Ok, have had it with the land line phone

[Khan]

I have had current landline since Sep '78. Switching things to cell. Will turn off LL in near future.

[firsttimer]

Are you able to use a Nexus 5 effectively on TracPhone?

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R +1 What I want for that purpose (and other purposes), is this emergency solar hand crank AM/FM/weather digital radio, flashlight, and cell phone charger, with AC adapter. Sort of a "swiss army knife of radios" with all those functions. Amazon.com - Ambient Weather WR-111-B-AC Emergency Solar Hand Crank Weather Alert Radio, Flashlight, Smart Phone Charger with AC Adaptor -

Sweet. I rely on my small Honda generator, have the rest of the stuff. I would buy one just to have a backup to my backup.
Thanks great idea.
MRG

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by target2019 Landline costs less than $25/month. I think we've dropped every possible option on that. We keep the landline because our alarm system dials out on it.

I had an alarm system that converted the dial on the security system to an internet connection. Everything ran through the internet. It worked very good for several years. Sold the house in 2012.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dash man I found this partial solution to robocalls. You sign up for this free service and what happens is your phone rings not only at your house, but on the server for this site. It checks their database for phone numbers used by robocalls and if it is a robocall number, it hangs up for you. The bottom line is a robocall will ring once in your house and stop. Other numbers are not affected. If a robocall gets through, you can go to their website and register the number as a robocall and they'll check it out. It seems to work pretty well but only works if you use VOIP from a cable or fios service for your phone. Not for traditional landlines. Stop robocalls with Nomorobo

Thanks - I just enrolled and got set up and verified. So we will see.

One important note - oddly, when I entered my VOIP provider, the nomorobo site said they do not support this capability. But when I checked my provider's forums, someone said that as long as your provider supports simultaneous ring, it will work. But you need to choose one of the 'supported carriers', like AT&T U-Verse. Then the setup goes through (but they will give you set up instructions for U-Verse, just use the info from your provider to set up simul-ring).

-ERD50

[jim584672]

Dumped my landline about two years ago. Just cell (net10 @ $16 mo) and magicJack ($30 yr).

[Lagniappe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R +1 What I want for that purpose (and other purposes), is this emergency solar hand crank AM/FM/weather digital radio, flashlight, and cell phone charger, with AC adapter. Sort of a "swiss army knife of radios" with all those functions. Amazon.com - Ambient Weather WR-111-B-AC Emergency Solar Hand Crank Weather Alert Radio, Flashlight, Smart Phone Charger with AC Adaptor -

I have one of these (but a slightly older version) and it works great. I got it free (with a donation to a public radio station) and have used it several times during summer power outages.

[Greencheese]

Dumped the land line in 2006 once the whole family got cell phones. We had both the cell and a home phone for a few months but everyone almost instantly started calling the individual cell phones so we figured what's the point of having that extra line.

[Cassie]

I still have a landline (LL) and bought a new LL speaker phone a month ago. I'm starting to get robo calls on my cell.

[mn54]

+1 for the ooma. I give out the ooma number when asked so my cell number is less vulnerable for robocalls. Only $4/mo. (only pay for taxes). A good back-up for cel and 911 calls. Ooma gives exact address for 911 calls, cell phones do not. Also good for intl. calls. We call canada often. 1 cent a min.

[Marita40]

For you with oomas, I believe the ooma gizmo plugs into a modem, correct? Does that mean that the phone location has to be at or near the modem? The reason I ask is that my modem just happens to be on the other side of the house from the area where I most need to use the phone--ie. office, bedroom, etc. This seems to be holding me up from ooma.

[Lsbcal]

Another (maybe dumb) question: Suppose you are at home and the smartphone is upstairs in a purse and one doesn't want to frantically go looking for the phone on an incoming call. Do any of you use cordless extensions to the smartphone for convenience?

I notice this kind of product is available: Amazon.com : VTech DS6671-3 DECT 6.0 2-Handset Connect to Cell Answering System with Cordless Headset : Cordless Telephones : Electronics

Anybody using this sort of thing?

[easysurfer]

Almost embarrassed to admit.. I still have a LL.

But to balance things out, no cable and no smart phone

[Gumby]

I still have a landline, and rotary phones.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby I still have a landline, and rotary phones.

Gosh, brings back memories. When I lived in Connecticut (Southbury), we had a landline with the Woodbury Phone Company. I wonder if they still exist?

[Options]

Currently have LL and DSL bunded through ATT for $50/month. IPhone cell is free from work. After ER early next year, plan to drop LL and use DSLextreme for wireless @ $15/mo and Republic Wireless @ $25/mo for cell. Hate that $10/month for LL is going to nothing but taxes currently so looking forward to losing it next year.

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Gosh, brings back memories. When I lived in Connecticut (Southbury), we had a landline with the Woodbury Phone Company. I wonder if they still exist?

Woodbury Phone Company was merged into Southern New England Telephone (SNET) in 2007. Interestingly, SNET was independent and never part of the Bell System.

The very first telephone exchange in the country was in New Haven in 1878. My town, Milford, followed within a year thereafter. The Milford central telephone exchange building is a block from my house, so I expect we'll have POTS as long as it is available in this country at all.

[redduck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GalaxyBoy I guess one has to be of a certain age! 867-5309/Jenny, LIVE - YouTube I cut the cord four years ago when we moved to a smaller city. Folks around here still don't get it when I leave "home number" on the form blank or if I put my cell number in two blanks.

Yep, one has to be of a certain age!
And, this is an easier "home number" to remember!

The Marvelettes - Beechwood 4-5789 (July 1962) - YouTube

[gozer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby I still have a landline, and rotary phones.

Earlier this year when my grandmother died, we cleaned out her house. She had a Western Electric rotary phone, that must have been from the 1920's or 1930's. It was hooked up in her basement. I was able to make a call with it which surprised me.

The cord from the base to the handset was straight cloth wrapped wire. Same construction for the wire from the phone to the wall. It was also unusually heavy. It could have been used for exercise equipment. I had not used a rotary phone in a good twenty years. And outside of a black and white movies, I had never seen one of this particular style. In old WWII movies it's the "modern" phone they sometimes use. Looking on wikipedia the phone was similar to a model 302.

The model 500, princess and trimline models are the ones from my childhood. And sometimes they had push button instead of rotary dial.

[Dave J]

I still have land line, same number for over 30 years. Also have a Tracfone. I'm about to ditch the LL but don't know whether to switch the LL number over to the cell . It would ditch the junk calls, but a lot of number changing to everyone.
What would all of you do if you had to do it over? Keep the LL number or just go with the current cell phone number?
THANKS