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gwion
wild colonial boy
Premium,ExMod 2001-08
join:2000-12-28
Pittsburgh, PA
| My landline is failsafe...
No batteries, no cells, no antennas. It's a lifeline, if nothing else.
And 24/7 fail safe redundant phone service is NO luxury, to me. It's a necessity. The landline infrastructure's simple, and it's been perfected by years of operation. Maybe in 50 years or so, when the alternative services have the same track record. Until then, "no."
Moreover, cell, VOIP, etc., or not, the landline is redundancy to back up all the rest... and I believe adamantly in the "no single point of failure" philosophy for most everything... it's a way of life, for me.
Never. I'll give up this wire when they pry my cold, dead fingers from it. My cell works fine, to bring me the safety and convenience of a phone on the go. But my home phone is absolutely critical basic comm services to me, and I'll never surrender that for a few pennies in savings. Non-negotiable. 
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'I'll fight, but not surrender,' criedThe Wild Colonial Boy. | |
therage57
join:2002-01-03
Salt Lake City, UT
| A few pennies in savings? Man I wish my landline was that cheap. With just a couple basic features I've got to pay Comcast $35.00 per month for that landline and it's not POTS.
I'm working on ditching it right now and can't wait to call them to do so. The only issue with me is DirecTV and Tivo and whether or not DirecTV will force me to be tethered to a landline. DirecTV say's you "must" have a landline connected at all times. | |
gwion
wild colonial boy
Premium,ExMod 2001-08
join:2000-12-28
Pittsburgh, PA
| Fair enough, and I speak for me... I hope everyone has the options they need and want. But what about my 87 year old mother? She doesn't know how to turn on a computer... just the send/hangup buttons on my cell give her fits...
I really wish the companies could learn to "be considerate" in what they push to us...
Now, as for me...  --- I pay a good bit for mine. I have the whole bells and whistles suite of forwarding, DSL, three way, you name it... but Mom pays 20 bucks a month for her straight landline... all she'll ever need for the rest of her life. Now, for someone who wouldn't even want to use the "other" feeatures if they could, that strikes me as a bargain, these days... 10 cents a minute LD, unlimited local calls (so she could have it even cheaper!) and only the inter-LATA rates strike me as an absurd, incoherent obscenity. For people like me, who make an LD call once every three months, I find it ridiculous calling ten miles away can cost unbelievably more than calling Hawaii... ouch! How utterly absurd!!
Anyhow, to each their own... but these sorts of things... especially reliability issues and "always available" issues, NEED consideration, before anyone makes a final decision. All I urge is a complete analysis of all of the factors... hmmm... maybe that expensive landline won't seem as expensive if it saves your or your child's life someday, when the alternative service isn't available for one reason or another... and, vice versa, maybe that alternate service will... well, I think that makes my own way of looking at it a lot clearer...
To each their own... and best of luck, whatever you choose!
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'I'll fight, but not surrender,' criedThe Wild Colonial Boy. | |
gruggni
Oxygen Gets You High
join:2003-07-28
Corpus Christi, TX
| reply to therage57
Direct-tv only needs a land line if you plan to buy pay-per-view movies or any other purchases like the NFL or NBA season tickets.
I've been watching Direct Tv for 3 months without a land line connected. Nothing weird or bad has happened.
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When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading. --Henny Youngman | |
therage57
join:2002-01-03
Salt Lake City, UT
| said by gruggni  :
Direct-tv only needs a land line if you plan to buy pay-per-view movies or any other purchases like the NFL or NBA season tickets.
I haven't had my landline hooked up for over two years and have NFL and MLB subscriptions. It may be that you need the landline if you want to order it like the PPV method. You can always just call them and if they say you don't have a line hooked up tell them you will hook it up later. That's worked for me. | |
btrdad
join:2003-11-14
Bristol, PA
|  reply to gwion
I'm just curious about the age of the people who would "not surrender home phone service". Your being taken to the cleaner by these phone companies and don't even know it. I save over $50 a month in pennies using VOIP and it works fine. Everything will be without wires eventually so what will you do then? $600 in savings a year in phone service is NOT pennies. | |
btrdad
join:2003-11-14
Bristol, PA
| reply to therage57
Very good point. I say do whatever it takes to ditch the landline. They are all thieves. Switch to a good Cable TV network with additional high-speed broadband cable internet connection then get VOIP (mine is through vonage and I love it). It will save you a ton of money. Want to know what I am paying in taxes for my VOIP? A bit over $2 a month. It will only be a matter of time before everyone goes this route. | |
gwion
wild colonial boy
Premium,ExMod 2001-08
join:2000-12-28
Pittsburgh, PA
| reply to gwion
Well, I'm early mid forties, but I've been online at home since ~1992... and used computers since 1976... learned on old heavy iron 'nix... I'm pretty much a consummate geek. My mom's late eighties, and a lost cause for even getting powered up ... but I'm curious who your POTS provider is... 600 bucks is around 50 bucks a month. My POTS costs that (Verizon) but it has every bell, whistle and flashy-thingie they offer, the whole suite... Mom pays 20 a month for basic, unlimited local, ten cents a minute LD service. For what's commonly referred to as "lifeline service," they charge even less, around 12-15 a month... that's measured local service, very basic... the small local telco in the town I grew up in offers a more state of the art system than even Verizon has, and charges base rate 15 dollars for full unlimited local...
VOIP is great... fantastic, even. But it's not what I want to depend on in an emergency... and I like the idea that I can phone even when the power is down, 24/7, solid as a rock. I've never (knocking on side of head ) lost POTS service... never had to do anything but dial and yap... I can see VOIP for long distance, social calls. I can't see taking local and business calls that way. As I note, especially emergency ones, if necessary.
As for my cell, yes, it's solid as a rock. I was first adopter on that, too, around here, and have an original Pittsburgh Cellular exchange number. I have everything on that, too - messaging, data ready ... and I trust my cell pretty firmly. But it does have a battery. There's one handset (well, I do keep an old one for backup)... And it's possible it could fail... landline is redundancy, for me, and DSL, too, of course...
Sometimes, us creakier old fellows have a few prejudices, yes, but sometimes, us old unix and heavy iron fellows have a really obsessive thing about redundancy and failsafe backup systems. And I sometimes think that's not a bad idea, at all. What we're talking, here, isn't adoption... I'm a consummate "tech-head," and I'll be among the first to adopt -- and try and master, even if just to say I've mastered it -- anything, if I think it sounds useful. hehe - Some of my friends suggest I can punch down cat5 in the dark... with my teeth ... they exaggerate grossly... But where failure models are concerned, I'm a realist. And until I can see a failsafe model for cell and VOIP, I'll have to regard having a fallover model and redundant systems the most ideal system... for me. Do what works, for you. All I'm saying is to consider all the factors, before you jump to disconnect anything...
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'I'll fight, but not surrender,' criedThe Wild Colonial Boy. | |
btrdad
join:2003-11-14
Bristol, PA
| You make good points. I live in PA and have experienced lose of land-line service during winter storms or high winds where I had to rely on my cell phone for service. Nothing is fail-safe. I sell HOME PHONE SERVICE through Excel Communications. It is similar to that of Verizon. Your get 10 calling features including caller ID, call forwarding etc and it comes with UNLIMITED LD. In my area, to resell phone service EXCEL has to sell that plan for $59.00. After you put on all of the state, local, federal and other communication taxes, my bill is $82.00. I figured it out and I use close to 200 minuted in LD per month. What I switched to is Vonage VOIP. I kid you not... I have had the service for close to 3 weeks and so far it has been flawless (knock on wood). I get calling features such as caller ID, forwarding, call waiting, voice mail and more along with 500 minutes of LD each month included all for $24.95 plus tax... that comes to $27.00 per month. What's nice is that I can go online and see real time usage and billing. It really is amazing.
I understand the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". But our current communications companies ARE broke. They need to be fixed. They hardly ever get billing right and when they do screw it up it is almost impossible to get someone who speaks English who is WILLING to help you. It is frustrating. We finally have a choice in how we make our home phone calls and I am all for going with the one who can offer me friendly service and save me $600 a year!
You are right about to each their own but if you haven't tried it.. don't knock it | |
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