[152603] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: VoIP vs POTS (was Re: Operation Ghost Click)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brandt, Ralph)
Thu May 3 14:37:00 2012
Date: Thu, 3 May 2012 14:35:47 -0400
In-Reply-To: <CAN3um4y8bDqgTViRNyYJqHBW6Hf_RsP1RS_cVo2ig=VwO3EHqA@mail.gmail.com>
From: "Brandt, Ralph" <ralph.brandt@pateam.com>
To: "Mike Hale" <eyeronic.design@gmail.com>,
"NANOG list" <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
Satcoms are the panacea for every problem until you try them. They too =
have limited numbers of channels, far lower than cell.
Check the fiasco in Haiti when sat phones were handed out and it took =
hours to make calls. =20
Sometimes two tin cans and a string are better....
Ralph Brandt
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Hale [mailto:eyeronic.design@gmail.com]=20
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 12:32 PM
To: Brandt, Ralph
Cc: NANOG list
Subject: Re: VoIP vs POTS (was Re: Operation Ghost Click)
That's precisely where SatCom enters the picture. Cell companies
aren't ever going to undersell their bandwidth...that simply isn't
profitable. SatCom is one of the best ways to plan for communications
outages during times of crisis, especially if you choose a provider
that's outside of your area. Unfortunately, you're going to end up
spending at least one more order of magnitude on *decent* satellite
service than you would spend on cell (unless you only go with a
satphone).
On Thu, May 3, 2012 at 7:59 AM, Brandt, Ralph <ralph.brandt@pateam.com> =
wrote:
>*SNIP*
>
> During a Peach Bottom (nuclear power plant - one of our two in the =
area
> - the other is Three Mile Island) several of the EOC's lost phone, FAX
> and radio connectivity (repeater failures) to County EOC because of
> thunderstorms and tornados that blew in during the drill. =A0The ham =
radio
> operators at these EOC's and County provided communications to the =
sites
> for both the drill and live events. They happened to be on site for =
the
> drill. The site I was at was vacated except the hams, the government
> evaluators and the public works guy because of a fire, all of the =
other
> players in the EOC including the EMC were firemen! =A0A lack of =
volunteers
> means people wear multiple hats.
>
> But let's get to the big item. =A0When the bad day comes, cellular is
> worthless. =A0I was at work the day of the earthquake in Virginia, a
> couple hundred miles south of us. =A0The ground shook and some masonry
> buildings in the area sustained cracks that needed to be repaired. =
=A0Ten
> minutes after the quake cellular was either useless or had up to =
fifteen
> minute waits to place a call. =A0Everyone was on discussing the quake.
> And cellular company pronouncements aside, it isn't going to get =
better,
> even if they get more bandwidth that will be eaten up in 2-4 years. =
The
> total migration to cellular, the unlimited use, the tendency for =
people
> to yack when a bad day comes all makes for a disaster. =A0We need
> solutions, not cell company hype, not government catering to special
> interests, but real solutions that fix problems without introducing
> more.
>
> One of the first things cellular companies can do is stop overselling
> cellular. =A0The second is end or raise the price significantly on
> unlimited plans, both voice and data. =A0Go to what the landlines =
called,
> USS, that is you pay for every minute.... =A0Even if that charge is =
small,
> it will drive usage down.
>
> Otherwise on a bad day people will die waiting for the yackers to get
> off the call phone so they can call 911. =A0Hopefully it will not be =
on
> VOIP and the internet is down.
>
>
> Ralph Brandt
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jared Mauch [mailto:jared@puck.nether.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2012 4:15 PM
> To: Eric Wieling
> Cc: NANOG list
> Subject: VoIP vs POTS (was Re: Operation Ghost Click)
>
>
> On May 2, 2012, at 3:52 PM, Eric Wieling wrote:
>
>>
>> I doubt the g729 or GSM codecs used by VoIP and Cell phones can
> compare to a POTS line.
>
>
> This is why many people use g711ulaw or other codec.
>
> Personally I would not work with anyone that doesn't do g711ulaw
> (88.2kbit when IP packet overhead added in).
>
> There are other codecs such as G.722.1 & G.722.2 but the support isn't
> as broad as g711ulaw/alaw.
>
> Regarding landline service, this can fail for many of the common =
reasons
> it does are the same reasons that IP service may fail. =A0The failure
> modes can depend on a variety of circumstances from the physical layer
> (e.g.: audible static on the line) that cause your ear to retrain, =
which
> may cause a DSL device to comparably retrain. =A0The same is true for
> shared medium such as CATV but this has other problems as well, if not
> well isolated, somebody can short out the segment or send garbage at =
the
> wrong channel, etc.
>
> Personally, I'm thinking of ditching my ISDN (gives clear dial tone at =
a
> long-distance from the CO) for something like the Verizon Home Connect
> box. =A0Gives a few hours of built-in battery backup, but would fail =
once
> the tower loses power (usually 8-12 hours).
>
> I also am concerned about 911 service. =A0When dialing 911 recently =
from
> my mobile, I should have dialed it from my home phone as I was routed =
a
> few times to get to the right fire dispatch team.
>
> Oh well.
>
> - Jared
>
--=20
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