When it comes to saving money and phones, the question of whether a cell phone or a land line (or if you need to keep both) is a better value for your budget often comes up. While it would be nice to be able to give a definitive answer to one or the other, the truth is that it depends how you use your phone as to which is the better deal. Here are a few issues to consider when deciding which makes better sense for you:
How Big Is Your Family? - The bigger your family, the better the chance that a land line be a cheaper alternative than cell phones. With a land line, your can get a phone placed in the room of each person in the family on the single line coming into the house. With a cell phone, however, you would need to provide each member of the family with their own separate phone. While "family plans" exist that lower the cost of multiple phones within the family, these plans are still much more expensive than a single land line.
How Much Do You Talk? - The amount you talk on the phone will determine which option is a better value. If you talk a moderate amount, then land lines and cell phones stack up pretty well against each other in relation to cost. The more you talk on the phone, however, the land line quickly becomes a better value than the cell phone. This is becasue landlines tend to be a single, flat rate no matter how long you talk and this is why land line phone are better for your budget it you talk a lot. In addition, cell phone service in the US usually charges whether you make or receive the call which means that you often use more minutes than you realize.
Some people argue that cell phones are a better deal becasue of "free long distance." While this may be true if you make your long distance calls on weekends and nights when they are unlimited but be careful to assume that long distance calls made at other times are "free." these peak hour calls usually still count toward your overall minutes which will usually favor the land line phone.
What Is Your Current Lifestyle? - How you go about your life will be a big factor in determining which phone makes sense for you. if you are away from home, travel and use your cell phone as your main contact phone, then it's worthwhile considering whether or not you need a land line at all. If this is the way you use your phone and find that you rarely, if ever, use your land line, then your land line phone may be costing you money that you don't need to be spending.
In addition to these money related issues, there are some other issues that may make you choose one type of phone over the other:
Reliability - While cell phones have vastly improved over the years, they still aren't quite at the level of land line phones when it comes to reliability. Pick up a land line phone and unless a hurricane is blowing through, you're going to get a dial tone. This is not always the case with a cell phone. There may also be an issue of contacting emergency 911 services if you happen to be ill. If you call from a land line phone, the 911 operators can locate you even if you can't speak which may not be true with a cell phone. If you opt for cell phone only, make certain that it has a strong signal in all parts of your house.
Battery Life - While battery life for cell phones continues to improve, cell phones continue to add on new features that drain the batteries quicker as well. Cell phones may need to be recharged on a regular basis which can cause problems.
Wireless Contracts - While land line phones don't have contacts, many cell phones require a long term commitment to a contract. If you fail to meet the length of the contract and cancel your contract subscription early, it can mean penalties in the hundreds of dollars.
Locating You - Unlike the white pages of your local phone book, there currently isn't a centralized directory for finding cell phone numbers. This means that someone who doesn't have your cell phone number may not be able to contact you if you don't have a land line.
Really good article - thanks! I am so glad I found this site.
I recently cancelled our home phone because I found out that our cable company (which also provides the phone line we used to have) offers a value tier for Internet access that is 256k (5 to 10 times faster than dial up using the phone line). We use our cellphones for phone calls. Since US Cellular offers free incoming calls, as well as free nights and weekends, that saves us a lot of money. And our cellphones are always with us. I feel much safer knowing I can call for roadside assistance if I break down (that only cost a few dollars a year) and my son and I can reach each other wherever we are. Some friends of ours got free incoming and free mobile to mobile with US Cellular, which is an even better deal. The only problem is, you have to get a fairly expensive plan to be able to get all these perks. Like you said, it all depends on how you use the phone.
I am all cellphone all the time. Sometimes I realized I've actually forgotten completely that landline telephones exist. They look as strange to me as one of those desk top clunkers from the 40's.
i was cell phone only from 1999 to 2005. got a landline when i had to go to argentina for a month for the international calling plan. plus, i worked for the phone company and got an employee discount.... kept the land line until we bought our house, then switched the service over to cable VOiP service. currently have that and a cell phone, but as soon as i find out if i can port the house number to a different cell phone i'll do so and that'll be my only line. i'm a dork, i like the number better, plus i'm the one who picked it out and installed the order...
I've been cellphone only since 2002, and I never looked back. The "Locating you" part was a huge part of why I did it. I have a rare last name, and I want my privacy. I don't want someone to be able to pick up the phone book and find me. I had enough prank calls in high school, and I'm NOT about to go with that again.
If I want someone to have my phone #, then I will give it to them. I've often given fake #s if businesses want my # (unless they have a good reason for it)
Cell Phone vs Land Line
