Buzz Out Loud Lounge: Landlines more reliable in emergency?
Landlines more reliable in emergency?
by minimalist - 9/18/07 1:32 PMThe conventional wisdom that landlines are better in during natural disaster emergencies isn’t really true. I say this as someone who has endured both Hurricane Katrina and the New York blackout of 2003.
Because of the small size and the fact that they don’t hog bandwidth, SMS’s were the only lifeline many of us had to keep in touch with friends and family near New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. And unless you live in the urban core, your landlines are usually strung up on power poles (which easily come down with high winds, snow and earthquakes). Even with 135 mph winds, the cell phone service stayed up and running in my area during and immediately after Katrina. Power, regular phone service, and cable took over a week to restore because the streets were a giant tangled mess of wires and fallen trees. Same thing during the blackout. Landlines were almost always busy but SMS’s would usually get through.
I agree (for the most part)
by indy1333 - 9/18/07 1:49 PM In reply to: Landlines more reliable in emergency? by minimalistAfter Katrina hit, our landline was out for five or six days, as was our power (i live in central MS.) We could still get text messages though, as long as the batteries in our phones lasted, so in this case, cells were definately more reliable (although service sucks at my house, so there's room for improvement there too.)
crank chargers
by mementh - 9/18/07 8:58 PM In reply to: I agree (for the most part) by indy1333I know Leo and Dick have covered radio's with cranks/wind up deals
such things are also available for as low as 9.95 http://www.google.com/products?q=phone+crank+charger
This woudl allow you to charge your phones while off and be able to send and recive text messages for longer then a battery could last
Landline...
by Nicholas Buenk - 9/18/07 6:36 PM In reply to: Landlines more reliable in emergency? by minimalistWill never run out of battery though.
You sure?
by punterjoe - 9/19/07 7:25 PM In reply to: Landline... by Nicholas BuenkI thought the plain old telephone system had dry cell batteries to power line amps as part of their infrastructure. Then again, I may be thinking back to the days of rotary phones & mechanical switches.
Only used...
by Nicholas Buenk - 9/20/07 1:39 AM In reply to: You sure? by punterjoeDuring a power failure, I believe.
Also earthquakes and hurricanes are quite effective at bringing down cell phone towers I'd think. 
Hurricanes, tornados, icestorms, and earthquakes
by minimalist - 9/19/07 9:13 PM In reply to: Landline... by Nicholas Buenkwill take down landlines in a heartbeat though. There are some situations in which a landline is critical but I will never be without a both a cell phone and a car charger on hand again.
Keep an old rotary dial phone available
by bernie43 - 9/22/07 4:47 PM In reply to: Landlines more reliable in emergency? by minimalistThis is for those who don't have an cell phone, SMS, etc as many of us didn't or still don't.
We took a direct hit from Hurricane Charley, and were without power for almost 2 weeks, and also without water as the town water tower was downed.
All phones operated electrically went down, handheld down in a day or less, touchtone phones plugged into the wall in 2 days. BUT an old rotary dial phone worked as they don't depend on electricity. That was first my family got through to us in 3 days.
Cell phones were inundated and hard to get through due to the massive # of injuries, over 3000+ volunteers here, and more.
Pc's eventually went dead but limiting time on them helped.
KEEP A ROTARY PHONE ON HAND AND PLUG IT IN WHEN AN EMERGENCY OCCURS.
???
by Nicholas Buenk - 9/23/07 4:35 PM In reply to: Keep an old rotary dial phone available by bernie43Even rotary phones use electricity silly, how else do you think they transmit the voice signal.
exactly
by mementh - 9/24/07 8:06 PM In reply to: ??? by Nicholas Buenka basic telephone that has no power plug will work no matter what... amps/repeaters are used to power phones YES but they work for ALL phones not just rotary ones
Rotary phones don't work everywhere
by nelsonj3 - 9/24/07 8:18 PM In reply to: Keep an old rotary dial phone available by bernie43Rotary phones are ancient. Very few phone systems still support them. I tried plugging in a rotary phone and got the dial tone, but couldn't make a call. Make sure that your phone service supports the rotary phones before depending on them.
By the way, as is said several times in this thread, a standard $5.00 touchtone phone will work even if the power is out.
Both are bad, landlines are slightly better.
by girl_techie - 9/23/07 1:48 PM In reply to: Landlines more reliable in emergency? by minimalistIf there is any problems the towers for the cell phone and the routing station that has the landlines are going to not work or the cell phones and landlines are gonna tie up the lines anyway. I would personally rather have a landlines any day, I don't want any batteries die on me while I'm talking to 911 or any emergency help.
landlines better for 911 calls when not a regional disaster
by sarafrans - 9/24/07 11:02 AM In reply to: Both are bad, landlines are slightly better. by girl_techieI had an experience when this person must have been on something and was chasing me, yelling and harrassing, as we were driving, I dialed 911 on my cell phone so a cop could find me and arrest this guy, but instead of reaching the PD dept, I reached CA Highway Patrol and was put on hold for five 5 minutes before I got to anyone, by that time the guy had laid off, I couldn't believe how ineffective 911 was from my cell if it were a more serious emergency, I hoped the cell company would have GPS detect what city I was in and connect me to that city's 911 dept. Of course there was no landline available to me since I was driving, but if it were a similiar situation at home, equally disappointing, except for the fact that I keep a landline at home for my DSL. My solution: Have the regular 10-digit ph#s for the "911 emergency departments" of the cities you are regularly in programmed into your cell phone, or if unavailable, have the police dept main # programmed at least.
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