Landline Phones

[Out-Of-Phase]

Hello all,

Do any of you still use a landline phone? I still have mine saved somewhere in storage.

I have been thinking about getting the Ooma VoIP device and signing up for their free plan. All you pay is the monthly 'junk' fees (gov't taxes) which for me would amount to about $6.00 a month.

I've heard from reviews that the voice quality is pretty good and you can choose your new phone number from a list on their website.

Or maybe I should just keep using my iPhone for all calls.

Any thoughts, any experience?

 

[mtrycrafts]

A couple of consideration. What happens in an emergency. Will you need to communicate with someone?
Will cable be up? Landline is active unless a physical line break someplace.

 

[Speedskater]

Yep, almost all the time. Cell-phones sound like old CB radios.
With endless momentary drop-outs and those weird phasing noises.

 

[Hetfield]

Um no, haven't in about 10-15 years. No landline in our house at all.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

[lovinthehd]

Well, still wouldn't be a true land line depending on the internet like that altho probably close enough....I do remember my landline worked even without power during the power outage after Loma Prieta earthquake in SF (just enough juice on the telephone lines that kept working). I have used cell phones with help from wi-fi, was necessary in the place I lived before my current one. That said haven't had a land line in over 12 years. My cell works just fine for the little I need one but I gotta agree with speedskater a bit, they can be a bit annoying for quality conversations....but I'd rather do that in person anyways.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

I would consider a real landline with a phone company, but before I disconnected it a few years ago, they raised the monthly charge to over $45.00 a month and that's without the taxes. I quickly got rid of it.

 

[Swerd]

A VoIP phone requires an internet connection and a VoIP capable modem, which needs electric power. When I bought a new modem a year ago, I had a VoIP phone, but dropped it because the few VoIP capable modems available cost a lot more than a faster modem that didn't do VoIP. Since then, I've relied on my smart phone, and I haven't regretted it for a minute.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Hello all,

Do any of you still use a landline phone? I still have mine saved somewhere in storage.

I have been thinking about getting the Ooma VoIP device and signing up for their free plan. All you pay is the monthly 'junk' fees (gov't taxes) which for me would amount to about $6.00 a month.

I've heard from reviews that the voice quality is pretty good and you can choose your new phone number from a list on their website.

Or maybe I should just keep using my iPhone for all calls.

Any thoughts, any experience?

You can actually use your current home phone number as long as you haven’t already cancelled your current landline.

I’ve been using Ooma for about as long as Ooma has been around.

All I need for Ooma to work is my Internet connection.

1. The Internet cable goes into the Ooma receiver (which cost me $99).

2. Then a phone cable goes from the Ooma receiver to my Cordless phone. The cordless phone has 2 handsets, but you can more depending on the cordless phones.

Still using the same old $100 equipment I initially bought back then.

Works great for me.

It’s a good backup phone line - you know in case some idiot at Consumer Cellular ports your cell phone number BEFORE you actually receive the new SIM card in the mail, which means your current/old SIM card no longer works.

 

[MR.MAGOO]

Bought this system about 8 years ago, I like having a phone on my office desk and the wireless extension next to the sofa on the opposite side of my small studio apt.
Shop around, Office Depot site it's $95, Amazon only $65! It has a 'wall wart' power supply, if power dies so does the phone (unless the base station is plugged into a UPS ) Of course there are probably better/cheaper out there.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

It’s a good backup phone line - you know in case some idiot at Consumer Cellular ports your cell phone number BEFORE you actually receive the new SIM card in the mail, which means your current/old SIM card no longer works.

OMG, that has happened before to other people I know. Currently, I'm using Tello.com as my iPhone wireless provider. I'm using one of their basic plans that uses Sprint as their network. Currently, they do not provide WiFi calling, but if you use their free app, you can place calls over WiFi, but not receive calls over WiFi.

The reason I'm looking at Ooma is that I'd like to improve voice quality over my cell phone.

 

[snakeeyes]

I had a voip phone for several years as a backup to my cell but I never used it so cancelled it.

 

[ryanosaur]

We couldn't get good AT&T where I am at, so went with Comcast/Xfinity. Our "Land Line" is through them, so VOIP. The strangest part is that when there is an outage (power) we lose cable of course... but the f'n phone modem is on a battery that lasts something like 12+ hours!!!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The reason I'm looking at Ooma is that I'd like to improve voice quality over my cell phone.

I think the voice quality of Ooma is very good - like a regular landline.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

Thank you ADTG.

 

[Mikado463]

Yep, almost all the time. Cell-phones sound like old CB radios.
With endless momentary drop-outs and those weird phasing noises.

I'm with Kevin on this one and I suppose it's where you live. I'm with Verizon(FIOS) and still maintain one phone that does not require 'power' to operate, a must IMO. Cell phones themselves make a difference, my wife is an Apple and has far more dropouts than my Android ??

 

[panteragstk]

My house isn't even wired for a land line so I couldn't use one if I wanted to. I'm sure I could get a traditional one, but meh.

I've used my cell as my sole phone for around 20 years with no issues. My phone has excellent voice quality since I can make calls over wi-fi, but VoLTE is great quality too. One reason I switched carriers is because ATT is dumb and won't allow both of those features on the phone I was using (oneplus 6) and my bill was high so I want with Google Fi (which is T-mobile, sprint, and US Cellular) and haven't looked back. Works perfectly with my Pixel 4 XL.

One issue with cell phone call quality is carriers like to restrict features on phones so customers will buy a new one. Not cool. Granted, if you live in an area with poor service you're pretty much screwed and wifi calling or landline is your best option.

 

[Hobbit]

Interesting. Why are considering a landline? I ditched mine over 20 years ago. Back then people thought I was nuts! I haven't missed having one at all.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

Interesting. Why are considering a landline? I ditched mine over 20 years ago. Back then people thought I was nuts! I haven't missed having one at all.

Hello Hobbit,

The reason why I am looking for a second phone service is voice quality and as a backup to my cell phone. I was in BestBuy the other day and saw the Ooma device and it got me thinking. The only thing is I would want to make sure that all of my devices (cable modem, router, Ooma device) were plugged into a battery backup in case of losing power.

 

[MR.MAGOO]

I've been using Panasonic cordless phones for over 10 years. I can assure you that their sound quality is excellent, and I think they are still the best on the market at present. You can get some bases for several handsets, mine came with two. They use rechargeable AAA Ni-MH batteries.

When there is a power outage, they don't operate. I plug the main base into my desk computer's APC battery back-up.

Verdinut-which model of APC do you use with your computer / phone ?

 

[Verdinut]

Verdinut-which model of APC do you use with your computer / phone ?

It's an old APC RS1300 Back-UPS which I've been using for about 15 years. It uses a sealed lead battery which I'll have to replace soon. Normally, you're recommended to replace it every three years and it sells for $80.