Use a UPS to Keep Your Internet Running in the Event of a Power Outage
Modern home life primarily depends on one device: the modem. Most of our lives are connected to the Internet: TV streaming, Zoom work, email, phone, and all the devices in your home that work over Wi-Fi. And this little box relies on electricity, which is getting more and more unstable due to global warming overvoltage. Connecting the modem and router to a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) can reduce these failures.
Why is your modem crashing?
While true outages require patience while the power company reconnects junction boxes and power lines, you can have small periods of instability throughout the year when your power goes on and off momentarily, or only goes off for a minute or two.
The problem is that every time the power goes off, the modem will reboot. Despite all the advances in home modem technology, rebooting a modem still takes an agonizing 10 minutes. Once is enough – damn it, your modem benefits from a random reboot. This forces the software to check for updates, or may update the signal so that the latest speed updates take effect. But if your power goes on and off—even momentarily—every time your modem reboots and starts up a whole chain of devices notifying you that they’re offline, and later back online.
UPS provides stable signal
Most consumers at home do not have a UPS, which is a mistake. Particularly in older homes, intermittent power flowing into the house and then into your appliances and computers can cause additional wear and tear on your equipment. This is actually what made me buy a UPS about 15 years ago – I used hard drives at an absurd rate and it turned out I was frying them with intermittent power surges. The UPS makes sure you have a stable power supply and warns you when you don’t.
The UPS is really nothing more than a large power supply plus surge protector connected to the wall, but with a number of batteries. When power fails from the outlet, it immediately switches to the batteries and they will power any device connected to the UPS for a short period of time. It depends on the UPS, but a few minutes is always a safe bet, and often much longer.
This power bridge means that your modem won’t reboot due to a power surge or even a short blackout for a minute or two. Remember that the lack of power does not necessarily mean that the cable is not working either. Even if the crash becomes lengthy, it will give you time to shut down properly.
How to choose a UPS
The first thing you’ll look at is how many watts your UPS puts out and make sure that’s enough to cover the devices you want to plug into it. If you’ve been through this with power supplies, you understand that all devices use different amounts of power, and the power supply must have at least as many watts as the device draws. That’s why you can’t plug your Instant Pot into your car’s cigarette ( no matter why I know it).
Battery size is the second component: the larger the battery, the more it can power and for longer.
Finally, the number of outlets is important. On most models, only some of the outlets on the power strip are backed up, so you’ll need to make sure you have enough for the devices you want to plug in.
While size is certainly an important factor, your options are largely determined by the three factors above.
How to install a UPS
The disadvantage of UPSs is that they are basically powerful towers. They’ve gotten smaller and cheaper over the years, but they’re still just big bricks that need to be hidden somewhere. Fortunately, most people install modems in their living room or office, next to their TV or home computer. In both cases, the UPS is easy to integrate into other equipment.
All that is required is to insert the batteries if needed ( some UPSs have rechargeable batteries ) and plug the UPS into a three-prong socket. Then you start connecting the hardware you want to be consistent across – modem, router, TV, etc.
When the power drops
Your UPS will normally give an alarm when it transfers to battery power. At this point, you need to see if the power outage is momentary or if it will stay off. Remember that you are draining the batteries at this point, so you need to choose whether you are going to drain them while leaving everything on, or turn off the power and save the battery. If you have a rechargeable battery it’s not such a big deal, but if you need to install eight more DD batteries tomorrow, it’s worth considering.
Although your modem will be connected, you should be aware that your router may not be connected. If your modem is a modem/router combination, you’re all set. If you maintain one router that is near your modem, it can also be connected to the UPS. However, if you have moved to mesh routers where you have multiple routers throughout your home, or you have repeaters, remember that only the equipment connected to the UPS will remain powered.
The difference between a UPS and a power bank
Food banks like Jackery and EcoFlow have become popular, and with good reason. Like a UPS, they can provide power during a shutdown, and when the power is on, they are a rechargeable power pack. They come in different sizes, so they can power anything from a laptop to a refrigerator. Technically, you can put a small one in the same place as a UPS, plug it into an outlet, and when the power goes out, it will switch to battery backup.
But the power supply isn’t the same surge protector integrity, and power banks are terribly expensive to keep tethered to the modem. In case of a real failure, you would like to be able to use it for free for other items.
With UPSs starting at $50, it seems smarter to invest in one and keep it tethered to your modem and router.