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From: Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: Grand Apagon - Electricity (not) in Spain
Date: Mon, 5 May 2025 19:40:07 -0700
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On 5/5/2025 9:35 AM, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
> It will in the UK if all the 'phones need mains power (either at the
> subscribers' premises or at the masts).  Nobody will be able to call out
> the emergency services.  How many deaths per day will that be if  nobody
> can contact the police, fire brigade or ambulance service?

In the US, there are many different media used for "telephonic comms".

- Old land lines (powered by central office battery
- cell phone (limited backup power at the individual towers)
- VoIP over cable television service
- VoIP over (various) wireless services
- oddball/niche providers (e.g., satellite phones and internet)

The first is on its way out as the local "phone companies" seem to be
of a mind to just eke out as much profit from the existing infrastructure
without making heavy investments to maintain its viability as an asset.

[Note there are also "phone company" media that rely on powered
technologies for the last mile -- SLIC96's, etc.]

Cell phone is a similarly private investment, not subject to the
same level of service availability required of the telco providers.
You get what you pay for.

Cable television based services are already dubious in their reliability.
Ask anyone who has had an equipment/service problem about how quickly
their problem was restored.

The other VoIP services each have their own vunerabilities and levels
of commitment/backing.

But, save for the first (MaBell over copper), you're likely going to see
some reliance on electric power for continued service.

There are also many "in home" medical systems that couldn't survive a
lengthy outage, putting their patients at risk in a prolonged outage
(you base your backup strategy on the LIKELY outages that you may incur,
not the POSSIBLE ones -- witness Katrina, 9-11, etc.)

You also have to consider HOW the outage was caused.  E.g., Fukishima
going off-line resulted in a massive outage in Japan.  But, the reason
for IT going offline also had direct consequences for those same
populations!  (i.e., lack of power may just be ONE of your problems)