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Protecting Your Voip Internet Phone from Blackouts
Monday, May 29, 2006
One of voip's major drawbacks is its reliance on the power grid-- when the power goes out, so does your voip internet phone. Losing service in the middle of a conversation, while annoying, is hardly the end of the world. You can generally wait to find out what hi-larious misadventures your black sheep brother has been up to. If, however, your poor sainted mother keels over in a dead faint because she does, in fact, know exactly what your brother did---then you might want to have access to the good people at 911. They can at least stick a bandage on her head and make sure that heart attack she's always threatening to have didn't happen.
Luckily for dear old mom, there are a few solutions. It seems like everyone these days has a cell phone, which is nice if your voip is down, but those minutes rack up fast. A backup landline is another way to go. Some people's broadband providers require that they pay for a standard line, so those folks are covered. But if you don't have to and don't want the added expense, there's always the UPS, as in Uninterruptible Power Supply, not those friendly folks in brown who take care of all your shipping needs.
A UPS uses an AC-DC charger to store the energy needed to run your voip/computer equipment in a DC battery. When power is needed, it's pulled from the battery, run through a DC-AC inverter and then out to your equipment. There are three different types of UPS devices and a range of run times available to suit any need.
Types of UPS
A Standby UPS kicks in only when your main AC power fails. It is usually cheaper, and more reliable than other types of UPS equipment.
The Line Interactive UPS runs all AC power through its transformer first, siphoning off just enough to keep the backup battery fully charged. When there's a blackout, it automatically disconnects from the main AC input and switches over to the batteries. It's slightly less efficient than a Standby UPS but tends to smooth out power surges better.
An Online UPS offers the least efficient option, routing all power through its inverter, even when the AC power is operating normally. This ensures there is no lag time between power failure and switchover to DC power.
Choosing a UPS
The first thing you need to decide, when choosing a UPS, is how long you want or need it to operate for. Are you looking for a 15 minute bridge between frequent, short power outages, or would you be better off with something that lasts for hours? The greater the time required, the higher your cost will be.
After you've settled on a time capacity, you can look at your actual power needs. Don't forget to count the number of outlets you need! Kevin Devin has a great wiki on calculating your equipment load. He also has several links to UPS manufacturers that offer free online load calculators.
Other things to consider are the customer service reputations of the various manufacturers. Epinions or Consumer Reports are a good place to get that kind of information. Also check out your local power company's web site for information on UPS devices.
