The Decline of the Landline

Death Metal writes "The phone network is thus not just a technical infrastructure, but a socioeconomic one. The more Americans abandon it to go mobile-only or make phone calls over the Internet, the more fragile it becomes: its high fixed costs have to be spread over ever fewer subscribers. If the telephone network in New York State were a stand-alone business, it would already be in bankruptcy. In recent years it has lost 40% of its landlines and revenues have dropped by more than 30%."

Comments

why would you ...

[neonprimetime]

... keep your landline? we ended up disconnecting our landline ... we were getting charged like $70 for unlimited long distance, the whole 9 yards ... instead we now have a $70 cell phone plan that also has unlimited long distance, the whole 9 yards ... plus I can text message, play games, surf the net, and most importantly it's mobile. I can take it wherever I want. Why would you keep your landline? If you really think you need one, I suggest getting cell phone and duct-taping it to your wall!

Re:why would you ...

[Drakin020]

One compelling reason is quality. For instance, I had some job interviews recently, and I'd never do an interview over a cell phone. You worry about the calls cutting out, cuts here and there in the quality, and not being able to hear a question over the phone just looks bad.

Re:why would you ...

[Desler]

Businesses still need land lines unless you plan on giving everyone a work cell phone or have them share phones.

Or, you know, just get VoIP.

Re:why would you ...

[bennomatic]

I would have modded you down but there is no "-1 Incorrect". I guess I could have done an overrated, but that just seems mean.

My two 5.8 GHz cordless phones--one for my work line, and one for my home line--sound worlds better than my cell phone. Most importantly, they don't have the latency and echo that is so common on all cell phone calls I've ever had.

What's worst is any call where there's more than one cell phone call involved. People are always talking over each other and that real-time cadence that's so nice about in-person and land-line calls just goes away. It reminds me of back when a significant amount of intl'l calls went over satellite when I was a kid; it was impossible to have a normal conversation.

But back to my cordless phones: unless you are in a dense urban environment where everyone else is using the same channels as you on their cordless phones, or unless you're using out of date technology like 2.4 GHz phones that interfere with 802.11x, static is a non-issue. Oh yeah, I guess there are probably really cheap ones with bad transmitters, but I bought one of my phones at Costco, one at Radio Shack and spent less than $100 on each of them four and six years ago.

Finally, my office is in the finished basement of my house. If I tried to have a conference call with clients using my cell phone, I'd get dropped calls 90% of the time.

(In)Stability could be the cause

[von_rick]

These days its getting harder for people to retain a steady profession and have to move quite frequently. This has made it necessary for most people to rely on the mobile phones as their primary line rather than the landline. Many people often have to transfer their landline calls to their cell phones when they are on the move. The limitations of landlines and the socio-economic situation of present is making it hard for people to consider landlines.

Can't get dsl without it

[ewolfr]

I can't get dsl where I am without subbing to a landline as well. A cable modem isn't really an option either since we have Directv and wouldn't qualify for any bundling deals from the cable company. If I could do dry line dsl I would in an instant, but I get to pay an extra $13/mo for my internet access instead.

Re:Decline of the Landline

[VernonNemitz]

Who needs WW3 to realize the value of land lines? Did you not watch War of the Worlds (the George Pal version)? Remember the scene when the power failed and the phones were out, also? Normally the average power failure does not affect the landline phone system because it is on a different electric circuit. Anyone who truly wants to "stay connected" in an emergency needs to consider that very likely the landlines will still work after a power failure, and continue to work even after the cell phone batteries die and cannot be recharged. (Even if you had a solar-power battery charger, what of the power for the cell towers?)

It may be OK for the landlines to be removed from service (lotta copper there, to recycle), but only AFTER the wireless networks are robust enough for people to stay connected in emergencies.

Poor service: Guaranteed a profit by law

[bzzfzz]

The decline of the landline is not due solely to changing usage patterns and technology but rather due to the anti-customer regulatory and business environment for landline phones.

A poster up thread was perhaps more insightful than he realized when stating that the problem with a landline is that telemarketers keep calling. After the MFJ, incoming toll was highly profitable for local exchanges, and they encouraged incoming toll, and lobbied to protect telemarketers, and fought things like caller ID.

And in the wake of the MFJ, phone service as a business changed from being a benevolent and responsible (if bureaucratic) utility to being a cost-driven race to the bottom. Service suffered. Innovation suffered. Prices for local telephone service went up. In the last few years I've received a disconnect notice for paying my phone bill two weeks late, I've been charged a $60 fee for the company to repair their own facilities (by a CLEC who said it was in their tariff because the ILEC charged them and they had to cover costs), I've had customer service reps hang up on me, and I've had service that was at best no more reliable than that provided 30 years ago.

And for this privilege I pay approximately $45 a week for a basic service bundle including caller ID and long distance. That is slightly more than I pay for my mobile phone. And is it somehow a premium service worthy of a premium price? Most assuredly not.

Technologically, the wired carriers should have an edge. The technologies are identical until the last mile. In the last mile, the wired carrier has essentially unlimited capacity and higher reliability. But that doesn't make up for the poor service and bad public policy upstream.

Well Duh...

[rally2xs]

If the landline would just compete with the cell network, not as many people would be turning it off.

I mean, if I could make my landline phone ring different tones for different callers, block calls from whoever I don't want to talk to (I'd be downloading the whole range of "Who called me" perpetrators from the internet), forward the phone to another phone remotely, either over the internet or over another phone, have voicemailboxes that would decode the voice, create text, and e-mail it to me at work or text it to me on a cell, and all the other features anyone can think of, then... maybe it'd be useful enough to actually want to hang onto.

I keep it because its WAAAAAY more reliable than my cell, but it could stand a lot of 21st century upgrading.

Re:Decline of the Landline

[datapharmer]

most have backup generators and most urban areas have more than one tower. Redundant power + redundant towers + microwave transmission = high availability. Now that isn't 100% true all the time in all areas, but living in a hurricane state the only problem with the cell towers was they were jammed up from over use because all the landlines go down.... keep calling and you will get through. Wireless also has the advantage of being able to add extra capacity during an emergency by bringing in portable cells - they do this at many sporting events. They can be run right from the bed of a truck with a gas generator and a satellite or microwave link.