What do you do if you are in the middle of working and the power goes out, along with the phone lines. How do you communicate with your clients? How do you get your work done?
Twenty years ago, the answer might have been to pack up and go home. Today, there’s no reason to take the day off — we can equip ourselves with the latest cellular and cordless gadgets to get us through the dark times.
What can help you keep things running when power and phone lines go down?
Phones
First there was the phone, an invention that changed the world. People could talk to each other over great distances; but movement was limited. To remedy this, the cordless phone was developed, giving the caller freedom to move around the room while talking. The downside of the cordless was the range of the antenna and the dependency on power.
But now we have cellular phones. The cell phone gives you the ability to call anyone, anywhere, anytime. The only restriction is the battery — to avoid being powerless, you should buy two batteries and try to keep one, if not both, fully charged at all times. Additionally, equipment is available to plug your cellular phone into the modem port on your computer, allowing you to access the Internet, retrieve e-mail and even fax when the phone lines are down.
Pagers
Many owners of cell phones don’t keep them turned on all the time. While this may save the battery, contacting these people becomes difficult. The pager provides a simple solution. Typically running off a AA battery, or two AAA batteries, the power consumption of a pager is minimal. The sophistication of a pager can vary: The simplest models will just display a phone number, while the more advanced pagers display lines of text. Regardless of your preference, any pager will inform you when someone wants to get in touch.
Laptops
Chances are you can’t do all the work you need to with a phone alone. You probably have on your desk a large computer, which turns into a large paperweight once the power is gone. With a laptop, the rechargeable batteries allow you to keep working. Just as with your phone, keep the batteries in your laptop fully charged at all times. It may be wise to buy extra batteries in case the power doesn’t come back on for awhile. Hook up your cellular and you’ll never know that the power is out, except for the unavailability of your coffee-maker.
Generators
If your business is small enough, you may want to invest a few hundred dollars in a generator and some gas. It’s a lot cheaper than a laptop. Although strong enough to power your computer and printer, the generator requires continual attention to the gas level and can be noisy. Don’t expect your generator to power more than a few computers, but if you need what’s on your machine — and you have a place to keep that generator where it won’t be too loud, creating your own power may not be such a bad idea.
