FIOS TV during Power Outage
n3lka
Enthusiast - Level 1

Last night my power failed I have a Deep Cycle battery that I keep charged with a solar panel. I turned my inverter on and plugged in my TV, and STB into it, my TV worked fine, but the STB said it was having issues with the channel, i.e. no signal.

What else needs to be powered up besides my STB in order to watch TV? I could care less, but my wife wanted to watch TV. Does the outside interface need power?

I could hook up an Off Air antenna for these situations, but if it's something simple, I'd like to watch FIOS. We lose power in the winter on and off for like 3 to 4 hours at a time during storms etc.

Thanks,

Brian

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Re: FIOS TV during Power Outage
Justin46
Legend

The ONT, the box on the side of your house that converts the optical signals to electrical and vice versa, has a battery in its power supply that powers the telephone only for up to 8 hours - no TV, no internet. So you need to "fool" the ONT into thinking it still has electrical service  - plug the ONT (actually the power supply for the ONT, separate box) into a UPS and then plug that into the wall is the solution that I think most people use if they want TV or internet, in addition to phone, during a power outage.

If you want the TV guide, VOD, or widgets, or internet access, you also need to have the router powered during the outage.

__________________________________
Justin
Verizon FiOS TV, Internet, and phone
QIP6416-P1, IMG 1.8, Build 02.54
Keller, TX 76248

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Re: FIOS TV during Power Outage
Justin46
Legend

The ONT, the box on the side of your house that converts the optical signals to electrical and vice versa, has a battery in its power supply that powers the telephone only for up to 8 hours - no TV, no internet. So you need to "fool" the ONT into thinking it still has electrical service  - plug the ONT (actually the power supply for the ONT, separate box) into a UPS and then plug that into the wall is the solution that I think most people use if they want TV or internet, in addition to phone, during a power outage.

If you want the TV guide, VOD, or widgets, or internet access, you also need to have the router powered during the outage.

__________________________________
Justin
Verizon FiOS TV, Internet, and phone
QIP6416-P1, IMG 1.8, Build 02.54
Keller, TX 76248

Re: FIOS TV during Power Outage
n3lka
Enthusiast - Level 1

Thanks Justin, but for all that trouble, I'll put an antenna up, but a great answer. Maybe I'll do something like that in the spring when it gets warmer.Smiley Very Happy

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Re: FIOS TV during Power Outage
Justin46
Legend

You are welcome. Of course putting up an antenna on the roof may be a little more dangerous than buying a UPS and hooking the ONT's Battery Backup Unit (BBU) to it. Smiley Very Happy We have lived in our house now for almost 31 years, long before we got cable or FiOS, I put an antenna in the attic back then, still works great on those occasions when I need it (and when I had cable it was a pretty frequent need, not at all with FiOS but I do test once in a while just to make sure the cabling still works).

One more thing; I just noticed that under Announcements on the Community page (right side of the page) Verizon has posted a topic on this very subject, with a link to more detailed information.

__________________________________
Justin
Verizon FiOS TV, Internet, and phone
QIP6416-P1, IMG 1.8, Build 02.54
Keller, TX 76248

Re: FIOS TV during Power Outage
lasagna
Community Leader
Community Leader

Since the STB also needs a path to the Internet to get it's guide data, etc. -- assuming the power has failed and box is being powered back up again on the inverter -- the router would also need to have power.

Understand of course that this all depends on the nature of the outage and it's impact on the other end of the fiber.  I'm not sure if Verizon acts to power it's entire infrastructure at the fiber junctions or just the portion which supports the phone.   So ... you could take all these steps and still not be successful  (this used to happen to me with cable as well ... I could keep my STB's and TV's alive, but when the power failed, the little boxes out on the pole down the way lost power and thus stopped feeding the TV signal to the neighborhood).

Re: FIOS TV during Power Outage
lasagna
Community Leader
Community Leader

Oh ... and I find that on occasions of a power outage, it makes for a good excuse to curl up with a good book -- even if that is an eBook these days.   Smiley Surprised

Re: FIOS TV during Power Outage
JoeH2
Enthusiast - Level 2

At least her ein Maryland, it appears that Verizon does not provide backup power for it's entire infrastructure at the fiber junctions, but only the portion which supports the phone.   During the last three 15-hour-plus power failures here, a generator backup for the ONT, STB and router would only keep the phone running.  Internet and TV service were not maintained until cpommercial power came back on.

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Re: FIOS TV during Power Outage
Keyboards
Master - Level 3

@JoeH wrote:

At least her ein Maryland, it appears that Verizon does not provide backup power for it's entire infrastructure at the fiber junctions, but only the portion which supports the phone.   During the last three 15-hour-plus power failures here, a generator backup for the ONT, STB and router would only keep the phone running.  Internet and TV service were not maintained until cpommercial power came back on.


Interesting since the system is PON (the P stands for PASSIVE) which should not require power (electronic definition of passive is non-powered).  The network should remain live unless the CO (central office) looses power, but they typically have a massive battery system to keep everything running until power is restored.

I haven't experienced a 15 hour power outage, but I have had 3 to 4 hour outages and because I have a UPS on my ONT, router, and TV / STB I have not ecperienced a loss of Internet or TV during that time.

Re: FIOS TV during Power Outage
joejacob
Newbie

what is upn? and where do I purchase, Having a power outage on 9-20

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Re: FIOS TV during Power Outage
EricN1
Enthusiast - Level 1

I think you mean "UPS".  It's an acronym for Uninterruptable Power Supply.  A battery backup unit in other words, which provides power for a few to several hours when your A/C is out.  The Verizon FiOS ONT has a battery backup but it is designed to only keep voice calls (e.g 911 service) up and working during a power outage (after a few minutes the ONT will switch into a mode where it uses it Battery Backup Unit to continue to provide only voice service, not video and/or internet).  As others have stated, the STB(s) and the Router also need power in addition to your TV if you want to keep your video up and working without power.

You can buy a UPS from just about any place that sells electronic components (Amazon for example).

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