Land line out

[Lloyd Smale]

land lines aren't going the way of the dinasours as long as people get internet service off of them. As a matter of fact phone companys are investing millions to upgrade them to fiber optic. Id give up my cell phone in heartbeat before id give up my land line and rely entirely on a cell phone. but then I use my phone to actually call real people and TALK. Not as a video entertainment and internet surfing device. No call is that important to me that im going to pack a cell phone with me every day all day. If you want to talk to me call my land line. If im not home I have an answering machine. I MIGHT even call you back. I do have an old flip phone for when I go to camp where there is no land line but its never turned on unless I WANT to call someone.

[Rick N Bama]

land lines aren't going the way of the dinasours as long as people get internet service off of them. As a matter of fact phone companys are investing millions to upgrade them to fiber optic. Id give up my cell phone in heartbeat before id give up my land line and rely entirely on a cell phone. but then I use my phone to actually call real people and TALK. Not as a video entertainment and internet surfing device. No call is that important to me that im going to pack a cell phone with me every day all day. If you want to talk to me call my land line. If im not home I have an answering machine. I MIGHT even call you back. I do have an old flip phone for when I go to camp where there is no land line but its never turned on unless I WANT to call someone.

You're right that Landlines aren't going away, but if you're in an area served by AT&T, Copper Plant is going away. They're doing very little to maintain their plant now. I spent 31 years working for South Central Bell which became Bellsouth which was bought out by AT&T. I see plant every time I go out that would have gotten supervisors fired if it had not been corrected within a day or so. Employees drive by one such disaster every day with no action being taken to correct the problem.

[Lloyd Smale]

rick i don't doubt it a bit. I was an electrical lineman for 30 years. You think the phone system in this country is in bad shape you should look at your power grid. How many times has your phone not worked in the last 5 years? How many times did you have a power outage? When i first started we were allways doing rebuilds and upgrades. Around 1995 that all ended. Rate increases were tougher to get and the money just wasn't there to do that kind of work so we spend our time band aiding worn out junk. Funny thing is everyone wants to complain about reliability and modern upgrades but no one wants to pay to get them. I don't care if its the phone company, power company, your local road commission patching roads or the state putting band aids on there bridges ect. It all costs money. Improvements and new technology costs money. Money that doesn't grow on trees out back of your phone companys building. Why would you think you should get improvements for free? I have a flip phone. If i want better technology, texting internet, smart phone technology ect i have to go and buy a new phone. Verison doesn't hand them out for free. If the government stepped in and told verison they are now capped on what they can charge for new technology or tell them the most they can charge for a cell phone is a 100 bucks youd still be using flip phones. Bottom line is att&t has stock holders. They have to show a profit or there stock tanks and there business dies. What hurts them more then anything is cell phones. take a 1/4 of fords customers and have them go to chev and see how much money ford can afford to put into research and development and new technology. Wait, someday someone will come up with some new way of communication that is better then cell phones. See then how well cell phone towers are maintained and upgraded. That is unless your willing to pay twice as much to keep them going. It isn't att&ts fault. They have a budget that is based on profits. They cant plow all new fiber optic line into your town without making everyone in the neighboring town pay for it too. Not when only a few branches of that money tree still put out fruit. So they do there best at keeping whats already there plugging along.

[abunaitoo]

The ceo of the power company here makes almost $2m a year.
I'm sure the rest of the top makes close to $1m a year Probably more..
If they would be paid a reasonable wage, they would have the funds for upgrades and repairs.
Monopoly here. Only one power station, and one land line phone company for each island.
Phone company here is worried.
Most people have dumped land line.
Computer is cable or wireless.

[mold maker]

Before cell phones and dial phones we had a party line and 3 digit phone number. It worked. You told the operator the number you wanted or sometimes the name and she connected you, period. I don't ever remember it failing unless there was physical damage from a storm.
I still live in the same home, served by the same wire from the pole to house. It still worked when I canceled service because the price had become outrageous.
The new technology phone, cable, and WiFi connection, only cost a little more than the phone line at that time, but every time there is a storm, it all fails. TV programming is cruddy and even local news is politically biased.
BTW the bill has more than doubled.
I guess it's better than smoke signals, but building the fire is the difference.

[Lloyd Smale]

yup and ceo's of most major companys make those kinds of wages. Why should a power company be a bit different. Id have to guess the ceo of verison makes even more the that. I doubt they would get any good experienced ceo for 50k a year. One thing to keep in mind is the land line phone companys and internet and tv providers keep the dish companys and cell phone providers in check with pricing. If they all went away and everyone had only one choice then id about bet my home that prices would soar. We have only one choice for a land line here too. Its a small local company that hasn't been bought up YET. Might be lower prices if att&t bought them but im sure service would suffer from it. That said our local power company has been bought out twice since I retired. Both companys were bigger and had a better bottom line. Our power bills sure haven't gone down and the lineman working there tell nothing but horror stories about cut backs, service, and upgrading lines. Like it or not there all businesses that the real goal is to make money for stock holders and not making your life easier or cheaper. Ill stick with my little local land line company thank you. At least if I do have problems im dealing with someone I know not an answering service in india!

The ceo of the power company here makes almost $2m a year.
I'm sure the rest of the top makes close to $1m a year Probably more..
If they would be paid a reasonable wage, they would have the funds for upgrades and repairs.
Monopoly here. Only one power station, and one land line phone company for each island.
Phone company here is worried.
Most people have dumped land line.
Computer is cable or wireless.