Land Line vs. Cell

[wsuweston]

Who here still uses land lines? I know only 1 person that still has a land line. What are the benefits? I found out that reporting a power outage is impossible without a landline last year Not to mention the cost of a land line, my gosh it is expensive. Just thinking out loud

[lor]

In PDX you can get dialtone only for about $25.30/month.
This is what I dropped to last year.

[retaliate]

One of these years I will get a pair of cell phones, for myself, & the my Wife & ditch the lan line, but probably not until my Daughter moves out on her own, she is the primary phone user right now, & we borrow it when we need it.we keep one of the non cordless phones around in case we loose power, your phone will still work, cause it run's on 48v dc, however you need a/c power to power up a cordless base unit. about the only advantage is they are cheaper than a cell phone in most cases. However as little as we(wife & myself) use any phone, I wonder if a pair of those pay as you go Cell phones would be cheaper.

[thresher]

I only have a cell myself as im never home to use this land line you so speak of.

[Bloom]

Living in the hinterlands as we do, a landline is the only thing we can use, unless we are willing to stand in the middle of the road to make a call. If I'm on the road and need to call, I've got the On-Star in my truck and it works quite well.

[matttheduck]

We still have our landline, but I'll be darned if I can justify it. I suspect it's only a matter of time before they go the way of the dinosaurs.

[lentz]

We still have both but our landline is just for local calls, it only cost about $25.00 per month. Might actually drop it soon though.

[flyfish101]

I haven't had a land line for over 7 years. I don't regret it for a minute. One phone bill, I don't yak enough to worry about my minutes. Lots of options for cell phones, nights, weekends etc.

[Tilla]

Dropped the landlines, evenings are quieter, e -mail and cell do quite nicely.

[Flatfish]

If it were not for the fax, the land line would go away.

Someday the cphone email will replace it.

[bighoof]

I keep the land line cause it has the same last four numbers as my cell. Local calls are clearer from home on the land line than the cell.

[Tilla]

Originally Posted by Flatfish

If it were not for the fax, the land line would go away.

Someday the cphone email will replace it.

It's time you investigated e-fax.

[Dave G]

56k so I still need a land line, but even with my unlisted number, they only calles we get are sales calls.

[RascallyRabbit]

My wife, son, and I use a familly cell plan that works well for us. We also have an internet phone for 49.95 a month that gives us worldwide unlimited use (this works really well considering my wife is from Brazil, and has sisters in Germany, and Italy).

Steve/RR

[STGRule]

We dumped the landline years ago. But its just the two of us. If the kids were still home we would still have a landline. But I don't miss it a bit.

[adobe wall]

land line? what do you catch with those? Is it made of blue cord and you use it to catch racoons and possums in the yard?

Haven't had one in years. I haven't tried to report a power outage with my cell phone but as that number is the number of record for the power company account, I'd be very surprised if it didn't work.

regards, aw

[Flatfish]

Originally Posted by Tilla

It's time you investigated e-fax.

Tilla,

My biz is already on short notice in real time. If I lose the fax, it's pretty much the last layer of insulation I have between me and losing my mind trying to fix clients' lack of advanced planning.

I already jump thru enough hoops keeping folks happy. No need to compound that.

Welcome to the shipping biz.

[OneLastCast]

No cell coverage where I live and will probably be a long while until we see it. During the last storm all the cell towers were down for about 4 days.
Not much choice. Besides I sure hate small phones.

[letsfish]

For me it is cheaper to go with a land line, and yes I'm a "dial upper". Never had a dropped call. Or bad reception. And I can actually hold the phone like a man; no flying pinkies for me. The buttons are easy to see and hit. No contract or minutes. The actual phone is cheap and lasts forever.
When you say it is cheaper are you also running an online connection from your home? That would require a land line connection wouldn't it? Adding the internet connection cost in is it still cheaper?

[StickFish]

Have to have a land line - work at home spend hours at a time on conference calls - cell won't work as I'd have cooked it off by now, plus the call quality and lack of a quality speaker phone make it way not the right tool for the job.

When the power goes down - so will your cell phone when the emergency power at the cell site exhausts itself.

In an emergency like that I go to Ham Radio and get my message through

[dawgsalmon]

Originally Posted by OneLastCast

No cell coverage where I live and will probably be a long while until we see it. During the last storm all the cell towers were down for about 4 days.
Not much choice. Besides I sure hate small phones.

We had landline for the duration of the power outage !!
7 days worth, Thanks to Nehalem Tel.
It may be a benefit to those in the BIG City, but rurally, where we live, it's not available and for the reasons above ... I don't care !

[Queeg]

We still have a minimal land line, cell service is still kind of iffy inside the house. Sound quality is far superior, also CERTAIN family members tend to leave their cell phone in places where they are not - so it's useful to call "the house."

[MsOutdrs]

Originally Posted by matttheduck

We still have our landline, but I'll be darned if I can justify it. I suspect it's only a matter of time before they go the way of the dinosaurs.

It is my understanding that, at this point in time, a landline is almost a "must" if you have an emergency 911 call to make...if, for some reason, you can't talk, they can track your EXACT location through your landline phone.

[wsuweston]

Originally Posted by MsOutdrs

It is my understanding that, at this point in time, a landline is almost a "must" if you have an emergency 911 call to make...if, for some reason, you can't talk, they can track your EXACT location through your landline phone.

They do the same thing with cells

[wsuweston]

Originally Posted by letsfish

For me it is cheaper to go with a land line, and yes I'm a "dial upper". Never had a dropped call. Or bad reception. And I can actually hold the phone like a man; no flying pinkies for me. The buttons are easy to see and hit. No contract or minutes. The actual phone is cheap and lasts forever.
When you say it is cheaper are you also running an online connection from your home? That would require a land line connection wouldn't it? Adding the internet connection cost in is it still cheaper?

Landlines are not required for internet connections now days. Run it on your cell and conect to your computer with blue tooth. It is cheaper for my wife and I to have cells over a landline. We pay about $55 a month for phone. Landline is about $30. We are each away from home 10 hours a day, plus vacations. Makes no sense to have a landline for that price. Don't pay long distance when she calls her family. Did I mention how much I hate getting telamarketers calling landlines?

[MacFish]

I have the basic land line package. I use it when I'm home for local calls and quite often I prefer to give it out rather than my cell number.

[wsuweston]

Originally Posted by MacFish

I have the basic land line package. I use it when I'm home for local calls and quite often I prefer to give it out rather than my cell number.

I can see not wanting to give out a cell number. That is how I used to be. Now I only answer calls from people that I know. If it is important the person will leave a message.

[BridgeCatcher]

Saw a few things about sales calls on land lines. You cell number is now also available to those sales folks as well if some did not already know. There is a do not call list you can put any phone number on and you should stop recieving sales calls.

Anyhow, I use a cell only cause there is not point to a land line anymore. Maybe once I have a kid then I will think about, but at that point, it might be cheaper to just get them a cell phone. Who knows.

https://www.donotcall.gov/

[fish-on-bend]

Have a land line for the house and 1 for the business (office at the house) for voicemail and faxes. The worst cell reception in town is in my office at the back of the property, We won't lose our land line till we sell this house someday. As far as I'm concerned, cell service is still a work in progress.

[Got One!]

I really dislike cell phones. No peace with them, its an exuse for your work to bother you 24/7. Reception and quality it pathetic, and the price is outrageous. 99% of the price is so the company can grow/profit..to me cell phone border on criminal with what they charge.

[MacFish]

according to snopes, our cell phones are still safe http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp

There are just some people and organizations I would rather not make my cell available to, although I don't make any effort to keep it a big secret (it's on my business cards). A land line's also a way for people to get in touch with me that might not find me otherwise. I've had the same number for 35 years and there are a fair number of people that only call me on it. It's probably not that big a deal but it's only $25/mo and I'm used to it.

[BridgeCatcher]

Originally Posted by MacFish

according to snopes, our cell phones are still safe http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp

There are just some people and organizations I would rather not make my cell available to, although I don't make any effort to keep it a big secret (it's on my business cards). A land line's also a way for people to get in touch with me that might not find me otherwise. I've had the same number for 35 years and there are a fair number of people that only call me on it. It's probably not that big a deal but it's only $25/mo and I'm used to it.

Well if my cell phone is "safe", then why did I get sales calls on my old cell number and then put it on the list and not get sales calls???? Maybe they are not given out, ok fine, but they still get them so why not take the two seconds to make sure that you don't get those calls. If you only use you cell number like a home line, then there is ways sales companies can get access to itOh yeah, it works for land lines too.

The link in my post above is a government webiste. It is a government run list to protect you from sales calls if you choose not to recieve them. If you put your number on the list (land or cell) and recieve a call from a sales person, you can report that sales person.

[MacFish]

I agree 100% with signing up on the dnc list, I did every phone I own.

[ICHTHYDEMON]

My wife won't give up the LL.

[Tilla]

Originally Posted by Flatfish

Tilla,

My biz is already on short notice in real time. If I lose the fax, it's pretty much the last layer of insulation I have between me and losing my mind trying to fix clients' lack of advanced planning.

I already jump thru enough hoops keeping folks happy. No need to compound that.

Welcome to the shipping biz.

E fax allows them to fax to your 'puter, check e-mail for faxes, this part is free, you can send to fax numbers, that costs. If you can scan then say bye bye to land line.

[Cornbread]

I work from home many days and I get no cell reception out here so a land line is a must especially for international calls with clients.

[MsOutdrs]

Originally Posted by wsuweston

They do the same thing with cells

Its been my understanding that cells will give the general area but your landline will lead the fire/police depts to your exact address.

[wsuweston]

Originally Posted by MsOutdrs

Its been my understanding that cells will give the general area but your landline will lead the fire/police depts to your exact address.

I don't know but the one time I accidently hit the speed dial button the cops showed up a few mins. later???