http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=49&topicid=98455&page_no=1#588568
Following on, because there's clearly interest but we were way OT in the other thread...
I agree with Neil, better mobile infrastructure comes at a cost, but in dollars and visual impact.
We are moving in to a fibre world and we do have to start thinking in terms of the end of unpowered devices in our homes.
Sure a POTS line might stay up, but who's going to have one?
Are the carriers going to keep exchanges running for the one guy in the street who wants to keep his POTS service? And then at what cost?
Neil says he pays for a POTS service yet he won't spring $50 for VDSL, that's ok. But how many people are going to live with that dynamic moving forward?
We don't have POTS now, it went a year ago from my house.
Like Neil I too live in Christchurch, and I live on the eastern side. I learnt a lot from the quakes. I had an inverter but could not put my hands on it when I needed to, I can now.
As for flat mobiles, we now have all mobiles that will charge by USB and 6 different power options ranging from must using a laptop to inverter in the a running car.