Could PSTN Go Away By 2018? 305
An anonymous reader writes "If current rates hold, only 6% of the U.S. population will still be served by the public switched telephone network by the end of 2018. Tom Evslin reports that the 'Technical Advisory Council (TAC) to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recommended last week that the FCC set a date certain for the sunset of the PSTN rather than let the service fade slowly into oblivion as it is doing now.' Since doing 'nothing' isn't really possible, he suggests: (possibly) end(ing) the Universal Service Fund subsidies, ensuring PSTN-dependent services like E911 work on new technologies, and assuring that everyone who now has PSTN service has access to either a broadband or cellular communication alternative."
Well (Score:3, Interesting)
As someone who's programmed PSTN, it's really not needed anymore. It's so inefficient it's not funny. Both ISDN & PSTN are so archaic now that there's no logical way to justify keeping these technologies going. It's why I don't understand opposition to the NBN here in Australia.
What happens when the power goes out? (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's a potentially stupid question.
My family's gone cellular; we only have a landline for DSL. Last night we had a power outage in my part of Philadelphia. Not too bad, perhaps 20 minutes or so, but the outage apparently also took out the cell my phone connects to. As I recall, the PSTN works even if the rest of the grid is down. So what happens if, during an outage that also eliminates cellular connectivity, someone has, say, a medical emergency? With wireline redundancy on a separate system, I can call 911 and get an ambulance to my location in a hurry. Without it, I'm SOL.
The question, therefore, is: How do we mitigate the risk that some related service interruption leaves us completely disconnected at a moment of crisis?
911 access (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What happens when the power goes out? (Score:2, Interesting)
TL;DR
The POTS system has had a hundred years of experience to work out issues like redundant power supplies. Cellular networks haven't. So POTS often works when cell doesn't; the reverse is almost never true.
In another seventy years, this will probably not be the case.
Re:It's not going anywhere. (Score:3, Interesting)
Any competitive provider will provide you with the appropriate CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) to connect your analog PBX to their VOIP/whatever network. Obviously traditional T1s are a very expensive way to get 24 phone lines but, for example, a cable provider (traditional TV cable co, the ones with a single coaxial cable to your premise) will bring a box that has a coax cable in and a standard 50-pin AMP telco connector out. They provision however many lines you need at the head end for your box, connect it to your phone system and away you go.
Then you have a lovely single point of failure when the one coax loses signal for some reason, you lose EVERYTHING. Whee!
I recently tried to explain this to the new owner of a restaurant/bar where I do all the IT work; why it was a TERRIBLY bad idea that he had fallen victim to the marketers from Shaw who told him "everything would stay exactly the way it was" when he signed up with them instead of the phone company. Now when there's a problem with the cable (tends to happen a couple times a year for various reasons), not only will all 15 TVs go blank (except the internal video loop) but it will now also take out the internet (formerly a totally reliable DSL) which includes the main connection for the ATM machine and the debit card machines for payment AS WELL as their backup! (usually a POTS line) which are now through the single point of failure... No phones, no ability to take payments from customers?!! Gonna give away a lot of free lunches the next time the cable goes out.... OUCH! He still doesn't seem to get it... Won't even spring for a second internet connection for redundancy... as that would erase the supposed "savings" he's getting by using the TV company instead of the PHONE company.
I guess there IS such a thing as a free lunch! :)
Re:The actual PSTN might not be needed . . . but (Score:5, Interesting)
Nope. If you want to refer to the population of a continent, you use "North Americans" or "South Americans" (or even "Central Americans"). There is too little in common among the residents of the whole American continent to justify a common term. Similarly, you don't refer to the residents of the largest landmass on Earth as "Afro-Eurasians" and even the term "Eurasians" has a different meaning from what you'd assume [wikipedia.org].
I am, among other things, a Canadian and have yet to meet a single Canadian that refers to himself (or herself) as "American". I am willing to bet that all those other nationalities, that you are so eager to speak on behalf of, do not classify themselves as "Americans" either, nor do they, as a rule, have anything against Americans "co-opting" the term.
They did, you just chose to ignore it, which says more about yourself than about them.
It is generally accepted to use the demonym that a group chooses for themselves. After all, how would you feel if people ignored your given name and decided to use the arguably more descriptive "Ignorant Douche" instead?