A Question About Cable Companies & Their Infrastructure

[daepp]

BLUF: Does the cable companies soon continue to function during the power outage?

Details: We live in a suburb of Los Angeles but in a surprisingly (for So Cal) rural area. And it also happens to be in a little city where NIMBYism runs deep, and with regard to cell towers it’s masked as fear of EMF etc.

And that’s where cable comes in. Due to there being no cell signal where I live, we rely on Voice-Over-Internet for ALL communication. So you might imagine what it’s like when we have a power outage! Not only can we not make calls or sometimes even text, but our Internet goes down as we use a cable modem to connect to the outside world.

So after the first couple of power outages, I went and purchased a UPS for my modem, router and switch, Thinking that at least we could continue to have some communications when Edison was down. However, the next two times we lost power. We also lost our Internet signal. Everything connected to the Wi-Fi just fine lol, it just didn’t go anywhere anywhere.

As a child, I had a neighbor friend whose father would pull a once-a-month weekend duty at the local TelCo central office. And he often invited his son and I to tagalong on a Saturday, where we learned, amongst other things, how to tell what switches were live and then how to listening to live phone calls (I know, but we were like 10…). But the highlight of the day was when the old man would fire up the 16 cylinder Diesel locomotive engines/generator to test their back up system. Consequently, I grew up, knowing that the phone company never went down when the power went out, but I have no idea if Spectrum (my local provider) has any back up abilities, and heck, I don’t even know if they have a central office, or if There is something about cable where it doesn’t require such. For example, there would be no need for the kind of switches a central telephone office would have.

Anyways, I’m just curious what someone might know about cable company infrastructure.

And hey, while we’re at it, if anyone in the PPOT brain trust has a workable solution, I'm all ears.

TIA,

David Epp

[Deschodt]

I have fiber, it does work during outages... (the modem/PC/kitchen and TV are on battery backup). I recall back in FL we had FIOS (also fiber), long post hurricane weeks with no power but we had TV and internet thanks to the generator.. Dunno about cable. Equally curious to know how this works anyway.

[greglepore]

Traditional cable requires amplifiers that run on a/c. Our cable co (xfinity) would bring out portable generators for long outages. Fiber is more efficient and generally functions well with more widely spaced infrastructure.

[Radioactive]

The CATV signal that feeds your house starts at the "headend", which in your case is probably that building on Brooks in Ontario, not 100pct due to the merge with charter. The signal needs to be amplified along the way, so if the the power outage is over a large area you will lose your signal if a distribution amplifier along the way loses power. The headend will have emergency power.

In the case of fiber, frontier, if you could get it, would be a a dedicated fiber from your house to the frontier building on Bonita, it will have emergency power.


The solution ........"Starlink". It works, I have used it from the middle of Death Valley to the back country of the Sierra's to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and a bunch of other no signal from anybody locations.

[id10t]

We lose power for days or a week when we get a hurricane. As long as I can power my DSL modem, and as long as the local telco office has generator power (3-4 days based on past experience), we can use the DSL just fine

Same with regular landline POTS phone, if we still had that service. With Debbie, cell towers went down quick and when up they were super congested and slow. Even in normal times, cell service ain't great where I am....

[GH85Carrera]

Last wee we received 6.58 inches of rain at our house. Our internet went down, and was at best slow and sporadic for thee day. The cable TV worked fine. Obvious guess is something on the internet side got wet in the area. When I called to report the issue, they said it was an area outrage.

It is almost funny how much I use the internet in 2014. I lived most of my life without it, and it is just vital to my way of life now.

[rwest]

I have a landline and my internet is carried on the same wire. I put a UPS on my router thinking that when power went out, I could still use the internet. Nope, whatever device injects the signal into my phone line must be getting local power so that when my power is out, so is the internet. Phone still works.

[daepp]

Originally Posted by Radioactive

The CATV signal that feeds your house starts at the "headend", which in your case is probably that building on Brooks in Ontario, not 100pct due to the merge with charter. The signal needs to be amplified along the way, so if the the power outage is over a large area you will lose your signal if a distribution amplifier along the way loses power. The headend will have emergency power.

In the case of fiber, frontier, if you could get it, would be a a dedicated fiber from your house to the frontier building on Bonita, it will have emergency power.


The solution ........"Starlink". It works, I have used it from the middle of Death Valley to the back country of the Sierra's to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and a bunch of other no signal from anybody locations.

Wow - thanks - you clearly seem to have a working knowledge of cable infrastructure AND my location - thank you very much!

And yeah, I've figured StarLink would be a good option, but I have yet to look into it. Would you recommend it for full-time usage, or as a backup?

Thanks again!!

[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

It is almost funny how much I use the internet in 2014. I lived most of my life without it, and it is just vital to my way of life now.

I'll bet it's darn right hilarious how much you use the Internet in 2024!

True story, this was 1999 or so, and the Internet was already a pretty big thing. We were interviewing a guy for a position at the corp office of a large hard drive manufacturer. We asked him how he'd deal with the pressure of an outage and having a bunch of execs breathing down his neck about email and network being down. His response was something along the lines of "they managed without email 10 years ago. I wouldn't let it get to me." He did not get the job.

[Radioactive]

Originally Posted by daepp

Wow - thanks - you clearly seem to have a working knowledge of cable infrastructure AND my location - thank you very much!

And yeah, I've figured StarLink would be a good option, but I have yet to look into it. Would you recommend it for full-time usage, or as a backup?

Thanks again!!

My experience with Starlink in a metropolitan area is not as good as rural on the upload. It works, but the upload speed does seem to be all over the place, download seems to be more than adequate. I think the more satellite's they put up the better it gets.

If your thinking Starlink, standard dish is now $300, $120 Residential per month, no contract, $150 Mobile/Roam, you can turn on and off,

Sorry, not trying to creep you out on the location, born and raised in your city