Sly Bald Guys Forum
Various Non-Bald Discussions => General Discussion => Topic started by: Razor X on March 05, 2012, 09:43:15 PM
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Many of my co-workers do not have landline phones at home, and upon learning that I do have one, reacted as if it were an extremely unusual thing to have. "Do you actually use it?" was the next question I got. And I do actually use it. Some of my friends always call me on my cell phone, but others call the landline, and if I'm at home and need to make a call, I usually use the landline. It's bundled with my cable TV and internet service, so it doesn't cost me a huge amount of money. I also wouldn't want to be solely reliant on my cell phone in the event of an emergency.
Perhaps it's a case of being on the wrong side of the generational divide and refusing to give up obsolete technology, but it never occurred to me to get rid of it. Just wondering how the rest of you feel about this. Do you use landlines at home or do you use your cell phones exclusively?
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I use the landline a lot more than my mobile phone. At least for making calls. I use my mobile phone seemingly for everything but making calls.
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I still have my land line. Use it at home to avoid the cell which has spotty service in the house. I stripped off the premium addons like caller id and call waiting so its 20.00 a month. I need it for my security system which cant use a cell phone of course. I hear the same but it puzzles me why for $20 a month people would want to go back 50 years to when the was ONE phone in the house to use. I like the convenience of a phone in each room to use. Plus in an emergency there is a phone right where you are without running to find the ONE phone.
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I still use it.
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We have one and use it all the time BUT we are behind the curve on cell phones. We have simple TracFones (pay as you go) because we rarely use them..... especially me. I refuse to be drawn into the whole "I've gotta check my cell phone evfry 5 minutes" life style.
My wife wants me to get us real cell phones but I refuse to unless she agrees to give up the land line..... why pay for both (my opinion). She can't part with that land line though.
I'm afraid I won't be able to hold her off much longer because my son just turned 15 years old and he wants a cell phone badly. The pressure is on me!!
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Like you we have a landline phone bundled with other services. For personal calls we use our cell phones - mostly to family. We use the landline mostly for other business - am retired so don't have lot of that - calls mostly about appts. We have caller ID. We use that to determine whether to answer an incoming call. Most of the calls we get we do not answer - usually calls soliciting donations - firemen - police etc. or win a cruise by completing this survey. We get about 20 calls a day - perhaps 3-4 of those are of any interest whatsoever.
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I agree with you, Mike.
I have a tracfone. Perhaps pay the minimum $10 per month just to keep it going. I rarely answer the cell phone unless I'm expecting a call. Do a little texting with it.
We have Vonage VOIP at home. Does that count as a land line?
I STRONGLY DISLIKE cell phones. The volume is LOW. The coverage is spotty. Drops calls. The digital compression makes it hard to hear the voice. People call from the noisiest places and that makes it hard to hear. It's just expensive terrible service! Who would want to pay huge amount of money for terrible service? I guess many Americans do. Not this one.
I love the VOIP line. It works. It's cheap. I can call and talk as long as I want and the bill does not change! If you need a referral to vonage, let me know. I believe you get a discount on your first month or two if someone gives you a referral (and I get a discount too).
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We have a landline account for the one line and the DSL computer connection. We have moved on to smartphones for our mobile service. Rarely, if ever, do we use the landland for long distance calling since it's included in our mobile account. We moved into cell phones when our daughters went to college and they have their phones too, but now on their own rather than part of a family plan. We receive a number of calls on the land line from friends and unfortunately the "panhandler" set and political calls. We considered dumping the land line, but for now we're holding it.
Mike, your children are growing up and I assure you you will want to move up on your cell phones because it's how you keep tabs on them and they have a line to you--although it's mainly texting. I can't tell you how much having the phone & being able to keep in touch with the kids means, especially as they start traveling and moving about. It's an essential parent tool. Our youngest headed off to a wedding in Lake Charles last Saturday, we knew where she was, when she decided to spend the night with friends after the reception and when she headed back home on Sunday--it takes a lot of the tension out of being a parent.
And, last Friday when the fates placed me in an accident, the smartphone did everything, confirming my insurance, e-mailing the wife when she didn't pick up on the call, getting the mechanic out to pick up the motorcycle, etc. It was a small issue really, but showed that when the chips are down, being in touch in multiple ways is a big, really big help.
Traveling, I keep up with the status of my flights and don't have to depend on being able to talk with an agent--who generally don't have any better information than I can get off my flight tracker app. We've made motel reservations on the road when travelling so we know where we're staying rather than looking from place to place trying to find a vacancy. Yup, handy, convenient--and for our family a necessity.
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We also have land line bundled with other stuff. Up here in Northern Wisconsin there are a great many dead spots for cells. One of them is the north side of the house where I can neither send or receive with the cell. I would not go without a cell up here, though, because the roads can get so bad in winter that you really never know when you're going off-road. Nice to know that I could call or text in the event that I'm stranded.
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Still have a home phone and use it often. I work out of my house most of the time and AT&T's coverage can be spotty (very frustrating).
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Still have a bundled land line but everybody in the house has a cell phone. We wouldn't go out without one in our pockets in case of emergency's and such.
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We have a landline bundled in with FIOS service and use it regularly. The sound quality is still superior to cell service. We find it better to give the landline number out for most things (businesses, charities, etc.) and give out the cell numbers only to people we really want to deal with.
The landline / cell phone is generational: my daughters, nephews and neices don't have and see little / no need for landlines.
One last thing: FIOS phone service has one significant drawback - it has battery back-up that only last about 4 to 6 hours in a power interruption. After that, the landline is dead.
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I too have a landline. I use it most of the time for local calls. AT&T is outrageous on their long distance rate in this area. I once paid $33.00 for a $0.17 long distance call. So, I use the cell for out of area calls, plus when I travel.
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We use Vonange as our land line. It's a pretty good and reliable service. The feature I like the most is that you can set it to forward to you cell phone if you want and it automatically goes to your cell phone if your internet at home is down, which interrupts the service.
We also have pay-as-you-go cell phones. I rarely make or receive calls on it so I can't see the need of the added expense of having the latest and "greatest" cell phone with 4'000+ bells and whistles.
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We use Vonage as our land line. It's a pretty good and reliable service. The feature I like the most is that you can set it to forward to you cell phone if you want and it automatically goes to your cell phone if your internet at home is down, which interrupts the service.
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And you can make the call forwarding ring MANY cell phones at once! First to pick up gets it.
I like that, too.
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I've found I use my mobile more now I run my own business, most of my business calls come to my mobile and none of my friends use landlines so I cal them on mobile, I'm on pay-as-you-go but you can pay a set amount for a month of calls to certain people and 5000 national texts, so it's pretty good.
I totally agree with SaintC about smartphones, it's not the necessity, it's the ultimate convenience... my entire business runs based on my smartphone calendar.
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... it puzzles me why for $20 a month people would want to go back 50 years to when the was ONE phone in the house to use. I like the convenience of a phone in each room to use. Plus in an emergency there is a phone right where you are without running to find the ONE phone.
I agree. When my cell phone rings at home, I often have to run and find it -- that's if I remembered to take it off vibrate and can even hear it ringing.
I used to pay about $25 for landline service, but when it got bundled with my cable and internet, the total cost of all three was about $25 less than what I'd been paying for them separately. So basically, the landline doesn't cost me anything at all.
I use the cell for contacting doctor's offices, repairmen, etc -- so I don't have to worry about being at home to get the call when they call me back.
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I STRONGLY DISLIKE cell phones. The volume is LOW. The coverage is spotty. Drops calls. The digital compression makes it hard to hear the voice. People call from the noisiest places and that makes it hard to hear. It's just expensive terrible service! Who would want to pay huge amount of money for terrible service? I guess many Americans do. Not this one.
Sounds like you need to change providers.
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I STRONGLY DISLIKE cell phones. The volume is LOW. The coverage is spotty. Drops calls. The digital compression makes it hard to hear the voice. People call from the noisiest places and that makes it hard to hear. It's just expensive terrible service! Who would want to pay huge amount of money for terrible service? I guess many Americans do. Not this one.
Sounds like you need to change providers.
Every phone I have borrowed to try is like this, every provider I have tried is like this. They all stink. All models, all brands, all services.
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Smartphone only. It basically runs my life. I use it as my alarm in the morning, for all calls dialed and received and texting, it has all my friends and business contacts (backed up to the PC of course), it's connected to my email account, I use it as my calendar and set time-specific reminders on it, I check the weather forecast with it, use it for voice memos to record song ideas, use it as my camera and video recorder, use it for Pandora and iPod at the gym and plan workouts with the iFitness app, browse the internet, it has a calculator and a compass, I watch Netflix on road trips with it (not while driving, of course), I use Google Maps as my GPS when my Garmin can't find a place, and hell, I even have a police scanner app. And a flashlight app. And many other apps that are much less useful. :D
Did I mention it makes telephone calls?
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I have Vonage but if i didn't need it for work i would just go with my smartphone.
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Every phone I have borrowed to try is like this, every provider I have tried is like this. They all stink. All models, all brands, all services.
So you've never had a mobile phone of your own? You base your somewhat equivocating opinion on "borrowed" use of all models, brands and service providers? Neat trick. Good thing you don't need one. You must still have pay phones in your area I guess. >:D But, if you do need to communicate, can't find a land line and you're out of quarters there's always smoke signals, I guess.
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Every phone I have borrowed to try is like this, every provider I have tried is like this. They all stink. All models, all brands, all services.
So you've never had a mobile phone of your own? You base your somewhat equivocating opinion on "borrowed" use of all models, brands and service providers? Neat trick. Good thing you don't need one. You must still have pay phones in your area I guess. >:D But, if you do need to communicate, can't find a land line and you're out of quarters there's always smoke signals, I guess.
I'm 'on call' at work one week out of three. I carry the work cell phone. Over the past few years there have been several different phones. All terrible.
We've had two ATT phones to share in the family ... and several models over the years. All terrible.
I currently have a tracfone ... and several models in the family. All terrible for audio.
And when I'm out and need to call, but don't have a phone, I may borrow. Never had a good cell phone conversation. They are all difficult to hear on.
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And most of the phones today do just about everything (for a charge) except to make phone calls. I really dislike trying to wade through many menus on the phone trying to figure out how to answer the call. Yuck.
I'd like a phone that only makes and receives calls. The photos are terrible, fuzzy, low-res, like an old 110 camera with a piece of saran wrap plastic for a lens. And non-standard USB jacks, so you can't download the photos without paying outrageous data fees to get the crummy pictures out.
The have never 'ring' like a phone. Obnoxious ring tones, yuck.
I guess you get the drift that I have little use or enjoyment out of a cell phone.
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I haven't had a landline since I moved over 6 years ago. I use the Xlink adapter to connect my cell phone to my house phones.
What happens is when I am home, my cell automatically connects by bluetooth to the Xlink which is connected to the house wiring and therfore my 7 house phones become active on my cell service. When my cell rings, all the house phones ring. When I make a call on the house phones, it actually goes out over the cell phone. The cell phone passes caller id to my house phones and I can still access call waiting on the house phones. If your cell phone can dial by voice, you can still use that feature on your house phone. The Xlink will connect up to 3 cell phones to your single line house phones and give you different ring patterns for each phone. As soon as I leave the house with my cell phone, all the house phones are dead.
The Xlink even simultes dial tones so it is exactly like having land line service. You can connect it to the computer to change the ring patterns on the house phones and you can set the volume and various other things. I think my cell phone sounds better when using it over the house phones.
I leave the small Xlink box in my bedroom so when I come in, I drop the phone on the night table and that's it. I don't have to carry the cell phone around the house to use it. Also, if you have spotty cell service in your house (luckily I don't), you can install the Xlink in what ever room you have good service as long as you have access to a phone jack too.
Check it out at myxlink.com . This is exactly the product I designed in my head but didn't know how to actually make it. I can't believe more people don't know about it. There is a similar item call the dock'n'talk. I tried that first but it was terrible and sent it back!
Let me know if you need anymore info.
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And most of the phones today do just about everything (for a charge) except to make phone calls. I really dislike trying to wade through many menus on the phone trying to figure out how to answer the call. Yuck.
I'd like a phone that only makes and receives calls. The photos are terrible, fuzzy, low-res, like an old 110 camera with a piece of saran wrap plastic for a lens. And non-standard USB jacks, so you can't download the photos without paying outrageous data fees to get the crummy pictures out.
The have never 'ring' like a phone. Obnoxious ring tones, yuck.
I guess you get the drift that I have little use or enjoyment out of a cell phone.
Your experiences are not typical. The vast majority of people do not have these problems. There are occasional dropped calls, and sometimes the signals can be weak, but most of the time they work just fine. Yes, phones do a wide variety of things, but they still do make and receive calls. They *do* ring like a phone. Mine has an old-fashioned ring just like phones used to have 30 years ago when they sounded like an actual bell.
The cameras are also improving dramatically. You can't compare the photos taken on low-end equipment to those that are shot with an iPhone or an Android smartphone. You can upload them to your online photo albums or email them to yourself or to friends. I have never, ever, connected my phone to a computer, though it is quite easy to do should I want to.
I took this photo with my Motorola Android on Saturday. It's not as good as what I can take with my regular digital camera, but I wouldn't exactly call it low resolution or fuzzy. And it took about 20 seconds to upload it wirelessly to my Photobucket album:
(https://www.slybaldguys.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi318.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fmm407%2Frhorgan68%2Fphotobucket-32810-1330813676390.jpg&hash=42607ad6c61c435c1c3c605adb2077d70d8c629f)
If you don't like using cell phones, that's perfectly fine. It's your prerogative. We're not trying to convert you. :) But with all due respect, you are making a lot of faulty assumptions about them based on some rather limited experiences with less than state-of-the-art equipment. ;)
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I still have the landline, too. It's barebones w/ no long distance (and is pulse). It serves in an emergency and is for the alarm system.
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I have TWO landlines...WOW! One is with my AT&T Uverse Bundle...and is free because I still have "employee" status. The other is my MagicJack...which is AWESOME! I can take it with me wherever I take my laptop, so I can make calls on the road and it appears that I'm calling from my local landline.
With that said..95% of my calls are on my Android phone along with text, email, movies, music, calendar, notes, camera, and every other delicious thing it does.
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Very few of Ming's subjects call His Imperial Majesty, but when they do, Ming expects them to call his land line. Being "always in touch," which is the supposed virtue of having a cell phone, does not add to Ming's happiness. Ming's cell phone sits on a shelf, usually, turned off. Ming's land line has an answering machine: "The Imperial Palace. Ming is not available to take your call. Please leave a message at the sound of the gong, and Ming will either return your call or arrange for your decapitation."
Why does Ming not carry his cell phone in a some pocket of his regalia? There is such a thing as being too available, and Ming prefers to favor inaccessibility over being at the beck and call of... callers. Ming does have a life beyond the public, and his hatching of plans can be derailed by inconsequential calls.
Ming's land line number is unlisted.
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I still have the landline, too. It's barebones w/ no long distance (and is pulse). It serves in an emergency and is for the alarm system.
The phone may be pulse but I would bet a touch tone phone would work too. If it doesn't, try switching the polarity of the phone wires. Some phone systemes no longer recognize pulse dialing.
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I used to have a landline and cell phone. I did that since cell coverage with Sprint was very crappy in my apartment, even though on their maps, I had good coverage. But then I had to cut costs to get some bills paid off. So I got rid of cable, internet and home phone though
Comcast. So then I could only use my cell phone in my kitchen and dining room. Even then, it was spotty. Now that I am doing better financially, I brought back the cable and internet, but not the phone. But my phone problems were solved! How you may ask? Switching carriers? Nope! I found out that there is a device that Sprint offers called the Airave. It connects to your broadband connection and acts like a mini cell phone tower inside your home. So you calls go to the device and is basically a VOIP that uses a cell phone. If you go to the Sprint website, it says that it costs extra. But upon looking at forums about it, if you threaten Sprint with leaving, they probably will let you have the device for free! That is what I have done and I am very happy with it! So I get to have the device until I leave Sprint, then I have to return it!
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Iv gotalandline as a package it is useful, im notsureidwant a contractmobile iv got amobile payg ,hate it
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I`ll just stick with the ole trusty rotary phone hanging on my wall .
(https://www.slybaldguys.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi39.tinypic.com%2Fmwtrp2.jpg&hash=1113200ae224f775c456d5066063f14d03c4ab40)
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I`ll just stick with the ole trusty rotary phone hanging on my wall .
(https://www.slybaldguys.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi39.tinypic.com%2Fmwtrp2.jpg&hash=1113200ae224f775c456d5066063f14d03c4ab40)
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I moved back home on the 1st of this month. Got a landline for my security system, but more often than not people call me on my cell which doesn't bother me because my cell phone bill is only $35 a month. My landline is the bare minimum package. Some people say why don't I bundle...Why? AT&T's internet has no ports available in the area, I like DirecTV better and Cox is not an option because I am banned from Cox (too long a story to share on this post). Getting back on topic, it's good to have that second number via landline in case my cellphone dies or is misplaced.
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Many of my co-workers do not have landline phones at home, and upon learning that I do have one, reacted as if it were an extremely unusual thing to have. "Do you actually use it?" was the next question I got. And I do actually use it. Some of my friends always call me on my cell phone, but others call the landline, and if I'm at home and need to make a call, I usually use the landline. It's bundled with my cable TV and internet service, so it doesn't cost me a huge amount of money. I also wouldn't want to be solely reliant on my cell phone in the event of an emergency.
Perhaps it's a case of being on the wrong side of the generational divide and refusing to give up obsolete technology, but it never occurred to me to get rid of it. Just wondering how the rest of you feel about this. Do you use landlines at home or do you use your cell phones exclusively?
Razor X: you and I could be on the same side of the generation divide. Like you, I have my landline is bundled in with the cable telly and broadband internet. It does feel a bit silly making a mobile phone call in the flat. You use the mobile when you are ... err.. mobile and out and about.
BTW, in the States do you use the expression 'broadband' when referring to the Internet ? Gets used a lot here in the UK. First there was dial up internet. Then there was broadband.
You're gonna have to forgive me. I love all the little differences between the American and British English.
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So do I Jules. A recent addition to my collection is "Knocking House"....LOL.
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So do I Jules. A recent addition to my collection is "Knocking House"....LOL.
Oh, what's "knocking house" ?
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BTW, in the States do you use the expression 'broadband' when referring to the Internet ? Gets used a lot here in the UK. First there was dial up internet. Then there was broadband.
You're gonna have to forgive me. I love all the little differences between the American and British English.
Yes, we do but it's pretty much taken for granted that most people have broadband access now, so more often than not we just say "internet".
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Yeah, broadband and internet. It's all interchangeable now.
Mind you, don't know how I'd cope without the internet, if ever it went wrong. For starters, no SBG forum for tips and advice.
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YEs Jules ,
Think how much letters would cost now 60p a throw not too mention the enormous amount of stuff that we all do on the internet , I occasionally use SKype ,
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YEs Jules ,
Think how much letters would cost now 60p a throw not too mention the enormous amount of stuff that we all do on the internet , I occasionally use SKype ,
Internet save a fortune. Like the new profile pic.
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So do I Jules. A recent addition to my collection is "Knocking House"....LOL.
Oh, what's "knocking house" ?
It's British for a Brothel.
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So do I Jules. A recent addition to my collection is "Knocking House"....LOL.
Oh, what's "knocking house" ?
It's British for a Brothel.
Of course ! Being British, I should (and now do remember) what the means.
If you want another bit of British slang, sure you've come across the word "dodgy". Get used here all the time.
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Yes I've got that. Same language, so many differences.
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Razor........Your phone takes a great picture. But how did you train your goat to sit on the chair ? ;) ;D
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Razor........Your phone takes a great picture. But how did you train your goat to sit on the chair ? ;) ;D
I tricked her into thinking she's a dog. The rest was easy. ;)
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Skype beats the landline in one respect. Got people used to the new sly look when I skyped them. So, none of this "oh, you've shaved your head" nonsense when I met them later.
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Razor........Your phone takes a great picture. But how did you train your goat to sit on the chair ? ;) ;D
Hey, wake up, goats eat cans, not dishes--easy way to make the distinction! >:D
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Goats don't sit at the table, either:
(https://www.slybaldguys.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi318.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fmm407%2Frhorgan68%2Fphotobucket-30956-1333329765679.jpg&hash=3bf4b3cff789fe73cd0b99c5daa9bbf0e5a5dc60)
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Now that's a dog with culture , drinks coffee and watchs tv. 8)