Arnold, CA…As the weekend passed the halfway point thousands of homes and businesses involuntarily remained off grid. While being off grid may be somewhat trendy it however remains a great inconvenience to many. The sounds of generators fills the mountains as homeowners and essential businesses keep laboring on regardless of what mother nature throws their way. While electricity for normal uses remains the biggest inconvenience increasingly having networks like Comcast down is a bigger impediment to the smooth functioning of lives and livelihoods. Several people we spoke with even put having the networks down as a bigger issue with many now having VOIP phone systems from their cable providers as their primary phones. While there may be cost savings in an emergency the old fashioned pots lines are still a better choice as since they are self powered they will keep working for 911 and other communications as long as the line is not severed.