topic Re: VOIP proposal in Mobile Network discussions

VOIP proposal

dbrear — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 10:58:19 GMT

When our power went off a couple of days ago I couldn't make mobile calls either.

Under the 2025 Openreach VOIP system, how will I report an emergency? Or just find out what's happening?

David

Re: VOIP proposal

bristolian — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 11:12:05 GMT

Did your phone show coverage indicators when you couldn't make calls? You do either need network coverage or WiFi-calling, in order to make & receive calls.

It's possible your serving site may have been off-air at the time, potentially also experiencing the same power-loss.

Re: VOIP proposal

dbrear — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 11:16:08 GMT

Yes, I assume the mast went down too. Certainly all was dark throughout the part of the village I could see. There was no coverage indicator on my phone. I turned wifi-dialling off to see if I could make a call.

I've just asked Northern Powergrid whether they plan to provide backup power to phone masts to enable calls in the event of a cut.

Re: VOIP proposal

bristolian — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 13:03:08 GMT

Power supplies to individual network sites are ordered by network operators and the electricity distributors supply what is requested of them.

Power backup does depend on individual site config, there is no one-size-fits-all.

Re: VOIP proposal

dbrear — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 13:10:46 GMT

Indeed.

My Broadband supplier says that it's up to the phone company.

And indeed I agree: we pay for a service, and where it is foreseeable that power supply may be interrupted the phone company will do what's necessary to provide backup.

This is particularly important where, as is proposed, the mobile phone company is to become an emergency service provider.

Openreach have just said that VOIP telephones do have the option of a back up power pack, which would be offered by providers and I assume this would a) be an extra cost and b) only be available on new 'landline'-style telephones rather than existing mobiles.

Re: VOIP proposal

dbrear — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 13:16:20 GMT

I see that three-quarters of UK households have landline phones: no doubt one reason for retaining one, given that 93% of households have mobile phones, is precisely to provide emergency communication in the event of a power cut. This will no longer be an option after 2025, so we need to be able to rely on the local phone mast. This will make mobile phone services effectively emergency service providers.

Re: VOIP proposal

bristolian — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 13:47:29 GMT

The vulnerable-customer provisions from some landline providers involve a backup SIM being provided incase of broadband-outage - there are also some location-finding benefits in using landlines for emergency calls.

You may be interested in the ESN project which is ongoing for EE, additional rural coverage provided under this & SRN, already allows emergency calls that would not previously have been possible.

Re: VOIP proposal

dbrear — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 13:52:54 GMT

Thanks: it seems to be pretty early days in this project anyway, so we'll see how it shakes out.

I don't know how the sort of SIM you mention would work? And I'm not familiar with the acronyms you mention. If however it/they route/s a call to another company's mast in the case of an emergency, that may be great in the case of urban users or those in multi-mast areas but if you live in a little village with just one mast it's potentially not much use: you're in the same position as anyone outside mobile coverage areas.

Re: VOIP proposal

XRaySpeX — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 14:32:22 GMT

With DV you will received one Battery Back Up Unit (BBU) for your Router. It will provide power to your hub for at least an hour if there’s a power cut.

Re: VOIP proposal

dbrear — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 14:33:02 GMT

Thanks - once I'd found out what a BBU is (battery backup unit) I see this works for about an hour.

My point remains.

Re: VOIP proposal

bristolian — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 15:03:19 GMT

The projects I mentioned are ones that target improvements in rural coverage, they don't provide for domestic roaming.

Power loss is one of the fault scenarios in mobile networks that operators can't directly control. Core network sites tend to have UPS & other generator solutions - that's not feasible for install at every radio site.