Why do you pay for a telephone?

[Tony Hwang]

Hmm, Then don't own one if it so bad.

[Andrew Barss]

:> And a land line is still cheaper than a cell phone. :>

:>

:> -- :> PV

: And you're not annoying everyone around you when you're talking on them like : those people on cell phones.

And you don't lose service in various spots around town. And the audio quality is much, much better.

-- Andy Barss

[WhiteTea77581]

m like

Apparently that isn't a problem for movie theaters who have been using them for years.

I am hoping to see legislation banning cell phone use in cars as studies have shown that "cell phone using drivers" are more impaired than drunk drivers.

Andy

[Phisherman]

How do you call an ambulance, police, or fire department when you need it? My land phone is $18+tax/mo. and I dislike phones. I keep the ringer turned off and it is hooked up to an answering machine. No sales calls, no political surveys, and no donation requests. I use a fictious name for my phonebook listing, so I can identify trash callers and postal items immediately. I shred my mail before it goes to the compost pile. Be careful what (information) you throw away.

[Phisherman]

Hopefully the cell phone will work if calling the fire department or paramedics. Is there a cell-phone contract for $100/year? My land line is about $210 a year, but my AT&T phone/answering machine always works, works well, and doesn't lose power. I doubt a Tracfone is as reliable with the quality of a corded land line phone, plus you can lose a cell phone. With electronics you get lower quality and pay more for portability.

[SMS]

Perhaps, but not by much. You can now get unlimited minutes and texts for $22.50. My landline is $17/month.

[George]

Its pretty simple. Pay your bills and put your number on the do not call list.

[AZ Nomad]

And you don't have service at all except exactly one location.

I keep my home line so that businesses don't bother me on the cellphone -- its the number printed on my checks and used for all business contacts.

I now use VOIP so it's $5/month plus a penny a minute in either direction anywhere in the US, going to asterisk PBX software which I have set up for the sole purpose of eliminating all calls lacking a human at the originating end from making my phones ring.

And with VOIP, it's far less reliable than my cell phone. Power and internet must be up and it doesn't do 911.

[Marina]

Andrew Barss wrote in news:h4ontf$88r$ [e-mail]:

Perhaps where you live, but for me my cell is the same or better.

[willshak]

on 7/28/2009 4:56 PM (ET) [e-mail] wrote the following:

There are too many people that have my land line telephone number, going back to 1984. I don't look forward to calling hundreds of people and businesses to change the number. Right now, I am contemplating switching my land line and phone number to my cable company, TWC. I already have the cable TV and internet with them and they have a package deal for all 3 services.

[AZ Nomad]

Ah, this is you making friends everywhere you go.

[AZ Nomad]

messagenews:ZPJbm.36888$Db2.6873@edtnps83...

Name one.

[AZ Nomad]

That won't stop them and the politicians and nonprofits have a loophole. I was getting 5-6 calls/day from politicans using autodialers during last election.

The final straw for me was an autodialer with an announcement that I shouldn't litter. They were using the loophole to collect phone numbers.

[George]

I also have a SIP trunk on asterisk for similar reasons.

What lots of folks don't realize because they have no reason to know is how crappy most wireless providers are as far as redundancy and backup power. Typically they just have a small amount of battery that will keep the site up for a short time. Only one carrier I know of is really anal about having large amounts of battery and also generators on almost everything.

[HeyBub]

Google has a new service called "Google Voice". It's free.

You sign up and get a telephone number. Then you specify OTHER numbers that you want referenced.

When someone calls your GoogleVoice number, the call is transfered to the OTHER number(s) you've specified. For example, if someone calls your GV number, your cell, land-line, office, and car phone can all ring simultaneously (or in sequence, I forget).

The thing has other options, too. Like recording the conversation, voicemail transcripts, direct the call based on the caller, etc.

Here's the skinny:

[willshak]

A lot of my extended family don't own a computer. What then?

[willshak]

on 7/29/2009 12:51 PM (ET) Marina wrote the following:

My cell phone transmission power is at the fringe. In my basement, there are no bars a lot of the time, and I have the provider whose ads ask "Can you hear me now?" My answer is no..

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

I'd say go for it. About 9 months ago a TW rep. knocked on my door [and all my neighbor's doors], told me what I was paying MCI, and asked if I wanted to save $40 a month.

'Phone company'? Cable company? - Who is worse, I wondered. But I've had a noisy buried cable since I've lived here [25yrs or so] and threats to the PSC are the only thing that ever moved MCI or Verizon [who used to be my carrier]. Then a few months later I'd get the bad pair again & we'd start all over.

So I figured cable-phone can't be too bad. Got a special deal where it cost $12 a month for the first year - caller ID, call waiting, . . . . [2 other things I can't recall- but I remember he kept saying 4 somethings]. No voice mail, but I hated MCI's anyway. Right now I'm saving $68 a month- but in a few months it will go up a bit.

So far it has worked as advertised, which is more Verizon or MCI were ever able to do.

Jim [oh- and on the original thread- we haven't found a cell phone yet that works in my house. I'm in a suburban area just outside a small city, and 20 miles from NY's capital. .. but I'm under a hill and have aluminum siding on the house. My daughter's Iphone can text from the house- but talking is risky- and we've had sprint, Verizon and some other phones here that don't work at all.]

[AZ Nomad]

A while back my internet service was out. Tried to call the cable company about it an discovered that the phone was dead too. Flipped on the TV to confirm that cable-tv was out too.

I don't really care as my cell phone is my primary and the housephone is just for business.

[Oren]

We moved our land line to the cable company a short while ago. Works as expected and is less expensive in the bundle.

Then the cable company sent me a letter for "free HBO and HBO On Demand channels". The hook was that if I canceled any portion of the bundle within one year it would cost me $55.00. No problem on that.

I'll cancel the HBO when they send me a bill next summer.