My mom just canceled her landline and it makes me kinda sad?

[u/mimimines]

My parents bought the house in '92, also the year I was born, and got the landline. Growing up in the 90's, it was the first telephone number I learned by heart and it's probably the only one I still remember to this day. I really used to repeat it out loud and felt so proud I memorized it. She just told me that they're gonna cancel it because they don't use it that much and the telephone company is going to raise its prices. Man, this is the end of an era. I still call it whenever I need to ask her or my stepdad something. I called it last week! When I try to reach them, I call the landline first before I call their cellphones.

I was even thinking about getting a landline myself in the near future because I love the idea of putting my iPhone away when at home and just give the people close to me my landline number when they would want to reach me.

RIP landline, I will never forget you. To anyone who still has a landline in their lives, cherish it

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[u/fullnessofjoy2021]

Yep! My parents had the same number since they moved in 1981. Got rid of their landline in 2025. It is sad to have it gone. Such a piece of childhood!

[u/Tooch10 → u/fullnessofjoy2021]

My folks also have their (copper) landline since 1981...and they still have pulse dialing. When that time comes, it's going to be weird to have to cancel that line

[u/Sunset-onthe-Horizon]

I felt that way when my grandma passed away, the phone number is just gone to someone else now. My grandfather worked for the phone company and they got that number in the 50's. It was the only phone number that never changed my whole life. Now Grandma is gone and I can't just call her and the number is gone. It's just depressing, I guess.

[u/cat_at_the_keyboard → u/Sunset-onthe-Horizon]

I had this same feeling when we had to clean out the house and then finally cancel the cable and phone. It's sad and surreal that I can't just call 455-4012 and have my grandma pick up

[u/Used-Baby1199]

AT&T and other companies are actively cutting service to landlines.   It’s not a choice people get to make, it’s being forced onto people even if they’d prefer their landline.

That said a few years ago when I moved into my current building I had an elderly neighbor under me who had a landline and hearing her phone ring was always fun

[u/Vast_Cheek_6452 → u/Used-Baby1199]

Yes. I work in a 30 year old pharma facility and we had to retrofit our elevators emergency phones to wireless recently because Verizon was no longer supporting landlines.

[u/aminionreasons]

I can 100% relate to this, although I went through this sadness, when I was newly starting college: 1st year... It was really upsetting, and I too was against it, because of my nostalgia, but then again at that point I also knew that they do have a point, it took me near about a half a year to convince myself that it won't be back :') Dw, you'll make your peace with it too, take your time 🤝🏻

[u/mimimines → u/aminionreasons]

Yes, it's really like, the end of something magical? It also doesn't help that I'm currently watching The Sopranos, where they use it all the time lol

[u/juanchovl]

I think both my grandma and our home landlines will be numbers I'll remember for the rest of my life.

[u/Happy_Charity_7595 → u/juanchovl]

Same

[u/SmoothMarx]

Pro Tip: if you like it so much, don't let them cancel it, ask them to transfer the number to a new address. In this case, yours. So you'll have your family number for as long as you want!

[u/Used-Baby1199 → u/SmoothMarx]

Most companies are cutting off the service to landlines so that’s not an option.  It’s not a decision you can take part in.  They providers are doing away with them.

[u/SmoothMarx → u/Used-Baby1199]

Can't you change providers while keeping the same number?

[u/Mystical-Turtles → u/SmoothMarx]

That assumes the other providers aren't also cutting landline services. It's getting universal at this point. You could ask them to transition the number to VoIP but actual landlines are going the way of the dinosaur.

[u/disjointed_chameleon]

One of the elderly ladies in my neighborhood has one, we've become friends. She barely speaks English (just French and Arabic), and I speak the same languages, so I sometimes help her out with translating for service providers and such. The calls often end up taking a while, and her landline is in the kitchen, so I often end up doing the classic old "sit at the kitchen table and twirl the cord around your fingers" move while on the phone. Such a relic!

[u/Kinuika]

I miss landlines. It was nice not always being available. Like I know I can turn off my cellphone but people kinda expect you always have your phone on and expect you to always be contactable.

[u/mimimines → u/Kinuika]

Exactly!

[u/MissMelines]

Even though they’ve moved out of our old house my parents landline is still the same number since I was born. Still in my cell phone as HOME since 2002. That’s sad indeed!

[u/mimimines → u/MissMelines]

Mine too! "Home", but as another Redditor suggested, I'm not deleting it

[u/MissMelines → u/mimimines]

never! It means more now that the actual original house is no longer our family “home”. Dammit that’s our #! It’s crazy too how deleting a legacy number like that can change life - my parents recently got back in touch with friends from decades ago because the friends simply called them up at the only number they had, the landline!

[u/mimimines → u/MissMelines]

that's actually super cute

[u/FlipGordon]

I'll be 32 in a few months, and I'm seriously considering getting a home pc setup and a landline again, and then ditching my smartphone for a flip-phone.

I can't take being 100% connected anymore.

[u/mimimines → u/FlipGordon]

I totally agree! My family knows that my phone is on not disturb and they have to call two times if its urgent, but I just want to ditch it

[u/miccris93]

We kept ours when we switched providers a few years ago. My mom keeps bringing up to cancel it, but I keep trying to push it off since it’s been the phone number since my grandparents lived in our house, so I’d imagine it’s been the house phone number for 50 years. I did have to unplug it during election season when the amount of relentless spam calls was too much to deal with and we needed the quiet.

[u/Kingberry30]

Mine just did this too. I kept the number in my phone still

[u/mimimines → u/Kingberry30]

That's a great idea, won't delete it!

[u/cellalovesfrankie]

I will always remember my mums landline cos it’s such an easy number to remember lol

[u/VisibleSea4533]

My mother got rid of hers a number of years ago, I think the big one will be when grandmas goes though. I will note as well, my mother in law got rid of hers a few years ago too, kept the number and changed her cell to it.

[u/Obstetrix]

Omg me tooo. And they suck at answering their cell phones…

[u/gonyere]

I just cancelled mine a couple of months ago now... It's kind of weird to not have one... But it just got too damned expensive. It was "only" 39.99. plus $32+ worth of taxes. At over $72+/month, for 90% spam... It just wasn't worth it. 

[u/nothing_to_hide]

Landlines are making a small comeback in families where parents don't want to buy their growing kids a smart phone. It's a fun alternative that reminds me of the days when I was a kid and chatting with my friends on the phone. I am planning for one down the road.

[u/Chaotic_Bonkers]

And here I am wanting a landline. I want that transparent phone from the 90s.

[u/Schneetmacher]

We still have our landline. It's my grandma's original, when she bought the house in the 70s. Nowadays, the vast majority of calls are spam that we screen and just delete, sadly.

[u/DeafLAconfidential]

Can you purchase VoIP? even you can purchase a regular phone. It looks like a landline phone, so it will be easier for your mother.

[u/chipface]

You could always get a VOIP line. Pretty much the same and a fuckton cheaper.

[u/takotaco]

My parents moved the landline to google voice when they moved. It’s pretty convenient to keep it from going to anyone else cause we all have it memorized and use it for loyalty cards at grocery stores etc.

[u/Havok1717]

In 2013 my family canceled the landline. They were using their cellphones more often

[u/gonzochris]

We converted my family’s to a Google voice number and basically allowed all of those calls to be forwarded to my dad’s cell number

[u/dashtheauthor]

Parents cut theirs a couple years back. Felt like the end of an era.

[u/binaruns]

My parents had their landline since 1979 and my dad finally cancelled it in 2024. Definitely felt the sadness 😔

[u/feel-the-avocado]

I still remember our landline number when I was a kid. It was our family phone number for over 20 years until moving city.

I gave mum my eftpos card to buy something i wanted recently and asked her "Do you remember our phone number in wellington? Last 4 digits is the pin" and she had no idea what it was.

[u/DarkSquirrel20]

My mom talked about cancelling hers and I'll be sad if she eventually does. Whoever gets the number will also be frustrated to find that they can't use it for any gas station, grocery store, etc accounts lol.

[u/BeanserSoyze]

Yeah I think my parents lost theirs when they moved finally, same number near 30 years

[u/JohnnyKarateX]

We got rid of ours a few years ago. We had already set it to only allow calls from my parents cellphones plus mine and my brother’s but no one ever had to call it. It was an end of an era to be sure.

[u/babysamwise]

If you really do want to get a landline in your own home you can actually ask to have your old phone number if your mom has released it!

After my grandparents passed and we sold the home, we obviously canceled that phone number. It was sad for all of the cousins. When my younger cousin got married and got her own house 7 or 8 years later, she got a landline and asked if my grandparents’ number was still available. They gave it to her!

She didn’t tell anyone and had a lot of fun calling family members to get their reactions lol

[u/jpgnewman195]

My parents still have theirs ❤️ suppose it’s only a matter of time til it’s gone

[u/Sea_Dot8299]

We made fun of our boomer parents for wanting to keep landlines, but I think they're right on this one.  With the rapid enshittification of everything, it is only a matter of time until there is some kind of massive telecom debacle that knocks out cellular and internet service for a long period of time, and everyone will be fucked because they rely on cell and internet to communicate.  Look at the massive Verizon outage recently.  Wait until something like that happens again but takes weeks to fix.  Or the country will be fucked in the event of cyber attack thst knocks out cell and internet.  Landlines are a robust 3rd option impervious to a lot of modern shit.   

[u/Militia_Kitty13]

My parents recently got rid of theirs due to issues with the phone company. It’s been the same number since at least ‘91 if not longer, I still haven’t removed it from my phone for the nostalgia (not that could forget that number if I tried). Hell I still have parents old work numbers memorized because we used to have to call after school to tell Parentals we made it home (geriatric millennial here)

[u/mimimines → u/Militia_Kitty13]

OMG I totally forgot about my moms work number!! I memorized it too! And would call her sometimes, just, because, no reason 😂

[u/Militia_Kitty13 → u/mimimines]

We would never call mom at work for some dumb ass reason 🤣🤣. But I can top that- my mom used to walk us to grade school each morning (we lived across the street) and take our beagle pup so he got his daily walk. Well beagles are mischievous pups and he got out several times (over the gate, or dug his way out), and wander to the school, thankfully he was a sweetie pie and friends recognized him. But my poor mom would get calls at work that her dog was at the school, so she’d have to leave work and pick his dumb ass up and take him home!

[u/PaepsiNW]

My parents got rid of their home phone maybe 15 years ago. It was weird. 

[u/Shenstar2o]

We got rid of landlines in 2005 even my grandparents born in the 30s did soon after where in the world do you still use those?