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| Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 14:38:32 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: What to take into consideration when your phone contract ends
Message-ID: <20140815183832.GA7232@telecom.csail.mit.edu>
Should you spring for the unlimited data plan? Would it be better to
switch carriers? AP tech writer Anick Jesdanun breaks down what it is
like when your cell phone contract expires.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Thursday, August 14, 2014
MALVERN, Iowa . As my two-year contract with Verizon came to an end
last month, I had to resist the company's various promotions and
discounts.
In accepting the offers, I'd have to give up Verizon's unlimited data
plan, which lets me use the phone's cellular data connection as much
as I want without overage fees. It's so good that both Verizon and
AT&T have been phasing it out. Existing customers have been allowed to
keep those plans, but they get kicked out once they accept these
offers.
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/consideration-phone-contract-ends-article-1.1903782
--
Bill Horne
Mine's a tale that can't be told, my freedom I hold dear.
How years ago in days of old, when magic filled the air.
T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair.
But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her, her,
her....yeah.
- Led Zeppelin |
| Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 14:24:06 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Verizon offers 50,000 reward in copper thefts
Message-ID: <20140815182406.GA7146@telecom.csail.mit.edu>
Verizon offers $50,000 reward in copper thefts
New Castle News
Friday, August 15, 2014 6:11 am
A phone utility is offering a reward for copper cable thefts in
[the town of] Wampum.
Verizon said it is prepared to pay up to $50,000 for information
leading to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for recent
thefts of copper telephone cables.
http://www.ncnewsonline.com/news/local_news/article_82471fee-2464-11e4-a2c1-0019bb2963f4.html
--
Bill Horne
You stole my money honey
You're cold your blood's stopped running
And know you're buying your new life
Can't help but find you funny
- Stereophonics |
| Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 15:21:30 -0400
From: Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon offers 50,000 reward in copper thefts
Message-ID: <barmar-C12C76.15213015082014@news.eternal-september.org>
In article <20140815182406.GA7146@telecom.csail.mit.edu>,
Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> wrote:
> Verizon offers $50,000 reward in copper thefts
I find it kind of ironic that this article was posted immediately after
the one saying that Verizon is trying to phase out their copper network
in favor of fiber. Maybe the thieves thought they were doing Verizon a
favor :)
--
Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***
***** Moderator's Note *****
It's almost as if someone was trying to create an allegory. ;-)
Bill Horne
Moderator |
| Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 13:55:38 -0400
From: bill@horneQRM.net (Bill Horne)
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: How Verizon lets its copper network decay to force phone customers onto fiber
Message-ID: <20140815175538.GA6710@telecom.csail.mit.edu>
How Verizon lets its copper network decay to force phone customers onto fiber
Fiber is fast, but copper is reliable - even during multi-week power outages.
Ars Technica
by Jon Brodkin
Aug 14 2014, 9:00pm EDT
The shift from copper landlines to fiber-based voice networks is
continuing apace, and no one wants it to happen faster than Verizon.
Internet users nationwide are clamoring for fiber, as well, hoping it
can free them from slower DSL service or the dreaded cable
companies. But not everyone wants fiber, because, when it comes to
voice calls, the newer technology doesn't have all the benefits of the
old copper phone network. In particular, fiber doesn't conduct
electricity, where copper does. That means when your power goes out,
copper landlines might keep working for days or weeks by drawing
electricity over the lines, while a phone that relies on fiber will
only last as long as its battery. That's up to eight hours for
Verizon's most widely available backup system.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/08/why-verizon-is-trying-very-hard-to-force-fiber-on-its-customers/
-or-
http://goo.gl/ldsCpE
--
Bill Horne
Jenny, Jenny, who can I turn to?
867-5309
For the price of a dime I can always turn to you
867-5309
- Call/Keller |
| Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 19:18:49 -0400
From: Eric Tappert <e.tappert.spamnot@frontier.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: How Verizon lets its copper network decay to force phone customers onto fiber
Message-ID: <nt4tu9te9ekde0406p2ppp7rduhr35r898@4ax.com>
On Fri, 15 Aug 2014 13:55:38 -0400, bill@horneQRM.net (Bill Horne)
wrote:
> The shift from copper landlines to fiber-based voice networks is
> continuing apace, and no one wants it to happen faster than Verizon.
>
> ... not everyone wants fiber, because, when it comes to
> voice calls, the newer technology doesn't have all the benefits of the
> old copper phone network. In particular, fiber doesn't conduct
> electricity, where copper does. That means when your power goes out,
> copper landlines might keep working for days or weeks by drawing
> electricity over the lines, while a phone that relies on fiber will
> only last as long as its battery.
It is interesting that the celebrated "feature" of copper lines, i.e.
the immunity to local power failures, was never the intended purpose.
When the shift to CO battery started about a hundred years ago the
motivation was maintenance cost savings - you didn't have to send a
repair person out to change the local batteries. Interestingly enough,
the switch hook was implemented to save the local batteries too,
again saving maintenance cost.
I guess it's the law of unintended consequences....
The shift to fiber is also partially driven by maintenance savings
(fusion splices are more reliable than crimp splices), in addition to
the added services.
E. Tappert
***** Moderator's Note *****
It's not always about labor costs: other contributors have pointed out
that fiber-based phone "lines" don't have to be shared with "Virtual"
phone companies, i.e., with non facilities-based CLECs, which rent
their local cables from the ILEC.
Of course, fiber has enough bandwidth to give ILECs a play in the
lucrative entertainment-distribution sector, and I'm surprised that
cable operators haven't been more involved with efforts to force ILECs
to retain copper.
Bill Horne
Moderator |
| Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 12:11:16 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: As Data Overflows Online, Researchers Grapple With Ethics
Message-ID: <p06240803d013e18bd231@[10.0.1.7]>
As Data Overflows Online, Researchers Grapple With Ethics
Scientists can now analyze the personal data on millions of people
without their knowledge, and some want to bring ethical guidelines to
such studies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/13/technology/the-boon-of-online-data-puts-social-science-in-a-quandary.html
-or-
http://goo.gl/EMZAjE
|
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