Home phones
 

Hi all,
I need some advice. My children, all grown, have their own phones. My husband and I also have our phones. He's been broaching the subject of nixing the home phone. A part of me sees the logic in this. People call us personally on our own phones and it's very rare that the home phone rings anymore. Still, I'm reluctant to give it up.

Any ideas?

We have a home phone, but we never use it. The calls we get are solicitors. It came as part of a package, but I would just as soon not have it.

A home phone (land line) provides *exact* location when calling 911. Cell phones do not; their location can be determined only by approximating an area within three cell phone towers. The reason to keep a landline in the home is really for emergencies. My brother has had to use 911 more than once; using the landline means that emergency services can get to his home faster, even if he can't give them his address. Also, in a catastrophe during which many more people than normal are trying to use their cell phones to reach relatives, lines can get jammed up. A landline will often work when a cell phone call can't get through due to higher than normal traffic. Remember 9/11? The same applies to natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods.

My biggest beef about the landline is that it costs too much!

Edit: I should add that my information about 911 calls may be out-of-date. I researched this a few years ago for my brother and things may have changed since then. I know my iPhone can give me my exact location; however, I don't think it can give emergency services my exact location if I call from that phone.

Edit 2: Well, I should do my research before writing, not after. Here are some links with additional info:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2...data/23570499/
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/m...line/index.htm

Every month when I pay the bill I think we should get rid of the landline. My husband doesn't have a cell phone, so he needs to get up to speed first.

I think the 911 thing is dependent on whether you have home phone connected to an old fashioned wired land line or you have a home phone line via your cable company. But you are so right - things change so rapidly with technology, my info could be out of date.

I keep the home phone for filling out forms for various stuff we must have these days. The home phone screens the calls from solicitors who are sold our contact info, so I can just delete them.

Granted that is not the greatest reason to keep the darn thing...

Yikes. I just realized our "land line" phone is actually provided by our cable company. With a real landline phone, you can make calls out even when the power is off. With a "digital" home phone like ours (provided by the cable company), the service is dependent on the internet. When we have lost power here we have not been able to use the "land line" phone; however, we could still call out on our cell phones. The real land line is most valuable in a natural disaster type situation. Some interesting info here about the differences between these two types of phones:
http://gizmodo.com/5947158/why-cable...get-a-landline

Both types of home phones offer the address advantage for 911, I think. This is probably because the phones are associated with an exact location. If a call is made from that phone, the location of the phone is known because it is stationary. The wired land line is better in a natural disaster because it is not dependent on internet service.

Cell phones use an entirely different communication system (radio waves, I think) and it is well known that these systems become overloaded in disaster situations.

We live in a place that gets hurricanes and when the power goes out a true landline has worked for us. Hard to charge a cell phone with no power! But we are moving to a place that doesn't get hurricanes so are thinking of trying for a bundle of cell phone, home phone which doesn't have to be a landline and directv. We are not ready to do the Netflix, Hulu, antenna, Roku right now. So if we can do that we will have a ho e phone. Otherwise we will just continue to use our iPhones. I have changed all doctor offices to the iPhone so I don't have to wait at home for a call back

We keep our land line because there are very few cell towers up here and the land line can always get through. I agree with what the previous people say about getting help and they know where your at.

My mother still has her old Princess Phone for use when the power goes off and she has no desire to own a cell phone at 89. While I have a cell phone, I seldom use it. After working in an office for 50+ years, I have very little desire to chat on a phone and have even less desire for texting.

Gave up my land line 4-5 years ago. Why pay for something that is rarely used and redundant. It is easier to screen calls. My kids, grandkids, and I text more than we call. I even get appointment reminders via text.