Landline phones becoming antiques
By Jeffrey Sparshott, Wall Street Journal
About one-third of U.S. households have ditched landline phones, driven by younger Americans relying on their cellphones, new Census Bureau data showed Thursday.
Just under 71 percent of households had landlines in 2011, down from a little more than 96 percent 15 years ago. Cellphone ownership reached 89 percent, up from about 36 percent in 1998, the first year the survey asked about the devices.
The youngest households are abandoning landlines in droves. About two-thirds of households led by people ages 15 to 29 relied only on cellphones in 2011, compared with 28% for the broader population.
Apparently these people have not been to Tahoe, the land where cell phones don’t work.
This town should join the modern times and put in a few towers that actually make the phones work as they were designed to.
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A lot of towers have gone up in the past few years. I believe there is a new tower on top of Gun Barrel. Look up from the meadow near the College and there is an odd shaped tree.
I get 4g at my house.
South Lake was in the 4g network almost 1 year ago, before many major cities.
I get nothing at my house unless I stand on one leg and jump up and down while sitting in the bathtub. The Tahoe system is crap, that is a well known fact among locals. I have lived in many other ski mountain towns and this town has the worst cell phone service by far.
My phone won’t connect to the internet in Heavenly Village… My phone does not have any service of any type at my home… My e-mails are updated only once or twice a day… It’s basically worthless. I went to my provider and was told I may have to buy a $200 booster for a service I already pay for that does not work. I went to the other service provider in town and they also confirmed that the service in this town is very spotty at best. They refused to guarantee the service and told me if I was unhappy I could return the phone and service if returned within 14 days of purchase.
Yup. Sketchy at best where I live too. They made me get a new phone because my old 2G would no longer be compatible with the 3G & 4G networks, and if anything, my connection is even worse now.
I have one carrier, and my hub uses the other big carrier. That way, in case of an emergency, MAYBE one of us will have reception.
Can’t run two home businesses without a landline here, though we did get rid of ATT and now have a VOIP system. No bills, except for the tax. Only glitch there is if the power or internet go out, there is no phone at all!
I live in Meyers where cell phones work on a very limited basis. It is a common occurence to see neighbors walking in their yards or out in the street trying to get a connection. I am able to send and receive TXT msgs but not phone calls. This is even though Verizon shows coverage in Christmas Valley. One well placed tower would really help.
I was 2G (Toogee) long before cell phones. LOL!
You can have that well placed tower in your living room for $200 or half that from ebay. Same area and I have five bars except when I get near my property line and it drops to three.
Golly Toogee! Bummer. My cell carrier says you are obsolete! ;-)
Dogula, story of my life!
If you call your service provider they can get you a booster that you connect to your internet. Most will provide it for free. I know that spint and AT& T will
for those of you with AT&T Wireless and a smartphone, there is an app called Mark the Spot that will let you report poor service. The more complaints, the better chances of getting more towers…