Will land phones become an antique while cell phones take over communication?

Got my first cell over ten years ago. When I realized who was calling the land line and who was calling the cell, the choice was a no-brainer. Portability was really just a bonus.

BBB, since you have mobility issues, you don't think having a cell phone on your person would be easier?
Have you considered getting a Jitterbug?

Yes I do think land lines will become less and less common, then gone.

Chai2, Thanks for caring. I think you are right. JitterBugs are the easiest to use for old folks.

Right now, my land phones are closest to where I spend most of my time so they are not a problem. I still have an expensive cell phone that I bought when I first moved to Albuquerque and was mobile. I had to have a long contract to use it and I think I only used it about five times in all the years I had it. I finally canceled the contract and haven't miss it. I'm so seldom alone that I can use Butrflynet's cell phone if I need to.

BBB

The only reason I have a cell phone is so BBB can contact me if I'm out doing errands or if I've gotten lost and need help finding my way back.

So far, in a year's time, I've only used it twice for either of those purposes. It is one of those $20 prepaid phones I got when I drove to NM and only costs me about $50 a year to purchase the minimum airtime needed to keep the account alive.

Personally, I rarely use any type of telephone anymore for transactions. I much prefer using email so there is a record of the conversation. I use my Skype account for making personal calls to friends and relatives.

She has one of those Lifeline Alert thingy things for around the house, but never makes use of it. I doubt she'd make use of the Jitterbug either. So far, she's been very lucky with her numerous falls before I moved here. She's been unhurt and able to drag herself in reach of a landline phone (rather than using the Life Alert button worn around her neck) to call a neighbor to come help get her off the floor.

Since moving here, she just bellows for me to come help and I either lift her or call a neighbor for help. Luckily, those 81 year old bones are still in one piece!

That Life Alert thingy is another reason she still needs a landline. It works in conjunction with that and I'm not sure it works with cell phone or mobile phone technology. Will have to look into that.

I wonder what will happen with elderly folks and the security a life alert thingy provides when landlines go away...

I only fall down and go boom to see if Butrflynet is paying attention.

BBB

We haven't given up the landline yet. Both our home security system and fax machine are dependent upon it. I know there are work arounds for both; we just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Not for me and my wife.

We do not currently own a cell phone and have no intentions of buying one.

The costs for cell phones and their plans are an absolute rip-off.

I have been wireless only for 2 1/2 years and don't miss the land line at all.
More and more people are doing the same.

It may be that the land line will continue, but, if so, it will be primarily for businesses and for a small niche market of folks who have some particular or unique need for one.

That will change when Canada decides enough is enough. We pay the highest fees in the world. Why is Harper so bent out of shape on the census when this is a much bigger issue?

What's a land line?

I'm guessing a land line is a variation of a M18 Claymore land mine.

A potential problem I may have with cell phones is solar activity. Cell phones may be more susceptible to EMP than land lines because of the IC technology and no active ground. Well find out in 2013 whether my paranoia is correct when Sol goes through a period of solar activity.

Other problems I have with cell phones aren't directed at the technology, but with the users of that technology so that is a subject of another thread completely.

Rap

I will always have a landline because I don't enjoy talking for more than a few minutes on a cell phone. It's not comfortable to hold for longer than a minute or two and I talk to my mother and sister and some friends for up to an hour at times.

But what would people who have children who are under the age of ten, say, do if they didn't have a landline for their childrens' friends to call them on? Would their little friends call the mother's or father's cell phone and ask for their friend?
Or would the parents give their young child a cell phone on which they wouldn't be able to monitor who is calling their child, who their child is calling and when the calling is taking place?
I mean, if all these kids have their own cell phones they could be calling and texting each other at two in the morning while all the parents are asleep.

I mean, I guess a kid could get up and go downstairs to the kitchen phone and call friends while their parents were asleep, but I think that's a lot less tempting to do than to use their own cell phone in their own room while they're lying in their own bed and talking to their friends all night.

All I can say is - I'm so glad my kids are the age they are - I don't have to deal with this sort of stuff.
And I know it does go on because when my daughter was supposed to be doing a paper one night I kept walking in the room and hearing her talking on her phone and I finally took it away from her for the night so she'd get some work done and I had that phone on my bedside table for the night and the damn thing was buzzing every thirty or forty minutes until two or three in the morning when I finally turned it off.
I'd never have had any idea that was going on if I hadn't taken her phone for that night.
My daughter is seventeen - so that's bad enough but can you imagine if your kid was ten and up all night calling their friends or having their friends call them?

I think in homes with kids and in homes like mine where the adult doesn't like to hold a small cell phone next to her ear for an hour at a time - landlines serve a definite purpose.

*Edited to say I just thought it through and figure the parents could take the phone away at night when the kid goes to bed - but honestly - I wouldn't want my school-age kid to have a cell phone even during the day without supervision. I'd always want to be aware of who they were calling and who was calling them.
That's a little easier to do with a landline.

Since there's no evidence that land phones cause brain cancer, while much speculation concerns the role of cell phones in causing brain cancer, I'll keep my land phone and use my cell phone only in case of a really bad emergency.

By the way, I run my computer off my dial -up land phone. Something...that Verizon doesn't seem to understand.

The real issue with cell phones is that their signal reception compared to land lines is terrible. Next time you are on a land line, just listen to the call quality. It really is dramatically better than cell phone quality. If you install an earpiece, you can make your cell better, but landlines are crisp, clear and loud enough to be easily heard without modification. Landlines are also more reliable. Your typical telco has battery backup. I have gone through a dozen or so hurricanes and I can tell you that the last service available to you after the power and cable is out is your phone and it will be the first to come back on.

All this is not to say that cell phones won't get better, but today I'll take a land line call over a cell call any day.

2 most recent northeastern blackouts - landlines worked when cells didn't
last coupla big storms - landlines worked when cells didn't

keeping the landline and one old-school phone (straight phone, no functions)

in an emergency, I want that landline

In addition, landlines don't get dropped calls like cell phones can.