Phones....

[JanH]

I have a question. So many people have given up their "land lines" and gone with just their cell phones. I understand the savings of that, but I wonder about it, also. We made sure our college kids have a land line and at least one phone with a cord in addition to their cells. Of course, we live in hurricaneland and without electricity, you can't use a cordless and cells run down unless you sit in the car to charge it up. And even then, so many people are trying to use their cells that you can't get through. So, I'm sure it is a savings in other areas of the country, but for emergency, safety reasons do you think a regular land line is important? Do you have both?

[Crystallas]

I gave up on a land line, but then had to get one again so I could use DSL.

I would perfer to never use the land line. For emergency purposes, the mobile phone has more advatages than disadvatages.

If youre paying for your kids, you may actually get a much better rate with a family plan through a cell provider. Its just a matter of trusting your kids not to break or lose these phones, replacements can be expensive. Its all about the network. I use verizon because I get full signal everywhere in my locale, but because most of the people I know use Verizon, I barely ever use my minutes, because In-Network calling is free.

Its also important to use a 1st party carrier. You mentioned that youre scared of having an emergency and having the lines tied up(something I have not experienced in 10 years.) With a 3rd party carrier, they lease space and service from the big 4 to get their members in service. So when the traffic is tied up, the 1st party will get priority allways. The 3rd party will drop signal, calls, and you might experience roaming fees with certain companies in those situations. The 1st party providers in the US are Verizon, Cingular, Tmobile, and Sprint. Im not going off to be biased and say who is better. The truth of the matter is that of Tmobile, Cingular, and Verizon, the strenghts depend on your location and the people that your account will be calling the most. Sprint is in a bit of a rebuilding phase, letting go of Nextel employees and renting out most of its space to make up for losses. So I might be biased when I say that its not the best time to look at sprint. But as far as the other 3. They are all good.

[MonkeyMama]

We have both for now.

I know people in this area who pay upwards of $50/month for land lines, that is just the norm in some of the areas out here. I know a lot of these people who refuse to pay and have dropped their land line.

We are lucky - our land line is $20-$25/month plus we pay usually on average $5/month for long distance.

We use our cell phones for emergency (on road) use and for the long distance on nights and weekends.

I could not give up my land line because I do worry about emergency calls. Have you ever called 911 from a cell phone and not been put on hold????? It seems to be a big problem out here. & the call get routed differently than from landline. Plus I am not sure if they can "trace" the call in the same way as they do to your home when you call 911.

We also replaced my ancient cell phone last year because my son threw it across the room and broke it (after I dropped it a few times during my clumsy pregnant stage - LOL). Anyway, had it like 7 years and would have kept it another 7 - I have concluded that cell phones and small kids don't jive. But the kids like to talk to their grandparents often, the older one is quite the phone talker. So the landline is nice for him.

When the kids are older we may revisit dropping the land line. In the meantime these are the few reasons why it stays.

[Broken Arrow]

I am cellphone only, and I haven't personally had problems making phone calls to 911. I did that once when I was a primary witness to a car accident.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

[JanH]

Our kids have both. They primarily use the cell phones. But when power is out due to ice/hurricane whatever, we rely on the land lines. The kids have cable internet. We have phone internet. I guess we really don't need both. Just this ole mom worried that they might need it. When we evacuated for Rita, both my kids lost power. We couldn't talk much to our daughter cos she only had a cell.

[PrincessPerky]

I personally don't find that a phone of any sort is a neccessity, I like it, I have a cell, and I would rather pay for hte cell than a landline, I can use it in DC, and PA, and at home, and well..I don't talk to my family that much on the phone......

[JanH]

Actually, I have to amend myself, my son has phone based internet service. sheesh.

[Diolla]

We only have cell phones and haven't had any trouble. We aren't in a hurricane area, we have tornadoes, but I have never known the land lines to work after a big storm, they get blown all over the place, and it can be days before they work again.

Cordless phones don't work during a power outage (you have to have a wired phone) and my cell phone holds a charge for 4 days. The longest power was out here was 7 days during the ice storm and even then some places had power where I could have plugged in (or I could plug it into the car). My phone will go from dead to fully charged in about an hour.

I like the convenience of being able to make calls anytime I need to and I like being able to reach my kid anytime. Also since his friends call his phone he doesn't miss them when he is at his Dad's for the weekend.

I think the cell phones are the only phones we need.

[mccartygirl]

We have both - cells and a land line. For us the land line was because we have a toddler and I want to make sure that we have a phone in case the cells weren't working. Plus the MIL calls on it, she's a talker and when she calls DH's cell she has been known to eat up more than 1/2 of his minutes.

[Bookie]

I also have both. I give the land line number to people who ask for phone info, and I share my cell phone number with people I want to reach me.

A listed telephone is sometimes a requisite for local credit, oddly enough, not required but expected. That will probably fade as cell phones beome ubiquitous.

[greedy4chips]

A few years ago we contemplated going solely with the cell phone concept. Problem is we would need at least 3 phones to pull that off and would cost substantially more than 1 cell phone and a land line. To save money we cancelled our long distance service on our land line and made as many long distance calls as we could with our cell phone. To make up for the possible overuse of the cell phone we purchased prepaid phone card from Sams Club for about 2.5 cents/minute.

Cell phones have somehow worked their way in to necessary items in our life. Perhaps because people are on the go so much and need instant communication at times. Land lines will never, ?, go away unless they can cure the bad signal problems that so many have when inside their homes, businesses, etc.

At what point will we run out of telephone numbers if every person has a cell number(s), fax number(s), land line number(s), and business number(s)?

[Ima saver]

I don't know much about phones, but don't you have to have a phone to get on a computer? I don't know much about computers either. I have no cell and never will. I don't like talking on the phone.

[MonkeyMama]

Maybe the 911 is just an issue in our area. It is well known you can not call 911 here wihtout being put on hold. Just yesterday my mom was telling me she was put on hold forever and hung up to find a land line. She lives 2 hours away, maybe it's a California thing. Never heard of bing on hold with 911 from a land line though...

Ima, no you don't need a phone. Cable and the some new techonology (T-1??) don't require a phone. Dial-up and DSL do require a landline.

[JanH]

We don't talk on the phone much either. The cells are awesome to keep in contact with mobile college kids that you can't track down any other way. Also, my Hubby works so much that a cell is great to catch him. Before, it was like calling Mars to get him out in the field. My parents use the cell cos Dad is always mowing a field somewhere and it is essential in case he gets hurt. My SIL used the cells when her sister was being stalked by her ex and they kept in touch that way cos she was on the move alot. But we use the land lines (with cord and cordless) for long calls to family out of state and for emergencies.

[Ima saver]

Well I have DSL so I guess I do need a land line!

[MonkeyMama]

Well don't keep it *just* for your DSL Ima - there are a lot of options out there. Cable is pretty good/better (Depending who you ask) and cost is comparable. We've had both. Only downside I see is cable goes out more than DSL... I assume you can get cable internet connection without having to get a cable tv package of course.

Actually, I Think I got that wrong - not T-1. there is there some new fiber-optic technology. Fancy but pricey.

[Broken Arrow]

Fiber?? Mmmm... yes please!

[tmango]

Originally Posted by Ima saver

Well I have DSL so I guess I do need a land line!

This may not actually be the case in some areas. Many phone companies have "naked dsl" where you dont need phone service, (just the physical wires). I pay 19.99 for this. Regular Dsl (with phone service) would run me about $17 a month, but with the phone service costing 50 amonth it saves me a bundle. Not all areas have this, and it isnt extensively advertised but it does exist.

[MonkeyMama]

I wondered about that - with DSL. Interesting.

[abowers]

I've have used ONLY my cell since September of 2004.
I was a Sr in college, and moved out of the dorm into an apartment. Didn't bother getting a landline.

Then I moved to NJ in summer of 2005, and just kept my cell phone. Didn't bother getting landline since fiance and I are paying $70/mo total for 2 cells -- for the purpose of "free" long distance calling to our parents and many friends, and we didn't have to tell all our friends a new phone number. Together we have 500 peak minutes to use to non-Verizon phones before 9pm, and It hasn't been a problem since we started last July.

If we got a land line, we would want pay-as-you go cell phones anyway to have in the car in the event of a break down/emergency, and it would cost more to have pay-as-you-go cells and a landline, than it would be to have our 2 cells.