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the wireless messaging news

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Wireless News Aggregation

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Friday — June 20, 2014 — Issue No. 611

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Paging and Wireless Messaging Home Page image Newsletter Archive image Carrier Directory image Recommended Products and Services
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Reference Papers Consulting Glossary of Terms Send an e-mail to Brad Dye

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Dear Friends of Wireless Messaging,

Welcome to our new advertiser, WaveWare Technologies. Please check out their new ad following below.

Looks to me like Public Paging or Subscriber Paging took a major set-back, but Private Paging or On-Site Paging is alive and well.

It's unfortunate that so many people think that Paging is dead, and that Paging technology is obsolete.

One good example is the following article:

“Death To Pagers–Wharton MBAs Launch Start-Up To Help Fix Medical Communication”

And I quote:

“By using smartphone technology, the pair hopes to enable doctors to coordinate patient care with staff via text, images and videos. It spells death for the pager.”

I say, baloney! If you haven't read my thoughts on this, click on the PagerMan, a little lower-down in the right-hand column.

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Sorry that I am late getting this issue out today.

Now on to more news and views.

The Weather in
Wayne County‚ Illinois

Find more about Weather in Fairfield, IL
Click for weather forecast

Wireless Messaging News
  • Emergency Radio Communications
  • Wireless Messaging
  • Critical Messaging
  • Telemetry
  • Paging
  • Wi-Fi
Wireless
wireless logo medium
Messaging

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About Us

A new issue of the Wireless Messaging Newsletter is posted on the web each week. A notification goes out by e-mail to subscribers on most Fridays around noon central US time. The notification message has a link to the actual newsletter on the web. That way it doesn't fill up your incoming e-mail account.

There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. Readers are a very select group of wireless industry professionals, and include the senior managers of many of the world's major Paging and Wireless Messaging companies. There is an even mix of operations managers, marketing people, and engineers — so I try to include items of interest to all three groups. It's all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology.

I regularly get readers' comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the Paging, and Wireless Messaging communities. You are welcome to contribute your ideas and opinions. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence addressed to me is subject to publication in the newsletter and on my web site. I am very careful to protect the anonymity of those who request it.

I spend the whole week searching the Internet for news that I think may be of interest to you — so you won't have to. This newsletter is an aggregator — a service that aggregates news from other news sources. You can help our community by sharing any interesting news that you find.

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Editorial Policy

Editorial Opinion pieces present only the opinions of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of any of advertisers or supporters. This newsletter is independent of any trade association.

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Back To Paging

pagerman

Still The Most Reliable Protocol For Wireless Messaging!

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Subscriptions

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If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter just fill in the blanks in the form above, and then click on the “Subscribe” bar.

free There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. It's all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology.

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If you are reading this, your potential customers are probably reading it as well. Please click here to find out how.

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Can You Help The Newsletter?

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You can help support the Wireless Messaging News by clicking on the PayPal Donate button above. It is not necessary to be a member of PayPal to use this service.

Reader Support

Newspapers generally cost 75¢ $1.50 a copy and they hardly ever mention paging or wireless messaging. If you receive some benefit from this publication maybe you would like to help support it financially? A donation of $50.00 would certainly help cover a one-year paid subscription. If you are wiling and able, please click on the PayPal Donate button above.

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Advertiser Index

American Messaging
Critical Alert Systems
Critical Response Systems
Eagle Telecom
Easy Solutions
Hahntech USA
Hark Technologies
Infostream Pty Limited
Ira Wiesenfeld & Associates
Ivycorp
Leavitt Communications
Preferred Wireless
Prism Paging
Product Support Services — (PSSI)
Paging & Wireless Network Planners LLC — (Ron Mercer)
WaveWare
WiPath Communications

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infostream

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State-of-the-art paging network infrastructure, fully supported at an affordable price – and it integrates with your other gear, include most makes of transmitters

Whether you are replacing or upgrading your existing network or building out new infrastructure, Infostream has the new equipment and systems that you need.

  • POCSAG & FLEX
  • Optimised for mission critical and public safety networks
  • Highly integrated base station controller
    • GPS
    • 3G modem
    • HTML User Interface
    • Ethernet switch, IP and router
    • Optional integrated radio modems
    • Dual channel capable
    • Integrated off-air (self monitoring) receiver
  • Ultra high reliability configuration (99.999%)
  • Message encryption plug-in
  • Fully featured central site VOIP, CAD, HTML, TAP, TNPP, SMPP access
  • NMS integration including Nagios, SNMP and syslog
  • Comprehensive diagnostics including adjacent site monitoring
  • Deployed internationally in mission critical applications
  • 21 years of industry experience in design, build and integration

Infostream is a world leading supplier of paging and messaging infrastructure, specialized paging receivers and consultancy services. The company was founded in 1993 and has engineered and supplied equipment for some of the largest public safety networks and private paging customers around the world.

Medical • Fire • Police • Security • Mining • Petrochemicals • Financial Markets • Telemetry • Custom Applications

infostreamInfostream Pty Limited
Suite 10, 7 Narabang Way, Belrose, NSW 2085, AUSTRALIA
Sales Email: sales@infostream.com.au | Phone: +61 2 9986 3588 | Afterhours: +61 417 555 525

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Wharton MBAs Launch Start-Up To Help Fix Medical Communication

Written by Seb Murray | MBA Entrepreneurs | Tuesday 17th June 2014 18:47:00 GMT

After years at medical school, Divya Dhar dropped it all for entrepreneurship. The former doctor is injecting new communications into hospitals with a start-up, co-founded by a fellow Wharton MBA.


Divya Dhar, far right, and Lane Rettig, far left, with Verizon CEO and Chairman Lowell McAdam

Divya Dhar strolled into Wharton ’s west Philadelphia campus, overlooking the Schuylkill River, and stared in shock. The New Zealander had left her hospital appointment for the bright lights of the United States, but Doctor Dhar was taken aback by the state of the US healthcare system.

She was on the east coast three years ago with a start-up ambition, and was studying a dual degree, some of it at the prestigious American business school.

“I learnt more about US healthcare policy and specifically the Affordable Healthcare Act. I saw how broken healthcare was and it made me sad seeing people live in a healthcare system that’s so broken,” says Divya.

That day was her calling. She felt the need to do some social justice, and help fix the system. “One of the major things is coordination. It's hard for different people in different departments to talk to each other. I wanted to help that.”

Divya pauses when recalling her first foray into business management in 2011. She had left Counties Manukau, on New Zealand’s north island, and enrolled on a dual-degree — an MBA at Wharton and an MPA (public administration) at Harvard — to get an injection of healthcare knowledge.

“I did the Wharton MBA and specifically did the healthcare management [track],” says Divya. “Wharton has one of the best in world.”

Proudly spoken and with a Kiwi twang, the enthusiastic entrepreneur is in Philadelphia to drum-up support and bank more clients for her fledgling medical communications business.

After a career that has taken her to opposite ends of the earth, seen her found a non-profit organization for young people and qualify as a practicing doctor, the start-uper is in a happy mood. She is now on a mission to grow her medical business, Seratis, into rude health.

Yet the entrepreneur knows it is not an easy patient to treat. “Healthcare is a hard industry to understand and it’s hard to do so from the outside,” says Divya. “There is space for it, but generally people who don’t know it from the inside end up creating businesses that are wellness-orientated as opposed to healthcare-orientated.”

Seratis is not in the business of curing diseases. The start-up, a product of two Wharton MBA students, is strictly tech. Seratis is a mobile communication platform which helps coordinate, track and analyse care across medical teams.

By using smartphone technology, the pair hopes to enable doctors to coordinate patient care with staff via text, images and videos. It spells death for the pager.

Divya is leveraging her years as a doctor to develop the product with inside knowledge of the healthcare industry. Proving the doubters wrong has become her passion. In the early days, much of the company’s expenses came from her own pocket.

She stumbled onto the idea while working as a practicing physician in New Zealand. “Often I had no idea how to communicate with my patients,” recalls Divya. “We are trying to solve that problem — in real time, so any of the team members can coordinate care on behalf of the patient.”

The ease with which the concept has gained traction is in stark contrast to the many months Divya spent training to become a doctor. She started out her medical career as a house doctor for the Auckland District Health Board. That preceded countless years at medical school, where she served for three years as vice president of the New Zealand Medical Students' Association.

When she had finally made it into that long-winded career, her ambition started to change. She founded a non-profit, P3 Foundation, and realized she could improve healthcare through entrepreneurship, not just by treating patients.

“I realized that I have a knack for this,” she enthuses.

But she pondered the decision for four years. When she told colleagues about her plans to leave the profession, the response was less than encouraging. Her fellow doctors did not prescribe a career in business.

“It’s stable, steady, it pays reasonably well,” deadpans Divya as she recalls her medical past. “Everything tells you to stay. Why would you ever leave something so secure, which has a huge impact on humanity? It came down to this gut feeling.”

As a fresh MBA student, Divya balanced her time between Wharton and the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, where she studied public policy. She has been captivated by the US healthcare system ever since, and is focused on improving it.

It was how she met her start-up co-founder, Lane Rettig. He has a background in software development. “Him with his technology and me with my [medical] background – we are combining our knowledge.”

Yet her passion for healthcare cannot disguise a shrewd businesswoman. Getting onto the MBA at Wharton – one of the US’s most selective schools — with such a non-traditional background is remarkable in itself.

She saw off competition from dozens of other start-ups to win a competition held by DreamIt Ventures, an accelerator. The prize banked Seratis up to $42,000 in funding.

The Seratis app itself is in beta-stage. The co-founders launched it last August. The company is small with just three official employees. They hope to hire a fourth, a launch manager, soon. Seratis is live in one hospital in Texas. A second “soft-launch” took place this week at a hospital in New Orleans.

“Everyone else is in the pipeline,” says Divya. Her target is ten sign-ups by the end of 2014.

Divya has done extensive market research, and the company is offering independent physicians a free trial of the software.

Developing the technology, she says, was a “crazy learning curve”. But getting the product to market was considerably more challenging: “It is crazy; you need to tick so many boxes before you can get it into a hospital — legal, security, clinical stuff. It takes a long time.”

The first pilot launch was a huge landmark for the fledgling start-up. “It helps people recognise that it can be done,” says Divya. “Most hospitals, they recognize the problem. They recognize they’re slow, inefficient; there was an inner desire to make their work more efficient. I think eventually it came down to the right mind-set.”

Yet her struggles have been more extreme. Transitioning from doctor to entrepreneur is no easy feat. The MBA took care of many of those start-up jitters, however, and Divya admits it was essential.

But her venture is driven by much more than management education, as fine a thing as a Wharton MBA may be. The co-founders will no doubt wish Seratis communication upon every hospital across the US. As a former doctor, Divya is hopeful.

“It’s an industry where communication is really important,” she says as she sets out her market plan. “Europe has it, New Zealand has it, we [the US] have it, and Brazil is currently doing a pilot because they have the same issue. I can’t imagine any doctor saying this problem doesn’t need solving.”

Source: BusinessBecause.com

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Ivy Corp Eagle Telecom

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ivy

eagle

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Critical Response Systems

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More than Paging.
First Responder Solutions.

Our patented technology notifies clinical personnel immediately, while tracking who receives and responds to each alarm. Users confirm or defer each event with a single button press, and analytic dashboards display response statistics in real time, as well as historically broken down by time, unit, room, and individual.

Our systems not only notify your personnel quickly and reliably, but also provide actionable feedback to fine-tune your procedures, reduce unnecessary alarms, and improve patient outcomes.

www.criticalresponsesystems.com

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U.S. senators introduce bill to expand Wi-Fi spectrum for cars

Grant Gross
@GrantGross Jun 20, 2014 11:35 AM

Two U.S. senators have introduced legislation aimed at expanding the amount of Wi-Fi spectrum available in a band now designated for intelligent vehicle communications, satellite service and amateur radio.

The legislation, announced Friday by Senators Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, and Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, would require the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to test the feasibility of opening the upper 5GHz band of spectrum to unlicensed Wi-Fi use.

The WiFi Innovation Act attempts to balance the needs of incumbent users of the 5850-5925MHz band, including growing use of so-called intelligent transportation systems, focused on vehicle safety and traffic information, with a major need for more Wi-Fi spectrum, the senators said in a statement. The bill encourages users of the band to share spectrum if possible, they said.

Smartphone and tablet users are increasingly using Wi-Fi instead of cellular networks to connect to the Internet, and the upper 5GHz band also holds the potential for delivering new broadband service to low-income communities, Booker said in a statement.

“There is a clear and growing demand for increased availability of spectrum,” Booker said. “We want to see this valuable resource made available for further use by the public. Not only does access to wireless broadband open the door for innovation and transformative new technologies, it helps bridge the digital divide that leaves too many low-income communities removed from the evolving technology landscape and the growing economic opportunities.”

The bill would create a study to examine the barriers to Wi-Fi deployment in low-income areas. It would require the FCC to evaluate incentives and policies that could increase the availability of unlicensed spectrum in low-income neighborhoods.

The bill addresses customer demands for mobile broadband, Rubio added. “To meet the demands of our time, action must be taken to ensure spectrum is utilized effectively and efficiently,” he said in a statement. “This bill requires the FCC to conduct testing that would provide more spectrum to the public and ultimately put the resource to better use, while recognizing the future needs and important work being done in intelligent transportation.”

With only weeks before the 2014 campaign season kicks into high gear, the bill is unlikely to pass during this session of Congress. The sponsors could reintroduce the bill during the new session of Congress beginning next January.

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America, a trade group, said it supports an effort to explore technical solutions that would allow Wi-Fi devices to operate in the 5.9GHz band “without interfering with these critical safety applications.”

The process should happen without “arbitrary deadlines ... or political pressure that could influence the outcome,” Scott Belcher, president and CEO of ITS America, said in a statement.

Mobile trade group CTIA, as well as tech trade groups the Computer and Communications Industry Association and the Consumer Electronics Association, praised the bill, saying more Wi-Fi spectrum will help meet consumer demand for mobile broadband.

Source: PCWorld

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leavitt

Specialists in sales and service of equipment from these leading manufacturers, as well as other two-way radio and paging products:

UNICATIONbendix king
ZETRON

motorola blue Motorola SOLUTIONS

COMmotorola red Motorola MOBILITY spacer
 usalert
Philip C. Leavitt
Manager
Leavitt Communications
7508 N. Red Ledge Drive
Paradise Valley, AZ 85253
CONTACT INFORMATION
E-mail: pcleavitt@leavittcom.com
Web Site: www.leavittcom.com
Mobile phone:847-494-0000
Telephone:847-955-0511
Fax:270-447-1909
Skype ID:pcleavitt

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TECHNOLOGY

Apple Plans Multiple Designs for Smartwatch

Wrist Device Will Incorporate More Than 10 Sensors Including Ones to Track Fitness

By EVA DOU And LORRAINE LUK CONNECT
June 20, 2014 2:17 a.m. ET
The Wall Street Journal


Apple is planning multiple versions of its smartwatch, likely to be launched in the fall, people familiar with the matter said, as the company tries to counter wearable devices from rivals such as Google and Samsung. George Stahl joins Michael Casey to discuss. Photo: Getty

Apple Inc. is planning multiple versions of a smartwatch likely to be launched in the fall, people familiar with the matter said, as the company tries to counter wearable devices from Google Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. and others.

The new wrist device from Apple will incorporate more than 10 sensors including ones to track health and fitness, these people said. Apple aims to address an overarching criticism of existing smartwatches that they don't provide functions significantly different from that of a smartphone, said a person familiar with the matter.

Apple showed its interest in health and fitness tracking last month with a new app called Health, designed to collect a user's fitness and health data in one spot. Absent an Apple device to collect the data, the move fueled speculation that the company would unveil a sensor-laden wearable device at a later date.

Apple's smartwatch could launch as early as October with production to begin within two to three months at Quanta Computer Inc., a Taiwanese manufacturer that has long been Apple's supplier for Mac computers, said the people familiar with the matter. Quanta will begin some trial runs next month.

The smartwatch will likely come in multiple screen sizes, said one person familiar with the matter. Another person at a component supplier said shipments of the smartwatches are estimated to total between 10 million and 15 million units by the end of this year. The exact specifications of Apple's smartwatch are still being finalized before mass production starts, said people familiar with the matter.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has pledged that the company will break into new product categories by the end of the year. Apple is under pressure to prove it can continue its run of hit products under Mr. Cook. It has been four years since Apple's last major new product release, the iPad.


The Apple logo on a store in New York. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Analysts expect the wearable-devices market to take off in the next few years. Market research firm IDC estimates global sales of such devices will more than triple this year to more than 19 million units and reach 111.9 million units by 2018.

Big technology companies including Google and Samsung are betting on a boom in wearable computerized devices that exploit the growing power and slim size of sensors that can detect body temperatures, geographic locations and voice commands of people on the go.

Some of the new wearable gadgets, such as Nike Inc.'s FuelBand, measure physical activity. Others are intended to supplement functions of a smartphone, such as receiving text messages, taking photos or checking the weather. Startup Pebble Technology Corp. is selling a watch that synchronizes wirelessly with smartphones and vibrates to alert wearers to incoming phone calls, Twitter posts and emails.

"I expect Apple to launch multiple smartwatches that come with different designs as watches are fashion accessories. One design doesn't fill all," said KGI Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo.

—Daisuke Wakabayashi contributed to this article.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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American Messaging

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amsi

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American Messaging

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WaveWare Technologies

wavewear
sales@wirelessmessaging.com
800-373-1466
2630 National Dr., Garland, TX 75041

New Products

SPS-5v9E Paging System

  • 1 Serial Port Connection
  • 2 Ethernet Connections
  • Browser and Serial Port Config
  • TAP, COMP2, Scope, WaveWare SNPP, COMP2, & PET Protocols
  • 2W, 5W Option

DMG Protocol Converter

  • Linux Based Embedded System
  • Up to 4 Serial Port Connections
  • Ethernet Connections
  • Browser Configuration
  • Protocol Conversion
  • TAP, XMPP, SMS, HTTP, UDP
  • Additional Protocols Available Soon
WaveWare Technologies

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Easy Solutions

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easy solutions

Easy Solutions provides cost effective computer and wireless solutions at affordable prices. We can help in most any situation with your communications systems. We have many years of experience and a vast network of resources to support the industry, your system and an ever changing completive landscape.

  • We treat our customers like family. We don't just fix problems . . . We recommend and implement better cost effective solutions.
  • We are not just another vendor . . . We are a part of your team. All the advantages of high priced full time employment without the cost.
  • We are not in the Technical Services business . . . We are in the Customer Satisfaction business.

Experts in Paging Infrastructure

  • Glenayre, Motorola, Unipage, etc.
  • Excellent Service Contracts
  • Full Service—Beyond Factory Support
  • Contracts for Glenayre and other Systems starting at $100
  • Making systems More Reliable and MORE PROFITABLE for over 30 years.

Please see our web site for exciting solutions designed specifically for the Wireless Industry. We also maintain a diagnostic lab and provide important repair and replacement parts services for Motorola and Glenayre equipment. Call or e-mail us for more information.

Easy Solutions
3220 San Simeon Way
Plano, Texas 75023

Vaughan Bowden
Telephone: 972-898-1119
Website: www.EasySolutions4You.com
E-mail: vaughan@easysolutions4you.com

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Easy Solutions

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Product Support Services, Inc.

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Repair and Refurbishment Services

pssi logo

pssi

Product Support Services, Inc.

511 South Royal Lane
Coppell, Texas 75019
(972) 462-3970 Ext. 261
sales@pssirl.com left arrow
www.pssirl.com left arrow

PSSI is the industry leader in reverse logistics, our services include depot repair, product returns management, RMA and RTV management, product audit, test, refurbishment, re-kitting and value recovery.

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CTIA Asks Congress to Keep FCC Powers Limited

Mon, 06/16/2014 - 10:50am
Andrew Berg
WirelessWEEK

CTIA is pushing for a diminished regulatory role for the FCC as the House Committee on Energy and Commerce seeks to reform the Communications Act of 1934.

In response to a white paper released in May by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, CTIA asks congress to recognize the industry for its competitiveness and seek "light touch" regulations by the FCC.

CTIA is asking that Congress narrow the Commission’s authority to regulate only in specific areas where competition might not necessarily produce the desired result, for instance to ensure emergency communications in underserved areas.

The Wireless Association also recognized the FCC's role in helping ensure competition when considering IP-based communications, and also in facilitating the release of more spectrum. On the whole, however, CTIA argued that wireless industry can regulate itself through robust competition.

"As the wireless industry continues to thrive based on the FCC’s current light regulatory touch, Congress should ensure that any updates to its competition policies maintain and extend that approach," the filing states.

In addition to keeping the FCC's oversight limited, CTIA asked that Congress be allowed to review the Commissions powers on a regular basis.

"CTIA agrees that, particularly in light of rapid technological changes, Congress should regularly review the scope of the FCC’s authority. The FCC has not been subject to reauthorization since 1991," the filing states, adding that had the FCC been subject to more periodic review the type of comprehensive re-write of the Act now contemplated by Congress could possibly be avoided.

Source: WirelessWEEK

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Leavitt Communications

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its stil here

It's still here — the tried and true Motorola Alphamate 250. Now owned, supported, and available from Leavitt Communications. Call us for new or reconditioned units, parts, manuals, and repairs.

We also offer refurbished Alphamate 250's, Alphamate IIs, the original Alphamate and new and refurbished pagers, pager repairs, pager parts and accessories. We are FULL SERVICE in Paging!

E-mail Phil Leavitt ( pcleavitt@leavittcom.com ) for pricing and delivery information or for a list of other available paging and two-way related equipment.

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Phil Leavitt
847-955-0511
pcleavitt@leavittcom.com

leavitt logo

7508 N. Red Ledge Drive
Paradise Valley, AZ 85253
www.leavittcom.com

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Amazon Fire

6/20/2014 10:46 AM
By Eric Zeman
InformationWeek

Amazon's Fire smartphone might convince people to buy more stuff from Amazon. But consider these factors before buying the phone.

fire

Amazon on Wednesday announced its first smartphone, the Fire Phone. Amazon's main goal: Put a specialized purchasing device in the hands of its best and most loyal customers. Amazon believes it can use consumers' insatiable demand for new smartphones to replicate the success of its Kindle line of tablets, which people use to buy many things from Amazon. Amazon made a key mistake in its thinking, however, that could spell disaster for the Fire Phone.

The Fire Phone has lots of strengths. The hardware is decent. It doesn't compete with top smartphones, but its quality and features surpass those of many mid-range and entry-level competitors. It comes loaded with content, and with a free year of Amazon Prime, Fire Phone owners have their pick of movies, television shows, and music to watch and listen to at no extra cost, at least for a while. It has a good camera. The 13-megapixel shooter is good in low light and uses image stabilization to sharpen focus.

The Mayday feature will appeal to the tech illiterate. Can't figure out how to change the Fire Phone's settings? Use Mayday and a live Amazon tech support representative will appear to help, no matter the time of day. Smartphone novices might find Mayday a lifesaver when they get stuck using the phone's features. No other phone maker offers what amounts to 24/7 roadside assistance. It's an insurance policy of sorts. The Fire Phone competes on these fronts well.

The weaknesses have to do with Amazon's long-term thinking. For instance, Amazon obviously spent years developing some of the Fire Phone's technologies. Dynamic Perspective stands out as the most promising, yet most gimmicky, feature. Dynamic Perspective uses four user-facing cameras to define exactly where the owner's head is. The Fire Phone uses this data to create 3D effects in certain parts of the user interface. Dynamic Perspective currently is limited to wallpapers, maps, and screen-savers. Amazon was smart enough to offer a software development kit for Dynamic Perspective, but developers have to be convinced to use it. If they don't, Amazon will have spent years creating something that's nothing but a novelty.

Firefly is a great tool for tracking down real-world objects online. Snap their picture with the camera and Firefly offers links to those objects on Amazon's website. It can do the same with audio, such as music and television shows. Amazon put tons of work into making Firefly fast and user friendly. It will certainly serve as a useful tool for finding more information about a great many things out in the world. At the end of the day, however, its main goal is to get people to find things sold by Amazon and to purchase them using their phone.

Another problem is apps. The Fire Phone runs Fire OS, a forked version of Android that is compatible with many — but not all — Android apps. This could lead to discontent among users if they find their favorite app isn't supported. Further, the Fire Phone doesn't include the Google Play Store, which is where most Android device owners find their apps, games, and content. It will use Amazon's Appstore instead. Amazon has about 240,000 apps and games in its store, which falls well short of the 1.2 million in the Google Play Store.

The Fire Phone's biggest problem is its soul, if you will. In developing the Fire Phone, Amazon chiefly looked for ways in which to coax consumers to buy more stuff. That's not what a smartphone's primary purpose is or should be. Smartphones are for connecting, for communication, for managing, and for discovering. Yes, they are often used to buy and entertain, but the most popular apps are for keeping owners in touch with the people in their lives. They are apps for texting, email, and social networks.

The smartphone in my pocket already does most of the things the Fire Phone can do. There's something about the Fire Phone's tie-in to a single, giant purveyor of goods that feels icky to me. I'd rather not feel that way about my smartphone, and I'm betting others might feel the same. Still, the Fire Phone offers some cool technology and will appeal to die-hard Amazon shoppers. Click through our slideshow to judge for yourself.

Eric is a freelance writer for InformationWeek specializing in mobile technologies.

Source: InformationWeek

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Consulting Alliance

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Brad Dye, Ron Mercer, Allan Angus, Vic Jackson, and Ira Wiesenfeld are friends and colleagues who work both together and independently, on wireline and wireless communications projects.

Click here left arrow for a summary of their qualifications and experience. Each one has unique abilities. We would be happy to help you with a project, and maybe save you some time and money.

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Consulting Alliance

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advertise

 

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HahntechUSA

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HahntechUSA

Telemetry solution

Easy Application & Better Performance

 

NPCS Telemetry Modem

BLUE LINE

(ReFLEX 2.7.5)

telemetry

finger

E-mail: sales@hahntechUSA.com

Website: hahntechUSA.com

 

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HahntechUSA

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Preferred Wireless

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preferred logo

Terminals & Controllers:
5ASC1500 Parts: ATC, Memory Cards & Power Supplies    
3CNET Platinum Controllers 
2GL3100 RF Director 
1GL3000 ES — 2 Chassis
40SkyData 8466 B Receivers
1GL3000L Complete w/Spares
3Zetron 2200 Terminals
1Unipage—Many Unipage Cards & Chassis
9Zetron M66 Transmitter Controllers  
Miscellaneous:
4Glenayre Universal Exciters, 1 UHF, 3 VHF
5Hot Standby Panel—2 Old Style, 3 New Style
25New and Used Cabinets & Open Racks 
38Andrews PG1N0F-0093-810 Antennas 928-944 MHz, Omni, 10dBi, 8 Degree Down-Tilt
4Andrews PG1D0F-0093-610 Antennas 928-944 MHz, Omni, 10dBi, 6 Degree Down Tilt
Link Transmitters:
1QT-5701, 35W, UHF, Link Transmitter
4Glenayre QT4201 & 6201, 25 & 100W Midband Link TX
1Glenayre QT6994, 150W, 900 MHz Link TX
3Motorola 10W, 900 MHz Link TX (C35JZB6106)
2Eagle 900 MHz Link Transmitters, 60 & 80W
8Glenayre GL C2100 Link Repeaters
2Motorola Q2630A, 30W, UHF Link TX
VHF Paging Transmitters
1Glenayre QT7505
1Glenayre QT8505
25GLT8311
25GLT8411
UHF Paging Transmitters:
20Glenayre UHF GLT5340, 125W, DSP Exciter
900 MHz Paging Transmitters:
2Glenayre GLT8200, 25W
15Glenayre GLT-8500 250W
3Glenayre GLT 8600, 500W
40Motorola Nucleus 900 MHz 300W CNET Transmitters

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Too Much To List • Call or E-Mail

Rick McMichael
Preferred Wireless, Inc.
10658 St. Charles Rock Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63074
888-429-4171 or 314-429-3000
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Preferred Wireless

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Jun 20, 2014 04:26 PM EDT
By  , UniversityHerald Reporter
( j.baulkman@universityherald.com)

'Kill Switch' Cuts Theft, Google And Microsoft To Incorporate Feature

(Photo : Reuters) New crime data shows that iPhone theft fell dramatically after Apple introduced the “kill switch” last September, state officials announced Thursday.

New crime data shows that iPhone theft fell dramatically after Apple introduced the "kill switch" last September, state officials announced Thursday.

The Activation Lock, aka kill switch, is a safety mechanism that can render a smartphone useless after being stolen.

Robberies of Apple products in New York City with the feature fell 19 percent while grand larcenies dropped 29 percent respectively in the first five months of 2014 compared to the same period last year, according to a new report issued by the Secure Our Smartphones ("S.O.S.") Initiative, an international partnership of law-enforcement agencies, elected officials and consumer advocates, which will mark its first year tomorrow.

 "In just one year, the Secure Our Smartphones Initiative has made tremendous strides towards curtailing the alarming trend of violent smartphone theft," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. "We will continue the fight to ensure that companies put consumers' safety first and work toward ending the epidemic of smartphone theft."

Although crimes involving iPhone theft dropped, violent crimes against people carrying smartphones without a kill switch, such as Samsung's popular Galaxy phones, went up 40 percent. Samsung introduced a kill switch solution on their Verizon Wireless devices in April.

Google and Microsoft also hopped on the kill switch bandwagon; they will incorporate the safety mechanism into the next version of their respective operating systems on smartphones,  the Associated Press reported .

Google's operating system, Android, runs on more than half of all smartphones used in the United States. Microsoft's operating system is on all Nokia smartphones. This means that a kill switch will be incorporated into the three dominant smartphone operating systems — Android, iOS, and Windows Phone — which currently encompass 97 percent of smartphones in the United States. 

"The commitments of Google and Microsoft are giant steps toward consumer safety and the statistics released today illustrate the stunning effectiveness of kill switches," Schneiderman said.

Source: University Herald

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Selected portions of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, and/or the BloostonLaw Private Users Update — newsletters from the Law Offices of Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy & Prendergast, LLP are reproduced in this section with the firm's permission.

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BloostonLaw Telecom UpdateVol. 17, No. 24June 18, 2014

Headlines

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FCC Staff and Industry Experts Shed Light on Incentive Auction

During a public seminar on Monday, FCC staff and industry representatives shed some light on the legal, policy and implementation questions behind the broadcast incentive auction and the 600 MHz band plan. While a significant number of complex rulemakings need to be completed before the auction can begin, and other proceedings still need to be commenced, the Chair of the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force and other FCC staff were optimistic that the Commission could meet its mid-2015 target date for the incentive auction.

Representatives for CTIA commended the FCC for its openness and transparency throughout the rulemaking that led to the FCC’s May 15 Incentive Auction Report and Order ( FCC 14-50 ) (Staff Summary) and for coming up with a 600 MHz band plan that maximizes the amount of paired-channel licensed spectrum that would be available for bidding.

Rural wireless advocates praised the Commission for soliciting industry input on the compromise that that resulted in Partial Economic Areas (PEAs) being chosen as the basis for 600 MHz band geographic licensing. The 416 PEAs ( PEA Map and Data ) are significantly smaller than the 175 Economic Areas (EAs) initially proposed by the Commission, and should help to free up more 600 MHz spectrum for bidding in rural areas where there tend to be fewer broadcasters. As a result, upwards of 120 megahertz in paired channel spectrum could be made available for bidding in many rural markets.

Others in attendance were less optimistic. National Association of Broadcasters executive VP and spectrum auction point person Rick Kaplan made it clear that TV broadcasters who wished to remain on the air were “none too happy” with the Incentive Auction R&O. In recent weeks, broadcasters have voiced concerns about new coverage and interference software that was adopted by the Commission and that is central to the repacking process. The Commission has an obligation under the Spectrum Act of 2012 to use “all reasonable efforts” to preserve the coverage areas and populations served by the remaining TV stations. However, broadcasters have significant questions about the potential for service disruptions and compensation that broadcasters will receive when transitioning to the shrunken TV band. Broadcasters also have concerns about the “catalog of expenses” that will be eligible for reimbursement as part of the post-auction transition. Each station’s transition will be different, and there are questions about the availability of equipment and personnel, as well as environmental and weather concerns. The FCC has yet to clarify what will happen if remaining TV stations are unable to complete their transition to new facilities within the 39 months currently allocated under the Commission’s Rules. Will they be forced off the air, or will the FCC grant reasonable extensions to three-year construction permits? Granting extensions to broadcasters would delay the roll-out of LTE networks in the 600 MHz band.

FCC Media Bureau staff clarified that relocation/repacking reimbursement from the $1.75 billion Reimbursement Fund would not only be available for broadcasters that are assigned new channels, but also for costs reasonably incurred by MVPDs (including some of our clients) to continue to carry such stations. The FCC intends to issue eligible stations and MVPDs an initial allocation of funds, in designated individual accounts in the United States Treasury, to cover the majority of their estimated costs. The funds will be available for draw down as expenses are incurred. Additional funds will be allocated as necessary prior to the three-year statutory deadline for all reimbursements.

When asked whether NAB would seek reconsideration or a legal challenge of the incentive auction rules, Kaplan said the association and its members were still weighing their options. Any such challenges could delay (perhaps significantly) the incentive auction process. This past spring Kaplan
said he believes the incentive auction could be moved to late 2015 or perhaps 2016. Kaplan also said that a robust AWS-3 spectrum auction later this year would mean less financial pressure on the incentive auction timetable.

The amount of 600 MHz spectrum available for bidding in major markets will depend on the number of broadcasters that voluntarily participate in the auction, and the FCC staff said that the Commission would be looking to clear more than just the top 20 markets. In other markets, the Commission should able to free up between 84 and 126 megahertz of contiguous spectrum simply through repacking. Lesser amounts of spectrum may be available in markets bordering Canada and Mexico, due to the need to protect broadcast operations in these countries. FCC staff reported that band allocation negotiations have been underway with these sovereigns since 2011. Canada is expected adopt a 600 MHz band plan that is similar to that used in the US, but this is not a sure thing. Mexico appears to be opting instead for a 600 MHz band plan adopted by the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (or “APT”), as it did for the 700 MHz band to facilitate greater economies of scale. Bidders for boundary areas will want to stay on top of this situation,so they are aware of how technical rules might impact their operations before bidding.

To facilitate broadcaster participation, FCC staff said that opening bids in the reverse auction would be high. A series of reverse auction rounds would be conducted (with lower prices in each successive round) until a clearing target is met, and the Commission would then run its repacking and band optimization software (a process that could take days or weeks) and then turn to a forward auction to determine the prices that potential users of the repurposed spectrum would pay for new flexible-use licenses. The forward auction will be somewhat different from other auctions in that bidding will be for “generic” 5 x 5 megahertz paired blocks that will be translated to specific licenses at the end of the auction (as is typically done in European spectrum auctions). The FCC believes that bidding for generic blocks will help speed up the forward auction, reducing the time and cost of bidder participation. The “final stage rule” will determine when the auction closes and will allow market forces to determine the amount of spectrum cleared and total revenues raised.

Among the proceedings still to come from the FCC to set the table for the 600 MHz auction:

  • Auction Comment Public Notice
  • Auction Procedures Public Notice
  • Inter-service Interference Public Notice
  • Aggregate Interference Report & Order
  • Designated Entity (DE) Rules Reform Proceeding
  • Part 15/Unlicensed Proceeding
  • Wireless Microphones Spectrum Proceeding
  • LPTV and Translators Proceeding

We will provide more details and analysis of these proceedings as they are announced. Our law firm’s clients who may be interested in bidding for 600 MHz band spectrum will want to focus their attention especially on the DE Rules Reform and Auction Comment/Procedures items.

Comments Filed on Communications Act Update Third White Paper

Comments were filed on June 13, 2014, on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s third white paper on updating the Communications Act. As we reported in a previous edition of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, this paper addressed competition policy and the role of the FCC, and sought public input on 10 questions geared toward determining how the Communications Act and FCC policies could promote or limit competition in the marketplace.

The Alarm Industry Communications Committee filed comments discussing the need for assurances that evolving communications networks will be reliable and stable in the event of emergencies; that spectrum should be available for alarm services; and that alarm data is able to be transmitted reliably regardless of technology. xG Technology, Inc., a cognitive radio technology firm, filed comments discussing the benefits of shared-use spectrum in the growing spectrum crunch environment, and supported a more narrow role for the FCC in which it continued to manage frequencies and spectrum, while leaving regulation of competition issues primarily to the market itself and the Justice Department, as needed.

CTIA — the Wireless Association filed white paper comments urging Congress to reduce the role of the FCC in regulating the telecom industry, citing a “vibrant and competitive marketplace” as creating an environment in which only “light touch” regulation by the FCC is necessary. CTIA therefore asks Congress to narrow the FCC’s authority to only those areas where competition may not “produce the desired result”. CTIA asks that most regulation of competition be handled through Antitrust laws, and asks the FCC to spur “intermodal competition” by regulating all competing carriers the same and making more spectrum available.

NECA’s Washington Watch is reporting that ITTA argued that Congress should provide the FCC the flexibility to evaluate when regulation is needed and to act when a marketplace failure has been demonstrated to exist; and that the FCC should recognize the differing challenges inherent in serving rural vs. more urban markets. USTelecom said Congress should acknowledge that competition has arrived and that a light regulatory touch is what will bring about the virtuous cycle of investment, new technologies and consumer choice, rather than a continued and failed adherence to 19th century concepts repealed decades ago at the federal level for virtually every other common carrier industry. NECA further reported that TIA said telecommunications policy should replace the current regulatory silos that are based on legacy services, and said a legislative focus on specific, well-defined public interest objectives will ultimately prove more durable in achieving those objectives as technology evolves, rather than an approach that micro-manages how content providers, network operators and customers should relate to each other.

BloostonLaw assisted a number of clients in participating in the third white paper comment proceeding before Congress, and will continue to do so as the record is built. Clients interested in participating in the ongoing Communications Act Update Effort should contact the firm without delay.

Democrats Introduce Legislation To Ban Internet “Fast Lane”

On June 17, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) introduced the Online Competition and Consumer Choice Act, which explicitly directs the FCC to stop ISPs from letting companies pay to get their content to customers faster.

Specifically, the bill gives the FCC 90 days from its enactment to promulgate regulations that:

(1) prohibit a broadband provider from entering into an agreement with an edge provider under which that broadband provider agrees, for consideration, to give preferential treatment or priority of the edge provider’s traffic and
(2) prohibit a broadband provider from giving preferential treatment or priority to its own traffic or an affiliate’s traffic.

Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.), Congressman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) are original cosponsors of the legislation.

“Americans are speaking loud and clear — they want an Internet that is a platform for free expression and innovation, where the best ideas and services can reach consumers based on merit rather than based on a financial relationship with a broadband provider,” said Senator Leahy.

“A free and open Internet is essential for consumers, and to encourage innovation and competition in the Internet ecosystem. Our country cannot afford ‘pay-for-play’ schemes that divide our Internet into tiers based on who has the deepest pockets. The Online Competition and Consumer Choice Act will ban paid prioritization and ensure fair competition and consumer choices online,” said Congresswoman Matsui.

“Net neutrality is the principle that all Internet traffic must be treated equally,” said Senator Franken, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. “And that’s the way it should be—the website of a Minnesota small business should load as quickly as the website of a large business.”

FCC Proposes Comprehensive Regulatory Fee Reforms

As part of its annual adjustments to the regulatory fee collection program, the FCC has released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in which it has proposed significant adjustments to the program itself — as well as to the fee schedule. The reforms are designed to make the regulatory fees more equitable across the FCC’s users as well as more transparent. Comments are due Monday, July 7, 2014 and Reply Comments are due the following Monday on July 14, 2014.

Below is a list of the FCC’s proposed annual fee adjustments for this year:

Category FY2013 FY2014
CMRS Mobile/Cellular (Parts 20, 22, 24, 27, 80 & 90)$0.18$0.18
CMRS Messaging (Paging and IMTS – Parts 20, 22,
24 and 90)
$0.08$0.08
Broadband Radio Service$510.00$720.00
Local Multipoint Distribution Service$510.00$720.00
CARS$510.00$605.00
CATV/IPTV$1.02$1.00
Satellite Earth Stations$245.00$275.00
Interstate Telecommunications Service Providers
(Per Revenue Dollar)
$0.00347$0.00340
Part 90 Private Land Mobile (Exclusive Use)$40.00$35.00
Part 90 Private Land Mobile (Shared Use)$15.00$10.00
Part 101 Microwave$20.00$15.00
218-219 MHz (formerly IVDS)$75.00$85.00
Marine Ship$10.00$15.00
Marine Coast$55.00$55.00
Aviation (Aircraft)$10.00$10.00
Aviation (Ground)$15.00$35.00

In addition to the annual fee adjustments described above, the FCC is proposing the following long term reforms which will be of interest to our clients:

CMRS Messaging (Part 22 and 90 Paging and IMTS)

Like last year, the FCC has proposed to retain the $0.08 per subscriber unit regulatory fee for the paging/IMTS services in recognition of the poor financial condition of the industry. Because the FCC collects a relatively small amount from CMRS Messaging providers, as discussed below it has proposed to eliminate this fee category so that, if adopted, fees from paging and IMTS service providers would no longer be collected.

De minimis Threshold Exemption and Elimination of Regulatory Fee Categories

Under the Commission’s present policy, a regulatee is exempt from the payment of regulatory fees if the sum total of all its regulatory fees for the year is less than $10.00. To put the current exemption in perspective, the FCC has indicated that Interstate Telephone Service Provider (ITSP) would be exempt if its annual gross revenues did not exceed $2,881 while a CMRS wireless carrier would be exempt if it had fewer than 55 subscribers. Likewise, a CATV or ITSP operator would be exempt if it had fewer than 9 customers. The FCC is proposing to increase the de minimis threshold in order to provide relief to more of the smaller entities, and is seeking comment on (a) whether to increase the exemption threshold amount to $100.00, $500.00, $750.00 or $1,000.00; (b) whether such change should be implemented this fiscal year or implemented over a period of years and (c) whether the administrative burden on smaller entities and the FCC’s operational costs associated with the processing and collection of these small fees outweighs the benefits of the small payments. Finally, the FCC has also asked whether certain categories of licensees that are subject to frequency coordination by private industry groups ( e.g., Microwave, Part 90 Private Land Mobile, etc.) should be excluded from the regulatory fee program due to limited Commission regulation. These proposals, if adopted, have the potential to benefit many of our paging and Private User clients.

Satellite Earth Stations

Several of our clients hold satellite transmit/receive earth station licenses. The FCC has noted that while transmit receive earth stations are interrelated to space stations that have regulatory fees that are $140,000 to $150,000 per station, the fee for the earth station is significantly less at $275.00 per license. In this regard, the FCC notes that earth station and satellite station oversight and regulation is interdependent and involves issues that relate to non-US licensed space stations as well. Commenters in prior proceedings have urged the FCC to increase the percentage of the regulatory fee allocated to the earth stations. As a result, the FCC is now seeking comment on whether to increase the allocation of the regulatory burden from the space stations to the earth stations to more accurately reflect the regulatory burden associated with the earth stations. Additionally, the FCC is also asking whether the type of earth station authorization should affect the relative allocation for regulatory fees.

Combining ITSP and Cellular Fee Categories

The FCC is proposing to consolidate the Interstate Telephone Service Provider and the wireless CMRS cellular services categories into a single regulatory fee category. The basis for this proposal is that the services provided by ITSPs and wireless providers are “comparable” and subject to similar regulations ( e.g., Universal Service, CPNI, number portability, etc.). When initially proposed last year, the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance (ITTA) stated that wireline companies bear a disproportionately high proportion of regulatory fees because the FCC is no longer providing the same level of regulatory oversight as it had when the fees were first adopted; and that regulations that affect wireline voice carriers also apply to VoIP and wireless providers of voice telephone service.

In order to level the playing field between wireline voice and wireless voice providers, the FCC is seeking to calculate the regulatory fee for wireline and wireless voice providers based upon the number of full-time equivalents (FTEs) in the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. In this regard, the FCC has asked whether any other services should be included in this category. The FCC notes that the current fee methodology for wireline carriers is very different from the wireless carriers since the wireless fee is based upon the number of handsets while the wireline fee is calculated based upon revenue dollars. Because of the different calculation methods, the FCC is looking to create a uniform calculation method — whether it be based upon revenues, handsets, phone numbers, etc. The FCC has indicated that a revenue based fee would be feasible since it already collects the data on the Form 499 that is used to calculate obligations for other programs such as Universal Service. Nonetheless, the FCC is also concerned that a combination of these fee categories into a single category could result in a significant increase in regulatory fees for wireless providers, especially if it adopts a revenue based fee. As a result, the FCC is also asking for comment on whether there should be a transition period, and whether there should also be a cap on any fee increase — which the FCC has suggested could be 7.5% or 10% annually. The FCC is also seeking comment on the best way to transition the two service categories into a single category in order to minimize the revenue impact on other regulated services.

CATV Services

Last year, the FCC concluded that Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services should be included in the CATV regulatory classification even though the IPTV service is not a CATV service. This year, the FCC is now considering whether to add Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) Operators to this regulatory category and to rename it using a more descriptive identifier such as “MVPD” or “subscription television fees” or some other name that would be appropriate. The FCC notes that by including DBS Operators in this fee category, the regulatory fee paid by CATV and IPTV operators would drop from $1.00 per subscriber (proposed for FY2014) to $0.68 per subscriber. The FCC is also seeking comment on the relationship between regulatory fees that would be paid by DBS satellite television service providers and the regulatory fees paid by operators of GSO satellites — which are also used to provide satellite television service to consumers in the United States. In this regard, the FCC has also asked about non-US satellites that are used to provide television programming in the US (presumably, the implication being whether or not there is a way to assess fees against those satellite operators).

Wireline Competition Bureau Presents Status on IP Transition, AT&T Trials

The Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) reported on the AT&T IP transition trials at the Commission's June 13, 2014, Open Meeting. In addition to summarizing AT&T's proposal to conduct IP trials in wire centers in Florida and Alabama, the WCB reported that issues had been raised about the trials including: AT&T's proposed fixed wireless service would be higher priced with lower data allowance compared to AT&T’s DSL (digital subscriber line) service; the inability to offer GETS (Government Emergency Telephone Service) over interconnected VoIP (voice-over-IP) service; concerns about the availability of fiber service during power outages; and the lack of a wholesale option.

Also at the meeting, it was announced that the FCC plans to seek bids for parties interested in developing a methodology for data collection and analysis during tech trials, as well as providing input during the collection and analysis.

Law & Regulation

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FCC Declines to Mandate “Spectrum Etiquette” in Unlicensed Bands

The FCC has terminated a proceeding, begun in 2003 (ET Docket No. 03-201), that looked toward, among other things, establishing a “spectrum etiquette” in the unlicensed 900 MHz band and possibly other unlicensed bands, in order to improve sharing of this spectrum among the multitude of users. No specifics were proposed at the time. In 2004, the FCC addressed other aspects of its earlier proposal but declined to adopt a spectrum etiquette, based on considerable opposition.

Cellnet Technologies, a company engaged in meter reading, petitioned the FCC for reconsideration. Although, in 2007, the FCC dismissed the petition as lacking in specifics, it nevertheless proposed a spectrum etiquette for the 902-928 MHz band with features that included listening-before-talking and a transmission duty cycle. The FCC also asked whether, assuming a limited duty cycle, synchronization among multiple devices should be allowed and whether the spectrum etiquette should be applied only to digitally modulated devices or possibly others as well; and whether the spectrum etiquette should also be instituted in the unlicensed 2.4 and 5.8 GHz bands.

Citing wide disagreement among commenting parties, the FCC, in an order released June 10, dismissed the spectrum etiquette proposal, stating that it failed to see the need for it. The FCC also observed that since 2007, the Commission has approved more than 2,500 unlicensed devices operating in the 902-928 MHz band, thereby indicating that the band continues to be heavily used under the existing rules for unlicensed operation. The Commission also appeared concerned that adoption of spectrum etiquette would impede design flexibility and innovation of a wide variety of devices that the current rules enable.

House Subcommittee to Hold Hearing on Net Neutrality

On June 20, 2014, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law will hold a hearing entitled Net Neutrality: Is Antitrust Law More Effective than Regulation in Protecting Consumers and Innovation?

The witness panel for the hearing includes: Joshua D. Wright, Federal Trade Commission Commissioner; Robert McDowell, Former FCC Commissioner and Visiting Fellow at Hudson Institute, Inc.; Bruce M. Owen, Morris M. Doyle Centennial Professor in Public Policy and Director of the Public Policy Program in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University; and Tim Wu, professor of law at Columbia Law School.

The hearing will be held at 9:00 a.m., and will be broadcast live here .

Commission Announces Third Quarter USF Contribution Factor

The FCC’s Office of Managing Director released a Public Notice on June 12, 2014, announcing a proposed USF contribution factor for Third Quarter 2014 of 15.7 percent. This is down from 16.6 percent in the previous quarter.

According to the Public Notice, contributions to the federal universal service support mechanisms are determined using a quarterly contribution factor calculated by the FCC, based on the ratio of total projected quarterly costs of the universal service support mechanisms to contributors’ total projected collected end-user interstate and international telecommunications revenues, net of projected contributions.

If the FCC takes no action regarding the projections of demand and administrative expenses and the proposed contribution factor within 14 days following release of the Public Notice, they are deemed approved and the contribution factor will be used by USAC to calculate third quarter 2014 universal service contributions.

FCC Extends Separations Freeze Another Three Years

On June 13, the FCC issued a Report and Order extending the existing freeze of Part 36 category relationships and jurisdictional cost allocation factors another three years, through June 30, 2017.

The freeze originally began on July 1, 2001, and was scheduled at that time to last for a period of five years. It was intended to provide stability and regulatory certainty for incumbent LECs by minimizing any impacts on separations results that might occur due to circumstances not contemplated by the FCC’s Part 36 rules, such as growth in local competition and new technologies. In 2006, the FCC extended the freeze for three years or until comprehensive reform could be completed, whichever came first. The freeze was subsequently extended by one year in 2009, 2010, and 2011 and by two years in 2012.

In 2011, the FCC adopted the USF/ICC Reform Order, which comprehensively reformed the universal service and intercarrier compensation systems and proposed additional reforms. Since, at this time, the Joint Board on Separations is still considering the impact of those reforms, the FCC sought comment on extending the freeze for another three years, and ultimately adopted it on the grounds that extension of the freeze is necessary to avoid regulatory instability and substantial administrative burdens on carriers.

Commissioner O’Rielly issued a statement questioning the need to continue the jurisdictional separations rules in light of intervening regulatory and marketplace changes, and said he hopes the Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations will use this additional three-year window to complete a comprehensive review, with an eye toward ending these rules.

Inmate Calling Services Data Collection Effective June 12; Due Date Forthcoming

On June 12, Notice appeared in the Federal Register announcing that the information collection requirement in Section III.I of the FCC’s 2013 Inmate Calling Order was approved by OMB on June 2, 2014, and is effective June 12. In the Order, the FCC required all ICS providers to provide data to document their costs for interstate, intrastate toll and local ICS for the past year.

It is important to note that although the effective date has been established, a due date for the data required under the collection has not. The FCC said it will be announced in a separate notice at a later date.

Industry

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Chairman Wheeler Issues Statement on Internet Congestion

On June 13, 2014, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler issued a statement stating his concerns regarding consumer complaints revolving around the exchange of traffic between ISPs and other networks and services; and stating that he has directed the FCC’s staff to acquire the information necessary to determine precisely what is transpiring in the industry. His basic theme was that consumers should get what they pay for.

According to the Chairman, “[f]or some time now we have been talking about protecting Internet consumers. At the heart of this is whether [ISPs] that provide connectivity in the final mile to the home can advantage or disadvantage content providers, and therefore advantage or disadvantage consumers. What we call the Open Internet rule on which we are currently seeking comment is one component of this. If adopted, the new rule would prohibit bad acts such as blocking content or degrading access to content. This kind of activity within an ISP’s network has traditionally been the focus of net neutrality. But there is another area of Internet access, and that is the exchange of traffic between ISPs and other networks and services. The recent disputes between Netflix and ISPs such as Comcast and Verizon have highlighted this issue”. With respect to the cause, he stated that the FCC doesn’t “know the answers and we are not suggesting that any company is at fault.”

The Chairman also stated that the basic issue surrounding these consumer complaints is “what is going on and what can the FCC do on behalf of consumers? Consumers pay their ISP and they pay content providers like Hulu, Netflix or Amazon. Then when they don’t get good service they wonder what is going on. I have experienced these problems myself and know how exasperating it can be. . . Consumers must get what they pay for. As the consumer’s representative [the FCC needs] to know what is going on.”

The Chairman further stated that he has “directed the Commission staff to obtain the information we need to understand precisely what is happening in order to understand whether consumers are being harmed. Recently, at my direction, Commission staff has begun requesting information from ISPs and content providers. We have received the agreements between Comcast and Netflix and Verizon and Netflix. We are currently in the process of asking for others.”

The Chairman emphasized that “what we are doing right now is collecting information, not regulating.”

He concluded by saying that “[t]he bottom line is that consumers need to understand what is occurring when the Internet service they’ve paid for does not adequately deliver the content they desire, especially content they’ve also paid for. In this instance, it is about what happens where the ISP connects to the Internet. It’s important that we know — and that consumers know.”

Calendar At-A-Glance

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June

Jun. 16 – ILEC Tariff filings made on 15 days’ notice are due.
Jun. 16 – Connect America Fund ICC Data Filing (Access Recovery Charge changes) is due for tariff filings made on 15 days’ notice.
Jun. 18 – Retransmission consent rules become effective.
Jun. 23 – Petitions to suspend or reject tariff filings made on 15 days’ notice are due.
Jun. 24 – ILEC tariff filings made on 7 days’ notice are due.
Jun. 24 – Connect America Fund ICC Data Filing (Access Recovery Charge changes) is due for tariff filings made on 7 days’ notice.
Jun. 26 – Replies to petitions to suspend or reject tariff filings made on 15 days’ notice are due.
Jun. 26 – Petitions to suspend or reject tariff filings made on 7 days’ notice are due.
Jun. 27 – Replies to petitions to suspend or reject tariff filings made on 7 days’ notice are due.

July

Jul. 1 – FCC Form 481 (Carrier Annual Reporting Data Collection Form) is due.
Jul. 1 – FCC Form 690 (Mobility Fund Phase I Auction Winner Annual Report) is due.
Jul. 3 – FCC Application Filing Fees increase.
Jul. 7 – Comments are due on proposed FCC fee revisions.
Jul. 10 – Comments are due on T-Mobile Data Roaming Petition.
Jul. 14 – Comments are due on Citizens Broadband Radio Service FNPRM.
Jul. 14 – Reply comments are due on proposed FCC fee revisions.
Jul. 15 – Comments are due on the Open Internet NPRM.
Jul. 15 – Comments are due refreshing the record on the 2010 Broadband NOI.
Jul. 31 – FCC Form 507 (Universal Service Quarterly Line Count Update) is due.
Jul. 31 – Carrier Identification Code (CIC) Report is due.

August

Aug. 1 – Reply comments are due on Citizens Broadband Radio Service FNPRM.
Aug. 11 – Reply comments are due on T-Mobile Data Roaming Petition.

September

Sep. 10 – Reply comments are due on the Open Internet NPRM.
Sep. 10 – Reply comments are due refreshing the record on the 2010 Broadband NOI.

This newsletter is not intended to provide legal advice. Those interested in more information should contact the firm. For additional information, please contact Hal Mordkofsky at 202-828-5520 or halmor@bloostonlaw.com .

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New Licensing Agreement with Amazon Appstore Will Bring Thousands of New Apps to BlackBerry Users This Fall

06.18.14 / BlackBerry

You want apps? We’ve got apps!

amazon aps

We’ve heard your appeals for access to more applications for your BlackBerry 10 device and we are delivering. We have announced a licensing agreement for the Amazon Appstore to bring more than 200,000 Android apps to you this fall when the BlackBerry 10.3 operating system launches.

You will be able to access popular apps such as Groupon, Netflix, Pinterest, Candy Crush Saga and Minecraft — all available for direct download!

But you also have choices. We will continue to offer BlackBerry World, where you can access applications that leverage the powerful features of the BlackBerry 10 operating system.

That’s two stores—with more apps—and greater choices.

In addition to the greater selection of apps, you will be able to access video and music services through a number of popular third party services available through the Amazon Appstore and BlackBerry World. While BlackBerry World will continue to offer music and video services via third party applications — again giving you more choices for your valued content — we will be closing the music and video sections of our store on July 21st. Don’t worry! Previously downloaded content will be available after that date through MyWorld.

Stay tuned for more information about the Amazon Appstore offering coming to you soon.

We’re excited to be working with Amazon to deliver the apps and content that you’ve been looking for. It’s an exciting new day for BlackBerry 10 device owners. We look forward to hearing from you about what apps you are looking forward to downloading.

Source: BlackBerry blog

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Friends & Colleagues

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Ira Wiesenfeld, P.E.

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Complete Technical Services For The Communications and Electronics Industries Design • Installation • Maintenance • Training • Engineering • Licensing • Technical Assistance

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Ira Wiesenfeld, P.E.
Consulting Engineer
Registered Professional Engineer

Tel/Fax: 972-960-9336
Cell: 214-707-7711
Web: IWA-RADIO.com
7711 Scotia Dr.
Dallas, TX 75248-3112
E-mail: iwiesenfel@aol.com

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Ira Wiesenfeld, P.E.

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subscribe free

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Wireless Network Planners

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Wireless Network Planners
Wireless Specialists

www.wirelessplanners.com
wirelessplannerron@gmail.com

R.H. (Ron) Mercer
Consultant
217 First Street
East Northport, NY 11731
ron mercer

Cellphone: 631-786-9359

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Wireless Network Planners

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Prism Paging

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prism
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PRISM IP MESSAGE GATEWAY

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THE ULTIMATE IN COMMERCIAL AND PRIVATE RADIO PAGING SYSTEMS

prism
  • VoIP telephone access — eliminate interconnect expense
  • Call from anywhere — Prism SIP Gateway allows calls from PSTN and PBX
  • All the Features for Paging, Voice-mail, Text-to-Pager, Wireless and DECT phones
  • Prism Inet, the new IP interface for TAP, TNPP, SNPP, SMTP — Industry standard message input
  • Direct Connect to NurseCall, Assisted Living, Aged Care, Remote Monitoring, Access Control Systems
prism
prism

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WiPath Communications

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Intelligent Solutions for Paging & Wireless Data

WiPath manufactures a wide range of highly unique and innovative hardware and software solutions in paging and mobile data for:

  • Emergency Mass Alert & Messaging
  • Emergency Services Communications
  • Utilities Job Management
  • Telemetry and Remote Switching
  • Fire House Automation
  • Load Shedding and Electrical Services Control

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PDT3000 Paging Data Terminal

pdt 2000 image

  • FLEX & POCSAG
  • Built-in POCSAG encoder
  • Huge capcode capacity
  • Parallel, 2 serial ports, 4 relays
  • Message & system monitoring

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Paging Controlled Moving Message LED Displays

welcom wipath

  • Variety of sizes
  • Indoor/outdoor
  • Integrated paging receiver

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PDR3000/PSR3000 Paging Data Receivers

paging data receiver

  • Highly programmable, off-air decoders
  • Message Logging & remote control
  • Multiple I/O combinations and capabilities
  • Network monitoring and alarm reporting

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Specialized Paging Solutions

paging data receiver

  • Emergency Mass Alerting
  • Remote telemetry switching & control
  • Fire station automation
  • PC interfacing and message management
  • Paging software and customized solutions
  • Message interception, filtering, redirection, printing & logging Cross band repeating, paging coverage infill, store and forward
  • Alarm interfaces, satellite linking, IP transmitters, on-site systems

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Mobile Data Terminals & Two Way Wireless  Solutions

mobile data terminal

radio interface

  • Fleet tracking, messaging, job processing, and field service management
  • Automatic vehicle location (AVL), GPS
  • CDMA, GPRS, ReFLEX, conventional, and trunked radio interfaces

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Contact
Postal
Address:
WiPath Communications LLC
4845 Dumbbarton Court
Cumming, GA 30040
Street
Address:
4845 Dumbbarton Court
Cumming, GA 30040
Web site: www.wipath.com left arrow CLICK
E-mail: info@wipath.com left arrow CLICK
Phone:770-844-6218
Fax:770-844-6574
WiPath Communications

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Hark Technologies

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hark logo

Wireless Communication Solutions

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USB Paging Encoder

paging encoder

  • Single channel up to eight zones
  • Connects to Linux computer via USB
  • Programmable timeouts and batch sizes
  • Supports 2-tone, 5/6-tone, POCSAG 512/1200/2400, GOLAY
  • Supports Tone Only, Voice, Numeric, and Alphanumeric
  • PURC or direct connect
  • Pictured version mounts in 5.25" drive bay
  • Other mounting options available
  • Available as a daughter board for our embedded Internet Paging Terminal (IPT)

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Paging Data Receiver (PDR)

pdr

  • Frequency agile—only one receiver to stock
  • USB or RS-232 interface
  • Two contact closures
  • End-user programmable w/o requiring special hardware
  • 16 capcodes
  • POCSAG
  • Eight contact closure version also available
  • Product customization available

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Other products

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Please see our web site for other products including Internet Messaging Gateways, Unified Messaging Servers, test equipment, and Paging Terminals.

Contact
Hark Technologies
717 Old Trolley Rd Ste 6 #163
Summerville, SC 29485
Tel: 843-821-6888
Fax: 843-821-6894
E-mail: sales@harktech.com left arrow CLICK
Web: http://www.harktech.com left arrow CLICK

hark David George and Bill Noyes
of Hark Technologies.

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Hark Technologies

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advertise

Click on the logo above for more info.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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From:dg dg@deepgeek.us
Subject: Letter to Editor, Errata June 13th newsletter
Date:June 14, 2014
To:Brad Dye

Dear Brad,

I object to the title of the article by Lucian Constantin (“Hackers behind iPhone ransom attacks arrested in Russia.”) The correct title should have been “Extortionists behind iPhone ransom attacks arrested in Russia.” I do understand you are directly quoting the article title, but as it is an obvious appeal to sensationalism, I think the responsible thing to do would have been to note the error by quoting the article title as “Hackers (sic) behind iPhone ransom attacks arrested in Russia.”

Thank you for attention to this detail,

Scotty Fitzgerald

[Editor's note: Scotty represents ethical hackers , so he naturally doesn't like it when the word hacker is commonly used to refer to the “bad guys.”]

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From:Jim Tucker jim55@e1w.com
Subject: Bit of information you may wish to share
Date:June 20, 2014
To:Brad Dye

Brad,

Like most Americans, I definitely wish I could purchase USA made products rather than an identical product from China.

Information I wish to share that you might wish to re-write and put into your newsletter for customers to know is this.

I recently purchased a very tiny right angle connector for the Verizon wireless Modem from a supplier in China for $2.00 and shipping charge of $1.50.

They advised that shipping might require 6 to 7 weeks. Guess what, I had it in hand 5 days later. Was shipped via China Postal.

It was the proper connector so I ordered another 25 units, shipping on the 25 was also, $1.50 and had them in hand 5 days time. Both purchases were off Ebay.

Here is the item that angered me. One week prior to purchasing the units off Ebay, I sent a sample of the connector via EMS to my friend in Taiwan and the USPS EMS cost was $46.00. Less than 2 oz. including the shipping package. Totally asinine.

Jim Tucker

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From:Patrick patrick@TAPGateway.com
Subject: From The Wireless Messaging News
Date:June 20, 2014
To:Brad Dye

Brad, I have a question about advertising in your newsletter and web site.

What kind of circulation do you have? [Zero — nobody reads it anymore — just kidding.]

Also, would a story about TAP Gateway be a fit for your newsletter? [ Yes! ]

I've attached a previous press release for our integration with Nagios.

Thank you,

Patrick


TAP Gateway
www.tapgateway.com
+1 6614567001
+1 6615382859 FAX

"Your TAP Gateway for the 21st Century"

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tap_gateway

Press Release — TAP Gateway
For Immediate Release

TAP Gateway Announces TAP Support for Nagios® XI and Nagios Core

March 26, 2013 — Las Vegas, NV — TAP Gateway, a TAP to SMS service provider, announced today that they have added a new component to the Nagios Exchange. The TAP Gateway component integrates TAP Gateway service with QuickPage ( qpage.org ) and Nagios XI ( nagios.com ), the industry standard in IT infrastructure monitoring. TAP Gateway uses common analog telephone technology so that critical alerts can be sent to network administrators and other IT professionals even when their network is down. Customers using Nagios Core can also benefit from TAP Gateway's services by manually installing QuickPage for Linux and other Unix platforms. Other customers who require highly-reliable notification services, such as emergency and disaster response managers, can also take advantage of the TAP Gateway service.

Integrated Analog and Digital Technology Provides Robust Solution

TAP Gateway uses the well-established, industry-standard Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol, a dial-up modem, and an analog phone line to send SMS text messages to a wide variety of devices, including alphanumeric pagers and cellular phones. Since the TAP protocol and hardware are independent from the customer's network, notifications are sent regardless of network status.

If a customer's cellular carrier does not support TAP access, such as Google Voice, Sprint, and T-Mobile, TAP Gateway will provide the required service. Customers with carriers that support the TAP protocol can still benefit from TAP Gateway, as most existing TAP services are cumbersome to use, unreliable, and subject to discontinuation. TAP Gateway streamlines management of customer devices that use different carriers, is easy to configure, and allows the use of a single access number.

Some additional benefits of using TAP Gateway within Nagios Core and Nagios XI include:

  • Web interface for managing devices and groups
  • Customer service that understands TAP and can help with configuration and other issues
  • Support for current dial-up modems (including legacy modems) up to 56K
  • Logging of all sent messages
  • TAP to Email in addition to SMS
  • Security and privacy features for messages
  • Works with all US and Canadian carriers
  • Works with most international carriers (although additional messaging fees may apply)
  • Free Trial Account at www.tapgateway.com
  • International messaging partner — Open Telecom International at www.open-telecom.co.uk

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• TAP Gateway • 9101 W Sahara Ave #105-171, Las Vegas NV 89117 USA •
• +1 702 216 6116 • www.tapgateway.com

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UNTIIL NEXT WEEK

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The Wireless Messaging News


Best regards,
brad's signature
Newsletter Editor
73 DE K9IQY

Brad Dye
P.O. Box 266
Fairfield, IL 62837 USA

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CONTACT INFO & LINKS
Skype: braddye
Twitter: @BradDye1
Telephone: 618-599-7869
E–mail: brad@braddye.com
Wireless: Consulting page
Paging: Home Page
Marketing & Engineering Papers
K9IQY: Ham Radio Page

Back To Paging
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Still The Most Reliable Wireless Protocol For Emergencies!

Wireless
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Messaging

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THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK

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Summer Time

henry james

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

― Henry James

john steinbeck

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”

― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

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