Verizon says fewer customers are purchasing battery backup for fiber home voice services

Verizon is finding that as more of its customers migrate over to FiOS or it switches copper customers onto a fiber-based voice connection, more of its customers are increasingly using their cell phones as their voice connection during a power outage. Since fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) connections are not line powered from a Central Office (CO) like those that exist on a copper-based network, customers have to purchase their own alternative power supply such as a battery, generator or an uninterrupted power supply. The service provider recently met with the Federal Communications Commission to talk about how it can ensure customer premises equipment back-up power for its fiber-based services during power outages.

"An increasing number of customers found they did not need a battery back-up solution at all, given their increased reliance on their wireless phones in the event of a commercial power outage or use of cordless telephone handsets in their home that also require power to operate," Verizon wrote in an FCC ex parte filing. "We explained that in light of these concerns, several years ago Verizon began research to develop a best-in-class consumer friendly battery back-up option for voice services." Although Verizon can't monitor the charge level from the network, the telecommunications company told the FCC that customers are used to monitoring batteries in other devices, such as smoke detectors. In order to address customers' concerns about purchasing battery back-up solutions, the service provider created its "PowerReserve" solution, which uses traditional D-cell batteries to provide about 20+ hours of back-up power for voice service, depending on the model of the Optical Network Terminal at the customer's location.