By John Matarese - bio |email
TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - A new government report finds that 1 out of every 4 families has now cut the cord on their hard wired landline home phone.
With phone bills averaging $40 or more per month, it can be tempting to go cell only.
But before you switch you need to know some downsides.
Tim Langston is one of many people who have looked over their phone bill in recent years, and decided they were paying too much for a landline phone they barely used anymore.
Langston says "I was very rarely making calls. I was paying telemarketers to call me."
So he considered dropping his home phone line.
A new report from the US Government finds that as of Spring 2010:
- 25 percent off all people nopw have only a cell phone.
- 50 percent under 29 and below have only a cell and no landline.
The main reason is cost, especially when you are paying $60 or more a month for cell service, and another $25 or more for high speed internet. This is the easiest bill of the three to eliminate.
But before you cut the cord, here are some things to consider.
First, if you are cell only, 9-1-1 operators cannot automatically find you in an emergency.
Secondly, in a crisis, like 9/11 or severe storms, you may not be able to get a cell signal, when the towers overload.
And third, services like Directv and Tivo may still need a phone line for updates and features such as pay per view movies (though you can still use them without hooking up a phone line.)
So after careful consideration, rather than drop his landline entire, Langston called his phone company, Cincinnati Bell, and switched to a low usage plan.
For less than $20 dollars a month he has to pay for all local calls, but still has that old line hooked up for emergencies or that occasional incoming call from a family member. For everything else, he uses his cell.
If you are reluctant to drop the service because you are worried about your family's safety, ask the phone company about a bare bones plan.
Some companies will let you keep a phone number and line for emergency use only for just a few dollars a month.
One last option: ask if bundling your home phone and cell together will lower your bills. However, if that requires switching carriers, be aware you may face a cell phone early termination fee.
