If there was a power outage...
 

I run a server at home and uptime is a necessity. I have a UPS on my server but of course its practically useless without a connection.

If there was a power outage, like a blackout or such, does NTL have power backups for the broadband, phone and CATV etc? If so how long do/can they last?

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

If uptime is a necessity then you need guaranteed hosting, not an NTL connection, I doubt they would guarantee anything for a home connection.

BTW, when we last had a power cut in this area it took about an hour for the NTL box to boot up again after power had returned, it just kept giving an error message, so presumably the power was out with them too.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

I know they dont guarantee but I was asking if they did have any sort of redundancy.

(My server being hosted on NTL has been discussed and argued over before so I dont want to start an argument about hosting on NTL and about how I should get professional hosting etc, just before anyone decides to go down that route.)

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

I dont have a ups, but have had regular power outages in our area.

Each time when the power came back, the modem connected immediately

The outage may not have effected the system though, so i dunno.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

Thanks for the info so far. Still need an accurate answer though.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

You get what you pay for - with an NTL residential connection there is no guarantee it'll be back at any time if it goes off, so an accurate answer would be "no/as long as it takes".

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

No backup for catv/BB, only telco (batteries). If the local network tech is close by he may put a generator on for the catv/BB though.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

The central buildings housing the core network and routers for each area will have generator backup. I cannot say for sure, but it's doubtful that remote UBR's will have any, and unlikely that any amplifiers etc in your local green boxes will any form of backup power.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

Not 100% accurate. In my area we do have a sprinkling of CATV/BB nodes that do have UPS to keep things going. Generally dependent on usage and all the rest, it can give about 4 hours of back-up.

Intersting thought though, if the mains do go off in 95% of the cases everyones power goes off. So it's no good having the UPS if a wide area is affected

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

There are some area's which have CATV/BB battery backup, fully charged batteries should last about 3 to 4 hrs.

DTV/BB & Telco are monitored 24/7 and generators would normally be put on to restore service, the problem arises after 10pm at night, as a noisey generator outside your bedroom window does not go down too well.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

Thanks for the info. There seems to be a lot of mixed views on this so I dont know what to beleive.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

I deal with power outage most days, and every time the catv/bb goes off, so I would take it that there isn't a ups backup.;)

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

I think your own sig holds your answer....

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

There are too many factors and variables to give an answer, even things like how widespread is the actual power failure.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

Guess not every area has UPS then.

All I do know is that in South Wales we have a handfull of UPS in CATV cabs. I think it's in the region of 12-15 in Swansea and about 25-30 in Cardiff and Newport.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

What do you mean by that? If a jobs not worth doing? It is worth doing but Im asking people who know the answer so share it.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

If a jobs worth doing it's worth doing well, I know you said you don't want to go into the whole hosting issue, you get what you pay for.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

I pay £24.99 a month for the service, this is at least 5x more than pro hosting costs so I expect a decent uptime, even if it isnt built for hosting on.

I suppose I shouldnt complain. Im just lucky Im not one of the poor souls on 10Mbps that don't even get anywhere near 2Mbps. Fact is I wasnt talking about my hosting or my server, thats the reason I said not to go down that road. Im talking about power outages and if NTL equipment has redundancy. Nothing more.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

You shouldnt have mentioned the server ;),
if i was still NTL i would be interested to know if i could still use the internet in the event of a power cut, as i have a power inverter i could use to power the pc from the car.:)

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

My area certainly doesn't have any power backup for the CATV/Broadband. There have been faults in the area with loss of service when the powere supply somewhere along the network has died. That's not necesarily to the local street (my house lights stayed on), but somewhere maybe even in the next town through which my services get routed.

Simple really there is no SLA on residential services so no obligation on uptime. If you need guarantees you have to pay more for professional suppliers (and that's not Clara.net - see my other thread :p: )

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

24.99 may sound a lot but if you want to put into perspective businesses can often pay triple that for a contended service with similiar speeds and why do they pay more?

They will get some form of SLA and possible better contention also usually priority support, you get what you pay for.

If you had a server in a good datacentre the difference would usually be there is some type of power redundancy even diesel generators in the event of a total blackout in the area, if the upstream is multihomed then you have redundancy on the transit.

If you was paying for a leased line and it went down at say 3am saturday morning you could probably expect it to be fixed very fast "whatever it takes" attitude from isp. A consumer connection would be more "best effort" and would quite possibly be looked at on the monday morning.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

Its a bad attitude from an ISP but I understand your point. If only everyone could have SDSL at a cheap price...

So we have come to an agreement that the box probably doesnt have redundancy? I guess my UPS is just there to gracefully shutdown my server until the power returns then :(

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

As I said a few post ago, if a net tech is close by he will probably put a generator on it, but it will be down from the time the power cut starts, till he gets to the node, which is better than nothing. :)

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

A local powercut would have a 3/1 chance of being on the same phase as them, thats why you sometimes see only a section of an area go down.;)
So your backup is usefull :)

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

3/1? Dont you mean 1/3? :p:

It is useful. I have 3 UPS's in my house. Two on my desktop PC (one for the pc and one for the monitor. Needs to be like this because if its running on battery and you turn the monitor on, POOF! PC resets due to the surge:erm:) The other UPS is on my server.

300VA - server - 15-20 mins
650VA - desktop - 20-30 mins
500VA - monitor - 20-30 mins

Ive got a 12v battery and inverter if I need it to provide another hour of power for the server or pc.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

Looks to me like you got your UPS's round the rong way but each to his own, and why on earht would you want to switch on the monitor in a power outage?

Does the UPS not gracefully shut these machines down?

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

In this aera all Fibre cabs have battery back up .But if there is a power outage We can power up the kit in the street with generators or use the invertors in our vans .:)

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

Of course they could add a SLA to the residental services but then you would be paying more and probably be moaning about that.

The consumer market is sensitive to price changes and most people probably would prefer lower prices without the SLA.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

How did I get them the wrong way round? Why wouldnt you want to switch in on in a power outage? The whole point of a UPS is so you can continue working and/or shutdown gracefully.

They only shut down when the battery power gets low. It minimises downtime.

NTL's uptime is excellent, Id say around 99%. My server has an uptime of 98.5% over the last 9 months. That is brilliant for an NTL connection.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

Well I would have thought keeping the server online for longer is your no 1 priority so, if you had not purchased a monitor ups you could have invessted in a 1000va + ups for the server and stuck a tiny one on the pc to shut it down gracfully.

UPS is not really meant for working normally during a power outage it is to allow you to save work and shut down. on a server you need a longer time so as to avoid disruption to your users. ie giving them a decent warning etc.

If you want to keep working through anything more than abrownout etc then you need a ups/generator mix...

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

Blackouts/brownouts have never lasted more than a few minutes so far in my area, thats why I opted for a smaller UPS's. A 1000va UPS is about £100, I got these UPS's for under £30 each. They give enough uptime for the outages in my area so its not much of a concern. As I said, if I have to I have an hour or more of backup in the form of a battery and inverter.

I did have a 1000va UPS but it was "recalled" because of a fault found with them which makes them a potential fire risk. The company never got any more of the fixed batches in stock. This 1000va UPS was only £40, but it was well build except this small flaw (which was down to some of the main components used on the circuitboards as being cheap).

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

Are the street cabinets really powered by the street electricity supply? I find it hard to believe that the leccy companies would allow NTL to connect to their cable, which is probably not near the NTL box.

If they are supplied from elsewhere on the network (i.e. some central point), then a neighbourhood power cut may not knock it out. These central points may have UPSes.

I'm only guessing, please don't shoot me. Just throwing ideas about.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

As Paul mentioned there are a load of variables but;

All of the buildings have large UPS's and generators.

The cabinets that hold the fibre amplifiers are mains fed, usually from the most convenient lamp post or road sign the electricity board can find at the time they provide ntl with the power. Some may have battery and or ups back up dependant generally on who owned the original cable company.
Of course the time they will hold up for varies and is dependant on the usual problems you have with such devices.

The other Amplifiers in the network are fed through the coax network at a lower DC voltage, which (to set folks minds at rest) is isolated within the amplifiers from the coax which connects to peoples homes. In fact customer TVs and videos cause more problems for the network than vice versa. I got many a belt from dodgy VCRs when I used to install :(

hth

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

Yes there are SLA's within the network to fix faults, or for when a power outage occurs to get a generator applied. The Network Tech will get the fault for a power outage and will restore power. Sometimes as already said, the outage will affect other areas within a few street and literally the lampost and house next to the telco cab will have mains power but the Telco or CATV cab won't. But rest assured Network Tech's are on call 24hrs a day 7 days a week 365 days a year, so when the fault is raised it is restored with a certain time scale. Usually within an hour.

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

There are different phases for supply.

NTL have a seperate feed from the leccy company , normally when street lights go out NTL's commercial power will also fail.

This doesn't mean that we draw power from the street lights, it means that the power is being drawn from the same phase.

The 240v is downrated to 60v and then pushed round the coaxial network.

Off the top of my head the following area's have battery back up....Walthamstow, Glasgow, Nottingham (thinks? too may glasses of wine, can't remember where else). :beer:

Re: If there was a power outage...
 

Be interesting to know. I don't recall the BB being genuinely down much. Of course if our power's off the SACM and router as well as the PCs won't work so you can't really test that!