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Quote:
Originally Posted by plaidmom [URL="//www.city-data.com/forum/shopping-consumer-products/37072-home-phone-versus-cell-phone-post280862.html#post280862"]//pics3.city-data.com/forum/ima...s/viewpost.gif[/URL] How timely!
I'm currently without a landline. Currently, as in "as of this morning".
Funny story. A loooong time ago I swore off doing business with AT&T. Just crazy-lousy customer service. So what happens last year? AT&T bought out our area's phone service. I remember thinking "oh this will be gooood" but I thought I'd give em a 2nd chance. So far they've only mis-billed me 3 or 4 times and it's been fairly painless to sort out.
Well, ditz that I am, I forgot to pay last month's phone bill (holidays, travel, houseguests, illness etc etc). Popped it in the mail late. "Due date" was yesterday (Jan 15th) but of course there was no mail service (MLK day).
Sooooooo, the braniacs at AT&T shut off my service this morning, even though my check is doubtlessly sitting in a mail-bin in their facility at this point.
No, here is the beautiful part: I DON"T NEED THEM.
Darn that feels good! With two cell phones in the house and a cable modem, I'm thinkin' "what the heck?". Reconnect fees? I don't think so! Maybe if they give me a few months free service I'll consider reconnecting.
p.s. My daughter and most of her friends have never had land-lines. I think it's pretty common with the under-25 crowd.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KevK
You must have been a Bellsouth customer.
Had to be! I was a very contented BellSouth customer for more than 40 years but I HATE AT&T because they have nasty people working in their call center. If, when I call, and don't get a original BellSouth CSR but get one of the carpetbagger att reps, I'll very nicely cut my conversation and call back until I get a real person--one of the BellSouth people that att has kept in the company. Att of a necessity had to keep a bunch of the BellSouth crew in order for them to train the nasty att people about the ins and outs of the business such as the work flow how things are done and how to train those "smart" C-level fellows how to do their jobs. The att reps are not personable at all and will usually speak very harshly to the customer.
Do you know of anyone who has had their home phone shut off and uses their cell phone as their only phone? We were thinking about doing this, but wanted some insight from anyone who has/is doing it.
Only when I was homeless. I don't like spending the extra money on "minutes" for the cell phone, so once I GOT a home phone, I direct people to call THAT number.
It's got caller ID, so I can refuse to answer telemarketers, etc. Whereas with a cell...it rings, I answer.
My girlfriend and I text. Short messages don't really call for actual conversation. "I'm at the store. Did you want a quart? Or a gallon?"
Or quoting prices...
But having a cell phone was useful when I didn't have a home--no home, no home phone service.
I do not have a landline and rely solely on my cell. I really don't know if it saves me any money or not. It's nice to never have a solicitor bothering you, thats for sure but it's hard at times when you have lost your phone in the house, somehow or even worse, have had it stolen! I think land lines are still important to have. For instance, I live in Florida, and during hurricane season, I get extremely nervous not having the use of a land line just in case my cell towers happen to go out. I've been told it's important to have a land line here. Still haven't gotten one yet. Maybe soon?? Who knows.
I'm one of the dinosaurs who doesn't have a cellphone and sort of does a gulp and a duh when using a friend's as I've no clue what to push and can't see the damned tiny buttons anyway...
SuziSu's response struck a chord though. I also live in a hurricane zone and even at the best of times in normal clement weather I often have a very difficult time reaching someone who has a cellphone because the towers get overloaded. It's really aggravating hearing that "your call cannot be completed at this time, please try later" message over and over again. I can only imagine how completely jammed those towers will be if and when we do get hit with a hurricane again. My landline in that case would be my lifeline. Just a thought. Cheers!
I'm one of the dinosaurs who doesn't have a cellphone and sort of does a gulp and a duh when using a friend's as I've no clue what to push and can't see the damned tiny buttons anyway...
SuziSu's response struck a chord though. I also live in a hurricane zone and even at the best of times in normal clement weather I often have a very difficult time reaching someone who has a cellphone because the towers get overloaded. It's really aggravating hearing that "your call cannot be completed at this time, please try later" message over and over again. I can only imagine how completely jammed those towers will be if and when we do get hit with a hurricane again. My landline in that case would be my lifeline. Just a thought. Cheers!
Do you know of anyone who has had their home phone shut off and uses their cell phone as their only phone? We were thinking about doing this, but wanted some insight from anyone who has/is doing it.
I gave up my landline phone three years ago and have had no regrets. I get online via cable internet, and have two cellphones (one for personal calls, one for business). Because I'm not much of a phone person, I chose a prepaid plan instead of a monthly rate. I average $100/year per phone in calls, which I think is more than reasonable.
Obviously, there could be problems if the cell tower(s) are damaged or destroyed but the reality is that regular phone lines go down, too. And if you find yourself in a situation like a hurricane, you can take your cell phone with you, while that landline phone is only good in one location .....
I live in Houston and as most of you know we had a really bad hurricane blow through here last month. Power was out for days and even weeks all over the city (more than 95% of homes). Even though my cell phone started out fully charged it sure didn't stay that way with no way to recharge but my landline phone stayed working the entire time. But having said that, it was only a single "traditional" phone with the connected handset and none of the ones with the cordless handsets. So, when I consider doing away with a landline I will always remember this experience and know how important it is to have phone service after a storm and will likely always keep a landline for just such emergency situations.
We have thought about doing this too, but our Dish Network dishes require a phone line (or the assess a fee) plus I'm not sure that our Tivo would work with out it...
Wife and I have cell phones only. No problems except that we can not talk for very long periods of time at home since we try to stay below our minutes. Actually...she has unlimited minutes, but I only have 450 minutes with free nights and weekends. So I'm really the one with the problem. My biggest fear is in an emergency. Landlines can be traced even in a 911 hangup with the exact address. With Cell phones, only an estimate of the caller location can be provided to the 911 operator...sort of a triangle coordinate if you will. If there is a true emergency going on in your home, police/fire may not know exactly where you are at if you cannot speak or prematurely hang up.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BusySocialWorker
ok - maybe I missed this but
We have thought about doing this too, but our Dish Network dishes require a phone line (or the assess a fee) plus I'm not sure that our Tivo would work with out it...
anyone know about this?
I can't say for sure about Dish... but DirecTV tells you the same thing. And it is false. We have two receivers in our motorhome, one a dual-tuner Tivo, and NO phone line. We have no problems. The only thing the phone line is for... ordering PPV. There are ways around this, such as order by phone, or internet.. which I believe has a small additional charge. We don't watch PPV so I'm not sure of the amount.
As far as our phone connections...
When you have no house... well...
Cell phones for us..Verizon family share... 3 phones.
Hubby also has a cell phone that his company provided him...business only.
Internet is provided by Datastorm.
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So far they've only mis-billed me 3 or 4 times and it's been fairly painless to sort out.
