Warning: mktime() [
function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
29
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
31
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Warning: mktime() [
function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
29
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
31
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Warning: mktime() [
function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
29
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
31
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
11/1/2005
From an interview with SBC CEO Edward Whitacre:
How concerned are you about Internet upstarts like Google (GOOG ), MSN, Vonage, and others?
“How do you think they’re going to get to customers? Through a broadband pipe. Cable companies have them. We have them. Now what they would like to do is use my pipes free, but I ain’t going to let them do that because we have spent this capital and we have to have a return on it. So there’s going to have to be some mechanism for these people who use these pipes to pay for the portion they’re using. Why should they be allowed to use my pipes?”
To answer Whitacre, the answer is simple, and direct. You should allow them to use your pipes because that’s the destination that I’ve chosen to get to. And I’m your customer, the one who’s paying for those pipes.
Whitacre seems not to grasp the fact that the Internet is a network of networks. He’s telling his customers in this quote that if you’re a customer of SBC, and you want to recieve content from someone who’s not a customer of SBC, you’re going to be shit outta luck.
The concept is simple. I, the end user customer, pay SBC to move my packets, and any packets I request to be sent to me, from point A (my location) to point B (the location where the content resides). No more, no less. If I request a page from Google, it’s not Google using SBC’s pipes for free. It’s me, the customer, who pays for my pipe every month, using those pipes. You would think that, as simple as this concept is, the CEO of a multibillion dollar company could grasp it.
Read the whole interview here: http://www.businessweek.com/@@n34h*IUQu7KtOwgA/magazine/content/05_45/b3958092.htm
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Warning: mktime() [
function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
29
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
31
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Warning: mktime() [
function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
29
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
31
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Warning: mktime() [
function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
29
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
31
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in
/usr/home/meconlen/eediots/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
3/23/2005
The State of Texas, in a seriously misguided move, is suing VoIP provider Vonage, claiming that Vonage does not make it clear to customers that they do not provide traditional 911 service. This was brought about by a story a couple weeks ago here in the Houston area, where a teenaged daughter tried to call 911 from a Vonage phone during a burglery in which her parents were shot.
Why do I think this lawsuit is misguided? I’m a Vonage customer, and the case is without merit. Let me describe the layout of the booklet that describes the features of your Vonage service, the one that you get with every new VoIP adapter. Page 1 is the inside cover, and is blank. Page 2 is a place to write down your new Vonage phone number, serial number, etc. Page 3 is a general “Welcome to Vonage” type thingy. Page 4, the second “real” page of the manual, talks, in big, BOLD print, HOW TO ACTIVATE 911, and HOW IT’S DIFFERENT FROM TRADITIONAL 911!! Holy Shit! Right there! In BOLD! Where you can’t possibly miss it, unless you don’t bother to RTFM! The booklet, after discussing 911 (taking two pages to do so) then goes on to talk about other features, like voice mail, call forwarding, etc. But there it is, right at the front, 911. In fact, you see the 911 thing BEFORE you see the welcome to Vonage thing when you open the booklet, because our eyes naturally expect books to start on the right hand page, and not the left, so our eyes are drawn there first.
Then there’s the phone and account activation process. This process takes you through all the steps required to activate your phone and create your account. And it tells you that you have to activate the 911 service. So does the confirmation e-mail you get when your account is created. So does the dashboard page that you’re taken to when you sign in for the first time. In numerous ways and instances, Vonage makes it quite clear that 911 service is not activated by default (it can’t be, since the phone number is NOT tied to a location, unlike traditional phone service) and that you have to activate it and indicate where the phone is located so that they can route the call to the proper 911 center, and they explain the difference between their 911 service and traditional E911.
While it’s tragic that these people got shot, the fact that their 911 service wasn’t activated is because of their own stupidity or ignorance, and suing Vonage isn’t the answer, neither for these people nor for the State of Texas. Any judge worth his salt will take one look at the manual and dismiss the case, with prejudice, based on the (lack of) merit.
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