The notion of the family phone as a shared family resource is as passe as Ma Bell.
Posted on 06/19/2009 11:19:06 AM PDT by JoeProBono
The concept of a home phone may soon be going the way of the corner pay phone.
Government research shows that more and more households are getting rid of their land line. And for the first time, cell-phone-only homes outnumber those with just land lines.
Kelly Fitzsimmons did not give up her phone without a fight. The instrument of gossip and grand plans, and the bearer of bad news and good, the land line to her was a lifeline.
"I just had in my head you gotta have a land line. You gotta have a land line," she says. "That's the phone to your home, not to me, Kelly, or my husband, John, or the kids individually, but to the family. It's home base."
But last fall, with the down economy forcing hard decisions, Fitzsimmons was finally persuaded.
The telephone and answering machine have been cleared from their perch on the kitchen counter, the phone jack above it vacant.
"It's a beautiful thing," she says
The notion of the family phone as a shared family resource is as passe as Ma Bell.
History will clearly show that out-of-control telemarketers killed the home landline phone. They’re the reason why I got rid of mine years ago.
I haven’t had a land line in close to 10 years now. My home security system calls my cell and there is no land line for a burglar to cut. That’s what happend to a couple of neighbors with security sytems a few months back. Some punk cut the land lines and did a smash and grab on two houses.
I thought about that as well. However, I am just not sold on Skype yet.
I love my land line, cell phones don’t work well here in the sticks.....plus I always have light when the electricity goes off.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.777
One caveat - if you have medical issues or other reasons that require the ability to summon aid under almost any circumstance, the landline phone is still the most reliable. Even with a UPS for the cable modem (or whatever) and VoIP box, you have limited connectivity - IF your internet stays up. Many cell sites don’t have back-up power and the telcos are fighting a proposed FCC rule that would require only a 4 hour backup power capability. Plus in emergencies the cell sites may be overloaded to boot.
I figure VoIP with cellular backup is good enough for me, but YMMV, just do your homework - it’s not strictly a financial consideration. The landline telephone system has evolved for over 100 years to provide service under adverse conditions, as long as the wires are intact.
Why would anyone want to pay a bill for multiple cell phones over a landline phone for the family is beyond me.
True story. I have a Verizon tower a couple of hundred yards away from my home. Can’t get reception. Everywhere else is fine.
If you never need to make calls outside your home, get VOIP.
I’m about ready to dump my Verizon land line and FIOS.
They are gouging me with high prices...me no like dat no mo!
I probably would have dumped my landline a long time ago, but after 9/11 I will hang on as long as they let me. Remember how everyone in NYC was trying to get to a landline when no ones cell phones were working.
I can still receive faxes, and messages at home, while I am out, by people I don’t want to have my cell number.
Same here...sitting at home one day with the phone bill for two lines and had a epiphany of why two..count’um two land lines when we had two cells phones. Canceled the two land lines.
Will be great to see Verizon suffer for land line losses.
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