FCC Calls for a More Resilient Communications Network / VOIP Steps Up

[populistdriven]

September 23, 2005

FCC Chairman Calls for a More Resilient Communications Network

By TED GLANZER
TMCnet Communications and Broadband Columnist

The destruction left in Hurricane Katrina's wake demonstrates the need for a more resilient and redundant communications network in the United States, Federal Communications Chairman Kevin Martin told a U.S. Senate subcommittee on Thursday.

Martin reported that, as a result of Hurricane Katrina, over three million customer telephone lines were knocked down in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama; thirty-eight 911 call centers were out of service; one thousand wireless cells were inoperable and 100 broadcast stations were off the air.

~snip~

Martin offered several suggestions to the members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation to improve communications services in the event of another disaster, including the following:

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September 26, 2005

VoIP, Inveneo and Katrina

By RICH TEHRANI
President & Group Editor-in-Chief

I wrote about Inveneo and their bicycle-powered VoIP solution this past April 2005. The interesting thing about the company at the time was they were connecting remote villages with VoIP via wireless technology, Linux-powered VoIP and a combination of solar and bicycle power. This is really cool stuff. Inveneo is a non-profit entity and I recently wrote about how the company may get funded.

I had a chance to catch up with the management team at the company and although they are silent on confirming investment rumors, they have a great deal of things to say about what they are up to today.

Virtually the entire company has packed up and moved down to areas ravaged by Katrina so they can help set up communications for emergency workers and others. They are working in combination with the Army who have provided the company with generators (no pedaling required) and access to a T3 connection -- no latency on these VoIP calls. Moreover the army was nice enough to lend the company climbing gear enabling them to climb poles and mount their wireless devices.

According to company representatives I spoke with recently who include Mark Summer the CEO & Co-Founder, Kristin Peterson the Chair and Co-Founder and Laura Mellow the CEO, there are many companies and organizations that have helped their efforts by donating time, effort, energy, equipment and money. ~snip~

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[cdsilv]

1. sometimes, VOIP works good, sometimes not...

I was on a conference call last week, and the person on a VOIP phone kept breaking up, dropping words, etc... as he was the main presenter, he eventually had to go to a land line.