Has the time come for us to chuck our landline phones?
I ran across this article the other day about T-Mobile’s HotSpot @Home service, which basically allows you to use both cellular network and WiFi connections with a compatible cellphone. The inference is that if you purchase this service, you could very will likely get rid of your landline phone.
That got me to thinking that with all the advances of cellphones over the past couple of years, and with the availability of WiFi-enabled phones as well as VoIP service through your computer, has the time come for us to ditch our traditional landline phones that we have relied on since the beginning of time?
If you asked me this question even a year ago, I would have told you no, it’s not time yet. I didn’t trust that my cellular service would be available in every nook and cranny I go, and that WiFi and VoIP service can be spotty more times than I liked to see.
However, my thinking has changed. I’m an AT&T customer (formerly Cingular), and I don’t travel as much for business as I used to, but I haven’t had any troubles getting a signal for quite a while now. (I’m sure AT&T is happy to hear that, but let’s not throw them a parade, either!)
In addition, I have a Skype account, which I don’t use that often, but it is available to me at any time I want to use it, and I haven’t experienced much difficulty with it. Of course, VoIP still has a ways to go in terms of consistent connectivity, but it’s much better than it was a year ago. And let’s not forget WiFi-enabled phones, which are getting increasingly popular and their designs, once clunky, are now getting more sleek and streamlined.
Plus, let’s not forget the most important factor–cost. Traditional phone service is still costly, and we all know you can get a good cellular service plan at an affordable price. In addition, there’s the issue of portability–you literally can carry your home phone with you at all times anywhere you want. You can now do away with multiple phones and multiple phone bills and so on.
So, the time may be right for me and others who think alike to get rid of our landline phones. Yes, you get better call quality with a landline phone, and we did grow up with them and are used to them, but it could be time to change. I’m still wrestling with the decision, but I am moving ever closer to ripping the phone off the wall and replacing it with a picture.
How about you?
August 21st, 2007 at 10:28 am
[...] going all-wireless skew survey data? August 21st, 2007 by Michael Sciannamea In a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I talked about how people are giving up their landlines and going [...]