Like telephone booths before them, landline phones are slowly becoming extinct. Today, less than 40% of households have landlines. Instead, people are relying on mobile phones and messaging apps on their devices.
There are around 120 million landlines left in America, so you’ve probably accidentally texted a landline before. But what actually happens when you press “send” on that message? If you mistakenly text a landline belonging to your aunt, relative, or friend, you might wonder where that message goes.
Read on to learn if you can send a text to landlines.
What Is a Landline?
A landline number is a phone number that relies on physical wires to transmit voice calls. For comparison, mobile phone numbers—of which there are over 396 million in America—transmit calls and texts without wires, but through radio waves. Alternately, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) numbers, which are another popular business choice, use the internet to transmit voice traffic.
While landlines are considered old-fashioned, they have some benefits that lead businesses and individuals to keep them around. For example, some landlines allow people to use them even during power outages. Plus, they’re harder to hack than VoIP.
When Might You Send a Text to a Landline?
There are many reasons you might try to send a text to a landline. You might do it accidentally. You might assume that the number on a business’s website is a textable mobile number. Or, you might just text a landline to see if it works. In any of these cases, you’re probably wondering can you text a landline?
The answer is yes, you can send a text to a landline. But what happens after you press “send”?
What Happens If You Text a Landline?
After you text a landline, there are three possibilities for what happens next. Some of them are more ideal than others.