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| Monday, July 17, 2006 |
| What they don't tell you, Part One |
A friend of ours says frequently of me and Mistah Midnight, "Between the two of you, is there anything you don't know something about?" Moogie tells me, "I learn something every time I talk to you."
So today I thought I'd begin to share some of those little truths that can make a big difference in your life. Well, in some small way. LOL
You know how the cable companies are now offering cheap telephone service? I see and hear their commercials all the time. For as little as $30 a month, you can have unlimited long-distance connectivity and all the talk time you want. (Provided you subscribe to their cable service, of course.)
What they don't tell you is that their service isn't nearly as reliable as your land-line telephone. Most of us grew up with the good old reliable Bell phone service, knowing that even when the power was out, we could pick up the handset and get a dial tone. Makes reporting that power outage a good deal easier, doesn't it?
Most important consideration: When you lose electricity to your house for whatever reason, all cable functions halt. We have family members who use cable telephone service and plan to use their cellular phones as back-ups in case of a power failure. If you live in an area where your cellular coverage is iffy (we live in one of the many Black Holes of Nextel) or your power is out for an extended period of time, you're cut off. How many of us bought a six-pack of additional cell phone batteries AND remember to keep them all charged? Emergencies aren't scheduled or announced ahead of time, so we don't get any time to prepare. On top of that, relying on your cell phone in case of emergencies can overload that system. When that happens, as it often does, no calls get through. This can also prevent emergency service crews from doing their jobs, since many of them now rely on cellular phones for communication themselves. If the power outage is widespread, even the cellular towers will go down.
This is a major concern for anyone who has a life-threatening medical condition that might require treatment. The very old or very young might need assistance in extremely hot or cold weather. Being able to call for help is of paramount importance.
Conclusion: Unless you have no concerns over being totally incommunicado in the case of a power outage, cable telephone is not for you. |
posted by Liddy Midnight @ 7:42 AM  |
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| 8 Comments: |
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Hi Liddyness,
I believe we have this type of service. I had a crappy cell phone and couldn't get good reception 'cause we live so close to the beach and there's no tower. Even our phone acts crazy sometimes. I got a RAZR and it's awesome! I keep it charged when I'm not using it. Wow, this is very interesting info. Thanks.
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Thank you, and I believe the same thing. Daily I get telemarketers trying to get me to switch, and of course all the ads on TV. I shake my head and say, "I don't think so."
No need to fix what isn't broken :)
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I wondered how many peole had realized this. Now I know the smart ones have, and either are prepared or haven't switched!
ML, I hadn't realized that about the phone reception being crappy when cable usage is high. Eek! I'm glad we haven't opted for that here.
We'd like to get DSL for our home office through Verizon, now that our neighborhood is wired with fiber optic, but that requires us to go with FI phone, which has the same problem: power outages knock out phone service!
Good to see you here, Princess Mel! My LiddyMail's been down for almost two weeks, which is why no one's heard from me. I haven't been to MySpace either, 'cause I think that's where I got it.
I swear, if I ever meet a programmer who brags about writing malware or a virus, I'm going to beat 'em with a baseball bat. Or maybe Rotozip 'em. Which do you all think would be more painful?
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We have cable internet, but not telephone.
Very interesting post!
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Hi Liddyness! I've been e-mailing and e-mailing. I thought you were ignoring me. I'm miffed you didn't send a carrier pigeon. *g* I'm so glad to "see" you! I'm sorry I've never been to your blog before. You're in my favs. :-)
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I was just thinking about how much we rely on electricity these days. Our power went off for two hours in the weekend, which means our phones don't work etc. The car isn't going anywhere because of the auto garage door. Luckily we have gas to cook with so I could make a hot cup of tea.
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Thanks for the tip, Liddy!
jan
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We have DSL with Qwest and sometimes we get up and don't have DSL and have to call them. Was without electric Thursday at 8:20pm due to a rain storm here in Az. and didn't come back on here at the house until 11:40am. We had a couple of battery operatored fans and that help a little. Have cell phone since I went on 2nd shift about 10 years ago so that helps alot.
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Hi Liddyness,
I believe we have this type of service. I had a crappy cell phone and couldn't get good reception 'cause we live so close to the beach and there's no tower. Even our phone acts crazy sometimes. I got a RAZR and it's awesome! I keep it charged when I'm not using it. Wow, this is very interesting info. Thanks.