https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/25/california-power-shutoffs-089678 This article details some of the issues with California's "new reality" of planned blackouts. One of the big things that came to light with these blackouts is that our network infrastructure's resilience is pretty lacking. While I was (surprisingly to me) ok with my DSL connection out in the boonies, lots and lots of people with cable weren't so lucky. And I'm not sure how bad the situation is with cellular infrastructure, but I assume it's not much better than cable. And I wouldn't doubt that other DSL deployments go dark when power is down. I have no clue with fiber. So I guess what I'm wondering is what can we do about this? What should we do about this? These days IP access is not just convenience, it's the way we go about our lives, just like electricity itself. At base, it seems to me that network operators should be required to keep the lights on in blackouts just like POTS operators do now. If I have power to light my modem or charge in my phone, I should be able to get onto the net. That seems like table stakes. One of the things we learned also is that the blackouts seem to last between 2-3 days apiece. I happen to have a generator since I'm out in the boonies and our power gets cut regularly because of snow, but not everyone has that luxury. I kind of want to think that my router+modem use about 20 watts, so powering it up would take about 1.5kwh for 3 days. a quick google look shows that I'd probably need to shell out $500 or so for a battery of that capacity, and that's doesn't include your phones, laptops, tv's, etc power needs. What does that mean? That is a major expense for a lot of people. On the bright side, I hear that power generator companies stocks have gone through the roof. On the dark side, this is probably coming to a lot more states and countries due to climate change. Australia. Sigh. Mike