Broadband ISPs and Ofcom UK Respond to Winter Blackout Fears
Ofcom themselves say that they regularly engage with the Government and other regulators (e.g. Ofgem) on a range of matters, yet they declined to provide any details of those conversations. But they did highlight a new plan that could improve power resilience, albeit without giving much detail.
Some of our sources have since indicated that the regulator is allegedly now pushing for all access networks to survive for a minimum of 1 hour for emergency voice calls, which sounds as if it aligns to their home battery requirements for “vulnerable” users (e.g. such as those on full fibre FTTP lines with only a home phone style service).
A Spokesperson for Ofcom said:
“Under the current regulatory framework guidelines, network operators must take appropriate steps to ensure their networks have power resilience capabilities to deal with power outage events. How and to what extent they do this varies.
Our work with the telecoms industry, Government and other regulators on what can be learnt following the recent storms has produced an action plan to improve response and resilience in the future. This plan includes work to improve power resilience.”
We also asked a wide cross-section of ISPs about the concerns, although some (e.g. Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Zen Internet) didn’t respond and one major player felt as if it would not be appropriate to comment further, since in their eyes it was a matter of critical national infrastructure and not appropriate for public discussion – an interesting position given how public the concerns have become.
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Meanwhile, Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) claim to have robust backup systems in place at key technical sites, which we understand might allow those sites to run for several days without mains power. Finally, BT and Openreach told us – in a rare joint statement – that they have “robust contingency plans in place” for any planned power outages, albeit without giving any details.
Joint Statement by BT and Openreach:
“We regularly speak with DCMS, Ofcom and other Government Departments about network resilience and we have robust contingency plans in place to protect customers through a range of different situations.”
We have contingency plans in place to help maintain our fixed (broadband and phone) and mobile networks in the event of planned power outages. We’re also continuing conversations with the power companies to establish strong data sharing processes which help them to restore power in a more timely manner, where necessary.”
However, given the sensitivity of this topic, we also engaged with a large number of other ISPs and alternative networks in an off-the-record capacity. Many of those players said they have invested a significant amount of money to ensure that their side of the network equation is able to stay afloat during a blackout, often for several hours (4 to 11 hours seems to be a common range), or up to a few short days in some areas – usually using a mix of battery and generator systems.
The catch is that managing such events during a localised outage is one thing, but extending this to a national scale would quickly become extremely problematic. All of these systems need direct interaction (labour intensive) to keep everything running smoothly (recharging / replacing batteries, topping up fuel, managing faults etc.) and there can be a lot of them, which could strain resources to breaking point.
On top of that a lot of operators have some inter-dependency with other suppliers and you can’t always guarantee that your network supplier is going to the same lengths as you are. One provider highlighted the example of a recent multi-hour power outage, which saw their links to VMO2 vanish immediately, then local 4G and 5G mobile sites went too (several providers mentioned that mobile networks were often among the first to go down), with Openreach’s street cabinets allegedly also starting to fail after 2-4 hours.
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Speaking of Openreach, one common complaint by providers that used some of their services is that the national incumbent would, many believe, simply declare Matters Beyond Our Reasonable Control (MBORC) during such an event – much as they do after big storms – to cover themselves off in case of compensation claims due to delays or service disruptions etc.
In others cases operators told us about some simple practical difficulties, such as with sites where there isn’t enough spare space to deploy a larger backup system / generator, even when the budget and desire exists to do so (e.g. hilltop sites with a small comms room / building). Issues like this can be difficult to rectify, due to the usual challenges with planning, permissions, costs and wayleaves etc.
Furthermore, it was pointed out that by the time a provider’s backup systems have run out of juice, then customers are usually stuck offline too as they’re often left in a similar boat. Even many of those end-users who do have battery backup solutions at home can only run them for so long before they need to be recharged (i.e. an operator can make a huge effort to stay online, but still have no users to serve).
On the flip side we have seen a few alternative networks that have become very inventive, such as by using the power stored in Electric Vehicles (EVs) to support network kit during major outages (only certain EV models can share power like this). But once again, doing that for a few localised issues is not the same as dealing with wide-scale rolling national or regional outage.
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“We used an EV to power a cab for 3 weeks when we faced delays with mains power coming in, it worked really well. The batteries kept the cab running while we took the EV away to recharge, which was only needed once every 5-6 days,” said the provider.
Put simply, any major national outage lasting more than a few hours is going to be a problem for more or less everybody, including both network operators and end-users (homes and businesses) alike. The big operators may boast about their resilience and plans, but even they have limits and complex supply chains – where weaknesses may also exist.
Meanwhile, home owners with deeper pockets have the option of investing in their own generators and rechargeable battery power stations (e.g. the units from ALLPOWERS and POWEROAK), but the expectation from the government and energy sector is that the mains supply should be secure. But admittedly, you might still go bankrupt in paying the extortionate prices for that energy supply.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
Judge for yourselves
https://www.nationalgrideso.com/document/264521/download
https://www.nationalgrid.com/gas-transmission/document/140316/download
Hopefully there will be an updated report closer to Winter 22/23
Some of us reading this article today will have experienced the Winter of Discontent V1, and hope Winter of Discontent V2 does not materislise.
BTW I lost power for three days a few years back, trusy old jenny rator saved the day.
National Grid appear to be working on the assumption that there will be interconnector in-flows to the UK at peak times due to price differential. However the relevant governments may legislate to give priority to their own consumers at such times.
Us apprentices where looking forward to a three day week, but the government decided we worked for a ‘esential industry’ ☹️
So working as normal, but going home to power cuts, still like many we had a coal fire so at least we kept warm, or at least as warm as we normally where.
The World Economic Forum’s agenda of poverty has already caused mass starvation in Sri Lanka with their version of Socialism. It will now cause blackouts around the EU (and the UK by extended incompetence)
Putin is not an excuse. Many politicians, such as Donald Trump, have called out the overt dependence on Russian energy but the ones especially in Germany have ignored the signs, just as they have been ignoring the signs of buying critical infrastructure from the Chinese Communist Party. Given Germany’s voting past, hopes are very low
The ones who a year ago were filling up plastic bags with fuel and got it way before the inflation really kicked in were branded as crazy and selfish but they were right
> The World Economic Forum’s agenda of poverty has already caused mass starvation in Sri Lanka with their version of Socialism. It will now cause blackouts around the EU (and the UK by extended incompetence)
Years and years of crazy spending and populism… I guess you also blame Sri Lanka’s decision to stop using chemical fertilisers on the World Economic Forum? lol.
> The ones who a year ago were filling up plastic bags with fuel and got it way before the inflation really kicked in were branded as crazy and selfish but they were right
Diesel/Gasoline goes bad after just a few months (3-6)… so not only they were wrong, but they’re also ignorant.
Where I live we have power often and because of that our Internet goes down because of no power to router if I got a ups for the router still would have no Internet because bt does not use ups in their cabs. We also have no mobile service because they also have no ups. Worse case all get ups a generator and use starlink.
Openreach do use batteries in their FTTC cabs
starlink power consumption is hilariously high though, a nice chunk of the generator’s output will be needed just for that
as has been said, Openreach cabs are battery backed, they have to be since they are now part of offering a landline service for those who have gone to digital voice or similar services. If you have Openreach FTTP its even better, since there is generally no powered equipment between you and the exchange
But apparently they are planning to run Starlink directly to mobile phones somehow.
I’m looking forward to the technical documents on exactly how the heck that is going to be possible, especially as it claims to use their existing radios and tiny antennas.
@Anon
But for how long?, when I last peeked inside a dslam I saw a lot of electronics.
Also re FTTP, how long will the exchange batteries last?
Further more will oldies on just digital phone service be supplied with battery backed-up OTN’s?
I was told by an OR engineer that the entire exchange functions would be moved to the FTTC cabinets, not sure if was true.
Exchanges have generators with fuel to last days, which can be replenished.
A lot of exchange functions will be moved to the cabinets, if you’re a smaller exchange.
The idea is that once ADSL and POTS (landlines) are removed from the exchange, you only need a few headend exchanges with all the fibre running to those.
For most of the country that will also mean moving to FTTP, where cabinets are not usually required either. So it will be easier to maintain during a power cut as all you need is to power those few headend exchanges, then its up to end users to keep their end powered.
The FTTP ONTs that Openreach are using right now use around 1-2W, very easy to keep powered up. Although obviously you need to power your router too which will be more like 12W+. Though with a cheap 12V UPS you should get many hours out of that.
Its a shame router manufacturers aren’t thinking about this. A router with a built-in UPS run off cheap NiMH AA batteries could run for quite a while and be easier to maintain than a UPS. Some early DECT phone systems used to have backup batteries in the base station, but it seems nobody cares about that sort of thing any more, its assumed mains power will never fail.
@JohnW
Is this standard at all exchanges?
Are the generators auto started in the event of a power failure?
The problem with this country is that nothing happens until something happens .
Much as it would be an issue , if we were to have power issues this winter and possibly even longer multi day power cuts having them now may be better than a future failure when things such as FTTP are fully rolled out .
Thats assuming that people have wired corded phones plugged in , and are not reliant on cordless phones with their mains powered base stations
Is it not the case that in the event of a power failure, even with FTTP and its electrical backup?,
the OTN is used to provide voice (999 calls etc) which requires power.
This was discussed on IspReview recently.
Do mobile base stations have backup ups system?
Does Raynet have a backup UPS system?
I assume (hopefully) that our emergency services have reliant systems, but its no use if the public cannot contact them.
The issues that concern me are
Reduced inter connector availability from our EU friends.
Lack of gas storage.
Simultaneous power generation failure.
Having been in a disaster relief situation, rapidly you realise that no thought of a Plan B.
This is what is annoying about the direction Openreach/BT have gone.
The early FTTP ONTs had digital voice built-in and battery backup using cheap NiMH batteries, so easy to maintain for customer. But they decided they didn’t want to run their own POTS service any more so standard VoIP over the Internet has become the way to go, with the added complexity of needing to power a router with VoIP support, or a router AND a VoIP phone/base station, and your ISP needs to stay online.
Maintaining an independent VoIP service run on its own dedicated network would have been a lot more reliable, as they could have powered down everything else during prolonged outages.
For people who only want a landline for emergencies, the old system was much better.
Come winter the least of our worries will be broadband connectivity once the populous start destroying stuff while protesting at the government. The green agenda orchestrated by the WEF are to blame for all this mess. I don’t have a UPS solution at home anyway and mobile will be more reliable unless this also went down.
The BBC somewhat predicted this scenario with surprising accuracy in a 2003 mockumentary titiled “If the lights go out” and defiantly worth a watch. Its on YouTube if interested.
“If The Lights Go Out” is a 2003 dramatised documentary produced by the BBC.
It was indeed worth a watch: thank you.
Noteworthy there was no blame placed on renewables: all about the reliance on fossil fuels, reliance on imported sources and shortcomings in having a free market for energy.
Think it’s fairer to put the blame on a combination of lack of gas storage, failure to invest in nuclear, privatisation, and placing energy security secondary to profit.
We’re not even running 4.8 GW of nuclear right now. We’re burning both gas and coal in order to export the electricity.
Still clearly the blame lies with the Illuminati under their new title: WEF. There’s always someone else to blame it seems when the root cause is our home-grown incompetence, cynical politicking, decade-long projects don’t tend to win elections, and shortsightedness in that a large proportion of the voting public couldn’t care less about 10 years time.
Should this website naming anyone during the next article within weeks and next time the word “Coronavirus” MUST be mentioned in this article if rewritten.
Can you add some context to your question, as otherwise it’s a bit random? I should also point out that “Coronavirus” is a family of viruses, while COVID-19 is a specific virus within that group – the one responsible for the pandemic.
Interesting that this topic brought out the WEF loons. Wonder if there’s a particular type of story that calls out to the crazies? I’ll ask Bill Gates through my microchip.
The situation is a lot more complex. WE are now dependent on wind and the wind frequently does not blow
Another problem is the National Grid was not deigned around wind. Power station were were distributed around the UK
Most of the Wind Farms tend to be in the more remote part of the UK and certainly largely away from the South ofg England. The current grid does not have the capacity to transfer much power to where it is needed
There are plans to build a new power line from the East Coast to London but that could take several years to build. Quite why it could not be run under the sea is unclear
Another huge problem is battery powered cars. The home eclectic supply was not designed for this and only has a 100A single phase supply. Just about enough to slow charge one EV
If everyone starts getting EV’s the local grid and subb stations will not be able to cope and will need to be replaced