From: TJ@noneofyour.business   
      
   On 10/17/2012 11:35 PM, Moe Trin wrote:   
   > On Wed, 17 Oct 2012, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva, in   
   article   
   > , Jim Beard wrote:   
   >   
   >> The real advantage of traditional landline phone service is that   
   >> the line includes its own power source, independent of the power   
   >> company serving your house.   
   >   
   > Well. that's a great big "that depends".  Here, the phones were like   
   > that until they upgraded the lines from the central office. We HAD   
   > copper from there, and the phone company does have battery backups   
   > and diesels to carry beyond that.  But now, the lines from the CO   
   > are fiber to small road-side cabinets, which are powered by the   
   > AC line.  There are batteries in the cabinets, but no generator so   
   > when the battery runs out of poop, your phones are gone (as is the   
   > DSL).  If you receive phone service from the Cable provider, you MAY   
   > be better off, because the local cable heads are powered (fiber from   
   > down-town, copper to the customers), and in addition to the battery   
   > backup, they have tiny "town" gas powered generators.  I had   
   > noticed a gas meter on the side of the cabinet and couldn't figure   
   > that out - one day I'm bike-riding past it, and there was a service   
   > guy with the cabinet open, and he's testing the little Onan genny   
   > that's built in.   I've noticed that the phone company are replacing   
   > the road-side cabinets in some outlying areas, and some of them have   
   > the same gas meter (in addition to the electric meter) on the side.   
   >   
   Wouldn't work here in the sticks - no gas lines. Anybody out here that   
   uses gas uses propane. Something tells me the telephone company wouldn't   
   install and maintain propane tanks to run a generator. In our case the   
   landline does still work when the power goes out, so I expect they still   
   use the central generator method. Or, it's entirely possible that power   
   could be out here, but not at the landline power source. I don't   
   remember checking the cell phone, but it's been a while since the last   
   long-term outage.   
      
   TJ   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)