During power outage, all calls went to voicemail.

Question

Friday in Boston we had a nice April Fool's snowstorm and lost power when a tree fell across high power lines.

My phone never rang, all day.

Around 5pm I picked it up to make a call and heard the stutter tone, but the VM light was not blinking so I had no idea there was a phone message sitting there.

so, I have a question

When we lose power, I am able to make outgoing calls but shouldn't I still receive incoming calls normally??? Great to have a battery backup for emergencies but if folks are trying to reach me they cannot.

"from the tech support pages I found this...

Q: If I lose power or have a broadband outage, will I still be able to use FiOS Digital Voice?* A: In the case of an electrical outage, your FiOS Digital Voice service will continue to operate on battery power for up to 8 hours. If electricity has not returned by that time, and your battery has exhausted, it will not be possible to make or receive calls using FiOS Digital Voice,including emergency calls to 911 and your alarm system will not be able to call out.
* During an electrical outage, your battery will not provide power to your computer. If you cannot access your computer and internet service during an electrical outage, you will not be able to access your FiOS Digital Voice Account Manager from that computer. Your FiOS Account Manager can, however, be accessed from another working computer and internet connection.

Mike_VZ · Accepted Answer

Hello JRTEMT,

Yes you can make and receive calls when your ONT is on battery power with a basic corded phone.  Cordless phones will not function as they require an electrical outlet to power them still so you will want to position the corded phone in a general location where you can hear it ring.

You can also test your inbound/outbound call capability any time you wish by simply unplugging the power cord for the battery unit and replicate a power outage condition.  Not noted in your bullet is that if your battery runs out of power and you lose phones there is a 'emergency power' button to use the small amount of reserve energy briefly to place emergency calls.