Both our house phones are what's called "POTS" (Plain Old Telephone System) in the trade, and were powered from the exchange, as methinks I've wittered on about at length elsewhere; we do have mobile phones, but they're old and unreliable (like us). I'll investigate getting a UPS at some point, but I *think* the local power problem has been solved: the last flashover blew a hole in the verge, so (GOOD news) they couldn't ignore it any longer.

Excellent news about your underwriter, Stilly.