On one hand, this does point out that there is at least some evidence suggesting they were actually used as weapons.
On the other hand, this also exemplifies exactly why they were so uncommon. Even if you could use them in combat, I imagine any benefit gained from the hook is drastically outweighed by the extra complications to fighting with it.
Exactly this. I work for an ISP that uses radio towers and we don’t have over saturation cause we use proper data shaping during peak hours and backhauls that can handle the load. You know what we do if a tower gers over saturated? We cost balance for immediate releif then build another fucking tower to lighten the load.