More Canadians cut cord to landlines, but service isn’t dead

Many young people use only cellphones, but reliability keeps older device relevant

The eroding presence of pay phones is just one public marker of a cellphone trend that’s been unfolding for a decade, with 2002 being the last time there was an increase in the amount Canadians spent on landlines.

Statistics Canada figures reveal household cellphone spending almost tripled, to $ 731, between 2002 and 2010 — the latest year for which data are available — while fixed- line telephone spending fell 32 per cent, to $ 511, over that period.

But don’t write the eulogy for Alexander Graham Bell’s gift to the world just yet.

“You know how people thought online shopping would be the death of [ bricks and mortar] retail? This is very similar to that,” says Tina Dacin, a Queen’s School of Business professor with expertise in telecommunications. “[ Wireless] isn’t going to take over landlines anytime soon. There isn’t enough trust across the board in technology.”

Amit Kaminer, a telecommunications research analyst with The Seaboard Group, says Canadian carriers are increasingly bundling landlines with TV and Internet services to make them more attractive.

He notes they’re shrewdly marketed as a low- cost “add on,” as opposed to a primary service.

The problem, of course, is the ring of a fixed phone has come to signal a call from one of three people: an older relative, a pollster or a telemarketer. Statistics Canada finds 13 per cent of households — and fully 50 per cent of those led by 18 to 34- year- olds — have moved to using cellphones exclusively.

“There’s a generation gap in terms of who’s cutting the cord and who’s not,” says Kaminer, citing the inertia of tradition as a compelling factor. “For a lot of people, it seems natural for a home to have a fixed phone line.”

But for Canadians still clinging to copper circuits, Queens’ Dacin says landline bills are more than just a nostalgia tax. She notes traditional telephone service doesn’t suffer the reception issues of newer technologies, is more reliable, allows greater call security, doesn’t have the dubious health associations of cellphones, and is still the safest option in an emergency.

Notably, not even the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, which represents mobile stakeholders, expects the rapid death of landlines.

“I think both [ service options] will complement each other for a long time to come,” says Marc Choma, spokesman for the CWTA. “I’m sitting in front of my laptop right now, and my cellphone is to the left of me and my landline phone is on the right. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

That landlines are losing lustre, however, is abundantly clear.

Statistics Canada reports that household spending on landlines has declined every year since 2002, when it was $ 748 on average, with cellphone costs exceeding fixed lines in 2009. The latest figures show mobile in front of landlines by $ 220 in 2010.