In article , mad
amoeba wrote:

I was affected by the recent blackout in North East. That got me thinking of
how would
one communicate during such an event. Electricity including phones were
out.

This is not true. There were long lines to use payphones, and most home
and business phones worked.

Cellular phones didn't work either.

This is also mostly not true. Most cell systems were overloaded, but
the carrier signals were largely still operating, due to back up
batteries and generators.

--Tim May