Bye, bye landline phones

[Julio Franco]

I must say this article mostly reflects a situation seen in more developed countries... here in Ecuador I'm stuck paying a premium for my cell-phone, how about $60/month for 200 minutes! Anyway, an interesting piece from CNN that brings up the question, how much life left have conventional landlines?

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.

 

[Dantrag]

lol, i use my home phone more cellphones tend to spend all my money got 1 but dont use it that mutch anymore

 

[SNGX1275]

exactly what I am about to do julio.

got a phone with more minutes than I will use, and I've got cable internet. No reason for me to continue to pay for a home phone.

 

[tkteo]

I've not had a landline for three years. Those plans with free night/weekend minutes and free long distance are lifesavers.

 

[Rick]

DSL is probaby a good reason for the existing phoneline infrastructure to stay for the moment... And $7/mo for local access for low income families is another clincher (here in California at least).

Cell phones are getting cheaper and much more popular... But I think they have some maturing to do as far as the technology goes. There's still plenty of spots they don't work that they SHOULD and reception in many places can be tough or non existant (High security buildings, metal rooms etc...). The cost is also a deterrant for anyone but middle class or better. But that will probably change in a few years.

 

[poertner_1274]

I agree JelloBones I would much rather have dsl than cable simply because with cable if everyone in your neighborhood is using it you will see some reprocussions, whereas dsl you connect straight to the phone company.

Yeah in Saint Louis the cheapest phone service I could find that called all of the Saint Louis area was $47/month, and paying 29.99 more for 1.5mbit dsl isn't too bad.