---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <ea7476cb-d71d-4cfe-af67-fe4a7f42364e@googlegroups.com> Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 22:11:05 -0800 (PST) From: cindyfahrmeier@gmail.com Subject: Re: Recommendations for VoIP provider over Google Fiber? We have had Google fiber for over 2 years now. We were previously with TWC. The loss of phone service was the biggest concern for us. We elected to go with Basic Talk. We purchased the device at Walmart. The thing we miss the most is that we no longer have the caller ID display on the TV...we have to actually look at the phone. No, it does not support faxing. If you need that, Basic Talk is not for you. I must say that we have had no issues with the quality of the phone service and the cost, at under $13. a month including all taxes, has been great. With this service, you need to have a phone that includes extensions that plug into an electric outlet only. Your existing phone jacks will not work for this service. The main line with the answering machine goes into the Basic Talk device which is connected to the internet. The other 3 phones we have, connect to an electrical outlet only. Hope this helps with your decision. ***** Moderator's Note ***** This is an answer to a thread from February of last year; I hope it's still of interest. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20160209183014.GA16844@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 13:30:14 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: AT&T Lobbyists Have Been Writing State Broadband Laws States Wake Up, Realize AT&T Lobbyists Have Been Writing Awful Protectionist State Broadband Laws For more than fifteen years now companies like Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner Cable and CenturyLink have quite literally paid state legislatures to write protectionist broadband laws. These laws, passed in around 20 states, protect the incumbent duopoly from the faintest specter of broadband competition -- by preventing towns and cities from either building their own broadband networks, or from striking public/private partnerships to improve lagging broadband networks. They're the worst sort of protectionism, written by ISPs and pushed by ALEC and ISP lobbyists to do one thing: protect industry revenues. Despite the fact the laws strip away citizen rights to decide local infrastructure matters for themselves (because really, who better to decide your town's needs than AT&T or Comcast executives), ISPs for more than a decade managed to forge division by framing this as a partisan issue. But then something changed: companies like Google Fiber and Tucows began highlighting how public/private partnerships are actually a great way to fill in the broadband gaps left by an apathetic, uncompetitive broadband duopoly. https://www.techdirt.com -- Bill Horne ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20160209181321.GA16780@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 13:13:21 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Verizon won't shut off email as soon as you feared Q. What's the deal with Verizon's e-mail deactivation policy? Do I have to keep reading my messages on its site to keep my account active? A. The reader who sent this question got an e-mail from Verizon late last year with a somewhat foreboding warning that "if you haven't accessed your verizon.net email account in over 180 days, your email account will be deleted and cannot be reactivated." Her e-mail, like the one I received, cited only one way to avoid that fate: "log in to webmail.verizon.com from a computer and check your email within the next 30 days." http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2016/02/08/verizon-email-deactivation/79998286/ Bill -- Bill Horne ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20160209182504.GA16820@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 13:25:04 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Centurylink seeks waiver from landline requirement Too busy with rural broadband to comply with outdated rule, company says by Mitchell Schmidt The Iowa Utilities Board is deliberating what to do about an investigation into more than two dozen complaints from CenturyLink customers who say they were without landline service for as many as several weeks. At the same time, CenturyLink officials are asking the board to waive state requirements for restoring landline services within three days, citing added strain put on the company with its participation in a national rural broadband program. http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/business/centurylink-seeks-waiver-from-landline-requirement-20160208 -- Bill Horne ------------------------------ Message-ID: <XnsA5A9D2BEDB5C7507d764ee9285@178.63.61.145> Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2016 01:42:08 +0000 (UTC) From: David LaRue <huey.dll@tampabay.rr.com> Subject: Re: Verizon won't shut off email as soon as you feared Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> wrote in news:20160209181321.GA16780@telecom.csail.mit.edu: > Q. What's the deal with Verizon's e-mail deactivation policy? Do I > have to keep reading my messages on its site to keep my account > active? > > A. The reader who sent this question got an e-mail from Verizon late > last year with a somewhat foreboding warning that "if you haven't > accessed your verizon.net email account in over 180 days, your > email account will be deleted and cannot be reactivated." > > Her e-mail, like the one I received, cited only one way to avoid > that fate: "log in to webmail.verizon.com from a computer and check > your email within the next 30 days." > > http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2016/02/08/verizon-email-deactivation/79998286/ > > Bill > Hello, I left Verizon when I moved to a Bright House neighborhood about 9 months ago. I tried to pay them to keep the service but they couldn't figure out how to sign me up for it. My email reader keeps checking the old email address using pop each day. The account is still going strong despite all services cut off. The recent letter from Verizon about Frontier and AOL will likely kill the address off in a few months. David ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Wed, 10 Feb 2016