I currently have a land line and a cell phone and Skype. The second is indispensable for work. The third is terrific for free international calling.

I’m really wondering why I still have the land line. I rarely use it, and it costs about $20 a m…

My landline worked when the Northeast was blacked out for a day (along with the cell towers). Especially useful if you needed to call 911, for example.

My landline doesn’t charge me minutes to be on hold for 3 hours (yes! literally) during the day on a toll free number while I try to resolve a billing issue.

My landline does not have reception or audio problems. It’s REALLY loud — ringer and during the call.

My landline gives me access to cheap DSL. (I’m aware of the naked DSL option, but the cost comes out about the same, sans landline. Why pay for naked DSL when you can get DSL + landline for about the same price?)

If I need to get through to my parents, and they turned their cell phones off for the night / forgot to charge it, I can usually get through via their landline.

My landline has been with my family for over 30 years.

There are no concerns about radiation exposure for people who like to talk on the phone for several hours a day.

That’s plenty of reasons to hang on to the landline, even though I have a cellphone.

A cell phone just does not compare for reliability, reception, clarity of audio. Not to mention health concerns for big talkers.

And BTW, I’m based in New York City, where cell phone reception is usually not an issue.

For what it’s worth, I’ve noticed that every time I upgrade to a newer generation of cell phone, my reception strength goes up significantly.

For those of you in rural areas, the cell towers are probably a bigger factor.

But I think what bugs me is that I’m paying twice for phone service (land and cell), when for me the services really overlap most of the time.

Because I like the convenience of a cell phone, I am not willing to give that up, so my options are to keep both, or just the cell.

(My land line is useless in a storm anyway because it’s VOIP).

On a related note, I think the days of being unavailable are “cool” again. I, for one, don’t answer my cell phone if I’m doing something else.

I don’t like being tethered to a cell. Though I use T-Mobile’s ToGo plan, I miss the days when not being available was acceptable.

We will probably be closing out our land line service in the next few months…

I have family in the Midwest wehre geography may still be a reason for some to keep the land line; at least until there are enough cell towers to cover the rural areas of the U.S.