Is it worth dropping land line, even with cheap VOIP?

[JoeP]

We dropped out traditional land line that was costing $30/mo and went with Net Talk, which is something like $23/year. The cost isn't an issue, but we are questioning the value for what we get.

A few gripes: sometimes doesn't dial out, sometimes we get calls but nobody on the other end, sometimes we call in but the answering party cannot hear us.

Plus, we all have cell phones now, so getting ahold of us isn't a problem. My only concern is that if someone like a doctor or the school wants to leave a general message, the home phone is convenient for that (otherwise we'd have to figure out who got the message by checking voicemails and passing the phone to the person to whom the message was intended).

I'm sure others here have made this transition, so I am interested in learning how you did it. Thanks!

[97guns]

My mom tried to get away from a landline, she tried magic jack and I set her up on an at&t wireless home base, both were unstable dropping calls and not receiving calls. She had to go back to at&t landline, a cell phone would have been her best option but she istoo old fashion and ddidn't want only a cell

[corn18]

We dropped the landline for cell phones this year. Never tried VoIP as we didn't feel we needed it.

A couple of options for those that want a home phone number:

1. Google voice: this is nice and free. You can use your google voice number as your home phone number and it will ring on whatever cell phones you want it to. Also has great VM and VM to text. We use this.

2. Cellular home phone. You can buy a provider specific link to home phone device for less than $20. This links your cell to your home phone line. When you're home, you get calls on the physical phones. Hard to explain but it works. I had that for a week and returned it to Costco once I found Google voice.

Tom

[rennigade]

Ooma is the gold standard when it comes to voip. You will need a decent internet connection though...no way around that. I havent tried it yet but when we move in 2 years we will need some kind of landline/voip...no cell phone service in the black hole we're moving to. If ooma sucks I wont have much of a choice but landline...which isnt a big deal.

[97guns]

My mom tried ooma as well and was getting lots of dropped calls and unconnecting incoming calls

[phantom]

We dropped our landline in favor of just cell phones a few years back.

We don't really run into cases where it would be better for someone to call the house than a cell phone. Most of the time, if we're getting a call from a business, it's in response to something we initiated, and there was a chance to leave a call back number when we initiated it. For example, if I make a call to my daughter's doctor and need to wait for them to call me back with an answer, I can tell them to call my cell phone rather than whatever number happens to be on file.

Also, I don't know how standard this is on Android phones and feature phones, but my iPhone will let me send voicemail I receive to my husband via text or email. So, if I ever get a voicemail that he needs to hear, it's not stuck attached to my phone. Check your cell phone right now and see what your options are.

Maybe you'll need to do a little more message passing, but I can't imagine it will be that much more than when you relied on an answering machine or shared voice mail. What happened in the past if someone saw a new message, listened to the message, and realized someone else needed to hear it? Since it was no longer new, the first person probably had to tell someone else to listen. I've never had an answering machine as an adult, but growing up, I remember all sorts of missed messages that got deleted by accident or that no one listened to because they weren't new. In many ways, I think it's nice to have ownership of messages.

I'm not sure if this is similar to what tomhole is talking about or not, but when we dropped our landline, we bought home phones that could connect to our cell phones via bluetooth. They are normal cordless phones that can connect to a landline, but they can also connect to cell phones like a wireless headset does. We have a set of 4. When a cell phone is in the house, if it gets a call, all the phones ring, and you can pick one up and answer as though the call was coming through a landline. Alternately, if you want to call out, you can pick up any phone, select a cell phone that is in the house, and make a call. This allows us to get calls even if we don't carry our phones around the house with us. The convenience of not needing to know where my cell phone was was my biggest concern about losing my landline, and these phones solved that. The phones also have the ability to page each other, which is a nice bonus that saves us shouting up and down the stairs.

[feh]

I tried nettalk 2 or 3 years ago. Horrible service.

It's not the technology, but your vendor. We pay Vonage $10/month for unlimited calls, and things work perfectly.

[JoeP]

I don't expect my kids to get a lot of voice calls; they are at the age where texting is norm and "nobody uses the phone any more."

I am actually more concerned with my wife and I! Her work schedule requires her phone (iPhone) to be stowed away during her shift, so all calls will go to voice mail. Plus she is very low-tech, barely texts, and has trouble accessing voice mail. For me, I can answer most calls that come in (I have android), or just let them go to voice mail.

Maybe it is a training issue, but her and I need to come up with a system that works with no dropped messages. Being able to forward a voice mail would be a huge win. I think our cell plan has this, will look into it.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

We use VOIP Obihai. Well worth dropping the landline. Works like a landline. I prefer to have a "landline" for the kids. Although now sometime i wonder if we shouldn't have a hard line for the next 5-7 years so that the kids can call out in emergencies?

[QuarterMillionMan]

About 5 years ago I cancelled my AT & T landline home phone because it was costing me $40 a month. I replaced it with Magic Jack and ported over my same phone number that I had for decades. Magic Jack costs $39 a year (not a month), which breaks down to about $3 a month which is a nominal fee. However, I had the same thoughts as the OP wondering if I really need the Magic Jack since it is a duplication of service being that I have a cell phone albeit with a different number. Sometimes I contemplate cancelling the Magic Jack but having to notify all the different agencies of changing my phone number is too much of a hassle so I continue to keep the Magic Jack. In addition, I like the Magic Jack and I haven't experienced some of the problems others have with VOIP services. My Magic Jack has crystal clear sound, it never drops calls, and it is very reliable. My version is actually the Magic Jack plus. It is the version after the original MJ but before the MJ wireless product.


And as Tomhole mentioned Google Voice, I contemplated porting over my number to Google Voice but I keeping hearing that it may no longer be free so I'm hesitant to switch over. In 2014, I remember Google Voice saying beginning in 2015 Google Voice would no longer be free but when 2015 arrived it ended up being free. Not sure if they will say that again for 2016.

[creditcardfree]

We have Ooma for our home phone. I've never had a dropped call. At first we seemed to notice a delay when talking to someone, but either that has gone away or we have adjusted. We have had really good internet in both homes that we have had it in. We didn't even have to change our home number when we moved across the country.

We get school calls on it primarily. And it's another option to reach us if we aren't right by our cell phones in the house.

I've actually made money on Ooma with their referrals. I probably have earned more money than we have spent, so cost is a non issue for us. Might as well have it if it is somewhat free.

[Drake3287]

We had this same question about a year or so ago. We did a complete remodel of our kitchen including counter and back splash and the big question was what do we do with our old wall mounted landline phone. Do we keep it and just incorporate it into the new backsplash or do we give it up and just cover up the old phone jack.

We ended up keeping the phone and of course we never use it because of cell phones, long story short, I plan to cancel it and put a plastic cover plate over it now. I'll save $400. a year and just use our cell phones.

[parasush]

Is it Worth Dropping a Landline?

Yes, ditching a landline phone will absolutely saves you a lot of money. Technology is changing quickly and So, VoIP Calling is becoming increasingly popular with range of good benefits it offers to business. Just choose your VoIP service provider carefully and all your business communication goes on smoothly at reasonable rates. Last year I've used The Real PBX's VoIP Services and I'me saving a lot.

[GoodSteward]

We have it just in case we have problems with our cell phones, and to give out for business we don't' want to get bothered by while we are out. We also have it as a way to get us just in case we are not noticing a phone call on the cell phones. I"ve called my wife several times on the house line since she laid her phone down, and took off her android watch (to do dishes for instance).

I just use Vonage pay as you go plan. It's a little over 7$ a month. We rarely pick the phone up, but we have it just in case.