NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] POTS Reliability - Reality
The message below notes a point I mentioned earlier -- that increasing numbers of analog lines are fed from remote terminals (that themselves have power backup capacities measured in a relatively few hours and no local generating capacity) rather than directly from central offices which typically have relatively enormous battery facilities (and local generators that can -- in theory -- kick in when needed). --Lauren-- NNSquad Moderator ----- Forwarded message from Dave Farber <dave@farber.net> ----- Date: Sat, 2 Jan 2010 10:55:39 -0500 From: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net> Subject: [IP] POTS Reliability - Reality Reply-To: dave@farber.net To: ip <ip@v2.listbox.com> Begin forwarded message: > From: Stagg Newman <lsnewmanjr@yahoo.com> > Date: January 2, 2010 10:36:26 AM EST > To: dave@farber.net, ip <ip@v2.listbox.com> > Subject: POTS Reliability - Reality > > Faith in the "copper network" may be misplaced in the real world. > > Many customers today are served by fiber fed copper. So > unless the fiber/copper junction in the neighborhood (DSLAM) > has backup power for several days, one is still without service > once that backup fails. So it is no longer the central office power > system that provides the back-up power. > > Or is there is a fiber cut which we have also experienced > then everybody in the fiber footprint (may be 100s or 1000s or > people) are out of service until that is fixed. Fiber rings are used > for businesses but not necessarily to served residential neighborhoods. > > Moreover for those customers who are served by aerial plant, > it the aerial plant goes in a hurrican or earthquake, > then no phone service. > > When we lost power when the hurricanes visited the mountains a > few years ago, we lost POTS, cable, and power simultaneously. > As far as we could tell, there were no trees across lines anywhere > so likely a power failure that affected the fiber/copper cabinet > (DSLAM) and the backup system did not work.. > We have both DSL from ATT and cable modem service from Charter. Our > experience is both have similar amounts of outages > and both much higher than the old Bell System standard. > > My impression but not based on actual data is that for the residential > market over the last two decades > -cable reliability has improved > -and telco reliability has gotten worse > so that there is not much different between the two nowdays. > > Note that I was the Department Head for Network Reliability at Bellcore > shortly after divestiture when reliability data was carefully collected > and analyzed. > > So my recommendation if one is concerned about reliability is to have a > wireline and a wireless provider. If you have more than one person in > the household, you may want two different wireless providers. > > From: David Farber <dave@farber.net> > To: ip <ip@v2.listbox.com> > Sent: Sat, January 2, 2010 9:08:02 AM > Subject: [IP] Re: [BarryDGold@ca.rr.com: Re: AT&T Asks FCC to Kill > Conventional (POTS) Phone Service] > > > > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Joe Touch <touch@ISI.EDU> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > > > > > Begin forwarded message: > > > >> *From:* Joe Baptista <baptista@publicroot.org > >> <mailto:baptista@publicroot.org>> > >> *Date:* December 31, 2009 4:27:25 PM EST > >> *To:* Bob Poortinga <nnsquad@k9sql.us <mailto:nnsquad@k9sql.us>> > >> *Cc:* <mailto:nnsquad@nnsquad.org>nnsquad@nnsquad.org > >> <mailto:nnsquad@nnsquad.org> > >> *Subject:* *[ NNSquad ] Re: [BarryDGold@ca.rr.com: Re: AT&T Asks FCC > >> to Kill Conventional (POTS) Phone Service]* > >> > >> POTS is more secure then IP. Getting rid of POTS puts the government > >> of the United States in a very vulnerable position with respect to > >> national security. POTS is the only reliable service for national > >> emergencies. > > FWIW, POTS is the reason I won't upgrade my phone to FIOS. 8 hours of > battery backup simply isn't enough in earthquake territory. I can't > understand a sane person giving up copper given the alternatives. > > Joe > > > ------------------------------------------- > Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now > RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ----- End forwarded message -----