Severing the Home Phone Line
 

How many of you have done it?

Any regrets?

My wife and I are running through the pros and cons of cancelling our home phone. I frankly can't think of a reason not to: We live in a very rural area and the hard phone lines are as vulnerable in a big storm as the electric lines; we have back up gens for charging cells phone; the cell towers in the area are part of a much larger network with redundant power and we seldom use the land line, etc.

No brainer, I know...but there is the old guy tendency to not part with the known.

So, experiences? I did a few searches but I thought I'd go through the P&C's here as well.

Haven't had one for years. We went VOIP for a few years because it was way cheaper, then cut the cord entirely. We bought a cheapo re-loadable cell phone for the kids when they were home alone, but now that my oldest has his own phone it makes that a non-issue. Don't miss it one bit, we never used it.

Got rid of mine years ago. Only real problem I had was, well, let's just say it happened right after NYE and I couldn't find my cell phone for a few days.... No Comment. Saves me money not to have a landline. Virtually no solicitations this way either.

Were not for the alarm system I would not have one.

We haven't had a land line in almost 10 years. Haven't missed it for a second. All 5 of us (3kids) have cell phones and good cell coverage.

Cut the cord over 10 years ago.

Only have cell phones here. Cut the cord long ago. Never missed it.

We haven't had one for 10-12 years. Never missed it or the telemarketers.

Did it about three years ago, and the only thing I miss is we can't get or send Faxes any longer. Some places want a Fax and will not take documents by Email.

Been without one for about 10 years and haven't had any issues.

We use my cell number as the primary contact for emergencies and such. We got the kids phones last year and my wife has a work cell.

For me....I'm not a phone person. I really do not like to talk on the phone.

Having my landline with an answering machine allows me to provide a phone number when necessary to a device I am not "tethered" to.

I use my cell phone selectively and most days do not get any calls...which is very nice.

The landline is also my # for my business, so there's that. Most of my communication is done via email anyway.

Otherwise...I would eliminate the landline. One day in the near future when I drop off the grid....

My wife had wanted to get rid of the line at the house for years. I pushed to keep it for a few reasons. We used DSL for Internet, and while you can get DSL without a land line, it's more expensive. Also, when you dial 911, a land line is a bit better WRT them having your location, and in the event of a hurricane, having cell and landline offered more possible options for communications. We had run into times when the cell network was down but the land line was operational.

We sold the house and moved and no longer have a land line. We don't miss it at all. We are now in an apt living near downtown.

I still have a "land line" because it's cheaper than another cell connection for the alarm by about $10 a month. It's actually provided by my cable company. I'm thinking of switching it back to an actual phone line because the cable is the least reliable of the three (cell, land, cable). I do have a phone connected to it, but I haven't touched it in over a year.

Sidebar.

Hi Patrick, sent you a PM yesterday.

I use google voice for that.

Have had the same cell number nearly 25 years now.

I'm very protective of it.

No one gets my real cell number.

Our house phone is an internet phone (dongle plugged into router, wireless phone base station plugs into that, extension phones all over house). Fairly pointless as we use our cellphones 99% of the time, but wife insisted on having a "landline".

Interesting point on the alarm system.

We will be installing one soon: More homework!

Same here. And I am glad to see you posting that. You are one of the most technical guys on the forum, and if you have not found an alternative to a land line for the alarm, I assume there isn't one?

Thanks,

JA

You can get a module for cell instead of landline.

IIRC you are looking at $100-150 on average to convert.

Adding a line to a cell plan is probably $10 a month, on average, YMMV.

Certainly cheap enough but my landline is essentially free with my TV bundle.

I certainly don't save anything by dropping the landline so while I'd like to drop it, logically it does not make sense, for my situation.

Got rid of ours a few months ago there is now quiet in the house from 6:00 to 10:00 in the evening. All we ever got were pollsters, sales bs, and some clown who didn't pay his bills and was in collection.

For the alarm, it is monitored through the Internet and notifies me also. I can then call up cameras for real time viewing. I tried connecting the motion detectors to my cell with cameras on auto, but I think the dog figured it out and would trip them just to annoy me. In our new home, we are considering a full "connected home" package, but I'm not convinced the IoT is sofisticated enough yet for reliability and lower cost. Anyway, no home landline.

My recent experience:
Had an ATT land line that was costing me $26/month. When price went up to $32/month I contacted my alarm company about a cell connection. They would fix me up with a cell connection for $28/month plus hardware. At about the same time Time Warner offered a cable with phone bundle for $30 less than what I was already paying them, no setup and no additional hardware cost. (My company did buy me a UPS to power the modem) I switched to the cable, but every time TW goes dark I wonder if it was the smart thing to do. As I said, cable goes dead far more often than the cell, and the cell is slightly less reliable than the land line was. For an alarm, you really want reliability.

After spending the last hour or so looking at wireless security systems and plans
(The Best Home Security Systems of 2016 | Top Ten Reviews) I decided to go ahead and cancel the land line.

No muss, no fuss...the operator said she did the same thing!

Thanks for the inputs!

Check into that. Almost all of the taxes and regulatory charges on your bill are likely tied to your landline. So even though the landline only costs $10/mo, dropping it may cut your bill by much more.

I learned this from person who came to dinner at my house, who had once worked in a Comcast call center, his job was to talk people out of dropping service, and he told me exactly what to drop to save the most money.

Never had one in this house. When building in 2007, I asked the phone company about DSL. They lied and said it was coming.......Ticked me off, so I went with Cell for phone and internet (5 GB month plan).

Happiest recent day of my life is when DSL speed finally arrived about 2 yrs ago, but still no land line for me.

The old argument was: If you call 911 and can't give your address, they know where the call is from on a landline.....These days on a cell, they can tell which room I am in when I call.

Another plus: when the phone rings, I don't have to run to the next room to answer it. Thinking of wireless security, using a game camera on my long driveway for now.

In the area we live in there is no cell signal. I only have an old flip phone & my wife has a smart phone. I never use either phone, except for maybe a couple of times a week. The land line still works when/if the power goes out, which isn't often. We also live in a fire prone area, so can get reverse 911 calls on the land line - don't know if they do that for cell phones, but it wouldn't do us any good if they did with no cell signal.

Got rid of mine a year or so ago. I hadn't had one useful phone call on it in several years. Nothing but solicitations for money.

Since you are local, check out Smith Thompson alarms...they offer a cell connection for $89 then it is only $18 per month or $25 if you want access to iPhone app.

Turned off land line and alarm system that used land line both when started working from home. Still have the alarm system sign/window stickers and the horn will still go off, it just isn't monitored. Was only using the monitored system for the emergency help button for a disabled brother and elderly Mother that was living with me anyway. Never armed the alarm. There was someone always here. May do something for vacations and trips, but would be more interested in fire than alarm.

100% cell phone for voice communications. Been over 5 years and haven't had an issue, not even with the battery (which is what I thought would be the biggest problem). When I get solicitation calls, I assign the number to a user in my address book called Solicitor and the user is blocked. Understand there are apps that will automatically block almost all solicitation calls, but haven't gotten enough to mess with it.

Thought I would miss not being able to send/receive faxes (especially receive), but can do the PDF email, print, sign, scan, email thing and haven't had anyone not accept that. There are many on-line services that provide faxing including a number for incoming to email that cost less than a phone line. Just haven't had to use one yet.

Yeah but my current monitoring is covered in my HOA fee's.

Of course for wireless the current provider also wants extra and if I go with a different provider I still pay the HOA's contracted one.

BTW, you play poker.

Been contemplating getting the local guys together for an evening.

Friendly game.

I'll host at my place.

Let me know.

I've considered getting rid of our land line, but we had a power outage in the area a few years ago and the cell towers also lost power. In addition, the outage lasted long enough that the standard battery back-up battery units for my neighbors' fiber-optic/voip systems lost power.

My copper land lines kept working the whole time.

We send/recieve faxes with an online service(ringcentral)

If you port the landline to google voice, not only do you get forwarding and email notifications, you can get emails sent to you as text.

So not only did I dump the home phone 10+ years ago, we no longer have a 'wired' phone at work.

Tel companies must be feeling the pain, they won't install lines in new construction, even when I call and tell them trench is open, they just need to supply the wire. 20 Years ago, they were trenching for free.

10 years here as well.

My wife insists we keep that land line. Yes dear.

I went with a OOMA system. $3.95 per month total monthly cost. It runs over the TCPIP internet connection. It works just like a regular phone line. The only downside is buying the OOMA unit up front. Once you have that it is easy. If the internet goes down, it automatically forwards to my cell phone.

The wife insisted we have one. The wife's been gone for about 4 years...

Got rid of ours over 5 years ago and cannot believe we didn't do it sooner. Literally the only people that ever called were telemarketers.

As for our alarm system, we simply added a cellular relay, which in all truthfulness makes for a more secure system to begin with, as the lines can't simply be cut before the thief enters the home.

Last month we finally unhooked the umbilical cord (so to speak) The only people to ever call our house phone was my Mom, and some sales people, so there it goes........no regrets. I rarely talk on any phone, including my cell, or at work, so no big deal for me at all.

Next to go is cable.

Have not had a land line or TV since 2002