HFN Download: Top Questions from Users in April

With every power outage that happens in our community, Highlands Fiber Network (HFN) typically sees a small number of users lose connectivity for a few different reasons. This past month’s power outage was no exception.

In most cases, we typically see that either the customer’s router has lost connection with the HFN portal in the home or the power supply feeding the HFN portal was “fried” in the outage. In cases where there has been a loss of power and your connection doesn’t come back up when the power is restored, HFN technicians recommend unplugging and rebooting your personal router to see if it will re-establish a connection.

If this doesn’t work, we recommend contacting our support teams directly, rather than trying to get access to the HFN portal and attempting any further troubleshooting. We’ve seen too many cases where the fiber coming into the home was accidentally damaged, causing an even longer delay in restoring services. Typically, a fried power supply can be solved the same day with a simple visit by our field support teams.

HFN receives many requests and questions from Issaquah Highlands residents every month. Below is a breakdown of the types of support requests and some of our most frequent questions posed by users last month.

Top Questions from HFN Users Last Month:

Q: Is there an outage going on and how can I check on the network status?

A: In the event of an outage, HFN will post the notice and any updates on our main page. Visit our website and click on the “Network Status” link at the very top. You can also sign up for RSS feed to get notices and updates through that method as well.

Q: What can be done to prevent power surges and power outages?

A: Power surges and outages can only be mitigated to reduce their impact, as we’re all on the same source of power with Puget Sound Energy.  We highly recommend taking two actions for the protection and use of your electronics.

1. Surge protector. Many power strips or extra plugs come with this feature, but a surge protector is designed to fail when too much power comes in through the home power socket. Rather than damaging your electronics, the power surge will damage your power strip. It’s under the assumption that your surge protector is cheaper than your computer, router, gateway, etc.
2. UPS / Battery backup. Using an Uninterruptable Power Supply will help to continue protecting your electronics during a power outage. How long that battery lasts depend on the model that you choose and the number of devices that you have plugged into it.  At the very least, the battery should last long enough for you to turn your electronics off properly, rather than have the device abruptly shut off.

Our data centers have much larger and longer lasting UPS, as well as powered generators, to make sure our services remain available during a power event.

Jeremy Fallt is the HFN general manager and a Westridge resident.