How many still have a Landline in their home?

[kozal01]

Landline? Whats that? Havent had one for at least 15 years

 

[BravoXray]

I still have a land line, have had it since September of '74. I too keep it as I still have occasion to send and receive faxes. I rarely get spam calls, but once every day it rings, and no one is on the other end.

 

[drssg]

I still have a land line, have had it since September of '74. I too keep it as I still have occasion to send and receive faxes. I rarely get spam calls, but once every day it rings, and no one is on the other end.

I think those are probably spam calls. They don't want to waste their labor having someone just sit there while the dialer calls a series of numbers until it finds someone who answers. So the machine works independently. When someone answers the phone, it will transfer it to an available person. If all the workers are taking other calls, you just receive a call with no one there.

 

[3930dave]

Lights Out
By Halffast (David Crawford)

https://www.giltweasel.com/stuff/LightsOut-Current.pdf

Thnx !

Rgds, D.

 

[JeepHead]

Land lines are becoming things of the past. I worked as a lineman for one of the largest companies in the US and they have an active goal to eliminate them. If a line is broken, they won't repair it so if you still have one, pray nothing happens to it. For other customers, they are raising the fees for the analog line to a price most can't or won't want to pay for. I had to disconnect one older fellers line because my company raised the price for his analog line to $750 a month. He was furious too because he said he had that line for over 40 years but he wasn't paying $750 a month for a telephone line..... The infrastructure is old, very old, and they are moving towards fiber optic lines everywhere.

 

[Jrasband]

landline only way to go..

 

[lman]

Maybe the Amish will put a cell phone out in their phone booth.

 

[plowhog]

We have a landline in Northern CA. Keep it mostly to receive info on any fire emergency in the area.

Just received a notice that AT&T has petitioned the CA Public Utilities Commission to be relieved from the obligation to provide land line service in our area. So it looks like that service is doomed with the clock ticking.

We use Starlink for internet and voice communication. But I have neighbors that still only have a landline plus DSL. So they are going to go dark soon both for voice and data.

 

[oosik]

Forty two years - never had a land line. Too expensive. Back when we moved here ( 1982 ) it would have cost $32K+. We started with a Motorola Bag phone and a very large Cat battery for power. We now have one of those "high tech" cell phones with limited connection/service.

Folks talk about getting - 5G. I'd be happy with consistent - 2G.

 

[ultrarunner]

We have a landline in Northern CA. Keep it mostly to receive info on any fire emergency in the area.

Just received a notice that AT&T has petitioned the CA Public Utilities Commission to be relieved from the obligation to provide land line service in our area. So it looks like that service is doomed with the clock ticking.

We use Starlink for internet and voice communication. But I have neighbors that still only have a landline plus DSL. So they are going to go dark soon both for voice and data.

I wonder if any concession will be extracted if petition granted?

Telephone companies are granted special exemptions and treatment for the right to do business with no discussion of an end date...

I did a poll of my neighborhood and about 50% still have landline service... mostly longtime residents and about half of those do not have anything but landline as cell not viable.

Maybe a condition of granting the petition is s minimum service standard in communities served?

My phone line is underground as is power...

 

[plowhog]

I wonder if any concession will be extracted if petition granted?

There is one sentence with some very ambiguous language in their petition. I believe their true intention is to be relieved of having to provide service, but also escape limits on rates if they continue to provide service. Since it would make sense to maximize an asset already in place.

Our landline is $50/mo +/-. Someone above wrote about a $750/mo landline rate. Something like that could be in our future. Not sure.

 

[LouNY]

Land lines are becoming things of the past. I worked as a lineman for one of the largest companies in the US and they have an active goal to eliminate them. If a line is broken, they won't repair it so if you still have one, pray nothing happens to it. For other customers, they are raising the fees for the analog line to a price most can't or won't want to pay for. I had to disconnect one older fellers line because my company raised the price for his analog line to $750 a month. He was furious too because he said he had that line for over 40 years but he wasn't paying $750 a month for a telephone line..... The infrastructure is old, very old, and they are moving towards fiber optic lines everywhere.

That would be nice, IF they would do the fiber. Here they just keep cobbling things around and hope to drive customers away. The Department of Public Services provides a bit of protection for consumers but not much.

 

[John0829]

Back before I retired from AT&T they were working to get away from land line service except in user dense areas where they could push DSL. Don't get me started on some of the stunts they pulled pushing DSL. Anyway rural areas (which I am in one) if a cable was damaged or had a bad section it was either replaced with subpar cable or a drop was thrown on top of the ground between pedestals. We dropped the landline when the employee concession went away, I was no longer on call and the price jumped to $100 a month, we had lousy service anyway, a hum so loud you could hardly make out what was being said.

We kept our phone number (number portability) and moved to just as crappy cell service. Most calls seldom get delivered but text messages get right though. We have many times gotten notification of missed calls or voice mail over a week after the call or message was left.

 

[grsthegreat]

My wife worked for verizon for a long time..way back when verizon had land line service. Being an employee we got concessions on our basic landline so it cost us very, very little to keep it. Once verizon was acquired by Frontier here, our first bill jumped from less than $1 to about $120.00. They eliminated employee compensation package. I dropped landline the day after receiving first bill. That was many years ago. Dont miss it at all. Except for fax availability. But i solved maybe 80% of that need by scanning and email paperwork, or just outright emailing pdf’s from computer.

about 3 years ago i was having issues with my microwave internet system and was willing to try DSL that Ziply fiber offered (after they acquired Frontier). They found my copper line was damaged somewheres, had no signal, and are not willing to repair it. Somewheres in the future their planning on bringing in fiber.

in the meantime my microwave internet provider installed an updated dish, and all is good again.

 

[tradosaurus]

Currently have landline service although I don't have a phone attached. Our ISP comes over a phone line so the phone is included with the internet.
Receiving calls is free. Outgoing calls are 10 cents/min.

 

[3930dave]

We kept our phone number (number portability) and moved to just as crappy cell service. Most calls seldom get delivered but text messages get right though. We have many times gotten notification of missed calls or voice mail over a week after the call or message was left.

Digital text is expedient <<< not unpacking that comment.

Reliability today has declined. Had a good personal example 8 or so years ago. Had arranged a Saturday visit, with close friends a couple of hours away, that we hadn't seen in way too long. The front end of our day went sideways, sent a text "Significant delay our end, don't wait Lunch, we are still coming but will be Late", then tried to get back on Schedule. Arrived to a (justifiably) Hangry buddy, asking What the HE double hockey sticks. Apologies...... chatting in their kitchen as oven warms up to heat a very late Lunch.

"Ding" on my buddy's phone..... the text I'd sent hours earlier, now arrives.

I KNOW better than to assume performance in these systems, but that ^ was a good reminder.

Not trying to contaminate ur's thread, but I see a parallel in the decline of wireline, with the abolition of ICE. Absolutely no recognition or allowance is made, for what had performed well in the Past, it's definitely a Don't Care, on the part of ramming this through.

There is tremendous value in having Everybody Always Carrying a Cell Phone. Much of the time, that high-value does not accrue to the individual.

Rgds, D.

 

[Fixastuff]

I cut an unmarked 200+ pair verizon copper main earlier this year. I didn't have to but I dug it up to help out verizon dude, he said only 4 wires were still in use on that main.

Always take pictures! Even though the Verizon and utilquest damage inspectors came out, both saw no marks, told me I was in the clear etc and I helped verizon with the repair(digging and backfilling). About 4 months later I got a roughly $3k bill for the repair in the mail. I laughed and sent in the 20 or so pictures I took of the site showing no paint. Can't trust em!

 

[TN8Man]

I still have a landline. I have a cell phone but I keep it off and in a metal box when at home.

 

[ultrarunner]

There is one sentence with some very ambiguous language in their petition. I believe their true intention is to be relieved of having to provide service, but also escape limits on rates if they continue to provide service. Since it would make sense to maximize an asset already in place.

Our landline is $50/mo +/-. Someone above wrote about a $750/mo landline rate. Something like that could be in our future. Not sure.

Yep... escaping regulation as cable/fiber don't have to follow/come under the PUC... like voice and DSL.

Had a DSL issue and phone company had to make it right after I reached out to the PUC.

Guess that's why copper doesn't have permit ions and spikes after introductory year expires... not allowed

Can I have the phone company come out and pull everything is they discontinue service?

 

[drssg]

We canceled our landline service about ten years ago. In addition to its lack of use, it kept developing static during rainy weather. I think the company was already minimizing their maintenance of this nearly obsolete infrastructure.

About four years ago, we had fiber run to the house by the same company. After they had left, I was taken back to notice that they had removed the outside telephone connection box and cut all the wiring off flush with the outside bricks. All this was with no questions asked.

On hindsight, I think I had lost the option to reactivate my traditional landline a good while ago. If I decided I wanted a landline again, they would sell a VOIP solution, using the fiber.