I have a land line because that's how I get on the Internet (DSL). I'm not going to pay for both a land line and a cell phone, so I don't have a cell phone.

Of course, mine isn't exactly one of the youngest households. If I had kids, they'd be over 30.

I have a land line because that's how I want my kids' school to get hold of me. They don't need to know my cell phone number, that's for me. Besides, we've always had a land line. Old habits die hard, I guess, at least in my family they do!

ditched the landline about 8 years ago... I have the cell to make sure the kids school could get hold of me.
OTOH I dun make or get calls much, so... I mostly use the phone for the net, to read and whatnot. it's quicker than booting a computer.

I would prefer to ditch the cell phone and keep the landline.

I do not need a phone on me 7/24. I'm not that important! I promise! If there's something you need, just call the landline and I'll get to it when I get home.

But no, you don't get to talk to me when I'm out and about. That is my time for my agenda, and you're not allowed to interrupt it.

Like Rex, I'd have either a cell phone or a land line, but not both. So I have a cell phone.

I don't have broadband at home. The cable company is running a special on 3 mb/s for 6 months @ $20/month, which is tempting...

Yep, got a landline.

First, it is how I get on the internet (DSL).

Second, and this is more important, when disaster stikes it is the only thing left working (keeping fingers crossed).

On 9-11, I didn't have cable, only broadcast TV and it went out. The internet, depending on the site, was a traffic jam with nothing loading. Cell phones were clogged on that day and the landline was the only way to try to reach someone.

During hurricanes, and often during a typical nor'easter; the power goes out, along with cable, internet, and phone service (if it is tied to your cable). Some of the cell towers here on the Jersey shore were damged during hurricane Sandy knocking out cell service in my area. And, they don't seemed to have been fully repaired since cell services is much more spotty that before.

During Sandy, my landline was the only thing working. No electricity, no heat, no hot water, no news from the "outside" world except what I could get on the battery powered radio and from calling, on my landline, others in areas with power.

So, yep, I have a landline and have no plans to ditch it.

Ditto landline/DSL. I use OPEX for long distance--cheaper than everything but Skype.

Ditched the landline during election season a couple of years ago. Swing state + registered independent = many many annoying calls.

But no, you don't get to talk to me when I'm out and about. That is my time for my agenda, and you're not allowed to interrupt it.

This was my major reason for not getting a cell phone when they first came out. That, and the fact that it cost 38 cents each way, whether I made or received a call! That's right, each way. (This was in 1996) I couldn't believe it! And yet, people were signing up like no tomorrow to get these things! I was working at Bristol-Myers Squibb, at a research facility which was kind of in the boonies, and the company would bring vendors in on a weekly basis; I did get some great stuff, but when they brought in the cell phone guys, and they were giving their spiel, I looked at one and said, "You mean, if I sign up for this, and someone calls me, I have to pay 38 cents a minute? And they're paying 38 cents a minute too? For the same call?" and the guys is all smiles and says "yes, that's right, isn't that great?" and I said "for you, maybe" and walked away! About half the group there came with me.

Yep, I have a landline and that's all I need. One phone downstairs for the internet, and one upstairs that came with the house and really is a dinosaur. Old black dial phone with a cloth-covered cord. I love it.

"Second, and this is more important, when disaster stikes it is the only thing left working (keeping fingers crossed)."

This doesn't necessarily hold anymore. During the North Alabama post-tornado wide area power outage of 2011, our land line went dead after 12 hours. Land lines don't necessarily go directly back to the central office any more. Many of them go through concentrators along the way, and the concentrators are utility powered. In a power failure, land lines attached to it will only stay up for as long as the batteries in the concentrator last.

The main reason we have a land line is because a lot of VOIP and cable-based phone systems don't play nice with alarm monitoring systems.

This doesn't necessarily hold anymore. During the North Alabama post-tornado wide area power outage of 2011, our land line went dead after 12 hours. Land lines don't necessarily go directly back to the central office any more. Many of them go through concentrators along the way, and the concentrators are utility powered. In a power failure, land lines attached to it will only stay up for as long as the batteries in the concentrator last.

True. In the wake of a catastrophic event like a tornado or hurricane, it's likely that both concentrators and cell towers will go out. Oddly, text messaging becomes more reliable than either cellphone or landline calls.

The only reason I still have one is because it would actually cost me more to just have cable and Internet from my provider.pisses me off daily

Cell phones aren't really designed as phones these days. Having a long conversation on one without a hands-free device can be uncomfortable - like holding a tiny flat panel television to your head. You can't really switch your grip on them. Landline phones are still designed to be used exclusively as phones and are a bit more comfortable for long calls without a hands-free device.

You beat me to it Mbruce. My Cable, Internet and Land Line are bundled. My wife, College age kids and I all have cell phones - no need for a land line. When I called to cancel the land line they told me my bill would go up, so I still have a land line.

I have a $9 a month VOIP just for the kids to call 911 if necessary. No other reason to have one.

We got rid of our landline about two years ago because the only calls we ever got on it were from telemarketers. If we lived somewhere that cell phone service was spotty, I'd consider getting one again- but until then, I'm not going to spend $30 a month so survey-takers, politicians, and con-artists from India can waste my time.

I have a gripe about cell only households. The Kids can not make calls without borrowing a cell from a parent; when there is abuse, that isn't going to happen.
My Godson was having huge problems at home. He could not alert anyone - me, his Grandmother, his married step-sister - because the phones are always in the parent's pocket, purse or hand, and are locked if left in the charger. He didn't want to use a friend's phone and thus reveal family issues he had been warned not to tell. He did not know payphones exist. His internet access is sporadic and tightly monitored. He was finally able to download to his Grandmother when she was called mid-day to collect him ill from school. He is living with her now, but had to endure much abuse before he saw her alone and was able to tell. (He did get to talk to people sometimes, but always with a parent at his elbow.)
My other gripe is sound quality on the damn things, They are fuzzy and indistinct. When my BFF calls, I can get 75% at best. When it degrades to 50% (usually) I hang up. I refuse to say "Huh?" more than twice, then I let it go on by.
And texting: How the hell do you know for sure who is texting you? It could be anyone who grabbed the phone, and you could be easily tricked into revealing info to bad-intentioned strangers or more likely ridiculed by joke-playing acquaintances. I like to know for sure who I am addressing.

I still have a land line and an answering machine. The ringer on the phone is off. So when the answering machine catches it -- I may hear it.

I give my land line number to anything/anyone I don't really ever care to hear from. Just like I have a Google and a Yahoo e-mail account. The GMail is my primary -- my Yahoo is my spam catcher.

I haven't had a land line in over a decade. I see no reason for one. I always have my cell and it's just easier to only have to remember one phone number. That said, I rarely talk on the phone anyway - my phone is mainly used for texting and surfing the 'net.

Gave up the land line five or six years ago. Had no use for it at all. Totally happy with the cell phone, though I live in a major city with excellent cell service. I actually don't even look at it so much as "my cell phone" as just "my phone."

My phone is far more useful than a landline, since I can call, text, email and search the internet on a single device that fits in my pocket and I can take anywhere. I'll take all that in exchange for a very minor loss of comfort when actually making call, which is rarer and rarer every year.

I'm a fairly regular guest on some special-interest radio shows, and my HTC phone with Verizon service seems to work just fine for that.

"Oddly, text messaging becomes more reliable than either cellphone or landline calls."

That's because texting sends the least data of all cellphone actions. It's really a major, major moneymaker for the phone companies, because one minute of voice airtime takes more bandwidth - with priority - than a thousand texts.

Gave up land line about a decade ago. When I did try try to have a landline, Verizon, the local provider only offered VOIP service at $80/mo unbundled. Since I only received telemarketing calls from the LA Times and Verizon, it was a short lived trial.