DaveNJ
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey | wrong direction
The problem with landlines is price, if they matched cellular or lower, they would be fine. My landline is out more then my cellphone btw. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
 ·North State Commun..
1 edit |  Solution in search of a problem?
I can't think of a gap this is supposed to fill. Most of the people I know with landlines are older folks, or families who keep it around for an emergency. What possible reason could there be to pay more money to send an SMS message to a landline? Anyone?
The ILECs need to stop investing in POTS and copper and move on already. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Easy Solution
Lower the price.
Include unlimited everything, including fees, for $20 a month. Once a service is priced at the level at which consumers believe it is worth, there will be more demand.
--
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty |
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nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD | simple answers to difficult questions
quote:
Do you think carriers might want to make some tough decisions, cut the cord, and focus that revenue and brain power on future technologies?
No. |
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erikthebean
join:2007-06-25
Manchester, NH | OO boy
what people dont understand is the wireless system is based on POTS so its not like we could just get rid of it.....but i think its time for telco's to lower prices...then again its not always up to them ...its up to the state PUC's |
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Tomek
Premium
join:2002-01-30
Brooklyn, NY
 ·Packet8
| reply to pnh102
Re: Easy Solution
Verizon started doing it, when I called them that I am considering dropping POTS and DSL, they offered lower price on POTS.
If you have a DSL on dry loop, they add $10 to the DSL fees.
In the end I got a decent deal. Wireless coverage sucks, and net is not reliable enough to be VoIP only. |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:
 ·Charter Pipeline
·AT&T Southwest
| lower the price, you idiots
consumers know that for a monthly land-line bill of $20-30, they get pretty much a dialtone and maybe a feature or two. Half of that amount is taxes and unfees.
if telco wanted to KEEP customers, they would tout the 911 features and offer a low-cost version with caller-id. that's enough to keep me with a landline.
unfortunately, they won't do that. |
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newview
Ex .. Ex .. Exactly
Premium
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD | As has already been said . . .
Lower the damn price . . . and I *might* consider coming back.
The high price was why I left in the first place. |
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major marco
Res Firma Mitescere Nescit
Premium
join:2003-02-13
Stepford, CA
clubs:
| Yeah Sure
quote:
do you think there's enough remaining home phone customers to make these investments worthwhile?
I'm sure me along with the other 500 people in the entire country who still have a landline are just dying to receive text messages on the landline.
/sarcasm
How about just lowering the damn price to $10/mo. or less as was done for dial up accounts once most areas had broadband.
--
The Toll
Tracking Lord Stanley
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DataDoc
My avatar looks like me, if I was 2D.
Premium
join:2000-05-14
Greenville, NC
·Suddenlink
| The only reason I have a land line is
for my burglar alarm (I haven't gotten a fax in years). The other side of this coin is the alarm providers want an arm and a leg to go wireless. Oh yeah, DirecTV has to initialize their DVRs with a land line. No jack, no service.
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Output from a climate model is not "data". |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| reply to erikthebean
Re: OO boy
said by erikthebean  :what people dont understand is the wireless system is based on POTS so its not like we could just get rid of it.... How is it being based on one technology make it tied to that technology? If they stopped offering POTS lines to consumers it's not like all the central offices are going to shut down and all the cell site backhauls are going to go dark. |
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bender
Bite my shiny metal ass
Premium
join:2005-03-19
Evanston, IL
clubs: | *sniff* *sniff*
i'm smelling a pattern in these complaints. could it be that landlines don't have enough value for their price? |
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OhRry
@algx.net | Close...
If they'd add GPS to it and WiFi I might consider coming back. Oh, and downloadable ringtones. |
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dishrich
join:2006-05-12
Springfield, IL
| reply to DataDoc
Re: The only reason I have a land line is
said by DataDoc :DirecTV has to initialize their DVRs with a land line. No jack, no service. That was ONLY on the DirecTV Tivo DVR's, & even then, you ONLY needed it for the inital setup. (which I just simply did back at my place  ) NONE of the other receiver models needs it... (BTW, have MANY DirecTV clients that haven't had a landline in years... ) |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| reply to DataDoc
said by DataDoc :DirecTV has to initialize their DVRs with a land line. No jack, no service. Maybe you should do your homework first  That hasn't been true since DirecTV stopped using Tivos in 2005, and it was the Tivo that required it, not DirecTV. |
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b10010011
Whats a Posting tag?
join:2004-09-07
Bellingham, WA
·Comcast Formerly ..
4 edits | As I have said before...
You can have my POTS line when you pry it from my cold dead fingers.
It may be old technology and expensive compared to cellular and VOIP but...
History has shown in my area during any real emergency cellular is useless as the towers quickly reach their capacity.
During a pipeline fire a few years ago they were on the local radio stations pleading to the public to hang-up and not attempt to use their cellulars because the police, fire, and emergency crews can not get through and need the cellular phones to coordinate efforts.
VOIP, forget it during any weather related emergencies. The local cable plant must be held up by kite string. Because anytime we have high winds (several times a year) the cable goes out and it takes as long as three days to be restored.
I have had the same POTS line for fifteen years now. As far as I know it has never failed. When cellular and VOIP services can even come close to that kind of reliability I will think about dropping my POTS line.
Edit: I must have been sleeping when I wrote this   |
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bobgwen
join:2001-07-07
Bartow, FL
·Comcast
| reply to DataDoc
Re: The only reason I have a land line is
Same here. My wife and I considered T-mobile's at home service but it is not compatible with our alarm service. And I am stuck with a service contract with them for another 2 years. I have verizon's cheapest local service but with added fees and taxes it comes to about 26 bucks per month.
--
brought to you by Carl's Jr.
Esteban Colberto for President of Cuba |
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maartena
Stacked.
Premium
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
| Make it cheaper.
Most people are switching to VOIP etc, because of price. They get unlimited nationwide talking for $25, which is a small price to pay for your teenage daughters that call long distance, just because their BFF lives just outside the local calling area.
If you want to keep customers from switching, slash the prices, offer talk-all-you-want nationwide deals, and don't nickel and dime people for all little features such as caller ID, call waiting, etc.
All these new features and ideas they come up with are all nice and dandy, but they aren't tackling the underlying problem: People are switching because of the bottom line. They get more for less elsewhere.
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"We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope" - Barack Obama, 2008. |
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nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
·Comcast
| reply to bender
Re: *sniff* *sniff*
In Maryland (DC suburbs) $30.99 gets you (local calls ONLY):
Verizon Local Package includes:
* Unlimited direct-dialed local calling
* Unlimited local directory assistance
* Choiceof up to three popular calling features including Caller ID, Call Waiting and Three-Way Calling. Home Voice Mail available for an additional charge.
and this price DOESN'T include fees, charges, etc.; I'm guessing another $6-8, but let's round up to $40.
Granted, this includes directory assistance and the other features, BUT I have vonage, with everything above except directory assistance (which I never use anyway), and also have unlimited long distance, free calls to Canada (we know people there) and very low cost calling to PR, Bahamas, etc. for $30/mo.
so yeah, I'd say landlines (POTS) don't have enough value for their price. |
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maartena
Stacked.
Premium
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to b10010011
Re: As I have said before...
said by b10010011 :You can have my POTS like when you pry it from my cold dead fingers. It my be old technology and expensive compared to cellular and VOIP but... History has shown that in my are during any real emergency cellular is useless as the towers quickly reach their capacity. We had a 5.8 earthquake not that long ago here in SoCal..... not too big a deal, not a lot of damage, no one got really hurt. But the first thing people started doing immediately was pick up their cell phones to make the "are you OK" calls to their friends and family.
I could not reach my wife, she was at a girlfriends. She had no problem however using their POTS line calling my POTS line at work.
My cell phone did not work again for at least an hour, and colleagues with different carriers (ATT, Verizon and Sprint) each had the same problem: Network overload. According to the local news, call volume jumped by 800% in the minutes after the quake, causing the wireless networks in the entire LA area - even those further away from the quake - to collapse and lose service.
If you rely on a cell phone only, please note that you may want to find a land line real quick if an earthquake strikes again and you DO need 911.... |
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