You may still need your landline phone in 2025. That’s why

If you have experienced one of the massive Breaks on the mobile networkThen you saw how he left you to narrow Without one of your most critical access lines to the world for hours. If your smartphone can’t call a phone, then what is good during an emergency?

AT&T interruption last year, for example, took services for more than 12 hours In many of the most populated cities in the United States and in September, the Verizon interruption caused some phones to be stuck in SOS mode for much of the day. These interruptions served as a reminder of Dangers from reading only mobile phonesS

This may have made you rethink the place of a home device, which was a standard problem, but now it is almost outdated: the landline. Here’s what to consider when you decide whether to save (or get) a landline.

Do you remember the landline phone?

Stationary are phones that connect to specialized wiring in our homes. The emblematic image is that on a rotary-bearing phone-usually hired by the telephone company-which was either hung on the wall, or sat on a countertop or table, though a button and later wireless stations replaced many of these old in The Olders in The 80-The 80- They are years. Stationary phones are connected to each other through a global communication network that has been built for more than a century. But as mobile phones became widely available and affordable, many people chose to completely miss their stations.

A survey of 2022 from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that only about 29% of adults in the United States live in a landline house, down from more than 90% In 2004, the crossover happened around 2015, which was also on sale on smartphones entered a boom period This changed the technology industry and helped to turn iPhone Create an Apple in One of the highest -pronounced companies in the worldS

Anne Williams is one of the people who has not yet given up their stationary ones. Asked why she holds hers, she describes the move to Huntsville, Alabama, after Tornado 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 tornado, hearing about the event, she brought home for the importance of the always needy telephone connection.

“The weather here is so unpredictable,” she told me in an interview. But stationary has dedicated power and often work even in interruption. “I remember a day when it was absolutely necessary to have (the landline),” Williams said.

What makes landline phones more reliable

Landline phones operate on a separate infrastructure made of copper telephone lines that are cheap to build and quite reliable. They also do not have the disadvantages of cellular networks, such as missed calls, poor and distorted quality or poor intake.

The main reason why people hold plantations around is that they tend to work even during power supply, which is a big plus for people whose work includes emergency services, business or healthcare.

Analog fax machines are also built around stationary telephone systems, which means that most hospitals and doctor’s offices, as well as political and lawyer’s offices, must maintain a stationary connection.

The disadvantages of stationary

The US Federal Communication Commission is Gradually eliminating the requirements For telephone companies to provide stationary services (called ordinary old telephone service) throughout the country. As a result, more homes and business offices are built with Ethernet jacks rather than with TelephoneS

The set phone connections are also not cheap. CNET Corporate cousin Allconnect notes that The traditional AT&T telephone plan starts at $ 48 a month and you have to use the company for the Internet as well. CenturyLink is more expensive, starts at $ 30 a month, and Spectrum will only charge $ 20 a month.

And not all landlines use copper telephone lines. Increasingly, companies are returning to their telephone systems on their internet connections, a service called VOICE via the Internet protocol or VoIP. Currently, Allconnect is tracking only three service providers offering old in landlines: Centurylink, Comcast Xfinity and COX.

How to get a new stationary service

If you are ready to set up with a landline, call your local telephone company and ask for telephone services. If you live in an apartment building, it is important for you to find out where the phone box is. Usually the landlord should know and if not, the local telephone company should be able to find it.

Here are some subsequent questions you want to ask, and what to look for in the answers:

• Are they in stations or are they pots? Ideally, if you are looking for security and reliability, pots are what you want. VoIP can work, but to understand that it probably rely on your internet modem and connection to work.
• If VoIP, does the company have backup power systems to ensure that the voice line works when power is interrupted? Most companies sell backup batteries that you can buy directly from them. You can use continuous power supply, maybe from Cyberpower or APC. Keep in mind that they are different from portableS Portable power supplies allow you to remain electronically powered, but they are not intended to constantly monitor power breaks and then start as needed.
• Typically, local calls are free, but raising your area code costs. What is the speed structure? Companies like AT&T have various additional fees that charge for national calls as well as for international long distances. In particular, long-distance calls are usually charged in a minute and companies do not always post this information on their website. Make sure you know what it will cost and if it’s too much, consider using a chat app as Signal, WhatsApp, Google Meet or Apple FaceTime For your long distance calls instead.

What should you do with a landline?

If you have a landline but leave it to disappear, you just suck money from your bank account every month, you are not alone. But there are some ways to make it more useful.

Google Voice is a popular option that gives you a new phone number that acts as something like a hub. Every time people call, then Google Voice calls every phone to which you connect it to, whether a homeproof line, a mobile phone, a work phone or something else.

There are other similar services including Zoom and RingcentralIf you don’t like to work with Google.

A random phone can also be connected to Home security systems and Medical sensors to warn To make sure that if you are in an emergency, the help will be there as soon as possible.

What to do if you can’t contact a landline phone

If you are not eligible for a landline or do not like the service offered, you have more options from satellite providers. Companies like Hughesnet and SpaceX can support VoIP over their internet connections.

Phone manufacturers such as Apple also slowly build satellite messages in their devices. IPhone 14 that debuts in 2022 has a feature called Emergency SOSwho can contact a satellite to send data on the location of your friends or emergency text to the authorities.