We have a long chat with Kaitlin once a week. We used to do it via her landline in Illinois, now we’ve been doing it using either her VoIP (internet) or her cell phone in Massachusetts. The voice quality is better on VoIP than on the cell phone, but for some reason we always get interrupted around 7 pm our time, 9 pm hers. We can live with that, we have a strategy. I just phone her on her cell phone and she tells me when her other phone has a dial tone again and we switch back. That would be fine, but last night we got disconnected three more times — twice when Andy was talking to her. He may now be converted to her using her cell phone.
What kind of phone service do you have? We have a landline here, and it’s expensive but reliable. Her VoIP is with Comcast and it isn’t. What has your experience been?
July 26, 2020
We also have a land line, as well as each having a cell. Reception and tone on my cell is very good, Bob’s cell and the land line, not so much. Surprisingly, the LL is the cheapest, but we constantly talk about ending it. Can’t seem to let it go…
That’s interesting! Thanks for the extra information.
And here I thought we were the last people on earth to have a land line!! We have both cells and a land line. I run our church prayer line, and have a lot of info on the land line, plus a really good message machine. Oh, who am I kidding…I am just old and hate change..
We like ours because it’s reliable. Of course, we also have the wall phone we’ve had for over 40 years. 😀
We had gotten rid of the landline years ago since we had cell phones and neither one of us got or made very many calls. It was just an added expense that we really didn’t need. I still just have my cell phone and that works just fine for me.
We don’t get many calls, but we do phone Kaitlin once a week for a long chat. It is expensive.
you know my story. Michael left for his trip to GA at the first part of this month.
he arrived the night before and handed me a refurbished iphone. up until then I only had ever had a land line… which seemed to be working just fine! (‘seemed to be’ were the key words.)
I reminded him I had the land line. he said “I know. but I don’t want you here alone without a way to call for help.” I’d just recently been in the hospital for 5 days.
and sure enough. just like clockwork! as soon as he drove off the next day… the land line went DEAD in the water. no dial tone. not anything! and a heat wave going on. well. actually just our proverbial summer. lol.
I called and had them remove it that week. it was rather costly. so now I’ve gotten used to the little iphone and I love it! brothers can be wonderful. xoxo
I’m glad it worked out for you!
We got rid of our land line when we moved into a motorhome and went traveling. At that time (2008) we had one Sprint phone and one T-mobile phone and each one worked in different parts of the county. Now we are back in Minnesota and both have Verizon phones. Never did go back to a land line. Our internet now is Comcast because they have a monopoly in this area. Unless we use our phones as a hotspot, which does work when Comcast has an outage.
It’s nice to have a backup like that. I wonder if Kaitlin could use her cellphone as a hotspot. I’ll have to figure out how that works. Thanks for mentioning it.
I have landline that I like to talk on, and have cell phone that I use occasionally. Talking to granddaughter more than anything. But mostly I use it for texting and maps, etc.
I text Andy almost every day, just to make sure I can do it when he’s up on the land. The neat thing is I can text from my computer. How cool is that!
We had two lines from CenturyTel, one for phone service and one for internet via DSL. We got rid of both because we had a large data allowance on both of our cell phones and decided to do our internet using the Verison hot-spot wifi on our phones. We didn’t last long with that. It was just too unreliable.
So we went back to the phone company line for internet via DSL. The company is now Century Link. We don’t have a land-line for phone service. Our DSL internet is fast enough that we are often streaming two different shows at the same time. Our internet is supposed to be upgraded in the near future as part of the rural high-speed internet infrastructure project.
We have Century Link for both our phone and our internet. It’s been very reliable so we’re sticking with them.
I have a cell phone and a landline — the latter because its faster if I need to call 911. I prefer my landline for lengthy conversations. I like Facetime if we want to do video.
Yes, those are good reasons to keep a landline. 🙂
it’s a bit different in NZ …. lots of people have ditched their landlines and only have cell or messenger.
I have landline that is bundled with my Internet server – so if the Net goes down, so does it. I have a number of pals who do not have either a cellphone or a Net connection…
I also have a smartphone/cell but I don’t do well with it…I can’t get to it quick enough and swipe the right way. And I have difficulties with it. I prefer the landline even though the new portable “handle” isn’t all that nice…I couldn’t go “look at a new one” when it broke and had to order online! During Level 4 severe restricted lock-down!
A decade or two ago, I used to get lots of calls as I was part of a group who relied on me to answer many “questions”… now with email and such like AND I don’t belong to said group… it’s quiet as a church mouse!
We get a lot of telemarketing calls, so it’s not always quiet here. We don’t answer them, our answering machine does. We only pick up if we’re expecting a call or if we hear someone we know speaking.
We haven’t had a landline in decades…at one time, we had both cellphone and landline, then after months/over a year of not using it, we had it disconnected & went cellphone only. Never looked back. And, most times over the 20/25 years, a very reliable service with unlimited talk, text, data.
I also have caller ID & set ringtone for each individul so I know to answer or ignore.
Having a reliable internet provider makes a huge difference. 🙂
We have a home phone but it is in our package with internet cable and phone 3 Spectrum. The only time we lose it as if we have a power failure then we have nothing. But we have that and that’s the one we use the most my cell phone is just for emergency use and texting. I never give out my cell phone number. We like the home phone because when the TVs on it comes up on the television and tells us who it is and also they have a Nomorobo on spectrum that I clicked on that and it stops the majority of the robocalls
That’s an impressive system! I’m like you and never give out our cell phone numbers…except to doctors when we have to phone when we get to the parking lot and they phone back to tell us when to come in.
We just have a landline, Jean, and it’s the same phone number I’ve had all of my life, can you believe it? Husband has a flip phone that he uses for texts and sometimes for phone calls, when absolutely necessary. I just don’t want a cell phone… there’s nothing about them that attracts me. Love, Andrea xoxo
I fought getting a cell phone for several years. Right up until I had my knee replacements done (both knees at the same time). Then I wanted a phone that would be wherever I was in case I needed help. I kept that tiny flip phone for a long time. I only upgraded because Dave bought a new phone and gave me his old one. I still don’t make or receive a lot of calls but I do like having it in my pocket for when our daughter calls.
Andrea,
That’s impressive you have the same number. We’ve only had ours for 44 years. 😀
We got our cellphones so I can contact Andy up on the land if need be. We can’t talk, but I can usually text him and sometimes he can answer. But we also have satellite internet, which is one way he contacts me… he emails me when he’s leaving very day. He also uses the Garmin tracker to tell me when he’s leaving every day…I can also check to see where he is (within about 10 minutes) if something happens. It also has an SOS button to call for emergency help. We’re super careful because he’s up there alone most of the time.
Linda,
Andy loves the flip phone even though apparently it’s not as powerful as some newer ones. It fits neatly in his pocket and he doesn’t have to worry about it falling out as he works. We’re amused that we sometimes have to use it for medical/dental appointments to let the office know when we have arrived. Who would have guessed?