Do you need a landline apart from the internet? Why?
When was the last time you used it? Do you have any plan to say goodbye to your landline?
Is there any need and any way to keep an "inactive" landline number considering that the cheapest plan costs more than $20/m to keep it active?
Thanks, I think naked ADSL is not as fast as Mobile broadband, ADSL or NBN, but the main question is about the landline, would there be any scenario coming up in the future that one would need a landline or keep the number?
I have a home phone service with Telstra called InContact. It costs nothing each month.
Can't make calls but that's not a problem.
This looks very interesting, is this available to the public? I did not find anything related on their website.
That's because they do not promote it at all.
You need to have a health care card and you need to ring and ask for it.
There's several other terms and conditions.
You cannot have a mobile phone on contract but a prepaid mobile is fine.
I have had Incontact for years for incoming and outgoing calls.LasNovember Telstra cancelled the PhoneAway card which was used for msking calls.After much searching I found a card called tht PhoneToday card whick works exactly the same.the Incontact system is for low income,like pensioners etc.
That card is quite a bit more expensive than my mobile phone but thank you for the information.
I'll keep it in mind when comparing in future.
I'm currently with Aldi Mobile and calls cost 12 cents/minute.
The PhoneAway card charges 44 cents/minute.
Only have a phone number because my internet is a bundle.
No phone connected to the wall.
Simplessss
I decided to go for mobile broadband and cancel the bundle. I do not use that much internet though maybe less than 500GB is more than I need.
The only concern is the smart remote-controlled devices connected to the wifi modem router.
Same here. Can't get Telstra Cable internet without a landline bundled in, AFAIK. Quite silly if you ask me.
It's been over 5 years since we had the phone plugged in and boy, what a mistake that was - basic bundle, had family staying with me, they used it lots for STD & mobile and I copped a $300 bill.
Before that, we used iinet VoIP for years for free landline & cheap international calls.
I mainly use the landline, especially for calling Greece. it is also expensive for my family in Australia and overseas to have to call a mobile.
Skype?
Maybe, it looks like they lowered their prices.
Also, Google voice (hangout) is not bad. I am pretty sure there are a lot of others. There were many mobile deals which had international call included too.
I have an unlimited call, and sms, data package on my mobile so the main reason I keep the landline phone number is so people can dial me without incuring mobile charges. It also allows us to screen calls with our answer phone, which is probably not going to happen with a mobile phone.
We are currently looking at Internet bundle options with Internode and drop my landline with Telstra. Do people have recommendations?
Landlines are as redundant as the letter service. VoIP, Facebook, Viber, FaceTime, etc, have seen to that. Many mvno now offer plans or prepaid with unlimited SMS and national calls.
Back to base home alarm
I guess you don't need a landline for this? I have similar smart devices that I tested on a wifi hotspot mobile phone and it looks it works. Or am I wrong?
Back to base home alarm
It's 2017. Back to base alarms are old tech.
https://www.safewise.com/home-security-faq/security-system-w…
These days, the comfort of security monitoring is available without the necessity and extra expense of a home phone line.
I had a Bosch 880 and lost the PSTN interface after a storm. Now on a later model Bosch with 3G interface. Much better & can get SMS reports to my mobile. Wasn’t that expensive to replace & no need for a phone line or paid monitoring.
At work? Daily.
Personally? A couple of times in the last month while at my folks'becauwe mobile coverage is piss poor there.. Other than that, I haven't had an actual land line in 13 years.
At work? Daily.
There is a good chance that what you think is a landline is actually VoIP. Running a landline for each number in a building is far more expensive than than a few lines servicing countless numbers of VoIP.
This was what I thought.
By the way, if the mobile coverage is poor, have you tried another carrier?
Our system use cable.
No. Two of the lines are actual land lines, the other two are VOIP.
We're currently using PSTN/ISDN for calls across 16 sites, but getting closer and closer to VoIP at most locations via MPLS to two sites with ISDN lines. Pure VoIP one day, I guess.
Mobiles and FW nbn have made our land line redundant several years ago
Nice to see someone on hear with FW, what plan are you on?
ABb 25/5 500GB $65pm
Awesome, thank you!
We have not had a landline for the past 10 years.
Interesting, but have you ever felt you needed one?
Am on NBN fibre and do not have a home phone. Simply do not need it with our mobiles and skype/Viber for overseas calls.
nearly 6 years ago, at our previous house.
we went for naked ADSL when we moved, the phone never worked reliably due to being 7.5km from exchange.
now on NBN and 'have a phone number' but haven't tried an actual phone because calls are not included in plan….
4 mobiles in a family of 5, 5th will get one when he starts high school.
Could you elaborate, please? How was Naked ADSL speed and quality? How the phone is reliable now if it wasn't before? I guess you are still 7.5km away from the exchange? Does NBN phone number need a copper line or you meant VOIP number?
7.5km from exchange
on naked ADSL speeds were 1.5 to 2 mbps (yes mega bits, not mega bytes).
VOIP on naked ADSL was useless, we would routinely have voicemail messages because it wouldn't ring.
have changed to NBN and we are 1.3km by road from the node, but remain on same exchange so would be roughly 6km of fibre. we haven't bothered to plug in a phone to try it. initial speed tests showed mid 20's mbps. I have run it just now - 6PM on a Sunday, and got 21mbps. our plan is rated as "15 in peak times", equivalent to the 25/5 plans of a few months ago before the hoohaa.
1.3km by road from the node, but remain on same exchange
Wrong. You are no longer connected to a telephone exchange if you have FTTN NBN.
Hmm, well I have FTTP NBN, so no landline as such. However I do have VoIP connected up to landline phones, and I have used them this last week - mainly because the mobile signal is crap, and why wouldn't I?
I had to have a landline under my old internet plan. The phone was never connected to the wall in 5 years of moving to this house. There was a landline and a number, but i never knew it and never used it. Since switching to NBN, the land line is gone and cant say i miss it because i never used it.
My brother used to have a landline number but it was not plugged in. It had messagebank enabled, and I spent many times ringing and leaving messages that were never returned. Other members of my family did the same, and when we found out that they did not actually plug a phone in or listen to their messages, I stopped bothering (which also means I don't talk to them all that often as a result). But my Aunty has been very nasty about it - saying that they don't ever return her calls, so she doesn't want anything to do with them. Even after explaining that they don't use their home phone, she's never forgiven them and refuses to invite them to any family gatherings. A bit over the top, but that's what's happened in my family from not having a landline in use.
Can understand that. I never even bothered to learn or even know what my landline phone number even was. That way, I could never give it out.
I did plug a phone into it once when the internet was down, just to see if the line was dead or not. And within 2 mins of plugging it in, an Indian cold call rings in. I answered out of curiosity and promptly pulled the phone cable out of the wall socket and that’s the one and only time it was used.
When I ditched the shitty awfulness that is ADSL internet. Bye, you won't be missed.
Haven't had a landline for almost 10 years and don't miss it at all.
I make a few calls per month on our landline. I always use the landline to call companies, rather than a mobile. If I'm trying to call a friend or relative, I will always use my landline first, and call their landline first, in preference to calling a mobile.
I have a reasonably good plan now, but in the past, I've had a very limited mobile plan that I didn't want to waste on long calls, so any time I wanted a chat, I'd use a landline or call a landline on mine. I don't expect others to have to pay to talk to me, so I assume that they'd rather call me on my landline than mobile. For example, my mother in law has a $5 a month mobile phone plan that is perfectly good for their needs, it's really just for an emergency. She's not going to call me from it for a chat, and she's also not going to appreciate calling my mobile for a chat from her nursing home phone.
My daughters are in the middle of changing schools and I've urged them to give our landline number to their friends to be able to stay in contact - I'm certainly not expecting 9 and 10 year olds to be using a mobile phone or to be allowed to call mobile phones for a catch up.
The kids can call and message each other for free using a selection of available and popular apps.
The most popular one changes all the time. Could be Messenger or Whatsapp or Facetime…anything really.
Most kids connect the phone to the home wi-fi so there is no use of prepaid credit.
Why do you assume they have access to someone else's WiFi? Or to a phone or similar device? They certainly might, but I don't assume that my children's friends all have access either.
Last thing i used the landline for was receiving a telemarketer call. One of many. So i threw the phone out and never looked back.
Yes, I guess that's me now! I just let the answering machine handle them!
Where I live, which is rural Western Australia, we dont have a mobile service. So we need a landline. Maybe if we were city folk we would not have it.
Used to be naked/VoIP for a while but found it to be a hassle.
At this stage I have ADSL2+ with landline that has free unlimited calls to all phones in Australia, except for paid services, such as 1900-SEX-TALK.
None of the inconveniences of VoIP and when the shit hits the fan, I can plug in the good old Telstra Touchphone and make phone calls during a blackout!
Mobile phone is on a $1/month plan + usage fees and spends 99% of the time sitting on the desk in the home office, plugged into the charger and connected to the WiFi. Make about 1 phone call every two months, use about 60-100MB of data per month (included in the $1/month fee) and maybe one or two SMS messages per month. Mobile phone, is probably the least used and worst value for money.
Naked ADSL doesnt need a number