Village resident, Nicholas Morrell doesn’t get a mobile signal at his home. He has no Social Media accounts. He was offered SuperFast Fibre Broadband by BT but refused the contract when he realised he could be at home with no means of communication while the country is in Lockdown due to a pandemic. Knowing it is unlikely he is the only person in the village with these circumstances, he issued this warning earlier today:
“Those planning to replace their existing analogue system with superfast fibre broadband should be warned that, in the event of a power outage lasting longer than about an hour, both the broadband and the telephone (VoiP) will no longer work. If they do not have a mobile phone signal, they would be unable to contact the emergency services until power was restored. Unlike the old “copper wire” analogue system, which draws power from the exchange, fibre cables cannot transmit current and depend entirely on power at the subscriber’s premises. Openreach tells me that the backup batteries provided last for about an hour before requiring a recharge. This problem is not advertised by BT and neither Ofcom nor service providers yet have a solution. A “transition product” whereby both digital and analogue ran side by side appears to be no longer on offer.
At the suggestion of BT I contacted Chris Loder, our MP, who has a special interest in broadband matters. He tells me that, with other Dorset MPs, he is making representations on Superfast, Gigabit and mobile connectivity. We have to hope that, by 2025 when the analogue system is due to be switched off, mobile phone coverage has improved dramatically. In the middle of a pandemic the loss of the telephone would be especially unwelcome.”
If you have a problem with your BT Broadband – Click HERE.
If you need to contact Chris Loder MP – please email: hello@ChrisLoder.co.uk or chris.loder.mp@parliament.uk.
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