to keep my landline?

[orangeleavesinautumn]

I could save around £30 a month on an internet deal which does not include the land line..... but what happens in emergencies, power cuts, when the mobile phone system is down?

Realistically, it isn't used that much - I do give out my land line not my mobile number to various businesses, etc, that I don't want disturbing my day with phone calls - they can leave a message on the ansa machine at home instead. A couple of relatives use it, and I like the fact we can have a 3 or 4 way conversation, if everyone in the house picks up a reciever.

And I want it available for emergencies

But it is quite expensive, and not used a lot.

AIBU to keep it? What do other households do?

Got rid of ours years ago. No regrets. Power cuts are rare.
You can easily have multiple people on a conversation with WhatsApp.

I can't vote until you explain what is unreasonable about it. Youve

can you have a 3 way voice conversation on whats app? Powercuts are not so rare here and likely to become more common in the future I think

I got rid years ago too. Just use my mobile. I do have a power bank though incase of power cuts which don't happen very often thankfully.

Gah! You've said why you want to keep it, but not why it would be reasonable to get rid?

Am I being unreasonable to keep my land line?

YABU to keep the landline
YANBU to keep the landline

I've not had a landline in any home I've had since I moved out of my parents 15 years ago. The things you've described just haven't happened.

We live rurally now with poor mobile signal and just use WiFi calling/texting most of the time. Power cuts rarely happen and rarely last long and if one coincided with an expected phone call, I'd just go out to somewhere with decent mobile signal.

We have power banks but also a biolite that burns wood and charges a phone (just in case 😂) haven't had a land line for 15 years or so

But why would you be unreasonable to keep something you want?

£360 a year....how much is that per phone call? We thought about it because the mobile reception in the house is dire...but decided that missing the odd actual mobile call (the majority are whatsapp) and making the odd expensive mobile to landline call was worth the saving of the landline cost.

But it's up to you.

VOIP phones have back up batteries if you go for Voip.

Yes of course. Group calls have been a thing for a very long time now.

Old landlines are all being withdrawn and moved to VoIP by 2025 anyway (VoIP is phone services delivered via broadband) so they will not work in a power cut anyway.

I am keeping it partly out of fear of being without it, hence wanting to know how other people manage.

I do want a land line, and I do want to save £30 a month! I have to choose unfortunately!

well I didnt know that - that is something to try out

I don’t think any one in my family has had one since pre 2007ish.

crazy to think people still pay for this!

I've never had a landline since I left my parents home 12 years ago and never needed one

We'll ditch ours when fibre-to-the-home arrives here.

When did the mobile network last go down for you?

I've not had a landline in many years, at least 15. Even my parents who are in their 80s got rid of theirs a few years ago. It's obsolete technology. In a power cut I can charge my phone off a power bank, laptop, car - not that I've ever needed to.

Ah right, thanks for explaining - that wasn't clear to me from your OP.

In that case, you would be unreasonable to keep it. You can always get it back later if you do miss it...

hmmm, I am going to try this group whatsapp chat thing tonight, then maybe I will take the plunge and ditch the landline

That is true of course, I can get it back if I want it....

Proposal is to turn off the old pulse landlines in 2025 anyway. If that happens, everyone will have phones via broadband. Those who don't have/want broadband will get a phone connected via a broadband connection instead of the pulse landline. When that happens, the phone will be dead in a power cut, just like broadband ones would die now. But even pulse landlines are vulnerable in power cuts - during Storm Desmond, our landline was dead because the telephone exchange back up power supply didn't kick in. At the same time, the mobile networks went down due to lack of power too, so we were completely without any kind of phones for the first day or so!

I'm keeping mine as the signal here is pretty hit and miss. There have been many times when I've had a notification saying I have missed a call on my mobile when the phone hasn't actually rang. I received a text this morning that was sent at 3.20pm yesterday. Luckily it wasn't for anything important.

Wouldn't get rid of ours firstly because it's not uncommon for phone signal to disappear where we live and mainly because we have 4 young kids

Kept mine, mobile is a work one, like to keep work and home business separate as much as possible.