Submitted by porkchopexpress on May 22, 2008 - 2:46pm.
Well, a regular land line is more reliable compared to a cell phone. Land lines are powered by the head end, which in case of a power loss has diesel generators that run them. No batteries to die out. Since they are hard wired they don't lose signal like a cell phone and are not prone to RF interference. 911 can locate you on a land line even if you can not or are unable to speak.
Using a voice over IP service like Vonage is great, but if your cable goes out, so does your phone. At the same time your home # would never need to change because the phone number is assigned to the router and not a street address. So if you travel and have internet access you can literally bring your home phone with you.
But land lines are really expensive, especially compared to cell phones. Features like call waiting and caller ID are a la cart services on a land line, while standard features on a cell phone. Long distance is also a separate charge on a land line. I thought about ditching the land line to save the money, but that day a big storm hits, knocks out power and cable TV, and all the RF in the air make it impossible to get a cell phone signal I will need to call for help and be unable to do so. So I look at it as assumed risk. Is it worth the money that could be spent over decades for a land line for that one time where you need to make a call and nothing else works, or are the chances of that happening so remote that it doesn't matter?
Tough call on nixing the land line
Well, a regular land line is more reliable compared to a cell phone. Land lines are powered by the head end, which in case of a power loss has diesel generators that run them. No batteries to die out. Since they are hard wired they don't lose signal like a cell phone and are not prone to RF interference. 911 can locate you on a land line even if you can not or are unable to speak.
Using a voice over IP service like Vonage is great, but if your cable goes out, so does your phone. At the same time your home # would never need to change because the phone number is assigned to the router and not a street address. So if you travel and have internet access you can literally bring your home phone with you.
But land lines are really expensive, especially compared to cell phones. Features like call waiting and caller ID are a la cart services on a land line, while standard features on a cell phone. Long distance is also a separate charge on a land line. I thought about ditching the land line to save the money, but that day a big storm hits, knocks out power and cable TV, and all the RF in the air make it impossible to get a cell phone signal I will need to call for help and be unable to do so. So I look at it as assumed risk. Is it worth the money that could be spent over decades for a land line for that one time where you need to make a call and nothing else works, or are the chances of that happening so remote that it doesn't matter?