After my customer service fiasco turned victory yesterday, my husband asked me why we keep our land line with Qwest. We both have cell phones, and neither one of us really gab on the phone very much. I talk to my mom and my brother the most, but nearly always on the weekend. And when I call my brother, I use my cell phone anyway, because we don’t have long distance on our land line.
So why do I keep the land line? It basically comes down to four things.
- The ability of 911 to trace the call, should my kids have to call.
- That my daughter is getting to be the age where she talks to her friends on the phone…a lot.
- That I worry I’ll forget to charge my phone and have no phone access when I need it.
- That the kids will be at home without a phone, should my husband and I ever need to be out of the house at different locations. (Otherwise we’d leave one of our phones home).
Forgetting to charge my phone could be overcome, if I set up a routine for charging the phone. That’s not a make or break reason.
We could use Skype as a home phone. I use Skype already for calling in to host Frugal Coast2Coast, and I like the service, so I think I could be comfortable with issue #4. Both of my kids are pretty computer savvy.
That leaves reasons one and two. So here are my questions for you all today. If you have dropped your landline, are you comfortable with the fact that 911 won’t know your exact location? Or are 911 call centers getting better about dealing with cell phones? I would think this service would improve as more and more people turn wireless.
And then there’s my daughter. She’s 11 years old, and I had always said I wouldn’t get her a cell phone until she was in high school. However, I wouldn’t want her friends constantly calling my cell phone. We could use Skype. Or I could get her a basic phone. How young is too young for a cell? Have any of you with tweens dropped the landline? What’s your solution?
And finally, as I check this out, are there things I should keep in mind? I know I’ll have to stay with AT&T, as that’s basically the only company that has good reception in our area. And we’ve been happy customers for quite a while. They’re a little more expensive than other plans, but less expensive plans aren’t worth it, if I can’t get service at my house!
Do you have any advice for me? I’m not even sure I can do this yet, or that I want to. But I’m pondering the idea.
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I think if you have kids you probably need a land line, mostly for all the reasons you listed above.
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We recently got rid of our landline and replaced it with MagicJack, which has full 911 capability in our area. We pay $19.95 for a FULL YEAR of local and long-distance. We paid for two years in advance, so between the service ($19.95) and the jack itself, we’re paying $60 for two full years of phone service. We simply plug the jack into our computer, and plug the phone into the jack. The only negative is that it REALLY puts a drain on the computer and slows it down, so we are looking into setting up one of our old computers to JUST run MagicJack and use the main computer for everything else.
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I don’t think tweens need cell phones.
Also, a cell phone conversation can be “overheard” without a wiretap as the signal is sent “in the clear”. We never give out sensitive information (like a credit card number) over the cell.
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Well, if you have AT&T, you could add another line for like 10 bucks a month, right? Then, this could be the “stay at home” cell phone or act as a landline. This would have the added bonus of being able to track your child’s usage, time, numbers, etc with the billing. As someone who’s been landline free for about 3 years, I don’t actually miss it at all. I always have my “home” phone with me. The only minor annoyance is when you give people your information on medical forms, etc because you only have a cell, some people look at you like you have a third eye…=+)
Though, I think Skype is a reasonable alternative. Though I think the down side of using an internet based approach is that you have to have electricity to make it work, right? (the computer part at least). At lesat with a cell phone, as long as it’s charged you’re good to go. (you could do something like always plug it in a dinner, etc)
That’s my two cents, for what it’s worth.
Another disadvantage to consider: during a wide-area emergency, cell phones and computer-based services may both be knocked out of service for several hours to the entire duration of the emergency. During Hurricane Ike, most people here in Houston could not make cell phone calls at all. Either the towers themselves were damaged, or the central servers and power supply was down. The few remaining cell companies actually live were soon swamped with call volume.
Additionally, my handicapped friend had a landline, but a phone that did not ring without additional power from the wall plug. She could call me but did not know when I was returning her call. I finally had to put a voice mail on my phone explaining. An old mechanical ringer landline phone is now on my list of next-hurricane emergency preparedness gear.
I don’t know if your area is subject to large-area natural disasters or emergencies, but it is something to consider.
Good points, everyone.
@Brian, yes it would only be another $10 a month for another line, so I could use a cell as a “home phone” to be at home. I kind of like that idea.
@Samantha, my area doesn’t get many area wide emergencies. The last one was in 1997 when there was a flood, and phone service mostly worked, except for the areas most affected. But you didn’t have to go far to find a phone that worked.
Plus, my experience has been that landlines can have problems when there are major disasters too. I was in college in San Diego during the San Francisco earthquake in 1989. I had friends who had to wait days to find out if their parents were OK, because nobody in the San Fran area could make phone calls.
I’m still thinking about this.
DH and I are wireless, but I know that when I have kiddos, I will want a land line back. I am terrible about charging my phone, and even with a habit established, I’d hate to think of something happening and not being able to grab a phone and dial 911.
A majority of tweens I see from friends and family have a cellphone through a family plan and rarely use it. They communicate through the internet with IMing.
I wanted to go completely wireless. When I lived along I only had a mobile phone. However, my husband (who is a police officer) is worried about the 911 thing. He insisted on putting a landline phone downstairs and one next to the bed upstairs so that I can call quickly if something were to happen when he’s not there. In over two years I think I’ve actually used the landline phone about four times.
Let me show my ignorance but how would you get internet service if you don’t have a landline. I don’t have cable access because I live so far off the road and satellite internet service is really expensive. Are there any other alternatives?
For the kids you can do even better than the $10 per month add on. Our kids have a Virgin Wireless. You have to put $20 on it every 3 months…and you don’t lose what you don’t use in that time..but you do have to add the $20.
The advantage of this is that you don’t get caught with a surprise texting or internet usage bill when they sneak to break the rules. You can’t lose any more than is already on the phone. And if they lose the phone you don’t run the risk of a financial hit unless you do automatic top up – which we don’t.
Also, I saw someone that said their kids dont use the cell. That is the complete opposite of what I see (as a mom to 3 and as a Girl Scout leader and other volunteer positions). The disadvantage to cell phone use is that the kids will sit in a group and play with their cell instead of interact with others. Its rude. Another good reason for a pay as you go…you have control of the amount of time they are on it as they will burn the minutes fast if they are using it for anything other than contacting mom and dad or a quick call from a friend for a specific purpose.
You can also pick up the phone starting at $10…and if they lose it you can replace it for another $10 without worrying about whether you are eligible for another free phone from your company. There are no contracts.
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We have been using our cell phones for 7 years now and I have only had one “learning experience”. December 2007 we had ice storms and were without power for almost 10 days. I have a tower withing a half a mile from my house so I was okay… as long as a placed the phone a certain way, used it on speaker and made sure the dog didn’t bump it when she was wondering where the person was! The tower has power, just not as much as normal so there was a signal, just a weaker signal. The phones that we had just gotten were a little cheaper phone and we live in a metal home so that had a bit to do with it I am sure. We have since upgraded and gotten better phones through AT&T and haven’t had a problem. We lost power about a week ago and the hubby was laughing at me and I was running around excited about the fact that I had awesome service. I still wouldn’t change my choice of going totally wireless since we are saving quite a bit while sharing minutes. That is just my opinion and my story! It is also nice since hubbys great grandmother is ailing, she can call one of us and get us the first time!
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Lynnae – Not sure if anyone mentioned this yet, but AT&T and Verizon offer corporate discounts on their cell phone plans. I get a discount just for being associated with the US Military. I think The Consumerist pointed me toward the Verizon discount. Hope this helps and congrats on the success of your EECB with DirecTV.
I didn’t see anyone mention VOIP lines. I am assuming you have a high speed internet connection because you mentioned skype. We actually have two VOIP lines. One for business and one for home use and they both work great. We use a company out of Oklahoma called VOIPYourLife (http://www.voipyourlife.com) and they are wonderful. They send you a little linksys voip box that you plug into your router and then into your phone jack. Then you use your regular telephones as normal.
People like Vonage have given VOIP a bad name. I have sent the voip guys a question via email on a Saturday and had an answer in 10 minutes.
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We are a cell phone only family. We have 3 kids (2, 6, and 8). It was hard for me to go to cell only, mostly b/c I didn’t to give up my land number that had come with us even when we moved 3 times in the same county. It was our very first phone # after marriage *snif*! BUT, when God moved us to TX and I couldn’t take my VA number with us .. hubby convinced me to become a cell only family. I have a set charging time every night, and after one or two times of being dead or late payment *blush* I make sure everything is taken care of. :-) I try to keep it in it’s charging place when I’m at home and the kids know where that is, JIC something should happen to me while I’m at home, ya know.
GL in your decision.
We have been completely wireless for over 3 years. My children are grown so I don’t have to deal with that issue Our decision to go wireless was based on the fact that our phone would go days without ringing and I couldn’t see paying for something that wasn’t being used. We have never had any problems but then again I have never had to call 911.
As to the question of tweens having cell phones-I substitute at a middle school. I would say that at least 80% of the students have cell phones. I am not sure how I feel about this. I understand that parents want their children to be able to contact them at any time but then there are the students that are trying to be sneaky and text their friends during class. The rule is that if a student’s phone is seen or heard during school hours it will be taken up and the parent’s have to come and pay a $15 fine to get it back. The second time it is taken up it is kept until the end of the school year. I am sure that there are unhappy parents when they find out that their child’s phone is unusable (due to their child’s choices) until the end of the school year.
We’re a cellphone only family. Our kids are 5 and 4 (close enough to 4), and when they start wanting to make phone calls, we’ll consider just adding them to our plan, as it’s cheaper to add them than to have a landline that only gets used when telemarketers call. After the Do Not Call list, not even then. Considering they have the Firefly or whatever phone that only lets 5 numbers call and be called, it would keep them from calling people you didn’t want them calling.
Also, most phones have the GPS tracking in them, so they’re able to find you that way.
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Most people don’t know this but in most places, even a landline that is disconnected will allow you to call 911. We just moved and made the decision to go cell phone only. We plugged in an old non-cordless phone just to check and the recording informed us that “this line may only be used to make 911 calls”. I would check with your phone company.
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We didn’t have a landline for 3 years and never missed it. Now, however, we have a son and my aunt watches him at our home during the day. She does not have a cell and since we both work about an hour’s drive from home, we feel like we should have our cells with us so we got the landline. I think we’re going to just get an extra cell line (only costs $15/month plus the one time cost of a cheap phone) so I can get in touch with them when she’s out with my kiddo.
The how young is too young for a phone is a huge and different discussion. I teach 8th grade and I feel compelled anytime I have the opportunity to say no teenager needs a phone that can take pictures and/or video. Even for parents of responsible children I have seen things come across on cell phones that other kids haven’t asked to have sent to them that are beyond inappropriate. However, I do understand that cell phones can be a measure of safety and I don’t have issues with kids having just simple cell phones they can use for talking. We will probably keep the extra “house” cell phone for our son to use during his elementary school years. Not so he can carry it every day and talk to his little friends, but so he can have it when he’s with someone other than myself or my husband (many times he’s with my granny who doesn’t have a phone and I would feel better with him having one).
My husband’s coworker has a rule that his daughter’s phone and laptop have to be on the kitchen table and turned off by 8:30pm every night. That is a man who loves his kid. Just a few thoughts…
I agree with Samatha on this one, which is why we still have a land line. Several years ago a tornado tore up a lot of my home time. My wife is a nurse at a hospital and was working that day. We only had our cell phones but her parents had a land line. She was not able to get a hold of me but was able to contact her parents. Soon after that, we got a land line as well, just to be sure. It was actually a good thing because a couple of years later another tornado came though, although not quite as close.
While the chances of that happening a third time are pretty slim, we will keep our land line just in case.
I don’t have a landline either.I haven’t had one in 3 years. However, we don’t have kids either. I like the fact that someone can either call my phone or my husband’s phone to look for either one of us if we don’t hear our cells. I also like the fact that when someone is actually looking for me, they would call my phone, so we don’t have to bother guessing who the person on the other line is looking for.
to Kim regarding internet: Verizon offers dryloop (DSL without a phoneline). It costs about $5 extra month, vs. the extra who knows how much if I had a landline.
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With young ones in the house, a landline is always a good bet. Beware when the day comes that you give your teens a cell phone. Lay down the law up front. I’m stunned at how mnay people continue to upgrade their mobile phone packages so their teens won’t go over in minutes. Ultimately, the mobile phone are a line from parent to child- NOT the necessity our children make them out to be.
I’m also having the battle of the early teen cell phone. I’m of the opinion that she doesn’t need her own cell until she’s driving (she’s 13). I let her use mine when she needs to go somewhere that she needs to call me to come get her but I think it’s such a waist of money for her to have her own phone just so she can play on it. My husband and I have our phone through our job so there’s no family plan to add to. It’s not like we couldn’t afford the phone it’s just that this is another example of keeping up with the Joneses. All her friends do is compare what features one phone has verses another. I’m slowly being worn down though but I intend to make it a pay as you go phone so she can pay for the usage out of her money. I know I’m very much in the minority when it comes to cell phones since all but one of her friends has one.
We’ve been cell phone and Skype only for over three years, although we don’t have any children.
I agree with Elizabeth that you should see if you can still make 911 calls with a disconnected landline; I know in our area you can (although we don’t have one).
Living without a phone seems much more peaceful; hardly any telemarketing calls.
I also have a Skype In number, perhaps you could get your daughter that instead of a cell phone for a time? Mine is about $20 a year. Then she could call her friends or have them call her just as if you had a landline- bonus- she’ll see how long she has been on the phone and the cost on screen!
We don’t have a landline. But I imagine we’ll get one when we have kids – even young ones. I’d rather err on the side of being able to communicate.
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LOL I had no idea Skype would tell you how long you’ve been on the phone. I love it!
And I’m really thankful for those of you who have experience with middle-schoolers and cell phones. Especially from a teacher’s perspective. I can see where cell phones in class would be a nightmare. I tend to be a strict parent (according to my daughter), and would have no trouble backing a teacher up, if my kids ever abused the cell phone privilege.
I also love the laptop and cell phone on the counter by 8:30 rule. If we decide to get a cell phone for my daughter, I’m definitely implementing that rule! Brilliant!
I agree with Brian. We got rid of our landline a good 3 years ago. The 3rd phone is just always at home. Can’t beat it for $10 extra! Also, WHEN we decide to let our 13 yo have a phone, there will be a few rules. First of all, he’s got to pay for it ($10/mo plus any texting). Second, we’ve already turned off any web browsing capability. You can also block text messaging as well. Thirde, every night at bedtime, all cell phones will be “turned in” to mom and dad to charge in our room. We haven’t missed the landline, or the bill, one bit!
Also, I do believe you can enable GPS tracking on your phone… wouldn’t that be helpful in case of an emergency? I also heard that google has some new thing you can put on your phone and at any time of the day, you can see (on a map) where that phone is. Another great thing to use on your kids!
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We do still have a landline (no children unless the grands are visiting), but I am strongly considering going wireless. The stopping point for me is that I sometimes need a phone to speak to a supervisor at my job (I work from home most of the week), and the information I have to share with the supervisor is confidential, so I am not at all comfortable using a cell for it.
I suppose things are way different than they were even 5 years ago (as far as cell phones and landlines) but when I was growing up, my mom would come after me and tell me to hang up, so I was always telling my friends, “Sorry, Mom’s making me go.” Granted, I had chores and stuff to do. Word is kids don’t do that anymore? Either way, I learned quickly to talk as long as one needed to talk to make plans so that we could talk more, ha ha. Shortly after I turned 18, I bought my own cell phone and cell phone plan, without telling my parents. And they had to deal with it and I paid the bills. I see the value in cell phones in grade/high school, because kids have after school activities and need to be picked up or whatever, but considering all that I’ve heard about the problems kids are having with cell phones (nude pics sent to one another, and I remember a very famous scandal about boys sneakily putting their phones underneath girls skirts and getting pictures of that), I would rather they not have them until they’re responsible enough to pay for them themselves (i. e. my experience).
Now I live on my own, so I am totally wireless. I have an awesome plan, and every cell phone company gives you free mobile-to-mobile minutes if you’re talking with someone who also has their company. My advice (so not to contribute to the insanity), is to have the kids use the landline and limit their time until they can afford their own cell phone (or contribute to your bill, if you have a family plan). They’re social life won’t suffer – I promise.
@Amy, I’m definitely concerned about pictures being taken and emailed, and I don’t think I’d give my kids access to a camera phone. That doesn’t stop other kids though.
And I can see the value of cell phones for afterschool activities. Back when I was a kid, as long as you had a quarter, you could call home from a pay phone. And if you didn’t have a quarter, you could call collect, which wasn’t cheap, but wasn’t outrageous either.
Now you can’t even use pay phones! You need more than a quarter, and heaven forbid you try to call collect, you’ll get charged $50 for a 3 minute call! But that’s a whole different post.
I came here to say what Elizabeth said about the 911 calls. So if you’re hanging on to your landline for that, you can probably get rid of it. Check with your phone company first, of course.
Our POTS line is rock solid (and the technology is solid).
An ice storm hit 3 years ago that knocked out power and cable for a week. Our land line was down a few mnutes.
@Kacie – I called around this morning, and apparently the technology is not available for us to call 911 from a disconnected landline. Which isn’t surprising, because I live in a rural area.
After looking at our phone records and phone usage patterns, I don’t think going completely to cell phones would be much more cost effective. If we went with Skype or Vonage, it might be more cost effective.
I heard back from Qwest about my customer service issues this morning, though, so I’m no longer in a position of leaving Qwest in protest. I may keep the landline for a couple of years and decide to go cell phone only when my kids are a little older.
We have had cell phones only for 6 years, and have had no problems. My son even has epilepsy and we aren’t concerned. We have lived in urban and suburban areas, so there are always people nearby if we need help.
If you have Verizon in your area, they are considering a $5/month plan where you can receive unlimited calls but only outgoing calls are 911 and operator assist.
For a land line I would go with VOIP. It is a cheap alternative to the local land line and 911 comes with it. I have AT&T CallVantage and MagicJack and they both offer 911. If I need to get rid of one it would be the CallVantage. I am keeping it only because it is able to handle my land line number I have had for 25. The number that if people need to get a hold of me/us they know how to do it. The disadvantages of VOIP are the requirement of a broadband connection, dsl or cable. A good read is a book “Home Energy Diet” which we have been using to save money on our monthly utilities. This last month we saved $58 over the same period in 2008 as a result of the practices is this book our computers are only on when in use. To use MagicJack and Skype both require the use of a computer to work which means leaving them on, another disadvantage of VOIP. Another disadvantage is faxes do not work well with VOIP. My favorite advantage is call screening followed by having calls find me. As my parents get up in age if they need to call me I want their call to reach me no matter where I am. Many more features all included in VOIP.
I think as you are looking at this issue your decision all hinges on who you intend to use your phone service and how. In my house my wife uses the phone both local and long distance. Cheap is the choice with VOIP with 911 as secondary. I plug in my phone to the charger each day when I come home and it sits on the counter. It is the backup to any failure of VOIP and we need 911. 911 is only for medical emergencies, anything else I can leave the house if needed and get assistance.
Thanks for listening, my finger are getting hoarse.
We feel the land line is important for all of the reasons you’ve stated. We have had (unfortunately) to call 911 several times for medical reasons. I am well known to often forget to charge my cell. And, if we lose electricity, the cell phone charger won’t work, but the land line will. And, in the case of an emergency, a cell isn’t always easy to locate, but the phone is. We no longer have long distance available on our land line, but we make all long distance call with our cells.
Hope this is helpful to you.
Liane
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My husband and I just have our cell phones. 911 can trace them pretty well if need be but I’d like to think that someone could tell them our address, so we’re not worried.
During a hurricane, we lost our land line and we didn’t miss it even though it took over a month to be reconnected. The only people who called us on it were telemarketers and political messages, so we just got rid of it.
We both have Sprint. My husband has unlimited calling for work. I have 450 minutes which I barely use half of (though I use my unlimited text & web). I have free Sprint-to-Sprint calls, plus weekends and nights after 7pm.
It might be different if we had kids, but you can give them an old cell phone without a service plan to call 911 with. It’ll still work for 911. And if they want to talk to friends at home, there is all sorts of voice messaging online. Nearly a decade ago I was using Yahoo! Messenger to “call” my then boyfriend for free. I’m sure things have come a long way since, lol.
We’ve been wireless for about seven, maybe eight years. When we first changed we were given so much grief by people. We were “weird” for it. lol Now more and more people are going this route and ask for our advice. :)
We have five lines with one being a dedicated “home” phone. It never leaves the house and sits next to it’s charger. We use it for our home business, giving out to doctors, stores etc. Anyone we wouldn’t want to have our personal cell number. Which works great for us.
We have never missed the landline and it saves us about $60 a month. I did have to call 911 a couple months ago and a sheriff’s deputy was at my door within 10 minutes. So I have no worries there. Not to mention we live two minutes from our police and fire department. We live in a rural area with great neighbors so if I had to use their landlines I know I could. That has never been necessary though.
As for the children I have an 11 and 14 year old. Both have their own phone. Texting is disabled on all phones. My DH and I are the kind of people who don’t see the need to text or instant message. It’s easier to just pick up the phone and call. :) Not to mention it’s cheaper on the bill! lol Although the 14 yr old wants to text we remain a firm NO on that issue. We want them to learn communication skills that seem to be drifting into oblivion in our society. That is a whole other topic though.
The kids phones have to be in my hands every night by 8:30 like the PP. (I charge all the phones in one spot every night. Everyone knows where they will be in the morning this way. I also look thru their phones to monitor calls for the day.) With all the after school activities I have found them to be very handy. Especially when the poms coach kept changing where the pickup location would be. But again that’s another story. lol The school does not allow them to be anywhere but off and in their locker during school. They confiscate if found on their person. My DH and I completely support the school in this. We’ve given the phones to the children for safety after school not during. The children understand and do respect the rules. (my kids are straight lacers they don’t like to get in trouble with the school) We go over the detailed bill every month together and they know if they cause the bill to go over they have to pay it. We incorporate this into our financial lessons with them. We want them to be aware of how to read a bill, look for errors and pay them. It also teaches them to be aware of how long they’re on the phone.
The biggest piece of advice we always tell people who ask us about being wireless is to have mobile to mobile minutes and free incoming calls. It saves so much money because we keep our minutes plan really low that way. Most of the people I talk to for long amounts of time have unlimited calling plans so they don’t mind calling me right back to chat. Or they’re mobile to mobile minutes. In all these years we have never once gone over our monthly minutes. Not even close and we have 750 minutes between five phones. We use about 3500 a month though. That is the power of free incoming calls and m2m minutes. *smile*
Now that you’ve read my novel I’ll say thanks for listening and I do believe cell phones for children is a very personal decision. I firmly believe it needs to be made on a child by child basis. What works for one family doesn’t for the next. So you do what you feel is best for yours and all will be well. Good luck to you!
The thing that would keep me from doing it now is my concern for my children. Otherwise I would let it go. I actually just dropped my home line and have not missed it one bit. I have worked around not having unlimited minutes like I had with my Verizon landline by calling my friends cell phones, most of which have the same wireless provider I do.
Being in Rural windy Oregon, I would recommend not only a landline, but a non-electric landline – one that will work even when the power is out. We have gone literal a week here more than once with no cell phone capability. While we have lost long distance also, we usually have local calling available on landlines. In a home with kids, I just would not be without the basic old-fashioned landline.
Cell phones for kids… My granddaughter got one at age 7 – a kid phone that could only call 4 preprogrammed numbers – all family members. Special circumstances tho – to keep in touch with Mom always, as their Mom has to work some nights while the kids are with other relatives, and to text to Mom while she is in college classes sometimes. I would think any child in afterschool activities would benefit from a preprogrammed cell phone. The school phones are not always available after school hours, and our old school did not have a pay phone available either.
Lynnae, we have Qwest and we’re dumping the whole thing the first week of April (when my final bundled commitment is up!)…no DirecTV, no cell phone through them, no land line, and no DSL. We’re switching to Comcast for Internet and taking advantage of the plans they are offering to get everyone to sign up now that analog signals are going away. Because my husband wants more than basic speed, we’re going to be paying roughly $40month for internet and very basic cable, which will allow us to do Vonage and TracFone. My oldest has had a TracFone for 2 years and loves it and the problems most parents have with cell phone usage goes away when the kids themselves are in charge of the money! (We gave a very basic amount and anything else he had to add out of his own money.) By my calculation (since I’m not a chatter box on the phone) my cell phone will end up costing me $12.50 month for the first year and that included the price of the phone.
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We have been just wireless for several years. But either dh or I are with the kids at all times so we have no probs there. We bought the magicjack but have had nothing but problems with it. It won’t ring and I’ve tried 2 different phones and it won’t let me dial using the phone – I have to do it on the computer. So we haven’t used it much. Plus my mom said it was hard to hear when I called.
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We should really consider getting rid of our land line as well. I would say the majority of inbound calls are all telemarketers and we can get decent cell reception in our home. I guess we keep it out of habit.
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We have DSL, home phone/landline and national wide/unlimited calling (last month $76 included the taxes/fees). Then we have 1 prepaid cell phone (virgin mobile…expensive per minute but we don’t use it much), $20 every 3 mo. Basically need it for the months my hubby is on call. It is also nice to have if we go out on date & the children need to reach us. We went with the prepaid after being locked into a 2 yr/monthly $50 plan for 2 phones…we didn’t use much as others didn’t call us often. We don’t have cable, satellite tv or any TV that costs us monthly. I say all that to give a little history of our phone useage.
I rather talk on a landline phone. I have a more comfortable headseat for my cordless phone. I don’t like the little bitty cell phone…too small to hold for an extended amount of time (tires my hand/wrist). Plus the cell phone heats up…I don’t know ‘if’ it is proven or not but isn’t there a concern that a cell phone could cause cancer? or a tumor?
We have extended family who have gone to cell phone only…I don’t like it as they don’t get very good reception/quality of call/connection not as good as the old landline they had. Seems like we don’t talk as often. I also don’t like to call during the day as I don’t want to run them over their monthly minutes. It is also a little irritating to have to ask ‘if’ they are home. If they are at the store/restaurant/out in public…I’d rather not be talking personal matters then.
Cell phone calls can get dropped…that doesn’t happen with a landline.
We dumped the landline almost a year ago– aside faxes, no problems.
I have considered Skyppe, but no rush.
I don’t think I could ever go without a home phone. When my cell phone rings now, I know it’s an important call. When my home phone rings, I never know what to expect. Most of the time it’s a spam call – even though I’m on the do not call list.
I hate when I’m out with a friend and their cell phone rings and they sit there talking on their phone or I’m at a store and someone is walking around chatting it up on their phone. If I only had my cell phone, it would be ringing off the hook and I’m afraid that I would be like those that I dislike at the stores.
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Thanks for the post! I’ve been completely wireless for five years now and have not had any problems with it, even during emergencies. Yes, it is difficult to contact people during a national crisis, but wouldn’t it be difficult to get through anyway with all the phone lines being busy? I had a landline during 9/11 and couldn’t get through to any family members that entire day. My entire family and most of my friends are on Verizon (no, this is not a commercial, haha) so I’m able to have the lowest of the low plans and still have tons of minutes left over. I think skype is a great option for your daughter if she wants to talk on the phone with her friends. I use it to talk to my friends overseas which saves a ton of money on phone cards. :)
I’ve had to call 911 before when my 7 week old baby stopped breathing. It was a crazy experience and I had a hard time communicating with the 911 operator because I was in shock. I am all about saving money, but because of this experience I will keep my land line.
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Jen, that is so scary! And that’s just the kind of thing I worry about. I think for now we’ve decided to keep the landline. When my youngest is a bit older, we may revisit this decision, but for now, keeping it seems to be the way to go.
911 will know where you are if you have Skype…at least they do in Austin. I accidentally dialed 911 once on Skype (didn’t quite realizing that I did) and a cop showed up at my place in a few minutes to check on me.
Sameer