The mobile phone tragedy

Found some info. And I wanted to ask you what do you think of it?

Our sympathies go out to the family of the Colombo school girl who committed suicide recently.

Some TV news forums are blaming the school authorities for allowing the use of mobile phones inside the school. Although phones are banned in schools, some students smuggle their phones into the class rooms and keep them on silent mode. I can remember how we used to smuggle in Comics, Westerns and other such items which were banned in our College. If we did this in 1950s why can’t the students of 2009 do it successfully now? When we got caught we were punished/caned – but we brushed it off with a hearty laugh.

This is a Buddhist school with high standards of discipline – the envy of other schools around Colombo. Some elements may be taking advantage of this sad incident to discredit the school. In this case the parents are to be blamed for giving the child a camera phone. A camera is not an essential basic requirement for a child.

Parents should not give their children expensive camera phones, with all the extra services under the sun. A mobile phone is an essential tool of our times now, as both parents are at work while children are in school or in a tuition class. If a school child is given a phone by the parents, they have the option of blocking unwanted services that can receive or exchange material, which will be embarrassing to the child as well as to the school/family. This is what happened I think in this instance. Telecom service providers now have child lock systems for most of the gadgets they sell including the internet. There will be a good market for exclusive non-camera basic children’s phones. The TRC should come in at this stage for control children’s mobile phone services.

By all means, be contactable with your children at all times. Give a simple phone to your child but have it limited to family numbers, for out-going and incoming calls, 10 numbers each way – a blocking service is available with the service providers.

RingCentral Office Revolutionizes the Business Phone System with Cloud-Based Multi-Extension System, Unlimited Calling, Toll-Free Service and a Low Fi RingCentral Office Revolutionizes the Business Phone System with Cloud-Based Multi-Extension System, Unlimited Calling, Toll-Free Service and a Low Fi

One more message about RingCentral. Hope, that everybody who reads it will enjoy it!

SAN MATEO, Calif., Jul 20, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) —-RingCentral today introduced RingCentral Office, the industry’s first complete, cloud computing based business phone system with one low, flat, fixed monthly fee, no contracts and zero setup costs. RingCentral Office combines a hosted multi-extension business phone system with advanced voice and fax functionality, always-on service, unlimited calling and full-featured phones that arrive pre-configured and ready for use. Small businesses can begin using the RingCentral Office phone system within minutes with the click of a mouse at http://www.ringcentral.com.

Traditional business phone systems cost thousands of dollars to set up and maintain. By eliminating the need for complex hardware, lengthy installation and technical expertise, small businesses get the functionality and flexibility to easily connect with customers at a fraction of the cost of a traditional PBX phone system. RingCentral Office includes four key components:

– Complete hosted phone and fax system- multiple extensions, multiple voice mail boxes, call management and call routing for real-time call control, internet fax and more

– Unlimited long distance and toll-free service – anywhere within the US and Canada

– Pre-configured phones – Linksys IP phones delivered ready-to-dial

– Simple pricing model – all-inclusive, low, simple, flat and fixed monthly bill

RingCentral is the industry’s first provider to deliver an online, self-service solution to buy, provision and set up an instantly activated business telecommunications system. Small businesses can now utilize a world class business phone system that for many, until now, was unaffordable due to buying complexity and dealing with multiple vendors.

“The fact that RingCentral offers a unique self-service capability with an all inclusive pricing model and no contracts is, frankly, quite revolutionary in the business phone systems market,” said David Lemelin, senior analyst at market research firm In-Stat. “In addition, this system delivers more business class telecommunication services and functions than many office phone systems designed for small businesses, yet remains affordable. With small businesses cutting costs due to the economic downturn, RingCentral Office is an attractive phone service, particularly due to its low and predictable monthly fixed cost.”

“RingCentral Office gives us everything we need for our office phone system and saves thousands of dollars over a traditional phone system. More importantly, we now have a more efficient solution for managing one of the most critical part of our business–client and staff communications,” said Chris Coard, manager of Buyers Capital Stamford, a full service real estate company. “With RingCentral, we can easily connect our multiple offices under one complete phone system and seamlessly integrate with agents working from home or on the road.”

RingCentral Office Features and Pricing

RingCentral Office makes business communication easy, affordable and accessible from home, office, satellite locations or the road.

$99.99/month for 4 line business phone system includes:

– Four unlimited phone lines with local numbers

– Unlimited virtual extensions and voicemail boxes

– Auto-receptionist and dial-by-name directory

– Integrated Internet fax with a dedicated fax number

– Unlimited inbound/outbound calling and faxing

– Add additional unlimited lines for only $24.99/month

“RingCentral Office changes the rules of the office phone system. Small businesses are not doing business the same way they were five years or even one year ago, yet they have been saddled with conventional phone systems that are not only expensive to deploy and maintain, but also incur expensive and unpredictable monthly charges,” said Vlad Shmunis, CEO of RingCentral. “Small businesses should expect more from their business phone system and RingCentral Office delivers–making business communications easy, affordable and accessible for today’s business world.”

Woman accused in Nassau County jail phone scam

One more interesting note. Hope you will like it!

Nassau prosecutors said a Brooklyn woman helped inmates at the Nassau County jail make telephone calls through accounts registered to bogus companies, racking up big bills that went unpaid while lining the woman’s pockets with fees collected from inmates.

Amanda Coates, 25, of 676 Cleveland St. in the East New York section, was arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead Thursday on two counts of first-degree identity theft, first-degree scheme to defraud, three counts of first-degree falsifying business records and three counts of theft of services. She was held on $15,000 cash or bond and is due back in court Monday. She was represented by the Legal Aid Society.

Coates faces up to seven years in prison if convicted in what prosecutors called a lucrative scheme she conducted for up to three years, serving inmates in state prisons including Bare Hill, Franklin, Riverview, Collins and Auburn correctional facilities, as well as at the Nassau jail.

Nassau inmates can make only collect calls. An inmate using Coates’ services could call the phony business, and Coates would have the call forwarded to the number the inmate really desired.
The receiver of the call could accept the charges, but the fake business would be billed. Prosecutors said the receiver of the call could be an associate who could serve as a conduit for more crime, such as setting up drug deals or intimidating witnesses.

Prosecutors said Coates charged up to $195 a month for her services, which allowed prisoners to call phone numbers the jail’s surveillance apparatus could not detect because the calls were forwarded to an unknown number.

“The danger in this crime is that these inmates could be talking to anybody about anything, and investigators going through call logs would have no idea,” Nassau District Attorney said.

Prosecutors said Coates probably had dozens of clients and had set up many accounts. They seized from her home detailed ledgers with information about clients and accounts, some of which were set up in the names of real businesses or individuals and some that were fake.

She dropped inmates’ accounts if they didn’t pay their bills, prosecutors said.

But the cost of the phone services that were not paid for – could reach into hundreds of thousands of dollars, officials said.

Phone scams among inmates are not new.

Some inmates have devised strategies in which they make a collect call, then convince the receiver to forward the call to another number by dialing *72, making that person serve as a middleman and also sticking him or her with the bill.

In Ohio, inmates used text telephone yoke devices for the hearing impaired to commit credit card fraud, terrorize victims, coordinate drug transactions and import weapons.

Some states recently asked the Federal Communications Commission to jam signals from cell phones inmates smuggle into prison.

BB in phone voting scandal

Hey! I would like to ask you, if you are interested in reality-shows. Do you watch them at all? Because I have found some information about one of them, and I believe you will enjoy it.

Big Brother bosses face a public backlash after they put up the SAME telephone number for Kris and Marcus on the BB website. The pair are up for eviction this Friday alongside Freddie, Charlie and Sophie.

Confused fans thought they were voting for Kris, but instead voted for Marcus.

Fans voiced their anger on internet chat forums. Many called for a full refund for all those who had voted. Others have reported the error to Phonepay Plus, the phone services regulator.

One fan wrote, “This is a disgrace. People have been wasting their money on the wrong person.”

A spokesman for the reality TV show said the mix-up – which was only on the show’s website – had lasted for one hour and there were not a high number of calls during that time.

She added refunds would be issued if customers contacted Channel 4 and all incorrect votes brought to their attention would be subtracted from Friday’s eviction night total.

“We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused by this error,” she added.

Automated phone services press the wrong buttons

Hey! I found a very interesting note for everyone who is fed up of wrong phone services. Read next!

Telephone users are fed up with talking to machines, voice recognition that doesn’t work and long queues for an operator, the telecommunications regulator says.

An annual survey of customer satisfaction by the Australian Communications Authority found widespread unhappiness with directory information services. Almost a third of callers (27 per cent) were dissatisfied – and the biggest reason was interactive voice response systems that did not work.

Consumers said they did not like “talking to a computer”, while small business callers complained of “rude, discourteous or unhelpful operators”.

Most calls to a call centre, meanwhile, met a keypad menu system. Thirty-seven per cent of household callers said it took too long to be put through to an operator, and too often they got the wrong person.

A Telstra spokesman said the telco’s voice-recognition directory assistance system only recognised 2500 names. “Some people interpret it not recognising names as not working,” he said.

The executive manager of the ACA’s telecommunications analysis group, John Neil, said its report showed “consumers do have concerns about the quality of information they are getting from phone companies about services and options”.

There was confusion about “bundling” offers of different services made to households. Mr Neil said phone companies should be particularly concerned at the low levels of satisfaction among small businesses.

The survey found 67 per cent of households believed fixed-line rentals were too high – and that was before Telstra’s April announcement that it would be increasing fixed-line rental costs.

Most people using directory assistance numbers were also charged for the service.

Telstra is required to provide a free directory assistance number, but has recently focused its marketing weight on premium-charged information numbers.

“There could be a question of whether consumers are aware of their options,” Mr Neil said.