Re: Time Warner Digital Phone Question

On Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:19:01 -0400, Curtis R Anderson wrote,

In our Buffalo, NY radio market, I hear numerous ads for Verizon > plugging "it's always on when you need it." At another point in the > hour on the same (Citadel Broadcasting owned) station, listeners were > treated to an ad from Time Warner Cable plugging their services.

Clever. Of course at the same time, Verizon is flogging its FiOS product, which, like Time Warner's PacketCable, uses local battery. Old-fashioned POTS uses central office power, of course, but many lines now are served by digital loop carrier systems, which have their own local batteries whose backup isn't as strong as a CO's.

I don't know if it's always the case, but PacketCable is generally provided via an "embedded multimedia terminal adapter" -- a phone adapter -- built into a cable modem that contains some hours of battery backup. Older cable telephony systems, like the one Comcast is phasing out here in the Boston area (but RCN is keeping), are powered by batteries on the poles. That service has proven quite reliable over the years. My service was off for a few minutes, after midnight, a couple of weeks ago; it turned out to be scheduled system maintenance. Of course if you care about the phone's working during a power failure, don't rely on a cordless phone with its mains-powered base.

... I like getting these services from a phone > company who understands the concept of having a duty to continuously > provide service.

So would I, but your DSL comes from Verizon.

And on a separate note,

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Might you be thinking of the movie > called 'Tandem Rush' which was about a very sick phreak who enjoyed > killing people 'over the phone' who he felt had been 'discourteous' > to him? There was a central office scene similar to your discription > in it. PAT]

I cannot find anything about that movie anywhere except here. It is not in IMDB, and googling it doesn't turn up any references to it except by Pat. Are you sure that's the name?

Fred Goldstein k1io fgoldstein "at" ionary.com ionary Consulting

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