Could You Ever Ditch Your Cell Phone?

2008 is shaping up to be a watershed year for the cell phone in the United States. A new study by the Pew Internet and American Life project revealed this week that cell phones had finally knocked off land line phones as Americans’ most vital device.

The study, which asks Americans what technological tool they would have most difficulty giving up, has historically been dominated by television and by the landline phone, which still held the top spot as recently as 2006.

This year, the landline phone dropped to fourth place, just above email, and trailing both the Internet and television, which were ranked #2 and #3, respectively. Cell phones took the top spot.

It was inevitable that this would happen. More and more, our customers are telling us when they order a cell phone that they have given up landlines – that their cell phone is their only phone, and that they use it for more than just calling.

Most recently, this phenomenon has given rise to the unlimited calling plan. This week Alltel Wireless, the nation’s 5th largest cell phone carrier, joined AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint/Nextel, and T-Mobile in offering an unlimited calling plan for $99.99/month.

As the first web site to introduce unlimited calling plans for every major U.S. carrier, we’ve had a front-row view of how quickly popular these calling plans have been. Spending $100 a month sounds like a lot at first, but if you’ve ever opened your cell phone bill to find a whopping list of surprise overage charges, those cheaper rate plans can lose their appeal pretty quickly. Couple that with the savings from giving up your landline phone, and the economics become pretty compelling.

Dependence on cell phones has been fueled this year by the proliferation of hot new PDAs, Smartphones, and music phones from Blackberry, HTC, Samsung, Palm, and LG. Cell phones with full keyboards and high speed data were once restricted to the business set, but we now feature many of them for free with a cell phone plan or upgrade.

These aren’t leave-it-in-the purse cell phones. They are feature-rich devices that bring true portability to your digital life. The result: Those who never wanted to pay cash for an upgraded cell phone are being introduced the possibilities of mobile internet, multimedia, messaging and music. Of course, once you’ve tried it, you’re hooked for life.

Have you given up your landline? Many of our staffers have, but I haven’t. Yet I fall right in line with the Pew study. I’d give up my landline in a heartbeat before you’d be able to pry the cell phone out of my hands.