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TELECOM Digest Wed, 22 Jun 2005 17:35:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 285 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Norvergence in the News, Again (Michael Quinn) Telstra Ends Internet TV Deal With Microsoft (Telecom dailyLead USTA) 40 U.S. Senators Offer BiPartisan ID Theft Bill (Lisa Minter) Re: Send Text Message to a Russian Cell Phone (John Cummings) Re: Bell Divestiture (Lisa Hancock) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Norvergence in the News, Again Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:03:30 -0400 From: Michael Quinn <quinnm@bah.com> A somewhat long article, but I believe of interest to Telecom Digest participants, given prior posts on the subject. Promised Savings, They Rented the Boxes And Now They're Really Paying for It; NorVergence Went Bankrupt; Customers Still Owe By Dina ElBoghdady Washington Post Staff Writer The smooth-talking salesman with his glossy brochure promised Kelly Vogan huge savings on his firm's telephone, cell phone and Internet bills if only he'd rent a "revolutionary" piece of high-tech gadgetry called the Matrix box. With the lure of 30 to 60 percent savings, Vogan signed up with New Jersey-based NorVergence Inc. and even insured the small red box as required. He paid $435 a month to rent the box and an additional $13 for services, including unlimited long distance. Last summer NorVergence filed for bankruptcy, and customers like Vogan, who owns a home remodeling firm in Silver Spring, found that their troubles went far beyond the loss of phone service. They discovered they were obligated to keep paying rent on the boxes to third parties, which had bought the rental contracts from NorVergence. "The more I think about it, I'm not sure I even understand how it all worked," Vogan said. "But it worked just fine for a while." Vogan's company and 11,000 other small businesses nationwide are entangled in an alleged scam that has attracted attention from the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general in about two dozen states. In the Washington area, at least $6.6 million in rental fees owed by 350 businesses in the District and Maryland is at stake. Numbers for affected Virginia firms are not available. The fallout from NorVergence's collapse illustrates how vulnerable small-business owners are to those who prey on their lack of technology know-how, said Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology, which represents small information-technology businesses. "Small-business owners are particularly susceptible to fraud ... because they lack in-house expertise" and sometimes end up overpaying for services, Zuck said. The FTC, for example, charges that the box NorVergence persuaded its customers to rent was nothing more than a mix of standard routers that help connect telephone equipment to long-distance providers' lines. NorVergence and its former chief executive, Peter J. Salzano, deny any wrongdoing. NorVergence filed for Chapter 11 protection in June 2004. The filing was later converted to Chapter 7 liquidation. The FTC accuses NorVergence of defrauding customers by charging inflated rents for the boxes -- $400 to $5,700 a month -- and then selling the rental contracts at a discount to third-party finance companies for quick cash. "NorVergence was able to provide a few early customers with 'discounted' services only because it used the proceeds of contracts from new customers," the FTC said in November when it filed a civil action against the company in U.S. District Court in New Jersey. Here is how it worked: NorVergence bought services, such as e-mail and Internet connections, from well-known firms such as Qwest Communications International Inc. or Sprint Corp. at wholesale rates. It would then re-brand, re-price and resell the services under its own brand name, while making money off the box rentals. In the brochure presented to Vogan, NorVergence promoted its partnership with Qwest and Nortel Networks Corp. Both those firms distance themselves from NorVergence. "We did not lend our name. That was used without our permission," said Claire Mylott, a spokeswoman for Qwest. "The reason we don't lend our name [to any vendor] is because we can't control how our name would be used." Bryan Zidar, a spokesman for T-Mobile USA Inc., which provided handsets to NorVergence, said his firm was as much a victim of NorVergence's situation as the many small-business customers. "When NorVergence filed for bankruptcy, we were owed significant money," Zidar said. "So we asked the judge for the monies owed. We didn't get it. But we were granted the opportunity to reach out to wireless customers with T-Mobile handsets and switch them over to T-Mobile service." Vogan said he got a similar offer from Sprint and switched over as soon as he learned of NorVergence's bankruptcy. Had his troubles ended there, Vogan would have brushed off the episode as a minor inconvenience. Instead, the finance company in charge of his rental contract continued to bill him $435 a month for his Matrix box. That is because the fine print on NorVergence's rental agreements locked customers into long-term contracts even if NorVergence failed to deliver service. In Vogan's case, that meant he was responsible for an additional $19,000 to cover the balance of his five-year contract. Reluctantly, he paid the monthly fee to protect his company's credit. Others who refused to do so found themselves engaged in legal battles when the finance companies sued them. "It was frustrating," Vogan said. "I had about 3 1/2 years worth of payments left on my contract and I had nothing to show for it but a useless red box." But relief is in sight. Last month, a few of the 40 finance firms that handled NorVergence's rental agreements agreed to forgive most of the debt owed under a settlement reached with attorneys general in 18 states. In Maryland and the District, settlements were reached with CIT Technology Financing Services Inc. and CIT Group/Equipment Financing Inc., General Electric Capital Corp., U.S. Bancorp Business Equipment Finance Group Inc., and Wells Fargo Financial Leasing Inc. Each firm agreed to forgive about 85 percent of the rental fees. If a small business has paid more than the 14 or 15 percent due after July 2004, it will receive a refund of the amount it paid over that percentage. The deal wipes out $5.7 million in debt for 278 businesses in Maryland and $924,000 in debt for 39 businesses in the District. "We believe we have done the best we can do," said Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. "We were not able to convince the finance firms to take the entire loss. They came back and said: 'We are victims too. Why should we suffer the entire loss?' " Vogan plans to take part in the settlement. Other small-business owners are not so sure. Jean Hurley of Ellicott City said she and her husband have not yet decided whether to settle because it would mean backing out of a class-action lawsuit against NorVergence. "The settlement just hit my desk," Hurley said last week. Hurley said her husband's real estate firm, Hobelmann Corp., rented the Matrix box for $269 a month. "I asked my attorney to look at [the settlement] and he said it sounded like a good idea." So far, no one is taking responsibility for the NorVergence debacle. Salzano, the company's former chief executive, has filed for personal bankruptcy. Through his attorney, he said his firm was a victim of its own success. It could not hook up the Matrix boxes fast enough given its backlog of customers, said Michael D. Sirota, Salzano's attorney. The leasing companies got spooked by the delay in hookups and refused to buy rental contracts until the hookups were completed, Sirota said. "The leasing companies changed the rules of the game on NorVergence," Sirota said. "That created a cash crunch for NorVergence and that was the downfall" of the company because it was financed by selling the leases to the leasing companies. As for Vogan and Hurley, they both have their Matrix boxes in their respective offices, a token of caution when salesmen come calling. (c) 2005 The Washington Post Company 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. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, The Washington Post Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:48:23 EDT From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA <usta@dailylead.com> Subject: Telstra Ends Internet TV Deal With Microsoft Telecom dailyLead from USTA June 22, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=22535&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Telstra ends Internet TV deal with Microsoft BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Orlando shuts down public Wi-Fi network * Motorola to offer Wi-Fi/cellular handset in Japan * Microsoft seeks supremacy in smart phone market * Report: VoIP, wireless on the rise in W. Europe USTA SPOTLIGHT * New Offices, New Logo -- US Telecom Reflects the Dynamic Telecom Industry * Marketing Strategies Webinar Tomorrow: How to Get the Most from Your Resources EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * AT&T aims to spearhead FMC REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Cities worry VoIP will erode tax revenue Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=22535&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com> Subject: 40 U.S. Senators Offer BiPartisan Data Breach Bill Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 15:25:13 -0500 Business leaders who fail to tell consumers when they may be at risk of identity theft could face jail under a bipartisan bill expected to be introduced in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter and Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee's top Democrat, would also restrict a freewheeling trade in Social Security numbers that are prized by identity thieves. The bill, the first to draw Republican sponsorship, comes on the heels of the largest security breach announced to date after an outsider gained access to 40 million credit-card accounts held by CardSystems Solutions Inc., a payment processor. Dozens of similar breaches have been disclosed this year after a California state law required businesses to make such incidents public. Businesses and consumers have urged the Republican-controlled Congress to pass a national version of the California notification law. Specter and Leahy's bill would require businesses across the nation to make data-security breaches public. Those that do not could face criminal prosecution. According to a summary obtained by Reuters, their bill also would sharply limit the trade in Social Security numbers that can be used in identity theft. Businesses would not be able to require consumers to reveal their Social Security numbers in return for goods or services, and they would be forbidden to buy or sell Social Security numbers without consumer permission. Consumers would also be able to access the profiles maintained by "data brokers" like ChoicePoint Inc. and fix any errors, as they are currently able to do with credit reports. Businesses would have to protect consumer accounts from unauthorized access, and criminal penalties for such activity would be increased. At least three Senate Democrats have introduced data-security bills, but business groups have been quietly lobbying against them out of concerns the regulations would be too strict. Republicans in the House of Representatives are preparing efforts of their own. Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton (news, bio, voting record), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is working on a bill that would also limit the trade in Social Security numbers. Florida Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns (news, bio, voting record), who chairs a consumer-protection subcommittee, is drafting a bill that would include incentives for businesses to improve their security. 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: John Cummings <n4bkn.no@spam.bellsouth.net> Subject: Re: Send Text Message to a Russian Cell Phone Organization: BellSouth Internet Group Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 12:39:14 -0600 cronept wrote: > Hi, > I have a friend who is in Russia. I am in the states. She is using a > GSM cell phone. I am wondering if I can send text message to her from > the Internet? I tried AIM but I do not know how to send to a cellphone > outside the US. Does anybody know any websites or any software can do > that? Thanks alot. I appciate it. > Jim At the GSMworld site, you'll find this page listing all of the Russian cellphone operators. http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_ru.shtml Once you know whose service she's buying, you can hunt through her operator's website. Do you read Russian, or some Cyrillic characters? Better still, ask her to do the search. John C. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Bell Divestiture Date: 22 Jun 2005 13:08:43 -0700 >> What was the cost of the touch-tone oscillator for a telephone set, >> vs. the cost of a rotary dial? > Considering that a rotary dial was nothing but springs and gears, > while a DTMF pad had coils (Bell loved those ferrous cup cores!), > resistors, transistors, specially plated contacts, etc. It is hard for us to believe today, but it took a very long time for the price of electronics to come down far enough to be cheaper than equivalent mechanical devices. In 1965 some consumer electronic things like radios, tape recorders, and TV sets still used some vacuum tubes because they were still cheapter than transistors at that point in time. So, stamping out and assembling springs and gears was cheaper than making and assembling transistors for a Touch Tone pad in those years. All components were discrete in those days. As mentioned, in another thread it was stated that it was cheaper to do many pre-processing steps on electro-mechanical gear than in the electronic CPU because the CPU was so damn expensive compared to the EAM gear. Most computer centers of that era had EAM gear on standby to do supplemental tasks like card sorting or card deck printing rather than have the expensive computer do it. Further, it was even cheaper despite the cost of paying a person to run the EAM machine instead of the automatic computer. While others claim Touch Tone saved the phone company money, I still assert it was more expensive for them, esp in non-common- control offices. I don't think tone interpreters for common- control offices were that cheap either. I note that PBX operators had 20 pps dials while the rest of us had 10 pps. Some kids experimented and found 20 pps worked at home. Now, it was easy to modify the dial to go faster -- so why didn't Bell have everyone at 20 pps -- faster utilization of equipment? I strongly suspect there were valid technical reasons not to. Indeed, from what I recall from Bell Labs Record, it took quite some time (well into the 1970s) that Bell equipment could really make good use of fast dialing. Eventually they would start interpreting digits as they came in and begin route set up before the whole number was dialed. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I had a couple of Hayes Modems which could be switched between pulse and tone dialing, and you could set the 'speed' of the pulsing or the 'speed' of the tone signals. You could make both modes go quite fast; with tone dialing so fast that it was little more than just a single blip in your ear, and most times it would work quite well. Only on occassion the modem would give its short little blip or tone burst when dialing *before* the line was set up to allow it, and you would have to redial, but usually it worked okay. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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