Battery radio and fresh spares is part of the recommended emergency kits for cyclone and other high risk areas. It’s also part of our bush fire survival kit.
The old copper phone network had some redundancy and would stay up for a while on batteries. It still relied on the links to the outside world and power to be available.
The majority of the rural and regional areas including smaller towns are NBN Satellite or Fixed Wireless. These customers can keep their copper line. For emergencies, the lack of full fibre NBN or copper is most likely a concern for those living in larger urban areas and country townships that have FTTN.
Note:
This topic has been discussed previously.
Assuming full fibre or the old copper system is the solution. It still requires a highly protected network, backhaul connections and backup power that can keep it running for more than a few hours. You also need a UPS or power at your home if you have NBN FTTP.
Those who have been through major floods and cyclones in Northern Australia have been without the old copper systems for days or weeks. The further away from the major regional towns the longer the repair. There is no one universal fix. Fires and cyclones and major floods can take out local electricity for weeks. Telstra does set up temporary truck mounted mobile phone towers. Limited services subject to how many Telstra own.
For bushfires the standard advice is to get out before services are lost. The leave before it’s too late advice is for just that purpose. Unfortunately if you choose not to go there are no guarantees of anything. Also for those not directly affected it is an unreliable assumption that your near family and friends will be sitting at the other end of the phone or Internet. Hopefully they will be safe in an evacuation centre or safe refuge site. It is harrowing for everyone.
Communications for the emergency services are the primary need in the affected areas. As much as we might all hope for life to be normal the very nature of an emergency situation says otherwise.
All of us outside the major urban areas could have a better solution for the internet and phone. There are those of us in the regional centres where you can hear your neighbour snoring over the fence. Typically not alone nor in the greatest danger. Equally at risk of loosing comms and power for an extended period of time of the local HV distribution is burnt out.
