Afraid to give up landline...

[amber913]

We've just paid off my car, so we have a little extra cash--but not much, 'cause the other car's got a couple of tires in the grave.

Our computer was infected with a virus and came back from the techy moving unbarably sloooowwww. (we have dial-up)

We like to upgrade to high speed and get ourselves some cheapest-plan-they've-got cell phones and lose our landline. I can't see paying for both. BUT i'm apprehensive to get rid of it. Seems a house should have a phone, and with ds getting old enough to have friends calling....

I've searched for a phone service that's crazy cheap, local-only and whatnot and am not having any luck. If anyone has any suggestions as to what we should do, i'm all ears. Frankly, i'm new to all of this--as technology's been booming, i've been too busy popping out kids to notice any of it!

[wrenb]

We found that it was cheaper to add a third cell phone to our plan than to maintain the landline. DH bought some sort of blue tooth widget that connects the cell phone to our home telephone wiring so we can use the answering machine and the regular phones we had.

[Leta]

First, it's cool that you have a Sabra. DS was supposed to be Sabrah Maleta, but he fooled seven ultrasound techs and was born a boy, .

We ditched the landline. I'm like you, I'm kind of old school, and I want people to be able to call our house, not just us.

Can you get high speed internet? We have dry loop DSL for $20/mo (AT&T) and a magicJack ($20/yr). magicJack doesn't do number porting at all, so we also have a Google Voice account- one number for the rest of your life. You program in whatever numbers you want it to ring. When people call our GV number, it's patched through to our home phone and both cell phones. When we switch cell numbers, we just reprogram Google Voice. (And GV is FREE!)

Also, the MJ allows us to get away with doing prepaid cells, so that's cheap, too.

We invested in some infrastructure to get the MJ to work well. We bought a new router/modem combo ($60), a powered USB hub ($30, but you can get them cheaper- ours has 4 docks), a thin client preformatted for MJ off eBay ($80), and new cordless phone with multiple handsets, because the MJ only allows you to plug in one phone at a time ($40). The MJ itself cost $40, and comes with the first year of service. We were paying $60/mo for a landline with long distance, and our total VOIP set up (DH calls it "phone of the future, ) cost $270, so it paid for itself in a little over 4 months. We've had it almost a year now, so we're well ahead. If you prorate the cost of the equipment over the first year, our home phone with long distance costs us about $13/mo. After the first year, the cost goes down to $1.66/mo.

If you have physically sound landline phone lines in your house, you can plug in a corded phone and it will work to dial 911, even if you don't have service. (This is nothing Ma Bell wants you to know, but it's true.) So you'll have a phone in case of emergency even if your internet goes out and your cell phones die.

[vm9799]

we just ditched our landline about a month ago and got magicjack and LOVE it! super cheap and it's no different than our landline was.....meaning that unless you knew we had it, you can't tell. dh & i and our dd have cell phones, but i also have a 10.5 year old ds that doesn't have a cell phone yet so this works perfectly for us. once my ds is old enough for a cell phone we plan to up our minutes on our plan and lose the magicjack as well.

[A&A]

I don't want to give up our landline. One reason is that 911 can only trace you on your landline (if you're not able to speak, your kids call and can't remember the address under stress, etc.)

Plus sometimes I can't find my cellphone and have to use my landline to call it.

[sunnysandiegan]

We purchased an Ooma from Costco when it was on sale in early December 2009 (less than $200 out the door). It works right out of the box with our existing set up (zero additional purchases...in fact, we got to e-recycle some gadget because the Ooma has additional capabilities) and we love it! We tested it out with long distance elderly relatives and ditched the landline. We have no further expenses with our house phone. No monthly fees, no annual fees, no more phone bills of any kind with the house phone. Plus, our county has an online system where one can self-register any number (cell or VoIP) to be included in the reverse 9-1-1 call program. (This system is used in our county for emergency wildfire evacuations.) Ooma supports 9-1-1 calls when you register online (free).

When we tested the MagicJack, it failed with our elderly relatives for poor sound quality and it was very annoying since it doesn't work with our older Macs. It only works with the Intel-based Macs and my laptop is the only one here at our house, which was a royal pain in the tushie.

Our cell phones do not always work in our home. Most phones and every service provider is the same. We've had many friends/relatives bring their cells over. From many conversations, we've deduced it is a combination of the natural and manmade topography in our immediate area.

We had gotten our landline bill down as low as possible and it was still over $20 a month. The Ooma will have paid for itself within 9 months and then our house phone will be free from then on....

[vm9799]

just to address the 911 issue with magic jack.....yes it does support that. you just have to have your address updated and it works the same way as a landline. this was a SUPER important part of our research before buying this, with 2 kids that can be home alone sometimes for short periods of time.

[dancebaraka]

i've been w/o a landline for ~7 years... i don't miss it at all. When your kiddos are ready/mature enough for it, they can chat via Skype online for free... also you can get a family plan...

[amma_mama]

Originally Posted by Leta

If you have physically sound landline phone lines in your house, you can plug in a corded phone and it will work to dial 911, even if you don't have service. (This is nothing Ma Bell wants you to know, but it's true.) So you'll have a phone in case of emergency even if your internet goes out and your cell phones die.

Good to know as we have VOIP and cell phones and, while they have improved the emergency system for both, it is just not as direct as having a landline...I will have to dig out one of our old phones to just plug in somewhere for that purpose!

[mum5]

Has anyone had any experience with HyperDog or Tin Can Talk? I have read great reviews about both of them online and am thinking about going with either of them, as they will help with set up. I am not too tech savvy!!

[MrsTittlemouse]

Hmmmm, I have been looking into this a lot this morning. The ooma sounded really great, but now I am questioning why I need anything other than our cell phones. We received cordless phones that are blue tooth enable for Christmas, so we don't need to be talking on our cell directly. I guess I need to figure out how much more I would be talking on my cell phone, because that would increase cost. Ok, I guess that there is my answer. I would love to hear more about others experiences.

[enfpintj]

My concern with getting rid of our landline is the alarm system. I don't want to put the money into converting it to wireless as we plan on moving this year or next. But I want that alarm system working. any ideas?

[EricaDoula]

You can have an emergency landline, wher eyou don't pay for phone service, but if you had an emergency your phone is still into the lin and it's free to call 911. I'm pretty sure most states have this!

[MrsTittlemouse]

I guess I don't know what a wireless alarm system is.

Are you talking about being traced by 911?

[wombatclay]

We've been "cell only" for about 8 years now without problems. Getting into the habit of charging the phones every day is a good idea though!

alarm system- is this a house system that automatically contacts the police via the land line? Can you ask the system people if it would work if you just had the line, not the phone service? I mean, could it send a 911 alert through the line instead of placing a call to the security agency?

[enfpintj]

Originally Posted by MrsTittlemouse

I guess I don't know what a wireless alarm system is.

Are you talking about being traced by 911?

Our alarm system is hardwired into the landline. If the alarm goes off when we aren't here, they call here and then the police. If it were wireless, it would not be hardwired into the landline. Then they could call us on the cell phone or whatever.

[enfpintj]

Originally Posted by wombatclay

alarm system- is this a house system that automatically contacts the police via the land line? Can you ask the system people if it would work if you just had the line, not the phone service? I mean, could it send a 911 alert through the line instead of placing a call to the security agency?

they say it will only work if it is hardwired or wireless. and if there is an accidental alarm triggered, the police come and would charge for it.

We know when we move we won't have an alarm, but I want it where we are now. It's just not worth it to switch when I know we will be moving.

[MrsTittlemouse]

ok, that makes sense. I didn't even think of a house alarm. I have never had one, so it never occured to me that they were connected to phone lines!




I am strongly leaning towards getting an ooma. It seems like it would save us more money than any other option. Apparently, the quality is decent too.

[MommyDOK]

great thread!

WE too have an alarm system. WHy wouldn't a magic jack work w/ a house alarm? Or an ooma?? (never heard of that before)

[enfpintj]

Originally Posted by MommyDOK

great thread!

WE too have an alarm system. WHy wouldn't a magic jack work w/ a house alarm? Or an ooma?? (never heard of that before)

I don't know. Anyone??