Early Poll Results Shows Trend Away From Land Phones
Used a phone booth lately? Even seen a pay phone in the last decade? Wireless technology has changed the urban landscape. No more pay phones. No more phone booths.
This weeks poll, still active in the upper right corner of the main page, shows the continued transformation away from land-based phone lines to wireless phones.
The question asked is, Do you have a land-based phone line at home?
As of last night, half of the 58 responses indicated no they did not. Of the half with a land line, 55% of those are considering dropping the line and going cell only. Combine the people without a land phone with those who are considering dropping the land line and you get 72.4%.
I like having only a single number. I also like saving money. Having messages in only one location rather than at the office, at home and on my wireless device is also convenient.
In a decade we probably won’t have new places wired for land phones at all. I think I was a teenager before I could have a phone in my room — not my own line but just a phone on our single line. Now young kids have their own wireless phones.
Wireless phones enable people to meet up in public places — calling when close to pinpoint their exact location. Waiting for a call no longer means staying at home. Hopefully the end result will put more folks outdoors in great public places. Phones with cameras and email allow people to share where they are. I’m guessing the Wal-Mart parking lot will not be shared. Vibrant pedestrian-filled streets, however, will be emailed on posted on sites like Facebook.
The technology of the automobile has physically seperated our society. Handy wireless devices may be just the item to help reduce our distances.
It’s interesting that you say that, because so many people believe that the internet and wireless technologies have distanced us from one another, which obviously isn’t true. I mean, pre-Internet, I might be reading your weekly column if I got to it in the newspaper, and I wouldn’t be commenting in response, except maybe grumbling to my wife about something you wrote. You’d also be communicating with all of us a lot less as well.
Slight flaw in the poll: You need an option for “Have a land line because I have to for DSL”. In my downtown building, DSL (as of now) is the only choice. Otherwise, I would have considered going cell-only when I moved down here.
The next realization is that we no longer need (or want) the yellow/white page directories dumped at our doors. The environmental impact of these senseless products is staggering. We have a No-Call list. How about a No-Phone-Directories list?
You can get DSL without having a land line. It’s called dry loop DSL. AT&T offers this in St. Louis, and it’s what I use. Phone companies are offering this option now to compete with cable internet access.
I have my phone via the internet, just plug it in wherever there’s internet. I don’t have a traditional land line, though. AT&T (grr) gets my money for my cell phone but that’s it.
If you’re going to just use a cell phone all the time, please use hands-free mode or a headset (wired, not bluetooth). That way at least the signal isn’t radiating your brain. I fear the move to cellular-only will burden us with an epidemic of brain tumors in 20 or 30 years.
I wouldn’t have a land line, but I was told in order for a house alarm to be monitored that it had to be connected to a land line. Does anyone know if they are moving towards being monitored via wifi?
So how would you count Vonage VOIP (Internet-based) phone service? It’s not Cell-only, or really a “landline”…
Maggie: Alarm.com has a wireless alarm monitoring service. But it’s pricey. Many alarm providers have cellular systems for extra $$.
Abe: “That way at least the signal isn’t radiating your brain. I fear the move to cellular-only will burden us with an epidemic of brain tumors in 20 or 30 years.” – have no fear. There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest a connection between cell phone use and brain tumors. This is largely being pushed by the anti-power line EMF nuts, whose crusade has largely been laughed out of existance. On a related note, the anti-vaccination nutjobs suffered a crushing defeat today. Quite appropriate, given that it is Darwin’s 200th birthday. A stellar day for science and critical thinking!
Abe: “If you’re going to just use a cell phone all the time, please use hands-free mode”
Oh please, for our sake, DO NOT do this in a public place. Nothing is more obnoxious.
Right on Art!
I agree that eventually land lines will go away, but I think that your poll results are skewed. The people most likely to give up land lines are also more likely to read blogs, comment and participate in online polls. I’ve also found that my clients in their 20s and early 30s are the most likely to not have a land line. Almost all of my older clients still have one and get a new one when they move. I think that trend will change over time.
I only use my cell phone for calls, but do have a land line so that I can send out faxes on my All-in-One Brother printer. I guess I could scan and then efax everything, but the quality sometimes degrades a little with my home scanner and it’s just faster too throw something on the fax if the computer isn’t on. I also would get charged by Dish Network if my satellite wasn’t connected to a land line.