Do You Still have a Landline?

@dorannmwin (36392)

United States

April 14, 2010 1:50pm CST

That is the question at hand today. In the past couple of weeks we've had representatives from our local phone company at our front door at least twice trying to get us to sign up with them. We don't have a landline into our house, we have two cellular phones and that seems to work better for us. So, do you have a landline into your house currently? Why did you decide to have one or maintain one? If you don't have one, why not? The reason that we don't have one is that I've had the same cellular number for the past 13 years, that is the way that everyone I know gets in touch with me. I'm on my mother's family share plan so it only costs me $10 a month to maintain my phone (which we consider to be our primary number). My husband has had his cell for four years and it is a pay as you go, he only uses it to call me and a few other family members that are n the same network that we are on.

22 people like this

101 responses

@lelin1123 (15595)

• Puerto Rico

14 Apr 10

When I moved into my new house I had a landline. Then I got a cell phone for the first time and got rid of the landline. Well after about a year of using the cell phone I found that I was getting a headache right above my right ear where I usually held the cell phone. So once my contract was up I got rid of the cell phone and went back to the landline. So I've been cell phone free since the end of January and have had the landline now almost 3 months. Also now my phone bill has gone down because the cell phone kept going up with added tax charges.

2 people like this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

I've never personally experienced headaches from cell phone use, but I know that there are a lot of people that do experience this.

@Fortunata (1135)

• United States

14 Apr 10

We lost our landline because we couldn't pay the bill. Just as simple as that. So they cut us off. We now use two tracphone cells. I discovered we were paying five dollars just in taxes alone on the landline! Their service was terrible. They have the monopoly because they're the only ones out here where I live. It's ironic, because the Democrats put in a 'rural' phone tax to help people like us,lol, who struggle to keep a phone. I won't lie, I miss having a landline. My sister in law is ticked off at me, because I have a phone with a pay as you go card, and I don't have a lot of minutes to use. She likes to yak for hours on end, and now that she can't talk to me like that, she cut me off. She hasn't talked to me in two months, lol.

2 people like this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

It is sad that your sister-in-law cut you off like that because you can't talk for as long as you used to be able to do. I know what you mean about the cost of a landline because my mother does still have one and I can't believe how high the bill is. At times, it is more expensive for just that one line than it is for her cell, my sister's cell and my cell combined.

1 person likes this

@elmiko (6630)

• United States

14 Apr 10

yeah i still have a landline. i think its a good safety backup plan just in case the cell phones won't work such as when or if their is satellite problems. i don't think landline phones will ever go away altogether due to safety and security reasons.

2 people like this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

I don't think that landlines will ever be completely eradicated, but I do know that there are fewer and fewer people that choose to have a landline in their homes.

@Hatley (163781)

• Garden Grove, California

14 Apr 10

hi dorannmwin I have a landline AT and T as I live in a room in Gold Crest retirement center and I have no use for cellphones as they get lost you have to pay ungodly plans, I get a bre ak on my phone as its never more than 8 dollars a month, and I do not have to pay for those blasted minutes either; all the plans that were offered to me were beyond my ability to pay

. for goodness sakes I only have social security and my SSI checks and of course they come right to Gold Crest admins. greedy hands so my rent and board come out fresh, what is left over is 125 a month to pay for my personal needs.so I make between thirty a nd thirty five dollars on mylot monthly so that helps me to pay my internet bill and some on the phone, and of course my copay on my meds comes out of that money I have left over also.

2 people like this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

I can completely see why you only have the landline phone. I've lost a cell phone before and I know that they can get quite expensive, however, since I've had my phone for so long, I couldn't imagine going without it.

@dreamnishu (1247)

• China

14 Apr 10

Right i stay in hostel and in abroad. In my hostel room we have Landline we got it from our college. But it's only for our hostel using not any other place. And in my home we also have landline. As land line to land line call rate is cheaper then other. My family also use mobile phone and me too.

2 people like this

cheaper call rate

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

When I was in college I had landline into the dorm room because the school provided it, but they didn't cover for long distance calls. My family was in Lexington which was considered a long-distance call so that is when I started the habit of relying solely on my cell phone, that has been 12 years ago now.

@karlle (221)

•

14 Apr 10

Hi dorannmwin My answer is yes, though we have pay & go mobile we still have landline 'coz we took advantage of the package deal: landline + broadband which is cheaper than mobile + broadband contract. Have a nice day! :)

2 people like this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

That makes sense. We have a package deal of cable + broadband so the landline issue doesn't even come into effect with us for that.

@joey_matthews (8354)

•

3 Nov 10

Yes I have a landline phone. I've never not had one because most internet packages in the united kingdom require you to take out with your internet subscription. I prefer landlines as they're much cheaper than mobile companies here and I get free unlimited local phone calls at anytime which cuts the cost down. I could easily blow what I pay for all three services usually my mobile and although I have one, I tend to stick to the deals which they offer unlimited texts etc as that reduces how much I spend and the following month I have whatever I topped up to spend on the calls + text the following month.

1 person likes this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

3 Nov 10

See, we have the option to have either a cable modem or DSL modem here and we opted for cable because it didn't require that we had a regular phone line to come into our house.

@markmoney (2868)

• Philippines

15 Apr 10

Hi dorann! Yes we still have a landline at home. It is mostly used for local calls and most landline to landline calls are free of charge. We just have a monthly bill for that. It's still good to have a landline phone since it doesn't get lowbatt, it doesn't get out of signal and it's available anytime. My mom is the one who uses it a lot actually, for her calling her friends, neighbors and our relatives. Have a nice day! Happy myLotting!

1 person likes this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

Thank you for sharing. I like that with our cell phone we get a bucket of minutes per month and when I call people on the same carrier as I'm on it doesn't use any of the minutes.

@schulzie (4061)

• United States

15 Apr 10

Actually, yes we do. We had gotten rid of our landline for about 10 years because we all have cell phones. But we recently (two months ago) signed up for cable and got a package deal of cable, internet, and landline for a great deal. It was like getting the phone for free so we decided to go for it. Now I don't have to use my cellular minutes when I call the doctor's office, etc. You know how they love to put you on hold... Anyways, so yes we are back to having a landline from not having one for over 10 years.

Have a great day and happy myLotting!!!

1 person likes this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

16 Apr 10

When we got our service last year, they offered us a deal for two services but not for all three. Now that we've had their services for a year, they are trying to get us to pick up the phone service for an additional 30 a month.

@celticeagle (158693)

• Boise, Idaho

15 Apr 10

I do still have a landline. I have never had a cell phone. I have used them but never owned one. It was even hard for me to get used to using a wireless and realize I could actually get up and roam around the house and do some other things while talking. That was an eye opener for me!

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@celticeagle (158693)

• Boise, Idaho

17 Apr 10

Ya, most people have. I remember having the old square phone at my mom's. The old, old ones. Ugh! Talk about being tethered.

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

For almost as long as I can remember we've had cordless phones in our house, it was always odd for me to be tethered to a line when I was on the phone.

1 person likes this

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@ingridrepi (131)

• Indonesia

15 Apr 10

Yes, I still have landlines but only pay for the administration fee because I need the Internet connection for my laptop. Another reason is that although we all here have cellphones for communications, most of the people around us are still using landlines. The cost is much cheaper between landlines compare to cellphones.

1 person likes this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

16 Apr 10

In our situation, it is actually cheaper for us to have cell phones than a landline phone because of the fact that there are less junk fees with the cell phones than there are with the landline phones.

@bestylish (922)

• Philippines

15 Apr 10

Yes, we do have landline at home. We also have our own cellphones.

1 person likes this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

Thank you for sharing, that is much the same way that my mother is with her phones.

@mogtendo64 (171)

• United States

14 Apr 10

We technically don't have a landline in that we have Vonage for VoIP. Not only that but we also have 3 cell phones at the ready whenever something happens. Not really much of a reason to get a landline nowadays unless you need DSL internet, dial up internet (god forbid), or anything to that extent.

1 person likes this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

I could never imagine going back to having dial up internet (my husband and I gave that up about eight years ago when we moved in with my mother). We have cable at our house for our internet connection.

@ersanmiguel (476)

• Philippines

14 Apr 10

hey! yeah we still do have a landline which comes in package with the broadband connection. i still find it useful especially when i want to check my parents in their home cause both of them don't use mobile phone.

1 person likes this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

I think when there are packages involved, it is good to maintain a landline, but our deal is with our cable company so it is package with our internet connection and our cable service.

@youless (112100)

• Guangzhou, China

5 Nov 10

Although today the cellphones are becoming common stuff and almost everybody has one cellphone. However, I still keep the landline for my home. As I won't pay for it if I just answer the phone. And a landline may be necessary as I also use ADSL to get online. I love China

1 person likes this

@SomeCowgirl (32191)

• United States

14 Apr 10

Hi! We don't use our cellphone unless we're out somewhere. Hubby and I share a phone that is on his parent's phone plan. We only use the phone when we're out or when he's at work he'll call me at lunch if he has to work long enough to get a lunch. The phone stays off and in the kitchen otherwise, and everyone knows to call us on the landline. If they can't get us there they know to call the cellphone and that's pretty much how it goes for us.

1 person likes this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

That is a wonderful way to save money on your cell phone bill. Mine remains on all the time, but my husband only uses his when he is separate from me.

1 person likes this

@saphrina (31552)

• South Africa

14 Apr 10

No, we don't have a landline. We use our cellphones a lot, no need for another phone we won't use. TATA.

1 person likes this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

That is pretty much the reason that we decided not to have a landline into our house when we moved in here a year ago.

@unstopabble (452)

• Philippines

14 Apr 10

yes we still own a landline, why did we decide to have and keep one? we really dont have a choice becuase when you subscribe for broadband it is mandatory that you should have their landline service too.

1 person likes this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

Thankfully that isn't the case for us. Our broadband is through the cable company even though we could get DSL without a landline for a slightly higher rate.

@hcvvmk (175)

• Malaysia

14 Apr 10

Yup..i still have it..but i seldom use it..my mum uses it all the time to chat with her relatives, siblings and friends..and it's free nation wide calls for landline..

1 person likes this

@dorannmwin (36392)

• United States

15 Apr 10

That is cool that you are able to get free nation wide calls with your landline, we don't have that option here which is another of the reasons that we chose to stick with the cell phones.

@funkykid (441)

• India

5 Nov 10

Sometimes I need to call my house and not necessarily a specific person. If the dog is outside and it begins to rain, I don't want to randomly call different family members until I find one at home. Or if someone wants to drop something off to my house, they need to know if someone is home, so they call my house.

1 person likes this