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We still have a landline - but it is not copperwire thru telephone company. Guess it is VoiP which may not really be an advantage when power goes. Never had that happen for the five years I have lived here. Husband has dementia and at the present time can still dial 911 on the landline phone. I have a cell phone but I do not like the sound quality and I hate having to carry it in my pocket.
I decided not to have a backup battery since Comcast charges for it (stopped providing it last year) and power outages are rare in the developed world. Rechargeable batteries need to be replaced every couple of years and if the modem is changed out, the battery might become incompatible.
I have to agree with the sound quality from cell phones. Sometimes I could still (now exclusively landline) barely understand the other side when they're calling from their cell phone. Must be microphone placement, especially when they're in a noisy place, and mostly can be blamed from the digital processing.
Legal taps. Cops would have to get a search warrant to tap a landline due to court decisions. No such things exist on the mobile networks.
Also, these mobile networks are essentially unregulated by the state utility regulator. Good luck if you need help with a billing complaint or other problem!
Surprisingly now with GPS, mobiles are essentially the tracking devices that spies in the movies would plant on the muffler in the past. Now it's just a matter of hacking in and looking at the location history from Google Maps. That's not even mentioning the part about the microphone on the phone being activated remotely.
But I got an alarm cell transmitter to get rid of the last modem on the phone line. That modem would activate if the other person tried to ring rapid-fire a couple of times.
Cops can get a search warrant to tap Landlines, Cell Phones, VOIP. The "Tap" is done by the carrier by copying the call as it goes thru their network. (All call are digital now, it's a bunch of Ones & Zeros going down a "Data Path", no more clips on physical lines in some central office) The call can be recorded, or forward as a "ReadOnly" to the agency in real time to them to listen in on it.
The FCC propagate rules for cell carriers.
You can get a "Black" cell phone that does the call/data encryption before the call goes to the carrier. The call stay encrypted until it dencrypted by the receivers "Black" cell phone. While they can put a "Tap" on that call, the time it would take law enforcement to crack the encryption would require NSA level computer power.
Cell used only when landline is down, to call Verizon to fix it. Happened maybe 5 times in 20 years. Also, would use it if I need roadside assistance. Hasn't happened yet.
Not interested in texting, taking pictures, surfing, or whatever else "phones" do nowadays. In fact the cell is one of those obsolete ones that flip.
Yeah, the landline rings 5-10 times throughout the day which I assume are folks who want my money, but the answering machine responds to these, and they rarely leave a message.
We have a Voice Over IP landline through Vonage. We have cell phones also, but so many people have our landline number, so don't wish to disconnect it.
I hardly know anyone with a landline, and the few people I know are older people. The last time I had a landline about five years ago, I hardly ever received any calls on it. Everybody always called me on my cell, and I got tired of paying for something that hardly ever was used. Everybody in my house have their own cell phone, and the house phone just became useless for the most part. If anyone had ask me what was the number to my house, I couldn't tell them, I actually didn't know the number, I just never used it.
I still have a land line. In 2007 when we moved into our house in the country, we couldn't get cell service so we got a land line and gave up our cells. I moved out of the country 2 years ago but decided to stay with a land line since I prefer talking on a cordless phone instead of a cell. I just didn't miss the cell phone and still don't want one. I don't spend much time on the phone and being the homebody that I am, the caller id comes up on the tv. I rarely get a call that I don't want to answer.
I prefer talking on a cordless phone instead of a cell. .
There are "Cordless" phone that have BlueTooth that connect to Cells. I have two "Cordless" phone (no Landline) that connect to my Cell, They ring like a normal phone, work like a normal landline phone, So I don't have to carry my cell around the house.
I use a cordless landline and am able to plug in my old princess phone in case of power failure. I have a pay as you go cell phone that sits in my saddlebag in case of road emergency.
We just moved and we want to get a landline in addition to the smartphones. Added to all the previously mentioned reasons for having a landline, they have become cheap because few want them, but also, we are retired, in our 70s, and not on the road all the time.
But mainly, I am thinking that, being older, we are more prone to illness or injury and if medical calls come in, it would be more practical to have one main phone that the other person could easily find and answer. In that line of thinking, if a relative or a visiting nurse ever needed to answer our phone when they were here, the landline would be easy to find, unlike a cell phone that might be in my purse or in my husband's pocket.
And, as we get even older (80s, 90s) my thinking is that a landline is much simpler and will be less expensive as well as practical in times of serious illness. That said, our cell phones have been invaluable for making this out of state move!
Haven't had a LL in over five years and it's never been an issue.
Your point #2 is interesting as those back up batteries are good for up to 6 hours, whereas our local cell towers have fuel cell back ups that are good for a week. No power at home happens where we live a couple times a year, but our phones still work
#3. Must be tough for you to travel to a different room to answer a phone
#4 we use the speakerphone feature on our smartphone
#5 that's possibly your strongest point
#6 that is true and one reason people keep that line of service, but you have to realize that is not a copper wire land line and when the power goes out the only thing keeping you LL on is that little back up battery
#7 you always have the option of not answering a phone
#8 you need to update your plan, Modern cell plans include caller ID in the basic plan cost. We were paying $7 a month to have caller ID on our ATT land line.
But to each their own. We were paying $50 a month for our LL, not including long distance charges. We were using our cell phones for (free) long distance calls and it seemed stupid to be paying $600 a year for something we didn't need. We pay a total of $87 a month for our two smartphones-unlimited text talk and 4gigs of data. So by dropping the landline we pay a net cost of $37 for our phones.
Why are you picking on me? I'm NOT the only one who has a 'LL. If you do t like a 'LL more power to you.
Here's my answers to your stupid answers:
2) Our bu battery is good for 48 hours of USE. it's highly unlikely we'd be to talk for 48 hours,straight. NO cell towers here DO NOT have backup batteries.they have generators and don't always stay connected. You want to tell me WHY people with cells ONLY come to us to use our phone in emergency durng power outages? 'll tell you: because our 'LL work's that's why. Btw, the cell tower owner for most of the cell towers around here is a close friend and neighbor to my parents.
3) actually it IS, I don't suppose you get around with a leg brace and cane do you? I do. And I get 3 rings only to get to the darn cell. I get 6 to get a nearby cordless, one in every room but the bathroom.
4) If someone is trying to reach ME while my OH is out of the house and calls my OH s phone, I CANNOT BE on speaker phone now can I? I still have to then be called on some other phone. Duh
7 ok, but I don't have to listen to it ring when I'm out of the house now do I?
8) our plan is as updated as it's going to be with Verizon. AGAIN I'd have to PAY EXTRA for caller I'd on my cell...its INCLUDED in my 'LL. For $10 I pay for the 'LL I think that's a bargain. NEITHER IS GOOD at telling me WHO belongs to a cell phone Number!!!
Your last point is correct, to each his own.
DON'T pick out one person to nail if you can't take it back.
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