|
Telecommunication millennium madness In its recently distributed, six-page, idiot-proof how-to flyer, entitled Millennium bug home check: your guide to a bug-free home environment, the federal government is informing citizens about potential January 1, 2000 problems with their home appliances. Thankfully, telephones are not on the problem gadget list. But why, then, are the feds investing hundreds of thousands in satellite-based cell phones? According to a recent report, the feds have been buying up high-tech Iridium phones at $5,000 a pop as part of its millennium back-up plan. "Government phone lines rely much more on computers than domestic phone lines," Jean-Yves Roy, of Canada's Public Works department, explained to the Mirror. "We rely on computerized message-taking systems, rapid dial, inter-departmental transfers and so on. The system is much more complex." A Bell Canada operator assured the Mirror that even Vista 300 phones will be fully functional next January 1. Ironically, while our plebe phones have gotten the OK, the 200-odd Iridium phones now owned by the feds have yet to be declared Y2K-compliant by their manufacturer. --Dominique Ritter
|