Do you still have a land line phone?

[dennis thompson]

We are moving and I'm trying to decide if we should have a land line ( we all have cell phones). Do you still have a land line?
thanks

[Dennis Peacock]

Sure don't. Haven't had one is a long time now.

[William Adams]

We have one, always have.

I’ve never understood why I would want to give my doctor, dentist, pharmacist, electrician, plumber, kid’s schoolteacher, &c. a personal or even work cell phone number. They all get the landline and the work number and extension. I check phone messages when I’m inclined to or there’s a need to, and answer the phone at work.

That said, I’m still kind of annoyed that the phone company just switched us from a copper line to VoIP, and need to find time to buy a new battery for the system.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Yes/no - - we got rid of our "land line" over a year ago and got an Ooma.
Best move I made in a long time.

Got the Ooma device on sale for $99 and the bill each month runs about $3.
Our phone bill before was about $30 a month.

[Mike Cutler]

No, it's probably been close to a decade since we last had a land line. I haven't missed it.
The cell does everything a land line does, and more, if you use the options it has available to you.

[Jason Roehl]

Almost 9 years without now. When we last moved, we were moving out of the coverage area of a small phone co-op (still getting capital credit checks annually), and just didn't see the point of the extra expense because our cell phones have excellent reception here. With cable internet and wifi in the home, even our teenage boys, who have our old, de-activated iPhones can use free apps to text or call us from home. The phones will get re-activated when they get their driver's licenses, like our oldest did.

I do get some annoying calls on my personal phone (also have a dumb phone provided by the county, for whom I work), but since I'm paying for the phone, I decide when to use it.

[George Bokros]

I have phone as part of my cable package.

So I guess no I do not have a landline but guess I still do??

[George Bokros]

Yes/no - - we got rid of our "land line" over a year ago and got an Ooma.
Best move I made in a long time.

Got the Ooma device on sale for $99 and the bill each month runs about $3.
Our phone bill before was about $30 a month.

Yours is like mine then VoIP -- Voice over internet protocol.

[Wayne Lovell]

Cell phones don't are not reliable in the boonies where I live, if they ever get decent service here the land line is history.

[Mike Berrevoets]

We still have a land line and probably will for a while yet. Doesn't get used much at all but I view it is a safety device. Here's the story....

About 5 years ago my mother would come over in the morning to get our oldest daughter (1st grade at the time) on the bus and watch our youngest daughter. I was heading to another office an hour away at the time. My wife had left for work as well. I got a call on my cell from my 7 year old daughter that grandma fell down the stairs. I thought the front outdoor two steps since it was winter and maybe she needed a little help. Nope, my mom tripped at the top of a full flight of stairs and went all the way down. Broke her back and arm. (She is ok now after a long rehab)

But, I shudder to think what would have happened if we didn't have a landline and my daughter couldn't have called me. So we will have one until everyone in the family has a cell phone.

As an aside, I called 911 from the road 3 counties away and asked for an ambulance at our house. The 911 operator knew exactly where I was located on the highway and questioned why I was calling for an ambulance somewhere else. Once I told her the situation she understood. But then it took 10 minutes of me on hold and that county operator looking up and trying to connect me with 911 in my home county. That 10 minutes seemed like forever. It seems like they would have a better way of being connected between counties.

Had that incident not happened I probably would have ditched the landline a long time ago but I view it differently than some. That $30 a month is a cheap price for me to pay.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

Part of the cable package. Drop the phone and the price of cable goes up.
Plus, my wife is Canadian and the cable phone gives us unlimited free calls to Canada.
Our cheap Virgin Mobile cell phone plans don't include Canada calls.

At some point we're probably going to drop cable and get an Ooma. But I just got a new 2 year plan with Comcast, so it'll be two years at least.

We dropped the real landline about 10 years ago. Went from $75/month with AT&T to $7 for VoIP with Sun Rocket. Then switched to Comcast when they started offering it.

[George Bokros]

Part of the cable package. Drop the phone and the price of cable goes up.


Same with my cable, drop the phone and cable and internet cost me more. I took the phone a year ago but did not use it until now.

[Larry Frank]

i still have one mainly because we use it for ATT high speed Uverse internet. But, I need to look costs for this and other options.

[Sean Troy]

We do. It would cost us 12.00 a month more a month for internet for not having it.

[Brian Henderson]

Nope. Got rid of it years ago when we realized that the only people who ever called on it were telemarketers and politicians. Everyone else called our cell phones. We got rid of it and never missed it.

[jared herbert]

I finally unhooked mine about 3 months ago. I had had the same number at the same house since 1975. Nobody really called me on it except telemarketers and politicians. We live in Iowa so were getting bombarded with political calls prior to the caucuses. We were gone for a few days last summer and when we got home there were 52 messages and only 2 of them were legitimate. The oly reason I could justify keeping it was so I could make a 911 call but will rely on the cell phones for that I guess. I will save $500 a year by cancelling the land line.

[Jim Becker]

Yes, we currently do...it's part of our FiOS bundle and removing it wouldn't really reduce any cost. All four of us have wireless phones, too, so the landline is primarily for safety and incoming convenience.

[Robert Delhommer Sr]

Still have a land line but looking into dropping that and going with one of the VoIP systems. Not sure which way we will go yet, all I want is internet and some basic phone.

[Erik Loza]

Nope. Got rid of it years ago when we realized that the only people who ever called on it were telemarketers and politicians. Everyone else called our cell phones. We got rid of it and never missed it.

Ditto, our feelings. The only reason in 2016 I can see for having a land line is if you live in a rural rea with poor reception or have some other need. My dad's pacemaker monitor, for example, needs to "dial in" to his hospital and that requires a land line.

My mom is reluctant to abandon the land line and when I ask her why that is, she cannot give me a real answer. Sure, she gives me some answer, such as she can't afford a smart phone plane (which is not true) but the real answer is that, like many elderly (an observation, not a judgment...), it's "fear" or or anxiety of the unknown. Cell phones are scary and she probably would be terrified to use an iphone. My dad has an iphone but unless he actually picks up, forget it. I doubt he could figure out how to access VM or respond to a text. I think the dial tone is what many folks feels comfortable with.

Erik

[Brian Elfert]

I still have a VOIP phone at home. I use the OOMA service. The sad part is I haven't hooked it up since I moved 18 months ago. My cell phone went to unlimited minutes so I just use my cell phone for everything. I used to use OOMA for outbound calls at home to save on cell phone minutes. I haven't had the time to run an Ethernet line to a location where I would want to hook up the phone. I keep it mainly to have a number to give people who I really don't want to get calls from.

[Jim Koepke]

We ditched our cell phones and kept the land line. There is no cell reception in our local area. It got to the only time we would use the cell phones is when we were out shopping and got separated. Now I just try to remember to see what the wife is wearing before we go into a store.

I have been looking for a spare phone, but almost all of them are cordless models. I want a hardwire model for when the power goes out. I would also like to run an extension out to my shop.

Our land line is part of our TV and internet package.

jtk

[Jerome Stanek]

I still have a VoIP with my cable like was stated my internet and cable would go up more than the with the phone. I don't use my cell much so it only costs me $100 a year and my land line rings my cell when I am gone.

[Bruce Page]

We held onto to our landline for about a year after we got our cell phones. Don't ask me why. .

[Mel Fulks]

I still have them. Easy to find,just follow the wire. But they are dangerous...see 1945 film noir DETOUR. Have one big heavy one that will work when current is out.

[Shawn Pixley]

We still have it. The real reason is that it is used for the alarm system. They make a cellular connection now so I should switch over.

[Raymond Fries]

We keep one because if the power goes out, the land line will always be there. We keep an older phone that does not need batteries as well.

[Matt Meiser]

Haven't had one for about 4-5 years. We used a Verizon Home Phone Connect added on to our existing cell plan for a year or two then switched that out for a hand me down iPhone and gave that to our daughter and got rid of home phones all together. About 3 years ago I forwarded my work landline to my cell phone and a year later eliminated that--along with 90% of the spam phone calls and 100% of the political calls.

The power thing is one of the phone companies antiquated fallacies. Most cell phone towers have backup generators. At our last house the terminal that fed our house with a landline had no backup power. If the lights blinked, calls were dropped. Probably the same phone company you have.

[Mike Null]

We keep a line for the purpose of making international calls. It is VOIP and part of our cable package. If it weren't for the international calls we'd get rid of it. I scrapped my business land line 15 years ago.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

We still have a landline.

[Stan Calow]

I need the landline to call my cellphone so I can find it.

[Tom M King]

I need the landline to call my cellphone so I can find it.

Pam and I call each other's when we need to find one. We've been without a landline for a few years now. We still have a line coming in for the DSL, but they did run conduit down our road for Fiber Optic just last week.

[Frederick Skelly]

The power thing is one of the phone companies antiquated fallacies. Most cell phone towers have backup generators. At our last house the terminal that fed our house with a landline had no backup power. If the lights blinked, calls were dropped. Probably the same phone company you have.

Well, maybe things have gotten better in the last couple years. Hope so. But I got stuck on a trip where horrendous weather rolled in. The cell phones were down for 3 days. The hotel landlines worked throughout.

[Ole Anderson]

Yes. The only reason we still have a land line is that it costs me zero as it is bundled with my cable. Not any cheaper if I don't elect to have the phone. Anyone calling the landline gets a message "If you need to speak with Ole or Anne, call their cell phone, otherwise leave a message and we will notified by email with a transcription of your message". Only folks I want to have our mobile numbers get it. I got tired of the majority of our landline calls being 800 numbers wanting to take advantage of me. Do-not-call-list fails. I dumped 5 wireless phones and just kept one hardwired phone in the shop with the ringer turned off. Best of both worlds.

[Mac McQuinn]

Yes, I find it secure and reliable.

Mac

[Bruce Wrenn]

Yes, but I'm self employed so it serves as my receptionist. Have fax machine hooked up to it also. Only have basic service, plus wife added called ID about two years ago. Amazingly, we call our selves from our own number a couple times a month. Caller ID shows call originating from OUR number.

[Myk Rian]

Make sure you get good cell reception before deciding on no LL.
We got rid of ours several years ago. All it was good for was the Politicos and scammers to call.
I cut the wire and stapled it to the pole in front.

[Todd Willhoit]

We keep one because if the power goes out, the land line will always be there. We keep an older phone that does not need batteries as well.

This has been my excuse too. It is also convenient for faxing, although I expect the Ooma could do that.

[George Bokros]

It is also convenient for faxing,

Who faxes anymore. Email PDF files.

[Jerome Stanek]

Who faxes anymore. Email PDF files.

There are a lot of people that fax I still do when it comes to signing a form and Drs have to fax Scripts

[George Bokros]

There are a lot of people that fax I still do when it comes to signing a form and Drs have to fax Scripts


Most places I deal with accept pdf for signed documents and yes my Dr faxes Scripts but direct to the drug store not to me.

[Jim Becker]

Yea, I forgot to mention earlier that our alarm system also uses the "land line". So since it's really not costing us anything in the bundle and wireless/cellular service in our home is difficult to support for the alram (I have a microcell for our portable devices), the "land line" stays for now.

[Mike Henderson]

There are a lot of people that fax I still do when it comes to signing a form and Drs have to fax Scripts
Even doctors are getting away from faxing prescriptions - a least around here. They have an Internet (electronic) system that allows them to send prescriptions to providers. But I think prescriptions for controlled substances have to be on paper (original, no copies or faxes) and the doc has a numbered prescription pad with carbon copies so that each prescription is logged. At least that's the way it was done in the past (maybe 5 to 10 years ago). I would hope that even prescriptions for controlled substances could be handled electronically by now.

Mike

[Fax is really OLD technology. The image received is often poor and subject to misinterpretation - especially when combined with poor handwriting, which could be serious for medicine. The electronic technology requires the doctor (or nurse, who usually actually does the sending) to choose the medicine from a list, and the software checks against the patient's existing medications to warn of interactions.]

[Brian Henderson]

Pam and I call each other's when we need to find one. We've been without a landline for a few years now. We still have a line coming in for the DSL, but they did run conduit down our road for Fiber Optic just last week.


Go that way, it is infinitely better.

[roger wiegand]

The cell phone does everything a land line does except allow me to make phone calls when I'm at home. I'd have to get (probably several) micro-cell extenders to enable cell service on our property and we'd have no phone service at all when the power goes out unless I made a much bigger investment in backup power for the network.

Given the pricing schemes dropping phone service from our FIOS package would probably end up costing us more than our current TV/phone/internet package.

If they ever build a cell tower that gives us signal I might consider going cell only, unless I had to pay more to do so.

[Bill McNiel]

Yes, the wife needs it to fax real estate documents.

[Brian Henderson]

Yes, the wife needs it to fax real estate documents.

You can do that over the Internet.

[John Terefenko]

Yes for Fax and also I give that number out to would be spammers. Let it go to voice recording. Screen calls easily. If that is all we have to worry about in our lives we sure are lucky. Business phone also.

[Bert Kemp]

Do you have internet service??


Cell phones don't are not reliable in the boonies where I live, if they ever get decent service here the land line is history.

[Bert Kemp]

your cell phone doesn't work if the power goes out :confused:


We keep one because if the power goes out, the land line will always be there. We keep an older phone that does not need batteries as well.

[Denny Tudor]

We gave up land line long ago. In fact we have only cell phone for everything Internet and phone. The I4S I am typing in does everything I want. If I need to print something I wait for my weekly trip to town and go to library .

power down?? We have backup generator for whole house and there are always car chargers .

[Jerome Stanek]

People always say that they don't get robo calls on their cell phones but if you start using them more then your number will eventually show up on a list that is sold to the telemarketers.

[Jim Becker]

Do you have internet service??
Bert, unfortunately for very large portions of the US, the Internet services available are very inadequate and not suitable to VoIP services or even supporting a MicroCell for improving cell service in the home. Sadly, this isn't even just rural areas. So aging copper land-line voice service is pretty much required for safety and convenience.

[paul cottingham]

I have a serious brain injury as well as a serious neck injury. We not only have land lines, but a fully corded one in the shop in case of emergency. That phone will never have a dead battery in case I need an ambulance either becuase of the shop or my pre existing issues both of which land me in hospital an average of two weeks a year. Overly cautious perhaps, but still.....

[Rich Riddle]

I love the landline. People aren't supposed to pester you on a main number. Some younger folks get a confused look when they come in the house and see one hanging on the wall with a cord attached.

[Allan Speers]

I still don't have a cell phone. :o


One of these days .....


I'd love to dump the landline (Well, it comes through the cable TV service, so I dunno what you call it these days) but my home-business is run out of the basement, and I can't get cell service down there. I think there's some kind of repeater type dingus one can get, but I've never really looked into it.


One of these days .....

[paul cottingham]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my cable comes in over my landline. And I don't trust 911 emergency locator tracking for cell phones (unless it has drastically changed in the last while, no matter what cell phone providers tell you it is hopeless) so if I call for help, they can track me by my landline.

They will pry my twisted pair service from my cold dead dead fingers.

[Larry Browning]

your cell phone doesn't work if the power goes out :confused:

Bert if the power is out for an extended amount of time eventually the battery will die, then it won't work. However, it has been my experience that if the power is out for extended amounts of time the phone line goes out too.

[Ole Anderson]

I love the landline. People aren't supposed to pester you on a main number. Some younger folks get a confused look when they come in the house and see one hanging on the wall with a cord attached.
So what is your secret of avoiding the constant barrage of telemarketers?

[George Bokros]

Bert if the power is out for an extended amount of time eventually the battery will die, then it won't work

Charge your cell in your car if the power is out and the cell phone battery goes dead.

[Garth Almgren]

As licensed foster parents, my wife and I are required to have a phone available for our foster daughter to use. Our licensing agency said that it could either be a land line or a pre-paid cell that was always left plugged in, but since we are already paying for a Comcast triple-play we decided to just activate that line. It's really bare-bones - we haven't even set up the voicemail on that line since we do NOT give out the number and therefore the only calls we get are from random telemarketers (which we don't answer).

Before that, I hadn't had a land line since college in the early 2000s (bad cell reception in the dorms).

[Lloyd Kerry]

There are good points to both sides of the argument. In eastern Canada, my land line is only about $20 a month out of my $190 phone/cable/high speed internet bill a month. I keep hearing arguments about going out to your car and charging the cell phone, etc. when it dies in the house. I'll keep my land line and wrap myself in another blanket till the power comes back on. And what fi you don't own a car? :)

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Dennis, we don't have a land line any longer.

We both have cell phones, we saved about $800 per year getting rid of the landline.

A few years ago we got rid of cable TV and went with an off air antenna. We still receive all the channels we watched, we have a much better picture, and saved about $1,000 per year.

Regards, Rod.

[roger wiegand]

So what is your secret of avoiding the constant barrage of telemarketers?

sign your number up at nomorobo.com It reduced our call volume by 98%. It's free.