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Message 121 of 199

Re: Digital voice and power cuts.

What I mean by dialtone is the sound you get when you are connecting. I know when my cell phone won’t dial out. It seems to be the intent of a number of people here to try and disprove my experience. Unless you have something productive to offer, I suggest you just don’t respond..

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Message 122 of 199

Re: Digital voice and power cuts.

When you dial a number and you hear nothing and it doesn’t connect, your phone is not working. It appears I’m not the only one who has this problem during a power cut.  I came on here looking for solutions. Unless you have something productive to offer, please don’t respond. The comments you have made are  not helpful.

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Message 123 of 199

Re: Digital voice and power cuts.

@Slem 

You cannot stop any community member from responding to your posts.  The only way to stop members responding is to stop posting



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Message 124 of 199

Re: Digital voice and power cuts.


@Slemwrote:

One could lay the blame solely with the power companies, but after a major storm, which we had recently, there was a heck of a lot trees downed as well as other things which are normally solidly in place. I believe  the power crews were out working as fast as they could and my power wasn’t out as long as some. Being without power I can manage for a certain amount of time, but being without communications in such a situation worries me, so I think much of the solution must rest with BT.


Exactly, power cuts are not uncommon common if you live outside a city.  Lightning hits the lines ,they cut out and often have to be manually reset

And then there's the issue that if you have a serious fire in your house it is very likely to cause electrical faults and the modern 'fuse' boxes will then cut off all power to the house. 

As for mobiles no they don't have dial tones but a lot of elderly people really don't know how to use them and don't want them. 

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Message 125 of 199

Re: Digital voice and power cuts.

There may be some mobile phone base stations with a standby generator where such provision already exists, such as those on urban telephone exchange buildings, but I have yet to see a remote base station equipped with a generator.  See Page 44 of this document about back-up battery power (or lack thereof) at mobile phone base stations:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/186413/Connected-Nations-2019-UK-final.pdf

More on power supply resilience in general at https://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/reports/living-without-electricity    ( at Page 8  )

 

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Message 126 of 199

Re: Digital voice and power cuts.

Slem

"One could lay the blame solely with the power companies, but after a major storm, which we had recently, there was a heck of a lot trees downed as well as other things which are normally solidly in place. I believe  the power crews were out working as fast as they could and my power wasn’t out as long as some. Being without power I can manage for a certain amount of time, but being without communications in such a situation worries me, so I think much of the solution must rest with BT."

Were there no phone lines brought down during the major storm?

As has been pointed out, depending on certain criteria you can be supplied with a free battery backup by BT or you could purchase a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) if you feel that being without communication worries you.  

 

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Message 127 of 199

Re: Digital voice and power cuts.

I do have an iPhone, and have owned one for years, and it’s actually the only phone I had until I found I could also connect a phone to my BT hub.  But of course the DV phone doesn’t work in a power outage, so I don’t know why I bothered to get one. What I can’t understand is why my iPhone won’t work during a power cut. This happened both with this recent power outage that affected a large area of Scotland, and also the one before that. My friends experience the same thing with their mobile phones during power cuts. I assume it has to do with the power outages affecting the equipment that operates the signal.

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2,297 Views
Message 128 of 199

Re: Digital voice and power cuts.

I may be elderly, but I know the difference between a cordless phone and a mobile. I have an iPhone
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2,290 Views
Message 129 of 199

Re: Digital voice and power cuts.

I think we need to remind ourselves of the bigger picture and why this change is happening. So we can then understand some aspects of the technical differences.

1) The current PSTN is becoming very costly, harder to fix and maintain. Moving to All IP and voice services moving to a VoIP/Internet based service will help reduce the cost, future proof maintainability & ease the integrations with modern systems.


2)Moving to All IP and VoIP/Internet based voice services is an enabler to the shift to full fibre and the withdrawal of
copper products. The government wants 85% by 2026 and 100% nationwide gigabit broadband by 2030. You will find over the next 8 years that areas where Fibre to the Cabinet is available will over built with Full fibre (FTTP) along with those areas that have no fibre today and when full fibre becomes available you will be encouraged to migrate onto it before potentially a full batch managed migration onto full fibre (FTTP)
There's already trial exchange areas that are currently in the process of withdrawing copper based products completely and as more areas get full fibre available to them there will be a push to move onto it.


3) Enabler to reduce the number of exchanges.

Here's some info graphics I've drawn to help explain (sorry it's a bit busy, trying to summarise it all in one picture)

Screenshot 2022-02-05 at 23.06.56 2.png

 

Taking that into account. As you can see when the PSTN closes there will be no voltage transmitted down any remaining copper based lines in the network and as you move to full fibre (FTTP) you are now dealing with glass or plastic based cables which only carry light and no power output.

OFCOM's guidance after consultation on the move to All IP and VoIP/Internet based voice services states:

  • "Principle 1 - Providers should have at least one solution that enables access to emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power outage in the premises"
  • "Principle 2-  The solution should be suitable for customers’ needs and should be offered free of charge to those who are at risk as they are dependent on their landline"

BT have applied with this guidance by offering a UPS device and working with those customers where there is no mobile coverage and those that are vulnerable to provide them with a way to call emergency services when there is no power. 

However, that doesn't stop you from investing in a higher grade UPS or battery backup device that may provide more power output over a longer period. I would recommend in investing in an alternative way to store, generate and supply power anyway as more and more things are dependent on it.

Looking on Amazon there's a whole range of UPS devices with some that have a higher capacity and power output than others. Also it maybe worth looking at a device such as a Portable Power Station and Solar Generator if you are in an area where the mains grid maybe out for more than a few hours.

As for availability of mobile coverage, this too is constantly being expanded and upgraded along with the rollout of the Emergency Services Network (ESN) more and more masts are likely to have a backup power supply. If you are reliant on WiFi calling however, this will not work unless you have a backup power supply to continue powering your router and modem/ONT. Also remember that calling an emergency services number from a mobile will work no matter what mobile provider's network is available in the area as it will connect to any network it can find.


Appendix:

Screenshot 2022-02-05 at 18.09.40.png

Screenshot 2022-02-05 at 23.55.34.pngScreenshot 2022-02-05 at 23.56.02.png

2,234 Views
Message 130 of 199

Re: Digital voice and power cuts.

Dialtone is the noise a landline phone makes when you lift the receiver,  any subsequent tone is an indication of the call ‘progression ’ , equipment engaged tone ( very rare ) , busy tone ( the number you have called is busy ) , ringtone , the number you have dallied is ringing, number un-obtainable, the number called isn’t valid….no idea what the poster is on about with mobiles , they ( obviously )  don’t generate dialtone,  if , in a power cut , you cannot make a successful call on your mobile  ( no tone is returned after attempting to make a call )  has absolutely nothing to do with the subject discussed on this thread as it is totally irrelevant on the subject of DV and power cuts, and cannot be described as no dialtone .

If the poster has issues using their mobile during a power cut , in an area that normally has good mobile coverage, then that’s a issue for their mobile network provider.

 

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