Are NTL pushing the system too far?

**Maggy** · 07-10-2006, 18:02

Seems NTL's network is more fragile than ever..We have just had a second powercut in a fortnight.On both occasions the Telephone and BB were knocked right out..though this time we did keep the DTV.Now we are still waiting for the phone to return to service.

I don't remember it ever being like this during power cuts before...Does anyone know why?Are NTL trying to do too much on an overworked system?

07-10-2006, 18:08

you're not in manchester by any chance are you incog? Happened twice here today.

**Maggy** · 07-10-2006, 18:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dodger444

you're not in manchester by any chance are you incog? Happened twice here today.

No I'm down near Portsmouth.

Locky · 07-10-2006, 18:38

probably got something to do with the rain it been real heavy here (oldham) but i havent had no outages, maybe just a fault ?

**Maggy** · 07-10-2006, 18:45

I'm talking about the fact that a 5 minute powercut has such an effect.Time was when the system came back straight away and didn't take ages to reset.

popper · 07-10-2006, 18:47

maybe they should nip down Portsmouth B&Q and get a few of those windfarms their selling now, windy in Portsmouth this time of year i assume!.

**Maggy** · 07-10-2006, 20:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by popper

maybe they should nip down Portsmouth B&Q and get a few of those windfarms their selling now, windy in Portsmouth this time of year i assume!.

It's windy all year round here.

07-10-2006, 21:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Incognitas

Seems NTL's network is more fragile than ever..We have just had a second powercut in a fortnight.On both occasions the Telephone and BB were knocked right out..though this time we did keep the DTV.Now we are still waiting for the phone to return to service.

I don't remember it ever being like this during power cuts before...Does anyone know why?Are NTL trying to do too much on an overworked system?

What sort of time? I'm in that sort of area and we lost power at approx 2.45pm
Without knowing what was affected its difficult to comment but it sounds like a cabinets batteries don't work anymore.

popper · 07-10-2006, 21:44

you would think they would have some form of UPS setup for the BB side wouldnt you?.

the fact the phone side went down too is far more worrying though as its supposed to be totally seperate, is it ?.

--------------------
http://www.newvideobusiness.com/content/view/79/26/
http://www.digitalmediapublishing.co...ember-2006.pdf
IPTV and AVC is it,use it or loose it......

**Maggy** · 07-10-2006, 21:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Creative

What sort of time? I'm in that sort of area and we lost power at approx 2.45pm
Without knowing what was affected its difficult to comment but it sounds like a cabinets batteries don't work anymore.

I think it was about that time.The phone is still not working which is very annoying as my husband was hoping for a phone call from an agency about possible weekend work.

It keeps happening at weekends I notice,Everything happens either Friday or Saturday and then you have to wait until Monday to get any CS help because the Saturday folk don't seem to have the ability to sort anything out.

07-10-2006, 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by popper

you would think they would have some form of UPS setup for the BB side wouldnt you?.

the fact the phone side went down too is far more worrying though as its supposed to be totally seperate, is it ?.

--------------------
http://www.newvideobusiness.com/content/view/79/26/
http://www.digitalmediapublishing.co...ember-2006.pdf
IPTV and AVC is it,use it or loose it......

Well the BB uses the same cabling and amps etc as the TV side, so not sure where it went wrong. Phone shouldn't have been affected, as it should be protected.

I'd report it Coggy.

---------- Post added at 21:56 ---------- Previous post was at 21:53 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Incognitas

I think it was about that time.The phone is still not working which is very annoying as my husband was hoping for a phone call from an agency about possible weekend work.

It keeps happening at weekends I notice,Everything happens either Friday or Saturday and then you have to wait until Monday to get any CS help because the Saturday folk don't seem to have the ability to sort anything out.

I only noticed because the sound went off on TV! Was off for approx 10 secs and came back on.
I'm PO17 area. I wonder how close we are.

Didn't realise it was still off though. No offence but do you have an alternative phone to check your phone hasn't fallen victim to a spike?

injuneer · 10-10-2006, 16:47

The cabinets should have batteries to back up the telco muxes and should be regularly changed, I expect it's cost cutting again. I can't remember how long the batteries are designed to deliver power in the event of a power cut, probaly no more than a couple of hours.

Escapee · 12-10-2006, 18:55

As pointed out, its strange that you lost telephone and Broadband but not TV. I would stick my neck out and guess it was something hubsite related, possibly they changed a piece of equipment during hours instead of out of hours for some reason.

The telephone would of been backed up by battery at the mux cabinet if there was a power outage, so you would of lost TV and broadband. The Hubsite seems to be the only common link between the two services going down and not the other.

The Broadband signal is usially inserted as an RF signal before the optical transmitter in the hubsite, so I guess something common to either mains for the optical TV receiver or the optical feed for both Telphone and TV were lost.

Possibly someone disconnected the wrong thing ! That is very possible since they have lost many of their technical people through redundancies and people walking away.

The battery ups backup project for all CATV nodal cabinets was put on hold back in 2000, some old flakey power supplies (ntl bought unsuitable ones for the job and installed them incorrectly) were replaced as and when they failed, I dont think the project was revisited due to further cost cutting.

A lot of ntl's network has many single points of failure and in many cases it was down to speed to build, with the intention of sorting out diverse routes and back-ups at a later date. The financial difficulties have sadly taken their toll on ntl.

jrhnewark · 12-10-2006, 20:33

We always lose BB and TV when there's a storm. It isn't exactly wonderful. Otherwise, the BB's great, in all fairness.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Escapee

(ntl bought unsuitable ones for the job and installed them incorrectly)

Hilarious. Didn't they also buy the incorrect mail servers at one point too?

Escapee · 12-10-2006, 23:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrhnewark

We always lose BB and TV when there's a storm. It isn't exactly wonderful. Otherwise, the BB's great, in all fairness.

Hilarious. Didn't they also buy the incorrect mail servers at one point too?

The Corporate Engineering department in ntl was like a comedy of errors. The CATV power supplies that also supply the broadband in some areas were designed for stringing between overhead poles. Because they were A: Installed in cabinets with no airflow, B: Fans were fitted in the cabinet but they never bothered to wore them up and C: They installed the power supplies with the cooling fins horizontal instead of vertical.

The varnish used to drip out of the transformers in the hot weather and all the plastic connectors became brittle due to the heat. many of those are still in service because they haven't been able to afford to replace them.

Plus they didn't have the correct launch amplifiers in Wales due to cost cutting, and they didn't increase battery backup capacity or air conditioning in hubsites or headends as they added equipment to the system.

you know things are bad when a managers rushes around with a big piece of cardboard waving it frantically in a headend to get some airflow around.

Only in ntl