Who still leases a landline phone?

[pstokely]

http://www.qltcls.com/products/corded.html#traditionalrotary

$4.45 a month for a rotary phone?

[mitchtv]

1. brings me back to my old Bell system days

there was a big campaign to modularize the connections in the IW (inside wire)so thedivestiture could commence. RJ type jacks.

[rurallib]

2. believe it or not, my neighbors still did a year ago.

[LiberalEsto]

3. It's a touch tone, and it works during long power outages

which happen every now and then in the PEPCO service area.

[MissDeeds]

17. I have a cell and a land line

Both are needed in the Midwest where we get hit by tornadoes, ice storms, and other weather events that may take out cell service.

[patricia92243]

4. Me. I hate cell phones. But then, I am old. :)

[RebelOne]

29. Me too. But it is not leased. I pay for the phone service. n/t

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. The Paul Revere lady might, so in she can see Russia through her phone.

[Thirtieschild]

15. We had one of those during WWII

Party line, our # was 59f12 - one long ring, two short rings. Someone on the line was having an affair and Mother loved to listen in.

[chowder66]

6. I do. Apartment security box does not work w/ cell phones also

I can't afford to have my phone go out for any amount of time since I work from home.

Not a fan of cell phones except in rare circumstances.

[kick-ass-bob]

38. you lease the actual phone? Or just have a land line service?

[monmouth]

7. Love my landline, will never give it up...n/t

[octothorpe]

9. I don't think the OP meant the landline service, but the actual phone.

Looks like the company leases out the phones for about $4 to $8 a month.

[monmouth]

18. I have my own phone...n/t

[pstokely]

19. The phone leasing company was one part of Ma Bell

nt

[octothorpe]

22. Really? The one mentioned in the link?

heh, interesting how they are still around. I know that way back when, the telco used to lease out equipment because they restricted devices that could electrically connect to their network. I didn't know there were still artifacts from that.

[pstokely]

35. they'll probably go out of business when their customers are all dead

nt

[octothorpe]

8. Seems similar to leasing a toaster...

[pinboy3niner]

10. I have 3 landline phones which I own, not lease

One has a corded (not wireless) handset, for security. That one cost me about $8, plus tax.

[angstlessk]

11. That phone reminds me of my grandma's phone..AND she had a party line

we kids would ease-drop...no one used to talk for hours they would call someone..a relative, a boss..and spend about 5 minutes and be off...life used to be so simple...

[InkAddict]

12. Perhaps my folks still do though they've only used it only once in the

last 15 years in order to speak w/me. Repair was free if the line was leased. Buy your own phone and choose another LD service - you pay for line service when it's broken. Life-long free LD was another perk for the retired as well. Not sure that still goes either. Nevermind all that. It never mattered much because "if I use it too much (meaning at all) they'll cancel the benefit." Yup, the old faithful rotary probably still hangs on the wall....Whatever.... :snooze:

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. You talking the phone or the service?

We own our phones, have landline and have cell service.
Landlines stay connected when cells go out and vice versa.

[XanaDUer]

14. Me, I'm keeping it

Never talk on cells if I can avoid it. Love texting, use an iPod for apps etc.

[DesertFlower]

16. i have a landline and 6 phones.

i also use the phone company for my internet service. i have a cell phone but rarely use it. the only one who has the number is my husband. i carry it when i'm out in case of a flat tire or to call hubby and let him know that i'll be late.

[mysuzuki2]

20. If I remember correctly, it wasn't until the 1980s

that you were even allowed to own the phone. You were required to lease it from the phone co. And there was only 1 phone company.

[murielm99]

21. I was required to purchase our phones.

We still have a landline here, and I am keeping it. It works during power outages.

MY upstairs phone is a princess phone with a rotary dial. It does not get that much use, except as an extension.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

23. You could only have one phone with a ringer on it.

Your extension phones could not have ringers. If they all rang, the voltage drop would alert Ma Bell that you had more than one phone!! Sacre bleu!

[Doremus]

24. My father had a hardwired phone that he leased from Ohio Bell until he died in 92.

This was the kind that you couldn't disconnect from the wall and plug in another room.

My kids think the technology we (their dad and I) grew up with is hilarious.

[csziggy]

25. I still have a landline which comes with the DSL

And I'd have to have one anyway since I get no cell signal inside my house. I can make a cell phone call IF I walk to the top of the hill and stand in the right spot. In the house, I get just enough signal that the cell will ring, but it usually will not connect.

[Shagbark Hickory]

26. Looks like yet another way to take advantage of the elderly.

[backscatter712]

27. They still make phones with wires?

Wow! They told me that you actually have to plug them into a jack in the wall or they won't work!

[hobbit709]

31. And when the power goes out and cell towers are down, guess what.

The landline phone still works. A friend in Houston had no electricity for 6 days after Ike. Cell phone was spotty, sometimes he could get a signal and get through sometimes he couldn't.
EVERY time he picked up the landline phone he had dial tone and could make and receive calls.

[Abq_Sarah]

34. I got rid of my landlines

Because they were constantly going down and I had to have my business line transferred to a cell so I didn't miss calls.

Our landline junction box is several feet away from a drive thru and Qwest won't sink the protective posts in concrete to keep the assholes from backing into it and running it over repeatedly. Better for me to lose service than for some clueless jerk to damage their car. :grr:

[madamesilverspurs]

28. What would be the point

of leasing one of those phones without the built-in wall niche to hold it?


-

[sakabatou]

30. We have a landline, but it's not rotary.

[Capitalocracy]

32. Here in Buenos Aires it's still common for apartments to come with a phone

so I use a phone that's not mine, not paying extra for it, though

[customerserviceguy]

33. I doubt anybody under the age of seventy

is still renting their old phone. Still, those old beasts were sure durable, weren't they? I picked up a two-line phone at a garage sale in the late 1980's, and other than replacing the cords, it still functions like a champ!

[hobbit709]

36. I got a phone I picked up at Radio shack in 1975 for $10.

It was one of those see-through plastic trimlines. I've had to replace the handset cord several times, the numbers have completely worn off the buttons and it still works fine. It's my main phone in my computer shop.

[Xithras]

41. Yep. I have a circa 1970 Trimline hanging on the wall in my garage.

It was the first phone I ever bought after moving out of my parents house. I think I spent $5 on it at a garage sale in 1992, and it's followed me from house to house ever since. It's now been relegated to the garage, but it still works as well as it did when Bell first leased it out ~40 years ago. Other than replacing the cord, the thing is nearly indestructible. Since our other handsets are cordless, it's also the only landline phone in our house that works when the power goes out.

[HopeHoops]

37. Weird. Originally that's all you COULD do, but they gave my grandmother hers when Ma Bell split.

I have that phone. It was hard-wired to the wall with a LOOOOOOONNNNGGGG cord and it weighs a ton! It is also quite sticky from decades of being in a house with two Camel smokers. Nice relic, though.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

39. I do

Sometimes I think 'why am I spending $50 a month when I hardly use the phone?' then someone with a cell calls and I know why, :bounce: because the quality is so much better!

[theophilus]

40. I do! I do! And I will until ATand T does away with all of them to get money

for basically nothing. I don't think I pay AT and T anything for the phone, though.