Comment Re: Hello 911? (Score 1) 449
You make an excellent point (I thought).
Plus . . . no Cable Modems in my parents house area, so DSL comes in over POTS. And no, some places in RedNeck KY don't have 4GL, heck, we're lucky to have cellular service. So going "full wireless" for everything (Security links/Medical/mmorpg . . . wireless just doesn't always cut it.)
One of the most important points everyone leaves out . . . Cellular Services had no sense of PRIORITY. Little Timmy calling Grandma after the "big wind" came through, to make sure Gamma's OK . . . ties up Cellular Channels, just like Tina calling 911 to say her husband is having a massive heart attack.
Every time a little wind/lightning/thunderstorm/... comes through, everyone jams the Cellular lines with trivial traffic. (Here at least.) Heck, it can even be hard to get a line on Friday afternoon as work is letting off and everyone is gearing up for the weekend. (In total honesty this is 1000% better than it was 4 years ago.) Cellular capacity seems to be built for the AVERAGE load, not to sustain the PEAK load. And its a darn shame, when 911 calls can't make it through, because hundreds-thousands of people are making trivial calls. In my experience, the switched network nature of hard line switching circuitry does a better job of getting 911 calls through, even when Cellular networks are flooded. So yes, even though its burning a hole in my wallet, I'll have a wired phone in every house/apartment I have . . . for as long as they're available.
Plus . . . no Cable Modems in my parents house area, so DSL comes in over POTS. And no, some places in RedNeck KY don't have 4GL, heck, we're lucky to have cellular service. So going "full wireless" for everything (Security links/Medical/mmorpg . . . wireless just doesn't always cut it.)
One of the most important points everyone leaves out . . . Cellular Services had no sense of PRIORITY. Little Timmy calling Grandma after the "big wind" came through, to make sure Gamma's OK . . . ties up Cellular Channels, just like Tina calling 911 to say her husband is having a massive heart attack.
Every time a little wind/lightning/thunderstorm/... comes through, everyone jams the Cellular lines with trivial traffic. (Here at least.) Heck, it can even be hard to get a line on Friday afternoon as work is letting off and everyone is gearing up for the weekend. (In total honesty this is 1000% better than it was 4 years ago.) Cellular capacity seems to be built for the AVERAGE load, not to sustain the PEAK load. And its a darn shame, when 911 calls can't make it through, because hundreds-thousands of people are making trivial calls. In my experience, the switched network nature of hard line switching circuitry does a better job of getting 911 calls through, even when Cellular networks are flooded. So yes, even though its burning a hole in my wallet, I'll have a wired phone in every house/apartment I have . . . for as long as they're available.