[bgill]

if a person had an old type phone that plugged directly into the wall. In that case you could phone someone in the area that also had that type phone or you could call outside the hurricane area.

That is the reason I still write out a monthly check to the landline phone company. It's not for fun and convenience but insurance that we've needed at least twice a year.

[Marcella]

“That is the reason I still write out a monthly check to the landline phone company. It’s not for fun and convenience but insurance that we’ve needed at least twice a year.”

After Ike came through, I had no power but my phone worked and my son in London was able to call me to see how I was and a friend in the Texas hill country also called to see if I was okay.

I had no power but I had a TV that worked, a phone that worked, a radio that worked and I could hear Houston TV channels over that radio, lights that worked and fans that worked, and a way to cook hot meals inside my house and outside my house. I was fine.