When was the last time you heard a residential landline phone ring?
Posted by CharlieLeigh51@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 105 comments
I recently found a cellphone ringtone that sounds like a landline ringing. I’m not very tech savvy so I found it by accident and it made me laugh so phucking hard (doesn’t take much to entertain me). I immediately set my phone to that and played it a few times for good measure. It made me realize how that ringing sound is connected to so many memories (good and bad) and it’s now obsolete…as many things are from our generation.
I live in an older building and the phone outlets are still in the walls; one is completely painted over. But looking at them made me remember the first time my parents gave me my own phone in my room with a separate number - damn that was exciting!
vabello@reddit
Ours rang yesterday I think. Is it that rare to have a landline anymore? Ours was originally a traditional Verizon landline, but it’s been running off of VoIP service for years now.
9inez@reddit
My workspace is in a residential property we own. Today, after about a year of 99% spam calls on the land line, which rang all day long with Medicare scams and other bullshit, I cancelled it. Done. No more land lines.
I also threw out the old school push button trim line style, beige phone we had “for emergencies.”
And so it goes.
If the phone apocalypse happens, I’ll find a walkie-talkie or use smoke signals.
Previous_Wedding_577@reddit
Whenever I'm at my mom's house.
mom2ajs5@reddit
I just spent a week at my mom’s house. She has a working landline. I’m just realizing that it didn’t ring a single time!
Previous_Wedding_577@reddit
Christ my poppy (mom's dad) still had a party line when he passed away 30 years ago.
mom2ajs5@reddit
Wow! I don’t know that I ever knew anyone with a party line.
Chibi-Skyler@reddit
Mine rang on Friday. It was an unknown number, so I let the machine get it. No message left, so likely a telemarketer.
LizaMD@reddit
Ours rings. Even after I unplugged it for like 6 months and plugged it back in. Still getting about 5 spam calls a day. I need to change all the accounts associated with it before I get rid of it.
FlanProfessional4080@reddit
My Stepdad still has one. One of maybe 5 phone numbers I still have memorized.
Jef_Wheaton@reddit
We still have a landline. We have DSL internet because it would cost $10k to get a fiber line run out here. My 96-year-old MIL uses the phone all day, so her cell phone would be dead by noon.
There's an old Bakelite tabletop rotary phone in the basement. It rings sometimes. That heavy, loud mechanical-bell ringing.
I'm not answering, it's probably someone from 1957.
Reasonable-Cook-4728@reddit
About 5 hours ago
Walk_of_Shayne@reddit
My landlord who lives in a different unit of the house has one that I hear about every 6 month
Old_Goat_Ninja@reddit
It’s been awhile. Wife keeps the landline for whatever reason. It’s only something like $10 a month, but she keeps it. Anyways, it never, ever, rings. It’s been several years since the last time it rang.
hapster85@reddit
Yesterday. I don't think it rang at all today.
Substantial-Chip-102@reddit
Every night. There is a house in this old neighborhood that I am in. They have an outdoor ringer that rings every night about 10:00. Sometimes a few times and stops but then rings again. In my mind it is a family member checking in with a senior.
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
That reminds me of scary movies where the phone keeps ringing at odd hours.
Substantial-Chip-102@reddit
I actually found myself concerned when there was a third set of rings before someone picked up. Probably in the bathroom. Lol
Ok-Till-5285@reddit
We still have a land line, how are telemarketers going to know how to reach us if we don't?
Seriously, no idea why we keep it, if it was up to me it would be gone.
tvieno@reddit
I got rid of my landline in 2010, so .. 2010.
send_it_431@reddit
Today at work, over and over and over.....fuck! Annette quit smoking and answer the phone
Zealousideal_Lack936@reddit
I haven’t had a landline since we moved states in 2007, and house line before that was VOIP. So it has been at least 20 years.
Heck, my state has even dropped true landlines for the National Guard and gone to VOIP.
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
I am so surprised at how many people in the thread still have them! I never knew they were still in use.
azchocolatelover@reddit
My MIL still has a landline, but she's moving this week, so it will be turned off eventually. She's got a Jitterbug cell phone that she'll use in her new place.
Zealousideal_Lack936@reddit
Me too. Even my Silent Generation mother has abandoned a landline.
Ok_Transition7785@reddit
Every day? We still have our (now backend modified) land line.
Adorable_Author_8190@reddit
I can’t differentiate on quieter ring tones, like my brain and ears can’t hear them. I put that old style ring on. I hear them every time now. 😂😊
mrsristretto@reddit
My husband took our our the wall two days ago, cus it's been ringing non stop. We guess because it's Primary season and the upcoming midterm.
cab1024@reddit
At my 79-yr old mom's house...
annarbor-guy@reddit
Wednesday at my Mom’s house. Same landline number for 70 years.
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
Crazy! I would love to go home to that.
Select-Belt-ou812@reddit
a few hours ago
flagrantstickfoul@reddit
I have that exact phone but without the shoulder-rest. It’s not plugged into anything, but I have it
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
Are you kidding me!? Ha! That’s fantastic! 😆👏
Select-Belt-ou812@reddit
and this is how you interact with the world of touch-tone
Select-Belt-ou812@reddit
here's another one, in another room
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
That’s the one we had - a wall-hugger!
vinegar@reddit
In my dad’s assisted living 3 years ago.
Life-Wealth-3399@reddit
Every day at work.
AZTerp1080@reddit
About 30 minutes ago. My next door neighbors are in their late 80s and they have some kind of amplified ringer on their patio so I hear it every time their landline rings.
panicstreak@reddit
When I was at my parents house a couple weeks ago.
_RLW_@reddit
5 years ago. We had a land line in our previous house. The phone company tried desperately to get me to switch over from actual copper line to VOIP. 98% of the times it rang were from scam artists trying to rip me off. However, I loved having an old school phone and refused to give it up. Unfortunately when we moved we couldn’t get another land line. It kinda sucks because cell reception can be a little sketchy at my new house.
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
They no longer install copper lines in homes here in Los Angeles because they don’t want to (or can’t) service them anymore.
Quirky_Commission_56@reddit
2018 when I was living with my dad because I was taking care of him after my mom died in 2008.
Spiritual_Ad8626@reddit
We live in an area with terrible cell coverage. So we have a landline.
However I almost NEVER give out that number so when it rings I don’t answer it. Lol
I heard it about twice in the last 7 days.
buckynugget@reddit
My mother just hung up on hers because the phone company wanted 80 bucks a month since they're not able to cover maintenance of the lines. So whoever isn't getting cell coverage at home and needs a phone is about to get slammed.
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
$80! Definitely not worth it.
Select-Belt-ou812@reddit
I pay 125 a month for a dial tone line with piggyback internet, over copper wire, and compared to the "alternatives" it's worth it to me
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
Really? Do you mean dial-up internet!? 😮
Select-Belt-ou812@reddit
no
the internet signal rides with the 32v carrier/ring and gets filtered out here. i have a standard router just like everyone else. it's slower because of wire limitations but it's fine for me
skarekroh@reddit
That’s DSL.
Select-Belt-ou812@reddit
yes, but it can't really be considered "high speed" anymore since fios is so ubiquitous
skarekroh@reddit
Well, no, but that’s what the technology is. I used to run a small rural ISP in the 90s, and that was when it *was* considered “high speed”.
Select-Belt-ou812@reddit
haha, yep, surprisingly it still does the job though. I can stream rick and morty just fine from Hulu :-)
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
Ah, I see! That makes more sense.
Select-Belt-ou812@reddit
yes, and the commercial installers usually filter it at the jack that the router is plugged into, but in order to provide versatility i filter it at my interface on my outside wall and keep tip/ring on red/green while funneling internet housewide on black/yellow. only problem is if I ever put a lighted princess phone into service I'll have to have a one-jack-specific exception and eliminate internet there to have lighting power
AshDenver@reddit
I’ve had my iPhone ring tone set to “old phone” for at least 10 years. It’s how I differentiate my actual phone from the ones in tv shows that never use it.
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
I don’t know how I only recently found it.
AshDenver@reddit
Just don’t take offense when the kids call you “an old.”
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
They have for years! lol
GinormousHippo458@reddit
At grandma's house. Just as we sat for dinner - it was a solicitation call.
kat_storm13@reddit
I've had a regular phone ringing sound as my cell ringtone pretty much since I've had a cell phone.
NostradaMart@reddit
today.
FlatSixFun@reddit
Every time I’m at my parents house.
skarekroh@reddit
My mom’s brother, who’s in his mid eighties still has one and prefers it. We made him get a cell in case he gets in trouble away from the house (still drives, does light yard work), but he insisted on a flip phone rather than a smartphone.
haveanapfire@reddit
Two days ago. I help out my elderly neighbors, they still have a land line. It was a scam call from micorsuft and their apple computer had virus and the need to reinstall windows...
338wildcat@reddit
Yesterday.
zcubed@reddit
Tonight.
Upbeat_Rock3503@reddit
A local restaurant has a phone booth inside. Expecting it is just for decoration, we let our kids (11 years old at the time) go check it out. They come back and say there was a sound on the line.
All of a sudden it rings. Yup, you guessed it, 911 calling back as they had apparently called them and hung up after they answered.
That's the last time I heard a real phone ring, about 9 months ago.
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
Oh, no! Haha! 😆
DeCoyAbLe@reddit
Sept. Went to visit my mom. She still has hers with our original number since 82ish when she divorced? Lol
EverythingScrolling@reddit
I was genuinely sad when my dad gave up their landline a few years ago with the phone number I had grown up with. I still have it saved in my contacts.
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
Wow! lol
Special_Cranberry679@reddit
My sister still has one, with the same number we had growing up from 1977.
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
I was just trying to remember our number we had for 20+ years.
ZetaWMo4@reddit
My parents still have theirs so it’s 50-50 on whether I’ll hear it ring when I’m over for dinner on Wednesdays.
ABeardHelps@reddit
Um, yesterday?
Some of us keep a land line around because cell coverage is not perfect everywhere.
imzadi111@reddit
Yup, important for rural living. They put fiber optic though and I have found it is not as reliable as our old copper line...especially when the power goes out.
Limp_Ice_3248@reddit
My coverage at home is fine but my subscription is cheaper if I bundle 3 things so I have cell, internet, and landline.
Pitapenguin@reddit
Same. My landline is essentially free.
KookyComfortable6709@reddit
I don't think we've gotten a call on the landline at home today, so I'd say it was yesterday.
Own_Celebration5462@reddit
I had a land line until about 6 months ago. I don’t know if they even build houses with phone jacks anymore!
RandyBeaman@reddit
We built our house 16 years ago and didn't bother with phone jacks. But we did do Cat6 in every room that we have never used.
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
The phone companies will eventually stop servicing them.
Soggy-Bottom_Boy@reddit
Today
JacquieTorrance@reddit
Watching a show called Widow's Bay on streaming last week and I was confused because I thought it was set in modern day, but everyone has landlines. Eventually they explain that being they live on an island the reception isn't good enough for mobile phones to be reliable.
But, it was indeed kind of jarring to see people using landlines like the old days 😄
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
I watched an interview with Spielberg where he talks about how frustrating it was to direct movies when cellphones became the norm.
kevbayer@reddit
My ringtone on my cell is an old analog ringer sound. It's loud and annoying so I'm sure to hear it.
joeatonlv@reddit
Laughing, 63 yo who lives with her 95 yo mother (best roommate EVER)….. she loves her landline!
ebeth_the_mighty@reddit
About two days ago, when mine rang.
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
That’s crazy. I did not know there was still phone service for those.
lovebeinganasshole@reddit
They’re still out there although art keeps trying to get me to give it up.
Special_Cranberry679@reddit
It moved to digital a few decades ago.
Select-Belt-ou812@reddit
a few of us are boundlessly grateful that we have been overlooked for fios, still have copper in the street, and are very much hoping it will stay that way :-)
18ekko@reddit
I have used the classic desk phone ring for every cell phone and every VOIP phone at the office for the last 15 years.
Partly out of nostalgia, and partly because no one else does.
GimmeMyMoneyNow@reddit
Does voip count? If so, yesterday.
Ginger630@reddit
My in laws house. They still have a landline. It’s mostly spam calls though.
Starwaster@reddit
First thing I did when I got my first iPhone was set the ringtone to something that actually sounded like a phone ringing. No ringtones for me.
Slow-Objective-7440@reddit
Parents house still the main phone
Trolkarlen@reddit
Today
Asleep_Caregiver_948@reddit
I have still have a landline, it uses VOIP. It’s generally marketing calls, but occasionally it’s a friend who has both our cell & landline in their phone and clicked on the landline number.
Techchick_Somewhere@reddit
When I go to my parents. My god is that sound triggering. 😮
BT_Artist@reddit
I had a landline until early 2013. That's the last time I heard one.
dreaminginteal@reddit
Ours rings every few months with various emergency service announcements. Mostly weather events, and occasionally warnings about possible power outages coming.
flagrantstickfoul@reddit
Mom still has a land line, but it’s like a four-receiver set that doesn’t ring. It kind of chirps. It was the sound of progress in 1995
CharlieLeigh51@reddit (OP)
Ah, yes…the modern-ish chirping.