Living without a landline?

[CookieG]

After reading the cable thread, I'm inspired to post my own. I'm moving into my new house and I'm considering ditching my telephone landline. I already use my cell phone for long-distance calls and I'll have a cable modem for my computer. I have several friends who have become "cord-cutters" and the lack of a landline doesn't bother them. Has anyone on here done this?

--Chris

[kwormann]

We thought about this when we moved to our new place fir the exact same reasons. I was convinced to get it because of 911. IF someone were to break into your house and you couldnt talk, 911 from your cell wouldnt tell them where you were.

HOWEVEr, you can get very basic service with a limited # of calls for a low amount of $$ I would check into that option.

I would like to go down to one cell phone, but right now we both have an hour commute so the cell seems like something worth having....

PS I LOVE your title!!!

[colleency]

The whole 911 thing is what the phone company tried to sell me when I disconnected.

First of all, we're young, fairly health, have no children, and have plenty of close neighbors. So we decided to risk the 911/not being able to speak issue.

Second of all, when we cancelled our phone (local and long distance), it didn't actually turn off. We left one phone plugged in, because it looks neat.

People can't call us, but there is still a dial tone on our phone. I don't know if this was a mistake, but we could probably call 911 if we needed to.

[aggie94]

Here's another thread where people commented on this topic:

http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36576&highlight=cell

I think I'm with Kim on this one. I was at a supper club dinner once where one of the girls needed to use the phone to call home. The host didn't have a land line, only a cell phone. If it were me, on either end, I would have felt awkward in that situation. It's really not that expensive just to keep a very basic land line.

[Kismet]

Since the last thread, DH and I have changed to only cell phones. I think it has been great for us! We don't get many calls, so the minutes haven't been a problem. And, our reception has been great everywhere we have used them. So, I say, if you are thinking about it, the only way to know if you'll like it is to just do it! You can always add a land line later!

[JenniferJJ]

I have a phone with a GPS system. In theory, if you call 911 and can't speak (or can, but don't know where you are), the emergency personnel are supposed to be able to determine your location. However, for emergencies, I would still keep a landline. Often I will have trouble with either a call not going through or a signal fading when calling from my cell from my house. I make most of my calls from my cell phone and realized that I pay to have the landline so I can have peace of mind.

[KristinK]

DBF and I just moved, and right now we're just using our cell phones. He lived without a landline for the past year, but I'm still planning on setting one up for us soon. I'm sure we don't need it, but I just feel like we should have one. Plus, I don't really like talking on my cell phone - it's pretty small, and I can't cradle it on my shoulder like I can with a regular phone. It's fine for short calls, but for long conversations, I prefer a real phone.

Eva, that's a good point about guests. I hadn't even thought about that.

[BarbaraL]

A couple of years ago, my daughter's friend's family switched to all cell phones. It was very aggravating, because we frequently couldn't get through to them when my daughter was visiting. Sometimes the phone's batteries had run down, other times there were problems with the signal. They eventually went back to a landline. However, that was several years ago; maybe the technology has improved.

[erin elizabeth]

Several of my friends have switched to cell phones for their long distance--it kind of annoys me because the reception is not the same as a land line--they live in other states, but I am not sure if that matters or not. However, they really like it. I would feel weird, too, if I was in the situation Aggie94 described, but my friends get tons of minutes on their phones and they would be paying for a land line if I used that, too. I am generally very anti-cell phone though. I don't own one. Keep your eye out for cheap plans if you want a land line, but don't want to use it. Right now I have a package from Verizon where I pay about $14.50 a month--no monthly fee for long distance (ten cents a minute if I use it) and I pay per local call (I make very few calls). So, for about that amount, maybe you could have peace of mind :)

[colleency]

When we have guests, they use the cell phone. It's never made us or (that I know of) our guests feel awkward.

I don't use the phone for long conversations. I actually hate talking on the phone, and I have the unfortunate tendancy to say goodbye and hang up if the person on the other end pauses to think too long. :o

Our land line was costing us $25 per month even when we didn't use them, and our cells $65 per month. There was no way to get the landline under $20 per month. There are lots of "mandatory fees" that bring a $10 a month lifeline phone up to $20. Grr.

We've been cell phoning for about 3 or four months now, and we like it fine. Although it is much harder to get to the phone in time when it's in your purse. :)

[gracey]

I have several friends who have made the switch. What is annoying is that some cities don't recognize the cell prefixes as an acceptable prefix--making it impossible to call that particular cell phone from my city using a landline. I live in a fairly large city, so it isn't as if my phone company is caught in the dark ages--I just think local phone companies are having trouble keeping up with the volume of new numbers.

[kwormann]

Another issue we seemed to have with only cells was making "business" calls....to the electric co, the cable co, etc. They frequently keep you on hold forever and that could quickly eat your minutes!

When we had a limited land line, it was only $5 for 25 outgoing calls...

[eas11]

The reason I've not given up the landline is because I don't feel like always remembering to grab my phone when I move around the house. My mobile VM is set to 4 rings, cause I hate to have people wait longer then that is I'm not available- or not in the mood to take calls. We have basement, 1st and 2nd floor. I'm sure I'd get annoyed if my phone were ringing and it was upstairs and I couldn't get to it in time. Is there such as thing as mobile extentions???

[Molli526]

Originally posted by kwormann
Another issue we seemed to have with only cells was making "business" calls....to the electric co, the cable co, etc. They frequently keep you on hold forever and that could quickly eat your minutes!



That is me exactly. I have conference calls for work as well and an hour on a cell phone would really cut into my minutes.

Not that I talk to the ILs or DH's friends all the time but I think it would inhibit my talking to them if they were calling DH on his cell instead of "us at home".

[clgirl]

my husband and i ditched our landline some time ago after constantly being bothered by telemarketers (our friends and family usually call us on our cell phones anyway and we have a cable modem for our computer). the $40 a month for the basic service we save goes toward our other bills and we leave one landline phone plugged in just in case we need to dial 911 (it does work). i don't even notice it anymore and several of our friends are making the switch too.

[TamiKnight]

I was contemplating making the switch, too. I mentioned it to DSIL, who is a police officer, and he went ballistic. He laid out a whole bunch of stories of situations where emergency personnel have been unable to respond to a call because the caller used a cell phone. That was enough for me. I figure my landline cost as insurance. We pay for life insurance, professional liability insurance, health insurance, car insurance, this is my "emergency" insurance.