Vodafone, BT, KCOM and Zen Prep New UK Battery Backup

In case anyone missed this bit of news.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/03/broadb...

Might be quite useful for vulnerable folks or those experiencing extended power outages...

Forgot to add, it can as said in the ISPR article be requested for free for IP-telephony based landline-dependent customers free of charge.

Otherwise it can also be separately purchased here.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

In case anyone missed this bit of news.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/03/broadb...

Might be quite useful for vulnerable folks or those experiencing extended power outages...

Think its good but £150 for those not defined as vulnerable is a bit steep

Agree it's on the expensive-ish side, if you don't qualify for one gratis. Perhaps the cost will drop for other folks in due course.

Otherwise there are similar BBU-type options available on the open market.

Remember it's limited in length.. and your provider's network upstream..

Absolutely. A quote from the ISPR article..

"The new BBU marks a significant improvement over the old kit and should be welcomed, although it’s admittedly still not a solution for outages that last longer than a few hours. But there are some inescapable economic realities here and, past a certain point, it simply becomes too expensive for retail telecoms providers to offer solutions with more capacity."

Sums it up pretty well.

There are lots of these around though. This one from APC costs just 1/3:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/APC-Back-UPS-Connect-Lithiu...

The APC Back-UPS Connect and the Eaton 3S Mini UPS have both been around for a while. Neither have the features this new unit has (25% reserve capacity, USB charging, Y-cable to power two devices), nor capacity (APC 27.75Wh, Eaton 16.3Wh). The price is a little on the steep side, just over £100 would be nicer.

Sure. As said there's many on the market if you're having to purchase one.

Personally I've tried the little Eaton unit and actually tested it out some time ago, and put up some test results on here. I've also made my own DIY unit using 18650 cells, a BMS charge controller and an enclosure which is uncannily of similar shape and size to the Vodafone Broadband Battery Backup unit talked about here.

There are loads of options out there. However for vulnerable and elderly folks, I think this unit is great news especially given it is available gratis and has some decent autonomy and features.

This is another alternative on the open market, that I spotted in a link on the comments posted in the ISPR news article from SKE:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SKE-Supply-Battery-Backup-S...

Somewhat physically larger than the Vodafone Broadband Battery Backup, but based on Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) battery chemistry which is inherently less of a potential fire risk than NMC-chemistry Lithium Ion chemistry. Battery capacity is also *significantly* larger. Some of the reviews however are mixed.

Perhaps I will do another review based on all of these units, the Eaton 3S Mini UPS, the iPower 12VDC plug pack UPS. I have a backup Hyperoptic FTTP connection with one of their WiFi routers in a drawer, also an EE Smarthub SH31B from another service so can easily run some mockups when I get a moment.