Spinoff of Toll Free Thread: Do you still have a landline?

[The Mystery Machine]

I forgot to add, we are renting a house and we will be using that phone. The cell service is a bit sketchy.

 

[ronandannette]

Landline is my primary call sending and receiving phone with an answering machine on it. That is the number I give out.
Cell phone is my emergency my family has to get a hold of me now phone. I don't give that number out.

I worked graveyard shift for 25 years, and the last 8 years have been going to work at 3 am, so my sleep schedule is out of sync with the world. I got the cell phone so that I could sleep uninterrupted....turning the ringer off and the volume on the answering machine down......but still be reachable in an emergency.

I'm about 3 years from retirement, and we may scale back to a pay as you go cell phone to save money then. But at this point, the landline will still be our primary phone.

An old-school physical answering machine? Not your provider's voice mail function? Wow. If landlines are as rare as this thread indicates, it would make an answering machine an absolute curiosity.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

An old-school physical answering machine? Not your provider's voice mail function? Wow. If landlines are as rare as this thread indicates, it would make an answering machine an absolute curiosity.

I know. When you watch a TV show or movie that has an answering machine, you are like REALLY?!

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Short answer is "Yes" ...because it is cheaper to "bundle" it with our internet and cable. It is several dollars cheaper to have internet+cable+phone than it is it have internet and cable. We do not use the landline for anything, and I do not even know the number.

 

[tvguy]

An old-school physical answering machine? Not your provider's voice mail function? Wow. If landlines are as rare as this thread indicates, it would make an answering machine an absolute curiosity.

Yup. Target for one still sells them. $15, versus the $5 a month ATT wants for provider voice mail. Yes, I am cheap, and I'm not sure you can screen calls with provider voicmail.

https://www.target.com/p/at-t-1740-...-and-day-stamp-white/-/A-14048572#lnk=sametab

$22 if you want a cordless phone built in at Walmart.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Vtech-CS6124-Cordless-Answering-System/16472530

 

[ronandannette]

Yup. Target for one still sells them. $15, versus the $5 a month ATT wants for provider voice mail. Yes, I am cheap, and I'm not sure you can screen calls with provider voicmail.

https://www.target.com/p/at-t-1740-...-and-day-stamp-white/-/A-14048572#lnk=sametab

$22 if you want a cordless phone built in at Walmart.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Vtech-CS6124-Cordless-Answering-System/16472530

Yep - it's the function known as "call display". Personally I pretty much never answer the phone (be it at home, work or cell) - I let it go to voicemail and see what the person might want even if I know who it is.

 

[tvguy]

Yep - it's the function known as "call display". Personally I pretty much never answer the phone (be it at home, work or cell) - I let it go to voicemail and see what the person might want even if I know who it is.

Oh lord. people like you drive me crazy at work. I have to answer the main newsroom number, and then transfer calls to reporters, and there are too many that don't want to take calls, even if it is someone returning THEIR call for their story that day.

 

[Minnesota!]

Yes. I can't stand talking on a cell. I can't hear anything..

 

[indimom]

Still have one. It's bundled with our cable and internet. We all have cell phones, but it still gets use from time to time, so does the answering machine. lol

 

[tvguy]

Yes. I can't stand talking on a cell. I can't hear anything..

I'm that way at work since so many calls are from a cell phone. However, the problem has gotten worse since we went to a VOiP phone system at work. Every new employee always asks what is wrong with our phones!

 

[wgeo]

How huge is huge? We got rid of our landline about five years ago and covered up the jack on the kitchen wall with a blank switchplate.

It helps that now there is a baker's rack in front of the switchplate as well.

The only reason I kept the landline as long as I did was because I still needed to use a fax occasionally from home.

Ours is that size but it has the jack thing sticking out of the middle and the case is thicker. Probably be able to replace it with a flat one if I tried, maybe. I suppose its all relative lol - just looks old and ugly to me. I am able to cover it so its all good in the end.

 

[momto2girls]

Yes, we still have a landline and we have no plans to get rid of it. I would hate just having a cell phone!! The only number I give out to businesses and doctors, etc. is the landline number. I hate getting calls on my cell phone and really only want family and close friends to call me on it. When I talk on the phone, I prefer to talk on the landline. If I am at home and someone calls me on my cell phone, I always call them back on my landline. I really prefer to only use my cell phone for texting and the rare emergency call.

 

[moniqueand2]

Yes, we still have a landline and we have no plans to get rid of it. I would hate just having a cell phone!! The only number I give out to businesses and doctors, etc. is the landline number. I hate getting calls on my cell phone and really only want family and close friends to call me on it. When I talk on the phone, I prefer to talk on the landline. If I am at home and someone calls me on my cell phone, I always call them back on my landline. I really prefer to only use my cell phone for texting and the rare emergency call.

This is pretty much me as well.

 

[RangerPooh]

We got rid of the landline 10-12 years ago. We have a phone number through our cable/internet bundle but have no clue what the number is as we never plugged a phone in.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

Fidelity? We're in the same boat. Landline is a requirement for DSL.

Actually, it's not. You need to request what is termed a "dry loop." That is DSL service without the associated phone service subscription. I have had this in the past.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Actually, it's not. You need to request what is termed a "dry loop." That is DSL service without the associated phone service subscription. I have had this in the past.

Not an option with our carrier. Trust me, we've tried. We will try again & again and hopefully get the option one day.

 

[BLAZEY]

Yes, and we have 2 corded phones too. Cell phones are unreliable for calling emergency services. I actually called 911 on my cell and got some place in the US. Hung up and called from the landline and got the proper dispatchers.

 

[Sabeking]

Yes we do including a hard wired one that always works in a power failure

We have the same. That's why I kept a landline.

 

[travelbug]

I still have a landline because it is bundled in with my cable and internet. When I got a quote on how my rates would change if I dropped the landline, I found that my cost would actually go up if I dropped it. Strange but true.

I do like my landline phone if I'm having a longer phone conversation. I can prop it between my shoulder and chin, and still have my hands free to do other things while talking. Can't do that easily with my cell phone.

 

[tvguy]

Not an option with our carrier. Trust me, we've tried. We will try again & again and hopefully get the option one day.

I had heard some carriers are phasing out dry loops.