[LINK] Battery back-up mandatory for NBN?

Tom Worthington tom.worthington at tomw.net.au
Mon Oct 25 11:02:09 AEDT 2010


Are backup batteries being provided to all NBN customers as the Minister 
for Communication claims, or are these a customer installed option, as 
the NBN documentation states?

On ABC Radio in 2009 I stated that:

"One thing the NBN needs is a battery backup lasting at least 4 hours, 
so the system keeps running in an emergency. Failing to design the 
system for this would be unethical for ICT professionals involved in the 
project. The responsible decision makers involved, from the minister 
down would have to answer to a court if deaths result during a 
disaster." <http://blog.tomw.net.au/2009/04/nbn-needed-in-emergencies.html>.


Stephen Conroy, Minister for Communications appears to agree with this 
point of view. On the ABC Insiders program yesterday, he said:

"... And to give you another example, a story was written on Saturday I 
think, yesterday which suggested that we were going to be not having 
battery back-up.,

The journalist was told the Government has instructed the national 
broadband network that battery back-up will be mandatory. Yet the story 
still appeared without any reference to that. ..."
<http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/content/2010/s3046664.htm>


However, the NBN Tasmania web site says that backup batteries are an 
optional extra:

"The NTU is supplied with a 240-volt regulated power supply. You can 
purchase and install a back-up battery to minimise the risk of 
interruption to the telephone service when there is a power failure. 
Once the battery is installed and charged, the NTU will remain 
operational for up to 4 hours in the event of a power outage. Unless a 
battery is installed and maintained by you or your retail service 
provider you will not be able to make or receive any phone calls, 
including calls to emergency 000 services, during a power failure."
<http://nbntasmania.com.au/index.php?Doo=PageView&id=114>


The battery brochure from the Tasmanian NBN gives details for the 
customer to install the optional backup battery: 
<http://www.nbntasmania.com.au/283/NBNT1829%20NBN%20UPS%20Brochure.pdf>.

So who is correct: the Minister, or the NBN documentation?

More in my blog at: 
<http://blog.tomw.net.au/2010/10/battery-back-up-mandatory-for-nbn.html>.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, The
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/



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