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Regarding the popularity of these phones - I went to a big BestBuy a couple years ago and they didn't have one home phone.
But I went to Staples just now and they had a few, and even some of the handset batteries. But not the ones for our phone.
Not surprised. Target audience is everything - most people do not want, need or use a home phone. We dropped ours long ago, my Dad didn't even get a landline when he moved. Even in my office we don't give new joiners a desk phone anymore - everyone gets a cell. You ask me for a desk phone, I'm most likely going to tell you no unless you're an exec - and even most of them don't want landlines anymore. We all use cell phones. We have entire sites that have dropped their phone systems and gone cellular only or Teams PSTN.
Hell, even my 90 year old gramps dropped his home phone and ported the number to a cell - and he was the one person I thought would never even get a cell phone
I went to a different Best Buy and they did have a few home phones, all Panasonic.
I love my Panasonic phones. I use the Link to Cell app which connects my cell phone to the Panasonic handsets. No need to carry my cell phone around in the house and no need for a landline.
Any type of "landline" that goes down when your internet does, isn't a true "landline". So tired of this misconception. I blame the cable companies, of course.
Notice the word they never use is "landline". As for the "tremendously better reception"... yea, that's not so true anymore. The newest phones today are pretty amazing with the voice quality. Every bit as good as your Internet phone line...aka your 'landline'.
Certainly not 'landline shaming' lol... you like what you like, and that's fine. I got rid of mine 10 years ago when I realized the only thing I used it for....was to find my cellphone.
Apropos of Landlines -- since the 1960s my Dad's rambling house had seven extensions on one landline. All of us kids spent hours on those extensions back in the day. Anyhow, the cellar extension and one of the upstairs extensions stopped ringing a few years ago.
We contacted AT&T. Apparently the FCC is allowing providers to lower the voltage for landlines, meaning that the dedicated landline power is insufficient for houses with multiple extensions. This seemed strange, but whatever.
So Dad dropped back to four extensions -- kitchen, bedroom, family room and office. I really wanted a landline next to his bed for emergencies. He leaves his cell in odd places.
Then AT&T started to dismantle ("de-support") the entire landline infrastructure in metro Kansas City. We had intermittent problems and even intermittent service. At $60 per month, we eventually just said goodbye to the landline. RIP after 50 years in that house.
I love my Panasonic phones. I use the Link to Cell app which connects my cell phone to the Panasonic handsets. No need to carry my cell phone around in the house and no need for a landline.
Second these, with enthusiasm. Relatively inexpensive, as reliable as old Ma Bell stuff (even in the Bluetooth autoconnect, no small thing), HD voice quality.
For those of us who are too evolved to pay for a landline but not... young enough?... to carry a glass brick everywhere with us in our own house. Drop the phone in a charger cradle, still be able to answer and make calls from any corner of the house (or, more significantly, any floor!)
Apparently the FCC is allowing providers to lower the voltage for landlines, meaning that the dedicated landline power is insufficient for houses with multiple extensions. This seemed strange, but whatever.
Actually, seven extensions is beyond basic Ma Bell service. Standard ring voltage and current would handle four full-power ringers (ringer equivalence of 1). If for some reason you had more than four, it was extra for boosted current (as well as for the leased phones).
Most phones made after about 1980 had much, much lower ringer equivalence, meaning they would ring using a fraction of the current needed for Ma Bell 500/2500 sets. It would probably be hard to exceed standard ring current with mostly modern phones.
But of course, there are no more wired phones, and probably few households with more than two or three at that.
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