Study: Less than 1/2 of US homes have landline phones.

[nees1212]

I don't have a landline, but I do have Ooma (voip). It's much cheaper than a landline.

[atm10]

One of my good friends has a 16 year old daughter who still doesn't have a cell phone...another one of my friends has an 8th grader with no cell phone. :idunno:

 

I don't understand passing on technology to always have a way to be connected to my children. Bc they had a cell phone if I called or texted they had better be in touch asap. If not there were repercussion....growing up I could

"hide"....hey no phone around! In today's day and age I felt the need to have instant contact out weighed the line in the sand " no cell phone til (insert age).

[tcjkbt]

I see virtually zero reason to have one.

If you're in HIP you'll need one. (Home Incarceration Program.)

[Jumper_Dad]

We've always had one. For years we had it set up to only make local calls and was the go to number for older family members to contact us.

 

One other benefit, a few times when the power has been out in this area we were still able to use the phone. A couple of years ago there was a fiber optic cable cut that rendered all cell phones in half of Kentucky useless for calls for several hours...our land line still worked.

[Fear the Nation]

I totally understand the sentiment of not seeing the reason.

 

Personally, the majority of my reasoning for wanting a landline stems from the experience of a former co-worker back when I lived in NKY. She lived on the west side of Cincinnati on River Road. Her husband had what turned out not to be a heart attack one night while they were at home. She called 911 from her cell phone, and her call was routed to a NKY emergency call center because the cell tower that picked her call up was directly across the river in NKY. Neither she nor the 911 operator realized they were talking to someone on the other side of the river, and after my co-worker gave her address, and the 911 operator promptly dispatched an ambulance to that River Road address in Ludlow, KY. After a handful of confused calls between the paramedics and my coworker, she ended up driving her husband to the hospital herself. Good thing it wasn't a heart attack after all.

 

If I have a landline, I know that my exact location is going to be right every time. Additionally, once I have kids, there's ALWAYS a working phone around if they need to call 911. I know I was taught in kindergarten to call 911 in cases of an emergency...I have no intention of getting my kids a cell phone until high school, but I sure as heck want them to be able to call 911 whenever they need to.

Exactly why we have one. 911 for the kids if ever needed. ( praying not though )

[rjs4470]

We've always had one. For years we had it set up to only make local calls and was the go to number for older family members to contact us.

 

One other benefit, a few times when the power has been out in this area we were still able to use the phone. A couple of years ago there was a fiber optic cable cut that rendered all cell phones in half of Kentucky useless for calls for several hours...our land line still worked.

 

Wouldn't you need to be using a traditional "corded" phone in order for the phone to be able to work during a power outage?? I haven't seen a corded phone for sale in years....only cordless, and the base unit needs to be plugged into an electrical outlet. I don't think I've owned a corded phone since the early 90's. I know I haven't had a corded phone in my current home, which I've been in 17 years.

[Jumper_Dad]

Wouldn't you need to be using a traditional "corded" phone in order for the phone to be able to work during a power outage?? I haven't seen a corded phone for sale in years....only cordless, and the base unit needs to be plugged into an electrical outlet. I don't think I've owned a corded phone since the early 90's. I know I haven't had a corded phone in my current home, which I've been in 17 years.

 

We've had one old corded phone that we've kept for years just for this reason.

[UKMustangFan]

Cell phones work just fine if the power goes out...

[rjs4470]

Cell phones work just fine if the power goes out...

 

Yep...as long as you have good signal. Which nowadays, I think most people do. And you can charge your phone in your car in a pinch. Which is why I guess I don't get people using the fact that landlines "always work" as a reason. Because I don't know anybody that still owns a regular, corded phone (except for Jumper Dad who just told us he did). The few people I know with landlines all have cordless phones, which won't work at all when the power goes out. Even my in laws who are in their mid-late 70's only have a cordless landline.

[00Rocket28]

How does a home security system work if it's not on a land line?

[nees1212]

How does a home security system work if it's not on a land line?

 

It'll run on a cellular signal.

[OlDog75]

I see virtually zero reason to have one.

 

First UKMF, how's that young man doing?

 

Second, I have a disabled parent that lives with us and we do have a land line corded and cordless. Corded because if electric went out at least phone would work for emergency purposes. Just cannot get the parent to utilize a cell phone, we tried and tried. Plus, when I inquired a couple years back about dropping it, we were told our TV-internet-phone bill would go up.

[Theoldguy]

I am old and :lol2: both my wife and I have cell phones and we haven't had a landline in years and years and years. In my former job I was required to have one and be available 24/7 (first cell phone I had was called a brick) so after about a year or two and the landline never ringing, I purchased a cell phone for the boss and we have never looked back.

[doomer]

Don't have one. As @UKMustangFan stated...having a home security system allow us to call in an emergency with the push of a button.

[Lawnboy13]

I totally understand the sentiment of not seeing the reason.

 

Personally, the majority of my reasoning for wanting a landline stems from the experience of a former co-worker back when I lived in NKY. She lived on the west side of Cincinnati on River Road. Her husband had what turned out not to be a heart attack one night while they were at home. She called 911 from her cell phone, and her call was routed to a NKY emergency call center because the cell tower that picked her call up was directly across the river in NKY. Neither she nor the 911 operator realized they were talking to someone on the other side of the river, and after my co-worker gave her address, and the 911 operator promptly dispatched an ambulance to that River Road address in Ludlow, KY. After a handful of confused calls between the paramedics and my coworker, she ended up driving her husband to the hospital herself. Good thing it wasn't a heart attack after all.

 

If I have a landline, I know that my exact location is going to be right every time. Additionally, once I have kids, there's ALWAYS a working phone around if they need to call 911. I know I was taught in kindergarten to call 911 in cases of an emergency...I have no intention of getting my kids a cell phone until high school, but I sure as heck want them to be able to call 911 whenever they need to.

 

:lol: good luck with that, and let us know how that turns out.

 

BTW, no landline for about 12 years.