Home phone News

Over 80% of those aged 55 and over use their home phone for calls

Tuesday 11th October, 2011

By Helen Thomas

A new poll reveals over 80% of people aged over 55 still use their home phone to make calls.

Despite an increase in “mobile-only” households, a new poll has revealed that 63% of people continue to use their home phone to make calls – and this rises to over 80% of those aged 55 and over.

The poll, commissioned by Asda Mobile, whose parent company Asda is phasing out sales of landlines phones, shows that, while landline use has certainly diminished in recent years, it isn’t game over yet.

Unsurprisingly, James McMurrough, Asda Mobile buyer, doesn’t agree: “Standing in one place to make a call just doesn’t make sense anymore, nor does untangling the wire, so we’ve decided to hang up on sales of landline phones.

“The truth is that mobiles are more powerful, more affordable and more convenient and there just isn’t a compelling reason to have a landline phone anymore.”

However, while almost half of the 18-34-year-olds polled said they don’t use their home phone for calls, over 80% of them have a landline phone at home.

Over half of those polled said they could envisage continuing to need a fixed-line phone to make calls from, with 72% of the over-55s polled saying they would still need their home phone in six months’ time.

A recent report from Ofcom showed fixed-line phone ownership has declined over the last decade dropping from 93% in 2000 to 85% today.

However, it also found that home phones still play a significant role for many age groups, and a vital one for others. The communications watchdog found 37% of people aged over-75 rely solely on their landline.