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Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 7:29 am
by Taipan
Do you still have a land line? We still have a socket in the house, but we don't have a phone plugged into it. Apart from a couple of elderly people in the family, I dont know anyone who still has one?
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 7:31 am
by weeksy
Nopes. Was switched off 3-4 years ago. Can't see any reason we ever would again. We only had it for the 10 years before that as it used to connect to Sky.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 7:40 am
by KungFooBob
Yup. FTTC for us, tho Virgin have just run fibre to our street, I just can't be arsed to swap.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 7:48 am
by Count Steer
Still got one here - with a pack of 4 handsets around the house. The connection is digital though rather than the old low voltage system. Same supplier as broadband so it comes as a bundle.
Kept it originally because the mobile signal here is pants* and can't be bothered to change it now. Might reconsider if we move as it would, probably, involve changing phone number. It still gets used.
* and the handsets mean I don't have to constantly carry my mobile around or rush around when the phone rings and the mobile gets switched off at night too. So I'll factor that into any thoughts on the need to change.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 7:49 am
by weeksy
Count Steer wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 7:48 am
Still got one here - with a pack of 4 handsets around the house. The connection is digital though rather than the old low voltage system. Same supplier as broadband so it comes as a bundle.
Kept it originally because the mobile signal here is pants* and can't be bothered to change it now. Might reconsider if we move as it would, probably, involve changing phone number. It still gets used.
* and the handsets mean I don't have to constantly carry my mobile around or rush around when the phone rings and the mobile gets switched off at night too. So I'll factor that into any thoughts on the need to change.
How many times does the landline ring in a given week/month ?
How many of them are actually calls you want ?
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 8:06 am
by Count Steer
weeksy wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 7:49 am
Count Steer wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 7:48 am
Still got one here - with a pack of 4 handsets around the house. The connection is digital though rather than the old low voltage system. Same supplier as broadband so it comes as a bundle.
Kept it originally because the mobile signal here is pants* and can't be bothered to change it now. Might reconsider if we move as it would, probably, involve changing phone number. It still gets used.
* and the handsets mean I don't have to constantly carry my mobile around or rush around when the phone rings and the mobile gets switched off at night too. So I'll factor that into any thoughts on the need to change.
How many times does the landline ring in a given week/month ?
How many of them are actually calls you want ?
Quite a few as that's the only contact number I give in many cases.
It's ex-directory and the CLR and nuisance call screening is pretty good for eliminating the auto-dialled stuff.
Bottom line is - why would I get rid of it? Cost? Nah.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 8:15 am
by MrLongbeard
Yep, although they're digital through the router rather than jacked into a BT socket.
If it were up to me they'd be ditched, but it's the only number the wife's family will call us on, and aside from scammers they are the only ones to call us on it.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 8:20 am
by Trinity765
Yes, digital/router and comes with my Virgin Media package at practically no cost. It makes me jump when it rings about twice a year and is only ever marketing calls. It's handy to have incase of emergency and I can't find my mobile.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 8:21 am
by Horse
Yes, but under review.
We have one neighbour who calls us. Otherwise, mainly cold calls.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 8:22 am
by Dodgy69
No landline phones here. We have fibre to the top of our road then wired to the house. We had letters a few months ago about fibre to the house, but it meant digging up the garden so it was a no.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 8:53 am
by v8-powered
Nope - not had one for about 10 years.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 8:57 am
by gremlin
We decorated some years ago and a few weeks after finishing and putting the house back together found the quad-pack of phones in a cupboard. Never bothered putting them back as no bugger ever used to ring the landline.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 8:59 am
by roadster
Landline yes. A copper one but only carrying the Fibre to Cabinet final stage. I then use an IP phone and generally don't share my mobile number.
If/when Openreach offer full fibre to my address I will probably switch but my IP phone service is not linked to any base ISP. Incidentally my primary email and domain provider are also independent. I just got fed up with ISPs dictating these services and prefer them to be under my control.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 9:36 am
by Count Steer
Another reason we never thought about getting rid of the landline in the not so distant past is that it's linked into some whizzy kit to record phone conversations digitally onto the PC*. That business (wife, not me, but I helped with some of the business/finance stuff) need mostly went away but, every now and then an old client popped up with a 'Hello, remember me? I wondered if you could still...?'
* Subsequently listened to and edited/transcribed/converted using voice-to-text into publishable articles.
Try doing that on a mobile.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 9:51 am
by Horse
"Recording cell phone calls can be done via built-in phone app features on Android (usually under Settings > Call recording) or through third-party apps like Rev Recorder or Google Voice for both Android and iPhone."
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 10:01 am
by Count Steer
Horse wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 9:51 am
"
Recording cell phone calls can be done via built-in phone app features on Android (usually under Settings > Call recording) or through third-party apps like Rev Recorder or Google Voice for both Android and iPhone."
Not onto your hard disk (and backed-up for legal purposes etc) and played back through your headset while you talk into the microphone and see your words magically appear into a Word document as you constantly press <pause> and <play> though.
You probably could work something out/lash something together but, then again, why would you when there's stuff designed for the job?
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 10:04 am
by DefTrap
Sort of, as in it's a physical handset hanging off the router.
It only ever rings if my parents call, which is nice I suppose, like a hotline for emergencies.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 10:28 am
by Supermofo
Only have a landline as both sets of folks see it as the done thing. Else I'd have ditched it ages ago.
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 10:58 am
by Cousin Jack
Living in the sticks mobile reception is patchy at best. And when you really need it, eg a power outage, it vanishes too.
I have been dragged kicking and screaming into digital service by BT, but with a UPS on the router.
Babies are being discarded!
Re: Do you still have a land line?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 11:20 am
by Count Steer
Cousin Jack wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 10:58 am
Living in the sticks mobile reception is patchy at best. And when you really need it, eg a power outage, it vanishes too.
I have been dragged kicking and screaming into digital service by BT, but with a UPS on the router.
Babies are being discarded!
I had to get a UPS when we moved here. Power was up and down like the proverbial fiddler's elbow. The battery eventually needed replacing but the supply had improved a lot by then. Still not what I would call ultra-reliable but I suspect that's typical rather than unusual.
+ the service that texts to indicate an outage is expected (ie maintenance/repair stuff) is pretty good.