‘Landlines can’t ring mobile phones’
We never expected it, and when it came, we weren’t ready.
It was just before dinner when it happened; the peace was shattered, my children shocked and confused.
For years the landline phone had sat on the kitchen bench, tucked away behind the knife block, unused and unrecognised. Then it rang.
There are three teenagers in my house, and the effect of a trilling landline on their adolescent brains was remarkable.
Two approached it and stared at it; they kept their distance in case it should bite. ’’What the hell is that noise,’’ my youngest son asked.
My daughter appeared from her bedroom, and the three of them watched the phone which continued its demands to be answered.
They turned to me, but I was having none of it – nothing good could come of this. The phone hadn’t rung for years, who could it be?
We’ll never know because we never answered it and, six months later, it hasn’t rung again.
My son did use it a few weeks ago when his cellphone broke, and I found myself teaching him about technology for the first time since I showed him how to press play on the video player.
‘‘It does work, pick it up and listen to the dial tone and THEN dial the number,’’ I said.
‘‘Landlines can’t ring mobile phones,’’ a visiting teen intoned sagely, ’’they use different calling systems.’’
Kiwis are doing away with their landlines at a rapid rate, according to telecommunications giant Spark.
With at least 49,000 fewer landlines than there were a few years ago – down from a reported 215,000 in 2015 to 166,000 in 2017 – the gap is being filled with calling apps like Skype and Viber, a spokeswoman said.
It seemed the poor old landline’s worth is deemed by the age of the household.
One landline minute a month, on average, is used by young families or childless households while older families or retired Kiwis still rack up about 180 monthly minutes.
New Zealand businesses still use their landlines, she said.
The landline isn’t dying; it’s just not used as much as it used to be, according to Craig Young of the Telecommunication Users Association.
Part of Generation Landline himself, Young said today’s teenagers have it pretty good.
‘‘I remember being in the hallway to try and arrange a date and of course the father would always answer.’’
My mother’s advice to keep a landline in case the lights went out would only be relevant until 2020 when a nation-wide change to fibre would render them useless in the event of a power cut, Young said.
‘‘We tell people to have a spare cellphone and battery pack in their emergency kits these
days.’’