Do you maintain a landline? Is there any good reason to?

[asmom]

I am struggling with the idea of dropping my landline. There really is no good reason to keep it since this crazy cellphone fad doesn't seem to be going anywhere. And now that I can get DSL without it, it's financially crazy to keep it. I now pay ~$85/month for home phone + internet when I can get just internet for ~$25/month. So what is my problem? I don't know, I've had the same phone number for 17 years and it is a mark of stability for me. Now why is THAT so important? I have no idea.

[krantcents]

I dropped my land line about two and half years ago. Occasionally, I miss the very clear phone reception of a land line phone, but not enough to reverse the decision. My decision was based on saving the roughly $25 per month. Overall no regrets!

[photo]

It can be a difficult decision to make. What we did about 2 weeks ago was to port the landline into technically a cellphone via Verizon's "Home Connect." A physical landline phone will work but it's connected to a machine that turns it into a cellphone. That phone has extra little handsets whose bases only need to be plugged into electrical outlets, and voila -- for $10 a month, we have a "house cell phone." Two reasons we kept the landline concept. I work at home, so the landline number had to be kept for business. Second, I don't like receiving calls on my cellphone, except from family members. The Home Connect was the perfect solution for us.

The only possible slight problem is that we're on the same usage plan, so all calls I receive on the phone count towards our monthly limit. We may have to raise the number of minutes, but it would only be $10 more a month. Our landline connected to a landline company was costing us $40 a month, so even if we increased the monthly number of minutes, we're still paying only half of what we were before.

About half the people I know now have no landlines.

[greenskeeper]

have not had a land line since 2003.

[LuckyRobin]

We use just cell phones where we are living now, but we have a land line out at the old house to run the security system. I would only have a land line for that purpose (and we will have a bare bones one when we buy our new house so we can hook up security). I've not missed it at all living in the city.

[GREENBACK]

The landline debate is big for me as well. I likely will at some point drop it.

[MonkeyMama]

We're keeping our landline. Just the phone # we give out, so we don't get tons of calls to our cell phones (which are more for family/emergency). That said, our landline is only $20/month (bare bones service - we have a few options at that price - I understand not everyone does).

We may be more willing to drop it in the future if we get unlimited minutes, etc. on our cell phone. We are just in the mind space of "rarely using our cell phones" so would be a big mental switch to make those our primary phone. & with limited minutes, I don't like giving out the number a lot. I like having a general land line for the family.

[dawnwes]

We dropped the landline and went with Ooma phone service. It was $199 for the hub from Costco.com (can be purchased from Amazon.com as well) but we pay only $11 per year for taxes, so, less than $1/mo.

We were able to keep our home phone number. It includes unlimited long distance, call waiting, caller ID, voicemail and a couple of other features for the basic service. We even make international calls for around .03 per minute to most places.

They do offer premier service which includes the above as well as call forwarding, a second line, 1000 min. added to your cell phone if you need it, and a few other features for $60/year. We don't get that, but may at some point.

It is internet based so you will need a cable modem.

Dawn

[snafu]

We dropped our land line a month after DH got his i-Phone; couldn't pry that from his cold, grey hand if he were dead I suspect. The odd time a call gets dropped I regret not having a landline. I'm not big phone user and I like our family plan.

[kork13]

I've been cell-phone only since 2004 when I went to college. There's essentially no such thing as "long distance" calls anymore, because they're all charged the same. It's easier for people to get a hold of me that way as well, since I'm not tied to a hardline phone to get a call.

That said, when I moved to Japan last summer, I did get the "MagicJack" VOIP service. Yes, it's essentially a landline (at home I hook it straight into a standard telephone), but it gives me a stateside number, unlimited minutes to anywhere in the US, cheap international rates, crystal clear connection, and it's just $20/year. Even better, since I travel alot (US military), I can just plug the little USB into my laptop and make free calls from anywhere in the world back to the states using my laptop's internal mic/speakers as long as I have internet access.

Having used the MagicJack for a year now, I'll never go back to a landline. MagicJack for most of my calls, then a basic prepaid cell phone for calls on the go. Simple, cheap, effective.

[Gary Barzel]

It really depends on how much you use your cell phone, and what your cell phone and landline plans are. If you don't use your cell phone much, and you rely on your landline for most of your calls then you should probably keep it, but shop around for a cheaper plan. Today you can find monthly deals that are very reasonable and come with unlimited calls a month. If you don't use your landline much, then you are just paying an extra monthly fee just to have a number that you've had for many years. In which case you're better off with just a cell phone.

[ktmarvels]

DH and I are one of the many who no longer have a land line and really never have since going to college. I am considering adding a land line when we have kids though. I don't like the idea of there not being a phone around when/if they (or a babysitter) needs one. Although when I say "land line" I'm not sure what we'd actually use, phone company, Vonage, etc.

[photo]

Did you know that graduating pharmacists are now required to have a doctorate?

The Bachelor's Degree has been been extended to a six-year mandatory program so that to be registered pharmacist, the degree obtained is a Pharm.D., which is different from a Ph.D.

[GREENBACK]

so we don't get tons of calls to our cell phones (which are more for family/emergency).

That is my concern. I have a personal cell phone and a work phone. Most of my calls are work related (work phone) and my personal cell phone is for family and friends. I mostly use my home phone to call buisnesses or companies that are needed for things at home I.E., home repairs, med appts., etc.. This leads to a lot of calls from places I've never heard of and don't want to deal with. This happens even if you're on the "do not call" registry.

I just assume not have those calls coming into my personal cell phone.

That said, my home phone is part of a bundled package and is relatively inexpensive which is why I've kept it.

[dmontngrey]

I ported my landline number to Viatalk VOIP years ago. Earlier this year, I ported it to Google Voice. I have an Obi110 device that I have set up with whole house VOIP like I did with Viatalk. I don't know what Google has planned for beyond 2011, but I'm not worried. I like the setup right now and it can go if it HAS to. It works for now.