last Friday at about 4pm there was a major power outage in the inner west o f Sydney. It lasted for 2.5 hours. There was traffic chaos as all traffic l ights stopped and then it soon got dark with no street lighting. Very few b usiness or shops remained open.
A neighbour approached me just after 4pm saying her smart phone had no sign al - but I was sceptical of her claim. Another neighbour and smart phone us er has since confirmed the fact saying the signal level went down to near z ero.
Many folk these days use cordless phones on their land lines - which requir e AC power to operate. Few have a corded phone backup. So, a large number o f people in the inner west had no power, light or phone for 2.5 hours. Thos e without a gas connection could not even make a cup of tea.
I can only assume the nearest mobile phone antenna cluster to me, about 500 metres away on top of a tall building, went down immediately. Others may h ave too.
Google tells me it is NOT normal for mobile phone towers and antenna cluste rs to have no battery back up. But AFAIK there is no law making them instal l it.
We were all better off in the good old days, pre-mobile and cordless phones .
..... Phil