Comcast outages continue even in areas with PG&E power restored

Tue Oct 15 17:43:01 UTC 2019

On 10/14/19 6:11 PM, Sean Donelan wrote:
> On Mon, 14 Oct 2019, Michael Thomas wrote:
>> deal with the CPE, that the cable plant was the actual problem. The 
>> cable companies should, imo, be held to the same standard as the 
>> telcos. Maybe even moreso these days since IP has taken over 
>> everything. The need for reliable e911 hasn't gone away just because 
>> the bits have turned into IP bit these days.
>
>
> Oh, but they are equal.  The telco's went to the regulators and got 
> the FCC and state PUCs to reduce or make backup power a 
> customerresponsbility...
> Just like the cable companies.
>
> So now they are equal -- in the race to the bottom.
>
> Service providers must "OFFER" customers an OPTION for 8/24-hour 
> standby backup power.  The decision to puchase backup power is up to 
> the customer.
> I assume you read the fine print on the back of your bill or the order 
> terms (subject to change at anytime, without notice).
>

Assuming that this power shutoff in california is the new normal (god 
help us), it would need to be a minimum of 3 days. The wind event itself 
usually lasts a day or two, but then they have to inspect -- completely 
manually from what i can tell -- the entire grid, which takes a day or 
two. Clearly more automation of the inspection is needed (ie, have cams, 
etc, deployed on the grid), and of course that would help with 
prevention which is where pge has fallen completely flat.

It seems to me that if we have to live with unburied power lines, 
cameras and other sensors with some AI-like grinding on the images could 
detect all manner of problems and relay it back to the ops folks for a 
closer look, and/or roll trucks. There are folks at texas a&m who are 
working on something like this (not sure about the image grinding 
though). Sure it might be expensive, but it's probably cheaper than 
undergrounding, or burning down cities and roasting people alive.

Mike