Funded by the Department of Education, this report offers the first comprehensive consideration of the effects of the Universal Service Fund for Schools and Libraries (known as the "E-Rate") created as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 "to provide discounts on the cost of telecommunications services and equipment to all public and private schools and libraries." The specific aim of the...

Formerly GnomeMeeting, Ekiga is a videoconferencing and telephone application that allows users to make audio and video calls to remote users with compatible software, such as Microsoft Netmeeting. The application has a number of features such as call monitoring, audio and video call mute, and PC-to-phone calls. From the website for the application, users can review an extensive FAQ section, view...

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the telecom policy making arm of the UN, based in Geneva, Switzerland, can be reached directly through the Web.

Linktionary is an online dictionary of Internet technologies, networking hardware and protocols, and general Web terminology that "includes extensive links to help you further your network research and training." Users can perform keyword searches of Linktionary or browse the material via alphabetical indexes or topic listings. Most of the entries in Linktionary are explained in detail, and...

Over the past several decades, many jokesters have developed a penchant for prank phone calls, including that animated Peck's Bad Boy of the 1990s, Bart Simpson, and of course the often coarse approach to telephony adopted by the Jerky Boys. The achievements of these individuals may have recently been bested by two Miami disc jockeys' who successfully completed a prank phone call to none other...

While satellites are the current backbone of telecommunications and wireless infrastructure, the company that maintains this Web site envisions a completely new technology. The Stratospheric Telecommunications Service (STS) relies on "lighter-than-air platforms which are held in a geo-stationary position in the stratosphere (approximately 21Km) over a major metropolitan area." The Sky Station...

The Virtual Institute of Information was developed by the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI), an independent Columbia University research center. The aim of the Virtual Institute of Information is to serve as a source of information for researchers interested in the "economic, business, policy and social aspects of telecommunications, cybercommunications and mass media." Resources...