So how does this work then?

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OFSO
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Re: So how does this work then?

#21 Post by OFSO » Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:33 am

In our massive snowfall disaster even the landlines went out. Telephone exchanges also run on electricity, you know ! I went down the mountain with a length of twin-pair-plus-suspension wire and reconnected the house but......

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Re: So how does this work then?

#22 Post by Cacophonix » Tue Jan 08, 2019 10:31 am

Cacophonix wrote:
Tue Jan 08, 2019 7:32 am
Alisoncc wrote:
Mon Jan 07, 2019 8:38 pm
What I always find amusing are those to pontificate about a "cashless" society. Cards aren't much use without electricity to drive the ATM's, card readers, etc. I always retain a cash stash just in case.
Keeping a supply of cash, gold, diamonds and a machine gun or two with enough ammo and food and fresh water for at least a year is never a bad idea

A German boss of my used to hoard nylon tights as well, to be used to barter with in lieu of cash. Something in the Germanic race memory after World War 2 I guess. He was as mad as a pair of lederhosen mind you!

The fabric of society has been made much more vulnerable through our pervase reliance on the internet and electronic equipment to transact and communicate the most basic financial features of a civilised society. We now have one single point of failure and it is electrical.

The barbarians await at the gate. Chaos will reign and early death will attend.

Caco
?

A kind of pervasive pervert I guess!

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Re: So how does this work then?

#23 Post by llondel » Wed Jan 09, 2019 4:25 am

Telephone exchanges of old had a battery room (and probably still do), with banks of lead-acid cells to provide 48V for the system if the power went down. They also had backup generators and the way it was supposed to work is that someone would turn up and start that before the batteries went flat.

I have UPS boxes keeping various bits of IT infrastructure here operational. It'll last long enough for me to get out of bed, come down and check the power company website and report an outage if necessary. Various computers here will send me a text message if the power goes out, so if I get a barrage of texts I know what's happened even before looking at the phone if I'm away from the house. At some point I'm going to install a 12V power bus round the house to install 12V LED lighting so that if we get the big earthquake and all the power goes down, we'll have battery backup and a solar panel to at least keep the lights on even if nothing else works. I have books I can read if there's sufficient light.

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Re: So how does this work then?

#24 Post by Hydromet » Wed Jan 09, 2019 8:16 am

During our storms last month, a large area of Sydney was without power. We lost it for 24 hours, about the least time of anyone, but others were without power for up to 3 days. Fortunately, we had an old phone that I plugged in, so we had comms, but the cell phone network here went down after a couple of hours.
During the power failure, a large branch came down on my Indian neighbour's driveway. He asked to borrow my electric chainsaw.

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Re: So how does this work then?

#25 Post by Pontius Navigator » Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:19 am

Llondel, 18 years ago the first home I stayed in in India had a backup electrical circuit.

Not pretty but a bank of 24v truck batteries under a bench seat in the living space and CFL bulbs suspended from the ceiling. This contrasted with an elegant chandelier suspended over the marble staircase ascending to the mezzanine floor.

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Re: So how does this work then?

#26 Post by Capetonian » Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:26 pm

Question re. the new Telkom ZA phones. I think Ian16th. may know the answer to this.

For various reasons, cable theft being the main one, Telkom fixed line customers are being switched over to handsets which connect to the cellular network via 4G/5G, using a built in SIM card, so there is no physical connection to the Telkom network. The handsets need a power supply, which may be corded into the mains or battery.

Assuming that I am in CPT and my number is 021 555 1234, and I take that phone and travel to (e.g.) JNB, will that phone work there and will people be able to call me on that same number?

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Re: So how does this work then?

#27 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:31 pm

Capetonian wrote:
Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:26 pm
Question re. the new Telkom ZA phones. I think Ian16th. may know the answer to this.

For various reasons, cable theft being the main one, Telkom fixed line customers are being switched over to handsets which connect to the cellular network via 4G/5G, using a built in SIM card, so there is no physical connection to the Telkom network. The handsets need a power supply, which may be corded into the mains or battery.

Assuming that I am in CPT and my number is 021 555 1234, and I take that phone and travel to (e.g.) JNB, will that phone work there and will people be able to call me on that same number?
That is the idea. The copper backbone will be piggybacked on the existing cellular network. It will all work until they cellular network towers are stolen!
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Re: So how does this work then?

#28 Post by Capetonian » Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:36 pm

Yes, I understand that, but does using the above solution let you take your phone to another area and still use it, or do they have some way of inhibiting that?
For example, if you live in Milnerton (aka Millerton!) is your phone in some way locked to the cell towers that serve that area or could I take it to JNB and still use it with my 021 number?

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Re: So how does this work then?

#29 Post by ian16th » Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:45 pm

Capetonian wrote:
Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:26 pm
Question re. the new Telkom ZA phones. I think Ian16th. may know the answer to this.

For various reasons, cable theft being the main one, Telkom fixed line customers are being switched over to handsets which connect to the cellular network via 4G/5G, using a built in SIM card, so there is no physical connection to the Telkom network. The handsets need a power supply, which may be corded into the mains or battery.

Assuming that I am in CPT and my number is 021 555 1234, and I take that phone and travel to (e.g.) JNB, will that phone work there and will people be able to call me on that same number?
My neighbour has one of these devices and yes you can connect from quite a long range. But not from Joburg to CT.
It is an odd arbitrary number something like 120km, but don't quote me on that.
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Re: So how does this work then?

#30 Post by Capetonian » Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:53 pm

Thanks, so then it is somehow tethered to a group of cellphone towers. What I really need to know is if an 021 phone is taken up to Yzerfontein, will it work? It's about 80 km so it might. Need to experiment.

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Re: So how does this work then?

#31 Post by G-CPTN » Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:58 pm

Are these handsets otherwise normal mobile handsets?

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Re: So how does this work then?

#32 Post by Capetonian » Sun Jan 19, 2020 2:11 pm

It's a sort of hybrid solution.
https://secure.telkom.co.za/today/shop/plan/landline/
You get a handset which is not hardwired but works on 3G/4G. The basic handsets are of very poor quality but you can buy decent ones. The idea is to roll out a 'landline' type solution to remote areas and also to cut costs by not having to install and keep replacing copper cables, which get stolen.

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Re: So how does this work then?

#33 Post by G-CPTN » Sun Jan 19, 2020 2:52 pm

A remote farmstead near us is being connected by fibre-to-the-premises, funded by the local authority.

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Re: So how does this work then?

#34 Post by OFSO » Sun Jan 19, 2020 3:26 pm

Both our properties (in Spain and the UK) have no landlines. Huawei 4G boxes connect phones, TV and 'landline' phones via the mobile network. Both offer unlimited, unmetered calls and cost less than half of what Telefonica/BT were charging, price is including unlimited broadband.

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Re: So how does this work then?

#35 Post by G-CPTN » Sun Jan 19, 2020 3:59 pm

OFSO wrote:
Sun Jan 19, 2020 3:26 pm
Both our properties (in Spain and the UK) have no landlines. Huawei 4G boxes connect phones, TV and 'landline' phones via the mobile network. Both offer unlimited, unmetered calls and cost less than half of what Telefonica/BT were charging, price is including unlimited broadband.
Do you have call-divert to your mobile when you are not in residence?

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Re: So how does this work then?

#36 Post by OFSO » Sun Jan 19, 2020 6:05 pm

No because nobody has any numbers other than our mobiles ! Among the younger generation, to which I belong, everyone uses mobiles... an advantage of this is that on the rare occasions that the landline rings, I can be rude right away to the b*stard from Ahamadabad selling me things I don't want without give him a chance to start !

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Re: So how does this work then?

#37 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sun Jan 19, 2020 6:19 pm

Capetonian wrote:
Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:36 pm
Yes, I understand that, but does using the above solution let you take your phone to another area and still use it, or do they have some way of inhibiting that?
For example, if you live in Milnerton (aka Millerton!) is your phone in some way locked to the cell towers that serve that area or could I take it to JNB and still use it with my 021 number?
I suspect that you will need their clunky phone to be WCDMA enabled to communicate via the Cell network. If you are willing to drag that around you should be able to move your "landline" with you. The phone also acts like a normal internet router as well.

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Re: So how does this work then?

#38 Post by Boac » Sun Jan 19, 2020 7:38 pm


Capetonian

Re: So how does this work then?

#39 Post by Capetonian » Tue Jan 21, 2020 6:21 pm

My neighbour has one of these devices and yes you can connect from quite a long range. But not from Joburg to CT.
It is an odd arbitrary number something like 120km, but don't quote me on that.
It was taken from CPT central to Tableview (about 15km line of sight) where it is working for both incoming and outgoing calls. The next step is to take it further afield.

Does anyone know if you can take the SIM card out of the Telkom phone and use it in a cell phone? I assume not. Don't know if it's the same type of SIM.

Capetonian

Re: So how does this work then?

#40 Post by Capetonian » Thu Jan 23, 2020 4:50 pm

Here's an odd thing.

My landline rang this morning and as I picked it up saw that it showed the (landline) number of friends in CPT. As I was about to press the answer button, it stopped ringing. I rang the number back and there was no reply - I did this twice.

Then I rang one of them on his cellphone and he said 'there's nobody at home, we've both been out all morning.' Neither of us can understand how this can happen.

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