[publius911]

Now, with fiber, it relies on a rechargeable battery in your basement, which will only last a few hours.

Thank you for sharing that, but it suggests a gross oversimplification. If you truly know about this topic, can you be more specific?

If in fact that rechargeable battery is all that would maintain telephone service, we all have the option to provide as big a battery as we want, to maintain service for days, weeks or months if we so decide.

No?

[Marcella]

In 2008, after Ike, power was out but my old time plug in the wall phone worked.

[PapaBear3625]

If in fact that rechargeable battery is all that would maintain telephone service, we all have the option to provide as big a battery as we want, to maintain service for days, weeks or months if we so decide. No?

Yes and no. For example, in my basement the fiber comes in from outside, and connects to a module. That module plugs into an electrical outlet, and internally has a battery backup. The inside-the-house copper phone wiring that your hard-wired phone plugs into, runs down to that module in the basement.

If you lose power, that module runs off the battery and allows you phone service for a few hours. If you have a UPS or generator, you can plug the module into that. You can't, however, replace the expired battery with a few D-cells.