Think about it. In this case a scheduled power outage, but some are unplanned.
The smoke alarms start beeping, there are three small children in the house, and not a single line-powered phone to dial 9-1-1.
Hot pipe with no thermostatic fan switch was outgassing. Kids were fine, treated mom for hyperventilation.
Have to wonder how many of us are so gadgeted that we don't have a line-powered phone, though. Good thing she finally found her cell phone in the dark.
I remember this group and others losing touch with a few members when hurricanes went through different areas.
They were using the new internet phone services, and with cable out they just didn't miss HBO, they didn't have a phone. An insurance construction coordinator friend of mine told me that some folks went for 3 months without their cable/internet phone, and when they finally got it back it didn't always work.
Another tidbit: here in Texas the State Attorney General filed suit (and in turn started a huge class action suit) against Time Warner because they were not hooked up to the 911 system for about two years. So you dialed 911, and nothing happened in most parts of the state.
Of course you were never told this at the time you were saving thousands by changing to one convenient bill. If I remember correctly, the spur that go the whole thing started was an older lady that lost her husband because she kept calling 911 to get an ambulance for him and when she finally figured it out, it was too late for him.
I understand they have the 911 line situation all ironed out, but still, if your cable goes out, or gets interfered with, or someone screws with the pedestal to get those free premium stations, you could be SOL.
Robert
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I agree completely! Since I had to spend a lot of time in bed when my leg first started to fail, and we're in rural Texas on co-op power, phone service became much more of a necessity. We have a couple of wireless phones for convenience, but always had a hard line connected. SWMBO has suggested replacing home phones with only cell phones, but they're way too undependable in emergency situations. Hard lines forever!
Ken Moon Webberville, TX.
"George" wrote: (clip) Good thing she finally found her cell phone in the dark. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Do the cell phone towers have their own power?
At our house we have self-generating flashlights in a central location. I HATE groping for a flashlight in the dark, thinking "This would be easier if I had a flashlight."
we bought 3 florescent double-tube lanterns from good ol' harbor "fright"... They were about $20 each and if you leave them plugged in and turned on, they light when the power goes off and run for about 2 hours.. longer if ya go to 1 tube..
We both have cell phones and a nice 4 phone cordless system, but since we have a lot of short power outages here, we have one "old fashioned" corded, non-electronic phone for those times... (it's a bitch when you're talking to a client and the phone goes off when the power does)
mac
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