My office telephone is out, but I’m still working

Posted Monday, 5 November 2007, 08:20 HST @722

My university office telephone is out of service, along with all the Internet and telephones in 1166 and 1188 Fort Street Mall.

The recent rains and winds have blown our wireless Internet link out of alignment. The system uses a laser to connect the buildings to the university network. Laser systems can handle much more bandwidth than WiFi or radio-based wireless systems, but lasers do need precise, line-of-sight alignment to work properly. Radio systems don’t need line-of-sight.

Because most of the telephones in these buildings use voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) instead of traditional wired telephone service, so our telephones are as well.

According to an announcement on our extranet, inbound calls are going directly to voice mail.

I keep a Clearwire modem in my bag for these emergencies, so I do have email and Web access in my office. I’ll continue grading the IS 6100 midterms this morning.