century link down during wind

[betty dowe]

Does anyone know the cause of Century Link phones being unavailable during the same time electricity was down?  There was no warning or communication afterward when the phone was out from Sat. afternoon 'till Monday afternoon.

[John Hardman]

Betty ~

I am just speculating, but what happened in JimTown, when they shut off our power for several days, due to the Calwood Fire;
was their backup battery system at their *switch" died.  This last go round there was a generator running, down at the Centurylink 
"switch" powering it during the BlackOut!  I very well could be wrong.  But that is what I understood at the time.  If you have an old princess 
landline phone, most of the time you should get "dial tone" and be able to make a call even if the power is out.

[betty dowe]

John
using my princess phone most always works.  This time it didn't, there was absolutely no phone accessibility.  This hasn't happened since the flood.  I'd like to know the "why" of it and to find out if, in the future when x-cel proactively shuts if century link is likely to do the same thing.

[John Hardman]

Call them Betty, let them know.  It ain't the "old days" anymore.

My princess phone worked thru the BlackOut.  Sounds like they 
forgot your generator.

[Hollis]

Does anyone know the cause of Century Link phones being unavailable during the same time electricity was down?  There was no warning or communication afterward when the phone was out from Sat. afternoon 'till Monday afternoon.

Betty, the actual phone line on the utility poles may have been damaged/downed.
Did any of your neighbors lose the landline service?

[CheyenneWills]

Since Century Link has been moving to fiber, with the "last mile" remaining copper wire. The place where the fiber is "switched" to copper requires power (both for the optical fiber conversion to copper, but also supplying the necessary power on the copper side so the old style phones (e.g. princess phones) will work.

For Jamestown, the switches are at the west end of the big park.  Batteries are used to provide temporary power when the Xcel power is out, but they last only so much.  For this particular wind event, Century Link brought up a large mobile generator to keep the Jamestown phones going.

As for the Bar-K, I'm not sure where the fiber to copper switches are.  Either the backup batteries were insufficient or there was no generator. 

Another possibility is that the actual phone wires were down and needed repaired.

[Rich-17WardSt]

Century Link had a LARGE generator, on a trailer, running during the black out, looked up to their "box", in teh parking lot of Elysian/big park

[sbertram]

The "switches" that convert from fiber or hi-cap circuits to copper or "pots" lines ( plain old telephone service) are called slicks or pair gain devices. A slick is basically a computer that increases line capacity and powers your land line or data circuits. The slicks require power to function, when the batteries run out they shut down and service is no longer provided.

For the bar K our slick is located just west of Rock Lake Rd on Overland.

[CheyenneWills]

The "switches" that convert from fiber or hi-cap circuits to copper or "pots" lines ( plain old telephone service) are called slicks or pair gain devices. 

Ah.. thanks.. I always wondered what the proper name for those.  I understand general telecom technology at a high level.  Once it gets past the DSL modem and into the ethernet side of things I start feeling more comfortable 

[Nancy Farmer]

Betty's house is in Lefthand Canyon, so sadly, none of the Jamestown or Bar-K information is pertinent for her. Betty, you might have to go to the source to find out what the system is for your neighborhood. It's not great when you have no way of communicating!