Impact of Power Cuts?

I understand that FTTC Cabinets have to have a mains power supply - which is not the case with the existing copper infrastructure.

Currently, during a power cut we can still use the landline for voice.

When a BDUK funded FTTC service hits our village in two years....:

Does this mean that all conncectivity - voice and broadband will become dependent on the availability of mains power?

Or:

Do we still get voice but no broadband when the power is down?

Or:

As the mobile signals in the area are flaky, do I think about getting a second line solely for FTTC broadband, and keep my current landline if I want to ensure that I have voice during a power cut?

On copper the exchange has its own battery backup and/or generator, so broadband should still work, assuming you have your own local power for the ADSL modem.

On FTTC, the cabinet has battery backup
http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre-cornwall/images/f...
On the floor in that picture, alas cannot decipher the Chinese data sheets.

Voice would be unaffected as the copper pair will work even if the FTTC cab is totally turned off. Broadband will keep running so long as the batteries do (think its 8 hours for a full cab) but probably longer as lots of people connected to cab will have no mains for their router at home.

Batteries can be swapped out I believe in case of longer outage, but don't think they guarantee that, though depends on the customers connected possibly.

Thanks for rapid response and clarification.

In the event of a prolonged loss of mains power , openreach would continually replace the batteries or deploy a trailer to provide temporary power, however, there is no guarantee of zero loss of service during this time.

In reply to a post by Ribble:

In the event of a prolonged loss of mains power , openreach would continually replace the batteries or deploy a trailer to provide temporary power, however, there is no guarantee of zero loss of service during this time.

I'd imagine if there were priority or business customers connected to the cabinet, then there may be all the stops pulled out.


I do however think that FTTC should have a battery backup unit installed as standard (like FTTP for keeping the phone on fibre-voice working), as this could prevent problems with customers having poor speeds after a disconnection, due to power problems.

Apparently there is a BBU port on VDSL modems, but it's blanked off?

Would strike me as a pretty precarious business case increasing the cost of each and every FTTC install to avoid people being affected by DLM after a power outage.

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

Would strike me as a pretty precarious business case increasing the cost of each and every FTTC install to avoid people being affected by DLM after a power outage.

You're probably right there. Perhaps an optional add-on for those who feel they need it? Could be cheaper than a UPS maybe.

Or do as I do on power cuts and switch off the costly kit in case of damage.