No Dialtone Means the End of Civilization!
from the don't-pick-up-that-phone dept
This one is definitely amusing. The major phone companies are warning customers not to pick up their phone to check for a dialtone just after midnight on New Year’s. They’re afraid that a large number of people doing that will cause problems, making no dialtone available, making people think that the phone companies weren’t ready for Y2K and all havoc will break loose and riots will start and civilization will end and all that sort of stuff. Should be a fun time.
Comments on “No Dialtone Means the End of Civilization!”
More harm than good?
I don’t know if it’s just me or not, but until I read this article, it hadn’t even occurred to me to pick up the phone at midnight, 1/1/00 and test to see if the phones are working. How many other people have similarly had this idea planted in their heads now? And how many undisciplined folks will say, “Bah, just one little person can’t hurt…I’ll pick it up and see if it works despite the warnings, because everyone else will have listened to them.” On the other hand, this is an important issue that people should be aware of…but people are stupid. It’ll be interesting to see whether the phones actually do go down due to mass dialtone checking despite the warnings…