I agree. All situations are different even though we got rid of ours.

Having our land line saved my DD's life when he had a massive heart attack. They told us if the EMS had been five minutes longer we would have lost him. We use ours as our main phone and only keep a cell phone as a back up and when one of us is out of the house we can reach the other.

Wow, so much helpful information here! Thanks so much. My landline goes through my cable company and like most, it rarely rings anymore. I could see changing my cell number to my landline number. Hmmm, very much to think about. Thanks so much!

Just unplug it?

We let our land line go a little better than 8 years ago. $60.00 X 12 = $720.00
$720.00 X 8 = $5760.00

We have given up the true land line (Which worked great when we had a power failure) and bundled it with our TV, internet, and phone. The phone line (with the cable company) only costs me $4.99/month unlimited local and long distance....so we can't complain. For $5/month, I will keep it just in case of.....WHAT I am not sure....
I do check with my cable company every few months just to see if there is a better deal that they can offer me. Checked last month and the gal was able to reduce my internet part of the bill by $20/month.

We have had the same landline number since moving to Oregon 11 years ago. We have talked about getting rid of it, but with all the kids scattered who knows where half the time. Having the landline gives me peace in case the dreaded "midnight call" comes through.

Our older grandkids know this number is always going to remain the same. So if something happens to them they can call. Hopefully they won't be as stubborn as their goofy parents and not call until the crap hits the fan.

You made me laugh with that one!

Interesting discussion...we still have the land line, but with caller ID, we let it go to voice mail if we don't recognize the number or name. As for cell phones, well, our adult children, my husband, and I have them with us 24 x7. We don't get bothered as our phones have caller ID, so it's the same process in "answering" as with the land line.

My husband and I both have "smart phones". They're quite handy in a disaster, such as an earthquake. Last year, when the Napa, CA, earthquake happened at 4:15 AM, we felt it at our house, 75 miles away. No damage, etc., at our house. Knowing, however, the media would make it out to be tantamount to the 1906 EQ, I used my smart phone to access Face Book, making note that we were OK / no damage. Then, I went back to sleep. My cousin, who lives in the Midwest, commented later that FB was the first place she checked for our status as she knew I would use my phone for the "reporting in" message.

In the case of a natural disaster or catastrophe, if you have a cell phone, DO NOT TRY TO CALL ANYONE. Send a text message, instead. Texts use very little bandwith; saving battery and internet resource.

If you live in an area prone to disasters, set up a far away contact, preferably someone well out of the area / region. Provide that contact's info to relatives and friends, etc., letting them know you will reach your contact and that person is their point of contact for exchaning info. and status about you and them. If / when the disaster occurs, text (or phone -- you can make one call) your contact, letting them know your status. It's much easier to make one call or send one text than answering the phone while you're dealing with chaos and uncertainty.

This "remote contact" info is endorsed enthusiastically by all emergency services personnel. I've used it and it works.

We gave up our home phone 7 years ago, our jobs required us to have cell phones and I saw no reason to pay double bills. We do not miss it