END OF THE LINE FOR HOME PHONES

by Daily Express, theunhivedmind.com
October 11th 2011

A supermarket is to stop selling telephone handsets

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/276693/End-of-the-line-for-home-phones

A SUPERMARKET is to stop selling telephone handsets in a move that could herald the death of the landline phone.

With sales at an all-time low, the chain feels home handsets are going the same way as cassette tapes and video recorders.

Many consumers rely solely on smartphones, laptops, PCs and tablet computers. They can email for nothing or get around 100 minutes of calls and 100 texts for as little as £5 a month.

According to Asda’s own research, 37 per cent of Britons do not make calls from their home landline, though they may receive calls on them occasionally.

But 47 per cent can foresee a future where they do not need a landline. Among 18 to 34s, around one in five (19 per cent) does not have a landline phone at all, said Asda.

Its mobile phone arm is expanding as the chain phases out landline phones, which find it hard to compete with monthly pay-as-you-go deals.

Asda Mobile chief James McMurrough said: “Standing in one place to make a call just doesn’t make sense any more. Nor does untangling the wire, so we’ve decided to hang up on sales of landline phones.”

Many consumers rely solely on smartphones, laptops, PCs and tablet computers

Student Imogen Overton, 19, from Hertfordshire, said: “There’s no way I could live without my mobile. All my friends are nomads and the first thing I say when I answer the phone is “Hi, where are you?” No one says ‘I’m at home, stuck to the wall.’ It’s so ancient.”

Original Page: http://theunhivedmind.com/wordpress/?p=5538

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