Say a Final Goodbye to Landline Telephones
The computer in your pocket is finally fully replacing how you can communicate with others. Phone companies are getting rid of landline telephone service. Their new infrastructure just doesn’t support them any longer. By the time 2030 gets here, if the sweet meteor of death hasn’t arrived yet, there will only be 5% of the landlines left. It makes sense, how many people have already ditched the landline already? My parents are in their 60’s and they got rid of their landline over a decade ago. What’s the point? Your cell phone is always on you, or within ear shot. Why waste the money on another unnecessary bill. It’s long past time to say goodbye to landline telephones.
I’m a 36 year old Millennial, and my generation will be the last to go through multiple iterations of the telephone. I remember my grandparents rotary phone. I do know how to make a call on one, and have since I was a kid. If you knew someone with too many nines in their number, you just had to unknown that person. Sorry, gotta make new friends. Simple as that. I remember growing up and the landline we had. I still know the number by heart, both before and after area codes. As a kid there was nothing worse than being on AOL instant messenger talking to your friends about utter nonsense and being kicked off because someone called or picked up the phone in the house. How did we survive the dial up age?
Our technological advances have been incredible since the 90’s, but the loss of landlines will impact certain people more than others. Grandparents unwilling or unable to learn to use these newfangled cell phones will feel the impact. Small businesses will be impacted. Owners going to need an in store cell phone to replace the business landline they have had. We will be impacted at the radio station. Our request and hotlines are landlines. When something happens to the lines it’s takes forever to fix, because Verizon has to dig up a dinosaur that knows how to fix them.
If you are holding out (why?), you’ve got until 2030 to join us in the future.