Will my voice service work in the event of a power outage?
If your phone service is delivered over our copper network, you must have a corded phone in order to make or receive phone calls, a backup power source is not required.
Your Fiber-Optic service requires electric power to operate – during a power outage you will not be able to make or receive calls, including 911calls, without a backup power source. Depending on your equipment type, a battery backup option is available to you. If a Battery Backup Unit is installed with your Optical Network Terminal (ONT) you may use a 12-volt battery to provide up to 8 hours of basic voice service.
If your ONT has a Power Adapter, you may utilize the Verizon PowerReserve device which plugs into the Power Adapter and uses 12 D-cell batteries that provides up to 20 hours of basic voice service.
Please Note: Neither of the backup power sources will power cordless phones, other devices (including those that assist customers with disabilities or home security systems), or your FiOS® Internet or TV service.
How do I make an emergency phone call if my backup power source dies?
Your Fiber-Optic service requires electric power to operate – during a power outage you will not be able to make or receive calls, including 911 calls, without a backup power source. Depending on your equipment type, a battery backup option is available to you.
The Battery Backup Unit (BBU) will shut down approximately one hour before the battery has been completely drained. If you need to make an emergency phone call after the BBU has shut down, press the Battery Emergency Use button on the ONT. This should enable the ONT to reboot and provide up to one hour of talk time. After the unit has rebooted, the BBU will operate until the battery has been completely drained, after which you will not be able to make or receive phone calls.
For the PowerReserve device, in the event you lose voice service and you need to make an emergency call, simply replace the 12 D-cell batteries in order to make or receive phone calls.
When do I need to replace my batteries?
When the battery in the Battery Backup Unit (BBU) needs to be replaced, the ONT will begin to beep or chirp – this is just a warning letting you know that the 12-volt battery will soon lose its charge. Once commercial power has been restored, the battery should recharge itself and the beeping should stop. If the beeping continues after the power has been restored, the battery may need to be replaced. For those customers who want to stop the beeping/chirping from their BBU before replacing the battery, press the Alarm Silence button (available on some models) that will turn off the alarm.
Using the Battery Test strip included with your PowerReserve Device, remove and test each battery and replace any batteries that failed the test. You are responsible for purchasing any replacement batteries, which may be purchased from a wide variety of retail stores.
Do I need to reset anything once power is restored?
For FiOS customers, once commercial power is restored after an outage, your service should automatically be restored; however, sometimes, resetting your Optical Network Terminal (ONT) may be necessary.
For High Speed Internet customers, you may need to reboot your HSI modem in order to restore service.
How do I change the battery in the Battery Backup Unit?
Your Battery Backup Unit (BBU) provides power for voice services for up to 8 hours. Click here to learn more about replacing your battery or to order a new one, as well as to see video instructions about replacing your 12-volt battery.
You only need to replace your battery if the battery is beeping when:
- You have not experienced any interruption in commercial powerOR
- Your commercial power was interrupted, but has been restored