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AAPC Wireless Messaging News

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FRIDAY — JULY 1, 2011 - ISSUE NO. 462

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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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Greetings Dear Readers, and Friends of Wireless Messaging,

Sometimes I include some off-topic info that I think you might find interesting.

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I am proud of my home state Illinois — most of the time. My ancestors (my great-great-great grandfather) settled in Southern Illinois in 1851 — coming down the Ohio River on a raft to Shawneetown, then over land here, to Wayne County.

As you probably heard:

“A U.S. District Court jury in Chicago has convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich on 17 counts of wire fraud, bribery, extortion conspiracy and bribery conspiracy.

So ends the political career of the former Illinois chief executive who came to national attention when he sought to benefit personally by selling Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat shortly after the latter was elected president. The former governor was convicted on 11 counts related to the Senate seat and six counts of improperly soliciting funds from a hospital executive and racetrack owner.“ [source]

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The Wall Street Journal headline:

“Another Illinois Governor Goes to Jail” “You could cut off his head and he wouldn't be any dumber.”
[source]

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Here is some Illinois Governor history:

Joel Matteson, 10th governor, Democrat, 1853-57: The first legally embattled governor was Joel Aldrich Matteson, after whom the village of Matteson in southern Cook County is named. During his term in 1856, he began redeeming outdated and/or previously redeemed canal scrip for state bonds. Matteson was discovered three years later, after his term as governor was over. The subsequent court proceedings, including accusations of bribery and jury tampering, went on until 1863, when the Sangamon County Circuit Court declared Matteson owed the state more than $253,000. Matteson’s property was sold at auction to satisfy the judgment.

Len Small, 26th governor, Republican, 1921-29: Gov. Len Small was indicted in 1921 on charges that he ran a money laundering scheme during his tenure as state treasurer. He was acquitted amid rumors of jury tampering; in fact, after the trial, four jurors received state jobs. Later, in 1927, a civil suit was brought against Small for the same money laundering scheme. He lost that case, and the judgment was more than $1 million, an amount that was reduced to $650,000 by Attorney General Oscar Carlstrom, whom Small had helped to elect in 1924.

William G. Stratton, 32nd governor, Republican, 1953-61: William G. Stratton was indicted in 1964 on charges of violating income tax laws relating to political contributions during his term as governor. He was acquitted during an expensive trial after defense witness Sen. Everett M. Dirksen testified that governors have official ceremonial duties for which the unrestricted use of campaign fund contributions is justified. The U.S. Tax Court later agreed with the verdict, ruling that the Internal Revenue Service should not assess a tax on outright unrestricted gifts.

Otto Kerner, 33rd governor, Democrat, 1961-68: Otto Kerner was convicted in 1973 on 17 counts of bribery, conspiracy, perjury and other charges relating to Illinois racetrack stock deals that occurred after his term in office. He was sentenced to three years in prison. The federal prosecutor in the case was James R. Thompson, who would later be elected governor, and whose law firm would later defend another Illinois governor, George H. Ryan.

Dan Walker, 36th governor, Democrat, 1973-77: Dan Walker was convicted and sent to prison in 1987, 10 years after leaving office, for misusing funds from his failed First American Savings and Loan Association of Oak Brook. The conviction was unrelated to his service as governor.

George Ryan, 39th governor, Republican, 1999-2003: George Ryan is serving 6 ½ years in federal prison after he was convicted in 2006 by a federal jury of 18 counts of criminal misconduct, including a racketeering conspiracy, mostly related to his service as Illinois secretary of state from 1990 to 1998.

Compiled by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, using as a reference “The Illinois Governors: Mostly Good and Competent” by Robert P. Howard, and revised and updated by Taylor Pensoneau and Peggy Boyer Long.
[source]

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This list would not be complete without mentioning Paul Powell. Although not an Illinois Governor, he was Secretary of State and possibly the biggest crook of them all.

“The office of Illinois Secretary of State has a long history of corruption. Holding that office in the 1960s, was an enterprising criminal named Paul Powell who dressed in dreary black garments like a mortician. Those applying for drivers licenses and car and truck title registration and such had to make their payments payable to PAUL POWELL. Since it was made out to his name, he figured it was perfectly okay to pocket those checks and money orders. Powell kept shoe boxes full of those payments in his hotel apartment.” [source]

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More on Paul Powell:

ILLINOIS: Paul Powell's Nest Egg

Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell had a simple definition, expressed in the negative, of a successful politician: "There's only one thing worse than a defeated politician, and that's a broke one." For 42 years, Powell was an undefeated politician. Now, three months after his death, at age 68, his executor, the Illinois attorney general and the Illinois Bureau of Investigation are taking the true measure of his success. Powell, who in his lifetime of public service never earned more than $30,000 a year, left an estate worth more than $2 million—$800,000 of it in bills packed into shoe boxes, briefcases and strongboxes in the closet of his hotel suite in Springfield.

The cache has set off a flurry of investigations into the career of Illinois' Mr. Downstate Democrat. Powell served 30 years in the state legislature before becoming secretary of state, including three terms as speaker of the house and four terms as minority leader of the assembly. He was an orator given to ungrammatical homespun anecdotes and a campaigner whose baby-kissing forays through county fairs belied his statehouse reputation as a master of patronage. His annual "flower fund" was required charity for all Powell appointees, and with 2,000 patronage jobs at his disposal during his five-year term as secretary of state, he was able to enforce his oft-stated fondness for doling out jobs and commanding loyalty. "I can smell the meat acookin'," Powell said whenever the subject of state jobs was raised. He also had a certain charm, summed up by a boyhood friend: "Paul was just a big old country boy—he could shake you down and make you like him."

Unscathed. There were several brushes with scandal during his political career, usually centering on his love for horse racing, but each time Powell emerged unscathed. After a grand jury investigation into a stock purchase in a harness-racing corporation whose legislative cause he had championed, the exonerated Powell commented: "It wound up with the grand jurors wanting to know from me where they could buy racetrack stock."

When he died of a heart attack Oct. 10 in the Rochester, Minn., hotel room where he was staying as an outpatient of the Mayo Clinic, a bizarre chain of events began to unfold. His death was kept from the press and public for more than 24 hours while top aides searched through his office at the state capital, ostensibly to remove personal papers that Powell would not have wished to be made public.

Bemused Beneficiary. John S. Rendleman, chancellor of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and executor of the estate of the twice-widowed, childless Powell, discovered the money in the Springfield hotel room the day after funeral services had been held in the capitol rotunda. "The closet was full of money," Rendleman said. It took three bank tellers more than four hours to count the money. Rendleman did not make the find public until nearly three months later, while he searched neighboring banks for additional funds. [source: Time Magazine]

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This sad report about Illinois Political Corruption pales in comparison to the terrible stories that follow about the murder of John Aegerter president of Air Page Corp. in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

Our condolences and prayers go out for his friends and family.

Now on to more news and views.

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Wireless Messaging News
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MESSAGING

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This is the AAPC's weekly newsletter about Wireless Messaging. You are receiving this because I believe you have requested it. This is not a SPAM. If you have received this message in error, or you are no longer interested in these topics, please click here, then click on "send" and you will be promptly removed from the mailing list.

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iland internet sulutions This newsletter is brought to you by the generous support of our advertisers and the courtesy of iland Internet Solutions Corporation. For more information about the web-hosting services available from iland Internet Solutions Corporation, please click on their logo to the left.

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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.

EDITORIAL POLICY

Editorial Opinion pieces present only the opinions of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of AAPC, its publisher, or its sponsors.

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CONSULTING ALLIANCE

Brad Dye, Ron Mercer, Allan Angus, and Vic Jackson are friends and colleagues who work both together and independently, on wireline and wireless communications projects. Click here  for a summary of their qualifications and experience. They collaborate on consulting assignments, and share the work according to their individual expertise and their schedules.

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USED PAGING EQUIPMENT FOR SALE

Please click right arrow here left arrow for a list of used paging infrastructure and test equipment for sale from Ray Primack in Vancouver. Pagers, a big UPS, and other equipment as well. Check it out!

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AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PAGING CARRIERS

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aapc logo American Association of Paging Carriers

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aapc

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Global Paging Convention Report

June 14 - 16, 2011

Doubletree Nashville Hotel

Nashville, Tennessee

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You didn't go? What? You thought it would just be some boring presentations about the same 'ol stuff? Besides, there is nothing new in Paging, right?

WRONG!

Sorry you missed out, but this was a great conference with top notch speakers and there are several new products and services being rolled out in the Paging Industry.

I know that some paging companies are just waiting for the fat lady to sing. The most infamous quotation of all is: “Managing a melting ice cube.” I am very pleased to report that there was lot of excitement and enthusiasm on the part of several paging companies who refuse to give up. Three cheers for them!

“Winners never quit, and quitters never win.”

I have been involved in Radio Communications for over 50 years — the last 30 of those years in Paging — and I learned about some new products that have the potential to re-vitalize our industry — some of the best that I have ever seen. I am encouraging the carriers to announce their new products and services here in the newsletter. They can do a much better job of that than I can. So “stay tuned” as they used to say on the radio.

It is our job to continue educating the public about the advantages we offer with paging technology—our core competencies.

Of course we are not so naïve as to believe that paging should serve all the public's wireless messaging needs, however, we do offer advantages over all other technologies for critical alerting. We can do "one-to-all" common-capcode mass notification, we can do "one-to-many" common-capcode group call, and we can do it better — meaning much faster — than any other method. Simple notification is not as important as critical alerting.

Network Reliability is one of our major strong points.

I hesitate to list the featured speakers, lest I leave out one and get accused of having a bias or hidden agenda, but here goes anyway:

  • Roy Pottle, AAPC President
  • Ted McNaught, Critical Alert Systems
  • Kathy Mealer, Jackson-Madison County Hospital
  • Scott Forsythe, SelectPath - Contact Wireless
  • Tom Harger, SelectPath - Contact Wireless
  • Alan Hills, Method Link
  • Jim Nelson, Prism-IPX Systems
  • Dave Andersen, American Messaging Services
  • Peter Barnett, American Messaging Services
  • Mike Lyons, Indiana Paging Network
  • Stephen Oshinsky, Critical Alert Systems
  • Craig Meldrum, WiPath Communications
  • Ingo Schmuckli, Swissphone
  • Peter Angelo, Y-12 National Security Complex

Yes I know that Paging and Wireless Messaging has suffered a sharp decline in recent years, but our core business remains strong. The days of people lining up at the front door to get a pager may be over but the Paging Industry is not over — we just have to work harder (and smarter) now. It is no longer easy. This separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls. I am proud to say that we have many men and women who have “stepped up to the plate.” (Is that too many metaphors? Sorry.)

Would you like to see some photos of this event? I took lots of photos, and after culling out all the duplicates, frowns, and closed eyes, I ended up with 70 pretty good shots. You can see them by clicking here. left arrow CLICK HERE

These are the companies that made it all possible:

American Messaging | www.americanmessaging.net
1720 Lakepointe Drive, Suite 100 | Lewisville, TX 75057 USA | 888-699-8977
American Messaging Services, LLC, is the second largest wireless messaging or paging company in the United States with reliable wireless networks providing coverage in 98 of the top 100 major metropolitan areas. Directly, and through subsidiaries, it provides traditional one and two-way messaging, telemetry, and immediate mass notification services to more than one million subscribers nationwide. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary IntelliGuard Systems, LLC, it builds and provides emergency alert systems for university campuses, allowing for the immediate and simultaneous alerting of students, faculty, and staff in the event of an emergency, all within 20 seconds.

Critical Alert Systems | www.criticalalertsystems.com
100 Larrabee Road, Suite 150 | Westbrook, ME 04092 USA | 207-856-0078
Critical Alert Systems was founded in 2010 to acquire the assets of Northeast and UCOM Paging the leading paging company in New England. Our mission is to provide fast and reliable alerting solutions in the healthcare, public safety, and business enterprise markets. By prioritizing “People”, our customers and our employees. Critical Alert Systems will provide the highest level of customer service in the markets it serves. We are actively pursing investment opportunities to expand the scope of our customer relationships and to bring new solutions that leverage the inherent advantages of our messaging platform.

Daniels Electronics | www.danelec.com
43 Erie Street | Victoria, BC V8V 1P8 Canada | 250-382-8268
Daniels Electronics Ltd. is a North American leader in the design and manufacture of customized radio communications systems and paging transmitters for public safety and other niche applications. For the past 60 years Daniels has provided customers in North America and internationally with highly reliable paging transmitters, base stations, and repeaters that are environmentally robust to operate in rugged and extreme temperature conditions for extended periods of time. Our self-servicing customers range from Forestry and National Park services through Police and Fire departments and on to Utility and Transportation groups.

Hark Technologies | www.harktech.com
717 Old Trolley Road, Suite 6 #163 | Summerville, SC 29485 USA | 843-821-6888
Hark Technologies designs and manufactures innovative products including Unified Messaging, Protocol Converters, Paging Encoders, and PDRs. The Omega Unified Messaging offers carriers and resellers the ability to provide enhanced voice/fax mail services on the same number as the customer's pager and includes the major paging protocols such as TAP, TNPP, GCP, SMPP, SMTP, SNPP, WCTP, and HTTP. The ISI product can be used to eliminate costly leased lines and replace them with an Internet connection.

Indiana Paging Network | www.indianapaging.com
6745 Johnson Road | LaPorte, IN 46350 USA | 800-842-1950
Indiana Paging Network, Inc. (IPN) has been providing paging coverage for over 40 years and is the largest independent paging carrier in the Midwest. We provide our Indiana customers the most comprehensive paging coverage available. Our customer service is second to none, we truly stand by our motto of “Our Signal is Just One of Our Strengths.” We are evolving to become a more complete message delivery service for our customers with the additions of our IPN Messaging Center, telephone answering service , and our MessageSync® suite of messaging products. We will continue to improve and provide additional products and services to stay at the forefront of the messaging industry.

InfoRad, Inc. | www.inforad.com
635 East 185th Street | Cleveland, OH 44119 USA | 800-228-8998
InfoRad Inc. is a leading worldwide provider of messaging and alerting software and hardware technology solutions that communicate with Smart phones, alphanumeric paging receivers, wireless LED sign boards, and other wireless receiver technologies. InfoRad products seamlessly combine wireless data, computer telephony, and Internet / telco technologies to provide our customers a highly reliable and cost effective communication solution with today's wireless devices.

Microspace Communications Corporation | www.microspace.com
3100 Highwoods Boulevard | Raleigh, NC 27604 USA | 919-860-4500
Microspace Communications operates the world's largest private satellite broadcast network for business and has been serving the needs of the wireless messaging industry since 1990. Microspace is dedicated to offering a variety of cost-effective, open systems simulcast network solutions that can be tailored to meet the needs of the carrier. Microspace supports all formats including analog Bell 202, voice, TNPP, and advance control (CNET, RFC, and C-2000). Shared CNET control and Internet TNPP services are also available.

Midwest Paging | www.midwestpaging.com
405-C West Highway C | Purdy, MO 65734 USA | 800-922-9282

Mobilfone | www.mobilfone.com
1801 Main Street | Kansas City, MO 64108 USA | 816-221-2720

Page Plus | www.page-plus.net
10222 Ease 41st Street | Tulsa, OK 74146 USA | 918-665-6700

Prism-IPX Systems, LLC | www.prism-ipx.com
11175 Cicero Drive, Suite 120 | Alpharetta, GA 300 USA | 678-242-5290
Prism-IPX Systems (PIPX) designs powerful Message Management systems for paging, SMS, Smartphones, and other wireless technologies. PIPX products provide integrated wireless messaging for healthcare, energy, industrial, public safety, aged care/assisted living, and government markets. Equipped with remote and local direct VoIP interfaces Prism-IPX Systems provide fast, reliable dispatch of critical alerts and messages to cellular/DECT/SIP phones, pagers, e-mail, machine-to-machine, remote control devices, and LED display boards. See our newest products and services for SMS and Smartphones.

ProPage | www.propage.net
112 Key Drive | Brunswick, GA 31520 USAA | 912-264-1255

SelectPath - Contact Wireless | www.selectpath.com
5801 Menaul Boulevard NE | Albuquerque, NM 87110 USA | 505-888-9999

Swissphone LLC | www.swissphone.com
1194 W. Ash Street | Windsor, CO 80550 USA | 800-596-1914
Swissphone is an international active group of companies with both domestic and foreign subsidiaries. Founded in 1969 and employing approximately 300 personnel, the company started out as a pioneer in the radio alerting field and has developed into the leading supplier of alerting solutions within Europe. From control centers to networks to pagers, Swissphone is the all-in-one supplier for efficient and reliable alerting solutions.

Unication USA, Inc. | www.unication.com
1901 E. Lamar Boulevard | Arlington, TX 76006 USA | 817-926-6771
Unication is a premier supplier of paging and communication equipment. Unication has continued to invest and innovate to bring added value to the Worldwide Messaging Marketplace, including a Dual Frequency Alpha Pager, a Password Protected Alpha Pager, and a brand new Wideband/Narrowband Auto-Migration Pager called the Legend+. Unication is committed to be your Quality and Value Leader in providing communications equipment and solutions to the Global Market. Please contact Unication with any questions about how they can help you reach your communication goals.

DX Radio Systems | www.dxradiosystems.com
10941 Pendleton Street | Sun Valley, CA 91352 USA | 818-252-6700

Thanks to our Premier Vendor!

prism ipx
Prism-IPX Systems LLC

Thanks to our Silver Vendors!

methodlink
Method Link, LLC
unication
Unication USA

Thanks to our Bronze Vendors!

AAPC Executive Director
441 N. Crestwood Drive
Wilmington, NC 28405
Tel: 866-301-2272
E-mail: info@pagingcarriers.org
Web: www.pagingcarriers.org
AAPC Regulatory Affairs Office
Suite 250
2154 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007-2280
Tel: 202-223-3772
Fax: 202-315-3587

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ADVERTISERS SUPPORTING THE NEWSLETTER

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Advertiser Index

AAPC—American Association of Paging Carriers Paging & Wireless Network Planners LLC
CVC Paging Preferred Wireless
Daviscomms USA Prism Paging
Hahntech-USA Ron Mercer
Hark Technologies Product Support Services
HMCE, Inc. TC Promotion GmbH
Ira Wiesenfeld, P.E. UCOM Paging
Ivycorp Unication USA
Leavitt Communications United Communications Corp.
Northeast Paging WiPath Communications

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Product Support Services, Inc.

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Based in Coppell, Texas, a suburb of Dallas/Fort Worth, and located just five minutes north of the DFW Airport, PSSI receives, repairs and ships approximately 4,000 discrete units each day.

  • PSSI is ISO certified and has comprehensively integrated robust lean manufacturing processes and systems that enable us to deliver timely and benchmark quality results.
  • PSSI is certified for Levels III and IV repair by a wide variety of OEMs including, for example, Motorola, Nokia, Sony/Ericsson, Samsung, Stanley and LG.
  • PSSI’s service center is a state-of-the-art facility, complete with multiple wireless test environments and board-level repair capabilities.
  • PSSI’s state-of-the-art and proprietary Work-In-Process (WIP) systems, and its Material Planning and Warehouse Management systems, enable PSSI to track discrete units by employee, work center, lot, model, work order, location and process through the entire reverse logistics process. Access to this information can be provided to our customers so that they can track the real-time movement of their products.

Pager and Electronics Repair

Product Support Services, Inc.

pssi

pssi

Contact:
Product Support Services, Inc.
511 South Royal Lane
Coppell, Texas 75019
Phone:
877-777-8798 (Toll Free)
972-462-3970
info@productsupportservices.com
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www.productsupportservices.com left arrow

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RIM gets handed open letter from disgruntled employee, quickly responds in kind

By Brad Molen posted Jun 30th 2011 8:30PM

One of the blessings — and curses — of this World Wide Web is that it creates a forum for open discussion, where we can communicate anything that our heart desires and feel like someone is listening to us. BGR published an open letter reportedly written by a senior executive at Research in Motion, chastising upper management for its inability to make bold business decisions as it continues to consistently lose market share. The anonymous author listed out several suggestions on how their company could improve its status and work its way back up to the top of the smartphone totem pole. As it turns out, the disgruntled employee was successful in that RIM published a response to the anonymous communication. What exactly were this employee's suggestions, and how did the folks in Waterloo respond? We'll break down the letters after the break.

The open letter, which can be found in its entirety at the source link below, discusses eight recommendations that the anonymous employee feels would help get RIM regain its position at the top of the class. We'd like to break each one down and highlight some of the major points found within.

Focus on the End User experience

We often make product decisions based on strategic alignment, partner requests or even legal advice - the end user doesn't care. We simply have to admit that Apple is nailing this and it is one of the reasons they have people lining up overnight at stores around the world, and products sold out for months. These people aren't hypnotized zombies, they simply love beautifully designed products that are user centric and work how they are supposed to work.

The author did the unthinkable thing for a RIM employee to do: admit that Apple is doing something better. Apparently, the author says, there's a method to Cupertino's madness, and it's directly correlated to why RIM is falling behind — the user experience is simply better. The employee even goes on to recommend that key decision makers use competitors' products as their primary device for a week to understand why one-time "CrackBerry" users are starting to jump ship.

Recruit Senior Software Leaders and enable decision-making

We need some heavy hitters at RIM when it comes to software management. Teams still aren't talking together properly, no one is making or can make critical decisions, all the while everyone is working crazy hours and still far behind. We are de-motivated.

It seems like a lot of RIM's troubles are being caused by a lack of communication among senior-level leadership. Essentially, the author is saying: if everyone is the key decision maker, nobody is. In addition, it's important to recruit leaders that have extensive experience in the industry, insinuating that many in the company's management just don't have the background to cut it.

Cut projects to the bone

We simply must stop shipping incomplete products that aren't ready for the end user. It is hurting our brand tremendously. It takes guts to not allow a product to launch that may be 90% ready with a quarter end in sight, but it will pay off in the long term.

This is intriguing; a RIM employee is acknowledging its products are incomplete at the time of shipment, and the brand's hurting as a result. It's not too often we hear something so bold from someone inside this company.

Developers, not Carriers, can now make or break us

There is no polite way to say this, but it's true — BlackBerry smartphone apps suck. Even PlayBook, with all its glorious power, looks like a Fisher Price toy with its Adobe AIR/Flash apps.

The truth is, no one in RIM dares to tell management how bad our tools still are.

In the US, especially, carriers rule over the OEM with an iron fist, but the author insists that RIM spends way too much time worrying about how it looks to the networks and not focusing on creating the right tools that make the product look good to consumers.

Need for serious marketing punch to create end user desire

A product's technical superiority does not equal desire, and therefore sales... How many Linux laptops are getting sold? How did Betamax go? My mother wants an iPad and iPhone because it is simple and appeals to her. Powerful multitasking doesn't.

People buy into a brand / product not just because of features, but because of what it stands for and what it delivers to them. People don't buy "what you do," people buy "why you do it."

This basically sums everything up. RIM talks up its technical superiority, but consumers don't care about that. They care about what's in it for them, and why they should buy into something. The author mentions strange marketing campaigns "from a barber shop to a horse wrangler" that didn't connect with its intended audience. Create an inventive and engaging campaign, the letter says, that focuses on what BlackBerry products are about.

No accountability — Canadians are too nice

Just because someone may have been a loyal RIM employee for 7 years, it doesn't mean they are the best Manager / Director / VP for that role. It's time to change the culture to deliver or move on and get out.

If something's not broke, don't fix it.

In this case, it's time for something to get fixed. Instead of rewarding loyalty, it's time to give incentives to those employees actually performing well. Separate the wheat from the chaff.

Don't snap at the press, now is the time for humility with a dash of paranoia

However, overconfidence clouds good decision-making. We missed not boldly reacting to the threat of iPhone when we saw it in January over four years ago. We laughed and said they are trying to put a computer on a phone, that it won't work. We should have made the QNX-like transition then. We are now 3-4 years too late. That is the painful truth... it was a major strategic oversight and we know who is responsible.

Perhaps it is time to seriously consider a new, fresh thinking, experienced CEO. There is no shame in no longer being a CEO. Mike, you could focus on innovation. Jim, you could focus on our carriers/customers.

Talk about calling upper management out on the carpet — admitting RIM made a huge mistake by getting overconfident and not preparing itself for the onslaught of innovative competition is a monster statement. Of course, it's easy for this author to say in 2011; hindsight, as they say, is always 20 / 20. What's most interesting to us about this section, however, is that this is allegedly a senior executive stating he or she isn't happy with the current dual-CEO management structure. Apparently, not everyone agrees with Mike and Jim about the way things should be run at their company.

Democratise. Engage and interact with your employees — please!

Encourage input from ground-level teams-without repercussions-to seek out honest feedback and really absorb it.

The headhunters have already started circling and we are at risk of losing our best people.

Some of our offices feel like Soviet-era government workplaces.

Ouch. The eighth and final bullet point paints an extremely dire picture of the average RIM employee. Basically, the author is saying here that the morale in Waterloo's headquarters has become intolerable and those who haven't been laid off are considering a departure from the company. The only way to reverse that trend, the letter suggests, is to reach out to employees and do everything possible to re-energize the workplace.

The long and short of it is that not everything in BlackBerry World is peachy, and some desperate measures need to be taken for the company to get back on the right track. The anonymous senior executive doesn't feel like they can speak their mind and be heard without some type of consequence. This time, however, the scribe was heard. Here's RIM's response:

An "Open Letter" to RIM's senior management was published anonymously on the web today and it was attributed to an unnamed person described as a 'high level employee". It is obviously difficult to address anonymous commentary and it is particularly difficult to believe that a "high level employee" in good standing with the company would choose to anonymously publish a letter on the web rather than engage their fellow executives in a constructive manner, but regardless of whether the letter is real, fake, exaggerated or written with ulterior motivations, it is fair to say that the senior management team at RIM is nonetheless fully aware of and aggressively addressing both the company's challenges and its opportunities.

RIM recently confirmed that it is nearing the end of a major business and technology transition. Although this transition has taken longer than anticipated, there is much excitement and optimism within the company about the new products that are lined up for the coming months. There is a fundamental business reality however that following an extended period of hyper growth (during which RIM nearly quadrupled in size over the past 5 years alone), it has become necessary for the company to streamline its operations in order to allow it to grow its business profitably while pursuing newer strategic opportunities. Again, RIM's management team takes these challenges seriously and is actively addressing the situation. The company is thankfully in a solid business and financial position to tackle the opportunities ahead with a solid balance sheet (nearly $3 billion in cash and no debt), strong profitability (RIM's net income last quarter was $695 million) and substantial international growth (international revenue in Q1 grew 67% over the same quarter last year). In fact, while growth has slowed in the US, RIM still shipped 13.2 million BlackBerry smartphones last quarter (which is about 100 smartphones per minute, 24 hours per day) and RIM is more committed than ever to serving its loyal customers and partners around the world.

It's ironic, and perhaps tragic, that in responding to a letter in which it's called out for not listening to its employees, RIM completely dismisses the matter altogether and tries to paint itself in a flowery manner. Nothing was learned or resolved, and certainly conditions there can't expect to get any better. RIM seems to not believe the letter is truly from one of its own fold — we can't be completely certain either, to be honest — and instead of directly addressing the criticism, insists it already is working to resolve many of these issues discussed at length. The company is optimistic about how everything will turn out at the end of this "major business and technology transition," but unless the fine folks in Canada ditch the rose-colored glasses, the outlook could have a very different hue.

Source: engadget.com  (Sent in by our roving reporter, Barry Kanne.)

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UPDATE 1-Wi-LAN buys 60 mobile patents for $8 mln

June 29 | Wed Jun 29, 2011 7:40am EDT

(Reuters) - Canadian patent licensing firm Wi-LAN Inc has bought a portfolio of about 60 mobile communication patents from Glenayre Electronics Inc for $8 million in cash.

The Glenayre patents cover certain common mobile phone functions, including messaging and wireless data transmission, the company said in a statement.

Wi-LAN, which was in the fray to acquire bankrupt Nortel Network's prized patents, now has more than 1400 patents in its kitty.

Shares of the Ottawa-based company closed at C$7.42 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company's stock closed at $7.57 on Nasdaq, where it made its debut at the start of the month. (Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

Source: Reuters

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Murder Victim Remembered for Radio Expertise, Passion for Cars

Friends say John Aegerter was an eccentric, intelligent businessman who owned about 75 communications towers in three states.

By Lisa Sink
BrookfieldPatch
June 27, 2011

As John Aegerter watched new technologies replace the pagers that had made him a wealthy man, he joked he would be the last man standing in the pager business.

His death — labeled a homicide by police who have arrested two suspects — will leave a hole in the radio communications industry, friends and business associates said.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, followed by a memorial service, at Harder Funeral Home, 18700 W. Capitol Dr., Brookfield.

Aegerter Aegerter, 63, was found dead Wednesday in the garage of his Brookfield home. The cause has not been released by the medical examiner's office. But police and prosecutors say Aegerter, president of Air Page Corp. and other satellite communications businesses, was brutally beaten and had strangulation marks and an electrical cord around his neck.

In custody awaiting possible homicide charges are two people who said they confronted Aegerter over pay he allegedly owed to an employee.

A 'do-it-yourself' kind of guy
Friends described Aegerter as eccentric and highly intelligent — a self-made man who preferred to do everything himself, whether it be his taxes, car repairs and most of his companies' work.

"He would always say, 'Why pay someone to do it when I can do it myself?'" said Keefe John, who owns a Germantown Internet company that has equipment on Aegerter's communications towers.

Aegerter Aegerter owned about 75 towers in Wisconsin and Illinois plus two in Nevada, friends said.

Jack Hughes, a fellow ham radio operator, said Aegerter was proud to have built up his own companies and was a "workaholic" who at age 63 was still climbing his towers to maintain them rather than hiring others to do it.

"John was married to his work," business associate Robert Guenther said. "John didn't want to marry anybody or get involved. John would work seven days a week, from sunrise to sunset."

When lightning hit a microwave radio on one of Aegerter's towers during last week's thunderstorms, Guenther said he talked to Aegerter at 11:30 p.m., making plans to meet at 6 a.m. to repair it. When Aegerter failed to show for that meeting and didn't answer any of Guenther's pages — both highly uncharacteristic — associates called police, who found Aegerter dead in the garage of his Golf Parkway home.

No family, small circle of friends
An only child whose parents, Clifford and Irene Aegerter, are deceased, Aegerter never married or had children. He also didn't have a will, despite his personal wealth, which associates worry will cause issues in administering his estate and sizable assets.

Aegerter had a close circle of friends, many of whom share his interest in ham radio. His death notice identifies him by both his legal name and his call sign, WA9GAR.

"He was always researching, tinkering and playing around with different radio equipment and technologies," John said.

Aegerter grew up in Milwaukee, attended John Marshall High School and MSOE, where he got a degree in electrical engineering, friends said.

Hughes, who has known Aegerter for more than 25 years, said Aegerter bought his first tower at a gas station at 55th and Center streets in Milwaukee in the 1960s. He started a communications business that initially helped taxi cabs coordinate rides.

Aegerter He worked as a nighttime engineer for a Milwaukee radio station "back in the day when they played with really, really high voltage and UV radiation and you could burn or electrocute yourself, so they required radio stations to have an engineer on premise."

Keefe John said Aegerter developed one of the first mobile data communications systems used in police squad cars.

Aegerter bought so many towers, including a WOKY AM radio transmitter that he relocated and refurbished, that his pager service was among the best around. It landed him clients such as hospitals, including the Zablocki VA Medical Center, which still uses his service, friends said.

Had a passion for autos
A frugal man, Aegerter did spend money on cars that he collected and antique radio equipment.

"John's other passion was cars," John said. "Dodges were his favorite. He had multiple Rams, a Ram Charger, a Road Runner, a Viper and others."

He kept some of them at storage buildings at his tower sites, and others in his Brookfield garage.

Aegerter also was a frequent letter-writer to state and federal lawmakers, lobbying for Libertarian stances. He also recently went door-to-door in Menomonee Falls obtaining signatures opposing a sidewalk along Silver Spring Drive that would have run past one of his tower sites. He did not like the provision that would have required property owners including himself to maintain the sidewalk. He died before submitting the petition to the village, Guenther said.

Aegerter also was not gun-shy about filing lawsuits, from challenging city zoning decisions about a sign outside his Greenfield Avenue business to a federal lawsuit over a tower siting dispute. He once challenged a State Patrol ticket he received for failing to have a front license plate on his Dodge Viper, saying the sports car was not designed for a plate.

"He wasn't going to drill a hole into a $70,000 car," Guenther said. "He hasn't driven it since."

The Wisconsin State Journal quoted Aegerter last summer about his complaints to state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen about perceived conflicts of interest involving a state Department of Transportation official whose private radio companies were doing business with the state.

"He was eccentric," Hughes said of Aegerter. "He spoke what was on his mind. He didn't pull any punches."

Friends and associates said they would help to make sure his towers remain operating while his estate is processed.

"I haven't slept in three days," said Guenther, who remains shaken by the murder. "Yesterday my pager when off and for a second I thought it was John wanting to come over for a sandwich."

Source: BrookfieldPatch

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Details Revealed About Brookfield Homicide

John Aegerter's Body Found In Garage

POSTED: 11:53 am CDT June 24, 2011
UPDATED: 7:03 pm CDT June 24, 2011

WAUKESHA COUNTY, Wis. — More details have been revealed about how a 63-year-old Brookfield man was killed in his home.

Although the two suspects have not yet been charged, there was a probable cause review filed with the Waukesha County District Attorney's Office that details the crime.

The victim, identified as John Aegerter, was found dead Wednesday by police when he failed to show up for work.

Douyette According to the document, Tommy Douyette, 42, and Lynn Hajny, 48, were arrested Wednesday night in Slinger after stopping at Hajny's cousin's home.

They admitted to the cousin that they had gone to Aegerter's Brookfield home because he owed Hajny's husband money.

According to the probable cause review, the cousin told police that Hajny and Douyette told her they were going to the airport area to get a freezer and they wanted to find a person with hydrogen peroxide to try to dissolve the body.

When officers took Douyette into custody, he admitted to hitting Aegerter several times, the review said.

Hajny Hajny's cousin told 12 News the money motive makes no sense to her because Hajny's husband had already worked out an agreement with Aegerter.

Officers found the victim's body face down in his garage with his ankles tied with an electrical cord and another cord around his neck. There were plastic grocery bags over Aegerter's head and blood on his body, according to the court document.

A complete autopsy will be performed to determine cause of death, but the Waukesha County Medical Examiner's Office preliminary examination showed the victim had blunt force trauma to the facial area as well as wounds to the chest, along with facial bruising.

Source: WISN.com

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BloostonLaw Telecom Update

Published by the Law Offices of Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy & Prendergast, LLP

[Portions reproduced here with the firm's permission.]

www.bloostonlaw.com

   Vol. 14, No. 26 June 29, 2011   

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76 House Democrats Back AT&T/T-Mobile Merger

Seventy-six House Democrats have written FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Attorney General Eric Holder to express their support for the proposed $39 billion AT&T/T-Mobile merger.

The lawmakers, led by Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), asked the FCC and Justice Department (DOJ) to consider AT&T's pledge to expand its Long Term Evolution (LTE) deployment in their respective reviews of the company's acquisition of T-Mobile.

The lawmakers argued that the merger would improve access to mobile broadband service and “create thousands of jobs, including many good paying union jobs with solid benefits, which will greatly contribute to our continuing economic recovery.”

Stating that AT&T has been a “good corporate citizen,” the lawmakers urged the FCC and DOJ “to consider a number of important factors during the review process, including proposed increases in coverage to those living in rural and underserved areas.”

Consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, which opposes the merger, said it wished Members of Congress who signed the letter had studied the deal more closely, according to Wireless Week.

“Had they done so, they would have found that AT&T’s deployment plan is only marginally better than what they have proposed before, and that under this merger, jobs will be lost, not gained,” Public Knowledge said.

BloostonLaw contacts: Hal Mordkofsky, Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and John Prendergast.

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

  • FCC adopts Caller ID rules to prohibit “spoofing.”
  • Wireless E911 Location Accuracy Exclusion Reports are now due July 28.
  • Walden draft bill would reform FCC processes.
  • House panel asks FCC for USF, Lifeline information.
  • USDA, FCC release rural broadband report.

FCC Adopts Caller ID Rules To Prohibit “Spoofing”

The FCC has adopted rules to implement the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009, which prohibits “spoofing” (BloostonLaw Telecom Update, March 16). Caller ID services typically identify the telephone numbers and sometimes the names associated with incoming calls, thus allowing consumers to decide whether or how to answer a phone call based on who appears to be calling. However, caller ID information can be altered or manipulated—i.e., spoofed. Increasingly, the FCC said, bad actors are spoofing caller ID information in order to facilitate a wide variety of malicious schemes, from identity theft to “swatting” (the practice of placing false emergency calls to law enforcement in order to elicit a response from a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team).

The FCC’s Order prohibits any person or entity from knowingly spoofing caller identification information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value. The Commission said it can—and will—seek substantial penalties from those who violate the Act and the rules it has adopted. Specifically, under the FCC’s new rules:

  • Violators are subject to up to $10,000 for each violation, or three times that amount for each day of continuing violation, to a maximum of $1 million for any continuing violation.
  • The FCC may assess fines against entities it does not traditionally regulate without first issuing a citation.
  • The FCC can impose penalties more readily than it can under other provisions of the Communications Act.

The Commission said the revisions to its calling party number (CPN) rules are modeled on the Caller ID Act’s prohibition against knowingly engaging in caller ID spoofing with fraudulent or harmful intent. The rules include exemptions based on conduct the Act identifies as exempt from its prohibitions. The revised rules also include new definitions, including several modeled after definitions in the Act. As proposed in the Caller ID Act NPRM, the revised rules also specify that blocking or attempting to block one’s own caller ID is not a violation of the new rules, while clarifying that telemarketers are not relieved of their obligation to transmit caller identification information.

The FCC noted that the Act specifies that the prohibited conduct is “in connection with any telecommunications or IP-enabled voice service.” Because the FCC defines the terms “caller identification service” and “caller identification information” to encompass the use of telecommunications services and “interconnected VoIP services,” it said it does not need to specify in the rule that the prohibition encompasses calls made using telecommunications services and IP-enabled voice services, as specified in the Act.

The FCC also noted that the Act is directed at “any person,” but does not define the term “person.” In order to make clear that the rules are not limited to natural persons and to be consistent with the Commission’s current rules concerning the delivery of CPN, the FCC’s amendments to the CPN rules use the phrase any “person or entity.”

The FCC said it is not enough that a person or entity intends to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value to violate the Truth in Caller ID Act. Rather, the person or entity intending to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value must facilitate the scheme through the manipulation or alteration of caller identification information, the FCC said. Moreover, it added, adopting a rule in which “knowingly” modifies the action of the caller identification service would not impose liability on caller ID spoofing services for knowingly manipulating caller identification information absent intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value. Nor would it ease the burden on law enforcement of proving a violation of the Act, the FCC said. Instead, it would require law enforcers to show that the provider of the caller ID service—usually a terminating carrier or VoIP provider—knew that the incoming caller identification information was manipulated or altered.

As the Commission noted in the Caller ID Act NPRM, “in many instances the caller identification service has no way of knowing whether or not the caller identification information it has receives has been manipulated.” The FCC said it does not believe Congress intended to impose liability on caller ID spoofers acting with malicious intent only upon proof that the provider of the call recipient’s caller ID service knew that the caller identification information was manipulated or altered. That would be a perverse result, wholly inconsistent with the intent of the Act and its legislative history, the FCC said.

The Act directs the Commission to exempt from its regulations (i) any authorized activity of a law enforcement agency; and (ii) court orders that specifically authorize the use of caller identification manipulation. Separately, the Act also makes clear that it “does not prohibit any lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activity of a law enforcement agency of the United States, a State or a political subdivision of a State, or of an intelligence agency of the United States.”

The Department of Justice (DOJ) requested that the Commission explicitly incorporate lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activities into the exemptions to the Commission’s implementing rule. In light of the statutory language specifying that such activities are not prohibited by the Act and DOJ’s request that such activities be included in the exemptions to the Commission’s implementing rule, the proposed rule incorporated the two exemptions specified in the Act, and expanded the exemption for law enforcement activities to cover protective and intelligence activities.

The FCC said the legislative history of the Act makes clear that manipulation or alteration of caller ID information done without the requisite harmful intent does not violate the Act. Nothing in the FCC’s implementing rules changes that fact. Likewise, the transmission of incorrect caller ID information by carriers and providers acting without the requisite intent to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value does not violate the Truth in Caller ID Act or the rules implementing the Truth in Caller ID Act. Moreover, the FCC said it agreed with DOJ that “none of the commenters who advocated for a status-based exemption to the Truth in Caller ID Act were able to articulate any scenario whereby legitimate conduct would fall within the prohibitions of the Act.” Like DOJ, the FCC said it feared that allowing any such exemptions could “create dangerous loopholes under the Act that could be exploited by criminals.” Therefore, the FCC declined to adopt any further exemptions from the Act at this time, primarily because the ones that have been presented are unnecessary.

Further, as directed by the Act, the FCC Chairman also issued a report to Congress addressing areas where the statute and the Commission’s rules may fall short of protecting consumers from harmful caller ID spoofing. The report also discusses several newer types of communications services, including text messaging and social media, and identifies spoofing issues that may arise in conjunction with these services. The report also makes the following recommendations:

  • Congress should consider broadening the scope of the Truth in Caller ID Act to include a prohibition on caller ID spoofing directed at people in the United States by persons outside the United States.
  • Congress should consider providing guidance whether it intended additional IP-enabled voice services, such as VoIP services that enable callers only to make outgoing calls to users of telecommunications and interconnected VoIP services, to be brought within the scope of the Truth in Caller ID Act.
  • Congress should consider giving the Commission appropriate authority to regulate third-party spoofing services.
  • Congress should consider modifying the Truth in Caller ID Act to explicitly state that text messaging is covered by the scope of the Truth in Caller ID Act.

BloostonLaw contacts: Hal Mordkofsky, Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and John Prendergast.

Wireless E911 Location Accuracy Exclusion Reports Are Now Due July 28

The FCC has extended until July 28 the deadline for wireless carriers to submit “Wireless E911 Location Accuracy Exclusion Reports.” Under the FCC’s E911 Location Accuracy Second Report & Order, adopted last fall, the Commission required wireless carriers using either network-based or handset-based location technologies to file a list of specific counties or portions of counties where they are using their “exclusions.” Such exclusions referred to areas where triangulation was not feasible for network-based technologies, and, for handset technologies, where heavy forestation limited handset accuracy (BloostonLaw Telecom Update, September 29, 2010).

The Commission allows carriers to exclude from E911 coverage a limited portion of its licensed territory, so long as the excluded areas are identified in the report.

Now, the Commission, on its own motion, has issued an Order clarifying the requirements for the Exclusion Reports. The clarifications include the following:

1. If a wireless carrier has not received a valid Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) request for E911 Phase II service and accordingly has not deployed E911 Phase II service, the carrier should not list the county, or portion thereof, or the PSAP service area in its listing of exclusions in its Exclusion Report. However, once a PSAP makes a valid request for E911 Phase II service and a carrier deploys Phase II service but still determines that it cannot meet the applicable location accuracy requirements, the carrier must file an updated report within 30 days of the date of deployment to reflect such a change.

2. With respect to carriers using handset-based location technologies, the E911 Location Accuracy Second Report and Order provides that carriers may exclude up to 15 percent of counties or PSAP service areas from the 150 meter location accuracy standard based upon heavy forestation. The FCC clarified that this exclusion does not apply to a 15 percent area of either a county or a PSAP service area. Instead, the 15 percent exclusion permits carriers to exclude up to 15 percent of counties or PSAP service areas that are served by the carrier.

3. Noting that the first location accuracy benchmark for network-based carriers is January 18, 2012, the FCC clarified that network-based carriers that anticipate that they will not be able to meet the first benchmark may file a waiver request after the deadline for filing their Exclusion Reports, provided that they file the request in a timely manner to afford the Commission sufficient time to act on the request in advance of the first benchmark deadline.

4. The FCC found that the timely filing of a request for waiver relief is sufficient to meet the “expectation that carriers failing to meet any particular benchmark will promptly inform the Commission” without prematurely overburdening its administrative processes to handle such requests.

5. The FCC advised wireless carriers to file Exclusion Reports in a narrative format with a table or appendix that provides a detailed listing of the excluded areas. The narrative portion of the report should include the following information:

  • A description of whether the wireless carrier is using network-based or handset-based technologies at the time of filing the Exclusion Report.
  • A supporting affidavit from an officer or director of the wireless carrier, who serves as the official or contact person having chief oversight responsibility for monitoring the overall status of location accuracy compliance under Section 20.18(h). This affidavit should include the date of filing and the official’s title, business address, and phone number.
  • The table or appendix to the Exclusion Report should include the following information:
    • (a) A list of the counties or portions of counties, or PSAP service areas, as applicable, for which the wireless carrier is claiming an exclusion in accordance with the applicable rules; and
    • (b) For each excluded area, a brief description of the reason for the exclusion, e.g., insufficient number of cell sites in the area to support network-based triangulation; GPS-assisted location accuracy is limited due to heavy forestation.

BloostonLaw has developed an Exclusion Report template. Interested clients should contact us for this template.

Wireless carriers should be aware that their obligation to furnish E911 Phase II service rests on whether a PSAP has made a valid request. In order for a request to be valid, the PSAP must be capable of receiving and utilizing the data elements associated with Phase II service, and the PSAP must have a mechanism established for recovering its costs.

Separate from the Exclusion Report requirement, carriers that have chosen to deploy network-based location technology (most GSM carriers) should keep in mind that their networks must meet an E911 accuracy standard of 100 meters for 67 percent of calls in 60 percent of counties or PSAP service areas by January 18, 2012. Carriers that have chosen to deploy handset-based location technology (most CDMA carriers) must meet an E911 accuracy standard of 50 meters for 67 percent of calls, and 150 meters for 80 percent of calls, on a per-county or per-PSAP basis, by January 18, 2013.

We note that the Exclusion Reports must be submitted to the FCC, the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), the Association of Public-Safety Officials International (APCO), and the National Association of State 9-1-1 Administrators (NASNA).

BloostonLaw contacts: Hal Mordkofsky, and Cary Mitchell.

Walden Draft Bill Would Reform FCC Processes

Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) is drafting legislation to reform FCC processes. At last week’s House Communications and Technology Subcommittee hearing, the panel discussed the provisions in the draft. The proposed bill would:

  • Require the Commission to conduct an economic analysis of industries that would be affected by the rules before initiating a new rule-making and provide certain minimum amounts of time for comments.
  • Prevent the Commission from imposing burdens on consumers or industry unless it first identifies a market failure and consumer harm justifying the burden. If such rules are needed, the Commission must perform a cost-benefit analysis and create performance measures for the rule’s continued evaluation.
  • Ensure any conditions imposed on transactions are tailored to transaction-specific harms and within the Commission’s general rule-making authority.
  • Promote a renewed focus on the economic opportunities and challenges for the communications sector with a biennial report to Congress from the Commission giving a big-picture view of what’s happening in the industry, the challenges for jobs and economic growth, and the Commission’s plans to address those issues.
  • Enhance consistency and transparency in the Commission's operations by requiring the FCC to establish its own internal procedures for: (1) adequate review and deliberation regarding pending orders; (2) publication of orders before open meetings; (3) initiation of items by bipartisan majorities; and (4) minimum public-comment periods.
  • Establish “shot clocks” so that parties know how quickly they can expect action in certain proceedings and provide a schedule for when reports would be released.
  • Empower the Commission to improve the way it conducts business and operate more efficiently with sunshine reform, allowing three or more Commissioners to meet for collaborative discussions so long as certain safeguards are in place.

OMB Asked To Help In FCC Self-Review

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have written to Cass Sunstein, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), urging his office to work with the FCC to ensure the agency's voluntary self-review of regulations meets the same standards as the administration's government-wide effort to remove burdensome federal regulations. As an independent agency, the FCC is not covered by the executive order mandating the review, but the FCC agreed with a request from the House committee to conduct a full review of current regulations to identify those that could pose barriers to job creation. Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Reps. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) asked Sunstein for details on how his office is working to convince independent agencies of the importance of the reviews even though they are not required. The FCC has announced it would delete the so-called Fairness Doctrine and other outdated rules by August, and it has opened a proceeding to identify “dormant” proceedings that could be terminated. In a related matter, Rep. Robert Latta (R-Ohio) has introduced HR 2289, the FCC ABCs Act. This is a short bill that directs the FCC to “include in each notice of proposed rulemaking and in each final rule issued by the Commission an analysis of the benefits and costs of the proposed rule or final rule, respectively.”

BloostonLaw contacts: Hal Mordkofsky, Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and John Prendergast.

House Panel Asks FCC For USF, Lifeline Information

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has asked the FCC for additional information concerning the Universal Service Fund program (USF). The request is a supplement to a June 15 letter to the Commission on the same issue. Specifically, the Committee said it is seeking more targeted data, as well as new data regarding the status of the low-income support programs. Thus, the Committee asked for the following information by July 22:

1. A state-by-state list of total disbursements of USF support for each of the four USF Programs, including an estimate of net contributor states and net recipient states. In addition, the Committee wants a listing of the top 10 recipients of high-cost support by state for 2008, 2009, and 2010.

2. An updated list of states that have a state-wide universal service fund and a brief explanation of the basis for contribution and what the fund supports.

3. A state-by-state list of competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (CETCs) and the names of such entities grouped by holding company. In addition, the panel wants the FCC to denote those carriers that do not use their own facilities to provide the supported services and those carriers that are only eligible to participate in the low-income program.

4. An updated list of the top 10 recipients, by holding company, of high-cost support for 2008, 2009, and 2010. In addition, the Committee wants a table showing the amount received for each of the high-cost programs, total high-cost support, and per-line high-cost support received during that three-year period by each holding company. As with the previous request, if a company receives high-cost support for more than one corporate entity, the FCC is asked to list separately the name and location of all entities receiving support, but attribute the total amount to the corporate parent.

5. An updated list of the 10 incumbent service areas that received the largest per-line high cost subsidies in 2008, 2009, and 2010. For each service area, the FCC should include:

  • the geographic scope of the incumbent service area;
  • the total high-cost support received by the incumbent carrier, broken down by high cost program, as well as the per-line support amount;
  • if the incumbent is eligible to disaggregate and target high-cost support, whether it has done so;
  • if the incumbent is a rural telephone company, whether its service area has been redefined;
  • a list of CTECs in these service areas, if any;
  • the wire centers each CETC has been designated to serve within the incumbent service area;
  • the total support amounts received by each of these competitive eligible telecommunications carriers for 2008, 2009, and 2010; and,
  • a list of other competitors that do not receive high-cost support along with the wire centers they serve, to the extent that information is available.

6. A list of the 10 incumbent service areas that received the largest amount of total high cost support in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

7. An updated list of the 10 incumbent service areas with the most eligible telecommunications carriers — in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

8. The total amount of low-income support disbursed for 2008, 2009, and 2010 for each program, nationally and on a state-by-state basis.

9. A list of the top 10 recipients, by holding company, of low-income support for 2008, 2009, and 2010.

BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Mary Sisak.

LAW & REGULATION

USDA, FCC RELEASE RURAL BROADBAND REPORT: The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has joined the FCC in releasing a report to Congress titled, Bringing Broadband to Rural America: Update to Report on a Rural Broadband Strategy, for placing new emphasis on the need to support the delivery of broadband to rural communities. The report, prepared by the FCC in consultation with USDA’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS), noted that broadband deployment and adoption remains a top priority for the Obama Administration through ongoing loan and grant programs administered by RUS and regulatory reform measures and tools set forth by the FCC. However, the report notes that more needs to be done to fulfill the Administration’s objective for widespread deployment of affordable, quality broadband services to every community. The report states that approximately 28 percent of rural residents still lack access to the kind of broadband that most Americans take for granted. Since publication of the FCC’s 2009 broadband report, RUS has invested over $5 billion in funding for broadband, including approximately $1.5 billion in loans for telecommunications infrastructure that is broadband capable, $13.4 million in grants for broadband in remote rural areas, $71 million in distance learning and telemedicine grants, and $3.5 billion in broadband funding awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Mary Sisak.

AMENDMENT WOULD BAR FCC FROM FUNDING LIGHTSQUARED UNTIL THERE IS PROOF SYSTEM WON’T INTERFERE WITH GPS: The House Appropriations Committee last week approved an amendment to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 appropriations bill that would prohibit the FCC from spending any funds to grant LightSquared's conditional spectrum permit until the company is able to prove its network will not cause wide-spread blackouts in GPS service. The amendment, sponsored by Reps. Steve Austria (R-Ohio) and Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.), would prohibit FCC funding "to remove the conditions imposed on commercial terrestrial operations in the Order and Authorization adopted by the Commission on January 26, 2011 (DA 11-133), or otherwise permit such operations until the Commission has resolved concerns of potential widespread harmful interference by such commercial terrestrial operations to commercially available Global Positioning System (GPS) devices." If approved by the full House and Senate, the amendment could effectively stop the FCC from allowing LightSquared to launch its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network until the company can prove its service won't affect GPS systems. LightSquared is seeking to deploy a mobile broadband network in spectrum near bandwidth used by GPS, raising concerns that the service could knock out sensitive GPS receivers. As noted by Wireless Week, an earlier version of the appropriations bill stated that the committee was "aware of concerns related to possible interference to [GPS] devices due to terrestrial broadband service" and was waiting for LightSquared's final report on the problem from an FCC-mandated study. That report is due July 1. In the meantime, LightSquared has recently announced a new tactic to avoid interference, by moving its operations to spectrum further removed from the GPS band. BloostonLaw contacts: Hal Mordkofsky, John Prendergast, and Cary Mitchell.

COMMENT DATES SET FOR RURAL HEALTH CARE NPRM: The FCC has set comment dates for its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) seeking comment on whether to make certain “grandfathered'' rural health care providers permanently eligible for discounted services under the rural health care program (BloostonLaw Telecom Update, June 22). Comments in this WC Docket No. 02-60 proceeding are due July 27, and replies are due August 11. Grandfathered providers do not currently qualify as “rural,'' but play a key role in delivering health care services to surrounding regions that do qualify as “rural'' today. Thus, the FCC said it takes these actions to ensure that health care providers located in rural areas can continue to benefit from connecting with grandfathered providers, and thereby provide health care to patients in rural areas. BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Mary Sisak.

COURT SAYS FCC’s “ISP REMAND ORDER” APPLIES TO CLECs: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has reversed a lower court and ruled that the FCC’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) Remand Order’s compensation regime applies to ISP-bound traffic exchanged between two competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs). In AT&T v. Pac-West Telecom, AT&T, which operates as a CLEC in California, argued that the ISP Remand Order applies when the carrier originating the call and the carrier terminating the call are both CLECs. Pac-West (also a CLEC) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) contended that the ISP Remand Order’s compensation regime applies only to traffic between a CLEC and an incumbent LEC (ILEC). The CPUC agreed with Pac-West’s limited reading of the reach of the compensation regime, finding it inapplicable to the ISP-bound traffic originating with AT&T and terminated by Pac-West, and so it assessed against AT&T charges consistent with Pac-West’s state-filed tariff. AT&T then sued Pac-West and the CPUC in federal district court, alleging that the ISP Remand Order preempted Pac-West’s attempts to assess AT&T charges for ISP-bound traffic based on state-filed tariffs. The district court granted summary judgment, agreeing with Pac-West’s argument that the ISP Remand Order does not apply to CLEC-to-CLEC traffic. The 9th Circuit noted that “arbitrage,” which the FCC was attempting to remedy in its ISP Remand Order, “in no way depends on the participation of an ILEC. The ISP Remand Order reflects this reality, imposing its rules on all LECs, with the exception of the ‘mirroring’ rule, which the FCC singled out as applicable only to ILECs.” BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Mary Sisak.

FCC GIVES USAC FURTHER DIRECTIVE ON LIFELINE ISSUES: The FCC has directed the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to follow up on last month’s Commission directive to begin conducting in-depth data validations (IDVs) targeted at uncovering duplicative claims for Lifeline support. The Commission asked USAC to conduct state-specific IDVs after USAC audits undertaken in the course of ongoing oversight over the Low Income Program revealed that multiple eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) are seeking reimbursement for Lifeline service provided to the same individual, and in some instances, to more than one individual living in the same residence. The FCC’s June 21 letter provides guidance to USAC on the process it should follow in identifying and resolving duplicative Lifeline claims found through IDVs conducted in specific states or at any other time USAC becomes aware of duplicative claims for Lifeline support. Commission orders and rules do not currently specify a process for ETCs and USAC to follow, however, when they learn that a subscriber is receiving duplicative Lifeline services. To address the problem of wasteful, duplicative Lifeline support, the Commission has issued an order adopting rules aimed at ensuring that qualifying low income consumers receive no more than a single Lifeline benefit. The order also directs the Wireline Competition Bureau to work with USAC to implement a process to resolve duplicative claims identified through the IDV process. This duplicate resolution process is not intended to be a permanent solution, but rather an interim one that will be in place while the Commission considers broader reforms to the Lifeline/Link Up program. BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Mary Sisak.

WINNING BIDDERS IN COMMERCIAL BROADCAST AUCTIONS MUST SUBMIT FILING FEE WITH LONG-FORM APPLICATIONS: The FCC has amended its rules to clarify that winning bidders in auctions of commercial broadcast spectrum are required to submit an application filing fee with their post-auction long-form applications. This clarification is intended to rectify a possible inconsistency throughout the Commission's rules, and in an earlier Commission Order. The FCC noted an inconsistency between Implementation of Section 309(j) of the Communications Act—Competitive Bidding for Commercial Broadcast and Instructional Television Fixed Service Licenses, First Report and Order, in which the Commission required that winning broadcast auction bidders pay filing fees with their post-auction long-form applications, and 47 CFR 1.1104, the Schedule of Charges for Media Bureau Service filings, which requires payment of a fee when the long-form application is filed, on the one hand, and 47 CFR 1.2107(c), which suggests that a filing fee need not accompany a high bidder's long-form application, on the other. To rectify this inconsistency and conform the rules to the Commission's stated intent in the Broadcast Competitive Bidding First Report and Order, the Commission proposed to amend 47 CFR 1.2107(c) to read, “Except as otherwise provided in Sec. 1.1104 of the rules, high bidders need not submit an additional application fee with their long-form applications.” By amending 47 CFR 1.2107(c), the Commission clarified that high bidders filing long-form applications for media services must still pay any fees required by 47 CFR 1.1104 when filing their post-auction long-form application. The rule change in this Second Order will become effective June 28. BloostonLaw contacts: Hal Mordkofsky, John Prendergast, and Richard Rubino.

RLSA BECOMES NEW TRS FUND ADMINISTRATOR: On March 7, 2011 the FCC awarded Rolka Loube Saltzer Associates, LLC (RLSA), a contract to administer the Interstate TRS Fund support services. As a result, administration of the TRS Fund is being transitioned from the current TRS Fund Administrator, the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA), to RLSA. Effective Friday, July 1, 2011, RLSA in its role as the TRS Fund Administrator, will oversee collections and distribution from the TRS Fund. Therefore, on July 1, 2011, all TRS Fund related payments will be handled by M&T Bank in Baltimore, Maryland. NECA, the current TRS Fund Administrator through June 30, 2011, uses the services of Bank of New York Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pa. TRS contributors will receive an email from RLSA containing instructions for using a secure online portal and bill payment options, at r-l-s-a.inlattice.com. TRS contributors that have not provided an email address on their most recently filed Form 499-A will be contacted via regular US mail by RLSA. Additional information concerning RLSA and TRS Fund administration can be found at r-l-s-a.com/TRS. BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Mary Sisak.

BARTON INTRODUCES ONLINE POKER BILL: Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) introduced a bill last Friday that will regulate internet poker. Barton was joined by original co-sponsors Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.). The bill would create an interstate licensing program for internet poker sites, but at the same time allow states to opt out if they don’t want to participate. At this moment, Barton said, millions of law-abiding citizens are still playing poker in jurisdictions all over the world, many in places with weak or less than desirable regulatory environments that provide no certainty of legitimacy or safety. This bill will protect them, he said. The lawmakers believe this is an issue of personal freedom and that the government shouldn't stop people from playing a game of skill. “Poker is an all-American game, and it’s a game that requires strategy and skill. Millions of Americans play poker online. Although it’s legal to play for money, it’s illegal to process the transactions that allow players to collect their earnings,” said Rep. Barton. “We want to have an iron-clad system to make sure that those who play for money are playing in an honest, fair system where they can reap the benefits of their winnings. To put it simply, this bill is about having the personal freedom to play a skill-based game you enjoy without fear of breaking the law.” BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Mary Sisak.

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BloostonLaw Private Users Update

Published by the Law Offices of Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy & Prendergast, LLP

[Portions reproduced here with the firm's permission.]

www.bloostonlaw.com

   Vol. 12, No. 6 June 2011   

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Parties Continue to Oppose LightSquared Over Potential Interference to GPS Bands

Several parties continue to challenge the FCC’s grant of authority for LightSquared Subsidiary LLC to operate a terrestrial wireless system in the L-Band, an area in which Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) satellites also operate. LightSquared plans to deploy its system (with 40,000 transmitters) directly adjacent to GPS bands. The company says it has developed filters to stop its signal from bleeding into GPS service, but many major GPS stakeholders, including the Defense Department, fear that widespread GPS dead zones are inevitable if LightSquared’s network goes live. This concern has been heightened by a June 1, 2011 article in the Wall Street Journal, which indicates that interference is being encountered up to 22 miles from LightSquared’s New Mexico test operation. The article goes on to report that the GPS interference problem may be contributing to other issues plaguing LightSquared, by causing investor concerns and delay.

Many companies have fleets of vehicles, and use GPS to track service and installation people. Additionally, many industries have GPS capability built into their infrastructure, and have come to depend on GPS. If your operations would be adversely affected by interference to GPS devices, you should contact us promptly to weigh in on the LightSquared issue.

The FCC granted LightSquared a waiver with a condition that LightSquared form an interference working group and submit progress reports, culminating in a report to the FCC by June 15. Commenters have urged the FCC to require that LightSquared eliminate any interference, not just interference focused on by the working group, and ensure that a system is in place to deal with any future interference issues. They have also urged the FCC to promote government transparency by ensuring not only that the progress reports to the FCC are made public, but also that the public is given a meaningful chance to participate in determining whether the issues raised in the reports are satisfactorily resolved. BloostonLaw contacts: John Prendergast and Sal Taillefer.

Narrowbanding May Require Equipment Replacement

As we have previously advised our clients, the FCC has adopted rules that will require radio systems in the frequency bands 150-174 MHz and 470-512 MHz using 25 kHz bandwidth channels to reduce the bandwidth of their systems to not more than 12.5 kHz, or employ a technology that achieves the narrowband equivalent of one channel per 12.5 kHz of channel bandwidth (voice) or 4800 bits per second per 6.25 kHz bandwidth or before January 1, 2013. Meeting the narrowbanding requirement has two elements: (1) Making sure your license is modified to authorize the use of narrowband emissions, and (2) making sure your equipment is actually capable of narrowband operation. We have been working with our retainer clients to help them modify their licenses as required, and will continue to do so as the January 2013 deadline approaches (Licensees without a retainer can contact us for licensing assistance as well). But licensees must also take steps to make sure their equipment meets the narrowbanding requirement by the deadline. Sometimes existing equipment either already complies or can be adjusted to operate in narrowband mode. But some equipment (especially older models) may need to be outright replaced.

Some vendors are now actively marketing narrowbanding solutions to Private Land Mobile Radio Service licensees. For instance, Daniels Electronics Ltd., a Canadian company (www.danelec.com), is advertising a family of VHF and UHF base stations and repeaters that support wideband, narrowband and cross-band operation. Other vendors are likely to focus their efforts on this issue as the narrowbanding deadline approaches. Our clients should consult their equipment vendor well in advance of the deadline to find out if their existing equipment needs to be replaced or adjusted to meet the narrowbanding requirement. They should also verify with their vendor that any replacement equipment has be type-certified by the FCC for narrowband operation under Part 90 of the FCC’s Rules.

BloostonLaw contacts: Gene Maliszewskyj, John Prendergast, and Richard Rubino.

FCC Seeks Further Comment On Fixed Service Sharing In 7 GHz and 13 GHz Bands

On August 5, 2010, the FCC commenced a proceeding to remove regulatory barriers to the use of spectrum for wireless backhaul and other point-to-point and point-to-multipoint communications. The proceeding sought to increase efficient use of spectrum for backhaul, by updating regulatory classifications that may not have kept pace with the evolution of converged digital technologies. Now the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) seeks additional, focused comment on certain issues raised in the Commission’s Wireless Backhaul proceeding.

Specifically, the WTB seeks to supplement the record in this proceeding on: (1) the feasibility of sharing in the 7 and 13 GHz bands; (2) limiting the frequency ranges available for Fixed Service (FS) in order to ensure the continuation of electronic newsgathering operations; and (3) the appropriate channelization scheme, coordination procedures, and capacity and loading requirements for the bands. Comments in this WT Docket No. 10-153 proceeding are due June 27. There is no opportunity for replies.

BloostonLaw contacts: Hal Mordkofsky, John Prendergast, and Cary Mitchell.

FCC Launches Investigation On Maritime’s Eligibility to Hold FCC Licenses Due to Alleged Spectrum Auction Abuses, Other Violations

The FCC has commenced a hearing proceeding to determine whether Maritime Communications/Land Mobile, LLC is qualified to remain an FCC licensee, and as a consequence whether its licenses should be revoked, and pending applications denied. The issues designated for hearing include whether Maritime should be ordered to repay to the U.S. Treasury the full amount of bidding credits that it received as a result of claiming designated entity status in the FCC’s AMTS spectrum auction (Auction No. 61); whether a fine should be issued against Maritime for violations of the Commission's rules; whether Maritime and its principals should be prohibited from participating in FCC auctions; and whether Maritime's licenses for its site-based AMTS stations cancelled automatically for lack of construction or permanent discontinuance of operation in violation of the Commission's rules.

Specifically, the FCC said there are substantial and material questions of fact as to whether Maritime (i) improperly received a $2.8 million bid credit in the auction by claiming it qualified for small business status; (ii) repeatedly made misrepresentations to and lacked candor with the Commission in connection with its participation in Auction No. 61 and the claimed bidding credit; (iii) failed to maintain the continuing accuracy and completeness of information furnished in its still pending auction application; and (iv) purports to hold authorizations that have cancelled automatically for lack of construction or permanent discontinuance of operation. In both its short-form and long-form auction applications filed in 2005, the FCC said, Maritime disclosed only the interests of Maritime's named principal Sandra M. DePriest and her affiliates, and reported the revenues of Ms. DePriest’s businesses as part of its showing that Maritime qualified for small business bid credits. Maritime claimed that Sandra DePriest was the sole officer and key employee of Maritime and appears to have concluded that because her husband, Donald R. DePriest, was not an “officer” or “director” of Maritime, his interests were not relevant to the designated entity analysis, according to the FCC. However, the agency added, Maritime was obligated to disclose Donald DePriest's revenues pursuant to the spousal affiliation requirements set forth in Sec. 1.2110 of the Commission's rules.

Furthermore, the FCC said there is credible evidence suggesting that Donald DePriest was a real party in interest behind Maritime and exercised de facto control of Maritime—both of which would also require attribution of revenues generated by his business interests under the FCC’s rules governing bid credit eligibility. If his revenues had been added, the FCC expected Maritime would not have qualified for small business status.

Petitions to intervene may be filed on or before June 23, 2011. All filings should reference EB Docket No. 11-71. BloostonLaw contacts: Hal Mordkofsky, John Prendergast, and Cary Mitchell.

FCC Announces Revised Application Fees

Effective June 21, the application fees charged to licensees and permittees by the FCC will increase to reflect the change in the Consumer Price Index-Urban (CPI-U). Section 8(b) of the Communications Act requires cost-of-living adjustments to the application fee schedule every two years after October 1, 1991. Increases in the dollar amount of all Section 8 application fees are based on the percentage change in the CPI-U from the date of enactment of the legislation.

The FCC proposes to increase the regulatory fee by $5 per year for marine coast, PLMRS (shared use), aircraft and aviation ground stations. This means that the application fee for these services for new stations and for renewal of license would increase by $50, since the license terms run for ten years.

The new Schedule of Application Fees reflects the net change in the CPI-U of 7.24 index points or 3.5 percent, calculated from October 2007 through October 2009 in accordance with Section 1.1115 of Part 1 of the Commission’s Rules. All revenues generated by Section 8 Application Fees are deposited in the General Fund of the United States Treasury.

BloostonLaw contacts: Hal Mordkofsky, John Prendergast, and Richard Rubino.

Bosch Granted Waiver For “Wallscanner” Device

The FCC has granted a request by Robert Bosch, GmbH, to waive Section 15.503(h) of its rules for Bosch’s Wallscanner D-tect 150 Professional device and for functionally identical versions of that device. This will permit Bosch to import and market its wallscanner device upon receiving an FCC equipment authorization and complying with all other requirements of the FCC’s rules, including the technical and operational requirements for unlicensed ultra-wideband imaging systems in Section 15.509, the Commission said. The agency found that granting this waiver request is in the public interest in that it will allow deployment of a product with beneficial applications in building construction, as well as inspection and maintenance of buildings in the United States. Because use of the wallscanner device is not limited to government/public safety entities, this device may prove useful for companies engaged in construction/restoration of buildings, installation of wiring, and other activities.

In its request, Bosch stated that its wallscanner device is an ultra-wideband (UWB) imaging device for use by skilled professional workers in the building and construction trades (such as professional building inspection and structural engineers) for detection of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, electric cables, wooden beams, plastic pipes and structural flaws within various types of construction materials. Bosch further stated that the wallscanner device is currently used in Europe, Canada, and Asia and meets all technical requirements of the Commission’s Part 15 rules applicable to UWB devices.

Bosch sought a waiver of the Commission’s rules because its device does not satisfy the definitions or eligibility use restrictions for imaging systems in the UWB rules. Section 15.503(h) defines a “wall imaging system” as a “field disturbance sensor that is designed to detect the location of objects … or to determine the physical properties within the ‘wall’ [which is a] physical structure that is dense enough and thick enough to absorb the majority of the signal transmitted by the imaging system.” The rule expressly excludes “products such as ‘stud locators’ that are designed to locate objects behind… walls that are not capable of absorbing the transmitted signal.” Section 15.509 of the rules allows the operation of wall imaging systems and limits their use to parties eligible for licensing under Part 90 of the Commission rules for certain purposes, including construction.

Bosch stated that it may not necessarily be the case that a wall or other structure scanned by the Bosch device will be dense and thick enough to absorb the entirety of the transmitted radio signal; therefore, its device will not necessarily meet that part of the definition. Bosch also stated that its wallscanner device includes as one of its operating modes a “stud locator” function which would preclude its classification as a wall imaging system.

According to the FCC, Section 15.503(i) defines a “through-wall imaging system” as “a field disturbance sensor that is designed to detect the location or movement of persons or objects that are located on the other side of an opaque structure such as a wall or … [including] products such as “stud locators” that are designed to locate objects behind … walls that … [do not] absorb the transmitted signal.” Bosch noted that, if its imaging device were classified as a “through-wall imaging system,” its intended use would not comply with Section 15.510(b) which restricts the use of such systems to law enforcement, emergency rescue of fire-fighting organizations that are under the authority of a local or state government.

The FCC determined that a waiver of the definition in 15.503(h) for the Bosch wallscanner can be granted without increasing the potential for harmful interference. Hence, granting this waiver will not undermine the purpose of the rules. Finally, there is a stronger public interest benefit in granting this waiver than in strictly applying the rules, the Commission said.

BloostonLaw contacts: Hal Mordkofsky, John Prendergast, and Richard Rubino.

State of Florida Granted Trunking Waiver

Subject to certain conditions, the FCC has granted a State of Florida waiver request to operate 700 MHz repeaters in the conventional, i.e., non-trunked, mode on up to eight interoperability channel sets. Florida currently is licensed for up to 100 deployable 700 MHz repeaters operating in the non-trunked. Florida seeks a waiver of Section 90.531(b)(1)(iii) of the Commission’s rules to enable it to operate these repeaters in the trunked mode.

BloostonLaw contacts: Hal Mordkofsky, John Prendergast, and Richard Rubino.

FCC Reminds Boaters Of Marine Safety Rules

As the summer boating season ramps up, boaters are urged to familiarize themselves with marine safety communication requirements, and ensure that their equipment is operating properly. The FCC regulates marine communications in cooperation with the United States Coast Guard, which monitors marine distress frequencies continuously to protect life and property. All users of marine radio, whether voluntary or compulsory, are responsible for observing both FCC and Coast Guard requirements. Each summer, the United States Coast Guard reports a significant number of false distress calls and incidents ranging from a simple lack of courtesy to intentional interference. The Enforcement Bureau intends to strictly enforce the Rules related to marine radio operations. Ensuring the integrity of safety and distress frequencies is vital to safeguarding lives and property. BloostonLaw contacts: Hal Mordkofsky, John Prendergast, and Richard Rubino.

This newsletter is not intended to provide legal advice. Those interested in more information should contact the firm.

Source: Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy and Prendergast, LLP For additional information, contact Hal Mordkofsky at 202-828-5520 or halmor@bloostonlaw.com

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

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  • Variety of sizes Indoor/outdoor
  • Integrated paging receiver

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

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  • 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

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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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Preferred Wireless

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Terminals & Controllers:
1 Motorola ASC1500
2 GL3100 RF Director 
9 Glenayre GLS2164 Satellite Receivers
1 GL3000L Complete w/Spares
1 GL3000ES Terminal
2 Zetron 2200 Terminals
  Unipage — Many Unipage Cards & Chassis
Link Transmitters:
2 Glenayre QT4201 & 6201, 25 & 100W Midband Link TX
2 Glenayre QT6201 Link Repeater and Link Station in Hot Standby
1 Glenayre QT6994, 150W, 900 MHz Link TX
3 Motorola 10W, 900 MHz Link TX (C35JZB6106)
2 Motorola 30W, Midband Link TX (C42JZB6106AC)
2 Eagle Midband Link Transmitters, 125W
5 Glenayre GL C2100 Link Repeaters
VHF Paging Transmitters
1 Motorola VHF PURC-5000 125W, ACB or TRC
6 Glenayre GLT8411, 250W, VHF TX
1 Motorola Nucleus, 125W, VHF, TX
2 Motorola Nucleus, 350W, VHF, TX
UHF Paging Transmitters:
20 Glenayre UHF GLT5340, 125W, DSP Exciter
6 Motorola PURC-5000 110 & 225W, TRC & ACB
2 QT-7795, 250W, UHF TX
900 MHz Paging Transmitters:
3 Glenayre GLT 8600, 500W
2 Glenayre GLT8200, 25W (NEW)
15 Glenayre GLT-8500 250W
35 Glenayre 900 MHz DSP Exciters
25 Glenayre GLT-8500 Final PAs
35 Glenayre GLT-8500 Power Supplies

SEE WEB FOR COMPLETE LIST:
www.preferredwireless.com/equipment left arrow CLICK HERE

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
rickm@preferredwireless.com
left arrow CLICK HERE
www.preferredwireless.com/equipment
left arrow OR HERE 

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Preferred Wireless

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EastWest Communications Inc.

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Media 1® live
by EastWest Communications Inc.

Real-time response to live events

spacer The audience may attend or view/listen to an event nationwide and respond in real time without requiring a computer — even respond while attending an event.

spacer Participate in sporting events, concerts, training programs or other programs to allow the producers to change the program based on audience participation.

Ed Lyda
P.O. Box 8488
The Woodlands, Texas 77387
Cell: 832-928-9538

E-mail: eastwesttexas@sbcglobal.net

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EastWest Communications Inc.

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Note from Phil Leavitt:

For Sale

I have about 95 new CreataLinks and about 285 DataLinks, all 900 MHz POCSAG.

I have approximately 250 ± J39DNW0050 DataLink II Plus — boards only — new, and approximately 95 CreataLink modules. I also have 2 developer's kits and some CreataLink II units.

Philip C Leavitt, Manager
Leavitt Communications
7508 N Red Ledge Drive
Paradise Valley, AZ 85253
pcleavitt@leavittcom.com
www.leavittcom.com
Tel: 847-955-0511
Fax: 270-447-1909
Mobile: 847-494-0000
Skype ID: pcleavitt

 

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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

  • 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 HERE

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HARK—EXHIBITS AT THE
NASHVILLE CONFERENCE

hark

David George and Bill Noyes
of Hark Technologies.

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Hark Technologies

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UCOM Paging

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satellite dish ucom logo

Satellite Uplink
As Low As
$500/month

  • Data input speeds up to 38.4 Kbps Dial-in modem access for Admin Extremely reliable & secure
  • Hot standby up link components

Knowledgeable Tech Support 24/7

Contact Alan Carle Now!
1-888-854-2697 x272
acarle@ucom.com www.ucom.com

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UCOM Paging

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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 Dr.
Paradise Valley, AZ 85253

www.leavittcom.com

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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From: Frank Mercurio <w9fm@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Limerick
Date: June 30, 2011 8:38:08 AM CDT

There once was a pervert named Weiner
Who had a perverted demeanor
Forced from the Hill
For acting like Bill
Now Congress is one weiner leaner

Burma Shave ....

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UNTIL NEXT WEEK

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Brad Dye
With best regards,

brad's signature
Newsletter Editor

73 DE K9IQY

aapc logo

Wireless Messaging News
Brad Dye, Editor
P.O. Box 266
Fairfield, IL 62837 USA

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Skype: braddye
Telephone: 618-599-7869

E–mail: brad@braddye.com
Wireless Consulting page
Paging Information Home Page
Marketing & Engineering Papers
AAPC web site

pagerman WIRELESS
wireless logo medium
MESSAGING

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THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

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“Truth is what stands the test of experience.”

—Albert Einstein
US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

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left arrow Newspapers generally cost 75¢ a copy and they hardly ever mention paging. If you receive some benefit from this publication maybe you would like to help support it financially? A donation of $25.00 would represent approximately 50¢ a copy for one year. If you are willing and able, please click on the PayPal Donate button to the left.

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iland internet sulutions This newsletter is brought to you by the generous support of our advertisers and the courtesy of iland Internet Solutions Corporation. For more information about the web-hosting services available from iland Internet Solutions Corporation, please click on their logo to the left.

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THE WIRELESS MESSAGING NEWSLETTER & THE PAGING INFORMATION RESOURCE

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