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Understanding your battery backup

  • Fiber Area with Traditional Phone

    Backup Power for Residential Voice Telephone Services during Power Outages: For many years, your home telephone would allow you to stay connected to emergency voice services during a power outage. However, if your residential voice telephone service is provided using fiber optics or fixed wireless rather than the traditional copper based line, then your residential voice telephone service requires backup battery power to continue functioning during an outage. To avoid a disruption of home voice service during an outage - and to maintain the ability to connect to 911 emergency services – Triangle Communications provides you with a battery for backup power for your residential voice telephone service at the time of the initial installation at no additional cost.

    What Your Battery Can - and Can't - Do for You: The  backup  battery provided by Triangle Communications for powering the fiber optic or fixed wireless network terminal allows you to continue to use your home voice services during  a  power  outage.  Without  a  backup  battery  or  alternate  backup  source  such  as  a generator, customers with fiber or fixed wireless based residential telephone service will not be able to make any calls, including emergency calls to 911. The only way to maintain the ability to use your telephone is by using some form of backup power.

    Our backup battery does not provide power to any services other than voice. All Internet services are turned off in the network terminal after 5 minutes of power outage to better conserve battery power for voice service. Home security systems, cordless phones, medical monitoring devices and other equipment will not run on a residential voice telephone backup battery. 

    Replacement Options: As previously noted, a backup battery has been provided by Triangle Communications during the initial installation. However, the battery provided by our company may need to be replaced every two or three years or when the battery is no longer functioning.

    • Triangle Communications provided replacement backup batteries – Triangle Communications will provide and install at no cost to you, a replacement backup battery, upon appointment, when it becomes known that the battery needs to be replaced. If you have any questions, please call 1-800-332-1201, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..   Additional spare backup batteries to be stored in your home may be purchased from our company.  Our 8-hour backup batteries cost approximately $30 each and can be purchased at our warehouse location in Havre, Montana or one can be shipped directly to your home, for an additional charge.
    • Third party provided spare backup batteries - You can also purchase additional spare backup batteries to keep on hand in your home through many of your local retailers such as Best Buy or on-line. Please contact our company and we will gladly provide you with the information you need to ensure that you purchase a quality battery model that meets the requirements for powering your network terminal.

    Expected Backup Power Duration:  Backup batteries are expected to provide at least 8 hours of standby power. The backup battery should give you at least 2 hours of talk time. If you feel that is not enough time, you may extend your standby power by purchasing from our company or a third party additional spare 8 hour batteries.

    A 24-hour battery back-up unit is also available for an additional charge.  This unit will provide 24 hours of standby power and at least 5 hours of talk time.  If you feel that this is a better option for you, this unit can be purchased from our company for approximately $240.00.

    Instructions for Proper Care and Use of Your Battery:  Please follow the more detailed instructions included with your battery for proper use, storage and care of your battery to ensure that it will function as needed during a power outage. If you do not store your battery correctly, it may  shorten  its  useful  life.  Environmental  factors  such  as  temperature  can  shorten  your battery's useful life. We recommend that you store your battery above 41°F and below 104°F. These batteries are rechargeable. They will not last forever and should be replaced every 2 to 3 years, or when your device starts to make a loud beeping sound.  That sound means that the battery is depleted, and must be replaced. You should also periodically, as described in the instructions included with your battery, remove and test your battery to verify both the operation of the backup battery and its condition.

    See the pictures below to see which power supply box you have.  This applies only to our members who are connected to the fiber optic cable.

    Brightened power supply crop

    ISP photo crop

  • Fiber Area with Digital Voice (landline)

    Without a battery backup, members will lose voice service and the ability to contact 911 during a power outage.  Voice service is delivered over the Triangle Communications network to your home via an Internet connection.  In case of a power outage, the UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply)/battery backup obtained through Triangle will provide power for approximately two hours.   Members may purchase a longer lasting UPS if desired.  Residential members will own the battery backup and are responsible for maintenance and replacement.  There is a two-year warranty for the UPS if financed through Triangle.  If providing your own UPS, check the manufacturer specifications for expected battery life and warranty.  

Triangle Communications

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