Cell phone vs. land line?

**peanut** · 11-27-2008, 12:03 PM

How many of you use each or both? What are you paying a month on your phone bill? Do you really need a cell phone, or is it a convenience?

I did research at one point and we ended up dropping the bundle on our land line and buying a new phone with an answering machine. We went with YAK Communications for long distance. Now our bills range from $28 - 40cdn., depending on the time of year and how much long distance we do. Forty dollars is an extremely high bill for us.

I opted not to have a cell phone because I don't multitask well, and the last thing I want is someone phoning me on the road or while I'm out of the house. Course I could turn it off, but then what would be the point of having a cell phone if I only use it in my house, kwim?

Just curious...

Jean

**Contrary Housewife** · 11-27-2008, 12:37 PM

We have a land line only with basic service. $24 a month. Anyone who needs to talk to us knows where to find us. I am home a lot, so we seldom miss calls.

While a mobile might be nice in emergencies, 99% of the time we are in the city and near help or a phone if there is a problem so we don't worry about it.

I use a dial-around service (10-10-220) for long distance calls. It is about $1 a call, much cheaper than having long distance on the home phone.

I can see where if you are never home that a mobile is a nice alternative, with free LD, but it's not a good fit for our lifestyle.

**MamaPyratekk** · 11-27-2008, 03:13 PM

Personally we just keep cell phones. All of our family aside from one set of grandparents are long distance and many of our friends aren't around this area either. Hubby has to have a blackberry for work, so he has that and then I have a cheapo little phone. We share a very low number of minutes. We basically had a bigger plan, then after two months we evaluated our usage and changed our plan accordingly.

**DonnainME** · 11-27-2008, 07:24 PM

I have both landline and cell. My cell is mainly used for my business and if I have enough profits the business pays for it. Cell is running me $35 a month (lowest plan). Our landline is home phone plus DSL. We pay about $70 a month for that PLUS it included 200 minutes LD.

**missyali** · 11-27-2008, 09:38 PM

Both and I feel that I am wasting my money on the home phone. It's part of a bundle. I worry about having kids at home with a sitter (or with me) and depending on a cell phone.

**Buc-O-Mama** · 11-27-2008, 09:47 PM

We keep a land line for emergency purposes. E911 that cell phones have isn't as predictable in an emergency as a land line for location purposes, they can really only get within a few miles and it takes time. Also, after having gone through several hurricanes, cell phone service has taken a long time to be restored when we never lost our land line service. We use a bundle for cell/landline/dsl and cable together to save money.

**Palooka** · 11-27-2008, 11:09 PM

We have a land line because we have DSL through AT@T. That is one bill and it runs about 73.00 a month. We do have extra's on our land line like call waiting and caller ID. I didn't want call waiting but it was actually cheaper as a package together.

We both have a cell phone and I use it for long distance a lot and I just feel safe with it when I am out and about. For me and my husbands plan together we pay around 90 a month for our cell phones.

When our contract is up soon I am thinking about cancelling my cell phone and just my husband has one. My daughters dad pays for my 16 year old to have one. heh. So I thought when I went out I could just borrow hers.

Geez, now I feel like I am getting ripped off here. AT@T here is coming out with like cable/cell/internet/land line plan but it has not hit our area yet. It would be just one bill.

But then I would not want to give up Dish. lol

**Nana2two** · 11-28-2008, 01:28 AM

We have a buisness phone with house phone, unlimted long distance $79 a month, but we have to have cells phone. we live in the country during bad weather they are great to have.Plus my hubby is doing house calls all the time and he will call his customers that will be there shortly. We have 4 these phones. Our oldest daughter and her fiance is on our plan because its cheaper for them.So we have 2800 minutes free unlimted texting and long distance between 7 to 7. Its $188.00 but they pay the 88 we pay the 100. They do mostly texting where we use the minutes.

**Cookimon3** · 11-28-2008, 02:35 AM

no landline, just the cell phones. we were rarely getting any calls to the house when we had the landline, so decided it wasn't needed since wo both had cells. our usual bill now is $90 a month with unlimited texting and 700 minutes

**phoeny_moonstar** · 11-28-2008, 02:55 AM

We have both landline and cell phones. The landline is in a package of phone, long distance, dsl and my cell phone. I keep my cell phone because when I am at work or out and about doing errands my disabled mother can call me in case of emergenacies. All together landline/LD/dsl/cell is about 130$ month. The cell has 750 minutes, unlimited txt, picture and internet.

**kittykatstrong** · 11-28-2008, 06:14 AM

We have a land line athough not many people call me on it. I got a pre-pay cell phone for when I am out and about. The phone was $15 and I paid $25 for 100 minutes. I buy more minutes every two months.

**ZenTherapy** · 11-28-2008, 06:21 AM

Cell phone, no land line anymore. No subscriber's fee, I only pay for the actual texts and calls. Fortunately I don't use it much, when I recharge the phone with 50 euros it lasts for months.

**checkerkitty** · 11-28-2008, 11:15 AM

We ditched the land line last month. It was costing us around $26 a month. The actual line cost $10. The phone company charged us $3 a month for long distance, even though we never made any calls. The rest was fees and taxes! Our cell plan runs us around $98 a month. We have 3 lines with 1400 minutes and are thinking of adding 2 more lines for my mom and sister.

It's really nice to always have a phone with you. I used to be an anticell person. The reason we got one was I was almost stuck on a highway in a broken down car. I used to be a traveling sales rep and didn't have a cell phone. I would drive on back roads almost 3 hours from my home. One morning, I got into my car and as I started down the road, it wouldn't shift out of 1st gear. Luckily, I was at home. The night before I was driving back at dusk on I-10 between Houston and San Antonio. I don't know what I would have done if I had broken down. Everyone, and I mean everyone should have a cell phone for safety. Even if it's just a tracphone. Also remember that cell phones have GPS locators in them. If for some reason you can't speak, emergency crews can still find you.

**checkerkitty** · 11-28-2008, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by Palooka

We have a land line because we have DSL through AT@T. That is one bill and it runs about 73.00 a month. We do have extra's on our land line like call waiting and caller ID. I didn't want call waiting but it was actually cheaper as a package together.

You can have DSL without having a land line. It's called dry DSL or naked DSL. ATT usually charges $10 a month more for it but it may be cheaper for you if you are thinking about dropping the land line.

**BlessedMomof2** · 11-28-2008, 11:33 AM

We have a landline and both dh and I have cell phones. We use our home phone for all of our phone calls other then long distance (we cancelled the option on our phone and saved us $4 a month). Our cell phones are prepaid and we add $20 to each of ours every 3 months. We have cell phones for emergency purposes and that is also the only way I'm able to get ahold of dh while he is at work.