I have a cellphone and vonage. Does vonage (which I can take with me) count as a landline?

I'd be curious to see how these results break down once age is factored in. I'm 43, so I still have this attachment (irrational though it may be) to my landline, because that's ALL I had growing up and even into my early 30's.

I'm betting that the youger types (who may have had cell-phones since they were early teens) have no such attachment.

Just a thought...

I think landlines will die out as the new generation gets older. Phones will be attached to a person rather than a location.

I think "cut the cord" might miss a bigger cause: People never getting landlines.

I'm just a couple years out of college, and nobody I know has ever even though about getting a landline for their house. More importantly than existing consumers dropping landlines, "new" adults are never getting one.

I currently have only a landline. And coming up on November 13th, Comcast sees fit to discontinue my service whether I like it or not. I am seriously considering abandoning telephones all together at that point.

How neccesary are phones today? I have internet access and can probably make do with Skype using Skype out or a similar application.

I have a cell and a DSL line, which is technically a landline though I voted cell phone only. I don't have an actual handset hooked up to the phone jack. My apologies for throwing the poll.

Not that I ever actually answer my cell phone...

I also have VOIP. My internet, phone, and television all come over one fiber optic line.

9/11 cell service meltdown, anyone?

@ltlbbynthn: I only have a landline because I barely get cell service in my home. If the service improved, I'd be cellphone only.

@mattatwork: I agree with you.

When I first moved out on my own a few years ago I got a landline becuase it was the thing to do. After a year I realized that I never used it. everyone called my cell phone and the landline just sat there. I canceled it and never looked back.

I also think number portability really helped the push to cell phone only. People were always afraid to give up their landline because it was the only number they had ever used. Now they can keep that number and no one is the wiser that it has been switched to a cell phone.

@quarterly:

I'm in a similar situation. I have a landline but only for DSL. There's a phone hooked up although it's rarely used. I'm unfortunately using AT&T for my DSL and I'm hoping I can get the naked DSL and do away with a landline altogether.

naked dsl + cellphone for the win

I have mental powers....

My husband and I cut the cord about four years ago when we both had cell phones and a shared land line, the latter of which only rang with wrong numbers. We realized we were paying $60 a month to repeatedly tell people that the business formerly connected to the number was out of business and said funk that.

@ElizabethD: We had a slight service meltdown on 8/1/07 in the Twin Cities area, but everyone that called me was eventually able to get through, and most of my calls connected after one or two tries. It's a temporary inconvenience but still not worth the price of a land line.

quarterly, you can if you are in an area that was serviced by bellsouth. call them up, ask for bundle 97.

I too have cell phones and Vonage. The only reason I have Vonage is to be able to call my children who live in Italy. If it were not for the free calling to landlines in Italy I wouldn't have it at all.

Cell only, and I've had no problems or inconveniences arise from it yet.

I'd like to see a similar study about how many of us "new adults" are abandoning snail mail as well. I use maybe 10 stamps a year, and only for things that absolutely not be done electronically.

@ElizabethD: Landlines can die, too- relying on any technology to get yourself out of an emergency is the first mistake. Just because it's an older technology doesn't mean it has any better of a chance at saving your life.

@stpauliegirl: This poll is kind of fortuitous, because I just canceled my Qwest landline yesterday. I figured out the I was paying $48 a month (the cheapest plan they had plus taxes/fees) so that my parents could leave messages on my answering machine, so that companies could cold call me to buy their junk, and so that I could hook up my ReplayTV modem. So, I set up my cell phone voice-mailbox for my folks, hooked my DVR up to my cable modem and dropped Qwest.

And it's a good feeling.

Cell only here. Cell phone plans are so expensive, why add to the cost by getting a landline?

I have both - but only because I can't get naked DSL

I've been land-line free since ~2001. Never an issue except the two times I've had problems with my cell phone, but there are enough AT&T stores out there that it isn't a problem to go to one if need be.

I've been cell only for over 6 years. I had Vonage for a brief stint but just for business purposes when I worked from home :).

Yes, sometimes it's a pain, but not enough of a pain to warrant another bill in the form of a landline. I think "9/11 meltdown" was an exception rather than the rule.

Had to get a landline for the first time in years this summer when I moved into a building that required one to buzz visitors in.

I still have a landline but am considering TMobiles Hotspot@Home which is $20/month and won't eat up my cell minutes.

i am a bigger nerd than most of you all, and i hate cell phones. and i hate people who love cell phones.

and god help you if you try to talk about sim cards to me.

Going landline-free, this month. When I added up the cost of landline plus dialup-ISP and realized that I could get cable internet for half the cost, the decision really made itself.

Luckily, I have good neighbors with landlines and live in a very urban setting. Finding a landline in an emergency would be a snap.

Most people I know, that is college students living in cheap apartments or houses, only have cell phones. No one wants to pay an extra bill for a phone nobody is going to call! We were just talking about this in one of my classes, actually.

The only time I've ever wanted one was for phone card purposes - my boyfriend lives overseas and you get a lot more minutes when you use a card with a landline vs. a mobile - but we use Skype most of the time so it works out.

@Ickypoopy: Why are they doing that?

@Squeezer99: Dallas is AT&T, I'm afraid. If naked DSL can save me actual money, I'd switch to that. I admit I haven't looked into it much.

Ditto @ the landline for dsl folks. I technically have both, but only for dsl. Important calls use the cell. Most of my communication is by email or aim.

@Steel_Pelican: Stamps and checks...things of the past. :) Except for rebates.

@boandmichele: I bet you don't have a lot of friends left, then, and hate everyone you know.

I technically have a landline, but I voted cellphone only, since Verizon forces us to have it for their slow-ass DSL. The ringer is off and I couldn't even tell you the number of the landline. I would have actually been in that 2.9% three years ago. Why the hell would I pay for a landline if I already have a phone that goes with me?

I've been cellphone-only for about 3.5 years. The last landline I had was when I lived with roommates (moved out spring of 2004) - I eventually realized that I wasn't home very often and they weren't very good at taking messages.

I don't use it much, but I use it more than I would a landline phone.

we have cell phones + a landline. we never use it for calls, i don't even give out the number. i'd love to get rid of it, but we need it for DirecTV and our alarm system.

The only reason I have a landline is because it came as part of my cable package. I never use it and would not have one otherwise. Before this, though, I was cellphone only for several years.

my fiance and i got rid of our cell phone leashes about half a year ago and only have a landline, which barely gets used. ah the joy of freedom. between the landline, work phones, and internet everywhere, we have plenty of communication.

My wife and I both have cellphones for less than the amount we were spending monthly on our landline and long distance. Landline-free since ~2000. It is quite a relief to know that if the phone rings it is almost assuredly going to be a call I want, and not some telemarketing firm.

I only have a cell phone and only take it out of the house on long car trips (over 3 hours).

@Buran: just about. :) im pretty intolerant of things i find to be inefficient or wasteful. also ripoffs. therefore you could say im against the whole cell industry.

*sigh* i wasnt always this way. i was one of the first kids in school with a cell phone, 6th grade, and im now 24. go figure.

@LAGirl: Seriously, they require that you have a landline for DirecTV? That sucks. I was thinking of subscribing but I don't have a landline and I'm not quite sure I'd like to just to get satellite.

I can think of one good reason for having a POTS connection: Faxing.

Faxes have special legal status (they're assumed to be secure, whereas email and such isn't, and thus can be used for medical records and other such miscellany) -- but only if they go over POTS; T.37 and T.38-based faxing doesn't count.

My household has a POTS line, but only because my brother-in-law pays for it; his stated reason is to have a backup connectivity mechanism should our cable modem die.

@MissJ: Yeah, you need the line so you can buy PPV stuff.

Anyways it's most definitely land lines will be phased out.

Yeah... if it weren't for my job I'd never have a cell phone. They're just not that important. If someone needs me, call my damn house phone and leave a message. Not everything needs to be tended to immediately.
That, and my work cell service is crappy out in the country where I live, so it's nearly a moot point to begin with.
Also, on the house phone I've gone retro -- Custom Phones
Got me a pink rotary phone with an actual bell ringer.
Those iPhones have no idea what cool really is. ;)

Plus, I plug in my house phone and, oh my God, it just works. I don't recall ever seeing and old Model 500 rotary phone "brick".

I use both a Landline and a Cell Phone. My fiance's father has some disabilities, so having the landline available to him if he needs either of us keeps the worry down.

I have no friends, so no need for phone

Hmmm, so the majority of Consumerist readers have only a cellphone. Interesting stuff.

The thought of using a pay phone today grosses me out, even though I would have thought nothing of it when I was growing up. And it seems like half the time the phones don't work. Have pay phones gotten worse--in terms of reliability and hygiene--as they have become less profitable for companies to maintain?

@boandmichele: How is a phone that you can carry around with you inefficient? Cells make phone conversations MORE efficient. No calling 5 locations to try to find the one person you want, you just call that person's cell. Also, you can't call a tow truck from the side of the road with a landline...etc.