How long did your smartphone last?

[OakLeaf]

It was my only lifeline when the electric, DSL and landline went out. (We don't have cable, but that was down too.) I could charge the phone in the car on water and ice runs - otherwise we'd have been completely cut off at home.

Another good reason to have phones from multiple providers in a household. The AT&T towers went down (metaphorically, not physically) so my Verizon phone was our only connection to the outside world at home. Weather, which stores were open and had ice, what roads were closed, special notices from the emergency services, which gas stations were open and still had gas (we'd luckily filled up right before the storm and didn't need gas, but many people did - and the car was our only way of getting water) - none of that would've been accessible to us without my phone.

Other reasons to have a smartphone have been rehashed ad infinitum in other threads. But I have a new appreciation for their value in an emergency situation.