Cell phones vs. land lines

[Moroni]

I recently moved into a new apartment, and I found myself wondering if I really needed a home phone line now that my cell phone is reliable and on a GSM carrier. The $40/month it costs to have a cell phone about equals the cost of a land line, only with the cell phone I get the option of mobility and I actually have more features (three-way, call waiting and voicemail). I have pretty much given up on the concept of a normal phone line.

Then I saw a commercial for Vonage, the broadband phone carrier. They offer unlimited calls for $49.99/month in my area, and since I make a lot of long distance calls it seems as though it might actually save me money (since my unlmited minutes on the cell phone do not start until 9:00 p.m.) in the long run. Does anyone have any experience with this, or am I not alone in giving up on the concept of a 'home phone?'

[Riggswolfe]

I used to do tech support for Sprint. Alot of people are moving towards giving up their land lines on a permanent basis. It has pros and cons which are mostly subjective to be honest.

I'm a landline person myself. But it really depends on your lifestyle and how good your service is.

[daveNYC]

I've got a cell phone and no land line.  Works well enough, helps to have an extra charger at work though.

[Rodent]

Used to only have a cellphone but decided against it after a while. Mainly because I wanted ADSL and got a sweet deal from my supplier ( gave me everything I needed and 3 free months for the low price of having to be their client for a year. )

I'm convinced cellphones will be the death of me. If not by giving me cancer to the brain, then atleast by giving me a heartattack from stress. I hate that people can reach me whereever I go.

[Kenrick]

My fiancee and I share 2 cell phone #'s on the same sprint account -- no landline in the apartment... We've been doing this since we moved in together a year ago.  I've had no complaints whatsoever.  Our internet is cable-based and not DSL, so that wasn't even a concern.

I have no problem with landlines or people who like having them -- I just personally have no need for one.

[Merusk]

Local delivery won't come to the house if we call from the cell phone. If you don't show-up on caller ID they won't take the order.  That's really about the only reason we've got a land line.   Well, that and my refusal to ever own a cell phone, lest I turn into one of the idiots using them on the road.

[BlackSky]

With my cellphone service (MetroPCS) I have unlimited local AND long distance minutes, and I can make calls any time, all day every day. So, yeah, I got rid of my landline.

[Polysorbate80]

I barely use a phone for anything; if I weren't married, I might not even bother to own one at all.

Ironically, marriage is the primary reason I'm trying to never own a cell phone.  If I get one, she'll insist I keep it on so she can pester me endlessly with calls.

There's a big plus to not being available 24/7, in my book.

[Kenrick]

There's a big plus to not being available 24/7, in my book.

You can turn cell phone off, by the way... It won't ring and the called will go straight to your voicemail.

[MrHat]

There's a big plus to not being available 24/7, in my book.

You can turn cell phone off, by the way... It won't ring and the called will go straight to your voicemail.

But she'll know!

[Dren]

A friend of mine is getting set up with some new phone system that goes over his cable modem line.  No interruption to his cable service and he'll only pay $19.99/month for unlimited calls for local AND long distance.

Skeptical?  So am I.  I told him to tell me how it all works out for him.  If it is good and actually costs that little, I'll be switching over in 2 seconds flat.

Anyone else hear about this type of service?

[Ookii]

Vonage is awesome, one of their best customers are members of organized crime, as of now it can't be tapped!  You can also take the box that plugs into your broadband, and if you go to lets say Japan, you could plug it in there and your number would be your local one.  You can also add numbers in other area codes for an extra 5 bucks.  Vonage is 25 a month, not sure what that 20 dollar a month service is (don't feel like researching).

I think there is something to be said of having a real telephone, I always leave my cell phone in different places of my house, and miss all sorts of calls.

[Dark Vengeance]

There's a big plus to not being available 24/7, in my book.

You can turn cell phone off, by the way... It won't ring and the called will go straight to your voicemail.

But she'll know!

So you turn off/down the ringer, and just let it go....afterward explain that you were in some situation where you couldn't take her call. If she asks what the 'situation' was, tell her you were banging her sister.

Then get a new girlfriend that isn't going to keep pestering you with phone calls whenever you're out of her sight.

Bring the noise.
Cheers..............

[Samwise]

I just conveniently "forget" my cell phone at home, only bringing it with me when I anticipate an actual need for it.

Eventually people give up on calling and send e-mail like human beings.  It's great!

[Baldrake]

A friend of mine is getting set up with some new phone system that goes over his cable modem line.  No interruption to his cable service and he'll only pay $19.99/month for unlimited calls for local AND long distance.

Skeptical?  So am I.  I told him to tell me how it all works out for him.  If it is good and actually costs that little, I'll be switching over in 2 seconds flat.

Anyone else hear about this type of service?

Lots of companies are providing this service now. Packet8 is one of the bigger ones. It's VoIP, so there is a little more latency than you're used to, and quality can drop if there is network congestion. But basically it's a good service if you want unlimited long distance for cheap.

[Polysorbate80]

So you turn off/down the ringer, and just let it go....afterward explain that you were in some situation where you couldn't take her call. If she asks what the 'situation' was, tell her you were banging her sister.

Then get a new girlfriend that isn't going to keep pestering you with phone calls whenever you're out of her sight.

Bring the noise.
Cheers..............

Unfortunately, her sister's not that attractive...and she's a wife, not a girlfriend; that's a whole 'nuther level of crap to put up with.  She's got some sort of compulsive need to answer the phone, whereas I can just ignore it 'til the cows come home, and she can NOT understand why.  And you just *try* to explain that something's more important than a call from her...

Anyway, much easier to fight the cellphone altogether than to make excuses why it's not on all the time--it's easier to be stubborn and irrational about one thing than multiple things (which is the only way to win a disagreement with a woman, since they're generally not hindered by any need to be logical or make any kind of sense)

[MrHat]

My current setup consists of a family time plan from T-Mobile consisting of myself, my girlfriend, and her mom.  We save a bunch of money because I talk primarily w/ my girlfriend, and she talks mostly with her mom.

On top of that I have Vonage.  I pay $19.99 for unlimited local calling, a local phone number, and about 2c a minute for long distance calls.  Also, and here's the kicker, I pay only 20c a minute for long distance calls to Lebanon (where my folks live).  Thats dirt fuck cheap.  And it works perfect, I get no lag whatsoever over my voice line (hell it's better than if I was to call via QWest).

..You can also take the box that plugs into your broadband, and if you go to lets say Japan, you could plug it in there and your number would be your local one..

Are you sure about that?  Because if it's true, I'm adding another line and shipping a phone to my parents in Leb.  and they would only be paying 2c a minute to call US?  That doesn't make much sense.  Or does it make sense in a virtuoso-futuristic the world is in my hand sense?

[shiznitz]

I lived landline free in NYC for 4 years. It was fantastic. Now that I am back in the 'burbs, I caved or else ADT wouldn't have worked. So not only do I pay $26/month for ADT, but I have to have a $35/month phone line to make it useful. Sucks.

[Biobanger]

Since moving in with my girlfriend, she insists that we have a landline. Why? I don't know, she just used the excuse "for emergencies". Well since we both got our cell phones in a subburb of the city we live in, our cell phones are considered long distance, so we can't call unless we wanna pay more. The only phone number we know that won't cost us anything is her parents home number. Yeah, REAL worth that $25 a month.

[doubleplus]

I always did the trick of getting a phone number for a month and not paying the bill. They'll shut off your outgoing calls but they legally can't turn off incoming service and emergency calls, so you get your 9-1-1 and your telemarketing but it's free.

[Samwise]

If they can't legally shut off the phone number entirely, would a DSL line continue functioning as well, as long as you're still paying your ISP (just not the phone company)?  That sounds like a terrific deal.

[plangent]

Go cellular and pick up a N-Gage.  Only $50 and you can play games while you're talking to people (you'll need a headset).

[schild]

Internet service with the providers NGage supports is horribly expensive. And their service sucks. Otherwise I would have gotten one already. They need to support Sprint (3G). Or the other companies need competitive prices.

[plangent]

I already had a contract with Cingular and GPRS.  So it wasn't that big a step for me.

[schild]

Isn't it like an extra $30 a month with Cingular?