What I learned about emergency Verizon phone service during power outage (Springfield: buy, car)

[statecollege]

This is for your possible future reference. We have bundled Verizon service. During the power outage here in W. Springfield resulting from the heavy snowfall, we heard an occasional beeping sound in our home. We eventually traced it to the beige Verizon box installed where the phone wires enter our basement. I never paid any attention to the series of lights on this box, but one of them says "replace battery." I removed the cover to find a rather large (about 5x4x3 inches), heavy black battery. I'd liken it to a miniature car battery. I wasn't sure what it did or if I could disconnect it to stop the beeping. (We wanted to go to bed.) I was able to reach a Verizon technician using my cell phone. Here's what I was told: The battery provides up to several hours of land line phone service during a power outage. Not a bad idea since one might have to make an emergency call during an outage. Otherwise the battery is not needed. Disconnecting it to stop the beeping did nothing adverse to the system. A new battery purportedly can be purchased at Best Buy or some Verizon stores. So, if you ever here a distant beeping sound perhaps coming from somewhere in your basement, that's the first thing to check.