Caring for Mom, One Corded Phone at a Time
Caring for Mom, One Corded Phone at a Time
My mother (72) recently decided to move in with her boyfriend (76). Hey, they’re adults, both are financially independent, and there is no risk of her getting pregnant. I say…let them live their life. Mom will be keeping the condo so her family and guests will have a place to stay when visiting Tampa, but they will just not be spending as much time there as they both used to.
In an effort to reduce their expenses, she wanted to review with me the list of services she currently has at the condo and see what she could get can reduce or cancel. Since I am the only child not giving her a hard time about her decision, and never have, she feels she can talk to me about anything. So we went through the list.
Her cleaning service went bye-bye, as did the water delivery and the plant lady. Cable television service was reduced to basic (DVD’s are sufficient enough for entertainment) and her internet service was canceled. Then we got to the telephone service.
Mom wanted to cancel the telephone service. Her reasoning was:
She has a cell phone.
None of the kids call her at the house number.
Hardly any of her friends use the house number.
She is canceling the DSL.
All good reasons, but I told her to keep the phone and only get the basic, lowest, cheapest service.
I then asked her if she had a phone that plugs into the wall and has a corded handset. Of course she did not because who needs to be restricted by the length of a cord. She them proceeded to tell me about the modern age and how everyone goes cordless. At least she didn’t say topless.
So I explained why I wanted her to go buy a cheap old-style corded house phone and plug it in to one of the phone outlets. I gave her the following reasons and she agreed.
Reasons to Have at Least One Corded Phone
1) If you call the house and the phone rings, you know there is phone service (and the house is still there).
2) If the answering machine picks up, you know the house still has electric service.
3) If she is at the condo and there is an emergency, and if power is lost, she can still call for help. More often than not, if power is lost at a house, there is still phone service. The telephone is powered by low voltage through the telephone line. It is not powered by the house electricity. Cordless powerbases and answering machines are powered by house electricity.
So go through your house and take inventory.
How many portable phones do you have in your house?
How many cell phones do you have in your house?
Do you have at least one house phone that is plugged directly into the wall and has a corded handset?
Can you here me now?
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I live on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The last time we evacuated for a hurricane we called our house just to find out if it was still standing. When we heard the answering machine pick up we knew we had electricity and could return home. Good info on why to keep a landline.
(via cre8Buzz)
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I was with AT&T for 20 years (and an engineer of central telephone offices for 13 of those years), I engineered many battery stands for backup power for the central office as well as powering home phones.
Always ALWAYS keep at least one corded phone in your home!
A home phone is the best way to call 9-1-1. You know where the phone is and emergency services can (if the service is available in their area) pinpoint the origination of the call if the caller is panicked. Not all cell phones transmit the information to emergency services.
When I was iced in for 6 days in 2002 with no power, after the cell phone gave out, it was my connection with the outside world.
It worries me a bit that so many people are giving up their land lines these days. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't keep my phone by my side when I'm home. I couldn't hear it ring if it were downstairs and I were upstairs.
What if the battery runs out? What if you lose it? What if it gets dropped?
I have a corded phone on the first floor as well as the basement since my laundry is there. If I should need help while in the basement (can you say "tornado"?), at least I could get to the corded phone and call for help.
I do need to let you know, though, that your reason #1 is not necessarily true. If you do not have phone service, the caller will many times still hear the ringing. I lost phone service (water in the phone line) at one time. I heard ringing when I called from my cell phone, but the home phone wasn't ringing.
I hope your mom and her friend keep at least one corded phone for safety purposes.
And congratulations to your mom for finding someone she cares about! There's no reason to spend your golden years alone and there's no reason to get married and lose Social Security benefits.
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Thanks for the reply.
My mother-in-law spent 34 years with the phone company and only has corded phones in her house. It's really different when we go there are can't pace around with portable.
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34 years? Good for her. I only made it 20 before my job moved. I made some good job choices while I was there and had a paycheck longer than most of my friends.
It's funny you should mention pacing while on the phone. When I got my first cordless, it took me months to realize I could move around while chatting.
Give your mom a lot of credit for being "up with the times", though. 72 years old and totally on board with a cell phone. The next thing you know, you'll be blogging about all the spam text messages your mom is sending!
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Aww, this is such a hard topic. This is actually what I do for a living. Gerontologist...lotsa luck an love
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