# We don't care, we don't have to, we're the phone company **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 14, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-care-we-dont-have-to-were-the-phone-company/372754 "2006-09-14T21:05:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-care-we-dont-have-to-were-the-phone-company/372754/21 "2006-09-16T03:24:46Z")
[QUOTE=DeVena] My mother-in-law lives in the back desert of New Mexico. She has a huge, red, rotary phone circa 1950. Every so often she gets a call from the phone company about upgrading to a touch-tone system. "Not interested, the free phone still works fine. " Back in the day, to lure people onto the phone network, this phone company installed a phone in your house. When you cancelled service, they came and physically removed the phone. She’s had the same phone for over 50 years and has never actually bought one. [/QUOTE] Then she may still be leasing it, just like the lady in the article. Have her check her monthly bill. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-care-we-dont-have-to-were-the-phone-company/372754/22 "2006-09-16T05:37:41Z")
Here I was, hoping this was a Lily Tomlin thread… ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-care-we-dont-have-to-were-the-phone-company/372754/23 "2006-09-16T06:00:52Z")
Hmm, my phone has an old-fashioned rotary grandfather in his study. It even has a cloth cord. He doesn’t have any other phones. I wonder if he’s renting it. ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-care-we-dont-have-to-were-the-phone-company/372754/24 "2006-09-16T06:15:01Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] I’d like to have one of those phones as a collector’s item. And they were built like tanks. Think that football phone you got for subscibing to Sports Illustrated is still going work in 50 years? Not a chance. [/QUOTE] Oh yeah, I picked one up-at an antique store, mind you- for $35, rewired for modular jacks.You could club someone to death with it in three swings. It rings like a proper phone, not a malfunctioning EEG machine. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-care-we-dont-have-to-were-the-phone-company/372754/25 "2006-09-16T06:47:30Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] Hmm, my phone has an old-fashioned rotary grandfather in his study. It even has a cloth cord. He doesn’t have any other phones. I wonder if he’s renting it. [/QUOTE] Wow. Haven’t seen a rotary grandfather in quite a while. How much do they rent for? ---
**Author:** ![MizGrand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@MizGrand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizGrand)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-care-we-dont-have-to-were-the-phone-company/372754/26 "2006-09-16T13:05:17Z")
[QUOTE=FatBaldGuy] Likewise, in many areas, unless you have specifically opted out, you are possibly paying several dollars a month for “inside wire maintenance.” This is also a holdover from the leasing days, when the phone company owned all of the equipment. When was the last time you had to call the phone company to have them come to your house and fix the wiring? [/QUOTE] I happily pay like $2.50 a month for the “Internal Wiring Plan”. It’s like an insurance for your wiring. I have an old house, nothing in it is right or plumb or wired correctly. Nothing. So, it behooves me to continue paying this fee (I actually went looking for it) so that when the wiring decides it’s naught for long, SBC will replace it ALL for free. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-care-we-dont-have-to-were-the-phone-company/372754/27 "2006-09-16T13:36:07Z")
[QUOTE=FatBaldGuy] When was the last time you had to call the phone company to have them come to your house and fix the wiring? [/QUOTE] I had to do this twice, actually. We could have done it ourselves, but didn’t have to. Quick question about the phone leasing thing: Does that 25$ include the actual phone service or was that an additional cost? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-care-we-dont-have-to-were-the-phone-company/372754.md?page=1)