October 1978 - First apartment and a phone with my very own number! Life was good.
It was just eight short years ago we moved into this old house and, before we settled in, I made sure we had a working telephone. At that time, I had my cell phone but still wanted, needed, loved my home phone. New number for this side of town - we moved all of 20 miles and that meant changing our number. Good times.
Here I am, October 2013 - thirty five years of 'my very own number' and I'm not so in love with my home phone.
On Friday, Mr. J&C and I took steps to let go of our land line and, if all goes according to plan, we will sell it in the neighborhood garage sale at the end of the month. We each have a cell phone. The poor home phone seems to only get calls from people trying to sell us stuff or persuade us to vote for the candidate of their choice or folks asking for donations.
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| This sign is on our front door, a gift for Mr. J&C when he retired in January. If only I had something similar for our phone. |
What about you? Do you still have a land line? Are we making a big mistake? Or, like butter churners and rug beaters, are home phones no longer necessary?
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10 comments:
Yes we do still have a land line and we use it all the time using our mobile phones only when away from home - I know we are unusual though and that younger people (and even some older ones too)use mobiles all the time. I did wonder about getting an all singing all dancing Smartphone recently when my mobile all of 12 or 13 years old finally wouldn't hold the battery charge and I needed a new one but in the end opted for a pay as you go cheap phone instead! But as I said I don't think I am typical.
Yes, I have a land line. There are a few reasons. First, because I have family far away, I need a plan that includes calls to these places without extra charges. This kind of plan is too expensive on a cell phone.
So we have a land line and I have a cell phone - the cheapest plan I could get. I only have one for emergencies because I refer to it as my "tracking device." I don't give my number out to anyone other than family and friends. My employer, for example, has no right to know my cell phone number. One way to get in touch with me is enough. I don't like the privacy invasion of "smart phones" letting all on FB and Twitter know where you are and what you're doing all the time. Not that I'm on FB either, for the very same reasons.
I do not like the contracts associated with cell phones and how they can't be broken without a high cost. My husband's very expensive cell phone died before the contract did and his choices were to buy a new very expensive phone or plan. Since he didn't want to renew the plan he was on the hook for the remaining amount owed on the plan or continue to get billed until the plan expired. Where are the consumer protection agencies when you need them?
Annnnnd exhale. Sorry for the rant. But yes, I love my old fashioned land line (and paper bills.) :)
I agree with much your readers are saying, and yes, we still have a land line. It's the only affordable way I can stay in touch with my family in England and France......or if I wanted to call friends in places such as NZ and OZ etc. International cell phone usage is beyond our budget so, when traveling, we are the ones not using our iPhones on the plane as soon as the wheels touch down!
....and a word on texting which I dislike as it requires putting my glasses on and using my already painful hands - and I'm saving them for blogging, LOL! But the teens and their parents all want to communicate with us that way - no exchange of voices week after week is horrid!
Love your hubby's sign!
Happy weekend, Mary
Yes, we still have a land line, but like everyone else it's hardly used. We can't get rid of it though as in the UK it's tied in with having broadband and so lose the phone, lose the inetrnet. They have us over a barrel. The only calls we get are from people selling services we don't need too. I use my mobile for absolutely everything, diary, internet, address book, game playing, you name it. I would be lost without it.
Have a great weekend Joy.
Di
xoxo
we still have a land line. the cell service here is too spotty to rely on. my neighbor only has cell service and half the time her phone doesn't ring or doesn't alert her she has voice mail. dangerous at her 80 yr old age...
(i got the mail yesterday!!! will do some planting / planning today!)
We still have ours but won't be getting one when we move out to the country next year. Our cell phones will be just fine and truly, the only people who call our land line are my mom and telemarketers! No use paying $25 a month for something we really don't use anymore.
Enjoy your weekend!
Landline here too, but like everyone else telemarketers, politicians and wrong numbers. I feel strange though thinking about letting go of it. I remember getting a yellow princess phone back in high school. I was thrilled to have a phone in my room.
I have a very basic cell phone, but hubby and son and daughter all have the fancy ones.
Interesting that all the commenters still have land lines! I do, too! :) But, we have been thinking of getting rid of it - mostly because of the cost. Have you looked closely at all the taxes on that bill? I think one of them is to pay for the Civil War!
LOVE the sign on your door - this should be universal.
Yes, we still have a land line but have never been big phone users. I do have to say that almost all of our long distance calling is now done via Skype, but there's something nice about having a land line. Or maybe I'm just not the change agent that I think I am :)?
Well, this is an interesting subject. We are leasing, while our house is being built, and we have done just fine on cell phones. We are thinking we will not put in a land line in the house. But, boy things have gone up!
We use to have free T.V ( with the cost of an antenna). And these cell plans are, as someone mentioned, expensive! I have an I-phone and can't do without it, especially on trips. My husband still has a flip phone. I was teasing him. Then he showed me the monthly bill for my Iphone and I understood why he doesn't want one too.!
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