Kar98: Oh, and during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, guess what was the first service that went off-line? That's right cellphones. Hey, nice paperweight!

I don't live below sea level, so I am good.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph - our land lines went out countless times when I was growing up. Thunderstorm, tornado, ice, whatever. So fark that noise about cell phones during an emergency. A cell phone is way more likely to bail you out of the most likely emergencies than a land line. Try your freakin' land line after a car accident or when you're trapped in the closet with an axe murderer in the house. Locked in the trunk? Try to reach a land line - the call quality is better. Oh, you want it for the hurricane, do you? Guess what dumbass, the whole world already knows there's a hurricane, you don't have to call cnn from your landline. Also, to whomever said that bullshiat about not being able to get people on their cell - most of the people I know who still have landlines simply do not answer the goddam thing at all and I have to call their cell to get them. And you know what else? Your land line is only gonna help you if you're at home - my home is within walking distance of literally 3 million people. If all their phones are out too, we got bigger problems than phone service. Like your land line? Great. Just admit you have on because you like it better and stop trying to ascribe some magnificent reason to it that calls my intelligence into question because I decided differently. I have a 25 year old van. It costs too much money and it's completely obsolete but I keep it running because I like it. Which is fine.

dittybopper: That's news to me, and I've been a ham for 19 years now, using it for personal communications the entire time.
It is *NOT* limited to emergency services.

You're right. Technically it's limited to other hams. Great. No one who isn't already interested in radio is going to take a test and buy specialized equipment just to talk to other people who do the same.

Ham radio is a niche. It serves as useful purpose in a natural disaster, and a few other niche areas like specialized connectivity in remote areas, but it is not a reasonable alternative to other methods of methods of communication for the overwhelming majority of the population.

dittybopper: How often does a fire happen? It's pretty rare. The vast majority of homes will never experience a house fire. Why should I invest in smoke detectors and fire extinguishers?

Those are a helluva lot cheaper than continuously paying for landline service that you don't use forever.

I've been very happy since I got rid of the land line. No telemarketers, and no answering calls from my wife's family. If they want her, they can call her on her phone which we don't share. I don't have to sift through messages not meant for me to hear the rest of them. Life is grand.

dittybopper: It's actually kind of stupid not to have a dedicated landline phone, and I'm excluding all internet from that, by the way.

In an emergency, regular land line phones are the most reliable.

I can't tell you how many times we've lost power, and thus would lose internet phones and/or cordless phones. We have a standard $9.99 wired phone in the bedroom for times when our main phone (a cordless) won't work because of power outages.
...
Secondly, in a widespread emergency the cell network can be limited to just designated public safety phones. That makes your cell a worthless hunk of electronics.

This. I lived in Manhattan during the massive blackout in 2003. Cell phones were useless. Cordless land lines were useless. The only phone that worked for me was a simple wired land line. I had neighbors on my floor asking to use the phone because they all had cordless phones. (We lived in a studio - no point in having a cordless phone if the cord stretches to all four walls.) My wife and I mainly use our cell phones for calls, but after that experience, we'll always have at least a basic land line.

idrow: "Oh, I turned it off because I forgot to charge it and the battery was running low and forgot to turn it back on."

My excuse, for cell phone or landline is, "I was in a ranked match".

dittybopper: It's actually kind of stupid not to have a dedicated landline phone, and I'm excluding all internet from that, by the way.

In an emergency, regular land line phones are the most reliable.

No, it's not stupid. Also, your statement was incomplete. You should have said, "In an emergency when I'm at my house regular land line phones are the most reliable. When I'm in the other 99.9999999% of the planet, my land line will just sit there and watch me bleed to death because I'm such an ass about not having a cell phone which may or may not go out when I need it the most, like now, bleeding to death but not at my house"

dittybopper: It's actually kind of stupid not to have a dedicated landline phone, and I'm excluding all internet from that, by the way.

In an emergency, regular land line phones are the most reliable.

I can't tell you how many times we've lost power, and thus would lose internet phones and/or cordless phones. We have a standard $9.99 wired phone in the bedroom for times when our main phone (a cordless) won't work because of power outages.

You know, I disagree. I bought my cell phone because of the cost overruns associated with the wired phone. Many many people in my neighborhood have wired phones (friggin foggies), so that will be a backup. But just as easily as a disaster could take out the cell network, so too could a disaster take out most or part of wired network (earthquake?). In fact I would venture to say that the cell network maybe less vulnerable because it's distributed.

I have a cell that have a plug for an external antenna (made sure when I bought it) and the mount for it. An antenna for a cell is directional and easy to build. And if you can't get through because of network overload, send text messages, eventually the message will get through. Also, I can send yahoo messenger messages from my phone, and if I need to, I can hook up my laptop and use my phone as a modem. Yeah it costs a bundle if I have to use it, but in the event of an emergency I can spare those expenses. Day to day, the cell is cheaper.

Also, I monitor the ham bands for information during an emergency. I have portable radio, antenna and backup power source all available to me. It was invaluable to have immediate up to date information during the wildfires in Southern CA. Hams are pretty great, I have to make sure that I kick them out some donation money to my local ham organization.

Oh, I wanted to ask if anyone has seen a cheap bluetooth phone device? What I really really want is way to fax from my cell. I have a fax machine, I have bluetooth, why can't a bluetooth device provide dial tone to my fax and then just send the dialed numbers to the phone and still be cheap?

I understand the switch, but the elephant in the room is that cell phone service just still sounds bad compared to landline service. If that's a tradeoff people are willing to make, fine, but I just wish someone would acknowledge it.

While I'm at it, cordless phones sound crappier than hardwired ones, too.

I got rid of my cel in favor of a landline, and I'm only sorry I didn't do it sooner. Cingular was screwing me over on bills, I could only talk in my apartment if I sat on my windowsill, and at one point I did not get any messages for two weeks (and then I got them all at once). When I called to complain about the lost messages, I was ungraciously offered five dollars off on my next bill, or fifteen minutes of call time free. I cancelled.

suck it, Cingular.

AliasUndercover: Hasn't anyone read Cell?

I bought it at the airport last month. I hadn't read a King book in over 15 years. 30 pages in I remembered why I had waited 15 years. Can't say I am a fan of his style.

dittybopper: How often does a fire happen? It's pretty rare. The vast majority of homes will never experience a house fire. Why should I invest in smoke detectors and fire extinguishers?

That's an incredibly stupid statement. Fires are not at all rare and smoke detectors and fire extinguishers are very cheap. According to the CDC "In 2006, fire departments responded to 412,500 home fires in the United States, which claimed the lives of 2,580 people (not including firefighters) and injured another 12,925, not including firefighters (Karter 2007)".

If power to the cell towers goes out, 99% of cell towers have backup generators on them. My employer services the generators for most of the major cell companies in Colorado.

jst3p: Kar98: Oh, and during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, guess what was the first service that went off-line? That's right cellphones. Hey, nice paperweight!

I don't live below sea level, so I am good.

Neither do I. In fact New Orleans is about 6 hours south. Nonetheless, a cat 1 hurricane (what a cat 5 hurricane will be 400 miles after landfall) will still fark you up.

My wife and I use pre-paid Virgin Mobile cell phones, because neither of us use a cell phone enough to justify a contract. I work from home, and she's a stay-at-home mom.

We don't have a land line, though. We have Vonage. Much better value for the money.

Mister Awesome: Yup, only a cell phone here. Cable internet/tv. Only thing I kind of regret is when I lose my phone for a day or so.

That's when you get online and IM one of your friends to call you so you can listen for the ringer and find your phone. Unless you left it on silent....or no one's online.... But still not worth keeping a landline just so you can find your phone when it falls between the couch cushions.

/in the 30%

E.S.Q.: Although I've worked in tech the entire time, I haven't had a telephone or TV since 1994.

If anyone needs to talk to me badly enough they know where to find me...

in an unmarked van cruising through neighborhoods trying to pick up an unsecure wifi signal?

Phone: cellphone. Net: DSL without landline, slower than the local evil cable monopoly but with a much better TOS. Security system: not having much worth stealing, loud Siamese cat, knives.

In case of OMGWTFBBQPANIC, I have a small pushbutton corded phone that is powered entirely by the phone jack. I can theoretically call 911 that way if everything goes to hell.

AliasUndercover: Hasn't anyone read Cell?

When I last moved, I put that book out in the hall with a "Free Lousy Book" sign. It was gone in half an hour--no accounting for people's tastes, I guess.

I've never had a land line, if you don't count my parent's phone line, but I moved out of their house 6 years ago.

Landline, cell and satellite intarwebs here. Too far out in the country for cable or telephone company DSL. I spend at least a couple of hours a day on the phones, and travel on business, so I would need to do a cost analysis to make sure dropping the landline makes sense. That said, we now have wireless DSL service available here that we may migrate to, as it would cost somewhat (not much) less than both HughsNet and the landline.

Thanks for the stimulation to look again at the options... :)

cityofweasels: I understand the switch, but the elephant in the room is that cell phone service just still sounds bad compared to landline service. If that's a tradeoff people are willing to make, fine, but I just wish someone would acknowledge it.

I don't think sound quality is a big concern for most people. At least not over the other factors involved in choosing a phone service. Remember MCI's commercials with the pin dropping? That worked out real well for them.

warp100: idrow: I know people who only have the cell and it's a nightmare to get hold of them sometimes. I get the "Oh, I left it in my coat pocket and hung it in the closet and didn't hear it ring" or the famous "Oh, I turned it off because I forgot to charge it and the battery was running low and forgot to turn it back on."

/makes me nuts
//keeping my landline, tyvm

Do you think they would be home to answer a landline all the time? Could be that they were just screening their calls and didn't feel like talking. That's something that annoys me about my cell. People take it personally if I don't answer because they think I see every little call. Sorry, I'm not going to answer while I'm taking a shiat, or bring it in the shower with me

/you'll have to speak up, I'm wearing a towel

They're not screening if they're supposed to be on call for work and I'm trying to get hold of them when the system goes down. Those excuses don't fly when incident reports get filed at work the next morning.

Do you all claim you've never:
a) Left your phone in the car - forgot to bring it in with you.
b) Forgot to turn the ringer back from vibrate.
c) Left it in your purse or coat in the other room and didn't
hear it ring.
d) (Insert your own creative story here about how you once lost
your phone.)
e) Forgot to turn it back on.

It happens.

This is the cell phone that I use. The video is nice and I like the 2 megapixel camera. Overall I'm happy with it. I'm not totally happy with the internet, but it's not the camera, it's the carrier not offering full internet on cell phones (when my contract is up next April, I may have to do some looking to see if anyone besides AT&T offers full internet on cell phones).

GimpyNip: AliasUndercover: Hasn't anyone read Cell?

I bought it at the airport last month. I hadn't read a King book in over 15 years. 30 pages in I remembered why I had waited 15 years. Can't say I am a fan of his style.

I read Cell - Worst. Ending. Evar.

He's very hit and miss with his books.

Screw the landline. I Use my cell for people I want to talk to, and for $6 a month I have a skype # that I can give out to anyone else that NEEDS a number.
When I'm out of country 6 months of the year, I get a seperate skype number to keep in touch with people back in the US. Oh yeah, I alse maintain a cell # in Mexico, but try to avoid using it as that actually costs money.

/can get signals on the beach 50 miles from the nearest 'civilization'.

DrKillPatient: If it needs recharging or batteries low.

If only there were some alternate method, like some sort of charger that could use another power source, maybe from your car, or maybe even some sort of emergency battery.

//comma-tose.

Ruca: Why pay for a landline?

I actually like to hear who I'm talking to. Having a conversation on a cell phone is like watching movies on YouTube.

remember on 9/11 when it was difficult to use your cellphones for several hours and in some cases days because all the networks were jammed? that's the only reason i keep a landline. that, and my house alarm.

/better safe than sorry

otravez: remember on 9/11 when it was difficult to use your cellphones for several hours and in some cases days because all the networks were jammed? that's the only reason i keep a landline. that, and my house alarm.

The same thing happened with landlines on 9/11.

But, but, don't you all miss hearing the dial tone?

I'm also in the 30%, but have only been for a few years. I wish I had done it sooner. Like a lot of people have said, it was only telemarketers anyway, like Time Warner, which leads me to this true story and a big reason I no longer have a land-line anymore.

It seemed like every few weeks Time Warner would call trying to get me to package in a home phone with the cable and Internet I already had with them. For the first few times I politely said no thanks, but they just kept calling. Finally, I lost my shiat on this poor girl and went on a profanity-laced tirade and told her I would never want their service and to never call again. I felt bad for doing it, but it worked. Hence my extreme hatred for Time Warner to this day, as irrational as that may be.

So, when I moved to my new apartment in February of last year, I needed Internet access and refused to do Roadrunner out of my hatred for Time Warner, so I looked to DSL from AT&T. They told me I had to get a land-line, which I didn't want to do. And here's the interesting thing. When I told them my cell phone was Cingular (obviously now AT&T), they said for all intents and purposes I had a phone with them and they cut me a deal and gave me a "dry line" (I'm not really sure what that means. Can anyone explain?) and basically I only had to pay for the DSL (about $35/month). I think it helped that I proclaimed my utter disdain for Time Warner and they seemed to enjoy that, so they cut me a deal. I think I just got lucky and the rep liked the fact I wanted to stick it to a competitor. I like to think I manipulated the person, but I'm probably giving myself too much credit.

I have 2 land lines.

gajillion: Ruca: Why pay for a landline?

I actually like to hear who I'm talking to. Having a conversation on a cell phone is like watching movies on YouTube.

You need a better phone/carrier then. The free cell you get when you sign up is free for a reason.

ive been using Vonage for a few years since my phone lines couldnt be fixed. always fuzzy... plus I got a deal through my old job to get Vonage for $9 a month. I just recently got a cell phone in december as I got rid of it in 2000. Haven't had an issue in 3yrs with vonage.

fark both of them. I dumped my land line years ago, and despise cell phones because of the delay.

gajillion I actually like to hear who I'm talking to. Having a conversation on a cell phone is like watching movies on YouTube.

THIS.

/it couldn't be related to the fact that my phone is a vintage-2001 freeby, could it? ;)

I'm part of the 30% mentioned, so I'm getting a kick ouERROR: CARRIER DROPPED

dittybopper: Maybe you could. Prove to me it's a good number (you made the assertion, now back it up).

Here is the report the CDC is referencing. Read it if you're skeptical.

warp1002008-05-14 03:51:40 PM
"That's something that annoys me about my cell. People take it personally if I don't answer because they think I see every little call. Sorry, I'm not going to answer while I'm taking a shiat, or bring it in the shower with me."

THIS. People (who aren't my boss) expect me to answer every farking time they call and get mad when I don't. If it's work, I'll answer because I have to. Every other time, I answer if I feel like it. I'm a grownup. I don't have to answer the phone if I don't want to. If this bothers someone enough to not call me anymore, good. Chances are, I don't really want to talk to them anyway. This includes some family members.

JohnBigBootay2008-05-14 04:01:21 PM
"... A cell phone is way more likely to bail you out of the most likely emergencies than a land line. ... Oh, you want it for the hurricane, do you? Guess what dumbass, the whole world already knows there's a hurricane, you don't have to call cnn from your landline. Also, to whomever said that bullshiat about not being able to get people on their cell - most of the people I know who still have landlines simply do not answer the goddam thing at all and I have to call their cell to get them. And you know what else? Your land line is only gonna help you if you're at home - my home is within walking distance of literally 3 million people. If all their phones are out too, we got bigger problems than phone service. Like your land line? Great. Just admit you have on because you like it better and stop trying to ascribe some magnificent reason to it that calls my intelligence into question because I decided differently..."

And THIS. I've never understood why EVERYBODY in a certain area needs to make phone calls during a disaster/crisis/whatever. My suspicion is, most of those people didn't really need to call anyone. They just felt like calling whoever to say, "Hey, do you know what's going on? No? Huh... blah blah blah." I'd bet the majority of call volume in an "emergency" is assholes who don't have an emergency. They're farking up the system for the small number of people who do need to use the phone. And no, calling your mom or grandma to let her know you're OK is not an emergency call, no matter what she says. Cut the cord, damn.

Trivia Jockey: I only keep my land line so that when I need to give my phone number to a company or other third party, I won't get calls on my cell phone. I don't want to be deluged with business calls all day on my cell.

So this.

I don't have a land line, but I will be doing so for this reason alone. I've already received a few calls from telemarketers to my cell phone, but thankfully none so far this year.

3HeadedDog: I'm also in the 30%, but have only been for a few years. I wish I had done it sooner. Like a lot of people have said, it was only telemarketers anyway, like Time Warner, which leads me to this true story and a big reason I no longer have a land-line anymore.

It seemed like every few weeks Time Warner would call trying to get me to package in a home phone with the cable and Internet I already had with them. For the first few times I politely said no thanks, but they just kept calling. Finally, I lost my shiat on this poor girl and went on a profanity-laced tirade and told her I would never want their service and to never call again. I felt bad for doing it, but it worked. Hence my extreme hatred for Time Warner to this day, as irrational as that may be.

So, when I moved to my new apartment in February of last year, I needed Internet access and refused to do Roadrunner out of my hatred for Time Warner, so I looked to DSL from AT&T. They told me I had to get a land-line, which I didn't want to do. And here's the interesting thing. When I told them my cell phone was Cingular (obviously now AT&T), they said for all intents and purposes I had a phone with them and they cut me a deal and gave me a "dry line" (I'm not really sure what that means. Can anyone explain?) and basically I only had to pay for the DSL (about $35/month). I think it helped that I proclaimed my utter disdain for Time Warner and they seemed to enjoy that, so they cut me a deal. I think I just got lucky and the rep liked the fact I wanted to stick it to a competitor. I like to think I manipulated the person, but I'm probably giving myself too much credit.

A dry line is a phone line that you can not dial out on or receive phone calls on. Basically think of it as a phone line that AT&T turned the phone line already in your home as a dedicated internet line.

In 2006 I moved out of an apartment that offered free internet and into an apartment that offered free cable. In my search for internet access I went to Verizon that offered a dry line for my internet. The price was high (had to pay for access and the phone line) and when I asked how soon it would be, I was told that they only had one tech in the area and it could be 2 to 3 months, but had to start paying for it starting on day one. AT&T told me that since I wasn't a customer that they couldn't help me, the cable company (where I should have asked first) said that since the complex already gets their service, that adding internet would be no problem. I didn't even have to pay the connection fee.