Land Line Telephone?

[GoneOffShore]

Thinking about ditching our land line telephone - It's very seldom that business calls come through on it anymore. Mostly sales calls and faxes (Faxes? Really?)

Has anyone else out there done this? And has there been a downside, particularly if it's a business line?

[Callmecrazy]

1. I dropped my land line over 10 years ago...

All I ever got on it was telemarketers, so I saved myself that intrusion.
No downside at all for me.

[haele]

2. Well,we keep it just in case the cell phones aren't charged.

Because we have lots of doctor's appointments, kids who are always calling in panic over something, and my stay-at-home husband talks to his family pretty much every day. Also, as it's only $20 a month on it's own (around $150 with the cable bundle), we consider it one of the "last to lose" bill if something financially horrible happens and we are faced with a choice between a week's worth of food and a $120 a month cell phone bill for three phones.
The phone number is also one that we have had for over 10 years; lots of people know us under that number, and there's still a lot of accounts that are linked to that number. It's also the one we "give out"; we know who will be calling on that phone number, and can always claim that we weren't at home when the call came in if we wanted to avoid someone.
Also, one of the phones is still hooked up as a POTS line; so if we lose power, there's still a phone if we need to call someone.

The kids have no land line and there have been times that they've been stuck because they're using their cell phones for long utility type calls and burn up both battery and allowable minutes. There's another issue with cell phones...

Haele

[leftyohiolib]

3. we have ours - i dont have a cell phone - if the power goes out your land line will still work

unless the drop to the house gets pulled down - and it's cheaper than a cell phone

[OriginalGeek]

4. cell only for at least 5 years

now that's at my house. the company I work for has a hundred branches throughout Florida. We keep a POTS line at every branch for fax and emergency in case the fancy VoIP phones get whacked.


haven't missed the landline at home though.

[myrna minx]

5. I'm slowly converting from land line over to Ooma.

The Ooma device was on sale and had a great rebate, so I started using the Ooma for my business line just to try it out, but I haven't ported my personal phone land line over yet. I'm still a bit skittish, though - the quality isn't the same and I'm wring my hands about power outages and such.

Has anyone used Ooma for an extended period of time? I'm only one month into the service. I essentially paid $100 for the device, and the basic monthly the phone service is $4.50 a month. I just can't quite make the jump for my personal line, but oy, would I love to ditch Century Link and their $45/ month bill.

[Digit]

26. I have been using Ooma for over a year

I did not port my phone line...I did not want to pay the price. I love the low price of the Ooma service and I have never had an issue with the quality.
Where I live we rarely lose power so I don't worry about it.
I do not have a cell phone. I am home most of the time and if someone wants to reach me they can call me here and if I don't answer, leave me a message. I have a Uniden phone which provides caller ID and I also have a digital messaging system which allows me to screen calls and either pick up or be recorded.
Ooma also has a voicemail system, but I don't use it.

[myrna minx]

28. Thanks, Digit.

I appreciate your review of the service. In Minneapolis, we lose power from thunderstorms - sometimes for a few days at a time, so that's why I'm a little reluctant to give up my land line. I've had my land line number for over 20 years, that's the only reason I'd port it.

I'm also apprehensive because I'm unsure who "owns" my phone number - if I port it to Ooma, and they go out of business, do I still own my phone number?

It's funny - I'm gen-x and I'm having a harder time giving up my land line more so than my boomer friends. Ha. *wringing hands*

[bikebloke]

6. Still have a landline

I don't like talking on the phone much anyway.plus, it's cheaper.

[RebelOne]

7. So do I. I have a cheap cell phone for when the power goes out.

I have Comcast and my Internet, phone and cable are all connected. If the power goes out, everything goes out. So I got a cell phone for such an emergency so that I can call the power company. And I also use it should I have an emergency on the road.

[GoCubsGo]

29. Corded phones still work in power outages.

I have an old Trimline phone that I keep around for just that reason. We've had 2 ice storms here in the past 10 years, and both times, I was without power for at least a couple of days. The cordless phones didn't work, but I had no problem calling out and receiving calls on the old Trimline. And, there are no worries about running down the batteries and having a way to recharge them should you be without power for long periods of time.

[pinboy3niner]

8. Just say NO to landmines!

Oh, wait...well, that's very different! Yes, I have a landline.

[hobbit709]

9. A friend of mine had no electricity for two weeks after a hurricane.

EVERY time he picked up his landline he got dial tone.

[mnhtnbb]

11. I recently bought a phone (not digital)to connect to our landline

for precisely that reason.

We've had power outages that lasted for days here--not frequently--but in the 14 years
we've lived here (NC) there have been several instances.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

13. If that is the only reason one keeps a landline,

it might be a better choice to drop the line and use the extra money to buy a generator. Then you can not only charge your cell, but have power for your fridge, tv and a few lights and fans.

[hobbit709]

14. Yeah, if you can get around to buy gas.

Their cell phones worked sporadically-if a tower within range had power-even their backup power doesn't last that long.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

18. I didn't consider the issue with towers having power.

I haven't had a problem getting cell signals after hurricanes and blackouts, but I guess it depends on where you live and how widespread the damage. If you are more likely to have to make emergency calls it wouldn't be a bad idea. Too bad they can't or I guess won't make it so you can use a landline for emergency calls only of you are not paying for service.

[Lochloosa]

20. The cell companies have mobile cell towers they can deploy now.

[HeiressofBickworth]

10. We still have a landline

I've had the same phone number for the past 41 years and am reluctant to abandon it. I use the land number when required to give a phone number for some reason, knowing that phone lists are sold among businesses. It keeps sales calls away from cell phones. We have an answering machine which we never answer unless it's a recognized number.

Recently, my son-in-law said that according to new terms of our phone package (don't know the details; I don't pay for it) that we have to restrict use of cell phone to calls to other cell phones. We need to use the land phone for calls to other landlines. Otherwise, if we cross-use, we get charged minutes which are expensive.

So, yes, we will keep the landline.

[hobbit709]

16. I would dump that carrier in a nanosecond.

[HeiressofBickworth]

17. Can't -- SIL works for them. We get a discount

but they set rules for use. Yes it sucks but I would keep the landline, nonetheless.

[bigwillq]

12. I still have a landline.

Not ready to give it up just yet even though I hardly ever use it. But sometimes service on my cell is poor at my house.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

15. I have never had a landline.

I did when I grew up, but since moving out of my parents' house, I have only had my cell. I see no reason I should pay more money for a landline. I know a few people who own their own business and they use their cell phone as their business line

[Lochloosa]

19. Six years ago. Never missed it.

[politicat]

21. We ditched ours 13 years ago when we moved into this house.

Have only started missing it in the past 6 months, because 1) having had my cell number for 13 years, it now has been sold to a number of telemarketing lists and it would have been nice to have had a dump number for all these years, and 2) my mother's cell is a complete POS and she turns up the volume too high, so she blows her speakers about 2 months after getting a new one. Her network is terrible and when I HAVE to talk to her, she's barely understandable. A landline might make it a little better.

The upside of 1) is I only answer the call once, figure out who it is and put them on a block list. On a cell, there is such a thing. Not so much on a landline. 2 is going to require getting Mom to give up on her POS half-smart phones and get a decent one.

I would never got back to a landline. We keep a DSL line, but no associated phone line.

If you have a security system or life-alert, however, you might need one.

[trof]

22. For me, sound quality is much worse on cellphone.

Cellphones are much better now than in the early days, but still not up to landline.

[NYC_SKP]

23. feedback, or there's probably a different term, is killer.

My SO an I can barely speak using cells.

The reason is some phenomena the cuts out the other's voice if you speak, even cough, and then we get into a "what did you say?", "no, you go ahead" kind of loop that makes me want to scream.

There must be a word for that, I know it comes from the fact that they want to limit bandwidth to a single voice signal transmitting at any given time, but conversations are often simultaneous; the two people saying something at the same time, but the constraint makes it more like a walkie talkie.

Hope this makes sense.

[GoneOffShore]

24. I think that's a time division duplex connection

Per Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplex_(telecommunications)

[NYC_SKP]

25. Thanks very much!

Makes sense!

[sendero]

27. Don't have one..

... don't need it.

[tabbycat31]

30. I haven't had one in over 10 years

Last time I had one I was living wtih my parents and it was theirs.

I have a cell plan with unlimited talk and text, so I'm not worried there. I also have portable chargers (like this http://www.amazon.com/2600mAh-Portable-External-Battery-Charger/dp/B00BS63FMK/ref=pd_rhf_gw_s_cp_19_J1HQ?ie=UTF8&refRID=0RK8FXS6E4VKTE7W8BQV) that I keep for charging when I don't have a car/wall nearby and when the power goes out.

I also do all my work using my cell phone.

[Number9Dream]

31. During Hurricane Sandy, land line worked the entire time

I'll never voluntarily give up our land line. Where we live in PA, we get, at most, two bars on our cell phone (Verizon) (poor sound quality). When Hurricane Sandy hit, the cell towers went down within a couple hours. Our electricity was off for four days. Our land line worked the entire time.

[TorchTheWitch]

32. Did it years ago, and wished I'd done it years previously

With a cellphone I don't see the point of having a landline as well. I hate phone calls anyway. The more silent my phone is the better I like it.