One Darned Thing After Another

Shortly after I updated the post below, I lost Internet and cable. If anyone has any questions about why I keep my landline, this is it. Throughout our bad weather yesterday power has stayed on. It went down for about a second but came right back up. I lost my cellphone connection briefly. My plain old AT&T telephone service has remained available throughout. I also have a plain old AT&T rotary handset. It’s not plugged in—just there in case of emergency.

My Internet connection on the other hand has been out for nearly 24 hours.

8 comments… add one
  • ... Link

    Clearly you need to hook up an old telephone modem. If you’ve still got a rotary phone, I’m sure you’ve still got one of those!

  • steve Link

    We live in the sticks. We lose power frequently, occasionally for days. We have never lost our landline, and we also keep a rotary of the same reason. Hadn’t thought about a modem.

    Steve

  • ... Link

    I miss the old black rotary phones. They had a couple of distinct advantages over modern phones. One, you can’t slam a modern phone, certainly not with any satisfaction. Second, you can’t use modern phones as hammers. Those old ones, though, could be used to crack anything from small nuts to coconuts to skulls.

  • Clearly you need to hook up an old telephone modem.

    Sure. I’ve got a half dozen of ’em. I’ve also got an old acoustic coupler somewhere gathering dust.

  • Andy Link

    Do rotaries still work? I thought I read somewhere a decade ago that most telephone switches only support tone dialing.

  • Well, ours still work.

  • TastyBits Link

    They will pry my landline from my cold dead hands. I have a cordless, but I have a corded phone as a backup. I also have separate phone and TV (cable) service. No single point of failure. (I had a dial-up internet account for years after I got my cable internet service.)

    Our power rarely goes out, and when it does, it is usually restored quickly. I am not sure why, but there is a pumping station one mile away.

  • steve Link

    We have a rotary AND a princess. Top that.

    Steve

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