Do you have a landline?

[Julie3Girls]

while I agree the majority will be more used to mobile now, a lot of landlines really only disappeared with the introduction of the NBN, and for some of us, that was only a couple of years ago.

We lost our landline in 2020, so my Gen Z kids still had a landline in the house until their mid-late teens.  It was a cordless phone, so not much different to the mobiles really.  But I am still in the process of removing my landline number from places. 

My parents were having problems with their phone - cordless, so if it was just sitting around the house, you pick it up and hit the green button to answer. When it was sitting on the base charger, you just had to pick it up, didn’t need to hit the button. But mum was picking it up from the base charger, and hitting the green button anyway, and it would disconnect.  She thought the phone was broken because it would cut off when she tried to answer calls.

They do both have mobiles, but only use them when they are out. When they are home, dad leaves his with his car keys in the bedroom, Mum leaves hers in her handbag. So they don’t hear messages or calls. 

My in-laws on the other hand, have mobiles and no landline (rural, no landlines and no nbn). They also have horrible phone service and internet.  MIL is good with the mobile, and messaging, messenger tends to not need much internet/phone reception to work, so we have lots of family chats.  FIL not so great, probably partly due to eyesight problems.  But they recently got him a new phone, the larger size of the phone with the text as big as they can go has helped, he can read the names in the “favourites” when making a call. 

[Fruitmincepies]

I was so relieved when my parents got rid of their landline - the only people who rang were charity scammers who called every day to get donations out of my far too kind parents. It was $20 here, $20 there, but when they finally agreed to sit down and add it up the total was huge. However it seemed they couldn’t say no, so they got rid of the landline instead. 

[EmMelb]

3 hours ago, Fruitmincepies said:

I was so relieved when my parents got rid of their landline - the only people who rang were charity scammers...

For the landline, we call our parents twice. First time hang up after three rings. Then ring back immediately. Then they know it is someone they know. They have told all their friends and people who help them around the house/community transport to do this. It works well. Everyone else will leave a message and they will call them back if they need to. Scammers just give up. 

Mobiles aren't heard in the living room when they are left charging in their rooms. (Or they accidentally turn it to silent mode)

[Lesley225]

It's a lot cheaper to make phone calls on the landline (phone plugged into the modem).  

[Jenflea]

Depends on the plan. Our plan you pay for calls made on the landline, mobiles we have $500 or unlimited calls(I forget which) thanks to our plan. 

[Two-bit]

2 hours ago, Lesley225 said:

It's a lot cheaper to make phone calls on the landline (phone plugged into the modem).  

I have had unlimited calls and texts on all my mobile plans for many years. Currently plan is sim only:

[Julie3Girls]

Unlimited call and txts on the plans in our house. 
the girls were horrified that you used to have pay per txt message LOL

[qak]

We only got rid of our landline about a year ago, when I finally convinced DH there were only had 3 people that would call on it - and that they would call, leave a message, and then call his mobile straight away.

[Lesley225]

Yeah well I'm on a $20 a year mobile plan and calls are about a dollar a minute.  And no one could ever hear me on the phone.

But I have just bought a top line one.  Perhaps when I'm $60 I can afford a phone plan for my mobile. 

[Crombek]

Haven't had one for 15ish years. I did occasionally panic when the kids were younger that they wouldn't be able to find/reach my mobile to ring 000 if something happened to me but luckily we have passed that stage now without major incident & DS1's mobile is permanently attached to his hand. 

[Jolly_F]

Most mobile plans are unlimited calls and texts. Even my kid with prepaid mobile has unlimited calls and texts! So I would have thought it was pretty cost effective! 

[Romeo Void]

21 hours ago, Kiwi Bicycle said:

Yeah, but mobiles have been around to 20 plus years now. My parents in their late 70s have had mobiles. If you need large numbers and button due to eyesight and dexterity, a phone plugged in and in one place (so it doesn't get lost or run out of battery), this solves those issues. Stick a label next to the green button saying " press to answer" and you are set. The generation of people who have never used a mobile is getting smaller and smaller. After us Gen X, there will be no one who would of used a landline in the home.

My FIL was a lectuer in engineering at QIT. He's 85 and literally can't work a modern TV remote let alone a computer.  Any change that happened in the last 30 odd years is beyond him.

[STBG 2]

I don't think intelligence has much of a part when it comes to the ability to work modern appliances. There needs to be desire and need to try something different, an ageing brains also finds it hard to learn new stuff.

Those people who have grown up with this type of technology think differently, they believe they need to keep on top of it whereas someone like my dad did not see a need for a smart phone and he really didn't need one. He had a brick, he also had a landline that did all he needed. 

As my dad said once when someone unkindly commented on his lack of IT skills that if he put a rotary phone on a wall and asked one of his grandchildren to call their mum they would not have a clue. 

 

Edited September 25 by STBG 2
efs

[Julie3Girls]

Definitely not intelligence.  Definitely comes down to need.

My parents use their mobiles as phones. That is all. They have a landline, they prefer it. They prefer to talk rather than try and type on itty bitty keyboards on the phone. 
Until covid, they had one dumb mobile that they shared.  

The whole check-in, QR codes that appeared with covid made that next to impossible.  They needed a smart phone each, in order to make it easier to deal with all the covid restrictions - yes, there were paper work arounds etc, but the grief they would get from staff when they said they didn’t have a phone ….

My mum resents being forced to use it, hates that she needs to check her phone to confirm appts. My dad is perfectly capable of using the mobile, but doesn’t like messaging, so doesn’t bother.

My MIL makes more use of messaging out of necessity, due to no land line and poor phone reception. FIL has no idea because he lets his wife do it, just isn’t interested.

 

[Romeo Void]

19 minutes ago, Julie3Girls said:

 

My mum resents being forced to use it, hates that she needs to check her phone to confirm appts.

 

I recently had to book a test through a private hospital.  The online process was so f*cking tedious and over the top that it nearly broke my brain.  I dread to imagine how someone older copes.  I tried to do something with Services Australia yesterday and after 1/5 hours I've given up 

[Julie3Girls]

Just now, Romeo Void said:

I recently had to book a test through a private hospital.  The online process was so f*cking tedious and over the top that it nearly broke my brain.  I dread to imagine how someone older copes.  I tried to do something with Services Australia yesterday and after 1/5 hours I've given up 

My gp has started sending an online form to fill in, before every single appointment, to let them know why you are coming to see the doctor. I can only imagine my mothers reaction if her doctor starts doing it. The thing really annoys me is that I fill in the damn thing, walk in, and the first question is still “so what brings you here today”, they don’t even look at the form, probably because they are so busy seeing patients!!! 

[Over and out]

9 minutes ago, Romeo Void said:

I recently had to book a test through a private hospital.  The online process was so f*cking tedious and over the top that it nearly broke my brain.  I dread to imagine how someone older copes.  I tried to do something with Services Australia yesterday and after 1/5 hours I've given up 

It is interesting, I saw some 'junk' thing about the youngsters vs us oldies - whether you use a phone or computer to do some more complex things.  As much as I am old, I work in IT, etc, but truthfully when it gets to some things, I find it 100 times easier on the computer than a phone. For many of the older crew that is simply not as easy to do.

[banyan]

23 minutes ago, Over and out said:

It is interesting, I saw some 'junk' thing about the youngsters vs us oldies - whether you use a phone or computer to do some more complex things.  As much as I am old, I work in IT, etc, but truthfully when it gets to some things, I find it 100 times easier on the computer than a phone. For many of the older crew that is simply not as easy to do.

Also, many young'uns are not actually all that computer literate, so they reach for their phone as the default as their 'system 1' engages more readily.

But what does make them different to some people in my parents' generation, I believe,  is that they are not fearful of trying until they get it right. The fear of breaking the ipad or the phone was a huge barrier for one of my parents. Also, the pecking at the screen because they didn't internalise that it was heat sensitive. I see that still a lot when I am out and about.

 

[Romeo Void]

29 minutes ago, Over and out said:

It is interesting, I saw some 'junk' thing about the youngsters vs us oldies - whether you use a phone or computer to do some more complex things.  As much as I am old, I work in IT, etc, but truthfully when it gets to some things, I find it 100 times easier on the computer than a phone. For many of the older crew that is simply not as easy to do.

I'm old too and I love an old fashioned Help Desk.   There's one in Brisbane (Brisbane City Council).  When you phone you go straight through to a person 99% of the time.  They all have knowledge about most of the processes, so the person you get on the phone can help you with your bin not being collected, a cat bothering you or a car parked across your driveway.  THEN they ask if there's anything else they can help me with....all done and dusted in less than 5 minutes because THEY know what fields need to be entered and how to work the screens.  So easy.

[Lesley225]

4 hours ago, Julie3Girls said:

The whole check-in, QR codes that appeared with covid made that next to impossible.  They needed a smart phone each, in order to make it easier to deal with all the covid restrictions - yes, there were paper work arounds etc, but the grief they would get from staff when they said they didn’t have a phone ….

I never had a phone with QR codes and didn't have any trouble with asking for a sign in.  Or if with my sister I'd make her. 

[Anne Bonny]

VOIP phone that came with our NBN package. Has the same number as our old landline. I don't have a smartphone, DP does. Unfortunately, no one official (like hospitals etc) will call a landline number. I don't know why. So I had to give DP permission to speak to them when they phone me when she is at work. Simply because they refuse to use my phone number. It's so weird. My phone does not have cooties