UCAN

The California Department of Water Resources will hold a briefing and workshop on our drought at the Caltrans building, 4050 Taylor St, on Tuesday June 30 from 9:30 to noon.

The presentation, like the state, may be a little dry.

http://www.water.ca.gov/drought

As mentioned in a previous post, now that musical channels is over and everyone is on the air on their final (many have been reassigned) TV channel, if you still watch TV from an antenna (off the air) and not via cable, U-verse, or satellite, your TV or box needs to relearn the TV landscape.

Here in San Diego, KUSI-TV has made a minor-yet-significant change subsequent to last weekend's historic reshuffling. This is because they were digitally identifying themselves as being on Channel 18 which is, in fact, the "channel chair" they sat down in when the music stopped. But the text you see on your TV when you change channels is not necessarily the actual FCC-assigned channel number. It's called a PSIP and is a simple a tag that each station sends on its data stream showing its virtual channel. It could say "Eat at Joes" but that would be messy, and incorrect. But it does say the call letters and can say either their actual channel or, perhaps, their former channel, because that's how people have known them over the years.

The Man steps in
KUSI elected to say KUSI-18 because  1) it's a fact and  2) a Low-Power Spanish-language station now occupies Channel 51. But the FCC says that, without a waiver, stations need to identify themselves by their former, analog, channel number. Are you losing track yet? Good. Shows you're thinking. Anyway, this rule means KUSI must sent KUSI-51 as its PSIP code. So, if you watch off-air TV, you should rescan to get this new change that was effective today.

RESCANNING May Be Trickier Than You Think
Some DTV sets and converter boxes get confused during a rescan and do not dump their old memories before adding new channels, sometimes causing memory conflicts. One solution is to manually delete all the channels and then execute a rescan.  The other is to follow the FCC's newly-announced procedure called "double rescan."  Steps 1-3 are apparently designed to dump the old memory. If you think this is confusing, you're right, and you shouldn't have to do it again for a LONG LONG TIME.  [Thanks to respected industry newsletter, The CGC Communicator]

South Coast Water District, in southern Orange County approves rate
hikes to pass through 20 percent rate hike from Southern California's
water wholesaler.The Metropolitan Water District plans to increase rates 40 percent in the next 15 months, starting with a 20 percent increase on Sept. 1.

Rates increases mean families in that water service area will pay $19 to $38 more each month.

And a board member explains why: 

According to the Orange County Register:

In previous years, the district operated in the red and used reserve money to make up the difference in its yearly budget, Dietmeier said. But after changing the rate structure, the finances began to balance out, he said.

"The only reason this water district is solvent today is because we raised rates," he said. "The only reason the state of California is insolvent today is because they did not raise their tax rates.

"There are only two things government does: It taxes and it spends. Sorry, but that's the way it is."

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-rate-district-2459410-increase-scwd

You know the old joke about local calling zones and LATAs.  There are these two Polish guys in an Irish bar drinking Jamaican rum when....hold on a second, actually, NO one in their right mind or even sloppy drunk, who would talk about zones and LATAs.   The topic might drive you to drink, but even then, you won't want to talk about it.  And that's too bad, because they can be an important part of cutting your "phone phat" and getting your overweight phone bill fighting-trim again.   So let's travel down to the phone phat farm and see how we can cut some of your excess phone weight.

Zones and LATAs
So here's a quick primer.  Back in the "old" days, like a few years ago, most business phone charges were based on distance. This was not narrowed down quite so much for residential calls because you generally get an unlimited number of local calls (unless you opt for ZUM billing) but it's good to know where LOCAL stops.

There are 3 "bands" around your local central office.  Zones 1 and 2 are billed together. You pay a flat rate per-minute rate for these calls. Zone 3 is for calls to central offices from 13 miles to 16 miles and are an additional fee per minute. Beyond that, within your LATA, is called Local Toll. You can have your dialtone provider carry these (at a fairly high rate) or you can have a long distance carrier handle them. The bottom of this web page gives a graphic representation.

What's a LATA? It is a Local Access Transport Area which is the geographic limit of where a wireline phone company (e.g. AT&T in California) can carry calls. They were created as part of the breakup of the phone system in the 1980's. You can call within a LATA without the call being considered an IntraState or InterState (aka Long Distance) call. Here in California, the PUC considers San Diego and Imperial Counties to be LATA 6 and nationally it's called LATA 732.

Long Distance Calls
Calls outside your LATA cannot be handled by your local landline carrier. They must be handled by a long distance provider. You get to choose this carrier (known as a PIC in telco lingo) when you sign up for wireline phone service. Don't settle for the default because it will probably be much more expensive than if you do a little research and specify one. Also, be sure you HAVE picked SOME kind of plan because if you have no plan at all, your long distance calls can be billed at the highest rate your carrier charges. Even if you make few long distance calls, a couple minute call at the default rate could cost you many dollars.

Here's at least one web site that helps you compare long distance plans available in your area. 

Getting Slammed
You shouldn't be paying more than a dime a minute for long distance calls these days. If you are one possibility is that you have been SLAMMED - that is, a nefarious long distance provider has told your phone carrier to switch you to them (as if you had actually asked for this to happen) and now you will pay higher rates. They do this because this all can be so confusing that the average consumer has no idea that it occurred. You can confirm you long distance carrier very easily: just dial 1-700-555-4141. This free call will tell you who you are signed up with. If it's not who you expect, call your provider. To avoid being SLAMMED, once you've picked a long distance provider, ask your carrier to put a "PIC Freeze" on your account so it can't be easily changed.

Checking your carrier doesn't always work as designed. I am signed up with PowerNet Global. If I dial 1-700-555-4141 on my home phone, I get nothing.  If I dial it from my office phone I get "Your long distance service is now active - 5102".  Real useful. So, I used another tool: I dialled "00". Just like dialing "0" gets your phone carrier's Operator (AT&T Operator Assistance, in my case), 00 calls your long distance carrier's Operator assistance. In my case, the recording says "Welcome to WCLLC" which is just as useful as "5102". In my case, it means that PowerNet Global doesn't really have a network. They resell a major long distance provider - used to be Qwest, now it's Williams Communications Group.

There can be times when you'd want more than one long distance carrier. An example would be that you get the best rates for US calls from CoolTel (your PIC provider) but their rates to Mexico are poor. In this case you can make arrangements with a Dial-Around provider which gives you a toll-free number to call which then provides a second dialtone where you call your party at their rates. There are also 10-10 services which work similarly but there are more likely to be extra charges.

Alternative Carriers
Maybe you don't use AT&T (or other landline carrier). Maybe you use a cell phone for all your calls and have "cut the cable" as they say. These days most cell phone services include free nationwide long distance because they use their own network to carry the call most of the way to its destination. So, for domestic long distance on a cell phone, you don't need to "PIC" a carrier, and the 700 number doesn't do anything.

Perhaps your home uses a cable company (like Cox or Time Warner) or a VoIP provider like Vonage or maybe your business uses a business-line like a T-1 or PRI. In these cases, the rules change because the calls don't necessarily involve the baby bells or other traditional carriers. Quite often, your basic plan includes free long distance. So this means from 1 mile to 3000 miles, there's never a charge no matter how long you talk. If you make a lot of LD calls, this can be something worth considering.

The only reason I have not yet switched to a carrier like Time Warner for my home dial tone is that the traditional phone system has an advantage that the others don't - resiliency. The Plain Old Telephone System, in most cases, especially in the city or suburbs, dedicates a pair of wires just for you, all the way from their central office to your home and to everyone elses. If a pair of wires in the cable goes bad, it may well not be yours. Also, in times of power outages, like during an earthquake, generators and huge 40v batteries at each central office continue to power the lines and thus your ability to make/take calls (your cordless phone won't work if your power is out but a corded one probably will). However, I use my landline so seldom these days that I may soon join the others and take my chances with Time Warner or just with my Verizon cell phone - the only problem with a cell phone is that it's hard to tell someone to "pick up the extension to talk to The Kids".

The Bottom (Phone) Line:
If you have business service with a traditional carrier, like AT&T, and especially if you're a business (vs residential) customer, you now know what those Zone charges are. They're not broken out by the call like Long Distance is but they can cost you a bundle. Check your next phone bill and look for your Local Calls (Zones 1 and 2) to see what they're costing you. Also, look at your Zone 3 calls and any IntraLATA calls and see if a 3rd party carrier could reduce your costs here a bundle.  Residential customers - if you have ZUM billing, this applies to you too.