We've been doing a lot of thinking about our land line phone lately. Twice earlier this year, we lost our phone service due to aged wiring outside. It was days before we realized that we had no service. It was nice. No interruptions at dinner. No soliciting phone calls. No election phone calls (it went out just before our primary. Good timing).
Do we really need a land line? I know that lots of people just use their cell phones. We all have a cell, except for Becky. Right now, she is the reason we have the land line. Also, we get our DSL service through the phone company and it is required that you have a land line. However, our cell phone provider also provides wireless service, so.....I think our land line will go the way of the phone operator.
What about you? Do you still have a land line? Why or why not? If you don't, do you get "junk" calls on your cell? How do you avoid using too many minutes? My mom doesn't like to call me on my cell because she worries about using too many minutes. Even though she lives 2 miles away, when one of us calls the other, we end up on the phone for at least a half an hour.
I think this fall, when Emily no longer needs to be on our plan, we'll add Becky and ditch the home phone. I think I'll be glad.
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We aren't big phone users here, but we have three cells (mom, dad, and one for teens to share)for which we pay by the minute and a land line. We tried the "regular" cell plan but for the lowest level we were paying $60/month and always had tons of minutes left. Now we are paying about 40. We keep the land line because people know the number and teen daughter can talk on it as much as she wants. Also, we keep an answering machine on it so that we can call when evacuated for a hurricane. If the phone works, we know phone service is restored; if the answering machine picks up, we know we have power.
I still have a landline - celphone plans with unlimited minutes are pricey esp since there are 7 of us (well 6 since MJ is away at college). I know a family with no landline and once they left Abigail to babysit and she had NO way to make a call if there were an emergency... the mom/dad each had their celphones.. and the teen sons had theirs... but nothing left for the sitter....
I registered both our celphone and landline for the DNC registry.... if you don't recognize the caller on your cel, you can just choose not to answer and no minutes burned
We got rid of our home landline a few years ago. DH still has his business phone on a landline.
We all have cell phones with unlimited talk and text. We have been with Tmobile for 10+ years and have a loyal customer rate which can be beat.
I think we will always have a landline, if for no other reason that emergency calls can be easily traced to your home without you having to say a word. Our cell phones seem to do strange things at times, so we will keep the reliability of the land line. We do not have an answering service or machine though, so that does make it better. :)
We do have a land phone. We also each have a cell phone. The land phone comes in handy since we don't give our cell phone number out to everyone. If I didn't have a land phone, my anytime minutes on my cell phone would be much higher than they are. I like to use the land phone to make and receive calls when I am home. It is also good for parishioners when they need to call us. Friends, neighbors and family members also call us on the land phone. We have Caller ID and a recorder on the land phone so when we miss a call, we know who called.
Also, our cell phones do not work well in our house so the land phone is much easier to use at home.
We did convert our land phone from a regular phone company to our cable company about a year ago and it saved us a lot of money. Now we get digital cable, high speed internet and digital land phone service from the cable company on one plan and one monthly bill. We have unlimited long distance on the land phone and it only costs us a few extra dollars per month on our cable bill.
We also have a portable, cordless phone system in our house so we have a cordless phone jack and phone in each room for the land phone.
We have had the same land phone number for many years and everyone knows that number so it is just easier and more economical for us to keep the land phone.
One funny thing was we used to have two land phone numbers, one for parents and one for the teens when they lived at home. We kept the second line for several years after the kids went away to college and moved away. It just became a sentimental part of our family. However, when we converted our land phone to the cable company plan, the cable co. would only allow one line. It was so hard to give up that second line, until we realized that the only people who called us on that extra line were our 4 grown kids! That is when we gave it up and told them they could just call us on the parents' line.
Cell phones are great when we are not at home, but at home, d/h and I still prefer our land phone.
we use "magic jack"...goes trough the internet..costs 70 for 5 years..saves us lots of money and we still have a landline.sort of..
I am so rarely home anymore that I'd be lost without my cell.
We have the house phone through the cable provider. All four of us have cell phones and my father, sister and her children have the some provider so there are no minutes used when we call.
My sister and father live close and he is on her cell phone plan. It really cut the cost compared to him having his own plan. Is that something that would work for you and your mom?
What you said about you and your mom living close reminded me about talking to my mom on the phone. Hubs says when we lived close I would talk to her for an hour before we left for their house, talk the whole time I was there and call her when I got home after. We did spend a lot of time on the phone. ;^)
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