[LINK] Battery back-up mandatory for NBN?

[David Boxall]

On 25/10/2010 4:32 PM, Tom Koltai wrote:
> ..
> The power outages in California in the late nineties (air-con grid
> overload) were the reason why PacBell started re-installing all the
> copper that they had previously pulled out.
>
> A senior PacBell person (sorry forgot her name) explained to the NANOG
> (39th NANOG) particpants that it was cheaper to reinstall the copper
> that had been replaced by the fibre than settle all the lawsuits that
> were starting to pop out of the woodwork due to emergency services not
> being able to be contacted by elderly people during emergencies.

That's the US. Yanks are weird: when things go wrong, they look for 
someone to sue before trying to figure out how to prevent the same going 
wrong in future. This is Australia, we're more sensible (I hope).
>
> Of course, cell phones were not at that time as ubiquitous as they are
> today.
>
> It would however appear that there are many, (21% [US numbers]) that opt
> not to have a cell phone.

Should the community pay for people who elect not to take logical 
precautions? There's only so much we can (or should) do to protect 
people from themselves.

> Should Australia continue down the road of removing all copper services
> before those persons were supplied with a viable alternative, I foresee
> a similar legal dilemma possibly raising it's head downunder.
>
Mobiles are that viable alternative.

> Postcript:
>
> 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.
>
I live on the land. Mobile coverage is patchy. Historically, power and 
landlines have not necessarily been reliable.

 From my perspective, this whole NBN battery thing is a beat-up. It's an 
issue only to those who want to highlight any negative, however 
nebulous, in fibre to the premises.

For a generation or so, most of us have had the convenience of landlines 
that (usually) worked when the power went off. Now, we have the 
convenience of mobiles that (usually) work, in most of the places we're 
likely to find ourselves (and in some _unlikely_ places). Times are 
changing. Get over it.

-- 
David Boxall                    |  When a distinguished but elderly
                                |  scientist states that something is
http://david.boxall.id.au       |  possible, he is almost certainly
                                |  right. When he states that
                                |  something is impossible, he is
                                |  very probably wrong.
                                                  --Arthur C. Clarke