# Cellphones during blackouts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392 "2011-01-12T22:31:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392/21 "2011-01-13T21:45:59Z")
> [@Wilbo523](#): > > I was in that blackout. It wasn’t because the towers didn’t have power. It was because they were jammed with everyone trying to use their cell phones. Congestion limits the use of cell phones. Right. The blackout was in 1965. Cellphones were invented in 1973, 8 years later. Tell us another fable. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392/22 "2011-01-13T21:56:11Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Right. > The blackout was in 1965. Cellphones were invented in 1973, 8 years later. > Tell us another fable. Wilbo might be talking about the New York blackout of 1977 or even more likely, the one in 2003. P.S. I was a toddler in 1965 - when the lights went out after I was messing with the TV, my parents first thought I was responsible. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392/23 "2011-01-13T21:56:43Z")
Even if a tower can be powered indefinitely, if the power is out then eventually your cellphone is going to go dead. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392/24 "2011-01-13T22:33:36Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Right. > The blackout was in 1965. Cellphones were invented in 1973, 8 years later. > Tell us another fable. Maybe you were you asleep in [August of 2003](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_2003) after reading your bedtime story? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392/25 "2011-01-13T23:24:05Z")
Personally, if I’m going to attach a city to that one, I would call it the Cleveland blackout, since that’s where the problem started (and very quickly spread). ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392/26 "2011-01-14T15:59:40Z")
Tangentially related: A few years ago, when a 5.6 earthquake struck Los Angeles, there was hardly any damage and only a few areas were affected by blackouts. However, the entire cell phone network crashed and stayed down for hours – triggered by 12.5 million L.A. residents immediately calling/texting their friends to say, _“Did you feel it?”_ Presumably, the cell phone companies started working on a backup system for when the next REALLY BIG quake eventually strikes… ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392/27 "2011-01-14T18:35:41Z")
> [@Kiwi\_Fruit](#): > > I’d hazard that even if the CO has a generator, not all the equipment that connects your phone to the CO does. It is increasingly common in NZ for residential customers to have their lines fed through a roadside cabinet. That allows closer connection for your DSL line to the SAM (Services Access Manager) than running copper back to the CO. Run fibre to cabinets and only have short copper lines to the customer. > > The roadside cabinet typically has 4-8 hours battery capacity, and that’s if the batteries are regularly maintained and replaced. It can happen that the battery is shot, so you get 20 minutes before the cabinet fails in a power outage. > > Commercial customers also have nodes supplying their phone services and some may be housed in the customer’s building. They will have batteries too, but the customer’s equipment may not so their landlines fail immediately. > > I’m a support engineer for transmission systems, both roadside cabinets and trunk systems, for a telco, and have a reasonable amount of experience in this field. In the US, every SLAM I’ve seen has a diesel generator right next to it. There is a “Rule of Five Nines” here. Your land line should be available 99.999% of the time. ---
**Author:** ![ecseas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ecseas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecseas)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392/28 "2011-01-18T07:47:20Z")
My house phone doesn’t work when there is a black out, my mobile does, aslong as it is charged. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392/29 "2011-01-18T08:50:16Z")
> [@ecseas](#): > > My house phone doesn’t work when there is a black out, my mobile does, aslong as it is charged. Could this be because you have a cordless phone that depends on a mains-powered base unit? This is one disadvantage to cordless phones. It’s always best have a spare corded phone to plug into the phone socket when the mains fails. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392/30 "2011-01-18T09:22:34Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > But there is backup power available for that, too. I have phone service thru Charter (cable TV), powered like yours thru a modem, but the modem has a 4 hour battery inside and I rotate that with a spare. It works. Nope, not Vonage. The Vonage box is independent of my Comcast modem and has no backup battery. In fact, my Comcast modem has no battery, either. So no power also means no internet period for me. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392/31 "2011-01-18T13:09:13Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Nope, not Vonage. The Vonage box is independent of my Comcast modem and has no backup battery. In fact, my Comcast modem has no battery, either. So no power also means no internet period for me. You might check with Vonage to see if there is a different model available. When Charter first installed my modem, they weren’t going to use one with battery backup until I insisted it was a no-cost option. Then they refused to supply a battery, so I had to get that from another source. I’m not aware of an Internet modem that has a battery, but some phone modems do. Of course, if you are really concerned, get a PC-type UPS as big as you can afford. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392/32 "2011-01-18T15:12:41Z")
When I read the title I got the image of a middle-aged guy wearing a white Brodie helmet with ‘CD’ on it, shouting ‘_Turn out that light!_’ ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392/33 "2011-01-18T18:11:43Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > You might check with Vonage to see if there is a different model available. When Charter first installed my modem, they weren’t going to use one with battery backup until I insisted it was a no-cost option. Then they refused to supply a battery, so I had to get that from another source. > > I’m not aware of an Internet modem that has a battery, but some phone modems do. Of course, if you are really concerned, get a PC-type UPS as big as you can afford. Nope, Vonage doesn’t have a different box. But I’m not that concerned. Just noting that your mileage may vary. In case of a power outage, I do have a cell phone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones-during-blackouts/567392.md?page=1)