After my rant about the slow death of the payphone, I found this article in the Economist about the end of land lines, and the percentage of American homes that are going mobile phone only...interesting reading, imo.

http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14214847

We still have a landline, and yes, have considered getting rid of it to save money as well.  But at the moment we still have the landline - for me I think it is just a generational thing.  I have always had a phone in the house - my son, he is in constant communication with just about everyone he knows through his cell, facebook, twitter, what have you.  I am sure he will not have a landline when he is out on his own.  Pay phones, ah yes, I remember them well......

Got rid of the land line 3 + years ago and have never missed it.  I realize in an emergency of a certain type I may regret this but so far it's been an advantage - one bill to pay, one place messages are left.

its fascinating to me...the article talks about the monetary disadvantage to business. And this:

Regulators will not just have to decide whether to subsidise or bail out landline firms. They will also have to make sure that public goods delivered via the old telephone network continue to be provided. The call-tracing software used by firefighters, ambulance services and many other “first responders” only works on landlines. And the government-imposed cross-subsidy scheme to ensure that anyone who wants a telephone line can have one is primarily geared towards landlines. As the number of lines goes down, the subsidy required to provide lines to remote locations and poor customers will have to rise. 

It's scary to think of how fast technology is changing when you look at it through the lens of the last millennia or so...

It's all going so fast that by the time a full set of ideas are implemented into a system the system is already changing again for the next upgrade. It's kinda silly when you think about it.

i pay $20 a month to send those twice a month faxes? (that's all i use the landline for.)  maybe that's not such a a great idea.

but it doesn't run out of charge.

"The call-tracing software used by firefighters, ambulance services and many other 'first responders' only works on landlines."

This was the major block to me a) keeping my landline and b) not going to voip.  Plus, I want to keep my landline for the same reason I still like to pay my bills with paper checks: I figure it keeps more people in jobs, and cheeze knows the US needs all of that it can get.  *nod*

SaDiablo, I do not pay with checks anymore but I relate because I do not use self-checkout lanes in places like grocery stores for the same reason. I always go to the humanoid cashier, even if the line is 4x as long.

You guys sound like you've got a case of...

user - I do exactly the opposite. I use the self-check because the cashiers are also bitching... least around here.

 I was in the grocery biz (periphery) when they first started talking about self-check. No one thought anyone would use it... the cashiers at the time (this was around 1989) so 20 years ago did wonder about their jobs.. there were questions about theft which my boss assured me they would work out eventually.  He was quite smart, had 30 years in the biz at the time and he said the savings would just be so great the would resolve challenges so I have watched this unroll from the very beginning.

At first I tried to support the cashiers but quit when there is an option probably about 6-8 years ago because I just didn't want to hear them complain about their jobs... and about the customers who were using the self-check, therefore jeopardizing their jobs.

I thought it ironic it did not occur to them, the people may be distinctly trying to avoid them. But it is more than that. People avoid each other all the time these days... interact via computer,,, have sex with a computer, etc.  

We have two landline phones - one old fashioned type with a cord, and a cordless phone. Guess which one works when there is a power outage . . .

Cell phones generally don't work either when there is a widespread power outage. Takes out the cell towers. We are so dependent on electricity in so many ways, it's scary when one stops to think about it.

LOL Elsa. If I still lived in New Orleans, I would definitely use the self checkout, because I had frequent experiences with rude cashiers there (it was not uncommon to hear customers say "well, excuse me for spending my money here!"). I saw one cashier at a fast food place jump over the counter and start assaulting a customer (wonder how long until they introduce self-checkout at fast food joints).

Where I live now, the cashiers are extremely nice, almost without exception, so it makes me want to help. 

I think the avoidance thing is one part of the Pluto in Libra generation. Maybe others too, but I notice that about myself all the time (I'm of that generation). Guess pluto squaring all that and going through my 7th will change this, however. It will be awkward, but good.

I don't watch TV so don't have cable.

I have a cell phone which I don't use (it was given to me).

I have a landline through which I get my Internet (better service than through the cable).

I am "allergic to telephones" so the main purpose of my landline is to connect me to the Internet.

"I think the avoidance thing is one part of the Pluto in Libra generation."

User, I don't know if Pluto has anything to do with it, I've never thought about it in that respect.  I do know plenty of Libran Plutos (I'm smack-dab in the middle, Pluto @ 14 Libra) and not all of us do this.One thing that I did think of when you mentioned it, though, is that we're the generation that grew up with "stranger danger":  all strangers are perverts and murderers and should be avoided, right?  *laughs*  Everyone I know from our generation is very much "stay the fuck out of MY business," however, which is one reason why I think we're distancing ourselves from actual physical human interactions.

Edited to add:  Wow, I just realized how schizo that sounded!  Not all of us do this, but here's the reason we all do it.  *snickers*  Whatever, I'm letting it stand.  *looks at halo*

I am not sure whats the reason for avoidance but yes i have pluto in libra and i go crazy when someone tries to get into my personal zone.

Ha, SaDiablo,  now it's not even strangers that are dangerous, it's parents! I just saw a snippet about a family who had some bathtime photos of their little kids developed at WalMart. The photo developer got suspicious and called the authorities. The parents had their children taken away because of nude photos of them in the bath.

Not to be light about families that molest children. That's horrible. But who doesn't have photos of their kids at bathtime. When they're little.

I guess this is off topic, sorry :)

I dropped the land line about 10 years ago, haven't looked back.  People finally quit looking at me funny about that in the past year or so.

I've been carrying 2 cell phones for a few years, too.  Work almost always gives me one, but I have my personal one as well.  So it's not like I've really streamlined the technology or anything. 

I only keep the land line for Internet/emergencies. What Neith said about corded vs. cordless, especially when we had a weekend-long blackout one winter.

I'm a tad bit confused here, if more people are getting rid of their landline, and more people are getting internet in their homes - how do they get on the internet without a landline?

I have a land line and a cell phone that I have never used yet. It was a promoted as a pay as you go thing, which wasn't really the way it actually is. Pay as you go doesn't mean to me that I should have to have a re-occurring $20+ check in their account monthly. So I don't use it. I got it for the few times I travel. So it looks good in the box but it hasn't travel with me yet. I am not saying I will never use it but I have reservations about it being my only source.

Before the economic crunch, I worked GY shift and watched all the younger guys on my crew wired in on every break and even when not on breaks LOL. I was always kind of amazed that they had so much to text to whomever at 3 am in the morning.

I am not apprehensive over future shock, I am just a stubborn Taurus. I was on the net earlier than most and have 2 puters.

I abhor call waiting and will tell anyone, if they say gimme a sec I have a call incoming, you have 10 seconds. I count that out and hang up. I do not use that feature at all and will not in the future. 

I am sure this will sound paranoid or whacked out to some, but here goes. LOL

I am not christian but concerning the mark of the devil prophecy etc.. I don't think that people will be forced to be marked or tagged with a microchip. I think the big sale will be, you don't have to pack a cellphone, we can just insert this chip and you can be in contact with anyone you want to. You can do all your banking that way as well and for an added price and monthly payment we will have a retinal insert as well for cruising the net and watching TV. If you get lost in the wilderness we can find you and there is no recharging or being out of range. People would line up in droves saying plug me in!!

To me it is amazing that the world actually revolved before society had cell phones. And people just called back if the line was busy or left a message. I am not saying cell phones aren't a great thing, they are in many instances, but to not be able to function without one is bullshit.

I live in a little pisspot town and to see people daily driving and yapping into their cellphones amazes me that there are so many hugely important conversations that just HAVE to be made at that time! Who knew this was such a hub of communications! I am so sure of the video footage of the intellectually impaired texting while driving people were discussing life or death situations or philosophizing on the state of world affairs. Ya right. WTF is up that people can't seem to exist without music in their ears or having a conversation either by voice or texting at any time? Is it a way of keeping the mind filled with inane shit so we don't actually have to think?

Closing down land lines is sort of ominous to me somehow. It is just the beginning to try and force the holdouts like me to get wired into the system more. I am already wired in enough thank you.

chez: wireless stuff I don't understand. or in some people's world: cable, like with TV

My internet connection is wireless, but that still has to be connected to a landline.

Kashmiri the only difference between ordinary and wireless is how the computer links to the "internet connection box" - basically wired internet uses...well a wire  such as an ethernet cable to attach to your computer, and wireless doesn't need that, if your computer (as most do these days) has a wireless card, it will be able to pick up the signal from anywhere within a certain range of the "wireless connection box", (although I currently use an ethernet cable to attach to the internet box because my wireless signal is broken on my computer).  The box itself is still connected to the phone socket via a wire.

The only other type of connection I know of is using a mobile phone but as far as I was concerned at least in the uk that is, it seems to be very expensive.

As for "cable" kashmiri I've never understood that either , have always had basic "terrestrial" tv, and now digital freeview.