California public safety power shutdowns

Wed Oct 9 21:06:32 UTC 2019

On Wed, 9 Oct 2019, Sean Donelan wrote:
> - Will this affect cellphone service?
>[...]
> Remember, Cable and DSL VOIP and in-home wireless phones need electric power 
> to operate.  There are fewer and fewer copper-fed POTS lines with power from 
> the telephone central office.

Thanks to the person for correcting me.  If you use WiFi or Pico-cell 
repeaters in your home or office building for mobile phone service, they 
will likely not work during power shut-offs.

I was referring only to cellular service from cell towers on you mobile 
phones and mobile devices.

Non-experts in RF cellular technology may not always know which 
transmission technology their cell phone is using at any particular 
location.  The mobile phone will usually switch to other avaiable signals. 
But you might be using a pico-cell or repeater in a building because there 
are no other cellular signals.

In those cases, you won't have cellphone service.