The Glade 4.0

Oh, I can imagine....Arafys alone with a copy machine, scissors, tape....making his latest profile pic for adult friend finder dot com...

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Actually, I used to work for an escrow company. And, more than once we had to "fix" documents that needed to go out that night or face a penalty.

And since I was the resident photoshop expert.... Faxing, *as a method of transmission* needs to die.

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Holy shitsnacks!

So now we reach the crux of the issue. The resident photoshop guy wants fax machines done away with.

Here's the thing. The concept of, I lay this document on a machine, type in a number and hit send, and then it prints out at your location is simple and useful. Scanning to a pdf and emailing is nice, and may be superior in the majority of cases, but it will not replace being able to do it all one one machine with a few button presses. This may need the fax machine to have improved scanning capabilities, an improved printer, and extra output jacks.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Ugh. Yeah, that does not sound like fun at all. What did you have to "fix" if you don't mind me asking?

I think I have used our fax machine all of once this year, and that was for some paperwork that required my signature when my mom died.

I think scanning and emailing a pdf is much more efficient in the majority of cases.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

We had a all in one copier/fax/printer at the office that did just that. put the doc on the glass, select your email, and it scanned it and sent it directly to your email.

From there, you could put in the addresses for buyer's agent, seller's agent, buyer, seller, mortgage company, loan company, and the family dog. One stop sending rather than making multiple fax calls tying up one line for what could be hours.

As for what I had to "adjust" adding initials to missed pages, putting signatures to damaged documents, questionable, and probably inappropriate things... but necessary to make things go through. I never was asked to perform outright fraud.

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Holy shitsnacks!

I prefer security systems connected via POTS than wireless, as it involves less pieces to break/maintain, aren't nearly as affected by power outages, and having a POTS line at the office space allows for contingency planning. More than once, this office has had to use the FAX line for communication during a winter storm aftermath to communicate with clients/offices/consultants in other areas when power was out and our broadband/VOIP systems obviously down.

Müs is right; this ought to be handled (these days) via office-quality all-in-one printers that can communicate with email servers. I know, as Müs mentioned, that they already exist that will scan to email, so I would think that printing from email is already here or quite feasible. Once you have that, you can do point-to-point, machine-to-machine "faxing" via networked appliances instead of POTS. Really, the offensive thing to me about faxes isn't that it's a fax, it's that it's on an entirely separate infrastructure and wiring circuit, and one that is increasingly becoming rare and unused *except* for the one fax machine or whatever. This means that they're a pain in the *** to move if somebody decides they want to reconfigure the layout of the office, or change personnel to a different room, etc., because there just aren't POTS jacks everywhere anymore. And I'm sick of (and, more broadly, there's no reason to chain resources to) logistically having to move, or coordinate other activities around the people who do, them.

As for Ladas; clearly that simply means that we ought to be supporting our packet networks better; ensuring systems in place to maintain operation through power failures and the like.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Kaffislacker gets bonus points for the umlauts.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Most companies, much less homes, cannot afford the systems to provide reserve power/generation to keep a packet based network functioning for any period of time when grid power fails.

Not to say all the currently remaining pros for POTS can't be addressed, but I was merely supporting Corolinth's comment that people that tend to make drastic calls like this are usually focused on a small subset of the services provided. For most mainstream communications needs, I advocate as you do, for more advanced networks/communications. However, I also appreciate the redundancy of having POTS line or two in the office and the fall back ability (though I ***** about moving faxes and office reorganization for the exact same reasons you gave).

Of course, I also have the personal experience. Both of us having at least one cell phone, we canceled our home POTS service, which lead to the quick realization that we just killed our home security system. The options... install a wireless transmitter for the security system which didn't actually save us any money (the goal) because we still had to pay for a phone number/connection while increasing the cost of the system and adding another layer of potential problems, install the ability of the system to use our internet connection which was spotty at best (Charter) and frequently down and susceptible to failed equipment (router), or go back to having a local only POTS line. Two months later we had a winter storm that knocked out power at the house for 5 days... there were a few things I was glad we had in place that most people would consider an unneeded "duplication of systems"... gas powered water heater, gas power fireplace and the POTS phone line.

I should probably clarify, re: file tampering. The point isn't malicious tampering, but rather compliance with state and federal law. It is possible to tamper with a paper copy, but it's harder to do so undetected. This is what satisfies the law regarding signed and stamped copies of documents. Now, again, this is also going to be subject to a wide variety of changes based on local regulations, and what industry you happen to be working in. Construction firms in Los Angeles will be bound by different regulations than law firms in Atlanta.

Ladas also hit on point that I was alluding to early in the thread, but never explicitly made. The fact that technology is old does not render it obsolete - redundancy is a very important aspect of any successful system. Cheap redundancy using existing infrastructure is even better.

Furthermore, consider the analogy of a basic parallel circuit. The circuit doesn't send the entire current over the load with the smallest resistance. It sends current over all loads proportional to each load's resistance. Electricity follows the path of least resistance is a misnomer - that isn't exactly how it works. Rather, it follows the path that allows the most electrons to make it from point A to point B. Landlines are existing infrastructure. Some could use maintenance, but the important part is they're already there. Using them just makes good sense.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

I'm with Coro on this one. We use faxes constantly during disasters to expedite requests (and are required legal documents to allow execution of federal assistance). If your faxes are poor quality it is mostly like due to low quality equipment.

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Gorse

Copper is used for the broadband VoIP that would replace "landlines."

In effect, they're not advocating getting rid of landlines, they're advocating switching to digital landlines.

For the record, we got rid of my wireless phones last year. Completely. We don't have any. We never used them, they spent all their time with dead batteries, collecting money for greedy telecoms who charge monthly fees even if you don't use them. All we have is a standard land-line, and and 6 megabit DSL (which piggybacks on that landline.)

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

It is my understanding that VoIP currently requires electricity to function, as a machine must convert your telephone conversation into a signal that is compliant with IP4 standards. A telephone line is capable of functioning when your power goes out. Before a total switch to digital landlines could be implemented, VoIP would have to have the same functionality. You have to be able to call 911 in a blizzard, basically.

I don't believe this is an impossible technological hurdle, mind you.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

This is true for the most part. VoIP does require internet functionality. But with a battery backup system, that can be surmounted.

Its not 100% feasible for everyone yet though.

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Holy shitsnacks!

For the endpoints it can be surmounted. But if straight VoIP is going to be the standard... varying portions of the network in between would need power at all times. We have seen it at work where some of our ULCs have lost power and screwed the pooch with handing traffic to us. Imagine how bad it would be if everything were that way.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

A battery backup system lasts several hours at most. That is not sufficient for providing access to emergency services in residential areas. Furthermore, you can't make emergency services contingent upon residents having a backup power generator or a battery backup.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

The "consumer" grade battery backups that some people use on their computers, which honestly are only good for handling brownouts, also need to be replaced couple years at most, though the manufactures recommend replacement every year to maintain listed availability.

You would be better off relying on a car charger for your cell phone than any battery backup system likely to found in non-super geek homes.

Perhaps the problem lies in the battery technology.

I know locally Cox used to provide over the wire powered systems for their phone users.
all of the head end points are equipped with propane powered generators in in case of power outage, The idea was Keep the essential service running. currently they are installing for the phone service customers the equivalent of a cable modem that has very small battery back up built in ( good for about 20mins talk time), this design rely s on the household power to run and recharge the battery. Hell I can talk longer off a fully charged cell phone. So much for essential services.

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History of the Condom
In 1272, the Muslim Arabs invented the condom, using a goat's lower intestine.
In 1873, the British somewhat refined the idea, by taking the intestine out of the goat first.

Batteries naturally discharge themselves when disconnected. In order to maintain a sufficient battery charge, you have to leave the battery connected to a charge circuit, which decreases the lifespan of the battery. You lose a little bit of a rechargeable battery's capacity every time you charge it. That's just how a battery works. These are laws of physics that we can't change. We can improve how long it takes the battery to discharge into the air, or the rate it degrades with use, but there's a cost associated with that.

So yes, the problem does indeed lie in battery technology. Namely: batteries suck. They have their place, but they're a horribly inefficient means of storing energy.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.