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Many homes no longer have land-line telephone connections these days due to the proliferation of cell phones.

While switching to cell service only can be a good move (I ditched my land-line long ago), it often creates a problem during extended power outages.

The folks in my neighborhood sometimes go without power for a week or more, which makes keeping the batteries in our cell phones charged up a challenge. Chances are you sometimes struggle with the same problem.

There are several things you can do to keep your phone’s battery hot at any time, and I covered a number of them in this post. But there is one simple thing that trumps all of those tips combined during an extended power outage, and that’s keeping a small battery backup unit on hand that is dedicated just to charging your cell phones.

You probably know all about the battery backups that keep your computer running long enough to save your data and perform a normal shutdown when the power goes out, but these little magic boxes will also power virtually any other electric gadget that doesn’t exceed its wattage capacity. You can pick up a small battery backup unit (#ad) at Amazon, your local electronics store, Wal-Mart or other retailer for less than $40.

Even a tiny 350 watt model can keep a couple of cell phones charged for several days, ensuring that you won’t be without any phone service at all while the guys and gals from the electric company are making their way to your neighborhood to restore power to your home.

I recommend buying the cheapest battery backup you can find, then leaving it sitting in a corner somewhere, plugged in but unused until you need it. That way you can enjoy talking to your friends and family while your neighbors are bored stiff from staring out the window hoping to see a bucket truck pull into their driveway.

Check out this post to learn how to keep your cell phone powered up during a blackout while you’re away from home.