That’s not really how phone lines work, unless the central office had its own issues. When you have a POTS (plain old telephone service) line at your house, that two-wire pair runs directly back to the central office where it gets switched to local, long distance, etc. So if you have dial tone, you’re connected.
I think the argument is that the connection between the central office and whatever long-distance hub was severed. This isn’t depicted in the film, as they only show the tree falling nearby the house.
That’s not really how phone lines work, unless the central office had its own issues. When you have a POTS (plain old telephone service) line at your house, that two-wire pair runs directly back to the central office where it gets switched to local, long distance, etc. So if you have dial tone, you’re connected.
I think the argument is that the connection between the central office and whatever long-distance hub was severed. This isn’t depicted in the film, as they only show the tree falling nearby the house.