People who only use the landline

[DorothyL]

Aibu this is ever so slightly tedious? In the evening I'm shattered and want to make arrangements via text/message, but some people just don't respond to any communication other than a phone call.

OP, why are you so unable to understand that not everyone has perfect mobile signal at home?

Ours is flaky. Better than it used to be years ago, but still not great. For us it was a choice of landline or no phone at all unless hanging out of an upstairs window with the wind in a certain direction. Also, I have been on holiday to some places in the UK with absolutely no signal, or so intermittent that a simple text took a couple of days to get through. Days, not minutes or hours.

I can foresee a day when we will only need to use the landline for internet and just have our mobiles for phone and text use, but that day hasn't arrived here yet.

Just because you have the perfect mobile signal doesn't mean everyone has.

I can't afford nor would I get accepted for a contract mobile so I can only text if I have credit. Perhaps I should apologise for inconveniencing my friends and family by being poor and disabled.

I don't know a single person who even has a landline - nor have they for at least 10 years. Where do you all live?

In homes with landlines.

No mobile signal here and slow, intermittent broadband so landline only when line works. ( live in an area of Scotland with shit communication issues)

Landlines aren't an 'old person' thing. I'm 26 and I never use my mobile. I hate them. I hate the responsibility of keeping it dry and not cracked and charged at all times, and I hate how pissy people get when you don't answer their messages straight away, and with most apps they can see you've read it, which fucking enrages me.

At home I use my tablet for Facebook messaging, emails etc and landline if I need to ring anyone. When I'm out I begrudgingly take my phone (but mostly forget it) and ignore it anyway because it pisses me off.

In Glasgow. I'd say that about 90% of the parents at ds' sports club have landlines.

Not all the kids have phones - they generally begin to acquire them once they go to secondary. But not all of them. Facebook seems to be the best way of communicating with them.

I don't know a single person who even has a landline - nor have they for at least 10 years. Where do you all live?

London. In a house with a land line

I don't care whether people call a landline or a mobile as long as they don't repeatedly complain that they can't get hold of us.

'Ooh, your're never it. I tried last night and twice today!'

Yes, MIL, we are quite busy which is why we always take our mobiles out with us!!

How do all these people without landlines get internet in their house and how much does it cost?

Any time I've looked into it, it costs the same or more to get fixed broadband/cable etc without a landline as it does with a landline and mobile broadband is no good if you want Netflix or similar because the allowance is tiny?

We aren't particularly heavy users but a house full of teens all Netflixing through mobiles would rip through the data allowance, or things moved on massively in this respect recently?

If I see someone being arsey about people not responding on their mobiles quickly enough, I only give them my landline number. I do check my mobile a few times a day but I refuse to be welded to the bloody thing or be harangued about perceived delays.

I hardly know anyone who doesn't have a landline.

If our landline rings I think it's bad news. We never ever use it.

We have a landline for interent but no phone plugged in. I go to peoples houses who have landlines and they either (1) get harassed by ppi calls all day (2) stop their conversations with visitors to go answer it (3) leave it to ring and ring ring theb click to answerphone then we sit and listen to the message being left. Then they gave to call them back as it was urgent.

No thanks!

A discreet buzz once of a message arriving into someones phone is much better. And lacks the urgency to act like a ringing phone demands.

And sorting group arrangemements? Whatsapp and Messenger are oerfect - one quick message and everyone gets it. Imagine having to call 17 different land lines just to tell everyone "the restaurant couldnt take us all at 8 but we can go at 7 if that works?" No thabks!

If you've got internet you have a landline surely....

I don't know anyone without one even if they dont use it

You don't have to have a landline to have internet.

I have a landline and wifi. (which may be revised at the end of the contract period)

But I also have 2Gb of mobile data on my phone (mostly for MNetting while commuting and for driving apps - not at the same time...) and an additional 25 Gb mobile data which I use away from home on my laptop.
My phone can also become an internet hotspot.

Ah, and sometimes the wifi signal at home is not great and I just use the mobile internet.

napqueen my experience is the reverse, it is the people with the brickphones who have them surgically attached and won't ignore them. There's nothing discreet about beepy-beepy ring tones or rattling vibrations, and of course with their dreadful battery life they are more demanding than a tamagochi.

having inherited a business line, I now have a callblocker so goodbye scammers and spammers. Interestingly it is my mobile that is currently being plagued (forgot to tick the box on a comparison site) so it is switched off. Marvellous.

"I don't know a single person who even has a landline - nor have they for at least 10 years. Where do you all live?"

I don't know anyone who doesn't have a landline. Perhaps you should read the thread and see why most people still have landlines. We don't all live in areas with good mobile signals.

Another poster raised a very valid point about how much internet teenagers use. DD listens to music online and watches loads of stuff online. I wouldn't be able to afford the cost of mobile data, so the landline will stay.

*My mobile is for my convenience, not that of the rest of the world

Wow!*

Wow what? Does anyone other than me pay for my mobile? Nope. Therefore, it is for my convenience, not the rest of the world.

Many of us grew up before there were mobiles, and we had to use phone boxes, and gasp, landlines. Guess what? We coped, the world didn't end, and because I grew up in the 70s and 80s before there were mobiles, I don't see the need to be surgically attached to them 24/7.

Technology is a tool not an imperative. You might be conditioned to respond to your mobile - I'm not. If it rings I might answer it, if I'm not doing something else. If people want me, they can ring the landline, which I might answer, if I am so inclined; there is the facility to leave a message, so if it's people purporting to be Microsoft, I can ignore them, and ditto if it's someone I don't want to speak to at that particular moment, (especially as I get cold called in three different languages).

I have the most basic mobile phones available; I need to make and receive calls, or perhaps send the odd text, but that's it. I don't see the point in paying for something that I just won't use.

When in the UK home is in rural Cornwall. A landline means I don't have to hang out of the attic window by my big toe in order to get a signal. Far easier all round to use a landline, or email me.

I also grew up in the 70s and 80s. So it's not like I don't know what it's like not to have a mobile.

I think it was the tone of the comment that made me wince. "Sorry I couldn't give a toss about anyone else."

For instance, one of the reasons I have a mobile is so that my elderly mom can contact me whenever she needs to (I don't have a 9-5 type job). Or my kids can call me whenever they need me. So I can be contacted when I'm (frequently) abroad. Or do my clients can contact me when I'm not at my desk.

I think it would be pretty shitty of me to say "sorry, nearest and dearest, and clients who pay my mortgage, but you can only contact me when it suits me and frankly I don't give a damn if it doesn't suit you."

I don't have a mobile so only use landline. I just use facebook pm or email for most contact though.

And I do frequently let the phone ring if I'm busy or its not convenient. I'm not some kind of Pavlov's dog Equally I'm not pig headedly refusing to adopt and embrace technology to make my life and the lives of those around me easier, just because that's not how we did it in the 80s

bitoutofpractice As a teacher, you can't have your mobile switched on in the classroom, so it's off for the working day. It was the same when I worked in an office, and the same for Dh (HM Forces), especially in his last job when mobiles weren't allowed in the office for security reasons. You get used to using email or landlines, especially the former.

As I live abroad, it is cheaper for my elderly Mum to call my landline, as she gets free calls to Belgium, or those she makes exceeds the monthly charge made by TalkTalk, or email me, and the same for ds. I get free landline calls to the UK at certain times, so use those, rather than rack up mobile bills. Most of the communication for the stuff I do is by email or landline, or we meet for coffee to sort things out.

A mobile doesn't make my life easier....I have to remember to find it, charge it, and stick credit on it, as contracts in Belgium aren't cheap, and would be a waste of money as the monthly minutes wouldn't be used. I have to remember where my UK mobile is and charge it for when I travel back to the UK.

My mobile is for my convenience, as is yours I suspect. You wouldn't have one if it didn't work for you. As for not embracing technology....I use the bits I find useful, and don't use those those I don't. Why would I use something that doesn't enhance my life? As I said, technology is a tool. I use a Kindle when travelling, but prefer the feel of a book.

As for only contacting me when it suits me, yes. If I'm swimming, or doing yoga, or on a ferry mid Channel, or teaching, or in a meeting, or the cinema, or seeing friends, the phone is either off, or I mute it, or can't use it, if driving. Those who matter know where I will be, and will have called me earlier, or later.

YANBU at all.

You are arranging things in a group - a phone call is 1:1 whereas putting something on the group lets everyone see it.

You are not asking them to reply immediately, just "within 24 hours".

web.whatsapp.com is very good for people who want to participate but find it tricky to type much on their phones.

(technically my internet comes down a line of some kind but I do not have a phone plugged into it so I would say "I don't have a landline")

We have a landline, the only time it rings is when it's the 'car accident investigation bureau', therefore I don't answer it. I don't give the number out to people who I want to talk to - I give it to anybody who insists on a phone number when I register as a customer but if I really want to talk to somebody I give them my mobile number.