Until recently, landline phones were the norm in most homes. But, with the rise of cellular technology and affordable VoIP home phone services, many consumers have begun to question whether or not they still need a landline.
Fortunately, options like magicJack and Community Phone allow you to use your Internet connection to make calls at a fraction of the cost of traditional home phone service. Here’s what you need to know about making the switch:
Save Money
With the rise of cellular technology, many people have opted to cut their landlines in favor of a cheap cell phone plan. Phone providers offer a home phone alternative that plugs into your router and works with your existing Wi-Fi connection for an affordable monthly fee. They also offer many great calling features, including call forwarding, call blocking, conference calling, and 911 services.
Another option is a cellular-based home phone service provider offering a modern landline that connects to cell towers for reliable and cost-effective calling. They even offer a backup battery to keep your home phone working during power outages. They also allow you to keep your current phone number and provide various useful features, including unlimited nationwide calling, voicemail-to-text transcription, and international calling.
Better Call Quality
One big reason people are quitting their landlines is the relatively poor call quality offered by cell phones and over-the-internet calls. But that’s starting to change.
Consumer Reports and PC Magazine found that calls made on corded or cordless phones sounded much better than those on cell phones. That’s because cellphone networks can have muddy or static audio.
Home phone alternatives use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to offer a reliable, high-quality alternative to traditional landlines. These devices plug into your home router and allow you to make telephone calls using the internet. Plus, you can keep your current home phone number. This feature is important, as many people have medical or fall detection systems that rely on their home phone numbers to work.
Better Caller ID
Though mobile phones have made landlines superfluous in many homes, having a home phone alternative can make life easier for those who want to keep one. Several options are available for people looking to avoid the traditional phone company. These services work by connecting to your internet and using the STIR/SHAKEN framework to verify caller ID, making it much easier to tell who is calling.
Best of all, you can keep your same home number when switching to one of these providers, and no one will know the difference.
More Convenience
Some people want to keep a landline phone for emergencies so family members can reach them easily. And many of us still enjoy the simplicity of one dedicated line for the whole household, without a smartphone’s bells and whistles.
Phone service providers offer a home phone service that uses your internet connection to make calls, so there’s no need for a separate base station or complicated wiring. And you can port your existing home number over to PhonePower so friends and family will never notice a difference.
Other providers provide affordable home phone service that plugs into your PC and works even when your computer is off. And cellular-based providers work off cell towers so you can stay connected even during power outages.
