More than half age 25-29 only have cell phones • Hacker News Board

Re: More than half age 25-29 only have cell phones

#21

Post by j79 » Tue, Dec 21, 2010, 6:49 PM UTC

ericflo wrote: post #16

rubashov wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What are landlines good for? Clear, high quality voice communication. I rarely talk on my cell phone. It's essentially for text. I try to call people at their landlines.

Let me guess: iPhone?

When I lived in Boston, my iPhone 4 had amazing coverage and call quality was great. Never experienced a dropped call. Absolutely loved the phone.

Then I moved to Silicon Valley. I've been counting down the days for Verizon to pick up the iPhone, ever since.

There's nothing wrong with the iPhone. AT&T, though...

Re: More than half age 25-29 only have cell phones

#22

Post by locopati » Tue, Dec 21, 2010, 6:49 PM UTC

frossie wrote: post #15

Only 16 percent of Northeasterners live in cell phone-only homes, the lowest of any region. The highest frequency of wireless-only households is in the South, where 29 percent live that way. Can anyone here figure out the reason behind the statistic? I could imagine cell-phone-only usage being lower than average in rural areas with poor coverage, but the Northeast? For the commenters asking "what good are landlines f…

Weather? In case of power outage, a land-line will still work (assuming the phone lines aren't down). A cell-phone will work until your battery is gone.

Re: More than half age 25-29 only have cell phones

#23

Post by epochwolf » Tue, Dec 21, 2010, 6:50 PM UTC

tofumatt wrote: post #11

hugh3 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. What are landlines good for? Even if they were free I wouldn't have one, since when I did have a landline pretty much every call was phone spam.

Family households, especially ones with kids who aren't old enough to have a cellphone but need to use a phone. If you have a five and seven year-old in your house, a $30/month landline might make more sense than two cellphones that would never leave the house anyway.

Really? At $10 per extra phone (on my parent's plan) having a land line is more. Free caller id, voice mail, plus the ability to call between phones for free make having a land line a little silly.

Re: More than half age 25-29 only have cell phones

#24

Post by trotsky » Tue, Dec 21, 2010, 6:51 PM UTC

frossie wrote: post #15

Only 16 percent of Northeasterners live in cell phone-only homes, the lowest of any region. The highest frequency of wireless-only households is in the South, where 29 percent live that way. Can anyone here figure out the reason behind the statistic? I could imagine cell-phone-only usage being lower than average in rural areas with poor coverage, but the Northeast? For the commenters asking "what good are landlines f…

The obvious thing that would correlate with the south would be average household income. Not all of these mobile only households are carrying $70/mo voice+unlimited text+large 3g quota plans, many of them are likely on $5-$15/mo prepaid options because they are cheaper than carrying a landline.

Re: More than half age 25-29 only have cell phones

#25

Post by MicahNance » Tue, Dec 21, 2010, 7:02 PM UTC

hugh3 wrote: post #6

davidu wrote: post #4

That's it? I'd expect it to be much higher. I wonder what the percentage is in an urban city like San Francisco... 80%?

Agreed. What are landlines good for? Even if they were free I wouldn't have one, since when I did have a landline pretty much every call was phone spam.

Home emergencies. Large parts of the country do not have E911.

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/wireless911srvc.html

Re: More than half age 25-29 only have cell phones

#26

Post by icefox » Tue, Dec 21, 2010, 7:02 PM UTC

stonemetal wrote: post #17

hugh3 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. What are landlines good for? Even if they were free I wouldn't have one, since when I did have a landline pretty much every call was phone spam.

They make a great discount on your internet bill. Seriously though Some internet providers either make it cheaper to have phone + internet from them or make it impossible( or at least hard) to get internet without a land line.

I have a phone line for this reason (cheaper) at the moment.

Re: More than half age 25-29 only have cell phones

#27

Post by tofumatt » Tue, Dec 21, 2010, 7:12 PM UTC

epochwolf wrote: post #23

tofumatt wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Family households, especially ones with kids who aren't old enough to have a cellphone but need to use a phone. If you have a five and seven year-old in your house, a $30/month landline might make more sense than two cellphones that would never leave the house anyway.

Really? At $10 per extra phone (on my parent's plan) having a land line is more. Free caller id, voice mail, plus the ability to call between phones for free make having a land line a little silly.

Plus the cost of the cellphone and all the replacements for the cellphone your kid is bound to use.

I'm single and only have a cell, but my friends with kids inform me that landline for a family is the way to go. I see the logic in their argument.

Re: More than half age 25-29 only have cell phones

#28

Post by jbhelms » Tue, Dec 21, 2010, 7:40 PM UTC

mshafrir wrote: post #3

jbhelms wrote: post #2

This is not really surprising. I have a VOIP home phone, but only because I don't want to chase down my cell when it rings. If i could just have my cell phone work like a cordless phone at home, i.e. all the phones in the house ring when my cell rings, then I would use just my cell.

Google Voice can do this for you.

Google voice can dial an existing landline. What i mean is when i get home, I want to be able to place my cell into a cradle and when it rings it rings all the home phones, and calls made from any of the phones in the house would route through the cell network using my phone.

Re: More than half age 25-29 only have cell phones

#29

Post by Zev » Tue, Dec 21, 2010, 7:45 PM UTC

locopati wrote: post #22

frossie wrote: post #15

Only 16 percent of Northeasterners live in cell phone-only homes, the lowest of any region. The highest frequency of wireless-only households is in the South, where 29 percent live that way. Can anyone here figure out the reason behind the statistic? I could imagine cell-phone-only usage being lower than average in rural areas with poor coverage, but the Northeast? For the commenters asking "what good are landlines f…

Weather? In case of power outage, a land-line will still work (assuming the phone lines aren't down). A cell-phone will work until your battery is gone.

Weather is exactly the reason that my family (just outside of NYC) still keeps a landline around.

Theres also the big blackout from a few years ago that hasn't really been forgotten. If you were to ask, I bet it would come up more often than you might think.

Re: More than half age 25-29 only have cell phones

#30

Post by alttab » Tue, Dec 21, 2010, 8:08 PM UTC

I would expect that the lower-shelf would be way younger than 25. College students living in apartments probably do not have landlines (I didn't when I was in school).

Maybe one contributing factor to it starting at 25 and not say, 21, is that in this economy many college grads are moving back in with their parents who have land lines. College students who have stable jobs and are out on their own two feet (a little bit older on average?) choose not to buy into the landline like their parents continue to do.