micky wrote:
On Sun, 4 Nov 2012 11:21:39 -0500, "Baron"
wrote:

"Mark" wrote in message
...
correct Fios has a battery at your home which is your responsibility
to maintain.

during a power failure, the battery powers your phone, for a few hours
only.

seems to me the lobbyists did their job convincing the govt that this
is ok, and we loose..

Mark



You are absolutely correct! I hung onto my copper line as long as I
could. A Verizon service technician told me that Verizon was not putting
any money into the maintenance of copper lines. The lines were getting
worse so outages were becoming more frequent.

Some lines maybe, but I don't think any around here are going out more
frequently.

The number of technicians
that could repair them was shrinking as they retired or left the company
since new technicians were not being trained, at least as thoroughly, as
they needed to be to service copper lines. Finally, Verizon offered to
install FiOS for free. I found it interesting that they were charging at
the start of the changeover several years ago. I read recently that
Verizon's desire to change over more quickly has subsided since they are not
making as much money on FiOS as they planned.

I was told the battery lasts about eight hours of actual use time so
unless you make / receive calls lasting eight hours straight, the battery
should last for several days.

IInteresting.

http://www22.verizon.com/support/res...vice/95363.htm
that Retired posted says " your back-up battery will provide you with
power for voice service for up to 8 hours."

Seems ambiguous. I'd be happier if it said voice usage. I"m under
the impression that I have "phone service" even when I'm not using the
phone. Still it is hard to believe that a " 12-Volt 7.2 Ah SLA
Sealed Lead Acid battery" would run down in only 8 hours of non-use.

Plus that's with a fully capable battery. Sealed lead acid
batteries get old and hold less charge as time goes on.

I hate the idea of having to use a battery
for my phone in an emergency but I know that Radio Shack sells the
batteries. The batteries also last about five years at which time they
should be replaced as part of a PM program.

One more thing I have to keep track of, and then do.

I have been thinking about
getting a backup battery and regularly topping off the charge with a trickle
charger but I have procrastinated on this.

More things if I do all that.



On some ONT's there is a power jack on the side of the battery pack
where you can plug power from an auto or marine battery which would give
you a couple of days of phone. In my case of 11 days without power,
Verizon automatically transferred all of my incoming land line calls to
my cell phone.