Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!bellcore!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: dennisb@pdx.mentor.com (Dennis Brophy) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Message-ID: Date: 18 Oct 89 04:27:10 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Lines: 25 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 458, message 10 of 10 How does the phone service work during an earthquake? I had to send a fax to San Jose this evening, and AT&T would not complete the call, but MCI was able to reach my destination in San Jose with out a problem. Why would AT&T stop service while MCI permits inbound calls to the Bay Area? It is also intersting to note that Portland has NO local operator assistance this evening: "All circuits are busy." I guess if I wanted to make a collect call from a pay phone I would not get a Portland operator either. (Is there such a thing as a local Portland operator, or is the call being routed to another site in the nation which would explain this?) I've heard from others in Portland, that they have been performing three-way-calls using MCI (not AT&T) from their homes to connect people in the Sacramento area with people in South San Francisco cities. So, what is happening here? Why can "little" MCI make its way into the Bay Area while AT&T cannot? [Moderator's Note: This issue of the Digest was prepared and ready for transmission when this message arrived in the queue. The Digest was held and this message was 'pasted on' the end. PT]