For wanting callers to default to calling my landline first.

[slowrun]

I prefer receiving calls on my landline. There is much better confidentiality. Sound quality is better. I can hear the ringer better. We also have a good quality answering machine. I also have a pen and paper handy, can write dates down and check diaries.

When I take my mobile out, I could be anywhere. I could be running or paying for something in a shop. So I cannot always give full attention to the call. I'm ok with a quick question and of course in an emergency I'm happy to be reached by my mobile.

However! if I give my mobile number out people seem to default to that. Hence I don't often but then end up ringing up to chase appointments if I'm going to be away from home.

AIBU? How do other people manage this?

YABU most people don't even really use their landline anymore

I hate people calling my land line, I rarely give it out. The only people who call it is mil and sales people who most of the time are for someone else or it's our telephone provider so we usually ignore as either can't be arsed getting up or we are in another room. Mil will sometimes text asking if she can call (she won't ring mobile) so we ring her so we can talk from the sofa.

Most forms I see list their mobile as the preferred number to call.

Surely your Mobile has an answerphone? Just let it ring and them leave a message.
If you do pick up then put appointments into your phones calendar.

I'm with the OP as well. Our mobile signal at home used to be very poor - it could only receive calls if the phone was by the front door so the mobile just lived in my bag and I never heard it ring when I was home. Our reception is better now, but I'm still used to ignoring it when I am home, and generally do. I always tell people to phone landline first, and if companies ignored this I would tell them to remove the mobile number from their records. I did like text updates though, so that's why I gave the mobile number in the first place.

I also agree that recieving calls on the landline is far better than on a dodgy mobile, and I don't want to be bothered with calls when I'm out doing something. Till recently I always had to pay to retrieve mobile voicemail too, so I never bothered. Maybe I'm a dinosaur (late 40s), but so many years of poor signal meaning mobiles were generally useless if at home means my landline is still my main contact.

People manage their lives on their phones now,.No, some do, others don't. I manage my life with a calender on the wall, and a diary. I have a basic phone, no dta, and don't have a clue how to whatsapp. I respond to landline calls, texts if my phone is charged, and emails on the computer, as my phone doesn't do emails.

No need to make sure a calendar or a diary are charged up.

Phone reception is OK where we are in Belgium , but when I'm back in the UK it is crap where we live, and hanging out the window in the attic to get a signal isn't appealing, hence the multiple handsets for my landline.

*Need an answer phone? Mobile.
Need to make notes? Mobile.
Need to check a diary or save a date? Mobile.

Are you getting the message OP? Come on, join us in the 21st century! grin*

How is it 21st century to have to stand in the middle of the road to get reception, and risk getting run over by the black SUV, that roars up the road like it's on a racetrack?

I have a mobile purely in case of emergencies with DD1, and its the authorities, who ring my mobile on a withheld number at short notice, to tell us of a meeting about her, and as there's no reception, leave a message on voicemail, which we can't access either. If we stay at home all weekend, we never get the message! Then, they are surprised, we don't know about any meeting! It's very annoying!

They have our landline number, because it's on all the official forms about her, I wish they'd use it!

Only ever give out your landline number.
Problem solved.

Only ever give out your landline number.
Problem solved.

Grrr! This is what I do!!!!! As I have said!!!!!But a mobile is useful for time sensitive issues or emergencies. It would be useful to give out the mobile number as long as people would default to the landline!!

Ladys I would take the voicemail off the mobile, if you can. Then they would be forced to use the landline to get hold of you or leave a message.

@Slarti

I've joined the 21st century thank you very much. But I'm deaf and I find the the landline which always has clear reception, and which has a volume control far superior to any mobile phone I have ever had, much easier to use for important calls or long chats with friends.

I have a mobile for emergencies , texting, surfing etc but I have lost count of the number of times I've had to give up on a mobile conversation because of poor reception or because I just couldn't hear the person on the other end of the phone properly.

So I'll be keeping my landline for the foreseeable. Next time try not to be so judgemental.

I think you need to accept that most people will default to mobiles, so if you want people to default to your landline you need to proactively tell them - Write it on forms in red, put a message on your phone, tell people when they ring to alter their records. I’m ‘older’ (60s) and use my phone as my diary, calendar, address book etc - rarely use my landline

Surely your Mobile has an answerphone? Just let it ring and them leave a message.

But then you have the faff of having to pick up the messages and people don't just say "Hi Sarah it's Karen can you call me back on [number]" they leave a long involved message and gabble their number so you have to listen to it twice or even three times.

Although I prefer landlines I prefer emails and texts even more.

Anyway to everyone - whether landline or mobile, when you leave a message please say your phone number SLOWLY and preferably twice.

I worked at our GP surgery in the summer holidays when I was at uni (hence knowing about the preferred and alternative phone number options) and we weren’t allowed to leave answer machine messages on landlines for privacy reasons. If they didn’t answer the landline and there was no mobile number we had to send a letter, which was hand delivered if it was urgent

it's bizarre isn't it - you won't leave a message on the landline in case anyone else in the house listens to it, but you'll post a letter through the door that anyone in the house can read. Hey ho.

My voicemail on the landline (I never answer the mobile) says email is always the quickest way to get to me. Even so people insist on calling. Email gives me a record of what someone is after and saves me heaps of time.

My father always had the landline on answering machine because his patients (he was a psychiatrist) would always want to call for 40 minutes of free help when they were upset so if he answered he basically would never have been able to do his real job as a doctor. It wasn't that he was mean - just the issue of time. Same here. I often block even the landline just to get some work done otherwise I end up with people calling every few minutes and not getting anything done.

Like many pps I often have no signal at all at home and if anyone wants to speak to me they'll have to use my landline.

www.statista.com/statistics/289158/telephone-presence-in-households-in-the-uk/

Apparently 89% of households have a landline. I had to google it as I found it hard to believe that so many people rely solely on mobiles.

Yes in my job I provide a helpline service and much prefer if people email me the query and I can reply by email because then we have an audit trail of the query and what I advised. If people phone it's quite intrusive and I think it's quite demanding.

And to get back to the main point of the thread, that is my pet hate about people calling mobiles. They know that making eg a hygienist appointment is not urgent. So call the landline or email ! To be fair, my dentist texts and emails a reminder and then I tend to call in in person. But my son's orthodontist thought it was so urgent to get hold of me to arrange an appointment in October that they called my mobile even though they have my landline and email address. Someone said further up the thread that people don't want to have to consider if it's urgent or not. It's really not hard. As I said, bump on child's head at school = urgent. Your dry cleaning is ready to collect = not urgent.

I haven't had a landline for about 10 years now

running, I have the dilemma that new calls to the landline could be new work that I want to win v many randoms every week calling me wanting "free" advice, a "quick" chat which is another reason I prefer email, but I do take calls most days and at least once a day have a fixed conference call which is fine as those ones I am getting paid for.

my mobile is cheap and basic. I pay about £20 a year or less on top up

I pay £30 a at "1pmobile", and that seems to include voicemail service.

£30 a year is the minimum top-up, I use slightly less than that, credit lasts forever, so in my case will build up slightly over time. (Charges a 1p per minute/text/megabyte.)

Maybe it's worth £10 extra a year to have voicemail?

They're on EE network, which turns out to have much better reception at my house than Three, who I was with previously.

I haven't had a landline for about 10 years now

My uncle's never had a landline and he's 75. He doesn't have a mobile phone either. When he has to fill in forms, he's always met with disbelief. He's been known to put my number in, although I live 200 miles away.

He's otherwise perfectly sane.

I want a man to walk on front of my car waving a flag to make people aware that I'm coming. It makes no difference that I have to drive at 3mph and inconvenience other people. This is how it used to be and this is what I want, dammit!

Many people 'have' a landline. That doesn't mean they use it.

We have one. I've never called anyone on it or received a call. One person in the world (MIL) has the number and that's just for an emergency when she can't get us on our mobiles. I barely pick up voice messages on my mobile let alone the landline.

I love my mobile for all sorts of things but the phone signal in many places I'm at regularly is awful,so I don't want to have any kind of important conversation on it.And I can't answer it at work.

Also if I'm at home I can wander round with the landline under my chin,and still do stuff - can't do that with my mobile.
I do say specifically to companies to call the landline as a default,they don't always listen though!

I realise I'm also thinking I never answer my mobile unless I'm expecting a call - why would I interrupt whatever I'm doing to have a phone conversation which would be much easier to hear and deal with at home? If I'm driving - no.Cycling - no. Errands,shopping - no good if I need to check anything or write stuff down...and I need my hands...
I may be turning into a dinosaur - I'm only 58 in RL despite sounding like a tecnophobic 80 yr old ...

Well, today I chased an appointment because I am planning on going out so would not be around to answer a call on my landline. It payed off! Appointment arranged there and then. If they had my mobile as a contact I would probably have been less proactive and may not have been able to take advantage of the same slot.

So I still think landline as a default is best!

I'm the opposite OP. Our landline rings about twice a month now. And it bloody freaks me out and I don't want to answer it. I know that's not rational but it's never anyone I want to hear from.

I recently decided to stop using a service provider - there were a few reasons but one was they kept insisting on calling me on the landline and never responded to emails. I think consumers are driving this trend with their preferences and it's unfortunate you might be in the minority on landlines these days.

puppy, see I find my mobile more intrusive because if I am out I am busy. Running, shopping, at an appointment, socialising with family or friends, eating at a restaurant etc. So unless the call is an emergency or a very quick query I feel uneasy because I find it difficult to give the call my full attention. Marketing calls don't phase me too much. I just end the call at first opportunity. However, don't get them very often now since the new stricter data laws.