ADSL in a power cut

How feasible is it to maintain an Internet connection in a power cut lasting more than 24 hours. Obviously it has to be ADSL and you need a generator to supply power to your router and PC.

Phone exchange should carry on, either on battery power or with a generator kicking in.

Even FTTC should have a four to five hour backup, with ability to swap replacement batteries in to keep power up

Or 3G.

BT's kit in the exchange will have backup 48V battery (and, ultimately, genny) power.

Does the same apply to LLU operators? Is their exchange kit operated off exchange 48V?

Cable stops when the mains goes off, but that's different.

Yes most if not all will have their own means of powering their kit in the event of power failure, those that don't will probably pay BT openreach for this

Technically it is a -48v DC ...

As for LLUs - if it is along the same lines as other services provided to OLOs in BT exchanges they will have a choice of 230v 50Hz AC or -48v DC. The battery backed supply was always more expensive than the standard 230v service as it was "uninterrupted". OLOs had to make te choice, continuity or lower cost.

Although technically the other responses are correct, it also depends upon how widely the power failure covers.

So if very local, there may be ways to overcome it; BUT ...

OLOs had to make te choice, continuity or lower cost.

Right, Anyone able to confirm?

And then would it be realistic to expect that (for example) Zen's LLU rollout may have made different choices than (say) TalkTalk?

Zen LLU is just a handful of exchanges. The PoP network for GEA-FTTC handover is not a LLU system

You might assume it is on generator - however during the last wave of bad weather we had several alerts from BTW along the lines of:

---
Incident Headline: : XXX MUX 301,302 & 101 : LOSS OF SERVICE

Incident Details: At the moment some of your Broadband End Users may be experiencing a loss of Broadband service.

Progress Details: Mains fail in the area, generator is running. This equipment is on non-essential supply. Next update will be upon mains and service restoration.
---

So while phones may work ADSL may not. This was a BTW MUX is not always on that feed...

Of course come to FTTx a whole new kettle of fish

In reply to a post by eckiedoo:

Although technically the other responses are correct, it also depends upon how widely the power failure covers.

So if very local, there may be ways to overcome it; BUT ...

Just to add some meat on the bone. During the last year there has been 6 power outages in the village and that has seen many clued up residents having available a simple tone POTS phone to hand when the lights go off. Standby generators are in use at a few properties. FTTC broadband connections die after a few hours with those on ADSL able to carry on with a laptop assuming power can be supplied to the router; it seems a car battery with an invertor does the trick.

As for mobile usage, forget it as there is no service at all while the power is off. Whether that is true for Sure Signal users is unknown.

Whereas in the past a backup Internet service was available from your ISP using dial up, my understanding is that the dial up service is no longer available but even if it was my laptop doesn't have an inbuilt modem.

There doesn't seem to be anyway that a FTTC user can remain connected even though POTS is working, unless someone here knows better. Our longest outage was from 10am on 23rd December to sometime on the 27th right when you want to keep in touch with friends and family. Been off for around 12 hours since.

I am a non LLU Zen subscriber using FTTC.

POTS = Plain Old Telephone System, just in case you did not know.

FTTC is powered at the cabinet. No idea if there is power backup at the cabinet - I would think not or if there is it's minimal ie 30mins. ADSL is over POTS as you call it so power is at exchange.

This still works http://emergencyinternet.com/

Here's a cheap USB modem http://www.ebuyer.com/454163-dynamode-56k-external-u...

Edited by deleted (Tue 25-Feb-14 12:42:45)

There doesn't seem to be anyway that a FTTC user can remain connected even though POTS is working, unless someone here knows better.

The street DSLAMS do have batteries in them, but I doubt they last long enough to cover the outage you mention. This all presumes your UPS would keep the FTTC modem going long enough your end also !

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

This still works http://emergencyinternet.com/

Here's a cheap USB modem http://www.ebuyer.com/454163-dynamode-56k-external-u...

Very interesting BatBoy that I will give it go with the USB modem suggested.

In the past with using dial up services there was some kind of restriction with the use of dial up numbers and the tariff applicable. If 0845 numbers are included in your call plan, which is not unusual, I wonder if the call remains free. In which case how does http://emergencyinternet.com/ make any money out of the facility?

yes batteries, they last four to five hours, maybe a little more if you are the only line left running.

Option to hot swap and keep cab active apparently, but whether used will depend on the customers on the cabinet, e.g. what SLA people have, or whether supplying other priority premises.

During the Christmas power cuts (reminds me how slow is the UKPN compensation) I was on brown out.

Heating would not work, freezer off, old bulbs would give a dull glow but CFL nothing, but switch mode power supply on router kept going apart from the hours when supply is totally off.

Took the precaution of manually tripping out most of the house circuits in case of surges.

it really depends on openreach's ability to keep resourcing someone to change out the batteries, or if longer term like after an RTA where the mains has been disconnected, to get a standby trailer connected.

3G is probably not viable as the mobile base stations have very limited power backup capability.