As a life long "telephone man", I have a landline. I debated about removing it. My wife spends many hours a day on both the landline and cell. She prefers the landline. The "instrument" (telephone man jargon) has better audio quality and is more comfortable to hold. I like the speakerphone feature. It is particularly helpful when working on the computer and talking at the sametime. I have triple play from Verizon [DSL for Internet, Lanline, Direct TV (no FiOs down here)] My landline is unlimited calling - local and toll for $40 a month.

Regarding Olivant's disdain for cellphones; in principal I agree, but in reality....for some jobs it's a requirement, for convenience it fills a desire. To flat out reject it, well that's like believing that gasoline prices are determined by supply and demand.

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Oli - What I did before '97 was a pain in the ass, that's what!

My car broke down on the Parkway once and I had to basically sit there waiting interminably for a cop to notice, who then called it in, for another interminable wait for a tow truck, etc.

I ran out of gas downtown once. Probably a mile away from the nearest payphone. Got change?

Someone in the ER? Again, where in the world are you sequestered that noone can call you on a landline phone to tell you? -- How about in your car? Or in a movie theater? Or at the mall? Or at the grocery store? Or at a sporting event or concert? Or basically ANYWHERE ON THE PLANET besides your own home or office?

I almost never answer my cell if I don't recognize the number calling me (if it's not already in my address book); I listen to the message first. I also don't answer it if I don't feel like talking to a particular person, or if I'm busy, or simply if I don't want to.

My parents are both turning 80 this Summer, and aren't in the best of health. I feel comfortable knowing that they can contact me no matter where I am, 24/7. If I had kids, it'd feel the same way.

Listen, I hear you - obviously life existed before technology, and everything "worked" ... and again, I never thought I'd ever need one before I actually got it. (Hell, I never thought I'd need a hard drive to hold more than 200MB at one time, either ). But life goes on, it gets better, it evolves.

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TIS - I can't stand those earpieces!! I can't imagine EVER walking around like a cyborg with shit in my ear like that! (Hmm, this time I mean it! ) As for in the car, I very rarely use my phone -- perhaps to ask a quick question ("I'm on my way, need anything?") or answer a quick question ("Can you pick this up on your way?"). A minute tops usually.

But I HAVE been stuck in long conversations before -- from the house, into the car, driving, to my destination, and still going! It's a pain in the ass, but at the same time, I don't find it a lot different than holding some deep conversation with passengers, or chatting on the CB radio (back in the day ), or any other mode of communication while driving. Maybe I'm just better at it than some, I don't know... I've been just as engrossed in listening to the radio than listening to a phone call.

But what I do NOT condone is texting while driving! I've tried it. It's NOT safe!

I have a Land line, But purely for the internet only. I rarely use it to make calls. I find using my cell phone to be the cheap alternative. Occasionally, when drunk, I'll go nuts and call heaps of cats and run up my bill to a ridiculous amount....

There are certain changes to our lives that have made it important to have cell phones. First of all, most parents work. I am personally in sales, and I sell commercial real estate. I spend a large portion of my work day either in the car or in large, empty warehouses. If one of my kids was sick or had gotten hurt, the school would not have been able to get hold of me without my cell. My daughter is asthmatic and has had to be taken from school by ambulance to the nearest ER on several occasions. Therefore, I need to make sure that I can be reached 24/7.

People also rarely worked far from their homes years ago. When I was a kid, most of the dads (and the few working moms) worked close to home. That's no longer true. Plus, with the advent of voice mail, it's almost impossible to get hold of someone if they're not at their desk. If my husband is in a meeting, he has no secretary to go get him. If it was an emergency, and I needed to reach him, if it wasn't for the cell, you could forget finding him in some conference room.

There are too many variable today that didn't exist even 10 years ago. If you have dependent children and/or parents, then you should have a cell.

Guitar chords? Or do you mean telephone cords?

I have a cell phone and use it when I need to. I'm not someone who has it glued to my ear at all times or talks during dinner or other annoying things people do.

This discussion about cell phones is so interesting if for no other reason than it reveals how our approach to life has changed. For example, what now constitutes an emergency? Because we now have the ability to reach people almost instantaneously, have we expanded the scope or universe of things that we consider emergencies? I think we have. Many times I think we are really referring to convenience instead of true emergencies.

Or in some cases, hasn't changed.

Anyway, I'm done. I hope you never find yourself in a position to having wished you had it. Because I can't make my point any clearer.

We still have a landline phone for the kids to use. Otherwise we would get rid of it. The kids constantly tell us "everyone else has a cell phone!" and we refuse because we talk to all the parents of those kids and it's nothing but trouble, whether it's several broken phones a year or they get in trouble texting during class, etc...

I disabled my land line years ago. Why should i pay extra when my cell phone is what I use when I call or text? It's a different world out there.

I am currently trying to decide if I want to get rid of my land line. I disconnected it when I moved last year to my new apartment, and just used my cell. But the cell sounded just awful in my apartment and I missed the internet at home. So I finally got around to getting landline back plus DSL. A month later, I went to Colorado and lost my cell phone when I returned the car rental. So, I got a new cell phone. This one is GREAT! I can hear anyone, anywhere! I had a friend from France who called me for awhile and I could hear him almost perfectly except for the occassional accent problem!! But I haven't been going online as much lately and I can do it at work anyway, so I'm thinking of saving the $60 per month and just using my cell and going to the cafe when I want to go online at night. As far as cable TV goes I pay $55 per month for about 70 channels (no HBO). I hardly ever watch though....My sister and her hubs have their internet through their cable TV. And she has one of those "blue tooths" and just loves it....sometimes she can't hear me though when shes in the car.