Phone/Internet

[packrat]

Does anyone here not have a land line? I'm thinking of getting rid of ours and just using cells, but then I thought internet comes over the phone line, so maybe I can't? Then I worry that even tho we're 1 1/2 blocks from the hospital, you have to be very careful in our house where you can get cell reception, so in an emergency, that's not so good.

We have Qwest. This is the only thing available in our town. Or you can use Vonage/MagicJack etc. Qwest, pardon me, sucks. I've had nothing but problems w/them from day 1, which you'd think maybe would've been a clue. They flat out told me I was lying, refused to refund money, and now when I went online to get help (cuz I did it twice over the phone and wrote stuff down that they told me, and *that's* what gets me accused of lying, so this way I could print it out for proof). All I wanted to do was lower my bill-take off long distance which we never use, that kind of thing. She said for a different package it was $40 to change. If I didn't want a different package, just change random things, there was no charge. She said my bill would be higher the next billing cycle b/c they bill a month ahead of time, which I took to mean if your bill currently is $200, and will now be lowered to $150, the next bill would be the same, $200, b/c of the billing ahead thing. So then I get my bill, and it's $20 higher than what it normally is-for changing my stuff!

Now I don't know if I should suck it up w/the extra $20 and wait to see what next month's bill is, if it's as low as what she told me it would be, or kick them to the curb regardless. We'd have to find a different internet provider too since that's who we get ours from as well.

Can you get by w/no land line? What do you do for internet then?

 

[that_someone_special]

Are you on dial-up?

We only have cell phones and we have cable internet.. they tried to sell me a sob story to get landlines too.. but eh...

If you are not on dial-up I don't see why you need a landline??

 

[elrohwen]

We have internet and tv through Comcast, but no land line. Unless you're on dial up there's no reason why you can't have just the internet and not the phone.

 

[packrat]

We had dial up w/our first provider and then this is our 2nd provider w/out dial up. The 2nd provider had a tower that wasn't very powerful..I'd forgotten that. We'd switched to Qwest b/c of the weak tower signal-I'd either rarely be able to connect or get kicked off repeatedly. When the guy came to install this, he put a 2 hole phone jack connector thing in, one for the phone and one for the internet. Maybe we'll just have to go back to the 2nd w/the weak tower..it's been 3 years so maybe they've upgraded!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

My parents have a landline but I never did. Our internet actually hooks up to our cable, I think - is that something you can inquire about?

 

[random_thought]

We have never had a landline. We just use our cell phones. *shrugs* I guess after cell phones came out I never saw the point of having a landline...

 

[zoebartlett]

We have high speed internet as opposed to dial up, and it comes as a bundle with our cable. Included in the bundle is phone service also, although we don't use it because we only use our cell phones. We could get a real phone, plug it in, and start using it, but we don't want to. We don't even know the phone number. I hate paying for something we don't use, but I don't know any way around it.

 

[artdecogirl]

Hey Packrat, We have qwest too here in minnesota, we just went through this. I called qwest to cancel it and if we did not have the house phone our internet would not be "bundled" so it would be 10 bucks more so we took the long distance, caller id and call waiting off and just have a bare bones phone line that I think is 30 bucks a month, we may still get rid of it but we have are grandson over a lot and I wanted a phone sitting in one place that you can always find in a emergency, until they are older and know that grandma leaves her phone downstairs or maybe in the car or in the kitchen or maybe her purse? Grandpas is in the truck or out in the pole shed or????? you get the idea.

 

[packrat]

We don't have cable, we have DirecTv, so we wouldn't be able to get the cable internet. Our DTV bill is paid thru Qwest so we would still have 1 bundle if they count that, but still..they just tick me off so bad I don't know if I want to keep them. I'll check the other internet provider and see if they've upgraded their stuff..if they have maybe it would just be better to get rid of Qwest completely. One of my friends in a different State was hired by them and went to a new employee training seminar thing-and was so upset at what she was told to do she quit-and that just confirmed my opinions about them.

Hello fellow Midwesterner Decogirl!

 

[honey22]

We don't have a landline and it's fine. We have mobiles with huge monthly spend allowances so we never have a problem and I love to chat to my Mum interstate every day.

As for the emergency calls, I am not sure if it's the same in the US, but when you make an emergency call from a mobile in Australia, it automatically scans for coverage even if you are not with a carrier that has coverage in that aread KWIM? So, it only needs one carrier to have coverage (even if you are not signed with them) and the emergency call will go ahead using another carriers connection. I hope I have explained myself enough, I just woke up. It's just a safety thing so you have the greatest chance of your emergency call getting connected to 000.

 

[KimberlyH]

We have a landline in case of emergency. Cell phone calls to 911 are routed to the state emergency line in our state and if I recall tracing isn't immediate, which delays response. The ringer is off on the landline phone in our house, we don't pay for long distance and I don't even know the number.

When my daughter gets old enough to start calling her friends she'll use the landline as I don't want her to have a cell phone at a young age, but for now I do not miss having a landline for regular use at all.

 

[Tuckins1]

We do not have a land line. We have cable internet, so our cable and internet are both provided by comcast. I just don't see the need for a land lone when we both use our cell phones for everything. The only thing I like about having a land line is that it will work if the power goes out (assuming you have a hard wire phone)...

 

[chemgirl]

Do you have DSL? I don't have cable so use DSL internet. I'm near Toronto and use Tek Savey so it is just repackaged Bell internet. The plus side is that there are fewer admin fees and a higher download limit than Bell. Unfortunately, I think I need to keep my annoying Bell landline. I've been trying to get rid of my landline and have been reading about something called "dry DSL" that allows for DSL internet without a phoneline. It is more expensive than regular DSL. I haven't been able to figure out how it works or if it will be a better deal overall.

Like you, I've had crazy issues with my landline. I once called to take my ex off of a joint account and they charged me 25$ for their trouble. Another time I wanted to take off a 20$ a month long distance plan and they charged a 30$ admin fee. Its just too annoying. Not to mention that they telemarket for their TV, internet, and mobile phone services. I can't get them to take me off of the calling list because we have a "business relationship" GAH! I seriously get these calls every day from extremely rude people. I feel there may be cultural differences at work because its clearly not acceptable to say "no miss you're being STUPID to not take this free cellular phone" or "Miss! Miss! Stop talking! Just stop talking!" when I'm trying to politely decline their offers.

Sorry for my rant. If you have DSL and end up switching to dry DSL please post to let me know how it works!

Oh also, is 200$ phone bill standard for the US? I'm paying 40$ per month and I think that's too much for how much use I get out of it.

 

[packrat]

If we took off caller id/call waiting, that would save a *little* I think, but then I'm wondering if we'd have to switch packages to the basic package, which costs, but then I almost think w/the basic package you get to pick 2 add ons for free so that's probably what we have already..it's $40/month for the phone w/no long distance..they charge you for the phone service itself and then they charge you to use it. "Local calling fee". Plus there's like 8 taxes and fees tacked on. I long for the days when you paid X/month and if you had long distance you knew it was X/minute extra and local was FREE.

We're down in a little valley, and there's a brick house (she's mighty mighty lettin it all hang out) across the street and a lot of trees, so one provider could only give us internet right next to the front door in the living room and it would cost us an extra $260 for them to reroute things. I wonder if that was DSL b/c they had to have something outside to aim towards wherever their tower was. (I'm so lame, I don't know the first thing about it-I just want to turn the computer on and click the weird orange/blue Firefox thing and start browsing) The provider we had before Qwest had a tower too, and what I was told was that they operated on the same frequency as some phones (b/c it was free or something??) and a lot of things could interfere w/the signal, even the comm center tower at the police station, and that was why we kept getting kicked off. But like I say, that was 3 years ago, so for all I know they've upgraded.

I'll have to see how it would work w/911 on the cells at the house. If it won't work maybe we would get the MagicJack and another cell and then just never use the land line-it's pretty cheap to have that MJ deal anyways. Although, I'm in a way kind of leery of things b/c a guy JD works w/got that Hughes Net that is on tv all the time and it turned out to be massively expensive and when he tried to cancel, they kept screwing him around so he ended up spending a ton of money trying to get it cleared up.

 

[chemgirl]

Okay, that sounds different than what we have. I don't really know much about internet either. I just know that ours is DSL and its with a modem that's plugged in to a phone jack in the wall. The regular phones are on filters so they don't interfere with the internet (I didn't have filters so FI had to fix that when we started dating). I then have a wireless router to transmit the wifi. Is yours like this, or is it somehow a signal transmitted to your house (I'm having a hard time picturing this)? FI does networking for office buildings so I can ask him about it if I have a better idea of what you have.

FI has a Vonage phone and its ok. There are a few issues with it when I'm downloading a LOT. I wouldn't rely on it for my only phone because if the modem dies, then the phone dies. I'm paranoid so I'm always worried that something will happen during a blackout. I actually have a corded phone in my closet for this purpose. I'm from a small town where this sort of thing is actually an issue...not so much in a big city.

The phone service in Ontario sounds like how your phone used to be. Mine is 40$ ish a month including fees. I have local calling, voicemail, and call waiting. I don't have to pay extra for local calling and long distance is a certain amount per minute (I don't remember what). I used to have a crazy high long distance limit for 20$ a month, but canceled it so now I have an extra 5$ or so in long distance fees. I guess I shouldn't complain and just stick with it!

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Our cable, internet and landline are bundled with our cable company. I priced it out and it would be more expensive to buy the cable and internet a la carte so we got a better cable package and basic landline. We also have cell phones, which are on a separate bill through a separate carrier. The only people that call our landline are my MIL and SIL even though they both have our cell numbers.

Where I live, in Ohio, if you call 911 from a cell phone your location is not automatically traced, which will delay response time if the responders can't figure out where you are.

 

[pennquaker09]

We have cable, internet, and phone through Cablevision and I personally hate it. I want AT&T U-Verse.

 

[Shoopy]

We don't even pay for internet. We use our cell phones and tether! I think the program was $20, we connect the phone to the computer and voila...internet. Right now I'm on my brother's wireless connection that he has through his phone.

Technology is awesome.

 

[packrat]

What we have now w/Qwest is plugged into a phone jack in the wall..it's a double one that splits the phone from the internet somehow so you can be on both at the same time. What we had before this was I'm pretty sure something outside that got a signal from a tower, and then the one that could only do it in a certain spot was a tower as well.

I didn't realize there were limitations w/911 and cells. Never even thought about it, other than if you didn't have reception.

That is fancy Fiery!

 

[LGK]

OK I haven't read the whole thread. I dumped the land line in about 2004, and have had nothing but cells ever since. We use laptops with the internet provided by Comcast cable.

I have NEVER missed the landline. Ever. It was so nice to get rid of it I can't even tell you... I had Qwest and they are pretty much Satan's minions. They once cancelled our service, charged us $100 to reinstate it, and claimed our landlord had asked it to be cancelled. He hadn't. Then they said that, although their notes said that was true, that it was impossible because he wasn't on the account. Awesome. I have loathed them ever since. And it was so totally great to get rid of them! Neither DH or I talk on the phone a ton, so a very basic cell plan has covered our needs since, with neither of us ever going over.

If you can get the net from cable, that's my preference. It is awesomely fast, incredibly so. You can download whole songs in about 5-10 seconds. DSL I think uses a phone line... also sometimes you can get wifi signals from somewhere nearby on a laptop too, even without your own connection. Seems like everyone encrypts now though, so it's harder to just pick up a signal.

My sister does the same thing and dropped her land line about the same time too. And hasn't missed it either.

ETA: if you haven't checked with local internet providers recently, it changed a LOT over the last few years. We didn't have cable net coverage when we first moved into a small town in WA around 2004, but they made it available very quickly after that. And in an even smaller town we live in now, it's been changing rapidly over the last 2 years. Comcast actually retrofitted our building for a better cable signal a few weeks ago in fact.

And one more edit, lol: 911 in WA state doesn't route anywhere unusual on a cell phone. I've called it about four or five times from my cell (I prefer to use that rather than the work phone because a local paper publishes a list of 911 calls from businesses, so any emergency calls for work go thru my cell). And it was just the same as a land-line 911 call, response just as fast.

 

[perry]

I maintain a landline for the following reasons:

1) For emergencies: 911 gets traced immediately to your house. Location of your cell phone is only traced to your general area - if they can trace it.

2) Power outage phone use: The landline phone companies are required to have long lasting battery backup for power outages. I have fond memories of being able to make phone calls even when the power was out in the entire community for over a day. Cell towers are not backed up nearly as well (to keep their cost down).

3) Cell phones are not always reliable (at times reception comes and goes). But even if totally reliable - I still fall back to items 1& 2.

4) Cell phones get lost, have dead batteries, etc.

Note that my landline has just basic services (no caller ID, no call waiting, no long distance (800 #'s are OK), etc) - that keeps it relatively cheap. For long distance I have a 800# calling service available.

Have a great day,

Perry

 

[iheartscience]

I haven't had a landline for 9 years or so. However, I get great cell reception. And I've called 911 from my cell a few times without any issues. If you don't get good cell reception, though, I'd stick with a landline. We get cable and internet through Verizon FIOS, which I love and highly recommend.

 

[oobiecoo]

DH and I do not have a landline. We just have our cellphones... and then for internet we have Clear. Is that an option in your area? We just have the cheapest option which is $31/month and is plenty high speed enough for what we need. They are mostly in metro areas I believe so its not available everywhere yet. HOWEVER, when we typed in our address on their website to see if we were covered, it said "no". When we went into the store, they said it looked like we are covered but it wasn't "official" yet so they said we could get a refund if it ended up not working at our place. It was fine and they even activated a new service tower really close to us recently so the service is even better.

 

[packrat]

I'll have to do some checking to see what is available for us as far as internet and things like Magic Jack etc..when our electricity is off, our phone is out. It's a cordless, so I don't know if that makes a difference, but other than one that sits right on the wall, we've never had land line when the electricity is out. Sometimes it sucks being in such a rural area, there just isn't the choice availability.

 

[chemgirl]

Cordless phones don't work when the power is out because the base needs power to transmit signal to the phone. I keep an 80's style phone where the receiver is attached to the base with a cord. When the power goes out I unplug the cordless and plug in the 80's phone. It will work for a few days. I haven't had issues while living in the city, but blackouts are common where I grew up so I am still hesitant to get rid of my landline.

ETA: I talked to FI about DSL without a phoneline and he said its possible, but it has to be offered by the internet provider. So I guess you'd have to call them and see what your options are.

 

[chemgirl]

I maintain a landline for the following reasons:

1) For emergencies: 911 gets traced immediately to your house. Location of your cell phone is only traced to your general area - if they can trace it.

2) Power outage phone use: The landline phone companies are required to have long lasting battery backup for power outages. I have fond memories of being able to make phone calls even when the power was out in the entire community for over a day. Cell towers are not backed up nearly as well (to keep their cost down).

3) Cell phones are not always reliable (at times reception comes and goes). But even if totally reliable - I still fall back to items 1& 2.

4) Cell phones get lost, have dead batteries, etc.

Note that my landline has just basic services (no caller ID, no call waiting, no long distance (800 #'s are OK), etc) - that keeps it relatively cheap. For long distance I have a 800# calling service available.

Have a great day,

Perry

The bolded is important to consider. Sure you can call 911 from a cellphone, but if you're in a situation where you can't give your location the police will have a harder time finding you.

A few years ago a tree fell on my grandmother's house and she couldn't finish giving her information to 911 before the call cut out. They were still able to locate her.

Also, a friend in college worked at a store and it was robbed. He couldn't get to the panic button and he couldn't exactly call 911 and have a conversation with them. He was able to knock the receiver off of the cradle and dial 911 without the robbers noticing. He was injured during the robbery, but the police got there before anything really scary happened.