The French may have to go back to candlelight (or at least the electric lantern) but they will probably also have to do without mobile networks and the internet if power outages occur in the coming weeks.
• What is the risk of cuts this winter?
As temperatures have dropped in France, the government is working to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Between the setbacks of the nuclear park and the tensions in the gas supply, for several months there has been talk of possible load shedding, that is, power cuts. In reality, this will largely depend on the weather for the next few months, which will influence the tension on the grid. But at certain peak hours, in the event of a cold snap, the two-hour load cut in certain residential areas is not ruled out.
• What impact on the internet network?
For people, a power outage will necessarily lead to an Internet outage. The flow arrives by ADSL or fiber and therefore necessarily needs electricity to work. Can we rely on the mobile network to compensate? Nothing is less secure.
• What impact on the mobile network?
This time it is not the homes that are affected but the repeater antennas of the operators that will also be deprived of energy. Since they are not considered a priority, they will not escape load shedding. The interruption of your mobile network will depend on your address: if you depend on a single antenna-relay and it no longer works, then you will have no more network. However, in dense areas such as metropolises, it could be connected to another repeater antenna nearby if it is not part of isolated areas.
• Why not install generators on cell towers?
“Telecommunications networks are not made to place equipment weighing one ton, which is the weight of a two-hour battery, in a building or on a rooftop,” says Michel Combot, director general of the French Federation of Telecommunications (FFT). ), guest this Thursday on BFMTV. “It would take at least five years to do it,” Christel Heydemann, the CEO of Orange, told the Senate Economic Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
• What about the emergency numbers?
Since they work thanks to the mobile network, emergency numbers will inevitably be affected by load shedding. Note that the European number 112 does not depend on your operator: clearly, if there is a working repeater antenna near an area without electricity, 112 will be able to work even if it is not an antenna of your operator (while 15 or 18 depends from your carrier).
• Are there alternative solutions?
The last option is still the satellite. And the happy owners of the new iPhone 14 should take advantage of the latest option provided by the manufacturer Apple – the satellite emergency call. Intended mainly for white areas, it can be of great help if the winter is harsh.
Source: BFM TV
