said by AVD:the cell tower can be miles away from your house, and I'm sure their communications feed is a lot harder than the pots line to your house.
In many areas they all run over the same lines. And in many cases they also run on the same telephone poles.
Where I work we have many data circuits (T1, DS-x, etc). They all terminate at one or 2 poles outside of our office. From the pole to the building is underground but the rest of it is the same pole that carries power, CATV, and phone lines. If that "last mile" is down you're SOL. (Its why ours come in from 2 separate poles that have separate paths.