WOW!JFF: How Many Homes Still Have Home Phones or "Landlines"?

We still have one and that is what the kids use. I also use for anytime someone wants my phone number. No more random calls to my cell phone.

I do not believe land lines are obsolete. I use it everyday to call my kids or hubby from work.

We have a land line for times when the electricity goes out, cells might not be charged for an outage, I like to talk on it better and hate cell phones except in emergency when out.

I have a cell and a land line. I can hear better on the land line phone. And....it's easier to find. lol

wow. I'm in the minority I guess. we use ours for most calls. I don't like the feel of talking on a cell phone. so I really just use my cell phone for mobile uses. when I'm at home, I use the land line.

I don't own a cell phone :)

OLD SCHOOL! I think cell phone's are handy, but blown way out of proportion. I turned off my cell about 5 years ago and LOVE IT!

I ONLY use my home phone :)

We have one (no frills, no call waiting, no caller ID, no long distance) so that in an emergency our children can call 911 even if they can't give their address. Also, I've seen in lots of emergencies (hurricanes, the earthquake in DC last year, 9-11, blizzards, etc) where the cell service just didn't work but an old-fashioned, non-cordless phone still worked.

C.

I do not. Cell and internet... all the way

We still have a landline b/c our boys are little, 7 and 3. Maybe once they are both old enough for their own cell phones we'll get rid of it.
I also live out of the city and I don't always get the best cell coverage.

No landline for about 3 year or so here. Hubby, teenager and I all have the same phones.

We just got rid of ours two weeks ago. In our "bundle", it was a pretty significant cost, so we turned it off. Our kids know how to use our cellphones- even my 3 year old.

We haven't had one in 8 years.

We do. 1. I don't live by my cell phone and 2. We have kids. Even teens misplace their phones (I cannot tell you how often SD uses the landline to call her phone) and I want them to have a phone in case of emergency. Also, in really bad weather or emergency, the cell towers can be overloaded or down and if you dial 911, they may not be able to find you if you don't know where you are. I want DD to be able to pick up the phone and say, "Mommy's hurt" and they know our house number. We also have a corded phone because in a long power failure, the cordless batteries will die, too.

My mom and in-laws have landlines, too. Cell phones are handy, but all technology has limits.

I have one for the same reason.

You have a good reason to still have one.

Once I realized we honestly had not used our land line for 3 years. I had them drop it. It was only $8.00 per month, but I was so concerned we may need it.. Never did..

O. in four homes in America has no land line. So you're in the majority.
Lots of people talk about doing it--but most are keeping the land line--for now at least.

We have one. So do my parents and both siblings.

We technically have one bc we needed to get it in order to have internet. We don't use it, though and I don't think anyone has the number. I have wondered how to train our small kids to dial 911 with no real phone. (We keep it up out of their reach bc of our 1 y/o) I recently realized that my cell phone has a special feature that allows you to dial 911even when the keypad is locked.
I need to show my 4y/o how that works today...

We still have ours. Its super easy, ends all in 7's (xxx-xxx-7777) so all our kids know it and only the school and my mom have the number. My kids are older but still don't have cells so they have given this number to their friends to call and chat with them. I don't have any reason to get rid of it until the kids have their own cells.

We have one also just in case, and my mom still has hers (no computer or cable and cell for emergencies only). My bro has one only for internet. I don't think he has a phone hooked to it though and if so never EVER answered it. My kids do not have cell phones, though they would love to. I also have a wall phone just in case the electric goes out. Cordless won't work so you have to have a regular one stuck to the wall.

We have to have one for our security system and I like having one for when the power goes out.

We have one. The main reason for it is for internet and for the satellite. It is a good way to keep collectors from bugging you on your cell phone at all hours of the day and at work.

It is kind of nice to still have the landline. At least when all else fails it will work when the power is out.

The other S.

still have one for peace of mind...I took off all the "Extras" though so the bill is very low, worth it to me.

No land line for us anymore. Once I turned my home alarm service to a cellular plan I got rid of it. Saves us 60 bucks a month. Must admit, it is a bit weird at first but I'm getting used to it.

I would love to have a landline for emergency purposes and just b/c they're more reliable. But I looked into getting one and it is just WAY to expensive. There is only one company that provides them down here are it is $45 a month for basic service. Taxes and surcharges would bump it up to close to $60 a month....just can't bring myself to sign up for another bill of that amount. if it were 20 or 30 sure. 50-60....no way.

We have a land line. I hate the reception of cell phones and, in case of earthquake or other natural disaster, cell phones are useless. No electricity to the towers = no cell phones.

We still have a land line with the most basic, limited service. We get like 4 local calls per month on it without being charged and we have no long distance. People can call us on it without charge to us but we can't call out. We use our cell phones for our everyday calls. We keep it in case the kids or any babysitter etc. may need to dial 911. Your address comes up for emergency services if it's a land line as opposed to a cell phone. Cell phones are routed to the the CHP or SHerriff call center (I forget which) and then distributed to the appropiate emergency agency in the appropriate vicinity when they can get info. on where the emergency is. Response time is slower due to this. I also give out my land line as my home phone even though we use our cell phones for all calls, that way I don't get very many calls on my cell and no random soliciters etc.

We bought Ooma which is an internet landline and costs around $3.00 a month. You can call anywhere in the world and there is no charge since it is internet based. It has voice mail and everything a regular phone has, but not the high monthly fees. The purchase price was about $200 for two phones, but you do have to have internet connection. Best Buy has them.

Yep...two of them. I have a home office and spend hours on the phone on conference calls and webinars, I can't have a spotty connection (career limiting move). I also have a dedicated fax line that gets used every day.

We have one for the house alarm. We plug in the phone when we have someone watching our son. Otherwise, it is put away in the hall closet. The most effective means of dealing with telemarketers.

I totally still have a landline. In part it's because I have to have one in order to get DSL service. However, I also have it because I want a backup in case of emergency, earthquake, etc.

cell only - and you dont have to have a phone to monitor your alarm anymore!

Call your alarm companies. There are other options.

We have 4 land lines (1 dedicated fax) and run 3 businesses from our home. I wouldn't dream of using just a cell phone only, they're not as dependable under all circumstances.

20 dollars a month to monitor my alarm. :) One of these years I am going to get the mobile monitoring added and then it is gone.

We still have ours. I am not taking any chances. It is worth the 20 bucks a month IMO.

If you want to get rid of your home phone, you can call the police or fire department to give them your cell phone number. I believe it is called a reverse 911.

@ Melanie - if you have a plug in phone, it probably will go out once that battery runs down (just like it does if you leave the handset off the base) -- but if you happen to have a phone that actually is "wired" to the jack (usually corded phones), you would still have phone service so long as the actual lines aren't down due to a storm or such (ya know, trees and such taking lines down)...

I still have a home phone. I get no cell service in my basement floor apartment so I kind of need one.

I still have my landline :) I don't feel comfortable giving my cell phone to just anyone, so having the home phone really helps.

We do!

As a matter of fact, our neighborhood is not good for cell phones; it isn't just us - the neighbors are in the same situation. We seem to live in a little "pocket" not well covered by cell phone service, and there doesn't seem to be any plan to remedy that by the companies. Believe it or not, our cell phones work well everywhere but at home!

So we still have our land line - with the same telephone number we first received in 1970. :^)

I finally got rid of mine. I always had one in case of emergency but I finally got fed up with two bills and decided to shut the land line off. I have an extra pay as you go phone for back up so if for some reason my phone wasn't working I can just add money to the pay as you go service. I have been a year without service and so far so good! One more thing...If the power goes out the landline goes out too because it is plugged into the wall and is run by electricity right?

We have a home phone (2 portables). One reason is like you said, to be able to get in touch with the babysitter if she doesn't answer, hear, have, or charge her cell phone. Also, in case of a bad storm or a scenario where the power may be out, we have a plug in, corded phone that we keepin our "storm box" (flashlights, lantern, panchos, etc).
Living in Louisiana and dealing with hurricanes: sometimes cell towers are knocked out or overloaded and you can't get through. If the power is out then a portable phone won't work. After Katrina, it was nearly 3 weeks before we got electricity again. We needed that corded phone. In a nearby neighborhood where they didn't have phone lines, those were repaired pretty quickly (I guess for emergency reasons).
Living in Texas we stayed in an apartment where something went out (I don't know what it was---there was a boom, and then HOURS of no electricity in the dreaded TX heat, for the whole neighborhood, BLECH!)....again, a corded phone was needed. You want to think that you'll always have your cell, but what if it gets damaged walking up the stairs, or falls in the toilet (my friend dropped hers in the toilet at the dentist last month, lol), the battery gets messed up or goes low and you don't have a charger (again, what about electricity), or in an emergency situation the network gets overloaded. Or a storm knocks a tower out for a little bit. Remember 9/11 and the overload where noone could get through? We had people calling us nonstop for a week but we'd only receive maybe 2 calls a day in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. And finally, it's just a huge inconvenience for someone visiting your house. I went to my dad's house 5 hours away and was house/pet sitting while he was on vacation. I didn't know they didn't have a freaking PHONE. Annoyed me to have to use my cell (day minutes to non-plan phones) for every single thing that week.
All my friends and "whoever" have my cell. But I don't want Kelly (love you girl) drunk dialing me at 11pm forgetting the time zone difference. My cell phone is off at night. Or in the car. Only "important" people, and my neighbors, have my home phone and so it's available if they need me. And occasionally, they do.
I say keep a home phone. If you want to save money, skip the caller id, unlimited long distance, call waiting, etc, etc but keep the very basic phone, and pay $3 or $4 for a corded phone at Walmart for emergencies. :)

We still have one, but don't use it much. If I give out a contact number, it is our cell phones. If it rings, it is typically a telemarketer so I tend to ignore it. I don't even pay attention to the answering machine anymore.

We have two land lines - an office/fax and a the main.

We do...part of the Internet-TV package. I think that it's important to have it for times when the cell phone towers are down or too busy and a call won't go through. Also, I think that it's important that that landline not be cordless, in case the electricity is out. Mine is all about safety. Otherwise, I don't even pay attention to it.

We still have one. It came with my husband when we moved in together 18 years ago. He's attached to it. I think because the last 3 digits are get this 007. We have limited it's services down to the minimum. No special features, just a call out mostly in case of an emergency.

I have a landline and to this day don't own a cell phone. If they can't reach me at work or home then they don't need me. I don't have the money to just flush down the toilet with nonsense like cell phone bills. They seem to run more than regular landlines. But with busy lives these days some people do need cell phones. I just don't happen to be one of them. Now computers are also right up there. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have one.

We have one. When calling 911 on your cell phone, the operator can not locate you right away. And right now when you call 911 on your cell, it goes to another city and then they have to call the city you are in and it just takes longer to respond. They are working on changing that.

Not too many people know that. I've been at accident scenes and all these people flooding up the 911 calls sit there and wonder why the emergency crews are taking long to respond. That same time I called 911 on my land line and the response was pretty quick.

We have it for many reasons. Need it for the Directv connection, works when the power goes out and not EVERYBODY has a cell phone or a FULLY charged cell phone at all times.

We do. I can't stand the reception on cell phones. Plus, we don't get cell phone reception at all where we live. . .. major dead zone.

I have one for the same reason. I thought about getting another cell phone line to keep at home, but we live in a rural area and sometimes my cell phone reception can be touchy. I get irritated every month I pay the $38 bill and my minutes used are between 8 - 15 mins every month (we NEVER use the darn thing).