Do you still have a "land" telephone line?

[murphy1244]

DSL Internet, and poor cell service still have land-line. No cable near our road.

same here.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

I keep the land line because the generators on the cell towers will run out of fuel after a couple days; whereas the landlines are usually serviced and powered from the central office complex. The flip side is if you don't have a generator of your own (assuming you don't have a car recharger), your batteries will eventually die while the land line is still going. Finally, my landline is hooked to an answering machine so I can screen all the calls. Only my immediate family has my cell number for emergencies.

 

[Pa Pa Jack]

We have land lines and have never had nor wanted a cell phone. I hate cell phones. People are rude and inconsiderate with them and downright dangerous. there is no one I need to talk to so bad that I have to have a cell. But, then again, I still write letters to friends. I have been in two accidents where the other person was talking on a cell and not paying attention and rear ended me. I think talking or texting an a cell while driving should be attempted murder. It's not their fault they haven't killed someone YET.

 

[fordmantpw]

another is when children need to dial 911 that may not have a cellphone at all.

That is the sole reason we didn't ditch ours. But, we took a different route. We wanted the security for our kids, so we ditched the land line, but transferred the number to a pay as you go plan (GoPhone from AT&T). Instead of paying $30/month, we are paying about $7 a month for a cellular "home phone" so that we always have something available for the kids.

 

[Turbys_1700]

Got rid of ours two years ago...
I live in an area that does not have great reception and it can be down right irritating...
BUT...
I am saving $84/mo...
I know that I am a tight wad but that is pretty significant in my book...
You can buy a lot of tractor/guy stuff for $1K per year...

 

[dmccarty]

I keep the land line because the generators on the cell towers will run out of fuel after a couple days; whereas the landlines are usually serviced and powered from the central office complex. The flip side is if you don't have a generator of your own (assuming you don't have a car recharger), your batteries will eventually die while the land line is still going. Finally, my landline is hooked to an answering machine so I can screen all the calls. Only my immediate family has my cell number for emergencies.

We have our land line for the 911 service and because the telco is more likely to be in service during an outage than cell. Our only option for Internet access is the phone line and DSL. I don't remember the specifics when we set up phone service to the house years ago, but there was not much difference in cost to have phone and DSL compared to just DSL.

We do NOT talk on the land line, everything is done on cell. The land line is for 911 and backup to the cell phones.

While the cells phones do not connected our address to 911, a few years ago we had a situation that required a 911 call. The wifey had a talk with the deputy about some trespassers. I was away from the house when this happened and the deputy said he would return and talk to me later. He did and we had a nice long talk. Months/Years later, the county dispatch got a couple of 911 hangup calls. No address of course, but we are near a cell tower and the tower location was given to a deputy. Turned out to be the same deputy and he came to check on us. :thumbsup:

He was right though. We were the source of the 911 call. :shocked: The wifey had given our youngest an old Palm phone to play on since we had not used the phone in years. Wifey did not know that you could still dial 911 on a phone without a sim card. :laughing::laughing::laughing: The kid had pushed the 911 call button a few times. :shocked::shocked::shocked:

Later,
Dan

 

[vabiker23518]

We still have a landline....because the wife wants it!

 

[rockinmywaypa]

How does anyone that doesn't know your number find out how to get in touch with you quickly. Be it sports teams, kids events, church events etc. I keep the land line so that I am listed in the phone book, then people I do business with can find me and give me a call. None of my family other than immediate children know my cell number.

 

[fordmantpw]

While the cells phones do not connected our address to 911, a few years ago we had a situation that required a 911 call. The wifey had a talk with the deputy about some trespassers. I was away from the house when this happened and the deputy said he would return and talk to me later. He did and we had a nice long talk. Months/Years later, the county dispatch got a couple of 911 hangup calls. No address of course, but we are near a cell tower and the tower location was given to a deputy. Turned out to be the same deputy and he came to check on us. :thumbsup:

He was right though. We were the source of the 911 call. :shocked: The wifey had given our youngest an old Palm phone to play on since we had not used the phone in years. Wifey did not know that you could still dial 911 on a phone without a sim card. :laughing::laughing::laughing: The kid had pushed the 911 call button a few times. :shocked::shocked::shocked:

Later,
Dan

Similar thing happened to me, but I had made the call. I was weedeating with my BlackBerry in my pocket. Somehow, I had hit the emergency call button and called 911, unbeknownst to me. As I'm cleaning up, a deputy pulls in my driveway, letting me know what happened. They could hear the weedeater and thought maybe a piece of equipment had rolled over on me (I live in a rural area with lots of farms). When I went inside, I noticed there was a message on our answering machine (when we still had a land line) from 911. They had pinpointed the address, and the house at that address, and grab our phone number to give us a call before sending out a deputy. The deputy and I had a good laugh!

 

[Gem99ultra]

I agree with you 100% Pa Pa Jack! Seems some people seem to think that they're so important that they MUST be reachable 100% of the time. I've seen idiots even on the crapper talking of their cell phone. And yes - I've seen some people that seem to be spaced out when using a cell phone and trying to drive. I say 'trying' because they are far from accomplishing that task.

Sure, I see the value of having a cell phone. We don't get reliable service out here in the sticks, so we have both a land line and a cell phone for use when we're on the road, etc. But I sure love to be able to rip out the land line.

I believe that I saw a news article where AT&T was partitioning congress permission to discontinue maintaining land lines. Anyone else recall that?