Are Landlines Going To Be Extinct?

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/entry/6673671713624336/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/entry/6673671713624336/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"According to a recent JupiterResearch survey, under six percent of US consumers today are actually using their wireless phone as their only phone. We also believe that number will not rise above 10 percent over the next 18 months, as consumers are happy with inexpensive, high quality landline service."</i><br /><br />Just 6%... I expected this to be much higher. I think the "mobile only solution" is perfect for anyone who is single. It's just so much cheaper, and there is only one number to reach them at. I'm not saying that this is the only solution where this setup works, but it is one of the best.<br /><br />There is no way I could get by with just a mobile phone. I need a landline at home, for now. However, I am working on converting both lines to VOIP, and cutting my ties with the phone company all together! What are your phone plans? Which direction do you see things going in the future?

[lurch]

This is so funny... About a year ago I tried to convince my wife we needed to ditch the landline (which we rarely, but sometimes, use) and go with cell-phones only. She's a very practical and pragmatic person, so I put together this business pitch that included graphs (cost savings over time), case studies of people I knew doing that, and some other stuff. Printed in color, in a binder, I was all set!

Unfortunately all I got was a laugh. :oops:
I figured as much, that's partly why I did all that. :D

We are keeping our landline simply for the fact that it's much more reliable than a cell phone, and my wife feels more comfortable and secure knowing it's available (and doesn't use minutes to call during the day). Those are good enough reasons for me!

(Although if she said "let's go cell phone only" I would do it in a heartbeat... :wink:

[aristoBrat]

If I had the choice between a land-line that offered similiarly priced plans vs. VOIP (like Vonage), I'd stay with the land-line.

Last major storm out here really sucked. Power was out for a few days, so our VOIP was obviously down. Using cell phones was almost impossible -- towers were overloaded. My next door neighbor's land line worked the entire time.

Sometimes technology isn't so grand. :)

[jkovacs]

When we moved to our new house this summer we dumped the landline. My wife and I each have cell phones on a shared national plan with plenty of minutes, mobile-to-mobile, nights & weekends and free LD. Altogether we're saving about $50 per month. I suppose during a storm we might have a problem, but the last storm we had the phones were out anyway, so I don't see it as much of a risk.

...Joe K.

[ricksfiona]

During the 1989 earthquake here in San Francisco, it was close to impossible to make phone calls in/out of the Bay Area. With a big enough emergency, cell/landline/voip WILL be out.

I think what really matters is the geographical location of your needed phone service. Here on the West Coast, cell phone providers are ALWAYS upgrading capacity, so getting cell phone service will rarely be a problem. In this case, having a landline wouldn't help much in an emergency.

I do have VoiP via Vonage and have it because of it's cost effectiveness.

I won't go back to landline for several reasons:
1) Extremely overpriced technology.
2) ANCIENT technology. We should've had video phones years ago.
3) I don't like supporting monopolies. Reason behind #2. No competition to spur innovation.
4) Horrible service.

If you live in/near a major metropolitan area, I say go 1) cell, 2) voip. If you leave further out, go VoiP/Internet over satellite.

[Kevin Daly]

I'm wondering how they conducted their survey - looked up names in the phone book?

[abarry]

I had three landlines, one for fax. I recently signed on to eFax (which is great because I can store important faxes, both incoming and outgoing in my laptop; it is also cheaper), and got rid of the other line. The only line I now have has no frills: just basic lowest price service they offer. I do feel "secure" having an alternate mode of communication, and also to be able to get DSL.

I do think VOIP has to get better, for one. Also, I don't like to use the Cable Internet connection because I don't subcribe to it; I have the Dish.

Can anyone tell me how to get an ISP and VOIP without a landline or cable?

Thanks.

Atul.

[aristoBrat]

Can anyone tell me how to get an ISP and VOIP without a landline or cable?
I would *not* recommend satellite.

We use satellite to manage our systems/networks in our 2,500 retail stores across the country. As cost effective as it is, the latency SUCKS. It's great for one way stuff, like downloading and surfing the web, but anything that involves packets back and forth frequently (like a phone coversation or pcAnywhere) is going to get killed.

Probably something to do with the packets beaming up into space and then back. ;)

[Mike Temporale]

Can anyone tell me how to get an ISP and VOIP without a landline or cable?

I don't know about the US, but up here in Canada, you should be able to get DSL without having it tied to a landline starting in early 2005. 8)

[Mike Temporale]

Can anyone tell me how to get an ISP and VOIP without a landline or cable?
I would *not* recommend satellite.

We use satellite to manage our systems/networks in our 2,500 retail stores across the country. As cost effective as it is, the latency SUCKS. It's great for one way stuff, like downloading and surfing the web, but anything that involves packets back and forth frequently (like a phone coversation or pcAnywhere) is going to get killed.

Probably something to do with the packets beaming up into space and then back. ;)

Ya, Satellite is nice and fast on the download. Otherise, it just plain sucks. However, it must be cheaper than setting all the stores up with DSL.

[aristoBrat]

However, it must be cheaper than setting all the stores up with DSL.
Yes, which made our finance folks (and ultimately our stock holders) very very happy. :)

Verizon and Sprint are still hemming and hawing around about letting us test EV-Dx in our stores. That'll be kinda cool if it flies. :)