Home Phones Becoming An Expensive Luxury

A recent report by Nielsen has indicated that more and more Americans are hanging up their landlines in favor of sole reliance on their mobile phones. The report showed that 17% of American households have hung-up their landlines for good – and not surprisingly, it has predominantly been the young and the poor. Nearly two-thirds of those are under 35 and 46% earn under $50,000 a year.

The NYT explains the financial savings:

The average home phone line costs about $40 a month. The study found that people without a home phone line use 40 percent more minutes on their wireless phones, but this only raises their cellphone bill by 10 percent, to $76 a month. (Why so little? Because most of the increased gabbing is for usage that is free under the typical plan: nights, weekends and calls to other users of your cellphone company.)

The benefits are greatest for single people, who have only one cell line. They wind up saving $33 a month. A couple with two cellphones still saves $26 a month dropping the land line. Families with chatty teenagers with cellphones save less.

NYT: Snip! Nearly One-Fifth of Homes Have No Landline