Backup Power Disclosure Notice – Mobius Communications and Hemingford Cooperative Telephone Company

Backup Power for Home Phone Services during Power Outages

For many years, your home phone would allow you to stay connected to emergency voice services during a power outage. However, many of today’s advanced home phone services require 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 — you should ensure that you have one corded single-line touchtone phone connected directly to your in-home telephone wiring (wall jack). If you connect a cordless phone, it will not function without a separate battery backup, and not all cordless phones are so equipped.

What Your Battery Can – and Can’t – Do for You

Today in your home or business, Hemingford Cooperative Telephone Company/Mobius Communications has provided a battery backup system for telephones that 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 will not be able to make any calls, including emergency calls to 911. The only way to maintain the ability to use your phone is by using some form of backup power.

Our backup battery provides power for voice services. Our existing 8-hour battery that Hemingford Cooperative Telephone Company/Mobius Communications provides is approximately three pounds and is roughly the size of a brick. Our battery backup system is expected to last at least 8 hours on standby power and should give you 6 hours of talk time. Home security systems, medical monitoring devices and other equipment will not run on a home phone backup battery.

Purchase and Replacement Options

If you are concerned about being able to contact 911 emergency services during a lengthy power outage, an additional backup battery device may be a good option for you. You can purchase an additional battery backup device directly through Hemingford Cooperative Telephone Company/Mobius Communications. As previously noted, Hemingford Cooperative Telephone Company/Mobius Communications has provided a battery backup during the initial install.  However, the battery provided by our company may need to be replaced every two to three years or when the battery is no longer functioning.

Hemingford Cooperative Telephone Company/Mobius Communications has replacement backup batteries in stock when it becomes known that the battery needs to be replaced.  Additional or spare backup batteries to be stored in your home may be purchased from our company.  If you have questions, please call our office at 308-487-3311, come to our office or email us at info@bbc.net

Instructions for Proper Care and Use of Your Purchased Battery Backup Device

Please follow the more detailed instructions included with your purchased battery backup device 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 typically rechargeable. They will not last forever and should be replaced every two to three years.

See the instructions above for purchase and replacement options. You should also periodically, as described in the instructions included with your purchased battery backup device, remove and test your battery to verify both the operation of the backup battery and its condition.