Battery Back-up
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For residential phone services
Why do we need a battery backup?
Historically, phone lines supplied a small amount of power through copper cables, allowing basic
telephone handsets to function even during power outages. This ensured continuous access to
phone services for making and receiving calls. However, modern fibre-optic cables, while superior in data transmission, do not carry electrical power. Therefore, an alternative solution is necessary to maintain phone service during power cuts.
What could happen during a power cut?
During a power outage, homes with fibre-optic phone services would lose the ability to make and receive calls without a battery backup system. This can be critical, especially in emergencies when contacting emergency services or loved ones is essential. Phone and broadband outages can affect anyone, but some people may face a higher risk of being impacted during an outage. Groups impacted in particular are:
- People who live alone that may not be able to care for themselves,
- or those that rely on personal alarms, and telecare equipment,
- or those that are reliant on their landline, including making calls to emergency services.
Why do you need a battery backup?
If you have telecare equipment or Personal alarms, it is important that you contact your provider to see if they use the phone line, and therefore could be impacted by a power outage to your phone service. Battery backup systems ensure continuity of communication during power outages by providing temporary power to devices connected to the phone line for at least 1 hour. This is crucial for maintaining communication channels, especially for vulnerable individuals who may rely on landline phones for essential communication.
A battery backup won’t help for cordless phones unless the base station is also connected to the backup power supply. Cordless phones rely on electrical power not only for the base station but also for the handsets, making them susceptible to power cuts unless all components are backed up.
Battery Back-Up Options
Depending on which equipment we have provided will determine which of our Battery Backup solutions you will need.
- If you have one of our optical fibre termination boxes (ONT) that has an analogue phone socket built-in, you will only need our small power-plug battery back-up that is designed to work with this device.
- If you do not have a phone socket on the optical fibre termination box, and your phone line is connected into the WightFibre Hub, you will also need one of our slightly larger power bank sized battery back-up units to power this device in addition to the fibre termination box.
If you choose to order a battery back-up unit, our team will make sure you are provided with the right back-up unit for your equipment.
