I'm pretty sure I do.
My husband and I each have a cell phone. I had figured once we got married we'd get a home phone together, but it never really seemed like a necessity while we were renters. Once we bought a house, though, surely we'd get a landline. But as people our age did without and people our parents' age started ditching theirs, we figured maybe we really didn't need one.
But I kept feeling a tug to get one. Really it was more of a romantic notion - how can a house be a home without having a landline shared by the whole family? Memories of my younger brothers answering every phone call with "Hello, this is the Gentry's" floated through my head. Had times really changed that much? Back in college we still had house phones, and that wasn't that long ago. But now people always seem surprised when I answer my husband's cell phone or he answers mine. Is the idea of a shared phone line already that obsolete?
The thought of getting a land line started out as more of an idealistic thing, but I've come up with several valid reasons to consider getting one.
- To be prepared. 911 operators are better able to locate you if you call on a landline. Also in massive catastrophes like 9-11 and Katrina (which I do not at all expect here in the heartland), cell phone service may be jammed or wiped out. (Of course, landlines may also be unavailable in a major disaster like that.)
- To get better reception. I have never lived in a place that had excellent cell phone service. Even in places where my phone shows all four bars, I still find myself wandering around in search of clearer reception. This is probably my number one reason for wanting a landline.
- To annoy our children. Okay, not really to annoy them, but we do not want our kids thinking they need a cell phone when they're like seven years old. Yes, we plan to be those lame parents who make their kids wait and wait even though "everybody else's parents let them have one!" Their friends can call them on the house phone - that way they won't be asking to use our cell phones all the time and we can still monitor their phone use.
- To be inaccessible. Now I'm going to sound really old-fashioned, but I kind of like the idea of not being available at every second of every day. When I get a call on my cell phone, I feel obliged to answer it, even if it's not the best time or place. Many times I will ignore the call, and feel guilty in the process. But then there are those in-between times where it's not specifically rude to answer (like it is when you're out to eat) but it's not really an opportune time to talk. For example, I don't actually want to chat while I'm grocery shopping - I want to catch up with you in the comfort and privacy of my home. Requesting that people only call on the landline would solve this problem - if I'm not there, I don't answer it, as simple as that.
- To cover my absentmindedness. With a landline there are no worries of batteries dying or phones being misplaced.
The thing is, all these points are moot if it would cost too much to get a landline. But in my perusing of internet options, I've discovered that I can get an unlimited house phone line for only $15/month more on top of our internet. At first I thought that was way too much to justify, but then I started doing the math with our potential wireless bill.
With unlimited landline minutes, we could make the vast majority of calls from the house - no worries about long-distance charges like with traditional landlines and no worries about using up daytime minutes like with cell phones. If we did this, we could get the family cell phone plan with the fewest minutes, saving anywhere from $20 to $40 off our monthly bill. So in the end, going with a land line would save us at least $5/month and perhaps up to $35/month depending on the number of cell phone minutes on our plan.
So right now I'm leaning towards getting a landline. What do you think? Is having a landline worth it? Do you still have a landline or just a cell phone? Do you wish you had something different?