Death knell for landlines - RANT

[dmccarty]

The phone companies would dearly love it if everybody went to cell phones!...

Our land line company has nothing to do with cell services. If they drop land lines the company will no longer exist. I have never had a company, nor know of any, that provides both cell and land line service.

If land line companies don't start providing better services for a fair price, they will go the way of the Do Do. I know people who only use cable because they want to pay for TV content and get high speed Internet. The don't have a land line because a cell phone does what they need and DSL over the land line is slower than cable Internet. I think this is mostly in urban areas though. We don't have cable at all and we are lucky to get the slow DSL service that we do get. Ironically, we WOULD pay more for faster Internet speed even if it meant subscribing to cable, but it is not an option for us.

Later,
Dan

 

[kcflhrc]

Don't blame the Telco's for where you live. Kinda funny how people accept their crappy cell service, dropped calls and all but expect their broadband to be flawless. I pay $90 a month just for internet because of where I live I don't have a choice. I knew that before I moved and accept that. I'm too far out for DSL so my only option is satellite which is a joke or what I have is line of site to a cell tower. I'm not sure what better service for a fair price would be. A fair price to me may be completely different than someone else.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Are other phone companies like this?

When I moved here 6 years ago there were wall jacks for a phone but no connection from the house to the telephone company. $3500 and a year later, AT&T had a land line to me and for about $30/month I get measured rate service that includes a few minutes a month of local calling. I only know one other person to call that lives within that area, so I use Google Voice to make calls nationwide for free. It also handles my voice mail, and I have access to every message ever left through their server, something that proved very handy during a divorce last year. Up until last year, the local emergency warning network didn't work with cell phones, so a land line was the only option. I'm in wildfire country, and that alone was worth the cost of the LL. I spent the big bux on a Wilson cell phone antenna, and cell reception is still very spotty inside the house. And as others have mentioned, the LL continues to work during power outages, though those have been rare here.

Not state-of-the-art, but it works well and it works reliably. More than I can say for the satellite based TV and Internet here.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

You need a land line if you have an ADT alarm system for burglary/fire. Wouldn't be without it.

Not exactly need, but using a landline is less expensive with ADT. When my alarm system went in there was no land line, so the ADT installer used a cellular modem to connect to the alarm center. There was an extra charge to me, and an extra eight or ten bux a month for the modem, but the connection is solid and I don't have to worry about somebody cutting the land line to disable the alarm.

 

[JerryK]

Everyone has their own version of happiness... along with blond, brunet, or redhead. But I have Dish Network TV, Frontier land line phone, with Frontier DSL..... AND, I am a happy camper. Phone line is rock solid, seldom have troubles with the dish TV, and the DSL... besides being rock solid.... is WAY FASTER than the modem I used to live with.. So, to each his own.....

 

[rekees4300]

So, to each his own.....

Location is the main factor in determining one's experience with landlines. We live in the boondocks, our landline (Frontier) is full of static again. Happens every time it rains. Contacted Frontier yesterday (1/14) they said a repairman would come "not before 1/20". Rather sad when a company thinks 6 days for service is acceptable. :irked: I'm exploring landline alternatives .. this thread is helpful.

 

[bigdeano]

Don't know if anyone has mentioned it but you can buy cell phone boosters. They have an outdoor antenna, an indoor antenna, and a little electronics box. You have to buy the right one for your service provider. I went from 2 bars to 6 bars in the house. Bought it on Ebay for about 60 bucks.

 

[newbury]

<snip>Rather sad when a company thinks 6 days for service is acceptable. :irked: I'm exploring landline alternatives .. this thread is helpful.

I'm glad people are finding the thread useful. I started it mainly because my local provider is abandoning copper and putting in fiber WITHOUT informing the customer that it won't work during a power outage. AND if you ask their ONLY solution is a 12 D cell battery pack (without the batteries) that has to be MANUALLY turned on for a power outage and is guaranteed to NOT last a day.

And when our phone went out it only took about 3 weeks for them to get here.

 

[DFB]

Location is the main factor in determining one's experience with landlines. We live in the boondocks, our landline (Frontier) is full of static again. Happens every time it rains. Contacted Frontier yesterday (1/14) they said a repairman would come "not before 1/20". Rather sad when a company thinks 6 days for service is acceptable. :irked: I'm exploring landline alternatives .. this thread is helpful.

I have had that problem for years here static on the line every time it rains...most every time the problem was never actually at the house but at their transfer box down the road. They don't like to tell you its on their end though.

I got this great service tech totally cool dude but highly disgruntled union guy, just counting the days to retire since coming back after the their long strike with the new company that bought out the original business. Loves to talk he told me bought a farm in Tennessee to retire to soon...going to raise horses with his new gal he just married!

I give him a lot a credit he's out there all the time in all kinds of weather on the job.

I like to call him the Wichita Lineman

 

[3930dave]

I'm glad people are finding the thread useful. I started it mainly because my local provider is abandoning copper and putting in fiber WITHOUT informing the customer that it won't work during a power outage. AND if you ask their ONLY solution is a 12 D cell battery pack (without the batteries) that has to be MANUALLY turned on for a power outage and is guaranteed to NOT last a day.

And when our phone went out it only took about 3 weeks for them to get here.

Let's compare....... with an olde analog Cu line as long as you can make it to the phone, you could dial 911 and expect help to arrive. Whether or not the grid is up.

With the power out:

1) you need to have known to arrange ahead of time for the the backup D cell pack for fibre,

AND

2) you need to have healthy batteries in place,

AND

3) you have to manually turn it on.

This is progress ? It's a good thing we aren't talking about a critical communication tool....

Rgds, D.