Who else does NOT have a Landline?

[northzax]

why the heck would anyone keep archaic and overly expensive technology provided by government supported monopolies?

Do you know that people still pay for long distance? I can't imagine why, but apparently they do. And they pay more money for a stagnant technology, one that is restricted to one location? As far as I can tell, there are four reasons to keep a landline in 2006:

1: you share an apartment and need a way to buzz people in (if you live alone it can almost always be sent to a mobile, if it's a local number)
2: you need DSL (although DSL and the price of the phone line itself is usually more than a cable modem, which is much faster)
3: you live in the absolute boondocks where mobile coverage stinks
4: you are a luddite who enjoys sending money to a monopoly and paying a tax to finance the Spanish American War every month.

So, what's your excuse?

[ForrestGump]

1. Not me

I've been in fugitive mode. Landlines aren't good for that.

[northzax]

4. neither is the GPS chip in your phone.

don't worry, I'm sure that's just a traffic helicopter, nothing to worry about. Forrest? are you still there?

[azmouse]

2. emergencies

Land lines have a fail-safe connection to 911 which guarantees emergency services to your door. Most 911 centers automatically locate your home through the 911 call on a land line.

I don't much care for cellphones. I have it more for when I am on the road. But with my landline I don't have to remember to charge it and I always know where the phone is located.

[Ravenseye]

36. yeah same here....post 9/11 world and all

There have been times like on 9/11 when the cellphone networks were so clogged that it was impossible to make any phone call whatsoever.

I've been in my house on a few occasions and unable to make a call. Living in the city, if there is some sort of event in the neighborhood, that's all it takes to overload the cell just enough that it becomes difficult to place a call. As long as that kind of crap continues we aren't getting rid of our land lines.

We barely use it though, but we barely pay for it as well, as we got a deal and don't ever use it for things like long distance.

[Mizmoon]

3. the sound quality sucks on cell phones

you can't have a good, long gabfest on a cell phone. They suck.

I don't even have a cell phone and I don't want one. I don't like being that accessible.

edit: my landline costs $25/month with free long distance. They must compete to survive.

[northzax]

5. how are you any more accesible?

you do know that cell phones turn off, right? I turn mine off all the time when I don't want to be bothered. And it goes right to voicemail, so I deal with them when I want to.

[politicat]

6. We have a DSL line because the cable company is EEEvil.

Qwest still has unions. Comcast doesn't.

Comcast jacked our rate from $29.99 a month to $79.99 a month when we moved. When I complained, they told me to suck it up, even though they have a "new customer" rate of $19.99 for the first six months. They also tried to charge me an installation fee, when new customers get free installation. Had I known that, I would have cancelled service and restarted it or never bothered. (Keeping a customer makes more business sense than trying to get new ones.)

The cable lines in our area are oversold - from about 3 pm to 10 pm, I can get faster service on a cellular link. Comcast has no intention of upgrading the system because I live in an old neighborhood that isn't likely to gentrify any time in the near future.

I can get a business speed (512 mbps) line without a phone line attached for the same price as the cable modem, and it's faster. So we did.

On Edit, Qwest is evil too, but just normal evil, not EEE-Ville.

[caty]

7. We haven't had a

land line if over 3 years and haven't missed it. We have 3 cell phones. One, we keep at home where are old phone used to sit. It stays there and that is the number we gave out to everyone. Then, the other 2 my husband and I have to carry around with us. We don't give these numbers out because we don't really want people calling us when we are not at home. They can call the number for the one we leave at home and leave a voice mail if we are not there to take the call.

[underpants]

8. Sort of we need one for TiVo

WE HAVE TIVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[eeyore]

30. Do it wireless.

Wifi Tivo is the way to go! It totally works and shit. :)

[Wcross]

37. You DO NOT need a landline for tivo.

I have directivo and all the programming comes down on the dish. I have not made a call in 180 days and it works perfectly.

[tjdee]

9. Maybe for when The Man creates some kind of apocalyptic crisis and

the only thing to work are landlines because they're so old and no one cares about screwing with them?

That is the only, only reason I can think of. Don't have a landline, and I'm much happier about it. Do you know Ma Bell wanted to charge me some bogus $70-$120 fee for "security" when I signed up? HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA.

I took that money to the Radio Shack and bought my Vonage box. Take that, suckas!

[EstimatedProphet]

10. We don't

We both have cellphones

[Nikia]

11. We got rid of our land line

Many of our calls were long distance and it was cheaper with a cell phone plan.

[fleabert]

12. vonage and Cingular fulfill my phone needs just fine. nt

[AngryAmish]

13. Not at home

At my office had to get a DSL and thus a landline. I will use it for the fax machine.

Do you know that a cable modem for a business is 3x the cost for a home? the. exact. same. bandwidth. Enraging.

I have vonage for my business lines. Much better.

[Dukkha]

14. I hate cell phones

much cheaper this way too. I almost never call long distance and my phone bill is about $25/month

[jmm]

15. I don't want to make it easier for telemarketers to call me

so I don't have a land line.

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. I don't have one, and I'm damned glad for it.

All the phone calls I want to make every month for $39, and no worry about "long distance" and my phone is wherever I take it.

[file83]

17. How else do you expect me to escape from the Matrix?!?

:shrug:

[Elidor]

18. Well, my ISP says I have to have the landline for the DSL

I think they're scamming me. I have a phone line, but don't use it. I just pay for it. :(

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. My 'excuse'?

• No worries about "minutes" or "overage" or "rollover," or, especially, "20-page contracts that need a communications lawyer to interpret."

• No worries about being "in the zone."

• No worries about some asspipe with a scanner monitoring my calls.

• No worries either way about long distance rates, as I make few long-distance calls.

• No worries about being seen as another person glued to a cell phone.

• No need for one unless I blow a fuel pump or head gasket in the middle of nowhere. That's why there's one in my truck — pre-paid — and that's why it rarely gets used.

"Excuse" was a poor choice of words, dude, and some of the "excuses" you listed offend me. Get over your high-tech self.

[Ariana Celeste]

27. Agreed

I love my lame ass dial up and the fact that if I'm online *nobody* is calling. I hate phones with a *passion*.

*Everyone* I know who has a cell phone- 9 times out of 10, they are bitching rather than talking about how great they are.
They all are unhappy with their providers.
They all get pissed off at eachother when someone doesn't pick up because they all know everyone always has their cell phones on them.


If I wanna make a long distance call, I'll use a phone card, and not wait until after 9pm or the weekends. Jeez.

[leeroysphitz]

20. Cable/ Vonage here. Best way to go for us. (nt)

[SeattleGirl]

21. Um, because you can't fax from a cell phone.

I work from home so I need a land line for my fax. And we also have a landline for the home phone. My home line doesn't have long distance and is about $25 a month. My fax line does have long distance, but it is billed directly to my company, so that line is also $25 a month, which I get reimbursed for.

I have a cell phone as my work phone, and a personal cell phone. Mr. SG also has a cell phone.

I think having or not having a land line is a personal choice. I don't think people who choose to have landlines should be put down, as the tone of your post seems to suggest. If someone has a landline, so what?

[northzax]

33. well, I thought I would respond to the overt cell-phone hostility

that is always present. And yes, it was a copycat thread about people who don't have mobile phones. of course it's a personal choice, but everyone complains abotu my choice, so I thought I'd turn it around a bit and point out the other side...

I fax from my laptop, with a scanner/printer and a .mac address, I'm fine.

[Blue Belle]

22. I haven't had a land line in over a year...

although I am thinking about installing Vonage because i hate having my cell phone calls dropped all the time. It's annoying!!

[Patiod]

23. Land lines -> you can't record, and the quality sucks

I interview people for a living (we pay them, and tell them they're being recorded). You can't record cell phones. Plus the sound quality is so appalling -- I'm constantly saying "what?" or just trying to interpolate what the hell someone just said to me when I'm on a cell phone. When I'm on a landline and someone else is on a cell, it's better.

Plus, I really hate people's behavior on cell phones

If they ever legalize cell phone use on planes, I'm going to start singing "Oklahoma" at the top of my lungs if some asshole decides that the seat next to me is a good place to negotiate the next takeover of Nabisco.

[Dukkha]

26. they're illegal on planes?

that's good to know. I'm flying cross country tomorrow. Yes the sound quality is total shit especially where fiber optic landlines are in use. Many singers have literally phoned in their vocal parts to recording studios. I can't imagine them doing that in a cell phone.

I love the Family Guy movie Stewie Griffin - The Untold Story. There's a scene where he's in the elevator with one of those cell phony assholes talking in a typical inappropriate loud voice. The doors open up to a blood splatter wall and the cell phony lying on the floor as Stewie leaves the elevator.

[Patiod]

32. They're illegal in the air

OK before takeoff and once landed

That elevator scene - I can relate

[KitchenWitch]

31. OOOOOOKLahoma where the wind goes rushing down the plain!

:rofl:

[liberaltrucker]

24. Absolutely need it for DSL

We live in a small Alabama town. With BellSouth DSL we
have download speeds around 4Mbps. Charter, the local
cable has, at best, 700 kbps. Charter sucks, so we
have satellite TV.

[mwooldri]

25. Scenario: The power's out for 5 days.

VoIP isn't working when the power goes out, at least for me it doesn't. I have a cellphone but for some reason when the power goes out so do the cellphone towers in our neighborhood. The only phone that works well when the power is out for many days is the regular landline phone. Also it ties in right with the emergency services so that in a worst case scenario you place that 911 call and you can't speak they can at least make their way to you. The kinks are still being sorted out with VoIP and that hurdle will be fixed soon but still.

I think there's a good old American adage:

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

BTW I actually don't have a landline - I have VoIP, cable modem & mobile.

Mark.

[Nicole]

28. I need the landline

1. My home security system is hooked to the landline.
2. The landline calls to 911 display my home address, cell phone calls don't.
3. I have a phone with extra large numbers for the sight impaired relative who often stays with me. She can't see the numbers on my cell phone. She can't hear on it very well either.
4. Tivo

That's my four excuses, none of which match your four reasons.

I only use the cell phone for long distance & calls away from home.

[northzax]

34. all good reasons

the one that isn't as relevant any more is the 911 one, all newer phones are GPS enabled, so they give your physical coordinates in space (to 2 meters) and that is easily sorted by 911 computers to say where you are.

[BreweryYardRat]

29. My dad and I don't have one...

...my mother the miser, who refuses to pay for a cable modem or DSL, does.

[populistdriven]

35. I have RR Cable and VoicePulse VOIP

[Spider Jerusalem]

38. Monopolies are the BEST means of providing SOME services.

Landline telephone service is an excellent example; due to the economies of scale and massive infrastructure involved, smaller, competing businesses would NOT be able to do things as well as monopolies (note that telecommunications infrastructure is monopoly controlled pretty much ANYWHERE in the world).

The idea that competition is a good thing in EVERY area of the economy might be called "the myth of the free market"; that it IS a myth is amply illustrated by the events that followed large-scale deregulation energy markets (natural gas, etc).

As for me, I have a landline because I have DSL (I do a lot of online gaming, and cable can have SERIOUS latency issues that can make it useless for some of the things I use my internet connection for), AND I don't have (nor do I want) a cell phone (as far as I'm concerned they're electronic leashes; and their prevalence and the general obliviousness of people with cell phones to those around them is something that's contributing to the erosion of good manners and ettiquette in our society).

[northzax]

42. and note that everywhere else in the world

communications technology has increased faster then in the US. Mobile phones are cheaper than landlines everywhere BUT the US, and increasingly so in the US.

[Kali]

39. I have one - but only use it for my pitifully slow dial up

the price dif. between it and satellite hasn't quite shrunk enough.

Cell phones for phone communication.

Yes out in the boonies, even though there is a satellite transmitter less than 1/3 of a mile up the mountain behind my house and a bundle of 8 fiberoptic conduits running right through the damn driveway!!!! grrrrrr

[kick-ass-bob]

40. We actually have a better deal for a land-line than a cell phone.

Unlimited local/long distance 24/7, for 50 someodd bucks a month.
I know no cell company that does that. With how much we use the phone, it would be $250 for a cell phone.

[LynneSin]

41. Reason #5 for a landline - so I can find my cell phone

Trust me, I need it

:eyes:

And I have DSL - Comcast sucks beyond the comprehensible world of sucking

[ChoralScholar]

43. I haven't had for a while.

I want to get rid of Cox Internet, though, so I may go to Alltel DSL.

They tell me I don't have to have phone service or a phone number, that they can give me DSL.

It's their company, if they say they can do it, I believe them.

Anyway, I pay less, and my phone number is in my pocket instead of on my wall at home. If I don't want to answer, I just turn the phone off, or onto complete no-vibe silent.

[arwalden]

44. In our neighborhood...

Comcast's cable-modem service in an OVERSOLD node (with bandwidth hogs galore) and it is much slower than Verizon's DSL.

Comcast also has a nasty habit of charging MORE for people who aren't also subscribers to their cable-TV service. (I suppose it's punitive for the folks who prefer DirecTV.)

It was a glorious day when we were able to call Comcast and tell them to disconnect ALL service!

~Allen


PS: I do like my cellular service... EXCEPT for that lag time and occasional echo and digital-phasing (outer-space-like tin-voice sound-effect) kinda like an MP3 that has TOO MUCH compression on it.

[northzax]

46. yes, comcast charges more for non subscribers

it is actually cheaper for me to get the basic 12 channel package and the modem than just the modem. go figure.

[speedoo]

45. Cell phone and Vonage.

Vonage is great.