We dropped our land-line telephone line completely and rely entirely on cox cable for TV and internet. We use internet for communication more than phones anyhow. I have my computer, router and cable modem on UPS- if I shut the PC down to conserve the battery, it will power the WAP for many hours, during which time, we can use our laptops. For longer outages, the generator has no problem powering all the TVs and computers in the house.

If cable goes out, I have a Treo700p PDA Phone which I can use to access my email and the internet in general. I can also tether it to my laptop via bluetooth and use it as a broadband modem (3mbps!); with my laptop set up as ad-hoc wifi proxy server, my wife and I can both get online with it at the same time [Linked Image] So, if we lose cable, we're still up on broadband internet [Linked Image]


I use Skype a lot to video teleconference with my parents (who FINALLY got DSL in their area!)- lets them see their grandkids, they like that [Linked Image] The quality isn't perfect, but it's not all that bad.

[This message has been edited by SteveFehr (edited 02-16-2007).]