Cell phone shift may not be positive for rural areas

One trend that may have consequences for rural phone users down the line - no pun intended - is the continued abandonment of hard-wire telephone service by urban people. The number of people using hard-wire phone service is declining in many cities as more people opt to make cell phones their primary voice communications medium. If they want internet service, it's often supplied through their cable connections.

According to an Associated Press report today, 1 in 8 American households no longer have hard-wire phone connections. That compares to 1 in 20 just 3 years ago. Consumers are dropping wired connections at the rate of about 1% every 6 months, said the report. The data came from surveys conduted by the federal Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, which were collected in its National Health Interview Survey.

For rural Americans - who often live too far from cell towers for reliable wireless service - the trend could mean higher telephone costs in the future as urban dwellers give up conventional phone service. That would spread the cost of maintaining wired services over a smaller customer base.

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