Ok you West Coast Yob’s. So, we had a tea cup shaker on the East Coast, a 5.8 Earth Quake this afternoon. As soon as you get done yawning, and talking about how that’s hardly an after shock where you’re at, you’ll be ready to read the rest of this.
The worst part wasn’t that people panicked at the unfamiliar feeling of the shaking, it was that the phone system collapsed under the tremendous serge of cell and land line traffic it suddenly had to deal with. All you $49.99 Talk and Texters weren’t going anywhere fast.
You see, even though you’re using a cell tower, your calls are still routed through a land line call center for distribution. And while, due to cell growth, there has been some expansion of the traffic handling system, it’s never going to keep up with every Tom, Dick and Jane telling everyone what color their nails are at that moment.
With the breakup of ATT came the downfall of improvements to the systems that we depend on to back up heavy volumes during emergency loads. Whatever is left of the old ATT still runs those systems and has no monetary incentive to upgrade them, thanks to the governments monopoly rulings. That is why most areas do not have fiber optics, can’t get high speed internet, or HD TV without paying a Cable company a Premium Price. Why should Verizon upgrade their system when any Joe Blow start-up can use it to compete?
So, keep on Twittering about your latest belch and remember that system won’t be there forever, or when you really need it.