The Economist shows in a recent post that Americans are dropping their landlines, despite implications for E-911 services. Clearly, the recession forces users to review their discretionary expense profiles and cut those unnecessary and redundant expenses, such as landlines which were telemarketer voicemail capture platforms for millions.
Mobile services are not only more useful, but they cost about the same as landline voice, often without the nasty FCC mandated taxes to help users in rural America, or to help schools and public libraries.
Some of the impacts cited in the report from the CDC:
- 700,000 disconnections/month means that the last landline (at this rate) will be disconnected in 2025
- 20.2% of US households are mobile-only
- 65% of mobile households voted for Obama, while only 49% of landline households voted for Obama
Here are some of my other blog posts around this transition now underway, away from the landline:
- $5/month landline service
- US Landline Declines
- The Future of Landlines
- T-Mobile Moves to Accelerate Landline Decline
- “Mobile Americans Up, Landline Users Down,” Says CDC
- Wall Street Confirms: Wireless is a Growing Market
