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AT&T Joins Verizon, Admits Landline Is Dead > And When the Storms Come?

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OldAuditor

join:2007-03-24
Oklahoma City, OK

And When the Storms Come?

Tornados, hurricanes, blizzards? It is often only the copper-based, internally-powered phones that work.

Cell phones, with their exposed towers, are highly susceptible to Acts of God. This will become a public safety issue soon.
permalink · 2009-12-31 13:46:47 · Reply to this ·

FBGuy
yippee ki yay
Premium
join:2005-03-19

Re: And When the Storms Come?

not likely
permalink · 2009-12-31 14:51:47 · Reply to this ·

Rogue Wolf
Ate Your Homework, And Framed The Dog

join:2003-08-12
Troy, NY
 Unless of course the phone lines go down.
permalink · 2009-12-31 18:32:19 · Reply to this ·
jameswade

join:2001-12-09
Hot Springs, NC
Reviews:
·Frontier Communi..
·US Cellular
 We just had a large snowstorm here in Western North Carolina that took down a LOT of poles and killed power and phone to a LOT of people for a long time.

The generator-backed up cell towers with microwave and/or underground backhauls functioned flawlessly. True, you do have to have a way to keep your cell battery charged, but we have found that cell phone service here is WAY more reliable than Verizon's land lines. And no hums or clicks and other noise like Verizon's land lines. And we can get reasonable Internet access on the cell phones unlike Verizon's land lines.

Since we can only get (poor 21 kbps) dialup off of Verizon's land lines in the area we just don't use a land line. We use a US Cellular air card and get about 1.3 Mbps down and 600 kbps up. (Unfortunately with a 5 GByte per month cap and $58 per month fee) But this has been the most reliable Internet access I've ever had and that includes living in cities like Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Miami. I've worked for companies that just had to shut down when a fiber was cut during some kind of construction in town.

Now I'd like to have some kind of reliable, less expensive Internet access with (or without!) a cap that lets me download or stream movies if I want. I don't care whether it's a land line or wireless. But I sure don't want it hanging from a pole!

We're sort of a special case in some respects, we live 1.1 miles from the nearest government road and don't have power lines (we run off of our own solar and hydro). It would cost the USF and fortune to bury a POTS line in our rocky driveway. We know other people that forced the phone company to provide them phone service. It would have been cheaper for the USF to provide them cell phones and pay for their cell service indefinitely!

I could care less about POTS. If I absolutely HAVE to do a fax I'll use some kind of online system. These companies that rely on a POTS line for their data connection are no doubt going to have to migrate to a data connection.

Just some thoughts and observations...
permalink · 2010-01-01 11:34:25 · Print · Reply to this ·
OldAuditor

join:2007-03-24
Oklahoma City, OK

Re: And When the Storms Come?

Agree with all posts. However, if a storm drops the towers, it's only the underground POTS that will work. Been there, done that, in northwestern Oklahoma.
permalink · 2010-01-04 11:43:54 · Reply to this ·

It Figures

@vzbi.com
 You are "off the grid". Sounds to me like you're proud to be 1.1 miles from the nearest maintained facility. Good for you!
So what is the complaint again?
permalink · 2010-01-04 13:39:35 · Reply to this ·
jameswade

join:2001-12-09
Hot Springs, NC
Reviews:
·Frontier Communi..
·US Cellular

Re: And When the Storms Come?

I'm not sure what you mean about "maintained facility". I'm neither proud nor ashamed to be 1.1 miles from the county road, it's just where I live.

Please read again carefully - this wasn't a complaint so much as some notes and observations.

If you don't have anything useful to say, please keep it to yourself, Mr./Ms. anonymous.

said by It Figures :

You are "off the grid". Sounds to me like you're proud to be 1.1 miles from the nearest maintained facility. Good for you!
So what is the complaint again?
permalink · 2010-01-04 19:52:47 · Print · Reply to this ·
Forums > AT&T Joins Verizon, Admits Landline Is Dead

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