CNET PRIZEFIGHT: Internet phones vs. plain old telephone service

Regular phones vs. VoIP
Round 7: Reliability
When the lights go down in the city

If your broadband connection goes down more than occasionally, you might not want to rely on an Internet phone because, quite simply, no Internet means no phone. The same holds true if you lose power. Of course, with call forwarding, you could have all calls directed to your cell phone in such cases. Just make sure you set that up before you lose your Internet connection or before the lights go out. It's hard to make a call to tech support when your phone isn't working.

In contrast, POTS has its own power and continues to work during power outages (that is, unless you have only a cordless phone that requires its own power cord). This round goes to POTS. You can always find a spare phone jack in your home for a corded phone that you can use in emergencies.

Winner: POTS