Silly Question About Using a Cell Phone instead of a Landline

[WinniWoman]

So we will be moving to our temporary home this Friday. We decided to just use my cell phone while living there instead of bothering with a landline.

I am used to always shutting down my cell phone at night. In fact, prior to all this house stuff I never had my cell phone on all day.

But now that the cell will be our only phone, my question for people who do the same- do you keep it on 24 hours per day never shutting it down? I would want to receive and make calls at all times.

What if there was an emergency and someone was trying to reach me in the wee hours of the night? What if we had an emergency and needed to call 911 any time of the day?

My Amazon Echo Connect only works with landlines, so using that is out.

So- do people without landlines keep their cell phones on 24 hours 7 days per week?

 

[HudsHut]

Yes.

 

[Luanne]

Yes.

Question, because I don't do this. When, and how, do you charge the phone? Do you charge it when it's still on?

 

[Eric B]

Mine is on 24/7, but set to do not disturb at night. Folks on my contact list can get through then, otherwise it goes to voicemail. I think it will ring for repeated calls, too, but haven't been subject to those. It's worked for us for ~11 years now....

 

[Eric B]

Question, because I don't do this. When, and how, do you charge the phone? Do you charge it when it's still on?

Charge it when it's on.

 

[WVBaker]

Yes you can however, I would check and make sure there have been no problems with the battery overheating with your manufacturer's phones. Just to be sure and on the safe side.

 

[amycurl]

What Eric said.

 

[WinniWoman]

Question, because I don't do this. When, and how, do you charge the phone? Do you charge it when it's still on?

As soon as I plug in my phone to charge it turns on anyway.

 

[Passepartout]

I leave mine on 24/7, and set to 'do not disturb'. Messages go to voicemail. 'Friends/family' know to leave a message- or text.

 

[WinniWoman]

Mine is on 24/7, but set to do not disturb at night. Folks on my contact list can get through then, otherwise it goes to voicemail. I think it will ring for repeated calls, too, but haven't been subject to those. It's worked for us for ~11 years now....

I did not know you can do that. Thanks.

 

[WinniWoman]

Yes you can however, I would check and make sure there have been no problems with the battery overheating with your manufacturer's phones. Just to be sure and on the safe side.

That is what I was thinking. Also- the draw on the battery-I am silly but I thought it could "wear" out the phone sooner. LOL- I don't know about this stuff.

I have an IPhone SE. Bought it last year.

 

[Eric B]

I use an iPhone, which has that feature. Pretty sure Android ones do as well.

 

[HitchHiker71]

I currently have an iPhone 8 and my wife has an iPhone 7.

We have a landline as part of a triple play package but we don’t really use it any longer. We are seriously considering dropping the landline and TV portion of our current package and moving to online TV and no landline.

We both leave our phones on 24/7 and I use a wireless charger on my bedside that is tilted at a 45 degree angle because I also use my phone as my alarm clock. I use DND mode so only “favorites” will ring through during overnight hours.


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[Luanne]

As soon as I plug in my phone to charge it turns on anyway.

Really? I always turn my phone off, then plug it in to charge it. It never turns back on. I have a Samsung Android. And for some reason I had always thought your phone should be turned off when it was being charged.

 

[HitchHiker71]

That is what I was thinking. Also- the draw on the battery-I am silly but I thought it could "wear" out the phone sooner. LOL- I don't know about this stuff.

I have an IPhone SE. Bought it last year.

The more often you recharge the quicker the battery will wear out. Fact of life. Since you have an iPhone you can use the Battery function to keep track of the health of the battery. It’s not perfect but it’s a decent indicator of the health of your battery.


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[Eric B]

That is what I was thinking. Also- the draw on the battery-I am silly but I thought it could "wear" out the phone sooner. LOL- I don't know about this stuff.

I have an IPhone SE. Bought it last year.

The latest update to iOS includes a smarter battery charging control to address that. I'm using an old 7 still with a battery capacity that's down to 82% now after charging every night. I might upgrade this year, but am trying to hold out for 5G.

 

[easyrider]

Always on. Charge both of our phones at night in the living room. Can hear them ring from the bedroom. Have had a few important night calls over the last decade. When both phones go off or one rings in two sets, we know its important, so she gets up to see. Otherwise we go back to sleep.

Bill

 

[Eric B]

Always on. Charge both of our phones at night in the living room. Can hear them ring from the bedroom. Have had a few important night calls over the last decade. When both phones go off or one rings in two sets, we know its important, so she gets up to see. Otherwise we go back to sleep.

Bill

Must be nice. I'm the one that answers phones that ring here....

 

[easyrider]

Must be nice. I'm the one that answers phones that ring here....

It is, lol. The trick is to stay very still, don't talk and keep your eyes shut.

Bill

 

[Luanne]

I've never really thought about all of this as we have horrible cell reception in our house and could never depend on getting, or making, calls. We are still tied to a landline and will be forever probably.

 

[Eric B]

It is, lol. The trick is to stay very still, don't talk and keep your eyes shut.

Bill

Trouble is my stopping snoring gives me away.

 

[Chrisky]

Hi. I had an iPhone SE used to charge it almost every night, never had a problem with the battery.
I now have an iPhone 8. I turn it off every evening and charge it. It does not turn on when I start charging.
In my settings I can:
Have calls from unknown numbers silenced, sent to voicemail and displayed on the Recents list.
I can have incoming calls continue to ring from people in my contacts.
I can set Do Not Disturb overnight. When in Do Not Disturb, I can allow imcoming calls from Favourites.
I can also set that if I receive a second call from the same person within 3 minutes, the call will not be silenced.
Therefore, there are many options you could use.

 

[Sandy VDH]

I have a charging mat. No need to plug in, just place the phone on the mat. I never turn off the phone except when it has been on too long (a few weeks) and it is confused. Turning it off will reset the phone and close up apps that are misbehaving.

 

[DaveNV]

The one thing you may want to do is turn off all apps on the phone before charging it. (Swipe up on an iPhone turns them off.) Less activity on the phone itself, makes charging more efficient, and less wear and tear on the battery. Leave it turned on while charging.

I have a charging cable on my nightstand, and I plug in the phone when I go to bed. It charges overnight. I don't have landline any more, and my home security alarm calls my cell phone first, if there is an issue. I'm happy with how things work.

Dave

 

[geist1223]

We have not had a landline that we used for a phone for about 15 years. When we moved to our current house 9.5 years ago it was cheaper with the cable company if you had a phone line, cable TV, and Internet then just cable and Internet. So we had the phone line. But our fax was connected and not a phone. So all those annoying telephone calls got our fax machine.

We keep our cell fones plugged in every night.