Comments on: AT&T’s Scare Tactic Advertising

By: Dennis Howlett

Dennis Howlett — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 05:47:28 +0000

Perhaps the one good thing Telefonica does is provide a phone that works whether there’s power or not.

By: Tim Marman

Tim Marman — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 03:00:10 +0000

I actually went out and bought an old-school phone during the big blackout in NYC…

There is one big reason I haven’t switched to VOIP, aside from quality (and POTS still is better): customer service. Forget power outages, Time Warner absolutely sucks. If you have a problem, it could be a week before they can come out. I really don’t want allof my eggs in a single basket, where losing cable means I lose television, internet and phone. (It’s one reason I love my EVDO connection too).

Yes, the cell phone is there, but then that doesn’t address why I want a landline in the first place… and in that argument, VOIP and POTS are on the same sideof the equation.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 23:05:58 +0000

yeah, backup generators for the larger installations, UPS systems for the standalone units… just like neighborhood telephone switches.

The solar option is interesting, I’ve seen more of these being deployed and expect bigger and better systems.

By: Andrew Fife

Andrew Fife — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:31:59 +0000

What happens to the cell towers during a power outage? Do they have some kind of backup power supply or solar panel to keep them on?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 17:40:34 +0000

Dwight, you may indeed be the exception that proves my point! BTW, I used to have one of those plain ‘ol telephones too.

By: Dwight Shih

Dwight Shih — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 17:27:40 +0000

I’m sure that this marks me as a suspenders and belt kind of guy, but I have a plain old telephone that requires no power just for this eventuality. I used to plug it in to place credit card orders when I didn’t trust the security of my old 900MHz cordless phone.