2010.03.13.05.02.27.281393@myrealbox.com>
On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:10:34 -0600, John Mayson wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 3:00 AM, Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com> wrote:
>> Govt internet filter going live is sad day for NZ Thursday, 11 March
>> 2010
>
> I don't know how true this is, but radio commentator Alex Jones has
> claimed his websites infowars.com and prisonplanet.com have been blocked
> in both Australia and New Zealand. I'm not here to condone or condemn
> anything Alex says or stands for. But I find it frightening that
> otherwise enlightened, liberal democracies are resorting to this sort of
> thing. How can we even think of criticizing Iran or China when we're
> doing the same?
>
The Australian web blocking is basically an ignorant government pandering
to populist "save us from the world" bleating - and they know that what
they are trying to do just basically won't achieve their aim of somehow
protecting children from all the nasties out there on the Internet.
The policy of filtering sites will just gradually die a slow death as more
people wake up to the reality that there is no simple answer to the
problem and trusting anyone to have a properly managed block list is pure
folly. There already have been documented examples of sites being blocked
in Australia that have nothing to do with the supposed aims of preventing
access to porn and/or violent sites.
Unfortunately the politics of the moment have allowed this sort of
pointless exercise to occur in both countries, rather than to try to
alleviate the issue with more effective measures.
Australia unfortunately has growing number of the population who seem to
subscribe to the theory that "someone" (usually government) should be
responsible for many things that are really their own personal
responsibilities, and those that crave political power are increasingly
pandering to these people.
In the last few weeks we have endured a major political scandal where home
owners allowed the installation of government subsidised insulation in
their homes, and in some cases the installers were incompetent crooks
who's shoddy work resulted in deaths of workers or subsequent unsafe roof
spaces that became electrified or caught fire.
Did the media attack the incompetent or crooked companies, or the home
owners that allowed these shonks on their property and did not check the
work afterwards?, no, it was the government was attacked because it was
apparently their responsibility to check everything that private industry
are bound by law to do anyway.
The end result is that the whole scheme was stopped, tens of thousands of
workers who were doing installations correctly are now unemployed (along
with many small businesses) and the government is spending even more
taxpayer money to inspect previous installations and remove one type of
roof insulation that was perfectly acceptable just a few short weeks ago -
and most of the shonks have basically got away with it because the public
now have their scapegoat.
But apparently we are happy - because like with Internet filtering - we
have been served up another "simple" solution to a problem.
--
Regards, David.
David Clayton
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a
measure of how many questions you have.
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:10:38 -0500
From: Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Who says Apple has no sense of humor?
Message-ID: <barmar-36E9B8.01103813032010@nothing.attdns.com>
In article <20100313022037.GB4485@telecom.csail.mit.edu>,
Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> wrote:
> Apple just sent me a come-on for a new iphone, and although I'm not in
> the "smart phone" market, I couldn't help but pass along something I
> noticed: their address.
>
> 1 Infinite Loop
> Cupertino, CA
>
> Now, who says that Apple doesn't have a sense of humor?
>
> Of course, if it were up to me, I would have chosen ...
>
> #1 Disk Drive
>
> ... but I guess that's out of fashion. ;-)
>
> Bill Horne
The address of Seagate Technologies is 920 Disc Drive.
--
Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***
*** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group ***
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:43:38 GMT
From: Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Who says Apple has no sense of humor?
Message-ID: <87zl2cpt28.fsf@nudel.nodomain.nowhere>
Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> wrote:
> Apple just sent me a come-on for a new iphone, and although I'm not
> in the "smart phone" market, I couldn't help but pass along
> something I noticed: their address.
>
> 1 Infinite Loop
> Cupertino, CA
>
> Now, who says that Apple doesn't have a sense of humor?
>
> Of course, if it were up to me, I would have chosen ...
>
> #1 Disk Drive
Or MeanFree Path. Or RootMean Square.
--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:16:09 -0500
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Who says Apple has no sense of humor?
Message-ID: <pbadnZMG9NakMQbWnZ2dnUVZ_radnZ2d@speakeasy.net>
On 3/13/2010 2:43 AM, Mike Spencer wrote:
> Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> wrote:
>
>> Apple just sent me a come-on for a new iphone, and although I'm not
>> in the "smart phone" market, I couldn't help but pass along
>> something I noticed: their address.
>>
>> 1 Infinite Loop
>> Cupertino, CA
>>
>> Now, who says that Apple doesn't have a sense of humor?
>>
>> Of course, if it were up to me, I would have chosen ...
>>
>> #1 Disk Drive
>
> Or MeanFree Path. Or RootMean Square.
Or the street near me: "Lois Lane".
There is even a street in the next town over labeled "Wong Way".
Bill "It's a slow day and they all have telephone poles" Horne
--
(Filter QRM for direct replies)
"Where the search for the truth is conducted with a wink and a nod
Where power and position are equated with the will of God"
- Jackson Browne
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:38:05 -0600
From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (PV)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Who says Apple has no sense of humor?
Message-ID: <fLadnUxvIZ4wagbWnZ2dnUVZ_i0AAAAA@supernews.com>
Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> writes:
>Or MeanFree Path. Or RootMean Square.
I could't find a link, but I've driven by a sign for Northwestern
University student housing in Evanston IL with an address on
Root Mean Sq. It was on Sheridan Avenue if I remember right, so it was
just an informal name by some math or EE geeks. *
--
* PV Something like badgers, something like lizards, and something
like corkscrews.
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:08:40 -0800
From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: When is broadband broad enough?
Message-ID: <siegman-7C6905.08083913032010@sciid-srv02.med.tufts.edu>
Since I've been putting effort into trying to obtain faster Internet
connectivity for a certain residential neighborhood, plus reading about
Google's 1 GB proposals, broadband initiatives from the government,
etc., let me raise the meta-question:
What's the target bandwidth that seems reasonably needed
for an average, normal single-family residential connection, at
present or in the reasonably foreseeable future?
Or alternatively,
Are there any foreseeable applications or capabilities for which
this same average, normal single-family customer will really want
or need a 1 GB connection in the reasonably foreseeable future?
[Note the "average, normal, single-family" wording, which is meant to
exclude any and all special cases where someone is running some kind of
heavily used server or performing other commercial-type functions that
consume massive amounts of bandwidth.]
My own experience here is with a household containing several active
Internet users, including two semi-professionals doing extensive
computing, emailing, and web surfing, plus occasional file transfers and
document downloads.
And, the experimental fact seems to be that we got along pretty happily
for a decade with a 400 kB DSL connection; and are now more than happy
with a 5 to 10 MB connection in one location for most of the year, and a
2 MB connection in another location for the rest of the year. (But, we
don't do any streaming video watching; have been a "TV-free" household
forever.)
My guess is that 95% of this hypothetical "average normal single-family
residential market" would be fully happy for the foreseeable future with
a solid full-time 10 MB connection, if they also had cable or TV for
video and occasionally batch-downloaded films or videos from Netflix or
the like.
If you take away the separate TV or cable connection and put everything
on a single Internet connection, seems to me a full-time 100 MB (maybe
200 MB?) connection would still provide everything they could reasonably
want.
And I have a hard time seeing how they could either want or need 1 GB
for any reasonably foreseeable future need (no matter how much of their
data or computing goes into "the cloud").
None of this is to argue against running, for example, a direct FTTH
cable into to every residence you can, thus providing essentially
unlimited future connectivity, even if only 10 to 100 MB of this
capacity is initially enabled.
But even having done that, what's the bandwidth at which you've
massively exceeded the "information absorption or transmission rates"
for most reasonable single-family connections?
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:52:55 +1100
From: David Clayton <dcstar@myrealbox.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: When is broadband broad enough?
Message-ID: <pan.2010.03.13.22.52.52.898381@myrealbox.com>
On Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:08:40 -0800, AES wrote:
> Since I've been putting effort into trying to obtain faster Internet
> connectivity for a certain residential neighborhood, plus reading about
> Google's 1 GB proposals, broadband initiatives from the government, etc.,
> let me raise the meta-question:
.......
Let's get this right once and for all.
The correct use of the term "Broadband" has nothing whatsoever to do with
how big a data pipe is - or anything to do with data at all, really.
"Broadband" in the Internet sense only applies to physical connections
that use technology that carries more than one diverse service.
ADSL with an analogue telephone service on the same wire is "Broadband",
ADSL on its own is NOT "Broadband", if anything it is a "Baseband" service.
The telecoms term "Broadband" has been hijacked by people who do not know
better for defining general high speed data/Internet connections.
--
Regards, David.
David Clayton
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a
measure of how many questions you have.
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:37:16 GMT
From: Stephen <stephen_hope@xyzworld.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Something new: FCC broadband speed testing
Message-ID: <v3cnp51ij6i5umbb33dner9nvsc8civ46r@4ax.com>
On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:51:19 -0800, Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
wrote:
>As found on Slashdot today:
>
>http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/03/12/137217/FCC-Asks-You-To-Test-Your-Broadband-Speeds
>
>" The Federal Communications Commission is asking the nation's
>" broadband and smartphone users to use its broadband testing
>" tools to help the feds and consumers know what speeds are
>" actually available, not just promised by the nation's telecoms.
>" At http://www.broadband.gov/, users enter their address and
>" test their broadband download speed, upload speed, latency,
>" and jitter using one of two tests (users can choose to test
>" with the other after one test is complete). The FCC is
>" requiring the street address, as it 'may use this data to
>" analyze broadband quality and availability on a geographic
>" basis' (they promise not to release location data except
>" in the aggregate). The agency is also asking those who live
>" in a broadband 'dead zone' to fill out a report online,
>" call, fax, email, or even send a letter. The announcement
>" comes just six days before the FCC presents the first ever
>" national broadband plan to Congress. Java is necessary to
>" run the test.
>
>FCC site: http://www.broadband.gov/
they may be followwing the example from the UK, where there is some
formal testing - mainly kicked off due to the ISPs always advertising
optimistic speeds based on best case ADSL 2+ numbers.
An independent info base web site started off using equipment sited in
actual install and doing remote testing, and then got into a setup
with the comms regulator
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/pm/signup.html
>
>Another article:
>
>http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/fcc-broadband-test/
>
>Contrary to the negative opinion of the FCC's tests here:
>
>http://www.nnsquad.org/archives/nnsquad/msg03090.html
>
>the results I receive match or are in the "same ballpark" of
>every broadband test service I've used; for example, my FCC
>results today are here:
>http://thadlabs.com/PIX/Thad_fcc_bb_speed.jpg [85 KB]
>
>and my prior speed test results 1 year ago are here:
>http://thadlabs.com/PIX/Comcast_20090303.jpg [58 KB]
--
Regards
stephen_hope@xyzworld.com - replace xyz with ntl
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:39:05 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Honey, Don't Bother Mommy. I'm Too Busy Building My Brand.
Message-ID: <p0624084ac7c1a8303dc4@[10.0.1.4]>
Honey, Don't Bother Mommy. I'm Too Busy Building My Brand.
By JENNIFER MENDELSOHN
March 12, 2010
BALTIMORE
ON a brisk Saturday morning this month, a dedicated crew of about 90
women, most in their 30s or thereabouts, arrived at a waterfront
hotel here, prepared for a daylong conference that offered to school
them in the latest must-have skill set for the minivan crowd.
Teaching your baby to read? Please. How to hide vegetables in your
children's food? Oh, that's so 2008.
The topics on that day's agenda included search-engine optimization,
building a "comment tribe" and how to create an effective media kit.
There would be much talk of defining your "brand" and driving up page
views.
You know. For your blog.
Yes, they had come to Bloggy Boot Camp, the sold-out first stop on a
five-city tour. It is the brainchild of Tiffany Romero and Heather
Blair, the founders of the Secret Is in the Sauce, a community of
5,000 female bloggers. Boot Camp is at once a networking and social
event, bringing together virtual friends for some real-time girly
bonding, and an educational seminar designed to help the participants
- about 90 percent of them mothers - to take their blogs up a notch,
whether in hopes of generating ad revenue and sponsorships,
attracting attention to a cause or branching out into paid journalism
or marketing.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/fashion/14moms.html
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:46:30 -0500
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Honey, Don't Bother Mommy. I'm Too Busy Building My Brand.
Message-ID: <SfydncxGIv5LvgHWnZ2dnUVZ_u2dnZ2d@speakeasy.net>
On 3/13/2010 3:39 PM, Monty Solomon wrote:
>
> Honey, Don't Bother Mommy. I'm Too Busy Building My Brand.
>
> By JENNIFER MENDELSOHN
> March 12, 2010
>
> BALTIMORE
>
> ON a brisk Saturday morning this month, a dedicated crew of about 90
> women, most in their 30s or thereabouts, arrived at a waterfront
> hotel here, prepared for a daylong conference that offered to school
> them in the latest must-have skill set for the minivan crowd.
>
> Teaching your baby to read? Please. How to hide vegetables in your
> children's food? Oh, that's so 2008.
>
> The topics on that day's agenda included search-engine optimization,
> building a "comment tribe" and how to create an effective media kit.
> There would be much talk of defining your "brand" and driving up page
> views.
Which proves, yet again, that a fool and her money were lucky to get
together in the first place.
It used to be Amway, then it was "How to make a zillion bucks flipping
houses", then it was "How to make a zillion bucks trading soybean
futures", and now it's how to drive traffic to your self-absorbed,
narcissistic recital of your regurgitation of tripe redolent with truisms.
Magical Thinking blooms every spring.
Bill
--
(Filter QRM for direct replies)
Watch for Bill Horne's new book "How to make a million dollars by
telling suckers how to make a million dollars!" due in bookstores soon
and available on Amazone for only $9.95. Quantities are limiting to
100,102 copies! Act now!
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:53:51 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Effort to Widen U.S. Internet Access Sets Up Battle
Message-ID: <p0624084bc7c1a89d5752@[10.0.1.4]>
Effort to Widen U.S. Internet Access Sets Up Battle
By BRIAN STELTER and JENNA WORTHAM
March 12, 2010
The Federal Communications Commission is proposing an ambitious
10-year plan that will reimagine the nation's media and technology
priorities by establishing high-speed Internet as the country's
dominant communication network.
The plan, which will be submitted to Congress on Tuesday, is likely
to generate debate in Washington and a lobbying battle among the
telecommunication giants, which over time may face new competition
for customers. Already, the broadcast television industry is
resisting a proposal to give back spectrum the government wants to
use for future mobile service.
The blueprint reflects the government's view that broadband Internet
is becoming the common medium of the United States, gradually
displacing the telephone and broadcast television industries. It also
signals a shift at the F.C.C., which under the administration of
President George W. Bush gained more attention for policing indecency
on the television airwaves than for promoting Internet access.
According to F.C.C. officials briefed on the plan, the commission's
recommendations will include a subsidy for Internet providers to wire
rural parts of the country now without access, a controversial
auction of some broadcast spectrum to free up space for wireless
devices, and the development of a new universal set-top box that
connects to the Internet and cable service.
The effort will influence billions of dollars in federal spending,
although the F.C.C. will argue that the plan should pay for itself
through the spectrum auctions. Some recommendations will require
Congressional action and industry support, and will affect users only
years from now.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/business/media/13fcc.html
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:53:51 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: FCC Launches Broadband Consumer Tools
Message-ID: <p0624084cc7c1a9437e24@[10.0.1.4]>
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-296810A1.pdf
FCC LAUNCHES BROADBAND CONSUMER TOOLS
Agency Introduces First Mobile App, Consumer Broadband Test,
and Broadband Dead Zone Report
Washington, D.C. - Today, the Federal Communications Commission
launched new digital tools -- the Consumer Broadband Test and the
Broadband Dead Zone Report -- that allow consumers to test their
broadband service and report areas where broadband is not available.
"Transparency empowers consumers, promotes innovation and investment,
and encourages competition," said Chairman Julius Genachowski. "The
FCC's new digital tools will arm users with real-time information
about their broadband connection and the agency with useful data
about service across the country. By informing consumers about their
broadband service quality, these tools help eliminate confusion and
make the market work more effectively."
The Consumer Broadband Test measures broadband quality indicators
such as speed and latency, and reports that information to consumers
and the FCC. The mobile version -- the FCC's first mobile app -- is
available through the Apple and Android app stores. The fixed
version is available at www.broadband.gov. Two popular broadband
testing tools are used in this beta version -- the Ookla, Inc. Speed
Test and the Network Diagnostic Tool (NDT) running on the Measurement
Lab (M-Lab) platform. In the future, the FCC anticipates making
additional broadband testing applications available for consumer use.
The Commission does not endorse any specific testing application.
The Broadband Dead Zone Report enables Americans to submit the street
address location of a broadband "Dead Zone" where broadband is
unavailable for purchase. The Broadband Dead Zone Report form is
available on www.broadband.gov. Consumers can also submit
availability information by e-mail to fccinfo@fcc.gov. Those who lack
online access can call the FCC at 1-888-CALL-FCC (TTY:
1-888-TELL-FCC), send a fax to 1-877-627-7460, or mail the
information to:
Federal Communications Commission
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau
ATTN: Broadband Dead Zone Reporting
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20554
These tools help the FCC gather data to analyze broadband performance
and availability on a geographic basis across the United States. Use
of the tools is voluntary. The FCC is committed to protecting the
personal privacy of consumers utilizing these tools, and will not
publicly release any individual personal information gathered. For
more information on privacy considerations please visit
http://www.broadband.gov/broadband-quality-test-privacy-statement.html.
The National Broadband Plan, which will be unveiled next week, also
contains a series of recommendations aimed at helping consumers
understand the gap between actual broadband speeds delivered and the
maximum speed tiers advertised. Working recommendations include a
scientific third-party study on actual broadband performance, a
working group to help inform standards for broadband speeds, and
further proposals on disclosure needs for fixed broadband services,
such as a "digital label." These proposals will further the goals of
disclosure and transparency and empower consumers to drive
competition in a technology-neutral manner.
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:34:31 -0600
From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (PV)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Who says Apple has no sense of humor?
Message-ID: <fLadnU1vIZ5KawbWnZ2dnUVZ_i2dnZ2d@supernews.com>
Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> writes:
>Apple just sent me a come-on for a new iphone, and although I'm not in
>the "smart phone" market, I couldn't help but pass along something I
>noticed: their address.
>
>1 Infinite Loop
>Cupertino, CA
That's been their address since the late 70s. Infinite Loop is the name for
the extension to Mariani Avenue that runs through the campus.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1+infinite+loop+cupertino
*
--
* PV Something like badgers, something like lizards, and something
like corkscrews.
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:52:11 +0000 (UTC)
From: "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Slammed and crammed
Message-ID: <hnh4ur$d4r$1@news.albasani.net>
tlvp <tPlOvUpBErLeLsEs@hotmail.com> wrote:
>On Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:45:26 -0500, Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>I haven't had phone service from the telephone company in a number of
>>years. I had new service installed February 2. Got my first bill
>>today.
>>It's the 1980s! I was both slammed and crammed!
>>Slammed: The phone company itself billed me a recurring fee for
>>international calling service. . . .
>Must be the season of the witch! In early February I received January
>bills, both from my local loop AT&T and from AT&T Consumer Services,
>with third party or calling card charges for calls from a Cayman
>Islands number to various phone numbers in NYC, some made with an AT&T
>calling card, issued in my name, and using my billing address, that I
>never requested, others as bill-to-third calls. . . .
>"Legacy AT&T" reports that a LD account was established with my
>billing credentials, back in the late '80s, to show AT&T as my Dial-1
>carrier (when my Dial-1 carrier back then was, in fact, MCI), and that
>the LD calling card was first issued in the late '90s, linked to that
>LD account, at the request of a person with a woman's name (and
>unknown to me). . . .
On Thursday, the charge for slamming was reversed. It took two phone calls,
because the clerk to whom I reported the problem initially never took steps
to bring the problem to the attention of the long distance billing group,
and I had to go through executive appeals.
Yes, the explanation was something like you got. The previous subscriber to
which my line was assigned had subscribed to business international calling
services. When local line is disconnected, the long distance billing system
is not notified automatically of the disconnect, so ceasing all billing for
long distance recurring charges must be taken as a separate step.
As the recurring charge lived on, finally, it found a live account with the
same phone number to which charges could be posted. I suppose I'm lucky
that the system didn't attempt to saddle me with the recurring charge for
all those months during which the number was disconnected. Long distance
calling plans don't use the 3 digit customer code, so the system doesn't
care about a billing code mismatch nor billing information mismatch.
The customer service representative at executive appeals said she'd put
in a request to change the billing system to address this issue. She said
she'd like the representative taking the order to disconnect the phone number
to see a pop-up window reminding her to end all long distance recurring
charges, if any are on the line. I said how about posting the disconnect
information to the long distance billing system automatically?
What happened to you may in fact have been compounded of a long-standing
error. Maybe the calling card was ordered legitimately in the late '90's,
and maybe it was added to an account that remained open accidentally. So
that's one mistake. Then, instead of closing that account upon discovery
and opening a new account in the name of the woman who ordered the
calling card, they simply added it to the open account. And who knows
how many other subscribers were added to that open account over time,
charges from them eventually landing on your bill.
It's entirely possible that at no point was there any fraud, just a billing
system that seems to encourage posting bills to the wrong account.
So, did you fill in the form to request slamming protection and mail it
in to them? Did you request cramming protection? One requires a form; the
other can be done with a phone call. That should be enough to protect your
bill from these kinds of errors in the future, not to mention actual fraud.
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:55:48 +0000 (UTC)
From: danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Slammed and crammed
Message-ID: <hnhj7k$o70$1@reader1.panix.com>
In <hnh4ur$d4r$1@news.albasani.net> "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> writes:
>As the recurring charge lived on, finally, it found a live account with the
>same phone number to which charges could be posted. I suppose I'm lucky
...
>It's entirely possible that at no point was there any fraud, just a billing
>system that seems to encourage posting bills to the wrong account.
First, you're believing their story about the previous "owner"
of that phone number signing up for those services. Why?
Second, if any other business, or if you and I.. tried
sending out bills based on this premise, we'd find ourselves
talking to Mr. District Attorney pretty quickly.
Let's say the AAA insurance group had a policy for John
Doe whose car's license plate # was "abcdefg". And they
auto-bill, so to speak, his credit card. John turns
in his car and plates and the bills stop.
Two years later Jane Roe gets the same plate number. And
she has her own policy with AAA. uddenly her card gets
charged for a double policy.
Duh. Double duh.
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
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 (17 messages)
|
or 
