Stating The Obvious

[Darkman90808]

Of course you have to have high speed internet access for voip, but sometimes it's easy to take for granted. One of the benefits of POTS is that it works even when the power goes out, and of course there's nothing to charge unless you're using a cordless handset.

The other day my Fios router went out and it took two days to receive a replacement. Since it's also interconnected to the Fios tv, you can't just head on over to Best Buy for a replacement.

It was then I realized how dependent I've become on my internet for phone service. Ooma, Skype, Google Voice, Google Talk and occasionally Sipgate have almost entirely replaced my cell phone. When UPS finally delivered the replacement, I felt like a junkie waiting for a fix.

Like I said - just stating the obvious.

[lymon]

Strange co-incidence. I had been leaning heavily toward abandoning my POTS phone service entirely. About 2 weeks ago my Linksys router took a dump. No big deal, a 15 mile drive to Walmart and I was back in business within 3 hours (including shopping and untangling time). BUT--it also occurred to me that my wife does not enjoy messing with stuff to the same extent that I do, she would have been phoneless if I had been out of town. But we have a cell phone--yes, and we also have femtocell, without which, we have virtually no reception.

This experience has convinced me, that in my case, the best solution is to keep barebones POTS service along with call forwarding.

[dtm]

I use an inexpensive UPS (APC-550) on my router and Obi110. This gives you not only surge protection but will keep your phone and Internet working for many hours during a power outage. It has been tested many times in the past few years and it is nice to still have Internet access on my laptop while sitting in the dark. I have DSL and so far that never fails, so the phone company must have backup power on the DSLAM. I assume the cable companies do the same.

Something to think about for a small price...

[cell14]

It was then I realized how dependent I've become on my internet for phone service. Ooma, Skype, Google Voice, Google Talk and occasionally Sipgate have almost entirely replaced my cell phone. When UPS finally delivered the replacement, I felt like a junkie waiting for a fix.

Like I said - just stating the obvious.

We have been stating this for years. Nothing better than good old POTS.
But there is the question of out of the pan rising telecom costs. I do not feel like paying $ 600.-/year for my analog phone service which BTW has not improved at all in any way since 1994 and where the customer service got worse and worse since the take over of Southern Bell by Bell South and far worse after take over by AT&Tea.
The 'bare bone' line which i kept for 8 moths after I got MJ 3 years ago costs $ 300/year. So 300 bucks just for a back up. Plus , off course, only about 1/3 of our metro are is local and the rest is long distance.
I have never relied on VOIP. VOIP is a secondary thing AFTER a cell phone. And for back up ? a second(prepaid) cell phone with a different company.
No doubt, our "civilization"{ is becoming extremely vulnerable.

And about that junkie stuff- I wonder when they arrest a guy who was getting high on the plastic fumes from a freshly opened chinese router....

[lymon]

I hear ya. We have Verizon, Sprint and T-mobile cell phones at home, none of them can get chit for a signal without femtocell. My BIL can not get a decent ATT signal either.

There is an unfinished cell tower being installed on private property about 3 miles away, but it doesn't appear to be in service yet. Is there a way to determine who owns the new tower? Is 3 miles close enough to provide constant signal?

[VaHam]

Well I have been hanging onto POTS for reliability myself here. But the recent hurricane Irene taught me some lessons.

Saturday
1:10 PM Power Out
6:30 PM Cable Out (I have a generator and and UPS for voip equipment)

Sunday
10:10 AM POTS Out
12:00 Noon Cable Back Up

Wednesday
PM POTS Back up

So because my cable company uses small generators at it's pops I actually had better up time with voip than I did with POTS.

Can't be sure of the cause of the POTS going down but it sure sounds like they were on battery power and the batteries didn't last until their power was restored. They used to have generators at the central offices but maybe they have changed this or perhaps their pops don't have backup.

[lymon]

That is interesting information, VaHam. Did you retain cell service (assuming that you have cell service)?

[VaHam]

That is interesting information, VaHam. Did you retain cell service (assuming that you have cell service)?

For the most part, yes we had cell service, it was spotty especially during and right after landfall due to usage. We were lucky Irene slacked off a bit and turned just enough east so our winds only got up to 75mph; not enough to do cell tower damage.

Around here at least cable is the low man on the totem pole. So with power at the top then Ma Bell telco below that they stop a lot of tree damage from getting to CATV lines. Where natural gas lines are available the Cable Co. has little autostart generators even out at remote pops, which makes it nice.
In my case the pop is in my side yard

[cell14]

Is 3 miles close enough to provide constant signal?

It depends on size/power . But it should be okay unless , off course , there is a mountain in between. Terrain is really important.

[lymon]

Is 3 miles close enough to provide constant signal?

It depends on size/power . But it should be okay unless , off course , there is a mountain in between. Terrain is really important.

That is the strange thing, the tower is actually in kind of a valley, with limited surrounding population, were I would imagine would be the last place to put an antenna, but I guess their engineers are probably smarter than I am.

The tower does not see to be in service yet, and the big No Trespassing sign keeps me from getting any closer. Is there any way to determine which company is going to be using this tower? I tried Google Fu without any luck.

I just called the township offices, and they said that they don't know who the tower belongs to because they have not seen the permits yet. WTF, I thought that was the kind of thing they liked to keep track of.