The Great Phone Debate

I just noticed a random poll about this online – and Bryan and I just talked about it the other day. Somebody wants me to think about this issue.

Do you still have a land line?

A phone plugged into the wall rather than into your hand?

We do. We have held on to it for several silly and not-so-silly reasons… for years after other friends have gone 100% mobile.

First, we like our phone number. This is the silliest reason of them all, but we got the number when we moved to Denver 18 years ago, and I am kinda attached to it.

But more importantly – Declan is 9, and as yet does not have his own cell phone. We haven’t made any decisions, but we are thinking middle school will be when we crumble – when he riding public transit on a regular basis. But for now, he only plays on our hand-me-down iPhones and has no connection.

So, the phone here at the house is more of a back-up emergency plan sort of thing.

Right?

Or are we just being… silly?

This article has 27 comments

  1. Aimee Greeblemonkey

    OK, dude – EXACTLY.

  2. Megan

    We went all cell becuase all the kids babysitters have cells.

  3. Aimee Greeblemonkey

    Megan – do the kids know how to work them? And do you check to make sure they have them before you leave? Cause my babysitter tends to forget hers.

  4. Meghann

    We went all mobile way back in 2004. (We were so cutting edge, lol!)

    With the way things are, we never have sitters, and I’m with the kids 99.9% of the time.

    Ryan used to stay home by himself occasionally, and we had been discussing getting him something, but with what happened to him, him staying anywhere by himself is no longer an option any more, so it’s a moot point.

    There have been a few times where it’s been inconvenient (like when a tornado hit near the hubby’s house and took the cell phone towers out) but overall it’s been fine.

    We keep a burn barrel and smoke signal blanket around, just in case. 😉

  5. Stephanie

    We still have a landline. And 4 phones plugged into the wall. Two of them are cordless, two are old school. Our alarm system actually runs off the phone line, plus I always worry about an emergency or that time our electricity was out for 6 days and we couldn’t recharge the phones….

  6. Magpie

    We still have a landline, mostly cordless handsets, but with one old phone attached to the wall with a twisted cord and all because when the power goes out, it’s often the only thing that works.

  7. Carrie

    Lack of electricity due to blizzards and hurricanes have made me swear by the landline! Btw: we are waiting until middle school for the cell phone! Although jake has an app on his iPod touch to call me, his nana and my sister in an emergency!

  8. Ms. Maxwell

    Converted our land line to a cell phone two years ago – and got to keep the number (ridiculously attached to it for the same reasons as you). It’s our “home phone,” but because it’s a cell it can be portable when necessary (to a birthday party, on a field trip, etc.). Both kids (9 and almost 6) know the speed dial keys on that phone for both our cell phones, and they memorized our cell numbers and address very early on. I used the home cell to call 911 last summer (a neighbor needed medical attention) and by giving my address the paramedics were here in less than 10 minutes. We do have a data land line for our Internet and satellite TV. I wonder if there’s any scenario I’m not considering, though.

  9. kim

    We still have a landline (also VOIP). For similar reasons mentioned above, and because my husband loses his cell all the time and it is the only way I can get a hold of him if he is at home.

    I’m not sure when we are caving on the cell phone for the almost 9 year old (Saturday’s his birthday) but I want one with limited numbers he can call and the ability to track him.

  10. JoAnn

    We still have a landline, but it’s technically VOIP…details, details. It’s plugged into the wall. We’re keeping it for now, because a couple years ago, we went out for datenight. Claire was alone with the sitter and something dreadful happened. (I won’t go into details, and everyone is okay now, BUT at the time, the sitter was incapacitated.) CLAIRE called my cell phone with our landline. My cell number is the one we had her memorize, and she punched it in all by herself.

    I aged 7 years in a matter of moments when I picked up the phone expecting to answer the sitter’s question about the TV when I hear, “Momma? [Sitter] is bleeding. A LOT.”

    Not sure when we’ll ditch it. If we do, it will be for a phone on our current plan that stays AT the house at all times.

  11. JoAnn

    Did I mention she was 4yrs old at the time?

  12. I Dream of Diapers

    We still have a landline. In part I like it for screening purposes (we use our home number when we have to fill stuff out, like contact numbers for bills and stuff – keeps them off our mobiles.) We also keep it because a friend of ours god a reverse 911 that there was serious police activity in her neighborhood (neighbor was running a drug ring out of their garage – nice…) and I have no idea how they’d reach you without the land line. I am sure there are solutions to both of these, but I love my land line and the other stories here re: how they’ve been used have me sold!

  13. Meghan Thimjon

    Aimee for the longest time I wasthinking of getting rid of it. I have it for a couple of reasons. Of course all the kids Have their cell phones, but for emergency purposes I guess I have hung on to it. If there was an emergency where for whatever reason someone couldn’t tell them where we lived 911 would know from the landline.
    The 2nd reason I keep it is because we basically get it for free! Comcast Benefits are great!

  14. zenrain

    we have a landline still…and you should keep yours, because it’s the number i know by heart!!!

  15. Becca

    We still have landline phone for business purpose.
    There’s other use landline once mobile the plan for mobile is cut *wink

  16. Caleb

    We haven’t had one for almost a decade.

    Then again, JoAnn’s story just scared the shit out of me.

  17. zipper

    We dumped it a long time again – never looked back!

  18. newbajajpulsar

    We still have a landline, mostly cordless handsets, but with one old phone attached to the wall with a twisted cord and all because when the power goes out, it’s often the only thing that works.

  19. melissa

    We have a landline (VOIP), mostly because our family lives in Canada, and it’s too pricy to call from our cells. We’ll probably have it forever.

  20. Sara (from Saving for Someday)

    We can ‘technically’ go landline-less because now our security system isn’t tied to our home phone.

    But, like you, I’m a bit attached to the phone number. But I know I can still keep it by going with something like Ring Central and having ‘the phone number’ without the phone.

    But, like you, I too have a 9yo. And while she knows how to use the cell phones there’s just something about the comfort of the land line.

    Besides, getting rid of my land line means reprogramming my grandma’s cell phone (which is probably one of the last basic cell phones in the US) and convincing her to use my cell number. The woman got an answering machine a few years ago, not sure I can rush her on changing my phone number.

    And, well, I’d miss all those political robo calls!

  21. Kim Hosey

    So here’s where I look like a dinosaur: I ONLY have a landline.

    I had a cell for years and years, and the contract was outrageous, and I just cancelled it one day to save money. My husband has a cell, so whoever’s going to be furthest from home carries it just in case. (We have opposite schedules, so unless we’re together on some trip, it’s never both of us.)

    I don’t play games, check in, text, or any of that. I never have, and I kind of hate talking on the phone. So I’ve never missed it. And a landline is super cheap.

    Plus, it makes it really easy to stick to our guns about not getting my son a phone for a while. He never sees us on them, so it doesn’t really occur to him.

  22. Kelly

    lol @ Kim! you go.
    We still havbe a landline for many of the same reasons as I dream of diapers, but also because my bf only has a cell for work, and it’s a Government cell. He’s not supposed to do any personal stuff. (but of course does with me..) He would not want to carry 2 cell phones, and pretty much only talks to family from home anyway. It works. I’m just glad to see more people here have them! Maybe it’s a generational thing?

  23. Sharon {Grumpy, Sleepy and Bashful}

    We still have a landline. Mostly because we have internet through the same company, and because our security system uses it. I would love to ditch it. I was the one holding on for safety reasons (see first comment here!), but I’m getting more comfortable with the idea of going wireless completely.

  24. Sizzle

    We have a land line because we’re apartment managers and it comes with the job. When we move I doubt we’ll have one. Though it makes sense when you have a kid who doesn’t have his/her own phone!

  25. monstergirlee

    I’m with Kim on this one.
    We only have a landline right now. I had a cell for years but when I lost my job one of the first cost-cutting measures we did was cancel cell service. I’m home with the kids most of the time.
    Hubs recently got a work cell phone so that covers for when we’re out.
    Plus we’ve had the same phone # for 19 years, and I kind of like it.

  26. Joansy

    Our alarm system is tied to our landline, so I’m not sure how we could go without it. Both of our landline phones are rotary dials, so they’re useless if we are calling a number that requires touchtones to reach an operator. We use our cellphones 90% of the time, even when we’re at home.

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