Do You Still Need A Landline? - Comments Page 1

My heart monitor operates over a land line, so I have both.

Out here in the Boonies I have no cell signal. When it finally arrives the landline will be history. I have decent DSL, so maybe the phone company is intentionally delaying cell service to avoid losing landline customers?

"And remember that mobile phone service is not necessarily cheaper"
Yes, it made me laugh once reading an interview of someone down on their luck trying to save money by ditching their land line--ditching the cell phone would make more sense. But I get it, people have come to think of a cell phone as a necessity.

That's a quarter of a million people putting their lives on line. In an emergency calls to 911 may be routed to trhe wrong Call Center. Many Carriers are not able to give even a location close to the emergency. Land Lines can even pinpoint the floor in a bldg. I have a cell phone that costs me over $5.00 a month my two land lines which includes LD are less than $20.00. In a storm we had last month all Cell and WiFi was down when power went out.

I have a security system, so a land line is required. Also, the call quality on most cell phones is awful, IMHO. If we're going to talk for more than 5 minutes, I'd much rather have that conversation on a crystal-clear land line than a spotty cell phone.

I moved to a new subdivision- called the cable people- they said no cable for a couple of years- so I went with satellite (dish network)- and since I don't have cable- I have my internet via DLS and therefore continue with a landline. I am happy with this arrangement- I am also convinced that landmine calls especially overseas -sound better/work better than cell phones calls.

Also, even in populated areas, like mine, some of the providers have "quiet" or dead spots. Where I live in NJ, Verizon does not work well within a mile of my house. AT&T and T-Mobile are fair but expensive. I use Consumers Cellular (AT&T) and it is good.

My mom has kept her landline because she makes a lot of long calls during the day, which would have blown through wireless minutes in no time.

A landline beats cellular in QoS all of the time - that is Quality of Service! Even lighltly loaded, cell quality is frequently poor. As loading (call activity) increases, providerss do two things to pass more calls through the same cell - (1) clip voice agressively so you lose a little bit of every word or even evey sylable, and (2) compress the signal more agressively meaning more loss. On a cellular-to-cellular call during a busy time, voice calls are frequently giberish.
I try to do business calls only on landlines, so that at least 1/2 of the signal has a fair chance.

In regards to keeping your landline service, I can tell you as a former Seattle firefighter and dispatcher, how difficult it was to locate someone using a cell phone and them not knowing the address. Cell technology is still not perfect.

We were without power for 9+ weeks after Hurricane Andrew, 2 weeks after Katrina, 3 weeks after Wilma, and through all that the landline phone never failed. But the cell system in SoFL has been hardened and had no problems in those more recent events. So I finally (with much trepidation) have cut the cord. Switched the alarm system to cellular and transported the landline number to a Straight Talk home device, which has a battery to continue through short (1-2 day) power outages, and can be forwarded then to a cell if need be. Not as perfectly clear as the landline, but good enough. Attached to a Dect 6.0 phone system, it works throughout the house, which our cell phones do not (we keep an old corded phone around too, for outages). And my mother and other friends and relations do not have to learn a new number. Net savings ~$40/month. I did not want to go to VOIP because in outages we of course have no internet, though maybe Vonage offers a forwarding option.

Al S. made a great point about 911 service. If your phone has a Virginia area code and you are in California and dial 911, I believe your call will be routed to a call center in Virginia. There was a story about that on the news a few months ago.

I am NOT giving up my land line. Cell service, even in my bigger city, is still spotty at times. Nothing so far on a cell phone equals or beats the clarity I get on the land line.

My wife and I agree that as long as we have a kid living at home we will have a land line. As they grow and we give them more freedom and responsibility by leaving them at home alone for short periods, we want them to have access to 911. But once they're gone... out it comes!

We use Magicjack and no landline and get crystal clear reception using their latest model which plugs directly into the modem. The vast majority of our household calls are made using cell phones however. I agree that the main/only reason to have a landline is for security.

I live alone and have multiple health problems. I have hearing difficulties. I have no close family living and few friends. Since I don't travel far from home, why should I pay for a cell phone that I _might_ need? My landline is *always* there in case of emergency. (I passed out while trying to call 911. Someone was sent to my home within minutes.) Viva la landline! (My ISP has a 'lifetime guarantee' on my Net service:$49.99/mo! You can have your cell phones!

I went wireless about 2 years back. Never missed anything. Never looked back. Even my home security system is on wireless. My internet connection is also 4G wifi.

About 911 calls, a GPS enabled phone provides adequate lication information.

On the whole, I am saving a bundle :)

Remember if you get rid of your landline it is probably the number you gave to the credit card companies so you need to give them a new number. They will call if there is a problem with a charge and if they can not get you may deny the charge.

I agree with Rebecca. Cell phone call quality is awful at times, especially if someone puts you on their cell speaker phone. In fact, if someone local calls me at home from their cell phone and we need to talk for more than a few minutes, I ask them to call me back on my land line.

You've covered all the good reasons for retaining the land line, which all apply to me. Further, during long power outages 1) the cell phone service might have its power out too, and 2)it's really hard to recharge the cell phone.

With DSL you can drop landline using MagicJack Plus, OOMA, others. Though same problem with VOIP phone when power goes out, no service.

Wish phone companies required to provide 911 service on non landline DSL service when no power. It's the same phoneline. A non service mobile phone can call 911, why not the other?