Out dated services still used is it costing you more to keep it?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Landline phone cancelled decades ago. But I encountered a problem today after needing to fax a 1 page document. Online fax services won't do 1 page rather they require a $20 monthly recurring charge so I had to go to FedEx/Kinkos and paid $2. Inconvenient but still beats having a landline phone in order to fax a 1 page document. It made me wonder what other outdated services do others still keep? Anyone still have a landline? What about a pager or beeper thing? God forbid if you still have dial-up internet. Or is DSL still a thing? Is Dish or satellite TV still around. Cable TV vs streaming but unless you can completely cut the cord and only watch over the air (OTA) channels, streaming adds up if you subscribe to multiple streaming services.

[ua_guy]

DSL is still a thing. We live in an area underserved by broadband so that is our internet lifeline and it runs at 20Mbit/s max speed, two bonded circuits. We have Starlink now, but in the early days, it couldn't be relied upon. We still have a landline, because we have DSL, but it doesn't get used.

We also have satellite TV...because there will never be cable here...but we are about ready to dump satellite TV because Starlink can handle the online subscriptions we plan to use going forward. Cellular works okay-ish here. TMo offers cellular home internet but the tower is overloaded and so service runs slower than our DSL most of the day.

We are hosed if we have to fax something, though. Don't own a computer with a fax modem, don't own a fax machine, and like you, we're not paying $20/month for a service.

[scfr]

No, we don't have any outdated services that we pay for. While I'd like to take credit and say it's entirely because we're great at staying on top of things, I must acknowledge that moving has been a big factor. Each time we have moved we reassess EVERYTHING about our daily lives. It's a great opportunity to make changes where needed or desired.

In addition to outdated services, people may have some that could be downgraded. For example, regarding trash service, if you go from having kids at home to empty nester, could you reduce that?

Regarding sending a fax, when I had to send one recently I went to the library where it was free to send.

[disneysteve]

Any time I've needed to fax something, I've always done it from work since we send and receive faxes all day long there. Now that I'm retired, I'd probably just pop into one of my old work sites and borrow their machine.

We do still have a land line. The only reason we maintain it is for my mom. We tell her over and over to call us on our cell phones but she often forgets and calls the house phone and we don't want to be in a situation where she has an emergency and can't reach us. Whenever she leaves us, the land line will be cancelled. It is linked to the alarm system but I'm sure they have other ways to deal with that now.

We still have cable internet but not TV. We got rid of that several years ago. I keep meaning to look into cellular internet through AT&T because I think we live in an area where it's available but I haven't done that yet.

[Like2Plan]

Why couldn't you scan the document into your computer and then send it via email?

[disneysteve]

Why couldn't you scan the document into your computer and then send it via email?

That doesn’t work if the recipient needs it faxed.

[kork13]

Why couldn't you scan the document into your computer and then send it via email?

There remains an insane idea that a fax is more secure than email. With the advent of certificate authentication plus email & file encryption (decades ago), there's simply no truth to it. There is zero encryption with a fax, and the only authentication comes from the fax spitting out the sending/receiving phone numbers (which can be spoofed), but no indication of who the person is on the other end.

Plus, with many tax machines being built into integrated all-in-one networked multifunction printers, the poorly-written transmission protocol of a fax can be easily exploited to allow a hacker to send a malicious fax (fax data stream with malicious computer code packed inside) via the public telephone number, and poof, he's inside the network, ready to wreak havoc.

[disneysteve]

There remains an insane idea that a fax is more secure than email.

Tell that to the medical field, the legal field, and the real estate field.

[SavingBucks]

I am retired and needed to fax something last year. I used faxzero.com with no issues. A file is attached (doc, docx, or pdf) and the to and from info is entered in applicable fields.

[Like2Plan]

There remains an insane idea that a fax is more secure than email. With the advent of certificate authentication plus email & file encryption (decades ago), there's simply no truth to it. There is zero encryption with a fax, and the only authentication comes from the fax spitting out the sending/receiving phone numbers (which can be spoofed), but no indication of who the person is on the other end.

Plus, with many tax machines being built into integrated all-in-one networked multifunction printers, the poorly-written transmission protocol of a fax can be easily exploited to allow a hacker to send a malicious fax (fax data stream with malicious computer code packed inside) via the public telephone number, and poof, he's inside the network, ready to wreak havoc.

Another factor is a fax machine can be sitting where many people can have access to it so it may not be as "secure" as the sender would imagine.

There are even software aps that will fax stuff for you from your iphone (I don't know if there are any that are free, though) I've never tried it, but here is an article from PC magazine: https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-...e-a-fax-online
(The article said there are some of these services will fax for free for just a few pages, but the remarks below the article said they needed a credit card and they didn't have a free option. )

Thanks Saving Bucks--that is good to know there is actually one that is free.

[MonkeyMama]

Tell that to the medical field, the legal field, and the real estate field.

& the accounting field. Legally we were required to fax anything with sensitive information (never email).

[Like2Plan]

Back to the original question-- We still have a land line and a fax machine. (Though, I can't remember the last time I've sent a fax). We still use our land line.

[MonkeyMama]

We still have a landline. I much prefer this to using a cell phone (when at home). But I am somewhat disconnected, in addition to just preferring longer conversations on a landline. I expect we may let it go next time we move. (I am the only one in my household who likes and uses the landline).

[MonkeyMama]

In addition to outdated services, people may have some that could be downgraded. For example, regarding trash service, if you go from having kids at home to empty nester, could you reduce that?

I will have to ponder. We've never used anything more than the smallest trash cans. Which is probably why I don't have anything 'small' on my radar that I expect we can cut. (I've got a lot of big things on the chopping block.)

[disneysteve]

In addition to outdated services, people may have some that could be downgraded. For example, regarding trash service, if you go from having kids at home to empty nester, could you reduce that?

I’ve never lived anywhere where we paid for trash service. It’s always been part of the city services just like recycling, snow removal, public schools, etc. So for us there’s nothing there to downgrade.