Home phones, do you still have one?

urbantigers

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I have both. I need a landline for my broadband and I wouldn't be happy relying totally on my cell phone anyway. I'm not 100% convinced there's not radiation danger from using cell phones so prefer not to use it too much, but I sometimes can't get a signal on it when I'm at home anyway and I dont' fancy having to go outside everytime I want to use the phone.

I wouldn't be without a cell phone though. If only to have on me in case I break down when driving - which is the original reason I got one. There are times when it's been a godsend. When my mum was taken ill the christmas before last (on the day I was travelling to her house for xmas) and was taken to hospital it would have been a nightmare communicating with both my sisters (one of whom was on holiday) over the following few days if we'd not all had cell phones.
 

skippymjp

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Whatever happened to dropping a quarter in the pay phone if you had to call home and tell Mom you were going to a movie with a friend? Geez! I was a teenager and got along perfectly well without a cell phone.
I think when pay phones finally broke the "50 cent barrier", they fell out of use. Don't see very many of them anymore.
 

arlyn

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My parents each have a cell phone, and no landline, but they are retired and live in their RV all over the US year round
 

sillyjilly

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Our house phone is through Vonage and we have pre-paid cell phones. They both work very well and it's really cheap! PM me if you have any questions!
 

reesespbc

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Yup, in fact we have 4 in the house. One in the kitchen, our bedroom, computer room, and in the basement (although I can't dial out on it anymore. I think condensation from the dryer screwed it up). My wife has a cell phone because she drives so far to work, but she'll be getting rid of it soon and getting a pre-paid. It's too expensive for a casual thing.

I think sometimes maybe a cell phone would be cheaper, but I'd hate to ditch the landline because I know I can always rely on it, plus I'd prefer to not have to give everyone we know the new number
 

mybabyphx

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Me and my boyfriend live together, and we both have our own cell phones. We ditched the home phone like 2 years ago, when we finally decided that we don't use it EVER! I pay $53.00 a month for unlimited minutes (local or long distance) I also have unlimited text messages and video. Back in the day- you would have to be home to talk on the phone. But now with cell phones I can talk to my mom back home and go grocery shopping at the same time. I don't understand why anyone has a home phone-unless it's for the internet. I can do all the same things with the cell phone as you can with the home phone. And we use our cellphones at home, at work, or anywhere!! If you need additional advice pm me
I'd be glad to help!
 

uesugi

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Nope, I'm overseas in Japan (away from Sammi!) right now, so no home line - it's just too expensive here. Hundreds of dollars to buy a land line license, so many people, especially the younger generation, just use cell phones. I got broadband recently so of course I've been using Skype to call people at home.
 

wookie130

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I also only have a land line. I did have a cell, but after using that as my primary correspondence with my hubby from long distance, I decided that once I finally moved in with him, I'd ditch it for good. And I did, and that's that!!!
 

momofmany

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I work for a local telephone company. The more people that drop their landline, the greater chance that I will lose my job.

Cell phone rates are so much higher than landlines and the quality isn't as good. I don't understand how people can drop their home lines.
 

katachtig

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Until cell phones become more reliable, I won't drop my landline because of emergency 911 response. I can lose signal in my house. Cell reception at work is non-existent though I can forward my cell to my work number so I do tend to give my cell number when I need a business to call me back because they can reach me easier.
 

amberthe bobcat

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Originally Posted by SillyJilly

Our house phone is through Vonage and we have pre-paid cell phones. They both work very well and it's really cheap! PM me if you have any questions!
Have you ever tried a 911 test with your Vonage line? Chances are, it won't work. Doesn't work in my state, don't know if they have that issue worked out everywhere or not.
Me and my boyfriend live together, and we both have our own cell phones. We ditched the home phone like 2 years ago, when we finally decided that we don't use it EVER! I pay $53.00 a month for unlimited minutes (local or long distance) I also have unlimited text messages and video. Back in the day- you would have to be home to talk on the phone. But now with cell phones I can talk to my mom back home and go grocery shopping at the same time. I don't understand why anyone has a home phone-unless it's for the internet. I can do all the same things with the cell phone as you can with the home phone. And we use our cellphones at home, at work, or anywhere!! If you need additional advice pm me I'd be glad to help!
$53 per month is a lot of money, compared to a much better land line. Do you and your boyfriend both pay that for your cell phones? I have a land line with unlimited long distance, unlimited local toll calls and my internet, all for $68 per month. I like the days when people had to be at home to talk on the phone, that way I didn't need to hear their conversations. There is nothing more annoying, than to be in line at a store and have someone right behind me, talking so loud on their cell phone, I know everything they are talking about. So, I normally just join in their phone conversation, since I figured they want me to hear them, why not? That will usually end their phone call
As for not understanding why anyone would have a home phone, please read some of my previous posts. I know many people think and feel, an emergency will never happen to them. But when it does, most people are so scared or worked up, they don't even know their name or where they live. If you have to make an emergency call from your cell at home and you are in this state of shock, so much valuable time is wasted trying to find out where you are. If you have a land line and you call 911, even if you can not talk, emergency services will know where you are. The quality of a land line far exceeds that of a cell phone as well. Nothing more annoying for me at work, as a police/fire/911 dispatcher, than to get calls from people on their cell phones at home. The phones break up or drop out, somtimes there is a lot of static on the line, you have to keep asking the caller to repeat and sometime conversations are lost all together, because the caller's cell phone battery died. It's always good practice to have a basic land line service at your home. My wife and I do have cell phones, but I hardly ever use it. I use mine only if I must make a call, I have pre-paid and my wife has a very basic cell phone, that costs like $35 per month. No texting or any of that junk.
 

jenny82

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Because of what John has shared about emergencies, we hooked up a home phone last night.
 

rosiemac

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Since i moved and went with a new server provider for the internet i had to have one because my old server provider was cable so i didn't need one.

It's basically the same as my mobile which is free calls to other landlines after 6.p.m and all day on weekends
 

jugen

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We have both. The land line is for emergencies, work and things like that. Cells are for friends and if I need to get ahold of DH because of my epilsey.
 

sylorna

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man, I wish we had some of the phone deals that you guys have! My landline (no internet) costs me $53.00 a month and that includes call waiting and 1500 minutes on evenings or weekends within Canada.
I have yet to find a cell phone company that offers unlimited long distance, or really anything decent for long distance at all.
Do you guys get charged for touch tone service? We do! it's $5 a month. I wish that Canada would get better at this.
 

pinkdaisy226

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I've been living off a cell phone for the past 7 years. I had a home phone last year with my husband because the cell phone reception was awful, but all the led to was my MIL calling my cell, his cell and then our home phone. We never really got phone calls on it and I was all too glad to get rid of it. I prefer my cell and wouldn't get a landline if I could help it.


On that note... cost wise, I'm not sure it's the best. I can get digital phone through the cable company for $39.99, including free long-distance. I currently pay more than that for my cell phone, but that's mainly because I'm stuck in a family plan and I have a blackberry... so I have a data plan and unlimited texts, etc.
 

catsrnmom

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I still have a landline because my cell service cuts out every now and again. Also it is used for my home security system, that is the only way mine will work is over the home phone line...
 
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