Just got a call from AT&T saying they are dropping landline service in my area as of May 1. I just hope Verizon doesn't do the same. It's going to be a pain switching over to Verizon. Maybe I'll get a discount since I use their cell phone service.

AT&T is the Debil.

Might be time to drop the 'land line' thing altogether. If you have good enough cell service, that might be an option.

I switched to 1-VoiP when my 1 gig fiber was installed. I have a 3 story townhome with detached garage. A landline & 4 phones is just more convenient than carrying a cell phone around. 1-VoiP alows me to fax & make free overseas calls with my wide world account.

I don't know about where you guys live, but in Gilbert Arizona, if there's a police action in progress near you, they call all the landlines in the immediate area with a recorded warning.

No landline, no warning. One of my neighbors almost stepped outside his sliding glass door because he saw someone there a numbers of years back and only stopped because he saw the POLICE lettering on the guy's vest. He could've gotten shot.

quote:

Originally posted by fiasconva:
Just got a call from AT&T saying they are dropping landline service in my area as of May 1. I just hope Verizon doesn't do the same. It's going to be a pain switching over to Verizon. Maybe I'll get a discount since I use their cell phone service.

Are you still actively using your landline? I ask because I posted a thread asking the best way to park our landline. We don't answer that line anymore but I want to hold onto the number and would like to check voice mail.

I have an older iPhone that we currently use for apps. I've thought about rolling my home number to that phone and just adding it to the Verizon plan.

POTS line sunset is here! 3G sunset is on the horizon!

quote:

Originally posted by SR:
I ask because I posted a thread asking the best way to park our landline. We don't answer that line anymore but I want to hold onto the number and would like to check voice mail.

I have an older iPhone that we currently use for apps. I've thought about rolling my home number to that phone and just adding it to the Verizon plan.

It would be cheaper -- free, actually -- to port the landline number to Google Voice.

Then, you could forward the Google Voice number to any phone that you want to, including your primary cell phone.

That way, you would not have to pay Verizon for service on the additional older iPhone.

Hi V-Tail, from what I see on the website, you can't directly port a landline to GoogleVoice. Have to first port to a mobile carrier then to GoogleVoice. It's on my list to work on in May, when things slow down a little bit at work. Maybe there is a more direct/easier to get the landline to Google.

quote:

Originally posted by fiasconva:
Just got a call from AT&T saying they are dropping landline service in my area as of May 1.

Almost surprised they gave you such short notice, but it's "AT&T," so not really.

This kind of thing is going to become increasingly common. There's no money in POTS anymore. The traditional big TelCos are either selling their POTS services to companies that operate more cheaply (with commensurate service levels) or simply discontinuing them entirely.

"AT&T," though, is going to have a bit of a problem doing this. You see: Unlike some others, they tried to cheap-out getting into the broadband delivery business with their U-verse product. That's carried over their archaic copper plant. They finally wised-up, and started deploying fiber, but they're way behind their competitors.

I can get gigabit service, soon to be synchronous, from Comcast. "AT&T?" Copper network little better than DSL. (Which they couldn't even get working at my next-door-neighbor's house.)

quote:

Originally posted by fiasconva:
I just hope Verizon doesn't do the same. It's going to be a pain switching over to Verizon.

If you're talking real landline, as in POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service), as in copper wires coming to you home: No, it won't, because you won't be able to get landline service from Verizon. If "AT&T" was the landline service in your area, "AT&T" was it.

Your choices are to either lose the number entirely or port it to:

• Cellular
  
• A VoIP service
  
• Your cable company, if they offer phone service
  
• A provider that will "park" it--possibly offering voicemail-only service
  

We dumped the thing that calls itself "AT&T" four years ago. Ported our number to Callcentric, a VoIP service provider. Service has been indistinguishable from what "AT&T" provided, except they have spam-blocking, so we get less telespam. Oh, and it's about half the cost.

See also:
Looking for input and advice – best option to ‘park’ my home phone number
VoIP: ATA & Provider?

quote:

Originally posted by SR:
Hi V-Tail, from what I see on the website, you can't directly port a landline to GoogleVoice.

That is correct.

Why anybody would submit to the tender mercies of Google is beyond me, anyway, what with there being several reputable, economical VoIP providers out there.

quote:

Originally posted by SR:
Hi V-Tail, from what I see on the website, you can't directly port a landline to Google Voice. Have to first port to a mobile carrier then to Google Voice. It's on my list to work on in May, when things slow down a little bit at work. Maybe there is a more direct/easier to get the landline to Google.

The way we do it, we don't answer any calls on the in-home land-line phones - they're outgoing only and don't ever ring. I have my landline ATT autoforward all incoming calls to Google Voice, which then:

1) applies the unlimited call screening we configure,

2) routes all calls from known-junk-caller numbers to whatever Google-hell they deserve, without even ringing any phones, or giving them a chance to record a message,

3) autoforwards calls from on my whitelist to my wife's and/or my portable phones
(configurable per number - can have specific whitelisted callers routed to one, the other, or both),

4) screens non-whitelisted callers with a recorded message, lets them record their name (or whatever) and then rings our portable phones and lets us listen to what the caller recorded before deciding what to do with the call,

5) saves any and all voice messages (no limit), and also sends an email with a sound recording of the message attached, to any email address I want,

6) sends an email notifying of all calls, including the time, date and phone number,

7) lets you review the history of incoming callers and add them to your whitelist or blacklist, and

8) lets you set up and configure all this via your web browser, not via touchtones on the handset.

For free, it's not half bad.

Initially driven to this by junk call frenzy-feeding. Spammers have for some reason decided the current land-line is the mother lode - so far in March, there've been 125 junk calls, counting only the ones that got through Google Voice's built-in 'known-spam-number' filter.

ATT (obligatory 'bless their hearts') has a zero-configurable call blocker with a whopping total of 6 numbers you can add (by typing on a phone handset.) I occasionally go into Google Voice, review the call history and add some of the 'got through the screen' spammers into our personal blacklist. I think I have over 700 by now.

When I dump ATT (soon - the Spectrum people are here putting in the long-sought cable service to our neighborhood as I type this) then I'll just let the old number die (or get reassigned to some poor SOB who will wonder why (as I do) it gets 10-15+ spam calls a day) and, when forced to give out a 'home number' I'll just give out the Google Voice number.

Copper based services is going away. It's too expensive for the carriers to keep and maintain those networks while also doing the high speed fiber businesses and residential requires. This is an industry wide thing.

If you have good cell reception (and even if you don't, you can set up Wi-Fi calling inside your house) why on earth would you even use a landline anymore?

It's very outmoded technology that the world is rapidly moving away from. Even my parents in their mid-70's dropped theirs and have iPhones now.

I haven't had one outside of work in 21 years.

quote:

If you have good cell reception (and even if you don't, you can set up Wi-Fi calling inside your house) why on earth would you even use a landline anymore?

FAX. We need the occasional FAX.

Yes, there are work-arounds for sending, although a bit klutzy, but it's a little more difficult to receive.

I have a personal need for the FAX, especially since voice calls are a terrible option for me because hearing aids.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

If you have good cell reception (and even if you don't, you can set up Wi-Fi calling inside your house) why on earth would you even use a landline anymore?

FAX. We need the occasional FAX.

Yes, there are work-arounds for sending, although a bit klutzy, but it's a little more difficult to receive.

I have a personal need for the FAX, especially since voice calls are a terrible option for me because hearing aids.

For years, I had an 'e-fax' account. It cost a little bit monthly, but it provided a number to receive inbound faxes (which would wind up getting emailed to me as easily managed image files) and some tools to make sending from a PC pretty easy. I'd bet an efax account (or the equivalent) might be cheaper per month than keeping a land line solely for faxes.

Update: I have to have a landline so doing away with it wasn't an option. I spent over an hour on the phone with Verizon this morning and ended up switching my land line,tv,and internet service to them. The way everything got bundled and with my discounts I'll be saving $90.00 a month from what I had. BTW, if you are a vet you are eligible for a 10% with them.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I don't know about where you guys live, but in Gilbert Arizona, if there's a police action in progress near you, they call all the landlines in the immediate area with a recorded warning.

No landline, no warning. One of my neighbors almost stepped outside his sliding glass door because he saw someone there a numbers of years back and only stopped because he saw the POLICE lettering on the guy's vest. He could've gotten shot.

I guess that matters if you live in Gilbert, Arizona.

I haven't had a landline in fifteen years. Maybe 20.

I have not had a landline phone in more than 20 years. Between email, text and cell I am reachable by everyone who needs to get me.

We won’t talk about the robocaller and scammers filling my cell phone on a daily basis

I will say this about plain old telephone service: During the Great Northeastern Blackout of 2003, when nearly everything else was down, including all cell service for all carriers: The POTS services still worked. Because we had a type of "broadband" called "IDSL" (DSL over ISDN), which ran over the POTS copper plant, the ensigmatic household even still had Internet

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:

I have not had a landline phone in more than 20 years. Between email, text and cell I am reachable by everyone who needs to get me.

I have been trying to get in touch with you for a couple of months. No joy.