BravadoGT: Why is the CDC spending taxpayer money to do studies on whether people have land lines? Is the FCC too busy researching the newest strain of anthrax?

CDC uses random digit dialing for most or all of their large national health surveys which they use to estimate things like vaccination coverage. There have been a lot of questions raised about who may be underrepresented in those samples because they only have cell phones.

dittybopper

Been a ham for 20+ years myself. We should swap stories sometime, maybe?

Mnemia

You're right about some of those limitations with ham radio - it's not meant as a cell phone or landline replacement. I think ditty was just saying that when the shiat really hits the fan, ham communications is still pretty darn reliable, and is often the only communication method available in major disaster areas.

That said, if you don't want to spend the money and time to get a license and equipment, there's always the (usually) cheaper and un-regulated alternative: Citizens Band (CB), which is situated right next to one of the ham bands in the radio spectrum, and is also capable of being bounced off the ionosphere for long distance communication.

The general idea is to have a form of long-range communication that doesn't rely on any more infrastructure than, say, a car battery and a hunk of wire either cut to the right length, or tuned with a simple (and cheap/easy to build) circuit. When everything else goes to shiat, that sort of thing will still work.

idrow: 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.

No, but if I had a land line and didn't want to be reached I'd just say I wasn't at home or I had the ringer turned off. Cell phone users didn't invent excuses you know.

WhackingDay: If they want people to keep a land line, it's real easy, offer a cheap local-only plan for $5/month. And, by $5/month, I mean, $5/month, not $5.00 + 0.85 dial tone charge + 0.75 access connection fee + .90 Fed connect tax + $1 because we feel like it charge.

That's why I canned my stupid land line. It ran me $45/month, of which the actual cost of the account was something like $24.95, but all the fees and taxes drove it up to $45.

That and all I ever got on that line were telemarketers and recordings.

My last land line was 29.99 a month. The actual bill was 54.87, after all the misc. fees were added in.
My cell plan is unlimited+unlimited text for 54.21
I actually applied mathematics to a real life circumstance and dropped the land line.
Stupid land line phones don't even have cameras!!!

Land lines are WAY cheaper than cell phones, unless you're addicted to all those 'special features' the phone company is willing to sell you at ridiculous prices. My land line + my cell phone + my long distance bills add up to less than $50/month. Also 911 location and reverse-911 don't work with cell phones.

damiangerous: Different people have different needs. I'm not trying to convince you to not have a land line if that's what floats your boat. I find most of the arguments against it pretty laughable though, as I'm one of the people who hasn't had a land line in years and doesn't miss it.


As for your particular quote, I don't find it hard to keep my phone charged. I don't roam around the country away from electricity for days at a time, and I don't chatter for hours on my phone. It's for necessary communication, not chit chat.

most of the arguments I made don't come up frequently, but trust me, anyone without a land line runs into one of these issues now and then. and maybe you don't mind, but other people do. I can tell you exactly which of my friends own cell phones only and which have landlines because I can hear their shiatty service.

My guess is most people who have gone cell only have adjusted. And that's fine. But aside from the fact that you can use it remotely there isn't one single advantage a cell phone has over a landline. And don't say price. You can get a plan w/free long distance and all the features from most local telcos for around $45 or so, maybe 50 with taxes/fees, and thats without getting any special promotions. Compeltely truly free calling 24x7 unlimited from a cell p[hone costs twice that. Otherwise you either are using minutes or doing the whole "wait till after 9pm/7pm/weekend" thing.

Also when I say landline, you could really be saying cable phone also. Even though cable phone is my enemy, I have to admit that barring a few exceptions, they're on par with home traditional landlines when it comes to comparisons vs cell phones. there's a few things they can't do like be used for faxes, and if your cable goes out so does your phone. sometimes the transmission can be choppy like cell phones (my biggest pet peeve, I can also tell which of my friends have cable phone for the same reason)

Again, there are plenty of people willing to accept the deficiencies of a cell phone because of it's convenience and lower price. And if you want to, fine. just don't tell me that it's superior. Other then it's transportability, it's not. Besides, people at the line don't wanna hear you and your sister talk about her recent ankle surgery. Do that shiat at home, ya know, where you can be using a landline.

Right now it's way cheaper for me to have a landline. $18.47/month.
Even with all the extra charges..911, call display, etc it only comes to $24/month. I can't get a cell phone for anywhere near that much in my neck of the woods.

We have a home office, so we actually still have 3 land lines. Beside that, the cell signal up here is awful. It's a pretty rich area so no one wants a cell tower in their back yard (idiots, it pays good $$ each month) so we're stuck with crud for a signal.

I did without a landline for a year while in Florida a while back. It was great! I just took a charger with me in the car so the phone would never run out of juice.

//slashies because this is a normal, non-angry post. Hooray!

jerseyblogger: just don't tell me that it's superior. Other then it's transportability, it's not.

See, that's the the whole thing. The portability of the thing is kind of a big deal. I tell you what, next time you get separated from someone in a crowded mall, ballgame, music festival, etc. try calling them on your landline to get reconnected. Land line people are fine. I don't care. Me? I'm just gonna choose to pay for one phone and it's gonna be a cell phone. I use less than 200 minutes a month and I don't need two farking phones for that so eat me.

theoriginalslash: I've never understood why EVERYBODY in a certain area needs to make phone calls during a disaster/crisis/whatever.

That's because you're a selfish, basement-dwelling twerp.
Other people may want to organize help, shelter, supplies, rescue, transport and that sort of thing.

Kar98: Other people may want to organize help, shelter, supplies, rescue, transport and that sort of thing.

Yeah. That's what they're doing. They're all just trying to coordinate volunteer efforts.

People will ask me, 'What's you phone number?" I say, "I don't have one." "I mean you cell number?" I reply, "I said I don't have a phone. Neither cell, landline, or VOIP. I don't have a phone." I don't really miss it either. If people need to call me I tell them to let me know when they need to talk and I can go into to work and talk using my calling card. I only live five minutes away by bicycle. Others ask about 911 needs. I've never called 911 in my whole life and if it happens, so be it, I took my chances. I'll have a phone in the future, but for now, I don't care.

Oh, I did call 911 once by accident when dialing out via modem from work at 2 a.m. Police were there a few minutes later listening to my explanation.

jerseyblogger: But aside from the fact that you can use it remotely there isn't one single advantage a cell phone has over a landline.

That's the primary reason I need the phone. So it's rather disingenuous to say that's the "single advantage" when it's a deal breaker for a lot of people. I need to have a cell phone for my job. It's not optional. A cell phone is not a matter of convenience. Why would I pay extra to also have a land line to get a few convenience features like higher sound quality?

A cell phone can take the place of a land line in nearly every situation. A land line cannot take the place of a cell phone in most situations. That's superior.

Again, there are plenty of people willing to accept the deficiencies of a cell phone because of it's convenience and lower price. And if you want to, fine. just don't tell me that it's superior. Other then it's transportability, it's not.

So, except for the reason that makes it superior, you don't want to hear about why it's superior? That's akin to sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting "la la la I can't hear you". It has nothing to do with convenience, but practicality. I need to have a cell phone, and it does everything I need it to do. A land line cannot fill that need therefore it is inferior. Your mileage obviously varies, but a land line is not inherently superior no matter how you want to spin it.

You're a pretty hardcore shill for your employer, are you being paid for this or something?

Kar98: Other people may want to organize help, shelter, supplies, rescue, transport and that sort of thing.

The people doing that have far better communication methods available to them than the telephone.

damiangerous: Kar98: Other people may want to organize help, shelter, supplies, rescue, transport and that sort of thing.
The people doing that have far better communication methods available to them than the telephone.

First layer professional emergency response, yes. That, alas, is for emergencies only.
But there's the whole informal social network thing going on that organized and distributed food, bulldozed the city manager into opening the civic center as refugee shelter, rather than letting them lurch on another 150 miles, marshaled the helmet-haired church ladies, all that kind of grass-roots stuff. On that point, communication on non-emergency equipment was still essential, to find relatives, bring families back together, find accommodations and services.
Think all of that is running over the 911 lines? Or through HAM? Freaking hardly.

cityofweasels: I understand the switch, but the elephant in the room is that cell phone service just still sounds bad compared to landline service

99.9% of the time my cell phone sounds just as good as a land line if not better. We get really good reception at our house.
Also, most of the people I talk to are talking to me from cell phones, so why would having a land line make calls more clear if cell phone reception isn't as good?

If your cell phone sounds bad then you either just live in a bad area or you need to find a different service.

My only problem with cell only service is this:
We have gone from "So clear, you can hear a pin drop", to "CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW!?'

Cellphone quality (IMHO) is crap compared to a landline.

Kar98: First layer professional emergency response, yes. That, alas, is for emergencies only.
But there's the whole informal social network thing going on that organized and distributed food, bulldozed the city manager into opening the civic center as refugee shelter, rather than letting them lurch on another 150 miles, marshaled the helmet-haired church ladies, all that kind of grass-roots stuff. On that point, communication on non-emergency equipment was still essential, to find relatives, bring families back together, find accommodations and services.
Think all of that is running over the 911 lines? Or through HAM? Freaking hardly.

By the time the initial emergency response is over, the problem has usually died down. Phone congestion comes from everyone calling friends and family to tell them they're okay. The organizing you refer to is well within the capacity of even portable phone equipment (I mean the truck portable things they roll in for events and disasters).

YouPeopleAreCrazy: My only problem with cell only service is this:
We have gone from "So clear, you can hear a pin drop", to "CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW!?'

Cellphone quality (IMHO) is crap compared to a landline.

I agree 100%.

Cell phones SUCK.

Uncomfortable, ear squashing and irritating, weak and fluctuating sound, comparing cell to land line with a quality phone is like comparing bad masturbation to great sex.

I don't have a landline.

Every single person in my family has a cellphone. Nearly all of us use Verizon, so when we talk to each other, it doesn't cost us anything. I just don't see the use of a landline. I would never use it.

But, if I ever did get a home phone again, it would be a VoIP phone. Never never never again would I go back to POTS (or PSTN depending on who you ask). VoIP is the future. POTS is a dinosaur that doesn't realize it's already extinct.

Yes, cellphone service isn't always the clearest quality, but the pros far outweigh the cons. Plus I work an hour away from my home. My wife works a half hour the other way from our home. We need to be able to be in contact at any time. Plus, we're hardly ever home. So why would we really need it? If anyone can get in touch with us at any time, and it doesn't cost us anything (since my family is all on the same network) why wouldn't we just use cells?

GurneyHalleck: My cell service is terrible (because the townsfolk can't abide another cell tower), so I need to pay for a land line.

When are the cell companies going to stop messing around and make their networks reliable? Still waiting on the magical power of capitalism to take care of this problem.

Capitalism, free market and "the market will correct itself" means absolutely nothing when it comes to telcos and ISPs. Telcos and ISPs are pure monopolies through and through and have no desire to spend the money upgrading their infrastructure because you have no where else to go. And besides, the other company's service is just as bad, so it wouldn't matter if you did change carriers.

/i love your handle.
//may shai'hulud clear the path before you

YouPeopleAreCrazy: My only problem with cell only service is this:
We have gone from "So clear, you can hear a pin drop", to "CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW!?'

Cellphone quality (IMHO) is crap compared to a landline.

Point taken, but for those of us who talk on the phone as little as possible this is not an issue.

dittybopper: Try again.

No. You fail so hard at research it would be a waste of time. The numbers were collected in a statistically valid manner and the methodology is all laid out for you at the end. You are either too lazy to read it or too ignorant to comprehend it. In either case the burden lies on you. You have been provided with scientifically sound information that you choose to handwave away because you don't happen to agree with it. That's intellectually dishonest and a waste of everyone's time.

Good day.

You guys farking suck!! How has nobody commented on this yet??

"Such families often either have their landline hooked exclusively to a computer or rely so heavily on their cells that they ignore landline calls because they are probably from telephone solicitors, said Stephen Blumberg, senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an author of the report."

Center for disease control and prevention monitors telemarketers? Why am I the only one that finds that funny. :(

CocoonMaN: You guys farking suck!! How has nobody commented on this yet??

It was commented on about 5 1/2 hours ago. Now who sucks?

If it weren't for vonage being so inexpensive compared to my local phone compant (TDS - $45 a month for basic phone service, and an extra $5 for touch phone service.) I would be in that 30%. And I will be as soon as I get these kids out of my house.

802.11s FTW

Some clever bargaining and caching and it'll work just fine. Latency won't even be that bad.

Why am I the only one who sees this?

/ uses landline for 4 major reasons...
1. The five 9's. If you haven't heard of it, it means 99.999% reliability. When I pick up the phone I want a dial tone
2. Security System
3. Dish TV - so it can call home to mama everynight
4. 911 - so if I need it, I just dial the number. No need to waste time in an emergency telling them where you are.

/agrees that there is too much bullshiat taxes and fees added to "equalize" access and subsidize the govt.

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?



You're getting ripped off! Don't believe the hype! Fires really aren't a big deal.

Bout 3 years ago my entire family went land line free.

A lot of places don't provide naked DSL, even though by law they must.

Also, landlines work great during power outages, if you have a plain simple phone that doesn't plug into the wall. If you don't live in a city and you have someone with medical issues in the house, that's a big sell.

Great Janitor: 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).

/farking smug janitors...

Going on 5 years...

What do you need a landline for when you have Fios, a Verizon phone and web fax service?

Phones, rooted into the ground? Like trees? Next they'll be placing advertisements on Fark. I won't here of this garbage.

seatown75: Going on 5 years...

What do you need a landline for when you have Fios, a Verizon phone and web fax service?

Why does something like this exist? Can they not open an email with a scanned JPG? There's no logical reason for any half-decently sized company to rely on faxes anymore...

I hate cellphones, but what I really hate about them is voice mail. If you have a freakin' cellphone, then answer it. You made the choice to have a phone with you at all times. Answer the damn thing.

If you are in a place where you can't get a call, that's fine. Meetings, movies, whatever, then turn your phone off so that it goes directly to voice mail without ringing so that I know you are busy.

People screen calls to a fault with cellphones. They never did it that much with landlines. I play so much voice mail tag with people that it really pisses me off.

People I know won't answer the phone to tell me they are busy so I can make other plans, say on a weekend. They just won't answer the phone. They think, "oh, well he just wants to grab some beers, but I've got plans. I'll call him back later", and then they never call back later or check their messages. I sit there, have to call back a couple more times to see if they are free, and end up feeling like a jackass because I left 3 messages on someone's phone.

If I only call once, then they think it wasn't important. I've had people say to me "oh, you had free movie tickets? Why didn't you call me?" when I called them once and left a message. They then tell me I needed to call them more than once if it was important. WTF?

And these are people that are friends of mine, people I've known for years. They didn't used to act like this. When they used to have land lines, they would answer. If they didn't, I would know they weren't home and would try to catch them some other time. And if I left a message, when they got home they would call me. Now they are horrible about returning calls. I'm not obsessively calling them all the time. I'm trying to get in touch with them a couple of times during the weekend, or maybe once during the week.

My best friend even did this crap to me. But then he canceled his cell phone. Now he is back to normal. He answers the phone if he is home, and calls me back if I leave a message.

I hate cell phones because they foster poor communication habits, and they have actually made it harder for me to do things with my friends. I loathe talking to voice mail. If there is a zombie apocalypse, I'm not going to call you 4 or 5 times and leaving messages. You will just be eaten.

People bragging about no landline are like a toned down version of people who brag about no tv. And then there are the guys with neither...

I'm surprised the percentage is so low for those who don't have a landline. I don't have a landline (cell phone + cable internet). My boyfriend has the same set up. So does my little brother and sister (both have their own cell phones). My father only has a cell phone. Most people I know have a set up like this. It works out great like this since I'm never really home and I like the convenience of being able to call people from wherever I am rather than having to be home at the time.

Happy to say I'm among the 30%.

/for almost four years and no regrets.

Arcanum: Just to repeat, you don't need a landline for DSL. It's the law. If AT&T tells you otherwise, insist on it. They don't have a choice in the matter.

My province's phone/dsl company doesn't advertise that they offer naked DSL, so no one here knows about it. I was talking to someone who works there, and yes, they do have it. It costs the same as a basic phone line rental ($32/month).

Yes, on TOP of your DSL charges. If you ask them to waive costs, they say no.

We basically have three options here for internet. The retards at the phone (DSL) company are still wondering why their market share is low after ten years.

We just made the switch a month ago to cell-only (+ DSL on dry pair) at House of what-the-cat-dragged-in.

No telemarketer calls anymore... anyone who knows me knows to call my cell anyway (or use email.)

Now, if my iphone had Skype I'd be all set (yeah, I know about Skypein so hush youse!)

Here's something to wrap your heads around:

I have no cell (no cell service where I live), no land line phone, no cable, BUT i have wifi!

I'm a hermit with wireless.

Even if you count me forgetting to keep the phone charged, every cell phone I've had has been more reliable than the land lines I had growing up. They went out a couple times a year for an hour or more at a time, and that's just the times we noticed. YMMV.

halork: Land lines are WAY cheaper than cell phones, unless you're addicted to all those 'special features' the phone company is willing to sell you at ridiculous prices. My land line + my cell phone + my long distance bills add up to less than $50/month. Also 911 location and reverse-911 don't work with cell phones.

My cell phone bill (all fees, including occasional ld charges, even tax) varies between $25-$30/month. 100 anytime minutes, ld is 0.10/min

A simple phone line rental here is $32, no goodies, no ld, no tax.

I'm out and about so much that 911 is more likely to be used when I'm out anyway... and I can't take my land line with me there.

You dolts! That's how they know exactly where you are at all times every day!