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Old 07-17-2015, 09:52 AM
 
Location: Rural Wisconsin
19,496 posts, read 9,030,100 times
Reputation: 37662

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We have had problems for the last five years in decent service on our landline. We have had various problems, but dealing with both Century Link and Comcast drives us nuts, as it has proven difficult to get good customer service and/or technical service in which the problem STAYS fixed, so now we are thinking of eliminating our landline phone altogether. We now have the senior Jitterbug cellphone, and we love both it and the service from Great Call, and so now we are thinking about getting TWO Jitterbugs instead -- we hate the more modern cellphones like Smartphones! -- but we are wondering about any downsides to relying completely on cellphone service. The only downside I can see is the lack of good Speakerphone volume (but we only use the Speakerphone a few times a year, anyway). Btw, we do not make any calls to rural areas, so "service area" is not a problem.

Opinions? Thanks.
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Old 07-17-2015, 10:20 AM
 
1,167 posts, read 2,382,677 times
Reputation: 1165
I have had only a cell phone now for years, and have no issues at all. And, by the way, my cell phone is a simple flip-phone, and I pay $39 a month for 750 prime minutes, unlimited anytime minutes and unlimited texts. I don't plan to change until forced to do so.
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Old 07-17-2015, 11:15 AM
 
Location: Wandering.
3,549 posts, read 6,635,255 times
Reputation: 2704
Haven't had a landline / POTS in over 10 years. I really don't see the point of them at all, and see absolutely no downside unless you are running some really ancient tech like Fax or a really old alarm system that only runs on a landline.

Speakerphone is a feature of the phone itself, not the service behind it, so you should be able to test out the speaker phone on a couple of phones and see what you like.
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Old 07-17-2015, 11:24 AM
 
Location: Sugarmill Woods , FL
6,234 posts, read 8,382,569 times
Reputation: 13809
No issues anymore, maybe 10 years ago but not now.
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Old 07-17-2015, 11:29 AM
 
Location: On the Chesapeake
44,953 posts, read 59,942,524 times
Reputation: 60493
The main issue is in the event of an emergency that jams the cell towers. Which has and does happen, enough so that certain individuals have a Government Emergency Telecommunication System (GETS) access number. Use of it puts the user at the head of the line for a cell slot.

Cell towers lose power, they get jammed with users or they just plain fail in emergency situations. A land line rarely goes out.
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Old 07-17-2015, 12:48 PM
 
2,160 posts, read 4,943,512 times
Reputation: 5527
When the power goes out for a while, your cell phone will die when the battery dies. The landline will still be working.

When you call 911 from a landline, they automatically know where you are calling from (not so if you call from a cell phone).

But I only say that to be fair and balanced.

I have not had a landline in 5 years, and I have no regrets. Landlines are useless to me...even having gone through extensive power outages with Super Storms Irene and Sandy, I never missed the landline. As far as 911 goes, I've never had to call them anyway, but even if I did, I would need to within hand's reach of a landline inside my house, for it to be of advantage anyway.

Having said that, how are you getting internet? If DSL, you still need that phone line.

Also, one last tip: if the phone number associated with your landline is important to you (i.e. it's the main contact number for lots of family/friends/business/bank/doctor, etc. etc.) you can convert that phone number to a cell phone number.
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Old 07-17-2015, 04:11 PM
 
Location: Sierra Nevada Land, CA
9,455 posts, read 12,476,082 times
Reputation: 16449
Got rid of our landline a year ago. No issues. Save $600 a year. No more missed calls.

One small downside is the voice quality on cheaper cell phones is not as good. Also I found that ATT has better voice quality than Verizon-I tried Verizon for four months and then switched back to ATT-people noticed. Used the same model iPhone on both networks.

As a side note; the speakers on the iPhone work very well. Also placing calls to rural areas is never a problem with a cell phone. From-sometimes

Last edited by Mr5150; 07-17-2015 at 04:20 PM..
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Old 07-17-2015, 07:17 PM
 
Location: Under a bridge
2,420 posts, read 3,830,881 times
Reputation: 2496
No problems here. Before cutting the land line I simply notified friends and relatives and gave them my cell phone number. I also updated/edited the telephone number for certain services that I get and that was that. I don't miss at all the 5 to 6 salesman calls (robo calls) I would get everyday on the land line. On the smartphone I only get maybe one every two weeks. The savings is nice. Next up: the cable will get cut.

-Cheers.
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Old 07-17-2015, 07:56 PM
 
Location: Sierra Nevada Land, CA
9,455 posts, read 12,476,082 times
Reputation: 16449
Quote:
Originally Posted by MountainBiking View Post
No problems here. Before cutting the land line I simply notified friends and relatives and gave them my cell phone number. I also updated/edited the telephone number for certain services that I get and that was that. I don't miss at all the 5 to 6 salesman calls (robo calls) I would get everyday on the land line. On the smartphone I only get maybe one every two weeks. The savings is nice. Next up: the cable will get cut.

-Cheers.
i just ported our home landline to my cell. No need to notify beyond telling folk that my cell number is no longer works. Call my home number. Funny, now the sales guys call my cell. No surprise. But no big deal. Once every six months. Blocked number. My guess you didn't sign up for the Do Not Call Regestry.

No missed calls.

But yea. Having a land line is not needed in this day.
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Old 07-17-2015, 07:56 PM
 
Location: Florida & Cebu, Philippines
2,805 posts, read 3,236,897 times
Reputation: 2910
I got rid of the landline a couple of years ago but do not like to talk for long times on a cellphone so I started using a Magic Jack full time that I had been using for my out of the country trips and this has worked great, one number for wherever in the world I am. I wanted to keep one of my numbers so I ported it to google voice and forward it whenever and wherever I feel like it.
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