Finally Pulled-the-Plug on the House Phone

[MIGrandma]

I've wanted to discontinue the house phone service for a long time. We rarely used the phone, except DH needed it for faxing. Now he scans and e-mails everything for work, so no need for the fax machine for months now so he finally agreed to cancel the house phone.

Looking forward to saving that $60/month.

The only people who called our house phone were basically telemarketers (2-6 calls every day even though we're on the Do Not Call list ), my Mom and DH's brother-in-law and they can learn to use our cell phone numbers.

So, are we among the last to get rid of our house phone or do many of you out there still have yours?

 

[JanaDee]

I've wanted to discontinue the house phone service for a long time. We rarely used the phone, except DH needed it for faxing. Now he scans and e-mails everything for work, so no need for the fax machine for months now so he finally agreed to cancel the house phone.

Looking forward to saving that $60/month.

The only people who called our house phone were basically telemarketers (2-6 calls every day even though we're on the Do Not Call list ), my Mom and DH's brother-in-law and they can learn to use our cell phone numbers.

So, are we among the last to get rid of our house phone or do many of you out there still have yours?

Nope, we still have ours. I prefer to talk for long periods on the home phone vs my iphone, so it will stay for the foreseeable future.

 

[CdnCarrie]

We still have ours but the main people who call are our mothers. I find so many of my friends tend to text/email/FB me and from there we set up coffee dates. We don't tend to talk on the phone much anymore.

I want to pull the plug but my kids are still school age. So I'm going to wait a few years until they have their own cell phones before I pull the plug.

 

[dawnhaze]

My parents got rid of theirs recently when my dad retired, so he doesn't need to fax anymore. I've never had my own home phone, I've been using mobile only since roughly 2004. I don't talk on the phone much anyhow.

 

[wiigirl]

We still have ours, but its a VOIP phone through our cable/internet/phone bundle.

 

[powellrj]

We still have ours, but it is a magic jack. I have an iphone, but I hate to talk on it, so when I am home I still use the landline. I don't see us giving it up anytime soon.

 

[Janepod]

We still have our old traditional (not VOIP) landline but only because the antiquated alarm system in our house needs it. I wish I could cancel. That being said, during the frequent power outages we've had in the last two years, it's been nice to have. The phone still works without charging or anything.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I dont have a landline. Its useless. Just like the OP, the only calls i use to get were telemarketers. I. hardly talk on the phone. Landline is useless for us.

 

[elgerber]

We still have ours, but it is a magic jack. I have an iphone, but I hate to talk on it, so when I am home I still use the landline. I don't see us giving it up anytime soon.

Hijacking a bit, do you like the Magic Jack? We are actually mulling over cancelling our line right now, and I was looking into this a bit.

 

[powellrj]

Hijacking a bit, do you like the Magic Jack? We are actually mulling over cancelling our line right now, and I was looking into this a bit.

We have had it for several years and we have never had a problem with it. We did port our old number and you do pay $10 a year extra, but its still so much cheaper than what we were paying.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

We still have ours. I think of the $28 a month I pay as an insurance policy. If something happens I don't have to hunt down phone of make sure to have it charged at all times. If one of my nieces are over and there is an emergency they know where the phone is.


Having a landline paid off when my Nieces house caught fire. She and a neighbor both called using a cell phone and both calls got routed to a 911 office in a different town. Had it not been for the neighbor who had a landline that called 911 and got the local office her house could have been lost.

Have friend who is a retired police captain and he was driving from PA to Ohio and saw an accident. Called 911 when he was in Ohio to report an accident and his call went to the 911 dispatch in his home town.

Come to find out with cell phone when you place a call, you phone can get be stuck using the cell tower it last used in order to route your call. In his case he last used his phone before leaving home there for the call routed through that tower. With Verizon its best to hit #228 and update your phone which will bring you calls back to the tower closest to you. This is what the Verizon rep told me.

 

[Dizneefamily+4]

We still have ours - mainly because of our kids. My oldest, ds12 has his own phone, but my dd8 doesn't. We still want to be listed in the local phone book at least until both of the kids have their own phone. Like other posters, we really only get calls on it from telemarketers, political pollsters, and the occasional doctor office appointment reminder (from those docs who we haven't updated with our cell numbers.) I suspect that we'll be pulling the plug in the near future as well!

 

[sam_gordon]

We still have ours. I like not having to worry about the battery on the cell phone dying. We only pay ~$20/month as part of a bundle though. That gives us caller ID and free long distance. We still need it since we occasionally leave DS home alone for short periods (<1 hr) and he doesn't have a cell.

 

[chirurgeon]

I don't think I will ever get rid of my house phone. Sometimes cell phones are just too hard to hear on. And if ther is a need for 911, they will come to the right place without having to worry about giving lots of address info. Mom has had a couple of totally unexplained cases of short term memory loss and the house phone makes me feel much better.

Kim

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We have ours specifically because the phone company won't provide DSL without us also maintaining a landline. If they ever drop that requirement or we get another viable internet option, it's gone!

 

[Handbag Lady]

We got rid of ours last year. I'm still concerned about what we would do in a major earthquake, though.

Usually, landlines can work after a major earthquake, but we are instructed from birth to not use them unless it is a dire emergency. (So what would be the point in having one for a quasi-emergency? Then again, if we had a serious emergency after an earthquake, I would want one.)

We've not had issues in recent times using our cells for any other need. Flat tire, needs a tow, keys locked in cars. etc.

 

[froggygal1301]

We still have ours. I think of the $28 a month I pay as an insurance policy. If something happens I don't have to hunt down phone of make sure to have it charged at all times. If one of my nieces are over and there is an emergency they know where the phone is.

Having a landline paid off when my Nieces house caught fire. She and a neighbor both called using a cell phone and both calls got routed to a 911 office in a different town. Had it not been for the neighbor who had a landline that called 911 and got the local office her house could have been lost.

Have friend who is a retired police captain and he was driving from PA to Ohio and saw an accident. Called 911 when he was in Ohio to report an accident and his call went to the 911 dispatch in his home town.

Come to find out with cell phone when you place a call, you phone can get be stuck using the cell tower it last used in order to route your call. In his case he last used his phone before leaving home there for the call routed through that tower. With Verizon its best to hit #228 and update your phone which will bring you calls back to the tower closest to you. This is what the Verizon rep told me.

This is very strange to me. I am a 911 dispatcher and calls hit off the nearest cell tower then get routed. I've never heard of one getting stuck. Generally, most of the issues I've heard of like that are with travellers who use a VOIP system set up in their hometown. It will go there no matter their current location. I understand the loss of landlines but lament it with my job. If there is a true emergency and you dial 911 from a landline help can get to you much faster.

 

[mom2rtk]

With a 2 story house, I just can't imagine needing to drag my phone with me every time I go to another room for a while. And I'm not willing to be unreachable. I think if you have kids, you need to be reachable. When I call a friend with only cell service, they rarely answer. I always have to wait for a return call. Sounds like a lot of hassle if you both only have cells. And if one of my kids needs something, I don't want them to have to wait for a return call.

 

[DisneyDreamer2504]

I haven't had a landline since I moved out of my parents house in 2004..... Our apartment, and the last 3 we've lived in, haven't even had a phone jack. It just seems unnecessary for me to have another phone, especially one that is only useful when I'm at home. Makes sense for some people, I know, but I just can't justify it.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We can't get rid of ours. Cell service is not reliable here.