I am feeling misled, and I’d like someone to tell me if I am being unreasonable. Last week we moved to NBN, with a bundle which included fixed line and all sorts of other things. We were given a new fixed line phone number and Mr buffy went to get the old number reinstated as we have had it for yonks. When this was done, the fixed line phone was disconnected and it seems now we only have VOIP through the NBN. This now means that when the power goes down, we no longer have a fixed line phone (as I understand it). And in this situation there is a high probability all phones/NBN will also be down. This is not what we understood to be what we were buying. I want a fixed line phone in place for emergencies. Am I being unreasonable?

I am thinking I’ll go to Telstra tomorrow and get the cheapest available copper phone number to keep in reserve. I am prepared to pay for it, because I think it is important, but I’m mightily pissed off that we were misled.

From what (little) I know, the system in the house has a battery back-up so you can still use the phone if the power goes out. The fibre line still have to be working, of course.

buffy said:

I am feeling misled, and I’d like someone to tell me if I am being unreasonable. Last week we moved to NBN, with a bundle which included fixed line and all sorts of other things. We were given a new fixed line phone number and Mr buffy went to get the old number reinstated as we have had it for yonks. When this was done, the fixed line phone was disconnected and it seems now we only have VOIP through the NBN. This now means that when the power goes down, we no longer have a fixed line phone (as I understand it). And in this situation there is a high probability all phones/NBN will also be down. This is not what we understood to be what we were buying. I want a fixed line phone in place for emergencies. Am I being unreasonable?

I am thinking I’ll go to Telstra tomorrow and get the cheapest available copper phone number to keep in reserve. I am prepared to pay for it, because I think it is important, but I’m mightily pissed off that we were misled.

They cut the copper off when the NBN arrives. There will be no going back.

roughbarked said:

buffy said:

I am feeling misled, and I’d like someone to tell me if I am being unreasonable. Last week we moved to NBN, with a bundle which included fixed line and all sorts of other things. We were given a new fixed line phone number and Mr buffy went to get the old number reinstated as we have had it for yonks. When this was done, the fixed line phone was disconnected and it seems now we only have VOIP through the NBN. This now means that when the power goes down, we no longer have a fixed line phone (as I understand it). And in this situation there is a high probability all phones/NBN will also be down. This is not what we understood to be what we were buying. I want a fixed line phone in place for emergencies. Am I being unreasonable?

I am thinking I’ll go to Telstra tomorrow and get the cheapest available copper phone number to keep in reserve. I am prepared to pay for it, because I think it is important, but I’m mightily pissed off that we were misled.

They cut the copper off when the NBN arrives. There will be no going back.

The Telstra geniuses were running the air-con in the mobile stations off batteries when the power goes off. Naturally there was a rapid loss of service to mobiles.

Spiny Norman said:

From what (little) I know, the system in the house has a battery back-up so you can still use the phone if the power goes out. The fibre line still have to be working, of course.

We are wireless, our aerial talks to the one up there on the mountain (points)

roughbarked said:

buffy said:

I am feeling misled, and I’d like someone to tell me if I am being unreasonable. Last week we moved to NBN, with a bundle which included fixed line and all sorts of other things. We were given a new fixed line phone number and Mr buffy went to get the old number reinstated as we have had it for yonks. When this was done, the fixed line phone was disconnected and it seems now we only have VOIP through the NBN. This now means that when the power goes down, we no longer have a fixed line phone (as I understand it). And in this situation there is a high probability all phones/NBN will also be down. This is not what we understood to be what we were buying. I want a fixed line phone in place for emergencies. Am I being unreasonable?

I am thinking I’ll go to Telstra tomorrow and get the cheapest available copper phone number to keep in reserve. I am prepared to pay for it, because I think it is important, but I’m mightily pissed off that we were misled.

They cut the copper off when the NBN arrives. There will be no going back.

Well, sort of. We are still a copper town. And the wires are still sitting out there in the street and under the house. And the exchange is still in place. So….as the town will unlikely be all NBN any time soon (some people have been put off for months for their installation) I reckon I should be able to reinstate a separate copper line. Which, of course, I will have to pay for.

You will need two battery backups

one battery backup for the NBN Modem (if you have two NBN boxes, one is the battery)

you will then need a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

In my opinion they haven’t really let consumers know about the need for 2 battery backups

nor a there a simple off the shelve solution (yet) for getting a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

which requires a relay to switch between mains and battery backup when the power fails

a business opportunity for someone

We do have a generator and the house is wired to switch to generator power. But that won’t help much if the tower up the hill is down. On the copper system the phones just worked in a blackout.

CrazyNeutrino said:

You will need two battery backups

one battery backup for the NBN Modem (if you have two NBN boxes, one is the battery)

you will then need a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

In my opinion they haven’t really let consumers know about the need for 2 battery backups

nor a there a simple off the shelve solution (yet) for getting a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

which requires a relay to switch between mains and battery backup when the power fails

a business opportunity for someone

>>nor a there a simple off the shelve solution (yet) for getting a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

incorrect.
I bought one off the shelf

Do you have two NBN boxes or one?

CrazyNeutrino said:

You will need two battery backups

one battery backup for the NBN Modem (if you have two NBN boxes, one is the battery)

you will then need a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

In my opinion they haven’t really let consumers know about the need for 2 battery backups

nor a there a simple off the shelve solution (yet) for getting a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

which requires a relay to switch between mains and battery backup when the power fails

a business opportunity for someone

Get a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). Many different options and prices.

CrazyNeutrino said:

Do you have two NBN boxes or one?

If you have one NBN box then you have no NBN battery

ring them up and ask for the battery backup to be fitted

now you have two options

one is to buy a battery modem router and use that when the power fails

or buy a relay and 12 volt battery for your modem and phone and set up the relay so it switches between the mains and the battery during a power failure

battery routers

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=battery+modem+router&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjj6vOGtsnMAhXGjZQKHWHsBGMQsxgIHA

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_nkw=battery+wifi+router&_fromfsb=0&_trksid=m270.l1313&LH_ItemCondition=1000&ul_noapp=true

nut said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

You will need two battery backups

one battery backup for the NBN Modem (if you have two NBN boxes, one is the battery)

you will then need a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

In my opinion they haven’t really let consumers know about the need for 2 battery backups

nor a there a simple off the shelve solution (yet) for getting a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

which requires a relay to switch between mains and battery backup when the power fails

a business opportunity for someone

Get a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). Many different options and prices.

I run a 3.5kva inverter generator when the power goes off. Good for the fridge/freezer, the lights, TV & the computer.

Tamb said:

nut said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

You will need two battery backups

one battery backup for the NBN Modem (if you have two NBN boxes, one is the battery)

you will then need a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

In my opinion they haven’t really let consumers know about the need for 2 battery backups

nor a there a simple off the shelve solution (yet) for getting a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

which requires a relay to switch between mains and battery backup when the power fails

a business opportunity for someone

Get a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). Many different options and prices.

I run a 3.5kva inverter generator when the power goes off. Good for the fridge/freezer, the lights, TV & the computer.

Mine’s a 3.75.

Tamb said:

nut said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

You will need two battery backups

one battery backup for the NBN Modem (if you have two NBN boxes, one is the battery)

you will then need a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

In my opinion they haven’t really let consumers know about the need for 2 battery backups

nor a there a simple off the shelve solution (yet) for getting a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

which requires a relay to switch between mains and battery backup when the power fails

a business opportunity for someone

Get a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). Many different options and prices.

I run a 3.5kva inverter generator when the power goes off. Good for the fridge/freezer, the lights, TV & the computer.

I got a UPS. $150
will run 2 laptops and the dialysis machine for 8 hours.
completely plug and play

nut said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

You will need two battery backups

one battery backup for the NBN Modem (if you have two NBN boxes, one is the battery)

you will then need a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

In my opinion they haven’t really let consumers know about the need for 2 battery backups

nor a there a simple off the shelve solution (yet) for getting a second battery backup for your own modem and phone

which requires a relay to switch between mains and battery backup when the power fails

a business opportunity for someone

Get a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). Many different options and prices.

most cheap ups only go for two minutes so get one that lasts at least an hour

you can add batteries in parallel to make them last longer

roughbarked said:

Tamb said:

nut said:

Get a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). Many different options and prices.

I run a 3.5kva inverter generator when the power goes off. Good for the fridge/freezer, the lights, TV & the computer.

Mine’s a 3.75.

Honda didn’t make one of those when I bought mine.

stumpy_seahorse said:

Tamb said:

nut said:

Get a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). Many different options and prices.

I run a 3.5kva inverter generator when the power goes off. Good for the fridge/freezer, the lights, TV & the computer.

I got a UPS. $150
will run 2 laptops and the dialysis machine for 8 hours.
completely plug and play

But not a fridge/freezer.

heres a n ups which should give around an hour for laptop modem phone

http://www.jaycar.com.au/IT-Products/Connectivity/Power-Products/1500VA-900W-230VAC-LCD-Line-Interactive-UPS-with-USB/p/MP5207

You will still need the NBN backup battery to be fitted

Tamb said:

stumpy_seahorse said:

Tamb said:

I run a 3.5kva inverter generator when the power goes off. Good for the fridge/freezer, the lights, TV & the computer.

I got a UPS. $150
will run 2 laptops and the dialysis machine for 8 hours.
completely plug and play

But not a fridge/freezer.

fridge/freezer isn’t important, you can get a few hours of cold without power if left unopened.

it would run it, just unsure for how long as I haven’t tested it

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

Tamb said:

I run a 3.5kva inverter generator when the power goes off. Good for the fridge/freezer, the lights, TV & the computer.

Mine’s a 3.75.

Honda didn’t make one of those when I bought mine.

Mine’s not a Honda.

I hate to say I told you so, but “I told you so”.

This was one of my bugbears with the NBN when it was first mooted. The back-up for the phone goes from being a centrallised system provided by the supplier to one where the onus is on the consumer. Saying that, it should not be difficult for the back-up to be provided. I looked into this when it was first proposed and, from memory, all that is required is a 12 volt battery. No switching required, no UPS required. The system runs on 12 volts (OK, may be 24V, can’t remember) and the battery is direct connected.

The issue is that the batteries will be required to be changed ever few years, and most consumers won’t realise that it is required, so after a few years when the power fails so will their phone.

yeah Im not really all that happy with the NBN VOIP solution

what would have been ideal is for the NBN battery box to have two 12 volt outputs one for the owners modem and one for the owners phone

then no need for an ups or battery router

buffy said:

We do have a generator and the house is wired to switch to generator power. But that won’t help much if the tower up the hill is down. On the copper system the phones just worked in a blackout.

The towers have their own battery backup.

It should be a simple matter to port your old landline number to your new voip setup.

BTW what sort of internet speed are you getting now?

Tamb said:

The Telstra geniuses were running the air-con in the mobile stations off batteries when the power goes off. Naturally there was a rapid loss of service to mobiles.

It does depend upon the installed infrastructure, but in many cases the air-con is required otherwise the equipment will shut down due to thermal constraints. So in many cases the air-con is required and this is taken into account when designing the battery autonomy required for a site.

Believe it or not but the Telco companies actually employ people who think about these things. Why, a few of them may have even shoved a few sheckels my way over the years.

sibeen said:

I hate to say I told you so, but “I told you so”.

This was one of my bugbears with the NBN when it was first mooted. The back-up for the phone goes from being a centrallised system provided by the supplier to one where the onus is on the consumer. Saying that, it should not be difficult for the back-up to be provided. I looked into this when it was first proposed and, from memory, all that is required is a 12 volt battery. No switching required, no UPS required. The system runs on 12 volts (OK, may be 24V, can’t remember) and the battery is direct connected.

The issue is that the batteries will be required to be changed ever few years, and most consumers won’t realise that it is required, so after a few years when the power fails so will their phone.

Should be ok.. the battery packs start beeping when they are running low.

CrazyNeutrino said:

yeah Im not really all that happy with the NBN VOIP solution

what would have been ideal is for the NBN battery box to have two 12 volt outputs one for the owners modem and one for the owners phone

then no need for an ups or battery router

measure the wattage for the NBN modem
measure the wattage for the owners modem
measure the wattage for the owners phone

then work out if extra batteries are required

stumpy_seahorse said:

Tamb said:

stumpy_seahorse said:

I got a UPS. $150
will run 2 laptops and the dialysis machine for 8 hours.
completely plug and play

But not a fridge/freezer.

fridge/freezer isn’t important, you can get a few hours of cold without power if left unopened.

it would run it, just unsure for how long as I haven’t tested it

We lost power for 2 weeks after Larry & 9 days after Yasi so fridge/freezer is pretty important to us.

roughbarked said:

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

Mine’s a 3.75.

Honda didn’t make one of those when I bought mine.

Mine’s not a Honda.

Well that would explain it.

sibeen said:

Tamb said:

The Telstra geniuses were running the air-con in the mobile stations off batteries when the power goes off. Naturally there was a rapid loss of service to mobiles.

It does depend upon the installed infrastructure, but in many cases the air-con is required otherwise the equipment will shut down due to thermal constraints. So in many cases the air-con is required and this is taken into account when designing the battery autonomy required for a site.

Believe it or not but the Telco companies actually employ people who think about these things. Why, a few of them may have even shoved a few sheckels my way over the years.

Maybe for short, city type outages but as I said 2 weeks after Larry.

Tamb said:

stumpy_seahorse said:

Tamb said:

But not a fridge/freezer.

fridge/freezer isn’t important, you can get a few hours of cold without power if left unopened.

it would run it, just unsure for how long as I haven’t tested it

We lost power for 2 weeks after Larry & 9 days after Yasi so fridge/freezer is pretty important to us.

a UPS would be useless in that kind of situation.

At Joeys we had a light tower with a 3 cylinder diesel genset in it that we ran the whole site from after her fire

the NBN install no longer has the battery back up option as standard – you have to ask for it for no extra cost to youv

Ian said:

buffy said:

We do have a generator and the house is wired to switch to generator power. But that won’t help much if the tower up the hill is down. On the copper system the phones just worked in a blackout.

The towers have their own battery backup.

It should be a simple matter to port your old landline number to your new voip setup.

BTW what sort of internet speed are you getting now?

Hang on, I’‘ll do a speed check. Given I only really read you lot and the ABC news, I haven’t noticed a lot of difference. Except that uploading to Photobucket seems a hell of a lot faster.

stumpy_seahorse said:

Tamb said:

stumpy_seahorse said:

fridge/freezer isn’t important, you can get a few hours of cold without power if left unopened.

it would run it, just unsure for how long as I haven’t tested it

We lost power for 2 weeks after Larry & 9 days after Yasi so fridge/freezer is pretty important to us.

a UPS would be useless in that kind of situation.

At Joeys we had a light tower with a 3 cylinder diesel genset in it that we ran the whole site from after her fire

Tamb said:

sibeen said:

Tamb said:

The Telstra geniuses were running the air-con in the mobile stations off batteries when the power goes off. Naturally there was a rapid loss of service to mobiles.

It does depend upon the installed infrastructure, but in many cases the air-con is required otherwise the equipment will shut down due to thermal constraints. So in many cases the air-con is required and this is taken into account when designing the battery autonomy required for a site.

Believe it or not but the Telco companies actually employ people who think about these things. Why, a few of them may have even shoved a few sheckels my way over the years.

Maybe for short, city type outages but as I said 2 weeks after Larry.

In those cases the site have an input for a mobile generator. There is no business in the world that is going to be installing a battery system for a two week outage.

Here we go:

We used to be 5mps or 6mps if we were lucky, and 30kps upload – on a good day. So it is obviously better. But not that noticeable for what I do.

sibeen said:

Tamb said:

sibeen said:

It does depend upon the installed infrastructure, but in many cases the air-con is required otherwise the equipment will shut down due to thermal constraints. So in many cases the air-con is required and this is taken into account when designing the battery autonomy required for a site.

Believe it or not but the Telco companies actually employ people who think about these things. Why, a few of them may have even shoved a few sheckels my way over the years.

Maybe for short, city type outages but as I said 2 weeks after Larry.

In those cases the site have an input for a mobile generator. There is no business in the world that is going to be installing a battery system for a two week outage.

I was talking to my cousin’s partner a couple of months ago and fr a while his job was to 4×4 out to telstra’s mobile towers and plug i a generator on a trailer.
They’d call him, send through a GPS coordinate and he’d have to find the tower, get to it and sit there until they had the power back on to it.

reckons it was the cruisiest job he ever had

You could buy the Port Augusta power station, buffy

I know, helpful

I’m reading the thread and working on the proportions of your dilemma

transition said:

You could buy the Port Augusta power station, buffy

I know, helpful

I’m reading the thread and working on the proportions of your dilemma

I’d need a long extension lead…..

:)

buffy said:

Here we go:

!http://www.speedtest.net/result/5308793189.png

We used to be 5mps or 6mps if we were lucky, and 30kps upload – on a good day. So it is obviously better. But not that noticeable for what I do.

Sounds good thanks.

We’ve got a new tower about to go live less than 2 Km away. It’ll be interesting to see how good the signal is after passing through quite a lot of tree tops.

Apparently the NBN should be available in my area within 3 years.

And generously Telstra will allow me to sign up to one of their plans now, so I’m ready when it arrives.

Ian said:

buffy said:

Here we go:

!http://www.speedtest.net/result/5308793189.png

We used to be 5mps or 6mps if we were lucky, and 30kps upload – on a good day. So it is obviously better. But not that noticeable for what I do.

Sounds good thanks.

We’ve got a new tower about to go live less than 2 Km away. It’ll be interesting to see how good the signal is after passing through quite a lot of tree tops.

Our tower is about 1km line of sight up on Mt Rouse. We have mature gums in our backyard, which we actually thought might be a problem, but apparently are not.

here we’re wireless, it’s good, thanx to telstra looking after country people.

speeds always excellent, service is reliable, tower’s only about 400metres away atop the silos, signal strength is 100% inside a triple lined faraday cage, which is about what the work sheds here are, colourbond outside, overlapped taped aircell, then colourbond on the inside.

previous out the farm we was fringe ~6km over a few hills, you’d have to put the computer in the right spot in the house, and it seemed to use a lot of data, correcting errors I suppose

our ups here’s 8 x deep cycle batteries. No mains power or landline services

haven’t had a blackout for ~ six years.

This got me looking and I found the RMIT report on the Warrnambool Exchange Fire. It’s Quite Interesting. I see setting up the ‘spare’ routing to South Melbourne wasn’t done until about 2 years after. And the conclusion basically says there should be redundancies in the system that can be brought into play if/when needed. If anyone is interested:

http://telsoc.org/ajtde/2014-12-v2-n4/a72

buffy said:

This got me looking and I found the RMIT report on the Warrnambool Exchange Fire. It’s Quite Interesting. I see setting up the ‘spare’ routing to South Melbourne wasn’t done until about 2 years after. And the conclusion basically says there should be redundancies in the system that can be brought into play if/when needed. If anyone is interested:

http://telsoc.org/ajtde/2014-12-v2-n4/a72

The South Melbourne TE is the one I mentioned last week.

And here she is, settling a little before the carve. There’s a rich garlic, mushroom, butter & wine sauce to accompany her, + peas.

But you don’t get a roast bird with your NBN, sorry.

NBN with Battery Backup

NBN Battery backup service information

sibeen said:

buffy said:

This got me looking and I found the RMIT report on the Warrnambool Exchange Fire. It’s Quite Interesting. I see setting up the ‘spare’ routing to South Melbourne wasn’t done until about 2 years after. And the conclusion basically says there should be redundancies in the system that can be brought into play if/when needed. If anyone is interested:

http://telsoc.org/ajtde/2014-12-v2-n4/a72

The South Melbourne TE is the one I mentioned last week.

So does that mean we are safe now?

;)

Buffy, there’s a range of alternatives to fixed line phones that can be employed in emergencies. Mobiles, radios, sat-phones, visual devices, personal alarm/duress devices, EPIRB devices and so on that will likely be more reliable, more portable, and often cheaper than having the old copper landline reinstated.

I’ve been in emergencies where everything but satellite failed.

Lateral thinking is your friend…

pigeons

dv said:

pigeons

Speckled Jim.

dv said:

pigeons

Could be faster than my new internet connection – Iprimus are on Telstra hardware and Telstra wont release any more ADSL2+ ports at the local exchange.

Fuckers…

Rule 303 said:

dv said:

pigeons

Could be faster than my new internet connection – Iprimus are on Telstra hardware and Telstra wont release any more ADSL2+ ports at the local exchange.

Fuckers…

The breakup and sale of Telstra was a total shemozzle. Fuckin’ Labor.

An EPIRB, for example, which will transmit a distress signal including its location to emergency services and will work almost anywhere on Earth, costs about the same as 10 months of home phone line and network charges.

Rule 303 said:

An EPIRB, for example, which will transmit a distress signal including its location to emergency services and will work almost anywhere on Earth, costs about the same as 10 months of home phone line and network charges.

I love my EPIRB, it’s like a Volvo, you feel safe doing stupid things ;)

Rule 303 said:

An EPIRB, for example, which will transmit a distress signal including its location to emergency services and will work almost anywhere on Earth, costs about the same as 10 months of home phone line and network charges.

They don’t work in the rainforest. Neither does Satnav.

Tamb said:

Rule 303 said:

An EPIRB, for example, which will transmit a distress signal including its location to emergency services and will work almost anywhere on Earth, costs about the same as 10 months of home phone line and network charges.

They don’t work in the rainforest. Neither does Satnav.

Not too much rainforest in SW Victoria.

;-)

Rule 303 said:

Tamb said:

Rule 303 said:

An EPIRB, for example, which will transmit a distress signal including its location to emergency services and will work almost anywhere on Earth, costs about the same as 10 months of home phone line and network charges.

They don’t work in the rainforest. Neither does Satnav.

Not too much rainforest in SW Victoria.

;-)

No you blokes manage to burn it all.

I don’t agree that Satnav doesn’t work in a rainforest.

Not too much rainforest in SW Victoria.

yeah, there is. not tropical rainforest but temperate rainporest. mountain ash country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainforest_in_Victoria_(Australia)

f

dv said:

I don’t agree that Satnav doesn’t work in a rainforest.

Seems hit-and-miss.

EPIRB works by both transmission to Sat and line of site, IIRC.

poikilotherm said:

Rule 303 said:

An EPIRB, for example, which will transmit a distress signal including its location to emergency services and will work almost anywhere on Earth, costs about the same as 10 months of home phone line and network charges.

I love my EPIRB, it’s like a Volvo, you feel safe doing stupid things ;)

And buying a Volvo is doing a stupid thing?

dv said:

I don’t agree that Satnav doesn’t work in a rainforest.

I’ve seen it not work. If it can’t see the satellites it won’t work.

Rule 303 said:

dv said:

I don’t agree that Satnav doesn’t work in a rainforest.

Seems hit-and-miss.

EPIRB works by both transmission to Sat and line of site, IIRC.

I think satnave might have improved but the last time I tried to use a satnav device up on the heavily forested McPherson ranges it couldn’t get a fix.
That was 8 or 9 years ago though.

Tamb said:

dv said:

I don’t agree that Satnav doesn’t work in a rainforest.

I’ve seen it not work. If it can’t see the satellites it won’t work.

Well it only needs to “see” them at 1 GHz (30 centimetre band), not in visible light.

can be a lot of attenuation in a forest.

dv said:

Tamb said:

dv said:

I don’t agree that Satnav doesn’t work in a rainforest.

I’ve seen it not work. If it can’t see the satellites it won’t work.

Well it only needs to “see” them at 1 GHz (30 centimetre band), not in visible light.

When is say see I don’t mean visible light.
It needs at least two to get a fix & we are not well served by satellites here at 17° South.
In open country we can get 4 but even at my home I can’t get more than 2. The basalt hills knock out most signals which is why we use VHF radios not UHF.

Rule 303 said:

An EPIRB, for example, which will transmit a distress signal including its location to emergency services and will work almost anywhere on Earth, costs about the same as 10 months of home phone line and network charges.

But we know where we are. This is a house…. I want to be able to ring out if necessary if the power is off.

Anyway, I went to Telstra this morning and told them that I am unhappy that we were not informed of the lack of phone in a power outage, and that a fax machine will not work on the new system. I have chosen to reinstate the copper line, as well as keeping the new system going. It will cost me around $25 per month to do this. I think it is worthwhile, and they can tell me when they rip the stuff out. I doubt very much that will be within 5 years or so.

Bubblecar said:

And here she is, settling a little before the carve. There’s a rich garlic, mushroom, butter & wine sauce to accompany her, + peas.

Must be a backup battery hen…

fsm said:

Bubblecar said:

And here she is, settling a little before the carve. There’s a rich garlic, mushroom, butter & wine sauce to accompany her, + peas.

Must be a backup battery hen…

snigger