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tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Saint Clair Shores, MI
 ·Comcast
·WOW Internet and C..
edit:
May 3rd, @09:53PM
| reply to crapmac
Re: Wrong info?
said by crapmac  :said by knightmb :Very unfortunate indeed. Without more info it's hard to say, as all of the news stories I read are reporting slightly different information that doesn't seem to be consistent. A media circus I'm certain, but I guess if I reported my story of when VoIP saved a neighbors life when their land line failed that wouldn't make as much news.  i've never actually heard of a landline failing. I think that before VoIP should be used widespread - i guess it already is -, the companies that developed the technology need to establish safety measures that have to be taken before service is established at a given address (like a correct address for the customer, and a verification by either the VoIP provider or the ISP that the internet service that the telephone call will go over is working in the best possible condition - without any hiccups). It's very unfortunate that the VoIP call disconnected, leaving the emergency responders to whatever information they had on-hand. It's upsetting to know that a minor glitch in a new phone technology can have terrible consequences if not fixed. The poor family - that's definitely the worst consequence i can think of when i see so many people in the forums complaining of their disconnecting VoIP service. I just feel so bad for them - they didn't do anything to cause this, and neither did the Canadian emergency center or the emergency responders. It was just a tiny hiccup in the system. Right.. VOIP? They are lucky they even got a DT. What a sad case indeed and all this just to save a few dollars on POTS  .
To the guy about the L/L failing and VoIP saving a life. I had a 1 week failure of POTS due to the cable guy hooking up my service pulled my drop right out of the cable splice. AT&T forwarded my number to my cell till it was fixed (1 week due to the below zero temps and a tree had to get trimmed before they could fix the splice). POTS isn't idiot proof, but after having POTS for 25 years and having 1 week of outage due to some moron for that ENTIRE time, then, after having VoIP from 2 providers for 18 months and having more then 4 weeks of total outages, not included in that are the times I had inbound only, echo, static (where I had to hang up and try again) and at least 5 times of E911 (much less 911) showing the incorrect address("VoIP caller"), saving the 20 bucks a month just wasn't worth the life's of my 3 kids. I tested my 911 calls every month when I got the bill. We we do call through testing for wireless upgrades, we test 911/E911 every single time so I'm accustom to testing with 911 ops. Working for a large telco who provides backbone for a cable company.. just knowing what I know behind the scenes, I'll put my life and trust in a POTS line any day over VoIP. Nuff said. | |
cyclone_z
join:2006-06-19
Ames, IA
 ·Qwest.net
| said by tc1uscg :Right.. VOIP? They are lucky they even got a DT. What a sad case indeed and all this just to save a few dollars on POTS . POTS isn't idiot proof, but after having POTS for 25 years and having 1 week of outage due to some moron for that ENTIRE time, then, after having VoIP from 2 providers for 18 months and having more then 4 weeks of total outages, I've had a similar experience with POTS. Over a period of almost 20 years, I don't remember the POTS service at my parents' house failing even once. Last spring it failed. It would have been repaired the next day, but no one was going to be home and Qwest didn't want to send a tech out without access to the NID, which is inside the house. Turns out they didn't even have to come to the house; the problem was down the road.
Also last year there was a major ice storm that knocked out power for a couple of days to a good size area, including some cell sites. I don't know if if cell service worked or not but POTS sure did. The entire time, the Qwest line continued to work. The CO even lost power, but they have backup batteries and generators.
Even though Verizon Wireless service is very reliable, there is the occasion where the service or the handset goes a little flaky and doesn't complete a call right away; I've even got an "all circuits busy" message once. I've decided that I really should get some copper hooked up. It's worth it.
If anybody thinks that copper POTS is too expensive, at least with Qwest you can get metered local service, where you can receive any number of calls, but outgoing calls are charged on a per-call basis (vs. unlimited local calling). I think the service is about $8 or $9 per month. So for about $100 per year, a person can have the ability to call 911 with the 99.99% reliability that comes with copper POTS service. In my mind, $100 for that kind of reliability would look cheap should an emergency arise. | |
tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Saint Clair Shores, MI
·Comcast
·WOW Internet and C..
| True. One of the problems is people like VoIP because they want to "stick it to the man".. Granted a hand-full really use their phones and don't care for the sometimes crappy quality. These are the same people who will try to use a cell phone while driving down the highway with the top down, or windows down. I have Comcast's phone service and a pots line (call 50, used for inbound only). I also live near a "golden site" for Sprint so I'm going to have power as long as the cell tech keeps the genset fueled up. My outage was caused by a WOW cable guy. And the AT&T guy who came out to MAKE SURE my phone was working also ran a new drop and inside wire to my 66 block. He didn't have to do that but he said he wanted to make sure I didn't have more issues since I had to wait so long for them to fix it. He was almost a little sappy about the whole thing.  | |
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