In Defense of the Landline Telephone

[DGUtley]

In Defense of the Landline Telephone - It won't play Candy Crush, but an old-school phone could improve your life in other ways.

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Once among the most ubiquitous pieces of technology on Earth, old school, wired-and-jacked telephones are disappearing. In 2019, only about 31% of American households still had a landline, where 97% of U.S. adults own a cell phone. But are we being a little hasty here?

In some ways, the superiority of smart phones is obvious—you can put them in your pocket, use them to play World of Tanks, and whip ‘em out to take pictures of your lunch. But when it comes to the basic function of a telephone—talking to other people—landlines still offer advantages over cell phones, and for some people, those advantages are huge.

The sound quality was actually better until recently - If I were writing this article a decade ago, I’d tell you that landlines are better than cell phones because they work even when the power goes out, and, because they run on a dedicated system that is only designed to carry voices, nothing interrupts calls—plus the sound quality is far superior to cell phones. Sadly though, the copper wires that once carried all our dumb conversations have been largely replaced with fiber optic cables, so almost no one in the U.S. enjoys the sonic clarity and self-powering coolness that POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) once provided. Cell service may be better than it used to be, but strictly in terms of talking to your pals, it’s still not nearly as good as phones were in the 1950s.

There are even more advantages - If you aren’t a senior or a business owner, there are still a ton of advantages to landline phones. Off the top of my head:

• You won’t ever lose it.
• The screen never cracks.
• You won’t have to buy a new one every two years.
• You will never need to charge it.
• No one will steal it.
• You will not crash your car because you are using a landline phone.
• They’re cheaper: The average landline bill is around $42 a month, compared to $127 a month.
• You can buy an old phone on eBay for like $30. An iPhone costs around a grand.
• You will not be contributing to the downfall of human civilization.

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In Defense of the Landline Telephone (lifehacker.com)

[hanger4]

In our household it was an economic decision, it made no sense to pay for a fifth line while this family of four each had their own line.

[midcan5]

Still have one.

[Peter1469]

One advantage is if you call 911 they know your address immediately.

[DGUtley]

Still have one. It is the only phone that they still need a warrant to get information from.

[Chris]

Still have mine. Bundled with cable and Internet. And I'd have to switch the alarm system over.

[Cletus]

I got rid of mine because the junction box at the corner of the street is vulnerable to tampering. One one occasion, thieves hit a jewelry store not far from my office and in order to disable the alarm, they destroyed the J box and disrupted service for everyone on the street. On two other occasions, it was struck by a vehicle, which also disrupted service. After the third incident, I dropped the landlines and went completely cellular.

[RMNIXON]

I had planned to be rid of the house phone when I moved, but the local provider Internet Plan was a lot cheaper if you bundled a landline phone. The good news so far is that very few people have the number other than close relatives and friends I actually want to speak with. And I have yet to get any spam calls like the Cell.

So when it rings I know it is someone I actually want to talk to and I hope it stays that way?

[Mini Me]

I still cling to my landline, and am having to learn to use my new cell gone which I have found difficult. But AT@T is now charging me close to $ 100/ month for the land line. They keep raising the cost because I dumped DirectTV a few years back and they want to punish me for that.