FCC: Sandy Took Out 25% of U.S. Cell Towers → Wired phone system

So, now we rediscover the strength of the old Ma Bell landline telephone system.

Tim

I'm curious to know the percentage of wired systems that also went down. It wouldn't surprise me if that number was near 25% as well. Cell sites rely on wired backhaul connections to central offices, data centers, etc. A tree falling on a overhead lines are pretty nondiscriminatory as to whether it's cable, telephone, power, fiber, etc or some combination of all of the above. There were also numerous flooded COs and data centers that had affected wired services and would also trickle down to affect cable and cell service as well.

My family just went to FIOS and were without phone service in the promised eight hours. And I expect they'll be down for quite a while - completely unreachable.

They just migrated from underground copper service. Know why? Because Verizon had no interest in fixing their copper service. One phone line that hasn't worked at all in months and another that was unusable due to an extremely loud buzzing.

So basically, telecoms don't want to pay for reliability and they're doing everything they can to get out of it. Maybe, just maybe, this will be a wake up call on that front.

Verizon is forcing fiber in my area too. In most cases people want the fast internet and TV service and the phone goes along for the ride. (this applies to Cable co. phone too) . The days of the phone being dependable are quickly becoming a memory of years past. For those that say the tree can fall on the old copper land line as well thats true but in most cases a neighbors phone would still work . Back to the fiber (FiOS) 8 hour battery backup in a several day outage its just not going far and many homes lack a genny. Same issue with cable phone if it has battery backup at all.

But what percentage of landlines are overhead anymore? Even in my small rural location they have buried the cables.

Around here, a ton. Residetial neighborhoods built in the last 35 years or so are mostly underground. But between those and what is considered "downtown" in my city, it's mostly aerial still. Out in the country, unless a developer has created a neighborhood and buried the line, most country houses on rural roads are also aerial. And regardless of age, many of the trunk lines are still aerial.

What it reflects is the need to require backup power for cell towers, the same way pressure was brought to bear on pre-breeakup AT&T to have generators and backup batteries for the PTSN, which was correctly viewed as a National Security asset that required national attention (with the PTSN being replaced by cell and digital, the bureaucrats and politicians in D.C. need to realize these systems are the next generation replacement). Both the Bush and Obama administrations have been loath to impose regulations that mandate back up power at cell towers. In 2005, the FCC had a proposed rule that would have required there to be 8 hours of backup power at all cell sites. The usual suspects lobbied to have it killed, successfully. The Obama administration has continued to ignore the issue. That said, the magnitude of this storm was on such a scale that even with backup power at every cell site there would still be problems. The public view and pressure being placed upon the big 3 carriers will probably ensure that they will work to restore service as quickly as possible. They don't want momentum to build on the Hill and in the Executive Branch to take away their existing autonomy. My sympathies to those affected by Sandy.

This article says the wired system faired better than wireless.

"Outages for landline phones are said to be much less widespread."

»bit.ly/TXqfqg

National Security? I suppose anything is possible but given today's technology and "global" military/CIA, if they depend on the US wired or cell infrastructure to keep us safe, we should all be scared. These resources did not provide even one square mile of coverage in Iraq or Afghanistan.

I was watching a NatGeo (or Discovery?) program about Air Force One and while it inter-links to the land and wireless networks, it uses satellites. I'd also bet that the down-link interconnects are ridiculously redundant and strategically placed. I also expect this is the norm for other branches of government that deal with matters of national security.

Well I have been hearing a little buzz about micro-cell systems or wifi being an answer for the future. Is this the kind of thing that can kill that??

Most of you are probably more in tune with tech than I am so are my thoughts off base??

quote:

---

So basically, telecoms don't want to pay for reliability and they're doing everything they can to get out of it. Maybe, just maybe, this will be a wake up call on that front.

---

No offense but the 'Wake-up Call' has been out (and mostly ignored) for several years now. They neglect the copper plant in order to force people to FIOS and wireless... some people defend them vigorously claiming copper is a dead technology and no one is on it anymore anyway. This is a direct result of the PSC relaxing rules on POTS to the point where it is basically unregulated.

FYI, most of the cell sites in NYc do have battery back-up and/or diesel generators. The problem is that the back-end fiber equipment either doesn't have backup power or the batteries have been neglected for YEARS (Verizon doesn't maintain them) and provide power for about 5 seconds after the failure.

Communications is a critical infrastructure sector and is a national security issue. National security isn't just provided by DoD and CIA and it isn't just conducting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

DHS Critical Infrastructure Sectors

My bad. I didn't know national security had such a broad definition. I was thinking external threats to our sovereignty and it's really any threat that would have significant impact on America's way of life.