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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Would you call a land line at 9.30pm?

248 replies

Tinkerbec · 16/12/2017 21:34

Someone has just called my home for my mother who is out. Waking up my dd.

I think it is way too late. I know its a Saturday but really!AIBU?

I find land lines intrusive at the best of times.
Grrrr! Not happy.

OP posts:
LoniceraJaponica · 17/12/2017 10:26

“You’ve got a landline? How very twee! 😂”

You sneer at people with landlines! How very rude and narrow minded Hmm
We don’t all live in areas with good mobile reception. Some of us have elderly relatives where calling a mobile costs £££ from their landline.

For me 9.30 isn’t late to receive a phone call, but I would never ring a landline in a house where I know they have young children.

“Also 9pm IS a normal bedtime for adults who have kids or start early at work”

I don’t know anyone who goes to bed that early

“I actually don’t think that I know anyone under 70 with a landline. I can’t remember the last time I called a landline other than for work.”

EvaBlu you must live in an area with exceptionally good mobile reception. Can you really not imagine why some people still have a landline? Here is a list of reasons why we still have ours:

  1. OH is self-employed, and having a landline and a mobile projects a more professional image
  2. Mobile reception in our house isn’t great
  3. We get our broadband through the landline
  4. We have elderly relatives that use our landline number as a the default phone number
  5. I don’t carry my mobile around with me all the time and I can hear the landline phone wherever I am in the house
  6. The phone still works in a power cut
  7. At busy times, like New Year, when all the mobile networks are jammed, the landline still works
  8. The sound quality is better and much clearer

Laughing at all the immature souls who can't imagine what it was like to only have a landline and to not own a mobile phone.

saoirse31 · 17/12/2017 10:30

9.30 is fine I'd say. But am constantly amazed by children who wake up at the slightest noise tbh... Am wondering always whether part of it is over protection from noise as v young babies... But accept Iabu.

LoniceraJaponica · 17/12/2017 10:32

"Am wondering always whether part of it is over protection from noise as v young babies"

I think that is true for some children.

Kitsharrington · 17/12/2017 10:34

9.30 is not late. YABU.

llangennith · 17/12/2017 10:35

Don’t most landline phones have the option for loud/quiet ring? And as your DM was out couldn’t you have unplugged both phones till your DM came home?
Tell her that in future you’re going to unplug phones when she’s out and she can plug the phone in her room back in when she gets home. But leave the hall phone unplugged.

ScreamingValenta · 17/12/2017 10:37

My landline number is given to family and close friends. My mobile is the one I give out to companies, work colleagues and similar. I switch my mobile off in the evenings and at weekends - it makes life much simpler!

KiaOraAura · 17/12/2017 10:40

No-one who lives where we do would think having a landline is twee. During a power cut, having a landline that doesn't require electricity can be a lifesaver. Mobile batteries only last for so long.

And as several of us have said, you can turn down the volume on a landline, it's really easy to do.

bananafish81 · 17/12/2017 10:41

Laughing at all the immature souls who can't imagine what it was like to only have a landline and to not own a mobile phone.

.I can certainly remember what it was like, that was my childhood and teenage years. I remember how it works - it's just that I personally now live my life in a different way

We have a landline but don't give the number to anyone, so don't ever answer it, because it'll just be PPI or similar calls (even though we're on the telephone preference service)

My brother and SIL live somewhere rural with hardly any mobile reception, which means we always message or talk over WiFi, never using text messages or calling the mobile (as the signal is so ropey) . Much much cheaper than using a landline in their case as it's using broadband data. Not saying this works for everyone! But in this day and age a landline isn't necessarily the only solution to poor mobile signal. Different strokes for different folks.

amicissimma · 17/12/2017 10:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

maggiso · 17/12/2017 10:53

I find mobile phones more intrusive too. Our teenage son, chats to his friends whilst wandering through the house, effectively bringing the friends with him!
I currently work long hours so by the time I get home it is past 8.30 so that is the only time during the week I can phone family and friends. I don’t like to ring after 10 pm ( family and close friends) so often find days go by and I still haven’t phoned someone I want to catch up with.I use the land line because the mobile signal is poor- and it’s cheaper.

daisychain01 · 17/12/2017 11:01

For a call about a cow-bell, I'd ring at a time that's either not likely to disturb anyone or else leave a voice message and give the person a choice of times when they could call back and the number they need to call. There are lots of alternative workarounds.

PeonyBucket · 17/12/2017 11:06

So would you call someone at 9.30pm to ask if they had a cow bell

Nobody I know, under the age of 70, has a cow bell.

EmilyChambers79 · 17/12/2017 11:11

We have a landline. My Mom calls me on it. She has a landline, is 75 and doesn't have a mobile but she gets free landline to landline minutes and so do we, so we call each other in that.

Nothing wrong with a landline and certainly nothing to sneer at.

Original poster
Tinkerbec · 17/12/2017 11:11

Nobody I know, under the age of 70, has a cow bell.

Well exactly! Surprisingly we didn’t have one. DM is 69.

OP posts:
bananafish81 · 17/12/2017 11:14

But what are you going to do if Christopher Walken calls needing MORE COWBELL? Grin

(If you know this legendary SNL sketch this may be amusing, if you don't then I realise this sounds utterly bonkers - but it's a terrific sketch, you will never hear the word 'cowbell' the same way again!)

Whinesalot · 17/12/2017 11:14

I wouldn't even consider the waking up children aspect. Surely they wake up because they are not used to noise? And they would have woken up from 7.30 or whatever their bedtime is, if he'd have rung then?
I made sure that mine had all sorts of noises going on around them from the very beginning so a ringing telephone would never have disturbed them.

I wouldn't ring past 9ish unless it's a few people I know well and know they'll be up.

shrunkenhead · 17/12/2017 11:19

Always makes me laugh at all the people who insist on taking their mobs to bed and then complain about them pinging when people text them during the night! Either mute it or turn it off!

Original poster
Tinkerbec · 17/12/2017 11:22

wouldn't even consider the waking up children aspect. Surely they wake up because they are not used to noise? And they would have woken up from 7.30 or whatever their bedtime is, if he'd have rung then?
I made sure that mine had all sorts of noises going on around them from the very beginning so a ringing telephone would never have disturbed them.

I wouldn't ring past 9ish unless it's a few people I know well and know they'll be

She is used to noise. My dp calls us the clampetts. Just not as she is drifting off to sleep. She is a light sleeper in general though so I don’t think its a matter of getting used to it.

OP posts:
PeonyBucket · 17/12/2017 11:29

Surprisingly we didn’t have one. DM is 69

Well that's her birthday present sorted.

crunchymint · 17/12/2017 11:33

Yes people I know with young children have early bedtimes for their children. They are doing bedtime routine from 6pm. I am still travelling home from work before 6pm.

crunchymint · 17/12/2017 11:35

Also my hearing is not as good as it was. I can hear much better on a landline. Mobiles are fine for short calls. For long chats I need to use the landline.

LoniceraJaponica · 17/12/2017 11:45

"Also my hearing is not as good as it was. I can hear much better on a landline. Mobiles are fine for short calls. For long chats I need to use the landline."

This ^^

OH and I have relatives in their 80s who only have landlines and need the clarity you get on a landline that you can't get with mobile reception where we live.

I can only assume that the posters who can't get their head around having a landline don't talk to elderly relatives on the phone.

KNain · 17/12/2017 11:47

It varies massively from person to person, depends who they are and why I was calling.

To be honest for people with children in the house I'd probably call later in the evening so I'm not interrupting tea/bath/bedtimes (obviously they can ignore the phone if they're busy but I know if DS hears the phone or door when he's getting into bed he gets all excited).

Personally I'd be more inconvenienced. by a call before 8:30! 9-10 is the perfect time for a call for me.

I'm usually cooking/eating tea until 6:30ish. Then from 7 it's bath/bedtime for DS, then I like to wash up and tidy up the house a bit. I rarely sit down until 9, so I'd much prefer a call then.

My mum and I would call each other up until about 10:30, same with my grandmother and some friends. Because we know the other will be up and won't mind. My MIL goes to bed about 9 though, so I wouldn't call after that.

Original poster
Tinkerbec · 17/12/2017 11:50

Well that's her birthday present sorted.

Brilliant! She has a January birthday so I was out of ideas.Grin

OP posts:
eddiemairswife · 17/12/2017 11:50

My landline is free after 7pm, which is a good reason to keep it. I'm amazed that so many people go to bed at 9pm, or don't answer the phone after a certain time, or whose children wake at the drop of a pin. No one I know behaves like that, but then I don't know people who won't answer the door after dark, or if they aren't expecting a visitor. I also have a pay-as-you-go mobile.

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