POTS Reliability - Reality

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

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-----
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>
>
>
> > 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
>
>
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