I have Verizon and never heard of "wireless landline". All my utilities are underground and all too often I have to call Verizon about noise on the line. They come and change pairs and it's good for a while. The technician laughed when I asked him if they will ever dig and replace.
I'm 1/2 mile off the paved road. I've had them out here several times. I mainly keep it as a telemarketing trap. I use the number for all internet purchases and for the retail store Member Discount programs where you use your phone number as your ID. It has gone for long periods of time not working...I'm basically paying a fee to hang on to the number. Regarding the "wireless landline," here's a pic of the wireless Verizon receiver with the corded phone jacks on top: It's got Caller ID, Voice Mail, etc. I'm not certain they're creating new landline accounts in areas where this is available.
Tracfone texted me a message that my cheapo 3G phone will eventually no longer work so I've been shopping. They posted this on their website: "Our records indicate that your current phone is not compatible with the carrier’s standard network which means you may experience dropped calls and poor reception. Your service will continually degrade until your device stops working." Degrade is suggesting to me they may still may work . Don't know. I have 61 days service left so I have some time to shop. Some of Tracfones flip phones, which I want, are 4G so I searched to see if 4G will be compatible with 5G and found this: "The growth of 5G networks doesn’t mean 4G is going away. Mobile carriers will use existing 4G LTE networks to provide their customers’ cell service well into the next decade. 5G networks will work with 4G — not outright replace it. The upshot is that 5G-capable cell phones will still use 4G technology".
Two years ago I switched from Tracphone to Consumer Cellular, who cater to old dumb people. With Trac, it was almost impossible to get a human on the phone; with CC it is easy. I got an iPhone 6s which was a discontinued model, but was brand new and $200. Although coming from an Android to iPhone has a learning curve, I have no regrets. As far as speakers go, the iPhone speaker works quite well, and should be loud enough for most people. The people at CC are nice and very helpful whether you're old and dumb or old and smart. I have unlimited talk/text and 500 MG of data for a base price of $25. The networks they use are ATT or T-Mobile.
I suspect that "Degrade" means that they are switching to from 3G to 5G on a tower-by-tower basis. So you might be in range of a tower that still has 3G and your phone works, or you might be in range of a tower that has converted to 5G, and your phone is dead. There will be no "kinda works." Driving through areas during the transition where you frequently get handed off from one tower to another would be a frustrating experience.
Nah, never travel. When I first got the phone it had a T-Mobile SIM card and it was horrible around here, so they sent me an ATT SIM and that works great. There's only a handful of networks out there and they share towers, so no matter who your cell provider is they will use one or more of the major cell networks. With Consumer Cell it is either T-M or ATT -- as noted.
I wondered about that, and how to find out who shares the Verizon towers out here...or whose towers Verizon is using. For such a rural spot, my coverage on my property is great. There are no dead spots in my house or on my property except for wooded gullies. I hate to roll the dice. I guess I'll research it when the time comes.
There are coverage maps available probably from whatever provider you go with. FWIW: When I had a Tracphone I'm pretty sure they used the Verizon network, because going in and out of the valleys around here the coverage was the same as when I had Verizon.
We had Verizon for several years, and they had great coverage everywhere that I have been. My daughter manages our phones, and she found an offer from T-Mobile that was especially for veterans, and it had all of the benefits of Verizon and cost half as much; so she switched us over. My son in Idaho also switched over to T-Mobile and he is pleased with the coverage out there, too, although there are not as many cell towers in the part of Idaho where he lives. Along with the phone service, T-Mobile offers other perks, such as a free Netflix account. We are all able to share on Robin’s Netflix account, and have our own sign-in names. As far as our experience, T-Mobile has been over-all great, for us. Robin Travels extensively, and she said she always has good coverage wherever she goes.