Landlines.....

timoc said:
Well, I suppose for very local numbers, we can revert back to taking string from house to house and each household connect a tin can to the string......it worked when we were kids. :) ;)
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The grocery store in my little village used to have a public phone in the front. Not a booth just one of those kiosk things. They took the phone out years ago but left the kiosk attached to the store front. About a month ago I noticed somebody had put a tin can on a string in the kiosk and tied the string to the spot where the phone used to hang. I think it was a pork and beans tin.
 

We too live in a dead zone, and if I want to use the cell phone, I have to drive up to the main highway....3/8 of a mile....to get a signal. Our local electric company strung fiber optics through our area 3 or 4 years ago, and we have phone/TV/internet on that service....the best we've ever had.

My old, and very inexpensive, cell phone is only 3G, but a couple of the kids/grandkids have 5G phones, and they work ok at our place. I suppose if/when landline service becomes unavailable, I will just have to keep up with technology.
 
We did away with our landline about 3 years ago. Hubby has his flip-phone and I have an android smart phone. We have had Tracfone service for many years and we're able to get service out here in the boonies better than the kids' expensive service. They have to sign in to my wi-fi service to get their reception out here. We don't call anyone so we were paying for a landline that we never used. It took some convincing for my husband to get rid of it but we haven't missed it.
 

I'm in U.S. and haven't heard of anything like this here. I have the cable bundle which is expensive. TV cable, internet, phone. I keep the landline only due to my stepfather. I have a flip phone which will be obsolete by years end. I'm going to switch to Consumer Cellular. I just need to make the call and get it done.
 
horseless carriage said:
The technology that currently powers landline telephones is to be switched off in 2025 - but don't panic, you will still be able to have a handset in the hallway should you wish.
The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is a modern version of 19th Century technology - it is what brings the connection into your home via a copper cable - but its days are numbered, according to Openreach, which has already begun work on the switchover.
Landline operators in the UK will switch every home phone in the UK to an internet-based connection instead of traditional, copper-wire landlines. A total of 14 million lines are affected.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-58233420
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I'm in the U.S. I use a landline, but I get it from my cable company through a modem along with my Internet. I don't subscribe to television, but could get it through the same modem if I wanted to. I've got over 10 phones in my home and never have to remember to carry one or go to where it is to use it; I just reach for one.
 
Llynn said:
I have a landline because cell service is iffy where I live. My old flip phone often goes several months at a time without being used.
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Join the party! My cell service is fine, but I have almost no use for it when I'm out. I turn mine on for emergencies or if I'm meeting someone (in case the person calls with a problem). One thing I don't want is to be connected when I'm out and about.
 
Remy said:
I'm in U.S. and haven't heard of anything like this here. I have the cable bundle which is expensive. TV cable, internet, phone. I keep the landline only due to my stepfather. I have a flip phone which will be obsolete by years end. I'm going to switch to Consumer Cellular. I just need to make the call and get it done.
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Why will your flip phone be obsolete, Remy? I bought a 4g one last year; is yours 3g?
 
I dropped the landline several years ago.

I used an inexpensive flip phone with Virgin Mobile for several years with good results until they sold my account to Boost Mobile. I was not happy with Boost so I purchased an iPhone and a Consumer Cellular plan.

That works for me but it might not be the best choice for everyone.

Stick with what works and do what you are comfortable with.

Good luck.
 
phone.jpg
We still have, and use, our original phone appliance that was installed at our first home. We had to get a modern phone that is kept discretely out of sight. Our old phone has a couple of disadvantages, lacking modern technology, when asked to press one for the money, two for the show, dialling said number will simply get you cut off.

There is also a lack of a screen so we don't know who is calling when the phone rings, that's when we look at the modern phone's screen. Other than that we actually do use our old phone to dial out and make calls on.
 
I dislike talking on any phone, the landline does have better voice quality though. It also gets tons of junk calls, whereas the Android cell phone app does a good job of recognizing spam calls. My wife wants to hang on to the landline, I'd rather use that wasted money for my cremation.
 
I finally got rid of my landline when I found out it did not work during power outages. Thinking it would was the only reason I kept it as long as I did. I got rid of Optimum triple play, which included landline service, going on 3 years ago and just kept the internet service.
 
I have 3+ blocks on my landline and get very few unwanted calls. Five of them are totally free and the sixth one is a stand-alone device that I bought. I say 3+ because I don't use one of the ones that comes with my phone service; it's required and relatively worthless since they got their own instead of the one they'd previously been paying for. I also don't use the two that come with the two phone sets along with speed dial and so forth.

For those of you living in the U.S. --

Your phone company is required by law to provide all phones with a call blocking service at no cost. Mine used to use nomorerobo. When it went to its own, I signed up for nomorerobo at no cost. I also have my phone company blocking calls with blocked caller ID's. I do this instead of using my stand-alone device as that and nomorerobo give one ring before blocking and the phone company doesn't. I want that ring so that it goes to my caller ID which I might need in case it's someone like my doctors whose phones I block because they send me automated calls that I don't want.
 
Dancing_Queen said:
Why will your flip phone be obsolete, Remy? I bought a 4g one last year; is yours 3g?
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That's a good question. I just got a notice from my cell provider (I rarely use it, emergencies only) that my particular phone will be obsolete by years end and I'll have to upgrade. I don't know if that means an upgraded flip phone or something more. I've decided to go with Consumer Cellular however. They seem cheap. The provider I have had has been good and cheap, about 26-27 dollars a month with very little in increases but it looks like upgrading will cost. So I'm switching.
 
I had AT&T years ago. If a dog peed out in the side ditch where the wires ran I never had service for 2 weeks. Finally got an AT&T tech out & he looked up everything & said this wire was put in back in 1945 & all the insulation is worn off them so they short out when they get wet.

All the connection posts have mice nests in them & eating the insulation in there. You will never have good landline service since there are only 4 people on our road & AT&T will never replace the wiring.

So all 4 of us now are Cell phones only. I do have a VOIP Telephone over the Internet as a backup to my cell phone. The ground post down at the end of our road has been run over with semis so much it's all crushed in the ground.
 
Remy said:
That's a good question. I just got a notice from my cell provider (I rarely use it, emergencies only) that my particular phone will be obsolete by years end and I'll have to upgrade. I don't know if that means an upgraded flip phone or something more. I've decided to go with Consumer Cellular however. They seem cheap. The provider I have had has been good and cheap, about 26-27 dollars a month with very little in increases but it looks like upgrading will cost. So I'm switching.
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I have a pre-paid plan and pay almost nothing since I almost never use the phone. It's a legacy T-Mobile plan. I pay $10/year to roll my minutes over and get another load of them added on.
 
for all you people who think 'internet' is some magical word that allows you to connect to the world.....all the servers that you connect to must be connected by wire and there are thousands of them. so no landline nobody will get squat unless we all go with satellite or cell and that is gonna cost a lot of money...
 
cdestroyer said:
for all you people who think 'internet' is some magical word that allows you to connect to the world.....all the servers that you connect to must be connected by wire and there are thousands of them. so no landline nobody will get squat unless we all go with satellite or cell and that is gonna cost a lot of money...
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Actually, the Internet is now connected mostly by cable.

10 Facts About the Internet's Undersea Cables | Mental Floss
 
John cycling said:
https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/
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Yeah, I tried it looking for myself. It just showed a very old landline number and no cell. I have had my cell phone number about 20 years. It listed a whole bunch of numbers for my wife, all wrong, mostly old numbers but some just completely wrong. Did not have her current cell number, which she has also had for years. It also showed a bunch of email addresses for us, none current or useful...

I also see that I died in 2015...

Classic problems with the online things.
 
Ok, We had to get rid of the incandescent light bulbs, our wonderful VHS tapes, our DVD's, out music tapes, our TV's had to be replaced by Smart TV's. Now electric cars are being pushed on us. I LOVED ole Ma Bell! Now, even the flip phones are obsolete.
Carrying a smart phone around all the time is like an animal being staked out in a pasture. And, You can't have a I phone 7! You have to have an I phone 12! Can we keep our books?
Sorry, but I like the old things! Freedom was an old thing! Is this becoming a cookie-cutter world?
I don't know! The new technology is coming on awfully fast! Or maybe I'm slowing down! hahaha!
 

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