Cut the Cord

When I bought my house 4 years ago, I made the decision to start relying 100% on my cell phone. Seems like the only people that actually used the land line previously were telemarketers, and I certainly didn't care about keeping in contact with them.

At the time, this was a new phenomenon, but not anymore. Today, 20 million households have cut the dependence on their land line.

Currently, it seems that the majority of people who have done this are lower income and younger, but I predict the trend to expand rapidly in the older, more affluent demographics. My mom is a perfect example. When we need to get a hold of her, we first call her cell phone. Most of the time it doesn't even occur to me to try her home phone first, because 90% of the time, she doesn't answer, and then I am just going to try the cell anyway.

Between the decline in Yellow Page usage, and now land lines, traditional phone companies are going to have to keep looking for innovative ways to keep income flowing in.