AIBU to get rid of my land line

[KindleAndCake]

AIBU to get rid of my land line, if I can, to save the money costs. We've all got mobiles, so people can get hold of us and we can call out. Do other people do this?

I have a landline and still use it. Essential

From what I've heard those battery packs will only keep the line running for a couple of hours. Not long enough when some people lose power for days on end. I live in a remote area. Last time our power went off the mobile mast stopped working as well. So no landline, no mobile, no WiFi, no 4g, nothing. We're not elderly/ frail/vulnerable so we manage ok but not everyone will.

It tends to be elderly people who use them but you can always program your mobile numbers into said elderly persons phone so they can still phone you.

Do they still charge buttock-clenchingly high charges to call a mobile, if you don't have an inclusive package? If so, it's all very well that an elderly person can call your mobile, but if it's 30p a minute, they're going to be terrified to chat for long (or horrified when they receive the first bill).

Apart from all those people living in areas with poor signal.

If I want to have a mobile conversation I have to sit at the top of the garden. 😁

Landlines as we've known them are being phased out and will be obselete in 2025

www.which.co.uk/reviews/broadband/article/digital-voice-and-the-landline-phone-switch-off-what-it-means-for-you-aPSOH8k1i6Vv

I've never had a landline!

I can't think of a time when I needed one, so I say get rid.

That is assuming:

• you remember to charge your phone - my mum never does, so she is impossible to get hold of
• and you get decent signal where you live -my friend's parents still have a landline because there's no mobile signal at all where they live (in the middle of nowhere).

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll
our work around was a ‘give us 3 rings and out the phone down, we will ring you straight back’ to avoid these expensive calls. Then we upgraded them to a panic button hearing aid adapted landline from phonak. We then programmed the panic button (big red button on the handset) to phone my mobile and I would ring straight back. Sort of a one button Batman alert system. I don’t know if that type of landline phone is still available. It worked really well.

Alphabet1spaghetti2

Yes, there are basic workarounds, true; but what if they actually want to spend some time having a chat with their loved ones, rather than just a quick 'I'm OK'?

Also, some phones nowadays don't give you three rings before they kick in to an answerphone, thus a chargeable call has been made.

It seems to be a generational thing, whereas, in the 'old days', you'd happily let a phone ring out for 12-15 rings or so, as you'd understand that people needed time to get to it. These days, people are shocked if you don't answer within three rings.

It's the same with parcel deliveries now, too, where it's assumed that you will be standing sentry behind your door at all times - they give you 5 seconds and then are off.

We’ve been without for 8 years… do it

We always kept our landline as you can use it during a power cut (phone lines have a 5v supply independent to your house electricity supply for use in emergencies). DH started his IT career in telecoms so was always dead pernickity about keeping it. Although we use DECT handsets on the landline (with charging cradles, so power dependent) he’s always insisted we keep a manky old 90s phone ‘in case of emergencies’.

However, Virgin wretched Media now require us to plug our landline phone into the back of their router hub (Volt something or other) with a crap plastic thingy, so if our power goes down, so does the bloody landline.

Which is a pain in the bum as there is a main transformer issue locally that’s forever plunging us into darkness. Harrumph.

And the VM hubs are always up and down so we can’t now use the landline when they’re showing their Red Light of Death anyway.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll but that’s just it we did spend time on the phone chatting whenever we rang back (and we were the only ones accessible on mobiles 24/7). It was our routine for them to chat whenever they wanted but not at a cost to them, although it was a panic button we called it the chat button - because that how we used it! So they could chat to me whenever they wanted at zero cost and never have to actually dial a mobile number in its long entirety- just push the button whenever they wanted a chat!
I never have my mobile answerphone switched on - so never a chargeable call. Everyone else knew/knows that their phone number shows up so I can return the call or just to text/WhatsApp/messenger and I’ll reply.
It just takes some thought to achieve a workable solution.

There was a wrist panic button linked to panic cords which went through to an on-site warden 24/7 if something like a fall happened. In reality they rang me and I rang the warden whilst making a car dash.

Parcel deliveries text an hour window and can be tracked via google maps to the nearest meter - so you can literally see the van coming down the road stopping and starting doing their deliveries. I stand on my doorstep waiting for them!! Royal Mail give you the option to reroute it to the sorting office if necessary. Others often have an option the night before of rerouting your delivery to a collection point (dpd etc) if you are going to be out. Much much easier these days than when you waited in a week and they arrived the one time you went to the loo!!

Still have a landline, the sound quality when making overseas calls is far better. Doesn't cut out either. I've often had those in the UK comment that I sound as if I'm next door when 'phoning from Australia.

For elderly struggling there are mobile phones that look like landlines. As well as big button mobile ones with a cradle (including the sos button on the back).

As the phone network changes over people will adapt and cope. A mobile plan with unlimited calls (giffgaff 2GB of data, which is not needed, is only £6 a month) is much cheaper than a landline.

@Pixiedust1234 thanks, that's useful to know - I'll try and find the landline phone

We got my mum one of these and programmed in our numbers and stuck our photos on the button. She can’t cope with any other phone, even the cordless one she’s had for years as she gets confused with the red and green icons. She looks at the “simple big button for old folk” mobile phone we got her with bafflement and has never used it. Her fall alarm has a SIM card so is independent of the landline

The issue of older people not getting technology is one of declining cognitive powers when they’re still ok to be at home otherwise. If you’ve been fortunate enough to not see it close up yourself it’s difficult to appreciate how someone previously competent and confident suddenly can’t change channels on the tv anymore. I think it’s a huge issue where design of user interface takes a back seat and is obviously not tested out on the intended population.

Got rid of mine years ago, it just sat there eating money. The only person I've met who found it odd was the breast cancer consultant surgeon, checking details, who said to me "No home phone? Are you a drug dealer? Ha ha". Line of Duty has a lot to answer for.

Alphabet1spaghetti2

Ah, OK, then - fair enough. Sounds like a good system!

I know parcel delivery is easier now, but again, it depends on people being tech-savvy and having the time to track the delivery. For a lot of elderly people, there's the double-whammy of not being online to know when they're coming as well as having poorer health than they once did, making it take them longer to get up and go to the door. An hour-long slot is handy, but still far too long to stand up lurking around your doorway.

Also, the tracking-to-your-doorstep doesn't always work. Even with Amazon, the delivery people are under such time pressures that they don't have time to update after every drop. Many a time I've been following and seen that they're still supposedly 6 stops away and then they knock on my door.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll agree amazon is getting very bad compared to how they were just a year ago.
I do like tech - but agree with you that sometimes tech can actually exclude people that were originally included. Design for practically doesn’t seem to a buzz word for inventories and designers. I’m not shy of learning tech, but even I have sometimes just given up (tv as a tv is one - I’ve gone for tv on a tablet instead) because it become so much more awkward to use for no good reason-benefit. And then there is the expense of keeping tech up to date - my iPhone 3 works as a phone still, but I can’t use the additional techy side of it as it’s deemed obsolete- not cheap to get even a second hand smart phone.
my real gripe is that new phone tech is being rolled out - 5g yet we can’t even get reliable dial up mobile phone tech to some parts of the country - as seen by a lot of these posts. Wish that was sorted first so at least everyone who wants a phone has a triable means of communication.
rant over. Sorry.