Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!nucsrl!telecom-request From: mrapple@quack.sac.ca.us (Nick Sayer) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Update on Rochester, NY Disaster Message-ID: Date: 11 Mar 91 02:54:07 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: The Duck Pond, Stockton, CA Lines: 37 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 196, Message 6 of 12 sichermn@beach.csulb.edu (Jeff Sicherman) writes: > I wonder if a cellular-based system wouldn't be more dependable in > these circumstances. Future wire-based local network installations > would have a limited-bandwidth cellular component in neighborhoods and > at the CO. Each subscriber would have a cellular capability (perhaps > more restricted than regular cellular and on different frequencies) > either built into the phone (with price and size going down this > shouldn't be a major problem) or perhaps as part of an *active* > network interface, that permits them to tap into the stand-by cellular > ports under restricted conditions to prevent overload (like the > network restrictions that are imposed when disasters occur). That's an interesting prospect. It begs a similar question: If it weren't for the fact that an enormous amount of copper is already in the ground or thirty feet above it, what would the phone company use? Does it cost more to use cellular to "wire" up a city than copper or glass? I envision a cubic-foot box in the attic with a piece of (short) coax leading to a small beam on the roof aimed at the local CO, and a couple of screw terminals on the side of the box providing the demarkation point. It would plug into an AC jack, but have an internal battery backup. Such a box would end up looking and acting just like our current demark. If that's no good, then perhaps a scheme could be envisioned where the box is tied to a piece of glass that loops around the whole neighborhood party-line style. Or even to a bunch of copper doing the same thing. It would use Frequency Division Multiplexing. That would help, wouldn't it? Nick Sayer mrapple@quack.sac.ca.us N6QQQ [44.2.1.17] 209-952-5347 (Telebit)