I've been browsing around The Dollar Stretcher site and I came across this article: Cutting the Landline

Now I have to tell a story. I have used my cell phone exclusively for probably the last two years. I had a landline, but the telemarketing and other inane calls became so annoying that I pulled the plug on it. It just sat there and I kept paying it every month, thinking I might need it. In my defense, at the time I was working a job where it was critical to be online at certain times, so I had a dialup connection in addition to the sometimes iffy cable connection here.

I finished the job, though, and kept the landline (but not my dialup!) until my not always frugal son asked me about it. I confessed to still having it and he laughed at me!

So... I had it disconnected. Finally. Who, me? Frugal? Sometimes I wonder.

Anyway, that's why this article caught my interest. I'm all gung ho for cell phones now (I have to be, since that's the only phone I have!)...

Toward the bottom of the article is a list of pros and cons and of course I'm going to make some comments on some of the cons. You may have different ideas and I'm curious as to how you feel about it.

Here we go:

She states that you may get "sick to death of always having your phone with you."

You don't really have to. Just because you have a cell phone doesn't mean it has to go with you wherever you are. If you don't have a cell phone, you don't have one with you, do you? I mean, they don't come attached to your flesh. Yet, anyway.

She says, "You are not listed in a phone book so some people (friends, business contacts, etc.) can't call if they haven't been given your number or if they lost it."

That's a con? I thought that went under the "pro" side. I'm kidding, though, and it can be hard for some people to reach you. The strange thing I'm finding though, is that people you don't want to call you can find your number somehow...

She says, "You are locked into a contract. If you do choose to go back to a landline only, it will cost a lot to get out of the contract early."

Since we're talking about using a cell phone exclusively, you'd have to balance this possibility with the cost of paying for a landline that you don't use over a period of time. If you paid $40 a month for five or six months, you will waste enough to get out of most contracts.

Ok, there's more there that I'd love to know what you think about, but I can't post it all here. Read it and let me know, but be gentle. I'm still missing my landline.


   

I thought about losing the landline, however:

1. I have dial-up internet.

2. I have to go 6 miles down the road in either direction to get cell phone service.

As for the telemarketers, I have an unlisted and blocked phone number.

I found that a TracFone was best for me, because I rarely use my cell phone but I like to have it in case I'm stranded somewhere. If I don't want to answer it, I turn it off!  : )

We have both. I try to avoid using my cell phone too much--I am one of those

people that worry that they can be bad for our health if used too much.

I carry my cellphone with me when I'm out of the house, it gives me a lot

of security, and it's worth it to me for that reason. I'm home most of the

time so it's usually the landline that I use.

I have the same problem as Michelle. We actually had dumped the landline for cells for awhile but I had so much trouble with signal in the house. I was calling my Mother one day and leaned over to pick something up when I got signal...so here I am bent over with my leg up in the air...don't ask how I managed that, I couldn't move because I finally had signal.

 

sounds like cell phone yoga LOL!

I tell ya, it was ridiculous. So we got a landline again.

 

 

I have a landline. I recently switched from having AT & T as my long distance carrier to Verizon's unlimited calling plan. My long distance calls increased the end of January when Mom had a heart attack and a stroke. My 87 year old aunt calls me daily and I call her.

I also have one of those Jitterbug cell phones that Mom got me this past summer. It was for me to use if I broke down on the road and to let her know that I was on my way home from running errands.

I may get a Verizon cell phone in the future as the calls would be less expensive than calling with my Jitterbug phone.

Verizon is the only cell phone that doesn't drop calls where I live.

Needlepoint142

We have a land line and dial up service. I can't get cable or DSL service here, only satellite and it's way more expensive than dial up.  My DD has a boyfriend that has a cell phone only, so he calls and my DD calls him back so they can talk for 2 hours without it costing his mom or me a lot of money. He lives in the next county, but they go to the same school.

I have a "pay as you go " phone that I bought after my FIL had a heart attack so that I could be reached for updates or if I needed to make a trip to the hospital to help out. I take my cell phone with me, but most people don't call me on it so I don't use up my minutes too fast. 

I have one pet peeve about cell phones though. As convenient as they are, I hate seeing people driving down the road and talking on the phone. I also get aggrivated when out in public and I see people with a phone glued to their ear, whether grocery shopping, or at a doctor's office, and then I have the pleasure of getting to listen to their conversation (please don't be offended) that I don't really want to hear...

I, too, am on a do not call list, so the chances of me getting a solicitation phone call are next to none.

I think it's about what works best for each individual. For me it's the land line and I don't mind that at all.

Needlepoint, if you are using long distance daily, have you checked into a flat rate program? We pay $25 a month to our phone service provider for unlimited long distance.

 

 

We have both but that's because we have an 11 YO son who is home alone for 2 hours each day. Although since my employer provided me with a cell, he thinks my old one is his. If we had to reduce expenses, DH said his cell would go.

But I think for someone like my MIL, cell only would be a good way to go. Especially when I pay for her cell. LOL! Can't convince her of that.