People like Mags are destroying the power grid.

[SlyPokerDog]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-boom-so-successfull-its-been-halted

 

[Denny Crane]

They use dynamite in Hawaii to level ground to build a house on it. They don't bury their electric and phone and cable TV, it's up on phone poles.

When I lived there, they still had party line and phones on phone poles instead of in peoples' houses on some parts of the island.

In other words, it's not surprising their infrastructure isn't super modern.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

They use dynamite in Hawaii to level ground to build a house on it. They don't bury their electric and phone and cable TV, it's up on phone poles.

When I lived there, they still had party line and phones on phone poles instead of in peoples' houses on some parts of the island.

In other words, it's not surprising their infrastructure isn't super modern.

They don't bury phone, electric and cable TV in Portland. Everything is still on poles in the city. Burbs is underground but city is still poles.

 

[Denny Crane]

Do you know what party line is?

Phone on the phone pole is like Green Acres.

Seriously, it was that backward.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Do you know what party line is?

Phone on the phone pole is like Green Acres.

Seriously, it was that backward.

Yeah, your party line is something about guns, god and states rights.

 

[Denny Crane]

Yeah, your party line is something about guns, god and states rights.

It's more like you tell your neighbor to get off the phone so you can use it.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

Interesting article. I suspect the real culprit is money the utility company is losing.

 

[julius]

I've never understood why, when given a chance to bury the lines, the city of Portland doesn't. It would look sooo much better and be easier to fix/less power outages I would assume.

the cost must be an issue (although if they're tearing up the street, why not?)

 

[SlyPokerDog]

I've never understood why, when given a chance to bury the lines, the city of Portland doesn't. It would look sooo much better and be easier to fix/less power outages I would assume.

the cost must be an issue (although if they're tearing up the street, why not?)

The squirrel lobby paid off the politicians.

 

[Denny Crane]

Burying the wires costs a lot of money.

If your city or county is wealthy enough (tax revenue), they would have done it bit by bit.

Anyhow, I found this. I lived in Hawaii in the 1990s. I worked for GTE for a while and in other companies that were heavy users of telco products. I recognized the poor quality of the phone service by seeing a 10 pair or 20 pair telephone cable strung from the populated areas over the volcano to the very rural areas.


http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/14/business/aloha-to-the-gte-party-line.html

Aloha to the GTE Party Line

When Barry Neal, a consulting meteorologist specializing in the Hawaiian Islands' air quality, decided he wanted to move a few years ago, he knew what he wanted: a home away from busy Oahu, in rural Ka'u, and the chance to telecommute to work.

Finding the home was not hard, but telecommuting was impossible. When he tried to send his air-quality data, the calls were interrupted.

No one had told him he was moving into one of the few remaining areas of the United States served only by party lines. He couldn't use the Internet, his fax or his answering machine without neighbors picking up the phone.

''I wondered why in the 1990's we were stuck with party lines,'' he said. ''It was a constant aggravation.''

Mr. Neal's frustration soon became outrage, when his telephone company, GTE Hawaiian Telephone, said he had no choice. And his outrage, and that of other clients, led to a five-year battle that recently culminated in an order by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission that GTE Hawaiian Tel turn over its networks to Telalaska, a small competitor from Alaska.

GTE Hawaiian Tel is fighting the order in court. The commission has already fined it $225,000 for noncompliance, and is adding an additional $15,000 a day as long as the utility refuses to go along. The utility is paying the fines, pending a final judicial resolution.

GTE's troubles with the state go back at least to 1991, when the Public Utilities Commission decided to investigate the charges that rural phone service was inadequate. Mr. Neal, financed by nickels and dimes from dissatisfied neighbors, presented evidence of inadequate service throughout Hawaiian Ocean View Estates and surrounding areas, known collectively as the Ka'u District -- the southernmost tip of the United States.

GTE argued that the area involved, with its 2,400 customers spread out over 400 square miles of lava fields, abandoned sugar cane fields, desert and black and green beaches was so remote that improving service was not worth the cost of new switching equipment and replacing existing lines.

Alan Okinaka, the Hawaii Island manager of GTE, said, ''We must economically justify upgrading service, so we wait until density increases in remote rural areas.''

The standard telephone monthly fee for the big island of Hawaii, where Ka'u is situated, is $15 for residential customers and $31 for business customers, whether they have private or party lines.

After almost three years of investigations and hearings, the commission agreed with the disgruntled customers and in 1994 ordered GTE to install private lines in the area within three years.

The total cost of that project, according to GTE's estimates, would be $20 million, or as high as $10,000 a subscriber in the most inaccessible area. The utility offered five-year payment plans that averaged $35 a month, but would have cost the most remote subscribers as much as $166 a month in an additional surcharge.

 

[jlprk]

They use dynamite in Hawaii to level ground to build a house on it. They don't bury their electric and phone and cable TV, it's up on phone poles.

When I lived there, they still had party line and phones on phone poles instead of in peoples' houses on some parts of the island.

In other words, it's not surprising their infrastructure isn't super modern.

When did you live there? I did in 1961-65. We had a private line there. But in the late 50s we had a party line in a couple of homes in the Midwest. I listened to the neighbors talking. If you heard a click, you'd ask whether it was the neighbor, and to please hang up. Beginning in the 70s, you asked whether it was the police, and YOU hung up.

 

[Denny Crane]

When did you live there? I did in 1961-65. We had a private line there. But in the late 50s we had a party line in a couple of homes in the Midwest. I listened to the neighbors talking. If you heard a click, you'd ask whether it was the neighbor, and to please hang up. Beginning in the 70s, you asked whether it was the police, and YOU hung up.

Read 2 posts back.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

http://news.discovery.com/tech/alternative-power-sources/tasty-tech-eye-candy-week-dec-15-131221.htm