Well, if I lose electricity, I’m already out of heat and water. I do have a cell phone, that sometimes comes in in this area. Or I can drive a mile and get connected. In case of emergency, I have my neighbors.
Sounds like we’re in pretty similar situations. Country, not that reliable cell coverage. I have had quite frequent power outages and they always seem to get mine back last.
It was handy to have a land line to bitch to the power company, but don’t know how much good it does.
My current phone situation is ATT with unlimited LD for $40. (I don’t make international LD fortunately). I also have a cell (have to have, don’t use much), pay as you go, that averages about $8 month.
My internet is the killer. ISDN. Slow and about $125/month.
I have Vonage, myself. I dumped my Verizon service years ago, and have not been sorry.
Quality is excellent nearly all the time. Here in Maryland I’m paying under $20, but I do have to pay for Internet Broadband, as well. I have Comcast cable.
My brother lives in Thailand, and I talk with him several hours each week. He has Vonage as well, and there is no charge for a Vonage-to-Vonage call, so I talk to him in Thailand for free. His internet provider is not as reliable as Comcast, so there are sometimes noise issues with him that are related to low bandwidth.