Cable and ADSL During Power Cuts

[geoff]

In message , Rod writes

From the power cut I experienced yesterday, Virgin took longer to come back online after the power outage was sorted

It depends on the extent of the power cut

[Rod]

Thanks geoff. So far, we have never knowingly had a VM outage due to power cuts. But, without having a means of using the connection during a power cut, we wouldn't know if we had. All our VM cuts seem to have been due to problems with cables, with the Reading/Winnersh area, or something. So I think a small UPS is in order.

[Andrew Gabriel]

When I was in Bedfordshire, any power cut, local or somewhere en route to the mastheads or phone exchange, caused instant loss of service. This was in the former Cablevision Bedfordshire franchise area. The street boxes certainly have no batteries in them -- you can see clearly as most have, at best, the cover only loosely leaning against the box. Stopped taking their service in January 2000 (then NTL) as changes in the price/packaging of the channels had resulted in a 300% price increase over 6-7 years, making it unattractive for someone who doesn't watch much telly.

[Andy Hall]

The final cabinets just have distribution amplifiers in them and are powered through the cable from the next more major cabinet. I am not certain whether the larger cabinets have mains power or are in turn powered through their upstream cabinet. At some point, there is a transition from fibre. ISTR their telling me that fibre goes as far as the penultimate cabinet, but not sure on that.