Landlines are flatining. In the US, 18 percent of telephone users now regard their mobile handset as their primary phone. And after decades of unimpeded growth, the nubmer of hardwired phone numbers actually decreased from 1999 to 2000. In places like Japan and Europe, where wireless subscribers now out number wireline subscribers, the slide is even more precipitous.
Don't think your local phone company isn't painfully aware of the facts. On average, the major telcos watched their wireline revenue drop five percent and wireless gain 11 percent last year.
While the landline might not be ready to join the typewriter and the mimeograph in a museum of obsolete technology, a growing number of Americans have opted to cut the cord completely. Nowhere is that clearer than among college students and yound adults, more than 10 percent of whom now rely exclusively on cell phones. Overall, roughly three percent of US households have let go of the landlines; an additional eight percent are expected to follow suit during the next five years.
To add insult to injury, even Americans with landlines are now spending more time chatting on wireless phones. "We have crossed the threshold," says Keith Mallinson of The Yankee Group, a research firm. Even prices are coming down. The average monthy bill for a mobile number has dropped from $51 in 1995 to $48 today. By contrast, the average local wireline bill has jumped from $30 in 1995 to about $35 today. Analysts say it won't be long before the prices for both types of service even out. Let's hope reception quality isn't far behind. -Tom Stein, Wired Magazine, Issue 11.08
So here's the question: Are you cutting your landline for your mobile?