# Will Landlines Eventually Become Obsolete?



## Coolidge24 (Mar 21, 2005)

In the bar over the weekend, I was having an interesting conversation with some friends. I do not yet have a cell phone (and by and large, I enjoy not having one), they do not have landlines. We are all about 22-24. While I am sure that whatever I do for a living will eventually force me to get one to meet everyone else's expectation of my having one (doesnt mean I'll take it out of my briefcase or turn it on), I argued that for a while yet, landlines will not become obsolete, if ever. I, at least, plan to dig in my heels for as long as possible, particularly for my home number.

I thought of other things that were predicted to become obsolete in the past and have not: newspapers (a good portion of the populace does not enjoy reading articles off a monitor), cars, televisions (the Mac TV didnt work out so well), the suit, the stove (can't microwave everything), the radio (can't watch TV in the car).

What do you think? Will there still be a "use" for landlines?

I can't help but snicker when one of my friends loses his or her cellphone and is unavailable until it is found or replaced. I always invite him or her to come over and use my landline[}]


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## mpcsb (Jan 1, 2005)

LOL - we may be the only two people left in the world who do not have cell phones. Even a friend of mine who doesn't use the internet has one! If we don't have landlines how will we connect to the highspeed internet folks? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm not a Ludite by choice, only education.


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## globetrotter (Dec 30, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by Coolidge24_
> 
> In the bar over the weekend, I was having an interesting conversation with some friends. I do not yet have a cell phone (and by and large, I enjoy not having one), they do not have landlines. We are all about 22-24. While I am sure that whatever I do for a living will eventually force me to get one to meet everyone else's expectation of my having one (doesnt mean I'll take it out of my briefcase or turn it on), I argued that for a while yet, landlines will not become obsolete, if ever. I, at least, plan to dig in my heels for as long as possible, particularly for my home number.
> 
> ...


there will always be landlines, but they will be much less common. I know several people who don't have landlines, and I never give my home phone to anybody, just my cell number. I make most of my calls from the cell.

I used to be in the business of products that sat on cell phones, so I know a little about what there is, and will be.

today you have two basic directions - a cell with a computer built in, that is more powerful than the first pc I ever had. think about that. the other side of that is that you have cell phones that are so small you don't feel that you are carrying them around.

in 2 to 3 years, you will have cell phones with

2 lines 
a 20 gig hard drive with the capacity of a 2003 laptop
games
movies as well as live satalite tv and radio
multiple email accounts
reasonably fast web surfing

and all of that will be in something that you pretty much don't feel in your pocket, but you will plug it in when you come home and have a cordless handset that is more like your landline cordless handset.

by the way, some of us keep multiple handsets and mulitiple sim cards, so that if we lose one, we are covered.


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## Coolidge24 (Mar 21, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by mpcsb_
> 
> LOL - we may be the only two people left in the world who do not have cell phones. Even a friend of mine who doesn't use the internet has one! If we don't have landlines how will we connect to the highspeed internet folks? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm not a Ludite by choice, only education.


My parents and grandmother are holdouts. Actually my mom has one but uses it only for emergencies or to call my dad to tell him she's on the way home from work.


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## Coolidge24 (Mar 21, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by globetrotter_
> 
> there will always be landlines, but they will be much less common.


I hope you are right, but why is that the case. When all of you have cell phones, isn't that going to make it financially rediculous for companies to maintain all these telephone lines I use. Won't I get a letter in the mail one day (if we still have mail) that says "Dear Coolidge, we are ripping down all of the telephone lines. Get a cell phone. Respectfully, SBC"

I hardly believe they'll keep them just because mpcsb and I want them.

Also, if they are gone, I hope they can rig up my landline phones so I can still talk on them...I hate those little cellphones. I like a nice big receiver with a cradle.


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## globetrotter (Dec 30, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by Coolidge24_
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I mispoke when I said "always" - I doubt many companies will invest in the infrastructure of landlines in the near future, until things are more clear. in the future, once the present infrastucture wears out, perhaps landlines will be more in use by the military or people who need security. but the infrstrucure in place won't wear out that quickly.

also, in some of the more expensive parts, cell and landline infrastructure share costs, both in terms of capital expenses and in terms of maintainance.

but for your life, you are safe. on the other hand, there are already, and probrably will be for the next 50 years, lots of products that allow you to put a cell in a cradle and use a piece of hardware that seems to be an old fashined phone.


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## tiger02 (Dec 12, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by Coolidge24_
> Also, if they are gone, I hope they can rig up my landline phones so I can still talk on them...I hate those little cellphones. I like a nice big receiver with a cradle.


I believe VOIP also takes care of this concern, but I don't have any direct experience. It works the same as a landline, but is run through your high speed computer line of choice.

Tom


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## Acct2000 (Sep 24, 2005)

I got one for Christmas but have not activated it yet. Technically, I still don't use one.


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## jbmcb (Sep 7, 2005)

Work made me get a cell phone, so I got one of those pay-as-you-go disposable cell phones. It's extremely small, fits in the pocket of my khakis and I don't even know it's there until it vibrates. It carries all my contacts, I can read news headlines when I'm bored, it's rather featureless with a B&W screen so the battery lasts for days. The best feature, however, is that my name is in no way attached to it, so I never get telemarketing or advertisements.

I see landlines sticking around for, at the very least, a few more decades. The problem is quick becoming spectrum allocation, in that most of the usable radio spectrum is already accounted for, and there isn't much room for anything else.


Good/Fast/Cheap - Pick Two


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## Relayer (Nov 9, 2005)

My short answer is yes.

Bandwidth/spectrum issues will resolved and advanced, eventually (and sooner rather than later) there will be no need to maintain physical lines into homes of business. Some form of wireless will be much easier and less costly to install and maintain from a central location, obviating the old-fashioned "truck rolls'.

All forms of communication will follow this mode


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## pleasehelp (Sep 8, 2005)

I actually think that landlines are going to make a comeback. TVs, computers, telephones, stereos, security systems, etc. are all interacting to such a degree that they are becoming one unit. I predict that as the technologies further converge and the costs decline, those people who abandoned their landlines will go back to having a landline because it will all be part of the same unit.


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## Fogey (Aug 27, 2005)

Eventually?

Hold on - can't resist. This has inspired me to start a new thread.


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## winn (Dec 31, 2005)

_"LOL - we may be the only two people left in the world who do not have cell phones."_ (mpcsb, 1 March 2006)

Make that three. And I still _dial_ my calls! (chuckling as I am now looking to the left of my desk where on top of the CPU on a roll/caddy on the floor sits my modem, with answering machine on top of that. Next to those on the CPU sits my rotary telephone. This juxtaposition never fails to amuse me!)

Cheers,
Winn


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## Vettriano Man (Jun 30, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by winn_
> 
> _"LOL - we may be the only two people left in the world who do not have cell phones."_ (mpcsb, 1 March 2006)
> 
> ...


...hold on - that makes us four! _(and proud of the fact!)_ [^]


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## crazyquik (Jun 8, 2005)

I have a rotary phone plugged into my land line.

Speaking of rotary, does anyone still use a Rolodex? I remember being a kid and thinking when I get a desk job as a grown up, I can have one. Now I'm here and haven't seen a Rolodex yet!

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Beware of showroom sales-fever reasoning: i.e., "for $20 . . ." Once you're home, how little you paid is forgotten; how good you look in it is all that matters.


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## Patrick06790 (Apr 10, 2005)

> quote:
> in 2 to 3 years, you will have cell phones with
> 
> 2 lines
> ...


I don't want any of that. Especially not movies and television, which are lousy enough in their traditional forms - I don't want them in my bleepin' pocket.


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## 16128 (Feb 8, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by crazyquik_
> 
> I have a rotary phone plugged into my land line.
> 
> Speaking of rotary, does anyone still use a Rolodex? I remember being a kid and thinking when I get a desk job as a grown up, I can have one. Now I'm here and haven't seen a Rolodex yet!


I remember thinking something similar and I don't have one either. I keep all of my work contact numbers on the computer, or program them into either my cellphone or the landline wireless phone.

I dislike cellphones but I need one for work (if someone has to contact me for a question, at least I don't have to hang out by a landline).

*"Buy the best, and you will only cry once." - Chinese proverb*


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## winn (Dec 31, 2005)

_Speaking of rotary, does anyone still use a Rolodex?_(crazyquik, 1 March 2006)

When cleaning out my parents house, I made sure that I saved the Rolodex - what an archive of who my family knew and the stores and services we used!

Cheers,
Winn


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## jeansguy (Jul 29, 2003)

> quote:_Originally posted by Coolidge24_
> 
> While I am sure that whatever I do for a living will eventually force me to get one to meet everyone else's expectation of my having one (doesnt mean I'll take it out of my briefcase or turn it on)


LOL. Carry one for a few months and you will change your tune. Cellular phones are the epitomy of convenience. There is nothing as helpful as being able to call home when you are stuck in traffic, order chinese to pick up on your way home from shopping, or call a store on your way over to make sure they are still open.

I'm reliant on my phone for work, but I would never be without one. If I did not have a need for a fax I would not have a land line. And even there, there are now internet fax services available that will receive yor faxes and email them to you as a PDF. No paper, no waste.

www.thegenuineman.com


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## [email protected] (Jan 12, 2005)

some discussion of this in Australian press recently



> quote: *Home phones' end of the line*
> Elizabeth Gosch
> 24feb06
> 
> ...


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## Mr. Checks (Dec 21, 2005)

Interesting. I just cancelled my land line on Monday. My older relatives are appalled.

With three cell phones, the only calls I ever got on my land line were Sears, politicians, and long-lost relatives who saw my name in the book.


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## Coolidge24 (Mar 21, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by jeansguy_
> 
> 
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Solutions to this problem easily solved without getting a cellphone

1. Marry someone with enough commonsense to not need to know where you are every second, so that if you happen to be stuck in traffic this is not a problem. It should be the expectation of anyone who lives in a suburban area to be stuck in traffic anyway.

2. Chinese takes about 5 minutes to get ready anyway by just walking into the restaurant. What's the big hurry? Besides, I can cook my dinner.

3. Learn the hours of stores you frequent so you wont have to constantly call them to see if they are open

4. (The one I get most often from incompetant fellow law students) "What if you get a flat tire?" Me: "Um, I pull over, get out and change it, what do you do?"

My grandfather managed to run the CT division of a well known life insurance company without a cellphone for almost 30 years. I'm sure I can manage a little longer.


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## Long Way of Drums (Feb 15, 2006)

Yes! You also do not need the internet or any of this newfangled horseless carriage crap. No one needs planes, either; why, we have boats and the 4:30 autogyro to Prussia! And I hear quite a bit about this new vegetable lamb of tartary, but I don't trust it.

"Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein."

"Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughtta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keels. Makes her home."

*We will not walk in fear, one of another.*


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## J. Homely (Feb 7, 2006)

Yes, yes, we could all get through life without cellphones, ATMs, refrigerators, elevators, PDAs, cars, computers, televisions, radios, even the US postal service... Everyone's great-great-greats did, and didn't miss them at all. Is that a reason not to use one if you find it useful?


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## globetrotter (Dec 30, 2004)

when my son was a baby, he had a "symbol" that represented everybody - his nanny was hands on the cheeks and saying "ay yah yah", his maternal grandmother was hands up and saying "oyyy!". I was hand cupping the ear and saying "hello hello?" - I spent so much time on my cell. 

I few times I have been visiting my mother, and get calls from 3 continents one right after the other. my mother isn't a simple woman, she is a colombia graduate who has done some traveling, but she is 75. she will be totally blown away by it, like it is science fiction "you mean you were just talking to people from Nigeria, Russia and Singapore"? 

the world is changing.


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## Coolidge24 (Mar 21, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by globetrotter_
> 
> when my son was a baby, he had a "symbol" that represented everybody - his nanny was hands on the cheeks and saying "ay yah yah", his maternal grandmother was hands up and saying "oyyy!". I was hand cupping the ear and saying "hello hello?" - I spent so much time on my cell.
> 
> ...


The world may be changing but some of us try to evaluate the possibility of avoiding being sucked in for as long as possible...


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## Coolidge24 (Mar 21, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by Long Way of Drums_
> 
> Yes! You also do not need the internet or any of this newfangled horseless carriage crap. No one needs planes, either; why, we have boats and the 4:30 autogyro to Prussia! And I hear quite a bit about this new vegetable lamb of tartary, but I don't trust it.
> 
> ...


You make the usual point by responding with generalities. It is all a question of how far one needs to go. Cell phones and being constantly reachable are, in my opinion, too far. Yes, one can turn them off, but I dont want to have to carry something extra. So I'll stand firm as long as its practical to do so. Hence the thread.


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## pleasehelp (Sep 8, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by Coolidge24_
> 
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1) Marrying someone with "common sense" does not relate to the issue of calling while in traffic to tell people about your status.

2) 5 minutes can be a valuable length of time if you would rather spend it doing something else. Other types of food may take much longer than 5 minutes.

3) Many people (like myself) rarely shop and when shopping it is often at different stores - calling can save a great deal of time.

4) A flat tire is only one of many issues one may face with a car. A cell phone can be a useful safety device in the case of an accident - it also helps one perform the duties of a good citizen in reporting other peoples' problems.

Your grandfather's experience is in one particular field and the majority of his experience was before the spread of cell phones.

You will certainly be able to avoid using a cell phone for your entire life if you so choose - the question is whether your avoidance of a cell phone will enhace your life. For many people, particularly those who work in industries where timing is important (or for people who consider their time to be valuable) a cell phone is a valuable tool.


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## Coolidge24 (Mar 21, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by pleasehelp_
> 
> 1) Marrying someone with "common sense" does not relate to the issue of calling while in traffic to tell people about your status.


Yes, it does, because then they won't be insistent upon hearing your every location, they will merely assume you are stuck in traffic.

Anyway, I think it's clear that regardless, landlines are going to be around for a while, and I thank the more knowledgable members of this thread for their contributions.


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## pleasehelp (Sep 8, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by Coolidge24_
> 
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And what if one is not merely stuck in traffic or what if the duration is unknown? What if rather than a spouse, it is a child waiting for a ride to a Doctor appointment who needs to find an alternative means of transportation if you are going to be late?

It seems that "common sense" would dictate that a person waiting for someone would realize that delays are caused by a wide range of occurences and that the length of delays may vary greatly. A cell phone can help the waiter adjust plan accordingly.


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## 16128 (Feb 8, 2005)

I had no cell phone for ages, and being around people with them was sometimes frustrating, PleaseHelp.

For instance, shopping with a friend whose husband would call her every 30 minutes. "What are you doing?" "Well, we're at X store." What is the point of this? How can you miss someone _if they never go away?_

I did actually order some spicy orange beef and eggrolls for pickup on the way home from the airport yesterday, so I'll concur on that one. 

Another thing I hate: answering machines. I don't have one because I have a cellphone. Anybody who might need to reach me, like my mother, has that number. I receive surprised calls from cousins ("well, we called you on Saturday, but nobody was home. Don't you have an answering machine?" No, because if it's important, you'll call back. It's never important. Someone just wants to jaw about something random for an hour. Send me an email.)

Damn, I'm grumpy.


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## pleasehelp (Sep 8, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by VS_
> 
> I had no cell phone for ages, and being around people with them was sometimes frustrating, PleaseHelp.
> 
> ...


I agree that cell phone use can be annoying. I think that over time, as a society, we will need to develop norms regarding such new technology (such as speaking in normal tones of voice, using a low ring volume, not speaking on a cell while in a check-out line, etc).

However, I also think that cell phones are a valuable asset.


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## Brownshoe (Mar 1, 2005)

I probably talk on my cell phone no more than 10 minutes a week--but they are a pretty critical 10 minutes.

Navigating life in a major city, with a wife, small child, babysitter, etc. running all around creation makes a cell phone an absolute necessity for our family.

I don't like the dumb little thing, it's hard to hear and I don't like airing my business in public. But there it is.


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## J. Homely (Feb 7, 2006)

> quote:_Originally posted by pleasehelp_
> 
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And the elimination of cute ring tones. The elimination of all ring tones, actually. An FCC mandate requiring that all cell phones be 'vibrate-only' -- that's a bit of Big Government I could really get behind. I don't need to hear one more cheezy, tinny version of 'Dance of the frickin Sugarplum Fairies'.


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## Yckmwia (Mar 29, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by VS_
> 
> Another thing I hate: answering machines.


Automated voice response systems. An invention of the Devil, without question.

"There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em." Louis Armstrong.


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## Vladimir Berkov (Apr 19, 2005)

I don't have a landline anymore, although I wish I still did. The problem is that the way the phone plans for landlines are set up is just absurd. You pay through the nose for the line regardless of how much you use it, then you pay for minutes you talk then you get to pay for all sorts of infuriating and ridiculous taxes, charges and surcharges (thank you Big Government.) 

I have a 1939 Western Electric model 302 sitting on my radio-phonograph and an Automatic Electric model 50 sitting in the closet both silent and unconnected, their rotary dialing wheels unturned. Maybe eventually someone will reform the landline system and I can get them connected again and hear the blessed ring of mechanical bells and speak into the bakelite handsets again!


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## WisBadger77 (Jun 12, 2005)

Interesting posts.

I'm certainly in your camp Coolidge. I have a cell phone sitting in the armrest of the car for emergencies, it was actually a condition my parents had when they gave me a car to take to college. 

But I hate it. I guess it gets to the issue of boundaries and having to be "on" all of the time. Recently the company I am employed at has attempted to crack down on cellular phone users who congregate in the hallways at different times of the day. Don't know if it will work, but at least they tried.

To the poster who said those who feel their time is valuable and will somehow resent you not having one -- I feel the same way about my time! Those are the people who typically have little or no respect for your time and wouldn't think twice about calling at 3am to bother you about something. Can't they manage their time better to get things done during normal business hours? Or if the time zone is drastically different, determine a mutually acceptable time.

To the poster who envisioned having a rolodex on his desk when he joined the work world, join the club...that's what I envisioned regarding wearing a suit and tie!

I'm not against technology per se, I just like to know first whether I actually need it before I go out and get it. It took a long time to get a cordless phone, DVD player, microwave, high speed internet, CD player in my car, etc. Do like voice mail though, less gadgets sitting around at home. 

Anyway, enjoy the weekend and do something fun and nontechnological!


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## shuman (Dec 12, 2004)

I dont have one. I'll avoid it for as long as possible.


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## Patrick06790 (Apr 10, 2005)

I take great satisfaction in having my cell phone off most of the time. I turn it on to check messages or when I need to call somebody.

I hate all phones, period.


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## globetrotter (Dec 30, 2004)

I don't have a scapel, or a cement mixer, or a pizza oven - these are not tools that would help me out in life. a cell phone, however, is probrably the single most important tool of my work, and a cell with email capacity definatly makes it the number one tool. 

in the world where I live, not being accesible is pretty much unheard of. 

good for all of you who can get by without one. I can't. I am sure that some of you really don't need one, or need one as much as I need a cement mixer. on the other hand, I am sure that many of you really would improve your productivity and improve you fee time by having one.


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## jeansguy (Jul 29, 2003)

> quote:_Originally posted by Coolidge24_
> 
> Solutions to this problem easily solved without getting a cellphone
> 
> ...


LOL. I'd hardly call my wife lacking common sense.

This is about convenience.

I can ride a horse to work if I feel like it, but I'd prefer to get into a BMW.

www.thegenuineman.com


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## Harry96 (Aug 3, 2005)

I see the cell phone as a great convenience for emergencies, but also as possibly the most irritating invention in history for non-emergency use. 

The majority of people I work with literally cannot go five minutes without pulling out their cell phones to see if they have any messages. What could possibly be so important that it can't wait until you get home, or even get in the car to go home? It reminds me of a line from the show Becker where he was railing about cell phones, and he said, "I wish I could buy a machine that makes it HARDER for people to find me!" My sentiments exactly.

Then again, I guess I'm an enigma, because I'm online literally almost every waking minute that I'm home, and I almost never go more than five minutes without checking my e-mail, so I guess that's about the same as people with their cell phones. 

I got a pre-paid cell phone nearly four years ago, mainly to have in the car for possible road emergencies -- and I have used it a couple of times for that. It's funny that people I know told me once I got it, I'd use it a lot more than I thought I would and I'd wonder how I got along without it. To this day, 99.9% of the time I never take it out of the car or even turn it on except to charge it every couple of weeks. 

I dropped landline when I went on broadband internet at home shortly after getting my cell. Everyone I know e-mails me to contact me and I conduct all of my business online that might have involved a phone in the pre-internet days. Today, because of the internet, I literally don't make or receive more than five phone calls a year, cell or landline. 

To answer your question, yes I think landline will be obsolete soon, but so will cell phones in their present form, as well as the internet as it is today, where you turn on a discrete, rectangular computer and look at a monitor. Within 10-20 years, the world wide web will evolve into the world wide mesh, meaning everyone will be connected to the web everywhere they go, 24/7, unless they choose not to be. Soon the idea of picking up a telephone to contact someone will be as archaic as the idea of sending a telegram is today.


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## crazyquik (Jun 8, 2005)

I did see a rolodex on a coworker's desk last week.

If I ever get 'important' enough, perhaps the company will buy me a cell phone. Otherwise I don't plan to get one.

I had one 7 years ago (in the pre ring tone camera-email checking-text messaging era) and no one called me, so I got rid of it. What's the use in a phone if no one calls you?


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