To Eliminate the Home Phone Land Line or Not?

I have kept mine for international calls, babysitters and emergency calls. I had my phone die on me once and had to reach my husband. I understand the desire to eliminate, but I can't do it yet either.

Well personal I am not much of a cell phone mom. I like my home phone I guess its just personal choice. Plus can you list cell phone's in the yellow pages?

I have not had a land line for almost 10 years. Its not a hard step to do and its one less bill. you can do it!

the bottom line answer for this is that you need a landline phone for 911. When 911 is dialed it is immediately routed to the closest area code. So if your in a neighborhood and dial it you will get the closest police station. If your using a cell phone you get whatever area code it is and then you get rerouted to whatever it is. which takes time. It is frustrating but there it is. We moved literally 6 blocks and had to change all of our phone numbers because the city changed from montgomery to oswego. and this was how they explained it to us. When we asked about just using our cell phones and getting our old number put on the cell phone they said we could do it but then told us about the 911 stuff.

if you do just make sure that your cell is always charged and that the kids know where the phone is and how to use it. You want them to be able to dial 911 in case of emergency.

Also consider that you will always have phone calls no matter where you are. So, if someone is calling for your 6 yr old (school friends) and all you have is the cell number and you are out shopping you'll want the phone with you, but that will be the number people know to call so you will get the phone call even if the 6 yr old isn't with you. So, you may need a separate cell phone to be the home base cell. Not sure if that made sense - so let me give an example.
You are out of town for hte weekend, and of course you take your cell with you so your dh and the kids can get ahold of you you. Your daughter knows that ###-###-#### is your phone number so that is what she gives to friends. Her friend sally calls to talk to her, dialing ###-###-#### and you answer. You then have to make another phone call to let Dad know that Sally wants to talk to your daughter. So instead of having a nice quiet weekend away you are dealing with phone calls that you shouldn't have to.

its always good to have a landline. Just get the cheapest one out there, I pay 10 bucks a month. I can only call locally, but hey, if the satellites go out and your cell isnt working, its always good to have the land line for emergencies. I use the land line number for a call back number when I dont want someone having my cell number. Besides, you just may need to dial 911 some day and walk away from the phone.

The only real concern I would have is if you have younger babysitters or anyone without their own cell phone watching the kids in your home. We also got rid of our landline and I do not regret it. All the people who watch our kids in our home have their own cell phones, so it has not been an issue. The only other problem is that I sometimes misplace my cell phone and leave it on vibrate from when I'm at work, so I miss my husband's calls and then he either worries or gets annoyed. :) I am quite happy with the one less bill, though.

I have to agree w/ those who said to get rid of it...we finally did it and are saving money each month. We did add a 3rd cel phone to our plan to have as our "house phone". (which my daughter uses for her friends, instead of tying up my phone, but she knows it gets left at home if necessary.) It costs us a small additional cost each month on our cel bill, but we NEVER used our land line, and usually got a lot of telemarketer calls. My phone is always out, since I run a home daycare...it is always on and always w/in reach of me and I have never had a problem. Depends on what you are comfortable doing...sounds like, since you have younger kids who may not know how to use a cel, that maybe you could wait a few years...good luck!

I agree with workinmom. I would be very nervous having a sitter in the house and although most teens have cells, I don't think it should be up to the sitter to have one and use that if she needs you. Also, cell lines and satellites fail. I have never had my landline phone not work. Also, I don't want everyone under the sun having my cell number ie credit card, mortage companies, water, gas, electric, cable (not that they call but it's still out there) ....you have to have a number for all of these people. No thanks. They can have my home phone and leave a message if I'm not there & they have a great offer for me. Also, when I am home and cleaning, doing laundry I don't want to have to carry around my cell phone with me. I like the phone ringing (nice and loud) and then I can go and answer it. If I had a cell, I would probably miss all kinds of calls. Also, there are certain people that I don't want to be able to get a hold of me whenever they want. I like giving certain people a home number so that I can say oh I was out all day (or whatever) and I didn't get your call till late. Or then I have to give my kids friends my cell phone? She's 7, and it will be a long time before she gets one. I don't want her friends calling my cell. Let them call home. Things like that. Plus, I am not the best about making sure that my phone is charged all of the time. I guess it depends on if you care about everyone having your cell number and if you want your cell to be attached to you all day when you are at home, and will you remember to plug it in and keep it charged, what's your backup plan if the cell line isn't working? I know plenty of people that have gotten rid of their home phones so it does work for some...just not my thing, too many cons. My brother & his wife have Vonage, but if the power goes out, so does the phone. Not a great thing if you have a sitter with no phone.

Our security system, including the smoke detectors, require a land line. Also, on occasion, our cells have not worked when needed(tower repairs?).
I got the $24 plan, which is the cheapest UNLESS you qualify for a low income plan then you get basic service for around $7.

We got rid of our home phone some time ago. I miss the security of having the land line in cases of emergency. There was a time when we called an ambulance and it took them over 15 minutes to get to my house, with the address and directions. When we had a phone line and called before they had some sort of link to find it and were there in a lot less time.

I am otherwise happy with our decision, the extra money we save by disconnecting DSL and other services gives up over $100 a month for other things. We get SSDI so we can qualify for low income phones so I am thinking of just getting the $1.99 phone line in the house. We use the cells for long distance and any other calls we need to make that would cost.

We finally got rid of ours - it cost $50 a month and my husband swore the quality was better for long calls to old friends. We still have that same phone on the wall but now it is connected to FIOS. I cannot tell the difference. So we still have a "home phone number" and a cell phone number, but is it no longer over a dedicated wire, but via Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol, basically via the Fiber Optic TV network which is a WiFi network in our home. I have NEVER lost my cell phone line yet (Verizon) and we have had cellphones starting with the huge bag phone for 22 years now.

We haven't had a land line since we moved here because we always used the internet (both on the computer and/or on videophone) or cell for texting. Old job paid the phone bill, new job here didn't and was a pay cut as well, so we just didn't get a land line.

We've only regretted it a little bit a couple times since then when our internet goes out and we are restricted to calling our ISP via cell phone relay. That is a real pain! (we are deaf, so we text/use relay/use video phones/type on a tty program on the computer, etc. LOTS of options, just most all are dependent on the internet, which is not a good thing.)

I know people in their late 20s and early thirties who have NEVER had a home phone in adulthood! Their children have never actually SEEN a landline telephone, tehehe.

We finally cancelled ours after years of paying 40 bucks a month for nothing. But then my kids are older and there are 5 cell phones currently being used in the house.

Only regret is not having done it sooner!

We eliminated ours about 6 months ago. No problems. All that called us was telemarketers anyway. Haven't missed them. I made sure to change my contact info with my children's schools before we cancelled and made a log of all the calls we received the month before in case I needed to update them. Go for it, you won't miss it.

If I had the option we would drop our land line. However, our Internet access is through our land line- Our town does not have cable, so many options others have we do not have. Some advertised Internet via satellite would be more expensive for us.
All 3 of our adult children have only cell phones.
The notes about baby sitters are well taken, as was the suggestion of having a cell available for the baby sitter to use in case of emergency.
Good luck.

We haven't had one for 9 years now... they're SO much more expensive in our area than cell phones. And all 3 of us have cells (real cells, even for our kiddo... not burners, pay as you go phones don't have gps location for 911).

Recently we've been thinking of getting one purely for emergency use. The $10 a month local only calls (specifically, it would only be fore 911 use... we'd probably never use it, but we'll also probably never need our fire alarm). Of course, it's an old style... bolted to the wall with a CORD. Wouldn't help much in an emergency if the handset was lost. Since the only time it would even be used in an emergency would be if a cell was misplaced or broken.

The only purpose a land line serves is to help me locate my cell phone when I lose it at home!

i did get rid of my phone line and just use my cell phone for evferything.no problems at all

we also have vonage & pay $35 mo.....we have the big package & i am going to be looking at changing that to a cheaper package seeing we rarely use it...our friends just got vonage & the base package is $10.........you may want to check out "Clear", they seem to have a really good deal going with wireless internet & phone

We haven't had a land line in about 7 years. We both just have cells and 9 times out of 10 anyone I call I am calling their cell phone.

Also you go get a free goggle voice number that will forward anywhere and keep forever so you can have a main number to give the doctor etc and the kids have one number to remember

me and my hubby haven't had a phone line in 4yrs just our cell phones my kid is 6 so it will be awhile before she gets a phone and we save 45 bucks a month not having a home phone and for internet i have verizon dls and i pay $5.00 extra to have a dry loop with no phone line

We did it two years ago and it's fine. And no telemarketing!!

It's been at least 7 years since we've had no land line, probably closer to 10 years. When we had our first child, we added a 3rd cell phone to have a "home" cell phone. It is significantly cheaper than having 2 cell phones and a land line. We have never had a problem with 911...and when we've called 911, it's been only once or twice from home anyway. We get the appropriate 911 dispatcher witout a problem. The 3rd spare cell phone is always kept in the same place at home so the kids know where it is if needed and it's here for babysitters. We've had USCellular for a LONG time, starting when they were called PrimeCo and their service and rates are excellent. The only time we have not had service is in a couple certain stores. It's worked out really well for us.

We got rid of ours and it's been a great decision! We paid every month to not use it. Why waste the money?

We've considered losing the land line, but it's connected to our Comcast Triple Play. If we lose the land line our cable cost sky-rocket so check that out before canceling. I'd feel safer knowing that if the cell towers fail you still have access to a phone in an emergency.

The other thing I'd wonder about is the idea of giving your six and eight year-olds their own phones. I'd wait til they were at least in middle school, there's really no need for children that young to have their own phones - it seems a bit excessive.

Our home is connected with the cable package,o it is Voip type very clear.
Answering service were included in the package.
You can also haveskype, or use magic jack.
Sometimes cell phone is more expensive if the other party is using land line. Check your bill, there are hidden cost.

Hi. We still have a land line as a backup and for 911 emergency services. It costs us about $21 a month including tax. We have measured service, which is cheaper than the flat rate and we do not have any additional services like Inside Wire Repair etc. We usually use our cell phones, but occasionaly use the land line for local calls when the cell phones are not convenient. Also, I use it to make international calls to a cousin cause its so much cheaper than the cell phone and we do not skype. Although, maybe , MAgicjack, has cheap international call plans. Another useful thing for the landline is that when my parents come over to babysit, we just use the alnd line cause they can hear it better than their cell phones.
Just my two cents.

We cut the cord about 2 years ago and I never missed the landline. I do have an emergency pay as you go cel phone that I leave with our babysitter when I go out and take the cel phone with. But it only costs $15.00 every 3 months to have it up and running.
For international calls we often use Skype, which is not only free, it's also a lot of fun since you also have the video.
The only issue that has arisen once in a while is that I forget to charge my cel phone and when someone calls I have to plug it in while I talk to them, but I guess that could also happen with a regular cordless phone.

We have magic jack. It is awesome (and cheap)... but we have had a TON of Comcast outages lately, but we usually use the cell phones anyway. Magic Jack also has 911 services included FYI.

If you are going to eliminate your land line, be sure that you register your cell phone on the Kane County website for Code Red. It is how they notify people of various emergency situations(not weather-related). It currently operates on landlines and cell phones have to be registered separately. It is a great emergency tool.

I'm not sure if your area supports it, but we have Vonage and love it. It is an internet based home phone system (so you have to have cable internet to have Vonage). We get a 10 percent discount if we pay the entire year ($20/month, or $240 a year)... it has all the features you could possibly want or need, and you can use any cordless phone you wish... it includes local, long distance, etc. no hidden fees or taxes or anything like that. We get sketchy cell phone service from time to time... and being on a cell phone all the time can't be good for our brains/body... so we do actually use the home phone when we are at home.

I've never even set up a landline phone! My husband and I use our cell phones for pretty much every call. It can get expensive having a landline plus cell phones (our cell phone plan for the both of us is about $106 a month for unlimited talk/text/web) and it's nice not having a contract. If we added a landline in the mix, things would get way too overpriced. It really depends on your situation to see if you really need it. Since you said you don't use it much, I would give it up and save yourself some money.

My hubby got rid of our landline. We each have our own cell phone and our kids share one. The only thing I don't like is that we have to remember to give our address first if we call 911. Most likely we'll never be in that situation but it's kind of nerve wracking.

We do not use our landline often and would be fine without it. I have 2 boys that are 6 and 4 also. So the rule of thumb that I am using is as long as my kids need babysitters, we need a landline. What if the baby sitter needs to use the phone for an emergency? It's not fair to expect the babysitter to have a cell phone. Most likely they will, but you should not expect it. Also, what if your kids need to call 911 for some reason. Is it fair that they would have to look around for your cell phone to use? Just some thoughts that have kept me from getting rid of my landline.

I haven't had a landline in 10 years. Love it. I have free mobile to mobile, 10 people alloted in our family circle for free calls, and unlimited texting. My boyfriend and I have never gone over the minutes on our cell....so it makes sense, for us, to only use and pay for that.
The only thing you should be aware of is 911 calls. In some areas when you dial 911 from a cell phone it will automatically connects you to highway patrol, who have to then dispatch you to 911 emergency services. Also, when you call 911 from a landline they automaticaly know the address from where your calling, with a cell phone they have no clue.
Again, I just opted for my cell phone. Good Luck. =)

I went into Comcast after I decided to eliminate my landline because it was expensive and they talked me into keeping it, (no contract they said), bundled what i had and promised I would get exactly what I asked for. I looked a couple of days for my HBO channels, which truthfully I'm not home very often to see and they weren't there. They had lied to me when I tried to drop and then bundled so to speak,and I am still getting no phone calls on my land line and no HBo either. So I still intend to drop the landline. It made very angry. I told them that and they just kept telling me it was an additional feature and I kept telling them that they PROMISED Nothing would change. So much for promises. Glad I didn't promise because I will drop my landline soon.

I contemplated the same thing, but the only reason I really keep it is to dial 911, since they can automatically retrieve my address in the event there's an emergency, etc. Otherwise, I would've gotten rid of it a long time ago.
But, then there's the security system tied to the landline as well.

The only reason I keep my landline around is for our alarm system. I've wanted to get rid of mine for years to stop the annoying telemarketing calls.

My own opinion is to keep it for emergency purposes. If there is an emergency, your cell phone will probably be in a purse or your pocket or somewhere that the child won't think to look. If one of them needs to call an ambulance (it happens. Kids save people ALL the time), they will know where the landline phone is (especially if it's a corded one). A four year old doesn't need to remember their address when they call on a landline (though you should be working on it from now on. We have our full name and address taped to the pantry door next to how to dial 911) and a cell phone doesn't automatically pull up the address of where they live.

Keep it.

I can't/won't get rid fo my landline either. I think they are more reliable than cells. I have a pay as you go cell that I use when I am out of the house and for emergencies. With a landline, I like that you can call a house and reach anyone in the house. I like the 911 service.

My inlaws got rid of their landline phone a while ago. There were 4 adults living in the house with cell phones, yet we could never get in touch with anyone. They forgot to charge them. Or they were in different rooms and they didn't hear them ringing. Or the 2-year-old dropped one in the bath water so tthey were waiting for a replacement. Or they lost one. And when we were able to reach them there was that annoying delay and conversations were hard to follow. Or they would be walking around the house and would fade in and out. Or they would be shouting at us because that is how they talk on cell phones. After 6 months they got a landline again. Not sure why, but it made keeping in touch with them much more enjoyable.

There is definitely a place for cell phones, but in my life they are the backup.