Cell phones and VoIP could make landlines obsolete

The inevitable march of technological progress in the telecommunications industry will likely make the old-fashioned copper wire-based landline telephone a thing of the past, according to a recent article in the Tulsa World. The explosion in wireless phone use coupled with the increasing reliability and low cost of VoIP calling has forever altered the telecom landscape. "Lots of people bought a second landline connection for dial-up Internet, but with a broadband connection they don't need a second line" since broadband provides simultaneous voice and Internet capabilities, said TRAC Research Associate John Breyault.

A recent study indicated that that number of cellular-only households in the United States has surpassed the number of landline-only households in the U.S. Ten years ago, in the wake of the landmark 1996 Telecommunications Act, such a statistic would have been unthinkable. According to the study – released by market research firm Mediamark – the number of landline-only U.S. households now stands at 12.3%. By comparison, the percentage of households with only wireless phones is now 14.4%.

This trend, towards cellular-only living is being driven by the young. "Fifty-seven percent of 18-24 year-olds who live in single-person households are now cell-only, making them more than four times as likely to be cell-only as the average adult," the study found.

Source: Telecommunications Research and Action Center. http://www.trac.org