FCC: Cut the copper, switch to fiber

Stomplar · August 9, 2015

wa wa wa . Some of you have some good points, but all i see in this thread are kids wanting everything for nothing. the future of this planet is fked.

HalGameGuru · August 9, 2015

-snip-

They always have power because that's how the phone system works. The lines are powered, completed circuits, the phone signal rides the lightning. It's not a lot of power, but its enough, and its a discrete system from the bespoke power lines so while they can fail they can also keep working even when the power grid is spotty.

420istoday · August 9, 2015

I highly doubt my isp will agree with that, they enjoy milking money out of us, we pay $50 for 3/1 since that's all I can get as the other isp with fiber filled my town with it and is starting the next town, and skipped my road. I mean, unless I pay 8k for them to run a line..

I live on a freaking highway, and yet there are people who live in the backwoods middle of nowhere around here getting 25Mbps down.

RagnarokDel · August 10, 2015

It's not just the modem. Every piece of equipment along the line must also now have batteries.

Plus the battery has to be decent enough to last quite a while.

In power outages that lasted 2 or 3 days, traditional phones would still work.

It's not really an issue tho. in one or two generations(human, not hardware), people likely wont have any land lines anymore.

dalekphalm · August 10, 2015

It's not really an issue tho. in one or two generations(human, not hardware), people likely wont have any land lines anymore.

Possibly, yes, but there are specific hurdles and limitations that the new "land line-less" system has that need to be overcome.

One such problem is the lack of power during a power outage. Another issue is the lack of accurate 911 (Emergency services hotline) location services. Most Cellphones have e911 (Or your regional equivalent) now, but it's not as accurate. With traditional land line, you dial 911, and the operator can immediately see the address you're calling from. With a cellphone, they can tell your general area, what city you are in, and possibly which neighbourhood or block you're in, but getting an exact address is not usually reliable.

That comes with it's own set of issues - if they are able to perfect track your location, then many people will raise "dur hur NSA spying on me tracking my movements" objections.