For those who need a history refresher, let me explain:
(thanks to Linktionary.com for the exact dates)
The RBOCs (Regional Bell Operating Companies) were formed as a result of the breakup of AT&T and are based on a restructuring agreement that took effect in 1984. The final restructuring agreement was the United States District Court's Modification of Final Judgment (MFJ). MFJ ended the Justice Department's suit against AT&T. The RBOCs were organized into seven regional Bell holding companies called Ameritech, Bell Atlantic, Bell South, Nynex, Pacific Telesis, Southwestern Bell, and US West. Each RBOC was assigned a specific geographical area, and each geographical area was divided into service areas called LATAs (local access and transport areas).
The RBOCs are also called the ILECs (incumbent local exchange carriers). In contrast, CAPs (Competitive Access Providers) and CLECs (competitive local exchange carriers) are companies that compete against the RBOCs in the local service areas. IXCs (interexchange carriers) are long-distance service providers such as AT&T, MCI, and Sprint.
The Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996 changed the telecommunications landscape yet again. RBOCs were allowed to merge and the following mergers or acquisitions took place in the following years:
- SBC Communications merged with PacBell (Pacific Telesis) in April 1996.
- Bell Atlantic merged with Nynex in April 1996.
- Qwest Communications bought US West in July 1999.
- SBC Communications merged with Ameritech in October 1999.
- Bell Atlantic merged with GTE in June 2000 and renamed itself Verizon.
So, at this point, it is better to refer to RBOCs as ILECs. They include SBC Communications, Bell Atlantic (now called Verizon), Qwest Communications, and BellSouth.
Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996 also attempted to increase competition by opening local markets. RBOCs were required to open their facilities to competitive providers and, if they complied according to the rules, were allowed to expand into long-distance markets.So, the 1996 Telcom act has allowed SBC to provide not only local voice and data services, but long distance as well. Since 1996, they have been a direct competitor to AT&T. And AT&T could not compete completely against the RBOCs until very recently. AT&T started to offer local voice service by "renting" the local copper loop from the RBOC. The RBOC was federally mandated to lease these lines to AT&T (and MCI and Sprint) so that consumers have the illusion of having more than one local phone provider. But, SBC did not play nice. They set the lease rates so high, that AT&T could not offer competitively priced service. So, when consumers signed up for AT&T's local phone service, they were really getting a re-branded version of their local phone company with extra fees and surcharges. Not a good deal. But AT&T had little other choice.
Of the original three IXCs, MCI of course went bankrupt with an implosion larger than Enron (good job Bernie Ebbers!), Sprint is puttering along only supported by its cellular network and AT&T is hemorrhaging cash every quarter.
AT&T has pretty much divested itself of its other lines of business. Wireless (cellular) was recently purchased by Cingular, their cable modem / home broad band (AT&T Broadband) was sold to Comcast Cable a few years ago. Hardware manufacturing went out the door when Lucent was spun off from AT&T.
As of today, AT&T only has 6 main lines of business: Long Distance, Toll Free services, Local, Calling Cards, tele-conference, and data. But in all of these except for long distance and calling cards, SBC (the or the local RBOC) still owned the hallowed copper loop. AT&T was surviving based on the federally mandated kindness of the RBOCs.
I am appalled that SBC is even spending this amount of money to purchase AT&T. Just recently SBC went through some massive layoffs and debt restructuring. They are losing voice customers by the thousands, but gaining data (aDSL) customers. This means that SBCs new direct competitor are the cable TV (Comcast) companies.
As a result, AT&T has no viable revenue stream left to it. And if left alone, they would die off anyway. The RBOCs have already won. That's why I don't understand why SBC is spending $16b to purchase a dying company. It would be much smarter to let AT&T die on their own, and then pick up the assets from the auction block.
What makes this interesting is that the Sikorsky's helo was to be built 100% American - parts and labor. While Lockheed Martin is just the front man for a bunch of overseas vendors.
This means the next presidential helos will be sourced and manufactured outside of the US borders
Full story here
Interesting things you learn at 3 in the morning.
So, I set off my alarm system in the house this morning. Scared the living shit out of me. After fumbling with the keypad, (and the alarm ringing seemingly forEVER), I finally got it turned off.
Now, my house alarm is monitored. I expected the call. You know.. "Ahem, Sir, have detected an alarm at your residence. The SWAT team and black gunship helos have been scrambled. The only way to stop us from taking your neighbors hostage is to give us the proper authentication sequences"
What did I get? Silence. Nothing.
No phone calls, no police, no courtesy call.
Nothing.
So, I called the alarm company, ready to unload and bitch them up one side and down the other. After threading through the voice menus (Press 1 for an actual emergency, Press 2 for a test, Press 3 for a customer rep, Press 4 because we really like ignoring you). I finally got a live person. He sounded like he was in the USA, but not too sure, and at 3am, didn't really care (in hindsight, it really would be easy to offshore burglar alarm monitoring services.. mental note for possible business opportunity). Any ways, the alarm company sez they have no record of an alarm. Huh? My ears are still ringing. So, we "test" the system. This entails me setting off the alarm again (remember, its about 3:30am by now). Sill no signal.
The tech on the phone starts asking questions about if I had any changes to my telephone system. Actually, I had. I dropped the phone company completely, and went with VOIP (hence the title of this entry!). "AAAhhhhhh.." says the alarm guy.
The offical word is that burglar alarms do not support VOIP. This is kinda true, but really just bullshit. After some research, and climbing up in my attic, I, Tobic, am here to bring you the truth.
Alarm systems dont care if you are VOIP. They will dial out just like a normal phone. The key is HOW the alarm system dials.
In a typical setup, the phone line comes from the phone company, into the dmarc (box on the side of the house) and then into the alarm system. The wire then comes out of the alarm system, and continues to all the extensions in your house. Essentially, there is a loop of wire behind the alarm panel that reaches all the phone jacks in the wall.
So, when an alarm is set off, the alarm panel attempts to get control the phone line. It does this be "cutting" the internal house loop and then dialing out on the wire connected directly to the dmarc. When the alarm panel does this, it gains total control over the phone line by cutting off all other extensions.
The reason that adding VOIP breaks this sequence, is that the voice gateway (ie VOIP box, ie new dmarc) is in the internal house loop that gets cut off in an alarm situation. So, essentially, the alarm panel is cutting off its only dial tone source.
Easy!
How to fix? Move the VOIP extension to the front side of the alarm panel. That way, when the alarm panel cuts off the internal house loop, the VOIP gateway remains connected and the alarm panel can still dial out.
Actually moving the wiring of the jack is not hard, but you have to understand how the phone system is wired, and where all the wires go. If you have a basic understanding of how a phone works (only two wires!), its all pretty elementary.
So, there is your interesting party fact.
Wow! I saw the mini-series on the SciFi channel a while back. I was completely blown away. And this evening was the premier of the new series. Just awsome all around. Looking forward to watching it in the future. Ator may have his 24, but I think I just found BattleStar Galactica
Found this. It has beat me every time so far. But then again, I am sticking to more main-stream characters.
Pretend to be a television or film character and answer the questions the computer asks as truthfully as possible. The computer will then try and guess who you are.
Yea. First trip of the year completed. Columbus, GA for a week. A great town! Just glad to be home. As its work related, all I will say is that we accomplished the goals, and I think we were successful.
But, from a tourist vantage point, Columbus is a nice town. About 90 miles south of Atlanta airport. A community of Atlanta refugees. There is a heavy military presence there from Ft. Benning. Not too many touristy type things, but plenty to eat, and the genuine southern hospitality. I always thought Texas was friendly, but Georgia! Whoa! You can lose an hour just talking to a random person. Everyone waves, everyone acknowledges your presence with a nod or a smile. I like it.
I started thinking about my last entry, and how much I enjoy the mechanical bit of the bike. In my profession, I deal with setting expectations, and delivering technical solutions. The output of my "work" is not a tangible artifact, but instead a collection of processes and ideas.
I have always been mechanically inclined - even as a baby, my parents tell me stories on how I would disassemble anything and everything. I even took apart my Etch-A-Sketch to see how it worked. And yes, before the snide remarks start - I am at least 90% successful on reassembly.
The more I think about it, there is nary an object in my life that I have not modified in one form or another. Example: my bedside alarm clock was not loud enough. So, I headed down to Rat Shack and soldered in a louder buzzer. I have futzed with all my electrical appliances to get a particular feature to work better, or as *I* would expect it to work.
Its the dichotomy of working with the intangible and then working with the mechanical that I really enjoy. During the day, I am stressing my brain, in the evening, I am flexing my mechanical skills.
Hmm... I think my coffee table needs some structural support.....
Now that I am done with the wedding, and I still have some free time before work, I decided to tear into the bike. Its been leaking oil for the past few months. In reality, its been leaking since July of 2004.*THAT* leak started when I was haulin' back from Kansas City, and the Harley left me on the side of the road. (see June 2004 for the original story).
My original fix-it job from June involved the front pulley and the rear rocker box gasket. The front rocker box looked fine. Fine that is until a mere 200 miles later, the front rocker box started leaking. Good Ol Harley - engineering to specifications at its finest. Two critical gaskets fail with in 200 miles of each other! (I'll bet the MoCo is even ISO 900x cetified!)
The weeping oil really hasn't been that big a deal. I just watch the levels, and keep some cardboard under the bike. But, with a free day, I decided to tackle the gasket in question.
It really helps to have experience! The first time I did the gasket, it took me two days to disassemble and then reassemble all the parts and pieces. This time, it was a mere 4 hours. I'm sure that I could have gone faster, but my next door neighbor came over and we chatted for a while.
I'm happy to report that the bike fired up on the first try, and after idling for a few seconds, the extra clanking subsided, and the bike sounded normal. I let it run while I picked up and cleaned my tools. No leaks! I'll have to road test the beast to be sure, but I have a high confidence that everything it torqued and assembled correctly.
Another year. 2005 is now on deck. I have to say that I am looking forward to a whole new start. 2004 started out decently enough. But, it sure turned out awful. Lots of Bad Things(tm).
So, how did I celebrate the new year? Did I head out to a party? Nope. A close friend and his wonderful girlfriend got married! It was a great wedding. Lots of fun. I even got to wear a tux!