New Smart Meters Followed Shortly by New Broadband Provider

Peter999_2

You're fighting a losing battle here Gerry I'm afraid.   It's all about risk management and it is a very small risk.

I've been using VOIP over a battery backup since 2003 and not had any problems at all with it.   When the broadband has gone down my mobile has been fine.

The landline however goes down at least 2 or 3 times every few months and when I last had a power cut the phones didn't work either, the same power cut must have affected the exchange etc.   The phone lines did come back up after about 10 minutes (presumably a UPS at the exchange).      My mobile phone worked fine during all of this.   The voip was fine as well as it is also on my mobile via a VOIP app.

Don't forget that BT used to provide a backup battery in the ONT but that has now been disregarded as not required. Unfortunately, loads of people never changed the rechargable batteries when they failed and so were useless anyway.

Also, my burglar alarm still works fine using digital voice - as does my fax machine even though everyone seems to think it shouldn't work.     Also, my uncle's Telecare24 works fine as well - no problems at all.

Time moves on and things change.   You've got to remember that any device could fail at any point.   My uncle's Telecare went faulty a while ago and had to be fixed - just one of those things.   

Scot_39

Gerry1 said:

Good luck if you have a power failure or rota power cut when you're on Digital Voice.

Unlike a copper landline you won't be able to receive or make any calls, not even to 999, unless you have battery backup that lasts for the duration.  Recent storms knocked out some people's power for up to two weeks.

Don't rely on a mobile phone either, your local mast may well go off the moment your lights go out.

Remember not to have a fire, stroke, heart attack or other medical emergency until power has been restored...😱

The copper network is going to be switched off for everyone soon enough.  cDec 2025 still the target AFAIK. So the poster isn't going to be alone facing that sort of issue very soon.

It already has in several postcodes. And people aren't being given a choice.

Openreach/BT? are meant to provide those without mobile signal the battery backup unit for their cable interface unit or router if with BT for FTCC / Cable broadband.

As to mobile - not sure about UK - but in many other countries - batteries and even back up diesel generators have been used for some cell towers - but generally not all.

I can see it being the next claims jamboree.

MattMattMattUK

With the levels of fear displayed about losing landlines and mobiles simultaneously I hope those fearful of such have sat phones just in case, one can never be too careful after all...

inspectorperez

Without wishing to perpetuate the debate about safety during a power cut in the event of an emergency, I had always been under the impression (rightly or wrongly) that my portable petrol generator would have been sufficient to power computer and router (and hence digital telephone).

Not ideal, but I do have surge protection and would have thought this was a feasible solution during a power cut?

CSI_Yorkshire

inspectorperez said:

Without wishing to perpetuate the debate about safety during a power cut in the event of an emergency, I had always been under the impression (rightly or wrongly) that my portable petrol generator would have been sufficient to power computer and router (and hence digital telephone).

Not ideal, but I do have surge protection and would have thought this was a feasible solution during a power cut?

You can't power the entire digital telephone network from your end - what happens when the cabinet in the street loses power, or the switching hub, or even the backbone service.  All could have their own backups, but whether they do and whether these backups work is a different question.

Qyburn

MattMattMattUK said:

With the levels of fear displayed about losing landlines and mobiles simultaneously I hope those fearful of such have sat phones just in case, one can never be too careful after all...

Our local authority is buying up a stock of satellite phones for exactly this sort of emergency, funded by SSEN. That was just mentioned during a risk and resilience meeting, they didn't go into details but the implication was that these would be made available to the community, not solely for their staff.

lohr500

Qyburn said:

Our local authority is buying up a stock of satellite phones for exactly this sort of emergency, funded by SSEN. That was just mentioned during a risk and resilience meeting, they didn't go into details but the implication was that these would be made available to the community, not solely for their staff.

Get ready for another £100 on the council tax for everyone who lives in your local authority area then 

Gerry1

Peter999_2 said:

You're fighting a losing battle here Gerry I'm afraid.   It's all about risk management and it is a very small risk.

You completely missed the point.  Risk management involves evaluating not just the chance of something happening but its impact when it does occur.

https://www.smartsheet.com/sites/default/files/styles/900px/public/2020-05/IC-Risk-Matrix.webp?itok=Vlp3uWmN

The risk of a power failure may be relatively low, but it's rapidly increasing in respect of rota power cuts.  Bills now show a code for National Grid's 3-hour rota disconnection plans, and we only avoided having to implement it because the last winter was mild.

The impact of being unable to call 999 can be extremely high: it can result in deaths if there's a fire, a knife or gun attacker, stroke / heart attack etc.

Dozy Ofcom have now realised that BT's recent failure to keep the 999 service working nationally needs urgent investigation.  Hopefully Ofcom will now wake up and do the same for the similar problems caused by Digital Voice, preferably without waiting for the inevitable deaths to occur first.

It must also be remembered that ordinary calls cannot be made during long DV outages and that's also unacceptable.

CSI_Yorkshire

V. Low likelihood + High impact does not equal high risk.  Depending on your preference, it is either a low or medium risk - even according to the oversimplified matrix that you link.

Bills have shown a code letter for several years (at least a decade in my case), that doesn't indicate any rapidly increasing or high "risk" (actually likelihood).

Dealing with a risk requires appropriate measures, not propping up decades-old decrepit infrastructures because "there might be a gun attacker at my house the same time as a power cut?????"

Gerry1

So you don't bother to insure your house because the risk of fire, flood, storm damage etc is so low?