Interesting, we have no supplier available that will install a traditional copper land line to the house. It's all digital (and no phone service in a few hours once the backup battery is exhauseted). I guess we can't have an elevator?

I've opted to keep my landline. I have a houseful of kids and do not want to worry about them using my cell phone to make calls. Plus, I don't want their friends calling on my cell phone when I'm out and about and don't necessarily have the kids with me. Perhaps I'm in the minority here with kids still at home but I can't imagine not having a landline in that case. There are times my kids are at home when I'm not there, so how would they make a phone call? Plus, sometimes my mom babysits and she does not have a cell phone so she would have no way to call me or 911 if there was an emergency. I also live in an area where power frequently goes out, so I have a regular plug in phone (not cordless) to use when power goes out. I might reconsider once all of my kids either have their own cell phones or are no longer living at home. I also reserve giving out my cell phone number to select good friends/family/school - I don't like people having constant access to me when I'm not at home. If I'm not at home, chances are I don't want to be bothered with a phone call so I prefer they leave a message at home and let me call back when convenient. I suppose I'm weird like that but I don't like people calling me while I'm driving, while I'm out grocery shopping, etc.

I am looking for technology solutions. Now that 4G is available where I live (boonies), I am ready to ditch my land line and possibly my satellite internet. AT&T offers a great wireless gateway that will allow me to port my home number to my wireless AND connect my cordless phones to it. BUT... How do I handle my telephone connection to my Dishnet receiver? Do I really need that - do they use it to call my receiver or is it just to purchase movies? How can I handle my remote gate entry call box? The landline runs through my gate box so that when people press the call box, it rings on my cordless phone and I can buzz them in. How do I handle the alarm system: I am looking at an interface box that would allow me to use the Internet to send alarms instead of land lines. I have satellite internet but can now get high speed internet on my iPhone over a 4G network. The problem with the cell phone approach is that if I am away from the house with my phone, there would ne no alam system connection to the internet. Could I just buy a hot spot device and leave it in the house all the time? Thanks for the help

As an add on to this conversation regarding emergencies. Make sure your cell has reverse 911 (if available) for city/county emergencies. We lost many in fires who did not have this and got caught in fire storms and mud slides/flash floods. In these situations the danger was known, news reports gave information that the location was far enough away to give them some time for getting out, albeit a very short time. Emergency personnel going to so many homes was burdening the ability to get to all and in some cases not possible to do so. You need to sign up for reverse 911, registration should be for each phone. The use is for more than just natural devastations. Once the call/message is answered it won't repeat the information. Our city just started this last year due to the floods and fires. Most land lines already had the option. Check to see if you have this available, many cities are still working on activation. Also, somewhere in the last few years I remember having mobile phones connected to a main unit inhouse. Nothing worked when electric went out, so yes to the battery backup or the wonderful phone you found. I also took out the kitchen unit for tiling and it shut down the other connections. So make sure you don't mess with the main line, perhaps just cover it up with something that matches the backsplash and can be removed. Landlines are not available in my neighborhood area either, connections are strictly for electronic use. I never considered this until mentioned here. And now remember when my kids told me it was time to just go cell and get rid of the landline. But I'm not good at knowing where the cell is most of the time and unless it rings couldn't tell you on a moments notice. Doesn't bear well for emergencies either way since I'm the only one here. Tethered is not going to happen, out of reach does me little good if there were an emergency. How do others handle this one?