getting rid of landline

[tvguy]

I'm pretty sure those people are making excuses. I don't know ANYONE who uses their phone for an alarm that doesn't charge their phone overnight. You go to bed, you plug in your phone.
Then again, most people I know wouldn't ever, every, ever let their phone die. I have a mophie case with a built in auxillary battery, and charge cords in my office, my car, upstairs next to my bed where i charge it nightly, and downstairs where I spend time in the evenings.

I can't remember the last time my phone battery died.

They certainly could be making excuses, but when their phone goes right to voice mail when you call them at 3:30 am, it kind of an indication that the phone is off either by choice or because of a dead battery. Many of my co-workers have company phones, and every week one of them comes looking to borrow a company charger, or one of our 3 spare cell phones because their battery is dead.
It is funny that they are often called "wireless phones" when so many people have them on charge at their desks all the time.

 

[capegirl]

Well, here's my story...I once had the unfortunate luck of being in NYC during a major statewide power failure. Believe it or not I was actually up on the observation deck at the Empire State Building when the power went out...it was a bad scene . No one in the city had cell phone service for nearly 24 hours, but landline phones were up and running, so thankfully I was able to make calls from my hotel room. True, an emergency of this nature is unlikely but entirely possible. That said, I still have my old school landline even though I can't stand the telemarketing calls.

 

[hsmamato2]

sadly, this is NOT true in every case.....nowadays. every phone line in my home area is connected through a big old box,with a big old battery in it attached to the pole or whatever. If power goes, it seems to work,for a little while. In my past experience, it's a day or so at best. Then the battery inside that box dies,as does the landline. So I guess pp's scenario above is compelling, for a minute on the off chance it happens (which it does from time to time) but when we lots power twice in one season for a week+ the only way to 'talk' to anyone was texting after a day or so. This was the year we stopped paying 35 a month for a landline we rarely used anyway. I miss the handy attached to the wall 'there' of it at times, but not enough to pay for something I never use,and that was of no help ina time of need.

 

[hsmamato2]

I know it was mentioned that even if you drop the HARD land line that you can still dial 911. That may be true initially but you really need to ck if it's been a while. The lines may have been disconnected, on purpose or by accident. Don't automatically assume it will be there.

how do you check,without actually calling 911?

 

[hsmamato2]

I consider internet phone service to be the same as a landline. We still use 2 way radios too, especially in areas with no cell service.

again,VOIP only works when you have power,so no matter what I end up with just the cellphone, to save money.

 

[mco65]

We still have a landline because its tied to the internet/tv package.. but i unplugged the cable to it because no one but telemarketers EVER call me on it.. We have not used the land line in over a year so i expect to disconnect it next time i review our internet/cable tv package..

 

[tvguy]

again,VOIP only works when you have power,so no matter what I end up with just the cellphone, to save money.

Yup, cell phones and VOIP are dead in the water if there is no power to them, or to the cell towers. Been an issue the past week or so in the Sierra here with the weather. Landlines are working, cell phones are paperweights.

 

[hsmamato2]

still unsure hot to check if that 911 service will work thru our old line

 

[NinaBella]

We dropped our landline at the end of 2014. Probably the smartest decision I made that year. As far as 911 goes... you can still use your landline phone to call 911. Only 911. Just leave a handset plugged in or make sure everyone knows where it's stored just in case 911 has to be called and there's no active cell phone around. We still have a dial tone on our wired phone (to call 911) but no other call will work. Not many folks know this. I certainly didn't but once I found out, it was a no-brainer. It's really throwing $ out the window to be paying for an extra phone line.

NOW, with that said... we did have to have the home security switched over to a wireless system since it was going through the phone line as well. Not a big deal at all. Just needed a tech from the security company to come out and do it. Something else to consider though if you use a security system.

I just did some quick research and apparently, it does NOT work in all locations. Some states are only required to provide the service for 30 days after disconnect. Some inactive lines will still allow you to call 911, some will not. So that is something to be aware of for sure. Also, I read that if the call gets disconnected, 911 will not be able to call you back.

I have a landline but haven't had a phone plugged into it for about 2 years. Whenever I do plug it in it is just telemarketing calls and wrong numbers. My HOA pays for the basic landline but everyone in my house has a cell phone. Ours is digital so if the power goes out taking out the router the phone is useless.

 

[MillauFr]

Why is it that telemarkers seem to call the old landlines? I switched to VOIP and never get junk calls. Last election cycle didn't get one political call either. It was far better than our previous landline.

 

[kj2mom]

I still have mine and no plans on getting rid of it. I want it for reverse 911 calls, I want it because I don't want most people calling my cell. My children are 15 now and have their own cell phones but prior to that I didn't want little Sally or little Jimmy calling my cell phone to speak with my children. I don't want my cell phone ringing during the day to remind me I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. If someone was watching my children for me I didn't want to have to trust that they had a phone to call me if something happened and obviously I couldn't leave mine behind for them to have something to use because then I would have nothing. We may not use it much now but it isn't going anywhere.

 

[angierae]

We got rid of our landline after our daughter had a cell phone. I don't care if my doctor's office calls me to remind me about an appointment - my phone is on vibrate 24/7 and if I don't recognize the number, I don't answer it. If I'm expecting the doctor's office to call with a reminder and i don't need to talk to them, I let them leave a message.

I can't remember the last time I let my phone make noise, or answered a random call. If it's important, they can leave a message and I will return the call at my convenience.

 

[tvguy]

We got rid of our landline after our daughter had a cell phone. I don't care if my doctor's office calls me to remind me about an appointment - my phone is on vibrate 24/7 and if I don't recognize the number, I don't answer it. If I'm expecting the doctor's office to call with a reminder and i don't need to talk to them, I let them leave a message.

I can't remember the last time I let my phone make noise, or answered a random call. If it's important, they can leave a message and I will return the call at my convenience.

Not answering isn't an option when you have children or elderly parents.

 

[brockash]

Pros and cons please of getting rid of landline phone service and going with just cellular. Talked to phone company and savings is about $25.00 a month. Anybody do it?

We haven't had a land-line in 8 years, and we've never had a problem. We just got to a point that the only time our landline rang it was a telemarketer and it just seemed so ridiculous to be paying for that. I will say, we're military and move often, so it ended up just happening once when we moved...we just never got service there. If we stayed in one place, then I'm not sure if I would have gotten rid of it yet, but that's mainly just because I'm not a fan of change lol.

We have 3 kids ages 2-15, and I will say I did get my oldest a phone before I wanted to in part because for the little time he was home alone when he was younger I didn't feel comfortable with him not having a way to get in touch with me.

 

[brockash]

We dropped our landline at the end of 2014. Probably the smartest decision I made that year. As far as 911 goes... you can still use your landline phone to call 911. Only 911. Just leave a handset plugged in or make sure everyone knows where it's stored just in case 911 has to be called and there's no active cell phone around. We still have a dial tone on our wired phone (to call 911) but no other call will work. Not many folks know this. I certainly didn't but once I found out, it was a no-brainer. It's really throwing $ out the window to be paying for an extra phone line.

NOW, with that said... we did have to have the home security switched over to a wireless system since it was going through the phone line as well. Not a big deal at all. Just needed a tech from the security company to come out and do it. Something else to consider though if you use a security system.

Wow, thanks for sharing...I'll have to look around and see if I can dig up an old phone now...that does make me feel better for emergencies.

 

[tvguy]

Wow, thanks for sharing...I'll have to look around and see if I can dig up an old phone now...that does make me feel better for emergencies.

As mentioned early, this is not the case in most places, and in the places it is, it is only for a month or two after the line is turned off

 

[angierae]

Not answering isn't an option when you have children or elderly parents.

My elderly parent and my child are in my phone. I know when they're calling. If they need to call from a number not their own, they'll leave a message which I will immediately listen to. We're talking about a time gap of what, less than a minute?

 

[angierae]

(Also, honestly, if my daughter needed to get a hold of me from someone else's phone, she'd text, not call. (This has happened.) But the situation for my stepfather remains. When I say "At my convenience" I don't mean I'm not going to listen to the message until I feel like it, I'm saying I will return the call when it's convenient. If it's an emergency, obviously it's convenient then and there.)

 

[tvguy]

My elderly parent and my child are in my phone. I know when they're calling. If they need to call from a number not their own, they'll leave a message which I will immediately listen to. We're talking about a time gap of what, less than a minute?

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.

 

[angierae]

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.

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

Because I guarantee you, even if you don't give out your cell phone number to anyone other than friends/family, you're still going to get junk calls. So using my cell phone as my main phone isn't the only reason I get junk calls.

I just never understand the whole "I don't want to have to answer phone calls on my cell phone all day!" Um, you don't have to. If you didn't have a cell, and people were calling your landline at home, they'd have to wait for you to get home and listen to your messages, or call in to check your voicemail from another number.

When I *did* have a landline, I didn't answer calls I don't recognize, either. My daughter is 22. The number of times she's had to call me from a number not her own or one I would recognize is precisely once, when they evacuated her school the day she'd had her phone taken away for having it out in class, and she had to call me from a friends' phone to arrange a way home.

Even if I had a landline at home, I would not answer calls coming from numbers I don't recognize on my cell phone. I don't do it. They can leave a message. The minuscule chance that my daughter (or my MIL, before she passed away) would need to call me from anything other than their own cell phones or my MIL's house phone isn't worth being a slave to random people calling my phone, which are almost always garbage calls.

(ALso, the two times DD has gotten into car accidents she was already sobbing by the time she called me, so getting my voicemail and having to wait 30 seconds wasn't going to make it any harder. Tye last time she was so upset the police officer stayed with her until I could get there.)

I see no legitimate reason to have a landline. None. I have a phone. People can contact me a variety of ways. I am *more* in touch with people than I was before cell phones, because I can be reached any time of the day, no matter where I am.