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TELECOM Digest Tue, 1 Nov 2005 21:15:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 498 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Qwest Reports Third Quarter Results: Revenue Trends Steady; (Monty Solomon) Review: New BlackBerry Screen Dazzles (Monty Solomon) Re: Old Chicago Numbering (Jim Stewart) Recorded Call From Law Office? (Carl Moore) Re: Remote Call Forwarding (Nhfloral@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: Tue, 1 Nov 2005 13:46:50 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Qwest Reports Third Quarter Results: Revenue Trends Steady; Margin Expansion Continues DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 1, 2005--Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE:Q): Unaudited (in millions, except per share amounts)(a) Q3 2005 Q2 2005 Seq. Q3 2004 Y over Change Y Change Operating Revenues $ 3,504 $3,470 1.0% $ 3,449 1.6% Operating Income 208 226 (8.0)% (173) nm Net Income (Loss) (144) (164) nm (569) nm Net Income (Loss) per Diluted Share (0.08) (0.09) nm (0.31) nm --------------------------------- ------- ------------ ------------- (a) See Special Items in Attachment E -- Revenue and Cost Initiatives Drive Further Margin Expansion -- Solid Progress in Key Growth Areas -- Consumer Bundle Penetration Expands to 50 Percent -- High-Speed Internet Subscribers Reach 1.3 Million -- Long-Distance Penetration Increases to 36 Percent -- Second Sequential Quarter of Wireless Subscriber and ARPU Growth -- Strong Sequential Growth in Cash Generated from Operations to $675 Million -- Capital Expenditures of $445 Million Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE:Q) today reported third quarter results that indicate stable performance in revenue, free cash flow and overall financial flexibility. For the quarter, the fully diluted net loss per share was $(0.08), which includes a charge for restructuring, realignment and severance costs of $(0.01), compared with a loss of $(0.31) a year ago, which included special items of $(0.16). See Attachment E for special items. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=52746453 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2005 17:01:09 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Review: New BlackBerry Screen Dazzles Review: New BlackBerry Screen Dazzles By BRUCE MEYERSON AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- There are, by now, a slew of BlackBerry-like cell phones with typewriter keyboards for mobile e-mail. But none, including Palm Inc.'s popular Treo, has yet mustered a following that resembles the malady affectionately known as "CrackBerry" addiction. So it's no ho-hum when BlackBerry's maker, Research In Motion Ltd., overhauls its flagship device for the first time in nearly three years. After a test drive of just two weeks, it's hard to issue a definitive verdict on the new BlackBerry 8700, which debuted Tuesday through Cingular Wireless at $300 with rebates and a two-year contract. But there's little doubt the device, which does e-mail and telephony, will please BlackBerry devotees on many fronts. First and foremost, it's skinnier in width and thickness. That makes the 8700 easier to grip as a phone, addressing one of the few common complaints about its predecessors. This means, of course, that RIM has gambled on rejiggering the layout of the most comfy QWERTY keyboard in the thumb-typing realm. The result feels a bit more cramped, and yet typing still seems simpler and smoother than on comparable devices. But again, with only two weeks of repetitive thumb motion under the belt, it's probably best to withhold final judgment on the keyboard. Other standout changes _ some that RIM first tried out a year ago with the consumer-oriented 7100 BlackBerry _ include the addition of dedicated "send" and "end" buttons for phone calls, a speakerphone button, two customizable program keys, a doubling of internal memory to 64 megabytes and a brilliant color screen. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=52762019 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Nov 2005 11:23:26 -0800 From: Jim Stewart <jstewart@jkmicro.com> Reply-To: jstewart@jkmicro.com Organization: http://www.jkmicro.com Subject: Re: Old Chicago Numbering > There was a scene in a 70s SF movie (may have been "THX-1138" or > "Colossus the Forbin Project") in which the protagonist escapes into a > huge "computer". The scene was actually shot inside a telco CO! THX-1138. Great scene because it is classic 60's telco CO and the scene was long enough to actually *see* some of the equipment. On the subject of CO's in the movies, I saw a 60's or 70's suspense movie that showed a call trace in a CO. It was a SxS exchange and it showed the technicians running from stepper to stepper writing down numbers. The exchange looked somewhat "foreign" in that the equipment wasn't battleship gray and had covers that didn't look Western Electric. Anyone know what movie that was? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2005 15:59:26 EST From: Carl Moore <cmoore@ARL.ARMY.MIL> Subject: Recorded Call From Law Office? My unlisted telephone received a call this morning which stated it was from "Bennett ..." law office and gave me toll-free number 1-888-571 (or 575 in lieu of 571) and a case number. I did not write the numbers down, and they were not repeated. Did anyone else get a call like this? ------------------------------ From: Nhfloral@aol.com Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2005 14:39:13 EST Subject: Re: Remote Call Forwarding Regarding my October 26 post on Remote Call Forwarding TELECOM Digest Editor noted: > I do not feel that merely a desire to have a 'presence in a community' > is in itself a sign of fraud. Here's an example, we'll name it - Which Number Do I Call? The object is to decide which phone number to call; that's pretty easy. You are a reasonable consumer, living in Independence, Kansas. Your car is in the driveway and won't start. (Or your furnace is misfiring, your hot-water heater burst, you need an oil delivery; you need your lawn re-seeded, carpets cleaned, etc, take your pick. You look in your local telephone book which covers Independence, Kansas. You find numerous businesses offering the service you need, all with your l ocal telephone exchange of (620) 331-xxxx. Looking at the information printed in the telephone book, the playing field appears pretty level. They all have 331 exchanges. So far, so good. Narrow it down to 2 or 3 choices, and start calling for estimates. (Johnny's Service Co, Neighborhood Service, and A-1 Service, for example) (Being the Game-master, I have inside information; some of these listings use a Remote Call Forwarded number. RCF, using a local telephone exchange, does not require an address to be listed in the directory, according to Verizon, Bell South, or Quests Standards and Ethics). You find that two businesses charge an hourly fee of $150 per hour, with a $5 per mile service fee. One savvy business charges $119 per hour, plus $5 per mile service fee. Who are you going to call, being a reasonable consumer? (The Federal Trade Commission examines information from the viewpoint of a reasonable consumer, when determining if deception has occurred.) If you choose business #2 who charges the lowest hourly fee ... You just got screwed. LOL They fooled you, huh? Were you decieved? You just paid $5 per mile from Chicago to Kansas! Let's try those other local listings. I assert that the service of Remote Call Forward facilitates deception, and it is willful and intentional. Why else would a foreign business use 'Remote Call Forwarding', assuming a local appearing telephone number, and buy RCF listings in your local telephone directory, if not to give the impression of being local? > But I don't want my customer to have to dial eleven digits; I want a > convenient way for them to reach me by dialing just seven digits, > instead of having to dial eleven. For a bona fide in-state business, even without the use of Remote Call Forwarding, the customer would still dial only seven digits. TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Allow me to interuppt. That is where you are wrong. Kansas is not as small a geographic area as New Hampshire. We have three or four area codes in this state and _anything_ outside of our _local immediate area_ (Coffeyville, for example, only about ten miles away) requires eleven digits, 1 plus 620 (or other area including 'toll free' numbers.) Now back to you. PAT] The argument of saving the customer a toll-charge doesn't fly either. The business has the opportunity to list an 800 number. Back to the above scenario: All those businesses were in the Independence KS telephone book, with local telephone exchanges. Are you likely to suffer any injury based on your decision? Injury to the consumer can be physical, or monetary. Injury exists, if the consumer would have chosen differently, but for the deception. Would you have chosen differently, had you known the business you called was using a 'Remote Call Forwarded Number' and was a non local business? Verizon states: 'Remote Call Forwarding' allows you to establish a 'local' presence in almost any location, just by having a local phone number, even if you don't have a physical office in that area. In his notes, the Editor posed a few questions to my post which I will try to answer. > 1. Q) Does the term 'Manchester' or 'Concord' (for example) > absolutely refer to the towns by those names in New Hampshire, or > are those generic phrases anyone can use to call their business > (assuming the owner has the appropriate business licenses, etc?) A) State and federal laws prohibit misrepresentation "as to the origin or source of goods or services". If a business is registered in New Hampshire, and uses the name Manchester XXXX in its advertising, where does it refer to? What would a reasonable consumer presume? > 2. Q). What if a person has two places of business, both essentially > the same, and they use regular call forwarding to forward one of their > phones to the other location? Is that deceptive? A) No. Regular Call Forwarding does not require special equipment, and does not involve a switching station. The business has a true physical location at which the dialed number actually terminates; there is no deception as to the origin of goods or services. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So you are suggesting that if the New Jersey person rented some closet somewhere, installed a phone, dialed *72 (New Hampshire number), then disconnected the phone and carried it away with him back to his office somewhere else that would _not_ be deceptive? After all, he did do the call waiting routine himself, did he not? That would qualify his act as legal and non-deceptive? RCF does not require any 'special equipment'. It is simply a regular telephone line (priced at business rates) with its termination in the central office rather than on customer premise. The star 72 (or other software code dialed) is done at the central office instead of at the premises. Like call forwarding done _at the premises_, from that time forward every call to that line is forwarded to wherever at _station_to_station, direct dial rates for the current time of day. No magic about it. Unlike 'regular call forwarding' where it is up to you to turn it on or off as desired, with RCF it has to be done by calling a certain number, and 'logging in' using your number and your password. Then at that point you do the *72 routine. Now back to you again. PAT] > Q) Suppose the same person has a 'foreign exchange' line from > one community which terminates in another town? Is that -- in and > of itself -- deceptive? A) Yes. You are describing Remote Call Forwarding. The call is switched to another town or community. The RCF number is dialed and terminates at a switching station. The call then gets picked up and switched, terminating in a different community, without the knowledge of the consumer. He is unaware that he has just called a foreign exchange in a different location. That is the crux of the problem with RCF. The geographical location where the customer believes he is calling is not where his call finally terminates. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No, I am _not_ describing RCF. Like the minor differences between Caller ID and ANI where both produce the same end result for the subscriber, the mechanics are different. RCF is a _one way only_ feature. You call in from a distance and use it. You are switched from your local office to wherever. No circuits are tied down or dedicated at all. FX on the other hand is switched in and out of the _foreign_ (distant city) exchange. In your example, RCF uses the New Hampshire phone number to ring a number in New Jersey. With FX a physical wire pair is 'nailed down' somewhere in New Hampshire but the central office is in New Jersey. The New Jersey person, on lifting the phone to use it hears 'New Jersey dialtone', where with RCF the caller hears his local dialtone. Now you again. PAT] > 4. Q) Suppose my business has an 800 number, ostensibly to save on > toll charges for my customers, but in fact most or all of my customers > are local people and would not incur any long distance charges by > calling me anyway? A) If most of your customers are local, then you have no need for an 800 number; there are no benefits to you or the consumer. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is true, but for various reasons (such as automatic, star 67 defeating, caller ID) prefer to go that way. Only its not 'caller ID'; its actually ANI they are getting via their 'caller ID box'. PAT] > 5 Q) How do you know -- if you know -- that a call to 'Concord > Florist'which gets picked up by an order taker '75 miles away' does > not get wire-transferred to a truly local florist for handling? A.) That is exactly how it happens. The customer thought they called Concord Florist but the call was switched, and terminate d at a different location, unbeknownst to the consumer. RCF allows this to happen; this is the premise of RCF. 'Remote Call Forwarding' allows you to establish a "local" presence in almost any location, just by having a local phone number. The middleman then wire-transfers the order to the truly local florist. He ads an extra =E2=80=9Chandling fee usually $10 - $15 to the consumer; and from the net flower amount", he deducts a commission (20 percent), before he wires the order to the florist. Would that consumer have chosen differently but for the deception? Was there any monetary injury? Is this a fair trade practice? Much like our example of calling that business in Independence, Kansas, the customer thought they dialed a local business. There are so many businesses using Remote Call Forwarding, when a truly LOCAL florist receives a wire in-transferred order, he has no way of knowing if the sending business is a legitimate florist, or just an order collecting agency which uses Remote Call Forwarding to attract customers. Our wire-service companies try to screen out deceptive florists, but can't catch them all. The Telephone companies keep PROMOTING this deceptive service. > Q.) How do you know that 'Concord Florist' is nothing more than an > agency for one or more local florists truly in the community, sending > wire transfers around all the time on some sort of commission > arrangement? A). I know because I have dialed Concord Florist, using the local Concord NH phone number of 603-227-0722, and found out that my call ends in New Jersey. Additionally, as a local florist, why would I knowingly agree to fill orders, on a discounted commission agreement no less, with a company in New Jersey that is competing with me, for my customers, in my own local phone book? Remote Call Forwarding creates an unfair trade practice against true, local businesses. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is a business decision you make on your own. Maybe that discounted pricing on orders via a competitor is a good way of picking up business you would not have gotten otherwise, or not without much grief. Customer is angry because once you (as yourself) sold him some wilted flowers. He vows never to do business with you again. "From now on I am going to call that other company in town, Concord Flowers. They treated me okay, although they are a bit more high priced. But for mother's funeral I only want the best anyway." Unless the end-user customer is right there in the funeral home when you -- as yourself -- deliver the flowers for his mother's funeral, he is not going to know the difference anyway. Or would you take off your uniform (or put a patch on covering up other insignia) and claim to be coming from Concord Florist? Here in Independence, I personally deal with a telephone company called 'Prairie Stream Communications' instead of Southwestern Bell. You know why I, and many other folks in town do that? Because SBC has gotten so many of us almighty pissed off over the years. But you know what? On the very rare occasion a tech visit is needed and I call Prairie Stream, a service tech from Southwestern Bell comes around because SBC controls the lines and wires, in the same way that _you_ and your other locals control the local florist business. No matter what the 'out of town competitors' call themselves, 'Concord' or 'Manchester' or whatever, and no matter what deals you all cut among yourselves for the actual cost and delivery of the flowers, it is still your territory, just like Independence, Kansas is Southwestern Bell's territory. PAT] > Q.) And since we are talking about it, what is your personal opinion > of the service 1-800-FLOWERS? A) As to 800-Flowers, they are competing fairly and justly. No unfair trade practices, no deception to the consumer. But please, call your local florist ;-) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Unless he gets me really pissed off, I probably will do just that. But like Southwestern Bell, it is great to have reasonably priced (IMO at least) options. PAT] 8 Q.) If you can demonstrate where actual fraud or deception has occurred as a result of this, it would be interesting to hear actual examples. A.) In my industry, the floral industry, RCF listings appear by the thousands. For just ONE company using RCF, I have over 1,200 RCF listing this company buys RCF numbers and listings in every city with a hospital and funeral homes. This is an unfair trade practice played out against local businesses. Also, for years, the Telephone Companies have been making a profit from selling this deceptive service; this is unjust enrichment. Dateline NBC has done an expose on this subject the transcript can be viewed at: http://www.ilocalflorist.com/Dateline_LocalFlorist51301.htm I keep a log of records from myself and other shops that receive complaints ; consumers thought they called a legitimate local shop then they call us because their flowers were never delivered; their credit card reflects a higher price than quoted, they paid $50, and only got $30 worth of flowers. These links are also related to deceptive telephone listings: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/flwralrt.htm Check out the 'Florist Of' listings; call and see where they are located; check out the location on the map. http://www.floristdetective.com/default.html Lastly, the Editor states: > As it turns out, although I have phone numbers in Chicago, in > London, England, and Winfield, KS, my only actual office is in > Independence, KS; all the other locations named above funnel in to > me using RCF through Vonage. I ask: Those calls that are funneled to you using RCF through Vonage Is that service allowing you to create a local appearance? Do people in Chicago dial a local appearing telephone number, thinking they are calling a business in Chicago, and unknowingly switched to a business in Kansas? Under the CPA (Consumer Protection Act), a consumer need not actually be confused or misled if the information is found to have the capacity to mislead or deceive. Does your RCF Winfield telephone number give you a local presence? Is the customer likely to be misled? Valerie [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Independence, KS was _not_ a good example for you to use. Reason is, this podunk little town has a population of about eight thousand people. We are the second largest town within six counties. All of our telephones begin 331 and the Southwestern Bell _regional_ telephone directory (covering about six counties in rural s.e. Kansas) is a small (about 4.5" by 6" long) book with 365 'white' pages' and 173 'yellow' pages. Our _local_ phone book is the same size, about 25 pages in total, white and yellow pages combined. _Anywhere_ I call other than 330,331,332 numbers has to have one plus area code on the front of it. ('331' [Edison-1] is our traditional exchange here; cell phones are '330'; municipal government and a couple of large employers have centrex on '332'). The largest town in this area is our neighbor to the immediate south, Coffeyville, population twelve thousand, all on 620-251 except a very few others on 252. They use the same regional phone book as us, and their local phone book is slightly more pages. They are the same way, as is Tyro, KS (620-289), Cherryvale (620-336) and others. If not your immediate exchange, (which is your local calling area), dial 1 plus the area code. We have one hospital (Mercy) and two funeral homes here in town (Potts and Penwell-Gabel). Needless to say, we only use four digit phone numbers in verbal practice and everyone knows everyone else. If you will pardon me for saying so, if we ever had any FX or RCF type listings in our phone book, they would stand out like a sore thumb. I do not think very many people would be decieved by the presence of a 'new merchant' (who wasn't really) in town. We have three actual florists in town with physical locations here: (1) Twigs [downtown on Penn and Myrtle Sts phone 331-2013] (2) Hassleman's [801 North Penn, phone 331-0961] and the Floral Emporium [814 West Chestnut, phone 331-3113]. But now that you mention it (and I had not seen it before) there is also an RCF listing in our phone book _but with the complete address_ given as well: "Independence Florist, 390 Route Ten, Randolph, NJ" with the Independence phone number 331-0307. But the address is printed plainly, not missing. He is also in the Coffeyville book with the same address (in NJ) but an 800 number. When I dialed the number, it was answered with a generic voicemail saying 'thank you for calling the florist shop. Press 1 for, etc." Is that guy in Randolph NJ the one you have your beef with? As Shakespeare once phrased it 'Much Ado About Nothing.' Heck, most of our merchants here in town are still fussing about Walmart moving into town back in 2001 and trying to 'take over everything'. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #498 ****************************** | |