When it comes to your landline, You may want to ... cut it out.In 2007, cellular phones accounted for 55% of all telephone expenses, where landlines only accounted for 43%, according to a recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the younger the consumer, the more money is spent on cellular expenses. Children don't even think about forking over cash a landline. Not when one can easily talk for free on Skype, or be reached via cellphone with ease.
Landlines still trump cellular phones in terms of quality in some areas of the U.S. Features, such as speed dialing are better on landlines. However, cellular phones may soon be up to speed, leaving limited reasons for consumers not to go cellular.
In developing regions in China, India and Africa, the landline is being skipped over completely. Everyone who can afford line in India can afford a cellphone, because call plans are the lower than the norm. Low calling charges and cheap phones which is resulting in meteoric growth.
Forrester Research, a Cambridge based firm finds that saving money is the primary motivation for cutting the landline cord.
There are many services that optimize the savings. Skype offers a worldwide calling subscription from $9.95 a month. C-NET reports that T-Mobile is trying out an unlimited calling $50 a month plan, initially to customers in San Francisco. For family savings, AT&T offers add-a-line service for only $9.99 a month.
MetroPCS offers a very reasonable plan- at $40 a month, local, long distance, text messaging and voice mail are included. There is no limit on the amount of minutes that may be used per month. The disadvantage is that MetroPCS has very limited service, although over 300 cities have coverage.
