Phone System Resiliency
Techdirt- In regards to phone systems overloading and collapsing during emergencies –
…former telco exec Tom Evslin and VoIP pioneer Jeff Pulver started talking about a simple way to at least minimize this problem. They suggested to the FCC that telcos should simply set up free voicemail accounts for those whose phone lines were impacted by the disaster. It’s a relatively simple plan. Basically, phone numbers that are unreachable will automatically go to a voicemail account. If the person associated with the phone number can access a phone somewhere, he or she can leave a message letting everyone know how they are. Family and friends can then easily leave messages, rather than repeatedly trying to contact a phone number that is unreachable.
This plan would cut down on the overload, and allow for faster reinstitution of the system in question while still providing the services required of it. Naturally this was idea was ignored at the federal level, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see local governments (starting with New Orleans) start pushing for implementation.
-Shlok
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