cell phone only, drop the land line. Opinions?

[Sweed]

Still have the land line but am considering moving to cell only. We have a family plan with the wife and kids (yeah kids, aged 18 and 23 ) having cell phones. Adding one for me only adds $10 to the monthly bill. Drop the land line and pocket the savings sounds good.

So looking for opinions and what might be the disadvantages of going cell only?

FWIW I do have Dish Network that requires the receiver be hooked to a phone line or you pay an additional $5 a month. Other than that nothing I have requires a land line. I believe there is also a way to connect the Dish receiver to the net but don't know if that would be the same as the land line making the $5 mute? Either way I'd be dollars ahead even if I had to pay the $5.

So, anyone out there using cell only that have run into any issues?

Thanks for any advice.

[ISiddiqui]

I've been using cell only for a few years now. No issues at all.

Of course, if you lose your cell or it breaks, you have to get a new one quickly and that could get pricey (have to pay full retail on it) if you don't pay for their insurance.

[Klinglerware]

The only issue is that you can't connect your house to a monitored security system. I would love to dump my landline but I can't for that reason.

[jeff061]

Switched to cell only awhile ago. Only negative was being forced into hearing a 5 minute long spiel from Verizon on why it was a bad idea. Wouldn't let me cancel otherwise.

[BrianD]

My wife and I went cell-only a few years ago. No problems at all except my wife occasionally leaves her phone somewhere she can't hear it. It is nice that people can call either of us directly and not call a common phone at home where we may or may not be. The side benefit is that we don't get any telemarketer calls and zero political calls this past season. That alone makes it worthwhile for me.

[Radii]

I'm cell phone only and love it. Will never, ever have a land line again. Of course, I'm also the type of person who would rather be unreachable most of the time. I have AT&T's smallest minute plan and have extra minutes every month.

[Lorena]

We've also considered going cell phone only but the reception in our apt. is real bad, so we got a magicjack instead.

[MikeVic]

I'm cell only and I don't see problems with it yet.

[ColtCrazy]

I have a question to ask concerning this as well. How do you all get your internet access now? I assume it's a wireless system, but I'd like to know some options. We just found out we are having twins next June and I'd like to cut some expenses if possible. Thanks.

[Sweed]

Thanks for the quick responses. I was looking for the "land line is required" to get our service type thing like the monitored home security system Klinglerware mentioned. This wouldn't be an issue for me in small town Iowa so I'm ok there.
Just didn't want to jump into this only to regret it when something unexpected came up.

Thanks again you've all been a lot of help.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

I have a question to ask concerning this as well. How do you all get your internet access now? I assume it's a wireless system, but I'd like to know some options. We just found out we are having twins next June and I'd like to cut some expenses if possible. Thanks.

I get mine through the cable company.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

I have a question to ask concerning this as well. How do you all get your internet access now? I assume it's a wireless system, but I'd like to know some options. We just found out we are having twins next June and I'd like to cut some expenses if possible. Thanks.

I get mine through cable, mediacom. It's a little pricy IMHO but it's fast and reliable. So like a good restaurant, I don't mind paying a little extra if the product is exceptional.

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

I have a question to ask concerning this as well. How do you all get your internet access now? I assume it's a wireless system, but I'd like to know some options. We just found out we are having twins next June and I'd like to cut some expenses if possible. Thanks.

If you're looking to save $$, I'd highly recommend magicJack. I'm gonna sound like an infomercial, but we've already saved hundreds of dollars this year alone.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Klinglerware

The only issue is that you can't connect your house to a monitored security system. I would love to dump my landline but I can't for that reason.

Not true.
I offer cell phone communication, celemetry communication and radio communication to my customers.

As a matter of fact that has been the #1 boom in our security division, many other companies will not offer cell only and only offer it as a back up.

Additionally beginning Feb 1 I will be offering IP/modem alarm communication, so of you have cable internet your alarm system can essentially email alarms.

Depending on location and your home phone bill it may or may not save money. radio plans start at about $10/month, but the towers are fewer and far between and honestly we are phasing out his offering. Cell starts around $20...and if everything goes well with the IP piece we will be offering it for $5....

[Klinglerware]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Not true.
I offer cell phone communication, celemetry communication and radio communication to my customers.

As a matter of fact that has been the #1 boom in our security division, many other companies will not offer cell only and only offer it as a back up.

Additionally beginning Feb 1 I will be offering IP/modem alarm communication, so of you have cable internet your alarm system can essentially email alarms.

Depending on location and your home phone bill it may or may not save money. radio plans start at about $10/month, but the towers are fewer and far between and honestly we are phasing out his offering. Cell starts around $20...and if everything goes well with the IP piece we will be offering it for $5....

I've heard of this, but I've also heard that it may not be as reliable as a phone line connection (if I understand correctly, it is not only the reliability of the IP network piece that is at issue, it is a backwards compatability issue where a digital system like IP may have a hard time communicating with an alarm system designed to communicate on an analog phone system).

But, you are the expert. What are your impressions on reliability vs. traditional phone line systems?

[terpkristin]

Been cell only for 6 years. No problems so far.

/tk

[RainMaker]

I've been cell only for about 6 years now and have had no problems.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by jeff061

Switched to cell only awhile ago. Only negative was being forced into hearing a 5 minute long spiel from Verizon on why it was a bad idea. Wouldn't let me cancel otherwise.

You shouldn't have had to tell them why you were canceling. Anyway, they can't force you to listen to something before canceling, no matter how much they think they can.

[DanGarion]

Dola,

I'd suggest if you do go cell only you might want to also get a free # from grandcentral.com that you can forward to both of your phones for emergencies, family, etc, so they don't have to call two people's phones...

[rowech]

I don't understand people who continue to pay for landlines. I guess there a unique cases here and there but the days of landline phones are numbered.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by rowech

I don't understand people who continue to pay for landlines. I guess there a unique cases here and there but the days of landline phones are numbered.

I like the idea of having a "family number" where anyone in the family can be reached. That's the one that goes to the school, little league teams etc. - people I don't want to be able to reach me 24 hours a day. That's worth something to me.

We had unlimited (local and long distance) calls for $40 a month, and paid $200 per year for all the cell minutes we'd ever use. Total = 680/yr.

Cheapest family cell plan I found was $70/month = $840/yr.

None of those include the taxes, which are higher for cell phones. Nor does it include the fact that having a $40/month landline saves me $22 a month off my internet bill.

Its still cheaper to have a land line. Plus, I got to use a cell phone.

[jeff061]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

You shouldn't have had to tell them why you were canceling. Anyway, they can't force you to listen to something before canceling, no matter how much they think they can.

I bitched loudly. Lady wasn't budging and didn't like me very much. But it was just quicker to listen than to go through the management chain. Which was really my only choice.

[MJ4H]

We have a landline because cell phones are not reliable enough. Too many dropped calls. When you need to make a call and have it be dependable, it is a big comfort to have a landline.

[Buccaneer]

I pay $20/month for a landline and it's worth it to my family, even though I don't use it. My wife is a stay-at-home mom and in our house, somewhere is always near a phone, whereas not always near the cell (wherever she has it tucked away). She and the boys actually don't make calls on it but her family has a 'free' long-distance plan and they call everyday.

My attitude has become like at work - if you want to reach me, don't call. And if you leave a voice mail, I may or may not listen to it. Either email me or jabber me. At home, I turn my cell phone off and don't answer the land line either. I'm on the computer 14 hours a day (off and on). That's where you can reach me.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

We have a landline because cell phones are not reliable enough. Too many dropped calls. When you need to make a call and have it be dependable, it is a big comfort to have a landline.

They may tease me about using a crank-style phone but at least I've progressed beyond using tin cans and strings.

[mauchow]

We had a land line for about a month before we dropped ours.. waste of money. I think we got a total of two calls. Both from my mother who wanted to talk to my wife... just call her cell, mom.

[Noop]

I dislike talking on the phone, either send me a text or leave me be.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Klinglerware

I've heard of this, but I've also heard that it may not be as reliable as a phone line connection (if I understand correctly, it is not only the reliability of the IP network piece that is at issue, it is a backwards compatability issue where a digital system like IP may have a hard time communicating with an alarm system designed to communicate on an analog phone system).

But, you are the expert. What are your impressions on reliability vs. traditional phone line systems?

Its hard to define as reliable as....
For Ip specifically I have beta'd it on 25 key accounts for 6 months and so far not a single complaint.
There are two separate plans, I intend to offer both. one a "continuous dedicated link" Its not true continuous it actually only pings 1x every 6 seconds. The other is an on demand It pings 4 times per day to test and only communicates otherwise in an event. On a test account I had 2.5MM ping events with 0 failures to our monitoring receiver.

Industry statistics show that roughly 40% of all alarm panels installed today THAT ARE CONNECTED TO A PHONE LINE, are unable to communicate properly either due to improper installation or changes to the phone system unknown to the home owner.

Cell/Radio will depend totally on where you live and how expensive of a transmitter you buy upfront. I have a customer who owns a mountain, the whole damn thing, in western NC. We have a satellite phone transmitter on his site it is flawless, but he paid more for that system than I paid for the truck my guy drove to install it.

Here is one piece of advice and Ill end our private hijack (feel free to PM me Ill gladly continue off line) for custom solutions like described above, ADT, BRINKS, etc the national boys are not going to screw with you. They are set up for high volume installed by 15-18/hr guys. My top techs make 2-3x that (I pay a little differet than hourly but averageed out) and I do not place limits on their creative control. If its outside the box we have to talk about it and brainstorm, after that we will try it.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by Sweed

Still have the land line but am considering moving to cell only. We have a family plan with the wife and kids (yeah kids, aged 18 and 23 ) having cell phones. Adding one for me only adds $10 to the monthly bill. Drop the land line and pocket the savings sounds good.

So looking for opinions and what might be the disadvantages of going cell only?

FWIW I do have Dish Network that requires the receiver be hooked to a phone line or you pay an additional $5 a month. Other than that nothing I have requires a land line. I believe there is also a way to connect the Dish receiver to the net but don't know if that would be the same as the land line making the $5 mute? Either way I'd be dollars ahead even if I had to pay the $5.

So, anyone out there using cell only that have run into any issues?

Thanks for any advice.

With my current job being talking to people on the wrong plans, I'd really only worry about one thing and that's how close to full usage you are on your minutes currently ( wife and kids can either really rack them up or not use any because they text 24/7 ). If you're pushing the limit of the plan and you use a lot of talking it can really burn you. You may want to bump your minutes if you think that might happen.

Personally, haven't had a home phone in a while and it really has only impacted me with places that insist on having two contact numbers and yes, I dealt, well, almost dealt with a company like that and I consider it poor business but it's not my choice, only my choice not to give them my business.

[JeeberD]

I haven't had a land line for probably five years now. No issues at all...

[GrantDawg]

We still have a land line. Mostly because our cable internet sucked badly when we had it. I don't know if it was a wiring issue or something else (they replaced the cable going to the house three times and it never fixed it). The other issue is 911. We leave our 13 year old at home sometimes, and I like that I know she can dial 911 and they'll know where she is even if she can't talk (which was a sitiuation my wife's best friend found herself in one day when she came home, went to her room, and then saw someone walking in the hall way. She dial 911, left the phone open, and climbed out the window). I know you can register magic jack to do that, but I prefer "old reliable."

[Cork]

Originally Posted by rowech

I don't understand people who continue to pay for landlines. I guess there a unique cases here and there but the days of landline phones are numbered.

I fall into the category of someone who hates cell phones passionately. I will never own a personal cell phone. Whats odd for me is that I am a huge tech junkie, but for some reason I simply hate cell phones. Maybe seeing all the brain dead idiots mindlessly blathering into them everywhere I go has something to do with my cell phone hatred.

-Cork

[bryce]

I've been cell phone-only since 2002 or so, maybe earlier, and have not missed the landline for one second - well, except when I can't find my cell and would like to call it from my landline to find it, hah.

Edit to add I'm also one of those people who hates talking on the phone, I should probably note. But I'll also add that who really calls a home phone anymore? It seems to me people just automatically dial the cell phone first when they are trying to reach someone, and if they can't get them there, they stop, figuring they are unreachable and don't even bother trying the home phone. That's what made me get rid of the landline so many years ago - the only calls I ever got on it were telemarketer calls.

[Mustang]

We still have a landline and 1 cell phone that is a pay as you go type plan that we probably only use 20 minutes a month if that. I don't have a job that requires me to be reached at anytime nor is my personal situation such that I need to be reached by anyone at anytime plus, we have DSL since the cable company in our area sucks so, we've just stuck with a landline.

[Fighter of Foo]

Only possible problem is if you have poor reception in your home and/or kids too young to have their own phone.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by Fighter of Foo

Only possible problem is if you have poor reception in your home and/or kids too young to have their own phone.

On that note, the wife and I have talked about getting a land line once we have kids, or at least once they're in school...

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by rowech

I don't understand people who continue to pay for landlines. I guess there a unique cases here and there but the days of landline phones are numbered.

I live in a dead zone and can't get cell reception worth a darn at home. We're kind of down between two hills. Have to walk up the driveway to the road to get a decent signal.

[Young Drachma]

I have a VOIP line through the cable company, just to have a local number for work to be able to call me and not have to use my Wyoming number. I haven't intentionally had a landline in years before now, though. I think it's a sensible thing to do, even if you only have it for emergencies, because with cell phones, you just never know.

But I don't give the landline number out or use it often. Just as a backup phone/emergency number.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by Cork

I fall into the category of someone who hates cell phones passionately. I will never own a personal cell phone. Whats odd for me is that I am a huge tech junkie, but for some reason I simply hate cell phones. Maybe seeing all the brain dead idiots mindlessly blathering into them everywhere I go has something to do with my cell phone hatred.

-Cork

It really isn't so bad as long as you remember that cell phones are for your convenience not the convenience of everyone else. I put my cell phone on silent often. I like the convenience of having a phone on me if I need to make an emergency call, but otherwise I let the phone ring only when I am in a place where I am willing to answer it.

[Cork]

Originally Posted by BrianD

It really isn't so bad as long as you remember that cell phones are for your convenience not the convenience of everyone else. I put my cell phone on silent often. I like the convenience of having a phone on me if I need to make an emergency call, but otherwise I let the phone ring only when I am in a place where I am willing to answer it.

The "emergency" factor is what makes me think about buying a cell phone one day. I am not sure if that justifies wasting money on a cell phone at the end of the day. I think all the idiots I see walking around with their cell phones attached to their ears has ruined them for me. I don't wish to join that club anytime soon.

-Cork

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Cork

The "emergency" factor is what makes me think about buying a cell phone one day. I am not sure if that justifies wasting money on a cell phone at the end of the day. I think all the idiots I see walking around with their cell phones attached to their ears has ruined them for me. I don't wish to join that club anytime soon.

-Cork

My wife and I have them for emergencies and long trips. We went with VirginMobile, and we spend like $10/month for both phones combined. We use them only occasionally at home, and that builds up enough minutes for when we need to call someone while on vacation. So they're cheap enough to be worth having for emergencies or the occasional coordination while out running errands with the kids.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

My wife and I have them for emergencies and long trips. We went with VirginMobile, and we spend like $10/month for both phones combined. We use them only occasionally at home, and that builds up enough minutes for when we need to call someone while on vacation. So they're cheap enough to be worth having for emergencies or the occasional coordination while out running errands with the kids.

That's like what we had, too. Ours was $100/yr per phone (from Tmobile, as it got better coverage than Virgin).

It kills me these people who pay $100 a month for cell service, make most of their calls from home, and then blather about what a ripoff landlines are. Huh?

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Cork

I fall into the category of someone who hates cell phones passionately. I will never own a personal cell phone. Whats odd for me is that I am a huge tech junkie, but for some reason I simply hate cell phones. Maybe seeing all the brain dead idiots mindlessly blathering into them everywhere I go has something to do with my cell phone hatred.

-Cork

Until moving here and changing jobs, I averaged about 2500 minutes per month on my cell phone for work and I still hate them. I think that last sentence of yours sums it up. People are just a lot more rude with a cell phone.

Also, you have to train people who try to call you on cell phones. People expect to you be available 24/7 on it. I turn mine off. A lot. And if I have my phone on, but my wife and I are sitting around watching a movie. You can bet I'm not answering it. And then you always have to answer the "how did you miss my call" question.

In the end, they're handy but they can also be one hell of a burden.

EDIT: BrianD said it better and earlier than I did.

SI

[sterlingice]

The one big problem I've noticed is that you start getting spam on your cell phone. Now, mine is company paid for and has about a bazillion minutes. However, if you're kindof tight on minutes, it can be a problem

There are lots of instances where you need a number that you don't think about (car dealership, bank, little stuff like movie rental membership, etc) and it only takes one of these companies to sell your information for you to start getting crap on your phone.

You can no-call list yourself but it's not perfectly foolproof.

SI

[mattlanta]

My mom was thinking about that as well. But there are too many complications that she thought of so we just decided to play it safe. I think we're just using it as an answering machine only now. lol.

[EagleFan]

I've been keeping an eye on this thread as I have been thinking about doing the same thing. The biggest thing that keeps me from doing it is the 911 thing. With two young kids who understand to dial 911 in an emergency I would like to know that just them doing so would send a location instead of there being any worry about giving out the correct address under a pressure packed situation.

I like the idea of saving the money but also like the ability to hear the house phone ring and decide that I don't feel like talking right now without gettnig the "How come you didn't answer question later?".

[BrianD]

Doesn't calling 911 on a cell phone give your location? I was almost sure that my phone had a GPS toggle for "always on" or "911 only"...and this is a basic phone which can't use the GPS for direction-finding.

[FBPro]

We just did this in September, no problems whatsoever. Not getting the telemarketing calls at all, only those who we want to call are calling since the number to reach us is on a need to know basis.

[Cringer]

We went over to cell phone only about two years ago I guess. We still have a land line but there are two reasons for that, it is part of our DSL package and we need it/use it for fax machine only. We have no phone hooked up to it at all. Due to the fact the 9 year old daughter was wanting to call friends she is now on my phone plan with her own cell phone and she has plenty of rules about it's use and is not allowed to text.

Being cell phone only is not a problem. The weird part is the cell phones are also business phones for the wife and I, and mine is listed as the office number everywhere. It has taken me a while to get used to always answering the phone with the company name, and it can create some confusion when it's the parent of a kid on my soccer team once in a while or something like that. Not a big problem though at all, especially once I program numbers in so I can tell if it's business or not when it's ringing.

[Karlifornia]

My mom is 56, and she still has a landline, but she never uses it. She's pretty much cell-only.

My house has a landline, which one of my roommates uses for work purposes. Nobody else uses it. None of my friends have landlines. We live in a big city though. I could understand having one if you live out on the Cahulawasee or something.