TR Forums

I came here about cutting loose the landline but got Rick Rolled instead.

Haven't personally had a landline for years. But my grandmother's house landline costs $50 a month from AT&T. I feel internet + a cell line provides sufficient redundancy as long as equipment is in place to keep things running during a sustained loss of power.

My modem & computer are on big fat UPS device so I can browse the internet while the power is out. So in the event I lost cell service (I only recall it happening once) I would use VoIP to make calls. If a storm knocked out my cable line then odds are it took the phone lines with it since they share the same poles. But those lucky people with ground-laid fiber will probably have internet service that's even more reliable than a phone line, and have zero reason to pay for a phone line.

If the question is from a long-term power loss perspective then for the cost of a landline one could invest in a big UPS and some electronic battery packs and keep a cell + internet access going for days to a week depending on the devices accessing it. The last time we didn't have power for a >24 hour period the internet never stopped working here and I was still using it with a laptop off the UPS. $25-50 a month adds up fast, for that money I'd rather put it into two big UPS devices instead and save the rest.

I see a lot of "I don't miss the junk calls" but we haven't had a land line in around 10-11 years and the junk calls now come to my cell phone.

Very thankful for the "block number" feature in iOS and Android (7 and later).