"Tim Watts" wrote in message
...
On Saturday 28 December 2013 00:10 Dave Liquorice wrote in uk.d-i-y:

On Fri, 27 Dec 2013 18:21:53 +0000, robert wrote:

With smart phones accessing such information has become feasible as long
as the local Mobile network is not down.

Which in the event of a wide area power outage the mobile networks
are very likely to be down. Very few cells have much, if any, backup
power.

The more we rely on technology and get used to resilient services ...

The mobile networks are anything but resilient. If they were
resilient they would stay working short of the aerials/masts failing.
A simple loss of mains power should not be a problem for *any* half
decent resilient system.

It is an extremely poor state of affairs considering how solid the wired
system
is. This is why, despite using VOIP a lot, I will always have a POTS line.

It isnt why I still have a POTS line. I have it because
I can't get a naked DSL line here, no POTS service.

... the more we are unprepared and suffer when they do occasionally
fail.

Agreed, I wonder how many people have a reliable, non-tech, backup
for their satnav, in the car where they are most likely to need it?
And of those how many would know how to use that backup?