Both, a look behind some of the exchange panel covers will reveal batteries. The ability to call 999 was taken extremely seriously and was fail safed and routined back in the day.

Edited by FibreBubble (Fri 14-Apr-23 21:03:42)

In reply to a post by FibreBubble:

Both, a look behind some of the exchange panel covers will reveal batteries. The ability to call 999 was taken extremely seriously and was fail safed and routined back in the day.

Just the same as the 1980s built data centres I've worked in with battery rooms (with heavy separation in case of fire) and standby generators outside.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

That is why everyone is going to FTTP. Properly implemented FTTP doesn't require powered equipment at street level.

but it does require power to the ONT and router attached at the other end.

As one expects with FTTP.

There is a clear regulatory position on that which translates through to some clear requirements on people selling those services.

We can argue as to whether that regulatory position is appropriate but we're heading into a broader societal debate about cost vs. resilience and about whether the costs of resilience should be spread across all customers or only those that need it - that is really a political question and as such doesn't have a right answer.

It also reflects large scale changes in society. Just as police boxes were removed many years ago, payphones are being removed now - many of which have not seen a single call made in 2 years.

It would be interesting to see stats for how many emergency calls are made from landlines versus mobiles, but I'd guess that these days the vast majority are mobiles.

That's not to say that there isn't anyone who relies on their landline for emergency calls. But then it makes sense to target the support to those users (e.g. battery backup) where it's needed.

In reply to a post by Dassa:

There is a clear regulatory position on that which translates through to some clear requirements on people selling those services.

Some of the alt-nets make it clear when you try and purchase they don't offer phone services and are not a network designed for emergency service access.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by Dassa:

There is a clear regulatory position on that which translates through to some clear requirements on people selling those services.

Some of the alt-nets make it clear when you try and purchase they don't offer phone services and are not a network designed for emergency service access.

Putting mains backup of premises equipment aside for a moment….

Presumably those AltNets with active equipment (subtended OLTs and the like) have no extended (or indeed intermittent) mains outage capability. I know some like Fibre Heroes claim they can trailer in a diesel set to connect to their cabs for an extended outage, but I’d question if that really is a solid and viable long-term proposition.

Maybe it is if you only ever plan to have a dozen or so street cabinets before you go broke or get bought out. Let’s be frank.

Realistically in this day and age all terrestrial fibre networks should have a decent degree of autonomy from the grid outages. By decent I mean at least a few hours if not days of autonomy.

A lot are just cutting corners and cheaping it out. Are they really operating within the terms of their Ofcom obligations or just building shoddy rubbish infrastructure. I’m fearing a lot are now the latter.

Do the alt nets have any Ofcom requirements over resilience ?

In reply to a post by broadbandjockey:

Which reminds me, weren't Ofcom supposed to announce this month the procedure to be able to port out your 'landline' phone number to a Third Party VoIP supplier, without it killing your broadband service ?

Never heard of that. A quick Google finds nothing on the subject.

The only thing I'm aware of that was due to be implemented was the new migration system that was to work across distinct networks (Openreach to Cityfibre etc).
That's been delayed a while.

According to a friend who works at a small Openreach based ISP that is implementing the new migration system it won't support porting a landline number without ceasing broadband.

Openreach implemented something for this year's ago called renumber and number export. It's up to providers if they want to offer this and most just don't.
It's quite a niche requirement.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

It also reflects large scale changes in society. Just as police boxes were removed many years ago, payphones are being removed now - many of which have not seen a single call made in 2 years.

It would be interesting to see stats for how many emergency calls are made from landlines versus mobiles, but I'd guess that these days the vast majority are mobiles.

That's not to say that there isn't anyone who relies on their landline for emergency calls. But then it makes sense to target the support to those users (e.g. battery backup) where it's needed.

Indeed. Another step change in technology as folks are now increasingly able to send and receive SOS / emergency messaging when outdoors from a regular smartphone using satellite when there is no cell phone coverage.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Do the alt nets have any Ofcom requirements over resilience ?

I'm sure they don't, as they have no obligation to provide *any* kind of service at all. It's left to market forces to weed out the rubbish ones.

I don't think there are any resilience requirements on mainstream providers either, apart from ISPs which sign up to the (voluntary) compensation scheme - in which case it's just a financial obligation, not a technical one. Recent large-scale outages on Virgin and Vodafone are testament to that.