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Land Line Phone

Messages
1,184
Location
NJ/phila
Hi Folks

Do you still have a Land Line Phone in your home? I do not, however I am thinking of having a land line installed.
The other day my service cell phone was down for 7 hours, I felt helpless.
I'm guessing there not that expensive to have and could come in handy in the event I drop and break or lose my cell phone.
TIA for your reply's.
Best regards.
CCJ
 

memphislawyer

Practically Family
Messages
771
Location
Memphis, Tn
My home land line was ditched two years ago. If power goes out we lost our phone as we had cordless. We always got calls from others on their cells as we all had free nights and weekends. Only marketers and say case repair shop called the home phone
 
Messages
10,930
Location
My mother's basement
My landline comes with the cable package, for which I'm probably paying too much.

Got two phones running on it, and could have a couple more without adding jacks, but that's all but pointless in this age of cell phones and cordless landlines.

I must admit that part of the reason for keeping the landline is that one of those two phones running on it is a WE 302. It's cool, and I'm not the only one who thinks so, judging from what visitors say when they see it. "Does it work?" they typically ask on first spying it. "Call it," I answer. (It's amazing what little it takes to tickle people.) But now I hear that old 302s and the like can be made to work on a cell signal. So I don't discount the possibility that I'll end up going that route eventually.
 

LoveMyHats2

I’ll Lock Up.
Messages
5,196
Location
Michigan
Check Sprint out. They have a "gizmo" you plug a normal phone into. Any calls any where any time for $20.00 a month. We have 6 cell phones on our plan from Sprint and as my "mother in law" is not able to function a cell phone, (when I am 90 if I am not in a casket already, I would not know how to work a cell phone either) LOL, we got the "gizmo" and a normal phone with very large numbers on it so she can half way see what she is doing with it. The "gizmo" has a battery back up in case the power it is plugged into goes out from a power outage.
I take two cell phones with me at all times. With my medical health being as poorly as it is, I have the need for being able to have a dependable phone when I leave the house. As at times I have had one cell phone not function, for me to have a back up is a must. I also carry a calling card, for a pay phone but finding a pay phone now is not easy.
 

stevew443

One of the Regulars
Messages
145
Location
Shenandoah Junction
I have a Magic Jack hooked up to my cable modem and then I have a 4 station cordless hooked to the Magic Jack. I have been running like this for over 4 years and I love it. Once I was certain I would like running this way, I prepaid for the service so now I won't have a phone bill until sometime in 2017. For $20 a year, it is very good.
 

sal

One of the Regulars
Messages
237
Location
my own little slice of heaven
I still have a land line. Mostly because the granny blue hairs in the family, and there are quite a few, have told my wife and I that they do not want to learn a new number. So we will continue to have the number, which we have had for the last 20 years, until that generation passes.
 

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,154
Location
Da Bronx, NY, USA
You can attach an old dial phone to a VOIP line, but if you want to dial out on the phone you have to use a tone beeper that simulates the digital signal a contemporary phone uses. I have a nice 1947 Galeon phone, that I'd like to be able to use. And we get blackout just often enough in New York City that I think I can justify getting the old fashioned analog line. Just haven't done it yet.
 

The Wiser Hatter

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,765
Location
Louisville, Ky
Femtocell's are offered by most wireless carriers they hook into your internet connection to extend the range of your cell phone inside a home.
3g_microcell_wht_right_s-339x509-custom.jpg

I have one like this for my cell phone.
We still have the landline as my wife likes to talk to her friends for several hours each day.:)
Wonderful-Creative-Luxurious-Retro-Vintage-Stuff-Decoration-Design-Ideas-of-The-iPhone-Telephone-Retro-Design-3-590x443.jpg

iRetrofone
 

Doctor Strange

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,245
Location
Hudson Valley, NY
I still use my land line. I have a cell, but I keep it turned off 95% of the time; I pretty much only use it when I'm not within reach of my home or office land lines.

I should point out that I've never been much of a phone guy - on all three of my phones together, I doubt that I talk more than an hour or two in a given month.
 

scotrace

Head Bartender
Staff member
Messages
14,392
Location
Small Town Ohio, USA
I have no cable TV, no landline. Just a fairly fat DSL line to keep an eye on this joint, and my cell. If I had extra jack, I'd get the landline just to use my WE 302 now and then.

Getting a landline would double my bill, which is NUTS. The phone company offered me a $100 Apple Store gift card if I'd do it. Why not just price your product to reflect its nearly obsolete status? To me, having a land telephone line would be worth no more than $5 a month, maybe $10. Certainly not $40.
 

olive bleu

One Too Many
Messages
1,667
Location
Nova Scotia
yes, I have one, but begrudgingly. It is included in my cable/internet package, and if it were up to me, i would not have cable either. I currently have a set of cordless phones which i also hate. No matter how much I spend on those darned things, they are just garbage. My husband has a pacemaker, and he can't talk on these silly phones without the caller complaining about the static and crackling. I used to have a great, old bakelite phone , which i foolishly mailed off to a friend in Taiwan because he wanted one, and I was in the middle of moving, and in a paring down mood. Unfortunately, because I need to make sure I have a working phone in case of emergencies,and during power outages, I am back to searching for a basic rotary dial.I refuse to get another cordless.
 

DJH

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,355
Location
Ft Worth, TX
Femtocell's are offered by most wireless carriers they hook into your internet connection to extend the range of your cell phone inside a home.

Ed, we used to have the AT&T femtocell and the stupid thing was down as much as it worked, Not had a landline for 10 years or more so the cell signal is important to us. Switched to the Sprint version some time ago and it works 100%.

The only phone with a wire in my life is the VoIP phone on my desk in the office. Even with that, I forward the calls to my mobile most of the time.

One thing that amazes me is that the phone companies still print and distribute phone books - we get several a year just to throw away.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,715
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
I find that the printed phone book is often more accurate than on-line phone listings -- many times I've looked up a number on line to find that it's years out of date. I keep my printed directory right here on the desk for ready use.
 

Foxer55

A-List Customer
Messages
413
Location
Washington, DC
I have both because of FiOS. The house phones are cordless backed up to landline and the TV and DSL are on the landline. I also had Verizon cell service but switched to Tracfone because I was paying $70 a month for service I never used and I can't have cell at work anyway so what good is a cellphone to me. Very seldom get calls and very seldom make calls so a cellphone is pretty useless to me anyway.
 

CharleneC

Familiar Face
Messages
89
Location
Here and There
Hi Folks

Do you still have a Land Line Phone in your home? I do not, however I am thinking of having a land line installed.
The other day my service cell phone was down for 7 hours, I felt helpless.
I'm guessing there not that expensive to have and could come in handy in the event I drop and break or lose my cell phone.
TIA for your reply's.
Best regards.
CCJ

If the phone company charged $30 per month, after one year your total cost would be $360. That works out to $51.42 per hour that your cell service was unavailable. Keep that land line running for two years, and it is over $100 per hour. And so on...

Even land line phones can go down, but it is very rare. As long as your power is working at home and you have an internet connection, you can use Google talk on your computer and dial out to people.
 

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