Comments on: Technology

By: Les Jones

Les Jones — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:47:15 +0000

Unc, we have a landline in Blount County with no options except touchtone (50 cents extra a month) that runs about $22 with tax. We keep it for faxing, 911, in case our cell phones are turned off, and to reduce charges on the cell phone (though that’s no longer a reason now that my wife’s company pays for her cell).

By: Manish

Manish — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:15:09 +0000

I have POTS as well as a cellphone. I actually like having a landline as I direct non-essential and commercial stuff there. For instance, my dentist has my home phone number as well as my credit card companies. My voicemail emails me when I get a message so it works out pretty good.

Also, if I want to have an involved conversation with someone, I prefer to call them at home so that I know that I’m talking to them at home and not while they are standing in line at Safeway.

By: Dale Osborn

Dale Osborn — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:54:31 +0000

Here in northeast Ohio we got hammered by the remains of Hurricane Ike. All over Ohio one million homes lost power. In our area, four days later, 40,000 are still without power. A number of homes have switched to VOIP, but they have no power, hence no phone. Old land lines cost money but they usually work when the lights go out.

By: T

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:11:19 +0000

Stone age reliability. My landline always works. Even at 2 in the morning when the eye of Ike was dead over my house, I had a dial tone. The cell phones are still not back to usual capacity, depending on your provider.

Also, Sigivald’s point about it not being a leash apply. When I get home, it goes in the basket with the rest of the pocket clutter. If I hear it, great. If not, oh well.

By: Sigivald

Sigivald — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:12:48 +0000

I have a POTS line because I have DSL, and because my cell phone is both a) not always charged and b) not a god-damn leash, so I don’t carry it around with me in the house.

By: JohnOC

JohnOC — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:03:46 +0000

ADT offers a cellular-only monitor link for their new security systems. It only raises the monthly fee by about $8.

By: DirtCrashr

DirtCrashr — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:47:40 +0000

It’s about $17 a month to run the answering machine and screen calls, over %70 is TAXES added to the bill. I hate cell phones but have a pay-as-you-go one, I never use its features and have “texting” disabled.

By: Madrocketscientist

Madrocketscientist — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:39:59 +0000

My home alarm is on the Cellular System only. It can take a land line, but it also has a 0.5 watt cell transceiver (powerful enough to burn through jamming). The system calls home once a week for updates.

I pay $50 bucks a month for firm and intrusion alarm monitoring with the Cellular System.

By: Homer

Homer — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:20:10 +0000

Robb: RE: cellular for alarms. My alarm has a cell backup in case the phone line gets cut. The alarm company still requires the landline because they test the system daily from their monitoring center (I got a cell call one day from them notifying me of a connection problem. Turned out a phone guy had accidentally disconnected some stuff for a few hours, which included about 30 houses on my street). The cell will call out but not receive until it establishes the connection so it can’t be used as a test path.

Like ZerCool, my landline phone (just one) doesn’t ring. I tell people if they want to leave me a message call the house, I’ll check the machine now and then; if they actually want to talk to me call the cell.

By: mostly cajun

mostly cajun — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:57:46 +0000

One word: Disasters!

Hard line phone service comes back up faster than VOIP, or so I’ve been told by folks in the middle of Hurricane Ike recovery right now.

By: Sebastian-PGP

Sebastian-PGP — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:39:27 +0000

I have Platinum, they resell a GE alarm technology that’s cellular. So no need for a landline…it’s $47 a month but I sure do sleep better when I’m not home knowing that I’ll get a call if anything’s going on…

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:33:41 +0000

911 is a great reason to keep your phone line. However:

You should be able to cancel your wire phone service, but still have the phone dial 911 and connect.

I have personally had everything fail except water and gas, for an entire week. No grid power. No cell. No cable. The wire line worked fine throughout the disruption.

By: Linoge

Linoge — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:33:13 +0000

I have not had a landline since college, and that was only because the dorms came with it. Of course, no one really ever calls me, and I do not call a whole lot of folks in return, so it works out .

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:55:11 +0000

I dumped my POTS line years ago. My main phone is the cell. My wife has a Vonage account for talking to her relatives.

Alarm connection is over the T1 line at the house, which is more reliable than the POTS was. (I don’t live in a city)

The alarm is just backup for the four dogs though.

By: wizardpc

wizardpc — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:34:59 +0000

my dad had a condo in Tucson that had a cellular alarm

By: Ahab

Ahab — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:25:25 +0000

They charge $70 bucks?

By: Robb Allen

Robb Allen — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:16:01 +0000

I have Vonage and I know a lot of people have problems with them but my service is rock solid. And I pay $25 a month for every bell and whistle possible including unlimited long distance.

Also, since I have FIOS, I have TWO battery backups on the Internet lines as well as a backup beneath the phone adapter. I’d have several hours of phone if the power goes off (oddly, none of the cordless phones would work

I wonder if there is a business model for house alarms that use cellular lines rather than land lines.

By: ZerCool

ZerCool — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:13:10 +0000

Homer beat me to it, but message-rate calling plans with no long distance should top out around $20-25… skip the caller ID, skip the voicemail, skip call waiting, no long distance service, etc… When I had a home phone, I kept the ringer turned off and anyone who wanted to talk to me knew to call my mobile.

By: Homer

Homer — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:08:34 +0000

We have a local alarm company that offers internet rather than a POTS connection for monitoring; it’s a bad idea, unless your internet provider is a lot more reliable then most. POTS is backed up by batteries, and whenever we’ve lost power in hurricanes we’ve always had a dial tone. Not so for broadband – that’s been out for days at times after storms, and I regularly get the “reconnecting” icon in Windows when the connection fails momentarily, and sometimes my connection to the servers is down for 2+ minutes. That’s not the connection integrity I want for my alarm system.

And, $70? That must include a bunch of extra features. I have a landline for the alarm system too, dial tone only, no options – $23/mo.