# Ditching telephone landline -- going cellular and cable modem **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 4, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ditching-telephone-landline-going-cellular-and-cable-modem/217009 "2003-12-04T20:26:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RavingMad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/edb3f5/32.png) [@RavingMad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RavingMad)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ditching-telephone-landline-going-cellular-and-cable-modem/217009/21 "2003-12-08T18:37:56Z")
Some thoughts on your responses. Please feel free to rebut/respond. > [@](#): > > 911 from a landline shows the operator your address. 911 from a cell phone does not. **– leenmi** Good point. Hadn’t considered that. Although, fully functional E911 is supposed to be in place by 2005. As I understand it, that will allow emergency operators to pinpoint the location within ~50 meters. > [@](#): > > When electricity goes out, I’m unable to recharge (and use, if the battery’s low) the cell phone. **– Magickly Delicious** You’ve just helped me identify a criterion for the new cell phone – it must have a battery that can be independently charged. That way we can buy spare batteries and always have a spare charged for each phone. > [@](#): > > Misplacing the phone causes major amounts of panic. **– Magickly Delicious** Ugh. Hadn’t even considered that. What a major pain in the ass _that_ would be! > [@](#): > > If I put it down when I’m upstairs, then head downstairs, it’s almost guaranteed that I’ll get a call. – **Early Out** Luckily, no worries here about that. It’s a one-bedroom apartment, so it’s impossible to be terribly far away from the phone! > [@](#): > > Make sure to get the plan where all your phones can call each other without using minutes. You’ll be amazed how many of your minutes are intra-family. **– LSLGuy** Absolutely. I found that at least 75% of our cell usage was mobile-to-mobile. > [@](#): > > Make damn sure the cellular coverage is rock-solid at yuor new house. **– LSLGuy** And therein lies my biggest qualm with this idea: I can handle spotty reception as I drive down the road or move about in an office building – but when I’m sitting on my living room couch, the cell phone quality best be spot on! But how to know this without purchasing the plan (and the accompanying yearlong lease)? > [@](#): > > The hardest part was convincing some relatives that my wife and I had separate phone numbers but still lived together. They had a hard time with that idea. **– LSLGuy** No worries there. With the FTC’s number portability program finally in place, we can just switch the home phone number over to a cell. No one needs to even know they’re not calling a traditional landline! > [@](#): > > My landline bill was slowly getting more and more (extra fees, etc) while my cell bill was getting less and less. … I think ditching the landline phone was one of my better financial ideas. **– Rhelle** That’s exactly the boat we’re in. I hope we can soon say the same thing! Again, thanks all. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ditching-telephone-landline-going-cellular-and-cable-modem/217009/22 "2003-12-08T19:24:42Z")
After excoriating Packet 8, I thought I should add this: their tech support guy told me that what might be happening is that the “DTA-310” was not picking up the DTMF tones from our phone correctly. So we bought new phones and the quality of the connection actually _is_ slightly better (though it still disconnects mid-conversation and takes multiple tries to call out). It’s improved enough that we’re going to hang in there with it for a while, but not so much that it is anywhere near pleasant to talk on the phone. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ditching-telephone-landline-going-cellular-and-cable-modem/217009/23 "2003-12-08T20:12:18Z")
Cell and cable broadband user here. Have been doing it for over a year now and its been working great for me. I don’t make or receive very many calls though. Just make sure you get a plan that you will not be going over in minutes every month and make sure your reception is dead on in your dwelling. Most companies here in Tampa offer a 14 day trial period. If you aren’t happy with the service in the first 14 days you can return the equipment and just pay for the days you used. AT&T in this area actually has a 30 day trial period. Inquire around in your area to see if this is the case. It could save a lot of headaches down the road. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ditching-telephone-landline-going-cellular-and-cable-modem/217009/24 "2003-12-08T20:43:09Z")
I dumped my landline in October, 2001. I highly recommend it. It’s saved me a lot of money and gave me the satisfaction of telling Bell South to go to hell. But yes, it is important that you be sure you have good cell reception in your home. Oh, and one other thing. During the big storm that hit Memphis on July 22, my girlfriend and I were damned glad we didn’t depend on landline phones to communicate. Phone lines were down all over the city. I don’t know the raw numbers, but 300,000+ households had their power lines knocked down by the storm, so I would expect a similar number lost their phone lines. We never lost phone service (and we use two different providers), and simply recharged the phones while we were in the car. Cell phones were the city’s lifeline in a huge disaster. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ditching-telephone-landline-going-cellular-and-cable-modem/217009/25 "2003-12-08T20:43:20Z")
I’ve been considering this too but I’ve been delaying because of a concern I had… If I leave the home but there’s a sitter there with the kids, that means I either have to leave my phone there for them to use or else leave them without one entirely. I’m not really comfortable with either scenario. Is there any kind of plan or package anyone knows of that addresses this? Like **Early Out** suggested with two phones but only a single plan? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ditching-telephone-landline-going-cellular-and-cable-modem/217009/26 "2003-12-08T21:23:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by leenmi \* > \*\*Emergency services. 911 from a landline shows the operator your address. 911 from a cell phone does not. That may not be a dealbreaker for you, but it’s something to consider. > > My wife and I considered ditching the landline, but our tivo needs it. Don’t care if the ambulance can’t find me, but I’ll be damned if I live without my tivo. \*\* I’ve got my TiVo hooked up to my Ethernet. It’s perfectly content to download the program data over my cable modem. When I moved into this place I never bothered hooking up the landline phone, and now I have a cell phone and cable modem. Since I’m the only one who lives here it works just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ditching-telephone-landline-going-cellular-and-cable-modem/217009/27 "2003-12-08T21:42:23Z")
I guess the bottom line is, I hate living with my phone strapped to my belt at all times. So do the people I live with. So, when I have $25 bucks per month to spare, or however much it costs, I’ll get a landline again. It’s so much more convenient. In my situation, there are sometimes people at my home who don’t have cell phones. Visitors, kids, etc. I can’t get in touch with them like I could if I just dialed the home phone number. Plus, there’s the 911 thing, which is a concern for me. However, it’s one of the easier places to save money because the hassles are occasional, not frequent. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ditching-telephone-landline-going-cellular-and-cable-modem/217009/28 "2003-12-09T01:21:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by belladonna \* > \*\*Like **Early Out** suggested with two phones but only a single plan? \*\* I’ve been told that this is technically impossible, at least with the way cell phones currently operate. I can sort of “feel” why this is the case, but I can only speculate about the reason. Say someone calls your cell number. The cell system has to figure out where that phone is, so that it knows on which cell tower to send the signal out. If there were two phones in two different locations, but both with the same number, the system would have to send the signal out on two different towers (i.e., two different “cells”), and I suppose the system just isn’t built to handle that. It gets even messier if one of the phones answers the call, but a second call comes in. If it rings the currently unused phone, and someone answers, how can the system keep track of two calls to the same phone number, but to phones in multiple cells? And what if both phones, now both in use, start moving from one cell coverage area to another? Ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ditching-telephone-landline-going-cellular-and-cable-modem/217009/29 "2003-12-10T16:31:18Z")
I could have sworn I saw a device that let you put your cell phone in a cradle, then use other extensions around that house that would just dial out through the cell phone…Hmm… _searches google_…[here it is](http://www.cellsocket.com/index.php) While this does has some limitations on the models that it’s compatible with, it looks pretty cool. If I ever get around to getting either cable or satellite internet, this will definatly be on my list of changes to make in the house. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ditching-telephone-landline-going-cellular-and-cable-modem/217009/30 "2003-12-11T00:44:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Atrael \* > **I could have sworn I saw a device that let you put your cell phone in a cradle, then use other extensions around that house that would just dial out through the cell phone…Hmm… _searches google_…[here it is](http://www.cellsocket.com/index.php)** That’s neat! I wish it were compatible with my cell phone (I’ve got Verizon, but the phone is by LG, not Motorola, so it’s not compatible). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ditching-telephone-landline-going-cellular-and-cable-modem/217009.md?page=1)