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The Telecom Digest for March 26, 2013
Volume 32 : Issue 71 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Re: More Extensions and Lightning Protection (GlowingBlueMist)
Re: Service Migration Advice (tlvp)
Re: Service Migration Advice (Doug McIntyre)
Database Is Shut Down by NASA for a Review (Monty Solomon)
Big Data and a Renewed Debate Over Privacy (Monty Solomon)

====== 31 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======

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Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2013 13:45:21 -0500 From: GlowingBlueMist <addresss-withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: More Extensions and Lightning Protection Message-ID: <kinhg8$r3$1@dont-email.me> On 3/24/2013 8:49 AM, Fred Atkinson, WB4AEJ wrote: > At 01:20 AM 3/24/2013, you wrote: >> Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2013 17:52:04 +0000 (UTC) >> From: David Lesher <wb8foz@panix.com> >> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. >> Subject: Re: More Extensions and Lightning Protection >> Message-ID: <kikq44$p48$1@reader2.panix.com> >> >> John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> writes: >> >>>> Linksys says the maximum number of extensions on one line is >>>> two. >> >>> Linksys is being very conservative. Three phones will probably work >>> fine, particularly if they are modern phones with electronic ringers. >> >> I agree with John. Most tweedle-deedle phones draw 0.1-0.3 REN's; not >> the 1.0 of a real phone such as a WECO 2500 set. > > Thanks for the information, guys. > > As far as the lightning protection, Mike Sandman has a device. So I > guess that when I am ready to run that extension out to the work shop, > I will be able to use those protectors to protect the ATA and the > phone(s) in the work shop. > > This is what he showed me: > http://www.sandman.com/surge.html#KIT4A > > > Regards, > > Fred If you go to the index of the catalog and scroll down to item #7 "Long Loop Adapters" and then scroll down to "Ring Voltage Booster ||" You will find an adapter that will convert a single line's output to a REN of 7.5. True it's not cheap at $124.95 bit the Sandman's catalog does have what you asked for. Personally I'd pick two portable phone adapters. One at the remote location supporting one remote wireless and another at the house that comes with 4 or 5 wireless extension phones, checking the specs to get both with a partial REM each so they can co-reside on the same VOIP adapter with no ring voltage adapter being needed.
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2013 15:04:19 -0400 From: tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Service Migration Advice Message-ID: <fzims8d69cms.1dpr4v6he0lq7.dlg@40tude.net> On Sun, 24 Mar 2013 08:01:01 -0500, Frank Stearns wrote, re: > ... trans-area code move ... > If that's true, it seems the only option I have is to port that old > land line number to a new cell phone or perhaps a VOIP account. ... 1) Before your old land line number gets itself disconnected, you can, I believe, port it (for a one-time $20 fee) to Google Voice (provided you have at least one available phone line -- land or cellular -- that your new Google Voice service can still ring through to). (If that's wrong, someone, please holler!) > ... Cell providers tell me I can only have one number per cell phone. Mmm ... that depends. 2) Here's one scenario under which one cellular handset can have (ring for, and call out as) two different numbers: there are dual-SIM GSM handsets that accept two entirely independent phone SIMs, each issued by its own cellular service provider, and each offering its own phone #. You can take up two lines of service with one provider, or a line of service with each of two providers, pop the corresponding SIMs into such a handset, and be able to choose which of the two SIMs to use for a given outbound call (or SMS), and whether one, both, or neither of those SIMs shall be "present" to accept inbound calls (or SMS). Only "problem" is that at most one call can be active at a time. One such handset: Sony Ericson's Xperia Tipo Dual (ST21a2 or ST21i2) -- but there are many more, I'm sure. > I also have a custom ringing number on my old land line account. > Inbound toll-free calls are forwarded there. This is perhaps easier, > as the toll-free service provider can forward inbound toll-free calls > just about anywhere. The ring pattern identifying an inbound > toll-free call would be gone, but that's not a serious problem. > > It seems that what I really need is the opposite of what google voice > provides: they appear to offer one inbound number that can then be > fanned out to various numbers. But what I'd like is the ability to > collect inbound calls to multiple numbers and forward them one number > (current cell, for example), all without the need for a "permanent" > account from the likes of Century Link. > > Right now, it seems the pragmatic solution is that porting of my old > land number to a new cell phone (this can be done for sure). > Toll-free calls would be forwarded to that new cell as well. > > Fortunately, at the moment, the call volume on the old land and > toll-free numbers is light and I can likely do fine with a cheap, > pre-paid, non-contract cell. > > Sorry to be so long-winded; hope I've made the situation clear. > > I'd be most interested if anyone has better ideas about managing this > changing situation, and even a final word if it is possible to put any > area code in a different area code. (And if yes, what I need to say to > a CS rep to make that happen.) > > Thanks in advance > Frank Your other questions will depend on others here for answers, sorry. HTH. Cheers, -- tlvp -- Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2013 12:15:48 -0500 From: Doug McIntyre <merlyn@dork.geeks.org> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Service Migration Advice Message-ID: <N-2dnXb6jstZqdLMnZ2dnUVZ_s6dnZ2d@giganews.com> Frank Stearns <franks.pacifier.com@pacifier.net> writes: >The first apparent fib I was told by Century Link CS sometime back >was the ability to move my current land-line number (have had it for >33 years) to a different area code.. It is just poor training and laziness, and probably the fact that with area-code overlays, the LEC sales reps are used to dealing with multiple area codes in a given area, but didn't bother to check if this was a change to a different rate center. That isn't allowed in the traditional LEC wireline service. >That trans-area code move seemed counter to what I've understood >about the "traditional" telco system, but I was assured that 21st >technology and systems allowed for this. Sure, it could, but LECs are dinosaurs and don't want to upset the apple cart, because then they'd probably lose all their customers. :-) >If that's true, it seems the only option I have is to port that old >land line number to a new cell phone or perhaps a VOIP account. .. Another choice may be cell-phone related, but several of them provide a "home-phone" cell option. Much like a VoIP box, but communicates via cell network, plug your standard phones into it. Mine came with a battery backup in it, no idea how long it would last. You can pick up the box and transport it anywhere and have the same phone #, much like cell-phone roaming. If you are staying there, you probably want to get your E911 location registered properly. Another one may be buying voice service from the local cable company, which may be able to LNP the number into their system whereas traditional LEC won't do it. >I also have a custom ringing number on my old land line account. I don't know what services support custom ringing through.
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:34:11 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Database Is Shut Down by NASA for a Review Message-ID: <p0624080bcd75841e3094@[10.0.1.5]> Database Is Shut Down by NASA for a Review By MARK MAZZETTI March 22, 2013 WASHINGTON - NASA has shut down a large public database and is limiting access to agency facilities by foreign citizens as part of a broader investigation into efforts by China and other countries to get information about important technology. NASA announced the security procedures this week, after the F.B.I. arrested a Chinese citizen at Dulles International Airport in Virginia who had boarded a plane to Beijing. The man, Bo Jiang, had been working as a contractor at NASA's Langley Research Center in southern Virginia. According to an affidavit filed on Monday, Mr. Jiang is being charged with making false statements to federal agents - failing to disclose that he was carrying a laptop, hard drive and SIM card that were discovered after a search of his belongings. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/us/nasa-shuts-down-database-during-security-inquiry.html
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:31:06 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Big Data and a Renewed Debate Over Privacy Message-ID: <p0624080acd75835c0314@[10.0.1.5]> Big Data Is Opening Doors, but Maybe Too Many By STEVE LOHR March 23, 2013 IN the 1960s, mainframe computers posed a significant technological challenge to common notions of privacy. That's when the federal government started putting tax returns into those giant machines, and consumer credit bureaus began building databases containing the personal financial information of millions of Americans. Many people feared that the new computerized databanks would be put in the service of an intrusive corporate or government Big Brother. "It really freaked people out," says Daniel J. Weitzner, a former senior Internet policy official in the Obama administration. "The people who cared about privacy were every bit as worried as we are now." Along with fueling privacy concerns, of course, the mainframes helped prompt the growth and innovation that we have come to associate with the computer age. Today, many experts predict that the next wave will be driven by technologies that fly under the banner of Big Data - data including Web pages, browsing habits, sensor signals, smartphone location trails and genomic information, combined with clever software to make sense of it all. Proponents of this new technology say it is allowing us to see and measure things as never before - much as the microscope allowed scientists to examine the mysteries of life at the cellular level. Big Data, they say, will open the door to making smarter decisions in every field from business and biology to public health and energy conservation. "This data is a new asset," says Alex Pentland, a computational social scientist and director of the Human Dynamics Lab at the M.I.T. "You want it to be liquid and to be used." But the latest leaps in data collection are raising new concern about infringements on privacy - an issue so crucial that it could trump all others and upset the Big Data bandwagon. Dr. Pentland is a champion of the Big Data vision and believes the future will be a data-driven society. Yet the surveillance possibilities of the technology, he acknowledges, could leave George Orwell in the dust. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/technology/big-data-and-a-renewed-debate-over-privacy.html
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