Do you have a home phone?

[SiempreTuna]

I have one for three reasons, first, I have broadband and in the UK you have to rent a landline in order to get broadband. Second, I use it for 0800 numbers that are free via landline but get charged at a premium rate on mobile and third, the mobile signal around our way is so dire, it's sometimes the only way I can make a call.

Never give the number to anyone, though. Apart from the odd sales call (which I shouldn't get as I'm on the don't call register), the only calls I get are my missus asking for a lift back from the station

 

[AntimonyER]

No landline for me. Just don't see a need for it. We had one for a couple years when we first got married, but both decided it wasn't worth the extra monthly payment.

 

[El Presidente]

Never give the number to anyone, though. Apart from the odd sales call (which I shouldn't get as I'm on the don't call register), the only calls I get are my missus asking for a lift back from the station

Lucky you, we have to opt in as part of our deal. I often get 2 or 3 different automated calls a day saying that records show I'm entitled to XXX worth of PPI.....

 

[DonB]

The wife and I both use our cells for years, but I can also use Google Voice for all calls from home if need be and I also use OBI with Google voice and I am able to have a free home phone line when needed as a back up. We get hurricanes here and it is good to always have a backup and since it is free for now, it is a bonus The OBI unit works like a Magic Jack from your router and works great and the best thing it offers all the feature of a regular phone line and also allows you to have 2 lines on one unit, so you can have 2 numbers and choose which ever you want to use from simply dialing **2 before the number for the second line. Best of all I use GV from my cell to call long distance to friends that I have in Canada for free

 

[chrlswltrs]

That would work except I don't want to carry two cells. I've had my cell number for decades as well and can't drop that number.

You could port a number to Google Voice and forward all calls to that number to your cell. Then set the Google Voice app to ask before each call which number you want to use to make the call.

Then you would keep both numbers on 1 cell phone. I have 2 phone numbers for my cell phone using this method

 

[opalfrog]

We haven't had a landline in about 3 years. I was sad to see it go since we've had the same number for so long but we use to get about 4 to 5 telemarketer calls everyday. It was driving us crazy. It's a lot more quiet now.

 

[Kaiser17]

We haven't had a landline in about 3 years. I was sad to see it go since we've had the same number for so long but we use to get about 4 to 5 telemarketer calls everyday. It was driving us crazy. It's a lot more quiet now.

Forgot to mention thats the best part of not having a landline.. on my cell I get a telemarketer call here and there but not everyday 4-5 times like it used to be.

 

[Stuntman]

I haven't had one for almost 10 years I think. At the time, Fido was offering unlimited local calling for $40/month. My wife and I decided to get this plan for both of our cell phones and ditched our landline. The month before, my wife racked up over $100 in cell phone charges because she was talking a lot back then.

I have a home phone but only ever use my mobile to make calls. The only reason i have a home phone is that you have to have one to get Virgin TV package. Pretty dumb really.

Shaw tried to push a land line phone on me. They said it would be free for a year. I told them to bugger off as I don't intend to use it and would probably forget to cancel in a year.

We haven't had a landline in about 3 years. I was sad to see it go since we've had the same number for so long but we use to get about 4 to 5 telemarketer calls everyday. It was driving us crazy. It's a lot more quiet now.

That was the best thing about getting rid of the land line. No telemarketer calls. I get one every few months now, but it nowhere near as bad as when we had our land line.

 

[Speed Daemon]

I have a home phone primarily because I like the comfort of a handset that was made for phone conversation and nothing else. Although I've had some comfortable cellphones in the past (none recently), the heat from the radio and discharging battery made them uncomfortable for calls longer than 10 minutes.

I've been using VoIP for my home phone service, and it's been ideal. I can take it with me If I want to, and moving is a snap!

People who think they still have a twisted pair that reaches all the way back to the telco CO may be surprised to learn that ILECs are rapidly replacing copper with fiber, and installing tiny media convrsion points for the sake of cost (glass is cheaper) and for shorter DSL runs, which are the backbone of the ILEC version of the "triple play". Unlike a real CO with its large battery banks and Diesel generators, these micro points of presence have extremely limited backup power. A cellphone tower is far more likely to have a generator on-site!

IME, cable plants (which use the copper cables to distribute a lot of power) have stayed up with both TV and data after a storm has passed, and cellular service rarely drops out. And by using multipath (cable, DSL and cellular) to feed my VoIP phone, I get "five nines" reliability. It's no big deal for me since I have ample battery and generator power ready to go. If you don't already own the equipment to keep "five nines" at your end, your mileage may vary.

No matter what the connection, I still want a real handset that's ergonomic and doesn't slow-cook the side of my head during long calls, bottom line. (No pun intended. )

 

[unnamedny]

no, and i have ooma

 

[Speed Daemon]

I loved her in Kill Bill...

 

[Shinji01]

Yes, but i dont use it. I just have it for back up because sometimes people want to faz me stuff.
Also, I learnt in the earthquake that in disasters, land lines are always tougher and good for checking safety of family etc.

 

[mikedt]

People who think they still have a twisted pair that reaches all the way back to the telco CO may be surprised to learn that ILECs are rapidly replacing copper with fiber, and installing tiny media convrsion points for the sake of cost (glass is cheaper) and for shorter DSL runs, which are the backbone of the ILEC version of the "triple play". Unlike a real CO with its large battery banks and Diesel generators, these micro points of presence have extremely limited backup power. A cellphone tower is far more likely to have a generator on-site!

Where I am, outside of the city many of the cellphone towers now use wind and solar power from what I've seen. There's usually plenty of wind and sun out in the grasslands. The remoter places just don't have any landlines at all. So if you want to talk to someone or get on-line, it's wireless, that's it. There must be very few places I've travelled where China Mobile doesn't have good coverage.

 

[RoWilJr]

I haven't had a home phone since around 2002. If I have a phone I can use everywhere including home, why would I want another phone that I can only use at home also??

This^^^ Not to mention, being TDY/Deployed alot it would be a waste of money.

 

[Speed Daemon]

Where I am, outside of the city many of the cellphone towers now use wind and solar power from what I've seen. There's usually plenty of wind and sun out in the grasslands. The remoter places just don't have any landlines at all. So if you want to talk to someone or get on-line, it's wireless, that's it. There must be very few places I've travelled where China Mobile doesn't have good coverage.

I don't think that would work here. I've lived in two high-rise buildings with cell sites in them, and the power that even the tiniest one consumed was massive. The "regular size" sites have their radios in shelters that are roughly the size of a short (10m) city bus, and have 20kW+ backup generators. Each radio puts out up to 250W. One radio per cell segment, 3 or 6 segments per tower. Up to 4 separate bands, with a radio for each band. And we have 4 major carriers! Each tower can need as much as 40kW for the radios alone!

The "microcell" that was located in one building was the size of an American refrigerator, 3x3 feet and 5 feet tall, not including the chimney to carry away the heat! Although the apartment had more than 14kW of electrical wiring already in it, this monster had a pair of 3-inch pipes feeding power from a special transformer at the back of the building. All of that to feed a pair of little "stick" antennas!

Go figure...

 

[Doit2it]

Had the number since 1985. Ported to Vonage a few years ago. My daughter lives in Canada so I like the 'minutes only' long distance. Last months bill was $19.22. I'll probably port it to Google Voice when they finally allow landline porting. Yes I know I could port to a prepaid then to GV, but I'll wait.