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document.write("      <span><strong>Annette Briz</strong> wrote:</span>");
document.write("      <p>");document.write("Why are pay phones vanishing? The ready answer — cell phones — identifies the technology<br />that's replacing them and cutting into their profits.<br /><br />Deregulation and industry greed are wiping out a form of old technology that's a critical lifeline.<br /><br />When the big earthquake, terrorist attack, or other civic disaster finally hits San Francisco, a lot of people are going to be in for a major shock: their high-tech cell phones and computerbased office telephone systems might not work.<br /><br />But after the 1989 Loma Prieta quake and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New<br />York City, residents found there was still a way to reach their loved ones and let the world know<br />they were OK; they used an old-fashioned communications tool that's low tech, securely<br />grounded, publicly accessible, and reliable. It's called a pay phone.<br /><br />When the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the Bay Area in 1989, electricity and cell phone service were out for hours, but, Billingsley said, 'landline phones were back up in 10 minutes.'<br /><br />Regina Costa of San Francisco's the Utility Reform Network recalled that when the quake<br />trashed Pacific Street in Santa Cruz, the public switch connecting local phones to the larger<br />network worked despite a local power outage.<br /><br />The reason, Costa says, is that the traditional wired phone network has a robust, independent<br />electrical backup. Not so wireless transmitters and cable fiber-optic systems, both powered by<br />the public grid.<br /><br />'Wire lines are a really big public safety feature,' Billingsley told us. Backup generators at switching points, where regional and long-distance lines converge, create 'all kinds of<br />redundancies' for rerouting calls if parts of the network go down.<br /><br />That's not just a technological issue. The new tech networks lack robustness and redundancy,<br />Billingsley said, in part because such standards are no longer mandated. Before<br />telecommunications were deregulated, companies were required to pay for reliability. Now<br />reliability is no longer a public service. Under deregulation, reliability is more spotty.<br /><br />Excerpts from San Francisco Bay Guardian Article<br />found at this link:<br />http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=4268&volume_id=254&issue_id=310&volume_num=41&issue_num=46&l=1   –");document.write("      </p>");
document.write("      <em>June 30, 2009, 1:59 AM</em>");
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document.write("      <span><strong>concerned sitisen</strong> wrote:</span>");
document.write("      <p>");document.write("BAHH! I Ain't lookin at no big ugly tower!");document.write("      </p>");
document.write("      <em>June 29, 2009, 4:00 PM</em>");
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document.write("      <span><strong>Steven Weygand</strong> wrote:</span>");
document.write("      <p>");document.write("I think it is great that you are trying to set up a cell tower in the town of Oneonta. But people lets get real what is 2 miles of coverage going to do? Nothing in my opunion People lets think a little bit outside the box I live in the town of Laurens and we are having alot of different problems right now out there and there is law enforcement,ems,and fire depts that are out there and there is no cell coverage what so ever out there. If you think about it there are more people out in the srounding communities then there is just in the town of Oneonta Don't you think that maybe they should think about a better placement for a tower that will get better coverage for more people then just a 2 mile radius in all directions? That would be a wast of money and time to set one up on Brown Street.");document.write("      </p>");
document.write("      <em>June 29, 2009, 1:52 PM</em>");
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