So we weighed the chance of another NYC power outage making us the only ones in the building with a working phone line, and decided that the monthly cost of upkeep for a landline we barely use anymore was just not worth it. This will also take us off the grid for political pollsters, but we figured that as long as we can still walk to the polls, we’ll be okay. As for the telemarketers, well, they want have us to push around anymore.
We were considering also getting rid of cable TV, but we’re too scared.
If you need to reach us, use our cells or work numbers or E-mail or Facebook or Twitter or Peggy’s Blog. And if they all fail at the same time, we’re doomed anyway. Or there’s been another NYC power outage.
In which case, we made the wrong decision.
See you in the future.
After much trepidation (and moving through my 5th decade of life), I, too, recently scrapped my landline in favor of mobile-only. Am cutting cable TV next week. In thanks for all I’ve gotten from your blog, I’d like to share two things that have made these decisions much easier for my household: Link-to-cell technology in the case of the phones, and SimpleTV in the case of the cable (which, I agree, has been a much-scarier – crazy crazy – proposition). One lets you continue to use a landline telephone set over your cellular service, and the other gives you a monthly-fee-free DVR for over-the-air recording (and pausing live TV, something I’ve come to believe – crazy crazy – is indispensable to life as we know it. Please feel free to email me if you’d like more info (although it’s quite likely you’re already up to date); I mean it when I say that your blog has given much to me. 🙂
Meig –
You’ve more than repaid me with that link-to-cell tip! I had no idea it existed and it will solve my problem of “Where the heck did I leave my phone?” for me when I am home. We have thought of direct TV< but that would mean we'd have to actually buy a new TV - ours is still one of those 15 year old 24 inch thingies without anything but a cable hookup! Thanks for reading - Peggy
I live in the UK . I don’t know if the telco is different in the USA , but , here the landlines have their own power source . I use a ( mobile ) cell phone when I go out but I use a landline if I have to call my bank . With a cell phone people ‘ can ‘ listen in if they are on the same frequency . 🙂
P.s. I got rid of my tv years ago as it is all repeats and we can’t pay for a repeat licence .
Hi Jim – yes, landlines here have a little electrical power that seems independent of the grid, so during the power outages we just plugged in that old phone up there and we had phone service! It was the one thing that gave us pause in getting rid of the landline. Once we cut off service, it’s useless.
I figure the NSA is listening in no matter what I do…
All the best –
Peggy