Daniel Senie wrote:
Before you get too hung up on the emergency phone thing, take a hard look at the present day. The telcos pushed SLC gear out everywhere.
I'm the network engineer for 12 ILECs. Over the last 10 years, I've seen several major outages (> 48 hours) where voice has been maintained. One ILEC was disappointed in not being able to maintain DSL as well (as DSLAM/SLC was separate). They've since developed a plan to solve that issue and to maintain DSL as well (just for those households that have power/generators themselves).
If you want to make the emergency phone thing a part of the discussion, then regulations need to exist AND be enforced, and penalties assessed, for failure to provide such during power outages. It's not happening today, so don't expect it in the future either.
That may be. I don't know what RBOCs do. The ILECs here are privately owned companies. They aren't publicly traded. They are a part of their communities. Don't get me wrong, profit is definitely on the top list, but not at the sacrifice of quality and reliability. When your daily life consists of spending time with your customers because it's your community, you do everything you can to protect your name and reputation. A not uncommon statement heard when someone doesn't like the answer given by the helpdesk, "I'm friends with the owner. I'm going to call and complain to him/her." Jack