Mini Hub and Power cuts

[dog22]

I recently had a four hour power cut to our village. I have FTTP broadband and digital voice. I have BT Halo 3 which provides a Mini Hub to keep me connected. I tried to use the mini hub but it was not activated. After a long wait to the call centre (after the power had been restored) I was told that the mini hub is not enabled unless you notify BT of a fault on the broadband. I was told that the broadband "had not failed" but the electricity had. Therefore the mini hub will not be activated until you report a fault. However, we have digital voice and BT specifically say that if there is a power outage the landline will not work  EVEN to 999. Use a mobile. GREAT!!! The mini hub is a complete white elephant yet I am paying for Halo 3.

[imjolly]

Halo 3 and mini hub are for use when your broadband fails but cannot work in a power outage.  you need UPS to maintain connection

[iniltous]

If the ‘mobile’ mini hub , that works in the event of your ‘landline’ broadband failing , is mains powered and your mains power is off, how do you think it could work ?….as explained your broadband didn’t fail , your power did, and unless other measures are taken , like an uninterruptible power supply, then obviously the mains powered back up is also affected by the power outage…if your landline broadband failure was not power related, then the mobile mini would have provided service.

[Carlusha]

The mobile mini-hub is battery powered. We managed a couple of hours during a blackout to our building last year until the power was restored. Tablets, smart phones and laptop all connected without problem and, for what it is worth, at a better speed than our current FTTC.

Obviously, this assumes the mini-hub is kept charged. I believe I read somewhere that they should not be connected to the mains indefinitely.

[Duffer5656]

I agree!
I have Halo 3 and mini hub and we are having a powercut.
Just realised that if I needed to phone emergency services I couldn’t on landline as no power so how do you phone emergency services without a mobile when they (forcibly) switch us to VOIP which is all internet

[jac_95]

A Battery backup or UPS device can continue to power the BT Smart Hub 2 for a period of time and therefore enable the digital voice service to work. If you have full fibre you will also need to power the ONT and if you have non digital voice dect based phones you will also need to power them too.

If you don't have mobile signal then contact BT to go through their options and solutions.

Some other ideas and good resources are also documented at: https://landlinesgo.digital/powercut

[Colin_London]

Just realised that if I needed to phone emergency services I couldn’t on landline as no power so how do you phone emergency services without a mobile when they (forcibly) switch us to VOIP which is all internet

You have inadvertently hit the nail on the head - you are now expected to have a mobile phone for this eventuality.

Alternatively you could get a UPS device to power your ONT and Router during power cuts.

[Duffer5656]

Excuse my ignorance but what is UPS (thought that was a delivery company) and what is ONT.
Sorry and not overly tech savvy

[steephill]

UPS is Uninterruptible Power Supply (aka battery backup). ONT is Optical Network Termination which is the modem that translates optical broadband signals to electrical signals that your router can understand.