TELECOM Digest     Sun, 29 May 2005 18:16:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 238

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Schools Prohibit Personal E-mail Sites (Monty Solomon)
    For Police, Word From the Wise is Sufficient (Monty Solomon)
    Paris Hilton Hack Started With Old-Fashioned Con (Monty Solomon)
    Sales of Cell Phones Totally Off the Hook/180 Million Units (M Solomon)
    Lawyers, Others, Question Radio TIVO-Like Devices (Lisa Minter)
    Internet Radio is Gaining, But Problems Remain (Lisa Minter)
    D. Telekom US Unit Sees Growth in 2007 (Lisa Minter)
    Adtran T1 CSU ACE Available (telcom)
    Re: Psst: Traditional 911 Doesn't Always Work, Either (Tony P.)
    Re: Corton Pay Phone??? (Tony P.)
    Re: Phone Outage Causes Fort Wayne Store to Lose Business (Mary)
    Re: Very Early Modems (Jim Haynes)
    Re: Vtech Caller ID Not Working (Harlan Messinger)
    Re: Tie Lines was Re: Foreign Exchange Lines Still in Use (Robt Bonomi)
    Re: Last Laugh! 86 Year Old Woman Taken to Jail (Tim@Backhome.org)

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: Sun, 29 May 2005 00:45:57 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Schools Prohibit Personal E-mail Sites


By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

Boston Public School officials, who recently banned cellphone use
during the school day, are angering students with a new prohibition:
no checking or sending e-mail from Yahoo, Hotmail, or other personal
Web-based accounts from school.

With little warning, the school system this spring started banning
access to personal e-mail accounts in all schools because some
students recently used school computers to e-mail threats, hit lists,
and pornography to other students and teachers, school officials say.
There were four incidents during the past four months, but school
officials would not provide further details.

Boston's move follows the lead of an increasing number of school
systems around the country, including Worcester, that have been
cracking down on the use of Web-based e-mail services at school.
Incidents of students using e-mail in school to bully one another have
led to many of the bans, partly because school officials worry about
being held liable if something happens.

Boston school officials estimate that only a third of the system's
students have Internet access at home, and Boston students say the new
policy eliminates an essential form of communication for them.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/05/28/schools_prohibit_personal_e_mail_sites/

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 29 May 2005 01:12:21 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: For Police, Word From the Wise is Sufficient


By Kennan Knudson, Globe Correspondent

Starting tomorrow, Brookline police will be among the first in the
Northeast to use sophisticated voice recognition and response software
that will allow officers in cruisers to get information quickly while
keeping their eyes on the road.

Officers will be able to simply hold a button and read the license
plate number of a suspicious vehicle into their laptops while
driving. The computer then 'reads' back information on the car and
driver.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/05/22/for_police_word_from_the_wise_is_sufficient/

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 29 May 2005 03:14:46 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Paris Hilton Hack Started With Old-Fashioned Con


Source Says Hacker Posed as T-Mobile Employee to Get Access to Information

By Brian Krebs
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer

The caper had all the necessary ingredients to spark a media firestorm
 -- a beautiful socialite-turned-reality TV star, embarrassing
photographs and messages, and the personal contact information of
several young music and Hollywood celebrities.

When hotel heiress Paris Hilton found out in February that her
high-tech wireless phone had been taken over by hackers, many assumed
that only a technical mastermind could have pulled off such a feat.
But as it turns out, a hacker involved in the privacy breach said, the
Hilton saga began on a decidedly low-tech note -- with a simple phone
call.

Computer security flaws played a role in the attack, which exploited a
programming glitch in the Web site of Hilton's cell phone provider,
Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile International. But one young hacker who
claimed to have been involved in the data theft said the crime only
succeeded after one member of a small group of hackers tricked a
T-Mobile employee into divulging information that only employees are
supposed to know.

The young hacker described the exploit during online text
conversations with a washingtonpost.com reporter and provided other
evidence supporting his account, including screen shots of what he
said were internal T-Mobile computer network pages.
Washingtonpost.com is not revealing the hacker's identity because he
is a juvenile crime suspect and because he communicated with the
reporter on the condition that he not be identified either directly or
through his online alias.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/19/AR2005051900711.html

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 29 May 2005 03:42:00 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Sales of Cell Phones Totally Off the Hook / 180.6 Million Units


Ryan Kim, Chronicle Staff Writer

     Mobile-phone sales continued at a torrid pace in the first
quarter as consumers worldwide latched on to camera phones and cheap
deals, according to a new report.

     The industry reported that 180.6 million units were sold in the
first quarter of this year, a 17 percent increase from the same period
a year ago. That continued a buying boom that began two years ago and
really took hold last year, according to market research firm Gartner
Inc. The new figures prompted Gartner to revise its mobile-phone sales
estimates up to 750 million units from 720 million for 2005.

     Still, industry analysts predict a cooling-off trend as some of
the emerging markets in China and elsewhere stabilize while existing
mature markets in North America and Europe slow down after a recent
frenzy in phone replacement sales.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/05/28/BUGV4CVUVP1.DTL

------------------------------

From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com>
Subject: Lawyers, Others Question Radio TIVO-like Devices
Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 01:17:58 -0500


By Sue ZeidlerFri May 27, 5:45 PM ET

It's like Tivo for radio, but is it legal?

Various devices that enable listeners to record Internet radio streams
and then convert them into MP3 files are catching on and making Web
radio and streaming services more appealing to the general public.

But some legal experts say the recording software may violate digital
copyright laws and does little more than promote piracy.

"Obviously if people can use the TIVO-like unit to download a
recording from Web radio and pre-program it to search digital radio to
find tracks that you want, it's going to beg a big question with the
record industry," said Jay Cooper, an veteran entertainment
lawyer. "The thing to ask is if it is a violation and does it need to
be examined. Technology's way ahead of the law."

Cooper said that, under the Digital Copyright Millenium Act, users
have no right to duplicate copyrighted material from a computer hard
drive, only from a digital or analog recording device and then only
for personal use and not for redistribution.

Webcasters similarly are restricted from promoting the recording of
their content.

But with products such as San Francisco-based Applian Technologies'
Replay Radio, users can split, chop, trim and edit their recorded MP3
files from streamed music services.

The company's Web site says the product "works like a TiVo for
Internet Radio" and can turn streaming music into perfectly tagged MP3
song files.

"There's certainly a lawsuit waiting to happen because they're
basically enabling consumers to record and the recordings are not
authorized," said Jonathan Potter, executive director of the Digital
Media Association.

But Tom Mayes, co-owner of Applian, defended the practice.

"We've been doing this for a long time," he said, noting other
software recording programs were offering similar functions. "I think
its too late for these (record) companies to try to put a stranglehold
(on technology)."

On its Web sites, the company said its products are not intended for use in
circumventing copy protection or making illegal copies of coyprighted
content.

But at least two Webcasters have raised a red flag about Replay Radio.
RealNetworks Inc.'s (Nasdaq:RNWK - news) Rhapsody sent Applian a
letter requesting it take Rhapsody's name off a Web page at
(www.replay-music.com) that lists streaming music services that work
with the software.

"Using software like Replay Radio to record Rhapsody subscription
streams violates our terms of service," said Matt Graves, a spokesman
for Rhapsody.

Yahoo Inc.'s (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) MusicMatch concurred.

On Replay Radio's Web site, the company has partially obscured the
reference to Rhapsody and MusicMatch, by inserting hyphens for parts
of the spellings.

"Rhapsody sent us a note from their legal department telling us not to
use their name on our Web site and I said OK," said Mayes.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.

------------------------------

From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com>
Subject: Internet Radio is Gaining, But Problems Remain
Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 01:19:26 -0500


By Sue Zeidler

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Like a sleeping giant, Internet radio is
quietly attracting more and more listeners and advertising dollars,
leading some experts to predict that some day soon it will eclipse the
popularity of satellite radio and iPods.

Already, ratings company Arbitron Inc. says, some 37 million Americans
tune into Internet radio at least once a month, up from 11 million
four years ago.

With its growing audience, it could start to take a bigger bite of the
$11 billion spent annually on online advertising. Nevertheless, But
Internet radio faces hurdles, say proponents, because digital
copyright laws make it less viable than rivals.

"The growth potential is huge but there are significant
challenges. The record industry is doing their best to keep Internet
radio in a box," said Jonathan Potter, executive director of the
Digital Media Association.  Instead, he said, the music producers
"should be working on ways to enable it" to capture a paid audience
for recording artists.

Potter's group has been pressing Congress for years to update
copyright laws that require Web radio companies to pay royalties to
record labels.

But restrictions continue to hinder the growth of the
medium. Webcasters can only play four songs by any single artist in a
three-hour period and are restricted from promoting the recording of
their content, unlike, satellite operators which are free to do so.

"We need to clarify and simplify Internet radio laws to promote the
growth of these services," said Potter, whose group represents small
and large Webcasters like Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX - news) AOL,
Yahoo Inc.  (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) and RealNetworks (Nasdaq:RNWK -
news).

Potter says most Webcasts are still operated at a loss.

Steve Marks, general counsel of the Recording Industry Association of
America, says record companies have embraced Internet radio by
offering an easy way to get licenses to use its content.

But he said the trade group was disappointed that some Web radio
companies have failed to respect the rights of artists.

"Internet radio companies should stop facilitating piracy and adopt
secure streaming formats today," he said.

Still, entrepreneurs have found legitimate ways to overcome the
barriers, and are now moving Web radio forward, fueled by views that
wireless broadband will turn it into a "killer application." They are
set to put it onto cellphones, MP3 players and other devices beginning
as soon as late 2005.

"Once Internet radio's available everywhere and you'll have 'Internet
walkmen', it will be a watershed moment," said Bryan Miller, general
manager for alternative Cincinnati station (www.woxy.com), which aired
for 20 years as a traditional radio station before turning Web-only
about 9 months ago.  Some Web radio operators, like Mercora, an
aggregator of 500,000 individual Internet stations, have already found
ways around

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) restrictions.

"The DMCA puts a lot of restrictions on the industry. But when you
have as much content as we have, these things don't stop you," said
Srivats Sampath, chief executive officer of Mercora, which enables
listeners to "timeshift" or record streamed programming so they can
play it back later, which is prohibited on U.S. Webcasts.

"DMCA prohibits timeshifting of DMCA webcasts in the U.S., but you can
timeshift everything you hear from our Canadian networks, which are
registered in Canada where rules don't prevent listeners from
timeshifting," said Mercora.

Other companies are helping Internet operators generate cash for their
Webcasts. "We're good at offering alternative revenue models to
advertising for Internet radio stations," said Kurt Huang, co-founder
of Bitpass Inc., a Web-based payment service that helps online content
providers bundle, promote and sell content and collects payments for
them.

Ando Media provides a product called Webcast Metrics, which tracks Web
radio usage across 500 independent stations including
(www.accuradio.com), (www.airAmericaradio.com) and (www.radioio.com)
and then sells that data to advertisers.

"Internet radio represents one of the biggest untapped audiences --
daytime primetime," said Jordan Mendell, chief technology officer for
Ando, noting that most Web radio listening occurs during the workday
at offices.

"It's almost like a puzzle piece. Internet radio fills in the gap
between drop-off and the drive home," he said.

Mendell said his company's data has translated into ad buys and has
helped stations develop credibility. "We're seeing major ad buyers
like Toyota and Napster putting major campaigns on our stations," he
said.

Eileen Wolbert, director of advertising for Live365, a portal of
10,000 Web radio stations, also cited a huge upswing in advertising
interest this year.

As the medium gains traction, terrestrial broadcasters are embracing
it after pulling the plug on streamcasts a few years ago. Viacom Inc's
Infinity recently began streaming news/talk outlets and launched a
couple of Web-only stations, while Clear Channel Communications Inc
recently launched a new Web strategy.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In our Telecom Digest Extra pages, we
have various streaming audio programs of interest, including all
news (AP, BBC, CNN), classical music, NASA television and others. You
go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra and select from whatever you
wish to hear, if any.   PAT]

------------------------------

From: Lisa Minter (lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com)
Subject: D.Telekom U.S. Unit Sees Growth in 2007
Date: Sun, 29 May 2005 16:03:34 -0500


By Nikola Rotscheroth

T-Mobile USA, Deutsche Telekom's U.S. mobile arm, sees its growth of
around 1 million new customers per quarter continuing at this pace in
2005 and is preparing new "third-generation" mobile services for 2007.

As there are many more Americans who have not used a mobile phone than
there are Europeans or Japanese, T-Mobile USA, the country's smallest
national operator, believes there is still plenty of room for it to
expand, its head told journalists.

"I believe we can keep up this speed of growth," said T-Mobile USA
Chief Executive Robert Dotson. T-Mobile USA won 957,000 new
subscribers in the first quarter of 2005, to reach 18.3 million.

"We are a growth machine. We have to grow, grow, grow," Dotson said.

The main source of this growth, the operator believes, is people using
their mobiles instead of the fixed-line network to make calls, or
giving up their fixed-line phone entirely -- as 10 to 15 percent of
T-Mobile USA's customers already have.

Since Deutsche Telekom bought the unit, then called VoiceStream
Wireless and a small startup, for a breathtaking $40 billion in 2001,
it has become its main growth engine -- and overtook the domestic
German mobile arm in terms of revenues last year, with 9.3 billion
euros ($11.7 billion).

According to a 10-year business plan it published this year, Deutsche
Telekom expects T-Mobile USA to bring in 43 percent of its mobile
revenue -- more than any other mobile unit including Germany, Britain,
and other European countries.

T-Mobile International CEO Rene Obermann told reporters he was not
worried by the mergers in the United States, which have reduced to
four the number of national mobile operators, leaving T-Mobile USA the
fourth rank by far.

"The fourth rank is a good position," Obermann said, adding that
T-Mobile USA, as part of T-Mobile International with 75 million
subscribers, had bigger purchasing power than any other U.S. operator.

Cingular, a joint venture of Baby Bells SBC and BellSouth, took over
AT&T Wireless last year to become the largest operator, and Sprint
bought Nextel to become the third largest.

No. 2 in the market is Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon
and the world's biggest mobile operator, Vodafone.

3G LAUNCH IN 2007

T-Mobile USA is preparing the launch of new third-generation (3G)
mobile phone services -- which allow video phone calls and music
downloads over mobiles -- in 2007, even though it has yet to make a
formal decision to bid for the necessary spectrum.

"We plan to begin the 3G rollout in the second half of next year and
the first services shall launch in 2007," said Chief Development
Officer Cole Brodman.

T-Mobile International's Obermann cautioned, however, that the
supervisory boards of T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom still had to
approve the group's bidding for the service in an spectrum auction
upcoming in the second quarter of 2006.

Obermann declined to say how much he was ready to spend for the
spectrum -- all over Europe, operators spent around 100 billion euros
for 3G spectrum -- but said license prices had come down in the United
States since the number of national operators has dropped to four from
six.

Dotson ruled out T-Mobile USA buying a regional U.S. mobile operator
to expand into areas where it did not have its own presence yet.

The group, which has earmarked 2.2 billion euros to build its network
in the United States this year, would rather spend on its own network
assets in regions it had identified as interesting, he said.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. 

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.

------------------------------

From: telcom <junnix@gmail.com>
Subject: Adtran T1 CSU ACE Available
Date: 28 May 2005 04:03:12 -0700


Recent upgrade of our CSUs to shelf type has made available FOR SALE
several Adtran T1 CSU ACE wint P/N 1200022L2.

These are very reliable units. They are in excellent condition. Very
clean and no markings. Some used equipment companies sell them between
$185-$300 each.

I have two (2) lots of 5 units/lot. I am looking to get $600.00 per
lot.

BTW, these units have no accessories/manual with them. If you are
familiar with these units they can be powered thru an external 48V
source and sometimes from carrier line.

If you're interested and want to know more, please email me.

Thanks,

F.L.

------------------------------

From: Tony P. <kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net>
Subject: Re: Psst: Traditional 911 Doesn't Always Work, Either
Organization: ATCC
Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 10:37:11 -0400


In article <telecom24.232.2@telecom-digest.org>, jack-
yahoogroups@withheld_on_request says:

> Quick, somebody let Mike Cox (our Michigan Attorney General) know
> about this, so he can threaten a real phone company with a lawsuit
> instead of picking on VoIP companies ...

> http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/63909

> Psst: Traditional 911 Doesn't Always Work, Either Some think VoIP
> carriers are getting a bad rap.

> While the impression is there's been a rash of deaths thanks to bad
> VoIP 911 connectivity, the truth is many of the "baby death" cases
> (like this one http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/63372 ) are
> more rhetoric than substance. An interesting discussion in our VoIP
> forum http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,13491142 , on how
> traditional 911 systems often fail (see Boston Herald
> http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=84679
> without so much as a peep from the FCC or Congress, who've jumped all
> over VoIP.

> Article + reader comments at:
> http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/63909

> 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/

The Boston Herald story was interesting. But in that case it was
probably Intrado that dropped the ball, not Verizon. In any case, this
all demonstrates that E-911 is a complex system, and complex systems
fail all the time.

But the general consensus is that the incumbent carriers are trying to
do one of two things. Either they're trying to throw off the yoke of
what little regulation still exists, or they're trying to kill VoIP
providers. I'd bet on the latter.

Right now the incumbent carriers are playing all sort of games because 
their revenue streams are being threatened. Just look at the efforts 
they've thrown in to killing government owned metropolitan 802.11 
networks. 

Instead of lowering prices and investing in research and development, 
the incumbents would rather rake everyone over the coals in search of 
profit. 

It isn't that profit is a bad, just that excessive profit rankles, 
particularly when used as the reason for a corporation to behave in an 
abhorrent manner. 

------------------------------

From: Tony P. <kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net>
Subject: Re: Corton Pay Phone???
Organization: ATCC
Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 10:42:55 -0400


In article <telecom24.237.4@telecom-digest.org>, 
michael.muderick@verizon.net says:

> I have come across 1/2 dozen Corton Communications payphones, WP 1000,
> hearing aid compatible, brand new-boxed with keys.  I can't find
> anything about the company -- they were in Yonkers NY.  If anyone has
> any info on them (they don't come packed with any data sheets),
> please contact me at Michael@muderick.com.  Inside there is an RJ-11
> jack and connections for L1,L2 and G.  I assume that's for some sort of
> power connection -- there is an LCD display on the front.  The board
> that these connections are on doesn't look like it's for 110VAC- But I
> have no clue as to what voltage, AC or DC it would require.  I'll
> appreciate any info on them.  And, I'd be happy to sell them as well.

T, R and G are Tip, Ring and Ground respectively. 

> mm

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If these are what I am thinking, they
> are 'smart' COCOTS. 'Smart' in the sense they can be set for whatever
> money value is desired to be collected (25 cents for three minutes on
> a 'local call' and four quarters or one dollar for three minutes on a
> 'long distance domestic' call.) The LED shows what the person dialed,
> the amount of money due on the call (as you choose to program it) and
> when no call is in progress it displays the time and some ribbon
> message promoting the service. The phone does not ring on incoming
> calls, but only chirps a couple times then answers itself with a
> recorded message on a chip saying 'Operator! This is a pay phone with
> no collect/third party charges allowed!' Then it disconnects itself
> unless you, the proprietor punch in a security code which allows you
> to program the rate remotely.   I am not certain _and will not
> guarentee_ that they run on a 12 volt battery eliminator with a good
> size amperage, around a thousand MA.  PAT]

Usually COCOT phones are powered by -48VDC. There probably is a small 
lithium battery in the phone to keep the translations active during line 
outages but other than that, you just hook em' up. 

------------------------------

From: Mary <somewher@.com>
Subject: Re: Phone Outage Costs Fort Wayne Store to Lose Business
Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 12:15:19 -0400
Organization: Bell Sympatico


That's an interesting concept -- the same number in two locations?

How does it work? Does it ring in two locations and first to answer gets the
call?

Do you have to pay for two lines and one number?

Thanks

<hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote in message
news:telecom24.237.5@telecom-digest.org:

> TELECOM Digest Editor noted as a preface to a message from
> Lisa Minter:

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The gentleman who passed this item
>> along to Lisa and the Digest said, in effect, "here is another
>> example of Vonage screwing up."  I dunno, it seems more like Verizon
>> screwing up to me. Vonage said to Verizon, or (rather to Choice One
>> Communications, which owns U.S. Exchange) to disconnect _ONE_ line.

(Then Lisa Hancock continued):

> I'm not sure Verizon was at fault here, but I would agree it
> certainly isn't clear that Vonage was at fault either.  Accidental
> disconnects have always happened.

> The sharing of phone numbers and allowance of multiple carriers
> does indeed increase the risk of confusion and service interupts.

> If I order a new car but tell the dealer to have someone else
> install the audio system (as many motorists do), I've increased
> the chance of confusion between the car dealer and audio dealer
> and risk of finger pointing.

> I do want to share the experience of friend who repeatedly switched
> his phone service but had no disconnect troubles:

> He tried a different company that advertised lower rates, but got
> upset when they added on a bunch of fees, so he switched back to
> Verizon.  Then he decided the other was still a better deal so he
> switched back.  Then he moved and wanted the same number serving both
> locations until things settled.  The other company wouldn't do that,
> but Verizon did, so he switched back to Verizon, and had service in
> two locations under the same number for a month.  I think he's still
> wtih Verizon.  All of this happened in a short time without problem.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Once, when I was moving from one house
to another house in the same central office in Chicago, I had this 
same arrangement for a short time. I was keeping the same phone number
in both houses (both in same central office) but over the two or three
day period when I was moving thing from one house to the other, there 
was a good chance I might miss an important call, if the phone had
been connected _only_ at one place and I was moving things around at
the other place. Telco just turned the number on at both places and
said to advise them when I no longer needed the service. They billed
me just the cost of an 'extension' phone, a few dollars. Now had it
been in a different central office or a different city, the rep said
to me it would have been handled as an OPX  (off premise extension)
and a differnet rate would have applied.  PAT]

------------------------------

Subject: Re: Very Early Modems
Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu
Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni
From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes)
Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 19:26:03 GMT


One of the problems with the modems circa 1960 was that AT&T felt they
should operate over nearly any dialed-up connection between any two
points.  With the state of the telephone plant in the early 1960s this
was a tall order.  There is a paper (which I can't readily reference)
where Bell Labs did a bunch of test calls all over the U.S. to assess
the ability of their modems to communicate with acceptably low error
rates.  This would be a requirement for TWX, offering nationwide
service, and for higher-speed modems.  At higher speeds typically a
corporation would make calls all over the U.S. to collect data from
its local offices.

The makers of acoustic couplers and would-be makers of third-party
modems realized that for the bulk of the market - computer time
sharing terminals -- most connections would be local or nearly so and
they could get by with a much lower-performance modem.  Meanwhile the
telephone plant was rapidly improving and the probability of getting
an unusable connection was steadily going down.  So the Bell modems
were overdesigned and consequently overpriced for the kind of service
that much of the market needed.  --

jhhaynes at earthlink dot net

------------------------------

From: Harlan Messinger <hmessinger.removethis@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Vtech Caller ID Not Working
Date: Sun, 29 May 2005 11:46:51 -0400


LB@notmine.com wrote:

> Harlan Messinger wrote:

[inquiry and suggested troubleshooting approach snipped]

> Tried calling Vtech??

Heh, yeah, I wrote to them at the same time that I posted my query
here.  I hate to rely solely on customer service for responses,
especially by e-mail or web forms, since the first response, other
than the autoresponse, tends to be a questionnaire seeking all the
information that I, as a technically oriented consumer, already knew
to provide in the first place.

Anyway, Vtech wasted two days before responding, "Please send us your
phone number so we can set up a profile for you," and then took
another day to tell me that they'd set up my profile, and now could I
please *call* them to troubleshoot the problem. I guess there was no
point in using the web form in the first place.

------------------------------

From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
Subject: Re: Tie Lines was Re: Foreign Exchange (FX) Lines Still in Use?
Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 09:37:57 -0000
Organization: Widgets, Inc.


In article <telecom24.237.8@telecom-digest.org>,  <Tim@Backhome.org> wrote:

> Robert Bonomi wrote:

>> In article <telecom24.228.14@telecom-digest.org>,

>>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: City of Chicago used DC power (rather
>>> than AC) -- at least in the downtown area -- until sometime around
>>> 1930. That's at least one reason why there were so many WUTCO clocks
>>> everywhere, instead of 'regular' wall clocks. Clocks cannot run on
>>> direct current; they require alternating current at 60 cycles.

>> I wonder what they did in territory where the generated A.C. power was
>> at 25 cycles.

> When did they deliver AC at 25 cycles?  I do recall some 50 cycle
> companies around that had to change after the end of WWII.

I don't know when the last 25-cycle power was phased out.  Keokuk, Iowa, 
had a 25-cycle hydroelectric plant -- driven by the Mississippi River, 

As of the early 1960s, the hydro plant there was dark, although equipment 
was still in place.  Power distribution to users was 60-cycle at that time.
I'm _guessing_ conversion was late '40s, early '50s.

"Carnegie-Illinois Steel Company" was running their own electric
generators at 25 cycles at least through the mid '40s -- in '43 they
installed a 'mercury-pool' frequency conversion system that let them
feed their power into a 60-cycle public utility power distribution
network.

One of the down-sides to 25-cycle power was that _transformers_ had to
be built heavier for the lower line frequency.  Stuff that was build
with the existence of lower frequency power worked just fine when
connected to a higher-frequency source.  Unfortunately, when you took
something that had been designed to be 'just adequate' on 60-cycle
power, and plugged it into a 25-cycle source, a frequent result was
'letting the magic smoke' out of the transformer.  A *RUDE* surprise
for someone who moved into one of those 25-cycle 'islands' from the
mainstream of power distribution.

------------------------------

From: Tim@Backhome.org
Subject: Re: Last Laugh! 86 Year Old Woman Taken to Jail Account of 911 Call
Date: Sun, 29 May 2005 04:55:25 -0700
Organization: Cox Communications


Sounds a bit like Nazi Germany.

Patrick Townson wrote:

> Woman Calls 911 With Pizza Complaint

> An 86-year-old woman was jailed after police said she called 911
> dispatchers 20 times in a little more than a half-hour -- all to
> complain that a pizza parlor wouldn't deliver.

> Dorothy Densmore was charged with misusing the 911 system, a jail
> spokeswoman said.

> She told dispatchers Sunday that a local pizza shop refused to deliver
> a pie to her south Charlotte apartment, said Officer Mandy
> Giannini. She also complained that someone at the shop called her a
> "crazy old coot," Giannini said.

> Densmore wanted them arrested. Instead, police came to arrest her, and
> she resisted, Giannini said.

> It's unusual for someone to face charges for nonemergency calls,
> Giannini said. But on Sunday, Densmore kept calling 911, even after
> she was told to stop, Giannini said.

> When an officer arrived at her apartment, the 5-foot-tall, 98-pound
> woman attacked him, Giannini said. Densmore scratched him, kicked and
> bit his hand, she said.

> Densmore also is charged with resisting a public officer and two
> counts of misusing the 911 system, jail records show.

> Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Poor, brave, courageous police officer.
> I sure hope he was not hurt when this 86 year old woman 'assaulted'
> him. On the other hand, the old lady should have made her calls to
> police on a VOIP line. If she had, chances are the police would still
> be looking for her, in order to arrest the 'crazy old coot'.  PAT]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So many things about USA law
enforcement these days have a sort of tinge or a smell of Nazi-Germany
to them, don't they ...  PAT]

------------------------------


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