Plain Old Telephone Service Research Articles

Federalism in Transition: Recalibrating the Federal-State Regulatory Balance for the All-IP Era

The United States is in the midst of a historic technological transition. Millions of Americans are rapidly replacing “plain old telephone service” (“POTS”) with more advanced alternatives, including wireless telephony, Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”), videoenabled chatting, and non-voice services like texting and social media. Many of these services are delivered over borderless broadband networks via the Internet Protocol (“IP”). The flexibility and modularity inherent in these newer, lightly regulated digital networks stand in sharp contrast to the highly regulated analog public switched telephone network (“PSTN”), with its vast system of copper lines and switches that served as the nation’s only means of voice communication for more than a century. In recognition of this clear shift and the enormous economic opportunities enabled by broadband, and in an effort to hasten the completion of what by all accounts has been a consumer-driven transition, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has begun the important task of modernizing the policy infrastructure governing the nation’s communications sector. This essential endeavor recognizes that the modern communications marketplace requires a regulatory framework built around and informed by the competitive dynamics, consumer expectations, and business models evident in today’s marketplace. Such forthright federal leadership is critical, but it alone will not guarantee a successful transition. Indeed, the states, primarily through their public utility commissions (“PUCs”), have long played a central role in regulating intrastate aspects of POTS and the PSTN, positioning themselves as de facto (some argue de jure) partners in any effort to modernize the laws and policies impacting the U.S. communications infrastructure. This partnership, however, has not always operated smoothly. Technological innovation, shifts in consumer demand, and a variety of other factors have, on numerous occasions, resulted in protracted legal battles over the proper demarcation of regulatory authority between state PUCs and the FCC. These disagreements have become more acute in the broadband era as PUCs attempt to assert continued primacy in the regulation of communications services provided in their states. Continued legal combat between the states and the federal government—and the uncertainty that it engenders—is ultimately harmful because it serves only to impede the organic forces that are driving this transition. Efforts to © 2014 Charles M. Davidson & Michael J. Santorelli. † Director, Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute at New York Law School. †† Director, Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute at New York Law School. The authors would like to thank the Journal staff for excellent editorial assistance. All errors and views are those of the authors only. 1132 BERKELEY TECHNOLOGY LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 29:1131 complete the ongoing IP transition should thus address the equally complex task of recalibrating regulatory federalism for a world dominated by IP networks and services. This Article focuses on this particular aspect of the transition: how to apportion regulatory authority between the states and the federal government in a way that reflects the dynamic nature of the modern communications market while also assuring continued consumer protections.

Securing USIM-based Mobile Communications from Interoperation of SIMbased Communications

Mobile networks security is constantly evolving and adapting to meet the needs of users and network operators. It is a requirement that there be interoperation of legacy security frameworks into modern mobile networks. Mobile networks originally had no real security which proved to be a deployment that was attacked constantly and the providers were defrauded of millions of dollars. To address the issues the SIM authentication protocols were developed to secure the resources of the network providers. The original SIM security framework developed in GSM networks had weaknesses brought about by the one way authentication protocol as well as weaknesses in the algorithms used to secure the communication. The evolution of authentication in mobile networks to address the problems in the SIM framework brought about the creation of the USIM protocols used in UMTS, LTE and WiMAX to secure the network from the SIM framework security issues. The integration of those two SIM and USIM frameworks brought forward the major weaknesses first found in the SIM framework. This paper proposes simple and effective solutions to reduce the possible attacks on the USIM protocols due to the above integration. First we propose a subtle modification to the SIM based GSM security protocols as a stand-alone solution, and then a modification to the USIM based UMTS security protocols is proposed as a second solution. Wireless communication allows for easy connectivity of devices without the expensive requirements of laying a physical network. One of the main difficulties in deploying wireless networks is the ability to secure information and resources on a medium that by its very nature broadcasts all information. A key aspect of securing wireless communication is the authentication protocol used to allow access to the network. The two major types of wireless networks are the stationary networks generally defined by the IEEE 802.11 standards and the mobile networks defined as 2G, 3G and 4G networks. As security requirements have changed the protocols for authentication have adapted with those changes. Authentication is the process of determining whether someone or something is, in fact, who or what it is declared to be. The traditional method of authentication in computing is the challenge-response mechanism. There is a shared secret between the two parties that is used in an algorithm so that one party poses a question as a challenge and the other party must reply with a correct answer as a response. Both of these network types have faced significant security problems that have needed to be addressed with stronger protocols and more secure cryptographic algorithms. When creating the new more powerful algorithms and protocols the older hardware cannot implement them due to the more strenuous requirements. The demands on mobile communication and networks have been constantly increasing. Originally the need was simply to have a phone system that could meet most of the requirements of the standard plain old telephone service (POTS) in most homes. The original first generation (1G) systems, such as the advanced mobile phone system (AMPS), were analog cellular networks which met this need without considering the inherent issues that arise due to using a wireless medium as opposed to a wired one. Security was a major issue that was not properly addressed when developing the 1G systems and therefore the phones were susceptible to cloning. This was due to the phones broadcasting their identities without encryption or integrity when phone calls are placed. Attackers could then take this information and apply it to their own phone to then use it to connect to the provider network allowing them to call anywhere without having a legitimate account with the provider. The cloning defrauded many providers of large amounts of money while inappropriately making unauthorized use of their resources. There are many benefits and International Journal for Information Security Research (IJISR), Volume 3, Issue 3, September 2013 Copyright © 2013, Infonomics Society 313

Retaining telecommunication services when universal service is defined by functionality: Japanese consumers' willingness-to-pay

This study uses contingent valuation to measure Japanese customers' willingness-to-pay to maintain combinations of five telecommunication services that are considered substitutes if universal service is defined on the basis of functionality. The analysis revealed the following results. First, consumers are more willing to pay to retain voice communication services than data transmission services. Second, customers accept Internet Protocol telephony as a substitute for plain old telephone service (POTS) as a universal service, and they are willing to pay much more than Japan's current Universal Service Fund charge. Third, even when mobile phone service (MOB) is available, consumers will pay to retain fixed-line voice services. Finally, consumers have an equal desire to keep fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and fixed-line voice services, but it is less than the demand for MOB. Thus, under the present definition of POTS as a universal service, FTTH could be considered as a basic telecommunication service.

Telehealth Group Interactions in the Hospice Setting: Assessing Technical Quality Across Platforms

This study aims to examine the technical quality of videoconferencing used in hospice to engage caregivers as "virtual" members of interdisciplinary team meetings and their impressions of telehealth. Furthermore, it aims to compare the quality of plain old telephone service (POTS) and Web-based videoconferencing and provide recommendations for assessing video quality for telehealth group interactions. Data were obtained from an ongoing randomized clinical trial exploring Web-based videoconferencing and a completed prospective study of POTS-based videoconferencing in hospice. For the assessment of the technical quality, an observation form was used. Exit interviews with caregivers assessed impressions with the use of telehealth. A retrospective analysis of video-recorded team meetings was conducted rating attributes essential for the quality of videoconferencing (e.g., video artifacts, sharpness). In total, 200 hospice team meetings were analyzed, including 114 video-recorded team meetings using Web-based videoconferencing and 86 meetings using POTS videophones. A direct comparison between the two modalities indicates the superiority of Web-based video in image quality but less so in audio quality. Transcripts of 19 caregiver interviews were analyzed. Caregivers found the use of videoconferencing to be a positive experience and a useful and essential tool to communicating with the hospice team. This study highlights the potential of telehealth to improve communication in hospice and the need for new tools that capture the quality of video-mediated communication among multiple stakeholders and strategies to improve the ongoing documentation of telehealth group sessions' technical quality.

Design and control of next generation distribution frames

In today’s access networks, the permutation of circuits connecting the subscriber lines to Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) and to Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers (DSLAMs) occurs in the Main Distribution Frame (MDF) and is still manually configured. However, new market regulations and new policies adopted by operators require increasingly more frequent permutations, making the manual configuration activity particularly expensive. Very recently, Automated MDFs (AMDFs) have been developed to provide inexpensive and almost real-time switching capability. Our study, based on more than 50years of research activities on architectures for circuit switching, is focused on overcoming the limits of classical architectures. In fact, strictly non-blocking multistage networks are too expensive, as a consequence of the large number of ports they require (sometimes exceeding 100,000). In addition, rearrangeable multistage networks can temporarily interrupt active circuits, affecting the performance of ADSL subscriber lines.As a possible solution to these problems, we propose the design of AMDFs based on Non-Interruptive Rearrangeable (NIR) networks. We show how to optimize the routing control to minimize the setup time of a circuit and to exploit output grouping. We believe that the solution described above is not only relevant for the theory of multistage interconnection networks, but also for the design and operation of large AMDFs.

Conjoint analysis of demand for IP telephony: the case of Japan

With the recent diffusion of broadband (BB) services, Internet protocol (IP) telephony is expected to spread significantly in Japan. This article investigates the demand for IP telephony by using conjoint analysis. Projecting IP telephony demand also contributes to Japanese info-communication policy discussions. Two points are made. First, IP telephony is still currently considered an optional supplement or an add-on service option of high-speed BB Internet access services in Japan rather than a close substitute of existing plain old telephone service (POTS). At this point, we find little evidence that many households will promptly forsake their fixed line service for IP telephony. Second, we conclude that the key condition for the proliferation of IP telephony is the complete guarantee of quality of service (QoS), including voice quality, number portability, fax usage and emergency access, comparable to or exceeding that of existing POTS.

WEB-Based Manuscript Processing

Summary form only given, as follows. In March 1876, the now famous words Mr. Watson - come here - I want to see uttered by Alexander Graham Bell launched wired telephony in the United States. Over time, America was criss-crossed by POTS (plain-old-telephone service) lines. Ironically, although the US was in the forefront of this wired telephone revolution, it lagged behind in large-scale deployment of the wireless telephony. Nations worldwide jumped ahead making widespread use of cellular telephony much earlier by simply installing communication towers and becoming connected by wireless overnight. The reason for this is that, however primitive it may be, it is difficult to displace an existing technology that works. A parallel can be drawn between this and the manuscript handing process for publications of the Electron Devices Society. Back in the early 90?s, we were in the lead in IEEE, computerizing the handling of manuscripts using primitive DOS-based applications running on the newborn personal computer. We refined this system over time and delayed the cut-over to web-based systems waiting for the technology to mature. We believe that the time is now ripe to make this transition. Starting January 1st, 2008, we have started processing all submissions to Electron Device Letters using IEEE?s web-based Central Author Submission and Peer Review System. To submit manuscripts using this system, please visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/edl. In accordance with this new system, please DO NOT send manuscripts directly to the Editor-in-Chief or to the Publications Office. Your submitted manuscript will now be accessed via the Manuscript Central.We welcome any suggestions you may have to make this system more user-friendly, efficient and versatile.

WEB-based Manuscript Processing

Summary form only given, as follows. In March 1876, the now famous words Mr. Watson - come here - I want to see uttered by Alexander Graham Bell launched wired telephony in the United States. Over time, America was criss-crossed by POTS (plain-old-telephone service) lines. Ironically, although the US was in the forefront of this wired telephone revolution, it lagged behind in large-scale deployment of the wireless telephony. Nations worldwide jumped ahead making widespread use of cellular telephony much earlier by simply installing communication towers and becoming connected by wireless overnight. The reason for this is that, however primitive it may be, it is difficult to displace an existing technology that works. A parallel can be drawn between this and the manuscript handing process for publications of the Electron Devices Society. Back in the early 90?s, we were in the lead in IEEE, computerizing the handling of manuscripts using primitive DOS-based applications running on the newborn personal computer. We refined this system over time and delayed the cut-over to web-based systems waiting for the technology to mature. We believe that the time is now ripe to make this transition. Starting January 1st, 2008, we have started processing all submissions to Electron Device Letters using IEEE?s web-based Central Author Submission and Peer Review System. To submit manuscripts using this system, please visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/edl. In accordance with this new system, please DO NOT send manuscripts directly to the Editor-in-Chief or to the Publications Office. Your submitted manuscript will now be accessed via the Manuscript Central.We welcome any suggestions you may have to make this system more user-friendly, efficient and versatile.

Web-based manuscript processing

Summary form only given, as follows. In March 1876, the now famous words "Mr. Watson - come here - I want to see you" uttered by Alexander Graham Bell launched wired telephony in the United States. Over time, America was criss-crossed by POTS (plain-old-telephone service) lines. Ironically, although the US was in the forefront of this wired telephone revolution, it lagged behind in large-scale deployment of the wireless telephony. Nations worldwide jumped ahead making widespread use of cellular telephony much earlier by simply installing communication towers and becoming connected by wireless overnight. The reason for this is that, however primitive it may be, it is difficult to displace an existing technology that works. A parallel can be drawn between this and the manuscript handing process for publications of the Electron Devices Society. Back in the early 90's, we were in the lead in IEEE, computerizing the handling of manuscripts using primitive DOS-based applications running on the newborn personal computer. We refined this system over time and delayed the cut-over to web-based systems waiting for the technology to mature. We believe that the time is now ripe to make this transition. Starting January 1st, 2008, we have started processing all submissions to Electron Device Letters using IEEE's web-based "Manuscript Central Author Submission and Peer Review System." To submit manuscripts using this system, please visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/edl. In accordance with this new system, please DO NOT send manuscripts directly to the Editor-in-Chief or to the Publications Office. Your submitted manuscript will now be accessed via the Manuscript Central.We welcome any suggestions you may have to make this system more user-friendly, efficient and versatile.

Economic analysis of class 5 migration to IMS

Telecommunication providers are increasingly choosing Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) infrastructure. However, they often have substantial investment in the existing time division multiplexing (TDM) switches. The question arises: Should they cap but maintain existing TDM infrastructure and provision broadband subscribers on an Internet Protocol (IP) network, or should they consolidate the TDM network and proactively migrate their existing plain old telephone service (POTS) subscribers to IMS? In the former case, one has to maintain two networks and incur the operating expenses and the pertinent complexities. In the latter case, the cost of public switched telephone network (PSTN) replacement and earlier investment in IMS must be weighed against potential operations savings and possible incremental revenue. In this paper we provide an economic analysis of these two options. We find that consolidation and operational expense (OpEx) savings in the proactive migration to IMS are not enough to offset the costs of migration unless there are new revenue opportunities due to the new services that the PSTN replacement subscribers are willing to adopt. © 2007 Alcatel-Lucent.

Voice over the internet: A tutorial discussing problems and solutions associated with alternative transport

This article provides a tutorial overview of voice over the Internet, examining the effects of moving voice traffic over the packet switched Internet and comparing this with the effects of moving voice over the more traditional circuit-switched telephone system. The emphasis of this document is on areas of concern to a backbone service provider implementing Voice over IP (VoIP). We begin by providing overviews of the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) and VoIP. We then discuss techniques service providers can use to help preserve service quality on their VoIP networks. Next, we briefly discuss Voice over ATM (VoATM) as an alternative to VoIP. Finally, we offer some conclusions.

Child abuse prevention program with POTS-based telehealth: a feasibility project.

Child abuse and neglect have devastating financial and psychological effects on children, families, and communities. Home visitation has been found to reduce the risk of child abuse by enhancing parent–child interaction and decreasing the incidence of physical punishment. This project was instituted to assess the acceptance and reliability of integrating inexpensive Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS)-based video technology (8 × 8 VIATV) into an existing program and to determine client and nurse satisfaction with the technology. At-risk families were recruited for the study if the mother was pregnant or had delivered within the past year and was available to participate in the study for 6 months. Subjects participated in the regular family intervention program in addition to having the POTS technology installed in their homes. Nurses also had the technology in their homes to give subjects access to them at all times. The POTS system had low acceptance by patients and nurses because of logistic and technica...

Deregulating the local loop: the telecommunications regulation path less chosen as taken by Bangladesh

The latter half of the last decade was witness to significant changes in the regulatory environment in Bangladesh. Various forms of competition have been allowed into the telecommunications landscape, most notably involving wireless technology. Bangladesh has taken a unique road in deregulation of telecommunications. Bangladesh has competition only in the local loop internal and international long distance remains a monopoly. Using the lens of GrameenPhone, we view the regulatory innovations in Bangladesh and conclude that such regulatory experiments are certainly worthwhile, if not always optimal, and thereby implicitly oppose the economic orthodoxy of complete deregulation and immediate privatisation as supported by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). In 1996, the wireline network in Bangladesh was in dismal shape. The same year, wireless licensing was expanded. One of the wireless providers to surface soon thereafter was a subsidiary of Grameen Bank, the premier development organisation in the region. This paper will discuss how regulatory changes in Bangladesh enabled GrameenPhone (the cellular provider under Grameen Bank) to offer a development program for the explicit purpose of expanding access to POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service). The GrameenPhone Village Program, Grameen's telecommunications for development initiative, offers a potentially sustainable solution to poor connectivity in rural Bangladesh. The programme achieves this end by combining the use of new technology with a unique entrepreneurial approach to marketing and financing their service. Is that because of or despite the regulation? This is the question we explore. A previous version of this paper was presented at the Internet Society Annual Meeting INET 2000.

On the applications of multimedia processing to communications

The challenge of multimedia processing is to provide services that seamlessly integrate text, sound, image, and video information and to do it in a way that preserves the ease of use and interactivity of conventional plain old telephone service (POTS) telephony. To achieve this goal, there are a number of technological problems that must be considered, including: compression and coding of multimedia signals, including algorithmic issues, standards issues, and transmission issues; synthesis and recognition of multimedia signals, including speech, images, handwriting, and text; organization, storage, and retrieval of multimedia signals, including the appropriate method and speed of delivery, resolution, and quality of service; access methods to the multimedia signal, including spoken natural language interfaces, agent interfaces, and media conversion tools; searching by text, speech, and image queries; browsing by accessing the text, by voice, or by indexed images. In each of these areas, a great deal of progress has been made in the past few years, driven in part by the relentless growth in multimedia personal computers and in part by the promise of broad-band access from the home and from wireless connections. Standards have also played a key role in driving new multimedia services, both on the POTS network and on the Internet. It is the purpose of this paper to review the status of the technology in each of the areas listed above and to illustrate current capabilities by describing several multimedia applications that have been implemented at AT&T Labs over the past several years.

From POTS to PANS

Deregulation and technical change are destroying the once cosy world of the telecoms operators with their plain old telephone services (POTS). The author describes how intelligent network technology can help innovative companies stay ahead of the competition by creating pretty amazing new services (PANS).

Managing the last mile [access network

No matter how good the transmission technology, if you can not manage it, you can not use it. Telecommunications planners are faced with simultaneously provisioning the explosion of lines linking homes and businesses with central offices and planning for a future where highly sophisticated interactive broadband services must be provided. Managing all portions of the network is complicated, but none more so than the access network known colloquially as "the last mile," the low data speed capacity lines that actually connect the home or business to the high-speed network. Before a line used for plain old telephone service (POTS), called a loop, can be used in higher speed applications it must be checked to make sure that it has the right electrical characteristics. The evolution of the loop from POTS to midband to broadband usage is examined emphasizing the relevant plant administration processes. Using today's special service administration is an expensive way to provide service. Alternates to special service provisioning are described.

A high-capacity photonic space-division switching system for broadband networks

A high-capacity (128-line) photonic space-division switching system prototype has been developed. All of the developments on polarization-independent LiNbO/sub 3/ matrix switches, semiconductor optical amplifiers for network loss compensation and three-dimensional optical interconnections for multi-stage switching networks combine to enlarge line capacity. The system is devised to provide both HDTV distribution services that require nonblocking connections and TV phone services that do not necessarily require these connections. It is confirmed that the system has been operating in providing 150 Mbps TV phone services and 600 Mbps HDTV distribution services with high stability. Thus, the system proves to be promising for STM broadband switching systems capable of providing high-speed continuous dense bit-stream services. The system, in concert with an ATM broadband switching system, could provide a full range of cost-effective broadband services from POTS (plain old telephone services) to HDTV. >

Cooperation in standardization

Global collaboration on standards has become essential with the accelerating deregulation of telecommunications. The telecommunications industry is rapidly evolving from the plain old telephone service (POTS) era of the last 100 years into a sophisticated multimedia era. Organizational and operational structures are also rapidly changing worldwide, and standards-making procedures and organizational structures are changing accordingly. In this article, a fresh development in setting telecommunications standards is introduced, one that mainly concerns the Interregional Telecommunications Standards Conference (ITSC) and its successor, the Global Standards Collaboration (GSC), which could well be called the ''Standards Summit.'' The relationship between ITSC/GSC and IEEE activities are also be addressed.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Feature interactions and formal specifications in telecommunications

The feature-interaction problem found in complex software systems that support telecommunications is reviewed. The relationship between feature interactions and formal specifications is examined. Several important ways telecommunications has evolved beyond plain old telephone service (POTS) are described. It is shown how many feature interactions can be eliminated by applying known techniques of formal specification. A glossary that explains telecommunications terms not defined in the text and acronyms used throughout the article is included.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Communications Technical Group Forum from Pots to Pixels

Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) is undergoing many changes. The phones themselves may no longer be “plain”; the service is no longer limited to just connecting two voices. This forum concentrates on the design, evaluation, and standardization of telephone-based interfaces. There are four central topics: (1) the current design issues with treating the telephone as an interface for users of many services; (2) the concerns of national and international standards bodies for phone-based interfaces; (3) the human factors issues surrounding the incorporation of speech synthesis and speech recognition into the telephone network; and (4) innovative design responses to current limitations. Overall is a trend from POTS to pixels.