If you have kids in the house, try telling them this horror story.
At that point your kids will just roll their eyes at you, but that’s how we all grew up, right? Caller ID didn’t even hit our lives until the 2000s. Before that you just had to take your chances.
Could we be heading back to that point? It seems ridiculous.
A landline phone isn’t a terribly useful thing by today’s standards. You can’t go online with it, and you can’t even take it outside the house, except maybe a few feet if it’s cordless. But we don’t talk too much about the benefits of landline phones, and there still are some.
Cell towers have batteries in them that can keep them going for about 8 hours. However, a lot of winter storms last longer than that. A landline phone is going to work as long as the physical wire isn’t knocked down. (Yes, that happens. I admit it.)
As long as your house is wired for land lines – it’s true, some newer ones aren’t – there won’t be too many places that your phone won’t work. Cell phones work great with cell phone signal boosters, but even with those miracle devices you can still have dead spots in the house.
In most cases you can add unlimited local and long distance landline service to your internet plan for about $10 a month. That’s less than you pay for one streaming service. If it means keeping a cell phone out of one kid’s hand for the moment, it pays for itself in spades. This service usually includes caller ID, voicemail, call forwarding, call waiting, and all those things you used to pay extra for. Internet companies are basically willing to give away landline service now because it’s so simple to provide.
Landline phones tend to get more spam calls, they get political calls, and they don’t get text messages. All that is true. If you have a landline phone and you own your home I guarantee you will get about ten calls a day from people trying to sell you solar. The good news is that most carriers do a great job of labeling these calls as “potential spam” so you don’t have to get up.
Landline phones are never going to be cool again. Yeah, I said it out loud. Back in the 1980s I thought I was a tech god with this phone:
It was about the size of any standard flip-style cell phone, only it was a landline. Now, it didn’t work very well and the talk time was maybe 30 minutes, but it was a head turner… if you could get someone to come into the house and look at it.
Landlines are never going to be that cool again. But not everything has to be cool. Some things just have to be sensible backup plans for what you have. And strangely enough, landline phones just might fit that bill.
If you are interested in talking about upgrading any system in your home, whether it’s cellular, internet, landline, or live TV, call the experts at Signal Connect. We’re here to help! We work with virtually every provider and we’ll be your one point of contact for everything you need. Call us when you’re getting ready to move, when you’re thinking of upgrading, or anytime you just want to save money. The number is 888-233-7563 and we’re here during East Coast business hours. If it’s after hours, fill out the form below. We’ll get right back to you!
The post Really? A return to landline phones? appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
Continue reading...
At that point your kids will just roll their eyes at you, but that’s how we all grew up, right? Caller ID didn’t even hit our lives until the 2000s. Before that you just had to take your chances.
Could we be heading back to that point? It seems ridiculous.
The case for landline phones
A landline phone isn’t a terribly useful thing by today’s standards. You can’t go online with it, and you can’t even take it outside the house, except maybe a few feet if it’s cordless. But we don’t talk too much about the benefits of landline phones, and there still are some.
A landline phone is usually more reliable
Cell towers have batteries in them that can keep them going for about 8 hours. However, a lot of winter storms last longer than that. A landline phone is going to work as long as the physical wire isn’t knocked down. (Yes, that happens. I admit it.)
A landline phone doesn’t have dead spots
As long as your house is wired for land lines – it’s true, some newer ones aren’t – there won’t be too many places that your phone won’t work. Cell phones work great with cell phone signal boosters, but even with those miracle devices you can still have dead spots in the house.
Landline service is insanely cheap now
In most cases you can add unlimited local and long distance landline service to your internet plan for about $10 a month. That’s less than you pay for one streaming service. If it means keeping a cell phone out of one kid’s hand for the moment, it pays for itself in spades. This service usually includes caller ID, voicemail, call forwarding, call waiting, and all those things you used to pay extra for. Internet companies are basically willing to give away landline service now because it’s so simple to provide.
But yeah, they’re still landline phones
Landline phones tend to get more spam calls, they get political calls, and they don’t get text messages. All that is true. If you have a landline phone and you own your home I guarantee you will get about ten calls a day from people trying to sell you solar. The good news is that most carriers do a great job of labeling these calls as “potential spam” so you don’t have to get up.
Landline phones are never going to be cool again. Yeah, I said it out loud. Back in the 1980s I thought I was a tech god with this phone:
It was about the size of any standard flip-style cell phone, only it was a landline. Now, it didn’t work very well and the talk time was maybe 30 minutes, but it was a head turner… if you could get someone to come into the house and look at it.
Landlines are never going to be that cool again. But not everything has to be cool. Some things just have to be sensible backup plans for what you have. And strangely enough, landline phones just might fit that bill.
Call Signal Connect
If you are interested in talking about upgrading any system in your home, whether it’s cellular, internet, landline, or live TV, call the experts at Signal Connect. We’re here to help! We work with virtually every provider and we’ll be your one point of contact for everything you need. Call us when you’re getting ready to move, when you’re thinking of upgrading, or anytime you just want to save money. The number is 888-233-7563 and we’re here during East Coast business hours. If it’s after hours, fill out the form below. We’ll get right back to you!
The post Really? A return to landline phones? appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
Continue reading...
