Eli5: how does a cord landline work when the power is out?

Question

Like the phones that have a special plug and everything, the cord one still work when the electricity is out and they don’t seem to have batteries in there, so how and why do they still work

In: 142

Answer 1

The telephone cable supplies a very small minimal amount of energy required by the landline to work. This is arranged by the telephone provider.

In a similar spirit we also have Power over Ethernet PoE. Which allows power to be transmitted over ethernet wires. So even when the lights go out, your internet access doesn’t.