No Rogers Home Phone during Power Outage - Disappointing

[Davage]

We have had Rogers Home Phone for 4 to 5 years now.    Yes - we are old fashioned and have a "land line".   In the past when the power went out in the area our "land line" would continue to run for a few hours.   Now when the power goes out, we lose home phone and internet immediately.     Our phone modem and cable modem ARE plugged into a UPS to provide power to those devices, but the rogers network in our area apparently has no battery backups installed.

I called Rogers tech support to inquire about the issue.  They dispatched a tech who came by the house today to confirm that the battery within our home phone modem IS working fine, and I even showed him that I had a UPS on the Rogers equipment.  

I explained that 911 service to us would be unavailable if the power is out.  He said "Yes", and most people these days have a cell phone to use to call 911.

The tech tells me that the Rogers infrastructure in our area is not required by any regulatory agency to have battery backups, so they save millions of dollars each year by not installing battery backup systems.  Land lines have been moved down the priority list for 911 requirements he tells me because "everybody" has a cell phone these days.

So...  That's what I guess it comes down to.  Rogers doesn't see the need to keep 911 service available in a power outage to land line users.   

The tech suggested that we keep our cell phones charged at all times.

What is the use of calling 911 on a cell phone, as they won't be able to pinpoint the address at an instant.

Very disappointed in Rogers.  I've already made inquiries with Bell.  They say that their phone lines DO remain active during a power outage.   A family friend works for Bell in the circuit planning department  - I am going to inquire as to the truthfulness of the Bell rep's claim before I change service..

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[kookai]

Just because a cellphone has become the 'in thing' doesn't mean it's right for everyone. Cellphones take a few minutes to power up..then they search for connection. At least with a landline, a dial tone is almost INSTANT. Also,

a landline phone doesn't make a voice sound as though they're in a tunnel or produce echoes. A landline is more

private if the conversation is to be strictly between you & the caller (or person you called), & not for everyone in the household to hear. 

[OLDYELLR]

Hello @kookai   I was a proud user of a genuine copper landline until last August, when my telco/ISP hooked up fibre and my landline became "home phone".  I had trepidations about the phone, but was assured the ONT was protected by battery backup for about 8 hours in case of a power outage. I can't remember the Hydro being out for that long in the last decade.

As for cellphones or smartphones, I realize most people under 50  have theirs with them, powered up 24/7. They not only talk and text on them, but browse the internet, play music and use dozens of apps. It's their lifeline. It's a whole different world from 20-30 years ago.  That's until the power goes out and they can't charge them.  Personally, I've had a cellphone for a lot of years, but it's a Pay-As-You-Go and I use it as they were originally intended; I turn it on and take it with me when I leave the house, which nowadays is once a week, if that.

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@kookai wrote:

1. Just because a cellphone has become the 'in thing' doesn't mean it's right for everyone. 

2. a landline phone doesn't make a voice sound as though they're in a tunnel or produce echoes.

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1. It's not an "in thing". It's just that the vast majority of people have them.  Only about half of homes have a landline.  Therefore providers do not replace old backup batteries in the nodes, saving them (and you) money.

2. This may depend on the phone and the connection. Whenever I call people using my cell, they rarely know I'm on a cell (I often ask if they can tell).  WiFi calling may also help in this regard if cell service at your home location is spotty.

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@kookai wrote:

1. what is a ups where this topic is concerned? 

2. At least Bell's phones will work during a power outage.

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1. A UPS is an Uninterruptible Power Supply.  (battery backup for devices). You can usually purchase a small one on sale for about $30-$50, however, as discussed earlier in this thread, that may not help if there is no working battery at the "node" closest to your location when the power goes down.

2. Not any more. This was the case until the latest infrastructure came into play.  Most of Bell's service is now via Fibre To The Node (FTTN).  If the power to that node (near your home) goes down, your home phone will be down, unless there is a working battery in that node, which is the case less and less these days, as discussed previously in this thread.  Copper wiring coming to your home is no guarantee of uptime during a power failure.

[Pauly]

I just want to add something, Just because the old traditional copper phone lines *worked* during a Hydro Outage, does not mean the provider is superior to Rogers.  Indeed having the phone line work during a hydro outage is a nice *perk* to have, but even though it worked on Bell in the past means it will always be something you can count on or rely on., Bell has switched to Fiber powered phone lines and yes if you lose hydro, your phone may work for a short period, or not even at all, because theres other pieces of equipment in your neighbourhood that "needs" adequite hydro or a backup battery in order for the phone to work in your house.

Another thing to mention, I used to be a customer of home phone from many providers including Rogers.  When the hydro goes out, yeah its a bummer, but I never thought to use my phone when the hydro went out, and usually when it goes out, its for like a minute or two at most, with the exception of that ice storm we had like 6-7 years ago.   and if you REALLY want your phone to work during a Hydro outage, its best to stop complaining to Rogers about it theres absolutely nothing they can or will do, and instead just go out and buy a uninterruptible power supply (also called a UPS) and plug your cordless phone or answering machine or even your lamp into it and move forward in life and enjoy the phone during a hydro outage.

[OLDYELLR]

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@Pauly wrote:When the hydro goes out, yeah its a bummer, but I never thought to use my phone when the hydro went out, and usually when it goes out, its for like a minute or two at most, with the exception of that ice storm we had like 6-7 years ago.   and if you REALLY want your phone to work during a Hydro outage, its best to stop complaining to Rogers about it theres absolutely nothing they can or will do, and instead just go out and buy a uninterruptible power supply (also called a UPS) and plug your cordless phone or answering machine or even your lamp into it and move forward in life and enjoy the phone during a hydro outage.

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In my case the only thing I used my landline for during a power outage was to call the Hydro number and find out when the power would be back on.  I'd use one of my non=powered phones.

[highlanderfan]

costumer
I just had rogers come and replace a power cable to a phone modem I called before and they said that the unit should be swapped out.

The unit was not swapped out they did replace the plug of the phone modem. So if you are having troubles with the phone going out it could be the power adapter. Mine works with out power cable plunged in because of a new power cable.

hope this helped everyone that had this problem I spent months trying to get rogers to fix the problem and all it took was a power cable swap. from customer