Jun 1, 2009
The Daily Poverty Post.
When Bossy’s daughter was a baby, Bossy and her husband decided to leave their hometown and move a few states over, where they bought a farm and lived among the enormous spiders and it was grand, but after a few years they decided they missed home and spiders without leg joints, and so the family returned to their hometown, purchasing a house on the very same street.
Thousands of wasted dollars later, the first order of business was to call the phone company and acquire a new phone number, which Bossy did, and when Bossy says she did it she means her husband, but the point is: Bossy’s new phone number spells Chumpie-You-Came-Back!
Of course it doesn’t really spell it out in quite this way, but that’s what the particular succession of numbers mean to Bossy, because Bossy is a numerologist, a word she just had to look up so maybe she actually isn’t but. Anyway: Bossy became attached to her phone number.
Except without a doubt, one of the things that keeps Bossy awake in her bed at night is thinking about how much she hates using the telephone, and how she never answers her telephone, and how she never checks the messages on her telephone — and hi, have you met Bossy’s insomnia?
Meanwhile, phone service plans are set up in such a way to lasso you into paying for more than you need. Bossy and her husband set out a while ago to reduce this cost, but every time they tried to jettison a feature they don’t need, for instance built-in answer call, they’d find out that feature is bundled with a feature they do need, for instance call waiting.
Bossy and her husband eventually combined services within the house so their phone is now attached to their cable service which is attached to their internet delivery, but paying for something Bossy doesn’t use still keeps Bossy awake at night because precisely everything keeps Bossy awake at night.
One obvious answer is to cancel the landline and resort solely to cell phone use. Bossy’s friend Martha did this a while ago, and recently Bossy interviewed Martha about how it’s going:
Bossy: How’s it going?
Martha: The worst thing has been dealing with the reality of not having a phone attached to the wall. The part that concerns me most is if we have an emergency and need to call 911 and are in a state of panic and I need to find my cell phone NOW or the kids need to find it NOW. If the phone is attached to the wall we always know where it is and don’t have to dig in mom’s purse, only to find out it is not there but charging in the outlet. Luckily I have a cell phone, my teenage son has one, and my husband as well… so generally we all know where our individual phones are and can actually get to them faster than a landline and can run away while calling 911 if needed.
Editor’s Note where Editor equals Bossy: this bit of 911 paranoia brought to you by Martha, who spends the day imagining various deadly scenarios, for instance How Would She Save Bossy From Being Hit By A Bus. Of course in order for this to be a real scenario, Martha would first have to throw Bossy in front of that bus. Bossy now returns you to your interview.
The best part about not having a landline… good question. I guess money saved, but barely. And now my teenage son has his own phone to take with him… which is maybe a waste of money and resources for a million kids to ALL have a phone when they are usually an arms length away from borrowing one to make a quick call home to say you will be late. It is a strange world we live in. I think it is part of the evolution of the human race… seriously, why do we feel the need to stay so connected at all times? Dr. Martha prescribes all families to go on a camping trip without cellphones or internet service for a solid week once a year… just don’t ask me to do it.
Bossy’s council: what say you about this dilemma?
–>We got rid of our landline phone eight years ago and have never looked back. My husband and I are addicted to our crackberries. Plus, NO telemarketers call the cell number. Isn’t that reason enough?
http://thaxtonfam.blogspot.com
I don’t like telephones either, so I was happy to get rid of the land line. I only have a cell because I need it for work.
I’m in the military and move every 2-3 years anyway, so I gave up on having a landline. It saves a little money, but more importantly relieves me of the hassle to start all over again every time I move. I’m single though, and never considered the whole 9-1-1 dilemma.
Don’t ask me — my teenager just started TEXTING, which I’m pretty sure is one of the signs of the apocalypse.
I canceled my landline phone couple of years ago for a different reason… after a bad thunderstorm, our phone would be dead for several days, ring and no one would be there, then be fine for several days… and repeat.
Our pitiful company’s service reps came out 3 or 4 times until the last one told me that if too many people on my street were using the phone at the same time, it would flood the lines… and I had to wait my turn. I canceled my service instead, and went cellular full time.
I love the portability of the phone, and only having one bill. For me, it works.
However, I dislike that if the power is ever off for an extended period of time, I have no way to charge the phone inside my home… only the car charger. I know someone who says she will always keep a land line so that she knows she’ll have a phone in a power outage.
I do pay an extra 5$ a month on my satellite bill to have the watch tv and have the dvr in a second room… a fee that would be waived if I connected the satellite to the phone line.
Also, if you have an alarm system monitoring your home, be aware that most of them use the phone lines to communicate with the monitoring company, and canceling your phone line will render the alarm system useless. Check with your monitoring company before you cancel your land line.
Good luck, Bossy, and Bossy’s readers, I mean reader.
Gah how I would love to ditch the land line. Both hubby and I have cells. But still he reaches for the land line to make long distance calls. Really? IT’S FREE ON YOUR CELL. (Even more so since his is totally paid by work.)
But alas, I cannot cancel for 1 reason: Hubby is GM of a very large resort and so people need to be able to reach him. And cell service at the new house is not so great. If they put up another tower so we can get reliable service? That sucker is gone.
We gave up our home phone a couple months ago as everyone had a cell phone. Don’t miss it at all.
We would love to get rid of the home phone, but we have an alarm system that uses the home phone to contact the call center in an emergency.
I’ve been talking about ditching the landline for a couple of years but have yet to pull the trigger.
On the one hand, if I cancel the home phone, I can justify the extra fees associated with having a pda-type phone.
On the other hand…wait, there is no other hand. If I have a power outage, my CORDLESS home phone won’t work.
I guess I need to cancel the home phone!
I haven’t had a land line for three years. Don’t miss it at all. As others have said, it’s one less bill, and when I move, I don’t have to change numbers. Keep in mind, though, that you *can* get telemarketing calls on your cell, but it’s illegal. One more thing to keep in mind: When you call 911 from your cell phone, you don’t have the advantage of the operator knowing where you’re calling from, like they do when you call from a land line. My (Verizon) cell phone has a setting that allows this, though, but I had to turn it on via my menu options. Here’s an FCC page about this kind of thing: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/wireless911srvc.html
Did that make sense at all?
Next time, coffee first, Tasha. Yeesh.
I no longer have a land line either and do not miss it. The only issue is the power outage one. During the aftermath of Hurricane Ike we had to charge our phones in the car. But it wasn’t a problem really (the car had a/c and the house didn’t!). Like the one person said, if you have a cordless phone, which a lot of people do, you can’t use it with no power either, and you can’t charge it in your car.
We still have a land line because cell coverage at our house can be spotty. It improved after we changed plans a year ago, but we are still to skeered to make the leap to no land line, for we are of the Martha-Doomsday Scenario type.
I have a new Poverty Party Post up, but I don’t recommend reading it, as it is depressing and dull and I shouldn’t even link it here, but I want to share the pain.
http://aliasmother.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/poverty-party-post-there-really-is-no-decision-and-i-know-this-be-ye-not-fooled/
Bossy’s council, HELP!!!….. I WANT to ditch my landline…. I want to make the call RIGHT NOW. Here is the one reason I don’t. My husband’s elderly grandparents with failing health seem to only know how to call the one phone number they have known for 17 years. We have been working hard to get them to call our cells, in hopes of weaning them off the land line number, but with no luck.
Do we continue to pay $30 a month so 2 people can call us, or practice tough love and cut them off?
Help!!!
Haven’t had a land line in 4 years. Don’t miss it.
I actually canceled my land line, and then called to cancel the cancellation. I am reluctant to give up my number (it’s a great number!), but the big thing for me is sound. For a good conversation, my land line can’t be beat.
Although my phone is getting dusty from non-use, I am still hesitant about giving it up.
Bossy, you would have no phone issues at my house. We are completely off-grid by necessity — the nearest electric pole is 20 miles away, and the nearest phone pole is right next to it. So, landline is not even an option here at the ranch.
But wait! There’s more!
We also have NO CELL SERVICE. Verizon is planning to put a tower in on a neighboring mountain, but until it goes up in THREE YEARS there is no cell signal anywhere out here. So if you need to make a phone call, you have to get in your car and drive 40 minutes first.
It’s not a solution I’d have chosen, nor is it one I’d recommend to ANYONE, nor is it actually a solution at all now that I think about it, but you’d be surprised how well you can adjust to not using telephones at all when that’s just how life is. I keep in touch with my family using Skype and email (thank the heavens for satellite Internet!!!), and have no phone or cell bills of any type. It does make it interesting when you’re trying to run a business, but even that can be overcome with good planning and the Intertubes.
To Renee in Seattle:
Ditch the landline.
Give his grandparents a corded phone with speed dial. Program yourself in so they only have to push one button to call you (or if you live far away, have someone else program it in).
Maybe a new phone for Father’s Day?
Here’s my thoughts:
For my family, my parents live in WI, my 24 yr old sis in MN, and I in CA. Last year, my parents ditched the landline, roped me and sister into a family cell plan, and we all ditched our previous plans. The new plan came w/ almost free phones, (like $30 each or something ridiculously cheap) and we each pay $50 bucks a month, which includes ALL the bells and whistles: navigation, internet, unlimited texts, photos, email access, and phone insurance, since I’m hopelessly clumsy.
The way we see it, we all 4 would have cells anyway, and to get all this stuff individually, plus enough minutes, would have cost $85-$100 each. Plus the landlines. (Did I mention we all call each other free, along w/ everyone else with our company, plus 2 additional people each that we choose who aren’t with our company?) It’s been great.
However, for families that have younger children, who wouldn’t have their own phones ordinarily, this seems like a drastic step. But for older kids and parents, who are spread out across the country, this has saved a bundle of $$$!
I’ve been landlineless for almost a decade, but now that I have a kid I worry about finding my cell phone during an emergency. And by worry, I mean obsess way into the wee hours of the morning. I sleep with my cell phone under my pillow. No joke.
I say get rid of all the features and keep the hook up.
Also, I call my old number on a regular basis and hang up.
So sad.
We haven’t had a landline in about a year and we love it.
If you’re worried about being able to charge your phone during a power outage, get yourself a handcharger. It charges the battery by cranking a handle instead of plugging it in.
Also, all the security alarm system companies we talked to when we were shopping around had an option for people without landlines. If yours doesn’t, I’m sure it will soon, since going landlineless is becoming more and more popular.
It’s one less bill and one less expense for something we rarely used anyway. And even though we rarely use our cell phones for actual phone calls, we use them constantly for e-mail, internet, schedules, calculator, the weather, stock market, alarm clock, etc., etc., etc.
Don’t know about money saved, but we have a landline plus a “pay as you go” cell. Sound quality, comfort (larger phone is easier to hold between head and shoulder), and reliability of the signal are why we keep the landline. And having a landline means a cell is rarely needed. We spend about $15/month for the cell phone credit.
I think we’ll be keeping our landline. When we were looking for a new house a couple of years ago, DH had one requirement – the house had to be located in an area that allowed us to keep the same phone number!lol BTW, you can have an alarm system and no phone line. Phone lines are usually very easy to cut anyhow so they’re not that practical. Our alarm system has a battery radio backup thingie…yeah, not sure what the technical term is but I think the technology behind it is similar to a cell phone. All I know is that if our phone line is out, the emergency center is reached through this system.
I haven’t had a landline in years..neither had my boyfriend before we were together. I think it is a TOTAL waste of money – especially if you find yourself in the situation where you realize it hasn’t rang and you haven’t picked it up to use it in more than 6 months. Dump the landline and use the money for booze!
Ditched the land line 5 years ago.
Since the cell reception sucks in my current apartment that just means I make all calls short and sweet. Yay!
If I was at home much or at an indoors job all day I would probably have a land line because of the way better quality for conversation. With kids and babysitters and the housebound it a different story-they probably need a landline.
RIght before the hurricane last fall I had Sprint turn on texting for my phone. The texting works much better than calling during a natural disaster. Once things got more back to normal I switched off the texting. (I know, what a cheapskate.)
Ditch the landline since you hate talking on it anyway.
Keeping the landline because we have two little kids and live in the country, so trying to explain to emergency services exactly where we are is not a great idea. Also, cell reception is spotty.
We pared our account down to the basics: no call waiting, no caller ID, etc. (so sad). Neither of us wants a cell phone — “Hey kids, look at the freaks without cell phones! Let’s throw something at them!” — but I’ll be getting one next month, probably. Until then I borrow my mom’s Jitterbug once in a while, and No, I’m not joking.
Commence throwing things.
Forgot to add: we have an old princess phone in the cupboard for when the power goes out (and it does in the country).
I have the 911 paranoia too so I keep a landline. Not only that but my two teenagers have cell phones, I have one, my husband carries TWO cells – one for family and one for work, and this summer I have to buy my 10 year old one because he’s starting middle school and I want him to be able to get in touch with us.
As for the camping idea – I completely agree, only I sneak my laptop into my luggage and daily drive 5 mles to the coffee shop to get coffee (and use their internet). My family doesn’t know about that.
You mentioned bundling – we are bundled too and with the bundle discount basically that means the landline is free. I also still use the landline for long distance calls because I cannot stand the satellite delay I get on my cell.
Now I know why you don’t call me. That and you don’t have my number.
I am in the very midst of this dilemma myself, Bossy. I too, have a bundled package, and my bill just shot up to $200 a month. All told, not bad for cable internet, digital cable/dvr/premium channels, and phone with call waiting and unlimited long distance, but I’m paying $70 per month for a cell phone that is used primarily as a texting machine and my 500 minutes a month goes unused. Considering I make about three phone calls a month to mom and dad (we mostly communicate via email) equaling about 20 minutes each, it’s almost like throwing money away.
That’s it. Calling RCN tonight. Also, my OnDemand isn’t working. Bastiches.
I say gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and I reach for the fishbowl full of gin. (Cat bowl’s not big enough.)
I have a big opinion about this. If you call 9-1-1- from a cellphone it is routed differently than calling 9-1-1 from a landline. You will generally wait a lot (a lot) longer on a cellphone.
When an intruder is knocking down my door I might my 9-1-1 call answered a.s.a.p. Martha and I apparently have a lot in common when it comes to worst-case scenario thinking.
Seriously though, when my son collapsed on the pool deck and I called 9-1-1 from my cellphone it was 20 minutes before they answered. Thank goodness for the paramedic dad on the other team.
Greetings from Under the Rock and The Last Century. I have only a land line and not even cordless – only phones that plug into walls. Because I like myself not being accessible every minute, everywhere, but appreciate my phone being so whenever I want/need. As in when the power is out.
This is where The Cheap Chick Falls Down. I have a land line AND a cell phone with way too many minutes and no texting minutes. Sigh. Must get on this…
Thank you for the reminder, Bossy!
I, too, would love to lose my landline. But I worry about dialing 9-1-1 and then slipping into a coma. Caller ID would get an ambulance to my house. But my cell number? I’m thinking, no. Not quickly anyway.
from the 911 operator… Depending on the area you live in, your provider and the technology of the cell tower you hit, the GPS locator in your phone can only put you within “so many feet” of your precise location, It wont give us your address or apartment number. Also I tried to find an article on the FCC website but I know in FL, the phone company must make ALL phones accessable to 9-1-1. ex. you could grab any old cell from the shelter donation box and as long as you have battery power and signal you will reach 911. Bellsouth does hook up landlines to “9-1-1 only” service. We get those calls alot and like them much better than cell calls!
if you still want a house phone at a cheap cost, get Vonage, only about 30 bucks a month!
So I’m reading along, all about how everyone HATES their landlines, LOVES their cell phones, thinking, “Yes, I think I am the only person left in America under the age of 30 who does not own a cell phone,” and then I get to Foolery’s comments. That right there is my soul sister. We have a landline with no features at all. We have my grandma’s old rotary dial phone for power failures. I won’t throw anything at you, Foolery. I may even hug you.
I don’t like cell phones. I’m not saying they don’t have their place, but their place is not in my life right now.
Anyway, I’m home all the time, because I’m an anti-social freak, so I can always be reached by regular phone.
spouse and I have no cell phones, just the land line.
and that’s the truth.
(pbbbbbbhhhhhhttttttttttt) – a la lily tomlin’s edith ann
Dump the dang land line! You can take the number if you want, have it transfered to your cell. I did that five years ago, after paying the bill and realizing I hadn’t used it once in months. I haven’t missed my landline once!
911 knows where you are, believe me, and if you make a point of having a certain spot set aside for your phone, and of course this would be where your charger is, you will never lose it. Cha Ching!
Despite having the network that has “people”, our house is a dead zone. To make a cell phone call, one must stand on one foot on the front porch pointing north. We will never get rid of our land line.
We now have five (5) cordless handsets, but every time the phone rings I have to hear my husband scream “where’s a phone?”
We bundle with Cox Communications, and they have a nifty new feature (free, I hope?) that puts the caller i.d. across the television screen, usually a few seconds before the phone actually rings. Haven’t decided yet whether I like this yet.
Well, I cancelled one landline, but I’m holding on to the other one like a lifeline. Our 9-1-1 calls from the cell go to the CHP, and they only show the general area, not the specific house where the call comes from. In an emergency, that’s not good enough for me. Additionally, I think it’s foolish to rely on being able to charge the cell when the power goes out. My cell doesn’t charge in my car unless the car is running.
We still have a trimline princess phone with a long cord, too. Keeping it. We could ditch the cable though since we hardly ever watch it.
I’m with Annie (34)
Why does everyone feel the need to be in touch with everyone else ALL the time?
I don’t get it. I have a landline, no cell.
If I’m home I’m happy to chat on a phone large enough to be comfortable and with great sound quality. Not a piece of plastic the size of a credit card that I need 3 degrees to operate.
If I’m out….I don’t want to talk to you, I’m socialising with the people I’m with….. or having a great time…on my own. Wait till I’m home!
Bah humbug.
…though I’m not a ludite….I love internet and email….but on my terms.
I’m with Annie (34) & Deborah (44). And tomorrow I’m taking the IO box back to the cable company and switching to the BASIC plan – only 22 channels to not watch vs 4,000 channels to not watch. Most of my nieces & nephews have only cell phones – the sound quality & the cut outs drive me nuts.
I call our local police (not the 911 line) for help at least once a month (last Thursday twice in one day) and I LOVE that they know my address immediately – once an officer arrived before I even finished the phone call. They also have my husband’s medical info in their computer and even the rookies know all about him before they get here. If I call the 911 number (only three times in the last 8 years) an ambulance is dispatched before the police arrive.
Just because someone has a cell phone with her at all times doesn’t mean it’s always turned on. They come with off buttons and some of us actually use those off buttons when we go out to dinner, to a movie, visit friends, etc. Not all cell phone users are rude and obnoxious. And most cell phone plans include voice mail and Caller ID, so it’s not like you have to answer the call when it comes in.
I think that being able to make a call, access the internet, or send/receive e-mail any time I want, without having to go home (or find a pay phone or library or cybercafe), as well as having the option to shut off the phone entirely IS completely on my terms.
While some people seem to be concerned about having to call 9-1-1 from home and passing out before they’re able to give the operator their address, I’m much more worried about something happening to me when I’m away from home and not being able to call for help.
I haven’t had a land line since 2002, and I have never looked back. I am very aware of where my phone is at all times. I too have phone phobia and rarely answer my phone, so having two phones to NOT answer just seems silly.
I’ve had a cellphone since they weighed a ton, and have had the same phone # since then too. About a decade ago while visiting a friend in Germany, everyone kept mentioning ‘handies’, I finally learned this is the term for their mobile phones as no one there had land lines it is more costly than American jeans and peanut butter (not combined). After returning home to a machine full of messages, I was in the process of moving. When I got to the new house, I never hooked up a land line and never will again. And yes, I’ve called 911 many times on it (unfortunately) and it even works if you call from the other state that the number originated in 15 years ago. BTW many states give you a tax credit on the ridiculous cellphone taxes IF it is your only phone. DO IT.
Last year my husband and I decided to dump our “land lines”(for some reason I hate that phrase) and we are strictly cell phone people now which is just code for Those Who Will Be Left Behind When The Tsunami Hits.
Thanks Emma @ 46! I have one place for my cell phone when Im at home and it gets charged every night since I plug it into the charger as Im brushing my teeth, EVERY NIGHT. The car charger works super fast (I learned during hurricane Ike).
I do not advocate getting rid of your landline till you are absolutely certain the 911 issue is solved. Sue @ 37 mentioned the 911 only feature-Im going to check that out tomorrow.
I’ve been without any TV cable for 23 years. (So go ahead and throw rocks at me for that if you want.) How does anyone have time, or more importantly the inclination, to sit in front of the television watching nothing for hours? The shut-ins and housebound excepted of course.
We don’t pay for satellite TV, so no reception of anything at all. And as full as my life is? I actually miss TV more than I miss being able to use a phone out here. Shhh. Please don’t tell my mom.
We got rid of the land line about 4 years ago. We bundled internet, cable and then got a separate cell phone service. It was a VERY weird feeling to not see phones CONNECTED to our home. Well, ok, got rid of one cost only to replace it with IRRESPONSIBLE-TEENAGER-WITH-CELL-PHONE cost that could rival the national debt. You will need 9-1-1 when you have cardiac arrest after opening the bills. SOMEONE discovered EasyEdge. Everytime I blocked everything I thought was possible to block, SOMETHING would find it’s evil way in. Let’s not get into the problems associated with camera phones. Texting. Your kid falling into a parallel universe with iPod headset, texting on cell, walking through house like a techie zombie on his way to play video games. We had Scrabble growing up, dammit. And we were happy even though our pet rabbit peed on the board. It wasn’t a cool board that spun around either. I digress to happier times. Does anyone else have these issues with cell phones & teenagers?
I do not have any stake in this company, I am only a satisfied user. /disclaimer.
I ditched my rather expensive traditional land-line and signed up with a company called “Vonage” which provides Voice Over Internet services (VOIP). Since I’m paying for my cable service anyhow, it made sense. I pay roughly 25 dollars a month, and I get unlimited calling at any time of the day or night to anywhere in the US, Canada and a few other countries. For an additional (small – like 5-10/mo) I have added a second number. This second number is in my dad’s town. He can now call me WITHOUT PAYING LONG-DISTANCE CHARGES, anytime.
The phone number is not listed, however there is some kind of 911 thingy – but I don’t remember. Anyhow. Downside is that if I need to call when the power is out, I’m screwed because I have no modem, hence no cable service, no internet, no VOIP.
So I have a pay-as-you-go cellphone that I also use for road trips. I keep the cell on the charger at home (unless I’m on a road trip), so if the power goes out, I still have phone service.
Even with the extra number for Dad – it is hella cheaper than my old *cough*AT&T*cough* service!!
We had cell phones only for a long time. But when my oldest started being able to stay home by himself for an hour or so, but not old enough to NEED a cell phone, I decided a land line is a must. Plus when babysitters come over, and not all of them have cell phones, I feel better with a phone attached to the wall.
i only use my cell phone, which would be smart if i didn’t keep changing my plan! i technically have a land line… it can only make a few local calls per month, no caller id, no call waiting etc. I pay $3 a month for it and don’t have a phone hooked up to it (it’s for the alarm system)
I need a home phone so that I can give that number to people I don’t want to talk to…where a message will do just fine. Doctors’ offices, online ordering, etc.
I only have my cellphone. But I still live at home and my parent’s still have their land line. Personally, I think it would be cheaper for them to ditch the landline and just use there cell phones but what do I know?
I still have a so-called land line because I don’t want to be constantly available. When I bundled my services with FIOS, Verizon TOOK OUT my real landline and it’s all fiber-optics now. When we had the big ice storm this past winter, after a day and a half, the backup batteries wore down and we didn’t have phone sevice anyway. I do not see why they didn’t leave the wiring in place so that it is a real landline.
If I had a better cell plan I’d ditch the landline. But since we have it bundled with cable and internet (FIOS) it costs less. Oh, it’s also bundled with our cell phone.
UNTIL they bring back the party line, I’m cancelling landline.
what fun that used to be! Between that and crank phone calls, I survived the midwest summers.
Sorry, I won’t give up my landline. We live in earthquake country — Puget Sound area, not CA — and about 9 years ago we had a quake strong enough to shake us up a little. The cell lines were jammed for hours, but the landlines worked. Freaked me out — I had a 9 month old in daycare and I couldn’t get through.
At an emergency preparedness class recently, we learned that in an emergency, sometimes the only way you can make calls is a landline to an out-of-state number. Scared me straight. We use our cells most of the time, but I pay for a basic local plan plus $5.99/mo for 5 cent/min long distance service, just in case. In addition to our cordless phones, we also have one corded phone for when the power goes out.
What a lot of strong opinions!
61/Liz C, thanks for the tip about emergency preparedness and earthquakes and whatnot. ( I’m in Gig Harbor. Howdy.)
Husband wants to ditch the land line. I hate checking the answering machine messages –> prefer that he do it. Even worse, I hate voicemail on my cell. Luddite of sorts I guess. He finally got a cell (when I, in tears, discovered that he’d gone on Other Errands and wasn’t bleeding in the bottom of a ravine) but he’s given out the number to exactly two people. Think he wants his number to be the one all the voicemails go to? I say, we’re keeping the landline. Plus there’s the earthquake thing. (We have a corded version for all those power outages.)
14/Renee in Seattle —
(in case you’re checking back still…)
Be glad your parents remember how to use the phone and call you. Keep the land line til they can’t call anymore. (Then, for that reason, you’ll really, really miss it when it’s gone…) Responding to 18/Me’s perfectly good suggestion, I suppose it depends on the parents’ ability to adapt to change. My early Alz-Mom couldn’t even figure out the programmed one-button thing. Which is where I’m coming from in this response.
We ditched our landline about 7 years ago and since then moved across country. We kept the same phone numbers and didn’t install a local landline here, either.
I roam around a lot during the day for work and, especially once we had a baby in daycare, the cell phone was the only way for daycare to reach me in an emergency.
When we started using babysitters we added a 3rd line to our family plan for $10/mo and got the most basic obvious phone possible. We leave that phone plugged into a charger at all times and treat it like a landline. If we go out, we could call that number if we need to reach the sitter and don’t have her cell # handy. And if there’s an emergency that’s the go-to “I know where it is” phone.
We have never, not once, used it. In 4 years. I called our provider to drop that line last fall and they just gave me a better price on the whole package so we kept it and cut our bill $20/mo anyhow.
The disadvantages: when asked for your number you have to give your cell and sometimes I don’t want to give my cell out. And since we kept our original numbers we’re now always saying “phone number? sure. It’s an out-of-state cell… xxx-xxx-xxxx” which…gets old. And our local friends and family grumble that to call us they have to either use their landlines to make a long distance call to us across the street OR go find their cells and they, apparently, aren’t as fond of that.
But that’s only an issue if you move and refuse to change numbers. And that only happened because we were mid-adoption when we moved and our original cell numers were registered with the embassy and so we couldn’t change them…um, where was I?
I just cancelled our cell plan with Verizon yesterday (with no contract termination fee thanks to my smooth talking.) We needed to save money somewhere, and we would have cut the landline, but that is the only cheap way to get the internets here in Alaska. (We can’t tether with our cell phones as we only have the 3G-less network up here.) I will be getting an emergency-only cell phone, but basically in two weeks we’ll be among those cell phone-less freaks. Foolery (26,) I will be keeping an eye out for flying objects.
I still have a land line basically to call 911. When cells phones can work well with 911, then I will drop the land line maybe. I don’t always have my cell by me, but there are two land lines in our house. In California, during fire season, it is good to have a land line so that emergency services can call you to let you know when to evacuate. You can get emergency only service for a minimum charge. I don’t have that but only pay $10/mo with MCI. If power outages are a problem, then get a phone that plugs directly into the jack, not the kind that has to be plugged into electricity also.