An Argument Against Consolidation

[nateman99]

Check out the story here, then read on...

This is a pretty compelling argument against consolidating your phone/cable/internet with the same folks. Worse still, I am disgusted to know that Time Warner hasn't invested in any redundancy. I'm on the other side of the city and I was affected by this little mishap. The Internet was designed so that redundancy could be built into the infrastructure. I mean, if they can find time to raise my bill AGAIN, they should find some time build out the redundancy.

Folks, I'm telling you... do not fall for the current TWC marketing campaign. Three from one is *not* a great idea. At least, not until TWC builds some redundancy into their network.

Quickly, a dump truck snapped an aerial wire and 250,000 people were without internet and phone for over 4 hours.

 

[stevenl]

Check out the story here, then read on...

This is a pretty compelling argument against consolidating your phone/cable/internet with the same folks. Worse still, I am disgusted to know that Time Warner hasn't invested in any redundancy. I'm on the other side of the city and I was affected by this little mishap. The Internet was designed so that redundancy could be built into the infrastructure. I mean, if they can find time to raise my bill AGAIN, they should find some time build out the redundancy.

Folks, I'm telling you... do not fall for the current TWC marketing campaign. Three from one is *not* a great idea. At least, not until TWC builds some redundancy into their network.

Quickly, a dump truck snapped an aerial wire and 250,000 people were without internet and phone for over 4 hours.

Well if a truck snapped the line for your phone youd of been without it as well.. Whats the point? TWC cant protect againest that, They have Fiber redundency but who can tell which line was taken down ? Could of been TWCS conenction from their headend to a fiber hotel.. In the orlando system (former twc now BHN) We have had since TWC, fully redundent system, Fiber goes from headend to hub and from hub to hub to hub like a big web, so if a line from headend to hub A is down hub B can feed it. however its limited into its scope, and 4 hours is a very quick response for a fiber repair of that size. Im sure that was a huge count if that many people were affected. Good job to those techs on a quick repair.

PS: that story link doesnt work so i have no idea what it says heh

 

[nateman99]

Steve.... My argument was against CONSOLIDATION... as in, all services from one broken carrier. MY phone service was not interrupted, but if you did have TWC's phone service, it was down today along with the internet.

I'm glad to hear the Orlando system is very redundant. I'm thrilled for you. We here in the Raleigh/Durham market are obviously not quite that lucky.

http://www.newsobserver.com/100/story/523910.html

This is the corrected link. News & Observer moved the article.

 

[Hall]

It's funny how casual they are about phone outages. "Use your cellphone" if you need to make a phone call... Well, wait, cellphones typically get long-distance included, call waiting, voice mail, etc, etc. Granted, you have a max # of minutes allowed per month, but I'll bet MOST people don't exceed their limit and in the past, "wasted" the extra minutes they pay for. Anyway, if cellphones are so common and offer pretty much the same features as digital phone, why get digital phone.

We get their salespeople door-to-door in our neighborhood and I asked him what I do if there's an outage. "Use your cellphone", he said. "I don't have one", I responded. I do, but that's irrelevant. I shouldn't "need" one along with their phone service. They also make you sign a waiver stating you understand the lack of phone service during an outage.

 

[terryfoster]

I've been with a (non-cable co provided) VoIP service for almost two years now. I wouldn't mind dumping the land line phone, but my wife still prefers having one. We switched originally because the Cincinnati Bell service was pretty lousy in the townhouse we were renting. Then when we moved our cell coverage was lousy in the house so a land line was required.

I see advantages to still having a land line, but when comparing prices between POTS and VoIP, VoIP wins hands down. Service outages are extremely rare for me (knocking on wood) so they're a non issue and when they have happened (due to a power outage) I haven't been at anymore of a loss than if my regular phone went out. Yes I know regular phones don't go out with a power loss, but hey outages happen occasionally and when they do you get to remember what life was like before all of this silly connectivity.

 

[Hall]

VoIP requires a broadband connection, so you have to factor that cost into the "cost" of your VoIP service.

I think Vonage has a $25/mo plan. In order to get DSL (for your broadband connection), you have to have a voice line from the telco (SBC land). Kinda defeats the purpose.... Cable internet (non-promo rates) are $40-45/mo.

 

[terryfoster]

Not exactly since I require broadband service regardless.

EDIT: I've also heard that "naked" DSL is available from some providers so it isn't unheard of to get DSL w/o voice.

 

[stevenl]

nateman99 i wasnt trying to insult you i was just letting you know its not the norm,

You are correct in your orignial argument (i didnt get to read the story as it was down now i have) and its ALWAYS good to have your own backup. Rather you are with 1 company or three. Any land based lines could be damaged, For instance Just yesterday i was in a neighborhood repairing a feeder line and the phone guy was in the hole next to me repairing the main phone line. Some idiot decided to put in a pool without locates so not only was BHN out but the local telco was down to, because our lines follow the same "easement" or /path/ if you will. So usally if our line gets it, the local telco will to.. Granted their are areas where we take differnt routes for logistic purpose, and so do they but for the majority of the time we are both in the same trenchs (or at least the same easement areas)

A cell phone is also a good backup no matter what provider you have, and if you read BHNS phone disclaimer it says clearly that they recomend having a backup phone source for 911 emergencies, even if you get one of those "911 phones" that only let you dial 911 and are usally free to own.. Id recomend this option to anyone in ill health or anyone who just wants to be safe..

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

Unfortunately Consolidation usually means something different than what the OP meant - it usually means the bigger cable companies buying out the smaller companies - and many people are against that and complaining to the FCC - thus the topic is somewhat misleading.

I agree that from a strategic standpoint its nuts to put all your eggs in one basket - but I am also the king of redundancy and overkill when it comes to those things.

A more disturbing example for me is telco service from cable. After the 2004-2005 Hurricanes in Florida, I found my power cut twice (once, the power was cut to the County prior to Charlie as it was in the bullseye 4 hours before landfall - the second time wasn't planned). Both times, my backup systems kept me going - however the battery backup on the routers didn't - so several hours later my cable internet was down. I would have been SOL if my wired telephone service was connected through that as well as obviously you could not dialout to get dialup service

I do think its a great convenience and money saver - but I think its a horrible idea from a redundancy standpoint.

As for the built in redundancy at the cable companies for every customer - I really don't think you'll see it for decades.

As for your last comment about the internet built for redundancy, there is a lot of fallacy in that statement as well, fwiw. I won't get into it in detail, but by taking out 3 OR LESS locations - it would come crashing down in the USA.