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Thread ID: 93964	2008-10-08 08:47:00	Stupid	hueybot3000 (3646)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
710802	2008-10-08 08:47:00	Watching aftershock (tv3) omg most boring thing ever anyway me and the missus were talkin and they said phone lines are up or something and i sorta thought if theres no power phones wouldnt work? well she looks at me and says "phones dont need electricity" And her hair is brown....not just blondes...all woman!	hueybot3000 (3646)
710803	2008-10-08 09:00:00	The missus is correct; have you every pick up the phone while there is a power cut?? (That is if your phone is not portable or uses power) Aftershock was not that bad, it makes you think what if this really happened how you would cope. I know if that every happened to Auckland, Auckland would be it a lot of trouble mark my words.	stu161204 (123)
710804	2008-10-08 09:09:00	The missus is correct; have you every pick up the phone while there is a power cut?? (That is if your phone is not portable or uses power) She's very wrong. In a power outage the exchange and phones would be running off the backup battery supply and in some cases a generator. Neither will run for that long. As the customer interface moves outwards (cabinetisation) expect the reserve run time to be even shorter.	PaulD (232)
710805	2008-10-08 09:14:00	The missus is correct; have you every pick up the phone while there is a power cut?? (That is if your phone is not portable or uses power) Aftershock was not that bad, it makes you think what if this really happened how you would cope. I know if that every happened to Auckland, Auckland would be it a lot of trouble mark my words. her point was more phones dont need power, speakers and microphones run on air would be her logic the program lacked any real eyeopening for me. i get what you mean by makin you think but i would of thought alot more if we actually saw some widespread devastation. rather than some people with no survival skills at all	hueybot3000 (3646)
710806	2008-10-08 09:46:00	The wireless phones (ie: Uniden DTECT phones), do need power. Since you can plug them (they come in sets of 3-4) into a power point, and use it. You dont need extension cords. Or phone jacks. They're wirelessly connected to the main phone (which is connected to a jack) So if theres a power cut, unless you've got one of the old phones, it wont work	Speedy Gonzales (78)
710807	2008-10-08 17:18:00	We have an old phone here that SWMBO won't throw because it doesn't require power during an outage. Im not sure exactly how the phone system works, but I would assume that electricity would be required somewhere along the way. But assuming that there is more than one supplier of the required electrical current along the phone system line, then Im sure that somewhere in NZ there would be an exchange? or something to feed the required current into the system to ensure it didn't go down nationwide Like I said though, I am guessing here.. maybe someone of more knowledge might be able to clarify here	Myth (110)
710808	2008-10-08 17:40:00	But assuming that there is more than one supplier of the required electrical current along the phone system line, then Im sure that somewhere in NZ there would be an exchange? or something to feed the required current into the system to ensure it didn't go down nationwide Local supplies are needed, there's no way of remote feeding. In the old electro-mechanical days you could cut off everything except priority connections to make the power last longer but the newer electronic exchanges tend to use the same amount even doing nothing.	PaulD (232)
710809	2008-10-08 17:52:00	If the earth quake brings down power lines, what makes telephone lines immune?	R2x1 (4628)
710810	2008-10-08 18:44:00	Aren't telephone lines and power lines on the same pole? If they are, R2x1 has a point. My phone on my desk here has a battery slot, although it's to keep the speed dials in case of an outage, not to run the phone.	pcuser42 (130)
710811	2008-10-08 19:07:00	We have an old phone here that SWMBO won't throw because it doesn't require power during an outage. Im not sure exactly how the phone system works, but I would assume that electricity would be required somewhere along the way. But assuming that there is more than one supplier of the required electrical current along the phone system line, then Im sure that somewhere in NZ there would be an exchange? or something to feed the required current into the system to ensure it didn't go down nationwide Like I said though, I am guessing here.. maybe someone of more knowledge might be able to clarify here Does not matter if it is a new or old phone. When the power goes off the exchange continues working as all exchanges have batteries and the important exchanges have generators. There is also have mobile generators available if the power is expected to be off for a long period of time. Paul: The exchange batteries are not there as a back up, but they are handy for when the power goes off. While you can impress speech on AC current, DC is much better and much clearer so the exchange uses 50V DC for speech and 80V AC for ringing. (There is a capacitor in your phone to separate the two.) While you might think that if DC is required, then why do they not just use a rectifier, but the power supply is not constant and not steady. The exchange uses the power to charge batteries which supplies the necessary DC steady current required to carry speech. There is only one supply of power needed for any of the exchanges which is the 240V AC supply. There are many exchanges all over the country and all over the main towns and cities. The main exchange in Auckland, is in Airedale St which is connected to at least 30 exchanges throughout the city. Airedale St is also connected, directly or indirectly, to all the other exchanges in the country. Most suburbs have their own exchange. You may have noticed that it is possible to tell approximately where a person lives by their telephone number. In Auckland, for example, if you have a number that begins with eight, you live somewhere west of Mt Albert. If your number starts with three, you are in Ponsonby, the CBD or Parnell. If your number starts with six you live in south central Auckland - Mount Eden or Onehunga. The first three numbers denote your exchange and the last four is your number. For example 630XXXX and 638XXXX belong to the Mt Eden exchange. Tell your SWMBO that all phones require power and if she licks her fingers and puts them across the phone wires she will experience a mild shock which should convince her. If she's not too keen on doing that, just short the contacts with a screwdriver and watch the sparks. Perhaps the reason she thinks that the old phone does not require power might be because she is now used to using a portable phone which needs to be plugged in to the power but that is, as well all know, for the transmitter and receiver, not for the signal from the exchange. Telephones and telephone exchanges are relatively simple (must be if I can understand them!) but like anything else, if you know nothing about them they can seem complicated. A humourous story: I used to work (in 1973) in what was then the new Mangere exchange. We often had women knocking on the door looking for a job as an operator. We told them we do not use operators any more. "But you need someone to put the calls through." "No," was our reply. "The exchange is automatic which means it does it by itself." Some were hard to convince that operators were no longer required.:illogical	Roscoe (6288)
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