Do you have a landline phone at home, and if so, do you use it?

Yes, and I use it for the majority of my phone conversations. It is a more comfortable instrument for me to use (physically) and because of “bundling” rates, I would not save significantly by eliminating my landline.
My smartphone is useful for when I am not at home, or in case of power loss.

Have not had one in almost 20 years. When I did it was just a portal for salespeople to bug me.

Landline yes, but it has been VOIP for 25 years. Not copper wires with AT&T anymore, but cable company.
My wife works from home and needs a landline for voice communication and FAX (we have cable company voicemail if the service is interrupted I can use my cell to receive.)

I have one, and I use it. Better connection on my landline than my cell phone. I save my cell battery too. The only negative is if I call from my home phone, even if I verbally leave a message with my cell, they often call my home phone back, and I don’t check that vmail as much. I say on my message I am not calling from my cell and give the number, but they don’t listen. Lol.

Yes. My land line is the only phone I have and use. Also, my business phone service is piggybacked onto my home service line so that I don’t have two phones for my two phone numbers.

No, strictly cell. Got rid of home line about 10–12 years ago maybe.

I have one and absolutely use it. I have 5 extensions. Family room, Kitchen, living room, bedroom. and basement. The phones are in their chargers and are always ready.
Most of the time the land lines still work when there is a power failure.

My cell phone is a different matter. Half the time I don’t know where it is; the call quality is not that good; and it is not as easy to use.

@jca2 I am deaf. My landline is my only phone. It is a CapTel phone with a screen. Relay operators type what the callers are saying and I read it on the screen of my phone.

@si3tech Have you ever tried the automatic transcription service available through Google? it is not perfect but it seems pretty good.
They have a Beta version of a language translator, too.

Of course nothing beats a real person for accuracy.

I forgot to say I have three phones that plug into the wall, and one remote.

Yes and I use it for almost everything.

Yes; we have three of them and use them all the time. One in the den, one in the office, one in the bedroom. Hate to think of not having them!

I had a landline until 2009 only because the cheapest broadband was a landline with DSL. They didn’t offer “naked” DSL (that was the term at the time, I did not make that up).

When I moved that year I dropped it. Nobody knew that number.

I’ve been using a VOIP number since 2007. It was from GrandCentral dot com and then Google bought it and it’s a Google Voice number.

But nobody know that. They call the number and my cell phone rings or I answer from my computer with a headset.

Yeah we have a land line,Mrs Squeeky uses it mostly for everyday use and for her work to get in touch with her.
I use it a lot as well but for work people get in touch with me through my cell.

Nothing dates Fluther users quite like this question here.

Why? Because we don’t have our noses buried in our so called smart phones walking off curbs, into walls and traffic?
Because we can enjoy the people we are with instead of tapping on a micro key board trying to keep in touch with people that are not with us while ignoring the people we are with?

If this technology and supposed to help our daily lives then why has peoples driving become so poor over the last few years?
People can’t seem to focus on the simple task of driving, they have to make that call send that text, and please roll your eyes and tell the old truck driver it isn’t that bad, then why has governments made handheld devices illegal to use while driving?
Now people scream I don’t touch it I can simply talk to it and it does the rest, great while impairing your cognitive thinking while driving,yeah bring it on.
Now when there is an accident people have to stop and snap a photo to post on line, while backing up traffic for miles, man technology is just great.
Can’t see us ever getting rid of our landline.

@SQUEEKY2 You may not like the answer but @Are_you_kidding_me he is correct. I’ll bet if we plotted age vs land line ownership we’d find very few under 40 with it. And most over 65 with a land line. If we look I’ll bet there is a chart showing that someplace.

I have both and use them as I believe is best. I am not chained to the cell phone and still remember how to carry on a conversation. I do find it interesting (and a little funny) how younger people need those phones all the time – even when they are out with others.

Now that Google revealed the security flaw that has been in i-phones for the past 2 years that allowed others access the mic and camera without the owner’s knowledge and get their location data every hour, I wonder if some users will leave their phones at home occasionally. (The spyware was called a “monitoring implant” that you picked up by merely visiting certain websites.)

Nah! Who am I kidding? They’re hooked.

Maybe if the cost of landlines came down more people would use them again. The taxes are crazy too. Maybe the governments should consider taxing something else.

Real landlines, the old copper lines, were and are still awesome in an emergency. They work when the electricity doesn’t. If you believe hurricanes will be happening more frequently, having access to an old fashioned land line is a safety feature and a way to not go stir crazy being able to talk to friends in family while sitting in the dark.

My house, since it is only built 3 years ago, doesn’t even have the option of using a copper line, there are none. My landline is on the fiber optics line I guess.

@LuckyGuy They definitely listen to what I say regarding advertising. I keep trying to remember to turn off my mic when I turn it on for one reason or another.

@LuckyGuy I didn’t say he was wrong.
I have 2 computers and a tablet at home, but I will fight having a smart phone till there isn’t an option anymore, my cell provider bombs me with sales calls every so often telling me I qualify for a free smart phone, I have to hold my temper and tell them I am not interested.

@lLucky Guy is right. Most young people who don’t live with their parents don’t have a landline phone at all. I’m 53 and I have both, keeping the landline partly because of the safety feature of it working in an outage and partly because it’s part of a bundle of cable, phone and Internet. I think a lot of young people don’t have cable at home either. They just subscribe to Netflix and Hulu and others.

My dad switched to a bundle and so now their phone is no longer on the old libes. My mom is still mad at my dad about it. Lol. I think she’s right that she should have the old line. Maybe eventually the competition will make it cost effective to go back.

For us, our phone line and internet are on the same cable. It’s like 100 bucks total, which in my mind is a lot!. But, to cancel the phone part and get two cells would be more. So we stick with what we have.

There is such a thing as “airplane mode.” There is also um…“off”

@SQUEEKY2 I’m not sure where all the smartphone hate is coming from. I’m old enough to remember rotary phones that you “rented” from ma bell yet I fully embrace cell phones. They continue to work when the power is out also. (cell towers usually have backup generators) The same equipment that runs cellular traffic also run your landline traffic in 2019. It’s transparent and in the background so you just don’t notice. Landlines today will jam up just like cell traffic if there is huge issue. You’re paying a small fortune for a landline and that price will only go up because the carriers want you off copper.

My cell phone has “untethered” me from a desk. I’m free to move around and check progress on projects without being stuck in an office all day. I always have a camera, calculator, GPS, internet, digital assistant and note taker in my pocket. There is also a massive array of tools I use on the job and at home. For recreation I know I’m a call away if I get into trouble while mountain biking alone, it also monitors my bike sensors and tracks my ride. There are so many advantages that I fail to see why anyone would not want one. If it’s a privacy thing then you may need to sit down and take a deep breath….there is no such thing and there hasn’t been for a very long time If you worry about your phone spying turn it off, put it in a metal box or something. As far as people keeping their heads in their phones well, you can be mad but you’re not stopping that trend. It’s the people not the phone doing it.

Personally I don’t need a calculator, digital assistant or note taker.And i go on the internet while I am at home. As far as GPS, it’s def handy, but I just look up directions on the net before I go somewhere. As for a camera, I don’t need one that often and I have a pro camera.
I’m not ragging on those that want them, but to say “you don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want one” is just plain silly. I no longer work, so that makes a huge difference.
I just need to make calls really. Texting would be fine at times since all 5 of my siblings do. But as I said before, it would cost me more to have a cell phone than my landline. I do have a flip phone I pay 15 a month for emergencies.

@anniereborn Let me rephrase, I personally don’t know anyone. I’m almost 43, I still work full-time and I’m still active in hobbies and interests. Smartphones have transformed they way I live my life and in a very positive way. If you have a flip phone why do you need a landline???

Because the flip phone is just for emergencies when away from the house.
Texts cost 25 cents each. The 15 bucks gets us about an hour of talk time. It’s pre-pay.

Older people don’t talk on the phone as much as the younger generation. My dad wants to talk, he’s 76, my landline is better for that when I’m in NY house. I also use it for work, way more reliable in my house than my cell.

If you are 20 and your parents are 40, probably both of those generations are fine texting most of the time, and see each other on Facebook if they don’t see each other in real life a lot.

@JLeslie I know so many people even in their early 50’s that are just as savy as the youngsters with them. I suppose the difference is I’m in a tech field and learning new tech is what it takes to stay in the game. That, and we are a bunch of nerds.

@anniereborn What does a landline even cost these days?

@ARE_you_kidding_me As I stated above For us, our phone line and internet are on the same cable. It’s like 100 bucks total, which in my mind is a lot!. But, to cancel the phone part and get two cells would be more. So we stick with what we have.

I will answer for her in Canada here our land line costs us $30 month and that gives us 800minutes North America wide.
Have never gone over yet.
I just want a cell for storing numbers, talking to people and a limit a bit of texting, I don’t need to go on line every where nor do I want to.the flip has a bunch of options I never use,it has a play list, stop watch, calculator, note pad, voice command and I never use them it has the capability to go on line but never do, so please tell me why I should get a smart phone?
And the best thing is I still only have to charge it once a week, and I talk a lot on it.

@SQUEEKY2 Bluntly, you’re about to get left behind with technology. Literacy with smartphones is like computer literacy only orders of magnitude more important. If you’re retired and well off that’s fine but if you still have to work a while, five years from now you’ll be struggling if you don’t understand the tech which is moving fast. There will come a point where it’s very hard to start from square one. Those who don’t understand it will be in the extreme minority and it won’t be good for them.

@ARE_you_kidding_me I worry about that very thing. I am 51 and while internet/computer literate, I have a hard time with my sister’s cell phone. And she is 61 !

@ARE_you_kidding_me I get where your coming from, but I think I will risk it.
I will probably have to upgrade to a damn smartphone one day, but I will stay away from them till then.
Then I can join the masses of walking into traffic, into walls and ignoring the people I am with boy I can’t wait,bring on the new tech.
I am very glad I am on the down hill slide of life now so hopefully I will be dead and gone before I have to have a damn smart phone one day.

@ARE_you_kidding_me I’m not talking about people in their 50’s. I’m talking about people in their 70’s. My parents are in their 70’s. They want to talk to me on the phone. Same with my husbands parents in their 80’s. My cell phone sometimes doesn’t have a great connection in my house.

The two downsides to a cell phone, using it in lieu of a landline at home, are that some places have bad reception (service) and also, if there’s a power outage, the cell towers may work but charging the cell phone would be difficult, whereas with the landline, it will work.

@SQUEEKY2: I am not walking into walls or stuff like that, and not everyone who uses a smart phone is walking into walls or getting hit by cars. When I’m out with friends or when I’m visiting people, I don’t look at the phone at all, I spend time with the people I’m with. I figure if there’s a real emergency, the phone will ring and then I will look at it. What I find the smart phone to be convenient for, as far as when I’m out, is sometimes I want to catch a movie. What’s playing and when? Google it. Sometimes I want to stop at a store. Is it still open? Google it. Stuff like that. I use the timer once in a while, if I’m cooking something and don’t want to burn it. I don’t use a ton of apps but there’s a cool one which is very popular called Shazam. If you hear a song you like but you don’t know the name of it, you go to Shazam and it will listen and tell you the name of the song and the artist. There are songs from when I was younger that I loved, and to this day I don’t know the name of them or the artist, because in the “old days” you’d hear a song on the radio and unless the DJ said the name of it, you’d have no idea who sang it or what it was called. Is that app something I can live without? Yes, but it’s nice to have.

@jca2 I know they have their use, but I am just going to stick it out until I have no option,one thing that bugs me the most is they can’t seem to go more than just a day before needing recharging.
I don’t need to nor want to be on the web 24/7.
I still HATE texting but see it’s place,heck I text my boss now,because it’s better than talking to him.
For now my flip that I have to charge once a week works great for me, and I don’t accidentally pocket dial anyone so that is a plus.
Yeah to see what hours a store has, or an address to a business makes sense but still can live without it.

One reason I like texting is that there is a record of what was said. If I text my boss about something, just like email, it’s clear and there’s a time and date stamp on it. I can refer back to it and she can too. Or if someone texts about anything, a shopping list or running late or an address or anything, it’s there, clear and there’s a record of it.

It is the only phone I comfortably use. My mobile is just for when I’m in the car….a replacement for public coin phones, if you will.

@SQUEEKY2 You shouldn’t have to charge a smart phone every night if you barely use it.

I don’t think anyone cares if you stick to your flip phone, it’s that you ridicule people who use a smartphone.

As far as texting, if you had at least a slide phone you would enjoy texting more. I know you don’t want to text more, but I’m just sayin that on a flip phone it’s a pain.

I know you don’t have children, but I recently was in a discussion where a woman went on about how young people today only want to text, and her kids and grandkids want her to text, and she thinks it’s just awful that someone could get in a car accident and the last thing they might do is text their family rather than call them to say she/he was hurt before dying. Oy. She doesn’t understand that first of all, if someone was in a critical accident they would call. Second, her children and grandchildren want her to text so they can communicate with her MORE. She is missing out because she is stubborn.

Having said that, smart phones can be expensive. The cheap ones usually don’t work very well. So, why spend a ton if you likely won’t use it much, but on my family plan it’s the same monthly service fee for a smart phone or flip phone. Just the service, not the price of the phone. My mom still has a flip phone, and she’s on my service plan.

Having said that, smart phones can be expensive.

Expensive if you fall for the advertising and climb on to the contract treadmill.

I have a really nice phone, LG Nexus 5x. It cost $80 from eBay. My service is about $10 US/month from US Mobile.

Step away from the major carriers and you can slash your spending.

@Call_Me_Jay What do you get for only 10 bucks ???

@JLeslie I do use my flip a lot like 300+minutes a month type thing, I just don’t use many other options it has.
And I still only charge it once a week.

300 minutes is only 10 minutes a day. Many people use their smart phones 2–5 hours a day.

I know some days I don’t use it at all, still if I got a smart phone I would have to give up one of my hands, you see people with them in their hands at all times, eating at a restaurant yup it’s their hand,going to the wash room again yup it’s in their hand, driving yup again in the hand I need both my hands.

@SQUEEKY2: Like @JLeslie said, it’s your constant ridicule of people who use smart phones which gets old after a while. It’s like you have real contempt for people who use a smart phone. You don’t choose to and that’s ok, but let go of the contempt and anger toward others.

I guess your right it is a kind of contempt, see people ignoring others just to be on them, they are always in their hand,can’t put it down type thing, then telling me I don’t like technology,is all our technology measured in the gadgets in vehicles, and the advancement of smart phones?
People waiting in line for hours just to get the newest one?
I guess my contempt is feeling for the people that let the technology rule them,instead of them ruling it.

But not everyone who has a phone is that way.

I don’t have the contempt Squeeky does, but it does bother me. Mostly because I hate being ignored for smart phones.

SEE?? I am not alone here , and I agree not everyone who has a smart phone is that way but the majority are.

@SQUEEKY2: I think you are alone in your contempt.

Even people who like having smart phones don’t like when someone ignores others because they can’t take their eyes off of their phone.

@JLeslie Some do, in my experience, most of them hardly notice.

@anniereborn $10 for US Mobile service. I barely use any minutes because I use a Google Voice number. I can make calls from my phone or computer using WiFi.