Do you still have a "land" telephone line?

techman · Aug 7, 2013

I have had a cell for many, many years now, but I still keep the landline. It is cheap, only about $22/mo. It is also our internet (DSL) so it still serves a purpose. Big reason is reliability. After Irene and Sandy, cell service was iffy. Sandy knocked out a bunch of tower power and the backups only lasted a day or so. Landline never flinched. Also the cell quality is still not the same. I may be a bit old school, but the landline has served us well and proven its reliability over many years.

paul

mjarrels · Aug 7, 2013

Yep, still have a land phone with a old 80's style push button $1.00 phone picked up at a thrift shop. 911 use and local calls only. Never had a cell phone and never will.

mark

toppop52 · Aug 7, 2013

I do sometimes use my landline for fax, but that's becoming obsolete. And only a true phone company phone is an honest "land line". What i have through Comcast and all the others is an internet phone that depends on a connection.

As for 911, as long as my phone has a charged battery in it the local 911 can pinpoint me. That may be different other places.

bullbreaker · Aug 7, 2013

We still have landline with underground utilitys.

Boone

flyerdan · Aug 7, 2013

A few years ago I got a Tracfone so I could cut the long distance part off the landline, saving around the same amount as the yearly airtime for the TF. After the second time that a truck came through and tore my phone line down, I just called to cancel the service. I don't use a phone very much, so I probably should have pulled the ripcord sooner, as has been mentioned above that most of the bill is taxes of some sort. I think my $28 monthly bill was $12 for actual phone related stuff and the rest some form of government extortion.

dodge man · Aug 7, 2013

My wife works for a telephone co-op so we still have a landline, but would anyway because our TV come in on the phone line and so does our internet. Like someone else said, if there is a major problem, disaster etc. the land line is much more likely to be up and running. We have lived in the country for 16 years now and I don't think the phone lines have been down more than 3 times.

Coyote machine · Aug 7, 2013

I do have a land line too for DSL, and security system call-out, and E-911. Would like to dump it, but cell service/signal/dropped calls/ quality of reception all suck by comparison to hard line. Supposed to get fiber optic land line shortly- will see what that can do to provide more for 'less', HA, HA,!
No easy answers, and I don't see the govt. wanting to make land lines better, cheaper or obsolete any time soon. Too much of a cash cow for them!

mikim · Aug 7, 2013

our land line phone wires stop 2 miles up the road. ....not gonna pay them the $ per foot for it...when cell works so well.

brin · Aug 7, 2013

Just as a side note...from what I have heard in the last few years...we here in the US are far behind many countries like Korea, Japan and maybe even China in the speed & coverage of our internet and cell phone coverage - I mean there are many countries that have much more vast geographical coverage and much faster speeds....Go Figure...?