Power cut!

[jac_95]

Some useful links for you to prepare for the nationwide landline digital switchover:

• https://landlinesgo.digital/
• https://digitalphoneswitchover.com/resilience-for-home-users/
• https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/landline-phones/future-of-landline-calls

Example solutions, but not limited too, that can allow calls to be made in events such as a power cut:

• Mobiles
• Battery backups (BT now also offer battery backups with longer lasting batteries - https://ee.co.uk/products/battery-back-up-plus-digital-voice?color=color-code-F4F4F2)
• Hybrid phones - such as https://ee.co.uk/products/bt-fw500-hybrid-back-up-phone-home-phone?

[licquorice]

@Koala456  I very much suspect your mother has never used a mobile phone connected via Bluetooth to her hearing aids, if she had she would realise what a revelation it is and far superior to trying to hear via the earpiece of a landline phone.

[chrisjp]

"...my mother prefers the sound quality of a landline to that of a mobile or a cordless."

DV phones are not inevitably cordless. Your existing corded phone that is currently plugged into the wall socket can, when you move to DV, be plugged into the green socket on the back of the hub. It'll work exactly as it did before and the sound quality will be at least as good, if not better, than the analogue system.

[Koala456]

@licquorice  Mum's had hearing aids for many years and just this last couple of years she has had new ones with a Bluetooth feature. Being now 83 she is a bit set in her ways and hasn't taken full advantage of the Bluetooth feature on it yet. She prefers not to use it, but that's not to say it's not any good. She is obviously missing out on a good feature there, if you recommend it.

I think a lot of posters on here are forgetting my original point. I'm not saying DV phones are no good and that we shouldn't have them, I'm only saying that it would be better if they were made like analogue phones where you can just plug them and they have their own power source rather than relying on the electric company.

But who knows...maybe in time these phones will have their own power and won't need back up batteries. If fibre optics are to be used more and more maybe they will too improve in time and also power the phones as well as supply the broadband for them. That's for the future.

[gg30340]

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@Koala456wrote:

@gg30340  You are missing the point! I was only able to contact the Power company because I was not on DV. Had I have been on DV there would have been no power to allow me to make the phone call. You must agree that is a dangerous situation, and DV phones should power themselves. My mobile was very low and I actually charged it up with my power bank during the power cut. The whole thing was not ideal if DV phones are to be the future

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I am not missing the point!  

The "danger" is caused by your power company not doing what they are contracted to do. They should monitor the lines and fix any outage in a quick and efficient time scale or if that is not going to happen why are they not supplying you with an alternative power supply when they can not supply you power. You after all are in a contract for them to supply you with power.

You have other devices that do not work with out power so why should you expect your phone company to supply a separate power supply to ensure their device  will work when there is a power cut not caused by them, and you do not expect all the other devices manufacturers to supply the same in a similar situation.

You have said your mobile phone was charged up during the power outage because YOU had a power bank, most likely purchased by you, to charge it. Well YOU can purchase a UPS to ensure that your DV is also able to work during a power outage. 

If you have a mobile phone, which no doubt has a call package that allows you to make "free" calls, you should be asking your self why are you paying for a landline phone and call package in any event and if it is because you do not have a good mobile signal at your home why did you bother charging it up!

The future is some form of VOIP phones so either prepare for that or accept that you will not have phone when your Power Company lets you down and fails to supply you with power.

[licquorice]

I'm not far off your mother's age and I thoroughly recommend using Bluetooth with a mobile it is amazing.

I'm afraid you are seeking the impossible with regard to devices having their own power supply other than batteries.

[WSH]

You’ve about as much chance of fibre optics powering a phone as I have of that money tree, I planted in the back garden, bearing fruit!

On a more useful note, as far as I know, the DV phones will take disposable batteries in an emergency.  You just need to remember to remove them again before you try to charge it.

Oh, and running the maths, (14W/1000 x 28p per unit x 24hrs), the Smart Hub 2 is 10p a day!

[gg30340]

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@WSHwrote:

On a more useful note, as far as I know, the DV phones will take disposable batteries in an emergency.  You just need to remember to remove them again before you try to charge it.

The phones will still work as in light up, but they won't be able to make calls because the inefficient power company has not fixed the power supply to the Smarthub and or the ONT which connects the phone to the Internet. 

[WSH]

A good point but I was assuming you'd already covered battery backup and the OP was concerned about the phones themselves.

[pddco]

Talking of being a power cut.. Assuming that the power cut might also affect the  powered network street cabinets,  anyone know how long a DSLAM (FTTC) cabinet might remain powered.. indeed do they have batteries? Could be more a factor for DV service than any customer’s home battery backup unit. 

FTTP DV would unlikely be affected as powered  access network kit would potentially be many miles away.