Ditto the reception problem - I don’t like cell phones to begin with, and when my sister moved from a remote ranch in northern BC to the whopping metropolis of Victoria, I was so looking forward to being able to talk to her without having to say “Pardon?” every other sentence. Alas, they went to cell phones with no landline, and so most of the time, she sounds like she’s at the bottom of a deep fryer. “Pardon?”
No land line since 2002.
No regrets…actually I regret not having done it sooner.
The vast majority of calls I got in the few years prior to dropping the land line were sales calls (often automated). I imagine the do-not-call list has taken care of much of this, however.
But I also missed out on all of the conveniences of having a cell phone by delaying my purchase for a few years after most of my friends/acquaintances got one.
If I need to fax I do it from the office or a nearby Kinko’s.
I suppose the need to call 911 while unable to speak is a real possibility…but so is being struck by lightning. I’m not paying for anti-lightning insurance and I’m not paying for a land line.
Landline free since 2000 and will never go back.
All cell phone carriers in the US are required to be 911 compliant and they all have been since at least 2003. Several carriers have GPS capable phones and for the ones that don’t triangulation from the local tower is accurate to within 100 feet in most areas. I don’t know about anyone else, but 95% of all calls I’ve made to 911 occurred when I was nowhere near my house so all in all I prefer the cell phone as an emergency phone by far. Also, every cell phone is required to be able to call 911 regardless of whether or not it’s active or even if it doesn’t have a SIM card in it (for GSM phones.) This is why a fabulous way to get rid of old but still working cell phones is to donate them to battered women’s shelters.
I have excellent reception all over town, and in areas where I don’t have reception neither does any other carrier and quite often there aren’t any landlines or even houses anywhere near so it’s a crapshoot no matter what.
Also, when I did have a landline it pretty much wouldn’t work if it was raining. Take a quick peek at my location to see why I don’t miss the landline!
Landlines still have that quaint conceit that there is such a thing as “long distance” which needs to be charged extra. This is bullshit of the purest ray serene and I see no reason to continue to prop up such a flawed business model.
No not at all. I have a land line VOIP with Cablevision, but only because the ‘Optimum Triple Play’, was cheaper than going just internet and cable. I don’t even have a line plugged into the VOIP line. It’s completely pointless to have a landline.
I wish we still had our landline. It was PITA with all the telemarketers and it was way overpriced. But, I’m afraid someone will call with an emergency while my cell phone is charging and my husband is at work. Atleast we still have the regular phone connected to the 911 system. But I’m more worried about people needing me, rather than me needing help.
We’ve been landline-free since 1997. We all got cellphones and cable Internet in 1996 and dropped the phone line about a year later. No regrets whatsoever – our cells are far more reliable than landlines we had for many years, and they go with us wherever we go. On top of that, no one has to call our house and ask if a certain person is available, because we all have our own numbers. It’s weird sometimes to think that we used to call a building and ask for a specific person.
Can you not use your phone while it’s charging? I’ve had numerous phones over the last 12 years and all of them were usable while plugged in to their chargers.
I’ve heard that in most jurisdictions, it’s police policy to NOT automatically send a cruiser to check out 911 calls from cell phones if no one responds to questions from the operator. The operator is supposed to call the number back, though, I think.
I am about about to go cell-phone only again. My main consideration is that i’m not to be found inside the confines of my appt. much to begin with, and even if I am, I usually use my cell, because (and this may not be true in the US but it is true with a vengeance where I’m at) it is cheaper to call cell-to-cell than land-to-cell. Seeing as all my friends have cells, there’s not much point for me in retaining my land line.
I just moved from sharing a place with a guy who didn’t have or want a landline into a place on my own, and I only realized I hadn’t even considered getting the landline turned on until I saw this thread.
I see no reason to pay for two phones when the one I have works fine. So I’m going to stick with my cell. The only reason I’d do otherwise would be if I had no reception at home, but that’s not an issue.
But what about during power outages? Sure, if the cell phone service is still working you can use your cell-phone…but only for a short while until your battery needs to be recharged. I can’t even get through a whole day without the battery power dropping, and I barely use my phone. In areas where a storm may knock out power for a day or two, I’d feel safer knowing I had a corded landline that would still work, even when the electricity is out.
Well, without heavy usage, my phone’s battery will last two days. Failing that, I have a car charger that will charge it from dead in about an hour.
If that’s not enough, you can buy chargers for a wide variety of phones that will charge the phone battery off of a couple AAs.
Forgot one: you have to have a land line (or ATT service) to vote for American Idols! 
Honest, that’s pretty much the only reason I still have one. And I rarely vote!
this brings up a serious problem with our cellular service. We’re in the northeast corner of Colorado – we have only Viaero and Verizon. Sprint, Qwest, AT&T and all those others are not available to us. The problem is, when we dial 911 here in Sterling, we often get the Morgan County Dispatch Center 45 miles away in Fort Morgan, not the Logan County Dispatch Center here in Sterling. The first question the 911 dispatcher always asks is what town the caller is in. Twice in the past two years, I have called 911 and gotten the Morgan County center, who had to then transfer me to the Logan County dispatch center. Neither the 911 authorities nor the cell phone companies seem to be able to adequately explain this. It’s vaguely explained as, “Well it has to do with which cell tower picks you up.” The funny thing is that both times I called, I was less than six blocks from the Verizon cell tower at their main retail store. How could I have been “picked up” by a cell tower so far away it linked me with a call center 45 miles away!?
Definitely a down side to all-cell out here in the sticks.
Cell phones are like infants in that they are more dependant on you for keeping them fed and not letting them wander off to get lost. This might be a concern if the owners are elderly or very young and [del]careless[/del] carefree. I would at least make sure to get a phone with very long standby time and purchase the loss protection coverage (might be as little as a coupe of dollars a month).
Thanks everybody. I’ll pass this intel on to my mom. I really suspect they’ll end up dropping the landline – most of the considerations mentioned (welcome as they all were) aren’t applicable to their case. They have excellent reception at their house and, although, they are getting older, they are both very conscienscious about keeping their stuff in order. They plug their phones in every night and are much less likely than me to ever let them run down. The 911 thing we do have to look into, though.
I’d drop my own landline except the reception at my house is not perfect. Getting better month by month, though. Eventually we’ll get there.
As for a power outage – when we had the hurricane a few years ago, our power was out for 11 days and the landline phones were out for 6. We just charged the phones in the car while the power was out.
Thanks again.
Yes. But, it has to stay in one spot while I’m zipping arround the house. Usually, by the time I reach it, it’s gone to voicemail.
I’m seriously thinking of trying out a Magic Jack, which may merit an IMHO thread of its own. I won’t link to their site because it plays a very annoying video. I’m waiting until I can switch over my current number. They don’t have that capability yet, but say it’s coming soon. The $19.95 per year price sounds very attractive. Most of the reviews I’ve read have been positive.