Any of you have a WIRED landline phone?

Do you want to dial the phone ☎ with a pencil?

OP, do you burn whale oil to read at night? Where in NYC could you possibly house your horse n buggy for less than $400 per month?

I have one - AT&T

No. I am in my 30s. No one I know has any sort of landline phone.

We still have a rotary dial phone at our cottage.

I hate messing up one number and having to start over again.

When I have to call Thelma Lou!

Look here

Thank R7, I saw that page at AT&T, but it's not clear that is wired service (and they don't explain anywhere on their site). That's why I asked here.

I still have my landline in NYC. Verizon is the provider. I've been waiting for them to upgrade me to Fios so I can have an alternate option to Spectrum.

A wired phone line didn’t go down during a power outage. You could call the power company & let them know your electricity was out. You could keep in touch with your friends & relatives when your/their electricity was down & during 9/11 when all the cellphones were down, I could use my landline phone & use my computer, which was hooked up to a second landline.

My uncle and aunt still have their landline phone at their ranch home. They both have cell phones but since they live so far away from a cell tower, service is poor. The nearest towns (populations less than 500 people) are over 12 miles away. Another friend who is in her 80s has her landline but only because she knows many people without cell phones.

Yes, I'm posting from a rotary phone right now.

One ringy-dingy?

yes, I'm in Manhattan, i have a normal phone, and service with Verizon

Thanks R9 and R14, it looks like it is Verizon for all NYC. Now I found this article that they are trying to get out of it (which explains why it's impossible to find a way to sign up for just wired landline on their site). I have a cell phone, but my idea to get it was for some of the reasons R10 noted, as well as privacy, and I thought it wouldn't cost much.

Yes.

I have a landline for emergencies and security (front desk needs it to buzz). I have Verizon in NYC.

The only people I know who still have a landline are olds.

Landline? Most people I know don't even have cable tv. They use alternvative methods to watch all the cable shows.

r10 9/11 was a fucking LONG time ago. Cell technology has improved by leaps and bounds since then.

Of course this is DL where most people are stuck in the past. I suppose I should be surprised that 2001 is "recent" enough to be used as a point of reference.

R15 I'm a native (R14 here) and i just always kept my service, so I'm grandfathered in. i have another company for cell, but I'm not at all surprised that they'd make it difficult to impossible to open up just a wired account.

and up in tbe closet i have a rotary phone. that rotor is a mini-generator and you make your own electricity merely by dialling. it can never fail; any problem would be in the wiring (which does happen).

The technophobes and MARY!s of DL go without a landline!

Just wait till there's a power outage you young whippersnappers! Then you'll be glad to have a horse and buggy--I mean landline phone.

[quote]Another friend who is in her 80s has her landline but only because she knows many people without cell phones.

Ummmm . . .

Ya better not tire yourself out using the phone, Blanche. If there are any calls, I’ll take ‘em downstairs.

no joke............ Tiffany & Co. used to make a sterling silver phone dialer for rotary dial rings............ collector's items now........

Live in NYC, and yes have landline (aka POTS/Plain Old Telephone Service). Then again was born and grew up in city having a Verizon account (it was NYNEX back then) account since was a teen living at my parents house. Pop kept getting on me about tying up "his" telephone so since was working by senior year of HS just got my own. That account has followed me through several moves including to current apartment.

No, Verizon will not install new landline (as in copper wire) service alone. In fact they are doing everything possible (legal or not) to get out of the landline business.

More:

More yet again...

Still more:

[quote]A wired phone line didn’t go down during a power outage. You could call the power company & let them know your electricity was out. You could keep in touch with your friends & relatives when your/their electricity was down & during 9/11 when all the cellphones were down, I could use my landline phone & use my computer, which was hooked up to a second landline.

OK boomer.

Comments like "ok boomer" are moronic.

"Any of you have a WIRED landline phone?"

No.

Verizon have phased out the copper wires, yet you can still have a landline. Verizon are so desperate for customers, yet most landline customers don't want to pay for FIOS, so Verizon are essentially using the FIOS wires and a small plastic box which your phone's connecting wires are plugged into. The black plastic box is then plugged into an electrical outlet. This is how landline service through Verizon is now continued for landline customers.

Verizon also supply a battery backup. Since the power is now through electricity and not copper wires, your landline phone will now go out during a power outage.

I have a landline at my primary residence. I have an Ooma system at my summer house, along with my cell service.

At this point, folks who assume they have a traditional "land line" may, and I say MAY, be fooling themselves. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that all those land line calls were somehow gathered into a CABLE hub and routed from there. Those cable phone modems are typically connected to one traditional phone outlet, which is daisy chained to all the other phone outlets in the residence thereby making them all active via cable. Therefore, your only alternative for privacy is using a traditional phone rather than a wireless phone which can still be picked up via radio/scanner. I'll bet that this one would fit you nicely, OP.

If you still have POTS service then unless or until Verizon totally removes copper wire from your area, then nothing much changes unless household wants.

Not every apartment building or even area has FIOS, also not everyone wants it either.

Know for a fact there are plenty of households all over UES/Yorkville/Carnegie Hill that still have copper landline and use DSL for internet. Yes, many of these are middle-aged to older persons who have had accounts for > 20 years, but still there you are.

Those trying to get new service from Verizon seem to have the most problems. So many buildings that run intercom buzzer through telephone lines which may not work if there isn't a LL phone hooked up.

Also Verzion like everyone else nowadays is all about bundling. It is difficult to find just stand alone internet, telephone, or television. If you do chances are the one service costs more than having things bundled.

I still have a landline

When I had a landline, never once did I say CAN YOU HEAR ME?

This is an Obihai Voip adapter. It offers unlimited local/domestic long distance calling all for the price of the unit, itself. You get a free phone number via Google Voice. You're cutting out the Cable company by using one of these. Just an FYI for those who may one day find that they must migrate to Cable phone service.

I did for years as my main phone until I started using cellphones. Then I used the land line as my internet, I had a deal with my carrier where I paid $30/month forever.

That worked for a long time until water got on the line during a wet snowy night and the connection automatically dialed 911 at 1 in the morning. I didn’t even have a phone on that line but evidently that’s what happens. I woke up to cops at my door on a welfare check/911 hang up call.

That worked until the next wet storm when again the cops came again in the middle of the night. By that time I had bought a phone so I could check for static on the line. The second time I have the cops at the door and the phone’s ringing because the 911 operator’s calling and I can’t even hear her cause there was so much static on the line.

I even had to show the cops the repair paperwork because they didn’t believe me AND I handed them the phone so they could hear the static for themselves.

I cancelled the line the next day.

R40

Be glad it was just static; some telephone calls that come after a storm are far worse......

Telephone service providers want to get out of the copper wire business.

Last time I checked, you can still get copper wire service in my neighborhood but the cost for it astronomical.

I got a promo 7 years ago with for internet service and the phone-line was thrown in free where the rate will never go up , I never answer it but every month or so play the phone messages and might have one every 3 months that isn't a robo call. Also I give it to people who want number who I have no intention of getting back to.

It boggles my mind how people can live so far in the past. There is no need for a landline anymore. I can't MARY!!! hard enough.

^ Spoken like a truly ill-informed dumb-ass. Here's the sad fact of the matter, OP. Privacy and freedom are gone for good. You can try to safe-guard your right to privacy, but the available technology which is not available to ordinary civilians is unbeatable. The best advice I have for anyone: Assume that whatever you say or do can be heard or seen at any time.

I have a landline and I'm old but I was trapped upstairs in a fire once and if it wasn't for my phone I would have died. we didn't have cell phones yet but when we did get them I thought about getting rid of my landline but then I thought what if I forgot to bring my phone upstairs at night or the battery had died. I kept the landline.

Stop fighting with trolls screaming MARY! They’re trying too hard & you’re acting like a grandpa by acknowledging them & yelling back.

[quote]Comments like "ok boomer" are moronic.

ok boomer

I have one because it is basically free from the internet company I use. It's hooked into the modem and is a push button desk phone. I think I have used it once. It does no harm just sitting there.

That's not a wired phone, R49.

I don't know anyone who even talks on the phone anymore, never mind has a fucking landline.

R50, Why is it not a wired phone? Because it is internet based?

Yes.

OP Verizon abandoned some of their copper landlines, sold others to smaller phones companies and still maintains some in major areas. If they have copper landlines, in other words not FIOS, running by your house, you might be able to get one, but if they don't they won't run copper to your home. No copper running by your house then FIOS is your only choice for a landline. They would rather you didn't go with traditional landlines so you might have trouble talking them into connecting you.

AT&T looked at selling off their copper lines but Verizon did it first and the companies that bought them just about went bankrupt, so they wouldn't pay any reasonable price for them.

[quote] [R50], Why is it not a wired phone? Because it is internet based?

I am not R50 but it is not a wired phone because when the power goes out you lose phone service because of the modem. A wired phone will work when the power goes out if it is the older style phone that doesn't need a power supply.

I have a landline because I can hear better and when the power goes out I can still use the phone.

In my area they package the service so if you don't choose the landline it doesn't save you any money and many still us landlines for alarm systems.

THIS is why SpaceX Starlink is such an awesome proposition. It's the one technology usable for personal telecommunications that doesn't depend upon anyone upstream from you in your local region having electricity available. With a Starlink terminal, VoIP adapter, and a generator (or a big deep-cycle battery and inverter), you can be back online within minutes regardless of how hopelessly fucked up your own local power and telecom situation is.

Well, OK, it does depend upon SpaceX having power... but I have faith that Elon can keep his own network powered up long after AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Comcast, and everyone else has gone dark.