 Reviews:
 ·DSL EXTREME
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| No landline here Nope I'm dry loop here and I'm not a Verizon customer anymore, My ISP(which is in the Verizon area) is DSL Extreme, I doubt I'll be moving to TW cable and I sure don't want LTE at all, not for what Verizon charges, they can keep that and stick the prices for LTE where the sun doesn't shine... | |
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 |  cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:7 | Re: No landline here said by zoom314:Nope I'm dry loop here and I'm not a Verizon customer anymore, My ISP(which is in the Verizon area) is DSL Extreme Who do you think owns and runs those dry loops? Hint: It's not DSL Extreme. One of the few things that Verizon would like to get rid of more then their copper users are ILEC's copper users. | |
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| | Reviews:
·DSL EXTREME
·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: No landline here said by cdru:said by zoom314:Nope I'm dry loop here and I'm not a Verizon customer anymore, My ISP(which is in the Verizon area) is DSL Extreme Who do you think owns and runs those dry loops? Hint: It's not DSL Extreme. One of the few things that Verizon would like to get rid of more then their copper users are ILEC's copper users. Duh I know that, I live in CA, so Phone Companies abandoning landlines might not pass the CPUC, so I'm not worried. | |
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| | | | | Re: No landline here I'd rethink that. the USF is designed to do that by giving money to cell phone companies for phone services. ATT is already busy making sure states kill the Minm. Tel Standards. Ohio has killed theirs if you bundle ANY thing with your local dial-tone. DSL and or LD or any other service- takes away any repair times the state set years ago.
Michigan is working on doing the same as well as other ATT serviced states. | |
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| | | |  skeechanAi OtsukaholicPremium
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170
kudos:2 | Re: No landline here It's California...if Sacramento can make VZ bleed money, they'll do it out of spite. | |
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| | Oooooooh! Thank God the telcos pushed through legislation preventing municipal broadband. With LTE and high-priced overages, they can bend us over and give us some good "luvin". | |
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| | | Re: Oooooooh! said by Ben Dover :Thank God the telcos pushed through legislation preventing municipal broadband. With LTE and high-priced overages, they can bend us over and give us some good "luvin".
LTE= the new satellite did you hear? | |
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| |  Mr FelFlynn LivesPremium
join:2008-03-17
Louisville, KY
·AT&T DSL Service
| Re: Oooooooh! Except the high satellite ping times, granted LTE will still have higher ping times than a landline would (and does) have. Not a fan of this solution though.
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Change the scheme, alter the mood! Electrify the boys and girls if you'd be so kind. | |
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| | |  Oh_NoTrogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL | Re: Oooooooh! I think it is a good solution.
Fixed LTE-A wireless can go up to 1Gbps per spec.
Why invest in running wires to areas that have like 10 customers per sq mile when you can just put an antenna on their roof and be done with it? Fixed wireless is the best rural solution, it is cheaper all around for customers and ISPs.
Fixed wireless can have much better pings than copper.
It is based on the speed of electricity vs the speed of light vs the speed of radio waves. Now fiber based on the speed of light would be faster. Coax is around 70% the speed of light. Fixed wireless would be close to the speed of light and faster than coax.
The rule of thumb has always been, if you want broadband you dont live in a rural area.
If Fixed wireless is done right then I would have no problem getting it over copper AND the cost to implement and maintain is much, much lower so I SHOULD have a lower bill. | |
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| | | | Mr FelFlynn LivesPremium
join:2008-03-17
Louisville, KY Reviews:
·AT&T DSL Service
| Re: Oooooooh! You do make a good point, it just comes down to the implementation for one, price of service versus the level of service provided for two. I'm going to reserve judgement until I see how it plays out. Just in general I don't like having anything I can control otherwise over the air. I put in a good chunk of money retrofitting my home for wired ethernet and turned off my wireless.
As for ping times of LTE versus coax, in theory you are right. In practice I haven't seen any LTE phones (this may change for for fixed wireless service, just have to wait and see) in my area get under 100ms while the coax in the area varies anywhere from 30 to 140ms.
Off topic, isn't your Avatar one of those monsters from that older game Number Crunchers?
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Change the scheme, alter the mood! Electrify the boys and girls if you'd be so kind. | |
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| | | | public
join:2002-01-19
Santa Clara, CA | said by Oh_No:The rule of thumb has always been, if you want broadband you dont live in a rural area.
All of this has been debated in the 30s when rural electrification was proposed. The concept of a utility to promote commerce and national security was developed.
You do not know much about history,.. | |
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| | | | | | | Re: Oooooooh! Absolutely. The paradigm has shifted from public utility to mercenary racket. We are allowing a handful of aggressive corporations to put their interests ahead of the needs of every consumer and every other business and even national security. And these telecoms are virtually colluding: they each actively provide as little bandwidth as possible for as much money as possible. They have no motivation to build a network worthy of the economic potential of the US. In fact, they have a disincentive to provide high-level service. | |
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| | | | | | WhatNowPremium
join:2009-05-06
Charlotte, NC | Re: Oooooooh! The Public Utilities Commissions have been neutered and if the Republicans win their biggest gripe is regulation. They want less because the market will take care of any problems.
I could go for the fixed LTE if the price and caps were equal to DSL. I saw a post the other day where a guy said it was sad his LTE smartphone gave him 4Xs better speed then his hardwired internet connection. I am not sure if he is on cable or DSL. His problem is he uses at least 500GB of data on his hardwired if he is having a very slow month. | |
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| | | | | Oh_NoTrogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL | said by public:said by Oh_No:The rule of thumb has always been, if you want broadband you dont live in a rural area.
All of this has been debated in the 30s when rural electrification was proposed. The concept of a utility to promote commerce and national security was developed. You do not know much about history,.. Data is not considered a utility due to heavy lobbying.
I guess you do not know much about history... | |
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| | | | | | 2nd rule of thumb, it won't be cheaper for the consumer. It will be a-la-cart data. | |
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| | | | | | The difference between 70% the speed of light and 100% over 1000 miles is .002 second, or 2 millisecond. So if you're 10 miles from the CO or switch or whatever, .02 millisecond. Somehow I don't think that's a very important factor. | |
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| | | | | | All satellite is ok if right environmental conditions exist.
If no trees grow, if no rain, clouds or mist.
All these communications giants want is to tell you it your problem. | |
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| | | | Reviews:
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| said by Oh_No :
It is based on the speed of electricity vs the speed of light vs the speed of radio waves. Now fiber based on the speed of light would be faster. Coax is around 70% the speed of light. Fixed wireless would be close to the speed of light and faster than coax.
Sorry, but this made me laugh. I hope you're not being serious. :-/ | |
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| | | | | Oh_NoTrogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL | Re: Oooooooh! said by techguyga: said by Oh_No :
It is based on the speed of electricity vs the speed of light vs the speed of radio waves. Now fiber based on the speed of light would be faster. Coax is around 70% the speed of light. Fixed wireless would be close to the speed of light and faster than coax.
Sorry, but this made me laugh. I hope you're not being serious. :-/ Why would you laugh with facts?
The speed of particles passing through a certain media varies.
You can even slow down light through certain media if you want to, I think I just blew your mind.
Here is a quick wiki for those that need to open their eyes to reality: »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_electricity
I was pointing out that LTE is not having higher ping times due to being wireless vs. a wired landline.
Just looking at the conductor, wireless will have lower ping times than any coax connection.
If someone is having higher latency on LTE wireless over coax line then it is purely from crappy equipment not because it is wireless.
You=pwned | |
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| | | | | | Reviews:
·AT&T U-Verse
| Re: Oooooooh! The speed of light/electricity/radio is all the same in a vacuum. Air is a neutral medium and does not significantly affect radio or light energy as it passes through.
In your example, you said that "coax is around 70% the speed of light." Simply not true. The Wikipedia article you referenced sites an article between 2 hacks that are discussing attenuation and signal loss. It has nothing to do with how fast the signal passes across the medium. Energy passing across the medium will only be slowed by the other equipment that it passes through, such as transmitters, repeaters, receivers, etc. The same holds true for radio waves.
Light, however, passing through optical media travels about 35% slower than the speed of light, depending on the refractive index of the media. Again, this is not significant, but it renders your statement incorrect, hence my chuckle.
Check your facts.
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My hourly rates:
$35 per hour.
$45 per hour if you want to watch.
$55 per hour if you want to help.
$100 per hour if you already tried to fix it.
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| | | | | | | | | Re: Oooooooh! Oh, and I missed the you=pwned bit the first time I read your reply.
Thanks for another laugh. That's so 2000's. Hahaha! | |
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| | | | | | | | Oh_NoTrogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL | Re: Oooooooh! You are such a sad person.
You even said I was right by saying how light is slowed in fiber medium.
So sad.
I guess you pwned yourself? | |
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| | | | | | | | | Reviews:
·AT&T U-Verse
| Re: Oooooooh! I'm not sad at all. If you check my bio, you'll see that I am in the business of getting data from one place to the next, and I've been doing it for a LONG time. I just think it laughable that in your previous statement that you think that fiber is the fastest, followed by wireless, followed by coax.
I'm also not in the business of name calling, but in the spirit of your posts...
You=immature and childish
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My hourly rates:
$35 per hour.
$45 per hour if you want to watch.
$55 per hour if you want to help.
$100 per hour if you already tried to fix it.
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| | | | | | | | | Oh_NoTrogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL | Re: Oooooooh! Electricity flows at different speeds through different media, like I said. | |
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| | | | | | | | | Oh_NoTrogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL | Aside from your negativity and unwillingness to go by reality.
I guess in all your years of wisdom you never ordered cable before and have no idea what a velocity factor is.
»www.nr6ca.org/vf.html
Some can be as low as 66% of the speed of light and some as high as 88%
pwned again.
Check your facts please. | |
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| | | | | | | | | Oh_NoTrogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL | Got nothing to say now when I through the facts at you? | |
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| | | | | | FYI slow pings (latency) are a function of network congestion and not electromagnetic wave in a medium (electricity on copper, radio on ether, photons in glass).
Regardless of access method, LTE or Copper or Fiber, the quality of end to end latency can be affected anywhere in the network. Quality of the wired/switching network is a huge factor. Therefore, quality of service for LTE really would depend on over subscription. If they get a 1GB connection to the cell tower and then put 4 subscribers in a rural area, vs 400 subscribers on one cell tower in a more densely poulated area. People are going to have very different type of connectivity experiences.
Will you have a lower bill? for LTE just look at the wireless phone price structure to get an indication. Just because you live in a rural area, does not mean you get a better plan. | |
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 IowaCowboyWant to go back to IowaPremium
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA
·Comcast
 ·Verizon Broadban..
| I still keep a landline I prefer to have a landline as I have a home security system and I like having enhanced 911 capability (where the 911 dispatcher can see the exact address of the 911 call as opposed to a general location, especially in a duplex where they can see what side of the duplex the call is originating from). I also like having a landline as you are much less likely to have a call drop, especially when calling an 800 number that makes you push the "0" key 95 times to get put in queue for an operator and then you wait on hold for about 5 hours before getting a live operator. I have had calls on cell phones that have dropped when calling an 800 number and you have to call back and you get someone else and you have to explain the situation all over again.
If Verizon really wanted to rid itself of union labor, they would use contractors to do outside plant work (like Comcast does all the time with installs). But considering they don't outsource all their techs, it seems to be a non-issue for them. | |
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|  KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | Re: I still keep a landline I ditched the phone line-- it was cheaper for me to have the alarm company install a radio. They now are notified of an alarm wirelessly. The best part is cutting the phone and cable lines and turning off the power doesn't mean jack---- the alarm will nail them anyway.
I still have a VOIP line and a Cell. It's enough.
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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| | | | Re: I still keep a landline Really?? You really think someone's going to cut your phone, cable, and power lines to rob your house? Sheesh, people really DO need to turn off the TV. My alarm system consists of my dog and a few firearms. I guess I'm just not as important as you... | |
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| | | fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | Re: I still keep a landline Apparently you don't understand how criminals have attempted to break into homes. That's why line monitoring is included in alarm panels.. because, you know, people cut phone and cable lines.  | |
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| | | | | said by justwow :Really?? You really think someone's going to cut your phone, cable, and power lines to rob your house? Sheesh, people really DO need to turn off the TV. My alarm system consists of my dog and a few firearms. I guess I'm just not as important as you...
Your firearms do you no good when you are not home and your dog is easily distracted with a couple of hot dogs. | |
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| | | | | | Re: I still keep a landline Having an alarm system does little or no good when the police won't respond because they are too busy responding to shootings ,robberies, muggings, rapes and more generalized "revenue enhancement" duties. It's better than nothing but an alarm system is as good as the response time of the police and the alarm company and in bankrupt states like California its getting pretty dismal. | |
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| | | | |  belawrenceThey'll never let you in
join:2000-08-06
Santee, CA | Re: I still keep a landline I'm in SoCal - typical alarm response at my home by the Sheriff's department is 5 to 10 minutes - a house guest set it off once and didn't have the password when the monitoring center called and I had to rush home so the deputy would "unhook" my guest. The other time I purposely set off the panic alarm due to an unexpected visit from my ex - we are not on friendly terms.
said by Twaddle :Having an alarm system does little or no good when the police won't respond because they are too busy responding to shootings ,robberies, muggings, rapes and more generalized "revenue enhancement" duties.
Wow! Where do you live!!!??? | |
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| | | my alarm works just fine with no landline. the alarm system can see me and I can see them. ADT Wireless System. secure wireless connection to their center to my house. No need for any landlines, or anything.
And the Union is a huge problem for VZ and they know it. Why do you think CellCo is non union? | |
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| | It Doesn't Make Sense Unless cable makes the caps so punitive in nature, moreso than they are, Verizon isn't going to get people to switch to a fixed LTE product. I don't get how they benefit, unless there's some really awful collusion in place for VZ to get a kickback for every triple play sign-up.
As for the drive to kill unions in this country, that is systemic of almost all businesses and certainly of both political parties.
I also think it's a higher percentage than 35-45% of VZ's footprint that isn't going to be able to get FiOS. Granted, they've already sold off a lot, and I'm sure they'd like to sell more if they can find someone dumb enough to buy the rural parts of MD, PA, NY and VA. | |
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See 12 replies to this post |
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 thegeekPremium
join:2008-02-21
right here
kudos:2
·Suddenlink
| What's the Problem? Get rid of costly labor. Increase prices. Reduce costs. How else is a business supposed to make a profit. I just don't see the problem here. The great thing is if you don't like it you can vote with your wallet and use a competitor. And last I checked internet is not a necessity, it is only a want. If you want it bad enough then you pay the prices required to get it. | |
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See 43 replies to this post |
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| | Kind of sucks I know Wireless has made huge strides recently but I don't see it being a source for my broadband anytime soon... I'll go do cable (uggg) before I go to Wireless...
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Stunod | |
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|  Jim_in_VA
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA
kudos:4
·Northern Neck Wi..
| Re: Kind of sucks wireless has been my source for broadband for the last two years, and not telco wireless. I use a local WISP. Those guys are saviors for rural if you have a good one (I do).
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... need help? »evdo-tips.com/ | |
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| |  tim_kButtons, Bows, Beamer, Shadow, KaseyPremium,VIP
join:2002-02-02
Stewartstown, PA
kudos:25 | Re: Kind of sucks said by Jim_in_VA:wireless has been my source for broadband for the last two years, and not telco wireless. I use a local WISP. Those guys are saviors for rural if you have a good one (I do).
Well sometimes. You still need LOS for many. I used a WISP for a couple years until he lost access to a nearby tower and with my wooded lot, I had major issues in the summer when it rained and I had his high gain antenna and amp. I paid $50/mo for 256k/256k service. This was 8-9 years ago though.
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RIP my babies Buttons 1/15/94-2/9/07, Beamer 7/24/08, & Bows 12/17/94-10/11/09 | |
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|  vipermCarpe DiemPremium
join:2002-07-09
Winchester, CA | Wireless is a VERY VERY good format for broadband IF and I say IF it is done correctly. We have been doing it for many years and have made lots of money and grown our company. We have seen other wisps come and go but only because they did not plan and decided to use linksys crap to run thier networks..
Customers are happy with the service and willnever go back to a telco or cable provider. We strive to make our service and experience an enjoyable one.
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»www.accelwireless.com
ComTrain Certified Tower Climber.
Wireless and IT consultant.
Proficient in Mikrotik | |
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| | Jim_in_VA
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA
kudos:4 | Re: Kind of sucks +1 could not agree more | |
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| | nehmia
join:2012-07-20
Fredericksburg, VA | I've been trying to look into a WISP into an area I will be moving too soon. They seem to be shut down and not operating any more (Stafford County, VA).
What does it take to start up a WISP project? | |
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| | Empoverishing the U.S. one town at a time? There are areas this behavior more deeply affects than might be seen on the surface. Think of the percentage of paying jobs that are online now. With this behavior by both Verizon and CenturyLink, there are areas with unreliable internet access, and thus can't benefit from the economics of online work.
But the only way to break their behavior is to really get politically active about it. Get your representative's ear and make a logical, well-constructed case about the problems these companies are causing. | |
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|  Rogue WolfReally Ties The Room Together
join:2003-08-12
Troy, NY | Re: Empoverishing the U.S. one town at a time? Sadly, the most logical and well-constructed case in the world doesn't hold a candle to a six-figure check made out to your representative's re-election campaign.
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I may have been born yesterday, but I've spent all afternoon downtown. | |
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 newviewEx .. Ex .. ExactlyPremium
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD
kudos:1 | I know how to cut copper too quote:
"Every place we have FiOS, we are going to kill the copper," Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam recently told attendees of an investor conference. "We are going to just take it out of service. Areas that are more rural and more sparsely populated, we have got LTE built that will handle all of those services and so we are going to cut the copper off there."
Fuck you, Verizon ... I know how to cut copper too. I've eliminated EVERY Verizon dependent device in my home ... cell phones & landlines & you never even offered DSL in my rural area at all so I went with cable years ago.
So why in the hell are you still sending me marketing bullshit via USPS? | |
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|  pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: I know how to cut copper too said by newview:So why in the hell are you still sending me marketing bullshit via USPS? Someone has to keep the USPS up and running. 
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Romney 2012 - Put an adult in charge. | |
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| openbox9Premium
join:2004-01-26
japan
kudos:2 | said by newview:So why in the hell are you still sending me marketing bullshit via USPS? To gain you as a customer? | |
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| | | Re: What a disaster this will be Here on long island in the town of brookhaven they are already a monopoly. Verizon stopped the roll out of Fios and in a lot of areas of town of brookhaven does not even offer dsl. So in the town of brookhaven on long island cablevision is already a monopoly. | |
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| elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA | said by djrobx:FiOS isn't even rolled out to the entirety of the city of Los Angeles (let alone county).
Wake up, government. It's time to stop anti-competitive behavior by the phone company again.
Most of Los Angeles city and county is franchised to AT&T, not Verizon. You wouldn't see Fios rolled out, ever. Verizon is not going to cross boundary lines, certainly not with 30% penetration in their own turf.
Conversely, you won't see AT&T offering U-Verse via any of Verizon's 50+ central offices.
The phone company's behavior isn't anti-competitive per-se. By offering lousy service, they are indeed, inspiring competition. Virtually everyone I know bailed on Verizon service in favor of cable triple-play, and all have the option of buying Fios.
Still, I wouldn't oppose using the FCC's power to make them reconsider their abandonment of the wired plant, the premium-only tiers, and the mandatory dialtone bundling. The FCC could re-open Verizon's forbearance petitions. | |
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| | And in other news... Coin operated telephones have been removed from around the country. Entire banks of empty kiosks found in airport terminals, hotels and public arenas.
The issue isn't the technology - copper lines have been around for over 100 years now and maybe it is time to move on. The real issue seems to be that the telcos have used the introduction of new technology to also introduce new billing models. | |
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| | | Re: And in other news... And to further their agenda of killing off more of the middle class by getting rid of their unionized workers and hiring techs part time with no benefits at half the price. At this rate pretty soon you'll either be a businessman or poor in this country, cause anyone that provides a service is having their job cut and replaced with part time temp work. The article clearly states that this is one of the main things Verizon is working towards. We're turning our country into a 3rd world slum. | |
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| | So what Verizon will leave and that will allow others to see opportunities and enter the market. Verizon always positions itself as a premium company that charges a premium price. I don’t see it that way so I don’t use them and give their competitors my money. If they want to walk away from people, let them go. That is the great thing about competition. We just have to get the FCC and governments (at multiple levels) to open up these markets more instead of protecting the old ma bell components. | |
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| | Subsidies, Shmubsidies Add up all of the subsidies that TelCos like Verizon collected over the years, then subtract that from the federal taxes they have paid. Bet you'll have cash left over...
But that's not convenient to your argument, is it... | |
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| | | Re: Subsidies, Shmubsidies That is why we should try a true free market approach where the government does not transfer wealth to Verizon. | |
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| | Reviews:
 ·DIRECTV
| Re: Subsidies, Shmubsidies The telephone/ broadband (wired/wireless) market is essentially a limited duopoly. So there is nothing free about it.
I say that all Verizon customers (wireless and wired) should call and threaten to cancel unless their predatory profiteering is stopped IMMEDIATELY.
Heck for that matter I think there should be a "national call to cancel day" for ALL such service providers, what a shock it would be if millions of subscribers threatened to stop service.
The greedfest among them all seems never ending. No one here is against any company making a decent profit, but the scorched earth policy these companies are engaging in to line the already fat pockets of the executives and shareholders must stop. | |
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| | It's nice to see Verizon is a progressive company It's nice to see Verizon is a progressive company with realistic views of the future. One has only to look North to Canada to see a country permanently stuck in the past and pond it off as the wave of the future. | |
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 camperPremium
join:2010-03-21
Bethel, CT
·Comcast
| One thing where DSL is better than cable... Back in 2003 when the Northeast US experienced a very significant blackout ( »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_···_of_2003 ) I had DSL for internet access.
My home network has a UPS with eight hours of backup for my home network infrastructure. During the blackout, when all around me was darkened, my DSL internet access continued to work. The DSL modem kept me on the internet until the batteries in my UPS were drained. Eight hours.
A couple of days ago some nasty thunderstorms cruised through the area. Power was out for 12 hours. Comcast's internet service stopped after two minutes of power loss. Two minutes.
Comcast can only provide internet service for two minutes when there is a power outage. That is really shameful. | |
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| | Losing business customers too. Verizon is losing business customers to. I am a network admin at a library. Phone service for our station branch still runs over copper. one of our lines went down due to verizons techs screwing it up at the box a couple of blocks over. IT took them a week and a half to get a tech down. The tech finally shows up and fixes that line but messes another one up. Took another week for a tech to come back to fix it.
Verizon is losing business customers by doing this. When we get the money i will move away from verizons network completely.
How verizon can think this is good for business is beyond me. They are losing their high paying customers bby doing this. | |
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Reviews:
 ·ooma
·Optimum Online
·Verizon FiOS
| dsl= zero value in a metro area.. You'd be better off pilfering your neighbor's wifi service rather than get DSL line from Verizon.. the speed would be about the same.
Eventually, the neglect of copper networks will come to a head with some State public utility commisions.. in states Verzion wasn't allowed to sell off such as West Virginia. They will either have to invest money they don't want to invest, pay fines, or upgrade to fiber.. hopefully it will have some teeth like what they're trying to do to Frontier & Fairpoint.. that is, after 7 years of hell. | |
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cbobby
join:2009-06-14
New Windsor, MD | Verizon: Service you can count on. Esp in an Emergency. I thought "Things Changed After 9-11", because now we are "AT WAR".
One would think that the Department of Homeland Security would be investigating Verizon.
But even the Washington Post's Editorial Board refuses to go that far. can't wait for a REAL emergency.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
No answer at 911
By Editorial Board, Published: July 20
ONE EFFECT of the post-derecho uproar over power outages three weeks ago was to divert attention from an equally serious infrastructure meltdown: the collapse of emergency 911 service in most of Northern Virginia. Following the violent storm on June 29, some 2.3 million people lost access, for at least seven hours, to the nation’s most widely recognized telephone number, which in Northern Virginia is administered by Verizon; for some of them, it was not restored for several days.
Incredibly, the lesson for Northern Virginians was that they can rely on emergency 911 service — except in an actual widespread emergency, when a critical mass of people need it most. As one official told us, “It was like the Titanic sinking and nobody rang the bell.”
The result was tragi-comedy on a regional scale. Local officials, desperate to get the word out, resorted to traditional and social media — which in turn were not accessible to many people who lost power and cellphone service. In case of emergency, residents were advised to flag down passing police cars (if they could find one) or walk to the nearest fire station (in the blazing heat). Why not smoke signals?
The 911 breakdown seems inexplicable; it is certainly inexcusable. Simultaneous investigations are now underway at the Federal Communications Commission, Virginia’s utility-regulating State Corporation Commission and the Metropolitan Council of Governments. Verizon, which is conducting its own inquiry, owes the public as well as the regulators some answers.
Chief among the questions are how this could happen and what is being done to ensure that crash-proof and redundant backups are in place in the future.
Unfortunately, Verizon’s record of accountability, in Northern Virginia and elsewhere, is not encouraging. Last year, authorities in Maryland, where Verizon is the sole 911 service provider, said that the company had failed to notify emergency call centers in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties four times when service failed. In the worst instance, during a snowstorm in January 2011 that left commuters stranded for hours, some 10,000 calls to 911 failed to go through.
The failure to coordinate with local officials in Maryland should have sounded alarms for Verizon, but judging from its performance in the most recent major outage, it’s not clear that the company took corrective action. The storm knocked out power at several of Verizon’s 911 hubs; at one in Arlington, a backup generator failed to kick in, for reasons that remain unexplained.
Despite that, Verizon did not notify local officials in Northern Virginia until the next morning, nearly 12 hours later. Why not? And why was 911 service still impaired for some people more than 48 hours after the storm had passed?
In general, the company seems to have shirked its responsibility to keep local governments, and therefore the public, in the loop. Northern Virginia officials have asked Verizon to develop procedures to notify local governments quickly in the event of any interruption in 911 service and provide them with timely information in emergencies. Officials have also asked the company to carry out twice-yearly drills simulating steps to be taken in coordination with local jurisdictions in 911 outages. Those seem like reasonable minimum steps for Verizon to take immediately.
»www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/···ory.html | |
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| Rogue WolfReally Ties The Room Together
join:2003-08-12
Troy, NY | Re: Verizon: Service you can count on. Esp in an Emergency. said by cbobby:Northern Virginia officials have asked Verizon to develop procedures to notify local governments quickly in the event of any interruption in 911 service and provide them with timely information in emergencies. Officials have also asked the company to carry out twice-yearly drills simulating steps to be taken in coordination with local jurisdictions in 911 outages.
»www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/···ory.html
I'm just waiting for someone to come along and call that "jobs-killing regulation" and say "let the free market sort it out".
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I may have been born yesterday, but I've spent all afternoon downtown. | |
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BiggA
join:2005-11-23
EARTH | They should be forced to divest... They should be forced to divest the copper, sell it to someone who cares. After they divested their copper in New Hamsphire, FairPoint lit up a ton of RDSLAMs and did ADSL2+ with better speeds.
Without upgrades, DSL isn't viable anyways. | |
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| | Lowell's a tool Verizon's and it's leader is an friggin tool. So you cut the copper. lets see special circuits,clecs, and enterprise lines will also fall, NOT!!! It will be a matter of time before the FCC stops that BS | |
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| | | Re: Lowell's a tool No, they will move those over to the fios network, an unregulated network where they can set the prices, and you better believe those prices will be much higher then they are now...
And when a problem occurs, they will be able to accurately and remotely troubleshoot to the ONT, and then info said clec that its ok to ont port 987, send your own tech people out! | |
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| | Really? That is what I do not understand, why not sell the infrastructure to someone else? Wouldn't that make more sense since it isn't a liability? Then again, they want pricing control and market domination. Also, I wonder if you could get them on collusion in order to inflate prices by making people go to cable. | |
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What a disaster this will be