12-18-2008, 03:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 716
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U.S. Cell-Only Households Keep Climbing
"Nearly 18 percent of households in the United States have no traditional telephone and rely on wireless services only, which is up several percentage points from a year earlier, the government said on Wednesday. In the first half of 2008, 17.5 percent of households were wireless only, up from 13.6 percent a full year earlier, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." 
Here at my place AT&T is about worthless so I'm stuck with a landline. I have to admit though if I had reliable coverage here at home, I'd probably get rid of my landline. So of course I'm curious to know, how many of you have ditched your landline service in leu of a wireless service? Are there any of you who have no plans to get rid of your landline no matter what the reason?
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Tmo Dash
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12-18-2008, 03:18 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 70
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Pete, ditch At&T and go with Sprint or Verizon.
I have not totally gotten rid of my land line, have only used it for faxes since 1999. My office is at home so if I could fax from my Sprint TReo I would get rid of the land line. My land line is not relly a land line as I switched to Vonage three years ago.
Vonage is hard to beat with unlimited calling the ability to take phone any place that has high speed internet, no long distance and cheap int. rates if you need them.
Out here in the midwest Att&T cell service is a good as no phone at all, I laugh every time I see one of the comercials talking about more bars..
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12-18-2008, 04:05 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 127
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does using MagicJack count as ditching a landline? If so I ditched them 2 years ago.
For $20/year I'm not complaining. Now they're offering $59 for 5 years...sweeet!
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12-18-2008, 05:57 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 4
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We haven't had a landline in over 8 years. Been lucky that ATT (and previously Verizon) have good coverage in my area. And really, we haven't missed it...except on rare occasions when our coverage intermittently becomes spotty.
The only downside is that I do occasionally get a telemarketing call. I think the problem stems from on-line forms that require a "home" phone number, so the mobile has gotten on some bad lists...
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12-18-2008, 06:10 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 471
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I can't get cable in my area so I have no choice but to keep my landline for my ADSL connection. It's annoying because my it bumps up the price of my broadband connection from $27 to $42.
The only time I use the landline is when I want to order a pizza. It's easier for them to look-up my address from my number than for me to say it over the phone.
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12-18-2008, 06:52 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 165
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete Paxton
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20081217/tc_nm/us_wireless_polls_1' target='_blank'>http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20081...ireless_polls_1</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Nearly 18 percent of households in the United States have no traditional telephone and rely on wireless services only, [...] </p>
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I couldn't help but notice the "and" in the headline... I'm one of the many that have "no traditional telephone" as I'm using a VoIP service (first Vonage, now T-Mobile @Home, and Les.net in the future).
I pay around $10/month for my T-Mobile VoIP line, which lets my small children still be able to make emergency calls if need be, but doesn't cost $60/month like a "traditional" phone line does.
- www.JoeLevi.com
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12-18-2008, 07:38 PM
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Contributing Editor-in-Training
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 63
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Both VoIP and Wireless
No way can I change to wireless only, unless I want to pay big $$$. To many calls on the landline that would wipe out my minutes. Although I have to admit the T-mobile wi-fi phone could be a possibility. I also have Vonage and it is hard to go wireless with cheap access. Could get it even cheaper since T-mobile has a $10 VoIP line (just a lack of features right now). So, no on wireless only, my family is a combination and will be until the wireless carriers get the prices down.
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12-18-2008, 07:46 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 102
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Landline free since 2001 -- Sprint PCS
We ditched our landline in early 2001. The accommodations made were few but included:
* needing to purchase an updated cell phone so we could obtain reliable service when we relocated.
* several arguments with my wife about excessive minutes use (anyone else ever had such an argument or is it just me?).
The way I look at it, we were paying $26 per month (including fees & taxes) just to have a landline with local capability in 2001. I was able to add a 2nd phone to our cell account for $35 per month that included long distance and great portability.
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12-18-2008, 09:38 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 14
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As a lifelong emergency responder, I just want to remind y'all that when the power goes out, any landline that doesn't have a corded phone on it will be out of action.
Anyone with just a cellphone, no landline (hardwired or not) will have communications until their phone runs out of juice - then you're toast.
Some folks in NOLA found that out the hard way.
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12-18-2008, 11:06 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 350
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I'm with hazcaddy. We seem to get at least one ice/winter storm a year with a power outage. Sometimes we also get brief thunderstorm-related outages in the summer. If the outage goes long enough, folks have noticed that their cell phones are suddenly not so reliable...
If it weren't for that, yeah, it sure would be nice to lose the landline and gain some $
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