[LINK] Battery back-up mandatory for NBN?

[Kim Holburn]

On 2010/Oct/25, at 4:13 PM, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:

> Tom Koltai wrote:
> <snip>
>> Annecdotally, having lived in Darwin for many years and suffering the
>> almost regular power outages during the wet season (trees on power lines
>> during storms) I can say that there is a comfort in being able to pick
>> the phone during a cyclone when all the power is out and being able to
>> ensure that your friends are ok. 
>> 
>> (Length of time for P&W to clear the storm debris and return power to
>> normal ? Sometimes two to three days.) 
> <snip>
> 
> This is a case for wireless services - so, you can contact 
> your friends rather than their house.
> Restoration/Deployment of wireless is also easier. Perhaps 
> wireless telephones could provide more effective voice backup.

We've already got that.  If you mean to substitute wireless for wired broadband internet, it would not work.  We would still need the fibre to the nodes, massive amounts of nodes with massive amounts of UPS systems and not to mention UPS systems in our homes as well.

> If you loose power, to your home/business are you going to 
> be able to use any of the NBN additional services (TV/High 
> Speed Computer Access) anyway?

Just like now, if you lose power to your house, you only get to use a plain PSTN phone if you happen to have one, and mobiles as long as you can keep them charged and any equipment with battery backup for what, three hours?  It's not on the same scale as lasting three weeks without power.

> Ofcourse, as power outages due to peakloads become more 
> frequent - perhaps we will need to consider battery backups 
> for fridges as well.

We are lucky to have a good, well-managed power infrastructure here in Oz, with by world standards very cheap (if mostly dirty) power.  Power outages aren't really due to peak loads, they are due to lack of planning, bad management and over use.  Our power system is so reliable we can plan on it.  If our power starts getting unreliable it will require quite a different kind of planning.  The sort of planning which they have to do in most other countries in the world.


-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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