Ditch the landline? (vanity)

2/25/11 | me

[fungoking]

Got rid of mine in November, free at last!

[DJ MacWoW]

Solar chargers work in daylight, which keep the phone going in the dark hours... but that should have been obvious..

If you've had one.

Keep your friggin’ landline if you can’t handle the responsibility to take care of your own needs to charge a cell phone without utility power if that makes you feel good.

Sorry but I live in an area where we lose power frequently due to weather and there have been 2 drunk idiots too. I was TRYING to think of all the things that could happen which is what I THOUGHT she wanted. We also have iffy cell service. It doesn't work in all areas of the house.

Next time somebody asks a question I'll know they've ALREADY decided and simply want to pound on people that want to help.

Have a lovely day.

[ProudFossil]

It is true the cell phones have voice mail. However with an answering machine there comes a great deal of convenience. If there is a message on it, both of us can listen to determine who it is for. With the cell phone that would be designated the "designated main phone for the house" it would require somebody listening to the messages to get his or her messages and than the other person having to do the same to get the other messages. As I say it is just a matter of convenience.

A bigger consideration is the base device which has the answering machine in it. The land line connects to that base unit, not the wireless phones. So we can have three hand held phones throughout the house. With a cell phone there is no base unit so only one phone is available. If we happen to be upstairs and the phone is downstairs we have to run to get the call. With the land line we have a phone upstairs, one back in the office, and one in the kitchen. Again convenience.

To offset the convenience, as I said we live in a rural area. The land line does go out occasionally and so we have intermittent service, outages about once a week for several hours. Then we have to drive about four miles to where we can get cell service if we have to make a call.

[buccaneer81]

I have my cell phone and I use Google Phone (absolutely free) on my laptop. No more landline.

[TomGuy]

My landline got to be $25/month + $5 minimum for any long distance. I make very few phone calls and the nearest relative was in another ‘long distance’ exchange.

I finally ditched it 3 years ago and went with a pre-paid cellular. I have built up about 600 prepaid minutes with periodic renewal service. My last renewal got me 15 months of service plus an additional 60 minutes (pre-paid & don’t expire) for $77.

The prepaid cellular runs about 1/3 of what the landline was — and it is portable.

[Defiant]

Same here. Got rid of it. If cell phones are working, we can communicate to the outside via cell phone. If the internet is working, we have wifi and can communicate via VIOP (SIP programs on my android phone or via Skype, Facetime, Oovoo.) We would only be screwed if phone service still works but internet and cell phone networks are down. Odds are all three will go down if that happens.

For power outages, as a poster mentioned, you can charge in your car, or have backup battery systems. I have one of those car battery jumpers that has a place to plug in and it will run a cell phone for days.

[Keith in Iowa]

Any outdoor outfitter will have something that will suffice - camping supplies for powering all manner of portable electrics.

[buccaneer81]

You can’t charge cellphones in a power outage.

That's what car chargers are for.

[buccaneer81]

Our concern is the answering machine on the land line. There is no such thing with cell phones that we have been able to find.

Cell service has offered voice mail since the 20th century.

[DJ MacWoW]

That's what car chargers are for.

IF there's a car at home.

[antiRepublicrat]

If not why not get a $30/mth Voip line from your cable co?

First I dumped landline and went VOIP, then I dumped VOIP, haven't had any problems with cell only. Just make sure you get good reception at home.

You can get ripped off with your cable company's VOIP, as you basically pay extra for the convenience of using them for everything, so look at a cheaper service like Skype or Vonage.

[MS from the OC]

Pull the plug. Even with no service, the phone company is required to provide a dial tone for 911 and 611 calls (in case you want service back). Check with your state’s PUC to make sure.

We pulled the plug about six years ago (had three lines at the time) and went mobile only with eFax. Have not looked back.

[listenhillary]

This will recharge a bunch of cell phones. Just don’t try to run a larger computer or TV. You can run your laptop. Just not for very long. A laptop might run 8 hours maybe.

You can hook a solar panel up to this or simply keep it plugged in.

http://www.amazon.com/Duracell-DPP-600HD-Powerpack-Starter-Emergency/dp/B000TKHMWK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298657708&sr=8-1

[Yaelle]

Theoretically, we’d like to get rid of the landline, but both of us do have long calls at times, and like to do a phone at the ear, and there is lots of evidence that cell phones on the ear are not such a great idea, brain wise. Also, there is the convenience of not having to carry around your phone by having several throughout the home. Cell service can be spotty, where you need to repeat yourself, or the call drops. This does not happen with landlines. If we need to make an important call at home, both of us reach for the landline as first priority.

Not that we don’t love everything our smart phones can do.

Another reason — some of our kids are too little for cell phones and we need a way for them to call 911 in an emergency.

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>Have a lovely day.

I will, despite you.

[chris_bdba]

WE will keep our landline over any other phone for the siple reason that if there is an emergecy tusually the first things that go are the cell towers. Just look at what happen on 9/11 and every other emergegency ther eis never any cell service.

[DJ MacWoW]

I will, despite you.

Apparently that wasn't milk on your Wheaties.

[coop71]

We dumped ours 4 years ago. I have a cell phone, and my husband has 2 (1 for work, 1 personal). We’ve never needed a landline yet. I keep a spare, charged battery in my purse just in case it’s needed.

[wolfcreek]

If the power goes out, the land-line will still work.

We also need it for our Dish Network receiver.

[KYGrandma]

Couldn’t ditch the land line because of our security system.