Old school landline telephones.

[hardcorestitch]

The landline… it was a crucial piece of communications technology back then. Recently, Hitchcock, OK was thanos’d out of landline service by AT&T in favor of cellular.

Who still has this old but pioneering piece of technology?

 

[citruscurtis]

I thought that the party lines were pioneering technology

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I do. With our internet package, it's free. For emergencies to get a hold of me that is the one that would be best. I am NOT nor never will be a "cell phone on my person always and looking at it all the time" person.

 

[kdonnel]

I made a great career out of POTS proactive maintenance.

Back in 2000, despite the fact that everyone in my office made their living from POTS, no one had a POTS line at their home.

POTS has been dead for a long time.

 

[Stargazer65]

Does soup cans and string count?

 

[citruscurtis]

Ex-wife....who only wears dresses and skirts had a rotary for 30 years... not a single push button phone.... but I think phone service disconnected land lines to her neighborhood or rotary phone stopped working... when were married we had 9 rotary phones in the 7 bedroom house.... nieces loved it!!!!...
And she still has her 1960s VW

 

[hardcorestitch]

Does soup cans and string count?

No lol…

 

[tvguy]

I still have one. My main phone as I don't give out my cell phone number. A.T.&T. service I get flyers and e-mails regularly to switch to either their fiber or cellular based service. They have been trying to get their designation here in California as "Carrier Of Last Resort" dropped. The law means if their landline service is the only option to an area, they are LEGALLY required to provide it no matter the cost. Public Utilities Commission basically said "no and don't ask again until 2030". They are lobbying the Legislature now ($$$$$) trying to get around that. Unfortunately our wildfires have prompted a lot of attention on emergency communications, and the failure of cellular and WiFi systems. In particular the Santa Rosa wildfire killed 22 people in areas where cellular and WiFi communications were destroyed, but buried landlines never went down.

 

[lynlynch]

We have landline. Surrounding pockets lacking towers hamper cell service. It works when the cell carriers are down, but it is tethered to cable. That is generally more reliable for us than cells.

 

[AnnaS]

I still have my landline and will not get rid of it (yes I can save $30).

I have forgotten my cell phone plenty of times - my son's home (after babysitting), JC Penney, etc. I am solo - what do I do when I get home and realize I left my cell phone somewhere.

There are times when cell phones are down - a few days ago, Verizon was down here all day. Many thought it was their phone since they were not home. A landline is great to have as a back-up. I have one that works even if we lose power - the others are all cordless and will stop working.

 

[hardcorestitch]

I still have my landline and will not get rid of it (yes I can save $30).

I have forgotten my cell phone plenty of times - my son's home (after babysitting), JC Penney, etc. I am solo - what do I do when I get home and realize I left my cell phone somewhere.

There are times when cell phones are down - a few days ago, Verizon was down here all day. Many thought it was their phone since they were not home. A landline is great to have as a back-up. I have one that works even if we lose power - the others are all cordless and will stop working.

Indeed a great example about having fallback plans…

 

[CynBeth]

We also still have a landline. Only a few people have my cellphone number.

 

[LuvOrlando]

When Verizon went down a few days ago it occurred to me how idiotic is is that there is no such thing as public landline telephones anymore. It would seem in the public interest to have at least some form of public communication available throughout every community for safety reasons. If the US cell system ever came crashing down we'd be back to morse code and wishing for carrier pigeons in the blink of an eye - yikes, it was chiiling to think how life as we know it would grind to an absolute halt with zero backup.

 

[citruscurtis]

When Verizon went down a few days ago it occurred to me how idiotic is is that there is no such thing as public landline telephones anymore. It would seem in the public interest to have at least some form of public communication available throughout every community for safety reasons. If the US cell system ever came crashing down we'd be back to morse code and wishing for carrier pigeons in the blink of an eye - yikes, it was chiiling to think how life as we know it would grind to an absolute halt with zero backup.

...it's called CB/ ham radio... many news features about the importance of the system

 

[kdonnel]

Who has had their landline phone number the longest?

When we dropped the landline we ported the number to Google Voice.

That number has been my wife’s home number since 1975.

 

[tvguy]

Who has had their landline phone number the longest?

When we dropped the landline we ported the number to Google Voice.

That number has been my wife’s home number since 1975.

Ours dates to May 1983 when we bought our house. The landline number we had at the condo we lived in for a year before could not be moved to our house because they were serviced by different central offices, even though they were only six miles apart. When my mom passed in 2013, I had the option of keeping the number she had had for 53 years and having it forwarded for a year for a small fee to my number. I didn't see a practical reason for that.
I guess the spin off question is, how long have you had your cell phone number? I have had mine since 1990, my wife has had hers since 1991. Actually, they were known as car phones back then because many of us either had them hardwired into the car, or only used them in the car. I was surprised to find out how many people routinely change their cell phone numbers. Often it is so they stop getting calls from people/organizations they no longer want contact with.

 

[leebee]

I do. With our internet package, it's free. For emergencies to get a hold of me that is the one that would be best. I am NOT nor never will be a "cell phone on my person always and looking at it all the time" person.

I'm the same. I have a cell phone but only for apps that I need for travel. We still have a land line and it's the number where I can be reached.

 

[Ning Ning]

The landline… it was a crucial piece of communications technology back then. Recently, Hitchcock, OK was thanos’d out of landline service by AT&T in favor of cellular.

Who still has this old but pioneering piece of technology?

I do ... and it sure came in handy last week when Verizon was out for a day. I had very important calls to make and receive, so I was very happy that I need to keep my landline in my cable/internet/phone bundle.

 

[barkley]

cell service where I live is spotty even in the best weather, bad weather makes it worse. it's hit and miss on if your cell service that works in your home will work in your driveway or down the street. we've kept our landline and have been the only ones in the neighborhood with phone service during bad weather and power outages. in the event of a fire or other dangerous event I want to be able to connect with emergency services.

 

[wabbott]

Here's a great trip down memory lane to back in the day when "long distance" meant giant microwave towers and copper coaxial cables.

https://long-lines.net/
The Microwave Radio and Coaxial Cable Networks of the Bell System