Got my Rogers home phone line yesterday.
A little history/techincal lesson for you all here.
Phone lines by Bell are powered, hence, you get phone service even during a blackout.
Rogers doesn’t use the Bell phone line (they are not allowed) so how do they get by this problem?
Follow my thought process here:
– They plug a wire into your TV cable outlet.
– Said cable enters this magic box (not really a magic box but for illustrative purposes I shall call it a magic box) which is also plugged into the electrical outlet (important point for later)
– Out of the magic box comes a phone cable which connects to the rest of your phone lines in your house
– Voila, you now have phone lines in your house!
Now, as you may have read, I did not bother getting a VOIP line (aka phone over the Internet, which is cheaper because…heck, on the Internet, there IS no long distance) because if the power went out, I would lose the line, and also 911 if I needed it.
Well, as soon as I see this magic box controlling my phone lines, I had the sudden realization that I have entered into the same problem.
If the power goes out, there will be no phone!
Here comes the brilliance which is this magic box.
It has a 36 hour battery in it in case the power goes out.
Awesome.
Now…tell me, oh geniuses over at VOIP land…why couldn’t you offer me something with a 36 hour battery on it?
I predict this happening in 2006 and I will be switching to it in 2006.
Until then…
iplaying: To Forgive (live) – The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellow, Jolly and and The Infinite Madness
