Good information, thanks. This has reinforced what I've known. Just thought that perhaps, they had improved it somehow. You also brought out a good point about "go phones".

A couple of days ago, I called AT & T. The agent took a look at my account and was trying to pursuade me to get this special package deal. I told him that I did not want to pay more services. I wanted to keep what I have, a home phone and internet service (DSL). He assured me that I will get all that and plus more for less. You know how it is, when it's too good to be true, check it again and again! So, I asked him, do I keep my landline phone and the Pro speed DSL? He replied: "Yes! You get the whole digital package with the home phone and an even faster internet service and plus more options on your phone. And the saving is about $5 per month". Ha! I caught him saying digital. I questioned him again but soon I realized that he didn't understood the term "landline". So, I asked him is my phone going to be digital? He replied: "Yes", and I replied back: "No thanks" which he kept telling me "but it's the same!". I explained to him, digital works only with power, no power, no digital. He now realized what I have been trying to verify the past 20 minutes. He continued with the sale pitch: "but when power is out, we have a 4 hour back up system which gives you plenty of time to save your information on your computer and turn it off safely". "Huh?... what?... only 4 hours?!". I continued to explain to him that when power is off, my landline phone works above and beyond the call of duty. Last hurricane, our power was cut off for 3 days. My landline phone was working all along. I need it in case of emergency! He finally understood and gave up on the sale (^_^).

During the London bombing years ago, I learned how useless cellular phones were. I warned my family and friend and to keep their landline phone and purchase a $10 corded phone to use in power outage incidents. Lo and behold, it happened. During hurricane Ike, cellular phone wasn't accessible to the public. Everybody thought that the lines were busy and the cause of why they couldn't get through. Certainly, that wasn't the case at all. Cellular phone line was reserved to Homeland Security communication only. However, the public could use text (data) 24/7 and cellular line was open at night between 9 pm - 6 am. Funny how it was, I was only able to get in touch with family & friends that still had the landline phones. Those that didn't learned their lesson.

Cellular phone is nice and convenient to have but in case of emergency, it's just not dependable.

Thank you summershine and ntt for both of these informative posts.

absolutely why I insist on keeping my standard landline phone and keep a couple of corded phones in my house connected. Our power goes out frequently and I am the one in the neighborhood that calls to report it because I am one of the few that keeps a corded landline phone and can quickly make the call. Living in areas that have severe weather conditions I will never be without it. I also have onstar in my vehicle and a direct 911 button, with a separate built in cellular phone. I like keeping my bases covered.

Where I lived before, we got Verizon fios installed, great for Internet, but it too used a battery back up system which was supposed to last 8 hours or so. I knew to tell the installers not to remove my standard copper lines, they don't tell you about that. If I had not stopped them they would have removed it which would prevent me from later going back to that type of landline.
I loved fios for the Internet but I was not happy about having to have my phone on the system also. Fortunately we never had any long term outage and the backup system worked well as long as you maintained the battery at your expense.
Here in the Houston area no way! Already experienced outages of days. I also now have a generator, and many battery operated fans and lights!

Its true that not all cell phones have GPS locators especially the older ones. And those that do have it are probably not turned on. For example, I have an older phone manufactured by Motorola and it has a locator, but was TURNED OFF by default. To be active, one has to drill down through the menus and turn it on. Also, my phone probably does not use GPS, but gets its location by triangulation from 3 cell phone towers. This type is as not accurate or reliable as a true GPS and does not work if it can't locate 3 towers. It best use is for recovery in case of lost or stolen phone.

But many pre-paid phones DO have GPS. Best bet is to check YOUR cell phone. If it's a smart phone, it should have it.

Joan,
Even if a smart phone has GPS, a lot of the smaller companies will not "ping" the phone for law enforcement to be able to find the user of the phone. We hear time and time again that they do not have the capability to do this. So, again, we cannot find people in an emergency situation. The phone may be able to GPS a location for the owner, such as finding an address, but law enforcement is out of luck when it comes to us calling the provider to find the location of the phone.
Sometimes the smaller companies do not even have someone on duty to answer a request for this service. They are only open during "business hours"
Cell carriers will tell you that yes, they have GPS on the phone. The question to ask is if they have the capability to give law enforcement the coordinates of where the phone user is. And trust me, a lot of times they cannot.

Thanks, Summershine!

Surprised about Onstar. Couple of years ago, I had a minor accident, pushed Onstar, and they connected me directly with the police and told them and me exactly where I was and asked me if I needed an ambulance--which I did not. But that was in the city--don't know if that makes a difference or not. I know I have used Onstar GPS a few times when we were completely turned around looking for a business. That might be different.