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Here’s Why You May Still Need a Landline

If you’ve still have your old cordless phone, it could be the only thing keeping you connected to the world in the event of massive mobile network outages.

Massive mobile network outages can leave you stranded without one of your most critical lines of access to the world for hours. And if your smartphone can’t make phone calls, what good is it during an emergency?

An AT&T outage last year, for instance, disrupted services for more than 12 hours in many of the most populous cities in the US, while a Verizon outage caused some phones to remain stuck in SOS mode for a significant part of the day. These outages served as a reminder of the perils of relying only on mobile phones.

Perhaps it made you reconsider the role of a home device that was once standard issue but is now nearly obsolete: the landline telephone. Here’s what to consider when deciding whether to keep (or get) a landline.

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Remember the landline?

Landlines are telephones that connect to specialized wiring in our homes. The iconic image is that of a rotary-dial phone — usually rented from the phone company — that either hung on the wall or sat on a counter or table, though push-button and later cordless landlines replaced many of those oldsters in the 1980s. Landline phones connect to one another through a global communication network that was built over more than a century. But as cellphones became broadly available and affordable, many people chose to drop their landlines altogether. 

A 2022 survey by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that only about 29% of US adults lived in a house with a landline phone, down from more than 90% in 2004. The crossover happened 10 years ago in 2015, which was also when smartphone sales entered a boom period that reshaped the tech industry and helped turn iPhone maker Apple into one of the world’s most highly valued companies.

Ann Williams is one of the folks who hasn’t given up on their landlines yet. When asked why she keeps hers around, she describes moving to Huntsville, Alabama, after a tornado outbreak on April 27, 2011, when dozens of twisters killed at least 250 people and knocked out power for days. Although she moved there after the tornadoes, hearing about the event brought home to her the importance of always needing a phone connection.

«The weather here is so unpredictable,» she told me in an interview. But landlines have dedicated power and often work even in an outage. «We remember a day when it was absolutely necessary to have (the landline),» Williams said.

What makes landline phones more reliable

Landline phones operate on a separate infrastructure, built from copper phone lines that are inexpensive to build and rather reliable. They also don’t have the drawbacks of cellular networks, like dropped calls, poor and distorted quality or weak reception.

A key reason people keep landlines around is that they tend to work even during power outages, which is a big plus for folks whose work involves emergency services, business or health care.

Analog fax machines are also built around landline phone systems, which means most hospitals and doctors’ offices, as well as policy and law offices, need to keep a landline connection running.

The downsides of landlines

The US Federal Communications Commission is phasing out requirements for phone companies to provide landline services (called Plain Old Telephone Service) across the country. As a result, more homes and business offices are being built with Ethernet jacks rather than phone jacks.

Landline phone connections aren’t cheap, either. CNET corporate cousin AllConnect notes that AT&T’s traditional home phone plan starts at $48 per month, and you have to use the company for internet, too. CenturyLink is cheaper, starting at $30 per month, and Spectrum will charge as little as $20 per month.

And not all landlines use copper phone lines. Increasingly, companies are piggybacking their phone systems on their internet connections, a service called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. AllConnect currently tracks only three service providers offering old-style landlines: CenturyLink, Comcast Xfinity and Cox. 

How to get a new landline service

If you’re ready to get set up with a landline, call the local phone company and ask about phone services. If you live in an apartment building, it’s important for you to find out where the phone junction box is. Typically, the landlord should know and if not, the local phone company should be able to find it.

Here are some follow-up questions you want to ask, and what to look for in the answers:

  • Are the landlines VoIP or are they POTS? Ideally, if you’re looking for security and reliability, POTS is what you want. VoIP can work, but understand that it likely relies on your internet modem and connection to work. 
  • If VoIP, does the company have backup power systems to ensure the voice line works in a power outage? Most companies sell backup batteries that you can buy directly from them. You can use an uninterrupted power supply, perhaps from CyberPower or APC. Do note that these are different from portable power supplies. Portable power supplies do allow you to stay electronically powered on the go, but those aren’t meant to continuously monitor for power outages and then kick in as needed.
  • Typically, local calls are free, but dialing out of your area code costs. What’s the rate structure? Companies like AT&T have various extra fees they charge for nationwide calls, as well as for international long-distance calls. Long-distance calls in particular are usually charged per minute, and companies don’t always publish that information on their websites. Make sure you know what it’ll cost, and if it’s too much, consider using a chat app like Signal, WhatsApp, Google Meet or Apple FaceTime for your long-distance calls instead.

What should you do with a landline phone?

If you have a landline but leave it languishing, just sucking money out of your bank account each month, you aren’t alone. But there are some ways to make it more useful.

Google Voice is a popular option that gives you a new phone number acting as a central hub. When someone calls, Google Voice rings all the phones you’ve connected, whether it’s a home landline, a cellphone, a work phone or anything else.

There are other such services too, including Zoom and RingCentral, if you don’t like working with Google. 

A landline phone can also connect with home security systems and medical alert sensors to help ensure that if you’re in an emergency, help will be there as soon as possible.

What to do if you can’t get a landline connected

If you’re ineligible for a landline or don’t like the service being offered, you do have more options from satellite providers. Companies such as HughesNet and SpaceX can support VoIP over their internet connections.

Phone-makers like Apple are also slowly building satellite messaging into their devices. The iPhone 14, which debuted in 2022, has a feature called Emergency SOS, which can connect with a satellite to send location data to your friends or an emergency text to authorities.

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Technologies

How to Tip Your Amazon Driver $5 for the Holidays at No Cost to You

Amazon is letting you thank your driver with a $5 tip again as part of a limited-time «Thank My Driver» promotion. Here’s how to do it.

Amazon drivers work hard, often with little gratitude from the customers they deliver to. But periodically, Amazon runs the «Thank My Driver» promotion, offering you the chance to thank your hardworking driver at no additional cost. 

The promotion runs for a limited time. The exact end date hasn’t been specified by Amazon, but previous promotions have typically run through the holiday season.

How to tip your Amazon driver for free

  • If you’ve got an Echo device, you can say, «Alexa, thank my driver.» 
  • If you don’t own an Alexa device, you can search for the phrase «Thank my driver» on the Amazon app, and then click the top result.
  • On the Amazon website, I was also able to do it by logging in and following this link to reach a page with a big yellow «Thank my driver» button. Clicking it confirmed that a tip was sent to my driver for the most recent delivery. 

This applies to your most recent driver, valid for up to 14 days after the delivery date. You’re also able to thank the same driver multiple times, but they’ll only receive one tip per delivery. 

In the past, Amazon ended the promotion after a million thank-yous were given out. (It continued to send the thanks, even though no monetary reward was associated with it.) Last year, the company also ended its holiday promotion on January 3, after 4 million thank-you messages were sent out. 

It’s unclear whether it works the same this time around. We’ve reached out to Amazon for clarification but haven’t heard back yet. 

Since Amazon first introduced the Thank My Driver promotion in 2022, it says customers have thanked their delivery drivers more than 40 million times.

Amazon has previously gotten itself in hot water for allegedly withholding driver tips. An FTC settlement in 2022 saw Amazon pay a $61.7 million settlement to settle charges that it withheld tips from Flex drivers who use their own cars to deliver Amazon packages.

In this case, the money isn’t coming directly from you, but Amazon is passing $5 along to the driver. In either case, it doesn’t hurt to send a thank-you if you were happy with your most recent Amazon delivery.

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Technologies

McDonald’s Grinch Meal or Burger King’s SpongeBob Menu? We Pick a Winner

Do you prefer the sour-faced green guy from Dr. Seuss or the happy sponge fry cook from Bikini Bottom? I tried all the themed menu items.

Whos down in Whoville, and underwater residents of Bikini Bottom, there’s news for both of you: McDonald’s and Burger King, longtime fast-food rivals, are going head-to-head. Or, to be more accurate, scary red-wigged, face-painted clown head against equally frightening red-bearded crown-wearing head.

On Tuesday, McDonald’s introduced The Grinch Meal, and on the same day, Burger King rolled out its SpongeBob SquarePants menu. So if you’re sick of Thanksgiving leftovers and want some fast food instead, you can decide if your taste buds resonate with the crabby green Grinch or the always cheerful SpongeBob.

Both are limited-edition offerings, so get to your local McDonald’s or Burger King soon if you want to try out the meals.

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McDonald’s Grinch Meal Review

Honestly, McDonald’s Grinch Meal isn’t as creative as BK’s offerings — where are the green-dyed buns, the green shake or the McRoast Beast burger? Essentially, the Grinch Meal is an adult Happy Meal, consisting of your choice of a regular Big Mac or a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, fries and a medium drink.

Fries with Grinch Salt (dill-pickle seasoning)

McDonald’s offers only one unusual food item with the Grinch Meal, and that’s an accessory for the fries. They come with a small bag of tangy dill pickle seasoning, labeled Grinch Salt, that you’re supposed to shake on your fries for a puckery addition. Pickles, like the Grinch, are green and sour, so I guess that’s the connection here.

How did they taste? Pretty good! I’m a pickle fan, and once I shook them up, the fries were sour and salty and overall delightful. Two green, furry thumbs up.

No Grinch toy, but … socks?

Happy Meals always come with an extra toy or prize of some kind. But there’s no Grinch stuffed animal or Cindy Lou Who figurine with McDonald’s Grinch Meal, although the box it all comes in is cute and Grinchy-themed.

Instead, you get the one Christmas gift that’s so cliched there are endless jokes about it: a pair of socks. There are four different Grinch-themed socks showing The Grinch, Cindy Lou Who, Max the dog and some McDonald’s logo-themed ornaments. Each pair also has an all-caps, hand-scrawled-looking message from the Grinch.

The blue socks read: «These socks stink.»

The yellow socks read: «Nose Hazard.»

The red socks read: «Property of the Grinch.»

And the green socks read, «The Grinch was here.»

My review: I ended up with the yellow pair of socks. They seem to be of decent quality, and considering how lame some fast-food prizes are, this was a score for me. I might actually wear them.

Grade: A

Burger King SpongeBob SquarePants menu

If McDonald’s kind of went Grinch-appropriate stingy on its Grinch offerings, Burger King went Sponge Bob-overboard with the generous SpongeBob SquarePants menu. SpongeBob fans, you might as well go all out and order the Bikini Bottom Bundle, which gives you all four of the themed items in a pineapple-shaped box.

King Jr. kids’ meal in a pineapple box

There’s no adult meal, but there is a King Jr. kids’ meal, in a box shaped like SpongeBob’s underwater pineapple home. It includes one of six SpongeBob toys. 

My review: My toy was a figurine of SpongeBob wearing a pirate’s cap and clutching a ship’s wheel. There was supposed to be a Burger King SpongeBob crown too, but my location must’ve forgotten to give those out. The SpongeBob toy was pretty cool as kids’ toys go, though. And the pineapple box is cute.

Grade: A-

Krabby Patty? Almost!

As every SpongeBob fan knows, the cheerful sponge is a fry cook at The Krusty Krab, serving up Krabby Patties all day long, so he knows his fast food. Burger King has plenty of themed menu items, way more than the McDonald’s Grinch offerings.

SpongeBob’s Krabby Whopper

SpongeBob’s Krabby Whopper is the closest thing to the Krabby Patty from the show. (Wendy’s had a Krabby Patty and Pineapple Frosty last year, you might recall.) It seems to be a pretty ordinary Whopper until you get to the bun, which is square and yellow, just like our spongy hero. The yellow dye is made with natural spices, Burger King says. Otherwise, the Whopper is just a regular Whopper.

My review: The Whopper is not my favorite burger, but I have to say the light-yellow, squared-off bun looks super cool. It didn’t taste any different, but I appreciated it.

Grade: B

Mr. Krabs’ Cheesy Bacon Tots 

Mr. Krabs’ Cheesy Bacon Tots are crispy, coin-shaped potato tots filled with cheese, bacon bits and potatoes, served in a treasure chest-themed carton. 

My review: Ugh, pass on these. The artificial taste of the bacon is pretty awful, and it dried out in about 3 seconds.

Grade: C-

Patrick’s Star-berry Shortcake Pie review

Patrick Star is SpongeBob’s best friend, and in his honor, you can order Patrick’s Star-berry Shortcake Pie. It’s a strawberry shortcake pie slice featuring strawberry and vanilla-flavored creamy layers, a crunchy cookie crumb crust, shortcake cookie crumbles and pink star-shaped sprinkles.

My review: Yum! I’m not usually a fan of any fast-food dessert, but this was sweet and creamy, and the crust was tasty, too.

Grade: A

Pirate’s Frozen Pineapple Float review

Honoring SpongeBob’s pineapple home, you can order a Pirate’s Frozen Pineapple Float, described as «an icy, refreshing frozen pineapple-flavored beverage topped with tropical-flavor cold foam.»

My review: This was my favorite item among all the meals. I didn’t really detect any tropical flavoring in the «cold foam,» but the drink was kind of like a classed-up pineapple Slurpee, refreshing and sweet.

Grade: A+

Grinch Meal or SpongeBob Menu, which tastes better?

Is it wrong to say I liked the non-edible parts of both meals almost more than the food? The Grinch socks were decent quality and cute, and the SpongeBob figurine was fun.

Food-wise, Burger King gets points for the tasty pineapple float and the Patrick pie. The McDonald’s meal is just McDonald’s food with the dill-pickle seasoning for fries added. That’s fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go that far. 

My vote, then, is if you’re only going to go to one of these chains before the limited-edition themed meals go away, hit up Burger King and try the Bikini Bottom Bundle. Unless you’re an enormous Grinch fan, pickle lover or really need some new socks.

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Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 3, #1628

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 3, No. 1,628.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle has pretty common letters, so you shouldn’t struggle for too long, if you use smart starter words. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with H.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with E.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to excessive speed or urgency.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is HASTE.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Dec. 2, No. 1627 was CACTI.

Recent Wordle answers

Nov. 28, No. 1623: COLIC

Nov. 29, No, 1624: GRUFF

Nov. 30, No. 1625: MUGGY

Dec. 1, No. 1626: LEACH

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