Landline phone plans | Page 2 | Your stories | Discussion forum

GIC-Fanatic said

DID is 85 cents, and 911 is $1.50 a month. There are lots of flexibile options with VoIP.ms. You have to be inclined to program or pay some one but they are very helpful. See inbound and outbound calling rates below.
For VoIP.ms you will pay more than $2 a month!

kkkk. Yes it's $0.85 plus $1.50 and in USD. So $2.35 USD which is roughly $3.50 a month with USDCAD at 1.45. I did not opt for the enhanced911 before and that makes it less than $2 CAD a month... I doubt if the 911 locational fee of $2 cad a month is justified, but who cares about $2 a month....

I guess the most important part is unless one is pretty tech savvy and willing to learn and spend time, one is NOT able to set it up by themselves, even after following the detailed instruction that they provide. Other simple plug in provider will be a better provider but all starts at around $5-10 a month give or take.

AltaRed said
Since this thread has turned into a 'landline' thread, stats as of 2021 for landline vs cellphone vs both are reported by StatsCan here https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/5289-landline-use-decreases-amid-growing-cellphone-ownership

There are only a few reasons to have a landline:
-One of them being reliability in some remote areas where cellphone coverage is poor and/or non-existent.
- Another in the case of our extended family is a household with young (<10 yrs old) children who are not yet responsible enough to have their own cellphone.
- For homes with old wired technology such as gate and/or home security systems (in our case)

Our landline is modem based over internet. The built-in battery backup works perfectly well for significant periods of time in event of electrical outages. As mentioned by someone up thread, those batteries do fail after a period of time and ours did after 8? years of usage. Shaw (now Rogers) simply came in and replaced the entire unit at no charge.

When we downsize from our current house, we will eliminate the landline. We have been eliminating that number from all of our "accounts" over time. Only two families in our extended family, one with young kids and ourselves, continue to have a landline.  

There are still so many more good reasons:
- need to have a central number to reach multiple family members still under one roof
- personal home-business where you need more than one person handling calls
- faxing, yes, still useful for transmitting documents. Though technically not secure, it is far more secure than transmitting over the internet
- as you mentioned, young kids
- avoid cell phone constant battery management - so understated
- if you have a copper line, it is are far more reliable during power outages
- with a landline, you can have multiple phones around the house, the larger the house, the more practical ... try that with a cell phone
- Some people are actually VERY sensitive to EMFs, and cannot handle cell phones. I know two people personally.
- for alarms, far more secure, as internet-based can be hacked. And many of internet-based are wireless, which can be interrupted with simple jammers, completely disabling them
- if landline is internet based, you can still get a UPS for battery backup. As long as ISP is not down, you can still get connection

These are all the ones that come immediately to mind.

Dean said
.
'Ditto' on the land-line ⬆

We're with Telus (@ $34/Month all in), and it still works when the power goes out.

The main reason we have one is because there's no cell reception at our rural acreage, deep in the sticks.

Dean

  

@Dean.
Call Telus. Then all the AI stuff kicks in. Then say you would like to “discuss” cancelling your account. They will give some AI that you will have to pay a penalty. Just wait and you will be connected to a human. Then whine enough to get connected with loyalty. My MIL and other elderly friends get a $5 a month plan “for ever”. Just verify if the offer meets your needs.

smayer97 said

Glad you acknowlege that.  

Fine, my beef is for people who insist they need to pay for a old fashion copper landline and pay $$$ a month even tho they are living in a big city.

I repeat, you don't need to "manage" ur cellphone battery, just plug it in every nite when you go to sleep. I do observe some seniors don't do it for whatever reason. Most cellphones have enuf juice to last the whole day (unless u watch video on it all day). Unless ur phone battery is already dying, then it means its time to get a new phone, not "manage" it.

I use my cell extensively such as texting, etc during the day. It's more important than my wallet. It follows me around. Its also a safety feature if I do fall or medical emergency and need help. Its better than trying to crawl etc to the nearest plug in phone / cordless...

for the record, my house is pretty big but I dont consider carry my cellphone around a hassle

savemoresaveoften: Anything that runs on batteries will run down sooner or later. Anyone who uses a mobile phone as their only phone/internet device will probably have to charge more than once a day. Many modern phones do not have removeable/replaceable batteries and their capacity will fall with time. And what if you're on hold with the (@#$%&*) phone company or bank for hours?

I have a wired phone in every room. Living alone, the bathroom one's important!

smayer97 said
who enjoys having to chase down their cell phone for every call or have to carry it around all the time? And the bigger the house, the more hassle. I certainly don't. Why are people willing to accept or tolerate such inconveniences?  

One could pair a smart watch to their cell phone and not have to be inconvenienced by having to chase down their phone or have it on their person at all times to answer calls (or ignore the 90% that are spam).

COIN said

Question 3: Why does Bell list my name, address and telephone in the phone book?
I hate when strangers call me up and call me by name, then tell me my address and goes on to say I need a new roof.  

Pretty sure you can ask Bell to remove you from the phonebook but you may have to pay...

COIN said
Question: How can I tell if I have a landline?

I hate when strangers call me up and call me by name, then tell me my address and goes on to say I need a new roof.  

Answer: Give me your are code and first 3 digits and I will tell who is your provider.

Every real estate agent has your FULL info, name, address, etc., etc. What stopes them to sell your info to anybody...
I was handed invite (while shoveling) for an open house in our area with our names hand written and spelled properly. When I asked how the heck you know our names, guy replied 'we know almost everything about you...'

Phone book? I do not think Bell printed those for a long while.
canada411.ca is recognizing my number as Bell's land line but has no further info as I transferred it from Bell to voip. And my name is not found there either.

Fongo is nice but you CANNOT send SMS. Only receive.
TextNow is better as it is full service calls/sms in/out.
And yes, if you do not use their services for a particular period of time you lose phone number. Having both apps, I use each to call other app once a week to keep numbers 'alive'.
Having these kind of free phone apps come VERY handy if you HAVE to provide phone number but do not want to give your Real land or mobile number. Like to get store reward card, etc. BUT, some companies recognize these voip numbers as 'not real' and then you have to make a decision do you REALLY want their service/card/whatever or not.

CAD said

Answer: Give me your are code and first 3 digits and I will tell who is your provider.
 

If you are using this…. https://www.cnac.ca/co_codes/co_code_status.htm

It does not cover a number ported to a different carrier.

GIC-Fanatic said

CAD said

Answer: Give me your are code and first 3 digits and I will tell who is your provider.
 

If you are using this…. https://www.cnac.ca/co_codes/co_code_status.htm

It does not cover a number ported to a different carrier.  

Yes, I use that. It will show Origins of number you ported/transferred to provider #1, then maybe to provider #2, etc.
My number appears as Bell land line even it was transferred to my ISP providing me with VOIP.