dpb wrote:

M Q wrote:


Jethro wrote:

...
I just went thru the exercise of throwing my main power breaker to see
if I lose all dial tones that way. And I do not. Unlike with a true
power outage during which I lose all dial tones, whether the phone is
cordless (portable with a base) or corded (connected to the wall),
with the main breaker thrown I only lose dial tones for the cordless
phones. That is as it should be.
So I still do not know why I and some of my neighbors (but not all)
lose all dial tones during a true power outage.

You don't need to know. It is now clearly the telco's problem.
If they are unwilling to deal with it, you can complain to whatever
regulatory agency that oversees telephone companies in your state.
You could even tell them that you couldn't dial 911 during the last
outage (of course you didn't try, but don't mention that).

Well, if he didn't have a dial tone, he wouldn't have been able to even
if he did try...

Obviously there's a common supply somewhere under some of these outage
conditions that is taking the telco's supply, too. Whether that would
be a regulatory violation is doubtful in my mind, but guess could always
ask his State authority...

--

When it comes to the ability to reach E911 or other emergency services,
there may well be a regulatory violation. Recall the E911 issue came up
with the various VoIP providers i.e. Vonage and created quite a stink
until they sorted it out.