For your convenience in reading: Subject lines are printed in RED and
Moderator replies when issued appear in BROWN.
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For your convenience in reading: Subject lines are printed in RED and
Moderator replies when issued appear in BROWN.
Previous Issue (just one)
TD Extra News
TELECOM Digest Thu, 5 May 2005 02:25:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 197
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Next-Generation Xbox to Be Media Hub (Monty Solomon)
Wireless Developers Plan to Meld Bluetooth (Monty Solomon)
SBC Communications Selects Amdocs for Project Lightspeed (Monty Solomon)
T-1 Mobile USA Tops Wireless Carriers for Overall Business (M. Solomon)
Verizon Wireless Wins Network Computing Magazine's Award (Monty Solomon)
Vonage Calls SBC Proposal "Half-Baked" (Jack Decker)
Here's How Vonage-Verizon E-911 will work (Jack Decker)
Connecticut's Suit Against Vonage is Less Than Baseless (Jack Decker)
Collect Calls From Correctional Facilities (Jack Decker)
Money Problems For This Spammer (Julian Thomas)
Re: A Must-Read Article: A Question of Independence (Lisa Hancock)
Re: Forward Fax to Email (LB@notmine.com)
Spam and Scam: E-mail From PayPal and Ebay (shlichter1@aol.com)
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; other stuff of interest.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 22:23:58 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Next-Generation Xbox to Be Media Hub
By FRANK BAJAK AP Technology Editor
SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft Corp.'s next-generation Xbox gaming console
will be more of a digital entertainment hub than its predecessor,
making it even more of a PC hybrid than ever, Bill Gates told a
meeting of business journalists on Monday.
The console, code-named Xenon, is due to be previewed in an MTV
half-hour special later this month.
Gates, Microsoft's chairman and co-founder, was vague on specific
features of Xenon but said the company's consoles would be evolving to
include improved communications tools for making multiplayer online
gaming more convivial.
He told the annual meeting of the Society of American Business Editors
and Writers that Xenon's software menu would be similar to that of the
company's Media Center edition of Windows, which is designed for
computers meant to be located in the living room.
- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=48864448
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 22:26:05 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Wireless Developers Plan to Meld Bluetooth
By BRUCE MEYERSON AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wireless developers plan to work together to meld
Bluetooth, the short-range technology that links cell phones and
cordless headsets, with an emerging technology designed to beam video
and other large content short distances between TVs, home
entertainment systems and computers.
The plan, announced Wednesday, comes at a crucial time for Bluetooth.
After years of hype, the technology is finally becoming a mainstream
feature on mobile devices, only to be met with predictions it may soon
be supplanted by other technologies and disappear.
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group, a 3,400-member group whose
backers include Nokia Corp., Motorola Corp. and Intel Corp., said it
has begun working with two industry bodies developing rival versions
of the technology commonly referred to as ultra-wideband, or UWB.
The discussions with the WiMedia Alliance and the UWB Forum are very
preliminary, so it is unclear whether the collaboration will produce
an integrated platform combining Bluetooth with UWB. There are also
issues such as UWB regulatory approvals and signal interference with
other wireless technologies that need resolution.
- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=48865887
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 22:28:10 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: SBC Communications Selects Amdocs for Project Lightspeed
SBC Communications Selects Amdocs for Project Lightspeed; Amdocs
IP Convergence Solution to Enable Complete Customer Lifecycle
Management - from Ordering to Billing - to Ensure a Superior
Customer Experience
SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 4, 2005--SBC Communications Inc.
(NYSE:SBC) announced that it has awarded a multi-million dollar,
multi-year contract to Amdocs (NYSE:DOX) to support Project
Lightspeed, the SBC initiative to expand fiber optics deeper into
neighborhoods to deliver Internet Protocol or IP-based TV, voice and
broadband services.
Amdocs will provide the SBC companies with a range of services to
ensure the best possible customer service, as well as its IP (Internet
Protocol) Convergence solution. The Amdocs IP Convergence solution is
based on the Amdocs billing, customer relationship management (CRM),
ordering and payment mediation products, combined with Amdocs
consulting and systems integration services.
- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=48868808
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 22:29:59 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: T-Mobile USA Tops Wireless Carriers for Overall Business Customer
T-Mobile USA Tops Wireless Carriers for Overall Business Customer
Satisfaction
- May 4, 2005 08:05 AM (BusinessWire)
BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 4, 2005--
T-Mobile(R) Get More(R) Promise Delivers Great Customer
Satisfaction to Businesses
Business professionals have several choices when it comes to selecting
a wireless service, and when it comes to receiving a great wireless
experience, business leaders rated T-Mobile USA (NYSE:DT) highest in
customer satisfaction for business wireless service.
J.D. Power & Associates announced the results today of its first-ever
Business Wireless Satisfaction Study(SM). In a survey of decision
makers from small businesses to large enterprises, T-Mobile scored
higher than the other four national carriers and well above the
industry average.
T-Mobile ranks highest in five out of the eight factors that drive
overall business wireless satisfaction. The wireless service provider
scored significantly better than the industry average in four of the
eight factors including sales representatives and account executives,
billing, promotions and cost of service.
- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=48872294
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 22:44:37 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Verizon Wireless Wins Network Computing Magazine's Well-Connected
Verizon Wireless Wins Network Computing Magazine's Well-Connected
Award for Business Data Services
Wireless Data Services Achieves Outstanding Status in Networking
BEDMINSTER, N.J., May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, CMP Media LLC's Network
Computing announced that Verizon Wireless has been awarded Best
Business Data Service for its BroadbandAccess service in the
publication's 2005 Well-Connected Awards, beating out business data
services of two other major wireless carriers. Verizon Wireless, the
nation's leading wireless service provider, was selected for the
exceptional performance of its wireless data services for enterprise
customers. The Well-Connected Awards honor the year's outstanding
technology products and services and are selected by technology
editors from products that have been tested and evaluated in CMP Media
LLC's Network Computing labs during the past year.
- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=48874826
------------------------------
From: Jack Decker <jack-yahoogroups@withheld on request>
Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 18:17:52 -0400
Subject: Vonage Calls SBC Proposal "Half-Baked"
http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3502621
Vonage and Verizon Call up E911
Vonage will spend tens of millions of dollars to interconnect with
Verizon's enhanced-911 system (E911) under a first-of-its-kind
agreement announced today.
The pact between the Voice over IP upstart and regional carrier means
location and callback numbers of Vonage subscribers dialing 911 from
Verizon's territory will be delivered to emergency dispatchers.
Schulz hopes the remaining Baby Bells -- SBC and BellSouth -- will
follow Verizon's lead. Vonage and SBC have scrapped over
E911. However, Wes Warnock, an SBC spokesman, said the discussions
with Vonage continue.
"Last week we provided them with a commercial agreement, whereby
Vonage would have direct connections to 911 systems that are identical
to connections provided to CLECs," Warnock said. "We're hopeful that
we will be able to soon reach an agreement."
But Schulz called SBC's proposal "half-baked."
"Until SBC offers to sell us the same elements Verizon and Qwest have
offered, we are not going to be able to implement E911 in their
territory," she said.
Full story at:
http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3502621
How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home:
http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html
If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/
------------------------------
From: Jack Decker <jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request>
Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 19:51:29 -0400
Subject: Here's how Vonage-Verizon E-911 Will Work
Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=397
5/4/2005
-Posted by Russell Shaw @ 2:26 pm
As was expected, Vonage and Verizon have announced an agreement that
will allow Vonage customers to access Verizon's Enhanced 911 network.
When the system is in place by the end of this year, it does not
appear at the outset that it will solve all the problems of E-911
access experienced by customers who contact these services when they
are at a different location from their address of record. It will,
however, ensure that some of these calls can be identified by
originating address - making the handoff smoother for Vonage customers
who have an address on record that is within Verizon's service
area.
Here's how the process will work:
Full story at:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=397
------------------------------
From: Jack Decker <jack-yahoogroups@workbench.net>
Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 19:49:07 -0400
Subject: Connecticut's Suit Against Vonage is Less Than Baseless
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=399
5/4/2005
-Posted by Russell Shaw @ 4:05 pm
Connecticut is the latest state to sue Vonage for misrepresenting the
way in which the service handles "911" calls.
Seems to me that Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal
instructed his staff to obtain a copy of the Texas suit -- and after
doing so, did some CPR (cut, paste, rewrite). Then, they drafted the
current suit.
The Connecticut suit has less than no merit. No specific Vonage
customer in Connecticut seems to have suffered the trying consequences
of Vonage 911-connect failure like that customer in Houston may have.
And what about the fact that Connecticut filed the suit just about on
the eve of today's announcement that Vonage will work with Verizon
(the main local telco in Connecticut) to enable E911 solutions? Maybe
Blumenthal and his folks didn't bother to check. Or, maybe he and
his staffers were concerned that 911 solution progress is slower
between Vonage and SBC (which covers part of Connecticut) than it is
between Vonage and Verizon.
Full story at:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=399
------------------------------
From: Jack Decker <jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request>
Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 00:26:08 -0400
Subject: Collect Calls From Correctional Facilities
Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com
Found a thread on BroadbandReports.com, at
<http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,13331043> that mentions
a company called Inmate Phone Services (IPS)
<http://www.inmatephoneservices.com/>. From time to time there has
been some discussion about the high cost of calls from correctional
facilities and also the fact that in many cases, people who have only
cellular or VoIP service are unable to receive such calls, and this
appears to be a partial solution. However I am unable to find any
reviews from anyone who has utilized this company's services, so if
any of you happen to have done business with this company I'd be
interested in knowing if they provide a useable alternative,
especially for calls to cell and VoIP phones.
Of course I hope that no one on this list has any friends or family
members that are being detained, but realistically I would imagine
that a few of you probably do, so please let me know if you have used
the services of this or any similar firm, and how well it worked for
you.
------------------------------
From: Julian Thomas <jt@withheld on request>
Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 16:25:11 -0400
Subject: Money Problems For This Spammer
PAT, as usual, pse obscure my email address.
Keep a copy handy, folks, for the next time you are near a pay phone.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following message is forwarded to you by "Julian Thomas" (the From
user of this message). The original sender was "Brooks Mays"
<cjttb@la.com>. It was sent on Thu May 05 at 03:15:00 by "Brooks Mays"
<cjttb@la.com>.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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-- --
Success always occurs in private, and failure in full view.
------------------------------
From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: A Must-Read Article: A Question of Independence
Date: 4 May 2005 13:39:27 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Jack Decker wrote:
> "It's deceptive when the public hears the name of an organization that
> sounds like a respected organization with some authority behind it,
> when in fact it is being backed by an interested party," said Kenneth
> DeGraff, a policy advocate at Consumers Union, the publisher of
> Consumer Reports. "We look at issues purely from the consumer's
> perspective. Sometimes we agree with the phone companies, and
> sometimes we don't. But we never accept any money from an interested
> party."
For many years lobbying and advocacy groups have used neutral sounding
names; this is nothing new.
As to Consumer's Union's statement above, it would be more accurate to
say that they look at issues purely from what _they think_ the
consumer's perspective should be. Often, but by no means always, are
they correct.
(They offered a service where, for a fee, they'll tell you the
dealer's cost of a car to assist in negotiating. I paid for this and
got their printout. It was worthless. The option sets they described
were nothing like the options offered on the car. Most significantly,
the dealer offered the car for me at a cost lower than CU's claimed
dealer cost.)
Their product/service ratings are just a starting point. What is good
for one person is bad for another.
In our context here of new technologies the above axiom clearly
applies. Technocrats have always lauded brand new technology as the
end-all solution to every problem, ignoring that every new thing
develops serious problems. Some new users are well equipped to deal
with those problems, but many are not. Sometimes the new tech is
claimed to be superior than it really is, or that some bugs still
remain to be solved.
Likewise with new public policies, there are complex issues. Those
favoring the new policies are not of pure heart--they are business
people anxious to sell something and technocrats anxious to get
recognition and implementation. What is good for them is by no means
good for the rest of the public.
At the same time, those against new policies are not necessarily
acting out of selfish interest (as implied here). Too many of those
in the telephone business have a knee-jerk reaction against anything
offered by a traditional carrier --
I've seen this here as well as heard it personally. Knee-jerk is
never good.
Historically, new technology was rolled out gradually. The bugs were
worked out, prices dropped, and if good, it grew. Sometimes a
different mfr than the pioneer is the one to make the product a
national success. (It was Mr. Kroc who built McDonald's up, not the
orig McDonald brothers; Univac invented the commercial computer but
IBM put it on the map.)
But it seems now the technocrats and their business backers are so
anxious for instant high profits that they're jumping the traces,
pushing out bug-ridden products too early and imposing new procedures
on the public.
------------------------------
From: LB@notmine.com
Subject: Re: Forward Fax to Email
Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 18:31:13 -0400
Organization: Optimum Online
Jeremy wrote:
> I currently have a fax number that is widely used by my clients.
> Problem is that I get a ton of fax "spam" if you will. I am looking
> for the BEST solution to have these faxes forwarded to e-mail, while
> keeping my existing fax number since that is the one everyone knows
> and uses.
Snipped OP for brevity.
Uh Pat ...
"[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Why don't you consider forwarding all
of it, _everything_, to email, "
It would seem Jeremy is asking how to do just that.
How does one forward everything from a fax number to an email address?
LB
------------------------------
From: shlichter1@aol.com <shlichter1@aol.com>
Subject: Spam and Scam: E-mail From PayPal and Ebay
Date: 4 May 2005 18:26:43 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Anyone get either or both of these e-mails?
I know they were frauds right off since I have never used the address
they were sent to for anything, except once last week to make a post
here, that was before I fixed my newgroup client to munch my return
address.
I have also gotten notices telling me I have won some lottery, I can't
believe people would respond to something that reads like someone in
2nd grade.
The only good Spammer is a dead one? Have you hunted one down today?
I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Company
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I get about a dozen each day of
variously, the PayPal or E-Bay 'security department' telling my
account has been detected using fraudulent access (replete with a
'fraud claim/file number') and that as a result my account will have
'limited access to my funds' until such time as I click on the link
they provide (but of course!) and supply them with the proof of my
identity. At one point I was doing as the _real PayPal_ was asking, and
forwarding these to their office but I got bored and busy and quit
bothering to forward them. PAT]
------------------------------
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #197
******************************
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