Landline Phones?

[sjams]

How many of you still have traditional landline phones?

I am considering getting rid of ours but am having a hard time doing so. Not sure why but something about having a traditional phone in the house. We(everyone in the family) all have cell phones so getting ahold of us isn't an issue.

Anyone else facing or faced this issue?

 

[MSSANDRA]

We got rid our ours over a year ago. DH was hesitant. We have NEVER even missed it. We rarely used it and that 50.00 a month can go to my travel fund!

Be sure:
You get good signal
Always keep phones charged
You are aware of how it effects your alarm system
You don't need a fax system.

We have one 6 year old but we always lay our phones in the same place and he can use the cell better than a land line.
We love that everyone gets their own calls and almost no teller calls!!

 

[Disneychix]

We had our home phone for awhile and no one ever used it. We never gave out the number and knew that the only time it rang it was a telemarketer. Finally, after 2 months of never hearing it ring, we realized it was broken anyway! ha! We cancelled it and it didn't bother us at all.
The only time it was a pain was when we had a baby sitter (but she had her own phone) and sometimes my MIL won't turn her cell on and we can't get a hold of her when she is watching our kids.

 

[bjscheel]

We still have one and I intend to keep it. My kids are old enough to stay home alone, but they don't always hear their cell phones. If we need to talk to them, we call the home phone and talk to the answering machine until they pick up.

I've been in the situation where I needed to call 911 and our electricity was out. Our corded landline phone still worked! Yes, we had cell phones, but for 911 I feel like a landline is best for routing and locating purposes.

When I'm going to be on an important call, I think a landline is better. Plus, I have Tracfone for my cell phone so it's not unlimited. If it's a toll free number and might be long, the home phone is best.

DDs also have Tracfones, so when their friends call, they call the land line so DD doesn't use up her limited minutes. DH has unlimited Verizon, so for other long distance calls, we can use his if he's around.

Finally, working in a law office, there are times where you need to get a hold of someone who is not necessarily your personal friend but you still have a valid reason to call...and you can't find them in the phone book because they don't have a land line. It can be frustrating. That's one reason I wish others would keep theirs!

 

[bjscheel]

PS I get more telemarketers on my cell phone as I do at home. The lady who used to have my cell number must have it signed up everywhere and they frequently ask for her by name. I don't want to change it though because it's a really easy number to remember!

 

[darnheather]

Haven't had a landline since 2009. Never missed it. Then again we had to get a cell phone (free phone, family plan) for our oldest so that a phone would always be in the house, but I feel better with her having a cell when she goes on sleep-overs or baseball practice that I can't attend anyway.

 

[aprilchem]

No landline here. My only concern was 911, but I've had to call 911 twice from my cell and there was no issue.

 

[HM]

We still have a landline for our family. DH doesn't own a cellphone. My phone is pay-as-you-go. The kids are limited in their phone minutes (though they text mostly). An actual phone is still our main phone (at least for us adults). It would not work for us to get rid of it.

My sister's family hasn't had a landline in over 10 years. They're doing fine. The only time it used to be a problem was when my DD would babysit for them and there wasn't a cellphone available (she didn't have one at the time). They would have had to go next door to use a phone in an emergency.

 

[Swimalie]

We still have a landline and will until our son is no longer at home. He doesn't have a cell (he's 8 now) and I don't see him getting one any time soon so the landline is his phone for emergencies. Plus cells are harder to track for 911 purposes. In addition to that, my cell just isn't as comfortable to use so I grab the landline when ever I'm at home.

 

[spima3]

We still have landline and I have no plan on getting rid of it.

DH does not have cell, I have pay as you go. I ONLY give my cell number out as an emergency.

I do not want people calling me when I am not home. I do not want to speak to people in public places. I know everyone does that now, but I find it very annoying.

Just out for coffee w/ some friends this morning, and they spent half the time on their cells. If emergencies or truly important, fine, but they were nonsense calls. I find it incredibly rude, but also seems to be the trend.

I am definitely telling my age, I don't do Facebook either.

 

[pumpkinmomma]

We still have a landline and have no plans to get rid of it. We live in a rural area so cell coverage can be spotty at times, my kids are too young to have their own cell phones so I like having a home phone that their friends can call, we've had lengthy power outages so I like having a corded land line I can use if I need to, and since my husband's cell is primarily for business, he likes having a home line he can use for personal calls.

Our landline doesn't really cost us much extra right now. It's bundled with our internet, the cost of the phone plus internet is about $10 more than the cost of just internet.

I don't think there is anything wrong with getting rid of the landline, it just depends on your family.

 

[angierae]

We still have landline and I have no plan on getting rid of it.

DH does not have cell, I have pay as you go. I ONLY give my cell number out as an emergency.

I do not want people calling me when I am not home. I do not want to speak to people in public places. I know everyone does that now, but I find it very annoying.

Just out for coffee w/ some friends this morning, and they spent half the time on their cells. If emergencies or truly important, fine, but they were nonsense calls. I find it incredibly rude, but also seems to be the trend.

I am definitely telling my age, I don't do Facebook either.

That's just rude of your friend. There's no reason to answer your cell phone in public if you don't want to. I keep my phone on vibrate 24/7 and I only answer it if I'm available to take a call. If someone calls me while I am busy doing something, they can leave a message, same as they would if they had to call my home phone and I wasn't home.

 

[purpledisneyprncess]

We still have a landline but only because it came with our cable company's "Triple play" to get the landline/internet/cable in a bundle pkg. It is very cheap so we still have our home line. Once that pkg deal expires, we would not keep it. Barely use it and it would be a waste of money to keep it.

 

[hlg22]

I still have one. Mine is "bundled" so it is quite inexpensive. I need to keep it for my security system's monitoring - it's a significant extra amount/month if you don't have a land line. It also gives me peace of mind that I'm still reachable in case of emergency if there's an extended power outage or my cell phone were ever lost or stolen.

 

[uromac]

We still have a land line, especially as my dh has to do 'call' from home and needs reliable telephone access. Personally, I like the reassurance of having a phone that will not go down when the electricity goes out or the internet goes down which sometimes seems to happen, or I forget to charge my phone - which happens to me more often than I care to admit!!

 

[Disneykidsdad]

Not only do we still have a land line, but we still lease our phones. We could still make calls here in NJ after Sandy by using our land line. I will never get rid of it.

 

[My3Princez]

We don't have a traditional home phone, but we do have a home phone - we use MagicJack+. At around $30 a year, it's worth it.

 

[JandJ]

This is a debate DH and I have often and for now we're keeping the land line, which is what I wanted to do. We need it for our alarm system. There is another way to run it, but it's overall less expensive to use the phone line. Also, we're in Florida and often have to deal with loss of power from storms. If the cell phone isn't charged we can still use the land line. I also prefer to make important calls, like to doctor's offices or the bank, on the land line because my cell can cut out. We also occasionally use it as a fax line. We have the bare-bones minimum plan - no call waiting, no voicemail, no long distance, no caller ID, no nothing - so it's pretty cheap. One day DH might get me to change my mind, but for now we're keeping the land line.

 

[bjscheel]

Oh, and another reason I will keep ours that probably doesn't apply to most: Our phone and internet service is provided by our small town telephone cooperative and I'd really like to see it stay in business. So I give it my business. I don't know how they number accounts, but our last name is in the last half of the alphabet and our account number is 151! It is so nice to deal with a very local company.

 

[sjams]

Thanks everyone for the responses! Not sure what we will do as of yet but I do appreciate all the input!!