TELECOM Digest     Fri, 5 Aug 2005 15:12:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 354

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Yahoo Launches Web Audio Search Service (Reuters News Wire)
    Logan, Continental in Spat Over Free Wireless (Micheal Kunzelman)    
    Microsoft Hires New Boss From Walmart (Reed Stevenson)
    Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (J.P.)
    Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (T. Sean Weintz)
    Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (I am a Sock Puppet)
    Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (Rich Greenberg)
    Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (The Kaminsky Family)
    Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (Tim@backhome)
    Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (davidesan@gmail.com)
    Re: Looking For a Good International Conference Call Service (J Levine)

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From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Yahoo Launches Web Audio Search Service
Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 22:58:19 -0500


Web media company Yahoo Inc. on Thursday launched a free Web audio
search service that helps users find, hear and buy everything from
music downloads and podcasts to interviews and newscasts.

Yahoo Audio Search, at http://audio.search.yahoo.com, is still in
testing and gives users access to more than 50 million audio files as
Yahoo beefs up its entertainment offerings.

For example, a search for "Green Day" yields a list of the band's
albums, song samples and links to download services, including Yahoo's
own music service, Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes, Rhapsody from
RealNetworks Inc. and Napster Inc.

The service also taps independent publishers and the Web, helping
users find such things as music videos, reviews and photographs of the
artists.

Yahoo and rivals such as Google Inc. and privately held Blinkx already
have launched video search services as the Internet's role in
entertainment grows and ad dollars follow.

The company has integrated Yahoo Audio Search with its video search
service and has invited people to submit videos and music through
Media Really Simple Syndication, so it can be found by the new audio
search engine.

It also integrated tools from its comparison shopping search engine,
which helps users find CD prices and make purchases from a variety of
retailers.

Companies such as GoFish and Blinkx already offer audio search. Yahoo
acquired early audio search providers AltaVista and AllTheWeb through
its purchase of Overture Services in October 2003.

Shares of Yahoo were down 46 cents to $34.05 in afternoon trade on the
Nasdaq.


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: Michael Kunzelman <ap@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Logan, Continental in Free Wireless Spat
Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 23:03:43 -0500


By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press Writer

Logan International Airport is trying to block Continental Airlines
Inc. from providing free wireless Internet access to its frequent
fliers -- a service for which the airport charges a daily $7.95 fee --
calling it a threat to safety and security.

The Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Logan, claims
Continental's Wi-Fi service interferes with other wireless devices.

Continental rejects that claim and argues Massport has no legal
authority to restrict its use of the technology.

Massport ordered Continental to remove the Wi-Fi antenna from its
Presidents Club lounge by July 9, prompting the Houston-based airline
to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission.

An FCC spokesman said the complaint is the first of its kind involving
Wi-Fi access at airports. The agency isn't expected to rule on the
dispute before Aug. 29, its deadline for accepting public comments on
Continental's complaint.

A Massport spokesman declined to comment on Continental's complaint.

All 27 of Continental's frequent-flier lounges at airports have
offered free Wi-Fi service since last December. The airline's lounge
at Logan has offered the wireless connection since June 2004, but a year
passed before Logan notified Continental in writing that the Wi-Fi
antenna violated the terms of its lease.

Last month, a Massport attorney warned the airline that its antenna
"presents an unacceptable potential risk" to Logan's safety and
security systems, including its keycard access system and state police
communications.

Massport told the airline it could route its wireless signals over
Logan's Wi-Fi signal, at a "very reasonable rate structure." In
response, however, Continental said using Logan's Wi-Fi vendor could
force the airline to start charging its customers for the service.

Craig Mathias, founder of the Farpoint Group, a wireless consulting
firm in Ashland, Mass., said Wi-Fi signals can interfere with each
other, but not with other wireless devices.

"It's hard to imagine how this is a security threat," Mathias
said. "They clearly don't want the competition."

Continental argues that restrictions on the installation and use of
Wi-Fi antennas are prohibited under FCC regulations.

"We believe that offering the free Wi-Fi service at Logan is
consistent with FCC regulations and its prior rulings, and is
permitted by the terms of our lease with Massport," Continental
spokeswoman Julie King said Thursday.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

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. For AP News Radio and general news headlines, please
go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html

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

From: Reed Stevenson <reuters@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Microsoft Hires New COO From Walmart
Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 23:05:21 -0500


By Reed Stevenson

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. appointed Kevin Turner, a top
executive at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. as its new Chief Operating Officer,
the world's largest software maker said on Thursday.

The appointment of Turner, 40, who will be in charge of Microsoft's
global sales, marketing and service operations, is part of a wider
reorganization of executive positions, the Redmond, Washington-based
company said in a statement.

Wal-Mart, in a separate announcement, said that Doug McMillon would
replace Turner as head of its Sam's Club warehouse stores.

Microsoft's COO job, considered the No. 3 position after Chairman Bill
Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, has been vacant since 2002,
when Rick Belluzzo left the position.

"That number three job at Microsoft is a tough position to be in,"
said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, an
independent research firm in Kirkland, Washington.

Belluzzo, a former Hewlett-Packard Co. executive, left Microsoft three
years ago after being pushed out as part of a wider reorganization
that made the company's major product groups more autonomous.

Belluzzo also held the title of president, but Turner was not named
president in Thursday's announcement.

"Turner's experience as a proven leader of people in Wal-Mart's
incredibly dynamic sales environment; his IT background as CIO of a
world-class company and his familiarity with our products and
technologies as a Microsoft customer for more than a decade uniquely
qualify him to serve as our COO," Ballmer, according to companywide
e-mail obtained by Reuters.

Turner will effectively replace Kevin Johnson, Microsoft's group vice
president in charge of sales and marketing, who will be moving into a
new executive role at Microsoft.

Ballmer said in his e-mail that Johnson's new role would be announced
with a month.

Rosoff, who has been tracking Microsoft's human resources for year,
said that these changes could be part of a wider reorganization at the
top.

"There might be an executive departure that we haven't heard of yet,"
Rosoff said.

At Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, Turner was considered a
rising star and even a possible successor to Wal-Mart CEO Lee
Scott. He oversaw a turnaround at Sam's Club, which had been losing
ground to larger rival Costco Wholesale Corp. 

Under his tenure, Sam's Club aggressively cut prices to win over
coveted small-business customers, heaping pressure on Costco's
profits.

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: J.P. <jp@jpnearl.com.nospam>
Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today?
Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:13:44 -0400
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:

> My department at my employer uses plain 2500 style telephone sets
> under a Centrex system.  I kind of assumed they were still common
> place, but I understand now that they're kind of unusual?  I heard
> caller-ID is very common on business phones, is that true?

Unfortunately everyone wants one button access to features and such
and displays with caller ID, length of call, etc. so you're seeing
less and less of the 2500-style phones on office desks these days.

One of the things I appreciated about the Executone IDS systems I used
to maintain is that the "wave" desk phones had 2500-style keypads on
them instead of the keypads found on the new business system phones
(buttons wrong size, a 'mushy' feel to them, etc.).  Nothing beats
those old tried and true keypads.

J.P. Wing

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

From: T. Sean Weintz <strap@hanh-ct.org>
Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today?
Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 11:40:30 -0400
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:

> My department at my employer uses plain 2500 style telephone sets
> under a Centrex system.  I kind of assumed they were still common
> place, but I understand now that they're kind of unusual?  I heard
> caller-ID is very common on business phones, is that true?

> [public replies, please]

Every office I have ever worked in has had a PBX system using some sort 
of proprietary keysets.

Every office I have ever worked in since '95 has had keysets with an
LCD display that (amomg other things) displays caller ID.

Centrex is a ripoff IMO. Especially for offices where most of the
calling is in-house. Why pay for a line for each station when say only
20% of your calls ever go outside the building?

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

From: I am a Sock Puppet <strap@hanh-ct.org>
Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today?
Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 10:04:58 -0400
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


J.P. wrote:

> One of the things I appreciated about the Executone IDS systems I used
> to maintain is that the "wave" desk phones had 2500-style keypads on
> them instead of the keypads found on the new business system phones
> (buttons wrong size, a 'mushy' feel to them, etc.).  Nothing beats
> those old tried and true keypads.

> J.P. Wing

I wonder if they are even available anymore since Intertel bought them out.

I know they do make cards that let you use them on your intertel system 
if you already own them, but I don't know if you can buy them new anymore.

T. Sean Weintz wrote:

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Even in the case of Centrex it is very
> rare that telco provides an _actual wire pair to the outside_ for
> every phone thus equipped.

I think you misunderstood my use of the word "outside". By "outside",
I meant "leaving the cusomers property" - IE: going back to the CO,
where the centrex switch is. I did not mean a connection to the PTSN
for each keyset.

And of course they charge for each centrex line going back to the CO.
Out here SBC has pitched us about 35 a month for centrex 1100, about
15 a month for centrex 3100. They can't seem to get it thru their
brains that $0 a month for PBX connections that we oiwn outright is a
better deal.

<SNIP>

> Remember that 'centrex' means that telco has your 'PBX' on its
> premises rather than in your office.  Otherwise calls in or out are
> handled about the same way and with the same rules in place.  PAT]

EXACTLY. I knew that -- I think my choice of the word "outside" was a
mistake. To me, the lines going to the centrex switch at the CO are
"outside lines" - they leave the building, and you pay every month for
them. Which is why it is such a bad deal for places such as us, where
capital expenditure money is much easier to come up with than
operating cash.


DO NOT REPLY TO THE EMAIL ADDRESS
IN THE HEADERS OF THIS POST.
IT IS A SPAM TRAP ADDRESS.

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

From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg)
Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today?
Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 22:59:32 +0000 (UTC)
Organization: Organized?  Me?


In article <telecom24.353.9@telecom-digest.org>, <davidesan@gmail.com>
wrote:

> And don't you just hate it when the voicemail system asks for your
> account code so they "can better process your call" and the very first
> thing that the human operator asks for is your account number?

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, in the case of human

[...]

> or two with an answer?  Even for automated systems, the several
> seconds required for voicemail to give its spiel is time the system
> can be spinning its disk drives and looking up your account if it
> knows your name and identity.  PAT]

Pat, you are correct, but it still doesn't answer the original
question, why does the human operator STILL have to ask for your
account number?


Rich Greenberg Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com    + 1 770 321 6507
Eastern time.  N6LRT  I speak for myself & my dogs only.   VM'er since CP-67
Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky                   Owner:Chinook-L
Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/  Asst Owner:Sibernet-L


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Maybe because the type of computer
system the company uses (or the voicemail, etc) does not present the
account number. Or maybe the first step (where you punch it in on the
phone as part of voicemail merely validates that you do have an
account but it does not get passed 'through the system' to the next
person you deal with?  PAT]

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

From: The Kaminsky Family <kaminsky@kaminsky.org>
Reply-To: kaminsky@kaminsky.org
Organization: None Whatsoever
Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today?
Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 08:37:45 GMT


davidesan@gmail.com wrote:

> And don't you just hate it when the voicemail system asks for your
> account code so they "can better process your call" and the very first
> thing that the human operator asks for is your account number?

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, in the case of human
> operators, its not a bad thing that they ask first for your account
> number or other identifying feature. While you are on the line 
> explaining your problem, the better trained agents can be scanning
> your account as you are speaking, and frequently have an intelligent
> and correct answer for you when you have finished stating your 
> problem. Would you prefer that they listen politely to your problem, 
> _then_ ask for your account number, go away, and come back in a minute
> or two with an answer?  Even for automated systems, the several
> seconds required for voicemail to give its spiel is time the system
> can be spinning its disk drives and looking up your account if it
> knows your name and identity.  PAT]

I think you may have missed the point.  Once you have given your
account code to the automated system, that account number should
be directly available on the human agent's screen when the agent
gets your call.  It's easy enough for a decent automated system
to handle this -- but it is surprising to me that so many automated
systems seem to have been assembled by folks who just don't get it
(or perhaps by folks who really don't like their employer ...).

It is certainly not easy to design an excellent user interface for a
customer -- especially if you are not willing to spend what it takes
to get a good speech recogition engine (and to train it for your
application -- getting the grammar rules right is an art, but there
are systems available in the market now whch do an excellent job).
But designing an excellent user interface for your human agents should
be a whole lot easier -- and that interface should start by gathering
everything the customer has entered so far on this call.

Take care.

Mark

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

From: Tim@Backhome.org
Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today?
Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 06:00:19 -0700
Organization: Cox Communications


davidesan@gmail.com wrote:

> And don't you just hate it when the voicemail system asks for your
> account code so they "can better process your call" and the very first
> thing that the human operator asks for is your account number?
>
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, in the case of human
> operators, its not a bad thing that they ask first for your account
> number or other identifying feature. While you are on the line
> explaining your problem, the better trained agents can be scanning
> your account as you are speaking, and frequently have an intelligent
> and correct answer for you when you have finished stating your
> problem. Would you prefer that they listen politely to your problem,
> _then_ ask for your account number, go away, and come back in a minute
> or two with an answer?  Even for automated systems, the several
> seconds required for voicemail to give its spiel is time the system
> can be spinning its disk drives and looking up your account if it
> knows your name and identity.  PAT]

I would prefer that the system deliver my account number to the agent
based on the entry I made during the automated routine at the start of
the call.

It's similar to being handed off (often abruptly) from one agent to
another and the receiving agent doesn't have a clue about the issue
you spent five minutes trying to explain to the first agent.

Further, if they are located in India just forget anything beyond a
simple request.

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

From: davidesan@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today?
Date: 5 Aug 2005 07:32:41 -0700


I don't mind that the operator has my information in front of her/him.
What I do mind is giving my information TWICE!  When I key it into the
pad, and they verify that I really am a subscriber, that info should
be passed onto the operator, who should not have to ask me for the
information again.

The other operator function that infuriates me is the request for a
Social Security Number.  After my refusal to give it to them they tend
to get really huffy.  They have a form to fill in, after all.

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

Date: 5 Aug 2005 00:05:06 -0000
From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
Subject: Re: Looking For a Good International Conference Call Service
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA


Hmmn.  How could I have made the part about why Internet based
conferences wouldn't work clearer?  Some of these people are in
Africa, their Internet access barely exists, and their phone
connections aren't a whole lot better.  The only way to get them on
the call is to call out to them, with a persistent operator who can
figure out how to retry around "all circuits busy" and the like.

> http://www.sipphone.com offers free conferencing for its users. On the
> sip network, you dial 1 747 222 1234 where 1234 is a random number you
> choose. Everyone who calls that number at that time is connected
> together. There are dial in numbers from PSTN at various points around
> the US, and perhaps the world, but it seems simplest to just hook a
> sip adapter between a phone and the internet, or to use a "soft-phone"
> (free ones listed on their home page).

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


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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #354
******************************