Do you have a home phone (a land-line)? (1 Viewer)

[Socrates11]

Yes. I would get rid of it, but 1) cell reception is spotty to bad at our house and 2) having 2 kids the wife wants a way to call in an emergency if the power should go out so we have an old timey phone ready to plug in that doesn't need electricity.

 

[johnnycakes]

Yes, we have a landline, but it is used almost exclusively for calls to China. We get 500 minutes per month for $15.

 

[SacramentoBob]

Ditched it 2 months ago. Don't expect to go back.

 

[Tecumseh]

Not anymore!

We had to have one when we had Earthlink DSL, but since we have Comcast now, we were able to get it shut off.

 

[El Floppo]

For those voting yes, I'd be curious to know why.

Is it part of a "bundle" with TV and internet, and they basically throw it in for free?

yes.

Sandy and 9/11 left us without cel service in NYC... we keep the land-line as a last ditch backup- and for my MIL.

 

[TheIronSheik]

For those voting yes, I'd be curious to know why.

Is it part of a "bundle" with TV and internet, and they basically throw it in for free?

Yes, kids.

As an aside, I also have a bundle. We called to try to cancel our landline as the kids are about old enough to have their own cell phones as part of family plan and we were told it would be an extra $5/month to cancel, as the package we have includes home phone, and they don't offer an internet/cable only deal at lower pricing

Same situation. We have it because our daughter uses it to call friends and the such. I thought about ditching it at one point and was told that the cost of the bundle would go up if we got rid of the phone.

I don't think I've ever answered it, although I do use it if I have to call someone and I'm at home.

 

[Mr. Ected]

Had one while wife was teleworking. Once work took that away, I cancelled the phone. With alarm systems running just fine using cell signals, I have no need for one any longer.

Got a Triple Play buy-back deal from Verizon FIOS. I told them that I didn't need a home phone, but the offer they presented was actually cheaper than any cable/internet only package that they had at the time. So, we have the service and technically have a home telephone number, but don't have a home phone hooked up.

I voted No.

My alarm needs a POTS telephone; an upgrade would be able to use a digital line, but getting rid of it would make my FiOS bundle more expensive.

I'n not giving up my 212, guy. Old school Manhattanite.

If it rings, it's either a grandparent or one of the kids doctors. Or the doorman. Might get 15 calls in a busy month.

You can sometimes port a telephone number to a cell phone, so you can keep the old one. My folks did it when they moved to save their number they had for 30+ years.

 

[17seconds]

The bundle with phone is basically free for 6 months then they move it up to $15/month.

Verizon is the only strong signal at our house so I could see potentially getting it if we switched carriers to save more than $15/month. But I resist getting a home phone with every fiber of my being.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

I didn't have a landline for 10 years while living solo, but recently got one in our new house with a cable bundle.

Less than a day in, phone was ringing with collection calls for someone else, the usual robo-calls, and even a collect call from a prison in Florida. We haven't even given out the new number to anyone.

 

[Osaurus]

Sounds like a lot of folks here need a cell booster at home. I have one I got for free from AT&T and full bars everywhere.

 

[dancingbones]

Kids & fax machine.

Plus the speaker phone on the land line is better quality than my iphone.

 

[Copeman]

Not for the last 5 or so years. No need for it.

 

[jhib]

Have any of you other guys with land lines tried out nomorobo.com to pick off the robocalls?

We still have one for the usual reasons - kids (well, only one now) without cell phones, part of bundle, etc. I will probably cancel it finally in a year or two or just keep it and disconnect all the phones if it costs more to cancel. But in the meantime, the spam calls are such a pain. I know, you just don't need to answer #'s you don't recognize, but the ringing itself it pain. Then you make the effort to look at who's calling and some actually leave msgs on the answering machine. I would guess at least half of these are robocalls - especially now with political calls starting to come in again - so I'll be happy if this thing works.

It sounds like the free service recognizes the calls as robocalls and hangs up on them after the first ring.

 

[El Floppo]

Have any of you other guys with land lines tried out nomorobo.com to pick off the robocalls?

We still have one for the usual reasons - kids (well, only one now) without cell phones, part of bundle, etc. I will probably cancel it finally in a year or two or just keep it and disconnect all the phones if it costs more to cancel. But in the meantime, the spam calls are such a pain. I know, you just don't need to answer #'s you don't recognize, but the ringing itself it pain. Then you make the effort to look at who's calling and some actually leave msgs on the answering machine. I would guess at least half of these are robocalls - especially now with political calls starting to come in again - so I'll be happy if this thing works.

It sounds like the free service recognizes the calls as robocalls and hangs up on them after the first ring.

our landline number is unlisted- the only person who even knows it is my MIL. For us, 9 out of 10 calls are robo or spam calls... I would love to keep this from happening.

 

[jhib]

Have any of you other guys with land lines tried out nomorobo.com to pick off the robocalls?

We still have one for the usual reasons - kids (well, only one now) without cell phones, part of bundle, etc. I will probably cancel it finally in a year or two or just keep it and disconnect all the phones if it costs more to cancel. But in the meantime, the spam calls are such a pain. I know, you just don't need to answer #'s you don't recognize, but the ringing itself it pain. Then you make the effort to look at who's calling and some actually leave msgs on the answering machine. I would guess at least half of these are robocalls - especially now with political calls starting to come in again - so I'll be happy if this thing works.

It sounds like the free service recognizes the calls as robocalls and hangs up on them after the first ring.

our landline number is unlisted- the only person who even knows it is my MIL. For us, 9 out of 10 calls are robo or spam calls... I would love to keep this from happening.

Few weeks in, and it definitely has worked really well for us. It's so nice when you hear the phone ring only once and then stop. No need to even look to see who's calling. It also seems like there are fewer calls in general, so I wonder if it intercepts some of the calls even before one ring.

Anyway, I highly recommend giving it a shot if it works with your phone service. It was really easy to set up on Time Warner.

 

[Foosball God]

For those voting yes, I'd be curious to know why.

Is it part of a "bundle" with TV and internet, and they basically throw it in for free?

This. It would actually be more expensive to get rid of it.

 

[Mr. Ected]

Have any of you other guys with land lines tried out nomorobo.com to pick off the robocalls?

We still have one for the usual reasons - kids (well, only one now) without cell phones, part of bundle, etc. I will probably cancel it finally in a year or two or just keep it and disconnect all the phones if it costs more to cancel. But in the meantime, the spam calls are such a pain. I know, you just don't need to answer #'s you don't recognize, but the ringing itself it pain. Then you make the effort to look at who's calling and some actually leave msgs on the answering machine. I would guess at least half of these are robocalls - especially now with political calls starting to come in again - so I'll be happy if this thing works.

It sounds like the free service recognizes the calls as robocalls and hangs up on them after the first ring.

I believe my line was a business line before I got it. I routinely get fax calls (you hear the 'beep' when you answer) which are a PITA; we also get random calls from people calling for the business. Will look into the robocall site.

 

[TheAristocrat]

No

 

[Poke_4_Life]

We still have a land-line. It's part of the bundle and its tied to our alarm system. We've thought about getting rid of the land-line but we'd have to change the alarm system and that would cost more than just keeping the land-line.

That and my grandmother always calls the house phone only... she's the only person that ever calls that number tho.

 

[Gianni Verscotchie]

I still need the land line to open my gate when peasants guests come over.