Question for you wireless only households...

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

....we are planning on doing this in the next month or so. Our home phone number will become my cell phone number.

 

So, what do you do about having a babysitter come to your house? We don't often have babysitters...leave your phone at home if they don't have their own cell phone?

 

My oldest will be 11 soon.....I can't leave him alone at home yet, but in the next year or so, I guess I will technically be able to.....what do you do then? I'm guessing I'd get a cheap Tracfone or something for emergencies....

 

Perhaps these are "duh" questions....but going all cell is a new idea for us.

[milovany]

So, what do you do about having a babysitter come to your house? We don't often have babysitters...leave your phone at home if they don't have their own cell phone?

 

 

Most likely your babysitter is going to have a cell phone of his/her own! ;)

[Tutor]

We have a family plan through T-Mobile, and we added a third phone to our plan which we have designated the kid phone. Our oldest can babysit, so we leave that phone home with her when we go out. If any of the kids is going to be out without us, we send the phone with that child.

 

So far, it's worked fine. We may have to add a fourth phone as our kids are starting to head toward the four corners of the earth as they get older.

[athena1277]

Another thing to think about - Make sure all your kids know how to use your cell phone. You don't want them to need to call 911 for you and not know how. I taught my 7yo to use my iPhone and that if I'm knocked out, it's probably in my pocket.

[MariannNOVA]

We have a family plan through T-Mobile, and we added a third phone to our plan which we have designated the kid phone. Our oldest can babysit, so we leave that phone home with her when we go out. If any of the kids is going to be out without us, we send the phone with that child.

 

So far, it's worked fine. We may have to add a fourth phone as our kids are starting to head toward the four corners of the earth as they get older.

 

That works!

 

We have had to keep a land line phone as our ADT security system needs a hard-wired phone in order to keep us 'connected' to ADT. That is the only reason I keep the land line phone.

[gardening momma]

If our babysitter doesn't have a cell phone, we leave one of ours for her to use. Our teenage babysitters have their own phones that they bring. We have an older one (in her 50's, at least) who doesn't have a phone, so we leave ours (and show her how it works) and write down a short list of numbers--the phone we're taking with us, and someone else as a backup.

[SonshineLearner]

....we are planning on doing this in the next month or so. Our home phone number will become my cell phone number.

 

.

We "ported" our home phone # to our.... "home cell phone". I forward it to mine... so while we're out... if no one answers it comes to me on the 4th or 5th ring. (ours is $10 a month, for an "add on")

 

My daughter has a cell... and we leave the home cell... usually at home:-)

 

:-)

[milovany]

We have a family plan through T-Mobile,

 

Hey, just a bit of info (you may already know this) -- T-Mobile has landline service for just $10/month. It includes unlimited local and long distance calling; you have to have high speed Internet to use it. We've had it for more than a year now and love it. We also have 2 phones and a family plan.

[gardening momma]

We "ported" our home phone # to our.... "home cell phone".

So did we--if I understand correctly what you mean by that. Our landline phone number is now my cell phone number. Some people didn't realize for a long time (and some probably still don't know) that we didn't have a landline anymore. They assumed that since I answered the phone, I must be home. ;) (and no, that did not create a problem--if you don't want to be "home to calls", then don't answer). We don't as widely advertise dh's phone #. Friends & family get it, and some others as necessary.

[JoyfulMama]

....we are planning on doing this in the next month or so. Our home phone number will become my cell phone number.

 

So, what do you do about having a babysitter come to your house? We don't often have babysitters...leave your phone at home if they don't have their own cell phone?

 

My oldest will be 11 soon.....I can't leave him alone at home yet, but in the next year or so, I guess I will technically be able to.....what do you do then? I'm guessing I'd get a cheap Tracfone or something for emergencies....

 

Perhaps these are "duh" questions....but going all cell is a new idea for us.

 

Actually this is exactly why we just got a landline. We moved here over a year ago, and hadn't seen the need for one. Until we think about having a kid home in the house. My oldest will often times stay inside and read or do other things while the youngers and I trot on down into the woods. Not in site of the house. So even though we would be nearby, she may have a hard time contacting us if necessary. Also, if we do use another cell phone, we need to make sure it is plugged in and turned on all the time, as if it is needed in an emergency, it doesn't do any good if it doesn't work.

[Kimm in WA]

For the Tmobile landline, do you have to have cell phones through them?

 

I searched their website and can't find info about this - can you tell me more?

 

thanks,

Kimm

[MamaSheep]

We're in the process of making this transition too. Dh's cell phone is his business phone now, and then we have a "home" phone that is a cell phone but stays home. We also have a third cell phone that is "my" cell phone that is on a pay as you go plan. When we all go out, we can take the home phone, but when I go out and leave the kids home with Dad I don't want to be answering calls from their friends who want to know if they can play (that's up to Dad, when he's the one watching them) and I don't want to give the kids' friends dh's business number. So I just take "my" little phone with me on those occasions. Pay as you go is actually cheaper for us right now than adding a line to the family plan.

[Kimm in WA]

Never mind on the Tmobile. Found it by googling easier than on their website.

 

Kimm

[EarleneW]

My 2 oldest have cell phones and I have never had a sitter that didn't have a cell. When we got rid of our landline we got the 2 oldest their own. Way cheaper to have the family plan and add them then it was to pay for our landline.

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

Thanks for all the thoughts....I don't know what it means about the people whose children we use as babysitters, but, really, truly, they don't have cell phones...

[Starr]

We find that the cheapest we manage a track phone is $10.00 a month. I would have a phone for the children/babysitter. Once in a while my dd calls me if she has a question while babysitting. You know when a little one has night terrors and she doesn't what they are or even littler things. Be sure they know they can call home on the cell phone as well as you (but not their friends. :) .

[lllll]

Dh has a cell. I have a cell. And we got a cheap one at Wal Mart to leave at home for whoever happens to be here. I put the third phone in a Zip Loc bag with an index card with the important phone numbers and the message code on it. I don't think all our dc have all these numbers memorized and wouldn't want to take that chance in an emergency.

[RegGuheert]

We ditched our Verizon land line about 1.5 years ago. To handle the times when we are out, we maintain one extra cell phone. Our extra phone is on a T-Mobile plan called "Kid Connect" which is no longer available. While it costs about $23/mo. including taxes, it is much more reliable than our land line was.

 

When we dropped our home phone, we also dropped our home phone number. That was nice since the nuisance sales calls stopped IMMEDIATELY. So far those calls have not yet found their way to our cell phone.

 

If you drop your land line, I highly recommend that you purchase the Xlink Bluetooth Gateway. This little box allows you to wirelessly connect 1, 2 or 3 cell phones into your home phone lines to allow incoming our outgoing calls from your normal wired or cordless telephones to be made from any of the cellphones. This has two major benefits: One is that you can talk on the telephone from anywhere in the house, regardless of whether you have cellular reception everywhere. Second, when you call any of the cell phones the cordless phones all over the house ring, meaning you will not miss incoming calls as easily.

 

In our system, MomsintheGarden's phone is considered our "home phone" since she is the primary recipient for calls. Her phone occupies position 1 on the gateway, making it the default phone for outgoing calls from the landlines. That is important so that people receiving calls from the Guheerts get that number on their caller ID for callbacks. When she leaves, she simply takes her phone and then my cell phone becomes the default. Finally, if I leave, our "extra" cell phone takes the calls. This is nice because only we really know that last telephone number, so our kids do not take calls from anyone other than us when we are out.

 

Good luck with your transition! It takes a little getting used to, but we find it really nice to have our "home" phone with us whenever we are away.

[Lizzie in Ma]

We have a third "house phone" on our cell plan for the kids.

[milovany]

You can get a free phone and a $10/month cell service at http://www.consumercellular.com -- you then are billed for any minutes you use (25 cents/minute). We love Consumer Cellular!!! No contracts, no keeping up with adding minutes, GREAT customer service. They have other plans, too (ones with minutes so you're not paying per).

 

This $10/month phone could be the one you leave for the babysitter -- making sure she knows not to use it except to call YOU in the case of an emergency.

[skaterbabs]

We haven't had a landline in years. DH has a cell provided by work, and I have a prepaid. This is the first year we've left the kids home alone for more than 15 or 20 minutes at a time, so Yacko now has a prepaid as well. I think we spend about $10 every other month, and the only people who call him are family. Wacko may get the same phone sometime this coming year, since we've had a couple of times when Yacko was at an activity and needed his phone, but Wacko was home alone and needed it.