8 ms·

"(...) traditional landline users (all six of you left)" Is having a landline so old-fashioned in the US? It's not the first time that I see this kind of comme

by 1880 15y ago

"(...) traditional landline users (all six of you left)" Is having a landline so old-fashioned in the US? It's not the first time that I see this kind of comment, but it's shocking to me, since for most ISPs in many countries you must have a landline if you want some kind of Internet service, whether it's xDSL or cable.

iamjustlooking 15y ago
I have cable internet (Time Warner), I don't have a landline.
benmccann 15y ago
It's pretty rare for people in their twenties, but more common amongst older generations. Usually you're forced to get a landline if you want DSL. I've never seen a cable company force a landline on you. You can also get around the landline restriction from the phone company if you get a fiber connection though that's not offered in all areas.
- sausagefeet 15y ago
  I have Comcast and they basically force you to get a "land line" through them (although I guess it's closer to VOIP?) for a cheaper package. Mine isn't plugged into a phone though, I don't even know what the phone number is.
- mbreese 15y ago
  The only reason why I have a landline (I'm 33) is because I have kids. In an emergency, the last thing you need to worry about is whether or not you can get a cell signal at home. That being said, we just moved and my wife just reminded me that neither of us actually know what the new number is - we've lived here for almost a month. So, we still rely on our cell phones.
  - SageRaven 15y ago
    I personally wouldn't have a phone at all if it weren't for my job requiring a personal cell phone (cheap-asses won't provide a company cell phone) -- and I have 2 kids. The whole "emergency" thing never sat well with me as a reason for a phone or to carry a cell phone.
    - mbreese 15y ago
      We had a really bad storm a few years back when my first kid was only about 3-4 months old. That house was at the low-point for the block, so water would pool in our backyard when there was a lot of rain (and the city has horrible storm sewers). Our house has a nice basement with a great drainage system that keeps it dry - so long as the sump pump can run. The rain was horrible: ~5-6 inches overnight. There was also a tornado warning, so we were in the basement for most of the storm. Then the power went out. Now, I had installed a battery backup sump-pump six months earlier, so that was able to keep up for a while. Our cell service also went in and out as the power outage was very large and our service at home was spotty (and the towers were over loaded). The only way for us to get ahold of family for help was through the land-line. I still keep at least one plugged in phone (non-cordless), just for this reason. Because of the land-line I was able to get my father-in-law to bring over a generator to power my sump-pump for the next day or so until our power was restored. Our basement had almost no water damage, mainly because we kept a land-line.
jedberg 15y ago
I dropped my landline for the first time in my life 3 months ago. Apparently you need one to order xDSL, but not to keep xDSL (since my DSL still works). I haven't actually placed a call on my landline in about 5 years, so I figured there's no reason to keep it.
patrickyeon 15y ago
I'm Canadian, I get DSL through a dry loop (phone line, with no actual phone service). I was under the impression dry loops were available everywhere, maybe not though. As to the popularity, I know very few people young enough to have had a cell phone in high school who now have a landline. I know very few people outside of that group who don't.
- blahedo 15y ago
  The people outside that group that don't are often in the category of moving outside their current city after they got cell phones. When you're going to have to change the landline number anyway, and notify all your friends of the new number, and they already all know your cell phone.... Most of the over-25s I know (myself included) that don't have a landline ended up dropping it during a move.
jonknee 15y ago
We have what's called naked DSL or dry-loop (it's de-coupled from phone service). At least in my market, the phone company's system still uses phone numbers for everything so there is a phone number for the account but it doesn't function and you can't plug a phone into it. The FCC has mandated it as a concession during large mergers, so it's available pretty much everywhere in the country. According to the CDC, as of June 2010 about 25% of US households have no wireline phone but have at least one mobile phone. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr039.pdf http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr039.pdf This comes up every election year because of the prevalence of phone based opinion polling. Younger people are more likely to not have a land line and thus not be polled, etc etc.
- 1880 15y ago
  Actually, I just did some Googling and apparently there are a couple of ISPs in my country that do naked DSL. It costs more than twice than a landline and a 20Mbps connection.
- eli 15y ago
  As an aside, the cell phone/landline polling bias has been measured and is not especially large. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1761/cell-phones-and-election-polls-2010-midterm-elections http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1761/cell-phones-and-election-po...
RobertHubert 15y ago
I had a land-line when I first moved into my own place only because DSL was the only option for my building... But I signed up with lifeline for $5/month and never really used the phone for anything other than to collect telemarketers voice-mail...
mcantor 15y ago
I have a DSL-only plan with AT&T. It works fine, but every time I call for support, they ask me for "the phone number on my account", and I have to re-explain ten times that I have only DSL, and not phone or TV service. Often I am told that it is impossible.
- callahad 15y ago
  Are you sure they're not asking for the phone number of the party responsible for the account as a means of locating your account?
- hammock 15y ago
  Whether you buy phone from them or not, you still have a phone number associated with your account (cell phone etc), just a way to look up your record.
- JadeNB 15y ago
  At least for my naked AT&T DSL, there's a 'fake' phone number (0-xxx-xxx-xxxx) associated with the account. Usually, the automated prompt won't recognise that number, but human representatives are fine with it.
Timothee 15y ago
We had a landline at first, mostly for emergency. That cost us about $13-15 a month with fees and taxes. And all we got from it was unwanted sales calls and debt collectors who were looking for someone who had that number before. For people who don't have children (and even then…) and have a cell phone, I don't really see a good reason to still have a landline at this point. I know that in France, for example, having a landline doesn't really cost you anything more than having the Internet, so most people have one. But $13 a month for nothing helps cutting that cord.
- jaredsohn 15y ago
  >and have a cell phone, I don't really see a good reason to still have a landline at this point. I haven't had a landline since 2004 but I'm considering getting one again. The reason is that neither my AT&T iPhone nor Skype via my AT&T DSL works all that great from my apartment. But I'm also looking at replacing my DSL modem/router in case that is why the DSL doesn't work. (That's what AT&T thinks is going on.)
- coin 15y ago
  I fail to see how having children requires a landline. Does 911 work different for cell phones? DO children require 911 more than adults?
  - smerritt 15y ago
    > Does 911 work different for cell phones? Yes, it does. Calling 911 from a cell phone connects you to a big regional call center that gets your location and transfers you to your local one, whereas calling 911 from a land line connects you to your local emergency call center immediately. Also, calling 911 from a land line gives the dispatcher your address. Cell phones will send along your location if they can get it, but GPS doesn't work too well indoors, and tower-based location can be off by tens or hundreds of meters.
RuadhanMc 15y ago
I haven't had a landline since 2007. Mobile phone, Internet and Skype more than meets all of my requirements.
veyron 15y ago
During the earthquake, cell phone service was out but landline worked like a charm :) And that's why we have one
- WettowelReactor 15y ago
  during the earthquake for us our land lines (25 pair cable) crossed a mains somewhere underground and cause our copper to burst into flames.

by 1880 15y ago

iamjustlooking 15y ago

I have cable internet (Time Warner), I don't have a landline.

benmccann 15y ago

It's pretty rare for people in their twenties, but more common amongst older generations. Usually you're forced to get a landline if you want DSL. I've never seen a cable company force a landline on you. You can also get around the landline restriction from the phone company if you get a fiber connection though that's not offered in all areas.

sausagefeet 15y ago
I have Comcast and they basically force you to get a "land line" through them (although I guess it's closer to VOIP?) for a cheaper package. Mine isn't plugged into a phone though, I don't even know what the phone number is.
mbreese 15y ago
The only reason why I have a landline (I'm 33) is because I have kids. In an emergency, the last thing you need to worry about is whether or not you can get a cell signal at home. That being said, we just moved and my wife just reminded me that neither of us actually know what the new number is - we've lived here for almost a month. So, we still rely on our cell phones.
- SageRaven 15y ago
  I personally wouldn't have a phone at all if it weren't for my job requiring a personal cell phone (cheap-asses won't provide a company cell phone) -- and I have 2 kids. The whole "emergency" thing never sat well with me as a reason for a phone or to carry a cell phone.
  - mbreese 15y ago
    We had a really bad storm a few years back when my first kid was only about 3-4 months old. That house was at the low-point for the block, so water would pool in our backyard when there was a lot of rain (and the city has horrible storm sewers). Our house has a nice basement with a great drainage system that keeps it dry - so long as the sump pump can run. The rain was horrible: ~5-6 inches overnight. There was also a tornado warning, so we were in the basement for most of the storm. Then the power went out. Now, I had installed a battery backup sump-pump six months earlier, so that was able to keep up for a while. Our cell service also went in and out as the power outage was very large and our service at home was spotty (and the towers were over loaded). The only way for us to get ahold of family for help was through the land-line. I still keep at least one plugged in phone (non-cordless), just for this reason. Because of the land-line I was able to get my father-in-law to bring over a generator to power my sump-pump for the next day or so until our power was restored. Our basement had almost no water damage, mainly because we kept a land-line.

jedberg 15y ago

I dropped my landline for the first time in my life 3 months ago. Apparently you need one to order xDSL, but not to keep xDSL (since my DSL still works). I haven't actually placed a call on my landline in about 5 years, so I figured there's no reason to keep it.

patrickyeon 15y ago

I'm Canadian, I get DSL through a dry loop (phone line, with no actual phone service). I was under the impression dry loops were available everywhere, maybe not though. As to the popularity, I know very few people young enough to have had a cell phone in high school who now have a landline. I know very few people outside of that group who don't.

blahedo 15y ago
The people outside that group that don't are often in the category of moving outside their current city after they got cell phones. When you're going to have to change the landline number anyway, and notify all your friends of the new number, and they already all know your cell phone.... Most of the over-25s I know (myself included) that don't have a landline ended up dropping it during a move.

jonknee 15y ago

We have what's called naked DSL or dry-loop (it's de-coupled from phone service). At least in my market, the phone company's system still uses phone numbers for everything so there is a phone number for the account but it doesn't function and you can't plug a phone into it. The FCC has mandated it as a concession during large mergers, so it's available pretty much everywhere in the country. According to the CDC, as of June 2010 about 25% of US households have no wireline phone but have at least one mobile phone. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr039.pdf http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr039.pdf This comes up every election year because of the prevalence of phone based opinion polling. Younger people are more likely to not have a land line and thus not be polled, etc etc.

1880 15y ago
Actually, I just did some Googling and apparently there are a couple of ISPs in my country that do naked DSL. It costs more than twice than a landline and a 20Mbps connection.
eli 15y ago
As an aside, the cell phone/landline polling bias has been measured and is not especially large. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1761/cell-phones-and-election-polls-2010-midterm-elections http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1761/cell-phones-and-election-po...

RobertHubert 15y ago

I had a land-line when I first moved into my own place only because DSL was the only option for my building... But I signed up with lifeline for $5/month and never really used the phone for anything other than to collect telemarketers voice-mail...

mcantor 15y ago

I have a DSL-only plan with AT&T. It works fine, but every time I call for support, they ask me for "the phone number on my account", and I have to re-explain ten times that I have only DSL, and not phone or TV service. Often I am told that it is impossible.

callahad 15y ago
Are you sure they're not asking for the phone number of the party responsible for the account as a means of locating your account?
hammock 15y ago
Whether you buy phone from them or not, you still have a phone number associated with your account (cell phone etc), just a way to look up your record.
JadeNB 15y ago
At least for my naked AT&T DSL, there's a 'fake' phone number (0-xxx-xxx-xxxx) associated with the account. Usually, the automated prompt won't recognise that number, but human representatives are fine with it.

Timothee 15y ago

We had a landline at first, mostly for emergency. That cost us about $13-15 a month with fees and taxes. And all we got from it was unwanted sales calls and debt collectors who were looking for someone who had that number before. For people who don't have children (and even then…) and have a cell phone, I don't really see a good reason to still have a landline at this point. I know that in France, for example, having a landline doesn't really cost you anything more than having the Internet, so most people have one. But $13 a month for nothing helps cutting that cord.

jaredsohn 15y ago
>and have a cell phone, I don't really see a good reason to still have a landline at this point. I haven't had a landline since 2004 but I'm considering getting one again. The reason is that neither my AT&T iPhone nor Skype via my AT&T DSL works all that great from my apartment. But I'm also looking at replacing my DSL modem/router in case that is why the DSL doesn't work. (That's what AT&T thinks is going on.)
coin 15y ago
I fail to see how having children requires a landline. Does 911 work different for cell phones? DO children require 911 more than adults?
- smerritt 15y ago
  > Does 911 work different for cell phones? Yes, it does. Calling 911 from a cell phone connects you to a big regional call center that gets your location and transfers you to your local one, whereas calling 911 from a land line connects you to your local emergency call center immediately. Also, calling 911 from a land line gives the dispatcher your address. Cell phones will send along your location if they can get it, but GPS doesn't work too well indoors, and tower-based location can be off by tens or hundreds of meters.

RuadhanMc 15y ago

I haven't had a landline since 2007. Mobile phone, Internet and Skype more than meets all of my requirements.

veyron 15y ago

During the earthquake, cell phone service was out but landline worked like a charm :) And that's why we have one

WettowelReactor 15y ago
during the earthquake for us our land lines (25 pair cable) crossed a mains somewhere underground and cause our copper to burst into flames.