Privateline.com: Daily Notes Archive

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April 27, 2005

Arrghh! I have a massive case of poison oak, the worst I have had in years. Wish me luck with the recovery.

Ace contributor J.R. Snyder Jr (internal link), checks in again, this time with comments on the new Los Angeles Dispatch Center which was mentioned below. He writes:

Tom:

The photo of the workstation of the 9-1-1 operator in Los Angeles is pretty much like the kind of workstations at the Pima County Sheriff's Office Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). Generally a PSAP is referred to as a 9-1-1 center for short. We have a saying, though, that goes like this: "I'm not an 'operator' nor am I '9-1-1.' 9-1-1 is equipment and an operator only operates equipment; I'm a human being who makes quick, fast and hopefully smart decisions." Some people think that's being hypersensitive but I dare them to work in a 9-1-1 center for a day. . . . continues here with detailed descriptions --->

April 25, 2005

Cell phone to satellite

TerreStar Networks (external link) recently announced they will build the first satellite to communicate directly with cell phones. Operational at the end of 2008. They hope to provide cellular radio service to communities and areas that have no cell phone coverage now. A few points:

1) Four years is a long time to wait for a radio-telephone;

2) As with all sat phones, you'll need a view of the sky to get a signal. The phone won't work indoors unless you have an external antenna;

3) You can get a wireless connection right now through providers like Globalstar (external link) Call from nearly anywhere in the United States or Canada. Their phones default to cellular radio if a signal is available. You'll save money in many cases by not using the bird. Speaking of money;

4) Satellite phone service is expensive. But, adjusted for inflation, it isn't more costly than roaming charges were for cell phones ten years ago. And being able to call from nearly anywhere is worth a great deal by itself.

April 24, 2005

$60,000 operator positions?!

Yes, 48 of them. For the new Los Angeles Dispatch Center. A good article from the LA Downtown News Online (external link) (Caution, this external link may die in just a month or two.)

Rescued 911

Inside Downtown's Improved Emergency Call Center

by Chris Coates

One of the unique things about the Downtown Metropolitan Communications Dispatch Center, where thousands of 911 calls are fielded each day, is that it doesn't look like the expected dark warren of cubicles filled with operators wearing headsets. Instead, the 15,000-square-foot call center in the $19 million building is an odd mix of police station, hectic newsroom and military intelligence center. . .(Continues here, external link)

April 22, 2005

What a jerk

Same old story

Cell phone technology is a good thing sold poorly. I've never understood why a great service needs to be sold like a used car. Since I started writing about cellular in 1994, wireless carriers have oversold their product, lied about coverage, favored restrictive, too long contracts, and have had contempt for their customer's complaints. Nothing changes. In a joint interview with the Chronicle and other media in the San Francisco Bay Area, Ivan Seidenberg, chief executive officer of Verizon Communications, tells us what he really thinks about the consumer:

"Seidenberg, for instance, said people often complain about mobile phone service because they have unrealistic expectations about a wireless service working everywhere. Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon and Vodafone, is the state's largest mobile phone provider."

"'Why in the world would you think your (cell) phone would work in your house?' he said. 'The customer has come to expect so much. They want it to work in the elevator; they want it to work in the basement.'"

"Seidenberg said it's not Verizon's responsibility to correct the misconception by giving out statistics on how often Verizon's service works inside homes or by distributing more detailed coverage maps, showing all the possible dead zones. He pointed out that there are five major wireless networks, none of which works perfectly everywhere."

"Seidenberg also defended the company's stiff cancellation fees and tighter return policy."

"Last year, the California Public Utilities Commission ordered all phone companies to give customers 30 days to test a service without slapping them with hundreds of dollars in early cancellation fees. But after the PUC suspended the rule a month ago, Verizon shortened its trial period to 15 days to match its 15-day return policy in other states."

"'We think there is a deal,'" he said. "We invest in the business and have the best service. But when you sign up with us, we'd like you stay with us.'"

April 20, 2005

Some nice .pdf files on automating operator assistance:

"An Automatic Direct Distance Dialing System" by T. B. Caveny, JR. (December, 1966) (internal link) "An automatic toll ticketing system was cut into service in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 22, 1964, providing some services never before available. The general purpose relay used in this system embodies imaginative new concepts in. device design and application. . ."

"Toll Service Desk: An Improved Concept of Telephone Toll Traffic Control" by D. E. Halbedel (December, 1969) (internal link) "A new toll service desk (T.S.D) system has been developed and successfully introduced, which greatly reduces the human involvement in the processing of operator-assisted telephone toll calls. . ."

April 19, 2005

Frequent contributor Don Kimberlin (internal link) is now an award winning writer. On Tuesday the National Association of Broadcasters meeting in Las Vegas he received on Tuesday the Radio Guide Technology Initiative Award, Historical Events Category. The award was for an article he wrote ten years ago, when he recalled his work on distributing the live feed from the first Moon landing to televisions around the globe. The most permanent archive of that article is here:

http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-
archives/archives/history/camelot.on.moon-july.69
Great reading.

April 14, 2005

Q: What is the maximum distance a pair of cell towers (cell sites) can be separated and still function? Obviously there is some overlap of coverage, but what is the maximum, and maybe minimum, too. Assuming flat terrain?

A. From Mark van der Hoek (internal link):

Too many variables! :D

At the limits? I know of analog calls being made several hundred miles away from the serving cell site. I've personally made analog calls 50 miles away from the site. Digital won't go that far because of timing issues. For CDMA, the practical limit seems to be around 30 miles or so and that only under ideal conditions. 20 is no problem, but rarely done. I've seen it in rural south Texas, west of McAllen in the Rio Grande Valley.

GSM has a hard stop by design at 35 km (22miles), but that can be doubled with some special equipment and software. The price you pay is that you cut in half the available time slots. Some years ago Nortel was trying to make GSM go 200km (124 miles) for an Australian operator, but that effort seems to have faded into obscurity.

Minimum? <shrug> I know of sites running an eighth of a mile apart. If you count in-building systems, less than that.

April 13, 2005

The telephone as a television?

All information in digital is contained in packets (internal link). Voice, data, or video signal are in bits which the packets carry. (internal link) A digital communication device can be designed, therefore, to provide different digital services.

A recent AP article (external link, read this soon before this link dies!) says Comcast will soon merge its cable TV and internet offerings with telephony. By the end of the year "It expects to offer its digital phone service to 15 million homes. Voice packets will be given priority -- and traffic will be carried over Comcast's own network."

"Rian Wren, Comcast's senior vice president of telephony, says voice services will converge not only with computers but also with TVs. In the next 18 months, you'll start to see prompts on your TV for processing e-mail, voicemail or incoming calls. Eventually, you'll be able to handle that communications right through your TV."

April 11, 2005

Hello, Tom

I was surfing early this morning and stumbled across your website by accident. I collect insulators. A few years ago I discovered a old dump of them in a lady's back yard in Nicolaus, California. After a little hard work I unearthed over two-hundred and fifty insulators in two holes. In the insulator world, it was like winning the lottery. After piecing parts together for almost two years my partner and I have over twenty-five whole pieces. Out of all the pieces only two tops were 95% complete.