MikeSh
Well-Known Member
It's like standby on TVs, etc. It's not a lot but it's 24/365.
Media mistakes
- Thread starter RobH1
- Start date
Wildebeest
Member
Yes it was. :-(
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
What's wrong with expecting the new to include the facilities provided by the old? When only reason for the new is to pander to entertainment consumption and increase the potential for profit for private industry by allowing them to escape the operational costs (poor dears), then yes I say it is a step too far.
BMAX
Active Member
Vodaphone, FTTC (originally Plusnet ASDL)
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EEPhil
Number 28
Absolutely nothing.
antipodean
Active Member
You don't see many horse troughs on the streets these days. And in my town the few there are are being used to plant lovely displays of flowers.
The last one around our way was beside a village pond, and was planted up as you say. Unfortunately it got demolished by a car that failed to take the bend in the road.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
...and your point is?
Horse troughs fell into disuse. What's fallen into disuse re POTS?
Horse troughs fell into disuse. What's fallen into disuse re POTS?
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
It wouldn't be sudden. Presumably the number of horses using the troughs fell to a level that it wasn't worth maintaining them.
Same with POTS. Many people are dropping landlines in favour of mobiles. (Which I'd do but the other half is a semi-Luddite. She's run up £6 of landline calls this month which would have all been included 'free' in her mobile usage.)
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
But you're still ignoring national emergency, with the idea "it will be fine if we all keep our fingers crossed".
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
They will supposedly use the emergency text facility for that, so mobiles basically. (Not sure if BT's text to speech will be used but by the time you've listened to that the will to live is largely gone anyway.)
Are you suggesting that isn't going to be the case? And what national emergency might it be?
Personally I think it'll be more of "every man for himself", but whatever it is it won't be pretty and likely far beyond the ability of any copper landline to help.
antipodean
Active Member
Still get horses (with riders) on the roads around our area. I suspect they just use the pond these days if they want a drink.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Horses don't tend to need a drink on the light recreational activity they are used for these days. Horse troughs are from the era where a horse would be pulling a delivery cart all day long without a break.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
There's no need to contemplate anything armageddon to see the point, the loss of power due to extreme weather is sufficient.
How about something as simple as an elderly person unable to summon help for a medical situation in their own home because the lights have gone out? It could be just hypothermia. It doesn't take much imagination. Not everywhere has a reliable mobile signal, mobile phones run out of power, mobile masts don't work if the power is out, digital line interfaces don't work if the power is out unless they have a UPS, and UPS batteries run out in a matter of hours.
POTS phones continue to work in all those scenarios.
The only alternative to POTS is to organise a regular patrol to check on people. Good luck with that.
If it came to war, I'm sure a war cabinet would rue having allowed all the proper wires to be replaced with glass!
EEPhil
Number 28
Frying electronic equipment at the end of the wires, due to lightning or the A-bomb, is much easier with copper conductors connecting things - especially above ground. A well placed bomb would cut the circuit whether it was copper or glass.
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
Loss of power due to extreme weather is rarely a national emergency (I don't remember it happening in my lifetime). It's usually reported in tens of thousands of homes in specific areas.
The grid failing would be a NE.
That sounds good but I'm not sure it's that big a problem. I frequently see news items about people who have died and not been found for some time (a particularly awful example recently where a child died too, but that was apparently sudden). I suspect the problem is more about having someone to call in the first place. If there is then that person should step up and visit if communication is lost*; and if not then a working phone is moot.
It really comes down to whether the current phone system should be maintained at considerable cost to ... the taxpayer basically, since many people are voluntarily dropping off the system and thus not paying a share. The alternative would be the cost failing on those vulnerable people that apparently rely on it - £100/month line rental? Get it on the NHS?
( * I wonder if there is or will be a monitor that can ping a remote router to check it's alive and alarm if there is a problem? So a contact who lives some way away would know when (eg) granny has probably lost her phone connection.)
Unless it's you and then it's massive.
and then do what if the connection is down?
MikeSh
Well-Known Member
Which is why decisions like this need to be taken at a non-emotional level like government. Otherwise we'll be spending the entire national GDP on expensive treatments for rare diseases never mind an old phone system.
I'm assuming that whoever has this alarm system will also have a strategy in place for when it pings - not much point in having it otherwise
So ... make an effort to find out if they need help. Try and call a neighbour to go check? Go round there themselves?
ie. Get off their asses and take some responsibility rather than expecting the government/council/emergency services to do everything for them.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
But they're not though, are they! The consequence of privatisation is pursuit of profit not utility.