Telephone Power Dependency

1. Telephone Power Dependency Do your phones work when the lights go out?

2. In the old days… • Your dial tone came from the Telephone company Central Office (CO). • The old telephone ran on voltage that came from huge batteries in the CO. • The batteries were kept charged by either the power company or huge generators with weeks of fuel. Ray J. Vaughan, MS

3. Now • Today’s technology comes with a price… electricity. • Now we need to provide power to our phones, our phone systems • And to the equipment that makes fiber optic networks possible. Ray J. Vaughan, MS

4. Low Tech Solution • First the easy solution to the big problem • Educate the Public to get a simple or old phone in the house. • Does your phone have a display? Answering machine? Cordless? It has a second cord that goes to an electrical outlet. • When the lights go out, these phones die. Ray J. Vaughan, MS

5. Excuses • “I have a generator” • Will you be able to call for help if it doesn’t start? • How will you call for the Fire Department if it catches fire? • How many days of fuel will you have available? • Will you run it 24/7? Ray J. Vaughan, MS

6. Excuses • “I have a cell phone” • How will you be charging it? • Will the towers survive? Ray J. Vaughan, MS

7. Message: • Have at least one simple phone in the house. • Add this to your agency’s home disaster inventory list. • ( and take the analog TV OFF the list… HDTV and EMhttp://rayvaughan.com/HDTV&EM.htm ) Ray J. Vaughan, MS

8. Harder Problems to fix The next problem doesn’t have such an easy fix. Ray J. Vaughan, MS

9. See the Light • Fiber Optic technology allows for huge amounts of voice and data over many miles on a hair-thin piece of glass. • BUT, Glass conducts light, not power. • Something has to convert the digital light signals back into analog electrical signals. • This conversion requires sophisticated electronic equipment that needs power. Ray J. Vaughan, MS

10. Remote Terminals • Covert Fiber Optic signals to regular phone lines • Powered by the local power utility • 4 to 8 hours of battery power • Usually no backup power source on site • Sometimes called SLC, Subscriber Loop Carrier Ray J. Vaughan, MS

11. Is this really a problem? • If there is a long (>4 hours) power outage who will be effected? • Everyone. Calling 911 will be impossible. • You. Your Public Safety Facility may be out of service. • Cellular Sites are interconnected with circuits fed by the same RTs Ray J. Vaughan, MS

12. Wilma Ray J. Vaughan, MS

13. War Stories • Hurricane Wilma October 2005 • South Florida • Weak Category 2 hurricane • $20.6 Billion in damage • 36 deaths in Florida • Wide area but minimal flooding • Complete power failure in South Florida • 3,241,000 customers, 6,000,000 people without power • Weeks to restore power to many areas Ray J. Vaughan, MS

14. Communication Failure • As I had predicted, we had major communication failures. • The area effected by Wilma was so wide, resources available in the area were overwhelmed. Ray J. Vaughan, MS

15. Fire Stations • Our generators came on • VoIP phones, delivered by T1, ran until the RT died • Backup Hotline/Fax Line also on RT • Last resort: UHF Public Safety Radio System • Conventional, Simplex available • No common points of failure Ray J. Vaughan, MS

16. K&B Radio Site • Hub site for South end of the County • T1s to dispatch, other sites failed • Site in In-Cabinet Mode, 1 RX, 1 TX • Long RT failure • Portable generator set up • Fuel shortage • Misconnection Ray J. Vaughan, MS

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19. Outage Time Line • Event • Power outage • 4 hour countdown starts • End of wind event, earthquake, disaster • Batteries start to die • No communication • Generators arrive • Fuel shortages Ray J. Vaughan, MS

20. Katrina Facts • Estimates of the damage: • Initially over 1.75 million people without phone service • 131 Central office effected and 19 of them either destroyed or heavily damaged, serving a total of 187,000 lines. • Cost to restore/replace: $400-500 million • Data and Photo Source: The Central Office Ray J. Vaughan, MS

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24. Verizon Central Office, WTC Ray J. Vaughan, MS

25. Verizon Central Office, WTC Ray J. Vaughan, MS

26. Verizon Central Office, WTC Ray J. Vaughan, MS

27. Verizon Central Office, WTC Ray J. Vaughan, MS

28. Verizon Central Office, WTC Ray J. Vaughan, MS

29. Action Items • Establish a working relationship with your telco technical expert • Identify your critical locations • Sorry, they’re not ALL critical • How will a Telcom outage effect your process? • What’s convenient and what’s mandatory? • Define backup systems • Public Safety Radio • Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP) Ray J. Vaughan, MS

30. Action Items 2 • Start with your most critical. Ask: • Where do these lines/circuits need power to operate? • Your end. You better trust your own power • The CO. Batteries, large generators. • Your concern: the ‘everywhere else’ • Is there an automatic generator at each? • Home-Run to CO? Or in a loop? Ray J. Vaughan, MS

31. Take a look • Learn what to look for • Identify the RTs in your area • Look for generators • Ask questions • Your regular Telco Tech is a great resource for how things really are Ray J. Vaughan, MS

32. Types of RTs • Above Ground • Underground • Flooding? • In-Building • In someone else’s building • Worst case. You depend on their planning and survival. Ray J. Vaughan, MS

33. Clues that it’s a RT • Power Meter • Hum or fan noise • Thick cables radiating out • Frequent Telco Trucks parking • Address or RT ID stickers Ray J. Vaughan, MS

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37. On-Site RT • The best solution is to have your RT in your facility • You provide the primary power • You provide the security • Verify fiber route • Route redundancy • Make sure you trust everyone in your loop Ray J. Vaughan, MS

38. Case Study • K&B Radio Site • Now has an on-site RT • Independent of area RT • On our generator • Redundant fiber routes to CO Ray J. Vaughan, MS

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40. Single Points of Failure Better to have multiple: • Remote Terminals • Generators • Fibers and Fiber routes • Copper circuits (if close enough to CO) • Communication Companies Ray J. Vaughan, MS

41. Generators • Subject to barometric pressure failure during storms • Over/Underspeed due to wind • Water in air intake • Projectile damage • Check the oil change frequency • Oil & Filters on site • Downtime for changes Ray J. Vaughan, MS

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43. Flooding • Many RTs and other Telecom facilities in Katrina were flooded. • Fiber can be underwater • Equipment can’t be. • Identify any critical systems in your system that need to be moved higher • Even a CO can be at risk of flooding Ray J. Vaughan, MS

44. Terrorist Targets? • RTs could be an easy target for anyone wanting to effect communication in an area. • Most are easy to spot when you know what you’re looking for. • Exposed fiber, cables, power • Even simple vandalism at an RT can put you out of service. Ray J. Vaughan, MS

45. Monitoring • Your Telco should monitor every RT • Investigate every alarm, even open doors • Roll generator when AC power fails • Not when batteries fail Ray J. Vaughan, MS

46. Regulators: • Require permanent, automatic generators for all new RTs • Encourage RT clustering • Require response levels • Ratios of portable Generators to RTs • Phase out RTs without automatic power backup • Mandate in-building RTs for all Public Safety buildings Ray J. Vaughan, MS

47. More Information • My information site about Powering and Remote Terminals: PhoneFailure.com Ray J. Vaughan, MS