(Rhetorical Question) How many phones do I really need

[koØm]

I have had the same "home" phone number for 18 years, I dropped the landline service for Cable VoIP Phone but, it has latency issues and the sound quality is a dB or so lacking.

I am weighing the pros and cons of dropping the Landline number and going unlimited cellphone.

House phones are cheaper and easier to keep up with.

.

[X-Rated]

We dropped the landline years ago. Never regretted it. Before we moved to Chicagoland in 1999, we lived in Kansas and in Texas before that. We did not have much going on with telemarketers before then. But moving to Chicagoland opened up a massive number of telemarketers calling the landline. We probably dropped the landline in 2004 and never went back to it. We got everyone cellphones and are now on a 1000 minute per month plan. We just don't use that many minutes. With T-mobile, we get free evening and weekend calls and all calls to T-Mobile phones for free as well. So even though we may have thousands of minutes in the family, we don't use all of the 1000 primetime minutes.

[KG4CGC]

We dropped the landline years ago. Never regretted it. Before we moved to Chicagoland in 1999, we lived in Kansas and in Texas before that. We did not have much going on with telemarketers before then. But moving to Chicagoland opened up a massive number of telemarketers calling the landline. We probably dropped the landline in 2004 and never went back to it. We got everyone cellphones and are now on a 1000 minute per month plan. We just don't use that many minutes. With T-mobile, we get free evening and weekend calls and all calls to T-Mobile phones for free as well. So even though we may have thousands of minutes in the family, we don't use all of the 1000 primetime minutes.

I love my cellphone and I never, ever, have to worry about the government not being able to track me. They always know where I am, who I talk to and what I'm doing at any time. So far, no one from the government has come to my house and told me, "Hey. Stop it."

[K7SGJ]

I have had the same "home" phone number for 18 years, I dropped the landline service for Cable VoIP Phone but, it has latency issues and the sound quality is a dB or so lacking.

I am weighing the pros and cons of dropping the Landline number and going unlimited cellphone.

House phones are cheaper and easier to keep up with.

.

About the only upside to a landline these days is having the alarm system going to a monitoring service. Systems can be hooked up to wireless systems, cells, etc, but out where I am, wireless coverage is spotty at best, and the DSL isn't the most reliable. Although my system also has outside horns, there is no guarantee the neighbors will hear, much less act if they go off. My main requirement for a monitoring service isn't so much for burglary, but more for early warning and dispatch should a fire occur.

[PA5COR]

Fixed phoneline mostly for ADSL2
Everyone here has his/her own GSM phone, i use 10 euro a year on it, so mostly used with TomTom on it for driving....

[NQ6U]

If you count old cell phones no longer in use and all the land line phone extensions (the XYL won't give that up and I have to admit it came in handy during that big power outage a while back), I've got nine phones in the house. Add in the two old phones I have set up as an intercom from the house to the shack and it comes out to eleven.

[KC2UGV]

You can get many of the benefits of a land line (One number, always there) by using Google Voice + OpenWRT + Asterisk. You do have to worry about when your internet goes down, you lose the land line, however. But, it's hard to beat free.

Too complex for you? Get a MagickJack (Just don't expect customer service, I hear it's quite lacking). $29/year for phone service.

[NQ6U]

One other benefit of a land line: Better 911 service. I don't know how it is in other states but in California, cell phone 911 calls go to the Highway Patrol and do not include location information beyond geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude). A land line 911 call goes to the local emergency services office—in my case, the SD County Sheriff's Office located about three blocks away—and includes the address of the caller so there's no time wasted getting that right in an emergency. We've used it several time to call for emergency medical service for my MIL and the ambulance has always arrived in less than ten minutes.

[W4GPL]

Your cable VoIP service should not be performing in the way you describe. Most modern providers keep their VoIP on their local network & use very good QoS methods to prevent what you describe. I'd complain louder to them. :)

[WX7P]

I have both landline and a cellphone.

Never going to give up the landline because for some reason, the cellphone doesn't always ring. Sarah's android does the same thing.

Annoying.

[W5GA]

I have both landline and a cellphone.

Never going to give up the landline because for some reason, the cellphone doesn't always ring. Sarah's android does the same thing.

Annoying.
I have the same issue here. I have LL for business.

[KK4AMI]

I'd like to drop my landline, but I think that would cost me my DSL line to.

[KC2UGV]

I'd like to drop my landline, but I think that would cost me my DSL line to.

Maybe not. Call your carrier, and ask if they would provision a "Dry Loop" for your DSL.

[KK4AMI]

Thanks, I'll try that. I don't know what dry loop is, but I will ask. Kinda sounds like eating cheerios without milk :)

[KC2UGV]

Thanks, I'll try that. I don't know what dry loop is, but I will ask. Kinda sounds like eating cheerios without milk :)

A dry loop is a pair of copper, with no dial tone, but still carries the DSL signal. Not all providers offer them, and providers that used to, stopped (ie Verizon), because VoIP was killing their phone business.

[KB3LAZ]

A dry loop is a pair of copper, with no dial tone, but still carries the DSL signal. Not all providers offer them, and providers that used to, stopped (ie Verizon), because VoIP was killing their phone business.

Yep, verizon makes me pay for basic phone service so that I can use DSL. Assmaggots. Sadly, that is all I can get in my area (well in the states). Here in Spain I have both Orange and Ono. I have nothing but bad things to say about both! Data, internet, and cellphone plans in Europe just plain suck, nothing more to say about it. I took the price and offerings of unlimited services in the US for granted and I sure as hell miss them.