This is why an awful lot of people have dropped their land line and only use a cell phone. You might consider that as society more and more assumes everyone has a cell phone.
Last time I bought a car, the salesman had already drawn up the contract with the warranty. I asked him why the price he was asking me to sign for was several thousand more than we had agreed on. He pointed to the warranty, and was rather insistent that I get it.
After I finally got him to accept I didn’t want it, I then was sent to talk to someone else who was trying to sell me on a whole bunch of other stuff like paint and interior coverage.
It was frustrating, and I considered just walking out, but I had a fair amount of time already invested at this point.
Unfortunately, the cable company really likes bundling, in such a way that it is often cheaper to have a phone rather than to not have a phone.
On the plus side, having a landline meant that I had a way to call my cellphone when I couldn’t find it.
The only places I’ve been that have been pushy with a phone number have been branches of large, corporate haircut joints. I used to go to Hair Cuttery, Sport Clips (only one visit, they were the worst), even Fantastic Sams. All the clerks at the reception desk seemed genuinely confused as to how to proceed without ‘logging in’ the client and some had to ask for help. I’m like, '“Where do you want me to sit while you figure out the computer?” as I silently stew about how people have been cutting hair for thousands of years with out phone numbers. I go to an independent place now.
I’m sure! They have to put up with it all day long, multiple days a week. I only need to put up with it while I’m running errands.
– I work retail myself, during the farmers’ market season, but I’m the one in charge of the stand, so I’ve only got the customer end of it to deal with and not the management; or, if management’s a problem, I’ve only myself to blame.
The land line will occasionally work when cell phones don’t. And vice versa. I’m a belt and suspenders kind of person. (And, my landline is also bundled.)
Plus which, I don’t want to be bugged all the time, no matter where I am or what I’m doing, by the cell phone, so unless I expect the person to need to be able to get to me when I’m not near the landline, the landline’s the number they’re getting.
Yeah, now that I’m down to just one phone and number I miss being able to call my cell phone so I can find it.
And this is how they get you.
When we bought our last cars, hubs made an appointment at a large dealership in Phx, who insisted on taking his car keys so they could look it over as a trade in. We had no intention of trading it in, but hubs wasn’t thinking so handed over his keys. After being told he couldn’t buy the cars he wanted at the advertised price because there were other unspecified mark-ups, he demanded his keys back.
When the keys didn’t appear, he called the police and said the dealership was stealing his car. They gave him his keys and he stormed out.
They called us for months. We blocked all their numbers, but still were able to see how often they had called.
Oh, back to Radio Shack…the last time I went in, they demanded my info before allowing me to buy a coax cable. I borrowed a cable from a friend and bought a replacement online.
This is great advice except for those of us who are out beyond reach of a cell tower signal. As alien as it may seem, there are still such places in the USA.
When my husband and I moved here nearly 17 years ago, the most useless purchase we made was a new cell phone contract. Never could use them. The situation hasn’t improved in all these years.
A favorite cheap amusement is watching visitors whip out their phones and the look of bewilderment that crosses their faces as they realize that ‘no signal’ really means no signal.
Like @Baker, I carry a go-phone of the flip variety for traveling emergencies only. I almost never turn it on. I’m terrible about keeping it charged, as well as performing the annual reloading of the contract. I end up with a different phone number each year. It’s a cheap and nasty free phone, so even using it in an emergency is a serious hassle. (You have to press the bottom part of the numbers for it to barely work.) I never give out that number. It’s the least reliable method of reaching me. I usually tell companies I have no cell phone.
There is one well-known fuel company that has turned off my credit card with them “until” I provide my cell phone number. When I last used this company’s credit card, it was for travel several years ago. I made my 1,700-ish mile trip without issue – until I was within 20 miles of my return home. The card was suddenly declined because the company was worried it had been stolen. I found this hilarious. I simply presented a different card and stopped filling up at their stations.
This company will wait a long time “until” I provide them with a cell phone number.
Not everyone can exchange their land line for a cell phone.
I actually have a landline because there’s no reception in my house. But it’s expensive, and I’m in a smaller and smaller minority of people i know.
I’m not super far from towers, I’m just in a dead zone.
Me, too, obviously. I hate it, but it’s my reality until StarLink eventually comes through.
We’re in beta for StarLink at present, but access is limited to those who have a clear view to the north at 53 degrees. So I have another problem: Too many trees. I may end up doing some logging soon even if I’d rather not.
And I’d still be super selective about who has my cell phone number!
I’m not in charge of purchasing the cable package for my household, and I split the cost with the person who does (who has a cell phone) so I have no idea if it would be cheaper for me to get a cell phone and drop the land line. I do know that it would be a tremendous hassle for me to change my contact phone number with all the places that have it, and that the bundled nature of cable services makes it such that the cost for the landline itself is probably minimal. So while I might be paying more for landline service than I would with a cell phone, the convenience of maintaining the same landline number and not having to carry around and charge a mobile phone is probably worth it. Adding a cell phone on top of the current situation is definitely not.
And that doesn’t take into account the utter hatred I had for friends calling me at inopportune times to ask me questions on which I was considered the expert among my friends. I almost wanted to send them a bill for my time and (worse) the interruption. Certainly these days I wouldn’t expect as many calls simply because no one’s been able to get a hold of me that way for years, but the very idea of mobile phones for non-emergency use is simply repugnant to me as a luxury for the extrovert and a burden for the introvert.
I haven’t had a land line since February 2000.
If I misplace my phone I have an Apple Watch and I use that to ping it. I had to do that about an hour ago. (And of course my phone was right there in front of me, dumbass.)
In the Apple universe, you can use your computer to beep your iPhone. I’d imagine something similar is available on other phones.
It’s been almost 12 hours since I have had to do this~that’s a good long spell for me. Your phone can also help you find your iPad when one of the cats knocks down behind a couch cushion.
Heh. My Echo will do that for me. I just say “Alexa, find my phone,” and she says “Calling [kaylasmom]” and my cell phone starts ringing from “Unknown Number.”
No, I have no idea how she learned how to do that.
If I’m not mistaken, that’s not an impediment. You can ‘port your landline number to a cellphone contract.
Alexa has some spare resources to spend learning tricks while using its algorithm to most efficiently take over the world and turn us into meatbag appendages.
I don’t know about in the US, but here, it would cost me a couple of bucks to buy a pre-pay SIM card which would come with its own brand-new phone number. That would give me a number I could give out when needed. No necessity to ever put it into a phone, of course, so I wouldn’t have to put up with marketing spam.
That only works in the US if you have an unlocked phone. Most phones are carrier-locked if you get a phone from one of the major providers and won’t accept just any SIM. If you want pay-as-you-go, just buy a cheap “burner” phone with that sort of plan (which multiple people in this thread alluded to).
Maybe it wasn’t clear, but it’s not my landline in terms of ownership, only mine in terms of my contact number. If we decided to do that, the landline’s owner would then have to change their number with everyone that has the landline to their cell phone.