Author Topic: Land line or cellular?  (Read 1043 times)

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Offline Questor

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Land line or cellular?
« on: September 17, 2009, 01:53:53 AM »
Have you gotten rid of your land line? I still have a land line because my wife and kids use it a lot. After the kids are gone, it'll be time to get rid of the land line and switch to only cellular.
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Offline fr3db3ar

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2009, 02:10:18 AM »
The wife finally moved into wireless last year.....but still can't get her to release the land line.  What a waste of money.
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Offline Questor

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2009, 02:13:53 AM »
It is a waste of money. I'm in about the same situation. It'll have to go soon. I figure if people living in dung huts in Africa find cellular to be adequate for their needs, then it's good enough for me.
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Offline Cheesehead

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2009, 02:20:28 AM »
I use my land line for high speed internet connection. I would give up my cell phone before that.

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Offline SHOOTALL

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2009, 02:33:44 AM »
lack of a land line also means lack of instant ID and location for 911 calls . It might be wise for those with medical problems or speach or hearing problems  or just up in age to have a land line . Also those with young children who may can call 911 but not be able to give directions or address . If you have sat TV in this area you also have to have it to rent movies .
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Offline gstewart44

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2009, 02:36:02 AM »
I had given up my land line and only used cellular in 2000.   However there was an achilles heel exposed to this plan in 2004.   I live in Central Florida and in '04 we were visited by a nasty fella named Hurricane Charley.    

That bad boy made a mess of the state and in particular where I lived (blew apart the west and south walls of my house!).    In any event the cell towers were damaged and the cell traffic totally overwhelmed what remained.    My neighbors next door and across the street found it odd that their land line phones still worked perfectly.....  Go figure.    

Anyway after that I have  a single low cost land line in the house as a backup.  Costs about 16/month.  
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Offline Questor

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2009, 02:38:02 AM »
Shootall:

I don't think that's as big a concern as it used to be. My take on it is that the land line companies are using that as a scare tactic today, but the cellular technology is very reliable for 911 calls.
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Offline SHOOTALL

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2009, 03:05:18 AM »
We used the GPS feature to track tech's working around the city . While in some cases ( very few ) you can get an address in many cases its not exact . What we found mostly was you got the tower location that was in the cell the phone was working in . We also found in new areas ie new homes the maps were non existant . Also in some areas a warrant is needed to track a cell phone . A cell phone is not Ostar .
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Offline DEACONLLB

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2009, 04:25:03 AM »
I have kept my land line and cut the cost to basic, about 23.00 a month. I keep it for DSL internet service. I had Direct way now Hughes net when it first came out not a whole lot better than land line a little faster but not by much. keep in mind that there are still areas where a cell phone will not work. I travel five states and when I get to a certian location the phone goes dead has to do with being down in a canyon or sometimes too far between towers. We had a problem here a couple weeks ago where a large cable was cut and no telephone, only certain cell phones worked, wal mart could not take checks or credit cards, cash only and could only get gas with cash. Banks could take a deposit but could give no cash out. so I think for us we need to have some food and a little cash on hand in case some back hoe operator digs into a major communications line as this is what happened in that case. They got it fixed pretty quick but what a problem it caused. just something to think about when the tec.fails or power goes away.
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Offline Old Fart

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #9 on: September 17, 2009, 05:44:56 AM »
We still have our land line.
It's down to the bare minimum, >$12 a month.
Partly for DSL and partly for friends and family from out of state to be able to locate us via phone book.
Here in central Okla. we now have cellular 911, so that's no longer a benefit that land lines have.
They just put a new extra tall tower down the raod from me so reception on my cell is top shelf.
I do most of my chatting on the cell, no long distance plan.
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Offline Oldshooter

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #10 on: September 17, 2009, 05:51:07 AM »
If ma bell dont get a grip shes gonna lose touch we still have a land line but we live out in the boonies and it wont ring and they cant seem to fix it so its just for emergencies and internet now. If I had a high speed internet connection here i would prolly get rid of it!
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Offline Sourdough

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #11 on: September 17, 2009, 06:03:08 AM »
I keep it for the internet access, plus my land line number is so easy for everyone to remember, they never forget it.  In North Pole everyone has the same prefix, only the last four have to be remembered.  People are always screaming at me, I can't get that Johnny Horton song out of my head, and it's all your fault.  In 1814 we took a little trip, see there even I go off on it.

Ha my number is in the Book.  And because I am on the Game Board Advisory Commitee it is posted around town and I am always giving it out over the air on the radio, everyone in Fairbanks and North Pole is exposed to it.  Both the song and the number, that's how I tell folks to remember me.

By the way, I grew up on the Hermitage.
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Offline gypsyman

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #12 on: September 17, 2009, 06:36:03 AM »
We got rid of our land line about 6 months ago. When I finally decided to get a cell, didn't want to pay the $24 a month for an extra line. Both my wife's, and my cell, have our old land line numbers. When she got her first cell phone, we had the old house number ported to her cell, and we had another line for our 'puter, as the cable company hadn't installed high speed internet, so we kept a land line for the 'puter. Which naturally had a regular phone number. So when I decided to get a cell, I had that number ported over. Even thou I'm on the do not call list, when I get a call from a telemarketer, the phone lights up-RESTRICTED- so I just let it ring. I just let it ring. Nice way to avoid unwanted calls. gypsyman
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Offline Matt

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #13 on: September 17, 2009, 08:00:06 AM »
Well I have not had a "land line" in 12 years now and have done just fine without it. I do however now have "MagicJack" and have for about 2 years. Although I must say that I spend WAY more on cell service than I ever did for a land line. I use Sprint have 3 phones on their $99.00 a month unlimited plan for a total of around $349.00 a month after fees and taxes. My oldest son has an iPhone and spends $127.00 a month for his plan with AT&T.

As to the GPS of the phones I have found that Sprint is quite reliable and most offten I can find the phone within a few feet. 911 service works quite well around here with cell phones and VoIP service.

The big phone companies own the big cell networks and really dont care if you are on a land line or not as they make more on cellular anyway.

The only real draw back to going cellular is the fact that many things can cause you to loose service that might not affect a land line. One thing that many may not know is that your land line phone is not really a wire from you to the person you are calling. The wire runs to a hub, then to a switching station and then from there it heads to outerspace to a satilite then back down to a switching station in the area of the person you called and from there to the persons house you called via wire.

Final thought: I spend about $4500 a year on cellular phone service, before that I spent about $600 a year on a land line. My thought is... Maybe it is time to drop cellular.

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Offline SHOOTALL

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #14 on: September 17, 2009, 08:11:48 AM »
You had a way better experince with Sprint than we did . We switched to Fleetmatics and have had much more control of our fleet .
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Offline beerbelly

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #15 on: September 17, 2009, 08:16:32 AM »
My land line stinks! It won't work half the time. It will have a dial tone but at times when you dial out it just continues with the dial tone and I have no service. I have dial up internet so half the time I can't get on.
  I call the repair number and get an automated machine. It says they will have my phone fixed within ten days. They never fix it.
   I am thinking of Hughes Net but some say it is not very good. If I could get something else the land line would be history!
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Offline Matt

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #16 on: September 17, 2009, 08:55:15 AM »
You had a way better experince with Sprint than we did . We switched to Fleetmatics and have had much more control of our fleet .

I think the area has a lot to do with it. I have a friend in Ga that has Sprint and he hates it.

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Offline SHOOTALL

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #17 on: September 17, 2009, 09:00:26 AM »
that's true !
If ya can see it ya can hit it !

Offline Graybeard

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #18 on: September 17, 2009, 10:04:08 AM »
Cell phones are the STUPID WASTE OF MONEY. Land lines are far and away cheaper and if you have a high speed internet connection at home with Vonage super cheap even with free long distance. The cell phone companies have sold folks a bill of goods and they've bought into it hook, line and sinker and are wasting $BILIONS$ annual on them just to BS while driving down the road.

I see a use for them for emergency use especially for folks with vehicles that might not get them there and back each time or old farts like me who might need help but not for young and healthy or those with fairly new dependable vehicles.

It seems nearly every driver I see these days has one stuck in their ear and are driving unsafely. Even at stores half the folks in them are talking on their cell phones. It's one of the single worst things that has ever happened to this country. Yeah I have one, ask Matt what the chances of reaching me on it are. I pay $15 a month for it just for emergency use ONLY.


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Offline DEACONLLB

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #19 on: September 17, 2009, 10:39:28 AM »
As I said I had direct way which is now Hughes net The start up cost was 100.00 per month for 12 months after which it dropped to 60.00 per month and this was all plus every tax they could dream up. You must have a clear view of the southern sky, no trees or buildings in the way, and it is only a little faster than a land line. about 3 weeks after it was installed we had one of those thunder boomers roll through that we get here in Oklahoma and we thought we were ok when we unpluged every thing but left the dish hooked up and you guessed it, it fried computer and the phone hooked to it.
By the way Matt could you recommend magic jack or is it not worth the money?
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Offline GRIMJIM

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #20 on: September 17, 2009, 11:16:27 AM »
I've also kept the land line for my dsl. I'm checking out my options to switch to cable for my internet. I am paying for the cell phone anyway to keep connected to my wife and kids mostly. Also I need it for work, really I'm paying for the land line for no reason. I can get cable internet by me for a little more than the dsl. It's way faster and by dropping the land line I'm actually saving money.
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Offline ms

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #21 on: September 17, 2009, 01:54:56 PM »
Cell phone only in my house.

Offline greg916

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #22 on: September 17, 2009, 02:31:50 PM »
We only use cell. Most of our family, friends, and the places we trade with are south of us. We live on the far south side of our local phone companys areas. A call just 5 miles away was long distance. My wife started a home based business. For about $68 dollars per month  she gets 2 digital phone lines and a fax line, no long distance charges. If I could figure out how to attach another to the computer, this would be my house phone also.  The only drawback so far is if the power goes out, the phone goes out.
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Offline Matt

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #23 on: September 17, 2009, 02:44:31 PM »

By the way Matt could you recommend magic jack or is it not worth the money?
Deaconllb

YES I recommend it... ask Tim about MagicJack he also has one.... I love the fact that it is unlimited and only $20.00 a year... Must have high speed internet though and cable is best for it.

You can get them now in many stores like Best Buy and Radio Shack.

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Offline greg916

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #24 on: September 17, 2009, 02:49:15 PM »
My wife just informed me that I was wrong (imagine that!!!). If her VoIP service goes out all calls are automatically routed to her cell phone until the power comes back on.
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Offline greg916

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #25 on: September 17, 2009, 03:01:21 PM »
Matt, the only reason that I have not installed MagicJack is because their EULA states you have to accept their advertisement or the product will not work. Also they analize your phone calls to increase the effectiveness of their ads. I would like your views on this. Thanks.   
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Offline powderman

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #26 on: September 17, 2009, 04:20:52 PM »
We keep both. During the ice storm last Jan we lost power for 6 days and nights, cell towers were down for 4 of those days, the land line still worked though. Not a good idea to depend on just one. The cell phone was down but I charged it in the car, then found out there was no signal at all. POWDERMAN.  :o :o
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Offline torpedoman

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #27 on: September 17, 2009, 05:04:48 PM »
The wife finally moved into wireless last year.....but still can't get her to release the land line.  What a waste of money.
   same here but the landline works when storms knock out the cells, at least thats her story.
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Offline Cheesehead

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #28 on: September 17, 2009, 05:20:02 PM »
"heads to outer space to a satellite"

In most cases, These switching stations or central offices are linked by fiber optic cables. Most remote offices are linked to the central offices by fiber optic cables. Sometimes fiber optic cable go directly to the customers home. There is a large national network of fiber optic cables that is used by most communication companies. There is greater bandwidth potential in a closed circuit format "fiber optic"  then through the air "satellite or microwave".

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Offline IronMan

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Re: Land line or cellular?
« Reply #29 on: September 17, 2009, 06:17:15 PM »
I dropped landline for about a year after I got HughesNet,but found that cell does not have coverage at my house. Go a mile in any direction and we have coverage but nothing at the house. This is the same with any and all of the available providers in this area. I found I could get basic landline for $9 a month because of disability so that is what I have now. My wife and I both have cellphones. She uses hers all the time but I seldom turn mine on. I take it with me when I leave the house for emergencys but dont turn it on unless I need it. I have pay-as-you-go service so it only costs if I make a call.

I live in Oklahoma also and HughesNet is at lest 5 times faster than the dialup that I was useing. ATT says there is no hope of getting DSL in my lifetime where I live and no cable either so my options are limited.

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