Yesterday the power to our area went off at about 3.30pm and was eventually restored at about 7.30pm. About 439 homes were affected or a couple of square miles. No storm, wind or rain in our area which raises the concern of what coudl occur if we did have a violent storm.
Our local rural exchange is about 2 miles away and we are FTTC connected. We also have a back up UPS for wifi, 240v inverter to power lights, small Tv or radio, gas lamps, camping gas stove, gas BBQ and torches in every room etc. The exchange was also affected by the loss of power and after about 2 hours it also failed when the batteries were depleted.
Unfortunately after about 2 hours we had no connection to the exchange and we were without Internet or phones and could not communicate with anyone. Modem was still operation, but no data could be processed due to exchange shutting down. Once the power came back on, it took about 20-30 minutes before data could be processed.
Admittedly I never tried the emergency services, but there was no signal to the mast that serves our area even when I went to an area within walking distance where we knew we could get signal. I think the networks share one mast for our area? I doubt even if a DAB radio would have worked and they want to shut down FM masts?
Brazen thieves could in full view of yourself steal your car, break into home while you are there, steal your goods etc and you cannot phone the police because the landlines have been removed by BT. I wonder if the government thought of this when pushing for landlines etc to be dumped?
A solution is to use the rather expensive Starlink at £35 a month for speeds up to 100mbps, but we are stuck in Plus net contract until Nov 2026. At least with Starlink we could communicate with the outside world or even watch TV. Just to add that this is not the first or second time we have had long power breaks, but to be left with no communication is a concern. A bit of a quandary as cannot afford Starlink and also paying Plus net?
