Unwired, Unlisted And Unperturbed

Let’s hope someone is thinking up a fresh use for all those telephone poles. A poll by AARP gives a hint of the extent to which cell phones are displacing the wired variety. Among respondents age 18-49, 62 percent said they have a wireless phone. So did a majority of those 50-64 (58 percent) and more than one-third of those 65 and up (37 percent). Even more telling, many cell-phone owners now use the unwired phone to make and receive most of their calls (see the chart below).