Yes, my under 30 husband and myself actually got rid of them and use the land line exclusively. Now, when we are out, we can enjoy our time without the cellular leash. If people call, they leave an old fashioned message.

Our reasoning was more for simplification, as we can well afford cell phones.

Its actually quite nice. It is more peaceful, and definitely less complicated. When we were not answering cell phones there would be lots of angry messages stating things like "I called you cell phone, why didn't you answer?. Now our contacts know we will of course answer calls, but when we actually have time.

I hate cell phones. [And I'm not a Luddite; I'm just a Luddite when it comes to cell phones.]

And my landline costs me less than $20 a month.

Besides, cell phones give you brain cancer.

Voting Republican gives you brain cancer. Pass it on.

Phil: Voting Republican gives you brain cancer.

LeRoy: I thought it was the other way around. That brain cancer causes people to vote Republican. But I guess there couldn't be that many people in America with brain cancer.

A brain defect, then.

One that might cause America to get cancer, if not treated.

Wrote a NY Times best seller: "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder". Of course, he's pretty crazy himself, so it is hard to know who's correct.

I love that idea. I have a pay-as-you-go phone and don't even know the number. I have used it to call AAA, but that's about it.

uh insider trading and future issues and martha hillary stuff....but they have a place on trips and stuff. yeah

and don't bit the very hand that feeds you and murphybrown in the post spokes person k?

It sounds like you need new friends more than you need a landline.

When I don't answer my cell phone - whether I've left it at home, accidentally let it die, or just am busy - my friends don't leave angry messages. They seem to have this bizarre notion that I am a human being with other commitments and activities than responding to my phone - and that I am not always at their beck and call! Wow! They know that we will return their calls, even though they called our cells and we didn't answer. Wow!

Your cell phone is not a leash unless you let it become one. A cell phone can be left at home, ignored, or turned off as easily as it can be taken with you, answered, or turned on. A land line is not necessary for this.

I don't see how it's simpler - never being able to get hold of mobile-you seems less convenient than *sometimes* being able to get hold of mobile-you.

I have a land line - never answered, never given out - for one reason and one reason only: the security system that was already installed in our house when we bought it requires it to dial out for help. (I think there are newer systems that don't require a phone line, but I'm not going to install a whole new system just for that.) It comes cheaply bundled with our TV and Internet anyway. Having been the victim of some minor stalking/threatening/harassing­/not-sure-what-to-call-it-but-­it-was-damn-creepy at the hands of a former coworker, we feel it's a necessary expense. Otherwise we would not have it, and we didn't have it hooked up before that incident.

I did away with my land-line 5 years ago.

I'm away a lot, personal and business reasons. The cell was a necessity, the land-line (after I installed DSL) became a luxury (and the only thing on my answering machine for months was telemarketers).

I can turn it off, I don't have to answer it if I am busy, or even don't want to. I can see who calls me, I can retrieve voicemail from it... kaiso is correct, it is only a leash if you want it to be.

If you are a person who has Pavlovian conditioning to always need to answer a phone when it rings, it may be a problem for you, though. I just know my friends found it easier to reach me with it, than either my home, or work landlines.

Though I am considering the advisability of adding email access to it now... and THAT could be scary.