It's the 2020s. Do you STILL have a landline?

1. To call my cell phone when I can't find it

2. I have terrible cell phone reception in my apartment

3. Emergencies such as power outages.

Maria Bamford does. She got a call during a zoom show the other day.

I have one. Only because, for some reason having one through my provider lowers my internet bill.

I have Ooma because I still have to send faxes often enough that it's more practical to have home access to doing so.

I can't dial my cell phone using a pencil.

My parents do. Bless their hearts.

R1

1:callmylostiphone.com 2:do you live in a parking garage? 3:if your area is prone to power outages you should have backup chargers and batteries

It's a good question. Like R4, we have Ooma. It's a contact number I can give and expose myself to robocalls and spam when I don't want to give my cell phone number. Offers a degree of separation and screening.

Yes - as a backup (part of FIOS package deal).

No.

Though the "Find My Phone" feature on the Apple Watch is the most useful feature on that device.

Yes OP. I also still own a VCR.

Comcast made landline part of our "Package".

Didnt want it. Dont use it. Found an old land line phone and plugged it in. Robocalls started. Ringer turned off. Useless.

Honey, I still own a ringer washer.

Yes. I'm old, my days are numbered. I don't even care that I'm seeing advertisement and I'm a paying number. More to the point - I'm dirt poor and aren't cell phones like $300?

Sorry but I still like using mine for calls. And like someone said upthread with Comcast it's better to take the package than try to do ala carte. Cell phones still annoy the shit out of me the way people talk over each other

I have one too because of Comcast and I do use it on occasion. I get lots of spam calls but if I don't recognize the number I don't answer it.

Trying to cut it off and switch my landline number - that I’ve had for 30 years - to another phone so I don’t use it. But can’t find a cheap used phone because of lockdown.

Of course not. Other technologies I don't have or use that would seem to separate me from some of my DL peers (and younger):

DVD player or a VCR

Complete runs of dog-eared copies of TV Guide

Watch big network TV

Mimeograph machine

CD player, vinyl, mixtapes

Telephone answering machine

Crock pots (you sick fucks)

Gas lighting

Swamp coolers (see Crock pots, above)

R9, I don’t think the FIOS phone numbers are “real” landlines. I don’t think they work when the electric goes out. I remember this from when I got FIOS five or six years ago. I was a little annoyed when I figured it out. I no longer have FIOS, but I assume my optimum number isn’t a real landline either. I think it’s only a real landline if it uses a phone cord.

I clearly don’t have a good handle on this, hopefully someone more informed can explain it.

No landline but I do have cordless phones. I use my home number more than my cell for non-family stuff. This way the robocalls (well, most of them anyway) go to my home voicemail. One day I'm going to call the NRCC since they like calling me so much.

Any numbers that come that I don't know, go to VM. No message, no call back.

For the person who needs to fax things, do you have a printer that scans? You can email the docs to whoever needs it or email it to yourself.

I am stupid.

r20, not for medical, legal and other government paperwork.

For those of you who say you have Comcast ... you may have a "landline" but it is not a copper-wire landline, which is the only kind worth having. I'm pretty sure your phones won't work in a power outage or an internet outage.

I have a traditional landline because it's much better for 911 emergencies. That's pretty much the only reason. And for power outages or cell outages.

The main reason I keep my landline is because I do NOT like having to schlep my iPhone around with me from room to room. If I'm in the kitchen and my cellphone rings in the living room I can't hear it; whereas I can hear my landline phone ring in any room of the house, even from out in the garden. Also, I like holding my cordless landline phone in my hand when I use it, as opposed to the alien-feeling, much smaller iPhone 10s+.

Yes. I refuse to walk around in public with a phone They're all zombies.

YES. It's because I sometimes use my Western Electric 202 like the image below. My "landline" is not an old copper wire landline, but it's a cheap part of my cable bill. I have a few antique telephones and they've been updated to work with touch tone and/or cable phone lines. (touch tone means push button).

DVD and CD player? Yeah, still got it. My old media, yes. I even own paper books. I don't understand your snobbery, was this a middle school test for you or something, OP?

As R3 stated above, we get a much better deal on internet and cable if phone is included. "Bundling", they call it.

You bet I use my landline. The quality is so much better and I still love my old American Bell phones I brought to London in 1988!! that still work!...and that British people admire.

I use my cell phone as rarely as possible.

Only the olds and the Poors have one.

[quote]touch tone means push button

Are there people who don't know this?

[quote]Only the olds and the Poors have one.

You need to be rich to have a cell phone?

It's all the Olds

smoking cigarettes

and watchin Captain Kangaroo

OP, R30. It's considered cool not to know.

Yes and I dial it with a pencil.

I am retired from AT&T get the landline at a discount and still prefer talking on them rather than a cell phone.

My parents also have a landline. That generation will not let them go.

Bitches I still own a telegraph! It works flawlessly!

I fart and send smoke signals!

I have one. It's a backup in case my cell phone breaks. And now on lockdown and not wanting to be more isolated even for a day I'm even happier I have one. Jealous, bitches?

R36 Well, it's been useless for several years now.

R37, you must have missed the era of two tin cans and a string.

My grandmother said you freaked out if you got any telegram during WW II. For obvious reasons.

R36 here. What are you guys talking about? I send messages to my buddy Nick Carraway all the time!

R24 -- you can use a device like the one linked below (there are many) to hear your phone ring in another room.

And a pair of air buds will save you from having to hold the phone at all-- you can converse hands-free!

The modern world is a wonderful place-- come join us!

So cute >

R39 There are still telegrams, though they are electronic now and don't use telegraphs. International Telegram, or iTelegram, is the old Western Union service. And, it is very expensive one that takes 3-5 days to be delivered in the USA costs $ 18.95 for up to 100 words. One delivered within 24 hours costs $28.95 + $0.75 a word.

Haven't had one for 15 years. At just $20.00 per month, I have saved $3,600. Despite what the phone companies say, landlines occasionally do go out due to rain.

It's cheap in a bundle and I'm too lazy to call people and tell them it no longer works.

I have both. My landline is so much easier to hear. My apt doesn't get good reception with my cell. I only use my cell to get Ubers and I text a few people.

The line comes with my internet, but I don’t have a phone connected to it, so not really.

"Despite what the phone companies say, landlines occasionally do go out due to rain."

NEVER had a landline ever go out, not ever. And since I now live in a city, all my lines (electric, phone, cable) are underground and weather does not affect them. Where do you live, in the woods of Maine?

R38 So you actually remember peoples phone numbers or do you actually have a book with everyones number written down?

Wait till we have a technology fail the equal of Covid-19. You'll envy the "survivalists" with a land line. Trust me.

Threads like this are a reminder of how old a lot of this board is. Not a complaint, just an observation.

To hook up to the fax machine

"Wait till we have a technology fail the equal of the Spanish Flu. You'll envy the "survivalists" with a horse. Trust me.

R52 The only technology fail that concerns me would be an EMP from North Korea, China, etc... but one of them would wipe out landlines as well.

R5 Be honest, you have Ito or your nephew Patrick make your calls.

R51: Telephone numbers are kept in the top drawer, together with a pen and pad of pad.

The bottom drawer contains a deck of cards and a Murano glass ashtray and matches from the savings bank.

[quote]It's a contact number I can give and expose myself

Pics please.

I use Google Voice for my phone, so it’s free. Best deal possible.

And the phone numbers at the touch of a hand, R51

[quote][R38] So you actually remember peoples phone numbers or do you actually have a book with everyones number written down?

I have two.

An address phone book and a book where I scribble down phone numbers and addresses that I may not want forever.

And some of the numbers in my address book start with two letters.

I always loved the expression "Touch Tone". It's so "Jetsons".

The wireless handsets with the big antenna were the beginning of the end of landlines.

I've worked from home for several years and find that the audio on a conference call is much clearer on my landline than on my cell.

The last time I had a landline was for dial-up internet and that's all I used it for. My parents and brother still have landlines. When my mother got her first cell phone I had to show her how to answer.

[quote]Only the olds and the Poors have one.

I think you're probably a spastic.

[quote]I've worked from home for several years and find that the audio on a conference call is much clearer on my landline than on my cell.

Radio shows need to tell people to find a landline to call in with.

Same here, R66. And I have to conduct a lot of phone interviews from my home phone -- the quality is much better than with my cell, especially when so many interviewees are on their cells.

R19: Thanks! I did not know that. I am going to call Verizon about a *real* copper landline instead. Anything else is useless if the power goes out.

I'm old enough to remember when public telephones had PHONE BOOKS.

Yes. Need it for internet.

R71 Good luck with that. A few years ago they announced that they were planning to phase out copper wires in the NYC area, with Staten Island being first, If you google the topic, they have been making announcements all over in the last year or two and filing with the FCC to make the switch from copper.

They did it to me about 4 years ago. At first they wouldn't tell me why my service wasn't working but tried to force me to sign up for FiOs, which I refused. After a few months of verbal scuffles, some supervisor finally told me that they had already pulled my part of the Manhattan (downtown) off of copper and it was a done deal. (I also had a repair man come in and he said that the copper wiring in my building was gone.)

At the same time, they pulled this on the UWS, where people got together and fought back, contacting their state representative, etc. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anyone in my neighborhood to protest with me. Everyone would shrug and say they already had FiOS. It's too bad because I had phone service all through Super Storm Sandi and all of my friends with FiOS did not. I have no idea what happened with the UWS folks. I think Verizon probably either bulldozed them or gave them a sweet offer to switch.

FYI - there is a battery option. I asked to get that for free since I was forced into FiOS (back then it was $39.95, a one-time fee) and it took the big C or D batteries. That option was only about 8 hours of power IIRC before you had to put in more batteries. But they didn't send it to me although they said they would. At this point, if my power goes out, I have an emergency radio that I can use to crank power for my cellphone. That will have to do.

[quote][[R38]] So you actually remember peoples phone numbers or do you actually have a book with everyones number written down?

Today's cordless landline phones can store hundreds of frequently called numbers.

R43 — The Smartphone Ringer, which lets you hear your cellphone ring all over the house, doesn't change the fact that your cell is STILL possibly in another room and you'll have to track it down. My Panasonic cordless landline has four phones, which means I never have to walk very far to answer a call. And, as others gave said, the sound quality of a decent landline is far superior to any cellphone.

[Quote] Like [R4], we have Ooma. It's a contact number I can give and expose myself to robocalls and spam when I don't want to give my cell phone number. Offers a degree of separation and screening.

That’s exactly what we do to. I was hoping to change my Ooma phone number into a google phone number so I could get rid of the Ooma to, but to port it is a pain

^ You type fat.

what happens if there’s a fire in your home and you can’t get to your cell phone? At least a landline enables to have phones in multiple rooms.

Reception on cell phones is notoriously bad.

Trying to have a conversation on a cell phone feels like having a conversation on a two-way radio. The sound quality that a landline provides is far superior and it makes the conversation flow much more naturally.

Don't people who put everything on their cell phones and lose them, lose everything?

Back in the day I was proud of how well I remembered phone numbers.

Cell phone numbers here in England are horrendous. They're like this: 077143234419. I can barely remember my own one.

[quote]Trying to have a conversation on a cell phone feels like having a conversation on a two-way radio.

They often sound like they're underwater.

[quote] Why?

Because on Datalounge the years 1992 to 2019 never happened.

Golden Girls is still a hit, our 60somethings who look 50something are actually still 20something and everyone aspires to live the life (satirically) outlined in the Preppy Handbook

Someone explain to R83 about wit and brevity.

Yes. The alarm system uses it to alert the monitoring company if needed. Does it have to be a landline? Who knows. But it is.

always loved the expression "Touch Tone". It's so "Jetsons".'

Cool. but you may also get with it and learn that the apostrophe goes OUTSIDE the period in the USA.

That means, "I always loved the expression "Touch Tone." It's so "Jetsons."

R84, agree about R83, who sounds shrill and in need of possibly and new medication..

Yes. Cell phone (android) reception sucks. Never talk on it.

I still have a landline. It gets way too many calls.

I have a landline just in case i ever lose my cell phone or for when the power goes out and I can't charge my cell.

Haven't had a landline for over a decade. For some reason, insurance companies refuse to use emails, and insist on faxes, so thankfully there are multiple apps for iphone to compensate.

R81 It is getting that bad here. My state just started 10 digit dialing, where you have to dial the area code for each number.

I don't have a landline. I don't know anyone who does unless they work from home full-time or they're of my parents' generation.

R85 No, most alarms are monitored wirelessly now...have been for years. You should switch and get rid of the landline expense. I have burglar and fire monitoring, and the alarm company uses Sprint cells. Much faster response time.

[quote]My parents also have a landline. That generation will not let them go.

Or print copies of newspapers and magazines. That generation just cannot/will not switch over to reading everything digitally. They need their print copies of everything.

R93 Really more people should. Like I said, earlier, I only got one because it made my internet cheaper, to have a bundle(not Comcast, though). But, I love it, because it is the number I give out whenever I need to sign up for something. So it is the number all the telemarketers call. I just keep it on mute, with a answering machine, I check every now and then in case anyone actually leaves an important message.

I have a landline because it is included with my internet service.

I use it mainly in conjunction with my home security system where that system dials out on my land line to my smart phone to inform me of an alarm at the house.

In the event that the wires have been cut to the land line by the perpetrators the security system dials out on cellular through an old Motorola Razr phone that is connected to the security system.

Personally, I hate cell phones and smart phones even though I use them extensively as described above, but I use a VoIP phone when I am at home. That VoIP phone also rings through onto my smart phone.

My smart phone in only turned on when I am not at home.

[quote]Don't people who put everything on their cell phones and lose them, lose everything?

No, all your info is stored in the cloud. When you go to get a new cell phone, you put in your username and password and everything from your old phone get downloaded instantly.

I don't have a landline, but I'm probably the only person my age who keeps a notebook with all of my contact phone numbers in a desk drawer at home. I just like having a written copy of everybody's phone numbers, even though I never really have to use it. It's just one of my quirks.

I'm with you, r98. I still keep my ancient Rolodex up to date.

[quote]What happens if there’s a fire in your home and you can’t get to your cell phone? At least a landline enables to have phones in multiple rooms.

Who wants a landline phone in multiple rooms? People who eat Swanson TV dinners served on molded fiberglass TV tray tables while watching Wheel of Fortune on their box TVs with rabbit ear antennas?

People who use the telephone to...talk? (I can go a week easily without placing or receiving a phone call. Googling and messaging and placing orders and tending to financial accounts, however...)

No! I hate talking on the phone anyway. I haven’t had a landline in 14 years. Who wants MORE calls.

I still have a landline. I live in a hilly area with less-than-optimal cell phone reception and plenty of dead spots in surrounding cities. Also, my town had a three day power outage not too long ago. It was hell but at least the landline phone was working perfectly well. I use the cordless phone on a daily basis but have a corded phone stashed away just in case. Growing up in earthquake country, we had it drilled in our heads to have a landline phone, a battery operated or hand crank radio and necessary supplies on hand always.

Technically, our Comcast Landline is not a landline. It uses Comcast Internet to fake a landline. When the hurricanes show up this summer and the power goes out, the "landline" will stop.

A real landline here would be with Century Link who is fading into the sunset

I love me a fake Optimum landline and a jack for my WE 300 set!

Yes, I have a land-line. I'm an old man. Do I have to translate Canal 6741 to Apple-ease?

Country House - No cable or cell service; satellite sucks; local power goes out when squirrels chew wires (also during massive thunderstorms). True (buried copper) Landline quickly summons help.

Yes, and I'm such a whore that my number is Butterfield-8.