Landline vs no landline...

I use an Obi Hai box. I actually have two of them, one for my home office and one for my home. They work with Google voice and the only cost so far is the cost for the initial hardware (about $40 ea.). They might actually make one now with two lines in it. In any case, I have a low voltage closet and hooked them up to my cable internet router, and tied them into my phone lines. It's like having a land line without paying for it. Also, the google voice messages are transcribed and sent to me via email, which is handy for both home and work. (they can also be set up to forward to you as text messages on your cell phone). Frankly, the only downsides from a traditional landline is a) won't work if the power or cable goes out, and b) I cannot dial 911 on it. If we ever need it, we'll just use our cell phones for the 911.

Gone for about a year, the wife had the home number switched to her cell phone, so utilities and the like still have us in their systems. No regrets.

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Originally Posted by acgclone

Then ADT finally presented a solution where the security alarm basically runs off of a cellular device they installed

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Within the last year, most of the alarm companies that service the houses in this area have been asking customers to switch to the cellular alarms. Apparently the thieves have figured out that it's pretty simple to walk up to the dmarc box and unplug the phone service.

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Originally Posted by acgclone

I held out for a several years because I need a fax and we have a security alarm. Then ADT finally presented a solution where the security alarm basically runs off of a cellular device they installed and I got an eFax that I share with someone else in my business (it costs about $15/mo between two of us).

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ADT: thanks for the information. That's how my next place will be security protected.

The bundle of telephone, TV and Internet plus ADT is nearly $200/month. Now I can knock off $20-$30/month for the landline that I refused to answer because it was only solicitors at 5:00pm and politicians all day and night.

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Originally Posted by jbhtexas

Within the last year, most of the alarm companies that service the houses in this area have been asking customers to switch to the cellular alarms. Apparently the thieves have figured out that it's pretty simple to walk up to the dmarc box and unplug the phone service.

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Yes, I've had no problems with it whatsoever. The cellular box resides inside my home. It will alert you if there is an outage of cellular service and that hasn't happened once since we switched.

Does voip count? We use Ooma for our "landline", it was just an upfront charge but no monthly cost. I use it more than I use my cell phone (for phone calls).

Landline...the less time on a cell phone the better (no brain tumor please)

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Originally Posted by CysMyBoy

I'm interested on everyone's thoughts as well. I don't plan on ever having a land line, and am even considering removing wiring in rooms that are being remodeled

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We ended up running ethernet wire throughout so we could swap out the telephone jacks for internet jacks.

The reason I still have a landline is that I absolutely hate carrying my mobile phone with me around the house. I like being able to access any number of the phones in our house for that one number. I hate running up and down stairs because my mobile rang and I have to go answer it now.

I'm probably a bit different than most people though. I detach myself from my mobile when I'm not working or out of the house. I did switch to Vonage though to make it reasonably inexpensive to have that land line.

We dropped ours and everything was fine. Then my wife got a promotion that allowed her to work full-time from home and we had to get a landline again as she spends about 90% of her life on conference calls and needed a speakerphone. Obviously you could do that on a cell but it's not ideal. So we have a landline again.

For a while we had Vonage and their lower minutes plan was only like $14.99 a month and that fit the bill perfectly and was almost worth keeping a landline at that price. But our internet kept going out, which obviously took out our Vonage all the time, and we switched back to a more reliable landlline.

The conspiracy theorist in me says Mediacom was knocking us off on purpose. This was before net neutrality when they could legally bump you offline if you were using Vonage or Netflix and they were experiencing network congestion.

Wow, I've rambled for a long time on your simple question. My short answer is, if you don't need it for work, dump it and don't look back.

years ago the phone company hooked up my landline incorrectly. I was getting calls for a number that wasn't mine. The phone company was happy to fix their mistake if I paid them to come out and correct their error.

I not so politely told them to shove it and it's been straight cell since.

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Originally Posted by Clonefan94

The reason I still have a landline is that I absolutely hate carrying my mobile phone with me around the house. I like being able to access any number of the phones in our house for that one number. I hate running up and down stairs because my mobile rang and I have to go answer it now.

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As mentioned above, you can get cordless phones that have Bluetooth capability to pair with the CellPhone, or you can get an XLink to pair your cell phone to a normal cordless handset. If you are with Sprint, I think they have a device they have a similar device for those wanting to get rid of the landline.

XLINK Communication Hubs and Bluetooth Cellular Gateway | Make or take cellular calls from any phone in the house.

Do note this however...In general, data (i.e. fax or modem) will not work over these devices.

We moved to Ames almost 5 yrs ago and never got a landline. No problems even though our cell is 712. Most baby sitters we have have their own cell phones, or the neighbor girl will bring her iPad since it is set up to be able to text her mom.

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Originally Posted by djcubby

Got rid of my landline years ago...never had a second thought.

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this,... why have two phone numbers??

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Originally Posted by BMFClone

Where does everyone stand on this? I still have one, but am contemplating getting rid of it. What does everyone else do?

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only legit reason ive heard to have one is for calling 911... if you use the cell it isnt always directed to nearest call center or something of that nature... landline would be? not sure