[AdamTReineke]

It still happens. I had it happen at a gas station in the middle of nowhere Nebraska or South Dakota (where he probably didn't have internet) as well as at a gas station in a bigger town where their internet was out.

[sopooneo]

I was under the impression a lot of swipe machines used plain old phone lines. No?

[willshowalter]

Older ones did. Newer ones tend to run over the internet. They don't tie up a phone line at either end of the connection, and the information transfer is much quicker, so in most circumstances it works better for everyone.