I'm not sure what Vios is. Here are the various terms explained, in a business context, and probably more than you wanted to know!

https://www.nextiva.com/blog/pstn-vs-voip-vs-pots.html

Maybe you mean FIOS?

FIOS is Verizon's name for telecom services over fiberoptic lines

VOIP is Voice Over Internet Protocol, the standard used to transmit audio signals (phone calls) over the internet.

POTS, is Plain Old Telephone Service, and I believe is required to be maintained by the so-called "telcos" in most locations, at at least a rudimentary level. If Verizon is the telco in a given area, I suspect they need to maintain the system.

No one but my kids knows my cell number. Everyone else knows the landline number which I have had for decades. I barely ever look at my cell phone except when I'm away from the house which isn't very often now due to covid. Then I take the phone with me everywhere when I'm away. Otherwise, it sits on the kitchen table and my landline phones are all thru out the house almost in every room.

I keep a landline because of more reliable service during power outages, which occur frequently here. One of the advantages (the only one) of not having our phone lines upgraded to fiber optic; they still work when there is no electricity. Cell can work, too, but if the power is also out to them, no cell service. Wifi phone also doesn't work if power is out to your modem.

It's frustrating that I have to keep the ringer turned off on the landline because of all the robot calls - No More Robot is not available here - and they sometimes start at 5 a.m.. I check the phone several times a day to see if there are messages - I use my landline for all business purposes and my cell only for personal.

Yes we still have true copper land line. The reason many people in these areas that have experienced long periods of time with out electricity (hurricanes) keep the copper land lines is because they still operate without electricity. We rarely use it since we both have good smart phones and good service.

Any household like mine where there is one cell phone present as soon as there is a need to talk to the cell service without using that same phone - like for the purposes of troubleshooting that phone, for instance - if there is not another cell phone or a land line available then this exercise becomes impossible.

Every time I have checked it appeared the land line service was supposedly coming to me free, as part of a bundle.

Because the current cell phone turned out to be previously owned I was repeatedly called about unpaid debts and forthcoming medical appointments for at least a couple years. More than one of the same names kept being asked for, sometimes by offices I had already told that the phone had been passed along to me.

After that phase was over a more or less continuous torrent of unsolicited texts developed.

Whereas my landline generates a small number of sales calls each day, often with quite long periods between them. The display shows me who is calling so most of the time I do not pick up by mistake.

"Cell can work, too, but if the power is also out to them, no cell service. "

Hmm, that's curious. I thought cell towers somehow had power supplies for such situations that don't go down? I can't remember ever losing cell service when the power was out. Though, I lose my range extenders and at least at home, have a weaker signal.

I remember the '89 Loma Prieta earthquake incident. The grid was damaged and electricity service was adversely affected over a wide area, including my home neighborhood. We had POTS at home at the time. That doesn't matter, I was able to call home from my cell phone in the car (yes i had one then) even though power was out everywhere. It was hard to get a connection, though, because road traffic was backed up with much more than normal congestion everywhere and the cell systems were trying to deal with excess usage demands they couldn't handle all at once. But they remained on.

I have a Verizon extender that’s not very impressive unless I’m close to it. I lose signal by the time I’m at the front door, and with the extender rather than jump to the next tower it drops your call. Wifi calling is barely better but not much. And the phone has to be set for one or the other so I guess I’m not actually using my extender. Bah!

I live in a bad service area (which frankly makes zero sense to me given I’m in a highly populated area of one of Long Island’s largest towns), and the phone service is bundled in costing next to nothing, and sometimes I just want ANYONE to answer when I call home, and I prefer giving out my home number rather than cell to businesses, and no matter where I am my hard of hearing parents can’t understand me when on my cell, so for these reasons and probably others I’m forgetting I continue to have a land line.

Elmer - I forget what hurricane it was that came through here a few months back but most of our area was out of power for several days and the cell service went with it. We couldn’t get the normally poor service without driving around until we’d find a patch with a signal.

"I have a Verizon extender that’s not very impressive "

If you have the Samsung unit and got it new FROM Verizon, get it replaced. The first one I had was a clunker and that's what I did - electronic devices being what they are, there's variability. Also, sign onto it over your network and be sure it's set for 100% power. Otherwise, I wonder what the problem is. Do you have concrete or brick interior walls? Do you have it centrally located in your home and high off the floor?

Mine is so strong, I have it turned down to 70%. Even though my house is not that close to the street, the signal is strong enough that passersby connect to it.

Most people don't need to plan for dealing with regular hurricane destruction. If that's a factor where you live, telephone service is the least of your problems. Evacuate when trouble is expected. Best wishes for that.

Yes, I like having it as well as cell phones.

☆

Landlines are still the most reliable for calling 911 for police, fire, and emergency medical services, especially for locating exactly where the call is coming from - even if the caller is unable to speak.

ETA: If you doubt this, spend some time in a dispatch center and watch the difference in call handling/processing; I have.

Why do you say that?

Smartphones have GPS capability and can immediately be located if the recipient has the right equipment, which I think 911 systems do. I once had a tow truck company (believe it or not) tell me they didn't need me to describe my location, they could get it from my phone. And they did with precision, I was on a narrow bridge crossing over a freeway.

My Verizon network extender has a GPS system and external antenna with a wire for when the normal antenna doesn't work. When turned on, the log shows the boot up isn't complete and the extender unit doesn't offer connections to phones UNTIL it is able to determine its location from strong enough signals from the GPS satellites. I presume that capability is for when there's any ambiguity with the signal from the phone itself.

We keep a landline as a backup phone. It's the number I give out to businesses and it works as a call screener for us. I am also hearing impaired and I have a CapTel phone.
I don't currently use it but having had ALL my hearing suddenly go in the past it's a good backup. Maybe I'm old school but I also consider my landline more secure. It's in the wall, not a walk around. At one time I found it necessary to listen in on some walk about landline phones. I don't know if the tech for privacy has improved with them but at one time anyone using them may as well have called out their conversation over a public address system.

nope, gave it up around 2004. it was only a problem way back then when I moved to a neighborhood that had bad coverage, but that was resolved quickly by switching carriers. I miss the clarity of a traditional phone line, but it's not worth the extra money.

PS: It's LAN line -- which stands for "local area network". 🙂

Yes

PS: It's LAN line -- which stands for "local area network".

I think that only applies to computers, not telephones.

caflowerluver That's interesting. DS lives in the same town as you I believe. He's up on a hill. He hasn't been able to get decent computer service since moving into his new home so he uses his cell phone as a hotspot for his computer necessary job working from home. I guess it really depends on the precise location one is at. He's with TMobile if that matters.

"PS: It's LAN line -- which stands for "local area network"."

I'm reasonably familiar with IT hardware and terms and I don't believe there is any such thing as a LAN line. Network cabling can be called "ethernet wiring", or the designations that describe the wire choices specifically like Cat-5, Cat-6, and the various flavors of same.

"I guess it really depends on the precise location one is at. He's with TMobile if that matters."

Yes, it can vary by area. In NorCal and around the Bay Area and adjacent places, I think T Mobile has long been a distant 3rd place behind Verizon and ATT as far as its coverage map and signal strength are concerned.

Most people don't need to plan for dealing with regular hurricane destruction. If that's a factor where you live, telephone service is the least of your problems. Evacuate when trouble is expected. Best wishes for that.

No idea where that came from. I was simply replying to the notion that cell phone towers still work when there are local power outages. In my experience they don’t. I just happened to use a recent rare storm as an example.

Anyway, back to relevant comments. Yes it’s a Samsung and yes I bought it from Verizon. Home construction and device placement is not a consideration as I’ve had it in two homes, different placements, equally bad performance since day one. I just tested it and while I can move away from it to my front door, it stops working past that point. Move closer and it doesn’t connect again until I’m about five feet from it.

A while back I complained to Verizon and they told me to buy a new one. Being as they’re about the most expensive service around it ticked me off to have to buy a device for their service to work in the first place, so I’m not about to fork over more money. I’d probably do better polling the neighbors about their service and seeing if another carrier is better here.

ETA - I see no setting for signal strength. Only setting I see is listing phones for preferred access.

"equally bad performance since day one."

That's too bad, It sounds like your unit is defective unless your home has very thick walls or floors for the signals to pass through. Both of my homes are in slightly hilly locations and I suspect that's why there's a signal problem. The larger house is nearly 150 feet long from end to end and the device provides a strong signal throughout and also outside in every direction. The unit is about in the center - with the external Wifi adapter, I can put it anywhere.

Let me describe my experiences. As I said, I have two range extenders, one in each of two homes I own. I got them from directly from Verizon. I had tired of needing to switch on Wifi when I got home to insure a reasonable phone signal so I called and politely complained about the signal at my house that seems to have degraded over the years. They sent me a range extender. It died six months later so I called and they sent me a replacement. Nine months after that, I called and politely complained about a weak signal at my newly purchased second home. They sent me a second unit for that location. (Truth be told, beforehand I had been taking the one I had back and forth when I went to the second location to use when there but that was a hassle)

I didn't pay for either, both were furnished to me for free. Both are considered as "on loan". Should I no longer need or want to have either, they expect me to return them, which of course I would do. Good deal and good service.

I just checked my records and it appears I was polite to them also.

I don’t need to turn on and off my wifi. When I get in proximity to my home network it connects.

We keep a landline because I am hearing impaired. I have phones located in three areas of the house so I can hear incoming calls. I don't want to carry my cell phone 24/7 while at home. Also, we like having a back up phone.

mdln - a family member works as a 911 dispatch and says exactly what you have stated in your post about landlines being more reliable. I was able to spend two hours with her in the dispatch center and all I can say is hats off to all 911 dispatchers. What a incredibly stressful job!

Same boat as sushipup1. We're in a bundle, so it would cost more to get rid of it. So dumb.

"I don’t need to turn on and off my wifi. When I get in proximity to my home network it connects."

I was describing using the setting for Telephone over Wifi, useful when the tower signal is bad or, if I understood you correctly, when your Verizon extender signal is poor. Try using a wifi connection instead. To do so, when you're home, put your phone on Airplane mode, keep that on, then turn on wifi. If you haven't previously signed on to wifi with your phone, with the wifi password, you'll need to do that.

How old is your Verizon extender?

Here's what my web access page to change the power setting looks like. Click to enlarge

We just got rid of our land line last year. I really don’t miss it.

My husband wears a hearing aid but he Bluetooths it to his phone, so he can hear it perfectly. The television is Bluetoothed to his hearing aid as well. It works great when he’s watching football or something like that as we can turn the volume of the TV right down, I can’t hear it but he picks the sound up perfectly through his hearing aid.

Yes I meant phone over wifi... this symbol comes on and off automatically when i come home or leave. Am I doing something wrong?

As for how old my extender is quite old, I don’t know exactly but it’s 3G not 4G. Maybe that’s why I don’t see those settings.

We're stuck with a landline because of the weird set up of the National Broadband Network here in Oz. No landline, no broadband, where we are - so landline it is, as part of the bundle.

We have the phone on pretty much permanent answering-machine mode so we don't have to listen to robocalls from politicians, solar panel salesmen or scammers threatening us with immediate arrest if we don't pay non existent back tax bills. We've been through a few storm incidents, and the land line has failed every time the power has failed; the mobiles only failed once, when the nearest tower got a lightning strike. So, at least where we live, the land line is less reliable and much more prone to unwanted calls than the mobile. I'll be glad to cut it off completely when broadband gets away from ancient copper wiring.

No I do not, haven't had one for around 3 years or so.

Sue

foodonastump,

Two comments:

1) Verizon told me that when a smartphone sees a cell signal AND a wifi signal, it uses the cell signal and ignores the wifi signal. Your screen capture image shows just that, both, so other than if you've limited downloads and updates (like apps) to Wifi only to save data usage, the setup I see will not use the wifi connection at all for either data use or telephone calls.

You need to do it in the order I mentioned earlier. When you get home, first put on Airplane Mode. Then, when it shows, turn on Wifi. Then your phone calls and data will route over the better wifi signal and not the weak cell tower signal your screen capture shows. You need to take off airplane mode when you leave home. It was the hassle of doing that that led me to complain.

2) Verizon released its 4G service 10 years ago and the roll out was complete within just a few years. If your extender is 3G, then it's really old and the performance you describe suggests it isn't working properly and maybe not at all. If you want to save money and be certain, use the procedure I describe in 1) to restrict home usage to over Wifi only. Or try your luck complaining again to Verizon Customer Service and see what happens. Not to torment you but the units I have (obviously a newer model and newer hardware anyway) work great and consistently so. If you don't score one for free and you want to keep Verizon, it may be worth buying and maybe they'll offer you a break on the price

Good luck

1) Verizon told me that when a smartphone sees a cell signal AND a wifi signal, it uses the cell signal and ignores the wifi signal. Your screen capture image shows just that, both, so other than if you've limited downloads and updates (like apps) to Wifi only to save data usage, the setup I see will not use the wifi connection at all for either data use or telephone calls.

I believe you were given bad information, as I have found no information online that supports that. More importantly my own experience does not support that. “VZW WiFi” does not mean that WiFi calling is switched on, it means that this is how my calls are being connected. If I turn it off, within my house I can make a poor quality call over the local tower. Turn it on and my phone chooses WiFi, not the poor local service.

Furthermore, back in the house near all my equipment a call to #48 will tell me I’m not under extender coverage. Why? Because the extender is creating a cellular type connection but my phone is choosing WiFi. Turn off the WiFi calling and I switch back to the extender as long as I’m in range.

With WiFi calling on, the default is WiFi as long as you’re connected to a signal they is set up to support it. I just leave it on at all times and when I’m home I make sure it says VZW WiFi before placing a call and I’m good.

Actually my last sentence isn’t exactly true. Before placing a call from home I search between cushions for a landline handset.

ETA - While I admit I do still have some questions about WiFi calling, I can say with absolute certainty that data usage defaults to WiFi when both cellular and WiFi are available and enabled.

...the setup I see will not use the wifi connection at all for either data use...

That is incorrect.

I've made this work and I've tried to be helpful by happily sharing what I've learned from personal experiences and from talking with Verizon tech support. You seem to think you know better although I've resolved my reception problems two different ways and you haven't solved yours at all.

Good luck.

I got rid of our land line years ago and haven't missed it. I do carry my cell around the house with me and feel safer with it. If I were to have an accident of some sort, i would have my phone within reach. That would not be the case with a land line. I might feel differently if we had poor service in this area, but service is great.

You seem to think you know better...

I’m happy for you that you solved your reception issues. But if you think you need to turn off cellular data for WiFi to be the default when available, then you know less than you think. And if you think that you need to change settings for WiFi calling to kick in and out over available cellular as you enter or leave your house then either your phones operate differently from our iPhones or you’re again wrong.

Same test, WiFi on then off, cellular data on for both. Obviously the phone defaults to WiFi even though both are available:

What I explained and my explanation for what to do comes directly from what I was told by Verizon tech support. I'll tell you why my recollection on this point is clear. I specifically asked if both signals were available, why a smartphone would persist in trying to route telephony and data using a marginal to non-existent tower connection when a strong Wifi signal were also available as a choice The guy chuckled and said (not exact words) "We don't charge for telephone minutes anymore but we do charge for data and not everyone has an unlimited plan. When there's a chance to use a cellular connection, that's what's used. We don't make any money if a smartphone uses Wifi instead of a tower signal.

There's a small irony in that when our smartphones are connected to the range extender that uses my internet connections to send and receive signals to/from the outside world (just as if it were Wifi), Verizon counts it as being cell tower data usage all the same. I don't care, I have an unlimited plan, but for them, a CDMA connection at the handset is a CDMA connection whether from their system or another way.

Maybe the guy didn't know what he was talking about but a little bit of trial and error confirmed to my satisfaction the behavior preference he described. If you think you know better than Verizon does concerning how their system and the phones for their systems work, they will appreciate hearing from you.

I ran the exact test of WiFi Calling vs cellular with the cellular setting on and available in both cases, immediately before posting my comments above re the calls. I have just provided visual evidence of WiFi being the default for data when both are available and activated. You have provided your recollections of a conversation with some phone tech. I’ll leave it at that.

Just for kicks I contacted Verizon. I’m not sure I was ever able to get my question across adequately. After going in circles they eventually tried to sell me more data and then told me to turn off WiFi calling. Argh! Their last comment may or may not have answered the question.

So I tried Apple, who confirmed my understanding:

Nope. We had one for a while to use a fax machine for SOs business. But really, I have a fax at work I can send whatever he wants and a scanner at home to email documents when needed. No need to pay the extra for another line when our cell phones work fine. My parents still have a landline,because my mom likes to talk, and will outtalk her cell phone battery. But I think the real reason they still have it is my father. He has a cell phone, but is so inept it is kinda sad. My mom thought it was a good idea for them to just share an apple ID, and he ended up going through his iPhone and deleting all of her contacts that he didn't need, thinking that it would only remove them from his phone......

It took a long time before she recovered those. Also, his cell phone could be right next to him ringing and he would not answer it. Its like it doesn't register. It will ring and ring and he will finally,angrily ask "what is that NOISE?" The land line is just easier for him.

My sister has her land line because they own a contracting company and while they list my BILs (the brawn) cell number as the main business number,if he is too busy to answer they will call the house phone and my sister (the brains) can handle the call.

food/stump, I'm not persuaded by your middle of the night chat sessions.

I've found Verizon's support by chat to be often uninformed and not useful. The times I've tried it (usually while having to uncharacteristically hang on for a phone call to be answered), the end result was something to the effect of "I don't know, you need to talk to Tech Support. I can have them call you". Or, a wrong answer. That's my experience. Phone tech support, by contrast, has always been excellent and well informed.

As far as your checking with Apple support, allow me to point out that cell systems often require certain specific settings or firmware switches for hardware to be used on their networks. That, in essence, is what Verizon told me was the case. Checking with Apple's generic support is not necessarily going to get you to someone with the details of internal system requirements of a specific system, if any. I see no mention of "Verizon" in the chat, maybe it was mentioned first or perhaps not at all?

Just to close the loop, I found repeatedly that having a strong Wifi signal and a poor cell signal on resulted in poor call quality using the poor cell signal. As Verizon described would be the case. Maybe your phone is different from mine. I don't know, I'm not there.

You can have any opinion you want but it's not going to change what my actual experiences have been and how I resolved my problem. For some reason because of the obstinance of not wanting to make two quick series screen entries that fixed the problem more or less for me before I got the range extenders, you prefer to struggle with a problem.

Good luck.

Yes, we don't have cell phones.

Yes, but its unplugged. I think I have to have it for my internet, or I would save the money.

Elmer - My repeated observations from tests and everyday experience are that if the phone displays VZW WiFi then this is what the call defaults to. This is supported by product documentation as well as an Apple rep. My main issue with WiFi calling is that it doesn’t always kick in right away when I come home.

I appreciate your advice to look at strength settings but they do not appear to exist on my account. Likely due to older equipment. If there it’s any obstinance on my part it is my unwillingness to shell out more money to Verizon, especially considering they gave it to you for free.

As for the rest, I will stick to my own evidence and observations. I’m baffled that you think that cellular data takes precedence over WiFi, which goes against both common knowledge and definitive evidence to the contrary, presented above.

Forum members can sigh a breath of relief, as I’m done with this. Happy Thanksgiving.

"I’m baffled that you think that cellular data takes precedence over WiFi, which goes against both common knowledge and definitive evidence to the contrary, presented above."

More of the same. Sorry, it isn't what I think, there's no such thing as "common knowledge". It's what I was told.

I'll send you a dollar bill to try what worked for me. Or don't, I'm done too. I'd call you to explain it but with your practice the phone may not ring.

Coming back because I’m seeing that there may be a middle ground answer. It looks like an iPhone may choose the stronger signal when both are available and cellular falls below a certain strength. The net effect, if you’re in a poor service area and WiFi calling is available, this will be the default. Which of course is exactly what we want and what I observe. [ETA - So this could explain why you experience the cellular default and I don’t: we both have a signal but yours is deemed strong enough and mine is not.]

As for regular data I’ll stand with WiFi data being the default on iPhones. In fact they added WiFi Assist with iOS 9 specifically to jump over to cellular when the WiFi signal is weak. This can be turned off, or cellular data can be turned off altogether.

if any of your equipment is older, that's worth upgrading. whether it's your router, modem, or your phone. go ahead and ditch your Verizon booster, wifi calling is better these days. if you have bad wifi coverage throughout your house, consider getting boosters for that instead -- such as eero.

also, ask your neighbors what carriers they use, and if they're happy. verizon used to be the best, but I was surprised to find that it's pretty bad in our new neighborhood, even though there are plenty of cell towers around. it's a very hilly neighborhood, so I think that's one of the factors.

In my area, and I think in California in general, Verizon for many, many years was heads and shoulders above its nearest competition. Which was ATT. I first experienced this myself back at the turn of the century (it sounds longer ago than it is), I used to carry two phones, one of each of these two. The ATT was a backup (and then later a Blackberry) used when the Verizon's charge got low. Invariably, wherever I was, the ATT phone's signal could be marginal or even absent in places where the Verizon phone had a strong connection.

I think ATT since then has significantly enhanced its network and I think it's more on par with Verizon than it used to be. Up until two years ago, I still had one smartphone of each system and there were places I'd be on road trips around the West where the ATT signal was inferior to the Verizon one. I still have two but when I replaced the secondary phone that I have for a specific purpose that's from a mobile virtual network operator (a "mobile supplier" that uses other company's networks), it was a phone that also uses Verizon.

As I love mod says, it can very much vary with the terrain and my normal haunts are hilly. That does have an effect.

Hills are an issue here.

Aside from the extender my equipment is all newish. The oldest is my Altice One box (modem, router, cable, phone in one box) at about 2 years, Orbi AC3000 mesh (base and two satellites) less than a year, phone a few months... Still everything glitches around the house. No fun when wife is working and two kids remote learning and are all screaming that they’ve lost connection! I’ve toyed with switching over to Fios, that way everything from the pole to the house would be new, too. My parents have it and my phone’s internet FLIES when I’m connected.

joann_fl - check with your internet provider. We have internet (both wired and wireless) but don't have to pay for phone service. It may not be that way with your provider, but it's worth an ask.

"Altice One box"

If you have an Orbi system too, do you have the "routing" function turned off on this all in one box? If not, that causes problems.