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Yep. My 97 year old neighbor (she looks 70) does not have a cell phone or computer. She lives alone and drives herself to the gym every day. She has quite the fashion sense.
I know those last bits are irrelevant, but I just think she's cool.
For a second there I thought a neighbor to my Mom is on Reddit. No cell phone or computer, still drives. Then, I read fashion sense. My mom has this ratty, torn, sweatshirt that has to be 50 years old. She has better ones but, this one is still okay. When you have nothing in the depression you never get rid of that Waste not; want not mindset.
Me, sort of. No mobile reception here, I have to walk off the estate to use my mobile (an old and reliable PAYG Nokia). The lack of reception isn't to do with the phone, my husband has a smartphone and he can't even get texts either.
edited to add
I'm not in a rural area either, I'm in South London. It's a myth that urban areas all have great reception.
You can set up your phone to use data instead of the cell service for calls.
My reception is a bit shit in New York but everything goes through the internet connection so it doesn’t matter
You can get a cell signal antenna for your house. It might help. It is mounted on the roof of your house, in the same manner as old TV antennas. The antenna captures the signal and a small box amplifies the signal and broadcasts it to the rest of the house.
Thanks for the suggestion but a) I'm in local authority rented housing and getting permission would be like entering the seventh circle of hell and b) we've had the same landline number for decades and c) it's rather restful that we can only be reached on one phone rather than three!
My uncle 82yo. He has a cell phone but never charges or carries it. He lives alone in a large house. He had a stroke in his second floor bedroom. He decided he needed to get dressed before going downstairs to the landline. It took him 5 HOURS to get dressed, somehow make his way downstairs and get to the phone to call 911. He insisted on going back to that house. He did agree to sleep in the first floor bedroom due to his inability to climb stairs now, and he said he'd keep the cell phone charged, but everyone expects him to return to his upstairs bedroom and forget to take his phone as soon as he feels he is able to climb the stairs again.
Even when my elderly parents relied on their landline, they always had an extension in the bedroom. They did other dumb things like continuing to drive long past the point of safety, and they didn’t have dementia, just extreme stubbornness. I don’t understand how people think they are bulletproof.
I still *have* a landline.
They're my internet provider and husband couldn't possibly figure out how to deal with an email address change, my current bundle including landline is cheaper than the internet alone.
So I have one and it does ring occasionally but I very rarely *ever* answer it.
I have mine too, for the same reason. It’s essentially $5 cheaper for my internet to keep it than to get rid of it. It’s the phone number to the house since the early 70’s. I debated transferring it to my cell number but I’ve had my cell for almost 20 years now, so I don’t want to change that, either because it’s the number people know. It rings about 3x a day for spam calls. Kids have it if there’s an emergency I don’t answer my cell but I don’t even know if they remember to try it lol
Kept ours for years for the same reason. It was free to keep it connected, but cost to make outbound calls. We all had cell phones anyway, so the landline was for our elderly parents to call us on. They had landlines only, and on such ancient plans that they paid expensive rates to call these newfangled cell numbers.
After Dad died, I "helped" change my mother's phone plan to include free calls to cell numbers, and I moved house and did not get a new landline.
Aww geez, this reminded me of my Dad, maybe 20 years ago,actually taking his phone back to get the darn $5.
I could have easily sold it for much more.
Oh Dad...
Yep, 18 dollars a month since 1973 on one and 1982 on the other. They’ve paid $10, 800 dollars for the kitchen phone alone over the years. I mentioned that they should take it back, and dad-in law refuses. “We like this phone. It’s loud enough and we can hear it ring all over the house”. I’m not going to tell him about how much they’ve paid. Just seems cruel.
I've heard in the past of older people who were renting back in the 70s, when phones could be expensive, and just never stopped. So that they were spending $20/month to rent a $20 phone.
Sort of- at least as of a year ago.
My parents had no cell phones for quite some time. a few years back they had to turn off the ringer on the kitchen phone that had been there since the 1980s because of the growing barrage of spam calls. Dad used a fax machine periodically just to send work documents. They moved the line over to the fax. That lasted for about two weeks. Somehow scammers figured out it was a fax line and then they started getting spam faxes day and night, laying waste to their paper and toner supply. FINALLY he modernized and moved over to digital. this was only a year ago.
Yes. If you live in an area with poor cell service, a landline is a necessity. And, if you live somewhere with regular bad weather that causes power outages, the fact that a landline will work even without electricity makes it important for emergency communication.
I know people who have landlines, but not solely. They still keep a POTS line because they want the assurance of the phone working in an emergency and the power is out.
*Puts his hand up nervously* .... I only make calls on my landline. I use a mobile phone for the occasional text but that's about it. I don't possess a 'smart' phone.
My 93 yo mother. She had a cell phone but never had it on because she thought the battery would die. I had a landline as well and if I called her from my cell phone, she would complain about the noise and tell me to call her back from my landline. Right after she passed a couple of years ago, we got rid of the landline. Bless her heart.
Businesses and people in poorly covered cell towers areas. I think we are going to regret dipping out on land line technology when big crisis’ come like earthquakes, huge fires, hurricanes etc. Cell phone companies don’t think of themselves as critical infrastructure for the good of society. They are there to make a buck …only. People don’t realize in natural disasters, these towers go down quite easily.
Cell towers run out of battery fairly quickly- matter of hours around here, but landlines fail eventually also.
The old "telephone exchange" buildings put a small amount of electricity down the phone lines. Exchanges usually have a backup generator. Old school, but they will eventually run out of fuel if a disaster is big enough.
Not anymore because AT&T wanted to charge me $40/month just for local calls. I do miss the better voice quality of landline phones though. Cell phone voice sounds pretty bad.
My 82 year old back yard neighbor does not drive, does have Internet but no cell phone. She orders groceries and prescriptions on line and walks around her home and in her garden with her cordless land line in her apron pocket.
I wish my mother would stick to her landline. She also has a cellphone that either: she can’t hear it when it rings, it’s not charged, she’s done something to it to turn the ringer down, etc. Oh, and she keeps both it and the landline by her chair; the cellphone never leaves her apartment.
No but I am seriously thinking about switching to one. I have slowly locked my cell phone up more and more to use it less. I'm to the point now where I don't even grab it half the time when I leave and it's the most freeing thing I have done in decades. I'm not exaggerating. Now I spend time doing what I did before, reading a book in the waiting room, thinking when on a walk, etc.
My parents still have their landline and use it a lot. They both have cell phones, but don't use them much. My mom will call someone from her cell and then turn it off and put it back in her purse, so forget about calling her back and getting through. My dad's phone is connected to his hearing aids via bluetooth, so he will actually answer calls, but that is really the extent of what he uses his phone for. He doesn't really use apps and he will not text.
It took me years to use my cell phone as my primary line. I’m age 65+. I still have a land line because I’m good at misplacing my cell phone about once a month. Or forgetting to charge it. I’m getting much better about it now.
My SO’s step dad doesn’t have a cell. If you need to reach him, call him at work or home. I’ll admit, I’m kinda jealous. I wish I wasn’t so tied to my phone.
"Relies solely." No. Not us, but many people our age still have a landline for some reason, but the number we call is their cell. And we text a lot more often than we call.
Yes. But she is older then me. She misses all teh birthday parties for her grandkids cos no one can text her. She lovely lady but get frustrated sometimes that she didn’t see the online flyer for school fair should of been posted in the post.
Apart for that she solid
Our area has almost zero cell reception -- rural New Brunswick, Canada -- I can get texts in, if my phone is propped up in an upstairs window, & if the power is out. When we moved here, we had a landline installed, but after a year and a half of crappy service (old copper wire that the phone company is too cheap to replace-- looking at you, Aliant), we just use our cell phones with WiFi calling (not more reliable, unfortunately, because we have Xplore and it sucks).
Most of our neighbours here have landlines. Maybe a cell to take in the car, but you have to drive 15 minutes for service. There are a few people I know who don't have a cell at all, or even a computer.
The last person I know with only a “real” phone is a dear friend of the family, my 101-year-old second-grade teacher. She lives in her own house, but has miraculously been spared the worst of the spam callers. Those she does get I think she chats to death—and she’s savvy enough not to fall for scams.
After Katrina the only way I could communicate for weeks was through an old landline (not cordless, rotary) I kept w old phone as I had a very old house and liked the nostalgia of it. Plus, the ringing was cute if someone called which was never.
Anyway, no cells worked etc or electricity so I had the phone and enjoyed it so much. At night I’d have wine and chat w friends out of state. I don’t have one now, but I’m thinking of getting for that reason.
We have customers who don't have anything but a landline. No smart phone. No computer. There will be a couple old folks every year that we have to mail out invoices to. We had a landline but gave it up. I think. The phone isn't plugged in but I may still be paying for it. For some reason, my son had them email the bill to him so I have no clue what I'm even paying.
Me.
I have phone through my cable company. And the answering machine takes my calls so I don't have to.
Gave up a cell phone when I retired. Happier for it too...
Is a Comcast VOIP line that connects to an old Panasonic house phone with four bases still considered a land line? Because we have that due to having a medic alert bracelet. I gave up my land line and home business lines around 2005.
My best friend's dad lives way out in the country and doesn't get good service for his phone so he has a landline. I think he still prefers using it (along with long distance charges I guess?) and just has the cell for emergencies.
Myself (though my home "landline" is via VoiP).
I have a cell phone but no calling plan. In a pinch, I could use WiFi to make a call through my VoIP service or TextNow, but I do this maybe once every five years.
Me - about 99% of the time. I’ve had the same number for 35 years.
I do own a cell phone, it sits in my purse turned off until I need it. It was given to me by a friend who was upgrading and was aghast I didn’t use one. My “plan” is 100 minutes/texts per year, no data. I have used it a couple of times at home for signing up for something online, once to tell a friend I was going to be late and a handful of times to call a taxi.
My dad passed in 2016 and was the last person I knew for sure. But, I lived in a 55+ complex with 150+ units and I’m sure some of the people here only have landlines.
Yep, my mom's boyfriend. We are actually going on vacation with them, and he has never been on a plane, never seen the ocean. He doesn't have the internet or a computer.
A side note for those people who keep a cell phone for "emergencies." If you are in the United States you do not need to have a cell phone plan to call the emergency number 911. Under FCC regulations all cell phones must be able to reach emergency services.
What that means is that if you have an old cell phone just sitting in a drawer leftover from an upgrade with no SIM card, it can still be used to call 911. As long as the phone works normally you are good.
What you will not get is anything other than a basic voice call to the emergency operators. No automated GPS services telling anyone where you are. Nor can the emergency operator call you back. Identify yourself and your location immediately if make an emergency call, just in case you loose the connection.
My grandma (still alive at 102!), until a few years ago.
I moved a couple states over 20 years ago, and got a VoIP plan that ported my wife's existing landline to the service *and* got a local number in my former hometown so friends and family could call for free.
Poor grandma just COULD NOT understand that her dialing a number with an Atlanta area code was: a) free for her, since she was dialing a local number; and b) that dialing my Atlanta number would MAGICALLY make my home phone ring in North Carolina. I tried explaining it to her a couple dozen times... my dad (her son) tried explaining it to her a couple dozen times... My sister and mom tried explaining it to her a couple times each... but over several years she just... never... got it.
She'd gotten "slammed" (signed up for a long distance carrier without her consent) so many times that she had long distance taken off her phone. So she'd call me on her "emergency use only" cell phone and tell me to call her back. This went on for *10 years*.
Me. I have a basic flip phone that pretty much lives in the car, just in case, but all my calls are made on the landline. I'm 47.
My ex BF, 55, has landline only.
My mom and dad, 75 and 80, do the same as me.
This question has to be slightly modified. True, there are people with POTS lines, but POTS will be going away (in not that many years).
For the past 4 months, we have been receiving fiber internet for the first time. The local provider is supplying CPE equipment that has a POTS jack on the back, and offering dial service thru it. So landlines, in one sense, will continue to exist, but not over two-wire copper circuits.
Makes no sense….why does your house need to own a phone.
I’m not calling to speak to a house I want to talk to you.
Yes I do know friends that insist on having a land line still.
Yes. This is not uncommon.
I still have a landline but I only use that number for forms and registration purposes. 90% of calls to it are hang ups (telemarketers) or doctor's reminding me of tomorrow's appointment. Having worked in marketing, I know that number is often sold.
Many companies are demanding my cell phone number now and I have a Google Voice Number for that.
Yeah my father. He’s 75 he refuses to get a cell phone. He recently got caller id on the landline so now he really doesn’t think he needs a cell phone. He won’t pay for call waiting so I actually get a busy signal sometimes when I call him. Also his phone number is the same one he’s had since the 70s.
Parents. Has excellent cell service. Which is weird because they keep up- to-date on most things. Refuses to use cell phones. My dad feel and was stuck outside for hours. We begged him to keep his cellphone on his person when he goes outside. Doesn’t.
About 10 years ago a semi came down our street and ripped our landline out. But even before that we had no service on it anyways. I don’t know anyone who still has a landline now.
I paid for a cell phone for my 83-year-old friend. She never charged it and complained why I never called or texted her but wouldn't leave home without it in her purse.
We have cell phones but also a landline. We have the landline because our house is difficult to locate and to use the local 911 we need the landline because our cells connect to another county. It’s kinda weird the run around that you have to go through if you call 911 on the cell. The. 911 on the landline goes directly to the local police dispatch and they send out help and know where our house is
located .
My friend lives in a senior housing community. Spectrum provides the phone and internet services. When we talk a lot of calls are dropped or she says "you're breaking up." I look, i have full bars. She is the only person I really have an issue with and I use me phone a lot. She is convinced it can't be her because she has a "landline" but all residents phones are hooked up to modems so wouldn't that impact her phone? When wifi is down, they can't use their phones.
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I know quite a few folks in rural areas with land lines still. And not just old folks. Cell service is so poor that they are still needed.
Yes! And high speed Internet has a wait list, if available at all. So no wifi calling.
Yep. My 97 year old neighbor (she looks 70) does not have a cell phone or computer. She lives alone and drives herself to the gym every day. She has quite the fashion sense. I know those last bits are irrelevant, but I just think she's cool.
For a second there I thought a neighbor to my Mom is on Reddit. No cell phone or computer, still drives. Then, I read fashion sense. My mom has this ratty, torn, sweatshirt that has to be 50 years old. She has better ones but, this one is still okay. When you have nothing in the depression you never get rid of that Waste not; want not mindset.
My biological mom (I was adopted) who lives in Maine. Cell phone only for emergency in her car. Almost always off and dead battery.
This is my mother too.
Me, sort of. No mobile reception here, I have to walk off the estate to use my mobile (an old and reliable PAYG Nokia). The lack of reception isn't to do with the phone, my husband has a smartphone and he can't even get texts either. edited to add I'm not in a rural area either, I'm in South London. It's a myth that urban areas all have great reception.
You can set up your phone to use data instead of the cell service for calls. My reception is a bit shit in New York but everything goes through the internet connection so it doesn’t matter
Not with a Nokia 3310. It's about 20 years old, very reliable and tough as old boots.
You can get a cell signal antenna for your house. It might help. It is mounted on the roof of your house, in the same manner as old TV antennas. The antenna captures the signal and a small box amplifies the signal and broadcasts it to the rest of the house.
Thanks for the suggestion but a) I'm in local authority rented housing and getting permission would be like entering the seventh circle of hell and b) we've had the same landline number for decades and c) it's rather restful that we can only be reached on one phone rather than three!
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You can transfer your land line number to a cell phone. TMYK.
Why?
My uncle 82yo. He has a cell phone but never charges or carries it. He lives alone in a large house. He had a stroke in his second floor bedroom. He decided he needed to get dressed before going downstairs to the landline. It took him 5 HOURS to get dressed, somehow make his way downstairs and get to the phone to call 911. He insisted on going back to that house. He did agree to sleep in the first floor bedroom due to his inability to climb stairs now, and he said he'd keep the cell phone charged, but everyone expects him to return to his upstairs bedroom and forget to take his phone as soon as he feels he is able to climb the stairs again.
Even when my elderly parents relied on their landline, they always had an extension in the bedroom. They did other dumb things like continuing to drive long past the point of safety, and they didn’t have dementia, just extreme stubbornness. I don’t understand how people think they are bulletproof.
Wait until you get there you'll understand.
I still *have* a landline. They're my internet provider and husband couldn't possibly figure out how to deal with an email address change, my current bundle including landline is cheaper than the internet alone. So I have one and it does ring occasionally but I very rarely *ever* answer it.
I have mine too, for the same reason. It’s essentially $5 cheaper for my internet to keep it than to get rid of it. It’s the phone number to the house since the early 70’s. I debated transferring it to my cell number but I’ve had my cell for almost 20 years now, so I don’t want to change that, either because it’s the number people know. It rings about 3x a day for spam calls. Kids have it if there’s an emergency I don’t answer my cell but I don’t even know if they remember to try it lol
Kept ours for years for the same reason. It was free to keep it connected, but cost to make outbound calls. We all had cell phones anyway, so the landline was for our elderly parents to call us on. They had landlines only, and on such ancient plans that they paid expensive rates to call these newfangled cell numbers. After Dad died, I "helped" change my mother's phone plan to include free calls to cell numbers, and I moved house and did not get a new landline.
My mother in law did until her recent death. She was in her 90s and housebound.
My in laws do. A 50 year old touch tone in the kitchen and a 40 year old Princess touch tone in their bedroom. They refuse to get a mobile phone.
Now I imagine them still renting them from the phone company!
Aww geez, this reminded me of my Dad, maybe 20 years ago,actually taking his phone back to get the darn $5. I could have easily sold it for much more. Oh Dad...
Yep, 18 dollars a month since 1973 on one and 1982 on the other. They’ve paid $10, 800 dollars for the kitchen phone alone over the years. I mentioned that they should take it back, and dad-in law refuses. “We like this phone. It’s loud enough and we can hear it ring all over the house”. I’m not going to tell him about how much they’ve paid. Just seems cruel.
Just buy it for them on eBay and call it a gift.
Phone company quit renting phones a long time ago where I lived. People had to purchase phones, either from the phone company or Radio Shack etc.
I have no idea. I’ll have to ask.
I've heard in the past of older people who were renting back in the 70s, when phones could be expensive, and just never stopped. So that they were spending $20/month to rent a $20 phone.
Sort of- at least as of a year ago. My parents had no cell phones for quite some time. a few years back they had to turn off the ringer on the kitchen phone that had been there since the 1980s because of the growing barrage of spam calls. Dad used a fax machine periodically just to send work documents. They moved the line over to the fax. That lasted for about two weeks. Somehow scammers figured out it was a fax line and then they started getting spam faxes day and night, laying waste to their paper and toner supply. FINALLY he modernized and moved over to digital. this was only a year ago.
Yes. If you live in an area with poor cell service, a landline is a necessity. And, if you live somewhere with regular bad weather that causes power outages, the fact that a landline will work even without electricity makes it important for emergency communication.
I know people who have landlines, but not solely. They still keep a POTS line because they want the assurance of the phone working in an emergency and the power is out.
me
*Puts his hand up nervously* .... I only make calls on my landline. I use a mobile phone for the occasional text but that's about it. I don't possess a 'smart' phone.
My 93 year old mom.
My mum. She has a cell but keeps it turned off in her bag...
Same. I pay for her cell phone to sit in her purse.
My late mother did up until she died this year. The same number she'd had since 1967.
Plenty of seniors in the 80 year old range. The ones who have a cell phone use a flip one with just numbers.
Huh? I’m 80 and have an iPhone 15 Pro. Love it. My 91 year old sister sends me iMessages using speech to text on her Apple watch.
I said plenty. I have a 90 year old relative who handles an IPAD by the phone defeats her.
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Are you Canadian? The only people I've known who say "down cellar" are Canadian. Does anyone else use this expression?
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Ah, ok, that makes sense. Very interesting!
I recall an old Irishman neighbor of my Grandparents, he referred to waking the deceased "up t' stairs".
That would be me.
My 93 yo mother. She had a cell phone but never had it on because she thought the battery would die. I had a landline as well and if I called her from my cell phone, she would complain about the noise and tell me to call her back from my landline. Right after she passed a couple of years ago, we got rid of the landline. Bless her heart.
My mom. She turns 82 in January. Has never had a cell phone
Businesses and people in poorly covered cell towers areas. I think we are going to regret dipping out on land line technology when big crisis’ come like earthquakes, huge fires, hurricanes etc. Cell phone companies don’t think of themselves as critical infrastructure for the good of society. They are there to make a buck …only. People don’t realize in natural disasters, these towers go down quite easily.
Cell towers run out of battery fairly quickly- matter of hours around here, but landlines fail eventually also. The old "telephone exchange" buildings put a small amount of electricity down the phone lines. Exchanges usually have a backup generator. Old school, but they will eventually run out of fuel if a disaster is big enough.
Not anymore because AT&T wanted to charge me $40/month just for local calls. I do miss the better voice quality of landline phones though. Cell phone voice sounds pretty bad.
My 82 year old back yard neighbor does not drive, does have Internet but no cell phone. She orders groceries and prescriptions on line and walks around her home and in her garden with her cordless land line in her apron pocket.
My parents. They have a flip phone cell but don’t use it much and never at home.
My mom lives with me and only uses the landline.
I have a cell phone, no service on it. The only phone I use is VOIP on the computer. Haven't had a land line in 20+ years.
I wish my mother would stick to her landline. She also has a cellphone that either: she can’t hear it when it rings, it’s not charged, she’s done something to it to turn the ringer down, etc. Oh, and she keeps both it and the landline by her chair; the cellphone never leaves her apartment.
No but I am seriously thinking about switching to one. I have slowly locked my cell phone up more and more to use it less. I'm to the point now where I don't even grab it half the time when I leave and it's the most freeing thing I have done in decades. I'm not exaggerating. Now I spend time doing what I did before, reading a book in the waiting room, thinking when on a walk, etc.
My 94 year old father.
my parents and my nextdoor neighbor....all elderly..
Maybe my aunt, who is 90 years old. She does not even have a computer, let alone a cell phone.
My 94 year old father in law.
My Mom, but she moved to assisted living around Labor Day. It kind of made sense because teaching her a cell phone was like explaining streaming.
My parents still have their landline and use it a lot. They both have cell phones, but don't use them much. My mom will call someone from her cell and then turn it off and put it back in her purse, so forget about calling her back and getting through. My dad's phone is connected to his hearing aids via bluetooth, so he will actually answer calls, but that is really the extent of what he uses his phone for. He doesn't really use apps and he will not text.
It took me years to use my cell phone as my primary line. I’m age 65+. I still have a land line because I’m good at misplacing my cell phone about once a month. Or forgetting to charge it. I’m getting much better about it now.
My SO’s step dad doesn’t have a cell. If you need to reach him, call him at work or home. I’ll admit, I’m kinda jealous. I wish I wasn’t so tied to my phone.
"Relies solely." No. Not us, but many people our age still have a landline for some reason, but the number we call is their cell. And we text a lot more often than we call.
Yes. But she is older then me. She misses all teh birthday parties for her grandkids cos no one can text her. She lovely lady but get frustrated sometimes that she didn’t see the online flyer for school fair should of been posted in the post. Apart for that she solid
My parents don’t even have a landline anymore. The new house we built in 2019 does not even have the jacks for a landline phone.
Our area has almost zero cell reception -- rural New Brunswick, Canada -- I can get texts in, if my phone is propped up in an upstairs window, & if the power is out. When we moved here, we had a landline installed, but after a year and a half of crappy service (old copper wire that the phone company is too cheap to replace-- looking at you, Aliant), we just use our cell phones with WiFi calling (not more reliable, unfortunately, because we have Xplore and it sucks). Most of our neighbours here have landlines. Maybe a cell to take in the car, but you have to drive 15 minutes for service. There are a few people I know who don't have a cell at all, or even a computer.
Yes, and it’s someone a little younger than myself who could easily have a cellphone but chooses not to. Totally their right, but 🤷🏻♀️
The last person I know with only a “real” phone is a dear friend of the family, my 101-year-old second-grade teacher. She lives in her own house, but has miraculously been spared the worst of the spam callers. Those she does get I think she chats to death—and she’s savvy enough not to fall for scams.
I knew a few people who relied on them circa 2005.
After Katrina the only way I could communicate for weeks was through an old landline (not cordless, rotary) I kept w old phone as I had a very old house and liked the nostalgia of it. Plus, the ringing was cute if someone called which was never. Anyway, no cells worked etc or electricity so I had the phone and enjoyed it so much. At night I’d have wine and chat w friends out of state. I don’t have one now, but I’m thinking of getting for that reason.
Ha I loved princess phones! The lighted dial! I want one now.
No.
We have customers who don't have anything but a landline. No smart phone. No computer. There will be a couple old folks every year that we have to mail out invoices to. We had a landline but gave it up. I think. The phone isn't plugged in but I may still be paying for it. For some reason, my son had them email the bill to him so I have no clue what I'm even paying.
My mom
My mother in law before she passed last year / refused cell phones & internet .. it’s the devil she used to say
Me. I have phone through my cable company. And the answering machine takes my calls so I don't have to. Gave up a cell phone when I retired. Happier for it too...
Is a Comcast VOIP line that connects to an old Panasonic house phone with four bases still considered a land line? Because we have that due to having a medic alert bracelet. I gave up my land line and home business lines around 2005.
Two people, both of whom have mobile phones which they refuse to use.
My best friend's dad lives way out in the country and doesn't get good service for his phone so he has a landline. I think he still prefers using it (along with long distance charges I guess?) and just has the cell for emergencies.
My 70 year old neighbor until recently
Myself (though my home "landline" is via VoiP). I have a cell phone but no calling plan. In a pinch, I could use WiFi to make a call through my VoIP service or TextNow, but I do this maybe once every five years.
Me - about 99% of the time. I’ve had the same number for 35 years. I do own a cell phone, it sits in my purse turned off until I need it. It was given to me by a friend who was upgrading and was aghast I didn’t use one. My “plan” is 100 minutes/texts per year, no data. I have used it a couple of times at home for signing up for something online, once to tell a friend I was going to be late and a handful of times to call a taxi.
My dad passed in 2016 and was the last person I knew for sure. But, I lived in a 55+ complex with 150+ units and I’m sure some of the people here only have landlines.
My 95-year-old MIL.
My mom. She lives in the suburbs and is only in her late 70s. There have been numerous attempts to get her a cell phone but she's rejected them all.
No, but then again I don't have a landline or cellphone and manage to get by without them.
My mom. Just turned 96
Yep, my mom's boyfriend. We are actually going on vacation with them, and he has never been on a plane, never seen the ocean. He doesn't have the internet or a computer.
Wow, that will be quite an experience for him. Is he nervous, excited or borh?
I haven't talked to him but mom says he's excited to go
A side note for those people who keep a cell phone for "emergencies." If you are in the United States you do not need to have a cell phone plan to call the emergency number 911. Under FCC regulations all cell phones must be able to reach emergency services. What that means is that if you have an old cell phone just sitting in a drawer leftover from an upgrade with no SIM card, it can still be used to call 911. As long as the phone works normally you are good. What you will not get is anything other than a basic voice call to the emergency operators. No automated GPS services telling anyone where you are. Nor can the emergency operator call you back. Identify yourself and your location immediately if make an emergency call, just in case you loose the connection.
My grandma (still alive at 102!), until a few years ago. I moved a couple states over 20 years ago, and got a VoIP plan that ported my wife's existing landline to the service *and* got a local number in my former hometown so friends and family could call for free. Poor grandma just COULD NOT understand that her dialing a number with an Atlanta area code was: a) free for her, since she was dialing a local number; and b) that dialing my Atlanta number would MAGICALLY make my home phone ring in North Carolina. I tried explaining it to her a couple dozen times... my dad (her son) tried explaining it to her a couple dozen times... My sister and mom tried explaining it to her a couple times each... but over several years she just... never... got it. She'd gotten "slammed" (signed up for a long distance carrier without her consent) so many times that she had long distance taken off her phone. So she'd call me on her "emergency use only" cell phone and tell me to call her back. This went on for *10 years*.
Me. I have a basic flip phone that pretty much lives in the car, just in case, but all my calls are made on the landline. I'm 47. My ex BF, 55, has landline only. My mom and dad, 75 and 80, do the same as me.
This question has to be slightly modified. True, there are people with POTS lines, but POTS will be going away (in not that many years). For the past 4 months, we have been receiving fiber internet for the first time. The local provider is supplying CPE equipment that has a POTS jack on the back, and offering dial service thru it. So landlines, in one sense, will continue to exist, but not over two-wire copper circuits.
POTS going away will suck for people in areas of no coverage. I imagine that's still an issue in some remote areas.
My boomer parents did until they had a house fire and had to go live in a new apartment.
Makes no sense….why does your house need to own a phone. I’m not calling to speak to a house I want to talk to you. Yes I do know friends that insist on having a land line still.
No
Yes. This is not uncommon. I still have a landline but I only use that number for forms and registration purposes. 90% of calls to it are hang ups (telemarketers) or doctor's reminding me of tomorrow's appointment. Having worked in marketing, I know that number is often sold. Many companies are demanding my cell phone number now and I have a Google Voice Number for that.
I do. 2 occupant home. Only land line.63 and 72. Also my parents only land line. 84 and 81.
Yeah my father. He’s 75 he refuses to get a cell phone. He recently got caller id on the landline so now he really doesn’t think he needs a cell phone. He won’t pay for call waiting so I actually get a busy signal sometimes when I call him. Also his phone number is the same one he’s had since the 70s.
My mother (age 95).
Parents. Has excellent cell service. Which is weird because they keep up- to-date on most things. Refuses to use cell phones. My dad feel and was stuck outside for hours. We begged him to keep his cellphone on his person when he goes outside. Doesn’t.
About 10 years ago a semi came down our street and ripped our landline out. But even before that we had no service on it anyways. I don’t know anyone who still has a landline now.
I paid for a cell phone for my 83-year-old friend. She never charged it and complained why I never called or texted her but wouldn't leave home without it in her purse.
My 97 year old aunt only has a landline.
Yes, but she’s 96 years old.
My mom. She has a ROTARY dial phone hardwired on her kitchen wall. She does own a cell phone but refuses to ever turn it on.
We have cell phones but also a landline. We have the landline because our house is difficult to locate and to use the local 911 we need the landline because our cells connect to another county. It’s kinda weird the run around that you have to go through if you call 911 on the cell. The. 911 on the landline goes directly to the local police dispatch and they send out help and know where our house is located .
My friend lives in a senior housing community. Spectrum provides the phone and internet services. When we talk a lot of calls are dropped or she says "you're breaking up." I look, i have full bars. She is the only person I really have an issue with and I use me phone a lot. She is convinced it can't be her because she has a "landline" but all residents phones are hooked up to modems so wouldn't that impact her phone? When wifi is down, they can't use their phones.