What if loved ones urgently need to contact you? That's why my phone is always on. If my dad takes sick and gone to hospital in the middle of the night then I want to know about it.
People who survived lived with families. They did not live alone like so many do now. There was always someone at hand to help if you needed it, or to go and fetch the doctor or the constable or the firemen or the sheriff or the neighbors.
I'm in UK, regular landline phones are pretty much gone now and no I don't have one. BT, our telecomms infrastructure company has set a target to remove old landline system completely in next couple years. Suspect it will happen to you in US as well because the maintenance cost of traditional system is huge in comparison to sending the call over TCP/IP.
I don't like the thought of being tracked either. I don't see how it helps though leaving mobile phone switched off overnight because I guess the government already knows where I live.
They won't get rid of the landline, because that's how a lot of people get internet. The landline stands up to storms better than cell service. Tree limbs break electric lines, but only drag phone lines down to the ground. I've never lost phone service during a hurricane. But I've lost electricity a lot, and if the electricity is out, the cell towers go out.
As I said, there are huge cost savings if the network moves to VOIP instead. My internet access comes into my apartment using the same copper wires which have been here for many years - but I have no "landline phone."
The USA has always been different though in terms of how phone service works. Maybe because a larger proportion of people live in very rural areas. We don't get so much of that here because although our population is only about 20% of the USA population we are crammed into an area the size of Arizona. So maybe you're right and you get to keep yours.
What if loved ones urgently need to contact you? That's why my phone is always on. If my dad takes sick and gone to hospital in the middle of the night then I want to know about it.
I mean people managed to survive without them for 1000s of years before like 20 years ago. How did they manage to do it?
People who survived lived with families. They did not live alone like so many do now. There was always someone at hand to help if you needed it, or to go and fetch the doctor or the constable or the firemen or the sheriff or the neighbors.
They weren't alone.
Don't you have a regular landline phone? I do. I do not carry a tracking device around with me. I do not want to be on a 24/7 leash.
I'm in UK, regular landline phones are pretty much gone now and no I don't have one. BT, our telecomms infrastructure company has set a target to remove old landline system completely in next couple years. Suspect it will happen to you in US as well because the maintenance cost of traditional system is huge in comparison to sending the call over TCP/IP.
I don't like the thought of being tracked either. I don't see how it helps though leaving mobile phone switched off overnight because I guess the government already knows where I live.
They won't get rid of the landline, because that's how a lot of people get internet. The landline stands up to storms better than cell service. Tree limbs break electric lines, but only drag phone lines down to the ground. I've never lost phone service during a hurricane. But I've lost electricity a lot, and if the electricity is out, the cell towers go out.
Believe it or not, for us, POTS ("Plain Old Telephone Service" is on its way out.
The great 2025 switchoff
As I said, there are huge cost savings if the network moves to VOIP instead. My internet access comes into my apartment using the same copper wires which have been here for many years - but I have no "landline phone."
The USA has always been different though in terms of how phone service works. Maybe because a larger proportion of people live in very rural areas. We don't get so much of that here because although our population is only about 20% of the USA population we are crammed into an area the size of Arizona. So maybe you're right and you get to keep yours.