Yes, you might still want to keep your landline: here’s why

Mobile network outages can shut down networks for hours, leaving us stranded without one of our most critical lines of access to the world. What good is a smartphone if it can’t make calls, especially in an emergency?

Earlier this year, an AT&T outage left services unavailable for more than 12 hours in many of the most populous cities in the US. And earlier this month, an outage at Verizon left some customers stuck in SOS mode for much of the day. These outages remind us of the dangers of relying solely on cell phones.

And it may have made many people reconsider the place of a home appliance that used to be a standard issue but is now almost obsolete: the landline telephone.

Remember the landline?

Landlines are telephones that connect to specialized wiring in our homes. The iconic image is of a rotary telephone – usually rented from the telephone company – hanging on the wall or sitting on a counter or table, although push-button landlines and later wireless landlines replaced many of those oldies around the world. 1980s. Landline telephones are connected through a global communications network built up over more than a century. But when cell phones became widely available and affordable, many people chose to ditch their landlines altogether.

A 2022 survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that only about 29% of American adults lived in a home with a landline telephone. decreased by more than 90% in 2004. The crossover took place around 2015, which is also when smartphone sales entered a boom that reshaped the tech industry and made iPhone maker Apple one of the world’s most valued companies.

Ann Williams is one of the people who hasn’t given up their landline yet. When asked why she keeps hers, she describes moving to Huntsville, Alabama after a year tornado outbreak on April 27, 2011, when dozens of twisters killed at least 250 people and knocked out power for days. Although she moved there after the tornadoes, when she heard about the event, she realized the importance of always needing a phone connection.

“The weather here is so unpredictable,” she told me in an interview. But landlines have special power and often work even during an outage. “We remember a day when it was absolutely necessary to have (the landline),” Williams said.

What makes landlines more reliable?

Landline telephones operate on a separate infrastructure, constructed from copper telephone lines that are cheap to build and fairly reliable. They also do not have the disadvantages of mobile networks, such as dropped calls, poor and distorted quality or weak reception.

A major reason why people keep landlines is that they continue to work even during power outages, which is a big plus for people whose work involves emergency services, business or healthcare.

Analog fax machines are also built around landline telephone systems, meaning that most hospitals and doctor’s offices, as well as policy and law firms, need to run a landline connection.

Disadvantages of landlines

The US Federal Communications Commission is reduce requirements for telephone companies to provide landline services (called Plain Old Telephone Service) across the country. As a result, more and more homes and business offices are being built with Ethernet connections instead telephone connections.

Landline telephone connections are also not cheap. CNET corporate cousin AllConnect notes that AT&T’s traditional home phone plan starts at $48 per month, and you must use the company for internet as well. CenturyLink is cheaper, starting at $30 per month, and Spectrum charges just $20 per month.

And not all landlines use copper telephone lines. Businesses are increasingly using their telephone systems on their Internet connections, a service called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. AllConnect currently tracks only three service providers that offer old-style landlines: CenturyLink, Comcast Xfinity, and Cox.

How to get a landline

If you are ready to purchase a landline, call the local telephone company and ask about telephone services. If you live in an apartment building, it is important that you know where the telephone junction box is located. Normally the landlord should know this and if not, the local phone company should be able to find it.

Here are some follow-up questions to ask and what to look for in the answers:

• Are the landlines VoIP or are they POTS? Ideally, if you are looking for safety and reliability, POTS is what you are looking for. VoIP can work, but understand that it likely relies on your internet modem and connection to work.
• If VoIP, does the company have backup power systems in place to ensure the voice line works in the event of a power outage? Most companies sell spare batteries that you can buy directly from them. You can use an uninterrupted power supply, for example from CyberPower or APC. Please note that these are different from portable power supplies. Portable power supplies allow you to stay electronically powered on the go, but they are not intended to constantly monitor for power outages and then turn on when needed.
• Local calls are usually free, but calling from your area code costs. What is the rate structure? Companies such as AT&T have several additional fees that they charge for national calls, as well as for international long distance calls. Long distance calls in particular are usually charged by the minute, and the companies don’t always publish that information on their website. Make sure you know what it will cost, and if it’s too much, consider using a chat app like Signal, WhatsApp, Google Meet, or Apple FaceTime for your long-distance calls.

What to do with a landline

If you have a landline but let it languish and take money out of your bank account every month, you’re not alone. But there are some ways to make it more useful.

Google Voice is a popular option, which gives you a new phone number that acts as a hub of sorts. When people call, Google Voice then calls whatever phone you’ve connected it to, whether it’s a home landline, a cell phone, a work phone, or something else.

There are also other similar services, including Zoom and RingCentral, if you don’t like working with Google.

A landline phone can also connect to home security systems and medical alert sensors to ensure that help arrives as quickly as possible in the event of an emergency.

If you can’t get a landline

If you don’t qualify for a landline, or don’t like the service offered, you have more options with satellite providers. Companies such as HughesNet and SpaceX can support VoIP over their Internet connections.

Phone makers like Apple are also slowly building satellite messaging into their devices. The iPhone 14, which debuted in 2022, has a feature called Emergency SOS, which can connect to a satellite to send location data to your friends or an emergency text message to authorities.