Landline Phones: A Remnant of a Bygone Era or Essential Backup in the Digital Age?

This week, when AT&T network outage disrupted cellphone service, 69-year-old Bernice Hudson, an Alexandria, Virginia resident, remained unperturbed as she has an operational landline – a rarity in the digital U.S. today.

Shift in Communication Habits

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, as of 2022, approximately 73% of American adults lived in wireless-only households. Comparing these figures to early 2003, where fewer than 3% of adults lived in wireless-only households, the shift to predominantly wireless communication is evident. The introduction of smartphones, particularly Apple's first iPhone in 2007, was a significant catalyst for this shift, as stated by Michael Hodel, a stock analyst at Morningstar Research Services LLC.

Impact of Recent Outage

The recent outage raises pertinent questions about the potential consequences of a broader-scale event disrupting cellphones in a world where landline phones are no longer as prevalent. While some individuals, like 40-year-old Mary Minshew from Bethesda, Maryland, feel better having a landline for emergencies, the general sentiment appears to be that the current level of mobile connectivity has been sufficient to keep people satisfied.