Posted: 6/4/2006 7:04:41 PM EDT
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A lot of folks I know are dropping land line service and just keeping cells. But, nobody I know is satisfied that their cell phone service is anywhere as reliable as their old hard lines are/were. So… have cell phone companies successfully lowered expectations of consumers permanently, or will service improve in the future to match what land lines provide? |
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What you said is not true for everyone. I have just as good of service from my cell as from my old landline. Hell, my old landline went down a couple times, I never had that problem with my cell. I expect more now then I have in the past, that is my outlook with electronics. Verizon has done a good job keeping up with my expectations. Some people don't get as good of service, but that is not poor expectations. Those people can either move or pay a lot more to fund more towers going up in their neighborhood. |
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My reliability at my home is fine. The mobility is just an added bonus so i don't complain too much when i'm in the middle of nowhere and it doesnt work. fyi i use cingular and it works pretty well most places i go. i used to have sprint which i consider another good provider. the only reason i switched was to be able to by 3rd party phones. -foxxz |
| I do expect wireless service to inprove. We're heading into a wireless world and within the next 10-15 yrs. I think the only landlines will be high speed data lines. I'm sure large businesses and office building will use POTS lines for some time yet, but for residential the landline is on the way out. If it weren't for my DSL connection I wouldn't even have a landline. |
| I don't know if landlines are on the way out. Landlines are important for safety issues in the home (calling for police or medical help), especially when dealing with children who are too young to have their own cell phones. It's good to have phones scattered thru out the house as landlines most commonly are. Imagine falling or having heart problems and the only phone was in the kitchen on the first floor on the other side of the house? |
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Cell phone reliability changes drastically in a disaster situation. When hurricane Isabel hit VA cell phone coverage varied by carrier. My carrier (SunCom) sucked, but my friends worked fine (Verizon) The "rumor" was cell tower owners only allowed their subscribers to have access due to overwhelming demand. Also, land lines do require power to operate. In a major outage of power even land lines will disappear. Fortuantely, the local phone company brought trucks to the neighborhood substations to power the phone network - basically running a truck engine as a generator. BTW if you have your landline service through a cable broadband provider, they were unable to power their system remotely like the local phone phone company using trucks. Only after power was restored in a neighborhood, would cable phone service be restored. YMMV, but words of experience here in a disaster situation. |
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Many cell towers and telephone switching stations have massive battery backup and sometimes gennies good for 24-48 hours. I have seen some of the battery banks and charging equipment (and even grabbed some they were throwing out!). As for power for the phone itself I have batteries and inverters. Even the little 12v 7Ah gel cell with the car charger on it should power my phone for weeks. Or charge the phone in the car. Lot of options with that. Is the tower out? Well I guess you could try to drive to an area with wireless or landline service. -Foxxz |
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