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   Millions 'cutting cord,' going cell phone-only

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Topic: Millions 'cutting cord,' going cell phone-only (Read 204 times)

Rhune
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Millions 'cutting cord,' going cell phone-only
« on: Aug 5^th, 2003, 11:32pm »

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Bye, bye landline phones
Millions 'cutting cord,' going cell phone-only
Monday, August 4, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EDT (2036 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The curly-corded phone by Brandon Fogel's bed was starting to seem like a relic.

A graduate student living in Chicago, Fogel used his cell phone for most calls. And when he replaced his dial-up Internet connection with a cable line, he realized his regular phone wasn't central to his life.

So Fogel joined as many as 7.5 million Americans who have "cut the cord" and gone solo with their cells.

Students, recent graduates and young professionals are leading the way.

"It will be interesting to see if these young people who have abandoned landline phones will turn back to them as they grow older or if wireless will be able to serve all their needs," said Travis Larson, a spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, a Washington-based industry group.

Dropping landlines
In number, cell phones are creeping up on landline phones. They already comprise about 43 percent of all U.S. phones, according to the International Telecommunication Union, up from 37 percent in 2000.

Meanwhile, the number of U.S. landline phones has dropped by more than 5 million, or nearly 3 percent, since 2000, the Federal Communications Commission reported in June.

The United States hasn't been the quickest to adapt. Already, more than half the phones in the world are cellular.

Cell phones overtook landlines earliest in some developing countries that hadn't laid ground lines by the time cellular technology arrived. In Cambodia, for instance, nearly 90 percent of phones are cellular.

Cell phones started outnumbering traditional phones in European countries in the late 1990s, partly because phone pricing systems favored wireless, analysts say. Typically, Europeans don't have unlimited local calls on their home phones -- one big advantage of landline service in America.

Many people overseas also have to wait months and pay hefty deposits for regular service to be installed, making the out-of-the-box utility of cell phones even more appealing.

Early U.S. models were pitched as car phones, which had a more limited appeal. But the nation is catching up.

Dropping prices
The United States now has almost one cell phone for every two Americans. It took ground lines nearly 100 years to reach that level of penetration, according to Sheldon Hochheiser, AT&T's corporate historian.

About half the households recently surveyed by PriMetrica Inc., a San Diego research group, said they would give up their landlines if the wireless price was right.

While price is a factor for many, the switch to wireless is often a matter of convenience. Fogel in Chicago has moved four times in the last four years. The hassle of changing his phone number and paying installation fees made his decision to drop the ground line a little easier.

Fogel figures he saves $30 to $40 a month by not having both cell and regular phones.

Whether people on the move like him will go back to landlines when they settle down is one of the questions the industry is exploring.

So far, the 3 percent to 5 percent of cell phone users who have given up their landlines "haven't seen the economic benefits of paying twice for the same service," said Larson of the Washington association.

Phone companies say they aren't worried about the shift to wireless technology. They are adapting by bundling services and offering wireless options.

DSL keeps landlines alive
Link Hoewing, Verizon's assistant vice president for Internet and technology policy, doesn't mind growth in cell phone popularity because it "shows growth in the whole telecommunications pie."

In addition to running a wireless unit, Verizon is keeping its landlines relevant with newer services, like high-speed DSL Internet connections, which run through phone lines but don't require a separate line.

Still, change can be difficult. Many people who have given up their landlines are less fazed by cell phone annoyances like spotty reception than they are by losing the more peripheral pleasures of fixed phones, such as the blinking lights of answering machines.

Of course, answering machines weren't commonplace until the mid- to late-1980s. Now many landline subscribers are using voicemail, anyway -- maybe growing attached to the staccato dial tone that indicates a message is waiting.

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darnchts
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Re: Millions 'cutting cord,' going cell phone-only
« Reply #1 on: Aug 6^th, 2003, 9:57am »

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guilty as charged..

I gave up my landline about 3 months ago and never regret it. My phone did not work most of the time, it had some wierd fax sounding crap on it 80% of the time so not only could I not call out but people thought I was on the phone all the time. When I realized I could get a cell phone with 550 minutes of peak time, free weekends and free nites for the same amount that I spend on my landline with all my longdistance calls plus an extra phone free of charge for mom..I jumped and did it. It only sucks when something goes wrong like last month did and I get a ton of off peak calls. In a month, I will be back working till 9pm at nite when my minutes are free and people know to call me at work if they need me so I will be able to lower my minutes and pay even less and always have a phone that works...plus one that I can take with me so I can always get my calls instead of missing half of them...it is great!! I love it and it was a wise decision on my part... Cool

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david
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Re: Millions 'cutting cord,' going cell phone-only
« Reply #2 on: Aug 6^th, 2003, 10:14am »

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I still have my phone but I do know many who do you use cellphones instead of regular land lines. I am not quite ready to give up my regular phone right now though

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Rhune
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Re: Millions 'cutting cord,' going cell phone-only
« Reply #3 on: Aug 6^th, 2003, 1:03pm »

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I have really been thinking about dumping my land line. If I can get the same thing I have now with the same or less cost, I will jump at it. Even if it's the same cost I will, because it gives me that extra flexibility of taking my phone with me when I go out, and I certainly don't have that now.

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rcs_mum
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Re: Millions 'cutting cord,' going cell phone-only
« Reply #4 on: Aug 6^th, 2003, 1:05pm »

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Our cabin is in an area where there is no cell service available, so we put them on hold until we go back to Florida in the fall.
I miss it so much, especially for the long distance calling. I usually spoke to my sister and boys at least once a day on the cell phone.
Now that I use the landline, I have that feeling from "yesteryear" that too many long distance every every day is a budget breaker!

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darnchts
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Re: Millions 'cutting cord,' going cell phone-only
« Reply #5 on: Aug 6^th, 2003, 5:11pm »

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Rhune..I put it off for a year...everyone hated my landline cause it was so unpredictible and they could never reach me. They were constantly telling me to go get a cell phone. The company I went with gave me 15 days to try out the phone, the service and if I didnt like anything, I could bring it back and get a full refund no questions asked.

I took the phone that same week to Vermont and was amazed that it did go all that way. Mine is verizon and they are pretty much all over the states. Most cell phones have package deals. You can get a second phone that shares the first phone's minutes. If you go with some, you can get an outlandish amount of free minutes but I went with Verizon cause I can virtually take the phone almost anywhere and get reception (cept of course Bar Harbor Maine..LOL) I have 550 minutes which costs I think 55.00 a month. I added mom's phone on which costs me an additional 20.00 amonth. I was usually paying over 100.00 a month cause of long distance on the landline and not being able to call nearly as much as I do now. I also can call friends who live out of state when I want to now. (Still waiting to see how much that Canada call cost me the other day.....LOL Shocked

... Cheryl and I will have to compare and see who cost who more since she called me again the next day) The minutes are free from 9:01pm to 6am M-F and then free 9:01pm Friday - 6pm Sunday. It is awesome and other than making sure you keep the phone charged (I do that while I'm at work during the day with my car charger which works far better than the house one anyway) it is well worth the money. Like I said..I'm home now around 5pm so my neighbors and all call me a lot and waste my 550 minutes. Labor day weekend will find me back working long hours during the week so I won't be around for them to call and I should be able to drop this to 350 and save about 20 or 30 more a month. Go check into it..it is worth the time!! IMHO

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Rhune
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Re: Millions 'cutting cord,' going cell phone-only
« Reply #6 on: Aug 6^th, 2003, 5:39pm »

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Hmm...I am paying aprox $70 a month now. I have "the neighborhood" which gives me unlimited long distance...I realize I'm probably not going to get that with a cell phone.. everything is limited by minutes, but if I look at how much I'm actually using vs what they are offering it might all balance out. I was reading on CNN last night that in a nationwise study, Verizon was the best based on customer satisfaction and technical stuff (dropped calls, reception, etc.). $75 for 2 phones with 550 minutes might be about what I am doing now...hmmm.. I'll look into this some more. Thanks for the info.

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Bumper
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Re: Millions 'cutting cord,' going cell phone-only
« Reply #7 on: Aug 6^th, 2003, 6:20pm »

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I still have my landline phone lines, I'm still on a dial-up connection for the computer and I have a teenager. Roll Eyes

But I make most all of my long distance calls on the cell phone as my type account treats them as all local calls.

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Pau
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Re: Millions 'cutting cord,' going cell phone-only
« Reply #8 on: Aug 6^th, 2003, 8:01pm »

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oww.. so Americans are now turning wireless ehh...
well for me at home, which is in the suburbs of Manila, land lines have come to us only in 2001 (so backward.. hehehe)... we already have wireless phone then.. here... landlines are cheaper compared to wireless phones specially Nokia and other cellphones are now coming up with different models (the latest here are those with digicams like ericsson's Matrix phone)... new models here costs upto P20K+ ($400)... though around 8 out of 10 Filipinos now have a cellphone everyday... teenagers mostly use them for SMS...

and cellular services here is now a big hit...

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david
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Re: Millions 'cutting cord,' going cell phone-only
« Reply #9 on: Aug 11^th, 2003, 2:42pm »

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My credit is sooooo bad (thanks to ex wife) I cant get a cell phone other than prepaid one (which I do have) but that would be way too expensive to use as a primary phone

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