UPS question

[Pi1otguy]

My folks use a Vonage and ATT u-verse. I presume that unlike the old system it will go down during extended power outages following a major earthquake (6 hrs - 2 days). I'm pretty sure my mom isn't ok with the concept of SOL if she needs to place an emergency call in this situation so I want your guys input on a UPS or other power options. I'm only trying to power the ATT modem, Vonage device, and the Wireless router. The modem is in a separate room.

The UPS I see in the ~$50 range (350 - 500 VA) only work for 10 minutes or so at 100w.

I realize I'm planning for a once a decade event that's actually over due, but do you guys have any suggestions?

 

[denverpilot]

A u-Verse box won't pull anywhere near 100w.

Question for you: What makes you think the neighborhood box feeding the u-Verse will have power?

Have they asked AT&T what's guaranteed in a loss of power?

 

[John221us]

Seriously? Is this to avoid purchasing a cell phone (which probably has only a slightly higher chance of working after a major earthquake)?

 

[RJM62]

Well... if you're talking about days, then I'd say you're also talking about a bigger unit than a 300 - 500. The only way to reasonably estimate the time would be to know the actual draw of the devices, however. You also need to know if you have an FTTN or an FTTP installation. In the latter case, you would also have to supply power to the NID.

Having said that, I think that it may be a bit hopeful to assume that u-verse will be up and running after an earthquake that knocks out the power. If your power is out, then chances are the power to the VRAD and other equipment (such as the DSLAM if you're on FTTN), and so forth will also be out.

-Rich

 

[SCCutler]

I worry more about storms than earthquakes ... but I remember having to worry about 'em!

From my California days, and my reasoning remains valid though the tech has changed a bit, I figure that the best bet for essential comms will be a portable VHF rig, with the additional option now of using a sat phone.

I reason that if a disaster bad enough to take out cellular occurs, no way POTS or DSL will be operational anyway.

 

[denverpilot]

True POTS is fairly survivable to the customer premesis since usually it's powered by the Central Office unless a neighborhood is serviced off of a SLIC or similar.

But trunk over-subscription means you'll get fast-busy and all-circuits busy switch tags in any serious disaster on just about any telecom service.

The most "survivable" during Katrina and a few other events has proven to be text messaging from cell phones. Secondarily, some traditional two-way radio for public safety and other systems (Amateur) operated throughout.

Cellular's biggest problem was lack of power to cell sites, creating pockets of coverage and none.

The sat phone idea is pretty good, but can also become saturated. Military gets priority on Iridium these days, after their bankruptcy long ago, and the business mostly being alive today because of government contracts.

What type of phone call are they thinking they'll need to make? If one for help locally, they'll be pretty far down the Public Safety priority list in a residential home, if large numbers of folks are hurt elsewhere in high density areas. If a message to the outside world to tell someone that they're alright, the most cost effective and likely to work is the cell phone text messaging network and a real POTS line, never relying on a single technology. Least cost effective and probably good, sat phone. A possible alternative would be a Spot tracker and canned messages.

 

[Pi1otguy]

A u-Verse box won't pull anywhere near 100w.

Question for you: What makes you think the neighborhood box feeding the u-Verse will have power?

Have they asked AT&T what's guaranteed in a loss of power?

But if u scale up the times it still puts it under an hour of usabl phone sevice.

During the last quake (Northridge in 94?) our POTS from PacBell worked pretty reliably even with power out in large areas. I have no idea what if there is even a guarantee of any sort considering that blackouts are fairly rare.

Obviously, each person in that house has a cell but the coverage at the house is poor at best. I've even had one time in which I was walking the area and the call dropped while I was phoning in a small brush fire. The trucks arrived before I back tracked and found some bars.

I basically want them to have 911 access and the ability to reach other family in neighboring cities similar to level we had during the last big quake.

 

[flyingron]

The FIOS terminals have a battery backup with them. However, during the last major thunderstorm while my internet and TV came back up relatively immediately, it took a few days for the phone to come back. I had dial tone, but I couldn't place a call to anybody.

 

[RJM62]

But if u scale up the times it still puts it under an hour of usabl phone sevice.

During the last quake (Northridge in 94?) our POTS from PacBell worked pretty reliably even with power out in large areas. I have no idea what if there is even a guarantee of any sort considering that blackouts are fairly rare.

Obviously, each person in that house has a cell but the coverage at the house is poor at best. I've even had one time in which I was walking the area and the call dropped while I was phoning in a small brush fire. The trucks arrived before I back tracked and found some bars.

I basically want them to have 911 access and the ability to reach other family in neighboring cities similar to level we had during the last big quake.

A directional antenna and a repeater might help you with that problem. But they're a little pricey, and they're most effective when the problem is distance to the tower, rather than obstruction or interference.

Whether it would help any in the event of earthquake or other disaster is questionable, however, both because of congestion and because of the probability that the wireless infrastructure would also be down.

-Rich

 

[wsuffa]

True POTS is fairly survivable to the customer premesis since usually it's powered by the Central Office unless a neighborhood is serviced off of a SLIC or similar.

That used to be true but...

The FIOS terminals have a battery backup with them. However, during the last major thunderstorm while my internet and TV came back up relatively immediately, it took a few days for the phone to come back. I had dial tone, but I couldn't place a call to anybody.

as Ron said, a recent derecho through the DC area took out power to one of the main regional CO switches - which took down wireline (old POTS) and 911 service to several major jurisdictions throughout the area (seems that the generators at Verizon's Arlington regional switch failed and no one noticed until the batteries ran out....). So folks got dial tone (whether on POTS or FiOS) but fast busy whenever they tried to call out.

Cellular fared somewhat better, though power outages took down a swath of cell sites - the ones near me had 3G service restored in about 18 hours. Cable service (including internet) went down when the batteries in the line amps ran down - my neighborhood was out for several days (again).

POTS ain't the same as it was in the cross-bar days....