Nationwide ATT Cellular Outage

[Hillcrest]

I wonder how hard it would be to find a network that would be willing to service one of those things? They were pre-SIM cards, so how would a network even find it?

With regard to Motorola (from Wikipedia - they have a chart to identify your phone- I have to see what one I have):

Obsolescence​

The majority of Bag Phones operated on the AMPS network, and a few special models produced in the late 1990s, dubbed the Digital Concert Series, ran on the TDMA network, in addition to AMPS. Because both the AMPS and TDMA networks are extinct as of February 2008,[2] the service life of all Motorola Bag Phones have come to end, and they now serve only as a collector's item.

The original Motorola Bag Phone has been succeeded by the Motorola M800 and M900 Bag Phones, introduced in 2005. While they are technologically dissimilar to the original Bag Phones and use an entirely different user interface, the M800 and M900 support CDMA and GSM, respectively, and add the basic features of modern cell phones. Additionally, they are backwards compatible with batteries for the original Bag Phones.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

No Verizon outrage for me - wonder if the roads were safer with people off their phones or deadlier because they were compulsively checking them every 10 seconds.

 

[verporchting]

Fortunately my pipes weren’t affected in any way and I was able to smoke through the entire event safely without issues.

 

[kcghost]

Well, I think you missed on a chance to eat a few of you enemies.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

 

[Hillcrest]

AT&T customers today :

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

I'm not sure what the big deal is about privacy... but, seeing a child with a cell phone makes me want to beat a parent to death with my flip flops. Hey, I'm guilty too.
When I was a kid and had to set in a 200F car while my mom was grocery shopping for a couple of hours, we didn't have cell phones to occupy us. We had to occupy ourselves watching the condensation run down the windshield. I think the last time I sat on a toilet without a cellphone was 1999. Since then a couple of generations have come up that are so weak of mind that to have them set in a room for a couple of hours without a cellphone or computer would break them mentally.

People can't set and do nothing any more. Hell, I spent the majority of my childhood with only my mind to occupy me.

If the Titanic sank today...

 

[ThermionicScott]

With regard to Motorola (from Wikipedia - they have a chart to identify your phone- I have to see what one I have):

Obsolescence​

The majority of Bag Phones operated on the AMPS network, and a few special models produced in the late 1990s, dubbed the Digital Concert Series, ran on the TDMA network, in addition to AMPS. Because both the AMPS and TDMA networks are extinct as of February 2008,[2] the service life of all Motorola Bag Phones have come to end, and they now serve only as a collector's item.

The original Motorola Bag Phone has been succeeded by the Motorola M800 and M900 Bag Phones, introduced in 2005. While they are technologically dissimilar to the original Bag Phones and use an entirely different user interface, the M800 and M900 support CDMA and GSM, respectively, and add the basic features of modern cell phones. Additionally, they are backwards compatible with batteries for the original Bag Phones.

It was a sad day for us when they shut down analog service. Those bag phones could seemingly get a signal anywhere, and a weak signal wasn't the end of the world, just a little noisier.

 

[irishearl]

My wife has a cell phone, while I don't. We still have our landline. Seems this is a good example of why having a landline may be a good idea. Of course, due to some weird wiring issues in our home which would be too expensive to fix, our landline works through our internet connection-which is AT&T.

 

[fireground_piper]

My wife has a cell phone, while I don't. We still have our landline. Seems this is a good example of why having a landline may be a good idea. Of course, due to some weird wiring issues in our home which would be too expensive to fix, our landline works through our internet connection-which is AT&T.

Unfortunately though, POTS lines are slowly going away. My landline is still copper but I imagine one day they will sunset it and I’ll ditch my landline on that day.

 

[Hillcrest]

Unfortunately though, POTS lines are slowly going away. My landline is still copper but I imagine one day they will sunset it and I’ll ditch my landline on that day.

I think I am going to try practicing smoke signals; it will give me a chance to some of my larger bowl pipes.

 

[woodsroad]

I bought my first cell phone, a Motorola brick phone, in 1991, after the newspaper that I worked for said they'd reimburse for cell calls. I had just moved out of the newspaper's circulation area, but was still in the coverage area. I covered New Jersey from Trenton north, and was on the road constantly. That phone was a life saver for at least three people in car wrecks that I came across. Nowadays, the car calls the cops.

I sold that phone before the demise of the analog network, after hackers discovered that particular model could be programmed to run as a scanner and listen in on other people's calls. Got more than I paid for it.

 

[LeafErikson]

People might want to brush up on using paper maps and rotary phones.

what the hell is paper?

 

[fireground_piper]

I think I am going to try practicing smoke signals; it will give me a chance to some of my larger bowl pipes.

Sometimes I kick around the thought of putting a CB radio base station back up and dropping my handheld off to my parents as a plan C. I had kept one working at home until maybe 5 years ago.

Being able to contact emergency services and my parents when everyone else’s typical lines of communication are down is always something I’ve maintained for s lot of my life. It’s like insurance, never need it until you REALLY need it.

 

[Hillcrest]

AT&T Customers Unaware Of Network Outage Since They're Used To Not Having Cell Signal

EAST GREENVILLE, PA — AT&T customers were surprised to learn there was a network outage affecting most of the company's subscribers this Thursday. Customers noted that they are so accustomed to not having a functioning cell signal that they didn't notice anything was amiss.

babylonbee.com

 

[TheIronMonkey]

Unfortunately though, POTS lines are slowly going away. My landline is still copper but I imagine one day they will sunset it and I’ll ditch my landline on that day.

I didn’t give up my landline until 2017 (switching to cell service ended up being significantly cheaper); I liked that I still had a working phone line during a blackout in the city with my copper connection. I don’t think phones running via fiberoptic cables worked. Now I’m beholden to satellites and a phone charger.

 

[ophiuchus]

I feel I missed out. No SOS on my phone, no internet down or slow, no.... nada....

But I am sick of hearing about Alabama and embryos.

Remember to rape and pillage before you burn.

ME TOOOO...

Guys ...

Aw, hell ... I'm right there with you.

 

[ophiuchus]

I keep a land line and a ham, and the CB still works. I'm still a sucker for a 5G iPhone.

 

[woodsroad]

AT&T Customers Unaware Of Network Outage Since They're Used To Not Having Cell Signal

EAST GREENVILLE, PA — AT&T customers were surprised to learn there was a network outage affecting most of the company's subscribers this Thursday. Customers noted that they are so accustomed to not having a functioning cell signal that they didn't notice anything was amiss.

babylonbee.com

East Greenville is 5 minutes from me.
Cell coverage for ATT sux there.

 

[woodsroad]

I didn’t give up my landline until 2017 (switching to cell service ended up being significantly cheaper); I liked that I still had a working phone line during a blackout in the city with my copper connection. I don’t think phones running via fiberoptic cables worked. Now I’m beholden to satellites and a phone charger.

Before Comcast overbuilt our system with high speed coax, we had six phone lines in the house to cover my wife's business, mine, two dial-up connections and a fax machine! After we trimmed down to one line, they reassigned the other lines to new neighbors, and we got an inadvertent "party line" on the other five lines.