So how do I get rid of SBC now AT&T?

[CountAllVotes]

Seems they have a monopoly on the phone system where I live.

I use an MCI calling card to make long distance calls.

I don't think I have an option.

So what do I do? I think my internet provider must use SBC/AT&T phone lines as well.

Any suggestions?

Thank you!

CAV

:dem:

[johnnie]

1. That's pretty much how it is here

I guess you could maybe get DSL through your cable company and then get Vonage. :shrug:

[CountAllVotes]

3. thanks ... my cable company is Cox

I know they offer DSL service but still the phone is with SBC (now AT&T).

Makes me sick. I hate given these lying spiers a damn cent! :grr:

I feel like telling them to take the phone and shove it up their *ss!!!

:argh:

:kick:

[Rainscents]

6. Do you have broadband cable?

If so, you can get your phone line through cable. It by pass internet and doesn't use phone line.

[CountAllVotes]

11. I have DSL - is that broadband cable?

I know they had to work on the phone lines before it would work. ?


Please advise if you happen to know if they are one of the same.

Thank you.

CAV

[Mnemosyne]

17. Make sure you find out what they charge you

if you change phone numbers if you have a DSL contract. I was racked $150 last year, I had no idea that changing your phone number broke the DSL contract.

[Rainscents]

33. Broadband line is diffent from DSL phone line

Broadband phone line is connected directly into teevee cable line.

[Rainscents]

35. No, Broadband Cable is different.

That's where my phone line is connect it to (Broadband Cable)... same line as TV cable line. This is how it work, TV Cable line from wall, it goes into large black box with three holes, one goes to your telephone, one goes to high speed internet and final one goes to TV. Works almost like Vontage, however, with Broadband cable phone, your line is not connect with internet. Where as with Vontage, your phone line is connect with internet. I hope I explained this for you to understand.

[RoyGBiv]

38. DSL is NOT broadband CABLE

DSL means "digital subscriber line." It is "broadband," but it is not cable. Cable broadband runs across cable lines. The two are based on different technologies.

[Rainscents]

39. Roy, you explained better than I can... Thanks for help!

[MikeStl]

9. yeah

Very angry here too. I have dsl and phone service through at&t. I am thinking about going the cable modem / vonage route. I have had a bit of an e-mail exchange with at&t but its like talking to a wall, they can't comment on matters of national security yada yada

[RoyGBiv]

36. Cox offers phone service ...

Depends on where you live if you can get it. If you live in an apartment/townhouse/condo, etc. some property oweners or building associations, for example, make deals with phone providers only to allow their service exclusively, which prevents other companies that could be offering the service in your area from providing you with service. But, I'd check if I were you. In some instances, what is preventing Cox (and other alternative providers of phone service) from being able to offer service in given areas is the absence of expressed interest in alternatives, which allows the dominant provider to make an argument before regulatory agencies that they are the only company desired. For example, in one of Cox's markets I know about, Cox can't offer phone service because the city council has an agreement with SBC/ATT that basically gives it monopoly rights. A suburb of that same city recently passed an ordinance that opened up the market to any company. Cox flew in and took over half the business in a couple months, and another company came in and took over a lot of the rest. Now near neighbors, who technically live in a different town, want Cox or this other company but can't get it because of franchise agreements with the city. It'll take citizens of that city standing up and demanding options to open the market.

Small point, btw...Cox offers cable internet service (they call it High Speed Internet), not DSL. DSL is a specific technology.

[roguevalley]

14. google talk does calls between computers like a phone and so

does skype. skype is encrypted and relatively safe.

[0007]

2. I have the same except a cable connection for my internet connection.

[CountAllVotes]

4. I'll call my ISP and see what lines they use ...

thanks

CAV

[Clovis Sangrail]

5. just run a tracert

.

[CountAllVotes]

10. what is a tracet?

and how do you run one?

Thanks.

CAV

[Clovis Sangrail]

32. tracert

In broad strokes:
A trace route will follow the path currently being used to reach a destination and will report back the routers it goes through.

If you're on a windows box, open a command prompt and type `tracert www.democraticunderground.com`
The list of machines that comes back is the path used to get to the target (du in this case)

If you can't tell who somebody is by the machine name/IP you can use www.arin.net to look up who owns that machine.

On linux boxes (on OSX as well, I believe) the command is `traceroute`

It's not unusual for some hops to give no or minimal response, but you can usually see just by the names if you're being carried across an AT&T backbone. (some of your traffic very likely is)

[Touchdown]

7. Call them and schedule a disconnect.

They're on the phone bill. Tell them why. They should know.

[Don Claybrook]

8. So maybe AT&T will give the govt your calls, but

If you switch to another provider that uses AT&T's facilities (these providers are called CLECs and AT&T must rent them space and let them use their network for a fee), maybe AT&T still records your phone calls, but they don't get your money.

I'm hoping that this hurts them financially in a serious way.

[MikeStl]

12. I wonder...

I wonder if (F*C)KYO-UNSA resolves to a real number. Maybe that'll give em something to decode.

[Grateful for Hope]

13. Me too.

I just cancelled my service with Verizon (home phone) and told them that I think that what they are doing is despicable.

I am really hoping that the public will be so outraged that all the telecom companies that cooperated with the NSA will be given a severe financial jolt that will bring them to their knees.

[ronnykmarshall]

42. What sucks is I don't have an option.

My phone and DSL are AT&T, cell phone is Cingular. I'm stuck in a contract with both. As far as home phone and internet, we have no other option except ATT.

[Grateful for Hope]

43. I hate that we again seem to have near

telecom monopolies -- and, as in your case, a virtual monopoly.

It sucks.

[ronnykmarshall]

44. When I first moved to West Hollywood

we had the option of having GTE over Pac Bell (now once again ATT). The service w/ GTE was great. A total package of long distance and local. As soon as Verizon bought them, they pulled the plug and we were back w/ Pac Bell. Pac Bell was great until they were bought by SBC.

[Grateful for Hope]

45. SBC

Is "old South" and very set in it's ways. Could be it is in for a very rude awakening.

[Pavulon]

15. Don't Bother

Every telecom and data service provider will provide information on request to the NSA. That is what they do. They have been in that business since 1930 something.

It was western union then.

[CountAllVotes]

18. not true

I just called my ISP and they said that unless I dial-in, the calls are routed and they don't get to see what I'm doing on the internet on this DSL connection.

However, as for the phone, SBC/AT&T is the only local area network around.

I can clip them off at the nuts easy enough though.

:puke:

CAV

[Pavulon]

22. Yep

Routed over routers that mark voip traffic based on connection. (your IP target IP) (voip traffic is usually flagged by QOS anyway so it stands out) and pull out streams and send them wherever they want. The payload in the packet is very easy to reassemble and playback. Spool them to tape or disk on the other end of an OC line(s) running to some brick building..

The NSA can intercept any communication made over electronic medium. That is their entire reason to exist.

If you believe that using voip, throwaway phones, or rsa encryption is going to prevent an agency with a multi billion dollar budget from doing its job you are mistaken.

[tinrobot]

16. Here's what I'm doing...

1) Use Speakeasy for my DSL. They don't require the local SBC/AT&T number that most DSL providers require, so you sidestep the phone company. Speakeasy is also really fast, twice the speed of my old DSL, great company.

2) Use a VOIP provider for the phone. Speakeasy offers it, but I use Packet 8. There are tons of others, including Vonage.

[Pavulon]

19. Stateful packet inspection

Very easy to split your data stream off and spool it to tape or disk. The NSA can easily intercept all forms of communication used in the us. (period)

Internet traffic is connection oriented and quite easy to segregate by type.

[MikeStl]

23. I've complained to at&t enough

Anyone know any phone numbers at the NSA to call to bitch them out about it?

Actually just looked it up on their site, looks like the public relations number for the NSA is 301-688-6524

[CountAllVotes]

30. thanks!

:kick:

[CountAllVotes]

21. what is a VOIP provider?

and where to I find Vonage?

Google?

Sorry, I'm not up on the latest of things here admittedly.

CAV

:dem:

[Pavulon]

24. Voice Over IP

Is using a data line to handle packets containing voice data. Packets are flagged for higher priority , so they stand out from email, or porn downloads. VOIP is no different than phone data, in that it travels over the same type of copper or fibre medium. It is routed by equipment that can easily allow for interception or mirroring of data.

It is nice to get free long distance though..

[riderinthestorm]

26. Ok, if I understand you correctly, you are an expert in this area

(and I don't mean that with any bit of snark).

Do you have any suggestions for those of us who would like to find alternative methods of communicating without interception or monitoring?

Thanks!

[Pavulon]

27. Honestly

No. If it has a sticker that says FCC compliant on it it can be monitored. There is no form of communication that can not be intercepted. I would bet that taking more measures like encoding data or using supposedly "untraceable" methods gets you to the top of the list.

Written mail is probably the safest method of communication. But I use my phone knowing I have no problem. You have a better chance of your neighbor spying on you with a frequency scanner is much better than the government doing so..

IMHO probability of something you do actually being flagged, listened to and then acted on is nil.

[riderinthestorm]

29. It's the principle of the matter

I don't want them monitoring my phone usage. Period.

How discouraging that there isn't any alternative. I hate this. It just goes against our country's principles and is definitely getting into grey areas re: the 4th Amendment.

[seabeyond]

20. we are going thru cox with our cable and internet also. will save about

60 a month giving them my phone. free long distance. again my problem i heard today suddenlink bought them and i dont know anything about them

[KharmaTrain]

25. AT&T's Quid Pro Quo

I couldn't notice the timing of this coincided with AT&T re-absorbing a bunch of the former Baby Bells like Ameritech and SBC.

Surely the gutting of the anti-trust agreement of the 80's was part of the deal.

Around here I have use the cable system...it WAS AT&T...now it's Comcrap...overpriced, but at least I haven't learned that they're spying. I have AT&T local service (only cause there is no competition) and I use my landline sparingly...doing most of my calling these days on my Cellular One phone (plus they support my beloved White Sox...LOL).

AT&T has been on my shit list goin back to the Dita Beard days and the large role they had in bankrolling the Nixon regime. No surprise they not just sucked up to this regime, they probably made the first move.

Now we need to find out how much money the NSA paid these war profiteers for the names and data.

[New Government]

28. T-Mobile Cell?

German company. Do they use any of these other companies infrastructure?

[Paulie]

34. Only when they have to go outside their network

I haven't had a land line phone for years. I have friends and family on T-Mobile, free moble2mobile nationwide. Each cell line costs $10 plus the plan pool cost.

[LeftyMom]

46. They have a big problem with dropped calls some places

Check to see if that's an issue with a few locals on the service before you sign up, especially if you live in a state where there is no grace period to get out of the contract.

[ronnykmarshall]

31. Two Dixie cups and a string?

[w8liftinglady]

37. they are my internet provider..we don't have broadband out here...

I sat f*ck them...bring on the class-action suit,you fascists.

[in_cog_ni_to]

40. www.workingassets.com...THEY SUPPORT LIBERAL CAUSES!

Working assets for you long distance company. You can also sign up for wireless service if you have a wireless phone plan. :hi:

[Paulie]

41. Unfortunately WALD uses SPRINT for their network

Better give them a call in the morning and find out if you're affected. :(