Community Chat

[RetRN]

Love my landline phones, definitely no plans to get rid of. I have one in the kitchen, bedroom, and den. 

[Vivian]

I live on a big hill in a heavily wooded area. Cell service is iffy at best. I can't give up my landline. It's more like a lifeline when I have to make important calls. When we lose power, I lose the landline because it's on our Spectrum tv/internet package. I'm reminded of just how lousy our cell service is up here (first Verizon, now AT&T) when I have to report a power outage.

[wagirl]

Yes I got rid of the landline when I moved to my apartment. go a new iphone 11 and I LOVE it--------costs me $45 a month.

[geezerette]

---

@Eileen in Virginia wrote:

@Solar Is My Name  We cancelled our landline service recently after years of mediocre service. Like you, we wanted to keep it to ensure we had phone service during power outages. The problem was in the outside lines  DH tried to cancel several times and they would miraculously fix the problem and restore good service - until the next time we had a storm. The last technician who came out admitted that Verizon wasn't supporting landline service anymore and they wouldn't replace the lines, just do workarounds. We cancelled when we realized that all of our friends and family were calling us on our cell phones because they were more reliable than our landline. We have not regretted it at all. 

---

@Eileen in Virginia 

Mine is a similar story.  We had always kept a landline because cell service was spotty where we live.  It was much more reliable than cell.  My husband didn't like to use the cell and wouldn't think of giving up the landline.  We kept a cell for emergencies and I used it to text a couple of friends.

But in the last few years circumstances changed.  The landline became less and less reliable, while our cell reception became more so.  As you mention, the phone company constantly resisted repair when any problems were in the lines and not our house.  I even started finding that the landline phones had more static and were getting harder to hear than the cell.  And to top it off, I was paying more for the landline than my cell service.

My husband passed away a few years ago and I found that I was no longer just using the cell for a few family members and friends.  When the pandemic hit, once the doctors and dentists got my cell number, they all started using it instead of my landline number.  Soon I found that the only calls my landline was getting were scams and solicitation.

As I said in my first post, if I was only paying the $20 monthly fee that the OP is, I would have kept the landline.  But I was paying more than three times that and using it less than ever.  It had just become something I was paying through the nose for and getting very little use out of.

[ScrapHappy]

When we moved 5 years ago into our new home, we didn't bother with landline phones.  My landline phone in my old home was just a device for robo callers.  I think it cost $35/month.  I'm sure it costs more now.  We keep a cheap cell phone in the house.  I think it's a trac phone and buy a pre-paid phone card for just in case.  The pre=paid phone card cost $20 and we've never used any minutes on it yet. The trac phone was cheap and there's no monthly payments for anything.

[Shanus]

About a year ago, we discontinued our landline. It wasn't an issue of the charge, but rather we realized the only ones calling on it were marketers. 

Anyone who are friends, families, doctors all had our cell numbers. The only issue is that we need to leave the cells charging on our night tables in case there are family emergency calls.

NOW the marketers have our cell numbers, too, but don't often call after 9PM.

[Spurt]

---

@Solar Is My Name wrote:

Did you eliminate your landline? Was it a good decision or not?

My dh and I each have our cell phones, and Spectrum serves our landline which means in a power outage Spectrum wifi, TV and landline phone numbers don't function, BUT we have a generator so that we can charge our cell phones during a power outage.

Landline cost us almost $20.00 per month, by the way.

I just want to make sure that, heaven forbid, in an emergency I could always call for help.

Leaning toward giving the landline the boot, even though we've had it for decades.

Help me with this decision, PLEASE!

Thank you!

-Solar 

---

@Solar Is My Name 

Yep, thats why I kept my landline for so long---

since the copper lines are buried under ground it could still be used with an old phone even in the event of a power outage especially if I had an emergency, and needed to call a doctor, reach a hospital, call the fire dept, or police etc etc..Plus it enabled me to receive the bundle discount with my cable company.....

What made me get rid of it was all the robo and telemarketing calls Id get..., PLUS the landline became staticy and AT&T said they no longer repaired the old copper lines and told me I'd have to call an electrician to cut into the wall and make the repairs .....😖😡  so I ditched the landline instead....I went with tracfone and bought 2 phones--one to use as my main phone, and one for an emergency if the main smart phone stopped working for any reason...And I never looked back---and no more telemarketing and robo calls either!

Even though I lost the cable bundle discount, I still SAVED since the landline was costing me $60 a month (most were local taxes, fees, and other charges included in the landline bill)....And Tracfone only costs me $20 a month for 2 phones....

[Lucky Charm]

---

@ID2 wrote:

Years and years ago we got rid of our landline phone. I was so reluctant at the time but it was the best thing we ever did. We have since built a new home and are living there now. We didn't even have ithis house wired for a phone line.

---

---

@ID2 We just built a little over 3 years ago and didn't have to have the house *wired* for a phone.  It plugs into the cable/internet box.  I think all cable boxes have a phone jack or two on the side of them.

[Solar Is My Name]

@Zhills , Spectrum is the provider of our landline service-- when Spectrum's Wifi, & cable go out so does our landline phone! Frustrating! We could put the phone with a different landline number provider but it would cost more.

-Solar

[Solar Is My Name]

@itsmagic What phone carrier do you have? Our cell service is ATT and the last new cell phones we got did not have this problem. I may look at buying a Google Pixel 6 soon and will be using ATT, so I wonder if these specifics were your specifics!

Best wishes!

-Solar