Has anyone cancelled their home phone and gone to cell phone only service?

[MIch elle]

We're thinking of cancelling our home phone to save money and eliminate unwanted calls.

 

What do you think?

[LisaKinVA]

We have an Internet Phone (which is cheap), but pretty much use our cell phones for everything. This cut our bills drastically.

[NorthwestMom]

We did this. The only thing that was disconcerting at first was that there was suddenly no filter - every call came straight to me no matter how banal.

 

Also, we just had a home alarm system put in and had to have a land line for that, so our phone has been reconnected until the company catches up with modern technology.

[TraceyS/FL]

Check with your carrier contract. Some include the clause they can cancel your service if they find out you don't have a land line.

 

We have VOIP too - Vonage - and it's rarely used but there.....

[homeschool2boys]

We did this a couple years ago and I have been happy with it. Our old phone line was awful, when it would rain you could not hear anything but horrible static. I could not see the point of wasting any more money on a bad phone line so we went to all cell phones.

 

There is only one drawback that I have found. The dropped calls get kind of annoying sometimes but its still better than that awful phone line we had.

[Once]

We gave up our land line about a year ago. Our initial concern was using up all of our minutes. That ended up being unneccessary as none of us are chatters on the phone and I think many contracts are unlimited minutes now. Sometimes I wish we had a land line in our master bedroom for emergencies. It *is* a bit of a pain to remember each night to bring up the cell phone. But...

 

We don't ever have any problems spending the extra $70 each month. ;)

We have not missed our land line.

[G5052]

Or at least using the cells for most things and keeping a "measured rate" line for the fax macine and as a backup. I fax things 6-8 times a month related to DH's medical needs and plus 2-3 things for my business. We could certainly go to web-based faxing.

 

Thus far we haven't done it though.

[elegantlion]

We did this last year, then we switched cable providers and home phone came in the package. Honestly I use the home phone maybe once a week, I don't answer unless I know who it is and we have given that number only to two family members.

 

The cable company has a new package without the home phone, so we will eliminate it again. We each have a cell phone, including ds. I enjoyed not having a home phone and look forward to it again.

 

The only issue is if you need to send a fax you will need a landline.

[Renee in NC]

We don't have a land line anymore, which worked just fine at our old house. Unfortunately, our new house requires you to stand on one foot in a certain room and hang your head upside down to keep the signal!:lol:

 

Once we close we'll cancel the cell phones and get a landline because it is so much cheaper. We needed the cells for business, so at that time the landline was the unnecessary luxury.

[shell in SC]

We did it and have NO regrets, just remember to register your cell numbers on the national Do Not Call Registry. I forgot and have been getting telemarketers for the past few weeks.

[Jenny in Atl]

Yup.. only cells here till just last month. Dh moved his business back into the house and we needed a land line for the listing in the yellow pages (blah). It really is a cost saver and cuts way down on all the telemarketing calls.

[rafiki]

.

[Rich with Kids]

We gave ours up a while back. I got tired of paying $50/month to get calls from telemarketers. Those were the only calls we received on that phone. We added a line to our cell service for $10 and that's here for emergencies.

[Michelle in MO]

because we have ice storms in our area of the country. Two years ago we had a terrible ice storm that left us without phone service for five days! We had and still have a land-line, but our phone was a cordless phone, not one of the old-fashioned plug-in only phones.

 

We had our cell phones, but cell phone service was frequently not available during that time, either. After the ice storm, we bought a regular plug-in phone (not cordless), so that we always have some method for getting phone service.

 

Something to consider, I think, before getting rid of your land line.

[chaik76]

We haven't had a land line in about five years. I love it! I haven't had a "spam" call in that amount of time!

[Tess in the Burbs]

and had no issues. our current situation requires a phone for the internet so we have a home phone but we would gladly give it up again. my mom did this years ago and is still happy with the choice.

[AndyJoy]

Dh and I only have cell phones, but we're planning to get a land line once we have kids. Maybe the chance of emergency is remote, but I think I would want a land line in case someone needs to call 911 but can't talk to give the address. I'm afraid I won't be able to find my phone or it will not be charged if there is an emergency. Also, if I leave kids home alone or with a babysitter, I would have to rely on them having cell phones too (and keeping them near them, charged, etc.)

[Once]

Also, if I leave kids home alone or with a babysitter, I would have to rely on them having cell phones too (and keeping them near them, charged, etc.)

 

Excellent point. I have a bs with a cell phone but you would want there to be a phone when you leave.

[Tammy]

but I do still have Vonage since my cellphone doesn't have the best reception where I live.

 

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[cathmom]

having only cells would make me nervous because of the 911 issue. With a landline they can tell where you are calling from even if you can't talk.

 

It does burn my cookies that I pay for a phone so that people I don't know can call me and interrupt my day. They should have to pay for it! We got so many calls from "out of area" last week that my pre-reading 5 yo told me not to answer it, "It's just out of area."

[Quiver0f10]

Maybe the chance of emergency is remote, but I think I would want a land line in case someone needs to call 911 but can't talk to give the address.

 

This is why we chose to keep our land line.

[mrsdash]

We gave up our land line about 4 yrs. ago and got Vonage but since then, switched to Magic Jack. It's only $20. a year so it feels worth it.

[Mrs. Readsalot]

We're thinking of cancelling our home phone to save money and eliminate unwanted calls.

 

What do you think?

 

I have never missed having the home phone. We each have a cell and carry them everwhere. The home phone was a waste of money for us. Our internet is through the cable company.

Karen

married to dh since 1990

mother to ds born 1993

[Rhonda in TX]

After Hurricane Ike, some people could only communicate through land lines. Cell phone towers were knocked down, making access limited. I feel more secure having a land line.

[Lizzie in Ma]

We have T-Mobile and 3 cell phones. With 5 different favorites on each phone we can talk to the whole family as long as we want, just use the right phone. Also have unlimited family mobile to mobile and free nights and weekends.

Would not go back.

[caryn]

No, we are keeping the landphone. I do have a prepaid phone in case of emergency so it does not cost much at all.

 

 

Caryn

[Frontier Mom]

We have both because a requirement of our parsonage is we must have a line with a number that does not change as the pastor moves. We have DSL here and no cell phones get good reception at our house so it all works out. I just get tired of so many darn phones ringing.

 

I did get Voice Mail through Bellsouth so I can leave our phone off the hook and it instantly goes to the message system. I like this because, even with caller ID, I hate hearing the phone ring during school time.

[SonshineLearner]

We had our home number "ported over" to our "house cell phone." So, you can probably have only cell phones and still keep the same number. I have the home phone so it forwards to my personal cell phone number. With caller id, you still only answer the calls you want to take. I love having cell phones and we use them alot.

Carrie:-)

[TraceyS/FL]

After Hurricane Ike, some people could only communicate through land lines. Cell phone towers were knocked down, making access limited. I feel more secure having a land line.

 

We had this problem in the Tornado. OUr Sprint phone line is underground and we had no issues during the hurricanes - but we lost our pole with our cable line during the Tornado. No phone.

[rafiki]

.

[Tutor]

We don't have a land line anymore, which worked just fine at our old house. Unfortunately, our new house requires you to stand on one foot in a certain room and hang your head upside down to keep the signal!:lol:

 

 

 

LOL! This is us as well. When the weather is warm, we walk around our front yard and talk, but now that it is colder, we have maybe two places we can stand in our house and not lose the signal. We won't even consider going back to a landline, though. At least not while AT&T is our only option. We had terrible service, exorbitant prices, and almost no options. Once we got used to having to talk on the phone in certain places in the house (it works great elsewhere), we loved having just the cells.

 

If you have all cells, I highly recommend turning on to silent mode for large parts of the day when you have school or are otherwise occupied. It can be really tempting when the phone is on your person to answer it whenever it rings, but the silent option with voice mail is wonderful for maintaining order and sanity.

[fivetails]

At the moment, we just have cells - but it's because of a move and no "landline" being hooked up yet....that's being set up on Wednesday and yes, I want it - because dd11 is a chatterbox and wants to talk with friends from "back home" ....I'm not letting her call them on my cellphone and charge us up and arm and a leg! :tongue_smilie:....We're getting one of the umlimited long distance package things on the house phone so she can talk on that all she wants. ;)

[hornblower]

That's the same reason I won't switch to one of the cable phone providers either. They have a 4h battery pack. We've been without power for much longer than this & I like that the landline has been working. I wouldn't want to not be able to recharge the cell....

[Parrothead]

We had only cellular when we lived in AZ. It was great and I'd do it again, but sadly dh's position requires a land line at home.

[Parrothead]

That's the same reason I won't switch to one of the cable phone providers either. They have a 4h battery pack. We've been without power for much longer than this & I like that the landline has been working. I wouldn't want to not be able to recharge the cell....

An umbilical cord (charger) that runs off the cigarette lighter in the car can solve that if you are able to leave your phone in the car over night.

[angela in ohio]

We just did last week. So far, so good. :) We bought an extra phone (acutally it was free) to be our "home phone" number and for the kids to use.