On 10/7/11, erikhansen@thebluezone.net <erikhansen@thebluezone.net> wrote:
It does seem pointless to have a home phone these days, seems the only people calling are looking for you to give them money.
I keep a home phone for my broadband connection, and also for exactly the reason you state. The more unsolicited calls I can keep off my cell, the less time I waste dealing with them. I use an answering machine, and hitting the "delete" button is SOOOOO satisfying. Let the messages pile up on the home phone and shoot them all to hell all at once. Also know that in a power outage, sometimes cell towers go down and you can lose all service. Qwest powers it's land lines independantly of the power grid, so you'll still have service in almost all power outages, when cell service might drop to zero. People with medical conditions should take this into consideration. The degree to which each of us dives into the world of connectivity depends strictly on personal preference and need. I kind of like the English professor's attitude. My goal is to be pretty much off-line completely in retirement. Most of what interests me in life has little to do with instant access to information or communication with the masses. Too, having almost no extended family members at all, Facebook and it's ilk offer me nothing. Non-family members who want to contact me have a couple of avenues, it's not like I'm a hermit living in a cave. YMMV.