Just Kick Me to the CURB.....
 

:mad::mad::eek::eek:This old woman has JUST discovered if my power goes off, I have NO phone service!!!! All these stupid phones I have plugged into the wall are USELESS!!! WHAT has happened to just plain old telephones that plug into the hole in the wall and work even without electricity??????

This is just all toooooooo much for an old woman stuck back in the good old days, OBVIOUSLY!!!!! Here I am in hrricain country, with a hole in every room to plug a LANDLINE into, and there is NO phone electricity even coming to the holes in the wall....everything goes thru this %^##@*&%$ COMPUTER SYSTEM!!!!!! If we loose electricity, I have NO PHONE SERVICE!!!!!! OMG!! What do we do????????!!!!!!!! Somebody that understands how all this *&%$##@ works, please tell me what I need to do in order to get "phone power" to come to the phone jack in my wall!!!!:mad::mad::thumbdown:thumbdown

Do you happen to have an old rotary phone, if so just plug into phone jack. Hope it works.

THAT is all I have in phones....rotary phones....all plugged into a phone jack in every room of this house...and when the power goes off, NOTHING!!!! Called ATT....everything goes thru a "modem" on the computer....when the power goes off, you will have phone service for a little while....until the battery runs down in the modem thing....but no telephone service in that hole in the wall....it all goes thru a computer or modem.....I made sure I had rotary phones plugged into every jack in every room so in case of emergency and loss of electricity, we would have phone service.....HAH!!!! SKREW YOU, OLD WOMAN!!!! AINT HAPPENING!!!! Hope YOU are not thinking you have a live phone service coming to that hole in your wall if YOUR power goes out!!! SURPRISE!!!!!

Phones
 

Wow, I did not know that!! I really thought that phones plugged into a wall phone socket had their own power.
I did not get a phone through the broadband cable company as I feared being cut off when power went.
Sometimes this modern electronic age gets me down! Yesterday my computer screen went huge and I had no idea why. I spent all morning with settings etc and finally found a button to reduce the screen to its former glory. Can't recall how I did it!
I also got an old version of AOL and can see no way of getting back to my familiar version.
And it's going to get worse!!! As for my modern car, I still don't know what all the button functions are. At least I have a simple Jitterbug wireless phone for oldies, and I can operate that!

My land line is not packaged with my cable, and never will be for this reason. I have one rotary phone due to this, when my power goes out my cordless phones are useless but the rotary works. Besides that I use my cell phone for all calls, every one calls me on my cell. My suggestion is get a cell phone for emergency use, they sell prepaid cell phones, very inexpensive I am told. When you know bad weather is coming make sure you have time on your cell or buy time for it, modern technology can work with us as well as against us. Today you have to be a computer programmer to just use your TV or CD player lol.

Everything goes thru these %$#@* computers....I HATE this!!! I found a place that sells plain phones that do NOT apparently go thru your computer system....I spoke with the man, he claimed to understand exactly what I was saying, and made it crystal clear that I could buy one of these phones from him and if I had a wall jack that was working, if I plugged this phone into the wall jack, it would work without going thru the computer....we will see.........he said years ago, when Florida had a big storm go thru, all those people thought they would have phone service and they were stunned to find out when their computer systems went down, and the power was off, they had NO PHONES!!! Just those hand held phones that everyone runs around poking and pushing buttons on, running into people because they are not paying attention to where they are going......and when they lost power to THOSE, they were dead in the water!!! So he assured me I could get one of these and plug it into the hole in my wall, and it would work because it does NOT go through the ATT Uverse/computer/TV/telephones.....so we will see! This is all too much tech stuff for an old lady that has NO interest in computers and high tech crap!!!

Make sure he tells you that you can get a full refund if it does not work. If you have ATT or Comcast or any cable telephone your service is coming through the modem and if the modem has no power you have no phone. You can check it by plugging in this new phone and unplugging your modem.

I was THINKING this was the set up that I had...but NO!!!! You had better be sure you have a phone when the power goes!!! I have all these phones plugged into these wall jacks, thinking they would work but NO!!! No electricity, no computer, no phones!!!

So..........I am sure this is what is going to happen to me.....So, if I didnt have a computer, how would I have a telephone that plugged into the wall hole that worked? Can a person have holes in the wall for a phone that work or is it mandatory that it all goes thru the computer?

2 years ago after hurricane Sandy we were without power for 5 days, at that time yes my landline worked, right after that hurricane I purchased a stand by generator, if power is out for 20 seconds the generator kicks on automatically. We had our first outage 2 weeks ago. I never check my land line because I have a cell phone. The only time my cell phone did not work was Aug, 14, 2003 (the day before my birthday I had a wonderful extended BD lol) when NYC had the biggest blackout in history. I had caught the bus out of port authority, when we crossed the Jersey state line into Pa. the bus driver announced the blackout and our bus was the last bus out, lucky me. When I got off the bus I called my job, I worked for a sea food company, we had freezers that held all types of sea food, I wanted to see how they were doing. The call dropped, NYC was dead in the water, no cell phones worked. The same thing the next day, no one living in NY 5 boros could be contacted nor could anyone in NY 5 boros call out on their cell phones, my cell worked phone for anyone else I called I just could not get through to NYC. Good luck with this new phone it will be a blessing to you.

Pardon me if I am not understanding this correctly YorkieMom. You are saying if I understand you right that you have bundled your phone and internet service with the same provider,yes? The reason I am asking is that I have separate telephone service other than my internet provider and I can use my landline phone if we lose electricity just like in the old days. Not our wireless phones though as they run through electricity. If that is what you are saying then I would say the answer to your question about how do you use your landline when electricity goes out is to have a separate phone provider for just your phone service. Does that sound right to you?

your rotary phone should work plugged into jack I have bundled phone internet and tv and when power goes out I just plug in rotary phone and it works. :D

Before came cable hook up for computers we used our land line. When I moved here to Pa. I used my landline (Verizon) for my computer, 2 years later my cable TV offered computer hook up, so I switched my computer from using the landline to using cable, I get billed for cable TV and computer, my landline provider is Verizon, 2 diff. companies. I never heard of landline usage being mandatory via a computer, what happens if a person doesn't have a computer in your area, that means they can't have a landline phone?

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
You are all over this!!! That is exactly what I am finding myself mucked up to my neck in!!!! Now, as it is right now, I have ATT U-Verse and my TV/computer/phones are all on the same deal.....so what you are saying I need to do, just to get these old brain cells wrapped around this correctly, I have to separate my phone service OUT from that package deal? Did I understand you right???

Thanks for the help...this is crazy.....

Can ATT separate out the phone from that bundle so I can use the landlines, or do I have to go through a completely different company?

The reason ATT bundled TV svce, computer & phone is you get a discount for bundling. ATT may have to put in sep. lines just for your phone, they will take the phone off the bundle meaning you will not get a discount for having all 3 as a bundle. I have to assume when they installed your phone lines they connected it to the cable lines if you can only get svce through the computer. If you don't mind changing your phone # go with a diff company for landline svce, I have to assume they would hook up phone lines to your house as it seems your landline is in someway connected to your cable line.

Phone
 

I am not sure that Uverse is a cable system. I thought it was a kind of DSL phone line hook up. I know that in my area I did not want ATT Uverse as it was too slow compared with Cox cable. If they are using the land phone line to power your computer, then probably the phone goes through the commuter. If you wanted a separate phone line you may need to get an extra ATT or other company line.
iDK, but that may be what is going on. I would call ATT and find out what the deal is.

Phone again
 

So I have Cox cable for TV and Internet , and ATT land line for phone.
Of course if you use one line for Uverse and computer and another for the phone you will need to.pay for two phone lines!
I did not have Cox phone as I wanted not to be totally cut off if the cable went out!

Like Anna RoseAnna Dana used to say, "Its ALWAYS something!!!!!!"

It sounds like you may have digital cable instead of regular. Just went through this with my MIL, there are routers with built-in modems now, we did not know or understand this until we were on the phone for an hour trying to set up a router without a modem that wouldn't work as she does not have a PC. Her cable, landline & internet is all connected somehow. It's confusing to say the least, good luck! :(

I have no idea what I have...all I know is it is all bundled into one pack, and it is with ATT U-Verse........my computers/ and my phones/ and my TVs......are all together, and if the power goes off, there is NOTHING!!! All this time, I thought I had phones because they are plugged into the wall jack....well, WRONG!!!! So, I have to do something to fix this.....I have to sleep on it, clear my head......

You did understand me right.
I am not sure if ATT can give you phone service that does not connect to your modem but I do know that I use a completely different phone company. I had the phone service first before I ever had a computer that was on the internet and always kept that so I never had the problem you are experiencing. I wish you well with this so upsetting and frustrating problem YorkieMom1.

Ours is really confusing, it's all through the cable line but it's not bundled.

Digital Cable TV through Comcast.

High speed internet through Earthlink, but it's billed by Comcast. If we have technical problems, we call Comcast. We've had it for about 10 years, and the price hasn't gone up (suspect we are flying under the radar on price increases because we signed up with one party who did the pricing and are distanced from the company that provides the service).

Phone service is VOIP (through the cable line) and the provider is Phonepower. I used Vonage but they kept switching us to more expensive packages that were ridiculous bases on our low calling needs. I was also getting aggravated at the high number of scammer robo calls and wanted a service that allowed me to block calls.

I vaguely remember setting up the VOIP in our house about 8 years ago when switching from and AT&T landline to Vonage. I had to go out to the little box on the side of our house, open it up, and change something around. I can't recall what that was, but they provided the diagram and it was very simple. That somehow switched us from the incoming AT&T phone line over to being able to make phone calls through the computer. Took less than a minute. Then I connected the phone adapter to the computer and into one of the wall jacks, and that made all of the wall jacks VOIP.

If you want to go back to a landline, you (or the installation technician) are going to have to make that simple change to the box outside of your house and you will have to un-bundle your service. This could be a problem if you have a contract, even if you are staying in the AT&T family and keeping them for your landline. And AT&T landline service prices are ridiculous, IMO. Still, it may be worth it to you to bite the bullet, pay to break your contract, pay more for the un-bundled cable and internet, and pay their landline prices.

Another thing you can consider that is much simpler than the above, it's what we do with Phonepower but I don't know if AT&T has a similar service: We can log into our Phonepower account online and indicate our preferences, change settings, block numbers, etc. We can go into our preferences and give a "fail-safe" number, and in the event of a power outage (or anything that interrupts phone service, like a problem with my router or the phone adapter), any calls to our home phone will be automatically forwarded to that number, which is my cell.

Thanks for this info....I am printing this so I can read it to the next person I get on a phone...maybe someone can come do this or help me do this....at least it is a solution....I just can not believe I am the only uninformed person on this forum, that is sitting there, thinking you have a working phone jack, (if the tv/computer/phone is bundled)and you do NOT!! That handy little bundle system goes out with a power shortage and you have nothing coming from those phone jack holes in your wall!!! All those "emergency princess phones" you have plugged into phone jacks in separate rooms that you are thinking have absolutely NOTHING to do with your computer or tv, they are all DEAD when you loose power!!!! I did find out I have an emergency modem thingie that provides emergency power if the electricity goes off, but it does not last forever, and I had no idea what that little box was back behind my tv, so of course, it is dead....if I had known I needed to be sure it was "powered up, charged, changed out, WHATEVER", periodically, that thing is like a battery pack and will keep phones up for awhile.....but I have to get the plug in outlets for phones in each room, activated so that phones plugged into those outlets, WORK, whether you have electricity or not!

The realization that I had no phone service if power went out, was as stunning/shocking/unbelievable to me, as if my gas stove did not work in a power failure! In my senior mind, all that is separate stuff......if your water goes off, that has nothing to do with your phones.....if your gas goes off, that has nothing to do with phone service or lights......if your power goes off, that has nothing to do with phones or your water!!!! I am beginning to believe the conspirator theories....."they" have us all hooked up to ONE source of energy, so all "they" have to do is flip ONE switch, and we are all left with NO SERVICE to ANYTHING!!!!!!

Phones
 

I feel your pain!! I think the phone and cable companies want all phones to be either cell or via the computer modem.
Almost every day I get a letter from Cox pleading for me to bundle all my services including phone. I have resisted for the reasons you mentioned, if one goes out all goes out!! In big emergencies even cell service can go dead or too busy from the larger usage. I like my land line and the message machine that I can SEE if there is a message instead of having to call the cell message number.
Hope you can resolve this with the phone company soon.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
You hang with it....dont wake up weak some day, listen to some fast talking salesman that FAILS to mention, "oh by the way, you do this and you will NOT have a phone if all this other crap goes out"....and then to back out of this bundle krap....they have to come out and tramp all over your house, in all your rooms, (all I see are diseases and germs dropping off their clothes and shoes, onto my floors and furniture where all my babies walk!!!), re-wiring stuff....such a mess!!!! But I will get this fixed like I need it for me.....I just did not even REALIZE I had an "unacceptable for me" issue until yesterday!!! TOTAL SHOCK!!

Phone AAARGH!
 

Thank you, I will not be beaten down by them and submit to a cable phone. :)
Had to laugh at your picture of all these persons tramping all over your home trailing dirt and germs in their wake. Ha, Ha! Make them put on a protective suit as if they had EBola?
This fix should be very simple and should only require a change in the connexions in the outside utility box, as far as I can tell. Just may need to come inside to test?
I can see you are armed and ready for them when they do dare to come visit you:) Good Luck!

There wouldn't be any reason for the cable company to go into every room with a phone jack. They would just unbundle...maybe you can bundle TV and Internet and leave off the phone from them. A phone company would then have to be contacted...as you would if you moved to a new place...and they would do what they do to activate a landline.

The only difference you will have is paying for your TV and Internet in addition to the phone company for your service. No one should be traipsing all over your home for any of this.

Thank you all for the suggestion at solving my problem....I am copying all these and will present them to ATT to get this resolved!