"Steve L. Rhoades" <slr@tybalt.caltech.edu> (06/29/91)
As many of you know, we experienced a M6.0 earthquake centered near Pasadena this morning. Naturally, the phone lines were jammed. I stayed off the phone for about an hour after the main quake, then I tried making a call. Out of four lines, I could only get dial tone on one. All of these lines are served by the same 1A ESS switch. Three of them have Comm*Star associated with them. (Comm*Star is what Pac*Bell calls their "at home" Centrex service). The fourth line is "plain vanilla". ie. No custom calling or special features. Guess which line worked? Yup, my line four worked fine. It didn't seem to be just a coincidence. For about a half-hour, only my line four worked. I realize my CO probably went into "choke" mode but why would line four continue to work? When all four lines started working again, I noticed I was having trouble breaking dial tone. The DTMF receiver seemed a little deaf. On a side note, as in previous quakes, cellular phone service seemed to go on uninterrupted. Internet: slr@caltech.edu | Voice-mail: (818) 794-6004 UUCP: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!tybalt!slr | USmail: Box 1000, Mt. Wilson, Ca. 91023