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Originally posted by Anush:

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There are plenty of cordless phone systems that interface with a cell phone via Bluetooth so they function as an extension.

Cell phone Bluetooth does not work well at 50ft thru the steel beams in my townhome. It also does not provide $.03 a minute calls to most European countries.

I think you misunderstand how these systems work. Your cell phone is kept near the main base station for the cordless phone system and connects via Bluetooth. Comms between that base station and any cordless handsets should have no trouble within your townhome. As for long distance, there are VoIP options with an analog (POTS-type) jack to hook to whatever landline phone you want, including these cordless systems.

Disconnected our landline ~5 years ago, have not missed it at all.

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Originally posted by nhracecraft:

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Originally posted by 911Boss:

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Originally posted by nhracecraft:
Landlines, whether traditional or VOIP, are associated with a physical address in the 911/e911 system. If you ever need to call 911 and are either unable to speak/continue to speak due to a health condition, or cannot speak for safety reasons due to an intruder, police/emergency responders can be dispatched to your address. You're SOL if you've only got a Cell Phone in that type of situation.

First of all “VOIP” is “VOIP” and it is NOT a “Landline”. A “Landline” is POTS ”Plain Old Telephone Service” and is a continuous set of wires from your phone to the local Telco switch.

“VOIP” (Voice Over Internet Protocol) uses your internet connection to make the connection from your house and eventually present the call into the telephone system at some distant point. Many VOIP providers rely on or expect the customer to enter the “911 Address” into the record it presents should that connection be used to call 911.

Of course VOIP is Voice Over IP, and yes, it is NOT a POTS line, but that wasn't the point. The comparison made was that 'Landlines', Traditional/POTS and VOIP typically involve a line physically connected to the home, and an address associated with the phone # in the 911/e911 system! That is NOT the case with Cellular, which uses RF (Radio Frequency) and is Wireless, w/ NO address in the 911 system. For the record, my father worked for AT&T for FIFTY YEARS so I'm pretty well informed on communications technology, and further, just so there's no question, I'm aware that the internet service utilized for VOIP 'can' in some instances, be wireless/RF Cellular or Satellite provided (obviously wireless), but the VAST and overwhelming majority in homes have a 'Landline' for such service, whether it be copper DSL, Cable, or Fiber!

You getting paid by the legacy networks or something? My phone has a screen to enter my address for 911 purposes and has for years. I assume Android is similar. And it’s just as easy for someone with a non-traditional voip system to move and forget to update their address so this imaginary security you have with a landline is just that, imaginary.

^^^Nope, not at all. I've got an iPhone 6 (iOS 12.5.7)...That's not a feature!

And, of course people can do stupid things! It seems half of the population falls into that category, but that's on them, and that's not me! I have a VOIP Phone at my home for the reasons stated.

In a hurricane the landline still works. It is a nice feature.

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
In a hurricane the landline still works. It is a nice feature.

Maybe. If the lines go down the phone is as dead as anything else. I can’t remember the last time cell service truly went down due to weather. The ice storm in 2008 took out Nextel up here because they only had battery backup when Verizon had generators. After that storm basically every town and emergency service went to Verizon around here and that was probably a death blow to Nextel.

Most towers here have some kind of power backup but regardless if a tree takes down the right wires people will lose landline and the tower will lose the backhaul and they go down too.

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Originally posted by nhracecraft:
…The comparison made was that 'Landlines', Traditional/POTS and VOIP typically involve a line physically connected to the home, and an address associated with the phone # in the 911/e911 system! That is NOT the case with Cellular, which uses RF (Radio Frequency) and is Wireless, w/ NO address in the 911 system. For the record, my father worked for AT&T for FIFTY YEARS so I'm pretty well informed on communications technology, and further, just so there's no question, I'm aware that the internet service utilized for VOIP 'can' in some instances, be wireless/RF Cellular or Satellite provided (obviously wireless), but the VAST and overwhelming majority in homes have a 'Landline' for such service, whether it be copper DSL, Cable, or Fiber!

Good for your dad.

A- Landlines have no “address in the 911 system”.

When a landline makes a 911 call, the PHONE COMPANY sends data from a PHONE COMPANY database on where they believe that line of service is physically located. This address database is maintained by the PHONE COMPANY and is entirely SEPARATE from the 911 system.

Admittedly it is right 99.99+% of the time. However sometimes no data is received or the database has an error from when the PHONE COMPANY entered the data (that’s why we are supposed to ALWAYS still ask for the address).


One of my favorite examples on why it is important to ask the address on every call is a bank robbery call we received many years ago from a small, local bank on their LANDLINE. The phone company database correctly identified the name of the bank and provided an address. The Call Receiver, familiar with the bank and location, entered the detail without confirming the address presented by the phone company.

Six (if memory serves) Shoreline Police units (ALL units on duty in this small contract city) responded code to the bank and were on scene within minutes. The caller however repeatedly said she did not see any cops outside. Cops went in and no one in the bank knew anything about a robbery. At this point the Call Receiver now confirmed the address with the caller who was still on the line.

Turns out, the bank being robbed was the “satellite” branch, located 5 miles away at the complete opposite end of the city, with a 12 minute (non-code) drive time. Of course the suspect was long gone by the time the first unit arrived, nearly 20 minutes after the call was received.


This phone company/landline/Call Receiver “mistake” caused a delay in response of 15 minutes or more. Additionally, since the original location was very close to the Seattle city limits, SPD was advised of suspect info and flooded the NW portion of the city with units, taking them away from Seattle PD calls.

Actual location was near not other city, but also County borders as well as having easy freeway access to I-5. By the time Edmonds PD, Mountlake Terrace PD, Lake Forest Park PD, and WA State Patrol were given suspect info it was too old to be useful.


Oh, and just because when shit goes bad it generally gets worse, in the mad dash to get from the original location to the actual location, one of the responding units clipped a PREGNANT PEDESTRIAN IN A CROSS WALK. Only by the grace God was she not seriously injured but it still took that unit out for the rest of shift. Not to mention liability and damages, collision review process, etc.


Had this call been received from a cell phone, we would have immediately seen an accurate location on the 911 mapping system.



B- In the tens of thousands (hundred thousand+?) cellular 911 calls I have personally answered over the last 20+ years or so, my 911 equipment has provided me with an ADDRESS gleaned from the GPS coordinates provided by the phone through the cellular system.

The accuracy of the address is admittedly less “precise”, my guess though is it is still “right” about 98+% of the time. Again, we always ask for the address to confirm. My agency covers urban, suburban, and rural locations. They really have sorted out the 911/Cellular process and it is quite reliable.



C- Of the Landline/Cellular/VoIP options, Landline and Cellular (in my experience and subject matter expert professional experience) are essentially a coin toss and either provide reliable info the overwhelming majority of the time.


From the 911 aspect, VoIP is the LEAST reliable of the three technologies for the the following reasons:

1)Some providers do NOT enter serviced address into the database, expecting their customer to do that step. Customers may fail to do so which means the call may not even get routed to the proper 911 center. Of those who do, the address may not be entered using the proper syntax so the system can route it properly.

2)People may move yet retain same service provider/account and the address doesn’t get updated, so a call still presents the previous address.

3)Wi-fi calling on a cellphone can become an issue as well if you end up using wi-fi calling from a location other than your home address with no cell signal but you happen to be on public wi-fi at some other location.



Bottom line, yes there are still some benefits to a landline but for all intents and purposes 911 concerns with cell phones were resolved several years ago.