Copper facilities are powered by Verizon and will usually remain operational in the event of a power outage, while fiber facilities rely upon an optical network terminal (ONT) located at the home or business, which must be connected to a power source or outlet at the home or business. If electrical power at the home or business is lost, a backup battery connected to the ONT will provide customers with backup power for a period of time. In the event of an electrical outage, batteries will operate telephones up to 24 hours depending on the battery.
In most cases, the equipment that you currently use to place and receive calls will continue to work on the fiber network. There is no change to emergency calls to 911, provided that you have power to your home or, in the event of a power outage, have not exhausted the batteries in the ONT backup device described above.
Verizon DC provides two types of voice service over its fiber facilities, as follows:
- Traditional, landline voice service that is the same as traditional service provided over copper facilities, except it may be inoperable during power outages.
- FiOS Digital Voice service, which is a Voice over Internet Protocol service that cannot be provided over copper facilities.