Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!bu.edu!telecom-request From: davidb@pacer.uucp (David Barts) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: The Order of Repair Message-ID: Date: 20 Mar 91 18:17:09 GMT Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 43 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 221, Message 3 of 13 John Higdon writes of a situation where he lost three utilities and cable TV was the first to be restored. I certainly envy his cable TV service. My experience with cable TV in three communities (Los Alamos, NM; Logan, UT; Prosser, WA) has been that: a) if an event causes only one utility to fail, it's cable; b) if multiple utilities fail, cable goes out first and gets restored last. The cable companies also seem to be much less eager for my business than other utilities. When I request electric, phone, water, and cable TV service at a new residence, three calls end up with "Very well, sir, your service will be automatically turned on by on .", and one call ends up "Please pick a day where you can be at home within a four hour window next week and wait for our serviceman." Guess which one is the cable TV service rep. (Yes, this is for a residence that is already wired for cable.) I know of only one utility where the lines from the power pole are casually draped across the yard like a carelessly-tossed extension cord and left that way for years waiting to be buried or properly installed. Guess which one. Only one utility has answered the phone with a recording saying "Leave your name, phone number, and address, and service will be restored the next business day." when I had to report an outage over a weekend. Guess which one. And then the CATV companies talk about providing local dial tone. From what I've seen in the quality of CATV service, the LEC's don't have much to worry about from these prospective competitors. (John Higdon's case seems to be an exception.) In case you're wondering: No, I haven't bothered to sign up for cable at my current residence. And I don't intend to. [Moderator's Note: Likewise, at my house, we do not have cable. The service in Chicago stinks, and anyway, with 12 over the air channels why should I bother paying for more grief? PAT]