Comments on: Landline Phones Going Extinct

By: teqjack

teqjack — Thu, 15 May 2008 03:19:00 +0000

Missing from discussion so far: cost.

Land line circa $25 per month, "local" only.

Cell phone: $12 per month (and the phone was free as I was willing to accept a two-year-old model). Yes, every call costs - but as an elderly, under 18k/year guy that counts. After all, I make perhaps six calls per year.

And I can have it with me in case of emergency. Even if 911 or 0-perator connects me to someplace wierd, I am more likely to have my message forwarded to actual help than if I were to whimper to the ground.

By: Dodd

Dodd — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:16:13 +0000

I've been purely digital (cell, cable modem, DirecTV) since 2004 when I bought my house. Oddly enough, depending on the specific tech, I may have to 'devolve' a bit and put in a landline when I upgrade to HDTV - but only because some (all?) DirecTV DVRs require the telephone connection to handle multiple shows simultaneously.

By: Fence

Fence — Thu, 15 May 2008 01:41:37 +0000

IP Telephone service is incrementally not that expensive to provide over a broadband connection. Assuming wired broadband remains the norm, landlines may make a comeback over time as their prices come down and the service ends up as part of the bundle you get with your broadband. Anyway, for now I'm keeping both.

By: bains

bains — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:13:16 +0000

Michael, I have both (although I did migrate my business landline to wireless). On my landline, I have caller ID, and if it shows up as Out of Area, or Toll Free, or Private Caller, I don' pick up. If the caller is someone wants to actually talk with me, they will leave a message. I never get those calls on my cell.

By: Triumph

Triumph — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:29:51 +0000

I have a question; if lower income households are doing away with their landlines, what are they doing for an Internet connection?

Uhh... why do you assume that they even have internet access?

The Dallas Morning News reports this morning that nearly 20% of US households have no internet access.
http://techblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/05/some-households-using-cell-pho.html

These households are likely to be elderly and low income.

By: Below The Beltway » Blog Archive » The Beginning Of The End Of The Landline Phone

Wed, 14 May 2008 22:02:28 +0000

[...] James Joyner [...]

By: mq

mq — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:24:02 +0000

I have a question; if lower income households are doing away with their landlines, what are they doing for an Internet connection? I don't think many lower income families are ponying up the money for cable-based Internet service, especially if they by keep their landing they can get access for free.

As for me and the hubby, we've been using our cells as our main numbers for years. We do still have a landline, mostly for our broadband connection. It just seemed easier to give out the numbers to the phones we always have with us, as opposed to giving out the number of the phone we're not in rage of for 8-10 hours a day.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:17:49 +0000

YAJ,
Cell phones can still be categorized by area code, for the most part, and local number portability has been around long enough that I wouldn't trust the prefix for location data anymore anyway. If anything, people with cell phones should be easier to reach, since they usually have their phones on them when they leave the house.

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:59:49 +0000

Dave,

Which is why the more affluent would tend to have both rather than just the cell.

The bigger impact is how this impacts polling. If you believe the hype that this is the year that youth voters will actually show up (and haven't already put all your ready cash into the purchase of a bridge in Brooklyn), then 30% of under 30 not being accessible to random digit dialing that is seeded by the area and prefix code could have a huge impact on polling results.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:31:18 +0000

I'm not sure this is a good thing. Cells have been known to suffer from peak load problems during emergencies or, said another way, they're pretty likely to be useless when they're needed most.