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And lo on Thu, 01 May 2008 13:21:48 +0100, Stephen <mcavoysAT@aolDOTcom>
did spake, saying:
> On Thu, 01 May 2008 12:43:33 +0100, "Phil Cook"
> <phi### [at] nospamrocain freeserve co uk> wrote:
>
>
>>> I remember hearing years ago a case where someone was prosecuted for
>>> "the misuse of electricity". They were phoning a friend, letting the
>>> phone ring a few times then hanging up. This was to let the friend
>>> know that they were just about to set off to work and would pick them
>>> up on about 10 minutes. It was prosecuted under the "Telegraph act".
>>
>> Along the lines of writing a cheque that you know will bounce perhaps.
I meant using 'their' electricity to sound the ringer in the knowledge
that you won't be charged for the call.
--
Phil Cook
--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com
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Phil Cook <phi### [at] nospamrocain freeserve co uk> wrote:
> I meant using 'their' electricity to sound the ringer in the knowledge
> that you won't be charged for the call.
The electricity used by a phone doesn't come from the electricity
company. It comes from the phone company (through the phone line).
It's a completely separate system. The owner of the phone line doesn't
pay for that electricity (well, at least not directly).
At most you could stretch and say that the caller was wasting the
electricity of the phone company.
--
- Warp
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On 1 May 2008 09:46:33 -0400, Warp <war### [at] tag povray org> wrote:
>Phil Cook <phi### [at] nospamrocain freeserve co uk> wrote:
>> I meant using 'their' electricity to sound the ringer in the knowledge
>> that you won't be charged for the call.
Yes I see and you are right.
> The electricity used by a phone doesn't come from the electricity
>company. It comes from the phone company (through the phone line).
>It's a completely separate system. The owner of the phone line doesn't
>pay for that electricity (well, at least not directly).
>
This is true as most people know but where does the phone company get
its 50 volt dc come from. I suspect it is from an electricity company.
:)
> At most you could stretch and say that the caller was wasting the
>electricity of the phone company.
Yes and at that time the phone company (GPO) was a state run company.
--
Regards
Stephen
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Stephen <mcavoysAT@aoldotcom> wrote:
> > At most you could stretch and say that the caller was wasting the
> >electricity of the phone company.
> Yes and at that time the phone company (GPO) was a state run company.
But if law is the same for everyone, as it should be, then the state
should sue everyone who "wastes" the electricity of the phone company
in a similar manner.
--
- Warp
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And lo on Thu, 01 May 2008 15:46:44 +0100, Warp <war### [at] tag povray org> did
spake, saying:
> Stephen <mcavoysAT@aoldotcom> wrote:
>> > At most you could stretch and say that the caller was wasting the
>> >electricity of the phone company.
>
>> Yes and at that time the phone company (GPO) was a state run company.
>
> But if law is the same for everyone, as it should be, then the state
> should sue everyone who "wastes" the electricity of the phone company
> in a similar manner.
Indeed they should. If the phone company (public or private) is buying in
electricity (public or private) then the cost of that purchase is probably
covered by both the set service charge and call charge. If someone were to
call with the knowledge that the other end wouldn't be picked up and thus
incur a call charge then in theory they could be classed as defrauding the
phone company; as with my cheque example.
If we treat this example as a true case then it follows that the phone
company registered an inordinate amount of short non-charging calls from
one number to another and investigated. Discovering the truth they were
miffed that someone was using their system to send a message without
paying them for the privilege and thus charged them under misuse of
telecommunications equipment.
--
Phil Cook
--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com
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Stephen wrote:
> This is true as most people know but where does the phone company get
> its 50 volt dc come from. I suspect it is from an electricity company.
Batteries charged off of the grid, or off of generators started when the
batteries get low if the electricity is off.
Ever see a room with hundreds of cubic feet of glass cases full of acid
and lead? It's pretty cool.
You could run a normal-sized central office off batteries for several
days, or several weeks if you start up the generators occasionally,
without any outside services. If everyone with knowledge disappeared,
the phone system would probably run three to four months before it broke
down enough to have a major network partition.
(All this was from my days in the local telcos 15 years ago in the US,
so it has probably changed since all the deregulation really had its
effects.)
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
"That's pretty. Where's that?"
"It's the Age of Channelwood."
"We should go there on vacation some time."
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On Thu, 01 May 2008 08:35:12 -0700, Darren New <dne### [at] san rr com>
wrote:
>Stephen wrote:
>> This is true as most people know but where does the phone company get
>> its 50 volt dc come from. I suspect it is from an electricity company.
>
>Batteries charged off of the grid, or off of generators started when the
>batteries get low if the electricity is off.
IIRC in the UK, the power to charge the batteries comes from the grid
with a standby generator in case that fails.
>Ever see a room with hundreds of cubic feet of glass cases full of acid
>and lead? It's pretty cool.
>
Yes, but I thought that it was pretty boring. Racks and racks of black
batteries in an awkward space. I one spent three days in a cathodic
protection room faultfinding a data logger. Who would have thought of
looking for a fuse between the outer and inner skins of the processing
unit? :(
>You could run a normal-sized central office off batteries for several
>days, or several weeks if you start up the generators occasionally,
>without any outside services. If everyone with knowledge disappeared,
>the phone system would probably run three to four months before it broke
>down enough to have a major network partition.
Interesting
>(All this was from my days in the local telcos 15 years ago in the US,
>so it has probably changed since all the deregulation really had its
>effects.)
--
Regards
Stephen
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Stephen wrote:
> IIRC in the UK, the power to charge the batteries comes from the grid
> with a standby generator in case that fails.
I think that's what I said is the case in the US, too, in case I wasn't
clear.
>> Ever see a room with hundreds of cubic feet of glass cases full of acid
>> and lead? It's pretty cool.
>>
>
> Yes, but I thought that it was pretty boring. Racks and racks of black
> batteries in an awkward space.
Nope. These were big bathtub-sized open-top glass tubs with lead slabs
hanging down into them. :-) Scary - I stayed on the catwalk myself.
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
"That's pretty. Where's that?"
"It's the Age of Channelwood."
"We should go there on vacation some time."
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On Fri, 02 May 2008 09:34:45 -0700, Darren New <dne### [at] san rr com>
wrote:
>Stephen wrote:
>> IIRC in the UK, the power to charge the batteries comes from the grid
>> with a standby generator in case that fails.
>
>I think that's what I said is the case in the US, too, in case I wasn't
>clear.
>
Sorry I misread it.
>>> Ever see a room with hundreds of cubic feet of glass cases full of acid
>>> and lead? It's pretty cool.
>>>
>>
>> Yes, but I thought that it was pretty boring. Racks and racks of black
>> batteries in an awkward space.
>
>Nope. These were big bathtub-sized open-top glass tubs with lead slabs
>hanging down into them. :-) Scary - I stayed on the catwalk myself.
I think that I would rather be bored :) That does sound scary.
--
Regards
Stephen
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> The electricity used by a phone doesn't come from the electricity
> company. It comes from the phone company (through the phone line).
If you have a old style phone - sure, but new cordless phones that I see
most people having today don't work this way. They simply measure the
voltage on the phone line and use their own power (from the normal house
supply) to generate ringtones, the power for the speaker etc. They are not
like old phones where the phone itself draws a significant amount of power
from the phone line to ring a bell or sound a buzzer.
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