SSCCE cannot send char "1" as byte

package weathertelnet;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import static java.lang.System.out;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.net.InetAddress;
import java.net.SocketException;
import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentLinkedQueue;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
import org.apache.commons.net.telnet.TelnetClient;

public final class Telnet {

    private final static Logger LOG = Logger.getLogger(Telnet.class.getName());
    private TelnetClient telnetClient = new TelnetClient();

    public Telnet() throws SocketException, IOException {
        InetAddress host = InetAddress.getByName("rainmaker.wunderground.com");
        int port = 3000;
        telnetClient.connect(host, port);

        final InputStream inputStream = telnetClient.getInputStream();
        final ConcurrentLinkedQueue<Character> clq = new ConcurrentLinkedQueue();
        final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

        Thread print = new Thread() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                out.println("print..");
                try {
                    char ch = (char) inputStream.read();
                    while (255 > ch && ch >= 0) {
                        clq.add(ch);
                        out.print(ch);
                        ch = (char) inputStream.read();
                    }
                } catch (IOException ex) {
                    out.println("cannot read inputStream:\t" + ex);
                }
            }
        };


        Thread read = new Thread() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
                try {
                    do {
                        String command = in.readLine();
                        sendCommand(command);
                    } while (true);
                } catch (IOException ex) {
                }
            }
        };
        print.start();
        read.start();
    }

    private void sendCommand(String command) throws IOException {
        byte[] bytes = command.getBytes();
        out.println("sending bytes...\t\t" + command);
        byte by = 0;
        for (int i = 0; i < bytes.length; i++) {
            by = bytes[i];
            telnetClient.sendCommand(by);
            out.println("sent byte\t" + by);
        }
        by = 10;  //send newline
        telnetClient.sendCommand(by);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws SocketException, IOException {
        new Telnet();
    }
}