Dropping Cell Service In Favor Of A Landline: Am I crazy? (1 Viewer)

[cineMANIAC]

You've heard the term before: droves of people have chosen to "cut the cord", meaning they're dropping Cable Television in favor of satellite or other services. Well, I have decided to drop cell phone service in favor of a landline through my cable company. I haven't told people close to me (yet) but I suspect most of them will blurt "What, are you nuts?!?". Thing is, I don't really need a cell phone. I don't think I'll miss the portability of a mobile telephone. I certainly don't want to become one of those zombies walking around staring into a phone oblivious to my surroundings. I guess it helps that I'm not really a phone person - always hated talking on the phone. But, yeah, I'm done. Goodbye, cell phone! Good riddance.

 

[Walter Kittel]

If you are going to be saving money and you don't need portability; by all means switch.


On the other hand; If the monetary differences are negligible then why switch? Just because you own a cellphone doesn't mean you have to be a slave to the thing. Portability is a good thing in emergency situations. You might not need a cell phone 99.99 % of the time; but that 0.01 % that you do - you might really need it.


I'm not much of a phone person either, but I'll never go back to a landline (unless I move to such a desolate area that service is not available.)


Just some thoughts on the matter. You should do whatever you want.


- Walter.

 

[Tony Bensley]

My wife and I have an internet dependant landline (Our phone is connected, via our isp modem!), plus we put down $100 flat every 12 months for occasional cell phone use, which comes in handy for short grocery trips; and either when our internet goes out, or we have a power failure. The latter occurred just a few weeks ago!


CHEERS!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

If it meets your needs, go for it. I am still trying to convince my wife to do the opposite -- cancel our land line.

 

[Dr Griffin]

I still have a land line through Comcast, because they have threatened to kill my family members one by one if I cancel it.

 

[davidmatychuk]

Travelling by train through Poland in 2005, I realized that the thing I was enjoying most of all was that no one knew where I was, or could contact me by some stupid phone in my pocket. I've never had a cell phone or so-called "smart" phone and if I don't absolutely need one for some work-related reason I never will. If you want to reach me, you know where to find me, right here on Home Theatre Forum. Or knock on my door if you're in the Vancouver area; friends are always welcome!

 

[Sam Posten]

Living without cell service in 2016 seems pure crazy to me.

 

[dvdclon]

I'd be afraid to go anywhere without a cell phone. I don't remember when I last saw a pay phone or phone booth.

 

[ChristopherG]

I'd be afraid to go anywhere without a cell phone. I don't remember when I last saw a pay phone or phone booth.

Good point.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

If I don't want to be reached, I can turn off my ringer. Having a phone with me is not only convenient but a measure of safety. And I used to hate text messaging when I saw the neighborhood teens walking around with their heads down, but have since realized that messaging is extremely handy for brief communications.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I'd be afraid to go anywhere without a cell phone. I don't remember when I last saw a pay phone or phone booth.

Don't worry; they're gonna make a comeback in about three years!

 

[cineMANIAC]

Living without cell service in 2016 seems pure crazy to me.

At some point I may pick up a cheap phone and buy basic service but, as it stands, I don't have any urgent need to own a cell. I certainly don't need two services (cell and landline). I only really speak with immediate family members, who live in the Caribbean. Cell service is still spotty in many areas where they live and so a landline works the best.

 

[Patrick_S]

If wireless service isn't for you, it is the right decision to go with a land line.


Last year I went the other way, dropped my land line to go wireless only.

 

[Carabimero]

Living without cell service in 2016 seems pure crazy to me.

Why? Neither my wife nor I have cell phones. Never have, and unless we end up eventually needing them to get into our cars or houses someday, we never will.


I live perfectly fine without an electronic leash

 

[Rob_Ray]

I know quite a few people who refuse to get a cellphone. (All over 50, of course!). I have one friend (age 57) who was forced to get a smartphone last week in order to process orders for his forthcoming book. His first question upon getting a tutorial from me on its operation was, "How do I turn it off?" (Tony Bensley will know who I'm talking about!)


I myself could do without one quite easily if I didn't occasionally need it for work. I don't do social media and I don't use my phone to check email. I don't want to be accessible 24/7. I'll answer email when I'm at my computer and take calls when it's convenient.

 

[David_B_K]

I myself could do without one quite easily if I didn't occasionally need it for work. I don't do social media and I don't use my phone to check email. I don't want to be accessible 24/7. I'll answer email when I'm at my computer and take calls when it's convenient.

I'm more or less that way. I like that my phone has a decent camera in case I need to take a picture of damaged freight at work. I have a gmail account set up on the phone to email the pictures to me, or if I really need to email someone. But I refuse to link my main email or work email to my phone or I'll get dings all the time. The main reason I have one is for emergencies and to make sure my wife and I can contact each other at all times.


I still have a land line, which I mainly have for my security alarm. I think the idiots we all see talking on their phones while driving are people who have gotten rid of their land lines and who have not developed the discipline to simply ignore the phone if it rings. These people are taking basic personal calls they would have (rightly) missed if they weren't home.


Also, if I do talk on the phone while driving, I always use a bluetooth headset. I don't understand why the people who constantly talk while driving cannot invest $20-$30 for one so as to keep both hands on the wheel.

 

[Alf S]

I'm 50+ and by no means tied to my smartphone. But I like having the ability to keep in touch with my elderly mom and kids when needed.


Having the "phone" has actually saved me a lot of money. Meaning I've used to to price match at a number of stores just by showing competitor prices to the customer service folks. That alone is worth it to me.

 

[David Norman]

I think I could pretty easily live without one. I did so pretty well for 40+ years then sort of had to get one for work.


We did finally go from a home landline copper ATT/BellSouth old school phone service to a cable VOIP which essentially runs on the same lines.

Upside -- bill $15/month from 45-50/month, free Long Distance to US/Canada. Mainly kept the copper lone many extra years due to the security system,


Downside -- my VOIP phone downtime in less than a year is honestly 100-1000 times what my copper phone downtime was for the last 35 years combined (though that could probably be measured in minutes). Power outage -- my ATT phone worked, Ice storm my phone worked and was the only thing in the house that worked , Hurricane/Tornado/Flood -- my phone worked.


I finally graduated from a flip phone to a smart phone a few months ago and honestly haven't found much I can do with it that I couldn't do before -- texting is easier, call quality is rancid on every smartphone I've tried vs the flipphone (which was worse than the VOIP which is notably worse than the copper line). No wonder nobody cares about call minutes anymore because it's nearly impossible to make a call. My wife's flipphone -- circa literally 2004-2005 is finally about give up the ghost with the battery not holding a charge and it's almost impossible to find a real replacement battery so she may soon join the ranks of the damned and end up with a smart phone of some sort.


There are some free cellphone service plans which in theory would would make a great emergency phone -- Ringplus, FreedomPop but so far my experience with those has been less than super (far far less)


I ran the memory on my outgoing flipphone that I had for work -- in 7 years -- 200texts (I bet half were incoming spam), 500 total minutes used. I really had to laugh, but nowhere near as hard as the teenagers laughed at my wife's even older phone. It's off more than it was on and honestly I never answered it unless it was work. Anyone who wanted to reach me knew to call my home answering machine b/c the chance of me retrieving a VM or Txt in a 48 hr window was pretty low. 90% of the time the phone stayed in the car no matter where I was anyway.


Most annoying experience of my life to date may have been at DisneyWorld 3-4 years ago -- 80+% of the folks had their phone out all the time. You're at Disney turn off the world and enjoy it. I swear one of these days there is going to be an epidemic of people who can't turn their arms inward and will have their hands in a permanent mishapen claw from keeping it in one position nonstop. What the opposite of repetitive motion malady? Forget Carpal Tunnel -- get ready for Cell phone Supination Syndrome.

 

[TravisR]

I live perfectly fine without an electronic leash

It seems like nearly everyone I know gets annoyed by their cell phone (their job having the ability to constantly contact them, people they'd rather avoid texting them) more than it helps them. I mean I certainly see the benefits to having one but for me, it's not something I feel a need or a desire to have.

 

[Carabimero]

I know quite a few people who refuse to get a cellphone. (All over 50, of course!). I have one friend (age 57) who was forced to get a smartphone last week in order to process orders for his forthcoming book. His first question upon getting a tutorial from me on its operation was, "How do I turn it off?" (Tony Bensley will know who I'm talking about!)


I myself could do without one quite easily if I didn't occasionally need it for work. I don't do social media and I don't use my phone to check email. I don't want to be accessible 24/7. I'll answer email when I'm at my computer and take calls when it's convenient.

For the record, I was in my early thirties when I decided not to get a cell phone. I didn't want to be one of those annoying people who talk on it in inappropriate places. I didn't want to ignore people right in front of me, in the real world, for the hollow allure of the virtual world. A cell phone would disconnect me from people more than it would ever connect me to them. I only have to go to a restaurant and see a family gathered at a table, all ignoring each other, staring into their small screens, to know it's true.


If my wife and I were college students today, for instance, it’s likely we’d never meet or strike up the conver­sation that resulted in our happy marriage. I first saw her thirty years ago standing outside history class. We were both early. The hallway was ours. It’s reasonable to assume given the same circumstance today, we’d have our faces buried in cell phones and, caught in the enticing trap of cyberspace, miss our real-world moment.


It's a fact that my wife and I are closer because we spend our time paying attention to each other rather than paying attention our phones.