Comcast telephone service question

Hello,

I'm thinking of switching my land line from ma bell to comcast.
However I will not do it unless I know for sure that my land line hard-
wired phones will continue to operate during a power outage. I've
gotten 2 different answers from the Comcast people. When I called
them to inquire about service, they said that my phone line would go
dead during a power outage. When a Comcast salesman recently cold-
called me to offer phone service, he said yes the hard wired phones
will work during a power outage. (I know the wireless phones wont
work, I'm just talking about my old line-powered-bell hard-wired
extensions).

Can anyone who has Comcast phone service tell me if I will have
service during power outages or not? Also this is not something that
can be tested by just pulling my mains breaker, I need to know if I
will have service during a neighborhood outage, like I do today with
my plain-old-telephone-service (pots line). (Through many a power
outage I have never known my ma bell line to go dead.)

Please dont suggest I use a cell phone as I have no cell coverage at
my home.

On 3/17/2008 5:18 PM, RickH wrote:
Hello,

I'm thinking of switching my land line from ma bell to comcast.
However I will not do it unless I know for sure that my land line hard-
wired phones will continue to operate during a power outage. I've
gotten 2 different answers from the Comcast people. When I called
them to inquire about service, they said that my phone line would go
dead during a power outage. When a Comcast salesman recently cold-
called me to offer phone service, he said yes the hard wired phones
will work during a power outage. (I know the wireless phones wont
work, I'm just talking about my old line-powered-bell hard-wired
extensions).

Can anyone who has Comcast phone service tell me if I will have
service during power outages or not? Also this is not something that
can be tested by just pulling my mains breaker, I need to know if I
will have service during a neighborhood outage, like I do today with
my plain-old-telephone-service (pots line). (Through many a power
outage I have never known my ma bell line to go dead.)

Please dont suggest I use a cell phone as I have no cell coverage at
my home.

I have Optimum Voice from Cablevision in NY they offer a battery back
option for power outages I do not know about Comcast cable but it is all
the same just different cable company's offering phone service. So I
would have to say no
Glenn K

--
" Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new"
-- Albert Einstein

RickH wrote:
Hello,

I'm thinking of switching my land line from ma bell to comcast.
However I will not do it unless I know for sure that my land line hard-
wired phones will continue to operate during a power outage. I've
gotten 2 different answers from the Comcast people. When I called
them to inquire about service, they said that my phone line would go
dead during a power outage. When a Comcast salesman recently cold-
called me to offer phone service, he said yes the hard wired phones
will work during a power outage. (I know the wireless phones wont
work, I'm just talking about my old line-powered-bell hard-wired
extensions).

Can anyone who has Comcast phone service tell me if I will have
service during power outages or not? Also this is not something that
can be tested by just pulling my mains breaker, I need to know if I
will have service during a neighborhood outage, like I do today with
my plain-old-telephone-service (pots line). (Through many a power
outage I have never known my ma bell line to go dead.)

Please dont suggest I use a cell phone as I have no cell coverage at
my home.



You'll have to be sure that all equipment in your house required for the
service has a UPS to backup the power. Also, you need to consider any
place along Comcast lines that use power, ie. repeaters - protecting
your house power is one thing, protecting Comcast power is a different
kettle and likely beyond your purview. Ditto for cell phones.

People want to hem and haw about the high price of hardwired landline
phone service. Then again, you often get exactly what you pay for. If
you want carrier class telco service, stay with a carrier class telco to
get it.

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

RickH wrote:
Hello,

I'm thinking of switching my land line from ma bell to comcast.
However I will not do it unless I know for sure that my land line hard-
wired phones will continue to operate during a power outage. I've
gotten 2 different answers from the Comcast people. When I called
them to inquire about service, they said that my phone line would go
dead during a power outage. When a Comcast salesman recently cold-
called me to offer phone service, he said yes the hard wired phones
will work during a power outage. (I know the wireless phones wont
work, I'm just talking about my old line-powered-bell hard-wired
extensions).

Can anyone who has Comcast phone service tell me if I will have
service during power outages or not? Also this is not something that
can be tested by just pulling my mains breaker, I need to know if I
will have service during a neighborhood outage, like I do today with
my plain-old-telephone-service (pots line). (Through many a power
outage I have never known my ma bell line to go dead.)

Please dont suggest I use a cell phone as I have no cell coverage at
my home.

IIRC, the cable based phones have to work by law for
a certain length of time without power, maybe a couple
of hours. Do a Google lookup to find further information.

Chip

--
-------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ --------------------
Usenet Newsgroup Service $9.95/Month 30GB

"RickH" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I'm thinking of switching my land line from ma bell to comcast.
However I will not do it unless I know for sure that my land line hard-
wired phones will continue to operate during a power outage. I've
gotten 2 different answers from the Comcast people. When I called
them to inquire about service, they said that my phone line would go
dead during a power outage. When a Comcast salesman recently cold-
called me to offer phone service, he said yes the hard wired phones
will work during a power outage. (I know the wireless phones wont
work, I'm just talking about my old line-powered-bell hard-wired
extensions).

Can anyone who has Comcast phone service tell me if I will have
service during power outages or not? Also this is not something that
can be tested by just pulling my mains breaker, I need to know if I
will have service during a neighborhood outage, like I do today with
my plain-old-telephone-service (pots line). (Through many a power
outage I have never known my ma bell line to go dead.)

Please dont suggest I use a cell phone as I have no cell coverage at
my home.

If you are talking about internet phone service, like Vonage for instance,
and any portion of the hardware required to use it is dependant on
electrical power, then your answer is no. Your basic phone, circa 1980,
does not require electrical power to operate. It is not plugged into an
electrical outlet. Any phone that has a requirement for electrical power is
vulnerable to a power outage.

If your internet phone is plugged into a modem and that modem is powered by
the power from an electrical outlet, it will not work during a power outage.
Unplug your modem and see if you have internet access. The only way to have
phone service during a power outage, provided the outage does not affect the
cell tower transmitters, is a cellular phone.


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

wrote:
RickH wrote:

Hello,

I'm thinking of switching my land line from ma bell to comcast.
However I will not do it unless I know for sure that my land line hard-
wired phones will continue to operate during a power outage. I've
gotten 2 different answers from the Comcast people. When I called
them to inquire about service, they said that my phone line would go
dead during a power outage. When a Comcast salesman recently cold-
called me to offer phone service, he said yes the hard wired phones
will work during a power outage. (I know the wireless phones wont
work, I'm just talking about my old line-powered-bell hard-wired
extensions).

Can anyone who has Comcast phone service tell me if I will have
service during power outages or not? Also this is not something that
can be tested by just pulling my mains breaker, I need to know if I
will have service during a neighborhood outage, like I do today with
my plain-old-telephone-service (pots line). (Through many a power
outage I have never known my ma bell line to go dead.)

Please dont suggest I use a cell phone as I have no cell coverage at
my home.


IIRC, the cable based phones have to work by law for
a certain length of time without power, maybe a couple
of hours. Do a Google lookup to find further information.

Chip

I don't believe that is true. I have Charter cable, internet and phone
in my house. The phone modem is plugged into a regular outlet in my
store room. The tech told me that if I loose power I lose my phone line.

Its different at my cabin up in northern MN, the local phone company
just got done running fiber to my cabin. It carries cable tv, internet
and phone and the unit that splits everything out has a built in battery
backup.

RB

On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:18:10 -0700 (PDT), RickH
wrote:

When a Comcast salesman recently cold-
called me to offer phone service, he said yes the hard wired phones
will work during a power outage. (I know the wireless phones wont
work, I'm just talking about my old line-powered-bell hard-wired
extensions).


Dig around on the web site. They don't want you to find it but here
it is. This is directly from the Comcast web site and has to do with
the failure of 911 service under certain circumstances. One of them
being power outage. As you can see, Comcast "offers" a battery backup
so be sure to ask them what the cost is or whether or not you can
provide your own.

Mike O.


In addition, 911 service will not function if Comcast Digital Voice
service is interrupted for any reason such as failure of your eMTA,
incorrect configuration of your eMTA, a power outage at your home
and/or on our network*, failure of our network or facilities, or
suspension or disconnection of your Comcast Digital Voice service
because of nonpayment. Comcast offers a battery backup with its
Digital Voice Service and, in the event of a power outage at your
home, the battery should power the eMTA for up to several hours. (It
is also important to keep in mind that many cordless telephones will
not work during a power outage.) Therefore, you may want to have one
telephone that does not need to be plugged into an electrical outlet.
If Comcast Digital Voice® service is interrupted as a result of downed
cables connecting to your home or cuts to other portions of our
network (as can happen in cases of severe storms), the service will
not function until those facilities are restored. Depending on the
specific facilities impacted, traditional phone providers may be
affected in similar ways.

"RickH" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I'm thinking of switching my land line from ma bell to comcast.
However I will not do it unless I know for sure that my land line hard-
wired phones will continue to operate during a power outage. I've
gotten 2 different answers from the Comcast people. When I called
them to inquire about service, they said that my phone line would go
dead during a power outage. When a Comcast salesman recently cold-
called me to offer phone service, he said yes the hard wired phones
will work during a power outage. (I know the wireless phones wont
work, I'm just talking about my old line-powered-bell hard-wired
extensions).

============================
How can they work when you have cancelled your service?
=============================

Can anyone who has Comcast phone service tell me if I will have
service during power outages or not? Also this is not something that
can be tested by just pulling my mains breaker, I need to know if I
will have service during a neighborhood outage, like I do today with
my plain-old-telephone-service (pots line). (Through many a power
outage I have never known my ma bell line to go dead.)

Please dont suggest I use a cell phone as I have no cell coverage at
my home.

"Glenn Klein" wrote in message
...
On 3/17/2008 5:18 PM, RickH wrote:
Hello,

I'm thinking of switching my land line from ma bell to comcast.
However I will not do it unless I know for sure that my land line hard-
wired phones will continue to operate during a power outage. I've
gotten 2 different answers from the Comcast people. When I called
them to inquire about service, they said that my phone line would go
dead during a power outage. When a Comcast salesman recently cold-
called me to offer phone service, he said yes the hard wired phones
will work during a power outage. (I know the wireless phones wont
work, I'm just talking about my old line-powered-bell hard-wired
extensions).

Can anyone who has Comcast phone service tell me if I will have
service during power outages or not? Also this is not something that
can be tested by just pulling my mains breaker, I need to know if I
will have service during a neighborhood outage, like I do today with
my plain-old-telephone-service (pots line). (Through many a power
outage I have never known my ma bell line to go dead.)

Please dont suggest I use a cell phone as I have no cell coverage at
my home.

I have Optimum Voice from Cablevision in NY they offer a battery back
option for power outages I do not know about Comcast cable but it is all
the same just different cable company's offering phone service. So I would
have to say no
Glenn K


================================
A computer type of Battery back-up for the modem and router should work.

Richard C. wrote:
"Glenn Klein" wrote in message
...

On 3/17/2008 5:18 PM, RickH wrote:

Hello,

I'm thinking of switching my land line from ma bell to comcast.
However I will not do it unless I know for sure that my land line hard-
wired phones will continue to operate during a power outage. I've
gotten 2 different answers from the Comcast people. When I called
them to inquire about service, they said that my phone line would go
dead during a power outage. When a Comcast salesman recently cold-
called me to offer phone service, he said yes the hard wired phones
will work during a power outage. (I know the wireless phones wont
work, I'm just talking about my old line-powered-bell hard-wired
extensions).

Can anyone who has Comcast phone service tell me if I will have
service during power outages or not? Also this is not something that
can be tested by just pulling my mains breaker, I need to know if I
will have service during a neighborhood outage, like I do today with
my plain-old-telephone-service (pots line). (Through many a power
outage I have never known my ma bell line to go dead.)

Please dont suggest I use a cell phone as I have no cell coverage at
my home.

I have Optimum Voice from Cablevision in NY they offer a battery back
option for power outages I do not know about Comcast cable but it is
all the same just different cable company's offering phone service. So
I would have to say no
Glenn K


================================
A computer type of Battery back-up for the modem and router should work.

The problem with a backup system for your equipment is that you may
still lose telephone or other service because the service provider's
outside plant (fiber to coax hardware, distribution equipment) may not
have adequate backup power so that you have service. Around here the
cable company has power backup for just a couple of hours so if power is
out longer than that you are SOL. The landline phone companies power
everything from their central office (or remote hub) and they are
required by most states' PSCs or PUCOs to have backup generators with
auto start in case of power failures. Cable Companies (at least in my
state) are not.
--
Bill R.

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