A TASTE OF Y2K? From Toronto Star

As we've moved inexorably toward that Y2K moment when computers watch '99 become '00 and get confused, the reassurances have risen like a great cloud.

We'll be fine. Investments are safe. Elevators won't stall between floors. Planes will land. Phones will ring. Lights, banking machines, emergency services, traffic lights, life support systems - all will function.

And the Internet, of course, was designed to withstand nuclear war. But not, it turns out, a monkey wrench.

Last Friday, someone dropped a spanner in the works at Bell Canada in Toronto and we all saw ghosts of Y2K to come. The telephone chaos cost at least $1 billion in lost business, stock trades, purchases halted in mid-swipe.

The ripples were pure idiosyncracy. They missed much of Montreal, but hit Halifax, Vancouver, Chicago. They knocked out touchtone phones but not rotary dial phones - for those who remember what they are.

Along with the billion, we took an even bigger hit in our confidence about Y2K. And even before our vulnerability could fully flower, we got hit again. A Bell equipment ``glitch'' in Peel left a million people without 911 service for much of Sunday.

And - oh, devious technology - many of those who dialled 911 without result found they couldn't call anyone else for help, either.

That's because the 911 system is designed to maintain connections to trace calls, even if callers hang up.

Clearly, the Y2K problem is different. But not that different. In fact, the main difference is that Y2K doesn't need a real monkey wrench to blow the system. A virtual monkey wrench is just fine.

So there are at least two lessons in this: For those in charge of fixing the Y2K problem, please check it all again.

For everyone else, better hit the flea markets and garage sales before the rotary dial phones all disappear. http://www.thestar.ca/thestar/back_issues/ED19990720/opinion/990720NEW01b_ED-Y2K.html

MORE DETAILS ON TORONTO PHONE FAILURE: http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0016F2

-- Cheryl (Transplant@Oregon.com), July 21, 1999

Answers

What exactly does "knocked out" mean? Did it damage the phones by putting a high voltage spike on the line, or were the central offices unable to process tone dialing?

If the former, then yes, old electromechanical phones should be less vulnerable, although a phoneline surge supressor (as used to protect modems from lightning) should have worked as well.

If the latter, most electronic phones have a tone/pulse switch. So if you can't get through in one mode, putting it in the other mode is worth a try.

The bit with the 911 is distiurbing. Anyone know if this is a common failure mode for 911 systems?

-- biker (y2kbiker@worldnet.att.net), July 21, 1999.

Back in the 70's GTE changed policy and said that I had to buy my rotary phone; I could no longer rent it. It has been a chicken perch for some years, but I could clean it up. Are you saying they did me a favor?

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), July 21, 1999.

Biker:

YES.

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), July 21, 1999.

Does anyone know if your rotary dial phone will work if you have a touch tone service line?

I just haven't tried it.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), July 21, 1999.

nothere nothere,

Yes, it will.

-- No Spam Please (nos_pam_please@hotmail.com), July 21, 1999.

Even if you don't buy a rotary phone, make sure you have the "old-fashioned" touch tone phone (just a phone!). About $7 at Walmart. If you have a cordless or a phone/answering machine combo, neither will work without electricity.

-- dakota (none@thistime.com), July 21, 1999.

Easy (if you can count to 10) fix is to do a quick tap on the hang up button on your phone. Works on most phones, but not well on digital ones. Tap the button once for 1, twice for two. 10 times for 0. You get the picture. Not always the easiest way of dialing the phone, but will work in a pinch.

-- Jim Miller (millerj@hqs1110th-emh.detrick.army.mil), July 22, 1999.

If you don't have a rotary phone, will you just not be able to dial out? Will your touchtone/digital phone ring if someone who has a rotary phone calls you? Who will you be calling if only people with a rotary phone will have service? I guess every member of your family needs a rotary phone, just in case. I am going to get a few for my relatives who live away from me. I hope someone has the answers to my quetions, because I will be worried about this.

-- Carol (glear@usa.net), July 23, 1999.

Carol (glear@usa.net),

>If you don't have a rotary phone, will you just not be able to dial out?

Short answer: Correct.

Longer: If, as described in the Bell Canada example, touch-tone service is affected but rotary phone service is not affected, that means that the phone company's equipment for converting the touch-tone tones to numbers in order to make a connection is not working, but the rest of the equipment, including the simpler older part that converts rotary clicks to numbers for making a connection, is working okay. Once the phone company has made a connection to the circuit leading to the number you're calling, there is no difference in operation between touch-tone and rotary. And there's no difference on the receiving end.

>Will your touchtone/digital phone ring if someone who has a rotary phone calls you?

Yes.

>Who will you be calling if only people with a rotary phone will have service?

Touch-tone phones will still be able to receive incoming calls.

So if the only phone system problem is as described above for the Bell Canada incident and you have a rotary phone, then you will still be able to call any phone.

-- No Spam Please (nos_pam_please@hotmail.com), July 28, 1999.