getting rid of landline

[tvguy]

So...if I had a landline, what about this would change?

True, doesn't have to be a landline. Just one phone NUMBER that only is given out to family, and another to everyone else. But as others have mentioned, a landline is never going to have a dead battery, and while landlines do go down, not as frequently as cell towers especially in a power outage.. In my case, I got my cell phone (they were know as CAR phones in 1990 when I got it) as an emergency line for people who had to get a hold of me while I was asleep during the day. I could turn the ringer off on the landline, and the answering machine volume down, and all those non-urgent calls go there. People could feel free to call me without concern of waking me up.
My sleep would be disturbed with just one line if I had to check to make sure a call wasn't an emergency

 

[sk!mom]

We did it many years ago- at least 8 or 9. Once DD20 had a cell phone, we realized that no one but telemarketers ever called our landline.

 

[tvguy]

We did it many years ago- at least 8 or 9. Once DD20 had a cell phone, we realized that no one but telemarketers ever called our landline.

My concern is what I see with friends who have just a cell phone. All the telemarketers just call their cell phone. Although my wife got a telemarketer call day before yesterday on her cell phone, but honestly there is nothing you can do to stop them. They know what the active prefixes are in every area code and just start dialing until they call all 10,000 numbers in a prefix.

 

[sk!mom]

My concern is what I see with friends who have just a cell phone. All the telemarketers just call their cell phone. Although my wife got a telemarketer call day before yesterday on her cell phone, but honestly there is nothing you can do to stop them. They know what the active prefixes are in every area code and just start dialing until they call all 10,000 numbers in a prefix.

Correct but it's easy to simply not answer an unknown number. It's also very easy to block numbers. I rarely get calls from telemarketers to my cell and when I do they can only call once since they are immediately blocked.

 

[kymom99]

When my then then 16 year old DD was in a traffic accident, she burst into tears when she called me and got my voice mail. Only took a few moments for me to check the voice mail and call back, but when you are 16, and standing next to a busy freeway with a wrecked car, you don't want to get voicemail.

And before we had cell phones we did what?

 

[tvguy]

Correct but it's easy to simply not answer an unknown number. It's also very easy to block numbers. I rarely get calls from telemarketers to my cell and when I do they can only call once since they are immediately blocked.

In my case, I was looking to not have routine phone calls wake me up when I was working graveyard and sleeping 9 am to 5 pm. And also as I mentioned, many folks here (and emergency agencies) have blocked numbers, so blocking numbers isn't an option either since there is no number to block.
My FIL did have a setup that didn't even let blocked numbers ring through. He was in Texas, and suddenly the ONLY calls getting through were telemarketers with unblocked numbers, and all the people he wanted to be able to get through had blocked numbers. HIs local phone company wanted him to tell all of us to unblock our numbers (and mentioned blocked numbers are an odd California thing). His response was, you are charging me $5 a month for a service that is only allowing through the calls I don't want, take it off my line, so my family can reach me.

And before we had cell phones we did what?

1980 to 1990 it hit my answering machine to be screened, but if it was in the daytime and I was asleep, it woke me up.

 

[angierae]

In my case, I was looking to not have routine phone calls wake me up when I was working graveyard and sleeping 9 am to 5 pm. And also as I mentioned, many folks here (and emergency agencies) have blocked numbers, so blocking numbers isn't an option either since there is no number to block.
My FIL did have a setup that didn't even let blocked numbers ring through. He was in Texas, and suddenly the ONLY calls getting through were telemarketers with unblocked numbers, and all the people he wanted to be able to get through had blocked numbers. HIs local phone company wanted him to tell all of us to unblock our numbers (and mentioned blocked numbers are an odd California thing). His response was, you are charging me $5 a month for a service that is only allowing through the calls I don't want, take it off my line, so my family can reach me.

1980 to 1990 it hit my answering machine to be screened, but if it was in the daytime and I was asleep, it woke me up.

With my phone, I have five or six people set to "favorites" who can ring through when my phone is on do not disturb, which it is from 11pm to 7am while I am sleeping.
Alternatively, if someone calls my phone twice in a row within a minute or two, the phone recognizes an emergency, and lets the second call through. That way if someone DOES need to call from a phone not their own, they can still wake me up in the night if they need to.

There are plenty of features on today's cell phones to help with the problems that have been brought up. With a cell, you could put it on DND while you were sleeping, and only your "favorites" could get through, or a person who knew to call back again if they went straight to voicemail since they knew you slept during the day.

I even turn on my DND if I'm napping on a Saturday afternoon. The six people I would want to get a hold of me at any time of day or night are able to.

 

[tvguy]

With my phone, I have five or six people set to "favorites" who can ring through when my phone is on do not disturb, which it is from 11pm to 7am while I am sleeping.
Alternatively, if someone calls my phone twice in a row within a minute or two, the phone recognizes an emergency, and lets the second call through. That way if someone DOES need to call from a phone not their own, they can still wake me up in the night if they need to.

There are plenty of features on today's cell phones to help with the problems that have been brought up. With a cell, you could put it on DND while you were sleeping, and only your "favorites" could get through, or a person who knew to call back again if they went straight to voicemail since they knew you slept during the day.

I even turn on my DND if I'm napping on a Saturday afternoon. The six people I would want to get a hold of me at any time of day or night are able to.

Does DND work with blocked numbers?

 

[angierae]

Does DND work with blocked numbers?

I'm honestly not sure what you're talking about with "blocked" numbers. Do you mean numbers that are specifically set up to not work with caller ID? I don't know anyone who has a number like that that would need to get a hold of me in an emergency. I don't have "blocked" numbers blocked on my phone. I have a couple of SPECIFIC phone numbers blocked on my phone, but only those.

It's not a thing in my experience, so I really don't know what you're talking about.

 

[tvguy]

I'm honestly not sure what you're talking about with "blocked" numbers. Do you mean numbers that are specifically set up to not work with caller ID? I don't know anyone who has a number like that that would need to get a hold of me in an emergency. I don't have "blocked" numbers blocked on my phone. I have a couple of SPECIFIC phone numbers blocked on my phone, but only those.

It's not a thing in my experience, so I really don't know what you're talking about.

Most folks who call me have their phones (both landline and cell )set to not reveal their name or number when you call. Verizon calls it "Caller ID Blocking".
My cell phone displays "RESTRICTED" when those calls come in. The Caller ID on my work landline says "ANONYMOUS". I don't have caller id at home on the landline because they charge extra for it.
On cell phones that are not ID Blocked, you can hit *67 to block your ID from being displayed on an individual call.

 

[angierae]

Most folks who call me have their phones (both landline and cell )set to not reveal their name or number when you call. Verizon calls it "Caller ID Blocking".
My cell phone displays "RESTRICTED" when those calls come in. The Caller ID on my work landline says "ANONYMOUS". I don't have caller id at home on the landline because they charge extra for it.
On cell phones that are not ID Blocked, you can hit *67 to block your ID from being displayed on an individual call.

I have no idea, since I don't know anyone who uses that service and I haven't *67 since I was a preteen making prank phone calls.

 

[kymom99]

In my case, I was looking to not have routine phone calls wake me up when I was working graveyard and sleeping 9 am to 5 pm. And also as I mentioned, many folks here (and emergency agencies) have blocked numbers, so blocking numbers isn't an option either since there is no number to block.
My FIL did have a setup that didn't even let blocked numbers ring through. He was in Texas, and suddenly the ONLY calls getting through were telemarketers with unblocked numbers, and all the people he wanted to be able to get through had blocked numbers. HIs local phone company wanted him to tell all of us to unblock our numbers (and mentioned blocked numbers are an odd California thing). His response was, you are charging me $5 a month for a service that is only allowing through the calls I don't want, take it off my line, so my family can reach me.

1980 to 1990 it hit my answering machine to be screened, but if it was in the daytime and I was asleep, it woke me up.

And if people aren't home to answer?

 

[kymom99]

I have no idea, since I don't know anyone who uses that service and I haven't *67 since I was a preteen making prank phone calls.

I use *67 to block my number when I call svdp clients so they can't get my number

 

[elgerber]

Does DND work with blocked numbers?

Yes, DND blocks everything, texts, email notification sounds, etc. And it blocks all calls except those you designate to allow to ring through. I have both my kids, and my husband on that list. They are the only ones who can call me when DND is on. As mentioned above you can also allow it to have a call come through if they call twice in a row. You can also turn that off if you like, so only the ones on your list can call.
The alarm clock feature also still works on DND.

 

[tvguy]

Yes, DND blocks everything, texts, email notification sounds, etc. And it blocks all calls except those you designate to allow to ring through. I have both my kids, and my husband on that list. They are the only ones who can call me when DND is on. As mentioned above you can also allow it to have a call come through if they call twice in a row. You can also turn that off if you like, so only the ones on your list can call.
The alarm clock feature also still works on DND.

But I assume your kids and husband don't have their ID blocked.

 

[tvguy]

And if people aren't home to answer?

It went to voicemail or an answering machine.

 

[tvguy]

I have no idea, since I don't know anyone who uses that service and I haven't *67 since I was a preteen making prank phone calls.

Pretty popular option here. California is pretty big on privacy. They didn't have cell phones or caller id when I was a pre-teen, nor have I ever make prank calls.

 

[Southernmiss]

But I assume your kids and husband don't have their ID blocked.

Dh has his Id blocked because of calls he makes for work.

On his phone he has 2 numbers he can call from. The blocked number or his same number without the blocked code in front. It easily rings through to me and identifies him as who he is.

Smart phones today have computers inside and can easily navigate all ' the shade' being thrown their way.

Cancelled house phone last year and our cell does everything it did plus more.

Easily solve the dead battery- the plug in cord moves anywhere you go: work, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, car, usb port on the computer. There are small portable chargers that are the size of a chapstick. Take the charger anywhere. Solar powered chargers, too. Letting the battery on a cell phone die is kind of irresponsible in most cases today. I'd reevaluate allowing that has a late excuse at work too often.

Want to take calls, put volume on. Don't want calls, put it on silent or vibrate.

Unsolicited calls-don't answer. If they leave a message, call back. If they don't leave a message, block them.

Caller id allows you to determine who you speak to.

Doctor and dentist appointment reminders- all of ours now text or email. You electronically confirm those appointments. Much less phone ringing of reminders.

Was awakened at 1:30 a.m.2 weeks ago with a dreaded call that my grandmother had died.My sister called me twice. It rang through and woke me.

911-I called it once from home with my cellphone. Twice with my cellphone on the road for car accidents. Thank God for those in the wrecks that I had a cellphone.

Disasters requiring a land line 911 call don't happen frequently and are not worth the monthly bill. We live in hurricane country, 911 in a storm is not common for my family. Lots of lessons and upgrades have been made here to cell towers and emergency services since Katrina in 2005. Some folks could only get phone service WITH a cell phone in the days following that storm.

The solutions are endless.

I'm delighted to receive mostly texts on my phone. And can communicate only when and with those I want to.

 

[Southernmiss]

It went to voicemail or an answering machine.

I'd rather my kids be able to reach me anywhere, anytime in an emergency. Cell phone allows them the ability to do this. Even when I'm in the car, store, at another kid's sporting event, etc.

 

[tvguy]

I'd rather my kids be able to reach me anywhere, anytime in an emergency. Cell phone allows them the ability to do this. Even when I'm in the car, store, at another kid's sporting event, etc.

Exactly my point. My cell phone is for my family and I answer 24/7. My landline is for everyone else and can have the ringer turned off and the answer machine volume down when I am asleep.