DVR Chatter

I've seen this charge a number of times, and I always wonder what the big deal is. 

OK, I couldn't kill my 15/2 internet and get crappy 1Mbps/128K DSL if I wanted without a hassle, and I couldn't go back to crackling/popping 1930s technology copper telephone connections without a hassle, and I couldn't go back to worrying I was going to get a big fat shock in the ear when talking on a copper connected telephone during a thunderstorm without a hassle.  I'm heart broken.

By the way, "I" in the above paragraph is not me per se.  As far as I can tell, the copper run is still in tact at my location.  I wish I'd have asked my installer to disconnect it.  I still have that little silver "Bell Co" box on the side of my house with a wire running into it.

So the article is datelined "Philadelphia," (i.e. Comcast Central Headquarters) but they had to travel to Long Island NY to find a whiner to report on?

The bit about "Unlike copper-connected phone service, FiOS doesn't work during power outages once a backup battery goes out — not even for emergency calls. Home-alarms and certain other devices work best with copper." is also bogus and misleading.  My home alarm system (which also "doesn't work during power outages once a backup battery goes out" by the way) works just fine with my Fiber Optic service.  I tested it on day one.  In fact, now that I think of it, back when I was investigating going with FiOS I asked about this, and the Verizon Sales rep suggested to me that I was free to have a separate copper-connected dial-out only line for my alarm system if my alarm company thought it was necessary.

I love this whole "power outage" argument, too.  You know what else doesn't work in a power outage?  My electrical system!  "Don't get Fiber Optic Service because it relies on your crappy electrical service?"  My cell phone stops working in a power outage after the battery goes dead, too. My heater, hot water heater and air conditioner don't even have a battery backup.  "Don't get an electrically fired heater - it stops working in a power outage. Stick with a coal burner." How about we get on the electric companies to make their system a little bit more stable?

If DSL and VoIP companies want to have a nationwide copper network, let them install one.  Cable, DSL, Voip, etc cannot compete in the marketplace, so they get crooked governmental agencies to place unreasonable requirements on Verizon and then plant these stories and BS like that "FiOS can only send one HD channel to your home at a time" rumor and class warfare anti Verizon BS in the media.

jganyard wrote:

It cracks be up how many people pound on that old "your phone won't work without power" argument to bash VOIP etc.

In October, 2005, hurricane Wilma hit the Miami area and my parents' house was without power for 5 days.  Their wired phone continue to work the entire time, and provided the only way we could communicate with them.  Cell phones worked only sporadically during the power outage, and not at all immediately after the storm.  My brothers and I would have been in an absolute panic about my 90-year-old parents for those 5 days were it not for the good old fashioned wired telephone.

I agree that the concern about "exotic" phones not working during power outages is mostly bogus.  But in this particular real-life case, it was legit.