Internet when the power goes out

While the power supply is stabilizing, rolling blackouts can continue like any other power outage. Today we will discuss working ways to stay in touch with the Internet during rolling blackouts.
 

The work of wired Internet and how it is affected by a power outage
 

Let's analyze how the wired Internet works and why it is afraid of rolling blackouts. The internet  provider installs a central router in the house: this is the point from which the Internet is transmitted to all residents in the house. That is, if the router is de-energized, there will be no Internet in the house.

To make sure and give users the Internet without electricity, providers use backup batteries. Therefore, even after a power outage, the router can receive electricity for about 4-6 hours. And they charge over 10 hours, which is why it may not work to ensure the full operation of the Internet. For example, if the light will be turned off more often.

But these batteries only power the router, not the whole house. So the residents also need to supply electricity to the router. For this use:

• battery-powered uninterruptible power supplies
• Powerful power banks with fast charging function
• generators to connect residential electricity or a separate device

The system looks like this: the provider charges the central router with its resources, and each individual user charges his own router without electricity.
 

Available Alternatives
 

There are several options for accessing the Internet without an ISP. We will briefly analyze them, and we will dwell on the main ones in more detail.

Satellite Internet from Starlink. In 2022, Elon Musk's famous Internet started working in Ukraine. Its advantages for Ukrainians are that it is completely independent of the power line. The downside is that the equipment needs to be delivered from Europe, which is long and expensive. And the tariffs are not cheap: about $100 for a speed of 130-150 Mbps

Mobile Internet. With the advent of 4G, the speed of the mobile has become enough to watch movies, constantly sit and play online games. Modern smartphones turn into wifi without light to distribute mobile Internet to other devices. The main drawback is traffic: most of the tariffs do not provide unlimited mobile Internet. But in order to stay in touch and have fun throughout the blackout, this Internet is enough. The main thing is that the smartphone battery lasts.

GPON Technology. This is a modern alternative to central routers. With its help, the Internet is transmitted to each individual apartment from the provider. Let's talk about this technology in more detail, because it provided our users with the Internet during blackouts.

Stable internet in Odessa without electricity
 

In short, this is a technologically advanced cable capable of transmitting a gigabyte of information per second directly from the provider to the user. This is 40 times faster than any modern modem.

In addition to high and stable speed, GPON allows you to simplify the transfer of the Internet. No intermediate devices, such as a central router, are needed. The Internet goes through a separate cable directly to the user's apartment.

The system looks like this. On the one hand, OLT is a device on the provider side that transmits a signal. The fiber optic cable that carries this signal to the user. And actually, the device is on the user side (ONT / ONU).

That is, there is not a single device in the system that would stop working without electricity in the user's home. And it doesn't matter how long the blackout lasts. Because the Internet comes to the apartment anyway. It remains only to power the router, for example, with a power bank. How to do this, we already wrote here.

To connect to the Internet using this technology, just contact our support operator. Agree on the connection time, tariffs and find out all the details.
 

Is mobile internet enough?
 

As we wrote earlier, the mobile Internet helps out when there is no other Internet. The speed is enough to watch movies, surf the Internet and even play games. The only problem is traffic: it is limited, and unlimited costs about the same as wired Internet with a speed of 100+ Mbps.

The main advantage is that the mobile Internet receives a signal in the same way as a mobile line. That is, wires and power plants are not needed on the way from the tower to the end user. Therefore, if there is light in the area with the tower and it works, everyone in the area will have Internet coverage.

But there is also a minus: since the signal is the same, phone calls and the Internet interfere with each other. While many are talking to their families, others are having problems with the Internet. And vice versa: if everyone downloads movies, actively uses the Internet, there may be problems with dialing. Therefore, operators often limit the speed of the Internet in order to free up lines for calls.

And the phone conveniently turns into Wi-Fi. Therefore, it is not necessary to use the Internet on the phone. You can distribute it to a laptop or PC with a Wi-Fi adapter.

To create an access point and distribute the Internet to the devices you need, here's what you need to do:
Go to (2) "Settings", (2) the "More" section (this section may be called differently in different versions of Android), (3) select "Tethering" (4) and click on "Wi-Fi hotspot ". If the path is different in your version of android, then use the search in the settings for the query "access point".
 

Conclusions
 

The Internet can work without electricity if the provider continues to work, and the user figures out how to power the terminal and router at home.

If necessary, you can use the mobile Internet. For example, in the settings, set the "Access Point" to turn your smartphone into Wi-Fi, so that all the necessary devices receive Internet without electricity in the house.

The easiest option is to connect the Internet via GPON so as not to waste mobile traffic, not to sit without the Internet when there is no light for a very long time and not to sag in the connection speed.
 

In the comments, write questions about the Internet or your personal experience of surviving the network when the electricity went out.