Joe Carmichael writes:  Landlines have had a surprising half-life, but it’s starting to feel like their continued existence is an affront to progress, an admission that we’re not all in this thing together. Sure, they’re simple and reliable in case of emergency, but should that be enough? Is it enough? The answer is clearly no. It’s only a matter of time before we cut ourselves free of cords. Here’s why the process is taking so damn long.

Usefulness Isn’t Binary

Landlines are familiar and simple. They’re dumb and there’s some sentimental beauty to that. Landlines are a product of the more innocent time before your phone kept watch on you, shoved “notifications” into your pocket, and profiteered app by app. Still, most people don’t use landlines in a nostalgic way. The sentiment is real, but minor. People fundamentally use old-fashioned phones because they’re useful. The fact that they aren’t very useful is overshadowed by the fact that they have utility. We’re reluctant to be rid of things that work.

But the real reason, the main reason people still have landlines collecting dust in their homes, is that they think it makes them more secure in the face of an emergency. Calls made from landlines to emergency services include addresses in their identification tags, whereas cell phones only initially provide the nearest cell tower. In natural disasters and emergencies, there’s a good chance that your old-fashioned, corded, copper-wired landline will continue to function. (Cordless phones still require power, and therefore will fail.) There’s a chance that your cell phone will not continue to function.

The fact that landlines are dumb is a double-edged sword: Sure, their simplicity is attractive, but their function is narrowly defined. Landlines don’t provide access to anything other than what’s on the other end of the line. This is why they seem comical to younger consumers unused to gadgets with such limited utility. And in that issue we find the economic problem: Landlines aren’t worth it and are getting less worth it daily. Supply and demand affect cost. The chart below illustrates the relative increase in cost of landlines as opposed to the cost of cell phones. More for less is not a great business model.  Almost half of all adults and over half of all children sport cell phones exclusively.

Image by Claudio Munoz