mobile phone instead of Land line

dewdrop

Registered User
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A friend is thinking of cancelling his land line with Eircom and rely soley on a mobile phone. As i am uninformed in this area i wonder what are the principal issues he should consider before taking this step.
 
Depends entirely on his usage, how much his LL costs him now, and how much a suitable package costs. If he has a mobile already, then looking at a mobile only suitable package might be easy enough if you think about the all you can eat type packages. E-mobile do one for I think 70 or 80 euro a month which includes unlimited minutes, texts and data. Looking at something like that even might pay off, and thats before looking at the lower cost but limited minutes/text packages.

If he currently has broadband over his landline though it changes things considerably, as he would have to source a suitable alternative!
 
I moved to mobile only as I was moving house regularly. First thing I noticed was that I couldn't use the land line anymore to phone and find my mobile when it went missing!

Most of the time its fine but at the moment my broadband is so crap that I can't use skype so it's v difficult to find a low cost way to keep in touch with people abroad. I also can be a bit nervous about some "low-cost" numbers that are only low cost for land lines.

The cost/benefit will totally depends on how you/he normally uses phone.
 
Good point putsh, some freephone numbers wont work from a mobile as they are restricted.
Possible alternative to this is if you have a smartphone, get a SIP app and use a voip service from a prepay voip provider for example. I do this using SIPPHONE app and blueface. Its rare enough I need it so 10 euro worth of credit lasts me months.

But as you say, unless youve got a bb connection, or good 3G, then its problematic!
 
I have a land line because work stipulate it for an on call rota.

I don't ring and nobody rings me.

Only costing an extra 5 yoyo's a month on UPC.

Wouldn't have one otherwise.

I would say the next generation won't even consider land lines.
 
I haven't had a land line in 10 years,and can't honestly say I miss it.I do have bb through UPC though.
 
I didn't have a landline for 5 years and didn't miss it. UPC offered me free line rental last year so I took it and I use it very little, only if its cheaper than my mobile package. Its handy for relatives to ring us rather than our mobiles, but I only have it as its free rental. If I had to choose a line rental I'd choose the UPC at 6 euro a month.
 
Havent had a landline in years, like most people I know.

Dont you need landline for sky multiroom and eircom phonewatch?
 
How reliable is the mobile signal in the home? When I had inclusive minutes on my mobile package, I tried to use the mobile instead of the landline, but the signal was so poor at times, I always needed the landline as a back-up.
 
I don't think it's a good idea healthwise. I'm not a scientist but until it's proven that there is absolutely no danger from mobile phones they should be used sparingly. For this issue the monetary costs should be set aside.

And always use the loudspeaker if you can. And avoid long phone conversations on mobiles.
 
Yeah, you never know, some fool on top of the ladder could drop his phone on your head, thus proving how dangerous mobile phones are
 
Well seeing as people cannot go anywhere without them I presume it isn't unknown for window cleaners and painters to take calls from the top of ladders so that's a very good point.
 
Before dropping entirely the landline, he wants to make sure that he has a good signal at home. We are with Vodafone at Home (used to be Perlico but taken over by Vodafone) and while it costs us a little more, I would not give it up and rely rely on my mobile as, although we live in county Dublin, our mobile phone reception is actually scary!