Weekend Open Forum: Do you still have a landline at home?

Matthew DeCarlo

Matthew DeCarlo

Posts: 5,271   +104
Staff

You might've laughed at that question as recent as a decade ago, but between expanding cellular coverage and affordable VoIP services, conventional landlines are increasingly redundant. I haven't had a wired phone in five years or so and I only know a few people who do -- at home anyway.

I acknowledge that fixed lines still offer an advantage in reliability and quality, making them ideal for businesses. But do you still have one for personal calls? If so, do you use it regularly or is it just bundled with your cable/Internet package and worth the few bucks a month to you as a backup?

**Phone pic via photofun/ShutterStock

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https://www.techspot.com/news/48376-weekend-open-forum-do-you-still-have-a-landline-at-home.html

 
If I could get rid of my landline I would, but here in the UK where I live you HAVE to have a landline to get the Internet, really sucks as I'm essentially paying for something I have never used or plan to ever use... Sigh, the day the whole UK catches up with decent speed broadband will be bliss...
 
Heck yeah! I'm not very fond of being tied to a cell phone. Plus my land line rings in 5 rooms in my house. The only bummer is that its too pricey!
 
We have Ooma internet landline service, which cost $4 per month. I have a prepaid cell phone, but I just can't see forking over $100 a month for a smartphone plus initial costs, altho I'm a hypocrite and program android apps on the pc stimulator. Things you get on the landline that you don't get on the mobile are call screening - answering machine to listen to calls as you receive them (plus voice mail when power/internet are down; seldom, unlike comcast) -, phones in every room, multiple people can talk to the same caller at once, automatic charging, call forwarding, detailed call logs, and others. Many incoming calls are lost on my att prepaid phone, never on Ooma landline. Ooma even gave us a free subscription to consumer reports just like that. The next improvement I think would be to get rid of the prepaid phone, but I have $300 rollover minutes on it. Ooma gives you 5000 minutes for $4/month. Why not have a landline when it's so cheap?
 
Burty117 said:
If I could get rid of my landline I would, but here in the UK where I live you HAVE to have a landline to get the Internet, really sucks as I'm essentially paying for something I have never used or plan to ever use... Sigh, the day the whole UK catches up with decent speed broadband will be bliss...
Click to expand...

Yeah it sucks to have to pay for something you never use. But for £25 I get BT infinity, 75Mbps down and 16Mbps up, so can't really complain about the total phone+broadband price, some countries have it much worse.
 
Burty117 said:
If I could get rid of my landline I would, but here in the UK where I live you HAVE to have a landline to get the Internet, really sucks as I'm essentially paying for something I have never used or plan to ever use... Sigh, the day the whole UK catches up with decent speed broadband will be bliss...
Click to expand...

No you don't. I am with Virgin and there is a choice for Telephone or not. Or unless that is choice for just extra features by default and the Telephone service comes bundled up by default.
 
Still do and will for the foreseeable future. It's cheap, reliable and I can use the fax feature on my printer for the rare occasion I need to.
 
Funny I read this on here because I am seriously thinking about getting rid of ours. I'm not sure if it's because it rings off the hook all day, telemarketing/surveyors, or the fact that I never seem to be within 50ft of a cordless phone when it rings and nobody ever puts them back on the bases!
 
I don't see myself ever having a landline. I'm renting with my parents and they have a landline but I have $45 a month unlimited service for my smartphone with a prepaid monthly service. And wherever I move to, I hope to make sure they have fiber optics or at least cable internet as dsl would force me to have a landline.
 
No landline here. I live at the very bottom of a valley, though. So cell coverage is occasionally problematic. Luckily, I don't spend any extended time talking on the phone so it's not too big of a deal.
 
Just got rid of my land line. It was required with ADT home security and was locked in a 350$ cancellation contract fee with the current installer. Once the contract time was completed, i dumped ADT and picked up with USAA's home service package with ADT and had the cell tower box installed. No longer needed the land line and made the old grouchy lady at TDS even more crabby when i told her to cancel my service.
 
Landline here in our home is never optional when it comes for Internet connection. There's a phone bundle for every package. Besides, we have a huge coverage for signals throughout the region. So it's kind of big of a deal.
 
I cut my landline about a year ago. Never missed it, the only people that would call me were advertisers and spammers. Everyone else called my cell.
 
About 6 months ago we dumped our landline for MagicJack Plus and haven't looked back. Yes, we do have a single prepaid cellphone w. an average charge per month of $7, but most calls are through MJ and it works well.

One nice benefit of MagicJack Plus was that we went on vacation to India and we took it with us which allowed us to make free calls to our relatives here in the states and our "local home" number rang at the hotel so it was like we never left in terms of being accessible -- i.e. no international phone charges...
 
I dont pay monthly for a landline

But I use magicjack as my landline just $20 per year not bad
 
Sure do, although its bare minimum - every outgoing call costs me. I typically just use it for toll-free numbers since its sooo much easier to use a real handset for those agonizing service calls (and the sound is so much better). I also don't want everybody knowing my cell number, plus I'm holding out hope for DSL someday. Besides, I can't stand not being able to make a call because my mobile has a dead battery.
 
WHAT? There's people without a landline? Damn, haven't come across that in Switzerland yet.
 
That would seem like not letting go of Win98 even when 8 is on the verge of release.
Anyway, back to the point. I never owned one in the first place. :p
 
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