In thinking the landline is obsolete

[opalinski]

Does anyone need one anymore? We only have a connection for the internet and never ever actually use the phone?

I've been without a landline for 8 months and miss it and the bills it generated not a jot. I have a pay as you go mobile which does me grand and our internet connection is very fast through a dongle.

Doowrah - just curious - have you ever tried a speed test on www.ThinkBroadband.com ?

I'm interested to know just how fast your connection is (they provide a web link you can publish so others can see the info without knowing anything about your PC or location).

Am also curious to know whether you are in a city or not, just for academic interest, because they are talking about using some wireless options to provide internet access in some more rural areas and it'd be nice to know just how the cities compare...

I've been without a landline all my adult life (i'm 31) and would probably still be happily landline-free, were it not for the zombie invasion thread a few months ago. I'm certain all the mobile networks will go down and it's the only way I'll be able to ring my mum!

Some of us live in places where mobiles don't work so YABU.

YABU as I don't own a mobile!

I like having landlines (one home, one work). It means you can give a number to people who you don't want bothering you when you're out.

YABU - without my landline I wouldn't be able to MN

When mobile receptions are adequate all over the country, dongles are better value and vodafone let me call my sister in Oz for 1p a minute, then YANBU.

I can see a time in the not too far distant future when all telephone and broadband will be mobile and comeva WiFi that you can use in and out of the home so you are alwayc connected.

There are already many students and young single people now who probably will never have their own landline as they are so used to mobile phones and using WiFi outside of wherever they actually live.

Very glad to see there are plenty of other people like us who don't really use mobiles.

MoreBeta I hope so. I'd have got rid of my landline ages ago if I lived somewhere with a good enough signal strength to use a dongle effectively and I didn't have family on the other side of the world. I would love to just have one account that covered everything.

That said, I won't be able to use the excuse of 'being out of signal' etc to avoid people and claim I couldn't check my emails...

As a Cub leader I get really fed up with people who only give me a mobile number. I get free landline calls through my comms package, but I have to pay for mobile calls. I haven't always got the time or information to decipher my phone bill to work out which call is a Cub expense and which isn't, so I end up being out of pocket.

Take pity when you call a volunteer and leave a mobile number for further contact!

sunshine - we did try it about 2 years ago but the signal and capacity over the mobile network was just not good enough to rely on for broadband computing. That said our landline braoadband is really rubbish here too.

It is for my family and most of my friends. I haven't had a landline in about seven years, and I don't think I have many landline numbers for people programmed into my cell. Really only my parents...everyone else I seem to know is cell only!

YABU

Mobiles in our house are for emergencies only!

Yeah, same here, Mizzy.

YABU

My mobile reception at home is rubbish. We make all calls at home on the landline and people call us on the landline. I'd never think to use my mobile to make a call if i was at home.

Until I can get a half reception on my iPhone at home my landline will still be required.

YABU. I do use my mobile during the day but use the landline in the evenings and at weekends as we have free calls then

YABU..a land-line is important in emergencies and for family, also my DDs use it to contact their grand-parents they don't have mobile phones...I like to have a land-line makes me feel secure..

imagine if you ever lost or had your mobile stolen...

I can't hear people on my mobile [old]

It pisses me off when people just give me mobile numbers to phone

costs a bloody fortune to ring mobiles ..I don't have a fancy phone and contract

just a payg

I see that some people have already mentioned that one benefit of a landline is that the line is powered from the exchange. So, if there's a power cut, and you have at least one phone directly plugged into a phone socket, you'll be able to make calls.

Another aspect is that, unlike the landline, if there's a local incident the mobile phone networks in that area can become swamped. Calls from mobiles go to the nearest tower and they can be rendered inoperable from the sheer number of phones trying to make contact. Landline phone calls can be routed as needed via other exchanges, so if a call is normally routed via London, and the London exchanges are experiencing an overload, landline calls can be routed via a different path.

I only use a landline to make calls, mobile for emergencies as its so bloody expensive and don't want a contract. YABVU to say that there is no need for them, you may not need one but plenty of other people use them.

There is many a holiday that I have had to wander around a field in the rain and the dark trying to get a signal.

Thats a poiny huggly. Didn't they cut off mobile connection in London during 7/7?