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Louisiana Towns Going High-Tech

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the rated-c-for-can-you-hear-me-now dept.

wolverineinspector writes "Mink, LA is finally getting telephone land lines after the neighbouring communities got theirs in 1970. In the article they also say that as many as 6.2% of US homes don't have phone service - that would mean that 19 million Americans don't have wired phone lines available to them."

12 of 331 comments (clear)

  1. Just because 6.2% don't have phones by WilliamsDA · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just because 6.2% of people don't have wired phones doesn't mean that the service isn't available to them. A lot of people ditch their wired lines and just use their cell phone.

    1. Re:Just because 6.2% don't have phones by TykeClone · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I was at a meeting this fall and one of the speakers was talking about how the Amish use technology. I thought we'd find out about those cutting edge things like blacksmithing and such, but it wasn't quite that. Apparently, as long as the technology doesn't get in the way of their religious life, it's ok.

      Land line telephones = bad; cell phones (or telephones kept "out of the house") = good.

      Utility power = bad; small portable generators = good

      Computers = bad; Palm Pilots/Pocket PCs = good (no word on the Zaurus though - maybe that just gets you into Purgatory)

      John Deere = bad; draft horses = good (and with that they're able to make a larger profit per acre farming than the typical farm in the country).

      There's probably something to learn from them about not letting technology drive your life, but I don't have time to think about that now - back to Slashdot!

      --
      A fine is a tax you pay for doing wrong and a tax is a fine you pay for doing all right.
  2. Re:and by PoopJuggler · · Score: 5, Funny

    It also means that 6.2% of Americans aren't getting gouged or ripped-off by the telcos.

  3. Telephones just now, eh? by nxtr · · Score: 4, Funny

    So much for Canada being the great white north.

  4. Don't forget the Amish by UpLateDrinkingCoffee · · Score: 4, Funny
    In the article they also say that as many as 6.2% of US homes don't have phone service - that would mean that 19 million Americans don't have wired phone lines available to them."
    Maybe some people just don't want a telephone, like the Amish. They certainly don't account for 6.2% of U.S. homes, but I'll bet it's a factor.
    1. Re:Don't forget the Amish by deathazre · · Score: 5, Funny

      the hell, the amish have a website?

      --
      Karma: Negative (Mostly affected by dorm trolling)
  5. Re:why bother when there are cell phones? by nxtr · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you had read the article, you would've realized that they went to the town dump to make a call, because they got the best reception there.

  6. I didn't either... by LinuxInDallas · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I didn't have a land line either until I finally bought a house. Now the only reason I have it is because it's required for the security system. What a waste, every call on the land line is a telemarketer...about 6-10 a day.

    1. Re:I didn't either... by jschottm · · Score: 4, Funny

      What a waste, every call on the land line is a telemarketer...about 6-10 a day.

      At the very least, use it for some fun. Just get an answering machine without a ringer. Here's some ideas to get you started:

      1. Record the little error tone that the phone company uses and get a woman to do a really pinched voice, "The number you have called, 555-1234, has been changed. The new number is 555-1234. Please note this change."

      2. Get someone to do the voice of an elderly person, "Hello? Hello? You're goana have to speak up sonny, I'm a little hard of hearing. What? You're calling from who?" It helps if you can get a really long recording time.

      3. I'm going to assume from your username that you're down in Texas. Just record something really unpleasant happening on a farm to a cow.

      4. Fax handshake. For added style points, record a message and record a 300 baud modem sending it in plaintext ala Information Society.

      5. Amusing excerpts - for a while I had bits of Deliverence or the introduction to Jesus Built My Hotrod as my message.

      6. Same concept as 2, but get an actual little kid. "No, Daddy doesn't want to talk to you. I have blocks. I like them. I make..."

      At the end of the month, play back the messages and see if you got any amusing responses. It would be more amusing to hack up a Linux telephony box so you could record their responses as the message plays, but that might be a little too much effort.

  7. Rural Telecommunications Acts by green+pizza · · Score: 5, Informative

    In the USA, there are Rural Telecommunication (and electrification) Acts. I'm not sure about new construction, but I know that in rural Texas if you have an old isolated homestead in need of telephone service, you can call up the nearest telco and they'll string out lines no matter what it costs. It all gets paid for by federal grants.

    The only catch is the telco territory boundries. Sometimes two telcos will bicker over who gets to (or who has to) string the lines. A vist to your state's public services commissioner will get things moving though.

  8. Huh? by dghcasp · · Score: 4, Interesting
    a survey released in October found that 93.8 percent of American households had telephones of some sort. More households had televisions--98.2 percent, according to Nielsen Media Research-NTI.

    Consider that Nielson would probably have done telephone surveys to determine these statistics, how exactly do they calculate how many people don't have phones?

    "Hey, call Floyd and ask if he's got a phone!"
    Who's Floyd? What's his number?
    I don't know, but there must be a Floyd. Hmm, not in the white pages, so he must not have a phone
    So don't call him, but when you call him, ask him if he has a T.V.

    Can you say Reductio ad absurdum kids? I knew you could!

  9. WTF by AndyChrist · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What the fuck have we been paying that universal service fee for?