Who are you going to call if there is a fire? What if you live in an apartment building?
Stay in contact with friends and family when the cell towers go down.
The Landlines work when the power is out, and they're cheap. You probably have one in your closet. If not, your local store typically has one.
Get a old school corded one, not a cordless one that needs charging or power.
It cost about $9 to have, and your internet provider probably sells it already.
I'm surprised FEMA didn't list this in their recent Tweet.
That is unless you have a cable bundle and then you are going over VOIP. Its all weird now.
^ this. OP literally is using a VOIP phone. That's technically not a landline (POTS) and of no use if the net goes down and power goes down with it.
Hah. I'm glad you've surveyed my phone system already and know what I have installed. ;P
You're point is clear though. It's best for each end user to clarify what they have individually and proceed accordingly.
if there's a fire, and it burns through your LL cable thats connecting your LL phone to your carrier, than it, too, is useless. Satellite phones and internets are the future. Especially with Tesla's Starlink. Would not be surprised if they announce a similar service for phones in the near future.
That's a fair point, but if the fire hasn't burned through the cable, then its useful.
One could theorize that if the metal contacts at the demarcation point rust out, it's not going to work either.
The idea is to have it incase of an emergency. Not to come up with theories on why it's going to fail, ya know?
We need ham radio license and a ham radio
^ this is de wae. At the very least, grab a CB radio
What's a good Ham radio, or CB to buy locally?
None of that Baofeng trash. I heard it makes loud noises on the frequencies. Wouldn't be surprised if it was intentional.
I got one of those hand held Baofeng ones a while back. It works fine. In order to talk over long distances with other people you must know how to use a repeater... and I have no idea how to do that yet. Someone sent me the study guide a couple days ago and I'm reading through it. If you're interested then I'll upload and post a link here.
Go for it.
https://files.catbox.moe/oiw0gv.pdf
PDF Huge List - Scanner HAM radio Frequencies https://repeatermap.us/ You only need to listen, no broadcast https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/index.php?state_id=none
Rural America checking in. Never got rid of our landline! More reliable here for calling than cellphones. In fact in our area DSL is still fairly common way to connect to the internet. Unfortunately when bad weather takes down poles/lines it turns into book reading night.
The land line wire to my house was disconnected at the telephone pole before I bought my house. Newer built homes might not have a line ran either.
However, my neighbor does have a landline. Might be worth it to ask your neighbors if they have one.
A landline phone will work even during a hurricane. Phone lines have carbon fiber in them that keeps them from snapping when tree limbs bring down power lines. The power lines will break, but not the phone lines usually. Also, when the electricity goes out, a lot of the cell phone towers go out. And if they have battery backup, it doesn't last all that long. The phone companies have tons of batteries so they can keep going for days without power.
Can confirm phone lines are amazingly resiliant. But sometimes mother nature wants to land a 200 year old oak tree on a line and sever everything.
I have seen mile long stretch of power lines / telco lines down and every one will be without power for weeks but still be able to use the telephone (and dialup !)
But it does work if the poles are functional. This was the point I was trying to convey.
"Dur hur, your smoke signals won't work when it's raining."
See how asinine this argument is?
Only prep you need is dirt bike, gas and shotgun. Everything else follows.