VOIP proposal

[dbrear]

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

[bristolian]

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.

[dbrear]

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.

[bristolian]

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.

[dbrear]

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.

[dbrear]

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. 

[bristolian]

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.

[dbrear]

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. 

[XRaySpeX]

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. 

[dbrear]

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

My point remains.