Post # 1
Member
11327 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
Was just thinking about this on a long drive today back home from visiting my parents. We each have a cell phone but we do not have a home phone. I’ve never had one since living on my own because I didn’t really see the point. But, FI left his charger at work so his phone was dead and I was like wow… I have NO way of getting in touch with him– weird!
I was wondering if we’re odd that we don’t have one or if that is pretty much standard in our age group now. I feel like maybe we should get one of those local-only lines that we could at least receive calls at the house or something. I dunno. 🙂
Post # 3
Member
4153 posts
Honey bee
We haven’t had a home phone in the almost 4 years we’ve lived together. Both of our moms have disconnected their home phones too!!
Post # 4
Member
722 posts
Busy bee
We have to have one for our alarm system. I like to have a land line for emergencies-in case one forgets to charge their cell or cell lines go out. I lived next to the World Trade Center. On 9/11 my cell went out immediately, but I never lost my land line.
Post # 5
Member
235 posts
Helper bee
We have a vonage line and it’s pretty affordable. That’s the only reason we probably still have it. Plus, you can move and your number doesn’t change and when you are not home you can set it up to ring to your cell phone. Since it’s unlimited and we live away from our families they call us on the home line and it’s the number we give out for bills, ADT, work, etc.. I think it’s like $25 a month and it allows us to keep our cell plans really low too!
Post # 6
Member
2208 posts
Buzzing bee
We still have the home phone, but no long distance. We keep it just because the security alarm runs through it.
Post # 7
Member
4385 posts
Honey bee
We only have cell phones!
Post # 8
Member
2058 posts
Buzzing bee
We have a land line and cell phones.
Both of our families live all over the US and b/c of time differences it helps to have our land line b/c our free cell minutes kick in after a certain time in the evening.
Post # 9
Member
3788 posts
Honey bee
LOL at “smoke signals.”
We just use cells, no home phone at all.
Post # 10
Member
1426 posts
Bumble bee
I don’t have one currently. I used to have one because my old apartment had really poor cell reception, but when I moved I canceled it. The phone company gave me such a hassle about not having any land line. I mean I get that the operators have to try to save the account, and that sometimes they are required to get three “no”s before they stop asking, so I tried to be patient and kept saying “yes, I understand all of that, but I would still like to close my account”. But the woman I was speaking with was just so persistent to the point of being really really rude. Eventually she said “Well when your house catches on fire and you end up dead because you couldn’t find you cell phone it will be your own fault.” At which point I just said very coldly “Cancel my account. Now.” and hung up.
Seriously lady? I have a one bedroom apartment, it’s not like I would have a whole house to run through to get to the phone. As soon as I come in, the phone gets put in the charger in the same place every single day, and stays there until I go out again. To me there is no difference than if this were a land line.
Post # 11
Member
1046 posts
Bumble bee
I think it’s becoming increasingly common to skip the home phone. It just seems like an added expense. I haven’t had a land-line since early 2005 and for years before that, I only had one because I had roommates that didn’t have cellphones.
Post # 12
Member
2392 posts
Buzzing bee
We have both, but only because we live in graduate student housing and a landline is provided free. It has free long distance so I use it if I work from home and am making lots of calls that are not during nights/weekends.
However, we keep forgetting what the # is for it and everyone calls us on our cells. Also, my fiance thought it would be awesome to get a dinky little Disney Princess phone which is not cordless and doesn’t reach very far. It’s hilarious, but not very practical.
Post # 13
Member
2015 posts
Buzzing bee
If it were up to my husband, we’d only have cell phones, but the worrier in me insists on a landline as well 🙂
We have digital service through T-Mobile, and our home phone is only $10 a month, so for that price, to me it’s worth it for emergencies and stuff. It includes unlimited calls, too, so when our cell phone minutes are running short, we’ll call family members for our weekly chats from the house phone.
Post # 14
Member
184 posts
Blushing bee
@greenleafmountain: That comment of the phonecompanylady is just stupid. We do have a landline, but cordless phones and sometimes have to search half the house in order to find it >.< While I most of the time know exactly where my cellphone is heh.
We use the landline for normal day communication, and our cellphones for when we are underway and to be reachable in case of emergency. As I carry my cellphone with me all the time but really don’t feel the need to be callable 24/7 I only give out my cellnumber to those I feel comfortable with and know they won’t use it for simple chitchat. I realize that most people use their cellphone differently but this is how I like it 🙂
Post # 15
Member
2027 posts
Buzzing bee
Like others, we have a home phone line only for the alarm. I don’t even own an actual landline phone that’s plugged in. I really need to get one for emergencies, though. We both have 2 cell’s though (work and personal).
Post # 16
Member
2889 posts
Sugar bee
We had one in our old apartment because I worked from home and my company paid the bill. In theory we could plug a phone in and get incoming calls as a number is provided with our internet package but we’d have to pay outcoing calls by the minute and our cell plans allow him to call mine for free. I also have a Skype in number local to my family so they (and anyone with a US cell phone) can call me for free. At $60 per year, it’s the cheapest I’ve found.
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