Posted on 02/07/2024 7:12:37 PM PST by thecodont
A proposal by phone and internet service provider, AT&T, to end landline service for most Californians is drawing backlash.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
Yes. I don't. Never had one and have no desire for one. I don't like to talk to people who are on a cell phone because they sound terrible and calls get dropped far too often.
Thanks Radu. It’s good to hear from those who don’t have a
cell phone.
The problem with cellphones is keeping the battery charged.
I use my cellphone plan mainly for the Internet and my cellphone is USB connected to my PC as I type. I don’t have a plugged-in charging stand for my phone.
I told my uncle to keep his landline. He lived to nearly 101 and I was afraid he would have trouble keeping a cellphone working.
I don’t like to call people on their cell phones because they may be driving.
LOL! There are still some of us hold-outs.
Cell phones can get lost and forget to be charged. No such thing with a landlinephone secured to a wall.
People talking on their cell phones while driving are one of my peeves. They can be a menace on the roads with their erratic driving.
People can’t seem to shop without being on the phone the whole time they’re in a store. My dream is to have cell phone service crash while I’m shopping so I can watch everyone go into meltdowns. LOL!!!
Also most cell sites don’t have back-up power...no power, no cell service. (At least in my elderly Mom’s rural CA neck of the woods). AT&T did bring in a temporary small diesel generator for their cell site when a wildfire was approaching...mostly to keep the firefighters’ cell service going during the fire. I suppose your proposal would be OK if cell providers/sites had 48-72 hours of back-up power like landlines do.
It is nice to have a landline “back-up” for rural people in their 80’s that might need to call an ambulance...and she is paying a lot for it...$54.+ for one landline w/o Caller ID or any other “extras”....AT&T should be able to keep a few union POTS techs around for that price. But I guess not enough people still have landlines to make a go of it
There is also the fact new AT&T techs are brought in under the “U-Verse” non-union “banner”/pay scale. Saves the debt-ridden AT&T a lot of $$$. They only handle “VOIP” stuff, not “POTS” like the union people they are trying to phase out.
Not to mention she has to pay for “long distance calls” out of her “local area”! And has to dial 10 digits for local calls due to an “area code overlay”. I did get her to use her cell phone for long distance, so the landline is basically relegated to local calls and emergencies.
I am in MO. Last several months I’ve gotten a letter from AT&T offering a new service that will be cheaper but won’t work during a power failure unless I have a battery backup. Being a geezer I still have a landline and like the fact that I can use the phone to call the power company when power is lost during a storm or (God forbid) an ice storm.
So it may be that the telecoms are backing away from the old, expensive to maintain technology. Right now it’s voluntary, but no doubt in time it will become mandatory. I can kind of understand because many have dropped landline service.
It will be mandatory and it should only be mandatory when they have something comparable to compete with. A lesser option is not really an option, imo.
Smile, well I was going to say. LOL
Nah, that isn’t as bad as it seems, since these new phones
have brought along with them amazing resources, and a dark
side that can lead to a lot of negative wasted time.
FIOS needs a ONT, a device in the house to covert them fiber to copper. The fiber will be on in a outage as it is like a land-line where it gets it’s power from the provider, however without power to the ONT no dial tone, internet, etc.
Ask Elon to hit you up with a complimentary Starlink terminal.
With ATT pushing FirstNet, basically a high priority cell service for first responders, more and more of their sites at least have battery backups.
Back in Oct 2011 CT got hit with 12+” of a very heavy wet snow in a warm fall so most trees were still mostly leafed. From I84 north was nearly 100% in the dark for at least 24 hours with full restoration 9 days later.
For the first ~8 hours our Cable TV/internet worked, cell service was fine for maybe 24 hours or so then began to degrade but still could text/call if you were in the right spot. AT&T Uverse over copper (DSL, TV, Phone) at my neighbors stayed up about 36 hours. It took about 2-3 days at ATT and and the local cable company got generators out for land lines. Cell service took longer, probably owed tot the fact they can bring up land line power supplies in the field with a small Honda inverter style generator or 4 kw regular generator and they have traies full of them to deploy vs needing a 30-50 kw diesel to the cell sites. Plus manny cell sites were more remote vs much of the land line gear is pole mounted and they needed to cut their way in.
The new phones do a lot but if I’m home, I have the computer. If I’m not at home, I’m busy doing something and don’t want to be bothered with phone calls. Friends know to just leave a message on the answer machine, if I don’t answer, and I’ll call when I get home.
Being 71, I lived most of my life without all the modern gadgets of today and got by fine. I enjoy having a computer but am still a bit old school in a lot of ways. Makes me use my brain more so it doesn’t get rusty. LOL
I have relatives in the more rural areas of western MA, i.e. between Springfield and the NY border. Their are plenty of areas their that you need a land line as cell service is only one bar and you will drop calls. I live a mile or so from a major highway in a suburban area with neighbors all around me, no where near rural and can only get 1 bar in most of my house. I don’t have a land line, as wifi calling is the solution, and once outside it is much better, but land lines still have a place.
They didn't use to be. I recall one time with a week's long power outage and I got a report done on my laptop (by kerosene lantern) and emailed on the dial-up land line.
Today however my landline runs through my internet/cable TV line. The original landlines don't work (I've tried! I was SO disappointed, and confused.)
I think I’m going to switch to AT&T fiber next. I’ve spoken to lots of people fed up with the constant service interruptions on Comcast and have been happy w AT&T.
The irony is we started with PacBell right at the end of the AT&T ownership period. In 1983 Pacific Telephone was owned 90% by AT&T. Then the breakup of AT&T occurred and Pacific Bell became one of the “Baby Bells.” Then it was Pacific Telesis and then ownership by SBC Communications. Then in 2005, SBC acquired what was left of AT&T. So we have come full circle with crappy Pacific Telephone / PacBell Service to crappy service by AT&T to Comcast’s crappy service and now I’m considering going back to AT&T (which I swore I would never do).
If this dalliance with AT&T fiber doesn’t pan out, I’ll ask Musk for a box.
The funny thing is that our California experience is in the heart of Silicon Valley where you expect things to work. At our North Idaho place, we have Spectrum (the old Charter Comms) and we would not expect good service here. But our Spectrum service is three to four times faster than Comcast AND is almost 100% rock solid reliable! Go figure.
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