Grrr! Murphy is taking the piss....

[davidgillon]

I posted elseweb about the problems with BT's "Digital Voice" project and no-longer being able to make landline emergency calls in powercuts, so of course we promptly had our longest powercut in ages, Only 90 minutes, but it was pitch black outside and of course it took the heating out with it - gas boiler, but electric pumps. I'm pretty much convinced it was the sub-station on the main road opposite my house as I noticed there was someone working in there just moments before the power came back on. Ironically my next door neighbour has just gone to work for the power network, yet his van was sat on his drive throughout,

On top of which I've spent the day sneezing, though at least the Covid test says "Not one of ours, guv".

The oven is on and I'm planning on warming myself with chicken and chips.

I may as well add the Digital Voice post while I'm on as the publicity about it from BT and OFCOM has been near non-existent:

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/19823730.county-durham-residents-arent-happy-bt-axing-landlines/

I made a note to look the background to this story up when I got back from the land-of-no-internet (aka my mother's). The TLDR version is that under a programme called 'Digital Voice' BT are axing the old PSTN landline network come 2025, which means everyone's (new) landline phone will operate via the net, and stop working in the event of a powercut, which will make calling 999 a bit of a bugger.

Apparently OFCOM are allowing them to do this because everyone can now call 999 on their mobiles, except those who don't have one, or who live somewhere with no signal, or whose mobile simply has a flat battery.. The problem for this argument being that the recent Storm Arwen didn't just knock out the power for major areas of the North East, it took out their cellphone coverage as well, leaving some people with no way to call 999 for a fortnight.

It's also going to be a problem for elderly or disabled people who have an emergency care set-up via the phone-line. My mother has one to the local county run system and the only thing I'd seen about Digital Voice prior to the Storm Arwen stuff was a letter from them, which completely failed to explain what was going on.

I'm speechless that this wasn't stopped on general emergency planning grounds, never mind putting vulnerable people at risk.

But Tories.....

 

Comments

[hilarita]

Oh god yes the Digital Voice is a total cockup, and I suspect in 2026 we'll get Storm Whatever, and some poor buggers will die because they can't call 999 from a landline, there will be an Inquiry, and it will all cost a lot more to fix than not bloody doing it in the first place.

[davidgillon]

We came damn near to getting it with Storm Arwen, so I'm not holding my breath for it taking until 2026. What part of 'storms regularly blow down cell towers' are OFCOM finding so difficult to accept?

[hilarita]

My best guess is that no-one in OFCOM has lived outside London for decades, and thus can't conceive of being somewhere where there isn't coverage from multiple masts at all times.

[davidgillon]

Adding further to the irony, I just had an automated call from UK Power Network to say they're working on getting anyone still without power back up and running and giving contact details. On my landline phone, which won't work in powercuts once Digital Voice is implemented.

[davidgillon]

I can totally believe that :(

[davidgillon]

And I'd no sooner posted that than my power dropped out again, though fortunately this time it was back in 30 seconds.

[hilarita]

I somehow live in a place where I can only get 3G reception at home from my provider. I live in Cambridge, about 1.5 miles from the city centre. Almost everywhere gets better 4G coverage than this small patch of Cambridge. I'd hate to be in the Brecons.