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\u2019s 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\u2019s a chance that your cell phone will\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0continue to function.<\/p>\n The fact that landlines are dumb is a double-edged sword: Sure, their simplicity is attractive, but their function is narrowly defined. Landlines don\u2019t provide access to anything other than what\u2019s 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\u2019t 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. \u00a0Almost half of all adults and\u00a0over<\/em>\u00a0half of all children sport cell phones exclusively.<\/p>\n Image by Claudio Munoz<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Joe Carmichael writes: \u00a0Landlines have had a surprising half-life, but it\u2019s starting to feel like their continued existence is an affront to progress, an admission that we\u2019re not all in this thing together. Sure, they\u2019re simple and reliable in case … Continue reading ![\"Image](\"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/The-Year-of-the-Mobile-Phone.jpg\")
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