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View Full Version : Land-line telephones.....



Big Muddy
01-11-2013, 10:08 AM
Last night at supper, our home-phone rang for the first time, this month....I dare say it's rung an average of 2-3 times per month, in the past year....afterwards, wifey and I got to talking about, having ours disconnected....I'm paying about $70 bucks per month for it, but we never use it....we use our cells to make all our calls, and everyone who calls us, uses our cell numbers.

Except for the convenience of sending/receiving a few ocassional faxes, I really don't see the need to keep the land-line.

Who still uses land-line phones???....

BarryBobPosthole
01-11-2013, 10:13 AM
We still have one. I use it mainly for work. I think we'll probably give it the old 86 when I retire.

BKB

Bwana
01-11-2013, 10:17 AM
Though it is a point of contention between the wife and I, we still have one. With our cable bundle package it costs us less then $15/month and I look at it as an insurance policy of sorts. Though it doesn't happen often there are times when the cell lines are all busy, read emergency situations, and if nothing else having the option of the land line makes me feel better though I know the same can happen with them.

O.K. - maybe we should just get rid of it. :)

Trav
01-11-2013, 10:28 AM
I just got rid of mine about 6 months ago, the average usage was like 5 minutes a month and I was paying like $45. It was hard to do but I just couldn't justify it.

hotshot
01-11-2013, 10:36 AM
We still have a line. I Check messages once every 2-3 weeks. Last time there were 11 messages. Most about appointments I had aready been to.
We are thinking of getting rid of ours too, however wifi comes in a "bundle".

Thumper
01-11-2013, 11:24 AM
I've been thinking about dumping it for a couple years now. It's a waste of money as the ONLY calls that come in are b/s sales calls. One concern is that some credit card companies seem to require a land-line to verify identity when calling customer service, etc. ... but the main reason I've been hanging onto it is the fact I'm on DSL and get my i-net service through it. I also need it for the occassional FAX, although, since I closed my business, that's very seldom used. It seems I just keep making excuses to keep it but I'm not sure why.

Thumper
01-11-2013, 11:25 AM
Oh yeah ... similar to Hotshot ... I think we check the voicemail messages on the home phone MAYBE once a month!

HA! I just checked. The home phone voicemail says, "45 missed calls!" I'm not sure when we checked last.

Chicken Dinner
01-11-2013, 11:57 AM
I'd love to get rid of it, but it's a no go with the Mrs.

Fido
01-11-2013, 12:46 PM
I'm keeping mine for the hands free speaker phone capability. It's on my puter desk and it's just a nice feature tooo have!

BarryBobPosthole
01-11-2013, 12:54 PM
I've been looking at one of those hub units you can install to make your wireless work with your in-house wiring. that way you can use the hands free and stuff and have extensions when you need to have someone else pick up a call at your home. Still haven't pulled the trigger yet. I still don't trust wireless technology. too hinky during bad weather for me.

BKB

johnboy
01-11-2013, 01:02 PM
Land line phones work when the power goes out. Cell phones may or may not plus you can't charge them. For the minimal cost, I'll keep the old tech as a backup for emergencies.

Thumper
01-11-2013, 01:03 PM
Kind of off on a tangent ... but what the heck, this is Good Hunting ... my ex-wife and her hubby use that Majic Jack or whatever it's called. I've seen them on those infomercials and always thought they sounded really hokey, but if she hadn't told me (when I asked why her number is not listed), I'd have never known it.

BarryBobPosthole
01-11-2013, 01:03 PM
And old tip and ring guy heard from!

BKB

Thumper
01-11-2013, 01:05 PM
Land line phones work when the power goes out. Cell phones may or may not plus you can't charge them. For the minimal cost, I'll keep the old tech as a backup for emergencies.

Yeah, as long as you held on to an old Princess phone or sumpin' ... most have gone to wireless handsets which also don't work in case of a power outage. Many people don't have a hard-wired phone anymore. (I do keep one in a closet for emergencies like that though)

Thumper
01-11-2013, 01:09 PM
And old tip and ring guy heard from!

BKB

I have no clue what you just said.

Big Skyz
01-11-2013, 01:10 PM
I still have kids at home and "NO" I'm not going to buy each of them a cell phone. I keep the land line so they can still get calls from their friends. I don't want 9 to 18 year old kids calling my cell phone all the time to talk to one of my kids.

BarryBobPosthole
01-11-2013, 01:32 PM
I have no clue what you just said.

A term from the days when there was such a thing as telephony and people kept egg timers by their phones so they wouldn't go over three minutes and DDD was in the English lexicon. Tip and ring acutally refers to the wires that you see on a telephone jack. One wire went to the tip of the jack, and one went to the ring. POTS. Plain Old Telephone Service.

Capice?

BKB

quercus alba
01-11-2013, 02:09 PM
I don't have one nor do I want a cell phone. Land line it is. If you want to call me....don't

Thumper
01-11-2013, 02:23 PM
I don't have one nor do I want a cell phone. Land line it is. If you want to call me....don't

You sound persactly like my 81 year old mother!

Chicken Dinner
01-11-2013, 02:32 PM
Hell, my father has already gotten rid of his landline.

Big Boy
01-11-2013, 02:34 PM
Funny - had a land line installed in the house today. $22/mo from verizon - cheaper than adding a phone to my cell plan.

johnboy
01-11-2013, 02:45 PM
"Tip and ring" - ah Barry, you take me back many years. Cell phones are great but just sometimes old tech is more robust. I believe it is recommended in most "Emergency Preparedness" docs to have a hard wired, old style (not wireless) phone in the house for, well, emergencies. They work when others don't.

quercus alba
01-11-2013, 02:51 PM
You sound persactly like my 81 year old mother!

Actually, this sounds more like your mom....." Jimmy, how many times do I have to tell you to quit wearing my dresses? Where my switch?"


8^)

jb
01-11-2013, 03:36 PM
Wife and I have 4 telephone numbers, her cell, my cell, house phone and my office phone. Don't know why a family of two need 4 different numbers.
Use my office phone 99% of the time. Wife recored this on my cell phone. "If you need to speak with Jerry, call his office number, he only check his cell phone messages one or twice a month"
Just don't use the cell for anything but outgoing calls a few times a week.

Buckrub
01-11-2013, 04:05 PM
If u have 'bundled' home phone from ur cable provider tt n u r getting screwed. They are selling u VoIP for x a month nd magic jack does same thing for $20 a year... Plus 911 can be an issue with VoIP.

Cell phones are the expensive component...plus they are annoying.

BarryBobPosthole
01-11-2013, 04:10 PM
Magic Jack and Skype and that kind of stuff is fine if you don't care for a working 911 component. And you have to have your computer to run as your server 24X7 for your phone service. The other issue for me would be that I've had this number since forever and I can't port my number to that service.

It'll work for some folks though. Just not me.

BKB

Sunshine
01-11-2013, 05:12 PM
I have a land line and two cell phones.

We live in the boon docks, so I need a tower from my land line. Otherwise our cells will work at the house.

Other reason we have the landline is the cellphones don't work when the power goes out.

We also bundle the landline, cellphones and Internet service. :D

Thumper
01-11-2013, 07:36 PM
Sunshine;

We live in the boon docks, so I need a tower from my land line. Otherwise our cells will work at the house.

Huh??? I'm having a heck of a time following you today! :hopelessness:

DeputyDog
01-11-2013, 07:38 PM
We still have a land line too. Costs less that $20 a month and keep it around with an old hard line phone in the closet in case of emergencies.

LJ3
01-11-2013, 09:02 PM
When I make calls from home, it's always with my landline. I like the feel and sound quality. So that's like, 2 calls per month :)

With Verfuckrizon, the bumbled services make it so it costs MORE to get rid of the landline. Otherwise I'd get rid of it if I could save money.

HideHunter
01-11-2013, 09:04 PM
Hell - I still got a rotary dial telephone.... oh yeah, and dial up. Buncha techie-freaks. ;)

BarryBobPosthole
01-11-2013, 09:05 PM
That's not a very creative name. I have much better ones that I can't publish.
BKB

Sunshine
01-11-2013, 09:31 PM
Sorry Thump.
That should of said our cell phones won't work at the house if I don't have my cell tower hooked to my landline.
Boon docks= out in the boonies!!! :D

Thumper
01-12-2013, 08:36 AM
"Our cell phones won't work at the house if I don't have my cell tower hooked to my landline..."

Ha! Ok ... thanks for the explanation Sunny! That's a HUGE help and it's clear as mud now! WTF???? (oh, I TOTALLY know what the "boondocks" are) :D

Sunshine
01-12-2013, 03:53 PM
453

Thump, this is a cell tower.
I plug my land line into it and now my cell phones can work at the house.
Without this, I have to walk up the street to get enough bars to use my cell phone.

Now do you understand? :D

Buckrub
01-12-2013, 06:05 PM
Magig jack and skype are nowhere near the same thing....and magic jack no longer needs ur computer to be on. Catch up...or pay for voip...whatever

Thumper
01-13-2013, 01:43 AM
Ha ha! Yeah, I get it now Sunny. That would actually be a "signal booster" or "network extender" ... or sumpin' like that. Your blondness cornfuzzles me sometimes! ;)

This is the image I had in my haid ...

http://siliconangle.com/files/2012/07/cell-tower.png