VoIP vs POTS (was Re: Operation Ghost Click)

Wed May 2 23:36:17 UTC 2012

Jared Mauch wrote:
> Regarding landline service, this can fail for many of the common reasons it does are the same reasons that IP service may fail.  The 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.  The 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.

I don't doubt it. However my practical experience is such that 100% of 
the time (I lost count after 20 or so, in a decade) I experienced a 
power failure the phone would still work. I am sure I am not the only one.

And these concern power outages in various locations, from the mountains 
of Coastal Oregon to the Monterey Bay Area. And from trees falling over 
the power lines to exploding transformers (two at once actually :-).

I guess the phone companies just do a better job at keeping up their 
infrastructure. I don't know how often the phone cable is buried 
compared to where the power cables are exposed to the elements. But I 
would think that (more frequently) burying the phone cables is one 
reason it's more reliable.

That's why (burying cables) in the Netherlands you would get a power 
outage maybe once or twice a decade as opposed to every fortnight.

Greetings,
Jeroen

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