9-11 still available on canceled landline!

[LisaR]

We canceled our AT&T landline phone a month ago and have been using Magic Jack. We have our Magic Jack hooked up to our two cordless phones. Today I knocked our "out of service" corded phone off the cradle accidentally. When I went to replace it, I noticed a dial tone. My assumption was that AT&T didn't bother to cancel our service. I called my cell phone from the corded phone and a message came on that said we do not have local or long distance service but we do have 9-11 service!

I know a lot of people were concerned about 9-11 if they cancel their landline phone and only using cell phones. It is nice to know that 9-11 would still be available.

 

[princessmom29]

It is federal law that any phone connected to a land line be able to call 911 with or without phone service. So even with no active phone service at all you can always call 911.

 

[BrettS]

As the PP said, by law the phone company is required to offer 911 service on any connected phone line. The problem is that they have no obligation to keep that line connected, so you really can't rely on it. It's possible that it will stay connected for years, or it could be disconnected next week if they're doing work on the box that your line connects to at the street.

 

[leagirl12]

We canceled our AT&T landline phone a month ago and have been using Magic Jack. We have our Magic Jack hooked up to our two cordless phones. Today I knocked our "out of service" corded phone off the cradle accidentally. When I went to replace it, I noticed a dial tone. My assumption was that AT&T didn't bother to cancel our service. I called my cell phone from the corded phone and a message came on that said we do not have local or long distance service but we do have 9-11 service!

I know a lot of people were concerned about 9-11 if they cancel their landline phone and only using cell phones. It is nice to know that 9-11 would still be available.

Lisa...just curious about what your opinion is of MagicJack. I had never heard of this until a few days ago when someone mentioned it at work. Does it work very well? I would love to hear some feedback on it.

Thanks!

 

[dannysmommyval]

I am interested in Magic Jack as well - my Vonage is not all that it's cracked up to be.

 

[Mandy_in_NC]

As long as there was ever a landline hooked up in the house then there will be 911 service. Trust me I am a 911 Dispatcher. We get 911 calls from Dis-connected land lines all the time.

 

[LisaR]

Thanks everyone! I didn't know that 9-11 would continue to work. One of the biggest reasons I hear from people that don't want to give up their land line is that they don't want to lose 9-11. Good to know that isn't the case.

Lisa...just curious about what your opinion is of MagicJack. I had never heard of this until a few days ago when someone mentioned it at work. Does it work very well? I would love to hear some feedback on it.

Thanks!

We love Magic Jack and have not had any problems with it. I have heard a few complaints about interference. If your internet connection isn't that great, I assume Magic Jack may not be the best option. They have a 30 day money back guarantee so you can order it, keep your land line and just try it out. You can't beat $20 a year for local and long distance.

The only downfall is that if your internet goes out, your phone won't work. Voice mail still works and our internet rarely goes out. We have cell phones for back up so I am not worried about it.

 

[S. C.]

From what I understand make sure you have a really good antivirus/spyware on your pc.

 

[Green Tea]

As long as there was ever a landline hooked up in the house then there will be 911 service. Trust me I am a 911 Dispatcher. We get 911 calls from Dis-connected land lines all the time.

So even if there is no dial tone, 911 can still be dialed?

 

[marshallandcartersmo]

I had NO IDEA that if we disconnected the land line 911 would still work. DH has really been on me to disconnect our land line.

Like PP said, if there's no dial tone, I can still reach 911??

We live in a subdivision, so chances are slim that they would disconnect the box our line connects to on the street, right?

 

[*Flower*]

Some of my co-workers have Magic Jack and say that although they can dial out without problems, there is no 'ring' to alert you of incoming calls.

Do you find this to be true? If not- how did you set up your phones to ring when you get an incoming call?

Also- do you have a different phone number or did you keep the AT&T one?

TIA......

 

[LisaR]

From what I understand make sure you have a really good antivirus/spyware on your pc.

I would think that anyone that uses a computer with internet access should have really good antivirus/spyware already.

So even if there is no dial tone, 911 can still be dialed?

I still have a dial tone on my land line phone.

Some of my co-workers have Magic Jack and say that although they can dial out without problems, there is no 'ring' to alert you of incoming calls.

Do you find this to be true? If not- how did you set up your phones to ring when you get an incoming call?

Also- do you have a different phone number or did you keep the AT&T one?

TIA......

Our phones ring when we get an incoming call. I wouldn't have kept Magic Jack if I couldn't hear incoming calls. I didn't do anything special - just followed the Magic Jack set up.

 

[Imzadi]

I think it depends on what part of the country you are in, whether they really offer the 911 service. I turned my landline off and went with dry loop DSL only. There is no dial tone, and they only use the line to send the DSL through.

 

[Panna]

We love Magic Jack and have not had any problems with it. I have heard a few complaints about interference. If your internet connection isn't that great, I assume Magic Jack may not be the best option.

One thing to remember, on any plan, when you use your internet connection for your phone connection: Make sure if you have a cordless phone, that it is not operating on the same Megahertz as your modem. If your Modem is a 1.6, then your cordless phone needs to be higher or lower. That should stop any interference you may have.

 

[S. C.]

I would think that anyone that uses a computer with internet access should have really good antivirus/spyware already.

I would hope so but not true with everyone.


DH read some bad reviews about Magic Jack. Glad it works well for the ones that have it.

 

[sherry7]

I had NO IDEA that if we disconnected the land line 911 would still work. DH has really been on me to disconnect our land line.

Like PP said, if there's no dial tone, I can still reach 911??

We live in a subdivision, so chances are slim that they would disconnect the box our line connects to on the street, right?

Don't count on that. Sometimes the facilities are re-used rather quickly, depending on the equipment available in the area. I've seen them changed within a matter of days. (FYI...I work for a major telecom company). In a nutshell...if you're counting on having 911 available on a land line, this definitely is NOT a sure fire way of doing it.

 

[Imzadi]

Holy cow! I said earlier that I really didn't think I had 911 service as I had no dial tone and was switched over totally to DSL only. I just decided to test the phone, even though it still has no dial tone. I started pressing 9, then chickened out, since I really did not have to make a emergency call and didn't want to tie up the emergency line in case a real call needed to get through. But, the same recording the OP had came on right away, saying I can't make calls but DO have 911 service! (For now.)

 

[disbridemimi]

It is federal law that any phone connected to a land line be able to call 911 with or without phone service. So even with no active phone service at all you can always call 911.

This is not true in every state. In new england for example, only Vermont still requires 911 be avail from a landline with no phone service. You will NOT have 911 from your landline if you cancel your service in Mass, Nh, Maine & RI. So be careful, all states are different, i am only familiar with New England. you can call your phone company and ask, they will tell you.

 

[BrettS]

The thing that really scares me in reading this thread, is the fact that even if you do have 911 service now on your disconnected land line you don't know how long that will be availble and you won't get any warning when or if it's disconnected.

I'm concerned that someone might teach their kids to use the 'special phone' that's still connected to the land line in case of emergency, but that phone might not work at that time and the kids might not know what else to do.

If you have it available and need to use it in an emergency, go ahead and do so, but please don't teach your kids to use that as the only option in an emergency.

 

[Mandy_in_NC]

So even if there is no dial tone, 911 can still be dialed?

Yes. That is the only thing it will dial.