to ignore/unplug the landline?!

[Hudson10]

Inspired by the thread where people don't answer the door. (I do answer the door, by the way.)
The phone though? No, it's usually unplugged. Much to the bemusement of relatives who just cannot get their heads round it and always complaining "your phone's off!" Yes, I told you we don't answer it.
RING. THE MOBILE. OR TEXT.
In this day and age why do we need the landline anyway? It's only full of cold caller crap anyway.

[Crispsheets]

Nobody has my landline number. So it has never rung in 18 months 😀

[LetZygonsbeZygones]

My landline phone broke and i haven't bothered to replace it. I mainly use WhatsApp to call/message friends/family and use my data allowance to call anyone who isn't on WhatsApp. I don't miss the landline phone at all. Back when my parents were alive and other older relatives who didn't want to/couldn't use a mobile, it was important to have a landline phone but the only calls I got were from one aunt and the rest junk calls.

[Trills]

I don't have a phone plugged in.

Nobody (including me) knows the number, so nobody is inconvenienced by this.

[CockacidalManiac]

Nobody has rang my landline since I moved into my house, over a year ago. It's well overdue that broadband providers should stop charging for the hire.

[Trills]

Some people will explain why they find the landline to be convenient or essential.

That's fine, as long as you recognise that it doesn't apply to everyone.

Neither of us is "doing it wrong". We just have different lives, different priorities, and different likes/dislikes.

[DrablittleCrab]

Only cold callers and my PIL phone the house phone. I never answer it.

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Why do you have a landline? Like, if it's always unplugged you obviously don't need it? I understand if you live in the depths of the countryside - my parents have zero mobile signal - but you obviously don't need a landline?

[LaurieFairyCake]

I don't even know my landline number - and it's been unplugged 15 years.

[LaurieFairyCake]

Most people have it for broadband

[Trills]

It's well overdue that broadband providers should stop charging for the hire.

They are just passing on the fee that they have to pay to the owners of the actual line. The physical wire (cable?) that connects you up to the system.

The more interesting question is "what service/value are broadband providers actually adding?"

BBC article from 2014 but probably still approximately right

[MatildaTheCat]

I rarely answer but my parents live somewhere with almost no mobile signal so I have to keep it. I never answer in the middle of the day though. Mum always waits until 18.01 when the charges drop.

[paddypants13]

I sometimes ignore/ unplug the landline because I have a particularly annoying cousin who rings at all hours of the day and night.

At least this year she didn't ring at midnight on new year's eve (dh and I are in bed by this time, we both hate NYE) and wake us up. I think me loudly exclaiming for fuck's sake, tell her to fuck off in the background put her off doing that. (I thought someone had died or something hearing the phone in the middle of the night. )

[Hudson10]

Mum and MIL are the worst for saying it's never on.
"You never answer your phone."
"I tried ringing you."
Or the best one - a text message - "answer your phone."
You've gone to the trouble of text messaging the mobile, so why not say what you want in there, then?!
We. Don't. Use. The. Landline!

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Most people have it for broadband

Well yes, we have an actual landline for broadband, but we don't have a landline phone.

[Hudson10]

Well yes, we have an actual landline for broadband, but we don't have a landline phone.

Neither do we, it's gathering dust in the cupboard. Doesn't stop people phoning it and moaning at us for not answering it though.

[TheNorthWestPawsage]

We need ours for the house alarm - apparently it dials itself into the alarm company once a night to check alarm is working ok. But other than that I ignore it and let it go to the answer phone, especially if I'm home alone - usually it's those "you've been in an accident" calls!

[MsSusanStoHelit]

I have regular fights with my parents about this. They are insistent that I should use the landline. We have no phone and don't give them the number. I don't even know the number. I know they have tons of free minutes and a deal for calling mobiles. Sometimes they even try to buy us a phone.

I don't get it. Why is it so important to them when it's so pointless?

[JenTheSprtacusPuppy]

I used to get the same. Got rid of phone altogether, and didn't give number out when me moved, Family keep asking for landline number, I keep saying no, I don't even know it myself because there's no phone plugged in. It started in the dial up days, I'd get shit from mil for being always engaged and on the internet, yes mil, it's engaged because I'm using the line for the reason I pay for it, the fucking internet!

[YetAnotherUser]

I got rid of my landline once I realised I only used it to ring my mobile to see where it was, and that only worked if it wasn't on silent 😂

I now use a smart watch to find my phone, cos that works even when it's on silent haha.

[TheNaze73]

Do it. Not had a landline for years

[Firesuit]

I'm lucky to have just had fibre to the premises installed, so I no longer need landline for broadband. I will move the landline number to a free VOIP provider and probably use softphone software to take landline calls on my mobile. This means I can get rid of landline phones and answering machines and call blockers, and that I will be able to use my mobile addres book for identites of incoming landline callers. I'll send calls I don't recognise to VOIP voicemail. My fibre connection tests at 70-something megabytes per second, and costs only about five pounds more month than the line rental I'll no longer need to pay when I cancel my copper line.I'm lucky to have just had fibre to the premises installed, so I no longer need landline for broadband. I will move the landline number to a free VOIP provider and probably use softphone software to take landline calls on my mobile. This means I can get rid of landline phones and answering machines and call blockers, and that I will be able to use my mobile addres book for identites of incoming landline callers. I'll send calls I don't recognise to VOIP voicemail. My fibre connection tests at 70-something megabytes per second, and costs only about five pounds more month than the line rental I'll no longer need to pay when I cancel my copper line.

[Oldraver]

I used to have to unplug the landline due to all the cold calls and having a nightshift worker in the house..

I now have a phone with Call Guardian so dont have to

[Violetcharlotte]

I don't have a landline just mobiles.
I used to hate the phone ringing, it's loud and intrusive and such a pain as you never know it be and you have to stop what you're doing to answer it. With your mobile you can put it on silent and only answer it if you want to.

[EggysMom]

We have a landline as it came with the BB, haven't given out the number since we moved here three years ago. I use it once a week to telephone my parents. That's it.