Poor A,T & T

[bodecea]

They are being blasted from all directions.....three different stations, news shows I'm watching about Hurricane Ida and they keep mentioning how A,T& T is down.....not a good look for your network, guys.

 

[AZrailwhale]

They are being blasted from all directions.....three different stations, news shows I'm watching about Hurricane Ida and they keep mentioning how A,T& T is down.....not a good look for your network, guys.

I don't know about the situation, but ATT is different things. There is wireline. which I'd bet is still working anywhere the cables aren't down due to trees falling and washouts. The Central Offices all have generators and are independent of commercial power for a week or more depending on the level in the fuel tanks at any one time. Then there is wireless. Wireless is completely dependent on commercial power. Cell sites have batteries that are only good for a few hours, then unless they are recharged, the site goes down until either they are recharged or commercial power is restored. All the cellular companies operate the same way. There is another way wireline can go down. That is by demand exceeding the ability of the switching equipment to supply dial tone. The equipment is only designed to supply a percentage of possible demand (I believe it's 2/3s of the existing phone lines at any location, but it's been a while and I could be wrong on the figure. it might be lower) In that case if you stay on the line, eventually you will get a dial tone because the equipment prioritizes by first assigned emergency lines, then by the amount of time the individual line has been waiting for service.