Landline sentimentality keeps me hanging on U

K landline use has halved in the last six years as mobiles become the phone of choice for most people.

According to Ofcom, we made 54 billion minutes of landline calls in 2017, while minutes on mobiles went up to 148 billion.

When we moved house last month, it never occurred to me not to have a landline in the new house, and Sky provided one as well as broadband and T V. I am probably clinging on to the old tradition because I remember when having a home phone was a luxury. I was 13 before we got one: a large Bakelite contraption that sat on its own table in the hall at the bottom of the stairs so that a private conversation was out of the question.

When I wanted to call my girlfriend in my teen years, I used the kiosk at the end of the road. Audio romance cost four pennies in the slot and you could talk for ever. Or until a queued formed outside. Home phones were in such short supply that other people would want to use the kiosk as well.

Only 1.5 million homes had phones in 1951, this rose to 4.2 million by 1966. They were still a rarity in 1970, when only 35% of the population had them.

How times change.

I’ve had a mobile for years but never really embraced the technology that meant I could stand in a pub and read Facebook online or take a photograph and send it by email to the other side of the world.

But for three weeks, during our house move, my wife Maria and I were without a landline and suddenly started taking our mobiles seriously. I became more proficient at sending text messages and receiving voicemail and, whereas before, I would leave it on a shelf all day, it now goes with me everywhere, I frequently check for emails and it’s on the bedside table at night.

Mobiles are no longer expensive to run, compared to a landline, and I can see us dropping the old and totally embracing the new. Trouble is, I have just signed an 18-month contract so, until then, I will still have the luxury of a home phone.

I remember when having a home phone was a luxury... a large Bakelite contraption at the bottom of

the stairs