<p>Call me old fashioned, but I like to come home and hear my messages on my answering machine. I don’t want to be bothered with people calling my cell phone during the day. Working outdoors, yacking on the cell phone means work isn’t being done, or being done as quickly or properly. I also prefer to talk into a full sized phone, cell phones still feel uncomfortable to me.</p>
<p>Just to let everyone know, during an emergency you’re much better off sending text messages. They require a lot less to get through the network and will probably drain the battery of your phone considerably less than repeatedly trying to make phone calls. That’s the main reason I haven’t completely disabled texting on my archaic flip phone.</p>
<p>When I ditched our cable company (happiest day of my life and LONG overdue) I switched to DSL high speed internet service and got rid of TV altogether. Our phone company (Windstream) includes, with DSL, free landline service with unlimited long distance, 3 way calling, caller ID, etc.</p>
<p>So it was a no brainer to keep it.</p>
<p>Recently during the big derecho when we lost power for over a week, it was our only link out - even cell service went down (tower lost power or was damaged for 3-4 days). I removed my cordless and plugged in the regular corded phone I keep on hand for these emergencies.</p>
<p>I don’t pay for unlimited cell service so if I am home I make free (long distance too) calls on my landline, and if someone calls me on my cell and wants to talk at length, I call them back on my landline.</p>
<p>Most incoming calls are charities and political robocalls, that’s true. I am on the Do Not Call list so very few telemarketers get through. I have caller ID so rarely answer the landline if I don’t recognize the number. It’s also nice to give a number to people I don’t really want to use cell minutes on - my credit card company, for instance.</p>
<p>Thanks guys
helpful discussion</p>
<p>Do those of you who have eliminated your landline carry your cellphone around with you when you’re at home? I have eight phones located in different rooms of the house so that there’s always one nearby.</p>
<p>I have Talkatone setup on my iPod Touch and on our two iPads. When someone calls my Google Voice number, the iPads, my iPod Touch and my cell phone ring.</p>
<p>During the Sept. 11 attacks, my cell phone stopped working. All the ladies around me at the gym started wailing as we saw the events unfold on TV. I rushed home and I frantically tried to get in touch with my H via my landline. Hours later, the landline phone rang and my eyes filled with tears of relief when I finally heard my husbands voice. He called me from a phone booth. </p>
<p>So, yes, I kept the landline corded phone. </p>
<p>I also have cordless phones with talking caller ID all over the house. They filter out all telemarking calls (despite the fact that the number is registered in the Do-Not- Call registry) and charitable contribution requests; receive reminder calls from doctors, and people we prefer to talk to via home phone instead of our mobiles. </p>
<p>It is also great for multi-phone tasking, i.e. , we can make phone calls via our mobile phones while the landline is used for conference calls on mute or while trying to get in touch with some customer service rep who has put you on hold for ten minutes to one hour or so.</p>
<p>We keep a landline phone that doesn’t need electricity on hand for emergencies. Almost all the calls we get on it are junk though. I do remember that during 9/11 cellphones went down for a while - I got calls that day on the landline.</p>
<p>^Ditto. But is there any reason to keep long distance service for the landline? We have unlimited on our cell phone plan, so we generally use the cell for all long distance calls.</p>
<p>When the power is out a cell phone can be recharged by plugging it into the car charger.</p>
<p>
Wow, 8 phones seems like a lot. I don’t find it a big deal to walk to answer the phone and if I miss the call, so what? It’s extremely rare that there’s an important phone call and even then they’ll leave a message, call right back, or call the cell.</p>
<p>If immediate accessibility to important phone calls is so desired then a cell phone is generally superior since it can travel with the user instead of being tethered. </p>
<p>I think the biggest exposure in major events is that the cell network will be saturated and voice service will be spotty. The advice above to send a text instead is good but even that can get spotty. Of course land lines can have the same problem since they also are designed for only a certain volume (and not ‘all at once’) but they don’t seem as sensitive to it as cellular networks. I’m wondering if it’s even getting better as fewer and fewer people are using land lines but of course they’re likely just sizing the network according to usage.</p>
<p>Once I decide that I don’t need my land line for concalls I’ll get rid of it.</p>
<p>The cell transmitters were located on the roof of the towers on 911. There are suppposed to be alternates in place now- not exclusively the old “tallest local buildings with direct line of sight” principle.</p>
<p>What survives in a disaster depends on how things are installed in your area, community and even on your street. My back neighbors lose their elec and landlines because they are still off poles, while our service is underground. You can set locater services on your cell, though I don’t know how fast the address retrieval is. Even if shut off for non-payment, I believe 911 calls, by law, will go through. Different cell providers are not necessarily routing calls on different networks, not even ATT. Certainly not the smaller services. All have areas where they use what other providers have already paid to set up. And, my broadband has 8 hour battery back-up. </p>
<p>My grandmother ditched her landline when in her 80’s. We could reach her anywhere. She even programmed the ring tones to id which of us was calling. Clever gal.</p>
<p>Hunt we took long distance off the landline, but it means I can’t call any family if there is an emergency since they are all out of town. I’ve got long distance in my office though for sending faxes long distance (hardly ever needed any more - I send jpgs or pdfs mostly now.)</p>
<p>We migrated to all cell phones a year ago. No problems other than someone often forgetting where they laid the phone down (whistle while looking off in the distance). this in spite of picking a g*d awful red phone to replace the landline phone. You know, so that it could be spotted easily.</p>
<p>The decision to get rid of it was made when DH’s company dropped their company wide phone service and pushed the responsibility for the account onto individual employees. We decided that going all cell under one plan was cheaper so dropped the landline. I had the number migrated to the cell, so no one calling us has any idea it isn’t a landline. Still get the annoying solicitation calls, though.</p>
<p>Cancelled my land line about a year ago and I haven’t missed it one bit. I don’t get those annoying sales calls anymore and it saves me about $50 per month!</p>
<p>if you have a security system you may be required to have a land line for monitoring.</p>
<p>Our power goes out at least once per year. Last year it went out Christmas day. We have a old wired phone that we keep on hand for these situations. It served us well. Cell phones aren’t always charged up (and we live in a bit of a cell hole where service can go to nothing w/o provocation). Only my car has a ‘live’ charger - the others don’t work if the car isn’t running.</p>
<p>I know it can’t just be me (can it?), but I’m at an age where my hearing is not as acute as it was when I was younger. It’s not an issue in every day life, but it does manifest itself when I sue a cell phone. I find that the sound quality on cell phones is nowhere near as good as it is on landlines. In fact, the sound on my corded landline phone is superior to that on my cordless phone. And we aren’t getting any younger, so at some point I or H or both will probably need some kind of amplification system to permit us to hear better on the phone, and I doubt that can work with a cell phone. So I’m sticking with my landline forever. Your welcome, AT&T.</p>
<p>MommaJ, have you looked at getting a headset for your cell phone. There’s a wide variety out there from bluetooth to ones that plug into a 2.5/3.5mm jack. Those will likely be ones that can offer the amplification you’re looking for.</p>
<p>We’ve kept our landline, since I work from home and rarely use my cell. Very few people even know my cell number. I also find the call quality and comfort of a regular phone to be much better than a cell. And I don’t want the bother of carrying my cell phone around with me in the house. </p>
<p>Two of our phones are old-fashioned corded ones (they’re the most comfortable, and as others have said, very useful when the power goes out) and two are cordless.</p>
<p>My cell phone is for family and close friends only. I don’t want calls on it from anyone else. I like the fact that if it rings, it’s always someone i know.</p>
<p>I’m surprised at some of the high expense land lines. Our is 29 with unlimited long distance, and all the bells and whistles. It would cost me more to get unlimited minutes on my cell.</p>
<p>I have a cell and no landline since I have moved back to the USA. My son has set me up with a google phone number for everyone but my close family and friends. So far, so good.</p>