• Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Simplest method to check if the power outage is only your house, or the neighborhood, too:

    Open the settings of your phone and check for available wifi networks. If it is empty, power is down elsewhere, too.

    • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      A LOT of people have networks and systems on UPS’s, so that’ll tell you nothing much really.

      I can still watch media on my tablets if the power goes out.

      • Naz@sh.itjust.works
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        2 hours ago

        I’m on vacation, the power went out for the entire county. Only one WiFi was still up: “SmokeyTheBear”, and there’s a known fire chief living in the area.

        Guess who has a working backup generator in the apocalypse? Haha

        • ramble81@lemmy.zip
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          53 minutes ago

          Really? Here’s one for you. I have a UPS on my computer and another one on my network equipment. I can run for about 45 minutes with no power and still be online. I’ve actually worked through 15 minute power outages before without skipping a beat.

        • turtlesareneat@piefed.ca
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          35 minutes ago

          How many of these folks have a rack mounted somewhere in there… once you get into this degree of tech, you’re looking at folks with PoE systems on battery backup, maybe 5G backup circuits in case the internet is cut. It’s really not a crazy level of security, if you live in a high crime downtown area for instance. But I also don’t go around whipping my rack out in every conversation, and my house is old, so lots of folks don’t know how high tech the house really is. And wouldn’t until they saw the doorbell still glowing, Wifi still on during a power outage I suppose (Wifi is how we really see each other during power outages, and the sound of gennies for those rich bastards that can afford them)

        • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
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          44 minutes ago

          Every modem that also has a phone line has a battery in it by law in the US. This is so the phone line will stay up in a power outage. So they’re actually more suburban people than you would think who’ve got the whole package of cable, phone, and Internet who’s WiFi will stay on for several hours after the power goes out.

        • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          Weird, with solar being so easy to install, most people I know want a way to store it.

          Where do you live that this isn’t the case?

          • Courant d'air 🍃@jlai.lu
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            2 hours ago

            I leave near a historical monument so I cannot install solar panels, nor can almost the whole village… Otherwise in France it seems pretty easy to do so, but I think most of the time people sell the energy to the grid instead of trying to store it.

            • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
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              44 minutes ago

              Selling to the grid here is useless, you can’t sell more than you use. So if you use zero, you can’t sell any back. You can only sell to offset what you used.

              So say you buy $100 from the grid this month, you can only sell back that $100 dollars, you can’t profit from it.

              • Courant d'air 🍃@jlai.lu
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                28 minutes ago

                Here people can sell more than they use, so some people actually make money out of their solar panels. But they are selling at very different rates than what they are buying.

                Of course storing energy would be more efficient than selling during the day and buying during the night, while putting the grid under more pressure during both

                • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
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                  16 minutes ago

                  We don’t have fluctuating energy prices like that, it’s set for 24 hours. Commercial/industrial customers can have varying rates.

        • the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          Nor have I. Personally I have several UPS’s because I work in tech and have learned why they are useful. But I don’t know anyone else, even my techy friends that have hem.

          • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
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            3 hours ago

            It’s common with stuff like balcony solar systems so you have a way to store some power easily.

            There’s different levels and stages of being “techy”. Just having a passion for computers and data is only one. Most of my techy friends are into solar as well.

  • lime!@feddit.nu
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    4 hours ago

    door bells here are just literal bells mounted to the door. modern problems require modern solutions.

  • essell@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    My brother once asked why the new hoover (vacuum cleaner) had a light on it and was told “so you can still see what you’re hoovering in a powercut”

  • the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    My door bell is battery powered, I would have assumed the neighbors would be too.

    This wasn’t as bone headed of a move as you might think.