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© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Some cling to landlines, but cell-only homes now dominate
By ANICK JESDANUN NEW YORK©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
11 Comments
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Dan Lewis
That sounds like the perfect case to get rid of your landline.
pacint
One reason why I dropped mine 10yrs ago.
pacint
IP-Phones are great, IP- Phone to IP-Phone is free.
My family(europe) are using it as family is spread across countries and continents.
That is when we don't video-chat(also free).
Of course free package usage deals/fiber connections help.
smithinjapan
Like it or not, the phone is more or less dead. Most communication is done by IP "phone" or texting, IM, anyway. I visited a friend's house the other day and it was like at technology museum -- he still has a fax machine that he actually uses! He also has a pager (poketto beru) that he cannot, but wishes he could. I honestly respect people who have no cell phone, but for most it is just not practical, whereas having a landline is what has become impractical in most cases. I had one for about a year here, soon after arriving, and I'll never go back to having one, even if a landline is included in a cable fee. It's almost the same with owning a television in this day and age -- more or less unnecessary. That's why NHK is panicking and thinking of new ways to charge you for the services you don't want... but I digress.
The phone is dead! Long live the smart phone!
ramenbaka
I have not had a landline since 1997. Crazy, isn't it! I don't know about the U.S., but in Japan even back then I could use my cell phone practically anywhere - and I did a lot of traveling back then from southern Kyushu to northern Hokkaido.
Disillusioned
But, don't forget, this is Japan! The land afraid of change. Just last week I had a Japanese company ask me to send them a fax. I said, "A what?!?!" I have a SoftBank Air router in my home that Wifis my iPhone, Ipad, computers and printer. Why in the heck would I need a landline and a fax? I used to have a landline (ten years ago) and always made a point of answering it in English. 99.9% of the calls were from sellers scanning the phonebook. It was actually pretty funny. There'd be a three second pause and they would just hang up. I used to tell all my J-friends to answer their landline in English. It works every time!
JeffLee
I have a landline and I prefer it. The cell reception in my concrete condo isn't great, and the calling rate is a fraction of a mobile phone's. Also, long distance calls on landlines are actually cheaper than for local calls.
jonobugs
When I first came to Japan, I was required to get a cell phone for work and I found out that a landline would cost over 20,000 yen to install so I didn't bother since I didn't know how long I would stay and it seemed like a waste. I'm glade because I ended up moving a year later which means I would have lost that money. I found I didn't miss it since I had a keitai. Now, with my smartphone, I text just about everyone and can talk through LINE for free since I have WIFI. I find that no one wants to talk over the phone anymore, so I didn't bother getting proper phone service. My bills are low and I find that I don't miss it at all.