Cell Phone
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Audrey2Katrina
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I still have a land-line; but it's through cable (so I do have to worry about power outages) but it's for all the chatty local calls and up to 60 min. LD... only $19/mo. So it's worth it b/c I didn't want to have a high cell phone bill. Cell phone is 450 daytime min, 3,000 nights & weekends (never remotely come close to that), and rollover--which now is around 1500 minutes, so I've got lots to spare. Any sizable storm heads this way, I'm not gonna be here to see if there is a power outage... so I figure the cell will suffice.
A2K
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senorpepr
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I got rid of my land-line a few years ago. It was nothing but a pain, espeically kids calling during the day while I'm trying to sleep. (The lovely life of a shift-worker). I rarely make local calls. My cell plan gives me 300 daytime mins and unlimited nights and weekends. That comes in VERY handy when makes calls to other states or to foreign countries (with the help of a calling card).
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therock1811
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For anyone who lived in Katrinas doom last season and had no electricity, etc. Did your cell phone of any type work? I have a great radio, batteries, ready for a cane to listen to the news, etc. But, I was wondering if there is some sort of phone out there that you can use when everything else is off. I have heard some peoples cell phones worked and some did not because of no signal.
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azskyman
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We use both. We have the home phone bundled with the computer and cable and it makes the most sense for all the long distance we do (it used to be the other way around). Two cell phones are used much less these days, but we think are necessary in our travels around this city and the time we spend in airports.
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Janice wrote:Cajungal, you should check out Cingular family plan... two separate phones, 700 hours, for $70 a month. You and your mom could share the plan and it would be cheaper for both of you. It has roll over and weekend and nights too. You could check the website to see what they are offering.
Did you mean 700 minutes?
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TexasStooge
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Audrey2Katrina
- Category 5
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- Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:39 pm
- Location: Metaire, La.
CB walkie-talkies. I have a set somewhere... they can pick up and broadcast over CB radio channels and are battery powered.
A2K
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Flossy 56 Audrey 57 Hilda 64* Betsy 65* Camille 69* Edith 71 Carmen 74 Bob 79 Danny 85 Elena 85 Juan 85 Florence 88 Andrew 92*, Opal 95, Danny 97, Georges 98*, Isidore 02, Lili 02, Ivan 04, Cindy 05*, Dennis 05, Katrina 05*, Gustav 08*, Isaac 12*, Nate 17, Barry 19, Cristobal 20, Marco, 20, Sally, 20, Zeta 20*, Claudette 21 IDA* 21 Francine *24
Keep one "copper" Land Line
[quote="angelwing"]Keeping the home phone, in fact trying to find the old-fasahioned dial phone so we can have a phone hookup for when the power goes out (this phone will still work in a power outage)and the power goes out once a month here. /quote]
Angelwing, it does not have to be "old fashioned dial phone" but it does need to be a "2500 set." A 2500 set is either dial pulse (which can have buttons) or DTMF (sends tones)--but what is important is that it does not require any type of "auxiliary power." A 2500 set is what you think of when you think of a "plain old telephone." It has numbers 1-9, pound, star, and a hookswitch you use to "hang it up." The reason it works in emergencies is that it gets its power on the same physical pieces of wire that carry your conversation and those are connected to batteries at the local telephone company that provides your service--under old laws that required the phone company to provide DAYS of battery operation for all subscribers.
Usually you can find these types of phones in drug stores, discount stores, etc. and they are usually the cheapest phones in the place. They have no fancy stuff--no lights, no fancy stuff. But they work in emergencies. If you are not sure that you have the right thing, buy a couple of different ones--made by different manufacturers... As long as all you have to connect it is the cord into the phone jack in the wall, it's a 2500 set. (the old fashioned phones with dials are called 500 sets and they will also work for the same reasons--but they probably don't have the modular plug that fits the wall jack and you may have to have someone show you how to hook it up--and it is not pretty. Many odd "fantasy" phones are 2500 sets: we have a bright purple one, a Harley Davidson one (cost us $4.00), a phone that looks like a pickle, a "star wars" phone, etc. There are Mickey Mouse ones, etc.
What won't work in a power outage or other emergencies? Any phone that you have to plug into electrical power (e.g., cordless phones, phones with special features, lights, etc.). Most multi line phones, business phones (key systems or PBX) have something called "power failure cut-through" as a feature from the manufacturer--but very few companies that install these business phones tell their customers about the feature and most do not turn it on. You need to do some inside wiring to make it work and that makes the bid less competitive so many installing companies just ignore the feature when they bid a new phone system because if their competition does not bid the feature they look more expensive than the competitor. If you do have a business, make sure that your power failure cut through is wired up, activated, and that you know how to transfer to power failure operation (usually involves unplugging regular phone and plugging in a 2500 set to a power failure jack--just like you will do at home if you keep your emergency phone in a drawer).
If you get your phone service with your cable service, your phone may well not work in any power outage caused by wind, someone hitting the pole, etc. because cable is generally above ground.
Any internet-service provided phone service is only as good as your internet service provider(s) and others connected to it between you and the person you are calling. However, think about it: how many times has the phone company asked you to "reboot your phone"? Now think about how many times you "reboot" your computer. Enough said.
Cell phone providers back up their equipment with batteries--but unlike "regular" phone companies they are not required by regulation to provide those batteries that keep the phone system working for days... So while some do provide service in disasters, a bunch don't--and you have no way to know before the disaster.
If you are young, healthy, and single, taking a chance on "no phone service" is probably okay. If you have small children in the household, elderly people in the household or anyone with a medical condition, keep one "basic telephone service" landline coming into your house. You can save HUGE amounts of money on your phone if you don't sign up for all the extras and even more if you only have local service--and use a phone card for ALL your long distance calls. You'll find that basic service (the price is regulated--and is affordable for the elderly, welfare recipients, etc.) is in the neighborhood of $15/month or less, depending on where you life.
Phone service is a regulated utility, but many people subscribe, gradually, over time, to all the "extras" that the phone company offers with tantalizing offers. So soon you have piled $30-$40 a month on your "basic" service for speed dial, call waiting, caller ID and such services and now you think the cell phone or cable phone etc. is "cheaper." Go back to "basic" service. Note that the phone company will strongly resist your making this change--they may even tell you that you "can't" go back to basic service. Call your state phone regulators to mke sure this is (as it is here) illegal--and then call them back and be insistent.
It's the same deal as "basic" cable. Where I live "basic" cable costs $12/month or so. But if you get even ONE little option, the price jumps to about $40. Note that on basic cable you do not get ANYTHING except all the local channels, PBS channels and perhaps 3-4 garbage cable channels--but you do get reception (sort of like having an antenna that has really good reception.) So the average person has an $80/month cable bill because few can resist the packages of programs... I think that if most people figured out how much each hour of TV watching cost, they would watch a lot less TV. We have "basic" cable. Our friends are appalled. But we save enough to be ahead of the game if we rented a movie every night of the month... My daughter does even better--she has NO TV reception at all--and relies on radio, or playing DVDs and Videotapes on her TV. And she has 5 kids. They too read books, listen to the radio or play the piano, violin, cello, flute, bagpipes (!), play outside, etc. etc. etc. Note that people think we are pretty strange... (They do have a high speed internet connection so they can always watch TV on their computers...)
But I do think it is still dangerous to get rid of your land line telephone line. In emergency, it is still the lifesaver.
One final important fact: E911 can only find you if you have a land line from your local telephone company. Their subscribers are in a Public Safety database that cross-references phone numbers with specific locations! You pick up the phone, dial 911 and pass out, the PSAP database says, oh, that phone is on the second floor rear of 99 Main Street, Yourtown.
Note that if you are at work, this does not necessarily work. And for internet phones, cable phones, etc. it does not work at all--because the PSAP looks at the billing address and the location where the local telephone company's equipment is installed (and there is a cross-correlation). Well, your internet phone service in Florida may be provided by a company with its equipment in Montana! (At work the problem is a little different --and it's also a problem on college campuses, etc.--they know you are "somewhere" in that company's building(s)--but if it is a large company with several buildings, it has to search all the buildings. Same with colleges. While this explanation is incomplete, it is important that you understand why E911 won't find you if you don't have local phone company telephone service. In a few years the regulations will probably catch up and this won't be true any longer, but for now it is and it is dangerous because people don't understand it.
In short, keep at least one land line in your house--and make sure it is the one you use to call 911 should the need arise--so always keep one phone connected up to it.
Angelwing, it does not have to be "old fashioned dial phone" but it does need to be a "2500 set." A 2500 set is either dial pulse (which can have buttons) or DTMF (sends tones)--but what is important is that it does not require any type of "auxiliary power." A 2500 set is what you think of when you think of a "plain old telephone." It has numbers 1-9, pound, star, and a hookswitch you use to "hang it up." The reason it works in emergencies is that it gets its power on the same physical pieces of wire that carry your conversation and those are connected to batteries at the local telephone company that provides your service--under old laws that required the phone company to provide DAYS of battery operation for all subscribers.
Usually you can find these types of phones in drug stores, discount stores, etc. and they are usually the cheapest phones in the place. They have no fancy stuff--no lights, no fancy stuff. But they work in emergencies. If you are not sure that you have the right thing, buy a couple of different ones--made by different manufacturers... As long as all you have to connect it is the cord into the phone jack in the wall, it's a 2500 set. (the old fashioned phones with dials are called 500 sets and they will also work for the same reasons--but they probably don't have the modular plug that fits the wall jack and you may have to have someone show you how to hook it up--and it is not pretty. Many odd "fantasy" phones are 2500 sets: we have a bright purple one, a Harley Davidson one (cost us $4.00), a phone that looks like a pickle, a "star wars" phone, etc. There are Mickey Mouse ones, etc.
What won't work in a power outage or other emergencies? Any phone that you have to plug into electrical power (e.g., cordless phones, phones with special features, lights, etc.). Most multi line phones, business phones (key systems or PBX) have something called "power failure cut-through" as a feature from the manufacturer--but very few companies that install these business phones tell their customers about the feature and most do not turn it on. You need to do some inside wiring to make it work and that makes the bid less competitive so many installing companies just ignore the feature when they bid a new phone system because if their competition does not bid the feature they look more expensive than the competitor. If you do have a business, make sure that your power failure cut through is wired up, activated, and that you know how to transfer to power failure operation (usually involves unplugging regular phone and plugging in a 2500 set to a power failure jack--just like you will do at home if you keep your emergency phone in a drawer).
If you get your phone service with your cable service, your phone may well not work in any power outage caused by wind, someone hitting the pole, etc. because cable is generally above ground.
Any internet-service provided phone service is only as good as your internet service provider(s) and others connected to it between you and the person you are calling. However, think about it: how many times has the phone company asked you to "reboot your phone"? Now think about how many times you "reboot" your computer. Enough said.
Cell phone providers back up their equipment with batteries--but unlike "regular" phone companies they are not required by regulation to provide those batteries that keep the phone system working for days... So while some do provide service in disasters, a bunch don't--and you have no way to know before the disaster.
If you are young, healthy, and single, taking a chance on "no phone service" is probably okay. If you have small children in the household, elderly people in the household or anyone with a medical condition, keep one "basic telephone service" landline coming into your house. You can save HUGE amounts of money on your phone if you don't sign up for all the extras and even more if you only have local service--and use a phone card for ALL your long distance calls. You'll find that basic service (the price is regulated--and is affordable for the elderly, welfare recipients, etc.) is in the neighborhood of $15/month or less, depending on where you life.
Phone service is a regulated utility, but many people subscribe, gradually, over time, to all the "extras" that the phone company offers with tantalizing offers. So soon you have piled $30-$40 a month on your "basic" service for speed dial, call waiting, caller ID and such services and now you think the cell phone or cable phone etc. is "cheaper." Go back to "basic" service. Note that the phone company will strongly resist your making this change--they may even tell you that you "can't" go back to basic service. Call your state phone regulators to mke sure this is (as it is here) illegal--and then call them back and be insistent.
It's the same deal as "basic" cable. Where I live "basic" cable costs $12/month or so. But if you get even ONE little option, the price jumps to about $40. Note that on basic cable you do not get ANYTHING except all the local channels, PBS channels and perhaps 3-4 garbage cable channels--but you do get reception (sort of like having an antenna that has really good reception.) So the average person has an $80/month cable bill because few can resist the packages of programs... I think that if most people figured out how much each hour of TV watching cost, they would watch a lot less TV. We have "basic" cable. Our friends are appalled. But we save enough to be ahead of the game if we rented a movie every night of the month... My daughter does even better--she has NO TV reception at all--and relies on radio, or playing DVDs and Videotapes on her TV. And she has 5 kids. They too read books, listen to the radio or play the piano, violin, cello, flute, bagpipes (!), play outside, etc. etc. etc. Note that people think we are pretty strange... (They do have a high speed internet connection so they can always watch TV on their computers...)
But I do think it is still dangerous to get rid of your land line telephone line. In emergency, it is still the lifesaver.
One final important fact: E911 can only find you if you have a land line from your local telephone company. Their subscribers are in a Public Safety database that cross-references phone numbers with specific locations! You pick up the phone, dial 911 and pass out, the PSAP database says, oh, that phone is on the second floor rear of 99 Main Street, Yourtown.
Note that if you are at work, this does not necessarily work. And for internet phones, cable phones, etc. it does not work at all--because the PSAP looks at the billing address and the location where the local telephone company's equipment is installed (and there is a cross-correlation). Well, your internet phone service in Florida may be provided by a company with its equipment in Montana! (At work the problem is a little different --and it's also a problem on college campuses, etc.--they know you are "somewhere" in that company's building(s)--but if it is a large company with several buildings, it has to search all the buildings. Same with colleges. While this explanation is incomplete, it is important that you understand why E911 won't find you if you don't have local phone company telephone service. In a few years the regulations will probably catch up and this won't be true any longer, but for now it is and it is dangerous because people don't understand it.
In short, keep at least one land line in your house--and make sure it is the one you use to call 911 should the need arise--so always keep one phone connected up to it.
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We have a land line - mostly because we have dsl. And for emergencies.
We have an old plain jane corded phone in the closet and another 'fun' phone in another room - that one looks like an red emergency phone.
We also have cell phones - we use them for all our long distance. We're fixing to change plans soon and will be getting one with digital roaming, unlimited mobile to mobile minutes, unlimited nights and weekends and internet. I'm also considering adding a texting package too. All for less than what we're spending now - cause w/ the free minutes, we won't need as many as we have now.
Texting came in handy last year when we were trying to help Katrina and Rita escapees because we couldn't call them, but we could get a text message thru from our computer to their phones...
'shana
edited to add - we don't have cable at all - we plugged an indoor antenna into the cable connection in one room and then all the tvs are plugged into the cable connector and we get the local stations for free.
We have an old plain jane corded phone in the closet and another 'fun' phone in another room - that one looks like an red emergency phone.
We also have cell phones - we use them for all our long distance. We're fixing to change plans soon and will be getting one with digital roaming, unlimited mobile to mobile minutes, unlimited nights and weekends and internet. I'm also considering adding a texting package too. All for less than what we're spending now - cause w/ the free minutes, we won't need as many as we have now.
Texting came in handy last year when we were trying to help Katrina and Rita escapees because we couldn't call them, but we could get a text message thru from our computer to their phones...
'shana
edited to add - we don't have cable at all - we plugged an indoor antenna into the cable connection in one room and then all the tvs are plugged into the cable connector and we get the local stations for free.
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