No home telephone?

acegirl

acegirl

Member
Apr 27, 2006
2,198
12
#1
Does anyone else not have a telephone in their house? It seems like this is becoming a more popular thing now that we all have cell phones. My brother bought a house last year & he does not have a phone. He uses his cell phone for everything. Why not, I guess he's never home anyway. My mom has a co-worker that does the same thing.

So the other day, we get back from our trip to Florida & there are 7 messages on our answering machine- 4 hang ups, 2 pre-recorded messages for some company & a wrong number! That's so irritating to me. I told my husband, I don't know why we have a telephone, it's hardly ever anyone we actually want to talk to. We are building a house right now & were actually throwing around the idea of not having a phone hooked up & just using our cell phones. We'd actually have the lines run & phone jacks installed, just not get a number or hook one up. Does that sound silly? Anyone else do this? It's getting to be such a pain with telemarketers(even when you are on a do not call list!). Only my friends, family, the schools & doctors know my cell # so when it rings, I know it's a legitimate call. Any thoughts?
 
#4
Seeing that we are in the process of moving...we got rid of our landline telephones and only use our cell phones for now....However, after we are all settled we will definitely get a landline phone! In case of an emergency, the cops will know where you are when you call - instead of taking I am not sure how much longer for them to tell where you are when calling on a cell phone. Not a huge fan of not having a landline phone, but it does have it's advantages!!!
 
#5
itsgood2beme said:
Seeing that we are in the process of moving...we got rid of our landline telephones and only use our cell phones for now....However, after we are all settled we will definitely get a landline phone! In case of an emergency, the cops will know where you are when you call - instead of taking I am not sure how much longer for them to tell where you are when calling on a cell phone. Not a huge fan of not having a landline phone, but it does have it's advantages!!!
Click to expand...

Nowadays people are able to locate you on a cell phone by measuring the signal from your phone and calculate geometry from the closest towers... Unless I'm living somewhere with no cell activities and the only thing available is your land line, I wouldn't worry at all.

I heard of a story from a friend of my friend. He got stuck on the highway, so he called 911 from his cell. People managed to go help him almost immediately.
 
#6
Personally I like having a land line hook-up.Living in rural areas can be a problem when making or receiving cell phone calls.I've lost count of how many dropped calls I've experience for this very reason and I use one of the best cell phone providers available.
 
#8
Syntagma said:
We don't have a home phone as our cable, internet, alarm system is together through one company.
Click to expand...

I insist on having a land line. The reason is because sometimes cell phones don't work and the internet based phone systems often are not recognized by 911 systems. This is really important if you call for help and cannot speak- because a regular land line will pinpoint your location.

My husband kept bugging me to change to an all-in-one package... until last month. We had what is called a "200 year storm" in Seattle. We had the equivalent of category 3 hurricane winds. There were trees and power lines down everywhere. We were without power for five days and Comcast, our cable provider, was down for 10 days, longer in some other areas. Several of our neighbors use the Comcast all-in-one cable/internet/phone package and they did not have a phone during that entire outtage. We also found that the cell phone towers were also damaged/affected and my cell phone only worked sporadically during the first three days after the storm. We NEVER had any issues with our Qwest landline- I just plugged an old non-battery operated phone into the jack and it was fine. This really matters if there is an emergency, which is why I won't give up my land line....
 
#10
Roo said:
I insist on having a land line. The reason is because sometimes cell phones don't work and the internet based phone systems often are not recognized by 911 systems. This is really important if you call for help and cannot speak- because a regular land line will pinpoint your location.

quote]

Roo, thank you for pointing that out! A natural (or heaven forbid, manmade) disaster can easily knock out cell service and electricity. Not only should you have a land line phone, you should have an old-fashioned cord phone available to send calls (cordless phones need electricity to operate).

You have to look out for yourself in case of emergency - hoping or assuming someone will find you by cellphone only can be reckless.

Okay, middle-aged woman getting off her soapbox now! :shame:
Click to expand...
 
#12
Congratulations on building your new house! How exciting for you!

We do have a land-line phone, but never use it. I just feel better having it....you know, just in case. The problem is we live in the country and power outages are common, so we don't always have service on our regular phone. Our cell phones are our "everything" phone and so much more reliable. LOL!

A couple of years ago, my sister disconnected her home phone, as she, her husband and her kids all had their own cell phones and numbers. She's never regretted it. Me, on the other, I like to have it around.....just in case.
 
#13
Roo said:
I insist on having a land line. The reason is because sometimes cell phones don't work and the internet based phone systems often are not recognized by 911 systems. This is really important if you call for help and cannot speak- because a regular land line will pinpoint your location.

My husband kept bugging me to change to an all-in-one package... until last month. We had what is called a "200 year storm" in Seattle. We had the equivalent of category 3 hurricane winds. There were trees and power lines down everywhere. We were without power for five days and Comcast, our cable provider, was down for 10 days, longer in some other areas. Several of our neighbors use the Comcast all-in-one cable/internet/phone package and they did not have a phone during that entire outtage. We also found that the cell phone towers were also damaged/affected and my cell phone only worked sporadically during the first three days after the storm. We NEVER had any issues with our Qwest landline- I just plugged an old non-battery operated phone into the jack and it was fine. This really matters if there is an emergency, which is why I won't give up my land line....
Click to expand...

Very good point.

We always lost our landline connection in storms though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Back