[ripplefringe]

A year ago, I got my 8 y/o a landline (we used Ooma). It has been absolutely wonderful.

By far the best thing is that he makes his own playdates. I'm not the middleman anymore. He just makes plans and asks me if it's ok. And if his friend doesn't have a landline, I let him call their parent. It surprises them, but when he leaves a message, they love it. He's definitely had more time with friends because of it.

Another funny thing was he complained about writing a thank you note, so we said "OK, the alternative is that you have to call them". He called them, had a nice conversation, and thanked them. Honestly, it was better than a thank you note.

It's been one of the best purchases we're made. I feel some hope this will delay the eventual begging for a smart phone because he's able to do the most critical thing, connect with friends.

[freetanga]

I bought two office phones for 30 euros each (Yealink) and set up a VOIP plan with voip.ms for my 8 and 9 YO kids.

I recently got divorced, so there is a phone at each house in case they want to reach out to the other parent directly. Ex and I did not want the kids to feel their right to reach the other parent needed to ask for permission

Family has Softphone in their mobiles, so the full family is a speed dial away.

I also whitelist numbers they can dial out.

So far it’s working like a charm, they love it.

[kstrauser]

That’s beautiful and I respect your and your ex’s commitment to be good co-parents.

[mikepurvis]

My 9 and 12 year old share a "kid" phone that's just a hand-me-down parent phone. This partially meets that need, but it still gets used for way too much unsupervised YouTube time.

The thing for me that has really unlocked voice-based socializing has been the 12 year old jumping on Discord with his buddies from school. I feel like this mirrors well how I myself chat with my adult male friends—it's rarely in the context of just "a call" but rather while doing another activity. So when I see him joking around with them while they play Minecraft or whatever, that feels like it's a reasonable pattern for how to sustain friendships.

[FuriouslyAdrift]

You can always get them an old school payphone... https://payphone.com/Pay-Phone/Personal-Pay-Phone.html

[jkestner]

My kid uses a shared Google doc to chat with friends on their school-issued Chromebooks. (But still has the problem of unsupervised screen time.)

[cka]

Same! They have a thing called presentation city that is a slide deck that is a sort of ad hoc social media platform.

[venusenvy47]

My kids are grown up, but my mom is worried about her AT&T service switching to VOIP. She didn't understand my description of Ooma, which I've been using for many years, but now I'm thinking that I should just bring over all the needed hardware and just call it a landline.

[testbjjl]

Landlines work when there is no power, which depending on where you live can happen more or less often but an important feature for an elderly family member especially if they live alone.

For my situation, telling my mom her voip phone was a landline would be problematic.

I do need some solution though, AT&T technicians tell me copper thieves are disrupting her service regularly.

[FredFS456]

Landlines only work when there is no power if: - you use an old school landline phone (not cordless) - your landline is actually copper going to the house (I've seen fiber to house + conversion to twisted pair by a box with a battery) - upstream infrastructure either still has (possibly battery) power

[madwolf]

If the isp doesn’t go down with the power outage you could probably get a big enough ups to keep the router and voip phone going for at least a couple of hours. Those things don’t use much power

[jaywcarman]

I just setup a VOIP line at home and have it plugged into my UPS (along with my cable modem + network devices) to provide call service in the event of a power outage.

[christkv]

In a big black out live we had in Spain the infrastructure all goes down. I was the only with data because i had star link and batteries in the house. Not that I could call anyone in Spain though.

[xnx]

I have a strong belief we should experience most/all the levels of technology as we grow up to better appreciate our current state.

e.g. corded phone -> cordless phone -> mobile phone -> smartphone

or

records -> tape -> CD -> MP3 -> cloud

or

Atari -> NES -> SNES -> N64 -> Gamecube -> Wii -> Switch 2

[mememememememo]

Do we think a dumb phone Nokia and calls only SIM is just as good (to avoid all the drilling etc. of installing landlines in each kids room?)

[jkestner]

I dug out an old Motofone (the $40 eink candybar) for this reason, only to discover that it’s 2G, which has been decommissioned. Too bad, would’ve been fun to watch the kid learn T9.

[eloisant]

Modern dumbphones exist: https://www.hmd.com/en_int/nokia-3210

[jkestner]

Of course they do. But this is HN - not as neat as using the 15-year-old phone I have.

[tbyehl]

For Americans, QVC and Target regularly have the BLU Flex or TCL Flip 3 bundled with a year of Tracfone service for $50 or less.

[jtbayly]

I mean, sure you can find them if you look hard enough, but a phone that plays videos is not a dumbphone in my book. And I wouldn't hand it to my kid. It's probably worse than handing them a smartphone, because I'm guessing it is just dumb enough to have no parental controls.

[carlosjobim]

You can buy a new feature phone with 4G for peanuts.

[ninalanyon]

Nokia 105 has 4G version.

[mememememememo]

2G to 3G converter ftw!

[ale42]

Is there such a thing? Given it's radio waves in regulated radio spectrum, I'm not sure such a device would even be allowed to operate without a license. This said, there are 3G Nokia dumbphones (e.g. C2-01). I just had to stop using one because my operator tore down the 3G network here, like in most of Europe. (2G was already down since some time).

Edit: there are even 4G-VoLTE dumbphones by the way.

[jabroni_salad]

Ooma has a wifi box that you plug your handset into. It's not like a POTS where you need to put a jack in every room.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

I believe cordless VoIP phones are still a product one can purchase new.

They need only an electrical outlet for the charge stand.

[Aperocky]

Make me really want to build one for my son when he gets to that age.

If I build it, I can control the full feature set and explain to him how it worked and he'll get the 'cool' factor too. With the raspberry pi I have lying around at home, it doesn't sound impossible!

[philips]

It is really straightforward with some cheap hardware and patience. I have another comment on this thread with more breadcrumbs but I used a Fanvil "hotel phone" and voip.ms. Under $50 and an afternoon all in and you have full control.

[Aeolun]

This is a good idea. I need to start getting phone numbers from people.

[cjbgkagh]

Formal thank you notes seem to have been going out of fashion, I actually like that tradition, thank you for keeping it going.