Land line phones (are they a thing of the past?)

So how do you do it?

  • I always use a LL phone when at home

    Votes: 24 31.2%

  • I never use a LL phone when at home

    Votes: 17 22.1%

  • I'll use both

    Votes: 25 32.5%

  • I don't have a LL

    Votes: 5 6.5%

  • I don't have a mobile

    Votes: 7 9.1%

  • I don't care, I'm off down the pub

    Votes: 4 5.2%
  • Total voters
    77
Cobra

Cobra

In Memoriam. TPer Emeritus
Admin
Messages
115,214
Name
The real Chris
Edit My Images
No
Just a letter drop through my door.
It seems that Ofcom are changing the "rules" as from 1st Oct. this year.
When dialling a LOCAL call from a land line, we will also have to include the area code too.

I can see the logic, as it'll free up millions of numbers.

But it got me thinking, who really uses a land line for personal calls in this day and age?

What with the unlimited mobile text / call packages that are available these days.
I have one (phone that is) but have it on silent due to the increasing number of sales / crap calls.
And can't remember the last time I actually dialled a call on it.
TBH the only real reason the line is there is for internet.

Just curious.
 
Can't remember the last time I dialled out on the LL, however a lot of family (especially older ones ;) ) still use it to call in.

.....No option on the survey thingy for me :)
 
I can't remember the last time I dialled out on it. But people do still use it to call me and from a business point of view having a land line looks better (I think)

I was listening to a program the other day, that said the only way to get broadband from most providers is via ADSL which is why I don't think you'll see the end on landlines soon. So the difficulties associated with broadband without a home phone mean I guess we'll have them for a long time to come. I think only Virgin media use cable all the way to your house
 
Mine is kept for broadband connectivity only otherwise pretty much redundant.
 
I've wondered this before too
we only use ours for occasional calls abroad and Skype friends and family
 
I suspect this will be divided along the lines of who lives in places with poor mobile signal and who lives in towns. Mobile use where I live is very hit & miss, even when using O2-based connections (O2 have the best signal here) and if I depended on mobile only then life would be much more difficult. I actively discourage using my mobile number, both for home & work, because call quality is so poor (and it's not the phone).
 
I really only keep it now for the broadband, hardly ever use it to make calls and have to have a call blocker on it to stop the incoming spam/scam calls.
 
Phone of choice is the landline.
Even better now that I've got a list of genuine fake numbers to put on internet forms. No more nuisance calls.
 
mickledore said:
Phone of choice is the landline.
Even better now that I've got a list of genuine fake numbers to put on internet forms. No more nuisance calls.
Click to expand...

:thinking:
 
I use my LL when phoning in sick. Only because its easier to get a handkerchief over the mouth piece and make you sound ill though.
 
@Cobra Seems you're in one of the roll- out areas where number capacity might be an issue. Bournemouth have had to use the code for years iirc
 
I use the landline at home to make calls. I only use the mobile when away from home (and rarely at that) so I can often leave my entire month's worth of "free" calls unused.
 
boyfalldown said:
I can't remember the last time I dialled out on it. But people do still use it to call me and from a business point of view having a land line looks better (I think)
Click to expand...
I agree with that totally.
However, it may be an age thing.
I remember the days without mobiles being in anywhere near common use.
When they started to become "popular" there was always a suspicion attached to it.
How many of you remember (and its still seen from time to time)
Adverts that say "No mobile numbers"
Also of course for business use,
How many of us in the past have dialled a LL number in preference to a mobile number?
I know I have
boyfalldown said:
I was listening to a program the other day, that said the only way to get broadband from most providers is via ADSL which is why I don't think you'll see the end on landlines soon. So the difficulties associated with broadband without a home phone mean I guess we'll have them for a long time to come. I think only Virgin media use cable all the way to your house
Click to expand...
Agreed the line is here to stay, for sometime yet,
just for that very reason.

j crossley said:
How will it free up millions of numbers?
Click to expand...
You know what? your right,
This is how being "sold" to us.
My initial thought was the by using the code to dial locally that number could be used again,
with a different area code.
But of course that possible now Doh!
(Unless of course they don't it like that at the moment? )
 
j crossley said:
How will it free up millions of numbers?
Click to expand...
At present a phone number cannot begin with a zero, as that is the signal to the exchange that an STD code will follow.

Allowing numbers that start with a 0 will permit an extra ninety thousand(ish) numbers per STD code, based on six digit local numbers.
 
viv1969 said:
@Cobra Seems you're in one of the roll- out areas where number capacity might be an issue. Bournemouth have had to use the code for years iirc
Click to expand...
Oh OK I didn't realise that it was already in use, in some areas.
MK is expanding far faster than the universe :D
at one time the code was 0980. then we (but I think that applied to everyone?
had to add a 1 after the zero.
all the numbers use to start with a 7 and were 5 digits
they then prefixed them with a 3, making it 6 digits.
But now the 3 is not the only one.
 
onomatopoeia said:
At present a phone number cannot begin with a zero, as that is the signal to the exchange that an STD code will follow.

Allowing numbers that start with a 0 will permit an extra ninety thousand(ish) numbers per STD code, based on six digit local numbers.
Click to expand...
Good point, I never knew that :)
 
I clicked on 'I don't have a mobile' thinking I would be the only one. I was pleased to see that there are two others!

I like to walk out of the house and not be contactable. Molbile phones seem to be remote controls for humans and judging by most of the conversations I overhear, also devices for spreading trivia. I don't want to part of either.


Steve.
 
I NEVER use my landline. My outgoing calls are either FaceTime (video or audio), Skype or using the inclusive minutes on my mobile.
I only got the landline as it came with the internet.
 
I use the land line because it is cheaper per call than my mobile. However, if the rental of the line is included it could be more expensive and I make so few calls that the main use of the land line is the the broadband connection,

I'd avoid any business that did not have a land line number.

Dave
 
Steve Smith said:
I like to walk out of the house and not be contactable.
Click to expand...
Would that be because you also clicked I'm off down the pub? :D

Steve Smith said:
I clicked on 'I don't have a mobile' thinking I would be the only one. I was pleased to see that there are two others!
I like to walk out of the house and not be contactable. Molbile phones seem to be remote controls for humans and judging by most of the conversations I overhear, also devices for spreading trivia. I don't want to part of either.
Steve.
Click to expand...

I agree about the remote control thing,
some people really cannot live without them, can they?
TBH I often go out and leave mine behind.
 
Cobra said:
Would that be because you also clicked I'm off down the pub?
Click to expand...

That's another observation. You see people in pubs who you would think would be there socially, all concentrating on their phones, sending messages to others - perhaps even to the person next to them.

I have also witnessed someone sitting at the front of a bus with his son, receive a call from his wife who was sitting on the back seat of the same bus with their daughter, asking which stop they had to get off at.


Steve.
 
Last edited:
Steve Smith said:
I like to walk out of the house and not be contactable
Click to expand...
I do that by not answering my mobile. It's primary purpose is a portable TCP/IP connection, not for voice telephony.

I do it in the house with my landline as well, if I don't feel like talking. I refuse to be at the beck and call of a device that rings at me.
 
I've got an internet package that includes free phone calls anytime so I use that, I only make calls to customers so not many at that, I have a cheapo mobile PAYG, £10 top up will last me 6 months, I just don't call people, if I want to speak to someone ( rarely) I go and see them.
 
Landline. Vodafone and O2 are the only providers, and the signals are very weak/unreliable, with frequent dropped calls, 'emergency only' and 'no service'. I get better coverage in Joburg, and never thought I'd say that, but I know people not far away who consider themselves lucky to get any signal at all!
 
Area Code change only applies to some areas:

  • Aberdeen (01224): Includes Aberdeen and the area to the west, including towns such as Westhill.
  • Bradford (01274): Includes Bradford and the surrounding areas such as Baildon, Bingley, Cleckheaton and Shipley.
  • Brighton (01273): Includes Brighton and Hove, as well as places such as Lewes, Newhaven, Peacehaven and Southwick.
  • Middlesbrough (01642): Includes Middlesbrough and surrounding places such as Stockton, Redcar, Stokesley and Yarm
  • Milton Keynes (01908): Includes Milton Keynes, Bletchley, Newport Pagnell and an area to the north as far as Ravenstone.
Source: http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/phone/numbering/dial-the-code/
 
Absolutely no mobile signal at home here, but O2 have the handy TuGo app which routes calls over wifi so the landline is still rarely used. Definitely more incoming calls, it'll definitely reach me should my iPhone not be connected to wifi.
 
Steve Smith said:
I have also witnessed someone sitting at the front of a bus with his son, receive a call from his wife who was sitting on the back seat of the same bus with their daughter, asking which stop they had to get off at.
Click to expand...

Thats crazy! Send a text in that situation.
 
viv1969 said:
@Cobra Seems you're in one of the roll- out areas where number capacity might be an issue. Bournemouth have had to use the code for years iirc
Click to expand...
I made a phone call from my parents house in Bournemouth last week (for the first time in a few years) and was surprised when it told me to dial the STD code first - I didn't know why until now!
 
mickledore said:
My idiot of a next door neighbour sits in front of the telly, with his wife in the chair next to him, and they e-mail each other!
Click to expand...

Now that is crazy.

I would rather walk a couple of miles to talk to someone than call them on the phone. Perhaps I'm at the opposite end of crazy!


Steve.
 
I'm with Steve on this.
I grew up with no landline at home, and I have no mobile now. I have a phone at home, I don't feel the need to be constantly contactable, although my boss seems to think I should be. If someone wants me they can phone and leave a message at my home number. I'll answer A. when I am there, and B. When I want too.
 
MartynK said:
Landline. Vodafone and O2 are the only providers, and the signals are very weak/unreliable, with frequent dropped calls, 'emergency only' and 'no service'. I get better coverage in Joburg, and never thought I'd say that, but I know people not far away who consider themselves lucky to get any signal at all!
Click to expand...
luckily i have a sim that uses o2 as its default network but if o2 drops signal it will switch to the strongest available network - the data and call price rises a bit when this switch occurs but it will go back to o2 as soon as signal is regained
 
Hardly use the LL now except maybe at the weekends, free calls up to 59 mins at weekend. We changed providers from Sky to Virgin and asked for a new phone number while doing the change, solved the problem of cold callers/ppi etc in one fell swoop. If companies want my phone number they get my mobile, if they insist on a LL number its tough tittie, they lose my custom. Only close friends/relatives have the new LL number but we are contemplating getting rid of that now and use mobile only.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top