Home Exchange and Telephones
Years ago, the ubiquitous telephone was a very fundamental item. It sat there in virtually every home and barely raised any discussion in home exchange arrangements beyond the usual agreement that each party pays for its own calls.
Recently however, subtle changes have crept onto the scene and today, quite a few homes no longer have a land-line telephone, as families members are all equipped with their own individual cell phones. Land line phones are progressively becoming redundant.
In addition, many travelers are also subscribing to “cellular world phones”. Without a doubt, all the development appears to be evidenced in cell phones, while the poor old land-line phones are being abandoned in droves.
Last year, about 8% of U.S. households that subscribe to cellphone service had given up their land-line phones, up from 5% in 2004 and 4% in 2003, according to a survey by Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass.
Households are ditching home wired phones faster because cell phone service is getting cheaper, wireless coverage is improving and fewer people need their land lines for access to the Internet, according to the survey of about 4,500 households with cellphones in the fourth quarter. More than six million households and nearly 6% of the total U.S. population rely exclusively on wireless phones, according to Forrester.
Forrester also found that cord cutters are getting older. While the practice is still more prevalent among the under-35 crowd, 9% of U.S. mobile subscribers between the ages of 35 and 44 gave up their home phones in 2005, up from 3% in 2004.
This trend could have a negative effect upon home exchangers, especially if the home swap is between different countries. One party could possibly find itself in a home without a phone!
One solution would be for the wireless family to leave one of their cell phones behind for their exchange partners to use (with the usual agreement that they pay for all their calls). Another answer could be to set up the computer in the wireless only home with a PC Calling Service such as Yahoo Voice. It’s incredibly economical with calls between the USA and UK costing just 1c/per minute.
This service doesn’t necessarily have to be set up by the home owner either because if the visiting family travels with a laptop computer, they can set it up with Yahoo Voice in advance. You can use your PC’s microphone and speakers, but a headset improves quality (and privacy). And if you’re not online, calls go to voicemail (which you can check anytime for free).
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