JoyfulMama Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 I began to think about this tonight. We had a potential one night this week that dd9 would have been home alone for one hour between DH leaving and my return. DH and I both have cells, but we don't have a land line. We don't have too many neighbors. And when the sun is down, it's dark outside - no street lights. In thinking it through, I realized that not having a phone line of some sort would be a potential problem in this situation. Of course, DH would be able to leave his phone with her, but then he wouldn't have it for work (they use them when the radios are down at work). Or I could leave mine with her, but then she wouldn't be able to reach whoever no longer had a phone. This is not an issue for right now, as we have resolved the need, and she won't be home alone. However, I know we will have to resolve this issue, as I'm sure the issue will arise again within the next year or so. I'm thinking a pay-as-you-go cell phone might be the most economical option here. There is no need for us to pay for an additional phone line on a regular basis (and to just get a local land line is $50/mo). Has anyone else BTDT and care to share their solution? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarleneW Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 When we got rid of the landline, the kids got cellphones. Much cheaper to add them to our plan for $10/month then to pay the landline bill each month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarbourLights Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 We do not have a land line either. My boys are obviously not of the age to leave them home alone just yet, but I have thought on occasion to adding a phone and keeping it in a designated area in the house so if something happened to me they would not have to search for my phone. The pay as you go are great too, but I would hate to find out in an emergency that we were low on minutes.... Just an idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunnytracks Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 could you possibly get a prepaid cell phone to use only in the event of an emergency? I am not sure if the minutes expire or not so make sure to check into that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 My issue with not having a landline is 911. You can dial 911 on a cell phone, but you must be able to tell them your location. In cases of house fire, the background noise is often too loud for the dispatcher to hear the caller, not to mention cases where the caller simply cannot speak - - they might be too badly injured, they might be choking, they might make the call and then pass out. And then you have to consider the phone not being charged, getting lost, or simply breaking. I simply would not leave a child home alone without a landline. You might want to check into the very basics of a landline. We pay $20 per month for ours, down from $50+ because we eliminated absolutely everything, including long distance access (not just a plan, but the ability to make long distance calls). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 When we got rid of the landline, the kids got cellphones. Much cheaper to add them to our plan for $10/month then to pay the landline bill each month. That is what we did for ds. We discussed the 911 issue and reminded him of which neighbors he could turn to if there were an issue. He is required to leave the phone in his presence while we are gone, not stashed in his room somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smrtmama Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 My issue with not having a landline is 911. You can dial 911 on a cell phone, but you must be able to tell them your location. In cases of house fire, the background noise is often too loud for the dispatcher to hear the caller, not to mention cases where the caller simply cannot speak - - they might be too badly injured, they might be choking, they might make the call and then pass out. And then you have to consider the phone not being charged, getting lost, or simply breaking. I simply would not leave a child home alone without a landline. You might want to check into the very basics of a landline. We pay $20 per month for ours, down from $50+ because we eliminated absolutely everything, including long distance access (not just a plan, but the ability to make long distance calls). I agree for these same reasons. It's much easier to track location of a 911 call with a land line. Also, in a power outage or disaster, a cell phone tower may be out, but a hard line in may still work. It's also important to keep one corded phone in your house, not just cordless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 My issue with not having a landline is 911. You can dial 911 on a cell phone, but you must be able to tell them your location. In cases of house fire, the background noise is often too loud for the dispatcher to hear the caller, not to mention cases where the caller simply cannot speak - - they might be too badly injured, they might be choking, they might make the call and then pass out. And then you have to consider the phone not being charged, getting lost, or simply breaking. I simply would not leave a child home alone without a landline. You might want to check into the very basics of a landline. We pay $20 per month for ours, down from $50+ because we eliminated absolutely everything, including long distance access (not just a plan, but the ability to make long distance calls). I thought this too and then I called my local police station, who had me test my phone by dialing 911.( if you do this call the non-emergency number FIRST! lol) It took a bit( 3 min?) but they were able to locate my street. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 My issue with not having a landline is 911. You can dial 911 on a cell phone, but you must be able to tell them your location. In cases of house fire, the background noise is often too loud for the dispatcher to hear the caller, not to mention cases where the caller simply cannot speak - - they might be too badly injured, they might be choking, they might make the call and then pass out. And then you have to consider the phone not being charged, getting lost, or simply breaking. I simply would not leave a child home alone without a landline. You might want to check into the very basics of a landline. We pay $20 per month for ours, down from $50+ because we eliminated absolutely everything, including long distance access (not just a plan, but the ability to make long distance calls). :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i.love.lucy Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Well, if you do go the cell phone route, check into seeing if Cricket is in your area. I just found out they have a pay-as-you-go phone that you load with money and it will only charge you $1 per day and only on the days you use it. So if you use it 10 times in a month, then $10, if you use it only once, $1. And then it reloads $$ when it gets low, but that might be only every 3 months or something. We had an old pay as you go phone that was a big pain because you had to remember to add minutes to it on a certain date or it wouldn't work. Maybe the technology has improved, but this Cricket one looks good. I was also thinking about Magic Jack. Our issue is no extra USB on this older Mac we have, but it might be an option. Check out reviews and such on Radio Shacks website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catalinakel Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Our land line with the most basic of service cost only $15 per month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 We ported our home number over to a "home cell" so... same number.... and a phone. Carrie:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adams101 Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Something else to consider. If you have internet based phone line, and the power goes out, you have no phone. I've told my kids what to do in that situation, but I imagine we'll have to consider getting another cell before too long. We lost power for 5 hours last Friday due to storms. I would not leave dc here to go get groceries because they would have no phone. They just had to go with me. I also try to always make sure a neighbor knows when they are home alone. I have one that works from home so she doesn't mind being "on call" if the kids have an emergancy. I have had to leave them several times lately because I've had Dr. appts. It was either leave them, or take them to sit in the waiting room with all the other sick people. I left them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Yes, every once in awhile my oldest will be here for around an hour, solo, no phone. I set up the computer so that she can reach my sister, mother, brother, dh and myself via text message (yahoo messenger will let you do it, and it's free) if anything gets too scary or starts to go wrong. If you're lucky enough to know some of your local policemen (as friends) then add their cell phone numbers to the messenger list. I believe you can also do this with the local police department number, although we haven't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.