cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Re: Will the VM network give me 1 hour in a power cut?

ALF28
Super solver

POWER OUTAGE

7.30-8.30PM there was an area power suppy cut, the lights kept coming on then going off several times for one hour.

During this time the virgin landline was dead with no tone for a full hour, returning at 8.30pm. Usually the virgin landline works through power cuts, so that was unusual to loose the landline, it must no longer have an emergency battery in the cabinet or elsewhere.

The local phone mast still worked so I could use my mobile and actually got two text messages from powergrid and a helpline, as our house is on the vulnerable list, this message usually goes to the landline if there are issues with gas, water, electric.

I always though landlines were supposed to work in a power cut, or is that only BT.

My mobile phone was the saving grace and and enabled communication, so the local mast was not affected or had back up power.

Luckily I had just brewed a pot of tea just before the power cut. The power was surging on and off so I unplugged sensitive equipment to avoid damage and used a battery radio.

Not long ago, about a year, the main electric sub station  was on fire and I saw the flames driving past and all the power was off but we did not loose the landline on that occassion.

alf28

 

2 REPLIES 2

ALF28
Super solver

POWER CUT- emergency calls such as 111,999

The powergrid power cut affected 8000 homes in 3 local areas last night , also workmen are digging up my road today which is unexpected, but not sure if it is connected or linked to the power cut, unlikely I think. My virgin landline phone would not work even with a traditional phone, so was out of action so could not be used for emergency calls, so would have had to use a mobile phone. This is a risk to customers, and although there may be a technical reason with a  big area power cut, at least the local mobile mast continued to function.

I supose when landlines are replaced by 2025 then the new digital phones will need some sort of backup for power cuts, mobiles can go flat or be misplaced so there should always be a backup system, on two occassions my mobile network went down for a few days, so nothing is totally reliable.

My question is what caused the virigin landline to fail during a power cut and is that normal?, should there be a battery backup somewhere or dual power supply changeover in even of loss of one supply.

see-

Will your landline telephone work during a power cut? - Ofcom

Landline phones to be scrapped by 2025 | News and Advice | IPS Community -

alf28

 

The guidance from OFCOM is that "Providers should have at least one solution available that enables access to emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power outage in the premises". So, for customers with accessibility needs or without access to a mobile phone VM supplies and installs for free a box, variously called an EBB or EBUL, which is fitted between the hub and handset. This box is powered (and should be constantly powered as it contains a rechargeable battery*) and has a SIM card which can make 999 and 112 calls on all four mobile networks.

* The battery provides 24 hours of standby and one hour of talk time if it’s disconnected from the mains supply.

--
Hub 5, TP-Link TL-SG108S 8-port gigabit switch, 360
My Broadband Ping - Roger's VM hub 5 broadband connection