Outages

Sometimes, there is absolutely nothing you can do to maintain service. Power outages can kill the power the TA needs to operate, Internet outages can break the connection with the VoIP provider, and the service from your VoIP provider could be affected by conditions beyond its control.

There are actions you can take to minimize the effects of an outage, however, and I cover them in this section.

Power outage

Summer thunderstorms, rolling blackouts, and winter ice storms can cause power outages. With wireline services, you have come to expect that the telephone will still be operational (unless you are using a telephone that itself requires power from the wall). Because your TA requires wall power to operate, a power outage can knock out your phones as well.

There are steps you can take to ensure that you can still make and receive calls during a power outage. Let's look at them now.

Uninterruptible Power Supplies

Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) use a battery to generate electricity to operate a computer or communications equipment during a power failure. A proper-size UPS can provide power for hours to operate your TA and Internet modem to sustain Internet phone service (Figure 6.11).

Figure 6.11. For $60, a UPS like the APC Back-UPS ES 500 can run small loads like modems and TAs for over an hour.

To select a UPS, you should consider the load that will be operating on it during a power failure. Total the current demand of the devices that will be connected, and choose a UPS that will sustain that demand for an hour or more. Many UPS manufacturers offer sizing tools on their Web sites and in big-box retail electronics stores.

Keep in mind that most UPS devices are designed to operate large loads, such as a computer and monitor, during an outage. If you are using the UPS solely for communications devices, you will not need a very large UPS to provide power for a reasonable length of time.

Call Forwarding

If the power outage drags on, and it looks like the UPS just won't make it, you can use call forwarding to send incoming calls to your cell phone or another line. Most VoIP providers offer this feature, as well as "find me" services that you can use to forward calls automatically to multiple phones, including cell phones, until the call is answered.

Internet and VoIP service outage

In the event of an Internet or VoIP provider outage, there is little you can do to reestablish service until the service returns. In this situation, you'll need to rely on preset "find me" services and voice mail. Having these services set up ahead of time will ensure that you can receive calls when an outage occurs.