http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/ Engadget Comments for Ditching your landline isn't as popular as it was supposed to be http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
Sort of on-topic... Does anyone know if DirecTV and Dish Network really require a landline phone if you want receivers in multiple rooms?]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
---f]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/I have a cellphone, and if anyone needs to reach me there it works fine. Oh yea and the added bonus of Telemarketers NOT allowed to make their calls to Cellphones is also GREAT!]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
In response to Brian:
It's probably true. I know Tivo won't work with VOIP. Fax machines and modems don't really work over voip either.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
I didn't have a landline for about 2 years but the new house that we purchase didn't have reliable signel anymore. I had to get a house phone again (sad).

We did went with Vonage for our home service and came accross the same issue with the alarm system like #5 but there's a company that'll do it over VOIP.

www.nextalarm.com

Vonage + Alarm System is AOK!
]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
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DirecTivos don't require it, but they will bug you after a month or so without a call, and you will not be able to get software updates installed without a phone.

2. I have a land line. I get zero bars on my street. Actually zero anywhere in my town other then on main roads. My town does not allow cell phone towers.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
Once WiMAX hits, I think we will see an increase. The satellite and pvr companies need to get rid of their dependancy on dial-up.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
Concerning the power outages, I had a UPS hooked up to my cable modem/voip adapter which got me through the daily 3pm summer storm power outages.

TIVO needed a LOT of attempts for the intial setup over the VOIP line.. but it did eventually connect long enough to obtain the new code so I could connect over the network.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/But now I'm considering getting it back just so I can get $14.95/month DSL and drop my $44 cable connection.
Not sure if it adds up though.
I wish I could get DSL without the phone .]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
Just try to fax something with a cell phone. I dare you.

Better yet, try ordering pizza for delivery. Not every pizza place does this, but a lot of them will not deliver to you if you give them a cell phone number. (I say this from experience.)

I have yet to hear anyone give me a good reason why VoIP is "better" than a regular landline; the one I most often see cited is price. Well, I pay $21 a month for my landline phone - what do you pay for your VoIP?

My combo of landline and cell phone means I can do anything you can do with any type of phone *and* I get free long distance. So there.

Real tech geeks don't buy into technology just because it's there. It has to actually offer a compelling alternative to what came before. Cell phones are not an alternative to anything; they're a complement to the landline phone.
]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
I had been cell only for 9 years (even before *it* was the thing to do) but found the restrictions annoying (dropped calls, faxing, Tivo set-up, 911 & pizza delivery guys).

I now have Voip because 1)faxing to be available by fall 2)you register your address so 911 knows where to dispatch 3)can listen to my messages thru the internet and 4)It's cheap

My only problem now is that my broadband company BLOWS and my service is down at least 1 time daily.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
We've ordered plenty of pizzas without a problem, guess it just depends on how bad your local pizza deliverer wants your business.

As far as faxing, I fax things about once a decade or so, and then I borrow the one at work... they're ok with that.

We dumped our landline about a year ago (SWB kept putting back on services we had dropped, until it really ticked me off). We were throwing away 40 bucks a month on something we never used.

So far I've been able to live without it just fine. I've got cable internet, my Tivo will connect to my wireless network, and updates itself off the internet.

]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/So, I opted for the bare minimum plan with a limited amount of minutes for only $9/mo. Of course, after taxes and all the other crap they add on, it's still about $15.
:-(]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/ I think I kind of agree with 'Jeff' on this one. But I'm a redundancy nut, so I like having the various cell phones we have in house, plus landline service available (with free nationwide long distance). Throw in skype over our cable modem and we're all set. Not to mention retaining dial-up capabilities if/when the cable modem service wacks out (which happens rarely, but still...).

Also, I'm not too keen on using the celly all the time...the remaining ambiguity about the long term effects of cell phone radiation is sufficient to make me feel more comfortable with a landline if my conversation is likely to be longer than about 15 minutes (though I have and do use a headset and feel pretty safe).

I would also add in that landlines tend to offer more stable connections, but these days even when you are on a landline, the odds are about 50/50 the recipient is on a cell phone anyway...

Bah...it's all gonna run over fiber soon anyway...]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
What I can't figure out is how you get the cell phone account without a landline number. When we setup our T-Mobile account (again, about two years ago), I gave my existing cell phone number for the credit check - since I had no landline at the time. It was rejected with a message "cell phone number not accepted". Once the vendor changed the phone number from the cell phone number to a friend's landline, the credit check was approved!]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/You probably will NOT be able to dial 911 from your home if you don't have a landline. As a matter of fact, you most likely won't even remain connected to the switch at the central office for very long after disconnecting the landline. I do believe, however, you can dial 911 from any cell phone and get through even if your account is deactivated.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
Landline is stupid.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
Also, a cell phone is not really feasible for full-time local communication, costing upwards of $60 per month for a limited number of minutes whereas a landline is (around here at least) $35 per month for unlimited local calls. Long distance prices may vary from option to option, VO-IP tends to be good in that regard.

Plus, as any true tech-geek will tell you, redundancy is a good thing. Why not have a land line to back up your primary means of communication?]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
I've actually gotten my Vonage line to work with the dial-up modem on my TiVo. It didn't work for months and months, then one day I tried it and it's been fine for almost two years now.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
I switched to using Vonage for my home phone.. I only talk about 2 hours a month on the local phone as it is, and a reasonable amount fgrom my cell phone. Vonage costs me $16.95 a month after taxes, and includes caller ID, Call Forwarding, cheap or included long distance, and Voicemail. (with internet delivery of voicemail)

When I paid Qwest for my home phone number I paid somethign like $39 for the basic line plus caller ID and call forwarding, and then I had to pay for long distance on top of that.

I like being able to give one number to contact me, and being able to answer it either on my cell phone or my home phone. Setting so that both phones ring at the same time is a nice feature of Vonage that wasn't available from qwest.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
I have Charter in the area and they, like Comcast, bait and switch their internet price. Yeah get low price for 6 mo, then they bend ya over and charge ya $50 just for internet. Even with TV. Cable companies are rapists.

Well I like other I'd imagine spend some time online while I am away from the house being at work and such. So why am I to pay $50 just for internet? So I got rid of the whole VOIP/Cable mdm thing.

I have SBC DSL now and love it. Yeah, landline required, but look at what I got. SBC does have a $14.95 price for 1.5 dsl but I game and download "legal music." So I got $24.95 dsl at 3.0. Much better for what I do. Phone srv, I pay about $24.00 for umlmtd lcl srv. The only catch, I've been told the dsl is a year committment, but family and friends who have it tell me that year after I can committ with exchange for time to get a continuing low price.

Still paying $50.00 per mo, but not doing it foolishly for just one srv. Cable companies and their monopolies and stick it.

Gas costs too much and need more service for my buck.

Anessa, about your alarm, get a landline. Don't trust a cable co with your security. I am going to have ADT install a system and two of their reps sd the copper lines from the pho co's is the best and most secure.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/ditching-your-landline-isnt-as-popular-as-it-was-supposed-to/
i did think that i would need to go back to the sbc cheese line because i needed dsl service since i'm starting school and i'm a gaming junkie. luckily, i found out about speakeasy and i hope all of that works out. i guess all in all, it just depends on your location and needs. i'll let you know how the speakeasy goes.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM