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by bityard 364 days ago
Very good point. We had several power outages lasting a few hours lately. (One was just last night.) Every time this happens, my phone's mobile data is totally unusable because the whole neighborhood switches over from scrolling facebook (et all) on their wifi to scrolling facebook on mobile.

I can (and do) find things around the house that don't depend on a screen, but it's annoying to know that I don't really have much of a backup way to access the internet if the power is out for an extended period of time. (Short of plunking down for an inverter generator or UPS I suppose.)
1 comments
BenjiWiebe 364 days ago
If your ISP is available during a power outage (as they should be) a UPS that only powers a WiFi router could be quite small/cheap.

Or you could use a Raspberry Pi or similar and a USB WiFi adapter (make sure it supports AP mode) and a battery bank, for an "emergency" battery-operated WiFi router that you'd only use during power outages.

EDIT: Unless your ISP's CPE (modem/whatever) runs on 5 volts, you'd need more than just a USB power bank to keep things going. Maybe a cheap amazon boost converter could get you the extra voltage option.

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stephen_g 364 days ago
Cable internet (HFC) might not work in power outages (depending on the network design) because often the optical nodes and amplifiers out in the streets are often not battery backed.

Cellular, FTTH and DSL do usually have battery backup though so should continue to work with a UPS.

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DamonHD 364 days ago
FWIW the routers I have owned over the last few years have been 12V @ 1A.

I run my router + my RPi server off-grid with ~1kWh of usable (lead-acid) battery capacity.

So with those and my laptop's battery, I sailed into our last couple of minor daytime power cuts without even noticing. Sounds of commotion from neighbours alerted me that something was up!

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