Land lines

[dancerjodi]

Brian's wanted to ditch our land line for quite a while. I'm kind of torn on it. While the 9/11 inspired cellular 'noise' is rare, there are issues with cell phones. Thoughts? It would be a good cost savings, but I'm not sure I'm quite comfortable letting go yet . . .

Comments

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

We currently don't have a landline, but I keep thinking, "If I lose my cell phone, what the heck am I going to do until I get a replacement?" I sometimes think seriously about getting a landline with the cheapest possible plan, and not even bothering to plug in the phone unless necessary.

[dancer.livejournal.com]

We do have the cheapest plan. Call me paranoid, but I like having that one other option (besides, I use my cell so infrequently that its often dead, and Brian loses his all of the time) :)

[fieryredhead.livejournal.com]

Curtis and I haven't had a landline in 4 years. :) Havent had any problems; I mean our phones have had issues but either the phone compnay fixed it or we used the others phone for a bit.

[contessagrrl.livejournal.com]

We got rid of the landline at the house a few months back and have not regretted it. The savings is nice, and noticeable.

One thing we did do was pick up an extra cell phone that stays in the house, largely for the purposes of babysitters. I don't think we've ever had a babysitter who didn't have a cell phone, but this way we guarantee that we can reach the house, and that there's a phone in the house to reach us. I believe the cost for the additional phone on our cell plan was $10/month compared to $40-something/month for the landline.

[futurenurselady.livejournal.com]

If you worry about power outages affecting the ability to use your phone in emergencies, you could try one of the "instant charge" temporary batteries. I keep one in my car at all times, and buy new ones when they pass the expiration date.

[jasonsmyr.livejournal.com]

I am going on 15 years with no land line (and it was free at the time due to working for phone company)

In all those years i have only one minor black out of 2 days due to issue with a phone and really could have avoided that to.

BUT..

It would require a change in habit, you know that feeling if you left your purse, wallet keys somewhere.. I get that now with the phone, automatic to set it to charge and so on.

[nepenthedreams]

We got rid of it ourselves. Our phone line kept going in and out of service - must have been wired incorrectly. Not sure. Anyway, we never used it and only got sales calls on it.

I still use the number though for my credit card because I don't want to give them my cellphone and get more telemarketing calls.

[dethany.livejournal.com]

I haven't had a land line in about 8 years - my cell even worked throughout most of the blackout.

[developer.livejournal.com]

I don't think we have one...if we do no one is paying for it. :)

I would be willing to pay 10-15 dollars a month for a land line for emergency use and calling my own cell phone. But I am not about to hook one up -- I can always go screaming out in the streets and I'm sure someone from Arlington Heights will dial 911 for me in an instant. :)

Hell, I think most of the neighbors have 9-1 in before I get to my car in the morning. :)

[tiamatlady]

teh Unit doesn't want me to abandon the land line number we've had going on 17 years now, but also left me with the asshattery that is Comcast, which never got combined as it should because the building has not gone digital. I need to email Consumerist with the story of them chasing me to upgrade, then dropping the hot potato once the rep found out that I couldn't upgrade. Which reminds me to follow up with Verizon about moving the number back, and cutting back to local and emergency service only. Both M and I have better cells for long distance, and I've been using Skype for overseas calling.

but there is something about having one "just in case" and in my case has the dual effect of 1) keeping the number for the people who need teh Unit and don't know she's moved and 2) our doorbell is attached to the phone. I believe we are required to keep it.

but it needs to be $15. I'm flat out ashamed at how much I've allowed myself to pay for the silly thing.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

i've had my land line for 14 years now. i knocked it down to the cheapest and that was good for a while but the cheapest plan has now creeped up to not so cheap again. boo. i've been thinking of ditching it, but it's just so difficult. of course i make people call that during the day while i'm home since my cell plan doesn't have a lot of minutes. of course if i got rid of the land line that would free up the budget for more minutes. go figure.

i try to justify it for emergency use, but that warranted getting a corded phone because wireless ones don't work if the power goes out. that corded phone is a piece of crap and pickes up am radio signals. (but in my cleaning this week, i found my old never say die trimline which i might reinstall in the kitchen.) then there's internet access should the power go out, but well, i don't even know my dial up numbers any more or if i have any!

anyway, i'm going to review my budget over the next few months and see where i can save/cut.

maybe you could unplug all your phones and go without it for a while & see if you miss it?

[xany.livejournal.com]

Not sure if you have a home security system like ADT or Brinks or whatnot, but if you do, they require a land line to function.

Frankly, that's the only real reason I have my land line still.

[sajuka.livejournal.com]

I've wanted to trade my $30/month land line for a $10/month extension to our family plan for a while. The thing that's stopping me is the reception in our apartment is pretty lousy (although that probably isn't as much a problem where you live). I want to keep the third phone number for people companies that need a number but I don't want to give my cell to. Let them call the house and leave a voice mail, that's fine.

I've been really intrigued by the "desk cell phone" movement -- fixed phones that run on AC power, have honking huge antennas, and work with the cell network -- but so far I haven't found one that's really designed for consumer use (mostly targeted at companies working in remote areas where there aren't land lines). But if I could find one of those, I think I'd be all set to kick the land line.

[wereleopard.livejournal.com]

We've only got a land line for our internet, it doesn't even have a phone hooked up to it. Trust me, you don't really need one.

[darthwk.livejournal.com]

We're sticking with it because of the 2003 blackout which rendered our cellphones useless. My wife is also leery about losing the 911 caller ID in case of emergency where we CAN'T tell them where we are, which is also why we haven't gone to VoIP either.

Although that extra $50/month does grind my innards.....

[dawntreader]

i'm in the "i want the land line option available no matter what" camp.

for one, it gets better reception than cell phones. i don't care how good a cell phone is. whether you have one bar or fifty, land lines tend to sound better. (that and i personally never have my cell phone on unless i'm making or expecting a call.)

i know a lot of people rely solely on their cell phones rather than land lines. that's their choice and i respect it AS their choice to make. it's just not mine.

but in my experience it's been quite aggravating to call those individuals, knowing they are at home, needing to get ahold of them, and not be able to reach them only find out later that "oops" they forgot to have their phone on. or "oops" they forgot to charge it up and the battery was dead. or "oops" they had it on vibrate instead of ring after being at work all day and never heard it. or "oops" they couldn't find it in time and missed the call. or "oops" the messages were filled and i couldn't even leave a call-back #.

finally, i'd hate to be in a situation where 9-1-1 was needed and my cell battery wasn't charged up or i didn't have good enough reception to make the call. but that's my nickel rant. ;)

[isolatory.livejournal.com]

I believe that even if you have your landline turned off, the phone company still has to provide you dial tone for 911 calls (called a "soft dial tone"). You could call them and ask. Having something like that would be great for emergency services locating your address if you couldn't speak for some reason.

[missplatypus.livejournal.com]

We have a land line. It's nice when the daycare, or work calls, for Jeff or Dre (our roomie) That way if it's a general call from daycare or the doctors office about one of the kids either of us will get it. Whoever is closer. Plus we have weird dead spots in our house where you get no cell reception at all we can't risk no 911 if the kids get sick. and boy do little kids go from ok to very bad in no time