Telecom Collapse?

[smb at cs.columbia.edu (Steven M. Bellovin)]

On Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:18:42 -0800
Michael Thomas <mike at mtcc.com> wrote:

> Joe Abley wrote:
> > This is straying far from network operations, but I think 911
> > generally engenders an unnecessary degree of hysteria. As I
> > suggested before, the marketing of this fear from certain quarters
> > has apparently been quiet effective.
> > 
> > The probability of any single individual needing to call 911 is
> > already minute. The probably that all available cell and VoIP
> > services also won't work precisely at the moment that a 911 call
> > needs to be made is even smaller.
> 
>    We haven't really had a major catastrophe where we've been totally
>    dependent on IP yet, AFIAK. Maybe all of the qos, call gapping and
>    the rest of the stuff the TDM networks do to deal with disasters
>    will be left in the dustbin of Moore's Law, but maybe they won't.
> One thing is certain: we'll definitely find out one day, and it's not
>    likely to be from a position of having taken the precautions,
>    congratulating ourselves IMO.
> 
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=10569 is probably worth
reading.


		--Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb