[redserk]

Why make the assumption that municipalities must treat their internet services as a second-rate utility? Many local governments are competently run.

If the internet is out, it's going to be just as visible and probably will yield as many complaints as losing power, sewer, and water.

[markdown]

> If the internet is out, it's going to be just as visible and probably will yield as many complaints as losing power, sewer, and water.

More. Far more visible. Much easier to go without municipal power than without internet.

[VWWHFSfQ]

I don't find that it is usually even possible to have internet without power. How would that work?

[ssl-3]

After a famously bad wind storm in 2008, my house (along with thousands of others) was without power for about two continuous weeks.

The internet connection, which was FTTN VDSL, never skipped a beat. It was completely solid.

This was accomplished by using batteries and generators.

The ISP was The Phone Company, so their Cold War-era central office had very good backup power.

The VRAD nodes scattered all over town had enough battery backup that (at least in my neighborhood) things stayed up until they brought out generators for those nodes.

And at my house, the VDSL box had its own UPS. And I also had a rather overkill UPS, and a portable generator

We ran the generator intermittently, mostly to charge batteries and chill down refrigerators.

It wasn't an awesome time. It was hot as hell. It was a pain in the ass to keep the generator fueled. We didn't even try to run the desktop PC rigs.

But, yeah: The internet was working fine.

(We charged batteries for neighbors, too. One or two neighbors also dragged over extension cords to run their own fridge. And I opened up the WiFi completely so everyone nearby could use it.

So if you were my neighbour in that 2008 power outage, I'd have just taken care of that internet problem for you. The range at 2.4GHz was amazingly good in that abnormally-quiet RF environment.)

[tharkun__]

When we loose power here internet usually works just fine. All you need is a generator and you're back up and running. Usually the POP still has power so this works for a long time. Sometimes they are or run out of (backup) power too if its widespread and prolonged. Cell service including LTE is usually still up / up for longer, so again as long as you have a generator, you're good.

[markdown]

One doesn't have to rely on others for power. One can run their own generator, or set up a solar power system, or if you live out in the sticks, run a mini hydro system or use wind power. All of these can provide power to the home.

[knollimar]

Seems like a question of whether solar power with battery backups or satellite internet is easier, no?