ours is gone. as of about a week ago. haven't used a land line in YEARS!

We still have a land line. I like having the phone ring in multiple places in the house. However, no jack in the kitchen. We have one of those cordless phone systems where you plug one phone into a phone jack and the rest into a plug.

We asked this same question. We ended up keeping it because the kitchen is in the center of our house and sometimes it is easier to grab that phone. It is stuck to the wall, in other words not missing like my cell phone! Or always charged and works. Plus we live in a gated community and the phone opens gate if you don't want to give the code out. But I wondered the same because we put up the backsplash and I thought if we ever remove the phone jack we have to figure out how to work the tiles back in. I did wonder if that can be redone. Good question. I still like having the land line. It is dependable when those cordless phones go beep, beep, beep and die. So I'm not done with the land lines yet.

I currently have a phone line in the kitchen but it will need to be relocated after the reno. My home is from 1910 and only has one other outlet upstairs so the kitchen is the only one downstairs.

But I do think in your case it would be a good call to atleast have one available for the next family should you ever move.

Our land line plugs into our modem for TV/internet. We included it for a future security system (need a dedicated phone line), in case there's a hurricane and we lose cell phones, plus... it was only $5 a month extra

We just paid something ridiculous like $1500 to put telephone jacks all through our new house and we don't have a landline phone anymore. However, we are planning on growing old in this house and we figure when we're 90, we might not be able to hear on a cell phone and might actually need a landline so we put them in for future use. Our security system is going to have to run off of a cell phone because of the no landline issue.

What about those sets they sell of cordless landline phones with repeaters? They need one base station, connected to one real jack with a real plain old telephone service (POTS) line. Someone can use it as a base station. The base station has an integrated old-fashioned voicemailbox (telephone answering machine). I have one in the kitchen. I pull open a drawer and see my old standby phone. And my charging center. The jack is not visible in the kitchen.

What about high speed internet over landlines? Isn't that going to be a possible thing, for a long time to come? DSL. ADSL.

Do Landlines have current when power goes out? If power is out long enough to give you no more cellphone recharge, you are incommunicado and powerless. I have at least one of those old phones that have only one wire and don't need to be plugged into house current too. Since the telephone network is not the electricity network, you have pretty much the equivalent of hot standby power. People like to have a fallback plan. Older technology, that was always reliable, and still works under extreme situations.

Come to think of it, I'll bet someone somewhere is fashioning a cellphone charger that takes the trickle current of the telephone network and puts it into a cellphone battery. It would be hard to sell those publicly since you are not supposed to plug anything but a phone that is to work on that network. But you being a telecom engineer would know how to grab that current and get it to charge your cellphone. If you really had to.

Since the jack is there already, you can keep it by hiding it in the wall under a counter.

hth

We have one, but it's not used and hidden behind a large decorative plate. The one phone we do have plugged into a phone jack is in the laundry room. I also keep the base units that plug into electrical outlets hidden as much as possible. Depending on usage, those phones don't have to go in the base daily. I read it's better to leave them out to drain the battery, than to recharge when battery hasn't gotten low. Battery lasts longer that way.

davidro1, you're right about the phone lines having a current. A lot of people don't realize it and get a little zing when they mess with them. Also, unless phone is riding the same pole or conduit and the pole gets obliterated or the conduit cut, phone will keep working even if the power is out.

This house was built in 1990, so we do have jacks through out the house, DH's office is about 15' from the kitchen on the first floor, there's one in every room plus the "loft", there might even be one behind the TV in the family room.

I'm chuckling thinking about the house I grew up in that had 2, one in the kitchen and master bedroom. Dad was also a telecom guy, he added more.

In my area, we're fiber to the house (FIOS), so to be honest, I'm not even sure if I have a POTs line to the house anymore, although probably, I doubt they severed the copper termination to the house to pull the fiber.

As far as cordless phones go, we own a bluetooth cordless phone system. It looks just like the old cordless phone system with a base and multiple charging stations you can put throughout the house, so when your cell phone rings, the cordless phones ring too. Right now we're not using it because the technology is not the greatest. It tends to cut out unexpectedly. It's a couple years old, so I'm sure the current systems are better.

This thread made me think that maybe I should invest in a solar cell phone charger, in case of an emergency. We have 3 cell phones in the house on 2 carriers. We always try to keep them charged, but an extended power outage could be a problem.

I still own a butt set (and various other telephony tools, I won't divulge here), so in case of an emergency, I can plug into a phone line somewhere...

I appreciate all the insight. It's nice to hear what other people are doing. Right now, I'm leaning toward keeping a jack in the kitchen, but will probably move it from the backsplash. I don't want to dedicate the wall space to something we're not using and I could use that space for another outlet, which I need badly. I'll need to find a hidden, but still accessible area to stick it. Even if we never use it, you're right about someone might want one if we ever move.

Thank you to all who weighed in. It really helped!

I think the question is whether you need a landline as backup for anything... power failures, security system, etc. I have a phone jack hidden behind my microwave. I specifically left it there during the reno in case the cable system goes down for a prolonged time. If I need to use dial-up for computer access, then I can just plug a phone cord in there and use my laptop at the island.

we didn't take down all the walls so we did leave the old kitchen 'phone station' which was built-in during the 1950s. It fits with our house (and we still have a land line b/c no matter what carrier, we don't get good cell service in the house)

My house is ridiculous...at least 15 phone jacks and 12 cable, even more cat5...almost none in use. Anyway, the phone jack in the kitchen is the only one in use. We have VOIP and that phone is the base station for the others.

We are doing the Ooma system and you only need 1 jack for that and our cordless then work all around the house by plugging in to a regular outlet.

We paid for the Ooma about 1.5 years ago and have not paid for a phone bill since. We are already ahead of the game.

We'd have to have a very long emergency to lose power in both our cells and the house phone. We have thought about getting a generator, so if we did, the phones would get plugged into that. We'd get the generator more to keep the house warm and the food cold (depending on season), but I am sure a cell phone charge would not take too much off of it. Besides, we could always charge the cell phones in the car if the house's power went out.

When we lose power we charge our cell phones in the car, the same way we do when we go camping.

We have a landline wall phone and also a cordless phone in the kitchen (no cell phones). We live on a farm in the country, and every so often when the power goes out during a storm , it's nice to have the landline.

We're going to have a landline phone in the new house, but probably not in the new kitchen, where we'll have the cordless phone in a small command center area (possibly in the pantry area). I certainly wouldn't put a jack in a new backsplash if I could help it...

Becky

We're like beckysharp. Landline wall phone in master bedroom and cordless phone system with the base in the kitchen on a little built in desk and others just plugged throughout the house. The landline is for the occasional power outages and in the master bedroom so we can hear it at night if necessary. Kids and DH have cellphones, but I do not. (No kid of mine is phoning me when I'm out and asking me when am I coming home because they want the car.)

I had a landline put in my kitchen. If the power goes out I will at least have house phone. If it's out for days how would I charge my cell phone??? I like having a phone in the kitchen.

moving to fios doesn't mean we will have a phone when the power goes out, they disconnected the copper line and it's not fiberoptic. I don't think it's a better design myself

Someone mentioned internet, and that was my first though. If you're on DSL, you'll probably want a phone jack in the kitchen. If it's centrally located, that would be the place to set up the DSL modem and a wireless router.

We ran a phone line and an outlet into a cupboard that would have been in a blind corner in the kitchen, but made it accessible from the other side of the peninsula. We used that for our wireless internet paraphernalia.

Just reading these later posts, I remembered that we have one of those portable battery chargers. DH bought one for emergencies. In addition to being able to jump start a car battery, it has a light and plug like the lighter in the car. We also have a converter that you can plug into that so you can use a regular plug. So, I guess we do have back up, should the need arise. So if it is a true disaster and cell sites go out, having the land line won't make much difference either as they are all on the same network.

igarvin, I bet that phone station is cute. I'd love to see a picture.

Speaking of pictures, here's Jean Luc Cornec's Telephone Sheep Featured in the Museum f�r Kommunikation Frankfurt in 2006.

We do not have a landline phone in our new build nor a jack in the kitchen. We put a few throughout the house since the builder had budgeted for a handful already and just in case we sell.

The technology exists, as stated above, to modify existing wiring/jacks (cordless/wireless systems.) If someone bought our house, they could work with the current system.

I think the answer to this question might also be area-dependent.

Do storms/local conditions effect your service? We do not get power outages here because of storms, for example.

Do cell phones work at your house? Our cell phones work perfectly from the home.

What are the demographics of the area or the potential buyer for your home? The only people I know with landlines are 40s and over. I know my experience is a small sample in a specific area, but that is my observation :) My husband and I are 29. Our friends/siblings do not have landlines. My coworkers 40+, 1/4 of our parents and all of our grandparents have landlines. I think landlines are a dying breed... :) So,

How soon would you possibly sell your house?

...with all that said, I think david's idea about hiding a jack is good if you do add one in the kitchen....

Hmm. Hadn't thought out that detail.

We will have a tech corner in the new kitchen, with intercom, USB and network jacks, and power, and something ipod. So that someone can surf a laptop while talking to the cook.

We have a landline to the other side of the kitchen, which will be the pantry. There are several other landline jacks in the house. I like to have the landlines in case of power outages, even though they are rare here with underground utilities.

I would like to get the landline moved to the tech corner while the walls are open, mostly in case of new technology that uses landlines. I'm not much of a wireless fan, with leukemia in the house.

We puts ours in the back of the bottom shelf of an upper cabinet Along with outlets for a charger center. If you wanted a phone on a counter, you'd have to drill a small hole to thread the cord through.

I wouldn't be without the landline. Often, when there are outages (like during emergencies), the landlines, with the old fashioned phones that don't have to be plugged into electrical outlets, are the most reliable. Around here, even when a phone line isn't signed up for service, there's a dial tone that allows one to call emergency responders.

I have a phone jack and a cable jack in the center back of my island, between the overhang of the counter and the underhang of the table area. I also have a message center, with a phone jack and electrical plug, where the phone can hide, or cells can be charged and left out of the goop.

>So if it is a true disaster and cell sites go out, having the land line won't make much difference either as they are all on the same network.

Well, around here after the hurricanes of 2004, cell towers were down all over but landlines still worked just fine until the cellular service came back, which took quite a while. It depends on what form of emergency you're considering in your planning. Personally, I wouldn't want to live in a hurricane zone without a landline as a backup.

We have a cordless phone setup with a "main base" in our Message Center Niche and "extensions" in our MBR, Kitchen, and finished basement (a.k.a., "the Man Cave"). We also have a landline in our Library/Computer Room.

Many times when the power has gone out the cell towers have also been down so only our landline worked. I can't think of any time our landline has gone out in the 15 years we've been in our house, unlike the cell towers!

The last major power outage I experienced resulted in instant lack of cell service--those cell towers require power too. I also lost water. A localized power outage is piddly, but when major chunks of the grid go out, it all goes out.

We have a landline and it came in handy for reverse 911 when we were evacuated during a wild fire a few years ago. Will keep it, and a phone in the kitchen, but will relocate the jack for our remodel.

I lived in Charlottesville, VA in 2003 or 2004 when Hurricane Isabel went directly over head, knocking out all the power for 5 full days (I can't remember which year that happened.) All the land lines continued to work, so my one phone that is NOT a portable phone continued to work happily and dependably until the power was finally restored. My portable phones did not work, without the electricity.

The other reason I will always have a land line is what happened on 9-11. I was living in Arlington, VA when the Pentagon (where I was working) was hit. All the cell phones were useless because the cell "lines" were overloaded. No one could complete a cell phone call. Yet the land lines all worked, and continued working during the panic and chaos which continued for hours.

These 2 personal experiences have convinced me to retain my land line and phones while many of my friends are going to cell only.

I vote for keeping a phone jack in a discreet place if it doesn't cost much (though it sounds like you are covered for emergency purpose) but I am old school. So the jack would be more for a future inhabitant of the home.

O.T.
Yesterday I asked a more bizarre question...
Which side of an etched matte glass door panel is better at hiding dog snoot marks, the matte side or the smooth side? Clerk had never heard that one.

LOL at the glass question -- I'd bet the smooth side since the etched side will look smooth and more translucent when wet.

As to the phones, I hadn't thought of reverse 911, but we had a phone jack and I saw no reason to take it out. We still use a landline and are likely to always have one. My cell phone is generally in my purse and often in another room where I can't get to it and I am likely to be anywhere in a 2 story house. Also, just a couple of years ago, when Ike hit, landlines were more dependable than cell phones -- and consider that when trees and lines are down and the power is out for a week or two, the roads aren't clear to drive, gas stations can't pump gas, the ones that get power run out of gas, and you don't want to use your gas to charge a cell phone, whether for fumes at home or waste of gas away (we did charge the cell phones as we got out to go to the grocery store, etc, but that wasn't often and didn't provide a full charge). We have a solar charger and a battery backup, but they don't provide a full charge either. One of the reaons we have not switched to ATT's U-verse is that we don't want to be dependent on a single system for all our communication for those times when there is trouble. Duplicity of technology is not such a bad thing. I can see not wiring it into a new house, I guess, but I wouldn't take out something that is there.

Ok.... been thinking about this one and think we will add a jack to our kitchen for our modem. It is currently in the 3rd bedroom which is being used as an office, but my son will want his own room soon, so we'd probably have to move it then. Better to do it now while things are all open and the guys are here anyway.
Thanks for bringing this subject up! We may not be doing a landline, so went a little OT, but you made us think about this anyway and that was a good thing.

It is partly a question of security and partly of bandwidth. Land lines (POTS) are slightly more secure than cell phones, a cat5e-based LAN is more secure than a wireless LAN. Video coax (at present) has more bandwidth than any common alternative. But guessing at future developments is fraught with hazard.

I put two triple play receptacle plates in the reno'd kitchen/LR. One jack is for POTS, one for the LAN, and one for video.

To future proof your house while the walls are open, you could put a box on a wall for a blank plate and run a large diameter (say 1.25-inch) length of flexible conduit down to a basement, if present, or up to an attic, to allow easy installation of any type of cable you or a future owner might want to use.

Note that for FIOS, there is a battery backup, but it only affects the telephone connection, and not the Internet connection. It also only lasts a few hours. Additional time and Internet connectivity can be obtained from a largish UPS powering the ONT. A generator works, of course, if the ONT circuit is powered along with whatever other loads aren't shed.

kas

Like beth4 - I've been through hurricanes. Worst was hurricane Andrew. Didn't get power back for about 6 weeks. The only communications device that worked was a land line with an old basic non-electric phone. I think houses should have at least one in case of emergency (although it doesn't have to be in the kitchen). Robyn

I have a land line only. Several jacks all over the house and barns. Works for me.

hi kathec..

I asked this same question...Something like, "Do you have a phone in your kitchen?"..I am glad I kept my landline in my new kitchen. I did change the location. I like having it near the stove, in case I'm cooking when it rings.

Mine is above my backsplash...

KA:)

Cool. Thanks for weighing in, for sure the landline is necessary.

Florantha, that's an even more bizarre question. I think shiny side out, it should be easier to wipe up.

Update: after tracing out our phone wires, we found that they travel directly over our former pantry. This new space is conveniently opened up. It has 2 load bearing corners. They form a 3 sided wall. The plan is to panel the outsides of these walls and use the inside for open shelves. Huh? Sorry I reread that and it's about as clear as mud. Here's a picture:

The purple paper is the power outlet, the orange is the phone jack. The space between the two load bearing walls will be cabinets with an overhang on the family room side. Suffice it to say, there's going to a handy, convenient, hidden area for the phone jack and phone as needed. Woo hoo!

I took colored paper that I've drawn outlets/switches on and have taped them around the room to see how they'll work. This has been a huge help in visualizing the placement. I'm hoping it will help the electrician too and nothing gets missed.

On a different note, DH and I just reworked the temporary kitchen layout tonight to more closely mimic the final (I hope) new layout. I'm still cooking on my single induction unit, but it's right where the range will be. The fridge wall is complete and the sink location is not changing. I'll be able to really feel how it all works together and determine any last minute tweaks. I guess this is the advantage of SLOW diy and living in it as it's being built.

Kathe