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A processor upgrade sold by Intel that is used to upgrade an older processor to a newer, faster processor.
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Overdrive - [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Email discussing Norvergence has beencoming in heavily all afternoon/evening since I mentioned earliertoday I was still having trouble with them. The next four or fivemessages all deal with Norvergence; not in a positive light. Thisfirst message is from Alex Wulf, not to be confused with Alex Wolfan executive of Norvergence. More from Mr. *Wolf* later this issue.PAT]======================Chad,Let me start off by saying that no reasonably intelligent personshould ever sign up for Norvergence's current offering. I would adviseyou to stay as far away from this company as possible. I'll explain.In order to properly asses Norvergence's offer you need to knowexactly what your getting and how it works. You should also do aquick check with other competing offers.Norvergence Scam - How it works:Norvergence is effectively a reseller/wholesaler of voice and data.They resell local loop T-1's from Quest, AT&T and others. (forsmaller customers they just switch the longdistance service over toNorvergence). Then they buy usage (minutes) from these companies on awholesale basis. A current survey of wholesale prices indicates thatwholesale rates for domestic longdistance calling is less than .01(one cent) per minute and falling. As a retail customer you may bepaying .$03, $.05, $ .10 per minute or higher, so its easy to see howNorvergence makes money. Many other companies sell domestic callingfor as little as $.02 -.03 (2-3 cents) a minute to retail customers,so regardless of what you do, you should shop before you sign.Additionally some of the competition doesn't require a contract, or ifthey do it's a 1 or 2 year deal, not the 5 years that Norvergence isdemanding.Norvergence used to call themselves "the strategic alliance of NortelNetworks." It took Nortel a little while to figure this out but oncethey did Nortel sued Norvergence because they didn't stop. Nortel wonso they stopped dead in their tracks. There was never any strategicalliance. They had just bought some equipment from Nortel and thendidn't end up paying for it for over a year. Some partnership!!Normally when the other party agrees with your statements, they issuea joint press release. The press release was issued solely byNorvergence, to put their spin on it and do some damage control.Norvergence states they have 1200 or 1300 employees, about 600-700 ofthem are cold calling telemarketers and another 250-350 are outsidefield sales people trying to get you to sign up. First they call youand tell you that they are screening you to see "if you qualify" andthen when you see the sales person they'll tell you there's very fewpeople "getting approved" for this offer, so you should put in your"application" right away. They realize that it they can't scam you onthe first or second try and you don't sign, that you've figured thingsout and won't sign with them so they end up leaving you alone. You'llnever get a straight answer to questions that you ask. Usuallysomething like "why worry, its free unlimited calling", just signup. It's a reverse sell that works well with small businesses withoutan IT or Telecom department to vet the offer. Norvergence will usehigh pressure tactics to get you to sign right away. Take your timeand get some competitive offers.Norvergence has also added 'unlimited' cell phones to their program.Same thing here again, you sign a firm and irrevocable 5 year lease.They buy the minutes wholesale as if all these phones were Norvergencecorporate phones and you get one monthly lease payment. This deal isespecially not good for cell phones where prices have been dropping25-40% over the last few years and continue to drop. And if you wantto keep your number you may not be able and if you do at the end of5 years you may not be able to get it back because the number willbelong to Norvergence, since they are the customer not you, due to thelease arrangement.Some other companies with very competitive (and many times lower thanNorvergence) rates are Paetec, IDT, and X
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