Giving out your cell phone #

[Lubener]

My landline was terrible. Rural area, lots of old cabling and moisture getting into the line. Crackles, echos, and fading in/out.

My cell is crystal clear, especially when calling other guys on the same carrier where they enable HD quality. But then there is the issue of the occasional drop outs, so it really depends. There are pros and cons to both.

When I did have my landline, I never had one issue with the service in the 25 years I had it.

Not much to go wrong with two tin cans and a long string.

 

[GON]

My friends get text messages and calls from unknown sources.
I get ZERO of them on mine and they asked how I avoid them.

Easy! The only folks who have my# are close friends and family.
I still have a landline (old man you know) LOL!
Any places that require a phone# are directed to the landline.
If I don't recognize the name on caller ID, it rolls to the answering machine. If I know the person, I can call them back.

JD, is this how your phone and answering machine look on your landline?

 

[Jdeere562]

JD, is this how your phone and answering machine look on your landline?

I actually have a cordless phone with the answering machine in the base. I'm high tech!

 

[hemioiler]

Not much to go wrong with two tin cans and a long string.

A lot can go wrong, as I said, cable degrades over time and you get corrosion, water, cracking etc.

I'm usually with you with when it comes to wireless vs wired. All my computers are always running cable ethernet, I prefer wires in my audio system etc etc, but land lines can still offer a poor experience compared to cell phones. Never heard a line humming, for example?

 

[John105]

A lot can go wrong, as I said, cable degrades over time and you get corrosion, water, cracking etc.

I'm usually with you with when it comes to wireless vs wired. All my computers are always running cable ethernet, I prefer wires in my audio system etc etc, but land lines can still offer a poor experience compared to cell phones. Never heard a line humming, for example?

Since I started my career as a phone guy, I actually think the average Joe’s understanding of a phone system, is like my mom’s of a car. May as well have hamsters running around in a cage under the hood

Old phone systems were five 9’s reliability. 99.999% uptime. That means down 5 min 13 seconds per year allowed. To think that it was a given due to simplicity, really fails to acknowledge a heck of a lot of effort by people and redundancy with equipment. There’s a reason why in the late 90’s Lucent techs were driving Corvettes and buying boats. My .02 ymmv.

 

[hemioiler]

Since I started my career as a phone guy, I actually think the average Joe’s understanding of a phone system, is like my mom’s of a car. May as well have hamsters running around in a cage under the hood

Old phone systems were five 9’s reliability. 99.999% uptime. That means down 5 min 13 seconds per year allowed. To think that it was a given due to simplicity, really fails to acknowledge a heck of a lot of effort by people and redundancy with equipment. There’s a reason why in the late 90’s Lucent techs were driving Corvettes and buying boats. My .02 ymmv.

Yes, and also "uptime" is not the same at all as "quality". It's true that I was never without service on my landline, so in that way it's a better connection, but the quality/clarity of the call has been far better on modern (pricey) cell phones that I've been using (LG/Samsung androids). I'll put up with 2 dropped calls in my house per year considering how much better the connection sounds when I'm actually talking.

 

[John105]

Yes, and also "uptime" is not the same at all as "quality". It's true that I was never without service on my landline, so in that way it's a better connection, but the quality/clarity of the call has been far better on modern (pricey) cell phones that I've been using (LG/Samsung androids). I'll put up with 2 dropped calls in my house per year considering how much better the connection sounds when I'm actually talking.

It's truly amazing how tolerant we are today, about redirects, dropped calls, jitter, etc. Telecom was always a serious expense every co. was trying hard to eliminate. That came for me in 2015. The harder I worked, the quicker we could throw out the Lucent/Avaya G3R. Not a misprint--the co. went to an $8.50/mo per endpoint hosted phone service. Probably has 80% uptime, but a nightmare actually for whomever is responsible today, to cancel old service, unused service, dispute billing, etc. the maintenance agreement on an Avaya system was easily mid six figures and much like homeowners and car insurance, never needed since the staff is already expert and being paid similarly. So when it became possible, eliminate the system, have it hosted by a 3rd party, and move it to the cloud. Luckily I'm now expert in another field, although only 8 years experience.

 

[John105]

I actually have a cordless phone with the answering machine in the base. I'm high tech!

Remember Swingers? Jon Favreau and his answering machine. He kept calling a girl back and leaving yet another message. A one sided conversation.