Ditching your landline phone?

[Capt Caveman]

I am wondering how many of you have chosen to ditch your landline copper phone, for either a VOIP or Cellular solution for your primary phone...

I want to do this, as i can realize a significant monthly savings...

but how do you feel about E911 readyness?


When you call 911 from your landline phone, they have the ability to pull up your registered address etc, which speeds up emergency services. with E911, they only know which tower your call has connected to, if your 911 center is E911 phase 2 ready, they can eventually get the GPS coordinates from your cellular phone, or nothing at all from your IP phone.
This can delay emergency services by several to 20 minutes...

For those that made the jump, did you consider this, and how weighted did you take this into consideration when making your decision.
i guess i am apprehensive about giving up my land line thus far...

Enhanced 911 is supposed to allow 911 dispatch center's to gain access from teleproviders a cell phone owner's registered address. From my understanding with this information and cell tower triangulation, first responders would be able to get a more closely pin point location of a caller than from a land line.

ie. If you lived on a large plot of land, you called from the yard. With a cell phone, they would know you were not in the house while with a cordless phone(landline), they wouldn't know if you were in the home or outside.

 

[Capt Caveman]

another consideration i have...

What about phone service during power outages?
Vonage and even this cellular service only last as long as the battery...

at least your landline has its own power source, and can be used with a basic bell telephone regardless of your electricity outage... assuming the lines themselves are still undamaged.

After recent winter years, it is not unheard of during 30 inch snows to go without power for 5-7 days at a time... this is also a concern.

Live in the city then.

 

[nageov3t]

haven't had a landline since 2003 (when I graduated college -- all the dorm rooms had landlines). I don't really miss it at all, ever.

I had a landline through triple play for a couple years because of the cost savings and never even had a phone hooked up to it.

 

[paulney]

I use Ooma for landline. Free service for life, and E911 works, because they transmit my address if I dial 911.

 

[Svnla]

I have my current cell phone number for over 10 years and I haven't use a landline at my place for over 5 years.

Haven't missed the ole land line. RIP.

 

[BoomerD]

No fucking way...Even though I only live about a mile from the nearest cell phone tower, I can't get reception here...in the house is almost impossible, outside...just barely.

Besides, I've yet to use a cell phone that sounded GOOD for phone calls...The damned things do just about everything except make good, clear phone calls.

 

[Ms. DICKINSON]

10$ a month and I don't even pick it up when people call. It's just a backup in case the cell towers go down.

 

[dawp]

I changed from a land-line to VOIP several months ago, the only complaint I have is that the Caller ID info doesn't always get transmitted.

this is at&t u-verse

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

I haven't had a land line in... shit. 11 years?

 

[broon]

Magic Jack allows you to put your home address in it for 911 purposes. $20/year. With the savings you can get a nice UPS system

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

No fucking way...Even though I only live about a mile from the nearest cell phone tower, I can't get reception here...in the house is almost impossible, outside...just barely.

Besides, I've yet to use a cell phone that sounded GOOD for phone calls...The damned things do just about everything except make good, clear phone calls.

I'm guessing you have one of these phones?

 

[Raizinman]

I have always had a landline, even before cell phones came out. My relatives, friends, doctors, dentists, neighbors and others had my landline phone number. It hasn't changed in 40 years. Because of that, I can't give up my phone landline. Instead of paying $29 a month, I ported the number to a cell phone and then ported it to Google Voice and now my landline costs me nothing. Since Google voice will not port a landline, I had to turn my landline into a cell phone number first. I've had it this way for quite some time and love my free landline.

 

[dawp]

I'm guessing you have one of these phones?

I think this is more BoomerDs speed.

disclaimer - My dad had 2 of these type (not connected) when I was growing up.

 

[highland145]

Wife insisted on the land line because of the boy. Now, looks like I'm going to dump the cable because it sucks (content, internet speed, price) and go with roku/antenna primarily. Faster cheaper internet over the phone and I'll save ~$50/mo.

 

[GasX]

I have my home phone service through brighthouse and I am considering FIOS. If the power goes out, our phone lasts about 10 minutes (batter in modem). I'd prefer that it be on at all times.

 

[Modelworks]

Enhanced 911 is supposed to allow 911 dispatch center's to gain access from teleproviders a cell phone owner's registered address. From my understanding with this information and cell tower triangulation, first responders would be able to get a more closely pin point location of a caller than from a land line.

Unfortunately triangulation doesn't work that well. It is prone to errors caused by the signal path back to the towers and only really works with clear LOS. You can narrow it down to a general area give or take a few thousand feet but it isn't anywhere near as good as an address. GPS enabled phones are an option but even those are not great because GPS signals have a harder time penetrating structures than cell signals so unless you are in an open field they are not as good as an address either.


Something people may not know is that if you disconnect your phone but the dial tone remains that phone can still be used to call 911. Some phone companies completely disconnect lines but many leave the dial tone connected to comply with federal regulations for 911 service. These are the states that are required to maintain a dial tone on disconnected phone numbers:

Arizona
California
Colorado
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Iowa
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Montana
New York
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Dakota
Utah
Vermont
Washington
Wyoming

 

[GeekDrew]

Unfortunately triangulation doesn't work that well. It is prone to errors caused by the signal path back to the towers and only really works with clear LOS. You can narrow it down to a general area give or take a few thousand feet but it isn't anywhere near as good as an address. GPS enabled phones are an option but even those are not great because GPS signals have a harder time penetrating structures than cell signals so unless you are in an open field they are not as good as an address either.


Something people may not know is that if you disconnect your phone but the dial tone remains that phone can still be used to call 911. Some phone companies completely disconnect lines but many leave the dial tone connected to comply with federal regulations for 911 service. These are the states that are required to maintain a dial tone on disconnected phone numbers:

Arizona
California
Colorado
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Iowa
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Montana
New York
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Dakota
Utah
Vermont
Washington
Wyoming

I'm in Ohio. As far as I know, 1) you are correct in that lines are supposed to remain connected for 911 access, and 2) that doesn't actually happen most of the time.

 

[GeekDrew]

Enhanced 911 is supposed to allow 911 dispatch center's to gain access from teleproviders a cell phone owner's registered address. From my understanding with this information and cell tower triangulation, first responders would be able to get a more closely pin point location of a caller than from a land line.

ie. If you lived on a large plot of land, you called from the yard. With a cell phone, they would know you were not in the house while with a cordless phone(landline), they wouldn't know if you were in the home or outside.

It's not nearly as accurate as you think. It'll get the first responders to the vicinity, but that's about it. Furthermore, the coordinates frequently stop at the dispatch office, where they write the run using the nearest address point to those coordinates. That's usually "close enough".

 

[GeekDrew]

thinking towards the future. (ie pilot text 911 programs across the nation)

ah, well.... NG911 isn't here yet. once it is, and if i see that it's easy for first responders to get an accurate location, then i'll consider dropping my landline. heh.

 

[kami333]

I'm in Ohio. As far as I know, 1) you are correct in that lines are supposed to remain connected for 911 access, and 2) that doesn't actually happen most of the time.

I think Ohio only requires it for 14days after disconnect, I remember reading up on it a while ago.


Ditched the landline 12years ago and will never go back. While 911 not showing my address could be a concern, if I was that worried about emergency services I'd have one of those emergency transponders on a bracket/necklace since I'd also be worried about being able to reach a phone or dial.

I also know a few people who have landlines "for when the power goes out" but yet all they have are cordless phones

 

[ultimatebob]

I ditched my land line years ago. The only people who still called it were bill collectors (looking for the former owner of the phone number), politicians, telemarketers pretending to be a legitimate charity, and my Mom.

I don't really miss any of those calls. And, hey... Mom finally figured out how to call my cell phone after awhile

 

[slag]

I seriously thought this was a necro thread from 2001. Weird.

 

[HAL9000]

Just moved into my flat, no landline, just use my mobile. It doesn't take the police 20 minutes to locate you from a mobile in the UK... It maybe takes them 60 seconds.

 

[randomrogue]

If you have sketchy/poor/no mobile phone reception at home then you should keep the land line for emergencies. Otherwise ditch it.

 

[sdifox]

I am keeping my hardline