If you're a residential customer of Hawaiian Telcom, the company wants to give you a free corded telephone that will work when the power goes out.

The phone giveaway is one of the conditions the Public Utilities Commission placed on Hawaiian Telcom as part of the utility's sale of its directory publishing business last year. The company mailed out the coupons with the Hawaiian Telcom landline bills starting on the Neighbor Islands in June.

Spokeswoman Ann Nishida said the company is giving away more than 300,000 of the telephones, but as of last Friday only 53,000 people had claimed what now seems like something of an old-fashioned instrument. The deadline to pick up the free phones is Nov. 15.

She said coupons continue to be redeemed daily statewide from all store locations. "Although the Neighbor Island redemption period ended, if customers bring in their bill and coupon to a Hawaiian Telcom Retail Store, we'll give them a phone," Nishida said.

If you think you threw away your coupon or just can't find it, Nishida said you can still take your bill to one of the stores and get a phone.

The company lists the white Slimline model's retail price at $11.95 but it sold them on special for $5 at one point. On the Web various retailers are selling the same model for $4 to $9.

"Our free phone giveaway allows us to express appreciation to our loyal customers as well as to help them prepare for the hurricane and storm season when power outages may occur," said Craig Inouye, senior vice president of sales.

With hurricane season approaching and rainy weather already here, Nishida said, it is a good time to be handing out the phones.

The corded telephones run on the low-level electrical current that is carried over the phone lines even when the power is out, Inouye said. He said people realized that corded phones could still function during a power outage after the October 2006 earthquake, when some other phone services could not operate without electricity.

The coupons were mailed with phone bills to Moloka'i customers in June; to Lana'i, Maui and Kaua'i customers in July; and to O'ahu and Big Island customers in September.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.