Do you even have a house phone anymore?

[Ecoh]

When cell phones first began to be popular, financial institutions would not accept a cell phone number as your contact number, so if you had a mortgage or credit cards, you had to keep a land line.

When I signed up for FIOS, I wanted to drop the phone, so they gave it to me for free with a two year contract.

My husband has started working at home now and needs a fax machine, so that is what the line is connected to now.

 

[danny_w]

Yes but it is a MagicJack VOIP phone (cheap). We use it primarily for my wife to call her family and friends in Korea. My (step)son and I are the only ones in the family with iPhones (T-Mobile).

 

[ixodes]

Nope and haven't for prolly 5 years...

What's a "prolly" and how much do they cost?

 

[MacManTexas56]

we haven't had a home phone since like 2003 maybe??

About a year or so ago we did google voice voip thing with an obi100 box, but people were so used to calling our cell phones that we got rid of that for good also.

 

[kyellowness]

nope, not for the last 7 years or so.

 

[SurferMan]

No, don't even remember last time having one, been at least over 5 years.

 

[Jimbo47]

I do know some people who don't have a landline but do have cell phones. However the cell signal isn't the best where they are (it's usable, but its hit or miss). They have a magic jack just incase theres an emergency and they can't dial out from the cell phone.

 

[lordofthereef]

Everyone SHOULD have a landline, whether they pay for it or not. 911 is free. Wherever you have a working jack you can call it. No reason not to have at least one emergency land line in the house IMO.

 

[Sital]

Still have a landline here for 4 reasons.

-Call quality is better and I don't have to worry about a dropped call on my end.

-Even though carriers are now required to provide more precise location information to 911, there are exceptions and it's still not as accurate as a landline location.

-If I lose power my phone still works and I don't have to worry about the battery running out.

-I'd never be able to get in contact with my one daughter since she can't for the life of her keep her cell phone charged on any consistent basis.

 

[Dweez]

I've got a home office line and we have a home phone, both Vonage. Mobile phones are fine, but I don't see the need to delete the home lines.

 

[Starfighter]

No, don't want the cost of having one.

 

[takeshi74]

Is the iPhone always by your side at the ready to take a call, or is the good old home phone still needed?

Got rid of the land line way before I ever got an iPhone.

 

[spamfish123]

Have one at my parents' house, which I ignore as 90% of calls are for my mum and the other 10% are marketing... I mean, er, 'market research' calls. Apparently they can get around the TPS if they're 'doing market research' rather than selling you something.

At my university flat last year though (private rented) we had a landline used purely for broadband - no phone plugged into it. No-one would ever have called it except for marketers.

When living away from my parents' home I'd never have a phone plugged into the landline.

 

[terryblyth]

I'm not sure if it's still the case, but in the UK having a landline was pretty much mandatory to gaining any sort of decent credit rating.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

Don't really need nor use. But it's linked with the home security system so nothing we can do. Ah, and my mom use it to call us; it's cheaper.

 

[daviddth]

Yes because a home phone is needed for ADSL line for internet access.

 

[Quotenfrau]

We have the old fixline. Only because abroad calls are cheaper than on mobile.

 

[Stuntman06]

-Call quality is better and I don't have to worry about a dropped call on my end.

Of the three major providers where I live, one of them always drops calls at my house. My work phone uses this carrier and I've gone through half a dozen phones over the past 10 years and all have the same issue. The other two major carriers work fine at my house. My wife and I have phones on these other two carriers.

-If I lose power my phone still works and I don't have to worry about the battery running out.

I had a cordless phone and the base unit will not work if there is no power. You need one of those old corded phones that draw power from the phone line only. When I had a land line I did have multiple phones throughout the house my non-cordless phones will work through a power outage, but my cordless will not.

 

[Agent OrangeZ]

What's a "prolly" and how much do they cost?

I laughed

 

[ixodes]

i laughed

ah yes...

 

[bushido]

yep cuz it doesnt cost anything and is included with any internet plan, however i hate phone calls either way so i mostly text

 

[Sital]

I had a cordless phone and the base unit will not work if there is no power. You need one of those old corded phones that draw power from the phone line only. When I had a land line I did have multiple phones throughout the house my non-cordless phones will work through a power outage, but my cordless will not.

True. It's always recommended that if you have a landline at least one phone is corded.

 

[jwingfie]

Nope. Haven't had one in about 7 years. My parents don't have one at their house either.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Everyone SHOULD have a landline, whether they pay for it or not. 911 is free. Wherever you have a working jack you can call it. No reason not to have at least one emergency land line in the house IMO.

You can't call 911 without a dial tone, which you need to actually pay for a landline to get. I have never heard of being able to call 911 with no landline service before.

Cell phones on the other hand can dial 911 whether its an active line of service or not, SIM card inserted or not. (Though older phones won't even let you dial 911 without a SIM card inserted)

 

[NewAnger]

You can't call 911 without a dial tone, which you need to actually pay for a landline to get. I have never heard of being able to call 911 with no landline service before.

Correct. I have DSL which comes from my local phone company and I have no dial tone because I have no land line service. I can't dial out, I have tried.