Ditching your Landline Just Got Easier

QuePasaCalabaza writes "The FCC has approved a bill 5-0 that allows consumers to take their land line phone numbers and carry them over to thier wireless phones. USA Today has one of the first scoops on this ruling. The official news release [Word|PDF] is there."

Re:I have DSL

[TheShadow]

unless I want to get into bed with the evil cable company that is

Well, you're already in bed with the evil phone company... so what's the difference?

Someone needs to just run fiber to everyone's house/business and put all these bozos out of business.

5-0 ?

[kajoob]

On a side note, does it disturb anyone else that a mere 5 people control such weighty decision affecting telecommunications?

just what we all need...

[seriv]

An easier way for the FBI to monitor us all.
-Seriv

Re:5-0 ?

[mblase]

On a side note, does it disturb anyone else that a mere 5 people control such weighty decision affecting telecommunications?

There are only nine people on the U.S. Supreme Court who decide whether laws governing your school, your privacy, or your right to have an abortion are constitutional or not. Get used to it.

Re:5-0 ?

[KD5YPT]

So would you rather have 5 relatively technical savvy people making a decision, or 400+ people (the congress) who don't have the slightest idea on what TCP/IP and Ports are making the decision?

Re:I have DSL

[ThogScully]

Technically, yes. But when I used to have DSL (cable wasn't available yet when I moved here), I was required to have a voice line by Verizon in order to get DSL service. And no other company could connect me with DSL due to problems communicating with Verizon - even Verizon took 4 months.

Anyway, saving $40/month by switching to cable and dropping my landline was the best and most cost effective upgrade I ever did and I don't have to pay a dime to Verizon ever again.
-N

But...My TiVo.

[boinger]

How will TiVo know what's going on?

You can't even record a single show without first making a telephone call on a landline. Even the DirecTiVos which get their listing from the satellite.

Is there a way to plug a normally landline-connected device into a cell phone for the occasional call?

Re:I have DSL

[pauljlucas]

Well, you're already in bed with the evil phone company... so what's the difference?

The difference is that cable companies usually have more Draconian TOS than phone companies and usually don't offer static IPs. Although I have no great love for SBC, their TOS specifically allow me to run servers. I've never seen a cable company that would do that.

take my telemarketer-known number with me?

[*weasel]

are you mad?!?

one of the few things that makes sole cell ownership preferable to a landline is that the cell companies don't (or can't) sell their registries to telemarketers.

since i've gone land-line-less ... hell i didn't even -need- the do-not-call registry.

but if i took my landline number onto my cell service - man i'd be doubly infuriated at any telemarketing - even if it was restricted to traffic allowed by the do-not-call registry.

(non-profits, political advocacy, and any company who has sold you products or services in the last 18 months -- all cleared to bother you as much as they want.)

or until

[The Tyro]

a burglar cuts your land line before hitting your house; oldest trick in the book. Cuts off the phone-home feature of most home alarm systems, particularly since the ones that do have a "cellular backup" feature charge big extra fees for that feature.

I like always having a cell phone available. If you suspect a home burglary and find that your phone doesn't work, you'll be damned glad you have that cell, because you're facing one of two kinds of opponents.

#1. A professional who has anticipated your alarm system.

#2. A stalker-type who has surveiled you, knows you are home, and has plans for you.

Either way... I'll keep my cell AND land line.

Re:But...My TiVo.

[boinger]

I am fully aware of the various tools/hacks for connecting a TiVo to an Ethernet LAN.

You still have to make the initial call over a phone line. I'm positive.

Get ready for...

[HomerJayS]

A $4.99 monthly charge on your phone service with a line item description of "Number Portability Fee". After all, the telcos will certainly claim that they will need to spend billion$ to implement number portability. They will certainly be entitled to recoup their costs.

Re:No land line is great

[jason0000042]

hell in europe they're discussing whether parents can use cell phone location technology to track their kids.

See, this is why I don't want a cell phone. Unless I can turn the tracking features off. Of course, when the phone is on and emitting signals it can be tracked whether it has any special tracking functions built in or not.

Re:I have DSL

[hanssprudel]

Well, you're already in bed with the evil phone company... so what's the difference?

Someone needs to just run fiber to everyone's house/business and put all these bozos out of business.

What makes you think that wouldn't end up being the evil fiber company?

Wiring peoples houses is conductive to natural monopolies. Some part of me can't help but think it might be better off as public infrastructure (a la roads), but then I think of how much I would be paying to wire all the people who have chosen to live in rural areas in that case...

Perhaps wireless is the ticket (there is a company two houses down from mine that sells 802.11b broadband - unfortunately they pointed there directional anntenna in the other direction...)

Re:Brotherly love

[Anonymous Coward]

If I lived in Philly, I wouldn't feel safe without a howitzer, an M-60, and booby-trapped windows. I'd wear kevlar to bed. I'd crouch-roll on the way to the bathroom.

...and in which of the fly-over states between the East and West coast do you live? I'd guess Wisconsin.

Get over your country cousin prejudices about the "big bad city" and try living in one. Raised in New York, schooled and lived in Boston, spent 7 years in a pretty hick town on the Gulf Coast (Sarasota), and I like Philadelphia the best. Small enough to be manageable, everything I could ask for outside my front door.

Oh yeah... and I ain't daid yet!