Ahh...
That's what I like about Matthew's laptop, internal 56K modem. Sure, it's dial-up...but it works when the lights are out! :-)
It's one of the one things I insist on...the battery must always be powered up. Learned that lesson when the power went out for those couple of days. After the roof of that house nearly hit me...
There's a slideshow with some pics here:
http://www.timesdispatch.com