Do I need a land line?

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MTLLodge

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I have the land line set up to just go to my cell phone. That way I can answer the phone no matter where I am at. I thinking do I really need a land line? What are the benifits of having one? I don't need it to take credit cards.
 
I am not a techie - how does one connect to the Internet, meaning accrssability, without a land line? I have WiFi, but I had to have DSL to be able to get it - land line with splitter for computer and phone. I am sooooo confused!!!
 
The one caution I can offer is to actually transfer the number to your cell phone if you get rid of the landline. Undoing all the existing references to your numbers out there is more difficult than you might think.
 
gillumhouse - my internet if via cable tv network and not the phone.
Having said that I'd never give up a land line. Less expensive in the long run than a cell phone what with all the great plans out there. This is the case in Canada anyway. Cell phones are expensive.
I only use my cell when I'm out and I call forward from my land line to the cell.
 
gillumhouse - my internet if via cable tv network and not the phone.
Having said that I'd never give up a land line. Less expensive in the long run than a cell phone what with all the great plans out there. This is the case in Canada anyway. Cell phones are expensive.
I only use my cell when I'm out and I call forward from my land line to the cell..
I would keep a land line for sure if I had my Internet through the cable company - it is getting better but it is almost a spit and the Cable goes out.
Another reason I have phone and Cable separate is that I do not want one company to be able to hold me hostage to their pricig or policies. If I bundle - whether with the phone company or Cable, I have all my eggs in one basket. I think keeping things separate keeps that one bad egg from spoiling the dozen.
 
The way I see it, land lines are a waste (just my opinion). Everybody has a cell phone these days. Why pay for two phone services? I get no roaming, no long distance and all the minutes I could possibly use for just $40/month. I ditched my land line about 10 years go. No regrets; no inconvenience.
I get my internet via DSL for $20/month, and with my wireless router, I've got four other yachts using it without any problems. All of our guests can use the wifi here without any trouble.
 
Our thoughts:
  • We have both a land line (private number) and VOIP (internet based phone service, which is in the BnB number).
  • VOIP
    • Some pros: cheap, cheap, cheap. I can set the number to ring on any phone I want. I have presets for ringing to my cell, my sister's house, wherever I want. I can set it to Do not disturb for a set amount of time, and all calls will go directly to voicemail without ringing. I can access my voicemail from any computer.
    • Some cons: since highspeed internet is ONLY available in our area via satellite (expensive) or dsl, we ended up having to get the phone line. If the power goes out - NO PHONE. If I know in advance the power is going out (like when DH was working on an outlet this weekend and turned off the power to the part of the house where the modem is), I can set the phone to ring on another number (like the land line), but if I don't know, I'm out of luck.
  • Land line - the big benefit here (other than being able to activate the dsl) is that we can keep a cheap phone plugged in to the land line that doesn't require an additional power source (aside from the phone line power). If the electricity goes out, we can still dial 911 if we need to
 
I do have satellite for the computer, it was that or dial up no DSL (wish I could have DSL). Right now I have the calls going to my cell phone from the land line, which is costing me 7 cents a minute. No to bad now, but things will be picking up. And by the way there is only 5 people that I can call with out it being long distance. You have to love living in a rural area!
 
If you use a cell phone all the time and have good service there is no point in having all the redundancy imo. Whenever we have issues with power, cable (internet) or anything else, it is the cell phone that is what we fall back on.
It goes with you wherever you go, you don't have to have it ringing outloud, you can check email, check voicemail any time any place. Makes sense to me.
 
Our thoughts:
  • We have both a land line (private number) and VOIP (internet based phone service, which is in the BnB number).
  • VOIP
    • Some pros: cheap, cheap, cheap. I can set the number to ring on any phone I want. I have presets for ringing to my cell, my sister's house, wherever I want. I can set it to Do not disturb for a set amount of time, and all calls will go directly to voicemail without ringing. I can access my voicemail from any computer.
    • Some cons: since highspeed internet is ONLY available in our area via satellite (expensive) or dsl, we ended up having to get the phone line. If the power goes out - NO PHONE. If I know in advance the power is going out (like when DH was working on an outlet this weekend and turned off the power to the part of the house where the modem is), I can set the phone to ring on another number (like the land line), but if I don't know, I'm out of luck.
  • Land line - the big benefit here (other than being able to activate the dsl) is that we can keep a cheap phone plugged in to the land line that doesn't require an additional power source (aside from the phone line power). If the electricity goes out, we can still dial 911 if we need to
.
Red Handed Jill said:
Our thoughts:
  • We have both a land line (private number) and VOIP (internet based phone service, which is in the BnB number).
  • VOIP
    • Some pros: cheap, cheap, cheap. I can set the number to ring on any phone I want. I have presets for ringing to my cell, my sister's house, wherever I want. I can set it to Do not disturb for a set amount of time, and all calls will go directly to voicemail without ringing. I can access my voicemail from any computer.
    • Some cons: since highspeed internet is ONLY available in our area via satellite (expensive) or dsl, we ended up having to get the phone line. If the power goes out - NO PHONE. If I know in advance the power is going out (like when DH was working on an outlet this weekend and turned off the power to the part of the house where the modem is), I can set the phone to ring on another number (like the land line), but if I don't know, I'm out of luck.
  • Land line - the big benefit here (other than being able to activate the dsl) is that we can keep a cheap phone plugged in to the land line that doesn't require an additional power source (aside from the phone line power). If the electricity goes out, we can still dial 911 if we need to
I am not a real techie but I believe that if you purchased a battery back up for your modem, you could have phone & internet during a power outage. I am transfering one of my phone lines to cable phone tomorrow and this was discussed with my cable company (they wanted to lease me one). They sell these at most computer / office suppy places and will purchase after the install.
 
I do have satellite for the computer, it was that or dial up no DSL (wish I could have DSL). Right now I have the calls going to my cell phone from the land line, which is costing me 7 cents a minute. No to bad now, but things will be picking up. And by the way there is only 5 people that I can call with out it being long distance. You have to love living in a rural area!.
MTLLodge said:
I do have satellite for the computer, it was that or dial up no DSL (wish I could have DSL). Right now I have the calls going to my cell phone from the land line, which is costing me 7 cents a minute. No to bad now, but things will be picking up. And by the way there is only 5 people that I can call with out it being long distance. You have to love living in a rural area!
What is costing 7 cents a minute? If this is your cost for cell phone calls, that seems steep to me!
I have been going through simillar thoughts. I currently have 2 land lines - one for business use and the other home/fax use. I would have been happy to give up my land line and almost did before we had a bad storm (5 yrs ago) that took out our power for 2 1/2 weeks (and we were some of the lucky ones). We were one of only a few people that had phone service, even others with big Ma bell did not have service. Cell towers were distroyed (also use power/battery back up) or damaged and took awhile to get back to sporadic service. If you are in an area where you can get bad storms - any type - that affect your power, think about this.
The most important thing to consider is your business phone # - you MUST keep that number and it (sometimes) is not as easy as they claim it is. My sis just tried to transfer her phone from big Ma to cable - she was not moving, just changing service providers. Ma would not let her # be transferred. The cable company tried 4-5 times submitting the request, with no go, they finally just gave up and got a new number.
Before making a decision, I looked at all my choices:
VoiP - several vendors through the interent
pros - good rates; long distance US, Canada, Mexico included; neat features including if service is down, calls are automaticly transferred to a 2nd number (i.e. cell phone)
cons - dropped calls was one complaint by a friend (I have enough of that on my cell); worry my phone # would not transfer
Cable -
pros - bundle service for discount rates; long distance US, Canada, Mexaco indluded
cons - must have battery back up in case of power outage which is only good for X hours; being bundled can also cause issues
Cell phone -
pros - no need to remember to forward the calls; only one # to remember; go anywhere
cons - dropped calls ;(( ; cost (may eat lots of minutes) no fax capabilities (would need to set up a internet based service)
I finally bit the bullet and have ordered Cable phone for my home #, leaving my business number as is for now. It should be installed tomorrow and as of now, have not heard any problems with moving my #. So I am testing the water on this one, if all goes well I may just move my other line as long as they can move my existing #, if not I will not move it - too much at stake.
 
Sorry the 7 cents is what I am being charged for long distance. Yes it is long distance from the lodge to my cell home. (different area codes)
 
Sorry the 7 cents is what I am being charged for long distance. Yes it is long distance from the lodge to my cell home. (different area codes).
That is steep too! At the very least you need to look into a different long distance carrier, or even go with your local phone company's flat rate long distance plan. (If they have one) Currently, you are paying double for all your calls - once to forward the call to the cell and then the minutes you use on your cell for each call, no wonder you are considering this! And as you get more and more business, the more you will have spent with each call you get.
 
When we opened the Inn we decided to make the Inn telephone number a cell phone and put it in the yellow pages ($). It is easy to carry around, pass back and forth between Innkeepers, you can pick-up messages from anywhere, and has caller ID on screen. It works when the power is out (about 6 times/year here).
The problem with call forwarding from a land line is that you have to remember to do it. A land line usually gets you a free directory listing, though. We use our old land line for personal calls.
 
We keep ours because a lot of the online reservation services send faxes with the clients credit card details but it depends if this is a factor for you.
 
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