[BC] Vonage (etc) vs copper dial line

[Broadcast List]

The reason for this is that NYC has some of the strictest regulations  
for generators and fuel storage in the world.  Few cell site have  
generators at all, and many COs don't either.  They nearly always  
have connections for external "portable" generators.  However, during  
the "big blackout" there just were not enough generators go go  
around, so once the power is out long enough for the batteries to  
die, so does the service.

NYC also has some of the most reliable power delivery in the world as  
well.

My home phone service has been fed via fiber since March 1983.  It is  
turned into copper about 400 yards from my house in an underground  
vault -- a really big one, and it resembles a computer room more than  
a man hole.  When the power goes out, the vault phones home and a  
contractor delivers a generator to the location and connects it.  We  
have had a few multi-day outages but the dial tone keeps working.   
Comcast, on the other hand, used to quit immediately until I started  
filing complaints.  Now it stays on for about 20 minutes of the 2  
hours required by the franchise agreement.

.
On Jan 28, 2008, at 6:01 AM, broadcast-request at radiolists.net wrote:

> Message: 23
> Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:42:19 -0500
> From: R A Meuser <rameuser at ieee.org>
> Subject: Re: [BC] Vonage (etc) vs copper dial line
> To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
> Message-ID: <479D5D2B.2030701 at ieee.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> That only works if the phone company retains staff to keep the
> generators running. That did not happen in the last blackout and some
> phones in midtown Manhattan did not work up to a week after the power
> came back. You can no longer trust the phone company.
>
>
>
>
> WBRadiolists at aol.com wrote:
>> In a message dated 01/26/2008 8:56:10 AM Eastern Standard Time,
>> mrfixit at min.midco.net writes:
>>
>>
>>> TELCO still supplies DC from the CO to run phone sets, but most
>>> people have electronic phones that quit when the AC drops. I keep
>>> a couple "old" phones here for just this reason.
>>
>>
>> This is *exactly* why I will be keeping my copper pair phone line  
>> until they
>> pry it from my cold, dead hands. ;)
>>
>> Cell phones have proven themselves *useless*, time and again, in  
>> widespread
>> emergencies, while in *most* cases, POTS came through. I also have  
>> a "power
>> failure phone" which is phone-line powered, right by the bed.  
>> There is one at
>> WFIF, also. Anywhere you have an electronic phone system, you  
>> should have at
>> LEAST one POTS phone connected (or readily connectable) to an  
>> analog line. A good
>> quality UPS on the phone system is a good idea, too. :)
>>
>> Willie...