Well, our wire-line (now VOIP) is unusable for incoming calls. The only reason we keep it is that it is a quasi-lifeline service and we’re in our mid-70’s. Actually though, without battery backup for both the phone and the wireless router, it really isn’t any better that cell phones, but since we have to have a microcell (which is connected to our wireless router) in our home for our cell phones to function, none of it is truly lifeline service. We have been forced to put a “greeting” on our home phone that says that we don’t answer it because of telemarketing calls. The phone logs as many as twenty telemarketing calls a day, many of which are from “spoofed” numbers. I would put the blame squarely on AT&T and other phone service providers because they sell the telemarketers the access that they need to carry out their assaults on the public.
We still have our original landline number hooked up to a magic jack in the office. We don’t answer it either because of the telemarketers. It does have voicemail on it and emails me with the voicemail. Only reason we still have it is because a lot of hubby’s retired firefighter friends have that number and not his cell phone number. Occasionally we’ll get a call on it from one of them.