To wonder why everyone insists on using your mobile rather than a landline?

[Dancergirl]

Do we not use landlines any more??

Despite giving both landline and mobile numbers to various people, why is the mobile always the first port of call??

This is why I prefer my landline:

-I can actually hear it ring as we have 3 handsets around the house. My mobile is usually tucked away in my bag.

-When I'm out and about, I'm busy and therefore can't talk at length or make appointments/check my diary etc. I need to be at home to do this.

-I am not a slave to my mobile phone. I think it's rude to start chatting on the phone when I'm talking to someone/in a shop.

So please just use my frigging landline, if I'm not in leave a message and I will ring back at my convenience.

And I would also go so far as to say manners have gone downhill since the introduction of mobiles. The constant interruption, you can't have more than a 5 minute conversation with some people before their phone starts ringing.

Our landline sits there with the volume turned off & the answering machine on, it's only cold callers & the MIL that use it.

I'll be getting rid of it as soon as renewal time comes up for the package.

Between us we've got 2000 minutes of free calls, plus my mobile is always free to landlines has unlimited texts & Data - for less than £10.

I really resent paying Line Rental that is more than that & then have to pay for calls on top of it.

Landlines are on the way out - thank goodness....

We have not had a landline in years. Why pay for two phone services? My mobile is always with me. When I am at home, I place it in a location where I can hear the ringer. People are welcome to leave a message should I not answer.

I have a sinking feeling that as more and more people stop using landlines, those of us who have no choice but to have one will find them getting more and more expensive.

I virtually never answer the landline because it's only cold callers and automated nonsense that rings it, or the dentist reminding me about an appointment or something. I'm not going to chase round the house while in the middle of something to answer that. My mobile is always on me or near me, so much easier to answer, plus I can see whose calling. The only reason we still have a landline is because I think it's still cheaper to call my parents in France from it rather than from my mobile.

who's calling, not whose calling

i dont know why people think landlines are on their way out - there are more people than ever using landlines due to broadband and TV packages.

ltcolgrinch - who is your mobile contract with?

"We have not had a landline in years. Why pay for two phone services?"

Can I suggest politely that you actually read the thread. There are some of us who have very valid reasons for keeping our landlines.

"If you use your mobile in the house you can go anywhere in the house with it."

Not all my clothes have pockets and I am not in the habit of carrying my phone around with me. I can always hear the landline phone and am never far from one of the three handsets we have.

cheekyfunky Can I suggest you look at GiffGaff. They are a virtual network that uses O2, but are really cheap and you don't get tied into a contract. Their prices start at £5 a month.

On the expense of landlines, Skype is a much cheaper option. You can buy a 'landline style' number and use a special handset, a headset, a mobile, or plumb it into your landline phone.

Their call charges are negligible so great for overseas. Customer service not so great. Sound quality usually good but a bit unreliable, sometimes temperamental about connecting.

We changed over when I wanted a 'landline' but BT were going to charge £120 to reconnect us, plus silly line rental charges. It is so much cheaper.

Causes its own confusion though, as the number uses a local code but then starts with a different digit to all numbers in the area. People often think they know better and insert the usual digit, or just decline to try because it doesn't look right

We use Skype a lot, but as you say, the quality isn't always that good.

Exactly what Bunbaker says. Three LL handsets, no pockets, GiffGaff are you me?

Which takes us back to the root issue - people not listening to customers or accepting your preferences, thinking that because they are used to doing things one way, everyone else must, or at least should do the same. Much evidence of that on this thread too!

IME estate agents are the worst for ignoring instructions about modes of communication.

We have a landline but haven't plugged it in for years. No need for it. The only people who would ring us on that number are cold callers

Nor do any of my friends use the house phone, so it'd cost a fortune if we used it to ring mobiles.

YANBU. I'd prefer people to call the landline. I don't want to chat to people when I'm out and about doing things.

oh estate agents! Years ago I was selling my house. Had an all day long assessment and interview for a job I desperately wanted. Had my mobile in my bag switched off (naturally) and when we had a half hour break in the afternoon, I switched it on to find about a dozen frantic messages from the EA. I rang them back, discussed the sale, and then got a tap on the shoulder and was asked if I could forego the half hour break and come for the interview early. I explained to the EA what had happened, asked that under no circumstances should they ring in the next hour and that I'd call them as soon as the interview was finished. I then, in bit of a panic, switched my phone off (or so I thought) and put it in my bag. Turned out that in my haste I hadn't switched it off properly which I discovered when the estate agent rang again five minutes later, despite having promised not to. Needless to say I didnt get the job, something that has haunted me ever since. Obviously ultimately it was my responsibility to switch my phone off, and I thought I had, but would it have killed him to have followed the simple request not to ring?

Interesting posts thinking about the younger gen. wanting contact ''now''. I would agree.

but - at the same time its the older generation in our family are the ones who ring the landline, and get the hump if its not answered, and resist texting, because they want to talk/get an answer ''now''.

YANBU. I only use my mobile for texting, for quick phone calls when out eg telling DH I'm running late to meet him, games and so school can phone me if I'm out and the DC's are ill. Most of the time I use my landline.

I can actually take a call in more places in the house on our landline than my mobile. I need to go into the kitchen to take a call on my mobile and, even then, it's often bubbly. And that's after moving from a provider that had very poor 3G reception here.

My parents have terrible mobile reception and have had to go to 3G to get a reliable signal. We all rely on landlines for our Internet.

I mostly use my mobile phone for mobile Internet, when I'm out and about, and for emergency OMG one of the kids has plastered himself to the ground and is not budging calls.

You can't have broadband without a landline, that's what connects your computer to the internet. If you ask your provider for a breakdown it'll show as something like line rental.

You can if you have cable.

Oh and for people saying they have rubbish phone reception at home, we spoke to 3, our mobile providers, and they gave us a box that gives us a phone signal via our broadband.

We don't have cable.

i dont know why people think landlines are on their way out - there are more people than ever using landlines due to broadband and TV packages.

But having a landline and using it are two different things.
I have one but I rarely plug the phone in because when I do all I get is cold callers, even though we have TPS.

You can have broadband without cable or a phone line if you have mobile broadband.

I don't work for 3 but their contract mobile wifi using a wireless dongle was considerably better than the landline connection from Orange.

I signed up a 2 year contract at £15 per month for 15gb for my peripatetic son. On the face of it it's more expensive than the broadband element of our BT landline and there is a cap, but 15gb is a goodly amount if you don't stream or game and if you never use the landline it is much cheaper than paying for an unused landline.

Once our BT contract expires I'm considering replacing it with a 3 mobile broadband contract. If we go over 15gb I still have a connection on my phone.

We watch iPlayer quite a lot, so having unlimited broadband on our landline is very useful.

interesting digital divide!

cheapest by far for me is to have unlimited landline calls, I can chat for an hour at a time to family who have the same deal. Friends all seem to have unlimited mobile minutes, and are learning that I won't call them on the mobile.

I live in a mobile dead zone, in an area with a lot of coverage gaps and no booster box etc is going to work, buggered if I'm paying for that anyway. I only have a simple PAYG mobile for the odd calls, mostly texts, and to be contactable when needed. £10 credit lasts a few months.

mobile has voicemail turned off as it doesn't work properly - calls go to it too quickly if it is on. Landline has an answerphone.

I give the mobile number on websites because it is OFF unless I am out.

neither phone is answered if it is not convenient. It is not essential to be continuously contactable.

I don't have a LL at all. In fact, the only people I know who have and use a LL are my parents, both in their sixties. Everyone else only has mobiles. If you don't want to answer your phone, don't. It's simple.