BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?

Subject: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 20 Oct 12 - 09:18 PM

In an effort to simplify things and cut expenses, I'm thinking of giving up my land line and getting a new and better cell phone - porting my old home phone number over to the mobile. The one I'm using now is almost 10 years old - works for calling but it's hard to text, can't pick up emails, etc. Anybody go "mobile only" and regret it (or not?!).

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Oct 12 - 10:41 PM

I know more and more people who use only the mobile and seem very happy with it. I would do the same, except that I use the pay-as-you-go type of plan- costs me only $25 a month - but it means that I don't have the choice of keeping the land-phone number I have had for 25 years.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Janie
Date: 20 Oct 12 - 11:09 PM

I'll be watching this thread with great interest, Mary, I am wondering about the same thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 20 Oct 12 - 11:20 PM

Susan and I dropped the land line a few months back. We were only making about 8 calls a month on it, it was costing about $40 a month, and the incoming calls were mostly political calls for my late father, or sales calls, even though I'm on the do not call list. Most friends were calling the cell phone. I don't get any sales or pitch calls on the cell at this point. The draw back is a lot of people don't know the cell numbers. I did put out on facebook and the local folk yahoo groups board about the change of numbers. I pretty much said there that if you thought you needed to know the cell number to please send me a message and I'd get it back to them.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Beer
Date: 20 Oct 12 - 11:41 PM

Great thread. will be watching also.
Adrien

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 20 Oct 12 - 11:49 PM

Ebbie, do you have Virgin Mobile available there? We have pay as you go and have ported numbers.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 12:28 AM

I've gone mobile only, and it works well. It eliminates a lot of confusion, because people have only one number for me now and don't leave messages on the landline when they could have reached me on the cell(which happened, because certain people always call a landline if there is one). I no longer miss calls when I'm on a walk or taking out the trash(unless I'm not carrying the phone, but I usually am). I also don't cut calls short, or miss them because I am running out the door.

I also don't get telemarketing calls(Big plus!!!).

There are a few problems; if I shut the phone off because I am in a meeting or some event and forget to turn it back on, people can't call me and I don't realize it.

I also can't send or receive faxes--not a problem now, because I don't need to send hard documents much, but if I do again, I may have to figure something out.

It's a bit difficult to do put calls on speaker, as well.

On one occasion, my kids were visiting and I ran to the store for some Ice Cream and realized I couldn't call to ask which flavors they liked(they could call out by using Skype, but I didn't have an incoming number)

You also have to make sure the battery is charged.

This is all minor, though--I was using the cell for everything, and realized that I wasn't using the landline at all, so after way too much consideration, I let it go. I looked at some of the old phone bills the other day, and can't believe how much I was wasting.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 12:49 AM

We dropped our landline when we realized all we were using it for was an occasional call to our mobile phones to find where we'd left them. A convenient service, but not worth $40 a month.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 01:26 AM

JacktS, we don't have Virgin Mobile. We have very few systems available in southeast Alaska, although Verizon has petitioned to erect a tower locally. Don't know the status of the request.

I'm thinking of calling my prepaid company customer service to see if it is possible to change my number. Stay tuned.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 06:08 AM

At the risk of you all falling about laughing at my ignorance.. I've often considered dropping the landline, as I only make about three calls a week. But (please don't laugh will you?) isn't a landline needed for connecting the computer up? I mean the Broadband thing. And wouldn't it be expensive to call eg the electricity company on a mobile? I have a BT hub thing for the computer (here in UK) and I suppose that would have to go if I abandoned BT.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 08:06 AM

We had wireless internet installed, so a land line was not necessary for keeping that going. At one stage we had two land lines, one for the computer and one so we wouldn't miss calls. I'd already dropped the first one awhile ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: artbrooks
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 08:24 AM

We haven't done this, but (in response to Eliza's question) both Earthlink (the current ISP) and CenturyLink (the one we were considering switching to) told us that it wasn't necessary to pay for landline phone service in order to have a line connected to a DSL modem. The actual chunk of wire has to be there, of course.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Greg F.
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 09:24 AM

Power goes out, cell towers go down, you're dead in the water. Not to be counted on in emergencies.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Rapparee
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 10:25 AM

Exactly, Greg. And that's why we still have a landline. Here's a horror story that could have been tragic.

Last May my wife and I went out of town. We told the local police "Neighborhood Watch" and left our cell phone number, well, mine, as a contact. I returned home on June 2 and, finding everything fine, called the police station and told them to end the Watch. My wife went on to DC to see her mother.

I heard noises around the house when I was showering or taking a nap, but houses make noise. On June 14 I went to a meeting and turned my cell phone to "silent mode." Afterwards I forgot to change that.

I arrived home around 11 a.m., opened the back door to let some fresh air in (the screen DIDN'T have a lock) and went down to my basement office/cave/den/hole.

I heard some noise, but there's a golf course out back of house so that's often the case. Then I heard the sliding the door between the house and the garage open and close.

Going to the safe, I retrieved a .357 Magnum revolver and was halfway up the stairs when I realized that it was unloaded. Well...have you ever been slapped up alongside the head with a revolver?

The kitchen and garage were clear. So was the dining room and the living room. I heard voices in the rear of the house. Taking up a "slap 'em upside the the head" position I called out in my best Sergeant Major voice, "Alright, who's back there?"

A weak little voice answered, "Police department...."

I told them to come out, both of them, with their hand up and that I was armed. They did, and when I saw the uniforms I laid the revovler down so that they could see me do it.

The Watch hadn't gotten The Word and had found the door open. He'd called the regular cops and then left, who had called my cell phone -- which was, you'll remember, on silent mode. If they had bothered to check the phone book they would have found the landline number. As it is, well, it's a good thing I store ammunition separate from firearms and that I can keep my head in sticky situation (my military training helped there). If it were someone else the town could have lost two of their finest.

I admit that I thought about going back downstairs and getting my smallsword, but I felt speed was more important.

My wife and I had a long, long talk with the Neighborhood Watch program, who admitted that there "had been" problems but that they were "getting them" worked out.

By the way, the landline number was ALSO on the Watch form -- they want it because burglars sometimes actually answer the phone!

Oh yes, there's a plan in place now if this sort of situation ever develops again...but it shouldn't have happened the first time.

I'll pay the little extra for the landline.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 10:42 AM

Very very scary Rapparee. Hope you don't get nightmares after that. I still don't know whether I'll give up the landline. BT is very expensive. We only get 0.5 megabytes for the computer out here in the sticks, and often you can't get a mobile phone signal either, so it might be a problem. At least the landline works at all times.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Charmion
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 01:13 PM

Our landline has become our business phone, the number we give to people we do business with. Cell phones are for calling each other, especially when one of us is away from home. The landline is also for the kind of conversation that requires high-quality sound - with a person who is hard of hearing, for example, or infrmation security; I don't talk to the bank, the doctor or the finance guy on the cell phone unless it's to say I'm late for an appointment.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 01:40 PM

I don't think ditching the landline is an option in our house as my son claims his mobile phone signal is useless and uses one of our landline phones for his endless social organisation.

I spend a good portion of every day looking round the house for missing phones, then trying to work out which one goes where.

I should be used to this - in the 1980s at work, we had a cordless phone for emergencies, inevitably called the Batphone. Some prune would take a call on it, walk into the tearoom, start watching our little TV, and come back minus phone. I still have dreams featuring "Where's the ***ing Batphone?????"

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 04:13 PM

What really saved a chunk of money though, was that I got rid of my cable tv service entirely. The limited amount of TV that I watch (mostly news) is available online, and If I feel like watching something else, I can get TV or Movie programming on Hulu or the network sites.

The kids don't miss it at all-rather than watching TV, they prefer to play games anyway, and when they want to watch, they tend to find stuff on YouTube.

Incidentally, I use the old TV as a computer monitor, which didn't cost me anything and turned an almost as old computer with a basic internet connection into a home entertainment center.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 06:49 PM

Land lines can be cut. The good signal issue is important, but if you get good coverage where you live, that land line may not be important.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 06:55 PM

We prefer to keep a landline simply because cell phone connections are erratic and unreliable in our area, and anything wireless is overrun by thieves looking for a free piggyback. We use a DSL link and since there's only one phone jack in the house it's convenient to keep it all together. Our phones are a wireless 4 receiver setup so that the call that comes in on the wire can be answered in 4 different rooms, and the phone has a built-in recorder that's very reliable, unlike the cell phone message recording.

We've also found cell phones unusable in lots of places nearby, with the cell phone working fine in one town but useless ten miles down the road. Only sometimes, another old phone would work if the main one didn't, but we gave up on trying to keep more than one at a time up and turned on.

In actual fact, we find that we get far more advertising crap on our cell phones than on the land line. (close to 4 to 1?), and each illegal call to the cell phone costs us a separate charge for diverting it to messaging or text, while there's no extra charge when they get to us on the land line. (We didn't ask for either messaging or text for the cells, but they changed their minds and added it, without our permission, after we began using the cell phones and refuse to remove it.)

Since we mostly only leave the house to go visit our medical support people (who mostly ask us to turn the cell phone off while we're there) we don't actually get much use out of our $9/month (each) cell phones, but they actually are really necessary when "she" hops onto one of the handicap scooters and disappears in Wally World. Even with my "walker" (a shopping cart to lean on does help) I can't chase her down as fast, or as far, as the scooters will run, so 90% of our calls are to find each other in the larger stores.

Even for that use it's not too reliable, since about half the times when I want to find her, her phone is at home on the charger or she left her purse (with the phone in it) in the truck because she didn't want to lug it around, but 50% is still pretty good compared to the usefulness (in our area) of our cell phones for more general purposes, due to the erratic connections. (She doesn't often care where I am, since she's got a scooter and can zip around demolishing the furniture and sales stock until the battery goes dead - which has happened a couple of times. Then she cares and it's my fault she didn't have her phone, of course. I am getting better at reminding her, and really do try hard.)

Lots of places do have better wireless connectivity than we do, and for those where it works I wouldn't argue with dropping the landline. In the US, though, so far as I can see, "everywhere connectivity" is still sort of a myth.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Rapparee
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 07:15 PM

I have had problems in large stores, especially ones with high shelving, with cell phone reception and transmission. The steel frame and roof of the building, coupled with high (12 to 15 feet!) steel or steel-framed shelving kills the signal.

This is also true at airports -- at BWI, for instance, you can't get a cell phone call out until you're outside or nearly outside the building.

There is no one-size-fits-all or even -most solution. Out here there are some places which have no cellular reception at all, others where you think there wouldn't be any are just fine.

My Internet is via the cable television provider. It's the fastest I could get. But if you really want to save, as was noted above, drop your television service.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Rapparee
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 07:17 PM

Oh, yes -- VoIP isn't very secure either, so Vonage and things like that might be cheaper but they're less secure than a cell phone and quality can really sink below cell phone levels.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Greg F.
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 08:06 PM

Land lines can be cut.

By whom? Islamic terrorists?

if you get good coverage where you live, that land line may not be important.

Until there's a power outage.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 08:56 PM

GregF-You'll loose the landline in a power outage, and maybe faster than the cell service, because the backup battery power for landline services tends to be about an hour, but the FCC requires the cell towers to provide for 2-4hr.

Raparree: My Verizon cell phone works almost everywhere at BWI. My landline, not so much:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 09:28 PM

So the main argument for having the land line is for emergencies - I do think it's more reliable but I must balance that against the price.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: GUEST,ranger1 at grandma's house
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 10:29 PM

I've never lost my landline when the power's gone out, and the power has, on occasion, been out for several days. I also have a telephone with a corded handset. So I can still chat on the phone in the dark. So there! What I don't have is a cell phone, and I am very content to keep it that way.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 10:45 PM

I think it comes down to the fact that, if you are older, landlines are an essential fixture of the home. If you are younger, you're used to having a phone on your person 24/7, and a landline is extraneous.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: number 6
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 10:54 PM

Reasons for keeping the my landline

1. have a grandfathered long distance rate on my landline (very cheap)

2. mobile needs to be recharged (usually done overnite) ... no so good if someone friend/family member needs to get in touch for some urgent reason eg. last July when my wife's 91 yr. old mother fell and broke her hip in the middle of the night). Also had to use 911 once, can't be done if my mobile is out of juice.

3. keep misplacing my mobile, and have lost it on a couple of occaisions

4. my mobile isn't of great importance. Have a very cheap pay as you go plan.

As per power outages, this is a rare situation where we live.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Songwronger
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 12:29 AM

Dropping the landline makes a lot of sense.

With a landline you have a reasonable expectation of privacy. At least that's what the courts in the U.S. have ruled. With a landline a government or police agency would have to get a warrant in order to physically tap into your conversations. But not so with wireless. Wireless is the equivalent of shouting out your car window, and you don't have any reasonable expectation of privacy when you do that. So it helps police states when you go wireless. They're really overworked, and I'm sure they appreciate your assistance in surveilling yourself.

Also, landlines don't give you brain cancer like wireless does. Little microwaves with earphones. Going wireless stimulates the medical sector with all those neurosurgeries and chemo treatments, so landlines are kind of like anti-stimulus, economy-wise.

It's a no-brainer really.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 06:07 AM

Re cutting a landline, that has happened here in Norfolk once or twice by burglars. They snip the cord outside before burgling, then the poor victims can't call the Police and have no signal on their mobile. Luckily our village (I'm touching wood) hasn't been targeted by thieves as we're almost buried in the sticks and the village is quite hard to find! I think for now, I'll keep the landline, but it does cost a lot.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 06:51 AM

Nearly all our services come via relay station on top of a nearby hill. If that goes down we lose mobile phone and TV. So in spite of the fact that I want rid of my landline, I have to keep it.
Mind you, if the power goes down, then we lose the lot.
We have no line of sight access to any TV, or cellphone masts.
The FM radio reception is poor, and as for DAB, it won't happen in my lifetime.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 07:22 AM

Some distance above:

... spend a good portion of every day looking round the house for missing phones, then trying to work out which one goes where...

Our landline phone has one "master unit" that plugs into the line, with a cordless handset on it, and three others on separate "slave units" connected wirelessly to the base unit and scattered around the house. Any of the four phones can call a specific one of the others as an "intercom" function, so that only the one that's lost will ring to give a clue of where it got mislaid. This wasn't a particularly expensive setup, with the four units a little cheaper than four separate phones.

Prior to that, when we had multiple separate "plug ins" (with cordless handsets) I did find it convenient to mark each "base" and the correct handset to go with it with numbers to match on each pair of pieces. Whiteout/Snowpake, the old "correction fluids" used with typewriters, are a convenient and durable marker, although it may be easier to find an acrylic latex "color pen" now. In that case, each of the "base units" did have a "locate" button that would ring the handset that went with it when one played hide-n-seek with you, but if the handset was left off its base for too long sometimes the handset battery went flat so it wouldn't ring, and you still had to kick through the litter to find it.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: sheila
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 08:40 AM

Eliza - have you tried to negotiate with BT for a lower price? I have, and it worked! I also prepay the line rental for the year, which saves a fair amount over monthly or quarterly payments. We're out in the sticks too - even farther out than John MacKenzie is...

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 08:55 AM

We seem to still be at the - it depends on your needs stage. Seems most of the younger folks have only cell phones. We need to hear from them! This option has been on my mind for quite a while. I use email more than phone. And Skype for most long distance although it often does not work very well. More minutes on the cell phone might be more cost-effective than the landline. I am leaning in that direction.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Becca72
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 09:21 AM

I dropped my landline about 5 years ago and haven't looked back. I have Verizon Wireless and have found very few places where I can't get a signal. I also make sure to have the phone charged regularly, though my particular phone will hold a charge for several days without dying.
By dropping the landline I rarely used, I cut my "telephone" expenses more than in half.
During the recent Maine earthquake, my niece and I could not make phone calls (same carrier) because the relay was overloaded with calls, however I was still able to text my sister and make sure everyone was OK.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: GUEST,bankley
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 09:25 AM

If the power goes down, it's good to have a rotary dial phone as back up

In other news, for what it's worth, the Italian Supreme Court has ruled that cell phone use can be linked to cancer. This involved the case of a businessman who logged 6 hrs. a day for many years, and started a tumor farm in the phone side of his head.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 09:38 AM

I'll just skip to the bottom - sorry if this is redundant - you can have your cake and eat it too with phones today.

I didn't want to give up the phone number on my house phone that I've had for many years, so when I made the decision to just use the cell phone I "ported" - moved my house number over to Google Voice. It was a one-time fee of $20 and now if that number is called Google forwards it to my cell phone. The beauty of this system is that I have this number from now on and I give it out when I am asked for my number for various accounts, online sites, etc. I can open Google Voice and block any numbers I don't want to hear from again, and it does a good job of handling voicemail.

If you are porting a number here in the US you set up the transfer with the new company (or Google voice) without saying anything about it to the old company. If you close out the old account first the number is no longer yours to keep or use. I'm not sure if or how you can do it in the UK.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Greg F.
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 09:47 AM

the backup battery power for landline services tends to be about an hour

Sorry, Stim, but reality conflicts with your statement. Have had extended power outages living in widely separated geographic areas and in each, with up to four days without mains power, have had land-line service throughout.

But thanks for playing.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Becca72
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 09:51 AM

During any power outtage I have experienced with a cordless phone, the phone is useless if the base isn't "on". Only with the old corded phones have I ever had service without power.

BUT - that is what car chargers are for re: cell phones.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 10:16 AM

SRS that is brilliant - I was thinking of doing just that, I see that you did it and it worked! I've had my home number for years and years, and I wouldn't want to give it up, but it seems the Google scheme is a good option and if it allows me to block unwanted calls that's an added plus.   Good point about car chargers, Becca.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 11:00 AM

this just came up via Environmental Health News. Worth considering. (I tried a blue clicky???)

SRS is just full of useful info! Wonder if it works in Canada.

Of course if one uses a landline, one needs a corded phone for outages. I keep one on hand for that but love my cordless that I can use out in the garden - 100 foot range is great. Cell is even better - if one gets the signal.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 11:03 AM

Try again...

Maybe I got it this time.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 11:06 AM

Blue Clicky's continue to escape me --- It is not blue but if you click on Try again, it goes to the correct link??????????

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 11:36 AM

Another reason why I have decided to keep my landline, is that people calling a mobile are charged more. It's a bit rude to ask people to pay extra for the dubious pleasure of talking to me ;)

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Greg F.
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 11:41 AM

BUT - that is what car chargers are for re: cell phones.

Sorry, Becca, but Nope. A Cell phone being charged has nothing to do with it - if the tower is down, so the cell phone can't communicate with it (by radio waves) you still have no service.

A "cordless" phone is something else entirely & requires mains power for the handseet to communicate to the base (also by radio waves)- unless its one where the base has backup batteries (some do, or at least used to" "cordless" phones plug into a land-line phone jack.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Becca72
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 11:46 AM

Greg, I was of course speaking to cell phone batteries running down as was mentioned in previous posts. I obviously cannot predict when a tower will fall any more than anyone else could. Much like you cannot predict when a tree will fall on the lines outside your house...

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 02:04 PM

My phone and other lines are buried.

I keep my landline because it fills a need for me (and yes, I have several corded phones as well as a couple of cordless ones). As I said earlier, it's your decision about what works best for you.

As for Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) -- Vonage, Magic Jack, and the rest -- try this:

Go to the "Run" command at the Start Menu (this is for Windows!) and click on it.

A box will open. In the blank space put in "tracert www.mudcat.org" (no quotation marks, of course). "tracert" is the command to trace the route your signal goes through to reach the address you typed in, in this case the Mudcat Cafe.

Mine takes 16 steps to reach the firewall on the Mudcat server (this is represented by lines of asterixes). These "nodes" will change, you will not always take the same route -- but any node could go down, including your ISP's server. Any of them could be cracked and your calls tapped. I can promise you that at it's present state your phone quality will not be as good, overall, as a cell phone.

By the way, tracert is fun to do. Try doing it to somewhere in Australia or Russia.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 02:08 PM

What a brill idea Sheila, I never thought of negotiating with BT. I'll tell them I'm considering a different company and ask if they will do anything to reduce the cost. Thank you for that!

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Greg F.
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 02:29 PM

Who's talking about falling towers (or Faulty Towers?) Becca?? - I'm talking about power outages and yes, you can predict with absolute certainly when the power goes out, so does the tower, albeit there may be a short interval of functionality if there is a battery backup at the tower installation.

Falling trees won't bother the phone lines outside my house - they're underground.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Oct 12 - 09:27 PM

There may be an extra step to put your house number into Google Voice. I had ported my house phone from AT&T to the local cable company (in a bundle) and they didn't play nicely, so I moved it to Sprint, my cell phone company and I had a cell phone for the house for a year. That was when I moved it to Google Voice. I think the house number can be ported, but I'm not 100% certain, and the rules in your area may be different.

What you might want to do is to port your existing house number to a new cell phone, and then port your existing cell number to Google Voice - if that contract is up then it is the arrangement that would be most affordable. Google Voice will forward your old cell number calls to your new cell phone. This would save the step of porting the house to a cell phone and paying a penalty for cancelling the cell contract early (if you deal with a contract).

The point is, line up your ducks - figure out what can move where according to your various services in the area. Right now I have Google Voice answer my house phone and if I don't pick up the call on my cell phone it takes a message. I could also have Google Voice be the voice mail for my cell phone. There are some advantages to that (blocking, etc., and you can do varying messages for different numbers calling in.)

Poke around in the Google Voice Blog.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Becca72
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 08:35 AM

Sorry Greg but I have never lost cell phone use during a power outage. Since I've had a cell for 13 years and have used that exclusively for the past 5 I think I'll continue to take my chances.
Not every area has underground telephone lines, and we most certainly don't have underground POWER lines in my area...

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Johnny J
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 09:00 AM

Grumpy old man's view......

How language changes!

A few years back, a "landline" was a dedicated telephone line which was set up between two or more specific points and used by various organisations eg The Police, some private companies etc. The local Hospital Radio station where I once volunteered had a dedicated line between our studios and the local hospitals.

This was rented separately as opposed to the regular telephone line either through BT but sometimes the contract was with a private company.

So, the phone at home or in your office etc was never referred to as a landline, it was just "the telephone".

Grrrrr

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Greg F.
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 10:06 AM

Sorry Greg but I have never lost cell phone use during a power outage...

Well, here's hoping your incredibly good luck - and not the majority experience, I might add - continues, and the one time you really NEED that cell phone in a real emergency you don't find out about the effect of power outages to your sorrow. Sincerely.

During the recent Maine earthquake, my niece and I could not make phone calls (same carrier) because the relay was overloaded with calls...I was still able to text...

Yup - common occurrance, and another excellent reason for not relying solely on cell phones for emergency communication. By the way, ya can't "text" 911 (or 999).

Best,

Greg

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Becca72
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 11:32 AM

Actually, you can....or will be able to shortly

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 12:48 PM

If you (or anyone in your home) like to talk a long time on the phone to friends who also have a landline, it makes a lot of sense to hold on to it, and have a contract tat gives unlimted free landline calls. And it's a lot kinder to the friends who phone and like to talk. Long mobile calls can get very expensive indeed.

And it also means you are in the phone book and I think having that cease to be the normal expectation is a very bad thing for us as a society.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Charmion
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 01:00 PM

A conversation on a "corded" (as they say around here) telephone is usually much easier to hear and understand than the same conversation on a mobile. The difference is caused by the quality of the condenser microphone in the receiver and its proximity to the speaker's mouth, and to the level of interference on the transmission. Wireless transmissions are subject to all kinds of interference that never has access to a wired connection.

Also, I have yet to hear of TTY service (teletype for the deaf) on a mobile ...

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: Greg F.
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 01:11 PM

Actually, you can....or will be able to shortly Only if the cell tower is functional - and do you really want to talk to a machine then wait & see how long it takes the overwhelmed 911 operator to verify & then do something about your text?

Good luck. I'lll talk to a human on my land line, thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 01:19 PM

Kevin, invest in a GiffGaff SIM card, and all your calls are covered. Apart from the usual exclusions.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 01:27 PM

Johnny J, you're quite right. My late father worked for the GPO and having gained several Telecommunications qualifications, he was picked to set up 'landlines' for emergency purposes. He was on the London Flood Committee, and was trained for landline installation to the Fire Brigade and various hospitals. We didn't even have a telephone at home!

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the Landline - pros and cons?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 02:24 PM

I don't think I've ever made a mobile phone call that lasted more than a few seconds. Even aside from frying your brain, the sound isn't good enough.   That's not what mobiles are for in my book.