Something to think about.

The West side area of my city just had at least 1 transformer failure resulting in a major area black out. I was prepared with several LED lanterns and flashlights as were the crew at my office.
Without Electricity powering our phone system, other than by cell phone we had no way to call out in most of Our building, except at the front counter which has a spare jack with a old style rotary phone that doesn't need power other than from the phone lines to operate.

I'm having a battery backup wired into our phone system for future power outages.

I know my home phone is via the TV cable and it has a limited back up built in the modem that will last a few hours. But when that goes, no phone unless I plug the modem into my home UPS unit.

Our cell service continued to work, but was often busy from the volume of calls using the system.

How many have a way of charging their cell phone should you lose power?

I have a vehicle charger that stays in my Yukon full time and my personal support kit has spare 120 volt and 12 volt chargers, as does my BOB. I can plug my UPS into my Generator and run chargers off the UPS when I'm home but I often travel and who knows what is available where I might be at. I think I'll shop around for a "crank" or AA battery phone charger to add the my emergency supplies.

"...How many have a way of charging their cell phone should you lose power?..."

I always have a cig lighter cord for the cell phone I own, and have a power inverter stored in the vehicle. I have purchased a few of those AA battery cell phone chargers, and they NEVER have an adapter for the phone we own. I must have a box full of those things stored somewhere...

I wouldn’t count on that. I have my entire computer and cable broadband system plugged into an APC UPS here. I have seen several (not all) power outages in which my cable modem stayed operational, but the cable service was unavailable nonetheless.

There many routers and junctions in between your cable modem/phone adapter and the cable company’s head end, and each requires backup power. Not all power outages seem to take the cable down… especially if the power outage is short, but do not be surprised if you do not get a dial tone even though your cable modem is still up and running.

This is a good reminder to me to get my supplies together. I also have mismatched chargers that are not compatible with my current cellphone and also need a couple of inverters.

Btw, if you're looking for an old-fashioned, corded phone, check thrift stores. In my locale, they go for $2 or $3 each.

I have two extra batterys for my cell that stay charger all the time, I also have a truck charger that stays in the truck as well as a charge2go that takes a AA battery, the charge2go has saved my butt more than once before I bought the two extra batterys.

Those typically have battery backup as well. I've reported my home power out many times via the power companies web site using my laptop and cable modem powered by battery. The large power outages we had from hurricane katrina the power company web site kept an interactive map of outage locations and expected power restore times.

Two sources to look at. Energizer has MANY different AA phone chargers that are manufacturer specific. Inside those packs are many adapters. Home Depot is where I got mine. I may have old adapters laying around as we all just changed to a single common phone from 5 different one's.

Second is Targus has a Universal laptop charger that comes with adapters, (phone on one side/mini USB the other). Then energizer has a mini USB AA charger.

PM me phone MAKE / MODEL and I will check for extras about to hit the trash.

It's amazing how few people have a corded phone any more. Many don't even know that there is such a thing as a line-powered phone. No wonder they freak out when the power goes off: it's as if civilization has come to an end. I always tell people to wrap up their old corded phone and tuck it in the basement.

On the cell phone side, I've gone back to simple Nokia candy-bar phones, which can do voice and text and not much else. But they punch out a signal even when smart phones have conked out. The beauty is that the chargers have a standard-size barrel plug, and extras are easy to find in the $1 bin at the secondhand store.

I always have 2-3 corded phones in the house, and so far, have not switched to things like FiOS so that I can have a POTS phone

I have a pair of Army field phones and wire to string out if I need them at a shelter for comms - I also have a Butt set in my go box, along with a linemans nut driver....

I had the phone company install a spare line at my office that has a cheap phone plugged into it, not through the system so always a backup.

I have backup battery pack that has also has an AC inverter, for charging cell/laptop, plus jumpstarting, compressor, etc.

I also have a crank up cell charger. And a solar panel that can slow charge a phone.