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Even geeks like me find it hard to keep up with technology. It’s expanding exponentially like nuclear fission. Once a new discovery comes out it spawns many more discoveries - like a bad movie and its sequels. And they tell their friends and they tell their friends and so on and so on and so on. This posting just goes to show that you should never make assumptions.
UCAN Fraud Squad agent Sue got this post from an individual:
Please explain the nature of your dispute:
Cell phone was hacked and used as tracking device.What have you done thus far to resolve the problem?:
I have ask them for help many different times from many small verizon dealer or even verizon company own stores.they answer was nothing wrong with your phone or you mentaly ill.the latest accident i am can not get into my mess acct or update phone or contact verizon customer service.i am have my cell phoe look at by many different dealer ,i am was told my phone has been illegaly turn on and use for as a listening and tracking ( GPS) device.
My first response to Sue was that this individual probably DID have a case of psychosis:
We both know that cell phones have GPS in them but what I’m not sure about is whether it can be used for anything other than tracking BY THE CELL PROVIDER. This would be done via the datastream over their network and would not be available to a hacker. If a nefarious 3rd party accessed the phone and installed software on it, the complainant would have to have Internet or email access in order to get the data out of the phone and to the bad person.
I’m afraid this person may be suffering from paranoia. This story sounds like similar stories I’ve heard from other people who have this disease to some degree or another. I know that ad agencies are working on ways to have a cell phone tell them where it is so they can send back to the phone the locations of nearby services. But this would probably involve software and 3G internet access. Also, I’m not sure how a phone gets “hacked” without having it physically given to the hacker first unless they have Internet access on the phone and they have downloaded some malware.
From the Horse’s Mouth
I wrote to Verizon wireless to see what they knew about monitoring and tracking cell phones. PR person Ken Muche replied:
I have never heard of third parties using their own software to track certain people's cell phones. I am also not aware of any software that a person can buy and install on their own phone to do the same.
The FCC requires every carrier to use an e911 solution for first reponders to track the phones of people calling 9-1-1 in an emergency. This means 9-1-1 operators can get a person's GPS locaiton --- but only if that person dials 9-1-1 themselves. Otherwise, no first responders have that info. Also, the FCC gives wireless carriers two options for calculation lattitude/longitude coordinates. Not ever carrier is the same, so I can't answer what chips are in what phones.
I wrote:
If phones can have (and do they do have) Navigation programs in them that act just like a Garmin or Tomtom, then these programs must be accessing info from the GPS receivers. If they are accessing info from the GPS receivers, then a rogue program could easily send that info out via email or via SMS. You are saying to me that Verizon has no awareness of people creating such programs, am I right?
I understand from your comments below that in order for an E911 operator to get the callers location, the caller must have dialed 911. So I'm guessing that even if the police call Verizon and say "we're looking for a lost girl. Here's her cellphone number. Can you track it?" You'd say "All we can do is to tell you what cell it last registered with and, if necessary, we could triangulate on it, assuming it's still operating. We cannot give you the locations of her phone AS PER GPS." Am I correct?
Ken replied:
I am saying I have no awareness that a rogue program is doing what you suggest below.
Also, as to your question re: law enforcement: I meant that law enforcment agencies and e911 operators cannot proactively and independently track cell phone locations. That is, neither a random law enforcement agency nor a random e911 operator can push a button or run a program to find any cell phone they'd like. They do not have that ability.
Wireless carriers can track e911-compatible phones --- but can only get their near-precise location if that phone is making a voice or data call. If not, the wirelesss carrier can send a ping from their network switch to the phone and determine the nearest cell site that is serving that phone, triangulating if necessary. Also, we highly value our customers' privacy so we only provide law enforcement agencies location information if served with a subpeona or a bench warrant. Federal law allows for an exception to this but only in "exigent" circumstances. An "exigent" situation is one that is life threatening or poses a threat of serious physical harm or damage to property.
Comments from a GPS Pro
In the meantime, I wrote to Doug Adomatis who blogs about using GPS’ for travel at http://www.travelbygps.com and has a specific article about cell phone tracking here http://www.travelbygps.com/articles/tracking.php The tracking services he mentions in this article, like MapQuestFindMe, all require a GPS enabled phone with software installed on it. That said, it’s plausible that a person could have had such software installed and enabled on such a phone without their knowledge. I have no experience with iPhones, Androids, and BlackBerrys but I do know that you can see a list of most currently running applications on a Windows Mobile phone using the Task Manager.
But there seems to be a seedier underside to this tracking business. One example is BigDaddySpy, a Google ad for which happened to be displayed on Doug’s site. It says Track your child's cell phone activity. Catch that cheating spouse
I asked Doug about this whole subject:
I'm not sure what all BigDaddySpy does. I get calls from paranoids all the time, wanting to know if they are being tracked. Here is what I know.
A cell phone can be "pinged" which is finding out what tower the phone is closest to. It is called a tower report which is provided by the cellular service provider. The phone has to be on but not necessarily in use and the person requesting the information must know the cell phone number and must have authorization. Clearly law enforcement would be able to obtain authorization. Maybe private investigators. Private individuals probably not. But a tower report will not pinpoint a person's - well more accurately: the cell phone's - location. But if you are supposed to be at home and you're pinged in the next county then you're busted anyway. I have read where some claim that a phone can be tracked when it has been turned off and that is just not true.
Regarding GPS, if a phone is sophisticated enough it can transmit location information. If equipped and enabled and in the event of a 911 call, the GPS data (latitude and longitude) are transmitted along with the phone call.
As far as someone getting the GPS data from the phone, you have several layers of hardware, software, and service provider bureaucracy. I've explained in my article that you must have the right equipment on the right network with the right service. Sure it is easy to sign up and use GoogleLatitude if you have a compatible phone, but in doing so you sign an agreement. If someone is really paranoid they would never do such a thing.
But I guess the bottom line is, if you are worried about being tracked, don't use a cell phone.
In my next posting on this subject I’ll look at a recent event where someone was tracked, theoretically without their knowledge, and lives were lost as a result. I’ll also look at just how much can be done remotely with a cell phone
Takeaways
Here is what I’m getting from this research (so far)
Please see my other postings regarding personal and small business cellular, phone systems, email, fax, and other communications topics here: http://www.ucan.org/internet_media/broadband_isps/ask_dr_telecom_the_com...
This started with an email talking about how to properly forward emails. I have edited it and added some points. I hope readers, especially those fairly new to email, will find it useful.
While no longer high-tech to most Internet users, emails are an essential aspect of electronic communication. An email is cheap and fast. Unlike a phone call, the sender can compose it at a time of her choosing; the recipient is not interrupted since email (like mail and web pages) are passive in terms of the participants' involvement. An email can be sent to many recipients at once. An email can contain attachments (like a Christmas card might also have pictures of the family), can have pictures embedded in the body like a web page, and can have links to other web content. Unlike a phone call, though, mass email is forever.
Do you really know how to forward emails? Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Don't you just hate it? Every time you forward an email there is information left over from the people who received the message before you did, namely their email addresses and names. As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and all it takes is for one person to get a virus, and his computer can send that virus to every email address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. That's right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel! How do you stop it? Well, there are several easy steps. Try the following if you haven't done it before.
CLEANING UP AN EMAIL TO BE FORWARDED
Start by clicking FORWARD while the email is open:
1. START WITH THE ORIGINAL: Ever get those emails that you have to open 10 pages to read the one page with the information on it? By Forwarding the original text you wish someone to view, you stop them from having to open so many emails just to see what you sent. You may have had to open numerous other pages before you got to the real forwarded message or you may found numerous versions of the same text repeated, ad infinitum, down the page. So EDIT! Either delete all but one instance of the “story” or, if the story is in an email attachment (that may be in an email attachment in an email attachment), open the deepest email attachment, then click FORWARD and send that to friends. Then delete the original email (you’ll still have the one you just forwarded as your own reference and it will be in your SENT folder.)
2. REMOVE OLD ADDRESSES FOR CLEANLINESS AND SECURITY: When you forward an email, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top of each previous mailing of the message, going on, ad infinitum, down the page). Since, in step 1 above, you deleted all the prior iterations of the same message, you only have to do this part once. Also, delete the advertisements at the bottoms of emails.
3. HIDE RECIPIENTS’ ADDRESSES: Whenever you send an email to more than one person, do not use the TO: or CC: fields for adding email addresses unless they are all people who know each other and you want them all to know who else got the email. Generally, though, it’s much better to use the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field for listing ALL the email addresses. This way, the people you send to will not see other recipients’ email addresses. If you don't see your BCC: go to your HELP menu and search for BCC – some programs like Outlook may hide this field and you’ll only see TO: and CC: but you can tell the program to show it.
4. CLEAN UP YOUR SUBJECT! Remove any ”FW:” in the subject line. You can re-name the subject if you wish or even fix spelling. In essence: edit the SUBJECT line to be as if this is a brand new email. Nobody needs to know it was forwarded and it’s less confusing without all those FW’s.
5. IF THERE ARE ATTACHMENTS:
- See if they are duplicates. If so, delete all but one. You’ll reduce the download time for folks with slow internet and you won’t contribute to some people’s Inboxes go over their quotas.
- People often send around videos and other files that are 5MB or bigger and yet the same video can be found on YouTube, etc. If the attachments in your email are bigger than 100kB or so (bigger than a medium-sized picture) see if you can find it on the web: if the name of the attachment is (e.g.) aBigHonkinVideo.wmv go to Google et al and search for that name and chances are you will find it online. Sending the URL takes up a couple of Bytes – sending the whole video takes millions of Bytes.
- Don’t forward files ending in .EXE or .COM Even MS Word and MS Excel files could be infected so only forward if you are SURE it’s clean and if you’ve scanned it first.
PETITIONS:
These emails state a position then ask you to add your name and address and forward it. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses.
The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein. Do not ever put your email address on any petition.
If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient. Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry list of names and e-mail addresses on a petition. And don't believe the stories that say that the email is being tracked. However, keep in mind that most e-mail petitions that are forwarded with just a list of names are worthless because they do not fully identify the signer by street address, etc. An email does does not prove that the signer really signed it (it can be easily edited as we’re learning here).
Some of the other emails to delete and not forward are:
A. The ones that say something like, 'Send this email to 10 people and you'll see something great happen.'
B. And don't let the “bad luck” ones scare you either. Please do us all a favor and trash them.C. Before you forward an 'Amber Alert', or a 'Virus Alert', etc, check it out at
www.snopes.com
urbanlegends.about.com
www.truthorfiction.comor look it up using a good search engine like Google or Yahoo before forwarding. Most of them are messages that have been circling the net for YEARS!
Point C above is important. Once an email intended to be passed around gets into “the wild” it’s out of control forever. It’s out of your control because people can edit it and change your intended message. It’s out of control because if the status of the subject changes over time, the email cannot be changed to reflect this or even be withdrawn. It’s like those Africanized bees that were accidentally released in South America back in 1955 and have moved north ever since. They are taking over European apian colonies and cannot be stopped. The best thing to do is to post your message on a web site, blog, etc. Anyplace public, on the Internet, that you have control of. Then just send the URL to that document to people. If your campaign to eradicate Glovner’s Disease becomes moot because it truly becomes eradicated, you can change the text of the web page thanking people for their contributions. An email asking for donations won’t continue around the internet for ever and ever. And, as mentioned, a URL takes up a couple of bytes while that long article may take up thousands multiplied by every person who gets it times all the people THEY send it to, etc. As an example, the original content for this article was posted on the web and all you really need to do is to forward
to your friends and not the actual text.
Finally, posting the original online means that it won’t lose its formatting as it gets forwarded each time, eventually becoming a shredded, unreadable, mess.
To send this original blog to friends, use this URL: http://www.ucan.org/blog/telecommunications/communications_technology/email_forwarding_and_etiquette
Recently I was installing a new PBX (phone system) at UCAN. Being a phone geek, I always have my phone-guy test set (known to phone-guys as a "butt set" because it lets you "butt-in" on, or even monitor, a conversation) with me so I connected it to each of the terminals on the connection block in UCANs suite. Much to my surprise, there were more active lines (pairs of wire with dialtone) than anyone knew about. A call to Cox, the UCAN dialtone provider, determined that, yes, there were two pairs of lines that we hadn't accounted for and also some services or Features that UCAN didn't need.
This happens a lot. When a business first gets started they know how many lines they want and what features (services like CallerID, Call Forwarding, voicemail, etc) they want. But over time, as staff members and phone vendors come and go, things get forgotten. And while it's fairly easy to search for phone lines because they are actual things that can be seen, features are really just concepts - you can't touch or connect to a "Remote Call Forarding" charge. The bigger your business is the more likely it is for these things to be forgotten and add up and the typical phone bill doesn't make plain what you've got AND no phone verndor that I know of is going to be proactive and call you and say "Do you know you have a phone line that's not been used in 3 years? Still want it?".
Time For An Audit
Now, while your home or business is trying to cut back, is a good time to do a telecom audit. Start with your bill and try to determine how many lines you are being billed for. If you can't decipher the bill, call your carrier and ask them to go over it with you. You can also check your Customer Service Record, a sheet that vendors must send to customers once a year. Cox was very helpful and, once I explained what I was doing, they went beyond simply cancelling the lines I pointed out - they mentioned other things I might not want for my client (UCAN).
Also check for features you may not need. We discovered that the 7 POTS (Plain Ol' Telephone Lines) that UCAN has via Cox all had Call Transferring on them. This is a nice thing to have if each line is connected directly to a couple of phones. But Call Transferring, 3-way Calling, Conferencing, and Call Waiting are worthless if the lines with these features connect to a phone system.
Another thing we found was that the Fraud Squad line was being Call Forwarded. This means it's a full fledged phone line but calls coming to it were being sent to the main UCAN line and its dialtone, which was being paid for, was not being used. Again, when UCAN had no PBX, this was useful because it allowed the staff to, when necessary, send Fraud Squad calls to the main number. Once I discovered its existence and turned off the Forwarding, UCAN actually wound up with an 8th phone line on their PBX for no new fees - and they stopped paying the Forwarding feature monthly charge. I like being a hero!
You might have a Remote Call Forwarding account you've forgotten about. Similar to Call Forwarding, this is a very useful feature for some purposes. It lets you have a phone number but not pay the full cost of an actual line. Calls to this number are routed to another number that the caller is unaware of. Ask if you have any and then determine if they're actually being used or are dormant.
If you're technically inclined, feel free to snoop around your MPOE (where the lines come in to your building) if you are the only tenant. If you share the building, be careful while snooping because you could affect someone else's service. You could just limit your snooping to your own suite's "phone closet". Use a professional test set (butt-set) or make an adaptor for a plain old phone (a modular jack with a couple wires hanging out). CAUTION: while the standing "battery" on the line is 48v typically and the highest voltage that can be present is about 90v during current, and while these are current-limited voltages, they can still give you an unpleasant shock depending on conditions.
If you're not so technical, just call a phone-guy whose hour-or-so of snooping could easily pay for itself if things are found that you can cancel.
There are services out there who, for a percentage of your savings, will go thru your bills for you and not only find unused lines and features but potentially offer suggestions for lower local and long distance services. I don't know any to refer so check around and be sure that they aren't resellers for a particular carrier and might have a bias.
Many business telephone providers (PaeTec, TelePacific, Cox, Time Warner, AT&T, CBeyond, etc) will, if they think they might be able to get your business, do a free audit for you. Give them a couple of months' worth of bills and they will "show" you how they can save you money. Their main focus is rate plans but they can also look for numbers of lines and features to see if you still need them. Again, they have an obvious bias but they're not going lie about their findings.
The Bottom "Line"
When the Cox rep and I were done, we had cancelled
for something like a $75 a month cost reduction AND they wound up with an 8th phone line.
Write to me here at http://www.ucan.org/internet_media/broadband_isps/ask_dr_telecom_the_com... if you see anything unusual on your bill. I can't go thru everyone's bill but I might be able to sort out some oddities that would help other readers.
Recently I was installing a new PBX (phone system) at UCAN. Being a phone geek, I always have my phone-guy test set (known to phone-guys as a "butt set" because it lets you "butt-in" on, or even monitor, a conversation) with me so I connected it to each of the terminals on the connection block in UCANs suite. Much to my surprise, there were more active lines (pairs of wire with dialtone) than anyone knew about. A call to Cox, the UCAN dialtone provider, determined that, yes, there were two pairs of lines that we hadn't accounted for and also some services or Features that UCAN didn't need.
This happens a lot. When a business first gets started they know how many lines they want and what features (services like CallerID, Call Forwarding, voicemail, etc) they want. But over time, as staff members and phone vendors come and go, things get forgotten. And while it's fairly easy to search for phone lines because they are actual things that can be seen, features are really just concepts - you can't touch or connect to a "Remote Call Forarding" charge. The bigger your business is the more likely it is for these things to be forgotten and add up and the typical phone bill doesn't make plain what you've got AND no phone verndor that I know of is going to be proactive and call you and say "Do you know you have a phone line that's not been used in 3 years? Still want it?".
Time For An Audit
Now, while your home or business is trying to cut back, is a good time to do a telecom audit. Start with your bill and try to determine how many lines you are being billed for. If you can't decipher the bill, call your carrier and ask them to go over it with you. You can also check your Customer Service Record, a sheet that vendors must send to customers once a year. Cox was very helpful and, once I explained what I was doing, they went beyond simply cancelling the lines I pointed out - they mentioned other things I might not want for my client (UCAN).
Also check for features you may not need. We discovered that the 7 POTS (Plain Ol' Telephone Lines) that UCAN has via Cox all had Call Transferring on them. This is a nice thing to have if each line is connected directly to a couple of phones. But Call Transferring, 3-way Calling, Conferencing, and Call Waiting are worthless if the lines with these features connect to a phone system.
Another thing we found was that the Fraud Squad line was being Call Forwarded. This means it's a full fledged phone line but calls coming to it were being sent to the main UCAN line and its dialtone, which was being paid for, was not being used. Again, when UCAN had no PBX, this was useful because it allowed the staff to, when necessary, send Fraud Squad calls to the main number. Once I discovered its existence and turned off the Forwarding, UCAN actually wound up with an 8th phone line on their PBX for no new fees - and they stopped paying the Forwarding feature monthly charge. I like being a hero!
You might have a Remote Call Forwarding account you've forgotten about. Similar to Call Forwarding, this is a very useful feature for some purposes. It lets you have a phone number but not pay the full cost of an actual line. Calls to this number are routed to another number that the caller is unaware of. Ask if you have any and then determine if they're actually being used or are dormant.
If you're technically inclined, feel free to snoop around your MPOE (where the lines come in to your building) if you are the only tenant. If you share the building, be careful while snooping because you could affect someone else's service. You could just limit your snooping to your own suite's "phone closet". Use a professional test set (butt-set) or make an adaptor for a plain old phone (a modular jack with a couple wires hanging out). CAUTION: while the standing "battery" on the line is 48v typically and the highest voltage that can be present is about 90v during current, and while these are current-limited voltages, they can still give you an unpleasant shock depending on conditions.
If you're not so technical, just call a phone-guy whose hour-or-so of snooping could easily pay for itself if things are found that you can cancel.
There are services out there who, for a percentage of your savings, will go thru your bills for you and not only find unused lines and features but potentially offer suggestions for lower local and long distance services. I don't know any to refer so check around and be sure that they aren't resellers for a particular carrier and might have a bias.
Many business telephone providers (PaeTec, TelePacific, Cox, Time Warner, AT&T, CBeyond, etc) will, if they think they might be able to get your business, do a free audit for you. Give them a couple of months' worth of bills and they will "show" you how they can save you money. Their main focus is rate plans but they can also look for numbers of lines and features to see if you still need them. Again, they have an obvious bias but they're not going lie about their findings.
The Bottom "Line"
When the Cox rep and I were done, we had cancelled
for something like a $75 a month cost reduction AND they wound up with an 8th phone line.
Write to me here at http://www.ucan.org/internet_media/broadband_isps/ask_dr_telecom_the_com... if you see anything unusual on your bill. I can't go thru everyone's bill but I might be able to sort out some oddities that would help other readers.
The FCC has revoked any need to regulate basic cable rates in many parts of San Diego for Time Warner. The FCC's decision that there is "effective competition" for Time Warner in San Diego probably means a likely future rise in basic cable rates. This is particularly troublesome because many people use basic cable as basic "lifeline" connection community media.
The decision rests on a finding that the Local Exchange Carrier, in this case AT&T, is providing comparable services. Am I the only person who thinks 2 competitors is not effective competition? I don't think so. Especially when Uverse requires various combinations of bundling of its TV/Phone/Internet services, and does not offer certain services a la carte.
Anyway, consumers should take any raise in basic rates as an opportunity to ditch their basic cable altogether and opt for alternative options, such as getting phone and video services ENTIRELY through the Internet.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| FCC decision regarding Time Warner effective competition DA-09-284A1.pdf | 86.14 KB |
Editor's note: On February 11, President Obama signed legislation delaying the DTV conversion.
The digital TV conversion scheduled for February 17 will be delayed to June 12 once President Obama signs the bill approved by the House on February 4. Millions of consumers currently on a waiting list to get $40 coupons toward the purchase of converter boxes will benefit from the delay if Congress allocates more money for additional coupons. NOTE: Stations do not have to postpone the switch. For example channel 10 (ABC) said it intended to shut off analog service on February 17th as originally planned.
Read more in this article from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Wireless Tip: Family Plans mean you share minutes no matter how many phones are under that account. Ecah phone added on the plan equates to an "upgrade" where it is most likely that your contract is extended by one or two years. If you have 2 phones on a Family Plan and deciee you only need one, then you will no longer be on the Family Plan rate. With one phone you become an individual at whatever the going rate for that phone and service are at the time of the change. The trick is to be careful to review the pros and cons of so-called great deals.
OK, I'm not proud about it but I've learned to live with it. I'm a geek and I love geek toys. There, I said it. I know I'm not alone -- there are other geeks, wannabe geeks, closet geeks and a few older geeks (greek geeks?) out there who also love geek toys. So this blog is for you. Get ready for a trip to the toy store, you geeks and geekettes! We're going to have some low-cost fun here.
One particularly fun toy is laptop bluetooths. Many of the newer laptops come with Bluetooth. If you have such a laptop here are some capabilities you might find useful. If you're shopping, here's a couple reasons to pay for Bluetooth in the laptop.
Bluetooth is a "Personal Area Networking" protocol and physical layer system. As it sounds, it's made for connecting things over short distances, typically around your person. Most of you are aware of Bluetooth headsets, an untethered way to connect that growth in your ear to your cellphone or even your MP3 player. It's very fast and robust but short ranged (call quality starts to break up when my cellphone is about 15 or 20 ft away from my earphone) ON PURPOSE. Now, you will also find Bluetooth printers and scanners and other peripherals. Bluetooth is SUPPOSED to be very easy to configure (one half finds the other, they introduce themselves, they ask you to OK their "pairing" - like the groom asking the bride's dad to put away the shotgun - and they will remember your permission in the future) but sometimes things don't get "DISCOVERED" when they should - anyone remember Microsoft Windows 95 and Shrug ‘n' Pray?
OK, so the takeaway here is that Bluetooth-enabled cellphone can do two things with your laptop. The first one doesn't cost you anything - you tell your laptop that it's OK to associate with your cellphone and then it can be used as a speakerphone. When waiting on terminal hold, you can take the phone away from your ear and use the speakers in your laptop to hear Stairway to Heaven by The Living Strings or other fine elevator music. The implementation with my Treo 700vx and my Lenovo T500 Thinkpad isn't ideal - I can hear the other party OK but they tell me that they're missing every other word. Don't know if the phone or the laptop is at fault but my Plantronics BT headset doesn't have this problem.
The second one is that you can use your phone to provide Internet connectivity to your laptop. If you're often places where there's no WiFi and wired won't do, your cell provider's EVDO or similar bandwidth can be connected to your laptop. If you don't already have an Internet-enabled cellphone (like a Treo or Crackberry or Q) you're better off with a dedicated Cardbus card for this purpose. But if you DO have Internet on your cellphone, you can often extend it to your laptop. Verizon charges me $45/mo to have Internet on my Treo. They add $15/mo to permit this "tethering" I mention. This connection is usually done with a USB cable. But, consistent with this post's theme, you can use Bluetooth to tether, and not have to mess with the wire. The downside is that the datarate (typically 400kb/s for EVDO) will be reduced to some degree by the Bluetooth - but if all you're doing is some quick web surfing or email w/out big attachments, you may find web-over-cellular-via-bluetooth (WOCVB or WoCViB - Hey, I just invented my own new protocol!) to be faster and there's one less cable to remember.
Try it out. Then let me know what you think. Cool or fool?
You might think that sending out a mass faxing (aka a fax blast) would be a good use of your business' marketing funds. Probably not. I say this partly because most people detest them and mostly because, under most situations, they are illegal.
Why not send faxes? Well, first, there's the cost to the consumer. Each time a person gets a fax, if they are using a typical fax machine, it costs them money for paper and ink/toner which adds up over time. It also takes time for employees to peruse the material and determine if it's valuable business correspondence or not. The old "just delete it" defense doesn't hold up because my time and/or money is involved. You can lose customers by angering them.
More directly, it's illegal in most circumstances in most states. The Federal TCP Act prohibits junk faxes if you have no prior business relationship (unless faxed by a non-profit or political candidate, and don't get me started on "what makes THEM so special?"). California SB 833 (Bowen, 2005) even disallows for an existing business relationship, requiring express permission (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/05-06/bill/sen/sb_0801-0850/sb_833_bill_20...) but is only applicable when the advertiser (not necessarily the faxer) and the recipient are in CA.
What brings this up is a fax blast I got today for a job faire. It was illegal for 2 reasons; first, it did not contain an obvious statement of how to opt-out (not that I ever opted-in in the first place) with a toll free number. Second, they did not ask my permission first (and they were a commercial entity).
"All unsolicited commercial faxes must now include an opt-out provision on the first page of the fax, providing a cost-free, 24-hour means for the recipient to request to be removed from the fax distribution list. Also, all fax numbers can now only be obtained either directly from the recipient or from a public source to which the recipient gave the number for publication (i.e., a Web site, advertisement or directory)." (as per semasan.com)
Web sites that this faxer should have referred to before their fax blast:
http://www.junkfax.org/fax/basic_info/basics.html
http://www.dmaresponsibility.org/FaxAlert/
http://www.loeb.com/californiaenactsunsolicitedfaxbill/
Being a major fan of the First Amendment, the right to free speech comes to mind in looking at this issue, as well as email spam and telemarketing calls, philosophically. Here's an excellent quote from a well written site with a LOT of info on this subject (http://www.junkfax.org/fax/basic_info/junk_fax_qa.htm):
Your right of free speech stops at my mailbox. The constitution does not give you the right to electronically barge your way (uninvited) into my home, demand the use of my equipment and ink and paper supplies to present your message, shifting all your selling costs to me without my permission or request.
Can you imagine a whole new class of "door-to-door" salesmen who knocked on your door, entered your house uninvited, demanded the use of your possessions, showed their product and then claimed that you had no right to stop them because it would violate their right of free speech?
What to use then? Newspaper, TV/cable/radio, internet (your own web site plus search engines - Google Adwords, e.g.), bus, sign, & billboard advertising do not intrude. I can look or not look. Your Free Speech Rights are preserved. Even mail inserts and junk mail, arguably, enable you to get your message to your intended audience, arguably without costing them time and money. BTW, throwing a rock on my front lawn with your ad attached or canvassing my neighborhood and leaving junk on my porch is probably illegal under litter laws. I'm sure you can be more creative.
The cable companies have been raising rates while trying to coax over-the-air TV consumers into trading in their rabbit ears, but a greater force has emerged.
Rough economic times have caused millions to request $40 coupons from www.dtv2009.gov for Digital TV converter boxes to allow them to continue receiving over-the-air TV after the switch to digital takes effect February 18, 2009.
Now demand is so high, that a completed on-line application receives the message:
We have determined that your household is eligible to participate in this program. However, at this time funding is not available to fulfill your request. Your application has been placed on a waiting list.
The Wall Street Journal has more details in The Switch to Digital TV Hits a Snag
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