During an outage, one thing you can do is temporarily disconnect the battery, preserving its power until you reconnect it to make a call or when you expect a call to come in, similar to how you deal with nearly every other device in your home during a power outage, such as not using a water faucet or flushing the toilet unless absolutely necessary, or turning off your cell phone to preserve power until you know you can charge it again.

Another option is to have replacement batteries on hand to swap out after the connected battery runs out of power. 8-hour replacement models similar to the one we provided are available for purchase from many retailers.

Additionally, Extended Battery Packs (EBP) with a 20-hour rating are available for purchase, which can be attached to your 8-hour unit to provide longer continuous service. The model is CyberPower CS20A-EBP and it takes a 20Ah VRLA battery. Up to three 20-hour battery units can be added on to your standard 8-hour unit, providing up to 68 hours of uninterrupted telephone service. The 20-hour EBP is simply hung on the wall next to your 8-hour unit, and connected with a single cord. Just one cord also connects additional 20-hour EBP’s together. A video tutorial detailing the step-by-step instructions for connecting up to three 20-hour EBPs can be viewed at vermontel.com/batterybackup.  

While your connection is running off the battery during a commercial power outage, you will only have access to telephone services, not the Internet or television, because your Internet modem, VTelevision set-top box, and TV set require electricity to run. However, if you use a generator to power your home’s electricity during a commercial power outage, you will be able to use your telephone, Internet, and television.