anyone without plain old telephone?

[Starfish]

Another wireless-only person here. I like having one phone only. I like not getting sales calls, and it is just simple to have the one wireless phone.

I don't feel obligated to answer the phone if it rings...in fact, with wireless, people never know where you might be...so I feel that it causes fewer assumptions about whether or not I can answer at any given time.

People don't know if I'm at home, in the gym, on a date, at my office, in a meeting, at the movies...etc. I have had some friends worry at first about calling me too late, and I just make it clear that if I have gone to bed or am not available, I simply turn the phone or ringer off. They know I don't always answer.

[Zen]

The only down side to having only a mobile is that there are fewer excuses for not answering the phone...."oh I wasn't home" just doesn't work. Of course I just make up something else!

"I was busy" is all they need to know. cell phones have voice mail too. I don't understand why people feel the absolutely have to answer the phone.

[Grog]

I had only a cell phone for my first two years after moving here in Vancouver, but I got frustrated with it. I find it uncomfortable for longer conversations, and the connection was not as top notch as I would have wanted. So we got a Vonage phone now, which is pretty cheap. (We have built-in high speed internet in our building.) It also wouldn't work in the event of a power down, though.

I very seldom pick up the phone. I can remain seated with not a twitch in my body as it rings... I've been raised on email, to which I can reply when I want. I feel the same about the phone.

[Cindyloo]

The only down side to having only a mobile is that there are fewer excuses for not answering the phone...."oh I wasn't home" just doesn't work. Of course I just make up something else!

I guess I should clarify that it's only my mom that expects me to answer every time she calls...not that I do...hence the excuse to diffuse the guilt trip. I know, boundaries!

[DebW]

I keep at least one hard-wired land line phone because the wireless land lines are no good in a power outage. A cell phone would work until you ran out of battery power, and if the power goes out just before your phone needs a recharge you'd be stuck. I babysit for a friend who has no land line, and have to be sure and bring my cell phone well-charged lest I end up with an emergency and no phone, or in case she wants to call me to check on the kids and panics. You can tell I'm still getting used to cell phones.

[NoNo]

That's why I have a charger in the car

[Zen]

I have some working rotary phones.

[KSH]

Well, I live alone... no kids, etc. So for me, having a land line was pretty much useless and a waste of money since I had a cell phone.

I have only had a cell phone for about 6 years now. Has worked out just fine.

[roadie gal]

There must be something wrong with me. I'm thinking of cancelling the CELL phone and just keeping the landline. Up here in the mountains the cell phone coverage is so sporadic that it's almost useless. I use MAYBE 30 minutes of my 500/month. The voice mails are almost as unreliable as the phone calls. They may show up right away, they may show up next month... During snowstorms the cell towers almost always go down and the electicity goes out all of the time. I have an old princess phone that plugs directly into the phone jack for those occasions.

The only time I use the cell phone is if I'm travelling. (When was the last time anyone in the US saw a payphone?)

[tulip]

I have two cell phones: one for personal use and one for business use. I have internet through the cable company, but no land line. It works fine for me.

[Crankin]

Well, I'm kinda old fashioned, too. My husband wants to ditch the land line, but I won't let him because of 911. We have voip through Comcast (used to have Vonage, but it got increasingly worse over the past 3 years). We have 2 hard wired phones and 3 wireless ones in the house.
I have a cell phone, but I only put it on when I go out in the car and I leave it on at work, since as a teacher, I cannot easily get to a regular phone. I want people to call me on my home phone, not on my cell, unless it's really important. I don't want to be bothered when I am out, like not even hear the phone ring or vibrate. I consider the cell phone a safety thing, but I don't go around checking it every second or looking at it in my hand like some people. I don't even have a camera on my phone and I had to really convince the guy at the Sprint store that i didn't need one! I mean, I don't even take pictures with my camera.
I do bring my phone on my rides, but I only put it on when we are leading a ride; once I had it off and my husband tried to call me because I hadn't showed up at a stopping point. I was the sweep and I was with someone who was having leg cramps. Everyone was waiting for me and I would have been able to communicate more easily if my phone had been on!

All this technology stuff gets on my nerves. I can't remember how anything works and I feel like there's hardly anything in my house that I can easily use.

[emily_in_nc]

This just made me think, if we're planning for emergency situations, how many of you with landlines also have wired phones and not just cordless? Just occurred to me that those wouldn't be very useful if there's no power.

Retrogrouch here -- wireline service with one cordless phone, two wired ones. And one cell phone.

We have to keep the wireline service since our DSL for internet is through the telephone company....we don't have cable modem out here in the sticks.

Emily

[smilingcat]

do you need an active land line for DSL?? I thought they just borrowed the telephone line.

meaning no telephone service and still have DSL. Don't tell me it ain't so...???

well that will be a major I'm not about to get cable modem satellite service. Haven't watched a TV program in like two maybe three years and I'm very happy. What I don't know can't hurt me. Ignorance is a bliss

now REALLY CONFUSED!!!
smilingcat

[jusdooit]

Ditto what Beth said earlier. I am in mid-Mississippi and after Katrina cell service was nearly impossible. The towers were completely jammed for weeks. I do have landline service and will retain it. 911 service is not available here for cell use.

SmilingCat, not sure about DSL. My DSL is through the local phone company and carrying an active phone service seems required. But I have the most inexpensive available.

[kat_h]

do you need an active land line for DSL?? I thought they just borrowed the telephone line.

meaning no telephone service and still have DSL. Don't tell me it ain't so...???

Check with your ISP. Where I am it costs $10 extra to get DSL if you don't also have a landline with the same company. They can do it though.