i here in Auckland, Coromandel and Northland the vodafone network is out don't the cell sites have some sort of back up power or be powered by other means sach as sola power? and why wasn't the telecom network affected
shay: i here in Auckland, Coromandel and Northland the vodafone network is out don't the cell sites have some sort of back up power or be powered by other means sach as sola power? and why wasn't the telecom network affected
The telecom network has been effected by the weather, just as Vodafone, I think the reason why telecom network is in a better state then Vodafone is because telcome has been bring in generators & some of the cell phone sites are also been run on batteries.
According to the Telecom media releases there is about Twenty-two Telecom mobile phone sites are out of service: 14 in Northland, 6 in Auckland and northward of the city, and 2 in the Coromandel.
I think they do have some kind of backup power because it was still working during the last big outage we had when all of auckland's power was knocked out.
So I guess the backups are only only temporary, I can't imagine it being very feasible to provide a generator at each and every cell site.
TELECOM UPDATE ON WEATHER-AFFECTED SERVICES IN UPPER NORTH ISLAND - 5PM
Up to 20,000 Telecom landline customers in the upper North Island continued to be without service as of 5pm today and some mobile coverage has also been affected. The majority of these customers are located in the Northland region.
Telecom GM Technology Operations Kelly Moore said staff are working hard to ensure continued service for those parts of the network that do not have mains power and to restore phone service to affected areas as quickly as possible.
"Disruptions of service are mainly due to loss of mains power and we're in close contact with power providers to expedite power restoration to affected sites.
"Our staff are busy delivering generators and additional batteries to these sites, but we continue to ask customers whose power is out and the phone is still working, to use their phones for important calls only.
"This will help conserve power on the network where sites are operating on Telecom's battery back-up power or generators," she said.
Telecom will offer an automatic credit of one month's line rental to residential customers who have been out of service for more than 24 hours because of the severe weather conditions yesterday and today. We would also like to thank Telecom customers for their patience while reporting individual phone faults this morning.
About 50 Telecom network sites (exchanges, mobile sites) are running on generators, with a further 82 portable generation systems delivered to support other sites.
Improved weather in Northland this morning enabled helicopters to deploy generators to isolated sites that had lost mains power, while helicopter flights in the Coromandel were restricted by weather conditions.
"Replenishing fuel supplies for the generators that have been deployed across the region is now a critical task. We're confident we will maintain these for the next few days until mains power is restored."
Our next priority is to provide emergency power to the approximately 200 local cabinets we have been unable to reach today, which means about 9,000 customers in the Hibiscus Coast, Coromandel, Northland, Warkworth, and Wellsford areas are currently out of service. Twenty-two Telecom mobile phone sites are out of service: 14 in Northland, 6 in Auckland and northward of the city, and 2 in the Coromandel.
Additional service staff have been sent into affected areas and all non-essential provisioning work has been suspended. Staff and generators have also been sent to Ruatoria and East Cape in advance of more adverse weather forecast for the East Coast of the North Island overnight. This weather may also limit access and impact service restoration times in those areas already affected by last night's weather.
We will provide ongoing updates on the number of affected customers and restoration of services in each region as new information comes to hand.
TELECOM CREDIT
Customers who have been out of service for more than 24 hours do not need to apply for this credit. It will be applied automatically to affected customers' accounts on their August 2007 bill.
Telecom has also been diverting landlines to customers' mobile phones or alternative landlines to assist with their calling. The call diversion is free of charge and includes 027, 021 and 029 mobile phones.
ADVICE FOR CUSTOMERS
If you have lost your mains power service any power-operated phones (e.g. portable phones) will not work. If you have a standard phone available (perhaps stored in a cupboard) which can be plugged into the wall phone socket, then this should be plugged in as these phones do not rely on mains power.
shay: i here in Auckland, Coromandel and Northland the vodafone network is out don't the cell sites have some sort of back up power or be powered by other means sach as sola power? and why wasn't the telecom network affected
Many cellsites have backup power few issues there
Batteries only last so long and once they start going flat not many helicopters want to fly in generators in that weather and if the cells had solar power do you think the telco's would be paying a power company to run them!
All cellsites, apart from central city metro locations, have battery back-up, usually based on around four hours capacity - more for key sites. Locations that are notoriously hard to get to or regularly loose mains can often have a generator on site, or uber batteries.
Unfortunately in this type of situation it is very difficult for the telcos and their contractors to get generators to these sites once the batteries go flat. This was also the case with the big snow in central South Island last year, and Vodafone did a pretty good job considering the conditions.
With all the flooding and road closures/blockages in the storm affected areas, there will be delays in getting the gensets on site, but they will be trying.
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