Do You Keep Landline Phones in Your Rentals?

As a renter, I want a land line in the unit.

Yes, the people have spoken. The landlines stay. It does cost over $300 per cottage to keep the landline. So, the high end cable will go and we'll have just 22 channels on the TV which will save a LOT of money (wish we had done this sooner). This keeps rental rates down. And I'll look into bundling the TV, internet, and phone. We have mediacom which has been OK, not great, but no big complaints. One guest in June said the internet was uneven, but didn't seem to be related just to our cottages.

Many of our guests bring their laptops and I bring mine with us to SoWal. How else would I find out what's going on on SoWal.com and in the area (through the calendar/threads/etc.) while we're there?

Thanks for all the advice. SoWal to the rescue once again.

Paula, you should invest in a splitter to run the cable between your two homes. 8) Good idea to forgo the 830 channels because in my experience, there is just as much to watch on the one channel I receive (Ch 13) -- nothing better than a sunset, walk on the beach, or just sitting on the porch listening to the Cicadae sing.

I would never take my laptop on a vacation. :lol:

And I have to say, i sure hope i'd be able to walk over to someone's house if i needed to use a landline in an emergency. :shock::shock:

In all seriousness, I'd be freaking out if I couldn't get to a "real" phone in an emergency.

some people cough cough Mr. Kitty never get a real a vacation and must have a laptop or crackberry. Sad, but true.

some people cough cough Mr. Kitty never get a real a vacation and must have a laptop or crackberry. Sad, but true.

We are truly the laptop, crackberry widows. That's not necessarily a bad thing on certain occasions. :lol:

Paula, you should invest in a splitter to run the cable between your two homes. 8) Good idea to forgo the 830 channels because in my experience, there is just as much to watch on the one channel I receive (Ch 13) -- nothing better than a sunset, walk on the beach, or just sitting on the porch listening to the Cicadae sing.

You should be locked in a cottage with 8 small kids during a thunderstorm at the beach without cable. 😀

some people cough cough Mr. Kitty never get a real a vacation and must have a laptop or crackberry. Sad, but true.

We are truly the laptop, crackberry widows. That's not necessarily a bad thing on certain occasions. :lol:

You two are amateurs, have you ever considering letting the crackberries have "accidents"? I've also got some ethernet cables that absolutely will not transmit an internet signal. 😀 Then there's also turning the wireless signal off at the router. ;-)

You two are amateurs, have you ever considering letting the crackberries have "accidents"? I've also got some ethernet cables that absolutely will not transmit an internet signal. 😀 Then there's also turning the wireless signal off at the router. ;-)

Now who's the amateur? 😀 That's just a recipe for making EVERYBODY cranky. Crackberry/iphone widows/widowers just learn to deal with it. This is what wine and wench lunches are for. :rolling:

Now who's the amateur? 😀 That's just a recipe for making EVERYBODY cranky. Crackberry/iphone widows/widowers just learn to deal with it. This is what wine and wench lunches are for. :rolling:

:lolabove:...I always pray for good reception!

;-)...a little known fact...those devices help pay the bills. Some folks never get to leave the office behind. :blink:

Paula,

We have the mediacom bundle in our cottage. Phone, Internet and cable for $99/month

It comes with HD channels and unlimited long distance. They disable the int'l calling without a fee.

If I'm on vacation I want to have access to these services, not that I'll necessarily use them. Also, consider long term snowbird renters will want internet access and the phone.

Paula, you should invest in a splitter to run the cable between your two homes. 8) Good idea to forgo the 830 channels because in my experience, there is just as much to watch on the one channel I receive (Ch 13) -- nothing better than a sunset, walk on the beach, or just sitting on the porch listening to the Cicadae sing.

If it were just for me, I'd be happy with no TV most of the time. As a rental, more and more people want cable and wireless and I'm sure I'd lose some business without these services (as Andrew says, the snowbirds really enjoy these service as well - and I like having the Internet because I can stay in SoWal longer because I can still get my work done from the cottage porch when I need to check into work).

For the record, I don't have a smart phone and I just memorized my own cell phone number about a year ago and I live just fine without a smart phone. I may get one someday but only if I end up really needing it for work. I saw a mom texting away on her phone while her toddler was walking behind her in a parking lot. It's hard to hold your toddler's hand when you're texting (yikes). I was backing out of my parking space and it's good that I saw the toddler behind my car (she certainly wasn't easy to see because she was shorter than the car).

A splitter... that's a thought for the cable. The internet works well across both cottages just because they're so close so I only have Internet in one cottage. All these things to think about, so little time... (of course, I find time to get on SoWal.com a few times each day)