Some local phone companies are making an effort to avoid providing traditional basic phone service to all service areas. Not having traditional wired service can be a problem during a disaster when many buildings are without power and cell phone towers are either out of service or overwhelmed with calls. A more detailed discussion is presented in "No Second Class Services at the Jersey Shore" and "AARP, Consumer Groups Fighting to Protect Landline Telephone Service".
There are many competitive services available which you can find at "Local and Long Distance Phone Service Options". Many of these phone service options are very appropriate for certain situations, however, many of them require that you have a source of power at your location. Plan ahead for power outages and cell tower outages. One approach is to install a generator and/or a UPS so that you still have power even if the utility company is not supplying power to your location. This approach is being taken by many who experienced many days of no power after Sandy.
