Should We Keep Our Regular Phone Line?

I am a 911 operator, and if your cell phone has a GPS chip in it, if your child calls and cannot tell us their address, we can pinpoint where they are. If they at least know their last name, we can find your address from there. You just have to make sure you ask for a cell phone with a GPS chip in it. Most of the new cell phones have it. Also, depending where you live, a lot of counties don't have that information of the address on the screen automatically when you call. You would have to call your local police station and tell them you want to test your 911 line and then call 911. They can then tell you if the address comes up on the screen and what they see. Hope I helped. : O )

1 mom found this helpful

Thanks for asking the question! We've been thinking of dropping the land line phone, too. I had the same concerns. Once our plan is up next month we'll switch to a carrier that gives us reception in our neighborhood. Then we're done with the land line. Thanks again and have a great week!

I have 3 kids and have not had a land line for the past 4 years. Babysitters usually come with their own cell phone and I will also leave either mine or my husband's with them if they don't have theirs. As for 911, my children have accidently dialed it on a few occasions from my cell phone. There is no problem getting connected to them and even when my kids hang up on them, 911 calls me right back. You won't have any problems if you cut the land line.

I completely echo the safe-if-paranoid scenarios from below. I keep thinking of the slight possibility that I would be the one injured and my son is calling--he's four--and I might be able to get him to dial 911, but he doesn't know our address or phone number yet. We're working on it, but if mommy or daddy were injured, I'm not sure that would happen. Remote chance, yes, but I don't want to be searching for a cell phone and numbers at a time like that.

We do keep a land line just for emergencies. We, like you, use our cell phones for EVERYTHING but decided to keep the home phone for babysitters and/or emergencies that may arise when our kids are home.

we just have cell phones. we had a land line but it was never used. we live in a good signal area so i'm not too worried about not having conection when i need it. it has never happened so far. i can always make a call. if u do not live in a good conection area then i would keep the landline. i would just make sure to tell the baby sitter to make sure their phone is charged or leave one or yours behind good luck. i have a almost 7 mo old.

As far as 911...when you call from a land line, it automatically dispatches to the nearest center and they immediately have your address. When you call from a cell phone, the signal goes to the nearest tower then to the nearest center to the tower. That may not be in the same town you live in. Then they have to call the emergency service in your area, etc. In life or death...that is valuable time wasted. However....most land line phones (not cordless ones) will still dial out to 911 even if you do not have phone service!!

Our house was land-line free before the kids, and still is to this day. We have twin two year olds.

When someone comes to babysit, he/she has a cell phone also, and we leave our address, our cell phone numbers, other people's cell phone numbers, etc on paper so the sitter can call if needs be.

To be honest, being landline free has not caused any major hicups with us. Yes, there is the occasional "both our phones are dead," but it's super-rare, and we just plug in the phone and turn it on to charge.

Hope this info helps!

Maybe a little over protective, but I have to agree with the pp who say when you have kids, I would keep the land line. These days you can get them for really cheap if you shop around. If you do not need it for long distance, you can even call most local companies and let you opt into a plan that restricts long distance and just keeps local. (This way you are only paying for a really cheap service, since you are not using it). If you switch companies, you can even keep the same number.

I have been in a couple of 911 phone calls and trust me, it is nice not to have to think of an address when your blood is pumping. I am a very clam person who is a medical professional and my blood still gets pumping. When you have a blue baby in your hands, it is a challenge to remember the numbers 911. It is also nice to know as I placed the call, the dispatchers were dispatching the EMTs as we began to speak.

Also, if you are using teens as baby-sitters for a baby; they will NOT remember your address in an emergency!!! Adults who live there have problems, not to mention teens.

I also had a friend who has three children. She walked upstairs to find (a light socket had triggered) a fire near the kids bedroom. As she grabbed the phone and called 911, she tossed it and just screamed "FIRE FIRE" in the background as she went to get the kids out. (Her husband was out and she needed both hands with three little kids). Well, she got her baby and went to get the other two and had a hard time. Well, the fire department got there quick and were able to get the girls. They live in another state, but still that could happen anywhere.

I also fear the dispatcher from your cell phone tower being able to locate exactly which dispatching location she/he needs to call to tell them to go to you and relay the message of what is going on. I see delays all the time when people call from cell phones after a car accident. They have to play they where are you now thing....

So, yes 911 is a "what if situation", but one I hold dear to my heart. Worth the extra pennies as we have had a couple major accidents that 911 was truly a lifesaver. Worth the extra money in my opinion. Even one phone call that works out was worth it for me.

Also, as your baby gets older, they need to learn how to use a land line. We started 911 education at age 3, which will be here before you know it.

So I just wanted to state my opinion.

We kept our landline, but stripped it way down. We have no long distance service, local only and it keeps the phone bill to a minimum. I do use it for an occasional fax, otherwise, we'd consider getting rid of it.

Well, because only one other person has mentioned this - ALL PHONES CAN CALL 911! Activated or not. So if you disconnect your home phone service, a corded (or cordless I suppose) phone plugged into an phone outlet can dial 911. The same for a cell. This is what you pay the 911 tax for on your phone bill. So if you do disconnect your phone service (which it sounds like might work best for you) I would plug a corded phone in (just incase of power outtage or something) and put it in a place out of the way but reachable.

C., I am with you 100%!! We NEVER call from our land line or answer it. It's always telemarketers anyway. BUT...like you we keep it for an emergency. We keep the volume off so we don't even here it. I've always been on the side of caution and safety. In the event of an emergency you aren't always thinking clear you may not know where your cell phone at that moment. Unless you keep it attached to you or in a clip or in a pocket. The time it would take you to search for your cell phone could make a difference in an emergency. Same with a sitter. I know most sitter DO have the phone attached to them but hopefully they would put it down long enough to play/take care of the children. In a panic situation for them, they may not be able to find their cell fast enough. Also, they might not be able remember the address they are sitting at & that woulld take time to figure it out. Often my husband & I aren't together & can't leave a cell phone behind for the sitter, our kids know our cell numbers, they are 8,6 & 5, and can call us...TOO OFTEN SOMETIMES!:) Hopefully you would never have an emergency situation that you may need to know if keeping/having a land line was/is worth the extra $30 or so a month. Get the most basic plan you can. But in my opinion, that $30 a month may be what saves my child. I may be over protective or over cautious, but when it comes to my kids, nothing matters in safety! I am also an EMT, I see the differences in just a cell phone & a lnadline. Good luck with your decision.

If you are looking for a good alternative, look into the phones through the internet. We use Vonage and have no problems and they (in most cases) have a locator for emergency calls on the line. Way less expensive than a land line as you can get unlimited local and long distance for about $30/month.

K.

I know that we can have a second or third cell phone on our account for $10 a month. It may be something to look into just to have it at your house for an emergency. I know we have already run into two instances where someone was left at our house with no phone.

If you keep your cell phone charged (or don't have it dying on you all the time), and you don't lose it (some people always misplace it) then you can cut the landline. If you don't know where the cells are half the time then you might want to keep the land line. My hubby and I have always used just cell phones (almost 5 years now) with no problems.

Reguarding a babysitter... ask if they have one, let them know you do not have a land line so if they need to call you or heaven for bid 911 they have to use their (or your) cell. I would also check to see if they have the mintues to use otherwise they might be afraid to use their mintues if they don't get a lot. In that case leave one of you cells behind (plus this way you can see if they make other calls) and most phone companies alow free calls between family cells.

My husband and I were wondering the same thing. His cell phone recently broke out of the blue, and mine was lost so now we have no cell phones and a new one would cost 179.00 - eek. We were able to find a used one online for $24.99. With a 3 year old, and me being pregnant on bedrest at the moment for preterm labor I am glad we decided to keep our land line or I wouldn't have any way to contact people except email.

I'd keep the landline if I were you. You always know where it is. We would miss calls on our cell phones a lot b/c in was in a purse or in the car or under something.

Hi C.,

Great question! When I was single and lived alone, I only had a cell phone, and it worked great for me. However, now that I am married with a kid (same age as yours, born 12/28/07), I would not drop our land line.

I think that 911 being able to track your address when calling from a home phone is a HUGE plus. You can not put a price tag on this, should this ever happen to you.

I also think that having a phone (i.e., a landline) that anyone can find in a pinch is a good idea. What I mean by this is, most people's land lines are in either the kitchen or living room. Everyone in America knows this, and should there be some sort of emergency, a neighbor/babysitter/someone unfamiliar with your house will intuitively go to the kitchen and use the phone. When you only have cell phones, the cell phones could be anywhere--purse, drawer, on top of the fridge, or not in the house at all.

Also, this is looking way ahead, but are you setting yourself up to eventually own 3, 4 or 5 cell phones in the future? And if so, are you ultimately saving money? Say that you and your husband each have a cell phone for now. Great. Down the road, when your kids start making and receiving phone calls, whose phone will they be doing it on? How about when they are old enough to be left home alone--will you have to buy another cell phone to keep at home?

Perhaps a question you can ask yourself is "Should we be keeping both of our cell phones?". My husband and I each had a cell phone, and we got rid of one, and now we have just one, the "family cell".

Even in our little town with spotty reception, I still know lots of people with no land-line. They just designate one of their cell phones as their home-base phone and it lives on the counter just like a land-line phone would, along with it's charger accessories.

Hi C.,
I am the mother of a two year old son and I have never had a land line. A few things that I do for convenience is keep my phone on the charger at all times when I am in the house and make sure it is in an accessable spot. (I leave mine plugged in on a coffe table in the living room with the cord safely tucked away to avoid hazards with a child) Also, with the babysitter thing, why not just ask your sitter if she could bring her charger with for your own peice of mind? I highly doubt any sitter would find that too much of an inconvenience. And, if your sitter doesn't have a phone leave yours behind with instructions on how your phone operates and all emergency numbers on speed dial.

We went land-line free about 3 years ago. We've been mostly happy. Our only recent problem is that we recently moved and our new place doesn't have as good of reception as the last -- but you can always make a call out.

One suggestion for the "babysitters" is to pay the $10 month for an extra phone. We have a toddler and have recently taken in my 14 yr old half-sister. She has some behavioral problems so we don't want her to have a phone yet, but we have an extra phone set-up and we pay $5 month for parental controls on that phone. So you could easily set the phone to just be able to call you & your husband -- and 911 is always accessible. After the cost of the additional phone (unless you have an old one around like we did) it is only $15 month and there is ALWAYS a phone we can leave home.

Just a thought.

We just made the switch ourselves a few months ago. The only people calling us were telemarketers also. My children are 7, 9, and 12. We got the oldest one a prepaid phone in early summer so he could have a little more more independece. As long as we put on at least $20 every 3 months it has service. If we leave them home, they still have a phone to use in an emergency. We only had home service in order to use it for sattelite tv and intenet service, but the budget got tight so we switched to basic cable and internet through that connection. We save about $40 a month not having a phone we never used anyway.

As long as you get a good signal all the time - dump the land line. Especially if it doesn't get a good connection, why waste your money? We have small kids and haven't had a land line in about 6 years. It has never been a problem. If you have baby sitters that don't have cell phones, just pick up an inexpensive pre-paid phone for such situations and tell them it is only for emergencies. Always keep your address with written directions to your house in a visable area for emergencies.

My only complaint about only having a cell phone is I don't hear it ring if it is in one part of the house and I'm in another...

We still have a land line for that same reason. I want to have it for emergencies, safety reasons and for family members. our cable system is unreliable so I won't consider a digital phone.

We have a 17-month-old daughter and a second baby on the way. My hubby and I both have our own cell phones and we haven't had a landline in more than 5 years. No need for it. We get better reception on our cell phones than we would have with a landline anyway and the only people who ever contact you on it are telemarketers. We've never had problems with getting emergency service on it. I've had to call the police several times for various reason (toddlers playing in the streets of our neighborhood with no adult in sight, car accidents, etc). It's always gone through. Sticking with just cell phones works for us.

I would keep your land line in case of emergencies. I had a seizure 2 years ago while being 28 weeks pregnant have never had seizures before. My husband called 911 from his cell phone instead of our land line and he had to give them some directions on how to get to our house. When you are in a state of emergency the last thing you want to do is be giving them directions to your house. With a land line the 911 center pin points the location from the phone you are calling from. I know their are doing that with cell phones now but not sure how accurate the system is and if you have a cell phone that is about to die you are out of luck. My husband still to this day wishes he would a have picked up our land line (one phone is in our bedroom) to call 911. I will not ever give up my land line.

-Amanda

Yes! Our friend who is an officer with Edina Police told us to keep our land line when we moved recently b/c cell phones aren't reliable for 911 location identification. In addition, when your child is old enough to call 911, you want them to be able to find the phone and use it if they need to!

I would keep the land line for emergency use only or if your cell phone goes belly up. But I would also add an answering machine to that phone for those nasty telemarketers (what you put on the greeting is up to you). Also get yourself on the national do not call list. When I did that, it cut the phone calls from those people down by 90%. The only time that the list doesn't work is when you've signed up for something online and you give out your phone number.

I didn't read the other advise given already but my idea would be to cut out the land line and if you already have a family plan and share mins, spend an extra $10/month on the cell phone bill and get a spare cell phone to keep fully charged at your house for babysitters to use in emergency's if they do not have a phone themselves. That way you don't have to leave one of your phones behind and you don't have to worry about getting a sitter that doesn't have his/her own cell phone.

good luck!

There have been instances where 911 calls are made when the person calling cannot comunicate information (ie.address)and while a lot of teens have cell phones, not everyone does, so I wouldn't count on a babysitter providing their own phone. There have also been times when cell phone can't connect becase of network problems, there could be ways to cut some cost to phone service but still have a backup way to communicate in an emergency.....with children it's better safe then sorry.

Hi C.,
I didn't see any mention in the replies so far about the hazards of cell phone use in children. Canada did a study showing higher incidences of brain cancer in children exposed to the radiation from cell phones. They are recommending that cell phone use be avoided in children under the age of 12 except in emergencies. I would check it out on Google and decide for yourself if you are comfortable with the risks.
Good luck!
S.

We just got a 3rd cell phone through Verizon for an extra $11 (total with taxes) per month. We figured this would be a good back up in case we have a babysitter or one of ours is dead/missing (my husband tends to lose things) and we have an emergency.

We just use our cells but just FYI...even an unactivated cell (if charged) or a land line plugged in but not hooked to service will call 911.
We leave one of our for the sitter if she doesn't have one (not likely) otherwise its not a problem.

we have t-mobile hot spot at home and emergency #'s know our address if we are calling from our home. and, we always just leave one of our phones with the babysitter. plus, if the babysitter is using your cell, you can always check and see if she talked on the phone all night. lol.

its up to you. the only thing i would try to remember about a cell phone is if there is a true serious emergency, usually cell phones get tied up so much you cannot make ANY calls. so make sure that if you dont have a landline in your house, someone close to you does.

:D

You should try a digital "land line". We use Earthlink, but you can also get Vonage or Comcast digital phone.
It is much less expensive than a regular land line - you get free long distance AND 911 service. Through Earthlink, ours is about $25 a month (or maybe less). The only time we have phone problems now is if our internet is also down for some reason - which is rare. In those cases we use our cell phone. The rest of the time we know no difference between the digital phone and the old way. Check into it. We are very happy with Earthlink's version of digital phone.

We got rid of our land line about a year ago. We only had one option for phone service and the cost was rediculous! So, we added an additional phone to our cell service and leave the "home" phone at home. Believe it or not our phone bill is actually less since we made the change. Also, we were able to keep our land line phone number.

just so you know. any old cell phone that you have can call 911. It does not have to have a service plan or provider hooked up to it. So if your worried, just leave an old cell phone always hooked up to its charger and than you will always have that safety back up if something happens. Technology is getting better as far as them being able to track cell phone location but your right they usually cant get your exact location so the person who calls will need the address of the emergency.( but computers sometimes go down so the land line system doesnt always work either) Maybe write it on a small label on the phone for reference if its not a family member calling. WE just have cell phones in our house and dont feel its an issue but then again, I'm a Police Officer so I am not as worried, other than medical emergencies.

I dont know who your cell phone provider is but have you checked in to the T-mobile at home? We are thinking of ditching our land line too. I had the same question with T-mobile at home. It is basically routed through you internet. As long as the internet is up you can still use it for 911. Then you would have your cell phone as a back up. You still get to keep your regular phone in the house and your phone number. It is only $9.99 a month (I know I sound like a sales woman-and I am not- but we have done quite a bit of research on it) The biggest thing with it is how your minutes are used for your monthly plan. I would talk to a sales person for that. It was pretty detailed but sounded like a great deal.

Your concern regarding babysitters and fully charged phones is a good one, but more than that - how about ensuring that babysitters *have* phones.

My 15 year old babysits, but she's not allowed to have a cell phone at all (we see no good reason for her having one, and lots of good reasons for her not having one), so counting on the babysitter to have one wouldn't work for her. You'll have to ask/ensure the babysitter has one first before worrying about whether it's charged or not.

C.,
I was one of the same trying to cut a phone line and trying to make ends meet.
Having to call 911 and not being able to speak was scarey for me. Having a land line can save a life faster than a cell phone. Yes sattelite can be used to pin point in the area this takes time also.
There is always the little thing you don't think of that can happen. I have a disease that prevents me from having a voice and having to call 911 I was thankful that I had the land line. We didnt have power when I had to call and no battery on my phone and it was charging but not enough juice.
My reason for keeping my land line.
It saved my life...

When we moved we went to cell phone only and have not regretted it. We did get an extra phone to leave at the house for babysitters without a cell (mainly my mom :) ).Haven't regretted it a bit and LOVE the lack of telemarketing.

I don't see any harm at all in cutting the house phone. The only reason that we have one is because we get bad cell service at our house. At our old place, we used to not have one. If you call 911 on your cell phone, they can GPS your location if they can't understand where you are for some reason. Unfortunately, we've had to use it and have had this experience first hand. It was actually kindof comforting to know that they could find us no matter what.