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I don't think we can rely on mobile services for emergency uses yet. I'd much rather depend on a copper wire to a central office with a multi-day battery backu
by cpr 17y ago
I don't think we can rely on mobile services for emergency uses yet.
I'd much rather depend on a copper wire to a central office with a multi-day battery backup system than on both a flakey cell phone and a flakey cell tower that will both quickly lose power.
- grogers 17y agoWhile your cell phone battery might be weak, why do you think that your wireless network doesn't have battery backups on all critical infrastructure? Uptime is just as big of a deal for wireless networks as it is for wired networks.
- cpr 17y agoBut what's the use of a robust cell tower infrastructure if my cell batteries run out? Only if I think ahead and have alternative charging methods for my cell phone (e.g., car charging, assuming my gas supply doesn't run out) does this make any sense.
- jonknee 17y agoWe have hurricanes where I live and mobile is much better able to cope--phone lines get blown down. The carriers have done a good job with securing towers and providing onsite power. They even bring in extra capacity in critical areas on trucks: http://www.corp.att.com/ndr/images/2007Q4_1022_259_tch_satcolt.jpg http://www.corp.att.com/ndr/images/2007Q4_1022_259_tch_satco...
- russell 17y agoIt's not so much reliability as spotty coverage. I can make calls only from my living room and not at all from many areas of town. There have been proposals for a new tower to give better coverage, but they have been shot down by all the NIMBYs. The firefighters dont want cancer. The greens dont want a fake tree in the large nature preserve (next to the giant water tanks). I will probably switch to VOIP of some sort.