From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Feb 24 00:40:23 2005 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id j1O5eNf22975; Thu, 24 Feb 2005 00:40:23 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 00:40:23 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200502240540.j1O5eNf22975@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #81 TELECOM Digest Thu, 24 Feb 2005 00:39:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 81 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Buyouts of AT&T, MCI Sign of Long Distance Demise (Marcus Didius Falco) Lawsuit Alleges Foul Play in H-P Printer (Marcus Didius Falco) Microsoft, Alcatel Forge IPTV Alliance (Telecom dailyLead from USTA) DrayTek Will Release All VoIP/DSL/VPN Router in CeBIT-2005 (Chris Tsai) FCC: AT&T's LD Cards Quack Like LD, Owe USF, etc. (Danny Burstein) Re: UN Panel Aims to End Internet Tug of War by July (LB@notmine.com) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 00:21:02 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Buyouts of AT&T, MCI Sign of Long Distance's Demise http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2005-02-19-ld-demise_x.htm By Bruce Meyerson, Associated Press NEW YORK The acquisitions of AT&T and MCI by larger rivals are the most dramatic evidence of long distance calling's steady decline as a business distinct from "local" phone service. But other signs are aplenty. This past week, in addition to the $6.7 billion takeover of MCI by Verizon Communications, came news of a large budget hotel chain, Microtel Inn Suites, whose list of amenities has been expanded to include free unlimited long distance and wireless Internet access. There's little to lose with the new marketing pitch: The calls don't cost the company very much. And with so many travelers toting around cell phones with national calling plans, long-distance calls don't generate that much extra revenue any more, even at the inflated rates hotels often charge. The past week also brought an announcement from a small company named Northland Cable Television, which introduced unlimited local and long distance for a flat $38 a month in rural areas of the Carolinas served mostly by BellSouth as well as Verizon. Because such plans have become so prevalent on both wired and wireless phones, the concept of local and long distance as different types of calls may be fading fast among consumers and businesses. "All-distance" calling plans were first popularized by AT&T Wireless, whose "Digital One Rate" helped blaze the trail for similar offerings from wireless rivals and local Bells like Verizon and SBC Communications Inc., which two weeks ago agreed to buy AT&T for $16 billion. But increasingly, new rivals are also trotting out their own unlimited, all-distance calling plans at a discount to traditional phone service, especially in the cable TV industry. The Northland Cable service is being delivered by Internet bubble survivor Net2Phone using VoIP, for Voice over Internet Protocol, an increasingly common technology which eliminates a great deal of the cost involved in connecting a call around the block or across the country. By contrast, unlimited local and long distance packages from the Bells using non-VoIP technology typically cost from $50 to $60 a month. That doesn't include $20 or so in additional fees and taxes on those bundles, compared with no extras on the Northland plan and perhaps $5 a month extra on many other VoIP services. That's one reason why Verizon is competing with itself by offering its own VoIP service for $30 to $35 a month, hopeful it can keep at least some of the revenue that it might lose to rivals with a customer who switches to VoIP. SBC plans to do offer its own VoIP service soon. By late 2004, more than 400 different companies were offering VoIP service in the United States, according to VoIPAction, an online marketplace featuring assorted VoIP resources. Many of those companies offer unlimited domestic calling as an option. How can so many companies afford to compete in a business long dominated by fewer than a dozen companies? During the Internet bubble of the late 1990s, predictions of explosive growth in Web traffic fueled a construction boom for fiber-optic networks. The long-distance industry has since been plagued by price wars and a huge glut of unused capacity. According to TeleGeography Research, only about 3% of the fiber capacity built during the boom is in use today, while Internet bandwidth for a typical route such as New York to Washington now costs less than a tenth of what it cost just five years ago. That helps explain why it's so cheap for companies to offer VoIP service, which transmits phone calls over the Internet as data packets mixed with all the other online traffic. A traditional phone call requires a continuous circuit to be "opened" across the network. "When you have to dedicate a line to connecting two people on opposite ends of the country, that uses a lot of resources," said Jerry Ellig, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. With VoIP, "You can cram a lot more phone calls into the same amount of network at the same time." As brand names, AT&T and MCI will likely prove useful enough to their new owners to persist for years to come. Both companies have extensive Internet trunk lines for carrying data, which Verizon and SBC aim to use to deliver all kinds of rich data, from business services to television. But the products those brand names are know for seem destined to become another quaint memory of the telephone industry like party lines, switchboard operators and rotary dials. Contributing: Associated Press Writer Elliott Minor in Georgia Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2005-02-19-ld-demise_x.htm 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 . 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 USA Today. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 00:33:25 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Lawsuit Alleges Foul Play in H-P Printer Note that at present this is just an allegation. HP has apparently not yet answered the complaint, and there has been, as yet, no adjudication. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/gear/computing/2005-02-22-cartridge-suit_x LOS ANGELES A Georgia woman has sued Hewlett-Packard, claiming the ink cartridges for their printers are secretly programmed to expire on a certain date, in some cases rendering them useless before they are even installed in a printer. The suit filed in Santa Clara Superior Court in northern California last Thursday seeks to represent anyone in the United States who purchased an H-P inkjet printer since Feb. 2001. H-P is the world's No. 1 computer printer maker. H-P spokesmen were not immediately available to comment. H-P ink cartridges use a chip technology to sense when they are low on ink and advise the user to make a change. But, the suit claims, those chips also shut down the cartridges at a predetermined date regardless of whether they are empty. "The smart chip is dually engineered to prematurely register ink depletion and to render a cartridge unusable through the use of a built-in expiration date that is not revealed to the consumer," the suit said. The suit, which seeks class-action status, asks for restitution, damages and other compensation. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. Click for Restrictions. Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/gear/computing/2005-02-22-cartridge-suit_x.htm?POE=TECISVA 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 . 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 Reuters Limited and USA Today. . For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 13:15:15 EST From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA Subject: Microsoft, Alcatel Forge IPTV Alliance; MSN to Launch Video Series Telecom dailyLead from USTA February 23, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19584&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Microsoft, Alcatel forge IPTV alliance; MSN to launch video series BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Hedge funds urge MCI to consider all offers; GSA ruling favors Qwest * Verizon picks TVN for VOD * Time Warner VoIP service reflects cable's growing influence in telephony * Mobile phone virus causes concern * Cablevision reports earnings USTA SPOTLIGHT * Order Telecommunications Billing Systems Today! EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Intel shows off three chips for embedded market REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Former WorldCom executive testifies as government's case against Ebbers case nears end * ISPs take broadband complaint to Supreme Court Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=19584&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: cisco8899@yahoo.com.sg (Chris Tsai) Subject: DrayTek Will Release All VoIP/DSL/VPN Router Model in CeBIT-2005 Date: 23 Feb 2005 18:45:40 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Draytek Corp is about to present New Integrated VoIP SoHo and CO Broadband Access Solutions at CeBIT 2005 Sinchu, February 24, 2005 Draytek Corp, a worldwide famous leading DSL CPE device provider specializing in broadband access solutions, today unveils new members of its well-known remarkable Vigor family: Vigor 2800V Series, Vigor Pro20 Series, and Vigor Access Series. Vigor 2800V Series include four models: Vigor 2800V, Vigor 2800Vi, Vigor 2800VG, and Vigor 2800VGi. As a VOIP IAD(Integrated Access Device) of the new generation, combination of several latest and popular technologies, ADSL2/2+, WLAN(802.11g), ISDN, VoIP(2 FXS ports, supporting SIP/MGCP protocols), QoS, VLAN, Firewall, USB Printer server and VPN(PPTP, L2TP, and IPSec, LAN-to-LAN and Remote access), allows up to 128 wireless stations to share hi-speed and secure Internet connections over new ADSL2/ADSL2+ and enables multiple novel applications such as Voice-over-WLAN and VPN-over-WLAN. In terms of Selectable Qos(Quality of Service), Vigor 2800V Series support four levels of priority, which ensure guaranteed bandwidth for specific data and services, such as VoIP or Videoconferencing. Speaking of its versatile firewall, in addition to Multi-NAT, port redirection, Dos/DDos(Denial of Service/Distributed Denial of Service) and IP spoofing attacks protection, the built-in SPI(Stateful Packet Inspection) firewall employs user-defined policies to filter all incoming/outgoing packets and blocks download of Java/ActiveX applet and certain file types by means of content filtering to secure the traffic and enhance network efficiency. With these strengths, Vigor 2800V Series constitute a powerful and economical CPE solution for SoHo and Small business users. To keep up with the trends of current networking security device market, Draytek introduces its innovative UTM(Unified Threat Management) appliance, Vigor Pro20 Series, which consist of four models, Vigor Pro20V, Vigor Pro20Vi, Vigor Pro20VG, and Vigor Pro20VGi. Equipped with all merits of Vigor family, such as excellent compatibility with DSL/Cable connection types, VoIP(2 FXS ports, supporting SIP/MGCP protocols), ISDN, WLAN(802.11g), Selectable QoS(Four priority levels), VLAN, USB Printer server and VPN(PPTP, L2TP and IPSec, LAN-to-LAN and Remote Access), Vigor Pro20 further provides a robust hardware-based real-time network protection mechanism of SPI Firewall(Multi-NAT, Content Filtering, Deep Packet and Content Inspection), Anti-virus, IDP(Intrusion Detection Prevention) and WPA2(802.11i) to defend viruses, worms, malicious programs, spams and hacker attacks over wireless or wired network. All in all, this all-in-one gadget offers secure network communication while maintaining high throughput and low latency for various applications. Easy-to-use and multifunctionality makes it a superb integrated security solution for SoHo and Small business users when it comes to the high ratio of C/P(Cost/Performance). As technologies advance rapidly, there are growing demands for more network bandwidth in the next generation network(NGN) structure. Taking advantage of the convenience and flexibility of IP network, plus state-of-the-art ADSL2/2+ technology, Draytek launches its first IP DSLAM product, Vigor Access Series, to meet the requirements of the current market. Vigor Access Series are composed of 2 models, Vigor AccessA24M and Vigor AccessA24S. They provide rich and various applications such as VoIP and mutimedia services in the current existing wired network, which comprises ADSL2/2+, PSTN and ATM, Frame Relay, while eliminating protocol transformation and thus ensuring high speed connectivity. In general, Vigor Access Series enjoy many unique features such as Excellent Scalability(Stackable), Single IP Management(EMS Management-VigorView), RA(Rate Adaptation), QoS and VLAN, which makes it a perfect CO(Central Office) broadband access alternative for Telco operators. The above-mentioned products are going to be displayed in the seminar held at 1400 hours, March 12. Please visit Draytek at CeBIT 2005 in Hall 14, Stand G12, during March 10-16 in Hannover, Germany. About Draytek Draytek Technology Co. is a worldwide famous provider of Internet broadband access integrated solutions, ranging from USB ADSL modems , Wireless ADSL routers, VoIP ADSL routers, ADSL router with ISDN backup, USB-based VoIP Broadband Security Routers, ISDN routers, IP DSLAM, USB ISDN TAs, and so on. For more information, please visit the company's website at http://www.draytek.com. ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: FCC: AT&T's LD Cards Quack Like Regular LD, Owe USF, etc. Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 23:11:39 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC "Washington, D.C. - The Federal Communications Commission Wednesday found that AT&T Corp. unlawfully avoided paying millions of dollars of universal service contributions and other fees related to a long-distance calling card service marketed by the company. "The Commission rejected an assertion by AT&T that its practice of inserting advertisements in the calling card service transformed it into an unregulated 'information service' not subject to universal service assessments. The advertisements are incidental to the underlying telecommunications service offered to the cardholder, the Commission found, and do not change the regulatory status of the service ... rest at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-256921A1.txt [a] http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-256921A1.doc [b] http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-256921A1.pdf [c] [a] ugly text/ascii [b] Word Doc form [c] Adobe Portable Document File (Most FCC publications are available in all three forms. The URLs are identical except for the extension) _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: LB@notmine.com Subject: Re: UN Panel Aims to End Internet Tug of War by July Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 17:10:43 -0500 Organization: Optimum Online Lisa Minter wrote: > GENEVA (Reuters) - A U.N.-sponsored panel aims to settle a > long-running tug of war for control of the Internet by July and > propose solutions to problems such as cyber crime and email > spam, panel leaders announced. > The panel, set up in December 2003, will lay groundwork for a final > decision to be taken in Tunis in November at a U.N.-sponsored World > Summit on the Information Society, where global control of the world > wide web may be decided. > Right now, the most recognizable Internet governance body is a > California-based non-profit company, the International Corporation for > Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). > But developing countries want an international body, such as the > U.N.'s International Telecommunication Union (ITU), to have control > over governance -- from distributing Web site domains to fighting > spam. > "There is an issue that is out there and that needs to be resolved," > said Nitin Desai, chairman of working group and special adviser to > U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. > Incorporated in 1998, ICANN oversees management of the Internet's > crucial addressing system which matches numerical addresses to > familiar Web site addresses. > While its oversight has been confined to technical matters, critics > say that it is subject to U.S. political influence. > The ITU, a 138-year-old trade body that among other things established > country code rules for international telephone calls, is seen by > developing countries as being better able to address their needs. > All countries want to counter spam -- unsolicited commercial messages > that can flood email accounts by the hundreds and burden the web with > unwanted traffic. > 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 . 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, Reuters Limited. > For more information go to: > http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Whatever. Does anyone think the UN will be effective at this? LB [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Does anyone think ICANN will hand over the reigns to ICU in any event? I don't think they will. 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'. 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. 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