Comreg - Transition from copper to fibre access networks

The Cush

Back in Jan and June Comreg published a consultation on eir's transition from copper to fibre access networks and submissions to that consultation.

Consultation - https://www.comreg.ie/publication/transition-from-eirs-copper-network/
Responses - https://www.comreg.ie/publication/transition-from-eiras-copper-network/

Yesterday Comreg published a follow up consultation on battery back-up requirements for fixed voice services over non-Public Switched Telephone Networks, "including fibre, cable and fixed wireless access to make essential fixed-line telephone calls, including to emergency services, during a power failure at the home".

Consultation - https://www.comreg.ie/publication-download/battery-back-consultation
Battery Back-Up Survey - https://www.comreg.ie/publication-download/battery-back-survey

Jakey Rolling

While the ability to make calls over copper lines in case of power failure was nice to have, in practice how many people actually have a non-mains powered handset connected to their landlines these days? In reality, most will revert to their mobile in case of power failure in the home.

I would have thought ComReg would quietly let this requirement drop, though I see it comes from an EU directive.

How many devices (and points of failure) would you need to provide Battery Back Up for in order to ensure continuity of VOIP service? At a minimum the fibre NTU, router and handset. Do they supply us all with a UPS?

Seems like a PITA when 99% will have a mobile as backup.

Cuddlesworth

Jakey Rolling wrote: »

While the ability to make calls over copper lines in case of power failure was nice to have, in practice how many people actually have a non-mains powered handset connected to their landlines these days? In reality, most will revert to their mobile in case of power failure in the home.

Old people. Who vote. Many of whom are not bothered with mobiles.

Johnboy1951

I guess I am one of those 'old people'.
I have a mobile phone, as does my wife.
We have different providers.
Neither of us can get a basic mobile signal in the home.
My mobile is never used except when I am travelling and can get signal.

So, yes I rely completely on the copper line to provide phone in house.
When/if my connection is changed from copper to fibre I will need a UPS to ensure I have a phone service.

I do not consider it much of a problem to be honest.
The devices requiring power are not 'heavy' power users, so something relatively small and reasonably priced would be sufficient.

Yes I have a wired desk phone that is presently used in the event of a power cut disabling the DECT phones.

I am not so certain that the provision of such a UPS should be mandatory in every case ... whether paid for separately by the customer or not.
I would expect the provider of the fibre service to have available a suitable UPS for the purpose.

Unfortunately if a user opts out of the UPS, and later sells the home, the new occupier might not realise they have no phone connectivity in the even of a power outage ..... until too late.
That would seem to indicate the UPS should be compulsory.

Fence sitting .....

ED E

Havent the time to read the docs now but IIRC BT have already provisioned battery supported ONTs?

rogue-entity

I guess I am one of those 'old people'.
...
When/if my connection is changed from copper to fibre I will need a UPS to ensure I have a phone service.
...

I am not so certain that the provision of such a UPS should be mandatory in every case ... whether paid for separately by the customer or not.
I would expect the provider of the fibre service to have available a suitable UPS for the purpose.

Unfortunately if a user opts out of the UPS, and later sells the home, the new occupier might not realise they have no phone connectivity in the even of a power outage ..... until too late.
That would seem to indicate the UPS should be compulsory.

At present, 'landline' service provided by Virgin Media is wholly dependent not just on mains supply to your house but also to the local node. I remember before I moved having a power failure that would also take out the cable service so a UPS was entirely irrelevant. VM have customers who's telephone service is provided through the 'unprotected' Horizon box or various unprotected standalone modems both business and residential.

I would expect any obligation on the provider to stop at the demarcation point, the ONT. I would also expect the simplest solution being to provide a router/emta which would connect to the ONT, an internal battery. This would mean the ONT (supplied by the network operator) is protected and the customer's VoIP connection is separately protected.

Edit: 'Error saving your post, please try again' is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard

The Cush

Information Notice from Comreg on the retirement of legacy networks and services including correspondence between Eircom and ComReg on the issue.

https://www.comreg.ie/publication-download/retirement-legacy-networks-services

4. It is Eircom’s stated intention to decommission the copper loop in areas where NGA is delivered over FTTP, however where NGA is delivered using VDSL technology it is Eir’s intention to retain the copper sub loop.

5. Accordingly we understand that Eircom envisages both the withdrawal of legacy services and, at some point, withdrawal of copper network infrastructure.

6. Eircom says it has commenced planning for the retirement of legacy services and facilities and anticipates that over the next 2 to 3 years there will be a growing number of geographic areas with widespread availability of NGA facilities such that it would be appropriate to retire access to legacy services and facilities.

Johnboy1951

The Cush wrote: »

Information Notice from Comreg on the retirement of legacy networks and services including correspondence between Eircom and ComReg on the issue.

https://www.comreg.ie/publication-download/retirement-legacy-networks-services

Let the negotiations begin!

KeRbDoG

Ah people having to have UPS setups for VOIP - fun times having to ensure the UPS units are in good health etc

Do you think they will try and force service providers to provide a UPS setup for any VOIP setups they sell when POTS line doesn't exist?

Johnboy1951

KeRbDoG wrote: »

Ah people having to have UPS setups for VOIP - fun times having to ensure the UPS units are in good health etc

Do you think they will try and force service providers to provide a UPS setup for any VOIP setups they sell when POTS line doesn't exist?

I would think not ....... it should be left up to the customer IMO.
Those households with working mobile phones have no need of the security of having a quasi POTS line available in the event of a power cut.

I do think the providers should be required to provide a UPS - at cost price - if the customer requires it and is prepared to pay for it.

ED E

KeRbDoG wrote: »

Ah people having to have UPS setups for VOIP - fun times having to ensure the UPS units are in good health etc

Not really that big a deal.

A UPS for computing kit is expensive and requires regular maintenance. Maintaining a 5-20W ONT+Router is a lot easier. Think about how often you change the battery on your house alarm.

The units can self report back over the network, when capacity falls below a working threshold you just post out a replacement.

The Cush

Comreg's Work Plan to end Jun 2018

- Withdrawal of Copper based Regulated Services

Consultation - Consideration of implications of withdrawal of legacy services (TBD)
Follow on from Comreg 17/05 Retirement of Legacy Networks and Services

- Availability of Services

Response to Consultation and Decision - Review of Battery Backup Requirements (Q3 2017)
Follow on from ComReg16/109 Battery Back-Up Consultation & ComReg16/109a Battery Back-Up Survey

Nollog

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I guess I am one of those 'old people'.
I have a mobile phone, as does my wife.
We have different providers.
Neither of us can get a basic mobile signal in the home.
My mobile is never used except when I am travelling and can get signal.

So, yes I rely completely on the copper line to provide phone in house.
When/if my connection is changed from copper to fibre I will need a UPS to ensure I have a phone service.

I do not consider it much of a problem to be honest.
The devices requiring power are not 'heavy' power users, so something relatively small and reasonably priced would be sufficient.

Yes I have a wired desk phone that is presently used in the event of a power cut disabling the DECT phones.

I am not so certain that the provision of such a UPS should be mandatory in every case ... whether paid for separately by the customer or not.
I would expect the provider of the fibre service to have available a suitable UPS for the purpose.

Unfortunately if a user opts out of the UPS, and later sells the home, the new occupier might not realise they have no phone connectivity in the even of a power outage ..... until too late.
That would seem to indicate the UPS should be compulsory.

Fence sitting .....

Eir and Vodafone have little thingies you can plug into your internet that give you a mobile signal.

Johnboy1951

/\/ollog wrote: »

Eir and Vodafone have little thingies you can plug into your internet that give you a mobile signal.

not much use when the 'internet' is not working due to power failure!

Packet

There's a VoIP smartphone App for the VoIP geographic number associated with the old copper line. So the battery in phone is also a UPS for the service. The app also lets the number be used from anywhere on the Internet that doesn't block SIP traffic.

The idea of having to supply a UPS is laughably antiquated.

rob808

Packet wrote: »

There's a VoIP smartphone App for the VoIP geographic number associated with the old copper line. So the battery in phone is also a UPS for the service. The app also lets the number be used from anywhere on the Internet that doesn't block SIP traffic.

The idea of having to supply a UPS is laughably antiquated.

would you lose your current phone number if you choose to go with VoIP?

Johnboy1951

Packet wrote: »

There's a VoIP smartphone App for the VoIP geographic number associated with the old copper line. So the battery in phone is also a UPS for the service. The app also lets the number be used from anywhere on the Internet that doesn't block SIP traffic.

The idea of having to supply a UPS is laughably antiquated.

Without a 'mobile' signal, as I stated is the case in my home (and many others) it does not matter what app is on the phone. It cannot connect to anything!

When you come up with something better/less antiquated than a UPS please post.

rob808 wrote: »

would you lose your current phone number if you choose to go with VoIP?

If you wish you can port your (landline) number to a VOIP service which will then receive calls to that number and you can make calls over VOIP, and if you chose provide that number as your caller ID when making calls.

ED E

Packet wrote: »

The idea of having to supply a UPS is laughably antiquated.

Tell that to OpenReach

The Cush

The Cush wrote: »

Comreg's Work Plan to end Jun 2018

- Availability of Services

Response to Consultation and Decision - Review of Battery Backup Requirements (Q3 2017)
Follow on from ComReg16/109 Battery Back-Up Consultation & ComReg16/109a Battery Back-Up Survey

Battery Back-up Decision published by Comreg.

https://www.comreg.ie/publication/requirements-regarding-battery-back-information-fixed-voice-services-non-public-switched-telephone-networks/

Comreg will not mandate operators to provide a BBU to their non-copper fixed-line phone subscribers but they must provide information on the limitations of the service for new subscribers or exiting subscribers moving away from copper based services.

- ComReg has decided that Fixed PATS Providers, when offering Fixed PATS over a Non – PSTN shall before the end-user is bound by a contract for fixed PATS or by any corresponding offer, clearly inform the end-user in durable form of the following minimum information (subject to the condition specified at sub paragraph (iii) of this section):-

(i) details of the Non-PSTN technology being used to provide the PATS,
(ii) details of any limitations of the Non-PSTN PATS and how any such limitations could impact the end-user in accessing and using the PATS, in the event of a power failure,
(iii) where a BBU facility is currently available, fixed non-PSTN PATS Providers with 10,000 or more subscribers “Relevant Fixed PATS Providers”, shall give the end-user details in relation to at least one BBU facility compatible with the PATS and CPE offered to the end-user. Where no compatible BBU facility is currently available, Relevant Fixed PATS Providers shall inform the end-user that there is none currently available.

- ComReg has decided that, Fixed PATS Providers shall, not less than one month and no more than 3 months prior to the date of implementation of a change in service from PSTN to Non- PSTN, clearly inform their subscribers to that service in durable form of the following:

(i) the changes in technology that may have an effect on the subscribers access and use of the PATS and how such changes will impact the subscriber particularly any limitations of PATS in the event of a power failure,
(ii) the changes in technology that may have an effect on services providing access to emergency services or caller location information service and how it will impact the subscriber in their access or use of the services referred to in this sub paragraph,
(iii) where a BBU facility is currently available, Relevant Fixed PATS Providers shall give details in relation to at least one BBU facility compatible with the PATS and CPE supplied to the subscriber by the Relevant Fixed PATS Provider. Where no compatible BBU facility is currently available, Relevant Fixed PATS Providers shall inform the subscriber that there is none currently available.

Johnboy1951

Where no compatible BBU facility is currently available, Relevant Fixed PATS Providers shall inform the subscriber that there is none currently available.

That is ridiculous wording and I expect a heck of a lot more from people who deal with regulations and legal writing on a daily basis.

It needs to state clearly that the BBU is not available From The PATS Provider, but many options for BBUs are available from 3rd parties.

No, I have not read the original document, only what is quoted above.

Ultimanemo

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I guess I am one of those 'old people'.
I have a mobile phone, as does my wife.
We have different providers.
Neither of us can get a basic mobile signal in the home.
My mobile is never used except when I am travelling and can get signal.

So, yes I rely completely on the copper line to provide phone in house.
When/if my connection is changed from copper to fibre I will need a UPS to ensure I have a phone service.

I do not consider it much of a problem to be honest.
The devices requiring power are not 'heavy' power users, so something relatively small and reasonably priced would be sufficient.

Yes I have a wired desk phone that is presently used in the event of a power cut disabling the DECT phones.

I am not so certain that the provision of such a UPS should be mandatory in every case ... whether paid for separately by the customer or not.
I would expect the provider of the fibre service to have available a suitable UPS for the purpose.

Unfortunately if a user opts out of the UPS, and later sells the home, the new occupier might not realise they have no phone connectivity in the even of a power outage ..... until too late.
That would seem to indicate the UPS should be compulsory.

Fence sitting .....

If you have broadband, eir provides over wifi calling, so you can use your mobile phone through wifi.
Edited to say: If you have wireless IPS you can do it now and save money on line rental

Johnboy1951

Ultimanemo wrote: »

If you have broadband, eir provides over wifi calling, so you can use your mobile phone through wifi.
Edited to say: If you have wireless IPS you can do it now and save money on line rental

I'm not sure what point you are making

In the event of a power cut I will not have broadband without a UPS and thus no wifi access to it.

What is 'Wireless IPS'?

WestyJon

Guess he meant wireless ISP, judging by the saving on rental part. Requires on-premises UPS regardless I'd imagine.

My mother has one of them personal pendant alarm/panic buttons (necklace type) whose base station connects PTSN style to a call center so I definitely do not think that UPS is at all antiquated for these situations. It's actually the only adequate solution that I'm aware of. It's a vital service when and if it's needed. Provider sending out a letter that no BBU is available?? A joke.

Jim

Ultimanemo

WestyJon wrote: »

Guess he meant wireless ISP, judging by the saving on rental part. Requires on-premises UPS regardless I'd imagine.

My mother has one of them personal pendant alarm/panic buttons (necklace type) whose base station connects PTSN style to a call center so I definitely do not think that UPS is at all antiquated for these situations. It's actually the only adequate solution that I'm aware of. It's a vital service when and if it's needed. Provider sending out a letter that no BBU is available?? A joke.

Jim

Yes ISP Thanks

Irish Steve

Not read the full details of this, but there are a number of issues that seem to be being quietly brushed under the carpet.

The first is that mobile coverage at times of wide area power failures cannot be depended on, the concern being the ability to contact emergency services during such an event. If the land line doesn't work, and the rest of the immediate area is in the same situation, and mobile coverage is either unreliable or faulty as a result of weather or power outages, or even increased demand because of the failure of the PSTN service, not being able to contact the emergency services in a timely manner could be life threatening.

A significant number of houses have alarm systems that are monitored by a central service, and those alarms use the PSTN to contact the monitoring station. If the PSTN is non operational, the alarm will then be unable to contact the centre, unless an alternative mobile based secondary backup has been put in place, which at present is only likely to be the case on high value or high risk installations.

There are systems installed that allow vulnerable people to carry an emergency paging system, which in some cases allows them to continue to live a mostly independent life style, with the knowledge that they can call for assistance in an emergency such as a fall. Most of these systems are PSTN based, so also vulnerable to failure if there is no power over an area.

None of these issues seem to have been mentioned in any detail as part of the discussion about the new technologies that are now being installed.
I see that as being somewhat retrograde, given that the changes have the potential to cause serious problems to a significant number of people over a wide area of the country.

Skedaddle

I think the reliability of the POTS network is vastly overestimated by many people. In the event of a major storm for example, the classical phone network is reliant on overhead lines which are typically a lot more vulnerable and flimsy than ESB power lines and are quite regularly knocked out of service by branches and debris hitting them.

In Ireland the biggest risk to both power and telecoms infrastructure is always high winds and storms. We don't have many other natural disaster risks, other than flooding in some low lying areas. The last mile copper network is every bit as vulnerable as ESB lines are.

Also, in reality, not every telephone line in Ireland (or anywhere else) is necessarily connected to a big exchange with full generator back up and all of that stuff. Quite a lot of lines are connected to very small remote switching units that would just have local battery backup capable of tiding them over for long enough to sit out a typical power failure. Some of them are actually just outdoor cabinets. Ireland has pretty low-density populations, so the phone network evolved as a highly distributed system and makes plenty of use of a lot of very small access nodes / remote switches (various terminology is used for these: RSU, RCU and in Ireland the French term CNS or CNE crops up because of French Alcatel E10 equipment.)

Larger exchanges typically have major battery banks and also diesel generators. Because they provide network-critical facilities (often for multiple operators) and not just local PSTN services, they're built more like a data centre with physical security, redundancy and plenty of backup power. So, in the event of a disaster, the network is still going to be functioning, even if the local lines may go down in some cases.

You can and do get failures caused by broken fibres, damaged microwave links, equipment failures, software glitches and anything else that any network can suffer from.

The local access aspect of PSTN is pretty reliable, but it's ridiculous to assume it's infallible. I wouldn't rely on it as my sole means of emergency communication and I would always ensure I had a mobile phone charged in the event of a major storm.

What we should be doing in ensuring that mobile phone masts have adequate generator backup in the event of a major power outage and are built to be capable of holding up to a high wind. These are in reality what people rely on those nowadays. They are the main means of communication for most of us.

We need to be a bit careful that we don't tie ourselves in knots about UPS backup for fibre / VoIP services. I think ComReg's been pretty sensible here.

However, I think ComReg (or the state itself) needs to ensure that the mobile networks are putting in heavy enough backup infrastructure. They've become critical first line communications infrastructure and I don't think they've been taken as seriously as the PSTN used to be in terms of being seen as an emergency network. I think that's the area ComReg need to be focusing on in terms of ensuring backup and reliability.

Irish Steve

Focus on mobile networks is indeed a valid expectation, and I am wondering if there should be some form of structure that has a dedicated channel that is operator agnostic that the handsets would switch to if an emergency call is being made. I'm not completely sure that the modern phones have that degree of channel switching ability, but given the way that most other devices of this nature operate, they should be capable of using a channel switching system, so a dedicated channel for emergency service use should be relatively easy, in the same vein, additional resilience for one channel at a location should be a lot easier and cheaper to provide than having to have total resilience for the entire site, and ensuring backhaul priority for the dedicated channel should not be too problematic.

I fully understand the risk factors related to the "last mile" situation, but my concern with the fibre situation is that the network is becoming much more distributed, so a power failure in an area has the potential to knock out all the fibre to copper conversion devices that are being fitted to the poles, and that could mean having to go a lot further to find a working phone than used to be the case. In theory, on the plus side, the power usage of the modern equipment should be a fraction of what was needed to operate the old mechanical exchanges, so any UPS style technology should in theory be less complex and expensive to install and maintain, I can still remember rows and rows of lead acid cells that were used to provide power for "private" PABX exchanges at customer sites not that many years ago, and they were much more maintenance intense than any modern back up power system.

I guess the important aspect of these changes is that it emphasises that a fundamental advertising campaign will be needed to ensure that all customers are made fully aware of what will happen to their local service in the event of a power failure. Some older people will just not be aware that things like cordless phones don't work when the power goes out, and even fewer people will be aware that ALL POTS phones will be out if the power fails in future. The most vulnerable will be rural areas of the country that don't have a good coverage on the mobile network, though I can think of areas not far from here (South Meath, almost North Dublin) that have bad enough mobile coverage.

Time will tell, hopefully there won't have to be a serious incident of some nature that highlights the potential problems of the changes that are inevitable.

It''s also going to be interesting to see how people like Homewatch deal with this, as they are going to have a major problem with the majority of their subscribers, as they are going to have to find a viable alternative to the POTS dial up service that they are structured around at present.

I would be surprised if there is any in depth reporting on this issue, given that the distributed fibre concept that's now going in to much of the country is a relatively new technology, ao there won't be the history of how well it has behaved in comparison to the POTS copper wire that's been in use for generations

Skedaddle

The main power consumption on the POTS network is just the need to carry analogue audio signals over long distances (up to 5km+) on cooper lines. That needs pretty beefy signal strength. It all runs on around 48V DC. Also the analogue ringing signal is still capable of driving several physical, mechanical bells in your house! It's a whopping 75V 25Hz AC signal (usually applied out of phase to both wires).

The switching systems (exchanges) here haven't been electromechanical for decades. Many areas of Ireland (especially rural) never had electromechanical switching at all and went directly from manual (operator plug boards) to digital systems and there were a few 1970s era crossbars in local service until then end of the 1990s, mostly in the cities and never in service on their own. They were just plugged into and controlled by a digital switch, but worked out their service life of 30 years or so. They were very expensive pieces of kit that you don't retire until necessary.

Old privately owned office PBX systems could have been using anything from any era of tech,, but the public networks are 'reasonably' high tech.

They're 100% digital from the point the copper line is connected to an like card that converts your voice to digital PCM signals which are processed using time division multiplexing (TDM) switches. At this stage there would even be increasing use of VoIP layers within the PSTN and aspects of exchanges are moving to being soft-switches.

The PSTN here always was highly distributed anyway. So, my point really was, if you're down the country somewhere outside a town or even in a new housing estate or commercial park in a city, you're very likely to be connected to a small, cabinet-bassd remote switch and not a major exchange. Those have no more back up than the VDSL fibre network - just a pack of batteries in a street cabinet or tiny exchange shed.

Just looking at Eir's annual report details:

You've 46 major exchanges and more than 1200 remote units (RSUs) that actually connect customers for POTS and ISDN. So pretty distributed as it is for an aging network.

As for emergency phone services:

If you dial 112 on any GSM/UMTS handset it will make an emergency call on any available network, whether it has a subscription or not. You can even do this without a SIM card. It will just find a voice service and connect the call.

It's one reason why 112 needs to be advertised more than 999. Some handsets will process 999 as an emergency call, some won't. 112 is always recognised and will even override the SIM lock or handset lock.

People should know that in an emergency, always try dialing 112, even if your handset us showing low signal on your network, as it may hop to another network you're not subscribed to.

Irish Steve

Your comments about 112 being a better option than 999 is a good one, I wasn't aware that there was any difference until now, it's one of those little nuggets that hopefully will come to mind if the need arises. Thanks for posting it.

Crossbar, ahhh memories of a long time ago when I used dialup to Compuserve, the node was somewhere in South Dublin, and it routed through a crossbar in (I think) Dolphins Barn. Problem was, it used to kill the speed, and it wasn't that fast to start with. After much discussion with the relevant support teams, they tried a fix that solved it, which was to put a non standard routing into the system to connect to the Compuserve number, but for some strange reason best known to the power that be, the routing instruction lapsed after 6 months, and the line speed would again go down the tubes. The fix was to ring the support line and ask them to reinstate the routing information for our number, and within a short period of time, it would work again for another 6 months. Went on for a number of years, and then eventually, things changed so we no longer needed to use dial up for internet.

Skedaddle

Sounds like that was maybe in the early to mid 1990s? At that stage there were still electromechanical switches in service in most places around the world. The UK actually still had even older tech called "step by step" in service as late as the mid 90s. It was straight of of 1920s era tech. but it did the job.

Just as a bit of history - not of this era myself, but did a bit of digging into it once upon a time for a university project on Irish tech history. There was an interesting era of encouragement of "technology transfer" where the state incentivised various telecommunication equipment companies to setup shop here in exchange for state spending on their gear. So Ericsson arrived in the 1950s in Athlone and later Alcatel and Nortel etc. The logic behind it was to try and encourage a local tech sector and get spinoff from state spending (building a local skills base).rather than just buying off the shelf.

It did create some industry here in the 80s and also definitely made Ireland a lot more attractive as an investment location as the networks went from having been probably amongst the most underdeveloped in the developed world to cutting edge enough to support the first wave of US IT investors like Microsoft, Apple etc in the 80s.

The Irish system was actually pretty early in its move to digital technology. They took a decision in the late 1970s and had the first digital switches in public service around 1981 and were the most digitalised network in Europe by the early 1990s.

What happened in some areas was that they'd been upgraded to what was a very modern Ericsson crossbar switching system in the 1970s. These were advanced enough to integrate with a digital switch as a "parent" and handled the first stage of local phone service, while the digital exchange that was managing them provided all their onwards connectivity and advanced services. They were gradually replaced by digital systems. Typically, those were Ericsson ARF or ARE systems and were pretty "state of the art" for the 1970s. There were examples still in use in local service in Scandinavia, NL, Australia and all over Europe until the mid to late 1990s too.

That's a crossbar going in, brand new with a big promo on RTE Nees back in 1976

http://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/1205/836649-crown-alley-telephone-exchange/

One of the first digital exchanges going into service, complete with the French Minister for Communication (as then French state owned Alcatel was one of the two key suppliers used here)

Kells 1982
http://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/0116/845240-digital-telephone-exchange/

Dun Laoghaire 1985 (£3.5m in modern money about €10 million worth of kit!)
http://www.rte.ie/archives/collections/news/21198403-dun-laoghaire-telephone-exchange/

The most shocking bit is the Telecom spokesperson was explaining some customers had been waiting up to 5 years for a phone line as the old system had completely run out of capacity!!

Those systems have obviously been upgraded and have become smaller and higher tech over the years, but you can see the age of the current generation of digital voice / ISDN tech. It really needs to be phased out soon.

It's amazing though, when you think how far technology moved since the 1980s!
Those huge racks of flickering lights and spinning tapes were the first steps towards the internet.

We've gone from a situation where internet traffic was carried over systems designed for voice to one where voice is an application on IP networks.

It's the same with cable television - the TV services are really just an application and the primary purpose of the network is now to provide internet connectivity.

ED E

NB: Have only skimmed some of the above.

When you're talking mobile sites vs PSTN the reliability is almost equal. Both are backed by 6-8hrs of BBU in most cases. The only failing of mobile sites is their mains feed can be a little more vulnerable to adverse weather.

Its important to remember that 112/999 calls are accepted by ANY network (UMTS anyways) so a complete loss of service only occurs when all three MNOs are colo or multiple sites are knocked offline. If you check siteviewer mast sharing is limited.


Medi Alert pendants are important of course, but they already suffer 2-3+ day outages in winter. OE put them as priority faults but that doesn't magic them fixed. A GSM link can be faaaaaaaar closer to five nines than a 7km POTS line in rural Kerry.

Skedaddle

The regulation should be on ensuring that mobile sites are adequately backed up for typical outage times which shouldn’t really be more than a few hours in most instances anyway, but there are hard to reach parts of Ireland that should have better contingencies.

Ironically, the places with the most extreme back up - diesel generators and so on, are all big urban exchanges that would be extremely unlikely to lose power anyway as they've very few exposed lines and probably multiple circuits supplying them anyway.

A small diesel or LPG (calor gas) back up generator at collocated or particularly vulnerable mobile sites would be very useful. They don’t need to be fueled very often, just inspected, as the diesel or gas canisters will rarely be called into service.

There are even fuel-cell systems available for this that require very little maintenance.

All you're talking about is a small containerised backup system plonked at all of those major sites. If we're serious about emergency backup, it would seem the most appropriate way to go.

Also, I think if we've issues with remote and vulnerable users who need power back up for medical services, they really ought to be looking at some kind of assistance towards small stand-by generators too.

During storm ophelia, I charged my laptop, a few LED lamps and a couple of power pack USB charging brick I had and it kept everything going.

Also, bear in mind most people can charge or use a phone from their car if they need to too. It's the most obvious source of charging power if you're stuck.

We really are looking at a situation where the primary communications system already is the mobile networks and the POTS/PSTN and any VoIP replacement for it is really only a bit of a relic of a bygone era in many ways. If you look at the statistics from ComStat mobile in terms of voice minutes and uptake is vastly higher than landline use which is shrinking (and that's across all technologies, not just POTS)

Basically, the landline physical network is morphing into primarily being an ISP service. The mobile networks should be picking up the slack in terms of regulation for emergency voice.