Speaking on Deep Background, the Press Secretary whispered:

Thanks. A couple of people told me that the target is 8hrs for Bell Canada huts. So hopefully some power will make it there before long. Not sure how well they will prioritize what huts to charge with portable gensets. I imagine they dont of course have a portable genset for every hut out there.

This is the dark stepchild of the modern telco decentralization. CO's have -48v everywhere, & Diesels (or turbines) to keep their -48v strings up. Further, it used to be the LEC had a truck-mounted semi generator ready to move in case the CO one failed. But all those SONET hubs in basements, SLC's in the burbs and such -- they don't have generators. They have X hours of batteries. In the fine print, it says the LEC will have a portable generator on site before they die. That's doable if the failure is local; say a semi taking out a power pole. But given anything bigger, a citywide or bigger blackout, a regional ice storm, or whatever.... they do not have the quantity of gensets they'd need, much less the manpower to deploy AND maintain [refuel] same. Then there's the issue that generators in dark areas tend to grow legs, no matter how well nailed down. Hope you folks have flashlights.. -- A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com & no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433 is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433