<html><head></head><body style="zoom: 0%;"><div dir="auto">Hi Bruce,<br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">I think you may be the right guy to solve this. I too remember the days of dry wire sold by the RBOCs.<br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">I found a structured wire fire alarm install to cost $100k for our building or $20k per unit. The labor and materials is about $25k. The other $75k is liability related costs, similar to a bike helmet, $10 in parts, $40 in insurance. So it's not labor nor equipment that drives the expenses. My opinion is poor people shouldn't have to pay for insurance to insurance companies, companies that figure figures for a living.<br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">A digression: I could do an LMR 600 passive cable system looped with Wilkinson power dividers, patch antennas and nests to protect the egress escape ladder for about $10 to $15K. Don't need an SLA. We've basically priced protecting human lives to only rich people. <br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">We need to use technology and our cleverness to fix this version of "expense bloat."<br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">Look at Boston public water for an example. Way too expensive to pipe water in from 15 miles away in the early days. So people who did it claimed alcoholism (and that "immorality") would be eliminated by providing clean and pure potable public water. Alcholics would choose pathogen free water over spirits. Rich people got enough water for themselves and even for their private fountains so society stopped this initiative.<br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">It was a motivated doctor who taught rich people that their health was tied to public health. And public health was being impacted because pathogens being spread to poor people who didn't get potable public water would by addressed by ubiquitous potable water supplies. The fire chief was put in charge. See Ties That Bind <br><br></div>
<div dir="auto"><a href="https://upittpress.org/books/9780822961475">https://upittpress.org/books/9780822961475</a>/<br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">Now, in the U.S, most do get potable water even to flush a toilet. It's taken for granted. <br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">I think it's on us to do similar for digital communication networks. They're needed far beyond entertainment, and we need to get public safety elements engaged too. <br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">Bob</div>
<div class="gmail_quote" >On Mar 25, 2023, at 2:08 PM, Bruce Perens <<a href="mailto:bruce@perens.com" target="_blank">bruce@perens.com</a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
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On Sat, Mar 25, 2023 at 1:44 PM rjmcmahon via Starlink <
<a href="mailto:starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net">starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net</a>> wrote:
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The point of the thread is that we still do not treat digital communications infrastructure as life support critical.
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When I was younger there was a standard way to do this. Fire alarms had a dedicated pair directly to the fire department or a local alarm station. This wasn't dial-tone, it was a DC pair that would drop a trouble notification if DC was interrupted, and I think it would reverse polarity to indicate alarm. If DC was interrupted, that would also turn off the boiler in the building.
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Today my home fire alarms are wireless and have cellular back to their main Comcast connection, and detect CO, smoke, and temperature. This would not meet insurance requirements for a commercial building, they still have all of the sensors wired, with cellular backup.
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I don't think you are considering what life-support-critical digital communications would really cost. Start with metal conduit and fire-resistant wiring throughout the structure. Provide redundant power for
<i>every</i> fan-out box (we just had a 24-hour power interruption here due to storms). AT&T provides 4 hour power for "Lightspeed" tombstone boxes that fan out telephone, beyond that a truck has to drive out and plug in a generator, or you are out of luck if it's a wide-are outage like we just had. Wire areas in a redundant loop rather than a tree. Supervise every home so that interruptions are serviced automatically. Provide a 4-hour SLA.
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The phone company used to do what you are asking for. The high prices this required are the main reason that everyone has jumped off of using the legacy telco for telephony.
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