Re: iPhones and Contracts

07-16-2007, 12:01 PM

At 16 Jul 2007 06:44:55 -0400 George wrote:

> The old ATT TDMA sites that are going/gone away had backup generators.
> The GSM sites just have a minimal amount of battery. So with anything
> other than a short term power failure you aren't calling 911 (or
> anyone else) on your iphone.

If any other GSM carrier is operating (like T-Mobile) the 911 call would
go through them.

And forgetting the doom and gllom scenarios, backup batteries are good
for several hours- longer than than Vast majority of power outages. In
this post-Katrina world, AT&T has decided to spend their "backup"
resources on things like an increased number of COWs (Cells on Wheels,)
stored regionally, to deploy to areas in a true state of emergency,
rather than try to increase backup capacity of every cell tower in their
network.

In my nearly 20-years of using cellphones, I've never lost service due to
power outages- even in outages lasting for over two-days. I suspect the
cellcos know what they're doing in that area by now!

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

07-17-2007, 07:41 PM

Just FYI, when Seattle had that spell of bad weather last winter,
it sure was nice to have that big 'ol gen at the VZW site nearby pumping
out the juice - and the site staying up the whole time. The GSM carriers
(and Sprint) were LONG off the air.

There is NO substitute...

"Todd Allcock" <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in message
news:132317987420070716180107elecconnec@AmericaOnL ine.com...
> At 16 Jul 2007 06:44:55 -0400 George wrote:
>
>> The old ATT TDMA sites that are going/gone away had backup generators.
>> The GSM sites just have a minimal amount of battery. So with anything
>> other than a short term power failure you aren't calling 911 (or
>> anyone else) on your iphone.
>
>
> If any other GSM carrier is operating (like T-Mobile) the 911 call would
> go through them.
>
> And forgetting the doom and gllom scenarios, backup batteries are good
> for several hours- longer than than Vast majority of power outages. In
> this post-Katrina world, AT&T has decided to spend their "backup"
> resources on things like an increased number of COWs (Cells on Wheels,)
> stored regionally, to deploy to areas in a true state of emergency,
> rather than try to increase backup capacity of every cell tower in their
> network.
>
> In my nearly 20-years of using cellphones, I've never lost service due to
> power outages- even in outages lasting for over two-days. I suspect the
> cellcos know what they're doing in that area by now!
>
>
>
> --
> Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
>

07-17-2007, 10:37 PM

On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:41:21 -0700, "Ness_net"
<richard@nomore.damn.spam.nessnet.com> wrote in
<-JqdnRvbn4Ei8gDbnZ2dnUVZ_vqpnZ2d@giganews.com>:

>Just FYI, when Seattle had that spell of bad weather last winter,
>it sure was nice to have that big 'ol gen at the VZW site nearby pumping
>out the juice - and the site staying up the whole time. The GSM carriers
>(and Sprint) were LONG off the air.

Not according to people I know in that area.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

07-17-2007, 11:09 PM

Well Johnny, I LIVE here.
This is not 2nd hand info.

Note, I didn't say their entire system(s) were down.

But, very certainly in this area, they were. VZW was
the only system that stayed up, here. The only one with
a gen, keeping things humming... Battery plants just don't
last for days, more like hours.

"John Navas" <spamfilter1@navasgroup.com> wrote in message news:u66r939pjpaobke07bb6l0450fo4qnot5k@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:41:21 -0700, "Ness_net"
> <richard@nomore.damn.spam.nessnet.com> wrote in
> <-JqdnRvbn4Ei8gDbnZ2dnUVZ_vqpnZ2d@giganews.com>:
>
>>Just FYI, when Seattle had that spell of bad weather last winter,
>>it sure was nice to have that big 'ol gen at the VZW site nearby pumping
>>out the juice - and the site staying up the whole time. The GSM carriers
>>(and Sprint) were LONG off the air.
>
> Not according to people I know in that area.
>
> --
> Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
> John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

07-18-2007, 10:43 AM

On 2007-07-18, Ness_net <richard@nomore.damn.spam.nessnet.com> wrote:
> Well Johnny, I LIVE here.
> This is not 2nd hand info.
>
> Note, I didn't say their entire system(s) were down.
>
> But, very certainly in this area, they were. VZW was
> the only system that stayed up, here. The only one with
> a gen, keeping things humming... Battery plants just don't
> last for days, more like hours.

I was in Boynton Beach, FL during and after hurricane Frances in 2004.
No Verizon cell sites there had permanent generators that I noticed (I've
yet to see a generator at an isolated cell site where I live in California,
for that matter).

Despite this, after the first day, Verizon was the only wireless
carrier operating where I was for the 4 or 5 days the power was out.
While coverage was spotty in the town Verizon did have portable generators
deployed at the cell sites along the freeway close to where I was staying.
My Sprint and T-Mobile phones, on the other hand, were useless anywhere
north of Fort Lauderdale (where the power was still on), as was my
brother-in-law's Cingular phone.

Dennis Ferguson

07-18-2007, 12:47 PM

Fair enough -- I didn't realize you were speaking of only one tower.

On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:09:14 -0700, "Ness_net"
<richard@nomore.damn.spam.nessnet.com> wrote in
<qvKdneDazPHlPQDbnZ2dnUVZ_hadnZ2d@giganews.com>:

>Well Johnny, I LIVE here.
>This is not 2nd hand info.
>
>Note, I didn't say their entire system(s) were down.
>
>But, very certainly in this area, they were. VZW was
>the only system that stayed up, here. The only one with
>a gen, keeping things humming... Battery plants just don't
>last for days, more like hours.
>
>"John Navas" <spamfilter1@navasgroup.com> wrote in message news:u66r939pjpaobke07bb6l0450fo4qnot5k@4ax.com...
>> On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:41:21 -0700, "Ness_net"
>> <richard@nomore.damn.spam.nessnet.com> wrote in
>> <-JqdnRvbn4Ei8gDbnZ2dnUVZ_vqpnZ2d@giganews.com>:
>>
>>>Just FYI, when Seattle had that spell of bad weather last winter,
>>>it sure was nice to have that big 'ol gen at the VZW site nearby pumping
>>>out the juice - and the site staying up the whole time. The GSM carriers
>>>(and Sprint) were LONG off the air.
>>
>> Not according to people I know in that area.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>