How saving $35 a month could cost you even more.

[crisi]

Which takes....less than two minutes?

If it is that frustrating, why don’t you have direct numbers stored on you cell phone? I would, and sounds like it would faster than the run around.

In my case, about ten. With someone passed out from a fall on my front walk.

Do you want to wait an extra ten minutes when someone in your house is unconscious? Ten minutes during a head injury is a long time (her's wasn't a head injury, she'd passed out from pain, but we didn't know that).

In my case, I expected 911 from my landline to work. It didn't. I think expected a dispatch direct from 911. That didn't happen either. I then expected a successful transfer from the dispatch I had called to someone who could dispatch from my city. That ALSO did not happen.

We can't dispatch an ambulance around here - or the police - from anything BUT 911. That IS the direct number for all dispatch services. If you call the police directly, they will forward you to 911.

 

[mommyof2princesses]

The only landline service located where we are is over $50 a month! That is what happens when you live in the boonies! This is the first time in my life we don't have a landline. We have 2 pay per month cell phones, and we pay about $55 a month for both together. A much better deal!

It is good to know we can plug our phone in just for 911. Think I am going to fish an old phone out of the shed and plug it in. Too bad I can't test it out!

On another note, I have called 911 from my cell twice due to witnessing accidents and both times I conncted directly to the local 911 service. I was suprised about that, and it was in two different states!

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

I don't know about Verizon, CenturyLink, and other landline providers around the country, but AT&T (former SBC) offers a bare-bones landline for under $20 a month (with local calls costing a nickel a minute).

IMO, all homes should have a traditional corded phone in at least one room for such emergencies...

AT&T barebones line is $30 a month here and we don't use our home phone for more than 3 to 4 calls a month. No long distance.

 

[lovehoney]

My At&T bare bones is $40/month after all the fees and taxes and $0.25/min for long distance. I'm working on convincing myself we don't need it. If it was $15 I definitely would keep it.

It came in handy after hurricane Ike when we didn't have cell service for several days. We were without electricity for almost 2 weeks so it was nice not to have to worry about trying to keep the phones charged.

Of course that has only happened to us once in the last 16 years living in our house. I just need to keep telling myself that. LOL

 

[sissy_ib]

I hate to say this after a tradigy such as a house being destroyed but-that is what insurance if for. Any important items and documents should be in a fire safe or a deposit box at the bank. Yes there will always be irreplaceable items but what is important is to get out everyone of the house as fast as possible. Thank goodness that happened in this situation. We are all taught to get out of a burning buliding as fast as possible. No way I would stop and make a phone call. As A kid, before cell phone I was taught to run to a neighbors house and call 911 in case of something like a fire. OP I am sorry your niece lost her home. I'm sure it was a terrible situation.

I have had to call 911 twice in my life. Once was when a woman ran in front of a moving car and was hit. I dialled 911 on my cell and got a busy signal! Fortunatly this was a buzy area and there were other people there who had allready called so I did not need to.

 

[SandrA9810]

I have had to call 911 twice in my life. Once was when a woman ran in front of a moving car and was hit. I dialled 911 on my cell and got a busy signal! Fortunatly this was a buzy area and there were other people there who had allready called so I did not need to.

I've had that happen before too. I was driving along I95 when a car about a 1,000 feet in front got cut off and lost control. It was almost rush hour time (about 4:30) so there were several drivers witnessing it. When I did get through, maybe 30-45 seconds later, they told me they were already notified of the accident. It all seemed to happen within a split second too.

Land lines are good if you live in an area with power outages, such as Florida. Especially when a hurricane strikes, the cell towers get so overloaded, it's almost impossible to make a call. Then you have to worry about charging a cell phone, and gas is short, so it's not like you can just drive around town to charge your phone. It's pretty much only good for calling in an emergency and letting family members know you're ok after the storm has passed.

 

[ekatiel]

Fyi. A phone can be plugged into any landline connection and be used to call 911. It can't be used to make any other ohone calls. You don't need service for this.
Also generally you should never call 911 from inside your house if its on fire. Gi to your neighbors house.

Did some research on this b/c if it were true in my state (Texas) I would drop my landline today. Unfortunately, this is not true in all states. There is an FCC requirement that all landlines that are connected be able to dial 911, regardless of a person's payment of bills, etc. HOWEVER, not all states have "do not disconnect" laws that require the phone to keep a "soft" or "warm" connection once service is cancelled. The most recent document I could find listing states with "Do not disconnect" phone policies was from 2000 (here's the link for anyone interested: http://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Reports/FCC-State_Link/IAD/pntris99.pdf. These are the states the document said have "do not disconnect" policies (so, in theory, you should be able to dial 911 from a cancelled landline in these states):
Delaware
Hawaii
Iowa
Minnesota
Montana
New York
North Dakota
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Arizona
Colorado
Idaho
Massachusetts
Ohio
South Dakota
Utah
Washington
Wyoming
As of 2000, all other states did NOT have a "do not disconnect" policy (so you can't dial 911 from the phone once it is cancelled. From my reading it sounds like if a phone still has a dial tone, then you must be able to dial 911 from it. If it does not, then you are out of luck. I wish there was more recent info out there about this. 911 is pretty much the only reason we're keeping our landline. --Katie

 

[ceecee]

Do you want to wait an extra ten minutes when someone in your house is unconscious? Ten minutes during a head injury is a long time (her's wasn't a head injury, she'd passed out from pain, but we didn't know that).

Or a heart attack or stroke, etc. 10 minutes can be the difference between life and death.

 

[pixiewings71]

Well, when we had our house fire we had a landline...but the only corded phone was in the room that the fire started in, no WAY were we going back in there! The room was engulfed! We cut the power ourselves so the fire wouldn't spread thru the electrical lines so we couldn't use the cordless phones, the cells were going to the "all operators are busy" message and we could not get thru...it was about 3 am on New Year's morning, it was NOT easy to wake up our neighbors......I was standing in the middle of the street screaming because no one would answer, it was lame. But finally 3 neighbors answered and we got thru to 911.....our house was a loss as well but we all got out (we lost fish, rodents and reptile pets but the cats and dog were ok) and that was what counted most. We rebuilt, our ins. replaced everything. It was one of the worst things we've ever experienced but we are happy, healthy, the house is rebuilt and great and I don't blame the cell thing at all....in fact, after we did get thru to 911 it still took them almost 20 minutes to get here....and we live 5 minutes from the fire station.

OP I'm glad they all got out OK, their things can be replaced, their lives can't.

 

[manning]

According to our police dept, if you have to make a 911 cell call they advised to first say " I need to make emergency contact with the New Buffalo police/fire department." They then will reroute the call immediately.

 

[Swimalie]

Or a heart attack or stroke, etc. 10 minutes can be the difference between life and death.

I agree. That's why I won't get rid of my land line. It's worth the peace of mind.

 

[sherry7]

But you don't need to pay that $35 to call 911 from a landline. ANY landsline regardless of wether it has service or not will ALWAYS call 911 as long as it is wired into the grid, of course. All you have ot do is plug a phone into the landline and remember to use that one and not the cell to call 911.

The statement above is incorrect, for most states anyway.

I actually work for a large telecom company, and my department primarily does 911 database addressing. We mostly contract out our services to counties and cities, and sell them the information for their 911 systems. So naturally, I'm a big proponent of keeping a land line, especially for emergency purposes. Let me give an example. Lets say you are having a heart attack or stroke, reach for the phone and manage to dial 911. The operator answers, but you can't speak enough to say your address. In almost all areas, your address will automatically populate on the 911 dispatchers computer screen, and an emergency vehicle will be sent to your home even though you were unable to say your address. This is also an invaluable feature if a child has to call 911, or even a guest that doesn't know your street address. Of course, in the case of a fire, you should leave the house immediately and call from a neighbors house, or your cell phone.

I know that prices vary by state, but a bare bones land line in my state is around $15, which includes taxes, fees, etc.

 

[JENOS]

In my case, about ten. With someone passed out from a fall on my front walk.

Do you want to wait an extra ten minutes when someone in your house is unconscious? Ten minutes during a head injury is a long time (her's wasn't a head injury, she'd passed out from pain, but we didn't know that).

In my case, I expected 911 from my landline to work. It didn't. I think expected a dispatch direct from 911. That didn't happen either. I then expected a successful transfer from the dispatch I had called to someone who could dispatch from my city. That ALSO did not happen.

We can't dispatch an ambulance around here - or the police - from anything BUT 911. That IS the direct number for all dispatch services. If you call the police directly, they will forward you to 911.

Ten minutes? doubt it....I’ve been transferred before more than four times on one call and took a maximum time of about 1-1/2 minutes

People seem to exaggerate because in stressful situations, time seems to move slower. I not saying it has never happened before, but I’m sure a law suit was filed after the ten minute run around.

 

[Dashzap]

I read recently that you can register your cell phones with your local emergency services.

 

[crisi]

Ten minutes? doubt it....I’ve been transferred before more than four times on one call and took a maximum time of about 1-1/2 minutes

People seem to exaggerate because in stressful situations, time seems to move slower. I not saying it has never happened before, but I’m sure a law suit was filed after the ten minute run around.

No, it was about ten minutes. In part because two phones were unsuccessful at making the connection - but I didn't give up with the first try (one try is a fluke, right?). That meant the third phone had to be located. We actually were knocking on neighbors doors to find a phone.

(The successful call was from a cell phone with GPS. Had we only had a landline, we'd have never gotten an ambulance as our entire portion of the phone grid had no 911 service).

 

[jlovesee]

Also agree with above, I work for a large telecom company as well, and my understanding is that if you have no phone service, you have no phone service. You can't call 911, period.

BTW If you are in Texas you shouldn't be paying $40 for a basic phone. Call your phone company.

Jennifer

 

[sissy_ib]

No, it was about ten minutes. In part because two phones were unsuccessful at making the connection - but I didn't give up with the first try (one try is a fluke, right?). That meant the third phone had to be located. We actually were knocking on neighbors doors to find a phone.

(The successful call was from a cell phone with GPS. Had we only had a landline, we'd have never gotten an ambulance as our entire portion of the phone grid had no 911 service).

Your situation is definitely the exception and a serious complaint should have been filed with the company you have for your home service. I would have let everyone know about this. BBB, consumer reports, etc. IMHO they could have been partly liable if anything serious had happened to the person due to the lag time in getting emergency help.

 

[JENOS]

No, it was about ten minutes. In part because two phones were unsuccessful at making the connection - but I didn't give up with the first try (one try is a fluke, right?). That meant the third phone had to be located. We actually were knocking on neighbors doors to find a phone.

(The successful call was from a cell phone with GPS. Had we only had a landline, we'd have never gotten an ambulance as our entire portion of the phone grid had no 911 service).

Three phones and ten minutes is a lot different than one phone and ten minutes, especially when the third phone had to be located at a different location. Let’s not mix up the circumstance because then my posts become irrelevant to the conversation.

 

[pigletto]

I didn't see this mentioned, but thought it was worth mentioning. I researched the 911 issue with Vonage because it concerned me of course.

With Vonage when calling 911.. you are sent to a National Response center. When you give them your address you are immidiately transfered to your local Emergency service response. You are also required to REGISTER your address. If you can not speak when calling.. emergency response will be sent to your last address on file.

I am comfortable with that. I was paying roughly 35 dollars per month more for higher long distance rates and far fewer features with the local cable company.

 

[JB2K]

AT&T barebones line is $30 a month here and we don't use our home phone for more than 3 to 4 calls a month. No long distance.

Could be because your AT&T is the former BellSouth, while mine is the former SBC (and before that, Ameritech).