- A growing number of consumers are forsaking
their regular phones for their wireless phones - and a few are giving up
land-line life altogether.
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- No national numbers exist yet, but in
Louisiana, 15% of BellSouth wireless customers don't have a regular phone
and 65% use their wireless phones at home, up from 56% last year, BellSouth
says.
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- By 2005, wireless phones will account
for 20% of worldwide telephone traffic, up from 4% in 1997, say telecom
researchers at The Yankee Group.
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- The typical clients are businesspeople
who travel a lot and find it more convenient to use one phone all the time.
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- Nelson Barreto, owner of Ene Salon in
Manhattan, gave up his traditional phone three years ago in favor of a
wireless deal that includes free calls on nights and weekends.
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- "I have more control over who calls
me," he says. An unexpected perk: He never gets calls from telemarketers.
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- Driving The Trend
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- A new generation of digital wireless
services that are cheaper than analog and loaded with features such as
voice mail at no extra charge. Monthly prices dropped 20% to 30% in the
past year, the Yankee Group's Mark Lowenstein says. High-volume users can
now make calls for as low as 10 cents a minute.
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- AT&T CEO C. Michael Armstrong doubts
most people will disconnect their regular service but told USA TODAY that
his company, along with Sprint and other wireless carriers, is packaging
its wireless phone service as an alternative to traditional phones.
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- They'll be going after customers like
New York University student Jennifer Dagia, 24. She rarely uses her land-line
phone. She has an 800-minute-a-month wireless plan with Sprint. "I'm
always on the go and I'm always on the phone," she says.
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