My husband and I each have cell phones and do most of our talking on them. Until the year before last we also had a Verizon home phone but I felt that was a rip-off so we got Sunrocket and when the went out of business we got Vonage. I am happy with the Vonage plan we have and have no reason to discontinue the service other than I think it is a waste of money since the 90 % of the calls we get on the home phone line are telemarketers. It's not a lot of money ($19.38 per month total) but this is a good way to trim the budget if the line is unnecessary.
I am wondering if any of you discontinued home phone service for just cell phones and are happy with it or still wish you had a home phone.
One of the only reasons I can think of to keep the home phone would be 911 but I am wondering if cells can be tracked by some kind of GPS and that isn't a valid concern...if we weren't able to give our location verbally or something.
I have Sprint and this is what their website says about 911 calls:
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated guidelines to enhance wireless 911 location services. Sprint Nextel has complied with its federally mandated obligation to make 911 location services available to its customers. All wireless phone companies send money for 911 funding to designated local government authorities. This money is collected from their customers in the form of surcharges. Some local and state governments have chosen to forego investments that would permit customers to take advantage of wireless 911 location services. As a result, local Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) and emergency services are sometimes unable to effectively respond to wireless 911 calls. In these areas, when wireless phone users call 911, the dispatcher does not automatically receive callback phone number or caller's location, making it difficult to route call to nearest emergency responder.
I did e-mail my local police department to ask them about this but I haven't heard back yet.
Thoughts on getting rid of home phones
July 16th, 2008 at 02:02 pm
July 16th, 2008 at 02:13 pm 1216217583
BUT I have since learned that you should be able to dial 911 from any landline phone, even if you have no phone service.
I also learned that most cities have another emergency # to dial to get to 911. I learned in California your 911 calls go to Highway Patrol, where you get put on hold. Whenever I have called 911 from a landline it was instant help, so I was very frustrated before I learned that. So it is good to learn what the emergency cell # is for your area. 911 from a cell often gets directed elsewhere.
For now, I just don't want to pay for a lot of minutes and I do not appreciate the sheer number of calls we get on our land line (sales calls, etc.). I also use my cell as an emergency phone and never really answer it. So I don't feel like making that switch now. But I am sure we will eventually.
July 16th, 2008 at 02:28 pm 1216218520
July 16th, 2008 at 02:51 pm 1216219884
It is heavenly not getting sales calls! And not having to deal with the incompetent ya-hoos at Pac Bell is icing on the cake.
July 16th, 2008 at 02:59 pm 1216220340
And for 911- Wasnt there just a HUGE story about a girl in a bike race who found herself on a remote strech, she was attacked by a BEAR of all things, and during the struggle managed to call 911, but couldnt speak. The bear dragged her into the woods, but a biker came up the road, saw her shoes and heard her cell phone ringing in the grass. He answered it, it was 911 calling ack, and they were able to find the girl, alive.
July 16th, 2008 at 03:05 pm 1216220716
July 16th, 2008 at 05:54 pm 1216230850