How Phones Work During Power Outages

Phone companies use generators to ensure that landline phones will work, even in the event of a power outage. Learn more about phone systems in this HowStuffWorks podcast.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:23):
I am Marshall brain with today's question, why does the
phone still work when the electricity goes out? If you
have a wired phone that plugs into a phone jack
in the wall, you've probably discovered that your phone works
even in a power failure. One of the relative miracles
of modern times is the reliability of the landline phone system.

(00:44):
The power goes out fairly often for most people. Sometimes
it's only out for a second, but other times it
can be out for minutes, hours, or even days. Your
landline telephone, on the other hand, is always working. Why
is that? Between your house and the phone company office,
there's a dedicated pair of copper wires for your phone.

(01:05):
Those wires are almost always buried, so ice storms and
hurricanes won't cut them. The phone company supplies the power
that your phone needs using that dedicated copper pair. The
phone company uses batteries or generators to keep the power
going even if there's a power failure, so your phone
is basically gonna work all the time. Many cell phones

(01:27):
offer this feature as well. Your cell phone runs off batteries,
and the cell phone tower has generators that they use
in power failures, so your cell phone will probably work
all the time as well. But if you use a
cordless phone in your house, it will stop working in
a power failure. That's because the base station plugs into
the wall for its power. If you want to keep

(01:49):
that phone working, you need to connect the base station
to an uninterruptible power supply. Do you have any ideas
or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please send me
an email at podcast at how stuff works dot com.
For more on this and thousands of other topics, go
to how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is sponsored

(02:10):
by Harry's dot Com. Get a great shaving experience for
a fraction of the price. The quality of the shave
is so important that Harry's purchased the factory that makes
their blades. Fifteen dollars gets you a set that includes
a handle, three blades, and shave cream. Go to Harry's
dot com use the code brain stuff to save five
dollars off your first purchase.