Do you still have a landline? Why? Why not?

[Augie]

On 11/22/2019 at 11:00 PM, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

We still have our landline phone number, but it's no longer a landline.  It's a free Google Voice VOIP number.  We've had this for years - maybe 5?

Advantages:

-keep the landline number various blast from the past friends and relatives have

-EXCELLENT spam blocking.  Google Voice keeps a registry, and the robo-calls have plummeted

-unlimited call blocking

-messages and transcription

-can forward landline calls to a cell phone and take your landline calls from anywhere in the world that has cell service

-still have 911 location services for a small annual fee

-ditch the costs of the landline

 

Disadvantages:

-if your internet goes down, so does your landline

-occasionally get poor voice quality and need to reboot router to make it work (maybe 1-2x a year, usually after a storm)

-occasionally need to upgrade firmware on Obibox to keep it working

-you do need some degree of technical savvy to set it up - not much, but some.

 

The expenses involved are internet service (which we would have anyway) and a $12 or 15 yearly fee to Anveo for 911 location services.  (The local 911 dispatcher kindly verified for us that it works).   Setup required a 1x-purchase of a device called an Obibox that plugs into the router and the landline phone to allow Google Voice to work on ordinary house phones (about $70) and a 1x expense of a sim card for a cell phone (about $5, we used an old Blackberry Pearl cell phone and just bought the card). 

 

There are several blurbs that describe how to do it if anyone wants to give it a try.   You need the cell phone sim card to keep your landline phone number because you can't transfer a landline number directly to Google voice.  You initially transfer the landline number to the cell phone sim card, then transfer it to Google voice.

 

I consider it a best-of-both-worlds solution.  Sounds like Hypnotoad has a similar setup but he didn't mention the 911 thing.

 

 

True story.  Used to get next to no robo calls on my cell phone.

Registered cell phone number with state and federal DNC lists

Now get dozens

 

I swear, unscrupulous telemarketers mine those lists as sources of verified good phone numbers.

 

Well, I am NOT tech savvy, but I may have to give this a shot. In addition to the “random” garbage calls, someone claiming to be the Social Security Administration has called me FOURTEEN times today? , citing something about the. “Federal Crime and Investigation Department”. They want me to call them back. My “call blocking list” is already full, so the phone is off the hook in a drawer in the kitchen! A decidedly low-tech approach.  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

7 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

Well, I am NOT tech savvy, but I may have to give this a shot. In addition to the “random” garbage calls, someone claiming to be the Social Security Administration has called me FOURTEEN times today? , citing something about the. “Federal Crime and Investigation Department”. They want me to call them back. My “call blocking list” is already full, so the phone is off the hook in a drawer in the kitchen! A decidedly low-tech approach.  

 

This is a pretty good "how to".

https://www.whichvoip.com/articles/obihai-google-voice.htm

The piece it doesn't cover is how to port your landline phone number to a "burner" cell phone, then port that cell phone #  (your former landline #) to Google Voice.

https://cordcuttingreport.com/port-phone-number-google-voice/

[Seasons1992]

On 11/21/2019 at 8:43 PM, Keukasmallies said:

Yep, have a landline.  Wife has an implanted defibrillator that communicates with her cardiologist over the phone line.  That's the sole reason for a landline in my mind; my wife is firmly grounded in the 50's and can't imagine living w/o a landline.

 

 

She's pretty, yo......(and I sincerely hope she's healthy and happy)

 

 

[Augie]

The NBC Nightly News just reported that Americans have gotten about 49 BILLION robocalls so far this year. I feel better, I think I’d personally only gotten about 5% of those! 

 

Our government is on this, so it should be fixed sometime........maybe.......

[/dev/null]

On 11/22/2019 at 11:00 PM, Hapless Bills Fan said:

Sounds like Hypnotoad has a similar setup but he didn't mention the 911 thing.

Yep

 

I bought an Obitalk box from Amazon a few years ago.  Have to bounce it every once in a while, but that's no different than any other internet connected device.  If the Internet or power goes out, the phone service goes out.  But that's no different than phone service thru the cable company and the cable goes out.

 

I can live without the 911 service on the Google Voice.  I have a smart phone and a work phone that both have 911

Edited December 5, 2019 by /dev/null

[rockpile]

My wife's business is a home day care. The land line was has voice mail so we can screen incoming calls. If we are not available or it is after business hours, we can deal with clients on our schedule. 

[Keukasmallies]

On 12/3/2019 at 5:42 PM, Seasons1992 said:

 

 

She's pretty, yo......(and I sincerely hope she's healthy and happy)

 

 

 

She is well, thanks; but our stove is a darker shade of pink....

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Nope, waste of money.

 

 

[Augie]

3 hours ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

Nope, waste of money.

 

 

 

A bunch of people saying it actually costs MORE for cable and internet if you do NOT have a phone line. I honestly don’t know the answer for us, but need to find out. 

 

After the 14 (FOURTEEN!) calls from the bogus Social Security Administration on Tuesday (plus a couple other random robocalls), I hit talk on the phone, got a dial tone....then stuck it in that drawer in the kitchen so I didn’t hear that annoying “your phone is off the hook” noise. It was a GREAT and quiet two days. Today, due to work done in our neighborhood I flipped the breaker for cable/internet/phone. When I flipped the breaker back on......it took all of about 10 minutes until I got a call saying they have been trying to reach me about my car warranty. 

 

The phone is back in the drawer. 

[Buffalo Barbarian]

9 hours ago, Augie said:

 

A bunch of people saying it actually costs MORE for cable and internet if you do NOT have a phone line. I honestly don’t know the answer for us, but need to find out. 

 

After the 14 (FOURTEEN!) calls from the bogus Social Security Administration on Tuesday (plus a couple other random robocalls), I hit talk on the phone, got a dial tone....then stuck it in that drawer in the kitchen so I didn’t hear that annoying “your phone is off the hook” noise. It was a GREAT and quiet two days. Today, due to work done in our neighborhood I flipped the breaker for cable/internet/phone. When I flipped the breaker back on......it took all of about 10 minutes until I got a call saying they have been trying to reach me about my car warranty. 

 

The phone is back in the drawer. 

 

not for me, takes 30 bucks off .

 

 

Cell only is the way to go. If it rings with no name i ignore it and it becomes silent.

 

 

[Augie]

6 hours ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

not for me, takes 30 bucks off .

 

 

Cell only is the way to go. If it rings with no name i ignore it and it becomes silent.

 

 

 

That $30/month is $360/year, after taxes. You have to earn over $500 to pay for something you don’t use or need. I get it. 

 

My house phone is basically unplugged now, but I’m still paying for it. I don’t mind paying as much as I mind the robocalls which is my real motivation. MAKE IT STOP!!! 

[BUFFALOKIE]

On 11/19/2019 at 7:16 PM, KD in CA said:

Why do so many of you have robo calls?  
The Do Not Call registry still works.

IDK if you are serious, but I am gonna try that right now.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

4 hours ago, Augie said:

 

That $30/month is $360/year, after taxes. You have to earn over $500 to pay for something you don’t use or need. I get it. 

 

My house phone is basically unplugged now, but I’m still paying for it. I don’t mind paying as much as I mind the robocalls which is my real motivation. MAKE IT STOP!!! 

 

go Amish

 

 

[KD in CA]

3 hours ago, BUFFALOKIE said:

IDK if you are serious, but I am gonna try that right now.

 

Yup, completely serious.  I'm guessing from the reaction that people have never tried it because they figure it's just some gubmint clusterfug, but I'm telling ya it works for me.

[Augie]

4 hours ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

go Amish

 

 

 

I broke a wheel on my buggy!

 

 

We lived in Sarasota, FL where there is a pretty significant Amish population. Much of it is concentrated in one area. I appraised some property there and one of the guys I the office warned me that they pay a serious premium to be right “there”, not a few blocks away which was more “regular middle class” housing. Sure enough, If I threw out houses outside of that little bullseye it was a serious premium. Lesson learned!  Like most things in life, people want to be around like minded people that they share values with. It’s actually a very cool little area with an awesome farmers market type shop, specialty restaurants and homemade furniture. I love diversity like that! 

[Shamrock]

My wife won’t let me cut it off as she’s constantly misplacing the mobile and she uses the landline to call it to locate it. That’s all it does.

[Nextmanup]

Gosh, probably about 10 years ago I realized I really didn't need the land line anymore and got rid of it.

 

Haven't thought about it, or missed it, for 10 seconds since.

 

 

[The Dean]

These days, IMO, a landline is really only useful for a few reasons. A couple are:

 

Faxing. If you still fax (yes, some things STILL require faxing) a landline is the way to go. VOIP faxing can still be spotty from my experience, though I'm guessing that is starting to change. 

 

Power issues. A TRUE landline can be a life saver when the power goes out. But most "landlines" really aren't traditional landlines these days.  Uverse, Comcast, etc all use the Internet and therefore are relatively useless when the power goes out.

 

I kept a landline until my mother went into assisted living. When she was here, I felt more comfortable with her having some communication device that would work irrespective of the power, since the power goes out here quite often and she didn't have a cell. (Couldn't have used it if she had one. Bad dementia at the time.)

 

But as many have said (full disclosure, I didn't read the entire thread) the VAST majority of calls coming into landlines are spam, scams and solicitation. I don't even answer my cell phone (which I also use for my business) unless I know the contact. If it's legit, they will leave a message. I call back. 

[Buffalo Barbarian]

23 hours ago, Augie said:

 

I broke a wheel on my buggy!

 

 

We lived in Sarasota, FL where there is a pretty significant Amish population. Much of it is concentrated in one area. I appraised some property there and one of the guys I the office warned me that they pay a serious premium to be right “there”, not a few blocks away which was more “regular middle class” housing. Sure enough, If I threw out houses outside of that little bullseye it was a serious premium. Lesson learned!  Like most things in life, people want to be around like minded people that they share values with. It’s actually a very cool little area with an awesome farmers market type shop, specialty restaurants and homemade furniture. I love diversity like that! 

 

They could bathe more, just saying

 

 

[Augie]

4 minutes ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

They could bathe more, just saying

 

 

 

Maybe they are just saving this planet’s most valuable commodity, WATER, for the rest of us? You should be thanking them! (Even if you have to hold your breath when you are passing by....)