[NJARC] How is..Telco land line vs cable/fiber

[oldradio at comcast.net]

I remember a Comcast exec coming to our ham club to promote Comcast's internet phone when they were starting it.

When he got done singing the company song, I asked him, "Do you provide postcards to mail in when the phone goes out due to a power outage?"

He said postcards were not needed, as you could place a trouble outage via your computer to their web page. When I reminded him a power outage takes out the cable and Comcast's Internet.  He said not to worry, because the cable will still work without power.

The meeting went down hill from there as we all picked on him.  There were three retired telco hams in the audience.  He was real mad when he left, vowing never to came back.

My one son has a Comcast phone line and it has gone out several times and he had to wait for service, usually 2-days each time.  He's a teacher and can't stay home all day waiting for the tech to come, which frustrates Comcast.  They don't like late day appointments.  They like to say we'll be there Tuesday between 9 am and 5 pm.

73, John Dilks, K2TQN


-.-

----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Roberts" <ng19delta at yahoo.com>
To: "Stephen Boracchia" <s.boracchia at att.net>, "Rich" <richsradios at gmail.com>, njarc at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Saturday, November 3, 2012 10:09:45 AM
Subject: Re: [NJARC] How is everyone????

Just remember 
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_________________________________________________________
from Steve: "...
  We have fios, and the land line quit after 8 hours 
(battery backup).  Last year we lost power for a week, but had a regular Verizon 
line and the land line was operating throughout."

THE main reason I REFUSE to switch to cable tv based, or to FiOS phone hook-up! I have always told people that is what would happen. I am right... Fiber  optics is right nifty neat-o, but COPPER WORKS BEST when it is needed... The good old back up power supplies at the phone company have worked well for over a hundred years-more proof ofthe maxim; "If it ain't broke, DON'T FIX IT!" You can even hook up a WWII EE-8 field telephone to Bell(Verizon) copper, and DIAL OUT if you can key the hangup rapidly enough... Or, add a simple rotary dial in-line to break the connection, and you have dial service.Done that quite a few times when experimenting as a kid. Lo tech goes best...


Scott