Cellphones Become A Human Right
In only a generation, the cellphone has turned from a symbol of business and social status to a common appliance and a basic human right.
Today, through its Universal Service Fund, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) subsidizes cellphone service for low-income consumers who use a cellphone as their home’s primary phone. Some prepaid providers offer service for as little as $15 to $20/month for 200 minutes of voice calling. And carrier Leap Wireless is touting this month’s network-wide rollout of its Cricket PAYGo prepaid service. With PAYGo, instead of pre-paying for a month of service in advance, users pay only on the day they use their phone, or they pay for multiple days in advance at rates as low as $1/day of unlimited calling.
Underscoring the industry’s transformation over a generation, prepaid carrier MetroPCS this week unveiled a calling plan that enables U.S. consumers to make unlimited calls to wireline phones in more than 200 Mexican cities for only $3 a month.
With cellphones having become so affordable, the number of cellular subscriptions in the U.S. grew last year to 270.3 million, the CTIA’s semiannual subscriber survey shows. That represents a penetration rate of 88.5 percent of the U.S. population, based on the Census Bureau’s population estimate of 305.5 million as of Jan. 1.
Of course, when almost everybody has something, it becomes a human right.
On its Web site, prepaid provider TracFone Wireless contends: “Cellphone ownership is a right and an important tool for individual success in today’s world. Everyone should have a cellphone without the need for a contract or a high credit rating … TracFone Wireless is glad to lead the movement in the U.S. to make cellphone service available to everyone.”
How far we’ve come from 1991, when only 7.6 million people owned a cellphone, and they paid an average $72.74/month for service, CTIA statistics show. Among cellphone users, 63 percent used an installed 3-watt car phone rather than a lower power handheld phone or a 3-watt “transportable” phone, according to a 1991 Gallup poll conducted for Motorola. On average, 6.6 out of every 10 calls were made for business reasons, the survey found.
Back then, 64 percent of cellphone users were men, 56 percent held professional or managerial positions at work, 55 percent were college graduates and 54 percent were between the ages of 35 to 54, the survey found.
Today, phones are marketed aggressively to everyone, including pre-teens. And why not? The average monthly bill is down to $50.07, and that’s after almost two decades of inflation, and it includes family-plan bills that include as many as three to four family members.
camphoneguy commented:
When we started selling for US West Cellular (which became AirTouch
then Verizon) there were 35 customers on the service in a THREE
county area. We were the first retailers for Verizon in our county.
There actually wasn't a tower in our county but a new one near us
allowed expansion into Benton County, OR. We sold 'bags' and
'bricks', and mostly Motorola. Few signed up for plans 'with
minutes' considering the device exclusively as a 'road safety tool'
except for a few business customers. Those customers would tell
that if their bill was less than $600, they weren't doing their
job! Now you'd really have to mess up your plan selection to go
over $120 per line! We were part of Motorola's national launch of
the StarTac and Signature Program. How times have changed! We were
initially a one hour photo lab and the addition of cell service
seemed to many a strange mix, but ultimately a very timely mix for
us. Going forward I do wonder how much impact the new class of
laptops, the 'netbooks', will have on smartphones. I've not found a
smartphone I'd be happy with (being someone with large hands) and
think the netbooks present a very appealing alternative. Humm... In
the future days of LTE hopefully there will be plans that appeal to
the 'stupid phone'/netbook user, letting the netbook do the grunt
work, yet being connected to high speed LTE data lines. While the
carriers romance Apple for the iPhone, netbooks could sneak into a
lot of hands instead.
camphoneguy commented:
please email customercare@mypressplus.com or call 866-71-PRESS (866-717-7377).