Would phones/internet work in Case of Apocalypse

[Damnyourdeadman 1045]

I know....it sounds like a stupid question to ask.The phone grid would overflow by the massive call number and fail.

But,what happens after?

Would there be a way to restore phone and possible internet communications?

And how long would it take for the communication system to fail due to the lack of maintance?

[TheWanderingMan 170]

People would be more concerned that they couldn't get on FB, rather than the threat of Zombies LOL.

 

Welcome to 2014.

[louist 163]

I'm sure research has been conducted by major nations on such a question, and perhaps you could fine the reports online if you looked.

That said, intuition leads me to suspect that, while the infrastructure for such systems would remain fairly intact in the case of a zombie apocalypse, the systems and servers that regulate them would not. Electricity would be your main culprit, as power plants fail or are shut down. Even if power remained on or was restored in your region, I don't believe either the phone or Internet are compartmentalized enough to allow either to function when the majority of their grids are down.

And all those servers you would rely on, such as google's and Microsoft's, not to mention all the countless smaller servers, which host every website you've ever used, would have to be restored in order for you to access them.

That said, if you had power, and laid a cable from one computer to another, you could create a wide area network from scratch.

Edit: as an experiment, run an ip trace on these forums, and count the number of servers and routers your connection has to pass through in order to reach it. Likely it will pass through not just multiple cities, but multiple countries.

Edited February 23, 2014 by louist

[Damnyourdeadman 1045]

People would be more concerned that they couldn't get on FB, rather than the threat of Zombies LOL.

 

Welcome to 2014.

Heh,i bet most of the first infected victims in a case of a real Apocalypse would be the ones that are hooked behind the PC screen not bothering to look outside of their windows :P

But internet is not Facebook alone (even though for a big portion of people it is) and could get a very handy tool.

From what i gathered,internet with high speeds,is not very viable.But is it possible to have the old peer to peer network?

Or something relevant?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer

[Disgraced 1123]

Edit: my lost became redundant while I was typing it.

Edited February 23, 2014 by Disgraced

[Mctoot 16]

@nunber1surviror tweeted: OMG! Just run away from the horde #survivor #yoloswag #ikilledmychild

I think the only real method of a sustainable communication would be short range radio. You could maybe look at laying cables between settlements but that would be a big job.

[Damnyourdeadman 1045]

@nunber1surviror tweeted: OMG! Just run away from the horde #survivor #yoloswag #ikilledmychild

I think the only real method of a sustainable communication would be short range radio. You could maybe look at laying cables between settlements but that would be a big job.

So there will be no way for us to restore the pre-existant phone line network in Cherno?

Or accomplishing that takes more than what we could chew?

[Mctoot 16]

There's a power plant and mine on the east coast. I would do a bit of mining

[Damnyourdeadman 1045]

There's a power plant and mine on the east coast. I would do a bit of mining

There is a dam too,but i don't know if it is for the purpose of generating energy.

(First pic is achived with script i think)

 

[terminal_boy 860]

Everything civilian goes down when the power fails. Some parts have diesel powered back-up generators, but these are only fuelled for 24 hours constant running.

Invest in good 2 way radios and solar charging systems.

GPS/GLONAS runs until satellites start to fall out of orbit. As you need to be able to receive 3 different GPS signals to get a decent positional fix, you're looking how well their automated systems work at holding orbit and how much fuel they carry for the thrusters.

Use diesel fueled vehicles as modern petrol degrades quite quickly without the correct additives.

[Korsbaek 1778]

GPS/GLONAS runs until satellites start to fall out of orbit. As you need to be able to receive 3 different GPS signals to get a decent positional fix, you're looking how well their automated systems work at holding orbit and how much fuel they carry for the thrusters.

 

I know for a fact that it would take a very long time before a satellite starts de-orbiting. It might take several years really as there's nothing other than the Moon to disturb their orbit.

[LeChat 131]

Setting up a two way communication via two wired phones is silly easy - all it requires are 2 (functional) wired phones, a long chord, a resistor (don't exactly remember which kind but they're generally available in hardware stores), a 9V battery (or some other, similar, power source). You won't have a number and it won't produce a ring tone so you wouldn't know when to pick up and it is restricted to those two phones only, I suppose it would be, somehow possible, to connect more phones to such a network, but I'm not really into that kind of stuff so don't quote me on it. I just remember that we did this in school for a class. I guess by doing so, anyone connected to the wire will be able to hear it though (well given that they've got a reciever and a power source, not sure if a 9V will sustain more than two phones).

Edited February 23, 2014 by LeChat

[Damnyourdeadman 1045]

Everything civilian goes down when the power fails. Some parts have diesel powered back-up generators, but these are only fuelled for 24 hours constant running.

Invest in good 2 way radios and solar charging systems.

GPS/GLONAS runs until satellites start to fall out of orbit. As you need to be able to receive 3 different GPS signals to get a decent positional fix, you're looking how well their automated systems work at holding orbit and how much fuel they carry for the thrusters.

Use diesel fueled vehicles as modern petrol degrades quite quickly without the correct additives.

Hmmm...let's think millitary then.

Back at WW2 the soldiers were using Field telephones.

They had theese linemen and they assigned them from point A to B depending on the operation.

They were a pain in the ass,but it might be a good alternative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_telephone

[terminal_boy 860]

They would work very well between fixed locations if you conceal the cable.

I would expect a knowledge of Morse code and make-shift heliographs to be very important after the Earth goes dark.

[terminal_boy 860]

I know for a fact that it would take a very long time before a satellite starts de-orbiting. It might take several years really as there's nothing other than the Moon to disturb their orbit.

Apart for all the other thousands of pieces of space hardware up there?

[Demophon 48]

Hard lines would work depending on power BUT wireless comms like phones and internet routers require satellites..

Even if there were people constantly replacing satellites and keeping servers up it would be too big of a job.

The entire world at the moment relies on fossil fuels and un-reliable sources to power the world. They would run out and even with a sustainable source of energy civilization itself wouldn't be focused on making sure that the internet lives.

 

There are so many more issues that come with a zombie apocalypse, lack of food, all resources would be hoarded between the rich before the start of the apocalypse, survival of the fittest etc.

[Gerandar 212]

People would be more concerned that they couldn't get on FB, rather than the threat of Zombies LOL.

 

Welcome to 2014.

 

Because zombies would not be a real threat given our military abilities

Edited February 23, 2014 by Gerandar

[louist 163]

So there will be no way for us to restore the pre-existant phone line network in Cherno?

Or accomplishing that takes more than what we could chew?

The phone lines would be fine. It's the switching and routing station that would be the problem, and there is no building that fits the bill in Cherno, thus it must exist outside the map. Even if it did exist in one of the map's buildings, knowing where to begin in restarting, trouble shooting, and maintaining such a system would be a rare skill.

As has been pointed out earlier, a straight phone to phone connection is relatively easy to do and requires little electricity. The problem arises, though, then you want multiple connections, and the more you need, the increasingly complex it becomes, first requiring a small switchboard, then a large warehouse's worth, then, when you have too many connections for humans to manually oversee, you need a mechanical system to automate it. And of it continues to grow, you'd want a digital system. These systems require a fair bit of electricity. Enough, I would wager, to necessitate a proper power grid, not simply a portable generator.

The problem with Cherno is that the automated system that controls the infrastructure already in place exists outside of Cherno itself, making the existing infrastructure essentially useless as is. You would have an easier time stripping the lines out, and creating your own localized system from scratch.

Edited February 23, 2014 by louist

[DemonGroover 8836]

Probably the best thing about the apocalypse would be no more fucking Facebook and damn annoying mobile phone ringtones....

[pillock 850]

Given that Facebook turns people into zombies anyway, perhaps this was the cause of the apocalypse in the first place.

[over9000nukez 199]

^{depends, service would probably go out after a day or two because all the workers would be going to their family probably, not sitting around at the place worrying about others.}

[Alogos 24]

i do networking for a living, not an end all expert but here's my unsolicited 2cents -

 

Let me start by saying that the internet as we use it and love it is basically black fucking magic. It blows my mind how complex of a task it actually is to populate google.com in your browser, as far as how the data travels from router to router, etc. These big backbone networks are pretty stable (until they break), and require 24/7 monitoring and a general understanding of the whole topology you're dealing with to troubleshoot and truthfully that's not something joe shmoe survivor who wandered into a regional switching office (main "hub" for an area) would be able to just.... do lol. honestly though once you lost power it's all moot unless you had a LOT of generators and fuel.

 

In time of national crisis, your cellphone/internet would most likely stop working very soon after people start evacuating if there was no one to fix issues as they arise (it takes a fair amount of people).

 

/end networking soapbox.

[TheWanderingMan 170]

As soon as the internet became available on mobile phones the world had gone too far to save.

 

Never before has there been a society so obsessed with self gratification and self promotion. People would rather film the victims of a car crash than help them (paul walkers death is a prime example). People only give to charity because it improves their social image and looks good on FB combined with loads of 'likes'.

 

We need an apocalypse to wipe the slate clean imo.

[Zjasuu 337]

349 posts? Are you ever serious? 349 so you can't be a troll.... you must be american or a complete idiot.

[SnakeEyeZ (DayZ) 2]

Hmmm...let's think millitary then.

Back at WW2 the soldiers were using Field telephones.

They had theese linemen and they assigned them from point A to B depending on the operation.

They were a pain in the ass,but it might be a good alternative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_telephone

 

Lol... systems like these are still in use in Finland's army, atleast in some way. I had to use these and also build the connections (drawing the lines) in my mil. service. Yeah, they were a major pain. The good thing is, you only need a few batteries per phone and  an intact line between the phones to have connection. Also the only way anyone can intercept your communication, is to physically tap in to the line.