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We keep one because my mother refuses to carry her cell phone all day. In addition our old house has a lot of steel, plaster and concrete in the construction, and the cellular signal is not very good.
They have extenders but you need internet service. Basically it's your own personal cell phone tower that communicates over the internet.
I read somewhere that over half of US households no longer have a landline. We got rid of ours about three years ago. We were paying $50 a month/$600 a year for something we didn't really need. And that $50 a month did not include "long distance" charges, because we always used our cell phones to call out of the area friends, relatives and businesses. We pay $90 a month for our two smartphones and I am quite sure our long distance charge savings well exceeds the $40 "extra" we pay for our smartphone voice, text and data had we only relied on our landline for calling.
I feel there is a false economy with some folk who believe that having a cell phone/smartphone is a waste of money or they boast that they only pay $100 a year for a prepaid service and rely on their landline for all calling.
So why keep a landline?
I wouldn't call it a false economy. No need in denigrating people. But I would say that some people do not recognize the value of the portability and flexibility of a cell phone.
There are other issues. 911 is squirly when it comes to cell phones. You have to rely on triangulation, which doesn't always work. E-911, for those of us that do Wi-Fi calling, is also suspect because you have to register a physical address with the phone in order for it to work, but if you're not at home at the moment you have to use it, what good is that physical address for? I still don't understand why they can't get 911 to work under those circumstances. You're probably better off looking up the police where you're at on Google and call that number; that is, assuming that you have enough time to do all of that.
The breakup of the Bell System was mandated on January 8, 1982.
Landlines ran extensive advertising campaigns for long distance service in the late 1990's, one of the most popular campaigns featured Candace Bergen for Sprint.
The longest continuously 3G network operator in the USA was Verizon Wireless started in July 2002. Around this time the number of cellular subscriptions surpassed the number of landlines.
Cellular companies quickly realized that the future of profits would be mobile data, and not voice. Cellular companies began offering unlimited domestic calling for a flat rate People started buying local only land line service and using their cell phones to make long distance calls.
The first generation iPhone was released on June 29, 2007 which sparked a campaign to produce quality Android phones as well.
In the United States, Sprint (previously Clearwire) has deployed Mobile WiMAX networks since 2008, while MetroPCS became the first operator to offer LTE service in 2010. Although the use of the term 4G was debated for a few years, this newest generation of cellular phones was clearly a giant step in the use of phones to do things formerly only done by computers.
During this time people began to trust the reliability of cellular service and landlines started to seem like an expensive luxury, and not a required service for home safety.
My local company offers phone service for as little as $10 a month for the first 12 months. Taxes and fees add another $13. I know that I can use google voice over internet for free, but the cable company service has better sound and doesn't go out if the internet goes down.
OP what about the hybrid wireless landline solutions available in areas that aren't served by copper in areas where AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint no longer maintain infrastructure? Users get a router that a landline connects to, that exists for no other purpose but phone service. Some offer Internet, but usually no more than 10 GB.
This is the new landline. I imagine that 5G will allow the phone company to dump all existing copper in the next 5 years. Particularly in Appalachia and the desert where they didn't like to build anyway.
If you're going to do Wi-Fi, use TextNow or someone that is invested in it's success. Google Voice is good for PBX stuff but for actual Wi-Fi calling it sucks.
If you're going to do Wi-Fi, use TextNow or someone that is invested in it's success. Google Voice is good for PBX stuff but for actual Wi-Fi calling it sucks.
Thanks for the advice. I didn't know TextNow offered free VOIP calling. I thought they were just texts.
Any idea of the quality of TextNow audio is better than RingPlus?
Last edited by PacoMartin; 12-03-2016 at 09:27 AM..
We never use it, but we get a lot of charity and pollster calls on it that we hang up on, or delete the voicemail. We keep it because we don't want to give out our cell numbers and start getting annoying calls on those. Any time a store, doctor, or other business asks for a phone # we give the land line.
About the same except that I shut the ringer off and all calls go to the recording that says "If you are a solicitor, hang up now, otherwise leave name and number and we'll get back to you". It has cut my nuisance calls down to almost nothing. It is the only number that my few remaining relatives have. NOBODY has my cell phone number, I only use it to call out.
I am using my land line now!!! I still enjoy the model A era,no use for junk out there today.Cost minimal.
Mainly for bill pay and email and on line buying.
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