Date: 15 Sep 2000 06:15:16 -0400 Message-ID: <20000915101516.4354.qmail@xuxa.iecc.com> From: owner-telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org (Telecom Digest) To: telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org Subject: Telecom Digest V2000 #54 Reply-To: editor@telecom-digest.org Sender: owner-telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org Errors-To: owner-telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org Precedence: bulk X-UIDL: a03424e00d8ad93f4bc1e161fed46f2f Status: RO X-Status: Telecom Digest Friday, September 15 2000 Volume 2000 : Number 054 In this issue: Re: Canadian Landline to Wireless Number Portability (article) Re: CellOne San Francisco and AT&T Wireless ads RE: Radio Shack gives away barcode scanner, but is privacy compro mised? Re: Radio Shack gives away barcode scanner, but is privacy compromised? Re: Radio Shack gives away barcode scanner, but is privacy compromised? Re: CellOne San Francisco and AT&T Wireless Re: CWA Operating verizonREALLYsucks Web Site Office COCOT??? Lucent DSA Software C++ Telephony Developer, High Salary / Referral Fees Re: Radio Shack gives away barcode scanner, but is privacy compromised? 9/14/00 ICBTollFree.Com HEADS UP HEADLINES Re: Canadian Landline to Wireless Number Portability (article) Re: CellOne San Francisco and AT&T Wireless Re: a news report warning of pager scam ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 14 Sep 2000 06:45:50 -0400 From: David Lind Subject: Re: Canadian Landline to Wireless Number Portability (article) In article <8pns9a$b5v$1@solaris.cc.vt.edu>, wrote: > David Lind wrote: > > Looks like the Canadians are headed towards wireless number portability in > > 2001. Wonder if this will ever happen in the US? Even number portability > > between wireless carriers would be welcomed. > > > TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian consumers won't have to change home numbers if > > they move exclusively to a cellular phone and can even get their wireless > > number listed in the white pages under little noticed federal regulatory > > rulings. Analysts said the changes effectively put cellular companies on par > > with the big traditional phone companies as regulators begin to embrace the > > soaring demand for wireless communications in Canada... > > This is what I am waiting for in the USA. It is already apparent to > me that I could save a few dollars per month if I went to a cellular > phone in place of my wired line. If I could transfer my current home > number to a cellular service I would do it tomorrow. > > I hope the FCC gets on the ball and makes this happen, though they > haven't gotten universal caller ID to work yet, so I won't hold > my breath. > So far, in the US the attitude of wireless carriers is... we own the number, the number is associated with the phone which only works with our technology. If you switch carriers/technology you lose your phone number. Oh, and the carriers don't want a seperate area code for cell phones, that would be treating wireless carriers unfairly. My simple explanation is... wireless carriers want all the benifits of landline status without landline benifits for consumers. I say, get a unique area code for wireless or play by landline rules. I suspect any change to be verry drawn out. There is little motivation to set up number portability either politically or technically. -- David Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy. - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Sep 2000 07:19:21 -0400 From: David Lind Subject: Re: CellOne San Francisco and AT&T Wireless In article <009401c01ddc$80df43a0$0b00a8c0@michi>, "Michi Kaifu" wrote: > > Anthony Argyriou wrote: > > > In the SF Bay Area, the wireline provider was GTE > > Mobilenet, and the non-wireline was MacCaw Cellular, operating under the > > Cellular One brand. > > OK, so GTE got "B" band (wireline), so that partly explains my problem. I > still am a bit puzzled because PacBell (AirTouch's former parent) is the > dominant WIRELINE carrier around here. Maybe GTE has some significant > wireline service area somewhere in SF MSA. > SBC acquired Pacific Bell and canned (a few to many) skilled employees around 1997. Pac Bell of CA operates a 1900 mhz GSM PCS wireless in CA and Nevada. GTE, I believe, has some customers in the south bay. SBC wants to offer long distance to local customers but has not opened access to their local network enough to satisfy regulators. Pac Bell wireless is forming nation wide roaming agreements with other GSM carriers to keep up with competition from other wireless carriers. -- David Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy. - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Sep 2000 09:58:17 -0400 From: Stephen Rottenberg Subject: ads Dear Patrick: It has been awhile since last visiting the site, and everything has changed. I was unable to find the classified want ads which use to run for positions available in radio broadcasting. Is there a new site specifically for the ads? Thank you for your response. Stephen Rottenberg srottenberg@netscape.net - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Sep 2000 10:46:48 -0400 From: "Green, Andrew" Subject: RE: Radio Shack gives away barcode scanner, but is privacy compro mised? Time does not permit a detailed response to that lengthy post so I'll just make the following observations: o This seems to be more of a privacy issue than a telecom issue, so there is quite likely a debate about it already raging in the privacy forums o There's a similar big push for it going on in "Parade" magazine, the flimsy supplement stuffed into Sunday newspapers o The barcode is only "italicized" for recognition by the (human) reader; the scanner doesn't care o I do think it's a clever idea to provide a lookup table enabling consumers to scan the UPC of a product and go directly to that manufacturer's website or whatever other URL is associated with that particular barcode, and in that detail alone I think the company stands to make its biggest fortune, what with selling the access, tracking the statistics and so on. By comparison, getting yet another proprietary barcode system into common use is going to be a bigger hurdle for them -- how many people are still using those VCRplus codes in the TV listings? o Anytime you're asked for an email address in a situation like this, use a free throwaway account such as Hotmail that you can walk away from after the followup spam reaches excessive levels o The licensing agreement is indeed ludicrous but by the same token is practically unenforceable. It is not too unusual, however; if memory serves, a lot of your credit cards are also the property of the issuing company and are, technically at least, recallable upon request o Yes, it's tracking what you select. Of _course_ it's tracking what you select; so are the "Preferred Shopper" discount cards at the supermarket (which seem to go to much more effort in their signup procedures to identify who you really are). Its only useful function to the consumer appears to be to allow more accurate entry of URLs into browsers by people who cannot type. In this day and age, you need extra common sense about what you're signing up for and what information you're going to be revealing. - -- Andrew C. Green Datalogics, Inc. 101 N. Wacker, Ste. 1800 http://www.datalogics.com Chicago, IL 60606-7301 - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Sep 2000 10:57:15 -0400 From: Howard S Wharton Subject: Re: Radio Shack gives away barcode scanner, but is privacy compromised? You're right, the bar codes did make it to every item in the new Radio Shack catalog. Howard S. Wharton Fire Safety Technician Occupational and Environmental Safety Services State University of New York at Buffalo - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Sep 2000 11:30:31 -0400 From: black@csulb.edu (Matthew Black) Subject: Re: Radio Shack gives away barcode scanner, but is privacy compromised? In article <4.3.2.7.2.20000913103053.00c234e0@pop.novagate.com>, blackhole@handheld.net says... Your posting FAILED becuase it was not formated for 74 column wrapping. Not only is the text unreadable at 132 column WinVN, long lines have been truncated. Help us out by verifying readability before posting. Would love to read other users' comments on the Cat bar code scanner. matthew - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Sep 2000 13:27:46 -0400 From: Fred Goldstein Subject: Re: CellOne San Francisco and AT&T Wireless In V2000I52, John Levine writes, >This occasionally had peculiar results, as in Cape Cod and adjacent >islands where the ILEC was New England Tel, except for one small >island with a tiny ILEC owned by Malcolm Forbes. It's so small it >doesn't even have a switch, just runs all the wires under the harbor >to Bell's Falmouth switch, but they were plenty real to get into the >cell lottery. I think they made a deal with NET, after a long >challenge by the Gay Head Indian tribe on Martha's Vineyard. Small clarification. The Elizabeth Island Telephone Company (Naushon Island, MA rate center, now 508-299) was owned by the Forbes family, which owned the entire island. But not Malcolm Forbes. There are two different wealthy, politically-connected Forbes families. The Naushon Forbes' are the other ones from Malcolm/Steve et al. Their most famous member today is Senator John Forbes Kerry, runner-up in the recent "who wants to be Gore's running-mate" contest. Easy to tell apart; the Democratic Forbes family owns Naushon, while the Republican Forbes family owns what's left of a magazine. Elizabeth Island Tel was purchased by NYNEX in order to get them out of the B-side cell license lottery, in which they each got one ticket (out of two). Just for the fun-facts record, Naushon is one of the two large islands in the Elizabeth chain, just off Cape Cod. Naushon is closer to Falmouth than the other one, Cuttyhunk, which has a small (~50) year-round population and some summer people. Cuttyhunk's telephone service is provided by New England Tel (d/b/a VZ or whatever these days) using a radio link to New Bedford, the nearest point on the mainland. It used to have a WWII-vintage submarine cable, but that was cut by a fishing boat (ca. 1989?) and not repairable. NETel spent around $200k to install the radio link using trailing-edge technology; I'm sure it could be done for a fraction of that today using current products. - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Sep 2000 16:53:48 -0400 From: "Jenn" Subject: Re: CWA Operating verizonREALLYsucks Web Site I have a wav of the 2600 hz tone at the site in my sig btw. jenn - -- the web page you have reached ______ http://twpyhr.usuck.com ,(_.--._) Over 300 telephone sounds and recordings. : / :: \ The Unofficial Touch Tone Tunes FAQ. `------' The Phoney Dance. Normand Veilleux - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Sep 2000 17:44:29 -0400 From: Roy Smith Subject: Office COCOT??? We recently put up some office space in an off-campus building. After exploring the options to trunk the remote phones back to our campus switch, we decided the fastest/cheapest/easiest way to get phone service in there would be to just have Hell Atlantic (there were still that at the time) run in a bunch of POTS lines for these folks. Today I was over there and needed to make a phone call. So I picked up one of the phones and dialed. I was surprised and amused to hear a (very poor audio quality) recording saying, "The call you have made requires a 25 cent deposit. Please hang up, deposit 25 cents, and try your call again". I was rolling on the floor. Of course, the folks in the office weren't very amused; they've been trying to get it fixed for the two months since they moved in there. - -- Roy Smith New York University School of Medicine - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Sep 2000 20:08:20 -0400 From: "David De Trolio" Subject: Lucent DSA Software Hi all! I am using Lucent's Definity Systems Administration software to manage my ProLogix and G3 ECS systems across the country. We have one site connected using Lucent's VoIP (fair results so far) and the rest using DCS with AT&T Point to Point lines. Since the switches and the Intuity are all joined together using IP, I should be able to connect to each of them using the networking function of DSA. Each time my manager and I have tried it, we get a no response or a failure to connect. I do have the most current version, and using the modem into the INADS line I connect and administrate fine. Anyone else run into this problem and have a solution? Thanks...Dave anks...Dave - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Sep 2000 21:05:55 -0400 From: "Rusten McKenzie" Subject: C++ Telephony Developer, High Salary / Referral Fees POSITION: [Senior C++ Developer with Telephony Experience] LOCATION: [Telecommute] or [Moving allowance to West Palm Beach, Florida] TYPE: [Permanent, Full Time] SALARY: $70,000 to $100,000 Plus unparallelled incentives including: - Full benefits package, 2 weeks paid vacation annually - Stock Options - Performance Bonus - Education/Training Allowance REFERRALS: We pay $2,500 to anyone referring a new employee REQUIREMENTS: - 3+ Years of Dialogic/NMS/Other CT hardware experience - 4+ Years of C++ experience - Understanding of telecom principles - Familiarity with OO principles, design methodologies, and new libraries/interfaces such as ATL and COM (Note: I work for this company, we are not an employment agency) For more information, contact: Rusten McKenzie via email: rusten@intelliswitch.com - or read details below: Description: The position of Senior CTI Software Engineer will be responsible for developing computer telephony switching code to run on PC telecom hardware, such as Dialogic and Natural Micro Systems. This position will work with others on a full product life cycle from planning and design to development, stress testing and implementation. This position primarily requires C++ development skills and Dialogic/other telecom hardware API's. About the company: Intelliswitch, Inc. is an award winning pre- IPO telecommunications technology company located in West Palm Beach, FL. We develop VoIP gateways, prepaid calling card platforms, and tandem switches with value-add features. We deploy equipment for next generation telcos as well as our own phone network. Technology is the foundation of our business and skilled software engineers are the most critical component to our success. Due to the nature of the business, all software engineers receive the latest training while working with the newest technologies and equipment. We provide a unique team oriented environment that is development-centric, removing developers from office politics and support issues. Intelliswitch maintains the highest quality personnel by offering excellent benefits, fun working environment and unparalleled incentives. - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Sep 2000 21:35:29 -0400 From: mattack@vax.area.com (Matt Ackeret) Subject: Re: Radio Shack gives away barcode scanner, but is privacy compromised? In article <4.3.2.7.2.20000913103053.00c234e0@pop.novagate.com>, wrote: >originals of the Software. The backup copy must include all copyright >information contained on the original. You acknowledge that ! >the! >> Software and :CueCat reader contain trade secrets and other Your post has a lot of strange cut-off lines like this, with !s added at the end of the cut off lines. (I responded via email, but only later read the end of the message saying you don't get email. It REALLY sucks to have to post messages like this instead of responding via email where it really belongs.) - -- mattack@area.com - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 22:38:56 -0400 From: "Judith Oppenheimer" Subject: 9/14/00 ICBTollFree.Com HEADS UP HEADLINES ************************************************************************* ICBTollFree.Com HEADS UP HEADLINES ************************************************************************* from ICB Toll Free News - Daily News and Intelligence covering the Political, Legal and Marketing Arenas of 800 and Dot Com. ************************************************************************* CONTENTS - - TRADEMARKS ON THE INTERNET - NOT JUST ABOUT DOMAIN NAMES AND METATAGS - - GERMAN COURT IMPOSES 22 MONTH JAIL SENTENCE ON CYBERSQUATTER - - MULTILINGUAL INTERNET NAMES CONSORTIUM - - SNAC TO INC: PUT IT IN WRITING - - MELBOURNE IT LOSES MARKET VALUE WITH NEW LEADER - - NSI REGISTRY NO MORE ... ************************************************************************* !!! 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CONTINUED HERE: http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=4485 F - GERMAN COURT IMPOSES 22 MONTH JAIL SENTENCE ON CYBERSQUATTER A German was sentenced to 22 months in jail, suspended to probation, on multiple counts of trademark infringement by registering domains in the US and then offering them to the respective firms in Germany for a fee. Example: daimlerchrysler.org CONTINUED HERE: http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=4484 P - MULTILINGUAL INTERNET NAMES CONSORTIUM Formed in June, 2000 by a founding group of Internet organisations involved in multilingualisation of Internet names, MINC is meeting September 25-28 in Singapore to discuss domain name registration policies, with an apparent emphasis on "famous names" lists and the UDRP. 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Sullivan" Subject: Re: Canadian Landline to Wireless Number Portability (article) "David Lind" wrote in message news:8pqa8e$9s8$1@nnrp1.deja.com... > In article <8pns9a$b5v$1@solaris.cc.vt.edu>, > wrote: > > David Lind wrote: > > > Looks like the Canadians are headed towards wireless number portability in > > > 2001. Wonder if this will ever happen in the US? Even number portability > > > between wireless carriers would be welcomed. Wireless carriers in the US are currently under an obligation to implement local number portability (LNP) by November 2001. The wireless LNP date has been extended due to the technical complexity involved. The problem that has to be surmounted is this: In a wireline system, the number exists only in the telephone company's switch, not the phone. Any wireline phone can be used on any phone line and will respond when the telco's switch sends a ring signal down the line. It's different in a wireless system; the number needs to be programmed into three places, basically: the carrier's switch, the phone, and in a roaming database. If your phone is in its home market, when a call comes into the switch, it locates the phone by sending out "pages" with your phone number; the phone is always listening to the signaling stream from the local cell site whenever it's turned on, and it recognizes its number and silently responds with an acknowledgement ("Here I am! NPA-NXX-XXXX reporting for duty!"). This tells the switch what cell site to use to set up a call to the phone, and the switch then tells the phone what channel or code to use for receiving the call. The phone then switches to that channel or code, exchanges some setup information, and then plays "In-a-gadda-da-vida" or whatever tune it uses to "ring." If wireless phones were just used locally, LNP could be accomplished simply by programming the ported number into the phone and having the switch send that number out. However, wireless phones aren't just used locally. One of the most important features of cellular, PCS, and Nextel-style SMR phones is that they can "roam," or be used in any other technically compatible system nationwide. The way roaming works is roughly like this: If you take your phone to another market and turn it on, it checks the setup channel and recognizes that a different system's ID code is being broadcast, so it turns on the "roam" indicator and silently sends the host system its phone number to let it know it's in town. The host system sends the number to a clearinghouse, which identifies the home carrier associated with the phone's number and stores this in a database. It is able to tell this from the first six digits of the phone number, "NPA-NXX." If a call is made to the phone's number back home, the home carrier notices that the phone doesn't respond to a page, then checks the roaming database at the clearinghouse. If the phone has registered as a roamer, the home system forwards the call to the host system, which puts it through by, again, paging the phone by its phone number, etc. Similarly, if you try to place a call while roaming, the host system inquires, via the clearinghouse roaming database, which system is your home system, validates your number, gets the necessary billing information, and then lets you place your call and bills you through your home carrier. This entire roaming system comes to a crashing halt if the phone number programmed into the phone can't be mapped correctly to your host carrier on the basis of the first six digits of the phone number. The phones and the roaming system were not designed to have a phone number that isn't instantly recognizable as belonging to a specific carrier. If you have ported your landline number to a wireless phone, the roaming database will look at the first six digits and report back that it can't identify your carrier because it's not a valid wireless phone number. If you have ported your number from one wireless carrier to another, the roaming database will know that it's a valid wireless prefix, but when you try to place a call, the wrong carrier will be queried, and you won't be validated. If a call comes in to your wireless number, your home carrier won't be able to forward the call, because your number doesn't bear the home carrier's NPA-NXX and the roamer database won't give your carrier information on your whereabouts. The wireless industry has been working on a solution to this: separate the number used inside the phone for identification from the number used for dialing. Right now the same number (your phone number) is used for both, and is known as the Mobile Identification Number or MIN. The new system will continue to use a MIN to identify the phone, but it won't necessarily be your phone number. Your phone number will be the Mobile Directory Number or MDN. The separation of the MIN and MDN will allow the roaming database to identify your home carrier from the MIN. The carriers will translate between MIN and MDN for placing or receiving calls by reference to a translation table or database. So, if you currently have phone number 555-888-0001, that is programmed into the phone as your MIN. Right now, that's your MDN and your MIN. When you decide to move to a different carrier, your MDN will be ported to the new carrier and will remain the same, but the MIN will have to be reprogrammed to identify your phone as being with your new carrier. When you roam, the MIN will be used to set up the roaming as now, but your MDN will be programmed into the home carrier's switch and used for receiving calls. This is obviously a huge and complex effort, and requires more time than making wireline number portability possible, since the entire country will have to cut over to the new system at once for roaming to work. Wireline number portability simply requires, well, porting a number locally between the two carriers involved. Is that clear as mud? > > > TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian consumers won't have to change home numbers if > > > they move exclusively to a cellular phone and can even get their wireless > > > number listed in the white pages under little noticed federal regulatory > > > rulings. Analysts said the changes effectively put cellular companies on par > > > with the big traditional phone companies as regulators begin to embrace the > > > soaring demand for wireless communications in Canada... > > > > This is what I am waiting for in the USA. It is already apparent to > > me that I could save a few dollars per month if I went to a cellular > > phone in place of my wired line. If I could transfer my current home > > number to a cellular service I would do it tomorrow. > > > > I hope the FCC gets on the ball and makes this happen, though they > > haven't gotten universal caller ID to work yet, so I won't hold > > my breath. The FCC has indeed mandated this. It just takes a while to rebuild the entire nation's wireless roaming systems. > So far, in the US the attitude of wireless carriers is... we own the number, > the number is associated with the phone which only works with our technology. > If you switch carriers/technology you lose your phone number. Oh, and the > carriers don't want a seperate area code for cell phones, that would be > treating wireless carriers unfairly. Tell me, how does a separate area code for wireless phones make any sense if carriers are going to be able to port numbers between wireline and wireless? The so-called wireless overlay code would not be wireless-only after November 2001. "Wireless" numbers could be ported to wireline phones and vice versa. The reason most wireless carriers don't want a wireless-only overlay code is that the regulators who want to implement this want to take back all of the old phone numbers from the wireless customers and make them get new phone numbers from the wireless overlay code. Imposing this massive disruption on wireless carriers and customers would disadvantage them tremendously, not only because the customers would have to get their phones reprogrammed and have to give out new phone numbers, but also because their new phone numbers would look like they are from a different area, requiring ten-digit dialing for wireless numbers while wireline numbers might still only need seven digits. Also, some callers might think there's a toll involved for calling a funny-looking ten-digit number. Imposing the burdens of a split or overlay on all of the carriers and their customers equally, wireline or wireless, would be competitively neutral; imposing the burdens on just wireless carriers and their customers is competitively disadvantageous to them. > My simple explanation is... wireless carriers want all the benifits of > landline status without landline benifits for consumers. That's indeed "simple," or more precisely simplistic. > I say, get a unique area code for wireless or play by landline rules. I > suspect any change to be verry drawn out. There is little motivation to set > up number portability either politically or technically. -- David Wireless carriers may or may not be motivated to implement number portability, but they are spending a lot of money to do it, because they have to. They will indeed be required to play by "landline rules," as far as number portability is concerned. - --Mike Sullivan - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Sep 2000 01:31:38 -0400 From: John David Galt Subject: Re: CellOne San Francisco and AT&T Wireless Michi Kaifu wrote: > OK, so GTE got "B" band (wireline), so that partly explains my problem. I > still am a bit puzzled because PacBell (AirTouch's former parent) is the > dominant WIRELINE carrier around here. Maybe GTE has some significant > wireline service area somewhere in SF MSA. Depends what you consider "significant". GTE has Los Gatos, Morgan Hill, Moss Beach, Pacifica, and a few other towns scattered around what used to be the extreme edges of the Bay Area. The only pattern I can see is that they chose only to serve exchanges which, because they were "remote" or mountainous, made the serving company eligible for Federal subsidies in the pre-breakup days. (A sensible strategy if the dominant carrier lets you get away with it, but I'm surprised they did.) I wonder if the subsidies still exist. That's only one or two percent of Bay Area households, but it was enough to let GTE bid against Pacific Bell for the B-band license. FWIW, AFAIK, Pacific Bell has never held any interest in McCaw/BAC1 and wasn't allowed to, though PB did act as one of many resellers of that same (but rebranded) service for several years before the AirTouch spinoff. - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Sep 2000 01:59:53 -0400 From: djb0x7736f916@scream.org (Dan) Subject: Re: a news report warning of pager scam John David Galt wrote: > Carl Moore wrote: > > > Last weekend, KYW news-radio in Philadelphia broadcast a warning about > > a pager scam, and pointed out that the large number of area codes made > > it easier to pull off such a scam. The scam is paging someone with a > > number which turns out to be an expensive pay-per-call line. (Any ideas > > of what area codes might be involved?) The counter to this (not in the > > words used in that broadcast) is doing your homework by finding out where > > the number you would be calling is. > > This is an urban legend at least 15 years old. US and Canadian > pay-per-call numbers (except area code 900) can only be reached from their > local areas (LATAs) for exactly this reason. This assertion would be far more valid if NANPA only covered the U.S. and Canada, since laws and/or regulations in those countries do have the effect explained above. However, NANPA also covers the Caribbean, which means there are 16+ other nations (and their laws and regulations) at play here. Those nations tend not to have "900" numbers available. They do tend to have "extra-cost" NXXes (i.e. 664-410-XXXX), calls to which are billed at a higher rate than normal, with some of the difference going to the owner of the number. As recently as May of last year, the FCC took action against one such scam operating out of Dominica (767); a quick web search turned up references to similar scams out of some (but not all) Caribbean nations, including Antigua and Barbuda (268), Grenada ( 473) Montserrat (664), St. Lucia (758) and the Dominican Republic (809, which covered the entire Caribbean until a series of splits in 1996-98). http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/9905/audiot10.htm - -Dan - -- Dan Birchall - Palolo Valley, Honolulu HI - http://dan.scream.org Post your reviews; get paid: http://epinions.scream.org/join.html Free web-based e-mail: http://www.themail.com/ref.htm?ref=1163079 My address expires - take out the hex stamp if your reply bounces - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ End of Telecom Digest V2000 #54 *******************************