As power is being restored throughout the midwestern part of the US, one interesting feature showed up. A lot of telephone companies are using Subcriber Loop Carriers (SLCs) to provide service. Some phone companies are using local power sources with limited battery backup for some SLCs. With the extended power outages, central offices with generators maintained service; however, the remote equipment didn't have local generators. This resulted in people losing their local loops and telephone service as the power outages lasted for days. What does this have to with the Internet? Well, it started me thinking about Southwestern Bell Telephone's new Project Pronto, their plan to deploy DSL. As part of this, my understanding of the technology, is the increased equipment huts and remote locations without the same backups found in central offices.