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My Verizon iPhone failed me during the East Coast Quake
- Thread starter mtalsma
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There was no problem in the Philly suburbs for Verizon (me & my family) users, but AT&T (my woman & some a couple of friends) experienced some issues. Hate to say it, but anything that uses bandwidth is going to experience volume issues, just like DC traffic. 
Then why did you use the thread title you did?
I agree. Every carrier should be mandated to have enough capacity to support situations where every user needs to use the network at the same time.
What makes you think you'll always get a land line dial tone during an emergency?
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I've never NOT had a dial tone, even during extended power outages my land line has always worked.
I added the
to my other post. Of course it's a stupid idea, as stupid as describing the lack of it as a 'shortcoming'. There aren't enough highways to evacuate most major cities in the event of a disaster, to state the obvious. Is that also a 'shortcoming'?Also, just because you can get a dial tone when the power goes out doesn't mean you will get one when every one tries to use the land line phone system. Unfortunately, for many people, history started the day they were born. There was a time before cell phones. When there were regional disasters or weather issues, you could pick up the handset and have to wait a few seconds for a dial tone or NOT get one at all.
You're acting like it's news that mobile networks are extremely unreliable during a massive incident where lots of people will be using their phones
You sound as if you think that the mobile networks aren't extremely unreliable under every other circumstance
In an emergebcy where everybody is trying to use the phone even landlines have problem. They are not built with the capacity to handle that many calls at once. All normal phone communications will be unreliable in an emergency due to high demand.
Actually in the case of a landline you will likely get a dial tone, but when you call you will get "all circuits are busy" or an error like that. You have a link to your local CO where you get dial tone, but the trunks leaving that CO are then saturated.
Im sorry but it would be nice if phones did work after events like this..
But it was an earthquake for crying out loud.. Which shakes the ground.. Which shakes the tires that your phone uses.. Which also shakes and possibly could tare wires that are needed for the towers
If you want your phone to always work. And work anywhere., go get a satellite phone.. Problem solved...
It's hard enough for carriers to keep phones working at sporting events such as football and baseball games.. Now u want them to be able to supply service to everyone in a region at the exact same time??
They can't even handle the iPhone preorder traffic. Which is preplanned.. Smh...
I think y'all are just asking for to much.. Yes it would be nice.. But be realistic...
But it was an earthquake for crying out loud.. Which shakes the ground.. Which shakes the tires that your phone uses.. Which also shakes and possibly could tare wires that are needed for the towers
If you want your phone to always work. And work anywhere., go get a satellite phone.. Problem solved...
It's hard enough for carriers to keep phones working at sporting events such as football and baseball games.. Now u want them to be able to supply service to everyone in a region at the exact same time??
They can't even handle the iPhone preorder traffic. Which is preplanned.. Smh...
I think y'all are just asking for to much.. Yes it would be nice.. But be realistic...
Perhaps learning how cell phone networks function, would discourage a person from making threads like this. In addition, staying current with the news would also be educational. In this case it would have been known that more than just one person was without service.
Must be nice. I've been through plenty of natural disasters to know that that is a rarity, not commonplace.
cheer up sugar plum, it was all over the news, no deaths, what was the emergency you needed to say? that some outdoor chairs got knocked over?
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I admit that I'm often jealous of how most of my grown kids just have cell numbers that they will carry for the rest of their lives... and no landline bills.
That is, except during the storms and other times when we get extended power blackouts, and even cell service ceases to work after a while.
Then we get all the neighbors who switched to VoIP etc. sheepishly coming to our door and asking if they can use our old Princess phone on our landline to call their relatives and tell them they're okay.
I guess it's okay as long as one person per block has a landline
Makes you miss the days when there was always a payphone at a neighborhood store or other public area.
That is, except during the storms and other times when we get extended power blackouts, and even cell service ceases to work after a while.
Then we get all the neighbors who switched to VoIP etc. sheepishly coming to our door and asking if they can use our old Princess phone on our landline to call their relatives and tell them they're okay.
I guess it's okay as long as one person per block has a landline
Makes you miss the days when there was always a payphone at a neighborhood store or other public area.
Nor did mine but as Krandor below me mentions ...
It is no surprise.
Well champ, given the amount of inane threads created here on a daily basis discussing the same topics to nausea, I would think that this one is no different and welcomed. I don't think the OP is not understanding how things work or not keeping up with current news but some would like to think that they have a reasonable expectation of service. I'm not saying I agree but I would not equate the creation of this thread to his or her ignorance.
I'm from CA where earthquakes are a plenty. Although I made a few jokes, having an earthquake in a region that is not known for them can be pretty nerve racking to some. People on the west coast were being delivered information that included the complete demise of national monuments. Even my parents tried to reach me as I sat here on my big ass surfing the net while at work. /shrug Point being is it was scary for some. If you can't understand that then I pity you.
Right. Are you not old enough to remember the land-line "All circuits are busy" fiascos of years past?
If we didn't have cell phones during this earthquake, all of the West Coast people picking up land line phones at around the same time and calling their East Coast friends/family would have generated the same service failure as you experienced with your wireless phone.
As for your worry about Irene, unlike the earthquake, it's not simultaneously affecting most of the east coast. It's not going to generate a peak calling period anywhere near the earthquake.
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so..you made a few jokes but i cant post 1 joke picture in the wake of nothing really happened?
Agreed, this should not be a surprise to anyone. As soon as the quake hit there were millions of people calling, texting, tweeting, face booking, etc. all at once. There is no way any network could handle the load.
I agree. Every carrier should be mandated to have enough capacity to support situations where every user needs to use the network at the same time.
if you dial 911 from your phone, it WILL go through. There are things built in for emergencies...I know people think so when they're in a crisis, but calling friends and family is NOT the important thing. Making sure people who are injured or trapped, in real danger, can call 911 and get aid.
I know, there can be any number of hypothetical situations where only someone calling a person in danger to see if they're all right ends up saving them, and I'm sure some have happened, but for the most part, in a crisis, keeping the lines clear for those who really need aid is what is important...and phones are built to allow those 911 calls from practically anywhere. They'll jump on other networks to do so, they'll do so unactivated and without a SIM installed, etc.
