The end of POTS?

[Jim Stettler]

The BTTN is the only one that provides for a hard line (POTS, VOIP, what ever)  The other one just ports cells to house phones.

It is a nice option to port thru a landline as well as a cell. The really cool thing about xlink is that it supports pulse dialing.
Jim S.

[Contempra]

For those of us in Canada, I have a Cogeco Cable supplying my TV, Internet and Home Phone - all through a single modem.

Well, un compatriote du  Québec .  (a compatriot of Quebec)

My all old black and white tvs are supplied by Vidéotron.. and, of course, all my old phones with a fingerwheel work very well... Tu te rendras compte que mon anglais n'est pas tellement bon .

[Fennec]

Well, un compatriote du  Québec .My all old black and white tvs are supplied by Vidéotron.. and, of course, all my old phones with a fingerwheel work very well... Tu te rendras compte que mon anglais n'est pas tellement bon .

Ton Anglais est pas mal du tout, par contre mon Français est n'est pas terrible   ("Your English is not bad at all, on the other hand my French is not all that good"; "n'est pas terrible" is a French idiomatic expression, implying that subject actually IS bad  )

BTW, the modem is Arris Touchstone TG862, and looks like it can push in excess of 5 REN - the exact number doesn't seem to be documented...

[Contempra]

No problem Fennec

[dsk]

On Friday morning, a colleague discovered that the landline was dead. He called Telenor and they happily replied that the fixed-line error correction had ended, and thanked them for many years of customer relations.

I am now trying to help him port that number to an ip service. Telenor would not since the area had another fiber service.

dsk

[tubaman]

On Friday morning, a colleague discovered that the landline was dead. He called Telenor and they happily replied that the fixed-line error correction had ended, and thanked them for many years of customer relations.

I am now trying to help him port that number to an ip service. Telenor would not since the area had another fiber service.

dsk

Nice! (not)

Here in the UK the majority still get their internet connection via the old fixed copper wire (either ADSL or VDSL), although I believe British Telecom do have plans to move to a full IP based service in the not too distant future.  One hurdle they have to get over is that they have a legal obligation to provide access to the emergency services (ie 999) if the power fails. That will be less easy to do if your phone service relies on your mains powered router being on, and I can't see them supplying everyone with a UPS.

[dsk]

Don't be to sure! They have modified that here to a minimum of 4 hours of cellphone coverage. By experience wi know that it will not work like that when the bad weather destroyes a mast.  You do not have coverage everywhere on the countryside.  What they actually say is we do not care about those.

dsk

[twocvbloke]

That will be less easy to do if your phone service relies on your mains powered router being on, and I can't see them supplying everyone with a UPS.

The fun part is, Openreach were supplying their Optical Network Terminators (ONTs) with a battery backup unit (BBU), but now as part of the new version ONTs, no longer will, and as these are also the analogue telephone adaptors, they need electricity to provide telephone service, so no power = no service, and no service = no access to emergency services (999, 101, 111, etc.), so they're already backing out out of the requirement to ensure access...

Article on not supplying BBUs:
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/10/openreach-to-stop-providing-battery-backup-for-fttp-broadband.html

Article on the new type ONT:
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2019/09/a-look-at-openreachs-compact-fttp-broadband-ont-and-mini-olt.html

I personally have a UPS for the main modem-router by the master socket, so if and when Openreach were to replace the copper with fibre round here (I'll probably be in my 80s by the time they do at their current rate! Presently 34.....), I can supply power to an ONT myself, just inefficiently given it's AC mains converted to DC (UPS battery charging) converted back to AC (UPS inverter output) and again back to DC (device PSU), where a dedicated BBU would be far more preferable...

[dsk]

I would not dare to trust the fibre network during a power-out, so my only hope is the cellphone service. That will probably go down within 4 hours!

Now the question is if I should keep my home-phone (VOIP). Here they are not allowed to port that to a cellphone. 

I  have the X-link, and it works but still it is not as good as VOIP, but close. 

Even friends and family calls on cellphone number, so the only calls we get on the VOIP are sellers knowing that only elderly people keep their POTS number.   

As long as it has a low cost, I guess I keep it. (But I'm not sure)

dsk

[Contempra]

I would not dare to trust the fibre network during a power-out, so my only hope is the cellphone service. That will probably go down within 4 hours!

Now the question is if I should keep my home-phone (VOIP). Here they are not allowed to port that to a cellphone. 

I  have the X-link, and it works but still it is not as good as VOIP, but close. 

Even friends and family calls on cellphone number, so the only calls we get on the VOIP are sellers knowing that only elderly people keep their POTS number.   

As long as it has a low cost, I guess I keep it. (But I'm not sure)

dsk

Nowadays, having a cell phone is almost an obligation unfortunately, but we know that the waves that provoke this kind of device, I wonder if it is really useful or not. For my part, I do not have cell-phone. And as long as I can, I will not have any either. Regarding the 'voIP' many hackers go through these kinds of things.

[Jack Ryan]

I would not dare to trust the fibre network during a power-out, so my only hope is the cellphone service. That will probably go down within 4 hours!

Your cell phone service plugs into the fibre network.

It is simply a race - which battery goes flat first. Remember that if any one battery in the path goes flat, communications dies.

Jack

[Western Bell]

Each PCS provider has 3 cabinets at the base of a "tower" site. One of the 3 is a battery cabinet capable of powering the transmitter and receiver cabinets for about 4 hours, shorter if the cell site gets heavy to max use in a large emergency situation.

Significant or network strategic "tower" sites usually have a generator on wheels within the tower ground fence (outdoor sites only). Some are automatically started with a power outage, others require a cell tech to drive to the site to start the generator. Not all "tower" sites are deemed worthy of, can cost/benefit  justify a generator - remote low usage "towers" don't get generators.

So, the "tower" site will fail when the batteries go dead or if so equipped, the generator runs out of fuel. Natural gas lines were never run to tower sites an propane LPG tanks were never installed to run generators or heat ground buildings housing the wireless equipment.

Judicious use of a phone, especially if one has one of those small but powerful USB battery backup/ barging packs, will see the phone lasting many times longer, days longer, than a "tower" in a power outage situation.

[FABphones]

Each PCS provider has 3 cabinets at the base of a "tower" site....

Thanks for posting that info. I'll be looking more closely at the next 'tower' I go past here now....

[Western Bell]

I'll be looking more closely at the next 'tower' I go past here now....

When you do, you will see a lot of different company base station equipment. Some, like AT&T, do not use equipment that can be out in the rain so they always have a concrete hut or small building housing their equipment. Also allows them to maintain a constant temperature and humidity for their equipment.

Sprint has always used outdoor capable equipment and and 3 cabinets but seem to have gotten their electronics down in size so both XMT and RCV can fit into one cabinet requiring only a second cabinet for battery backup, which is larger these days than in the early 2000's so they must have added more batteries to extend the max spec life from 4 to 8 hours.

The image on the left is a typical outdoor ground based set up on a concrete pad. The one on the right is a roof top set up using a metal frame resting on supports that spread the weight over a larger area of the roof determined by the building's specs.

You may see smaller cabinets used by other companies with a smaller customer base.

Second image below shows a mixed base station ground site with a generator on the right. No two sites are the same, it seems, due to a range of needs. Note the ice bridges over the cabinets and coaxial leads installed to keep ice chunks that fall off of the tower in winter from damaging the wires and equipment (a 5 pound chunk of ice reaches about 60 mph in a 200 foot drop and hits with about 3,100 foot pounds of energy). Ice bridges are always used for equipment next to a tower in northern climes.

[Babybearjs]

I Refuse to go totally digital! as I have stated before, I hate cell phones.... I have 3 landlines! 1 home package with the internet and 2 more POTS lines! I tried to use Cableone and their system was all VOIP. Centurylink is what Mountain Bell has turned into.... and it still supports original WE equipment! Long Live POTS! (and Key systems!) I'll never give up my 1A1 system!