sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information co disaster recovery

I would imagine that it would probably be a lot easier to restore a cable central office since you don't have huge pair count OSP cables to deal with, only a handful of fibers in and out. But I'm only guessing because I don't think anybody has ever seen a cable company CO or even know what equipment they use.

And to answer the original question, if a cable switch were to disappear I doubt customers would see service restored in their lifetime.

-Hal

Both Ed and hbliss are good winners in this discussion.

Ma Bell (today's at&t) still has the old process of having equipment ready "just in case".....portable central office et al.
And they aren't the only ones...whatever Sprint land lines is now called as well as those operating companies of any size.

As far as cable....well, it could be a "ip ghost switch" resciding in the local telco building and tied to the internet. Or it could be like where I am at.....

The Metro KC cable has a fiber ring completely encircling the Metro area. The switch resides in the southwest corner of the KC area in their own office...BUT....

We had a major ice storm two years ago this past December. at&t had a couple of SLC that needed generators....cable tv had every amp with a generator.....so it was days without catv....hours for Ma Bell.......

As a former utility worker, I've seen it all over the years....and I'll stick with copper, not fiber, not catv, nor sip trunks......

My two cents.

So, so true. I often hear people bitching about how their cell phones are junk. These are the same people who drop them as they sit down at a bar. Blame the equipment instead of the owner's responsibility for it, right?

People have absolutely NO clue what goes on behind the scenes to make their 'magic' connections to the rest of the world happen. I guess that is where the new buzz word (cloud) comes from. That imaginary thing that happens without any human intervention. Oh, and that cheaper solution, such as Vonage still requires the worldwide infrastructure that the major players have put into place. People just don't get it because it isn't an "app" (I hate that one, by the way) on their cell phone.

I've always applauded the traditional telcos for their undying dedication to keeping their networks there. Dirty work, long hours, interrupted personal schedules, but it gets done. Not one time, not twice, but EVERY time.

When riding in the country the other day, I encountered about a dozen Verizon cable technicians' trucks parked along the side of a highway. Out of curiosity, I stopped to ask what was going on. Two of the guys came over and explained to me that a farmer had managed to completely cut three fiber cables, one 400 pair copper cable and another 2,400 pair one. Some of them were cut multiple times, so they decided to replace about a half-mile stretch of all of the cables. These guys had been working for days, 24/7 in an effort to restore service as quickly as possible. I'm going to venture a guess that the most that will ever be heard about their efforts will be the fact that it took too long for Bobby and Susie to get back on the Internet.

The next time I hear someone complaining about how much they hate at&t or Verizon (likely because they had an altercation about an unpaid bill or broken/uninsured cell phone), I think I'll show them these links to jerk their asses into alignment with reality. That "cloud" isn't as simple as they think.

Something tells me that I'll likely be pissing up a rope in my attempt to convey my message, but I still have a few years of life left to continue my crusade.

The NDR team is really impressive, a lot of these guys are some of the best the company has to offer, I know the telco's take a lot of flack but when it comes down to it we have some really talented techs that still care about what they do. Unfortunetly the laziness of some over showdows that.

As far as cable....well, it could be a "ip ghost switch" resciding in the local telco building and tied to the internet. Or it could be like where I am at... The Metro KC cable has a fiber ring completely encircling the Metro area. The switch resides in the southwest corner of the KC area in their own office

I can only make an educated guess and say that here the switch is made by Cisco (no surprise there), is located in their office with the head end and is connected to Verizon with OC3 trunks.

As for internet they handle it like any other ISP. Nothing to do with phone other than a "cross connection" for SIP.

-Hal

And THAT, dear friends, is why I will have a copper landline as long as UTC/SPRINT/I forget/CENTURY-LINK/whoever is next, offers one!

I will keep my copper landlines as long as I breath. With a heart condition, I do not trust cell phones to make the connection if there is an emergency.

Joe

Yep, copper landline here as well.

Along with a ringdown to the local police barracks...don't ask...long story...

I still have my landline, but its on FiOS rather than copper.

Doesn't FiOS require local power for conversion to audio from light! Gotta admit, I'm on a slic hut, but it has not only a rack of batteries, but a Diesel powerplant.