Rant about verizon and battery back up

[jo-jo]

We have verizon fios. The battery backup for the phones and for the ONT was beeping forever. We finally bought a new battery. DS installed it. But once we shut if off, nothing came back on. Had service call this morning. Tech tells me they don't use batteries anymore. Too many people complained about having to buy them. He took out one large panel and replaced the ONT box. It wasn't until he was gone, that I realized we now have no battery backup for our phones.

I talked to chat, thinking maybe some other kind of system was in use. Nope, no back up. But we can buy a unit that uses D batteries as a back up unit. So the $40 battery I just bought and can't return to amazon is useless to us. But we can buy a $40 unit from verizon that we still would need to put in $20 worth of D batteries.

Thank you for listening.

 

[Hikergirl]

When our battery died I bought a new one from Amazon but never ended up putting it in.
Then we ended up upgrading our speed and had to have the ONT replaced. That battery is just sitting in the garage collecting dust. I feel your pain.
We opted not to get the battery back-up. We rarely use our home phone anyway.

 

[GreatLakes]

Even in the enterprise many Telcos are going away from providing the UPS.

I would recommend getting something like one of these for the router. You don't want something running with D batteries.

 

[jo-jo]

Even in the enterprise many Telcos are going away from providing the UPS.

I would recommend getting something like one of these for the router. You don't want something running with D batteries.

We have one of those type backups with our tv, and router. It's a DS purchase, don't know what brand or whatever. But it was my understanding they only last like 30 mins . The phone battery back up was 6-8 hours.

Perhaps with phones they would last longer?

 

[SteveH]

No home phone year got rid of that years ago. Had Fiber installed and put in my own batter back up for the system from Zipley. I have another battery back up on our primary router/switch and other devices. I don't want any surges taking things out, already had that from a nearby lightening strike and this keeps our internal network going.

 

[GreatLakes]

We have one of those type backups with our tv, and router. It's a DS purchase, don't know what brand or whatever. But it was my understanding they only last like 30 mins . The phone battery back up was 6-8 hours.

Perhaps with phones they would last longer?

It all goes by the draw. If you know the wattage of whatever you are plugging into it you can calculate it at the APC site. If it is only the router and not any other computing equipment you will likely get something like 3 hours out of it (assuming 12-15 watts). Once you start adding other equipment you drag that time down.

 

[jo-jo]

I don't want any surges taking things out, already had that from a nearby lightening strike and this keeps our internal network going.

Years ago our house was hit by lightening. Lost a few tvs, computer etc. but lights stayed on. We didn't even know we were hit. Super loud sound but that's it. Our neighbors yelling across the street, I think your house was hit. Sure enough the back corner of the house was starting to burn...

 

[NYCgrrl]

I learned through a couple of electric blackouts and emergencies that I needed to maintain a landline but it had no D batteries.

 

[SteveH]

@jo-jo that's scary. It fried our irrigation system, modem, router, printer and two recliner plugs all in all nothing that expensive, the odd thing was everything but the irrigation system was on some sort of surge device. Best we can figure the lightening must have come through the cable modem, no idea how it got everything. Very odd.

 

[Communicore1991]

For those who have their router connected to a UPS, don't you also need to purchase a UPS for the ONT? If the power goes out and the ONT loses power, then you lose your connection and the router being on/off doesn't really matter right?

 

[Hikergirl]

For those who have their router connected to a UPS, don't you also need to purchase a UPS for the ONT? If the power goes out and the ONT loses power, then you lose your connection and the router being on/off doesn't really matter right?

Yes the ONT needs to be "on"
In a prolonged power outage we use a generator (so no UPS), but just powering the router would be useless if the ONT isn't getting any.
Maybe the UPS can power both the ONT and the router though

 

[_19disnA]

Thought the main reason to have UPS at home was to allow time to power down your computers so you don't lose any data you were working on? Typically, when the power goes out it tends to be for the entire neighborhood/area. If the signal is lost due to no power in the line from your cable provider, then not sure what your home backup system will accomplish.

 

[Hikergirl]

Thought the main reason to have UPS at home was to allow time to power down your computers so you don't lose any data you were working on? Typically, when the power goes out it tends to be for the entire neighborhood/area. If the signal is lost due to no power in the line from your cable provider, then not sure what your home backup system will accomplish.

I don't have a UPS so I can't comment on what they are typically used for.
Power lines and telecommunications lines are separate. When we lose power due to an outage we do not lose our internet or phone service.

 

[GreatLakes]

Thought the main reason to have UPS at home was to allow time to power down your computers so you don't lose any data you were working on? Typically, when the power goes out it tends to be for the entire neighborhood/area. If the signal is lost due to no power in the line from your cable provider, then not sure what your home backup system will accomplish.

For some people that is the case. For others they want to keep enough power to use the Internet or phone for a period when power is down. It all depends on the person. I have Uverse but only for internet. If we lose power and the UPS is working I have internet. I only have laptops around the house so until their battery runs out I'm good.

Generally I just log in, open a power outage ticket, and then power everything down. We have connected fire alarms and it is nice knowing those will call the fire department for us as long as my router and modem have power.

 

[SteveH]

Thought the main reason to have UPS at home was to allow time to power down your computers so you don't lose any data you were working on? Typically, when the power goes out it tends to be for the entire neighborhood/area. If the signal is lost due to no power in the line from your cable provider, then not sure what your home backup system will accomplish.

I will add that it all depends on how wide spread the outage is and how long. With previous provider, Spectrum when we lost power we'd still have internet. My UPS kept us up and running on the laptops for the outage. I wouldn't spent a ton of money on one, where I find them of the most help is dealing with the short brief outages, that way all my connected devices keep on running.

 

[_19disnA]

^^ I agree, a lot depends on the specific circumstances, how the electronics in your home are configured (i.e cable vs. satellite dish, etc.) and for what exactly you are trying to provide backup power. Not having a TV during a power outage isn't in the same category with trying to prevent your food from spoiling in the refrigerator/freezer where you would need some sort of backup generator to provide the needed power. If your home phone uses the cable TV line, you would lose phone service if the line coming into your home loses external power. This is separate from the older style standalone home phone/landline where the low voltage used by the phone company might still be functioning even if your neighborhood loses electrical power. If your cable provider (Spectrum, for example), loses power at their end, your internal backups won't resolve that.

It becomes an issue of what specific situations are you trying to plan for and how much are you willing to spend for something you may only use infrequently?

 

[jliehr]

@jo-jo that's scary. It fried our irrigation system, modem, router, printer and two recliner plugs all in all nothing that expensive, the odd thing was everything but the irrigation system was on some sort of surge device. Best we can figure the lightening must have come through the cable modem, no idea how it got everything. Very odd.

Surge devices fail pretty often, and almost all of them fail open meaning you don’t know until it is too late.

 

[DebbieB]

Mine has been beeping for a year. I tried to take the battery out to order a new one, couldn’t get it out. Then I accidentally ran over the cover (it’s in the garage). They charge you to come out, I just ignore it.

 

[_19disnA]

Surge devices fail pretty often, and almost all of them fail open meaning you don’t know until it is too late.

Many surge protectors are nothing more then overpriced extension cords.

 

[jo-jo]

Mine has been beeping for a year. I tried to take the battery out to order a new one, couldn’t get it out. Then I accidentally ran over the cover (it’s in the garage). They charge you to come out, I just ignore it.

Our's is in the basement. We could hear the beeping in the dining room where DH does puzzles. It was annoying. So we got a new battery and you know the rest. We were warned if wasn't their equirement, we would be charged, but since the one panel only had one light lit instead of 6, it's was on their dime.