Friday, March 7, 2008

Telephones


I'm contemplating a change and looking for feedback. I'm thinking that we should cancel our regular home telephone service and just use our cell phones. It would save us money, we have cell phones anyway.

We don't get many calls at home except from our kids and telemarketers but, herein lies my concern, it seems very parental to have a phone. When the kids call home, do they want to call a cell phone or do they want to call their old familiar phone number? And is giving them that security worth $60 a month?

9 comments:

Pappy said...

Well, I hate cell phones. I have one, but the buttons are too small for anyone but people with tiny fingers. Just when I need to make an important call, I find I have no bars showing in the signal strength meter. Can you hear me now? I have fulfilled the requirement of the game and am now in the process of notifying all four blogs I frequent, that they have been tagged.

beckie said...

We gave up our and line 2 years ago when we finally got a wireless company to come to our small town so I could do away with dial up internet. Have not regreted it. If the kids can't get you at home...don't they call the cell anyway?

Seabrooke said...

I only have a cell phone. Part of this is financial, I really live on a tight budget and just don't have the means to have both a landline and a cell, and I needed/wanted a cell for security when driving (plus it's very convenient for phoning home to check which brand of cereal it was that I was supposed to pick up).

The downside is that cells are definitely more expensive, and to use it as your home phone greatly increases the amount of airtime you use (it wouldn't be so bad if they billed like a landline, with local calls free, but the by-the-minute rates are really killer, and I don't like being limited by particular plans). I also find the sound quality of cell phones to be less satisfactory, but that may be personal preference.

The upside is that, aside from my bank, I never get telemarketer calls because cell phones are unlisted.

Kathie Brown said...

Beth, I still keep both because I give my home phone number to others and keep my cell phone restricted to family and friends. Plus, land lines are more secure if you use a corded phone. From what I understand, other people can intercept cell phones and portables. Plus, my cell phone doesn't always get reception where I live or the reception is poor. I can hear better on the landline. In an emergency, like 9-11, all the cell phones jammed. I don't know about the landlines. It's alot to think about I know. good luck deciding!

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

We got rid of our landline a year ago- we use VoIP so we have phone directly through the internet.
We can take our number with us when we move and it's less hassle- no separate phone bill.
We have cells only for emergency. We never ever use them.

Beth said...

Hmmm, well this is going to bear some consideration. Thanks for all the good input--more data to sort through in the decision-making process. I'm thinking maybe of a trial period of a month or so when we keep both but tell our kids to call on the cell (after 7 for free minutes unless an emergency).

Larry said...

I say try the cell phone deal.-It sounds like you want to and you can always go back to the regular phone.-I don't even like cordless phones due to poor reception.Give me a regular phone with a cord.

nina at Nature Remains. said...

We keep a wall phone because our cell coverage here is spotty at best!
I give that number to Dr.'s offices and businesses--reserving the cell number just for family.
It's amounted to having an unlisted number in many ways.

Our hectic lives make the cell a necessity.

But, until we can get everything we need from the cell, we'll keep two lines.

Mary said...

Beth,

I dislike all phones, perhaps because I work in an office and consider a ring as an annoyance. We still have a land-line even though everyone I know has a cell phone. We are considering eliminating the land-line, too. I never answer it because 99% of the time, it's an unwanted caller on the other end.

My daughter, while in college, never called the home phone. She always called our cell phones, and still does!

Mary