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The Telecom Digest for September 24, 2010
Volume 29 : Issue 256 : "text" Format

Messages in this Issue:

Verizon now demanding surcharges to pay them...(danny burstein)
Re: E1 alarms (LOS, LOF, AIS, RAI)(Doug McIntyre)
Verizon to add another surcharge on some bills(www.Queensbridge.us)
Outside plant standards (for transient protection on a consumer NID) (Heath Roberts)


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Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2010 22:26:55 -0400 From: danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Verizon now demanding surcharges to pay them... Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.64.1009212225410.1825@panix5.panix.com> [Broadband reports] FiOS users in our Verizon forums note that Verizon is now charging users a $3.50 fee if they want to pay their bill online with a credit card. -------- http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/Verizon-Charges-350-Fee-To-Pay-Them-110433 - per the posters, the fee applies if you make a "once off" payment. If you give VZ access to an autopay process, they won't charge it. _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ***** Moderator's Note ***** Isn't Verizon still obligated to accept cash? If enough customers get fed up and drop off their payments at the company, the surcharge will stop. Bill Horne Moderator
Date: 22 Sep 2010 04:09:22 GMT From: Doug McIntyre <merlyn@geeks.org> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: E1 alarms (LOS, LOF, AIS, RAI) Message-ID: <4c998172$0$24411$8046368a@newsreader.iphouse.net> Raph <raphael.benedet@netaxis.be> writes: >I looked for a clear explanation of E1 alarms such as LOS, LOF, AIS & >RAI on the Web but could not come up with anything detailed enough. >Could anyone clearly explain me these 4 alarms? What they mean and >when they are sent? I'm not quite sure how to answer. Doing a google on them would have given you what the acronyms stand for in 1000's of places. Mostly its self-explanitory. ie. LOS = Loss of Signal. You aren't getting signal. LOF = Loss of Framing. Your packets aren't getting through framed correctly. AIS = receiving Alarm Indicator Signal. The far end isn't getting things through framed correctly, and is indicating that back to you. RAI = Remote Alarm Indicator. The far end is getting an error and is signalling that back to you. There's really not much more to it than that. To solve almost all of them, mostly involve the telco, because most CPE type gear is so reliable now-a-days. You can reboot the CPE and see if it clears it. If not, its most likely in the telco or the line somewhere. Ie. if you get a LOS, check the cabling from the hand off. Possibly put a hard loop at the CPE back to the telco. Ask the telco if they see it. If not, have them come out to fix it. If you are getting a LOF, check to make sure your framing configuration is the same on both sides. If so, ask the telco to come out and fix it. AIS, same thing (although I remember the olden days when CSU/DSU's wedged up and gave blue alarms from time to time). RAI can be considered the same as the AIS alarm. Basicly, check to make sure your parameters are correct and involve the telco to fix it. Verify the parameters with them, they should be able to help you.
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2010 22:06:27 -0700 (PDT) From: "www.Queensbridge.us" <NOTvalid@Queensbridge.us> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Verizon to add another surcharge on some bills Message-ID: <ee614a16-1545-4b4e-b1dd-737ca13042b1@i17g2000vbq.googlegroups.com> While on-line with Verizon to pay [my] bill with a credit card, I saw a notice that there will soon be a $3.50 SURCHARGE for [using] a credit card to pay bills on [the] VZ site. I find it strange that I can buy items on-line for 99¢, pay with Paypal, and pay PayPal using a credit card, without a surcharge, and now VZ wants a surcharge. Also their DSL, formerly listed as "up to 3 MBps", now says "1.5-3 MBps". For people with a low monthly cellular bill, this could be a hefty per centage of the bill.
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2010 06:51:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Heath Roberts <htroberts@gmail.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Outside plant standards (for transient protection on a consumer NID) Message-ID: <e428dfc2-d754-4262-af75-b35508ac5450@q9g2000vbd.googlegroups.com> So, I have a CAC 7600 NID on my house. The house was built in 2001, so the NID is whatever vintage was common at the time. I started getting bursts [of] noticable noise on the line about a month ago, but not enough that I called to complain. When the line stopped working entirely, though, I tried to determine whether [my wiring was causing it]. This was confusing, because every time I plugged into the RJ, my phone line (I have 3, but only one was bad) worked, but when I connected the inside wiring, it stopped working. I eventually realized that if I connected my inside wiring to the RJ in the NID, things worked, but if I used the screw terminals, they didn't. I think the customer module in the NID--the little block of electronics with a RJ-type disconnection mechanism that actually terminates the wires coming from inside--was poorly designed, and there were brass ring terminals crimped to the wires going from the modular plug to the screws for the inside wiring. Those ring terminals corroded through. I looked at the other two modules, and their terminals were green with corrosion, too, but not yet actually broken. So I called the phone company and explained the situation. The sent a repair guy, but he showed up at 8:30am instead of his 1:00-4:00pm 'appointment' time, so I wasn't home to talk to him. When I got home, I found a new NID, about five feet away from the old one, with a few clamps holding some inside station wire from the old to the new. All the modules had been removed from the old NID, with UY2s connecting the buried wire to the station wire going to the new NID. Inside the new NID was a single protector block. The other two lines were just spliced to the inside wiring. The telco has closed the repair order, so it's not a temporary thing until he can come back for a permanent repair. So, I was less than happy that he had drilled a bunch of new holes in a stone foundation, but I'm even less happy that he left two lines without transient protectors. I plan to call and to ask for whoever manages outside plant in this area whether this meets their quality standards, but I expect to get a run-around. Is there some regulatory or industry standard that requires protectors on every line? Thanks, Heath
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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