Options for maintaining connectivity when the power is cut?

[jetsam]

Just got a shiny new Android Moto phone. Thanks for your input, all. I think I'll be good.... need to work with it a bit and try out that PdaNet+ app.

I'll update the thread once I get it working or not. I was offered a lot of other options at the various cell provider storefronts today, but they all kind of suck (money, if nothing else...) All those Salesmen and wanna-be contract lawyers... Yikes. T-Mobile seemed to have the most competitive offers, but I think I'll stick with my current provider for now. It's multi-network, so it may be the best option for maintaining connectivity in the event of a blackout, anyway. It will have the flexibility to choose the tower with internet access over the one with just basic voice because it isn't tied to a single network.

Cheers,
jetsam

[rsteinmetz70112]

Legacy Telcos had 46v DC Power (thanks to Edison) with Battery backup, usually 8 hours and that was backed up with usually diesel generators and significant fuel supplies, which could be replenished. I once designed a facility which had 12 hour UPS backup dual generators and a 14 day fuel supply.
This are no longer the norm.
After the federal levees failed in New Orleans cell service failed after a while but text services continued unaffected. The main switching equipment went down not because backup power failed but because the AC cooling towers failed due to lack of make up water.

[jetsam]

This is cool. pdanet+ is now running my internet connection, tethered via my cellphone to my pc through a usb cable. I unplugged my office switch to simulate an internet blackout. I'm streaming YouTube audio and making this post now, and it friggin' works!

...and that's cool.

Thanks all for your input. Marking solved.

edit: padnet+ isn't perfect. It's crying out for an open source clone, to be honest... still. It's free as in beer, and it works. I had to pretend to be a developer, though, and jump through some hoops to make it chooch.

[jetsam]

Aw, heck...

...pdanet+ may not be Linux friendly. The problem is it requires a small application on the PC it's connected to in order to function. There's a mac os X version, a windows (7 through 10) version...

...you may have guessed the issue. There's no Linux version I can see.

"More platforms to come... " it says on the download page...

Marking the thread unsolved until this can be resolved. The Mac version might be adaptable, or something through Wine.... What a pain!

[jetsam]

Fewf! There's a solution by just setting some proxy settings in Firefox.

Video walkthrough here:
PdaNet+ with Linux

Same channel, how to set the proxy at the system level to allow updates, etc...
PDANet+ with Linux revisited

He's running Ubuntu/Mint Mate.

Marking the thread solved again.

Cheers,
jetsam

[jetsam]

I don't like quadruple posting much ( ), but I have some fresh info about the performance of this system.

It basically works "smart." If it has a wi-fi connection available, it will use that and can run (as far as I can tell) all day, maybe longer... When and if the wi-fi connection goes away, the phone connects through the cell phone network and starts using the cell phone data plan... It seems to intelligently reset your browser sessions when it does this. I had to re-log into the Ubuntu forums; I think the session got reset.

So basically, data usage at least for me is not a big issue. Since I have an "expando" data plan and only get charged in lumps for what I use, the system will only use as much plan data as it actually needs to. The nice thing is that, under those circumstances, it's data that I'm perfectly happy to pay for.

I couldn't be happier with the performance of the set-up in general. It more than meets my needs. As long as the cell phone network is alive and well, we can connect. If the power goes out at our house, we have an 80 minute battery backup plus a handful of power banks... We're all set for the next PG&E based block party. Heck, we could probably provide connectivity to the neighborhood the next time things go dark...

Cheers all...
No promises, but I may write up a how-to for this at some point.