digital converter box -- surprising performance

[Tony Abruzzese]

On 6/16/08 1:01 PM, Sid Schweiger wrote:
> They've gotta be kidding.  This is something they have to engineer?  Purchasing small UPS's from APC or another manufacturer, in bulk, would cost the customer next to nothing.  I don't know what the power requirements of the fiber-to-Ethernet converter are, but a UPS would likely power the box for enough time to outlast the typical power failure, which isn't that long.  A UPS doesn't have to be mandatory, either, for people who have a cell phone and who therefore won't mind losing their FiOS landline for the length of a power failure.
>
>   
Agreed to all of the above.

The implication was that they were working on an all-in-one unit. While a UPS would certainly work, they really aren't designed for installation in an unheated garage, utility room or unfinished basement (i.e. varying conditions of heat, cold, and or damp). Most,
especially the inexpensive ones, are designed to be used indoors in an office/living space environment.

As to losing the land-line, cell phones aren't always the answer. My town makes use of the reverse 911 system for a variety of community alerts. That system calls the local exchange phone numbers, all land lines, but doesn't call cell phones. 
-- 
Tony Abruzzese
BUSM Dept of Biochemistry