Interesting little tidbit from the CDC mentioned on The Today Show. I am not sure why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did this study but that debate is for another day.

From December 2, 2015 - [www.today.com]

47% cell phone only vs. 8% landline only. I have not had a landline phone in years. I am never home anyway and I get a lot less robocalls on my cell phone.

We cut the the landline cord, halfway, years ago. I ported the landline number, which cost $40/month to a cell line for $10/month. Kept it for a year or so, and then cut the cord completely.

Haven't had a landline for six years. Never missed it. Wife and I each have a smartphone and pay a total of $70 a month with Consumer Cellular.

I have both and probably always will. I hate talking on the cell phone, the sound quality is awful to me. My cell phone is for texting, recording, timing, note-taking, photos, etc. and of course the occasional necessary phone call when I'm out. I will wait until I get home to make a phone call if it's at all possible.

Cell phones only in our household. It's been a while since we had a landline
The only thing I miss, on rare occasions when I am required to fax something, is our fax machine.

Cell phones really picked up steam when I was in college so when I graduated and was officially on my own, I never got a land line. Can't say I've ever had any desire for one.

You can get a fax setup that is completely online and uses email. I've used SRFax for years and love it. I can send and receives faxes from my cellphone. And I have not had a landline for almost 10 years.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2015 08:27PM by Brython7.

Not only are we in the 8% who still have a landline, my DH is probably one of the 0.0005% who doesn't have a cell phone.

I have to fax applications the old fashioned way for work, so we've HAD to keep the landline. Too bad as we get all kinds of junk phone calls, so we only hook it up when it's time to fax!
Does anybody know if you can send faxes with MagicJack?

I have a cell phone which I use for taking with me and mostly use for shopping, i.e. taking notes, checking for job emails, and calls from schedulers. I took Verizon's Home Connect for my landline and it has paid for itself as I use it for making my phone call projects. The phone call projects some times require call backs and I do not want them calling me back on my cell.

I have had the same land line number for over 20 years. I don't plan on giving it up or porting it to a cell phone.

IMHO, It is best to port it to a VoIP (Voice Over IP) provider that is cut rate.

I was one of the first people to switch to VoIP with Vonage when they first started up and were a very cheap alternative to a land line. Now Vonage is ridiculously expensive.

I have since ported my land line (for free) to a provider that has more features than Google Voice. This provider does not supply hardware, yet has a very detailed setup guide for all common SIP and ATA devices.



This is actually a Canadian company. They have servers all over the world and can port a number in from Canada, US, AU, GB and growing other regions. They only charge $1.50 a month for a ported phone number. Then they charge $0.01 cent per minute and you can pay with oaypal. You don't need to buy any locked hardware from them and can use an unlimited number of devices. You can install any VoIP APP on any Android or iOS device and use it over your wifi or cell data plan. You can buy a very cheap device called an ATA that will plug into your home high speed Internet router and give you two analog phone lines (one for fax and one for voice) to use your existing corded and cordless phones with full caller name and number. They have voice mail and email voice mail with .mp3 attachment. You can set up a separate voice mail for each member of the house and have simulring to have your cell phone ring at the same time when you receive a call on your old land line number. You can have up to 5 numbers ring at once.

It has more features than Google voice and allows you to set up a virtual PBX with voice attendant and even allows you to set up routing tables and voice prompts to make telemarketers listen and hit buttons so you can 100% avoid any unwanted inbound calls.
You can block unlimited numbers and even choose how to route them. You can block with wildcards to block entire area codes or any portion of a number and choose the recording those numbers hear. You can even spoof your outbound caller ID.

If you want true E911 services, you can have true enhanced 911 service for $1.50 more and it is optional. No hidden fees.

I use a Panasonic cordless phones that have bluetooth connect to my cell phone so I can answer my cell calls without running for my cell phone with voice announce caller name and ID. I also have the ATA device plugged into my Sat. Box so I get caller name and ID on the screen when watching TV.




[voip.ms]

@ wrote:

What we offer:
Free/Unlimited Support Tickets and Live Chat
Clear, no-nonsense, simple to understand billing
All features included by default/available to all accounts
Use your own device, soft phone, Asterisk, PBX or switch
6 seconds billing increment
USA 48 Premium tier-1 @ 1¢ per minute ($0.01)
Canada starting as low as ½ ¢ per minute ($0.0052)
Canada Premium tier-1 @ 1¢ per minute ($0.01)
Free calls between VoIP.ms DID's
Free iNum Origination and Termination
Full SIP Broker support
Keep your number: VoIP.ms offers number portability
Connect as many phones as you wish with sub-accounts
Free calls to Toll-Free numbers (Termination)
Premium Quality Domestic and Toll free DIDs
International DIDs in over 30 countries
High Channel-Capacity DID's from $0.99 per month
Inbound calls from $0.01 / Toll free: $0.019
CNAM, Voicemail, e411, e911, Speed Dial and SIP URI's
True Canadian CNAM Pass-through (In/Out)
Digital Receptionist (IVR), Recordings, Calling Queues
Ring Groups, Callback, Failover destination, Call Forwarding
Detailed CDR also available in xls, csv, sql and xml
A to Z call termination (Worldwide Call Termination)
No volume commitment
Pay as you go pricing scheme
Very competitive rates
Customer support staff available via Live Chat
Free Asterisk Configuration support
Support available in English, French and Spanish
Flexible Dialing Rules

You can find the Obi brand ATA's on sale for around $35 on amazon most times.

Here is the latest version with Google Voice ready as well:
[www.amazon.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2015 04:18AM by scanman1.

@eveb wrote:

Not only are we in the 8% who still have a landline, my DH is probably one of the 0.0005% who doesn't have a cell phone.

I am with you in that 8% and pretty much part of the .0005% too. I do have a cell abut I only use it on the few occasions when I travel as there do not seem to be pay phones anywhere. It is a pleasure to speak with someone else who has a landline...no dropped calls, no poor reception and a comfortable phone to hold and speak into.

Cell only and it gets interesting setting appointments because my area code is an out of state code.

Cut the land line last spring
Only still had it as one company had reports that needed to be faxed. When they cut my hours to the point that the land line cost more than I was making with them per month, they both went away. No more robot calls, scams, charity fund raising or political calls. Hallelujah. I should have done it long ago. There are four cell phones in the house. Who needs more? Two are work phones, two are backup phones.
.

Cell phone only.

Cell phone only for me too. Haven't had a line land in over 6 years. Don't miss it either.

Both. The cell gets used the most, but the landline is a necessity for several reasons, the most important being my alarm doesn't play well with other options. While there might be some monthly savings from dropping the landline, it would probably take a long time to recoup the costs of a brand new system.

@LisaSTL wrote:

Both. The cell gets used the most, but the landline is a necessity for several reasons, the most important being my alarm doesn't play well with other options. While there might be some monthly savings from dropping the landline, it would probably take a long time to recoup the costs of a brand new system.

We had that exact same issue. We went with a company that restored service with the system we already had but somehow made it work with their satellite instead of a landline. They did have to install their wall mounted pad thingie. No more landline, so we save that money towards the cost of the monitoring.

Scanman1, I learn something new every day. Thanks for the informational post!

I had to chuckle when I read this thread. I just did a shop for a cable company. The associate asked for my phone number to bring up the account. It didn't bring up anything. She tried my husband's number, too, but to no avail. She was able to bring it up by address. She said it was probably in under our phone number through the cable company, and sure enough, that's what they had in there.

I laughed and told her I had no idea what that was because we'd never even plugged a phone into the router/modem unit and used it!

We only got it because bundling services for a promo with TV/Internet/Phone saved us money a while back. I dropped the phone service today since the promo ended and the package was now $40 more a month.

We're wireless only.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/2016 07:12AM by TechSavvy.

Haven't had a landline in many years. Jumped on the cell bandwagon early when work required travel in an RV and never looked back.

Team both! There are some business calls I like to make from a landline, but that's probably hopelessly out of touch by this point. And, to be honest, I think talking on a land line vs. a cell phone is just something that I'm more used to... not really something that's inherently better.

I have to have a landline where I live. I can only use my cell when I'm out of my house. I don't live in a rural area, but 1/2 mile from the ocean. My internet, landline, and cable TV are on one bill, not expensive, about $150 month for all.

Just a cell phone.