Thread by @technocrypto

It is impossible for me to process the level of #facepalm I have just witnessed from @Bell's #business #fiber #internet alone, so you all have to share in this experience.

The fiber optic box for my #SMB internet service has a power supply with a built in UPS. Handy, right?

Internet is a critical service, and the entire device is under 25 watts, so building even a small UPS into the power supply will let it run for a very long time in the event of an outage! Great idea! Laptops and phones work when the power's out, so should the internet!

Wrong. The UPS is there for 911 phone service. So someone has actually gone to the trouble of designing a device that *knows* when the power has gone out, and continues powering the phones, but cuts the ~5 watts internet connection.

I don't have phone service. Just internet.

Wouldn't it have been *easier* to just power the whole device with a "dumb" UPS?

No big deal, though, I don't really expect my ISP to provide a battery backup for me. I'm happy to supply my own UPS, like I've done for my home internet connection for years.

Only...hmmm.

You're not really supposed to plug a UPS into a UPS, right? UPS from the fiber box and my own UPS are made by the same company, so I check with them to be sure. Nope, not allowed to do it.

That's super annoying. Better ask @Bell to swap out the power supply on the fiber box.

After all, at this point that UPS functionality
a) exists only to provide backup power to phone service that I don't actually have and
b) actively prevents me from maintaining internet connectivity in the event of a power outage.

No dice. They don't stock another power supply.

Alright, no worries. This doesn't seem like the right model for this use case anyways, how about they just swap in a different one?

Nope, this is the only model they carry for fiber internet service. Apparently nobody thought through the UPS thing when deciding to do that.

But it gets better. At this point I flat out ask the Bell tech how exactly a business customer is expected to maintain internet connectivty during a power outage.

He insists that I am the only person to have ever asked for this capability, to be able to connect a working UPS.

When I express incredulity that I am the first customer ever to think of using a UPS to maintain internet service during a power outage, he elaborates.

Many times, he says, he has been called out to a business customer during a power outage. Every time, he has had to apologise.

He explains that the businesses get really frustrated when he tells them there is nothing they can do except wait for the power to come back on. But even though they get so frustrated by this, he says triumphantly, not one has ever demanded the ability to connect their own UPS.

Finally, the clincher. How many small businesses on this plan, I ask him, make use of the phone service? Almost none, he says. People mostly just use cellphones these days in small businesses.

But, I clarify, Bell builds redundant power into their nodes and hubs, right?

Oh yes, for sure.

All across the city, right?

Oh definitely, everywhere.

So why, I ask, have they spent so much money ensuring they can provide service to their customers in an outage, while making it literally impossible for their customers to access that service?

I don't know, he says contemplatively.

#facepalm #facepalm #facepalm.

I need to talk to someone further up the decision tree, because this is just ridiculous. They haven't gotten back to me yet, but I am DEEPLY curious how they are going to explain this serious of decisions.