Power Outage & your Vonage service

Posts: 104 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Jan 31, 2004 Posts: 104

As you might quess, in the event of a power outage, you're basically SOL when using the Vonage service.

However, you might wish to consider installing a small UPS system and get near telephone company reliability.

Most power outages are local to your neighborhood. Both cable and DSL are LINE powered, meaning their cable plant is centrally powered. In many cases, you may be without local power but your cable TV or DSL is actually working just fine (though you clearly don't know it).

To ensure your telephone line is working, you'd need to put your cable modem, router/hub and Cisco or MOT Vonage box on your UPS.

Each of these devices draws significantly less than 1 amp of power. Thus a basic 325VA UPS system that you can purchase for <$50 at any computer or electronics store can power your Vonage phone system for likely 3-4 hours. The simple UPS system generally all have 3 "battery protected" outlets which is perfect for your set-up. Batteries typically last about 3 years.

The advantage is also in the event of a momentary power outage (which most outages are) -- you're not crawling around under a table trying to reset both your modem and router/hub.

Posts: 38 · Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 10:07 am Post subject:

That's good advice for anyone using Vonage.

However, one question: Aren't CATV amplifiers dependent on the electrical grid for their power? In the event of a neighborhood power outage, wouldn't those amplifiers drop out, leaving you with little to no signal?

I can't remember enough about how CATV works to be sure, but believe I once was told this was true.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 09, 2004 Posts: 5

Only is rare cases on DSL (When your line is coming straight from the CO) can you retain power on your DSL. If you are on a USAM (Remote Terminal) for DSL in your neighborhood your DSL line will lose power, even if all your equiptment is on a UPS. The USAM usually isn't on a UPS. At least this is how Qwest is setting them up in Colorado. So if you lose power, have a cell phone handy.