Do you still have a land line?

[EMode]

I can't get rid of my landline because we get unreliable cell reception here.

 

[TravelMommy]

Everything you said in your original post was everything we rethought for a while. We eventually dropped our landline about 4 months ago- so far so good and $30 a month back in our pockets. Cell service is not spotty where we live, so that was never a worry. We did get cordless phones that when my cell phone is int he house it hooks up to them automatically and I can answer or talk on those as I would mu cell phone. I like that because if I can't run to my cell in time (or can't find it) I can answer one of the two cordless phones. Good luck!

Don't miss the landline at all, happy about saving the $800+ each year

 

[huskies90]

Yes still have. Our alarm system needs a landline. I guess we could switch to a wireless alarm system but haven't bothered.

I voted "other" because I am in the same boat needing it for my alarm. Nobody calls me on the land line but telemarketers. It is part of the Cable Package and is only an incremental $4.99/month so not worth switching alarm systems. At least we have caller id through the TV so we know it is them when they call.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We're required to keep it so we can have DSL

 

[drstrangelove]

I can't stand our land line phone. It's only telemarketing computers that call. Even if I do answer it there's no one on the other end. I haven't looked into how much we'd save by cutting it but it's more of a nuisance to keep. We have Verizon Fios phone/internet/cable so I think it works out to around $30/month. It's not even so much a financial question but a matter of privacy and nuisance.
We keep it in case there's some emergency where cell phones don't work or in the case of extended power outage when we can't recharge our cell phones.
I realize that might happen some day but in the meantime we get bombarded by calls with no one there, with caller ID showing "unavailable" and no message left on the answering machine. Probably 6+ calls per day with this. Our number is unlisted and we're on the Do Not Call list but apparently that is meaningless.

What have you done with your phone?

We ported our number over the Magic Jack, but we never use it as a phone. essentially its just an answering machine. We do not even have a phone in the house hooked up to it. Calls go to the Magic Jack system and we check the mesages. It costs about $3 per month. So we still have our number and can port it back to a real carrier if we want to, but its been 2 years and we are fine.

 

[tvguy]

We still have a landline. We get some calls on it, I don't give my cell # out except family and friends. .

Pretty much the same reason here. My wife, kids and MIL have my cell phone number, nobody else does.

I am kind of looking forward to getting rid of my CELL PHONE in 5 years or so when I retire. Well, I may switch to a pay as you go phone to keep in the glove box of the car for emergencies.

 

[havaneselover]

Yes, unfortunately. Kids don't have cell phones yet. And every time I call Verizon they tell me my bill will increase if I cancel it.

All I get is calls looking for a credit deadbeat who used to have the number, calls looking for my ex, and people doing surveys. My voice mail hasn't worked on it in 15 months and I can't be bothered to have Verizon fix it.

 

[sam1998]

We live on a farm in a rural area, which means we have to have a landline because we have no cell service here.

 

[epsmith921]

I went with other. We have it for the alarm. Our cell phones are also not local to the area or even region of the country where we live now so I like to have a local number. It's been helpful when job hunting. It seems employers don't mind the oddball cell area code but that seems to go better for us when we are able to list the local home number. Not changing those cell numbers for anything and haven't lived in the area they're from in 8 years.

 

[HM]

We will likely always keep our landline. It's our HOME phone. It's what we want people to call us on. Our cellphones are only for our convenience and safety. In fact, up until Christmas DH didn't have a cellphone of his own...he'd borrow mine if driving alone at night.

 

[diswish]

Have to keep a land line because of poor cell reception. We can sometimes text if we find the window in the house that reaches the satellite.

 

[smokeyblue]

We still have a landline. We get some calls on it, I don't give my cell # out except family and friends. The main reason we keep it is 911. Cell service is spotty here, and it isn't always quick for 911 to find you (DH is a paramedic and part time 911 dispatcher, he insists we keep it for that reason).

We added it to our cable internet package and pay $5/month for it.

The bad thing with cable based phone service is that when your cable is out so is your phone. Cable goes out all the time during storms here.

There was a scheduled but unannounced overnight cable outage awhile back. The same night a coworkers husband collapsed and she picked up her phone to call 911 and it was dead. She had left her company cell at work because it wasn't charging any more. She was unfamiliar with the husbands cell, didn't know the pass code or how to bypass it to make an emergency call. She finally got him to come to enough to give her the code and she called for help. He died after a few days in ICU. The delay in getting help may or may not have changed the outcome, but the sheer terror of not being to make that call was probably awful.

 

[pk1959]

I voted other. We have it for our security system and also because Dish Network adds $5 to your bill if you don't have a phone line plugged into your DVR.

 

[NC State]

We still have a our line mainly for our home computer and 911. We turn the ringer off so we don't get calls but it's great to call out and not worry about the call dropping.

 

[hsmamato2]

I had one.... but our local service was up to about 40.00 per month with fees,that's before we paid .05 extra per minute for long distance. I kept it b/c I thought in an extended power outage,it would be our only way to call...etc. turns out I was dead wrong. In my area, At&T has a large computerized box that EVERYthiNG gets routed thru,in or out. In an extended outage, the battery in that box dies after a few days. Guess what...no landline when it goes. I used my cell phone for texting when needed. (We had 2 massive storms/outages a couple of years ago, a week+ with no power) I canceled that stinkin' landline as soon as i could get a call through.
Oh, I was using my special emergency only corded phone for this too in the above scenario. I have a cute little plug adaptor that plugs into a cig. lighter in my car- when I needed a phone, I charged my cell for a while off of that.It was the only thing that worked after a few days. Even then, not well, b/c the backup generators in cell towers only last so long too...... (maybe I should keep a horse and buggy on hand for the next time
Now we have cells. its cost effective...I just ordered a cell to home phone type phone, where it bluetooths from my cell to a regular style phone,so I can hear it ring/talk like I used to with the landline. ( I find holding a smartphone to my ear annoying,it's a square block lol)

 

[rock_doctor]

Other..

We have Ooma which uses the internet connection to make calls. US wide for free. I bought it back when it was just the cost of the unit and nothing else. Now you pay for the unit (one time charge) and the monthly federal taxes. And they are less then $4 per month (you can look up your state on ooma's website and see what your taxes will be)... Works quite well but you do have to have a broadband internet connection. We have FIOS so we have a totally digital system to the house and inside. Internet has gone down maybe 3 times in the last decade and that was because of network hardware being installed.

 

[Iowajes]

We haven't had one in almost 10 years. Actually, I didn't have one in college either, so it's been like 14.

 

[wendow]

We don't pay for pricey cell phone plans (about $8 a month for a tracfone) and our phone line is only $15 a month so we keep it and use it. I just ignore telemarketing calls though we don't get very many of them.

 

[disneycrazi]

I put up with the nonsense from Comcast for a couple of years that if you cancel one of your services the price will go up. I finally told them fine, then cancel everything. They "found" me an internet plan for $39.95 per month. I didn't need the cable TV or phone. I got an OOMA that runs our phone of our internet line. We never get junk calls, political calls, charity calls. It is wonderful. The only people who calls us are family which is how I like it.

Exactly, we have comcast internet 39.95, works great NO cable tv but get enough channels with little butterfly flat antenna. No landline and for 2 cells with unlimited talk, text and data it's $65 a month total!!!! Love not shelling out that cash!!!

 

[texasroni75]

DH kept going over his minutes on our cellphone plan for off-hours work related calls. Our cable company gave us a deal to bundle it so it's nearly free and he uses the landline for those calls now. I like having it as a backup for emergencies in the house too, since sometimes our cellphone decides to have no bars when inside the house.

I personally hate it though - from the first day we received calls from pretty much all over the country. Usually recorded telemarketer calls. Never for us, because we haven't given this number to ANYONE. It's only for outgoing calls. I turn the ringer off, and have not set up voicemail so nobody can leave messages. But, what's most annoying is I haven't figured out how to turn off the "show incoming calls on the TV screen" thing.

We lived without a landline for nearly 5 years with no issues, and could live without it again if they decided to raise the price.