[BBLISA] Internet service and power outages?

[Dean Anderson]

I've seen some cable amplifiers in commercial buildings that are just 
plugged into the wall.  I can't say how widespread that is.

I think Scott is right that his DSL line more likely goes back to a
battery powered equipment in the CO. Of course, that might not include
the DSLAM, but only the voice equipment. And the next question is on the
ATM network that the DLSAM is plugged into.  The DSL/ATM/Internet part
is an entertainment system, too.

The cable company is an entertainment service. It was designed, built,
and maintained to be an entertainment system.  It's not meant to be a
99.999% uptime system. Its not meant to keep operating during an
emergency (e.g. the military autovon system).  The phone company has
different goals, or at least it did historically.  5 9's uptime takes
different equipment. You can't get 5 9's with lowest quality consumer
electronics, as is found in cable gear and dsl gear.

The difference in consumer vs commercial (vs milspec) electronic parts
is the difference between an Xbox and your corporate accounting server.  
They are both PC's, but are manufactured to different standards.  One
costs $399, the other $3999.  There is a some genuine cause for that
difference, even though M$ takes a loss on every Xbox (they make it up
in game sales).

If you mass produce to lower standards, you have higher failure rates.  
Sometimes that's ok. If your new Xbox doesn't work, M$ gives you a new
one for free. You're happy---you might even think that's good customer
service.  If you're old Xbox doesn't work, you buy a new one and
repurchase all your favorite games for the new one. That's good for M$,
too.

But, if my accounting server dies, and I can't record billing records,
and lose money hand over fist as a result, I'll be pretty unhappy.  
That's why I pay more for the server to get good hardware.  Of course,
you might say build your own 'RAID' (or R.A.I.Servers) out of redundant
servers.  That's possible in the server case and even a good idea no
matter what.  But that isn't possible in the Cable system case. Where's
the redundant backup line?

I should disclose that Av8 Internet does sell redundant internet service
(T1 with DSL backup) to address this very problem.  I had a T3 failure
this week (over temperature), and my High Availability customers didn't
even notice. That's how it should be, but it won't ever be that way at a
Cable company.

		--Dean

On Thu, 28 Jun 2007, Jeff Wasilko wrote:

> On Thu, Jun 28, 2007 at 09:45:52PM -0400, Scott Ehrlich wrote:
> > A thought that recently came to mind (uh, oh!)-
> > 
> > Cable companies use telephone pole-based powerline-powered amplifiers, yes? 
> > If so, if power to my area goes out, even if I have a UPS at home, all 
> > coax-offered services should disappear, correct?
> 
> The amplifiers and fibre nodes are powered locally by power that
> the cable company provides. They have backup power in the
> network, but it's not limitless. They also have generators that
> can be deployed if needed.
> 
> > Now, DSL is phone-line offered.   If the central office has its own power 
> > source, and I have mine, if power did go out, I should still have 
> > uninterrupted Internet service unless/until my UPS dies.   Yes or no?
> 
> I think so, but Fios relies on power at your house (and a Verizon
> supplied UPS).
> 
> -j
> 
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