Mwalimu-G
Elder Lister
Old TV causes daily power, internet outages
The village of Aberhosan.Dave Croker / Geograph
A team of engineers solved a broadband outage mystery in a small Wales village — linking daily use of an extremely old TV to breaks in service, according to an initial report from the BBC.
The residents of a small village called Aberhosan in Wales experienced daily broadband outages for the last 18 months.
Reportedly, the electricity went off exactly at 7:00 AM (local time) every morning but the villagers couldn't put their fingers on why that kept happening. However, the real reason behind the phenomenon turned out to be quite a surprise.
SEE ALSO: PUERTO RICO SUFFERS MASSIVE, ISLAND-WIDE POWER OUTAGE
Engineers from Openreach — a U.K.-based telecommunications company — used a monitoring device to spot the issue. After a while, the device caught an electrical interference in the village.
The interference turned out to be a powerful signal, one that is so immense that it affects the whole village's broadband, causing an outage. According to the BBC, the signal — called single high-level impulse noise (SHINE) — messes with other electrical devices.
The interference led the team to a homeowner with an old TV set. When the owner turned on their TV every morning the whole town's power went off. Apparently, the problem stemmed from the TV emitting of the same SHINE signal.
Happy endings in Aberhosan
After engineers diagnosed the TV set behind the village's perpetual broadband outages, the owner of the TV was "mortified" and they "immediately agreed to switch it off and not use it again" according to one of the engineers, Michael Jones, BBC reports.
Since the anonymous resident who owns the TV set turned it off, the power cuts have stopped in Aberhosan, and things returned to the old routine.
Funny how one TV set can create such a stir and lead to broadband outages in a whole village. One can never be too careful with their electrical devices, since they're a crucial part of modern life
-C&P from Interesting Engineering
The village of Aberhosan.Dave Croker / Geograph
A team of engineers solved a broadband outage mystery in a small Wales village — linking daily use of an extremely old TV to breaks in service, according to an initial report from the BBC.
The residents of a small village called Aberhosan in Wales experienced daily broadband outages for the last 18 months.
Reportedly, the electricity went off exactly at 7:00 AM (local time) every morning but the villagers couldn't put their fingers on why that kept happening. However, the real reason behind the phenomenon turned out to be quite a surprise.
SEE ALSO: PUERTO RICO SUFFERS MASSIVE, ISLAND-WIDE POWER OUTAGE
Engineers from Openreach — a U.K.-based telecommunications company — used a monitoring device to spot the issue. After a while, the device caught an electrical interference in the village.
The interference turned out to be a powerful signal, one that is so immense that it affects the whole village's broadband, causing an outage. According to the BBC, the signal — called single high-level impulse noise (SHINE) — messes with other electrical devices.
The interference led the team to a homeowner with an old TV set. When the owner turned on their TV every morning the whole town's power went off. Apparently, the problem stemmed from the TV emitting of the same SHINE signal.
Happy endings in Aberhosan
After engineers diagnosed the TV set behind the village's perpetual broadband outages, the owner of the TV was "mortified" and they "immediately agreed to switch it off and not use it again" according to one of the engineers, Michael Jones, BBC reports.
Since the anonymous resident who owns the TV set turned it off, the power cuts have stopped in Aberhosan, and things returned to the old routine.
Funny how one TV set can create such a stir and lead to broadband outages in a whole village. One can never be too careful with their electrical devices, since they're a crucial part of modern life
-C&P from Interesting Engineering
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