Telkom and load shedding

[2106mv]

In the old Telkom, they had a diesel generator to run every exchange in case of a power failure.

During the load sheddings in December and January I noticed that all Telkom services are dead as well during the periods of load shedding. I run the ADSL router from a UPS and the alarm system is linked to the router, but sends an error to the security company as the internet link is down.

I noticed that the voice link is down as well during load shedding, even on an ordinary telephone that does not rely on the electricity supply in the home.

Is Telkom saving costs?

 

[eddief1]

I mentioned this a long time ago on another thread and the grave concerns I had about it, it a major concern.

Telkom are busy moving away from the central exchange design as you mention above. Thousands of lines used to run to a central exchange, these are kept up by batteries and a genset, no problem.

What they have chosen to do is shorten the local copper loop for VDSL, they achieving this by putting up MSAN units scattered everywhere, closer to homes. These MSAN's house active equipment which require a power source. In case of power failure they run off batteries, you see the problem

Because of the physical size of the MSAN (small compared to traditional exchange) there is simply not enough space to house endless batteries. This leaves Telkom with a big problem at times of prolonged power failures.

I have been told these MSAN's can only be kept up for 8 hours on battery, after that a telkom techie has to physically drive to the MSAN with a generator to keep it active...else it simply shuts down!

I still predict this design choice is going to cause Telkom endless issues now and in the future. In my opinion Telkom have shot themselves in the foot choosing to go the MSAN route, there are many reasons I say this. It was necessary for VDSL, but it's short sighted if you take into account FTTH is here already.

What concerns me even more is the case of a natural disaster, like flooding or Eskom's inability to keep the grid up.

Our area used to be central exchange, but now is MSAN, I can promise you I have seen the area's where the MSAN's are located totally underwater before during flooding.

If you take into account MSAN's provide POTS Voice,ADSL,VDSL,Diginet,GEPON and point to point fibre connections, there is really a huge possibility of people loosing total communications in the case of a natural disaster or prolonged power outage...really not good in emergencies.

What i have not been able to ascertain is if MSAN's are only for residential/SMB use or do Telkom also provide critical links though these, like backhaul links for cellular base stations...if they do...well then there is even a bigger impact when an MSAN goes down...

 

[MickeyD]

Agree with most of your post!

I have been told these MSAN's can only be kept up for 8 hours on battery, after that a telkom techie has to physically drive to the MSAN with a generator to keep it active...else it simply shuts down!

8 hours on normal load... if every user jumps on their web connection it will only last around 6 hours!

What i have not been able to ascertain is if MSAN's are only for residential/SMB use or do Telkom also provide critical links though these, like backhaul links for cellular base stations...if they do...well then there is even a bigger impact when an MSAN goes down...

The MSAN has it's own fibre connection. Backhaul links for cellular sites, fibre links to major businesses, etc. are dedicated fibres terminating at the Central Office (exchange) and not in a remote MSAN.

Also remember the MSAN in in the access network and is not part of the core.

 

[eddief1]

The MSAN has it's own fibre connection. Backhaul links for cellular sites, fibre links to major businesses, etc. are dedicated fibres terminating at the Central Office (exchange) and not in a remote MSAN.

Thank god for that!

It's still is a major concern! Losing all voice, data,etc to residential and most likely small business is quite a big deal, especially in emergencies.

I am aware it's not the core network...but no point in having your core network up if you access is down and vice versa

The fact that Telkom is most likely going to provide fibre to the home/small business though these MSAN's begs the questions as to why they have complicated their lives.

It seems totally against international trends providing FTTH this way.

 

[2106mv]

There is no sign of any battery backup in our area. When City of Cape Town throws the switch, Telkom goes down immediately. Or is it a case of poor maintenance of the batteries?

Judging by the 45 minutes plus I have been on the phone to Customer Services to enquire when I may expect a reply to my complaint of 31 days ago, it is not only their backup systems that are lacking, but their general service

 

[MickeyD]

There is no sign of any battery backup in our area. When City of Cape Town throws the switch, Telkom goes down immediately. Or is it a case of poor maintenance of the batteries?

Judging by the 45 minutes plus I have been on the phone to Customer Services to enquire when I may expect a reply to my complaint of 31 days ago, it is not only their backup systems that are lacking, but their general service

The batteries are inside the MSAN cabinet.

 

[deweyzeph]

There is no sign of any battery backup in our area. When City of Cape Town throws the switch, Telkom goes down immediately. Or is it a case of poor maintenance of the batteries?

Judging by the 45 minutes plus I have been on the phone to Customer Services to enquire when I may expect a reply to my complaint of 31 days ago, it is not only their backup systems that are lacking, but their general service

Where I am in Cape Town the exchange always stay up when there's load shedding. Our suburb is directly linked to the exchange though, not an MSAN in sight.

 

[MickeyD]

Where I am in Cape Town the exchange always stay up when there's load shedding. Our suburb is directly linked to the exchange though, not an MSAN in sight.

Your MSAN is IN the exchange.

 

[bwana]

My power is out and fortunately my adsl works - mixed blessings.

 

[deweyzeph]

Your MSAN is IN the exchange.

Interesting. Our exchange only supports 4MB max so I assume it's still using ATM backhaul.

 

[eddief1]

There is no sign of any battery backup in our area. When City of Cape Town throws the switch, Telkom goes down immediately.

Do you know if you are connected to an MSAN? For your connection to drop almost immediately probably means you have no backup on the MSAN at all!

Even if the batteries were in a terrible state it should still stay up for a few minutes

 

[Inertia]

Unless you yourself have a generator at your house, you won't be able to use xDSL during loadshedding.

Why is 6 - 8 hours no enough for a backup? Loadshedding should be conducted rotationally and each area should not get more than 5 hours at a time.

The argument you are taking is that Telkom's risk management is not effective. Actually, by moving away from a core network site, where if a natural disaster were to happen, EVERYTHING goes, MSAN's spread the geographic risk. The MSAN's I believe are relatively robust in a risk management sense compared to an exchange building (unless ofcourse the MSAN's backbone is going to the exchange).

 

[MickeyD]

(unless ofcourse the MSAN's backbone is going to the exchange).

it does.

 

[bwana]

Unless you yourself have a generator at your house, you won't be able to use xDSL during loadshedding.

I rarely start up my generator these days during brief load shedding periods and my ADSL works just fine.

 

[deweyzeph]

Unless you yourself have a generator at your house, you won't be able to use xDSL during loadshedding.

Rubbish. You can easily run a laptop and ADSL router from a deep cycle battery and inverter for many hours.

 

[portcullis]

Rubbish. You can easily run a laptop and ADSL router from a deep cycle battery and inverter for many hours.

+1.

We have clients with radios on the roof, RB2011s or RB750UPs in the houses / offices with multiple UnFis all being driven from those old Tedelex 1KVA inverters with 4 x +/-100A deep cycle batteries. They don't go down during load shedding.

In fact, we go out of our way to purchase those old units, replace the batteries, refurbish them and sell them as such to ensure clients remain on line.

On a personal note - not as a company representative - I have one in my home that drives 2 x HP laptops, 1 x UBNT Powerbeam M5 AC 500mm, 1 x MT RB2011, 2 x RPi, 2 x UniFi LR, 1 x MT CRS-125-24G-1S, 1 x HIKVision DS 7608NI-SE and 1 x Netgear FS728TP. The Netgear provides power to 2 x SNOM300, 1 x Yealink W52P and 8 x HIKVision cameras. It's not gone down during load shedding, yet.

 

[MickeyD]

Interesting. Our exchange only supports 4MB max so I assume it's still using ATM backhaul.

No, it means you are still on a DSLAM.