I must be dense or something

[countrygirl12]

I don't know why you even need updates. You'll know when the power comes back on. What's the point of updates? I'm just sayin'.

And you are not dense, sfreeman8. 

I agree about the updates. Just wait. 
And you are also right - you aren't stupid because you ask a question.

People are too use to having to be in the know all the time and immediately.  Most companies post updates via Facebook.  A good idea to have a page even if you do nothing on it but follow stuff like that.  Our local power company posts updates on their Facebook page. But usually just we know the power is out we are working on it. Possibly a time frame for fixing.  That is it.

[countrygirl12]

It can be a little daunting when you lose service.  That is why I will always have a landline.

Cell phones work whether you have power in your house or not.

[sfreeman8]

You have a cell phone with a data plan or you just wait for the power to come back on. Why do you need constant updates? I would not think and power company would send out updates every 15 minutes anyway.

Any time the power has been out in my area either I or a neighbor reports it and I wait for it to come back on. They do not have to tell me every 10 minutes they are still working on it.
[/quote]

No, I do NOT have a data plan on my flip phone. I do not  do "constant updates." I do check if nothing is back on in at least 3 hours by calling from the flip phone because I worry about my frozen food.  I have an old upright freezer and I don't know how long the food would stay frozen in a power outage. The last time we had an outage over 24 hours, the food was starting to thaw.

There would have to be something through your mobile phone, since when the power is down, you can't receive calls on your landline, and the only way to get internet would be through a hot spot on your phone which would use data....I know, it's ironic that you receive calls about the power being out when you can't listen to them...

You CAN receive calls on a land line when the power is off.  And you do not need a "hot spot" to have data packages on your phone.  I guess when the call comes thru they expect you to, oh I don't know, PICK UP THE PHONE and say hello?!?

I can't receive calls on the land line when power is off. Like I said, it goes through the Internet/TV/phone (VOIP) modem. No power, no modem.

[mrsmere]

I would just wait for the power to come back on but with a smartphone you still have service.