We used to live in the country and power went out all the time. Cell phones were dead, but our land line always worked.
Hoorah, Lisa!
I love the old landlines and also the telephones that had sound you could actually hear, not just guess at what the person on the other end is saying. I bought 10 of those old Bell Telephones before they became unavailable. These are phones made for the telephone companies back when they OWNED all the phones. So they built them to last forever. These old phones serve one purpose, to make and receive calls. Then came government deregulation of the telephone companies, and you then had to buy your own phone. People were selling the old built-like-a-tank phones at yard sales for $5 each after they āupgradedā to an electronic Walmart home phone that is good for about 18 months if you are lucky. All the unnecessary bells and whistles just add breakable circuits to electronic digital phones that keep people buying new phones all the time. My telephones were made in the 1970s and still work great. I doubt if there are any other type of telephones that old that still work. I will keep using these until the phone company forces me to change to something else. AT&T has threatened several times now that āsoon my old analog phones will not work on their newer linesā. I guess when that happens it will be time for me to just quit talking by phone.
Try googling āset up Messages on iMacā and see if that helps. I canāt find where mine says itās for contacting businesses. My laptop is maybe 5 years old, running Catalina.
My husband (the family techie) is about 99% sure youād need a cell phone to use Messages for texting. The app does ask for my phone number, so I think you do need texting capabilities. What if you got a cell phone number, bought a cheap flip phone (which technically can do texting), and kept it in your office at your practice so it stays there and you canāt be tracked, then you did all your texting from the Messages app? Iād make sure you can set up and use Messages first before going thru the hassle of getting a phone number.
Or you could just retire. 
Itās amazing how that resolves so many problems.
My Mac is about 11 years old but I think has the latest OS upgrade.
Thanks for the idea. I may indeed buy a cheap cell phone and keep at the office.
I have a cordless landline with a ph # Iāve had 20+ yrs. In its time it was a very nice unit - compact, built-in answering machine, with extendable base units. At this point I guess I have it just to have it as it is still associated as my āhomeā phone with some of my long standing accounts. It is bundled with my Verizon FiOS package and I think my bundled cost is cheaper with the LL included. Back in the day it was my primary # with my early cellphones serving as emergency backup. Eventually flip phones became smart and I set my LL to forward all calls to my mobile. Hard to identify any particular benefit my old LL provides but I donāt see any real downside to holding on to it. Call it nostalgia maybe
I think I may have you beat Kevin. My current telephone number was assigned to me via a landline telephone in 1989. Since then, it has been assigned to several types of phone services that are not landlines. I currently have the number assigned to my cell phone.
It is extremely convenient to have the same phone number for a long period of time. Telelphone numbers are reused. If you receive a new telephone number, you never know who had it before. When I had multiple telephone numbers, the new numbers would sometimes have issues. I would get flooded with spam text messages, I would receive calls from bill collectors, I had doctor offices calling to confirm appointments, etc. It was a real problem and I hated it.
It is amazing how many different places you can have a telephone number on record. Apparently, most individuals do not take the time to make sure records are changed when they get a new number.
I use old landline phones with Ooma VOIPā¦ you just have to have an adapter. Some of these phones weāve had for decades.