Land Line Free??

Aaron Beaver

Member
Messages
427
Location
Missouri
Anyone here Land line free? We are considering doing it since most people call our cell phones and we don't use it for long distance. Wanted to see if any is and if they have had any issues not having a land line. Our biggest issues is the security system, but we will probably drop that as well. Just trying to save some bucks but didn't want to go into it uninformed.

Thanks
 
Anyone here Land line free? We are considering doing it since most people call our cell phones and we don't use it for long distance. Wanted to see if any is and if they have had any issues not having a land line. Our biggest issues is the security system, but we will probably drop that as well. Just trying to save some bucks but didn't want to go into it uninformed.

Thanks
Aaron,

Went through the same process a while back. I eventually moved the land line to VOIP through my cable company. I considered dropping it, but I called the local police and asked them how dependable 911 service was with cell phones. They told me that if I were to dial 911 and was unable to give them sufficient information to find me (like loss of blood caused fainting in the shop) the best the cell phone could do is lead them to the right block, but not to my house. On the other hand, the land line will get them right to my door since the number is registered to a specific address.

Living alone as I did it made sense to me to have the 911 services be able to find me should something happen in the shop, or elsewhere in the home, that caused me to black out after placing the call.
 
Aaron,

Went through the same process a while back. I eventually moved the land line to VOIP through my cable company. I considered dropping it, but I called the local police and asked them how dependable 911 service was with cell phones. They told me that if I were to dial 911 and was unable to give them sufficient information to find me (like loss of blood caused fainting in the shop) the best the cell phone could do is lead them to the right block, but not to my house. On the other hand, the land line will get them right to my door since the number is registered to a specific address.

Living alone as I did it made sense to me to have the 911 services be able to find me should something happen in the shop, or elsewhere in the home, that caused me to black out after placing the call.

That is a good point didn't think of that, but don't most cell phones these days have GPS locators that can give a more pin point position?? I thought they did but maybe not, hmmm, I might just have to call the local police here and see what they say about it, especially since not having a land line is more common.
 
That is a good point didn't think of that, but don't most cell phones these days have GPS locators that can give a more pin point position?? I thought they did but maybe not, hmmm, I might just have to call the local police here and see what they say about it, especially since not having a land line is more common.
I thought this also, but that might be more CSI than fact. Best bet would be to speak with a dispatcher for the local police. They deal with this every day and should be able to give you good info.
 
We went cell phone only about 2 yrs ago, and now are basically cell phone free... with VOIP land line instead. In our case it was the overage charges which put the cell out of our budget, as convenient as they can be, they ramp up charges quickly if you're not careful.

I'm only now thinking about going with a pre-pay cell phone for my studio, but even that is $70 to 80 a month. :(
 
I have one land line for my alarm system although it does have cellular backup in the event that the land line "disappears" for some reason. It allows the alarm system to call the monitoring site. It can call any free numbers (no toll calls), 911, etc. and can receive calls but I do not use it for that purpose. It has been handy once or twice when my cell service has been unavailable as it can be now and then nestled here in the foothills.
 
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Personally, I wouldn't even consider saving a few bucks and not having a reliable 911.
You can order the very basic no frills package from most phone companies for cheap money and still have the security of 911.
Cars have seat belts and air bags. All of our power tools have safety features we use. We all have to have smoke detectors. Why not use the most important safety feature of all. 911.:dunno:
I think anyone who has a family, medical condition, or is getting a little grayer and thinner on top is just playing with fire by not having a land line.
 
We've been landline free for about 2 1/2 years now. We had already switched from a POTS line to the TW Cable phone service here in KC. It wasn't any cheaper, just had more services and we still needed to save money.

We had initially decided to use cell phones only, but found that we still needed a business line for my wife since she worked from home. We first went with Skype paying the $60 a year to have a number. At first this went well, my wife did a lot of her calling to clients using a headset on her computer. For incoming calls, we just forwarded the calls to the skype number to her cell phone. This was racking up overage charges and we ended up finding that Skype's quality will vary and she was having potential clients hang up on her.

So I spent about 3 months learning about VoIP and what options were available. It seemed to work with the cable company and there are a lot of voip service companies on the internet that average about $10 - $20 per month offering more features than the cable company offers. Trick was finding devices that were reliable and had good call quality. I went as far to setup a linux based pbx server called Trixbox (http://trixbox.org). This was overkill, fun to play with, but overkill.

I finally ended up getting one of the same devices that Vonage uses, a Linksys PAP2 and doing VoIP service through Gizmo5 for about $5 per month. Unfortunately Google bought Gizmo5 and they are not accepting new accounts. The most comparable service and who I'll most likely switch to, in the event Google shuts down the service, is Phone Power (http://phonepower.com). Their current offer is about $250 up front, but is for 2 years of service, which breaks down to about $10 per month, and you can port your current number. The device is included, but with any of these providers, you may want to ask which device they are providing and check out reviews on the quality of it. Request another if you're not comfortable with the one they want to give you. You can also buy your own device and just plug in their settings, just check to see which ones they support. They have E911 service and tons of features. You can run your alarm through it, just as you would with the device your cable company uses.

If you go with a VoIP option, I'd suggest a UPS battery backup on the cable/dsl modem and your VoIP device. Just one of the small ones will keep all the equipment running all day in the event of a power outage.

If you decide to go cell only, you might also check with your alarm company. There are devices that can be added to the alarm system for it to be monitored over your internet connection, it's just whether they offer it or not.

I'll be happy to answer any questions you have about VoIP. We've been happy with the VoIP service and my wife hasn't complained about it...which says a lot. ;)
 
Another suggestion for if you decide to go Cell only. Sign-up for a free Google Voice # (http://www.google.com/voice). You can forward the number to any other number you want to. This is great for when you have to provide a phone number and don't want to give them your actual cell phone number. They've got some good features for vmail and such too.

Another tip: You get to choose your own number when you sign up. The prefix number will be different than your cell number, but many times you can get the last 4 numbers to match your cell number or another number you know, making it easier to remember.
 
I thought this also, but that might be more CSI than fact. Best bet would be to speak with a dispatcher for the local police. They deal with this every day and should be able to give you good info.

Good advice. A friends daughter rolled her car this past winter. She went 100 feet from the highway before it rolled and couldn't be seen easily. The dispatcher said "I see you are off the highway, about 120 feet on the north side of 29...". It may be better in some areas than other too, but may depend on the phone you have, but check with the local police.
 
I think Rennie hit the nail on the head. We have the same issue in Canada re 911.

And Bob, I aint got young kids but i would say even people who are not gray should think about the 911 aspect. Who knows Dad/Mom could have slipped and cracked their head and knocked unconcious or something even worse and kid can dial 911.

The point i would like to add is Darren has a solution but there has to be a lot of things functioning reliably for it to work.

A landline is a hard wired piece of telephone cable all the way to the exchange. Exchanges normally have back up generators so if there is a power outage (think tornado or hurricane etc) the landline will still work, of course thats provided the poles and line are still in place. But the same applies to the cell towers.

My point is though that you do not need power at your home to make your landline work. Whereas you need some power to make voip work and even to charge a cell phone.

Remeber voip also needs the internet service provider to be working. We have seen the reliabilty of some of these services if you only look at our forum hosts.:(



Ned are you saying that a pre pay cell account in your area is $70 per month?:eek:

This is one of those expenses that i think one should really think carefully about. In Canada a basic landline will only set you back $24 per month. You dont have to be using it for long distance and local calls are free.
 
Darren, what about MagicJack?

I know lots people here mention 911, its funny because one time tires on some cars got slashed one night and mine was one of them, the police called me later that morning...on my cell.

i know security systems offer cell receivers for those who don't have land lines and we did look into it and our system can accept one, but it was pretty expensive to have put in, so when we are trying to cut costs (while keeping the cell phones, they are to handy not to have) the land line was first considered since we don't use it, next was security system because you needed land line (since cell receiver was expensive and would raise our rate).

We have already dropped cable, but of course will keep internet, may have to try to find a cheaper alternative for land line, maybe just through another carrier. Also could look into cheaper internet maybe they now have something I see advertised for a company called "Clear", but would have to look into it more.

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions.
 
Aaron dont forget with a land line you could go to dial up internet that is pretty much cheaper and would make use of the line but save you considerably on the internet cost.:thumb:
 
We had Magic Jack, in fact I still have the subscription, just unplugged it. Voice quality so bad as to be unusable.
We cut off the traditional phone company and now have the cable company service. Excellent voice quality and much less cost.
Both the cable and MJ offered 911 service.
We also have cell phones.
Arkansas is now about 25% wireless.
A lot of poorer people are using pre-paid cell service for a variety of reasons.
 
Darren, what about MagicJack?

I know lots people here mention 911, its funny because one time tires on some cars got slashed one night and mine was one of them, the police called me later that morning...on my cell.

i know security systems offer cell receivers for those who don't have land lines and we did look into it and our system can accept one, but it was pretty expensive to have put in, so when we are trying to cut costs (while keeping the cell phones, they are to handy not to have) the land line was first considered since we don't use it, next was security system because you needed land line (since cell receiver was expensive and would raise our rate).

We have already dropped cable, but of course will keep internet, may have to try to find a cheaper alternative for land line, maybe just through another carrier. Also could look into cheaper internet maybe they now have something I see advertised for a company called "Clear", but would have to look into it more.

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions.

I had no experience with Magic Jack, but as Frank mentioned, call quality is just bad with some devices, so as I mentioned before, be sure to look-up reviews for them if you go with VoIP.

I looked into clear for our new house, but it wasn't available, just for mobile devices.

I'm probably not as concerned about the 911 service as some. My parents have been traveling for about 15 years now and not had a land line, it's a matter of your own level of your personal peace of mind.

I think the phone company will do a plain old telephone service (POTS) if you push them to. The last time I went from the plan with all the bells and whistles ($44 per month) to just a POTS line (no caller id, call waiting, just a phone line) it was about $19 per month, but then they were going to actually charge me $5 per month for not having long distance on it. :huh: That was the last straw and I vowed to get rid of them, not looked back. Again, it's your choice, your level of peace of mind, and your budget...just my .02 :wave:
 
We had Magic Jack, in fact I still have the subscription, just unplugged it. Voice quality so bad as to be unusable.
We cut off the traditional phone company and now have the cable company service. Excellent voice quality and much less cost.
Both the cable and MJ offered 911 service.
We also have cell phones.
Arkansas is now about 25% wireless.
A lot of poorer people are using pre-paid cell service for a variety of reasons.

I had to get a MagicJack a couple weeks ago for an online class that required a teleconference (no land line for the past two years). I had no issues with it, 8-9 hours a day, 5 days in a row. I do have TimeWarner RoadRunner Turbo, so no worries about the line supporting it.
 
PrePaid Cell

For a Prepaid cell T-Mobile seems to work fine for us.

$30 or so for a phone (unless you can slip their simcard into your old phone)

1000 minutes for $100 and they last a year.

We do not use it a lot but going from a $35/month plan that really cost about $42 with tax and extra charges to around $100 a year is a good deal.
 
I had no experience with Magic Jack, but as Frank mentioned, call quality is just bad with some devices, so as I mentioned before, be sure to look-up reviews for them if you go with VoIP.

I looked into clear for our new house, but it wasn't available, just for mobile devices.

I'm probably not as concerned about the 911 service as some. My parents have been traveling for about 15 years now and not had a land line, it's a matter of your own level of your personal peace of mind.

I think the phone company will do a plain old telephone service (POTS) if you push them to. The last time I went from the plan with all the bells and whistles ($44 per month) to just a POTS line (no caller id, call waiting, just a phone line) it was about $19 per month, but then they were going to actually charge me $5 per month for not having long distance on it. :huh: That was the last straw and I vowed to get rid of them, not looked back. Again, it's your choice, your level of peace of mind, and your budget...just my .02 :wave:

We switched to a POTS plan with the local telco for $15.00 a month. But the bill was always near $50.00 after taxes and fees.
 
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