Why Landline Phones Just Aren't Practical Anymore

Landline phones as we know them today have been around for decades, and while technology has gotten better, at the end of the day they're still tethered to your house. Landline subscribers have fallen dramatically in the last decade and will probably be completely gone by the end of the decade. Here are 5 reasons why the landline phone will soon be a distant memory.

VOIP

Voip (voice over internet protocol) is available today in many forms, Skype and Vonage are the two major ones out there. While some of their handsets look just like traditional landline phones, that's where the similarities end. Where landlines are tied to wires voip utilizes the Internet to make and receive calls. Voip is also threatening some cell carriers as popular phones made Android and Apple are starting to have Skype apps available.

Cell Phones

This one of course is the most obvious one, with the emergence and domination of cell phones over the last 15 years landlines have become increasingly unnecessary. Most people find cell phones as an essential device so why would you pay for something twice by also having a landline? Many people have answered that question by cancelling their home phone service. Cell phones have become so advanced and mainstream that in the next few years they'll even be starting to threaten computers.

Convenience

Out and about whether at work, in the car, or on that much needed vacation your still going to be getting phone calls even though your not home. Whether your using Skype on your laptop or depending on your trusty cellphone the one thing that has fueled their popularity has been portability. With the convenience of always being reachable, you would be hard pressed to make a convincing argument for landlines.

Price

Remember as a teenager racking up those huge long distance charges talking to someone just a couple towns over? Nowadays it sounds silly even talking to someone anywhere in the US and being charged long distance. Also most landlines have a base cost around $30 a month depending on service provider and features, while some of the alternatives can cost as little as $9 a month.

Features

Nowadays for those of us who have been without a landline for sometime now really forget that landlines only make calls. While that used to be all we could expect nowadays phones are known for so much more, whether it be texting, Internet, music or gaming, phones are starting to less about the phone and what other features and tasks it can perform. In today's world only being able to make calls just isn't enough anymore.

Overall

At the end of the day some people won't get rid of their landlines until they are forced to, whether it's that they don't need all the bells and whistles, nostalgia or just a lack of knowledge for technology some people will hang on till the end. With major providers of landlines still having to pay billions of dollars a year to maintain these phone lines to diminishing customers soon the costs will far outweigh the profits and major change will come. Here's a few interesting stats to think about

• At the end of 2008 17.8% of homes only had landlines
• It took landlines over 90 years to reach 100 million people, cell phones only 17 years
• Over 20% of homes have already ditched landlines completely
• Cell phone usage has risen from 33 million in 1995 to over 270 million as of 2008

Major corporations are also leaving landlines in the past switching over to cell phones and Internet phones like those made by Cisco. While doing some research for this article I typed landline phones in google and a related search suggestion came up with "novelty phones", and very soon that will be what they are, nothing but a novelty item like a tape deck or VCR. What do you think, are you happy with your landline or have you ditched yours already?

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