Rural Telecommunications articles from May 2008

Rural Telecommunications archives from May 2008

The Angry Whopper.(FROM the Editor)(Editorial)
May 1, 2008... Recently, our family traveled to Budapest, Hungary, for vacation. Friends had moved to the city last year and invited us to visit. They were fabulous tour guides, showing us beautiful monuments, exquisite churches and many extraordinary land...

Phone phreaker gets swatted down.(SHORT Takes)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Aresurgence of the old days of "phone phreaking"--hacking into phone systems--led to a crackdown late last year on "swatting," a more aggressive type of phone phreaking. Swatting involves malicious pranksters calling police with reports of...

Legal action over laptop searches.(SHORT Takes)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Two civil liberties groups, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Asian Law Caucus, have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), complaining that the agency's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division has...

Recruiting? Peruse social networks.(SHORT Takes)
May 1, 2008... Online recruiting has expanded from the traditional job sites into social networks, blogs, online forums and video resume sites. Company culture has become a major selling point for prospective hires as recruitment shifts to the interactivity...

Cutting down on password proliferation.(SHORT Makes)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The proliferation of content creators and communities online has stirred a sort of identity crisis. Users are finding it difficult to keep up with their increasing amount of usernames and passwords. Meanwhile, password/account management costs...

Weather balloons give lift to rural broadband service.(SHORT Takes)
May 1, 2008... Arizona-based Space Data provides remote and rural areas with wireless services and communications solutions by attaching a Iunchboxsized transceiver to balloons. The device rises to an altitude up to 100,000 feet approximately 20 minutes after...

Learning to live with shifting financial realities.(Perspective)
May 1, 2008... NTCA members have spent the last several years absorbed in transition and uncertainty. Now, however, our "Waiting for Godot" period, as far as policy and regulation are concerned, is drawing to a close. Congress and the FCC are chipping away at...

Who in your organization is overseeing CPNI compliance and training?(FIRST Person)
May 1, 2008... As the FCC cracks down on customer proprietary network information (CPNI) compliance, carriers are scrambling to make sure they take every reasonable precaution to protect customers' confidential data. The first step to adhering to the new...

Make your Web site sizzle.(Website overview)
May 1, 2008... What do customers see when they look at your Web site? Does a quick glance at the home page convey a reasssuring, professional image? When customers come to the site with questions, can they find the answers easily? Can they tell from the site...

Will your video products deliver?
May 1, 2008... According to a study conducted by IMS Research, by 2012 more than 52 million pay-TV subscribers around the globe will have adopted IPTV service. Some 60% of rural telcos already have found the need to offer video service, and others are sure to...

Zap the competition: ever wish you could Zap competitors--just make them go away?
May 1, 2008... I can't tell you how to make competitors go away. But I can tell you how to zap them into irrelevance. What makes a competitor relevant? When they offer virtually the same products, level of recognition, service and price as you do. If...

Turbo - charge your marketing campaign.
May 1, 2008... If paid advertising is putting a huge dent in your telco's marketing budget, relax. You have a wide variety of PR tools and tactics at your fingertips to turbo-charge your marketing campaign, from generating powerful free publicity that's...

Computer security: enabling the digital lifestyle.(INDUSTRY Innovator)
May 1, 2008... We live in remarkable times. Aided by technology, we're able to do things that were unimaginable just 20 years ago. Who could have predicted that consumers would be able to walk around with a device that fits in the palm of their hand, yet...

Maternity matters.(WORK Force)
May 1, 2008... Running a business with a key person absent is always tough. The challenge is especially daunting when an employee is on a maternity leave that can last six to eight weeks, or longer. How can you give your pregnant employees the private...

Spectrum savvy.(EXECUTIVE Viewpoint)
May 1, 2008... Americans today enjoy a tremendous degree of mobility, thanks to wireless technologies that help them meet business, entertainment, and safety and security needs. With this mobility comes an increasing demand for faster, better wireless...