I was rather hoping that when my cable internet service gets knocked out, I can just tether my cell phone to my computer and access internet that way. The technology works, and so I thought I was all set until a storm actually hit the area and knocked out the ISP. So I went to the backup, only to discover that my cell service was out, too. ARGH!

Any ideas?

Yes, I know internet access is not crucial to survival, but it and the radio are two ways I get information. I am considering a small TV, except that digital reception doesn't seem so great around here, and I'm personally not sure how useful a TV would be in an emergency, not having had one for more than for a decade.

DB

Get the latest model Amazon Kindle with built-in wifi (ATT is the provider and it's included with the Kindle last I checked), and an Ipad2 (Verizon version, quite a bit of data downloadable for $30 per mo., no contract required). Assuming your cellphone provider is not ATT or Verizon already, of course, you would then have 3 internet provider options in case of emergency. Note: Internet surfing on the Kindle is barely adequate, but possible and cheap.

A good weather radeo will receive emergency broadcast system messages in the event of a true disaster and is invaluable. The scenario you described may not have been sever enough to trigger such an aleert, except for weather updates. In a trukly disaterous weather situation you would (should( hear evacuation notices and such. Not as detailed as we're accustomed to on the internet, but in a sever weather system where both land lines and cell towers are without power, the airwaves are you last resort for information.

If you're wanting emergency internet access for communication during a crisis, get into amatuer (ham) radio instead. If you're wanting emergency internet access to play World Of Warcraft, your options are limited.

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This is where an alliance with your neighbors can help. Find a neighbor that uses DSL from the phone company and make an informal mutual aid agreement with them. Each of you must have a wi-fi router.

In normal times you would use your cable modem and your neighbor would use their DSL modem. If one or the other systems fail, the neighbor with access to the internet can add a login to their wi-fi router so the other neighbor can get internet access through their service. Setting up a wi-fi login only takes a minute or two.

If you really trust your neighbor you could go ahead and setup shared access ahead of time, but in my case, I don't trust my neighbors that much but in a storm or other outage, I would be more than happy to share and have done so a few times.

In my experience, DSL and phone landlines are more durable than cable service. I've been through a few hurricanes where the cable and power were knocked out but the phone system kept right on ticking.

I have a weather radio with SAME. There was a thunderstorm warning. The local cable/cellular system apparently is not robust enough to withstand that. My experience with tornado warnings has been about the same.

I like looking at NOAA weather data in bad weather. That gives me a better sense of what to expect. Now I have to figure out how useful that really is. How "cost-efficient," I guess.

DB

I thought about this, especially since I can see around 20 wi-fi networks right now. But given the average age around here, I don't think anyone would do DSL or landlines. Might be worth a check...

DB

POTS line, modem, generator, netzero.com free dial-up account.

Certainly the least expensive of the various options. We have buried phone lines in my neighborhood and they have never gone out.