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SV187's profile

Contributor

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1 Message

Sunday, February 2nd, 2014 6:41 PM

uverse voice not working with battery backup during power outage

We recently had our first power outage since installing uverse voice in August of '13

The orange light on the BBU immediatly starting blinking and beeping indicating a low battery.

We had no phone service.  They are a cordless Panasonic phone.

Our phone said something like "base not connected...." cant remember the rest. 

As soon as the outage was over the BBU went back to a green light.

Phones began working immediatly.

 

What can we do to correct this issue??

 

Thanks for your response(s)!

Accepted Solution

Official Solution

ACE - Expert

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27.7K Messages

10 years ago

It's a phone issue and not a UV issue.

 

If your power goes out, your cordless phones will not work since they have to communicate with a base unit which must have power.  Battery Back Up is for Uverse services and not your phone's power.

 

Your solution is to have at least one phone in your house that is hard wired.

 

I have Uvoice.  When my power goes out, my BBU kicks in and my cordless phones stop working but I can use the old wired wall phone in the kitchen to call the power company (and usually my neighbor to see if she also lost power!).

 

Edit to add:  The BBU starts beeping when it starts working....annoying? Yes but it can be silenced.

 

 

Expert

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10.1K Messages

10 years ago

I agree it is good to have a wired phone. The operation of the wireless varies. My Panasonics will operate on the handset batteries until they run down.

The BBU going direct to low battery does not sound right. Probably the battery is not charging. The Pansonic says there is no line.

SV187 - If you cannot check it out, best leave it to the experts. If continuous service is critical, POTS may be a better choice.

ACE - Expert

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27.7K Messages

10 years ago


@aviewer wrote:
I agree it is good to have a wired phone. The operation of the wireless varies. My Panasonics will operate on the handset batteries until they run down.

The BBU going direct to low battery does not sound right. Probably the battery is not charging. The Pansonic says there is no line.

SV187 - If you cannot check it out, best leave it to the experts. If continuous service is critical, POTS may be a better choice.

aviewer, the same light that says LOW BATTERY to the right says ON BATTERY to the left.  At least on mine it does.

 

BBU 

The flashing light is not indicating low battery but that it is in fact working.  The light is doing double duty.  Flawed design.

 

To the OP:  If it's flashing when your lights are out, it's working.  If it's flashing when you have power, it's a low battery.

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Expert

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10.1K Messages

10 years ago

Skeeter, I cannot talk about function of the BBS because I have POTS. I was just trying to point out that some wireless phones will work for some period of time.

A wired phone can test to see if U-verse is working. Lacking that - how about accessing the internet?? Can a laptop access the internet? If yes, the BBU is doing it's job.

 

If you now have power, pull the plug on the BBU & see if you can access the internet or jist try the wireless phone.

ACE - Expert

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27.7K Messages

10 years ago


@aviewer wrote:
Skeeter, I cannot talk about function of the BBS because I have POTS. I was just trying to point out that some wireless phones will work for some period of time.

A wired phone can test to see if U-verse is working. Lacking that - how about accessing the internet?? Can a laptop access the internet? If yes, the BBU is doing it's job.

I have cheap(er) cordless phones so, yeah, mine won't work independent from the base....No power for the base, no phone for skeeter.

 

That being said, we had a 4 day power outage a few years ago and the BBU, in addition to a laptop, has a finite amount of battery.  Trust me, I drained both!  Smiley Sad

New Member

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25.7K Messages

10 years ago

I'm with Skeeter......I have one cordless base unit with 6 handsets.  Base is in the BR.  U-verse BBU in the LR.  Power goes out cordless no worky because no power to base unit in BR.  Wall phone in kitchen (plain 'ol telephone) works dandy.

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