Customer equipment - given a basic phone again?

[#1]

I use mine occasionally
Usually to call the electricity supplier to report a power cut and to see when the expected fix time is

[#2]

With all the flooding and wind events recently I am surprised that there haven't been more posts saying they would never again be without a corded phone. It is IMHO the most reliable system for support in an emergency and great for ringing up the emergency helpline for the local electrical distribution company.  
But I agree anyone who hasn't got one should buy one of a fiver! At those prices ISP's needn't be involved  

[#3]

Mine arrives from Amazon tomorrow; thanks for the reminder. I meant to do it 3 weeks ago when a careless tree took out our power cable!

[#4]

Suggested phone: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5526527.htm £5.99

[#5]

Quote from: PeterLoftus

With all the flooding and wind events recently I am surprised that there haven't been more posts saying they would never again be without a corded phone. It is IMHO the most reliable system for support in an emergency and great for ringing up the emergency helpline for the local electrical distribution company.

Agreed.
Everyone should have a corded phone, permanently connected.
Imagine waking at 3am with your smoke alarm beeping, the DECT handset flat, or there's a power cut, but you know there's a corded phone at the back of a cupboard - somewhere.

[#6]

Reminds me of the day - I remember my parents having one and using the dial to enter numbers back in the day before tone dialing and push buttons
I'm sure they got told off for using a non-approved phone once when an engineer came round.
Mind you Sky require you to plug your box into the landline for a year so they can get channel viewing statistics for free as part of your contract. Well, at least it gives them a business model of what to charge for advertising. Nice.
Although as their new boxes have Wi-Fi built in and they're trying to sell on-demand viewing, I heard you don't need a landline anymore as the data they want to steal off you can now be uploaded.

[#7]

Quote from: Force

Imagine waking at 3am with your smoke alarm beeping, the DECT handset flat, or there's a power cut, but you know there's a corded phone at the back of a cupboard - somewhere.

In that situation I rather be on a mobile phone outside the building rather than tethered to a landline inside.

[#8]

@Razorback but if there is a power cut there's a good chance that your mobile won't have a signal 

[#9]

Do mobile masts not have power back-up?
I don't recall ever losing mobile signal when we've had a power cut (though, obviously I don't know whether the phone mast has lost mains power at the same time).
Do Virgin Media (cabled areas) mainain telephone operation in a power cut?

[#10]

In my experience any power cuts we experience tend be very localised and so the mobile signal may not be affected. In any case I am still not hanging around in a burning building just to make a call from a corded phone!