I got a TracFone phone just for the purpose of answering the front door. That was just about the only thing I was using the landline for anyway. 10.00 for the TracFone and 20.00 for some minutes and it works just fine.
Bob
I haven’t had a landline in about 5 years now. Don’t miss it a lick. I have two pre-paid cellphones (one company works better inside the house, but the other one has lower per-minute rates). I give out one number to people I like, one number to people I don’t really like, but may need to hear from at some point.
This is exactly what we did. Metered service is cheap, cheap, cheap and they don’t charge you for people calling in.
I kept it for the peace of mind of knowing that there is one phone (not even cordless) that I can find in an emergency.
We’ve been without a land line for 2 years. We live in rural SE Alabama, about 100 yards from my mom who does have a land line and about 300 yards from my brother who does not have a land line. Our next neighbor is about a mile away.
Cell service is decent. Most days it’s great. Some days it’s spotty. There have been days when I needed to make a call and wanted to ensure the call didn’t drop. So I’d walk over to Mom’s and use her land line. But if Mom were to drop her land line I wouldn’t feel worried. That is, in an emergency there are enough dependable people to see each other through the emergency. And non-emergency calls can wait until a day when the cell service is working properly.
Cell service here is more reliable than my land line in Millbrook, Alabama. I estimate cell service here to be up greater than 85% of the time—nowhere near the upper 90% you’d expect from a land line, but good enough for most purposes.
I dropped my landline years ago. But recently I moved into a new building where cell phones just don’t work all that well. Also it’s one of those apartment buildings (mentioned above) where the intercom works through the landline. Also, my wife is now busy with a job search, so she really needs a dependable line with clear sound.
Too bad, really. I got by for years with a cell phone and Skype.
Thanks for the input. After reading all of this, I think I’ll try to negotiate some minimal rate with AT&T. That’s liable to be difficult because no matter who you’ve got on the line there they can’t handle your specific problem, they give you somebody else’s number and that person is usually not available.
If I get very much run-around from them I’ll cancel. As far as I can tell, we’re paying $60 per month for nothing but a little peace of mind. I kicked the smoking habit, kicking the land-line habit can’t be any worse!
Using a neighbor’s phone in an emergency won’t work for us, the nearest neighbor is two miles away.
We have Southern Linc because around here it’s the phone of choice for foresters, surveyors, game wardens and others who need to communicate from remote areas. The coverage is normally good.
O.T. You have a Missouri Foxtrotter? I’m sooo jealous. But don’t tell my 35YO Arabian mare I said that. Or my 30YO Morgan (retired-from-dressage) gelding.
I also have an attack pony. She’s only 38", but she craves human flesh. Fingers mostly.
The Guy is coming in the morning to install the satellite internet, and I can’t wait. I’ve lived for 6+ years with crappy dial-up, and am quite excited. We’re still going to dump Verizon after the install. We pay five dollars a month to not be listed in the phone book, and don’t use their service anyway.
I’m not gonna look back, no sir.
What about 9-1-1 service- doesn’t a landline give you more reliable emergency services? They can tell you address even if you are incapacitated after you dial on a land line, but not on a cell?
Correct me if I’m wrong! That’s what keeping my land line…
All cellphones made since 2003 have a GPS built into them, and if you dial 911, your exact location is visible to the operator at most 911 centers. (I forget when the date is that its manditory for all call centers to be able to see your location when you call 911, but its not too far off, and most of the call centers have that capability now.)
One thing to know about satellite internet: if it’s using a geosync satellite parked over the equator, it will have a high ‘latency’. That’s the time it takes the signals to get out to the satellite at light speed and come back. It’s about a tenth of a second for a return trip to geosync orbit; this is enough to affect anything that demands immediate feedback or response, like online gaming or full-duplex communications.
For individual uploads or downloads, or for things with built-in pauses like IM and email and even IRC, it doesn’t matter. But if you’re trying to Skype someone or play Flight Simulator or some other game that depends on immediate feedback to your inputs, it will lead to problems.
My building programmed the lobby panel to my cell phone, so I didn’t need a land line. Haven’t had one in eight years. I used Skype to call out for long distance (once in a blue moon) and rather enjoyed not being in the phone book. Everyone who needed to reach me knew my number, and to everyone/everything else I just didn’t exist. For several years I was hardly ever home (had quite the social life back then) so I really couldn’t justify the extra cost.
Rural Alabama might very easily be one of the few that don’t, though.
The FCC has a listing of them, it seems. Interestingly enough, 911 started in Alabama.
I dropped the land line 5 years ago, when I realised I did all my phoning on the cell anyway.
Got it back this summer (since I’m renting from a guy I know and it was there), but the only ones who use it are my and my flatmates moms who call us. Can’t be bothered with quitting it since it seems to sooth them that we have a landline.