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Old 07-25-2007   #8 (permalink)
ryberg
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: real America
Posts: 11,982
Interesting topic! Glad you brought it up. I was wondering about this the other day, in part because of a related question involving my mother and in part because the Pew Research site I like to check in on from time to time ran an article, in fact, saying that some 7-8% of Americans now operate with cell phone only, no land line (and how that might affect the validity of telephone surveys, was their particular concern).

I must say that to me it just seems obvious that land lines are a thing of the past, all in all, and are bound to fade out, they're just not something that fades out so quickly (like many tech gadgets, for example). Everybody uses their cell phone and it probably seems silly to you guys to hear but I was surprised some 3 years ago or so when we were in the States visiting my family in KC and I took a quick trip to Denver for a day to visit a friend who was recovering from chemo and when I specifically asked for the land line to call and check in with Delmy, assuming that would be cheaper, and they corrected me and said the cell would be cheaper.

Anyway, I have heard that one disadvantage to a cell-only approach may be with respect to 911 service, and in particular that it may be impossible for anyone to determine where you are and how to help you if you call 911 from a cell phone but cannot speak or explain properly or something. Granted this would be quite a rare instance, indeed, and many 911 situations might occur outside the home, but still...

Steve
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