07 Jul 2005

Getting Rid of Your Landline Phone

Approximately 6% of U.S. households are relying exclusively on wireless for their telephone service, according to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) in 2005. And that number is growing. Should you be part of this cell phones-only trend? It depends.

Getting rid of your landline (define) and making your cell phone your only phone can make financial sense if the quality of your cell phone service is as good inside your home as your landline phone. Many people already rely on their cell phones exclusively for long-distance calls since long-distance is free on most cell phone plans. Other extras such as call waiting and caller ID are included free with basic cellular service as well. Some cell phones even have photo caller ID, which displays a picture of the person calling if it's saved into the address book.

On the other hand, most cell phone users pay for incoming calls as well as outgoing calls, unlike landline service. (Nextel has some cell phone plans where all incoming calls are free.) If you receive a lot of calls from outside your network and you tend to be home when they come, it might make sense to take advantage of free incoming calls on a traditional phone. If you tend to get a lot of phone solicitations, you'd rather have those coming into a traditional phone than eating up valuable cell phone minutes!

Of course, cell phone numbers aren't listed in directories, so the only people who have your number will be those you gave it to. And most plans have free mobile-to-mobile calling, which means that cell phone calls with other customers of the same wireless company don't count against your limit of minutes.

Although one never plans on having to call 911, it's also important to remember that at this time (until E911 is fully implemented) emergency operators can't necessarily always automatically locate you based on your phone number if you make 911 calls from a cell phone, like they can with regular phones.

Also, in a power outage, many people rely on land lines with traditional plug-in phones (not cordless). Traditional corded phones also don't need to be charged, so long power outages don't curtail your ability to make or receive calls. If a power outage is caused by a storm, however, chances are the telephone lines are down, too. In that case your cell phone may be at least as likely to work as your traditional phone.

Should You Cut the Cord?

It's a matter of comfort. More and more people are doing it, and the quality of cell phone calls can be virtually indistinguishable from traditional phones these days. If you're the type of person who forgets to charge a cell phone regularly, or you like the security of not relying solely on cell phone service, then keeping your landline phone might make sense. If, however, you're tired of paying two separate phone bills when your cell phone meets all your needs, by all means, get rid of your landline phone.

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Comments

regarding cell phones replacing the landline,there should be a directory to locate people.

Posted by: charlene at July 15, 2005 08:29 PM

I got rid of my land line 6 months ago and I love it. I should have done it a long time ago. It's more convenient just to have 1 number. I am also saving about $60 a month because I bundled my cable tv/internet with my cable company when I got rid of my land line.

Posted by: Sean at November 25, 2005 02:55 PM

If you have a house alarm that's hardwired into a landline, that of course will need to be taken into consideration if you want to get rid of your landline. If you have cable 'net service there might be a solution to have the alarm use that, but you should check with the alarm company first.

Posted by: m at November 28, 2005 01:07 PM

Your car's aux power/lighter socket can keep your cell phone charged for a loong time...;)

Posted by: DW at December 30, 2005 10:33 AM

Question. Has anyone experienced a replacement solution that incorporates using a cell phone service, but also lets one use their land line equipment? I love the smallness of my cell phone in my pocket when on the road, but that same smallness is a real pain for long conversations at home, and I would like to have the "heft" of a real handset. Also, does anyone know of and "signal enhancer" equipment that the cell phone could be pluged into. EG. I have weak reception in my home office, but strong in the kitchen near a land line plug. If I could "plug in" the cell phone there, and use a land line hand set in another room, that would be great.

Thanks in advance for your reply and input.
Jeff

Posted by: jeff at February 22, 2006 06:10 PM

I was wondering if I could talk to someone regarding this article and get a little bit more on this article because I'm doing a research paper on cell phones replacing landline phones in the future and I believe that this site would be a great source.

If someone can email me back I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks a lot!

Posted by: Larry Skinner at April 4, 2006 11:15 AM

A question about a "ringing" system that allows the cell phone ring to work in different area's of the home (like a second level). An alert of some type to let someone know if the cell phone is ringing (it may not be with me at all times while at home).

Thanks!!

Posted by: Gary Huber at April 10, 2006 01:11 PM