Help with Obi and GV setup for my 90 year-old mother please
Koby:
Quote from: dircom on June 01, 2013, 06:15:04 am
"I love how people always act as though telco-provided 911 is the gold standard for reliability. The fact is, they screw up too!"
Have not seen any studies, but I would bet telcos are the gold standard. Among the reasons, battery comes from the Central Office. E911 does not depend on the Internet or your VOIP provider working.
I am talking about traditional POTS lines, not people on pair gain systems, or those that depend on Coax modems being online.
I'm talking about traditional POTS too:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,9367687
dircom:
You are talking about one example. I am talking statistically speaking.
giqcass:
Quote from: Koby on June 01, 2013, 01:02:04 am
I love how people always act as though telco-provided 911 is the gold standard for reliability. The fact is, they screw up too!
MY local telephone company provides both POTS and internet. Traditional POTS is way more reliable then the internet connection even though they come from the same building. If the power goes I lose internet but POTS will still work. If my telephone company loses power POTS still works but internet goes out. In my lifetime in this town we have had only one incident I am aware of that shut down long distance and I have lived here since before 911 was available here. A major trunk was cut but local calling was still available and emergency calling was available.
Any time you add a level of complexity to a system you add additional points of failure. POTS to POTS is the most direct and time tested paths to 911 unless you use a radio for direct contact. Cell phone to POTS adds a point of failure but it is still pretty reliable. Cell towers have hydrogen fuel cell backups for power. VOIP to "VOIP provider" to POTS adds a large variable number of failure points. If your VOIP provider is on the other side of the country then you can't even calculate how many networks the call will be forced to cross. Even if you do a trace to check the path the data might take a different path tomorrow or a different path during a single call.
It's fair to call POTS 911 the "Golden standard for reliability". Its easy to use and way more reliable then anything else we have so far. The question to ask is whether E911 on VOIP is good enough. For me the answer was no. I live in a rural area so I added a battery backed cell phone solution. Power can be a little sketchy and like I said and a power outage here, a power outage at the internet company, or a power outage on the other side of the country, could cause an outage for E911. My absolute minimum recommendation with an OBi and E911 would require an UPS for backup battery power to the OBI, the router, and the Modem.
Cordless phones should also have battery backup. Mine uses 4 AAA batteries. Corded phones will get power from the Obi.
Koby:
Quote from: dircom on June 01, 2013, 10:38:57 am
You are talking about one example. I am talking statistically speaking.
But you're not citing any statistics. You're just basically offering your opinion, probably based on anecdotal stories you have heard. And what I am saying is that I have heard similar anecdotal stories about PSTN-delivered 911. The one I cited is probably the most heartbreaking example I recall, but their have been others. In fact it's not that uncommon to see a story where no one in a particular area can reach 911 for some period of time, usually due to a fiber cable cut which often involves a backhoe.
Further, telco reliability is getting worse if anything - many telcos just don't much care about PSTN service anymore. Whereas VoIP 911 is in all likelihood getting better, statistically speaking, but then it would have to considering it essentially started at zero several years ago.
Basically, it boils down to the fact that you BELIEVE that PSTN-delivered 911 is better, and there are probably many people who share that belief. But it may be only that, just a belief, based on things as they used to be but not recognizing the reality that some phone companies just don't give a rat's ass about the PSTN anymore. Plus, in many jurisdictions, you can't even sue the telcos if they drop the ball on 911, because their tariffs have some language in them that relieves them from direct liability. They might get a slap on the wrist and a small fine by some state regulator, but that will hardly be of comfort to you if you are the one that couldn't reach 911.
Koby:
Quote from: giqcass on June 01, 2013, 01:24:37 pm
Quote from: Koby on June 01, 2013, 01:02:04 am
I love how people always act as though telco-provided 911 is the gold standard for reliability. The fact is, they screw up too!
MY local telephone company provides both POTS and internet. Traditional POTS is way more reliable then the internet connection even though they come from the same building. If the power goes I lose internet but POTS will still work. If my telephone company loses power POTS still works but internet goes out. In my lifetime in this town we have had only one incident I am aware of that shut down long distance. A major trunk was cut but local calling was still available and emergency calling was available.
It definitely varies from telco to telco - some local independents still offer gold-plated service. But another factor is whether you have copper all the way to the central office, or whether your service is brought out to a MUX in your neighborhood and you only have copper for part of the way. The issue there is that the MUX also adds complexity, and it needs a power source, and if a major storm goes through or a vehicle takes out a utility pole it may well interrupt the commercial power to the MUX. Then it has to run on a battery backup and lets just say that phone companies don't always replace the batteries when they should. We once lost PSTN service for nearly a full day (before I dropped it completely) because the commercial power went out and the battery in the MUX was deader than a doornail.
And how did they fix it? By stealing a charged battery from another MUX that still had power, leaving IT without a backup battery. I happened to talk to the repair guys that day and that's how I found out what had happened and how they fixed it!
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