The cell phone has become ubiquitous in America. Most of us have (at least) one. And they cost a pretty penny, too -- more than our land lines do. So why is anyone surprised by this report.

With Americans cutting the cord to their land lines, 2007 is likely to be the first calendar year in which U.S. households spend more on cell phone services, industry and government officials say.

The most recent government data show that households spent $524, on average, on cell phone bills in 2006, compared with $542 for residential and pay-phone services. By now, though, consumers almost certainly spend more on their cell phone bills, several telecom industry analysts and officials said.

"What we're finding is there's a huge move of people giving up their land line service altogether and using cell phones exclusively," said Allyn Hall, consumer research director for market research firm In-Stat.

As recently as 2001, U.S. households spent three times as much on residential phone services as they did on cell phones. But the expansion of wireless networks has made cell phones more convenient, and a wider menu of services, including text messaging, video and music, has made it easier for consumers to spend money via their cell phone.

"Frankly, I'd be shocked if (households) don't spend more on cell phones at this point," said Andrew Arthur, vice president of market solutions at Mediamark Research & Intelligence.

When taxes, fees, and everything else is taken into account, I spend something like $15 more a month for two cell phone lines on a family plan than I do on our home phone (until you throw in my internet service which comes on the same bill -- but that would be cheating). And when you look at families of four and five with everyone carrying a cellular phone, it must cost significantly more.

And, of course, there are the folks with no land line, just a cell phone.

My question is when prices will drop as demand increases.

Posted by: Greg at 11:09 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 344 words, total size 2 kb.