Thursday, November 5, 2009

T-Mobile Outage: No Big Deal

T-Mobile users have had a few headaches recently, but it was just their turn. Outages need to be expected even with wirelines. The variable is the average downtime per service. As part of our study about replacing the home land line, we found wirelines to be the most reliable, but cellular came in at a surprisingly close second place.

In my own home, we have never experienced a wireless outage, but we did have a 24-hour outage on the land line which includes the DSL connection. Phones connected through cable TV go out several times a year, either at the neighborhood level, or with their switching equipment.

Earlier in this decade, we reported difficulties with cellular companies providing enough trunks for outgoing calls, but those reports have become rare. Our difficulties of making calls then with both Sprint and Verizon Wireless were no less frustrating, but look at the percentages...they're very low. Like we found for TheUnWiredHome, it's always smart to have a backup, like a phone with a different wireless carrier. You have one in your glove box don't you?

2 comments:

Benjamin A said...

I think we all get them and its just a matter of whether they are long enough for us to notice. Where I live for example Verizon goes out at least once a month for about 5 to 20 minutes usually about 4 in the morning. I personally have always chocked it up to maintenance and its no big deal but still technically its an outage since nothing can come in or go out. T-MObile is being given so much hell I think because this occurred during the busiest times of day in CA for example from 2:30 to 10:00PM when most people do their personal calling and is not even a month after the big sidekick scandal. I can still remember a few years ago when AT&T at the time Cingular had a weekend long outage to several of their markets because of a problem in Atlanta but it was never talked about like T-Mobile is. I guess the SideKick thing was a shot in the foot for them as its made everyone pay more attention when thing for them go wrong.

William said...

No technology is perfect and without problems. T-Mobile has been making a big push for smartphones over the past year, and even though they pale in subscribers compared to Verizon and At&t, their network is more than likely experiencing some crowding. I've had a tracfone in my glovebox for three years now, and while I only use it 1-2 times per month, it's comforting to know that you've got a second device you can count on.