Do you still have a "land" telephone line?

[BrandonR]

Here, you don't need landline service to be able to call 911. If there's a phone jack in the house and it's wired up, you can still dial 911 and get connected. Several years ago, they went to a centralized dispatch center and added a "911 tax" to phone services. (Yep, another tax, paid on landline and cell phones) to pay for it. The tax allowed them to install the enhanced 911 for locations and also provided for the ability to dial 911 without a having telephone service.

Since several people here have stated that 911 is the only reason they've kept the landline, they may want to see if that option is available in our ares.

I know ours works because we had to respond to a bunch of 911 hangups when someone would move into a house, hook up a phone and "just see if this thing works", at some point when the other numbers they dialed didn't go through, they'd try 911, then get scared and hand up when the dispatcher answered.

This is true in a lot of states.

Update: About 911 and "disconnected" landlines

Also for those who are worried about 911 on cell phones, most modern 911 systems are able to get the location from the phone within minutes.

Wireless enhanced 911

The billing address associated with a cell phone is not necessarily the location to which emergency responders should be sent, since the device is portable. This means that locating the caller is more complicated, and there is a different set of legal requirements.
Requirements

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has several requirements applicable to wireless or mobile telephones:[3]

Basic 911: All 911 calls must be relayed to a call center, regardless of whether the mobile phone user is a customer of the network being used.
E911 Phase 1: Wireless network operators must identify the phone number and cell phone tower used by callers, within six minutes of a request by a PSAP.
E911 Phase 2
95% of a network operator's in-service phones must be E911 compliant ("location capable") by December 31, 2005. (Several carriers missed this deadline, and were fined by the FCC.[4])
Wireless network operators must provide the latitude and longitude of callers within 300 meters, within six minutes of a request by a PSAP.[5] Accuracy rates must meet FCC standards on average within any given participating PSAP service area by September 11, 2012 (deferred from September 11, 2008).[6]

Location information is not only transmitted to the call center for the purpose of sending emergency services to the scene of the incident, it is used by the wireless network operator to determine to which PSAP to route the call.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I'm house sitting for my 79 year old mom who is away visiting family.

Poor lady... I swear everytime I answer her phone it is a telemarketer. Starting to think she would be better off with no phone.

They are mostly relentless and I just hang-up.

She must be on a list somewhere. I write her checks/pay bills and can only imagine if I didn't.

Some of the organizations are real scams... less than 5% goes to whatever they are collecting for.

The so-called police and fire seem to be the worst! My Uncle died in the line of duty and I'm not ashamed to tell them our family has already made the ultimate sacrifice.

Get her on the federal Do Not Call registry. I signed my mom up years ago.

https://www.donotcall.gov/

 

[Bird]

Get her on the federal Do Not Call registry. I signed my mom up years ago.

https://www.donotcall.gov/

The Do Not Call registry sounded like a good idea, and for awhile, I thought maybe it was working, but not anymore. We have both our land line and cell phones on it and we still get telemarketer calls every day.

 

[farmgirl19]

Have to resign for it every 5 or 7 years. (Can't remember which.) And charities and political causes are exempt, as is any company you have done business with before.

 

[Bird]

The so-called police and fire seem to be the worst!

Yep, it annoys me that law enforcement organizations allow their names to be used. If I'm not busy, I keep those callers on the line awhile answering questions. Some of them will even admit that 10% or less actually goes to the organization they claim to be representing. So my recommendation would be to never donate to such callers.

 

[Bird]

Have to resign for it every 5 or 7 years. (Can't remember which.) And charities and political causes are exempt, as is any company you have done business with before.

That used to be true, but now: (copied from the Do Not Call registry website)

"Your registration will not expire. Telephone numbers placed on the National Do Not Call Registry will remain on it permanently due to the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007, which became law in February 2008. Read more about it at Do Not Call Registrations Permanent and Fees Telemarketers Pay to Access Registry Set."

 

[farmgirl19]

Cool! Thanks!

 

[Bird]

Incidentally, you can check on the National Do Not Call Registry to verify whether or not your number(s) are registered. I just did that again and it does show all 3 numbers registered in 2007. But of course the later part of your post is correct about the exceptions; i.e. those who are allowed to call. I've not tried filing a complaint, and of course, most of the annoying calls we get do not show a phone number for the caller ID.

 

[farmgirl19]

Every election season (and when is it not?), I want to file on the political stuff, but of course, they are exempt.

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

Well Verizon does not think too much about landlines either, see below. Those who still have a copper line to your house may not in the next 10 years OR when the next natural disaster hits your town!

Verizon Won't Rebuild Its Landline Network in Some Sandy-Affected Areas

Verizon Won't Rebuild Its Landline Network in Some Sandy-Affected Areas

As the damage from Hurricane Sandy is disappearing and some things are returning back to normal for those in the hardest hit areas, six months after that hurricane devastated parts of the East Coast, Verizon is telling some customers that they will not be getting their landline phone service back—ever. At least not from them.

It happened to the residents of Mantoloking, New Jersey, who were not given the choice to return to telephone service through a landline, but instead were offered Verizon’s Voice Link service, a landline-like service that works through the company’s wireless network.

At least for now, it looks like the Voice Link service won’t cost any more than a landline, and it has many of the same features—like caller ID, voicemail, and 911 service—as what it's replacing. However, the lack of landline service also means that DSL won’t be returning to Mantoloking residents either.

Speaking to StoptheCap, New Jersey local Dale Smith said he talked to a Verizon manager about the problem and he said the company was "evaluating certain service areas" for an "exciting new wireless product" instead of making repairs to the damaged land network. And reportedly, an FCC representative has responded to a local's complaint saying, "If Verizon wishes to replace the copper wiring with fiber it is strictly their business decision (sic)"

Long story short, Verizon seems to be more interested in upgrading customers to their wireless and FiOS networks than replacing the old copper-wiring utilities. It's unclear if Verizon can't or won't fix the old system.