In a disaster I want to be prepared...

To start with, you will need a telephone modem. Then follow instructions on how to configure the connection:

Connect to the Internet using dial-up PPP

OS X Lion: Connect to the Internet

Landline phone.

A dial-up service (and modem) from your Internet Service Provider. Of course, if your ISP's network services are down, then you won't be able to access them from dial-up any more than you would through DSL, Cable, FIOS or what have you.

I suppose if your dial-up was from a different provider than your main connection, that might not be an issue (depending on the cause of the outage). But that seems like a fairly expensive contingency, given how rarely major network outages last these days.

Regardless, though, you need some service provider to give you a network access point.

Just remember that you need both the modem and the service. Most urban ISPs no longer advertise dial-up service so some may not even maintain dial-up modem racks anymore.

Another option you might think about is adding a wifi hotspot feature to your cell phone, so that if your wired Internet goes down you can use cellular Internet as a backup. This may get expensive, though, depending on your cell data plan but one advantage of this is that if your cell phone can use a data service like 4G or LTE, this will be MUCH faster than any dial-up modem, much closer to and sometimes faster than regular broadband speed.

I second the cell phone tethering option if you're looking for true disaster backup.

If you;re setting up a disaster plan the last thing you want is to have a single point of failure. Relying on dial-up introduces this single point. By having a cell phone to fall back on you'll be able to get on-line even if you need to evacuate,

The cell-phone tethering idea has some merit.

However (and I'm just being the devil's advocate here), keep in mind that during significant emergencies (eg, the floods in New Orleans) cellular networks are usually overwhelmed within minutes as everyone tries to use them simultaneously. Most emergency services go to great lengths to avoid relying on cellular networks for communications.

For outages caused by other issues they are probably OK.

This is a good question to ask before the disaster strikes and you received a lot of good advice.

If you take only one thing away from this discussion it is this: There is no one solution to disaster preparedness.

You need at least two different plans for every issue, computer, backups, power and getting on-line, or else the total plan will fail.

Of course you need to decide how much time, effort and money you need for your situation. A home user might get by with no computer for weeks, a business might be in trouble if they are down for hours or even minutes.

And don;t forget McDonalds 😉 Now that most have WiFi access and are open 24 hours they are becoming the place to be at 3:00 AM when you need to get online in a storm.

Frank Caggiano wrote:

And don;t forget McDonalds 😉 Now that most have WiFi access and are open 24 hours they are becoming the place to be at 3:00 AM when you need to get online in a storm.

McDonalds for 24 hour access, Starbucks and Panera Bread during business hours.

Also, if you want to make friends and allies and prevent arguments during a disaster, bring a power strip or other power outlet multiplier. Power outlets become so scarce during those situations. My laptop bag includes a pocket-sized travel surge protector with 3 AC outlets and 2 USB outlets, so when someone sits next to me at a coffee shop and both wall outlets are already in use, I just plug in my 3-outlet multiplier and everybody is happy (and, surge-protected too).

I'll opt for water and canned food over the internet.