Posted on 09/06/2010 7:28:47 PM PDT by thecodont
Sitting here in my den, I have two ways that I can call you and two ways that I can get a call from you. One of them has been around since the late 1800s and still does pretty much what it did when it was invented. The other is virtually magic in a box — and that box isn't much bigger than a deck of cards.
One sits like a weird dusty antique on my desk. It's not pretty. No talented designer has ever bothered to make it museum-worthy. When it rings, I hear the same sound, no matter who is calling. It won't let me play Brick Breaker when I'm bored, it has no built-in GPS to remind me how to get to Temecula, it doesn't get text or e-mail, it has no apps and, as devices go, it's pretty much chained to the house. It can't even take pictures.
[...]
So why am I suddenly nostalgic for my maligned, nearly obsolete land-line telephone, and why do I so often prefer it, when I'm here at home, to my newer, cooler gadget? I'm a guy who likes his tech toys: I love my iPad, my Prius was one of my smarter purchases, I'd give up sugar before I'd give up Quicken, and chances are good I'll be buried with my ever-present smartphone.
But my smartphone isn't always smart. When it comes to an effortless, nearly foolproof, reliable, high-quality device, I have a soft spot for my land line. The reason is simple: If I'm talking to you from my land line and you're on your land line, I can actually hear you. Perfectly. If we're both on our cells, chances are good that we're in for some frustrations, even in 2010.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
They can have my land line when they pry it from my dead cold hands!!!!
Got two. Works when the power is down, too. Ma Bell made in the US of A.
I keep hearing about all these horrible dropped calls, but it seldom happens to me. I don’t get excited about it- there’s not really anyone I want to talk to besides my wife, and I just call her back.
Otoh, we had tons of problems with our landline, including a cop beating on our door at 2:00 am one morning because our second line (which we didn’t ask for, and had never connected a phone too) was repeatedly dialing 911. We also found out later that we were getting billed for foreign calls on that same line (which still wasn’t hooked up). We went through all kinds of hoops trying to get all of this straightened out- finally, we just dropped the landline altogether.
We’ve been much happier with our wireless modem and cellphones these past four years.
I went to a thrift store in order to buy 2 land line phones with large numbers and a handset that matches my head, i.e., you have a real place to talk to and a real place to listen! I LOVE them... comfortable and the sound is much, much better. I don’t buy into fads .... until they are proven to me to be better than the original. So far, the are not!
I’m getting tired to being sold a bill of goods by the younger generation that just isn’t so!
I LOVE that! So funny.
I have a land line, a cell and a VOIP phone. One is quality, one is portable and one is cheap. One of these days, I hope they are the same.
I’ll never give up my landlines. I have a phone in every room.
Dropped calls are rarely my problem (Verizon), but it never ceases to amaze me how generally crappy is the quality of most of my digital cell phone calls. No matter where peope are or what phones they are using, cell phone-to-cell phone calls are crap. I thought digital tech was supposed to ensure great quality.
Meh. I have a land line because it comes free with cable and internet, but I’ve never bought a phone to plug into it. I don’t honestly know the number either.
Landlines complement cell phones. They both have their place and their uses.
I like my land line but it was costing me $43.00 a month, much of that in "fees." I switched from my land line phone company to Vonage and my bill is now $13.00 a month. It's a little quirky at times but generally works very well. The old phone companies, with their exorbitant fees (mostly federal) just charge way too much. I am now saving $360.00 a year and still have a land line!
The quality is fine and the cost can't be beat. Plus, due to illegal telemarketing calls I have received from stupid telemarketers, which I later sued under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Ohio's Consumer Sales Practices Act, I have "earned" almost $15K in settlements from the MagicJack line during the past year.
Cell phones stink.
I only have one for emergencies.
Meanwhile, half the time when someone calls me from a cell phone, he’s hard to understand, or his battery runs out in the middle of the conversation, or he can’t hear me at all or I can’t hear him at all.
It should be considered rude to place an important call from a cell phone except in emergencies.
When I went wireless only AT&T used to advertise ‘it can be your only phone.’ I went to their store to get one (and drop my bill from $120/mo to $40/mo) and they asked me my phone number. I said ‘ you tell me.’ They apparently needed a landline to tie my wireless phone number to. AT&T was still in the dark ages up to at least 1998.
Have land line and FIOS from Verizon. Nice to have it but if I could I would dump Verizon like a hot potatoe. It’s a big ripoff and they keep screwing up my bill and I can’t seem to get resolution from them. Everytime I call them about it they always try to sell me something else—like a hard sell. Maybe because they are HQ in NY is one big reason that they schuck BIGTIME.
I don’t think I’ve had a land line in over 10 years. Phew.
Perhaps I need to get an Ohio address. I’ve been plagued by collection agency calls for ‘maria’ for the past 4 years. (My name is not maria.) Each time I tell them I am not maria they sell the maria acct to some other sleazy agency and the calls start again.
Hey, the telemarketers need some people to keep their landlines around!
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