Jim Rusling wrote:

"Pete C." wrote:

snip
The cable companies do have backup power. The line power supplies have
battery backup and for extended outages they will bring out a small
Honda generator and chain it at the base of the pole. I've never lost my
cable feed here during a power failure.

In the past, I have had to call them to come out and put more gas in
the generator. Now they have automatic NG generators permanently
installed.
--
Jim Rusling
More or Less Retired
Mustang, OK
http://www.rusling.org

Yep, backup systems are evolving, as is remote monitoring. When I worked
at a cable company the only way we knew about an outage was from
customer reports (or police / fire for accident caused outages). Around
the time I left they were doing a rebuild / upgrade which among other
improvements brought remote monitoring of all the line gear. It still
wouldn't tell you if a tree took out an individual customer's drop, but
any line gear failures or damage would give alarms. Of course if you're
in tornado alley, your service will still be out a good while if a
tornado rips up half a mile of poles.