I guess i know why this is Free on Craigslist

[jasonl]

I have a LL only because I have DSL (you have to have POTS with the package). I bought a cheap telephone just to put beside the bed for 911 or family emergencies. Other than that, I think I have actually talked on that phone maybe once or twice to test it out.

Otherwise, my LG EnV2 (wishing for a Droid) is my daily driver

 

[autowasherfreak]

I want a harvest gold rotary phone to put in the laundry room to match my harvest gold Tags.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

If we ever have a widespread power failure for more than a few hours, non-internet landlines will be the only phones that work.

The battery back-up at the cell phone towers is only good for about 3 hours, and internet phones will not work if there's no power to your modem.

Ken D.

 

[gowest84]

Dial Phones

I bought a great refurb black dial phone on E-bay. I got a red one for some friends of mine when they lived in Honolulu and when the plugged in the Phone it rang and scared the hell out of all of them.

It's fun to have them and I'm not giving my land line up. It sucks without a Cell phone, but I want something I can rely on and I still can rely on the standard land line.

 

[jamiel]

JasonL, you no longer have to have a landline to have DSL (assuming you've got AT&T/BellSouth as your local landline company...you need "dry line" DSL.

 

[bugsyjones]

Haha. 'Younglings'

I'm probably younger than you all.

I insist on having a land line. For some reason, I see it as reliable. Probably because I've NEVER had a land line problem. Cell phones. Now that's a different story. I do have one, but it's a bare bones prepaid job. I use it sparingly. I got it only because I couldn't get service for my Motorola Micro-Tac.

I don't like the idea of cable-powered telephone or so-called "bundles." It must be a separate entity.

I have a modern cordless phone on the land line, but I also bought for $4 at Goodwill, an OLD cordless. It's way old because it has a 3 foot retractable antenna. But it came with the original box, instructions, and all the parts! I haven't had the opportunity to test it to see if it works, but even if it doesn't, it won't be a huge loss.

I purchased an Automatic Electric model 40 rotary telephone for the front room from a gentleman who restores them. It was damn expensive, but I had to have it! It fits in perfectly and there's no question to if the phone rang or not. No asking yourself 'did the phone just ring?' because you can hear it across the house.

~Tim

 

[charbee]

We'll never get a cell phone unless we're finally forced to.

It's a matter of principle for us. Every day we're nearly killed by some idiot talking on their phone or "texting" instead of actually driving their vehicle. Funny, my parents got through life just fine without having to talk on the phone while they drove! There's NOTHING so important that you must talk on the phone while you are supposed to be driving, let along this ridiculous "texting" thing. You are operating a huge metal machine! Probably a good idea to pay attention to what you're doing!

Another reason is that cell phones have contributed to the heinous lack of manners that has become the standard of the day. I sincerely wish I could slap the people who stand in line at the checkout counter at the grocery store and never even *acknowledge* the person checking them out. We *always* try to engage the checker in a pleasant conversation, and generally wind up with a happy transaction. To utterly and totally ignore someone you are *doing business with* is inexcusablu rude and arrogant.

And the people who walk around the store with those "Locutus of Borg" bluetooth-implant things in their ear talking as loud as they possibly can need a good smackin', too!

 

[rp2813]

Power Failures and DSL

Two things. The DSL-only type of service that doesn't include POTS is called "dry loop" in house, but AT&T didn't like the sound of that so they gave it some sort of cute term that the consumer wouldn't balk at. What that product name is I have forgotten, but "dry loop" should work if you ask for that.

Land line switching offices have back-up power systems of various types, usually depending on the predominant types of customers that are served out of them. A switch that serves predominantly residential areas will probably just have battery back-up, but a switch in a more commercial/industrial zone may have an actual jet engine to serve as a back-up power source. I've seen both.

There are also national security concerns around the landline telephone network, and anti-terrorist safeguards are a matter of course. You think the "hot line" in the Oval Office would ever employ a cell phone? Think again. There simply is not and never will be an acceptable substitute for the land line. The modern global consumer has come to accept products with inferior research, development and testing that don't perform as they should (we appliance buffs know this all too well) and cell phones are the worst example. Customers had to put up with crackling and poor transmissions in the early days of the telephone over a century ago. There is no excuse for having to deal with those same types of transmission problems with 21st century cell phone service, and the wireless telcos are laughing all the way to the bank as they reap huge profits on systems that require virtually no network build-out other than the towers, and virtually no maintenance compared to the copper wire land line networks, and apparently they don't have to answer to anyone about the inferior service their wireless systems are providing. They could never get away with such poor service on their land line systems. Between the FCC and the state PUC's, they'd have their feet to the fire if land line service was even half as unreliable as cell service.

 

[tolivac]

" land line" phone systems typically run from batteries all of the time-a powerline operated charger runs the system when under normal conditions-when there is a power failure the batteries can run the system until Deisel or gas turbine("jet engine")generator is started and transferred.The Solar division of Caterpillar builds turbine genrators-the phone companies have used these for backup generators for many years.Deisel gensets can be started more quickly-gas turbines may require 20min to even half hour to start from cold.Many operators of these try to antancipate power failuers(Ie thunderstorm in area or predicted)they will preheat the turbine genset fuel burners on and unit on turning gear.That way its available instantly like a deisel if required-but this requires fuel use.Turbine sets are usually made for power requirement of 4.5MW on up.Usually larger capacity than deisel.Also cell phone site may run from batteries too-and rely on a small deisel,natural gas genset to provide power in a power failure.Usually 48V is a common battery voltage for communication sites.Landline phone companies use diffrent voltages.