 fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20 | Wanna make them sexy? ...stop bilking us out of money for a land line that they PROVE they can sell for less. And really.. what's up with $8 caller ID service? | |
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FutureMon
OW My Eyes
Premium,ExMod 2002-05
join:2000-10-05
Colorado Springs, CO
clubs: 
| Re: Wanna make them sexy? There are 2 reasons I carry a land line at my house.
1) Cell phone reception at home is very spotty. Live in an unincorporated edge of city limits at the county line. When I'm in the lower floor of the house, my connection is almost guaranteed to drop during a conversation. And my phone blurts out "loss of service" all by itself when I'm not even on it, seemingly at random.
2) I refuse to give my 11 year old daughter a cell phone. She's way too young to "need" one, but I do want her to have the ability to call me in an emergency. She's in "home alone" training at the moment; couple hours max when I go run errands or whatnot. When she's 16 and is driving a car, yeah. Then she needs one.
- FM | |
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| | fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20 | Re: Wanna make them sexy? .. and this has to do with a follow up to my post how again? or were you replying to mine to jockey for position? | |
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M A R K
St. Ides Heaven
Premium
join:2001-06-15
Long Island
clubs:
| Re: Wanna make them sexy? said by fiberguy  :.. and this has to do with a follow up to my post how again? or were you replying to mine to jockey for position? Lame..
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See you in Villains | |
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| | voyager6868
join:2003-01-29
Lynnwood, WA | You neglected to mention VOIP. Cell and landline are not the only options. | |
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| Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Pittsburgh, PA
| said by fiberguy :...stop bilking us out of money for a land line that they PROVE they can sell for less. The problem with landlines is the archaic tariff system that was set up by government (the telcos didn't complain) to gouge the public. That's how we got dishonest crap fees like the Federal Subscriber Line Charge that go right back to the telcos. Eliminate the archaic tariff system, require honest advertising instead of crap fees, and allow real competition and you would see those landline prices come down. | |
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moby866
Premium
join:2000-10-07
Above you | YOU ARE NOT AWARE OF THE ECONOMIC FORCES BEHIND THAT.
You suck, go die in a fire. | |
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LiamJunket
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Ocean City, NJ |  Binge drinkers are young & stupid ....
"wireless-only households are more likely to contain binge drinkers and smokers, compared with those having landline phones." | |
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| ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL
| Re: Binge drinkers are young & stupid .... Also, from work, I've observed that many low-income folks are only using cell phones, and smoking is more prevalent among low-income individuals.
Also, many college students don't get landlines because they're on their parents' family plans, and they don't want to get ripped off by university telecom departments, and college students tend to binge drink. The real danger for the phone companies is that, once these people leave college, they likely won't get landlines, meaning the base of landline users is aging and will eventually die off. If the phone companies want to retain their landline business, they need a big change in strategy. Bundling all the features provided by VoIP carriers at a similar price point would be my first thought. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
| Re: Binge drinkers are young & stupid .... said by ISurfTooMuch :Also, many college students don't get landlines because ... they don't want to get ripped off by university telecom departments ... Man that reminds me of the bad old days of living on campus and paying outrageous amounts of money for using the dorm room landline.
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Blagojevich / Madoff 2012! | |
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| amungus
Premium
join:2004-11-26
America
clubs:
| And you're an old wiseguy?
I think it has more to do with a sense of freedom.
Younger people likely enjoy their freedoms, to drink, smoke, and use their phone wherever they want.
Who cares. Really.
Besides, landlines ought to be much cheaper by now. Much of the infrastructure has been paid for several times over, and much of the reason more people don't have them is that they realize the costs are inflated.
Landlines are great, sure. They're reliable as can be, sure. Their prices, however, are still insane for anything other than the most basic local only plans.
Long distance charges, especially in state, are ridiculous. Add all the other fees up, and it's far cheaper to just get a good wireless plan.
People, maybe younger ones in particular, would probably much rather spend some extra money on enjoying life, rather than wasting it on paying "Ma Bell" any more money than they absolutely have to.
Oh, that and they know that "the man" is totally full of it  | |
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old_dawg
"I Know Noting..."
join:2001-09-22
Westminster, MD
| Re: Binge drinkers are young & stupid .... said by amungus :I think it has more to do with a sense of freedom. Younger people likely enjoy their freedoms, to drink, smoke, and use their phone wherever they want. Who cares. Really. As in a sense of freedom from what?, like responsibility perchance. My former SO had two (supposedly) adult children on her billing plan. She was constantly bickering with them for running over voice and data minutes, as well as trying to get them cough up the $$$ they owed her.
I would care except for the hope that I'll be worm food when their bill (in the larger sense) comes due.
Yup, freedom's grand as long as someone else picks up the tab. 
Or to borrow a phrase from Maggie...
"Socialism is fine until you run out of other people's money."
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"Our network engineers are aware of the problem..." | |
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baineschile
Premium
join:2008-05-10
Sterling Heights, MI | I am 27. Dont drink or smoke....and after I moved out of my parents at 19 years old, I have never had a landline. | |
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Jim Gurd
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI
·Comcast
| said by LiamJunket :... and it is the young that are all wireless. So the below statement makes some sense. "wireless-only households are more likely to contain binge drinkers and smokers, compared with those having landline phones." Yes, but correlation does not imply causation.
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Calling an illegal alien an undocumented worker is like calling a crack dealer an unlicensed pharmacist. | |
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sansri88
Go digtal you analog laggards
Premium
join:2005-12-17
Iselin, NJ
clubs: | Re: Binge drinkers are young & stupid .... Are you a Stats AP teacher? LOL
Our teacher taught us that line on the first day of class. | |
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jmn1207
Premium
join:2000-07-19
Reston, VA | Re: Binge drinkers are young & stupid .... If statistics professors say this, it must be true. | |
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Jim Gurd
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI | Nope, I'm not a teacher. | |
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bgraham
join:2001-03-15
Smithtown, NY | What a waste of taxpayer's money. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have nothing better to do than studies like this? | |
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NOVA_Guy
The EVIL TRIO- Obama, Pelosi, and Dodd
Premium
join:2002-03-05
Purcellville, VA
| Re: What a waste of taxpayer's money. I'm with you on this one. I guess taxpayer money has to be wasted on something though, and this is better than spending on money to determine how much cow dung affects global warming.
Just get ready for more of this crap in the coming year as our government pushes us to reply to the upcoming census.
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Save us, oh Great Obamasiah. Peggy Joseph and I both pray that You come to pay our mortgage and fill our cars with gas. (Premium please!) | |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
1 edit | I hate accurate health statistics and accurate polls! | |
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fancydancer
Call now and I'll double the offer
Premium
join:2002-08-28
Springfield, IL
clubs: | Of course I dont have a landline How am I suppose to answer my home phone when I am binge drinking at the bar? 
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Thank you for keeping this a work-free environment! | |
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| jbowman
join:2004-01-20
Camp Hill, PA
| Re: Of course I dont have a landline said by fancydancer :How am I suppose to answer my home phone when I am binge drinking at the bar? I was thinking the same thing lol. Don't forget chain smoking while binge drinking at the bar. | |
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| ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL
| And that's the problem with cell phones. People always expect you to be available. That's fine when a drinking buddy calls to go get a few beers, but it isn't so great when your moocher friend calls to ask for yet another loan.
With a landline, you can connect an answering machine, let it take the messages, then never call back. | |
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biggbrother
Premium
join:2001-11-07
Providence, RI
| No landline here either. Me and my girlfriend live together and we both have cell phones. No, we are not binge drinkers or smokers.
Why have a landline, when we have cell phones and everyone just calls us direct.
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"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them." -- George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four.
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longstreet
join:2004-11-14
Plano, TX
| Poor mans figures
statistically significant |
I've got some of my own statistics (thanks FSM) | |
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karlmarx
join:2006-09-18
Nashua, NH
 ·Fairpoint Communic..
| Re: Poor mans figures Oops, didn't you hear? The number of pirates is RISING, so if global warming slows down, we'll know the truth is that global warming IS caused by pirates!
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The happiest countries are the most secular. The struggle AGAINST corporations is the struggle FOR humanity! | |
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ITALIAN926
join:2003-08-16
Stratford, CT
| uh First of all, in my opinion, if someone switches their home number to voIP, it should still be considered a landline. Call it a "housephone" if you have to. Dialtone is dialtone, I dont care if its coming from a central office, ONT, or cable modem.
The vast majority of the FiOS installations I do are triple plays. Landlines or " housephones " are not going extinct. Families will always have one of these to represent their household, a number to reach anyone within the house.
Single people need a cellphone only, a phone that is with them at all times. This isnt rocket science. | |
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| Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO
| Re: uh I know a lot of families that have a cell phone for every member, even the first graders. With all the events in the last decade (twin towers, school shootings, abductions, etc) parents want to be able to call(and often locate by remote means) their children. When cutbacks are made it is usually the land line that goes and not one of the cell phones. Going right along with that I am seeing a lot of working people with two cell phones, one for work and one for personal. Considering that the cost differential is minimal (for what you get) I think land lines are on borrowed time (unless they change). | |
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| | Mce Saint
join:2007-10-03
Saint Louis, MO
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| Re: uh We just cut the landline at our house within the last week. The wife and I both have and use cell phones. Anyone who wants to talk to us knew to call our cell phones not the home phone. In fact 99.9% of the time the ringer was off on the landline.
AT&T landline per month was $26 for basic service; in addition, Sprint long-distance charged about $6 for just the *ability* to make long-distance calls (none were ever made). $32 x 12 months = $384 for a line we NEVER used (except to allow the DirecTV receivers to dial out).
We have an 8 year old so didn't want to go *completely* without a "back-up" phone in case the babysitter didn't have one OR we keeled over with a stroke and our phones weren't charged.
Solution? Boost mobile "burner" phone. Cost $25 for the phone and $20 every ninety days to "recharge" the minutes. Cost now (1st year) = $105; following years = $80. The Boost phone has GPS and is e911. We keep this in the kitchen right where the old landline was and we keep it charged up. We've only used it once - to confirm that it works. | |
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| | | systems2000
What? You Say It's Fixed. Hah
join:2001-11-29
Cyberspace | Re: uh All cell phones will call 911 without any service contracts of any type. | |
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| elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA
·SONIC.NET
·Verizon Online DSL
·RoadRunner Cable
·MM INTERNET, INC.
| said by ITALIAN926 :First of all, in my opinion, if someone switches their home number to voIP, it should still be considered a landline. Call it a "housephone" if you have to. Dialtone is dialtone, I dont care if its coming from a central office, ONT, or cable modem. The vast majority of the FiOS installations I do are triple plays. Landlines or " housephones " are not going extinct. Families will always have one of these to represent their household, a number to reach anyone within the house. Single people need a cellphone only, a phone that is with them at all times. This isnt rocket science. Housephone yes, landline no. All Dialtone are NOT equal.
A landline is circuit-switched on a dedicated copper pair.
VOIP is VOIP, packetized and dependent on an IP connection; while Fios and Cable should be more reliable than internet-based servers, the jury is still out. Ask the TWC customers here in LA about their connectivity over the past three weeks. Ask them about their "Dialtone is dialtone" cable-telephony service.
Fios Triple-Play customers will soon find out the true cost of planting all of their eggs in one basket.
As for the single folks who choose not a landline, it is not a question of "need" but a measure of perceived cost and convenience trumping call quality. Personally, I don't take to half-duplex conversations whose main content is the word "What?" or an endless series of voicemails or text messages.
I will keep my POTS line, on a copper pair. The voice quality (compared to cellular) is worth a modest premium, though I can't say $18 a month is that steep. Voip voice quality can beat it, but only when voip is working, consistently, which it can't on a public internet, and won't on a cable network. | |
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itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Camp Hill, PA
| Just went the other way The wife's out of work and we blew through 1/2 our rollover minutes last month. So I signed up for ViaTalk and dusted the cobwebs off the cordless phones.
I looked at FIOS phone and it was insane - $40/mo for unlimited local/long distance + caller ID, etc...
$199 for 2 years, 2 lines and all the goodness from ViaTalk clinched the deal.
It may not be 100% reliable, but for the 0 times in 33 years I've called 911 from the home I'll live with it. For the most part over the past couple weeks it's been working great - pick up, dial and talk.
That's why landlines are declining - price.... | |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
Host:
Road Runner
PC gaming GAMES
PC gaming Tech
| Re: Mincing the Facts Bot the story and Karl mince facts to create a new story. Yes, well both Reuters and I are trying to trick the public into thinking landlines are slowly dying because we're joint-launching a combination VoIP carrier and dog-sitting service. | |
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| | pabster
join:2001-12-09
Waterloo, IA | Re: Mincing the Facts Cute, Karl. Really.  | |
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| | DarkLogix
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX | Why not make it a Triple play (those seem popular
Voice sitting, Dog over IP, and something else?
(just incase you don't notice it I'm clearly joking) | |
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Richard B
Fur It Up
join:2007-06-22
Portland, OR | Sorry but arguing for the absurd does not work in all cases.
call me when you can figure out:
100% - 17.5%= way why it may not be a trend. | |
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hurfy
Premium
join:2002-08-06
Spokane, WA
| duh "The figures come from national in-person interviews of approximately 30,000 households per year with at least one adult or child."
So they left out households with no people? How unfair to non-people....
They don't say how people with only VOIP are counted. In fact VOIP is only mentioned in summary. | |
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| DarkLogix
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX | Re: duh Ya whatever will those non-people do | |
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XBL2009
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join:2001-01-03
Chicago, IL | Magic Jack Magic Jack is OK from what I hear... | |
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grcore
GOP FAIL
join:2003-12-06
usa | 17.5% of Households Wireless Only 17.5% of Households Wireless Only
-- ill drink to that | |
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Perki 805
@comcast.net
|  wait wait wait
Why are they surprised that landlines dying? I mean common landlines with unlimited minutes are 54.99 with three features plus extra $ for other add ons. | |
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ebubman
join:2002-01-17
Enola, PA
1 edit | wireless only we booted our verizon landline about 6 years ago. the $40 to $50 we would have spent monthly is now directed to, as tug mcgraw used to say "i spend 90% of my money on wine, women, & song; the rest i waste". bub | |
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17.5% of Households Wireless Only
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Mincing the Facts
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Anyone else?