Battery back up

[licquorice]

Of course it's been thought through, the PSTN is way past it's sell by date and is creaking at the seams. Why should it be replaced by something extremely expensive (paid for by the whole consumer base) for the 0.0001% of the population that live in such a remote area that they have regular power cuts and no mobile service.

[foneless]

you forget that a number of times every year thousands of homes are cut of as a result of storms ( there was one a few weeks ago) , these are not all in remote areas , and most of the properties in areas with no or poor mobile service were build years before mobile phones were ever thought of and a lot of the people that live in them have done so before the internet and mobile phones
a lot of the rest of the population will either go on holiday to remote ( or not so remote areas ) or have friends or relations that live in these areas
what we actually need is more people moving out of urban areas into rural communities for them to realize what poorly planned some of the modern infrastructure is

especially as you are quite happy to take the electricity that is generated in the more remote areas , but who is going to be on the ground to maintain anything if you do not cater for them
going by your logic , everybody should move into urban areas and abandon the countryside
not sure where some people are going to spend leisure time , or where you are going to get your food from
A lot of these areas are not actually remote , and there are of mobile dead zones in areas that are not particularly remote ( try driving up through Fife heading to Dundee ( hardly a remote area )

[HHGTTG]

To whom is this a response?

[gg30340]

@foneless 

For goodness sake you are now broadening out your original moan to encompass people going on holiday, city dwellers and where power gets generated not to mention virtually bringing in a modern day Highland Clearances.

The change to the phone service to Digital Voice is going ahead regardless of how you feel or where you live. The whole process is not going to stop just because you are concerned about the possibility of a power cut which may or may not happen.

You have been given options of how to mitigate that.  If none of them suite your needs then you will just need to get used to the fact that your Digital Voice phone will not work just as all the other electrical appliances that you have will not work when the power goes off.

BT are not your only option. There are other landline phone suppliers. You should seek them out and see how they are going to deal with this.

You should also contact your mobile phone company to see what they will be doing to keep your mobile phone charged in the event of a power cut and what they are doing to improve your mobile signal and while you are at it ask them what they are doing for those poor people in the not particularly remote areas of Fife!     

[foneless]

 All i am doing is pointing out the facts of the big picture that power cuts can happen anywhere  , but some people think that they only happen in remote areas  and that it is only in remote areas that have poor mobile service 

 there have been some useful pointers from some contributors , but there has also been some extremely short sighted and totally ignorant responses  that are basically saying  , it is your own fault for living where you do 

 people should think of the big picture  before responding  , everything is in one way connected and interconnected 

 if it ain't broke  , don't  fix it  , but  if you have to fix it  , do it like for like to ensure that customers are still getting the service they had under the old system 

 it would be like having a  old rolls royce  , but the garage is telling you that you have to change it for a new small car ( insert name to suit yourself ) and you are going to have to pay more 

[licquorice]

Do you seriously think none of this has been considered?

Not only is the PSTN life expired, the copper network is also falling apart. 

It is very difficult to provide power to a phone via a fibre cable.

It is broke and can't be fixed like for like as much as you want it to be.

Please inform us of your solution

[pddco]

@foneless  Can I take it that you can get a TV signal? If so, looking to the future, no idea when, but potentially I believe some of the old analogue TV channels may be reallocated for mobile networks  to enable coverage in not spots such like your own. Indeed fairly recently, satellites have been launched that effectively act much in the same way as mobile phone masts  to pickup the signal from your humble mobile phone and connect you to the mobile network. So while remote areas feel left out now, technology will bridge that gap. The downside is that it may cost you a bit more. And may be a year or three. But in my mind it’s a small miracle now that even remote places like yours can access the digital world in an instant at relatively high speeds on a copper network originally designed for one to one chat. All at a fraction of the cost in real terms of the old days.  

[gg30340]

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@fonelesswrote:

 All i am doing is pointing out the facts of the big picture that power cuts can happen anywhere  , but some people think that they only happen in remote areas  and that it is only in remote areas that have poor mobile service I would think that most people are well aware that power cuts can happen in any area and that there are poor mobile signals in lots of areas including villages, towns and cities and not just remote areas.

 there have been some useful pointers from some contributors , but there has also been some extremely short sighted and totally ignorant responses  that are basically saying  , it is your own fault for living where you do That is your interpretation, I may have missed it but as far as I can see nobody other than you has said its your own fault for living where you do. 

 people should think of the big picture  before responding  , everything is in one way connected and interconnected You should also be looking at the big picture, the PSTN phone service is falling apart and needs replaced. There are fewer and fewer people using a landline phone and as such there are fewer people paying for the phone service so it is totally uneconomical to keep it going.  

 if it ain't broke  , don't  fix it  , but  if you have to fix it  , do it like for like to ensure that customers are still getting the service they had under the old system As well as my above reply, it is broke so it does need fixed but not with technology that is out dated and expensive to replace and maintain.

 it would be like having a  old rolls royce  , but the garage is telling you that you have to change it for a new small car ( insert name to suit yourself ) and you are going to have to pay more Even old Rolls Royces break down, parts become unobtainable and and they become uneconomical and impossible to maintain in a working condition.

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[foneless]

 Thank you

 this is the sort of positive and helpful response i was looking for  , unlike some of the unbelievable ignorance that i have seen posted by small minded senior contributor 

 the location is not particularly remote  , it is just unfortunately in a mobile blind spot for 4 houses locally ( the owners are all in exactly the same situation)  and i am sure there will be  hundreds of other properties in the same situation