Getting Rid of Home Phone?

We haven't had one for 5 years and don't have a single regret! When my son gets a little older (able to dial 911 and understand that) we are thinking of getting an extra one and leaving it in one place. It would only cost us $5 a month to add another cell, as apposed to $35 for a land line.

The only downfalls I've found are that a landline doesn't run out of charge, or get washed in the washing machine (like mine did, somehow...) I would keep old cell phones that you have left over from upgrades in a drawer somewhere... just in case... :) I also understand that any cell phone will call 911, even if it doesn't have any other service hooked up to it, as long as it is charged enough. Keep one in the glove box.

Did it years ago. Miss it sometimes when I am at home and wish I didn't have to be tied to the phone charger. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have an answering machine again too. Normally I don't miss it at all. Just occasionally I think about it.

I've never even had a home phone in the 7 years I've lived on my own. I've never wished I had one. I think it's the wave of the future the end of home phones. :-)

We haven't had a home phone in 6 years and have no regrets! All of our sitters have cell phones, so it's not an issue. We did have a sitter's phone die on her way over to our house once and we just left my husband's phone with her!

We got rid of ours years ago!

I don't have a home phone. Haven't had one in over 7 years.

There are so many cell phone plans out there that allow cell-to-cell calling and you can make it work for yourself if you find out who has the same service as you and just exactly what your cell provider gives you (unlimited to any cell? unlimited to same-service-cells?)

Make sure you have a phone charger at home, plus a car charger in the car. You'll be happy! ADDED: You can also buy a solar-powered phone charger. Keep it just for emergencies as CAWriterMom mentioned. If you keep it 'off' but still in the sun where it can charge, then it will be ready with full power to be turned 'on' when you need it.

Cancelled ours 7 years ago and no regrets.

We got rid of our home phone for 6 months then got it back for the following reasons:
1. Emergency calls, easier to locate address from landline than cell phone in which tower may not be in your city. (i.e. we live in plano but the cell shows up as grandprarie and we had an intruder in the backyard.).
2. We use for international and long distance (better deal than cell phone.)
3. Fax machine.
4. an alternate number to give to businesses so they don't call your cell phone.
5. yes, you can put home and cell on the national do not call list, but its easier to change home phone if needed than cell phone.
6. Security and back up.
In the end do what is best for you and your family.

Geez wiz, we DID cancel it, so HARD to make that decision. But we have SIX (count 'em) SIX cell phones in the house, enhanced 911 in our area, and nobody EVER EVEN ANSWERED the ground line. So yeah, it's been two years, the cable bill is $40 less now, and no one even really noticed the lack of ground line, except it's pretty quiet!

:)

I was wondering the same thing this morning when I paid our $30 bill. We never use the thing but for some reason I just can't cancel it. I will read what others say, too.

We're keeping our home phone. If the power goes out, good luck charging those cell phones. A friend of mine is cell only and when her power was out she was in a panic because she couldn't recharge her cell and it was almost out.

And I agree with the person who mentions having kids dial 911. No way my kids could figure out all of the steps to get to the phone on my cell phone, but they know just what to do with a regular phone.

I keep my land line. But just to have it, minimum only, less than $20/mo. I don't want telemarketer calling my cell and use my minutes (because eventually you have to list your phone for the online order, or something like that and your number will ended up somewhere and they started calling you).

We have considered doing it but chose not to because of all the telemarketing calls we get (even though we're on the do not call list). We also don't like businesses calling our cell phones. They often sell their phone lists and we'd end up with telemarketing calls on our phones (which are also on the do not call list but somehow that doesn't catch them all). We give our cell numbers out to family, friends, and doctors and no one else! We give everyone else our home number. I HATE HATE HATE getting non personal phone calls on my cell. It's one of my biggest pet peeves.

We don't have one. The only downfall is if we have a babysitter that doesn't have a cell phone and my husband and I are going in opposite directions. We are thinking about adding a line and programming just our numbers into it so any sitters that come have quick access to us.

Is it just me? Because I HATE to talk (for very long) on my cell phone!

We cut the cord over two years ago and I never regretted it. I have a cheap pay-as-you-go cell phone that I use as a landline replacement when we are out and the babysitter is here.

My husband and I have thought about getting rid of our land line but I just can't do it yet. Our daughter just turned 5 and I just feel safer having a land line right now, even though we both have cell phones. Both of our moms and one of my husband's sisters occasionally come over to babysit and once or twice my mother inlaw forgot to bring her cell phone with her and another time or two she broght it but didn't have it charged. I always worry about what would happen if somebody was at home with our daughter and didn't have access to a phone if there were an emergency. I saw where others posted that they have an extra cell that they leave at home, kind of to replace their land line, and that is definitely something I would consider doing in another year or two - just not yet.

We have no call waiting or caller ID and the cheapest land line. My 9 year used it to call and get calls from her friends, I don't want them calling my cell phone. When my youngest gets a cell we will cancel it. I have had a babysitters come with out cell phones before. My mom doesn't have one either so if she take care of the kids-they would be without a phone.

I honestly don't think I know anyone with a land line anymore. We got rid of ours years ago and I cannot think of one reason to get it back.

We don't talk on the phone that much and our landline just kept getting more expensive so we took the plunge. But we added a line to our exisiting plan, keeping our landline number. That saved us about $20 a month. We've been really good about keeping it charged and if we did lose power we could charge it from the car. No regrets, so far! DS, 7.5, knows how to dial 911 from the cell phone; will teach DD, age 3, soon. Both our kids are very into technology - they love being on the computer, answering the (cell) phone, playing with other's (LOL) iPods, though I kinda feel bad because it will be quite some time before DS and DD(3) get their own cell phones, iPods or computers...

We did it last year and I wish I had done it sooner. No more dealing with that extra bill for people to annoy us. I can't tell you how many times a tug boat called me! LOL. So yea, I'd get rid of it. No need to keep it at all.

We did it a couple years ago and no regrets at all so far.

I keep my landline only because I get no service in my basement floor apartment.

Do not underestimate what your child can do on your cell phone.. They can figure them out very fast.. Also always have a car phone so in case of no electricity you can plug it into the car to speak or to charge..

It saves us $30. per month to not have the land line.. That is $360 a year!!!

We got rid of ours but now we cannot use our fax...we didn't use it often but it was nice to have when we needed it.

We cancelled our home phone about 7 years ago. Its cheaper and like you only telemarketers called the home phone anyway. I'm glad we did. It saves us money and long distance is included in the packages obviously. Our 9 yr old son got his cell when he turned 8 as he was then able to stay home by himself legally and he has access to us and emergency services. His phone at $10 per month is cheaper than whatever a land line would be and I can contact him at home or if he is outside. I also only get him the free phones they offer with a new line or a really inexpensive one to save money as well. As soon as our daughter turns 8 she'll get one too. Oh, and with 911 services (somehow everyone of us in our family has somehow butt dialed them) they can usually tell where you are within about 50 feet of your actual location so I really like that.

We cancelled ours, I dont love the fact that I dont have a landline. One day, I had to facebook my sister to call my cell phone because I couldnt find it in the house! But, I dont miss the home phone ringing all the time. Make sure you call all of your contacts and give them your phone number. I didnt know my kids dentists moved until I showed up for an appointment! They didnt have my cell phone number!

I'm considering it too. My only reservations are 1) I have DSL in my home, and I don't know if the phone company is going to let me keep that without a home phone number, and 2) I lose my cell phone in the house all the time. Calling it from the home phone is usually the only way I can find it.

I do have the cheapest land line package available, so it's not a huge expense, but I've been considering it just to save a little money.

We got rid of ours years ago (about 4) and have not regretted it yet. The ONLY reason I wish we still had one is for a fax machine, but it wouldn't be worth the monthly expense of keeping it.

I didn't want to call and inform all the dr's, etc, who had our land line, so I opted for incoming calls only (and per call charges for calling out), just like in the "good ol' days" and I pay about $12 a month for that. We also all have cell phones with plenty of minutes to use for all other calls. Works for us! Good luck!

I would love to get rid of mine. Really the only reason we haven't yet is because we have smaller children in the home, and they obviously don't have cell phones. But we're in the same boat... no one calls us on it, unless I didn't answer my cell ;)

Actually, we didn't even have a home phone until very recently, and I only got it because of a "bundle package".

My husband and I both have cell phones, but my cell phone has an out of state area code, so that is another reason I haven't done away with the home phone. Schools or church always seem to call my husband first. They probably see my number and think "what is this?"

Maybe I'll cancel the home, and change my cell number. Can I do that?

KATIE

I have lived in New Jersey for over five years and have only had a cell phone. I do not need the extra expense. It saves my family on long distance calls since I have a number that is from the state I did reside in. It also makes it better to keep in touch with my friends. I do text a lot of times because it is easier. I do not miss having a home phone.

I have a home phone and NEVER use it. No one calls it anymore except for the occasional telemarketer. I dont know why I'm still paying for it. Sometimes it's good back up just in case cell towers arent working, but that's about it.

We haven't had a houseline in years (8).

Since, like your family, everyone has a cellphone... it's a nonissue.

- Our cells have nationwide free calling.
- Skype and iChat Video is what we use for international calling (free in both cases), or pay the 2 cents a minute to 7 cents a minute (I call Argentina, all over the EU, the Balkans, and the Middle East all the time... typically 40-50 hours a month. 90% of those hours are through Skype).
- We have 'find your phone' / 'mobile me' option so it's easy to ping them from the computer (we can also phone them through skype on the computer, if we know it's in the room *somewhere*).
- 911 has them linked with our home address (you can call the nonemergency number and link them)
- We have eFax, so fax directly from our computers or scanner, and receive faxes on our computers OR iPhones
- We have cable internet

We just got rid of our land-line a savings of $60 a month. If the power goes out and the cell phones need to be charged we have a generator so not to worried about it. As a back up I keep one of our old phones charged at all times that way if we really needed it we could just swap our sim card into that and be prepared.

we did it a few years ago and just use our cell phones. I love it! I don't see any reason to have a home phone if your cell phone has coverage at home. Most people would call our cell anyway because they didn't know if we were home or not.