How reliable does the Internet need to be? (Was: Re: Converged Network Threat)

Sat Feb 28 10:17:11 UTC 2004

Thus spake "Steve Gibbard" <scg at gibbard.org>
> When sending somebody e-mail you assume they'll probably check their
> e-mail and receive the message eventually, but you have no idea if they'll
> get it right away, or if they'll notice it along with all the other e-mail
they get.
> When phoning somebody, you know right away whether they answer,
> and you know right away how they respond to whatever you have to say.

In theory, that's a job for DSN.

> If you really need to get in touch with somebody right now, do you call
> their presumably more reliable land line, or their presumably less
> reliable cell phone?

I think this was intended as rhetorical, but I'll bite...  If I want to
reach someone _right now_, I call their cell phone, because the odds are
significantly higher they'll be near it.

E911 is a mess even for non-mobile users in a single office building.  Full
compliance, at least with my state's regulations, requires phone numbers be
localized to within a 100ft2 space.  This means a VoIP system must be able
to automatically trace a user's IP address, MAC address, physical port,
cable run, and at least portion of a floor -- not to mention figuring out
what the correct telco circuit to route the 911 call out, which obviously
varies depending on where the user happens to be sitting.

S

Stephen Sprunk        "Stupid people surround themselves with smart
CCIE #3723           people.  Smart people surround themselves with
K5SSS         smart people who disagree with them."  --Aaron Sorkin