VoIP to Kill Off Traditional Telephony > Dialup Days all over again.

Dialup Days all over again.

During MAJOR disasters and power outages and such, the LAND LINE is the only thing that hasn't gone down. I'll keep it thanks!

I lost power for over four days after a hurricane passed through our area. I had two telephone lines. One was routed through a Subscriber Line Carrier System. That line failed after about Eight Hours because the backup batteries discharged. The second line was routed on copper directly to the Central Office. I never lost dial tone on that line. If you have one landline and DSL Service your telephone line is probably routed through a Subscriber Line Carrier System. If that is the case the up time on your telephone line during an extended power outage will be limited.

This is the Achilles' heel of VoIP. Most providers are giving you backup batteries along with your MTA, but that's usually only good for a few hours worth of service. If your power goes out for any longer than that, then you're pretty much SOL. Even a UPS will only give you at most a few hours of time.

That applies to cell phones too, although with my larger battery I can usually get my cell phone to go about three days between charges.

On the other hand, with POTS, your telephone's power comes from phone company's central office. I don't know how long of an outage they can handle, but they can certainly bring a lot more to bear (like backup generators to go with their storage batteries) in the event of an extended power outage.

Of course none of that does you any good at all if you've only got cordless phones at home that need AC power to work.
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My opinions are my own. No-one else would want them!

In the old days the subscriber line was served directly from the frame in the central office on a copper cable pair. About Twenty Five Years ago the cost of pair gain devices, particularly Subscriber Line Carrier Systems dropped to the point where they were less than the cost of installing new cable. At that time a Subscriber Line Carrier System could serve up to 96 Subscribers over Eight Cable Pairs. Those Beige Cabinets seen along a street near you are usually SLC Systems. SLC Systems are typically AC Line powered and have batteries designed to bridge an Eight to Twelve Hour power outage. Unfortunately unless you are lucky enough to be served by a copper pair directly from the frame at the Central Office your telephone service up time will be limited to Eight to Twelve hours.