To contemplate not having a landline?

[ShetlandWife]

I've just moved, and I've been getting the runaround with the phone line /broadband set up. So far it is two weeks since it was supposed to be live, and nothing yet.

Wibu to just say sod it, and update to unlimited data on my phone instead, using it to hot-spot my laptop and firetv?

Anyone done this and have any feedback?

That's a strange question! I'm using it the same way you do. Have you never dropped your phone @ginfordinner?

Very rarely. I have only once broken a phone in 24 years.

I have a rubberised phone case that helps protect it. Also I have a Samsung phone which I believe is a little more robust than an iPhone.

We have one with a phone connected. The 3/4G signal here is dodgy and having a home phone number is useful to give out on the seemingly endless web forms that won't let you submit until you have given a phone number. Then sell your number to spam companies. The call blocker sorts those out.

Plus, DH never seems to know where his mobile is or it isn't charged up, so sometimes the only way to get hold of him.

"It's 2019 who even has a landline anymore!!*

All the people who live where there's no.mobile coverage. That's who.

We have no mobile signal at home. Without a landline we wouldn't be able to make calls. We do have fibre optic broadband though.

I like having a landline myself, and my friends and family usually use it, but YANBU - it is a fairly common decision these days.

It's 2019 who even has a landline anymore!!

I was in a local pub a few months ago when a couple of young men from London burst in asking if there was wifi. They were almost out of petrol and totally lost. They had been relying on their phones for navigation, not realising that mobile phone coverage in the UK isn't anywhere near 100%.

Somebody the asked why they didn't use the satnav in their car. That hadn't occurred to them and when they tried, it was obvious they had never used it before.

We've kept our landline as mobile coverage a bit dodgy at times.
Also the mobile networks can get overloaded when there's a disaster, eg London bombings in 2005. DH couldn't get through to us in Essex on his mobile and rang our landline from a shop phone to say he was OK.

Ah, @Spamantha - god forbid a thread evolves

We have to have a phone line as we don't have fibre to the premises, just to the cabinet. We haven't made calls on the landline for years. My mum and dad do insist on calling it, even though I've told them to call our mobiles. Typical parents

What’s wrong with parents calling you on your landline?

@Spamantha, thank you! I also think people are missing out on the point of your post - which is that some posters seem to think their comments are relevant to the question, but aren't really!

But there are a reasonable number that have answered the question asked, and I'm grateful to them.

I don't miss not having one until the day I lost my phone. I couldn't get in touch with anyone to cancel anything. My OH was away so couldn't use his.

So is it now fairly standard to use mobile broadband for internet access at home?

Even for gaming and streaming? I thought this used oodles of data and cost a fortune? Is this not the case any more? What are people paying and what data do they get for this?

We pay £20 pm for Virgin Media fibre broadband at home and it's unlimited as far as I know - admittedly on a deal but when the contract's up, we'll renegotiate or go elsewhere, but it seems that a mobile data deal is also something to look at.

Aside from the fact that we simply don’t have a decent signal half the time, I don’t like making long calls with a mobile phone against my ear (I know I could use earphones, but they’re a faff).

Don't you need it to prove you're a real person though? E.g. jobs etc?

God, I love my landline.

So is it now fairly standard to use mobile broadband for internet access at home?

I think some people use the line just for data but don't have a phone connected to it.

So they do have landlines then, even if they don't use them for phone calls? That's not what the OP is asking at all.

If you are in an area woth decent mobile reception then lots of people use a 4g router on a data only plan.

A landline number hasn’t been a consideration for job applications or anything else for years. It must be at least 15 years since I had one and it has never been an issue

We are in a bad reception area and so it has been useful to keep up with BT, but I know a lot of people who no longer have landlines or certainly not phones.

We still have a landline. I can never remember my mobile no off the top of my head when I get asked for a contact number but I can always remember my landline no!

I have one bout it's not plugged it. Thought it does worry me that my parents wouldn't be able to contact me in the middle of the night. As my phone is either switched off or on do not disturb.

As my phone is either switched off or on do not disturb

This is actually where a mobile (assuming it’s a smartphone) is better than landline.

10pm to 8am everyday and without me having to do anything the ONLY calls my mobile will let through are my parents, kids, siblings and partner.

Our landline is plugged in in case of emergency, ringtone has been turned off. Kids are not advanced enough yet to call 999 from mobile phone with touchscreen.
People thought I was too dramatic when I was mentioning this until a year ago when I was busy resuscitating my toddler whilst my 6 year old was on the phone with 999 operator getting ambulance to come over. They can track the address from a landline too.

A landline would annoy me as you can't screen calls

Yes, you can. Our landline phone does it automatically. We haven't had a single spam call get through in over four years.