cell phone as only phone? Opinions needed

AxiMonkey · 09-04-03, 09:24 AM

Hey all,

Quick question. The wife and I were looking at finances the other night and realized that we are wasting a boatload of money every year on duplicate services--one of the biggest being landline phone service. We're thinking of cancelling it and using our cell phones for primary numbers. I read about this in other places and it seems that a lot of people, relatively young, and in metro areas, are doing this same thing.

I've got great coverage (through Verizon), unlimited nights and weekends, and the computers are all on cable.

Anyone done this same thing? Good stories? Bad stories? Looking for lots of perspectives on this before making the leap. I don't know....it just seems like going with no landline phone service is such a huge deal....it's really no biggie though, is it?

**hnelson59** · 09-04-03, 09:34 AM

i am with nextel and the only thing stopping me from dropping my land line is the fact that NO cell phone works perfectly in my house.
i keep looking for tin foil placed in out of the way places in the attic to keep away alien thought waves . . . but to no avail. so until i figure that out or get a cell tower in my yard, i need to keep my land line.
if i were in your situation it would be a done deal. why pay for duplicate services? buy more toys for your ax!:approve:

09-04-03, 09:41 AM

great news:D

I only use my cellphone so dont have a landline anymore! I love it and YES, it will save you some money..

babsknupp · 09-04-03, 10:32 AM

We're pretty much about to do the same thing. For the last few months, we've only used the landline for incoming calls. I reduced the service on it, and even stripped down, it's still coming out to over $20/month. (I even have caller ID only)
My hesitation has been that "what if" we can't get a signal. There are times in the past when parts of our house had problems, but it seems okay in the last year with the newer GSM type services. Now, my mother in law can't get a signal in most of her house these days except one spot, but her friend's phone is fine there-depends on the carrier.
But since at our house we're getting a reliable signal, I think we'll be cancelling the land line next month. We've had no trouble staying within the minutes on our plan, and that's with our cell phones being used for all outgoing calls, and even a lot of incoming ones of mine too. We use cable high speed for internet. My one cordless phone can't be used half the time anyway since it gets static interfering with the WIFI network.
But anyway-as long as you have a reliable signal, it's worth considering.

Emma · 09-04-03, 10:45 AM

Hi - I'm new here - hope you don't mind my two cents. I'm currently awaiting the arrival of my Axim. Tracking info says it's on the Fed Ex truck in my town right this minute!!

I have friends who did the cell phone thing. They got top-of-the-line phones, but still have problems - especially when they happen to walk by their refrigerator - phones disconnect. It's annoying. That plus the fact that the sound quality isn't always terrific. However, from an economical standpoint, I do understand the decision and have considered it myself - maybe when the technology improves a bit....

hamproof · 09-04-03, 10:48 AM

I don't have a landline for a little more than 2 years now. The only downside I can see not having a landline are:

1. During the Blackout 2003, I had to go to a payphone to make calls as the cell lines were jammed or unavailable

2. I've cannot send or receive fax cheaply. I'm using EFax free service. So, I can receive. But sending cost money and using the free EFax number, I get a non-local number for receiving

3. Since there's no landline, every 800, 888 number cost money. So, if you have disputes or calling credit card, airline, bank etc. you'll realize you are running out of minutes real soon. Making international calls in my case, I'm using my minutes as well as the calling card (calling card rates are obviously cheaper than the provider's rate) minutes.

I've 1200 shared anytime minutes now w/ another phone. I haven't ran out of minutes yet. When I had 800 minutes, I went over 1 month and it cost me an additional $120! When they charge you $0.35/minute overusage, you'll pay dearly.

Other than that, it is great not having a landline.

09-04-03, 11:54 AM

I have been landline free for over 1 year. I have had no problems and get an extra $50 a month for it. Go for it.

09-04-03, 12:01 PM

We ditched our landline about a year ago. Everyone in my immediate family (myself included) has Nextel phones. We use the radio a lot so it doesn't even eat into our minutes.

The only problem we have experienced was similar to the problem that hamproof mentioned. We had a very nasty storm roll thru a couple of years ago. Power lines and trees everywhere. The landlines were down so I tried using my Nextel to call my mom to tell her we were ok. The system was overloaded and I couldn't get through. I kept trying and finally got a connection, only to be disconnected after about 30 seconds of conversation. But hey, the landlines didn't work at all, so I guess I can't complain too much.

**One extra perk that I am surprised no one has mentioned: No telemarketer calls :D

afield689 · 09-04-03, 12:30 PM

Well, unfortunately I get telemarketer calls on my cell phone.
I was homephoneless for about 3 years just using my Sprint cell phone. I had to use the number for credit cards to contact me, so they began calling that number with marketing offers. It doesn't take long to get them to hang up if you say the right thing.
I now have a local line which is about $6.00 per month with no extras at all. It's great for local calls or 800 numbers or even to access my dial upaccount when my wireless is down. The wireless is provided free by my apartment complex. It goes down a lot, so I use my dial up to access the internet when it is down. (It's down now as a matter of fact). It's been down for 6 days . . .
It's worth $6. for me because of the circumstances.
I also have Snapdialer to login through my cell phone - Samsung N400 (phone plug to USB).
Alan

JeffLewis · 09-04-03, 12:39 PM

Up here in Canada, our cell providers don't offer the generous long distance plans that some of the US providers do, so unfortunately, land lines still have the advantage when it comes to LD. I use my land line as a 'garbage' collector - I give that number when I have to give a number.

I have been slowly dumping all my secondary ISPs... and my dial up will be going this month, which removes the last real use for the land line - I rarely use Fax.

I figure within a short time I'll be dumping the land line too. As some have noted, my cell phone bill is always a lot less than my landline bill, even though I almost never use my landline.

Gigi · 09-04-03, 12:49 PM

I have thought about the same thing, but at this point, I think I will stick with keeping both:

1. As JeffLewis mentioned, the LD plans from our cell phone providers are pretty expensive still and I have also found that I have been unable to use a calling card through my cell phone.

2. After having just gone through the blackout, I would still feel more secure with a landline phone.

3. My DSL doesn't seem that reliable and I would feel better if I had the option to go dial-up if necessary.

Howard2k · 09-04-03, 02:31 PM

In England I was happy to ditch the landlane but in my experience in North America the coverage is still not THAT good. Sure there are many places where it IS good but it's simply not good enough to replace the "availability" of a landline IMHO.

deftech · 09-04-03, 02:33 PM

The only reason we have a landline is because my roommate does not have a cell phone. Yes, you heard me correctly....an American without a cell phone! :p

Several of my close friends have no landline, and just use their cell phones as their primary number. They have never had a problem in about 2 years of doing this.

AxiMonkey · 09-04-03, 02:54 PM

Thanks so much for all of the opinions guys. I think I'm gonna go for it. I get full coverage at home (full strength on Verizon's 1x network), coverage at work, and 99.9% of other places I go. There's really no good reason that I can think of to keep the landline....until mini-monkey's start running around or somethin'...but that's not gonna be for quite some time.

Thanks again, ohhhh....and Emma--welcome to the site!!

Later all,
Monkey

**hnelson59** · 09-04-03, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Emma
Hi - I'm new here - hope you don't mind my two cents. I'm currently awaiting the arrival of my Axim. Tracking info says it's on the Fed Ex truck in my town right this minute!!

welcome to aximsite emma! :yeah: