[GTALUG] Landline and Bell revisited.

[Alex Kink]

It's such a messy situation.
Karen has been using a service that from her perspective has been copper/analog for years and this has been compatible with her condition. It's likely that this service has been described to her by her previous service providers using words such as copper and/or analog. To be clear, copper and analog are not interchangeable terms here.

In reality, it has been copper to her phone for only a certain number of meters, depending on the how modern the network at her location was at any given time. Without question, after certain distance that copper has been plugging into a digital network for past 30+ years.

Karen now turns to the service provider asking for a copper/analog connection but the provider doesn't know what that means to Karen. Because the providers are generally the devil and don't give a rat's butt about anything the client wants, they just talk BS and provide whatever they want to provide. To cut some slack to the providers, not that they deserve it, probably good 99%+ of clients really don't know what they are talking about.

The reality is, that even if Karen found a well meaning individual at the provider who would be willing to go above and beyond for her, they would not be able to help her because 1) Karen doesn't know what was the nature of the service she has been using for the past 30+ years that has worked for her, other than it was a copper twisted pair coming out of the wall. 2) Even if there was a way to exactly identify the technical specs of her past connection that worked for her, it might be nearly impossible to deliver that to her at her current address in the year 2023.

> On Sep 7, 2023, at 12:35, Evan Leibovitch via talk <talk at gtalug.org> wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Sep 7, 2023 at 11:40 AM James Knott via talk <talk at gtalug.org <mailto:talk at gtalug.org>> wrote:
>  
>> > Bell faces human rights complaint over allegations of inaccessibility for blind customers
>> > https://globalnews.ca/news/9373449/bell-human-rights-complaint/
>> 
>> This is about what Bell is not providing, even though other companies do. However, this is current technology, not obsolete, which Karen seems to need.
> 
> I call shenanigans on that perspective.
> 
> Given the nature of our group it is natural that some here will see the issue as merely one of choice and pace of technology, but IMO it must be seen as a broader issue of problem-solving. If Karen's accessibility needs require analog service in 2023, then that service is not obsolete merely because it's convenient for Bell to declare it so. In making a transition to digital it is Bell's responsibility to either:
> provide a complete working solution to Karen's needs that can be accomplished purely digitally
> use whatever means required internally to maintain (what is seen in her home as) analog service
> Given its regulated monopoly in last-mile connectivity, the onus is on Bell to provide a solution to the problem that it caused.
> 
> - Evan
> 
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