WEBVTT - How Phones Work During Power Outages 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.560 Brain Stuff is sponsored by Harry's dot com. Get a 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:04.840 great shaving experience for a fraction of the price. The 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.520 quality of the shave is so important that Harry's purchased 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:10.080 the factory that makes their blades. Fifteen dollars gets you 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:12.799 a set that includes a handle, three blades, and shave cream. 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:15.280 Go to Harry's dot com use the code brain stuff 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:18.640 to say five dollars off your first purchase. Welcome to 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.360 brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com where smart happens. 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:26.840 I am Marshall brain with today's question, why does the 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:30.360 phone still work when the electricity goes out? If you 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:33.040 have a wired phone that plugs into a phone jack 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.519 in the wall, you've probably discovered that your phone works 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.760 even in a power failure. One of the relative miracles 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:44.040 of modern times is the reliability of the landline phone system. 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.320 The power goes out fairly often for most people. Sometimes 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:49.400 it's only out for a second, but other times it 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:52.640 can be out for minutes, hours, or even days. Your 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:56.760 landline telephone, on the other hand, is always working. Why 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:00.560 is that? Between your house and the phone company office, 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.600 there's a dedicated pair of copper wires for your phone. 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.880 Those wires are almost always buried, so ice storms and 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.920 hurricanes won't cut them. The phone company supplies the power 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:17.000 that your phone needs using that dedicated copper pair. The 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:20.399 phone company uses batteries or generators to keep the power 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:23.680 going even if there's a power failure, so your phone 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.360 is basically gonna work all the time. Many cell phones 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:31.119 offer this feature as well. Your cell phone runs off batteries, 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:34.759 and the cell phone tower has generators that they use 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:37.880 in power failures, so your cell phone will probably work 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:40.319 all the time as well. But if you use a 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:43.360 cordless phone in your house, it will stop working in 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:47.119 a power failure. That's because the base station plugs into 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:49.800 the wall for its power. If you want to keep 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:52.559 that phone working, you need to connect the base station 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:56.680 to an uninterruptible power supply. Do you have any ideas 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.880 or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please send me 0:01:59.880 --> 0:02:03.200 an email at podcast at how stuff works dot com. 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:05.520 For more on this and thousands of other topics, go 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:10.360 to how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is sponsored 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:12.959 by Harry's dot Com. Get a great shaving experience for 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:15.040 a fraction of the price. The quality of the shave 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:17.639 is so important that Harry's purchased the factory that makes 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.120 their blades. Fifteen dollars gets you a set that includes 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.720 a handle, three blades, and shave cream. Go to Harry's 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.160 dot com use the code brain stuff to save five 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:26.520 dollars off your first purchase.