| General > General Technical Chat |
| The end (almost) of an era!! |
| << < (8/15) > >> |
| MK14:
--- Quote from: tom66 on November 29, 2022, 02:52:30 pm ---BT are required to supply vulnerable customers with a UPS solution for powering the telephone during power cuts, F.O.C. It's a £60 UPS from Amazon more or less, but it will run a <10W handset for about an hour or two. The telephone exchange/fibre unbundlers have backup batteries within them, not sure how long these last. --- End quote --- I've done some googling around it, thanks to your post. It seems BT (and perhaps other suppliers), are getting around those rules, by either ignoring them, or saying "THIS is ONLY a BROADBAND service, no phone services, included with it". But there is lots of information, and it is difficult to digest it all, and know who is 100% right, and who is NOT, as regards the other websites. Unfortunately, people in (e.g.) their eighties/nineties, who really need this, on safety grounds. Potentially, don't realize/understand why/what/how/reasons why they need it in the first place, and are probably NOT able to sort out something, technically complicated like that themselves. So really, I think it is a partial mess-up, by the authorities, standards creators, etc. |
| tom66:
The wording is pretty clear: --- Quote ---CPs must provide a Battery Back Up unit for vulnerable customers that will give a minimum of one hour of power for the router, in accordance with OFCOM guidance. If you do not qualify as a vulnerable customer, you may wish to purchase one of these units from your CP or from an independent supplier. --- End quote --- Doesn't matter if it's BB or phone. |
| Ice-Tea:
Don't they offer a modem with FXS ports? Should allow you to use your old telephones like before? |
| MK14:
--- Quote from: tom66 on November 29, 2022, 03:14:08 pm ---The wording is pretty clear: --- Quote ---CPs must provide a Battery Back Up unit for vulnerable customers that will give a minimum of one hour of power for the router, in accordance with OFCOM guidance. If you do not qualify as a vulnerable customer, you may wish to purchase one of these units from your CP or from an independent supplier. --- End quote --- Doesn't matter if it's BB or phone. --- End quote --- Assuming that is what the regulations say. That is TERRIBLE! I'm VERY disappointed. It represents a significant change in functionality, and shift in responsibilities. Which could lead to injuries or deaths. As I said before. User reports, seem to say, that regulation is either being ignored, or has changed (in practice), so such units are not being made available, to the people who need them. Saying "vulnerable" only, is complete nonsense, anyway. Potentially anyone i.e. all users, could suddenly have need to make an emergency phone call. So reducing the reliability of such phone calls, represents a danger to the public. EDIT: On reflection. I haven't got access, to potentially high quality (reliable) reports, on the changes they are making and/or experts on issues like this. It is quite possible, that because of the big increase of mobile phones, all over the place, and other modern day changes. That in reality, the changes to landlines, are either sensible and/or from a practical/realistic point of view, perhaps, entirely correct. So, maybe the regulations are right? |
| tom66:
Just two percent of UK households do not have a mobile phone, according to recently released statistics. That's a pretty small fraction who would be unable to make an emergency call. For those in an area without a mobile phone signal, purchasing an inexpensive UPS at the cost of two months' phone service is not a huge ask. The elderly or financially infirm would probably come under the "vulnerable" category though I agree OFCOM should standardise this. To appreciate the real world risk you've then got to work out how often it is you would have a correlated emergency - in other words no phone and a need to use it simultaneously. A power cut in itself is not an emergency for most, so there is not necessarily a need to make a phone call; and the average power availability for a UK household is in excess of 99.9%. You could have a fire or similar knock out power to a building, but there is no guarantee the phone line will still be working either in that case. And a large-area disaster like a flood, or maybe in the future with climate change forest/woodland fires, will present other issues for infrastructure. So I'm not really sure it is as big a problem as you state. |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |
| Previous page |