Do You Still Have One?

[spacemountainmom]

We still have the land line and will probably keep it until all of our parents are gone. My parents have trac phones. They call from their land line to our land line unless it's an absolute necessity to use the cell phone. My in-laws share a smart phone but the few times a year they call us, they call the land line.

My sister has a cell phone but it is an ancient one with very limited minutes so she tends to call land line to land line too.

I still give the home number out because I don't want all those calls on my cell. I don't get good coverage at work and in fact spend a good part of the day in an area where there is no cell coverage so I'd rather they just call home and leave me a message. I also have a fax machine at home that I use "enough" to justify the land line.

DH would like to get rid of the land line, but it is bundled with cable and internet so it really isn't costing us that much to keep it.

We did have an epic fail in communications last week. I dropped my son off for marching band and went home. Apparently the parade they were marching in was cancelled due to weather concerns. He kept calling my cell phone. I had left it in another part of the house and couldn't hear it ring. After him calling for a half an hour, I finally walked into that room and heard my phone. I asked him why he didn't just call the house when I didn't answer and he said "I don't know!" I would have heard the house phone where I was.

 

[DeaverTex]

Maybe they just like to be able to hear you. I hate calling my sister on her cell phone. There's always an awkward delay, making conversation difficult, and it's often hard to hear her clearly- and we won't talk about dropped calls! Maybe they call you on your landline because they want to be able to talk to you, uninterrupted!

You know, I referred to myself as a Luddite earlier, but I'm not sure if that's true. I really don't enjoy talking on the phone- never have- and don't feel the need for someone to be able to contact me immediately, regardless of the situation. I don't WANT to have a phone in my pocket and always be accessible. DD20 has both my home and work numbers programmed in her phone so she can contact me. (actually, that worries me a bit- what if she needs to contact me but has no signal? She couldn't call from a landline because she doesn't know my number- it's all on speed-dial.) Given that I don't like to talk on the phone in the first place, and the cost of cell service in this area ($50 a month for service plus $40 for each phone), I will stick with my landline in the house and "emergency only" tracfone in the car!

Nah, they're Luddites. Of the three families we hang out with, only two ever call us, and both of those are too "security conscious" to use a cell phone. And they're 10-15 years younger than we are!

 

[arminnie]

With two homes in two different states it is sooooo much easier just having a cell phone.

I had two landlines forever - virtually all of my life. Now my DH and I each have a cell. It makes life so much easier.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

We still have a landline, but very rarely use it. My brother is disabled and lives in a group home, he doesn't really have a good understanding of time of day, so I can't have him call my cell phone when I am working. He only calls the house, and whoever is home at the time will speak to him for a while- it's one of his few thrills in life to talk on the phone.
Also, when my husband's family call for birthdays they call our house phone- I'm not 100% sure why they don't call our cell phones directly.

 

[tvguy]

I've gotten to the point where I actually prefer texting, unless it's super-involved. I hate talking on the phone, but I know sometimes it's required for business, so I bite the bullet.


I just don't see the need to call someone just to say something like:
"Hey, we're gonna go see X-Men at Alamo Drafthouse at 8PM tomorrow night - wanna join us?"

And a simple response:
"Sure thing! See ya then!" or "We'd love to, but can't make it, have fun!"

I hate the obligatory chit-chat that seems required for a phone call even if it's just for a simple thing that should take 30 seconds.

What you just described would take 5 minute of texting for me.......and 15 seconds for a phone call.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Land line is what we give people we don't want to talk to. It's all necessary in case of a power outage (and the cellphones are dead).