On Nov 10, 10:35*am, The Daring Dufas
wrote:
LouB wrote:
wrote:
LouB wrote:
Yabut a cell phone system can be easily overloaded in a big emergency..

If you can't get through, emergency services isn't going to have
anyone to send to help you anyway. Best to wait until things calm down
if you can. If you can't, put your head between your legs and kiss
your ass goodbye...

Not necessarily so. *Cell circuits get overload with a zillion "are you
OK" or "I am OK" calls having nothing to do with NEEDING help. *Regular
circuits do also.

Lou

A little programming could block 90% of trivial
calls allowing only 911 calls to go through. It
could be an interesting twist to giving more
control of the network over to FEMA for emergencies.
I know that at one time, the national phone system
could be basically taken over by the federal
government during The Cold War. If I'm not mistaken,
the feds have their own separate network now. All
that extra fiber that was run during The Internet
boom and bust hasn't gone to waste.

TDD

Define "trivial calls".

If emergency workers are trying to coordinate the efforts via cell-
phone, how would they do that?

You might respond by saying that "official" emergency workers would/
should have their own network, but what about the thousands of workers
from volunteer organizations that are helping out?

At any given disaster, there are innumerable people who chip in to
supplement the "official" workers - people whose skills and efforts
are really needed. If only 911 calls were allowed to go through, their
efforts would be extremely hampered.